#there's a lot of casual racism in the show overall

[bixels]

So i have a small nicpic i wanted to share with you about your interpretation of spike in the au and i want to make two things clear before i talk

1) i havent watch the series for a little while as of now so i might be misnterpreting a aspect of this chatacter that might have never been there and only apeared in fan content and personal interpretation (since that whats been keeping me on the fandom)

2) this is not a big problem about the au i matured enough to not get angry at a interpretation of a fictional charater

Now here i go

I feel spike being the same race as the rest of his familie makes him lose a part of his character that might have not been central but was still something interesting about him and is the idea of not mayhering how diferent he looked from his adoptive family (and his cominty as a whole) he was he was still seen as part of it

Again this isnt a big problem with the au as a whole its just a small nicpic that i have about the au and its not going to make me hate the au

This was just my opinion that i wanted to share and im interested to know your opinion about what i said

I understand this criticism and agree that having Simon/Spike be a different race than Thea could speak to their relationship in the original show.

My reasoning for designing them both to be African American is this. I believe Simon's adoption is enough to explore the feelings of separation and exclusion he may have with Thea and her family. The original show doesn't bring up Twilight and Spike's racial differences much because they originally didn't consider Spike to be a part of Twilight's family. As far as I know, there's no moment where someone says, "Wow! You're telling me you're related to Twilight Sparkle? But you look nothing alike!" because Spike was more so Twilights... familiar than anything.

Later episodes that explore their familial dynamic poses the conflict through Spike's adoption. There's one episode where Spike's "biological father" returns, and Spike accuses Twilight of not being his real family, which breaks her heart. There's another that delves deep into Spike's feelings of exclusion from Twilight and Shining Armor's siblinghood. Basically, in discussions of family dynamics, the show places more emphasis on Spike's identity as an adopted sibling rather than a dragon.

I really do believe a multiracial family would be good representation, but the racial dynamics would not be something I'd be interested in getting into. That's not to say I find real multiracial families problematic or uninteresting or unappealing or unimportant. I just wouldn't be interested in having to explain in-text that Simon (non-black) and Thea (black) are related over and over; it would grow tedious. It adds an extra level of writing complication and opens up racial discourse (discourse that I feel is unrelated to their relationship in the original show) that I don't want to concern myself with, especially because I have no experience in navigating such discourse.

#ask me #anon #i hope this makes sense #tldr i think having human twilight + spike be different races is a good idea #but the decision to do that would complicate their relationship in ways the og show didn't regard #and would start in-universe racial discourse that i don't think is necessary to get into #i think the struggle is a valid and real struggle. but i personally don't have much to say about the social politics of multiracial familie #because i know nothing about what it's like to be in one #also you can 100% bring up moments that touched on race/multiracialness between twilight and spike in the show #because i know they're there #there's a lot of casual racism in the show overall #but it's not something i'd want to explore in this particular au #it's not a conflict that i think is necessary between twilight and spike #but you're more than welcome to disagree

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Hi! I’m interested in writing a realistic teen fiction novel set in high school, focusing on multiple students and their everyday lives both within and outside of school. I want the story to feel like you're reading someone's diary, similar to shows like Freaks and Geeks, Skam, and My Mad Fat Diary. Sooo, any prompts or ideas to help me get started? Or advice? Anything will do! Thank you so much!

The challenge or writing realistic teen fiction when you're not a teenager is quite high. You always run the risk of outdated references, incorrect slang, and overall awkward writing.

DO go for universal experiences. Teenagers throughout the ages deal with the challenges of dating, parental conflict, pressures to get the highest scores or hang out with the right crowd. Kids are going to go through the same experiences no matter how much the world changes. Tap into those emotions and think about what you went through as a teen. How do you project those experiences and emotions onto your character? Could you give them similar challenges? Put them through situations you managed to avoid? Lean on what you know.

DO treat your characters with respect. Yes, even the guy who smokes too much weed has a much richer inner life than you may put to paper. You don't have to give every character a ten-page backstory and a showcasing scene, but do be sure to give depth to both your main characters and antagonists. Don't brush off their concerns or values - even if you think fighting over a prom date is silly in hindsight - as unimportant.

DO focus on setting and specifics. Where your story is based and what's going on in the environment is going to vastly impact what issues your teen characters will face. Some teens may face issues with drugs and environmental violence. Others will have more experience with dealing with online bullying. A lot of teens are far more used to LGBTQ peers and more accepting environments, but that doesn't mean issues of racism, transphobia, and homophobia have gone away. Where you set your story and what's going on in the environment around it are going to be really important when it comes to coming off as genuine.

And a few don'ts...

DON'T chase the latest trends. There are a lot of things that will date your work within the year, if not months. Twitter is nearly as dead as MySpace, no one says 'on fleek' anymore, and the latest iPhone is not going to sound impressive if someone reads your story two years from now. That isn't to say you should social media or cell phones entirely - that would be silly - or that you should try to disguise them by using some made-up name. Neither would really work. If TikTok is going to be in your characters' lives, talking about it even with a casual line is a better option than pretending it doesn't exist. But if you hinge your plot entirely on TikTok drama, and by the time your book or story comes out no one uses TikTok anymore, you'll be shooting yourself in the foot. Play it safe and lean into generics if your story heavily involves online behavior ('some stranger is sending me DMs' versus 'I'm being bullied via my Discord server's soundboard').

DON'T appropriate experiences that aren't yours. It's really tempting to project what you feel about current events into teen characters, and it's not wrong to write really passionately about something that affects both you and your teenage characters, but think it through. Does your white character single-handedly resolve racism in their school? That's just not going to happen. Is your character's heroic moment tackling the school shooter before he kills someone? Take a long step back and think about what these moments mean for the teens that go through them. You run the real risk of making their lives seem trite and meaningless by presenting an easy solution to a complex problem. A teenage hero with a sword may save a kingdom in a fantasy novel, but in the modern world, dealing with bigotry and violence are complicated issues that require solidarity, collective action, and allyship, not savorism.

DON'T cut corners by making your characters 'really into 80s music' or similar anachronistic interests. Listen, I know this is painful, but as popular as Stranger Things is, your teens characters are probably not listening the Best of the 80s on a regular basis when not in the car with their parents (or, uh, grandparents). They're likely not really into TLC, I doubt they can name all the Spice Girls. You may think you're giving them a funny quirk by having them be really into something you know a lot about, but you risk alienating your audience. I've put down more than one YA book because the author couldn't explain why her teen character loved U2, but couldn't name Taylor Swift if she tried. This... doesn't work. You may not listen to Doja Cat or Charli XCX, but you're doing yourself and your characters a disfavor in not considering who the artist or actor they care about is, and why. Figuring out what your characters are into can be really worth the insight it brings. You can, of course, skip pop culture for the most part if your plot doesn't touch it - but don't believe for a second your characters don't know who Ariana Grande is, c'mon.

Angie Thomas's THE HATE THAT U GIVE is a classic for a lot of reasons, but a big part of it is that she's able to juggle all of the above without coming off as insincere or contrite. Her main character knows that dealing with police violence is complicated. Tupac Shakur's music plays an important part of the book because it's relevant to the character and her experiences, not just because it's something the author knew well. And Starr Carter didn't save the world from the problems plaguing her, but she did take a stand against them. Angie Thomas's work is a masterclass in understanding how teenagers think even if you aren't one, and I'd recommend reading them to get a feel for how to handle a teenage voice.

#characters

[arysthaeniru]

Things I find are handled so interestingly well in the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist compared to Brotherhood: 

Ishval! The true horror and terror of Ishval is handled so much better: it is the centre of the show’s thesis about the violence done against other people in the name of scientific progress and the empire’s violence

Speaking of: racism is handled better in this show too! The way that Ed and Al are so callous and dismissive about Ishval through most of the show, despite Marcoh’s warnings, and it really doesn’t hit them until they go there in person and realize that Rick and Rio have suffered just like them: in fact, Rick and Rio have suffered even more than them. Ed and Al can always go back to Resembool. Rick and Rio can’t. The casual racism of our main characters is really good! It’s very realistic that Ed and Al believe the racist lies about Ishval for SO LONG, despite rationally understanding the military is bad

Liore! Because Liore gets to have this back-and-forth with Ishval, you get this really strong empathy and solidarity between Rose and Scar, as this representation of Ishval and Liore: religious brown people versus the Empire coming to genocide them out of existence...the solidarity and love between Scar and Rose and the peoples of Ishval and Liore is really good!

