#but i think it also sometimes gets used in this kinda flanderized way
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Has Tim ever put Dick on a pedestal?
100% yes! This is basically Tim's backstory IMO. Prior to meeting Dick in Lonely Place of Dying, Tim's a kid who's got a distant, idealized, made-for-TV vision of Dick and Bruce - mostly Dick - and he sets out on a quest based entirely around that misperception.
Aaaand then he immediately crashes headfirst into reality, because the Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne he remembers from his childhood memories and daydreams are like this:
But it turns out that the actual real-life human people are a bit more, uh, cranky than Tim's glossy vision - things are tense and neither of them are super-happy to meet Tim:
And Tim has to rethink a bunch of his mistaken deductions as it slowly dawns on him that - far from being a plucky team - Dick and Bruce are actually not getting along at all:
And so Tim has to realize his whole plan of "Dick has to be Robin again!!! That will fix everything!!! :)))))" was actually wrong, and based on a misunderstanding of Bruce and Dick's relationship. And having realized he was wrong, he immediately sets about trying to figure out what he’s failed to understand in the most intrusive way possible—by asking lots of nosy questions!
Actually-meeting-Dick is basically the end of Tim’s super-idealized vision of Dick. It's not a vision that can survive contact with an actual human being who's snapping at you. And kid!Tim is (I love him but) extremely pushy and annoying, and Dick's a prickly young adult who is not above getting annoyed, which means Dick snaps at him pretty regularly.
But Tim does continue to admire him.
So for their various interactions after Lonely Place of Dying, IMO "does Tim have Dick on a pedestal" is kind of a judgment call based on your assessment of Dick's relative strengths/virtues. What's unambiguous: Tim has a consistently higher opinion of Dick than Dick does of Dick, and they argue about it a lot.
I had way too many thoughts about this, so below the cut:
Comics where Dick and Tim have conversations along the lines of Dick: "I suck and I'm failing at everything." Tim: "That's not true!! Actually you're great and you're succeeding at the thing you think you're failing at!!"
So who's right - Dick or Tim?
Dick and Tim's high opinions/expectations of each other: the plusses and minuses
Comic examples
Here are a couple different variations on Tim thinking that Dick is great (often when Dick's less sure):
in Showcase, Tim thinks that Dick’s a way better teammate than Azrael, even as Dick’s thinking himself as a failure who let the Titans down;
in Prodigal, Dick tells Tim a story about confronting Two-Face which to Dick symbolizes a moment of great failure and which Tim insists was a no-win situation where Dick did the best he could;
also in Prodigal, Dick’s despairing over how badly he thinks their encounter with Killer Croc went and meanwhile Tim thinks it went fine (after all, Dick listened to him and called an ambulance instead of beating up Croc!), and Tim tells Dick to lighten up and Dick talks about how he’s a failure;
in Nightwing 6, Dick thinks he’s doing badly in Blüdhaven and he’s self-conscious about it and paranoid about what Tim might tell Bruce, and Tim insists that the fact that Dick’s being targeted means he’s succeeding and getting close instead of failing, and Dick retorts that this won’t be comforting if he winds up dead because getting close just isn’t good enough;
also in Nightwing 6, Tim thinks Dick was a better Robin than Tim is, and Dick thinks he wasn’t that great and that Tim’s better;
post-Last Laugh, Tim’s insistent that Dick's being too hard on himself about attacking the Joker whereas Dick's really haunted by the experience and confides that it feels like he's discovered a terrible dark side of himself;
way later in Nightwing 110, Tim’s seeking Dick out and Dick’s trying to avoid him because he thinks he’s a bad person who’d be bad for Tim;
in BW: Murderer, Tim doesn’t trust Bruce absolutely, but in Red Robin, he does trust Dick absolutely (or at least, more than Tim trusts himself);
etc. etc. etc.
Who's right: Dick or Tim?
So, is Tim being too easy on Dick and looking at him with rose-colored glasses, and Dick’s harsher view of himself is the correct one; or is Dick a perfectionist who’s being too hard on himself, and Tim’s the one who’s actually seeing Dick’s strengths more clearly?
I don’t think the comics really commit one way or another! These are moments of multiple-perspectives, where we notice that Tim has one attitude and Dick has another attitude and that tells us things about the characters, not moments that are meant to resolve to a simplistic “one person is Right and one person is Wrong.” I think often you could argue that they're both right? So, like, if you wanted to take the approach of, "Tim's idolizing him but he's not actually as great as Tim thinks," I don't think the comics precisely contradict that interpretation.
... THAT SAID, look, I am a Dick Grayson fan at heart, and I tend to lean toward “Dick’s being too hard on himself.”
Tim’s not oblivious to Dick’s flaws—he immediately figures out, for example, that Dick’s gonna attack the Joker, and rushes off to stop him; he just isn’t as judgmental about this moment as Dick is, and he doesn’t think it makes Dick an awful person forever. The point is (Tim says later, practical-minded) that it was made right, and Dick shouldn’t beat himself up about it. In Prodigal, Tim’s not unaware that their fight with Croc went badly; he’s just focused on how Dick’s morals and teamwork-centric attitude feel right to him in a way that Azrael’s didn’t, and look, Tim didn’t get shot even though he got shot at, and isn’t that the important thing? Tim gets caught in the same ambush that Dick does in Nightwing 6; he just takes the glass-half-full attitude toward it while Dick takes the glass-half-empty attitude. And so on.
Tim admires Dick, looks up to him, trusts him, interprets his flaws generously, and doesn’t think he’s a failure. And... this isn't quite in the comics, but it doesn't contradict them: I like to imagine Dick feeling like he's on a pedestal, and feeling kinda uncomfortable with Tim's admiration when he's forced to realize it exists, and feeling like he doesn't deserve it, and sometimes subconsciously braced for the other shoe to drop, convinced that Tim can't possibly really think this forever, that he's deluded somehow, and that eventually Tim will realize who Dick really is and get disillusioned and leave.
And I tend to think of Dick having this problem a bit with everyone in his life who thinks highly of him, but especially with Tim, because he doesn't feel like Tim's ever needed him or that he's done anything worth Tim's admiration. I feel like Dick - despite some insecurities - does know his own worth as a team leader, and he knows he was a good partner to Bruce, and he understands when he's helping people who are clearly floundering, like Damian and Rose. But all he's ever done for Tim is...hang out, and be nice. And he doesn't think Tim ever needed fixing or saving, and he vastly underestimates both the value of his own friendship in general and how much it's meant to Tim in particular. Not all the time, because later in their relationship when they've known each other for years I do think Dick does feel a bit more secure in that friendship and entitled to make demands based on it (and vice versa, for Tim). But I do imagine Dick periodically feeling like Tim lets him off the hook too easily, and thinks more highly of him than he should, and alternating between being grateful for it and uncomfortable with it.
But I would argue that Dick does deserve Tim’s admiration!
Look, Dick's not a perfect person - no one is. He does screw up sometimes, and sometimes he's petty or jealous, and sometimes his temper gets the better of him. But he is pretty great! He's brave and thoughtful and kind and generous and caring. He takes his own grief and his own suffering and devotes himself to helping other people. And Tim sees that. Tim watches an orphaned kid crying on stage, and has nightmares about it - and later recognizes the hero in him. Tim stops Dick from beating the Joker to death, and he holds Dick back from strangling Hugo Strange, and he talks Dick down from two separate panic attacks, and he listens to Dick monologue about his various perceived failures, and he gets yelled at a lot when Dick's annoyed with him, and his takeaway from all of that is that he believes in Dick, and trusts Dick, and thinks he's a hero.
You could see that as Tim having him on a pedestal and refusing to acknowledge the ugly reality. But I tend to see it as Tim understanding that Dick's flaws and occasional missteps don't define who he is - the fact that Dick's human doesn't make him any less of a hero. Tim can see the hero that Dick can't always see in himself.
Dick and Tim have really high opinions of each other... for better or worse
Tim's not alone in having a high opinion of Dick - Dick thinks Tim's pretty great, too! Dick repeatedly compares himself to Tim and finds himself wanting, whether he's thinking that Tim's a better partner for Bruce, or having a fear toxin nightmare where Tim's a rival who's beating him out of a job, or deciding that Tim would never have let Blockbuster die (and that he'll be better off if Dick avoids him), or musing that Tim would be a better Batman. Dick calls Tim his equal and closest ally in Red Robin; Tim thinks Dick is "the best" in his origin story and basically never changes his mind.
I think nowadays we're sometimes pretty highly-attuned to the way that high expectations can be bad or oppressive, and... I have mixed feelings about this? On the one hand, it isn't untrue! Dick and Tim's mutual high opinions of each other, and correspondingly high expectations, are not an unmixed blessing! They 100% cause problems! Dick and Tim think highly of each other, and expect a lot from each other, and sometimes they're pushy or abrupt or demanding when they could stand to be more sensitive. And the iffy side of high expectations is something I find interesting, and I do think it's solidly canon-based - you see aspects of this in several of their comic conflicts - LPoD, Graduation Day, BftC, RR, etc.
But at the same time, it's complicated! I don't think you can fully untangle the higher expectations from "they rely on each other and have a lot of faith in each other." Love and trust are different things, and Dick and Tim care a whole lot about being trusted, not just about being loved.
I also think it's important that their belief in each other is often a gift rather than an inevitability: Dick and Tim choose to see each other in positive ways. Something they both do is after they have a conflict, they'll apply on a retrospective very positive gloss to whatever just happened. So e.g. Dick starts Resurrection mad at Tim, and ends it by declaring, "I let you make the choice... because I knew you'd make the right one." Tim spends most of Red Robin 1-12 mad at Dick, and ends it by declaring that he knew Dick would catch him because Dick's always there for him. And in both cases, we-the-readers are aware that they knew no such thing! But to me, that doesn't make these declarations meaningless - it makes them more meaningful. Their faith in each other is sometimes genuinely felt, and sometimes it's something they stubbornly brute-force into existence because they want to give that gift to each other.
And I mean... Tim did make the right choice. Dick was there when it really counted. Just because it isn't the whole truth doesn't mean it's not a truth.
Now, does this positivity also put some pressure on them? Absolutely! They're both people who are very upset by failure, so they tend to reassure each other by insisting that there was no failure, could never be failure, failure is impossible, even when they know perfectly well that's not true. They praise each other's skills as a love language, when what they mean is I love you no matter what. They talk about other people's needs but don't always acknowledge each other's. And it'd probably be healthier if they said instead, "Even if you'd made the wrong choice, it'd be okay, because it's okay to make the wrong choice sometimes," or "Even if you're not always there for me, that's okay, because no one can be there for someone else all the time."
And they do not say that, because Dick and Tim are relatively well-adjusted by Batfamily standards but that is a very low bar, and at the end of the day they're still deeply messed-up perfectionists who deal with their emotional problems by punching crime in the face.
