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che-bur-ashka · 6 months

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who holds the mask? designing the Disguise

For the record, all of the playbooks in Beneath Pirate Flags are trans. Gay ass trans ass pirates. I mean, they don’t have to be — the magic of character creation means that you could make anyone, even (!!) a cis person, if your imagination can handle that. But they’re all more or less about being trans, or about types of trans people I know, anyway. Maybe none of them is as trans as the Disguise, though.

I don’t mean that, of course. The Disguise isn’t “more trans” than any of the others in any way that matters. What I mean is that the Disguise is maybe the most “obviously” trans, the most “typically” trans. The Disguise deals with a narrative that people see and go oh, oh, I know this—that one’s about being trans.

The Disguise is a pirate “on the run from at least two things,” inspired by tales of putting on a (you guessed it) disguise and escaping to adventure. There’s a lot of Jim from Our Flag Means Death in there, of course, as well as a good amount of Eowyn and not a small percentage of Alanna of Trebond. The Disguise is playing in a lot of tropes that make people conscious of the play of genders—which, for complicated reasons, reads as “more” trans than, say, The Hunk, The Dandy, or The Legend (even though all three of those are, to me, far more fundamentally drawn from my own trans experience).

One of the big things I wanted to do with the Disguise though, was offer more nuanced understanding of the work masks and disguises can do than we usually get in these types of stories. In the most traditional—the most recognizable—version of this narrative the Disguise is a cis woman who, frustrated not so much with her gender as with institutional sexism, takes on a mask in order to “play” as a man and trespass in the wider world (the historical erasure of transmasculine people into the cis feminist figure of “the woman in pants” looms large here). In this narrative, there comes a point where—as in Mulan, Eowyn, Alanna—she is unmasked but accepted as, to borrow a term from Tamora Pierce “a woman who rides.”

Here’s the thing: That’s a valid arrangement of what’s in the Disguise. There’s no reason the Disguise couldn’t be used to tell this kind of story—but I think there’s a more interesting version of this character out there, probably most clearly expressed (in popular media, anyway) by Jim Jimenez in Our Flag Means Death who, critically, does not return to their assigned gender after removing the “mask.” After all, there’s no reason to think that the mask must be something taken on (as opposed to, say, assigned). Rather, I like to think about the Disguise as playing across a border—dealing in multiple frames and knowledges, and trying to make space for themself between them. One day—if all goes well—they won't need the mask anymore. The playbook could equally viably tell the story of:

A cis woman under patriarchy, “playing a man” so she can run away and be a sailor (like Eowyn does).

A trans person, “playing” their assigned gender as they work to find out who they are really (like... most if not all trans people do, at one point or another).

A trans person, “playing” their true gender (or at least a new gender) as they build a new understanding of themself in a new context (this is the reading I think is closest to what happens with Jim, fwiw).

A person whose disguise has nothing to do with their gender at all—maybe they’re a prince in hiding, or they're pretending to be a prince in hiding, or there's something else.

There’s also no reason that the playbook couldn’t combine these stories—or even reach for new ones that haven’t occurred to me. The possibilities are endless. The core of the Disguise is not about secrets and falsehoods (although secrets and falsehoods certainly play their part), but rather performance and autonomy over your own presentation. The mask is a tool to control that presentation.

This brings us to the saddest part of the playbook—the ending.

Every playbook in Beneath Pirate Flags has three prewritten endings (although you’re naturally welcome to come up with your own). Each set of three has two happy endings and one sad one— sometimes bittersweet, sometimes tragic, and sometimes just bad. For the Disguise, that sorrow is all about the loss of control. The worst thing that could possibly happen—the most upsetting ending, which I want players to be aware of even if they aren’t interested in it—is not just the removal of the mask, but the removal of the mask without the Disguise’s permission or control. The world longs to control our presentations and, by doing so, control our lives. There is magic in a mask, and in the autonomy it provides—but there are people who want to rip both of those away. They want to hurt you, to control you, and to make you hurt yourself. That’s what we’re fighting against. Anyway, there you have it. Go hug a trans person—and check out Beneath Pirate Flags.

#beneath pirate flags #our flag means death #ofmd #jim jimenez #eowyn #alanna of trebond #trans #indie rpg #indie ttrpg #ttrpg design #gay pirates

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my-mt-heart · 7 months

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I obviously haven’t been very stoked about a lot of choices this first season—the opposite if I’m being honest—but when I first listened to the radio scene, it felt like a reprieve from those feelings. Norman’s performance is perfect. I could sense his urgency to get a hold of Carol, and of course once he does, his tone melts into something much softer, something we know he reserves only for her. I appreciate the long pauses he takes to study her voice. He hears something in her words that we don’t (🤨). He worries that maybe she’s not really okay.

Carol’s line “you never need to worry about me, Daryl” makes me think back to her “I love you too” in the series finale, or more specifically the weightlessness of it. Melissa said it was Carol’s way of taking care of Daryl. She wanted to make it easier for him to leave, and at first, I wondered if this time was supposed to represent more of the same. We understand why Daryl sounds excited because we have the privilege of reading his body language. Maybe when Carol hears it, she thinks he’s enjoying himself out there. Maybe she's reluctant to admit how much she misses him because she doesn't want to take him away from where he really belongs.

Here’s where I’m struggling though. Theoretically, Melissa would’ve had Norman’s footage to play off of while she recorded her side of the conversation. That's how it's typically done. We know both of them always play off each other brilliantly. We’ve seen it countless times. It’s why their chemistry works. It’s why we ship them. But in this scene, I'm not getting any of that. There’s no emotion behind the words, none of Melissa's nuances, and the more I listen to it, the more I realize it isn’t Melissa’s voice at all. It really pains me to say it, but it sounds like AI.

If that’s true, then you'll have to be patient with me while I take the time to fully process my feelings about it. After everything—booting Melissa from the show in the first place and then gaslighting her fans about it—AMC wants to use a copout loophole in Melissa's contract (what many actors have had in their contracts hence the need for a strike) to jeopardize Melissa's integrity, deny everybody what they've had to wait a long time for, Melissa, and cheapen what could've been the most impactful scene of the season? Are you fucking kidding me? That’s just lazy, manipulative, disrespectful, and infuriating.

I was really excited to analyze a new Caryl scene today. Believe it or not, I don't want to keep hating on the show. I want to enjoy my two favorite characters, but as others have said, I’m tired of bending over backwards to arrive at some—any—hopeful conclusion about Caryl’s future. It’s hard enough when the writing is as inconsistent as it has been, but now AI is involved? No one should have to exert energy on analyzing a performance that doesn't exist. It's a poor reflection of Melissa's talent and a huge disservice to Caryl's story. I'm heartbroken.

Good to see her trending though. She deserves all the love she's getting today.

On another note, because I don't want to make a separate post about it, I also watched the scene where Daryl gets mad at Laurent. **TRIGGER WARNING*** As someone who grew up in a very "loud" household and experienced PTSD from it, I wasn't put off by the anger. I understand Daryl wants to go home, and the kid ruined what seemed like his only chance. It's the name-calling and Daryl putting his hands on Laurent that specifically crossed the line for me. The show is clearly trying to force Daryl to draw comparisons between him and his dad, but this feels like something Daryl has already worked through on the flagship show. The moment he saw Carol flinch on the farm, he knew he wanted to be different. Carol and TF helped him be different. He is different. He doesn't need to prove that to himself or anyone else anymore. Enough of the character regressions.

#caryl #caryl spinoff #carol peletier #melissa mcbride #darylneedscarol #twd spoilers

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femmeroi · 4 months

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You SHOULD talk about Manjoume Jun's queerness, he's an icon and that's an essay I'd love to read

I SHOULD !!! Jun is my (4th) favourite nasty dude hes so hes so hes o so so so. His gender game is so immaculate and he is only maybe a he/they on a good day. He’s playing 5d gender chess in a uno world. He has so many layers even he isn’t ready to pull them all back yet. His he/him pronouns are an unanswered prayer. He pays child support for masculine terms, they're all he has left after the divorce. I think he always has one foot in the closet, I don’t think he ever really got over his brother's abuse, and if he didn't have friends like Fubuki he’d never accept himself. Even when he accepts himself it's in a very limited way. He's flamboyant, he's unapologetic, he's afraid. To ME he is a nonbinary trans woman gay man, he's a faggot woman, and I think that's beautiful.

GX as a whole can be read in a very queer way when you consider the ties between familial relationships, duel spirit relationships, and personal acceptance. This tie is most obvious in Jun, who has a solid and obvious arc centering these three aspects. Even then, I feel like people often misinterpret or waterdown his. Everything.

Under the read more is a very long breakdown of my thoughts. If something doesn't make sense, sorry, I have divine madness and a fever.

I’m going to start off with his family, everyone knows them, everyone hates them, and everyone misunderstands them. People often fall into the belief that after his duel with Chosaku, Jun obtained some kind of absolute freedom from his family, often even saying he cut them off. I don’t believe this is entirely correct or incorrect, it’s a belief that's in the right direction while missing the nuance of his situation. Jun’s familial arc isn't about severing ties or escaping abusive structures, it’s about easing the pain by gaining respect. Jun still has a role within the Manjoume Group after his duel with Chosaku, the difference is that after their duel he got their trust. It’s with that trust he got a semblance of freedom, and I believe people often conflate that freedom with absolute liberation.

