#this could age poorly with season 2

[mountainmagpie]

Every friend group should include:

#I left out some categories because of possible spoilers #as of season 1 #this could age poorly with season 2 #but that is fine as long as we get a season 2 #and listen #I love Akemi #the thin ice is her sanity #I thought about her being the meaner lesbian #but that woman knows what she likes and she gets it #Ringo is the best of them #blue eye samurai netflix #mizu blue eye samurai #blue eye samurai #mizu #ringo blue eye samurai #blue eye samurai taigen #Akemi blue eye samurai #Akemi #Ringo #taigen

[crooked-wasteland]

How many times does a writer have to poorly write a female character before you have to just consider the idea the writer hates women.

Every single female to female interaction in Helluva Boss exists on a sliding scale of hostility, ramping up from Harvest Moon onward. In Harvest Moon, Millie has the most meaningful interactions for her character between her mother and Sister Sally May.

Millie and her Mother do not have a great relationship. Millie's mom is constantly scrutinizing and criticizing everything Millie does. Millie is given a blatant double standard compared to her other siblings. Anything Millie does has consequences while MtF transgender sister Sally May is spoiled by both the family and the writers.

Sally May condescends her older sister constantly. Being given a position of superiority by just her attitude while the way she is allowed to get away with the same things Millie does but can't be excused for shows a clear golden child and scapegoat child. However, none of this ever gets addressed. We are meant to believe that this is what healthy and good female to female familial relationships are supposed to look like when it hinges on unfair family dynamics.

This could have been the plot to the episode. Millie is seeking a constantly critical mother's approval while watching a younger sister get preferred treatment. It would allow a ton of character for Millie. Constant scrutiny and unequal treatment have a psychological effect on children.

Madrano insists there is a sibling rivalry between Sally May and Millie, but doesn't seem to realize where rivalries come from in family dynamics. If it was a competitive outlet like a sport, that would be one thing. However, the only comparison we see throughout the episode is that mom lets Sally May do whatever she wants while Millie is left out. That kind of sibling rivalry is not healthy on a fundamental level. Kids in healthy families get treated fairly. That means that kids should be held to the same expectations in broad strokes while making room for their individuality. Punishing one kid for doing the exact thing the other one is doing without consequence is not a loving, healthy family dynamic, and it says a lot that the criticism is leveled solely on Millie. The only cis female child.

Then there is Truth Seekers. The pilot was the only point where any suggestion of tension between Millie and Loona was expressed before the two had basically no interaction with each other in the series proper. However, it is written like we should just assume they have a not-great relationship as they make little jabs at one another. Like, there is this presumption that women just naturally don't get along that colors their entire interaction. We are supposed to get this idea that they are growing closer throughout the mission but have no foundation of where they are growing from, and every "bond" made is generously coated with backhanded compliments.

Even when being kind, the characters can't help but hiss at each other with insults towards female sensitive issues like aging. It's up there with making fun of someone's weight. It's an issue unfairly targeted towards women that is a genuine source of distress in Western society. Madrano, being a woman, especially one who has openly struggled with aesthetic concerns of her own body, finding nothing wrong with characters attacking female characters for their looks says a lot.

There are additional quips of just blatant misogyny throughout season 2. The character assassination of Stella from being a potentially abusive, cold, and selfish partner to being hyper emotional and screeching all the time with no ability to have a complex throught beyond the level of a toddler. The repeated insults of "bag of holes", "pussy face" and "tit haver" by Blitz as female side characters are boiled down to nothing but the sexual qualities which are then used to demean and belittle them.

The true zeitgeist of Madrano's attitude towards female relationships is seen best in Episode 8. The early interaction of Loona and the poodle hound is vapid, which makes the hostility feel less personal between the characters and more a continuation of this female misogyny. The reasoning for Loona to become so upset is weak throughout the episode but is simultaneously felt to be justified while being a character flaw.

The poodle shows an embarrassing picture of Loona with the same vapid reasoning as Stella: I hurt you because it's my enjoyment. Seeing how this is the second appearance of this characterization, this is where I begin to believe that Vivienne had a hard time making friends with other girls in school. Instead of any level of self-awareness towards maybe herself being an unagreeable person, she assumes this was just how women are. The way she frames Loona in a lot of these scenes feels too personal. It almost feels she assumed we all had this kind of experience growing up as young women, and that is why it never gets fleshed out more.

The scene could have been used so much better with being specifically targeted towards Loona and her character. Have the poodle say something like, "Loona? Lunatic Loona? Is that really you? We thought you, like, died or something!"

Have Loona feel awkward and out of place, unsure if it's an insult or a legitimate concern, and have her toe that line of neutrality as she tries to assess the atmosphere. It shows a desire to be accepted, a very raw inner self that is quick to be triggered, as well as her lacking in interpersonal skills. She can simply pull in with a defensive, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Then, have the poodle respond with something like, "I dunno. You got adopted one day and then totally disappeared. When they didn't return you, we all just assumed you died or some shit."

It is a cruel joke that says way more about Loona than anything we have been given. It can get a laugh as well as open the door to so much unspoken lore that fans could actively explore. It actually establishes Loona's fear of abandonment that never gets set up at all throughout the series. Even Seeing Stars doesn't establish that fear, yet still tries to act like it is present in the story.

This sort of cold disinterest in Loona better fuels the level of insecurity needed to have Loona lash out the way she does. Instead of being so thin-skinned that embarrassment alone triggers her to blow up, have it be the utter loneliness that people she knows don't care whether she is alive or dead and that she lacks fundamental worth to others.

But this isn't the only massive train wreck of escalation seen in the episode. Beelzebub is a genuinely sweet character throughout the episode who does nothing to even hint at selfishness or malice. She graciously accepts an embarrassing defeat in front of everyone while Loona can't so much as laugh at herself. Loona uses Blitz's win to then elevate herself socially in the party, not actually spending any time with her adopted father.

I am genuinely confused by people claiming that Loona was defending Blitz as Beelzebub is simply telling her that her dad is not doing well and that she should check on him. Telling someone their friend or family member is self-destructing is not something anyone needs defending from. That goes into the fanbase more than the writing however.

Back to the actual episode, the line that causes Beelzebub to snap at Loona isn't when Loona accuses her of being jealous or petty, but when Loona merely states that everyone loves Bee. For some reason, that comment is what triggers a fight. It shows a fundamental lack of understanding basic human interaction. That women are too emotional that they blow up for no reason. It almost feels more at home in a JustPearlyThings fever dream than an actual serious exploration of human emotion. Add to it the deescalation doesn't come from communication or finding common ground, but by elevating the comfort of a man.

I'm not sure how many times it needs to appear in action and be so forced to the point that it doesn't even bother to justify itself, by acting like this is just everyone's experience with women, before we can call a spade a spade.

#helluva boss #helluva boss critical #helluva boss criticism #helluva boss critique #misogeny #misogony #misoginy #misogyny #vivziepop #vivienne medrano #vivziepop critical #vivziepop criticism #vivziepop critique #these characters deserve better #this is why you need a writers room #hire writers #essay writing

[royal-ruin]

f1 fanfic recs (part __) max / charles

other f1 fic rec lists here f1 fic rec masterlist here personal favorites are starred, by the way. everything is complete unless stated otherwise.

i feel obligated to note that i don't read very much lestappen unfortunately so this list won't be very long or very thorough. i know another creator on tumblr @ jennarations published a very long one somewhat recently (?).

do i have to chart the constellations in his eyes? by adoreddaisies (~1k)

[He was tired. Charles was oh-so-tired. All he really wanted to just take a nap. Before he could close his eyes, he felt strangely familiar fingers tugging at his helmet strap. He opened his eyes – he didn't realise he had closed them – and found blue eyes staring back at him.

Max.]

The rest is still unwritten by Snooks10 (~1k)

[Max ran, like his husbands life depended on it.

Weaving his way around the paddock, murmurs of a black flag and unresponsive boring through the crowds. All he could do was get to Charles.]

OR Charles is in surgery and Max is terrified.

I couldn't do it without you by freed0m98 (~4k)

The one where Max and Charles have been married for two years now, and everyone finds out when Charles has an accident.

it was the end of a decade, but the start of an age by charlotte_2005 (~6k)

[The video is four minutes and eighteen seconds long. Max remembers exactly how it goes: the images were seared onto his memory long before he had to deal with each frame being ‘conclusively analysed’ by idiots on the internet.]

