#series: ip s2 thoughts

[dontexpecttomakesense]

I have words with the 4th season of Dragons: The Nine Realms

Once upon a time, we had How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. It was the third installment of the HTTYD movie franchise, which by that time had already branched out to comicbooks, videogames even, and TV series.

At the end of HTTYD3 (let’s call it like this from now on because I aint typing all that every single time), Hiccup, our daring and gangly protagonist, parted ways with Toothless, the wrongly named Night Fury, so he, and all the other dragons could take refuge in the hidden world, safe from any human attack.

That was, at the time the ending to the franchise. The final scene of a last flight with Toothless and his progeny had an adult Hiccup and Astrid, as well as their children, was the melancolic send off.

(Yes I am aware of that Chirstmas special short, but it’s just there as a bonus and has basically no weight on the overall plot. Also I’m pretty sure it chronologically happens before the last scene.)

Then Dragons: The Nine Realms came along. A show set in modern times, taking off 1000 years later, and sequel to both Race To The Edge, the last TV series the HTTYD franchise had, and HTTYD3.

The Nine Realms, unfortunately, cannot hold candle to RttE, which by many (or at the very least me), is considered the height of the HTTYD franchise. It has subpar animation and mediocre writing, had it not been for the IP it was attached, it probably wouldn’t have taken flight. One of the things this show likes to do once per season, is totease the connection between our protagonists, Tom and Thunder, and their ancestors Hiccup and Toothless. On S1 we have the lightning mark Thunder makes on the wall, on S2 we have arrow tip, and at the end of S3 we have the mistrerious cylinder, all with the same dragon crest.

The we have S4 who blow it out of the park, by revealing that, at some point Hiccup had decended into the Hidden World, strongly impled to also have gone there with his family, and lived an unespecified amount of time in the realm where the Night Lights had eventually settled.

This is where the problems start.

Personally, I’m not a fan of HTTYD3′s ending, it’s contradictory to the franchises themes up until that point, and the movie itself does a very poor job of arguing why the dragons have to go away, and why Berk cannot follow where they go. But it was still, it was a conclusion. Hiccup’s story, and the story of the dragons, had concluded. There was nothing more to be told, and the only thing we could do was wait until history became legend, and legend became myth.

But now, turns out that wasn’t the ending of Hiccup’s story with the dragons. There was more. A story we don’t know yet, and that I assume we’ll be told in the future season of The Nine Realms.

So what kind of problems does this bring?

For one, it absolutelly kills any sort of emotional depth the last scenes of HTTYD3 has. The final goodbye between Hiccup and Toothless? What’s the point if he’ll go down there and meet him again a decade later? And Hiccup and his family lived some time in there. That means that to an extent, Berk could’ve gone and lived in there. Their coexistence with the dragons could’ve been possible, so the separation at the end of HTTY3 wouldn’t have been necessary to begin with.

Furthermore, Hiccup was the chief. Astrid was most likely the second in comand, and their children were on the line of succession. So if all of them went down the hole, who was left in charge? Snotlout? Fishlegs? Eret, son of Eret? Valka??? (was she even alive by then?) And that’s not to say that any of these characters wouldn’t have been able to lead New Berk, perhaps not as good as Hiccup, but they were not incompetent. The problem is how negligent is of Hiccup to just, go up and leave. He basically fored everyone and everything to move out to that new location, and now he just goes up and leaves.

Another problem, thought I will admit this is more personal, it the fact that it was just Hiccup (and his family) that got to go to the Hidden World and potentially reunite with his dragon. Why wouldn’t Snoutlout and Fishlegs deserve the same chance? Is not their relationship with Hookfang and Meatlug not as meaningful to them as Toothless was to Hiccup? The twins and Barf and Belch, whil not as develope did too have a meaningful relationship too. Valka and Cloudjumper have spent more time together than any other character, what about their relationship?

I know that to an extent HTTYD is the Hiccup and Toothless show, but the way sometimes the other riders and dragons relationships seem to be dismised is annoying.

I’m sure that the writter kind of expected us to excited at the prospect that Hiccup when there and explored more dragons. But when you sold HTTY3 like you did, when the ending of that movie marked the end of his story. You cannot just, undo it for convenience. You are going against what your own franchise has set up, how am I supposed to be impressed by anything you write if you deliverately go against the stablished canon so flippantly?

...

Well this is a wall of text long enough. Better leave it here.

#how to train your dragon #httyd #dragons the nine realms #httyd3 #httyd thw #dtnr

[kafkaoftherubble]

Idk if you particularly care about the Crunchyroll Anime Awards but voting opened yesterday (https://www.crunchyroll.com/animeawards/vote) and the nominees for some of the awards are so confusing.

With the amount of cool anime that came out last year I’m confused on why there’s a lack of diversity in the options. Look, I loved JJK S2, but why is it in nearly every category 😭. I’m also reluctant to let MAPPA get any kind of a win due the horrid scheduling conditions the animators were put under.

It just feels like the people that were deciding the nominees were like “Oh yeah CSM, Oshi no Ko, and Demon Slayer were pretty popular, just throw it in there!” Also didn’t the CSM anime come out and end in 2022, why is it here?

Also as a Hells Paradise manga fan, I’m confused on why the anime adaptation is even anywhere NEAR these awards. Best opening I understand, but it was a show that clearly suffered from MAPPA overwork and then taking on too many IPs. It’s just clogging up nominee spaces at this point.

Yo, I forgot that it's time for that Anime Award thing again! I remembered the Game Awards but not this, damn. SHould we vote too?

Oh yea, 2023 was such a banger.

I kinda expected JJK S2 to show up in a lot of categories, especially since I think for a lot of them, it does seem rather deserving to be there... even if it takes away the votes for other work. I think about it this way: is it fair to deny someone from being a candidate in a race even though they qualify, just because they are very popular? For now, I lean negative to this.

Of course! Deserving or not is a matter of subjective taste! To that, I am happy to concede, haha!

That said, since the Anime Award is a popularity award, I think voters like us should try to balance out the votes cast for JJK to mitigate the possible expense of other deserving anime.

I don't remember if Crunchyroll would show the percentage of votes for transparency purposes when the voting closes, but I think it's useful to do that. If JJK wins, we know it's because of its meteoric popularity, not because its competitors suck. Then we can see how, despite the competition, some anime managed to score a pretty startling number of votes.

I think focusing on the statistics cuts straight to the heart of acknowledgment and appreciation of an art form, even if it lacks the glory of actually winning the first prize. But hey, it's low-stakes stuff in the end. It ain't the general or presidential election, innit? 😂

If only we could do rank-choice voting...

---

I also do not understand why Chainsaw Man is here. I also thought it would not be counted because it was from last-last year.

I kinda think Oshi no Ko deserves to be around, though!

Demon Slayer... has been like a goddamn mainstay for years now, jesus. I'm gonna refrain from opining about it precisely because I don't enjoy Demon Slayer, so anything I say may be inseparable from this personal bias against the work, ahahhaha!

---

MAPPA taking so many projects shows another issue now that you mentioned it: it's taking up a lotta places with different projects too! If you don't want MAPPA to win, because you want to punish them for the way they treated their animators, your choices will become so much more limited. It's not a full-blown MAPPAのpoly yet, but there is a nascent emergence of it. Brrrrr.

Just taking up so many of the candidacies—via their surplus products—increases the probability of MAPPA emerging as the shadow victor no matter what anime won. Well, well, well. Slick move, MAPPA.

Anyway, I'm spitballing here, but...

I kinda think that it's high time awards minimize the brand of the studio and start amplifying the names of certain teams contributing to the art, like... the lead animators and the director. Ya know, "Director X and Their Team" instead of "MAPPA studio."

And award categories should really expand beyond genre or whatever the host makes up. Some of their categories even seem meaningless to me, like "best continuing series." What's there to celebrate about a long-running series? Why can't a series just compete with other series, regardless of how long it ran, as long as it's within that year?

Instead, wouldn't it be better if we create categories for "best animator" or "best scene" or, hey! There's an existing one! "Best Art Direction!" But instead of letting "Anime X, Studio Y" be the rep, we actually credit the name of the lead animators et al., and then the actual scene within the anime itself?

That way, even a show with fewer fans could still get recognized for that show's sick artistic achievements (if applicable), and the people behind it are at the forefront of said recognition. While we as fans can still shower credits to a big-production show—since it's got a lot of really good stuff—with minimal "accidental plaudits" to terrible studio execs.

I kinda... just think that if award shows are meant to celebrate and acknowledge the medium of anime, why not really cut to the heart of it?

Who are we celebrating for achievements, and for what?

---

I did not read Hell's Paradise as a manga, hee hee. Don't jump on me!

So, with nothing to compare, I liked the anime enough. I'm actually not bespoke about sakuga and composition and whatnot; I'm as unsophisticated as they come, ahahah! I love the monsters and the flowers and stuff!

I love the story and the philosophical mix between Buddhism and Daoism. It's so rad. I also really admire Sagirin! And I like Gabimaru too.

All these alone actually make me like the anime /scratches head

...Yea I'm shallow like that! HAHAHAHHAHAHA!

PLUTO WHERE YOU AT LEMME LAVISH YOU WITH VOTES YOU BETTER BE IN THERE

---

Oh, the length of this reply qualifies so...

Thank you for reading my ramble!

#sorry this reply took so long #I didn't expect this ramble #also I'm not actually schooled in the whole animation stuff or dove deep into all of the studio issues #so if I sound like I talked out of my ass— #sorry. Please enlighten me on those parts ahahahhaha. I greatly appreciate it! #My thoughts were sincere though! Heh heh #anime awards #The Dude with the “Beijing Welcomes You” Earworm #a piece to the rubble

[joegranatoiv]

Picard, and The Moment I Knew...

With Picard S3 luring fans of TNG with the promise of getting the band back together again and attempting to lull criticisms with familiar characters, images, and the occasional musical motif, I thought it was a perfect time to articulate the precise moment that I knew that the show runners of this series had no real interest in the IP toys they were playing with.

In the first two seasons, there are so many moments that one could point to that were so tonally bizarre, so defiant of the spirit of the parent show, so incongruent with the reason that the legions of lasting TNG fans were eager for a better sendoff for this crew than Nemesis. I could write a laundry list of issues that I have had with the series on those terms. I think a fun sparring match could be had over which climactic scenario was worse - S1's absolutely needless, thematic thud that was Picard being turned into a sentient android indistinguishable from his person, with all the flaws, health ailments, and same general life expectancy, or S2's metaborg deescalating the final conflict by convincing borg queen, TNG era trek's arch nemesis, through two or three lines of shoddy dialog that the obscene galactic threat should try the tactic of being nice to everyone rather than conquering civilizations, and it worked.

And yet, neither of these laughable head scratchers even comes close to my biggest moment of criticism.

Like most I guess, I generally consider the TNG era of trek to consist of the sporadically connected The Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine. They overlapped in their chronology, had similar tone, and explored many of the same themes. TNG and VOY also connected over a central series antagonist, The Borg. While many will (justly) suggest that as fun as the Queen-led Borg were in the feature length First Contact and throughout VOY, the arcs often ran contradictory to the initial concept of the space-zombie hive mind consciousness and the horror of the emotionless, pragmatic approach to their seemingly unstoppable methods of conquest. But even throughout Voyager, the concept of the Borg make for a perfect foil to a United Federation of Planets and our vignette experiences with the crews of some of their vessels. Each Star Trek ship from the show's inception is demonstrative of an array of cultural identities working congruently towards positive ends with overarching inclusivity for a breadth of ideologies, and the benefits that come from cooperation over indoctrination. In contrast, the Borg strip individual identity and remove the inefficiency of dissent in exchange for collective, more optimized, singular purpose. It's always fascinating to see the achilles heel in the Federation play out as disparity, while the Borg's weak link is their inability to anticipate creative problem solving. And even when the Borg are at their hammiest in Voyager, I think these things still hold as their container, and in that, they remain watchable. That, though, is a wholly different conversation. In terms of this critique, I want to focus on the breakout character that gave Voyager renewed life in its third season, and is reintroduced in Picard, Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine.

Conceptually, Seven is a great sci fi character, and for every bludgeoning thematic riff the writers ran the character through, there are legitimately complex and nuanced sociological, ideological, and technological issues in the grace notes and overtones. In this respect, she is the Data of Voyager, grappling with high concept questions of identity and humanity for five seasons. Seven's story is tragic; originally Annika Hansen, a six year old child assimilated by the Borg, she is severed from the collective by Janeway and crew. This liberation is an inversion of Picard's liberation from the collective in TNG's Best of Both Worlds. Instead of reveling with the taste of freedom, it is a horrifying experience. She is severed from the only world that she knows - she does not consider herself to have been saved. She was kidnapped and robbed of her will by the evil Federation. She spends a long while attempting to rejoin the collective with the lives of her captors being inconsequential. She longs to return to the hive mind. She wants to be borg. And the ethical quandaries of the crew of Voyager preventing that are certainly interesting and resonant.

Through five seasons of television, we watch her grow. She never truly embraces the child that was assimilated, but she does make peace with the growing preference for her individual agency. It takes a massive character arc for her to embrace her humanity in the end.

