.

Normal people about a fanfic: I hope these two kiss

Me: Fazco shows a decidedly liberal acceptance of unintentional demograpgic grabs and seems to fully embrace them (see Glamrock chica, developes for the younger female fans, becoming the older mom workout posterchild). When it comes to the princess she's most likley aimed towards the younger female demographic as Chica likley lost that marketing appeal when made a knight. But the princess has very little show presence except as a frontman and thus probably doesnt hold much young children's attention durring shows, but probably holds more adult attention being the steaigtman to the attendants. Which means shes probably aimed very heavily towards veeeeeery young girls to double up on their parents while missing mid aged child to teen entirley by design. And very young female demographics focus a lot of pretend play. The fact she doesnt have hair is a *huge* red mark on her design for this. So theres probably a lot of paper doll and coloring books for dress changes and creativity. Maybe a special high quality build a bear style hard body doll that uses her wardrobe to push her merch as a quirk. Probably quite a few extreamly intricate and unecisarly expensive high quality figures and limited edition dolls that use the kid's attention to get more fanatical adults to splurge.

But that blank face.... I almost guarentee they're gonna push makeup. Face paintings and customizable masks and drawing faces on her and art focused customization. A higher focus on rotiating consumables than props like the others. Probably emphasis the rose on her. It's her main part in the show. Sell fresh flowers to kids to throw to the lights like confetti. Limited edition rose colors for seasonal shows. Using said colors to make lore stories with toys.

Speaking of consumables. Princess throat lozenges to go with those attendant candy drops.

Think about the demographic that Disney aims their princesses at. FazCo wants in on that demographic and they aim for profit. The Princess fills the niche without them stepping too far outside their usual marketing zone.

The Castle booms with popularity in a few years, full-size Princess costumes made and sold at the respective locations. Little girls dress up as the Princess for Halloween. Many adopt her signature pose with hands folded in front. The Vocalist sees none of these profits despite building the character from the ground up.

Nelly you're killing me with love here

The moral outrage over an AU of Sonic being tortured in captivity will always be dumb as shit. All of the marketing and promotional stuff surrounding Forces was showing the then-upcoming game as a more serious and darker story. But certain people are shocked to see other fans jumping right at something the game and promotional material was handing to them silver platter.

That would be like having a conniption from seeing a character like Erazor Djinn, a canonical abuser, being portrayed doing just as bad, if not worse than the shit he pulled in his respective game.

I really wouldn't put it past them to go more into the nitty-gritty of the darker elements in the series, if the Sonic franchise as a whole wasn't primarily aimed at a child demographic. Just look at what they did in Shadow's game with it just having the E10+ rating(which had just been implemented into ESRB rating system earlier that year).

Fun fact: I still have saved in my drafts a response to a post I found way back then (I will never publish it for obvious reasons, but I needed to vent lmao), and this part always fascinated me.

The fact that there are people who think that torturing Sonic for the sake of “story,” is okay - well it’s unnerving to me, and I don’t think anyone should willingly desire to make such a thing. Moreover, that there are adults participating in the content.

"It's unnerving to me, and I don’t think anyone should willingly desire to make such a thing". I love it. Pure anti logic distilled in one singular sentence. Art.

"There are adults participating in the content" is another good line. This implies that the issue is that the Encaged AU was written by an adult, and not a teen. The rest of the post is basically all about how Sonic is for children, therefore the adults in the fandom should always be mindful of the children.

I know that joking about Maria's death is now beating a dead horse, but yeah the series has had as a plot point the murder of a young girl that drove her grandfather to planet-destroying madness. If children can handle SA2 and ShTH (which in Europe had a 12+ rating, so higher than the usual 7+ but not exactly adult), or even '06 with Sonic dying in the Last Story, they can handle the presence of a vaguely grimdark AU.

When looking for fanfics on AO3, specifically ones catered to your taste in a fandom/interest, how do you go about? Any tips on how to scout “good” stories from than “mediocre”?

First off, make sure you know what you want and what you're looking for! Choose your fandom, what characters you want to see, what relationships (romantic are A/J, platonic are A&J for formatting), rating, length, any of those that you have a specific preference for, make it known! When searching AO3 on PC, there's a whole bar of drop-down menus so you can choose all of these things you want to include AND anything you want to exclude:

If a tag you want to see or avoid isn't there, there's a place to search for and then add it as well. You also have a few options for how the fics you get are sorted as well - update date, word count, kudos count, comments, bookmarks, etc. There are also a few more options, but the image is already big enough - seriously, AO3 lets you customize your search so much, even if you don't add AO3dr to use their blacklisting function.

Myself, I usually put in my relationship preferences, exclude a few warnings, then organize by number of bookmarks or comments. I'll do a quick scan of the first three to four pages, clicking the 'mark for later' button inside the fics on anything that seems promising until I have anywhere between eight and a couple dozen fics.

After that? The reading begins, but the process isn't over! Because if one of the fics I read turns out to be really good, the next step isn't to go back to my 'marked for later' list, it's to go to the writer's dashboard, see if they've written anything else for this fandom that sounds good, read anything of theirs that sounds good, and when I'm finished that check their bookmarks page for anything they've read and bookmarked for this fandom, marking things for later until I've gone through the whole thing, then choosing a new fic from my now (hopefully) expanded marked for later list and repeating the whole process all over again. This generally keeps me, at least, well fed and well read when it comes to fics!

Sometimes I also add my preferences in the AO3 search and just take a peek at what's come out recently, even if it's incomplete - yes, you'll be left wanting at times if the story's unfinished, but it's worth it to get to accompany other writers and readers on the journey of a really good ongoing fic and getting a delightful update notification in you inbox from time to time. :D

(I should note, what makes a fic 'good' or 'mediocre' is at least partially subjective. I've seen loads of fics that have obviously been widely read and well loved by many, but they weren't to my taste.)

Also, keep in mind the age of the fan base a piece of media is aimed towards - The Owl House is generally going to have a lower overall quality of writing than, say, Ace Attorney, not because one is objectively superior to the other (they're both fantastic and I would pay money to see Phoenix defend Eda in court), but because one's aimed at kids and young teens and the other's aimed at older teens and adults. And one of these demographics is going to have had more practice with writing than the other. It's worth going through both still, they both have plenty of great fics, but it helps to enter a younger-aimed fandom with a more lenient frame of mind.

Anyway, that's all the advice that I've got, and I hope it helps! Thanks for the ask!

Now that Andor has finished, I'm starting to see more of an influx of negative opinions on it and while I don't share their opinion and absolutely loved the show, it's interesting to see that Andor ended up such a polarizing show. People either really related to it and adored it and felt like it was one of the best things Star Wars has ever produced, or it just fell completely flat because of how different its style and structure was.

"It didn't feel like Star Wars," "it was too slow," "none of the characters were interesting/likable" seem to be the biggest frustrations people had with this show, while "It's so new and refreshing," "it's an excellent slowburn that's taking its time to tell a good story," and "all of the characters are morally gray and it's an interesting use of ensemble" are things I've seen people ENJOY about the show. They're the exact same things, but for some people they work, and for others, they... don't.

I get why the slower structure would have bothered people, even as the structure worked really well for me in giving me those mini arcs for Cassian while still remaining entirely serialized and giving impact to past events as the story moves forward.

I get why having the ensemble structure would be frustrating in its refusal to truly focus in on one character's journey above the others, even as it totally worked for me in highlighting what the writers felt was meaningful about Cassian's arc by paralleling and foiling him in the others, partially because Cassian as a character doesn't always make things obvious and partially to just build the world up a little.

