Why would you—That's not—I just wanted to ask for help, why did you have to go and make it awkward???

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Cab you talk about the Unova protags please? Especially grey.

Sure! If I'm talking about Black and Grey, I might as well talk about White and Gray too. So, to preface this, in my AU Unova has two alternate universes, with the differences them mostly being the games' version differences, like one universe has White Forest and the other has Black City. Gates rarely open between the two universes, and scientists have been researching the phenomenon. They managed to create a function that should open the gate, but for unknown reasons fails to function. Fennel, who helped develop the X-Transceiver, decides to include a button on a few test models of the device that would open the gate, and hands it to a few trainers in hopes of one of them getting it to work.

Black and White are each others' alternate universe counterparts, and so are Grey and Gray. As some of the only people whose counterparts are different, they have the ability to open the gates with their X-Transceivers. They basically just use it to visit each other and check in on their journey, and seeing all the differences between their worlds.

That's the basics, now to talk about the actual characters! I've drawn their family trees before so here they are! Pics and character info behind the readmore since this got long!

So, Black and White's dad is Looker. (Emma's a character Looker meets in XY postgame, in case you haven't seen her. It's my AU and I decided he adopts her. In canon Looker disappears into another universe but by the time that happens his kid(s) are experts in dimensional travel and go get him back.)

Black and White are very different people. Black's a shy, awkward kid with social anxiety who can barely order in restaurants, but around his friends and online he's more confident and outspoken. His hobbies are gaming and music, and he's a mod at a chatroom Cheren started for their friend group. White, meanwhile, is confident and says whatever comes to mind, and prefers outdoor hobbies like hiking and biking. She's in her universe's version of Cheren's chatroom, but barely ever checks it, though she likes hearing Cheren and Bianca tell her what's been going on in there.

Finally, the character you actually wanted to hear about, Grey! Her and Gray's father is dead in both worlds, nobody talks about him, and everyone in the family is better off without him. That's all you need to know about him.

When they meet, Grey decides on "E" and "A" as their nicknames since their names are pronounced the same.

Grey's the type of person who seems to barrel through everything with the self-confidence of someone who always gets her way. She's constantly joking about everything, including her bisexuality, but usually avoids talking about anything serious about herself or her feelings, deflecting anything like that with more jokes. She does have the emotional maturity to notice if somebody's hurting and take things seriously to help them. However, she also has a bit of a short temper and may start fights to defend somebody, as well as think her way of helping someone is the only right way, so it may not always turn out well, but she tries her best.

Gray, on the other hand, is nervous and shaky, and has a hard time asserting himself even around his closest friends in fear of offending them. He's also got serious reoccurring short-term memory issues, and usually has to rely on his mom or his friend Hue for help. (Hue being Hugh's name in this AU because I wanted to make the color theme more obvious. His little sister's named Tint!) Also, unlike Grey, Gray has DID, and an alter named Nate who usualy comes out whenever Gray is in serious mental distress and needs somebody to just take over. Nate's more calm and collected than Gray, though still has the same memory issues, he's just more likely to make deadpan jokes about it. Nate usually makes his appearance obvious to others by putting on his visor and putting his hair up, looking more like his canon design.

I realized I didn't actually have any good pics of him outside paper drawings so I quickly whipped this up just now! DID is kind of a touchy subject since it gets misrepresented in media so much but I tried my best to research actual DID for my boys Gray and Nate... If I still get something horribly wrong with them at some point I hope someone will tell me.

I hope that was enough! If you've got any questions feel free to ask, it's getting a bit late here and I'm tired so I'm gonna end the post here lol

(non-ml asks)

Anonymous said:

So the Pokémon anniversary a couple of weeks back showed two very different takes in the future of Pokémon. What are your thoughts on the Sinnoh remakes and Legends Arceus?

I really hate the Sinnoh remakes. It’s not that I hate the chibi style (I mean, Pokemon started that way), but like--remake the game but just make it “the 2D game but 3D”???? Why? And it feels disrespectful because every other remake has used the style of the other games they were in (so FRLG looked like RSE, HGSS looked like DPPt, ORAS looked like XY, and most of the time, the remakes looked outright better than the style they were based on). It’s a shame because I really wanted to see an improvement from Sword and Shield, which didn’t engage/interest me and... I don’t know if this will make total sense, but instead of an upgrade from Sun & Moon, it feels like an upgrade of XY? Like, XY’s problems but with better proportions.

I’m cautiously optimistic for Legends Arceus, if only because, “YES, AN ACTUALLY SINGLE GAME INSTEAD OF THE DUAL STUFF THEY KEEP PULLING” (which was absolutely unacceptable when they got to console stuff). I actually didn’t notice the framedrop issues because I’m used to running games on a laptop that clearly isn’t made for them, so I’m sort of immune to it. I haven’t decided if I’ll get it for sure but the premise intrigues me and I really like Arceus.

Anonymous said:

How is Moroha the Marinette of Inuyasha?

- needlessly tormented by the narrative

- things that other people do to her don’t get addressed

- people closest to her are usually awful

- awesomely overpowered yet narrative will constantly have her screw up and put her down/make her feel worthless

- gets sidelined/ignored in favor of other characters

Anonymous said:

In one of your Askplosions(don't remember which one, sorry), you said that you can't stand the Tomboy Lesbian stereotype, which, to be honest, I kind of agree with. But what about Tomboy Bisexual? I guess it's not as bad if a female character's tomboyishness/girlishness isn't used as a clue as to her sexuality(like "you know she's a lesbian because she's BUTCH!!!"), but there aren't really stereotypes associated with being bi that are based in masculinity or femininity(due to bi erasure sadly.).

kfdngjdfgd I like how you had to had that bis don’t easily get stereotypes as much due to bi erasure because you’re absolutely right.

“Tombis” are fine, I have no problem with them. Any stereotype to avoid then are just the general bi stereotypes.

Anonymous said:

I was just reading TV Tropes' page for "Gratuitous Princess" and holy shit the sexism on display here is really nauseating. It's exactly like "Improbably Female Cast"(there are too many female characters here and it's uncalled for, despite it being okay for characters to predominantly be men), in that it's basically insulting any story that has anything to do with princesses at all by saying it "isn't needed". TV Tropes has always had a way of including underhanded sexism when talking about female-dominated/aimed works or tropes having to do with female characters or anything designed to appeal to female audiences; the more feminine, the more ridiculed it is by TV Tropes, despite claiming to believe otherwise.

Similar to how I complained about their "Improbably Female Cast" trope, Gratuitous Princess claims that stories with "more princesses than is plausible for the setting" are this trope because any abundance of princesses is somehow bad or doesn't make sense, even if it would make sense for there to be that many princesses/all the characters to be princesses.

For example, they claim that an entire school of princesses is implausible and "gratuitous", but if the school is intentionally meant to be a "royal" school for girls to learn to be princesses(whether or not they were actually born into royalty), then it's not actually gratuitous and makes sense within the setting! If the story follows a monarchy, it makes sense to have lots of princesses, especially if it's aimed at young girls.

If the main characters are a group of normal girls who wish they were princesses and the story follows "fantastical" versions of their imaginary princess selves, then that also makes sense, especially if the story has "every girl can be a princess" as their moral or something. There's nothing wrong with stories like that, but TV Tropes claims they're unnecessary because anything involving princesses(stuff little girls like) are automatically shoehorned in.

Just look at the examples, which are all written in an unnecessarily derogatory way, with statements such as "for some reason, she's called a princess", or "the rulers should be queens, and yet they're princesses"(when it COULD just be a principality; do your research, TV Tropes), or "how this has anything to do with princessing is never explained", as if the mere fact that she's a princess is something bad or worthy of scorn.

They even claim Sailor Moon is this trope when Naoko Takeuchi simply wanted the story to revolve around a group of girls who just so happened to be reincarnated princesses who ruled over their respective planet. It's supposed to be a girl power wish fulfillment fantasy that appeals teenage girls by showing all the girly things they like as implements of power!

And yet TV Tropes disses it for just that, because anything that's made to appeal to girls can't ever make sense. Now, if they were complaining about how, in aggregate, shows about princesses or in which every female character is a princess can reinforce the notion that the only way for a female character to be noteworthy in any way is if she's a princess, then that would be different, but that's not what's happening. They're dissing princess stories just for existing. No matter what, TV Tropes always finds something bad to say about female-driven storylines.

Always. Just look at their page for "Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls", "Pony Tale", and "Frills of Justice". There's always a mean-spirited undertone, as if they hate the very idea of these stories and narrative devices existing just because they're designed to appeal to little girls. I'm not saying you're never allowed to critique those stories the way you would any other, it's just the WAY TV Tropes does it. They're not critiquing, they're sarcastically mocking. They're going about it all wrong! And it's especially obvious when they never do it to boys' shows, even though those shows often do have messages that can actually be harmful and even ignore or objectify women. But I guess the latter is why they don't care. Boys will be boys, am I right?

Oh joy, internalized/intentional misogyny!

Ugh, I’ve been lucky enough to stay away from those articles on TV Tropes. I hate it when opinions clearly start seeping into the article.

For example, “Kiss Your Hand” (I think that’s the name) sums up the whole “hand kissing” thing and goes into detail about how nowadays it’s considered more uncomfortable/creepy, which isn’t necessarily an opinion but just detailing how the times have changed.

AND JUST LET US FEMALES HAVE GIRL SHOWS WITHOUT MAKING BACKHANDED COMMENTS.

It’s the same thing with stuff like “chick flicks,” y’know? Maybe it’s just been having to hang out with my father and hearing him make dumb blond jokes and talks about how chick flicks are boring/bad but UGH, I’m sick of it.

Anonymous said:

Hi, so I was thinking about what you said about how there aren't words for guys who act either masculine or feminine, and I agree, it's totally unfair, but technically feminine boys are called janegirls(or femboys, I don't know if that's specifically an LGBTQ+ term or not, so excuse me if it is, but I've heard it used this way before), or tomgirls(even though last time I checked, the term "tomgirl" referred to either a girly tomboy or a tomboyish girly girl, but I digress).

As for masculine guys, I'm not so sure there's a term for it, I guess since deviation from masculinity is less acceptable for men than deviation from femininity is for women(because, you know, femininity=lesser. ;(), although there IS the term "macho"...but that tends to be used in a derogatory sense nowadays. I've also heard "boys' boy", "manly man", etc. TV Tropes has a trope called "Sensitive Guy and Manly Man" as the male counterpart to Tomboy and Girly Girl. So I guess there are terms.