But look, they're trying. And isn't that the important thing? <3
#dick 'imposter syndrome' grayson and tim 'dick grayson stan' drake#dick grayson#tim drake#dick & tim#ask tag#i rambled for a really long time anon <3#it's complicated because i feel like mmmm the ''pedestal'' thing is obv true in some ways#but i think it also sometimes gets used in this kinda flanderized way#where it gets extrapolated into claims like ''older!tim is shocked to learn dick experiences normal human emotions' or w/e#and obv fandom is transformative and a rich tapestry etc but for me personally#part of what i LOVE about tim's introduction is that dick is in the middle of one of his very angsty eras#so tim's burst into his life being all ''hiiiiii!!! you're the best :)))))'' when dick is at peak ''i am gloomy and depressed''#that said tim's high opinion of dick is very canon and very compelling to me <3#tim does think dick is the greatest thing ever!#but it's more like being a stan of his rather than being a distant stranger who doesn't know him at all#it's not that tim's unaware that dick gets angry/sad/etc or that dick and tim never have fights (they do!)#it's more that unless they're actively in the middle of a fight tim admires/loves dick a lot and is determined to think well of him#so he considers all of dick's strengths What's Important About Him and all of his flaws Basically A Rounding Error If You Think About It#and he doubles-down on this when someone's questioning it (including Dick)#there is definite motivated reasoning at play in Tim's view of Dick but imo it's not quite the same as a pedestal sdfdsfds#i'm not sure there's anything that Dick could do that Tim couldn't find a way to justify in his head how it was okay /#not really Dick / not really his fault / etc. - like if Dick went on a murder spree#Tim would be there making the big This Isn't You! I Know You Won't Kill Me Because I Believe In You! speech#and like. if he was wrong then he'd be dead sdfdsf but the thing is he'd have secret doubts and be wary AND STILL#find himself ultimately making that speech / taking the risk - and ditto for Dick toward Tim#it's not that they never get mad / distrust each other and it's not impossible they'd stay bitter and suspicious for a while#but in the END they both really really WANT to trust each other
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Brutally honest opinion on Sonamy, Sonadow and Whispangle? :P
Sorry for the late reply ><
S0namy:
Hoo boy... I have many thoughts... most not very good...
At best, I'm apathetic towards it. At worst, I'm actively annoyed and/or frusterated by it.
I think it's heavily overrated and isn't that good of a ship in general. The amount of bad portrayals of s0namy outweigh the good and/or okay ones imo, and the toxicity of the fandom surrounding it only adds to my dislike for it.
(I'm not saying everyone who likes s0namy is toxic. There are many people in the s0namy fandom that are chill. Unfortunately, there's a vocal part of the s0namy fandom that is very toxic and gatekeepy)
Alot of s0namy portrayals unfortunately fall into "Amy makes Sonic uncomfortable and/or is possessive, but it's seen as cute" which is a dynamic I really don't like. For example, Sonic X has arguably the most popular portrayal of the ship, but imo is one of if not the worst portrayals of the ship.
Then you have other extreme that the ship sometimes falls into, where I can best describe it as "they sure are standing next to eachother" (Frontiers) where there's just... nothing to it, besides "oh it's the main girl and main boy so you have to ship them, they're obviously meant for eachother!"
Another thing, it can be annoying sometimes how the fandom will exaggerate how much the ship is actually canon, saying things like "they're totally dating! they're a couple!" when in reality Sonic is single and will most likely continue to be. At most, it's teased because it's a popular ship, but it won't go further than that.
So the best way to describe how canon S0namy actually is:
Sonadow:
I like it! I think it's cute! I can't see it working out in canon, but I really like fanon sonadow and it's fun to write.
Also, even though prime sonadow is nothing like sonic or shadow would act in canon, I still think it's cute and it's the only thing I enjoyed about the show lol.
Whispangle:
This one kinda hurts... 😔
I used to really like Whispangle, I thought it was really cute. The mini series did a good job of showing their bond.
But then the city arc happened...
What the hell is this.
Why is Tangle reminding Whisper of her trauma so casually when she was shown to be considerate of her feelings before.
Why is Whisper being shown as in the wrong for being upset by this.
Why does Tangle get a 2 panel half assed apology while Whisper gets a THREE PAGE apology.
After this whole mess, it just left a bad taste in my mouth. I can't get behind this ship anymore because of how badly this was handled, and how flanderized it is now (it seems very onesided now, a lot of "Whisper angsting, Tangle comforting" over and over)
#sonic the hedgehog#whisper the wolf#tangle the lemur#amy rose#shadow the hedgehog#sonadow#s0namy#honest sonic opinions#sonic hot takes#sonic shipping#sonic ships#minor rant#my asks#sth#sonic idw#idw sonic
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Does it ever bug you when you see some of the Cyno jokes in fandom? Because for me like- there’s a specific kind of joke he tells that people seem to reduce down to “ligma and then overexplains it” or just. Puns. And while puns are entirely a facet of that sense of humor- it’s. Also just not the kind of jokes? He tells? Like the one with the slime. I haven’t seen many people utilize that kind of humor and I really wish they did. Or like- telling a joke that gets a laugh and adding it to your script with people. I might be projecting a little there but my parents told me I used to tell the same joke every night for a month because it made them laugh once.
I really love your head canons btw- and how you talk about Alhaitham too :)
I have... Actually never thought about it...
But yeah! I do see your point anon! It's definitely not the kind of jokes he does in canon. It's either just straight deadpan humor, like he explains a way too long humorous senario that he thinks intellectually is funny (which, same, I do that all the time lmao) or it's... Weirdly intellectual puns that he HAS to explain to most people, like in the windburne trailer.
And that's a big thing because that's an overly complicated joke, it's like a refence to an arabic (in-game sumerian) poem/song about lyres and wind. And he doesn't explain it to Tighnari, doesn't even attempt to do it and shit.
I think it mostly has to do with the fact that most people consume genshin lore or try to understand characters through voice lines alone and so they took the one time he explained jokes till he was sick and just... Ran with it to hell and back. When that is a very specific scenario and stuff. Thus, flanderization.
(flanderization: the process through which a fictional character's essential traits are exaggerated over the course of a serial work/by the fandom (in this case))
And yeah... Also the fandom's habit to unconsciously or sometimes consciously strip characters, especially ones they find attractive/smart/of note for a specific characteristic, of their neurodivergent coding. I see it a lot with Al Haitham, that a lot of people characterize like one of those white boys who don't care about human right.
(I could go on a fucking rant about this. Seriously, he's not one of those "it's rational for people to be oppressed because *yada yada yada*)
Tbh honest, I have leant the art of disconnecting the wider fandom's hc of character from my own and kinda... Like them somehow... I dunno how I do this, but I feel like it's helped me a lot since otherwise I would be in every comment section arguing about "no! Kaeya calling Albedo a machine does not ducking make sense! Why did you make this!" or similar shit. So yeah...
Especially with neurodivergent characters, that's a necessity!
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i would love if you expanded on your vent post sometime because i don't quite understand what you're saying when equating experiencing racism with black and white discourse surrounding c!wilbur either being completely bad and completely good and how people react to that. but it genuinely seems like an important topic to speak on if you ever feel like fully doing so
OK first of all :] ilike how this ask is phrased thank you for bein so niceys abt it. i will do my best to convey this as well as i can imstill pretty frazzled but ido wanna talk about it 👍
specifically i am talking abt the ppl who absolve him of everything or declaw him constantly. like again i do think cwil is a good dude he Is one of my faves. he is just kinda tunnel vision and selfish and in that persuit has done a lotta not great stuff tht gets deliberately ignored or pushed aside, but also the ppl v obsessed w making him some evil malicious one note abuser are like. weird ableist assholes lmao it can be two (✌️) bad things. but im not talking abt Them rn my point is uhm. ok so
i think the way cwilbur uhh ccwilbur that whole bursona thing is has a coat of Whiteness that intersects with things yk? have you heard the term white fave. it's stuff like that. and it especially shines when you compare it to like..how many swaths of ppl treat cquackity in Relation to him, or how many sootbur or oc type body hcs will turn one half of a ship into like..a emotionless brown man accessory to whoever they decided is the dainty pale one. or how ccwil gets truthed so much as "blahblahblah" instead of supporting openly queer or neurodivergent or female creators because it needs to be in a digestible palatable way it needs to be in the vehicle of a guy they are already willing to consume. does that make sense
like look at this ->
in this example uhh,,,ok to use tntduo specifically, yes cquackity Is violent and promiscuous he Is mean and snippy and scowls that's all true and canonical. but you just have to be a little aware of how you interact with things and how it comes across, especially if it's used as a vehicle for a white character. like...if you flanderize quackity and change his motives so he's just an accessory who's whole world revolves around wilbur, if he's turned into an abuser that the ever gentle wonderful poor wifey wilbur is so gracious to continue tolerating, if he's turned into like a sexual object for wilbur to be bossed around by at the cost of like. things tht are literally canonically triggering and awful fr cq. yyr like. racist llmao. and these things are Common as hell they are very common i block and block tags and i still cant get away from it.
white characters and ccs being treated with a different brush that poc characters and ccs is just v v v common and awful and well it sucks out here 👍 i do feel like the way he is talked abt can be loaded with it
#huri.txt#discourse#anon#idk man i hope this makes sense#and again i LIKE CWILBUR CCWIL IS AN OK GUY YOU CAN SHIP WHATEVER YOU WANT FOREVER WHO CARES#i just dont think its unreasonable to be upset abt this stuff or wish ppl would be more aware and conscious of this kinda thing
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If i'm being honest, i'm not really a fan of JeRza cuz not having grown up with FT or "The Big 4 ship", I'd just find them completely moronic. I kinda don't mind GruVia or GaLe cuz I don't really care for them that much however, I greatly despised NaLu cuz I get the feeling, it will be an abusive relationship where that Natsu would caused so many problems to Lucy to the point of extreme levels of headaches. Lucy deserves so much better than that retard. As for JeRza... I used to hate Jellal but now I don't really care about him, he's kinda just.... there? That ship just wasn't for me. Sometimes I don't understand what Erza sees in him? But truth to be told, I also have a fictional crush on Erza, too. I don't like Jerza cuz they're relatinship feels kinda tiring and kinda boring. Also, they need years of psychological therapy which I never see them do. I really don't like it when Erza changes deamanor wherever she's around that pretty boy. It kinda feels just like when Sakura changes wherever she's around Sasuke(although I hate Sakura). I mean, why ship that when Erza can have so many fun ship dynamics with other characters. But hey, it's just an cartoon/anime/manga. Non of these relationships would work in real life... Although, I could be wrong.
P.S. If I wanna ship Erza with someone, I'd ship her with Denji(Chainsaw Man).(Okay, I'm joking, that's was joke XD)
P.S.2. I'm kinda pissed off when Jellal accidently grabbed Erza's cans as well feeling them. Some people thought it was sweet and funny. As for me, come on! Anybody, could have done that!... Although, I could be wrong.
P.S.3. I kinda get the feeling that some/most people ship JeRza cuz they're both hot and attractive characters.
Hey uh why don't you just make your own post?
Like I'm sorry but idk how to respond to this in a way that's not just telling you to not use the r slur in my blog, and I'm all for criticizing the big four but if you wanna be petty (which is fine, love being petty) just be it in your own blog not in my inbox. Specially when I don't even know you.
Besides I've already touched upon all these points about jerza in a previous ask. And I don't understand how you think nalu would be abusive, for as much as i criticize it, that is in fact one of the few things i don't think would apply to that ship. Is it just because Natsu is a bit of an idiot (only a bit, flanderization has been at work in the manga for a while)? Having a partner who's a himbo and kind of impulsive doesn't mean the relationship is going to be abusive. Likewise, don't understand why you care more about the ways in which nalu could be abusive but you don't mind gruvia which has actual disgusting and toxic behaviors from early on.