Ed and Al really get to be kids and get to be wrong a lot? They get to be such unreliable narrators in a way that is so interesting! When they say something about alchemy or make comments on other characters, they’re often wrong and misguided! Ed’s petulance and anger and stubborn defiance and Al’s naivete and inability to question other people’s lies gets them in trouble way more often than it does in Brotherhood and it really emphasizes just how much he and Al are children out of their depth in a horrible system, in a way that Brotherhood often doesn’t. 

The metaphor of alchemy: Alchemy IS science. For all its goods, it is all the evils and fallouts of unethical science: science that is done at the expense of people, science that is done in the name of greed, science that is done only in the name of violence, and with this strong metaphor, the Philosopher’s Stone as this pinnacle of progress that is built on the blood of common people is just a less complicated metaphor. Because Alchemy is science and FMA 2003 is a commentary on imperialistic, colonial science that is so directly commenting on the Gulf War, it gets to say things much more angrily than I think Brotherhood ever gets to?? You feel the anger about the lies of the Gulf War in FMA 2003 and how it parallels to WW2 better. The animators seem more angry and I enjoy that more!

(More about pacing, characterization and the overall tone of the show under the cut!) 

Although the show ultimately whiffs it, the homunculi being the leftover remnants of human transmutation allows for so many climatic, interesting conflicts between both the homunculi and humans, but also between different humans! Ed and Izumi and their relationship in this show is defined by their fundamental disagreements regarding the role of alchemy and what to do with the homunculi: and it is SO good!

I love that the homunculi are resentful of humans for living and want the philosopher’s stone to be human again! I could do without them all being controlled by a mysterious entity who is so much more boring than all of the other homunculi, but hey. That happened in Brotherhood too, Father’s very boring. 

Speaking of the homunculi: they are so much scarier and intimidating!! When they show up to a fight, pretty much everybody loses! It’s great! It’s not until the last 10-15 episodes of the show that Ed is able to actually put up a fight against them, so you really feel the stakes everytime they show up on screen. They kill Hughes masterfully, they beat the shit out of Scar, they beat the shit out of Ed and Al, they beat the shit out of Izumi--they’re genuinely scary and I love it! In Brotherhood, they are able to evenly fight them SO MUCH MORE QUICKLY and I think it makes them less of a threat than in 2003. 

The main women in Ed and Al’s lives get so much more to do! Maria, Sheska, Izumi and Winry all have a HUGE amount of screentime compared to Brotherhood, where Winry is mostly just running around and has very little initiative to investigate the main plot! Here, she and Sheska investigate homunculi, participate in fights and really are emotionally impacted by events. Izumi barely shows up in Brotherhood ever, and she is a fundamental player in the game in 2003! And Lieutenant Maria Ross gets to really actually play the role of ‘first adult to be like CHILDREN SHOULDN’T BE IN THE ARMY’ which gives her genuine depth and emotionality. 

Oh, Martel’s a real character too! She and Al are fun, I enjoy their banter and I enjoy that she gets to really emphasize to Ed and Al that Ishval was entirely a false-flag operation 

Rose too! I love that Rose comes back as a real character and not cameo! I love that Rose’s rape too, is not just this moment where Ed truly and really realizes that the military does interpersonal violence, but also is something that motviates Rose herself! I love that moment where she screams at Ed to keep walking, just as he shouted at her at the beginning of the show. I love that her continuing on as a character means that Ed’s shitty speech at the beginning of the show gets to be recontextualized as a thing of strength again. I love her resilience, and I love her.

On the villain-side, at the expense of Greed being a character, Lust gets to be a very sympathetic character! I love her contemplations on why she wants to be human, I love her slow realization that she’s tired of the fight, I love her immediate betrayal of Dante once she realizes that Dante is just using her, I adore her and Envy’s petty bickering. She gets so much depth by being formerly human and being linked to Ishval. 

Speaking of Winry: Roy killing Winry’s parents is just. So much better. I love how it immediately breaks Winry’s faith in the government entirely, I love how much it really and truly shows how the Amestrian military is evil. I love how it really creates this moment of weakness and vulnerability in Roy, which he doesn’t get nearly as much in the other show! Roy’s too cool in Brotherhood! I love how young, sad and pathetic he is when he kills the Rockbells, it really sells the horrors of war much better. 

I really like getting to see Ed and El’s counterparts across all of the side characters: the characters that only show up for one or two episodes: everybody is brothers. Everybody is consumed by this burning posessive love. But nobody goes as far as Ed and Al are willing to. I love how they are confronted with their mistakes and failures everywhere they go! It really sets the tone of horror. It really sells Ed and Al as the protagonists of a dramatic tragedy. They made the mistake, and they will make it again, in the name of love! 

A small thing: but I love that Izumi and Ed disagree with what the Gate is? I love that Ed thinks of the Gate as Truth. And Izumi doesn’t! Izumi simply thinks it is a horror. Izumi thinks that what insight the gate gave her was not truth but something else, and I agree with her. I love the idea that Ed’s conception of reality is based on him being Mr. Edgy Angsty Atheist! I love that the gate is silent in 2003, I like that there are very little answers. And I agree with Izumi! The answer to the question: what lies behind the ultimate taboo of science is NOT truth!! It doesn’t quite make sense! 

Relatedly, I love that Ed learns all of his horrible communication skills and bottling everything up coping mechanisms from Izumi. They make all the same mistakes all the time! Izumi always takes everything on her shoulders even though she has help, as does Ed. Izumi never communicates her love and appreciation for the people around her, letting her actions do the speaking, as does Ed. They are terrible mirrors of each other, and I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

I like that Armstrong is not comic relief? He puts on ‘Mr Muscle Man’ as a facade about three times in 2003, and every single time, it’s a distraction, it’s supposed to make people look elsewhere. Most of the time in 2003, he’s incredibly solemn and serious, as he tries to endure doing the wrong thing in the name of duty. I love that he’s still suffering the consequences of being too kind in Ishval. 

I like that Mustang, Hawkeye and all our favourite main characters put Ishvalans in trains and take them off to concentration camps. It’s not very subtle with its metaphor, but it shouldn’t be. If anything, Brotherhood deeply de-emphasizes the horrendous nature of the genocidal play of the army and the constant violence they partake in. Roy and his people are so heroic in Brotherhood, and I really like how much they are complicit. How much they are ultimately soldiers who are ‘just following orders’ in a genocidal regime. 

I like that they don’t turn to act for the side of good until the very end of the show. I think it highlights the stakes a bit more. I like that the show makes us doubt Roy for a lot longer before finally giving Ed hope! It’s far more cathartic!

I like that Paninya ISN’T ACTUALLY A THIEF???? I like that Paninya is just a gal who wants to make her adoptive dad proud and she steals Ed’s pocketwatch not for Winry to teach her a lesson about how ‘stealing is bad’ but that Ed gets the lesson that he’s not the only one that makes automail work for him! I love that Ed loses actually in 2003!

I really enjoy Fletcher and Russell. Fletcher especially is my good boy. He and Al should hang out more :) 

I really like that Kimblee starts out as a fugitive in 2003! There is something so slimey in Brotherhood where the army just immediately takes him out of jail to track the Elric brothers: it definitely shows just how evil the Amestrian army is, but I think I prefer him being a traitor to Greed’s gang! I love how much more personal Martel makes her fury with him! I like how it takes a while for the military to take him back in here, mostly because it allows for Archer to be a character instead. 

I think Archer being a character makes Kimblee more effective: Kimblee is not Ed’s enemy. He’s Scar’s enemy. And I LOVE that in 2003. 

Archer’s initial attempt to do the right thing instantly being overtaken by craven greed is also a really fun arc! I just enjoy more military characters getting to be pieces of shit. 

Scar gets to interact with more Ishvalan characters because he’s not tied down by far too large an entourage cast, and as a result, he is just. SO much better. I love that he and his mentor fight and talk and he ties himself to the refugees of Ishval in a way he doesn’t quite get to in Brotherhood. I LOVE his determination to make a Philosopher’s Stone out of the military’s lives. I love that he has no hesitation about it either. This is praxis!

I love that Ishvalan people’s legacy is alchemy too! I like that alchemy is the lost art, the old art, and not something that missed Ishvalans by entirely! Although I do like that Scar’s brother in Brotherhood is trying to combine alchemy and alkahestry, I LOVE that 2003 is simply him going back to Ishval’s ancient history. It makes the science metaphor more interesting, especially when you see that apparently the ancient Ishavalsn found out how to make a Philosopher’s Stone and then rejected it and alchemy entirely as a result. I think it’s really interesting worldbuilding! 