I also just wanted to add that the term "tomboy" technically was originally a male phrase to describe a young boy who was boisterous, loud, mischievous, and out-of-control; in other words, a misbehaved, trouble kid. I don't know how or when it got attributed to girls, I think there was the term tomgirl at one point(though now it's just used for an in-between type of girl), but even that is barely used anymore. Not sure where or when the term "girly girl" came about, though, sorry to say. ;(

Yeah, that’s true. I’ve honestly never heard the term “janegirls” before, but I’d prefer if a “““masculine”““ girl was just called “tomgirl” instead. It feels less like “girl acting like a boy” and--yeah, calling a girl one thing or another just makes it look like they’re “““different”““ from “““normal girls”““ and I just roll my eyes.

Anonymous said:

Hi, I know the post you're talking about(in your fourth non-ml Askplosion) about a boy who related more to female characters! It was on BoredPanda and it was by Damian Alexander(it can also be found on his official Tumblr), and it was called "Guy Illustrates How Boys Develop Sexism From Seemingly Small Interactions With Adults" and it was all about how he loved female characters like Matilda, Alice, Mulan, Dorothy, Anne of Green Gables, and The Powerpuff Girls, and was routinely made fun of and discouraged from liking them, even from the teacher, who assigned everybody a paper(I mean not really they were probably in pre/elementary school but whatevs) about a fictional character they looked up to, but wouldn't let Damian write about Matilda, even though she let girls write about Spiderman, Harry Potter, and Peter Pan. And he basically talked about how this kind of societal attitude conditions boys to see girls as inferior and not worthy of being looked up to. It's really interesting.

Thank you! Now people can maybe go read it~

Anonymous said:

So you talked about how shows for women are considered lame and overdramatic, while shows for men are allowed to sexualize women and still be seen as good because they're MANLY, and it just reminded me of how TV Tropes has a page called "So You Want To Write A Shonen Series" and one of their points was literally that since teenage boys are horny, they'll relate to a male lead that pervs on girls and peeps on them dressing, but that you shouldn't have the girl be aware or actually hit the boy, because that has Unfortunate Implications. What were those Unfortunate Implications according to TV Tropes, you ask? Double Standard Abuse: Female-on-Male. Wow. So basically they're saying it's perfectly okay for a boy to sexually harass a girl and show absolutely no respect for her privacy because it's what "all" teenage boys want to see/do, but the second a girl actually defends her agency it's a bad thing, and they have the NERVE to say it's sexist against BOYS on top of that. Ugh. I just...

S...sexist against boys...

I can’t--I just--

Also, cue the girl punching/hitting and then the girl is immediately considering “aggressive” for defending herself from being perved on, and even if people say that the girl didn’t deserve to be perved on, they’ll be like, “bUT SHE DIDN’T HAVE TO GO tHaT fAr.”

Anonymous said:

I just realized something: the term "uncanny valley" literally comes from the Japanese words "bukimi no tani", meaning we LITERALLY wouldn't have the English term without the Japanese one. So, yeah, tropers can shut the fuck up now about tropes having Japanese names because "no one will know what it means!". -_-

These people DO know that words in the English language are compromised/inspired by a bunch of other languages, right???

eggchjf said:

someone probably pointed this out but ALSO not only does Marinette have Homura's VA, but Alya is voiced by Mami's VA (Carrie Keranen)

why did you have to ruin everything for me

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh

Anonymous said:

Hi, I'm the Madoka salt anon. And I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry for bombarding you with all those asks. I didn't mean to be a "monster", I guess I just got carried away because, let's face it: there aren't a lot of people who dislike this show. Almost everyone glorifies this show as feminist empowerment while dismissing other Magical Girl shows as lesser than or somehow less feminist despite being written by women for women. These people won't give female authors the time of day and so when a man shows up suddenly they jump on the Magical Girl Fan bandwagon and praise it for doing what the genre has already done.

And when you do hear a different opinion, that person gets told off, insulted, blocked, downvoted, whatever because how dare you hate this show written by men for men rather than the stuff written by women for women? I once saw someone on Quora ask why Madoka was so popular when all it did was use the cliche "time loops" concept in so many other plots, and the response was literally "You didn’t know what you were looking at, so mistook your opinion for relevant commentary."

Let that sink in. If you don't agree with people who like Madoka Magica, it's because you're simply too dumb to understand how deep and complex it is, and your opinion doesn't matter. I've also heard the similar "You have no idea what you just watched" or "You're not smart enough to understand it" or "It's too complicated for you" nonsense and I hate it. Because most of what Madoka does isn't even that twisted or hard to understand; it's relatively simple when you look at it. The show just makes it dark. Monsters stealing energy from teenage girls? Sailor Moon did that and did it better(and didn't just go after teenage girls/women, so it wasn't based off sexism and "teenage girls are hysterical"). Hardships of being a magical girl? Girls uniting against evil? Female friendships/romance? So many other Magical Girl shows did that, too.

Come to think of it, Madoka Magica didn't even have the girls fight back against the system because only Madoka found a way out and purified the girls souls? Girl realizes she's been going about being a hero the wrong way and is confronted with her own selfishness? Look at Utena, which mastered this much more skillfully. Magical girl gets in a love triangle with another girl, vies for the affection of a fragile white-haired boy, and loses? Princess Tutu, except that the other girl was also a Magical Girl, they became friends and actually rebelled against the system together, and Ahiru(aka Princess Tutu) didn't fall into the pit of despair because girls should be punished for their sexualities and compete against each other for men and if a guy doesn't like you, you're worthless.

Even the whole "these girls are liches" thing wasn't very complex and well-handled as a lot of people like to think: the gems are called Soul Gems because your soul is in a gem. Wow. So clever. And they're Grief Seeds because they're seeds released from grievous witches. Also(not) clever. Even the fact that the acronyms are reversed(SG, GS) because Magical Girls turn into witches just made me go "yawn, I get it".

The whole show is just very lazily done and designed and tries too hard to be scary and deep and complex and "not like those other Magical Girl shows" while also trying too hard to make the girls super cute but also super badass so that we both are led to think it's a traditional Magical Girl show AND feel bad when these girls die because whoops they weren't so strong and badass after all!

Not to mention the whole "Magical Girls become witches just like how girls become women" thing really pisses me off because it shits on the whole coming-of-age aspect of Magical Girl as well(strong girls embracing their agency as they prepare to enter womanhood) by instead demonizing the very concept so that "becoming a woman" is a bad, vile, horrible thing(because being a woman makes you "more powerful", so the more powerful a woman is, the more mentally unstable she is) and then topping it off by having Madoka save the girls from becoming witches, aka women, making sure they never achieve a more mature state and maintain a level of childlike naivete.

It has so many misogynistic themes and concepts(girls are emotional, girls are weak-willed, girls are impressionable, girls shouldn't be selfish, girls shouldn't try to be heroes, girls should be pit against each other especially over a guy, girls shouldn't achieve power or become women, and more, and more, and more), that are stated matter-of-factly within the story and always proven right by the narrative, and yet people gobble it up and anytime somebody points it out, they are met with utter hostility.

Some people even defend it by saying those things are true! People only like Madoka because it's written by a man and depicts women suffering, in a genre written by women and meant to empower girls, which they don't like. And also because anything a man writes is automatically deeper and more valid than anything a woman writes.

So that's why when I found out that you didn't like Madoka either I was more than happy to discuss it with you, but I realize now that I was going overboard. I was just so happy that there was someone who agreed with me and actually understood what I was trying to say and found it problematic, and the fact that you say you're not that well-versed in Magical Girl proves my point even more because you don't even have to watch much Magical Girl to know that this is fucked up.

If you want me to stop sending Madoka salt asks, then fine. I'll stop. I didn't mean to bother you with these asks, I just wanted to see your point of view on Madoka Magica when everybody else is singing its praises left and right and never stopping once to actually think about it(while also claiming that people who don't like it are the ones "not thinking".). Hearing someone who's actually critical of this nonsense show is refreshing.

Firstly thank you for the ask! It’s honestly not your fault, I’ve just been struggling a bit lately with ask overloads.

That doesn’t necessarily mean I want you to stop, but I’d rather discuss it over Tumblr DMs so things are more balanced. Walls of text can be a little overwhelming for me (that’s why sometimes I try to balance my own walls of text with screenshots).

Anonymous said:

I've been thinking of how much I hate the misogyny in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, so I decided that instead of just salting about it(even though I still do from time to time because they're legitimate critiques and boy is it fun), I'm going to start talking about what I would do to improve it. Now doing this may mean it won't be the "dark" anime many people have wanted it to be, but I've been thinking of it for a while and it's my personal opinion, so let's get to it:

First, I would still have the Incubators, though they would probably have a different name because the name "Incubator" is pretty skeevy and part of a lot of the misogyny in the show. They would still recruit magical girls(who are called "Puellae Magi" in-universe, at least in the English dub and possibly some other dubs as well), only they do it for a different reason: Incubators go after teenage girls who are leading rough, difficult lives, and the magical girl contracts help them to improve their lives and give them a reason to live. They still make wishes, but the wishes don't screw them over because of their secret "selfishness".

However, if a potential magical girl is unclear or unsure of what she truly wishes for, this may lead things to go haywire. Basically, the whole magical girl thing is more heartwarming and the Incubators truly want to help the ladies in need, not just leech off of them. There's also no Soul Gems, or at least, their souls aren't actually in the Gems. They're called such because the Gems are powered by their Souls, and rather than the girls losing consciousness and "dying" when their Gems are too far apart from them, they simply lose their ability to perform magic and their magic becomes weaker. They still have stronger bodies though, much stronger than average humans, because becoming a magical girl gives them super strength/speed/stamina and all that, just WITHOUT making them liches.

Their Gems are non-interchangeable, so you can only use your own, not another girl's. As for the witches, they still exist, but witches weren't the intention of the Incubators; they're due to a botched experiment and it's up to magical girls to not only fight and defeat them, but return them to their original selves, thus showing that hope always does triumph over despair. I would also have the magical girls fight not only witches, but ordinary criminals as well, because having them fight only witches gets a little boring and predictable.

And finally, while there would still be only teenage girls who are chosen to become magical girls, it wouldn't be because they're "the most emotional" or some Hysterical Woman shit like that. It would be something more empowering, like, maybe only teenage girls are chosen because they're the most capable of magic and are simply more powerful magically than everyone else. They would still have their powers as adult women, but you have to be a teenage girl(well, one with a difficult/horrible life) to be recruited in the first place, if that makes sense.

