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#if this isn't one of the best TL episodes
eddievedders · 1 year
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What happened now? Just the usual. Jamie being a little bitch prima donna. TED LASSO — 1.04 “For the Children”.
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awsok · 6 months
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okay. let's talk about shin, sabine, and whatever the hell is going on here:
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i've been trying to figure out this moment, and why shin responds like this. because it feels like a change, right? the shin of episode 1 would be thrilled to have permission to hunt down and kill sabine. but here, she's clearly protesting the order (indirectly, because she can hardly outright say 'no' to thrawn).
on one level, this is definitely at least in part because the order is coming from thrawn. orders from baylan are fine for shin: baylan is her master, and by this point in the series it's obvious how much she respects him. but thrawn? baylan told her finding thrawn would bring them power, but instead both she and baylan are being treated like his underlings - this is not what shin thought they were signing up for.
but if this were solely about thrawn giving orders, i'd expect shin's reaction to seem irritated or offended - she's hardly a stranger to anger, after all. but i think it's fair to say that shin's response here can be best characterised as alarmed? she's clearly surprised that they aren't letting sabine go, and more than that: she's not happy about it.
so then, i thought maybe that this was about honour - that shin was so disturbed by this, because it is dishonourable for baylan (who has made a point of insisting on keeping his word to sabine) to break their agreement. (and i know it may seem counterintuitive to assume that shin cares about such a jedi-like concept as honour, but judging by the way baylan speaks of the jedi and shin's padawan braid, he probably instilled her with their values if not their morals.) but then i remembered where episode four left off (which is indicated by the show to be a most a day or two ago):
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this takes place literally immediately after sabine has made a deal with baylan. if shin cares enough about honour for it to override her hatred of sabine in episode six, it doesn't make sense for her to disregard honour (even in the heat of the moment) to try and kill sabine in episode four.
so if this isn't about thrawn (not entirely), and it isn't about honour (probably not at all), what is this about? what has changed to make shin go from homicidal obsession to protesting seemingly on sabine's behalf?
sabine, of course.
(by which i actually mean: shin.)
let's talk about The Look!
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shin staring at sabine is nothing remotely new. shin staring at sabine without a homicidal glare or a mocking smirk? that's extremely new. this scene makes me crazy (i'm trying so so hard to keep the shipping goggles off and to be objective guys). it may not seem like much at first glance, but this is a dramatic change of behaviour for shin. she's looking at - no, observing sabine in a completely neutral and open way. there's no hostility in this gaze, no judgement, not even fear or conflict. just: observing. and she's doing so openly as well - not just that she isn't disguising herself - she turns to face sabine, as if to give sabine a better look at her. as if to let sabine observe her right back.
why??? why is shin doing this??
um. well. i actually don't know.
i can't make any remotely certain assumptions about what has changed since they left seatos. maybe shin has done a lot of introspection. maybe she feels like she's seen a different side of sabine. maybe they fucked on that spaceship.
the only conclusion i do feel it might be safe to make is this:
i don't think shin sees sabine as an enemy anymore.
i don't know when exactly that changed, i don't know what exactly caused it. but it's true. and if shin and sabine aren't enemies anymore - what are they to each other? what will they become?
tl;dr - shin doesn't want to murder sabine in cold blood anymore. also i think they should hold hands.
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mearcatsreturns · 2 months
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I have a bookstagram, and I recently followed someone because they posted about the overconsumption issue that most bookish social media seems to have. Today, though, they posted another controversial "opinion": that listening to audiobooks isn't reading, and people who claim to have read a bunch of books that they listened to as audiobooks are lying and/or deluded. Listening to audiobooks, she said, is just consuming books.
I disagreed in a fairly politely worded reply, and I intend to unfollow/block, because I find it unlikely this person will change their mind, especially since I'm far from the only person to point out that this is exclusionary and ableist. But this is tumblr/my house, and now I'm going to be as blunt as I want to be.
I'm a librarian and archivist. So much of the work I and others in my field do focuses on making books and reading more accessible and less exclusionary. It is, in fact, incredibly ableist to negate how important audiobooks are for people who have certain disabilities or challenges, and I would in no universe say they aren’t reading. For that matter, a busy person who only has time for audiobooks and for people who just prefer them--it still counts, as far as I'm concerned.
See, there's a difference between an audiobook and a podcast or long song or radio program. An audiobook is still a book--it was written with a particular narrative structure, and the author plays a defined but limited role (once the book is written, it's written; the author isn't tuning in next episode with comments and corrections based on what listeners said). An audiobook is a book, ergo, listening to one is reading. Using braille is reading, and listening to audiobooks is reading.
The part that has me in full Captain Raymond Holt "apparently that is a trigger for me" mode is that this bookstagrammer called listening to audiobooks consumption. In the context of her other posts about overconsumption as an issue in the bookish community (again, agree, but also...mind your own business), this seems particularly insidious to me. Conflating influencer-driven (and capitalist hellscape) consumption with listening to an audiobook (again, a massive boon for the visually impaired and those with disabilities like ADHD, dyslexia, etc.) is rude at best and dangerously exclusionary at worst. Stop letting comparison be the thief of joy; mind your own business and stop looking at the pages that bother you. Focus on the kindness of leaning towards inclusion, meeting people where they are, and leaving judgment behind.*
*This person also said "feel free to comment if you disagree but please don't be mean or judgmental," as if they hadn't just posted the most ableist and judgmental sludge I've seen today.
