This is not a "Bloons is darker than you think" post, moreso talking about things that probably weren't meant to be thought about in this way, but hey who's stopping me? Mostly about Monkey City

Bloons are seemingly powered by Bloontonium, which is radioactive in a way. We know this because there's Bloontonium reactors that seem to actually provide power, and as well one upgrade is Depleted Bloontonium darts, ala depleted Uranium tank shells

Bloons can be manufactured by the Monkeys, and then sent to attack other Monkeys for resources. All of Bloons Tower Defense could just be a proxy war between Monkeys

There are a few maps that are set in space, which implies 2 things. First being that the Bloons are an extraterrestrial threat to Monkey kind, the second being that Monkeys have dominion over the first 4 planets in the solar system

I believe in a dev interview, they said there's an infinite number of Bloons, we're just popping them faster than they're being made. Given that the Bloons can seriously injure monkeys, one of Quincy's skins saying he was turned into a cyborg because of them, it's basically a never ending war where all it takes is one slip up to effectively end a Monkey

Aeons. Probably the best thing to come out of this glorified character vending machine that we somehow still call a "game.", even for a gacha standard.

Jokes aside, I genuinely think Aeons are one of the most interesting aspects of HSR's worldbuilding, which is precisely why watching them slowly become regular anime characters with godlike powers is so disappointing.

The original appeal of Aeons was that they were fundamentally inhuman. Not necessarily emotionless, not completely devoid of personality, but beings whose existence and perception of reality were inseparable from their Paths. They weren't supposed to be ordinary people with extraordinary powers and a few philosophical quirks. They were supposed to embody concepts taken to their absolute extremes.

And that distinction matters because the entire setting is built around humanity trying to understand, worship, exploit, or survive these incomprehensible entities. Aeons are practically the backbone of HSR's cosmology. Remove their mystique and you might as well replace them with another group of extremely powerful anime people. We already have plenty of those, thanks.

The problem with Nihilux, assuming she really is Aha, isn't simply that she's sympathetic. It's that she seems almost painfully normal. She regrets not being able to help people, wishes she could prevent tragedies, and apparently has a moral compass that wouldn't look out of place on the Astral Express.

I mean sure the game is making itself clear that there's a distinction between her and the og Aha which im sure we will get into later, but that's not the only thing she "ruined" for me.

What I liked about Aha was that Elation encompassed everything from innocent joy to outright sadism. Laughter can be cruel, humiliating, absurd, or tragic. Aha blessing both the Masked Fools and the Mourning Actors was such an interesting illustration of that contradiction. But apparently we're heading toward the idea that the real Elation is something much more wholesome, while the unpleasant aspects can be conveniently attributed to corruption by Voracity.

So the version of Aha that made the character interesting in the first place was just the corrupted one? Whatever man. Nothing says compelling worldbuilding like retroactively explaining away the characteristics that made your cosmic deity morally unsettling.

And then there's the whole idea of Aeons needing to "cope" with their Paths which sounds so fucking crazy i just don't know what to do but laugh.

Qlipoth isn't building walls because THEY need a therapeutic hobby. THEY are the Preservation. Their actions should emerge from an absolute commitment to that concept, not because being a god is emotionally exhausting and construction helps THEM process their feelings.

Are we eventually going to discover that IX embodies Nihility because THEY're going through a particularly rough depressive episode? Maybe Nanook just needs therapy. Perhaps Terminus has anxiety about the future. Someone should really check whether Nous is experiencing burnout from all that thinking.

It's especially frustrating because HSR already has perfectly good ways to explore the human side of these philosophies: Pathstriders and Emanators. That's literally what they're there for. They can struggle with their beliefs, reinterpret their Paths, contradict themselves, and suffer from their devotion. Why do the Aeons themselves need to become relatable protagonists too?

Another problem is how this threatens to trivialize Aeonhood itself. Ascension used to feel like an almost existential transformation: an individual becoming something fundamentally different, bound to a principle beyond ordinary human experience. Now I'm increasingly worried it's just going to mean unlocking your ultimate form while retaining your conveniently marketable personality.

There's also the matter of presentation. Encountering an Aeon should feel like an actual cosmic event. Qlipoth's hammer striking, Nous communicating through Herta, the brief and almost incomprehensible attention of a being operating on a completely different plane of existence?

Those moments worked because Aeons were distant. Their attention alone was extraordinary. Now imagine trying to preserve that atmosphere when an Aeon can potentially join the cast, participate in everyday conversations, and explain their personal struggles to the protagonist.

At that point, why should I be impressed when an Aeon glances in our direction? Apparently I can just wait for their character banner and read about their emotional vulnerabilities in the companion quest.

It's not even limited to their writing. The original designs of Aeons were genuinely fascinating because they weren't necessarily meant to look like conventional characters. Aha's masks, for example, conveyed the idea of multiple identities, theatricality, and something fundamentally unstable about THEIR existence. Compare that to the prospect of reducing such imagery to accessories on an otherwise conventional playable character.

And I have absolutely no confidence that this will stop with Aha. Once one Aeon can be made relatable and playable, what's stopping the rest? How long until every Path gets its own marketable representative, complete with a sad backstory explaining why they became the literal embodiment of a cosmic concept?

I'm also not particularly enthusiastic about the tendency to explain every mystery. The more HSR tells us exactly what Aeons think, how they feel, what they secretly want, and why they behave the way they do, the less interesting they become. Not every question needs an answer, especially when the answer is apparently that gods are just like us, except with significantly better visual effects.

More importantly, I want the different Aeons to represent genuinely different ways of perceiving existence. The Preservation, Harmony, Nihility, Destruction, and Elation shouldn't just be different personality types or coping mechanisms. They should be philosophical absolutes that can conflict in ways humanity cannot entirely comprehend.

Because otherwise, what exactly distinguishes an Aeon from a particularly powerful Emanator, aside from their position in the cosmic power-scaling hierarchy?

Maybe 4.7 will provide some brilliant explanation that makes all of this work. I'd genuinely love to be proven wrong. But the prospect of Aha being recontextualized into a fundamentally sympathetic, selfless figure does absolutely nothing for me.

People with psychic powers have been scrutinized by fandoms for a while now and for good reason. Messing with someone's mind is a HUGE invasion of privacy, yet somehow, in certain media, the character act like screwing with someone's psyche isn't a heinous act of nature. Case in point, WandaVision.

Before we start, let's get this out of the way. "They'll never know what you sacrificed for them." I'm not kidding, that line easily makes the top 10 worst dialogue list of this century. Wanda brainwashed a whole town of innocent people just to live out a fantasy. It does not matter if she was grieving, in the words of Rocket, "Everybody's got dead people!". She should've been thrown in jail immediately. Why does almost no one in WV besides the town people think she's a monster? Another relevant quote I'm bringing forward is from Brooklyn Nine-Nine: "Cool motive, still murder". Consequences matter, especially for someone as despicable as brainwashing. Those peoples' minds are fried and the show doesn't seem to pay them any mind other than that one scene. Throw her evil ass in jail.

