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super-paper · 6 months

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Truly Yours: A Defense of "Iron Might"

"My dear, In the midst of hate, I found within me an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found within me an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found within me an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that… In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better – pushing right back "

Disclaimer: The above quote is famously misattributed to Camus-- who seemingly only wrote the midst of winter/invincible summer portion of the original piece-- and the author of the expanded quote remains unknown. Nevertheless, it fits Toshi's character perfectly.

Iron Might remains a polarizing love-or-hate-it topic within the fandom, with many fans expressing their concerns that it ruins Toshinori's character/arc. It's no secret that I fall pretty firmly on the "love" side of camp-- and as is the case with all things I love, I can't love quietly or in moderation. So here's another really really really long post on all the reasons why I love it, and why I don't feel that this was character assassination in the slightest.

Breaking the key points down, I aim to discuss:

A) How Iron Might acts as a sort of resolution to Toshi's complex relationship with his body and injuries, and reconciles the divide between Toshinori's body and soul.

B) How Iron Might embodies MHA's definition of "love" and acts as a love letter to everything Toshinori wants to protect and everything he's ever wanted to protect. Iron Might is not meant to be read as a suicide mission, but as Toshinori weaponizing the joy of living as "Yagi Toshinori" and pitting the weight of his entire existence against AFO.

C) How Iron Might further cements MHA as "meta-fiction" through discussion of what being "quirkless" means on a narrative level + the dismantling of popular but overdone tropes that people have come to expect in comics. Toshi is also fighting for his right to exist in a battle manga against a toxic comic nerd who thinks that Toshi's role ended in Kamino and that he contributes more to the story by dying.

D) How Iron Might functions as a narrative device (i.e. It gets Toshinori to Izuku and Tomura). This is the battlefield where Toshi's character was always destined to end up because this is where all his unfinished business is at. Simple as!

"The body and mind are two halves of a whole" Iron Might as Toshinori coming to terms with his injuries and his body:

Kicking things off with this point bc I feel like... understanding how Toshi's relationship and struggles with his own body have been a major part of his character arc is something that's, like, absolutely essential when it comes to getting an accurate read on what Iron Might means to Toshi's character. Iron Might ultimately functions as a reconciliation between Toshinori's wounded body and heroic soul, so it's a bit sad to see people repeatedly dismissing it as "ruining Toshinori's character arc" without ever taking Toshi's relationship with his own body into consideration. Like, this is not some "insignificant" part of his arc that's being prioritized over everything else:

A collection of very relevant panels! Side note: Tsukauchi fumbling the toshibowl so hard that Toshi's car seems like the better romantic choice in comparison will never stop being funny. Aiba ur the only person in that control room i respect btw.

For the longest time Toshinori has viewed his emaciated, ill body as something pathetic and shameful. His body was something he felt that he *had* to hide from the world, in order to maintain the illusion of being a hero who could never possibly succumb to evil. His injuries and the state of his body cleaved his identity/self-perception in two-- he begins the series treating his actual body as the "secret identity" instead of his authentic self. The story doesn't spoonfeed this to the readers because it expects its readers to have enough empathy to put two-and-two together on their own-- That Toshi doesn't simply struggle with the loss of OFA & "All Might/heroism" in the aftermath of Kamino, but also the loss of what he felt was his "true" body.

Toshinori is very easily read as someone who suffers from intense body dysmorphia-- and him forcibly changing himself back into his muscular form over and over again can also quite easily be read as Toshi attempting to cling to whatever time he has left with the body that doesn't make him feel like a stranger in his own skin. It's him holding onto the self he views as "actually him" for as long as he can.

Toshi's arc is something that resonates with a lot of people who have disabilities or suffer from dysphoria-- So it's frustrating when some fans decide to take the least gracious interpretation of his character and issues and run with it, instead attempting to frame Toshi as some washed up attention seeker who ~simply can't let go of his glory days~. Toshi's character has been hit with a lot of ableism both in-universe and out of it, with the fandom only really acknowledging that he's a disabled man when it conveniences them and otherwise disregarding how this aspect of him plays a major role in his arc.

Iron Might is built to specifically resemble Toshi's "ideal" body-- to the bitter cynics, this supports their idea that Toshi is unable to let go of "All Might" and hasn't learned to value himself or his life as Yagi Toshinori. To those who understand what Toshi's been going through and understand that his arc was never *just* about "living," though, it's a different story altogether. So much of Iron Might symbolizes Toshinori coming to terms with the fact that he is a disabled man, accepting that there was never anything shameful about this, accepting that it never needed to be "hidden away" for him to be a hero-- and ultimately, accepting that his body is 100% him and an undeniable aspect of what makes him a hero, no matter how injured.

"Who's that skinny guy?" KID, LET ME TELL YOU A STORY.

There is a noticeable shift in Toshi's relationship with his body during Act 3-- We go from practically begging that Toshi's true form not be exposed to the public during Kamino, to Toshi encouraging that this fight be broadcast to the world. In the aftermath of Kamino and after losing the last embers of OFA, we still see Toshi forcibly shifting into his muscle form multiple times whenever he wants to "reassure" others, even though this process obviously hurts him:

The implications behind this are obvious: Toshi is not coping with the loss of his body as well as he lets on, and all those implications finally come to a painful head during the dark hero arc.

During his meeting with Stain, Stain outright refuses to recognize Toshi's "Muscle form" as "All Might" and instead makes it clear that it was Toshi's heroic soul that earned him the right to call himself a "true hero"--and that this "soul" still exists in everyone Toshi has ever saved. It never went away. The embers of OFA might have vanished, but the flames of Toshi's own heroism remain all around him-- they keep him warm and allow him to keep shining.

Toshi begins to accept his own body for the first time after his meeting with Stain-- we see him starting to reassure his friends as his authentic self instead of scrambling to shift back into his muscle form. During his last stand against AFO, he boldly shows the world his injured back, and wordlessly asks that they still express their faith in it and feel protected by it. His injuries are a part of him and his lived reality, and they're part of what makes him a human.

"--Because a hero's back exists to reassure others!"

Toshinori's body itself is ultimately included among his blessings that he weaponizes against AFO: his bonds, his origin, and his body-- no matter how badly injured it may be-- are all what defines him as a hero. Even if his back is no longer "broad," it will always be something that reminds others that "he is here."

During this fight, Toshinori reconciles his fractured identity by finally embracing all the aspects of himself that he'd previously grown distant from. Reflecting on the life he's led as Yagi Toshinori-- the life he led before he ever became "All Might" and the life he led after receiving his injuries and losing OFA-- is what gives him the strength to laugh in AFO's face, and it's what causes the light to finally return to his eyes. In the midst of a battle between life and death, we witness Toshinori being reborn.

He fully embraces his humanity during this fight, and then weaponizes that humanity against AFO (and considering AFO's character/how AFO is constantly attempting to escape his own humanity... it's pr delightful to see him getting his shit wrecked by another "god" who fell to earth and was forced to live his as a mortal, but ultimately realized that he loved it).

The battle ends with "All Might's" iconic shading now being used for Toshi's true form-- symbolizing the reconciliation between Toshi's heroic soul and his wounded but nevertheless heroic body.

As an aside: I also feel the context surrounding Iron Might/Toshi's body touches on MHA's theme of "consent versus nonconsent" as something that separates true heroes from true villains (starting from AFO forcing a quirk on Yoichi, cumulating with Toshi offering Izuku OFA and later making it clear that the quirk requires Izuku's explicit consent to be passed on-- OFA being born from an act of utter violation and then turned into something that explicitly requires consent always been one of my favorite aspects of MHA's lore, but I digress). During Kamino, AFO forcibly exposed Toshi's body to the world in an effort to completely humiliate him and destroy the public's image of him. Now, Toshi taking his power back and exposing his true form to the world entirely on his own terms.

"All that I've been blessed with will bear its weight against you!"-- or, Iron Might as a love letter.

I've talked on this point a lot bc it's what enamored me immediately with this fight (which is really about the depth of Toshinori's love and the love others have for him and his willingness to BE loved by others -versus- a man who takes advantage of the love others have for him and is utterly unable to leave his fragile heart at the mercy of others out of fear of ppl perceiving him), so I'll try to keep it brief:

Iron Might embodies the essence of how MHA defines love (love is admiration, love is imitation, love is seeing/watching, etc) while also acting as Toshinori's love letter to everything he wants to protect (himself and his life as "Yagi Toshinori" included). It also embodies the essence of how MHA defines true heroism (those who have been blessed should use their blessings for those who have not been blessed, those who can still act must act, etc etc etc ).

Toshi would not have been able to pull off Class 1A's moves or found the best way to integrate them into a cohesive fighting style without love as imitation/watching/admiration. (again, versus AFO, who at this point just randomly fires off powerful quirks without any actual respect for how the quirks work or how they can support each other, & who doesn't admire his own student beyond his capacity for rage).

This battle is a celebration of the bonds Toshi has allowed himself to form. It's him using everything he's ever been given and everything he's ever been blessed with to fight against a man who only knows how to take things away. Toshi has learned that OFA was never what made him a hero, that he can live without OFA-- and he's pitting the weight of that life against a man who is convinced that OFA is everything, who can't move on from it, and who has built his entire existence around getting it back. AFO wins the physical battle, sure, but Toshi remains the clear winner in the war of existences.

"This story is still being written, Toshinori."

Another aside: Names are everything in MHA, and that's especially true in the final act. MHA treats names like incantations, and “Do your best, Toshinori!” is the magic spell Toshi is using to motivate himself. Hori frequently uses how a person chooses to refer to themselves during key scenes as a way of emphasizing a person's mental state. From this, we can deduce that Toshi doesn't view this fight as All Might vs. AFO-- he views this fight as Toshinori vs. AFO.

Toshinori has weaponized his blessings and bonds and is now hitting back at AFO with the full weight of his complete existence. In this fight, he carves the joy of living-- of being Yagi Toshinori-- into AFO's barren, empty soul. Every scene he flashes back to is a scene of the life he has lived as Toshinori, not as All Might. This fight, just like the rest of the war, is all about "love" in all its various forms. AFO's abuse of love (both of his own deeply hidden love and of the love others have for him) is why he cannot win in a war where love is the essential element-- love is what keeps motivating everyone in this war to keep getting up, to keep struggling, to keep reaching out, etc etc etc.

Moving on.

"I'm quirkless. Born without a role." or, Iron Might as an act of defiance against both the narrative and the expectations of the 'battle manga' genre.

MHA being an example of stealth meta-fiction is something I've talked about before, particularly so with these two posts (plus... basically any post about our favorite cringefail LARPer, AFO).

Horikoshi takes full advantage of the medium/the fact that MHA is a manga and uses every tool that's available to both tell and enhance the story, and these chapters have cemented him as someone who has mastered his craft-- The decision to draw Toshi's true self with thick/bold lines after his armor breaks, the dark shadows finally leaving his eyes, Toshi consistently referring to himself by his own name instead of his hero name, the chapter titles, the backgrounds, etc etc etc all of it. Absolutely everything has meaning.

Through Iron Might, we once again delve into how the series chooses to define "quirklessness"-- the idea that quirklessness is meant to be a disability allegory gets more or less debunked (thankfully, since MHA already has a fairly good track record with depicting ACTUAL mental and physical illnesses/disabilities), with the narrative instead framing the possession of a quirk as something that determines what "role" a person gets in life. The implication being that not having a quirk means you don't get a role, period. You don't get to shine brightly on stage, you don't even get to be an "extra." This fits into the previously established idea that society's biases against "villainous quirks" basically railroad a lot of people onto the path of villainy (plus, the treatment of heroes/villains as fictional characters by the masses instead of viewing them as actual people). But, quirks are just quirks-- they're neither good or evil, and they aren't what determine whether a person is a hero or a villain. And as such, having or not having a quirk isn't what determines whether or not someone is truly a hero.

Toshinori is now defying the narrative that states that not having a quirk means you don't get a role. At the same time, he stands up against AFO-- our resident toxic comic book fanboy who sincerely believes Toshi should have picked Kamino as the best time to "bow out" (read: die) as a character-- who spews all sorts of vile things about the state of Toshi's body and how this is the primary reason why Toshi has no place in the story. The satire practically writes itself.

Like so many other characters, Toshinori uses the "role" of All Might as a coping mechanism for much of the series. As already stated, there is a disconnect between Toshinori's body and his soul--Toshi begins to use All Might as a mask to hide his feelings, his fears, and his humanity from the rest of the world. The series draws attention to the fact that the people forgot about the heart and soul--that is, the person-- behind All Might and started treating him like a character instead of a real person, and it's made clear that Toshinori forgot, too.

AFO is still trying to hide his true self in the role of the demon king, but Toshinori is no longer trying to hide himself behind All Might. AFO thinks Toshinori should have died in Kamino because that's where his "role" as a "character" ended, but Toshinori refuses that end. Both men find their origins in fiction (AFO from captain hero, Toshinori from Anpanman) but only Toshi has managed to reconcile his identity, break free of the story, and meet AFO head on as a human instead of a character. AFO is still hiding and refusing to engage with this story as a real person.

Toshi's overshadowed eyes are also heavily implied to be a side effect of him completely losing himself in the role of "All Might," rather than merely being the result of the injury he got from AFO-- we see that his eyes were already overshadowed long before he ever received his fateful injury, and the emphasis on shadowed eyes is also a design quirk that ties him to AFO (whose eyes were constantly hidden by shadows bc he was constantly LARPing as a demon lord instead of being authentic-- To drive this bit of visual story telling home, Hori emphasizes AFO's eyes whenever the "demon king" mask starts to slip and we start seeing peeks of what an utter sad sap of a person AFO is beneath the mask). It's a clever bit of show-don't-tell and another testament to Hori's art direction. Eyes are forever the window to the heart and soul in MHA, and Toshi reconnecting with his heart and soul-- with what defines him as a person-- is what finally causes the light to return to his eyes. The mask is fully off.

"Midoriya Izuku and Yagi Toshinori ~ Midoriya Izuku and Shigaraki Tomura ~ Shigaraki Tomura and....?"-- Or, Iron Might as a Narrative Tool.

(reminds u that the pivotal/trajectory changing chapters known as 304 and 305 were titled "Midoriya Izuku and Yagi Toshinori" and "Midoriya Izuku and Tomura Shigaraki". These three are the key!)

Changing gears for a sec and speaking purely from a writer's perspective: Iron Might simply couldn't have been included at Gunga and Toshi simply couldn't have remained locked up in a surveillance room for the entirety of the final battle-- because Toshinori's final destination as a character was always supposed to be the Izuku and Tomura fight. That's where his role as a character was always supposed to reach fruition and find his resolution:

"--I want to save that little boy!"

Aura!Might shedding tears when he realizes that Izuku wants to save Tomura and that Izuku has redefined OFA as something that exists to save is one of those underrated character moments that deserves more attention, because it's like. Everything. One of the most important scenes in the series by a large margin.

Izuku's declaration tells us everything we need to know about the trajectory of the series. Aura!Might crying in response to that declaration gives us everything we need to anticipate where his character is heading and to understand why Toshi's arc isn't over until he finally reconciles his business/regrets with Tomura & OFA/Nana.

it's heavily implied that real!Toshi was crying, too, after he felt what vestige!Izuku said. His eyes are hidden, but we see him briefly wiping his tears away. (and this is one of the many things I love about MHA-- there are so many lovely little details that add so much to the story. You just gotta be willing to look for them.)

Anyway! This point really speaks for itself, so I won't get into it too much: Tomura/Izuku's battlefield is where Toshi was always supposed to end up-- it's where he obviously needs to be to wrap up the loose strings in his arc, hear Izuku's "I am here" moment, and "change fate" by Izuku's side (not necessarily just his own fate, but also Tomura's). Iron Might is just a way that gets Toshi from point A to Point B while allowing Toshinori's character to shine as brightly as possible.

TL;DR The stage is finally set, the main characters have finally assembled, and now we get to see how the grand finale plays out.

