I want to put him in a cardboard box

Ba mhaith liom é a cur i mbosca cairtchláir

[ID: A traditional drawing shaded in graphite pencil of Oskar from School for Little Vampires/Die Schule der kleinen Vampire.]

[CÍ: Líníocht pinn luaidhe de Oskar ón Scoil do Vaimpírí beaga/Die Schule der kleinen Vampire.]

Vash - Asexual Icon?

Okay, controversial hot-take ahoy!   This is NOT a anti-shipping post.  I freakin’ love shipping. It’s awesome!  I used to be big into Vash x Meryl back in my old OG fandom days.   However, I read something on here (because this is tumblr, of course) about Vash being a queer icon, as in some notation on how in Trigun Stampede the director was cited as saying that he made Vash kind of like “both the female lead as well as the male lead” - as in, male, but having some traditionally feminine traits, hence why he looks more “bishounen” than he did in other iterations.  He has some “ship-fodder” moments with various other members of the cast - commenting on Wolfwood’s “kind eyes” and, of course, my VashMeryl heart soared at a certain scene in Episode 11 - those who’ve seen it know the one.   So far, in this version, there’s no clear canonical shipping with Vash.  In the other iterations, there was never any canonical shipping with him (the only canon ship is the OG anime having Wolfwood and Milly “eat sandwiches” together).  He never “ends up” with anyone.   Some fans think that he’s heterosexual (well-argued in the OG anime due to his flirtatious behavior toward some female characters - the old late 1990s trope of “let’s make the hero a bit perverted for humor” that was popular at the time). I’ve met yaoi fans who were convinced that he’s one-hundred percent gay (despite the pervy toward attractive women behavior). Bisexuality can be very well-argued for him, especially in Stampede as noted above, also the “every character in every fandom is bisexual or pansexual in fandom” rule that people seem to have unless a character as a specifically stated sexuality.   But has anyone besides me ever thought of Vash as an...asexual?   (In this essay I will...)  Consider Vash’s general character through the franchise when it comes to romance and / or sex:  Stampede incarnation:  Has a few moments that can be interpreted as flirty or budding feelings toward both Wolfwood and Meryl, however, nothing clear.  His most significant relationship is familial - his grief-filled relationship with his toxic brother.  This seems to be what this anime is about.   Trigun Maximum incarnation: Never has any clear shipping with anyone, although there are interpretable moments, same as above.  I remember that moment of pretending to be unconscious to avoid the attentions of prostitutes and being ashamed of his scars in the manga, same as in the OG anime. Nothing else of note.   Classic Trigun Anime: Vash plays the flirt with pretty women.  He goes into that common Late ‘90s Flirty Shounen Hero trope for anime heroes of the time.  This seems more or less tossed in by the anime writers and director.  As the anime becomes more serious, this is generally forgotten in a “Vash has too much on his plate for the romance-stuff” and it’s an action anime, not a romance anime... And the same shame of his scars... the same scene with the sex workers as noted above. (The context for the scene is that a town is celebrating because Vash saved them all and some of the men in the town set up with the local brothel ladies to show Vash a good time as a reward.  Vash pretends to have drank too much and passed out, couldn’t be roused - to the disappointment of the brothel workers.  He gets up as soon as they leave and wonders “could I be regretting it? Maybe just a little)?   The scene is generally interpreted as him not wanting to take advantage of the women in the situation.  (Although, honestly they were eager)...  Well... it seems to me that Vash might not be as interested in the old bang-bang as some fans would like him to be (and are perfectly within their rights to fanart and fanfic to their hearts’ content).  Even the “flirty” Vash of the OG anime seems to be doing it as part of the fake-stupid / silly behavior that he does to throw people off-guard.  And where it seems to be genuine behavior, well... I still think asexuality is a valid interpretation because, speaking as an asexual, myself, many of us “do things that we think we are supposed to do” because society tells us that people are supposed to do certain things.  Some of us never learned what asexuality even was until fairly late in life and went through various “supposed to” behavior even when we weren’t really feeling it before we discovered ourselves.   This is common throughout the queer community - the gay person raised in a community that is hostile who will try to date the opposite sex, someone thinking they are straight until they discover that they really are bi, and etc.  This happens to asexuals, too.  I had a boy-band member crush when I was 12, just like all “normal girls” did.  It took a while for me to figure myself out - that I wasn’t really “normal” and that it was okay.   Therefore, I see even the “Let’s make him pervy for comedy” written with clearly heterosexuality in mind of the OG anime as compatable with an asexual interpreation of Vash.  He was just doing the “I am a normal human” act!   Do keep in mind that I am arguing for “an asexual interpretation for the sake of fanwork / fan-fun” for Vash NOT based on his artificial human nature / his status as a plant, but just, individually, as a person.  

Return of the Revenge of the Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E108-109 (September 15, 2020)

It’s been six months since the last Speech Machine Upper Luminosity (is that right?), so let’s jump right back in like nothing ever happened!

Tonight’s guests are Laura Bailey and Matt Mercer!

Announcements: Talks will now be biweekly, discussing two episodes at a time! Unfortunately, this means fan question submissions aren’t doable yet, since they’ll often be filming Talks for episodes that haven’t aired yet; questions will come from crew, but fanart and cosplay from earlier episodes will still get awards. Dani Carr’s new official title in the company is Lorekeeper!

Episodes 108-109

Brian asks Matt about the tug-of-war with the Moonweaver’s influence: “how much of that did the Traveler and Jester’s interactions influence him not going back to the Feywild?” Matt: “Okay, well, the Moonweaver isn’t necessarily happy about taking on the images and icons and co-opting elements of her worship, but also isn’t a vindictive deity necessarily.” She has a similar fey history to Artagan, “so I knew this encounter, there would be a punishment involved, at the very least to take Artagan down a few pegs.” He wasn’t going to be actually banished; the Moonweaver just wanted to “scare the shit out of him: You think you’re a trickery god? Welcome to the original trickery god, bitch.” There was a possibility of him just vanishing for a while, if there was no sign of humility; but based on their interactions, it was just enough to show the planetar that maybe this isn’t the same “troll of an Archfey” that the Moonweaver had known. “Maybe this is enough of a lesson.”

Laura thought Artagan was going to be “gone-gone, and Jester was going to be left alone”. She thought there was going to be a Feywild rescue, and Jester would have to try to find a new deity.

Laura’s wi-fi conks out. So does mine. Ah, 2020.

Jester would probably have followed the Moonweaver in an attempt to make amends. Laura mentions that every time she sat down to prep something for Traveler-Con, she realized Jester wouldn’t sit still long enough to plan it.

Laura: “If that cult hadn’t been there and she hadn’t seen what a false god could do to people, I don’t think she would have come to the realization that what her and the Traveler were doing was detrimental: oh, we’re fucking over people’s lives, hardcore.” If Artagan hadn’t been on board with picking a different deity, Jester would have stepped down at Traveler Con and she would have exposed the lie.

Matt’s “super happy” because he was purposely making sure he didn’t know what was going to happen at Traveler Con. “Okay, everything around it’s going to be interesting and fleshed out, but as to the actual convention, I have no idea what’s going to happen.” He wanted to balance a complete train wreck with character beats and mini-arcs, and he was satisfied with how that worked out.

Brian asks if Jester ever considered walking away from the Traveler. Laura: “Yeah. It could have progressed to that point. Jester always gave him the benefit of the doubt, and loves him with her entire heart, so if he would have not seen that what they were doing was not acceptable, in his own way, then Jester would have probably walked away. I don’t know if she would have walked away from him, but it would have been a big issue for her. I have no idea what that would have meant for her... my entire character arc.”

How does Jester feel about the Traveler now? “She loves him, but at the same time, she doesn’t adore him without boundaries. She sees a little bit more of who he is, and the worshiping aspect isn’t there anymore. She sees him more like another friend. That’s a complicated relationship for a cleric to have.”

Matt talks about what a fan he is of his players. “I’ve just been enjoying the hell out of this.”

Has Artagan learned his lesson? He’s been living for a long time, and old habits are hard to break. Matt points out that Artagan “is free in a place that he doesn’t have complete domain over, and he’s been humbled a few times. I think he’s definitely learned a series of lessons to some degree. We’ll see how far it sticks and where their relationship goes.”

Brian asks Laura how it’s been to have the spotlight on Jester for a long time. Laura: “It was nerve-wracking. I feel very relieved that it’s on to something else now, but it was so much fun, too. I feel like I kept getting so emotional as her through all this. Having to come to terms with all the things she was going through was crazy. But it felt good.”

Cosplay of the Week: An amazing Yasha by @shiieldmaiden on Twitter, photo by @asheneyed.

Matt: “I took a bath for this.”

Brian notes that Jester found herself caught between her god and the M9. Who would she have chosen if Artagan hadn’t kicked her off? Laura: “Here’s the thing. If Fjord hadn’t jumped on my back, Jester would have gone. But him doing that, I mean, that’s why I froze like I did. I really didn’t know where it was going to go. Thankfully Artie made that choice for me.”

The Vilya reveal’s been waiting since Marisha made Keyleth’s backstory. Brian recalls that the question of what happened to Vilya came up in the campaign 1 recap, and Matt was cagey about it. “When I got the original backstory from Marisha, in my head, I was like, her mother’s probably still alive, just lost to the chaos for reasons that I’ll get to, but I like the idea of an eventual reunion when it made sense.” As they got later in the campaign, Keyleth’s story became about taking on this leadership and stepping into her mother’s footsteps: “I didn’t want to rob her of her journey by bringing her mother into it before it was complete. There wasn’t a beat that felt right for it in the first campaign unless the players actively wanted to go and seek it out.” He knew she was on an island somewhere, and that there was an issue with her memory, but the details were still hazy, and it never came up in the first campaign. “As soon as we got to Rumblecusp as a possible visiting location, I was like, this would probably be the island that Vilya’s at.” He knew the community would pick up on it quickly, but the players would likely be too engrossed in their own story. “Getting to send her home was wonderful, both for an idea of closure, but as a long-waiting gift to Marisha and Keyleth. It’s something that I’ve been looking forward to giving to her.”

On building Vilya’s character: “I wanted to make sure she wasn’t too similar to Keyleth. She couldn’t remember her family, but when she did, it meant everything.”

Brian asks what inspires Jester’s thought process to try and befriend every creature they come across. “Everyone is interesting. Except for Celia, she’s a bitch. If you piss her off, she might just hate you forever, but everybody else she thinks is pretty great. Jester can hold a good grudge.”

Brian asks Matt about the inspiration for Vokodo. “It is a heavily customized version of a Morkoth. I was just intrigued by how they had created this creature that creates this island around it. It has ways of affecting the minds of creatures around it. I didn’t enjoy that the creature was only Medium in size, and I wanted it to be something that was a little bit more changed by its experiences.” He also tied it in with the Astral Sea lore and suggested that it had been changed by its proximity to this volcano, similarly to how Thordak did in the first campaign.

Fan Art of the Week: An amazing Traveler Con Jester and Artagan by @callanthee on Twitter

How about the visions of the living city? Laura: “I don’t know what the fuck is going on with that thing. If it true that there’s a Molly connection, the Eyes of Nine, I don’t know. It’s just too much. We have to look into it.” Matt, blandly: “Weird mysteries.”

Who would the Disintegrate spell have hit if it had ricocheted? “Initially, I would have wanted to choose Caleb, like back at himself, because the immediate threat of that ray towards Vokodo, it would have been just right back at him.” But the runner-up would have been Jester because of the threat of the banishment back to the Astral Sea, the one place he didn’t want to go.

Laura could tell from Liam’s gameplay that he hadn’t realized someone was going to perma-die from that. “I thought it was going to be me, because I had been the one to banish him.”

Dani points out that the group would probably have gone after Artagan if Jester had died right before Traveler Con.

Matt highlights Cad’s Divine Intervention as pretty much the only way they could have learned the important information they used to prepare for the fight with Vokodo. He was torn between frustration at not being able to use this boss to its fullest potential... and pride in his players.

Laura is amused at listening to the characters talking about Jester when she’s not there. “It’s fun to hear but not be able to use that at all in your interactions with them.” Laura points out that even her sister who watches the show doesn’t trust the Traveler. Matt mentions that he’s always being very careful with the relationship between the Traveler and Jester, because it could get into rough territory. “There are unhealthy elements of their relationship, very much so. A lot of her story has been about disillusionment.” Laura: “Yeah. Eyes open.” They’ve set up bumpers to make sure they don’t veer into territory the players find uncomfortable. 

“Artagan at the end of campaign one versus Artagan at campaign two are different. He came into this world a purely selfish being of id and impulse. He still has those dark tendencies and can lean down those dark paths. But he went from a purely chaotic, selfish creature to unintentionally beginning to care for people that aren’t him.” Traveler Con definitely left a mark on him. “Aw shit, I let them in.”

Sam starts Facetiming Brian. “How does he know when we’re filming this?! No. I’m not going to do it.”

