#bulletpoint thoughts

[tabby-shieldmaiden]

I’ve decided that I would like to try and write Shonen with Women. Like that one popular tumblr post talking about it. There’s a handful of close-enough cases. But there’s not tons and tons such that you can have something for everyone. I would like to try and write something like that.

And I have decided on a list of things which I should try to engage with, so that I can get somewhere within the vicinity of ‘Shonen with Women’.

The first thing is, obviously, Shonen animanga. I want to try and engage with some of the ones which have like. Female leads. Notably big casts of women. At least 60/40 ratios. I’ve watched Soul Eater and JoJo part 6, and I may rewatch or reread them. I’ve watched Chainsaw Man, and I think I really should read it. I should look at some of the other big names too. I think I’ll get to TTGL and Demon Slayer both for social reasons (friends who like it and who I can talk to about), and because they are short in comparison to some shonen. But some of the longer stuff does interest me. In particular, I have an interest in Naruto, both because to some people, it does seem to symbolise some platonic ideal of ‘Shonen animanga’, and because it is notoriously known for poorly handling its female characters. I think it would be interesting to try and play around with it, therefore.

The second thing is just. Miscellaneous other works which fall under ‘boy-targeted action-adventure story with sff elements’. Which is what most people mean when they talk about capital S Shonen. Like, ‘shonen’ is a demographic, but capital S Shonen is a genre. Most of these works which aren’t animanga are Western works, in particular North American works. This is partially for social reasons, because I have friends who I can talk to about superhero cartoons and miscellaneous other ‘boy’ targeted media. But it is also because I think it will be interesting to compare and contrast and see in what ways things differ, and what ways they stay the same.

The third thing on my list are magical girl media. This is for interest reasons and social reasons. Also, it’ll be interesting to compare and contrast. The escapist heroism fantasy for boys vs the escapist heroism fantasy for girls. What ways are they the same? What ways are they different?

The fourth is like, fringe cases. Things people hold up as ‘Shonen with Women’ already which aren’t quite neatly magical girl. RWBY (which I have previously watched) and Worm (which I have not read) fall under here. But if there’s any more things which are like this, I will keep a lookout. RWBY wasn’t really for me, but I do want to rewatch it all at least once so that I can stew on it and what it does a little more. 

It’ll also be good for me to look at some other SFF works too, since so much of this sort of media has very obvious fantasy and science fiction elements to them. I still won’t read Lord of the Rings though, simply because too many people said that I had to read Lord of the Rings. I couldn’t even sit through the movies. My Mom was watching The Two Towers in cinemas and I think she had to leave midway because I decided it was time for me to be born*. If I ever had a natural disposition, it may just be disinterest in the goings-on of Middle Earth.

The sixth thing is like. I would like to know more about leftism. Economics, certainly, but also. Feminism and queer rights, postcolonialism, disability theory, and all sorts of other readings. This is for personal reasons, to become a better activist. But also, I feel like I will have to be prepared to think about what I see. I need tools to be able to look at the media and dissect it, and see what wasn’t working there, and how I can take things and put them in my own work and make them more informed. If I were to write Shonen with Women, I will have to put some work into it to really make it stand out. I think a part of that will be grappling with all the uncheck assumptions that tend to be put into this sort of escapist media, and seeing if we can escape to better places.

Especially since so many works in my chosen genre are written by white or Japanese men, and I do want to write more obviously Southeast Asian fiction (in the sense of writing informed by the region’s history and culture). I think I will read postcolonial writings and feminist writings and Southeast Asian history and mix it with thoughts on all these other stories. I’ll start small. Learn about my country first. Then the direct neighbours. Learn about the whole region. Then on to South Asia and China and other Pacific Islanders and any other peoples who have had shared histories with the region. And I will keep learning more and more and keep jumping down rabbit holes. This is for my own curiosity, to understand where I am, and how to move forward. And hopefully, because these things are on my mind, they will mix with my animanga and action cartoon thoughts, and it will blossom into something worth writing about.

