#but I think that might be a whole other meta because this is already pretty long

[teacuppigdog]

Reasons not to be a lighthouse

So, I want to talk about the lighthouse, and what it means for Stede to be the lighthouse.

I’ve seen fanart that frames the lighthouse/kraken imagery in a light vs dark, oppositional way. Like Stede is a light that needs to rescue Ed from the dark. And jarring with that use of the imagery made me realise that I see these symbols completely differently, not in opposition but in parallel. To me it follows that if the kraken is Ed at his worst, then the lighthouse is Stede at his worst.

It’s easy to see the negative attributes of a kraken (frightening, violent), but the negative attributes of a lighthouse are less straightforward (yes, you can get smashed on the rocks, but what exactly does that tell us about Stede?).

When I considered it, it brought to mind the apocryphal tale where two nations are in contact by radio at sea. They each demand the other divert to avoid collision, going back and forth until one country says “This is the biggest, most heavily armed warship in our country’s big and heavily armed fleet. We demand that you divert course or we will fire upon you,” at which point the other country says “This is a lighthouse. Your call.”

A lighthouse is not going to divert course to avoid a collision. It’s going to stay exactly where it is, and if you don’t divert course to accommodate for it, you’re fucked. A lighthouse is a perfect metaphor for obstinance, for inflexibility. Stede can be bad at taking other people’s perspectives into account and adjusting accordingly. At his worst, he can’t even take in that other people’s perspectives may differ from his in the first place.

We see this with his family. He wants to uproot their lives and go to sea. He presents his dream as a present to Mary, and assumes she will be just as thrilled as he is, because he’s too wrapped up in his own excitement to connect with Mary as a separate individual. The dialogue then explicitly tells us how Stede is unwilling/unable to hear Mary expressing her perspective/experience:

Mary: "You know I hate the ocean. I said so just the other day." Stede: "What? When?" Mary: "When we were standing by the fucking ocean."

Mary isn’t upset that Stede has an interest in sailing, she is upset that Stede has no interest in actually knowing her, merely trying to fit her into his own interests. The scene where Mary repeatedly tries to get Stede’s attention and he ‘Mmm’s without looking up from his book also show us how he does not respond to her attempts to communicate. It’s telling that when she presents her anniversary present to him, Stede does not know Mary paints. (Honestly, I would find it completely in character for Stede if she had mentioned her painting to him several times in the past, but he just hadn’t taken it in because it’s not what he’s interested in.)

Which takes us to the consequence of this inflexibility: the lighthouse is isolated. Stede is so inflexible at times that he cannot forge the back-and-forth communication required to actually connect with other humans.

We also see this at the start of the show with his crew. I think the underlying reason that the crew wants to mutiny is how Stede cannot see things from their perspectives or accomodate for them.

Stede went into piracy with no experience, and decided to impose his own views on how to do things on his crew, without seeking to first learn from them about an area in which he has no experience. Throughout the first few episodes we see Stede trying to push his crew into being the people he expects and wants them to be, rather than trying to get to know them.

In the first episode, in the ‘talk it through as crew’ call and response, we see Stede (frankly, quite patronisingly) trying to push the crew into adopting his perspective and participate the way he wants them to. We hear Stede narrate "I pay my crew a salary. Same wage, every week, no matter what. Course, it took them a while to come 'round to the idea", and while Stede probably thinks he’s doing what’s best for them and they just can’t understand that, consider what difference it makes to the power dynamics if the results of everyone’s work are shared versus if they are completely dependant on Stede. Consider how Stede is disbelieving when Lucius says he’s the only crew member who can read ("That's not. Is that true?"), dismissing this input to the point that a couple of episodes later, when he tries to replace Lucius with Frenchie, he is surprised to discover Frenchie cannot write.

When Stede decides that the crew should vacation in episode two, he says explicitly "Your time is yours to do with as you please" and "There's literally no way to mess this up." He then almost immediately starts telling the crew what they can and can’t do, responding to their methods of unwinding with "That is NOT what I was talking about!". You’re not allowed to spend your downtime roughhousing, becasue Stede does not enjoy roughhousing. Stede’s preconception of himself as a captain is that he is accepting and he listens, but the actuality of his captaining style is that he tries to push his crew into complying with his preferences.

