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novantinuum · 5 years

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Novantinuum’s Corrupted Steven Theory Masterpost/Update

Original post date: 11/25/19

(Take two! All links will be given in the reblog, due to Tumblr being a “functioning” website and not letting my first attempt show up in tags or on people’s dashboards. Apologies for the inconvenience!)

This post has been long overdue. It’s been almost two months since Steven Universe Future’s intro aired at NYCC, and since then there’s been both new information and a surplus of fascinating musing throughout the fandom about this idea. Strap in, folks. We’re absolutely gonna go under the cut with this one.

So, first things first-

For ease of clarity, throughout this post I will be referring to this big fella…

As ‘the creature,’ and using the nonspecific pronouns they/them, since we don’t know what or who they are yet. Personally, I’d rather not get used to referring to them as ‘Steven’ or ‘he’ in the case that this whole theory is bonkers crazy, haha.

Second, I will be organizing the bulk of this post in the form of questions and answers.

(A detailed description of how this theory originated can be found in the reblogs! I have links in it, thus why I have moved it to the end.)

Q. Why are so many people calling the creature ‘Wormy Boi’ when it’s clearly not a worm?

This one is my bad. In the original theory post, the one that circulated around so wide, this is what I jokingly referred to them as. Later, many people have been quick to point out that— while we still can’t see their full form, due to being obscured behind the other antagonists— this creature appears to have visible shoulders, which suggests limbs. I heartily agree with this.

However, it’s often tough to circulate updates to old ideas when the old ones are already so wide-spread. For a while I used ‘wyrm’ as a descriptor, since mythological wyrms are more dragon-like serpents with limbs, but at this point it’s become clear to me that we simply don’t have enough information to make a fair assessment on the creature’s form.

Until we learn more, ‘creature’ will have to do.

Q. Why explore corruption in SUF? Hasn’t that plot thread already been dealt with?

Yes, and no. The immediate problem of corruption has been dealt with, when the corrupted Gems were finally healed in Change Your Mind. But there’s still so many mysteries about corruption left, making it a prime target for SUF’s promise to “tie up loose ends.”

We know that diamonds are capable of corrupting Gems, and yet the Diamonds themselves seemed surprised that they didn’t flat out obliterate the Gems on Earth. This is a key point of interest— they don’t even understand what corruption is!

“How did you even survive?! We blasted the planet and obliterated every Gem on its surface!” -Blue Diamond, Legs From Here to Homeworld

“No one should’ve survived our attack.” -Yellow Diamond, Legs From Here to Homeworld

They genuinely believed that their combined power would destroy everyone. (And does this mean all four of them combined their power to obliterate wayward Gems before??) But it didn’t. It led to corruption.

Now, there’s probably a billion little tangents I could spiral off on when it comes to the nature of the Diamonds’ attack, but the key points I’d like to leave you with here are…

We don’t know specifically how corruption happened

It clearly doesn’t require all four diamonds. We also have never been told that it requires more than one diamond.

Next point of interest! Over and over again throughout the series, links have been made between corruption and the mind/extreme emotion.

“It’s sorta like… if MC Bear-Bear didn’t tear the fabric of his arm, but the fabric of his mind.” -Garnet describing corruption, Monster Reunion

“I don’t really know how the corruption works. It’s like they’re sick. They don’t remember who they used to be.” -Steven, Gem Hunt

Emotions and one’s state of mind seems to affect how strongly corruption manifests, and how quickly it progresses.

In Monster Buddies, corrupted Nephrite’s form shrinks upon sensing Steven’s fear and lack of antagonistic purpose. She’s not scared of him, and doesn’t feel threatened, thus she calms down. Her form is smaller here as a result.

When Nephrite becomes terrified of Garnet in the same episode, the corruption seems to sink into her mind more, causing her to lash out and accidentally cause damage to her surroundings, putting everyone in danger.

In Monster Reunion, Steven is able to partially heal Nephrite… and her form remains fairly stable until she remembers the trauma of corruption, has an extreme emotional reaction, and loses control once more.

In Earthlings, Jasper’s corruption progresses faster as her mental state sinks lower.

Now, considering the deep connection to the mind…

In the specific context of Steven becoming corrupted, I believe corruption could be used as a plot device to represent his current struggles with mental wellness. It’d be like… the instability of his mental state made physically manifest.

Now, big disclaimer here— obviously, this isn’t a perfect analogue to the topic of mental health and illness— I see it as more of a fantasy allegory, like fusion. Like the trans allegory that can be pulled out of the Diamond Days arc with Steven. It doesn’t align perfectly, but it can still serve to make a point. To act as a teaching opportunity for viewers, for how one may address issues like mental health.

I also don’t think this necessarily means that corruption is “Gem mental illness,” either. Since corruption is only something that can be triggered by diamonds, that take wouldn’t make much sense. Instead, this theoretical allegory would serve to explore ideas about mental health specific to Steven.

Another important note— of course, mentally ill individuals aren’t monsters. I want to make that clear. That’s absolutely not what I intend by this. BUT, speaking as someone currently battling mental illness, ‘a monster’ is often how I feel. (And we all know how Steven’s appearance has been impacted by how he feels, before…)

Moving on, let’s look at this topic external to the world of the show.

The idea of SUF taking time to fully flesh out the idea of corruption rather then introduce a new alien race (as some other theories suggest) simply makes more sense in the context of a limited series. I genuinely believe that if Rebecca Sugar and crew had plans to open Steven’s universe wider and explore other sentient alien races, that we would have at least seen overt hints towards this earlier. Those hints, however, don’t really exist. Gems only speak of other Gems. There’s alien creatures, but they’re not sentient like humankind. Surely one of the Crystal Gems would’ve mentioned other species by now to prime us to the idea that there’s more out there if Crewniverse intended to make this a plot point?

Instead, Steven Universe has consistently focused on solely Gem and Humankind when it comes to plot. And its heart centers around relationships, processing emotions, and change. I can only assume at this point that Steven Universe Future will function the same.

That digression aside, if Steven Universe Future were to explore the topic of corruption more… wouldn’t it make perfect sense to explore it by throwing its main character directly into the fray?

Q. Why would this creature being Steven’s corrupted form make sense?

1) We don’t see a visible gem, and Steven’s gem is— of course— on his belly. The framing of the shots we see of the creature conveniently obscure where a belly gem might be.

2) This creature looms in the background, and the shadows cast upon them especially push that sense of size. They’re most likely massive. We know Jasper’s form expanded in size upon becoming corrupted. Surely a corrupted diamond would have the potential to become even bigger and more powerful?

3) The spikes on the creature’s back, face, and (limbs?) highly resemble rose thorns. We all know how much the Crewniverse loves their rose symbolism when it comes to Steven. With all his still lingering internal insecurities about his mom/Pink Diamond, wouldn’t those rose motifs make visual sense for a corrupted Steven design?

4) The nose on this creature is flat out identical to Steven’s. The facial structure is even similar, although noticeably more angular and sharp. The squiggly mouth is reminiscent of the Watermelon Stevens’ mouths. Moreover, they’ve got five horns positioned equidistant around their face, at the same positions of each of the bumps of Steven’s hair.

5) The pink glow of their eyes, and the pink beam of energy they emit at the end of the shot. This is the same shade of pink associated with Steven’s pink gem form, which we now know is making a return in some fashion in SUF, whether as a power-up or otherwise.

6) The antagonist shot has a bluish tint overlaid with it, but take it away by adjusting the colors based off of Jasper’s standard palette and you can see that this creature is far more pink than initial appearances suggest. (A huge thank you to @mcnuggetsandfandom and @badartbysomeguy for bringing this up- a link to this post will be included in the reblogs.)

7) The description of Steven Universe Future is as follows:

The most fascinating part of the updated description is that Steven is suddenly manifesting “new, uncontrollable powers.” Note that it’s power(s), with an ‘s.’

We know that one of these powers is… this, which I can only guess is him tapping deep into his potential ability as a diamond.

But what’s surprising to me is the fact that they’d show this in a trailer at all. If it’s from a climactic moment, akin to like… Aang going into the Avatar State and taking away Fire Lord Ozai’s bending… then having it featured right up and center wouldn’t be a good idea. But instead they deliberately gave us a teaser of this, and have included the fact that he’s manifesting new powers in the series synopsis.

