We Analyze Golden

I analyze media for a living. I write stories for a living. I make opinions for a living. I want views and likes on my work.

[catgirl-kaiju]

i find it very very telling that people immediately started going kiwifarms on gooseworx right after the final episode of tadc dropped on yt and the reveal that fan favorite character Jax has been a closeted trans woman this whole time, radically recontextualizing everything about her and her actions. everyone in the fandom has been completely fine with other queer representation in the show, even Zooble who is also trans representation, but i guess a complicated and flawed transfem is just a bridge too far.

i don't care about old social media posts that have coincidentally and mysteriously "resurfaced" following the outrage of transmisogynist fans. you clearly missed the part of this where Jax is reflective of Goose's past behavior of using edgy and harmful humor to play the bad guy and push people away in order to cover up the fact that she is a trans woman. you missed the part where Gooseworx has explicitly grown past that kind of behavior and Jax is an exercise in extending empathy to a past version of herself who was trying everything in her power to be uworthy of love and care. you fundamentally do not understand the art you are a fan of.

Gooseworx's ban by @staff is transparently due to harassment by transmisogynists attempting to turn her into a "controversial figure" for "ruining" their favorite edgy jokey rabbit "man" by revealing she's been an edgy jokey rabbit woman this whole time. i will block anyone attempting to justify this ban. i do not want those who would enable such an obvious transmisogynistic witch hunt to interact with me or my content. fuck off.

[destinygoldenstar]

You can create a piece of art that has things not everybody agrees with, without being labeled as a terrible person.

But I guess that is foreign to people. Fucking hell.

[destinygoldenstar]

Why do I imagine they’re setting up a Steven Universe Future-esque character arc for Sora in KH4?

(Probably not but it’d be funny if I called it)

We agree Sora is a masker and a people pleaser, right? He’s been since the first game with the advice Donald gave him to smile his way through the trauma he endured. Absolutely not saying Sora’s happiness was never at any point genuine, at some points it is. His reason for fighting as a keyblade weilder is to protect his loved ones after all. But it’s quite often the default emotion for him in the midst of all the chaos going around him.

“My friends are my power”

And that is a good message don’t get me wrong. Nor do I bring any argument that ‘oh it’s bad to be happy actually’, not at all. Just that this is a baseline that can be expanded on.

And KH3 KINDA made the idea that if your friends are your power… what if you’re alone? What do you do then?

And Sora… did NOT react well to that. And it’s not even out of nowhere that he believes he’s worthless when he’s alone, he’s confessed to looking up to Riku for example. KH3 didn’t really do too much with exploring that because, well, it was right at the end, but now Sora has taken it so far as to put everyone else before himself at the cost of his own place in this world.

Leaving him going into KH4, well, ALONE.

4 can very easily expand on this by addressing this flaw in Sora’s character. That he suppresses his negative emotions for the sake of trying to please and protect everyone around him. (Not unlike Ragatha lol) And considering he’s alone now, and the Organization had (somehow) followed him to that realm, it is quite possible that Sora’s original motive doesn’t work here, gets taken advantage of, and he might actually get tempted by the darkness, maybe even succumb to it.

(Sora himself as a boss fight?)

But I highly doubt that’s gonna stick. Riku went after Sora and Kairi and Sora are linked by the paopu fruit. I think one of them, or both of them, are going to save Sora. (Not unlike how Steven Universe Future did it, just in keyblade gameplay format) And after being rescued and experiencing what masking has done to him and his self esteem, Sora can allow himself to just… be honest and break. And get a hug.

Which I think that has potential, not just for a whole other layer to Sora as a character, not just for the series growing up with its audience, not just for expanding on the themes of the previous games, but also it would be a genuinely good message both for kids and adults (or old fans and new fans depending on who you ask). That while being positive and helpful is great, it shouldn’t come at the cost of yourself in any physical or mental way. It’s okay to look after yourself. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to acknowledge you’re traumatized. It’s okay to say you’re not okay. Because if you can’t help yourself, you can’t help anyone.

“Your friends are your power” -> “Be a friend to yourself”

But hey, just food for thought and it’s just a theory. Watch this not be the case at all. I’ve been wrong when theorizing before.

[destinygoldenstar]

Next time I witness a shitload of people state that a female character with established flaws is a terrible character and ‘garbage representation for women’, I will pray that someone retaliates by creating a film with the most evil vile and irredeemable female protagonist they’d ever make in their entire career.

(Partially joking)

[destinygoldenstar]

Criticisms I see a lot that I can never stand

“They don’t act their age”

It’s not age. It’s lifestyle and background. Anyone any age can act any way depending on how they have experienced the world. Not to mention a million other factors.

“It’s too cheesy”

What’s wrong with cheese? It’s fiction. Have fun.

“A message about friendship and kindness is what makes a story childish because that’s an irrelevant message for adults”

The MLP characters are adults. But putting aside that, this makes it sound like adults are just have to be miserable. Because what, do you just stop having friends or making friends when you become an adult? Is kindness never something to aspire to do? There’s quite a lot of gain for adults to reexplore ‘childish’ messaging. But why we are flanderizing a moral about kindness love and friendship to being ‘just for kids’ is beyond me. Hell you can add more adult perspectives to that message like what to do with bad people, or bad friends, what to do when you end up alone, etc.