Jun still works for his family, he is still under their influence, they are just more hands off about it now than before. I say this because his role in the Manjoume Group clearly means a lot to Jun, this is seen through his displays of wealth and his insistence to be called “Manjoume” long after everyone is on a first name basis. He's even seen using the Manjoume Groups money and name to renovate facilities within the school, and if you think that's something an estranged family would allow I have. Serious questions. Like what's your estranged parents credit card number. His connection to the Manjoume Group is only reinforced in season four, where his intention isn’t to get away from his family rather it is to prove himself worthy to his family. His role in the Manjoume Group is also recognized by other characters, which shows that even publicly he is affiliated with them.

All that said, Jun’s brothers are still extremely controlling and abusive people. My dearest mutual (also the very person to send the ask. Hi friend <3) Ren Krakenshaped said one of the minor themes of GX is, “[The] negative influences in your childhood [and how they] can affect you liberating yourself from those negative influences.” I absolutely love the way they worded it and I can’t agree more. I’m putting this here not just to hype her up but also to expand on it in relation to Jun. While I believe Jun's familial arc isn't about absolute liberation, he still gets a semblance of freedom as I mentioned before. He's able to use the cards he wants and he has less pressure to be absolutely perfect, but he still acts as a representative for his family.

The pressure he's under is still present, showing itself in a lesser way through his self-deprecating comments, inferiority complex, and his fear of failure. I think it's important for people to recognize the presence and control that the Manjoume Group still has on him even after his moment of “liberation” against Chosaku. Not everyone can and not everyone will escape the negative influences in their life. There's a lot that can be done with the balance Jun has achieved with his family, but he still does have to play by their rules.

Now that I got the familial situation outlined, it’s time to talk about his duel spirits ! And I promise I WILL bring this all around to his queerness. I prommy. Hold on with me for another couple hundred words. Unlike Johan, Yusuke, and Judai, Jun didn't have some innate connection to duel spirits. His ability to see and interact with the spirits appeared later in life, more specifically during the worst part of his life up to that point. Jun was under pressure to be the perfect child, and then he got demoted from the Obelisk Blue dorms, and then he got stranded at sea, and then his deck got stolen. And at some point in all of that, he started seeing duel spirits.

I think two things were integral to his awakening, the first was his need to grow as a duelist, and the second was isolation. His need for growth comes from him failing to live up to his family's name, but the growth itself happens when his family is absent. After getting stranded at sea, Jun had no line of communication with his brothers, and he didn’t regain communication with them until he went back to the Central Duel Academia campus. On top of that the people in North Academy seem not to know- or care in case of the headmaster- about Jun’s family name. With this Jun is temporarily freed from the expectations his family and peers place onto him- and instead he is able to focus on growing in his own way. It’s at the North Academy Jun is able to solidify his persona, and it’s at the North Academy he is able to start building his own deck instead of using whatever his family provides.

His individualism and desperation leads him to Ojama Yellow, his need to keep his family life and dueling life separate leads him to the other two Ojama brothers, and his first steps in the professional field created the card Pride Shout. His growth as a duelist, and his relationship with his spirit partners, is linked to the distance he has from his family. His communication with duel spirits, while a physical reality in the show, also functions as a device to show Juns road to self actualization as he comes to terms with his own identity.

And then we get to the actual treatment of his duel spirits. It's made clear through the anime that he does like his duel spirits, and that they know it. He has several decks, not because he's some great duelist like Daichi, but because he cares for the spirits attached to them. And if a card has no purpose he will make them one- either through strategy or by making a whole new card out of pure will.

Despite all this, hes a fucking asshole to his duel spirits. He writes on their cards, he yells at them, he hits them, he throws them in the dirt. While a lot of this behavior is easy to write off as “typical tsundere Jun” or as a gag, I can't help but wonder what's so different between Fubuki, for example, and Ojama Yellow. They're both flamboyant, loud, and annoying. Maybe it's because Ojama Yellow is pathetic. Then what's the difference between Fubuki and the Dark Scorpions ? As a duelist, the decks function as an extension of his character, and his fate more often than not relies on their performance. All things considered, he should be treating them with respect.

I think, specifically for his deck, his distaste comes from the fact that they are an extension of him. Not because he has a horrifying inferiority complex, but because the spirits then function as a part of his identity that he can not control. He can choose the cards in his deck, for the most part, but he can not make the cards act in any specific way. And I don't necessarily think he wants to control how the spirits act, instead he happened to meet them during a time he had no semblance of control after spending years of his life curating a very specific image for himself and he had a hard time coping with the fact that everything he worked for may very well disappear soon if he doesnt start acting in a specific way once again. This is also why he starts being nicer to his cards in season four, the moment he gets his identity back, the moment he has a direction in life, he calls Ojama Yellow his ace. Love !

So like. Why did I say all of that ? Well, I feel like outlining how his familial relationship actually works and how he manages things like duel spirits is really important to understanding how he’d approach a queer identity- and thanks to bandit Keith homophobia is ambiguously cannon and I’m going to accept all the baggage that comes with. I see a lot of queer readings of Jun’s journey begin and end with Chosaku’s duel, or be reduced to “well the card's name is Pride Shout.” And that’s. Not it. To me, Jun’s queer journey never did begin. Not on the outside at least. The duality between his flashy attire and self image issues, the contrast between his free going deck and his need to uphold the family name, the lingering control that the Manjoume group has on him through Chosaku and through public perception, it all just feels so closeted to me. I love that Jun was able to find a part of himself, but he was never able to fully embrace it out of shame until the very last duel of his. I love how he holds onto fear even after that moment. I love how much Jun does without actually doing, I love how he found a way to be himself despite living under his family's expectations, I love how genuinely stifling it is for him, I love how he never stops trying anyway. I think his character is best served in the closet, I think he needs to leave his family, but I dont think it's that easy for him. It's really hard to grow past the negative influences in your life when you set them as your goal.

Anyway nonbinary trans woman gay man Manjoume Jun realness !

#If anyone reads all of this I'm sorry and we are married (divorce is possible)#I KNOW THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE I'M SORRY #I suffer with a disease. It makes it impossible to put words into writing. I will try anyway !

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juniperhillpatient · 4 months

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ok I accidentally clicked a rage bait video & got sooo mad & now I have stuff to say. gamers who can’t handle controversial or taboo subject matter (first of all you’re weak) who insist on playing & discussing the coffin of andy & leyley anyway are annoying for numerous reasons but I think a specific thing that really just… grinds my gears the wrong way is the argument that the game exists “for shock value.”

well. first of all. I have to introduce you to this insane mind blowing concept in the world of horror where it’s occasionally meant to shock & horrify the viewer. I know. I know. take a second. take it in. it’s a lot.

but also. DUH a game with genuinely horrifying content is playing on that in its marketing??? obviously? sorry you’ve never seen horror marketed before ever I guess.

but it’s also so deeply unfair to one of the most compelling & well written games I’ve ever seen to just… Idk. reduce it to shock content?

when I first introduced myself to the game it was because of the incest & cannibalism. yeah. Im not ashamed or fake enough to not admit that obvious truth lol. I’m sorry that’s kinda it’s whole gimmick / marketing ploy let’s not like. pretend that’s not the main stuff that draws people in. but the actual amount of time we spend on those topics??? outside of subtext??? it’s minimal.

you have to make very specific choices to even see the demonic vision of the siblings fucking because it’s horrifying to Andrew & Ashley’s response that “maybe this is a way to keep him around…” Is like. Deeply depressing & telling of her mental state.

this is not like. a soulless porno game that just does this stuff out of nowhere? not that there’s anything wrong with that! I’m not shitting on porn. I for real genuinely don’t see a problem with people enjoying fucked up porn if they want to that’s just…. genuinely & actually not what this complex horror story game is & it sucks that it tends to get reduced to that?

I just find it so insulting to the incredibly talented writers of this crazy fucked up & nuanced story about abuse, codependency, & choices none of us ever wanted to make to reduce it JUST shock value schlock.

and this is NOT an insult to shippers. I’m a shipper. it’s just me saying it’s so unfair & stupid to hate on this game like it’s some kind of random shock value generator & not a smart piece of creative fiction when you’re clearly just not mature enough to handle the dark themes idk. this is literally all a reaction to annoying YouTubers don’t worry it’s no one I’ve seen on here lol ok anyway bye

#tcoaal #I just went on a rant. ignore meee haha

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brandonxdylan · 10 months

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Ranking the GAY EPISODES of Beverly Hills, 90210 - Part 1

Pride month may be coming to a close, but I didn’t want to let it slip by without doing a little something special. I thought it would be fun to do an overview of all of the gay-themed storylines from the series. There were quite a few of them over the years (although not as many as there were seasons of the show, which perhaps is saying something), especially considering for a show that didn’t have any significant queer content on a consistent basis, and certainly no gay regulars to speak of. These episodes run the gamut from throwaway fluff to pretty dark and heavy, and I’m going to rank them in terms of how effectively I think they handle the “gay” element (spoiler alert: not well), as well as how satisfying they are in terms of soapy drama.

I really tried to give these episodes a fair shake, knowing that it would be pointless to judge them for not delivering deeply nuanced takes in an era where we simply were not getting that on prime time network television. I feel like they still mostly fall short, but there’s enough good stuff in here to warrant some genuine consideration.

A couple of caveats before going forward. First of all, some of these episodes deal with some serious themes (AIDS, suicide, gay bashing), so consider yourself trigger warned. Secondly, this post is all in good fun, so lets not take it (or my hot takes) too seriously.