Matt and Laura are "super excited” for the new landscape of the next part of the journey.

Laura notes that Jester is getting past the point of “needing to put on the mask”, including around her mom. And as that’s happened at Traveler Con, the small breakdowns have been piling up. “That’s what therapy’s like, right?”

On the new goliath shopkeeper (even with the mispronunciations as clues, I got nothing on that spelling), Matt points out that purchasing magical items is tricky because most things were pulled into the war effort. He was trying to figure out how a shopkeeper could build a business in that environment: “with a bunch of really small, shitty enchantments”. As a kid, he loved novelty shops, and took a lot of inspiration from those memories.

So glad everything’s back in business! “As always, don’t forget to love each other. And don’t worry, it’s almost Thursday.”

So here’s the thing...

From day one, I knew Hanyou no Yashahime was created to profit off childhood nostalgia. In fact, some people pointed that out quite exhaustively. I have always been aware of it. Still, I gave it a shot (and was super excited to do so). Why? Three reasons: Inuyasha, Kagome and the child born from their love.

I also knew there was a real chance Rin would be the mother of Sesshoumaru’s twins, but I gave Sunrise the benefit of the doubt. Which is why I watched the four episodes on an illegal site, just in case they were playing me.

That’s what kept me going. That, and the certain no matter who the mother was, it would only be revealed at the very end, so I wouldn’t have to worry about it too much and could just enjoy whatever glimpse of Inuyasha, Kagome and Moroha I could get.

And boy, did I enjoy it. Moroha is everything I needed her to be and more. And it was really fun to see this super creative fandom making theories and being so active here every saturday. I had a great time.

Unfortunately, as for this saturday, this wasn’t the case anymore. When I first got the spoilers it was Rin in the tree, I started to mull it over, but decided not to make any judgements until I watched the episode myself, so I could get to my own conclusions.

Here’s where I am at: I have been getting strong vibes from episode four that Rin is, after all, the mother. Granted, the fact that the narrative have been hitting so early and so strongly toward this path can also mean the exact opposite, for the sake of plot twist, since it’s one of the biggets mysteries of the show.

However, there is no actual confirmation at all. So Sunrise waves to Rin being the mother while simultaneously not officially confirming. That way, Sessrin shippers are getting the content they want and the antis still stick around because as long as there is no official confirmation, there is still hope it’s not Rin. We had already called out that would be their game, though: profiting off both sides. I just thought they would drag the issue until the very end instead of straight up writing Sessrin fanfiction.

This is just disappointing, and that’s coming from someone who had very low expectations from this sequel. I’ve seen people complaining about the art style. I’ve seen people complaining about the plot(holes). I’ve seen people complaining about the characterization (me included). None of it was a deal breaker to me, because I’ve never expected too much. All I wanted was for them not to follow the path where one of the main characters had children with someone he meet when she was a child and saw him as an authority figure for the entirety of their relationship. It baffles me that apparently it was too much to ask.

So if this is what Hanyou no Yashahime really is: Sessrin fanfiction, then I’m not the audience for it. And I hate to feel they’re using Moroha and Inukag as baits to keep me watching. I hate to feel like they’re not doing Inuyasha and Kagome any justice. Again: Inukag and Moroha are the reason I ever started this show to begin with, so it’s just not worth it to feel this uncomfortable when I can get the bits that truly interest me through Tumblr posts, gifsets and youtube videos.

I promised myself I would drop it as soon as it stopped sparking joy and today was it for me, so that’s what I’m doing. I might be right, I might be wrong. Maybe by some miracle Rin isn’t the mother in the end of the day. I just really don’t have the energy to stick around until we finally find out, anymore. They were never going to see my money anyway (not that it would make any difference), but my time is far more precious. I don’t want to be invested in this if I’m so certain it will end badly.

And this isn’t about ship wars. In my headcanons, Sesshoumaru was always asexual. Sure, I also saw a lot of potential on his relationship with Kagura and I would have loved if they had gone down this road, too. The truth is: I never cared enough for Sesshoumaru to actively ship him with anyone. But I do care about his character development, which Sessrin would inevitably ruin. And I care about the little girls watching this show, growing up to think this is a healthy kind of romance.

All of that being said: I don’t feel like watching Hanyou no Yashahime anymore.  Sessrin shippers can have it, it was clearly made for them. I can see myself writing Moroha on my future fanfics for sure, but as far as I’m concerned  Hanyou no Yashahime is not canon and nothing anyone say will ever change that.

There’s still probably some Hanyou no Yashahime in my queue. After that, I intend to refrain from reblogging original content from the show. I don’t want to be a part of it, so I’ll probably only reblog fanarts.

For those of you who will still watch the show, good luck and enjoy yourselves. Other than keeping track of my daughter Moroha, I pretend to ignore it completely and that means I won’t be making any negative comments on it, either. This is my issue and I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade. I will still be very vocal against Sessrin, tho. If that bothers you, feel free to unfollow or block me, it’s the healthy thing to do and I promise: no hard feelings about it.

To be very clear: this post is not me trying to tell people to stop watching something they like. This post is me venting and getting some heavy shit off my chest. I can give the show a second chance later if I change my mind or if the mother is confirmed to be someone else, but right now this is it. Thank you for reading. 

PS.: I won’t be replying to any comments of this post.

Hey, I'm doing good too. Just normal amounts of stressful stuff right now. Just moved to a country I've never been to before but can't complain, things are not as hard as the last time I did this so. Thanks for asking! Yeah, I saw you posting about some pretty scary health issues before, I'm glad you came out of that alive and hope you're healthier now!

The nerve some people have! Haha I know I would be pissed if people were questioning my intelligence like that especially after a couple of drinks in haha. Though I do like taunting people when I play group games, I'll be like "don't need to try that hard guys, you're gonna lose anyway" just to mess with them or just call people sore losers if they accuse me of cheating haha (they're probably right on the accusations tho). People get real mad sometimes it's kinda funny. 😂

Omg literally laughed out loud reading this! Hahaha, how did you manage to fall over a road sign then end up in a ditch? lol omg hope you didn't get hurt too bad 😂 I was trying to downplay my drunken escapades but since you shared yours I should tell you my worst one:

I was at this summer street party at night and got drunk on something made out of tropical herbs and cachaça (which is about 48% alcohol), drank 3 and a half bottles of that like it was apple juice, made friends with a bunch of strangers in a bathroom queue (who tried to talk to me weeks later but I had no idea who they were), had to be held by my best friend while I peed (mostly missing the toilet), fell in the middle of the street and scraped my knee, threatened this boy who was helping me walk and told him not to try anything funny or I would beat him up, then dragged my friends to the beach and left them shortly after to go make out with my ex, came back with lipstick all over my mouth and chin and when my friends asked what I was doing I said I was just talking to my ex and they were like NO YOU WERE NOT, hahaha then I kissed all my girl friends on a dare and we danced under the full moon, then I told my best friend I had to puke so she took me to the ocean but I changed my mind and happened to step on a dead turtle on the way back and started crying bc of it, but last month my best friend told me it was a rock I had stepped on (I believed it was a dead turtle for 7 years!). Had the worst hangover of my life the next day. ✌️✨

Ah I'm happy you liked it! I've never listened to Six musical before but it sounds fun! I can see why you like it haha made me want to dance around my apartment 💃. And hey if liking musicals is your thing then it's great, I'm sure Hozier will understand if he's not your top artist of the year. 😋 Here's my "damie" Pinterest board if you or anyone else wants to check it out, totally recommend making one if you're a visual person like me!

https://pin.it/UcHVlkq

Oh I could talk about Dani and Jamie forever I think. I love the beast in the jungle speech too and it's so painful to watch, VP delivered that beautifully, but I have to admit I'm always a crying mess from episode 1 when older Jamie starts reciting that song about being sad while waiting for her lover to return, this show is fucking cruel I hate it and love it at the same time hahaha. Omg your mom 😂 but I mean it's truly an honor to be compared to someone like Dani, no? She's really great even if she needs a little help haha (don't we all).

Aaah you're amazing! Thank you so much, I'll read this pirate AU soon!

I used to draw a lot, really loved doing it when I was a kid as I said before, and all throughout adulthood too but I haven't done that in almost a year now bc I've got a bit of a case of burnout I guess, it just takes a lot of effort to do it when it shouldn't be like that at all. I used to do fanart too, for other fandoms. Even made one for Dani x Jamie but ended up not liking how it turned out haha. I've got a lot of respect for writers and fanfic writers also! Yall can make words make sense in really interesting and beautiful ways, build worlds so enthralling I can see them vividly in my head. Writing is such an incredibly fascinating skill to have! And I guess the most important thing is that we enjoy doing these things right? Even if we think we're not particularly good at it.

Anyway, have a lovely weekend! 👋✨

Good I'm glad you're doing great but sorry you're dealing with stressful stuff!! Hope living in a new country goes well for you I'm so jealous that you've lived in different countries I'd love to live somewhere else even if just for s few years!! Awwh thank you so much I definitely came out of it alive and am feeling so much better now thank you I mean I do some pretty ditzy things so when people say it to me it's pretty deserved sometimes, I'm secretly smart and people just don't expect it so I never mind too much haha I might have to start saying the things that you do and just taunting them over it I mean, I usually do win even when they make me answer different questions so I will definitely have to start saying things like that to them Haha I love that you're just like "yeah they're probably right in their accusations" I agree seeing how mad some people get over games and stuff is funny (it's me I'm people I hate loosing games depending on what it is and I am very competitive) So it was very dark and all we had for light was my roommates flashlight on her phone but while we were walking home a friend of ours that lived else where kept texting her to make sure we were still safe (my phone as dead at this point) so while she was texting him her flashlight was facing down and someone had moved this road sign to the footpath and it was on that sits on the floor so while I couldn't see it I walked into it and fell over it but while I feel I grabbed hold of it and flipped with it and fell in a ditch with it on top of me... I was fine and was just laid laughing while my friend looked down at me and in the most northern accent ever just said "get up you dickhead." and helped me off of the floor and then asked if I was okay... and I was so it was all good!! Haha 😂 I love this drunken story that sounds like one hell of a night and is a roller coaster from start to finish!! I'm sorry you thought you had stood on a dead turtle for 7 years though, someone really should've told you that it was just a rock!! But that sounds like my kind of night!! I love nights like that... stories that will last a life time... the only down side is the hangover... luckily I have only ever had one hang over in my life and it wasn't the morning after the road sign fiasco... I felt surprisingly good the morning after that haha 😂 It's such a good musical it's about Henry VIII wives and I just love everything to do with his wives and that musical is so much fun and actually gives a little insight to the lives the six Tudor queens had away from Henry and with him because at school we're mainly just taught about him which sucks!! I loved the Hozier song and am definitely gonna have to listen to more of his stuff!! I love musicals so much I mainly listen to musical soundtracks at the minute- usually, Legally Blonde and Six on repeat haha 😂 Ooo thank you I will definitely check out this Pinterest board thanks for sending it to me!! I could talk about them forever too... since watching Bly Manor my niece has been asking me so many questions about it and I am more than happy to talk to her about it haha!! The beast in the jungle speech just breaks my heart every time I relate to it so much and VP just delivers it so beautifully!! Oh yeah now I know at the beginning that it's older Jamie I am just a wreck the whole show is just so beautiful and heart breaking at the same time I LOVE IT!! Even though it makes me sob- I keep putting myself through it!! I mean, yeah I was happy that she said it Dani is great but it was the way she said it... my mum can be something else sometimes... she said she thought Dani was like me the first time she does the accent when she says "I've fallen quite in love with London" because I just randomly do accents a lot too but it was the way she was like "She needs help... but I like her she reminds me of you" I was just like... "Should I go get help?" I still don't know the answer to my question about if I need help or not but I mean I probably do need it You're welcome I really hope you like it!! It's a

great fic I love it!! Yeah I get that if stuff starts taking too much effort and burns you out you're not gonna wanna keep doing it so it's understandable that you stopped!! I think fan art is great and I really would love to be able to do it myself but I just don't have the skill it takes!! Awwh it's a shame you didn't like the Dani x Jamie one you did I would've loved to have seen it!! Honestly there are so many talented writers out there and when I read their fics I am just in awe of the worlds they have built and the stories they have created we are so blessed in this fandom to have so many amazing writers and so many amazing fics out there Oh yeah definitely its important to enjoy what you do!! I know I love writing and love writing fics for Dani and Jamie so I think I'll be doing it for a while even if I'm not great at it haha Awwh thank you very much I hope you have a great weekend too!! ☺️

3 - TV shows

Top five TV shows!