And maybe older magical girls(well, women) would be able to mentor and assist younger ones(which is very much in-line with the coming of age themes present in magical girl, women supporting and uplifting younger girls as they advance into womanhood). This would make the claim that women such as Anne Frank, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, and Queen Himiko were magical girls less...iffy, but I still wouldn't make it so that ALL influential women were magical girls, nor that humanity would be in caves without the Incubators. There'd also be transformation/detrasformation phrases of course.

In short, the magical girl system exists more so as a form of wish fulfillment, both in and out of universe, since it's for teenage girls with rough lives who are "empowered" by becoming magical girls and getting to live out a fantasy of fighting crime while looking pretty, as an exchange for getting a wish fulfilled that will help them improve their lives. Only teenage girls have this ability because they're the strongest magic users, not because of "female hysteria". In other words, the magical girl system exists to support and benefit the girls, rather than exploit them.

Now, since I mainly went over the magical girl system itself, I'll talk about the characters. Kyoko still loves to eat, is still relatively selfish, and still has discord with Sayaka, but they overcome it and become friends MUCH sooner and in a much more natural way. Mami and Kyoko's relationship will actually be stated in-universe, not just in some side material. Sayaka still has a crush on her male friend, but confesses to him before Hitomi does. At this point, he either says yes and they hit it off but eventually don't work out and decide they'd be better as friends, or he says no and she's sad but perfectly fine with that, and encourages Hitomi to go after Kyousuke. Hitomi may do it if Kyousuke turns down Sayaka, or she may feel bad about going after him after her best friend just got turned down, especially if she's worried about getting turned down herself, since Sayaka has known him far longer so she has even less of a chance, right? If Hitomi does confess, Kyousuke WILL say yes, but because his arm was healed due to Sayaka's wish, he's more concerned about playing the violin than spending time with his alleged girlfriend and they eventually fall out. This is keeping in line with Gen's claim that Kyousuke isn't a good match for either of the two girls. Though they may get together in the future.

As for Sayaka...well, she gets with Kyoko and it's actually made CANONICAL in-universe. I don't know about Madoka and Homura though, if she's less possessive of Madoka than she was in canon then perhaps she has a shot. Either way, I would really love if the ships were actually canon and not just queerbaiting. Regardless, Sayaka and Hitomi stay friends. Also, on a meta level, I would really love it if there were more female writers on Madoka Magica, and that the show was targeted towards a female viewing audience, which would mean toning down the fanservice(if not removing it entirely), as well as the troublesome aspects, as I've talked about earlier. And no "torturing young innocent girls and restricting their agency" since that's not what the magical girl genre is about and it never has been. This probably means more episodes though. Anyway, there's probably more stuff I'm forgetting, but to sum it up, this is how I would fix Madoka Magica. What do you think?

I think it’s a really good idea!!! Refreshing~ You know I’m all about fix-its.

Plus, all I heard was “Madoka Magica without being edgy” and I’m like, “yes please, I’m here for it.”

Anonymous said:

About Improbably Female Cast, it has come to my attention that Madoka Magica has been removed from the list. Someone in the discussion section of the trope removed it saying that since it's a magical GIRL show, it having a majority female cast isn't "improbable". The Touhou example is still there, though, because there's apparently something wrong with stories that have less men than women or have next to no men in them. Because a prominent male character is a requirement to tell a good story.

They also removed Strawberry Panic! because it takes place in an all girls' school, and Y: The Last Man, because it takes place in a futuristic world where almost all the men died. But still, the fact that those examples were there at all speaks volumes about the double standard there at TV Tropes. Even if the story has a realistic and plausible reason for the setting to be mostly female, as the examples above are, TV Tropes still considered them improbable. It's as if TV Tropes doesn't just dislike/question stories about a mostly female cast when it doesn't "have" to be, they dislike/question majority female casts in GENERAL! And the closest they have to a Spear Counterpart is Cast Full of Pretty Boys, which is a totally different trope: a cast in which most of the characters are "bishounen" aka pretty boys, because it appeals to a female demographic.

So it's "justified" but female casts aren't. And the playing with section reeks of "Stay in The Kitchen" sexism, with statements can be okay or even exist is if it's a harem or exists to titillate men who crave girl-on-girl interaction(and in fact, the main page lists this as their FIRST reason such a cast would exist, appealing to little girls and/or queer women is secondary/tertiary in their eyes), and the situations they propose in which the trope could be played with almost all involve the few boys attempting to hook up with as many women as possible or manipulating the women to fall in love with them, with the so-called justification that "the viewers just like their lesbians". And almost all their quotes(same on the Playing With page) are about people whining and complaining that the cast has too many girls in it. The Image Links section even has a link to a picture of two boys griping and bleating about the lack of boys in whatever show they're watching("They don't appeal to our demographic!" "Why are there no boys in our story?"), which TV Tropes has the nerve to call a "witty observation".

But what pisses me off even more is the fact that a predominantly female cast even NEEDS a justification in the first place. They only pulled specific examples of shows that supposedly dictated that the cast MUST be mainly female: Magical Girl shows, all-girls school settings, stories in which the entirety of men were killed off...only in extreme circumstances can you "resort" to using female characters but if the situation was reversed, the male equivalent wouldn't be considered improbable to BEGIN WITH. And this is despite the fact that the discussion page is FULL of people saying the trope should be renamed because of sexism, detailing many things I'm detailing right now, to the point where it's even gone off TV Tropes and is right here on Tumblr itself(one troper called it "PC whining", just ugh)! I just wish TV Tropes would realize the inherent sexism in calling such a cast improbable, since it makes it look like they're unhappy with the representation. Then again, they might be.

I’VE NOTICED THAT TOO, YEAH.

show: *has predominately female cast*

people: oKaY I guess that makes sense bUT ONlY BECAUSE--

And because misogyny isn’t as widely discouraged as... example, people would be absolutely crucified for complaining about a show having “too many POCs”... it means that those comments usually get ignored.

Anonymous said:

The Improbably Female Cast talk, especially the part about men complaining when stories have mostly female characters/seeing spaces that are 1/3 female as "majority female", reminded me of how I saw a study somewhere talking about the differences between how men and women dream, and it was saying that men's dreams tend to have more men than women in them, while women's dreams tend to have an equal amount of members from both sexes. Yikes. Even in their sleep men want women out of the picture.

And just in case you're curious, I found the study itself! It's called "Gender Similarities and Differences in Dreams", though if you look up "differences in how men and women dream" it should be the second thing under the link that also includes a snippet of the article. To quote the study itself: "there is a gender difference in how often men and women include male and female characters in their dreams: men dream twice as often about other men as they do about women(67% vs. 33%), and women dream equally about both sexes (48% men, 52% women). This is the largest difference between American men and women." Ouch. Granted, it's specifically talking about Americans, but I don't even want to imagine how even more skewed it probably is in men's favors for men in other countries(not gonna name drop any ACTUAL countries obviously.)! Internalized misogyny runs deep, to the point where men can't even conceive of women having a more significant role than them in anything, even in dreams.

And it runs deeper than that, too. I saw a post on Micechat called "The Smurfette Principle" by JMora. You probably already know what that is, but just in case you don't(or anyone else reading this doesn't), it's a trope describing the tendency for works to have a disproportionate amount of male characters with only one female in the group, if not the whole cast(named after Smurfette, the only female Smurf). The entire article is really well written and it discusses the gender disparity in fiction quite nicely, but what I'd really like to call your attention to is near the end, where they talked about how this effects kids, especially boys.

Movies that make most of their characters male while shoehorning females in female-specific roles are treating maleness as the default while femaleness is a special case, and this leads to films about men being seen as "unisex" while films about women are seen as "for girls" only. As a result, this leads to little girls being willing to watch movies about boys AND girls, while little boys watch movies only about other boys.

This also extends to the stories they write. Girls write stories with male and female protagonists equally, while boys almost exclusively write stories with male protagonists. Girls' stories tend to have a mixture of boys and girls, whereas boys' stories have all boys in them. It relates to what I was saying earlier about how men's dreams have mostly male characters while women's dreams are equal: how our society conditions boys to think that girls just aren't important and don't matter much. To quote the article, "Girls already know they can be the main pirates; it's the boys who aren't getting the message". Thankfully my little(male) cousin likes shows about girls and shows about boys just as much: he likes Pirates of the Caribbean, and he also likes Enchanted. But the majority of boys still dismiss shows for girls as "girly" as if girly is a bad thing but boyish isn't, and when they don't it's weird.

The best part is that this led someone else to realize their own mistakes regarding overrepresentation of men vs underrepresentation of women. A guy named Mouse Macabre realized that the comic he was working on had 8 main characters, 6 male, 2 female, and had to go back and work so that there was an equal amount. All he had to do was make two of his male characters female, and there you have it! Four male main characters, 4 female! Then why is it so hard for the majority of men these days?

Ugh, I don’t know. Like, as soon as people hear “we’re adding more characters for equality/to give women more attention,” it suddenly becomes “““forced.”““

Alright then I guess we’ll just have a bunch of white male shows then because adding diversity is forced and uNnaTuRaL.

We had POCs and more female characters and suddenly certain white males feel ignored and disenfranchised. :|

Poor things, not like there are ten millions other things they could be watching instead.

Also, inevitable response to the dream thing: men agreeing to dream more about woman... but they’re sexualized.

I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You - Style Swap

Day 3 of @luxyweek

Part 2

Read on AO3

The akuma attack didn’t take that long. XY had watched the entire fight on the Ladyblog on his phone as he tried to make his way through the sewers. He was glad that his phone survived the fall into the sewers.

It seemed that after Chat had tricked XY down the sewers, him and Luka blocked the hole XY had fallen down. He was now trying to find a way out, so he could tell them how cash money they were not being.

The heroes had brought in Viperion, and he was being pretty useless. All he had been doing was watching the battle from the sidelines, occasionally yelling something at Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Whatever his superpower was it was pretty useless. Nonetheless the battle ended in about 5 minutes without Viperion’s help.

Luckily, the battle ended right as XY found another ladder, so he climbed out of the sewer as fast as he could and started running down the street.

If he hurried then, he could catch Chat and give him a piece of his mind.

Glancing down at the live feed on the Ladyblog, XY saw that the heroes were near the Trocadero, so he picked up his pace.

Thankfully, the sewer he had climbed out from was close to the Trocadero, but when he got there, a flock of reporters surrounded the heroes.