And I get why the more serious adult take on Star Wars could have put people off, that this just simply isn't what they enjoy Star Wars FOR and if they wanted edgy serious adult drama they would go watch something else. I get that, even as I deeply enjoyed having piece of Star Wars media that felt aimed at someone my age rather than having to enjoy something that is intentionally written towards a pre-teen demographic even if it's written well. As someone who doesn't tend to do a lot of reading of the novels and comics that have been allowed to be more adult, it's felt like a breath of fresh air in some ways. I like Star Wars a lot and really enjoy some of the more subtle things happening in shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi or Rebels or even Clone Wars and the main films. But I don't think Andor is a show that had a pre-teen audience in mind, I'm not even sure a lot of pre-teens would enjoy it all that much. And I think there can be room to explore an element of Star Wars that CAN be aimed at adults, but that's not going to be something that appeals to all of Star Wars' myriad fans.

I don't go see a rom-com because I'm looking for a political side story. I'm there to see a stupid formulaic nauseatingly sweet storyline that doesn't ask me to think all that hard. There's going to be people who come to Star Wars with very specific things in mind that they want out of it because it's why Star Wars brings them joy, it's what Star Wars MEANS to them, and Andor just isn't going to fulfill that.

Andor did have to grow on me a little and I was someone who already considered Rogue One my favorite Star Wars film and enjoyed Cassian as a character, Diego Luna as an actor, and was genuinely hopeful and excited for the show. And of course the show isn't perfect, it stumbles in places, it can do better with some of its writing choices perhaps. But I respect it a LOT for choosing to really stick to its vision, to do its own thing. I'm someone who's always going to have a lot more respect for someone trying and failing than someone who is just sticking to the proven status quo. Andor had a very particular message in mind that it wanted to tell and a particular way it decided to tell it. For some people, that message worked, for others it didn't, but they took the road less travelled and I can respect the bravery and dedication that took.

Teen Titans - Beast Boy

Do you want to read a Beast Boy Graphic Novel? Read this.

On my scale of 'also enjoyable to adult readers' to 'this was made For 13 year olds' this one fits a bit closer to the For 13 year olds than Raven but not as far as Black Canary. The tropes and narratives beats were just that bit more pre-teen media.

I do again think this did well at incorporating the canon backstory of these characters while also making it an engaging story for new readers. I again rather like the original characters that were included. Did personally find it a bit weird that Gar's parents were still alive (when typically in canon they die while he's fairly young and he lives with his uncle) but I get that they did the parent death thing with Raven (and also had her living with an aunt) and probably didn't want to do it again.

Not much else to say about it really. It is what it is and is well aimed at it's target demographic.

Should you read it? As an adult reader I'd probably give it a skip unless Beast Boy is your favourite Titans (then it's probably still worthwhile). But if you happen to have a 13 year old in your life it's definitively something I would recommend getting for them to read.

✍️📝🤪, if you're still doing the ask game?

‘Imagine Your S/I Was Canon…’ Self-Ship Asks

Thank you, Jenni! I answered 📝 here! ...And I may have forgotten this was in my drafts so long. Oops

✍️: Overall, how does the fandom trait you? Are you a beloved character, or hated? Are you popular, or a minor side character? Anything in between?

I think I'd be... Not popular, per se, since this is a fandom aimed at teens that tends to focus on its primarily teen cast and I don't know how yuri that starts out this toxic would go over with that demographic, but the adults who like the series would definitely love me! Primarily for my relationship with Laurel and how it evolves over the story, but also for my cool powers that get put on explosive display at key points in my arc. My fellow milf-loving sapphics would definitely think my S/I is living the dream, and might even project onto said S/I when writing ship fic.

And hey, on the younger side of things, maybe I'd even start a trend where a bunch of teen viewers discover 90s alternative rock and grunge thanks to my music taste! (My S/I definitely wears an AiC shirt at some point.)

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

I'd say my catgirl tendencies, but honestly? I meow and knead and stuff to stim pretty often in real life, too, so I don't think it'd even be far off to focus on those. Fandom might exaggerate the pointiness of my teeth or give me cat eyes in fanart when neither of those are canon traits, I guess? It'd also be inaccurate if they claimed I'm a furry. (I technically have a fursona if you count my Sonic AU and I like cartoony art with animal characters, I just don't consider myself part of the overall fandom. They're cool in my book, though!)

I feel like they'd also exaggerate how much of a doormat I am for Laurel. And I mean, yeah, I do spend our early relationship getting manipulated and controlled, but I do very much put my foot down and go "hey what the fuck" once I realize what's going on. That misconception would drive the meta-writing fandom nuts, too, since that's actually one of the key factors motivating Laurel to change: the fact that I now see her for who she really is, and still hold onto the belief that she can be better, but don't take any bullshit from her in the meantime. That's the push she needs from someone she (secretly) cares about to reevaluate everything.

(And also my reason why Larissa's attempt to reason with her failed: not only did Laurel not have the same soft spot for her, but she still said "please don't make this more difficult than it already is, Marilyn" and not her real name. So she was still denying the real Laurel, unlike my S/I when my first line after learning her identity is "...Laurel?")

While graphic novels, manga, and doodle fiction share some similarities as forms of visual storytelling, they also have some notable differences:

Cultural origins: -Graphic novels have roots in Western comic book culture, while manga originated in Japan and doodle fiction can be traced to a variety of global sources.

Art Style: -Each form has a distinct art style, with graphic novels often featuring more realistic and detailed illustrations, manga characterized by its large eyes, spiky hair, and exaggerated expressions, and doodle fiction often featuring a more whimsical and playful drawing style.

Narrative Pacing: -The pacing of the story in each form can differ, with graphic novels often taking a slower pace and more time for character development, while manga can be faster-paced and feature more action and humor. Doodle fiction, on the other hand, often has a more episodic and vignette-style structure.

Publication format: -Graphic novels are typically published as standalone books, while manga is often serialized in manga magazines and released in collected volumes. Doodle fiction can be published in a variety of formats, including zines and online webcomics.

Target audience: -Each form has a different target audience, with graphic novels often aimed at adult readers, manga frequently geared towards teens and young adults, and doodle fiction often appealing to a younger demographic.

Cultural themes: -Graphic novels often explore themes related to Western culture, such as politics, identity, and social issues, while manga can explore a wide range of themes, including Japanese culture, romance, and action. Doodle fiction can vary widely in its themes, with some works exploring social commentary and others simply offering lighthearted entertainment.

Overall, while graphic novels, manga, and doodle fiction share some similarities, they each have unique characteristics and cultural influences that set them apart.

trigger warning lists for karin chibi vampire (manga only)

warning to the warning: not used to writing those so i do not know how to be succinct also context is deeply needed in some cases so it will feel rambly at times my bad

1/ the mangaka seems very unsure of who their target demographic is so there’s some confusing jump in genres, or... the reader assume they’re getting one thing but ends up with something very different. so while the core is more of less shojo (i don’t even feel comfortable calling it that, but the main focus is teenage romance) we also inexplicably get fanservice aimed at straight boys at very random times which feels very awkward to uncomfortable

2/ in the same vein, this manga deals with very adult topics at times. one of which being about teenage prostitution (regarding a minor character)

3/ abuse, both physical and emotional but much more focused on the latter. this one is a bit hard for me to get into so i can’t be super precise, sorry. karin’s family loves her very much, but... use this as a justification to do very fucked up things to her. because they want to protect her but do not care about what she wants or how she feels about the choices they force on her. definitely be careful if this can trigger you

also teen pregnancy and i’m putting this in the abuse category for the events that follows it: the character this happens to is someone’s mom but it affects him too. her mom (so the guy’s grandmother) never accepted the child, leading to neglect and trauma

4/ another messy one: pedophilia and possibly incest. to this day i’m not sure what exactly is going on with that bit, but. there is a side character who is in love with her “uncle”. i do not know if he’s her actual uncle or just a family friend that she got used to calling him that when she was a child and never grew out of it. so, while she’s a young adult when we meet her, the pedo part is due to him possibly grooming her since she was a child. she lost her parents then and he was the only adult who was “nice” to her, but really he just did that so she would be easy to manipulate. he is aware of her feelings for him, and while he doesn’t use it to get any sexual favors, it’s still a very creepy situation

5/ still related to this character: talks of infertility as making a person inferior, not worth of being alive because they cannot... make use of their genes? don’t think it’s meant to be the mangaka views in this subject, it’s very much the girl having a lot of self estime issues due to the way she was raised, but it’s still very uncomfortable to read. it also raise race-related concerns but more as a metaphor? i guess. cause we’re talking about vampires, so it’s fantasy and not based on reality but still quite. SOMETHING. to be precise the metaphor would be about being biracial and maybe even disabled

6/ depression and talks about happiness, how can you achieve it and if it’s even something you can achieve. not impressively phylosophical, we don’t go that far with it, but still interesting. not sure this needs a trigger but just in case

and lastly...