Fast forward thirty years to Picard. She is a logical inclusion in this universe. Both Picard and Seven were once assimilated. The Borg are still the titular character's most iconic foe, and seeing the prejudices that a Borg survivor faces has the potential to make for great societal mirroring.

But it was in an arc (I use the term lightly) involving this character that I realized this show with its existing creative team would never be able to redeem itself.

In the 8th episode of S1 of Picard entitled Broken Pieces, our heroes are aboard a decommissioned borg cube, one that is being used to experiment on the former adversaries towards what we presume is some nefarious ends. The team of protagonists are outmatched and being hunted by the antagonists. That's when Seven has a crazy idea...

Let me say that the setup for this concept is exactly what I want for Star Trek. As I describe the event from a voice emanating from a fictional writer's room, I do so in an aspirational way. I can almost hear the pitch. "I got it," says one of the writers. "Seven is put in a dire position with major potential consequences. This has to, for some reason, take place on a decommissioned borg cube. She realizes that she has the capacity to jack in as a new borg queen and re-assimilate the thousands of borg drones, which is the only forseeable way to give our protagonists the upper hand and allow them as a group to prevent some terrible atrocity. But at what cost? Not only does she have to violate the minds of all those assimilated drones, becoming the embodiment of TNG's most prominent villain and the thing that effectively stole her entire life, but she also may find herself powerless to the allure of being at the center of the collective again, an instinct that has taken her 30 years to combat. What does she do? What is the greater good in this scenario? When presented with this lesser of two evils, could this re-assimilation be seen as a character's self sacrifice? Do we get sympathy for the proverbial devil, and come to appreciate the borg in a whole new way? Broader - we can hold a mirror up to contemporary justifications for war - maybe she loses control and becomes the thing she fears, and it's all a metaphor for the runaway military machine. Or in contrast, maybe we can even come to extend inclusivity to actual borg mentality and their ideology, and really draw red circles around the subjectivity of good and evil. It works on a character level, as this is the ultimate test for her! It might even speak to things like the fear backsliding in the face of addiction or empathy for a victim's subservience to an abuser out of consequence. It works on a thematic level, as it really examines AI and agency! It works as a TNG era plot! It fits into the narrative we're telling! It's great! What cool sci fi!"

And yes. All of that would be great. I actually imagine this as a Voyager / TNG crossover, or maybe a movie based on this exact premise at it's core, and I think it's fantastic. It has the potential to be one of those scenarios that defines what we love about Trek.

But let's really think about the execution. And herein lies where I realized just how much this show doesn't get it, and probably never will, and has yet to show me a single moment that demonstrates otherwise.

At 27:53 in the episode, the plan to become the borg queen and direct the drones to do her bidding to save the protagonists is articulated. At 28:09, the conflict is articulated. "They might not want to be released, and I might not want to release them."

(a bunch of other plots are explored before returning to this scenario).

At 40:50- 41:03, she jacks into the collective without hesitation. At 41:53, her eyes darken, and the entirety of the cube echoes a "We are Borg". At 41:14, the bad guys open an airlock. Every single borg drone is pulled into space.

The next time we cut to Seven, she disconnects and says, "It's over." It is resolved in the 13 seconds between 50:32-50:45.

So, to be clear, for what should've been a major event in this series, in context one of the most profound character moments for TNG, with huge implications on themes and consequences for the plot...it's inserted as less than a footnote. We get about 15 seconds of setup, about 15 seconds of CG "connecting to the hive", 10 seconds of actually assimilating the collective before the whole scenario is neutralized, and less than 10 seconds of tension before the character disconnects without incident, temptation, or consequence. Literally, functionally zero happened here. There was not compromise made. There was no consequence for the action. There was no character growth. There was no narrative push. There was no thematic exploration. And this entire intriguing, evocative, topical, powerful potential arc launches and lands in less than 50 seconds of screen time.

The teaser trailer for Picard S1 was over two minutes. The teaser trailer had significantly more run time than the combined total of one of the most powerful thematic arcs in the entire show. The opening title sequence is a minute and thirty seconds. The opening title sequence is longer than this entire arc.

And this in a season that ultimately turned out to be centered around the very concept of AI, autonomy, technological agency, technophobia, and identity...like, all the things that this scenario was primed to explore. I'm not reaching here - these were the things the script of the show set up. And that's the execution we get?

This was the moment I realized that there was no redemption, that the show wasn't really leading to anything, and that it really wasn't ever going to be a Trek-like experience. It was just going to have all of the intelligence and charm of a six year old kid playing with Trek action figures.

That level of quality has persisted throughout both the first and second seasons, and I'm not sure the promise of familiar faces in the third is reason enough to hope for anything more. It will inevitably just be more of this. Familiar things for the fanboys, high concepts brushed by at maximum warp, with no greater aspiration for any of it.

Brains off. Engage.

[yiqiie]

IDOL PRODUCER S2: E2 THOUGHTS

every week, i’ll sit down and watch the newest episode of Idol Producer Season 2 《青春有你》and write down all my thoughts. nothing get’s left out so get ready for a bunch of memes, shit posts and rants as we get through another season of our fave survival show 

feel free to send me any questions to my inbox and i’ll answer them asap!

a/n: sorry this is late! i forgot the episode was released yesterday welp but tbh saturday night is probably gonna be my upload day anyway 

start time: 10:42 am 

my internet is experiencing problems woooooo so this will be interesting 

so many goddamn ads 

wait who’s the team who were playing like instruments and shit??? they sounded AWESOME

oh damn recap of zyx being pissed off 

MILK ADS 

that chewing gum is actually pretty good ngl 

also the theme song is getting catchier so don’t be surprised if i start liking it 

i still feel so bad for the kids who are sitting out IN THE COLD 

[break while my internet decides if it wants to continue being an asshole]

MC JIN YOU’RE HILARIOUS I LOVE YOU 

‘if you’re a rapper, PLEASE LEAVE’ i’m dead 

zhang pd is sighing lmao 

chen si jian leggo 

IT’S A RAPPER I’M CRYING AHAHAHHAHAAH 

*awkward silence* 

he’s shaking omfg poor baby 

also minghao is really cute ily i never said it before 

HE WROTE THAT?? oof you got talent boy 

he got a zyx serious nod 

wtf he was so quiet??? and now he’s just rapping the shit out of this song 

HE CAN SING YES YOU GO BABE 

oh damn those lyrics 

is it an A? i saw in the description there might be an A today 

IT’S A B YOU GO SWEETHEART 

IT’S THE SMILER FROM LAST EPISODE 

i love their suits 

LI ZHENNING BABE YOUR SMILE 

black pearl i’m crying his skin is GORGEOUS 

HIS POUT 

ALL OF THEIR SMILES ARE SO BEAUTIFUL 

zyx and mc jin talking about shi mingze being similar to kris wu 

LOOK AT ZYX’S FACE MY EXO FEELS 

he looks like my uncle I SPIT MY WATER OUT LMFAO 

jia yi’s CLAPPING I AM IN LOVE 

THAT ENTRANCE 

HIP WIGGLING I LOVE IT 

the song was damn good 

mc jin lmfao HIS SOUNDS 

even the trainees know that their bets on other trainees’ grades are probably gonna be wrong lol 

YOU’VE SCARED THEM ZHANG PD 

jia yi why are you so fcking cute 

NO ONE IN C EITHER 

well their prediction wasn’t wrong they said all of them would be D together 

but :( i really liked their perf 

HE WANTS TO GO ON STAGE JUST TO SEE ZHANG PD 

what a precious bub i shall protect 

stretchy bendy boi

xu long han uwu 

WAIT 

HE WAS THE ONE WHO CALLED ZYX A DIMPLE LIAR 

AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH 

[pls excuse as my wifi loads again]

LI RONGHAO NOT UNDERSTANDING THE JOKE 

i actually love him 

oh jesus this song brings back the memories lmfao 

THIS KID IS FCKING HILARIOUS I LOVE HIM 

stretchy bendy boi again woooooo 

I’M CRYING HE’S SO FUNNY I LOVE HIM MUM 

we already knew he was F but still ;; 

YOU MADE A GOOD IMPRESSION THOUGH GORGEOUS ILY 

YAO MINGMING ILY HE’S SO CUTE 

LOOK AT HOW ADORABLE ALSKDJALSD

6 years as a trainee damn boi 

oh shit 

how is being this good at dancing fair holy goddamn 

THEY CAN SING TOO WTF THIS IS NOT FAIR 

[wifi cut off again so guess what i GET TO WATCH THE PERF AGAIN] 

zyx has his serious face on 

wait they just got up from that position WITHOUT THEIR HANDS 

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE

uh oh they ain’t getting As or Bs 

A C AND A D NOOOO 

okay i agree with his comments but c’mon they were nervous 

don’t worry babes you have plenty of time to improve! ;;; 

zhou shi yuan oh god i need to remember names 

HE DOES BIOMEDICINE?? DAMN BOI 

deep voice holy shit damn 

VOCALS VOCALS VOCALS 

omg so many vocals today 

BROMANCING ALREADY SHARING MILK 

okay that sounds weird 

THE BOY HE CHEERS AT EVERYONE WHO IS HE 

others: :| 

this boi: :O

omfg he’s a fcking meme too 

[paused while my mother makes me watch a David Attenborough documentary on bamboo] 

MAVERICKS LET’S GO 

MR X’S SONG WHOOP WHOOO 

IDOL PROD S1 FEELS LEGGO 

IT’S ACAPELLA HOLY SHIT LET’S GO 

vocals damn holy shit 

okay the dancing may not be as on point because there was a bit where they weren’t doing anything 

BUT I STILL LIKE THEIR VOCALS 

YAO CHI WHAT THE 

WE HAVE A B BABES 

GUAN YUE FINALLY 

MY BEAUTIFUL SMILING BABY BOY I’VE MISSED YOU 

even yixing is in love with his smile i can tell 

those sharp dance moves though 

I LOVE GUAN YUE GUYS 

honestly that was my favourite performance i don’t care what other people say 

it’s probably gonna be a B 

even though i want him to get an A 

LIAN HUAI WEI MY FAVOURITE BUB 

li wenhan holy shit you are fcking adorable 

YUEHUA LET’S GOOOOO

he forgot to bow WHAT A CUTIE 

LI WENHAN BEING A LEADER I LOVE 

babe don’t say you don’t want an F because zyx can sense fear and he’s gonna give you one 

i’M PRAYING FOR YOU ALREADY 

wenhan is such a soft boy omg 

JIAYOU BABES I’M ROOTING FOR YOU 

oh goddamn these slow mo shots are killing me 

OOF WENHAN GAVE ME A LOOK 

picking up the rose petals I AM DEAD 

guys i still really love jolin she smiled at me and i just forgot about my love for all the others 

jks li wenhan is singing at me now 

i want him to get an A but my bet is on a B 

NO Fs OR Ds WE DOING GOOD 

hu chun yang is really cute just saying 

told y’all so 

even though i wanted him to get an A

YES IT’S THE BAND HOLY SHIT 

THIS WAS SUPER GOOD IN THE PREVIEW 

oof i love it i love it i love it 

probs not gonna get the results i want them to get but WHO CARES I’M STANNING 

all Cs i can deal with that 

LIKE MY DAD POOR LI RONGHAO

i really like this guy’s suit 

wait i forgot his name 

i’ll wait till zyx says it again lmfao 

ZHANG PD SAYS HE’S HANDSOME 

chen you wei THAT’S HIS NAME 

HE GOT AN F WHAT 

oh here we go gramarie

okay i gotta say gramarie is really good at picking songs 

like last year it was a really good song too 

when are we getting an A 

the accents are so cute AHAHAHAHA 

zyx is losing his shit 

i missed their names though and their company 

there aren’t any left????

are there seriously no As?

oh damn 

i just noticed that the new trainee clothes are from new balance 

I AM CRYING FROM LAUGHTER 

such a good reference to ‘balance’ 

they’re really not going to give zyx a break lmfao 

theme song practice leggo

IT’S THE SM PRACTICE ROOM 

MY SM FAMILY FEELS 

i really do love the new uniforms 

THE DORMS 

WE’VE MISSED YOU 

bruh the gifts are better than last year 

wenhan you’re adorable omg i’ve said this so many times 

SOMEONE HAS A YODA AHAHAHHA

XU MINGHAO YOU’RE A GORGEOUS BOI 

and you’re a cutie too 

he speaks so softly too ugh ily 

lmfao their hands look like jellyfish ngl 

but damn xu minghao you’re a good teacher 

wang jiayi ;;; working when everyone left already 

ngl i’m not feeling the broship like last season where people would go out of their way to help each other 

he’s literally by himself and it’s nearly 6am 

jesus this boy is hard working 

LMAO once one person comes in everyone comes in ahahhahha

okay okay previews here we come 

wait removing the centre decision 

TO WHAT

oh damn future stages what a look 

I LIKE 

sidenote: i took a ss of this beautiful boy but forgot where i was going to put it so i’m gonna leave it here anyways. enjoy :)

finish time: 9:47 pm 

that’s all folks; tune in next week for another episode of mai’s shitposting whilst we suffer through another survival show together!