Next, we have M'Gann. In Season 2 of Young Justice, she abuses her powers and mindfucks a bunch of villains, and somehow, Conner, who was born just a few years ago, is the only one to call her out on her evil behavior. Not Batman, not Martian Manhunter, both fully grown adults by the way, the recently formed clone is the voice of reason. And what's worst is that Conner ends up taking her back even after she messed with his mind, which is EXTRA fucked up when you realize Conner's early years were filled with the same treatment. Despite knowing all about her partner's past, she still tried to alter his brain. What the actual flying fuck is wrong with the YJ writers?

I've already said all I needed to about Jean in previous posts. My only note about her here is that Peter seemed way too willing to disregard all the messed up mind stuff she did to innocent civilians, including MJ. She didn't jaywalk or litter, Spidey. She made a guy get hit by a car (I don't care what the crew said, he died) and she invaded MJ's mind so she could manipulate you. Consequences matter. She wasn't evil because she had to be. Most of her actions were of her own free will.

Taking over minds isn't some minor crime. It's a huge deal, so act like it is, even if they're going after villains.

I'm seriously disappointed with the insomniac wolverine game. It genuinely did not live up to the hype, budget they had for and what was promised to players.

From the uninspiring and bland character designs to the predictable and terrible story to the boring combat. Insomniac wolverine is not hated enough.

People have already made posts about the character's appearance enough so i'll skip that part and move on to the story and gameplay.

The story is so ass with so many bad decisions it feels insomniac wanted the game to fail. They took everything and i mean everything people hated about wolverine, from the constant memory loss to the disgusting romance between him and Jean Grey and put it in one game.

I won't claim to be a wolverine expert and i may not be upto date about my wolverine lore and i may make a lot of mistakes in this regard. However i feel like the story dosen't have any of the classic wolverine lore or even characters in it. A lot of it feels like cyclops lore. Sinister is not only an x men villain but he is more of a cyclops villains than wolverine villain. Mr Sinister is defined by his obsession with the summers family and played a part in the creation of cable.

This game feels like it was trying to follow the Fox route in adapting the x men with wolverine as the main character and stole everything great about cyclops and gave to wolverine. Ironic how they tried to be original in their wolverine take and ended up with the same tiresome recycloped tropes in wolverine.

Why couldn't they just keep things simple? How would a wolverine story where the x men were already formed, why couldn't it be a simple uncovering a conspiracy about the weapon x programme, a new task force with a mission to hunt down wolverine or other mutants meanwhile silver samurai and his clans have a bone to pick with wolverine and of course sabretooth is just there for the love of the game.

Speaking of sabretooth, making his "homoerotic" rivalry with wolverine so upfront instead of being creepy and subtle just ruined the rivalry. I am aware there is homoerotic undertones to their rivalry (i mean what super hero and villain rivalry isn't at this point) but should not be portrayed the way the video game has. Sabretooth is like that, oh no that boy is a violent, sadistic and cannibalistic rapist. That is what is so terrifying about the guy, he is a borderline snuff horror villain but the game sanitizes him so much. Wolverine himself is sanitized. How can you have a "jerk with a heart of gold" without the jerk part?

Anyway all i am saying the story should have been simple with more wolverine characters. Where is Cyber? Where is silver samurai? Where is Mr X? Where is Ogun? Where is the wendigo? Heck with the x men already formed, you can throw in some x men villains too like juggernaut, pyro etc.

(Goddamn wolverine does not have a good roster of villains)

And now the gameplay. The gameplay is soooooooooooo generic and boring and so uninspiring it. And you know what the defense for the poor gameplay was

" well you can't blame the devs because all wolverine does is stab stab and stab"

This is the sorriest excuse for lazy gamplay and a combat mechanics that lacks any creativity ever. No i am are not expecting a ground breaking combat mechanic although that would be very much welcomed if it haf happened, what players want is a combat mechanic that isn't boring and is fun and non repetitive.

Wolverine has claws that are made up of unbreakable metal called Adamantium, he is also a master combatant and has rapid healing. Is it hard to come up with creative ways to use these powers? Especially with the freedom it grants? Wolverine dosen't have a no kill rule so what's the problem?

With wolverine, i expected a combat system far more deeper than batman because this guy not only knowa every martial arts in existence but also has years of combat experience to give him an understanding of combat.

Wolverine should be doing combos, he should be able to grab enemies have a variety of finishers or use them as a throwing weapon, he should be able to switch between claws and hand to hand combat or instantly switch between them to deal a unique and devestating combo or have one hand with claws equipped and the other just be a fist to give an interesting combo. He should be able to rip a guy's intestines and use it to choke him. He should be able to juggle enemies mid air, keep them in the air with combos, lunge at them while they are in the air.

And the enemies variety is just as lacking. They couldn't come with enemies with weapons that could slow down his healing factor? They could come up with sentinels with different abilities because in the comics, there is a wide variety of sentinels, so why just have one variety of sentinels?

The nightmare doors (another major let down) could have open doors to explore wolverine during WW2 era or when he had bone claws, his time in the weapon x program and hell even open doors for a past hulk boss fight.

Like jesus fucking christ, the more i think about it the more i come to believe that insomniac is afraid of making a marvel comic book video game. They are afraid of making something more in line with comics than the movies.

Just look at the arkham games, they weren't afraid of being a comic book video game. They had no shame in being flashy and unrealistic. They had no shame in connecting or bringing in the wider dc world or parts of the batman lore no one knows about? They weren't afraid of bringing in solomon grundy or deathstroke into the picture and those two are NOT batman villains.

Insomniac wolverine had so much they could work with, so much they had in their disposal to make a great wolverine game.

I wasn't asking for a life changing video game like arkham city, just a great video game like arkham asylum.

I know Batman discourse is catnip right now, I think on some level we're all tired of the circus. I wasn't expecting him in Clayface, it was never advertised, I don't think it's a spoiler to say he's not in it and there's no reference to him. This didn't bother me at all going in.

However, having just seen the movie, I now think they needed to work him in somehow. Give Bruce Wayne a cameo in a night club, have Batman swoop in a fight scene and then leave without a trace, have him help the cops analyze a crime scene.

Or at least try to fold in some of the Gotham mythos. Have some references to other villains, the Falcones, Arkham, literally anything.

I don't necessarily need easter egg slop. I do think something like this would have given the film some desperately needed juice, something else going on besides the painfully generic and predictable plot.

The way I see it..Basically having a unsatisfying ending after a long show or movie is like having a joke with no punchline and I think the issue is too many people constantly demanding for more miserable media or just characters to always die and every character needing some sad or unsatisfying ending cause it's more "mature" or "Adult" and the problem is that they fail to see that "oh not every media or/and character needs a happy/satisfying ending" could easily be flipped around to them.