7/ i’m. not. going to explain what happens at the very end, not for spoiler concerns but because it’s a mess. but my advice to you is to simply not finish the manga. it is very much not worth it. maximum go to chapter 50 and stop there. i swear to you whatever ending you imagine yourself, even if you think is rubbish, is better than what you’ll get if you soldier on. also the reason i’m failing at giving warnings here is because i don’t want to even remember it. things just gets really creepy in very unnecessary ways. the whole serie you get mini side comics about the mangaka’s life and their thoughts when writting the story and i bring that up cause there’s some about the influence their editor had on it... so not sure if the ending being a disaster is the fault of the editor or if by that point the mangaka was tired of this story and just wanted to be done so they didn’t care anymore. just don’t finish it...

still one of my favorite manga, to be fair! despite its flaws i really enjoy it to this day... but i still recognize it has a lot of bad thrown into the mix and my overall positive feelings are very personal and biased. if me gushing about this story made you curious but anything on the list feels too much for you, listen to your guts and don’t force yourself to read something that would just make you uncomfortable.

REASONS YOU SHOULD WATCH INFINITY TRAIN ON CARTOON NETWORK AND HBOMAX & HOW TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR BOOK 5 AND BEYOND

Science-fiction with a story-driven plot, and protagonists that change every season

Lots of mystery and amazing worldbuilding!

Without spoilers, character development is very central to the show, so there is a TON of it!

Handles complex issues such as loss, divorce, peer pressure, change, and more, in a mature and realistic manner

Each train car holds it's own pocket dimension with it's own incredibly creative, unique characters and environments!

Lots of diverse characters that aren't side characters!! Multiple well-written female characters, one of the protags of season two was a native american, one of the protags of season 3 was black woman, and both the protags in season 4 are asian - korean and japanese, respectively. The other protag in season two was nonbinary-coded and her story is widely read as a metaphor for the transgender experience!

Really good redemption arcs, but isn't a 'everyone gets redeemed' story, which I suppose isn't good nor bad but comes down to preference. I really want to talk more about this one but I can't get into it because ~ * ~ spoilers ~ * ~

The creators were interested in tapping into the 'older kids/teens/young adults' demographic, so it's not particularly watered down for a younger audience but it's nothing that children can't watch either.

BEAUTIFUL synthwave soundtrack by the ever-skilled Chrome Canyon

Each episode is 11 minutes long, 10 episodes per season, the ENTIRE show is only about six hours long so it doesn't take a huge time investment.

The show doesn't waste a single second, as a result. Nothing drags on, there is no filler, every second is utilized perfectly.

And this is just off the top of my head, if anyone wants to reblog and add more they are welcome to!

If you like Gravity Falls, Avatar, The Owl House, Steven Universe, Kipo, etc etc, I can basically GUARANTEE you'll like Infinity Train. We're fighting for the remaining four "books" (seasons) which were cancelled because Cartoon Network didn't think the following season (5) had a child entry point, so if you can, please watch the show legally - stream it with a friend or family member who has HBOmax, borrow their account, or even get a free trial yourself. Getting view counts matters, so if you like it, maybe even consider watching it through a few times!

HBOmax is coming to NUMEROUS countries come June, so if you live in any of these locations and want to watch it, mark the date and support it by streaming it!

Other ways you can support the show are as follows:

Like, Share, and Comment on the posts HBOmax and Cartoon Network make about the show! ESPECIALLY comment expressing your interest in seeing it continue.

Both companies upload clips of the show to their youtube channels, positively interact with those as well!

Cartoon Network's parent company is Warner Media, who also own adult swim - contacting them supporting the idea that the show should move platforms because of it's huge fanbase outside the young children demographic could be worthwhile!

Use the tags #InfinityTrain, #RenewInfinityTrain, and #FinishInfinityTrain in your comments, fanarts, and discussions!

Use HBOM's and CN's feedback forms to ask for more Infinity Train! I have another post here on tumblr linking two such forms!

Buy what little official merch there is! You can buy a DVD of Season 1 and season 2's DVD is releasing May 2021. TheMysteryShack also sells a few pieces of quality, licensed merchandise.

Recommend it to your friends!!

Please reblog and spread the word around ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿We can't keep losing revolutionary animated shows because execs don't see the value in animation aimed at teens and young adults that isn't comedy.

#RenewInfinityTrain

Hello tumblr. I have returned from a long period of inactivity, because I must bring the good word to the corner of the Star Wars fandom that used to be my main fannish home: there is a new era of Star Wars canon that was made just for our taste. It is called the High Republic.

WHAT IS THE HIGH REPUBLIC?

The High Republic is an giant multi-media project being carried out by the Lucasfilm story group to create a brand new era of Star Wars canon. It is set a few hundred years before the prequel era (so, a long time after the Old Republic era), in a period of peace and stability within the Republic. It currently includes several English language adult novels, a YA novel, two serialized comics, a manga, some short stories, and some short video blurbs published on facebook and youtube. A TV show for Disney+ has also been announced, but is a few years off. This project is unique in Star Wars, in that all of the different parts are being written together by one writing team, and are coordinated to tell a cohesive story. Also, what has been announced is just the beginning – they have stated that there will be three different sections of the High Republic, and everything we have had announced so far is just part one. As a note: this is an era for which there was NO pre-existing canon in Legends, so it is totally new territory.

OKAY, THAT’S NICE, BUT WHY SHOULD I BOTHER TO CHECK IT OUT?

There are SO many reasons why the High Republic is worth your time to explore. I will try to outline some of them here below the cut (without any significant spoilers).

IT IS A LOVE LETTER TO THE JEDI

This is the era for everyone who loves the Jedi and wants to understand how they got to the point they did in the prequel era. It shows Jedi at their best: saving people, working together, being completely in tune with the Force (in so many beautiful and original ways), demonstrating creativity and flexibility and being rewarded for it, actually thinking through the ethics of things like the mind trick, and DEALING with their emotions rather than repressing them. It shows us how the rigid Jedi culture was saw in the prequels was a corruption of something that was originally healthy and uplifting. Jedi in this era are allowed to be flawed, and to grow, and have a community that supports them in doing so. This is the Jedi culture so many of us created as fix it fic for the prequel era, but made canon.

IT IS AN ERA OF HOPE

There are some serious problems in the High Republic Era. Without spoilers, the era opens with a terrible humanitarian crisis, laid over the Republic equivalent of the New Deal from US history.  We see a lot of examples of people doing their best to be good to each other, and working for a more just and kind galaxy. They acknowledge that things are not perfect, but people from many different backgrounds (Jedi, politicians, farmers, pilots, business people) work together to try and make things better. I don’t know about you all, but with the darkness we see in the world today, I NEED some of that optimism in my escapist media. The High Republic provides that.

