#that seems like such a perfect way to set up a character arc about Gray Wing's enabling as a massive flaw to confront

[bonebabbles]

All arc long, we have seen Gray Wing not be treated like the real father of the kits he raises.

Five books, and we're now on the sixth and last of this rancid arc.

He is not referred to as Thunder's father outside of the closing line of Book 1 when Clear Sky abandons him, CLEAR SKY is, even ENCOURAGING Thunder to go connect to "HIS FATHER" in Book 2. Even if he was, he's a TERRIBLE parental figure. His constant enabling of his shitty brother winds up driving Thunder into a place where he is abused, and subsequently a near murder at the First Battle which Clear Sky causes. Even post-"redemption arc," after Clear Sky slips back into emotionally abusing his son, just like before, and Thunder leaves him for a THIRD time, Gray Wing screeches at Thunder to "STOP SULKING" and fetch the man who has maliciously attempted to hurt him at every opportunity.

Gray Wing is also not treated as the real dad of Turtle Tail's kits. As soon as he spills the beans to a domestic abuser on where his kids can be found, Tom the Wifebeater kidnaps his children and tells him he's their dad in Book 3. This gets their mother killed in the process, and from then on, TOM is treated as the father they're desperate to know and avenge. Sparrow Fur even laments about how he's their father so if the Clan doesn't like him, they don't like her either.

In Book 4, after Tom the Wifebeater gets his redemption death saving his daughter from a mauling Clear Sky allowed to happen, Gray Wing even says to Owl Eyes, point blank, "I'm not your father, am I?"

Owl Eyes has to DANCE around outright telling him that, no, he is not on the same level. Then he learns of Tom the Wifebeater's death and is so upset he cannot visit what might be his sister's death bed. Even though he only met Tom once during a kidnapping.

Gray Wing was not treated as their dad. He is seen as less than a father by all the characters, AND the narrative, even for the kids he raised from birth.

The only one of these four children that he seems to have a positive relationship with and is described properly is Pebble Heart.

But now, after pissing away 5 books of setup, because they're going to kill this character off soon, they start wanting to collect on what they didn't establish. On what they downplayed for drama and angst.

His fridge wife comforts him in a dream about how he's the perfect boy and Everyone Loves Him.

It doesn't matter that Gray Wing was functionally a terrible parent who's put Thunder in danger by encouraging (and even forcing) a connection to Clear Sky, or that he's been shown as having what I can only describe as "unrequited parental love" for these kits, or that "blood" and biological parents have been exalted for FIVE. BOOKS.

People will read this LAST book, Path of Stars, and conclude DOTC has great messages about adoption. That death scene is just soo good it's going to flush the rest of the arc down the drain, I guess.

#I also can't find the post I made on when he starts barking at Thunder for being a bad rabbit hunter #And Thunder snaps that he's tired and been hunting all day #And Gray Wing keeps yelling at him until Thunder snaps 'You don't always KNOW what's best for me!!' #i just... i cant believe it never came back around #that seems like such a perfect way to set up a character arc about Gray Wing's enabling as a massive flaw to confront #You Dont Always Know What's Best #Both as a response to Clear's abuse being dismissed as 'he did what he thought was best' AND Gray feeling it's Best for Thunder to know him #Nope. Can't say that Gray Wing has any flaws at all ever. Everyone loves him and he's soso perfect. #dotc hate #bones reads dotc

[andypantsx3]

something in the water | 2 | shouto x reader

pairing: Todoroki Shouto / Fem Reader

length: 5.2k | 2nd of 6 chapters

summary: As a future marine biologist, you’ve scored big on your final internship: a summer in the tropics, researching the waters off the coast of a lush, sunny island. But what you thought would be all beach days and piña coladas turns out to be the revelation of a lifetime when you haul in a handsome merprince, and discover not everything in these waters is quite as it seems.

tags/warnings: mermaid au, interspecies relationships, mating rituals/courting behavior, (sort of) case fic, aged up characters, eventual smut, fem pronouns/afab reader

series masterlist

You stared at the man in the water, your mouth falling open.

The snorkel mouthpiece dropped right out of it, leaving a wet streak down your chin. You quickly tore your goggles back off, convinced the glass was somehow distorting your vision.

The man in the water blinked back at you. His eyes darted over your body quickly, twin flashes of color, as if assessing a threat. You could see his left eye was the vibrant turquoise blue of the surrounding waters, the right a dark stormy gray, like the clouds of a tropical storm. His hair was as evenly-split as his eye color, snowy white on the right and a fiery red on the left, slicked back from his face with ocean water.

And his face. His face.

He was easily the most beautiful man you had ever seen, and you felt the breath punch out of your lungs just looking at him. His mouth was so soft and sensuous, his nose high-bridged and sweet, at complete odds with the strong, masculine sweep of his jawline. A pink scar circled his left eye, somehow intensifying its color.

Every single one of his features were so precise, so symmetrical that a shiver went up your spine, and something about the way they all fit together had all the lights in your brain flickering out, one by one.

And then his perfect, plush mouth moved, shifting suddenly into a vicious snarl. He let out a hiss, the likes of which you’d never heard before, and your vision seized on a set of very sharp canines set into the sides of his mouth. Incredibly, inhumanly sharp canines, that was.

“Holy shit,” you said, your focus snapping away from his mouth as a long-fingered hand came up to grasp the net over him—a hand tinted a deep crimson red, tipped with pointed claws. Your heartbeat kicked into your throat, and your gaze traveled under the water, down a powerful chest and across a long, sinuous, red-and-white flecked thing that was most assuredly not a pair of legs.

And that’s when you realized.

This man was not a man.

“Oh my god, oh my god,” you breathed, stumbling back from the edge of the boat. Your foot caught on the upturned plate, sending you sprawling over the back seat to land hard on your ass.

A snarling hiss sounded over the side of the boat, accompanied by a slapping sound, and another wave of water arced up over the side.

The slap of water to your face helped you return to your senses, and you realized he—or, it—the thing in the water with the human face was caught in your net, and you had no idea what that meant for him. Some species needed to swim to keep oxygen-rich water flowing over their gills.

And just because this guy–er, creature–had a human face and hands didn’t mean that’s where he breathed from. As you thought this, the sounds of his thrashing grew even more panicked.

You grabbed the seat you’d fallen over, hauling yourself upright, and crept to the edge of the boat, receiving another wave of water in the chest for your troubles.

You unhooked one of the emergency oars along the side, shoving it out to draw part of the net back towards you. The creature in the water hissed again, eyes snapping to the movement of your oar, and he seemed to try to retreat from it as far as the netting would allow.

“I’m not gonna hurt you, I’m not gonna hurt you,” you chanted in a squeaky, panicked tone that you were sure did nothing to calm him. “Oh my god please don’t hurt me back. I’m gonna get the net off you,” you promised him.

He thrashed harder, those blood-red claws swiping at the oar as you managed to hook it through one of the holes in the net, and quickly drew it back towards you.

“Oh my god, oh my god,” you moaned as a claw raked a deep gouge into the top of the oar.

You wondered for a wild moment, if you shouldn’t just leave him, run back to the wheel and start the boat as fast as you could. You wanted to be as far away from those claws as possible once this dude had been freed.

But another look at the panic in his eyes as he thrashed about told you you couldn’t. Not if it meant this creature would potentially drown. You carefully reached out a hand, grabbing the net off the end of the oar.

“Okay, I’m just gonna pull this up until it comes untangled,” you said, though it didn’t look like he was hearing you at all. He leveled another snarling hiss in your direction.

A lightning bolt of adrenaline shot through you, numbing your hands, tingling down your spine. “Oh my god come off of it, asshole,” you said, in a wild moment of insane bravery. “I’m just gonna let you out and then I’m gonna drive away and literally never, ever come back here.”

He cast a long look at you, blinking, seeming to calm for a second. Then he made a motion towards you, those claws reaching out again, and you bit off a scream.

“If you try to take my hand off, I will use this oar on you,” you promised him darkly. “I will knock all those sharp teeth right out of your mouth, do not try me.”

The creature paused, blinking again, those heterochromatic eyes flashing up to yours.

You watched him in mutual shock, your hands shaking on the net.

“Uh, okay yeah. Can you understand me? Probably not but, uh, good. Calm,” you said, trying to sound coaxing. “I’m not gonna hurt you, uh, unless you hurt me. Right? Totally no reason for anyone to do any hurting out here.”

The creature’s tail beat, but he made no other movements, even as you raised your hands again, drawing the net upwards so that it started to separate. It tipped him over a little bit, and he spun in the water like a burrito coming unrolled.

You had to stifle something between a horrified sob and a laugh. You kept up a stream of inane commentary in the lowest, calmest tone you could manage, which wasn’t very calm or low at all. “Okay, looking good. Just a little bit more. And we’re definitely not going to attack each other when this is over. I’m just some random biologist and you’re just some random, uh, sea guy…Which is very cool and normal…”

To your surprise, however, he let himself be rolled gently, until finally the net came free, and you quickly hauled it back over the side of the boat. He whipped back around to face you, and you took a startled step back, fumbling for your oar.

“No, do not come over here. Your face is very handsome and I would hate to break every single bone in it,” you said, waving the oar at him threateningly.

He just watched you, floating there in the water, staring weirdly.

You observed him, waiting for any sign of movement, the both of you entered in some strange marine standoff. But he made no further moves, and you thought if you booked it, you might just be able to get out of there without getting your eyes clawed out.

You hurriedly dropped your oar and clambered for the front of the boat, throwing yourself at the throttle and gunning the engine. The motor rumbled to life again, completely deafening, and you quickly steered the boat back the way you’d come from. Water sprayed out behind you, leaving a thick white bubbling trail, under which you lost sight of the man in the water.

He didn’t seem to follow you, however. You hightailed it all the way back to the main port, barely managing the appropriate docking knots with your shaking fingers. You threw yourself back onto the dock and raced ashore, your heartbeat only kicking back down once you’d made it safely onto the main street, where groups of tourists were poking through gift shops, queueing outside the various food and juice vendors, and chattering at the tables outside the open air restaurants.

You stumbled all the way back to the inn, a journey roughly fifteen minutes longer on foot than by jeep. Yu caught you on your way in, coming back from the office with a cup of iced coffee in hand, and she frowned as she looked you over.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, kid,” she said, pulling down her sunglasses. You watched her brow furrow in thought.

“No!” you said quickly, though why you rushed to deny it was beyond you. “No, nothing like that just—one of the nets was shredded and I didn’t think to bring a spare.”

Yu’s frown deepened. “Shredded?”

You nodded. “Yeah like something—uh, or someone—cut through it. It was totally done for.”

Her gaze sharpened over the tops of her lenses. “Someone?”

You swallowed, the memory of heterochromatic eyes and claw-tipped fingers flashing before your eyes. “Um. Yeah maybe. It didn’t look to be um, a shark or anything. It was torn too cleanly in too many places.”

For some reason Yu looked excited. “Like a diving knife? You think it could be Sunfish?”

After glimpsing those wicked claws yourself, you had absolutely no doubt what had been at work on that net. But after a moment’s hesitation you nodded, saying vaguely, “Uh, could be. Maybe.”

Yu hummed to herself, tossing a blonde lock over her shoulder as she gestured you back inside her bungalow. She drew you up your usual chair by the observation equipment, slurping loudly from her iced coffee. “We’ll have to keep an eye on them,” she said, a touch of relish in her voice that you did not like at all. You were learning that Takeyama Yu always enjoyed a good fight.

You gulped, settling down uneasily in the chair. You hoped she did not mean for you to go back to the reef too soon—though if that creature was smart he would have cleared out by now.

But you couldn’t bring yourself to say anything. You watched blankly as she clicked back into her monitoring windows, and nodded on auto-pilot as pointed out a couple things she’d noticed while you were gone. Your mind was elsewhere, back on the reef, replaying the events that had just occurred.

You couldn’t make sense of anything, didn’t know what to think.

All you could say was that you thought you might have, possibly, unbelievably, encountered a real life merman. You didn’t know what to make of that.

—

The next few days did not clear things up.

In fact, they seemed to make everything worse.

You went through your daily tasks, monitoring observation stations, maintaining equipment and carting things back and forth between all the professionals on your team. Yu loaned you out to Kamui for testing and you spent an afternoon hunched over a microscope, comparing slides of microbes, endlessly piping and staining. You prepped batches of slides to be mailed back to the main lab for more extensive testing, and learned more about water acidity than you ever had in any of your university lectures.

But over all of this activity loomed the shadow of the thing you’d seen in the water. Every time you took the boat out to rebait a station or resample the water, you couldn’t help but look over your shoulder. Even worse than the reef shark, you thought every shadow was the merman in waiting, every slash of red the merman’s clawed hands reaching towards you, every movement in the corner of your eye the last thing you might ever see. You eventually made it back to the reef and deployed a new net, and you thought your heart was going to punch straight through your chest, it was pounding so hard.

You never caught sight of the man in the water again, but somehow, some way, you felt like you were still being watched.

Although maybe that was just paranoia.

Almost worse than your daily heart attacks though, was the data you were gathering. The results of Kamui’s testing and Yu’s observations weren’t lining up with the initial reports that had prompted your presence in the first place. A sample sent with the report had showed incredibly high levels of chemical pollution, and though you were finding some thinning of expected populations and slight microbial unhealthiness, none of it was lining up with the expected levels given in the whistleblower report.

The report had been anonymous, so there was no telling where the sample had come from.

But you couldn’t help but wonder if somehow you were monitoring the wrong places.

Remembering Izuku’s friendly chatter from the day you arrived, you eventually dug out your phone again, clicking into the address for Kacchan that Izuku had provided. You wondered if, as a local gatherer, he might have a better read on where things were, and where you were going wrong.

A quick follow up conversation with Izuku in the main office revealed that Kacchan’s real name was Bakugou Katsuki, and that he had the day off today, to Izuku’s knowledge. Armed with that information, you followed directions back out of the dirt drive onto the main lane, following it for a few hundred feet until it pulled off again into another dirt path. You made your way down it through the thick tropical growth, until it spat you out into another cleared drive on which a jeep was parked.

There was a small, whitewashed house behind it, almost right up against the sand of the beach. A row boat was pulled up onto the sand, and further out into the water you could see a motorboat anchored. It had been painted a dark grey, at odds with the tropical surroundings, and you could just make out vibrant orange lettering spelling out the boat’s name—the Fuyumi.

You could see a man on the beach, padding across the sand to the rowboat, several waterproof bags and boxes in hand. He was blonde and just as well-muscled as Izuku had been, his skin littered with the same workman’s scars.

“Um, hello!” you called. The man whipped around, a red-eyed glare meeting your curious gaze.

“Who the fuck are you?” he demanded, his voice a low growl.

You blinked, slightly unnerved by this greeting. “I’m, um, Y/N. I’m a marine biologist.” The man’s glare didn’t waver. “Um, well, intern.”

“And?” he asked in the most impatient tones you’d ever heard.

You tried to push down a sudden annoyance. You needed details from this man. It wouldn’t do to flip on him straight away.

“Izuku said you work as a chef at the resort. He says you collect a lot of local ingredients?”

Bakugou scowled. “What of it.”

It wasn’t phrased as a question, but you answered anyway. “I’m with a team who’s looking into the possibilities of over-fishing and wastewater pollution in local waters. I was just curious where you collect plants, where you fish, and if you’ve noticed any particular changes over the past couple of months?”

For a brief second, you thought the harsh line of Bakugou’s mouth softened, and he blinked. But moments more and it was gone, replaced by a distrustful look. “Sunfish’re scum but I don’t have any info. All my plants and shit are fine. Fish too, if maybe thinned a little.”

You quickly drew out your phone again, clicking into the notes app. “You’ve noticed a population decline then? For any particular species?”

Bakugou let down his waterproof containers to cross those intimidating arms over his chest. “I fish for barramundi.”

You quickly noted that down. “Can you describe what you’ve noticed in terms of decline?”

Bakugou scowled again. “The fuck is there to describe? They’re harder to catch because there are less of them.”