Conflict is something that I feel like always needs to be in a story of any genre but typically, there needs to be SOME kind of payoff that the characters and the story go through cause if not,it genuinely just feels like a big ass joke and if the characters suffer and it ends up being for nothing or the story means nothing, then it basically feels like nothing more then a huge waste of time.

Sometimes the tragedy is the point but if we're going through Stuff like Shakespeare's works,the mistakes are made by all the characters in said party in order to reach that point and the tragic ending and their tragic fates and then there's the overall escapism ending..pretty sure a lot of people watch certain medias to escape from the world's issues ,not to be reminded of them.

If you like these kinds of darker and more depressing media and whatever, that's cool,I legitimately don't care,you do you but acting like cause a media is darker or more gritty and such automatically makes you more mature and whatever doesn't feel right.

Like this is kinda why I didn't rock with The Amazing Digital Circus ending cause the characters are still trapped in the circus for all eternity ,also they just found out that they're basically digital clones of themselves and whatnot and not do we get no focus or nothing on that but the story genuinely feels like it's gaslighting me that it had a happy ending and the characters are all perfectly happy and we're supposed to he happy for them and happy that Jax basically did suicide and is a Abstracted Pet and it's like..it also doesn't help that the characters barely received any sort of growth and development and it just feels like they're still static and any growth they did have happened off screen.

Another example is the Chainsaw Man Part 2 ending and this genuinely feels like escapism in the bad way cause it feels like blatant fanservice after the bullshit misery and crap we had to deal with for almost all of Part 2,and it basically ends with Fujimoto unironically doing a "it was all a dream,here's a different reality where he's got all the characters we love back,like Power and Nayuta..oh Denji's still broke and a slave and depressed and the other characters?Not important",it's just a bad ending and a typical dark ending disguised as a good ending and I dunno if Fujimoto just didn't care or he got cold feet or what but that ending feels so rushed.

Also this is weirdly how I feel about thr Resident Evil[2026]ending cause it genuinely feels like one big ass joke with a shitty punchline,like it's basically mocking you and weirdly punishing you for being a good person, like it's pretty much telling you not to be a good person or your life will be screwed over and you will become a monster and I kinda hate stories that basically feel like they're punishing you to be a good person and help people and you basically have to be more selfish and morally Grey and mean and I'm not saying that being self sacrificial and selfless can't be character flaws or issues but they should be addressed in some shape or form,not make you feel like a terrible human being for doing so and that movie ending with the likable MC basically becoming a monster and ruining his own life cause he tried to help people feels like some of those self depreciating humor and jokes,like the series is mocking you.

Sorry for the rant but I just feels really bothered when people say that.

Like a lot of people forget that a media being more hopeful or happy or at least satisfying doesn't automatically mean more immature and I think the issue is the fact that satisfaction and optimism and hope are seen as "childish" and "immature" while being dark,gritty and edgy and dark are seen as mature and cool and badass and i'mma be so deadass when I say Multiple Superheroes prove that wrong.

anime only here be careful.

I see tierlist of MCs suffering and i do agree, subaru has suffered a great deal in life, obviously over characters like naruto and tanjiro. but when it comes to characters like denji and guts and id say yuji in modulo, and maybe jotaro (bit of a grasp) I would say subaru's life isnt as bad for the simple fact that, when tragedy hits hard and everyone close to him dies, he RBD to do it all again. now this is obviously no easy no pain solution to everything, the experience being a suffering he endures. he has definitely suffered a great deal compared to other MCs, but he isnt as tragic for the fact that he does get his do-over. Subaru gets to try again until the outcome necessary happens, with alot of great people surrounding him.

When Guts is betrayed by his best friend, watches him violate the women he loves, and loses his arm and eye, he doesnt get to " do over" he has to move on. Guts has to keep doing incredibly hard things with no idea IF he will come out alive, subaru has the luxury of knowing he will always survive . he doesnt get to cry in his own pity for a loop then realize the power of friendship to do it right the next time, he has to move on and be stronger. that is more tragic then just experiencing great pain and suffering.

Subaru's greatest tragedy could be debated (only show, ima read novel I PROMISE) is it the hundred's of loops of pain hes experienced? this is definitely the hardest part of his life. or is it the one he couldn't save, the one who trusted and counted on him the most, rem? both of these are very terrible for him, option A counting towards how hard his life is and option B for tragedy. I would say even accounting these, jotaro or eren or potentially yuji's life is still more tragic and harder.

Jotaro life is alr up until his journey in part 3, I wouldnt say the things he does is "as" hard as subarus life, but Jotaro did all that with no certainty of if he will make it out, ever. the real tragedy id say in jotaros life is at the end, the goal of stopping MHA failed, jotaro failed to save his universe and died, he failed his ultimate mission and the world was indeed reset. that alone is more tragic then subarus life for the simple fact that in the end (as in between arcs and calm times) subaru has everyone around him alive and well. of course it isnt all easy for subaru but the fact is in the end subaru is with all his friends alive because of his gift, jotaro lost everything.

this general idea can be applied to the other two in a similar manner but i think you get the idea. lmk if im wrong and why ig

I here praise for fantasy stories like dragon age and the Witcher making elves a oppressed underclass unlike the perfect view in common fantasy.

But where is the perfect flawless elf in fantasy media.

In the granddaddy of modern depictions of elves and dwarves Tolkien the elves were not flawless beings that could do no wrong. Especially in the Simrallion the elves were depicted as just as petty, spiteful, and prone to faults as other races. With it filled with elves massacring other elves.

In DND elves typically aren’t depicted as this morally or physical perfect beings as to make them a player option the are seen as equal to other races.

The standard non subversive portrayal of elves typically shows them as a somewhat conservative and xenophobic culture like an insular religious sect in our world. With any elven party member seen as a young (at least for elves) who broke away from a stifling elven culture not evil per say but typically not seen as moral paragons

The common opinion is that OG Dexter started to decline in quality ​after season 4, and a lot of people say season 4 should have been the end of it.

Hard disagree. I think a lot of this is subjective, and for many, ​simply ​a stubborn ​attachment to Rita. Seeing how Dexter digests Rita's death was absolutely worth getting into, and season 5 simply did that well.

About him getting a new GF "too soon". One, it happens irl, it varies widely how quick people move on from such a thing or even use a new relationship to cope. Two, him meeting Lumen was very unusual and under specific​ circumstances, which to me all felt effective, simple as that. They were like two tormented souls who could help each other and bound in their tragic, dark lives. It's not all that weird that such a dynamic could lead to things becoming sexual.

And every season had some "very specific circumstances", Dexter is not the most down to earth show and it never was. Season 5 was well written, Lumen was great, their dynamic was very interesting and fun to see, all the while the entire season had the lingering​ feeling that Dexter was affected by what happened, the vibe wasn't that Rita's death was "forgotten", not​ at all.

​And the ending scene of S5 imo feels the most final ​of any season, it's bittersweet yet hopeful. Dexter now more or less processed things and is in peace, ready to live as a single dad. And it felt earned. The moment where he throws that plate when Lumen is about to leave is one of the most chatarctic moments in the series.