#8.) Crimes and Misdemeanours (Season 8, Episode 19)

Kicking things off, in dead last we have this dud from season 8, which has precisely one, single joke to offer, and still manages to screw it up. Steve runs into a woman at the Peach Pit, and while flirting with her, makes passing reference to Brandon, his “partner.” Obviously, he means business partner, but when she invites Steve and his “boyfriend” Brandon to lunch with she and her “girlfriend,” she clearly means it, and Steve somehow doesn’t think anything of it, and is all to happy to report to Brandon that he snagged them an awesome double date. At lunch, the two “couples” somehow get through the entire meal just beating around the bush, with the women (obviously lesbians by this point) clearly referring to Brandon and Steve as a couple, but these dummies of course don’t pick up on any of this out of sheer dimwittery and, I don’t know, super thick hetero-goggles or something. No, it’s not until Steve and Brandon are invited to the women’s apartment for dinner (which Steve expects to be an orgy, because of course he does) and they’re literally staring at the one bed shared by both women that either of them start to realize what’s really going on. Gay panic ensues, and the whole thing is played for laughs (not that there are any). I’m a sucker for these ridiculous sicomy setups involving misunderstandings and misplaced romantic interest, and this show can occasionally do them well (the luau episode from season 10 is a fabulous example of this, and also has some fun gay content - more on that later), but the problem is none of this is funny or surprising. Neither is it insensitive or exploitative. It’s just kind of stupid. The reveal can be seen coming a mile away, and the whole episode is just buildup to what I’ll generously call the punchline. A better show would’ve done a lot more with this, maybe playing with the concept of Steve seeing heterosexuality as the default, and being blind to other possibilities. Ideally, it also would have had more than one joke.

#7.) Comic Relief/Santa Knows (Season 8, Episodes 13-14)

David takes a job at a car wash, where he notices a bunch of his coworkers making very boring and unimaginative gay jokes about a young male employee named Ben who lives in the garage’s office due to the fact that his dad kicked him out for being gay. David confronts Ben’s parents in the hopes of getting them to see the error of their ways, but the interaction ends with Ben’s dad choosing to declare that “I don’t have a son,” rather than accept Ben for who he is. It’s really harsh, but in dad’s defense, David has very little tact, and it’s really none of his business considering he met Ben five minutes ago. In spite of this, Ben still holds out hope for a reconciliation. While his mom is somewhat more receptive than his dad, she still tells Ben that it’s for the best that he give his dad time to cool down. David once again intervenes, asking Ben’s mom - a woman who is very clearly deeply torn between her love for her son and her need to grant her husband the authority he commands - why she can’t just explain to her husband why taking Ben back in is the right thing to do, as if it’s just that easy. And that’s really the problem with this storyline. It deals with some really dark and emotionally complicated subject matter, and it’s just so glaringly obvious that telling this story from the perspective of a detached outsider is not the best way to approach it. Especially considering it’s David, whose track record for empathy and compassion is fucking zero. Give this to someone like Steve, which would allow him to experience some emotional growth alongside Ben’s parents, or Valerie, who has her own history of familial turmoil (though she does pop up later in this episode and isn’t much more helpful than David, so maybe scratch that one). All of this proves to be too much for Ben to take, and David discovers that he plans to slit his wrists. This is where Val gets involved, as she and David basically just berate Ben into not hurting himself, with Val insisting that she understands Ben’s particular struggles more than she actually does or possibly could. They both give him the “tough love” treatment which, hey, is maybe not what this kid whose parents openly hate him actually needs. Still, it all ends up somewhat happily because of course all Ben and his parents really needed was for someone from the gang to show up out of nowhere and yell at them a bit in order to figure their shit out. This is a story worth telling, but coming at it from the perspective of someone who has nothing to do with it doesn’t allow for much depth. And it really doesn’t satisfy as a soapy plot line either. Even that would require more of an investment from the viewer, and we simply don’t have time or reason to suddenly be all in on this character who comes out of nowhere for two episodes and then disappears forever. Ultimately, this story is just too bleak and depressing to be much fun, and too shallow to be emotionally satisfying.

#6.) Summer Storm (Season 2, Episode 3)

This isn’t ranked low because it’s a bad episode. On the contrary, it’s actually a pretty good episode from one of the show’s best seasons, and builds on one of the show’s most iconic storylines - namely, Brenda and Dylan. However, that doesn’t really concern us here. What does concern us is the B story, about how Kelly meets a cute volleyball player named Kyle. They flirt a bit and eventually go on a date, but when Kelly starts putting the moves on Kyle, he suggests they cool it. Spoiler alert, it’s because he (sort of) comes out as gay later in the episode. But even if he didn’t, Kelly’s reaction to this is really weird. She takes it oddly personally that he doesn’t want to get naked with her on the first date, and gives him the cold shoulder the next day. I haven’t watched these early seasons in several years now but I guess Kelly’s always been a pouty drama queen. Anyway, Kyle does eventually confide in Kelly, telling her that he’s tried to be into girls, and that he genuinely likes her, but that he knows they can’t be more than friends. It’s kind of cute, and Kyle’s conundrum is a pretty common one. Though it’s definitely possible to assume he doesn’t come out as fully gay because the show didn’t want to go too far, it’s also kind of nice to get a portrayal of a character in the process of figuring out his sexuality, without any clear resolution. That is how it works in real life sometimes after all. But considering this is such a minor storyline and the queer content is pretty tepid, it’s hard to rank this any higher than I have it.

#5.) Baby, You Can Drive My Car/Family Tree (Season 10, Episodes 8-9)

Dylan meets with a guy named Andrew, who is one of the directors of a local community centre for kids, in order to discuss making a hefty donation. Andrew makes passing reference to an ex-boyfriend, which prompts a discussion about how Andrew has to remain closeted among co-workers out of fear of losing his job. He knows that there are some bigots out there who would have some not-so-great feelings about a gay man working with their kids (that old chestnut), and his co-director is apparently one of them. Dylan tries to reason that “hey, it’s the 90s,” and that Andrew shouldn’t have to be closeted for those reasons. Andrew, of course, knows better, and while he agrees that no, he shouldn’t have to, the fact remains that he does. To demonstrate that at least he accepts Andrew for who he is, Dylan puts his arm around him in a playful (yet platonic way). Unfortunately, this happens in a dark parking lot and within the presence of a group of homophobes whom proceed to attack Dylan and Andrew with a baseball bat. While Dylan manages to wrestle the bat away from one of the guys (sure) and escapes with just a few bumps and bruises, Andrew doesn’t get off quite as easy. Dylan’s eager to spill details to the cops, but Andrew refuses, on the grounds that he not only doesn’t want to drag this whole unpleasant incident out any further, but he also doesn’t want to draw any more attention that might put him (and his job) at further risk. Andrew’s fears prove to be perfectly justified when, through circumstance, his co-director, Patsy, finds out anyway, and suggests Andrew take a (permanent) leave of absence. As is always the case with this show when there’s a Gay in trouble, a member of the gang makes it their problem to solve, and so Dylan confronts Patsy about Andrew being let go. Although Andrew specifically tells Dylan that he doesn’t want his help, fearing that pushing his luck with Patsy is just going to make things more public and humiliating, Dylan says that he can’t justify donating to a bigoted organization, and he threatens to pull his funding if Patsy doesn’t agree to hire Andrew back. She reluctantly relents, allowing Andrew to return to work, but she pulls her son from Andrew’s basketball team, and soon enough, more kids start to drop out for the same reasons. As things escalate, Andrew decides that if his presence is going to detract from the mission of the centre - to provide care and support for kids - then he should quit. However, Dylan swoops in with one more ace up his sleeve. He talks to Patsy’s son directly, and gets him to question whether he really is uncomfortable with Andrew, or if it’s just his mother’s influence that’s making him think that way. This works, and all of the kids who had previously dropped out assure Andrew that they not only want him there, but they need him there. All in all, this is a decent storyline, but it does engage with a few tropes that rub me the wrong way. First of all, it’s never not at least a little annoying to watch straight characters sanctimoniously decide that doing their version of “the right thing” is more important than respecting the wishes of the gay characters whose safety and livelihood is what’s actually at risk, and this storyline is a pretty egregious example of that. It also follows the usual 90210 pattern of having characters just badger others relentlessly until they conveniently get their way. Granted, this case gets a bit of a pass in that regard, because the tirade that Dylan fires at Patsy is kind of satisfying, and Luke Perry is a good enough actor to make it feel properly motivated and believable. We do love an ally king.

Watch for Part 2!

#beverly hills 90210 #queer #90s

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monstersinthecosmos · 1 year

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When you rbed my vampire psych post, you tagged something about Armand’s “trauma hole.” I must know - what is Armand’s Trauma Hole? Devastate me, Kacy.

I WANNA SAY BEFORE I START btw if I had money and wasn’t in the US I’d go to college for psychology strictly to write vampire meta lmfao but yknow what, I don’t have a formal education and I just listen to a lot of psych podcasts and I AM, MYSELF, SOMEONE WITH A TRAUMA HOLE so that’s my qualifications here LOL.

So I have sort of a running headcanon called The Trauma Hole Theory and like it’s not completely solid so don’t take my word on this but it’s a fun thought experiment.

It comes down to two questions: Do vampires have neuroplasticity? and: Does The Blood know to fix neurological differences? *

*(This point in particular is a whole separate topic because I’d said that the vampires’ neurobiology IN ITSELF makes them neurodivergent, as in, operating differently from the average human. But neurodivergence isn’t a thing that needs to be healed or cured, simply a difference in structure, but I wonder if The Blood categorizes differences in brain structure due to trauma as an injury?)