You suppressed an eyeroll. “Okay. Anything else you can tell me?”

Bakugou’s mouth thinned. “No.”

You sighed, then tucked your phone away in your pocket again. “Alright. Last thing. Just—is there a particular spot you usually fish for them?”

Bakugou looked like the last thing he wanted to do was tell you, but he finally pronounced, “By the reef on the north side.”

Your skin prickled with the memory of the creature you’d encountered at the reef. You wondered, wildly, if that creature—that merman—had anything to do with the fish populations thinning. Maybe he was an invasive species—an over-hunter. Maybe it was nothing to do with Sunfish LLC at all…

That would explain why you were finding less significant microbial change than you had expected, even if the native species’ populations were declining.

You nodded in understanding. “Okay. Thanks for the details.”

Bakugou said nothing, seeming to wait for you to leave.

You cast another eye out over the beach, to the rowboat he’d been heading towards and back out to the motorboat anchored offshore. Even from this distance you could tell it was a much nicer model than the ones your team had rented out, and judging by the meticulous, clearly-custom paint job, it was well loved. Your gaze wandered over the vibrant orange script again.

“Who is Fuyumi?” you wondered.

Suddenly every fiber in Bakugou’s body went stiff—even more impossibly angry than before. “Get the fuck off of my property right the fuck now,” he said.

Your eyes darted back to his. His crimson gaze was somehow intensified even more, and you got the sense that if you did not find your own way out, he’d very well show you the hard way.

You gulped. “Right. Okay. Thanks for your time. I’ll, um, just be going.”

Bakugou grunted, his arms crossing tighter over his chest.

You turned on your heel, edging into a quick trot back up the dirt drive. Bakugou watched you the entire way, and you met his crimson glare as you looked over your shoulder just before you made it back into the dense tropical foliage. You followed the path back out onto the main road, ruminating on your encounter.

For the little help that he’d provided, you got the distinct sense that there was something Bakugou hadn’t told you, something he was deliberately withholding from you. But there was no telling what that might be, and there was no way you were going to be able to pry it out of a guy like that.

You sighed as you followed the driveway back to the inn, waving at Izuku at the front desk as you passed, and made your way back into Yu’s bungalow to report what you’d gotten out of Bakugou. She decided you’d take a trip back out to the reef tomorrow to have a more careful look around—a directive that sent a swarm of shivers down your spine. You really, really hoped that merman had moved on by now.

You spent the rest of the day re-reviewing old footage with particular focus on barramundi, trying to annotate where in the footage you’d seen some and how many members were in their school.

When work finally wrapped up you trekked back to the port to have dinner and drinks with the entire crew, catching the team up on the interview you’d had with Bakugou, and listening to their updates in turn. Kamui had apparently had no further luck in testing, Masaki had nothing conclusive in terms of counting yet, and Death Arms was still locked in some sort of political stalemate with Sunfish LLC over when you’d be able to get onto the premises to inspect the property itself.

Dinner wasn’t a total wash though. You managed a pina colada, pleased at the stereotypical tropicality of the choice, and spent most of the evening entertained, watching Kamui defend his plate from Yu’s wandering utensils and listening to Masaki recount previous field operations he’d taken part in. Before the internship, you’d sort of assumed you’d always work out of a lab, but you were growing enamored with the idea of field work, especially when it might take you to another place like Yuuei.

The team went their separate ways after dinner, retreating to your individual bungalows. The sun was still setting by the time you made it back inside, though—and still fuzzy with good food and your pina colada, you thought it was high time you spent some time on the beach, especially with a view like this one.

You made your way down onto the sand and plopped down at the edge of the water to watch the evening deepen. The beach’s view was mostly southern, but the color of the setting sun spilled generously across the horizon like watercolor, and you still appreciated the effect on the slice of sky you could see. The water was darker, a deep indigo in the oncoming twilight, and the waves lapped gently at the shore. It was so unbelievably beautiful, and you thought again that field work might be your calling.

You made a note to ask Masaki how he’d gotten into his line of work, and options for you to do the same.

You were absently tracing out a note to that effect in the soft sand when the sound of splashing roused you from your trance. You just managed to jerk your head up in time as something warm and wet closed around your ankle.

Before you could even scream, you were being dragged into the shallows. The water closed above your head, filling your mouth, gargling your panicked shout.

You struggled for a moment, kicking out, splashing water everywhere. Your eyes had closed instinctively, so you didn’t see whoever grabbed you, but suddenly you were being righted, your face guided back above the surface by a strong hand. The grip of another stayed clamped, vicelike, around your left ankle.

You spluttered and coughed, blinking your eyes open against the seawater. The water stung your eyes and at the back of your throat, and then the inside of your nose as you inhaled sharply at the sight of the handsome face peering back at you.

It was the merman from the reef.

He was poised over you, his handsome face only inches away from yours, his mouth a serious slash. Little droplets of water beaded on his skin and collected on the tips of his long lashes. You could see the careful tension in the line of one well-muscled arm, feel it in the clawed fingers that were still clamped around your chin, keeping your head above water.

You let out a weird gurgling noise, freezing in his hold.

“Holy shit don’t kill me,” you said.

Those heterochromatic eyes blinked, then traced over your features slowly, consideringly.

“I swear I did not say a thing about you,” you babbled, horrified. “Literally nothing. I was so quiet, like nuclear launch code levels of tight lipped, okay? I was so mum about everything so there’s no reason to get revenge, right?”

The man’s eyes dipped to your mouth as you spoke, as if mystified by your human babble. You instantly quieted, not wanting to irritate him further.

And then he opened his mouth. And out came an unnervingly human set of words.

“You let me go.”

He spoke in a low tone, smooth and soft, like the quiet rumble of waves at a distance. But there was something behind it too, something you felt like you could feel behind your teeth, a bioelectric hum somewhere in the depths of your brain. A shiver went down your spine.

Your mouth fell open against his claws. “You can talk?”

You watched his mouth shift minutely, pursing, like he was annoyed with the way you’d phrased this.

“As can you,” he said blandly.

Well of course you could talk! You were a person using person words!!! But he was—he was—

“But you’re a….sea….dude.”

His mouth quirked on one side, just barely perceptible. “A merman is the term, as far as I am aware.”

You didn’t dare ask how he was aware of anything people called him. But it certainly implied that you were not the first human this guy had come across.

But if other humans had come across this merman before, you didn’t doubt you would have heard about it by now. The existence of merpeople was not exactly a topic to keep quiet on. Which meant—which meant—

“Are you about to kill me?” you asked fearfully, becoming all-to-aware again of the prick of claws at your chin and ankle. Claws that had shredded the net at the reef like it was nothing, that had gouged deep welts in the oar you’d used to free him.

The merman looked perturbed. “Not if you answer my questions.”

You gulped. “Okay yes—yes I am an open book! Whatever you want to ask me, I will tell you! I am so open, you will not believe how open—”

A claw against your mouth silenced you, and that little shiver went up your spine again. Your eyes darted back up to the merman’s. Up close, you could see that he had a scar around his left eye, the skin a deep, dusky pink. It made the electric blue of his iris stand out that much more.

“Why did you let me go?” he asked, a white eyebrow raising.

You opened your mouth carefully, and he removed his fingers. “Is there…a reason I wouldn’t let you go?”

Those heterochromatic eyes narrowed on you. “Humans are dangerous.”

You couldn’t help the way your eyes trailed down to his claws again, then flicked back up to those sharp canines. You didn’t think you were the dangerous one in this scenario. Plus, you were a good person. What the hell were you supposed to do with a captured merman? Put him in a zoo?

“Yeah that’s why I grabbed you and pulled you out into the shallows,” you said, slightly offended by the implication.

Both his eyebrows went up, and he leaned a little further into you. You splashed backwards, as far as his grip on you would allow, which wasn’t much.

“You threw a net on me,” he said, his tone accusatory.

“Not on purpose,” you said. “I didn’t even know you were there. I was doing my job.”

“Which is?” he prompted.

“I’m a marine biologist. Uh, intern. We’re monitoring Yuuei coastal waters for adverse effects from, um, a cannery.”

“Sunfish,” he said.

You blinked, surprised. “Oh, you know it?”

A frown marred that perfect mouth. “Yes. They are not to be trusted.” As he said it, there was a scraping feeling behind your teeth, attached to that weird bioelectric tingle that his every word left curling in your brain. You could quite literally sense his dislike.

A strange feeling crept over you, and you remembered Bakugou implying something similar not hours ago. What exactly was it that everyone seemed to know except you? And how would a merman of all people know?

“Then, they are doing something bad out here?” you asked, curious.

“Their nets are dangerous for my kind, and they are growing ever more present,” the merman’s eyes flickered up and down your face again, like you might be at fault for the proliferation of nets instead.

“Hey, we’re just testing different environments,” you held your hands up. “We’re catching and releasing, we just want to take a look at a couple different species, count them, and see how they’re doing. We’ll be gone in just a few weeks.”

The merman looked you over for a long moment, as if assessing the veracity of this claim. His gaze slowly trailed down your body and you fought down a strange wave of embarrassment. His fingers flexed on your ankle, those claws rasping sweetly, dangerously over the thin skin there, and he pulled your leg out a little bit, like he was inspecting it.

“How strange,” he murmured, his tone going soft with the subject change.

You didn’t know what to think, just stared at him as his gaze roved over the bare skin of your leg in your sea-soaked shorts.

“I thought you–uh, have met people before,” you said, face flushing. “It’s just–that’s just my leg.”

Those heterochromatic eyes cut back to yours, startlingly intent. “I have. But Katsuki would sooner kick me than let me look closely, and Izuku finds it uncomfortable. And yours are…..more interesting…”

Well of course Izuku would find it uncomfortable! The swell of your embarrassment about your leg being more interesting momentarily choked off all thought—but then it hit you what this merman had just said.

“Katsuki like Bakugou Katsuki?” you demanded. “And Izuku like Midoriya Izuku?”

The merman hummed, staring at your leg again like he was uninterested in this conversation. “Yes. You’ve met them. I can smell them on you.”

You jerked back, startled by this assertion. He could smell that you’d been near them? What the fuck. You were floored. And had this been what Bakugou might have been hiding when he’d all but chased you off his property?

“But you—how can you—? Just who the hell are you?” you demanded, as the merman petted a careful finger across the hollow behind your ankle bone.

You shivered as he looked back at you, a little amused indent at the corner of his mouth.

“I am called Todoroki Shouto.”

He stared at you expectantly, as though he expected some reply, and you quickly scraped together your manners, though you never imagined you’d need to use them on a merman.

“I’m Y/N,” you offered, carefully reaching out a hand to shake, wondering if Shouto was as familiar with human customs as he was with words.

He accepted your hand carefully in his own clap-tipped fingers, eyes glittering. “So you are not here hunting my kind,” he said, sounding more like he was coming to a conclusion than asking a question.

You nodded hurriedly, aware of how small and fragile your own hand felt in his much larger one. “I didn’t even know you existed until I accidentally netted you. And we’re trying to stabilize this environment, not kill things in it,” you told him. “With any luck we’ll be getting rid of Sunfish and you won’t have to worry about them anymore either.”

Shouto’s claws pricked gently over your wrist as he released you, and he leaned in again, his handsome face serious. “Then we will be friends,” he said, with all the sober certainty of a child declaring the kid they’d just met five seconds ago was their new bestie.

With Shouto’s hard form looming close and his taloned fingers still clutched around one of your legs, you rather thought there was little room for disagreement. But you were fascinated by him nevertheless, and thought you might not have wanted to deny him anyway. Here would be the opportunity to observe and interact with a merman, something no outsider to these waters might ever get to do again.

You nodded, and a small smile tugged at the corner of Shouto’s mouth, clearly pleased. His fingers tightened where they still gripped your ankle, and your stomach fluttered with nerves.

And that’s when you knew there was so much more to these waters than you’d initially understood—and things were about to get even weirder.

#todoroki shouto x reader #shouto todoroki x reader #shouto x you #shouto x y/n #shouto x reader #todoroki x you #todoroki x reader #todoroki x y/n #shoto todoroki x you #bnha x reader #bnha x you

[sapphic-agent]

I thought of something that could add to the discussion around Izuku and Shigaraki. Back in the first war arc, Hawks made the morally gray decision to kill Twice before he could start multiplying and endanger the lives of every hero in the war. He didn’t seem to want to do it, but he did, because a lot more people would have died if he didn’t. Twice also wasn’t as malicious as Shigaraki and was portrayed as one of the more sympathetic League members.

Compare this to the current fight between Izuku and Shigaraki, where Izuku insists on saving him even when Shigaraki has been threatening to destroy everything, with the “sympathetic” part of him being buried underneath metaphorical rubble. There are parallels between the two, but I don’t know if Horikoshi intended there to be.

It adds to the problem of how Horikoshi never properly set up Izuku’s conflict of “saving” Shigaraki. It’s been mentioned by others how the relationship between Izuku and Shigaraki wasn’t expanded enough, but another way the conflict could’ve had more impact was through the reactions of other characters.

Hawks could have talked to Izuku about his decision, possibly pushing back against Izuku trying to save him and saying it’s “necessary” to kill Shigaraki because he’s too big a threat. And if he was written better as a more strict mentor, Aizawa could have been a character that pushed back against Izuku’s insistence towards saving Shigaraki, with possible parallels to Kurogiri/Oboro, while also pointing out the irrationality of (unintentionally) prioritizing one life over the millions of Japan (compared to his inconsistent logic in canon).

Seemingly the only significant pushback Izuku gets for his decision is from the vestiges who would probably be the only ones who would understand him when he talks about Shigaraki’s inner child. Instead we’ve got Izuku still insisting on saving Shigaraki, or the child inside of him, not only risking his life but also probably the entire country of Japan if he fails, and Horikoshi is forcing him down that path by making Shigaraki so overpowered that he can’t defeat him the normal way.

To add a question onto this, what do you think could have been done in the story to better set up Izuku’s decision to save Shigaraki, or at least what could’ve been done to make sure that Izuku didn’t come off as overly misguided in his decision?

Bestie, you hit the mark with this one.

I agree with basically everything here. Having Hawks talk to and relate to Izuku's situation (seriously, why is it so hard to get positive Hawks interaction) would have been perfect. Izuku learning that you can't save people who don't want to be saved would have been a crucial lesson as it goes against everything his built himself up to be.

There's saving people, and then there's the fucking mental torture Horikoshi's putting Izuku through for no goddamn reason.

There's actually a few things I think could have been done.

The mall scene should have been extended. I like it for what it is, but it really doesn't get into the difference in their ideals or what really sets them apart from each other. The parallels were all there, Hori just couldn't design to expand on them

Izuku should have been the one kidnapped, not Bakugou. Fucking Bakugou's kidnapping was so useless to the plot. All it proved was that Shigaraki can't recognize what makes a villain. Bakugou had everything handed to him his whole life, why would he compromise his secure future? Izuku would have had every reason to be a villain, but wanted to be a hero. This could have been the arc where the two of them learn to understand one another. Izuku sees the hurt kid and Shigaraki sees the battered hero

To expand off #2, I think it should have led to them both trying to "save" one another. Shigaraki wants Izuku to give into his hurt and anger, Izuku wants to give Shigaraki a chance at reformation. And that would make their final fight so much more interesting. They both think they're doing the other a favor when in reality Izuku doesn't want to hurt others and Shigaraki doesn't want to conform to society. And that ends up with one of them finishing things off for good

This Izuku vs Shigaraki fight should have had way more buildup. But that would mean properly developing Izuku and Horikoshi would rather die🤷🏾‍♀️

#mha critical #bnha critical #izuku deserves better #shigaraki deserves better

[zai-doodles]

In your fairy tail will Laxus be different, guy was too much of a prick to accept his change of heart or that "deep down, he's a good guy", he threatened to kill the entire city just because he had daddy issues.

i have so many opinions ive been avoiding answering this until i had time to write an essay so here you go.

So, i personally, feel like fairy tail has a really weird habit of having characters do extremely irredeemable shit, say several times that the character is enjoying what their doing, then have their character do a 180 several arcs later because after fighting fairy tail they just saw the light or some shit.