I love that whole sequence where Ed kind of makes Wrath’s hatred of him worse? I love how mean and obsessive Ed can be in the show sometimes, I love how flawed and interesting he is. He really feels like a teenager lashing out against the cruel world, and it emphasizes the tragedy of it all.

I love that Hohenheim’s immortality is NOT an accident. I like that he actively did evil things to gain immortality and I like that now his is a story of regret! I think it makes Hohenheim so much more compelling when he is a man seeking repetence for an actual sin instead of being tricked? I think it’s more compelling that he has the same sins as his sons. I like that he was the first to do human transmutation and the first to make a Philosopher’s stone, and that these are Ed and Al’s legacy?? It’s so interesting and fun!

The slow pacing really allows for the tragedy to actually build! I love how slow yet purposeful all the episodes are! The only truly filler episodes are the weird episode about the sexy female thief that keeps tricking Al because Al is too horny/naive, and the Mustang Team’s side adventures. Every other filler episode is doing important work for building the themes of the show! And even the two filler episodes are doing importent things re: characterization! 

Shou Tucker is such a CREEPY minor villain that is used to perfection in 2003. I love how he keeps showing up, I love how awful he is, and I love how much more significant he and Nina are to 2003, because Ed and Al spend four episodes with them instead of their story being wham-blam-ka-blam like it is in Brotherhood, where everything with them happens in 1 episode. 

Laboratory Five is SO MUCH MORE DEVASTATING as a dramatic tension point for Ed! I love how much more evil it is! I love how much more hopeless the situation is. I LOVE the dramatic irony of Ed almost killing hundreds of people because he believed Shou Tucker, despite everything. It’s so good. It makes Brotherhood’s Lab Five Arc pale in comparison. 

Hot Take: I kind of love that Ed goes to Nazi Germany by going through the Gate xD They don’t spend nearly enough time on it, but I kind of adore it anyway. FMA 2003 said subtlety is for cowards, and they were CORRECT!

Things I think weren’t as good but still interesting

Brotherhood really went off with making the homunculus the root of the nation-state of Amestris. I love that in Brotherhood, the state was founded for the explicit purpose of genocidal violence, and the homunuculus as simply the underside of the genocidal turn, the secret police that make the state violence seem legitimate. The hazy relationship between the military/state and the homunuculus muddies the otherwise clear message that 2003 is going for re: state violence and the role of science in perpetrating/continuing violence. 

Dante’s bad. Not that Father is GOOD, not in any way, but Dante’s plan is very stupid and is very underexplained. Why do Trisha and Bradley still follow Dante when she clearly reveals she’s just using them  to prolong her own life and has no intention of making them human? Why do they not immediately just turn traitor like Lust does--the show never builds any real loyalty between Dante and the other homunculi, which makes for a rushed climax, alas. (I do LOVE her and Hohenheim’s bodies physically rotting, that’s some really fun body horror! And I can’t help it, I love exes who were evil scientists and one continued to be evil, and one repented. It’s a fun trope and it was DEEPLY underutilized, alas)

I’m sad Scar died! 2003 obviously has an incredibly high body count and I  defend all of them, but Scar dying is just kinda sad! I like that he has to live with himself in Brotherhood and make Ishval again. 

Greed doesn’t get to do much at all, and his weird acceptance of his own death is VERY strange compared to his own acceptance of being a man so greedy that he wants everything. Although I ended up liking his role as Ed’s first murder, I think Greedling is SUCH a highlight of Brotherhood, that its absence felt jarring. 

May Chang and Ling are such good characters, and I miss Xing! I think I really end up liking 2003′s laser focus on Ishval more, in the end, I think it does a better job of focusing on genocide and racial violence as the catalyst for the state’s and science’s expansion. But May and Ling are such lovely characters and I missed them. 

Al’s angst about maybe not being a real person goes on for SO LONG. I forgot it’s like a full four episodes! It’s the one emotional stake that doesn’t quite feel as impactful as the rest of the show. 

Sloth-Trisha had so much potential that was squandered, I loved when she finally became a fighting antagonist, but I wish they’d spent more time on Ed and Al arguing about her and what to do with her/what she means. I mean, it tracks with them both: that Al instantly goes ‘oh, homunculi are remnants of human transormati--OMIGOD MOM’S OUT THERE’ and Ed’s like ‘i refuse to think about this until the last possible minute’ it’s very in character, but it means they never get to really fight about killing Sloth-Trisha, which is a shame! 

#fullmetal alchemist #fma #i have way too many opinions #haha #these are all deeply personal and subjective of course #if you like brotherhood more still YOU ARE SO VALID #there's a lot to love about brotherhood! #but i have such ADORATION in my heart for 2003 and what 2003 angrily says #i think ultimately 2003 is just a genre i enjoy more #2003 is a dramatic tragedy and a horror anime while also following some shonen tropes #while brotherhood is just full on shonen #and brotherhood is good shonen!! but i just enjoy horror and tragedy so so much more #which is why i have such deep love in my heart for 2003

[pinkieroy]

Bringing this tweet I made here to expand my thoughts on the subject.

To me, this kind of narrative shows how unchallenged prejudice works, Zephrah is overall a good society and a nice place to live, it doesn't, however, escape the age-old belief that ruidusborn are a miasma to exandria, they do their best to prevent their existence, and to Orym's mother that is said easily and it doesn't even seem to register that that could be a hurtful thing to say.

It just reminds me how talking to older people feels like sometimes, people who are very much not capital b bigots, who just say things they heard all their life without questioning for even a second why that might be wrong, it reminds me of my own mother who up until some years ago would say casually homophobic remarks, I never thought she would kick me out of the house when I came out to her, she was never hateful, just never forced to think in a different way and the only reason she changed is because I started to challenge her every time she said something that didn't sit well with me.

It also reminded me of the "class" (it's more of a book club), me and my friend teach some elderly people, there are a lot of discussions that they haven't had, but when we choose a book that talks about the subject most of them are willing to listen (and this is a conservative town, but we did explain structural racism and only one person tried to challenge us, and the others after hearing what we said didn't let the person go very far with that).

My point here is, to me, this is a really interesting thing to insert in a narrative, it helps the world feel more real, it gives us a glimpse beyond Imogen on how being ruidusborn cames with ostracization and how it would be an easy choice to give into Predathos for some people because he uses a feeling of finally belonging somewhere to attract them.

#this is not me excusing any behavior from the ruby vanguard disclaimer #piss on the poor website #text #i locked my account because i'm being a bit acid with my takes lately but send a follow request if you want #critical role

[cursedvibes]

i see what you’re saying but in the end this did way more harm than good. most non-black people are either 1) praising gege for the way the chapter was written which again, shouldn’t be happening bc gege is anti-black himself or 2) making fun of it altogether. and again, the harassment toward black people has been exponentially worse than it already was, and part of it is *because* of how gege wrote it. i think non-black people in the fandom need to be a lot more honest because this is all really vile. also you all know damn well that gege was never going to talk to black people before writing this chapter because again. he’s anti-black. and also, i doubt that the majority of the non-black people in the fandom actually support black people’s art and writing. let’s please be serious

I think Gege had good intentions with the scene even if the execution was lacking, but I can absolutely understand the argument that the reaction from the fandom (at least in the English-speaking circles, I haven't seen much from the Japanese side) outweighs any good that might've come from it. The fandom does have an extreme problem with racism that already rears its head any time Miguel shows up. From the mocking of his fight against Gojo to those "strongest sorcerer in history vs darkest sorcerer in history" catchphrases... Unfortunately, that happens no matter what Gege or the characters do and it only seems to have increased with jjks popularity. Just how there's always a resurgence of harassment for trans fans any time Uraume or Kirara's pronouns or gender or simply their character is brought up.

You can also see in the reactions to the scene that whatever Gege tried to achieve slips past many fans, even the talk about stereotyping. That's also where using Gojo in particular can work against the message I think, despite his previous behaviour and an apology being therefore good in that regard. There is the argument that seeing him apologize makes for a bigger impact because of his popularity, but on the other side you also have the people who say it's ooc and dismiss the entire topic for that reason, the people who can only focus on "omg he looks so cute when he apologizes for being racist uwu", the ones who somehow...seemed to have missed this page entirely? And then of course the ones who go after others for saying that Gojo acting this way towards Miguel is in line with his character or talking about the real world implications.

