The backlash from the trailers makes me want to see the movie (I was always planning on seeing it) and just blindly glaze, regardless of its quality, out of pure spite.
Why do Conservatives hate Christopher Nolan? Like, is it just the diverse casting, because all directors are like that?
The concept isn't new by any standard; it's been around for eons. The idea of art coming to life is a classic idea; however, it's usually portrayed as quirky and fun.
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Toons are straight-up the characters they portray in films; they find joy and comfort entertaining the humans. Even when they are fundamentally enslaved to do so. At the end of the film, however, the Toons gain their freedom after officially inheriting their native land, Toon Town.
But Bendy and the Ink Machine portrays this premise as it realistically would: horrifying. The pure existential crisis most of the characters would probably feel knowing their whole existence was just for entertainment has to be incredibly brutal.
In Bendy and the Ink Machine, most of the cartoon characters that came to life aren't actually the characters; they're just slops of ink that were modeled after them. As such, most either go insane trying to be like those characters, such as Alice Angel, or try to distance themselves from said characters, like the Ink Demon.
That's why the Ink Demon's design is so different: he's not trying to be Bendy anymore; he's trying to become his own character. Yes, I know most of the characters in the games are just tortured humans, but get the idea.
Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans!
Examples:
Examples:
Also, because I know one of you freaks will bring it up.
Mikasa: Babe, not in front of Armin!
Eren: No, I didn't mean it like that!
Armin: Wait, since when have you two been "babing" each other?
Levi: Hanji, you owe me 40
Hanji: Actually, it's 20; you bet 40 that they are dating, and I bet 20, and they banged at least once. So I only need 20.
This is some lore for my Who Framed Roger Rabbit-inspired setting, Frameworld. Where cartoon characters called Animates lived alongside humans for over 300 years.
The main villain faction in Frameworld is the Showa League, a fascist theocracy that forces Animates to conform to certain archetypes and cliches found in classic anime.
There are certain Animates that are born with special powers called Metas; the League works tirelessly to contain and gather as many Meta Animates as they can, specifically for their various experiments. The League conducts experiments on their fellow Animates, specifically when it comes to Meta powers, and is able to understand how Meta powers work.
With this in mind, it allowed the League to create the most dangerous and advanced military in Frameworld. One of their best soldiers is the Senshi Tenshi.
Senshi Tenshi are meant to embody the major aspects of what the League claims is the "perfect Animate." The regiment was heavily inspired by Japanese martial arts, Chinese mythology, and Shonen anime.
Through experimentation, dissection, and forced modification, the League created Solar Verve, a synthetic Meta ability designed purely as a weapon. Solar Verve grants overwhelming light-based powers: high-energy blasts, weaponized light constructs, flight, enhanced speed, and immense strength. Even at baseline output, Solar Verve attacks reach temperatures hot enough to melt stone and erase most defenses.
These powers make the Tenshi one of the most dangerous people alive; what keeps them limited are built-in weaknesses. Solar Verve is engineered to limit cognitive functions. Senshi Tenshi aren’t mindless, but their capacity for reflection, doubt, long-term planning, and moral questioning is dulled.
The Senshi Tenshi have become an iconic part of Showa society and are a symbol of fear and strength to all Animates and Humans in its empire; many in East Asia live in fear of a Senshi Tenshi ready to blast them sky-high, yet also admire their strength and skill.
Citizens cheer when they appear in battle footage, idolizing them as symbols of strength and divine justice. But when a Tenshi actually lands nearby, the cheering stops.
Tenshi technically can be killed; they don't really wear armor, mostly a kimono. If you catch one standing still, you can gun them down quickly. The head is the sweet spot because they usually have high pain tolerance.
This is a tactic that the Abnormals, rebels fighting the League, use many times, where they would listen to the Tenshi giving a long-winded speech before then shooting him mid-sentence.
What do you guys think of what I have?