This tells me that this will be a recurring issue that develops further over the run of SUF. And then, ‘uncontrollable.’

Hmm…

We all know Steven’s powers are modulated by his emotions. Corruption also seems to be impacted by emotions. It would thus make a reasonable amount of sense if such an overload of new abilities (perhaps caused by his tumultuous emotional state) is what leads to Steven becoming corrupted.

Q. How could Steven become corrupted in the first place?

I wholly believe such a corruption would be 100% self-inflicted.

I’ve seen a few other takes on how he could become corrupted throughout the months, such as through fusion with a previously corrupted Gem, or by White Diamond, but self-inflicted still makes the most sense to me in terms of how it would fit in with Steven’s emotional arc throughout the show.

It’s no secret by now just how much trauma he’s faced over the years. Numerous life-or-death situations, having to constantly shoulder his family’s unspoken expectations, being forced to fight and poof fully sentient Gems in self-defense, a prolonged period of doubt in his autonomy as his own person. That’s just scraping the top of the barrel. And in response to all these sources of trauma, he has developed some harmful coping habits.

Remember Pearl’s smug boast in A Single Pale Rose? “I’m very good at compartmentalizing!”

Well, when it comes to what emotions he outwardly expresses, Steven has become quite an expert at this too. He bottles almost everything inside. He isn’t honest with Greg or the Gems about how hard everything has impacted him. When others try to extend help to him, he switches the narrative and drops everything to help them with their problems. Somehow, after all this time, he still tries to face every stressful situation with an optimistic smile.

But when the cracks show, things get messy.

He raises his voice with the other Gems to the point of yelling. Or his powers don’t work properly, and suddenly he’s a baby again, or plunging from the sky in tears. Or his emotions modulate the world inside Rose’s room, and suddenly he’s become tormented by the manifest representation of the storm brewing within him. Then, there’s also the new tidbit of Steven’s new and uncontrollable powers… powers that appear to perhaps be triggered by extreme anger. Anger that he doesn’t understand how to address, maybe?

As shown previously, corruption seems to be directly impacted by one’s emotional state, too. Thus— given Steven’s history, the fact that diamonds can cause corruption, and the detail in the description of Steven being “haunted by the past, and lost in the present”— I believe it to be wholly reasonable that all these repressed issues could eventually cause him to collapse inwards and corrupt himself.

Q. On a story level, what could this plot point contribute to SUF?

In my mind, Steven corrupting would serve to address his current mental state, and push him into a vulnerable situation where he is no longer able to refuse his family and friends’ help. We already know that SUF will address this in some manner— the synopsis itself spells that out blatantly. We also know that this show will explore what it is that Steven truly wants for his own future.

I genuinely believe the answer to that question, currently… is that he doesn’t know what he wants. He never got a true childhood. He’s only 16, and yet he’s got the weight of an entire civilization on his shoulders. And now he keeps turning pink, and he’s filled with so much anger, (this is conjecture based on the trailer) and he doesn’t understand why.

I think he’s scared of himself. Scared of the future. Scared because he doesn’t know what he wants. Scared both halves of himself will constantly be in opposition to each other, human vs. Gem.

The more idyllic human existence he hasn’t gotten much of a chance to explore for himself at all vs. the never-ending reminders of his Diamond heritage, the sheer power he wields for better or worse, and all the forces that stand ready to oppose him and everyone he cares about.

There’s stress and fears and burden coming from BOTH sides of who he is, and he’s going to have to deal with it sooner or later… or else face the consequences born from bottling it away.

The thing is, with this tendency, I’m not sure how else the plot could lead him to finally open up about his traumas. Steven needs a catalyst first, and that catalyst must block off every other possible option. It must lead him into a place where the only solution is accepting help from the people who love him.

And then on a meta level, how emotional would it be to see every person Steven has dropped everything to help along his journey give back by helping him in return? All the Crystal Gems, Greg and Connie, Nephrite? It’d be a tear breaker, for sure.

Q. Physically, is it even possible for Steven to corrupt like this?

Many people have mused about if Steven— half organic as he is— is even capable of expanding to such a massive size through corruption.

And from what we’ve already seen in canon, I believe the answer is a resounding ‘yes.’

We had TWO episodes in season 1A that dealt with Steven’s form changing as a result of his gem reacting wildly to his emotional state: Cat Fingers, and So Many Birthdays.

Cat Fingers introduced the idea that Steven’s physical form could warp to monstrous proportions.

So Many Birthdays cemented the fact that Steven’s gem reacts “to [his] state of mind,” as stated by Pearl.

In Cat Fingers, everyone’s favorite horror show episode, Steven is successful in shapeshifting part of his body, but loses full control over it in the third act. If you watch this episode again, you’ll notice that this only begins to happen after he starts to panic about it.

“Can’t you make it go away??” “I tried, but it made it worse!” -Greg and Steven, Cat Fingers

I believe his panicking is directly to blame for making it spiral into horror. And then, when he confronts his dad at the car wash, his shapeshifted form grows massive— easily larger than a car.

I see no reason why, then, Steven couldn’t become as large as the creature through corruption.

In So Many Birthdays, meanwhile, Steven’s form is only aging- but once more, it’s directly linked to the way he feels. It’s linked to his fears of being seen as childish by the Gems. And when he realizes what is happening in The Big Donut, the aging begins to progress faster, his gem once more reacting to the turbulent thoughts running through this kid’s mind. He’s caught in a loop.

Notably, it’s only when Steven addresses these feelings that he’s able to stop aging and return to his normal self. I believe the same would be true if Steven were to be corrupted. As a footnote to this, Steven’s Birthday in season 2 furthers these concepts by blatantly showing a scenario where he loses control of his form because his emotional state is too tumultuous. Sound familiar? I think it’s supposed to.

All that to say, there is already a precedent for this sort of stuff in canon. Corruption would merely be an extension of old ideas.

Q. What pieces of potential “foreshadowing” can be found in canon?

Now, to be 100% fair, it’s hard to make an argument for any of this blatantly being “foreshadowing” when you don’t know if a theory is true or just complete nonsense, but if SUF does play out similarly to what we’re theorizing then I believe these moments could be counted as such:

1) The very fact that Steven has lost control of his physical form three times prior, as stated in the section above.

2) The oddly specific placement of leaves in Steven’s hair making it look like horns, in an episode set at the place corruption is ultimately cured.

3) Steven’s sleeping bag may be foreshadowing, if this creature turns out to be more caterpillar-like in form.

4) “Maybe… it IS a guy in a monster costume. I don’t mean literally, silly! What I mean is… there might be a conscious Gem still inside there, somewhere. What if the monster is turning back and forth into its original form? If it is, it might not be as corrupted as we think! There might still be a chance to save it!” -Steven, Gem Hunt

Depending on how the plot might turn, a lot of the dialogue in this ep could turn out to be foreshadowing. The fact that they make mention of the idea of a “human” (or half-human…) in a monster costume is of particular interest. I discuss the turning back-and-forth between corrupted and original form idea more in my original theory post.

5) Sneople/snake symbolism, if the creature is more serpent/worm/snake-like.

Yes, I know a common theory is that the creature is “a snerson,” because “everything Ronaldo has theorized became true,” but if one watches Keep Beach City Weird carefully, you’ll realize that Ronaldo’s theories only became true after his first failed one.

Even more damningly, the creature he thought was a snerson was just… Steven. All along. And the currency in this world? Look at the symbols it contains…

A diamond (shaped exactly like the pink diamond Steven has) on one side, and a serpent like creature on the other.

Part of me still can’t help but shake the feeling that this is supposed to mean something. It’s such a specific detail.

Miscellaneous:

1) One doubt I’ve seen people raise about this theory is the idea that the show’s adherence to Steven’s POV would make it hard to tackle such a plot line. The concern here is that— much like other corrupted Gems— Steven likely wouldn’t be able to communicate well in his corrupted form, and thus showcasing such a corruption would be tricky from a storytelling perspective. However, we don’t yet know if SUF will adhere to the Steven POV rule at all.

In the Steven Universe podcast back in January, in the ‘Battle of Heart and Mind’ episode, Rebecca and Ian state that the show will essentially be a different one going forward. We now know that this is literal, of course, but I don’t think it’s out of the question to break free of the POV rule now.