#i'm actually continuing this WOOO #idol producernet #idol producer #idol producer s2 #qing chun you ni #青春有你 #mai shit posts #idol producer s2e2 #series: ip s2 thoughts #text posts

[henpendrips]

2021 Retrospective

Thought that 2021 was as bad as 2020, if not more so? Don't worry, things WILL continue to get worse. Predicting 2028 will be peak Clown World Decade, starting out seemingly okay but going max bonkers past half-time. Precedent's been set, after all.

Now that the doom and gloom's out of the way: without repeating anything I said in previous yearly retrospectives, 2021 wasn't that eventful for me. Probably the biggest blunder might've been not using the Huion Kamvas that I got last year, even though I got it working properly in January. Not a single drawing was done with it, so a waste of money; and I had no excuse, I was locked in the house for the first half of the year, I had plenty of time. Also, my movie list being empty for the first time in over ten years was quite the bummer.

Instead of more demoralizing drivel, figured I'd just recommend some of the cartoon shows that I've (re)watched in recent years which I find to be worth a damn. Maybe if more people watch decent shows from yesteryear, they'll realize why all the horseshit 'content' that's been coming out is fucking atrocious. Not all of them are good, and they're not properly ranked in terms of quality or preference, but here they are:

.Spectacular Spider-Man - One of the best iterations of this IP, and a wonderful example of writing doing proper set-ups. Yes, I'm sad it didn't get its full run. No, I don't want it to continue, even if everyone involved were to come back;

.Futurama - Latter seasons are a bit poopy and less imaginative, but everything pre-movies is top notch comedy and sci-fi storytelling;

.The Batman - The first three seasons are fantastic in establishing Bats and how he handles the job and the Rogues Gallery. Has a weird thing where either character designs or their personalities don't work too well, and the quality drops hard in the last two seasons.

.Johnny Bravo S2 & 3 - Still fucking hilarious, every single episode. S4 was dogshit, so don't watch it, but S1 might be okay, I didn't bother;

.Wakfu - Watch the french dub. Transitions between each season is a bit lacking, I bet they tried to tie the show to the game. Characters are loveable, animation is great, story beats a bit 'ehn' when it comes to powers and reveals;

.Samurai Jack S1-4 - A lot of leniency has to be given to style, but most episodes work really well. One of those shows where it felt like it told every story it could, but hadn't outstayed its welcome (pre-S5);

.Ben 10 (2005) - Fuck everything besides the original series. Has a great blend of all things paranormal, and a kid hero who's properly characterized as a little shit with a heart of gold, learning and training to be a hero;

.Kim Possible - Surprised how decent the characters are, for teen caricatures. Not all episodes work, and some villain confrontations become slightly repetitive;

.Codename: Kids Next Door - Very absurd, especially watching it now, but the world is consistent for the most part. Worst episode is unquestionably the mini-golf one;

.Megas XLR - Pure satire of mech/kaiju/sentai media through an all-american lense. A good enough serving of what we get;

.The Mummy Animated Series - Alternate reality version of 'The Mummy Returns'. Less funny than the film, but the first season's pretty decent;

.Jackie Chan Adventures - Outside of its finale, S4 is the best, S2 is horrible. The show itself is not good, but entertaining. Shame its namesake is no longer with us, RIP;

What I DON'T recommend at ALL: The Mask Animated Series... it's so fucking bad. Not just from the writing, but also from the horrendous pacing and low quality animation in a lot of instances. Don't suffer like I did, just stick with the Jim Carrey movie, because the show isn't worth it. And Freakazoid, to its credit, gets better as it goes on, but not enough to recommend. Sucks that both of these toon-type hero shows don't work out.

Lastly, there's one more thing. One that I probably would consider one the best shows of the previous decade, in spite of its flaws. However, out of principle and spite (30/70 split), I'll never mention or acknowledge which show it is.

1And that's about it for my once-a-year vent session. See you in 2022, only 200 years for the roulette to pay off.

#henlp #text post #yearly retrospective #2021

[max--phillips]

i haven't SEEN bobf yet but what I've seen from gifs alone it does really seem like theres different stories going on. Like how can u make the tusken raiders be important to boba in one chap and then kill them the next?

Im thinking that maybe bobf is not doing good bc they were probably on the high of trying to be inclusive and make more series so people will get Disney plus.

How is it that mandalorian which is also a poc lead series was so good compared to boba Fett. Probably bc mandalorian was years in thought. Years in the making. Compared to boba Fett. Which i think was done bc everyone seemed to like his cameo in mando.

When i say mando is poc lead is bc Pedro Pascal is poc. So how come two series with poc lead actors , one be doing good and the other not so good? Again. I think it's bc one was thought out for a longer time.

Maybe, but Pedro is also behind a helmet 99.9% of the time and while he is a Latino, his ancestry is Spanish, therefore European. The point is that BOBF is a show about both a beloved character and a clone, the latter of which have been whitewashed to the point they’re unrecognizable, and even with Temuera Morrison trying (and to a degree, succeeding!) bringing specifically Māori culture to the forefront of the show, and other indigenous representation through the Tuskens, the show isn’t good. And yeah, maybe Mando was planned for longer, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that the writing is bland and the plot isn’t particularly cohesive. It doesn’t excuse why the special effects and props and what have you look bad. It doesn’t excuse that they had an entire episode of Boba Fett’s show without Boba Fett in it. And here’s the other thing: obviously someone said “we gotta do a boba fett spin-off” either early in season 1 when he was hinted at at the end of Chapter 5, or while they were doing season 2, because we knew we were getting the spin off when they aired Chapter 16. Which was more than a year ago. And they wrapped S2 in February of 2020 iirc. Like, the show’s had plenty of heads up. Probably a year or more of it. And with a studio like Lucasfilm with the help of ILM, it shouldn’t look like this.

I also have an issue with “on the high of trying to be inclusive.” I think you meant this as a criticism of disney trying to do the representation version of rainbow capitalism, but like… they’re a media company, they should just make good IPs more inclusive to begin with, not make new shittier IPs to say “hey look at us and all these POC we’ve collected! Buy our streaming platform!”

Ultimately though the fact that it isn’t well written/doesn’t look as good as it could isn’t as big of a deal as the fact they kinda fucked over Tem Morrison. And look, I like the show. I do. I just like Star Wars. But Star Wars is showing again and again that they can’t handle doing shows with representation of anyone other than white young people, and if they try they either whitewash characters of color to hell (TBB, TCW) or fuck over the actors of color along the way (TBOBF, the sequels). Idk. It’s frustrating and it feels like they’re… representation-baiting, if that makes any sense, by going “hey look over here! We got a show with a Māori and Chinese lead!” then going “oh wait you thought it was gonna be good??” after what happened with TBB and the whitewashing and the sequels and fucking over Poe and Finn and just. Yeah. I’m also probably not the best person to be talking about this either because again I cannot stress enough how white I am, but I’m not a complete idiot most of the time. Idk

#tori answers questions #max answers questions #tbobf spoilers #bobf spoilers #? #star wars

[tb5-heavenward]

Prelude, I am COUNTING on you to write a post-finale series for TAG. You write the boys soooo well, you know their voices as if you were related to them and I must know how it all works out now that Jeff's back. Like, is Scott still in charge or does Jeff become the lead again? Do any of the boys (read: John, because we love him) have a hard time with the change? Are Pen and Ink official?! Who is the spy in the GDF?! What does Jeff think of EOS?! Who really is the Mechanic?! I need to know!!

okay well, boy, well okay

full disclosure, as of this answer I still haven’t found the mental energy or brainspace to watch the latest and lastest ep, which is a sad but accurate commentary on how far this show has fallen in terms of importance in my life, because I remember the early days of staying up til five in the goddamn morning, with fuckin hola vpn doing all manner of evil via my IP address, just to watch the latest eps live on ITV. But times change, and times have changed so much that I’m no longer awake at 5AM anyway because I have to nurse a one year old back to sleep, but instead I have to be in bed by 11:30 at the latest so I can walk a six year old to school. Times change.

Anyway, that personal note aside, as far as my writing goes, my major projects have always been a magnification of the aspects of TAG I find the most interesting. Heavenward dialed that lens in on John and EOS and the intensity of their relationship, Harvard likewise focused on John and his most fundamental nature, and these days TA’s focal point is on Gordon/Penny as a couple and the way that all of the relationships both within and without this family ripple outward and overlap and interfere with each other, like a handful of stones thrown into still water.

I’ve been pretty transparent about how I feel re: TAG and the way its latest season went, and the problem with me taking the metaphorical cueball of TAG’s canon and trying to bank a post-series fic into the corner pocket is that I fundamentally disagree with the arc that canon’s taken, pretty much from the end of Season 2. Right up to the finale of S2 there’d been nothing I couldn’t manage to work with, barring a few mental tweaks and adjusted details here and there, but S3 just went so buck fuckin’ wild compared to what I would’ve done, storywise, that to try to write past the end of it is fairly untenable for me personally. 

And while those are all interesting questions, I’ve already addressed a lot of them. The spy in the GDF was a literal fucking rando in a goddamn raccoon burglar mask with a walkie talkie in hand. That is how far the writing had fallen, because if you want a couple of those questions answered right here and now, the mole in the GDF should have been Colonel Casey. And who the Mechanic really was should’ve been was Casey’s son, kidnapped and brainwashed and leveraged against her by the Hood, because that’s a poetic and perfect and poignant level of betrayal---Casey betraying IR as a mother who loves her son, as much as those boys ever loved their father.

Anyway. Here’s the bigger problem I have right now.

(TA spoilers-ish below the cut, a loose discussion of the map of the rest of the story, leave this unread unless you want some insight into my process re: currently unanswered but fairly obviously rhetorical questions and the overall arc of the story)

What the finale does do is makes me ask a fairly critical question about the work I have ongoing now, and makes me wonder if I might want to make it into the venue where I explore what I would’ve done with the series’ larger plot (ie: see above re: colonel casey). talented amateurs is, as mentioned above, fundamentally a fic about exploring relationships within IR. TA is my homage to the art of the slow burn, only I’ve done it bassackwards on account of the pair of them fell in love and promptly slept together within the first five chapters of the work. TA also started as a straight-up mood piece, just something to explore what that moment of an initiated relationship between Gordon and Penelope would look like. Needless to say, it blossomed, and now about 200k later, here we are.

In the same manner that TA wasn’t initially intended to be the behemoth it’s become, it was also at one point a question whether the thrust of the plot would concern Penelope’s pregnancy. Obviously it does now, and the works that follow it will continue along that essential arc---that’s the fundamental three act structure of this story, the three trimesters of pregnancy.

But ever since it started getting serious and started making itself apparent as my Next Big Thing, its been teetering on the knife’s edge of the question: Do I want to bring Jeff Tracy into this? Do I want to overshadow the future of IR with the spectre of its past? Do I want to bring him back?

Because the thing with TAG is that, if you’re the sort of person who can perceive the fundamental shape of an overall story---even one as disconnected and disjointed as TAG’s was---it was always transparently apparent that one day they would find their father. It was the series’ biggest macguffin and it’s kind of like, invisibly woven into the tapestry of the narrative. I can’t even quite clearly articulate why it always seemed so obvious---probably simply because they open the show by searching for that last desperate trace of him, but there was never a doubt in my mind that one day that would be the resolution of that question and the ultimate expression of the boys as IR. Their father wasn’t dead and they got to save him.

So it seems like any fic taking place in TAG’s verse must have that truth baked into it---their dad isn’t dead. He’s out there somewhere, alive and findable. I think the question of where could be more compellingly and believably answered than by “he’s been fridged in the fucking Oort Cloud for eight goddamn years” and I think as a writer I could take the bones of the show we’ve got and craft a more interesting version of that story. TA is a Season 2 AU in the same way that hwd is a Season 1 AU, and as far as canon is concerned, it doesn’t consider anything from S3 to be true. In TA, the Hood is still in prison and he’s going to stay there. Havoc and Fuse and Rigby don’t exist. The Mechanic is the biggest unanswered question, but also no longer IR’s problem. As far as TA’s cast is concerned, their dad is dead as a goddamn doornail.

And maybe that would be the bolder move. Maybe he could just be dead and that’s the deeper and more interesting and more poignant thought. What I can’t decide about TA is whether or not I want it to catch a case of Plot. It’s a double-edged sword, because on the one hand, the interpersonal happenings of this story are easily as interesting than anything like an actual high-stakes narrative about their father being alive could be. But equally I know I could tell that story as well or better than the actual writers actually did, and it seems silly to pretend that I’d ever do it elsewhere, though it would be a hell of a thing if I did, and I only know that because I’ve done it already.

Anyway. I’ll know in about ten chapters or so. Til then the coin’s still in the air.

#ta meta #Anonymous

[nomadicism]

Voltron: Legendary Planning Fail

Thanks to @ptw30​‘s post, “A Few Thoughts on DW/VLD Marketing” for reminding me that I’ve had a draft about VLD toys, merch, and marketing copy inconsistencies to complete. Read her post first.