And the thing is like, we’re never going to have an answer because it’s not something Anne planned around. Even like starting with the Mayfair books and going into all her weird cosmic questions in her later life she always talked about biology & medicine like it was magic LOL so who knows. I wish I’d had the chance to ask her this!

But to be more specific, I need to know: Is the Blood able to cure what’s wrong with your brain, or does it freeze your brain exactly how it is?

I can make arguments for both because there isn’t an answer in canon and if you start fine combing you’re going to find a lot of conflicting evidence. We can also handwave this away as “the Dark Gift is different for everyone!”

Claudia is one of my favorite examples to look at, because we have to ask: Is she a monster because she doesn’t remember being human or is it because her brain development got frozen where she wasn’t awesome at empathy yet? A lot of studies say children have empathy by the time they’re 4, so maybe she’s in the clear! But how much of her early life and development were stunted by malnourishment?

This also gets into the canon that some of the vampires who were turned younger are a bit wilder, less impulse control, etc. Lestat, as an example of a permanent 20 year old with poor decision making faculties, vs. Marius who although sometimes cruel, has the patience to play the long game. In canon it often gets framed that it’s about the deeper experience of being human but I wonder a lot about how it interacts with brain structure. I’d also ask how much of this is simple behavior that they can learn to correct if they want to. Like, is CBT effective for vampires if there’s nothing physically wrong with their brains?

(Anyway I need a psych degree to understand more about how brains work and like, the nuances of how undead vampire brains work where they still clearly FUNCTION but like, I need to know which parts are frozen, how their emotions work, why do they have super photographic memories and telepathy and new powers but we assume their prefrontal cortex is stuck at their mortal age of development how does that affect the overall brain function!?!?! I'm making shit up to fit my angst headcanon needs to don't @ me LOL.) ((Hekate you in particular should weigh in with your headcanons bc you're smarter about this stuff than me!!!!!! I'm just a lowly angst headcanon troll!!!))

So anyway like, trauma causes neurological damage/structural changes to the brain. It reshapes your ability to see logic. I’m sure if you’re having sort of acute panic in the moment of being turned, and your amygdala is poppin and your brain is full of cortisol, maybe the Blood takes care of that because it’s temporary. But when you look at someone like Armand, who had endured years of trauma before he was turned, I wonder how much of that more complex/long term trauma is just wired into his brain.

SO THE TRAUMA HOLE AND THE QUESTION ABOUT NEUROPLASTICITY IS:

If the Blood fixed Armand’s brain where it was, can he ever truly heal from it?

There’s a thing in real life with HUMANS recovering from trauma that sometimes we are so unable to accept that Things Are Okay that we’re constantly on guard or create problems. If Armand permanently has that space in his head telling him that it’s dangerous, that something is wrong, that people are using him; is he always going to find ways to fill that hole and create drama?

Living in squalor for 300 years in a cult felt like a way to stay with this feeling, to not allow himself to even try for safety and happiness. In the Theatre, even trying to be better, he still allowed himself to partake in atrocities.

And with Daniel? Gradually allowing himself to feel things even though he’d been reckless with his pet? But really trying?

Even after finally turning Daniel it became a self-fulfilling prophecy; he believed he wouldn’t be a good maker and I have to wonder if he actually tried or if he just allowed that anxiety to dictate his behavior.

In Trinity Gate it’s like he’s doing his best to be domestic but still takes this role of running the household and keeping everyone safe. He’s got these crazy secure crypts in the basement. He’s the only one who wants to kill the replimoids.

Marius tells him that he has the ✨savage & ignorant soul of a child✨ AND ?????? HE’S NOT WRONG? EXCEPT IT’S SUCH A SHITTY WAY TO PUT IT. He’s just still very much his wounded inner child trying to navigate danger at all times.

CBT could still work on vampires, I think, in terms of teaching them a set of rules to follow. It wouldn’t be unlike teaching them to mask. But if it’s not something that can be healed, we can always assume that if Armand is behaving, he’s just going through the motions for the benefit of the people he loves, and not that he’s less hurt and uncomfortable on the inside.

#trauma hole theory #vampire chronicles #armand #i'm sad about armand again good morning!#deep ass thoughts about vampires #anne rice #vampire brain science

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headbeachincharge · 1 year

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question for the mun: what do you enjoy the most about hatter?

IN THIS ESSAY I WILL—

(tw: suicide, mental illness mentions below the cut)

I don’t mean to be pretentious, but since the first time I watched the show, I was just enamored with what he represents. I could throw a lot of sayings at you— “Do the ends justify the means?” and “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” are the two which most readily come to mind—but I think that’s just being needlessly vague.

To me, I think he was a very honest look at what a suicidal person looks like. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’ve seen them. Both in my life, and staring back at me in the mirror. One of the things people love to say about people who do attempt suicide (which he did, “successfully,” in season one) is that “we had no idea it was that bad.” And most times, it’s true. Suicidal people generally mask their pain. To the people around them, yes, but also to themselves. It’s a survival mechanism.

He builds an entire world to combat his own hopelessness while also trying to help those around him. Although it got twisted along the way due to his intensifying mental illness, I do believe that he was truly trying to help others while helping himself. I don’t think he believed the actual strategy was going to work, but I do think that he believed it would be enough to sustain him. The drinking? Coping mechanism. Indulging in sex, food, partying? Distractions, a way to get relief from the unbearable reality of his mental illness and the horrors he had witnessed. All of the things he did, from making those grand speeches to killing “traitors” for playing cards, were desperate attempts to keep his reality alive. And, by keeping his reality alive, he was able to keep himself alive.

A detail that I’m quite fond of is how he mentions the death of his partner at the original Beach. He had committed suicide, and Hatter is clearly deeply affected by it. I think that Hatter recognized those feelings his partner had been having inside of himself, and he was terrified of ending up like him. The Borderlands Beach would be his second chance, not only to relive the “glory days” of his host club career, but perhaps even as a way to get the “right” ending where everything is okay. Or, okay enough, at least for a time. He knew it wouldn’t last forever, but maybe it could last long enough to save the people he loves, Aguni in particular. This is purely speculation on my part, but I think it aligns with his handling of grief.

I have to commend the writers on creating such depth and nuance in a character who didn’t have much screen time in the scheme of the show. I have to commend the directors on knowing how they framed him and told us things about his character even when he wasn’t talking. The editors did an incredible job of putting together a cohesive and well-paced story.

And, of course, I can’t forget Kaneko Nobuaki for his performance. Not only did he play the silly guy and the serious guy so well that they were able to bleed into each other, but he made me believe it. Hatter is a truly outrageous and ridiculous character on paper, and to bring that to life in a way that felt at least somewhat realistic (given the circumstances of the show universe, of course) is no small feat. Side note: “Smoking” on Netflix is a (very dark) show which I believe really highlights just how weirdly good he is at balancing silly and serious, sometimes swinging between them multiple times throughout a scene.

Now if you don’t want to read all of the above because my GOD that’s a lot, here’s the TL;DR

Hatter is a complicated character who provides an honest and raw look at a person who is suicidal while also being entertaining to watch and expertly crafted by the people who brought him to life.

#alice in borderland #aib rp #aib roleplay #aib #danma takeru #hatter #Alice in borderland meta #Alice in borderland analysis #I feel like I could’ve written so much more but also….girl……calm down

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chinloopa · 2 years

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House Of The Dragon S01E02

Continuing my review of each episode we’re on to episode 2, titled: The Rogue Prince!

Clearly there are a LOT of spoilers here, so please don’t read if you don’t want to be spoiled!

We’re a little slower to start this episode, but we open with our first look at the official opening sequence - and it’s to the previous opening theme music!!!!

It’s as lovely as it ever was in GOT - though maybe a little less clear what’s going on as we move into it. No map this time, instead we seem to be moving through an ancient tomb of some kind - or maybe even the streets of King Viserys’ pet project in his royal chambers - the carved city of what is either old Valyria or perhaps plans for an expanded Dragonstone. We get a bloody rose line flowing between different mechanical sigils, connecting families and alliances that I’m sure are important but I honestly couldn’t keep up with them. It’s less clear what’s going on and what the significance of the visuals are but it’s still beautiful to look at for sure and it’s so nice to hear the old theme music again!

There’s a lot happening between characters this episode, less action and more stage-setting but that’s completely understandable. Milly Alcock’s ‘Rhaenyra’ is still carrying this show, but Emily Carey does a lovely job as ‘Alicent’ picking up some of the slack. I was actually very surprised to see some major chops from ‘Laena’ actress Nova Foueillis-Mosé for how little screen time we got of her and how young she is. She was poised, believable and surprisingly endearing. We get a cast change next episode - Laena will be played by Savannah Steyn moving forward, so I’ll be very sad not to see more of Nova on screen - in my opinion she stole the scene between Laena and Viserys in the gardens.

Matt Smith is a powerhouse. He has had very little screen time thus far and still manages to shine spectacularly every time he’s front and center. His depiction of Daemon Targaryen is nuanced, complex and so enjoyable to watch. There’s currents of spoiled brat, potential villain and ‘Mad Prince’ in every moment of his performance but there’s a vulnerability and sweetness there as well - that’s a hard combination to achieve and Matt nails it each and every time he steps on screen.

We also get more of Eve Best as ‘Rhaenys’ or ‘The Queen That Never Was’ this episode, as well, and - just as I predicted - she is every bit the Sassy Queen we deserve in a GOT spin-off - a barbed tongue to compete with the Queen of Thorns herself. She and Rhaenyra have a brief ‘stand-off’ of sorts and it was lovely to see. The way these two actresses feed off of one another was incredible to watch, they were both totally in their element and 100% on top of their game. I can’t wait to see more of Eve Best as the season progresses and I hope to see more scenes between her and Milly, they really played well off of one another.

