God can hori be any more heavy handed with the "DONT YOU WANT TO BE NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL" bestie, shes drinking other kids blood, thats not just "not normal". This weird retcon thing is annoying, Idk why hed bother putting her backstory in when he didnt give much of a shit about it 😭
The thing is, I actually don't think trying to say Toga's blood drinking is normal is necessarily bad or something that can't be done well. Quirks are a major part of the world and the story overall--it's not that far fetched that blood drinking might be a normal thing a person with a Quirk would want to do. If people can accept people that can make explosions which could also be dangerous to kids and people (and very much was for Izuku) then it's not a huge stretch to accept that blood drinking for Toga is normal and she should be accepted as such.
The issue is that Hori didn't really make that the issue. I don't think he really sees it himself given how he wrote Mineta, but Toga's main problem and why shes not accepted is a matter of consent not because she's seen as a creep.
This is why her backstory doesn't work very well, besides the fact it's way to late and very short. Yes, her parents freak out about her Quirk and obsession with blood. The problem is that they don't freak out for zero reason and are the only ones who reject her.
No child should be drinking the blood of birds. Whether she killed it or not, birds carry many diseases and parasites harmful to people. Her father shouldn't have hit her (because, I guess he did even though it's poorly conveyed), but the shock given what she's doing is understandable. Especially if they think she killed it (which is weird, and suggests she might have done something they found disturbing before this or were bad parents regardless of her Quirk).
Then they yell at her because she's biting her finger bloody. That's self harm and something you would want to send a child to therapy for. Sure, the counselor didn't help, but it's not like they can give Toga what she wants.
That's hammered home when they yell at her again when she drinks another kids blood. Hori messes up and doesn't show us what happens so we don't know if she hurt this other kid, or if they were scared of her or if they were fine with it.
Just giving us a look at her parents reaction doesn't give us any idea how she was seen by her peers. Because of that it's hard to make the case that she was only rejected for her Quirk alone, rather then her actions. In fact the only time we see other students they say she was popular and well liked until she attacked a boy in the class.
Given how young she looks when her parents yell at her for sucking another kids blood, and the fact she fled school after she attacked her crush, it appears these were separate events. If that was the case people in her school might have already heard about her sucking a kids blood earlier, and clearly not cared. In the very least we have to assume they knew her Quirk involved blood because Hori doesn't make any suggestion that it was hidden.
And that's why the theme of acceptance and Toga being normal because blood drinking is a part of her falls flat. No one ever said shit about her Quirk ever, except for her parents in sparse flashbacks. Ochako never thinks her blood drinking is gross nor do any of the the other Heroes or class 1A students. Hell, Tenya doesn't even bad mouth Stain for drinking blood even though he hated the guy so much he wanted him dead. This doesn't make it seem like the world rejected her for her Quirk.
No, the entire problem is that Toga doesn't understand consent or boundaries. We never see her ever ask anyone, even as a kid if she can drink their blood (that would have been a better scene then her drinking birds blood imho) and get rejected and told off and bullied/ostracized for her desire. Which if that did happen would explain why she never asks again and feels no one will accept her.
And, you could blame her parents and the therapist for this, but I'd just wager Hori doesn't really grasp that consent is the issue here. Mainly because Ochako never addresses it in anyway, even though she does bring up Toga's crimes. She offers her blood to Toga for life, but does not say that difference between Toga drinking her blood as opposed to anyone else's is because she is giving permission.
In the end Toga doesn't learn anything and just gets what she wanted given to her. Maybe Hori will address this next chapter but it really should have been brought up sooner. That or he should have had Toga actually not be accepted what-so-ever and shunned by all her peers for her Quirk even before she attacked her crush.
And this is part of the reason I really don't like the queer reading of the chapter is because by doing so it is suggesting that queer people are dangerous. If we read Toga's blood drinking as the same as kissing--which she seems to say (though her expression while drinking blood suggests something more...problematic) then she has been going around kissing people against their will to fulfill her own needs. If we read this as queer, is the story not saying that repressed gay people will sexually harass people because they can't understand consent when they inevitably snap?
