You ever just start randomly missing koro sensei or are you normal?

Proudly not normal.

I don't miss him! Because as far as I'm concerned, he's always with us. Forever.

The world is fucking terrifying right now.

I can’t do much to ease your fears, but I’m here if you need a warm Autistic Auntie hug and a hot cup of chocolate.

This blog is pro-choice, LGBTQ+ inclusive, and hate-free.

So sit down, wrap yourself up in a handknitted blanket that smells like a good memory, and let’s just be good in all this bad.

We reject the world’s reality and are perfectly warm, safe, and comfy in our own. That way once all the dust clears and outside world has collapsed, all of us on the Spectrum shall inherit the new world!

Worth reblogging. For no particular reason.

I LOVE SPIDER-MAN 3 AND I'M SICK OF HIDING IT!!!!!!!

Same, except that I've never hidden it! :P

Random thoughts based upon this post.

As the beta build of Pokémon: Black/White shows, there was originally a difference in Ghetsis' characterization. He originally was supposed to lean way more heavily into the self-righteous religious hypocrite mold: he truly did believe Pokémon training and the whole system around it being evil and wrong, raised N to believe the same, preaching against in in public, and sought to have it abolished by conquering the world and instituting his own system that hypocritically was far more harmful to people and Pokémon but Ghetsis is deluded into thinking it's good and just since he thinks he is good and just. In the finished product, Ghetsis has shifted toward being more of a politician than a pastor; he doesn't actually believe in the system as a moral wrong and only fools others into thinking it is to advance his own agenda: seeking to take over the world to satiate his insane narcissism.

Now of course there is a debate going on if the Ghetsis we could have gotten was better, or if the one we got is preferable. Proponents for the former say it would have made Ghetsis both more interesting and more frightening, which is fair enough - after all, the most frightening version of Ghetsis is the Pokémon Adventures manga version that re-incorporates the religious quality into his character even if largely as motifs rather than anything fundamental. Where I draw the line are those who also say that the beta version would have been better because having a villain who doesn't actually believe in the morality of what they're preaching somehow cheapens/betrays/ruins the story and its message / undermines N as a character.

I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it: this is bullshit.

First of all, let's purely focus on beta Ghetsis. His character archetype can be done very well, as I have noted with Disney's Frollo and Emperor Belos / Phillip Wittebane. The problem is...

....Well, just read that beta dialogue again!

"I will not yield although I am surrounded by the forces of evil!"

"How befitting for I, the hero of justice who will rule the world!"

"Why, why, WHY? Why does everything go the evildoers' way?"

It's just "I'm good, you're all evil!" over and over and over again.

What made the likes of Frollo and Belos work, beyond better-written dialogue, is that we actually get insight into their psyches, we are shown why they hold their hypocritical and extremist views and why they have a psychological need to double down on it when faced with adversity and opposing viewpoints. Frollo spent his life trying to be the most pious religious devotee there could possibly be, and doubles down when faced with realities that contradict this position. Belos murdered his brother over his religious beliefs, and now must double down to avoid admitting he was unjustified in committing the mortal sin of fratricide.

Ghetsis in the beta build doesn't feel like that sort of character. He feels like a strawman, namely of the PETA types who have long attacked the Pokémon franchise over the training and battling system. It's literally a character sharing that exact moral stance, framed in a religious way, who is themed name-wise, design-wise, and action-wise after the Devil. An embodiment of evil yelling that everyone else is evil while doing evil. He feels less like Frollo and Belos, and more like Oliver Crangle from the Twilight Zone episode "Four O'Clock".

And with that said, I turn back to the Ghetsis we have. Not only is the deceptive, cruel, narcissistic politician angle more realistic and relevant than ever given our current real life political situation, but he still succeeds in the exact same contribution to the story and its message / N's character as his beta counterpart: he is the moral's antithesis. He represents inflexible intolerance, the refusal to stop seeing things in black and white terms and accept other points of view. He may not believe in the Pokémon liberation cause he espouses, but he still does believe in himself. He's perfect, he's always right, he's the strongest and smartest and best-suited person to rule the world and dictate what everyone else does. The larger point wasn't him raising N to believe in Pokémon liberation, it was him raising N to be that same sort of person...and N ultimately not becoming it. N still retains many of his Pokémon liberation-based beliefs; what he no longer does is try to force them upon others and not consider others' beliefs on the matter. He is open to a dialogue on the matter, which is the exact opposite of Ghetsis who feels like there's no need for a conversation on anything because he believes he already has all the answers...and suffers a mental breakdown when he is unable to enforce those answers on other people and make them bow to his genius.