-- -- -- -- --

In summation: Iron Might is sappy, sentimental, and fueled entirely by heart rather than logic-- and it's everything I love about this series.

#my hero academia #yagi toshinori #mha.txt #long post

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alicehattera03 · 6 months

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Hello! I've been reading some of your fanfics and I loved them, especially about Villains Are Destined to Die. I really like your writing, and I was wondering, when you had time of course, could you write a fanfic/short story about Penelope being yandere/very possessive with Callisto, please?!

I just found a spoiler that mentions that she felt jealous and got drunk, but I wonder what would have happened if she was sober, would it just be comical jealousy or did she really feel a huge surge of possessiveness towards Callisto?!

Anyway, thank you for your beautiful writing!

Oh now THIS type of spoiler I can get behind...Anon, just for you, I'll make an exception because of how sweet you are ehehe

She always made sure to use the title of "crown prince" in front of his name, or at the very least, "prince". She doesn't this time.

She steps across the floor, her nightgown a fluid movement across the white marble. "Callisto," she calls out softly.

Her voice wound into his ears and he feels possessed as he wraps her into his embrace, burying his face into the crook of her neck. He breathes in, her natural scent underneath the florals of her shampoo.

"Penelope," he whispers into her ear. Usually, she would melt into his arms, her ears burning red- but she was oddly rigid as she dug her fingers into his back.

"I hate it," she mutters quietly.

"...Hmm?" He leans back a little to look at her, raising an eyebrow as he rewinds that sentence. "Hate what?"

"I hate that they cling to you during balls, that I'm not declared your fiancee yet and that I have to wait by the sidelines as you return from war." She grinds her teeth, and her nails scrape down his back.

Her whisper was deadly sweet. "You're mine, Callisto. Mine. No one can take you away from me because you're the only person who will ever truly be mine."

He chuckles a little, finding her endearing as he places kisses onto her forehead and onto her eyelids, slowly making his way down her face to her neck as he smooths out her wrinkled brow. "Only yours, Penelope, my love."

She doesn't tell him of the intrusive thoughts that barrage her day in and day out, how she wished to aim her bow at the ladies who tried to flirt with him. How she wished no one would dare to go near him- and how she wished she could utilize the title of "Mad dog of Eckhart" in a way that was useful to her for once.

All he had to do was reassure her, and her fears would melt away. She wished that were true. She licks her lips and cards her fingers through his hair as she sighs, her body relaxing into his grip.

She decides she would never tell him of how she looked on with cold eyes at the lady that she tripped earlier that day. Of how she watched as her mirthful grin grew at the sight of that gaudy fan breaking under her heel and how red dyed the stream and nearby rocks.

Callisto was always so sweet to her. Her eyes wander to his neck. She touches him softly, just with her fingertips- sliding down as she presses her lips onto his skin.

She wondered how he would feel if she sent him into the next evening's ball with her bite mark adorning his neck.

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theconstitutionisgayculture · 2 months

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Sorry another zoomer anon about comics

Actually I was referring to new 52 about batgirl and Starfire. Did you know new 52 stated that Starfire don’t remember people names unless she had sex with them?

Obviously that was ignored and retcon to hell and back. But comic writers, there a difference between being a sexual liberating woman vs being a hentai slut

Also about a year ago iirc, the old head of DC Dan Didio (who responsible for the mess that was new 52 and 2010’s shit) said that comics lost a generation of heroes because mines wasn’t interested in superheroes…during the height of the MCU

Pssst Didio let me tell you something, there something called the internet so my generation can look up the history of dc and marvel comics.

We are not getting emotionally invested in comics who are handle by fuckers with the mentality of a ten year old

So we went to manga and hmm, what that popular shounen?

MY FUCKING HERO ACADEMIA! YOU DIDN’T LOSE A GENERATION OF READERS BECAUSE THEY WEREN’T INTERESTED IN SUPERHEROES! YOU LOST THEM BECAUSE WE CAN SMELL SHITTY COMICS LIKE HOW A BLOODHOUND SMELLS PISS!!

Ugh, how…out of touch these fuckers are?

Also you guys made it damn near impossible to get easy access to comics so manga is far easier to get. Obviously you can….but a comic shop is a huge luxury item

Sorry for this essay rant, and I only been into comics for ten fucking years

Pssst Didio let me tell you something, there something called the internet so my generation can look up the history of dc and marvel comics.

OMG YES. THIS. FUCK.

Sorry, about to hijack this ask to go on a rant but my God I fucking hate this idea that people can only ever be interested in things that they experience in real time. It's such bullshit. Do you know what I wasn't alive for? The original run of Spider-Man written by Stan Lee. You know what my favorite Spider-Man stories are? The original run of Spider-Man written by Stan Lee. I got into Spider-Man because of the 90s animated series on Fox Kids. From there, I got a few of the comics that were running at the time, and from there I found the Marvel Masterworks collections and absolutely devoured the older stories. And even for books I didn't really have much interest in like Captain America or Iron Man, I would get Marvel Encyclopedias and learn about the pasts and presents of all the comic characters, even some I'd never heard of. True fans will always seek out the past of the things they love. You think people who fell in love with the Lord of the Rings movies aren't devouring The Silmarillion? You think the kid whose first Star Wars experience is seeing The Mandalorian isn't going back and watching the original trilogy? You think someone whose only experience with Batman is the Nolan Trilogy isn't going to find and absolutely love Frank Miller's Batman Year One? Of course they are. True fans don't have blinders. True fans will educate themselves on the things they love.

You know who won't, though? You know who just consumes the things that are put in front of them and will never go beyond that, either through laziness or because they don't want to see anything that's "old" or "out of touch"?

Tourists.

Tourists are great during tourist season, but very few come back every year. And in the off-season, it's the locals who keep the place running. You can't always depend on tourists. They'll happily move onto the next big tourist destination at the drop of a hat. But the locals, the true fans? They'll always be there. They'll be buying books, buying merch, going to the movies, generating enthusiasm, organizing conventions, and everything else that comes along with being a true fan. The only things that will drive them away are when the people in charge of the things they love attack them personally or change the things they love into something unrecognizable. And even then, most will still love the thing as it used to be. The fans who hate Rings of Power didn't throw out their Lord of the Rings Extended Edition blu-ray collections. The fans who hate Disney Star Wars didn't smash their original VHS copies of the unaltered original trilogy. And true fans aren't just old fans or original fans. The thing about being a local is that anyone can move into town. And if they stay long enough and fit into the local culture, everyone else will embrace them.

So fuck Didio and everyone else who thinks tourists are the only group that matters. Fuck everyone who thinks that "modern audiences" can't love something from a different era with different stories and different characters from what everyone else is shitting out today. It's bullshit, and it always has been.

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jvstheworld · 8 months

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The Buffy Re-watch: S2E10 (part 2)

What's my Line: part 2

Sunnydale has 43 churches?! How big is Sunnydale?

Giles sharing mints, as you do.

Kendra's life is very lonely. Just her and her watcher.

Kendra has a better fighting technique because she has been trained since childhood to be a slayer. Buffy only found out at 15 but has come a long way since then. Which begs the question, how does the Council keep track of all the potential slayers? Giles uses a coven in season 7, so the Council might do the same, but some potentials, like Buffy still fall through the cracks?

Spike's hate for Angel is understandable. Angel had sex with Dru, in front of him, probably more than once. And this was after Spike said they were destined to be together. Angel can make jokes about Spike's abilities in bed, but I don't think Buffy would complain, especially in the comics.

Angel really hates watching Spike and Dru kiss. Oh how the tables have turned.

Willy is an ass.

The main event happens, two slayers and one Spike. And a race against time to save Angel, fun is to be had. Plus Xander and Cordy finish off the Bug Guy in quiet a simple but clever way.

That is until you lose the fight and then have a church dropped on you. Not one of Spike's best exits.

Everyone watches as they realise how much Buffy loves Angel and Kendra is the one to help them, even after she tried to kill him. It's a beautifully done scene.

Our boy Oz being awkward but manages to slide in the compliments with ease. Smooth. I like Oz and Willow together.

Seriously, Cordy and Xander need help

SMG was in a film with Chevy Chase called 'Funny Farm' although her scenes were cut. I'm not a Chevy Chase fan, I think the only film of his I have seen was Caddyshack. I tried watching Community but he put me off it. Barely made it through even the first half of season 1. I liked the other characters, just not him.

Even Kendra thinks Angel is cute, and does Buffy a favour by not telling her watcher about their relationship. It's a shame we don't see more of them together, they might have actually gotten on a bit better after a while.

Now Dru is the strong one and Spike is the weak one. This won't end well.

Next episode: what happens when your mother dates a new guy who might have a few secrets hidden away? Nothing good. Tomorrow we meet Ted.

#buffy the vampire slayer #buffy summers #rupert giles #willow rosenberg #xander harris #angel #kendra young #cordelia chase #btvs s2 #buffy rewatch #tv show thoughts #spike

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ninjapotatohead · 1 year

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What Ruined Shadow: The Downfall of an Amazing Character

I will be analyzing Shadow's peak characterization in the Adventure/Dark Era and the steady decline in the Meta Era.

During this analysis, I will explain how Shadow went from being a likeable, well written and relatable character in the 2000's, to a truly detestable character in the 2010's.

I will focus mainly on Shadow's characterization in the games, since I haven't watched the cartoons in a long time (I will make it a point to rewatch them all eventually though), and my knowledge of the comics is limited at best, but from what I've read of the comics, Pre-Reboot Archie Shadow's characterization is really good, Reboot Archie Shadow is just as much of a piece of shit as the Boom/Pontaff version of the character is, and IDW Shadow, while he's not exactly as bad as he is in Reboot-Archie/Meta Era/Boom, I still hate how stupid he can be sometimes, and that really showed in the Zombot arc.

I haven't watched Sonic X in a long time, but from what I remember, Shadow's portrayal in the show was similar to that of his game counterpart. As for Boom Shadow... I'll explain my stance on him later.

Shadow's Four Game Arc

Shadow is the only character in the Sonic series I know of whose character arc happened over the course of four games, starting with SA2 and ending in 06.

In SA2, Shadow believes he is destined to exact revenge on humanity for killing his best friend, Maria, but then the memory of Maria's true wish (to protect humanity) made him realize the error of his ways, so he sacrifices himself to save humanity from the ARK falling towards Earth.

He wasn't the villain of this story, he was the misunderstood hero. He wasn't edgy, he was just traumatized, depressed, and didn't really know how to make friends. Shadow has been through A LOT of trauma, such as losing his best friend Maria, and nearly dying when he fell from the Space Colony ARK. His backstory and redemption arc in SA2 remain one of the powerful, well-written and emotional narratives in the entire Sonic franchise in my opinion.

Due to fan demand, SEGA brought Shadow back in Sonic Heroes, albeit with amnesia. He teams up with Rouge and Omega in hopes of learning the truth about his past. This isn't really an arc, but the setup for an arc in the next game. His close friendship with Rouge and Omega is definitely a highlight though.

Shadow's characterization in his solo game is overhated and greatly misunderstood in my opinion. Sure, he did act out of character at times, but in this case, it was understandable, since he had amnesia and his mental health worsened after he left Team Dark at the end of Heroes. In the canon ending of the game, Shadow regains his memories and saves the planet from the Black Arms, then he comes to terms with his past and decides to start a new future.

Contrary to popular belief, The Meta Era Shadow isn't based off of this game, but rather a flanderized version on the Internet that came from this game. In the actual game however, Shadow is nothing like his Meta Era counterpart. His characterization in ShTH is so greatly misunderstood, that it spawned the worst version of the character we could have possibly gotten. I wish more people could understand Shadow's characterization in his solo game as well as I do.

Shadow's characterization in 06 is widely regarded as one of his best portrayals in the entire series, and it's not hard to see why. They absolutely perfected him in this game. At one point, Mephiles taunts Shadow with his future, telling him that humanity will one day turn on him, but Shadow doesn't care because he had already reconciled with his past in the previous game, and he has since chosen to move forward and stay focused on the present, thus reinforcing the theme of 06's narrative. And the ending is just perfect, showing us how much Shadow has grown and changed and it shows us the one thing that will never change about him is his will to fight.

In conclusion, I absolutely love Shadow's characterization in 06 because of how much it's really helped to develop Shadow's character more, and it truly ended his amazing four game arc on a high note.

Shadow's Characterization In Other Adventure/Dark Era Games

Before we discuss the downfall of Shadow's character in the 2010's, here are a few honorable mentions:

I don't remember Sonic Battle's story all that well to be honest, but from I do remember, Shadow was written similar to how he was in SA2.

His characterization in the Sonic Rivals duology was fairly decent for the most part, and I liked his relationship with Metal Sonic in Rivals 2.

Sir Lancelot in Black Knight is a well written character, and he certainly acted more like Shadow than any of the recent portrayals did, but I count him as an AU counterpart of Shadow, not Shadow himself.

Shadow's Character Assassination

Shadow's character derailment began in Sonic Free Riders when Kirk Thornton started voicing him, and it only got worse when Pontaff started writing him in every game from Colors onwards. At this point, Shadow became EXACTLY what the Internet thought he was: an edgy, arrogant prick who likes to call Sonic "faker", thinks he's better than everyone else, and hates friendship.

He didn't really do much in Colors DS and Generations, so I don't have much to say about his characterization in those games. However, his line in Generations really makes me cringe, because it just demonstrates how much Kirk Thornton sucked as Shadow:

The Sonic Boom games, as well as the cartoon of the same name, basically took all of Meta Era Shadow's worst traits and cranked them up to eleven, to the point of making him an outright villain. Boom Shadow is a one dimensional high school bully who straight-up INSULTS Sonic and his loyalty to his friends, even though the Shadow I know values friendship and is a hero with a dark, tragic past.

This bastardized version of Shadow is the ANTITHESIS of Shadow's character, and one of the many reasons why I hate the Sonic Boom universe as a whole. My anger at how badly they fucked up his character still persists to this day. I know Sonic Boom is meant to be an alternate universe separate from the main series, but that's not a valid excuse to turn Shadow into an one dimensional edgelord for literally NO reason. If you're going to drastically alter a character's personality for a different universe, at least give them a good reason to be that way. Can Shadow be an evil asshole in an alternate universe? Yes, but only if he is given a good reason to be, but Boom Shadow is just a high school bully without a reason to be that way.

Out of all of Shadow's portrayals in the mainline games, Sonic Forces is the easily the worst. He basically murdered Infinite's entire squad, and then he proceeds to beat up Infinite and make fun of him, calling him "worthless", which Infinite somehow interprets as Shadow calling him "weak".

This is VERY out of character for Shadow. You would think that Shadow of all people would know that killing the only people you have a close relationship with will not end well. And because of what happened to Maria, I don't believe he would ever do such a thing. Overall, I see Shadow killing Infinite's squad and then making fun of Infinite as character assassination. Infinite suffering trauma from that makes sense, but Shadow being the cause... No.

Shadow's portrayal in Team Sonic Racing wasn't any better, as he only cared about winning against Sonic in a race to prove he's better than him.

Also, there's this petty argument between Sonic and Shadow that drags on for far too long (ten levels to be precise!). Basically, the argument was: Sonic suspects Shadow is working for Eggman (even though he hasn't done that since SA2, but ok), Shadow says he's just here to race (fair), Sonic taunts him, then they race (seems somewhat normal so far), but then they just argue over it afterwards? WTF?

In another cutscene, Silver was like, "Oh no, Eggman's working with Dodon Pa" and Tails goes, "Oh no! Can't do anything right now though, Sonic and Shadow are having a petty argument. Maybe later". Like, what?

They even yell at Rouge at one point too for interrupting them, that's how petty it is. I mean, what the hell? Aren't Shadow and Rouge supposed to be friends? What happened to their close relationship in the Adventure/Dark Era titles?

Well, according to SEGA, Shadow, Rouge and Omega are no longer friends; now they're just co-workers who, as a team, are semi functional at best. What the hell, SEGA?