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Magus and/or Flea
Magus
First impression
Ohhhh big cape evil dude with one of the coolest boss themes I've ever heard!?
Impression now
Favorite moment
Sighhhhh there's so many... When you really look at him he has such nuance and everything is linked and I LOVE thinking about him (been almost 15 years lol...) It's really hard to just pick one. For now, let's just say his iconic line
Idea for a story
Men of Mystics
For real tho, I've wanted to do a cool horror/creepy pasta type story about Magus in relation to the black wind. I just don't know how to get the really good feeling out into words or art so it's been a few years in the back of my mind. Just something about being so young and losing your mum to the black winds, and watching your sister slowly succumb to the same thing, all before you start to hear it yourself... Yeah, I wish I had in inspiration to pull it off how I want
Unpopular opinion
A vast majority of the fandom reduce him to a gross and/or incorrect flanderization of self. That, or glossing over him entirely, when he adds so much to the narrative of ct as a whole. I still see fucking terrible takes on him as recently as 2022 lol and it makes me a bit sad. I know my interpretations won't be to everyone's liking but I've put effort into looking into him (and most the ct cast as a whole) and picking up the subtle things that are laid out right there in the source material. Looking only at him (or anyone for that matter) PURELY through a fandom lens gets tiring for me to see sometimes...
Favorite relationship
HARLAND
FOR REAL THO, ALL THESE YEARS LATER AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH SCHALA IS STILL SO NICE.... EVEN THO most of that relationship is his one sided view on it, he still dedicated most of his life working to try and avenge/save her. It's strong enough that it prevailed through to both sequels (to varying degrees and missed opportunities 🙄) because he just cared that much. Even when he's a grown man, he's still that little kid who's sad cause he misses his sister!!!!
Favorite headcanon
That the use of magic changes your appearance. I had a whole theory about hair colour and magical affinity, which explains why Magus has such a beautiful icy blue colour. It also explains why his ears got pointy, and I like to further that by imagining that he overall looks very sharp and angular, as much as a human can. I try to express that with most art I make of him, I know he's really hot and even if it's so subtle most will miss it, I try to keep him looking sharp.
///
Flea
First impression
WOAH WE'RE FIGHTING IN THE STARS!!!
(fun fact, flea was one of my very first glimpses of ct, before my very own playthrough I used to sit with my dad in his office and watch him play, and he was going through Magus' castle one of the first time I watched him!)
Impression now
EPIC NB TRANS MASC KING!!!
Favorite moment
Idea for a story
Hmm... Honestly, a lot of the stuff I wanted to explore for him (+the other generals) is gong into men of mystics. I've always just wanted to kinda explore the behind the scenes lives of everyone leading up to the war in 600ad, and that's exactly what men of mystics is - all that boring stuff, but harland is there :p
Unpopular opinion
Flea is not trans fem. Let trans mascs have this one, he literally says 'hey, I'm a guy'
I'm not saying this as a dig at trans fems, if they see something in him and connect with him that way I love to see it - I'm saying as a trans masc myself who often feels like people hear the word 'trans' and think it only means 'trans woman,' let us have this one and respect the masc despite appearing androgynous/feminine, I talked about it a little while ago here
Favorite relationship
Honestly? With slash and ozzie. I'm soooo interested in how the dynamic between the three of them plays out, I love thinking about the antics they'd get up to while they were rising to general status
Favorite headcanon
Honestly not so much a hc but more trying to bring back the aspects of Flea that were lost through translation. Mainly the amazing pun on his name making him talk real flirty. I wish there was a way we could have all the little nuances brought over to eng, I could talk about them all day....
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Watching TOS for the first time
As someone who has loved star trek for most of my life I thought it’s weird that I have never watched the show that started it all and after watching all the episodes that are on Netflix boy do I have thoughts on the show. Here is just some of the rambling thoughts I have on the show in general.
It is both way better then I expected and also worse? I love that most of the sets were just clearly in a sound stage with sand thrown on the ground and fake rocks and trees and the sky is always just a cloudless sea of bright colour, pink or red mainly. Also the rocks normally has glitter in them and that made me smile. Some of the episodes were definitely better then sci-fi today.
Also so much of start trek lore is clearly not set up in this series and it was funny seeing the ways the different shows don’t match up, especially star trek: Enterprise. It was insane to me that starfleet had never even seen a romulan before Kirk and the crew met them, somehow they didn't have video when the war started???
Also Chekov wasn’t in the first season??? Shout out to the the random other guy who sometimes was the navigator or pilot and in literally in more episodes than Chekov but I literally have no idea what his name was and he never spoke a single line and was sometimes where Chekov was sitting in shots from the back like they just never shot scenes from the back when Chekov was there??? super weird. And there was a sorta supporting character named Janice who I literally had never seen anyone mention, though she did disappear once I felt the show actually got good. And only existed to get creeped on by the men in the show. So RIP her. Also nurse Chapel, literally had no idea that there was a nurse who was pretty consistently in the show.
Also the way Kirk is perceived in pop culture doesn't really match up with how I feel he was in the show. Like he’s def a ladies man (where women literally fall at his feet in seconds after meeting him) and stuff like that but he was also really strange but I did enjoy he’s over the top acting in literally every episode and that there was somehow always some woman that was needed for an away mission from his past that was highly qualified but he just had no idea worked on his ship??? and that he literally went on every away mission even though it seemed like maybe the captain shouldn't just be putting himself in such dangerous situations. Also Kirk seemed to have a thing for blondes. (Note sometimes all i could think that if Kirk was a woman, that character would be could a Mary Sue literally all the time)[Though the few times in fights he literally just jumped into the air and used his legs to kick the opponent in the chest made me lose my shit, like he just fell straight to the ground afterwards and had to then pick himself up, and somehow this worked? the fighting in this show was amazing and terrible and ridiculous.]
Spock on the other hand seemed the most close to my preconceived thoughts. Stand offish, smart, no emotions, pointy ears, green blood. Also loved that many episodes just ended with everyone messing with him. Though I liked when he was allowed to show emotions, he had a lovely smile.
Out of what were the main characters I was the most surprised at my thoughts on Doctor McCoy. As great as Spock and Kirk were, he definitely was my favourite. Most of the time his point of view was most similar to mine. Also he did not say DAMN IT JIM as often as I expected, definitely all the characters have been a bit flanderized in pop culture. And him and Spock were definitely the most fun dynamic out of the 3 at least to me.
It was also interesting to see that star trek has always just kinda ... been like that. It enjoyed its fight scenes and sex appeal. I mean Kirk can barely keep his shirt on most of the time and women are literally almost always in some ridiculous get up. So it’s interesting that so much of the modern thoughts surrounding star trek being too focused on fight scenes and sex seem to be wrong just based on how much of that was in the show from the start.
Gotta admit though that a lot of my thoughts are just ignoring some of the yikes stuff in it, as for being made in the 60′s it sometimes really shows it age, while other times takes a stronger stance on social issues than shows today would even dare to. Also the show is very American and you can feel that it was written with the idea that America is the best or at least that is how Kirk feels.
On that line of thought the very last episode of season was definitely the most sexist out of the whole show it felt like. Literally in the last episode it just told us that women weren’t allowed to be captains in starfleet?????? And that clearly this woman is insane and hysterical which was really gross to see. Like she was smart enough to change bodies with Kirk and be a doctor but literally almost instantly lost her shit at the slightest questioning and that she would have just been so happy if she was simply accepted her lot in life as a woman???? Also this is the reason why they broke up in the first place, she was just “jealous” of Kirk because his sex, his gender didn't stop him from his dream. Like super gross and not a great way to end the show thats for sure.
It’s just so confusing that the pilot had a woman as first officer and then after that not a single woman is ever seen in a commanding or leadership positions , unless she was called a priestess or some other name. Never captain, and that is because women apparently can’t be captains.
Even though the end was a bit bitter the show was fun and I enjoyed it and i can see why is become the pop culture icon that it is today . Super excited to watch the movies now and I guess I now have to watch all 7 season of next gen, a show I have also not watched.
Though I still have many other thoughts about the show, this post is way too long.
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I’ve been thinking about this topic for awhile so here goes: I’ve become increasingly tired of how fandoms use tropes and dynamics and just overplay them. For example, in my personal opinion, I’m tired of constantly seeing enemies to lovers. I feel like it’s just so overdone and the obsession with it and treating it like it’s such a rare dynamic that people like is just. Like no it’s not rare in the slightest. Some of the most popular ships in fandoms tend to be enemies to lovers. I can see why of course, conflict fuels stories and the dynamic of two people that hate each other and over time warm up to one another (or just hate fuck. you do you) is something I can understand people liking. Personally I just think it’s boring now lol.
Also the obsession with tropes in fics without actually executing them well is just so painful to read. Tropes are a way to explain certain phenomena and story trends with all types of media, not just something to slap into your story just because you think it’d be cool. It gets to the point of characters becoming flanderized (for those who don’t know, flanderization how a character over time whether through canon, fanon, or both, becomes the extreme over exaggerated version of themself, named after ned flanders from the simpsons. Another example is Patrick from spongebob.) and it’s tiresome.
I do my best to mute what I don’t like and I don’t even really rant about these things very often bc I don’t wanna step on anyone’s toes. But I feel like sometimes it’s okay to vent about these things for the discussion. I don’t want it to turn toxic though of course. It’s okay to have civil discussions about fandom things without it turning into a metaphorical fistfight. That’s also why I haven’t named any specific examples of this but if you wanna feel free.
I’m kinda just writing through my train of thought rn so I’m sorry if none of this makes sense. I can elaborate if anyone needs me to.
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Elliot Spencer Headcanons
Thanks to @neurodivergent-selfship , @cyanide-latte , @krakersy , @bro0kebxrter , @nicolas666world and @shadowinthetrees for liking my post ❤ this is the result!
Okay so these are completely random statements made up by my unreadable mind, enjoy. Also, not to directly quote youtube comments but "sorry for bad english" if at any point throughout this my grammar sucks, I'm just a poor italian mamma-mia-pizzeria working my second language
- We all know Elliot fought in ww1 and was a captain at some point, which... ( *pauses in gay who has no idea of army hierarchy or such* ) ...whatever that fucking means. Anyway, I like to picture him as a simple soldier at first and that the title of captain was earned throughout the war by merit. During this first period I like to think that he, like many soldiers in Flanders, made friends with his comrades and formed some deep, intimate bonds with them, which was actually frequent during ww1. (Yes, I read a lot about ww1 and life in the trenches because of fictional-man bdsm-demon Spencer, and what? It helped me during history tests.)
There was a man in particular who became his friend and soulmate, Jean. Now, it was common in ww1 for soldiers to form connections with each other in ways that in pre-war society, and generally in the 1910s, would have been considered reprehensible, since they were based on intimate acts and didn't abide to traditional masculinity. In fact, in addition to being friends soldiers used to care for each other the way mothers or wives would, comforting their friends, laying a warm blanket on their back or even holding their hand while crossing a path of mud. It is the kind of friendship J.R.R. Tolkien represents in Lord of the Rings through Frodo and Sam, since he himself had experienced ww1 and had seen soldiers act this way first-hand.