Like i was rewatching the Battle of Fairy Tail arc and lauxus is just... so awful? and the way they try to redeem him with the spell shit not working like sir he was going to kill everyone maybe we dont give him a pass?

all this to say heres how I would rewrite the battle of fairy tail:

Ok so i'd keep Laxus' resentment of Makorav over the banishment of his dad, the only thing keeping laxus in ft is knowing one day hes going to inherit the guild. He works his ass off to become as powerful as he can in order to live up to that legacy but also...

He hates it there.

Specifically, the ones who grew up in the guild (ie erza, mira, natsu, gray, etc) because he always felt like makorav embraced them more than laxus.

So he works hard and keeps his head down, picking fights more out of resentment than anything the other guild members did. I think some of the older guild members who remember Ivan are very wary of Laxus but not afraid just... keeping an eye out.

Laxus reads it as pity.

Once Laxus grows up, hes arrogant, entitled, and selfish. He puts his everything into becoming the best and surrounds himself with yes men (the thunder legion im getting to them) who boost his ego.

Then one day he overhears some fairy tail members spreading a rumor that Makorav is going to retire...

And Erza is going to become the next guild master.

And it fucking breaks something inside him.

I think Laxus resents Erza the most because its just so clear Makorav favors her over everyone. Shes so perfect and humble and honorable and...

Everything Laxus isn't.

So he sets up a plan. He's going to take the guild by force.

ok so it happens basically the same as canon right up until the end. Before the timer runs out Laxus demands Makorav hand the guild over to him before all these people get hurt.

Makorav shows up to confront laxus and instead of doing or saying anything, he just quietly walks up to laxus and stands in front of him.

Laxus starts to panic and yells about how the old man has to give up or everyone is going to die. Outside fairy tail is taking down the dome but its not enough.

Laxus grows more erratic but Makorav says nothing.

The timer runs out and nothing happens.

Laxus sighs in defeat. He's been caught.

He was bluffing.

See the plan laxus and the thunder legion made was simple, they'd prove themselves the strongest by beating the entire guild and once everyone was taken out, makorav would have no choice to hand the guild over since no one was left to stop the thunder dome.

the body link magic still hurt any attackers just to make them seem more real, but they were only really there to pressure Makorav into caving.

Laxus didnt account for his grandpa having faith in him.

However the power grab couldn't be ignored, attacking the guild and even just threatening the city leads to laxus getting banished.

The thunder legion decide to leave fairy tail but laxus forbids them from following him anymore, not feeling worthy of being their leader anymore. So the thunder legion kinda just go off on their own as a trio for the time being.

Idk if this feels lame to others but to me its better than having laxus fully believe hes going to kill everyone and go through with it (even if the spell didnt work) only to redeem him later. It just feels weird to me? idk im not a great writer but this is just my lil rewrite.

as a treat have my bickslow redesign

shhh ik its not v good im still work shopping it but this is like, my third attempt so just take it for now

#fairy tail #zai talks #zaidoodles #bickslow #redesign

[fics-n-stuff-n-stuff]

Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser Levy McGarden/Gajeel Redfox

all fairy tail characters basically / Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic / Follows Fairy tail but with my own twists set in modern day Fluff and Angst / Romance / Friendship / developing feelings / Lucy has new spirits I checked constellations and gave her ones I thought were cool

Summary

Lucy is thrown into a world she didn’t know existed. Join her as she unravels this new world full of magic that brings adventure, romance and destruction along with it.

———

Just a modern re-telling of Fairy tail following its arcs with a few twists and turns along the way💞

You can also read it here

—•—•—

Chapter 2

Natsu didn't know what to think of the girl standing in front of him, when he had saved her the night before, he thought nothing of it.

Someone was attacked, left drained and unconscious, so sensing magic in her, and not seeing any apparent guild marks on her, Natsu decided to take her back to Fairy Tail to get her patched up and rested.

When he saw her at the bar earlier about to be hit point blank by a rouge chair, he couldn't tell you why, he just moved to intercept before it could hurt her.

Which was how he found himself talking to the blonde-haired girl.

Lucy.

She said her name was Lucy.

He could tell she was a little nervous and unsure of what was going on, he could smell the unease on her.

Not that he could blame her, she looked around his age and he couldn't imagine not knowing he had magic his whole life, so he tried to make her feel a little more at ease with his jokes, which seemed to be doing the trick.

It was when he went to show her his magic, and saw the panic in her eyes as she started patting his arm down, trying to put out the fire, that he noticed his flames did not affect her.

No matter how much Natsu practiced or trained, his fire always had a mind of its own.

He had learned the hard way, through countless errors how to work with it instead of trying to control it and get it to do what he wants.

Right now, it seemed as if his fire was embracing her.

How weird, no matter how many times Natsu has tried, he was never able to not singe or scorch things and people alike while fighting in battles or even just light sparring around the guild.

He's even burned Happy a couple of times by accident.

Was it somehow connected to her magic? Is she a type of fire mage, or something that could be resistant to fire?

Before he could voice his thoughts or do anything, the master showed up and as Natsu listened to their conversation he could hear Lucy saying that she was leaving.

He felt a little pang in his heart at the thought of her leaving, the dragon part of him was starting to feel a little possessive over the blonde, maybe it was the way her hair looked like spun gold, luring the greedy dragon inside of him.

The part of him that collects gold and hoards it to himself.

Following her movements closely, Natsu watched her back up slowly, as if she was waiting for the perfect moment to break into a run, instead, he saw the way her knees buckled suddenly, her hands clutching near her chest as she doubled over in pain.

As she started swaying back and forth, Natsu found himself acting, again, before he could even think about it, and moves from his seat and catches her before she can hit the ground, and holds her in his arms.

Feeling the way her skin was heating up, and noticing a faint glow coming from her skin, Natsu turned to the master.

"Gramps, I think her magic is breakin' through." He said to the old who had leaped from the bar and in front of them when Lucy collapsed.

"Yes, it would appear so, the Lethifold seems to have weakened the seal on her magic, considering it was already loosening over the years as her magic grew, it seems to have finally cracked.

You take her back to the infirmary room, we should give her body time to adjust to the magic. I'll have Wendy take a look at her too, just to be sure there was no damage caused by the seal."

The old man left Natsu with his instructions and went to look for Wendy.

Natsu looked back at the girl in his arms, her skin was still glowing faintly. It reminded Natsu of a firefly. He could feel the buzz of her magic wherever their skin was touching.

Repositioning her in his arms for a firmer hold Natsu climbed the stairs and went to the infirmary to wait for Gramps and Wendy.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

This time around Lucy woke up feeling like she was plugged into a socket.

She felt a tingling sensation throughout her entire body, it was a pleasant feeling, one that seemed almost familiar, she just couldn't tell you where from.

Opening her eyes, Lucy still a little disoriented, blinked a few times and saw that she was in a dark mid-sized room, the only light coming from behind a black-out curtain and the ajar bathroom door.

Was this the Inn she booked in Hargeon?

'So it was all a dream.'

She thought to herself before looking at the rest of the room, barely managing to stifle a scream as she saw a man sleeping in a chair on the left side of her bed.

Taking in a deep breath, Lucy sat up in the bed and started debating on whether to try and silently go straight for the exit or attack the person next to the bed.

As she turned her head slightly to look at the sleeping figure she saw that the man had pink hair.

Wait, pink?

Was she still in that weird tavern?

'So not a dream then.'

Why was she in this room? She remembered meeting Mirajane, then she almost got hit by a chair and met Natsu and the two started talking, she remembers the fire and panicking as she tried to put it out, everything after was a little hazy.

As Lucy was going around in circles in her head, the man next to her stirred and let out a yawn, stretching his arms above his head.

"Damn, I fell asleep." He muttered to himself and Lucy stiffened at the sound of his voice.

She tried not to move and alert him that she was awake, but it seemed to be in vain as he tilted his head and look at her, a smile gracing his face when he saw she was awake.

"Hey, how'rya feelin'? Ya gave us a scare when ya just fainted out of nowhere, weirdo." He said with a teasing tone, leaning in slightly so she could get a better look at his features. 

His eyes almost seemed to glow in the low light, they were dark hazel, and Lucy found herself mystified by him.

She wanted to relax in the bed and laugh at his little jab, she wanted to banter back and slap his shoulder with her hand for calling her weird.

Lucy has never really interacted with people, not like this.

Not when she was locked up in her house, surrounded by staff and tutors. Not when she ran away and found out how cruel the world is. She never had friends, but it wasn't just that.

In all her life Lucy had never felt this at ease with another person, not since her mother died.

And here was this man, this warm, cute, brave man, that saved her life and seemed to break every rule she had in place, and Lucy didn't know what to think.

"I'm, I feel good. Better than ever, kind of like a current of electricity is running through my body, but it isn't bad?"

Lucy finally replied to his question, thinking it was the best course of action, the last part sounding more like a question than anything.

He nods his head in understanding at her words, his smile widening.

"Yeah, that's your magic ya're feeling. It looks like that Lethifold did some damage to your seal while feeding and it broke. So now we just have to figure out what kinda magic ya have."

Before she has a chance to respond, he suddenly gives her a sheepish smile, a little uncertain, and rubs the back of his neck.

"Also, sorry for dozing off in here, after we made sure ya were alright, we put ya in one of the spare rooms, and I just figured, maybe you wouldn't want to wake up alone."

With that statement Lucy felt her heart swell for this pink-haired man, no one has ever been this considerate towards her before.

"That's okay, that was very thoughtful, thank you. I would probably be in the midst of a panic attack if you weren't here." Lucy said lightly, trying to bring out a smile from him.

It works and the brilliant smile is back on his face, making Lucy smile with him.

"It's a good thing I am here then. Come one, do ya wanna come downstairs, we can have breakfast and have ya meet some people that can explain everything that's going on better than I can?" Natsu says as he gets out of his seat, stretching as he does.

"You can use the bathroom and do anything you need to. I'll wait for ya outside the door, there's no rush. There should be some spare clothes in the bathroom, Mira insisted."

And with those words, he leaves the room, and Lucy to her disarranged thoughts.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

After a much-needed shower and a change of clothes, just a simple pair of jeans and a tee, Lucy braided her hair and took a deep breath.

'Okay, you can do this Lucy. Just go out there and see what explanation they have for you.'

With a pitiful pep talk, she leaves the room.

The first thing she sees is Natsu, leaning against the rails of the balcony, he turns at the sound of her closing the door.

Offering her a smile, he starts walking down the stairs "Come on, I'll take ya to meet Levy and Wendy. They're at that table over there. They can answer any questions ya have."

Lucy nods and follows behind him looking around the tavern, seeing fewer people than the last time she was down here.

Mirajane was tending to the bar still, or again maybe?

Lucy had a feeling it was early morning.

There was a girl behind Mirajane that looks like she could be her sister (and most probably is) with short white hair that was helping her with the dishes.

Other than a few people scattered around, one of them being a girl at one end of the bar, in a bikini top, drinking wine straight out of a barrel. Which, while being impressive, and a little scary at the same time, couldn't be good for you.

There weren't any fights or arguments like she remembers.

It was almost serene.

She followed behind Natsu and they ended up at a table to the right where two girls were sitting and talking.

Both of the girls seemed to have blue hair, how peculiar. First Natsu's pink, now blue. Even Mirajane has pure white hair.

It seemed natural on all of them and she liked it, Lucy decided.

It suits them.

"Yo, Wendy, Levy, I have someone here for ya to meet." Natsu declared as they stopped in front of the table, startling the two girls out of their conversation and they turned their attention to Natsu.

"This is Luce!" He said enthusiastically, both hands pointed at Lucy, fingers wiggling in her direction and Lucy looked back at him, a surprised, almost gleeful laugh escapes her mouth and she turns to the two girls with a smile.

What a dope.

She's never had a nickname before.

"Oh, I'm glad to see you're awake, the master called me last night when you fainted.

I am happy to say that the seal breaking on its own didn't affect you in any negative way and you won't have any side effects because of it.

You can, however, from what I was able to tell, heal faster than before. I am Wendy, by the way. The guild's healer, sometimes ?"

One of the girls, the younger one said with a shy smile on her face, breaking Lucy out of her thoughts about her new nickname.

"Oh thank you very much, Wendy, I don't know anything about, well, any of this. I didn't even know there could be side effects, or that I have magic, apparently" Lucy said as she sat down at their table.

She was still a little skeptical, but then again, how would you explain a soul-sucking monster attacking you, and people lighting on fire?

Not to mention the sensation she feels coursing through her, that definitely was not there yesterday.

Natsu seemed satisfied with their interaction and went off in the direction of the bar without a word.

The other bluenette, Levy, spoke up causing Lucy to shift focus from Natsu to her.

"I can't imagine what it's like for you right now. I mean, most of us grew up knowing about magic, and learning how to use it. To live your whole life without knowing." She shook her head as if in disbelief and looked back at Lucy her eyes a little glazed but she looked almost righteous as she continued.

"And to be attacked by a creature of the night, I truly am sorry for what you have gone through, and any questions you have I am happy to answer, and help in any way." She said finishing her monologue, her head high and a determined smile on her face.

Wendy nodded her head in agreement, offering Lucy another shy smile.

'I like these girls already' Lucy thought as she smiled.

"Thank you. I, I'm not sure I'm still grasping the concept of, well, magic. You know? I mean, I saw Natsu light himself on fire, and that creature, it felt like it was sucking the life out of me.

And how could I even have magic, if neither of my parents do?" Lucy rambled on, her words getting quicker by the minute as she tried to articulate every question she had.

Pausing to take a breath, she looked at Levy and Wendy with what she was sure was a pathetic look.

"I'm not sure what's real anymore." That came out quieter, and a little shaky.

Levy reached out and took one of her hands in hers. Making Lucy snap her gaze to her.

"As I said, I am sorry you have to go through this, and questioning reality comes with finding out there's a whole different world out there.

Now for some of your questions, the creature that attacked you, is what we call a Lethifold and I'm sure someone has already explained how they operate, nasty creatures." She stopped to confirm with Lucy that she knew all about that Dementor thing, she just nodded.

"Good. Now as for Magic being real, I can show you my magic, I'm sure it's better than seeing Natsu's for the first time." Levy said with a laugh and Wendy joined in.

"Yes, well I have something called Script Magic. Meaning I can create anything just by writing in the air, for example," she waved her hand in the air, blue light coming from the tips of her fingers and she used them to write the word confetti.

As soon as she wrote the last word a shower of confetti appeared from thin air making Lucy giggle as she looked at the colourful paper falling around her.

Looking back at Levy she offered the girl a wide smile.

"Wow, that is very cool. How many different types of magic are there? And how does it work exactly?" Lucy asked

"Well, there are many different types. Natsu and Wendy for example are a rare type of not just magic user, but magical well I feel like creature is the wrong word, at least for you Wendy."

Levy offered, looking at the cute bluenette who just waved her off with a smile, and then back at Natsu, who was at the bar, eating, or well devouring his food is a better description.

There were bits of food flying everywhere, and he just kept shoving food in his mouth, no matter how full it got.

Lucy giggled at the scene, still not used to seeing such behavior, and looked back at Levy as she started talking again.

"As I was saying, Natsu and Wendy are known as Drakens. Something between a dragon and a human.

They were raised by dragons. While they share some traits like heightened senses they both have different types of magic.

Natsu's as you have probably guessed is fire. Wendy here is our sky drakon." Levy said putting a hand over Wendy's shoulder making the younger girl blush.

That threw Lucy into a loop.

"Wait, Dragons are real?" She said loudly and both girls winced slightly, Wendy's smile left her face and she looked to the side. Levy put her arm around the young girl and looked back over at Natsu.

Following her gaze, she saw that he had stopped eating.

Lucy had a feeling that Dragons were a sore topic. She can understand that.

Clearing her throat she caught the attention of the two girls in front of her.

"I apologize for my oversight. I can see that is a sensitive topic. Do you mind me asking what sky magic is?

"Sky magic can be used to heal, that is why the master called me to look over you."