In the third episode, Stede is completely unwilling to learn from his crew – most of whom have visited the Pirate Republic before – about how things work there. When Lucius tries to advise him (repeatedly) he dismisses it (repeatedly).

If the kraken represents a toxic masculinity aligned with aggressive and threatening behaviour, then the lighthouse represents a toxic masculinity aligned with is mansplaining, blind confidence and the assumption of authority.

In episode four, their meeting starts Stede and Ed’s arc of mutual character development. I think it’s a crucial moment in Stede’s development when he excitedly presents Ed with Stede’s preconception of who Ed is – a picture of Blackbeard from one of his pirate books – and Stede actually sees and takes in Ed’s response. Stede listens to Ed. And after having listened, Stede adjusts his course. While Stede’s perspective is firmly that being Blackbeard would be great (he says that he’d give up everything for just a day of being Blackbeard), what he says to Ed isn’t encouragement to keep going, insisting that surely Ed’s life is amazing. Instead, it’s: "Look. I can't believe I'm saying this, but have you ever considered retirement?" This might be the first moment in the show where Stede is considering things from someone else’s perspective. And that’s the start of him being able to reach past his previous isolation and actually connect.

Stede still struggles at times with seeing past himself for the rest of the show, but episode four is a turning point. It introduces his capacity to change and a new willingness to learn.

For the rest of the show, we see Stede succeed when he stops trying to be the isolated beacon that gives detached direction, when he can see past his preconceptions, connect and adjust, and we see him fail when he can’t. In episode five his moment of triumph is rooted in a moment of connecting with and listening to Frenchie. When Frenchie expresses his experience – “I was in service for a minute so I now the lay of the land and trust me, servants, they see everything. This lot, they're not so fancy” – Stede actually takes it in, and that gives him the idea to ask Abshir for the information that Stede builds into his passive aggression bomb. In episode six Stede comes pretty close to explicitly naming the problem and solution himself: "I'd like to apologise for my behaviour earlier. As total as my theatrical knowledge may be, I did forget the most important thing: company!"

I think what takes the crew from where they started at the brink of mutiny, to the intense loyalty they have by the end, is not a change of heart on their part, but Stede changing. Stede softening his dismissive streak, starting to genuinely rather than superficially listen to his crew and to respect their input.

When Stede feels he needs to be the lighthouse, he feels he must be the guiding light all on his own. He can’t have his guidance questioned, because then he’s failing in his role.

I think this sense that ‘knowing best’ is supposed to fall entirely to him is one of the reasons why he feels so guilty about leaving Mary: he is supposed to be her guiding light, so surely without him she must be lost? Surely, without his light, his family have been smashed up against the rocks? It is his sense that he has failed in his duties at being his family’s lighthouse that makes him falter at the crucial moment when he leaves Ed. Stede seeing that actually, his family are just fine at finding their own direction (and Stede finally, finally, listening to and allowing himself to be changed by Mary) is what shows him that he doesn’t have to be the lighthouse.

I don’t think he returns to his crew as a guiding light. I think he returns ready to adjust course as he goes, with his crew’s support and collaboration.

#ofmd meta #stede bonnet #our flag means death #ofmd #I was going to add another section about how Ed is the counterpoint to this #how (as others have explored in excellent meta) Ed is too flexible to others in contrast with Stede not being flexible enough #and how I understand that with the overall lighthouse/kraken symbolism #but I think that might be a whole other meta because this is already pretty long #my ofmd meta

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

About the whole "Fyodor-switch personality" thing: We don't have enough information to confirm whether it was real or fake right now, and besides, both possibilities are really interesting.

If the switch was real and Fyodor was lying to cover it up (...because 'you know characters can lie, right' could mean... this part of it was the lie too...), that could easily be made a reference to Dostoevsky's The Double, as I was kindly made aware of. We've also already had an image of a young woman who looks like Aya from potentially a long time ago, given the outfit and that it is Bram's memory we're presumably seeing there, which may tie in interestingly with "what year is it?" The knife he pulled out also is genuinely a unique design for the series, and looks like it might be an old make. If this original is very old, then something in the takeover of personalities may explain why he hasn't seemed to age. Fyodor being a separate personality created from his ability and kicking out the original could tie in with his ability not attacking him in Dead Apple. This also raises more questions about Fyodor's motives, and I think opens the path for some pretty fascinating theory making. It also places Fyodor as something both human and not... intriguing for the ongoing theme of humanity in the series.