Max and Charles are outed in the worst way possible.

*Viva la Miami by Fabby (~8k)

Max raced all over the world and was used to different climates. But there was something about Miami’s sticky, muggy, make-your-phone-screen-fog-up kind of scorching heat that made him feel fucking crazy.

It made him want to strip naked and jump in the bright blue water surrounding his hotel.

It made him want to fuck.

OR: Max and Charles hook up for the first time, and it's very different than what Max had pictured.

basically pure smut, enjoy.

Deserving by WeaglesAndBrobeans (~16k)

Together for two years now, can Charles and Max weather the 2021 season together?

Azerbaijan Abnegation by ProngsfootxJily (~17k)

[Charles stares at him intently, “Last time was an anomaly.”

Not for the first time, Max recalls the awkward swell of humiliation after Charles had told him to stop. The hairs on the back of his neck prickle at the memory of everything that followed, “Yeah, that better not happen again.”]

After Monaco, Max thought he’d made up his mind about Charles, and their little arrangement.

They’re in Azerbaijan and Charles is everywhere: in his head, in his messages, in his hotel room…

Will Max be able to hold onto his resolve, or will his attempts at self-denial only prolong the inevitable?

i'm not gonna lie, i don't remember reading this one at all, but it was in my bookmarks so i hope i knew what i was doing.

*every other sunday by Anney (~34k)

[The grainy pictures are pieced together like a crude comic strip, sketching a poorly thought-out narrative arc that somehow made it onto the front page of every sleazy newspaper. 

EXPOSED!: The secret gay double-life of F1 driver Max Verstappen]

Max navigates the aftermath of being outed in the press, and Charles is always there.

*I'll Be Right Beside You by Fabby (~50k)

[Max stared at Charles’ closed eyes and how they twitched in his sleep. Objectively, Max knew that Charles was probably the most beautiful man he had ever seen. But... this was Charles.

Charles Leclerc. 

Big, cry-baby Charles. 

Sauber #2 driver Charles. 

When did he decide that Charles The Driver would become Charles The Boyfriend? 

He wishes he could remember. ]

OR: The self-indulgent Amnesia AU that nobody asked for. This is my love story to Charles Leclerc, thank you for coming along. Warning: this fic may break you.

*If I Could Call You Half Mine by amarynas (~64k)

[Pierre Gasly, 29, and Charles Leclerc, 27, have announced their engagement this morning in a heartfelt Instagram post.  Gasly stated he couldn’t be happier and can’t wait to spend his future with the love of his life by his side.  Leclerc, who is currently the defending champion for his team Red Bull Racing and on a good path to win his third championship title in this 2025 season, said that he is blessed to get to marry his best friend.  The two Formula 1 drivers were the second couple to ever openly come out and disclose their relationship to the public three years ago, after already dating in secret for two years. This had happened just six months after fellow F1 drivers Max Verstappen, 27, and Daniel Ricciardo, 36, had openly disclosed their relationship. Now the public can’t help but wonder: When will those two lovebirds announce their engagement?]

Max and Charles found a place to fit their affair into their lives, where it sits comfortably between secret hotel room meetups and not-so accidental touches in the paddock. But everything changes when Pierre asks Charles to marry him, and Charles says yes.

warning: lestappen have an affair and are cheating on pierre and daniel respectively. i love this fic even though i don't love the cheating. i had a ton of mixed feelings while reading this and i actually loved that. highly recommend reading it. can't listen to "moth to a flame" the same anymore.

#f1 fanfiction #f1 fic rec #f1 #formula one fanfiction #formula one #formula 1 #f1 fanfic #charles leclerc #max verstappen #lestappen #cl16 #mv1 #fic rec list

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

This is related to the Season Finale/Child abuse thing somewhat, but also kind of tangential so I thought I would submit it in an ask instead of a reply.

It's worth examining that it's *largely* because of TA's own bile that we had this S5 situation as an 'endpoint' and writer's intent. If we stripped all of his commentary out of the equation there is still some stuff, but ML undercuts it as well.

Chloe is framed as a Villain? Felix was a Villain until he was a hero, with about 2 minutes between the two.

Everything framed as her fault? Well, ML has a history of swapping framing. Mari's antics were farce for 4 and a half SEASONS, then poof, now it's Trauma. Without TA's word, reframing Chloe from 'She's evil!' to 'Well actually no one paid attention and she's been a victim' would be easy. Heck that's Felix 2.0 but with more weight to it.

ML loves it's twists. Burying a character to pull them back out in a 'You didn't think we'd do it!' moment is right up their alley.

If we look at what's put *on screen* it *feels* like the writers are aware of what they're showing, of how she's being abused and no one sees. Yes they crammed Marinette's mouth full of TA's tweets about how Chloe has no problems only privileges, but again, without those tweets it's just Mari being unable to see things from someone else's PoV, which is normal for her. (a very reasonable Achilles heel)

All of this could easily be building into something, if we didn't have TA warbling on the internet. Though, it's worth noting he once warbled about Felix too, and 🤷‍♀️

Not that it matters that much, since a topic like this *especially aimed at kids* is time sensitive. You can't run a 4-5 year arc in a kids show without some payoff in the middle. By the time you go 'no wait, we were just setting up for this!' your demo has aged out, or gone through something where that information *would have already been helpful* and your incomplete lesson might even have them acting on the misinformation you've left them with.

It's just... kind of baffling.

I don't know if this is something you'd want to touch on in your finale review,or just answer, but it struck me and I figured it was worth sharing.

I get what you're trying to say, don't worry.

The show has always shown it believes in a "good victim, bad victim" mindset, and nowhere is it more obvious with Chloe and Felix. It doesn't matter how poorly Chloe is treated by her mother, she's seen as bad, so she deserves it, while Felix doesn't deserve to be abused by his father at all.

Put aside the fact that it's easier to connect with Chloe because we actually see her abusive parent on screen, it's clear that both of them are victims of terrible parenting, but for some reason, only Felix is allowed to be seen as an actual victim of child abuse.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #chloe bourgeois #queen bee #queen b #felix graham de vanily #argos #child abuse in miraculous ladybug

[markantonys]

for the LOVE of GOD, the girls are NOT going back to the tower in season 3!!! what about "season 2 is an amalgamation of books 2&3 and season 3 is book 4" do people not understand! they have completed their Tower Arc Amalgamation! they have no in-world reason or narrative need to return! their next step is to embark on their TSR roadtrips! it is not efficient storytelling to hurtle them all the way back to the tower from falme, have them stay for one (1) week and half (.5) an episode just so that egwene and elayne can take the accepted tests they DO NOT ACTUALLY NEED TO TAKE in order for the rest of the story to work, and then hurtle them off again on their roadtrips, rather than just going straight off on said roadtrips from falme! especially since the entire rest of egwene's travel party is already conveniently gathered with her at falme and ready to head out! do you want the poor woman to wander around the desert for ages looking for the rest of the party since she went there separately from them?

tldr: "the girls will return to the tower in s3" is the Poorly-Thought-Out Reader Assumption That Makes Me Irrationally Angry of season 3, in the same way that flicker flicker & portal stones were for s2 djfkgh i become arthur clenching fist meme every time i see it said! (note that this outburst is 100% brought to you by r/wotshow, i haven't really seen much of this assumption on tumblr. you guys are safe from my wrath!)

(also, same for mat - this is less prevalent but i've seen a fair number of people saying recently that he will get dagger-sick AGAIN and go back to the tower AGAIN, purely so that he can meet gawyn & galad and have his fight with them, even though said fight could be made to happen in literally any place & time and it would make no sense to shoehorn mat back to the tower for s3 when he's already completed his Tower Amalgamation Arc and is ready to go to the waste)

(also also, same for "3x01 will open with them taking the stone of tear." NO!!!! why would they hurtle everyone over to tear and construct a giant-ass set for a single episode before sending everyone off on their roadtrips? be serious! tear will not appear until a later point in the story, when there is time to spend multiple episodes there!)