To avoid that you would have needed to introduce Miguel or black characters in general completely differently. Because I mean, you have this problem far less with the fandoms of Cowboy Bebop or Black Lagoon for example. But there the most prominent black characters are also part of the main protagonist group and not a side character and (former) antagonist. Now in jjk you have one snappy line that changes nothing about the overall story or characters (because I mean Gojo is dead anyway and he never interacted with Miguel again). Also, the jjk fandom, particularly on twt and reddit, isn't the best environment to talk about racism in-universe or in real life either. You have these battle shonen powerscalers who only care about Gojo punching Miguel and I think the leaks didn't make it any better. I mean, the majority of this went down before the chapter or full fantranslations were even out. You have pages with half-hearted translations or summaries ripped out of context that fans then slap each other in the face and fight over despite not even having read the full context. Leaks always cause easy misunderstandings and make everything only worse. Some only heard "Gojo was being racist" and were ready to attack others to defend their faves honour. Or same thing with people making fun of Miguel's cursed technique. I think leaks contribute a lot to the harassment that gets so casually thrown at black people and made the jjk fandom so toxic in general.

So...yeah, overall, not a great situation. For one, I don't think that non-black people should be barred on principle to write black characters because having no black characters in anime/manga isn't the solution I think and we know it can be done well or better, but then you also have to consider the wider impact of how you portray black characters.

#asks

[ophernelia]

I take a more lax tone on here often, but for this post I will not be. Especially as my platform grows, I want my audience to be aware of the kind of etiquette I wish to maintain within this community. There's lots of new people here, so let's go over a few things.

Let me be perfectly clear: If you see me complain about anything on here or on any other platform, that is not a call to action. I do not condone nor do I support bullying, harassing, or even just speaking to another creator on my behalf. I don't care if it is said kindly, refrain from doing so please. I will also never openly express who I am speaking of. It's best not to speculate either especially when you are unaware who I am friendly with. You won't see my publicly address anyone in that manner unless it is something pertaining to a serious topic. (i.e, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.) The same way you have access to another creator is the same way I do. In some cases even more so. I am fully capable of speaking with an individual on my own accord and privately. I have a lot of love and respect for other creators in the community. Do not bother them, do not harass them.

Regarding my series, I genuinely love and appreciate that so many of you enjoy Lykaia. I am glad you look for it. Just know that it is my responsibility alone to safeguard my series and any of my other creations. It is simply your responsibility as my audience to just enjoy the series! Lykaia will be around. I have no plans to stop making it yet. If it is in the cards for me, I fully intend to have an entire year of Lykaia content. We can partake in gossiping about the episodes together. I love telling you guys more about the lore. I love interacting with you guys! My platform is intended for that kind of interaction. I can handle things on the back end. You guys are just here for a good time, so please enjoy that.

Lastly, regarding general interactions with me, please be respectful. I enjoy speaking with all of you casually. Don't be surprised when I respond! Of course I'll respond if I see it! Unless it's something rude about myself or another creator. However, if said creator is openly bigoted or any of the -ists or -isms, then.. hats off. We can gossip about Lykaia until the day's end. If you hate Kaila, that's fine. If you think Imogen is dumb, that's okay too. If you hate Lou, you just may be a monster but that's also okay! Characters, okay! Real people, not okay! I peruse around here a lot, so if I see you're being unjustly rude to another creator then I will block you. There's no space for hate here in any form unless it is pertaining to the series. Don't worry, I am still a hater at heart, so I will continue to be vocal about things I dislike. (Just saw a patreon tier for $100, rant currently pending.) Overall, I want this to be an enjoyable space for everyone. Let's keep it fun and kind. In reference to Lykaia, let's keep it messy. I love the show drama.

Thanks! Love you cuties!

-Opie <3

#text post #important #faq #putting this in my faq section so everyone sees it

[seriouslycromulent]

Ok. So I know I'm late to the conversation, but let's just say that I'm disappointed, although not surprised to read casually racist comments on YouTube posts about Billy Spencer and the revelation that Eliot Spencer's dad is black.

I say not surprised because I wasn't born yesterday, and I've learned from years of being a Star Trek fan that even if a show centers around uniting across cultures, features a multicultural cast, and spreads a message of fighting bad guys in every form, bigots will still gravitate toward that fandom and lose their shit if a person of color is centered in a space that the bigot assumes a white person "should have" been centered.

Why?

Because the fandom world is just a microcosm of all the bitchassness that exists in the world overall. The global society we live in is brimming with racism, homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny and a myriad of other forms of bigotry. And that reality will always be reflected in fandom because bigots are often oblivious and carry their prejudice with them wherever they go ... including into the fandom world.

Now I don't know the age of the person who claimed that hiring Keith David to play Eliot's dad was a sign of "everything having to be politically correct these days," but if I didn't know any better, I would've thought I had been transported back to the 1990s and was engaging with Al Bundy on Married with Children.

Seriously? People are still using the phrase "politically correct" without a hint of irony? I thought bigots had moved on to calling everything that doesn't center straight, white, cis, able-bodied people as "woke." I guess this person just likes the classics.

Nevermind that we rarely, if ever, see transracial adoption depicted on American television when the child is white. Nevermind that the series has always had a theme around found family from different backgrounds working together to bring a little more justice into an unjust and unfair world. Nevermind that we waited 6.5 seasons to learn more about Eliot's background, and all we learned was that he was adopted, his parents are black, and why he and his dad fell out and hadn't spoken in over 2 decades.

No. Bigots are mad because a white person has black parents on a fictional series because it didn't fit their preferred narrative.

Leverage is not a show without flaws, but it has always been a show that challenged the status quo, behind the scenes and in the stories they tell. Your discomfort after learning that Eliot was raised by black parents is a reflection of your bias and skanky race issues regarding BIPOC folks, and you should examine that further. Not search for facile excuses to hide your bigotry behind other "reasons" to dislike the episode. You're fooling no one.

And the adoption story of Eliot Spencer was not "forced." It was simply not telegraphed with clues at every opportunity because Eliot plays everything close to the vest, especially his past. It's completely on brand for him, and if you cared about this character, you wouldn't have a problem with it and would acknowledge the consistency of him never referencing it.

As for the people who think that the writers just dumped his entire backstory on us in one episode, what show are you watching? There's plenty more to Eliot's background than who his dad is and why they fell out. And I bet if his dad was white, these so-called fans would've raced to their keyboards to write countless fanfic backstories to Eliot's life growing up in a small town, how he navigated high school especially with being adopted, and his life, in general, prior to joining the military. All the while taking the information from the episode to craft a layered history of his life.

There's a ton of stories out there to tell about Eliot Spencer, but a lot of the bigots fans are now deflated because that means they have to write a story with black parents and they don't want to do that. But I bet every single one of them will swear they're not racist or bigots or anti-black in any way.

Racism in fandom is not new, but I honestly expected more from the Leverage fandom. Granted, I know it's not everyone in the fandom. And you can argue it's not even the majority, but I've seen very little pushback from the fans who don't have a problem with Billy Spencer being black against the fans who do have a problem with Billy Spencer being black. And that too is very telling.

#fandom #racism in fandom #leverage: redemption #leverage #eliot spencer #billy spencer #christian kane #keith david

[larsisfrommars]

Wild Wild Reviews

The Night of The Inferno

Overall Score:

Story: 3/5

Dame: 4/5

Villain: 2/5

Gadgets: 5/5

Disguises: 2.5/5

Bonus Points: Gay Subtext: 1/5

The Yikes Dated Factor: -3/-5

Score: 14.5/25 (58%)

Tier: D

FULL REVIEW UNDER CUT

The Story

It’s a pretty straight forward plot that introduces most of the core elements of the show fairly well. We’ve got our inflable and courageous James West, our over the top villains, our femme fatale and our gadgets but it feels as though the story is missing a limb. That limb of course is Artemus Gordon. Yes Ross Martin is there playing counterpart to Robert Conrad but he doesn’t really seem like the Artie we know and love yet. He’s less intelligent marvels at inventions that given the later context of the show he could’ve (and probably did) build himself, and lets Jim do the detective work. His disguises aren’t a big focus, and he’s noticeably more of a coward than he is later on. Luckily they fix all this almost immediately but between this and the casual early 60s racism this episode suffers a bit.

The Dame

Our woman of the week is Suzanne Pleshette!

Most of us young’uns know her as the witch Yubaba from Spirited Away and/or Zira from Lion King 2. However she was a very accomplished TV actress before that! I think she does a fantastic job as Lydia Monteran!