I have trouble ranking things but I'll give it a shot

1 - Puella Magi Madoka Magica

2 - Steven Universe

3 - Milo Murphy's Law

4 - Gravity Falls

5 - Over The Garden Wall

There are lots of other shows I love, but those would probably be my top five

And now I'm gonna rant about them for a bit lol-

Puella Magi Madoka Magica has become my favourite TV show. The story is so incredible and I can't help but adore it. Some things I should mention is that there's one homophobic character, there are religious elements and there is a lot of death so if any of those things are triggering for you, maybe don't watch this show. If anyone knows anything else I should mention, let me know, I know this show gets pretty dark. Anyway, back to ranting. This show has such a good plot, such good foreshadowing and character development, such a fascinating world, such good symbolism and the art is so cool looking (especially the background art and the art in the labyrinths). I haven't seen Magia Record yet but I plan on checking it out soon because I love this show so much. I also really like the character design, the only reason I haven't made much fanart for it is because the outfits are very detailed so it's tough to draw. Madohomu is one of my favourite ships I just aaaaaa they

Steven Universe is a very popular show so I'm sure most of my followers have heard of it but I need to rant anyway. I don't personally like Future, but from Gem Glow to Change Your Mind, this show was so well-written, had so many good songs, had such beautiful art and character design, had incredible character development, such cool worlds and creatures and spaceships and just wow. Also the LGBT representation is better than in most other shows I have seen, I loved Ruby and Sapphire's wedding so much it always makes me happy to rewatch. Despite my unpopular opinions on the movie and the sequel, I really love this show. I've watched this show so many times that I have most episodes practically memorized and it helps me calm down when I'm stressed or scared because I'm so familiar and happy with it.

HOW DOES NO ONE KNOW MILO MURPHY'S LAW PLEASE GO WATCH IT! It takes place in the same universe as Phineas and Ferb but this series has much more continuity and plot and it needs a third season please. It has beautiful character and creature design, an incredible story, really interesting plot points, very nice music and can I just rant about the main characters like oh my god. So the main character right, his name is Milo Murphy, and basically he's got Murphy's Law, like he's a walking disaster, everything goes wrong around him. He's voiced by Weird Al Yankovic and he's just a really funny character because the world could be ending and he'll be like "alright so I think I've got something that can help us in my backpack, it'll be fine". And then there are these characters called Cavendish and Dakota and they're time travellers that protect pictachios like that's their job. Like, the worst part is, they have never successfully protected them because Milo always walks by and then the plants will die or shipments will get ruined or whatever so they start to suspect that Milo's some kind of supervillain that hates pistachios. This show is amazing and so silly and please watch it please.

Gravity Falls is also a pretty popular one. I really love how creative it is and I love the art and the story and the characters and just it's really good. I really love that this show focuses a lot on family, it's really sweet. People talk a lot about Bill but the other villains are neat too, I really like .GIFfany and the gnomes are very silly and, while he is annoying, Gideon is very well-written. This show is also very funny and creative and I'm just a big fan of it. Also no one ever talks about Soos and Melody but they are really cute together and I love them aaaaaa. I don't want to spoil anything but can I just say that the Author is my favourite character? Not naming who that is but yeah they're my favourite. I love the foreshadowing and the small details and the cool backstory and the character development and all of that. Just... brilliant.

Over The Garden Wall is a show I found pretty recently I think. I had seen it compared to Gravity Falls and got curious. I've noticed it a lot on Tumblr so you might have heard of it, but it's a show that takes place during the fall so it's a good time to watch it. It's a bit spooky but it's a kid's show so it should be okay to watch for most people. It's a very mysterious and interesting show, I love the art and the story and all that. I'm planning on being Wirt for Halloween and carving a pumpkin to have a face like the rock facts rock because I think that'd be fun. I love the story with the Woodsman, I love the idea of the Beast, I love the music and the characters and just- this show is very cool. Please at least listen to the soundtrack oh my goodness it's beautiful.

“Why” tags are going here because Tumblr’s a baby who can’t handle all these words at once. :P

Why:

#but i spent my whole life absolutely CONVINCED that wings belonged on my body. it just... tok me a good long while to figure out Why.

#Oh THAT'S why everyone's freaking out over that post.

#at first I was like ''Wow this is Srentha to the core!'' And then I read ''why this unreasonable answer at the sight

#honestly this is why i'm basically addicted to empty-mind meditation?

#??? why do people do these awful things to Good People though

#i don't know how or why and i don't remember ever having Learned about That Letter? but my mind automatically knew it was 'hath' somehow

#Of course that DOES beg the question of why a LORd of CHAOS doesn't... you know. CHANGE it? ??

#first of all: REM WHY ARE YOU COMING to OHIO of all places???

#okay but. randy how did they MEET what's the STORY why are they HATING on TEXAS

#or like. a Sarcastic Joke because cyborg was once like ''why aren't you miss mary sunshine''?

#''What are you DOING. You RUN. ALWAYS RUN.'' and i was like. ''why bother getting into adventures if you're gonna RUN though..''

#I don't know why but I always score better on Customer Service Questionaires when I choose responses like ''I'm sorry

#i've never seen that still before and I CAN;T FATHOM WHY because that is FANTASTIC!

#I don't know why but ''novice suddenly ends up with super incredibly powerful abilities'' is one of my FAVORITE TROPES!

#I have no idea how/why but these just gave me Massive Leyla and Srentha Feels.

#my usual turnaround time for Dreams to Real Life is about two weeks. not sure why but it happens to like 7 people in my immediate family

#Especially with the bells. I don't know why but bells always remind me of that place. ~<3

#Nobody intrinsically knows how to solve problems that hurt another person. That's why COMMUNICATION is so important!

#also: Good Post re: Why Danny is So Actually-Great

#why does everyone spell ''bear with me' like that?

#i know right? Why did I never think of that??

#why do i love this so much

#that's basically why Evanescence became my favorite band. it's not all romo-/sexually-centric

#i've always read it the same way and didn't notice Why Everyone Stopped Liking Her but that also brought that particular Change to light...

#groans eternally in Tumblr's direction. why even bother with all these updates.

#Oh THAT'S why Eda could do glyphs! /joke

#thaaaat's probably why Fancie Word Choice has always been a strength in my writing.... {lD;;;;;

#velvet and sheer... why have I never seen that combination before? It's GLORIOUS

#That's probably why he's so good at spontaneous Travelling too. Lots of practice when trying to find her... /owo

#This is why House and Senate votes count though! The President may have a lot of control over the military but a strong H+S

#I know MC Escher was a master of this (whatever This is) and that's why he's one of my favorite artists.

#okay but I'm intensely curious why he didn't have a plan to take HIMSELF out and thought he'd have to rely on THEM dsfndsgmfhdgj

#I wonder why he'd need to attack/defend while shifted? Can he also use such magic when he's not shifted?

#but I think that variety is why her every new album is so refreshingly Different.  Her singing ALONE improves so MUCH with every album!

#the only difference is that I imagined the fire came with smoke and that's why her gasp was so strangled and she grabbed her throa

#honestly this is why i'm basically addicted to empty-mind meditation?

#i'm cleaning my room and i misplaced it. badfnmkngjf;lk this is why i hate cleaning

#but scenes like this are why i love DC's latest gen of animated movies

#that Friends As Family theme was super important to why i love the 80's comics too..........

#this is why i read fanfic

#i think she feels slighted in some way but i can't pinpoint Exactly Why let alone HOW.

#and it's like.. Halfo f why lapis's characterization is so Shaky for me? Because the girl barely talks??? And she has like 7 Speech Modes

#^^^^ GUYS THIS WAS ALERINA. This is the environment Dove was raised in! This is why losing her mother tore her apart! ^^^^^

#This is so so SO important and delves deeply into why language is so important for learners and general humanity alike. ~<333

#that's why my tag for Old People Stories isn't specific to any generation. it's just Shitty Adults Being Shitty

#I write primarily about OCs and I know that's why my readership is so low. I write stories for a Dead Fandom that has declined sharply.

#you know? so that's why my Affirmations Tag is like 60% Steven UniversE Content at this point. 8F It's Helping Me Learn!

#It's a CIRCADIAN THING not an INSOMNIA THING. I don't know why my doctors don't believe it's NOT the same as INSOMNIA

#oh is THAT why my love language is ''all of them''?

#and i hardcore headcanon ry ouwearing glasses when he gets older. so why not?

#i Suck at the aCTUAL DRAWING art but i'm i na bit of a fallow period with the org and personal life. so why not?

#i'm already planning an aviary for the doves. so why not? (they'd be Very Separate from teh raven though. for obvious reasons)

#let's add to the Emotional Whiplash of Today pile. sure! why not!!

#but i got the dvd and i have vlc so why not use them i guess? i already had it in the drive for the extras and this way there's .....

#She can hop dimensions so why on Earth-- ALL the Earths-- hasn't she Been Relevant to ANY multi-timeline crisis yet???

#yes of fucking COURSE Dove and the rest are in Team Transition too!! Why on Earth-- on ANY earth! wouldn't I transition them too?!

#so why on earth did danny chase get shafted so hard?????

#about WHY or if she's GONNA be OKAY or HOW or--

#So gentle and soft and concerned and really quite quiet and subtle... which might be why others didn't pick up on the Love Vibe

#but the last one I reblogged didn't have that specified! 8O i don't know why one of my special interests is Unusual Instruments

#why WOULDN'T you snog a snitch if it could bring your dead loved ones back though? Why on Earth WOULDN'T you???

#but it's about ''they're very different. but they're friends!'' It just never talks about why or how that's important.

#(i think that's her full name for some reason but i don't know why or when i heard/saw it. somebody please correct me if i'm wrong!)

#I must be an Asker. I've never understood why people are so convinced they Can't Say No if someone asks?

#i also think PTSD makes you react to fear Differently from Pure Adrenaline Responses... but i can't unravel Why right now

#And also at the time I couldn't fathom why someone would think she was autistic. because i didn't know myself

#god this foreshadowing was just. so sincere and heart-rending and when this episode came out I *DID* wonder why she'd say that...

#I'm STILL trying to figure out why Srentha thought Dove was confessing that she has heartworm. (i know she Does Not in fact

#at first I was like ''Wow this is Srentha to the core!'' And then I read ''why this unreasonable answer at the sight

#i can't figure out why though

#If my Harmony Core theory is correct: it would explain why they're playing their music So Hard.

#the fact that my first reaction was ''why though'' is..... concerning?

#raven's like How? Why The HELL. and dove doesn't have a good answer besides ''it felt like i needed it.''

#fun fact: i misread this as ''zatana zatara / MICHIGAN '' and i was like... ''why the fUCK--''

#i don't know why there's all this fanart of

#and also sugar skulls are delightful but you should really know what they MEAN and REPRESENT and WHY they're sweet and flamboyant

#if someone is passionate; angry; or distressed over a topic: She doesn't always understand WHY until they EXPLAIN it. If they do at all.)

#oh hey why was THAT line never a meme

#this is why we need

#but that doesn't make it any less FRUSTRATING because I've been wORKING THROUGH the pptsd and why won't it STOP?

#(because that's why we have to pay for everything from movies to individual channels now. let's be real)

#i've never understood why winter and fall were the only ~fashionable~ seasons for wearing black.

#I mean to be FAIR some of the government DID mobilize and that's why we got the Stimulus Bill.

#But DC... this bullshit is why we can't have nice things

#and as soon as I looked it up: y first thought was ''Oh is that why we call them Abner?'' My second was ''Is that what *I* am?''

#also if you're as powerful as zee it probably comes second-nature so why WOULDN'T you throw it around to stop an argument?

#okay but if SPINEL doesn't know then how/why would BLUE know

#what? no i didn't just stare at this for a solid two minutes and read it over five times. no.. why would I do that?

#that's because it's not ''cool'' to hate on it so why would it be ''cool'' to like it ironically?

#why WOULDN'T you snog a snitch if it could bring your dead loved ones back though? Why on Earth WOULDN'T you???

#but it's not like a ragey angry thing. it's like........ war of attrition? why yes i think i WILL sign the 47th petition for the same thing

#over and over again and rewound and replayed until i got the whole spell written down. why YES I'm a little hyperfixated! why do you ask!!!

I Can't Believe It's Over

Summary: Steven watches his favorite series come to an end and talks to Connie about it.

Notes: Look it's fluff. That's it it's just some comfort that's still very much needed even if it has been over a week now. Also it's around 1800 words.

 Steven was fixated on the screen before him, dark circles under his eyes from the lack of sleep. The first rays of sunlight shined through the window as one of multiple alarms rang. 

 'It's almost here! It's almost here!' he thought as he turned off almost all of the 10 alarms. It was the final episode of his favorite series, Crying Breakfast Friends! 

 Well, technically CBF! ended a few years ago and this was its epilogue series, but still, it was practically the sixth season of the show.

 He usually woke up at this time, but he's been up all night, theorizing how Spilled Milk could solve all of their problems, especially with Glum Glass (who he shipped them with.)

 He was just so excited that he stayed up all night. He kept floating anyway, so it's not like he could sleep on the ceiling. He was up all night, sharing his theories and headcanons while looking through some of the fanart that have come from the episode that was released last week.

