Spiteful Finales

Y'know, I haven't seen an ending quite like VLD since Bleach's finale. Kubo wrote it so spitefully that it's amazing the live-action movie turned out as well as it did. Hell, as I recall, many burned their copies of the manga when the finale released.

It was that bad.

While Naruto's finale was bad - I'm a NaruSasu shipper to the death and a bit of NaruSaku but I don't see the appeal of NaruHina at all but that's not my main gripes with the story -, I'll put them on ignorance than malice. From what I saw, the poor guy was in a bad spot, not just as a mangaka, but having to deal with higher-ups clashing with popularity unlike sticking to the story in his mind like Oda. He wasn't even too involved with the Boruto at all. It doesn't excuse him but still, it explains why everything was so weird in Part II.

As for Bleach, everything had been failing since the ending of the Soul Society arc. Only watch/read up to the finale of that arc, fellas. It became increasingly clear that Kubo was more about the rule of cool than telling a meaningful story. Then came the ending... It was so malicious that I was admittedly shocked.

VLD's finale was just as malicious. There are no character arcs and story arcs concluded satisfactorily. The characters aren't treated with love and respect. Hell, even the villains aren't treated right because they bought them back for no other reason than malice. All their bigoted thoughts and -isms were reinforced with what they show. Seriously, blaming Allura for her people's genocide and 'redeeming' via sacrifice. Lance became a farmer with no dreams of his coming true or even helping the next gen or anything meaningful to his character; the racist implications of Latino immigrants doing nothing but menial labor in farms... Hunk is now a chef; who the fuck cares about what's more about his character; he's a fat character who loves food above all else including his girlfriend! Shiro is nothing! Nothing! Keith is somehow perfect but even then, his character is just nothing in the end! Allura is reduced to nothing! Lotor is reduced to melted mush therefore nothing! Lotor was abused and there was a possibility of redemption there but no, he has to die! For nothing! His corpse was shown for none other than pointless shock value! There was literally no point to show such a gruesome scene! Remember everything must be important! All these characters, with so much potential, are reduced to nothing! These guys are just puppets on a plot that is far beyond the writer and showrunners' competence. Not just the main characters but also the new characters the show can't help but introduce! So many characters and plot points are abandoned just as they were mentioned! Holy moly Philemon!

I am in awe at the incredibly bad writing. The show, in my opinion, had bad writing for a long time since S2. And in two years, VLD showed just how much malice is in the writing and what you should not do.

Now, I would not mind Lance being a farmer had there been something natural and real about it. But there is none. Lance was forced into it because he became a non-character with no arc to speak of. It's just malice and intentional to boot since they reduced Lance to nothing more than someone with no dreams and heart. To the showrunners - remember the showrunners wrote the finale - Lance is someone to be pitied. There is nothing satisfying about it. Not when you know about Lance and his insecurities. He was just nothing in the end.

All these characters, even the ones who supposed working on humanitarian stuff, are not satisfying to their arcs. Nothing indicates how close and trusting a team they are. Listen, I watched Macross Frontier, I saw these guys interact with each other and how much they trust each other's back. VLD's team did not have that closeness. Seriously, that potential closeness made its final evolution as the distance in the end. Heck, it's implied that in the finale, they haven't seen each other in years! Found family trope turned into isolation where none of them are a team.

It's even worse when you considered mecha anime. In mecha anime, they showed trust and a team. They separate duty and friendship. On the fucking field where it matters, these characters knew to trust the other's skills for their lives. These were the horrors of war, depicting deaths that people won't get over easily else they would commit suicide one way or another. VLD failed as a mecha from the very beginning and that's not getting into mecha tropes and themes! As a mecha fan, VLD makes me cry in front of my mecha anime collection and my Gunpla. Then again, the showrunners especially Lauren Montgomery made it a point they don't even like the genre anyway, thereby bringing nothing to the table from an outsider's perspective.

There is something there for duty - Keith and Shiro but all that fails when you consider what path they should take in terms of writing. Instead, there is nothing for them when they are so isolated from one another.

The shipping is probably the least of the VLD fandom's problems. But the very fact how poorly written every endgame turned out, it's horrific. Seriously, seeing Lance and Allura makes my skin crawl because it's not mutual. And they didn't even have a happily ever after nor did Lance ever moved on since it's implied that he never did, unlike Sokka. Shiro and that Curtis fella did not have a natural development. The closest thing to a happily ever after for any pairing is Lotura and that's poorly written since there are contradictory events that showed Allura cared little for him.

It makes the hopes of having an m/m human kiss on telly rang much more hollow because it was tacked on. I would not mind it if there were natural development like just have them go on a date, not a marriage or show them talking, but considering the show's tendency to not have natural interactions in the core cast especially when those who didn't interact with each other much - look at Shiro and Lance - it's just bad. Don't expand your cast unless your new cast members impact and change your character's interactions in a totally new way. Just look at the introduction of Toph for Godoka's sake! Notably, this is one of SU's failings since intros of new characters did not change them in any major way. Even when story arcs forced change, it doesn't feel natural. If there were change, these people become less than themselves and more of assholes really since the writers seemed more focus on deconstruction than writing a good story. Not even Evangelion did this!

VLD really is not a good show in term of writing. I'll prefer to go through Bleach's downfall of using the rule of cool than VLD's increasing use of not caring for anything! The story was everywhere and the crew looked like they did the minimum of the job in order to get away from the workplace! At least, Kubo's story resembled a plot!

If the behind the scenes mess with the showrunners true, then that's pretty horrible. Especially since these showrunners make their fellow colleagues in ATLA/LOK days much more professional. Dave Filoni, Aaron Ehasz, Tim Hedrick... These guys aren't perfect but they are better than Joaquin Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery. The finale alone showed just how horrible their writing can be as in not taking in the potential the story has. VLD's showrunners should never ever take the position of EP ever again, even a co-EP. They should have stayed in their director of storyboarding chairs like good little dogs.

If those two did throw out your outline? WHAT THE FUCK?! Are you kidding me? As a writer myself, I wrote my own outline myself in order to keep track of everything and make sure everything is in place correctly and written well. Finalize everything first before you do anything regarding writing! Do not do what Rian Johnson did with JJ Abrams' Star Wars! I may have mixed feelings with The Last Jedi but to hear that Rian Johnson threw out the original script was horrifying! Kennedy, you should never ever allow anybody to throw away the outline to something large as Star Wars and going from scratch in each movie! Do what the MCU is doing with their outline! They changed and moved their movies and ideas around and it's clearly adaptable! It's not adaptable, starting from scratch each and every time! At least the Star Wars prequels, that should only be allowed in better writers' hands just like the original, had an outline due to George Lucas' mind of the timeline and how everything came to be in the original! Starting from scratch each time is not good!

Yeah, even the Stars Wars prequels are starting to look like gold next to VLD as an American sci-fi to watch! And I don't hate the prequels nor do I hate Jar Jar Binks. At least, Jar Jar contributes to something, unlike say Romelle. Romelle did not contribute to anything big because her plot made little sense as does everything else! She's just there to say Lotor is evil and Alteans is alive and she just disappeared from the plot after she had Lance and Allura go on a date! Jar Jar Binks contributes more to the plot than Romelle ever did! There are so many things wrong in the story itself, not just structurally but thematically! The potential theme of the found family turned into isolation!

But in the end, it's clear spite was a prime motivator for poor storytelling according to Joaquin Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery. Just what the heck is that line of thinking? That is not sincere like the bad directors of the world like Tommy Wiseau and Neil Breen. Like those guys aren't progressive like JDS and LM, but at least they are sincere but completely incompetent; their sincerity comes through in the filmmaking, less so the thin plot. JDS and LM are incompetent storytellers but their sincerity is much sharper in their bad storytelling's alarming messages.

If you want to enjoy VLD in its greatest form just like Naruto in Part I and Bleach with Soul Society Arc, I would recommend season one and that's about it. After going through reviewing the series again, I decided that season two definitely need work as well as season three and five. Even the worst seasons - four, seven, and eight - are where the show's cracks are shown with lights flashing. When even Code Geass R2 covered up their cracks better due to Goro Taniguchi, then VLD showed so many cracks and injuries that it all falls apart like somebody struggling to duct-tape a vase. Seriously, even KHR is better written than this and that story has truly interesting ideas.

Joaquin Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery, I do not want to hate you. I won't hate you. Your last employer, Dreamworks, is burying your work so fast with little fanfare while your show would still be up on Netflix.

What I will say is this: From the bottom of my heart, I hope you can change your malice and your ignorance to better understand why you hurt your audience so badly with such vindication. I hope you expand your worldview to understand others' feelings and interpretations. I sincerely believe you can become better.

On a side note, is the Voltron franchise cursed or something? No matter what the interpretation, even the potentially well-written ones like VLD - which turned out to be too cynical - turned out to be crap. Like the Fantastic Four's four movies under Fox, they all have varied badness to it, some good and imagination, but overall pretty bad. It's just sad that Voltron would just fall in the wayside until somebody reboot it.

Gundam has one dud as far as I know unlike Voltron's many, many duds. Voltron would look like a bad piece of horribly made baked bland sponge cake in comparison to Gundam's wonderful chocolate cake.