In any case, the writers and boarders on team Crewniverse have surprised me before with their skill in telling complex stories. If anyone could tackle something so complex, it’d be them.

2) Another interesting note people have made about this theory is that… if it holds some measure of truth… the creature could be an apparition, something Steven sees in dreams or hallucinations, rather than a physical manifestation. I personally believe that there’s more evidence to be gleaned from the idea of physical corruption, but this idea is also very interesting, so I wanted to bring it up as a possibility.

Please check out my first reblog for links/backstory on how this theory came about! Apologies for having to re-make this post. Tumblr was NOT wanting to behave with my links.

#su #su future #suf #steven universe #corrupted steven theory #su theory #su meta #corrupted steven #my post stuff #long post #the mighty 500 #1K

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mw-draws · 4 years

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Hey just got a question cause I've been really concerned for a while but why do you think s12 ratings been so low? I'm very scared BBC might just say "fuck it, this isn't working" and pull the plug on Jodie which would make me hella sad. Think it's because of the time of year? Early January + waiting for long time? Do you think she can pull up with the cyber men episodes and other ambitious ideas they still got in store? I don't want 13 to go if she's gon be replaced again by a man :c

honestly, I have no idea and it's scaring me as well. 3 episodes in and it's scraping by 5 million (1 week consolidated figures), this is what it was like at the end of series 10 (which in itself is an absolute crime). I mean, nowadays, overnight ratings don't matter too much, but seeing that the show is gaining just about a million more viewers in a week is concerning to me as well. I hate seeing that already, series 12 is gonna be the lowest rated series of all who basically and it doesn't deserve that at all. I don't think it's just the fact that the Doctor is a woman, (here we go), I'm placing it on chibnall.

I understand what chibnall is trying to do, honestly. have the fun, non deadly adventures in her first series, get to know the characters and then we get into the nitty gritty, but I dunno why, but his writing just hasn't been strong. he's good with broadchurch and torchwood, but his episodes in series 11 have been the weakest eps. I think, to a lot of people, it just ain't Who anymore and that saddens me. Chibnall should have done better with series 11. I really liked series 11, but it should have been stronger. by half way through the series, it had lost half its viewers, so loads of people tuning in have missed the best episodes of series 11. I think a tonal mix of high stakes and low stakes would have helped series 11 and series 12.

I also think it's down to advertisement. series 11's advertisement? Great. amazing! had series 11 ads popping up on YouTube, billboards, SDCC, NYCC, Build, loads of interviews, lots of hype. but series 12? I have only seen one (1) series 12 advert live on TV and that was for Orphan 55. yeah, I don't watch TV a lot, but I've never seen an ad for the whole of series 12 on TV. with series 11, I saw loads of ads on TV. I remember seeing an advert for The Ghost Monument on TV and I remember seeing loads of adverts for series 11 as a whole. they also had a teaser in the middle of a football game (I think it was in the middle of the world Cup), so it obviously got loads of attention.

also, another thing, the 'next time' trailers for series 12. they're shit. plain and simple. they are shit. literally 15 seconds at the very end of an episode and then we wait like, a day to get a longer one that's like 20 seconds. the next time trailers used to be really long, like at least 45 seconds to a minute long. I think they used to play just before the end credits started so that you don't miss what's gonna happen next, now, they're at the very, very end of the episode, by then, people will have switched over to other channels, or just switched off their TV. I just wish they would prioritise advertising, that's how you get people's attention, y'know? yeah, we had the Judoon in Victoria Station, but that's honestly been the biggest thing. it's just, there's something missing

honestly, series 12 is so good and doesn't deserve these ratings. series 10 didn't deserve the ratings that it got and apart from series 4, the best series are getting paid absolute dust and its just not fair.

will they go back to a man? I don't know, I personally don't give a fuck if the doctor is a man or a woman, at the end of the day, they're still the Doctor. it's just the horrendous bigotry from some of the fans, which is weird, as they are fans of,,, Doctor Who.

also, I think it's also the Sunday slots. I'm not a fan of the Sunday slots. I'm always tired afterwards and I've got school the next day, so the euphoria of knowing Doctor Who is on only lasts for a short while. Saturdays work a lot better imo, it's prime time for Doctor Who and why Chibnall moved it to Sundays, ill never know. I have no idea why he done it and why he thought it was a good idea. People would have less time on a Monday to catch up, rather say than a Sunday. I think that's the biggest thing, Sunday is really not great. for 54 years, Doctor Who had been on Saturday's and this sudden change to Sunday just makes no sense at all.

what I'll say here, anon, is that I don't think you should worry too much. yes, it's worrying, I don't like how the viewing figures have dropped from last series. maybe the year long wait did have something to do with this, but they should have advertised it better. overnights don't matter like they used to. back in like, 2008, we weren't able to record shows and it would only be on iPlayer for a short amount of time. People nowadays watch TV differently. People would watch it on catch up, they'd watch it later with friends, or they'd even wait until the whole thing is out to watch it. 28 day consolidated viewing figures are the ones that matter most, I'm not sure what it's been for Spyfall yet, I think we'll find that out tomorrow, but don't lose hope. my dad keeps saying that the BBC care too much about Doctor Who, just to axe it like that, they definitely won't just cancel it straight out.

#there's no doubt that the overnights for Sunday are gonna be under 4 million #that's just the way it goes #throughout the series #each episode gets less and less viewers #this is why Chibnall is my least favourite showrunner #not to be like a nmd #but he's killing the show #putting it to Sundays #giving shit advertising #shit next time trailers #not an amazing first series #I think for series 11 #he should have really wowed the audience and not give us 'mediocre' stories #cause let's face it #they don't stand out that much #I like series 11 #but the episodes just weren't strong enough for such an important series #I get that he has a plan #but he could have done it a bit better #but it's time to face it #doctor who is no longer in its prime #like you said #2008 - 2013 was doctor who's best years #but from then #it's been dying out #I hate being so pessimistic about it #but it's true #doctor who #13th doctor #chris chibnall

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maxbegone · 4 years

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SAPPY ESSAY INCOMING!

With NYCC getting (expectedly and rightfully) canceled this year due to the ongoing pandemic, I wanted to talk a little bit about what it’s meant to me to go over the last three, almost four, years.

In my senior year of high school, early on in that October of 2016, I was in Manhattan for the day checking out a school (which I ultimately turned my nose-up at, having received a cold shoulder and a weird air to it all). My dad and I were walking through Penn, I was on the edge of nerdom loving anything involving video games, DND, and voice acting. At the time I was watching very minimal anime, but I recognized a few characters, if not by name then just by face and costume.

In Penn, while weaving through a crowd, I passed an ordinary-looking teen in khaki green/brown pants, a white Henley, and boots. He was carrying a backpack, and as I said he looked ordinary. However, had it not been for the ring on a rope hanging around his neck, I would have continued to think so.

No, this kid was dressed up as Nathan Drake (circa Drake’s Deception) and I immediately jumped with excitement and smacked my dad’s arm to tell him. My dad, whose nerdom starts and ends with The Peanuts.

We headed to the tour for this school, I felt inadequate, it was...fine at best. Afterward we went down toward Hudson Yards where my uncle was working for the day roughly five or six blocks from Javits. There were waves upon waves of people decked out in cosplay, tees depicting their favorite characters, shows, groups, etcetera. I was, for lack of a better term, in awe.

The following year, my freshman year of college, I attended NYCC for the first time. I only went for a day, two passes gifted from my family, and I took a friend. The Javits Center, if you have never been, is big, cacophonous, and overwhelming. I had already been there’s twice; once for the Cotiê Buying Show earlier that month for one of my classes, and the college fair (more overwhelming than anything else) the year prior.

Now the real reason I was going? To meet Troy Baker.

I remember the adrenaline upon walking in. I was anxious, jittery, everything was exciting and beautiful. The floors were jam-packed with people of all genders, ages, demographics and interests. This was the same year I met @softpedropascal for the first time, and if I can just take a moment to say how genuinely kind Cass is. I recognized her in line to meet Troy and she was just so so sweet.

I chased down a group dressed up as the characters from the comic, Saga, and got a picture with them later on.

Anyway, NYCC 2017 was an incredible experience and one I wouldn’t forget. My friend and roommate at the time still makes fun of me for falling asleep in my jeans, full face of makeup, and my contacts. I woke up at seven the next morning completely disoriented.