If the switch was a fake and Fyodor was being a completely hilarious little shit (which, we know the Joker is part of his inspiration and he is often contrasted with Dazai, Nikolai, and Mori, for whom this kind of behaviour would be expected - it's characterization, that's not 'done for no reason'), it would quite possibly be the funniest thing he's done in the series so far. But! More importantly, it strengthens Fyodor's connection with the Book (or rather, with altering the narrative). He's told a lie that sounds completely ridiculous but makes sense given the world and situation he's in - and notably, could fool Sigma... and the readers. Fyodor also managed to change the lightness of his eyes without changing the state of his soul - something that no other character seems to be able to do. (I know Dazai can feign the shocked expression, but that's not the clear lightness we saw in Fyodor's eyes in this panel. Nikolai's eyes change lightness but that actually seems to be genuine.) While this doesn't help us discern anything more about Fyodor's motives, it does emphasize his expertise at information manipulation - we cannot trust a single thing this character says, not just in universe, but out of it too. We, the readers, cannot listen to Fyodor and take anything he says as supporting evidence for theories. If this is true - that's fascinating. The other characters will have to solve the mystery of this man completely indirectly, and so will we.

Of course, there is the secret third option: it was a lie mostly, but there is an element of truth to it somewhere, which is actually par for the course for BSD as a whole. It is very rare that a character turns out to be lying completely. The question then becomes "what part is true and how much is it true", which is also very compelling. This, personally, is what I'm ascribing to for now until new info comes up.

Anyways, the last thing I wanted to point out is that if it was genuine, then remember The Double was inspired by Hohol's works, and if it was a lie, then that is very similar to the bait-and-switch performances that Nikolai has done multiple times in the series. Either way, it implies some influence on Fyodor by Nikolai and of course vice versa, which probably means the return of the clown (finally!) and more focus on their dynamic, which is a funny thing to show Nikolai having apparently had influence on Fyodor (even if in more of a meta way) as he is actively trying to kill him right now.

Love wins/loses?

#i also kind of have my gripes about split identity storylines... but in the end i just want whatever happens to be #the most interesting story to tell with this character #we still know nothing about fyodor and certainly not enough to know how much we can take as truth or lies #bsd #bsd chapter 108 #bsd spoilers #bsd fyodor #fyolai #storyrambles

[kalinara]

It’s interesting.  I’ve seen a lot of meta suggesting that Ted’s steps this episode will lead to him confronting Nate, but I think there’s a bigger possibility, when it comes to Ted and long overdue confrontations:  Rebecca.

I mean, this whole series started because Rebecca wanted to hurt Rupert.  She roped an innocent man into her schemes to do it.  She went out of her way to set him up for failure, to make him the target of a virulent fanbase, threatened his marriage and so on. 

She apologized, of course.  And he forgave her.  But that doesn’t mean she didn’t hurt him.  Look at his face during All Apologies.  Think about how we’ve never really seen Ted have the same kind of blithe confidence in his coaching ability since then.  It’s a sad fact that she might have caused him more pain trying to fix her mistake: he went from the belief that, for all of his ignorance and early struggles, someone believed in him to realizing that he was actually hired to bring everything down.

And ultimately, she’s still doing it!  She’s not maliciously sabotaging Ted anymore, but she’s still completely obsessed with defeating Rupert.  She just defines that differently now.

I keep seeing folks talk about her grabbing him as some kind of ‘ship moment, but to be honest, I didn’t see it that way at all.  She was aggressively unhinged, and while it was pretty hilarious, it was clearly freaking him out a bit.  And while, of course, it’s a coach’s job to help the team win, but she’s putting a lot of extra pressure on him - when she’s already had to use his emotional honesty safeword on him earlier in the episode.  (It’s also funny that, in a way, it probably contributed to the team’s loss.  Ted was busy dealing with her that he wasn’t there to motivate and focus the team - which is what he excels at.  And left the opening for the showing of the tape.)