tl;dr: don’t be a gatekeeping shithead, mind your own business, and
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(gif by matalyn on tenor, couldn't find on tumblr)
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crehador · 18 days
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mulled it over for a while and ultimately decided i'm really digging this arajin-matakara fight, because like
the whole series has set up arajin as a piece of shit fuckhead (and i LOVE that for him) but this whole lying to matakara about wanting to be a honki people thing... is like the one thing he did not actually do
i get real rambly under the cut but tl;dr the way matakara treats arajin is the way arajin treats mahoro and that is suuuch a juicy parallel to me
throughout the whole series arajin has been not at all subtly trying to get away from these fights
could he have been more direct about that with matakara? sure maybe! but matakara was really ignoring all the signs that arajin is not who he thinks he is
which is such a delicious parallel to how arajin willfully ignores all the signs that mahoro is not into him
like. matakara built this version of arajin up in his head, with all these unreasonable, unrealistic, and honestly unfair? expectations based off some past foolishness from when they were very small children. he's clinging to this version of arajin that only exists in his head and has basically shown zero evidence of existing in real life
(yes arajin shows crumbs of courage but i think the scales are tipped pretty heavily towards his I DO NOT WANT ANY PART OF THIS moments)
this fight between them was like if arajin were to blow up at mahoro like "you've been leading me on this whole time!" when obviously. lol. no she has not
she did initially! just like tiny arajin as a child had those honki people ambitions! his ambitions may have been genuine, while mahoro feigned interest in him with malicious intent, but they're same in the sense that after that initial story beat, they have consistently demonstrated that actually no what happened back then no longer applies (whether because they grew out of it, in arajin's case, or they were faking interest in the first place, in mahoro's case)
but arajin is blinded by what he wants (mahoro) and ignores the reality of mahoro snubbing him at every turn, and matakara does the same, ignoring the reality of arajin really just... being extremely reluctant to have anything at all to do with him
anyway that's the main thing i'm chewing on and loving here, but ALSO i think the story paints this parallel in such an interesting way because like
matakara is just a big sweet ouppy dog of a boy! it's so so so easy to feel sorry for him, to root for him, to think the best of him. which i still do btw, in fact this episode made me like him more than i already did
because matakara is so uwu angelboy perfect, and arajin is such a dickhead, it's easy to instinctively think oh matakara must be completely right to be hurt and arajin must have hurt him. even if that isn't the case! this doesn't make arajin any less of a dickhead, but he's a dickhead mainly for other reasons
the fact that they've been set up as the perfect epitome of the Pure Boy and the Pervy Boy tropes is just such clever framing for this parallel between them, because i imagine a lot of viewers, if told what mataakara is doing to arajin is what arajin is doing to mahoro, would be like omg wtf no my pure angel baby is nothing like that disgusting freak?
except in this case! he literally is!! which is brilliant!!! i think it adds nuance to both matakara's character and arajin's character at the same time, making it so it's not just one of them is Perfect and one of them is Wrong All The Time
what's even better is that this made sense for matakara, like his reaction breaks him out of the Pure Angel mold but doesn't feel out of character. his emotions are already running high with what happened to his brother, plus akutaro is malewife mansplain manipulating him behind the scenes, so of course he feels like he's driven towards this emotional high that leads to this blowup
the groundwork was already laid out, and it wasn't even subtle. it was right on the surface! but this episode really highlighted how matakara's way of treating arajin is so much like arajin's way of treating mahoro and how inevitable it was that things would reach this point
(there are moments, even in this episode, that are in hindsight so clearly setting up this parallel! like arajin trying to talk to mahoro during lunch, mahoro CLEARLY not interested, making viewers think ugh arajin get a clue. then matakara often IMMEDIATELY coming in to try to talk to arajin, when arajin is the one who clearly isn't interested, making viewers think boo arajin be nicer to him! like i think the show deliberately set the audience up to have those emotional reactions, and this is the moment where the rug is pulled out from under us, so to speak, where it becomes even more obvious that... wait... double standard much?)
anyway. personally my only gripe with this episode is i wished they'd done more with aniki than just pseudo-fridge him, and hope they do still do more with him in the coming eps? but kind of understandable if they don't, because it is just a one-cour show after all
the actual blowup between arajin and matakara was just. mawh, chef's kiss. perfect
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socialistexan · 2 months
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I've got a controversial Doctor Who opinion for y'all: I think the 13th Doctor is a better and more enjoyable incarnation of the character than the 11th Doctor.
And probably the only reason she isn't more highly regarded is because of misogyny despite how many fanboys want to deny it.
I'm not saying 13 is the best Doctor or that her seasons the best ever made, but I am saying if you simply flipped the gender of the Doctor on those two's runs 13's stories would be better remembered.
Both had writers with major flaws, both had some stories that were too convoluted, but both had some really great episodes. I will die on the hill that Village of Angels and The Haunting of Villa Diodati can contend with most Doctor's top episodes.
But also both had some just absolute stinkers and I feel only 13's vallies are picked apart while 11's are forgotten. No one seems to remember Curse of the Black Spot or Victory of the Daleks or the fact that James fucking Courdin was allowed to be a reccuring character in that run, but an episode like Orphan 55 is held up as an example of how bad 13 was.
Tl;D(octo)r: I think both had flaws and both had merits, but I think 13's flaws are overblown while 11's flaws are overlooked.
Also, Yaz is a better companion than Amy. There. I said it.
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emeryleewho · 23 days
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I am legitimately *scared* by how common the "never tell someone who is psychotic that what they're experiencing isn't real" advice has become because psychosis is a very broad scale of experiences, and insisting that it be approached exactly the same for everyone is a surefire way to get people killed.
I'm not saying that advice is *bad*. There is a time and a place for it. If someone is deep in a belief, do not argue with them about whether or not that belief is real. You will not convince them, and you will make them feel isolated and alone. HOWEVER if someone has previously told you that it helps them to be grounded when they are slipping into psychosis, or if someone is teetering on the edge and is struggling to discern what is real, telling them what is or isn't real can help guide them back to baseline or finding help whereas validating their delusions could be downright dangerous.