I will make this say: Even if it's an unpopular opinion if you enjoy it, good! Your opinion does not negate others. Even if there were problems, in the end, you are still allowed to enjoy it. The last thing this fandom is more negativity when the ending did not satisfy casual viewers - like me - and everybody in the fandom who invested madly into this.

Listen, at least Sherlock ended with that Christmas special. That is better than what S3-4 given us.

Listen, while I don't see the best in HP epilogue finale, at least we could have the story. We could also ignore that Cursed Child stupidity.

At least, Katekyo Hitman Reborn ended in an open note. And there were no pairings to be had which is good though since the series concentrated less on that as the story went on. At least, there is something there.

If you enjoy anything of this - including badly written finales of Godoka knows what - then that's good! The last thing anybody needs is the ruination of the enjoyment of others. I don't hate on my family for playing Frozen songs even when I made my dislike for it pretty clearly on multiple occasions.

Look, I hardly cared about what Word of God says anyway. This is well before Harry Potter, need I remind you. This had been my mindset since I started watching shows since I was a kid. I don't know if there were any Word of God in Sesame Street but I hardly cared about that. The only reason I found out Julia was autistic was the media around it. Seriously, when I was watching anime like Pokemon and YuGiOh, do you think I have access to what Takeshi Shudo have to say? Do I care about what George Lucas or Gene Roddenberry had to say about their respective franchises? No, I hardly cared at all. I hardly cared about the Word of God anyway so... basically, I technically already practicing both the authorial intent and Death of the Author. Like I am not ignoring authors, but I made it a point that they don't bother me since I don't keep up with interviews anyway.

Let it be known I know how to separate fanon and canon. Headcanon falls into fanon, alright? It's just canon haven't debunked it.

I know when I am an author, I am going to have to go to functions and panels if I was asked. I prefer not to say anything about the stories because I want my story to say it for me as well as making sure I want to explore it to the fullest potential the awful issues in reality. I know that if I am going to have my work out there in the world, it's going to be under so much scrutiny. I am not expecting fame or even fans since all I just want to do is write.

...Do you know what I hate in the current trends of fandom? The ludicrous focus on ships as if they mean anything more and the policing. In Tumblr, I saw people fighting against the existence of HamNoir and MilesGwen, policing what people like and enjoy.

You are not doing God's work. You are going about in current fandom's trends about sub-communities in fandom, imploring ships that aren't healthy or did not have anything to do with social justice like POC and LGBTQ is bad. You can say that the ships of HamNoir were an example of white m/m that was popular in either canon or fanon. It's similar to what happened to Hux/Kylo where there was the popular ship of Finn/Poe.

You must never ever police ships as if they mean anything more than that. They are called sub-communities for a reason. Do I have to pull out other fandoms again!? You can examine what they are reflecting about the world but you must never ever ruin others' enjoyment because you don't. It's called crackshipping and shipping just because you like it for some other reason. Till this day, I have no clue why I'm drawn to Harry/Severus but I still like it all the same. But do I hammer anybody over the head to ship as I do? Never.

These guys who shipped HamNoir and Hux/Kylo and MilesGwen aren't hitting anybody over the fucking head that you are supposed to ship this because it's healthy. They are doing it because it's fun. In fact, I don't see them hitting them over the heads of anybody who don't ship them to ship it as good as they do. Why the hell are you bothering these shippers about their tastes and likes when you should do the smart thing and don't bother them or better yet don't bash them as if they are the bane of your fandom? If somehow HamNoir got as popular as Hux/Kylo, do you think that it would stop?

No, stop it with your nonsense about what to ship and what not to ship. I hate policing in fandoms so very much. Every time I see it from fandom shipping or anything else, I am questioning their logic about something as trivial as ships.

You can examine the mentality of a popular white m/m ship and why it kept emerging. I'm pretty sure there are already theses about them in Tumblr but yelling to people about why you can't ship this or that is not going to make it better. However, you must never ever police anybody about their likes and dislikes in a fandom. A fandom where people are supposed to explore and have fun freely. Fandom is supposed to be fun.

Fandoms have always been bad and toxic. But this behavior of moral superiority - it's a bad guy/good girl relationship, it's incest, it's a white m/m couple, it's not a POC couple or an actual LGBT character paired up with their SO, there's an age difference between Spideypool, etc. - just because you don't like it makes it less enjoyable for people to come together and have fun. There is a reason why I hate Tumblr very much.

You can have your progressiveness but the first thing you must not do is ruin others' enjoyment and what you must do is differentiating what the actual issue is at hand. The thought that footballs players' refusal to bend down to an anthem is somehow messing with the actual game is stupid. As if these guys who refuse to bend down to an anthem would ruin football. Focus on these footballers refusing to bend down and listen to them, instead of blaming them for ruining football for some whatever reason. The latter is just so insane it's amazing humanity survived this long.

I hate how the military became involved in our everyday lives in America that Americans don't blink at the thought of an aerial show or a cartoon show using propaganda to promote their side of the war without any sign of irony. I'm anti-war but it's difficult at this time especially with today's politics. The military isn't ruining sports. These two entities became inseparable that it would take time to pull them apart and keep them apart.

Every time I see the sentiment of policing ships due to POC/LGBT - like I get it but you don't have the right to bash on people for shipping something you don't like - on the stupid site known as Tumblr, I resist urging to scream into my Mochitalia plushies. Why the hell are you fighting against something as nonsensical as shipping in fandoms when the general public would hardly care about the sort of thing? Do I have to pull out VLD, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and so forth? Seriously, do I have to pull out famous people online who looked like they hardly cared about shipping? I don't care about ships nowadays; all I care about is how they are written in the show, not about making and scouring fanworks about my favorite ships.

Pokemon AUs

I love Pokemon. A lot. If there is a game I will play over and over again, it'll be any of the Pokemon games including the flagship series. I adored having my own team and participating in many side events like Contests. If there is a game series I'll pick over any other JRPG like Persona, Zelda and Tales of, it's Pokemon.

As a result of this, I adored Pokemon AUs. There are a total of 809. And that number will increase as new flagship games will continue.

I am no creationist but I adore creationism in fiction. Lore of gods in fiction was always interesting to read, particularly what can be extrapolated from PokeDex and known research in-universe. I'm a huge lover of myths and fairy tales so don't think it's surprising that I'm even implementing creationism. I always found it interesting to think in a philosophical and if it were real. I'm an agnostic after all.

I'm digressing.

Pokemon games are basically a game of chance. You can make whatever team you want. Aside from the main story, you can create your own team and win whatever ribbons and prizes you want. There is a reason why the Battle Frontier and Pokemon Contests are quite fun in their own right. I still don't recommend completionist goals because, despite its look of simplicity, it's not easy. That's one of the reasons why Pokemon is so beloved.

Which is why choosing teams for anybody like fictional characters are so much fun. You can decide whoever you choose. Whether balanced or not, it will be fine. Aside from my official teams which include Mythical/Legendaries

I think I will be happy, living in the present-day Pokemon world.

I have my own headcanons regarding education and whatever in that world. Not to mention, how fun it is to think of Pokemon regions based on countries around the world? I would really love to have a Pokemon region based on Vietnam.

This fanart depicts Thor with a growing army of baby Electric Pokemon with a Raikou and it's fine.

Any Pokemon is fine. Some would be better matched than others. Or purposely mismatched.

For example, Tony Stark with Rotom would be a great match.

Now there are popular choices that were made and were deemed appropriate thusly. For example, for Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, whatever version, there's Absol and Arcanine respectively.

So if you want Espeon for BSD Osamu Dazai? Then that's awesome. If you want Kanto Vulpix for BSD Chuuya Nakahara, then that's awesome.

If you want Milotic, Sharpedo, and Dragonite for Haru, Rin, and Makoto respectively? That's awesome. Go for it!

You can still get more than five Pokemon for a team, y'know. There is a reason why Ash has so many Pokemon back at Professor Oak's ranch. There is a reason why Paul's Pokemon also lived with his brother. I headcanon May would sooner or later catch a Swablu which would be a reference to her caring for one in the series. I also headcanon Max's team compiling of those he met in his journey with Ash, Brock, and May aside from the promise he made with Ralts.

Pokemon AU's have a lot of potentials. Whether you choose them to be any occupation, it has the damn potential. You can adjust the original canon or not in the au's. There is a reason why coffee shops au's are so popular. I prefer to read cooking and sports au's than coffee shops au's. Depending on the coffee shop though since I prefer quaint yet sells good tea - I can drink tea and coffee but I have a preference for tea.

Deconstruction was only possible if the archetypes and concepts are tackled elsewhere. Look at Watchmen. Sure, you can still deconstruct internally - see Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? - but there is a line of realism and hatred/cynicism. Voltron Legendary Defender was the latter because of the hate towards mecha tropes and themes and the show was too cynical, unfortunately. Tiger and Bunny were the former and this show was hopeful.

There is a place for cynical works. I completely understand bitterness and cynicism in the world at large but personally for me, I choose hope and optimism for a better future. I won't go for idealized future but still, a little more optimism and hope for humanity is better than hate. Hate had become so central in today's culture that it's distressing to find little hopeful works. Which is why I take the hopeful works when I can. Cynical works just make me sad nowadays and want to cry into an ice cream bucket or scope out for good food. Since I technically want desserts to cry into when I'm really sad with a tad bit of alcohol.