Not wanting to risk reporters seeing him in his messy state, XY kept a good distance away from the growing crowd. He figured he might have a better chance at catching Chat Noir and confronting him when he was alone.

His plan sounded so perfect that he couldn’t help but give himself a pat on the back. It wasn’t everyday he created an amazing plan.

He didn’t have to wait long as Ladybug whispered something to Chat Noir and flew off. Viperion jumped away in the opposite direction and Chat Noir followed, after waving goodbye to the reporters.

XY followed him, sticking to the shadows of buildings so he wasn’t recognized by any of his fans. He soon realized that Chat Noir was headed towards the park, which was perfect for XY since he needed to get back there to confront Luka.

Chat dropped down in an alley about two blocks from the park. XY ran a bit faster before he used his portal magic to disappear.

When XY got to the alley Chat had dropped in, he noticed that Luka was also in the alley.

They looked like they were talking about something, but stopped once XY entered the alley. Everyone’s eyes were wide as the three of them stared at each other. No one uttered a word as a beeping sound cut through the silence. Chat glanced down at his hand and let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad you are both safe! Try not to become an akuma’s target next time guys!” With that, Chat jumped out of the alley, much to XY’s anger.

“HEY!!!” XY yelled, running to try and stop Chat, but the hero was much faster than him, bounding out of the alley lightning fast.

The only person left in the alley was Luka, who was trying to sneak out the alleyway.

“Don’t you dare! Someone has to do my dry cleaning! And you helped Chat Noir lure me down into that sewer, so that means you have to do my laundry,” XY declared, crossing his arms.

The blue-haired boy groaned, knowing that he wasn’t going to get out of this situation easily. “Alright, just let me make a few calls. And we can go do your laundry.”

--

It turned out that the concert in the park had been canceled and rescheduled due to the akuma attack. At least that’s what Luka had claimed. His band members were going to pack up the rest of their equipment while Luka was helping XY.

XY didn’t miss the obvious distaste in Luka’s tone, but he shrugged it off, figuring that he was just upset because he was going to have to pay for XY’s expensive dry cleaning.

The entire walk was quiet, which bothered XY for some reason, but he didn’t see any reason to do anything about it. He mostly didn’t know what to say and was trying to hide his identity from any fans or paparazzi. It wouldn’t do him any good to be spotted with the wannabe in his gross state.

It wasn’t until they were by the Seine that XY realized Luka wasn’t leading them to a dry cleaner.

“Hey, where are we going?” XY asked.

“We’re going to my house so you can get your clothes all clean and maybe you can take a shower.” Luka sniffed and scrunched his nose. “Yeah, you definitely need a shower.”

“I’ll have you know that it’s your fault that I smell and look like this!” XY huffed.

Luka just rolled his eyes and continued walking down the sidewalk at a slightly faster pace.

“So where is your house anyway?” XY looked around but couldn’t see any houses nearby.

All he could see was the boats people rented space for on the Seine. He had one somewhere, but couldn’t remember where it was located.

“I live there.” Luka pointed at a large and colorful ship with a rainbow rooster on one of the masts. “We call her, The Liberty. I hope you don’t get seasick.”

XY ignored the small smirk on Luka’s face. Instead he stared in awe at the houseboat Luka called home. “You live on a pirate ship?!?”

“Uh...yeah…”

“That’s so cool!”

Even when they boarded the ship, XY couldn’t help but notice every little thing on the ship. Mostly because everything was on the floor and he had to watch his step, but that didn’t stop him from looking on in awe at everything. It wasn’t everyday he walked onto a pirate ship.

Wait if Luka lived on a pirate ship did that mean he was a pirate? Nah, no pirate would subject himself to dressing like that. Pirate’s had a flair that Luka just didn’t have.

Luka led him downstairs, where XY learned the bedrooms and bathrooms were. For a pirate ship it seemed pretty nice. It was definitely cleaner than the top, which he appreciated.

“You can shower in here and just drop your clothes outside the door. I’ll bring you something to wear while they’re being washed,” Luka instructed, opening the door to the bathroom.

The bathroom definitely didn’t look like much, XY probably wouldn’t have been able to fit his entire closet in the small space. There was just a small green toilet and sink. The mirror right above the sink was so small that XY couldn’t even see his hair in it. There was a curtain towards the back that must’ve been the shower.

“Just make sure you hand wash my jacket. It’s very delicate. Wash my jeans on the delicate cycle and don’t wash them on high heat. I don’t need these skinny jeans getting more skinnier. Now, do you have any hair products? My hair is going to need some serious work after this shower.”

Luka just stared at XY with an absolutely done look on his face. “I’ll see what my sister has.”

With that, Luka left him alone in the ship’s bathroom. Pushing back the small curtain, XY spotted a showerhead and drain.

“Hey, where’s the bathtub?”

----

After Luka taught him how to use the shower, XY spent about an hour cleaning himself off. At least that’s how long it took for the hot water to turn cold, but even that wasn’t enough. He missed his constantly warm rose petal baths that he got at the hotel.

But he figured not everyone was as lucky as him if the lack of designer soap was any indication.

At some point, Luka had entered the bathroom, with something in his hand. XY had yelled at him, thinking he had a phone and was trying to get a picture of him in all his naked glory. Luka had just started yelling back, but XY couldn’t hear him. Eventually, Luka had left, effectively ending their screaming match.

Exiting the shower, XY noticed a stack of clothes on the sink counter. He was pretty sure they hadn’t been there when he first came in, but he tended to miss a lot of things. Clothes weren’t hard to miss, especially ones as cheap looking as these.

The clothes fit XY surprisingly well. Despite how rough looking the jeans appeared, they were surprisingly very soft. They felt like sweatpants but fit like skinny jeans. The T-shirt was comfortable, but it had an outline of Jagged Stone’s face on it, which ruined the shirt for him.

Admiring himself in the mirror, he realized he kind of looked like a blonde better looking version of Luka. Definitely hotter, XY thought, giving himself a smile in the mirror.

Satisfied with how he looked, XY tried to imagine what Luka would look like in his clothes. Unfortunately he was having trouble picturing it, so he decided he would have to settle for the next best thing. Dressing up Luka himself to see.

XY exited the bathroom looking for Luka only to find him on his bed strumming a black and white guitar. Luka had his eyes closed, and he looked so peaceful. It was really weird to see him like this since all XY’s really seen is the serious side of Luka.

He couldn’t help but wonder what Luka was like when he wasn’t playing hero.

“What are you doing here?” afeminine voice asked from behind XY. The soft music coming from Luka’s side of the room stopped as Luka acknowledged XY’s presence.

He turned around to find a purple-haired girl on another bed in the room. She looked at him with a disgust that XY didn’t understand. He had never seen this girl before, so what would she have against the fabulous XY himself? If anything she should be grateful that she’s even able to bask in his presence.

“Jules, he’s here as our guest,” Luka assured, placing his guitar down on the side of the bed. “I know you don’t like it. Trust me I don’t either, but play nice.��

‘Jules’ grumbled something under her breath and left, walking upstairs to the deck. Luka’s face had flushed red, apparently understanding whatever the girl had said.

“Juleka!”

A soft giggle came from the stairs, but other than that the girl disappeared, leaving the two of them alone in the room.

Sighing, Luka picked up some clothes and hair products at the foot of his bed.

“Anyways, here’s some hair product I found and your clothes. Though I have to admit you don’t look too terrible with your hair down like that,” Luka commented, handing him the hair products and clothes.

The amount of products Luka handed to him wasn’t what he was used to, but he guessed that’s what it meant to be a pirate. No proper hair products to look decent.

“Thanks.” XY paused, looking up at Luka. “As a sign of my gratitude for taking me in, I have decided that I am going to give you a makeover.”

“Oh, that’s nice really, but I really can’t-” Luka started to protest as XY dragged him to the bathroom.

“Nope, you’re gonna accept my gift, and I won’t take no for an answer. Now take off all of those bracelets, what do you even need them all for?”

---

Twenty minutes later, Luka was wearing XY’s clothes and, thanks to XY, had his hair styled like XY’s signature hairstyle. In XY’s opinion, Luka looked amazing. Probably even cuter than he looked before.

From the bathroom counter, XY grabbed Luka’s bracelet and hoodie from off the counter and put them on. If he was going to swap styles with Luka he was going to do it right, and that meant dressing exactly like him.

“And done! What do you think?”

Luka nervously stood up from his spot on the toilet and walked over to the bathroom mirror. “Oh my gosh. I look like a goth Johnny Bravo.”

“Awesome! I told you my hairstyle isn’t that ridiculous.” XY grinned, satisfied with how Luka seemed to like his new look.

“Dude. That’s not a good thing. It feels like there’s a massive brick on my head,” Luka deadpanned. “Seriously, how much product did you use?”

Glancing at the empty containers of hair products, XY chose to ignore Luka’s question. “You’ll get used to the weight. I think you look amazing.”

Watching the blush form on an XY-dressed Luka, XY realized what he had been trying to deny for the past day. He was falling for this wannabe rocker.

My Prototype writeup about how the Next Gen Plotline works

Sailor Male Children AU Story

Characters

Endyre and Seri’s kids

Seleme (1st born, boy, 20) YY

Lunoir (2nd born, boy, twin of Lunaria, 18) XY

Lunaria (3rd born, girl, twin of Lunoir, 18) XX

Chibisei (4th born, girl, half-twin of Chidisei, 15) XX

Chidisei (Darren’s kid and Chibisei’s half twin, boy, 15) XY

Nakita (5th born, boy, 14) YY

 Ray and Minoru’s kids

Rain (1st born, girl, 17) XX

Rikuto (2nd born, boy, 16) XY

 Makaio and Aime’s kids

Kamsuke (Kama) (Only child, boy, 15) YY

 Dark Moon Kingdom

               In my AU version of things, it’s important to understand the setting and my version on the Dark Moon Kingdom to get certain parts of the plot.  The Dark Moon Kingdom, rather than being on the moon, is on Earth, it’s just sort of a parallel version of Earth.  It’s sort of on a separate plan of existence, but royalty and those with enough magic can pass through the barrier between the two earths. Normal Earth, where the main cast lives, is what’s left of the Moon Kingdom, but at this point has been wiped out and few descendants remain (Seri unknowingly being one of them). And as an added note, both Kingdoms have a crystal used by the royalty to protect their Kingdoms.  The Moon Kingdom has the Silver Crystal while the Dark Moon Kingdom has the Dark Crystal. Neither have the negative side effects they have in the show, they just can only be used by royalty and shouldn’t be used if severely injured of sick since they use a lot of energy.