I'm sorry that this is not simple and easy to follow advice, but that's because psychosis is not simple and easy to deal with. Another way to look at this is that it's okay to validate someone's feelings, but do not validate the false reality. If someone says, "I'm terrified my best friend is trying to kill me", you can validate their feeling unsafe but do not validate that their friend is trying to kill them. On the other hand, if this is someone who is well aware of their psychotic tendencies but simply isn't aware that this particular thought is a delusion, sometimes just talking them through it works. "Why do you think your friend is trying to kill you? Oh, I see. If I'm honest, they seem like a really good friend so I don't think they'd want to hurt you. Is it possible that fear is coming from another place?" I've had conversations like these with loved ones that have made them realize they were slipping into a delusion, which allowed them to adjust their meds, speak to their psych, or even just avoid reckless decision making until it passed. Had I just said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Yeah, it's hard to not trust your friends." They may have ended the friendship on false beliefs or put themselves in danger trying to avoid something that wasn't a real threat. A big part of it is understanding where that person is and how deep they are in the psychosis, what their level of awareness of their own psychosis is, and what sort of help/treatment they are on and they prefer in managing their own condition.
Please don't try to mass enforce health advice you find on Tumblr. Please understand how nuanced these things are and approach them with care. And for the love of god, if somebody tells you what they need, *believe* them.
TL;DR: The way you approach a stranger experiencing psychosis is different than the way you approach someone you know well. The way you approach someone in a full-blown psychotic episode is different than the way you approach someone dealing with some psychotic thoughts or features. The way you approach someone who is well aware of their psychosis and actively working through it is different than the way you approach someone who has no knowledge of their condition. And as nice as quick tidbits of advice can be, the information you get from medical professionals, the individual, and anyone else in the know on that individual's care should supersede anything you read online.
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tmntkiseki · 2 months
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So this is one thought that has rotated in my brain ever since I watched through the entire 2003 series for the first time, but as much as I love Donatello and consider him my favorite turtle, there is one not-so-tiny thing that bugs me and that's the fact that he does probably go through the least character development of the four turtles despite going through some genuinely terrible shit.
When I think of some of the stuff Donatello goes through during the series, the stuff that makes me think "Good lord, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO MY BOY," the three incidents that stick out the most are the Triceraton Mind Probe from the Space Invaders arc, the entirety of Same As It Never Was, and the Outbreak Saga/Good Genes Arc. The Triceraton Mind Probe scene is one that is physically painful to watch. Don is writhing and screaming the whole time as the probe rapidly picks through his memories trying to find information on Professor Honeycutt's whereabouts, and it's clear that at one point he becomes so scared that he begs for help from his father. Fortunately, his spiritual connection with Splinter allows him overpower the device and short circuit it, but if he hadn't had such a strong bond with him, who knows what would have happened.
Same As It Never Was... what needs to be said at this point? Donatello gets transported to a bad future where the Shredder rules the world, Splinter and Casey are dead, and the turtles have disbanded after their version of Don disappeared 30 years prior. Donatello watches all three of his brothers die protecting him, and at the end of the episode laments the fate of his poor brothers and just how nightmarish the world is before he's warped away. And that's just the tl;dr version.
Good Genes arc, though, oh my god. I feel a major reason why this arc is so good is because it plays on an idea presented on Same As It Never Was--that is, Donatello, with his level head and ability to come up with ingenious solutions to problems the turtles encounter, is what's keeping the team together. As a result of the Outbreak virus, Donatello undergoes a secondary mutation that turns him into a violent, aggressive monster and it's stated because of reactions with the Utrom mutagen already in his blood, his body is breaking down; if he's not cured, he will die. The knowledge that Donatello may perish if nothing is done is bad enough, but even just not having their brother there mentally is enough to mess up the entire team dynamic. In their desperation to save him, they go so far as to make a deal with Bishop, who Leonardo openly compares to the Devil himself, and their actions ultimately lead to the events of the Ninja Tribunal arc the following season. It was the single most dire situation the turtles were in since Exodus, and it wasn't even an entire galaxy at stake; just their beloved brother.
But despite all that, Donatello doesn't actually change much as a result of these events. That's because, more often than not, the stuff that happens to him is more used to fuel his brothers emotional reactions and development than his own. Good Genes is probably the best example of this because even though Donatello is the one physically suffering during the arc, it's Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo who get all the interesting emotional reactions to their present situation; Leonardo finds himself almost completely lost on what to do without Don, and Raphael and Michelangelo, who are absolutely devastated over Don's transformation, spend much of the arc eerily quiet when compared to their usual selves. The only thing we get in terms of Don is the fact that he doesn't remember what happened while he was "sick," and is thus frustrated by how much his brothers end up coddling him in the wake of the incident (which unfortunately isn't all that important since we're about to enter the Ninja Tribunal arc.)
It really is unfortunate that Donatello doesn't go through much development because I otherwise love everything about him. Besides his intelligence, techno savvy, and ability to quickly pick up skills that might be useful to the team (I'm also very biased towards his Bō not due to its strength as a weapon, but it's amount of utility both in and outside combat), I'm absolutely floored by just how nice and gentle he is. He's still got plenty of sass hidden in his shell and can be quite snippy when he's annoyed, but he shows a lot of emotional sensitivity and is very empathetic; this is especially shown in his sibling dynamics with Raphael and Michelangelo, whose relationships tend to be the most...tumultuous? Of the turtles. I don't have a better word for it.
As an aside, I genuinely feel like The King doesn't get enough credit where it's due because yeah, it's a touching tribute to the late Jack Kirby, but it's important as a Donatello-focused episode because it's not focused on his status as the genius inventor of the turtles; instead, we look at his nature as a kind, friendly individual who is very sentimental and doesn't take loss very well. He quickly strikes up a friendship with Kirby, who is one of the few humans not to reject Donatello just because he's a 5'2" mutant turtle, and they end up having a fun adventure in the alternate dimension where all of Kirby's drawings end up disappearing to. Unfortunately, Donatello is unable to pull Kirby back through the portal in time as it's closing; the alternate ending, which is closer to original Mirage issue the episode is based on, really hammered in just how deeply this affected Don, since he absolutely refuses to talk to Raphael and walks off to be by himself, gazing solemnly at the drawing Kirby was able to send through the portal. "Life at best is bittersweet. Take care of yourself."