And of course, I will need to go get more life experiences. Learn more things about the world. Engage with non-fiction. Do things which aren’t fiction related. This is also an important part of being a good writer period. It’s not all about media consumption. It’s learning facts about science and going out with family and friends and learning new things, and having all those experiences fuel my writing.

So yeah. I guess that’s it. My list of things I will try and engage with in order to try and write Shonen with Women. My current WIP isn’t quite it. My next WIP idea may be closer. I don’t have a third long-form one yet. But who knows. Maybe after engaging with all these things, I will find something that I can say, while also saying it by writing women battle each other in dramatic, magical and/or scifi-ish fights. 

*Either that, or it was before or after the movie. They were not very clear telling the story.

[tabby-shieldmaiden]

Series of somewhat related thoughts that are on my mind but I can’t seem to synchronise into one thing, so here they all are in bullet point form.

I’d recently watched this documentary about how Lego developed their Journey to the West themed IP as a way of breaking into the China market. And it’s like, interesting. But I guess I don’t feel super jazzed about the whole thing even if I enjoyed the cartoon that was made, because both Legos and Journey to the West have always just been around since I was a kid, and I do know that this is all effectively a way for a company to make more money, at the end of the day.

Some stuff from the documentary stood out for me though. Like, mostly because this was all very framed as Westerners trying to ‘understand’ Chinese people and Chinese culture. It’s pretty clear who the assumed audience of the documentary series is. And I kind of want to see how a Chinese team would make such a documentary.

There was also the fact that the Chinese executives were very much framed as like upholding ‘the standard’ for Chinese cultural products. Which does raise some questions in my mind. Namely, how do we define who is Chinese, and who gets to be the ‘gatekeepers’ of Chinese culture? It’s a group which encompasses over a billion people. Which standards and ideological wells are these executives drawing from?

In particular there was talk about how they wanted to portray Mei. She was included to balance out the (still very male-dominated) gender ratios, and to ‘modernise’ the story in that regard. And she did get some notes about irreverence/impoliteness and how that may be jarring to Chinese audiences. Which is like. Hm. So this is something I think about a lot. Something something Singaporean Chinese autistic woman with an interest in feminist thought and action, as well as writing female characters.

Kind of want to take a look at how other Lego properties write their female leads, the ones aimed at a ‘western’ audience. See what the differences are. (Mei seems a bit more respectful of her ancestry than average, is my current impression.)

There was also a comment about how initially Sandy (the Sha Seng stand-in) came off as a little ‘feminine’ at first. That was a note that the executives wished to change as an attempt to appeal to Chinese children (boys really; their test audiences were all boys). Which is like, interesting. Coming from someone who is familiar with what the local queer community does, I know for a fact that Journey to the West themed drag is very much a thing. (Granted, they tend to riff more on like, Tripataka/Tang Seng, and Sha Seng is deemed as more ‘masculine’ these days, but still...!)

The thought of picking up drag or crossdressing is coming up to me again. Should I do Sha Seng themed drag if I ever do?

It was interesting watching mostly white writers trying to ‘portray’ Chinese culture. Doing all this research. Going to China and getting their scripts reviewed over and over again by Chinese executives. In the sense that when I watched the cartoon with my retired Primary School Mandarin teacher godmother, she did say that the cartoon ultimately still felt very USAmerican. (And I was with her on that lol, it still very much felt like it was drawing on the trends and traditions of that genre of work more often than not.)

I also recently read this article about cultural authenticity by Vietnamese-American Som-Mai Ngyuen. And some points that were made in the article being fresh on my mind + the documentary talking about trying to authentically represent China is well... making me feel a certain way I can’t really put to words.

Incidentally I’m reading a book about Chinese factory workers published in the 2000s. China’s moving away from that now, and the race to the bottom means that a lot of Western companies are looking for work in different countries. Like Bangladesh and yes, Vietnam.

Lego has at least one Vietnamese factory coming up. It’s apparently carbon neutral and costs a billion dollars. They’re using biodegradable sugar cane plastic now. Who’s farming the sugar cane?