This video is kinda headcanon but it's the closest thing there is to the possible timeline of the Pokemon world. Be aware that it includes the anime timeline as well. If that is not your thing, then you can exclude it. It's also great in explaining how Pokemon and humans coexist happily for so long and why Pokemon is such a major part of the world including Contests and battles. Here it is!

If you want a deconstruction of Mons like Pokemon and Digimon, you should go look at Shin Megami Tensei who was actually the first one to create Mons but also the first to deconstruct them. Seriously, if you don't want cutesy or at least reconstruction of Mons, don't look at Pokemon or Digimon.

The Pokemon world is really malleable. Not only is there potential to have Pokemon based on legends and myths around the world but also the real world animals. And machinery. And scientific stuff. Basically, anything you can think of.

The anime and games leave a lot of the systematic laws and whatever to speculation. While I do believe age ten is where people would get their first starter Pokemon, be it a starter or something else like a Slowpoke, I think those laws depends on the town and its own restrictions. For example, the League can set up the age limit to get your first Pokemon which tends to be a large variety but the starter Pokemon of fire, water, and grass is typical for each region. It doesn't have to be. For example, Roselia can be your Starter.

I think education must be on the go. Unless they want to become a nurse or a profession that does not require far too much traveling - I'm excluding jobs that had required travel - like Trainers and Coordinators, they can go to actual school and earn their degrees. Most of the learning and thereof tests are mostly on Pokedex which is also an ID primarily for staying in a hotel or a Pokemon Center. It's the requirement that these trainers must not skip their education and had to pass these internal tests made by the government, not the Pokemon League. The government must make sure these kids are protected since y'know Pokemon while having a symbiotic relationship with humans, has the ability to harm and lure. Some are not quite as benevolent.

Like how I imagine the world of One Piece, there are many dialects, accents, and variations in the languages. There are the same languages on the same land that were based on such lands. While I highly that the Pokemon human world follows the same history as our reality, there might be indications of it with war. I seriously think Pokemon world actually achieved world peace as a result of the love of Pokemon and how Pokemon became their culture. Yes, there are still human jobs like surgeons and scientists that have nothing to do with Pokemon.

You can create whatever you want. I honestly want to see more of Pokeani stuff in AUs, tbh. The Pokeani's structure of tournaments makes it easier than the go-in challenge. If you have trouble how to make out the world of Pokemon other than the lore, you can start with the basics in creating a legitimate world human can live with Pokemon.

Ugh, I'm craving chocolate but I especially want bamboo ice cream. The latter of which, I crave more than chocolate as of now, to be honest. I do have chocolate cravings and that's usually one of my signals that I am close to the time of the month.

I like buddy cop. I think it's one of the genres I rather like if taken in a good direction and good writing. Look at Hot Fuzz as a good example of it despite it being both a deconstruction and an affectionate parody. If you want to see it play really straight, go look at Zootopia. If you want a superhero version, look at Tiger and Bunny. I typically make romcoms and comedy like buddy cop as one of my go-to feel-good. If I want a musical version of a feel-good, I'll look for Legally Blonde. I have feel-good anime too like Pokeani. Depending on my mood, I would see whatever I like to see the most. Hot Fuzz is one of my favorite UK films, really, with Shaun of the Dead.

Power Rangers and Super Sentai: Time Force and Timeranger

Bah, this is just a comparison and for funsies. I like both series anyway. I don't want to harp on anyone. Again, because SSTR and PWTF are written for totally different audiences and culture in mind, I won't go into any of the -isms.

Writing

It's like comparing apples and oranges. However, if I were to pick the better written overall, it's Timeranger. Time Force didn't have much development on some characters' end, namely Lucas and Katie. There are development there but not as much that provide as well as their counterparts in Timeranger. Sometimes, certain development that should follow a certain path would not fall into that path like Ransik for example.

As extremely well-done the acting Vernon Wells put into Ransik, the writing is not quite up to par. I love his relationship with his daughter, no doubt and I love his humanity. Some of his actions did not say this unless we go into the mind of Ransik which the show didn't go into.

Unlike other PR adaptations of SS like Samurai and Megaforce, it's far better than expected. Now TF is far more ambiguous at the ending whereas Timeranger is always going to end up bittersweet. The Americans wanted happy endings.

Additionally, the circumstances between Alex and Ryuya are very different. While the writing of Time Force did not really do well unless Alex is just very strict to the rules. I find it dubious that Jen didn't know this side to Alex during her time dating. On the other hand, Ryuya has a different relationship with the rest of the rangers from the start. Even disregarding the beginning where it was apparently not Ryuya in the first place except it kinda is since he was the bigger bad behind what happened.

I seriously wonder what if Time Force kept Ryuya's villainy for Alex. Ryuya wanted to save his own life at the price of so many including Naoto. I think it would break Jen's heart if her hand was forced to kill Alex in the end. And Time Force would be forced to cover up Alex's crimes as he was supposedly one of the saviors. It would make Time Force's adaptation to spare Eric much more ironic, given that Naoto died. It would certainly be a stab to Alex, even if he did die in the end. What if he did take the Quantum Morpher instead of Eric and survived or would he still die?

Pah, I just don't mind that PRTF chose to make Alex's counterpart much more heroic despite the potential angst. I just have a problem with having Alex depicted as such a jerk when there shouldn't be the need to be. The difference between Ryuya and Alex returning to the past is that Ryuya has a much different goal in mind and the Rangers did not know Ryuya's personality. I don't mind sparing Eric because Dan Southworth is a fantastic actor in the show. His later appearances in the Wild Force crossover showcased another one of that performance. I don't mind it, given how much it's something that worked for Time Force.

Even then, don't forget the differences between Katie and Lucas and Trip with their Sentai counterparts. Hell, Domon has a story arc, unlike Katie. I like Katie, she's awesome. But she doesn't have a strong arc like Jen. Even Nadira has an arc. Katie is a good character but doesn't have a strong arc or even a well-written static character in the likes of Toph. Lucas' counterpart had an arc, mainly because he was deadly sick.

A major problem with Power Rangers and Super Sentai is that there are neglected Rangers in terms of a story arc. Typically, those are in the more average seasons - such as Goseiger and Mystic Force. They have strong and good characters with great personalities that the actors can work with but in little ways with an actual story like background.

Then there is Frax and his counterpart. Both counterparts are tragic in different ways. Either way, both are so sad that they don't deserve more pain in their suffering. It's just sad that Frax ended up destroyed. I don't know if that was a mercy kill or not, especially since the Rangers definitely did not know that bit of backstory. Frax just had a lobotomy that destroyed his remaining humanity.

Nadira's counterpart did little to affect the plot in any major way. But even Nadira's role was mainly to play Daddy's little girl and villain. She's less pure evil and more spoiled. She has a kinder side to her that took some time since all she knew was her dad's villainy. She has some personality and character though. She wasn't defined entirely by her father though as she does resist her father.

As for Gluto, his counterpart in Time Force was not intelligent and did not affect the plot in any grand way. Gluto was Timerangers' main antagonist in the series before the reveal of Ryuya as the true Big Bad.

I think a major difference between these two series is that Time Force presented itself as a utopia with no criminals left. Think of it as Star Trek without the space exploration...although I do think humans had made contact with aliens for centuries already since the MMPR days. In contrast, Timeranger is always presented as this craptastic world. I would like to remind you that the aliens aren't from an entire prison but from a prison ship that Gluto hijacked. It is one section. The implications of dystopia are still there but it's always presented itself as a better future for everyone whereas Timeranger and Star Trek made it pretty damn clear that for all its innovations and obvious less -isms, there are still -isms. Hell, aliens were the ones that were basically imprisoned by turning into toys.

Timeranger actually went into the changes made by the Timerangers in the past. Time Force brought it up by Alex but never once went deep into it. I just wished that part was expanded upon. That would be awesome to go into that. We actually know the changes that went on due to the interventions in the past such as a cure for TimeBlue and a time of suspension for TimeYellow and TimePink's families living instead of dying. Time Force's timeline looked like it barely changed at all when Timeranger's timeline had changed.

Hey, in comparison to those seasons that stick way too close to the Sentai without taking consideration of character or creativity, Time Force is better than Megaforce. Anything is better than Megaforce or at least the Super season.

Acting

Both series pulled some strong performances. I won't lean on either superiority.

Although I seriously wonder why award-winning and some people who are better like Vernon Wells doing in Power Rangers? It's like watching Meryl Streep in a bad B-slasher movie. Why on earth are actors who had a better scale of acting jobs - for the love of Godoka, Edward Albert earned a fucking Golden Globe - than Power Rangers? Power Rangers, this campy and cheesy goodness...that admittedly evolved throughout the years at least until certain people won't allow creativity. But still a Golden Globe-winning actor and an actor who had been in Mad Max with relatively unknown actors or actors who did not gain lots of traction. I know that nobody expected Power Rangers to rocket into pop culture when it was initially released. But do I have to remind you that Power Rangers, no matter how good a season, was never quite as pervasive as The Twilight Zone? Seriously, I saw one episode of The Twilight Zone and fell in love with it in middle school. One of my English teachers in middle school showed it to the class for some kind of analysis, I think.