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God damn it, my poor son.
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lookinggoodinplaid · 3 months
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Caught up to the Percy Jackson show and I HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY!
First off, why did no one tell me this show had such well-directed shot compositions? I'm serious, there's not a badly-framed shot in this show, I'm genuinely impressed.
Second, they got BEAR MCCREARY as the composer. The Norse God of War music guy. I just-I...I can't. That's just too perfect, they nailed it.
Third, as much as I get it, why did they call the Manticore a Chimera? I know it's the more popular monster, they kept the whole lion head & body with the fire breath and goat horns, but buddy, that has a literal scorpion tail, and unless I see a snake, a lion, and a goat as separate heads, that's not what Bellerophon fought.
Fourth, I like how 2000s this feels. Social media isn't overwhelmingly present, there's a big focus on Americana and traveling (which also makes me think Rick Riordan might've read American Gods), and the whole "picked-on geek is actually special" story that peaked in popularity back then. It's nostalgic, in a way, and I ain't even read the books.
Fifth, I appreciate how they set up Annabeth as being a firm believer in the status quo of "gods know best," with Percy being a spanner in the works of that worldview. She's like a person who has gotten to know all the little details of how an institution works, only to have someone new to it all point out the broad view of, "This isn't really fair, is it?" And at first she's like, "Well, it only looks that way..." but then she starts realizing more and more, "You know, he's got a point." Percy sees things for what they are, and how things are is unfair. The goddess of justice is not always just in her verdicts, and I like that. Tl;dr, Harry Potter could never.
And that's all for right now. Can't wait for the next episode (Ares! Yeah!), and PLEASE GREENLIGHT FOUR MORE SEASONS, DISNEY!
Edit: Okay, rewatched the episode, and I notice now that it's got goat legs and snake scales as well. But I'm still seeing a scorpion tail, and they say that it's a stinger, so I think they just stapled a manticore tail onto a chimera. In any case, I like the design, I was just confused.
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PROPAGANDA
AGENT TEXAS (RED VS BLUE)
1.) okay so tex is an ai based on the memories this one dickhead dude has of his dead wife, allison. there's also an ai based on the dickhead dude himself, his name's church. all the stuff with the ai's and the different versions of her is kind of confusing to explain but she sort of dies twice- first sacrificing herself for something that has very little narrative weight, and being absorbed into a kind of . monstrous mesh of other ai's (including the original church ai) that then is erased, with basically no mention of tex, it's all about church's death.
then, there's another version of both church and tex born from the original church ai's memories (epsilon-tex and epsilon-church). epsilon-church's arc is basically about learning to move on from his past and let go of tex, because he's kind of obsessed with her and it's preventing him from progressing. so, epsilon-church 'forgets' tex, deleting her for good. tl;dr she dies, again, basically entirely for church's development.
when i was a kid super into rvb i was always really disinterested in tex and looking back it's because er story just.. isn't resolved satisfyingly at all. basically all of her story is hitched so tightly to church's story and development that tex barely gets room to be more than a memory of the director's dead wife- she never gets to move past the circumstances that created her and become her own person entirely divorced from the director or from church- allison died and we never knew anything about her besides that the director god sad about it. beta-tex died unceremoniously and without mention. epsilon-tex died for church's character growth.
quoting church's own words from the show: ""She died in her real life, and that's all the Director ever remembered of her. So now, no matter how tough she is, no matter how hard she fights, she's always going to fail, because that's what she's based on. No matter what she's doing, or what she's trying to accomplish, just when her goal is within her reach, it gets yanked away. Every. Single. Time." and she just never… actually overcomes this. she just dies.
and quoting now-inactive tumblr user epsilontucker from 2015 who put it better than i could: "Tex’s whole life was spent fighting for agency. Freedom from what Omega wanted her to be (O’Malley), what the Director wanted her to be (Allison), what Church wanted her to be (his). Epsilon-Tex wanted to know who she was and why she was and she wanted to dismantle everything Church ever built. Especially because he built it for her.
And this character arc about freedom and agency, about a chance to define herself on her own terms, is resolved by… Church deciding to delete her.
Because everybody always seems to know what’s best for Tex."
this is also to say nothing of the treatment of her character on just, like, an episode-to-episode basis. rvb has a big problem with basically treating "bitch" as a personality trait for female characters, and tex gets some of the worst of it. if you made a drinking game of how often tex gets called a bitch, or a huge bitch, you'd die of alcohol poisoning. also at one point andy the bomb makes a bunch of transmisogynistic jokes at her because she's suppsoedly mannish (she's not masculine or feminine really everybody in this show is a multicolor master chief. she's just good at fighting) and then calls her a dyke. the end
2.) Some background (spoilers): Tex is introduced as a badass mercenary from Project Freelancer, and the ex girlfriend of Church, the main character of the show. It is eventually revealed she and Church are both Aritifical Intelligence programs; Church is an AI copy of the Director of Project Freelancer, and Tex is a copy of the Director's late wife.
Firstly she is straightforwardly the victim of misogynistic "jokes" for the first several seasons. She is called misogynistic slurs, shamed for sleeping with other men besides Church, she cannot work the entertainment stand at the base bc she's female, called lesbophobic and transmysogonistic slurs bc she is a competent soldier, and blackmails another female character out of jealousy bc she is the only other girl in the group.
Even when these jokes go away, and the show transitions from comedy to drama, her writing revolves around the male characters around her. Because she is the personification of the memory of the Director's dead wife, and his perceieved failure to save her, she explicitly, in the text, will always fail at what she sets out to accomplish no matter how strong she is. She wishes to be free of the cycle of being resurrected bc Church can't live without her only to fail and die again, but lacks the agency to end it without Church. Church's arc about learning to let her go ends not with her being free to exist as her own person without him, but with him forgetting her. Since she IS his memory, this ERASES HER FROM EXISTENCE. She literally cannot exist without this guy.