It’s a good cartoon and I had fun with it. I watched the Mandarin dub. Should I watch the English dub? I kind of want to. Maybe some day my Mandarin will be proficient enough such that I could compare and contrast and see how the experience differs.

It’s very emblematic of a lot of things still. A lot of things.

I should read like Beowulf or something and try to see if I could write something weird with it.

I dunno man. These are all just brain noises, and I guess I am only one perspective on these things. I hope someone gleaned something interesting from my thoughts though.

[tabby-shieldmaiden]

Truthfully though, it feels like wanking about whether fandom is more or less focused on xyz category of people has become kind of a waste of time. Speaking from the POV of a woman enjoyer in particular, I feel like some of my final thoughts on the matter though, are:

Man enjoyers are a diverse bunch. The group trying to ship two guys together in a migratory slash way are going to be a different group than the people who have a particular type of man they enjoy rotating around their head are going to be different from self-shippers are going to be different from people who enjoy male characters only if they are significant characters in a work of fiction. And I think when people get defensive is when we complain about one group (ex: migratory slash shippers) and people who ex: tend to gravitate towards fictional men because they tend to be the ones with important roles in fiction think we're talking about them.

People want to be validated. They do want to know that they're doing okay and that they're allowed to do things. I think people get this way about women (and characters of colour, and disabled characters, and and and) because it's the effect of capitalism on time and identity. People on here care about not being (or at least not appearing) sexist/racist/ableist. Consumption has become a shorthand for a lot of people (at least middle and higher class folks, and the truth is fandom has become a very middle class space) to tell others who they are. Especially with the pressure of time and capitalism, time which they could have spent 'improving' themselves in some way but is spent enjoying themselves in some way that doesn't 'improve' a person has become a vector of guilt. To alleviate the guilt, there tends to be two ways to go about it: argue that what you're into for fun is inherently progressive (even if it's largely just silly yaoi fic), or try and get validation from people who at least appear more progressive that what they're doing is okay (in this case, man enjoyers lightly making fun of themselves being really invested in men on posts made by woman enjoyers venting about trends in fandom they see).

It might be good to make woman enjoying seem more appealing. I try to do that. Don't know how successful I am though. I just do whatever and hope people get interested.

It is also equally good for people to try and expand their horizons. Like, why limit yourself to the familiar? It's good to try and leave your comfort zone and explore what more the world has to offer. To reference another post, there is, after all, a world outside of Marvel movies, Superwholock, and shonen anime.

I feel like I may be the wrong person to talk about this sometimes. I have willingly engaged with a lot of dumb boy-targeted action cartoons and mid-tier anime with questionable decisions related to their handling of women in them. And yet, despite it all, I remain a predominant woman enjoyer. I feel like whatever advice I have to give to people who have difficulties with it may not be very helpful ultimately, because I am just an outlier about how I consume media.

'Well-written characters' do not exist in a vacuum. A character that's well-written in one context may end up being not so in another. Genre, personal preferences, personal pet peeves, personal experiences, and more heavily affect how characters are read too. I think when people say well-written character, they mean it as a character that makes them feel a certain special way. And what gives that feeling for people heavily varies from person to person. Which is to say, discussing whether or not the issue is how many well-written women are on television is not going to be productive. Statistics only matters insofar as getting more of everything. Everything else, ultimately, is based on subjective opinion.

[tabby-shieldmaiden]

I guess while I’m waiting for the show I’m watching to load, I’ll try and break down some more of my thoughts on RWBY in bulletpoint thought form.

I guess I didn’t end up being fond of it ultimately because the pacing felt off and a lot of the endings were rather disappointing to me. So like, there’s that.

Yet I still do have a lot of positive feelings around the show because like. I watched it with my best friend when we were in secondary school! It pulled me out of a creative slump because I started to make OCs. And that was the point where I realised I didn’t care about being cringe creatively. A bunch of positive things ended up getting tied to the thing for me, so I do still have a lot of positive associations with the show.

I also feel like. I really don’t feel any need to hear people’s thoughts on why they think RWBY is bad? It’s usually the same things said over and over as if they were new thoughts. 