Wendy chimed in, her eyes were a little teary but she looked thankful to Lucy for trying to move on from the topic of Dragons.

"You keep saying master, and I'm sorry that sounds kind of weird, who is your, master? Why do you have one?"

Lucy asked awkwardly, making both girls burst into laughter, the previous tension gone from the room at Lucy's simple, and in her opinion a quite rational question.

'What's so funny, I'm not the one going around calling people my master!' Lucy thought.

"I'm sorry for laughing, it's just, I've never thought about how it would sound to someone, someone who doesn't know anything about how this world works." Levy said as her laughter died down, wiping a tear from her face.

Wendy just continued giggling next to her.

"The magic world is a secret from people who don't have it." Levy started "Some people in power, and high positions in the government are aware of its existence. Some are even magic users themselves.

But it is a secret from the general public."

She paused for a moment, to make sure Lucy was following before continuing.

"Now to minimize the danger magic could have in the wrong hands, as well as help people like us find shelter and a place where we can just be ourselves, the government decided to make guilds."

Lucy nodded urging Levy to continue.

"This is the guild known as Fairy Tail, there are many others all over Fiore, and beyond.

Most of us use our magic for good.

We take on missions sanctioned by the government for money and we hunt down creatures, like the one that attacked you the other night, and sometimes we take down our own who turned to dark magic.

They have guilds of their own, we call them dark guilds.

You can become a member of a guild if you have magic, and when you do, you usually get a stamp, like this-"

Levy paused and turned so that Lucy could see her left shoulder and pushed her top slightly to the side and revealed a mark on her skin.

It was white and it looked like a fairy, with a tail.

'How cute.' Lucy thought.

"It's permanent, but it doesn't hurt like a tattoo would. When people who know of our world see the symbol they know you're an ally, or in some cases foe."

Levy continued her explanation, as she moved her shirt back and faced Lucy again.

"And finally, Masters are the ones who run the guilds. Master Makarov runs Fairy Tail, you met him last night." Levy finished, giving Lucy a few moments to absorb all the information.

'Guild, huh?' Lucy thought.

So they hunt creatures and fight them with magic, and fight other people, who use dark magic apparently, this is insane.

And the government knows? People with high positions and power, Levy had said.

Does this mean her father knows about magic? Her mother must have as well, but why keep it from her?

She's brought out of her spiraling thoughts by a plate being put in front of her, pancakes topped with berries.

Lucy looked up and saw Natsu standing above her.

"Eat, the master wants to talk to us." He said sitting next to her and nudging her shoulder.

Lucy looks at him, and back to the pancakes, smiling slightly, she digs in and eats faster than she ever has, not caring about her posture or how much food she was eating.

Very unladylike.

'If only Father could see me now.'

Lucy thought as she wiped her face with the back of her hand. She looked around and saw everyone at the table looking at her.

Lucy blushed a little before mumbling "I didn't even realize I was hungry." Making Natsu burst out laughing "Nice one Luigi, now come on let's go! The old man is waiting for us!" He got up suddenly and pulled her up with him, tugging her up the stairs again, but in a different direction than the room she was in earlier.

"Hey, I like Luce better than Luigi. At least that one is close to my name!" She found herself yelling back at him, making the two girls, who were not at all startled by Natsu's abruptness, laugh.

"Sorry Lushii, I just like the look on your face when you get flustered." He shot back with a shrug, making Lucy blush, proving his point.

Natsu smiled at her, before knocking on the door in front of him and opening it before anyone on the other side could answer.

"Mornin' gramps, Mira told me you wanted to see us." He said, making himself at home on the couch.

Lucy followed from behind him, looking around the office, it was cozy.

A desk on the side by a window, a couch on the other side.

Two chairs opposite the desk. Everything else was littered with papers, documents, and books.

The Master of Fairy Tail was sitting behind the desk, glaring at Natsu.

"Mira told you I wanted to talk with Lucy, you invited yourself, you little brat." The old man told Natsu, but Lucy couldn't hear any real heat in his voice.

Natsu shrugged, one hand rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"She's still new to this world. And I thought, hey maybe she would feel more comfortable if someone was there with her. You can be scary sometimes ya know!" He explained and Lucy felt a warmth spread through her at his words.

There he goes again, being caring, understanding, and sympathetic.

Without her even saying anything. She truthfully was glad she wasn't alone, and that he was with her.

"You kids will be the death of me, I swear. Natsu, please step out, I need to talk to Lucy. Alone." He says sternly making Natsu pout but stand up, as he passes her he offers a bright smile "I'll be downstairs waiting on ya, don't take too long!" And with that, Lucy finds herself alone with Fairy Tails master.

"Please, take a seat, miss Heartfilia." He said, gesturing to the chair opposite his desk, but Lucy is frozen at his use of her surname.

She felt like someone poured a bucket of cold water on her.

Focusing her attention back on the man behind the desk, she found his face set in neutral lines, as he watched her reaction.

Lucy's hands began to shake, and she felt the magic inside her, coursing,  looking for a way out.

How does he know her last name? Has he contacted her father? Does she still have time to leave before he can send someone to cone for her?

"H-How do you know that name?" She asks her voice cracking.

"Relax child, I mean you no harm. I do not know why you ran away, and if you are not comfortable with sharing that yet I will not push you."

The master said making Lucy's panic subside, and she takes the necessary steps to one of the chairs.

He waited for her to sit before continuing.

"In truth, I knew your mother when she was about your age, and the moment I laid eyes on you I knew you were Layla's daughter."

"You knew my mom?" She asked in wonder, making the man smile.

"Yes, when she was a young mage when we met, maybe a little younger than you. She wasn't a part of our guild, but she was a wonderful, powerful mage and a good friend of mine. You look just like her. And I can feel that you share her magic."

Lucy didn't know how to process the information.

"My mom was a mage, but, that's not possible. I would have known. She would have told me, she must have known I would have magic." Lucy asks in disbelief at what she'd just learned.

The master lets out a sigh, lacing his hands together.

"I suspect that, after your mother's death, your father had your magic bound, and  had any memory that you possessed of the magic world erased." He stated and when Lucy didn't answer, not knowing what to say he added, softly this time.

"I knew Layla, and she would never have something like this done to her child."

The more Lucy thought about it, the more it made sense. Her mother was beautiful, kind, smart, poised, and held herself like a queen.

Her father was always a reserved man, but around her mother, he was happy, or at least content. Lucy thought.

After her death, he was nothing but cold, ruthless, and abusive towards her.

It was why she had run away in the first place.

She looked back at the old man and nodded her head. A bitter smile on her lips.

"That sounds like something he would do." She gritted out.

"Tell me please, is there a way to see if I have any locked memories, a way to retrieve them?" Lucy asked

"There is a way, yes. I could perform the spell if you'd like, your memories would come back instantly and you should only experience a mild headache because of it."

He explained and Lucy nodded, eager to know what her father deemed she didn't have the right to remember.

"Do it,  the sooner I know, the better." She said and the old man nodded.

He stepped on the desk and in front of Lucy, taking her head in his hands. "This might sting a little."

And with those words a bright light emulated from his hands and with a pulse, everything went black.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

"Mommy, mommy, look, I managed to summon Aquarius!" A little Lucy exclaimed from the bathtub, the mermaid in question sitting next to her, a fond smile on her face.

"You did good kid." The usually stern and unpleasant spirit said giving Lucy a pat on her head.

"Good job baby girl, you're going to be stronger than even me one day!" Her mom told her, making Lucy cheer in happiness, as she continued to play with the spirit and her mother.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

"I love my new haircut Cancer, I think I look good with short hair!" Little Lucy exclaimed as she twirled in front of the full-length mirror looking at her new shoulder-length hair from all angles.

"I must say you are right Lady Lucy, you do look lovely. Ebi. " The spirit answered snapping the pair of scissors in his hands like a crab would his claws.

"Come on let's go show Mommy my new hair!" Lucy said taking him by the hand and out of the room in search of her mother.

"Please tell me that she knew you summoned me for a haircut. Ebi" Cancer asked her as they walked down the halls of the house.

Lucy looked at the Crab Spirit with a sheepish smile and the Spirit held back a curse. "Oh dear me."

Lucy just laughed, pulling him further down the hallway and towards the library.

That's where her mom was most days.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

"Aries, is mommy going to be okay? She can barely get out of bed, and Daddy is being really mean for no reason, he just yells when I ask him about Mom, why is he mad at me? Did I do something wrong?"

A 9-year-old Lucy asked, with tear-filled eyes, looking up at the spirit soft pink-haired spirit holding her.

"You did nothing wrong Lady Lucy, your father is not feeling like himself at the moment. And Lady Layla is feeling a little sick, nothing for you to worry your cute little head about." Aries answered, bopping Lucy on the nose, causing the little girl to giggle.

"Do you want to the garden and we can look at the flowers?" The spirit asked,  trying to sound cheerful for Lucy's sake.

"Yaay, maybe we'll see the garden trolls again!" Lucy cheered running out of the room the ram spirit following behind her.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

Lucy was crying next to her mother's bed, holding her hand.

Layla Heartfilia looks unearthly pale, her skin cold and almost gray, making Lucy cry even harder.

She felt a firm hand on her shoulder that pulled her attention from her mother's body on the bed she looked up to see her father's stern face looking down at her.

"Stop crying and try to look presentable, I will not have you embarrassing me today."

He said harshly, making a lump form in Lucy's throat, her eyes filling with unshed tears.

She felt sad. Her mom was gone, how is she supposed to stop crying?

"Take her to her room, and do not let her out until at least tomorrow, I can't handle her right now. And make sure to take those retched keys  from her as well, I don't want them in my house anymore."

He ordered the maids, who reluctantly took a crying Lucy from her mother's room, her cries echoing throughout the halls.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

"Are you sure you want us to do this? She is one of the Heartfilia clan, the last spirit summoner. It is a shame to bind her magic." The man asked her father who bristled at his words, trying to keep his composer.

"I do not care whether she is or isn't. No daughter of mine will be an abomination.  I want you to bind her magic, and make her forget she ever knew about it." He ordered voice stern, leaving no room for argument.

"Daddy, what's going on, I'm scared." Lucy asked, her voice small. This is the first time she has seen her father since her mother died.

"Just stay still Lucy and let the man do his job." He answered, not looking at her.

"This will one be a moment." The older man said, crouching down in front of Lucy.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

Lucy opened her eyes, feeling tears flowing down her cheeks, her chest heaving as memories from her childhood returned to her.

"Are you alright, my child?" The master asked her, his voice a little distant.

"Fine, I'm fine. Thank you, thank you for returning my memories. How could he do this? How could he be so cruel? The spirits, my mother's spirits, what did he do to them?" Lucy rambled out, standing from the chair to start pacing, trying to clear her mind and adjust to the newfound memories.

Memories of all her friends, her mother's spirits.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy tried to calm herself down.

"Your mother had enough foresight to have one of the staff send her spirits away once she passed." Makarov said, and Lucy could hear a drawer open and close and she turned to see an ornate box placed on the desk.

"I received one of them, she asked me to keep them safe. In case I ever met you. It seemed she knew you would find your way here." He slid the box to her, with an encouraging smile.

"Go ahead, open it. It belongs to you."

Lucy took the box, her hands trembling slightly as she opened it to reveal a golden, beautifully decorated key.

Aquarius, Lucy thought, fingers grazing the edges of the key, where the zodiac symbol was embellished.

As soon as her fingers made contact with the metal, there was a zap, making Lucy jerk her hand back and look up at the master.

"It seems there is still a bond between you two. You will need a large body of water to summon this particular spirit, as far as I remember. I don't know where the rest are, but I am sure we can start searching."

He told her with a smile. Making Lucy's eyes fill with tears once more.

"You would help me with this?" Her voice was shaky as she asked.

"We help and protect our own here. And you are one of my children now. That is if you would like to join our guild and learn more about your magic?"

He asked her, and a choked sob escaped Lucy's throat, tears freely running down her face.

The thought of someone wanting to help her learn more about her magic and spirits, the thought of having a family, of someone seeing her as a part of their family, after being alone was almost too much.

"I would, I would love to. Thank you, I honestly don't know how to thank you for this."

#fanfic #nalu #natsu dragneel #natsu x lucy #lucy heartifilla #lucy heartphilia #fairy tail #fairy tail fanfic #fairy tail fic #natsu x lucy fic #nalu fan fiction #fairy tail nalu #natsu/lucy #moder day with magic #romance #au with magic #nalu fanfiction #nalu fanfic #nalu fairytail

[condifiction]

YO U. I said I'd compliment you when you revealed your Tumblr so get ready for the essay cause Twitter word limit sucks: Genuinely all of your characters are so underrated or merely dumbed down to being one part of some kind of duo and while it's fun holy fuck does it do them a disservice. Jay Ferin is genuinely just such a good character. I adore how you play her and I adore her as a character. She's smart but not to the point where she's stuck up even though all things considered with what we know of her family she could've been. She's a goofball and jokes with her friends yet still has her serious moments. She's such a layered character who we've seen grown from being kinda distant due to spyin y'know to genuinely caring for her crew and being so close with them. And genuinely love her funky flamethrower invention and how she's a tinkerer and i can't wait to see if that aspect is expanded more and if people don't draw her looking like the really fucking cool mad scientist she is then I'll do it myself. Jay Ferin is such a top tier character and I think I will always love her. Oh and don't get me started on Vyncent I love his storyline. He's my favorite little fish out of water, having to cope with how far he is from home after witnessing *that* and now having to learn about this big strange world, so much larger than his simple home floating islands. He's goofy because of how unfamiliar he is with prime and he's doing his best and seems so frustrated because people don't understand and aren't helping and y'know. Let you know who live. I fucking love them. Now, now. Condi Condifiction you are such a good dm. While with riptide and prime defenders I struggled a bit to keep up apotheosis kept me hanging on every word. You built up such a cool story that had so many possible endings that I could only imagine be overwhelming cause what if people weren't satisfied??? Yet still gave it imo the best fucking ending that felt just perfect and amazing. You built the foundation for a story just rooted in breaking "fate" and looking so doomed by the narrative yet still ended in a hopeful future. You set up all the characters to have cool arcs you sewed backstories into the world and the descriptions you gave were so vivid that I could picture them practically crystal clear. You set up such a cool world and you used it masterfully even if you were struggling with it. And don't get me started with the gods I love how you made them just. Sort of in a gray area in the end, like yeah they're incredibly fucked up but they were driven from their home and kind of forced to take over these people and it's such a cool aspect. Even cooler how you gave them opportunities to release the people the gods overtook. Also as someone in an acting class the way you utilized physical acting a bit while playing these different characters is so cool and I really appreciate it cause y'know. Podcast!! It's awesome And keep up the good work!!!

this is what i was talking about with the essays i love seeing this stuff

[newx-menfan]

RE: that crack reblog about a story arc where Laura finds herself pregnant. It actually WOULD be interesting, but anyway, I truly have always thought that the best endpoint for Laura as a character was for her to not be a hero and find a life outside of that. Not necessarily with a kid mind you, but just in general

The crack shit I have gotten has actually been pretty hilarious lately 🤣🤣 🤣

I think Laura should have been a morally “gray” character and Marvel’s mistake was trying to get her to fit within the “hero” mold; in many ways Laura was one of the few female characters I can think of that had this kind of Byronic darkness to her- similar to Constantine, Vertigo’s Lucifer, Daredevil (depending on the book), ect…

Much like Logan; who was DESTROYED as a character by overuse, OVER-EXPLAINING his origin (Why was Romulus even a thing?! The Weapon X backstory was fine!) and overpowering …(Claremont’s/Frank Miller’s, and even Larry Hama’s Logan was WAY more fun because he’s healing factor had more of a realistic limit!), Laura has been (in my opinion) kind of made harder to use because Liu/Taylor/Bendis/Hopeless white-washed her.

Writers jumped the gun and went WAY TOO fast in removing all of the drama Craig Kyle had consistently set up; leaving Laura harder to write. At the very LEAST they should have created/established more villains for her before killing off Kimura, for example.