#egwene's accepted test is ONLY important insofar as it does some character work that could be EASILY done by plenty of other methods #we do not need it!!!! nothing is changed by her and elayne being novices instead of accepted for the next few seasons!!! #no wondergirl will return to the tower in the show until egwene is kidnapped by elaida This I Foretell #wot #wot book spoilers #wot show spoilers

[hexisssssssss]

This is a very unorganized rant but just felt like posting abt this. I feel like the writers fucked up a lot of the potential so many season 2 characters had. I just think they handled some of their heavily traumatized characters very poorly. The most prominent example is definitely Sarah. Like the poor girl was also so young when everything started and has had to suffer just as much sorrow and loss as clem. And yet she’s so hated by the writers, just for processing her trauma differently than clem which was their choice. Why give a character ptsd just to hate them for having it???? I also never understood why we can be given the option to teach her how to shoot if she never gets to use it. I would’ve loved to see her actually work towards overcoming her issues and being able to defend herself or run when need be. In my play through I personally was always as nice to her as possible, we don’t see clem come across a lot of kids around her age (roughly) often especially not one’s who are also girls. I would have loved to see her form a friendship after losing duck and ben in the previous season. I think they could have both benefited from that friendship. Clem could learn that there will be people who react differently than her to trauma and situations and how to handle that in a way thats not killing. And Sarah could have ideally learned to manage her ptsd better and have more of a fighting chance. And a lot gets stolen from these girls life experience because of the apocalypse i feel like them having the ability to experience sisterhood through friendship with another girl allows them to reclaim some of what they lost and i would’ve loved to see that. Like i saw a post once about how they were originally supposed to have like a sleep over in Sarah’s room. Like hello???? That would have been so sweet why did they take that away 😭. All in all i never saw Sarah as a baby, just someone who responded differently and needed a little more support. And someone who could’ve been a potential buddy for clem. And i always thought it was so frustrating that even if you talk her out of her panic and don’t leave her to die she still ends up dying in the most stupid and easily avoidable way. I don’t like how they treat her as a burden when i can think of only one time she actually held up the group. Otherwise she was just a kid she was just there and scared.

My girl deserved better <3

[anavatazes]

They found Abby TLOU2

https://www.ign.com/articles/hbos-the-last-of-us-season-2-finds-its-abby-in-kaitlyn-dever

Now, can all the ASSHOLES that hate Abby LEAVE the actress the FUCK ALONE! After the immense hatred that poor Laura Bailey received for playing a fictional character in a video game, I am fearful how poorly Kaitlyn Dever will be treated, in particular concerning her connection to Pedro's Joel.

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️SEASON 2 SPOLIERS⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

You are warned. If you don't wanna know what happens, don't go any further.

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

Ok. Now, for that already know what knows what happens in Part 2, Abby kills Joel in a very horrific manner. Not rehashing it, nor do I really want to turn this into another Abby bashing post. Not my favorite character, but I don't outright hate her, and won't tolerate that shit right now. Time and places, people.

I am concerned because of the absolute hate STILL felt for the character, that it will seep over to the actor in full force, much like it did for LB. Many can't seem to be able to separate the actor and character from each other. They still body shame Abby to no end. I've already seen a bunch of comments where they began body shamming the live action actor before she was even cast.

The misogynistic idiots can be ignored to a degree. But what really worries me are the Pedro fans, similar to the Joel fans, are gonna be so pissed when they see Abby kill Joel. And they didn't know it was coming. Some people can remain oblivious, somehow, in this day and age. How feral are they gonna be? How reactionary are they gonna be? Are they gonna be able to separate the actor from the character? And, more importantly, are the rest of us Pedro fans gonna be mature enough to help guide them to a safe place to get their emotions out where it won't be a complete nightmare for KD AND Pedro?!

Because, c'mon, you can't tell me, that when Pedro sees any fan of his hurt anyone that it doesn't hurt him? The big smush pillow that he is? I see so many people passing around videos and memes about how they're not responsible for your reactions to their actions. That may be so, but you do need to be held accountable if those actions are causing harm. A point that is sorely missed those. The Pedro Fandom is overall protective of our Pedro.

So, I want to kindly ask the Fandom, with love, that when we see this shit happening, and especially when it happens when the show airs, (picture lots of mom/grandma finger pointing here, because that's me), to be nice, be mature, ask them to remember what our Squish Pillow would do (even if he is more chiseled and less squishy right now 😉)? Are we adding to his anxiety? We don't need to do that. The man has more than enough for all of us and don't need no more. Nor does he need another fucking excuse to shrink more away from social media!

Besides, I don't know Kaitlyn Dever. I've never heard of her. I look forward to learning more about her, and seeing what she brings to Abby. Do she and Craig make me see what Neil wanted me to all along? Or is it the same old? But I know this. I won't hate her. She's a human being. Very few things on this planet could make me hate her, and her playing Abby is not one of them.

#pedro pascal #kaitlyn dever #joel miller #the last of us #tlou #joel tlou #ellie williams #tlouhbo #tlou2 spoilers #tlou season 2 #abby anderson #abby tlou #abby the last of us #tlou spoilers

[dungeons-and-dictions]

It’s Analysis Friday about precisely why Hazbin Hotel is such a stand out.

But first - this is probably my last Hazbin Hotel-related analysis until the next season; give me asks during this long dry spell!

Why on this specific topic? Because I’m tired.

Y’all.

Listen.

I’m all for subjectivity. People can just like or dislike things regardless of quality. Heck, I know Helluva Boss is part of the Hazbin world, but it gives me too much cringe and vicarious embarrassment to handle.

(Yeah, I’m weird. I know)

But I keep hearing people say Hazbin Hotel is mid or just relying on hype.

Those are fighting words!

We are getting quality on par with Disney movies for a tv series!

That’s crazy! Let’s break it down.

Musical numbers

Talented singers play the main crew. Stephanie Beatrix plays Mirabel Madrigal, Kimiko plays Izzy, etc.

There were 2 songs per episode! And because it is truly perfect for a musical, we even get thematic reprises and callbacks!

Does anyone recall when similar things have happened in animation? MLP:FiM had a glorious episode that was ALL musical with a reprise. That’s all I have at this scale outside of Disney.

Characters

I’ve always known Vivzie to put thought into her work, and this shines through so well in Hazbin.

Lucifer’s depression is similar to my own

Angel’s gradual changes and struggles are realistic

Charlie’s breed of passion is the same as mine in my career

Alastor’s extremely manipulative yet we all love him

Velvette had one of the best formal character intros I’ve seen in a long time

Hazbin Hotel works really hard to get away from stereotypes, and dives in past superficial traits.

Also, we get things like Valentino sounding like he’s squeaking because moths squeak. We don’t need these things!

Animation

You know what else we don’t need?

Airplane arms!

Complicated dance moves!

Cute leg swishies with cuter sound effects?

Every second you see is 10+ frames traditionally. (Idk the studio’s technical details). That’s wild to add in these complicated extra details! And they flow so nicely! This level of quality for 2D (and honestly 3D too most of the time) is unheard of in the West nowadays.

And on that, western adult animated shows typically are so poorly made, especially in the art. Even the few I have seen that have okay stories to tell absolutely stink in terms of visuals and movement.

Story

Yeah, this is the biggest weakness Hazbin Hotel has, no doubt. The story is actually an incredible premise, and truly done pretty well within the awful time constraints. I think everyone is valid in saying it was far too fast! Hopefully we get more (or longer) episodes in upcoming seasons.

But at the same time, this is also the nature of musicals. If you think this is fast, don’t watch the Les Miserables musical where everyone only sings. Idk why, but singing the entire time makes everything seem like you’re in a race car on autopilot.

Don’t forget; the symbolism just drips out of the screen in this show. The fact that I could still do more analyses even now is a testament to that with all the content I have done since it aired. Vivienne goes hard on the details.

But put yourself in Vivzie’s shoes. You do the impossible, shot for the moon while hoping for maybe the top of a 5-story building, and you were offered the stars. Your project has been a part of who you are before you even went to university, and a major company gives you a way to bring it to life? Why wouldn’t you settle for this good of a deal?

Innovation

People do not bring up often enough that Vivienne broke a glass ceiling separate from that of gender. She showed that YouTube animations can be taken seriously, and even be aired.

In this age, the Saturday morning cartoon blocks I grew up with no longer exist. There were tons of great shows, and I could talk with other kids about it. Nestled within these weekends were shows that ran short pilot episodes for potential series. The last time I saw one was Adventure Time’s pilot.

It’s been a whiiiiiiile.

So having a cutesy little indie pilot animation amongst thousands on YouTube be such high quality and get a mainstream platform? Spindlehorse made history!

Moreso, Helluva Boss is also demonstrating the capacity of indie studios like never before - and what may pave the way for the future of animation too.