She’s never acknowledged what she’s done to the team.  She’s never admitted to Jamie, as far as we know, that she, not Ted, sent him back to Man City.  And that really needs to happen.

From day one, or at least episode four, this show has made a big deal about accountability.  So the fact that Rebecca hasn’t, and so far, seems inclined to repeat her mistakes is significant.

And I do think Ted has some emotions about that.  Throughout season two, folks had talked about the way the characters were so separate from each other.  The sad fact is, Christmas episode aside, they were a lot closer before Rebecca came clean.  Before Ted knew what she’d done to him and the team.

IF Tedbecca is going to happen, I think we’ll need this confrontation.  And even if it doesn’t, I think Rebecca needs someone to finally call her out, or she’ll never get herself out of this rut.  

#ted lasso #theodore lasso #rebecca welton #It'd be a powerhouse scene #I also have many thoughts about Ted and Nate - and I don't think this would fit #but that's its own blog post #ted lasso spoilers

[shakesthewizard]

Hi please explain about fabianxadaine???

Okay since you asked so nicely here's the fucking thing about Fabadaine

First, some background info

Before we dive in, you should know a couple things. For one, I'm a firm bad kid polycule truther. You could truly pitch me any pairing/grouping of those kiddos and I could find a really ineresting and/or sweet dynamic to eat the drywall about

You should also know that I'm gonna most likely remember some details during this analysis - if you spot them, please let me know by putting them in a bottle and throwing them into the ocean.

Second, some character meta

Adaine O'Shaughnessey is a girl with a lot of courage. It's sort of her defining character trait. The idea of "a wizard with an anxiety disorder" brings to mind someone pretty timid, who's afraid of speaking their mind. But from her first appearance, we see clearly that to Adaine, her disorder is pretty explicitly medical. On her first day of freshman year, she's already talking back to her horrible parents and trying to stand up for herself. Long before she gets access to medication, her disorder hinders her the way an asthma attack might; it has no bearing on her willingness to do the courageous thing.

Relatedly, Adaine thrives under adversity. Not abuse or mistreatment, mind - what I mean is that she likes it when people push back at her a little, so that she has opportunities to test her ideas and opinions against dissent. Look at her dynamic with Aelwyn in season three. Those two bicker and banter; they poke at each other, but it's how they're expressing things like concern or pride.

You could argue, probably well, that this is a product of sisterhood, and a product of their history in particular. But I think there's more to it than that. We see throughout the show that Adaine is a person who cares about exceeding; about learning and growing and achieving great things. It's classic wizard.

Adaine is the child of the wealthy and the important, and that shapes everything about her. It influences her struggles; her abandonment issues in particular. But it also shapes her goals, her values, and her attitudes. She seeks recognition for her skills and her labor, and she wants the people she loves to challenge her so that she can grow and make them proud.

Fabian Seacaster is the son of a famous man and a natural talent. His showmanship is clear and evident from the first moments we see him, and it's reflected in his character build from the start. He's a Champion Fighter, after all.

This showmanship is, frankly, a testament to Lou Wilson's masterful understanding of characters. That single trait can be picked apart to help us understand everything about him.

Fabian is a showman because he was raised as the scion of an up-and-coming house; given every tool he needed to learn his parents' skills, and to prepare him to take the Seacaster name when the time comes.

Fabian is a showman because he believes wholeheartedly in his own greatness. His whole life, he's been surrounded by tutors whose whole job it has been to mold him into the perfect son, and they were paid enough to care about doing it right.

Fabian is a showman because he knows he's earned his own arrogance; wealth or not, pampered lifestyle or not, we see him scold his fencing teacher when he goes easy on him. Fabian isn't blinded by his privilege (or at least not entirely) - he genuinely cares about being the best, and he'll give up the luxury if it means greatness.

Fabian is a showman because he's deeply anxious. Bill and Hallariel clearly love their son, but being the only child of a world-famous pirate, tasked with being their emissary to Solace for future generations, is an unbelievable amount of pressure. Fabian has to be perfect to the world outside. He can't just be good; he can't just be great; he has to be Fabian Aramais Seacaster, Son of the Famous Bill Seacaster!

Fabian is a showman because he has to figure out who he is, somehow. Who is he, outside of his father? He certainly doesn't know, but suddenly he realizes he has to know, for his own sake. So he does what any kid does when they're trying to figure out their identity - they act out.