The scene on Dragonstone between Daemon and Rhaenyra steals the episode for me, however. The chemistry and tension between the characters alone was utterly profound, but the CGI scenery and dragons are the best we’ve seen to date. The long stairway to Dragonstone looming out of the fog is stunning and so visually appealing, but then we get Caraxes crawling onto screen and I actually caught my breath. He is a beautiful work of digital art and every time we see him he seems to get even more lifelike and fluid; The Blood Wyrm indeed! We briefly see Syrax as well, but not nearly as much as I’d like - she is just as stunning as she was in the first episode, however, so how can I complain?

Daemon and Rhaenyra’s stand off is everything I want and need in my life. Rhaenyra as a character is definitely quickly becoming a favorite, and Daemon isn’t far behind. Once again, however, I find myself liking almost all of these characters. Viserys, who I was not too fond of last episode, moved up a few points in my opinion by refusing to wed Laena, despite pretty much everyone telling him it’s the right move at the moment. Alicent is still much too young for this, but she’s better suited to the role than Laena would be. The tense stage between Rhaenyra and Alicent moving forward has been set to absolute perfection and I cannot wait to ache and cry for the falling out between them. I wish they had a happier story, but that’s not the nature of what we’re watching here.

A shoutout to ‘Corlys Velaryon’ actor Steve Toussaint, he brought Corlys front and center this episode and held him there marvelously. He wasn’t as strong a presence as Rhaenyra or Daemon or even Rhaenys - but I get the feeling that was intentional. Corlys is a quieter sort of storm, and I know for sure we’re going to see much more dramatic things from him moving forward, especially with he and Daemon’s secret meeting at the close of the episode.

The Crabfeeder... aaaah, we got our first look at this mysterious character this episode as well. I don’t know if they’re setting him up to be a ‘Big Bad’ or if we’ll see him eliminated as early as the next episode, but either way his design was fantastic and highly memorable.

The costume and design department for this show have really proven that they are not here to fuck around - each and every one of these characters are decked out to the nines and we love to see it.

FINAL RATING: 10/10

As far as I’m concerned, this is the pinnacle of television. Everything from the writing, to the cgi and costuming and sets. The acting, it’s all here and it’s all as good as it gets. House Of The Dragon has cemented itself as THE show to watch right now for me. I have nothing to critique or complain about right now except having to wait six days and twenty hours to see the next episode!

COME ON HBO! Get on the BINGE wagon and give us the whole season all at once, cowards!

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an-odd-idea · 3 months

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Episode 6 here we go!

Ok now I’m really seeing what people have said about nuanced/realistic depictions of certain things

The Fire Nation occupiers getting whatever they want just because they can, people turning in their neighbors, even those who helped them, prisoners not wanting to Rise Up because at this point they’re just trying to Not Die, even when one of the main characters gives an impassioned speech about it

How did they make me so invested in Haru and his dad in such a short amount of time? It was so cool when they were earthbending as a team, and I love that the dad sort of instantly adopted Katara when she arrived

Katara sure is showing a pattern of getting really ride-or-die attached to random people after one adventure together lol

Sokka is simultaneously very endearingly practical (the one with the braincell a lot of the time, really) trying to keep them out of trouble, but also it’s sweet how he knows when Katara’s going to do something with or without his help and decides to help her

The plan to rescue Haru was laughable, like what was the game plan, exactly? Also what if they just straight up killed all the earthbenders, instead of “taking them away”, that’s what they did to the airbenders? But anyway, the fake fight to pretend Katara was earthbending was funny

Oh man the Fire Nation ships would have scared me to death back in the day. “That looks like a place with heavy machinery that somebody could get caught in” and then my week was ruined. Glad I’m watching this now

The guy playing the Warden was clearly having So Much Fun, and I love that for him. Also the thing with the captain was great

Oooo, maybe Haru will want to go find Katara’s necklace and bring it back to her, since he was looking for a way to repay her

(Or maybe Zuko will give it back to her when it’s redemption arc time eeeee, I don’t ship it, I just love the anticipation of Awkwardly Nice Zuko still trying to figure out this whole Good Guy thing *Zuko voice* I uh, found your necklace, a long time ago, I mean a while ago *Katara voice, incredulous* And you kept it? *Zuko voice* Well it was a clue, to track you, but then… I figured it was probably important to you, so. Here.)

#i watch atla

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margridarnauds · 5 months

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Unrelated to the writing asks, have you ever thought about bringing 1789 to broadway? Who would you cast? Any specific staging ideas?

God, I've thought about it so much over the years.

From this post from 2019, here was my dreamcast at the time:

After hearing Reeve Carney in Hadestown, I’m actually curious about what his Ronan would sound like, even though I think that I would never be fully over “OH MY GOD, RONAN’S SPIDERMAN.” But Reeve Carney has the chaotic twink vibes that I feel like Ronan needs. I still feel like he needs more GREMLIN, but I can’t think of anyone who could really give me the gremlin vibes I NEED. I don’t know, I don’t follow Broadway all that much these days since I switched to Toho/Zuka/French musicals. Lazare (1) For a Toho-esque Lazare, I really, really like Norm Lewis as a possibility. I think that he could NAIL Lazare, and he’s already played Chauvelin and Javert, so it’s like…the Trio must be completed. He has the voice, he HAS the stage presence, and he does a PHENOMENAL job at playing authoritarian assholes who nonetheless remain nuanced. Any racists who want to argue about plausibility can and will have a brick-length biography on the Chevalier Saint Georges *delicately* applied to the back of the head. (2) Ramin Karimloo, for a more Carnot-esque bent. Look…I KNOW, I KNOW that he tends to be in everyone’s Top 10 Fancasts For Everything, but…I DO think that he has the voice for Lazare, he has the stage presence, and he has the fanbase. My only concern is whether or not he’d bend my son a little too much towards the dark side. (3), which is obviously dead serious, Patti Lupone. Because she would be TERRIFYING. Marie Antoinette - SPEAKING OF EVERYONE’S MOST OVERUSED OPTIONS, I genuinely do think that Sierra Boggess could do a good job. Look, her enunciation sometimes bugs me and I’m not going to pretend that she’s my ULTIMATE FAVORITE CHRISTINE EVER, but she has a fun, sparky attitude, with the range to also do Antoinette’s more somber moments, she has a high enough range that I wouldn’t be TERRIFIED of her high notes (not to name names, but…you know who), and I just genuinely think she would have a fun time in the role. Olympe - Eva Noblezada Solène -Mandy Gonzales. Artois - Josh Young

And I'll add, since I've thought about this more over the years:

Camille Desmoulins - Derek Klena

Lucile - Philippa Soo

Artois - Tam Mutu

Danton - Josh Young

Robespierre - Aaron Tveit

I would follow the Toho production more than the French -- We want something that feels contemporary and modern, but that isn't too abstract, with a solid 2 act structure. French musicals can be a tough sell to American audiences and I refuse to explain the apocalyptic furry tea party sex nightmare. I honestly think that this would be the perfect time for 1789, just because a lot of things that it was doing 10 years ago are now popular courtesy of Hamilton. I've seen a lot of people, even in French reviews of it, call Molière l'Opera Urbain "French Hamilton" and I'm here like "Okay, clearly they did take inspiration, you can see that from the logo, I'm not saying they didn't, but also, French musical theatre did Hamilton before Hamilton. We're seeing American influences strengthening a pre-existing French framework."

The dancing can stay the same, the overall style can say the same, I would probably borrow and refresh the costuming ideas from the French, making a style that keeps the silhouettes from the time period while also modernizing them and giving them a sleek, luxurious feel. Silks and satins for Olympe and Marie Antoinette, Robespierre can keep his black velvet coat and his red and black color scheme.

We're living in the age of projectors in musicals -- I think we could do more with that. I'd love to see a creative combination of physical staging and projectors to really highlight the extreme highs and lows of France at the edge of Revolution.

My gold standard doesn't actually come from either France, Japan, or America, but from Russia, with the staging of the Anna Karenina musical. (The entire musical just. Looks like this. Legitimately one of the most gorgeous stages and blocking I've ever seen in a musical *anywhere*)

We know that in my ideal world, I would pay Attia and Chouet a hundred million dollars or something so I could totally rewrite 1789 and make Peyronan canon, but since I CAN'T do that, there are a couple of things I would fiddle around with lightly, such as emphasizing the close relationship that Ronan and Solène had before everything went to shit and giving Solène and Olympe the stage together during Pour la Peine. Something that was done really well in a bootleg Japanese production I have was that they did have Lazare getting wounded during the Storming of the Bastille, with Ronan giving Solène the choice on whether to kill him or not. I would cut out the plotline to both Japanese productions on Solène becoming a Respectable Woman and let her stay as a sex worker.

Something potentially controversial, and that I'm not even sold about, is minimizing the historical figures -- it isn't that I don't like them, it's that (1) They create a lot of clutter and (2) They will not mean as much to an American audience. To a Japanese audience who are used to Rose of Versailles (and to an audience of Japanese musical theatre fans, who might have watched the Takarazuka Robespierre musical, Azure Moment, the Scarlet Pimpernel, The Poem of Love and Revolution, and Marie Antoinette) they are already familiar with Robespierre, Danton, and Desmoulins. They are Standard French Revolution Figures, we expect to see them.