“Bright colors = childish”

Right, because being edgy and grey and dull is what’s super smart and brilliant

“Unlikeable character = Bad character”

They just have to be interesting. Interesting can mean either likeable or unlikeable

“Villains should never win”

They can, and in some stories it’s a valid route to take

“This support character with a supporting role is not a main character”

Speaks for itself

“No plot = bad story”

There’s a difference between plot and story. Some have a plot structure others have a structure elsewhere

“It should’ve gone this way”

Depends. Make an AU. Creators intended the story to go the way they wanted, not what you wanted. You could say they could’ve done it better, but respect the intention.

[destinygoldenstar]

Which Future Glitch Show Are You Excited For The Most

The Gaslight District

Knights Of Guinevere

Gameoverse

Remaining time: 6 hours 9 minutes

[destinygoldenstar]

Bro why am I crying…? 😭

[destinygoldenstar]

Some design concept art for my OCS

Akari Hoshina AKA GoldenStar, the Sun Guardian

And Yuna Harutsuki AKA Sliver AKA Crescent Knight, the Crescent Moon Guardian

Also they’re supposed to be an explicit romantic couple, take that what you will

[notdeezy]

Today is the day to post this

[destinygoldenstar]

Nine Writing Advices I Don’t Like

“Characters, especially protagonists, have to be likeable to be good characters” - Very limiting to the variety of stories that can be told and can stress the writer into ‘softening’ their characters flaws in fear of people not liking the character. Both Likable and Unlikeable characters can be interesting, which is what I think is a better word to use

”Write what you know” - Again, limiting. And impossible for variety. Do research, get to know different kinds of people. You can write a lot of things, even beyond your personal experience. I’m not saying DON’T write what you know, just there’s merit to not knowing as well

”Don’t be cheesy” - Hey cheesiness is part of the fun and charm, man. There’s nothing wrong with that

”Telling is bad” - In some cases, yes. And show don’t tell is good advice. But to say ‘don’t tell period’ is where I think the point is missed. There are some cases where telling can be genuinely appropriate. A character who feels the need to say what’s on their mind, a piece of lore the audience needs to know, or dialogue revealing aspects of a story or character. It’s not all about showing don’t telling, it’s also about deciding is it natural to tell in this moment, and if the answer is no, resort to showing

”Flat characters are bad” - No they’re not. There’s merit to a character that stays the same throughout the story. Maybe they’re a support, maybe they’re the support to others development, maybe they carry a purpose outside of changing in character. There’s multiple reasons why a flat character can work

”First POV stories are bad” - It’s a format. There’s a lot of merit to that format and being in a characters headspace. Ever played a video game in your life? More often than not, you have a character that is the player, and you are experiencing the story from their perspective

“Cliches are bad” - Cliches are human. Who cares? So long as you’re not doing the cliche for the sake of doing the cliche, it’s fine

”Don’t make your character too powerful, they’ll be Mary Sues” - What makes a Mary Sue is a character that is powerful AND have nothing going on outside of how powerful they are. (And on top of other criteria’s) It is absolutely possible to have a character who can obliterate bad guys and still be a compelling character. Maybe their struggle in the story is ego, or something else internal

“The ending is the dictator of your story” - It’s the journey the story takes, not the destination. Don’t get me wrong, endings with insane twists or ones that recontextualize the entire meaning of the story are some of my favs too. But there’s nothing wrong with having a straightforward ending everyone is expecting. You don’t have to do a cartwheel, you just have to run across the finish line and not face plant. The more you stress about the ending, the more you feel the need to try something fancy and if you screw it up, it will be what people remember over the rest of your story

[destinygoldenstar]

Internet loves to hate. It’s what Internet does. You can’t avoid it.

But when it comes to media and gaining fans of your work, I will say that it’s so much harder to hate media that you can tell has a lot of earnestness to it. If the story the creator is telling is coming from an earnest place, people naturally would be a lot more lenient. Doesn’t invalidate the objective criticisms, but subjectively you win people over more that way. Like, you can have people say that objectively, there’s some writing problems or it’s just plain badly written. But you will still subjectively have fans of it because they like it, because it’s an earnest work.

And I would say it’s easier to tell when something is earnest when you can be immersed in things like its charm, its tone, its style, its voice, dialogue sounding like something that creator would say, and especially themes that are executed so personally from the creators heart and/or personal experiences. If your audience can see those things, better chance you have fans.

Bottom line is, you should write what you want first and foremost. Yes there’s objective writing skills you have to learn, but I promise you, as long as you’re earnest about what you’re writing, it will resonate with someone.

Just don’t blatantly rip off, go for any route of being ‘universal’ or ‘objective’, or ‘marketable’, and you’re already avoiding a chunk of haters you’ll have. *cough*

[destinygoldenstar]

I would make a ‘If TADC Was A First Person POV Novel from Pomni’s perspective’ fanfic for sure. Just to prove my points that Pomni is fantastic in her role for reasons people don’t think she is.