It's season​ 6 where things got bad. Even if someone personally isn't a huge fan of season 5, I frankly can't see how it's anywhere near in the same ballpark as what followed.

The premise is very interesting but the worldbuilding is utter bollocks, the idea that everyone would just start murdering each other is very dumb and overly simplistic, the reason for why the NFFA created the purge doesn't make any sense and the social-political commentary is absolutely dogshit.

The main premise in incredibly fun, and it's honestly what carries the franchise. The idea that for one night all crime would be legal and in said night you have to fend for yourself. The problem is that the first movie is a boring home invasion plot. The franchise is quick to fix this problem with anarchy, in which the main cast is forced to be on the streets. This movie also introduces that the purge existed so they government wouldn't have to spend money on the poor. This doesn't make any sense at all as maybe the government would spend less money on welfare programs but it simultaneously would lead to less tax money being collected. Not only that but it would drastically reduce the working population, which would be bad for businesses and by extent the economy

"Hey Jimmy, how's that sales report I asked."

"Sir, Jimmy was killed yesterday during the purge, guess you're gonna have to hire someone else"

Not only that but business owners would have to spend loads of money fixing the shit that was destroyed and the government would have to spend loads to fix public property that was destroyed.

The purge existence is one of those things that the more you explain the less sense it makes. Also the idea that everyone would just start murdering each other is pretty overly simplistic. If for one night a year all crime was legal the first thing I'd think to do is commit tax fraud, not murder people for the sake of it.

However, I gotta say that I really like this franchise. Normally it's the kind of thing that I would absolutely hate, but I can't explain why, but The Purge has its charm

Just finished Wildwood, and it was maybe the most impressive movie I've ever seen. Everything was so gorgeously realized, the emotional core was solid, it was so buttery smooth and natural (except the horses, which looked consistently weird for some reason), I could go on. But I walked out of the theater knowing the names of MAYBE five people in the film.

This movie has fifty random side characters that it wants you to be invested in, but they're all completely ephemeral and flat. The Governor, Exposition Owl, The General, Aquafina Rat, Mailman, Charlie Day Coyote, Bandit Second-In-Command, Rabbit Farmer, the list goes on. They get time to establish up to one character trait, and then they're either gone forever or just stop talking. And they're ALL voiced by celebrities. I swear, sometimes it feels like Invincible with how often a character played by (insert famous person) shows up, says five lines, and vanishes.

Prue, Kurtis, and Alexandria are all very solid and entertaining, and their interplay is one of the best parts of the film, so they definitely CAN write good characters when they have enough time, but even the longest stop-motion movie ever doesn't have nearly enough room to flesh everyone out. I haven't read the book this is based on, but I assume that they tried to cram all 500 pages worth of encounters and subplots into 135 minutes on screen, and as we learned from The Dark Tower, that just doesn't work.

I'm still thinking it over, but if I could punch up the script, I think Exposition Owl and Charlie Day Coyote easily could've been cut out of this movie with a machete and had their narrative roles used to beef up Big Bird and Obviously Aquafina Rat respectively to make their deaths hit harder. The craft put into bringing all 10 billion characters to life is undeniably extraordinary, but they might've gone too far in a few places. Still a solid 8.5/10 in my books, but the screenplay definitely could've used another pass before filming.

The Covenant waged a complete and utter war of extermination against Humanity, entire planets were glassed and tens of billions died under the crushing boot of Covenant fanaticisms. There is not a single human who did not in any way or form suffer from the war, even on worlds that never saw fighting the economic and refugee crisis was more than enough to darken their opinions on aliens. Hell the Covenant tried to turn Earth itself into rubble and ash

So it's kinda weird how after the UNSC wins most people are just......fine with cooperating with the aliens? Like decades of the bloodies warfare in recorded history just sorta gets erased? Groups like Sapiens Sunrise should be WAY more popular and not stuck in the fringe's realistically. Hell they would probably be running the government a few years after war considering how life still sucked buns even after Humanity's victory.

Like even IRL people hold supremely racist and xenophobic views for things a fair deal less serious than a war of extermination

Edit: The post is about the average person not UNSC/ONI.

This is less of a rant and more so a funny observation by the worldbuilding and lore of this series. Hakumei and Mikochi is a very good cozy fantasy about two tiny women living life together. Every human is tiny, they're like the size of mice and it makes so much of what they do really cute. The world is set in a quasi Victorian Era tech with some soft magic, but one of the main draws is just the incredible worldbuilding and watching them live their lives but really tiny and cute. Watching these guys cut up a squash the size of a truck is really adorable.

However one additional point of their worldbuilding is that almost every land animal is sentient. Mammals are sentient, lizards are sentient, frogs are sentient and one of the reoccurring characters is a beetle who lives in their tree, so insects are sentient as well. All of them speak their language and live in harmony despite the species difference and the massive size difference. The largest animal we see is a wolf and it's goddamn enormous, and I'm under the assumption that cows and elephants might exist which might as well be talking kaiju to these tiny guys. However, there are several massive gaps in this world, some of which debatable and one very much not.

Birds, as far as I know, are probably sentient but possibly not. They're in a strange spot bc in one of the first chapters we get wild birds, but later we see bird riders where the birds act as quasi beasts of burden/an actual job. Now we know birds have their own language in this series, but there's not a single bird that speaks common, but the behavior in the bird rider chapter could be ambiguiously defined as intelligent. Either way they're debatable less intelligent than beetles or frogs in this world, which is funny and not something I've seen before.

As for turtles, I saw them used like horses in carriages and the chapter where I saw it the turtle didn't talk, so very debatable on whether they're livestock or just a fucking guy. But there's multiple talking lizards and frogs among the series, so turtles get the short end of the stick I guess.

What is unquestionably non sentient though is aquatic fauna. Yeah fish, crustaceans and mollscs are all wild animals here and completely fair game to hunt and eat. There's a port town that the main characters frequent that sells seafood, and it's pretty much the only form of meat that they eat. I spent 40+ chapters looking for sausage and couldn't find it, but I do remember seeing egg dishes, so bird eggs are also fair game, but yeah fuck fish and crabs. They have no rights here. They even use crab legs as tobacco pipes. If they're sentient they're fucked.

Anyways make me wonder about the evolutionary history of this series. I just find it really funny that we have tiny people and basically every form of land animal is fully sentient except debatably birds and turtles, while all the aquatic ones can get stuffed. Really tickled the mind when I thought about it.

Given that Guy was deemed as a worthy candidate to take on the role of Earth's Green Lantern after Hal Jordan. That alone would at least confirm to John that despite the seemingly corrupt nature of the Guardians that Guy was at least worthy enough to be considered fearless. He has also managed to assist in stopping a genocide in the Superman movie, as well as form his own team (the Justice Gang) of superheros. And is actively trying to repair the Green Lanterns image.