I'm digressing.

The acting in Time Force has some good acting chops. A prime demonstration of acting is encapsulated at the moment Jen meets Wes for the first time. There are many good moments of incredible acting in the series that we would be here all day in this section.

Dan Southworth is worth mentioning since he has been auditioning since the MMPR days. I'm actually glad about that since Dan would outshine a good lot of the cast. Power Rangers' acting tends to be more serviceable than anything else. Seriously, if Dan had been cast as Adam, he would work it despite the little material he had. He would stick out from Rocky's actor a lot. Eric, on the other hand, is something Dan could put to potential, highlighting his talent. In a show of good actors, he would shine just as much as the rest of them rather than outshining. There are decent cast members in TF such as Lucas.

If you want to see good actors stick out like sore thumbs in Power Rangers, look no further than the Lightspeed Rescue and Time Force crossover. Even if we just contrast the acting of Vypra and Ransik and Nadira, the difference was stark. And that was when Vypra's actor had improved but not so much to actually stand out from the actual good acting of Vernon Wells. Power Rangers' typical performances, especially those with not much to go on due to their writing, are serviceable. Amy Jo Johnson has a lot more to work with as her character developed beyond the original concept of a valley girl. Hell, Jason David Frank's Tommy Oliver has a lot of material to work with - see his battle inside the mind with his previous colors.

Again, why the hell are extremely good actors, or at least actors who should have better paygrade than Power Rangers as in this ridiculous show that is so cheesy and hammy that flips the bird at science and perfectly willing to let their space-time continuum die in its own blood? I don't know why Judd Lynn would go out of his way to do the former. Even when Dino Charge is revealed to be an alternate universe, you shouldn't kill the space-time continuum that Pokemon looks easier to live with? Look, I would not mind being in the actual show itself but I'd rather not waste money going to New Zealand just to audition.

There is seemingly a lot of material that these actors can use. Whereas Trip, Lucas, and Katie did not have that much material to work with as opposed to their counterparts who have a lot to work with, these actors did do their best.

The chemistry of the Time Force cast had been well-noted. To the point, the entire cast exempting the dead ones would've come back for the Wild Force crossover.

Overall

I don't want to choose one over the other with the exception of some cases. But even then, I would just shrug them off at this point.

Now I didn't tackle any of -isms and -phobias in this post. If I were to do that, I'll make a separate post for that. Because if I want to tackle social issues nowadays, it's on a separate post dedicated to it or an addendum.

Both series aren't perfect. Nowadays, it's hard to even enjoy a series without people putting social issues first before their story - looking at you, Steven Universe who is really dragging the story beyond its shelf life and make things realistic than in-character. The irony is that the Pokemon anime doesn't have the same problem as SU at all. Please normalize those people first and don't draw too much attention to it unless it is the central/one of the theme you are tackling and don't make these characters mouthpieces instead of actual people with morals and personality. Don't hit these people over the head with the three-by-four on the social issues; don't treat your audience like goldfish.

The next post coming up is on Pokemon AUs.

What I Look For In An Adaptation

So there will be a live-action Your Name in the future. And ATLA. Of course, I'll be watching the Bleach live-action movie since that seems to be more connects to the original good story before everything went down the drain.

I'm typically indifferent towards adaptations overall. But that doesn't mean that I have standards to uphold what is a good adaptation in my opinion.

Here's the thing: If you want to place continuity or a famous iconic work, then it must be that first. If you want equality all around, make that second to the famous iconic work. It's great that you want diversity and equality but at the same time, you must understand the implications of what you are writing and the number one thing: focus on story and character. Looking at you, VLD and SU. Star Trek Discovery's biggest annoyance was that it places equality and diversity first and not Star Trek first; STDS9 did this right with their tribute episode: "Trials and Tribble-ations" and I could feel the love for TOS and I could still see that it's Star Trek first and foremost. Star Wars The Last Jedi's biggest annoyance was its refusal to place Star Wars first. Even the worst film of the reboot Star Trek films Into Darkness, no matter how badly its executed and a badly done AOS version of Wrath of Khan, places Star Trek first. Honestly, I hope STD's new showrunner makes Discovery better. I don't hate STD but there are times that it contradicted canon or just doesn't make sense and there is so little creativity because they are placing diversity and equality first rather than having that normalized. When Star Trek had done strides and made mistakes of racism, sexism, and other offensive moments/writing in its history; at least those of the past are upfront of their mistakes and apologize. STD doesn't have to make itself the best Star Trek with all the things America is pushing forward when that is insulting to previous entries in the series. Do not ignore the history of your entry in a famous work's franchise. How about Sesame Street? Like Star Trek, it made strides but also made horrible mistakes. To the credit of Sesame Street, they don't posture themselves as the savior of a franchise like STD's showrunner. Not even the current HBO deal doesn't posture themselves this way, heck even allowing well-written parodies of their shows. This is a major problem with the new Ghostbusters film too. Putting feminism first rather than Ghostbusters is a major problem; hearing about initial plans like passing the torch and having a team of both males and women together is much better than the really not feminist piece of film. Wonder Woman 2017 and Thor Ragnarok is feminist and the reboot Ghostbusters is not.

I want Star Trek to survive in a world that is currently drowning in dystopias. Not even the well-written dystopias would not make me long for a thinking that the future would be alright or hopeful. Even as a kinda Trekkie and longtime Spirk fan, I just want Star Trek to survive the dirge of sorrow that eclipsing America. To have that hope and love that showed that our present could move toward to Star Trek's beautiful world. Even disregarding the topic of utopia, please understand I just want to move forward from the dirge that the world is into a hopeful future. I'll rather have that hope than the overgrowing dismay of cynical and sorrow.

Listen, when Sesame Street parodies Star Wars right, then you are doing it wrong. Then again, Sesame Street parodies those so right to the point I honestly enjoy the references because I know I can tell they are fans. Seriously, just watch those Sesame Street parodies. It's a great place for a feel-good feeling like Great British Bake Off.

What makes a good adaptation, in my opinion, is this:

• Comprehend themes/motifs and message of the original. Keep the spirit of the original in the adaptation. If you want to tell a different story, please make damn sure you understand what the original is saying first before going about your adaptation. However, if you are deconstructing the original, you must understand the original's intentional messages and themes/motifs first. 
• The purest base of the story and the characters is kept. For example, the live-action Ace Attorney not only kept the quirky atmosphere of the games but also combined cases to make an entire game flow well in a film. The characters and plot are kept well within the time frame it took to tell the story. Despite its darker tone, the Ace Attorney live-action is a far better adaptation than I thought it would be since it's clear that the writers and director played the game to understand the nuances. 
• If you want to change to make it more palatable, throw away details that are unnecessary or unsavory that won't mesh with the story or audience you want to tell. If you want to have a better theme than what the original seemed to be telling, then make damn sure that it's nuanced. 
• Get rid of unnecessary details that certainly won't affect the actual plot in any shape or form. For example, in the Fifty Shades Darker adaptation, they threw away two chapters, just showing how pointless the intervening chapters are to the overall plot. 
• Please, put story and characters first as well as the work's original spirit and heart. Do not wiki the original, please and don't use it to tell a story that is known in the area you came from such as America instead of using the original as a starting point/inspiration. Expand and use the necessary emotional beats if you can. The Bleach live-action used the Grand Fisher as an overarching loom, showing the emotional side for Ichigo. 
• Actors who fit or has good chemistry in their roles. Again, the characters are larger than life in the original so these actors have to find some way to act the same way as these original characters. Actors hamming it up would make or break through. If the original has some crazy over the top gestures and you seriously want to mimic it, tone begone, then go for it. I guess. Like I said, the AA live-action is darker slightly in tone, given that some of the more comedic moments are given a harder take - for example, the cross-examination of the bird was comedic while still having that panic while in the movie, it's desperate and seemed like Naruhodo grasping at straws to save his friend. 

Bleach live-action is a surprisingly decent adaptation. PGSM is a decent adaptation. Again, I wouldn't call Bleach or PGSM the pinnacle of adaptation, given its writing issues. Still, it's better than outings in America. I'm still crying internally about how badly the Ghost In the Shell adaptation went in Hollywood. I know I shouldn't be surprised to hear to hear how badly it went but at the same time, I want to hold out on the hope on at least having a decent adaptation.

I don't want to hate on adaptations, new and old. I know they are a thing since forever. Even in the recent bout of reboots, I just want them to succeed.

In a world of cynicism, I just want to have a little hope for the world, not just for real people but also for the hopeful future this world has the potential to have. Seriously, the world underwent many, many destructive forces to the point I honestly want to live in the future of Star Trek at this rate. Again, disregarding topics of utopia, I just want to see a hopeful future or a future that is not so bad.