...for an American audience? It isn't like I think that they're DUMB, but I'm saying that 1789 would face the same issues that Elisabeth would face on an American stage -- trying to make this part of history that Americans do not know all that much about, that isn't really part of our national identity, and to make it appealing and fun. That's a tall order. There's a reason I always said Rebecca had the best chance of being adapted of all the Kunze and Levay musicals (though maybe Lady Bess, especially on the West End), and it's because it's an adaptation of a book that is required reading for a lot of students. (It also isn't lost on me that it feels like this is only an issue. With American audiences.)

...I don't want to cut any of the three of them, not really. I love Au Palais Royal, I love A Quoi Tu Dans, I love the original staging for Ca Ira Mon Amour, but I feel like Danton is kind of the most expendable of the main cast. He can be cut, while Papa du Puget's role can be slightly emphasized more, both to emphasize Olympe's family life and to shed a little light on what the politics of the Bastille were like, since he was a very interesting man who was involved in a lot. Make Necker a ghost character who's mentioned but not seen. Cut Antoinette's love affair with Fersen, possibly give "Le Temps s'en Va" back to Ronan and Olympe, making it a sort of love at first sight situation before shit hits the fan. Tie the show's two villains, Lazare and Artois, closer together so it doesn't feel like two messy plots.

They're painful changes to make, I'm not sold on them (except for cutting Fersen), but I think they might create a slightly stronger show. In the absence of the audience being really familiar with the show, we have to settle for creating sympathetic, likeable leads and a strong love plot. If we don't have that, the show flops.

#long post #1789 les amants de la bastille

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allthenobodyppl · 2 years

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So I went to see James McAvoy in BAM’s Harvey Theater the other day. I didn’t get a chance to post pics until now, but it was such an amazing performance! I splurged on really good seats. Let’s be real here, I wanted to be seated close to James lol, and boy was I super close omg. There were a lot of times that he was literally right in front of me. Thing with this stage is that there wasn’t actually a stage. The actors were on level ground with the first row and it was super intimate. I actually went to see the livestream of this play a few years ago and there has been a number of changes by the time they revived it and brought it NY. I really liked those changes, I think it’s made the play better.

There was one big change that I really appreciated (although, some might think it’s just a tiny change, but it’s a pretty big change to me, personally). In the livestream a few years ago, during a fight scene, James did the Asian Kung-Fu cry (think Bruce Lee’s signature “hwaaaaa” cries). I mean, it was done to be cute and funny, and I’m sure no one had any ill intentions by adding that bit, but I didn’t really like it at the time. This time in NY, that bit was cut out and I thought that was very good of them. I was expecting to cringe, but I didn’t need to lol.

I think that James showed a lot more vulnerability this time around and it was great. He cried, he sobbed, he wept, he raged like an alpha lunatic, then brought it all back down to his insecurities and the pain it caused him. His way with words and his range of emotion was just absolutely heartbreaking (of course, there were some funny moments too). They gave him a lot more time to express sadness and to cry as well. In the livestream, they tend to let him macho it up and only gave him a brief moment to shed a few manly tears. Here in BAM, they gave him the opportunity and the time to fully weep.

I think James said he toned down his Scottish accent to help make sure Americans can understand him...but I felt that he upped the Scottish accent since the livestream, to be honest lol. But I liked it, it was, ya know...really hot lol.

There’s also a shirtless scene and in both the livestream and at BAM. I noticed that James had this black line on his left hip (well, my left, his right). I don’t know if that was just drawn there for the play, or if James has a real tattoo. The shirtless scene though. I’m gonna honest. He got me thirsting. He worked out really hard; his figure was amazing. He actually got a little six pack going on too. When he took his shirt off, I heaved, and just my bad luck, that was the exact moment he decided to make eye contact with me. Christ. There I am, the perv in the audience with the heavy breathing.

There was also slight changes on how the actors interacted with each other. I thought the livestream gave off an ever so slightly air of pretentiousness, but I didn’t feel any of that when I went to see it in BAM. During the livestream, most of the time, the actors didn’t really interact with each other. When speaking to each other, they actually would just stand (or sit) there stiffly and face the audience. I mean, it was great to see James’ face so clearly like that, and to see every nuance of emotion that flashed through his eyes, but it wasn’t something I’m used to seeing and it felt weird. This time in BAM, the actors interacted with each other a lot more and they faced each other when speaking. Of course, they still stared into the audience for certain scenes instead of speaking to each other, but it felt less forced this time around.

One scene that was also changed was when Cyrano found out Roxanne was in love with another man, Cyrano took out his sadness self-destructively and Ragueneau asked him if something happened between him and Roxanne. In the livestream, he just smiled bitterly with some manly tears in his eyes and Ragueneau held his hand to comfort him. At BAM, Cyrano full on sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks, his face just completely red and broken, and he cried against Ragueneau’s shoulder. It felt like during the livestream, all of the characters held each other at arm’s length, but here at BAM, they're a lot more intimate/affectionate with each other.

They also played on the bisexuality of Cyrano and Christian a tad more. At BAM, when those two men meet, Cyrano and Christian hugged (or “embraced” as Cyrano demanded) longer, and had a little slow dance kind of thing. It might have been played off for laughs, but it can also be interpreted a bit more seriously too. In the livestream, it was a very quick manly “no-homo” hug. They also shared two kisses at BAM, instead of just one during the livestream, and both were much more passionate. Also, they seemed a lot more buddy-buddy at BAM and they had a very obvious bromance. Edit: I was reminded that they did kiss twice in the livestream, whoops! But I do remember the kiss being a bit more subdued in the livestream, whereas it was more passionate at BAM.

I didn’t try to do the stage door thing, because I remember James saying he wasn’t comfortable doing it since covid is still raging on. I didn’t want to push my luck and try and end up annoying him or something.

#james mcavoy #cyrano #cyrano de bergerac #nyc #play #Broadway #off broadway #review

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thetaekookcloset · 2 years

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Sorry to be a "typical tkkr" but it really bothers me when Jimin forces himself on Jungkook, when clearly JK's not liking it. I really don't understand why the company pushes jikook so intensely, either. Why do they need to promote a ship at all? Can't they just let people watch content organically?

And I'm sure JK and Jimin shippers think the moments are all 100% natural, but a lot of the moments look exaggerated for the cameras. Take the moment from after one of the Vegas shows where Jk picked up Jimin and a million cameras who were waiting around, swarmed them. Clearly, the company loves to throw the pairing in our faces for some kind of effect.

I enjoy seeing Jungkook and Jimin interact naturally. But then Jimin will be extra and get up in Jungkook's face and be all obnoxious about it. Almost like he's been told to play it up for the cameras. I know you probably won't want to comment on the Jimin stuff because you'll get destroyed in the comments. But I just wanted to throw my opinion out there.

If TK are in a relationship, I can't imagine the fanservice stuff goes over well. Especially when Jungkook and Jimin are going full-throttle with it. If I were Tae, I'd be super annoyed that my friend is doing that kind of stuff with my boyfriend. I know that it's up to them to set boundaries, but if they've set boundaries, it certainly doesn't look like it. It's all so strange to me.

I feel like it's easy to believe in jikook because it's basically spoon fed to the fans by the company. A lot of times I don't blame people for following the obvious narrative.

This is such a tricky thing to talk about because I really feel like it’s so nuanced. Obviously you’re entitled to your own opinions, and as long as you’re not being nasty toward anyone, I’m okay with sharing them -- and you’re not, at all. I think everything you’ve written here is really well-reasoned and presented.

There are some things I agree with and some I don’t really, particularly in regards to how Taehyung may or may not feel about Jimin and Jungkook’s fanservice, but even that’s nuanced. I mean, at the end of the day, it’s part of their job, you know? Maybe Jimin does take it too far sometimes, but then so does Taehyung, so does Jungkook (less often, admittedly, but occasionally). When you’re playing around with other people, you’re bound to push a little too hard sometimes.

Personally, I think that part of Jimin and Jungkook’s dynamic is pushing each other’s buttons, on purpose, as a form of play. And yeah, sure, sometimes Jungkook doesn’t want to engage with that. Sometimes he pulls away and doesn’t laugh and looks uncomfortable, I agree. But then sometimes his teasing or refusing to use honorifics with Jimin gets under Jimin’s skin too. Sometimes you’re just not in the mood for that kind of thing, and it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with your whole relationship.

I’ll be frank. I don’t think it’s fair to hold Jimin solely accountable for the fanservice or any lines that might get crossed or any feelings that might get hurt as a result. As you said, it’s up to the people involved to set their own boundaries, and just because people outside those dynamics don’t understand them, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with them.

I think elements of Jikook’s dynamic might grate on people because it’s physical, and watching someone be physically uncomfortable can create sort of a visceral reaction. I feel it too honestly. When Jimin gets really close in Jungkook’s face and I feel like it’s so obvious that Jungkook is uncomfortable, it makes me feel uncomfortable and I don’t like it.

But those moments don’t exist in a vacuum. Jimin’s relationship with Jungkook goes on beyond them, and it includes plenty of moments with no such pushing -- and moments where Jungkook is the one pushing too. And so do Tae’s relationships with both Jungkook and Jimin, and all of those relationships seem perfectly healthy and comfortable overall, from what we’re able to see. Bringing our own judgments to them doesn’t change that.

As far as the ship being pushed by HYBE, I honestly think this is a simple matter of Jikook genuinely having fun together, having good chemistry, and being safe to show off. Plus they’re two of the most popular members, so it makes a certain amount of sense that they get shown off more often than other pairs, especially when it comes to selling content.