 He still couldn't believe it was the last episode, it's been running for years. He can still remember the first episode like it was yesterday.

 One last alarm rang as he opened a streaming app that made him watch with fellow fans, whatever happens next he's sure it would be good.

 An hour and many, many tears later, Connie was calling him for their bi-weekly breakfast together. However Steven was still in bed, a river of tears streaming down his face as the credits rolled.

 He was literally crying over Spilled Milk, but that really isn't important right now.

 He wiped his tears on the sleeves of his pajamas and went downstairs to wash his face. His eyes were still a bit puffy, but maybe Connie wouldn't notice.

 Steven went back toward the bed, sinking a bit. He took a few deep breaths, and finally answered her call.

 "Good morning, Steven!" Connie greeted. She was in a diner, judging by the tables and chairs behind her. It was close to full and people were having different conversations, but it wasn't too loud that he couldn't hear her.

 "Morning, Connie," he yawned right after greeting her, hoping to mask his sadness with tiredness.

 It didn't work. Connie has started to be concerned, "Steven? Are you alright?"

 "Yeah I'm fi—"

 The universe has a cruel sense of irony, it seems. As he was only midsentence as he saw the glass of milk and the plate filled with fried eggs and crispy bacon and started to sob again.

 "I-I can't believe it's over!"

 He shuts his mouth, was that too loud? He covers his face with the pillows until he hears Connie talking. She's awkwardly explaining to the people around her; he wipes some of the tears with his sleeve while he apologizes for shouting.

 Connie goes back to her seat, visibly relieved. Whether it's because she doesn't have to talk to another stranger or because she knows what's happening with him, it's unknown to him. Maybe it's a little bit of both.

 She turns to Steven and asks one question with a knowing look in her eye, "Your favorite series just ended, didn't it?"

 "Wait... how- how did you know?" 

 "I know how that feels," she ate some of her bacon and continued, "I've read so many novels, The Spirit Morph Saga was just one of many books I've obsessed for years!"

 Steven listened to her every word as she gushes about some of her favorite books. It's been years since he heard of it, he still remembered Connie introducing him to the saga. He still loves the ending to this day, though he doesn't know if she still feels the same about the ending years later.

 "Oh, sorry I got into a tangent there."

 "It's okay, I love hearing you being so passionate."

 There was a slight blush on her cheeks; she proceeded to drink the milk to hide it. "So..Anyways, what was the name of the series that just left you in tears today?"

 Now it was his turn to be embarrassed, how exactly is he going to explain that he's been watching a cartoon for the past six years? He doesn't know what kind of shows she's watched!

 But she wouldn't judge him for that, so might as well just say it, "It's Crying Breakfast Friends."

 "I thought that show ended years ago?"

 "Well, yes, but technically no, so the original show, Crying Breakfast Friends did end a few years ago, but its epilogue series, Bawling Brunch Friends ended today."

 "So... were you satisfied with the ending?"

 She was answered with more tears, "It was so bittersweet!"

 Okay, now she needed to be there with him. "I'm going to finish up here, okay? I'll be there in a minute!"

 Connie ended the call, finished her breakfast, tipped the waitress, and ran outside to Lion all under one minute.

 A portal opened up in the beach house's living room with Connie and Lion going out from it.

 "Thanks, Lion," she said while giving his mane a few pats. He gave a cute little smile and proceeded to sleep near the sofa. 

 Of course she had to give him some pets, besides it was only a few seconds till a full minute passes and she ran up the stairs.

 She knows the feeling, sure she wasn't as sentimental when some of her favorite series ended, but she knows how empty it feels at first.

 She wonders how Steven's handling it.

 ...

 Just the sight of his bed tells it all.

 It's a bit messy and tear-stained, the impression of Steven has been there for a while making the teen that was on the bed sink even further into it. Near the pillows were some toys and old plushies of the characters in the show, Steven himself holding two of them in his arms while under his comforter.

 He was clutching the plushies of a carton of milk and a glass, keeping them close together. He hasn't noticed that she's here, but to be fair she hasn't spoken a word since she came up.

 "Hi, Steven." He freezed up for a second, but he was still silent. "Mind if I join you in there?"

 She saw his head nodding and making some space for her; she joined him under the covers.

 He was looking at some fanart of all the characters together, waving goodbye at the audience as the words, "Thank you Samantha Pepper!" appear above them.

 "So.. I remembered seeing a few episodes." Connie shifted closer to Steven, "It looked like a fun, silly cartoon from some of the episodes I've seen."

 He chuckled at that, a bit too much judging by Connie's confused reaction.

 "It was a fun, silly show at first. I rewatched the whole series preparing for this, and wow, there was a lot of stuff that went over my head."

 "Just how serious this show is after the first season, all of the foreshadowing, each character's arc and how much they've changed compared to now!"

 "I want to tell you everything, but at the same time I don't want to spoil stuff." Steven's started to float while he was talking and he hasn't noticed yet. "There's just so much that's better appreciated when it hasn't been spoiled and I haven't even talked about—"

 "Steven, the ceiling!"

 He looks up and floats in place, just inches away from hitting his head. "Thanks Connie." Steven starts to float down.

 "No problem."

 "Why didn't you stop me when I was starting to float?"

 Now it's her turn to fluster him, she gave a shy smile and said, "Sorry Steven, I was distracted with how cute you are when you're passionate."

 He was so flustered that his powers failed him at that moment and he fell on the bed, bouncing both him and Connie a few times.

 They were both giggling as they laid together on the bed. Steven teasing Connie about using the line he used earlier... until they notice the mess that was made and cleaned it up.

 "This show means a lot to you, huh?" she says as she collects the toys that fell onto the floor.

 "Yeah... I miss it," Steven helps in collecting the plushies. He grabs the Spilled Milk and Glum Glass plushies and keeps them together.

 They both help each other in fixing the comforter on the bed and laid back on it.

 Connie can hear him sniffling right next ro her. Guess he's skipped the other stages of grief and went headfirst to depression.

 "Why did it only sink in now? I'll never see these characters again!"

 Okay, that's it. She needs to tell him this. She turns Steven around, looking him in the eyes.

 "You can always rewatch the show, right?" A nod.

 "You can always make your own fanart, right?" Another nod.

 "And there's also other people's fan creations. Sure, the show's over, but people would still create more stories and art with these characters." Tears have stopped.

 "You can love and appreciate all of the content creators in that fandom and their creations, right?" A small smile. She's getting to him.

 "And even if it's over, you know that the show would always be with you, right?"

 "Connie, I thought you didn't like being saccharine?"

 "Steeeven," she was teasing him, and she knows he is too, "I'm trying to comfort you."

 "I know, just wanted to hear you say it, because you like me." They were giggling again, but when they were finished he was staring at her with a smile, "Thanks Connie."

 "You know I'll always help you, Steven," she smiled back at him.

 "Yeah, even with your college prep, you still—"

 "Wait, don't you have more stuff to do?" Steven asked, looking a bit worried. 

 "Today's Saturday, Steven." Connie reminded him.

 "Oh... yeah," he rubbed his eyes, "thought it was still Friday."

 "You stayed up all night, didn't you?"

 "Can't blame me for being excited, besides I'm not that tired."

 A yawn escapes him at the end and he settles at the bed.

 "Ok maybe I'm a little bit tired. Talk to you later?"

 "You know the usual time," she gives him a kiss on the forehead, "see you later, Steven." 

 "I'll see you soon, Connie."

 And she goes down to Lion, who just woke up.

 As Steven hears the roar of Lion's portal go out, he opens his phone and looks back on the picture of everyone in the show again.

 Connie's right, it's a part of him now. Every memory, every laugh, and especially every tear that's shed—of sorrow and of joy.

 "Thanks for giving me tears to the very end."

I generally consider Gen IV the last good generation of the Pokémon franchise, but really only up to a certain point. I’ve played a bit of Platinum, and it’s... okay. Doesn’t inspire me with wonder like Gens I and II do. And I pretty much gave up entirely on the anime after the Battle Frontier arc.

And looking at the Pokémon introduced then, I really only like Bidoof/Bibarel, Buizel/Floatzel and Riolu/Lucario. Buneary/Lopunny is pretty good, and Gible etc. is okay, but almost all of the rest of them I can’t stand their designs at all.

Of course, I really like HeartGold and SoulSilver, but I guess I’m biased.

Back when I was growing up, the anime was the most important to me, and it still is. I hardly ever played the TCG, as I was more of a collector, and I didn’t even play the games that much because I was so bad at it (although I did complete Silver). I remember that when it came to Pokémon, the online fandom in the early 2000s was mostly concerned with the anime as well, whereas you mostly heard about the glitches and rumors in the games and schools banning the cards. The main reason I preferred the anime was because of the characters. Ash, Brock, and Misty made a great trio, and Jesse, James, and Meowth are among the greatest sympathetic villain characters of all time, imo. Nowadays you hardly ever hear anybody discuss the anime.

But ultimately the reason anybody becomes a fan of Pokémon is because of the cool monsters. I think sometimes fans forget this, incredibly- too much focus is given to gameplay mechanics and metagaming and competitive gaming, which I really couldn’t care less about. I remember one of my first interactions with a Pokémon fan, way back in 1999 or so, was when somebody asked what my favorite Pokémon was. I told him it was Charmander. And why not? He’s a cute, fire-breathing dragon-lizard thing! His reaction was “But Charmander is weak!”, and all I could do was stare at him incredulously. I didn’t care if he was “weak”, which is an exaggeration anyway. Must I quote Karen?

That’s actually the entire point of Pokémon. Lots of PETA-types didn’t understand this: We’re not forcing them to fight as slaves, we’re making friends with all these creatures. The early episodes of the anime especially emphasized this, culminating in the movie Mewtwo Strikes Back, and it’s message of peace, sacrifice, and love still makes me misty-eyed to this day.

The anime started going downhill as soon as Ash left Kanto for the Orange Islands. We all remember how incredibly dull and pointless Tracy was, and how repetitive and formulaic the Johto episodes were. This was despite how amazingly good the G/S/C games were. It was around this time that the fandom was diminishing, and people who weren’t all that in love with it in the first place started sneering at it and saying it was “for little kids” and “uncool”. I remember Digimon fans were especially obnoxious about it. Here’s the thing: It might sound a bit shallow, but I don’t think I would’ve become interested in Pokémon if the monsters didn’t look cute or cool. I’m very keenly aware of what kind of character designs I like, and if I don’t like the way a cartoon looks, there’s absolutely no way I can get into it. Lots of people are gonna hate me for this, but I find the vast majority of Digimon to be downright butt-ugly. They’re mostly wrinkled and lumpy and look as though they’re made up of leftover puppet parts. There’s a tiny amount of them that I actually think look decent, but not nearly enough to make me want to watch the show.

But that ties into what happened next- when the Gen III games were coming out, I was looking forward to it, but I was disappointed in how unappealing some of the Pokémon designs were, especially the legendaries. I thought they looked more like Digimon. I don’t see anybody else who has this view. Sure, occasionally I see someone complain “They don’t look like Pokémon anymore!” but they’re always shot down with the rationalization “Who says what Pokémon look like is set in stone?” It’s not a good idea to slowly drift the art direction of an ongoing franchise with an established look and continuity. It’s what makes for a TV series suffer from Early Installment Weirdness and Seasonal Rot, among other things. Things like Mickey Mouse and Looney Tunes can get away with this because they don’t have an established canon, but a series like Pokémon shouldn’t start looking weirder and weirder. I remember having high hopes for the Hoenn episodes of the anime, hoping that the fresher, more sophisticated animation would bring the series out of its doldrums and return to the more heartwarming, personality-driven stories of it’s golden age. For a while it seemed like this would be the case- Ash seemed wiser and more experienced at first and the Pokémon were showing more personality. But it slowly but surely entered a long string of indistinguishable contests for May to compete in. Another thing I wish there was more of in the anime is the Pokémon themselves having more personality. Too often they’re just used as battling tools and have few chances to show emotion or interact with the other characters. The Hoenn episodes also made one thing clear: Ash was going to replace his battling team pretty much every region from now on.

This trend flies in the face of the early franchise’s message of friendship. Ash’s Pokémon from yesteryear are hardly ever seen again once they get sent to Prof. Oak or to some other place.

I suspect this new attitude towards the Pokémon is why they’re becoming uglier and uglier. It doesn’t matter what they look like, you just want to train something NEW, right? Something with good stats and EVs?

I've never seen anybody who shares my view about the Pokémon designs from Gen IV and onward. There was a brief period when older fans were saying the new Pokémon were dumb ideas- ice cream cones and garbage bags and key rings aren’t my idea of a cool concept. But then came the whole “Genwunner” backlash. “But Gen I has inanimate objects too! Dont’cha think Voltorb and Grimer are dumb??” people would say. My answer is this: A living Pokéball and a pile of toxic sludge are cooler than keys and garbage. And just because Gen I had a dumb idea like a bunch of eggs doesn’t mean you should repeat it. And of course there’s an excess of foxes, cats, bats, small electric rodents, and cutesy legendaries that look vaguely like Mew. When the Pokémon aren’t stupid or ugly, they’re redundant. And now it seems like older fans are almost entirely silent about their opinions.