This is for my medieval fantasy world, Latoria.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Wyverniformes
Family: Draconidae
Genus: Dracocephala
Red-Horned Wyverns are a subspecies of Wyverns, a member of the Draconidae/Draconic family. They are native to East Autonomia, in Black Spine Range, where they hunt and nest along the mountainsides and Floating Isles. As the name suggests, they are most known for their cranial horns.
Red-Horn Wyverns are often considered one of the most emotionally intelligent species of Wyverns, akin to Elephants. This also makes them the go-to mount for the Dra'Kari, indigenous human tribes that live in Black Spine.
Adult specimens average:
Like most Wyverns, Red-Horns can breathe fire of up to around 1000 degrees Celsius.
I'll add more when I fix up the drawing, what do you guys think?
I've been trying to design this wyvern for my medieval fantasy world, and one thing I wanted to try out is modeling them after Dinosaurs. I even developed evolutionary lineages to justify why they look like this.
This is the Red Horned Wyvern, which is modeled after the Certasaurus
I wanted to base my world’s dragons off dinosaurs, this breed of where’s is modeled after the Ceratosaurus. Though I guess I went a little overboard
In the film Even in the Rain, there's a scene where Hatuey, a Taino rebel fighting against the Spaniards, is burnt alive on a cross, and he and his fellow rebels chant about how he hates the Christian God. I couldn't find anything online about him specifically saying this, but I wanted to know, were there actually cases of colonized peoples seeing Christianity as evil?
From what I've learned, many pagans welcomed Christianity mainly cause most missionaries would combine Christian teachings with pagan traditions. But in other cases, people were tortured for not being Christian.
I would've assumed there was at least one guy who called Jesus "the Demon-King" the same way modern Christians call other Gods "demons."
They mentioned something about a buyer from the inner walls. Does that mean the freak who ordered the Ackermans' kidnapping was some rich noble? Is he still out there?
I remember once imagining a skit where the buyer actually did come back and tried to sue the Scouts to get Mikasa, only to realize that he basically admits to murder and kidnapping and is subsequently apprehended.
I've been working on this RPG storyline called Devil of Avalon, where the US tries to colonize the medieval fantasy world of Latoria. The story focuses on a Beastkin named David who is trying to fight to free his people.
What I want to focus on is the villains. So far, there are only three super important villains in the story.
All the different villains I've developed are meant to represent different problems involving or directly caused by colonialism.
Magnus Harker - Magnus is many things; he's meant to be a deconstruction of isekai characters, a commentary on ultranationalism, and a window into how poorly modern society treats mentally ill people. But, most importantly, Magnus represents manifest destiny and the racism that sparks from colonialism. Magnus sees the native people as inferior and in need of guidance/salvation; in flashbacks and early parts of the story, it's shown he's more passive and even interested in their culture. Native resistance slowly causes him to be more brutal, believing he is "helping them," and eventually he gets to the point where he starts calling them "Critches" or "Monkeys."
Melana Ivanova - She represents natives who work with colonists specifically for self-preservation, as her tribe has been marginalized by other sorcerer tribes, which leads to her desiring to turn to the Americans for protection. She partners with a weapons contractor to build magitech suits in exchange for land, guns, and medicine. There is also her relationship with Magnus. It's shown that the two are in a romantic relationship; however, the authenticity is left vague. It's implied that Melana is only like that to stay on his good side. There is emphasis on the power dynamic between the two, with Magnus possessing the military capacity to wipe her people out if need be.
Audrey Régis - Audrey's a weirder case. Autonomia is a democratic republic, with a government structure very similar to American republicanism. Just like in America, some political sects hate democracy. Autonomia was founded after a rebellion against a feudal empire, and many political blocs wanted to go back to that style of government. Audrey was part of a secret meeting with the Sovereign leadership and Magnus Harker, where he saw the American weapons and technology in full view. Here, he realized that the Americans could easily wipe them out with those weapons, but that his country would be unstoppable with them as well. Audrey represents modern-day imperialism; most modern powers will instead fund insurgencies and coups to usurp governments so they can have an ally who'd give them resources. Audrey also represents natives who are willing to sell out their own people in exchange for profit or power. As Audrey uses his position as head of the military to sabotage resistance efforts while starting a terrorist group armed with American guns so that he can take over the government.