IT WILL GIVE YOU FEELINGS

The existing material so far is structured to really let you emotionally invest in the characters and their struggles. Unlike with many eras of Star Wars canon, characterization is not sacrificed for the sake of plot (though never fear, there is PLENTY of plot). That means there is huge scope for empathy. I’m not going to lie; I cried within the first three chapters of Light of the Jedi, as did several other people I know. It is POIGNANT in a way that feels truly genuine.

IT IS FUN

The writing team understands that, in the end, Star Wars is space fantasy. If your space fantasy is nothing but serious, gritty grimdark, it becomes pretentious and unbearable. So, for all that there is some heavy content in the High Republic (VERY heavy content – the Nihil should really have their own content warning), it has many moments of levity that keep it from taking itself too seriously. For example, the High Republic made Jedi bodice rippers canon. Also, characters like Geode exist (yes, that rock there is a CHARACTER). The result is something which honors the spirit of Star Wars, and keeps you engaged without being tedious or ridiculously depressing.

THE WRITING TEAM HAS DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES

The main writing team consists of five people: Justina Ireland, Claudia Gray, Charles Soule, Daniel José Older, and Cavan Scott. You will note that includes two people of color, two women, and one out Queer person (in fact, one of the writers is all three of those things). This is a far cry from the white-cis-straight-man-dominated writing teams we have seen in the past. And when they bring in other people to the project, they make a point of looking for perspectives that aren’t represented on their team – for example, the manga is being co-written between Justina Ireland and Japanese writer Shima Shinya, and Ireland has stated in interviews that Shinya is taking the lead on the writing.

IT VALUES MEANINGFUL REPRESENTATION

That diverse writing team means a cast that looks WAY more like the real world than any other era of Star Wars we’ve seen, in terms of representation. There are multiple characters of color, who are both heroes and central to the story. There are at least five canonical queer characters to date (a MLM couple, an Ace character, and two NB character).  [EDIT: Thank you @legok9​ for letting me know about the NB characters]. Among binary gendered characters, there is a very even balance of men and women. The writing team has also stated that they will be incorporating more representation of disability in the works to come. And the story is so much better for it – representation is included here BECAUSE it makes for more creative, believable, and original storytelling.

IT IS ACCESSIBLE

Because of the multiple formats, and the fact that it doesn’t rely on you knowing any prior lore, the High Republic offers many avenues to engage for people with all kinds of needs. Know nothing about Star Wars canon and feel intimidated about catching up? The canon is all new in this era anyway, so you’re fine. Can’t handle flashing lights? No problem – the little bit of video content that exists is totally free from the strobing effects that caused seizure and sensory issues. Need purely audio content? You can still have a full experience of the High Republic with the gorgeously sound-scaped audiobooks. Don’t have the attention span for books or long movies? Then the comics are your friend.

THERE IS SOMETHING FOR ALL

Between the books aimed towards adults and teens (and their respective audiobooks), the kids books, the comics, the manga, the short stories, AND the eventual TV show on Disney+, there is going to be content in the High Republic that suits most audiences. And that is just what has been announced so far – there is still more to come for phases II and III. This isn’t Star Wars written towards one group or demographic – it is Star Wars for everyone.

DID I MENTION THE FANCY JEDI UNIFORMS?

Because cosplayers and fanartists? This is the era for you. We are getting Jedi in silks with elaborate gold embroidery. Jedi with jewelry other decorative elements. Even the practical field uniforms have tooled and embossed leather. If you want to draw or make Jedi that have some of that that sweet LoTR-esque high fantasy aesthetic, the High Republic has your back. (Not going to lie – I am ALREADY imagining the time travel AUs. Put Obi-Wan in fancy clothes!)

OKAY, YOU’VE SOLD ME. WHERE SHOULD I START?

I strongly recommend everyone looking to get into the High Republic (who is old enough to be on Tumblr) start with Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule. I alternated between the physical book and the audio book, and found it delightful in both formats. After that, you have a lot of options. You can read or listen to the audio book of the YA novel A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland. You can check out the currently running Star Wars: The High Republic comic from Marvel, or the Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures comic from IDW. Or you can skip straight to Into the Dark by Claudia Gray. Honestly, there is no wrong order to try out most of the High Republic.

IN CONLUSION

The High Republic is Star Wars written for people who DON’T want Star Wars to be a good ‘ol boys club for salty white dudes who don’t want to see anything but more of Luke Skywalker. It offers broad representation, and optimistic narrative, and whole bunch of awesome Jedi content. If you are someone who fell in love with Jedi in the prequel era, the High Republic will give you more of what you loved. And if you are totally new to Star Wars? The High Republic is here for you too.

So, go check it. And then go write fic for it (please, there are only, like, 14 fics on AO3, I am dying).

Dear 'Anime Bad' Anon: I Want To Help I pity your situation, so please have a list of weebshit that isn't moeified, or wherein the cutesy art-style serves a greater purpose. (Note: though they won't be soft marshmallow uguuuu, they may still have issues in other ways. Some may have aged badly with regards to how society views or portrays groups or beliefs, some may have upsetting content and dark themes, and some may simply not be to your taste. Note: Anime is a genre, not a monolith, and the disparaging stereotype that it's all cute girls uwuing over their brother s-s-senpai!!! is as much of a disservice as saying all western movies are just vapid cash grab superhero movie sequels with no inegrity or thought put into them. There are indeed a lot of superhero movies, but they're not all identical schlock (megamind vs venom vs kick-ass),  but even more than that, there is a wealth of creative endeavor just beyond the veil of Marvel's cape: just as there are plenty of good anime if you dig past the isekai high school harem wish fulfillment genre that no one wants to keep making but people keep making because it prints money to a very small demographic of the animation equivalent of a mobile game whale thereby allowing this frankly quite-small industry to work on engaging and worthwhile series where the budget permits, Regardless,)

Mushi-shi: -Pros: gorgeous animation, tranquil vibes, episodic stories so you can cram in an episode between classes or on your lunch break. highly recommended by the literal-who typing this out. -Cons: some themes or stories may cause emotional distress, learning to tell apart Urushibara Yuki's characters is a learning curve.

Baccano-Pros: meticulously-researched 20s-and-30s-era mafia violence with a hint of the supernatural, as a treat, told anachronistically with flair and jazz music. practically made to be binge-watched. the novels are finally getting translated into english as well. -Cons: lots of characters to keep track of, fair bit of blood and violence, some scenes or themes may be upsetting, lots of jumping around between different time periods. See Also: Durarara, another series by Ryōgo Narita with a ton of characters and a plot with more threads an overpriced sheet.

Cowboy Bebop-Pros: incredibly well-regarded, space bounty hunters are cool, episodic series that slowly takes on a plot towards the end, fantastic animation, scoring, and even dub work.  -Cons: some scenes or themes may be uncomfortable, some parts have not aged quite so well, the smart doll version of the main character is ugly, you're gonna carry that weight.

Trigun-Pros: starts lighthearted, develops an increasingly investing plot as the series goes along. fictional westerns are cool. this world is made of love and peace -Cons: some scenes or themes may be upsetting, and probably will be. gun violence is naturally present, but that ain't all of it.

Hellsing (standard or Ultimate. or Abridged)Pros: vampires killing nazis. the original adaptation isn't bad, the second adaptation (ultimate) is generally viewed as an improvement. abridged is a youtube parody version that was so popular the voice actors reference it in convention interviews.Cons: a Lot of violence, even trending to the gorey side of things. Uncomfortable Themes Everywhere, but it's a horror-tinged action series about killing nazis, so that's to be expected. 

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood-Pros: while the original anime was quite good, the second iteration is a large improvement. does to alchemy what naruto does to ninjas: It's Basically Battle Magic. the plot starts on a strong note and doesn't let up from there. -Cons: there are distressing scenes and themes that may or may not be tolerable to the viewer. there are moments of cheesecake and even an occasional joke or a moeblob here and there, and it's not all doom and all gloom all the time, but this doesn't detract from the abject horror-despair that comes to permeate this series as it progresses. finally understand why people on the internet respond so negatively to the name 'nina'! 