A big part of what made Team Dark great in the first place was their close friendship with one another, and how much they love and care for each other despite their hard pasts. Team Dark without their close-knit friendship and introvert bonding doesn't feel right to me, and it really sucks that Ian Flynn won't allow Shadow to have friends because of SEGA's BS mandates.

My Final Thoughts

Overall, I believe Shadow is one of the most misunderstood Sonic characters ever. He was a hero at best in Heroes and 06, and an anti-hero in misguided situations like his solo game and SA2. He was never a full on villain until Kirk Thornton started voicing him and Pontaff started writing him. It's as if SEGA just looked at the memes made by people who don't even like Shadow (or the Sonic franchise in general), took them at face value, and made that his entire character. Honestly, I feel sorry for newer fans who were only exposed to the Boom/Pontaff version of Shadow and never got to see the real Shadow. He was once a great, deep character with a beautiful four game arc (SA2, Heroes, ShTH and 06) and an amazing personality and motive, now he's just a brooding, friendless edgelord with little to no personality beyond "fuck all of you, I wanna win, friendship is stupid". I wish newer fans could have access to the older games, so they can experience all these great, powerful and emotional storylines and to see Shadow for what he really is: a selfless hero who protects humanity and cares about his friends and people who side with him. He stands thoroughly by his own beliefs and goals, he does what’s right, and he’s arguably one of the most sympathetic characters in the franchise if you really think about it.

SEGA really needs to get Shadow's character right in the next game. Otherwise, pop culture will continue to believe those memes, which will result in more people failing to understand Shadow as a character. Shadow is a good person deep down, which is why it always annoys me to see him portrayed as that stereotypical edgy persona that some people see him as. The Shadow I know speaks and acts with reason and defends what he holds dear. I really hope that Shadow will go back to the way he was in the 2000's, even if the possibility of that happening is pretty much slim to none. Is there hope that Shadow will ever go back to how he used to be before Pontaff ruined him? Maybe. Only time will tell.

Way to conveniently leave out a wealth of Shadow's scenes from the same games you yourself listed because acknowledging them would go against your narrative.

• Shadow was basically a cocky bastard in both the Rivals games and towards the end of his own episode in Sonic Battle. Plus, if his lines in the Riders games are any indication, he's still just as arrogant as ever.

• Heroes has Shadow literally talking down to Team Sonic, and (in true Sonic Heroes fashion) starts a fight with them when they're both after what they believe is Eggman.

• Shadow's self-titled game has a number of moments where it really seems the dude's lost his sense of self-preservation along with his memory. Need I mention...

youtube

• Any good scenes in 06 are massively undercut by Sonic 06... being Sonic 06. A few "good" scenes doesn't absolve that game's plot from being terrible (especially when every character is an idiot).

• The Rivals games had pretty much everyone (Shadow included) being as competitive with each other as possible, just like in Heroes. Rivals 2 has Shadow barking orders at Metal just to stop N'Eggman from waking up Totally-Not-Iblis. Also, there's the scene where where all Sonic does is ask Shadow for more information about what's going on. Shadow's response? To beat the shit out of him, of course.

Even when the stakes are rising, Shadow and Sonic are still butting heads; trying to outdo the other.

• Literally, the only Sonic game Pontaff actually wrote themselves was Lost World... a game where Shadow is literally nowhere to be seen. Stop capping.

• Free Riders, much like a lot of Sonic racing games, is a very lighthearted low-stakes affair. Shadow's not a villain in that game either. Again, stop capping.

• Kirk's voice has absolutely nothing to do with Shadow's characterization. At all. Your obvious hard-on for the previous voice actors is obvious.

• SEGA themselves have been portraying Shadow as an arrogant dickhead ever since his inception, really. Hell, even Ian Flynn intended to have Shadow be characterized as such from the very beginning (contrary to what Sonic News Network would have you believe).

• Shadow, contrary to what the hive-mind has deluded itself into believing, is an introvert for all intents and purposes. He doesn't show his emotions in a conventional manner, nor is he a chatterbox (see also Colors DS and Sonic Forces).

• Like I've said numerous times, TSR is no different from a LOT of racing games in the franchise. Hell, in Rivals 2, Shadow tells Rouge that N'Eggman is after the Chaos Emeralds, but then Rouge goes back on Sjadow trusting her with said information and refuses to disclose who exactly hired Rouge to collect the things to begin with. Your obvious tunnel-vision is obvious.

• For the last time...

In conclusion, you're full of shit, just like everyone else who unironically misuses the "Meta Era" terminology.

#spud's inbox #sonic series #shadow the hedgehog

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katzirra · 5 months

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Spends over an hour talking to my buddy about comics once he finished Loki finally and sent me a meme to fucking talk shit on the poetry boys LMFAO

Casually writes a novel on comic blorbos.......

Jer brought up a really neat point and we kinda went off on like... both our experiences with Marvel comics and how they have a habit of shooting themselves in the foot with their fucking retcons and shit. Mostly like, in terms of it weirdly kinda... detracts from characters and maybe bits and pieces people related to? For me it was what drew me INTO dynamics of characters at times?

Now, I haven't touched a comic in almost 10 years so... anything that happened from the Marvel NOW! launch and forward is a mystery to me, and I'm ignorant on [to preface this long ass post...] Also my memory is spotty.

Also possibly spoilers for the new season if you haven't caught up on Loki :v so yaknow. IF YOU READ THIS AND CARE...

Jer and I were talking about the basis of the show really kinda became like how can we take this fan favorite character, let him have some emotional depth, maybe have some friends and do some fucky stuff with it. LETS GET WEIRD WITH IT??

It kinda harkens back to themes that made me ultimately fall in love with Deadpool comics, and reminds me of why I dropped reading his stuff too. I'll circle back to this lol.

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a huge sucker for a found family, and I'm a bigger sucker for characters defeating fate or the narrative. I'm big on the best friend/possible romantic option of a character that sees what an absolute dumpster fire next to a textile factory someone is, and still thinks there's something good in there.

I find it funny how much I couldn't STAND the hype of Loki as a character as long as he's been in the MCU because my experience with him has always been comics/cartoons and him being a little HOO HOO HEE HEE gremlin of a bastard. Just HATED him. Excellent MCU costume designs though.

The movies he's just a little weasel of a backstabbing bastard, and I find him annoying. Like yes, I see there's emotional trauma in EVERYTHING that makes his background aside from his mother, and yes I get the narrative of him as a villain etc - but I don't feel compelled by it, personally. That's just me though - I'm FASCINATED by people that are civil minded stans and can argue for why he's fascinating. But also, how much of that is personal projection too?

When I was getting into comics, the Siege event was going on so Loki's face was everywhere in like...2010?? So many teeth... And he was KILLED, and they started doing the Kid Loki stuff and I read a little bit of that because two of my RP friends in the Avenger's group I was in - and it was neat! Then in like 2014 they started doing... what was it, Agent of Asgard? That was....something. I never read it but it was interesting to see them make a workaround for them to kinda...breathe new life into a character people were getting into again!

NEAT STUFF, THAT'S NEAT TO ME!! I LOVE A REVAMP LIKE THAT!! I like the Marvel theme of escaping your reputation. I love that theme. It's like what they did with Evan, the uh Kid Apocalypse. I adore the whole aftermath of Uncanny X-Force for that - Evan just...fucking destined to be Apocalypse and fucking he's so DETERMINED NOT TO BE, and to learn his powers etc. I'm pretty sure he became... Genesis? And died fighting... ;; big sigh... at least he proved his worth, right?

But Jer and I talking about all this kinda made me sad too because we were discussing sort of the way Marvel can take an unlikeable bastard, and with the right handling, they can get something REALLY interesting with it!!

When I first got into Deadpool like...2011 or something I did it because I was annoyed seeing him everywhere and thought 'Surely there's more to him than fart and ass jokes?' and I was right, thankfully.

But I'd also spend a lot of time slogging through a lot of shit, and seeing him kind of BECOME only fart and ass jokes... Like, the movies are fun and stuff, I guess but... I honestly can't stand them very much. But that's me, if people enjoy them? Okay, tight. But also like Daniel Way just, OOF.

Interesting parallel - kinda made it click in place WHY I think I've been enjoying the Loki show. Like, when I picked up Deadpool I SLOGGED through the Joe Kelly run, which is just Wade being a little self-depreciating soggy, abusive and shitheaded person really. Hiding behind his paper bag over his face, excusing his actions because shit sucks - like just kind of a shitty awful and exhausting person overall. WOE!!! A piece of shit! And I get some of the shit that happens to him outside the OBVIOUS is fucky - but I don't know, it was kinda relentless. I feel like even when life deals you all lemons, there's still something in there to tell storywise to curb just the ONSLAUGHT of oh wow poor me... Can you tell I don't enjoy this run of comics? LMAO

But as you get through that, you start to get side comics that kinda do a bit more to polish him up. He's a jerk, and he's sensitive to how fucked up his face looks, but he isn't a wet feral animal ALL the time? He's just rude. Really rude. Random. We start to grasp OOOH IT'S AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO COVER SHIT WITH JOKES... man, I can relate to that haha HAHAHHA....

I got into reading Cable & Deadpool because my friend Johnly was HUGE into Xmen and it seemed inevitable to get into it... but it was well written and drawn and like... I'm married to it as my favorite comic. Those are my boys. Those are my besties. That's the comic ship I didn't ask for and I got it. That's the bromance/romance I go up to bat for. Any capacity - those are the BOYS. MY SONS.

It's my favorite trope; I've seen your worst, and I still think there's good in you. You just need someone in your corner.

FUCKING SCREAMS. Even still, in a non-shipping way that's my fucking duo DYNAMIC. You will sell me so often on ANYTHING with that.

When Cable and Deadpool came around, it rolled in after the Agent X comic, which gave us like a 'Clone' of Deadpool who had a WHOLE ENTOURAGE OF FRIENDS like a rag tag bunch of misfits who were a very unconventional FOUND FAMILY. Wade was still a fucking dick, a bastard a lot of times - but his friends saw value in him and stuck around still. Even ones he was recently a demon to, like...man.

And even more so; when Nate pulls the dick move of sacrificing himself, he had that support network of friends there for him to process that, because it hurts no matter how you see their relationship. That was his best friend. It hit hard.

It hits hard especially because Nate and him start out moral enemies. Wade hates him because he's holier than thou, and Nate hates him because he's a nuisance, he's a mercenary - there's a laundry list tbh. Untrustworthy. He's scum! The closer they keep rotating around one another - or into eachother even jfc - they start to tolerate one another, and start to talk more, and Nate starts to really talk about how Wade could do better and be better. Wade starts to see value in himself more, he's still sharp tongued with Nate, but he starts to also be a bit softer with him, joke around and sees value in HIM and what he's trying to accomplish with Providence and stuff. He sees the vision - but he also sees the danger of that vision in regards to Nate's LIFE.... So there's a lot of selfish shit on both sides of the fence that's interesting.

They don't always agree, but Wade starts to come around, and Nate does this thing where people will be like YO DEADPOOL BE CRAZY WHY YOU ROLLIN' WITH HIM? And he is in his corner to be like hey, that's my boy Wade like give him a chance? HE'S DIFFERENT NOW. But yaknow they also emotionally manipulate one another in weird ways. :)) SIGH.

GIVE AND TAKE I GUESS. But it's interesting to see the evolution of trust and openness?? They're best friends, you can't argue that.

AND YAKNOW...we were discussing the response to this actually!! In Loki it was interesting to see Mobius say shit like that to him [how he can BE BETTER, he can be whatever he wants to be!!] and he just kinda.... I don't know, he's a villain by definition and yet he's whipped 'round into this anti-hero kinda position that becomes curious. But he doesn't lash out when he's told this shit, because the fight has mostly left by that point. He doesn't know what to do with those words?? Like yeah, okay.

But, conversely, with Nate and Wade... Nate is very heavy handed with it, and Wade is INSANELY volatile with his emotions because of how his brain is always in flux. And...he gets to a point he starts lashing out about it, about how Nate is trying to change him and he's FINE AS HE IS, AND HE'S TIRED OF HIS SHIT. They lash out a lot, but Nate also is kind of a controlling shit. He wants to play god, where as yaknow... Mobius has ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD FOR THE SHITHEAD TO UNDERSTAND IF HE DIDN'T WANNA LISTEN.

Honestly hilarious, the similarities...

But Jer and I were talking about how it's interesting to us that the show really focused on WHO is Loki without his magic. He's a con-man, he's a fast talker, he's a violent little feral cat. He doesn't know what trust and care is honestly, because even in his own family there were so many lies and hostility. So they pit him with this partner who has seen every trick and BULLSHIT THING he's ever said and done, and is like "Yeah yeah big scary God, wow. ANYWAY-" He is both fascinated, complimentary, and utterly flippant about Loki and that's interesting. We meet someone, a whole organization, that isn't phased by the existence of Gods.

It's interesting to see tunnel vision character exploration - small cast exploration - on characters that are deemed bad, but have a weird thing about them that doesn't necessarily mean they're REDEEMABLE, but that they have something that is inherently BROKEN in their past that can be nursed? Latent potential to be good.

They're not hardwired to be good guys, they can be good people, but it's harder and more exhaustive. But sometimes - it's nice.

But uh yeah - SO ANYWAY, moves down the line some more here -

WEIRD SIMILARITIES. But they're there and maybe that's what I liked about the show. You present me with a character I already don't like, you mock him and kinda kick him when he's down and then have this guy show up who is like... not really a fanboy but - HE KNOWS EVERYTHING. He doesn't appear phased at all the shit he can throw at him, and he plants the seed that he can be better.

And I love that the show is two seasons. It's short, it's sweet, it does a lot of really interesting things I'm obsessed with visually and narratively you can fiddle with. It has a very bittersweet ending, but it's not 100% sad for me. I love that they got this irredeemable broken bastard, and they gave him a win - and yet it's still, in Loki's nature, a loss. But he has all the time in the universe to figure things out. If he can ascend like that in just a few centuries - what's to say he can't free himself from his coffin of his own making.

We're given a consequential win, and I've already see fans making fix-its that are PHENOMENAL. My FAVORITE things to see and read for fanfic topics is people playing with the sandbox. I hate that people ALWAYS assume you know, sexual shit when you say you read fanfic - I am OBSESSED with people playing with the sandbox and fixing issues. Continuing the story. Developing insane head canons, coming up with the most INTERESTING INTRICATE IDEAS and still leaving me on a cliff hanger.

You've taken a bastard, redeemed him, and influenced CREATIVE MINDS to play with it in a positive way. I've seen most people express APPROVAL but sadness with the ending and that's I think the best thing to happen! It's how I still feel about the Mass Effect 3 ending :))

Conversely it all really highlighted my sadness of how with comics, we can so easily run a good idea into the ground, and how ya'know... you can see your character MAKE that 180 or you can see them do like a 320 and come out a little worse....

For Deadpool, C&DP ends on a VERY bitter note of Nate sacrificing himself, he is depressed about it, I think they have a big talk with him about it with the Agent X fam? My timeline is fucky with the 3 'ending' points of C&DP - full transparency lol. But... after this comic comes the numerous team ups - like him trying to find his place in the world, and then in like 2008 [which I'd been working towards, and was excited for because the art was really CRISP...] you hit Daniel Way.

Way's Deadpool introduces the ANNOYING yellow box and white box almost as if he was split personalities, where as it was really just like...thought boxes, just colored uniquely... As far as I've read, this has been retconned in recent comics. But it's the big staple in all things Deadpool - but.... Way's Deadpool is very disjointed, he's trying to date and marry death, he's suicidal because he wants to be with her forever, he is a lot of dick and fart jokes that just don't hit for me - he has funny moments but I can't think of a single serious moment I got emotional over?? You gotta give us reasons to connect with our character, or things that hit us to stick with us? I felt like I was just reading low punches a lot?