So as to where I stand on the matter: I'm glad that we ended up with the Ghetsis we did.

Yeah, Team Plasma was already sort of pushing their luck right out the gate with their white knight aesthetic and "liberate the Pokemon from trainers in the name of equality and justice!" crusade, as that marked them as the fourth "Team something-or-other" to be people using criminal means in the name of "good intentions" or a cause they feel is right and necessary to change the world for the better, and who act all self righteous about it, even when that's as drastic a departure from what Team Rocket was as it gets. Their leader being a fiendishly evil, devilish looking pope figure whose view of morality is so out of whack that he justifies himself, his cause, his deeds and his vision for the future as being innately righteous while deeming everyone with opposing views and differing ways of life as being the "evil" ones would've crossed the line into being just plain comical. And I get they'd be going for a Frollo, Belos, Light Yagami or Zamasu type person, but I can't imagine Junichi Masuda and the people writing the game for him would possess the talent to pull that off.

The Ghetsis we got instead was more like Colonel Muska from Castle In The Sky and Haido from the second Naruto movie - a self-obsessed, power-hungry madman who disguises his true nature and ambitions with a facade of moral superiority, dignified civility, and pure intentions, and knows how to play politics to his advantage, manipulating unknowing people to the furthering of his evil scheme. And who knows what a bad man he is but doesn't care because he believes he's perfect and it's everyone else who is lesser, and he will refuse at every turn any avenue for opening his mind up to seeing things any differently. This characterization, and how through it he was able to draw more like-minded, selfish and exploitative thugs into Team Plasma along with all the true believers, is what I believe saved Team Plasma's concept and made it really work, so like with Team Flare, I'm overall thankful they didn't go the initial draft's route.

I think this page from Pokemon Adventures sums Ghetsis up best:

^ Absolutely. Satanic, psychopathic narcissist who wants to be seen as a holy, perfect saint.

Porygon Was Innocent: An epileptic perspective on Pokémon’s “Electric Soldier Porygon”

On December 16th 1997 Pokémon made international headlines when their latest episode, “Dennō Senshi Porygon”—now commonly translated as “Electric Soldier Porygon”— caused 685 children to be taken into hospital by ambulance due to seizures, blindness, and convulsions. The event was dubbed by the Japanese Press as “PokémonShock” (“Pokémon Shokku”), and launched an investigation by the Japanese Government into what had happened. When discussed the story usually ends there, just a fun way to conclude a listicle of banned anime episodes, or an explanation to fans as to why Porygon has never had a major role  in the main anime since. But there is far more to the story of Pokémon’s banned episode: a story that includes a model train enthusiast from Birmingham, England, and a little mouse who got away scott free. 

As an Epileptic, I’ve been very outspoken about my opinions on the increased use of strobe lighting effects in American cartoons. Even today with movies like The Incredibles II, the use of flashing lights and red lighting effects has made a lot of cinema not only inaccessible but potentially deadly for many viewers. Yet people have accused me of being a hypocrite: why do I continue to love Pokémon? Surely if I had conviction in my beliefs, I’d refuse to watch the show that caused all those children to be taken to hospital! My response often surprises people. That, in my personal opinion, morally speaking, the animators were not responsible for what happened. That Porygon was, in fact, innocent. 

Read it at Anime Feminist!

Favorite Takes - Marvel/Spider-Man

Where I cite my personal favorite non-source material (so film, TV, and video games only) adaptations of some comic book characters.

Favorite Takes - DC

Where I cite my personal favorite non-source material (so film, TV, and video games only) adaptations of some comic book characters.

FUCK

One Villainous Scene: Enough To Feed A Whole Army

It's serendipitous that this one come not only as Winter Is Coming, but also soon after the final episode of The Penguin, as the scene in question pulls a similar thing to what the events of that episode did.