[Mod: many more recs/reviews under the break, worth reading for those who like more obscure anime and animation]

Grave of the Fireflies-Pros: you will remember how to cry. it's a good reminder that one country's 'triumphs' often come at the expense of another country's people.  -Cons: this movie is incredibly dark, do not watch if you are in a bad headspace. see also: Barefoot Gen, a similar tale but this time from the perspective of an actual survivor from Hiroshima.

Michiko to Hatchin-Pros: an actually diverse cast of characters tangled up in a messy and very humanizing story, interspersed with Shinichiro Watanabe's particular flare for adventure. -Cons: some scenes or themes are very likely to be distressing. can be tricky to find, too.

Mo no no Ke (not the ghibli movie, though it is also quite good.) -Pros: incredibly unique art style and pacing that draws heavily from japanese theatre traditions, every screenshot is wallpaper-worthy. -Cons: may cause motion sickness. it is a psychological horror series, and one that does not need blood, nor gore, to cause visceral emotional response in the viewer. scenes and themes will be distressing- as really, that's the point.

Tokyo Godfathers-Pros: a transwoman, a (self-identified) homeless bum, and a runaway teen girl find a newborn in the baby on christmas. incredibly wholesome, somehow, and grounded in reality, with wonderful animation from the tragically late satoshi kon. -Cons: it is grounded in realism, and sometimes, people are dicks. mild transphobia warning, too, but in-universe- the transwoman herself is portrayed with kindness and allowed to be her own (wonderful!!!) person. still, viewer be mindful.

Kino no Tabi (the first series is my preferred, the second is shinier but lacks emotional impact- in my onion.) -Pros: mostly episodic, very unique series that can be gritty where it counts and kind where it matters. -Cons: some scenes or themes might be disturbing. finding it's not easy, either, and unfortunately, i don't think the novels are being translated right now, either.

Spice and Wolf-Pros: it's mostly about economics. there are shenanigans, a harvest god, and a slowly burgeoning romance, sure, but it's still mostly about economics. -Cons: there are moments of cheesecake and comedy, and moments that may cause distress to the viewer. it may or may not be to your taste.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica-Cons: yeah i know, it's moeblobs.  -Pros: you're gonna watch 'em die, though, in case that may interest you. it's quite a good subversion of the magical girl genre overall. somehow volks hasn't made an MDD of anyone from the series and i will never understand how that didn't happen.

Wolf Children: Ame to Yuki-Pros: watch a family grow together as a newly-single mother does her best to raise her twin children after the tragic loss of their father.  -Cons: keep tissues handy. certain scenes or themes may be uncomfortable.

Lupin III (Red Jacket, Ghibli, and the new 3D animation are all A+) pros: heist comedy elevated to an art form before half (or more!) of the people reading this were born. the english dubbed series that used to air on adult swim is a treat. cons: this franchise started in THE SIXTIES, so naturally, some shit has not aged well. certain series (fujiko mine) are darker than others in themes and material. the 3d movie that released recently is an excellent starting point.

Samurai Champloo-Pros: breakdancing samurai, a fascinating roster of characters, and a superb soundtrack by the tragically passed Nujabes. -Cons: it was made in the weird era of the transition from analog to digital animation and so the /series master/ was animated at a painfully low resolution, so even if there's a bluray out there (I haven't looked,) it will be an upscale, which doesn't always look the best. as well, there are scenes and themes that may make the viewer uncomfortable here and there.

The Works of Studio Ghibli Oh, I'm sorry, Ponyo too suffused with childhood wonder for you? My Neighbor Totoro not depressing enough?  In addition to the infamous Grave of the Fireflies, Studio Ghibli has made a wealth of movies that aren't aimed squarely at the kodomo (children's) sector. -Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind: climate change existential dread, the movie -Castle in the Sky: government obsession with obtaining weapons of mass destruction destroys everything beautiful, the movie -Pom Poko: human-caused deforestation and urbanization is destroying the natural world and all that live in it, the movie -Princess Mononoke: industrialization will be the death of everything beautiful in the world, the movie, with a side of sometimes everyone (and no one) is the villain when everyone is simply trying to survive -Howl's Moving Castle: The Physical Manifestation of Depression is a Liquid Ooze, the Movie, also War Is Bad It's not all depressing, but let it never be said that Hayao Miyazaki was subtle. Whisper of the Heart is a good coming-of-age story, Kiki's Delivery Service is a classic, Tales from Earthsea is divisive among fans of Ursula K. Le Guin but I personally liked it. From one studio alone there is a wealth of opportunities.

And that's really the point. These are just some from the top of my head. There are so very many options outside of the cute-girls-doing-cute-things genre that I couldn't list them all if I was here for a week. Or as Madoka Magica so ruthlessly showcases, even series that appear a certain way on the surface might not be what you bargained for once you look into them! These are all (I think) mostly older, mainstream-appeal series that should be easy to track down, too -- there are all kinds of singular animations like The Diary of Tortov Roddle, crowdfunded experiments like KICK-HEART, Masterpiece World Theatre renditions of classic (western) novels that never get talked about, films like A Silent Voice that confront social issues- and of course, series like Rozen Maiden that helped popularize this very hobby!

There is literally an ocean of content to explore from Japanese creators alone, and it opens up even more if you look into works from other parts of Asia- just look at how popular manwha have become, or Chinese animations like Leafie, a Hen Into the Wild! It's a genre unto itself, with all the breadth of content and inter-industry problems that come with it, and without any of the respect that similar art forms have been granted over the years. The way an entire culture's art form is often disparaged, disregarded, and belittled- and by extension, the way most of Asia's animated endeavors are often rolled up into that reductive dismissal along with anime and manga- is honestly Not Great, and there is absolutely a thread of xenophobia that runs through it. The industry has so very many problems (low wages, poor training, overwork of everyone ever, archaic financial modules, the exclusivity and breadth of merchandising necessary to turn a profit and how it leads to consumer burnout and disconnection over time, and yes, the way minors are portrayed not just in anime, but in Japanese media in general- and how much of that is actually bad (some of it is indeed,) and how much if it is cultural difference (I've heard people call the scene where the family in Totoro bathe together problematic because of the nudity, but I've also only heard people say that from the West)

-- none of the actual problems affecting the people who produce this medium are gonna improve when the general response to "animators frequently have to live at home to survive" is "that's what happens when you're a weeb."  It's 5am and I'm gonna point out the problems in the narrative around how we discuss this genre of entertainment because it's important, damn you! Regardless, thank you for coming to my unasked for and overlong TED talk about animation on a doll collecting drama blog, feel free to call me a pathetic weeb etcetera on your way out- but while you do so, might I suggest you also go watch a choice animated series! My current go-to is Bofuri, which is a cute-girls-doing-cute-things moefied isekai series that I refuse to apologize for watching. Be free. (The battle scenes are great and it captures the feeling of learning to play a new MMO with your friends better than most video-game-based anime I've seen in a long, long time. does anyone even still remember .hack? how about serial experiments lain...?)