               But that part isn’t really important, the important part is that the Dark Moon Kingdom sort of has three genders, male (XY), female (XX), and males that can naturally give birth (YY).  Thus the bold letters near the characters show what their true genders are. YY’s are for all intent and purposes male and are recognized as men (albeit somewhat feminine men), they just are capable of getting pregnant (although they can impregnate females like normal men).  Note Earth doesn’t follow these rules, thus making all the original Sailor Male Scouts XY men.  And no, I’m not trying to excuse the homosexual relationships by saying they’re not quite men, the YY thing just works out for the story (plus it needed to be used).

 Endyre and Seri

               In the universe this story takes place in, Seri ends up with Endyre instead of Darren.  Circumstances aren’t happy though.  When Endyre attacked Earth when the original cast were 14, his plan was to reunite the Moon Kingdom with the Dark Moon Kingdom (make two Earth’s one). This was due to the fact the two worlds were originally one, but due to the Great War thousands of years ago, the Moon Kingdom split to avoid being wiped out by the Dark Moon Kingdom.  The Moon Kingdom was so weakened at this point though and had no known living royalty, so the Kingdom ended up dying out. The Dark Moon Kingdom, while not destroyed, was significantly weakened by the split and suffered other hardships (which I won’t go into).  Basically though, Endyre wanted to reunite the two Kingdoms due to his world slowly dying without the aid of the Silver Crystal.

               But Seri has the Silver Crystal and is a long lost descendant of the royal family of the Moon Kingdom (and is therefore the only one who can use the Crystal), thus why Endyre initially pursues him.  The Silver Crystal can save the Dark Moon Kingdom, a world that lives off magic and needs the light of the Silver Crystal to sustain this magic while Earth has already lost its magic (thus being fine even if it lost the Silver Crystal).  

The battle between the Sailor Scouts and Endyre rages for two years with no side winning (note children from the future don’t exist or come to assist either side).  In fact, Endyre is slowly starting to overwhelm the scouts to the point where innocent people are being killed in the crossfire, the scouts not able to keep up with Endyre’s army.  But Endyre, not a complete douche at heart, doesn’t want to destroy the people of Earth, he only wants to help his people.  He decides to try and make a deal with Seri, if Seri will become his “wife” and use the Silver Crystal to help his world, he will leave Earth along with the other scouts alone.

               Seri ends up agreeing, having gained some maturity over these two years and realizing he and the other scouts won’t be able to beat Endyre.  He leaves his boyfriend, Darren, along with the other scouts behind and goes with Endyre back to the Dark Moon Kingdom.  The relationship isn’t happy between the two of them; Endyre basically forces himself on Seri (since Seri’s still stubborn and refuses to fully cooperate with being Endyre’s “wife”) and uses the power of the Dark Crystal to make Seri capable of bearing children.  Neither really care for the other, Seri despises Endyre for what he does to him while Endyre initially couldn’t care less about Seri, only wanting him as a way of saving his Kingdom and uniting the bloodlines (thus making their children capable of using both Crystals).

               The abusive relationship between the two of them continues for years, and it’s not until after Lunaria and Lunoir are born that things have improved slightly.  Seri still dislikes Endyre, but hates him less than he use to while Endyre has started to care for Seri.  But I won’t go into this too much since it’s super long and this section is already getting pretty long.  Important thing is things get better between them, Seri ends up sleeping with Darren at some point (as well as Endyre on the same day) and gets pregnant with Chibisei and Chidisei and Endyre works to raise all six of the kids as a weird, somewhat dysfunctional family.  And all the kids are super kickass, the Dark Kingdom valuing the ability to fight above most other things.

 Quick side note on why Aime and Minoru can get pregnant

               Basically in contact with Silver Crystal too much, and being Sailor Scouts left a sort of mark that made the Silver Crystal eventually let them get pregnant (Seri wished them happiness and to have a loving family with whoever they ended up falling in love with, he just didn’t know it would affect them like that).  Plus, Endyre does eventually let Seri visit everyone whenever he wants.

 Actual Plot of the Next Gen Story

               An alien race (we’ll call them the Nebel, German for mist), are a race of humanoid like people that travel to other planets in search of races they can successfully reproduce with.  Their species suffers from a severe lack of females (1 in 300 chance of child being a girl) and they have no nifty mpreg powers to make up for this.  Sadly, reproducing with other races doesn’t increase the chance of having a female, so it’s necessary for the Nebel to constantly do this.  But since they prefer not to interfere too much in other world’s affairs, they only take some people from the planets they visit and then go back home, finding a new planet and race of people when necessary.  

Basically, males of their race will travel with a small group of other males to acquire a wife from another planet when they reach adulthood (although only more elite males tend to do this, other males will remain childless and might take another male of their own race as a life partner.  This keeps the population from becoming unreasonably high since those with wives tend to have a lot of children, sometimes for adoption and such for childless couples). Earth just so happens to be the place one such small team of Nebel is visiting.

The Nebel find out that some men on Earth (actually Dark Moon Kingdom alternate Earth) are capable of giving birth, and seeing how this could possibly benefit their race if the same ability is passed to their male offspring, they try to steal away YY males. But Endyre’s crafty and due to the power of both crystals, the Nebel can’t enter the Dark Moon Kingdom. Basically this leads to a lot of conflict and the Nebel refuse to leave Earth without getting “wives.”  So lots of fighting ensues and the children of the original cast get involved, mostly cause Endyre is actively resisting the Nebel and his children get involved as a result (and are connected with the other three main characters in some significant way).

 The Nebel

They can turn into mist and use this to get to hard to reach areas, thus why they are called the Nebel.  Hiding from them is somewhat useless because this ability lets them sneak though small cracks and such.  They look exactly like normal humans except they have markings all along their body, similar to tribal markings (although less complex).  Their eyes also don’t really have pupils, they instead have a ring where the pupil would be (think of a pupil with only the edge outlined). Note they can mask these strange features to appear like normal humans.  Elite men of this race tend to be overly aggressive, although there are exceptions. Most Nebel are also much stronger and faster than normal humans, and often have a special power (although most powers are mist related).  And despite the whole forcing other races to be their mates, most Nebel are free to choose what they do with their lives (so they are only elitist in thinking their own race is the best).  Even the rare females aren’t openly forced to marry (although it’s highly encouraged) and even though some Nebel will take many wives and then breed children for adoption, other Nebel can take one wife and start a family if they so wish.

 Important Nebel, although there are still more (I haven’t developed them much yet, but about 20 came on the mission to Earth)

 Swen- The leader and oldest of the group (36ish). Has already had a wife from another planet, but due to her death, he came on this mission to find a new wife. A rather cold and calculating individual, he’s the strongest in the group as well as the smartest.  He’s also from a super elite family, so is somewhat like a high noble in his society.  He and Seleme have an interesting relationship.

 Dieter- The Nebel after Nikita (and the most successful of all the group).  Is one of the least aggressive of the group and actually seduces Nikita (at least as much as one can seduce a naïve 14 year old boy).  Believes in trying to win over a mate rather than just take one, although this doesn’t mean he’s above trickery when the situation doesn’t go his way. He tends to come off as a manipulating pedophile…a lot (although that’s technically what he is).

 Jurgen-  Sadist of the group and twin brother of Ma’ik.  Pursues Rain, since he finds her much more enticing than any of the males he meets on Earth.  Wants a mate purely for the sexual component of it while the other also at least have children on mind along with the sex.  Crazy is the easiest way to describe this one.

 Ma’ik- Twin brother of Jurgen and only slightly less crazy than his brother (but not really).  While his brother is very vocal about his depravity, Ma’ik tends to be fairly quiet and serious.  This doesn’t mean he can't get worked up though.  When it comes down to it, he’s probably more depraved and sadistic than his brother. Think of him like a creepy, quiet stalker that would follow you home in the middle of the night without you knowing and then proceed to rape and torture you as soon as he got you alone. Takes a special interest in Kamsuke (Lunoir is far from pleased about this).  Second strongest Nebel of the group.

 Uta-  Only female Nebel on board.  She’s the 15 year old daughter of Swen and he brought her to Earth to see if she could find a mate of her own (although he never really stresses the issue and mainly brought her to keep her safe from being married off on their home planet while he’s away.  He’s a bit of an overprotective dad when it comes to her).  A mostly sweet girl, but can get a bit Tsundere at times.  Seems mostly naïve to what the other Nebel are doing, but when she does understand, she mostly supports what’s going on (although like Dieter, believes mates should be seduced rather than forced). Has a weird sort of romance with Rikuto (the only straight couple that kind of works out in this crazy story).

 Characters Roles in Story (the briefer version)

 Seleme

               While he does help fight the Nebel, he’s sort of left his family at this point so he does his own thing rather than cooperate with the others. He specializes in seducing and sleeping with men (it’s his “fighting style”), and focuses on Swen, realizing he’s the leader.  Thinks Swen doesn’t realize he’s seducing him for information, but Swen realizes what he’s doing from the beginning.  Swen eventually decides to try and make him his mate since he finds the idea of taking Endyre’s first born and heir to the Dark Moon Kingdom highly amusing.  Seleme also ends up pregnant with his kid around this point.  Note Seleme’s more willful than he seems and doesn’t take this lying down (no pun intended). But despite all this, he does find himself attracted to Swen.

Lunoir

               Really really really hates the Nebel (on par with his father on this issue).  Can hold his own against the Nebel the best out of everyone and has to spend a lot of time helping Kamsuke and Rain (he and Lunaria do tend to stick together after all). Him and Ma’ik tend to have a lot of bitter battles, but Ma’ik is always too strong to ever be defeated.

Lunaria

               While some of the Nebel do take an interest in her, most ignore her in favor of either Rain or the other cute, femy boys.  Her and Lunoir do most of the fighting through this whole ordeal and spend a lot of time on normal Earth trying to help Rain and Kamsuke (since they refuse to go to the Dark Moon Kingdom for whatever reason).

Chibisei

               Stays back in the Dark Moon Kingdom a lot to help her parents, but will go to Earth with Lunaria and Lunoir occasionally.  She’s usually viewed as too young to be useful for bearing children, so the Nebel tend to ignore her (note this is based on her looks over her age much of the time).  Mainly works closely with her father to figure out how to solve the problem of the Nebel.  She’s also the first to notice what’s happening to Nikita and tries to get everyone to help, but by then it’s too late.