2018 was bigger and better. The cast of Critical Role was attending, their first campaign having ended the October or November a year beforehand. Now that was a fantastic year. Not only did I go three days instead of one, I stayed with a friend at a hotel a few blocks away (my lovely @buttercupcumbersnatcher ).

This is also the year I met @kaytikazoo and @allurakimas and a few others when we bolted through the concourse halls to make it to the Talks Machina Live panel (where Travis Willingham was subsequently roasted). Later that same day, at the meet and greets, I met @bisexualpluto who became my unofficial hype man (there’s a joke here that they get, believe me).

We all got to meet most of, if not all of, the CR cast but my favorite moment from that weekend was meeting Brian Foster. I say this constantly, it’s probably exhausting at this point, but Brian is an incredible writer. I walked up to his table, shyly set the book down and he genuinely looked surprised.

We spent a few minutes talking about writing, the ins and outs and graces of doing so, how writing what you know is, through and through, important as well as tough. The note he wrote on the inside cover still makes me a little emotional now two years later, but when I tell you he is kind, you better believe it. I went back the next day to get a photo with him, having been too excited to speak to him to even fathom doing so, and again, just very kind.

And for those of you wondering, yes, Laura Bailey is as magnificent and stunning in person as she is on screen and in gaming.

2019 was another wonderful year, running into old friends and for the first time actively going to panels. I don’t have Disney+, I won’t be getting it, but I got to see the pilot for Marvel’s Heros Project a month before it aired. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room, it was incredible.

Two panels later and out walks Troy Baker, dressed to the nines in his own “John Wick” cosplay (shout out once again to Cass for saving me a seat).

That same day I got an autograph from Lorraine Newman for my dad, a huge SNL fan from the early years. @buttercupcumbersnatcher made me watch Booksmart for the first time over wine, then delved into the best episodes of Bob’s Burgers, and bought overpriced coffee the following morning.

Needless to say, I love NYCC. I love New York especially, I always will, and I’m going to miss this year’s convention. I’m going to miss the friends I’ve made. But I get it. I understand, and they made the only call there is.

I’ll be wearing my mask, nerd-inspired or not, and rooting for it next year or the following.

To anyone I’ve met through this convention, I am so grateful. We’ll all be there again soon.

#nycc #nycc 2020 #reedpop #my post #long post

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sapphic-yang · 5 years

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RWBY Volume 7 Trailer

Thoughts and Theories:

1. So as others have shared, the 12 minutes show at NYCC cover landing in Mantle (which is in chaos) and the team meeting Penny’s dad (who made Yang’s arm and Maria’s eyes) and then the street fight first teased at RTX. Possible Penny intervention here but that’s unclear, I’ve seen conflicting statements from people who were at NYCC. Then it seems the atlas specialists capture them because they’re awful as expected (notice the volume 4-6 outfits).

2. I think the rest of chapter 1 (form are main heroes at least, not telling who they cut away to) will be them meeting with Ironwood. Probably a fair bit of tension here especially considering them getting bound, but the trailer dialogue seems to indicate Ruby really wants to give him a chance (though i think we all know how that’s gonna end).

3. The scenes of them jumping (yeeting really) out of the ship towards the abandoned dust mine are probably from chapter 2 or 3 (leaning towards chapter 3, we need a breather and a chance for team FNKI to help the crew shop and go to the salon, I’m calling it!). Whether this is on Ironwoods orders or something/someone else has lead them there is unclear, but unless they were allowed to keep the gunship from last volume they either have his permission or they’re being gay and doing crime again.

4. A Geist possessing...Dust? Ice? Rock? Some combination? This will be an interesting fight to be sure. Are they in the mines because the Grimm are consuming the Dust? Is that the real reason Ironwood wanted to stop exportation? Or is this why people are rioting? The two newbies here could be tagging along to make sure RWBY and JNR don’t screw up, or they might be White Fang they run into (I’d didn’t spot it at first but the guy pretty clearly has a tail) I’ve seen people say that Blake’s outfit is similar to theirs, but there’s going to be so much white clothing in Atlas I dunno if it’s a connection.

5. Two new Grimm, Sabyrs and what ever our many legged friends here end up being called.

6. Atlas in chaos is interesting. I’ve been thinking about the show’s future a lot lately and I have an outline. RWBY works in three Volume arcs, with each being collected into a season. 1-3 are the Beacon saga, 4-6 are the journey towards reunion and reconciliation for the heroes with each other, so what is 7-9 as a season going to be about, as an arc? I think Volume 7 is uniting Atlas, getting rid of Jacque, bring the Faunus out of the shadows and maybe even disposing Ironwood. I think there will be a major showdown at the end but I think it will only be a prelude to a larger war for Atlas in Volume 8. Both of which I think will be overall victories for our heroes, though with losses (Winter, calling it!). Volume 9 I think will be an assault on the dark continent (don’t know what else to call it) that WILL end badly (think day of black sun in ATLA). But we’ll see!

#rwby #rwby volume 7 #rwby volume seven #rwby volume 7 trailer #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 7 spoilers #rwby 7 #rwby 7 spoilers

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tcfkag · 5 years

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Spoonie Life: My Last Week (fun with complications)

So, I’m having a really rough week. It feels like literally the second I get a break from one thing or a handle on another, then another thing pops up. I never get a break and it is exhausting. And sometimes it just makes you feel so alone because even those that support you - and I have a hugely supportive community of people in my life - just can’t understand. I’ve been feeling increasingly depressed and anxious and alone and my therapist does not have any availability to see me...possibly for months. So I wanted to just write up everything I’m going through because sometimes that helps but also because hopefully some of you may have gone through some similar things (esp. blood clots and ovarian cysts) and could give advice and/or just support.

Here’s a (not so) short summary of shit that’s been going on lately (in list form because why not). Don’t feel like you have to read it all. I know everyone has their own things going on. But I just needed somewhere to vent and while I shared some of this on FB, I also feel freer to be honest and just fully disclose how hard this is for me here. Sometimes that’s one good thing about this hell site - less reason to self-censor and try to sound positive/hopeful/happy when I really truly am not.

Last Monday (the 15th), I finally finished three months of IV antibiotics I was on for an intra-abdominal abscess (an infected collection of fluid that was right underneath my diaphragm which meant that, for a while, it hurt to even take a breath).

Good news right? Stopped it about a week ago which is awesome because the antibiotics were infused two hours x three times a day (i.e. six f*cking hours a day that I was connected to an IV bag).

But, I knew I would need a follow-up CT scan that was scheduled for this past Wednesday....and who knew what that would show.

Towards the end of last week, I started feeling very tired all the time. And then my physical stamina just suddenly....decompensated abruptly. I would get tired doing anything. Monotasker and I went to the grocery store and halfway through, I had to sit down (or risk passing out). After a few minutes, I told him “we need to get out of here” so we rushed through the rest of the basics we needed. And then while he checked out, I sat on a bench near-by. My heart was racing, I was out of breath, I was dizzy and light-headed, and just generally felt like I had run a 5K.

The first couple times this happened I thought “well, maybe I’m out of shape, I *haven’t* been working out at ALL lately. But then I remembered, it was what - a week ago that I attended NYCC where sure, I got tired sometimes and had to sit down once in a while, but it was nothing like this. And I knew that fitness doesn’t decompensate like that....it’s sad that when confronted with such a serious health issue that my first reaction was to just....blame myself. Right away.

So last Sunday (a little over a week ago), I went into the ER to get checked out. I hoped it was something SIMPLE, like dehydration or maybe my anemia had gotten worse or low levels of some kind of electrolyte imbalance. Anything that could be handled in a single evening. Three guesses about whether that was really the problem (though if you’ve followed me for more than a hot minute, I’m sure you know that the right answer is...because of course, NOTHING is ever simple).

At the ER, they decided to do the CT scan I was supposed to have that Wednesday just to make sure there wasn’t anything they were missing. And while the abscess they had been treating was largely unchanged (so they are going to stop the antibiotics), they also found that I had a blood clot in my pelvis. This is my third blood clot but the other two (a DVT in 2008 and a PE in 2015) were both post-surgical. This is my first blood clot that happened “spontaneously”. The admitted me to the hospital for about 48 hours and put me on a heparin drip until they could get a blood thinner arranged to release me and send me home.