Out of all the animated series running on YouTube, Glitch is the only creator who does 3D that I am aware of. Even Glitch’s work has only started within the past few years, ie after Vivienne managed the impossible.

So please, stop complaining about subjective parts so much. Hazbin Hotel objectively has some of the highest craftsmanship in western animation.

We are blessed that Vivienne’s dream has come true in such a glorious manner. When I discovered her back in 2012, I couldn’t have guessed the pilot would be so successful, nor that it would change what was possible for animation!

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel analysis #analysis fridays #animation #symbolism #analysis #musical #musical show

[charlieconwayy]

Just curious what you don't like about Cory/Topanga if you feel like talking about it!

hey, i don't mind!

first off i think boy meets world in the context of just a purely heterosexual show makes it age pretty poorly, and that all stems from cory and topanga. i know one of the writers said a while back that the writers room was torn between shory and corpanga, and tbh, rewatching as an adult, that's extremely evident. i'm not gonna make this post all about shory bc that's reductive but i am first and formost a shory girl and a firm believer that cory matthews is a gay man

so let's get into it.

i really really love s1/2 corpanga. idk if it's just bc ben/danielle felt more natural back then or if it's bc they actually allowed cory to be wrong and topanga to be right, but it's just so sweet. one of my all time fav ship moments from the show is the frickin sock basketball scene where they touch hands and he giggles. so adorable! but i think what really makes them suffer after s1 (and kind of s2) is just that they clearly made topanga a normal, kelly kapowski girl-next-door type to make her more "desirable" for the male audience. that could be an entire separate post, but it's so fucking obvious that that's what the change was and it sucks because topanga was great the way she was.

they're not like hatable in season 3 exactly, but the "old married couple haha look how old gross and boring they are" trope when they were legitimately sophomores was just weird? and this is a retrospect thing but i hate how the show just kept retconning shit and pretended they never broke up in season 3, as if a HUGE storyline and one of the most iconic episodes (the happiest place on earth) wasn't about them getting back together? and for me just the concept of the ~universe wanting them to be together~ over and over again is just so fucking lame when they were so toxic. (great video on this here)

they really don't do anything wrong in season 4 either, but a long walk to pittsburgh is honestly so beyond ridiculous LMAO. i know everyone talks about how romantic it is, but i hate it because topanga literally runs away and moves back to philly just for cory. i know they claim it's to finish at john adams too, but i would find that much more believable if they had developed topanga AT ALL outside of cory. we know almost nothing about her home life and they wrote trini out so we never even see any friends of hers! the trend of them fighting and talking down to amy about their love is so fucking stupid too. like you are sixteen. it is fine to love someone and want to be with someone, but amy is right that it's not healthy for them to be as obsessed with each other as they are. like cory literally doesn't know who he is outside of topanga and that's NOT healthy.

oh lordy. s5. i'm not going to get into how much i hate that shawngela (a MUCH happier, more interesting relationship) was reduced to "wanting to be corpanga" in both their intro episode and then fucking gmw, but even the "old married couple" stuff in "chasing angela" at the restaurant is so annoying. "last tango in philly" is one of my fav episodes, but it's the perfect example of how cory can never accept he's wrong. shawn tries to tell him they should stop, and he just tells shawn he knows nothing about relationships and keeps being a dick about topanga and her (obviously gay) friend. but obviously, you're here to hear about how i feel about the cheating. yes, cory cheated and he genuinely liked lauren. for the show to act like he didn't is just gaslighting their audience. and tbh? i think ben and linda cardellini had excellent chemistry (certainly more than he and danielle did at that point . . .) and i think it's completely healthy to date more than one person! it was nice seeing cory be able to open up and bond with someone else, and yes, what he did was cheating. just bc he changed his mind and decided he "couldn't live without topanga" (bless u probably queer writer for what u did w that line :') ) doesn't mean that it didn't happen. topanga had EVERY right to break up with him. it does piss me off that we barely saw topanga's reaction to the breakup when there was a whole ep dedicated to shawn's reaction (and i say that as the #1 shawn stan), but that show hated women lbfr. AND WHY TF WAS IT BAD FOR HER TO KISS JONATHAN JACKSON WHEN SHE AND CORY WERE BROKEN UP????? bc cory can't accept things not going his way and not having control. the "we are a masterpiece" scene makes me so fucking angry omg i cannot

and i mean, bro, the yale shit has been talked about to death, but topanga lawrence going to the same college as straight d-student shawn hunter has got to be the dumbest, most woman-hating shit the show ever did. love can survive long distance if you put the effort in, trust me. (yes i am aware that the show prob didn't want to separate their main couple, but s6 was almost entirely about shawn anyway so????)

then in seasons 6 and 7 we get into the "cory yelling at and publicly humiliating topanga" trend. "undapants" is iconic so i'm not gonna go into that episode (fuck you "take her back to your tornado infested trailer park" line!), but i can name at least seven occasions where cory pressures her into sex. and rider strong is right. it was extremely holier than thou how they constantly made it seemed like corpanga was better than shawngela for not fucking before marriage. like isn't there a line where they call shawngela sluts in s7? the whole honesty bit in "the truth about honesty" (admittedly one of my fav eps) is also just ridiculous bc both of them always get pissed off at the other one for being honest, even in the past. i've seen people get mad at topanga for throwing yale in cory's face but lbr, who didn't see that coming? i guess maybe it's a little weird bc she'd never been resentful about it before, but that's a HUGE thing in their relationship. and yes, it is weird that she's using his razor without his permission but again just the pressuring her to show him her ass is also fucking weird (it's also weird imo that they've been together "their whole lives" but they've only ever kissed, but again, holier than thou bullshit)

one thing i can say about how weak and uninteresting their relationship actually is is that their ENTIRE wedding episode is about shory, bc they are the much more compelling dynamic in cory's life. weirdly enough, i do actually really like cory's vows though?? on a shawn hunter stan note, oblig "that best man speech was bullshit" comment. it's completely normal and healthy to have a best friend outside of your partner? especially when you can't be honest with your partner. god i fucking hate that bullshit. just like how i hate in "seven the hard way/the war" how they portray cory abandoning his best friend/true life partner for topanga AND THEN IN FUCKING GMW THE BAD FUTURE FOR EVERYONE LITERALLY CAME TRUE!!!!!!! omg i will go insane if i think about that for longer than a few seconds.

end of post, but leaving this here

#boy meets world #anti corpanga

[crash476]

Ugh...

Alright, I just got up and I go to the Peggy Carter tag to see some hate thrown her way about the HYDRA/SHIELD shit and who's responsible for what and guys...

I think we all know the difference between a Watsonian and Doylist explanation, and honestly, finding a diegetic answer is a lost cause. There is no diegetic answer.

The Iron Man and Avengers scripts imply that SHIELD is a fairly new organization - likely birthed after 9/11 like the Department of Homeland Security - which gets contradicted by the Agent Carter short, which itself is practically no longer canon by the Agent Carter show, which itself is barely canon due to Endgame. She's confirmed to be director of SHIELD in Agents of SHIELD - which itself is shunted to a separate universe because the film side of Marvel wasn't talking to the pre-Disney+ TV, particularly the AoS team. Like they were begging for scraps about Winter Soldier so they could account for HYDRA. They may as well have gotten nothing because the infiltration was completely dropped from the movie story line. You'd think it would be a bigger plot point in Age of Ultron, right? While there was some consequences in Civil War, the HYDRA infiltration comes off as a minor inconvenience at best.

Seriously, there's next to no discussion of it in universe following Winter Soldier. The only place it had an impact was AoS, which the movie side seemed determined to kill. It's like someone or a bunch of people up top got spooked about the HYDRA reveal and wanted to bury it deep in the past. Hell, the whole Captain Carter thing seems to be Marvel's attempt to wipe the slate clean with Peggy. One of the reasons I bounced hard off of What If was because the Captain Carter episode felt like the execs were jangling keys in front of me like I was a baby.

"Forget about Agent Carter and the dark implications we accidently put into her story because we didn't think these retcons through, look at this shiny new character! "

I remember reading something or hearing a rumour that Winter Soldier was the lone Marvel-Disney film that didn't get Pentagon money. The Pentagon shells out a shit ton of money and aid to films as long as they tow the propaganda line and Winter Soldier was too critical of the US security state for their liking. Part of me thinks if that's true, then Disney got scared and dropped HYDRA very quickly. I mean, Baron Strucker was killed off unceremoniously in Age of Ultron and he's one of Cap's biggest villains. Whatever decisions were made, it results in the main timeline Peggy being all but erased. The implications are bad for Steve's main love interest. I don't even think it's about Peggy Carter herself, it's all about crafting Steve's perfect girlfriend.