Him hating on Guy because he was some Gym teacher who got the ring is unwarranted, he was a Gym couch for disabled children. How is that worth any scrutiny, and why does the job occupation of a Lantern judge whether they should have it or not? The fact that he is just some dude who received the ring should honestly kind of warrant him some acknowledgement from John. And Guy is many things, but he didn't come off as as much narcissistic, self-interested insecure old man nearly as much as Hal did in their interaction. And yet John seemingly respects Hal more than Guy? Because of what? Proximity bias?

Him gaslighted him to commit a galactic crime on his own faction to smuggle Hal's ring from under the Guardian's noses because Hal "deserves to be buried with his ring" and than say "mf you owe me" was just unwarranted. He factually owes John nothing, it was John's choice to give up the ring, and it was Hal who ruined the Lantern title in the first place (intentionally or not). Why should Guy feel obligated to put his own status and safety on the line for being the only other one to be considered worthy of the mantle he chose to not take?

Than John acts righteous in the fact that he dug up Hal's grave, stole an unsanctioned ring, took an unsanctioned Lantern made by a galactic criminal, and forcefully took over a planet under Guy's sector. As if he is inclined to do so? But Guy has currently done way more as Green Lantern than John has, even if John has been working for it his whole life, he chose to give it up, and he also isn't entitled to the role if someone else happens to be just as fit for the job. Than clowns on Guy for actually being an active Superhero, repairing Green Lanterns reputation, and following the orders of his corps that gave him said responsibility that he noticeably chastised Hal for not adhering to and calls him "scared" for not wanting to put his life as well as John's in danger for stealing a ring that he gave back to the corps.

I can't stand when a character has misogynistic tendencies and the fandom mischaracterizes that as proof of repressed queerness. A character like Light Yagami insulting women doesn't mean he secretly wants to be with a man. It just means he has issues with women.

This is such a big problem in the Supernatural fandom it's ridiculous. There's a scene where Dean gets lost in thought fantasizing about waking up in the body of a "hot cheerleader." This is in character for Dean, who was intentionally written as sleazy and has lines like "Three of the cheerleaders are legal. Guess which ones." However according to fans, that scene was actually proof of his repressed queerness. He wanted to be in a teenage girl's body because he's trans or because he wanted to hook up with boys without judgement.

Not only is this kind of reasoning dismissive of misogyny, it flattens the character. Dean's misogyny was written as an intentional flaw. He constantly shames Sam by calling him feminine whenever Sam shows emotions, both in regular conversation and in times of genuine anger when he calls Sam a bitch. This is revealing of why Dean always hides his feelings and inevitably blows up in anger. He sees expressing yourself as being feminine, which he sees as something to be avoided. Denying that means ignoring critical parts of his character.

Obviously it's possible to be both queer and misogynistic, but misogyny shouldn't be used as an indicator of queerness.

Yes, I am talking about High School Musical in the year of our lord 2026

The only who had a legitimate gripe with him was Gabriella for how he didn't reject Sharpay's advances. As for the others he was never an asshole to them. I mean, yeah he did get more opportunities than his friends because Sharpay was into him, but that's just him seizing opportunities that he was lucky to get.

This is the philosophy part of assessing Goku's Martial arts, since this fits character rant's vibe, I'll opted to make this post. So tell me if you think this is any good.

So what is martial arts to Goku?

For Goku, martial arts is practically his life. That's why he's a martial artist before he's anything else. Before he's a farmer, before he's a father, he's a martial artist. It is driven straight through to his blood, that he is driven to want to fight.

For Goku, fighting is more than just throwing hands. For him, it is how he gets to know people. It is how he communicates. For Goku, fighting is sacred. Not in the religious way. A lot of Goku’s actions can seem awkward, reckless, or even stupid when viewed normally, but once you understand that he uses fighting to learn, communicate, and understand both himself and his opponent, a lot of those choices start to make a lot of sense

Communicating through fighting is something Jiren can attest to as well. When Goku first faced Jiren and began cycling through his forms, Jiren did not immediately attack. As Krillin points out, Jiren was doing the same thing Goku was doing: studying his opponent. He was learning how Goku moved, how he reacted, how his power changed, and where his limits were. At the same time, Goku was doing the same to Jiren. Neither of them was simply trying to overwhelm the other as quickly as possible. They were learning who the person in front of them was as a fighter despite the Universal stakes.

https://imgur.com/a/kulwpfj

Goku has a habit of letting his opponents get stronger or change forms because he wants them to reveal who they really are as fighters. Not because he's being reckless for its own sake, but because Goku just wants to know who his opponent is and discover how can improve through the fight. He's willing to do almost everything and anything to make sure that happens.

Frieza is a good example of this, when Goku and Frieza were fighting, the planet on a doomed planet. King Kai had a plan to move everybody from Namek, except Frieza, to Earth, leaving Frieza on the planet alone. However, Goku said, No, I want to stay and fight, because for him, the fight, the fade, is the most important thing to him. It is something he would risk his life for, on a doomed planet where escape should be paramount all Goku saw was the fade.

Goku isn’t alone

This trait that Goku has isn't something he only has. He shares this trait with the other Z fighters. For example, when Trunks shows up and tells Goku and co that the androids are coming and that they are all gonna die if they don't get ready. Now, Bulma, being the genius that she is, thinks about it and says, Why don't we just collect the Dragon Balls, wish to find out where Doctor Gero is, and then go to him and kill him before he even creates the androids in three years? That's a great idea. However, all of the Z fighters are very tied to the notion of what it means to fight, what it means to be a martial artist. So they say, No, we wanna meet the threat head on. They say that they would rather prepare now and get ready for the androids, so when they show up, they can fight them mano a mano. That's when you should realize that the show of Dragon Ball isn't about people that like to fight. No. It's about people who live to fight. That fighting means something to them, Fighting is how they test themselves, how they grow and, in many cases, how they measure who they are.

Nurturing the trait and benefits

Goku’s habit of testing himself through combat was nurtured by Master Roshi. One of Roshi’s most important teachings is that martial arts are not about training simply to defeat an opponent, but about training to better yourself. The point is self-improvement. In the anime and manga master Roshi essentially teaches them the is always a better and stronger opponent, however what he truly wants from them is that they must never stop improving, and that no matter the outcome of a fight, they must always treat each moment in a fight as means to improve. Work hard, eat well, sleep well, and Study well. By doing these 4 things well, you make the most of each moment. By eating well, you make sure your body has the proper nutrition to function, by sleeping well you make sure your body is properly repairing itself, by working hard, you are always putting your best effort and intention and by studying well, you study your entire fights, learning from your shortfalls, your opponents' moves and everything in between.