Now you’re just kind of left with a character that doesn’t have much you can do WITH (which is why the romance stories with her have probably gone up, truthfully). Laura’s life is pretty conflict free- she has a sister, a sisterly dynamic with Daken, repaired her relationship with Logan, gotten Debbie/Megan back, killed Kimura, is no longer affected by the trigger scent, and seemingly doesn’t struggle with ptsd/depression/trauma anymore. Even Sutter’s kid isn’t really a story option anymore.

Laura basically reached her endpoint- she is no longer a “Samurai sword” but a real person, with real relationships. She doesn’t really have much else to accomplish, except maybe a romantic relationship…which so far, hasn’t really attracted readers anyway.

Tamaki’s only option during her run was to basically crank out “new, exciting clone options” for Laura…which got BORING fast! (I thought T.U.O.C.S. was just kind of pointless and dumb honestly…)

Maybe Laura having a kid would be interesting…since Laura NEVER even had a childhood…but I doubt it would be explored; Taylor didn’t seem all that interested in exploring it when he wrote Gabby. Laura was just naturally a perfect sister, who always knew what to say and do.

Plus it would PROBABLY mean another overpowered Wolverine character….

So yeah; I just don’t think there’s much else writers can DO for Laura anymore…I just don’t see Laura having a child “adding” anything to her character.

#question #answer #x 23 #x23 #laura x23 #Wolverine #Laura Kinney #x men #Marvel #all new wolverine

[that-slurmp-individual]

Nothing can compare the amount of fun I had last night rewatching Spiderman directed by Sam Reimi for the first time in almost 8 years.

This will not be a post about how it stacks against other films in the sonyverse or the mcu. This is primarily about this movie and the nostalgia I have for it. And since I'm not gonna get to much into it, I definitely cried multiple times.

Right off the bat I can tell that it takes its heaviest inspiration from the earliest issues of Spiderman comics. Some call it the "ditko era." Especially Amazing fantasy #15, which is the debut of our favorite wall crawler. I read an ok amount of these older arcs around my senior year of high school to grow a larger appreciation for the golden era of comics and I have grown quite fond of them. You can really see the inspiration from these early issues in this movie. Aunt May and Uncle Ben are almost identical to their comic counterparts. Toby Maguires take on Peter Parker really seems like a giant nerd with a growing chip on his shoulder. I love it. I recommend reading these early works of Spiderman and then Rewatching this movie to compare and contrast. I once saw a really good video about just that but specifically with amazing fantasy #15. That issue is more than worth reading if you wanna just look at one issue.

Sam Reimi put so much love and care into the physical aspect of this movie. The sets are absolutely amazing. The parkers home looks like your caring paternal figure's home. Peters room breathes character as you see periodic tables, globes and other academic decorations scattered around. I like the pens and papers on his desk showing his talent of art as well making his creation of the costume more palpable. It really feels like a high schoolers bed room. Compare this to the Osbournes home. Dark. Looming. Littered with scary masks and other odd decorations. It doesn't feel like as much a HOME as Peter's which shows how Sam wanted the sets themselves to help characterize the characters further.

Jumping from that probably my favorite thing about this movie in general is how much of a 2000's time capsule this movie is. Macy Gray at the festival. Product placements. The grimy feel. The extras. Gosh the extras are amazing. Some of them are so stunted and odd it just adds to the movies charm to me. I love it. It's hard to explain honestly but as a person born in the 2000s I love seeing this time period on screen. Such an odd time compared to now.

And then of course there's the characters. It's hard to not say what has been said before but they are all perfect. Just in the ways they act and react to each other. People hate Mary Jane in this franchise but I love her in this movie. Her character growth in this movie is excellent. It's the little things honestly. Every single time Peter talked to her and well gushed over her and was just so positive to her it warmed my soul. He truly supported her and her dreams. Following this, one of my favorite scenes was when Peter saved her as Spiderman in the rain. She asks him about everything being said about Spiderman and expresses support and trust for him. He says well, it's nice to have a fan. And that's a hint as how she feels to peter. Hinting at her actually being in love with him. It's a small thing you don't notice. Much like how the movie shows the mask she puts up, which is incredibly comic accurate. Mary Jane Watson puts on a mask of this popular party girl to hide from her abusive home life. When Pete and MJ talk in the backyard (my favorite scene) Flash comes to pick her up in his new car. They end their conversation and she skips out expressing loudly and positively to Flash which is entirely different than how quiet and personal her and Pete were talking by the fence.

That's just the icing on the cake. There's so much more. You can see how Harry and Peters friendship slowly grows into a rivalry due to their love as Mary Jane. The scene where Norman figures out who Spiderman is. We got the Vulture car scene around ten years earlier and we didn't even realize it. The reputation of don't tell Harry. When Pete and MJ converse outside the dinner and plan going to grab lunch and they jokingly say don't tell Harry, hinting at Normans haunting final line: Don't tell Harry. The name drops of Jonah grills Robbie on why they aren't getting good pictures of Spiderman and Robbie says Eddie has been on it for a week. They set up Eddie Brock 5 years before Spiderman 3. The godlike musical score by Danny Elfman. So much

I guess the most important thing Sam Reimi nailed was the ethos of Peter Parker. No matter how much good Peter Parker does his life will always suck. But he HAS to be Spiderman. Because great power comes with great responsibility. People he loves will get hurt. But it's the price he must pay. It's his gift and his curse, he says. He cannot be with Mary Jane no matter how much he wants to because it will only put her in harm's way. It's perfect Peter Parker. It's just perfect. Side note after they kiss you can see MJ realize Peter is Spiderman because of their kiss in the rain. Cool little thing there.

In all, Peter Parker kicks ass. Spiderman kicks ass. There is a reason he is the most popular superhero in the world. Watch this movie again. Notice little things you couldn't as a kid. Appreciate how it's aged well and not so well because without it we wouldn't have the movies we have now.

[scorpionyx9621]

Do you think Jason Todd fandom is kinda toxic? Because it seems like NO MATTER what DC do, there'll always be complains. Forget the bad adaptation like Titans. Even Judd Winick cannot escape the criticism with how he potrayed Robin!Jason. They just never satisfied.

SORRY, IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO RESPOND TO THIS. I just moved from Washington D.C. to Seattle, which, for my non-American friends, that's 4442km away. And I DROVE THERE ALL BY MYSELF. And now I'm trying to find new work in a new city and trying to stay mentally healthy and positive. Life is exciting but hard and scary.

*sighs*

As someone who was a fandom elder with V*ltr*n. I've seen some of the worst when it comes to fandom behavior. I'm talking people baking food with shaving razors and trying to give them to the showrunners. I'm talking leaking major plot details and refusing to take it down unless they make their ship canon (I am looking at you, Kl*nce stans) For the most part, DC Comics has had a decades-long reputation of treating their fans like trash and not caring what they think so from what I've seen, we all just grumble and complain in our corners of the internet about how we don't like how X comic portrays Jason Todd.

The challenge with Jason Todd is that he's your clinical anti-hero, the batfamily's Draco in Leather Pants, he's a jerkass woobie, and on top of all of that, he's a Tumblr sexyman. It's a perfect storm for a very fun but frustrating character to be a fan of. It doesn't help that every writer decides to re-invent the wheel every time Jason comes up so his canon lore is confusing at best and inconsistent as a standard.

I guess starting with a general brief on who Jason is and what is uniform about him with every instance he's appeared in comics/media.

Grew up in a poor family in Gotham with a dad who was a petty-mid-level criminal, and a mother who dies of a drug overdose.

Survives on the street on his own by committing petty crimes and potentially even engaging in sexual acts to keep himself alive.

Is cornered by Batman and taken in after Dick Grayson quits/is fired

Becomes the second Robin, but is known for being the harsher, more brutal Robin.

Is killed by Joker after being tortured, but somehow comes back to life and regains senses through the Lazarus Pit

Resolves himself to be better than Batman by basically being Batman but kills people.

Where there has been a lot of conflict in the fandom is the fact that Jason Todd is not a character that is written consistently. DC Comics loves to go with the narrative that Jason was "bad from the start" and was the "bad robin" when, yes, he has trouble controlling his anger, but he also still is just as invested in seeing the best of Gotham City and trying to be a positive change for the world as any other DC Comics hero.

Where I get frustrated with the fandom is its ability to knit-pick every detail of a comic they don't like while completely disregarding everything that makes the comics great and worth it to read. My example being Urban Legends. To which most people had pretty mixed reactions to. I was critical of the comic at first but as it went along I ended up really liking it. I have a feeling DC Comics went to Chip Zdarsky and told him he had 6 issues to bring Jason back into the Bat Family, and honestly he didn't do a bad job. Did it feel rushed? Absolutely. I wish there was more development of Jason and Bruce's characters and their dynamic as a whole. However, where I see a lot of people being angry and upset with Urban Legends is that they feel Zdarsky needlessly wrote Jason as an incompetent fool who needs Bruce to save him.

Whether or not that was the intention of Zdarsky is up to debate. However, and this may be controversial, but I don't think he wrote Jason Todd out of character at all. For as fearsome, intimidating, and awesome as Red Hood is. Jason is a character who is absolutely driven by his emotions. Why do you think he donned the role of Red Hood? As a response to his anger towards The Joker for killing him, and towards Bruce for not taking action against The Joker and for seemingly replacing him so quickly after he died. Jason didn't care about being the murderous Robin Hood or for being the bloody hammer of justice against N*zi's and P*d*ph*les. He only cared originally about making The Joker and Bruce pay. It wasn't until he trained under the best assassins in the world and realized most of them were horrific criminals who trafficked children and were p*dos that Talia began to realize that the teachers that she sent Jason to train under started dying horrific and painful deaths.

The entire story of the Cheer story in Batman Urban Legends was started because it finally forced some consequences upon Jason. Tyler, aka Blue Hood's father was a drug dealer who gave his supply to his wife and kids. And when Tyler's father admitted he gave the drugs to Tyler, it immediately made him fall within the self-imposed philosophical kill-list of Jason Todd. And Jason, well, he proceeds to kill Tyler's father. When this happens, Jason is in shock. Tyler's dad fit the bill to easily and justifiably be killed by Jason. We've never seen Jason having to deal with the consequences of being a murderous vigilante on a micro-level. When Jason realizes what he's done in that he's murdered Tyler's dad, he's shocked. He tells Babs the truth. He does a rational thing because he's in shock. He doesn't know what to do, he never has had to face the consequences of his actions as Red Hood and now the gravity of befriending a child as a vigilante hero who kills people just set in when he killed the father of the same child he was just introduced to.

(Oh here's a little aside because it had to be said, Jason would not have been a good father or a good mentor to Tyler and absolutely should not have been his new Robin. Jason is a man who is in his early 20's (not saying men in their early 20's can't be good fathers at all) who is a brutal serial killer using the guise of a vigilante anti-hero to let him escape most of the law. the complications of having the man who murdered your father adopt you and make you his sidekick are way too numerous for me to explain in a long-winded already heavy Tumblr essay post. There's a reason why we don't advocate for a story where Joe Chill adopted Bruce Wayne or one where Tony Zucco took in Dick Grayson.)

The next biggest argument is that they feel that Jason is giving up his guns as a means to just be invited back into the Bat-Family. To which I will tell anyone who has that argument to go actually read Urban Legends. Already have and still have that argument? Please re-read it. Don't want to? That's okay, I will paste the images from the comic where Jason specifically says that he doesn't want to give up his weapons for Bruce and his real reasoning down below since the comic isn't exactly readily accessible.

Jason gave up the guns because he felt the gravity of what he had done and knows how it'll effect Tyler. Thankfully his mom is alive and in recovery. But Tyler doesn't have a father anymore. And Jason killed Tyler's father. It may have been in accordance to Jason's philosophy, but it was a case where it blurred the lines. Jason Todd isn't a black and white character, just very dark gray. He doesn't kill aimlessly like the Joker. If you are on Jason's list you probably have done something pretty horrific, and also just in general, being in his way or being a threat to him. Mind you, in early days of Red Hood and the Outlaws (Image below) Jason almost killed 10 innocent civilians in a town in Colorado all because they saw him kill a monster. That being said, Jason isn't aimless in his kills.

(Also can we just take a moment to appreciate Kenneth Rocafort's art? DC Comics said we need to rehabilitate Jason Todd's image and Kenneth Rocafort said hold my beer: It's so SO GOOD)

That being said, the key emphasis in the story of Cheer asides from trying to introduce Jason Todd back into the Bat Family and give an actual purpose for him being there, other than him just kind of being there ala Bowser every time he shows up for Go Kart racing, Tennis, Golf, Soccer, and the Olympic games when Mario invites him, is that Jason and Bruce ultimately both want the same thing. Jason wants to be welcomed back into the family and to be loved and appreciated. Bruce want's Jason back as his son and wants to love and protect Jason. Both of these visions are shown in the last chapter of Cheer while under the effect of the Cheer Gas. It's ultimately this love and appreciation they both have for each other that helps them overcome their challenge and win.

Jason Todd is a character who, just like Bruce, has been through so much pain and so much hate in his life. The two are meant to parallel each other. While Bruce chose to see the best in everyone, giving every rogue in his gallery the option to be helped and give them a second chance, hence why he never kills, Jason has a similar view on wanting to protect the public, but he understands that some crimes are so heinous they cannot be forgiven, or that some habitual criminals are due to stay habitual criminals, and need to be put down. But at the end of the day, the two of them both try to protect people in their own ways.

I am aware that through the writings of various DC Comics authors such as Scott Lobdell and Judd Winick, the two have had a very tumultuous relationship. And rightfully so, I am by no means saying that Scott Lobdell writing an arc where Bruce literally beats Jason to within an inch of his life in Red Hood and the Outlaws, nor Judd Winick's interpretation of Under the Red Hood where Bruce throws the Batarang at Jason's neck, slicing his throat and leaving him ambiguously for dead at the end of the comic is appropriate considering DC Comics seems to be trying everything they can to integrate Jason back into the family. That being said, a lot of these writings have shaped the narrative of Jason and Bruce's relationship and have an integral effect on the way the fandom views the two. It doesn't help that Zdarsky acknowledged Lobdell's life-beating of Jason by Bruce at the very end of Cheer by having Bruce give Jason his old outfit back as a means of mending the fence between the two of them. That does complicate a lot of things in terms of how they are viewed by the fandom and helps to cause an even greater divide between the two.

Regardless, I want to emphasize the fact that Jason Todd is a part of the family of his own accord. Yes, he's quite snarky and deadpan in almost every encounter. However, Jason is absolutely a part of the family and has been for a while of his own will. There's a great moment in Detective Comics that emphasizes this. Jason cares about his family because it is his found family. Yes, they may be warry about him and use him as a punching back and/or heckle him. At the end of the day, we're debating the family dynamics of a fictional playboy billionaire vigilante whose kleptomania took the form of adopting troubled children and turning them into vigilante heroes. Jason Todd wants a family that will love and support him. This is a key definition of his character at its most basic. This was proven during the events of Cheer and is being reenforced by DC Comics every time they get the opportunity to do so.

Now, none of this is to say that I hate Judd Winick. I do not, I don't like the fact that in all of his writings of Jason, he just writes him as a dangerous psychopath, and Winick himself admits to seeing Jason as nothing much more than a psychopath. Yet Winick is the one who the majority of the fandom clings to as the one true good writer of Jason Todd because 'Jason was competent, dangerous, smart' Listen, friends, Jason is all of that and I will never deny it. However, what I love about Jason isn't that he's dangerously smart of that writers either write him as angsty angry Tumblr sexyman bait or that they write him as an infantile man child with a gun. There's a large contention of this fandom that has an obsession with Jason Todd being this vigilante gunman who is hot and sexy and while I definitely get the appeal. It is very creepy and downright disturbing that all of you hyperfixate on his use of guns and ability to be a murderer. It is creepy and I'm not necessarily here for it.