What makes a bad adaptation is this in my opinion:

• Failure to comprehend themes/motifs and messages. Failure to uphold the spirit of the book. 
• The base isn't kept. Know what is in the original, its contents and nuances, before wrecking it. Or not even care for it in the first place. Know the context of the epic and best scenes in the story before translating it for the big screen. Death Note 2017 failed to consider the context of the best scenes and what made it work beyond the two geniuses. 
• Changes that don't make any sense. If there are changes, it had to make sense. If something couldn't translate well to the big screen like lots of money - think Game of Thrones' money here, grandeur - then don't do it. Minor changes must make sense too like say different reactions from outsiders. And the screenplays of Star Trek made adapt to the budget and so forth. Adapt to your budget like know how much you will pay actors beforehand. 
• The changes in the Percy Jackson films doesn't make any sense at all. It contradicts itself or pointless. These changes are pointless and proved that the writers did it just because they can when the canon was fine and need little changing...except adding more POC, LGBT, and etc at the beginning. 
• Poor acting. I won't mind if these characters know full well they are in a bad movie, either trying their best with the little of what they can work with or just have fun. But overall bad acting or not even trying is a factor. Look, I am perfectly willing to give leeway to people if they show strengths. William Shatner is better at understated quiet moments and natural interactions than he is at dramatic moments; he can do deadpan and warm moments, especially with those he has great chemistry with Nimoy and Kelley for example. Yes, he sticks out from better actors like Nimoy but gives him where he can shine and he will shine just as bright as Nimoy. I'm not saying Shatner is an overall bad actor. Again, I'll rather watch Shatner than Tommy Wiseau. I'll watch any hamminess over piss-poor acting. Unless the same piss-poor acting is too entertainingly bad in an overall bad movie and that guy is giving a sincere action. This tends to depend on the media.  

For example, AOS version of TOS makes sense, given how much alterations, therefore, experiences was made. While AOS still falls into the pitfall of stereotypes, the massive changes - Kirk and Spock are emotionally unstable which did not need more aggravating tbh, the fractured Kirk family to the point Sam run away in opposition for the Prime timeline where the family stayed together until death, etc. - were inevitable. Some things remained the same as Scotty and McCoy for example. Though the timing was changed since I think in the original series, McCoy was already in Starfleet by the time Kirk joined at 17 whereas, in the Kelvin timeline, McCoy and Kirk joined at the same time and graduated after three years. They simply met years earlier or later in life, depending on the circumstances.

The changes in the Netflix Death Note film doesn't make any sense. Why make Light an emo teen? Why not make him an All-American Golden Boy similar to famous serial killers like Ted Bundy? No, you won't admit that the type of boy would jive well, preferring to use a stereotype instead. Also, why did you ever not go into the potential plot like American international presence, given the North Korean thing? That has so much potential because of America's war history with other countries. No, you just prefer to use the Final Destination deaths to the point it's not suspenseful. DN is suspense and tension just like the original Halloween. The film is not. DN 2017 was another part of shlock like poorly made imitators following the fantastic original; think a beautifully cooked bowl of pho in comparison to a bowl of undercooked noodles with a splash of cigarettes.

Bad adaptations are bad adaptations.

However, if it's a good thing you did not stick close but chose to do something else but still respect the original, then go forth! Just as long as you know what the original is telling you and comprehend that.

I am just wary of adaptations and how they would go about, rather than the bout of reboots and live-action adaptations popping up in recent memory. I'm not defeatist to say that they are here to stay, given the lack of creativity and abundance of poorly written or flat-out mind-screwing stories.

I would grant leeway if the story is good or had the potential to be good. If it's a bad story, it's a bad story. Even if it's radically changed, I would grant that much.

If you wanna tell that story, at least use it well. Teen Wolf used every literary and filmmaking techniques that it can use for its story, making it MTV's Twin Peaks. Because MTV advertised it as a teen drama than a supernatural horror which the show actually is, the show doesn't have the best of followings. Sure they are still fans who still love and enjoy it like me despite its confusing turns. Comparably, Kingdom Hearts looks normal in comparison.

I'm not that bad to let all different stories fall down the adaptation trash pile with among the worst like Dragonball Evolution and The Last Airbender. I'm naming those just to give you what makes the list of the horrendous badness.

"Inspired by" for an adaptation is not getting any leeway. If they make the most and tell the story, then it's great. MTV's Teen Wolf did not have any of that inspired or based or anything. Hell, all Davis did was use the template to tell his own story. He especially wanted to tell the story of probably a friend of his named Derek who likely been sexually assaulted when young who fell in love with a relatively younger man who was smart in his own right and the man he fell for is bi. I wonder if he can try again.

Seriously, is it bad that I won't be able to watch a legitimate Snow Queen adaptation from Disney because they slapped on the inspired bs on Frozen? Because whether we like it or not, Frozen is Disney's Snow Queen and a bad adaptation of the beautiful fairy tale to date too.

That is one example of "inspired by" in recent memory, I refused to give any type of leeway. Now I refuse to ruin others' enjoyment. If you like a series that been lobbed - just like the Teen Wolf show - then these people should enjoy the other end of their joy breaking and you should ignore them. You shouldn't prioritize their hate. You should prioritize your enjoyment.

I genuinely want live-action pieces of whatever work to succeed. I want adaptations to be good.

For example, the Lion King Broadway is an example of how to tell an animated film into the stage by using theatrical techniques to epic proportions to its utter simplicity. While I wouldn't call Lion King the best thing that happened to Disney, I still enjoyed it.

Any adaptation for any medium would be difficult to translate. Some fit better in different mediums than others. That doesn't mean that it's the be-all end-all if it stuck to the original format. I'm still waiting for a good adaptation of Fantastic Four on the big screen.

Additionally, I rolled my eyes regarding those that treat the original with derision or fail to understand the nuances or fail to just appreciate that the remake/reboot/current work would not happen without the original. Even if you are going about in a different direction - deconstruction, standalone, whatever - you must still respect the original and treat it as a living organism. Even you are tackling what the series could do, don't deride simply because it's the original and basically nostalgia. Just don't. Treat that thing as it's a natural organism that exists for good and bad, not just for nostalgia. Don't treat it like it's some ethereal magical fairy.

...Okay, here's the thing: Anyone can enjoy anything whatever they like. You don't need to justify that love to anyone on the internet, especially a stranger. Keep that love alive, regardless of people tackling the thing you love with good intentions or not.

It's exhausting, isn't it? To see your favorite piece of work thrashed with good intentions or not? You don't need to justify anything to strangers. If you are friends with the person who don't like the thing, that person should deal with it. It is your love and nobody should not dissuade the love and enthusiasm. All you can do is that you acknowledge the flaws but you still enjoy the thing anyway.

This is the basic part of fandom and nerdery that had been lost nowadays. Yes, it's great that you want better rep and writing or that you want rep at all. Having rep would simply be an icing on a cake. However, that shouldn't stop the love and enthusiasm. You don't have to justify your love for a particular work to anyone, especially regarding rep. You liking something doesn't negate their hate for it. It is idiot thinking for your/their hate is better than your love and visa versa for a product. Your love doesn't negate their hatred. Find some equilibrium or just acknowledge the problems and understanding why it's hurtful to others and understand that people enjoy this work and not ignoring your pain as they understand why it's painful. Look at me, I don't keep up with interviews since I really don't bother. Unless out of boredom or research purposes, I don't generally see interviews.

Not everyone would enjoy something to the point of creating fanworks. Some would prefer just to watch the thing. My cousins don't participate in fanworks at all. One cousin really likes Code Geass while another likes Fire Emblem.

You can discuss it civilly but best be sure, that in that course, fights will ensue.

Think of it as food. For example, my cousins have different opinions about wine. Some prefer red and others white. My brother and mother love spicy food while I prefer them mild or at least have just enough flavor to them that I wouldn't be burning. Think of it that way.

Remember, it doesn't mean that you don't care about rep or progressive reforms. Channel that to the right targets, namely the ones have a major effect at large, not niches. Shipping and fandom as a whole is a niche. Think industries like porn and actually going out to vote like the ones that have a huge effect. I know people would seek out porn than a written porn fic of Spirk. Hell, I know just by people being more aware of porn than a fandom like Steven Universe. There is a reason why certain Trekkie's bad behavior is far more well-known than the sane fans. There is a reason why people placed VLD, SU, Rick and Morty, and Undertale fandoms as one of the worst there is by the incredible power these bad fans went out of their way to hurt people.

Yes, it's still important to know context and history that influenced the work you enjoyed. Yes, it's still important to understand the casual racism, sexism, etc in your favorite work. Yes, it's still important to know the -isms of today and times past to make things better in the present and future. It doesn't make you a bad person for trying to enjoy something people declared bad due to its racism, sexism, etc. You don't need to heed to strangers online about your likes and dislikes. The best you can do to these well-intentioned people is that you acknowledge the flaws and understand why the portrayal is hurtful to this group or person but this person should not ruin your enjoyment. This person or group should not dictate your or anybody's interest in this particular work.

You can still help the movement by actually participating in protests, organizations that helped these marginalized people, research, befriend, better oneself from one's racist/sexist/etc. behavior. What these well-intentioned people should not do is try to ruin your enjoyment.

Do I enjoy the Legally Blonde musical? Yes, I do. Do I acknowledge its issues? Yes, I do. And I still enjoy the musical to this day.

You can enjoy problematic works as long as you understand the -isms that exist. You can enjoy a work that doesn't even have rep at all or don't have an -isms involved. These people enjoying a problematic work does not degrade your struggles. Even if other people might not understand your struggles due to different experiences and I don't know gender and race and ethnicity, it doesn't automatically make you the best and your struggles mean nothing.