This would all be easier to swallow if she wasn't the ONLY prominent female main character for 8 whole seasons. It's a beautiful story about how grief can fester into anger and a need for control, and how that pushes away the people you love, but it's a story entirely centered around Church's development, in which she is a prop that stops existing when the story is over. I love her but she deserved so much better than she got.
3.) girlboss
KAMALA KHAN (MARVEL COMICS) (CW: Racism)
1.) One of the most prominent brown women in all of comics, beloved by the fan base. Recently killed in a PETER PARKER SPIDERMAN COMIC (despite being much closer with Miles Morales and having basically no relationship with Peter) in what's probably the name of MCU synergy, which nobody wanted (she'll probably be resurrected as a mutant, erasing her unique and interesting history as an Inhuman). She was using her shapeshifting powers again despite having stopped in her solo as she got more confident in her own skin and identity as a Pakistani American girl, died disguised as the very white Mary Jane as a fake out/last minute replacement for killing off MJ. I fucking hate it here. A cheap trick to drive sales. L + Misogyny + racism + are you fucking kidding me
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qballqueue · 7 months
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I haven't watched anime (or any show, really) for a while, but fuck man, Undead Girl Murder Farce really got me hooked, and I think it's mostly down to its two lead characters.
Like, yeah, the premise of the show itself is good. It's fucking excellent; a pair of Japanese yokai travel to Europe to solve Monster Crime™ is an instant grab for fans of horror, paranormal, and mystery (of which I am all three), but from episode to episode I keep finding myself drawn specifically to the main duo and their antics.
First you have Tsugaru, a man who, thanks to being half-oni, will have his life cut prematurely. But rather than him being mopey, he's decided to just have a good time while it lasts. If the candle is burning twice as fast anyways, he's going to make sure it burns twice as bright no matter the circumstance.
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And on the other hand you have Aya. Unlike Tsugaru, she's immortal, but has decided--now that she's a severed head--that life isn't worth living without a body. It's a cold and logical decision that she only changes her mind about once Tsugaru convinces her that there's a chance to get her body back.
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And despite their very, very different circumstances and methods of thought, what makes them the most entertaining to me is how similar they are.
Both of their perspectives give them a sort of detachment to the world, because for both of them (for different reasons) anything that happens, no matter how shocking or tragic, is only temporary. Which leaves them free to react to almost any situation however they want. This is best demonstrated through their shared interest in gallows humour.
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That last one in particular is of note, because that bit they're doing happens in the middle of them questioning a man about his dead wife.
And it's not just that they make jokes in dire circumstances; they laugh at each other's jokes too, showing appreciation for the other's sense of humour.
We're only seven episodes in at the time of writing, but it also seems so far like they're both good examples of static character arcs. In other words, they're characters that don't necessarily develop a lot over the course of the story, but do develop the world around them through their actions. Another good example of a character like that is Sherlock Holmes, which is a hell of a coincidence because he's also a character in this show. But it makes sense for Tsugaru and Aya because of their detachment. They can't really be shaped by the world if they're rarely affected by anything in it.
The issue that typically arises from characters like that (at least I find) is that, without becoming interesting over the course of the story, static characters need to start their stories by being interesting, which Tsugaru and Aya both do extremely effectively. We haven't gotten a ton of their backstories yet, but it's pretty clear from everything they do and everything they say what kind of people they are and how they think, and that is fantastic character writing.
TL;DR: watch Undead Girl Murder Farce (or Undead Murder Farce? The anime seems to have dropped 'girl' from the title) because it's really fucking good.
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kimbureh · 8 months
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TBB S2E14, Tipping Point & Self-Discovery Under Repressive Regimes
There is a lot of torture in this episode, and I've seen takes that argue Crosshair embraces this as a form of self-punishment. I will argue the opposite and use the thematic developments of the two seasons of TBB + some of TCW to make my point. (mention of a spoiler for the season 2 finale ahead)
A core theme of TBB is the toxicity of self-sacrifice. The Clone Army was created in order to be "expendable", but as far as I am aware, TCW only touched on the moral implications of that on rare occasions (Slick comes to mind). TBB on the other hand fills exactly this blank space and puts the ethics of a Clone Army front and center, as we see with the Clone Rights story thread, but also with every individual Batcher.
So far, several Batchers have used suicide as a tool of problem solving, every time with disastrous outcomes. Echo sacrificed himself in TCW in an act that later turned out to be inconsequential only to then be tortured and abused by the Separatists. Crosshair attempted to commit suicide by avenging Mayday, and torture ensued. Tech sacrificed himself in order to save the squad, which was instrument to Hunter's arc: Hunter, the frustratingly passive main character, realizes only after this loss that self-sacrifice isn't the way to go if they truly want to leave behind servitude of the Republic/Empire. (that's a future essay, but I am very excited about Hunter's development)
And Hunter has been demanding sacrifices from himself and the squad a lot for two whole seasons. Sacrificing Crosshair, for example.
You know who else is big on sacrifices? The Empire. I'm not deep enough into the Star Wars lore to know whether or not this is a common motif, but watching how Imperial fanatics kill themselves with suicide pills seems to me krass enough of an image to interpret this as a deliberate point. People within the Empire see themselves as expendable. If the Bad Batch truly aims to detach themselves from the Empire's ideology and develop an alternate moral model, they have to stop sacrificing themselves like the proverbial lemmings. So far, Echo is the only Batcher to spearhead this revolution, with Omega firmly on his side (and Hunter loves Omega, so he will pivot too, eventually).
And there is one Batcher who has been sacrificed by his brothers and understands they have to stop committing the Empire's cruelty to themselves: Crosshair.