What I love about Jason Todd is that despite all of the pain, all of the heartache, all of the betrayal, and bullying, and death, and anguish. Jason Todd is one of the most loving and supportive characters in all of DC Comics. Jason has been through so much in his life, but he still chooses to love. He still chooses to see the bright side in people. Yes, he takes a utilitarian approach and chooses to kill certain villains, but at the end of the day he wants to see a better world, and he wants to be loved. It takes so much courage and so much heart to learn to love again after one has been abused or traumatized. I would not blame Jason at all if he said fuck it and just went full solo and vigilante evil. He has every right to, but he still chooses to be with the Bat Family of his own accord. That's something that I see a lot of in myself. I have been through a lot of trauma and yet I try to be a better person myself in any way that I can. It is extremely admirable of Jason to allow love back into his heart when he really doesn't need to. He kills and he protects because he has this love of society. It may have been shaped by anger and hatred, but Jason has found his place amongst people who love him and value him. I think Ducra, from Red Hood and the Outlaws put it best in the image given below.

To end this tangent, I love Jason Todd and all of his sexy dangerousness, but it's far more than that. As much as Jason may be dangerous and snarky, he loves his family without a shadow of a doubt. I look up to Jason Todd because despite all of his pain and all of his trauma, he still choses to love. Jason Todd is a character who is someone I love because despite all of his flaws and having a very toxic fandom, he still serves as a character filled with so much heart and so much passion. I wish more writers would understand that. But for now I will live with what I have. Even though the fandom may be vocal about it's hatred for his characterization, I choose to love Jason regardless because he is a character who chooses love and acceptance regardless of his pain. Jason Todd is by no means a good person in any sense of the word. He has easily killed upwards of 100 people by now. He is a character who is flawed and complex but ultimately is one who powers forwards and finds love and heart in a place from so much pain and anguish. That is what I love about Jason Todd. After all, to quote a famous undead robot superhero, "What is grief, if not love persevering?" Jason Todd chooses to love despite all of the trauma and pain and grief. Yes, he is hardened in his exterior, but inside there is a man with a lot of love to give and someone who deserves the world in my eyes.

#Long post GOD #Jason Todd #Red Hood #Bat Family #Batman #red hood and the outlaws #RHATO #RH:O #Batman Urban Legends #Red Hood Lost Days #TW Voltron #TW Death #tw murder #TW Klance #Gotta love how i am pouring my heart out onto jason AND calling out the Voltron fandom #Regardless love Jason Todd people

[dalekofchaos]

It wasn’t all Micah’s fault, Dutch is as much to blame.

A lot of people seem to think that Micah being the rat is what led to the fall of the Van der Linde gang. While it’s true that Micah is partly to blame. But Micah would not have an opportunity if it were not for Dutch’s vanity and pride.

Dutch is the classic delusional leader seen in many stories, novels. His fantasies become more real with each day, battle and somehow they think fortune is right around the corner. Like a gambler chasing the eternal big pot. No amount of money would ever be enough. It wasn't about money. It's was about the chase, the illusion of victory that never comes.

In Chapter 6 is when this all becomes more apparent. A switch went off in Dutch's mind, in Ch6. This wasn't the way HIS story was supposed to happen. Not to HIM. He's freaking Don Quixote, madman fighting knights in his mind and being a hero. It's fucking beautiful character writing and story arc for him.

Dutch has a discarded speech draft in horseshoe overlook that shows he’s always been a self-obsessed politician in context of the gang. He crosses out every line of humility and replaces it with narcissistic martyrdom, and avoids ever giving his audience a moment to question him or the path they’re on. He wants control over people so he can use them to realize his ambitions, and every book he reads in camp has a similar motif that explains why he thinks that way.

There are conversations between Lenny and Dutch, too. Lenny is not a fan of Evelyn Miller and tells Dutch why. Dutch is blind to the criticism. This speaks volumes about the two characters. This conversation made me realize that Dutch is used to peddling his philosophy to people who are not as well read as him; the moment he has to defend his ideas to someone more intelligent he gets defensive and angry. Because he isn't searching for a debate; he's searching for affirmation.

Everyone loves to paint Dutch and Hosea as the perfect partners and even ship them in a gay way. But Dutch doesn’t respect Hosea? Also Hosea was a happily married man. They're supposed to be partners, but he certainly doesn't treat him like one. He doesn't listen to him, he yells at him when he's doubting, coughing or in pain, and he makes him sleep on the cold, hard, dirty ground. He even openly ignores him in Colter, in front of the other men, and rides off when he tries to stop him from robbing Cornwall's train. I'm not saying they don't have a rich history or good moments, but it's a toxic relationship at best. Not exactly something worth praising. If you don't believe me, you can find unique dialogues as the game progresses, verifying he’s lost all faith in Dutch. To the point that he even starts telling other members to leave. Abigail, John, Arthur, Lenny, Tilly, Sadie -- he tells all of them to leave. During a dominoes game we played together he even said, "Maybe it's just me, but Dutch seems to be getting more and more unhinged." And as early as chapter one he told Arthur, "Try to stop Dutch getting all of you killed, because I'm about beginning to think he's finally lost his mind." There are also other conversations where Hosea’s disappointment with Dutch is far more blatant. He basically tells Arthur he’s been disillusioned for a while and wishes the gang would change, but when Arthur asks what they’d do instead of thieving, Hosea says, “I don’t know. I never knew. Guess I could never figure that out, neither.” By this point he’s just so dejected and defeatist because he knows Dutch won’t listen to him. He also goes on a whole tirade about how they’ve become “nothing but a bunch of killers”, which breaks his heart, and during a random campfire encounter he bares his soul and flat out tells the gang he no longer believes in Dutch’s “we’re above the law” philosophy. I feel like Dutch is glad Hosea was killed because the biggest doubter and thorn in his side was taken care of.

I mean this is what Hosea feels about the majority of Dutch’s plans

The moment John put his family as a priority, Dutch saw this as a threat and has been paranoid about John ever since. 

He tried to play the Grays, Braithewaites and Bronte  the same way he’s used Arthur, Hosea, John, Bill, Javier, and even his women like Molly, Susan and Annabelle. To Dutch, people are just set pieces in his life. He cares for them and wants them to love him, but it’s only because he’s a narcissist that needs their support to make himself stronger.

He never snapped or went crazy or turned. The Dutch that drowned Bronte is the same Dutch that had always been there. He was frustrated that he did not have the upper hand on somebody, that someone had played him the same way he plays others, and it’s probably the same reason he shot a girl in cold blood on the ferry and the same reason he shot the girl in the bank in rdr1. In that scene in rdr1, he said something like “you’re the master now John” before Dutch did what he did.

When Dutch isn’t in control, he rages against the world around him. Because as far as he’s concerned, he’s the smartest and most virtuous man around and anyone who opposes him is wrong. And anytime he loses or isn’t completely in control, somebody’s out to get him and play him like a fool. That’s why he turns on Arthur and John, and why Micah manipulates him so easily

Blackwater, going up against Cornwall, playing the inbred families and Bronte is what sealed the gang's fate.

Blackwater. If Dutch had just ignored the ferry job and let Hosea and Arthur handle their Blackwater real estate/tax scam, then they would have made it big with no one dying

If Dutch had just ignored the O'Driscolls and their train heist plans, then Cornwall would have went after Colm O'Driscoll while Dutch and the gang could have either went to Horseshoe without incident or gotten lost out West. Don’t forget it was Hosea who was against robbing that train back in chapter 1 that belonged to Leviticus Cornwall. It was after that robbery when he started sponsoring Pinkertons to find Dutch. If they stayed away from that train, they could’ve shaken off the Pinkertons easily. Hosea was right from the very start. Even before that he was saying that Blackwater robbery was a bad idea.

If Dutch or Hosea put their foot down and requested Herr Straus to stop loansharking desperate people or risk being banished from the gang, then maybe Arthur would still be alive

If they requested the aid of Trelwany to see if the rumor of Confederate gold is legit or not, then they could've realized playing one or the other family was a complete waste of time and not worth the effort.

The moment they got Jack from Bronte, they should have just left Lemoyne and never looked back.

The moment Arthur began helping the Wapiti tribe, he should have never went back to Dutch. Arthur, Charles, Sadie and John should have helped them and never looked back. John would’ve gotten Abigail and Jack out alive, while from some convincing from Arthur, Uncle and Susan would have helped Mary-Beth, Tilly and Pearson leave the gang. 

Even if everything turned out the way it did but Hosea, Lenny and Sean were alive, the gang would be split. Hosea, Susan, Lenny and Sean would have sided with Arthur. There would have been a chance that Hosea and Arthur could have talked sense into Dutch, but Dutch would not want to see that he fucked up royally and costed EVERYTHING, he would stand by the choices he made, even if it meant fighting his own brother and sons.

But no, Dutch needs to feel like this big and important leader. He needs one last take. It wasn't about money, it was wanting to prove that he won and just wanting to be the big man, like Evelyn Miller or all the outlaws that are romanticized. Micah saw him for what he was and was playing him like a fiddle and milking him for all he's worth. It was so easy for Micah to play Dutch and so easy for Arthur Hosea, Sean, Lenny, Susan, Davey, Mac and Jenny to die for the sake of Dutch proving that he is a winner and that he is right. It was never about getting lost out west or even the money or even Tahiti, it was about Dutch wanting to prove he is right and all the doubters are wrong.

Dutch Van der Linde’s pride and ego is what destroyed the gang. Even if Milton did not kill Hosea, there was no stopping Dutch’s path of self-destruction.

#Red Dead Redemption #Red Dead Redemption 2 #Arthur Morgan #Dutch Van Der Linde #Hosea Matthews #John Marston #Micah Bell #Sean MacGuire #Lenny Summers #Susan Grimshaw #Charles Smith #Sadie Adler

[itsclydebitches]

I was once more thinking of vol 8 and other works to compare it to. I hit Harry Potter, specifically Order of the Phoenix. Literally all that happened there showed a much better "proactive Hero" and "Big Bad vs Big Good" battle that it feels unfair to compare. What say you Clyde?

It's been a very long time since I read Order of the Phoenix, but putting aside that and the series' problems with representation (something that always feels like it needs to be acknowledged when discussing HP nowadays), Rowling did a good job of setting up both motivation and justification for Harry's actions. Which isn't to say that he was never wrong — quite the opposite, especially in OotP — but that Harry's involvement in this war is justified in a way that Ruby's involvement is not. He's not just generally active (no tea sipping equivalent scenes), but we understand why he's the one taking that action.

Harry is an unwilling participant forced to fight due to a prophecy, so when he stumbles along the way, we as the reader are understanding because jeez, what else what he supposed to do? Literally no one else can do this and he's trying his best. Ruby, in contrast, is not necessary to this fight. We might have gotten that with her silver eyes, but we didn't, so when Ruby willingly steps up — or, in Volume 8, forcibly takes control — and then gets upset because things didn't go well, the viewer (or at least some viewers: us) are far less forgiving because she demanded this responsibility and then found she didn't like having it. When Harry rushes off to the Department of Mysteries, endangering many of his friends in the process (even if they volunteered) we understand that this action is done out of love. We've spent five books establishing Harry's desire for a family, it's literally his greatest wish according to the Mirror of Erised, so going after Sirius, while reckless, is such an in-character, relatable, human decision. It's integral to who Harry is as a person. Compare that to the lack of work done surrounding Summer and the unanswered question of why Ruby is fighting Salem. Because it's the right thing to do? Great, fantastic, but uh... that doesn't really explain or justify why she's leading the charge when all these other huntsmen — with the same goals, more experience, better plans, etc. —are trying to do The Right Thing too. When thinking about HP vs. RWBY, my mind always goes back to that moment at the end of the first book when Harry tries to tell McGonagall about the stone and she brushes him off. "Ah," I thought later. "That's why three 11yos are going off to save the magical artifact when there are adult, full-fledged wizards around to do it instead. The kids tried to turn hand this off to the adults and the adults failed them." Now, combine this with Harry's growing tendency to go it alone, the implication that Dumbledore may have been allowing him to face certain threats to get stronger, each book's individual situation like a hidden chamber that only Harry can enter, his Godfather being on the run, a magically binding contract that keeps him in a competition because the bad guys are specifically after him... Harry is at the heart of the story. He's integral to it, his part in the fight inevitable, so all that's left is to see how he bears that burden.

Ruby is not integral to this fight, her presence and even her silver eyes are not necessary, her facing down Salem is only inevitable from a meta perspective regarding expectations for a protagonist (and then, in Volume 8, Ruby didn't face her.) There's no clear personal motivation to drive her. There's not even a Guardian's of the Galaxy-esque motivation in the form of, "We'll step up because no one else will." Others do keep stepping up and Ruby keeps forcing them to follow her instead, insisting that her way is better. Only problem is, it's arguably not and that's when she has a plan at all. It's like if instead of going after the stone because his professors won't, or going after Sirius because he loves him, or going after Voldemort because a prophecy and a life of having a saving-people-thing has pushed him to that, Harry made his way to the front of this war Just Because, rejecting everyone else who fought in the first war, has more experience, and actual plans along the way. Why does he do this? Because his name is in the title of the book, I guess.

RWBY throws in lost of classic ideas and setups, but doesn't seem to understand their point. Even something as simple as that Big Bad vs. Big Good conflict in Volume 8. Putting aside how muddied this has gotten between the Gods' involvement and Salem's dip in the grimm pool, Volume 8 took the threat of our Big Bad arriving with an army and... ignored it. Instead, they ran with Ironwood as the primary antagonist of the volume, the guy trying to stop Salem, a previously established ally, the guy who just gave up his arm to capture another clear-cut villain, and who throughout Volume 7 demonstrated none of the manipulation we would attribute to a Dumbledore-like figure. Rather than running with their Big Bad's arrival, RWBY asked how they could force one of the good guys to become a bad guy instead, hence the sudden shooting of Oscar and murder of the councilman. This is a far from perfect comparison (and I take my virtual life in my hands bringing up another controversial character lol), but it's a little like if after we learned about which side Snape was truly on, he suddenly tried to kill Hermione, succeeded in killing a minor character like Professor Flitwick, and then made plans to destroy all of Hogwarts. Meanwhile, everyone is ignoring Voldemort standing on the front lawn because the narrative randomly made Snape the biggest problem instead. So a lot of the fanbase is like, "Yeah he's absolutely a dick and his horrific past/contentious choices are the point of his character... but he's also supposed to be one of the good guys at the end of the day? And the Big Bad is right there? We can argue about how 'good' Snape is until we're blue in the face, but he's no Voldemort. Why did you feel the need to chuck the morally gray character off the deep end for our heroes to oppose when our primary antagonist is literally right here, trying to kill them?" From this, to introducing a dead mother that in no way motivates our cast, to having Oscar face down Salem with an improvised weapon instead of Ruby with her eyes, to giving Penny an arc about accepting her android body only to rip it away, etc. etc. RWBY continuously throws out ideas without understanding what they're meant to accomplish. There's a lot to criticize about Harry Potter nowadays, but a lack of logical development isn't one of them.

And just to chuck in another text — because I too think about what has done Volume 8 themes better lol — consider: Loki. Stop reading now if you don't want spoilers, but a couple episodes in Loki and Sylvie end up on a dying planet that is only evacuating the rich. That's said overtly in both the dialogue and visually in the mise-en-scene, with poor people screaming that only the rich are getting tickets for the rocket and elaborately dressed elites enjoying the comforts of that ride. Then, just as they're about to escape, leaving the rest of their world behind, a piece of the moon hits the ship, either killing them instantly or stranding them with the people they abandoned. And I thought to myself, "See, this makes sense in a way RWBY never did." Evacuation was never about wealth in RWBY, despite what the fandom continually claims. Ironwood was trying to evacuate everyone and only stopped because they all assumed Salem would be killing them momentarily. This situation included Relics and a Maiden that would easily turn the tide of the war, meaning their safety influenced the whole world, not just these people. Mantle was not necessarily about to be destroyed — indeed, we find out later that Salem had no interest in it — and it was always a bad faith (and OOC) assumption that Ironwood was leaving his kingdom for good. The story doesn't even acknowledge the huge number of Mantle citizens already on Atlas when the attack begins. I was just sitting there thinking, "This two episode mini conflict in an insane show with alligators and time shenanigans somehow holds up better than RWBY's 27 episodes that are trying to be deep. How does that happen?"