Because of some poorly thought out retcons, her time as SHIELD director makes her come off as either a figure-head, incompetent, or corrupt. Giving her Alzheimer's at the end of her life all for the tragedy of Steve's situation stripped Peggy of her voice! Ever notice that we only hear of Peggy's time as SHIELD director second hand? We get one interview from (maybe) the late 50s where she's talking about Steve and moving on with her life, and a few scattered scenes in other movies. That's it. But almost everything set after Agent Carter season 2 is coming filtered through other people. Both in and out of universe, the main timeline MCU Peggy is a cypher. And I feel like various people at Marvel are more concerned about keeping her Steve's perfect girlfriend.

I doubt we'll ever see anything about SHIELD, HYDRA, or Peggy's time as director. Marvel, at least from my perspective, wants all of that forgotten because it's messy like all history is.

#agent carter #mcu #peggy carter #iron man #nick fury #agents of shield #winter soldier #age of ultron #captain carter

[total-drama-brainrot]

Marathoned through what I can find of season 2, here's my thoughts so far:

Nichelle is a queen, an icon, literally the first total drama character to show self-improvement and character growth without being an antagonist. Can't wait to see her continue to show up everyone, though I wish we got to see her form actual friendships instead of just girlbossing 24/7.

Mkulia is more canon than literally all of the relationships. They're so fun to watch as antagonists, and I can't wait to see where the cheating arc goes. The fact that they've shared confessions since they formed their alliance? The lesbians are eating good this season. Also Julia in particular is just really well written and voice acted? She sounds like an actual teenager her age. It's 👌 chefs kiss.

Speaking of the cheating arc, the rift between Bowie and Raj because of the team's under-the-table methods is such an on-the-nose way to play it. The "boyfriend kisser" arc of World Tour handled a literal cheating scandal super poorly, but this season is handling its' 'cheating' scandal really well in terms of how it dissolves trust in a relationship. Can't wait for Bowie's guilt to reach it's apex, we never know what he'll do when it does.

Raj really does see the best in Bowie, unfortunately his glasses are a little too rose-tinted to see that Bowie is more than happy to continue enabling Julia and MK, so long as they keep winning. I'm not sure if this will lead to a breakup or a heart-to-heart, honestly this series could go either way, but it isn't called Total Drama for no reason. Keeping my fingers crossed that it'll work out.

Another relationship I unfortunately saw coming from a mile off is RipAxel, though I can't say I'm upset about it. A lot of people saw Axel as queer, myself included, and Ripper is, well, Ripper. But they had a season one Duncney vibe going on in Axel's brief run last season. Something about the misogynistic guys (Ripper called himself an alpha at one point?) and the competitive latinas 🤷‍♀️.

Their actual dynamic this season is different enough from what I thought it'd be that it's refreshing. I guess it works in a very Roger and Jessica Rabbit type of way (if Jessica Rabbit was a butch teenager), and if you're third eye is opened enough to see it as yuri it's a win. (The poetry scene was really sweet, in a way.)

Prialeb came out of nowhere though. For a character who was essentially a Justin clone last season, I really do like the direction Caleb's character is going in. He's got that competitive mindset, and is trying to flatter Priya into an alliance by being friendly/flirty, but the narrative doesn't really make it clear if he's aware that he's manipulating her Alejandro style or if he really is just oblivious enough to see his approach as platonic/friendly. Holding out for some aro or ace (or aroace 🤭) representation with Caleb if they go with the second narriative, but the "only ever had one girlfriend" line hints more towards him being gay than ace.

I'm predicting Priya's foil being her crush of Caleb. It's gonna lead to her elimination. I love the fact that that, despite being hypercompetent thanks to her upbringing, she's terrible with things like relationships and feelings.

I'm super happy that Emma and Chase ended things again. They're terrible for each other. Also, Emma was way less likable this season? IDK if that's just me. Chase was never likable but he's at least funny to watch, especially when he's taking Ls.

Lauren's antagonist arc is brewing at Playa Des Losers (if that's still a thing?) so she's definitely coming back in the merge Izzy style. That, or she'll pull an Ezekiel and sneak back onto the island.

Millie's brief character arc about learning not to take advantage of people was cute, if undeveloped, but I can't say I liked her this season. Damien didn't deserve what she did, but he did need the reality check it gave him. And some therapy to help his fear of everything- the guy's an anxious wreak, and it's not so much endearing as it is pitiful to watch.

Wayne and Raj are my two beautiful sons who deserve the world. Zee has been delightful as always. No need for elaboration.

Chris is delightful this season. All of his lines are great, and what little we see of Chef is golden too. Good job to the writing team for our favourite geriatric couple.

My only real gripe with this season, which has been more and more apparent since season 1 back in 2007, is that the characters don't really feel like they're in a summer camp. Back in the OG island we had character interactions and dynamics outside of challenges that helped set the tone of the series; it felt like they really were teenagers at a summer camp, the challenges and eliminations came second to the character plotlines.

Whereas now, most of every episode is based in the challenge itself. Every elimination is based around something that character does during a challenge. Most meaningful interactions happen during a challenge. It feels more like a gameshow than the reality tv it's supposed to imitate. The only non-competition based conflict we get to watch is Emma and Chase's thing, which is more akin to influencers beefing than two teenagers at a camp having a rocky relationship (see: Duncney S1, Gwent S2 briefly, whatever happened with Gwourtney). I wish we got to see more of the character as they are, than the characters while they're actively in a challenge.

#long post #total drama #td2023 #thoughtless posting #ophe rambling #kinda drafty in here (posts from the drafts)

[pro-bee-sisters]

Did it ever occur to anyone that both Chloé and Zoé don't wanna be lonely?

Let’s look at some examples.

In “Despair Bear,” this is the first time we see Chloe’s insecurities deep down. In the episode, Adrien threatened to end their friendship until she learns to change for the better.

This takes a toll on her for three reasons.

1. We find out that her mother was someone who abandoned her at a young age, something she still is traumatized by.

2. As seen in the flashback, we see that Chloe had a stuffed bear called Mr. Cuddly that was her coping mechanism to help her cope with her mom leaving her.

3. In the same flashback, we see Chloe and Adrien starting up their friendship while Mr. Cuddly is there.

Therefore, Chloe doesn’t want to be lonely because her own mother abandoned her, so she acted clingy to Adrien (and Ladybug) so the empty hole in her heart could be filled.

Meanwhile in “Sole Crusher,” we learn that Zoe had only one friend in NYC as they were the only who wrote on her shoes as a goodbye.

Then as the episode goes by, Zoe is pressured to be like her family: Mean, Narcissistic, and Rude to everyone around her in order to fit in. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work because it’s not something she likes or even wants to be apart of.

The only person who does give her sympathy is Andre, her stepfather.

Furthermore, from what we gathered, even Audrey treated Zoe poorly back when they lived in NYC.

Therefore, I must ask:

Why the hell didn’t neither Chloe or Zoe realize that Audrey was an abusive piece of shit mother and both decided to abandon her, and actually develop a relationship based of their trauma? Hell, both of them could've helped each other healed and moved on from the pain. 

 In addition, as we saw in "Optigami," Chloe still has some disdain towards Audrey. She laughed when Alec insulted her. Implying she hasn't forgiven Audrey for neglecting her. 

So yeah Thomas, WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE THEM DEVELOP BASED ON THE SAME TRAUMA THEY HAD! 

Oh wait, I remember:

"bEcAuSe ChLoE mEaNiE aNd ZoE sWeEt AnGeL!"

Seriously?

SERIOUSLY?!

YOU COULD HAVE EASILY MADE THEM REALIZE THAT BOTH WERE BEING INFLUNCED AND MANIPULATED TO BE LIKE AUDREY JUST FOR THE SAKE OF HER ATTENTION!

This was implied back in Season 2 of “Style Queen” when Chloe attempted multiple times to get Audrey’s attention.

In conclusion, this would not only be a good relationship between both girls, but also a great character arc for both Chloe and Zoe. 

Both could learn to move on and not be like their mother at all.

Both could learn to be their own person. 