Finally, what I understand about Fabadaine that nobody else does

Fabian Seacaster and Adaine O'Shaughnessey are the children of the wealthy; the important. They're both second generation Solesians, sent out to represent their families. They're both ambitious people who are trying to achieve great things outside the expectations of their parents. They're both proud and straightforward, prioritizing their values over social niceties.

Adaine and Fabian both carry the swords of their dead fathers.

To put it simply - Fabian and Adaine are really good foils for each other, and I dislike when their dynamic is reduced to classic highschool boyfriend/girlfriend tropes.

As an example, a number of fics I've read have Fabian pursuing Adaine, and that simply doesn't hold up. Let's be honest here - Fabian has terrible taste in women, and has a bad track record of making the more self-destructive choice whenever romance is on the table. I have no doubt he likes Adaine, but he would also know that she'd hold him accountable and challenge him when he makes stupid choices. No, Adaine is the one initiating here.

The thing that really draws me to this pair is because both of them need and want to be challenged, but each of them has a different attitude towards challenging others, and it makes for an active dynamic that can evolve in a lot of interesting ways.

You know what, check back later. I need to write fic about this.

#dimension 20 #fantasy high #adaine o'shaughnessey #fabian seacaster #fabadine

[disfrutalakia]

If I was cool and smart I would analyze how Bad's and Forever's relationship got to the point where it is with the pranks, arguments and all that, but I'm not. So instead I will analyze Forever and how his mind might be working right now

Under the cut cause you guys know how much I like to talk <3

Ok so, it has been a bit since the whole happy pills arc happened already and now it's starting to become more and more clear how much it actually affected Forever.

Since he woke up from the coma it's very visible both from Forever's pov and other's how much quieter he is sometimes (yeah in meta it's cause the cc has a good mic now but hear me out) his laugh doesn't booms anymore, you can't hear it bouncing around the walls when he makes a joke, and his voice in general sounds a lot sadder and calmer nowadays, it was especially noticeable yesterday when he was giving Bagi the lore rundown, he sounded sad talking about those past times, simpler times where he was on Bagi's place and Bad was the one telling him about the lore.

But although the voice is the most obvious change on his behavior, I don't think it's the most impactful one, the biggest change I would say is how much he refuses to use totems now, yes he has around 3k totems on his backpack but since he woke up from that coma he just stopped holding one, cause he has no regard for his own safety anymore really. Forever is a playful person and he often hides what he is truly feeling and thinking when he is around other which is why I think this is so hard to notice sometimes, but it became obvious to me how little he cares about himself currently the day he was killing the magma cube at Mouse's room, he popped a lot of totems (probably more than 5) in a row, but his face didn't even move, he was focused on dealing with the immediate threat and when people asked how many totem he had he didn't even bother to answer, cause he doesn't care anymore. Another thing that made me notice this was him talking with Bagi awhile ago (truly can't remember when but it's recent) and telling her that someday she would "Miss the times when she could die" because he is often commenting how he feels too imortal right now. He also uses a lot of mines right now, without regard if they will harm himself or not, he had never used those things before Richas disappeared but now he does, he has around 700 stashed away on his backpack and if he feels the need for it, he will use it.

Now, Forever's pov has always been a bit lonely, yes he is extroverted but too many interactions tire him out and if he is hanging out with a group he usually sticks to those closest to him (the other brazilians, Baghera, Bad, Philza). But although he was always a bit lonely he was never truly alone, or at least not in the way he is now, he often will comment something about how he feels there isn't anyone that puts him first, that always stick to his side (Cellbit was the one closest to doing that but, Forever knows that in the end of the day, the person that Cellbit will always put first will be Roier), he has talked about how he had no idea that people worried about him while he was in the coma, he has no idea that Philza wanted to wake him up, that Bad, Pac and Cellbit would sit by his side and just talk to him sometimes, he doesn't know how much people care about him because he himself doesn't truly cares about himself right now, so why would others? He feels guilty for the pills, for how he treated others and thinks he deserved the way he was treated. Which is pretty sad to.