(Side note: Master Roshi's philosophy and teachings amount to slow and steady wins the race aka focus on whats infront of you and do your absolute best. Turtles and tortoises live for a long time, Master Roshi is immortal, age is associated with knowledge. Master Roshi tells his students to learn from the world, some thing he tells both Goku and Krillin after the 21st tournament, not to mention the guide mentions "is there a martial arts he doesnt know?" and Grandpa Gohan was stated to know all martial arts. Yeah, surprise, the Turtle School teaches a turtle-themed philosophy. Any way this paragraph totally ruins the flow of the essay. LOL)

Goku takes that lesson and endorses it wholeheartedly. When he fights someone, he often lets them power up because he wants to see who they really are as a fighter. He will also meet opponents closer to their own level, because doing so gives him the opportunity to test his skill rather than simply overwhelm them. Every fight becomes a way to study movement, timing, habits, strengths and weaknesses, both theirs and his own.

That is something Goku has been doing for almost his entire life. It explains why Goku didn’t immediately use Super Saiyan 3 against Majin Vegeta he wanted to see how far Vegeta had come as a fighter, just as Vegeta wanted to measure himself against Goku. Even in the middle of battle Goku thinks of his openents movements rather than victory.

The repeated skill testing helps explain why he is able to understand fighters like Hit so quickly. Reading how another person fights is not some new ability Goku suddenly develops in the Universe 6 and 7 tournament. It is the result of a lifetime spent treating combat as a form of learning.

How far the trait exist in Goku’s genes

Interestingly, that same desire to fight opponents on equal footing seems to echo in Cell as well. Cell, a bioengineered being created from many fighters from the world, including Goku's cells. And Goku's cells are what seem to have a profound effect on him specifically in the way Cell approaches combat. Rather than simply destroying the world, Cell creates a tournament. Something Goku has spent his entire life training for and competing in. Cell is drawn to the idea of testing himself against worthy opponents, and when he fights Goku, he does not immediately use everything he has. Even though Cell has a higher level of power available, he fights Goku at roughly Goku’s level. As Cell himself says, a fight is only fun when the fighters are evenly matched. 

Feng wei, the path to transcend martial arts

Goku’s willingness to test himself against other fighters has an interesting parallel in another franchise: Feng Wei from Tekken. Feng is a practitioner of the God Fist style who seeks to become the Dragon God, the perfect warrior. The God Fist scroll s that one must “defeat all other masters and conquer their styles, the perfect warrior transcends all to become the Dragon God". Feng takes this literally. He travels from dojo to dojo, defeating other martial artists and taking whatever he considers useful from their styles.

But the more Feng conquers, the further he seems to move from the deeper meaning of the scrolls actually mean. To truly transcend martial arts, you would need to understand them, not merely defeat them. Feng’s pride prevents him from becoming a student of the people he faces. Goku is the opposite. Even after training under gods and angels and surpassing Master Roshi by an absurd margin, he is still willing to get on his knees and ask Roshi to teach him again.

That is the difference between them. Feng wants to conquer martial arts. Goku wants to learn from them. For Goku, fighting is not about proving that his style is superior. It is about discovering what another fighter knows that he does not, and becoming better because of it.

Master Roshi’s teachings are almost the complete opposite of Feng Wei’s approach to martial arts. Roshi teaches Goku and Krillin to train every day, improve themselves, and keep learning from the world around them. After the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, he tells them that they now need to train themselves, experience more of the world, and develop their own fighting styles. Roshi does not want them to depend on him forever. He wants them to build a broad understanding of martial arts so that they always have new ways to learn and improve. If Roshi simply taught them everything he knew, then once they had exhausted his knowledge, their growth would stop. Instead, he teaches them how to keep learning even when there is no master left to guide them.

A Fathers perspective and a Son’s reality

When you look at the way Goku treats fighting as something almost sacred, something that helps him improve himself, understand others, and prove who he is. it explains many of the choices that otherwise seem reckless. It explains why he was willing to stay behind on a dying Namek just to finish his fight with Freeza. It explains why he was willing to risk the Earth in the Cell Games rather than take the safer route. It explains why Jiren let Goku power up the spirit bomb even though universal destruction is at stake, because to matial artists like Goku and Jiren, a fight only has meaning if both people are able to show who they really are in equal combat.

It also explains why Goku isn't quite a bad dad, that people tend to make him out to be. From Goku’s perspective to up to the cell saga he has reasonable proof to conclude that his son shares the same relationship he does with fighting.

·       After Goku comes back from death to face Vegeta and Nappa he comes back to find Gohan on the front lines. Goku tells Krillin and his son to leave and Gohan and Krillin come back to help Goku fight, with Gohan even fighting Vegeta alone.

·       Later Goku sees Gohan even go against his mothers wishes and insist he go to Namek with Bulma and Krillin.

·       On Namek Goku sees his son have his neck broken against Recoome but still see him throw himself repeatedly into the direct line of danger.

·       Against Frieza he sees his son even refusing to leave the battlefield and even returning to fight Frieza alone.

·       During the 3 years preparing for the androids Gohan joins the training of Goku and Piccolo.

·       He joins Goku in the hyperbolic time chamber and during that training Gohan achieves SS after asking Goku to fight him like he is attempting to kill him.  

https://imgur.com/a/pP2PvxB

Seen through Goku’s eyes, that does look like a kid who wants to fight and wants to improve through fighting. So when Goku gave Cell a Senzu bean, he saw it as a chance to share something sacred with his son, something that they both love, which is a fair and meaningful contest.

What Goku misses is that Gohan’s motivation is different. Gohan fights because he feels responsible, because people he loves are in danger, and because he believes he has to step up. Goku fights because he genuinely values and enjoys the fight itself.

Goku’s limit

Goku’s love for fighting does have limits. He prefers to face an opponent’s own strength, because to him that is what truly represents who they are as a fighter. Power gained through absorption, stolen energy, or other forms of borrowed strength does not carry the same meaning. Buu is a good example. When Buu has absorbed Gohan, Gotenks and Piccolo, Goku is immediately willing to use fusion himself. But once those absorbed fighters are removed, Goku and Vegeta are far more willing to face Buu on equal footing again.

The same principle appears when Goku first becomes a Super Saiyan God. His initial reaction to the ritual is that he does not like the power because it is not his own. The problem is not that the power is strong. The problem is that the power was borrowed and doesn’t represent him as a fighter, because he did not reach it through his own training.

The symbol vs the art

Goku’s love of fighting is very different from someone like Batman. Batman is also an extraordinary martial artist, but he does not fight because he loves the fight itself. He fights because it serves the mission. Batman exists to protect Gotham, and part of that mission is preserving the fear and symbol of Batman itself.

A good example is when Batman travels to the Slag Galaxy after being defeated by an alien in front of Gotham’s criminals. He needs to prove that Batman is still something to fear, so he learns how to fight that alien and how to overcome him. But even then, Batman does not remain there because he wants the fight. He stays because people are suffering and he believes it is his responsibility to help them. The lengths Batman is willing to go are not that different from Goku. The reason behind them is Batman becomes a better fighter so he can protect others and preserve the mission. Goku becomes a better fighter because fighting itself is one of the ways he understands life.