Both could have mentor one another: 

Chloe could've taught Zoe to gain confident, learn to say what's on her mind, and not let anyone step on her for wanting her to change.

Zoe could've taught Chloe that she's not alone and that she doesn't need to be mean and angry 24/7 to get attention, and with some patience, she can learn to do better.

Thanks for coming to my prep talk~

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir #chloe bourgeois #queen bee #pro chloe #pro chloe bourgeois #pro queen bee #chloe sugar #queen bee sugar #zoe lee #vesperia #pro zoe #pro zoe lee #pro vesperia #zoe sugar #vesperia sugar #audrey bourgeois #audrey salt #ml salt #thomas astruc salt #audrey bourgeois salt #pro chloe and zoe #pro queen bee and vesperia

[aquaristintern]

Hey! I meant to send you an ask for the ask meme way earlier but the trailer dropped and i got completely derailed..

But here it is!

What is your favourite book genre and is there anything you would recommend? What is your favourite movie from your childhood? Do you have any unpopular IWTV opinions? Do you have any Season 2 theories you haven't seen anyone talk about? Do you have any Claudia headcanons specific to Paris? Do you think Claudia might be haunting Dubai? Are there any songs you think are very Claudia coded?

Here I am answering this ask 4-5 days later!

-What is your favourite book genre and is there anything you would recommend?

I tend to gravitate towards gothic horror and absurdist comedy (the two can often intertwine) For what I would recommend, it would depend on the person! Like, do you like something that involves romance? History? Leans more into the comedy aspect? Leans more into the horror aspect?

-What is your favourite movie from your childhood?

At 11 I got addicted to Titanic and became a huge Titanic nerd lol. It's funny because I actually thought it was a horror movie initially because I watched the second half first with a friend who just wanted to skip to the boat sinking (I had never watched a horror movie prior to this so watching the claustrophobic sinking room scenes and the multiple people dying in front of me traumatized me okay!!). I guess I'll go with Titanic since that's the one movie I still love today I'm not ashamed to admit :)

-Do you have any unpopular IWTV opinions?

Oh plenty. I've spoken about a lot of them but I guess I'll mention that the writers including what happened to Claudia in Episode 5 was not bad writing, but more just poorly set-up imo. I know a lot of people hated it when the episode came out, and threw accusations of exploitation and the writers adding it just for shock value, but I politely disagree with those takes even if I get where they're coming from.

(trigger warning for mentions of SA below)

Claudia in both the books and the show constantly suffers from a lack of autonomy. It is a huge aspect of her character. She is constantly touched and handled too freely, as if she were still a child, without her consent. Louis and Claudia's relationship gets very unhealthy as well, as a result of her creators designing an environment where she literally has no one else. Now that they have aged her up, this aspect is still present, but now the threats are different. Claudia in Season 1 is driven by freedom and romantic love, but has now reached a stage where any human she gets into a romantic relationship would either be a creepy relationship with teenage boys, or a creepy relationship with a pervert. So she then looks to finding love with other vampires. Then she finds out, like in the books, other vampires won't necessarily understand or respect her either. It's a depressing realization that makes her character even more tragic. I know people would have preferred her seeing her struggle on her own to the point of being driven home rather than having the assault take place, but because of Claudia's character development this season, and because the season was so tightly condensed, the plot they went with actually makes sense :( And in fact, Claudia was actually never driven home because of the assault. She was driven home when she realized what her purpose finally was, as she was feeling lost and like she didn't belong anywhere as a black teenage vampire for years ("I realized why they made me- to be Louis's sister). If she couldn't survive on her own, albeit with more struggles than other vampires would, she wouldn't have tried to leave in Episode 6 by herself with Louis's assurance she could get by alright.

The thing that also makes this non-exploitative and randomly placed to me is that they never show it, and explicitly emphasize that they will not be showing or revealing the details despite Daniel's pressing.

The thing I didn't like was how it was set up. Bruce, like Claudia, wants to find other vampires and form a gang, but when he has found Claudia, after a minute, without any warning, just instantly throws an etiquette book at her (?), gets angry, assaults her, then leaves? So was that just his goal his entire time? I get why people think it's a badly written plotline. It would have made much more sense if Bruce had been a creepy "Stanley from Silent Hill 3" type, who through stalking her across universities, leaves letters and weird gifts for her or something. Claudia would be initially intrigued, because, hello, other vampires exist after all! but soon becomes wigged out and starts ignoring his letters/mind messages to her. She would end up escaping him (or killing him), because he wouldn't leave her alone, and that experience might add to her desire to leave the country and face Lestat.

Do you have any Season 2 theories you haven't seen anyone talk about?

I actually don't see many people talking about Madeleine. I do have a theory that Madeleine parallels Claudia's human mother in a couple of ways. I have this headcanon that Claudia had a black father and a white mother (just going off on the fact that Bailey Bass is biracial, but you don't have to agree), and they were teenagers when they had her, so that's why her dad gave her to his family to take care of (I'm assuming Claudia's mother might have been disowned or ran off, or her family refused to raise her themselves). So Madeleine represents to Claudia her mother if she had lived, just like Madeleine sees Claudia as a daughter if she had lived. And because this is supposed to be a complicated relationship, as Claudia is the actual older one, probably still longing for romantic connection, and doesn't want to get stuck in another daughter role, the show might venture further than mother/daughter/friendship territory, because this is the AR universe so things will naturally get complicated. I totally get if others don't want them to go into that area though.

Do you have any Claudia headcanons specific to Paris?

I do feel like Paris is where Claudia has her own awakening, same as Louis. It's where she realizes she likes girls, as we see her in a vampire orgy scene with another woman. I also think Claudia is a bit of a stalker. She likes trailing Madeleine or other women, seeing the life she could have had if she had stayed human. She actually ironically shares that in common with Armand. I feel like Armand and Claudia will actually like each other at first, and see a lot of themselves in each other. But because Claudia can see trouble coming a million miles away, his act doesn't fool her for long like it does with Louis, so gradually tension starts to build. I feel like Armand in the show, unlike in the book, actually harbors some regret when it comes to killing Claudia.

Also Claudia sketching Madeleine when?

Another headcanon I have is that Claudia has to fight for scenes where she plays someone who isn't a child/doll (hence the red dress in that promotional poster/painting). She also wants to get involved in some of the playwrighting, which she does with Armand. She does this until she starts getting suspicious about him, and after she quits writing, she not coincidentally at all starts getting cast in babydoll roles again. Armand sucks!

Do you think Claudia might be haunting Dubai?

God I hope so I want her to be haunting Louis but especially Armand's ass. The reason Armand supposedly can be awake at any time is because he just can't sleep, what with Claudia constantly taunting and tormenting him!

Are there any songs you think are very Claudia coded?

-"Can't Catch Me Now" by Olivia Rodrigo- perfect for Claudia haunting Louis and Armand!

-"Daughter" by Beyonce

-"Brutal" by Olivia Rodrigo

-"Girls Just Want To Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper

-"I've Got To Be Me" by Sammy Davis Jr.

-"Teen Idle" by Marina

-"Antagonist" by Nova Twins

-"Beating Like A Hammer" by Metric

-"Mama, I'm A Big Girl Now" (Hairspray)

-"Eat Your Young" by Hozier- I hesitate to add this one because the song is supposedly based around the Irish "A Modest Proposal", now a similar concept taking place in modern times, but the music video just strikes me as very Claudia coded. In it, the child in the nuclear family is created to fulfill the parent's needs, and is subsequently put into a box and told to be a certain way. The parents are hungry in a demanding society that metaphorically starves them to the point that they'll take drastic measures to fulfill that hunger, even if it means exploiting and metaphorically consuming their own children. And who is that if not Claudia with regards to Louis and Lestat?

Thanks for the ask friend! And sorry it took so long to answer <3

#iwtv #interview with the vampire #vampterview #claudia #iwtv meta #ask games #tw sa mention

[somanyfuckedupiftruebooks]

Mag 34

A daily occurrence at every exterminator in London:

Exterminator 1: The phone's ringing again.

Exterminator 2: Is it--?

Exterminator 1: It's those Magnus weirdos.

Exterminator 2: Don't fucking answer.

So there's lots of great things about Dr Elliot, but the first thing that really gets me is how much he reminds me of Jon. Academic, pressured into taking a job he didn't want, unhappy about it and hiding it poorly, overworking himself with research, no real choices. They could be twins!