I know this may sound hard to believe at first glance, but despite the things that happen externally, Crosshair's arc in season 2 is a positive one if we look at his internal development. In The Solitary Clone, Crosshair's arc could still go either way: either towards self-acceptance or towards self-destruction. In The Outpost, Crosshair comes to terms with his Clone identity just in time to find he no longer has the choice but to pick self-destruction. When this doesn't kill him either, there is no way but forward. In the Tipping Point, he is truly self-actualized to the best of his ability given the crushing circumstances. He is calm and perceptive. His eyes are open. This is not the demeanor of a self-hating man. This is someone who has come to terms with himself and his values, and acts accordingly. Building on the self-acceptance he developed in the interactions with Mayday, Crosshair now allows himself to care for the Batch again and sends them a warning. He knows the price he has to pay, but does it anyway because he finally acts according to his own convictions. Think back to his unusually relaxed expressions; despite being afraid of the torture, he doesn't show desperation, even when he's alone. He is at peace with his decisions, for the first time in a long time.
tl;dr:
Crosshair's internal arc culminates in Tipping Point with successful self-discovery and restored personal integrity in the face of extreme adversity. The Crosshair he is now would never stay 32 days stranded on a platform on Kamino. I mean, the episode is called "Tipping Point". What more can I say? Next step in season 3 is his external arc of mending his broken relationships and to find meaning outside of coercive systems like the Republic and the Empire.
I don't believe Crosshair will die in order to achieve "redemption", and I don't think Tech is dead either. The message of the Bad Batch, ever since TCW, seems to be: Self-sacrifice is not the way.
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nalooksthrough · 14 days
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Red didn't just randomly stumble into the room. He had a Reason for being there.
I've been in the Captain Laserhawk fandom for a little while now. And I have noticed there seems to be some confusion as to why Red suddenly burst into the room while Rayman and Bullfrog were talking. I don't know why. For me it was fairly simple, I figured it out a little while after my first viewing. And got confirmed by the show after my second watch through.
Red was hunting down Rayman, to kill him. As per Eden's direct orders.
But I can understand why people may have missed it. The audience had no time to process the comments made by Red in those moments, because of previous emotionally charged scenes. But the comments were there.
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Captain Laserhawk | All Rayman scenes - YouTube 3:34 - 3:36
In episode 5, when Red first enters the room. One of the first things he says is that he was looking for him. Looking for Rayman. And it appears that he had been looking for a while, since Bullfrog and Rayman were able to have quite a long conversation without any interruptions. And if Red had been hunting him down for what I assume to be hours, it would explain why he was so panicked when he lost sight of Rayman. Because how is he suppose to explain to his superiors that he managed to let Rayman of all people escape?
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Captain Laserhawk | Laserhawk vs Ninji 6 - YouTube 0:14 - 0:27
And later in episode 6, Red and Pink have an argument. Pink stating that she would never have let someone like Rayman escape. That she would have got the job done. Which means Red wasn't the only one was told to carry out this order, all the Ninji 6 were seemly told this same order. But unsurprisingly, Red was the one who volunteered for the mission. Or what I think is more likely, was chosen out the bunch, because they knew for a fact he would have had no problems with killing Rayman. He may even enjoy it.
But, I hear people asking. Why would Eden want Rayman dead? And why send a single Ninji 6 member, when they could have gotten the whole team, or send out an entire police squad, or even done it themselves?
That first question is easy to answer. There can't be two Raymans. The system only works with one. And it's best to keep the unquestionably loyal Rayman, then the one who's loyalty may be put into question. Best to get rid of him before he becomes a problem.
As for the second question. Eden doesn't want the general public knowing about this. Rayman is a beloved icon in Eden, if the people knew that Eden would do this to Rayman. People would be rioting, it would be the beginning of an uprising that even Eden won't be able to control. So they have to do it secretly, make sure people don't notice. And sending the police would be too noticeable, and anyway regular cops are apart of the general population. So you need to send the special force, people who already know the truth about how things work in Eden. But they can't send the whole team, because the team are celebrities themselves, paraded around as Eden heroes. And if people notice them, which they most definitely will, it will ruin not only their image, but Eden's as well. So they select only one of them, a member who they know would have no problems in completing the mission. And it would have worked out perfectly if it wasn't for a traitor within the board.
As to why they don't do it themselves? Most of them are lazy, happy to just sit in their nice little meeting room and let everyone else do the hard work. And the one person who isn't, has her own goals which involved keeping Rayman alive.
TL;DR
Red was sent by Eden to Kill Rayman, because there can only be one Rayman for the system to function. And they only sent Red, because they didn't want the general population knowing as it could lead to them revolting. And they were too lazy to do it themselves.
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warning-heckmouth · 20 days
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Okay, hear me out:
youtube
So this episode / song from MLP. If you're familiar with it, you know that the premise is the Mane Six are off having a wonderfully successful friendship retreat and reflecting on how happy they are for their friendships with each other, but meanwhile, Starlight and Trixie are back home in a lot of trouble because Starlight has been literally bottling up her frustrations with Trixie all day until they're accidentally released, infecting a trio of nearby ponies and causing them to act on that anger and frustration in Starlight's place. The Mane Six end up failing their retreat because they were so distracted talking about how perfect their friendships are, and Starlight ends up only able to get the trio who are attacking Trixie under control by expressing her frustrations herself. Moral of the episode is friendships aren't perfect and it's better to talk about problems than ignore them and let them fester until they're out of control, yada yada, anyway.
Trolls.
Specifically, Poppy and Viva, and the Brozone Bros. I think it goes without saying that Poppy and Viva would fit into the Mane Six's roles. They're both the types to think their bond as sisters is just perfect and nothing can go wrong, especially after all they went through during Band Together. They've moved past their issues, and now everything is going to be perfect until the end of time! Simple as that! Except, obviously, life isn't that simple.
Meanwhile, the Bros taking on Starlight and Trixie's storyline. Now, one thing I didn't mention earlier is that one of Starlight's main motivations for bottling up her emotions is that she's scared of losing her closest friend because of them. I think this applies perfectly to the Bros, because, after the events of Band Together, they're all probably on edge and worried about being the one to accidentally start another fight and cause them to split up all over again. As such, really any of the brothers could take on Starlight's role for that reason alone. But there's one other factor that makes me tend towards one specific brother to take on that role--and no, it's not Branch.