Chidisei

               Kinda useless when it comes down to it.  He can’t help Chibisei and his parents, but isn’t good at fighting like his older siblings.  Him, Kamsuke, and Nikita (who also wants to help but doesn’t know what he can do) decide to do their own research on the Nebel by confronting some of them (which doesn’t always end well and sometimes ends with Lunaria and Lunoir having to save the day).  Feels responsible about what eventually happens to his best friend and brother, even if it’s not his fault.

Nikita

               Has it the worst right after Kamsuke.  He meets Deiter while he’s searching for information about the Nebel with Chidisei and Kamsuke.  Deiter is disguised as a normal person at the time, so they don’t recognize the danger. Much of what happens to Nikita is that whenever he’s alone, Deiter shows up and starts going all seductive pedophile on him.  Nikita is very naïve though, so he doesn’t initially realize the danger Deiter poses. Deiter eventually manipulates him into having sex with him multiple times (never quite rape, but not totally consensual either) and Nikita ends up pregnant, at which point Deiter kidnaps him. Eventually gets taken back to the Nebels’s home planet with Deiter (thus why Deiter is the most successful of all the Nebel, he gets his “wife,” even if at the expense of his “wife’s“ happiness).

Rain

               She and Lunaria are such the battle couple in this, it isn’t even funny (with Lunoir added as the somewhat condescending brother/brother-in-law). Jurgen takes an unhealthy interest in her, but surprisingly she avoids getting raped unlike every other character a specific Nebel takes an interest in.  She doesn’t want to flee to the Dark Moon Kingdom for protection since she fears her parents (specifically Minoru) will be targeted.  

Rikuto

               Him and Seleme would be good friends if they took the effort.  He also acts a bit independently in fighting the Nebel (he uses Chakram like weapons) and meets Uta by chance when she’s being super naïve at a convenience store.  Initially thinks she’s a normal girl and doesn’t realize she’s a Nebel until they’ve both developed feelings for each other.  He’s straight, unlike everyone else in this story, and his relationship with Uta is one of the key factors to solving the problem with the Nebel.

Kamsuke

               Poor, poor Kamsuke.  He suffers a lot due to being the only YY male on normal Earth.  He’s a sickly boy in this universe and is wheelchair bound (although he can still fight with a bow made of his energy).  Ma’ik takes an unhealthy interest in him, wanting someone to both torture and have as a pet to bear his children (the crippled legs is a sort of turn on for him since it means Kama can never run away and would have to drag himself along the ground in an attempt to get away from him). Lunoir works hard to try and protect him, but like Rain, he refuses to go to the Dark Moon Kingdom for similar reasons.  Despite Lunoir’s best efforts and almost constant supervision, Ma’ik eventually manages to kidnap Kama and proceeds to torture and rape him.  The experience leaves him devastated, broken, and (you guessed it) pregnant.  Added to this, like Deiter, Ma’ik succeeds in getting Kamsuke back to his home planet. Lunoir and the others eventually manage to rescue him (after a few years of course), but Lunoir and Kama have a long road of recovery ahead of them.

Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us Review

Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us

(Japanese Title: Everyone’s Story)

Review

There was an old statement from former Pokémon anime head writer, Takeshi Shudō, about Ash Ketchum (Satoshi).  On his personal blog, he has claimed that Ash, as the main character aimed for children, could not be written as anything beyond the plain and simple stereotypical hero.  And that to compensate for his vanilla personality, Ash needed to be surrounded by “fascinating villains and rivals” such as the Team Rocket trio. While I disagree with the notion that Ash Ketchum can’t be an interesting character by his own right, I find it to be the best method to tell further stories of Ash when nearly all of his character development has been done.  The problem with Ash in recent Pokémon TV series and movies is that his early hotheaded and inexperienced personality, which made him a relatable character for many viewers, has all but phased out over time; in its place is the standard Shōnen stock hero.  It makes sense for Ash to reach that stage in his character arc, but his personality is now more generic and thus less interesting to watch.  So how would anyone tell an interesting story about Ash without regressing his character development he had earned over the past several years?

Enter the new director of this film, Tetsuo Yajima.  Tetsuo Yajima had previously worked on the Pokémon anime as a Storyboard, Key Animation, and Episode Director since the Black and White series.  But he didn’t rose to prominence until he was helmed as the Series Director of XY and XYZ.  Under Yajima, the XY series did something unique with their approach of Ash Ketchum.  Rather than just focusing from Ash’s perspective, the series explored on how Ash himself affects everyone around him; from his companions to his rivals to even the bystanders that otherwise have no impact on the main plot. As a result, we got an array of characters with their own quirks and storylines, and we could contrast all of them with Ash as the foil standard.  This approach became the base foundation for the story of 21st movie and in my opinion, all the better for it.  After all, it is everyone’s story, not just Ash’s.

The movie begins not with Ash and Pikachu, but with a new character Risa (Lisa). Unlike our main hero, Risa is not a Pokémon Trainer.  She’s a former athlete runner who is tasked by her injured brother to go to Fula City’s Wind Festival celebration and catch a Pokémon for him.  Shortly afterwards, we are introduced to a little girl named Margo (Largo) and her father Oliver, mayor of Fula City, leaving their mansion to prepare for the festival.  And as we finally arrive to the city itself, it’s there we meet the rest of the ensembled cast.  There is Callahan (Kagachi), a boastful braggart who lies about his achievements to his young niece Kelly; Toren (Torito), an insecure and timid scientist under pressure from his peers and scheduled presentation; And Harriet (Hisui), an old woman who hates Pokémon and wants to be left alone.  And in the middle of this multi-introduction is Ash and Pikachu, who are closely followed by Team Rocket.

All of these characters have a distinct flaw that they must face and overcome as the movie progresses.  The sole exception is Ash Ketchum.  If you expect Ash to be some sort of immature idiot or a failure trainer, you are clearly not familiar with Yajima’s style.  This Ash is an ideal trainer, an ace who easily gains the admiration of his peers and rivals for his skills, lessons and selfless heart.  His character doesn’t change at all throughout the movie, but that is a good thing.  It fixes a crucial problem that previous Pokémon movies have, where they would either focus too much on Ash at the expense of everyone else or simply shoehorn in stories where he is not needed.  Having Ash be this supporting mentor figure allows the ensemble of new characters to take center and leave a lasting impression for the audience, while also making Ash integral to the overall story.

The characters themselves are all memorable despite being one-shot movie characters of the day.  Risa’s clumsiness and naivety are funny to watch and a great contrast to Ash’s veteran persona, who has to teach her the ways of the Pokémon Trainer.  Callahan wanting to impress his niece makes him a sympathetic character despite the fact the comeuppance for his dishonesty is well-deserved.  Toren’s crippling shyness makes me wish he grew a spine already.  Harriet trying to get away from a group of Pokémon that always follow her is absolutely hilarious, especially with that domineering voice. And Margo is like a younger version of Ash, such as protecting her befriended Pokémon in the same manner that Ash would do for any Pokémon.  And although Margo has a lot in common with Callahan’s niece Kelly, there are distinguished traits to tell the two apart.

Though the characters’ arcs all start separately, they all intertwine with each other naturally and frequently; whether it be Risa getting wrong info from Callahan, Toren accidentally spilling a Pokémon attract chemical on Harriet or Ash protecting Margo from a bunch of kids selling lemons.  Though there some stories that are more interesting to follow, like Callahan and his lying habits getting him into trouble, none of them overshadows the others. They all had their heroic moments in the spotlight, and I can easily recall each of the character’s story arc despite the film juggling all of them in the climax of the film.  It does live up to title of the movie.

These intertwinements, along with a few Easter eggs and details in the background, help create a living, breathing environment that is Fula City.  With such a down-to-earth premise compared to other Pokémon movies such as Pokémon 2000: The Power of One, world building is essential to the film’s strength to retain the audience’s interest in the movie. Take for instance the film’s handling of the featured Mythical Pokémon, Zeraora. Unlike most featured Pokémon in modern movies, Zeraora is kept hidden for the majority of the story until near the climax where it finally reveals itself.  Its presence is only alluded to in historical events and urban legends told by various citizens ranging from small kids to government officials. Whereas most Pokémon movies would have an exposition book or expert to explain everything about their featured Pokémon to our heroes near the beginning, this movie holds off on the major exposition until near the end, after a gradual buildup of clues and hints given to the audience an idea of what the exposition is going to be.  By that point, the audience is already immersed with the personal stories of the cast ensembled rather than the mandatory promotion of a Mythical Pokémon for kids to get.  In fact, this is perhaps the first Pokémon movie where the marketing focus in on the human characters rather than the Mythical and Legendary Pokémon.  It’s why I haven’t mentioned Lugia, the featured Legendary Pokémon of this film, at all up to this point despite being a central figure to the Wind Festival. Lugia is not essential to the plot.

Moving on to the action aspect, there’s not a lot of Pokémon battles in this movie as this is a character-driven story.  But the battles that are shown are impressive.  The audience that I was in awed and laughed during these sequences. The animation, camera perspective and sound effects are top-notch, especially when combined with a scenic background and realistic interaction with the environment.  It’s like the battles featured in the XY series, only sharper and more fluid.  Unlike the battles in the TV series and most movies, where Pokémon battles take place in a designated field area with the trainers in relative safe distance, Pokémon can hit their own trainers by sheer accident or cause destruction of property when on a rampage.  It’s a sense of realism that hasn’t been seen since the opening of Pokémon 3: Spell of the Unown, and I hope it appears in future movies.

Voice acting-wise, the English dub is actually good at least by The Pokémon Company standards.  This is perhaps Sarah Natochenny’s best work as Ash here, and the rest of the ensembled cast all sound natural and pleasant to here.  The only characters that may sound off are Jessie, James and Meowth of the Team Rocket trio, but they are not in this movie that long and much of the problem I have is due to lingering nostalgia for Rachael Lillis, Eric Stuart, and Maddie Blaustein.  Script-wise, some of the wordings are very cheesy, like Ash’s inspirational speech about “Pokémon Power” to a group of people far older than him during a crisis. But I can’t really fault the movie as this has been the standard message that told over and over again in nearly all of the Pokémon adaptations, including the Pokémon Origins mini-series from 2013.  The only thing I wish is that they could find better words for Ash to say other than just “Pokémon Power.”  For people who have grown fond for the Japanese dub, this competent dub production will help get you through the movie.