But it did this weird thing, that I'm trying to find any of the wikis talk about and coming up blank, but there's this point in the comics where in Way's... he basically gets hunted down by his whole support net? It's like a big thing? Like everyone hates him and shit? But somehow EVERY WRITER AFTER THIS ACTS LIKE THINGS WERE FINE~

Like they hunted this man for SPORT it was WEIRD. It was so.... weird?? Going through my own tag I didn't even blog about it... weird??

But I dunno, it left a bad taste in my mouth to like reduce Wade down to like... what they did. C&DP works really hard to kinda get people to see some value in Wade, and then Way's DP just kinda tears that structure down and all he has is Bob left whom he really is AWFUL AS HELL TO....

It's sad to me. The new comics started, and I left shortly after, in like...what...2012? I was really excited for the team, the writers and artists involved and he looked GNARLY but interesting and I loved the colors and - it was gonna be WEIRD and funny... but they kinda kept leaning into the like...

You know when you don't wanna talk to someone, or be seen by someone and you shield your face and walk the other way? I feel like we were back to that with Deadpool. Like it was EMBARRASSING to be seen with him, even though in the aftermath of C&DP we did all those team-ups and had some great cross overs and EVEN HAD A SPIDERMAN COMIC THAT WE SAW THEY COULD BE CIVIL [we all know I hate how Peter treats Wade and I have bad blood with those shippers still :)) never forgive, never forget! But boy howdy he was an ass to him WHICH IS FAIR BECAUSE MORAL DIFFERENCES...] but like?? We were back to HAHA WOW HE'S CRINGE... which is a bummer.

I dunno.

Jer just kinda really hit a nerve in my brain when he pointed out how the show kinda did a thing we don't see the pay off for as often as we should. Turning over a new leaf, and truly discovering what it means to do a selfless action?

And it just kinda reminded me how I love Wade being a SNARKY piece of shit, and how bad he is at trying to be a good person - he's just a weird little guy, he knows he's not a hero and he doesn't really try to be. He just tries to be real with people? But he IS a good ally, and he HAS the capacity to be loyal, and he -

Man like. ACTUALLY MY FAVORITE ARC? UNCANNY X-FORCE.

FUCKING ANGEL FROM XMEN HAS A SMALL TEAM AND THEY HAVE A JOB TO DO AND THEY HIRE FUCKING WADE TO COME WITH, AND EVERYONE IS ANNOYED BECAUSE HE'S ANNOYING and he's ya'know DEADPOOL.... and when they get to the fucking end of the mission and it's like hey, you gotta kill this kid Apocalypse? Fucking he DRAWS THE LINE. No women, no kids! He makes a STINK about it. Logan and Fantomex are like yo, what the FUCK you're being paid for this you bastard - and it's Angel or Betsy who points out that Wade never cashed any of the checks.

Like Wade half the time would go along on an Xmen mission just for the benefit of being INCLUDED honestly. Some of the writers use to really GET THAT. He use to hold them with a lot of reverence. And I feel like that was a big thing I was sad about with the movies was removing that kinda "WOOOOW IT'S THE GANG" vibes... he's just kinda... jaded? Hm. Huffs. ME TOO THOUGH LMAO.

Uncanny X-Force is so delightful... and even still too a lot of people...really don't paint him in a loyal light or care about his connections to people and it's sad. In the Messiah War arc like Cable specifically calls on Deadpool to have his back and fight with him while he's transporting baby Hope, and he gets so UPSET when he has to leave. It's not good bye~ and Wade is so sad because he thought they were a team again. AND I WANTED IT SO BADLY, I wanted him to have that stability he deserved, a friend. THE GUY WHO SAW WHAT HE WAS CAPABLE OF.

There's random good moments in random comics, and of course they meet again in a Deadpool & Cable comic, which is good and done by some of the older team. Idk. I wish...

I wish I could still read comics in confidence they wouldn't scrub whole segments of a character.

It's like a post Dazz reblogged the other day about how characters have less weight these days because we're scrubbing lime line events from them in desires to make them TIMELESS and it's detrimental because there's no proportional trauma or event to really add that weight now and then, ya'know?

Me talking for too long.

Loki ended in a way I was pleased with, and I was surprised to end up liking that incarnation of him, and being excited if they expand on him ever again - conversely if they don't wow, EMOTIONAL and amazing regardless. But, uh, they really uh... they really kinda coded that ending as eternal pining with those two. I didn't think much about it until a few weeks later someone posted something and it hit me sideways like a brick. How dare?

And I'm still mourning the fact there was a lot of hard work to get people to take Deadpool seriously as a character in universe, and to get him on teams, and they kinda took everything away from him, just to give him weird new things, only to take that away and rebuild him again. But at least he's FRIENDS with Cable I GUESS. But who knows the fuck is going on with him anymore. He's probably DEAD AGAIN... He sure died and came back wrong in my book :)

But I think that's just the thing with Marvel. You gotta pick your battles, and pick your story arcs to commit to. It's like when people are into a specific writer for Batman or something. SHRUGS.

Me casually being mad my friends can call my favorites, and why so easily and proceed to talk to me about it's narrative themes and character arcs so easily... I'm a predictable fucking pile of shit, I swear to god....

Me rereading this post: IS THIS ANYTHING? IT'S NOTHING. IT'S ALL NOTHING.

#marvel nonsense #deadpool nonsense #blows the caked on dust off those two tags #kat talks #ignore me #long post #I still want to finish my Xmen run I'm collecting #but I refuse to buy or read new shit and that makes me annoying I think!!!

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juniperhillpatient · 1 year

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The Siege of the North Part 2 Re-Watch

This is a fantastic season finale & just a stunning episode of television. It's by far the most intense episode of the show yet. Last episode - part 1 - we spent a lot of time in quiet anticipation. In this episode, all Hell breaks loose & zero punches are pulled.

We get to meet Koh - possibly the most terrifying character we've met so far - & learn that the Avatar has a mysterious history with this spirit stealing the face of someone he loves. We also learn that the Koi Fish from the Spirit Oasis represent Tui & La, the Yin & Yang of the Avatar world - the ocean & moon spirits. I'm continuously obsessed with the amazing way that this show deals with narratives surrounding balance, & Tui & La are some of my favorite - characters? narrative tools? spirits? - they're some of my favorites, alright? I love them.

I feel like this episode & Aang's encounter with Koh touched on some themes that will be touched on again later. Aang has to hide his emotions to avoid having his face stolen. Even when he learns that this spirit stole the face of someone he loved in a past life. It reminds me a lot of the teachings of Guru Pathik which Aang later rejects - the message that you have to let go of everything including - especially - emotion.

This episode also gives us one of my favorite Zuko speeches:

I finally have you, but I can't get you home because of this blizzard. [Stands up and looks outside the cave.] There's always something. Not that you would understand. You're like my sister. Everything always came easy to her. She's a fire-bending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born. I don't need luck, though. I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am.

Two things: 1. Zuko gets a lot of shit from Azula fans for this mindset, & I don't disagree that he's wrong to think that everything comes easy for Azula but I can understand why he thinks it & I have a lot of sympathy for him. From Zuko's perspective, everything does come easy to Azula. He's been told flat out from a young age that his sister was born lucky & he was lucky to even be born - what else is he supposed to think? 2. I'm so normal about Zuko giving a speech about how much he hates Azula for being so perfect to an unconscious Aang. I have no thoughts or feelings about how Azula's introduction to the present timeline is her literally kneeling before her father after Zuko gives this speech & how her relationship with her male family members is all about placing her on a pedestal & also wanting to control her & have her submit to them ("do you want to help me put Azula in her place?" "she's crazy & she needs to go down" *everything about Azula & Ozai*) & her relationship with her mother is about feeling isolated & rejected. It's not interesting at all that Azula's name isn't even mentioned yet, she's only referred to & shown as Zuko's sister, as Ozai's daughter. I have no thoughts on any of that & I think we've established that clearly, so let's move on.

Zhao's speech about destroying the moon would be comical if I didn't know the tragedy it was destined to create. The man is literally batshit. Iroh's comments about how history is not always kind to its subjects are SO funny to me & I want to know what was written about Zhao in the history textbooks now. "They'll call me Zhao the invincible" BESTIE YOU WANT TO MURDER THE MOON they will call you Zhao the insane lmao

This is the first time we officially see Iroh working with Team Avatar. He knows that the Fire Nation needs the moon too & without it, there will be chaos, but is there more going on? Iroh's loyalties to the Fire Nation are brought heavily into question in this episode, & I feel more uncertain than ever about his true motivations.

Yue's death is the most tragic moment of the show so far. It's gut-wrenching. This sixteen-year-old girl sacrifices herself for the good of the world. That level of selflessness & honor is just unthinkable. It's a beautiful & memorable moment & I will always love it even if I also hate it because PAIN.

If ever a character's death had meaning both narratively & to the other characters though, I do think that Yue's death was impactful. I do wish she had haunted the narrative in more obvious ways after this, but it's also hard to condemn the show too harshly when they did so much so beautifully. Also, it was a children's show so they did have to maintain a certain balance (wow, we're talking about "balance" a lot here huh) with the vibe.

Zhao's death was very satisfying & honestly (I'm sorry) hilarious because Zuko literally holds out his hand & Zhao just doesn't take it. What a fitting end for him. His hubris literally killed him. Get Wrecked.

The final scenes set up the next season beautifully while giving a satisfactory conclusion to Book 1. We get Iroh & Zuko having a very interesting moment. Zuko just says "I'm tired" when asked about hunting the Avatar, & we see that Iroh looks almost hopeful about this. Again, fascinated by what is going through Iroh's head. This scene is a touching moment between them but it also leaves a lot of questions about what we can expect of them & their missions next season. Also - does Zuko know that Team Avatar saved his life? I'm unclear on that, to be honest. Then of course we have a lovely moment between Aang, Katara, Sokka, Momo, & Appa. Also, Katara is a Master now! That's certainly noteworthy.

Lastly, we have the real most important scene, the introduction of her royal highness & the character that I am SOOO capable of being completely normal about. I care about Azula's introduction to the present narrative a normal amount.

#the siege of the north part 2 #the siege of the north #atla book 1 #atla #atla re watch #image ids in alt text

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omg-kawaiikitty · 2 years

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Shippings list!

•Dasey-As a Canadian I grew up with this show and I ship Casey and Derek from life with Derek so badly. They are step siblings but they never grew up together and are only related by marriage. They met at 15 so I don’t find this ship wrong just bad luck. The actors have so much chemistry to the point they even shipped their characters. One of the most popular ships ever.

•Zutara-I love Katara & Zuko with a passion. They were opposites but they had so much in common and if they ended up together it would make so much with how avatar the last airbender is all about balance and ying/yang etc. I’m so sad they weren’t a couple and even the voice actors ship it.

•Chilumi-I ship Lumine with almost everyone. When I first played Genshin I was shipping her with Kaeya because I think he’s hot and he was flirty, then Childe seems flirty and that’s a popular ship, then we have husbando Thoma. If you have evil Lumine then there’s Dainsleif x Lumine. Lumine and Xiao looks good when he saved her, basically she has a whole harem. But I really like Chilumi fan fiction though and love the love/hate relationships….I think I have a type. Plus Griffin burns for English VA is adorable.

•Catradora-They were best friends and became enemies and then became lovers. They are my favorite lesbian couple and this is what I like to see in a cartoon that sure it’s for kids but it’s also can appeal to older people like teens & adults. Plus adding in a same sex without making it super “woke” or cringey. This is the best reboot done right as well.

•Olicity-Some people might hate this ship but I love this ship, sure they had ups and downs but they are really cute and the actors have great chemistry. They are the only Arrowverse couple that is canon.

•SnowBarry-This ship is the death of me. I’m so upset they never gotten together because I feel they would have been much healthier as a couple. They have many things in common, she was protective of him, was his doctor but also has brains, they work so well together and even on the battlefield they are cute. There was so many hints that they could’ve end up but didn’t. I got severely bullied by WA like some would tell me to kill my self etc. For 100th time I don’t ship Snowbarry because of race it’s just that how they written Iris wasn’t good and in my opinion I found her to be toxic and didn’t have much to offer, if they hired a white girl and kept the same script I would still hate her as a person. If they actually took comic book Iris and turn her into a good supporting romance character who is strong and change her race into black or whatever then I would like her because of how she’s written. I just hate how WA just assumed I’m racist when I’m not.

•Ferbella-This might be uncommon ship but I think they have cute moments and I like how they are best friends and he seems to be the only one who can understand her in a way; Isabella treats Ferb like a person and include him in. They are so cute but underrated. One time they held hands and I squealed.

•Pluto/Tuxedo mask-Since Pluto has a crush on King Endymion so I thought they would be cute when she gets rebirth onto Earth since they are both college students age, in the anime Mamoru and Usagi’s age gap just seems too creepy and they fight so much. I know they are destined to be endgame but sometimes you just have to facepalm so often because it seems like they are forced together because of Destiny. Mamoru also was kinda an asshole to Usagi. So I feel if they broke up and maybe he can focus on someone his age. I also like Pluto and sailor mini moon’s friendship, it’s like Pluto is a second mom figure and it’s cute.

• Shenny-I found them to be so cute! They didn’t get along but then they became best friends and I feel like she’s the reason why Sheldon becomes a bit normal during later seasons instead of Amy taking credit for that. Plus Leonard & Amy would get jealous at times with how much time Shenny spend time together and bond. I feel they would have been much healthier as a couple.

•Chris x Lindsay-This ship is taboo due to age gap and Lindsay being 16. In Canada 16 is legal age, I don’t 100% ship this but they have cute moments. I feel if he was a contestant then this ship could’ve been smooth sailing because they would be around the same age. But it’s kinda creepy because of the age gap and how he’s a sadist host. I do like seeing Chris having a soft side especially when it comes to Lindsay. He was proud of her for Lindsay sticking up to herself and was on the boat with her during the elimination, when she hit herself on the head from the airplane when she was getting eliminated; he showed sign of concern. I think that’s why I kinda like it because it shows he’s not 100% sadistic and can show some sort of emotions when it comes to someone who matters. But ya this ship is very taboo.

That’s all I can think of so far as my top ships. I tend to have a theme going on a bit. There’s probably more but

#shipping stuff #shenny #chilumi #dasey #ferbella #olicity #snowbarry #sailor pluto #tuxedo mask #catradora #zutara #total drama

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anneangel · 7 months

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Why fans don't like Mostly Harmless book?

I know that there are books capable of generating the most diverse opinions and making readers interpret each one in their own way, generating multiple and diverse reflections. This is the case with this collection of Adams' books, I know those who love it and those who hate it, those who thought it is wonderful and those who thought it is complete nonsense. I even know those who didn't read it until the end because found it unbearable. Okay. I understandable, no one is obliged. Because nonsense and satire (together with comic science fiction and parodies of those that propose to be 'too serious', thus forming the Adams triad), which form the basis of Adams' plot, do not please everyone..

I also thought the ending was anticlimactic, bland, not a happy ending. But still I, particular and individually, found the ending of Mostly Harmless even coherent. Because ALL colection made sense to me.

***Warning for Spoilers***

Spoilers for the entire five book saga, if you haven't read the books, don't read this!!!

P.s: this is not an explanation, it's just my personal opinion about the end of the book collection, and it's okay if you came to other conclusions!

The Vogons, despite being despicable, had one striking characteristic: bureaucracy. Initially, they arrive on Earth to demolish it because a space route should pass there. Technically the Earth shouldn't be there and it's a nuisance that it is, because in fact the Earth is a super computer. Also, hiddenly, there were those who wanted the end of the Earth, the Vogon's therapists, who realized that if everyone discovered the fundamental answer to 'Life, Universe and everything' they would lose their business and their vast and highly profitable clientele, so they pay and assign the task to the Vogons demolish Earth (under the excuse of building a hyperspace bypass).

The Earth was designed to give the answer for "42", and that answer was being developed and was in the DNA of the inhabitants. More than that, the Earth was in a zone of instability that caused that region to have multiple versions of the Earth in several different parallel dimensions (called Plural Zones).