The thing with Branch, along with JD, Clay, and Bruce, is that they're all very open about their frustrations. The three older brothers are at each other's throats constantly once they're all together in the movie, and Branch doesn't hesitate to tell them all off and storm out when they've hurt him. The only brother who we haven't really seen act on anger, and as a matter of fact is seen trying to dissipate the other brothers' fights, is Floyd.
Floyd is the sensitive one. He's the quiet, shy, sweet one. He's understanding, he's never angry, he's always going to be the voice of reason. His very role in the band/family is to bottle up his emotions.
Speaking from experience, there's only so long you can keep up that kind of facade before you're just going to snap under the pressure of it all and lose your shit.
So, yeah. Floyd takes on Starlight's role, getting progressively more and more annoyed with his brothers but trying to keep it under wraps, only to ultimately, inevitably fail. Honestly, while it might make more sense for one of the three older brothers to take on Trixie's role, and he the one person his anger is ultimately directed towards, I honestly like the idea better of that role belonging to Branch. After all, Floyd and Branch are meant to get along the best of the brothers--but that certainly doesn't mean they won't have their issues, too. And maybe Branch is too excited to have his favorite brother back to be willing to acknowledge those problems right now, resulting in Floyd's annoyance with him.
Tl;dr: Just let Floyd lose his shit. Just this once, let him blow off some steam. He deserves it, as a treat.
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maychild · 3 months
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ep 7 the sign
i didn't get tharn apologizing to phaya (and i really thought they would parallel that but so far it's only been phaya saying sorry so many times now!! it's like dudeee, once is enough, cuz yeah, u shouldn't go around assaulting people but from tharn??? zip nada zilch...it's making me so mad. and i love tharn, i do, he's a precious bean, but i need him to admit when he's wrong too. i dont think that's asking for too much).
i loved the sex scene, i did, and the whole convo leading up it gave me a lot of butterflies but...
i keep saying i'm not disappointed, but sitting with it, i still don't know what to call it *but* disappointment.
and dont get me wrong: i'm obsessed with phayatharn, and that sex scene was so beautiful and emotional, but the whole pacing felt off. i just honestly thought they moved wayyy too fast. they did confess to each other, but did anything truly get resolved??? phaya is all for the relationship and has been from day 1, but tharn still has his issues and they're not going to go away after one night together--one veeeery steamy and hot night together, sure, but phaya is still going to be in danger, and phaya's still going to die so *hands* i just needed them to talk more and clear more things up, have something concrete that made tharn change his mind and attend that dinner with phaya and his family and have that emotional conversation with phaya...because as it stands right now, it feels like tharn's change in attitude came out of nowhere. was he just tired of pushing phaya away?? and didn't want to anymore? not that i need everything laid out explicitly for me but tharn's character remains very much a mystery.
because tharn said "don't force me" and it honestly felt like phaya DID force him. (everything was consensual of course, except for the part where the sex showed up to hastily move along the phayatharn relationship, and not even organically.)
i loved the ep, i did, it was exciting, and of course, the best parts for me were the phayatharn bits, but the writing let me down. and i dont have high hopes for future episodes fixing their pacing issues or copaganda. i fear those parts are here to stay (esp. considering we have only five eps left + the special episode and we haven't really ramped up the full plotline with dr. slow motion--he's still hidden deep in the shadows, not fully revealed but on the outer edges, so to speak, spying, and being manipulative, and shady, so that we never forget he's around but he's very much still "just" a side character).
anyway, the tl;dr of it all is that the phayatharn chemistry remains stellar and why we're all rooting for them, but the writing isn't up to par.
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sunnykeysmash · 10 months
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the structure in mac and dennis break up
this is gonna be a short post tbh, I just rewatched the episode and I have a couple of thoughts.
if you need a refresher on what I think the structure is in general, I talk about it here.
I think Mac and Dennis Break Up shows us an example of Mac and Dennis (and Charlie and Frank) working properly in regards to the structure, let me explain why:
First... I don't think there's a need for me to describe the plot of the episode, we all know.
What I want to focus on, is that at one point Mac moves in with Frank and Charlie, and starts bringing his way of life to them.
At first, Frank is thrilled.
"I could use a little structure in my life here." he says.
This reminds me of dialogue from Carries a Corpse.
"Nobody admit this to Mac, but... I feel like he was carrying a ton of weight."
"That would be another one of his annoying identities... the man who could carry stuff."
He's been shown carrying Dennis, on top of generally being inclined to micromanage, take care of others so they're safe, and make decisions or at least demand to be consulted in them (like which movie to watch on movie night).
That's when Mac works best, so I assume that Mac generally brings structure (or is a man of action, as he describes it).
Later on, we see Mac take this too far, and Frank doesn't like it anymore. To me, this is because what this episode tells us is that Charlie and Frank don't work well with a set structure, the way that Mac provides. They're more free.
I think this reading is important because it shows me why The Gang Gets Romantic fundamentally fails in its objective (not as an episode god forbid, I mean in the narrative, especially for Mac and Dennis).
It applies the romcom structure to Charlie and Frank, while it doesn't to Mac and Dennis, when it should be the opposite. Throughout the episode we see that Mac and Dennis keep fitting the tropes to the romcom structure, but they refuse to follow it, and thus it crumbles. It can't work.
Here's another thing.
Dennis' back broke in the S15 finale.
That is funny, yes, but what does this mean when I say that Mac is the (his) structure, then?
Well... Carries a Corpse implies that Mac was carrying most of the weight of the corpse, and the corpse is meant to be the show... and most show meta is basically the same as Dennis meta (most meta lines seem to relate to him, whether the fact he left for north dakota and came back, or the fact he's a dad, being between life and death, breaking his back aka the structure, and so on), as I have discussed better in my other post.