I’ve been researching the toys and merch for several months now to follow-up on weird things that I noticed much earlier. I’m a toy collector who is also a designer and have worked in advertising/marketing, and in broadcasting at Cartoon Network. I left that world to design and develop applications in genetics/life-sciences, best decision I ever made (co-founded a startup in between all of that too. Good times). My experiences had me zeroing in on this show bible business that came up during that Let’s Voltron interview (March 28th, 2019). I’ve been suspicious about it for awhile, as the gradual unraveling of VLD’s narrative, lore retconning, and OOC dialogue and behavior of the characters (most egregiously in S8) is indicative of a lot of problems, and an incomplete or poorly-done show bible is at the top of that list. Now combine that with the weirdly slow-to-market of VLD merchandise and toys.

Both manufacturers and merchandise license program partners can’t get product to market in time to meet (or even anticipate demand) if they don’t have official assets from the show, and that includes anything that would have been in the show bible. When the show-runners let it out that their show-bible was the “loosest you’ll ever see”, and then complained about the elemental icons used on the toys by the manufacturer (Playmates) not matching their aesthetic, and after they redesigned them, Playmates didn’t want to use them, I was like: “Really? Y’all got hung up on that?”

It takes months, sometimes over a year, to design and test molds for toy prototypes and then to go into mass production and distribution. Traditionally, there is also a step where the IP holder has to approve the design concepts created by the manufacturer (toys and other merch).

The IP approval step could potentially have been made more complicated by the different players involved in the communication: WEP, DreamWorks Animation, Playmates, Studio Mir, and the most complicated layer of all, DreamWorks Classics, aka Classic Media. All of them could have been involved, I’m not saying that they all were, but it’s something to consider.

DreamWorks acquired Classic Media in 2011-2012 and formed them into a separate unit within DreamWorks Animation. Classic Media were the managers of the Voltron IP among many other brands in their huge IP library. That’s the short version b/c it’s complicated. IP ownership and licensing is not always as straight-forward as one might think, especially with these toy-cartoon properties from the 80s.

So where did the elemental icons come in during the creation of the show bible and toy design approval process?

Above: packaging inserts showing the elemental icons.

I kept the package inserts because—as a toy collector—I strongly felt that the packaging was done very well. The graphics are slick and look good. The ink has a nice saturation with a lot of color depth, range, and fidelity. The die-cuts are excellent and intricate. The packaging on the larger lion sets makes great use of aqueous coating and spot varnishes. Whomever designed the packaging knew what they were doing, and also understood the print production process (Hi! I used to do that too).

I kept these even though I always ditch packaging because I wanted to scan them for collage art. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these elemental icons, and they look reasonably well integrated with the graphic assets from DreamWorks and Studio Mir. These inserts were from the toys released in 2017.

The toy packaging gets more interesting when you see what marketing copy was sent to Playmates to use (or work from if it was from the show bible).

Above: Shiro’s package insert with descriptive text that says, “Long ago a mighty robot warrior, Voltron, was created to protect the galaxy from evil. Now, five young heroes must master the power of the Voltron Lions to defeat the Galra empire and restore peace!”

“Five young heroes” eh? They must have gotten that text early on because that’s kind of a weird way to say it when the Shiro packaging also says “…wise beyond his 25 years…”. I mean, 25 is still young, but that’s not what comes to mind when I read “five young heroes” on a toy box!

Shiro is the only one with a listed age in any of the packaging. I noticed this when I got these toys in 2017 and it reminded me that I had originally read that it would be five teenagers and I had to go looking for articles that I kept (yeah I do that b/c toys).

From this article on ActionFigureInsider.com about Playmates launching the VLD toyline in 2016:

“Let’s Voltron! Playmates Toys and DreamWorks Animation today announced plans for a new toy line based on the new DreamWorks Animation series Voltron: Legendary Defender, a re-imagining of the classic property featuring five teenage pilots and mystical robot lions, set to debut as a Netflix Original Series in 2016. Playmates Toys will serve as the master toy licensee and will create an expansive line of toys set to launch in spring 2017.”

and

“Voltron: Legendary Defender follows five unsuspecting teenagers as they are transported from Earth into the middle of a sprawling intergalactic war and become pilots for five mystical robotic lions in a battle to protect the universe from evil. Only through the true power of teamwork can they unite their lions to form the mighty warrior known as Voltron. Voltron: Legendary Defender premieres on Netflix in 2016.”

LULZ. That ain’t no fluke y’all. That loosey-goosey show bible and the initial story planning drafts/concepts must have had Shiro as a teenager. Oops.

Playmates got part of the message in time to slip-in Shiro’s age on his packaging, but why the discrepancy between the article in early 2016 and the 2017 toy release in the first place?

Obviously, things changed between the first story planning phases, the release of marketing copy to media, the release of production art assets to Playmates, and when S1 was made. There still would have been time to update that copy for Playmates and media in early 2016, given that S1 would have already been in production, with S2 to quickly follow by that time. The show-runners already knew before that article ran that Shiro was not going to be a teenager anymore (and likely many other toy-relevant details). Did they intentionally not update anyone who had a right to know, or did it just slip their minds? Did someone else in the chain of communication mess up? Did that disagreement over the design of the elemental icons take up a lot of time, or possibly include larger disagreements?

Since the first wave of toys were released in 2017, when Keith was in the Black Lion, they would have been designed for production and manufactured much earlier than that. Playmates can’t turn around on a dime to manufacture toys (not to mention design the packaging) to match the seasons. They need to have the information of what will happen in a season way ahead of time. This is one of many banal-yet-important reasons why your show bible needs to be tight, and your character arcs well-planned out.

We can see the first wave of the toys in photos from Toyfair 2017. There’s even a Zarkon figure, and various toys that are clearly for young boys (prop swords, masks, and the like). I remember seeing these photos right after Toyfair and thinking that Zarkon figure was looking pretty cool looking for what it was.

Above: Zarkon prototype figure with black bayard sword. Photo by Jim Kiernan for NerdyRottenScoundrel.com.

Since Playmates was able to create a prototype of Zarkon ahead of Toyfair 2017, that means that they began the design phase in early 2016 before the show first aired (possibly before that even). This also means that they knew that Zarkon had the black bayard, so that much was planned out.

Then in Toyfair 2018, Playmates had new toys, including prototypes for the Hunk, Pidge, and Allura figures, the HyperPhase lions, and the “Stealth Mode” translucent lions. It’s worth noting that photos of the Pidge and Hunk paladin figures show up on the inserts in the 2017 toys as they were originally intended to be part of that wave.

Above: Prototypes for the Allura, Pidge, and Hunk paladin figures. Photo by Joe Moore for Toyark.com.

So salty that Playmates cancelled these.

Below, an excellent video from Toyfair 2018 where Pixel Dan asks the hard questions of the rep (if video doesn’t show here is the URL to it on YouTube):

Pixel Dan asks about the possibility of a Lotor figure, and what happened to the other villain figures from 2017 (e.g. the Zarkon figure, and there was a prototype for another robeast other than Myzax). The rep says those were pushed back, and there “will be more Lotors” (LOL) in the next phases in development. I’m pretty sure he got Lotor confused for Zarkon.

It’s important to note that Pixel Dan and the rep talk a lot about the slow distribution of the first wave of figures based upon what retailers were doing with their ordering and stock. That people weren’t seeing them in stores. The rep explains that the toys are made in response to demand and that’s also up to the retailers to order them, but there’s also some comments that I interpreted as though they didn’t have enough details about what to make in the first place.

For those who haven’t already seen me share ToyGalaxy’s excellent video about the action figure industry being broken, give it a watch:

The video above explains a lot about why Playmates had problems with distribution, as ALL manufacturers were-and-still-are having distribution problems. It’s really hard to find toys at stores, my partner and I go hunting all the time, the lengths we go to are absurd.

I’m certain that retail distribution problems contributed to demand for the toys and that’s partly why they were cancelled. But this problem with the show bible also contributes because if Playmates had future season information when they should have, then they might have been able to design toys that more closely matched the show, thus boosting demand once it hit critical mass. I also wonder how much time they lost in the beginning due to the back-and-forth over the elemental icons.

Other merch, like t-shirts should also have been in production before 2017. They would have required details from the show bible as well. We could have had lion slippers y’all. Just sayin’.

So about those Allura with the Red Lion t-shirts that @ptw30​ mentioned in her post:

Above: officially licensed t-shirts for Allura and Keith with the Red Lion, bearing the fire element icon.

Someone (ptw30? headspacedad?) called these shirts to my attention privately a few months ago—after S8 but ahead of Hot Topic’s recent new t-shirt release—and alarm bells went off in my head. Typically, this is the kind of error that you’d see in a knock-off, but these are officially licensed and they were linked to directly from the Voltron store page (at the time they had a re-direct promo image for merch on Amazon, in addition to what they sell on their own store page).

Descriptive text in the shopping page for all of the t-shirts of this style reads:

“Join the Paladins Shiro, Keith, Lance, Pidge, Hunk and Coran as they combine their lion mechas together to form Voltron! Help them take on the Evil Galra Empire with these officially licensed Voltron: Legendary Defender graphic tees, pullover hoodies and popsockets!”

Coran eh? Interesting choice for text about combining lions. Why no mention of Allura on her own t-shirt? And what the hell is a popsocket?

On another Allura t-shirt—which also has different product specification text indicating that it’s probably not manufactured by the company that made the t-shirts above—has descriptive text that reads:

“Voltron is the classic cartoon series that began in the early ‘80s. It is an animated show that brings back the nostalgia of classic cartoon fever. Not to mention a popular show pretty much stole the idea. (starts with pow- ends with -angers….) Voltron will always be number #1! This women’s junior’s shirt features a high quality character design of Princess Allura and Blue Lion.”

Why are they dragging Power Rangers in the text for an Allura t-shirt?

And actually, it’s incorrect. Power Rangers aka Tokusatsu Sentai shows came first. Voltron/GoLion descends from the combining mecha genre that began with Go Nagai’s Getter Robo series in the 70s, which was influenced by the Tokusatsu Sentai shows. So no, Power Rangers didn’t steal that idea.

Did anyone involved with VLD do their homework other than Tim Hedrick and May Chan?

We can see here that the t-shirts that are available on the Voltron store, and what’s available on Amazon are not always the same, even though the shirts say they are officially licensed. What’s going on here?

Some—but not all—of the t-shirts in the Voltron store list “From Trevco” in their description. Trevco.inc does licensing for branded merchandise, and selling t-shirts via Amazon appear to be one of their licensing product programs. Both DreamWorks Animation and Voltron: Legendary Defender are among the brands listed. Oh look, another layer in IP licensing cake!

Meanwhile, in the Hot Topic store, there’s a completely different style—in terms of aesthetic and design—of both VLD and Voltron DotU t-shirts being sold. I suspect that HT licensed VLD and Voltron DotU for in-house design, plus artist collaboration design, as these are exclusive for Hot Topic and I’ve not seen them anywhere else. That could mean they have a different kind of license than what Trevco and others selling on Amazon have. The t-shirts from HT don’t list any other manufacturer on the label, other than being made in Haiti. I kind of want to buy that weird Allura with Red Lion t-shirt to just compare them. (Surprising no one, I bought the Lot//ura and Black Paladin Shiro t-shirts from HT).

The difference in style between what’s on WEP’s Voltron store and Amazon, versus what’s in Hot Topic is very interesting, and I assume it has a lot to do with demographics for their respective markets (perceived or real). In a traditional merchandize licensing agreement, WEP and/or DW would still have to approve any designs created by—or if artist collaboration with—Hot Topic.

How long did that approval process take?

The recent release of t-shirts (Feb/March 2019) include a t-shirt with a scene from S5 (the chosen marks scene for Allura and Lotor). There are no MFEs, Atlas, white-haired Shiro, or anything else from S7-S8. There is a Keith t-shirt with his cosmic wolf, and a shirt with the Monsters and Mana designs, so they got something from S6.

Above: Funko Pops. I’ve got a poorly-painted Allura (her right earring and tiara y’all), both Shiros, and the Pidge, Hunk, and Amazon Exclusive metallic paint VLD Voltron (Pidge, Hunk, and Voltron not pictured).

The VLD Funko Pops came out in the end of 2018 but ahead of S8. I’ve seen them at Hot Topic, and online (Amazon, and BigBadToyStore.com), but I have not seen them at other retailers that carry Funko Pops like GameStop and Target. We go toy hunting to those all the time, in many different places. I guess that demographic of boys aged 9-12 just aren’t interested in VLD to demand it at GameStop and Target. At least Hot Topic knows what’s up.

The Funko Pops use Allura’s uniform from S1-S2, and have two designs for Shiro (Black Paladin, and his black outfit). How long did these take to license and approve? Funko Pops are the lowest hanging merch fruit, so they should have been an obvious licensing choice by the end of 2016 once it was clear that VLD was a hit. But we didn’t see these until just before S8?

Finally, apparently WEP and the Voltron Store don’t mind those elemental icons that the show-runners hated, since they have a lanyard with them on it in their store (image below):

It’s almost as if no one is on the same page!

If I didn’t know any better—oh wait, I do because this is kind of my thing—it looks like these elemental logos were designed to be like Boy Scout merit badges. That’s fitting as the toys were meant to be bought by boys aged 9-12, and are safe for children aged 4 and up. With over 15 years of professional design experience across multiple fields and domains of design, if I were designing these, that’s exactly what I would have done from Playmates’ end, especially if DW and WEP had told me that their target demo was boys aged 9-12.