I feel like such an idiot for this because it's so obvious in hindsight, but I was completely convinced that this was an End statement for ages. The placeholder names thing had me thinking that the anatomy students were corpses trying to figure out how to be alive, and I somehow missed all the overt Stranger stuff in the statement. I thought this right up until Season 5, so I also somehow missed when John Doe came back as a Stranger in Season 3. Oh, speaking of...

John counter: 8

After Michaels took the lead for all of one episode, Johns and Michaels are even again!

Another Jon similarly: discounting or ignoring the supernatural in order to hold onto credibility.

Anyway I'm not sure how valuable my commentary on this episode is going to be. I mostly just like it because it's funny and everyone acts insane. Big fan of how Dr Elliott just absolutely hates these students who never actually do anything bad to him. They are literally just breathing and he's like... their vibes are terrible.

Another thing I love about Dr Elliot, the way he reacts to everything like a frail maiden in a misogynistic old novel. Everything is simply too much for him and he has to go and lay down to recover his strength. They're just looking at him and he gets so overwhelmed he can't function!

This right here is probably the reason he survived the experience. The way he made a conscious effort to engage with this as little as possible, just do the bare minimum to get through it and actively don't care or think about anything overmuch. If he'd been a little more Eye-aligned he'd have been screwed.

Haha, he's all 'I can't leave them alone with bones, that would be bad' and then he gets into class and he's so right! It is bad when they are alone with the bones! But again it's like... they're not even doing anything. Just let them arrange their bodies however they want, it's none of your business. They are even being polite and not doing it when you're watching them!

#mag 34 #anatomy class #a mag a day #reeah reacts to tma

[overobsessedfanboy23]

YGO Rivals Ranked

Giving this a try. I put this one off for a while because, to be honest, this is the hardest set of characters to rank or, in some cases, even fully know how I feel about. *glares at one specific character, you all know who it is if you follow me*  So... here’s my best attempt but just know, a lot of these are pretty interchangeable for me. Well, except my number 7 pick.

Oh also I’m not caught on Go Rush and it’s not done but Zwijo is looking to be a pretty good rival so far. He’s not on this list but he’s my favourite character in Go Rush so far so I figured I’d honourably mention him.

Anyways, onto the clear worst rival:

7 Reiji/Declan Akaba

Okay, I don’t dislike Reiji but compared to the other rivals… yeah, he falls pretty short. He’s the worst at being Yuya’s rival, they’re really far apart in age (or at least look that way) and Reiji is also basically his leader/general in seasons 2 and 3. Rivals are supposed to have even footing but not only does Reiji have way too much power over Yuya, he’s also an objectively better duellist than him for almost the entire show. Watching the show, it never registered to me that Reiji was “supposed” to be the rival, he fulfills that role so poorly. I don’t particularly dislike him. He’s an awful person but I do feel like the narrative usually condemns his actions (unlike a certain OTHER CHARACTER) or at least uses his awfulness as a way to illustrate the show’s themes of war corrupting both sides. I could never work up much effort to dislike him nut I couldn’t work up any effort to like him either. Sawatari should’ve been the main rival, Reiji really just isn’t anything special outside of his dub voice (which is a given, it’s Billy Bob Thompson) and some sparse moments but otherwise, he serves his role as everything but Yuya’s rival perfectly fine.

6 Roa Kirishima

To be honest, I have no clue who people consider the main rival of Sevens. Luke has the most presence opposing Yuga but he’s definitely more of the best friend character, Romin and Gakuto are both just friends to Yuga so for me, it was a toss up between Roa and Neil. And I’m choosing Roa because A) he was introduced first and B) he has specific beef with Yuga due to Otis choosing Yuga over him. He isn’t much of a rival after that first arc but he was still an interesting foil to Yuga as well as an antagonist to Romin. He’s also pretty funny, especially when the joke is at his expense. He’s not super deep or compelling which is why he’s this low but he’s all he needed to be: an entertaining rival and eventual friend to Yuga.

5 Kaito Tenjo

Hear me out. I love Zexal but one of my biggest problems with it was always how the second half of the show treated Kaito. He was a major character in the first half, a huge threat to Astral and Yuma and a catalyst for their development, and through it all, he was sympathetic and interesting. The final duel of season one is one of my favourites in Zexal because of his dilemma in it. He is great in Zexal I. And then Zexal II just… had no clue what to do with him. He doesn’t do anything but duel Mizael and die on the moon. His death was also poorly conveyed and confusing and yes I am talking about the sub here, that’s the definitive version of Zexal to me. The second half didn’t ruin Kaito or anything but I do feel that it ended up making me like Kaito less than I feel I should.

4 Jack Atlas

(Important note here that I prefer 5Ds in dub and primarily know it that way but have seen the final sub-exclusive arc, so I’m referring to dub Jack, though I’m familiar with both versions.)

While it’s definitely a less extreme case than Kaito, Jack is another character who I feel peaked in the first half of his show and then in the second half, doesn’t get much to do and feels flat as a result. Even putting aside the whole Carly retcon (which really is disgusting in the context of the show’s continuity), Jack just doesn’t have the same presence or narrative importance in that second half of the show and it feels like his development from Dark Signers was a little ignored. Like, as much as I love Yusei and Jack’s final duel and where that finale leaves all its characters, Jack’s obsession with being a lone wolf felt kind of off? Despite this however, Jack remained consistently entertaining (funny) post Dark Signers, even if that arc is where he peaked: it’s where he’s at his most interesting and relatable. And his most tragic. Do you have a minute to talk about our lord and saviour JackxCarly?-

Seriously though, that duel is where he peaked. Sorry not sorry.

3 Seto Kaiba

(Note: DM is the other Yugioh I primarily know in dub so again, I’m primarily talking about dub Kaiba here)

Kaiba has always been my favourite DM character. Heck, he was the one part of the show I legitimately enjoyed in the first half of Duelist Kingdom. Before that Yugi vs Kaiba duel on the tower, I was watching the show for completely ironic reasons. What can I say? I have a soft spot for the douchebags with a secret heart of gold, especially when that heart of gold is for their younger sibling. He’s also hilarious. Actually, out of every character on this list, Kaiba is probably the funniest to me: his snarkiness and absurd duelling obsession is a riot. He’s so over the top and douchey and dramatic and it is hilarious. He was the one thing that kept me going through that dreadful virtual arc. He’s also legit badass when he needs to be, like in the final arc when he went up against Z-Orc. Also, and this is probably because he’s the OG rival, but Kaiba is narratively the best rival of all these characters. He and Yugi are constantly at odds and duel each other multiple times throughout the show. Kaiba is the bane of Yugi’s existence yet also his ally when Yugi really needs him to be and it works pretty well. While I like the other rival characters, none of them ever quite got to this same degree of precise narrative importance.

2 Jun Manjome

And my GX character bias shines through again. But come on, how could I not love this silly dorky little creature of a man? Admittedly, what GX’s god awful dub did to Manjome makes it really hard for me to admit this, especially since it’s been a while since I’ve watched GX all the way through. But honestly, while I’m rusty on some story details of GX, I don’t feel rusty on the characters and I’ve always unironically liked Manjome. At first, he was just a typical snobbish school bully character but then we learn more about him: that his family put all this pressure on him to be exceptional lest he not be the “underachiever” of the family, which is something I relate to immensely to put it lightly. He also had a very relatable story arc in season four (seriously, his words when the students overcome Darkness stick with me the most out of all of them) and is consistently pretty funny. Like, legitimately a funny charming character in the sub. And like. A real person, not just a stupid joke. No, I will not stop repeatedly punching the GX dub in the face, it’s so bad-

But anyways, Manjome good. Really the only thing I don’t like about him is his honestly creepy simping over Asuka, which is more the show’s fault than his in my opinion and it’s not nearly as grating to me as Revolver’s racism.

Oh, right, speaking of which…

…

God, I hate to say this-

1 Revolver/Ryoken Kogami

*bashes head against a wall* God, why the hell am I saying this? Oh my god. Am I seriously this gay?

(Important note: I am ignoring Duel Links in this conversation, do not bring up Revolver’s flanderised stupid ass behaviour in Duel Links. I do not consider that to be an accurate representation of him.)