But idk if anyone would read that cause it would literally just be ‘canon TADC in book format limited to one characters perspective and the occasional added original scene’

[the-amazing-and-strange]

Istg, everyone in the amazing digital circus fandom has the media literacy and comprehension skills of a toddler. Cuz wdym after gooseworx confirmed that C&A shut down because of Caine, everyone is mad over the fact that it wasn't explicitly stated in the show?

First of all, the conditions surrounding C&A never really mattered. Remember episode 7? The one that made you think that C&A was some evil corporation to trap humans in a digital world for experimentation that ended up being a red herring? I don't know about you, but it seemed like that episode was trying to tell the viewer that all of the details about C&A were never important to the overall story.

Aside from that, who do you genuinely think would've been able to tell the cast that C&A shut down? Because the brain scans of all the C&A employees were from before Caine went rogue and the company shut down, and Caine never really got access to what was happening in the outside world until he reached that random wifi signal in the finale. No one in the circus would've known why C&A shut down, and there wouldn't have been a sensible way for them to find out why.

Finally, it's not that hard to put 2 and 2 together and think that, when Caine went rogue, absorbed the blue ai, and started messing with all of the computer's files, that would've been a reason for the programmers to abandon ship and give up on making a creative ai, which was the main goal of C&A. This show isn't meant for babies. It doesn't have to put all of the information on a platter for you. It's okay to have a few blanks that you have to think about and fill in yourself. The same thing goes for trans Jax deniers who think it was forced just because she never looked directly at the camera and said, "I am a trans woman." I'm not saying that the show or the finale was perfect, but this is a really stupid thing to get upset over imo.

[destinygoldenstar]

Not to mention while nobody goes in front of the camera to say “C&A was abandoned”, C&A being shut down IS explained in the show.

Pomni mentions exploring abandoned buildings. Gee I wonder where she found the headset.

Kinger was part of the crew that worked on Caine. Alongside Scratch, Queenie, and all those others. Then it’s YEARS of a gap in between Queenie’s death and Ragatha arriving, probably because C&A wasn’t taking brain scans anymore. Why not? Hmm, maybe it’s because the project got abandoned?

Yes, C&A being abandoned is established in the show, it’s just subtle dialogue and implications with the timeline. It requires you to think.

You have so many people saying “TADC says the subtext out loud” “TADC tells and doesn’t show” “TADC has no subtext”, and yet you have MULTIPLE instances like this where it’s either show don’t tell or it’s subtext, I can name a lot more at the top of my head, but you will have these people say “Well it wasn’t told, so it’s not canon and it’s not established.”

Like what do you want?! Do you want the show to show more and tell less or vice versa?! It drives me mad.

[smallfightercat]

Correct me if I'm wrong but, isn't abstraction in tadc a metaphor for suicide? I feel like that reading of it became even more reasonable after episode nine, not less, and yet I see people saying that Jax deserved to abstract when I know that at least some of y'all would never say this about a character who died via suicide.

It kinda screws with me because I have no way to really know if someone who's saying "Jax deserved to abstract" simply doesn't understand the metaphor or if they're just screwed up when it comes to victims of suicide who have happened to do bad things.

Because, guess what? Not everyone who goes through so much pain that they kill themselves is gonna fit your standards of morality. Not everyone suffers in the self isolation or people pleasing types of ways that y'all seem to see as more morally right than other forms of self destruction.

To a video title I saw recently that said something along the lines of "this is why Caine deserved redemption and Jax didn't"-- it wasn't about that. It's not about deserving.

Jax abstracting was tragic for the reasons that lots of suicides are tragic. Jax could have grown and improved and found a life in the circus that actually made her feel genuinely good. Jax's abstraction was not her 'getting what she deserved', it was a tragedy.

And I'm in no way invalidating Jax's victims by saying this. I can see Jax's behavior as terrible while still sympathizing with her issues. I'm not a 'Jax defender' in the way lots of people would say that. She did horrible things and it's okay to say that.

Just please realize who you could be affecting when you heavily imply that after a certain amount of bad things done, people deserve to go through so much pain that they resort to suicide.

[destinygoldenstar]

There’s no such thing as a perfect victim.

[destinygoldenstar]

[nebulanomz]

What a fucked up ad even if I was expecting it. Now, it's filling my brain with the idea that Caine has a fear that the cast might abstract. And then checking on them to make sure they're alright, omg 😭🙏

The Caine figurine showcases how he 'abstracted'/turned monstrous in episode 8 is so sad he's LITERALLY BEING SURROUNDED BY HIS TOXIC THOUGHTS NOO

[cosmic-nia]

“I don’t want to go.”

god i hated the way you can just hear the pain, fear, and regret all mixed together in that voice of hers, along with her eyes widening a bit afterwards like, yeah this is it. its the end, she’s gone. she realized too little too late, and there really is no coming back from this. and theyre scared.

as someone who has a fear of death, this honestly unsettled me a bit😭💔

[destinygoldenstar]

Post series Pomni got in a polyamory with Gummigoo and Ragatha. Trust.