Remember that the ego made ask the Deep Thought 'what was the answer' to "life, universe and everything" and he answered "42", then justified that the question was very vague, and when we knew the question, then we would know the answer. So the Earth was not programmed to give an "answer", but a "question".

The entire apparent "unnecessary sequence", and full of nonsense, that occurs since Arthur's Earth was destroyed at the beginning of book 1, seems to be on purpose. And remember that Earth was almost ready to give the answer before the Vogons arrived.

The idea of Plural Zones (parallel worlds in that sector of the galaxy), time travel, and infinite improbabilities, can "justify" all the nonsense in the collection, by itself. And even show how Earth was yet to give the final answer!

Everything that gives the impression that the author was “filling in” for the rest of the book collection, all the nonsense, all the crazy situations, were just side effects, because in any case the super computer called 'Earth' was still operating, in all multiple versions of space-time.

So, in this last book, it is very interesting that a "generalized mixing of all things" is happening. And then, at the very end, realize that the address where Arthur, Ford and Tricia/ and Trillian are precisely in the street number 42 and that Arthur is exactly in the place where he knew "everything was going to end" (StavroMueller Beta), as if his friends, himself and the Earth itself were already 'destined' for that moment.

And then we have Random, daughter of two Earthlings who had part of the 'answer to 42' in their genetic code, Random, who was conceived in the most crazy and unlikely way, an irritating teenager, and curiously is she who make it, she is almost a metaphor for someone who 'exists' and therefore wants to know 'what her place is and where she belongs', in Random's teenage language: "Where do I fit in?". In other words, she provided the question that would explain the answer!

How to ask "What is the meaning of life, universe and everything", how to ask something so complex, if we don't even know 'our place in the universe' and 'where we belong in all of this individually', 'where we fit in'?

Obviously the answer for 42, is random. Because for different people the answer will be different.

It's anything, the life is whatever you want it to be. And not even Adams himself knew, as he chose the number 42 without many explanatory purposes. So 42 is whatever you want it to mean, as long as you know what the question is!

The ship powered by 'infinite improbability' drive (The Heart of Gold) and that Zaphod and Ford saved Trillian and Arthur, so that in the future they would generate Random, was part of all the improbabilities that would generate the 'question'. ???

So... The Deep Thought provided the fundamental answer. Random provided the fundamental question.

So the Vogons then destroyed Earth, this time in every possible version of it in the Plural Zones, and everyone in ALL Earths dies. But not before The Earth fulfilled the purpose for which it was programmed, provided a question for the 'answer'. Then....

"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened".

Anyway, I still think the therapists got along fine in the end. Lmao.

Obviously a happy ending would be nice, but I didn't really expect one.

The only real reason I don't like the end of the books is because, although I like Ford, Arthur and Marvin, because...

— Ford is a very bold, eccentric, limitless, messy character, who is always taking the reader to unexpected situations, he brings an even more unpredictable tone to the plot and I like that about him. There is nothing banal about Ford, he is at the same time fun and indifferent, he loves drinks and good spaceships, he enjoys a party, he doesn't want responsibility for anything, he is happy with his life as a Hitchhiker to the Galaxy and writer of the Guide, even if it puts him in the biggest problems. He may seem individualistic, and he really is, in some moments of the plot, but in others he ends up being reasonable with his friends and with what he believes, which makes him multifaceted and interesting.

— Arthur is everything that Ford is not, he is banal, as he himself said "I am more differentiated than different", he is only differentiated because of the crazy things that happen in his life, otherwise he is very common. He just wants a 'little' life, he's fine as long as he has a house, someone to love and some source of income, that's enough for him. But that's not what he has, and even despite all the insane adversities he remains resilient. He never knows what's going on, he's the most naive character, he didn't want his life go to space (literally), and that's why he's unhappy with all the constant misfortunes regarding the things that happen to him, but at the same time he wants to help whenever he can and tries to be helpful when asked, he does what he can for others and for himself, even if it's not much. Arthur is loyal, kind and good-natured, he cares about his friends and Random. Arthur Dent is the typical goofy good guy trying to find meaning in the midst of the problems that arise. That makes me like him.

— Marvin doesn't appear in this book, but for me this is easily explained: Marvin is a depressive robot precisely because despite his great operational capacity, the living beings he lives with don't care about it. Throughout the books, and in this last one, we saw how they treat robots, like Collin, they are just used machines and when they are no longer useful, they are disposable. Marvin was obsolete in the previous book and stopped working permanently. And since this is how we treat machines, it is logical that he does not appear in this final book. I thought it was another of the author's criticisms. we discard our electronic devices without mercy. Marvin was depressed precisely because he wasn't given enough value even when he was useful, let alone later. It's tragic, but I think that's exactly what it was. That's the criticism! Or at least that's how I understood it.

The only thing I didn't like was Zaphod and Trillian. Not because they are bad characters, but because I thought they weren't used well in the plot.

#the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy #h2g2 #douglas adams #books #hhgg #hhgttg #mostly harmless #arthur dent #ford prefect #trillian astra #marvin the paranoid android #zaphod beeblebrox

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qworflordking · 1 year

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Hey! Just to tell you I loved your critique against that Achilles Song book and I agree with you that I hate how Greek (and at lesser or more degree Roman or Egyptian) classics are changed in a nonsense way just to please the modern reader and give them a progressive agenda to the characters.

Just for curiosity, what do you think about fantasy media that is inspired in ancient Greek myths and legends like Percy Jackson books or Saint Seiya?

Dunno, those were my faves when I was a kid (but I have not checked them since at least 10 years ago, lol), but, seeing how the Percy Jackson fans try to portrait themselves as all knowing about Greek culture, while actually not engaging in the classics and refusing to know about Ancient Greek history and culture. The Saint Seiya guys seem more normal, but I'm not sure if Greek people just saw the anime as a gross cultural appropiation like Hercules from Disney or they actually did not mind it.

An interesting ask to receive, thanks! And hm... I don't really know? I haven't read Percy Jackson or Saint Seiya so I can't comment. It all depends on the media in question - it's nice to see so many people like it, but our ancient legacy is kind of all Greece has right now. The economic depression, the ecological impact on the islands that's been happening, the fact that it's mainly considered a tourist destination for wealthier Europeans and the bitter state of the modern Greek youth - and yet we have this legacy we feel so connected to despite all the years between, lmao.

My family is from Sparta - a small rural village just outside it, actually - and so when the movie 300 came out the hype was unreal. Like King Leonidas is a cultural hero, there's still a monument to him in Sparta - they were making a movie about our guy! I saw it with twenty Greeks, all Spartans... and they hated it. They were yelling at the screen, they were so upset, and none of them knew what a Frank Miller comic book was. I recently tried to rewatch it and had to turn it off at the scene with the ephors and the oracle. Don't get me started on Troy, lol.

Otoh, I recently enjoyed Hades (the game) though I avoided it for a while. It's bright and colorful, the gods are strange and erratic, and it's tons of fun. Demeter grief-stricken at the loss of her daughter, Persephone avoiding Hades and Hades being angry and bitter - that was great. (I could go into a whole tangent about how people are actually erasing the voices and pain of ancient women when they woke-ify Hades and Persephone, but.)

The essential thing is this: the ancient Greeks were capable of criticizing their own culture. We invented philosophy: the art of sitting around talking about what's wrong with society and how we might fix it. They wrote plays - plays that won awards, that were preserved unto this day! - that served as a feminist critique of their classic heroic myths. Going back to the 300 film, while it's true oracles were often sexually abused, they noticed that was a problem and made changes to prevent that. There's this attitude people take to ancient cultures a lot where they think people were just... stupid, and wholly swallowed everything, and then they're gonna write their critique of their problematic beliefs without considering the humanity and knowledge of people who lived thousands of years ago.

You don't need to completely change the themes and meaning and significance of our stories, but what you can do is humanize them. Rather than hole them up in some white-walled Ivory Tower of Academia bring them out as they were - intended to be funny, intended to make you think - while preserving the historical context. I have dreams of making an Odyssey film (that some EU arts fund needs to give me a billion dollars to make. also, i am a legendary respected filmmaker in this fantasy) that would bring economic prosperity to the Greek islands and also make it /funny/, showing that Odysseus was a trickster figure who fit ancient heroic definitions of being a wild celebrity figure rather than a Hollywood Hero. Making it clear that his wife was just as smart as him and they were a love-match and making Athena buff as hell and swapping into a man's body, even making Odysseus black - none of that would be modernizing the story to suit our woke tastes. It would piss the hell off a lot of supposed "Classics" fans.

Ultimately, though, having fun with the mythos isn't actually harmful. What is harmful, what genuinely upsets me on a fundamental level, is how Le Classics have been incorporated into this great ideal of Western Civilization and then been appropriated by white supremacists. Here's a great blog doing the good work going into it in detail, but twisting ancient culture to fit your own modern ideals is just.... not good for anyone, lol.

EDIT: ...In my last post I was like "why is tumblr recommending me eurofash propaganda" and I just realized. Liking ancient greek culture and the classics is probably why 0__0

#sorry kinda rambling on a bit here just expressing my feelings rather than delivering a collected essay lol

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multiples-fandomswontkillme · 3 years

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~Metal Family headcanons~

These are like my... general hcs)? which means I didn't include my main hc that Glam, Ches and Vicky are polyamorous, married and started dating after Glam met Vicky, and absolutely everything that implies for the kids and the relationships between each member of the fam. Maybe I'll make a separate post for that or maybe not! Who knows lkfwnlfqnf

Glam

Bisexual

Glam has constant nightmares and ocasional night terrors ever since he ran away home and is an active sleep walker. Ches helped him through the worse ones when they were younger, and learned how to deal with them, always preferring not to wake him up but being with him until the episode passed. Vicky has learned how to deal with them, though she normally asks Ches for advice with it cuz she comes out short sometimes.

He has PTSD. I bet it's diagnosed too, he takes medication and goes to therapy, it doesn't mean he still doesn't have his bad days anyway. He's trying to get better.

Glam has talked to Vicky about his past, his father and his family. This is a direct contradiction of Alina's confirmation that Glam doesn't talk about it with anyone but man FUCK THAT. We love good communication in this house, Vicky tries her best to help him, but there's only so much she can do to help.

Glam enjoys gardening, cooking and making models, he also likes doing his make up, painting his nails and dressing up in fancy, extravagant clothes even if he has nowhere important to go.

He likes taking care of everyone's hair, and constantly helps Vicky brush her hair cuz there's so much of it, Dee when he gets stressed over how tangled it can get, buys Ches hair products so he actually takes care of it, and chases Heavy so the kid actually washes, untangles and brushes his hair.

This one is kind of weird, but I refuse to think any adult in the family is unarmed at any time. Glam owns a taser and pepper spray. They're bright pink and sparkly.

This man cried his eyes out while watching Coco. He's hell to watch movies with cuz he talks and predicts what's gonna happen during the movie, judges them with scores at the end and all.

Vicky

Also bisexual!

Vicky's the one who does everyone's laundry most of the time. She prefers it that way since she's the only one that knows how to wash their black clothes so the colors stay vibrant. (This is based on my gf shaming everyone but Vicky cuz their black clothes always look so muted and almost gray, but Vicky's whole outfit is always the same vibrant black colors, so we decided that neither Glam or the kids know how to wash dark clothes)

She has anger issues, if it isn't obvious. I think she also has PTSD, mainly survivor's guilt due to her surviving the accident her brother died in. She blames herself and cannot bear to talk about it, in some sort of deep denial. If she can't remember, it can't hurt as much, right?

She has scars on the right side of her back and her hip, from the road rash she got on her brother's accident, she never treated it due to grief and it scarred badly. Apart from that, the scar of the caesarean section from Heavy's birth. She doesn't really mind both of them, they happened, nothing to do about them.

She likes watching boxing competitions, brawling matches and motorcycle repairing on TV. Loves doing BBQ's and going to the pool. Also an enjoyer of teasing her kids, kissing and loving her husband at random times, spending time drinking and bonding with Ches and bragging about her family and punching anyone who thinks they're not that cool.

Not particularly a fan of make up, skirts and dresses or any traditionally femenine-perceived stuff. But has been making exceptions due to Glam and Ches being unashamed of being seen as femenine, and actually rocking the looks. The internalized misogyny is kind of slowly dissapearing.

Apart from the guns she carries in each arm (I mean her biceps, have you looked at the size of those?? She strong) she has brass knuckles on her at all times. Glam gifts her new ones sometimes, she loves having multiple choices to punch people teeth in.

Loves horror, thrillers and action movies. Falls asleep during rom-coms and dramas. Ironically, loves gossip and talking shit about people. Enjoys hearing Ches talks about the gossip going on in the nursery home even if she doesn't know who the hell he's talking about.

Rest of the family under the cut!

Heavy

Heavy is a trans boy! He doesn't know his sexuality yet though, he's still figuring himself out. When he's older, i think he definitely dated some men but had better luck with girls.

Heavy has had innocent crushes on some girls on his class before, but they never turn into anything more cuz he's not the best at expressing himself. He follows the bother-the-girl-to-death-until-she-hates-you gimmick, and unsurprisingly, it doesn't work.

I'm sorry to break this to u but Heavy totally had an among us phase, and uses so much reddit and twitch slang... You know he does.

Likes bullying and teasing his brother to death. You know that when Dee had his first romance, Heavy was ALL up in his business being a tease and a bad attempt at a wingman. He means well tho.

He's not squeamish at all. Also has great pain resistance. This kid has picked cockroaches with his bare hands and loves cats, of course the cats have scratched him. He's tough!

Grows up to be the charming himbo he was always destined to be.

Dee

I hc him as demisexual. Kind of inherited his dad's tastes for the takes no crap, intimidating but pretty kind of people.

Can't cook. He tries but he can only do basics like rice, cereal, chicken nuggets or eggs. Complicated meals always burn or don't taste like anything at all. It drives him crazy.

Dee was a quiet and very well behaved toddler before Heavy was born. He never threw tantrums or got whims. After Heavy was born though, and despite the fact he understood his brother was small and needed special care, he started craving attention often and cried and got mad at little things. Typical jealousy of the oldest sibling.

The first time Dee fell in love with someone, he didn't recognize it was love at first. He just thought his interest on the person was born out of curiosity and aesthetic attraction, but as soon as he realized he seeked validation and companionship, that he liked seeing them smile, that he wanted to protect them, that he yearned for more time alone with them and that he wanted more than what just a simple friendship implied, it was an instant 'oh hell no'. He wanted those feelings to get the hell away, but unfortunately, they were there to stay.

Canonically likes MLP, psychological and horror anime like Death note and Hellsing, so I'm deciding he also watched Death Parade, had a FNAF phase, is very into The Walten Files. This guy enjoys any kind of specially dark ARG's and knows a ton of lore of real crime, unsolved cases, ghost appearances and other stuff. Doesn't believe in the supernatural, but sure is entertained by it.

He's a mess at romance. Flirting? His attempts at compliments are hardly flattering. Giving gifts? The best he can manage is jewelry and you can kind of tell he asked his dad for help. Dates? He's so nervous he's silent for most of it, but begins getting comfortable and having fun if his partner really knows how to get him down from his negativity cloud.

Ches

Pansexual.

He's very good with kids. He has the patience of a saint and he's laid-back, chill and fun but still is an authority figure who knows how to put limits. Sure, he's gonna let the kids light up a house on fire BUT hey, now they know everything about fire precautions, burns and how to treat them AND how to get away with arson. What an educational evening, am I right?

Due to certain info from the "Goodbye" official comic, I headcanon Ches as depressed. I don't want to elaborate a lot 'cuz of spoilers, but... God, everything related to his mom fucking hurts, man. How did he deal with all that?