We're in a culture that consumed media rapidly and discarded it just as rapidly. We're in a culture that slams a piece of work, whether they deserve it or not, and throw it away once it served its purpose. We're in a cynical culture. I think that's why people are drawn to happy and fun superhero films. Even if we're in a culture that demanded better stories, rep somehow took so much priority that it disregarded the spirit of the work or/and enjoyment of others. We're in a cynical culture that it is truly difficult to find some truly hopeful works. Dystopias are the rave after all.

Regardless, you shouldn't justify your love to anyone about a problematic whatever piece of work. Their hate shouldn't be the priority. It is you, yourself that should take priority. You can say to them that you acknowledge their flaws. However, they don't have a say in what you like or don't like.

It can get exhausting to see people rip to shred a work you like, with good intentions and not. I get that because I just want to enjoy something like Infinity War. I can understand the legit criticisms towards the works I like, including FMA. I just want to enjoy something without justifying that love to anyone. You can bring up good points like racism, sexism, and even legit storytelling issues like pacing and tone.

I am not diminishing people who have understandable and legitimate concerns about their rep. What they don't have the right is to make sure that these people should hate the entire work too due to its hateful portrayals.

Look, people to till day still love DCU and Marvel despite its history of sexism, racism, etc. Even people who know full well as well as researching as well as moving on in the current era still enjoy DCU and Marvel. I know this because not just because of myself but because people still enjoy HTTYD and Frozen and ROTG and such and such in spite knowing many of these movies' issues.

What you and I and anybody are that you can do better than the whatever work that has problematic material or doesn't have any rep at all. If you wish to create something, it would be in the spotlight and scrutinized from top to bottom.

Look, I hate dubs that inject American things like American feminism into a Japanese work that has Japanese feminism. I refuse to ruin other fans' enjoyment. I do, however, want them to understand that these issues are still prevalent and really bad in the Euro-centric/America-centric world in the west or at least get the info out, not just them specifically. Even if they are a niche group.

On a side note, I don't like that womanizer Kirk is such a huge thing to the point it distorts Kirk's actual character, namely his feminist beliefs and how he simply courts a lady. Seriously, out of all the women he courts, I think Edith is the one he loves the most. He is an utter gentleman and nothing more but respectful to women. Ideally, I wouldn't mind going out on dates with Kirk at all. Chekov, however, fulfills that womanizer Kirk template than anyone else. Hell, out of everyone I know of the cast, he has women by his side and even made out with one in front of his captain and commander to their embarrassment. Yeah, I would like to dissuade the thinking Kirk is a womanizer when he isn't. This is what I mean by AOS falling into the pitfall as well as later Star Trek series like DS9. I'm a Spirk fan and I hate this notion of a womanizer Kirk so much. He's an anti-Bond, not James Bond. An Anti-Bond.

And I'm not using anti in the same way as people rally anti-movement against AO3 and general pieces of media in general.

I'm a longtime Spirk shipper or slash fan. And due to my knowledge of Star Trek, I'm pretty sure they're Vulcan-kissing through the glass. A passionate kiss, perhaps? Because Vulcan hands were evident even when the show was developing. Hell, in "Journey to Babel", Amanda and Sarek kissed multiple times right in front of the crew and their son. I'll be an embarrassed daughter if my parents ever kiss in front of me. Even chastely. In First Contact, I want to point out that the cultural misunderstanding happened between the Vulcans and humans. I find it dismaying that we don't see a lot of cultural misunderstandings to the point of hilarity just like First Contact. I want to see more of it in writing. 

Also, if they are just saluting each other, shouldn't they stand away from the glass and face each other that way? I'm pretty sure I saw it in other media, y'know. Like someone sacrificing themselves, saluting themselves to their commanding officer or unit before dying in a blaze. Why should they stand so close that they might as well kiss each other? Unless they are that intimate. 

Even if we can say that Star Trek was trying to find its path during the first season, there are still lots of touching going on for a Vulcan. Who was born and raised as one. Even if he had difficulty with his human half. Seriously, the touching and intimacy is such a huge part of the Spirk dynamic that it continues well beyond the TOS movies. 

Jim and Spock kissed many times. Technically through Vulcan method. And twice through glass. I'm counting AOS certainly. 

Ah, I remember watching the Disney classics when I was young with my brother and cousins. Of the movies I remember watching on TV, it's Peter Pan, Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio, Toy Story 1 and 2, Robin Hood, Mary Poppins, Monsters Inc., 101 Dalmatians (both live-action and animated), Lady and the Tramp and A Bug's Life.

The very first and my personal favorite of films and Pixar is Toy Story 2. It's one of my first exposure to Pixar and I love it to this day. Toy Story 3 disappointed me for many reasons and I always thought it was overrated just like Frozen. When Toy Story 3 and Frozen really made me settle on the love/hate relationship with Pixar/Disnsey which I don't have with Dreamworks/Blue Skies/Aardman and other minor studios. 

I know I didn't watch Wall-E on TV because I remembered watching it with my cousins and brother in theatre with Ratatouille and Up with the same cousin's family.  

Listen, my family is just as much raised on Disney/Pixar. While I have a love/hate relationship with them since Frozen and Toy Story 3 respectively, I still adore Disney and Pixar. Disney got me on the fairytale/mythology path where I am now writing. Even if the love slightly dimmed but did not cross the line to utter hate. 

What Do I Find In My Ships? Part 2

I'm not as ship-crazy as I once was. I shipped less and less these days with the exception of the ships I'm drawn to.

On a side note, I don't read or see anything regardings ships I don't like; I made it a mission to avoid fics about ships I don't like. Shizuorona is one example.

Then there are ships I can read but not as much as I would read my preferred ships. I can find them interesting enough but not enough to pursue them frequently. For example, I can read Stony and Stucky then and there but I'm not that huge of a shipper in the MCU or Marvel in general. And I'm not that huge on those two previously mentioned ships.

I can like certain pairings but never overall shipped strongly. Hell in the Persona series, I shipped Jun X Tatsuya, Maya X Katsuya, and Yu X Naoto. But even then, I am pretty blase with the rest of the ships. I honestly don't care much about ships these days.

I'm drawn to certain dynamics: knight x lord/master/whatever it's called nowadays; enemies to lovers, sometimes rivalries - notably on this one, I don't have a clue why I'm not as drawn to RinHaru yet I am towards Contestshipping. Friends to Enemies to Lovers. The recent one was when I notice my love for Suzalulu coincide with others I like which fit the type. Does Asbel x Richard count? I could count on Double Black/Soukoku as one I definitely ship. If there is a certain dynamic I like, you will guess it I will ship it indefinitely.

I have a strange notion for shipping a Kaworu expy with a Shinji expy. But not the original ship. I have no problem with the Kaworu x Shinji ship, even seeing whatever fanworks pop up for such a pairing. But I have no clue why I'm drawn to expies but not the original. For example in YowaPeda, I happily shipped Onoda with Manami.

I want to make this clear: Shipping is not activism nor is it meant to be. It's not a pissing contest of maturity or purity or healthy couples. There's something called crackshipping. I literally saw far weird and worse stuff than incest. I have seen people literally shipping people with items. You know, Cargo Ship. Even abstracts like honor. Zuko was literally shipped with honor. I found a fanfic about Izaya's jacket with Shizuo's bowties or was it sunglasses? Whatever it is, people can ship from the minuscule to the largest. Honestly, I love Zuko X Honor just from how funny it is. And that's a legit reason to ship too.

I know people who shipped because of chemistry. Because they like the tension/conflict/similarities/differences/foils. Because of anything. Ship whatever you want, regardless of what people say about it. As long as you know the canon, fanon is all the way you need. You don't need canon for your shipping. Shipping is again different from rep.

Despite popular opinion, shipping is a niche. You can tell this as far back as Holmes X Watson and fucking Batman X Robin. Even Spirk, one of the oldest slash ships out there, was treated like it's a strange thing when it popped up after Amok Time. Despite the ship wars, ships are pretty small by fandom. Look no further than fandoms like Pokemon and One Piece for example. Pokeshipping is pretty popular but people still watch Pokeani for its characters and story. LawLu is pretty damn popular but I never have seen or heard the ship taking over the entire fandom. Despite issues within VLD and SU fandoms, most people would care less about it to the point that sane shippers don't expect their ship to become canon. How about Supernatural for example? Destiel and Wincest are the most popular ships yet the ships did not take over the fandom. Instead, it's insanely wild kinks that admittedly I would prefer over whiny pretentious people who demanded healthy ships and fluffiness and refusal to explore sex. As I recall nobody held up ships like Holmes X Watson and Spirk as one of the leading LGBT movements as a pinnacle, Harvey Milk sure but not Spirk. I recall real-life people who were held up, not fictional pairings that general people either don't care/know about. Sure people can get inspired by seeing rep onscreen but when most people don't have time to catch up with media - my cousin didn't even watch One Piece until her boyfriend got her into it - then it seemed rep is simply a ripple and a reflection of what humanity thinks and imagines while the real-life people's responsibility is what generally people would know. The internet is a crucial part of society today yet from what I know most people don't generally seek out fanfiction of slash...but will seek out porn as in the porn industry. Look at me: Do I catch up with all known sitcoms in America? Not really. If there were anything wrong, I'll hear on the news and reviews or none of all since I don't seek such info. Look at China: They aren't huge fans of Star Wars - they didn't even know about the original trilogy - despite America trying so hard to make them invested in them when China prefer MCU. Do you really expect people to catch up and know every piece of media and info?