I also feel like, on some level, it does feel like people are a lot harder on bad media that does try to have more woman characters in it? Like, obviously people dunk on a Sword Art Online, but either I’m crazy (which I may very well be), or people just seem more malicious with RWBY and other things in similar veins.

I also feel obligated to defend it as an aspiring Shonen with Women writer. (New reason to the list, but hey.)

Like that post I reblogged a while back said: it takes risks in a way a lot of modern media doesn’t. And sometimes those risks pay off, and sometimes it doesn’t. But it’s still something, at least.

Vol 4 was my favourite Volume.

I don’t feel any need to read rewrites. Mostly because on some level I think I am developing a personal aversion to the concept of fan rewrites? Of course people can do whatever they want forever. If someone wants to tell me about their fan rewrite for whatever, I am also open to listen and hear them out. But it’s like... it’ not something I actively seek out and want to engage with, I guess. I feel like if I attempted anything like that, I would end up trying to file off the serial numbers.

I think I may want to engage with it again in the future to stew on what it is and how it relates to the concept of Shonen with Women. But like, probably not in the near future.

RWBY Chibi is still the best thing in the world.

[tabby-shieldmaiden]

I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out how to phrase this thought out for a bit too long, so I’ll just write out my thoughts in bulletpoint and hope that they can get strung into some thing more coherent at a later time.

Transformative fandom gets a bad rep by a number of different people, and a lot of the ways they poke fun of these fans tends to be misogynistic and queerphobic.

Most of the jokes are targeting m/m shippers and self insert girl x male character fandom. Mostly because they are the most visible part of fandom.

It’s fine for such people to wish to spread positivity amongst themselves.

Yet I feel like they tend to be seen as the ‘default’ mode of transformative fandom participation? At least to the mainstream, and among themselves.

A lot of the grievances of more female-character centric fandom spaces may be on some level linked with that fact. The fact that prioritisation of male characters is seen as the default in a lot of fandom spaces.

I don’t want to take out this frustration on fellow fans.

But on the other hand it is a little invalidating to hear people talk about how yuri and femslash is for the male gaze and how being horny for female characters is ‘fetishising’* by default and how it’s hard to be invested in female characters and/or develop them. Because like... I do that.

Like, fandom isn’t just shipping m/m in well-worn romance tropes. It’s lovely when that’s what you’re looking for, but it’s a lot more than that too. And I am a little tried of it being presented as the default by both the for and against fandom crowds.

And like I read Fangirl back when I wrote fanfiction and I realised that I didn’t quite relate to Cath in terms of being a fangirl. And I wonder sometimes if the reason why Rainbow Rowell made a Baz/Simon fangirl the protagonist of her story about fanfiction culture is because that is one of the most visible images of a fanfiction author, rather than a Penelope stan or a Penelope/Agatha enthusiast (both of which I was and am more adjacent to in terms of my fandom participation).

I remember the bit where Cath was thinking about not reading a lot of Baz/Simon because she didn’t want to be accused of plagiarism, and she instead read Agatha/Penelope and Penelope focused gen. And I was like, what’s going on with those author’s lives? I wanna know what their stories are and why they write what they write!

Maybe I am a little jealous? Or maybe I just want approval?

Maybe I’m just scared about how my origfic will be received.

I dunno man. I just dunno.

A post like this gets made every other month by my side of fandom. I need to say something more interesting.

*Word that I’m putting on the shelf btw.