I always imagined Elliot might have come around something similar during his time in France, and that he would have established something similar to this with Jean. It was a relationship that couldn't fully be defined, or even understood by the two of them, since it broke all the rules of their time and was something men in general could have never dreamt about in pre-war life. Its elements felt at the same time romantic and platonic, sometimes bordering sexual ones. Elliot and Jean, as I said, would have had reasonable trouble defining what they felt for each other, but were fine settling for the word "love", which was open to any interpretation or acts. Love for a friend, a partner, a soulmate, a companion in the horrible times they were going through. Still, it's more than possible that while being a great source of comfort, this bond could confuse and upset Elliot a bit, given he had never manifested these feelings for any man. It is more than possible that this could lead him to question his sexuality a bit, too. Unfortunately Jean died in a battle somewhere between late-1917/early-1918, blown up by a mine. To Elliot this was devastating, a scar that would never heal.
I feel that this relationship could also be where Elliot first got a hint of the feelings and sensations that new, "transgressive" experiences could lead to, which would explain why after the end of the war he would try and expand his horizons in search of a new antidote to misery, the one that Jean was for him in France.
- ...on a more light-hearted note :D let's talk private life! I think Elliot married somewhere in his twenties (when I looked up ages of marriage in the 1910s google said the average age for men to get married was 25 so yeah, I think it sounds kinda right.) I do think though that as war rolled around Elliot and his wife still had no children, and since it was basically customary to have some at the time and have them quick, maybe his wife or himself had problems with infertility, perhaps some miscarriages. It could also be that both of them didn't want any children either, but...still, I don't think that would be entirely plausible.
Elliot loved his wife very much as she was a wonderful woman, and no! she wasn't wonderful because she was the deadpan-barbiedoll-gaze woman people appreciated at the time, quite the opposite. She was a feisty, funny woman who had fun playfully bossing his husband around if he was down to it. And I like to think Elliot would appreciate a strong woman, especially if she could counterbalance his softer, less confident side. Obviously his love for his wife was still present during the war, but he began to question it more and more as his relationship with Jean grew, tearing down his certainties about his feelings and identity.
- Okay now, about childhood. I think Elliot might have been a quiet child, one that didn't cause lots of trouble and was fine speding time alone. In fact I imagine him being kind of lonely in his early years, until he was 11-12, and not really having many friends, maybe only two. He was a shy boy and didn't know how to socialize that well, so his peers weren't interested in getting to know him and mostly thought he was kind of weird. This was a little hurtful to Elliot but he had found out that the best way to ease the loneliness was imagination, and books helped him with that. He'd read all kinds of stories and even made up some of his own, writing them in a little diary he kept hidden in his wardrobe. As he grew up though, he was able to let his personality shine through a little more and was well liked by almost everyone he met. And yes, he was still grumpy and socially awkward at times, but that was part of his nature, take it or leave it.
Now, random facts that, as Marge Simpson would say, I just think are neat:
- Elliot has a fast metabolism and is a slow eater
- he can play pool like a champion
- on the other hand, he can't swim to save his life
-same for singing
- He once didn't see a glass widow and walked right into it making the whole thing shake, many people saw him and it took him 4 weeks to psychologically recover
- curses like a sailor
- when kids ask him to arm wrestle he is overwhelmed by the urge to win in a flash by smashing the kid's arm on the table full-force just to feel superior
- can handle his alcohol (duh, he's british)
- will give you a full review about the critique of Napoleon the Third's regime in Victor Hugo's poetry while sitting at the dinner table and will find it disrespectful if you dare continue to eat while he monologues
#there could be more i admit#but this is it for now#i love him so much#my baby#lmk what you think of this!#hellraiser#pinhead#elliot spencer
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Another Sonic ramble
So once again I’m here with one of my rambles about my incredibly subjective view of how the Sonic series should be handled!
*Beat*
...anyway.
So, one of the more recurring opinions on the fandom is that Sonic games should be written by Ian Flynn, I have talked before about the gripes I have with his writing and why I disagree with this but this post is not entirely about him, but rather a more general topic that has been bugging me for a long time.
The other day I was watching a video speculating about the upcoming Sonic Rangers, there’s not much to write home since it was pretty well made but there’s a particular part that inspired me to do this post and talk about it with other fans to discuss it.
See, at one point the video critisized the fact that Sonic Forces was written by a Japanese writer because they have to re-write the script in English and that can cause problems with localization, and that it would be better to have western writers from the get-go since Sonic’s main demographic comes from there, while making an off-hand suggestion that Ian Flynn could be a main choice. While I can see where they’re coming from, my response was a simple:
‘‘Absolutely, not’‘
See, I have a lot of issues with this to put it bluntly and I’ll try to break them down and explain them the best I can since they’re pretty subjective in nature, but I’m bringing this up because I want you guys to share your thoughts as well.
So, why does it bug me so much the idea of Sonic being handled by western creators?
In my case, the main reasons are because Sonic loses a core part of it’s appeal because of this, the fact that SEGA of Japan seems to have a better grasp of the franchise’s tone and characters and there’s the very subjective point that, in my eyes, American versions of Japanese franchises were always nothing more than dumbed down products of the source material.
To start with my first point, whenever someone talks about Sonic’s creation, a lot of people are quick to point out that our favorite blue hedgehog and his games were inspired by western pop culture and cartoons, and that is true, however oftenly they forget to mention a core thing that not only inspired, but also formed part of the core identity of this franchise.
Sonic is very inspired on anime, and at heart this franchise is a shonen.
(This image by The Great Lange expresses more clearly what I mean)
Generally, the most acknowledgement anime gets on it’s hand on Sonic is the mentions of Sonic being inspired by Dragon Ball, particularly the Super Saiyan, but there’s so much more than that, as Sonic blatantly takes inspiration from Studio Ghibli films specially in games like Sonic 3, which draws a lot of inspiration from Laputa: Castle in the Sky, this great post shows proof that this is not a coincidence.
And it doesn’t stop there, Shiro Maekawa himself has stated that SA2′s story (and in particular, the characters of Shadow and Maria) draw a lot of inspiration from the manga Please Save My Earth.
Even Sonic’s character design resembles shonen protagonists moreso than the main characters of silent cartoons, don’t believe me?
Sure, Sonic has a cartoony anatomy, no one can deny that, but he also exhibits a lot of traits from shonen characters such as spiky hair/quills (?), dynamic posing, a confident, courageous and energetic personality and most importantly, fighting spirit.
If you compare Sonic’s personality and more specifically, his abilities and moves to, say, cartoon speedy characters like the Road Runner, there’s a pretty big disconnection between him and western cartoon characters. Hell, this disconnection is even just as present if you compare him with a character like The Flash from DC.
Simply put, Sonic acts, moves and more importantly, fights like a shonen anime character. He doesn’t just go Super Saiyan and that’s it. Here’s even a quick comparison if necessary.
And this is important because this doesn’t apply just to him, but the whole franchise as a whole and when it takes a more western approach, all of these details are kinda lost or more downplayed, of course this depends on the artists and there’s YMMV at hand, but I think my point is clear.
My second point is...SoJ has consistently proven they have a much clearer grasp on how Sonic’s world and characters are compared to SoA.
Hear me out, yes, Sonic 06 and ShtH exist and yes, SoJ is not perfect by any means. But hear me out...when did the characters start to get flanderized and turned into parodies of themselves? In the 2010s...and when did SEGA move from Japanese to western writers in the games?
Of course it was more then that since there’s a whole tone shift that came with this decade and the new writers, but it’s not a coincidence that when writing in Sonic started to decay, western writers also happened to get on board with the games.
Besides that, SoA has a wide history of not getting Sonic’s tone and characters, from how they made media without much of Sonic Team’s input, to altering how characters are seen in the west. (Such as how they amped up Sonic’s attitude in their media or how the English scripts of the games featured things like Sonic seemingly barely tolerating Amy while the JP scripts portrayed this as Sonic just not understanding girls all that well instead, or for more recent examples, the addition of the ‘’torture’’ line in Forces).
Not only that, but even ignoring obvious infamous writers like Ken Penders, even the ‘’best’’ writers from the western side of Sonic are still not above of giving us Pontaff-esque gems.
Like this one.
Or alternatively, I feel like sometimes western writers on Sonic rely a bit too much on their personal vision about Sonic which may or may not be a good thing, clear examples of this are Ian Flynn himself and Pontaff.
By contrast, while SoJ has it’s own share of notorious inconsistencies when dealing with writing (The 2000s era is a big offender), it seems that for them Sonic hasn’t changed much and this is visible not only on the JP scripts of the Modern games which are for the most part better than the ENG ones, but also things like the Sonic Channel comics and the recent one-shots they made with Sonic interacting with the cast show that for all intents and purposes, the Japanese’s staff vision of Sonic is much more clear and consistent compared to the west. Because of this, I’d rather have a good Japanese writer on Sonic games with the localization being focused on being faithful with the original script than have a more western writers dramatically changing the characters. (I don’t mention the tone since either way, SEGA is the one in charge of that and the writers have to follow that)
My last and very subjective point is that, at least for me, everything SoA does with Sonic involving the writing and canon feels like a dumbed down version of the source material.
One of the reasons it bugs me so much that in the latest decade Sonic has taken a more western direction is because a lot of what I pointed out gets lost as a result, even if some of those elements are still there, you can tell they’re more downplayed with products like the Tyson Hesse shorts having a more predominant cartoon direction. If any of you have been following my blog for a long time, you should be aware that just because I prefer the Japanese Sonic content doesn’t mean I won’t give the western products a chance, my enjoyment for Mania, the Tyson Hesse shorts and the movie should be a testament of that, but at the same time I can’t help but being sour about the fact that because of these products, we don’t have stuff like a new anime for Sonic or even a serialized ‘’main’’ manga as an alternative for the comics, and my hype for these products is generally more subdued as a result since I’d wish SEGA rather spent that money and resources on more Japanese content than just merchandise.
In particular, because Sonic is a Japanese franchise with a notorious inspiration from anime, what I get from this is a pretty big contradiction. I know Sonic is much more popular on the west but...is it really necessary for his game or products to be handled by western creators to keep their appeal?
For instance, imagine if Dragon Ball’s manga and anime got replaced by western comics and animated series because of it’s world-wide appeal, would that really be the same?
Or imagine the same thing with Fullmetal Alchemist, a pretty aclaimed anime that has a lot of western influence. Would it really not matter at all if it’s Japanese products were replaced with western ones?
At least for me, it wouldn’t.
And what I said about American versions of Japanese franchises being nothing more than watered down versions of the source material? I have that view because of countless examples.
Mega Man and how the English manuals removed a lot of important information about the story of the Blue Bomber’s game and world, causing a lot of plot holes in the process.
American remakes like Godzilla 1998 or Dragon Ball Evolution being an in-name only version of the source material.
Or the many censored anime English dubs from the 2000s, for instance, whenever I see the Yu-Gi-Oh! dubs, I only see a very dumbed down and childish version of a show that was originally a shonen.