#rwde #rwby #Harry Potter #HP #mymetas

[ness-plays-wizards]

Season 6 Relationship Rates

Zeus Brundle

I didn’t like him. 

To throw Solmare a bone, I do think they tried to give him a character. Keyword here is tried. For pretty much the whole route, Zeus was domineering and insulting to Liz and pretty much everyone. Even in their actual relationship, he continues to be this way toward her. What makes me even madder about this is that when I was first introduced to Zeus in one of the event stories, he felt like a fun and flamboyant character. I wish that had been his character. Hell, he could still even be arrogant or boastful, but like... he could have not repeatedly insulted Liz for the hell of it, and he could have not done that thing where he forcibly made her go with him to the Night Class.

Here’s the thing: He could still do the betrayal thing though. I think it would have had more of an impact if Zeus had actually treated Liz better. I think it could have set up a good conflict. People aren’t perfect and characters should be allowed to make mistakes. And in the route, Liz gets to call him out and in happy ending at least, Zeus seems genuinely remorseful about his role in betraying Liz. It would have been a good character arc.

Rate: F in the chat for what could have been.

Klaus Goldstein

Okay can we all agree that “The Absolute Perfection” was a stupid title? Right, now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s talk about the actual route. It was regrettably okay. The regret part is just a joke; I much prefer this route to his first route. Even though there’s the fact that Klaus is a college graduate now and Liz is still in college, they feel more like equals this route. Klaus seems to respect Liz more as a wizard and a person instead of constantly degrading her for the slightest mistake like a more boring version of Christian Gray. Honestly the worst I could really say about this route in regards to Klaus himself is how over the top the Happy Ending is, but like... it’s funny. It’s not Bad bad, it’s funny bad. It was absolute HILARIOUS to me how over the top that ending was. Idk, maybe I’ve just finally hit the brainrot stage of running this blog because this heavy-emotional-romantic-climax is just so goddamn funny to me.

I feel like the actual romantic route is pretty mediocre? Which I feel really worked this time, since there was a lot of focus on the plot, so the romantic subplot was more of “he loves me, he loves me not” and 3/4 (?) of the way through, they get together without any dumb miscommunications or misunderstandings. I appreciate a story that doesn’t engineer miscommunications that make me want to scream.

Rate: Mediocre, but the brainrot makes it good.

Hiro Tachibana

He's okay. That's all I can really say about this route. There's not a lot of groundbreaking stuff. He's just kind of a normal guy by Gedonelune standards.

Although since the game is now going with HP parallels and Hiro was possessed by a bad guy whose soul was trapped in an object and forced to write giant letters on walls and was obsessed with the guy who had the most main character energy..... #HiroIsGinnyWeasely

Rate: Normal Guy. So, bare minimum.

Ah, can you tell I wrote these three rates at two very different stages of my life?

Also, there was a departure in the usual format of the stories. Instead of telling the same story three different ways, each route had a different plot. I found this to be more fun for me personally. The same story got boring around the third time.

#wizardess heart #shall we date #solmare #anti zeus brundle #klaus goldstein #hiro tachibana #relationship rates

[galaxiesinadot]

Okay, I figured out the problem with Carmen Sandiego's seasons. They. Keep. Adding. Plots. Even when they haven't finished a plotline, they add another. I don't think that we needed Player having school problems or Carmen suddenly turning all evil. They knew the season would be short, why add those plots if they can't be fully explored?

It would have been a lot better if they changed a few things around like instead of Carmen fighting Shadow-san while brainwashed, she could have fought Chief in a fit or rage (you know, the one who killed here father and who she never confronted for doing so). It could have started with Chief apprehending Carmen instead of VILE, and then Chief could have tried to falsely convince her that what she's been doing is wrong and is no better than her father. This would've angered Carmen because Chief doesn't know anything about her father other than being the cause of his death. Carmen could've gone off on the Chief and explained everything. Why she was doing what she was doing, and just how disillusioned Chief is with her viewing of the world in black and white. Then they could've fought. Chief could have reasoned with her and shown her the doll like Shadow-san did while saying something like, "I can't bring him back, and I'm so sorry. But I can help you with this." Then Carmen would've snapped out of her rage.

As for Gray, I'm sorry I don't care for him, but I still think he deserved to be handled better. He could have regained his full memories from Acme, like in the show. Then, he could've gotten angry at Carmen for keeping the truth from him and for being the cause of his mind wipe in the first place. Then, they could've battled it out, ending with Gray being still upset but unable to actually hurt Carmen, and Carmen feeling sad but understanding as she lets him go back to a life of crime. Then he could be captured and arrested because, y'all I'm sorry, but because he IS a criminal like everyone else in VILE who are the equivalent of the British Museum.

As for Zack and Ivy, they just need some love, okay? Like, they were just tossed aside after having given up a promising career in racing for Carmen. They also gave up their chance at being part of the Sterling family. Carmen claimed to have considered them as more than her crew, but there seemed to be no love lost between them.

And I revoke Shadow-san's dad status from this show. I. REVOKE. IT. Nobody plays with Zack's feelings of love and admiration, and nobody knocks him out just because he was being a little hyper. Catch these hands Shadow-san! Catch 'em!

Shadow-san from fanfictions can get it tho. I love all you fix-it fic writers.♥️♥️♥️♥️

And I'm not gonna forget about Player who is my son. I really would be loved to see how Carmen would do without him, but that would be a complicated plotline. So, instead, Player could've been shown bonding with ALL of Team Red. I feel like there's not much else to do with his character.

Julia and Devineaux's arc was perfect! That can be left alone.

Tldr: There's just so many ways they could have taken the story that I just can't believe they cared about this show anymore. And I'm sorry, but it just seems so lifeless at times, not like the first season which really sucked me in. The fixes I mentioned, I believe, would've made this last season more coherent and in line with plots they set up.

#carmen sandiego #I'm gonna take my keyboard and fix rhe cannon #they're my characters now

[carmenxjulia]

I put together a transcript of the 2 hour Q&A Interview the Carmen Sandiego Discord did with Showrunner Duane Capizzi. All of the questions were submitted by server members. You can read everything below the break!

Duane Capizzi:

Hi there!

Am I in? Is this thing on?

PizzaHorse:

Hi, welcome!

Yep, you're in the right place!

Duane Capizzi:

Sorry I'm late, I was wandering around some empty Discord hallways looking for the right room haha

PizzaHorse:

No worries. Let's get started!

Who is your favorite character?

Duane Capizzi:

Moose Boy!

KIDDING!

Alright, how to NOT get myself in trouble if my answer isn't "Carmen" haha.

But really, they are ALL my babies.

So I know it's going to sound like a cop out to some that I can't pick just one. But hmm, some for instances...

I love that she's so morally evolved at such a young age; her ability to always take the high road and never lower herself; her drive and conviction and dedication. Her ability to kick serious booty and look good while doing it. Her progressive values, her fashion sense. I could go on and on. But then there's Shadowsan and his arc; Chase and his. Julia, who's every bit as strong as Carmen but shows it in different ways. The Cleaners don't get enough love.

I'll close that question with an anecdote about The Cleaners ...

I love that all our characters are embraced and that everyone seems to have favorites. Our sound engineer Marcel is a pretty serious guy: he has a serious job that takes high levels of focus and attention. He's always deeply focused and not prone to small talk. Anyway, we were in the middle of our first or second sound mix, and he suddenly stops in the middle and turns around to face us. I'm thinking, "uh oh, we're giving too many notes." That's when I notice he's freeze framed the Cleaners. He says "I really like these guys." Then he turns around, hits play and gets back to work.

PizzaHorse:

What was the biggest challenge for coming up with new stories and plot for the reboot?

Duane Capizzi:

THE biggest? Sigh. I'm not sure I could come up with just one. Plotting is always challenging and we had the brain trust of the room, our trusty white board, and writer assistant to keep the threads of the ongoing storyline together. I think the single biggest ONGOING challenge was tracking which character knew what at any given time.

The caper part was challenging - coming up with new capers and keeping them interesting and fresh. But, it was the characters and their interactions that kept things fresh and interesting. Another museum heist? That's okay - Chase is on the case and he gets to interact with "X" this time (for instance).

There were also some episodes - Duke of Vermeer and Crackle Goes Kiwi come to mind - where there was SO MUCH SET UP needed to get the payoffs to work. I was really worried about too much talk/too much detail. Very "Swiss watch!" It took a lot of work to make sure it all clicked and was clear - hopefully it seems effortless on screen but I can't say there wasn't some sweat and the occasional tear (mostly from me - I'm a big cry baby

But really, what made it fun was that we had so many buckets to draw from: sometimes a story germ initially began with a character idea; sometimes it was inspired by global location; sometimes it was a clever way to update or reimagine an idea from old Carmen lore. Usually, it was some combination of all of the above!

PizzaHorse:

What was your favorite scene to write?

Duane Capizzi:

I think we have a theme here! "How can I pick just one ...?"

As a film buff, I got to indulge in some serious fan nerdery on this show: I got to write spy movies, yakuza movies, spaghetti neo-westerns (though turning it on its head: spaghetti westerns usually involve REVENGE and because of Carmen's character make up, this was sort of anti-revenge).

Is writing coming up with the idea or typing it? Haha. An "if a tree falls in the forest" question. The writing team and I had so many cathartic "that's how it goes" in the room. But on my own, writing the Pilot, was a very inspiring time for me: I remember laughing out loud the moment I thought of Chase falling on his own car (in part because of doing my spin on "that trope" that we've seen in so many hard boiled movies recently). But also how emotional I got when I imagined the simple but potent image of Black Sheep deciding to take her destiny into her own hands and walk that long corridor to the Faculty who we were about to meet for the first time.

I think I've cited this in another interview, but there was a period where I was completely immersed in Chase's arc and the scene where he would crack the location of VILE island ... by listening to Julia in a dream ... was a big one for me. It revealed he was finally open to admitting he needed Julia more than he would ever admit - yet, it was his own subconscious speaking.

The next morning, after cracking that scene, I bumped into Raf Petardi (voice of Chase) ... at the supermarket! It was very strange and hilarious

PizzaHorse:

Did you scrap any lengthy or funny scenes that you would be able to share?

Duane Capizzi:

With few exceptions, most scene cuts are done at the script stage so that the story board team doesn't waste effort over boarding. A variety of trims to any script are common, but they are usually for the better

The easier question to answer might be scenes were part of our "wish list" at writer room stage, but never made it to story or script. I hesitate to go too deep here (in the event that we might ever do more Carmen episodes in this canon - I'm not giving up hope). And there were cases where things we wanted to do earlier in the series wound up getting nixed or not fitting for whatever reason, but we got them in later - USUALLY FOR THE BETTER. So there's sort of a reverse Murphy's Law/rule of good fortune somehow in these things. But some fun things that didn't make it into the show, that leap to mind were: a Bollywood dance sequence (!). A Vegas caper involving Brunt wanting to steal an Elvis jumpsuit against the backdrop of an Elvis impersonator convention. We also thought it would be neat to get Maelstrom imprisoned so that Julia could interrogate him and he would play mind games with her - very Lector/Clarice!

PizzaHorse:

Were there any different treatments of Carmen you pitched before settling on the one we ended up with?

Duane Capizzi:

I was one of several "pitches" that I'm sure HMH heard before running with my version. But I can honestly say I've never pitched anything as fully formed: the take on Carmen felt so right to me, and clearly HMH and by extension Netflix agreed

I'll answer your question with an anecdote: I had the entire Pilot pretty well worked out, and pitched it in the first meeting. But one key thing that changed (much for the better!), simply because it wouldn't have fit without slogging things down ...

In my Pilot pitch, Black Sheep's escape on the boat was off screen: we see Shadowsan corner her, then we cut away. The rest of the Faculty show up to find SS's broken sword on the rocks, and are led to believe BS killed him (!). In the present, Crackle points his weapon at Carmen and prepares to pull the trigger. We know that Chase is on the way and may rescue her. The compartment door opens to reveal - not Chase - but Shadowsan! Big surprise! Then we cut back to BS's escape and find out what really transpired etc etc.

Crazy, right? SS would have been hanging out with the gang in season 1; we might not have gotten to 203 with his back story, since his sword was broken and he couldn't return it. Just one of those magical things where "things work out" the way they are supposed to. THAT SAID, it made for a heckuva pitch

PizzaHorse:

Are there any characters that ended up taking a direction you didn't initially anticipate?

Duane Capizzi:

GRAY.

I didn't know we'd make him amnesiac when I wrote the Pilot, that was something we came up with in our first week Writer Room.

And even then, when it became clear he'd be a key piece of the bigger puzzle, we didn't know how exactly (mostly the Season 4 stuff).

We did get very deep with a version where 404 ended with his protective streak for Carmen kicking into high gear, and they would be fighting off Vile Guards back to back in perfect tandem. Then, having chosen Carmen over VILE, it was Carmen who actually orchestrates Gray going "off grid" so that VILE can never find him again. Funny, I know that is arguably the version of Gray's arc that many fans might have preferred seeing. But in the tradition of spy thrillers and film noir, and for a lone wolf character like Carmen who is focused on her life mission and not romance, we stand behind where we went with him. We felt it was so much more compelling ... and truly more emotional that he totally has a get out of jail free card when he sacrifices everything (including his life, potentially) to save Carmen.

when she needs him most!

I know I made some controversial comments about Gray "not being good enough for Carmen" and I'd like to clarify that I meant, until that final episode. What he did was so selfless and heroic. Is there hope for them in the future? Who knows?! But I do hope we get to explore that one day

I'm sure Gray is living off the grid somewhere now, inspired by Carmen's selfless good and thinking of her from time to time.

PizzaHorse:

You mentioned in the interview with Alicyn that Carmen is a love story, but you were cut off before you could finish discussing. Could you elaborate on your answer now?

Duane Capizzi:

Ugh, yes! Sorry about that. I actually answered that privately for someone so will cut and paste that response here. Let's see if it works.

Something we never said in the show, but something I imparted to the creative team was: Carmen Sandiego is (among other things) a LOVE STORY, where every character in our ensemble is in love with Carmen in one way or another. Even if they don't know it! That love can take different forms: we see how spurned by Carmen Coach Brunt feels and why she retaliates so excessively. Chase eventually comes to realize that he too loves Carmen, even if he wasn't initially aware of it haha. One of the most moving things to me about the series is how all of the different factions come to Carmen's rescue at the end when she's not "in her right mind," without knowing the others are there too. It's a massive group effort to bring back the Carmen they love. But we weren't looking for a fairy tale ending for Carmen with ANYone - Carmen's a classic lone wolf anti-hero, that goes with the territory. At least at this stage in her journey.

PizzaHorse:

Were there other locations that you wanted to feature in the show that didn't make it?

Duane Capizzi:

I think we managed to cover a lot of ground and "cadence" between different countries/cultures/continents was important to us. Many "iconic" locations of course, and it would have been nice to explore some lesser known locations if we had more episodes.

One that we almost did was Niagara Falls, Canada - actually literally going to the Falls and doing a big hydro-electric caper, where Player could actually get into the field with Carmen and the team.

But ultimately, we wound up bringing Player into the fold the way we did and wound up stronger as a result. It made his "first face to face" with Carmen even more impactful, IMO.

PizzaHorse:

Were there any changes in production between the first half and the second half of the series?

Duane Capizzi:

Well, there was that Covid thing

But while it was no doubt a colossal undertaking to get the entire staff transitioned to work from home (animators! and their equipment!), we managed to make up for lost time WITHOUT a dip in animation quality. My fedora's off to our amazing team at Wildbrain for pulling it off!

We did lose some staff between orders, but that is a natural part of production unfortunately. Namely, one of our episodic directors Kenny Park, our first storyboard artist Dennis Crawford, and our story editor May Chan were among those who moved on to other shows during the break. But, as hard as their shoes were to fill, fill them we did!

PizzaHorse:

What is your favorite season?