I don’t understand why this isn’t a more common opinion. A Pokémon’s visual appeal is absolutely crucial and yet they still continue to look inorganic, cluttered, and awkward looking with every new generation. There’s only a handful of recent Pokémon that ever get fanart, and 100% of the time the fanart is better drawn than the official version.

This seemingly coincided with the American dubbers having the brilliant idea of replacing the entire voice cast of the anime to “celebrate” the tenth anniversary. It was difficult watching the anime after that, and I only stuck around because they were revisiting Kanto. After that, I stopped watching it entirely. It got worse, of course- Ash was redesigned and looked almost entirely different. The eyes are the windows to the soul- if you ask me, by changing Ash’s windows, they changed his soul.

The Pokémon franchise was dead to me by then. As far as I’m concerned the whole series is a shambling zombie, a shell of its former self. And with the anime using retconning flashbacks and remaking the first episode and Mewtwo Strikes Back, the anime has split into two different continuities anyhow. And yet people still try to defend it, even older fans, which boggles my mind.

Some non important and random thoughts n stuff under the cut. 

♦ I think it's easy to see why I liked that Dieter /Thomas ship if you compare it with Héctor and Ernesto. I think both pairings would have a very similar dynamic. In both cases one is younger, kind of naive and very talented (and both are madly in love with their wife). The other is older, egocentric, wants fame and money and is also talented but lacks of something, so they complement each other, artistically speaking. Of course, Dieter and Thomas are real humans, very different to their cartoon counterparts (I mean, i didnt even understand anything of the movie? I don’t speak German xD) and I'm taking a lot of liberties with this (Dieter composes and can sing a bit, Ernesto just sings but very well. Héctor can't sing and Thomas voice is precious. Also Héctor and Ernesto were friends until the tequila thing and I think the other two hate each other and never really got along very well?) but... Yeah, that. Keep it in the fiction side because pretending the real humans are in love is... kind of sick?

♦ I find kind of funny how my mom tries to convince me to drink alcohol when she tries the exact opposite with my brothers. I don't know why, even when I say I don't want to drink. She says my brothers 'are more prone to become alcoholic', but if this has some kind of genetic predisposition I'm sorry to tell her we have the same chances. The difference is, I'm pretty aware of the problems that alcohol can cause and I don't want to repeat the family patterns that I don't like (and tbh I know myself, imagine I get obsessed with alcohol in the same level I'm obsessed with Ernesto. I would be have died already of alcoholic intoxication or something related xD)

♦ Quarantine sucks for most of people because they can't go outside but I like it?? I rarely go out unless I need something (and the very few times I meet my friends). I have to work almost every day so my 'life' is almost the same as always. I find really comfortable how like half of my coworkers are working from home (people with children younger than 13 were given that permission), so the place is very quiet. If it weren't affecting so much people, I would wish this could last a little longer.

♦ I just remembered I wanted to make a plush, again. I bought most of the fabrics and threads away back and didn't do anything because ??? I'm not sure. I might start it soon, I don't know. I also want to finish the figure I was working on but I'm not sure if the store where I bought the paint is open. I don't want to buy the paint on the internet because I'm not sure if the tones will be the appropriated ones. Who knows! Meanwhile, I have to work in the pattern for the plush if I want to get it done. Oh, also wanted to make some face masks but I'm not sure if the fabric stores are open. I have to go to check someday. (I will end up doing nothing for sure)

♦I haven't been able to draw :( I just don't feel like is worth the effort. That b00bs inspector thing is the only thing that I have "finished" in quite some time (and I gotta admit I find it really funny despite how dumb it is) , and the Mod3rn Talk¡ng doodles have helped to make me draw again, even if it's just something small. I hope is just because my mind had to shift to sculptor mode to work on the figure (?) I had the intention to make that Six Fanart Challenge but meh. I also haven't been able to write, I thought maybe that could help but, oh surprise, it didn't. I had a scenario very clear but I suddenly forgot about it. I mean, is for the au made for me by me but I really wanted to see it plasmated in some form. I kinda remember reading something somewhere that the quarantine might have psychological impact in people even if they don't realize. Maybe that's also related.

♦ I've been watching Break¡ng b@d again! As I've told you before I can't stand long sessions of binge watch anything, so it will take me some time to finish the series. That's why you might have seen some posts about that show lately. And because B3tter Call $aul's last episode of the fifth season was recently aired.

(SPOILERS AHEAD) And I gotta admit I love T0ny D@lton's character, Lalo! Hope he doesn't dies, but on the other hand I do want someone to kill Nacho's dad. He's not guilty of anything, but Nacho is a traitor and we all know the narco doesn't forgives (I kinda feel he deserves it? Idk! I just feel he deserves some suffering and I don't think he'll have a good end). But don't get me wrong, I do like Nacho, I feel they're trying to make him kind of like a Jesse but not as tragic? Similar but different, i don't know how to explain it. I don't like him as much as Jesse but he's a good character.

Anyway, back to Lalo. I love when he speaks Spanish because he's a natural, his spanish is real unlike Don Eladio or Héctor(?)) When he finds all his people dead is just JFJSJS you can feel his rage! (I have to admit I felt very bad in that last scene when he sees Yolanda dead :'( ) That dude is crazy and he won't hesitate (and I guess know they think he's dead bfjsjsnbdjs) I'm really excited to know what will happen in the next season, but I think it will be the last one. Idk, let's see how all this this warps up!

♦ I bought some cream cheese! Nothing important, i just wanted some (?)

♦And I think that’s all? I’ll try to go and do something, or to get distracted somehow. There’s a lot of noise and my head hurts a lot and I don’t want to get angry to everyone for this reason (?)

Yugioh S3 Ep 36-37: Local Mom-Friend’s Weird Trick, Doctors Hate Him

Hey y’all it’s a surprise midweek post because I’m in Canada this weekend woo. Surprised I even got this post done, TBH, I finally get some time where I’m not commuting around to and from San Francisco or corralling small children and I can just sit at my computer and focus and have some peace and quiet and I got--a mysterious sickness from all those kids! *yay* So, since I can’t really focus on anything, I’ll type in here and see if any of my words make any sense at all and hopefully I won’t go on some weird ass tangent like I tend to do like every other post.

So Yugi is still dueling Kaiba, much like he has for the past like...it feels like 4 years. I know I’ve only seen 3 seasons but this is...this is a really long duel. Maybe because there was a month-long break for me in the middle, (during which I watched the entirety of Evangelion, 2 Seasons of Gotham, Stranger Things S3, and the disappointing season of One Punch Man so like...I’ve had some time away from Yugioh) or maybe...maybe it’s because they’re actually playing card mechanics that go more in depth...

But yeah, despite everything, they’re still dueling.

And honestly, I’m looking at that episode number above me and it’s like...so there’s this Kaiba and Yugi Duel and then...only one more duel, right? Is it going to be a ten episode duel? Like unless Rebecca comes back for a weird cameo like...how...?

Whatever, we’ll get there when we get there.

Anyways, everyone who’s been avoiding this duel like the plague is down with the plague victims in the hospital. That’s where Tristan gets a bright idea and it’s one of his dumber ones, believe it or not.

Man, I forgot that comatose Joey Wheeler is still wearing that duel disk Pharaoh slapped on him during all this too, haha.

Also, why does he have to have all these pectoral suction cups while they just kinda...gave up on Mai? I mean I know they can’t show boobies on a Y7 show but like...it really feels like the doctor just kinda shrugged at Mai and was like “I only have one set of boob suction cups, I really didn’t think I’d need more than that, if at all.”

(read more under the cut)

And so Tristan decides that if Joey is at the window which is like...600 ft below Yugi Muto’s duel, a duel you can’t...really see from the ground...then Joey Wheeler will arise.

I mean, it’s gonna work, it’s just also kind of laughable that Joey wasn’t able to hear any of this nonsense from the bed that is two feet away from the window.

But wtv, it’s very dramatic and Tristan gets to cry some more and feel useful I guess.

The haunted underwear mannequin plot-thread was dumped between that episode and this one, and I’m kinda bummed out that more things haven’t turned into haunted underwear mannequins.

Instead of horrific underwear mannequins, Joey’s dream has gone back to the standard fare of Joey picking on middle schoolers and wearing a much better outfit than he has for most of this show.

I will super miss Joey in a fitted suit. Like, soak it allll in horny preteens, because pretty soon, Joey Wheeler will be back in that scruffy oversized T-shirt just like...well, just like how a teenager would be. I mean there’s some REASONS Mai can’t date Joey, but the fact he has a fitted suit he refuses to ever wear is one of the top reasons right under, youknow, the fact he’d need a fake ID to ever go out with her.

It’s kind of amazing actually, how my whole life I kinda just figured this was a show of insane character designs, only to find out when I actually watch the show that there is like a ... REALLY horny line just going all the way through it.

Honestly, me trying to figure out how and when this kid’s show got so damn horny has been a very big mystery I’ve been trying to solve in the background this entire time. Like, I was told “yeah the Yugioh boys get very attractive.” and I was like “ehhhhhhhh I don’t even know what you’re talking about” but, little by little over the past 3 seasons, these animators are starting to draw these boys just waaaaaaay older than these kids actually are. I’m starting to see what people are saying. It’s still not my thing, personally, but uh yeah I can see how this spawned all that fanart now.

Anyways, speaking of, the other day a friend of mine’s sister was talking about how she, as a millennial, has been wired to love very tall skinny boys in skinny pants and very long coats with popped collars and I immediately was like “Lol are you admitting to Seto Kaiba?”

And she meant Cumberbatch Sherlock, LOLOLOLOL.

And so, back on the duel field we got Seto Kaiba, who’s a lot like Sherlock except a Sherlock who is suffering from both short term and long term memory loss. And, who does cards instead of heroin.

They probably both play violin.

Kaiba, despite having arc after arc where his little brother is his main motivation, has decided to just ditch Mokuba and it’s like...either he’s psyching Yugi out or Seto Kaiba forgot he had a brother for a little bit. He might...he might have forgotten. Mokuba is standing behind him, after all.

And so, because Joey is facing Yugi at just the right moment and at just the right time, somehow he can do his little force ability again and just do this:

Thanks, hallucination!Joey.

And out he goes, drawn like a romance anime character lol.

Anyways, he’s back to being a slob so...welcome back, wrinkle shirt, it’s been a while.

And then Joey looks around and actually said this:

“Did someone get hurt?” He asks, after being burned, electrocuted AND drowned just yesterday.

I was kinda very much hoping Tristan would deck him out.

Glad that, as predicted, the moment Mai doesn’t need to be Joey’s main motivation anymore, the moment he puts the cards away, she may as well not even exist. This show and the way they write straight romances.

Please admire the matching lace up boots on the Kaiba Corp’s Emergency Squad. This would be the most obscure Cosplay on earth but maybe the most wearable Yugioh cosplay outside of Bandit Keith because you wouldn’t need a 400 dollar wig.

And then for some reason Tea just loses her mind and has a complete breakdown. She’s been kind of a mess since Yugi walked out like 2 episodes ago, which seems kind of...I dunno, both out of character but very much in character at the same time. I mean we’re assuming they “have” a relationship it’s just never actually say that they do, so her acting like her man is dead is kinda like...it still feels like it comes out of freakin nowhere.

Anyways, Tea who is strong enough to lift this entire plane and who is, in fact, possessed by at least 2 powerful ghosts (remember Shadi did spends some time there and he did NOT like it), is now a seeping crying mess that refuses to lose any more of her hospital-prone boys.

I mean they were going to go anyway, but they let Tea pretend she had any control over that and kind of glazed over this.

Back in this game that no one else is really watching anymore, Seto Kaiba is still monologuing about his entire life story that he’s never gotten any therapy for, except for that time his evil step brother accidentally gave him therapy.

Quite upset we never see the color of Mokuba’s little tuxedo.

Course...didn’t...Noah wear a little tuxedo in that same exact shape? I mean it’s a silly headcanon but youknow...it could be a yellow tuxedo they just happened to find in the back of the closet.

And it’s at this point that Mokuba just lost his lid. I’m so used to Mokuba unconditionally supporting his crazy brother that this would have been the biggest anime betrayal of the whole series, if Mokuba had said any of this outloud (which he wisely did not).

It was like...damn Mokuba. He actually said something along the lines of “I liked you better when you were poor” and it was like. Holy cow, Mokuba. Damn.

Anyway, a bunch of card stuff happens, and Pharaoh has decided that Seto has too much anger in his heart, and that’s why he will lose. Then, Pharaoh played the card proof for how angry Seto is, and if I actually payed any attention to cards, it would have been very meaningful.