~Anonymous

sadness over a3! eng i guess

oof just on my 700th day.....

kinda sad because of the announcement about A3! ENG server shutting down soon due to financial difficulties at LIBER/CYBIRD in the past two years (covid-19 related, etc.). according to a rather in depth reddit comment that had links to LIBER's publicly available financial reports + some financial reports from LIBER's parent company, Aeria, in english, covid-19 really hit LIBER hard since they had to cancel many money making events, from pop-up shops for the typical anime merch trinkets (keychains, plushes, pins, etc.) to the huge in-person events (voice actor meetups, the stage plays of MANKAI LIVE, etc.). due to shrinking player base on the ENG server + major loss of profits on both JPN and ENG servers, LIBER had to choose one or the other and they chose the JPN one, which i totally understand since it's way bigger there and the JPN fanbase will continue to give the franchise money more often. also, another person found a financial report/estimate from the google play store or something, and A3! ENG only made ~$20K to ~$10K in the past few months, which i guess is not enough to keep a server and localization company afloat. 

i got pretty attached to the characters and it was a great game to help get by during college. and honestly, while i am very sad about this, again, i understand why LIBER did this, looking at their financial report from 2020. I would LIBER save the entire franchise rather than shut all the servers down, making us all unable to see our favorite actors ever again, even if it means that we ENG fans will have to go thru the extra steps of finding/reading fan translations, wikis, etc., to read any further stories from where A3! ENG left off. still, A3! ENG's localization was something special. i'm saying this as a TKRB JPN player who read the wiki for all the character voice lines and then had to see the official TKRB ENG localization make Yamabushi Kunihiro a rapper for some reason? lol. it was....weird.... meanwhile, all the memes and slang in A3! ENG didn't seem out of place and all fit their personalities because 3/4 of the troupes were all high school to college age and 3 of them were ~Gamers~. Out of all the gachas i've played, i feel like the only other F2P gacha game that had this incredibly smooth, all cultural jokes/puns translated in a way that still makes sense/fits the character/doesn't require a galaxy brain and some TL note to understand, is probably dragalia lost and that's only because it has frickin Nintendo localizing/publishing it globally for CyGames. Nintendo. i'll eventually read the fan translations of A3!'s Act 3 on the wiki, but it won't be the same without Kazunari's super high-energy influencer slang of "'whoa fam! that's totes 'blammable, gotta take a pic!" or Itaru's gremlin Gamer speak of "lol get rekt noobs" or Tsuzuru's tired dying breath of "that ain't it chief." the appropriate slang and relatable meme speak of the localization really helped humanize these characters as people of their respective ages, rather than just a typical formal speak or some directly translated JPN slang -> ENG that turns out super awkward that can be found in bad localizations.

going back to the reddit comment too, the death of A3! ENG servers could have bad repercussions in the future for other joseimuke games. josei, if you for some reason have been in the anime fandom but still don't know this term, is basically the genre of stories/video games/media/etc aimed at women. it's the mature adult counterpart to seinen, media aimed at adult men. basically shoujo/shonen = elementary/middle school/high school aimed while josei/seinen = high school/college/adult aimed if that helps. Joseimuke is a part of josei that is not specifically romance. while some josei/joseimuke can overlap with otome, aka female aimed dating sims/romance media, they have many things about them that make these all separate genres. one of the official A3! ENG translators and a known fan translator of another joseimuke gacha, Mahou Yaku/Wizard’s Promise, minami, goes more in depth with this in a twitter thread. 

A3! was an actor raising game, and a big part of it was found family and relationships that were platonic. yet it got advertised as an otome, which has more connotations with dating sims and brings to mind other shoujo/otome games and anime where the cast is all high schoolers and the setting is most often in a high school. but, other than some characters making flirty jokes or implied to have crushes on Izumi/player character, many character relationships with Izumi are platonic and not romantic at all. Spring Troupe in the game also jokingly calls themself a family. the entire Mankai Company is basically found family. plus, since the game actually has time passing in story and the characters age with each year, half of the characters aren’t even in high school anymore. a large majority of them are in college or are graduated by now, with only a few still in high school. i’m not surprised if a reason that some people left the game was due to feeling bored with the slice of life/not romantic story, feeling that they were lied to about it being an otome, which was falsely advertised since it is a game meant for the older teens/adults demographic of josei/joseimuke.

i’m worried that other japanese companies will look at this shut down as a “josei/joseimuke doesn’t work well in the west” and never localize other josei/joseimuke gacha games like Mahou Yaku, EnStars, Twisted Wonderland, Helios, etc.

while i like otome and shoujo, i, as a 23/soon to be 24 year old college graduate and now tax paying adult, want more stories that have more mature themes and characters that are more my age so i don’t have to feel awkward when i’m playing some dating sim and i, a literal 23 year old adult, and trying to woo a 16 year old. it’s...a little awkward to say the least. i would gladly welcome more mature media that is categorized as josei/joseimuke.

sorry if this is all over the place, but overall im just sad that A3! ENG is shutting down. i don’t know if i’ll join the JPN server yet. i’m def going to read the Act 3 story via fan translators on the wiki, but A3! gameplay was...boring lmao. as much as i love A3!, im sure that the constant event grind/burnout and boring rng gameplay turned people off too and i dont blame them. i felt the burnout bad since i participated in basically every event since day 1. it. is. rough. i’m not joining the hellish thunderdome that is the JPN server and im not ranking anymore as a F2P player lmao. literally had to play almost every waking free moment to get into the 30%-20% bracket as a F2P person and i never got to top 20%-10%, much less top 1% lmao. i’m don’t whale enough lol. 

i feel like i should probably just. crack open my genki 2 textbook and uhhh totally legal pdf copy of tobira. so i can just. get the JPN version of games in the first place so i don’t have to worry about getting shafted since overseas fans are often considered expendable. 

i wish that, when any games that are online end, gacha or mmo or anything, anything online, companies will let fans archive things. or like. release a book that is just the story text or something. like. CYBIRD is letting us still technically play the game and have the story and all, but what if they eventually later shut everything down? why not just release a pdf/ebook that’s just the text of the eng localization for some money? i’d buy it. for nostalgia and rereads and all and also archiving purposes. i think i’ll try to help with any english localization archive projects if i can so that the hilarious and incredible localization that was a work of love from the translation team doesn’t just disappear forever.

well.

that’s it for now. as i said, guess i’ll head to the app for one of the last times to read the last unread stories and mini stories i have left, then the wiki for Act 3, and then i guess i’ll crack open genki 2 and bunpo.....

some fun random links for you to think about!

random ffxi article that came to mind (if ffxiv ever shuts down in the next 20 years or whatever i’d be cool to get a statue of my character at the end)

and death of a game playlist by NerdSlayer Studios on Youtube that has me thinking a lot about game preservation and losing MMOs and games

the lost media wiki  and blameitonjorge’s lost media iceberg

other gacha games i’ve played that have shut down that i think about sometimes because the loss of A3! ENG isn’t my first rodeo:

terra battle & terra battle 2 (1)

AFTERL!FE

(related kitsu post link for archive reasons)

I'm watching Invincible and it feels like a Saturday morning cartoon made for adults. A lot of media I'm noticing is evoking nostalgia but with adults in mind as the audience. Especially true in video games. Do you think it's a problem that more media is aiming for a older demographic and less just stuff for kids? Are creators just making nostalgic shows for themselves they grew up on (edgy or mature reboots) and less stuff for the new younger generation?

Though we're definitely in an age where reboots, sequels, and revisions are incredibly common, I don't think I'd say media as a whole is creating less stuff for kids. Yes, there are many animated series now that appeal to both younger and older audiences — Avatar the Last Airbender, Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, and their like — but they're a subset of a very large form. Out of curiosity I popped onto Cartoon Network's website and found a huge selection of older shows airing, as well as shows I've never even heard of. Not that my personal knowledge of cartoons is the benchmark here, but for every kids show that gets popular with an older audience, I'd bet there are at least two more that are aimed at and appeal only to kids. I'm working under the assumption that you too are an adult, anon, with the point being that unless you're a kid yourself, or a parent to a young child, it's easy to feel like the world is catering to adults because, well, that's our world now. None of the channels I watch advertise toys or breakfast cereals because they're adult channels. The only cartoons I watch are the few that gain traction with an adult audience and make their way onto adult spaces (like tumblr). When I got to a Barnes & Noble I walk right past the kids' section and I haven't entered a toy store in years. I get my games through Steam that advertises to its primarily adult audience. Just because my everyday interactions are not built around childhood media anymore doesn't mean that media doesn't exist. It's just harder to realize it's there when it's no longer a part of our world.