I'm not saying this was or is Hori's intent. I think it's pretty clear he just didn't see how big an issue of consent there was with Toga and her Quirk. He wanted it to be all about how she wasn't accepted as normal, but didn't put in the work of showcasing that well. He has a lousy track record with female characters getting way less attention and with his rush to finish on top of that, Ochako and Toga got screwed with a half baked climax. Unfortunately that's also left it with less then great implications if you think about it for a coupe of minutes.
10 notes
·
View notes
my mum: stopped me at every opportunity I asked to come see my dying grandpa bc ‘you don’t want to see him like this’ even tho I already had seen him and he had been happy to see me after years estranged from that side of the family and I very much wanted to fit as much time with him in as possible before it was too late and in the end she blocked me from all of it
also my mum: you never came to see your grandpa, you don’t give a shit
and now my mum yet again: won’t let me come see my gran who has been losing weight and falling and breaking bones a lot and been in and out of hospital since being on her own. Didn’t let me go talk to gran when we were both at my great aunt’s funeral last year and so I never saw her and she only found out I was there through other people who saw me. Refuses every time I ask to see my gran, including now when I’ve got presents for her
also my fucking mum right now in the same breath as refusing to allow me to come over: you never come to see your gran, you don’t give a shit
make it make fucking sense jfc
5 notes
·
View notes
@wheelercore -> tags from this post.
No you're so right, I'd actually be shocked at this point if Virginia wasn't hooking up with another man while Victor was at war, hence Alice. It all makes perfect sense.
Victor comes home from the war and Alice exists? I don't think he's so stupid as to really believe this was his kid but maybe Virginia "convinced" him it was, not so much because he's stupid but because he WANTED to believe it was, because the alternative is acknowledging his wife was a cheat-- which-- at this time was a SERIOUSLY bad and shameful thing, not just for Virginia herself but for Victor as well.
At this point in time family and marriage was held in the highest possible esteem. Put this with the fact its OBVIOUS the Creels were Christian, this is why Victor is going on about sins and demons and would explain WHY he he says "punishing us for our sins" meaning his entire family, not just him, not just his mistake in the war, but because BACK THEN this would basically mean his entire family was built on sin. Built on a lie.
This could also be part of why the Creels moved from their old home town to Hawkins. Trying to get away from the "sin" and the shame, especially if the community knew that Victor was at war when Virginia fell pregnant with Alice and sure Virginia could insist it was Victors and Victor could back her up on it but people would know.
Which just makes the suggestion they moved because of Henry's possible problems with school even more noxious because there they are using their probably disabled child as a scapegoat again.
ALSO LET ME EDIT TO ADD THIS REAL QUICK:
I cant help but imagine how it might have felt and looked to Victor if he knew for a fact that Henry WAS his biological child and HENRY was the one who was labeled as abnormal and broken by his teachers and doctors. We know back in this time period children like Henry, children who were "different" and had difficulties and "special needs" were often considered punishments to their families for sinning. So theres also THAT.
And maybe part of Victors thing in forgiving Virginia for this wasn't just because it was a lot more awkward and painful not to in a sense but also because he was traumatized by a terrible mistake he made during the war. He comes home and finds out his wife has made a terrible mistake as well (or so she might have claimed) and he decides well how can I judge her?
Like is that all theory? Sure, but it seems backed up enough by canon at this point. And I FULLY AGREE. Theres more going on, and I THINK the duffers have confirmed that they're going to be focusing on Henry's past a lot more next season-- I also feel like some things in the script were changed to make things a little more vague in order to keep folks guessing for s5 and not give everything away right off the bat.
(Like Henry's transformation for example, I have a feeling that might have been changed the way it was BOTH to make it easier to translate to the screen but also to further obscure what the "line" between Henry and the MF actually is, so to speak. Cos I mean just think if we had the scene on screen in its original form how could people doubt that Henry might not be the big bad? Like if they SAW THE VINES transforming Henry in some weird attack (similar to what we saw with Billy) how could they deny he's not the one controlling them? I MEAN there should already be sufficient enough doubt with what we did see and the things we do know but I think a scene like that would p much confirm my thoughts and it seems the Duffer brothers are treating that a bit like a spoiler for the next season. (sorry Duffers if thats true I ratted y'all out a year or so in advance)
7 notes
·
View notes