Duane Capizzi:

Easy. Hands down, Season 3.

(crickets)

KIDDING!

Again, another "they're all my babies" answer (and yes, I love Season 3 equally

It's hard, because really when you step back I'm sure you'll agree it's a series, with stand alone capers; but it's really all ONE BIG MOVIE.

Season 3 is like the scherzo of a symphony: the shortest movement of four, and the one that tees up the big finale.

That's my hoity toity answer but I'm going to put to rest all of the various theories on what happened with season 3. It was a combination of two things: Netflix's desire to experiment with different ways of "dropping" seasons, and their desire to do a holiday themed drop (in this case Halloween, naturally). It became our challenge to come up with a theme (easy enough: masks), and the bigger challenge to serve their need while not interrupting our ongoing narrative. A challenge to be sure, but a challenge met. I think the biggest bump was perception: it was a short season and I know that was disappointing to many. But, by design.

So, Season 3 = an essential part of the whole. I don't think there's a wasted episode, and it gets everyone into position for the big finish. I can't pick a favorite season - you can't make me

PizzaHorse:

Were there any characters you had wanted to give more time to but couldn't due to time/plot restraints?

Duane Capizzi:

Well, there's the "what was on the white board" answer but hopefully some of those ideas will see the light of day in some way, shape or form some day. I think if we had more episodes, we would have shaken up the internal dynamic of VILE a bit more (as hinted at Brunt's displeasure with Maelstrom for leaving her hanging out to dry at end of 405 - a seed we planted "just in case," as some have noted). And we had more scenes in mind with Chase's partnering with Carmen for the first time that we had to cut to the bone because of what little room we had in that otherwise packed episode (worry not: it's mostly more gags, more embellishment, more twists and turns - but the important stuff is there). Mostly, and I don't think it would have been right for Season 4 but I hope to tell in the future, I think there's an interesting history between Shadowsan and Lady Dokuso - possibly tragic - that I would love to explore one day. (She was a cameo in Duke of Vermeer at the dinner party BTW, I'm not sure if anyone noticed. And we built a bigger role for her out of that)

PizzaHorse:

What are some pre-2000/nostalgic Carmen references you snuck into the show? Do you have a favorite reference that was included?

Duane Capizzi:

Doing that was so much fun! I'd say roughly 60% of the characters were from previous iterations of Carmen, though often in name only. We had fun reimagining most everyone to make them more relevant or updated or giving them a more colorful personality for starters.

"Suhara" was Carmen's Japanese mentor when she worked at the ACME Agency in a flashback episode in the 90's series, for instance. I don't think I need to spell out how we turned that one inside out

And Tigress was also one episode only: she was a "rival thief" to Carmen, but revealed to be an ACME agent in disguise - a persona created solely to bait Carmen. It was really cool of course, but it seemed like untapped potential so we made her an ACTUAL Vile Thief.

My own internal rule was to make sure the references/easter eggs wouldn't confuse anyone - they were there for those who were in the loop and window dressing. The one and only time i broke that rule was Dark Carmen's line from 407: "I do it for the mental gymnastics." It was one of the most absurd lines from the 90's series (IMO) and i was determined to have it come out of Dark Carmen's mouth. I'm sure it left some 7 year olds scratching their heads

aside from that, the key references were the music: I still tingle at how we worked the Rockapella theme into the Interactive Special; and the 90's main title theme (composed by Mozart!), in our Vienna episode ("They're playing my song"). If you wanted Rockapella or Carmen as a bad guy, well ... be careful what you wish for!

PizzaHorse:

Was there any improvised content from recording sessions that made it into any episodes?

Duane Capizzi:

Yes! Not much, because a lot of it would have pushed us into TV-MA haha

Mostly Mary Elizabeth - Coach Brunt has a POTTY MOUTH!

Mikey and Abby usually riffed their banter WAY beyond what was on the written page and had us in stitches. Some bits definitely made it in! But mostly there was too much or it would get off point (hmmm, much like my interview answers maybe? haha)

Sharon Muthu did rise to Pun Goddess status with "Mask and you shall receive." And Raf pitched me "Chasse means hunt in French" after one session and I said: "I'm going to write that in." I don't think he believed me. You can't say I'm not a straight shooter.

PizzaHorse:

If you could get more season, would you do it, and what type of story would you tell?

Duane Capizzi:

Well if that hasn't been clear so far, ABSOLUTELY

There have been discussions of course. It's up to the powers that be at this point. I will say this: the beauty and tradition so far has been that every iteration has been its own thing. I definitely think there are more "different canon" versions of Carmen that can be had and be a part of this wonderful tradition. After all, there were many naysayers for our version when it was first announced.

I will also say that if we don't get to tell any more stories in this canon with these characters, we've left a perfect gem that will stand the test of time. I would rather go out on a high note than overstay our welcome.

All that said, we worked within the allotted episodes given, ended it as we wished, but left the door open for other stories. I'd love to do an expansion and a deepening: pick up where we left off; find out what happened in those two years; and proceed to do the equivalent of Godfather II or Better Call Saul as related to the amazing originals they followed.

Let's hope! Keep putting good vibes out there!

PizzaHorse:

If you could pick a character on Carmen Sandiego who'd you switch places with for a day (you get to control their life and they get to control yours) who would you pick, and why?

Duane Capizzi:

Okay, THIS is difficult. So you're going Freaky Friday on me?

on a Sunday?

Hmmm, I know Ivy would get along with my cat ... but then I'd have to hang out with Zack!

That's the trick: I can't pick my favorites cuz I couldn't hang out with them!

(not that I have favorites - they're all my babies haha)

Okay, I have one: ROUNDABOUT. I could fill Shadowsan's seat - how cool is that? Then, I could enact all my evil fantasies - but still have a get out of jail free card cuz he'd be sitting at my desk!

(cut to Duane being brain wiped - D'oh!)

PizzaHorse:

Who are two characters who don't really interact in the show that you think could be good friends or work really well together?

Duane Capizzi:

Hmmmm. Okay, now I'm going to give you quick and sassy answers. Gray and Julia! They'd be so cute banding together to rescue captive Carmen (for instance). And they could also duke it out and maybe settle things between themselves re: shipping controversies instead of dragging me into it

PizzaHorse:

The FINAL QUESTION. Have you learned anything super impactful while working on the show?

Duane Capizzi:

Aside from Iceland's terrifically low crime rate?

I think I have learned to never underestimate how meaningful characters can be to fans. Social media has obviously brought us a lot closer to our fan base in more immediate ways: it's been really gratifying to hear/see/read feedback and not be writing things in a vacuum. It's been gratifying to see that ideas that were meaningful to myself and the creative team on Carmen that were crafted with care, have also resonated with our fan base. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who has traveled on this journey with us - for embracing Carmen's world view, and her friends and foes alike. Take care everyone! Stay safe! This has been fun, thanks for having me!

PizzaHorse:

HUGE thank you to Duane Capizzi: for being here today.

Thank you everyone for watching and reacting!

Duane Capizzi:

Okay, gotta run - just gotta find the door

Anyway, really: THIS HAS BEEN AMAZING. I speak for everyone involved in the creation and production of Carmen: it has been an amazing and inspiring series and we're elated to see it connect with such a CREATIVE, TALENTED and INTELLIGENT fan base. Take care everyone! Until next crime...

#Carmen Sandiego #Duane Capizzi #CS Crew #Interview #Transcript

[kitkatopinions]

Team RWBY doesn’t have the moral high ground in their spat with Ironwood. RWBY crit under the keep reading. If you don’t want to see any Ironwood defense or people talking about RWBY being questionable, don’t read this.

First off, I want to start by saying that I’m against Ironwood murdering, attempting to kill a fifteen year old, and hacking into Penny. I think that was a bad choice from the writers, but I can explain that in another post if people are interested. However, since the only member of RWBY and co that knows about that (if I recall correctly) is Oscar, I’m going to frame all of this from only their main argument; Ruby wants to keep Atlas, the Relics, and the Maiden in Salem’s direct line of fire until they can evacuate the people of Mantle who are getting attacked by Grimm. And Ironwood wants to save the Relics, the Maiden, Atlas, and arguably the world, despite the fact that he would be leaving Mantle without proper defenses. The show frames Ironwood’s choice as absolutely wrong, cruel, proof that he’s untrustworthy, and proof that he’s a danger to everyone.

RWBY would rather stand and fight, making a stand against an immortal witch, because they can’t save everyone in Mantle yet (thus leaving both cities in danger.)

In season eight, didn’t all of Team RWBY, JNOR, and the Huntresses essentially give up on Atlas though? Essentially saying ‘it’s too late for Atlas’ and choosing between A. Helping Mantle or B. Launching Amity? One could argue that knowing Ironwood would be launching defenses himself, they didn’t think they needed to help, but we see tons of soldiers launching themselves into battle, we see Grimm in the city, possibly killing children, and Ironwood told them that he and his soldiers were all completely exhausted. It’s possible RWBY and co didn’t realize this would happen, but they still abandoned an entire very large city, knowing that Salem was attacking, and knowing that the Vale authorities and the Atlas authorities weren’t enough to stop the attack on Vale that Salem wasn’t even a part of. Either they were blind and foolish, or they knew the attack would be devastating and didn’t do much of anything to stop it. Let me correct that. They actively stopped people from stopping it.

The fact that Team RWBY and co disagreed with Ironwood’s choice to abandon Mantle wasn’t my main problem, I actually like that. But they pretty much immediately abandoned Atlas themselves, which is just as bad and destroys their message of ‘you have to work to save everyone.’ They split into two groups, and the group specifically sent to help Mantle... Oh yeah, abandons it. I understand that they were trying to save Oscar and they were teenagers who were emotional, but JRY officially no longer have any moral high ground. They were fine with completely abandoning one city to save another, and then they were fine with abandoning an entire city of people to save one person. Team RWBY took the stance of ‘it’s better to send out a confusing message to everyone to warn them of danger and ask people who mostly couldn’t make it to Atlas in time to come and help us.’ This shouldn’t have ever even been on the table because at the tail end of season seven, they established Amity wasn’t nearly finished, and then pretended it was in the next season. However, they did retcon that to give RWBY and co a win. But when they manage to launch Amity, instead of doing anything to help Mantle or Atlas, three of our main characters sit and wonder if they should bother. They officially have no moral high ground. You could say they were trying to help save the world by getting the message out, but of course, you could say Ironwood was trying to save the world by getting the Relics and Maiden away from Salem’s reach, only while Ironwood was sacrificing Mantle, RWBN + Penny was abandoning Atlas and Mantle, and then when they finished their task, they did nothing more to help either city.

This isn’t a story about unity, this isn’t a story about trust, because Ironwood trusted our main heroes and they betrayed him only for the story to then frame them as Right and him as Wrong despite the fact that they don’t actually have a moral high ground in that fight, and Ruby was proven ‘right’ for their own mistrust by having the show make Ironwood a full blown child murderer. They warn the whole world that he can’t be trusted because he was doing the same thing they were doing in a way that arguably would save more lives. It’s very possible that if they were working together with Ironwood, they would be able to save everyone like Ruby wanted. But again, their group doesn’t have the high ground, because the reasons he doesn’t trust them and the reasons he tried to have them arrested are directly based on actions they did. Ruby led everyone into lying to him, and Blake and Yang went behind his back and divulged secret plans to Robyn (and she apparently wouldn’t stop talking about it.) They didn’t realize what it would lead to, but it was their actions that made James distrust them. Yes, Ironwood is also partly responsible because he wasn’t listening to them, but he’d given them the benefit of the doubt before. He’d trusted them, brought them into his plans, gave them their licenses, considered himself lucky to have them, and then they lied to him and went behind his back. This is why I actually like Yang arguing with Ruby, and I actually would’ve liked more of that. If the story was, Yang was accusing Ruby and Ren was accusing Yang and Blake, and some of them were saying they should try to reason with Ironwood and others were saying he clearly won’t listen, and Ruby was struggling to hold her own team together, it could’ve been a great consequence to the actions they took. Maybe Yang wouldn’t be being fair (since she’s lied too and let Ruby lie to Ironwood,) and maybe Ren wouldn’t be being fair (Blake and Yang were only trying to help,) and maybe it’s clear to the audience that James isn’t being receptive. But I just think that would’ve actually been more interesting than just Yang saying Ruby wasn’t that good of a leader and then dropping it and defending their track record to Ren.

Personally, I would really prefer it if this arc was centered around Team RWBY and co being confronted with consequences, but still coming out on top because (presuming that the show didn’t have James go way too far) they actually manage to break through to Ironwood eventually, helping him through his clear mental breakdown and convincing him to let them in again and join together to fight Salem back. Ruby learning that she shouldn’t have lied promotes the show’s pushed message of trust and honesty and sets Ruby apart from Ozpin (who had great reason for being wary, but still insisted that he was right to keep things from them and didn’t seem open to changing that.) Ruby and her team not trying to divide the people against a leader who’s only trying to do what’s right (again, this James wouldn’t murder people when he could’ve just arrested them,) would promote the show’s supposed narrative of unity against evil, with Team RWBY not willing to have an ‘us versus them’ perspective. And Ruby managing to talk Ironwood around and help him, thus managing the unity, furthers the ‘victory is in a simple soul’ message that the show has always tried to have. Making Ruby actually win through her emotions like they want by having her act in compassion to James would help their message, instead of retconning things to make her have a win. Having her be a leader who steps up and takes responsibility, who does unify people against Salem, and who maybe even leads the attack would make her a much more active and good protagonist. Honestly, idk if those are even good ideas. I’m just disappointed.

Just to clarify in case it wasn’t clear, 1. I’m not trying to hate on the mains. Every good character has flaws and makes mistakes, I just don’t like how the show frames them as morally superior, in the right, and totally ready to lead while ignoring the flaws. 2. I’m not saying that James is perfect. He’s a deeply flawed character and I like his gray ‘ends justify the means’ character. But his obvious PTSD and paranoia are mental problems that should be treated with more sympathy. 3. I also am not saying his actions of senseless murder and hacking Penny are alright. I think they’re horrific and actually move him out of a position where he can be redeemed (unless they really go hard to make the actions a product of a semblance or subtle mind control or something.)

#rwde #rwby critical #rwby criticism #btw I'm open to discussion #but if you want my reasons for thinking James was mishandled I can address it later #in a different post but I won't address it here

[thesharondefenseleague]

I fully disagree with this take that the reason why Sharon got such bad writing is because her comic traits were given to other characters and fans hated her so much in civil war that they scrapped her in IW and endgame and all of that led her to becoming a villain in tfatws bc the tptb at marvel didn’t know what else to do. I think it was pretty easy to give her an arc and keep her morally gray in a way that’s true to her character in what little we’ve seen in the mcu and her comic origins and tfatws had the perfect set up to do that. They needed to give this character whose been previously shafted (even a secondary one at that) the space to develop and allow the audience to get to know her and a tv show was the perfect medium to do that. Like anyone with half a brain could at least attempt that and what really gets me bc it shows they don’t care about her at all

One of the most important rules of writing is you have to care about every character you include. If you don’t, your story will fall apart. The writers cared about Sam, Bucky, Karli, Isaiah, Ayo, and John (and Zemo). They don’t seem to care about many others who play a role in the plot.

In the 90s, Sharon returns to the Cap comics after being presumed dead for years. This had devastated Steve, Peggy, Fury, and many others. And she returned morally grey, who found herself begrudgingly working with agents of HYDRA in a way similar to Sam and Bucky with Zemo. She was gritty and pissed off at the country who left her for dead and then faked her death, and though to Steve he had her back, she still felt alienated and betrayed. And I was thinking we’d get this, which resolves with her returning (and temporarily running) SHIELD, and her not betraying them after they were able to get her back into the country and away from the dark world she had to embrace, but going back to the life she lived before after having time to reintegrate into it. This was what I hoped they’d do with her. That was a story written by someone who cared about Sharon so much they brought her back from the dead. Can’t say the same for how she’s written here. She doesn’t need to be the lead with whole episodes of dedication, but you still have to care for her and her role beyond a plot twist.

~Mod R