A few observations and factoids about blood clots and their treatment for those who are interested.

People with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis (i.e. IBD) are more prone to blood clots. If you have IBD (or any autoimmune disease actually), you should be aware of this risk and know the signs of blood clots (esp. after surgery) and make sure to take preventative measures like standing up to walk around on long flights.

Traditionally, blood clots were treated with the blood thinner warfarin (Coumadin is its brand name). It takes a few days to get to the correct level in your blood, so you have to be on injections of another blood thinner Lovenox (twice a day, at home, injected yourself) until your “INR” reaches the right level in your blood. While on warfarin you have to have regular bloodwork to check your INR - every few days at first, then weekly, and if you’re on it long term the tests become less common.

This is very challenging for me - after ALL the health issues I’ve had, my veins are completely shot. Even basic blood work is a challenge.

There is a newer genre of blood thinners out there called DACOs - you’ve probably heard of them (they include Xarelto and Elliquis) which are better for a couple reasons, I guess, but the main one for me is the lack of required blood thinners. Three guesses on whether my health insurance approved them? NOPE. They sent me into pre-authorization hell (which frequently means “nope never going to happen” but in this case I hope means “well if your doctor pushes hard enough, we’ll give in eventually).

Question: has anyone gotten one of the DACOs approved? Is there anything specific that you had to prove? How did it end up working out?

If you are someone who menstruates, just be aware - going on a blood thinner can cause your period to start early (mine started less than two days after starting them - at least a week or two early) AND it will make your period longer and heavier.

P.S. - the GYN I saw yesterday said that Xarelto would make that even worse which leads into a later part of this post, but basically she said it was really important that I get my IUD replaced if I was going to be on Xarelto long term.

Since this is my third blood clot, it may mean that I will have to be on blood thinners permanently, which I’m not looking forward to AT ALL. Because really, do I need another medical complication? The answer is no. No, I do not. WHICH MAKES THE NEXT PART OF THIS POST IRONIC.

So this is the part of the post that I could actually use some advice on.

So for a while, maybe as long as a year, every CT or MRI I’ve had has included a note from the radiologist saying that a benign ovarian cyst was seen on the scan (or sometimes it was called an “inclusive cyst” from the ovary into the peritoneal area. It would sometimes “recommend follow up with a GYN”. Okay....fair enough.

When I asked my GI and my PCP about it a long while ago (maybe even two years ago), they both sort of just said “sure you should see an OB-GYN about that at some point” but really didn’t follow-up on it. And then time passed because I had a LOT of other health issues that took precedence.

Sometime nine-months to a year ago, I started having pain in the area where my rectum used to be, especially when I was sitting at my desk at work. There were days it was so bad that I could not sit directly on my butt at all and had to constantly find different positions. And on those days, I would frequently also have pretty severe pain in my pelvis. For months I basically ignored it...again, I have chronic pain and I had bigger fish to fry. Again, it got put on the back burner. Until one day it was so painful I was crying at work. So I called my PCP who also called my GI and he looked at my scan and said “it’s probably that cyst, you should see a GYN....” Still no urgency (and my PCP even said “I don’t know i it’s that - sometimes doctors like to blame cysts when they just don’t know what else is wrong.”) Again and again, this cyst was acknowledged but treated as no big deal - a nuisance to be dealt with eventually.

Side note: at no point in this did my PCP or my GI bother to ask me about pain with sex, despite that being a somewhat obvious question.

So nine months ago (or so), my PCP finally did get me a referral to see someone in the minimally invasive surgical OB-GYN office. I called to make that appointment and was told “you cannot see a surgeon until you’ve seen one of the GYNs” so I got an appointment for several months later with a GYN in the office.

Then, I had to cancel two different appointments with her because I kept being sick and/or in the hospital...and of course, each new appointment was two-three months later.

So my appointment with the GYN (who was lovely) was yesterday. She told me that my cyst (which is in both the ovary and the peritoneum) is now the size of a GRAPEFRUIT! It is almost certainly to blame for the pain I get sometimes in my (former) rectal area and the pain I have when I have sex. She said that even if it’s “benign”, if it’s symptomatic like this, I shouldn’t have to live that way. For the first time, I had a doctor who I felt like was taking this issue seriously even though it wasn’t related to my IBD and was “just” a lady issue. (Though to be fair to my PCP, she has taken it seriously in the past, but it’s just not her specialty).

This GYN also said she’d be willing to take me to the procedure room and sedate me to put an IUD in, whether I have surgery or not because I had such a bad experience getting it last time!!! I really loved that she took my concerns about that seriously. Bless her.

So the (very extended) upshot is that I made an appointment with the minimally invasive surgeon who I was supposed to see SIX-NINE months ago (who, amazingly enough, had an appointment available MONDAY) and I may need to have another surgery to take care of this cyst. This cyst that wasn’t always the size of a grapefruit....but years of being told that it was benign, to “check it out” eventually, and having all of my other health needs take precedence has now left me here. With a huge cyst that has ruined my sex life and is starting to seriously impact my everyday life too.

TL;DR? I have TERRIBLE LUCK. ESPECIALLY this week. And I’m just feeling absolutely overwhelmed, lonely, and frustrated. And if you’ve had experience having surgery for an ovarian cyst, especially one that’s “including” on something outside the ovary, I’d really appreciate your thoughts on the procedure and whether it helped and was worth it.

#long post #about me #spoonie life #Crohn's Disease #ovarian cysts #a lot of this was just me needing to write this all out so that I could get it in one succinct rant #i'm having a lot of trouble dealing with these feelings of just.....never ending-ness #how do i do this for another 35 years????#when do i get a break #i need to go back to therapy - i know - but my therapist doesn't have any openings for A WHILE #and starting with a new therapist just seems like a lot #i may start doing the reasons i'm proud of myself posts again #bc i'm also starting to feel bad about my lazy ass self again #to boot

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callioope · 4 years

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Good Things in 2019

@theputterer and @the-strongest-stars tagged me in the awesome annual end-of-year Good Things meme! I’ve done this in 2018 & 2017 and always think it’s a fun exercise of both reflection and looking forward.

Oh boy, though, my first thought was, what even happened in 2019? (Looking at a calendar helped! It reminded me of a few things I forgot)

It’s been a Rough Year, friends. Between OCD and basically travelling almost every weekend in the latter half of 2019, I am very much ready for a new year and hopefully a new slate.

But this is about the positives!

Personal

Played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons! I am now officially in two campaigns. This year, I endeavored to recruit more women to play, including the wonderful @allatariel. I play both my beloved cleric, Maritsa (who I’ve been playing her years now) and my new character, Noara, a ranger elf with a red panda familiar (yeah, my DM let me do that for funsies, so I could get an animal sidekick but also still try out the Horizon Walker subclass).

Speaking of red pandas, I accomplished my LIFE GOAL of meeting a red panda face-to-face. I got to feed Harriet at the Cincinnati Zoo for 30 minutes. She was adorable.

Completed all my dental work and had a clean bill of dental health two cleanings in a row!

Attended DC’s Around the World Embassy Day event, always fun

Attended Star Wars night at a local library, where I got to participate in a short demo/lesson on how to fence with a lightsaber!

Attended 50th Anniversary Celebration of Apollo 11 / landing on the moon (dude they projected the rocket on the Washington Monument and it looked so cool)

Returned to the NY Ren Faire and upgraded my ren faire garb

Celebrated at THREE friends’ weddings and got to catch up with old friends I hadn’t seen in awhile

Ate ice cream at the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Vermont

Went to NYCC for the third year in a row. Got to wear 2 costumes this year: a 1920s flapper interpretation of an occamy and my Endor!Leia costume (repeat of 2017). Learned the True Pain of sewing. Created feather shawl for my occamy costume. Learned the True Pain of crafting.

Celebrated one year anniversary with hubbie down where we got married: visited the museum we got married in and actually got a chance to enjoy the exhibits, went to our favorite brunch place down there, got to check out Fleet Week and tour an aircraft carrier and uh... I think it was a missile cruiser?