While fanworks of ships will and always pop up (I know, in the Cars fandom, Mater X Lightning is a pretty popular ship), the general fans are far more focused on the general stuff like story and characters. Even in the VLD fandom is this because people have different ideas what they want - more mecha fights, the failure to understand the mecha genre at any point, etc. As a Sentai/PR and mecha fan, VLD is disappointing. Trying to be a better Power Rangers when I have seen great entries in Sentai and Power Rangers. Trying is the operative word when they clearly don't understand the basics of Sentai/PR and mecha in general. It's insulting that Monsantos is trying to be better than Judd Lynn and Toei. I never saw Judd Lynn whined about having upgrades or even having little time in his story - it's his story from scratch and he knows it. Like any great writer, he makes damn sure that the toys were marketed well within the story as well as making them damn important. The upgrades in VLD is pointless - they don't even show them reappearance value like Lance's sword because I was expecting to see it more for Godoka's sake - and doesn't even have the decency to sell - looking at you, invisible Green Lion, an impossibility to even do as a toy. Even Saban and Disney's treatment of Power Rangers are better and still felt like the campy yet full of heart than VLD turned out to be in the end. Listen, I don't hate VLD but I get really frustrated with the writing. Sometimes, VLD would fill out an average season of Power Rangers or even worse one of the bad seasons like Megaforce.

Just as the small minority of truly toxic fans in a fandom, whose voice is the loudest, unfortunately.

But no, I honestly prefer someone who had the 'sins' of the current fandom trends and still respects other people's opinions rather than someone who had all the wholesome healthy ships and won't respect others' opinions.

I'd watch the SPN fandom destroy whatever purity bs bubbling around with their ships and kinks. Mpreg and incest would look pretty small in comparison to the wild, wild kinks I saw. Not kinkshaming at all. Whatever kinks you like, you do you. The problem was the purity bs. Look, I can read smut with an absolutely straight face. However, the purity thing was so stupid when I have been in fandom for the last decade. And that's one of the things the mindset blocked in fandom. I rolled my eyes whenever I see people screaming that you can't ship this because it's unhealthy. When that's a legit reason why people ship it in the first place.

I'm going off topic again. When it comes to modern-day fandom, it's frustrating. It's like these people have no idea what the hell was a fandom. Maybe I'll complain about one of the trends that I find really disheartening for a long time. Just as much I hate the purity bs/healthiness of shipping when shipping is supposed to be fun.

...For the record, I am waiting for the day to see academia studying the internet and fandom in the future and terms they made up for fandom activity like omega-verse. I am just looking forward to how the higher academia would explain these phenomena. Experiencing them is one thing but explaining in a scholarly manner is a different thing entirely. For the latter, I would happily watch how they would come to study and give names to such fandom topics and how it came about. Seriously, Star Trek set seeds for the omega-verse with pon farr.

I will say this to everyone participating in fandom: know your fandom history. You aren't a new thing. You certainly created trends that are good but at the same time, you had trends that are undoubtedly harmful and abusive. Knowing your fandom history makes the atmosphere of abuse and misunderstandings and pride hurt less.

Listen, I got into fandom prior to the bad trends started going on. I know that it's my personal responsibility to consume. And my fellow Millenials make me so embarrassed to even be a part of them in terms of fandom. You guys worry more about safety than freedom? Get off the internet if you are this policing about people's freedom. This American-centric worldview of an anti-movement is so stupid I laugh whenever these anti-movement people try to present themselves as the 'better' human beings. I hate American-centric movements a lot, especially when it affects other countries. It really doesn't make the stereotype that Americans only think of their own country and thus themselves over others any better.

As for me, let me enjoy my annual watch of Over The Garden Wall - a series I would watch annually in the fall - and rewatching Star Trek.

I'm especially drawn to the trust-factored relationship. No matter the time they spent apart, the current situation, the trust would still be there. It doesn't have to be healthy by any means. I just like that.

Remember shipping is not meant to be activism.

Look, my favorite Zosan fic practically began with a not-so-healthy relationship with Zoro and Sanji.

Do you see me hating on that fic or any other fics that depict unhealthy relationships?

I do want to watch dozens of musicals - not movie musicals like La La Land and Singin' in the Rain - but stage musicals. I actually don't want to watch the Hamilton musical, to be honest; the soundtrack is good enough for me because the soundtrack tells the story extremely well and my love for history would actually ruin my enjoyment of Hamilton since I would recall info that the musical dramatizes and doesn't show. Seriously, great musicals who can tell their story through soundtracks are the best ones.

But then there are musicals that I have to see just for its beauty alone like the Lion King for example. To witness the puppets and masks up close would be a magical experience. As long as I don't get to hear a Frozen reference in the play. Out of all the Disney Broadway adaptations, I want to see Lion King the most and Frozen the least. My sour feelings for Frozen would not make me unbiased even if the play is somehow better than the movie. I'll wanna watch a Galavant continuation in Broadway and Hamilton and any other musical over Frozen any day of the week. I don't want to be this sour after many years since Frozen relatively died down. I can force myself to listen to Frozen music because my baby niece loves Moana and Frozen. But the movie is a big no-no. To be honest, I'd rather watch Frozen over any bad movies. Frozen was just an average Disney Princess movie just like Pocahontas. And I complain about genuinely bad movies a lot than the enjoyably bad movies.

And speaking of movies, I wonder how the Lion King live-action will turn out. While Beauty and the Beast handled by Disney following their original adaptation tends to garner mixed to positive reviews, Lion King tended to do much better with the public at large. Given the Broadway is essentially the same story but expanded upon when some of the things in the movie hinted at, I expect Lion King to do well at least since it's helmed by the same person who did the beautiful Jungle Book live action.

Merchandise Preferences

This is just a fun post.

Aside from getting merch I will need to get the use of - pouches from makeup to tote bags, compact mirrors, kitchen stuff, etc - there are things I would make exceptions for: As a general rule, I will only get things I really like like say Haikyuu Nendoroids.

• plushies - preferably big ones like my Mochitalia and Korosensei
• Nendoroid - I preferred these over Funko pops despite its expense. I'll collect some Funko pops if I really like them. 
• Genga art - to decorate the office 
• office stuff - for decorative purposes 
• cute stuff - exempting Funko pops, I want cute stuff
• gachapon 
• DVDs/CDs - both dub and sub. If there is a really bad dub job or a really bad anime in general, I won't get them obviously. 
• Video games - obviously
• manga

Again, only the ones I really want. Probably I would clean the shelves every week.

As much as I enjoy super/real robot shows, I don't think I can keep a Gunpla. I can keep Funko/Nendoroid/plushies in condition but Gunpla is a whole other duty. I might have a kit just sitting on a shelf but I won't open it as much as I would love to. Simply, because the stress of building the dang thing is too much for me. I'll leave up in the display for all to see though.

For now, I got my part of the bedroom space and a desk space. I just have to make do without causing damage to any of the merch.

...I want this guy to be in the same level of notoriety as Tommy Wiseau and John Nguyen and Ed Wood and Uwe Boll and so many others who have sincere intentions to create movies.

I would be so happy if or when Neil Breen achieved that.

On a progressive level, he is awful. You can tell in this sociopolitical climate after all. It's not as subtle in its regressiveness like VLD is. It's pretty blatant with its sociopolitical messages. Even if it wasn't intentional - seriously, this guy writes the same story three times that I know of - you can tell it's regressive.

I like bad movies...enjoyably bad movies. Like Zack Synder and Michael Bay are good directors on technical terms but storytelling-wise, they're the worst. These two can produce action and technically beautiful scenes at their best but when it comes to storytelling, they are not the worst at it but pretty bad nonetheless.

However, they aren't on the same level as the previously bad directors who had no clue what they are doing but are nonetheless sincere about their filmmaking.

And sincerity - including a love for cheesiness and just loving in spite/because of flaws - is sorely lacking in a cynical world that we live in.

Despite Neil's obvious lack of knowledge of things progressive, people can actually enjoy his films purely out of badness value. The acting is just hilarious, particularly Breen's.

What I Look For In A Dub Part 2

I have issues with people saying dubs are bad overall. I wound up getting in a little tiff with a cousin of mine about this sub vs dub issue.

I want to make this clear: if the Japanese expectations/whatever is too pc for America, don't make to a clear obvious agenda to so-called better it.

There is a difference between Ghost Stories dub and a dub job to make Japanese expectations to fit the American agenda. There is a reason why the Chinese have a phrase for that during the Star Wars debacle.

The Japanese already had a hard time, making their voice heard regarding the social issues of feminism, racism, etc in the West. The American feminists tried to make anime more feminist at a horrible price because they are disregarding the Japanese feminist voice as in the actual Japanese feminist. Not the American feminist since they are more into that than the Japanese feminist voice.

At least the dub for Persona 4 was close enough but not that close to the actual dialogue because well the dialogue would not jive well with the West. The Persona series did indeed have great dubbing but there is stuff they entirely left out.