She and Jim have history which is always a fun gimmick, and certainly way more fleshed out than the parade of other women in this series. She’s got her own illegal business and lots of personality, a classic femme fatale. She just doesn’t have a lot in the way of complex/personal motivations and doesn’t really affect the plot with her direct actions, which is why she isn’t a perfect score.

The Villain

Our villains of the week are Nehemiah Persoff and Victor Buono!

Now I don’t know Persoff from anything other than Papa from American Tail. His character bordered on caricature/hammy but I am honestly shocked to say that he was WAY more entertaining to watch than Victor Buono of all people?! He was very animated and had a lot of fun lines. Meanwhile Buono (who I know as the unhinged King Tut from Batman) was both chronically underutilized and the crux of the more dated and problematic aspects of this installation of the series. Generally though these villains lacked the camp and ridiculous plans/motivations that I love the series for. So I’d say they’re a little subpar overall

The Gadgets

The gadgets were PHENOMENAL in this episode. If it has a real saving grace it’s the gizmos, a cornerstone of what makes this show work. We get an introduction to The Wanderer, West’s notorious toolbox boot heels, and a really fun Chekhov’s Gun scenario with the self-defense measures built into the billiards table! Excellent visuals and gimmicks that will carry on throughout the series.

The Disguises

The disguises were… eh. Which makes sense for the pilot but also it’s a shame, considering just how much it becomes an integral part of Ross Martin’s multi-faceted performance as Artemus Gordon. We get him as some sorta grave robber/carpet bagger that seems to exclusively exist to be silly at Jim’s expense, and a brief appearance as a Mexican beggar. Only one really makes sense for the story and we see it for all of two seconds.

The Gay Subtext

(Don’t ship it? Skip it!)

So long as Artemus and Jim are in an episode together the Gay score will never be 0. That being said they haven’t established a rapport, or even Artemus as a solid character yet. So is absolutely bottom rung for subtext in a given episode to me. Artemus frets over Jim a little and musters up his courage in spooky environs but that’s about it.

The Yikes Dated Factor

I’m giving this a solid -3 because yes there are more sexist/racist episodes than this but there are also LESS racist/sexist episodes of this show than this one. The only reason this doesn’t get a worse score for the yellow face is because it was part of the villain’s ploy, so they technically didn’t have a white man playing a Chinese guy. It was a white guy pretending to be Mexican pretending to be Chinese, which is almost funny, almost. But then, we got a couple white guys playing Mexicans which (there are plenty of people in the Latine diaspora who are white.) still runs into caricature and colorism issues. The baddies are all foreigners sometimes pretending to be different foreigners with some casual orientalism. But hey! At least the Spanish wasn’t gibberish!

#the wild Wild West #Wild Wild West #James west #Jim west #Artemus Gordon #Ross Martin #Robert Conrad #suzanne pleshette #nehemiah persoff #victor buono #James west/artemus Gordon #the night of the inferno #tnot inferno #s01x01 #episode review #tv review #1960s #1960s tv #1960s television #vintage tv #vintage television #vintage tv review

[justmenoworries]

OH MY GOODNESS!! I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO SAW THAT EMOTIONAL LINK AS UNHEALTHY!! When the show introduced it, I immediately became uncomfortable because my gosh! Emotions are STRONG and feeling EVERYONE'S emotions like that, should have cause Robby and Mo difficulties in functioning properly. Heck, ALL of them shouldn't be functioning properly with that ability!

And, that's the tip of the problem! Emotional privacy is literally thrown out the window here! Robby is a preteen one or two years away from being a teen. He's naturally going to value his privacy deeply, but the show refuses to let any of them express discomfort at the idea that they can't have privacy. Then, the show ends up being inconsistent with this ability!

Many instances I found myself wondering why the emotional link isn't going off. Any time they get hurt? That should be felt by ALL of them. JB's moment of causing Grimlock's PTSD to happen? Should have felt Hashtag's concern and vice versa. Hashtag feeling Mandroid and getting trauma? ALL of them should have felt that.

But the truth is that this ability was thrown in, because the team knew they didn't know how to handle character development. Or, they knew this deep down without realizing it. And I'm glad you also brought up the Malto's isolation. After the Home episode, I was hoping the show would explore the human civilians. I mean we all learn that its better to hear both sides of the argument, and I wanted the humans to be given the same chance to heal as the transformers.

But they were just...tossed into the background as window dressing for the dramatic stuff. I'm trying not to go too deep into this part with how long this is, so let me go back to the sleeves. Really, they should have just kept using the emotional power up ability that was introduced in part one. When Mo and Robby got mad, it boosts Twitch's and Thrash's attack and damage infliction. I was curious as to what other abilities they could have gotten from other emotions! But it was just...dropped. Like it never happened. And, that irritated me, because that ability made more sense than the emotional link one! Anyway, sorry for making this so long!

Literally all of this.

There's a lot of really interesting stuff in EarthSpark that was just banished to the Phantom Zone as the season went on.

And giving your main characters a tool that basically lets them circumvent having to actually make an effort to understand somebody else is kind of a sketchy idea to begin with.

Maybe I wouldn't have such a problem with the Maltos' psychic bond if it was established better and if the rules for what it can and can't do were made clearer.

The power boost thing is a good example. There's multiple instances after "Classified" where the Terrans would really have benfitted from having their powers buffed by Mo and Robby, for example in Bot Brawl or the fight against the Sharkticons. But then nobody even mentions that, oh yeah, that's a thing the Maltos can do?

The humans not being allowed to be an actual entitiy in the show is another thing. Mandroid and G.H.O.S.T. are the villains, so their opinions automatically don't count, but what about the regular citizen's opinion on Transformers? "Home" gave us a taste of what the general public opinion about Cybertronians is, hinted that it's pretty negative overall (Stevie's casual racism, Sam being terrified of Nightshade at first, Bot Brawl being a thing and very popular among humans) and then just... never elaborates.

This comes back to a problem I've noticed before: The Maltos are very isolated. Not just because they live in a small town in the middle of nowhere but because they seem to actively avoid making connections with anybody outside their little circle. Like, have we ever seen Mo and Robby talk to other human kids outside of single episodes like "Friends and Family" (where said kids were portrayed as shallow bullies to compare them negatively to the genuine Twitch and Thrash) or "Home" (where Robby's old buddy from Philadelphia is revealed to be an anti-Cybertronian racist whose heel-face-turn Robby doesn't get to see before the Maltos leave Philly again)?

I mean, Robby at least gets to have one friend from his old stomping grounds in Philly. Does Mo have any friends outside of her siblings? We don't know. The show never seems to care enough to give her any.

I don't think I need to tell you that it's not good optics if the only friends your kid protagonists are allowed to have are the people they're in a literal hive mind with.

I'm hoping that with the Mandroid and G.H.O.S.T. stuff resolved (though jury's out on Mandroid, maybe the healing wave brought him back) I'm hoping season 2 lets the Maltos actually step outside their comfort zone. Let Mo and Robby make some human friends, be normal kids for a while.

Heck, how cool would it be if the Terrans went to school too? I'm not counting on that to happen, but seeing the Terrans interact with other kids would be nice.

#earthspark spoilers #transformers earthspark spoilers #transformers earthspark

[stranger-rants]

This may have been talked about to death—too new to fandom discourse—but I have this theory that the idea for billy’s character stemmed from (valid) criticism/debate that stranger things s1 was too unrealistic/idealized re: its depictions of racism (specifically the lack thereof), and so the duffs got all defensive and were like nay, we SHALL address racism! We shall have a new HUMAN villain who shall embody ALL racism. Racism, thy name is billy hargrove. But then the scene they wrote was apparently so poorly conceived that the actors refused to utter the lines. And so they revised it to strongly IMPLIED racism, thy name is billy hargrove. And then once again one of the actors pushed back and was like but from whence does this toxicity emerge?? And they were like FINE. Strongly implied racism nurtured by an abusive bigoted parent, thy name is billy hargove. And then subsets of fandom either latched onto the original shallowly conceived version of billy or the more nuanced but still pretty botched version of billy. The former have been loudly vilifying him with all the overly simplistic rancor the duffs hoped to evoke so that they could check off the lil racism box on their storytelling to-do list. And the latter have been tirelessly working to weave the knotted strands of potential and the many many details and clues that surely were intentional but maybe were just indigestion into something compelling and pretty amazing. But the rancor was louder, and also they hadn’t actually planned anything for him beyond racism thy name is billy hargrove, and so they dropped anything to do with that for s3, gave billy a demonic lobotomy in the opening, and washed their hands of him in the finale. (…Sorry for the flippant tone—racism is obv something I wish they’d explored with even a modicum of competence. But I also find the depths of their incompetence just… comical?? In that way where you gotta either laugh or scream)

So, this is really interesting because when Stranger Things first aired there was quite a bit of discourse around the lack of racial diversity in the show especially as The Get Down was also airing on Netflix at the same time. On top of that, there was a lot of criticism within fandom on how they handled Lucas’ character who was reasonably distrustful of their protagonist, Eleven. Who knows if that had any influence over their writing going into season 2.