And I know that all of these things don’t have to necessarely get lost since every creator is different and there’s franchises like Avatar which are made on the west but draw a lot of inspiration from anime and I’m aware of that, and I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to say that American writers are not allowed to work on Sonic, what I’m trying to say is that inevitably there’s always gonna be some culture dissonance and clash when writers from another culture handle a foreign franchise. And even with examples like ATLA, I think being made by one culture while being inspired by the other is actually a big part of these franchises appeal and it’s something that can’t simply be replicated by handing it to creators from that specific culture they draw inspiration from.
I think James Rolfe’s quote about the same thing with the Godzilla franchise sums up how I feel about this.
‘‘It’s like champagne, anybody can make their own and call it champagne, but unless it’s from Champagne France, it’s not real champagne’‘
So, this last part was very subjective, but I think this post in general sums up why I dislike so much the idea of Sonic having western writers specifically in the games or just focusing more on that side in general.
But what do you guys think? I guess I am too biased so that’s why I wanted to ask for opinions and discuss this topic.
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[2/2] i was reading one of your posts about dilruba & something about it made me wish dilruba had more screen time because she’s the only princesses who was extremely dutiful towards her mother & brother but also managed to achieve her own happiness through her marriage. also, one more thing which i wish was done with her character... so like we all know how safiye sultan practically worships hurrem, w/ always remembering her, showing her ring off etc. the way she talks about hurrem is very exaggerated, “hurrem sultan was head to toe power.” which is true but at the same time, the show really didn’t show her full & complete power like it was historically and we all know 2 seasons of hurrem went in being immature & not really regal or completely power [& she was still constantly overshadowed by the sultanas of blood]. however, hurrem was still almost like a goddess type figure in mc:k and despite safiye’s strained relations w/ nurbanu, she still praised her a lot. basically, the two figures of the sow & the ring holders from the first show are remember in the second show. but what about mihrimah? she was a vital figure in history & in mustafa’s downfall & in the last season of the show even though she didn’t receive the ring to signify her as a part of the sow. what i wished for is dilruba idolising mihrimah, aspiring to be a protector of her brother like she was & exaggerating her power like safiye did w/ hurrem. this way, mihrimah could also be remember. also, dilruba’s character was more of what i had imagined for mihrimah. i didn’t imagine her to love rustem like dilruba loved davut but i expected mihrimah to be more powerful & dutiful towards her mother [more compared to dilruba but ofc also not to the extent of wanting to kill kids who were part of the dynasty]. anyhow, dilruba could’ve really taken mihrimah as her idol imo as her, halime & davut were a parallel of mihrimah, hurrem & rustem. sorry for the long post! but this is something i wish mc:k had done. [worth nothing that rustem & davut were also similar villanish type guys who’s only redeeming qualities could be their toxic love for their sultanas & their loyalties towards hurrem & halime, though rustem did waver in his loyalty whilst halime sold davut like the dog he is lol]
Dilruba's character development was truly very condensed in these 9 episodes, so there was never going to be enough of her, from whichever angle you look at it. I kinda cut the writers slack, because I know the ratings played a considerable part in MCK's script and they had a lot to do and a lot to rush (whereas in MC they could practically do whatever they wanted, because their ratings were perfect, I guess that's why they had so many concubine arcs hehe), but I love Dilruba and I would've loved more screentime with her. The time we spent with her could feel so minimal to the point we get the impression that we got to know little Dilruba a bit more than the older Dilruba. (the opposite case of little Mihrimah, who was almost a completely different character with a different thematic set-up, her childish love for Bali Bey aside. The older Mihrimah went on a completely different path as a character.) This isn't a bad thing, per say, because little Dilruba had already set the foundation of the character as a whole and we didn't need much more context for her actions than what we already got, but this little amount of screentime could limit her role to a simple, a bit flanderized antagonist to Kösem, which is honestly a trend for all of Kösem's antagonists in S01.
{Safiye's cult for Hürrem is one of the most interesting things about her as a character, but it is over exaggerated for the reasons you mentioned just as it simply isn't real. Safiye has never met Hürrem in person and even if MCK didn't call back to that, Mihrimah actually played an important part in establishing that cult in her training of Safiye. Safiye knows of this powerful S04 Hürrem who makes everyone tremble before her and considers "survival of the fittest". (MCK Safiye shares the exact same philosophy) What she worships in Hürrem is rather a picture she has formed in her head, the figure from Mihrimah's stories. This aspect of Safiye's character is used to form her own path in the evolution of power in the SOW, so we could see symbolically how much of what Hürrem represents has she moulded to her own agenda, it's indeed not presented as the actual truth. It also brings the question and perspective of what fragment of Hürrem Mihrihah herself sets as an example for herself and others, knowing that she does not completely idealize her own mother in the show. She was perfectly able to call out Hürrem's own flaws as much as she could openly take Hürrem's judgement.}
That worshipping of Hürrem in MCK truly sounded far too ideal and almost god-like, but in reality, not so many people in the show actually practice it. The only person who actively does, is Safiye, a main antagonist. Ahmet only mentions Hürrem when he gave her crown to Kösem. The references to the MC characters and especially the SOW in MCK is fascinating because you can see how you get only the accomplishments of people you've only heard narratives on, but never their actual stories, their actual struggles. People who were actually around the worshipped people and knew them personally obviously have a clearer understanding of who they truly were, like how Safiye called Nurbanu the most beautiful but also the cruelest sultana she's ever known, which makes perfect sense, knowing their rivalry and enmity. Nurbanu is inspired by Hürrem, but still stood against her with all her might. The people who have heard only basic facts of the more unrealistically idealized sides of those they worship praise merely the symbols of these people, what they were known to represent. Ahmet wants to be as accomplished as Süleiman, but we, as audience, know of Süleiman's detrimental flaws as a person and a padişah and we see that, he isn't exactly a person to be praised, let alone worshipped. It's interesting how the SOW call each other back in different ways, but it's all the more interesting that neither Kösem, nor Turhan call back to their predecessors. Is it because they've known each other closer than any of the worship? Is it simply because their characters have a different purpose? Is it because the theme of letting go of the past reached its fullest peak? I definetly can't say for sure.
That said, MC Mihrimah isn't from the SOW in the show both symbolically and arc-wise, but having a character that is not from the SOW (Dilruba) worship another character from the other show that also isn't from the SOW (Mihrimah) would be intriguing, judging by their similarities. However, these exact similarities prevent me from assessing this idea entirely, because I don't think it would do the show many favors. It could add even more depth to Dilruba: her willingness to protect Mustafa at all costs would be even more understandable then, knowing how the person she worships did the exact same thing in her eyes - it would turn not into a necessity, but into an ideal to live by, something that not only she has to do, but considers as honorable to do and loves it. But Dilruba is close enough to Mihrimah along with the traits and conceptual differences that set both of them apart - having the parralel be "addressed" in-universe through a direct worship would remind the audience even more that Dilruba is similar to Mihrimah and that may prevent endearment to her character. There are people that consider MCK so similar to MC already, that would be the last nail of the coffin. It may have been a risky move because of the ratings? Safiye worships Hürrem, but Safiye has a different narrative role than Hürrem and a more distinct personality, while Dilruba is a more obvious and open parallel. Not to the point of repetition, of course, but it's still close enough for a possible worship for Mihrimah in the show itself to be a dealbreaker for some. I wouldn't mind such a thing for Dilruba at all, but I can see why it possibly wasn't the case.
I'm satisfied with what we got with MC Mihrimah, but I can understand why you would want more power and agency from her. She could be very clueless sometimes which contrasted with her moments of perceptiveness. That was a solid character flaw of hers, but it could be very annoying. But then again, I also get why Mihrimah was the way she was, because MC put the personal motives of a character before any kind of power (or a character wants power for personal motives). Dilruba was perhaps way more ruthless, because MCK itself was more ruthless and it built on the MC themes. Power was already for the sake of power, the time period was more ruthless, everything was happening instantly and there wasn't a place to breathe. While with Mihrimah we got a deeper exploration where we saw more vulnerable sides, Dilruba had both her screentime and this ruthlessness stopping her from developing more and letting her be who she is. I guess both characters had their reasons to be who they were thematically, but writing improvements could still be made, of course.
#magnificent century#muhteşem yüzyıl#muhtesem yuzyil#magnificent century: kösem#muhteşem yüzyıl kösem#dilruba sultan#mihrimah sultan#ask#mihrimah-sultan-can-rail-me
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I already know this, but it’s worth asking-
What are elements of the soft retcon you love and what elements do you still prefer from the original continuity?
AFTER OUR BINGE, I noticed a lot of things.
but im too scared to blast this to the masses cuz it involves some tinfoil hats on my part so 😭 It’s kind of long and dumb.
The soft retcon stuff I like is definitely the design overhaul. I dunno. I really like the more saturated and bright look. Both for the aesthetics and the characters. Though I’ve seen people rly hate that. …Not my problem though!
A BIG THING I LIKE: I think I like the soft-retcon Membrane family waaaay better.
After watching the main series’ I kinda noticed how much harder it was to root for Dib, or how kiiinda flat the other members of the family were. Don’t get it twisted, I liked ‘em fine as they were. They just didn’t really do anything for me. It’s definitely evident that JV and co didn’t quite pin down what they wanted for them yet. (This kinda thing is pretty normal for anyone I think, sometimes ur characters are just gonna be wips for a while, and IZ was cut off really fast)
The overhauls in the soft retcon (primarily in ETF) such as making Dib’s general motivation more personally driven, or making the family dynamic a little better (and cooler in some cases) I think makes them all a bit more palatable as characters? I dunno. Lol. I just like seeing more positive things. (I don’t view this as in-universe “character development” tho that’s kinda weird imo, sometimes it really just is easier to say that somebody just changed their mind). The Membranes in ETF definitely feel like a fleshed-out culmination of stuff that was getting rolling in the comics.
Even if the gainax ending in ETF punches me in the face.
(And believe me i got a myriad of issues with the comics, but those guys aren’t really one of them) 
The stuff I prefer in the original continuity though is pretty much everything and anything having to do with the Irkens and other aliens.
BECAUSE THAT STUFF WAS PRETTY GREAT and I think it got shafted pretty badly in the comics and ETF. I can see why though. I read some JV interview from 2015 (I think on IGN? Idfk. I should’n’t have been on incognito), around the time the IZ comics were getting started. Long story short, he wanted to use the comics as a means to address all the problems he had with the Membranes in the og series and kinda… revise them. Which, gr8 yay, they needed it imo
As for Zim? He said Zim wouldn’t change.
Call it my tinfoil hat moment, but I think that that mindset was exactly the issue… Zim and co. were VERY defined and fleshed out by the og series end (as wack as some later eps were gonna be), but I think just leaving them to the wayside like that as characters that don’t need change (i.e. that much attention) is exactly why Zim, The Tallest, and much of the other space-centric stuff kinda got warped and flanderized. Or, hell, not referenced altogether. Zim got dumber, the Tallest got dumber, and a lot of the other space things specifically involving ID2 kinda… phased out.
Sometimes what you remember a character being like, wasn’t what they were like at all. And if u don’t reaaally work with them, ur gonna exaggerate or even forget whole things. The Membranes were worked on with the intent of fleshing them out and reworking them to what we end up seeing in ETF.
