All art is at once surface and symbol

There's a Brad Armstrong plushie and I want it soooooo baaaaaad. ;;

It's only available until May 27th though, so there's no way I'll be able to afford him before the end of the month is over. :/ It DID get fully funded though, so I'm hoping it'll be permanently available after this? Dear god please, that'll put my mind so much at ease.

I saw a post about escapism on Twitter, and I was about to make a cynical post along the lines of "Media that preaches anti-escapism is grossly fucking out of touch, especially with how our world is right now" when lo and behold, my feed brought me art of Molly & Entei from the 3rd Pokemon movie.

Spell of the Unown/Lord of the Unown Tower is an interesting take on escapism because the story is specifically about a traumatized girl whose mother is away for whatever reason and her dad goes missing. Storytelling is not only her escape, it's also her way of processing grief. That pain, of course, manifests in physical form as crystals, which she uses to lash out against the world. Remember, she's a kid--she doesn't have the life experience or the maturity to have developed any healthy coping mechanisms. The Unown are all she has.

But I think the movie has a more complicated take on escapism than just "weh weh you can't turn to your silly fairy tales for comfort forever." If Ash and gang just gave her that finger-wagging nonsense, Molly would've shut them down immediately and everyone would be dead. Instead, everyone hears her out first. Brock and Misty battle with Molly and see her enthusiasm for Pokemon and adventure. Delia sees both sides of the situation; she knows Molly is lonely, but she also points out it's wrong to separate her from her son just to be her "mama."

tl;dr Ash and gang see where Molly's coming from, but warn her that staying in her crystal world would make her MORE alone, not less. She's terrified of being abandoned again--they promise her there's people out there who care about her, and the world is worth exploring and finding good in despite how harsh and cruel it could be. This is a lot of emotions for a kid to process, so Molly's breakdown is understandable and relatable as hell. Even Entei realizes his own existence is holding her back, and sacrifices himself so she could truly be free.

I think the movie emphasizes how important a support system is. If there's no one to provide empathy or compassion, then how else is a person going to cope with the horrors of the world? How can the higher-ups who caused their shitty situation in the first place have the gall to preach to them?

"Escapism is unhealthy uwuuuu~" Says the gaming companies who want you to indulge in their worlds, then slap you for caring about characters they told you to get invested in, then charge you for DLCs and quality of life updates while jailing you for playing mods, romhacks, and emulators. (Oh yeah, and firing all their workers regardless of how well the game sold just so CEOs and shareholders can make themselves look good and hog all the cash. It's not just the gaming industry either, streaming services like Netflix fucking love to cancel popular/successful shows out of greed. Why the fuck even work a job in this economy when you're going to get fired anyway? At this point, our government expects us to make a living by never spending anything ever again, not even groceries, because they're smug and assured there'll be replacements. Oops, ranting about capitalism again)

To get back on point, I'm looking forward to how Deltarune is going to tackle escapism. Toby Fox is one of the rare people I still trust when it comes to storytelling, so I expect there's going to be nuance. Please don't let me down, smol white doggo. ;;

I just finished watching the greatest anime of all time, Neon Genesis Evangelion. I spread the word of gospel under the cut.

( An otaku's review of the best anime ever. )

marchmetamatterschallenge

This March, not only can you write new meta, but preserve old ones to remain a part of fandom history.

A lot of my old meta and essays are embarrassing as hell, but there's a few I may like to preserve, so I made a Squidgeworld account to participate. :3

Greetings ladies and gentlemen and enbies! Today we are holding our first meeting of G.R.O.S.S. What is GROSS, you ask? It means Get Rid of Slimy Ships. And boooooooy, I know some slimy ones. Let's begin!

( Ships slimier than Nickelodeon )

You know, I love everybody in Undertale. All except one. No, it's not Jerry.

Warning: this rant will be about abusive relationships and be angry and contain a lot of swearing. And spoilers. Lots and lots of spoilers.

( Spoilers for Undertale's True Ending and Genocide Route. )

I don't know when I'm loading the Realmscon photos, since I don't have a cable for my phone yet. So instead, let's talk about Undertale.