Went up to PSU for a women’s hockey game for sister’s birthday (made embarrassing HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign for the cameras); also it was an absolutely wonderful fall drive on the way up there

Got to see The Rise of Skywalker in IMAX at the Smithsonian Air & Space Center with the awesome @allatariel! (thank goodness we had each other to get through that movie lol) also got to reuse my Endor!Leia costume. I did my own braids for the first time ever! (usually my talented sister does them) They looked like braids done by a n00b, but I didn’t care because they were passable and I did them myself and that was a Big Thing for Perfectionist Me (to not just... say screw it and undo it and just. give up. but to just let them be as is)

Worked hard at therapy and self care

Got a Sleep Number bed and holy shit let me tell you. i can actually sleep now.

OH! I almost forgot!!! Started playing Assassin’s Creed! I’ve only ever really played the LEGO Star Wars and Harry Potter video games so like. This was big for me.

Writing

Finally finished Learning Curve. TBH I was a bit shocked that this was in fact the only fic I published in 2019. What a travesty.

However! I have been writing

@allatariel & I sat down, overanalyzed You’ve Got Mail, and drafted up the outline for my in-universe AU, something I’ve been dreaming of starting for years. Have about 4300 words so far.

Just under the wire, I did manage to start my NatGeo AU, which I’ve been dreaming of since my honeymoon in Nov 2018

Started editing/revising my original young adult fantasy novel

Poked a little at my epic fantasy pirate travel novel idea

Books

I read exactly one book, Among the Red Stars, which I enjoyed. It’s about women fighter pilots in Russia in WW2. Inspired by real people.

Music

Saw Panic at the Disco! in concert. I went along with my sister. Not like a huge fan, but they put on a pretty fun show!

Saw Waitress on Broadway!! OH MY GOD. And Sara Bareilles was starring in it. Amazing. I freaking love her music (”How does she know / what a heart sounds like?” gahhh). She was so good, and the show was so good. I literally cried all the way through it just because I was so happy to be there, but also because of the content. Man.

Saw Sara Bareilles again, in concert, in Philly. I love her so much.

Television

Finished Critical Role Campaign 1! Oh man, what a ride. Gosh, I love that show. I really need to catch up in C2 now. I’ve started it but I’m only on episode 26 or 27.

I’m not sure whether I finished The Clone Wars in 2018 or 2019. I think it was early 2019. This show was amazing and this was the character development that Anakin Skywalker needed. I love Ahsoka Tano. I cannot wait for the last season.

Finished Rebels!!! AGAIN, what a ride!!! I still love Ahsoka Tano. I also love Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren. Sabine’s Darksaber arc was fantastic.

The Mandalorian OMG BABY YODA!!! Yes, I have succumbed to the adorableness of Baby Yoda. Most adorable SW character forever. But also just an enjoyable story in general. This, this is how you craft a story. still NOT over the darksaber omg.

The Good Place is continuing to be good. Not as crazy about season 4, but I’m so glad they decided to limit the seasons.

Got my sister to watch Rebels!! And then even a few episodes of The Clone Wars!!! Mwahaha >)

Finally got around to watching The Great British Bake Off, what a sweet show!

OMG I ALMOST FORGOT Anne With an E!!! Gosh what a wonderful wholesome delightful show. No I haven’t watched S3 yet because I am Lawful Good to a fault and just patiently waiting for it to come on Netflix

Film

So, I woefully neglected to mention The Aeronauts in this post about my favorite movies in the 2010s and that was a Mistake. Because I really enjoyed this one

But otherwise probably check out that list. Because I don’t go to the movies that often, actually, and anything I really loved from 2019 is most definitely listed there.

Did I meet my 2019 Goals?

Writing: Fandom

Finish Learning Curve YES

...and How to Lose a Spy in 10 Days Uh, no, not so much

Begin and complete the in-canon universe You’ve Got Mail AU YES, it is begun but no it is not complete

Try to knock out a few other projects on my 30+ SW ideas Umm, I did start / poke at a few things in addition to the YGM and NatGeo AUs, but nothing really “knocked out”

Try my hand at creating more visual fan works (like moodboards/photosets, step 1, learn proper terminology) ahahahah, no.

Writing: Original

Query more agents for my completed original novel YIKES, No. But I wasn’t anticipating that I’d decide to heavily edit/revise my manuscript.

Actually get around to deciding which idea I want to work on next and work on it Yeah, sure, I decided. How nice of past!Liz to make this goal so reachable as “deciding” lol

Reading

Be more supportive in helping my friend run Book Club so that it can actually meet more regularly HA, oops. Book Club died, but kind of in favor of being able to start a second D&D campaign. At least that’s the trade off I’m looking at. I had some OCD-related glasses issues this year that inhibited reading a lot.

Try to read at least one book for myself outside of Book Club lol WELL the one book I read this year was not part of Book Club sooo

Goals for 2020

Writing

I’m not going to make this a completion goal, but instead...

...I’d like to just focus on creating a regular writing schedule/habit. Whatever the project, I just want to make sure I carve out significant time each week just to write. I don’t want to set a specific goal like “x hours a week” for now, but I want to make sure that I am writing each week.

To achieve that (because what are goals without maps):

If the words don’t immediately jump onto the page, then I’m going to try outlining or summarizing. I’m going to let go of overthinking how sentences are phrased, and just pretend I’m describing the story idea to a friend.

That blank page is staring at me and I’m just going to fill it with words no matter what I might think of them!

And I’m going to let everything else expand from there. And see how that works.

Edit my original manuscript

Query more agents re: original manuscript

Look into the idea of perhaps forming or joining a writer’s group for original writing oh gosh that is so scary

Other

Get back into reading

Develop a routine for working out

Eat healthier

Continue focusing on therapy goals

Get around to watching: Black Sails, Mad Max: Fury Road, Arrival

Get better at responding to things in general

Tagging: @allatariel, @magalis, @mythologicalmango, @skitzofreak, @threadsketchier, @brynnmclean, @ruby-red-inky-blue, @siachti and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it!

Happy New Year y’all!

#tag meme #the latest with liz #annual good things post #happy thoughts #for future reference #goals

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annadesu · 5 years

Note

I think so, it may have been 5 but that was before CN spilt the seasons in half. Ending in season 6 would not work, and Zach said they’re way fair ahead in recording. And change your mind was done production in 2017

Zach might have recorded a lot in advance before he went on his year long vacation, but yeah they’re definitely pretty far ahead of us now. Maybe we’ll find out on the 4th at NYCC!

#su #steven universe #fandom

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charlierejouis · 5 years

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Edens Zero Week: Favorite Moment/Scene in the Series

Today’s the day, right @edenszeroweek ?

I don't like where a lot of criticism of Fairy Tail comes from. It's usually from people who either didn't come into it expecting what it would give us and never learned to change their views on what the series is trying to do or people who dropped the series and then came back to it specifically to take shots at it. Of course, Fairy Tail is not without its problems, but I'm tired of seeing people lift up something like Craftsdwarf's "Overly Long Analytical Tirade on Fairy Tail" being lifted up as doing to Fairy Tail what Digibro's "The Asterisk War Sucks" does to its respective series. Especially when, as someone who has written about the series, I can honestly say that he doesn't go nearly as hard as possible where the series fails and makes incorrect assessments as to why it does fail in some instances.

Why bring this up in a post about Edens Zero?

If you couldn't tell, this series was doomed to be unpopular from the near start. Coming after what many, myself included, considered to be the worst arc in the series, people weren't excited about a series that was made by the same creator even when it was still an idea he was on the verge of sharing during his NYCC visit two years ago. It's because of these same types of people that Edens Zero, for better or worse, is considered how it is.

People with all sorts of allegiances and loves for Fairy Tail made jokes about how similar the original concept photos were to Fairy Tail characters. Even as the series started, it was interesting to see how people were considering this to be a type of Fairy Tail AU. What I saw, and still see, as a series that showed a combination of Mashima's best of the past works, people wrote off as another way to write his most recent famous work. Mangastream even stopped translating it exactly because they saw it as a Fairy Tail clone.

But what shocked me more is that, whether on purpose or by accident, Mashima responded back to the criticism. And his response culminates in my favorite moment in the series, thus far: the resolution to search for Mother.

It's important to remember the background behind this moment. When Shiki gets to the guild for the first time, this is one of his first big interactions with groups of people. The chapter before was his first time meeting different types of people, to begin with. However, they were mostly random citizens. This time, he's in a setting that is familiar to fans of Mashima's works: a guild hall. This time, the people he meets in the guild are going to be more important to Shiki...