We do know The Duffers wanted a “human antagonist” and that they wanted to “explore interracial relationships” with Lucas and Max. However, they didn’t plan this out very well because to them 80s racism is a movie aesthetic and not a complex issue of it’s own. Sure, they can create a racist bully character but what’s their overall purpose to the narrative if the narrative does not in any way tackle racism as a systemic issue in Hawkins, Indiana.

We’re supposed to believe this abused teenager from California with no real investment in his sister’s life is so concerned about his sister dating a boy who is black, but casually ignore the implications of a boy being black in a predominantly white, conservative, Reagan-voting town that quickly morphed into a lynch mob that evokes systemic racism in America. They’d rather scapegoat another teenage bully than put effort into exploring racism with any authenticity and that’s on them… not Dacre or the character he portrayed.

I think fans of color have every right to be upset by what Billy said and did. At the same time, when fandom as a whole hang on The Duffer’s interpretation of Billy as The Racist and define him entirely based on an early version of him that we never saw on screen (thank goodness) I have to ask… why? Why would anyone want Billy to say racial slurs towards Lucas for their one-note racism plot point they were never going to explore beyond the shock value of hearing the N-word in a mainstream supernatural show.

…and all of this being said, Lucas is still pushed aside in favor of everyone else. His interest in basketball marks him a traitor among his friends who had no intention of supporting him at his games. He still narratively spent most of season 4 in enemy territory. Hell, Jason almost did kill him and people spend a lot of time excusing him because his girlfriend died and blaming Lucas for acting suspicious as if those two things haven’t historically been used to form lynch mobs to hunt down and kill black boys who were in the wrong place.

It’s all really clumsy handling of racism is what it is.

#asks #fuck the duffers

[mindastardust]

My thoughts regarding the esc 2023 final/results

Okay, I’ve had some time to think about this (and actually sleep a bit) and this is my (probably a bit disorganized) thoughts on the situation. (I’m from Sweden, so I’m a bit biased, but I’ve done my best to give a fair answer/judgment to everything that I’ve seen)

1. The blatant misogyny and racism

The amount of misogyny and racism directed toward Loreen that I’ve seen is truly disgusting. I’ve read things that seemed like direct quotes from the Swedish democratic party (aka the racist party) and that’s never, ever okay. It’s completely fine to dislike the song/the number/the singer we still need to treat them with the bare minimum of respect.

2. This is not the first time (and probably not the last)

This is not the first time a former winner is back. A recent example (that I also have seen other people talk about here) is Alexander Rybak who returned in 2018. I’m well aware that he didn’t win but he did win his semi-final and was, for a while, one of the favorites that year. And I don’t remember people campaigning against him for a whole week for that? I have seen some people talk about how his entry was fine since it was clear that he “didn’t even try to win and was just having fun”. I can’t find any source confirming this but I can find one interviewwith Loreen where she says that winning again wasn’t her main motivation for returning. And still, I see Loreen being accused of only caring about winning and being annoyingly “fake humble” (again, see 1).

Also, quite a few times in the past ten years, the televoting winner and the overall winner have not been the same. For example, the last time Sweden won, Måns only came third in the televoting category and this hate storm was mysteriously silent. Same thing 2016 and 2019, when Jamala/Duncan won in neither the televoting nor the jury votes but still won overall.

3. What is Eurovision about and who is it for?

Finland’s entry this year (and most years to be fair) is funnier than Sweden’s. Tattoo is not meant to be a funny song and Sweden generally sends more “normal” (or boring, if you prefer that word) pop songs rather than the more colorful, camp songs that most of us fans have come to associate with Eurovision. Do I think Esc would be more fun if we actually tried to send songs like that? Yeah, I do. I’d love for that to be a thing. Unfortunately, as esc works right now, it’s not the most “effective” thing to do if you want to win. As boring as it is, the more “normal” pop songs generally perform better than the more camp/crazy/creative ones.

We also need to remember that most of the 200 million viewers aren’t us. They are not live-blogging the whole show on Tumblr. They causally follow the show, most of them probably watching only the final. To call Tattoo “jury bait” is fine, cause it’s 100% true. To call it “normie bait” is less so. It implies that those more casual viewers (who might prefer music similar to “normal” pop rather than “classic esc camp”) don’t have the same right to an opinion as the “true esc fan” (whoever that might be). It also brings us to the question of how to identify that true fan. OGAE (the network of esc fan clubs) perhaps, who organizes the OGAE fan poll each year? But since Loreen won that one this year, I’m guessing that’s not a solution that’s good either.

Yes, Käärijä won the public vote (with quite a big margin) but Loreen came in second place and to act like everyone who voted for her doesn’t deserve to have an opinion is trying to silence quite a lot of people.

4. Was Eurovision rigged?

You all do realize that some of you sound a bit crazy, right? We clearly did not bribe the jury nor (do I believe at least) was this whole thing planned before the competition began. At best (if you want a conspiracy), Melfest (Sweden’s national competition) was rigged so that a “good artist” (in this case Loreen) would win with a very ESC-friendly song so that Sweden could have the highest chance possible of winning. Do I think this was the case? No. I don’t have any proof that our television network didn’t plan this. At the same time, no one else has any proof that they did.

5. So what now?

Loreen played by the rules and won. You are allowed to think the rules (the jury) suck (I can assure you that several Swedes hate the international jury we have at our Melfest each year). Should the rules change? I’m open to that. The rules have changed many times before and it might be high time for another change. There’s certainly much to gain in terms of goodwill by removing the jury right now. Also, kick out Israel while you’re at it. The fact that they’re still allowed to compete is disgusting.

TLDR; If you want to criticize Loreen (or anyone else), do it without being racist or misogynistic. Remember that former winners have been back before and that other entries than the televoting winner have won before. Realize that we Tumblre fans might not be the typical esc viewer. I personally don’t see how esc could have been rigged for Sweden to win and I do believe Loreen (and Sweden) played 100% by the rules, but I can agree that if those rules cause this much outrage, they might be due for a change.

#esc23 #eurovision

[whatthe4355]

Alright, fuck it

Here's my Scooby Doo media conservation rant

Ready?

:readmore:

Alright, so where to start. I guess let's start with the beginning, with shows first

Scooby-Doo Where Are You! (SDWAY)

There's technically 2 seasons. Some people call it three. I denote the season by the change in intro and tone.

Anyway. If you want to watch the Classic SDWAY you can't. Not exactly. You may be able to find parts streaming but not the entirety. If you're lucky you'll find the "Best Hits" of season one (what a knight for a fright, hastle at the castle etc) but you won't find certain ones that are, in a word, obviously insensitive. It wasn't as bad in the "first season" so there's only a couple missing episodes (you can find them on DVD, most of the issues w/ first season are native american insensitivity). The second season is the one people forget about, and OOF does it age like milk. This season is where you get the chase songs with actual lyrics(the infamous "I married an ostrich" comes to mind) The rather offensive episode in a Chinatown section of a city is in this run. Usually , you only get Jeepers! It's the creeper! From this run if you get any at all.

Summery: it is morally ethical to pirate this one bc of lost albeit offensive content.

The New Scooby Doo Movies (TNSDM)

You might be wondering in the heck this is. Well, this one is the second series of Scooby Doo, and honestly probably aged the best out of the 70s Scooby Doo. Youve got real comedians, the globe trotters, Batman and Robin and even the Addams Family! It's a lot of good self contained fun for 45 minutes. Unfortunately, you HAVE to pirate it. I'm not sure if there even is a DVD release of these (I have the Batman and Robin one on VHS).

Summary: there's no legal way to watch this. Do yourself a favor and pirate this one. It holds up the best out of the original three Scooby Doo shows.