But anyways, kudos to Pharaoh on not mind-wiping Seto Kaiba this time or launching him directly off this very tall tower like he attempted to do last time. They actually played a game start to finish with eachother and nothing exploded except for every television in Domino. Progress.

and then Mokuba started crying and initially I thought...wouldn’t he have WANTED his brother to lose but then I kind of remembered oh yeah now Mokuba has to deal with this oncoming aftermath.

RIP Mokuba, I guess.

Anyway, I’m out of town for the rest of the weekend, escaping to the far North to get away from the weather. I should be back next weekend, but if I’m not, I was probably eaten by a bear. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, if you just got here, this is a link to my Yugioh recaps in Chrono order from the beginning.

Just a quick request for some advice, I've noticed you seem to be very good at promoting your works, requesting feedback and actually getting some, and reposting on Tumblr and such. Now admittedly, you are an awesome author and I pretty much love everything you write, but I have to think your promotion abilities are part of what brings you hits, kudos, likes, and feedback. Do you have any advice on the best ways to promote my fanfiction, build a fanbase and short of begging, get more comments?

Self-promotion and marketing definitely are a large part of my fanbase. I’ve seen it go both ways; amazing writers and fics that don’t have much attention and not-so-great ones that have huge followings because of social media presence of the author. So while having quality stories is still a large part of it, so too is marketing.

My background is not actually in marketing but journalism, but I did run a number of social media pages and have always been a very big people-person and engager, which I’ve applied to pretty much all aspects of my life. One of my favorite slogans I’ve learned from retail (and marketing) is you can’t sell what’s not out. i.e., if you don’t present your product you can’t expect to have any customers (or in this case readers).

In my case, I’m a very prolific author, meaning I have a lot of stories under my name and I’ve been fortunate that a couple of those have become bigger name ones in this fandom for extra exposure. The more you have, obviously the more you will “sell” and therefore, generally, the more exposure you’ll get and then comments (comments though are a fickle beast and it really really varies). 

I’m borrowing some of the advice from a previous post (you can always search my blog with “#writing advice” for more things) but these would be a couple of strategies I would recommend you try out :) Not all of them may be applicable to you either, as all authors write at different paces and volumes and have different time constraints, but maybe something in here will help ;) 

1. Have an update schedule! This one is really important. Whether that means you pre-write the entire fic or you buckle down and commit to a regular posting (which is how Color was for me for the first couple months until I pre-wrote enough to kick back and relax a bit xD) be it weekly or bi weekly or every two weeks (the other bi weekly? Such a weird word) you do that.

When you get people on a schedule and they are more likely to come back and comment with something other than the dreaded “update soon!” because they know you are going to update soon and when exactly that is. Give readers something to plan and look forward to, just like a favorite TV show that airs weekly.

2. Respond to comments. Whether you write giant-ass paragraph responses or even a simple “thank you ♥” it goes a long way. I know I always am more inclined to really keep up on a fic where the author has shown to appreciate their readers (although if I read your fic and like it I will comment regardless ♥). I know for me right now I have stopped doing this as it just got... draining for me, to respond in detail and never see those readers again and it felt hurtful to me. But I still make a point to say thank you in the author’s notes and if anyone has a question I do try to answer that too.

3. Read other authors’ works you enjoy but do not self-promote. Please don’t do that. I hate it when I see that and it makes me even less inclined to check out a fic (I’m already very picky with what I read and don’t read much at all). By all means comment on the fic and be like “I headcanon Keith is a good cook too!” because those personal details are lovely and maybe that’ll inspire that other author to click on your profile to see if you’ve got a fic with such a theme to go read.

But otherwise, keep your comments about their fic (or your reaction to it) and show your excitement and passion for that fic. Bookmark too (and Ao3 lets you add comments; you can bet if I see a nice comment on a bookmark tag I’m clicking on that author to see a; what else they’ve bookmarked and b; if they’ve written anything). Well written and passionate comments tell a lot about a person and if they can write a nice review they likely can write a nice fic and could be worth an extra click to see their profile. That is indeed how I’ve found several authors and fics I now read :)

4. Chapter length. This I have noticed over time but shorter chapters (for me around 3k-4k) tend to get more comments than longer ones because people have “more time” upon finishing to leave a comment. It doesn’t always work but it is something I’ve witnessed on more than one occasion. That said, don’t write a chapter of only 1k words and think they’ll pour in because it’s short. Leading on to…

5. Whatever your chapter is, make sure it has content that people will want to respond to. Not every chapter has to have explosions and action and intense heart-to-hearts, but every chapter should have something memorable. Filler chapters are unavoidable, especially in longer fics, but do what you can to make them not quite so “blah” and give them some heart.

6. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, meaning write multiple things (although perhaps not as much as me ^^;). Having a mix of a longer running chapter fic (for those “episodes” back in bullet point one) to keep people coming back and having a few shorter fics (be one-shots, two-shots, or shorter chaptered fics) to draw in new people and help you out when you get stuck on your other fic is invaluable. I definitely expanded my audience and brought in new readers that gave me little boosts of support when I started publishing one-shots semi-regularly. 

7. Don’t be afraid to self-promote on your blog. Reblog your works, pull out snippets to share, reblog those too if you don’t get many notes. I don’t really get how Tumblr’s tag system works, but tag your first few tags with the biggest ones that those browsing might stumble across. Ao3 does let you link to your Tumblr so long as you aren’t advertising commissions or patreon or the like in said blurb so make sure you link to your tumblr too to get cross-traffic.

8. Post sneak content on your blog; previews and snippets. Get people excited about the work before you post it. 

9. I don’t know how reasonable this is for most, but holding little games or contests can really up the engagement. Starting out, doing something like a bingo card prompt event could be one to consider; the “prize” is writing the prompt which gets you both more content, therefore more eyeballs on said content, and hopefully a very grateful fan who will leave you a nice comment and reblog it for their page. 

10. I like ending on this number. Um, oh, okay! This is both great for writing experience, content and engagement! If you see a piece of fanart you like that you feel compelled to write a bit for, do so and reblog it! Anyone who clicks on that art will see your reblog of it and maybe, maybe, the original artist will reblog your selection too! Not just artists either, but there are lots of “prompt” type posts I see that you could do that for as well. 

AO3 | Ko-Fi | Patreon | Discord

misc morphicon stories

ok so i feel like i’ve talked FOREVER about all the wild shit that happened to us at morphicon (running into rangers at the car valet!! meeting chip lynn!! azim calling us his favorite ladies at the con!!) but i wanted to make a write up for all the stuff i haven’t talked about yet because i have to remember all this and i want you all to experience it too!! it was so fun oh my god if you haven’t been to morphicon... start making plans for 2020 guys it is legit INSANE best weekend of my entire LIFE

- ann marie crouch is AN ACTUAL PRINCESS SENT FROM HEAVEN we ran into her on our way back to the hotel one of the days and we were like omg it’s princess shayla we love you!! and she was so sweet and stopped and talked to us even though she was on her way out for a nap and she was in full shayla gear she looked so pretty! and we saw her on the way back too she had changed into casual clothes but still rocking it WE LOVE ONE MENTOR ONLY

- jessica rey is so funny and adorable omg we stopped by her booth to buy wild force pins (kat and abbey) bc the wf rangers come PREPARED w/ merch and nobody was there so we all just started talking to her and told her how we loved wild force and alyssa and abbey said she loved the ep where alyssa beat up the boys and she’s so cute and fun to talk to!! she told us about the shades of pink panel and i was like “is alyssa a pink or a white ranger” and she was like “lol i dont even know” also she had her handler take a staged candid of us talking to her because she loved us lmao. and then we were talking about white rangers and all of us were like “fuck tommy lives we stan alyssa only” and she laughed and immediately started telling us about what a dick jdf had been to fans the day before lmao (also for real...he’s a dick) and i was like YOU ARE THE SUPERIOR WHITE TIGER RANGER god shes so cool she loved us and didnt wanna stop talking but we had to move away cuz ppl were lining up for her behind us rip

- RICHARD AND ANGIE oh my god ok so i’d stopped and talked to angie on the first day and also the second day and i told her i’d come back later bc i wanted a photo w/ BOTH OF THEM and i did tell her how much i loved madison and vida like we are ROCCA SISTER STANS FIRST PEOPLE SECOND and shes so cute and she remembered us every time!! and then on the third day i finally got to talk to richard and he’s so sweet we talked about mystic force just at his booth for like ten minutes waiting for angie for the photo op, he asked us our fave episodes and i said dark wish and he actually remembered it so i think he might be the only actor at the con who watched his season. and we told him we loved the mystic force theme song AND HE STARTED SINGING IT. and someone had left him a green zeo figurine for...some reason and he told us “i dont even fucking know who that is” (but nicer lol he is very charming and polite) and we told him it was adam/johnny and he was like ohhhh lmao i love disney era actors not knowing SHIT about saban era. like he literally worked with johnny. i love him. AND THEN HE ASKED US ALL TO BE IN THE PHOTO and since kat paid for half of it we were like aight its a group thing and its the cutest photo i love disney era actors only

- i think i talked about meeting dwayne cameron already but god hes so sweet and i felt bad for him bc caitlin next to him had ppl she was talking to but he was all alone so me and abbey just went up and started talking to him and i told him i loved overdrive and i told him i recognized him as ethan’s bully and we talked about tyzonn and vella and just overdrive in general and hes so SWEET and he HUGGED ME SO TIGHT GOD i think he really enjoyed us like. actually loving overdrive and being able to talk about it. AND HE RAN INTO ABBEY IN CARS LAND AT DISNEY ON MONDAY AND GAVE HER ANOTHER HUG hes so cute (angie was also there with him I LOVE DISNEY ERA SOLIDARITY)

- met monica may and cerina vincent on saturday, not a lot to say bc i only talked to them a bit and took my photos but they are both so beautiful and elegant and classy and i told cerina i loved her in stuck in the middle :’) ranger ladies are so intimidatingly pretty god. also picked up this huge LEGIT spd poster and im gonna put it up in my room as soon as i can because oh my god its professional quality it looks so cool. we also talked to greg aronowitz bc kat wanted her poster signed and hes so cool we told him how much we appreciated everything he did for spd AND THAT WE WERE ON HIS SIDE ABOUT FEMALE RED FUCK DISNEY.

- god what else uhh we wandered around the toys section a lot on saturday/sunday bc we’d kinda. seen everyone. and there were a lot of panels on sunday so nobody was at the booths. i picked up those amazing rider/sentai prints from ceevee SUPER TALENTED SO WORTH IT. also got me a meteor storm figuart B) which i havent taken out of the box yet but i will

- HECTOR AT THE CAR VALET he literally announced he would be at morphicon the day before and then we saw him while waiting for our car and SCREAMED and he was so chill and cool and he came over and hugged us all hes so hot. AND THEN LATER WE RAN INTO SELWYN WARD AT THE CAR VALET and he also laughed when we squealed and came over and hugged us all and guys he smelled soooo nice i was like right up against him i could have died hes so handsome and perfect.

- we also ran into steve cardenas at the car valet like right when we were all leaving the hotel for the last time and we told him that we loved him and i said i was so excited that it was rocky coming back for the anniversary instead of fucking jason and abbey was like “justice for forever red!” and he was like hah i know right anyway every single actor in this franchise hates jdf lmao that was just the vibe of morphicon and it was valid

- fun fact we did not see jdf ONCE. not going to the con, not at the hotel, not ANYWHERE. just his crazy lines. he was like the douchebag cryptid. im glad tho he can stay that way.

- i talked about meeting andre on saturday night right??? hes so SWEET I LOVE HIM he was so happy when ben gave him his fanart of eddie and took a selfie w/ ben right then and there and also took a pic w/ me and abbey ugh i love him i told him he was so valid for being a power rangers youtuber and liking megaforce AND THAT HE’S THE BEST INTERVIEWER THEY’VE EVER HAD (i also told azim this, i’m very passionate about this subject, every other ranger interviewer sucks ASS)

- jason faunt at the elevators!! hes so sweet i told him how excited i was for the anniversary and he said yeah theres a lot more plot going on and told me to take a selfie bc they couldnt stop him here fhjggd i love that pic i love him AND THEN ALSO later we ran into NAKIA IN AN ELEVATOR AND SHES SO SWEET I SAID “WE LOVE YOU WE WATCHED ALL OF ZEO FOR YOU” and she was like aww thank you so much!! a literal goddess AND THEN LATER AS WE WERE CHECKING OUT karan walked by us to go to nakia and i was so excited i waved and said hi to her and she said “hi baby how are you” SHES SO WONDERFUL I LOVE MY MOTHERS

- i think i told the chris reid story already but like. hes so charming and was so nice even tho i interrupted his express checkout but like. i Had to tell him how valid ninja steel was i was literally like fuck the dudebros they’re so annoying you guys fighting w/ that one guy on twitter over the kcas was the FUNNIEST thing to EVER happen to this fandom and he laughed.