Zim? He wasn’t. He was just considered fine as he was, and while I agree with that on principle, in the comics execution he doesn’t quite feel the same. He feels more like… maybe a caricature is too harsh? But. Definitely weird. I’m just not nearly as invested. :( (There are a couple exceptions, but. Meh)
But I should also mention in that same interview the point of the comics wasn’t really for lore or continuing setups from season 2, but just random anthologies and a sandbox to fix up some characters *cough* the membranes. Unfortunately, that didn’t include the titular one. Meh. What can ya do.
SO YEAH. ORIGINAL CONTINUITY ZIM AND CO? Yes. They WERE more fleshed out and defined. But plz, that doesn’t mean nothing else can be done with them! ya gotta actually work with them! Character expansion happens naturally. …Eh. What would I know? I don’t have a dang series.
This is kind of an aside: But I really don’t like the idea of trying to make the soft retcon retroactively fit into the old continuity yet have both things play out in the exact same way. Sometimes it makes sense, other times it just makes something get framed a whole a lot worse unintentionally by trying to deem it as “unseen character development.” Trying to tie everything together under a single path is kinda dumb imo. There’s no way to do that without making something a lot more FUCKEDDDD. Or way more complicated. IZ was workshopped waaay too much in it’s run to do that jfhfhchv
And, personally, I don’t really like making things more complicated tbh. Sometimes— as dumb as this sounds— not looking into stuff is much easier to swallow than trying to make everything work as a single unit.
All a soft retcon is is just: “things pretty much are setup the same they just played out a bit differently.” You may as well call ETF a soft retcon of Zim Issue #1 /s There’s just no way, man. God forbid this go into anime territory with “HERE IS A DIFFERENT TIMELINE” OH GOD NO!!
It’s ok guys really. Sometimes… things just be like that aight…
and that’s why at the end of the day we hand-wave it by not getting too deep, or pick and choose what we like and head out :DD
and let’s be real despite what i praise i don’t enjoy everything from the soft retcon, if my zim rant wasn’t enough. Like how i don’t enjoy everything from the comics or OG series. And despite my wording I actually don’t take all of this that personally.
…But it’d sure be nice if i could have all the good stuff from all of it mushed together. Gimme the alien lore from the og series, gimme the membranes and earth from ETF, and—
…
well idk wtf i’d take from the comics lmaooo maybe the Gaz plots.
#cozy ask#should i ask folk NOT to reblog this#i mean i guess it wouldnt matter most of what i say is under cut#but i’d prefer none
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i have a lot of trouble writing benrey in my fics— how did you experiment with his characterization until you were satisfied with it, and what other benny interpretations do u enjoy from other fic writers? i love the way you write him, his dialogue feels so authentic and believable.
AW thank u......it always makes my day to hear something nice about the way i characterize ppl......there were a lot of things i did to try to nail how he talks and thinks. thank u for asking this b/c i have a Lot to say about this subject
the first thing is, obv, watching the series. i have to include this one b/c i feel like quite a few ppl in this fandom.....like.....havent. there is a certain way of characterizing him as an Epic Mischievous Gamer that is, uhhh, very much a fanon thing that ppl see on tumblr and imitate and flanderize all to hell. but, like, im an obsessive little weirdo who will rewatch things over and over again to take notes on characters’ behavior and dialogue and i really gotta recommend just sitting back and listening to how benrey talks.
hes not dropping gamer references constantly. hes not making every single sentence out of his mouth some obnoxious quip. hes slow on the uptake and drops conversations entirely if he doesnt care about them. he has never once said “cringe” before and whenever i see a fic that has him doing it multiple times i feel minutes shaved off of my lifespan. the #1 tip i can give here is to not have benrey talking in fucking 2010s gamer lingo every time he opens his mouth. please
(i feel partially responsible for the spread of this kind of characterization. my first 2 fics have him doing stuff like that every once in awhile. sometimes i debate going back and changing them, but like, benrey saying “poggers” one time aside, i think they hold up pretty good. so i havent. something something historical accuracy)
the more i wrote about him, the more i tried digging into the aspects of his character that i found the most appealing. some people are really into his polite side. i am really into his bullying side. so i would watch the bits where benrey really has his “gordon bullying” mode cranked up to 11 and make note of how he acts, how he talks. trying to replicate it. “benrey saying epic random shit to piss gordon off” is much less his vibe than, like, demeaning gordon, and i feel like the bathroom skit is the ultimate manifestation of this. it is genuinely my favorite bit in the whole series b/c its so ideally representative of their weird-ass dynamic. this fuckin high school bullying LARP in the middle of a public restroom. god in heaven
the less you lean on the crutches of “gamer lingo” and “wacky non-sequitur”, the more it forces you to think about how he behaves. what motivates him. and generally, like, he operates on his own wavelength. he doesnt fully understand everything thats going on around him and selectively chooses what he tunes into. and, most importantly, he just wants to play games, man. benrey likes goofing off with the science crew and playing mind games with gordon. he fails to understand the gravity of his actions a lot of the time b/c hes not human, and hes not operating under the same social guidelines.
(this is the part where people like to speculate exactly what kind of non-human he is, and i think this can be helpful for setting up his motivations! me, personally, i am of the opinion that hes just a video game guy made real. kind of like a live-action cartoon character. so hes operating on video game logic a lot of the time, and doesnt grasp that consequences for actions are different for normal people who cant noclip or respawn. a kind of lack of empathy that manifests in him being capricious, indifferent, detached......purely oriented around “getting his job done” and “chilling” and, naturally, “fucking with gordon freeman“.)
ultimately it boils down to distilling just what i like out of their interactions and trying to Manifest it repeatedly. i go crazy about their actual canon interactions and i want to write things that hit the notes i like: two guys who are mutually kind of obsessed with one another, for better or worse, and engage in a lot of play fighting (and, you know, genuine fighting, too) as a sublimation of it. best frenemies, if you will.
i think that a lot of the problems people have in writing benrey is that they kinda just project whatever attributes they want in a lover onto him. like, man, i like cute shit as much as the next guy, but do you really think that the dude who bullies gordon freeman while hes having a panic attack is gonna tenderly stroke gordons hair and wipe his tears and tell him that everythings gonna be okay? no, dude. even when benrey expresses any kind of concern, he does it in a way that communicates that he doesnt understand the gravity of whats going on and he doesnt “get” why gordons lying on the ground yelling, or why gordons howling in pain after getting his arm cut off. he is not an empathetic guy. hes actually kind of a creep!!! a lil freakjob! the weirdness and the lack of humanity are what make him hot!!!!
and this is what makes it own so hard on the rare occasions he does show empathy! its the same reason why its so cute when gordon stops bitching for 0.5 seconds and tries to be nice! theyre earned moments, not character defaults. and cutesy/lovey-dovey shit with these two is definitely doable, but i would love to see more of it take into account the fact that these are two dudes who fucking suck and who especially suck at being emotionally open with each other.
as far as characterizations that i really like........okay. full disclosure. the biggest reason ive been losing my shit over the catmaid freemind fic is b/c the author is one of the few people who really taps in to what i like about benrey, and what i like about his relationship with gordon. hes teasing. he likes to use his perceived authority to bully people. hes weirdly protective of gordon. but hes also just, like, a chill dude who wants to play video games. and he legit likes gordon and expresses affection for him in some of the most in-character ways ive ever seen
like. deliberately spilling milk on the couch and flatly going like “oops.” b/c he wants gordon to sleep in his room......playing nurse by doing fuck-all apart from giving gordon powerade while hes sick and keeping the volume on his video games low......kicking barmey under the table for making fun of gordon being dogboyed.......it is all exceptionally cute shit and its delightfully in-character. i feel so bad for the author b/c im a frenrey head and i am primarily reading it for those two. but god they do it so well.......im hooked. im obsessed
thank u again for asking this and for the lovely compliment ^q^ i hope this answered your question......i have spent entirely too much of my life thinking about my favorite half life funny guy
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Belgium brings their ex-vocalist back to Rotterdam 2021
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Here we chop chop boys like we chop chop wood
This review space would’ve been reserved for Belarus. Unfortunately, their broadcaster was not ready to make nice, and ultimately refused to serve EBU with anything but not-even-so-thinly-veiled propaganda, so much so that EBU, after all they’ve given the time for them for to snap out of it, finally had to be like “bye bitch” (- Lizzo) with enough push from the fandom, and informed everyone that Belarus will miss this year’s contest <3
Which means that I don’t have to deal with 41, but with 39 writeups to do overall, if my timing permits! The Roop could’ve always used a little less competition, anyway /j
Speaking of The Roop’s competition, time to aim at another one of their semifinal folk with a review. Come forth, Belgium!
ARTIST & ENTRY INFO
Hooverphonic, eventhough they’re not as big of a name as Flo Rida, is the biggest act to compete in this year’s Eurovision, and even had lasted longer as a thing than Flo Rida. He barely even got his proper famous kickstart around in the 2000s. Hoover have been around at least for 5 years more than him, if “Years active” section on Wikipedia is anything to go by. And back then they were just known as Hoover, correct. Their lineup of singers has changed for quite some time, but otherwise the band since its inception is rooted in basically two men: Alex Callier and Raymond Geerts. They used to have a keyboardist too but was he a part of their glory years in 2000? No? Thought so, he’s irrelevant then. In fact, their first vocalist wasn’t even present on their first album, so they went to have another one, who did just one album with them before 2000 and left. Now I’m only constantly and consistently bringing up 2000 because that’s when they had their break out moment in relevancy - after they changed their singer once more before they found someone called Geike Arnaert - the woman you’re seeing on the MV’s thumbnail right now, and not someone certain for whom there was a public outcry for she is the only Hooverphonic component that’s not coming back from 2020 to 2021. But more on that later. I’m here to present you the break-out hit, for those who just don’t know:
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I used to like to think of Hoovers as trip-hop sensations, well not in the style of Massive Attack because they have their trip-hop sound with actual hip hop thrown in, Hooverphonic’s style is that but with a tinge of symphonic.
Well, “Mad About You” wasn’t really the only hit they had, before that they got a bunch of minor and domestic hits, and their music was used for soundtracks. So it’s a little bit cheating still to think of “Mad About You” as their breakout hit, but that’s still the biggest song of the band. If I were to recommend you stuff from them that aren’t necessarily the biggest hits but still, “The Night Before” with yet another one of their vocalists is pretty good.
So when I tell you that Hooverphonic is a band of a very long career. Well some bands do survive a lot without having their lineup change for 10+ years, but Hooverphonic vocalistes come and go sometimes, and for 2020 forray, when they were first announced, they came in to that talk show studio where they were guests in with a promising little starlet Alex Callier found at The Voice Belgium (for the Flanders region) and was her mentor there, Luka Cruysberghs, as their current vocalist.
Is it just me or her and Stefania Liberakakis look like they could be cousins?
All went smooth and dandy, until Alex started spouting stuff about Eurovision the fans found not amusing, such as calling Eurovision a circus or something, later begging and pleading to medias that his statement was “lost in translation” - now I would say it happens to the best of us, like for Tornike, but deep inside I think I know Alex meant what he meant, inside or outside context. Because everything just went even more sour when everyone found out Hooverphonic were missing from the common song “Love Shine a Light” for the 2020 consolation programme in place of Eurovision, and when they were forced to explain, Alex just straight up said he didn’t like the song, so he decided to not do it. Fuck, I myself don’t adore the 1997 winning song, but I like it, and would’ve still done a piece of that song out of respect. Take it or leave it, god damn.