It’s also helped by the fact that the Japanese music score (which contains orchestrated music directly lifted from the games) is retained for this film after years of The Pokémon Company constantly replacing it with a US score for international releases since the start of the XY series.  The Japanese score is pleasant to listen even for non-fans; and it has the added bonus for long-time Pokémon fans to identify music they had heard during their playthroughs of the Pokémon games.

All in all, Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us is unlike any other Pokémon movie beforehand.  It’s not an action blockbuster nor a blatant advertisement tie-in to GameFreak’s recently released game (though don’t get me wrong; Risa’s Eevee is a promotion for Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!).  It could have gone for nostalgia, action hype or even over-the-top comedy for the movie direction.  They would still entertain the audience regardless of critical scores.  Instead, the film goes for a humble premise and focuses on the characters, their stories, and the world they live in.  And that is what makes this movie one of the best the Pokémon franchise has to offer.  

Pokeani: The Evolution of the Heroine

In the beginning, we had Misty. In the original Kanto Saga, she was co-Gym Leader of Ceruelan Gym alongside her three older sisters, but left home to become a better Pokemon trainer. She had a very spunky, fiery, bold and irrepressible personality, feeling both over-the-top and cartoony to fit the tone of the show yet also very human. She was a three-dimensional character who viewers came to know and love, and to this day, many miss her.

But with that said, Misty had three problems with her portrayal.

1. One of the most relatable things about Misty - her family issues with her sisters - was also one of the weakest since it was barely ever focused on beyond being the motivator to get Misty started on her journey. We don’t see much of her sisters beyond two episodes, we don’t hear much about them beyond Misty’s petty younger sibling jealousy toward them and their petty older sibling mistreatment of her, and the nature of how they came to be Gym Leaders and what happened to their parents, which should be a big part of this conflict, is never elaborated on.  Misty was hardly alone on this - Takeshi Shudo said on his blog that he wasn’t allowed to go into depth with the three main characters’ backgrounds and how they affected them. It’s surprising that he was even able to get away with having it said in the show that Brock’s parents were deadbeats, although this also hurts Misty since it comes up right before the conflict with her sisters does, which now looks especially weak by comparison.

2. Misty could have a bad attitude and the show didn’t hold back in showing her character flaws. Again, this was a strength for the character, as it just made her that much more human and realistic. The problem came when the show didn’t always properly address these flaws in the way it should have. Nowhere is this more apparent than it is in her dynamic with Psyduck. She hurls both verbal and physical abuse at the poor dumb Pokemon constantly, and unlike Ash, Psyduck can’t actually respond in kind.  The show ignoring that she could just store it at Professor Oak’s laboratory, or even just release it if she’s that aggravated by it, only serves to make her look much worse than I think they were intending to make her look. It’s very telling that her relationship with Psyduck is now shown as a loving one in her recent two-part return guest appearance - years later, the show’s writers finally realized that this was a problem.

3. This is the big one: after the Kanto saga, Misty’s development path just...stopped. She still had three and a half years left on the show as a main character, yet the writers had no solid direction left to take her in. Suede brilliantly sums it up in this video, although he’s a little off in saying that getting Togepi was the peak of her development - “The Misty Mermaid” was actually the peak, since it finally had her sisters giving her the acknowledgement she always wanted. After this, there was no reason for Misty to stay around for the Orange Islands and Johto, yet she did and became a boring shell of her former self, always just sitting around holding Togepi. I’m baffled as to why people were so upset when Misty finally left at the end of the Original Series - it was long overdue, and Brock should have stayed gone with her.

So yeah, at the start Misty may have had the most vibrant personality out of any of the Pokeani’s heroines, but by the end she had one of the weaker development courses. 

Enter May in Advanced Generation (Pokemon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire). Her personality may have been a tad more trope-y than Misty’s (it’s basically a typical Shojo heroine personality to balance with Ash’s typical Shonen hero personality), but it was also engaging and interesting in a way Misty’s had not been in years - being both as spunky, bold and passionate as Misty was in her prime while also being very insecure and vulnerable. 

More notably, May’s development path was excellent. She starts off not particularly liking Pokemon, making her feel like the black sheep of her Pokemon-oriented family, and only uses a Pokemon journey as an excuse to fulfill her true goal of seeing the world. But after getting into contests and becoming a Pokemon Coordinator, May develops a genuine passion for Pokemon.  Her self-confidence and her self-doubt ebbs and flows at realistic moments, and through her career as a Coordinator she starts to tackle tougher personal issues such as the reason she came to dislike Pokemon in the first place, and even a budding romance with her main rival Drew. She began the series as a newbie whom Ash had to mentor, but in the series finale she goes toe-to-toe with Ash in battle (which ends in a draw), all while exuding a much more mature demeanor when compared to how she was like at the beginning. She still stands tall as one of the most dynamic characters in the whole Pokemon anime franchise.

Next came Dawn in Diamond/Pearl (Pokemon the Series: Diamond and Pearl), who can best be described as May-Lite, or Diet May. Like May, she also seeks a path as a Pokemon Coordinator, although in her case she wants it from the start since her mother was a famous Coordinator. She takes the typical Shojo heroine personality that May had up to eleven, being more cheerful and self-confident while insecure and self-doubting at the same time, more ditzy, more girly, more fashionable, and more prone to fanservice moments.  But sadly, her development path was nowhere near as successful as May’s was, and for two big reasons. 

The first is that her character arc peaks before her story arc does. Her story arc peaks at the Grand Festival in episode 177, and concludes along with the series in episode 191. But her character arc, centered around the self-doubt and depression she develops as a result of not being as skilled a Coordinator as she thought she’d be due to her lineage, wraps up in episode 79, with 112 episodes still left to go. That’s not as bad as Misty, but still pretty bad.

Second, and worse, is that Dawn is a static character. Her bout with self-doubt and depression comes and goes, as if it was only there to give her a character arc in a perfunctory way, and Dawn is left exactly the same as she started the series. In fact, we get flashbacks to Dawn’s early childhood, and she’s the same even then: just as nice and perky, with the same “No need to worry!” catchphrase. There is not the same sense of newfound maturity about her at the end of the show like there was with May and even Misty, she never changes her appearance in any way like Misty, May, Serena and Lillie do, and when she returns for a while in the next series, her Pokemon team has not changed in any way either, setting her apart from Misty, May and Iris in a negative way. Her post-series special episode doesn’t even do anything important or interesting with her, when even Brock’s did for him! Yeah, she grows into a stronger Coordinator. Doesn’t make her a stronger character.

In Best Wishes (Pokemon the Series: Black and White), the new heroine is Iris. Iris can be best described as like Misty with a less engaging personality but a much better development path. Like Misty, the anime version of Iris is in a place prior to her position in the games, and we get to see her grow into that position. Like Misty, she leaves home to become a better trainer, specifically of a certain Pokemon type (Dragon-types, in this case). Like Misty, she has many character flaws such as a hypocritical pseudo-maturity front, a quick temper, and being snide and argumentative toward Ash. Like Misty, her character arc peaks at a point before the League tournament.  And like Misty, she even has a phobia of a certain Pokemon type (Ice-types, in this case). These are the similarities, now let’s look at the differences.

With Iris, we end up getting a very clear backstory that very clearly informs and explains her present-day motivations and character flaws. We get a defined term for what it means to be a “Dragon Master” - not someone with a lot of Dragon-types or even the strongest Dragon-types, but someone who has the best empathetic bonds with Dragon-types, whether it be their own, other trainers’, or wild ones, and this is something Iris makes visible progress in throughout the series. Her flaws are called attention to and she develops past them, losing her pseudo-maturity and gaining real maturity that includes accepting that she’s still a child who enjoys doing childish things, and her “What a kid!” verbal ribbing of Ash becomes more affectionate than mean and eventually all but disappears altogether, she still gets some interesting footnotes to her character arc after it peaks, and she even manages to overcome her irrational phobia of Ice-types. And she also has a rival who helps her develop, and she gets to participate in several tournaments (even winning one!), and the dysfunctional relationships she has with certain Pokemon of her’s (Excadrill and Dragonite) are ones that change for the better, with both her and them being able to come to an understanding. 

Iris’ development path comes second only to May, which is because the change in her character isn’t quite as obvious and pronounced, and her character arc isn’t really sustained throughout the entirety of the series like May’s was. She’s still a top-tier heroine, and it’s a shame that so many misogynistic fans fail to appreciate this because they’re too busy crying about how she calls their beloved self-projection character Ash a kid and undermines all his “growth”. And this immature fan reaction is probably a big part of what led to XY’s Serena.

Let’s just get it out of the way - Serena’s the worst heroine the franchise has ever given us.  Her character is Dawn taken up to eleven just as Dawn’s was May taken up to eleven, her story arc is lame since being a Pokemon Performer and participating in showcases is a blatantly watered-down version of what May and Dawn already did, and most importantly, her character arc is atrocious to the point of being offensive.  She starts as a girl who is obsessively in love with Ash because of one random childhood incident that Ash doesn’t remember, joins his traveling group without a clearly defined goal and is clearly only in it to get into Ash’s pants, and when she finds her goal, it’s still largely motivated by the desire to appeal to Ash and get him to return her affections that he remains expectedly oblivious to. 

You would expect her to eventually develop a true passion for showcases like May did for contests, and realize that Ash is a lost cause romantically and just stay his friend.  But nope!  In the end, she rejects the offer to be tutored by a professional Performer and outright quits showcases altogether, suddenly deciding that now she wants to be a Coordinator and do contests in Hoenn!  And in case there was any doubt as to what motivated this turn, her last scene has her telling Ash that she will “become a more attractive girl” in doing this, and that “you are my goal”.  It’s all for the sake of getting Ash’s attention, just as it always was. 

Beyond the obviously sexist tone of this - Serena’s whole character arc revolving around getting a guy to fall in love with her - the worst part is that Serena doesn’t even love Ash.  She loves an idea of Ash, a fantasy in her head, an idealized version of Ash she conjured up based on one random incident in her childhood that clearly meant nothing to Ash even if it somehow meant the world to her. In a telling moment, when Ash actually begins to express self-doubt and feel down, does Serena comfort him?  Nope, she throws snowballs at him because he’s breaking her flawless mental image of him and she wants “the real Ash” back!  This is never called out, and she’s framed as in the right, with Ash even thanking her for it!

The nail in the coffin would be her trainer record - she only gets three Pokemon, and gets the dubious honor of being the only heroine to never lose a battle solely because she barely ever battles, and the opponents she’s given are the absolute weakest possible, like her loser rivals or the inept Team Rocket. So yeah, the Pokeani fans can keep their waifu. She sucks, hard.