As for reboots... I think that's a more complicated subject. I'm not sure we can really compare a reboot to an original cartoon, simply because it isn't just another kid's show meant for kids. Something like Teen Titans doesn't have a monopoly on animated groups of superheroes saving people. You can create any new show with the same, basic idea and a kid isn't going to know the difference between that and a reboot like Teen Titans Go. Writers bring back specific teams, like Teen Titans, because they're trying to cater to an adult audience as well. They know what they're doing. They're banking on that nostalgia bringing them in a ton of attention and money. A rebooted show might look like a cartoon, be airing on a children's channel, and have writing appropriate for that age group, but everyone making it — and watching it — knows that kids are not the only target audience. You don't remake The Powerpuff Girls because you want a show about a trio of magical girls to appeal to kids and only kids and those characters are the only way to achieve that, you remake The Powerpuff Girls because you want to draw in an entire generation of adults on top of the kids who are watching. So if we accept that these creators are very likely trying to appeal to adults — either by making that gritty reimagining, or by just creating new, wholesome material that evokes that nostalgia — then there shouldn't be any surprise if the adults don't like the result. I agree entirely that there's this new, awful culture of adults feeling entitled to original kids shows. As much as I, as an adult, may personally be uncomfortable with something like the hand-waved away dictator themes in Steven Universe... I recognize that it's a kid's show built on forgiveness. It's a story made for them and as such will eschew the nuance that an adult might want in such subjects. But a reboot? Most — perhaps not all — but most are created with the hope that adults will enjoy it as much as the kids will, we're an expected part of that viewership, so when the creators fail to, say, write the core characters well, the adults watching are upset by that. There's no reason why creators have to reboot older, beloved shows. Those shows already exist, primed for reruns, so if a creator decides to recreate them, they do so under the pressure that a whole generation might not like the result. If creators don't want that second audience, if they actually just want a kid's show for kids, they can create something knew, just like the thousands of other shows we've gotten. A reboot tries to jump the line, so to speak, avoiding the risk of whether an original show is good enough to capture the attention of the kids and instead banks on the attention of the adults instead... and yeah, that attention might be bad if the show itself is bad too.

Shadow and Bone (Netflix Series Review)

No Spoilers!!!

"Be careful of powerful men" - Genya Safin

Welcome to the Grishaverse!

Shadow and Bone is Netflix's big gamble for young adult fiction mega-success, the kind we haven't seen since Jennifer Lawrence volunteered as tribute almost a decade ago, adapting Leigh Bardugo's popular Grishaverse novels (her debut trilogy Shadow and Bone and serving as a prequel for the Six of Crows duology), anchored by an incredibly diverse cast (mostly newcomers) and a huge production budget, showrunner Eric Heisserer, alongside Bardugo who serves as an executive producer, aim for Hunger Games and Harry Potter level phenomenon with their own fantasy epic.

To Heisserer's credit, he manages a great adaptation of Bardugo's novels, even if he falls prey to the same story tropes that made Bardugo's debut novels seem so derivative, Heisserer brings the Grishaverse to life in a (mostly) successful run of 8 episodes, and even if his grand tour of Ravka isn't the most organized or well planned, most viewers will still fall in love with this world.

Heisserer's boldest creative choice, and biggest deviation from the novels, is the introduction of Kaz Brekker and his Crows, Jesper and Inej, in this opening chapter to the story, characters that did not appear in Bardugo's original Shadow and Bone trilogy. Creatively and business-wise, his decision is an obvious one, Bardugo's Shadow and Bone novels, while a solid debut, are the typical young adult fodder that is bombarded to consumers every year, a largely derivative yet charming "chosen one" story that teens and tweens eat up every year and then mostly forget about when the next one comes around (less Percy Jacson and more Divergent if you will), truth be told Bardugo's Grishaverse only became a phenomenon after the release of her superb Six of Crows duology, featuring Bardugo's very own Suicide Squad, a ragtag group of crimials performing incredible, mind-bending heists in the tough streets of a fictional Amsterdam (and beyond!), all anchored by what is (to this day) Bardugo's best creation: Kaz Brekker, a Batman-meets-The Riddler machiavelic genius with a flair for theatrics, Six of Crows and it's follow-up Crooked Kingdom are surely the main reason Netflix even greenlit this series to begin with. And just like in the books, Brekker and his Crows provide a much needed bolt of manic energy to an otherwise very by-the-numbers storyline. Not to discredit Bardugo's talent as a writer, but her skills had simply not been honed at the time of her 2012 debut, a shortcoming that Bardugo would fix later on, in her follow up novels, through ambition and sheer force of will.

And yet, Heisserer stays extremely faithful to the books, whether it's to Bardugo's best ideas or her least creative ones, he adapts it all, while attempting to add his own flair into the mix (with varying results), take our main protagonist for example, Alina Starkov, to those unfamiliar with the novels, Alina is the Katniss Everdeen of this story, a mostly ordinary young woman who, by a struck of destiny, finds herself thrust into the spotlight in the hero/savior-of-her-people role (a most unflattering one might I add), and thus becomes an unwilling symbol to a cause she hardly understands, saddled with all the responsabilities and power that comes with the job, and with the inevitable political players and adversaries that may take advantage of her power for their own gain ("Be careful of powerful men" one of Alina's confidants warns her in episode 5). And did I mention she happens to find herself in the middle of a love triangle? Indeed Bardugo's original novel isn't the most creative, and yet Heisserer doesn't have much to offer as a way to reinvent the character, the best he can come up with is changing Alina's ethnicity (originally caucasian) to that of the fictional Shu Han people (read: China), and yet, nothing is really done with the change, it just sits there, (similarly to Alina everytime a background character hurls xenophobic abuse at her), it's not explored and hardly touched upon, which begs the question why introduce the change in the first place? While I commend the showrunners for casting a female lead of asian descent on a blockbuster property such as this, I would remind them that true diversity is more than simply ethnic tokenism. Perhaps there will be a bigger payoff for the creative change in future seasons (if we get them, season 2 has not been greenlit), doubtfull but I'll remain optimistic.

Tokenism aside, the diversity of the cast truly is commendable, and as expected with a young adult property, it's a very young and very attractive cast, on the one hand it's understandable, they need to appeal to their core demographic, on the other hand they commit themselves to one of the most glaring faults in Bardugo's Grishaverse series, Ravka doesn't seem to have soldiers, politicians or grisha over the age of 25, it seems like a huge oversight on part of a country (and Leigh Bardugo) to have the entire power of the government and the military reside upon a group of teenagers, but be that as it may, most of the cast, while young, is very talented, even if their characters aren't fully developed, they do their best with what they are given, some of the standouts are Jessie Mei Li as Alina, Mei Li is saddled with a character and plot that's as derivative as they come, and yet she finds nuances in her perfomance that are lovely to watch, she brings a sense of joy and determination to Alina that lesser actors couldn't even imagine much less portray, all that helps her stand out from most, if not all, the crowd of chosen one characters that have come before her, and even tho Mei Li doesn't reach Jennifer Lawrence levels with her performance, she certainly surpasses the Kristen Stewarts and Shailene Woodleys that have come before.