- we also went up to kelson’s booth later and told him how much we loved mick and all his roles!! and talked to him forever about all of them, told him we were kalish/disney era supremacists, told him HOW GOOD HE IS AT VOICE ACTING WE LOVE FLIT AND NORG IN THIS HOUSE he looked so happy :’) i feel like everyone just compliments him on boom which, no offense, but appreciate your voice actors guys. i told him we grew up on disney era and it was like new zealand only had twelve actors and he was five of them and he laughed and was like yeah. i also told him how we loved mick and brody’s father/son relationship and he was like yeah they ended up liking that a lot too which is why they sort of pushed brody’s real dad to the side so mick could shine more and i was like that’s LEGIT. i also told him the prism was brody’s mother and he agreed so that’s canon now. AND I TOLD HIM how fucking dark ninja steel went w/ his storyline literally being about slavery and human trafficking and he was like I KNOW RIGHT and we just talked about how dumb everyone is for being mean to ninja steel and chris showed up at this point too and we all laughed about it together

- ok and then tbh we just spent all of sunday loitering around the megaforce cast but it was worth it because they LOVE US oh my god we talked to them like all sunday about just. everything. azim’s gf jordan was there and she kept telling us to just stick around we talked to her a lot, we asked her about alex heartman and like where tf was he and she said he was working :( BUT AZIM AND ALEX ARE STILL CLOSE so victory. azim also told us a bunch of little stories like how he and the megaforce cast searched for a house to stay in together and ended up finding one at the base of a volcano and he and drew would race around the volcano in the mornings like the crazy people they are, we told him how much we loved andrew’s ACTING SKILLS and “do you see any tears” and he cracked up and said “they used to call me ‘freaky tiki man’ all the time because of that one line” and he told us about other fan encounters and things, we told him on saturday how we all met and became friends because we were the only ppl who loved and defended megaforce and he was SO TOUCHED HES SO SWEET GOD i would die for him. 

- cameron gave us (me and kat) all his money to buy him lunch from the food trucks and i guess just trusted that we loved megaforce so much we wouldn’t just run away with all his money????? and he was absolutely correct we got him teriyaki chicken with garlic noodles and he loved us. his handler also asked us to buy him food and gave us his CREDIT CARD dfhdgfjgdf like power rangers people are wild man. who just gives their credit card to random 20yo girls and just. trusts that they love this children’s show so much they won’t steal it??? i mean they were right and we didn’t but still. AND HE MADE ME AIRDROP one of my megaforce reaction pics to his phone because he loved it so much (it’s the one of jake and emma and orion looking super done, that i had ben redraw for me, so we showed them both pics and all three of them LOVED IT) and cameron even looked ben up on deviantart to see it fdgjkdfdg he loves usss. christina was telling us how they were talking about us at dinner and cameron told her that we were his favorite part of the con :’)) azim also mentioned that they talked about us at dinner because he said to kat “we were discussing that you look like that girl from 10 things i hate about you who was julia stiles’ best friend” LIKE IMAGINE. HAVING THE MEGAFORCE CAST. DISCUSS WHO YOU LOOK LIKE FDJGKDHFJGD they’re so cute ugh and azim and cameron hugged us all goodbye and john mark and christina said goodbye too and i just. love them. so much. 

- at one point cameron asked me and kat how old we were and she was like “twenties...as a group we are in our early twenties” and he was like “.... so old enough to know how a hangover feels right?” and we lost it dfgjfdkdgjh and i said “if i were an actor i would just be stoned the whole con” AND CAMERON JUST NODDED AGGRESSIVELY god the entire cast was definitely hungover and they’re so valid. except christina, we asked her and she said she only had a milkshake so maybe she was their designated driver. 

- andrew is so chill too (i mean i do think he is perpetually high but its fine) i think he just loves talking??? like he’s there for the babies (so many babies!! and they love troy so much!!! hes so adorable with them) and then he just wants to chill like we went up to him on sunday and he was like oh hey did you guys see this picture and he pulled out his phone and showed a pic of the megaforce cast doing a goofy zombie pose at their photo ops and he told us his backstory on each of their zombie poses like. who does this??? he’s so adorable.

- and ofc we stopped by christina again on sunday bc she’s THE FAVE and shes just so cuuute ugh and i told her i loved all asian rangers bc i am asian!! and she was like omg are you?? and i was like yeah i’m south asian and she was like omg so that’s all part of asia too OH I GET IT SO WE’RE BOTH ASIAN and i was like YES AND YOU’RE ALL MY RANGERS and she smiled at me it was like staring at the sun tbh. i love and would die for her.

- when we went to say goodbye to the megaforce cast cameron just looked at all of us standing around his booth and was like, so genuinely, “you guys are the best” and it still makes me cry thinking about it. AND AZIM’S FACE when we all said “megaforce’s defenders never surrender!” to him he had the sweetest smile god i really would take a bullet for the entire megaforce cast in a heartbeat. they are the sweetest angels & deserve the world. if any of you breathe a word wrong about jake holling in my general vicinity ever again i will fry your intestines and eat them for breakfast thank you GOODBYE.

Sleepover ask: Re the Dragon Prince. I've seen lots of people who seem to think that Claudia is going to be the Azula of the series - others think she'll be the Zuko. What are your thoughts? Related, do you agree with the large part of the fandom which thinks that dark magic is evil/corrupting, or the smaller part that thinks it's not that black and white?

My only fandom interaction is memes and fanart so I'm pretty removed from any theories that are floating around. I have no clue what the fandom is saying and if what I'm saying matches up with something that's already been said. That goes for both parts of your ask, though I’ll get to the dark magic stuff later. Part of me isn't even sure what you mean by the Azula of the series or the Zuko since I’m missing that meta. The way I'm choosing to interpret it, is that by Azula you mean a character who is frighteningly competent, a direct antagonist to the main heroes, and is the lesser shadow of the main antagonist that nevertheless hangs over the main heroes more often and arguably does more damage. I'm choosing to interpret it that by Zuko you mean a character who is slightly incompetent, spends the majority of the early parts of the story as a direct antagonist and the shadow hanging over the heads of the main heroes, but by the end of the story undergoes a redemption arc and joins the main heroes, eventually turning on the main antagonist and without whom the main heroes would not be able to win in the end. 

(This is fucking long so I’m adding a read more)

That being said, I don't think Claudia fits either of these. Neither does Soren. I think they maybe might fit Zuko's role, but that's a bit of a stretch. And I'm gonna say why. Claudia despite being a lovable goof in personality is frighteningly competent when it comes to magic. However magic in this universe comes with a lot of complications and components. Thus we don't get to see her expertise as often as we saw it with Zuko and Azula's firebending. Also a thing to keep in mind is that Claudia and Soren are friends with Ezran and Callum. Soren has been told to kill the princes, true, same with Claudia being told to bring back the egg, but they both care for the boys in a way that Zuko and Azula couldn't because to them the avatar was a nameless figure. These people grew up together. They share relationships. Callum even has a crush on Claudia. Its not like the foe yay sexual tension of Katara/Zuko. These people up to the start of the series lived with each other and saw each other every day. Soren was training Callum and was captain of Harrow's guard. There is a familiarity that you can't ignore and which I think will be a major conflict for Soren specifically, when we finally get to that confrontation and he has to either kill them or let them go. Right now they are supposed to be on a mission to bring the princes home which is the exact opposite of both Zuko and Azula's missions to kill Aang. However, that being said, they are on a mission to kill Reyna. Soren and Claudia showing up is a threat because they are a) trying to stop the princes from returning the egg, and b) they're likely to try and kill Reyna in the process.

However, the main heroes don't even know that Soren and Claudia are trying to find them. Aside from running from their Aunt and the run in with Crow, they don't know who is following them and what will happen if they get found. So its not like in Avatar where every couple of episodes they had to bolt out of wherever the adventure of the week was because Zuko showed up and was hunting them. They're mostly trying to get the egg, now a baby dragon, back to the border and his mother as soon as possible.

And again you have to take the world itself into account. Within the world, elves are the bad guys to humans. They kicked humans out of Xadia. They've killed hundreds in the war. They literally assassinated Harrow, though it is unclear if Ezran and Callum have realized their dad is dead. In fact Callum was convinced that Reyna drank blood, thats how much elves are the boogeymen of the human kingdoms. Now we know that’s not true and the elves were justified for parts of it, and both sides are equally guilty.  If you want to compare the show to Avatar so much, then think of it this way. The human kingdoms are the fire nation, the elves the Earth Kingdom, and Ezran and Callum have just realized how shitty their people have been to the rest of the world. In this case, that makes Ezran and Callum Zuko in the middle of his redemption arc, when he’s working through his shit while traveling the earth kingdom to get to Ba Sing Se, and Soren and Claudia are Azula towards the end of that arc when she's like ‘help me kill the avatar and I'll make sure our dick of a dad lets you come home.’ Only in this case killing the avatar is returning the egg. Its not a great metaphor, and its been a while since I've watched avatar, but that's the feeling I get overall. Its Zuko realizing that the Fire Nation has done some fucked up shit and feeling helpless to fix it because he’s just an exiled prince.

I’ve gotten very off topic at this point. Um, I think going back to the Zuko or Azula thing, I think it depends. It depends on what happens when they finally catch up with the boys. If Claudia is Zuko, she’ll see Zym with the boys, recognize it as a sentient creature that deserves life and to be reunited with his mother and help the boys. If she’s Azula she’ll see Zym as a threat to Katolis that could one day rival Thunder and decide he needs killing. And of course there’s always other options, those are just two potential outcomes and they don’t even include Soren and what he decides to do about what his dad told him to do.

Your other question was about dark magic.  I don't know if dark magic is inherently corrupting. If it is, I think we’ll definitely see evidence within the show. In general when it comes to fiction magic is magic, no matter its source. Sometimes sources are inherently evil while others are inherently good but for the most part its meh and magic just is and how people use it makes it good or evil. However, in this case, you can't ignore where dark magic comes from. It doesn't come from negative thoughts and feelings like the dark side of the force. It doesn't come from shadows or darkness like half a dozen different magic systems.

Dark magic in TDP comes from the direct exploitation of creatures with inherent magic. To use dark magic you need a plant or creature with inherent magic that the mage then twists and exploits to do what they want. To find the Moonshadow elves Viren used a moth. For the switching spell Virin used the two-headed snake. Claudia crushed a bug to create fire at Harrow’s funeral. Nothing about dark magic is innate, nothing about it is natural, and in fact it comes from exploiting natural creatures and resources. You are using the life force of a living being and generally its dead afterwards.

This isn’t important for things like plants or bugs or whatever. Yeah Claudia killed a bug and used its life to summon fire. Whatever, who here hasn’t killed bugs before? It starts to matter however when you’ve got people like Ezran who can talk to animals and understand what they’re saying. I’m sure being a glowtoad there’s a spell that Claudia could cast using Bait. That’s not okay since Bait is a pet as well as a living creature but if it happened to another glowtoad I doubt anyone would care. But since Ezran can talk to the animals, he does care because he knows the animals are not consenting. It also starts to matter when you have magical creatures that are sapient and intelligent enough to put their foot down and say I will not let you exploit me like this.

So I don’t know if dark magic is inherently corrupting, but the idea of using creatures is an inherently dehumanizing and corrupting one. To dark mages, these animals, and even the elves and dragons and any other magical creatures that we haven’t met yet, are less than human and exploitable. To Virin and Claudia the egg wasn’t a baby, it wasn’t a person, the egg was a weapon. Because to them dragons, magical creatures, and the like are tools and weapons. This has got some serious race implications because the last time we thought of an entire class of people as tools we had slavery and it was legal.  

To use dark magic, you have to be in this mindset that people are tools to be exploited. I have no idea what dark magic using an elf’s life force or a dragon’s life force would look like. I’m sure its possible, and I’m sure I wouldn’t like the result. There is a reason the elves took one look at dark magic and said ‘not today satan’ and decided it was a severe enough crime to exile the entire human race from Xadia. They were not about to let themselves be used. There is a reason the elves are the boogeymen of Katolis and the rest of the human kingdoms and part of that is they’re the enemy and part of that is if they are monsters, if they aren’t human, then no one will care what abuses happen to them.

So no, I don’t think using dark magic is inherently corrupting. I don’t think the magic itself corrupts. However I do think that to use dark magic, one must look at the world through a corrupted lens. You must be okay with harming living creatures to accomplish what you want, and you must be okay exploiting others. Anyone who believes in the intelligence and personhood of all creatures and then uses dark magic is either ignorant or a hypocrite. When it comes to Claudia, I think she’s partially a hypocrite and partially doesn’t see how what she’s doing is harmful and wrong. She sees only the potential of dark magic, and hasn’t yet realized what she’s harming to get her way.

Follower Appreciation and reply post - Part 2 (16/05/2017 - 31/05/2017)

I want to welcome all new followers, as always. My eternal gratitude goes not only to my followers, but to everyone who has followed this blog or liked and/or reblogged any of its contents, your sweet comments and tags make all the effort well worth it! You’re all AMAZING, people!