Ches has been Dee and Heavy's babysitter so many times he cannot count them with all his fingers. He learned how to put those kids to sleep almost immediately (Sing Bon Jovi's "This ain't a love song" and any cheesy love song in a slow lullaby style and they're out), which movie were their favorite as kids (Heavy loved 'Monsters Inc.' and Dee never looked away during 'Meet the Robinsons'), how to console them after nightmares (Heavy needed reassurance, sweet words, and to be with someone until he fell asleep again. Dee just had to be tucked in, get his nightlight turned on and kissed in the forehead). He practically raised those kids along with Vicky and Glam.

More than once, Dee and Heavy have slipped and called Ches "Dad". Ches immediately gets his shit eating grin on and answers "Yes, son?" and does a couple of dad jokes just to mess and embarrass them. He's actually very flattered and surprised at how proud of himself he is for being a father figure to both kids.

Has a scar on the left side of his forehead due to a bottle his mom threw at him when he was younger, around the time he met Glam. He hates the scar with passion, it's a permanent reminder of the fact she never cared, that's why he always keeps it covered with his headband. Gets sad about it sometimes.

Ches likes to spend his time with a group of grannies of the nearby nursing home. He genuinely considers them his friends and gossips and hangs out with all of them on weekends. Bingo, billiards, walks in the park, soap opera marathons, you name it. I even designed them, gave them names and backstories... God, i just love the concept too much. I'll make some art about Ches and his granny gang FOR SURE, you're NOT ready for them.

Carries a pocket knife on him at all times. This man grew up on a bad neighborhood and absolutely knows how to defend himself, he can be intimidating when he wants to be and will pose a threat if needed. He's fucking terrifying when genuinely mad. Just cause he looks harmless doesn't mean he is, darling.

That would be all!

#metal family #glam metal family #ches metal family #victoria metal family #chess metal family #dee metal family #heavy metal family #metal family glam #metal family victoria #metal family dee #metalfamily #metal family heavy

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sugar-petals · 3 years

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can you give us more thoughts about domestic yoongles? the taemin's one (wich I love) just made me miss the cat boy so much ;o;

i have a phd in househusband yoongi so let me fire out some ideas for ya.

myg at home headcanon

🐱 word count. 1.9k | fluff, slice of life, slight nsfw mentions, x reader, bullet points

The doorbell sound is a recording of Yoongi imitating a doorbell. He’s such a meme. Ceci n'est pas une pipe.

Seemingly, he teaches himself a new recipe every week. To perfection. Yoongi is very particular about sticking to the recipe and wielding his kitchen tools in the right way. He collects knives, olive oil, and still hates cutting onions.

He separates sleep time, work time, and couple time as the holy trinity. For each, he switches his mood.

Blushes easily no matter for how long you’ve been together.

Establishes his own radio show where he DJs at one point.

Yoongi keeps an extreme track on the garbage schedule. He knows exactly what is due when. Separating the trash is a must. That includes sorting out fake friends trying to get between your relationship. Your social circle as a couple is extremely deliberate.

Yoongi deems himself a terrible host for guests. Unless Hoseok is there to drag him out, it's true he rather stays in the kitchen or at the barbecue preparing the menu courses rather than making small talk. He leaves the hospitality bits to you, however you want to go about it.

What he lacks in conversing with guests, he makes up in bed, God is absolutely fair.

He sings and hums pretty often and has his own vernacular of extraterrestrial uwu noises. It's an alphabet that you have to yet decipher but it's incredibly cute.

Self-made paintings everywhere around his house.

Yoongi hasn't gone clubbing since grammar school. The most he does is going to a restaurant at lunch with very close friends. And always in a work context. His private life is so secluded from everything else and paparazzi just don't spot him anywhere, Dispatch thinks he must live abroad.

Very well, he does consider his big ole house a separate country. It's a living organism with a studio, gym, trophy room, small-size basketball court, and vastly equipped kitchen. A home theater as well, he likes American movies (like Inception) and Korean action genres, and you can stream whatever you fancy in there whenever you like.

Yes, he has underwear with cute little bears on.

There's even a little pond in the backyard. Yoongi, Pisces he is, likes fishes after all. Sometimes he sits at the edge of the 'Little Ole Min Lake (LOML)' and stares into the water for literal hours with his chin parked on his palm.

His fridge is so high-tech and futuristic, even Yoongi is rendered clueless by its AI sometimes. The washing machine, too.

Yoongi watches RuPaul’s drag race. What did you expect? He finds it so humorous.

Owns lord knows how many comic collections.

Favorite holiday destination: New York.

Christmas is basically 50% you unveiling new music equipment to him in the garage and Yoongi almost fainting at the sexiness of it. The other 50% is spent holding hands and orgasm after orgasm until the new year since you loose track of time.

Goes on long rants why he’d marry you again every weekend.

Making you presents is his specialty. Always accompanied with a hand-written note. He writes a lot of things by hand for you in general. Texting, basically never. Always on paper.

No sex without a blanket and socks on. Yoongi gets cold very very easily and just doesn’t like showing skin. You buy him a heated blanket for his birthday, he even uses it in his studio chair.

Chronically addicted to making out.

Matching black outfits and glasses.

Laughs at even your worst jokes or phrases you didn’t expect you even uttered.

Yoongi owns the phoniest, most secretive-looking black car ever and nobody knows about it. Even he forgets he owns it, in fact he genuinely acts like it just doesn’t exist. Hilarious. And that guy has a level 1 Korean driver's license. Which allows him to drive trailers and busses and fucking trucks, and construction machines, let that sink in.

It's really a genius curse. Yoongi being put to the test will always deliver but he won't choose to execute his full skillset if he doesn't have to. Well, pragmatic. He's not as phony as he thinks he is, which is even more hilarious.

He uses that behemoth of a car so scarcely because he'd rather have things delivered to his doorstep and he's stingy with gas. Also, he doesn't like traffic and driving because of the traumatic shoulder accident and his tendency to space out. Translation: You drive that thing... that monster... it really is an impressive, fast, and scary machine.

If someone devious ever even remotely manages to invade his privacy and get past the doubly-installed security system, he has enough money to deal with it no matter what.

If it concerns your privacy, he's a red belt. And owns Jin's number if a taekwondo master is required. Jimin's if it needs someone with kendo skills.

If Yoongi needs someone to go on a complete rampage, Jungkook lives just down the block. He can sprint to Yoongi's bunker I mean mansion within 45 seconds. 30 if it's very urgent. 20 if the reward is an instant ramen splurge with Yoongi's black card.

He has a sexy, glamorous sword collection hanging on the living room wall anyways, so. Who the hell is dumb enough to mess with him and his expensive lawyer in the first place.

But just in case, who knows... Yoongi settles matters shruggingly, anonymously, and with cash and he's too exhausted for violence, but don't underestimate his deter-min-ation and network for emergencies. Also, he is Agust D after all.

He will bonk a naughty burglar or kidnapper across the head with a wooden cooking spoon or take him down by throwing a basketball if the situation requires it. Damn, his reflexes are so fast, a feral cat in motion. So, lean back and sip on your drink of choice. Things are cared for.

If Yoongi is the one being kidnapped or a highly skilled stalker invades the property at night when he's fast asleep (nothing can wake this man during certain hours, strong REM right here): Don't forget that honeyboy is a Dodgers fan. There are signed baseball bats everywhere in this damn house.

In that sense, your parents visiting you here for the first time thought you were an undercover thug couple. Not to worry mom and dad, you both just like sports very much okay.

Yoongi walks around in all black clothes and the rooms are all seemingly dark. Even if you live together, you don't know his skin care routine. It's clear to you he's some sort of vampire.

Since Yoongi always forgets to remove his makeup, you made it a habit to wipe it down when he's about to pass out. He won't lie, he enjoys that kind of affection.

Holly is your resident child. You're essentially a family.

He insists to tackle this by himself, Yoongi sees his therapist monthly. Not shifting responsibility is something he's stubborn about and he pours his emotions into writing. You will do conversation about deeper stuff, but he says it's mostly up to him and his own mind. He dislikes burdening you or opening up too much and it's something to respect rather than force him about. If he wants to share a thought, he will. It doesn’t mean he can’t trust you or sucks at communicating (we know that he’s direct). Yoongi simply can’t put that much pain in such few words nor should you alleviate it for him.

Calls from the manager faze Yoongi as much as Jimin is bothered by gravity. If he’s busy kissing your body slow mo, who the hell dares to disturb his worship.

This man had so many let-downs and interpersonal catastrophes in his life, he's super discerning with people. Because he rolls that way, during their first meeting Yoongi uses his psychology certificate on your friends. You see him squint at them, he listens very closely. After they pass the vibe check aka meow radar, he befriends them, too.

Yoongi doodles Grammy trophies everywhere to manifest them.

Yoongi shaves his legs.

All the sex toys he’s ever bought are black. Gotta vibe in style.

He spends ridiculous amounts of time in the studio but he's yours for the remainder of the night, breakfast, and he makes a lavish lunch and dinner.

Um, consider his head parked between your legs. The Hongkong line was not a joke.

Doesn’t mind you squishing his cheeks whenever and for how long you like.

Every other weekend he gets flowers, vouchers, and gifts — not because of fans, they don’t know where his house is, but because he donates so much.

Namjoon often drops by and cleanses the area with his crystals.

Yoongi is a photography major so you can ask him to take professional, ceiling-high black and white shots of you.

Feeding each other food lovingly. Man, this guy got lips.

He set up a library just for you, in the exact historical aesthetic you like the most. Send him the link to any book you want, it's basically in the online shopping cart already. As I said, he wants to make you presents like every week.

Sometimes he sits on the other end studying English videos and vocab while you read. And yes, he's already 95% fluent but pretends being merely intermediate. He knows technical terms even native speakers have never heard of.

He collects pajamas and earrings.

Swears on the phone.

Namjoon being the horniest member is a cover-up story. Yoongi masturbates almost unreasonable amounts of times, by himself and in your arms when going to bed. Not gonna lie, it’s a sight to see his hands at work. He’s almost equally obsessed with fingering you once you ask him.

Yoongi was the one asking you to move in and almost had a nervous meltdown before meeting up with you to tell you just that.

He’s the little spoon and of course a sleeping burrito to hold tight.

Finds you equally attractive in any state or styling. Yoongi practices what he preaches, he always reacts the same and says the same.

Jams out to outrageous beats Namjoon sends him by dancing in the studio. You walk in on him every time. Was embarrassed at first, now you dance along.

Has bought you a life-sized Yoongi pillow and customized you a giant Shooky to hug when he’s not at home over night.

Owned a wine cellar until he quit drinking. Turned it into a piano room instead.

Only you know Yoongi has a serpent and dagger tattoo.

Scrubs the bathroom religiously.

The house smells like restaurant food and his extravagant perfumes half of the time.

Sometimes he has to remind himself he’s married to you and not his coffee machine. He shall be forgiven. You can’t complain that he doesn’t love you enough, nor is he ever not adorable when drinking his latte.

Never wears short sleeves. It can be scorching and he’ll wear a jacket.

Tell him and the cap stays on during sex.

He grows his hair out and puts it in a low bun. The bangs remain.

Yoongi has installed the most fire-proof building in the entire city it seems. That he wanted to be a firefighter when he was young definitely shows. Figures the house has to be protected from heat: His blasting studio music and Yoongi himself are just way too sizzling.

Still melts into a puddle when you kiss his nose.

Couple sunrise watching.

#yoongi #yoongi hc #yoongi x reader #bts #bts x reader #bts hc #yoongi scenario

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createandconstruct · 3 years

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can i ask about amarant coral? the monk in red himself~

Can you ask about Amarant Coral? *cracks fingers* Oh I insist that you do. Welcome to my Amarant Appreciation Post:

favorite thing about them: First off best thing about Amarant? His theme. The percussion and the guitar. It’s great and it captures him so well. People out here like “take Amarant out of the game he adds nothing.” EXCUSE ME? You remove the Amarant you remove the Amarant Theme my friend and that is something I do NOT vibe with.

least favorite thing about them: I wanna know more about him. Now Amarant doesn’t need a backstory or history in the game. In a sense, he already has one that connects him to Zidane and explains his motives and actions and eventual arc. But my issue is, Square never gave him anything else. If you look at Ultimania there’s additional lore about other characters, like Steiner for instance. You learn Steiner was a war orphan who was saved by the Pluto Knights - explaining his devotion to them. Amarant though? Square was like “uh... yeah he was born....? And then he uh got famous...? Idk then he met Zidane. You figure it out.” Square. I hate you. 18 years from his birth until he became “well known”. WHAT WAS HE DOING. WHY’D HE BECOME A SECURITY GUARD. WHAT WAS ON HIS RESUME. TELL MEEEE. Like, okay, what the actual in-game canon gives us on Amarant is sort of enough. He’s a purposely written mysterious “cool-guy” character so we’re given scraps to make him unknown but come on. In the published after-game canon, like Ultimania, we could have been given a bit more. He says he doesn’t remember anything about his origins or parents, but why. Was he another victim of Gaia’s wars? Probably. Was he born on a battlefield? Fighting for his life, living without comrades, taking scraps whenever he could? Was he betrayed when he was young? Is he a supposed to be a version of Zidane had he not been adopted into Tantalus by Baku??? These are questions I deserve answers to, Square.

favorite line: “’I can't just walk away. It goes against my nature...’ You're a real simpleton. Forget it, guys. There's no stopping this fool." I love this. Amarant figures Zidane out pretty quickly after Ipsen’s Castle. Zidane is hardheaded and also an actor. He acts cool and pretends his reasons for doing things are loose but when he’s decided something it’s always for a reason. You don’t need a reason to help people, but Zidane has his reasons for helping Kuja and while Amarant doesn’t give two shits what they are he knows Zidane won’t be stopped because, despite everything, Zidane saved a loser like him. Also this line “Tell me! Why didn't you kill me!?" Because I quote it all the time and it makes myself laugh. Amarant is such a drama queen and Zidane knows it. Zidane’s like “dude... what is your damage, it’s 5 pm on Tuesday in Madain Sari. I ain’t getting blood on my gloves cause you’re having a temper tantrum.” And then Amarant runs away to have an existential crisis. He’s 26 but compared to Zidane, he’s the real teenager with angst.

brOTP: I could talk about Zidane or Freya with Amarant but instead I’m gonna say the underrated dynamic of Amarant and Eiko (and also Vivi). Amarant with the kids is truly the greatest gift given by his presence in the game. Amarant has never known true suffering until he became a designated legal guardian of a group of minors. It also kills me how he’s the one to volunteer to carry Eiko and Vivi up the Iifa tree. He looks at Zidane and is like “you have seriously been the ‘adult’ of this group???”

OTP: Gotta say the Freya and Amarant dynamic. I really enjoyed their unlikely friendship in the game but then the content. The fan content. The Freya x Amarant fans out there, you win. Ya got me. You captured me and I am now imprisoned by their banter and begruntled allies to lovers story. Even if they’re not romantic I love them together and really wish the game gave us more of them. But even Lani and Amarant together are valid, though I prefer them as butting head bros. Not much content for my girl Lani out there either, she deserves more.

nOTP: Nothing I can think of. I tend to like platonic pairings for Amarant. The dude needs friends because he can barely define the word friendship.

random headcanon: Before Zidane returns at the end of the game Amarant wanders around a bit, unsure of what to do. He doesn’t feel any place with the others in Alexandria, Burmecia, or Lindblum. I imagine he goes off on his own for a bit like before but this time he’s not after Zidane or a fight. Instead he’s got no particular destination. Yet he somehow always finds himself running into people just like him - or the old him - friendless lonely people who are looking for a fight. He doesn’t go out his way to find these folks he simply runs into them and decides he might as well knock some sense into them. He does however make it his business to go after any murmur of people hatching any ideas of going after the far off little village on the Lost Continent. The home of the genomes and black mages. They were so helpless, so weak that anyone who’d want to mess with them is pathetic in Amarant’s book. Until Zidane returns, no one has the chance to even look at the Black Mage Village the wrong way because in the shadows Amarant lurks, making damn well sure of that.

unpopular opinion: I kinda love that he’s just there for most of the game? While I agree he gets the short end of the stick in the same way as Freya, not receiving additional individual character spotlight (which could have very well been supplied through discoverable lore in the world/npcs or through sidequests) I never considered his “standing off to the side” as a detriment to his character.