I did both peace and genocide runs. I'm going to go indeph in spoilers into this, and Undertale is the kind of game you should NOT be spoiled for. So... play it first, okay? Then come back and hear me cry.

( Inside the labyrinth walls, there lies a tiny child who sleeps alone )

( And this child I will destroy if you try to set her free )

I recommend playing the peace run, then if you're wondering THAT much about the genocide route, you can play it up to a point... THEN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP AND RESET BEFORE YOU FACE ASGORE. That way, you'll get all the extra dialogue about what you've done that round for the next playthrough, but still have a chance to redeem yourself. You can always watch the genocide ending on Youtube. Listen to people when they say personally beating the genocide run will ruin the best ending forever. Not just in a metaphorical/psychological sense. It literally WILL.

One of my favorite things about good writing is that no matter how much you read, there's still an awesome twist out there that'll totally rock your world. I love being wrong in my predictions and being totally surprised. :D

Mermaid Swamp was like that. Goddamn. I won't look at "mermaids" the same way again. Fun Fact: I got the absolute worst endings first, and that was me playing normally. Whoops. But looking back, getting the bad endings first is how I recommend playing this game. It gives you much more food for thought by the time you get the True Ending. ( Quick spoiler for the 'Secrets' Ending )

I've forgotten how unnerved I get by bloated things floating in the water. Probably due to my family looking after sick goldfish in my childhood. The nasty gurgling sounds you hear when you enter Yuka's room... ugh.

I like that Rin is a loud-mouth, haha. XD I'm used to having a silent protagonist or someone like Yuka as the main character in RPG Horror games, so Rin's a nice change of pace. While I've seen shippy art of her and Seitaro together, I prefer them as Vitriolic Best Buds. Seems more fun that way.

I've been so pleased with Uri's games! I liked Paranoic, and I liked The Crooked Man even more. Dat storytelling, man. All I've got left to play is The Sandman, which I'll check out next time I'm disappointed with a game. :D

( Puri rants about Madoka fandom and why it is suffering. Spoilers for Rebellion of course. )

Guhhh, just ranting about this fandom gives me a headache. Now my dinner's cold. :(

This is a video Dad took of our chickens eons ago.

There's a mystery still plaguing us to this day; what kind of chickens are they? They've got these beautiful black feathers with a blue sheen, and as you can see with one of the chickens, a gorgeous golden orange pattern.

( FNAF3 Spoilers! )

I'm pretty sure it's just me, but I noticed that in certain Pokemon movies (and even games, if you think about it) that when a dysfunctional and/or tragic yaoi couple is thrown in as a catalyst to the plot, the story gets a whole new layer, and sometimes even immensely improves. For example:

1. The Lucario movie is not only about healing old wounds and helping ghosts rest in peace, it's the tale of a star-crossed couple who are reunited after a centuries-long misunderstanding. What, you mean it isn't already?
2. The Shaymin movie is really about Mugen and Zero's relationship. Zero uses Giratina to cover his frustration of being rejected/"betrayed" by Mugen, the one person who made him feel like he belonged and had a place outside of the Reverse World. Mugen feels guilty and helps Ash and Co. to redeem himself for his mistakes. By the end of the film, Mugen and Zero forgive each other and finally consummate their relationship.
3. If I had been in charge of writing the Arceus movie, Damos would've betrayed Arceus on his own volition (rather than handwave it by having him brainwashed by Marcus), only to regret it and sink in sorrow... until Ash and Co. visit him in time to give him a wake-up call, which has him sacrifice himself for the God he truly loved. Alas, that's not what happens in the movie, with or without scandelous God-on-Human romance. Because the Pokemon Anime writers suck. Thank god I ragequit before the Genesect movie.
4. Pokemon X/Y would actually have a subplot of Professor Sycamore wrangling with a moral dilemma and switching between denial and horror when he realizes his boyfriend is a genocidal maniac.

The Jirachi movie is interesting in this regard, since not only is Diane/Butler a hetship, the dysfunctional and/or tragic romance is actually canon instead of speculation on my part.

Now we just need a dysfunctional and/or tragic yuri couple, and the circle is complete.

You know, it's telling that the healthiest relationship in the above examples is the knight and his clearly-a-Pokemon apprentice. Figures.