Episode 14 of the first season of Vinland Saga, titled "The Light of Dawn", might just be the most uncomfortable episode in the series, and in any anime series. Rather oddly centering heavily around a bit character who never matters in the series narrative ever again beyond this particular episode and what it sets off for the following one, it reaches its climax when the viking army that Thorfinn, Prince Canute, Ragnar, Priest Willibald, and the rest of Ragnar's men are accompanying - y'know, our main characters - arrive at Anne's village and raids the place, rounding up all the villagers to force them out into the snowy cold while the vikings ransack all the houses to check the grand total of all supplies in the village, particularly the rations.

Only Anne managed to flee to safety but is watching what befalls her family and neighbors from a distance away. We see men, women, children, and even crying infants, all people who have done no harm to these Danish invaders whatsoever, huddled outside. Askeladd has determined that the village holds enough food for 50 people to last the winter, which comes up short for 104 soldiers. After chiding Willibald for an earlier display of defiance towards him and making a threat on his life should he do so again, Askeladd's attention is turned to the villagers as one pleads with him to let the villagers keep half of the food supply, with the other half being forfeited to the Danes. He even plays the "I have a baby!" card as an appeal to Askeladd's humanity. Only no such humanity seems to be moved in Askeladd, who dryly responds "A baby? That's rough." A stern, cold-blooded Askeladd announces to the masses that he has put all of them into consideration, and looks to ensure that none of them have to worry about going hungry during the winter...or for any winters to come for that matter. He intends to release them from their suffering, by ending the lives of all of them. Every last man, woman, and child.

At the protest of doing this to innocent civillians, Askeladd replies with only stone cold rationale - if he were to let all of them live but banish them from their home village, he'd have no food or drink to give to them that would sustain them out in the winter's cold, as he plans to keep all of the village's food and make it last for as long as they're able to stay there before winter fades, and should any one of them escape with their life, they'd be able to tell Thorkell and his forces where they are (which is indeed what ends up happening with Anne after her survival btw). As such, they all must perish. Askeladd's already had his warrior flunkies dig deep holes in the snow-covered ground to cram in up to 62 dead bodies. "But these people are Christians!" Ragnar protests. To which Askeladd gives a literal, word for word "So what?" Askeladd belongs to no conventional religious faith, and he doesn't let beliefs, affiliations, nationalities, gender or age set for him any standard of who he can or cannot shed the blood of without hesitation should the cause of the moment call for such blood to be shed. Which this moment does, as he's keen to remind Ragnar: this is what's best for Prince Canute. So with no more questions to be asked, Askeladd issues his command: "Kill them."

The massacre that follows is appalling and horrific to behold, even though very little of the butchering is shown on-screen. But what gives it its horror isn't what's transpiring, but how and why it is, and by who's hand. Askeladd is the true protagonist of Vinland Saga's Prologue Arc (its first season in the anime) in many regards, and we've followed him up to this point and continue to follow him even afterwards. The insights into his past and how it shaped his present character, the glimmers of deeply held convictions, motivations, and beliefs we get out of him that offset his usual devil may care attitude, his badass warrior spirit and charming personality endear him to us and allow us to be invested in his actions that drive the plot forward. He is in fact so charismatic that the viewer will likely be so enraptured by him to the point of wanting to follow him, of wanting to root for his success, of disregarding or perhaps even forgetting the basic fact of who and what Askeladd is, which is what he's always been from the moment we met him: a remorseless, merciless, spiritually detached, machiavellian and oftentimes cruel mass murderer. He's not a man, he's a beast. He knows he's a beast, and he laments it only as often as he relishes it. The same man capable of murdering Thors in such a despicably underhanded, craven way is of course capable of ordering the bloody massacre of an entire village full of innocent civillians under rationalizations of taking life and butchering bodies when such evils are deemed "necessary" by him. He feels nothing about seeing people all the way down to literal babies get dispatched of swiftly but no less brutally and painfully. To him it's all just part of how he lives his life being the man he is and doing what a man like him does. But to us in the audience who've by this point bonded with him in a way and have come around to trusting, supporting, and liking the bastard, this moment comes in like a knife in the back or through the throat to serve as a wake-up call that pulls no punches. We see Askeladd and his viking crew through the eyes of non-players not affiliated with them and who know nothing of them that we've gotten to know, and it reminds us of the ugly truth of what callous, barbaric, inhumane monsters these people are to others.