The Scooby Doo Show (TSDS)

This third show ages a tiny bit better than SDWAY, but still has some era consistent casual racism and bad taste indigenous portrayal. It's better than the first show, and to the point companies aren't afraid to stream it. It's a little uncanny at first watch as it feels nigh identical to SDWAY, but shifted about 5 degrees to the left. Overall a step down from TNSDM, but solid. I will note, this show title technically covers an era of Scooby Doo, but for simplicity and sanity Im just referring to it as The Scooby Doo Show.

Summary: Pirate if you want to. it's good fun and would suggest watching instead of SDWAY if you really want old Scooby Doo legally.

Scooby-Doo and Scrappy Doo (the series)

I'm not sure what to say here honestly. I haven't delved too deep into this one. Scrappy-Doo's annoying factor varies wildly from episode to episode and can range in role from either Fred or Velma for the episode. Weird fuckin stuff.

Summary: pirate if you want, I'm not your mom. You can't really watch legally last i checked

Scooby-Doo and Scrappy Doo (the shorts)

Oh gd there's more of him? Okay. So I don't know if these are actually preserved or not but they sure as hell arent gonna be streaming. Short form, widely disliked, failing era is a recipe for media loss.

Summary: Cryptid. If you can find it, archive and save it. You might end up with the last copy of this show or something.

The New Scooby Doo Mysteries

How is there three series with Scrappy Doo in a staring role and not Scooby Dum? Ask Hanna Barbera, because I sure as hell don't know. Is this one preserved? Again, I don't know.

Summary: much like the other two Scrappy Doo Shows, I don't know if this is preserved. Probably?

The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo

Fully saved and on a free platform to boot. You can stream on Tubi as of writing. Piracy also works too.

A Pup Named Scooby Doo

Okay we are out of the dark age of Scooby Doo. This show is available on itunes, but only the first two seasons. The rest you're going to have to pirate.

Summary: just pirate it. Its wholesome and fun.

What's new Scooby Doo?

This is a great one, and unfortunately in rights limbo between Netflix and HBO max. It's basically all you want from the original Scooby Doo minus the casual and rampant stereotyping. This is the show that really made em want to make this rant. It's the show that revived Scooby Doo on tv, and got reruns of the old stuff onto boomerang.

PIRATE

Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!

For all intents and purposes, it's a spinoff of the main series. 2 seasons, both available on HBO max*mimes vomiting* and only one on DVD. About the half baked approach you'd expect from Hanna Barbera for home release.

Honestly, either piracy or streaming works. It's just not a great show imo.

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated

There's so much good to be said about this show that I'd need another post to cover it. To give just a brief glimpse of it's splendor: at the time it ran, there was a flash game updated weekly where you played out that week's episode in game. Like, just a masterful take on Scooby Doo.

Summary: it's on Netflix. Go watch it. If you can't afford that, pirate. Any way you can watch it, DO IT.

Be cool Scooby Doo!

A show that probably deserves more love than hate, harkens back to the era of "whatever goes" tv, in a good way. Animation is pretty not good, writing is decent.

It's on boomerang, but what else is on there?? Pirate if you're bored.

Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?

A poor man's revival of the new Scooby Doo movies. It forgets a lot of what made that show work in general, and focuses on the celebrities heavily.

Also on boomerang. Pirate if you really want, id recommend just rewatching the new Scooby Doo movies.

Velma. No. Just. No.

The creator is a right wing transphobe and you should not even give her the satisfaction of a hate watch.

If you watch this one I'm not your friend.

Movies will be a separate post tomorrow, this took a while.

#scooby doo

[catfishofoldin99colours]

what kinda problems does tma have? i haven’t finished listening to the whole thing yet but i don’t mind spoilers. asking because i wanted to gauge if it’s something i haven’t gotten to yet or something i’ve missed!

oh yeehaw i will gladly tell you!

full disclosure i haven't actually finished listening to it, I still need to pick up again after s3 but I've listened up till then

also spoilers below for anyone planning on listening to it!

anyway, tma is overall a VERY good podcast and especially in the horror genre, its incredibly well written and effective and genuinely fucking scary and unsettling, and manages to do that without using misogyny or homophobia/transphobia as a device to achieve the sense of dread you get in pretty much every episode. that being said there's a few instances of casual (unintended) racism, such as episode 72 which has a case of anti-chinese racism where the villain is a Chinese cannibal that owns a takeaway shop. that is the most blatant example I remember, there are likely others I have missed because I am white and these things go over my head, but if other people remember better than I do I encourage them to respond to this!

in terms of other problems, to be honest I think what I'm talking about is just my engagement with the show - namely Daisy Tonner. she's a police detective who gets involved with the main cast during s2 and is an avatar of the hunt, sometimes headcanoned by fans as being werewolf like in nature. she's not a nice person, nasty and blunt and rude and brutal, and there are several instances in the show where she kills others and justifies it with reasoning ranging from 'suspected to be a vampire' to 'my boss told me to'. she's violent and cruel and her morality is tied to the law, in that she takes the orders she's given and works to uphold an unjust system based on her perception of other people as a threat, and this comes out in almost every interaction she has with anyone, especially jon, the main character. at one point she kidnaps him and holds him at knifepoint in the woods, fully intending to kill him, before something stops her (its been a while since I've listened to it I can't quite remember what gfjkds).

as a character i fucking adore her. i love female characters who are actually seriously vicious and cruel and horrible people and allowed to be awful, the narrative doesn't shame them for their personality. to me daisy means a lot and I see a lot of myself in her horrible attitude and nasty demeanour (take that as you will ghjfdksl).

but i can't deny that she's a cop and comes with everything that entails. she's suspicious of everyone, she threatens legal action that she can take, and failing that threatens violent action instead, sometimes acting on it. she's part of a group that works to protect their own and target suspects for their own personal agenda rather than any actual sense of 'justice'. as much as I love her for being a female character with bite and attitude, she is like that for a reason. she's also incredibly emotionally dependent on Basira, her coworker-turned-magnus-archives-employee. their relationship is quite homoromantic but its never confirmed as actually romantic or anything because fuck cops, lesbians or not.

(if you're worried about queerbaiting in the show tho, don't, I promise there's none, because no one ever advertised the show as being queer friendly/having canon queer relationships so they literally didn't bait anyone at all, and people who say that don't actually know what queerbaiting means)

i love daisy as a character and I do think she is a very interesting exploration of police institutions, especially with the lens of the hunt and the horror that all that entails, I think its very well done as horror literature. but there's a reason people hate her and it'd be unfair of me to not warn you of the kinds of things she does in the show, in case that's upsetting for you.

in terms of the actual show content, trigger warnings range from gore, body horror, insects, depression, mental health, paranoia, unreality, and many more, and various times they intersect with instances of marginalised characters that don't come across as well-intentioned as the creators probably wanted.

this is a list of trigger warnings by episode (all 200 of 'em) and is generally good for checking if you can listen to the episode, especially the earlier seasons, because it wasn't until about s4ish that they started including trigger warnings for really graphic things in the episode introductions.

this is a folder of transcripts of all the episodes, which I personally found helpful when starting the show. i'd often read transcripts and if I could handle that, id listen to the episode (until I binged half of s1 in a week and got used to the general sense of dread the show gave me and after that I just dived in lmao).

thats mostly what i talk about in terms of bad - the show is good, so good, but it is a tragedy and it is horror and it has some horrendous people, some of which will be worse than others, and being horror it's gonna upset you in some areas. tread with caution, look at the trigger warnings and transcripts if you need to, and maybe avoid the fandom for the most part, it was not very pleasant when the show was airing, but overall, this series is so good and I do gladly recommend it to anyone looking to branch into horror. i think if you follow me and enjoy the same things I do you won't regret giving tma a shot ^^

#ask #tma #the magnus archives #also check my tma/the magnus archives tags for stuff as well #theres usually some meta/critique posts in there somewhere

[kuruparlayan]

Adonis’ body self-image.

tw: racism

Due to his Turkish DNA and his father’s genes altogether, Adonis statute is very much like him : tall and strong. His skin is thicker and darker in tone, and his overall traits are edgiers, rougher. Although he did inherit from his mother’s more slender body type in general and softer, pretty facial traits, from the day he came to Japan, everything about Adonis’ body had him stand out in a crowd, no matter how hard he tried.

Even when they do not mean to be insensitive about it, instinctively, through the collective unconscious, Adonis’ presence is easy for Japanese people to see as scary. The country’s culture, as much as he loves it, does not see to foreigners kindly. Every issue about Adonis’ physical difference comes from Japan’s casual and widely accepted discrimination.