Also they were noted to be the only people plugging in their other material in the time when Eurovision 2020 artists on the consolation programme were either saying inspirational stuff or “hope to see you soon!” or a combo of both, once again, courtesy of mostly Alex. Now I’m not saying his ego is bigger than Kirkorov’s... of fucking course not, no one has an ego bigger than Kirkorov’s. The only thing that can beat him in that regard is if someone booked Kanye West for Eurovision last minute.
Following 2021, they were very excited to jump on the “leave 2020 songs behind” train, while a few artists like VICTORIA and The Roop rallied for to keep their entries in tact if they were allowed to. And with that, in late 2020, they went ahead and celebrated the 20 years of “Mad About You” by getting rid of Luka as a vocalist and bringing back the aforementioned Geike to reprise her part. Seems pretty reasonable, but for the Eurofandom it was simply seen as a dick move, and mostly for the reason that all 2020 artists deserve a 2021 chance, even if they’re band members. What felt more dickish is that Luka was straight up told “byeeee u’re no longer our bandmate xo” on a Zoom call between band members. Like, it’s fine to be told you’re fired in person, even if still humiliating, because what’s the other better way? What’s equally worse is to be told this via email, but the email you were sent was sent like a few months ago and you only read it NOW. At least I guess that proves we know what the “sad and losing game” was that Luka asked to be released from now, heh.
Not to worry Luka-stans, as Alex will still have her, just as not the part of the band anymore. But instead give her a solo career. Yeah well we’ll see how long that lasts.
With the 2000 glory heydays lineup of Hooverphonic we have their entry be “The Wrong Place”, as the completely quite different song they promised (or didn’t) when saying that they will certainly and absolutely get rid of their old one for the 2021 if they had a choice. What they didn’t get rid of is the theme of the worse part of relationships - “Release Me” is about probably wanting to be let go of and released rather than kept by the side when it’s probably not working out. “The Wrong Place” is one of those episodes that probably happened during then - they had a house conflict, she chose to have a smoke to forget about it, the man’s after her Johnny Cash T-Shirt. Not much else to say about the song’s technicality fortunately than I’ve already said so much about the band, so how does it fare in the Hoover-lore, for me?
REVIEW
See, I would like to root for Luka ever having her chance to get to experience Eurovision if she wishes, but maybe it’s lowkey for her own benefit she wasn’t the chosen vocalist for the song, as Geike could do “Release Me”, but Luka wouldn’t be able to do “The Wrong Place”.
“The Wrong Place” is well-suited to the first vocaliste’s melancholic blend-in timbre, and a singer like Luka would sound a little too light on this with her soft-spoken sound of her voice. Besides, I don’t think she could be old enough to relate to the lyrical subject’s domestic struggle issue. Not to say 20 year olds don’t smoke and drink, it’s just that “The Wrong Place” feels a little bit too much mature enough.
Although I think that both of them could absolutely rock the music video visuals.
The song itself is very Hooverphonic. They used to do this kind of standout triphoppy sound back in the days, but as of lately they kind of grew out of the label to do more of the music that kinda sounds like movie soundtrack music. Idek the exact label I could give it to their music so move soundtrack music it is I guess. It has a decently paced structure (could’ve done without the overly repetitive ending where they repeat “you’re in the wrong place” over and over, like ffs I know where I am!!), and interesting lyrical choices. Such as “organic cup of... tea”, as in, WOW! HOOVERPHONIC HAS ENOUGH WITH THE TEABAGS FULL OF GROUND AND GRINDED TEA! THEY WILL ONLY MAKE TEA FROM PURE HERBS AND FLOWERS, AS IT WAS USED TO BE DONE! and acting like her Johnny Cash T-Shirt is the kind of prized possession her man is not allowed to wear to rub it in her face. Imagine if it was something more mundane. “Don’t you ever dare to wear my... pink polka-dot T-shirt”? Damn right it doesn’t seem to suit the mood lol.
It’s not what I exactly wanted from Hooverphonic, but probably what I subconsciously needed from them anyway, ever since they were announced for 2020. I only got into “Release Me” sometime AFTER the contest, “The Wrong Place” is a bit more instant to stand behind. So well done to them to commit to their craft.
Approval factor: I guess I do have to stamp this with my stamp of approval. It’s nice and all.
Follow-up factor: “The Wrong Place” follows up as a more of a Hooverphonic discography track after the fairly average and overlookable “Release Me” (eventhough the latter has the tinge of theirs as well because it’s a more symphonic ballad, and they do have symphonic stuff on their discog afterall). As a Eurovision entry, it comes across as even better somewhat, and even slightly more standout, but that might not necessarily work in their favour.
Qualification factor: And that’s because they’re absolutely stranded in the semi with too many qualification choices to name. Belgium gets to be a bit quasi-obvious, but they’ve failed with a Hooverphonic-penned song before, plus, the pop girlies of this semi are more likely to eat out a band like this alive, but I wouldn’t exactly say Belgium is doomed to fail either, because I am positive Hooverphonic will think of something. I’m just saying that shocking things can happen every now and then.
INTERNAL CORNER
Well, considering Alex Callier is not running his mouth this time as much as he did so last year’s season, I think it’s safe to say that Hooverphonic have had nothing to write home about.
No, wait...
Well I did mention that Luka got replaced as one of the events that happened to Hooverphonic’s lifetime, but thank God that Alex promised her a solo career, right? Right?
Well, apparently, we’re getting towards it.
And the first lyrics of her first solo forray post-Hooverphonic-vocalist-duties features the lyrics about possibly her making someone “regret it”. Lol now watch this song to be a karma kick into Hooverphonic’s ass if Belgium happens to not qualify this year. Luka forewarned y’all with sharp precision.
Annnnnd that’s pretty much it, besides the band jumping on the trend of turning their entries into a Festivali i Këngës 59 acoustic night European version by presenting their own acoustic version of this track. I did not have the kind of courage to link to the Azerbaijan’s “slow version” on their review in fear of overruning my post even longer than they would usually be for these reviews, but at least it moves people to a certain degree
Well, my question of the days is, does “The Wrong Place” in acoustic make you sad twerk?
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ANY LAST WORDS?
Belgium’s big weakness is when it comes to stage their entries, notably for the last two years where the Eurovision actually happened. Sennek was awkwardly put in the middle and succumbed to the curse of Lucie Jones of grimmacing too much and therefore ruining her score in the process, possibly. Eliot was just simply upstaged by the decision to include big drums on stage. Alex Callier acknowledges all that sort of thing, so if anything goes absolutely right and Hooverphonic manage to make it to Rotterdam (which I think they can do because Belgium and Netherlands are neighbours lol? unless their lockdown rules get super strict in May), he should get on to mending all the flaws that Belgium had in the past for staging, and have a spectacular vision. Because it’d be sadly hilariously ironic if Hoovers miss out on the final due to the staging again. Can’t just constantly blame the vocalist - Geike would be flawless live, if Hooverphonic trusted in her for so many years. Can’t blame the song - it’s not too bad. So staging, I guess.
Good luck Hooverphonic, you’ll certainly need it. Also can RTBF consider that they could send anything else from the Wallonian music scene other than The Voice Belgique acts~
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I couldn’t finish Batman and Robin 2009. It was just... mentally exhausting and I stopped shortly after Bat Dick put fake Bruce in the Lazarus pit. Based on his appearances in Teen Titans, Bruce Wayne: Road Home, as well as his big fan base, I assumed Damian’s character development was executed nicely in his own series. But then again in Gates of Gotham (literally read it just for Cass) he’s impulsive, arrogant and rude to Cass both to her face and behind her back-even after she saved his life 1
Don’t get me started on the sexist things he’s said to Steph. I want to like Damian, but writers don’t make it easy. I got into comics because of batfam fanfics and he was a fave of mine. Dude was extra violent and displayed borderline sociopathic tendencies in his first appearances, cool beans. There’s a lot they can do with a character like that. I just felt like his bad behaviour was never properly dealt with before B&R, and I couldn’t muster the energy to see him through his own series. 2/2
IMO, Damian felt like a Gary Stu at times.
I don’t know if that last one was from the same person or not, but I just got the feeling it is, and if it’s not, then well it blends well enough and don’t feel the need to answer it separately.
Like all I can really say is that I don’t really like Damian. A lot of people confuse that for me thinking he’s an evil monster. I imagine cause I have a Tim icon and other Tims do rage on about that every now and again. As well as just plain taking things I say the wrong way (though I have probably said things in the moment I imagine). But I just plain don’t really like his writing, and if I can’t really read a comic he’s in that I actually like. Idk, I just find it weird to say I like him, when all I really like is what he could be. I don’t feel like that really equals me liking him, cause when I think about it, I kinda realized that meant the opposite, and didn’t wanna project the wrong idea.
But I wanna say this about Damian. He is insanely inconsistent as a personality and character. To this very day. So, as I do with every character, I start from the beginning, figure out what was meant to be by the writers that helped develop them, and figure out what’s in-character and out of character from there. I just feel like it’s the most objective way I can look at anything if I want to review things with standards that are more than just “I like this” or “I don’t like that”.
And in the case of Damian he’s never not been inconsistent. Like one of the main reasons I reread Batman and Robin (or at least Morrison’s run) was for plans of a post about flanderization in the Bat-Family, cause it was pretty rampant in the 00s and still continues often to this very day, and I think is the cause of a lot of lost sales and unhappiness and overall fandom diminishment.
However also to say it, I liked to see a lot of what Damian could be within B&R 09.
But anyways, basically just because I can’t really do a part of the post on Damian without trying to figure out what he was like to begin with, and what he was supposed to be per his creator.
Cause you can’t really tell in fandom. Cause his most popular comics are from stuff that isn’t in the main universe and was purposely a lot lighter, or in the main universe from writers that really surprisingly didn’t get the character despite the popularity--which continues my thinking on it was less about the quality of the writing and more about the lazy fan service. They honestly really flanderized him in a similar yet opposite way then what they did with Tim in the 00s.
And while I can’t act like the sexism and homophobia wasn’t an actual part of the character of Damian at the time--he shows both of those traits in the series (at least the homophobia, cause I’m now realizing that I might be thinking of another series for the sexism). He was flanderized even then by other writers from the different series.
Like how he’s written in Red Robin, is not freaking Damian. It’s not Damian to me. I don’t accept it as Damian. Even a lot of the content of him in Batgirl I even less feel like is Damian--besides unfortunately some of the sexist comments, but they never really proper developed him on that as far as like--actively showing that, at least that I can recall. So all I can really say is it’s uncomfortable, and how they don’t delve into it is the only real reason I say “That actually sadly does fit in with him”. But it’s not like it doesn’t make sense, he was raised to fight, not to handle emotions or feelings, he probably would do and say really creepy things when he has a crush--I just wish they’d actually acknowledge that what was going on rather than sacrificing a good story for more fan service.
The other writers make him too much of a bratty, snotty, kid. And I found that, that is an absolutely terrible interpretation of Damian, because beyond his origin, he isn’t a typical brat, and he doesn’t really act like a kid (in some ways yes, but general mannerisms and personality no). And even then he was a different kind of brat. He was entitled and bitchy in his origin, not immature (at least in the same way) and snotty. They have him act more like some spoiled brat from next door rather than a kid that was abused into being obedient to be what his abusive mother wanted (Talia shouldn’t be abusive, but like I said before, I think the series sucked overall for reasons like that and more).