Right?

After all, the members in guilds were important in Fairy Tail. The whole series revolved around the idea of being in a guild. That's why the series is called Fairy Tail. And given that Shiki has the desire to "make 100 friends" that would be fairly easy if he were to join the guild. And, Shadow Gear as a fun easter egg, reminds us about how the Fairy Tail was like. Why wouldn't things be different? Well, they were. The guild members who would have been Shiki's friends make fun of him for saying that he recognizes Mother. And Labilla belittles Rebecca and her B-Cube content.

For those who don't see why this may be a big deal as "jerks exist in the real world", it's worth comparing how this stacks up to Fairy Tail. When Wendy first joins the guild and says she's a Dragon Slayer, she's readily accepted as telling the truth. This is in spite of Wendy's fears literally being the opposite. While Natsu has his rivalries, I'm pretty sure he doesn't hold as much resent for Gray or Gajeel as Labilla does for Rebecca. And at least, they're considered potential equals, and not stronger, more popular members picking on weaker members.

Heck, the idea of a guild that humiliates its members is an actual setup for a guild that Fairy Tail is juxtaposed against in Sabertooth during the Grand Magic Games. And even then, one of the main plotlines of that arc is the reforming of the guild. More recent events in Edens Zero suggest that Guildmaster Noah has bad vibes around him reminiscent of Master Jiemma.

Something is definitely off about the way this guild operates, considering what Fairy Tail fans should know to be the way a guild operates. And Mashima knows this. If it weren't the case, he wouldn't have two panels that spell out this idea for those who don't get it. Two panels that also include the main characters of Fairy Tail.

The question, though, is why? Why do all of this in the first place?

To the average person, Edens Zero was setting itself to go down a similar setup for Fairy Tail. To be fair, it's hard to see "guy, girl, and not-cat go to a guild to make one of them a member" and not think of how this is just like that other series Mashima just finished. It would make sense to start that way as this is what his fans - no doubt the ones who are most excited to see more of his work - would expect to see in a story written by Mashima. They'd expect to see a story at least close to similar to Fairy Tail.

But... that's a bad thing.

Why should you expect a series to be similar just because the authors are the same? Shakespeare wrote Hamlet and A Midsummer Night Dream and the two are hilariously different in as many ways could be considered to matter. Akira Toriyama wrote Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball and they're not close to being similar. Even Fairy Tail isn't as similar to Rave Master as people would have you believe. (Myself included.)

To me, this is Mashima making a statement: this is not Fairy Tail. When Rebecca comments about how Shiki's idyllic view of how a guild should operate is "there was a manga like that some time ago", that's also a message to the fans. Of course, by virtue of being a Mashima work, we can expect subtle nods to (and overt rip-offs from) his past works. However, Mashima's trying to do something different from Fairy Tail in Edens Zero.

What exactly that something different is becomes manifested in the decision to find Mother. I love this resolution because it's an amazing sign of how Shiki and Rebecca's characters play off each other. It's been implied that Shiki and Rebecca understand where the other is coming from in their views on both friendship and robots. We see this played out particularly well later on when Rebecca encourages Hermit to work with them.

However, what makes this special to me is that the idea to search for Mother works well for both of these characters in ways that directly benefit them. For Rebecca, she'll be able to find new, better material for her B-Cube channel both by searching for Mother and once they find her. For Shiki, he'll be able to come to understand why he recognizes her and he can make new friends along the way. That this search also comes with benefits such as Shiki learning more about Demon King Ziggy and Rebecca potentially gaining Ether Gear is also good. But that there is a clear and tangible motive to achieving a goal that can benefit both main characters of the series is important.

Fairy Tail didn't have this. I don't say this as a knock against Fairy Tail. However, Fairy Tail was not about Natsu and Lucy the same way Edens Zero is about Shiki and Rebecca. Natsu and Lucy were the lenses through which we saw the events within Fairy Tail, the guild, take place. While they had motivations and goals, the story wasn't exactly focused on their active efforts towards those goals. When they got closer to what they needed it was more through indirect means than actively finding what they were looking for. More often than not, the answers they wanted to their questions found them.

With this moment, Edens Zero is set up as a story where the characters will have to actively search for the things they're looking for. And, so far, that's been proven to be the case. They find the Edens Zero after looking for a ship. They find Sister once they start the search for members of the Edens Zero. They found Hermit after it was decided that she would be the easiest to find. You could argue that these searches happen in ways that are a bit too convenient, but the fact remains that they find what they need after they go looking for it.

Of course, that makes sense. The whole point of the series is a search. With their stop on Mildian, it's good to know that this isn't a never-ending search. They're not looking for something they can never find. We know Mother exists and is somewhere in the Cosmos. With all luck, we'll see all of the crew of Edens Zero find the Mother.

In Conclusion (this feels so good to bring back):

Mashima isn’t trying to make Fairy Tail 2.0 with Edens Zero. I love that Mashima has made it clear that he’s making a new series in Edens Zero.

#edens zero #edenszeroweek #edens zero week #edens zero 3 #fairy tail #no but seriously #is today the day?#or was it yesterday #oh well #anyways #series weeks are fun #edens zero spoilers

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annakie · 5 years

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Notes on a Blog Cleanup, Part 5

...And now I’m at Page 611. I’m in the end of 2016. So, a little under 400 pages to get through another 18ish months. Big change from the first 1000 pages being 18 months.

And this is when things go very, very wrong, for all of us, and then for me in a big way, in particular.

This is less about the blog and just more about reflecting on a time period.

And maybe my last post on this series. We’ll see.

This got real personal at the end. I’ll see if I keep it up tomorrow.

I really loved going through the last couple of years on the blog, but I was very, very much dreading getting to November, 2016. We all know why.

The second half of 2015 was pretty great. Went to NYCC a second time (though I never got around to doing recaps of that trip, which had its ups and downs but mostly ups), and then mom and I went on a Caribbean cruise, which I also didn’t do much recaps of. Because on that trip, my grandmother had a big downturn on her health. My mom nearly left the cruise early to fly back to Dallas (and the Princess Cruise people were so, so good to my mom when the front desk found out what was going on). But in the end she stayed, but getting back home was like when everything really started going wrong, and why I say that the end of one of the best times of my life stopped after that cruise.

We got back, and a week later grandma had the stroke that signaled the end, and after a little over a month of hospice care that was very difficult to watch (and my mom and aunt and even dad were so brave about), she was gone. Some good stuff happened in there, like The Force Awakens released, a fun Christmas party at work... but yeah.

I kept alluding to other bad things happening in 2016 and yet I honestly can’t remember now what was so bad, except that my oldest cat and my dog’s healths were both starting to fail. I’m sure I had other reasons, but hey, from the standpoint of 2019, I’d just about to kill to go back to one ordinary weekday of January through very early November 2016 when we had a sane president and relatively sane political climate, I still had my job with the people I loved, and Jim and Cebu were still alive.

Not that things are THAT TERRIBLE now, I just... really miss all those things.

I deleted a lot of political posts from the blog back then because, tbh, they just hurt to much to see. I was like 90% sure Hillary would win, weren’t we all? It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.

I got to one post the day the Cubs won the World Series and was like “That was the last day where things felt... hopeful and normal?” Like wow this one really cool thing happened (at least to me it was awesome) and then like two days later... the world turned upside down.

I took the next day off work to stay in bed and just... cope. When I went back to work the next day a friend of mine and I were talking and she told me that she knew how I felt but thought it wasn’t going to be that bad. That maybe I was overreacting. A year later she told me she was wrong to have told me that.

I’m counting the months until, hopefully, this is all over. If we’re lucky, sixteen months. If this impeachment thing actually yields results, much less. If we’re very not lucky... much, much more than that. I can’t even deal with the thought.

I’ve... decided to press pause on the blog cleanup, even though I have 600 pages (which is still THREE YEARS!) to go.

I got to my first post where I admitted on the blog that I knew it would be Jim’s time to go pretty soon, and at the time, thought I still had around 6 months for Cebu.