Seriously, take this placement with a grain of salt: my opinion on this character has changed so many times I can barely keep track anymore. However, he (tied with Ai) is the character I’ve written the most about on my AO3 so I definitely like him. However, while I do my best to keep him in character, I basically give Ryoken the development I felt he should’ve had in canon, which really exacerbates the feeling I’ve always had that canon Ryoken is an incomplete character. His visceral blind hatred toward the Ignis simply for existing always rubbed me the wrong way. I can tolerate it in season 1 since he’s a villain and his actions are very clearly condemned by the narrative. However, when he comes back in season 2 as an ally of the heroes still believing in this bigotry, it seemingly presents said bigotry (which is always phrased uncomfortably similarly to real life bigotry) as a debatable ‘agree to disagree’ topic, which is irresponsible and disgusting. I’ve covered this in more detail in the past so I won’t harp on this for too much longer but just know that this irritates me personally and I am being restrained. I’m aware Ryoken believes what he does because of his father’s brainwashing but… that’s the other issue. Ryoken, onscreen, never grows out of his blind loyalty toward his father, who neglected him, brainwashed him, and tortured children before his eyes when he was EIGHT. It doesn’t surprise me that Ryoken was messed up by this, and honestly it’s a compelling setup, but it’s a set up with no pay off, which makes his bigotry toward the Ignis unbearable. And it didn't need to be this way. Just cut that stupid ass scene in the season 3 clipshow episode where he goes “yeah, I still believe in genocide-ing the Ignis even after everything that happened last season” then maybe I could believe that the moments where he doesn’t seem fully sold that Ai is a threat at first and later entrusts Playmaker with the fate of mankind actually meant something!

…wow that’s a lot of negative things about Revolver. Would you be surprised to hear that I actually really love him? When he’s not being racist scum, his personality is actually pretty appealing. He’s very calculated and downright vicious as a duellist, but not out of hate. He respects his opponents and shows that respect by giving the duel no less than his all and I like that. It’s interesting. I also like how despite being a villain/anti-hero, he still has a level of honour/respect, even for his adversaries. Like when he kept his promise to give Playmaker the cure to the computer virus infecting Blue Angel after Playmaker beat him. The only time I recall him not giving his all in a duel was that first duel against Soulburner and that was in an admittedly clumsy attempt to make amends with him for the Lost Incident. Because Revolver is physically incapable of directly voicing how he feels and honestly, that’s probably the most relatable trait out of every character on this list. I know some people hate it but I relate to it so hard. And use it for comedic purposes in my writing way more often than I probably should. I have nothing but respect for Revolver as a duellist, he’s very skilled and respectful and I love his duels and while I don’t agree with what he fights for most of the time, he still fights that fight with honour. But I just have so much fun dunking on him as a person. He’s so fucking stupid yet simultaneously talks existential shit like some kind of genius and on a side note, his Japanese voice is so good, I could listen to him talk for hours. Oh my gosh-

Okay, I need to be honest for a minute. Revolver is not the best rival character. Kaiba is the best at fulfilling the rival role and Manjome has the most solid character arc. Either one of them is more legitimately deserving of this spot than Revolver. The reason Revolver is here is because I’d feel bad making people scroll past an abnormally long wall of text just to see who all of my picks are. I wrote so much more about Revolver than any other character on this list because whether I like it or not, Revolver is the character I feel most passionately about and that’s… at least partially for canon reasons. So… yeah, I feel comfortable saying I love him, just with the disclaimer of “he was mishandled in season 3 and completely bastardised in Duel Links.”

#yugioh #ygo #yugioh duel monsters #ygo duel monsters #ygo dm #yugioh gx #ygo gx #yugioh 5ds #ygo 5ds #yugioh zexal #ygo zexal #yugioh arc v #arc v #yugioh vrains #ygo vrains #yugioh sevens #ygo sevens #seto kaiba #jun manjome #jack atlas #kaito tenjo #kite tenjo #reiji akaba #declan akaba #revolver #revolver vrains #ryoken kogami #roa kirishima #roa kassidy #this list is pretty funny if you imagine the pictures I picked out being the characters' reactions to their placements on the list

[snickeringdragon]

snick you need to tell me where ok ko wasted its potential and how you think it could be made better i havent seen anyone talk about this damn show in ages Yes im here because of skiddle's tags hi skiddle. hi snick

AHHAHAHAHAHAA. YOU HAVE NO IDEA. YOU HAVE NO IDEA

AHEM.

ok ko spoilers, obviously

...i should put this under a cut

opens up a powerpoint presentation. ok ko is in my opinion overall a very good show. its incredibly funny, charming, and...sometimes well written story wise. unfortunately it has a very very big failing in a very very big plot point

clicks to the next slide. my beautiful son tko.

tko himself is fine. i have no issues with his CHARACTER. i take issue with how his character is treated. tko is, by himself, a child with anger issues, he reacts very poorly to being agitated but like...

he has to be agitated first.

there is not a single example before season 3 where tko like, wrecks shit or whatever without being provoked, in his debut for example, hes just doing his job (albeit begrudgingly) before enid and rad provoke him, and he starts fighting them

however, the show always seems to act like tko is in the wrong, treats him like a villain despite his mostly heroic acts, is he PERFECT? no!! hes a fucking kid with anger issues!! he was locked inside a mind cage!! he doesnt know how to deal with things so he hits them!!! he just. happens to be able to hit things very very hard and with lightning bolts.

another example is the season 1 finale, youre in control. in yic tko. literally doesnt do anything wrong. like im not joking.

in yic tko gets let out to fight boxman jr and like...he does that. he throws boxman jr back to boxmore and then chases him over to boxmore. he does not attack a single hero in this episode. he does not do any damage to the plaza. the worst thing he does in this episode is put ko back in the cage. yet its STILL treated like hes doing something wrong???

another thing about tko. tko wants freedom. he says this outright. being locked inside a literal cage will do that to ya. i want to make sure real quick that we're on the same page here that locking a 6-11 year old boy inside a cage is bad no matter how badly he is at managing his anger issues right. right. okay. tko deserved to be uncaged. and he WAS. except...

when he gets out of the cage in youre in control. thats great and all but...his next appearance, tkos house, hes still upset. he still wants his freedom. its just that instead of being locked in a cage hes locked in a (pretty cool honestly) house. it doesnt matter how nice you make an enclosure, sometimes itll just never work for the animal. and thats what tko is like, he wants out, he wants control over the body, which like. is fucking fair?? im someone who REALLY understands the importance of going outside often, tko really deserves to be allowed outside their headspace. its good for you.

but tko DOESNT. GET THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he shows up. LITERALLY TWICE in season 2 (thats 40 episodes!) and NEITHER of his appearances (tkos house, dark plaza) does he even get to use the body on his own!! its always fused as pko!! he doesnt get a turn!!

and then when season three starts. uh. glances at tko rules. Yeah. The Subconscious. he gets trapped in a dark empty void for [checks notes] about two weeks. minimum.

what im getting at here. is that tko never really left that cage.

okay. im gonna touch on one more tko thing. the FUCKING finale. [furious]

quick recap, in the finale ko and tko have a plot twist moment where "oh hey! ko and tko are the same person actually! and now theyve accepted eachother as the same person and can be happy! hooray!" except like. mko (finale fusion) is just ko

like seriously hes JUST ko. his design? leaning towards kos features. his personality? LITERALLY just ko theres not a hint of tko there. its not the two of them "accepting eachother" or whatever its. its the writers killing off tko.

as well as like. a guy i know pointed this out and i cannot fucking get over it. if they were just going to ""fuse the two"" in the end then WHY. in GODS NAME. is tkos LITERAL FIRST LINE OF DIALOGUE.

"no, not ko."

hes so fucking INSISTENT on correcting people when they call him ko (which is ANOTHER gripe i have with this show. NOBODY calls him his name) and they just. oh yeah hes actually ko lol. LIKE DUDE. THIS ISNT HOW YOU WRITING.

i didnt even mention the issues regarding system stereotypes. i didnt even mention dark plaza since i was focusing on tko. i didnt even. theres so much. i need to stop. now. goodbye.

#dragon cave's mailbox #ok ko #im going insane #i REALLY hope this is comprehensible im lsoing it #tko ok ko #im fine with like. almost every other aspect of the show #(SEE: ALMOST.) #its just. tko is treated SO POORLY #and like i wouldnt care about that obviously if it wasnt treated like it was JUSTIFIED?? #god. tko my beautiful son youre not a villain. im so sorry an ugly ass writers like that would even say such a thing. sweetheart i love you #okay.okay.no i can be normal.goodbye.