So why did Adonis specifically said he had never lived through such things ?

Let’s pick him as a character and not a walking representation of his entire country (as he should in a narrative focused on individual characters, at least the broad appliance of it : he’s a full person, not a token). Putting this aside from a second, Adonis is a young man who values peace above all. Which also means avoiding conflict at all cost. This makes for him stepping up to help others using his own blood and sweat, and many micro internal conflicts where he does not know what to think, like is this person scared of him because he is objectively large or because he looks foreign. It’s both, but consciously or not ? Those social conflicts which are extremely complex to deal with and sprayed upon every aspect of his life, thus him asking a lot of questions, especially to Souma who he sees as a perfect reference to Japanese culture.

Uniquely, Japan is known to be, unfortunately, very xenophobic. This show mostly through rudeness such as walking into foreigners when walking by, not making eye contact nor nodding/bowing when saying hello and general rudeness.

I believe that Adonis took it upon himself, like many minorities in East Asia. When you see people being so considerate and polite to one another but you and you are young, you might just start to believe you are the problem. This also fits his very “silently take action for yourself” personality. Adonis’ avoidance of conflict make him focus more on what he can do and less about what others can do or how to change people’s mind. Thus his thinking that he is too big, that he’s bothering everyone (especially in a country where socially you wish to bother as little people as possible) and that, as someone who is so physically imposing (people make him feel more imposing than he actually is), he needs to work extra hard to not take more space.

This makes him even more silent than his calm personality makes him to be : only with the help of his friends, especially Koga, Rei and Souma, does he start to dare speak his mind, and think of himself as just fine the way he is. Handsome even.

#.kuruparlayan ( headcanon )

[collectionoftulips]

i think bridgerton wordl building leaves a lot to be desired and they definitely halfassed it, but i also took the explanation~ for the characters of color to be intentionally surface level because it is more an excuse for us the audience in the 2020s and for casting actors of color rather than a meaningful exploration of a narrative about racism. because it's a soapy romantic drama with other ahistorical elements, and overall not really concerned with specific details of thw time period (often to its own detriment). nobody seriously believes the love solved racism excuse in the show, it's a matter of suspension of disbelief. maybe it would've been better if they left the explanation for an interview or a synopsis and just kept the characters of color without explaining in the text why, or without explaining anywhere at all. I'm not saying we shouldn't criticize the show and the writers and their approach to this and just accept what they say and write no questions asked, but I don't think delving deeper into the logic and logistics within the show universe is constructive for us (or at least i didn't think so before the prequel, I'll see what they do with and how i think then)

Hi! (Don't know if you're the same anon as before)

I agree that probably they wanted to employ more actors of colour (which is great!) and then thought they needed to 'justify' it somehow within the show (who knows why).

I'm definitely not saying that there is a way people 'should' or 'must' enjoy shows and most certainly I've probably spent a bit too much time thinking about it (particularly when writing fics and having to decide what to include/what not to etc) - people are free to enjoy it at whatever level they want. I do agree that probably expecting some sort of resolution to some of these issues is futile and probably will never happen.

That said, I quite like unpacking shows and what they say and inadvertently say, because depictions of the past more often than not depict people's perceptions of the present etc. Like, for example, I wonder how it might influence the casual viewer's view of the British Empire.

I guess that was a really long-winded way of me saying that I agree with you, basically.

Thank you so much for your ask ❤️

#kathony #kanthony

[project1939]

Project 1952: Day 30 Round-up!

First, here are some stats: 

TV: I watched 57 episodes of TV, and 19 different shows 

Radio: I listened to 78 episodes, and 28 different shows 

Film: I watched 28 films- 29 if you count the 30 minute short Young Man’s Fancy 

Magazines: I read 11 magazines, 6 different titles 

Books: Zilch, zero. I’m thinking I may only read 1 or 2 books, maybe fewer, depending on the time. I just have not found the time or energy to read a book after all of the other media I’m consuming! 

Awards! 

Best TV show: I Love Lucy, Honorable Mention: Tales of Tomorrow 

Best Radio show: The Big Show, Honorable Mentions: Mr. and Mrs. North and Screen Guild Theater 

Best Song: "Comes-a-Long-a-Love," by Kay Starr. This is still a f--kin' banger, and I love it!

Best Film: Singin’ in the Rain, Honorable Mentions: 5 Fingers and Phone Call from a Stranger 

Best Magazine: Life Magazine 

Worst Film: Island of Desire, Honorable Mention: Red Planet Mars 

Worst TV: Well, I haven’t seen any really bad shows. But as far as my tastes go? Least favorites would be Cicso Kid and Howdy Doody! 

Worst Radio: Again, least favorites would be Martin and Lewis and Gunsmoke. Both aren't bad, they just aren’t to my taste. 

Surprises and Trends

Biggest surprises about specific shows/episodes:  

Betty Furness. Who would have thought I would develop a crush on a pitch-lady. And I honestly don’t understand it! I just love her. 

Tales of Tomorrow. I didn’t know a show like this existed before the Twilight Zone! 

I've actually really been enjoying the show Father Knows Best. It was not something I thought I’d be interested in at all, but it is quite a well written show. It also has lots of fun 50s slang via the teenagers in the house! 

Olsen and Johnson! They are insane and I love them! 

Biggest overall surprises/trends: 

Early TV is not nearly as rudimentary and rough as I expected. There are many well written shows that are very enjoyable to watch. I’m guessing much of this is due to the fact that radio shows were a highly developed art in their own way by then, and most TV shows were either titles that came directly from radio or concepts for shows that radio had already created. The template for sit-coms, variety shows, detective shows, westerns, game shows and panel shows was already well developed. 

I thought widescreen film had been adapted in 1952, but everything is still the standard 1.375:1 ratio. 

The East Asian racism in media. It’s not surprising that it was there, but it has been shocking how ubiquitous and overt it is. It is more overt than any other kind of racism in the media so far. 

Just how bad the way men talked to women was. Their constant unprovoked comments about how a woman looks, their pressure to tell a woman she means yes when she says no, just in general the way it was so socially accepted. Like number 3 on the list, it was not surprising it was there, just how ubiquitous it was. 

There were some non-mainstream ideas expressed in mainstream media. It’s fairly rare, but I was especially impressed with Edward R. Murrow calling out prejudice against a Chinese family in San Francisco housing, and Collier’s cover story telling everyone to calm the fuck down over the hysteria of “juvenile delinquency.” 

The very casual use of firing guns. I’m not referring to gangster films or westerns, but in comedy shows and other shows where you wouldn’t expect a gun. There’s a general feeling in the air of guns not being all that dangerous, or even that it isn’t dangerous to give anyone a gun. Even kids- there are thousands of toy guns for example. Now, they were not experiencing an epidemic of mass shootings, and their guns back then were pistols, rifles, and shotguns, not semi-automatic weapons of war. 

Often the strongest female roles have been in Westerns! Dale Evans in The Roy Rogers Show, Marlene Dietrich in Rancho Notorious, and all the women in Outlaw Women... Westerns tend to be the ones with the strongest women who can stand on their own. 

There has been no hint of gayness anywhere. Not even a “sissy” comedic role or a suspiciously masculine woman. There have been some goofy sidekicks who are a little effeminate (like Pat on Roy Rogers), and the ass-whooping women like Dora of Outlaw Women, but there has never been any noticeable subtext going on. So far, 1939 had more of this than 1952! 

There are lots of affectionate uses of accents from European immigrants who are not native English speakers. A lot of comedies feature people with Germanic, Scandanavian, or Italian accents, especially. French and Spanish accents are more often used for romantic characters. But I assume the higher level of accents is due to the fact that culturally there were more European immigrants in the U.S. at the time. Now most immigrants are from South and Central America or India and East Asia. Sadly, most Americans don’t view these accents with affection or gentle comedy. 

I did not expect cigarette companies to have doctors in their ads or overtly say their product is “completely save for use in the mouth.” I expected them to dance more delicately around the issue for legal reasons. Chesterfield’s ads and Camel’s ads are especially bad at this. 

People ate a lot of mayonnaise then! It seems everything is served with mayonnaise! 

Evaporated milk also seems to be used much more commonly. Now we tend to only use it in baking, but then people used it in coffee, gave it to babies like formula, or even drank it diluted as regular milk. 

Least surprising thing? I’m absolutely having a ball doing this! Sixty-one more days is a little overwhelming, but I’m excited and up for the challenge! 

#project1952 #1952 #project 1952 30 days #project1952 day 30