And just as disturbing? The silent complicity of Thorfinn and Canute. They're a part of this too. They also own it. The blood of the innocent soaks their hands as well, even if neither one lifted a single weapon against a single villager. This is where the path you follow Askeladd down inevitably leads, and it will weigh on their souls forevermore.

One Villainous Scene: Despair, That's All.

Danganronpa: The Animation is a one cours anime adaptation of Trigger Happy Havoc: Danganronpa that does exceptionally well at packing in the overall story of the VN while streamlining events and cutting down on things that could not be replicated in this format, and it really probably works as well as it does solely due to Seiji Kishi being the director of the thing. Moments in the show managing to outdo the source material is a rarity, but it did happen at times and it's especially true of this scene which closed out the series premiere.

Monokuma appearing before the Ultimate students and telling them they need to be properly motivated if any of them is to resort to attempting murder in order to escape Hope's Peak Academy plays out the way you'd think it would, but the shift comes once everyone is in the AV Room. In the VN, the video Makoto watches of his family has this hamfisted voiceover narration from Monokuma and it ends with a promise that answers to the questions poised by the video will come on Graduation Day. The anime, meanwhile, goes for a far more effective horror approach - there is no voiceover, the family is there giving their greeting one moment, then the next they're gone and the room's been torn apart and vandalized. Makoto's reaction and the change in score and atmosphere speak such volumes that no narration is needed, and we can see other students reacting to whatever their videos entail in very similar ways all around. While Junko likes to be very showy with her despair-inducing antics, for motivating her peers into possibly contemplating and committing murder, a simple, almost banal way of unleashing desapir into their systems suffices much better. Like the tiniest, most not complicated way of setting off a chain reaction of messy pain and suffering.

As Sayaka is having a total meltdown, Kyoko is one of the few who's keeping their heads, and this is when the anime decides to relocate what was in the VN a throwaway bit in the caffeteria to this scene as a way to really conpound how crucial this is as an early turning point. When Monokuma reappears on the monitor, Kyoko asks him straight up "Who are you really? What are you getting out of this?" Turning the matter of motivation back around on the Mastermind. Of course Junko is all too happy to answer the question, so through Monokuma she responds first with mockery and then abruptly drops every single pretense of playfulness and whimsy as she answers: "Despair. That's all I want." (Or in this dub "My payoff...is your despair!", made equally effective particularly by Greg Ayres' malicious delivery.)

It's at that mention of despair that Sayaka succumbs to such despair, running out of the room in a vain effort to find any possible way out of this building, away from this situation, away from that goddamn bear and his sick little mind games. Makoto tries to talk her out of it and give her hopeful reassurance, but all Sayaka can do is break down into sobs, collapsing onto Makoto as she wails in anguish, which doesn't do a lot to reassure Makoto. Rather than relocating to a classroom, soothing Sayaka's spirits and calming her back down fairly easily and then getting interrupted by Monokuma making dirty sex jokes like in the VN, we stay in the hallway in the anime, and Sayaka's crying is soon joined by a second noise - Monokuma doing a jeering, unflattering imperession of that crying. While many of the students stand in silence in the halls and a few others remain seated in the AV Room, Junko goes full ham on the fake crying through Monokuma before she can't anymore and it transitions into giddy, cruel, absolutely malevolent laughter. Monokuma's evil cackling is the last thing we hear at the zoom-in on his face as Episode 1 ends.

A perfect way of selling the twisted horror and despair of what Junko Enoshima has in mind for all her friends at Hope's Peak Academy.

Ghetsis and Iris figures are live on the US Pokemon Center site.

Please, give us the other villains too. I want a Cyrus and a Lysandre. (I did already buy the Ghetsis.)

One World Under Doom 1 (2025) by Ryan North & R B Silva

Cover: Mike Mignola (variant)

Given the world we're really gonna live in come 2025, I'd gladly take Doom's instead!

A different meaning of “blood money”

tell them byakuya based on that one image I don't remember