Point being, Mac carries Dennis. That's what he's meant to do, and what he does best in their relationship.
This makes me think of another recent scene that I think is emblematic of their dynamic... but in an interesting way.
So, in 2020: a Year in Review, Mac and Dennis work together on a song.
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They seem to be in harmony, but eventually start disagreeing and stop altogether to focus on something else. Why?
Because Dennis is working on the backup vocals, and Mac is working on the words. Which means their roles are reversed. Mac is supposed to be carrying the song, like the wind beneath his wings that he is, and Dennis, like the man of words that he is, should be responsible for the lyrics. They're doing each other's job, which means any harmony they reach is still bound to crack a bit the moment the song doesn't work for them.
Their seating position on their sofa reflects this.
Compare it to Mac and Dennis Break Up, which is supposed to be our ideal.
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They're in each other's places, in 2020.
This isn't new, they've been sitting in each other's places ever since Break Up. Mac was sitting in Dennis' place in MFHP, Dennis was sitting in Mac's place in Gets Romantic.
So tl;dr... Mac and Dennis work well under structure, when Mac is the one to bring it and carry Dennis. They fit a proper couple structure after all. Charlie and Frank don't work as well under structure, since their relationship is more unique and doesn't quite abide by normal rules because of that.
This does bring me to one last consideration though...
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They're back in their right spots, in season 16! Only problem is... couch is different. I would argue an inflatable couch doesn't offer the same amount of support (structure) that a normal one would...
Now that Dennis' structural essence broke, is he gonna feel what it's like when Mac is absent?
Perhaps this is why in Cursed we get Mac as the lucky one while the others as so unlucky they start to believe they're cursed (according to the synopsis...).
So the whole gang needs Mac?
Well...
In Goes To Hell pt2, when they build the human pyramid, it's both Mac and Dennis that end up at the bottom, as its structure.
So maybe... Dennis needs Mac as his structure, and the gang needs them to be in sync so they can both, together, support them (or shut the hell up about it, as both madbu and s15 would argue). Maybe this realization could be what brings the gang to work together in order to get them together. But that's getting into just speculation so imma end it here.
I like these thoughts though... Mac and Dennis being the foundation, the structure of the whole thing :)
#iasip#it's always sunny in philadelphia#s16 spoilers#always sunny#macdennis#macden#analysis#meta#this is as good as ''mac is the rat dennis is the cheese and together they're the trap of macdennis''#i do love building meta off of other meta that i pre-established... makes me feel like im citing my own research papers#if this only makes sense to me im so sorry my bad. it will happen again#this was born as a twitter thread while i rewatched madbu and things started making a bit too much sense so i had to write about it#i think if by the end of inflates they go back to their normal couch thats like golden sign that macden is going canon#cuz they maybe start experimenting different couches and none of them work for them. so they start blowing them all up#you know. like the stew!!! throwing it in the face instead of eating. using it wrong to get a thrill.#but by the end theyre like... no actually. our old one worked the best. for us. it worked. it supported us right#not flimsy like an inflatable couch is#so mark my words. if by the end of inflates we see macden sitting AT THEIR RIGHT SPOTS with THE RIGHT COUCH mirroring madbu...#then macdennis is gonna happen. period#dennis is gonna figure out that mac is his structure and theyre gonna go back. together. at the BOTTOM of the gang pyramid#getting pissed on together<3 like meerkats#dennis ''i aint goin down'' reynolds when hes destined to be part of the structural support and thus has to go down and stay down#dedicating this post to parker and joe they'll know what i mean#dennis reynolds#mac mcdonalds
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revenantghost · 2 months
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Hi Rev, I hope it's not too awkward to ask, but I really really loved how you organized bookclub and the tristamp watch party and love all the discussions and analysis it brought on in the community here (I wasn't an active participant, but I participated in my heart and head every day with full excitement, enriched by the community).
To that end, I wanted to ask if you would ever consider hosting a trigun98 watch party, or if you'd have any tips to follow, since I think it's also an adaptation that did a lot of unique things to match the trigun essence and themes while having next to none of the official material as a reference. I'm personally find of building my own master doc analyzing the osts and the differences in each trigun iteration, and it fascinates me how they all diverge and reconverge on their themes. 98 is an adaptation that has a lot of depth to it if one scratches the surface to see how these unfolding events affect the characters differently, create new dynamics, and is arguably a lot more grim than the manga at times with how personal it becomes for our main characters. Despite that it holds a lighthearted attitude and outlook towards life.
Ah- that is me going off topic. I just thought I'd love to see what trigun lovers would think of it if we got a community event to look deeper into the series and discuss it, maybe even pointedly raise comparisons between the other adaptations.
I know that tristamp watch party is going to be active until the date the last episode aired, so I understand if this might be too much, or if the overlapping events might be too much. I just wanted to throw this thought out there, and also to give my thanks for all the positive energy you've built and spread through the community here.
Oh man, I'm so happy that you enjoyed them!!! Honestly, they were a blast to run. I didn't know what to expect going into either of them--I'm really just so shocked and kinda giddy that so many folks participated, had fun, and found friends through them. :D Regardless of if they created things or just read along!
I think a '98 watch party is a great idea! Unfortunately, I'm probably not the person to do it--I'm dealing with quite a bit and it's gonna be a rocky few months, bookclub 2.0 will be on the horizon at some point, and the other two Trigun iterations are more my bread and butter. (This isn't me shitting on it btw; it's exhausting scrolling through hate in the tags. Sure, I have criticisms for each version, but it's a very three-cakes scenario for me.)
But, like I said, this is an awesome concept for an event!!! I'm honestly a bit of a newb at running events, I've been on the fringes of mod teams before but these were the first ones that I actually ran, so I'm probably not the best to ask for advice given how much winging I do lol. I'd recommend looking at events you've enjoyed and emulating what they do, and getting the community involved as much as possible.
TL;DR: I can't do it, but if you or someone else wants to do it, go for it!!!
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