Forever feels broken now, he could see that Mike was messed up the moment he put his eyes on him and he was gentle about it, tried asking Mike about what happened, and when Mike talked about killing eggs he didn't panic, scream at him or anything, he tried to get information. He knows the feeling of not being himself and that's how he sees Mike right now, a broken man who is not himself because of trauma.

I've talked about it once or twice, but even if the happy pills arc is over the old Forever will never return, cause he doesn't exist anymore, he has been traumatized way too many times to come back.

Boy I feel like this doesn't make a lot of sense and yeah it's mostly me rambling cause I just have too many thoughts lmao but the main thing of this giant wall of text is:

Forever is fucked up, his mind is not in a good place and might not ever be again. He didn't come back wrong the way people like Mike did, but he definitely changed.

#qsmp #qsmp forever #literal wall of text <3 #character analysis #in a way

[unabashedly-so]

💙💜🩷 SDV Bachelor HC 🩷💜💙

How much has each bachelor explored their bisexuality?

Content warning: compulsive heteronormativity, loss of family, grief, risky sexual behavior mention, drinking mention. SFW.

✨The Bachelors✨

Elliott

look me in the eye and just try to tell me this man doesn't already know. i dare you i fuckin' dare you i WANT YOU TO

that line on the 10 heart boat scene about not knowing he could feel that way about another man is bullshit and that is a piece of canon I toss into the sea.

now please understand the majority of this is colored by my very vivid hc of Elliott's upbringing and young adult life, but you're literally reading a hc post that is labeled hc so you bought the ticket now board the train. choo choo mfs.

the low hanging fruit is that this is a man that canonically spends hours on hair care, dresses like that, talks like that, etc. etc.. Yes, you can be cishet etc. and do that, sure.

and don't get me wrong, it's valid that Elliott could just Be Like That. (I love and respect the hell out of that incorrect opinion)

but this man is penny-romance novel cover coded. just. think about that. think about this active CHOICE he is making.

ffs he lives on a BEACH and dresses in a THREE-PIECE SUIT with his PERFECTLY COIFFED hair that he has to spend HOURS on because that's what happens when you LIVE. ON. A. BEACH.

i am going to have an aneurysm about this man's life choices rn

he's arguably pretty self-secure*, which tracks because you don't get to be his age and not have some better understanding of yourself. As others have pointed out, there's no real ""growth"" in Elliott's arc because boy came whole because HE BEEN KNEW HE BEEN THROUGH THIS ALREADY. He's secure in his identity because he's worked it out already! He's moved on! focusing on his career and legacy now that he knows who is he and who he's not!!

*dont make me drag out the receipts his part is already long enough just trust me ok

now meet Elliott in his early 20's and wow, buddy, you are trying way too hard I promise you things are gonna be okay sweetheart

speaking of his early 20's, it's hc to me that he did, uhhhh, so much exploring. of everything. and everyone in the English and Theater department during university.

King Slut, long may he reign. 🙏

just. someone who's not as self-secure and self-aware would not be able to own the aesthetic PLUS the temperament we see with Elliott, who really only gets flustered with the intimate interpersonal stuff because he's a romantic and it's meaningful. He's confident in who he is and the kind of person he wants to be, and you don't get to that point in life without having done a lot of experimenting and soul-searching.

I could write a whole fucking meta on this boy, but for today: 9/10 he knows it, owns it, enjoys it, but he's got more interesting things going on in his opinion than to make one of his core personality traits just Gay/Queer/Bi/Pan, etc. He has an AESTHETIC and BI BY YOBA he's sticking to it.

also he can walk in heels better than you.

Harvey

Hmm, he's actually hard to get a read on for me. There's a few others in the fandom who might have a better take than me, but here's what I can offer.

first let's grant him that he's older. With age comes wisdom, experience, etc. the older bachelor/ettes are just going to be at an advantage vs the younger ones.

also... like 8 years in college. I cannot be swayed away from this as a crucial part of his journey.

twinkle TWINK-le little snack.

it just feels like one of those things he felt happening in high school and might have gotten bullied for it because everyone Knew but he couldn't/wouldn't just own it.

but then in college he finally realized that owning it would give him the power, so he did. kind of. very quietly.

he probably had a boyfriend or two in undergrad. They were definitely the kind to hold hands from the coffee shop to the library. you know the ones, we've all seen 'em. <3

and isn't he just so lucky that he can get butterflies from girls too?

a blessing and a burden for this man with anxiety because, oh no, now everyone's cute.

by the time he gets to Pelican town, his last relationship kind of ended on a sour note, so he's a little discouraged from pursuing romantic relationships, hence why he's a bit guarded and shy and nervous.

he gets a 8/10, he's just quiet about it because who's business is it but his own? also, like, he's literally the doctor for everyone. He's gotta keep some confidentiality in this small town.