The martial artist vs the soldier

Goku’s relationship with fighting is also very different from Vegeta’s. Goku was raised as a martial artist. Vegeta was raised as a soldier. From childhood, Vegeta was taught that power determined everything. His father taught him this, and Frieza reinforced it.

Vegeta’s ideology came to head, when Supreme Kai dismissed his need to fight as a “meaningless squabble”   

Vegeta: “Meaningless huh?! What do you know of meaningless?! Spend most of your life ruled by another. Watch your race dwindle to a handful. And then, tell me what has more meaning than your own strength!”

What Vegeta is essentially saying is that if someone else is stronger than you they get to decide your fate. Your people can be destroyed. Your freedom can disappear. Your life can belong to someone else. Vegeta has practiced this across the universe himself, so strength, to Vegeta, is not just pride. It is the right to exist on your own terms.

https://imgur.com/a/0m3fQRd

Goku approaches martial arts from almost the opposite direction. He does not need victory to validate himself. For him, the value of a fight is in what it teaches him. He can lose and still walk away satisfied. For him that value of the fight is so important to him that he is willing to spare a villians life.

I seen some people misinterpret the Legolas and Gimli Drinking contest. Where Legolas won even though Dwarves are better at drinking.

This got some Dwarves fan mad.

The scene is NOT saying elves are better at drinking than Dwarves.

It saying Legolas is just as much of a party animal as Gimli. Showing how similar they both are not just in battle (the kill count contest) but also in downtime. When having fun.

Spoilers for the Owl house!

In The Owl House Luz ends up in a Realm called the boiling isles and meets this girl named amity who is the stereotypical spoiled rich kid but over time they end up becoming friends and then lovers

bonding over trauma and their love for magic and genuine care for each other with really good chemistry too

they're relationship makes sense and is also entertaining because they actually interact with each other and actually love each other in a realistic way

but in deltarune Susie and Noelle don't interact until chapter 2 despite that Noelle and Susie didn't even know each other and Susie was a Know bully how does Noelle think a bully is attractive? like that's just stupid Susie also Beat up her own childhood friend

and she and susie have nothing in common Nothing at all

their relationship is shallow and doesn't have any substance and is just boring and poorly written

Not only is suselle just a copy of alphdyne it's also the nerdy girl x tough girl trope done worse

the suselle scenes in chapter 5 are so boring corny and laughably bad to the point where I wanted to skip it

it wasn't entertaining at all it just felt like Filler

I mean how would you feel if your nasty ass parent married someone your age and your step parent was someone your age? That weird as fuck. I’m being biased here because I hate old men who always go after younger women (and being approached by these men isn’t fun).

If I were in Chutney's shoes, rather than trying to kill Brooke (and committing manslaughter in the process), I would have deliberately tried to ruin my weirdo dad’s marriage with Brooke. I would frame them for having affairs and do things to get them to hate each other. The last option would be to cut my dad off and pretend that I’m not related to him.

I'm the first person in my bloodline to watch the lizard guy be forced into the cuck chair as his owl demon situationship has the whole town blowing out his cloaca, and I don't know what to do with that info...

So, Helluva Boss was allegedly a show about imps from Hell coming to Earth to assassinate people, but even as early as like the first official episode of the show it had already beginning to turn into a Soap Opera (with actual opera) about the main character's Blitz relationship with his situationship Stolas. As someone who liked the original premise of the show more, I didn't like the change in direction, but I could respect that it was at least a consistent change in direction and I would still pop back in every now and then to watch an episode. I then watched in real time as the show devolved into the Stolas show, main characters pushed back and Blitz himself increasingly wrapped around Stolas little fingers as he became the real main character of the show, and to be honest that did turn me off from the show more than even the Soap Operamaxxing did. Until today I hadn't fully watched the season 3 episodes (although I kept up with information about them), and once again I feel my view of the show has become increasingly negative for reasons relating to the character that is Stolas, but a reason I did not think likely before. Cuckoldry.

Season 2 ended with Stolas sacrificing his wealth, power, and status to save Blitz and the rest of IMP's lives from being executed; not only proving once and for all that Stolas truly loved Blitz (which had been a major conflict throughout the second season), but also ironically removing the most major barrier to their relationship which was Stolas status as a prince of Hell. The season ended with Stolas depressed over the loss of his daughter, but with the hope that at least Stolas and Blitz can finally pursue this relationship that was supposedly so important to the both of them. The premier of Season 3 basically begins exactly like that but with the caveat that Stolas' depression over losing everything is preventing their relationship from actually starting which ok, that's realistic.

Then Stolas got himself passed around like a blunt, the same episode Blitz goes out of his way to try to make him happy in a non-sexual way, which happened just an episode after Stolas confided that he isn't in the mood to have sex with Blitz at all.

Ok. That's ok. Stolas is having realistic guilt over sacrificing his relationship with his daughter to be with Blitz, and now said guilt is preventing him being happy with Blitz. All the while Stolas, very clear and extreme, hypersexuality is driving him to give in to his desires and explore his sexuality for the first time (after exploring it a dozen times with Blitz) and like he technically told Blitz that he wasn't ready for a relationship so none of that was technically cheating.

Then come the 4th episode, Blitz rightfully blows up at Stolas which leads to them both breaking down. Blitz points out that he gave his heart to Stolas and he did a carousel on it, which leads to Blitz wondering if Stolas ever truly cared or if he was just Stolas' sexy, rugged Imp fantasy that he could use to get away from his life, but now that he is his life Stolas is running away to every demon on the street. Stolas retorts that Blitz can't question his care for him since he sacrificed everything to be with him and that the real reason he started using demon Grindr is because deep down he feels like he deserves to be slapped around and spat on, deep down Stolas hates himself and feels he doesn't deserve to be happy with Blitz. Naturally, as someone that goes through self-loathing himself, Blitz reassures Stolas that he isn't that awful and the two reconnect with a deeper and better understanding of each other and now nothing can stop their romanc-

And then Stolas starts making Goo-Goo eyes at Vassago

Yeah so, all those times the story framed Blitz as the only man Stolas ever loved was a massive lie because apparently, he not only had a romance with his private tutoring classmate, but it was also a mutual relationship, the one think Blitz and Stolas never had. So, all of season 2 where Stolas is completely obsessed with Blitz but doesn't think about Vassago even once, why??? And as a shitty cherry on top, Stolas deletes demon Grindr to go on a date with Vassago, meanwhile Blitz is sitting in the cuck van after once again putting his life on the line to try to make Stolas happy.