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@spiralnoodleworld Alliance Pain is, indeed, an accurate term for this XD

@wilsonkingofprussia I think Capone Bege will soon get used to it as well. As I always say, I’m now awaiting Kid and Co.’s reactions to their alliance with Luffy XD

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@nelkk LOL Thank you for your input!

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post (& its Spanish version):

@mossyseas My train of thought was something like this when I started thinking about the Vinsmoke kids having Devil Fruit DNA mixed into them and I 100% agree that Oda’s answer was completely random back on that SBS. Thanks for your input, it is much appreciated!

@jiofreed I’m definitely reblogging that post and adding your screencapped comments on it, because this is something I intended to actually include and due to some circumstances, I ended up forgetting about it. So thank you so much for reminding me :)

@otakuonthemove You literally have no idea just how gratifying and fulfilling this kind of comment really is for me. Knowing there’s someone who finds what I do interesting, makes me want to churn out even more content. Thank you for your enthusiastic words.

@niyaow Well, he DOES look like a midget after adding Judge... Also, thanks. I’m glad you found it enjoyable :)

@the-noone-me Glad you enjoyed the read!

@zaziecurie ¡Mucha gracias! Muito obrigado/a!

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@dusty-jester Well, I posted this right after episode 785 had aired and the very next week, on episode 786, they had already corrected the blunder. So I’m afraid it was not because kids watch it, they messed up and then corrected it. You can see both images from 785 and 786 here thanks to @otakuonthemove.

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@katsunenpiece LOL If this were the case, I highly doubt Usopp would be lying about it. Exaggerating a bit, maybe; but not lying. See, I think his lies are some sort of coping mechanism to him; to fend off his very low self-esteem, he comes up with all these stories (lies) where he’s the brave hero and has all these crazy skills to give himself an emotional boost and keep himself from falling into a possible depression. He’s never lied about any of his friends or their skills, though. At least not as far as I remember. You’re free to correct me if I’m wrong :)

@amigodecuentos and @yukizus Thanks! Glad people find this interesting :)

@damondraco Yes, I know. That ask was referring to this other post of mine where I said Elbaf is fable written backwards. Thanks for the contribution, either way :)

@draceempressa Well, I wouldn’t know since I don’t read/watch Fairy Tail, but I’ll take your word for it. I kind of imagine Usopp becoming some sort of storyteller after he reaches his dream and “retires”; he’s amazing at it.

@ktosiowa Glad you like the theory! :)

@lizzyg-lifesgood and @memesterpink LOL Sorry, but it seems Usopp was destined to go to Elbaf since Oda created him. His entire character revolves around being a fabulist of sorts, so yeah, I’d love for One Piece to end like that. Thanks for the reblog and your input!

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@acesenpaimissyou Did I just get the OK from a Viking descendant for this? LOL I’m joking (hope I didn’t offend you). I agree with you on that one. It’s just that the Viking/Norman issue just popped up in my mind first, because the non-Elbaf giants we’ve seen so far all work for the WG and directly antagonise the “Elbaf ways”. I mean, every Elbaf giant we’ve seen so far have all been pirates: Mountainbeard and Fallbeard, Dorry and Brogy, Hajrudin (he technically was introduced as a mercenary but he was working under Buggy before he defected and joined the Straw Hat Grand Fleet as a pirate) and Oimo and Kashi, with whom we’ve seen the WG is not beyond making scammy offers to get them to work for them. The situation with Oimo and Kashi especially strikes as really similar to what was expected of the Normans once they settled in their new home (aside from becoming Christians): to keep the other Vikings at bay; in short to guard France against the Norse raids. I guess that’s why I made that connection first. Thanks a lot for your input!

@nicefandom & @katsunenpiece I’m glad you find it plausible. I like knowing if things I say make sense or not, because sometimes I think it makes sense but other people don’t. So it’s good to know I’m not being too imaginative. Thank you both for your inputs :)

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post:

@zaziecurie & @the-not-so-dark-age Thank you for your inputs and yes, that would explain a lot about Government agents and other Marine recruits.

Response to the people who left little tag comments on this post (1), this one (2), this one (3), this one (4),  this one (5), this one (6) and this one (7):

(1)

@starrynight32 I’ve been considering this possibility ever since Kaido was stated to be immortal. Maybe only Law can take the immortality from him. Something like “what the Ope Ope no Mi gives, only the Ope Ope no Mi can take”.

(2)

@katsunenpiece Well, it has something to do with Blackbeard’s Jolly Roger being the only one featuring three skulls and whatnot. See, most of the other flags represent the captain of a crew in one way or another; they always have one skull because it represents one person, but Blackbeard’s has three to represent one person.

This comment from Marco at the very end of chapter 577 adds to the theory and some people interpret it as Blackbeard having three different DNAs in him, thus he is three people into one and the reason he can have more than one DF power without them clashing and destroying him. It’s all speculation, but it’s an interesting take, especially since it’s true that Teach’s Jolly Roger IS the only one with three skulls, which is really curious unto itself.

Now for your other set of tags.

(3)

I hope for the same. Will Oda explain it though? I just don’t know, but I’d like to know.

(4)

@mapofallblue Yay! More Hajrudin fans. I’m actually surprised I’m not the only one who liked him, since there’s barely any fanart or meta posts of him. I’ve always loved the giants ever since Dorry and Brogy. Then again I’m really biased because I just love ancient Norse culture, it’s fascinating.

(5)

@kartellthings That’s exactly what I mean. Apart from that, I also heard that his editors announced that this arc was going to end by the end of May or the end of June; there are literally four chapters left (if he doesn’t take any breaks) for this arc to end according to that deadline. I don’t really think he’ll be able to properly finish the arc in four chapters and it’ll be a bit longer than that, but if he were to be trying to meet that deadline, the story might suffer. I may be wrong, though. Maybe he’ll manage to pull off something like that, but for the time being, I highly doubt it. Thanks a bunch for your input!

(6)

@hawk-in-a-tree I absolutely agree with you. You said it all, nothing else to add :)

(7)

@the-not-so-dark-age I feel you! I suddenly NEED this to be Bonney’s backstory. As I said in the post: Oda, make it happen! ... Pretty please? Thanks for adding your opinion!

And last, but not least:

@chance4choice No problem. Even if you had still disagreed with me, it would have been fine as well. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I’m not here to fight with anyone, so yeah, no hard feelings on my part :)

@hawk-in-a-tree LOL I’m glad I have my net back, too. I was going crazy because I could literally do nothing: no OP episode, unable to answer asks or work on meta/raffle prizes, unable to communicate with three of my closest friends... ‘Twas Hell, I’m telling you! HELL!

@mssarahkathryn Oh, don’t worry, your first comment was clear enough. The thing is, I’d seen quite a few posts claiming that people who are against Pudding’s recent development did not want complex characters and the like, so I kind of took the opportunity to make that clear while answering to your comment seeing as it was about that same subject. Sorry for the confusion ^^; That said, I must say that I’m happy about Big Mom’s flashback not having that “pity factor” I mentioned. Then again, she’s not one of the beautiful/cute female villains either... Nevertheless, I appreaciate the fact that Oda is letting her be one of the bad guys.

As usual, if I forgot anyone, it’s more than likely because I didn’t get a notification about it. Big thanks to all of you!

Pinterest is an odd duck. It’s a very particular internet microcosm and from the outside, it can seem like nothing at all. I always thought it was sort of substantless. I don’t even own a photo album (virtual or otherwise), what would I ever want with a Pinterest account? I only got interested in the platform when my deep love of anime fan art got to the point where keeping them all in a folder on my desktop seemed unpractical since I never took the time to admire them. The Pinterest layout was better for that and for a while that’s all it was. Just my personal fanart folder.

nothing wrong with an extra fan art folder!

Eventually, I decided to keep my screencaps there. I figured if anything ever happened to my blog, at least I would have my pretty pictures. Then my screencap issues spiralled mildly out of control (my autocorrect wanted to change “mildly” for “wildly”. Judgy!!) and I started using it as a complement to the blog. I can’t just cram 100 pictures in every review after all. 200+ for the purdy shows. Then I discovered Imgur and found it it would be easier for you guys to download high res caps from there so I started using that as my extended gallery

I kept my Pinterest though. And kept adding the caps there as well. There’s just something about the way images are presented on a board that speaks to me. You can really get an overall view. It’s not just individual scrolling pictures like Imgur, it’s, well, boards.

My Pinterest is pretty basic. I have boards for individual anime I am likely to be collecting a lot of fanart from, or that I am reviewing episodically and therefore have a particularly large amount of caps for. I also have an anime review board with sections for individual series. I started out with a board called “anime I like” which is essentially a miscellaneous as well.

Lately, though, I’ve developed something of a hobby. For someone like me that gets weird satisfaction out of sorting out and organizing things, Pinterest offers a lot of opportunities. I once did a collab with the wonderful Jordanne from Bloodthirsty Little Beasts and she thought me that you can create thematic boards. Boards that essentially tell a story through unrelated images. I’m not quite there yet. I like to think of that as Pinterest advanced! I am striving for it.

In the meantime, I’ve started a few more general boards. Anime boys and girls were the two first not so strictly categorized boards. They were just created so I would have a spot for the cute character portraits came across, that weren’t necessarily from a show I had seen (or any show for that matter).

There’s nothing special about these boards. I think  90% of Pinterest users have something similar. Just cause it isn’t original doesn’t mean it’s not fun. There’s something almost therapeutic about coming home after a long day and getting lost in a sea of beautiful anime charas. It’s cheaper than booze too.

Slowly though I branched out into just slightly more unusual but nearly, territory. Anime food. I have had a long-standing interest in anime food and often go out of my way to get screencaps of yummy looking dishes whenever they feature in something I’m watching. Kakuriyo Bed and Breakfast for Spirits was a goldmine in that regard. It’s really fun to see different artistic interpretations of the same dish. I know I m not the only one with this inclination. Since creating the board I’ve discovered a lot of similar ones on Pinterest.

That’s the thing, once you get just a bit more unusual, you can easily find people with similar image interests as you. The platform is not very interactive in any way but it is well geared towards finding the images you’re looking for. As a way to form an extremely vague connection with someone you never have to interact with, it’s pretty good.

The next board I made because it seemed silly that I hadn’t already made it was Anime drunks. I was surprised just how few pins I had for this board. Clearly, I should get on it and make more of an effort to find my fellow animated boozehounds. You know, with summer coming back, I’ve been drinking less. Pretty soon people will be calling me a fake drunk and they’ll be right! This is embarrassing.

So far these were fun Little collections without much more to them. But it’s a bit different with the two last boards I created. At first glance, they’re really not that different, in fact, I didn’t realize they would be special in any way when I created them but now, they’ve opened my eyes to the potential of Pinterest.

The first of these boards is Animescapes. This is where I keep screen caps of landscapes, backgrounds and buildings. Because these backgrounds are primarily screencaps I’ve taken myself across many different shows, rather than fanart, and thanks to Pinterest’s big picture layout, it becomes very easy to compare the images. I’ve started to pick up on trends in the background colouring of shows and the framing if buildings for example.

It’s brought to my attention certain details and visual elements I would never have noticed while watching the show. And even going back over screencaps I’ve taken, there are things that only become obvious when you can see them all together. It gives you a visual sense of the space in which anime exist.

This has become a bit of a low key obsession. I go back over episodes and try to capture as many backgrounds as possible. Preferably shown at different times of the day or in different seasons. I compare Sakuras and full moons. I try to see the imagery that comes up most often but we may have missed cause our brains are trained to follow the action. I’ve gotten a few post ideas from there and they are some of my favourites.

I don’t have enough backgrounds to do any in-depth analysis yet. Eventually, I think I might subdivide this board. Cityscapes, rural landscapes, interiors, that sort of thing.  I’ve noticed anime has a lot of wooden interiors even though these have become much less popular in real life. I wonder if they are easier to illustrate…

The last board I created is anime eyes. I really don’t know why it took me so long. I have always loved the expressive nature of Anime eyes and some of you may have noticed that close-ups of characters’ eyes are frequent in my screen caps. Unlike the landscapes, I pay close attention to eyes while I’m watching a show. Too close maybe. I entangled the expression with everything else that’s happening. And that’s fine, it’s how you’re supposed to watch a show I figure.

However, being able to go back to those images stripped of context gives me a whole new appreciation of just how much can be conveyed in a single frame. And you can see from one show to the next, one face to the next, how simple changes in line shape or thickness can really affect the impression an image leaves. I love that about animation. This is part of what I enjoy of the medium over live action.

And Pinterest of all things has brought that out in a way that I can really appreciate it. I hope that in the future I will learn to use the platform better and create some truly interesting boards.

Do you have a Pinterest? If so, how do you use it?

Irina’s Pinterest Journeys Pinterest is an odd duck. It's a very particular internet microcosm and from the outside, it can seem like nothing at all.