Now in Sun and Moon (Pokemon the Series: Sun and Moon), we have Lillie. Yes, Mallow and Lana are also regular female characters, but it’s very obvious that, like the source material games, Lillie is the lead heroine for this series. And like the games, she’s one of the best-developed characters in the franchise. Not only is her personality very fleshed out and lovable, and as relatably human as Misty in the Kanto saga, but her character arc, centered around a past trauma leaving her unable to touch Pokemon even though she loves them, has been done exceptionally well, just recently coming to its touching conclusion. And the best part is that this doesn’t mean Lillie is anywhere remotely close to finished, since she’s about to reinvent herself just like in the games, and be set for a new character arc focused on growing stronger as a person and a trainer. She’s up there with Iris, and is closing in on May! She may end up as the Pokeani’s greatest heroine, following up from the worst, which is helped by actually having a female head writer in charge for once. So here’s to you, Lillie!

Mark Ruffalo Steps Behind the Camera

By Jenelle Riley (Backstage Magazine)| Posted April 20, 2011, 6:25 p.m.

Mark Ruffalo and Christopher Thornton met 20 years ago when both were students at the Stella Adler Academy in Los Angeles. "Mark was the hot young actor at the school," Thornton recalls. "All I can remember is, every girl I had a crush on he'd either already dated or was presently dating. So it was a little competitive in the beginning, but we became fast friends. And you knew immediately he was a fantastic, very instinctive actor." The pair would see each other through many hard times, from financial struggles to career frustrations. But perhaps nothing was more devastating than a 1992 fall while rock climbing that left Thornton paralyzed from the waist down. Ruffalo and two friends—Tim McNeil and Milton Justice—helped convince Thornton that this didn't mean the end of his acting career. Six months after the accident, the trio informed him that they were going to mount a production of "Waiting for Godot" in which Thornton would play Estragon. "I told them they were out of their minds, but they wouldn't take no for an answer," Thornton says. "It turned out to be the best therapy I could have ever done. Suddenly, I'm not focused on my injury for the first time in six months. And the play opens and it's a big hit, and we won awards and sold out and extended the show." Another pivotal artistic moment was born five years later. While having their annual lunch on the anniversary of Thornton's fall, Ruffalo attempted to offer encouraging words to his friend. "I told him that I knew him before and after his accident, and the man he was now was so much more than the man he was before," Ruffalo recalls. "And I said, 'Maybe there is a gift in this. Maybe this has made you a stronger, better person in some ways.' " Thornton's response? "You be the saint in the wheelchair; I'll be the shallow asshole walking around." Ruffalo laughs when he recounts this story—which Thornton verifies—and adds that from this starting point, the seeds were planted for what would become Thornton's script for "Sympathy for Delicious." The film tells the story of Dean O'Dwyer, aka "Delicious D," a paralyzed and homeless DJ who discovers he has the ability to heal others—but not himself. Ruffalo stars as a dedicated priest who tries to help O'Dwyer, but the actor also makes his film directing debut, while Thornton portrays O'Dwyer in a magnetic, unsentimental performance. After a 10-year development period, a dramatic premiere at the Sundance Film Festival that saw the movie go from reviled to revered, and a lengthy battle to find distribution, "Sympathy for Delicious" finally makes its way into theaters this week. It is, in Ruffalo's words, "the greatest roller-coaster ride I've ever been on in my life." A Winning Season It's two weeks before "Sympathy for Delicious" opens and Ruffalo is trying to relax. He has been doing publicity nonstop for his passion project and, despite the exhaustion, claims to be enjoying himself. Being a recognizable actor with a recent Oscar nomination—for playing the sperm-donor dad in "The Kids Are All Right"—has its perks. He breaks into a wide smile when he reveals that earlier that morning, he got to work with a very special co-star: Elmo, from "Sesame Street." Ruffalo has been a journeyman actor for most of his life. He quit the business three or four times before his friend Kenneth Lonergan cast him in his 2000 indie film "You Can Count On Me" as the goodhearted but unreliable brother of Laura Linney's character. Hollywood quickly caught on to Ruffalo's raw talent and leading-man looks, and for the next 10 years the actor constantly seemed on the verge of major stardom. He was cast in several projects that looked prestigious on the page ("In the Cut," "All the King's Men," "Reservation Road"), yet none connected with critics or audiences. Then there were the big-budget rom-coms opposite major female stars ("Rumor Has It," "Just Like Heaven," "View From the Top"), in which he was underutilized. Instead, he tended to shine more in small indies or ensemble pieces, like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "The Brothers Bloom." While he was doing stellar work in little-seen films like "XX/XY" and "The Last Castle," it's the 2004 comedy "13 Going on 30," he says, that he is most often recognized for in public—all of which is fine by Ruffalo, who has always preferred to disappear into his characters. "I still have people say to me, 'Who are you? I'm sorry, am I supposed to know who you are?' " he says with a laugh. "So they'll ask my name and what I've been in, then go, 'Oh, yeah, yeah, you're that guy.' And I like that." Even after he landed his Academy Award nomination for "Kids," a small film he worked on for only six days, his career didn't change much. He admits he's glad the days and nights spent campaigning during Oscar season are over and he can get back to work. "Honestly, the whole awards thing was so abstract to me," he says. "It's so different from what we actually do. And aside from a few people, I don't think anyone places too much importance on it. I think your work speaks for itself more than titles or awards." One advantage of his raised profile, however, is Ruffalo's ability to get certain projects off the ground. More than 10 years ago, Thornton brought him a 198-page script for "Sympathy for Delicious," and Ruffalo says he "instantly knew" he had to direct it. Though he had helmed his share of stage productions, he was unproven as a film director and knew it would be an uphill battle. Then there was the added difficultly of casting an unknown actor in the lead role. Thornton reveals, "There were several times over the last 10 years where people said to Mark, 'Stick Colin Farrell in a wheelchair and we'll give you $7 million right now, because we really like the script.' One time, late in the process, I said, 'The hell with it; just do it. I'll take the writing credit; I just want to go home.' But Mark was insistent. He wouldn't make the film without me in the role." As Ruffalo puts it, "It didn't interest me without Chris in the part." Thornton and Ruffalo worked on approximately 40 versions of the script, and over the years the project changed for them in personal and professional terms. Ruffalo admits that the story took on an even deeper meaning for him when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2002. Though he's resistant to talk about that experience, he says it informed the story in a new way: "When I had my brain tumor, I tried everything. Because who doesn't want a fix? And my face was partially paralyzed. I was still working on this script and thinking about the questions the film raises. After that, I looked at this from a whole new angle." The pair's salvation eventually arrived in the form of Joanne Jacobson, a friend from their theater days, who signed on in 2008 to executive-produce the movie. It was shot on a micro-budget in 23 days in Los Angeles, with Ruffalo working behind and in front of the camera. "For me, acting is a very secret and insular process," he says. "Directing is very different—it's far more inclusive. I had to be in touch with everyone from production heads to extras. It was a challenge, to say the least. But I'd waited 10 years for this and wasn't going to let anything stop me." To round out his cast, Ruffalo called upon various actors he'd met over the years, such as Linney, his "Windtalkers" co-star Noah Emmerich, and fellow "Zodiac" player John Carroll Lynch. "I've sort of been collecting people as I go along," he admits. "It might come from my theater background, where I'm building a repertory company. I would work with these people and start looking for places where I could use them." Though he had never worked with either of them, Orlando Bloom and Juliette Lewis signed on to play members of the rock band O'Dwyer performs with. Ruffalo's wife had suggested Lewis, who initially hesitated at taking on the role. "She told us, 'I've sort of played this; I'm in a rock band in real life. I just don't know,' " Ruffalo recalls. "But after coming in and talking to me and Chris and hearing the story, she said, 'Well, you guys, I have to do it now. I'm being guided to do this movie.' " By contrast, Bloom wasn't someone Ruffalo thought of as the arrogant lead singer of the band. "I had another actor in mind, but he had some schedule changes and I lost him," the director says. "Orlando expressed a real passion for it, and anyone who puts themselves out there like that, I have to meet. And the first thing he said to me was, 'You know, Mark, I really need an experience like this. This part scares me, but I'd like to try. I'll do anything you want me to do, but I need a healing myself.' " Bloom so transformed his appearance for the role, many viewers don't recognize him at all in the film. "He was a revelation," Ruffalo says. "He was there, totally egoless, no attitude, and he worked his ass off. And I love when people come up to me and say, 'I thought Orlando Bloom was in this movie. Where is he?' " Critical 'Sympathy' "Sympathy for Delicious" made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and the immediate critical response was not kind. "Some of those first reviews were harsh and mean, and particularly mean to some of my cast members," Ruffalo says. "And I really took umbrage with it." IFC.com called it "a gangly mess of a movie." "It looked like it was going to be a disaster," he says. But then things began to change. "A rebuttal review came out in USA Today that essentially said, 'I don't understand these mean reviews; they totally seemed to miss the movie.' And then Manohla Dargis of The New York Times came out with a rave review." By the close of the festival, the film had walked away with the Special Jury Prize. "It was harrowing, it was heartbreaking, it was exhilarating, and in the end, totally exalting." As for the harsher critics, Ruffalo says the ones that really got to him were those that criticized Thornton's performance. "Let me put it this way: I'm in the movie, working opposite Chris. And Chris steals every scene I'm in," Ruffalo says with a laugh. "Damn him!" Still, the film didn't instantly land a distributor out of Sundance. Though they had a few offers, Ruffalo and Thornton wanted to hold out for a theatrical release. "Thank God the producers said, 'This movie is too special, and we believe in it, and something good is going to come,' " Ruffalo says, adding that he then wasted months on "a real crackpot" trying to solidify a deal. Eventually, Maya Entertainment came along with plans to distribute the film in theaters. "I've been collaborating with them every step of the way, on marketing, cutting a trailer, designing the poster, everything," he says. "It's been a great experience working with them, but it's been a long haul." As for how audiences will embrace a film about a disillusioned faith healer that dares to ask questions about people's belief systems, Ruffalo believes there's something in the movie for everyone. After screenings, he would find himself approached by Christians who thanked him for not mocking their beliefs, and by atheists who congratulated him for exposing faith healing as a sham. "But ultimately it's not a religious movie; it's a movie that has religious people in it," Ruffalo says. "What it's really about is how you sometimes don't get what you want in life, but you get what you need. And sometimes you're handed a bag of shit in life, but out of that, something can grow. Something good and beautiful.