(I also find that stupid line cutting scene in RR where I presume he was trying to kill Tim to be even stupider, cause Damian wouldn’t freaking do that at that point. They make Damian come off as so stupid in that issue, I hate it. Cause it was all just a cheap way to force sympathy for him, but it doesn’t even make sense when you think about it and is a huge stretch.)
Damian doesn’t make jokes when he’s written better--it’s like his thing. He’s got quite the temper, and understandably why of course. He’s violent with criminals, but he’s also mostly just stoic as his base state when not in a stressed situation, and even shows remorse (which is a big stretch from his origin, but I blame that on the writing which could be very rushed and lazy). He was treated like just another adult for the most part, and it had a weirdly endearing quality despite the maturity of it, and general edge of the series. It was Damian’s place and it worked really well. It just felt right for their dynamics. Damian’s a unique kid, and they respected him for who he was. He just needed help on his morals and stability.
But other series didn’t really get that. He would still be really rude like his origin, and not really the same tone of rudeness (I’m not sure if I can really explain what I mean by that), he’s aggressive, but putting him in Teen Titans never made sense to me, because I don’t see Dick doing that. Dick had a lot more respect than to force Damian to do something like that. Dick was more patient, and while he did lightly smack (not any kind to hurt him any. literally to demonstrate without pain. more taps really) him to teach him a point about aesthetical weaknesses in his costume like the hood, it was mostly done out of finding a way to teach him that would speak to him. So just forcing him to do something he didn’t want to do--which would clearly not work on him--was just contrived and plain bad writing wise. Something they did more as a stunt so they can say “TITANS NOW HAS THE SON OF BATMAN” than to use him well or continue his story in a natural way.
With Cass I can’t say anything, because that’s like the one time he talks to her, and that basically shows their dynamic. So that’s just them, I can’t really say anything on it. If he felt challenged by her I could see him being a total jerk. It really depends on the scenes themselves. I never read the series myself cause I genuinely really don’t like that Batman Reborn era of Bat-Family. Too much of it was just done for publicity and random changes, and for the most part didn’t work much to me.
But overall, at the same time, despite me singing the praises of what Damian could be, and was for a little while. The overall writing for the character arc was super lazy. Stuff just kind of happens, and way too quick to fit in with what they introduced. He just kind of goes “this is right, now”, which makes his whole brainwashing thing feel a bit--useless, and makes how he went from chopping heads off to that in very little time sort of cuts out depth that could’ve really made the series more rereadable. Damian actually comes off surprisingly as a very flat character for stretches of time in the issues because his character arc is never focused on as much as you’d think until they need to be like “Oh yeah...uh, here’s an emotional moment”. Which just felt really cheap to me.
So the series to me isn’t worth it if you want a good story. None of the stories were good to me, I think I was questioning each one cause it was either schlocky, out of character, or both. I know people like Grant Morrison, but they aren’t for me, I’m not a fan of their writing. Damian was a Gary Stu a lot, which they try to explain with the League thing--but having the League give him experimental surgery so he could walk the same day (or next) after being legitimately paralyzed was just way too freaking much to me. But he does make mistakes, so he’s not at base a Gary Stu really--the writing just really stunk badly sometimes.
This isn’t me putting in a bid to say “OH YOU JUST NEED TO READ THIS, AND YOU’LL FREAKING LOVE HIM”, because to be freaking honest, when you already have a bad taste in your mouth, it’s best to just wait a bit till trying again. I read the fandom recommended comics and felt there was so many problems that I couldn’t read Damian for literal months. And he still has a lot of the problems you said. I’m just saying Damian is surprisingly different when written by his creator than others, cause honestly nearly every single other writer for him has gotten him wrong. Like mind-blowingly wrong. He does not feel like the same character anywhere else. It’s nuts.
To put it another way, it’s a generally speaking bad series, but if you want to see what Damian was meant to be like before they kept regressing him, and diminishing him, and turning him into more a joke, and see what his dynamic with Dick and Alfred was meant to be like, it’s a brilliant and perfect series to read it for.
It’s better for learning about them--then it actually is to enjoy it. Because it’s most likely not a series I’m going to be returning too often unless to research something again.
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Let’s talk about Kururu, again
Apparently the fandom is growing all of a sudden so I feel like talking about Kururu again cuz that’s all I know how to do and it’s been a while
First off disclaimer that fandom is fandom and anybody can interpret any character any way they want and if you like to portray a character a certain way for whatever reason go for it, more power to you (unless you put them in pedo/incest relationships that are displayed as good in which case fuck you). But in my personal Kirbpinion(TM) the Funimation dub was a fucking mistake because so many fan content creators write a way different Kururu than what he is in canon cuz the dub never got to his best episodes and also upped the sadism to ridiculous levels. Listen I know it’s funny to joke that he’s the kind of guy that has 3 medieval torture chambers but hear me out. Kururu is by no means a perfect person, he’s genuinely pretty rude/blunt (though sometimes his straightforwardness is justified :P), has an ego, sometimes acts pretty gross around others and likes extreme and elaborate pranks way way way too much BUT.
Assuming you’ve watched far enough into the series (like 100+ eps) I do not really understand the interpretation that he doesn’t care about anyone and that friendship and love are things he is totally incapable of. He says that yes but if you pay enough attention to his dialogue it becomes pretty apparent that he displays this attitude for multiple reasons. One is that he does genuinely have a hard time expressing the emotions he feels and often has awkward/guarded ways of doing so. But also he says many times over the course of the series that he has a “reputation” to keep up and wants people to call him a jerk; he wants to look cool and rebellious all the time and he thinks a nasty apathetic attitude is what earns him that status (not claiming that’s a healthy mindset, mind you). He wants to have full control over the way people see him and he gets super frustrated and humiliated when he can’t. This is probably why he gets so upset when people talk about how unpopular he is, because he’s spent so much time honing his image to a T and is like why the fuck isn’t this working?! In other words even though sometimes he is just an actual pain in the neck a lot of his asshole antics are part of a carefully manufactured persona, and he will do anything down to labeling his own memories to prevent other people from seeing through his facade and discovering the parts of him that are vulnerable.
And God forbid anyone does figure out that he does care quite a bit for the people around him, or at least if he didn’t at first he does now. Early on in the series he was commonly referred to as “depressing” and while the meta reason is probably just the anime writers just didn’t know how to adapt the character yet (he started out a little differently in the manga), in canon I believe he was just even more inclined to push everybody away from him, and as he began to get used to working in a group he gradually opened up. He commentates on how “soft” he’s gotten since he came to Earth a couple times, and the fact that he’s surprisingly one of the most loyal to Keroro out of the whole team (in many episodes where everyone abandons Keroro for being dumb he leaves last) and goes out of his way to help when he thinks it’s warranted (he asks for money when things aren’t dire yeah but hey labor deserves compensation :V) shows that he is dedicated to his team. There’s even episodes where he doles out some kind of moral lesson to the squad in his own Kururu-y way, especially to Keroro and Tamama. Even the Hinatas he’ll pitch in to protect when he has to, and we all know he’ll pretty much drop everything if Saburo needs him.
Speaking of which. I think the unspoken reason why he’s best friends with Saburo (besides the surface-level stuff like they’re smart and nerdy and seen as enigmas by everybody else) is because Saburo is the only other person in the cast who understands Kururu’s particular struggle of putting on airs as a means of self-defense all the time. He basically has a carefully managed celebrity life (that he has to constantly work to hide in anime canon), a somewhat formal/reserved public life, and the more quirky enthusiastic side of himself he only shows when alone and to the few people he’s close to and god damn that just sounds like the most exhausting juggling act ever. He has an outlet to free himself through his art but he still has to live with nobody quite knowing what he goes through on a daily basis, which is probably why we see him off on his own for most of the series (until he gets to warm up to everybody better...wonder who that sounds like) and occasionally have his bouts of frustration and insecurity like in 229 where he says “fuck it I’m gonna fight the apocalypse alone because I need something to do,” 354(? I think that’s the number) where he talks about just dropping everything and starting over, and I think one of the Christmas eps where Giroro has to like beg him to go to the Hinatas’ party cuz he says he’s “busy” even though he’s just sitting around pretty much (UPDATE: it’s 294 the implication is probably that he has his show or something but cmon that’s only like an hour lol). I am going off on a tangent now but anyway the point is he and Kururu are the most complicated communicators of the cast and they share feelings only they understand which is why they can more or less read each other’s minds and know exactly what to do when the other is in trouble.
Back to Kururu. Keroro, from what I can tell, is the closest to him out of the Platoon; Keroro gets freaked out by Kururu’s pranks sometimes yeah but they have a lot of common interests as the fun-lovers of the group and Kururu’s also kinda been interested in Keroro enough time follow him around for almost his entire life up to this point so there’s that. He also gets along with the other people he‘s around; we know he and Aki get along from the beginning because of how dynamic their personalities are but later on he gets close to Fuyuki to the point where they just hang out for the heck of it sometimes, and even though Natsumi is very justified in generally disliking him (many of Kururu’s more Eugh moments tend to involve her) even she seems to rely on him often, and in the cursed puppy episode she knows all his favorite foods by heart so she must care in some fashion lol. Dororo and he aren’t evidently super close but I think they get each other on some level as the (in-universe) least popular of the platoon and Dororo at least respects his abilities, and has clearly come to figure out his subtleties based on 229. Giroro and Mois...things get complicated. Just putting on record that I’m not a fan of either ship between Kururu and them. I’ve said this before but I think Giroro and Kururu are in a turbulent sibling-adjacent relationship in that they have completely opposing attitudes but they have a begrudging sense of respect for each other and, ultimately, they’re teammates, so they’ll defend each other when someone they don’t know tries to mess with them. I really don’t think the flirty stuff on Kururu’s end goes beyond teasing and I got kinda sick of that running gag if I’m being honest. (You can probably tell which frog I ship Kururu with by now :P) Mois went from something of a rival to Kururu to his lab partner, which is probably why he goes easier on her than he used to and even strikes up something of a friendship because the only other person he knows that might be capable of handling his technology is an Earthling who’s still against the invasion despite his lax attitude so. She helps :V
Now the question is why Kururu acts like he does if his relationships really aren’t all that bad and I think there’s two components to this. I’ve made it clear by now I think he’s autistic but your mileage may vary there. I think personally his childhood did something to the way he processes things as well. In Secret of the Kero Ball, he’s got a bandage on his head which may imply he got hurt somewhere and then he almost drowned which canonically definitely did something to him lol, was mostly seen alone so who knows if he has a family he still talks to, and then he got drafted into the army and placed into a high-ranking position of great responsibility at a very young age; it’s kind of a no-brainer why he rebeled and got demoted eventually. I’ve got plenty of headcanons about what his early days in the Military did to him but that’s for another day because good God this post went on too long.
In short: Kururu is possibly the most complicated character in the show and the F in Flanderization stands for “Funimation.” That’s it I’m never writing another essay about pee-color frog again I will make real content again at some point I promise
#keroro gunso#sgt frog#kururu#kululu#long post#i sure spent 2 hours on this#imo kururu is a more compelling tsundere than giroro there I said it
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