Shouldn’t the show-runners and Studio Mir’s very different design aesthetic have been made clear in the show bible and in any discussions and communications with Playmates (and whomever else was involved)? Who was responsible for communicating that?

To be clear, I like Studio Mir’s aesthetic much better, but what I like is irrelevant when we’re talking about toys and target demographics for marketing them, vs what’s appropriate for merchandise that could be for all kinds of demographics.

I’ve been in situations where I’ve had to design in parallel with an outside agency, and in the dark with little communication between us. It’s an awful position to be in, and I’m surprised that DreamWorks didn’t know better than to make sure that didn’t happen between those designing for the show and Playmates and anyone at DreamWorks Classics and WEP that might have been involved in communications.

I spat out my coffee when I read that bit about the show bible, because damn, if you’ve ever had to design an ad campaign (which can last for years!) with a half-assed or incomplete branding guide and little-to-no marketing and romance copy (let alone a style guide to help your copy editors write it), then you’re looking at a huge mess once that thing finally gets finished.

How did DreamWorks not catch that?

#vld #voltron licensing #dreamworks #voltron: legendary defender #action figures #montsantos #marketing #toycourse #yes i buy the toys #salt

[welcometomy20s]

January 8, 2022

Diamond in The Rough S2 - See If I Care

See If I Care is an typical but odd from the outside entry. AUs are really interesting, because sometimes it feels like the original IP feels like the dressings of the setting. As if the setting becomes the base and the media becomes the flavor, rather than other way around.

That's where the case can be made that fanfiction is its own genre, and one could say that the original author can write their own fanfiction. When they say that, they are basically saying they are writing about their own characters in a landscape created by people who write fanfiction (fanfic-ers? That's awful.)

The original IP is Kill la Kill, a surprisingly hard story to write fanfic, because it's simultaneously too vulgar and too erudite. Obscenity is there as fanservice, but it's wrapped up in a line of thought that is quite deep that it loses its appeal both ways. It's simultaneously too ridiculous and too serious. That contrast is the key to the series.

AU is a college one, and the main two characters are not sisters, but eventual lovers. Satsuki is portrayed with HFA or something similar, but as with most entries here, it's a very good portrayal. Writing about love and HFA is always fun, and I think it was one of reason I enjoyed Adam, even though it was a bit blatant and fetishistic.

HFA feels very incongruent to love, but if you know HFA people tends to be hyper or hypo-sexual. (Guess which side someone like I fall) And therefore Hypersexual HFA that behave hype are basically the goldmine for confusion and frustrations. (Not that I have personal experience of that kind... no sir-ee.)

There is also a depiction of an abusive relationship, which seeks to attenuate Ryoko's personality. Overall, an interesting experience.

#diamond in the rough #writing #kill la kill

[kihocrystal]

Summer 2017 - Final Impressions

I may have skipped writing opinions up for Spring season (due to computer issues...), but I’m back for Summer season! I even fell behind this season because of school (hence why this is half a month late), but nonetheless, here are my thoughts on the animes I finished this past season! 

The list of shows is in the tags, and are ordered alphabetically under the cut!

Boku no Hero Academia S2 - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )

This was another really fun season of Boku no Hero Academia! This season was twice as long as season 1, which meant double the action! Most of the action this season was actually more on the light-hearted side, as two of the main story arcs of this season were the School Tournament, and the Final Exams. These arcs got to see the cast work together and face off against one another, which helped us learn more about their characters in the process! Almost everyone had their time to shine (which was great!), but the one who had the most prominent character arc was Todoroki; we learned about his troubled past with his family, and how he changes his mindset and attitude throughout the tournament, which was great to see! Character development was definitely a big aspect of this season (as seen through both of those arcs), but there was also a good amount of overarching story set-up as well! The main arc showing this off was the Hero Killer Stain arc (which included the Internships), which was definitely my favorite part of this season! Seeing Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida face off against him was super fun and interesting, and also kicked off some plot progression that should go towards future arcs! Midoriya has improved his super power usage over the course of this season, and we also learned about All For One, which will surely be the Big Bad of this series as a whole. The finale also teases more things about upcoming conflicts, which included Midoriya having an interesting interaction with villain Tomura (and a ship might be sailing with Ochako and Midoriya)! It’s a good thing a season 3 has already been confirmed, because an open ending like this would’ve been bad otherwise! As it stands though, it’s a really good lead-in to the next season! Season 2 was great set-up for things to come (and good fun action on its own, of course!); I probably would’ve enjoyed this season even more if there was more interactions with the villains, but that will surely come in the upcoming season 3!

Isekai Shokudou - 7.5 - 8.0 / 10 ( B- )

This was a cute little show that was a good pick for “comfy show of the season”! I enjoyed meeting the wide range of characters and seeing them try out different types of food. I also appreciated how the food reactions were very downplayed, in comparison to more over-the-top fares like Shokugeki no Souma. That being said, they go into just as much detail describing why the food is so good (at least in the earlier episodes). I also liked seeing the patrons interact with each other, including getting into fights about who’s favorite dish is better. Each character’s story about how they discovered the diner (and the occasional backstory) was enjoyable to watch; we didn’t learn much about them outside of that, but we learned more about their interests and relationships via how they interacted with others both inside and outside the restaurant. It was also nice seeing how the restaurant has been a recurring thing for years, going back to the chef’s grandparents! The story is episodic, but each individual story was a nice, occasionally heartwarming, and “comfy” thing to watch once a week. The art-style complemented the easy-going pace as well; it was warm-toned and drew the food quite nicely (even if the animation itself was standard fare). This may not be a super in-depth slice-of-life show, but it’s a good watch if you just want to relax and see some good food!  

Kakegurui - 7.5 - 8.0 / 10 ( B- )

This was the most popular show of the season on MAL (in terms of amount of people who watched it), and it’s easy to see why: high stakes (and over-the-top) gambling, the extreme reaction faces, and VERY sexual characters who get off on gambling (with yuri overtones to boot!). The more sexual scenes kind of got old for me over time, but I enjoyed all those other aspects! The crazy gambling games and characters were fun to watch (as someone who enjoys YuGiOh so much, that’s right up my alley!), and the crazy reactions added to the over-the-top appeal. Yumeko was an enjoyable lead, since she’s got just the right amount of insanity behind her also-enjoyable sweet facade (plus her seiyuu, Saori Hayami, did a great job performing her!). Many of the other main girls got some time in the spotlight too, both student council members and eventual Yumeko allies (though some student council members got more time than others, for sure). The main male lead, Suzui Ryouta, was definitely just there as an audience surrogate though, since he’s pretty bland (though he had some involvement in some gambles too!). When you get down to it, the appeal of this show is the characters and the gambling events themselves; all the story in-between just feels kind of lacking in comparison. Even the finale, which to be fair was anime original, kinda felt like a non-ending; the outcome kind of made that final gamble pointless and didn’t leave me with a good sense of conclusion (but hey, at least it’s better than a full-on cliffhanger or abrupt stopping point!). This show was far from my favorites of this season, but it was still an fun time during the gambling parts (which thankfully there’s a lot of here!). If you enjoy over-the-top gaming action and don’t mind the more sexual aspects (which can get somewhat explicit at times), you might like this one!

Made in Abyss - 9 / 10 ( A )

This is easily my pick for AOTS, no contest! It’s just a great adventure show from top to bottom, with a great sense of adventure and mystery! It also helps that the setting is one of the most unique and mysterious we’ve seen in anime for a long time! The Abyss is full of many different elements that not even the in-universe cast know of, which lends itself well to majestic scenes, along with terrifying secrets (it’s a lawless place, after all). Not to mention that the background art captures it extremely well; the huge amount of detail is a good contrast with the more square and cartoony character art-style! The soundtrack is used wonderfully, as it really gets a grand sense of ambience, mystery, and scale all at once! (Especially that one insert song they use a couple times, but first in the premiere!) The Abyss has been a cool place to learn and see more about over the course of the show, but it can definitely rear its ugly dangerous head from time to time, too. Meaning, this show can be VERY gruesome at times; there’s quite a few scenes involving large amounts of blood, and even body mutilation. It’s definitely not for the squeamish. If you can handle it, these scenes just add to the raw emotion this show has, and will have you on the edge of your seat! As for characters, Riko and Reg were a really good duo to follow in their journey! Their personalities (plus abilities and awareness of danger) balance each other well, and I enjoyed seeing them grow closer over time! Riko’s definitely an odd case since she has no fear of the Abyss despite never being able to return home, though (^^;). My other favorite was Nanachi; she was (unfortunately) only in the *last four* episodes, but her character and story really makes up for it! I enjoyed the rest of the cast too, including the cynical and crazy Ozen and her maid assistant Maruruk (she was so sad when Riko & Reg had to leave ;~;). The only real gripe I have about this show is its… inappropriate jokes at times. Lets just say there’s quite a few penis mentions (and yes, they say that word outright). However, the (double-length!) finale was crazy good; incredibly intense, fucked up, emotional, and with a hope cherry on top (including the balloon scene! I just wish I knew what was written inside!) Just learning the full details of Nanachi (& Mitty)’s backstory was REALLY fucked up… and the whole buildup and execution (I’m sorry…) of Mitty’s death brought a few tears to my eye (and I don’t cry easily when watching stuff!). The story definitely isn’t done yet (which impacts its score as a standalone season a little bit), but it had as good of a conclusion as it could’ve had. It sets up an easy-to-hate antagonist really well too, all within the span of one (double-length) episode! This show is definitely the best of this summer season (and one of my top picks for this year!), so this is a very easy recommendation! (Unless you don’t do well with gore, of course).

New Game!! S2 - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )

I really enjoyed this second season of New Game! It definitely took a slightly different approach, as there was a bit more emotional and dramatic moments (which personally, I think is a good thing!) I also can relate to this show quite a bit, as I’m now a game design student at a community college; so as a result, seeing the girls work on a game in a variety of ways (along with the working process in general) is very interesting to me! Of course, that’s not to say this show is the most realistic portrayal of the industry, per se, but it’s still cool to see more of this slice-of-life comedy about working in a game company! This season shows the team work on a new IP from start to finish, and all the trials that happen along the way. The girls are challenged a lot more as well, especially Aoba as she gets her first go at being the main character designer (with help from Yagami-san)! The concept art contest was definitely the biggest moment for her character arc; seeing her do her best on an art piece, despite knowing she’s going to lose by default due to a sales decision, was bittersweet to see for sure (but she came out much stronger in the end)! That even tied into Yagami’s character arc as well, since she realizes she’s holding back the growth of her younger employees (;~;). Aside from that, the programming aspect got a bit more spotlight this season! Watching Nene make a game by herself, then see her as a programming intern was great to see! Speaking of interns, we got two new girls this season: Momiji and Narumi! Both of them served as good “rivals” for Aoba and Nene, even if there wasn’t fierce competition between them; I just liked seeing their different (more cynical) viewpoints and how they interacted with the other girls (and learned from them + vise versa!). This season ended on a strong note as well; seeing Yagami leave for France and all the girls going to see her off (plus Aoba’s tearful goodbye to her!) was a great emotional end to the season (and heck, it could be a good end to the series in its own right!). I definitely liked this season even more than season one, as the increased emotional depth added a lot to this cute and fun series! If you like slice-of-life comedy shows, this is a really good one to check out!

Princess Principal - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ )

This show is my runner-up for AOTS, so you know this show is a fun time! It’s always fun to see a new spy anime, and this one really delivers on the spy action! The action scenes are really well done, with fluid motions and well-choreographed fight scenes! Add in the steampunk / early 20th century-style, and you’ve got a really cool spy show! The characters’ art style (for the girls) are definitely more on the moe-side, but they were fun to watch the whole way through! The main girls’ personalities were a good mix, and really interesting to see play out (especially Ange’s deadpan shtick). They all have their own skills to contribute too; even Beatrice, with no spy training, can use her mechanical neckpiece to perfectly imitate other people’s voices! The story is mostly episodic; while there is an overarching premise of an England-esque country being torn apart by war and regimes, each episode focuses on one specific spy case. I liked this approach, as each case told a nice little story than could range from action-packed & tense, to somber & heartbreaking. Each of the main girls get some spotlight time too in at least one story, meaning we get more insight into their personal histories and personalities, which is great! The main character focus though is definitely on Ange and Princess, as they swapped places when they were kids and reunite in the spy team during the present timeline. This story is kept vague (which added a good sense of mystery to these two!) until slightly past the halfway mark; it was great finally seeing their backstory when it came time! Their relationship had a big part in the final two episodes as well; speaking of that finale, it was yet another action-packed good time! But it also was very open-ended; The main villain hasn’t been defeated, and the anti-hero spy (Zelda) in the final two episodes got away as well. At least the main group is back together, and hopefully we’ll see them in a season 2, because the ending makes this season suffer a little bit as a stand-alone show. That being said, this was one of my favorite shows of the season for sure, and you should check it out if you like steampunk-style or spy stories!