McCarthy Farmhouse and Barns - The McCarthy family runs an agricultural business that seeks to profit off Latoria's unique flora and soil. This allows them to dominate the agricultural field in the southern regions. They build massive plantations, often stealing land from tribes and city-states and even using indigenous people as slaves. The family portrays itself as hardworking pioneers feeding civilization while systematically erasing the communities to create their farms. The McCarthys represent opportunists who romanticize the frontier while whitewashing the brutality behind it.
Wilson Montero - He serves as Terradyne Inc's senior executive overseeing industrial operations throughout Latoria. Terradyne was a megacorp that managed to convince the US to give them extraction rights. While still sharing some racist sentiments towards Latorians, he outright admits that he's indifferent towards the indigenous and would much rather ignore them if ignoring them was more profitable. The thing is that there is a race of Latorians called Rockana, which are living rocks that contain magically charged lithium, which Terradyne wants, so Wilson pushes for extermination campaigns against the Rockanas. Wilson represents capitalists that horde local resources at the expense of others.
Danial Smith - Danial is a general of the Avalon Militia, which are American settlers semi-independent from the US military that are fighting the broader war. He is very aggressive, staging pogroms against the Latorians, where they would lynch and massacre bystanders and take survivors as slaves for sport and pleasure. Danial represents the sadism that colonizers often will inherit when they dehumanize native people.
Tyson Beoring - A vicious ringleader who often sexualizes indigenous women and runs a comfort girl system where they would have Latorian women serve as sex slaves for settlers and soldiers. He represents the fetishization of indigenous women and the commodification of native culture.
The Empire of Illustria - This is a massive human supremacist colonial empire that becomes one of the US's main native allies. The main reason the US allies with Illustria is because they have colonies across all 10 of Latoria's continents, which the US can use as a staging ground for expansion efforts. Illustria works with the US because they want to conquer more of Latoria and permanently destroy Valindor and Autonomia, their main rivals. The empire represents the internal problems that exist among natives that only become worse because of colonizers. Throughout the story, the US exploits previously existing human supremacist views to spread division among the Latorian races. There were already intense racial divides between Latorians, which often came in the form of caste systems and segregation laws, which the US actually exploited. Their colonies often had caste systems inspired by Illustria's caste system. This caste favored human-centric races like Humans and Elves over other races.
The Empire is physically represented through Lord Georgios Metaxas, who is the Minister of Barbarian Affairs in Illustria and the mediator between the Empire and America.
General Kirai Saito - A High Elf general from Valindor who seeks to enslave American settlers as revenge for their persecution of his people. When the US invaded the continent of Illoria, it's heavily implied that General Saito's son was killed, and his wife was raped. This leads to him having an intense hatred for all Earth people, desiring to not only drive the Americans out of Latoria, but also to enslave the settlers and genocide the Earth people population in Latoria, flipping roles. Kirai represents natives who fight against oppression not because they think it's wrong, but because they want to be the oppressor. He is incredibly brutal as he feels Earth people are cold, unfeeling demons, even when presented with evidence showing otherwise. The reason the main protagonist (David) is against Saito is because of two major reasons: the first is that David is a militant abolitionist, and he just wants the Americans to leave or, at the very least, stop enslaving/killing Latorians. The second reason is that David suspects that the Empire of Valindor is just using the war as an excuse to increase its presence in the West, so by opposing Saito, David isn't just following his moral code; he's preventing another possible war from starting.