Sebastian

while he doesn't show it, I'd say Sebastian is actually quite comfortable with being bi.

I mean like as comfortable as he can be around people in general.

He doesn't bring it up, and doesn't really let anyone know either, but again that's just kind of his MO, regardless of gender.

now when he's Together with someone, well that's a different story. we stan possessive Sebastian in this house 🫡

he probably wouldn't bring it up with the gang unless someone else brought it up first. 🤷‍♀️

would probably give some semi-defensive response of "yeah, what of it??" to his friends, but a low hearts farmer might get a coldly aggro "why are you asking? That's none of your business."

he and Maru Know about each other but keep those conversations private. hashtag just sibling things ig

has definitely kissed guys at concerts before. Lots of people can also provide a feeling of anonymity, letting him get lost in the crowd and not have to worry so much. 10/10

Shane

closeted sportsballer. As a former Closeted Sportsballer, I can see this going two ways.

First option: you DO NOT explore that unless you want things to get real weird REAL FAST.

Like, I'm not even talking locker room nonsense, let's be mature here. Even if you do not like your teammates, you WILL still share a Sports Bond with them built on a shared passion, a common goal, and lots of comiseration.

So if you're already on iffy social standing, which I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say Shane might have had... you're gonna have a bad time.

Then after his gridball career ended, it may have already been baked in that that was Dangerous. OR he could have just been so far down the path of self-loathing that he stopped looking at people romantically.

OR OR--part of his self-loathing actually opened him up to exploring his sexuality......

......which is a very nice way of saying he took part in a lot of risky sexual encounters. 😮‍💨 (with all genders! One night stands do not discriminate!)

so if there were any feelings involved, it was... not good or conducive to self-understanding. Probably made things worse.

cue the drinking! the depression! all the risky behaviors!

ALTERNATIVELY... Option two: he does explore Feelings For Dudes and it could have played into his sportsball exit. 🤔

Hi. Let me just reiterate personal experience here: LEAVING A TEAM CAN REALLY FUCK YOU UP depending on your life outside the sport. Sports teams are a social support group, like, I really hate the phrase "like family"... but literally structurally so similar. If you already don't have a strong family life outside of the sport (like Shane has admitted to, let's fuckin goooooo), AND being on a team is an overall positive thing in your life??

Leaving your team (willingly or unwillingly) takes away that social support. And not just the social/emotional support, but the structure to your life, the routine, the feeling of belonging, the PURPOSE!!!

gee, wonder what kind of feelings those can bring about in a person. like a sad chicken man.

are we seeing a trend here???????

Ok this definitely got more into a sportsball psychological study, but what I'm saying is my money's on gridball heavily influencing his trajectory but since he DIDN'T have the family or social supports outside of it, he crashed and burned afterwards. Contrast with Alex below who DID have social supports and--

focus, bisexuality.

Personally, I like the idea that Shane's been with dudes, but it's never been anything emotionally healthy (except maybe one pre-gridball-exodus which could have prompted the leave......🤔👀) or fulfilling.

5/10, would be 6 but he got -1 because it was driven by self-loathing. >:(

somebody come show him some mlm love!!!

Sam

baby boy. sweet baby boy.

the younger bachelor/ettes are at a bit of a disadvantage because they're in the time of their life where they would be exploring their sexualities in a conducive environment. Not to say the valley isn't but there's, uh, only 11 other singletons there and they all know each other sooooo...

that said, due to Kent's military career, it's likely Sam has had time living outside of Pelican Town, so may be a bit farther ahead than, say, Sebastian who's lived there his whole life.

speaking of Kent, it's canon that Daddy has been in and out of his life and tbf I don't remember exactly how Sam feels about that but

I'm JUST SAYIN'. baby boy gets a whiff of attention from some buff dude who wants to make him his baby girl?? melting.

you know the trope of how girls with absent fathers sometimes overcorrect for that and seek out male attention like crazy? well, who says boys are any different??

what I'm getting at is this: you're trying to tell me Sam has NEVER had a raging crush on Alex?????