You are, of course, well within your rights to be frustrated by it, or bothered by it, especially for things like capitalizing on Jungkook’s physical discomfort for, I guess, shipping fodder on the one hand and laughs on the other. Like I said, that bothers me a bit too. At the end of the day, though, all of the members need to find ways to navigate their real friendships and the fact that entertaining is their job, and we don’t really have any reason to suspect that they’re not doing their best with what they’ve got.

I hope this makes sense. I’ve had a stressful day and I’m tired. I could be incorrectly interpreting the push-and-pull, prodding each other’s buttons, mutual teasing relationship that Jimin and Jungkook have, but I just feel like, as you’ve said yourself, we see a lot of natural interactions between them, so we know their relationship is a good one. Either the teasing is just an extension of that, or it’s mandated fanservice, but either way, it’s theirs to navigate, and we can enjoy it or not enjoy it, but we don’t really need to understand it, because it’s theirs.

#ask #taekook and members #taekook and fanservice

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iamvoid0 · 2 years

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How this Magical Girl JRPG Handles Trauma - Blue Reflection

I wasn’t originally going to do a piece on Blue Reflection. However, after playing the Blue Reflection: Second Light demo, I thought, “damn, this shit dread”. Upon learning that Second Light was the second game in the franchise, I got the first game for the PC. Second Light’s demo was a great introduction to the game’s real-time strategy mechanics. Second Light was clearly leading from the first game, and I wanted to also enjoy the story.

Blue Reflection is a fantastic slice of life RPG which centres itself on teenage girls and the issues they face being teenagers. Going from a mundane plot line about a girl wearing makeup because she likes the art it can produce all the way up to sexual assault and trauma. Blue Reflection takes a nuanced look at emotions and how it interacts with the characters, crafting a unique identity for itself in a sea of over-the-top RPG clones.

In this essay, I’ll look at how the game handles itself, its severe and traumatic topics, and how it uses the plot to inform game mechanics. While this will not be a review, I will call out specific issues with the game and praise what many should be taking notes of.

Chapter One — Is this Slice of Life?

Once I got into the game and played for an hour or so. Something quickly hit me. This is a magical girl, slice-of-life JRPG. At that moment, I couldn’t recall the last time I saw a game like this. It was a breath of fresh air in a genre that defines itself on over-the-top dramatics, punishing gameplay, and a complex lore system that spans genres.

I have to be fair to Blue Reflection, and it carries profound lore that expands itself much like the JRPGs and RPGs that came before it. The gameplay systems are decently complex, but with an air of accessibility to them, where I didn’t actually feel frustrated learning or playing the game.

The game can be considered a casual RPG, though I believe this classification to be a bit limiting. The game is very relaxed. It makes it easy to pick up and just play. However, a lot is going on here, from manually levelling up your characters to keeping track of the multiple NPC characters and their relationships with one another.

Overall, the game is a fun experience that shines once you don’t let the little things bother you. The game isn’t perfect, but it is worth your time.

Chapter Two — Magical Mechanics

I am writing this piece primarily to look at the game’s stories. However, I want to take a moment to talk about the game’s RPG mechanics.

The game starts you off as Hinako Shirai, a ballet dancer who injured her knee the previous year and has been unable to follow through with her dream of being a dancer. You eventually encounter another student consumed by their emotions, and they begin acting out. You then meet Yuzuki and Lime Shijou, who grants you the power to become a “Reflector” by giving you a ring. Though their decision seems simple at first, later, it is revealed that there is much more to this decision.

You jump into the Common, where everyone’s emotions are shared. In “The Common”, there are monsters who respond and feed off different kinds of emotions. The common also has these crystals, which house the deep-held emotions of the person whose emotional state you are in. Once you break enough crystals and beat the main antagonist, you leave the common and go back out in the real world, where you help the person, gain friends, and gain their fragments which help you in battle. The game incentivises you to do as many quests as possible, make new friends and earn their fragments which can help change the way you battle and power up your moves and character. It really leans into that whole, “Oh, you’re a God? I’m sorry, but you don’t have the power of friendship.” This also serves as a good allegory for friends supporting each other in emotional distress.

The game has a mostly grounded, real-life, slice-of-life aesthetic. Then the bosses show up at the school, and they are literally these massive, biblical-style angels, titan-like monsters. The designs are genuinely intriguing.

Weaknesses are displayed to the user using symbols. And it doesn’t tell you when it changes. And it only tells you after you’ve attacked. When I pick a circle attack, there is no visual indicator to determine if this is a weakness or strength. I simply must remember it. It’s all grey. This is a real-time battle, and it is hard to remember square, circle, and triangle in the heat of the fight. It’s easier to remember when games use colour to help you differentiate between weaknesses and strengths. Then sometimes, some monster just chooses other battle weaknesses in the middle of the battle.

You can take up to four friends into battle. And they offer bonus stats, such as health, attack up, healing, etc. The game wants you to complete as many side quests as possible to unlock friends to use in battle. When you invoke one of your friends during your turn, they make quite a spectacle.

Another point is that other games use emotions as a part of gameplay mechanics, such as the ill-fated Princess Peach game. (let me know if you want me to do a write-up on that)

Another thing to note is that the entire cast of this game is girls aged 15–18. And all of their stories are just normal but real stories. Their stories are also, at times, tedious and petty. In one account, we have a girl named Ako, whose subplot involves her being like, “oh my god, my father would never approve of my career choice”. And you have to then save Ako because she was too stupid/stupid to understand that journalism isn’t that bad. And her father, who is an in-universe rockstar, would be proud of her. I didn’t care for this plot point, but it shows what Blue Reflection does well.

If you’re looking for female-focused, hyper-feminist, lead games, you’re not going to find them here. The game has many fan service moments undermining what Blue Reflection wanted to stand for.

Chapter Three — There shouldn’t be any fan service

It really becomes unbecoming by the mid-game. You’d get a low-angle shot at the start of the game, looking up, and I’m there thinking,” oh, okay, fine, it’s a little weird but okay”. But then it keeps happening. Every few cutscenes would be this weird angle camera, and you’d stand there going, “What is this?”. Especially given the content of the game and who it is meant for.

I think the game needs to reduce or altogether remove the fan service especially given the target audience.

Chapter Four — A breath of fresh air

I grew up with Hamtaro, Card Capture Sakura, and Totally Spies. Cartoons and anime that are female-focused and whose storylines are tailored towards girls. I watched several popular ones, and I enjoyed them as well. There is a demand for this kind of writing style and slice-of-life. I have not seen this kind of slice of life and female-focused writing in a JRPG. Others may have been produced in Japan but haven’t seen a translated release. I’ve played many dating sims and visual novels, though I only play the critically acclaimed ones.

Some people will criticise the game for leaning so heavily on emotions. I understand the history and its implications of it. However, at the same time, I think the game did a good job showing the player just how emotions can become monstrous when left unattended. It can be violent, and it can feel like a battle for some people. There were some issues. Some emotions were represented well, and others not. The game has potential.

Every girl in the game is just their problem. Their characters are only as deep as the problems they face. Despite this, you do get to help them along with their problems. You get to see them resolve issues through direct or indirect actions. There are times when, even though you ‘solve’ the character’s issue, the character themselves need to be willing to accept the help or do the work required to move on. So every quest may end, but ultimately it isn’t up to the protagonist whether or not the characters are better in the end.

Blue Reflection is an excellent female-focused story you don’t really get to hear or see that often in games.

Chapter Five — Not All That Glitters

The characters may not be very unique visually, but the issues they face vary greatly. There are more minor issues, such as some girls being jealous of an exceptionally gifted girl because of her makeup.

One girl loves makeup and wanted to share the joy of makeup with her friends. She thinks that’s all she’s worth, and it’s the only way for her to make friends. She goes and helps them put on makeup and wants all of them to love makeup. When she goes and helps these other girls put on their makeup and puts on hers, The fellas tend to like her. For one girl, in particular, it made her angry at the makeup girl. She didn’t understand what she was doing wrong when nothing was wrong with her. And the individual was projecting their insecurity onto the makeup girl, which made the makeup girl insecure. She bonded with people over their love of makeup.

There were issues where the main protagonist is constantly battling her accident which stopped her from dancing, and her friend, who knew about it, used it against her. There were issues where the characters were intentionally lying about other characters so the others would isolate and bully them. The game’s storylines can be charming and easy-going, but when it takes a turn, it is a sharp turn.

One of the girls finds a camera in the changing room, and I was like, holy shit, that’s a real fucking plot line. I was getting ready for a teacher doing this, and we would have to do some real shit here.

A girl and her friend discovered the camera and realized someone was spying on them in the changing rooms.

One girl is furious and wants to desperately find the person, and the other is like meh, whatever, let me play on the phone. It may seem weird to some, but those are accurate responses if you’ve interacted with or seen people deal with and process trauma. Some people might fight hard to make sure this never happens again / reclaim power for either themselves or others. Some people might just recluse themselves into whatever they can to prevent from processing it. It could be tv, movies, music, books, going out, clubbing, and anything else. This was really good to see these actual responses. It was entirely out of nowhere. You get Saturday morning cartoons, then boom.

I was fully prepared for a conclusion where it was an adult, a principal, a teacher, or something along those lines. I was fully ready to see how far the story would go with these issues, maybe evening speaking on society as a whole.

And then we find out it’s a girl.

Not just any girl, it’s the Captain of the girls’ team. She placed the camera there. And I was like fuck, I genuinely didn’t expect them to say it was a girl.

But then it was never addressed.