Re:Creators - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ / A- )

What a solid show! It’s not every day we see a modern anime have a definitive and satisfying conclusion, but here we are! The first episode might not have won me over initially, but it definitely grew on me over time. Exposition was a bit more heavy-handed in earlier episodes as well (which is the most common complaint I’ve seen), but it’s not as bad later on. Re:Creators had lots of themes and messages about the act of creating things and what can come from it, which was really cool to see, especially since I’m an aspiring artist myself. This show may have had a lot of action, but the characters (both creations & creators) and how they interacted with each other was one of the most enjoyable parts for me. I definitely related to the main character (Souta) quite a lot, as he had a hard time creating things (& enjoying it) due to negative circumstances (albeit his reasoning was guilt-related, via mine being self-confidence). Not to mention he admitted to having negative bitter feelings towards his friend Setsuna due to her success (which I admit I also relate too…). Seeing this kind of character reflected in an anime, in addition to seeing a variety of different creators, was definitely great to see, since I could relate to it so much! The creative process is a big part of plot progression & magic-power-logic as well, which is super unique! Seeing a bunch of different genres being represented was cool as well, including a magical girl! (though I wish Mamika was the first to die & last only 8 episodes… at least she was a great character in that short time!) Magane was probably the other standout character for me, as she had a fun personality and was a real wild card in terms of what she could do (though she took a liking towards Souta, in the end). The villain, Altair, was also a great concept for a villain, since she was a Hatsune Miku-type who could use endless material from fan-works as her powers! Each character got at least a decent amount of development/screentime, and like I mentioned before, the conclusion to Altair’s story was really well done, and even left room for an epilogue episode at the end… I love when they do that! The ride that was Re:Creators was full of action, funny moments, heartwarming and heartbreaking moments. In the end… it’s a really good original action series that’s actually complete!

Sakura Quest - 8.5 / 10 ( B+ / A- )

P.A. Works does it again with another really good “working women” series! Like Hanasaku Iroha and Shirobako before it, this show follows a group of young adult girls working to try and revitalize a small rural town. As I’m getting older, I love seeing anime with characters closer to my age range, as they try to find their place in a working adult world, just like I am! The “revitalizing a rural town” aspect was also interesting to see play out, as there’s a lot that goes into that, like trying to get your name out there (either through the web or through TV) or organizing and planning events! The story plays out over the course of the year, but there’s lots of 1-2 episode-long stories that show off all these aspects, along with highlighting certain characters (which I always love to see!). It’s definitely a slice-of-life show that has a lot of character growth, and seeing the team accomplish things and the town slowly-but-surely come together was great to watch! The cast of characters was also really nice, both main and supporting! Most of the supporting cast were elderly or adults, so seeing them bounce off the young adult main group (& seeing their ideologies clash and work together) was cool to see too! Each of the main girls had their own realizations and journeys to make while working for the Tourism Board, whether it was learning the value of small towns (Yoshino) or finding your own way to do what you want to do, even if you fall short of your dreams (Maki). By the end, all five of them definitely show off some good insight towards adult life! The finale was nice as well, showing their classic festival finally coming together and the Dragon Song showing up again (which was one of my favorite mini-arcs back during the first half). While it’s left unclear whether Manoyama gets absorbed or not, it definitely ends on a happy, conclusive ending for our characters, and the town is definitely better off than at the show’s beginning. This was an enjoyable, down-to-earth show to watch, and you should give it a try too if you like slice-of-life shows (or if you enjoyed Hanasaku Iroha or Shirobako)!

Senki Zesshou Symphogear - 7.0 - 7.5 / 10 ( C+ )

This fourth(!) season of Symphogear was a big, fun action fest, just like the other seasons! The strong points of this series have always been the bombastic fight scenes, the insert songs, and the characters, which continues to be true here too. This was the first season that I stopped trying to focus on the story, and I think my enjoyment actually improved because of it! This series’ story has always been silly and tries to top itself with every iteration, which happens again in this season; it likes to pull explanations out of thin air, and have situations work out for our heroes at *just* the right time so the show can have a cool “badass” moment. I will give AXZ credit though for at least trying to pull elements from past seasons into this season’s weapon upgrades and logic reasoning, even though it still kinda feels like an ass-pull to me (then again, other people disagree with me on this, so YMMV!). The story is definitely this series’ biggest weakpoint for me (which is why I tend to rate these seasons relatively low), but its strongest aspects are in top form and a lot of fun to watch! The fight scenes and power-ups keep finding new ways to one-up themselves, and the main Symphogear girls continue to have an enjoyable dynamic together! The new antagonist group was mostly just okay, but the core three alchemist girls (Saint-Germain, Cagliostro, and Prelati) grew on me after they turn on their master (even though I liked Cagliostro the entire time, really~). The final episodes were a fun time, as always (including Hibiki being an evil god-monster at one point!); it’s notable though that they set up some things here for the already-confirmed season 5! Symphogear definitely grew on me this season, as I realized it’s the epitome of a popcorn-action show; just shut your brain off, and enjoy the spectacle!

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul - 8.0 / 10 ( B )

This was another fun and action-packed season of Shingeki no Bahamut! While I’m not sure whether I liked season 1 more than this one, it was still a very enjoyable watch throughout! One of the main reasons for this was the main new addition to the cast: Nina! She’s such a fun character to watch, as she’s strong, goofy, and jumps into action right away! I wasn’t the most fond of how “horny” she was for other guys, but that settled down a bit once she finds the guy of her dreams…. Which by the way, is also the main antagonist of the show, King Charioce. She falls in love with him when he’s in disguise, but even after his reveal, she still doesn’t give up her love for him (while simultaneously trying to stop his evil crimes). It’s definitely a unique approach to this type of romance for sure, but it was still a bit odd to me that she still stayed in love with him despite all the tyrannical things he did… At the very least, the execution of this subplot was pretty good, as were all the other story beats! This show has strong execution throughout (the prison escape arc was a highlight), with high quality animation (especially those dance scenes!), swelling music, and the right emotional notes. The problem for most people then will be some story beats themselves, mostly at the show’s end. A couple notable characters seem to get killed for no good reason, Charioce’s motivations try to spin him as “a good guy all along”, and his punishment at the end seems too light (as he merely just loses his eyesight); plus it feels like the people being oppressed by his rule turn right around and he gets praised as a hero for defeating Bahamut (which btw he himself summoned)! And oh yeah, Bahamut isn’t actually dead for good (leaving things open for a possible continuation). Oh well, at least the bittersweet aspect of a voiceless Nina and a sight-less Charioce being together is a nice touch. (I may sound mad here, but I didn’t hate these episodes at all ^^; ) In any case, the whole journey was fun to watch, and was full of engaging action the whole way through. I enjoyed seeing all the returning cast come back, and seeing them interact in both the upbeat and darker moments. Even though the ending won’t win over everyone, if you enjoyed the first season, you should have a good time here too!

#boku no hero academia #isekai shokudou #restaurant to another world #kakegurui #made in abyss #new game! #princess principal #re:creators #re creators #sakura quest #senki zesshou symphogear #symphogear #shingeki no bahamut #rage of bahamut #Final Impressions

[pilotseason2019]

NBC- Newly Ordered Series

Drama

Bluff City Law: here

The lawyers of an elite Memphis law firm specialize in the most controversial landmark civil rights cases. Led by legendary lawyer Elijah Strait and his brilliant daughter, Sydney Keller, they take on the toughest David-and-Goliath cases while navigating their complicated relationship.

Council of Dads: here

Scott Perry and his family’s lives are thrown into upheaval when he gets a potentially terminal diagnosis. Facing his mortality, he and his wife, Robin, assemble a unique group of carefully chosen friends to support his family and guide them through the ups and downs of life’s many challenges.

Lincoln: here

Legendary forensic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme was seriously injured during his hunt for the diabolic serial killer known as the Bone Collector. Called back into action when the killer re-emerges, Lincoln forms a unique partnership with Amelia Sachs, a young beat cop who helps him hunt the deadly mastermind while also taking on the most high-profile cases in the NYPD.

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: here

A whip-smart but socially awkward girl in her late 20s is suddenly able to hear the innermost thoughts of people around her as songs and even big musical numbers that they perform just for her. With this new ability at her disposal, she is able to use her “gift” to not only help herself understand people in her life, but also to help others around her.

Comedy

Indebted: here

Young parents Dave and Rebecca end up having to take care of Dave’s parents, who have mishandled their finances and need help to pay down a sizable debt. Formerly titled Uninsured.

The Kenan Show: here

A newly widowed dad is determined to be everything for his kids while begrudgingly letting his persistent father-in-law become more involved in their lives. Formerly titled Saving Kenan.

Perfect Harmony: here

A rural church choir get the director they never thought they needed when a salty, Ivy League music professor stumbles through their door. Formerly titled All Together Now.

Sunnyside: here

Former New York City Councilman Garrett Shah finds his calling when faced with six recent immigrants in need of his help and in search of the American Dream. Formerly the Untitled Kal Penn Comedy.

Returning Series:

The Voice: not as popular as it once was, still high though

Law & Order: SVU, s21: will it be the final one?

This is Us, s4

Will & Grace, s11 (s3 for the revival)

Chicago Fire s8, Chicago PD s7, and Chicago Med s5: Weds night One Chicago!

The Blacklist s7 and Blindspot s5&final

Superstore s5, Brooklyn Nine-Nine s7 (s2 NBC), The Good Place s4

Good Girls, s3

New Amsterdam, s2

Manifest, s2

Cancelled:

Freshmeat: I Feel Bad

???

AP Bio and Abby’s

The Enemy Within and The Village

The Inbetween- definitely feels like a summer show so it shouldn’t matter

Primetimer posted their fantasy schedule; our thoughts:

first off, wow, that’s a lot of shows (that being said, the mod hopes they’re not going to cancel Abby’s! it’s a personal favorite)

is it too much cancer drama to partner medical drama New Amsterdam (where the lead Max has throat cancer) with new family drama Council of Dads? would that just be too heavy for viewers?

could SVU’s record-breaking season be used to launch crime drama Lincoln? or would that push be better served on a show without the IP-advantage Lincoln already has?

the network definitely ought to find a way to slot in its new comedies with the existing Thursday night comic block, but I Feel Bad, just this season, showed it’s tough; is it just me or would Perfect Harmony and The Good Place be a match made in heaven? perfectly harmonious? I couldn’t decide which pun to go with!

new comedy Sunnyside, meanwhile, feels like it could be a great fit with new drama Bluff City Law

is there any way they could cut back on the Voice, maybe move it down from three hours a week to two? Or move the results event into the tail-end of Sunday Night Football? Something to free up some space, and maybe even reenergize the Voice during its airing time?

Note: Primetimer has another article about the NBC Upfronts here.

#Masterlist #NBC Pilots #pickeduptoseries

[xtremedespair3d]

Anime Fall 2018 Final Impressions + Plans for Winter 2019

We’re now at the end of the Fall season and 2018 as a whole, but for now let’s focus on the shows I’ve seen this season:

Normally I would write my warning that these lists may contain spoilers but surprisingly they don’t feature spoilers here (or probably haven’t been featured in the previous lists, to be honest). I also noticed there isn’t an ongoing from Summer, so that’s kind of surprising too.

AOTS #1-A: Gakuen Basara: I’m no Sengoku Basara person but I had a good time with this show, the animation is not the best, but the humor was gold. My only complaint is that it was broadcast on October 4 (my birthday), raw torrents were nowhere to be found and I had to wait until the next day and I watch the show on Fridays instead of Thursdays, well, at least I had Zombieland Saga. Despite the schedules and poor animation (like gratuitous CG background people), Gakuen Basara is everything I wanted it to be for a school parody anime since Attack on Titan: Junior High. (Maybe I should binge the Sengoku Basara anime sometime...) 8/10 - Rank: A-.

AOTS #1-B: Zombieland Saga: One of the best original anime I’ve seen yet and a solid birthday anime, and I barely see this as a Cygames IP as I kept watching it. Amazing performances, especially Mamoru Miyano, maybe his character is his best one yet.

I genuinely want a second season, the tease at the end is too good to pass on becoming a full storyline (or subplot), and I don’t care if it’s going to be as shit as Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul, I just want it, already. 9/10 - Rank: S+.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: FIGHTING GOOOOLD!!! Another solid part of JoJo, my only complaint with the JoJo anime in general is that I’m not fond with the voice actor changes, some of them are good, some of them aren’t, the thing is that I’m mostly associated with the games like All Star Battle and Eyes of Heaven, it’s a little weird for me but it’s true. 9/10 - Rank: S.

Goblin Slayer: It may have caused quite a controversy from the first episode alone, but overall, does the anime adaptation even work? Parts of the animation, like action scenes and all, aren’t that great, even Goblin Slayer is animated in CG frequently, but everything else looks decent even by White Fox standards (see Re:Zero, even that one looks way better than this). 7/10 - Rank: B-.

SSSS.GRIDMAN: I’m no tokusatsu person but this was a solid tokusatsu-based anime, and a solid Trigger show post-Franxx, speaking of which, seems like I haven’t seen a lot of hate like it did with Franxx, so I guess the reception for GRIDMAN is positive at best. Also, my Twitter timeline is always full of Rikka and Akane lewds, mostly Rikka’s (but I prefer Akane because I’m a boobs person). 8/10 - Rank: A-.

Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san: This one wasn’t in my radar until I kept seeing tweets of the old man buying a yaoi book for his daughter, that made me watch the show and it’s pretty good. This reminded me why I like going to the bookstore from a shopping mall. 7.5/10 - Rank: B.

Golden Kamuy season 2 (+ overall review): Everyone seems incredibly disappointed and offended with how the Golden Kamuy anime turned out, especially CG animals, but I found it fun and decent to make up for it. 7/10 - Rank: B-.

Senran Kagura Shinovi Master Tokyo Youma Hen: Aside from the fan service (which, not gonna lie, is something I always look for), I felt like I wasn’t a big fan of this storyline but I guess it was alright. 6.5/10 - Rank: C+.

Ace Attorney season 2: I had originally dropped the show at episode 5 but later I caught up until at episode 9 and I kept watching it. It was pretty weird for me to watch the entirety of season 1 but not watching season 2. 6/10 - Rank: C+.

Tokyo Ghoul:re season 2 (+ overall review): This second season is probably Tokyo Ghoul Root A 2.0 but much worse. Even if I haven’t read the manga, I had no idea what the fuck was happening. I genuinely prefer the first season more than this one. Once again, Pierrot fucked up. Season 1: 7/10 - Rank: B/Season 2: 5/10 - Rank: D.

If Sui Ishida were to make another manga (if he chooses to), I hope it could be adapted by a better studio than Pierrot. But to be honest, he seems better off working as an illustrator than a mangaka, just look at some records that the Tokyo Ghoul fan base was wild.

Dropped:

Bakumatsu: I don’t need to explain this one much since it’s a show that came out on my birthday, whatever show I watch, if they don’t convince me enough with the first episode, I’d drop them, and it’s basically what I did here.

Onto the show itself, this genuinely reminded me of Touken Ranbu with the time travel stuff, but everything else, eh... not much of my thing. The funniest thing I can highlight is that the characters have their factions imprinted on their hair lighting.

Honorable mentions:

Angels of Death: ...Yeah, there’s a good reason why do I have to bring Angels of Death like it’s some sort of ongoing, but it’s not actually a two-cour series, it’s actually 16 episodes, the 4 ONAs to end the series.

Honestly, I thought they were going to leave it at episode 12 on the TV broadcast and the final episodes should have been on Blu-Ray but they’re available online or something (They’re called ONAs for a reason...). At least they didn’t shoehorn 12 episodes of rushed story like Pierrot with Tokyo Ghoul.

You can read my final thoughts on the show overall on the previous post about the summer anime shows here.

Hiatus:

Attack on Titan season 3: Yeah, AoT somehow disappeared off the air... until Spring 2019. That’s the most baffling moves I’ve ever seen, but there has to be a good reason for it.

There might have been some sort of production issues or something, but it’s so weird that I’m gonna have to wait a long time to watch the second cour.

Now that the manga is gonna end, either there’s gonna be a 12-episode season 4 or WIT might rush to the finale or make an anime original ending or something.

At least they gave us the weirdest teaser for the second cour ever.

Now, let’s move on with my plans for Winter 2019! (Should really write down what shows to watch and when they’re coming out because I tend to forget some, I’m 19 and I got bad memory...)

The Promised Neverland - January 10th: While I don’t read the manga, I’ve always been following DemizuPosuka for her gorgeous art style, from what I’ve seen from CMs, the art style seems pretty faithful, I’m interested to see how this goes.

Mob Psycho 100 II - January 7th: I’m really happy it’s getting a new season, I wish One Punch Man S2 could have been a Winter anime so I could have a ONE combo but OPM being on Spring and Mob Psycho 100 on Winter is the closest I get to a ONE combo like I wanted.

I wonder if this season will adapt all the way to the finale, but if it’s going to be a one-cour season, I don’t think Bones would skip a ton of chapters and rush the story to the end a la Pierrot with Tokyo Ghoul, it may adapt the middle of it and if it gets a third season, that’s where it would adapt the final chapters. (Hasn’t read the manga at all.)

Kemurikusa - January 9th: With the departure from the Kemono Friends franchise (no thanks, Kadokawa), I wonder what would have been Tatsuki’s fate of making new anime (other than doing shorts and posting them on Twitter), but it seems like they were working on an anime project and it turns out to be an all-new series of the original multi-part web series. One question I’ve always had for a while was if this was a prequel or a reboot of the series, but we’ll find out when we start watching it and go through until the end.

Kemono Friends season 2 - January 7th: This one is either something I’m really not looking forward or cautiously optimistic, either way, I just want to see how will season 2 perform without Tatsuki. Many people are most likely gonna be boycotting this or definitely gonna watch it but for a different reason, being that the animation looks better than the first one (Please, don’t disrespect Tatsuki and the charm on studio Yaoyoruzu’s animation).

As of the writing of this post (Dec.11), the teaser trailer currently sits at 49k dislikes over 5.5k likes and over 8k comments, and at the same time, there was a BTS (Behind-The-Scenes) photo and from what I’ve seen in the replies, the reception is surprisingly positive albeit one Japanese person with the “Bring back Tatsuki!” mood, I do mean it because I thought it would always have negative press, but I think the teaser trailer is its own thing with negativity.

Still gonna watch it, regardless, because I’m on a mission to keep an eye on the future of the Kemono Friends franchise post-Tatsuki, at least on anime like the Japari Park short series, because games, like the Picross game released on October 4th (my birthday. Thanks, I hate it, Kadokawa) for the Nintendo Switch because I don’t own a Switch.

Kakegurui season 2 - January 8th: I’m still baffled how it’s getting a second season after the anime original ending from the first one. I really wonder if they’re gonna follow up from the anime original ending or they’re gonna retcon that ending and redo it with whatever went from the manga from the Yumeko vs Kirari match (Still haven’t read it and I’m lazy to do so).

Boogiepop wa Warawanai - January 4th: So I guess this is Shingo Natsume/Madhouse’s next anime besides One Punch Man season 2, huh? Regardless, seeing trailers of it, looks really nice, but then there were reports that the illustrator of the light novel series wasn’t really happy with the look of the character designs in the anime and it was all Kadokawa’s lack of communication, basically Kadokawa is back doing some property damages but not as scarring as Kemono Friends, so I think things are still gonna turn out alright.

Ikki Tousen Western Wolves - January 3rd: Kind of surreal there’s a new Ikki Tousen in this near-2020 age, as of the writing of this (Dec.10), I need to start binging the series now (even if there’s so many god damn seasons to get through and it’s gonna take me forever).

Manaria Friends - January 20th: This one seems interesting, it was in development since 2015 and it was supposed to come out in 2016 but for some reason it was put on hold, it was originally produced by studio Hibari but now it’s gone completely reworked by a brand new anime studio from Cygames called CygamesPictures. I never actually followed the news of Manaria Friends, so learning about it now feels kind of cheated.

I always thought it had the Rage of Bahamut in the title but it must have been removed (or maybe moetron always tweeted with the Shingeki no Bahamut title with it).

Regardless, after Rage of Bahamut: Genesis and Virgin Soul (the latter which is the most hated, I’m still confused why it is the worst season if I can even process what did I just watch, whateverl, like I care), Manaria Friends seems like it’s going to be a better Rage of Bahamut anime, I may be exaggerating but it could really be. (I’m not really a RoB person so can’t say...)

W’z - January 5th: This is GoHands’ next anime project, it’s going to either make or break as much as Hand Shakers. After the HS flop, I ironically want GoHands to succeed with new ideas and stuff besides the K series. Also, how the fuck do you pronounce W’z?

Mini Toji - January 5th: Thought I’d give up on Toji no Miko after the base show? Apparently not. This one’s a chibi spin-off and it’s going to feature the characters from the game, so it sounds interesting. At least this one is going to be 11 episodes long, instead of two-cours like the base show.

BanG Dream! season 2 - January 3rd: This one’s 50/50 because, first of all, I’d love to watch a new Sanzigen anime because I need more Sanzigen in my life, second of all, Bandori isn’t much my thing (I’m lazy to binge the first season and I got other anime to binge too).

...Despite what I just said, I think I might really consider watching it, after all and the third season in October, I don’t really need to watch the first season, I guess. (I lied, I might binge the first season now)

The thing about Bandori S2 and S3 being full CG is like a Monster Strike situation where the first season was 2D hand drawn and the second season went full CG, but the third season came back to be hand drawn with a bit of CG, it’s weird and inconsistent for Monster Strike, at least Bandori will remain CG.

Virtualsan Looking - January 9th: Okay, what the fuck, I did not expect this to exist out of the blue. I genuinely never expected an anime centered on VTubers, particularly centered on known names like Mirai Akari, Siro and others would one day exist and that day is here (No Kizuna AI and Kaguya Luna here, strangely).

On December 18th, the trailer, a preview of the opening and the website were launched (see thread by moetron). As for the opening, I felt like they could have chosen the hand drawn animation as shown in 5 seconds because I want to see a full series with the VTubers fully hand drawn animated, but oh well, maybe they would be faithful to their 3D appearances (but Tsukino Mito is kind of Live2D-ish but she was turned into 3D at some point).

Speaking of the trailer, it doesn’t show what the story is about or anything, it just focuses on the VTubers featured in it.

I mean, the concept of a VTuber-focused anime is a good idea and something I didn’t know I desire, but this one, even with its vague teasers, it has potential, could be fun or could be hot garbage, just saying.

Lupin the 3rd: Goodbye Partner - January 25th: I genuinely forgot this existed after it was revealed last month, but hey, there’s a new special happening. I still want a new season of Lupin the 3rd, hopefully as good as this year’s season or even better.

This concludes the list of what shows did I watch this Fall season and what I’m looking forward next season, in the next post, my New Year’s post, I’ll address my overall list of my personal best anime of the year, stay tuned and happy New Year.

Twitter: @HKomaeda.

[yiqiie]

IDOL PRODUCER S2: E1 THOUGHTS

every week, i’ll sit down and watch the newest episode of Idol Producer Season 2 《青春有你》and write down all my thoughts. nothing get’s left out so get ready for a bunch of memes, shit posts and rants as we get through another season of our fave survival show 

feel free to send me any questions to my inbox and i’ll answer them asap!

a/n: i rarely shitpost on my blog so i think it’s about time i start

start time: 7:39

oKAY S2 LEGGO

can i just say during this ad break that motherfcking goddess jolin is a dance mentor and i just might cry because she literally looks like an angel in every preview i see

and oof my hubby zyx looks good

MILKA CHOCOLATE

we already have the new nongfu vitamin water i’m crying

MORE PRODUCT PLACEMENT

there was a really cute boy wtf i need to know his name

ALSO NEW SET

this set look so much prettier than last season ngl

and while i’m here i’m just gonna say their new uniforms look nicer

i love the darker colour

da chang we’ve missed you

our home away from home ily

ooo damn these slow mo shots

zyx your makeup looks good

can i just say this mentor lineup is LEGENDARY in itself

fck they all look good

okay moving on

are you serious more ad placement

they have a slide up door COME ON THIS IS SO COOL

you’re a cutie i have no idea who you are but i will eventually

the boys saying one lunchbox isn’t enough for them to eat are such a mood

THEY’RE STEALING THE MILK

is it milk or yoghurt  

FCKING CUTIES ILY SOMEONE TELL ME THEIR NAMES

oh jesus they’re loud af

KEEPING IT IN TRADITION I SEE

wait we don’t get to see them choose their seats noooo

mood lighting whoop

damn zyx you’re hitting them with these hard questions already

[a short break while i get some chips]

okay we good leggo

WHO IS THIS BEAUTIFUL BOY TELL ME HIS NAME

the guy who said he was working hard for his mum that was adorable

YIIXNG YOU’RE LOOKING DAMN FINE TODAY

wait why are some people standing outside and some people inside

or are they the same people

what’s going on

damn he really is stricter

ohhh so can they only fit half of the trainees?

i changed my mind the old one was better then lmao

LI RONGHAO WHAT AN ENTRANCE

JOLIN MY GODDESS

LOOK AT THAT SMILE

lol mood 

her shoes omfg i love them

i actually love her accent omg

MC JIN HERE WE GO

THEY REALLY BLURRED OUT THE EARRINGS I CAN SEE IT ON ZYX LMAO

ooo i like the new big ABCDF letters though

wait they got actual chinese singing legends to come do it too????