[tyrannosaurus-vex]

zootopia thoughts etc under the cut

god they’re all sooo cuuuuuute

clawhauser!!!!! cute lil buddy!!!!

that cute lil wedding scene was so delightful

i guess the predators eat like fish/poultry? so they can still be predators without eating mammals

mildly disappointed to not see bird people but there ya go

how do small animals not get constantly stepped on? it’d be like living in a town of well-meaning godzillas

rabbits: they breed a bunch, but apparently have a normal human lifespan. that’s too many rabbits!!! don’t they have to worry about overpopulation??

having the desert biome by the tundra biome seems like a huge energy waste. wouldn’t you have the moderate rainforest in the middle??

also: why was the rainforest so unsafe! people live there you guys! maybe have some railings or nets or something

how did the fox become a cop if he spent most of his life as a petty crook. p. sure the police care about that?

anyway i told myself i wouldn’t ship the rabbit and the fox but dang it! they helped each other grow and become better people!! that’s my favorite!

overall: this movie didnt make me a furry, but it was still very enjoyable

[tyrannosaurus-vex]

i finished fallout 4, insomuch as you can finish that game. level 60 and one of the endings is good enough for me. thoughts/spoilers under the cut

i said before that nick valentine alone was worth the price, and I stand be that. if i could play a game that’s just “you and nick valentine are pals solving mysteries and righting wrongs” i would be 10000% happy (but I guess that wouldn’t really be a fallout game, huh!). anyway i made sure he was with me in the end.

and all his dialogue is perfect. source: go listen to some clips, jerk

Other companions, rated:

Hancock: Delightful! I like his backstory/why he became a ghoul, his “fuck da police” mentality, his stupid costume. Ended up romancing him, but boy, FO4′s romance system is super weak.

Deacon: what a great party dude.

Danse: damn buddy being a sweet-ass synth couldn’t save you character for me. weird he didn’t start having second thoughts about the brotherhood after that, but whatever

Curie: Very French.

Strong: Haha boy I dropped him as soon as I was able to.

MacReady: Meh.

Preston: added here because oh yeah, he was a companion option? eh.

Cogsworth: Huh, actually, i never ended up hanging out with him? Well, he was my delightful buddy in Sanctuary, how about that.

Dogmeat: Good boy. I wish he could’ve been the optional third companion a la New Vegas.

Cait: No thanks.

Piper: eh.

Endless fetch/murder quests: awful! why! I sunk hours into them before realizing, “no, you don’t have to do this to yourself”.

Favorite quest: Shoot, probably the Silver Shroud one? Kent is precious, and it was fun being that embodiment of nostalgic hope, or whatever.

Final confrontation with Father: ugh, why wasn’t there an option to go over the various moral outrages I have with the Institute?? Basically all that was offered was “gosh you have a lot of enemies, figure it out” and “go to hell”. No thanks!! give me my impassioned speech about the rights of non-human persons, please. or the option to play that one clip from TNG. what do you mean there was no TNG in the FO4 universe. >:[

The ending: I ended up siding with the Railroad because people fighting for the rights of non-human people are A+ in my book. Still, I guess I was hoping for more of a “side with nobody and/or what if we didn’t do mass murder, maybe?” optional ending. again, probably wouldn’t be a real fallout game if that was the case! anyway, it was nice to have my robo-son in the end.

overall: nick valentine / 10 stars.

[tyrannosaurus-vex]

Ghost Trick bulletpoint thoughts

spoilers; nothing thought-provoking here

“he was a cat the whole time” PURE PLOT GOLD, OMG

the plot was friggin convoluted, but at least it was cohesive and made sense, which i couldnt say about certain ace attorney and professor layton games.

even with the magic meteor.

detective cabanela was on point. i thought they were going the damon gant route, but naw, he was just a cool, suave dude. nice.

detective jowd: kinda weak, imo. “i didnt kill this guy, but i totally would’ve, so that’s why i deserve to die.” all right there buddy. “better go to jail and leave my daughter parentless instead of blaming a home intruder or just investing in a child therapist or something.” mmhhhmmmmmmmmm.

who hangs a loaded, functional gun on the wall. the low point in the plot for me.

everybody had pretty good character design, i was pleased.

i loved lynne and cabanela’s ridiculous rooster haircuts

missile is such a good lil doggie

god i love time travel bullshittery so much. Old Missile was a solid reveal.

favorite of the secondary characters: flower head lady and panic dance man. least favorite: the filthy hippie.

props to yomiel for being stabbed in the back and having his lower body crushed by a giant rock yet still living/not being paralyzed for life.

overall: Good, Enjoyable, Would Recommend