The girl who wants to know more and bring justice gets angry, and she gets angrier when the other girl who reclused doesn’t want to address the issue. As they both get angrier, they go rampant, and you must go into the common to fix it. And you find their crystals and break them, and you feel what they feel. Then you come out in the real world, and then Lime says you can try to help someone knowing fully what they have been through, but it may not always work.

I think it was an excellent plot point to have the characters acknowledge that this is all they can do at this point.

It was good that they provided a nuanced look at something as serious as this. Certain things can mess up people in various directions that we don’t simply understand or know how to deal with.

In another game, it might have been a switch. You know you break the crystal, and everything is fixed. Especially if it was a side character, you see the quest would have been done, and you probably wouldn’t think about it again. The game deserves credit for adding the nuance when I didn’t expect it.

You focused on the people and how they were affected. We don’t know the real repercussions and what the actual punishment was. It was okay to just leave and connect the dots for some others. This quest affected the entire school.

That was the last plot point I went through, and maybe it was addressed further down the line. So ultimately, I don’t know if the character in question was punished or if the victims ever got any relief or dealt with it.

I think they addressed some of it was really good. It was a great nuanced quest and arc. The game set itself up to have an honest discussion about the issues.

Chapter Six — All together now

Blue Reflection offers a diverse set of characters, stories, and personalities for every kind of person to get attached to. Each character comes with their own problems and nuances and adds a great deal to the story. It’s a fun take on an overdone RPG style.

There are problems with the battle system, but the moves are well designed, and a lot of visual candy is associated with it. No action really feels tedious. However, coming down to the end of the game, you’ll find the moves that do the most damage and just use those to complete the game. You’ll spam AoE and knockback moves mostly. When that fails, there is Lime. Who, for some reason, is an absolute unit. She has some kind of hidden damage modifier that makes her hit enemies like a break wall. She is, without a doubt, op.

I think she was placed there to ensure casual players can power through the game. It is an excellent way to keep the player moving, especially if they might not have been competent or advanced in RPG mechanics.

Some topics here you don’t find in other games. There are many cutscenes, and hopefully, they’ll reduce it going forward. Fanservice is still a big problem that can affect playability. Don’t rush through the game; otherwise, it becomes frustrating.

Overall I’d love to see more depth and nuance in the characters. I feel like this game really has a lot to offer.

Even though it exists within its niche medium, I think the game can go beyond its niche and help craft a new RPG style that appeals to gamers who would like to see a story with a more modern touch and more profound stories.

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The Void Calls, Will You Answer?

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psithurista · 2 years

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Dumping all my thoughts about the finale:

I loved the progression of Marc and Steven together having now achieved cooperative control after they’d broken down their memory barriers; Steven knowing how to fight and defend himself and others while Marc’s showing more temperance and faith in himself, esp. when Harrow was talking about his mother pulling out “the weed” to prevent what happened to Randall—it would’ve hit too close to home and I don’t think Marc would have been able to handle it at all prior to his journey of acceptance in the last ep but now that he has better access to Steven’s emotional intelligence, he seems more at peace with himself which was honestly lovely to see

Layla and Taweret working together makes me ridiculously emotional, and I really hope Taweret sticks around and stays friends/allies with her even if they no longer remain linked through the avatar business. And I hope Taweret is able to help her find some peace around her father’s death. I’m not a big MCU person generally speaking and I don’t always love massive CGI superhero fights so a lot of this ep felt like Avengers 5 or something which is personally not my favourite thing (though I’m relieved that the Hulk or whatever didn’t show up for a cameo fkdjdbsb), but I do think it’s extremely cool and exciting to see an Egyptian woman as a superhero (even if it was a bit much that Marvel was patting itself on the back about it mid-episode lol)

I’m v happy about the fact that they returned to Steven’s apartment in the end. I’ve seen a few people question this but I think it’s a nice full-circle moment. It was pretty obvious that that’s the life Marc wanted: to have Steven’s peace and safety and simplicity, and whether Steven is back working at the museum or not, I feel like they’ll be happy living there together like a pair of lil goldfish besties. Having said that, l do hope Layla’s going to work things out with them and, back to the emotional intelligence thing, I think Steven is going to be instrumental in repairing their relationship and having certain difficult convos that Marc couldn’t handle on his own (at least until they realise they’re still missing time and that Something’s Up and they figure out the deal with Jake)

There’s a pretty uncomfy undertone in the way they’ve painted Jake to be the “bad one” that’s super sus to me, and also plays into harmful stereotypes around DID patients having an “evil side” or being unpredictably violent. It’s clear that Jake’s supposed to be, if not an outright bad guy then at least morally questionable considering he seems weirdly elated about killing people (and yeah, Harrow definitely needed to die, but like the music choices and showing Jake grinning creepily as he chooses to continue working for Khonshu def has a certain Vibe). I’ve seen a few comments on the fact that he’s Spanish-speaking too, and while I’m sure that was Oscar Isaac’s idea because we know Steven’s British accent was his idea and it makes sense to differentiate the alters as clearly as possible through distinct voices/accents/languages, it kind of adds another layer that’s just a bit…hmm, and I wish we’d gotten to see a little more dimension to him because people who haven’t read the comics are likely just going to be like “Oh, there’s a bad one!” and why wouldn’t they? because the show gave us no nuance to suggest otherwise

This is maybe an unpopular opinion? but I’m a bit sad to see that it looks like we are probably getting a second season/film/whatever, just because I feel like wherever they decide to take it now, it’s going to stray farther from the core allegory around healing and mental illness and being a really emotional character-based story which tbh is the main thing I was really here for in the first place (and also just to Look at Oscar Isaac because come on now let’s be honest ldndn). But I really did fall v hard for this version of Marc and Steven and feel invested in their relationship with Layla and their future together so who knows! Regardless I will probably just stfu and greedily inhale whatever content they decide to produce for us to consume

Anyway if you made it this far what did you think of the series? Love it? Hate it? x

#nobody asked but i just needed to scoop my brains out real quick #shut up sam #moon knight #moon knight spoilers

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its-ashley-95baybe · 1 year

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Honestly more concerned about the amount of CO2 those two's private jets must be pumping out... PR or no I would feel morally icky about visiting my partner so often like that when we're witnessing so many climate disasters. I'm an actor too. I always fly economy or train if it's available. It's in my contract. I'm sure they could make do like all of us non-millionaires do with long distance relationships.

Honestly I'm still mad that Zendaya had that big birthday party during covid, made sure it was super quiet and no one could post about it, and got zero flack.

It kind of creeps me out how good her PR team is. Never more than a whisper of her being less than perfect. I don't think she's a bad person, I just think she's human. It's a little culty.

Tom is my ultimate 'I can fix him'. I don't know what him and his agent are doing but one of them needs to learn how to read a script and tell whether it's good or bad. He said Cherry was the best script he's ever read :/ Honestly perplexed by his decisions from a business standpoint. He could go anywhere for his TV debut and he goes Apple TV with a story about a criminal with DID which has been established as a thing Hollywood cannot be trusted to portray with accuracy or empathy. The only rationale I can see is that he signed an old-school Hollywood studio deal (these are coming back, look at Chris Hemsworth and Netflix) and Sony got to him when he was young and naive and excited about Spiderman. The whole thing reeks of an old hollywood business deal. I think that's part of the reason he appears so unhappy. Studios secure actors for a 'type' of role, think Judy Garland = ingenue, and that's left him playing one type of character, which I think he's great at but he's not going to win awards and that man clearly wants an Oscar. Awards are so political and the academy just don't nominate dorky young man #2. If I was him I'd work on those films I've said I always wanted to direct, hire a writer other than my brother because I can't tell a script with potential from a trashfire, and cast myself in a role I've always wanted to play and no one would ever cast me as. He's got the clout to at least get an indie film up.

This somehow turned into a business rant. Sorry. So much of your worth relies on your image so when you get to a certain level you've got to be carefully picking your projects. I think Zendaya will be fine and practically untouchable. Her and her team are very smart. It'll be interesting to see if she has more range or whether she'll remain a 'face' actor or a character actor. Some of that is probably not her fault as there's only certain portrayals of a black woman that Hollywood currently accepts. No matter how skilled she is as an actor she will always have jobs because she's established herself as a marketable brand. Weird comparison but I think The Rock has done the same thing just very different ball park. You don't hire The Rock because he'll give you a killer performance with a nuanced character, you hire him because he's The Rock. I honestly can't think of anything problematic enough she could possibly do that could cut her down now.

okay rant over.

First off let me just say that I don’t read a lot of long messages and even more so want them to keep going.

Also I don’t know if you’re new here or not but I enjoyed the breakdown of everything.

Tom’s roles make sense especially when he’s been lobbying to play Fred Astaire for the longest( Lip Sync Battle and probably further) I’ve been saying his team is severely slacking and after the first Spidey he should’ve been everywhere. Idk if Tom wants things handed to him because of his role as Spidey but I just don’t see him reaching that “star” level. I’ll continue to say there’s no way you’re around Z and her team that much that you don’t want more for yourself…..or maybe you don’t and just want attention based off of your relationship but again that’s not how you get your Oscar.

Flipping to Z…..she again has an amazing team that was built since she was 12. Always at red carpets and her name was always spoken(wrongly of course lol) I remember when people would ask what did she do and even that was enough to sustain an identity. They took their time,perfected their craft and now she has two Emmys and a fashion icon award and if her label wasn’t complete money hungry idiots she wouldn’t had a Grammy. They get it. They perfected it and everyone who works with her express nothing but love. She will be fine no matter what direction is taken.

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