It‘s A Form Of Self Care

Seven major flaws in “Beastars”

I fricking love Beastars. I realy do. But I’m not gonna pretend that it’s perfect.

So here are SEVEN major flaws about this pretty great manga.

Lack of murder mystery.

I’m a big fan of crime fiction mysteries. My favorite detective is Phryne Fisher. So I looked forward to a classic murder mystery.

But Legosi just kinda… solved it.

Sure, the way he solved it was fine. But I would have liked a little more buildup, I wanted Riz to be properly introduced and be allowed to guess who the culprit was. I think Riz as a murderer is great and he is a perverse mirroring of Legosi with a burdening guilt/lack of guilt parallel… But I wanted to be given the chance to guess and wonder.

Melon is all over the place.

The thing about Melon that makes him both a god villain and a BAD villain is the fact that he is all over the place. Sort of an animal Joker I guess.

I think of Melon as a perverse anarchist. He has an ideology similar to Louis at the start of the series, just times ten. He believes that civilization is a farce and that everyone is a bunch of drooling animals playing pretend, meaning he doesn’t have to feel any guilt at all about the horrible things he does since he is just another mad beast.

But it doesn’t feel like he has a specific goal as such. He cause pain to everything around him just because he can. Sure, there is the thing about him desperately wanting to know what tasting something is like, but it doesn’t feel like a dominating factor in his life.

Not enough romance.

When there IS romantic interaction between the characters then it is pretty darn good. But we need MORE of it. I get that Legosi and Haru has a long-distance relationship since they are different places in life, but it doesn’t have to be THAT long-distanced.

Character getting shoved away.

So you like Juno, eh? You enjoyed reading about Sebun, huh? You wanna know what’s up at Cherryton Academy?

TOO BAD!

The chimera thingy.

That went nowhere. Even Kyuu was all like “forget about that!” And it also seems a bit out of place in Beastars, it’s more of a Dragon Ball or One Piece thingy where superpowers are a thing.

Speaking of which…

Superpowers.

I actually like the way hybrids were handled in Beastars, how they walked the fine line of having “powers” and still be somewhat realistic-ish. Legosi is huge and broad-shouldered because of his lizard grandpa, but he is more or less a normal wolf with the exception of being immune to poison which is a neat little detail. And Melon’s whole deal is that his body is so bizarre that it is a problem for him as well.

… But to let Legosi gain temporarily regeneration because of komodo dragon poison activating a gene AND make Melon buff overnight is… yeah… I’m at a loss for words.

Haru should have a gun.

Or a knife or take self defense classes, ANYTHING!

I...I have no words. This is horrible.

I got this comment on a story from my Other AO3 Account this morning.

(Info redacted because I prefer keeping these accounts separate but no one follows me on the side blog I have for that account.)

The story was posted almost a year ago and is relatively “popular” by my average statistics even though it has tropes and themes that are big turnoffs for a lot of people (hence separate accounts). This popularity is undoubtedly because it’s a Marvel Loki story and that fandom is massive.

So there is obviously an algorithm or a bot scrubbing ao3 statistics and leaving this comment on fics that meet a certain metric with the main character of the fic inserted into the comment.

I had a little time to kill this morning so I decided to investigate further. And y’all this is so predatory. Come on this journey with me. It made me mad. It may make you mad.

First, if you go to Webnovel’s website, you HAVE to choose between male lead or female lead stories before you can go any further. WTF?

And that’s weird, but this gets so much worse. This is basically a pay-to-read site that has different subscription models. Which… okay BUT! The authors don’t get paid! Look at that comment again. They’re promising a supportive and nurturing community, but zero monetary compensation. It’s basically, “post your stuff here so we can get paid and you can get… nice vibes?” I mean look at this Orwellian writing:

Using the phrase “pay-to-read model” in the same sentence as “qualitative changes in lifestyles for authors” deliberately makes you think that you can get paid and maybe even make a living on this website. But that’s not actually what it says and authors will not receive one red cent.

Oh but wait, the worst is still to come. In case this breaks containment (which I kind of hope it does) this is where I mention that I’m a lawyer in the US.

I don’t do intellectual property or copyright law but I do read and write contracts for a living. So I went to look at their terms of service. It was fun!

Highlights the first, in which Webnovel gets a license to do basically whatever they want with content you post on their site. This is how they get to be paid for people reading authors’ writing without paying them anything.

Highlights the second, in which Webnovel takes no responsibility for illegally profiting off of fan fic. This all says that the writer is 100% responsible for everything the writer posts (even though only Webnovel is making money from it).

Highlights the third which say that by posting, the author is representing that they have the legal right to use and to let Webnovel use the content according to these terms. So if a writer posts fan fiction and Webnovel makes money from people reading the fan fiction, and the House of the Mouse catches wise, these sections say that that’s ALL on the writer.

So that’s a little skeevy to start off with but the thing that is seriously shitty and made me make this post was that these assholes are coming to ao3. They are actively recruiting people in comments on their fan fiction. And they are saying they are big fans of the character you’re writing about and that they share your interests.

They are recruiting fan fiction writers and giving every impression that you can make money from posting fan fiction on their site and hiding the fact that you absolutely cannot but they can make money off of you while you try, deep in their terms of service which no one but a lawyer who writes fan fic and has some time to kill will read.