Many would probably agree that Amarant always felt like a bit of a parody of the loner character, or at least the stereotype of the loner character. Amarant is so easily paralleled with Squall and Cloud’s surface-level attitudes because his dialogue always felt like something to poke fun at. As the player we’re supposed to align with Zidane’s way of thinking and how he views Amarant. When Amarant loses to Zidane and pretty much grits his teeth and goes “KILL ME,” along with Zidane we’re supposed to kinda raise our brow at him and go “...really, dude?”

Amarant’s a character introduced as an antagonist who has more in common with the power hungry villains of the game. Like many of the characters in FFIX, Amarant is in search of purpose in life, which he has never found, because he was always looking in the wrong places - in places of violence and power. Very toxic-masculinity of him. Amarant is “cool” on an aesthetic level but in reality he’s the polar opposite of cool in terms of what FFIX states about the need for others to be intertwined in your experiences so that you can live a full life.

I sort of love that he’s like a grumpy pitball following a 16 year old and his friends around. Then he sits in the corner when they all meet up and discuss current events acting like he doesn’t care (not to mention he casually walks as everyone is running as fast as they can to escape Terra - made me laugh cry on my first playthrough) He is “just there” but that’s because he has no where else to be, no where else to go, he’s a man without a home. And until Zidane offers his hand, at the point where Amarant is most willing to take it at Ipsen’s Castle, he’s not truly a party member. He IS an outsider for almost the entire game but at Ipsen Castle he joins the party, becomes a comrade, and decides he’ll allow himself to change paths and start a life where he has friends and lives, as well as fights for them. Which is why after that moment, Amarant finally has a victory pose.

song i associate with them: I was scratching my head for so long trying to think of a song or track that had Amarant vibes until it hit me. Outskirt Stand by Tsukasa Tawada (from Pokemon Colosseum). Amarant is so chill, he’s not a bombastic guy, so he needs a theme that drops me in the rocky open desert of the Lost Continent like I’m just lumbering around looking for a monkey-tailed menace. Some other Amarant tunes: Pyrite Town, The Under, Snagem Hideout tracks from Pokemon Colosseum. This post is just an elaborate call to action for everyone to listen to the Pokemon Colosseum soundtrack. Tsukasa Tawada is so great and he has a YouTube. Check him out.

favorite picture of them:

Yoshitaka Amano’s Salamander Coral. I love him. He had too much power.

Also everything drawn by @crispy-ghee. Everything. I will think of this Comic forever until I die. Tattoo it on my flesh. The banter, the dynamics, the post-game content, the Zidane prince-consort outfit, the new Amarant outfit, the stuck-in-the-same-place relationship him and Freya have. Perfect. Go read it and consume Crisipy’s stuff. And also check them and their current art out, they just consistently get better and better. Here’s a first panel preview of my fav comic. Read it.

@hannahlady‘s Amarant art and their Freya/Amarant art is just ugh. *Chef’s Kiss* Here is another preview because you should go look at it.

Here’s a piece that deserves so much more love by @snackage. I LOVE how they drew Amarant. Here’s a little preview. It’s SO GOOD

Anyway TL;DR: Amarant is love and life and you’ll have to pull him from my little gremlin hands.

#asks #scriberat #amarant coral #ffix #final fantasy ix #amarant #final fantasy 9 #freya #amarant x freya #lani #zidane tribal #eiko carol

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androgynousblackbox · 3 years

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Thoughts about the fifth season (spoilers)

Okay, so normally I would make these posts as neutral as possible because I want them to reach anyone who enjoys the show. Even if you are someone that really fucking hates incest ships you can read them and still have an idea of what I liked, what didn’t, etc, without me bringing up that element. You can disagree or agree without being reminded “oh, yeah, he is one of THOSE fans I don’t like” and that is totally fine by me. Curate your own online experience and all that. But this is season is quite literally about the relationship between Rick and Morty, so as a rickmorty shipper I just can’t separate that from what I enjoyed about it and thus I am going to be talking from that position during all of this. If that makes you uncomfortable, that is cool, I get it. You can skip this one if you want. Also, this is going to be a general big mess of thoughts and whatever because I have lots of them so, bear with me. -Some of the shippers I was with on a server will know this already, but from the very first episode I was sure we were going to have two major themes: 1. Rick is a flawed human being, not a god, not a ultra genius who is always destined to be on top of everything and knows how to get out of any situation. Just a man. And that is why he needs other people, which is somethig he had to accept and understand about himself, especially after the fourth season was all about dethroning him as the patriarch of the family and break away the illusions that Beth had about her own father. We have standed too long having Rick win on everything and coming out like a badass, so it’s time to kick him down a bit and let him lose. 2. Morty’s heart is always going to get fucked over, which is something that gets even more explored on the Planetina episode: he wants a place to belong with a person who doesn’t make him feel like the odd one out. Combine the two and my idea was: they want to assure us about their relationship on some kind of way, this is about them and what they feel regarding each other. Probably about why or how Rick became so jaded because why else include Rick freaking out about Mr Nimbus just mentioning Diane’s name and how much he changed, on a first episode no less, if this isn’t something we are setting up to see later. They explicitely brought someone from Rick’s past to talk about that past and make a point to tell us that changed Rick. -So, we have the two major player set up like this: on one hand, Morty aspires for that companionship but he is not willing to compromise his own moral for it, whatever he has left after starting to take on some Rick’s traits. He is desperate for that connection and if that means leaving Rick behind, so be it. Rick will still be there anyway. On othe other hand, Rick also wants that connection and companionship but it’s too disfunctional and can’t make it quite work because there is always a part of him that wants to keep distance. With the alien lady, evne with the crows, it’s all about escapism and pretend like everything is fine, it’s just fun and he doesn’t have to care because they are just having a good time together. He tried to do that too with BP by keeping away the info about his daughter, but he called his bluff because BP knew Rick too much to not see that comic. It’s rebound after rebound because he is missing the one person that can keep him in check, that truly knows what a piece of fucking shit he is and somehow still comes back to him. BP saw that, knew what was happening, and prefered to get the fuck away because he didn’t want to compromise his own values like that either. But Rick doesn’t have that problem with Morty. It truly is Rick and Morty one hundread years because, no matter how fucking bad it gets, they still choose one another. -Now, the way they keep building up this relationship, these connection, even regarding the rest of the family, to me is brilliant in restrospect because it perfectly illustrate how much they have changed from what they were before and what that means. Morty is more independent and less afraid, right, but that doesn’t make him more happier because he is still lonely and Rick is being reminded, over and over again, that he can’t be alone either. -Regarding the way Morty have behaved, I have seen some people being concerned about how Morty is becoming more independent and therefore not relying on Rick as much for anything, so it’s like what is the point of their relationship anymore. And like, to me it makes sense they show because they have already told us on past seasons that Morty has stopped viewing Rick with that wide eyed expression for a long time. He is learning from him and can defend himself, so why does he need Rick at al? The answer is because he loves him. You can read that as platonic or romantic or whatever, but for better or for worse Morty just loves Rick. You shouldn’t love people because you need them, or at least that is not a healthy basis for any relationship. I said this on another post: you cannot make anyone to be your center for your mental health like that, and I feel like they aware of this point, which I really fucking love because it would have been easy as fuck to write any pairing like that. -If you stay for the “Behind of scenes” scenes, the writers talk about how this season is about building trust between Rick and Morty. So it starts with Morty going around cleaning up some of the messes Rick left behind without telling Rick and then fucking the portal gun because he doesn’t trust Rick to not “kill him” to finding out he did that, just like Rick in fact doesn’t trust Morty to not be doing unnecesary bullshit. So Morty, hurt because his suspicions were right, puts an ultimatum and Rick, being the petty fuck we all know him to be, takes it kind because of course he would. -What does Morty does immediately after this? Latch onto another sketchy as fuck older man whose name ends with Ick and hope that is the connection he craves, because after all “we are like brothers now.” So rebound for him, rebound for Rick, rebounds for the crows, rebounds for everyone. Yay. -I know it has been however many years have passed since this show started, and it was obvious for fucking everyone who watched it, but I do really like that they use the exact words for how their dynamic has been: unhealthy, toxic, abusive. Lack of trust, lack of boundaries, secrets. Just straight up calling it as it is. So they have both of them confronting that fact, being aware of it, and to top it all off, make Morty the only being now on their universe that knows everything about Rick, every single thing he has kept even from BP, like the true reason he joined to their guerilla group, and still makes the conscious choice to go after Rick even when, as far he was aware of at least, there was another option. -So, okay, now what, might someone ask. We have put everything out there and we have talked about what is wrong about their relationship, does this mean we are doing the boring healthy bullshit now? Well, nope. Considering that Morty did went out of his way to guilt trip Rick into getting back and Rick admits point blank admits he get it, Morty refusing to demand things be different because he is just desperate... they are still and probably always going to be a condependent mess, but hey, a condependent mess that at least is kinda self aware about it and won’t pull the “I am going to break up with you on a whim” move again, hopefully. I do think and expect some things to change, but only as far their dynamic during adventures goes and regarding the rest of the family, with everyone being on the know that those two are an item neither of them can get in between. Rick is probably still going to want to keep some things in control, he is still not going to express his feelings to Morty directly and Morty is still going to be a little shit that will want for validation that won’t come his way. It’s a shithole house, but at leat it’s their home kind of thing, and personally, that is how I like it. -The “adventures as a metaphor for a relationship so this is not like a real break up” is real funny when you hear the writers literally calling it a break up and a relatonship. Also, the amount of times that they say “my partner”. Like, I am sorry, but how the fuck I am supposed to believe this wasn’t for the shippers, fucking how? Like even if you aren’t one, and you go “it’s a metaphor!! it’s not like an actual relationship, they are not saying they are together as a couple”, that is flimsy as fuck because we have determined already that Rick uses adventures as an extension for all his relationships. There is a intentional paralel between BP and Morty and how Rick treats the both of them, like he would do anything for them but still be kind of a lying piece of shit too, so it’s definitely canon on the sense -Omg, we had miniature cute Mortys who like crayons and also big hot adult Morty, fucking finally. I cannot fucking believe they wouldn’t know the blessing they were throwing to fandom with that one, they know what they are doing. -Rick as a boy dressing on the same colors of Morty could have been a cute little detail, like aww, they are family, so they pass down those colors from one generation to another because family, but fuck all of that, let’s make it creepy and fucked up because why not. But it’s also interesting because if Ricks breeded Mortys and put those colors on them, isn’t that another way of saying “you are connected to us just as much as we are connected to you”? Because they didn’t had to chose those colors, but they did it because it meant something for them. On a very fucked up way, I think they might even feel themselves more fathers to Morty than even Beth, because many of them didn’t cared manipulating her in order to gain more Mortys even if they could just clone them easily. -”You all really are bred for forgiveness”... Not really, or else “Evil Morty” wouldn’t exist and Cop Rick, the good one, would have never been attacked by using the attachment of Ricks against him. But Morty had made his choice and that choice was Rick, and even then Rick cannot fucking believe it so he has to reduce it to his breeding. -So, the finite curve has been destroyed and almost all Ricks were killed, the ones that weren’t coincidentally fucking off to another place just when that happened. That means that now there is true infinite universe where Rick is not the smartest man on the universe, where Rick doesn’t even exist at all, so we may have adventures where other people where the smartest people on their universe and Rick could finally meet his equal or someone even worse. -The final speech of Mr Poppybutthole is kinda the perfect ending to everything, because he is talking avoid being afraid of the people he loves finding the “true” self of him and not loving him anymore, but Morty did that and he still loves Rick and, listen, I have FEELINGS about it, okay. -After exploring this, which was the true only canonical mistery of the whole series, while also dumping off the backstory of Rick so nobody has to theorize about it anymore, it feels like they going two routes: either we are dumping anything about serialized anything, at least for a while, and we are back to just silly adventures with asshole grandpa and traumatized kid, or... we are introducing another big baddie that we are going to drag to hell and back. Maybe Evil Jerry? That could be fun to explore on the show. My bet is on the second option because I think that is the kind of thing that Justin really enjoys doing and that is why it appears on Solar Opposites as well, with the whole Wall as a central points behind all the shenanigans of the aliens. -The only misteries left are: the weird Rick that killed his family, if he wasn’t killed already on the Citadel, and Birdperson reunion with his daughter, for which he might ask Rick’s help in the future when he cools down or maybe Rick gets his daughter back for him on a ridiculous plan to make him return his calls, because that is something he is going to pull. The Jessica thing and her quest for becoming an actual character with her own thing going on. -This finale made rickmorty canon on all the ways it could without having them literally making out willingly, and after Naruto, I don’t think that is a line they are not willing to cross at some point in the future, even if it’s just a joke. They already did with the parasites. I honestly don’t even know how you can watch the show and think “fuck yeah, they hate those ships just as much as I do!”, because with the way the writers talk about it and literally this entire season being nothing but a building up for their relationship, I would have been turned if I didn’t ship it already.

#rickmorty #incest implied #andro is talking

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skzleeknow12 · 3 years

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Love Conquers All - Hyunjin

Genre: Angst, Fluff, Idol au, Set at MAMA

Word Count: Approximately 4k

“So my next question will go to Cindy,” the presenter said and Cindy immediately froze as the camera panned to her. She looked at her members, who were giving her worried looks, and her leader subtly asked her with her eyes if she wanted her to help. Cindy pressed a strained smile onto her face and subtly shook her head before trying to relax her smile more as she looked at the presenter. Her group was currently being interviewed at the red carpet at their fourth MAMA of their professional career. She took the mic hesitantly handed to her by one of her members, who smiled at her as a source of comfort.

“Cindy, I understand you were meant to have a collaboration this year with Hwanwoong of Oneus and San of Ateez which was supposed to be a highly anticipated part of today’s show? What are your thoughts on not being able to do it?”

Cindy knew the presenters has a script to follow and she could see the guilt in the presenter’s eyes so she simply smiled at her as if to tell her it was ok. What made things worse was that when she looked towards the backstage, she saw all of eight of the boys standing there, looking at her with worry, but his face stuck out the most. She knew it wasn’t his fault, but she was the one who had to pay the price for the both of them. She needed to show she was strong so she brought the mic towards her mouth so that she could speak clearly.

“Obviously, I was looking really forward to the collaboration, I don’t know if this information was shared with the public or not but we had already started to rehearse it and were quite a way through it, so it was a bit frustrating when it was cancelled due to specific reasons.” She made sure her voice didn’t waver as she looked at the fans of many other groups behind the camera. Her eyes suddenly caught a certain fan who was waving a large banner with the writing “WE LOVE YOU CINDY!” and that gave her the strength to continue. “I understand that everything happens for a reason though, so I’m sure that the reason the collaboration was called off was the best thing for myself and the other parties. The time that would have been spent in practice gave me a chance to reflect on myself and improve more as well as think back on everything to ensure I don’t make any mistakes in the future.”

“Ah yes of course, at least there was a positive outcome,” the second presenter said, but her eyes were still glued to Cindy which she took as another question about to be thrown her way. “You also wrote one of the songs that your group will be performing today, would you like to tell us about what inspired you to write it and your train of thoughts?”

“The song I wrote, to be honest I related it to myself quite a lot,” she said. “I’ve been misunderstood a lot; when you’re in the public eye, you don’t get a chance to explain yourself, one wrong move that may be made with a pure intention could cost you your mental health as well as your career. The song is basically talking about how no one knows what we’re going through unless they actually go through it the way we have to. I know a lot of people know what I mean when I say life as an idol isn’t always rainbows and sparkles, but unless you actually live this life, then you can’t imagine the hardships it takes to even stand here. We’re humans too, so I guess I was just trying to portray how not everything is as it seems.” She let out a small laugh which the presenters mirrored in order to lighten the mood, but her members and the eight boys on the side could tell how forced and bitter it was.