OACA LEGGO

oh damn those outfits

they forgot to clap omfg they’re so precious ;;;

[another food break soz i made a mango smoothie]

COMPLIMENTING EACH OTHER OMG WHAT A CUTIE

DRINKING THE MILK / YOGHURT LMAO I LOVE HIM

gotta love a slo-mo entrance

DANCING HOLY SHIT

i already forgot the leader’s name but i love him already

I REMEMBER THIS SONG it was maverick’s last season right??

i gotta say i prefer this version so much more

YES HIT THOSE HIGH NOTES BOY

we already know there’s no As at all so

they’ve really upped the standards this time i can feel it

HE CHA XI THAT’S HIS NAME

i’m loving the bro support they already have

HE WAS SO PISSED ABOUT NOT BEING IN THE BIG VENUE LMAOOOO

he’s so cute i love him

giving the heat packs to other people I LOVE HIM MUM

HE’S SO ADORABLE LMFAO

zyx is in love with him already

for someone who’s been training by himself for 2 years holy crap that was good 

HIS BOW AHAHAHHA

lian huai wei i gotta remember these names man

i love how they’re all rooting for each other

YES B YOU GO BABE

he’s affected by zhang pd’s dimples lmao same man

THEY ALL ARE LMFAO WHAT A MOOD

A DIMPLE LIAR LMFAO THIS IS HILARIOUS

a mexican wave holy shit this is adorable

jia yi is fcking adorable oh my jesus his smile i’m in love

also their leader who’s name i’ve forgotten already but visuals wtf

oh damn this song is good

VOCALS YES

also they’re all so tall wtf

okay i think they’re my favourite right now maybe

JIA YI YES YOU GO BABE

LIN MO that’s his name

no don’t cry baby no don’t cry

oh fck i’m crying

no babes you did so well don’t feel bad

HE HAS A BABY DRAGON AHAHAHHA

wtf vocals that was unexpected omg

OMFG HE’S ADORABLE he wants to be with the sheep

wait he’s jia yi too?? oh god

YES B BABE YOU GO

JOLIN IS SO CUTE OMG I LOVE HER SO MUCH

she’s the only one smiling i fcking love her

oh damn casper

did he write that song???? what talent

HE CAN DANCE TOO?

we all know there’s no As so he better be a B

YES BRO HE GOT IT

BANANA TRAINEES YAYYYY

i’ve always loved this song it’s so cute

wang zhe is so cute though omg he doesn’t smile at all

okay i know zyx is going to get a lot of shit for saying what he said about people who haven’t trained for a long time coming on the show to gain popularity but i have to admit that it’s true

companies probably saw how successful s1 was and how many groups were able to debut after it and are sending so many of their new trainees to gain exposure

i can understand why he’s so frustrated because his generation and generations before that were people who would be trainees for like 4+ years and fighting for years beyond that for their first stage and with this program it’s just made it so much easier for people who haven’t had any training at all to get their first stage and debut afterwards with their company

zhang pd is pissed off oh damn

ngl their performance wasn’t that great i will admit but they have potential it just might not be the right place for them to train whilst on a survival show

and what he said about showing your respect for the stage and telling them why you want to be a star was all fair enough and tbh some of their answers weren’t the best

okay some people are pissed off about what he said about people all wanting to be rappers but having to be singers first

maybe s1 wasn’t the best in terms of the debuting group and vocals and rappers all getting A grade

but at least in s2 it’s changed and he’s addressing the fact that people who want to debut in a boy’s group can’t actually sing to begin with and just want to rap their way through

to be in a boy’s group you really need to want it you need to be passionate about your future and you need to first of all love what you do

okay moving on

THEME SONG

okay it’s growing on me ngl

but ei ei is superior forever for sure

OKAY PREVIEW TIME

wait someone smiled at me let me go back

OKAY WHO IS THIS I LOVE HIS SMILE

wait LOVE SHOT??? that was unexpected

argh i love this song so fcking much

finish time: 10:21pm 

that’s all folks; tune in next week for another episode of mai’s shitposting whilst we suffer through another survival show together! 

#am i gonna keep this up maybe we'll see but for now WOOOOO #this actually forces me to watch so maybe it's a good thing #this is what happens when nine percent decides to go MIA #idol producer #qing chun you ni #what's the eng name lol #idol producer s2 #series: ip s2 thoughts #text posts #mai shitposts #青春有你

[yiqiie]

IDOL PRODUCER S2: E3 THOUGHTS

every week, i’ll sit down and watch the newest episode of Idol Producer Season 2 《青春有你》and write down all my thoughts. nothing get’s left out so get ready for a bunch of memes, shit posts and rants as we get through another season of our fave survival show 

feel free to send me any questions to my inbox and i’ll answer them asap!

a/n: I AM READY i’ve been so hyped after the previews i’m finally feeling a bit of the excitement i got from last season again 

start time: 7:32 am

my wifi has been pretty good lately so i’m praying i won’t have to take all day to watch this ep again 

nO

THEY’RE DOING THE CALLS

NO NO NO 

wait omfg yaochi’s mum 

SHI ZHAN’S MUM HUNG UP ON HIM LMFAO 

HIS FACE

zyx you’re a little shit ahahahahaha 

also i love your dimple uwu 

no one in A class ;;;;

JOLIN I LOVE YOU MY QUEEN 

GUAN YUE UWU WHY ARE YOU SO CUTE MY BBY 

wait i got too caught up i forgot to write something

but like what he said is true 

you’ve got people who are already such all-rounded people compared to people who are maybe only good at singing so it’s gonna be harder for some people than it will be for others 

i love jolin so much guys she’s teaching them move by move 

i think the mentoring is so much better than last season though 

i think they focused way too much on like being strict last time but this time they’re actually doing move by move teaching 

it might have something to do with experience tbh 

but once again jolin is the cutest human and she’s my number 1 pick lmao 

hu chunyang uwu he’s so shy 

i love li ronghao teaching though 

YES BOY GO I REMEMBER YOUR DEEP VOCALS 

the poor thing but look at how hardworking 

they’re so nervous though poor babes 

XU LONGHAN AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH 

HE’S SUCH A MEME

so baby pick-a me! 

i’M CRYING 

ZHANG PD LEGGO 

i remember when he was teaching mask and all of the boys were doing zyx neck exercises and it WAS THE FUNNIEST THING 

HOW THE FCK IS HE DOING THAT 

i’m sorry i’m supposed to be focussed on the trainees but i’m mesmerised by zyx lmfao 

dude that is some pretty crazy workout 

balance 

WHO SAID BALANCE 

they’re asking pd hard questions ahahahhahahaha

CALLING THEM ALL REPORTERS AHAHHA

li wenhan teaching uwu what an aesthetic 

yaochi’s smile is so adorable 

GUAN YUE YOU’RE SO CUTE SHUT UP GET OUT 

XU LONGHAN AGAIN AHAHHA

THAT HIGH NOTE BRUH 

yao mingming is so cute honestly 

oh no baby ;;; 

he forgot some of his lines 

YEAH BOI GOIGN UP TO B 

please tell me they’re going to A 

omg 

i will cry 

pls pls pls i’m begging 

YES 

YES YES YES I’M SO PROUD OF YOU BABES 

i really have to get better at names 

wait someone got to A 

since when 

what who is it???

only 7 people went up from F ;;; 

please tell me someone went up to A 

F TO B THAT’S AMAZING 

no baby don’t cry no no no 

oh shit i’m crying 

YES BABE

I’M SO PROUD OF YOU 

YOU DID IT 

okay i’m sobbing i can’t even see my keyboard 

[break while i get a tissue box] 

LMAO ADDING IN A CHEWING GUM AD 

lol the subtitles aren’t matching the sound 

LOOK AT THAT VOCAL POWER 

now there aren’t subtitles 

wait no they’re back 

LIAN HUAIWEI MY PRECIOUS BUB 

wang jiayi you’re so hardworking i believe in you gorgeous 

YOU CAN DO IT 

YOU’RE IN B I’M SO PROUD 

well we already know wenhan is in A 

BUT I’M PROUD OF YOU BUB NONETHELESS 

guan yue my number one pick baby 

HE ALWAYS MAKES THIS FACE 

IT’S FCKING ADORABLE 

istg if zyx makes another trainee cry

NO NO NO NOPE 

YOU ARE NOT DOING THIS TO ME 

oof his vocal power though 

LIAN HUAIWEI YOU ARE SUCH A MEME I LOVE YOU SO MUCH 

‘hold me i’m going to faint’ 

i CAN’T BELIEVE THIS BOY 

jia yi is holding the fcking yoghurt milk drink and practising 

I CANNOT DEAL OMFG 

honestly my heart hurts so much for these boys they work so hard 

LIN MO DON’T CRY BUB 

sorry lin mo crying for his teammates is making cry 

wtf jia yi those vocals holy shit 

lian huawei is such a meme i can’t believe this boy 

GUAN YUE YOU LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL IN PINK 

sorry this is turning into a guan yue fangirl rant 

back to the topic 

damn that’s a lot of people in A 

THEY GET MORE MILK AHAHAHAHAHAHAH LMFAO 

sorry HE’S SO CUTE 

also did jia yi change his hair colour?????

zyx has his proud face on 

casper’s ‘YOU GOIN A MAN’ 

xu fangzhou’s visuals though omg 

honestly the improvement over three days is so much obvious this season then last year 

you can really see how much they put in and how much they’ve improved 

no babes don’t cry no no 

‘my killing part is really weak’ 

SAID WHO 

EXCUSE ME SIR

lmfao no one wanting to perform first ahahaha 

AHAHAHAHA THAT WAS SO CUTE 

LI WENHAN THAT WINK 

EXCUSE ME 

GO AWAY 

guan yue’s smile IS HONESTLY 

JIA YI 

COME ON DON’T DO THAT 

WHY ARE YOU SO ADORABLE 

he forgot the moves because he kept smiling AHAHAHA

LIAN HUAIWEI 

OMFG AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH 

i’m saying it again 

I REALLY LOVE THEIR NEW UNIFORMS 

i’m finally loving the new song 

my CUTE BABY BUB 

CHEWING GUM ADS 

jia yi don’t smile at me like that 

you know i can’t handle it 

GUAN YUE 

MY HEART 

GAH 

NO 

DON’T DO THE PHONE CALLS 

DON’T DO IT 

[brb getting my tissue box] 

okay no one crying so far 

we good 

YAO CHI’S MUM AHAHAHHAHA 

wait someone’s mum is brushing their teeth AHAHA

okay this is just really cute 

NO NEED FOR TISSUES 

this is hilarious omfg 

‘it doesn’t matter if i can see you on weibo or not’ 

LMFAO THIS IS SO FUNNY 

oh guan yue ;;; 

i’ve seen people on weibo saying that they don’t want them to show this bit and that people shouldn’t make a big deal out of it so i won’t talk much 

oh fuck where are my tissues 

no baby don’t cry you’re making them so proud 

NO 

NOPE 

WE ARE NOT DOING THIS 

lin mo pretending that there’s a bad signal so his mum doesn’t hear him cry 

perhaps my heart is breaking 

so is it gonna be this way producer team 

you’re gonna make me laugh and now you’re giving me all of this emotional stuff 

I CAN SEE THROUGH YOUR SHIT 

no li wenhan nope no no no 

i can’t even see my screen 

[break while i get water] 

ooooo group performances!! 

what are the songs this time 

pls don’t tell me there’s gonna be a PPAP level song 

wait like ‘dream’ as in the season one dream???

that was god-tier 

NAMANANA YES YES YES YES 

no one’s gonna beat zyx though just saying

ooooo we have a ballad!

IT IS SEASON ONE DREAM LMFAO 

it isn’t idol producer without some good old voting 

who’s number one pick 

li wenhan?

i bet it is 

LOOK AT THIS BROSHIP 

WENHAN YOU GO BABE 

pls pick a good song though 

LI WENHAN X JIAYI WHAT A BROSHIP 

GUAN YUE’S SMILE IS SO ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL 

4As LMFAO 

AHAHAHHAHA HE WISHED FOR IT AND GOT CHOSEN 

LMFAO HIS FACE 

he thought he was gonna be able to chose his song 

but he’s become li wenhan team’s competitor 

no one wants to be chosen anymore because li wenhan AHAHAHHAHAA

wait my wifi cut off how did we get here again 

oh wait three As in the other team 

now we’re onto the next song 

IT’S AN F BABY 

WHO’S GONNA BE DANCING NAMANANA 

oh the poor baby’s face ;;;; 

THIS IS ACTUALLY SO FUNNY 

before everyone wanted to be the next on picked 

but now no one wants to be picked anymore 

HE LITERALLY FELL OVER BECAUSE HE DIDN’T WANT TO BE CHOSEN AHAHAH

wait 

what 

one team per song can’t perform on stage at all 

what the hell 

what’s the point of live voting then?????

5 vocals and there are 4 rap parts AHAHHAHAH 

i love how there isn’t even competing in their team they just kinda force chunyang to be leader lmfao 

LI WENHAN A GORILLA AHAHAHHA I’M CRYING OMG 

‘whoever has muscles, let them be centre’ AHAHAHHAHA 

THEY’RE ALL CRAZY ISTFG 

this is so funny i can’t believe this omg 

PREVIEWS LEGGOOOO

wait they’re just kinda spoiling who’s gonna be able to go on stage 

not gonna lie though isn’t that kind of unfair?

oooo these groups look really fcking good 

he CHANGXI OMFG 

wait li wenhan group’s outfits are low-key ugly lmao 

they literally just revealed who’s performing ahahaha 

honestly this is really unfair to the people who don’t get to perform 

finish time: 11:03am 

that’s all folks; tune in next week for another episode of mai’s shitposting whilst we suffer through another survival show together!

#idolproducernet #qcyn-net #idol producer #idol producer s2 #qing chun you ni #qcyn #青春有你 #mai shitposts #idol producer s2e3 #series: ip s2 thoughts #text posts