Disrespecting the Japanese voice in regards to feminism, racism, and other social issues are horrendous when one wanted to study the media there.

It's fine if they analyze story and character. But it's another if they are analyzing feminism in another country altogether.

Prioritizing any culture over another culture is cultural imperialism. It's fine to try to adjust pc dialogue that best not fit in the environment it's going to get dubbed in. However, don't disingenuously put your culture or ideals to make up for it. It's already a good thing that Persona 4 is a Japanese feminist product since it tackled issues like Naoto's issue in the workforce which does happen.

A Japanese product must be looked at with Japanese eyes. It's made for the Japanese market, no matter how much you say. Even if P5 was made more globally in mind, it's still a Japanese product for the Japanese audience first and foremost.

Do not do this, dubbers. There is a reason I avoided dubbed anime that did not translate the Japanese well or tried to make American issues/ideals a part of a Japanese product. The level of disrespect for the Japanese is horrendous when they are far more worried about diversity than the actual Japanese voice.

I mean people in the West paraded magical girls as girl power and what sorts of feminism when the Japanese feminists see them as restricting gender roles.

If an American feminist and a Japanese feminist are in the same room and discussing feminism, they will be yelling.

Seriously, Tumblr is already a horrible place to be to even discuss what I just said above when the West drove off the actual voices that wanted to be heard in the actual country the media was released in.

If Asia is going on the same path as America, wait, you American-centric worldview people.

The song just shows that this is perfect dubbing. It does help that Sonny Strait goes all out on his role as Koro-sensei and clearly enjoyed it.

I want the VAs to enjoy their roles, getting into the roles, no matter the barrier and the issues with the Japanese vs the west. Or Chinese/Korean/input any country here vs the west.

Like it's great that they're enjoying their roles.

Again, like what I said, I put the other culture and canon above all else. I would be confused when everything else remained the same as in the original. Again, I still don't get the Deku thing at the beginning of the MHA dub.

Christopher Sabat's performance of All Might is utterly amazing and it's clear he was getting into his role emotionally. I want these actors to give it their all.

Even if the dub was horrendous, the actors could be a saving grace with all its hamminess.

A bad dub job, in my opinion, would have these criteria:

• Prioritizing own morals and ideals over the actual product. Do not replace or try to even make up for what you consider pc in western society. Translate as best as you can into what the West can take. Look at the Persona series' dub as an example. Yeah, this is the top considering factor for a bad dub in my opinion. Whatever dubbing doesn't make the product any more feminist when you have the original. Again, let the product speaks for itself rather than changing it radically to fit your agenda. When the PR Samurai looks better in comparison even if they did not translate well into Western media, you are doing it wrong. Do not dismiss the original just because you don't agree. 
• The reason why the Hetalia dub is a bad dub, in my opinion, is because of the misinformation and the placement of jokes that did not exist in the original but clearly made with Western presumptions. It's not the same thing as Chie's arc in P4 where certain pieces would not go over well in American feminism but will in Japanese feminism. However, in the localization, P4 was successful in maintaining as best as they can while omitting details. 
• Failure to consider the context of canon (i.e. characters and plot/story). I nitpicked about the alternative reading of Deku but that's pretty small in comparison to denying the canon. This isn't adding dub-only stuff like some Pokeshipping stuff. That's small and doesn't hurt the product in any way. I'm talking what hurts the product when you have the original. Even if you didn't like the canon, you can't change it when the original exists. This doesn't also account for slight personality changes. As long as it doesn't hurt the canon, then it's fine. For example, Yuuri Katsuki's reactions and tone changed from the original and the dub but it's small and doesn't hurt the story and characters at all. 
• Dub-only stuff like add-ons is less than you think. As long as it doesn't affect the entire canon, then it's good. 
• Some plotholes due to dub-induce info are on a gray area. As long as it doesn't affect the story and characters too much, then I guess it's fine. However, if later an add-on effects, it's strange. Listen, I get Early Installment Weirdness where people are now roaring for consistency when the people writing it did not know what to do and experimenting what would do well with the public. I'm sure it's great to have a plan moving in but when it's TV or something meant to be longer and developed as it goes on, they should have that leeway at least. 
• Dull acting. I'm not talking about monotone or deliberate under/overacting. I'm talking about actual dullness that has an apparent lack of effort. It is the lack of effort, disregarding intentional bad acting, was what takes it out for me. 
• I won't mind actors having fun, knowing they are in a bad movie. I loved Hugh Jackson's acting in Pan and even Jeremy Irons' performance in Dungeon and Dragons precisely because it's great. It's great they are having fun at least. There are also those who take a bad film seriously like Dev Patel in The Last Airbender or Batfleck or Gal Gadot in BvS and Justice League. I admire their attempts to act in a script that did not offer them much to work with. Hell, I don't mind them acting far worse because they know they are in a bad film like the entire Twilight cast. The cast except Tommy Wiseau knew they were in a bad film and phoned in their performance. 
• I'm talking about directors forcing actors to not emote or overact. 

I consider the sub vs dub conflict so trite because I am far more concerned about the aspects from the original - expectations/whatever - that could translate into the west.

This goes for any adaptation. I'm kind of looking forward to American adaptations of My Love From Another Star. No idea why I'm even anticipating such a release but I am.

Probably I'll make another post for adaptation at least for me. 

Banana Fish just seemed ripe for dubbing. It takes place in New York for god's sake just like Baccano. The anime did take a while to get off the ground because the manga was released in the late 80s to early 90s and you need to know its audience besides the crime thriller genre. I know BF will be under fire in America, especially Tumblr where the self-righteous backward superiority towards all things reality and inability to deal with fandom maturely. Yeah, I am not anticipating that because I want to enjoy BF while also acknowledging its flaws. People are pushing that the flaws are the thing that should stop people from watching or enjoying a piece of media entirely. No, it's not. Like I said, all in the end, it's a piece of media that you can just avoid entirely or just take a break if you don't like it. As for me, I just want to enjoy the thing instead of people hoarding me about flaws that somehow must be the thing that stop me from even enjoying it.

Remember in part 1 where I was surprised to not hear a dub for Osomatsu-san? Well, I'm surprised now hearing plans for it. I hoped to anyone up there that the dub doesn't wound up like the Hetalia dub. If it does, even if the genre is a gag anime, then I won't have any sympathy for them.

Also, let me enjoy a really good movie here. Seriously, Jesus, Bro! is a far more superior and an actual Christian movie than anything Pure Flix and Kirk Cameron spits out.

And this is the same person who enjoyed the Channel Awesome anniversary movies. Admittedly, I found Jesus, Bro! on a higher scale with the ATFW Movie than the CA anniversary movies. I have that opinion for a while especially since I seen the ATFW movie and Jesus, Bro! before the CA fiasco even began. Remember, my first CA anniversary movie was Suburban Knights.

Now I'll probably give a personal opinion on the outcries about assholes who wanted to make a change and are seeking forgiveness. Let's make it clear: there will be people like that, murderers, rapists, etc. However, there are those who are unrepentant about their crimes.

WE DON'T HAVE TO FORGIVE THEM.

Allison Pregler isn't likely to forgive the Walkers and Michaud any time soon or in the future.

There are murder victims' families who refused to forgive the murderer who took away their loved ones. And there are ones that do.

We cannot speak for the people who chose to forgive or not.

This is a major problem I had at large with many people who say we cannot forgive assholes. When the victims and we don't really have to forgive them.

I'm not negating their bad experiences and the perp's actions. What I am saying is that we don't have to forgive them.

I'm never been sexually harassed or have a family member murdered. I have family who verbally abused me but I forgave them. For reasons I will not disclose to you all because this is a personal issue and I refuse to put any more personal info out.

I cannot speak for the victims' families who chose the thing they do: forgive or not. If they chose not, then it's okay. If they chose to, then it's okay too.

Yes, I have to say something and this is probably a controversial opinion too in the era where assholes are rightfully condemned including the assholes who genuinely turning a new leaf.

The victims don't have to forgive them.

I have no illusions about a criminal or an asshole's past. I have no illusions about a fictional character's past. I have no illusions about someone's beliefs that are definitely bigoted. I have no illusions about anybody's behavior and past.

The victims don't have to forgive them. As outsiders, we don't have to forgive them.

This is basic human nature. There will be unrepentant assholes and those who do genuinely regret their actions and tried to do better.

Even if this criminal did something good later on, the person can still choose to hate them and will not forgive them for taking away their loved ones or hurting them so much.

Designating things black and white is bad and should not be done. In this current climate, such a mindset is toxic to view in a white and black lens.

There is no questioning about oppression and past history of bad stuff. That is not the point of this rant.

The point is: The victims and their families and outsiders don't have to forgive the criminal who ruined their lives or hurt them cruelly.

For me, I'm just exhausted about the gloom in the world. I'm just exhausted that I even have to state this opinion at all. I don't want to be apathetic but I also don't want the pervaded sense of doom.

I don't want the world to end horribly. Maybe in the future, Earth would be destroyed and would not be habitable for human life anymore.

I just want a world that just has the glimmer of hope. A hope that people can get along, nations, religions, people of color, LGBTQIA+, intersectional feminism, diversity, acceptance is embraced. That such a hope existed is what I wanted the world to have, not the misery.