“But there are obviously fulfilling moments?” the presenter asked, trying to stir the conversation back to a lighter topic. Cindy was aware their group had probably gone overtime by a minute so they had to wrap the interview up to move onto the next group.

“Yes of course, our fans and the members are the most rewarding part,” Cindy said and she smiled with the other members as she heard a loud chorus of screams of delight from their fans.

The interview ended quickly after that and the girls made their way off the red carpet, but obviously fate was not being good to her today. As Cindy walked off the stage, she heard a voice call out to her from the crowd.

“CINDY YOU B****!” a fan cursed, causing her and her members to stop in their tracks, shocked. “FIRST YOU DATE OUR HYUNJIN FOR FAME, AND THEN YOU USE HWANWOONG AND SAN TO MAKE YOURSELF LOOK BETTER. YOU’RE SO DESPERATE. WE HATE YOU!” The words didn’t hurt as much as the noises of agreement coming from the audience, and the angry protests and comforting cheers of her fans did not help drown them out. She turned to look at the eight boys, one of them particularly who looked as if someone had just slapped his face. He noticed how her facial expressions showed how she was trying to stop herself from crying and he wanted nothing more than to just engulf her in a hug and tell her it would all be alright. Cindy’s leader quickly ushered her off the stage as her members followed, and they were glad to see their seniors as well as close friends, Oneus, waiting for them at the end, out of sight of the cameras. The members gave her encouraging smiles as Hwanwoong gave her a brotherly hug. Xion and Keonhee immediately came to her and put their arms around her, quickly engaging her in a conversation sure to make her laugh, whilst her members and the rest of the Oneus members talked quietly about what had just happened. Whilst they were walking away, they heard the presenters call the next group onto the stage.

“Please give a warm welcome to… Stray Kids!”

(Time Skip)

The stage erupted into flames as BTS’ Fire started playing and that sent the crowd into a frenzy of screams, not to mention how all the other idols, who were meant to look professional and show minimum reaction, jumped out of their seats as the performers on stage got into formation. Cindy and her members were no exception and she, along with her other member, started energetically dancing, living up to their positions as main and lead dancer. The Oneus members next to them were singing the lyrics loudly and if any outsider came in they would have thought they were at a concert instead of an award show. Cindy happened to turn to her left and was immediately surprised and freaked out when she saw Hyunjin’s eyes trained on her, and it looked so extremely obvious. She panicked and looked around when her heart stopped. Right in the front row of where the fans were seated, she saw a camera pointed towards them, catching the whole interaction. She just felt so overwhelmed at that point that she tapped her leader and told her she was going out for some fresh air. They knew they couldn’t just leave halfway through but her leader saw how troubled she looked so she helped sneak her backstage. This did not go unnoticed by the Stray Kids members and Hyunjin quickly turned to Bangchan to ask him for permission to leave. Noticing Bangchan’s hesitance, Minho patted Hyunjin’s back, as if telling him to go. Hyunjin smiled gratefully before disappearing backstage, not knowing about the camera still recording him, the one that had caused Cindy to leave so suddenly.

Hyunjin walked down the corridor of dressing rooms, ignoring the looks of surprise the staff members were giving him, all of then wondering why he was backstage and not in the idol sitting area. He finally reached Cindy’s groups dressing room, just as her manager walked out. She was evidently surprised as she quickly pulled him away from the door to the room and took him behind the vending machine, out of sight.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she hissed in fear as she looked around.

“Please let me talk to her, I’ve not heard from her since Dispatch outed our relationship,” Hyunjin pleaded. Cindy’s manager had been one of the first to find out about their relationship, other than his manager. The members and the company as well as the rest of the staff ended up finding out only a few days later than the two managers.

“Hyunjin, please understand,” her manager said desperately, “I know you both love each other, even someone as inexperienced as me can see that. But you need to be prepared that maybe you won’t be able to go back to how you were. Think about the reputation of your groups too. And think about her. That stunt at the red carpet today didn’t help her at all, especially because it only targeted her.”

“I need her to know I still love her; I’m willing to go through the hardships for her.” He looked at her manager desperately and she sighed in defeat as she patted his shoulder lightly.

“Don’t take too long, you need to get back,” she said sternly and he nodded his head. He thanked her with a hug before quickly rushing towards his initial destination. He paused a bit before he opened the door, slowly peaking his head in. the sight in front of him broke his heart. Cindy was sitting on the floor against the wall and her cheeks were tearstained, but she was no longer crying. She hadn’t realised the door had opened and her hands were playing with an unopened bottle of water. Hyunjin stepped in and lightly cleared his throat, and that’s when she looked up. Her eyes widened so fast that if they had been in a different situation it would have looked comical. She stood up and the bottle of water dropped from her hands, rolling around on the floor without a care in the world. Time stopped as the two stared at each other, none of them knowing what to say. There were so many unspoken words between them, yet the speech Hyunjin had prepared in his head completely vanished. He decided to make the first move and he stepped a bit closer to her, checking to see if was uncomfortable. She didn’t show any signs of discomfort, so he carried on walking towards her until all she had to do was lift her hand and he would be within her reach.

Cindy’s tears cascaded down her face, soft sniffles following them. She hesitated for a second before slowly closing the distance as she walked into his embrace, crying against his chest. Hyunjin paused for only a split second before holding onto her tightly as if scared that she would be ripped away from him, whilst running his fingers through her hair. He kissed the top of her head as her cries turned to small hiccups. She gripped onto his shirt tightly before slowly pulling away, eyes filled with fear.

“You need to go,” she said and Hyunjin’s heart broke as he watched her take a step away from him, “our groups will get ruined-” She was about to continue rambling on when Hyunjin captured her lips in his, muffling any more words coming out of her mouth. His hands were loose around her waist and his eyes shut as he moulded his lips against hers, but after a few seconds he noticed she wasn’t kissing him back. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he looked at her teary eyes, and she took that as an opportunity to push him away harshly.

“What’s wrong?” he started but she immediately cut him off.

“What are you doing?” she asked as her eyes darted around the room fearfully, and it dawned on Hyunjin just how scared she was. “Hyunjin, we can’t-”

“But why can’t we?” he asked exasperatedly looking as if he too was going to break down into tears. “What’s so wrong with us being together if it makes us happy? Why can’t people just accept that you’re the only one for me and I can’t live without you in my life?” His words made her feel so heartbroken because she knew he was right, and she knew that she couldn’t live without him either. But there was no way they would be able to avoid the hate they would get from both fandoms collectively, not to mention how it could have a huge toll on their groups considering how well they were doing at the moment.

“Hyunjin, you were fine before we dated,” she said gently but he shook his head firmly.

“But I always knew that something was missing from my life,” he said as he took her hand in his, slightly smiling as he felt hers tighten around his, “when you came into my life, I knew that you were the one. You were the one who completed me, and no one but you can take that space in my heart. Please.” He closed his eyes as he felt the tears run down his cheek. He suddenly felt something soft against his skin and when he opened his eyes once more, he saw her wiping his tears away with her thumb. She held onto his cheek and he melted into her touch, but the moment was short-lived as she took her hand away.

“Hyunjin, I… I think we should officially break up.” Her tone was soft and she was no longer crying, but Hyunjin could hear how she strained her voice as she tried to keep it steady, and he noticed how it faded out at the end as she breathed deeply.

“You… you don’t mean that,” he said brokenly as he tried to read her face, but she maintained her expression, keeping it emotionless.

“As hard as it is for us,” she whispered, “this is the only way to keep everyone off our backs, and to save our careers. We have our groups to think of, we can’t be selfish.”

“But what if I want to be selfish for once?” Hyunjin burst out and Cindy looked at him, surprised. When the two had started dating, they had agreed that they would work their relationship around their schedules so as not to mess anything up for their groups. He was probably one of the most selfless people she had ever met. To hear him say that he wanted to be selfish for once, for her, made her heart leap despite her dejected mood.

“What if I want to become selfish, for us?” he asked again and she looked at the ground, trying to avoid his gaze. He sighed deeply and she knew he was trying to hold his tears back for the umpteenth time. “But if that’s not what you really want, then… then I’ll let you go.” Cindy looked up at him and he bit his lip, swallowing the lump in his throat. “But only on one condition.” Cindy’s heart was tearing apart as she looked at him, waiting for him to speak again. She couldn’t believe that they were ending everything, even though none of them wanted to.

“And that condition is?” she asked, sniffling slightly.

“Look me straight in the eye. And tell me that… you no longer love me.” His words struck her hard and for a second all she could do was blink at him.

“W-what?” she whispered.

“Tell me that you don’t love me anymore, and that that’s the reason you want to end us,” he said, his voice wavering a bit. “If you do that, then I’ll believe you, but if you don’t, then I know that you still want me just as I want you. And if you still love me like I love you, then we will get through all the hardships together, and I’ll always fight for you no matter what.” If Cindy hadn’t been such an emotional wreck at that point then she would have rolled her eyes at how hard he made the decision. On one side was her love for Hyunjin, and on the other was the harsh industry.

She looked him in the eye and her heart tore apart as she saw the hope vanish from his eyes. Taking a shaky breath, she opened her mouth to speak.

“Hyunjin, I…” she tried to get the words out, but it was harder to lie when the person she loved more than anyone was looking at her as if his whole world had ended. “I… oh, screw it!”

Before Hyunjin could even react, Cindy grabbed his face with both of her hands and smashed her lips onto his, surprising him. He stood still for a moment before quickly snaking his arms around her waist and bringing her impossibly nearer to him. The kiss somehow made their hearts flutter yet thump loudly at the same time. Cindy could feel the butterflies in her stomach as Hyunjin gently tilted her head back, deepening the kiss with his soft lips. The kiss was desperate, yet slow and meaningful, passionate but not too steamy. The two finally broke apart, panting a little from the lack of air. They closed their eyes, savouring the feeling of being in each other’s embrace. Hyunjin kissed her temple as she hummed softly, before sharing a heart-warming smile.

“Well, I did not think that was how you would answer my question,” Hyunjin said teasingly as Cindy lightly slapped him on the arm. But then she realised a big problem.

“Hyunjin, this will be so bad for our groups-” she tried to explain but was cut off by a voice at the door.

“Don’t worry about us,” Chan said as he walked forward with Cindy’s groups leader, “what matters is that the two of you are okay. Thankfully, none of us have to deal with a depressed Hyunjin anymore!” Hyunjin scowled at Chan playfully as they all laughed.

“Cindy wasn’t any better,” her leader said, smiling fondly at the couple in front of her, “but I’m glad you two are back together now. And don’t worry about the antis, haters are gonna hate, we already knew we would get backlash for these kind of things when we first became trainees.”

“Exactly,” Chan agreed, “as long as you two are happy, no one has any right to say anything to you. Besides, you have all of us with you. And our true fans will accept your happiness.”

“But, um, I think we should get your guys’ makeup done again, you both look like a mess,” her leader said and Hyunjin grabbed onto Cindy as the girl was about to playfully throw herself at her leader for her comment. Chan and Cindy’s leader gave the couple equally motivating smiles and told them to come straight back to the seating area after their makeup was done. Hyunjin’s stylist came into the room along with Cindy’s and they busily started reapplying the makeup onto the two idols, not fussed about them ruining it as they too were happy the couple were back together again. Throughout their makeup reapplication, Cindy and Hyunjin held each other’s hands, sitting in a comfortable silence while the two stylists chatted to each other.

As they got closer to the seating area, Cindy suddenly remembered what had caused her to go running off.

“Hyunjin, we were being filmed,” she whispered to him as they stood outside the entrance. He turned to look at her and for a second he looked panicked before he showed her his signature smirk.

“Good, now we can give them something more to film,” he said as he held her hand. Her eyes widened but after looking at Hyunjin’s reassuring smile, she felt most of her nerves slip away. The two walked in and Cindy was glad to see that Oneus were just about to perform; she didn’t want to miss their stage. As they made their way to their seats, the other idols stood up to bow respectfully as they were all colleagues, and the looks on their faces when they saw the couples entwined hands was the most comical thing Cindy had ever seen. Many of them whispered words of encouragement whilst others gave them envious but approving looks. Hyunjin walked Cindy to her seat and to everyone’s surprise as well as delight, he gave her a small but sweet kiss on the cheek as he squeezed her hand tightly before making his way towards his members, all who were looking at him in astonishment as well as pride.

Cindy sat down next to her leader, who was trying not to laugh.

“When I told you not to care about other’s reactions, I didn’t mean this, but I’m not complaining,” she laughed and the rest of the members grinned at Cindy happily. Then, Oneus’ performance started and they were all too preoccupied with singing and dancing along to think of anything else.

…

“And the Album of the Year Award goes to… Stray Kids, congratulations!” The stadium erupted into loud cheers and screams as the Stray Kids members looked around in shock, not being able to believe that the MC had just called their name. Bangchan recovered first and quickly ushered the boys to the main stage, whilst bowing and thanking the other idols who congratulated them. Hyunjin looked dazed as he walked past, but as he passed Cindy he gave her a playful wink as she enthusiastically gave him two thumbs up. The members reached the stage and gratefully accepted the award before going on to making their speech.

“Hello, we are Stray Kids!” Bangchan started thanking everyone for helping them and expressed how grateful they all were for the award, and the members smiled as they heard their fans cheering for them. After he finished, he looked around at the others, asking if anyone else wanted to say anything. To their surprise, Hyunjin stepped forward, even though he never gave acceptance speeches. Bangchan stepped to the side as Hyunjin came in front of the mic, and the audience started cheering once again as they saw him.

“Stay, thank you so much for giving us this award, I have no words to be able to thank you enough for this,” he began as he looked around the audience. Finally, his eyes went to the idols seating section, where he sought out a particular face. After finding it, he smiled as he saw the happiness and pride on Cindy’s face and quickly continued. “I also want to thank a special person who has made this past year one of the best years of my life. We’ve come across a few hardships, and I’m so glad we were able to overcome them. I love you.” Cindy was beyond relieved when she heard the audience scream for the umpteenth time that night, and that made her so happy.

The Stray Kids members made their way back to the seating place and by chance there were seats right next to Cindy’s group so they sat down there. The group reshuffled so that Cindy and Hyunjin ended up sitting next to each other. Hyunjin bashfully put an arm around her shoulders and Cindy laughed at his playfulness before she spotted the same fan-camera filing them. She turned towards Hyunjin and he followed her gaze, before leaning to whisper something in her ear.

“Just wave and then they’ll get confused,” he said, trying not to laugh, and so they did just that. After a few seconds of them smiling and waving at the camera, the fan hesitantly put it down and turned her attention towards the stage instead. Hyunjin and Cindy grinned at each other before also focusing on the stage. And when Cindy’s group won an award for, Hyunjin made sure to clap for them the most, to many of the idol’s amusement.

After the award show ended, the two groups, along with Oneus, decided to go out for a celebratory meal in happiness of all of them winning an award that night. Cindy leaned her head on Hyunjin’s shoulder as they watched their friends talk excitedly with each other, and for the first time in their relationship, they felt truly and blissfully at peace. They finally didn’t have to worry about Dispatch or any other reporters, anti-fans etc. They could finally be with each other the way they wanted. Of course, there was bound to be backlash, but as the saying goes, love conquers all.

A.N// Thank you for taking the time out for reading this. I also wanted to say a big big big thank you to everyone who read my Lee Know Final Escape au, it felt amazing when I saw how many notes it had, I genuinely expected that it wouldn’t be liked too much but THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!! I am writing more au’s and I’ve thought of writing some series too (I’m in the middle of writing a Minho au Mafia/ Gang etc series so if anyone has any ideas for that plsss let me know :) ) so I will try harder to improve in the future. Thank you once again!!!

#straykidsfanfiction #straykidsstory #hyunjin fanfic #hyunjin #idolau #stray kids fluff #straykidsangst

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