I do honestly think Stolas is one of the worst written characters of the decade, but not for the usual reasons. Stolas's backstory has been retconned so often that he is effectively a different character in each season. Pilot Stolas obviously has nothing in common with the other ones, he was a power bottom. Season 1 Stolas was this obviously bad person, but you could at least understand him (putting up with an unhappy marriage to keep his daughter happy, a bad father but trying to be there for his daughter). Season 2 Stolas is this woobie version of season 1 Stolas, tragically trapped in an abusive marriage he can't escape from and chasing after the only person he could call a friend in his entire life. And now, we have season 3 Stolas who is just bizarrely insistent on cucking the person he supposedly cares for the most and who apparently had two different tragic friendships except only one of them was a friend/romance and the other one was just some poor person that was trying to rob him the two times they met (guess which one of these people Stolas was nonstop pining over during season 2). It did not have to be this way, Vassago could have just been a friend that was in love with Stolas but Stolas wasn't in love with him until years later he found another way to cuck Blitz. That would have still been bad, but at least the whole foundations for this Stolitz relationship that season 2 carefully created to avoid the SA allegations would have still been intact. But no, now Stolas had this easy ass potential romance with this guy that would have been more than capable of saving him from his abusive wife and loving him right, but Stolas is obsessed with this poor person that he makes blow his back out in exchange for a book that he needed for his job because apparently Stolas really did know what a real romance looked like this whole time but like rich people turn him off I guess

And can I just end this rant on the note that the way this show treats Blitz is worst than abysmal. He's treated like a fuck boy and a user for treating transactional sex like transactional sex, he's then treated like an even bigger fuck boy for being hypersexual with a man that has never not been hypersexual, and now he's being treated like he's not understanding or has low emotional intelligence or something for being forced to sit in the cuck chair as he watches his not-boyfriend-but-both-wish-they-were-boyfriends-paradoxically be ran through by the whole town!

TL; DR: I think it's very important and good that the evilest gay person you know is represented in animated media, but I feel like Stolas is lowkey forcing me into the cuck chair this season and I did not consent to that.

I was debating with my brother, saying that Peter wouldn’t be the MC of Secret Wars. He told me it was impossible that Peter (Tom Holland) would have the charisma to be the leader of the Avengers like Tony Stark or Captain America, and I mostly agree.
But I think it's almost inevitable that Peter will be the
MC since there's a lot of fan service to be had with Spider-Man in Secret Wars: the symbiote suit, his reunion with Tony Stark, his fight against Doctor Doom, his encounter with the other two Spider-Men, his meeting with Miles Davis, and his further development of his relationship with Jean Grey.

(spoilers for Attack on Titan)

The whole point of racism is that they don't see groups of people as human, they see them as demons, savages, and wild animals, the latter of which was used to justify racist stereotypes. Asians, Africans, and Native Americans aren't stronger, venomous, or more wild than Europeans are, we're all biologically the same just with different eye shapes and skin tones. If a black person got lynched by racists, that would just be the the color of their skin, not because they're a walking bomb.

And yet, so many fantasy stories that tackle racism completely miss the point. In Zootopia, the predators make up 10% of the population and are judged and discriminated by the prey; Disney had their heart in the right place, but the problem lies in what I just said before. Predators are biologically different from prey because they specifically evolved to eat other animals. The film's comparing races to species and thus proving a racist's point of groups not being human.

By having black people be represented by predators, Zootopia's enforcing negative stereotypes by saying "hey, don't be racist towards black people because they could eat you". In one scene where Nick asks Judy if she thinks he's gonna eat her, I thought yeah because that's what predators do. I'd be terrified and discriminate against predators too if I was a prey in fear of getting eaten.

X Men and Attack on Titan have the exact same issue. The mutants and Eldians are poorly written representations of the marginalized because just like predators from Zootopia, they're physically and biologically different from everyone else and are inherently more dangerous because they can in fact eat/kill you and destroy the world which gives the oppressors a valid reason to fear and despise them.

Beast could maul you like a chimp, Scott could slice you in half with his laser eyes, Storm could cause a global hurricane, while Rogue can kill you just by touching you. Telepaths on the other hand could erase your memories, brainwash you, or give you the mind of an infant. And most discrimination happens to white people in X Men while regular racism still exists in Marvel which makes the allegory in X Men feel pointless.

The first 3 seasons of aot were a masterpiece, but the basement reveal ruined the series for me. Aot takes place in the fascist era where Eldians represent Jews and Marleyans represent Germans. This falls flat as well because Eldians can turn into titans which are giant zombies that will eat you and destroy the world as seen with the rumbling, which proves the world's point on why they should fear Eldians. Yes I'm aware titan transformation is involuntary but my point of them being different and dangerous still stands.

I'm sorry to say this, but if I found out that my neighbors could turn into man-eating giants like in The Odyssey or were mutants that could kill me with a single touch or mess around with my mindset, I'd discriminate them too because I'd be fearing for my life and wouldn't want my loved ones to be near them.

Static Shock, Code Geass, and FMAB do a much better job at portraying racism than X Men and Aot. In Static Shock, superpowers can happen to anyone regardless of their race; Richie's dad isn't racist towards Vergil because he uses electricity, but because he's black. And the racism only occurs in one episode of the series. SS isn't a racism allegory, it's a superhero story that just so happens to tackle racism.

And in Code Geass and FMAB, the Japanese and Ishvalans aren't biologically different or inherently dangerous than the white people, which makes them far better racism allegories than Aot. If Aot was written where the serum turns everyone into titans and not just Eldians, that would've been so much better because it shows the whole race thing was made up, but instead, the series is saying "don't be racist towards Jews because they can turn into titans".

I’m not gonna lie, I thought the first two episodes were brilliant. But the third one started to show cracks. The fourth one was a bit worse. Completely dropped Paladin (who JUST got his backstory revealed in a kinda clumsy way), some drama felt forced, and I’m not a fan of the new synthezoid antagonist.

That aside, my biggest gripe is that I don’t feel the power of Jarvis, and especially not Friday and Edith. These are strategic super-intelligences made by Stark, but in Vision’s mind they feel like little more than house maids who keep his body running and find him some files occasionally.

In the first episode where Jarvis himself was like scouting the perimeter, that was compelling and made sense. But they’ve since largely dropped that aspect.

In the final episode, Ultron gets control of Vision’s body and firstly, doesn’t immediately copy himself onto the internet. Which is something he should do, it’s in his character to be everywhere all at once and overtake. Secondly, he shuts the other AIs out. How one earth is he capable of that?

In Age of Ultron, Jarvis locks Ultron out of the internet so he can’t escape and propagate. So Jarvis is at least a match for Ultron in terms of the scale of intelligence. Even if you say he was powered up by the mind stone (which is also what Ultron is from), Friday is just as capable as Jarvis, as with Edith. In fact you may be able to argue that Edith is more capable than Jarvis because she was designed to go to Parker, who Stark had a fatherly bond with (I could be wrong on this as well). Regardless, you have 3 AI super intelligences on top of Vision. There’s no way Ultron is beating that. The idea that he can shut anyone out is ridiculous.

As an aside, I dislike the idea that the base AI framework wasn’t made by Tony or at least Howard, and Tony just bought the company that produced it. Tony’s always been a cheapskate but only when it came to his morals, he always invented things and did things himself. I dislike the idea that Jarvis wasn’t Starks own breakthrough technology. But maybe this has been canon for a while and I just forgot. There are a thousand marvel shows and movies, after all.