I see posts on here regularly from people who don’t understand how this stuff works, don’t understand that they (and others) can not legally make a financial profit from fan fiction. And there are tons of people who will not take the time to dig into the details.

Don’t deal with these bastards. Fuck Webnovel.

Flapjack noooooooooooooooooo

Recently I've seen some posts with ideas for a Coco-Encanto crossover. It gave me inspiration for making one of my own:

After Un Poco Loco was released, it became a huge success (not as big as Remember Me, mind you) which left Ernesto and Héctor with quite the amount of money. While Ernesto went to buy a big mansion for himself, Héctor decided to save half of it and spent the rest in a simple wedding & honeymoon with Imelda. Where did they go? A Colombia tierra querida, por supuesto! Let's say they were given a tour of all thermal floors and one day when Imelda was buying gifts for her family, she met Alma. What's to happen between two newlywed women? A wholesome friendship, of course (low-key with Pedro's lyrics and Héctor's melodies Dos Orugitas may have come to life, but we're focusing on the wives here). When the honeymoon was over, they became pen-pals, exchanging recipes, chismecito and pregnancy tips, but suddenly...the letters stopped coming, and Héctor left.

I know this is where everything falls apart bc the triplets are 50 and Mama Coco is 108, but ignore that detail plz

Cut to El Día de Muertos 50 years later, Mamá Imelda asks 16 years old Miguel (he was 12 in 2017) to please find whatever happened with her old friend. When Miguel and little Coco (I actually can't find a reason for letting a minor travel travel to another with his 5yo baby sister, but why not) finally find Encanto, the town has no idea what to make of the newcomers. Can they let them in? Can they let them go and risk to be exposed? The answer will lie on the Madrigal family.

I'd like it to be a story of both personal growth and Miguel and Mirabel falling in love, but I'm not sure how to make it work.

Let me know what you think!

¡ 25000 «Me gusta»!

Por un lado me hace feliz, por otro lado me pregunto que dice esto de mi vida social...

So... AO3 has been (hopefully) temporarily shot down. By homophobic/racist/(probably fake) religious supremacist hackers

.

..

...

Or hate it, nothing in between.

I'm feeling real numb rn. I was reading a zutara slow burn and miritama angst and you can't leave me like this 😮‍💨

this is the only valid twitter thread

#starco #cleaved #starvstheforcesofevil

Many people on this new fandom have the audacity of demonizing Alma without even trying to look deeper into her story. Tell me, have any of you:

•Had your hometown burned to the ground and escaping within an inch of your life. Probably lost the rest of your family to the flames?

•Ran into the wild unknown for weeks while making sure your newborn triplets are all fed and healthy while constantly checking your surroundings and provisions, having little to no sleep?

•Had the love of your life stabbed to death in front of your eyes and being physically incapable of doing something, not only for the mere shock, but also to protect the lives of your children?

•Been saved by a miracle out of nowhere, and whoops! You, a newly widowed with 3 children, are now the chosen leader of a community of hundreds of terrified people?

•Had no option to give your beloved a proper funeral? Had no way to express your grief, pain or fear for the responsibility and image bestowed upon you can't allow any cracks? EVERY. SINGLE. THING. YOU. DO. is going to affect the people around you. You're the one that holds the magical candle. You have to be strong, for everyone, for the people, and for your offsprings

•Had no idea how to relate or help your magical 5yo, having no other guide but your gut instinct? Consider:

-One of your daughters can't feel negative emotions, otherwise someone will get struck by lightning. Better to teach her to repress feelings

-Your son seems to predict only bad things. Self-explanatory why people doesn't like him. Also, he strongly resembles your dead husband

-Your other daughter now has to wake up before the sun rises to make tons of healing food. There's no break, and you can't stop her from helping people. Why would the miracle give them gifts, if not for aid the community?

•Wrongly believe that your family's role in life, the only reason you were saved, was for helping others; and slowly accommodate and settle in that lifestyle. Silently burying your troubles behind a smile. Years start passing by, your daughters get married and you get grandchildren. The town gets bigger. Everyone has to work harder for things to go smooth

•Suddenly had one of your granddaughters turn up giftless. Why? What does this mean? The people are panicked, you're at lost of what to do. You can't move, just like that time many years ago. You ask your Brunito, the only sort of lead you have for an explanation, and he disappears, not even saying goodbye.

•Feel like you have to make up for it, like this is your mistake. You already lost your husband and son. You're not going to lose anyone else. You have to take control.

•No idea what to make of Mirabel. She made the candle flicker. Could she be a threat to the magic, to the family, to Encanto? It can't be, she's innocent, isn't she? But Luisa loses her gift. But the marriage proposal is ruined. But you finally get the explanation you asked ten years ago. But the cracks are appearing everywhere around Casita. But Isabella's plants invade town in middle of making amends with the Guzmán. But her perfect grandchild is a mess. Once again everything is chaos, and you're angry

No, you haven't, and it shows.

Does it justify the harsh treatment at Mirabel? No. Neither does it justify your attempts to dehumanise her.

DEATH

TO

BLOND

FERRETS!!!!!!

Thank god Hermione didn't kill herself after hearing that people ship that abusive toxic trash with her.