David (Devil Route) - This storyline is meant to be a video game, which involves player choices. There are two different routes: the Devil Route or the Guardian Route. You can choose if David becomes a guardian to his people or the Devil that spreads fear and terror. David in the Devil Route embodies the generational trauma that many indigenous people inherit. Due to witnessing the persecution and genocide of his people, David can have the option to let his hate consume him, and in the Devil Route's ending, he perpetuates the cycle of hate by counterinvading Earth with the intention of destroying it.
If you're wondering, the Guardian Route (the canon route) ends with the US occupation successfully ending. Still, other countries successfully launched their own portals, showing that David's fight isn't over yet.
What do you guys think of this?
Saito was around during the Warring States or Sengoku Period. During this time period, Samurai were more akin to a mercenary caste. It was the start of the Edo Period that the Shogunate tried to "civilize" the Samurai by having them be strictly a nobility title.
This might be why he's more flexible with having women, indigenous minorities, and farmers join his ranks, because he would've been surrounded by Samurai that would've had similar origins.
I can't find the panel exactly, but there is one scene in the manga where one of the characters outright references Native American genocide and the Holocaust and compares it to the GATE War, saying that the Japanese could do the same thing.
This ignores the fact that the Japanese already took part in their own indigenous genocide, particularly against the Non-Yamatos (Ainu and other groups) and Koreans.
But this makes me wonder: because of GATE's tone-deaf take on colonization, is it possible that the Falmart natives are meant to be a stand-in for indigenous groups, as if saying "they deserve to be colonized"
For anyone wondering, Pedophile-Themed Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (POCD) is a subtype of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that involves intrusive thoughts involving sexual activity towards or around children.
Since they are intrusive thoughts, that means the patient is not a pedophile, but instead they have the fear that they are one. I should say again, POCD does not mean you are a pedophile; it is the exact opposite: it means you are afraid that you are one.
Obviously, most of Itami's actions could just be bad writing or classic anime pervert, but I just wanted to cope.
Basically, Itami often shows signs of either resisting or seeming nervous about sexual activity in some parts of the series, like how he gets nervous around Rory or when he undresses Lelei for bed and gets flustered. Those could be incidents of him having an intrusive thought and then freaking out because of it.
OCD and its subtypes often emerge during times of high stress; Itami did have a somewhat stressful life.
His mother killed his abusive father, which led to her being condemned to a mental hospital due to the guilt. Itami also dropped out of college, constantly switching around multiple military training regiments, and was divorced. That plus the Ginza incident could've caused him to develop some form of OCD, even POCD.
The image above is a scene of Itami groping Rory after he saved her from the helicopter attack; it's likely Itami didn't know he was groping her, but it also could be him accidentally acting out on his intrusive thoughts...
GATE is very tone-deaf when it comes to mental illness. I don't just mean like how classic media portrays mentally ill people; in GATE's case, it's almost insanely ableist in the portrayal of mental illness (speaking as someone with Complex PTSD and Neurodivergency).
For one, Turka's PTSD is treated as a joke that basically goes away the moment they kill the Fire Dragon, and they constantly mock Pina for being stressed over the idea that the JSDF could wipe out the people of Falmart. The main reason is that if they realistically portrayed mental illness, then they'd have to push the notion that war is bad, which is something GATE doesn't want to do. So I highly doubt that they'd intentionally try to give Itami some legit form of mental illness.
The JSDF is very careful about the type of people they enlist into their military, and if a guy had some form of OCD, they would never let him be a soldier, much less a Ranger.
There is also the fact that Itami is more likely written solely as an anime pervert; he's an otaku whose favorite franchise is a lolicon mobile game, and he constantly does perv over the native women in Falmart. So it's possible what I listed weren't actually cases of intrusive thoughts, but legitimately how Itami actually is.
This is mostly me just coping, because I'm rewatching GATE for a video essay I want to make one day, and some scenes with Itami make me hate him even more than when I first saw the series. So this is me just coping.
Endeavor's father died gruesomely in a fire, just like how everyone assumed Toya died.