In the last few years, I have gone back and visited my posts about how my close to 17 year-old cat died on Christmas morning and then my 14+ year-old dog died three days later. It was, so far, still considered to be the worst week of my life. I had no family in town to turn to really, but they called, and friends who reached out online, and I made it through that time, but it’s three years later and it’s still hard to really think about when I’m not in the right headspace.

The entirety of the end of 2016 until... honestly, like June of 2018 was like a freight train that hit and didn’t let go. Things were actually okay when the grief cloud lifted around March of 2017 until the end of June, and then I found out my company was getting bought out, and then, well, this happened. And it was worse than what I wrote in that post, to try and not mudsling as much as I could have.

I am still finding posts I want to tag, entire gifsets I forgot to tag correctly here and there, or things that should have been tagged personal post or TAH or Mass Effect or whatever that weren’t. As time goes on, I tag better and better though, and very little needs to be deleted other than “stuff is one sale right now!” or “This is no longer relevant” posts so... it’s relatively good now.

I’ve been feeling pretty shitty the last couple of weeks. My dad’s oldest sister is dying, she’ll be gone in the next week or two. I went to Palm Springs to visit her at the beginning of the month. She was always so bright and vibrant and... classy. I hadn’t seen her at all in like a decade though. It’s weird how time gets away from you like that.

The last time I’d seen her and my uncle, my entire family including my (mom’s sister) aunt, my (mom’s mom) grandma, my brother, (pregnant at the time!) SIL, and her parents were all supposed to go on a cruise, and Mom/dad/grandma/aunt and I were to stay with that (dad’s sister) aunt and uncle for a few days over thanksgiving before getting on the ship. Grandma got sick, so I did Thanksgiving with (ds) aunt and uncle on my own. And it was really fun. I’d been so nervous at the time to be there without my parents and... nope it was a great weekend. They took me to a Christmas fair, a NA Pow-wow (public was invited!), antiquing, bought me a sweatshirt and a copper bracelet... spoiled me rotten.

Seeing her so diminished and what she and my uncle are going through now... very difficult. My parents have been out there for over a month now, they’ll be there to the end.

I thought I’d posted about this but I guess I hadn’t? Over July 4th weekend I drove to visit my brother and sister in law and their (four!) kids. My parents were there, too (they’re RVers, they can be wherever they want in a few days) My dad’s OTHER sister and his brother flew in for a day and a half, too. I saw more family this year than I had than the past 10 years before this combined. It’s really started to make me think about the value of family, if they’re good to you, which mine are, even if you don’t agree with them about everything.

I thought I was getting sick all day, I came home from work at like 10:30 this morning, called into a meeting, slept through lunch, worked for an hour or two, had my afternoon meetings canceled by my boss then just laid in bed. I was supposed to go play D&D4e tonight, and I didn’t go. I could have. I just... realized late this afternoon, I’m not sick, I’m just... blah. I’m not sure if going through this blog was a symptom of that, or a cause.

I think the impeachment stuff is getting to me, too. It’s a part of how I feel. I can’t stop looking for news of it. I don’t want to get my hopes up. I keep telling myself to let it go. I can’t. We are all so tired of what’s going on. I’m exhausted. We all are.

I can’t get the idea of moving to where my brother lives to be near him and the SIL and the kids out of my head. I’ve been looking at real estate listings and can probably get a slightly nicer house there for what I could sell mine for here. My job is... it’s fine. But I could probably get a similar one there. There’s one thing holding me here, my friends. I keep wondering now if that’s enough. I’ve lived in Dallas literally half my life. Am I going to spend the rest of it here? I’m not as happy as I used to be, that’s for sure.

Maybe. It’s just a thought. It’s a lot of work. I don’t know. I probably won’t go anywhere.

I think I need to go get some more sleep.

#personal post tag thingy #notes on a blog cleanup

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brigadebs · 5 years

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A Kickstarter Update (Q3 2019)...

As summer arrived, it officially became six years since the successful funding of the Brigade Kickstarter with the book still not released. The Indie GoGo campaign remained open and continued to allow new orders with both campaigns still only receiving infrequent, vague and untruthful updates.

In July, Liefeld stated that he had, “looked over the digital files going to press.” This was at least the third time he had stated it was off to to the printers/ready to be sent to the printers/or even sharing a picture of SOMETHING being printed in December of 2017. - Frustration only increased with a bombshell dropping regarding the content of the book on August 1st. Unfortunately for fans, the Brigade comic that was sold to backers as the ultimate mash up of Liefeld’s Extreme Studios characters would no longer be possible. With a lengthy Facebook post, Liefeld stated that due to his selling the rights of some of his Extreme Studios characters to an individual to help fund his Awesome Comics company, and those rights later being sold to a third party, he was no longer in control of the published appearances of characters like Youngblood and Supreme. ”So, I currently have questionable access to Youngblood characters, characters I created and shepherded for nearly 3 decades As a result I shut down the storyline that would take Youngblood to issue #100 and beyond. A decidedly new approach is necessary, which I believe is paramount in this post Avengers:Endgame world we find ourselves in. Youngblood will no longer be published by Image Comics or with my involvement at this time, a first in the 27 years since it launched. It’s all really weird but I’ve settled into the realization that this is the way it is going to be. I held it together for 23 years since doing the deal, until now.” A Kickstarter update would arrive nine days later. “As some of you may have heard I no longer possess rights to publish Youngblood characters and as a result I’m redrawing characters in Brigade so they do not infringe.” - Let’s take a moment to recall two big perks for Kickstarter backers that became the latest empty promises in this campaign.

#1- FREE DIGITAL EDITION As far back as 2013, Liefeld had stated numerous times that free digital copies of Brigade would be sent to all backers, “When Brigade goes to press between October and November, a digital file will go out to each and every backer so that they can enjoy the work in digital form immediately following its competition. This way you can enjoy the story and variants prior to receiving the physical copy”, “The digital issue will arrive much sooner to all the backers, well ahead of your print copies or retail.” and “A digital PDF will ship to you prior to your physical copies being shipped so you will know that the book is on its way!”

With the many times Liefeld updated that the book was at the printer/being printed/fulfillment just weeks away, the digital edition has never been distributed.

#2- KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE RELEASE PRIOR TO RETAIL LAUNCH In 2014, Liefeld stated that, “I'm going to provide to the exact number of backers that contributed a special exclusive Brigade kickstarter cover that will not be reprinted. You guys deserve it, no more, no less. Only for you. Not a different logo, not a change in color, a whole new image. And those comics will go out to you immediately from a local printer. The rest of the world will have to wait longer as those books offered to the public will definitely be printed overseas through a new deal I brokered while I was at this years Comic-Con!” and, “You will receive your issues and rewards before the retail community. Your reaction to the material will help promote the book prior to launch.” and in 2015, stating, “Brigade will be out this summer first and only to you backers for an exclusive 90 day window. This is fair as you all contributed to make it happen.” and, “Your copies and variants for Brigade #1 will be exclusive to you only for at least 7 months if not longer.” and in 2017, stating, “Other than some friends, no one will receive this book before you. It will be the most exclusive, exclusive for a period of time.”

- Unfortunately, Kickstarter backers had to learn that this was no longer happening, not via an update, not via an apology, but via a listing going live on Liefeld’s personal store website in early August for AN EXCLUSIVE NEW YORK COMIC CON 2019 LAUNCH EDITION OF BRIGADE.

"The premiere event arrives exclusively available at NYCC, debuting Oct. 3, 2019! The long-awaited, much-anticipated Brigade. Packed with so many secrets it remains under lock & key, away from prying eyes. Produced by the team that gave you Major X & Deadpool, Written and drawn by Rob Liefeld, colors by Rom Fajardo, your only opportunity to experience this exclusive event comic is through this NYCC exclusive signed by prolific creator Rob Liefeld! Backer copies will have been sent out prior to this, the general public can obtain BRIGADE only through this offer, available on-site at this event!”

Followed by additional exclusive versions of Brigade to be launched at the LA Comic Con the following week. - The italicized lines are important to stress again, Backer copies will have been sent out prior to this. -Will they? Will digital copies even be sent out?

The general public can obtain BRIGADE only through this offer. -What of the 60,000 free copies that were being printed to release at retail? With the New York Comic Con swiftly approaching, backers were left with many questions on what exactly they would be receiving, and when.

#rob liefeld #Brigade #bloodstrike #extreme studios

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