Ben Barnes is a surprise as General Kirigan, at first glance you might think him miscast (too young, too pretty to be believed as a stone cold, battle hardened general) and yet he still manages to make the character his own, a possessive, demanding, controlling, master manipulator who always seems to have the upper hand, Barnes is blessed with a tight script and he never misses a beat giving a subtle and nuanced performance. And then there is Kit Young as Jesper Fahey, sharpshooter, playboy, criminal with a heart of gold, Young is a revelation, he is as good in his role as Robert Downey Jr. is as Tony Stark, and that's all you need to know, Young was simply born to play Jesper, anchored by a strong script, he steals every scene he is in and far overshadows his fellow Crows. And as for the other Crows, Freddy Carter acts his heart out as Kaz Brekker, committing to a very physical performance, from scowl to limp, he embodies Brekker visually, but after the first 2 episodes you get the feeling the writers simply don't know what to do with his character, losing the spotlight to other actors blessed with better material, never did I think Kaz Brekker would be overshadowed by one of his fellow Crows, yet here we are. Carter's talent still shines through and his perpetual, omnipresent scowl as Brekker is a beauty to behold, even if his limping is somewhat inconsistent, which makes me hopeful he will improve when given more to do, still it's a shame to have the master strategist/evil genius Bruce Wayne replaced by a lowly con artist and not a very successful one at that. As for Amita Suman, while perfectly cast as Inej Ghafa, her character is severely underwritten, from her past work in The Menagerie, to her faith, to her interactions with Brekker, it's all done in the broadest of strokes, Suman isn't given much to do and therefore doesn't have the opportunity to excel as The Wraith.

You can feel the writers straining for time between developing this world and the large cast of characters they have to work with, inevitably some characters fall of the wayside, through none of the actors' fault. Daisy Head as Genya Safin is all untapped potential, even more underwritten here than she is in the books, which make later revelations about her character (the color of her kefta and shifting allegiances) barely register, hopefully they correct that going forward. Sujaya Dasgupta is another victim of a weak script and little screen time, Dasgupta is simply miscast as the powerful, acerbic, steely-eyed Zoya Nazyalensky, long gone is the regal, no nonsense, silver-tongued Grisha general, in Dasgupta's hands Zoya is just a watered down Grisha version of a Mean Girl, faltering every scene with the exception of one moment, as she makes her way through party goers at the Little Palace and she corrects Inej's ethnicity to a bystander, (her one good line reading in the entire show) "She's Suli", she declares, with all the strenght and defiance that's sorely missing from the rest of her performance, moving forward let's hope a stronger script can lift her performace off the ground, because right now all the wind is gone from this Squaller's wings. And as for Malyen Oretsev played by Archie Renaux, he is the Gale Hawthorne of this story, the undignified love interest, and Renaux is as boring in his role as Liam Hemsworth was in his.

Lastly, Danielle Galligan as Nina Zenik and Calahan Skogman as Matthias Helvar, are equally terrible in their performances, from their accents to their interactions, none of it rings true, and it's particularly jarring when juxtaposed with the talent portrayed by the rest of the cast, we spent way too much time with Nina and Matthias, for absolutely no payoff to their story (yet! Fans will recognize them as 2 future members of Brekker's murder of Crows), but their little side adventure is so disconnected with the events of the main plot that I can't help but feel their story was better reserved for another time, hopefully with some better actors playing the roles. A lovely moment of playfulness between Nina and Matthias while they tread along in a barren, snowy hill, is the only glimpse of hope for Galligan's and Skogman's performances, maybe there is talent to be tapped but it certainly wasn't in display this time around.

The Grishaverse is simply too large and complex, so understandably Heisserer and his writers room have a lot on their plate, but while the character work is largely uneven, his world building is quite solid, based on the impressive foundation Bardugo set out for them, the showrunners are able to bring the world of Ravka to life, the costume design is stunning, from soldiers to Grishas, to royals and diplomats, the costume department does a fabulous job with every piece and every character, one of the high points in the series.

The VFX team also does a lot of the heavy lifting for Heisserer's world building efforts, realizing the different power sets of all the Grisha in a fantastical manner while still maintaining a realistic quality to them, ("you'll believe a man can fly"), but even with a huge production budget, Heisserer strains with this world-spanning adventure, so even though the set and production design is mostly impressive, some sets simply fall out of range for the show's budget, case in point, both Ravka's Royal Palace and the Little Palace are not fully realized, viewers are given a single outside shot of the Royal Palace (and from very far away at that) and the throne room is only visited once, and as for the Little Palace, it's stripped from many of the books most sprawling details, the training grounds, the Grisha school, the fabrikators workshop, the dining room, the palace's towers, all falling victim to obvious budget restrains. Not to mention both palaces are devoid of the classic Russian influences that permeate Ravka's world.

But Heisserer's skills for world building show the most limitations on the lore of the Grishaverse, the three Orders of the Grisha are never properly explained, with Fabrikators getting next to none screen time, Heisserer is never capable to establish a clear view of the world these characters inhabit, most viewers will be very confused about Ravka's shifting borders, the civil war tensions between East and West, and the adversary foreign nations (an inclusion of a map in the opening credits of every episode would have gone a long way), the sociopolitical elements that Bardugo has infused in her books are decidedly complex and the show doesn't do them justice, unfortunately. Perhaps most glaring is the very clear disagreements on what a Ravkan's diction and accent should be, since every actor has their own interpretation of it, an oversight that I hope is fixed in future seasons.

As the few completely negative points of the show, alongside Galligan and Skogman, the sound mixing is terrible (you will need subtitles to watch this show) and the cutaway flahbacks are quite sloppy.

To conclude, Shadow and Bone is a lovingly crafted, beautifully realized, world building adventure, it has a couple of missteps along the way (like all adventures do), but the final product is strong enough to overcome some of its creative faux pas, with a solid script and anchored by a (mostly) talented cast, Shadow and Bone doesn't reach Catching Fire levels of greatness but it far outpaces the rest of the young adult fantasy competition.

heee hooo lbp3 au!

Bunkum's Funitorium was a popular place for children from their toddler years to their teenages to hang out in. Wether you came for the arcades, playhouses, fast food cafeterias, or the animatronics, there was something for everyone! Expect for the tired adults but this isn't about them. So basically over time there were complaints about the animatronics. Not anything supernatural, but general complaints about how certain ones scared the smaller audience they were supposed to have, such as the Queen's behavior. Then, lawsuits about the quality of the food and roaches found in the ice cream and pizza. Eventually the Funitorium was found to be unsuitable and as such, was shut down.  A popular rumour around the older teen demographic is that the animatronics have evil spirits in them, and that a monster kidnaps and eats anyone who enters the place after night. One particularly cold night during June, two tweens decide to take up a bet. Whoever could stay in the scary Funhouse until morning without chickening out would get a favor from the loser. Sam(Sackboy) and Sally(Sackgirl). 

  Basically the animatronics are most of the LBP3 characters, since I'm going in the route of "LBP1 and LBP2 are not Funhouse characters and rather real people while LBP3, LBPKarting are Funhouse characters" There's Pinky the Queen, who is mainly an animatronic aimed for the young girl demographic, meant to be part of a story where she is a character similar to the Queen of Hearts. Then there's Marlon, full movie Elvis Impersonator, sings Birthday Songs. There are multiple variations of him in multiple places in different movie star roles and singing different songs. You get the idea[7:17 AM]Captain and Nana are real people and Captain's been searching for his son ever since he came home to that state.

   Newton  a lonely person who still stays in the building because he has nowhere to go. He likes to play pretend because it keeps him distracted from his piling issues with himself. He loves his little puppet, since it's the only thing that hasn't called him any bad names or hurt him.  he doesn't like it when he's called names and hurt. It reminds him of his mother and his mother is a mean person who should be hurt too. Somtimes he can't help it, and sometimes it's not him at all. All he knows right now is that he has a new friend, a real living friend, and that if they were to ever leave he wouldn't be able to handle it. His backstory is the same, sorta. Got into a prestigous school, showed great promise, flunked first semester, dabbled in forces he shouldn't have, got employed at Bunkum's Funitorium, become his mother's disappointment, become way too attached to the animatronics because he can hear them and they're nice, couldn't handle the place shutting down, and now he kinda lives there! He still takes care of himself surely, but his animatronic friends come first! After all, least important things go last : )

     In this post we have Sackboy’s and Newton’s design