I mean fr it was probably like. Alex told him "good choice" on his ice cream flavor once and it was all downhill from there.

plus I'm hoping he's got a solid enough friendship with Sebastian (and Abigail) that they could talk about these things without it getting weird.

also, singer/lead guitarist in a band?? come on, too easy.

anyway 5/10, once again a bit oblivious until he gets smacked in the face. Definitely a flavor of "haha no homo bro! :):) ...... unless...?? 👀"

Alex

closeted sportsballer, round 2 EXCEPT

he canonically admits he crushes real easy. so just statistically speaking, there's an equal likelihood that he's crushed on the male singletons of the valley, too. Which totally doesn't even take into consideration his gridballer time, which I'll get to in a second.

he also admits his crushes don't usually last very long. part of that probably has to do with a lot with attachment issues (seriously he should be more messed up than he is), but if gridball is just SDV American Football, there's probably a good deal of internalized homophobia Alex has had to either work through or not work through. hence why his not het crushes might not last long.

but confusing and conflicting as they may be, THEY'RE STILL THERE. just. probably presenting more like a "wow I'm really noticing this person a lot lately huh. I mean I guess they look pretty good and seem kind of cool..." he's completely and utterly oblivious to so much, his own feelings included.

so what I'm saying is there was a brief window of time where Alex unknowingly had a crush on Sam and, listen, under the right circumstances Sam/Alex (Smalex?) could have been canonized--don'T BOO ME, I'm RIGHT

as for gridball, compulsive heteronormativity is absolutely rampant so there's no way he could have felt comfortable exploring his interest in other gender(s). ESPECIALLY in his case where he's still kind of on the outside, trying to model himself to fit a certain kind of mold. Just, no chance, absolutely none.

and really, Idk, between him and Haley I'm starting to get real compulsive heteronormativity vibes now... not that they're mad about it, but they were kinda forced into those roles and, well, the shoes KIND OF fit I GUESS...

you might say it was ... they're kind of sh... shoeho--shoehorn--*shot*

Anyway, boy's represso. 2/10, if you called him bi he'd say wait why are you leaving , what did you want to tell me???

#bachelorettes will go up another day #gotta percolate some more #stardew valley #sdv #sdv bachelors #sdv headcanons #sdv Elliott #sdv alex #sdv sam #sdv sebastian #sdv shane #sdv harvey #bisexuality #unabashedly posting

[emoprincey]

Sanders Sides and autism

Ok, it's the last day of @autisticsidesweek today, and I figured this would be the perfect time to post this essay about how I think Sanders Sides relates to autism.

Headcanons about the Sides being autistic are pretty commonplace, which isn't surprising given how many autistic people there are in the fandom, and in fandoms in general, for that matter. As an autistic fander, I am of course partial to these headcanons. But that's not exactly what I want to address today.

Today, I want to talk about how the concept of Sanders Sides naturally lends itself to having autistic-coded characters, and how this coding is actually a fundamental part of the show.

Before I start, I think it's relevant to mention that Thomas has ADHD. This has a lot of symptoms in common with autism, and is probably a big reason why some of the Sides resonate so strongly with autistic people. However, I think there are other aspects of their characterisation that also make them unintentionally autistic-coded.

First of all, the characters have very clearly defined personality traits and interests. While autism can lead to someone having an unclear sense of self, it does come with a need to sort things into categories. An autistic person might define themself by specific traits, such as being creative or logical.

Additionally, the Sides' interests often seem like special interests - that is, an interest that feels more important than a regular interest, and I speak from experience when I say a special interest can consume every waking thought and make it impossible to think about anything else. This is most obvious with Virgil, whose interest in emo subculture and music informs not only his taste in music but his dress sense, and his personality. But this is also true of the other sides - Roman is not actually a prince, but he dresses as Prince Charming and always tries to act like a prince, Patton tries to fit the role of a dad, and Logan a teacher. All of them base their personalities and styles around one specific interest or trait, the way an autistic person might do with a subject they're interested in.

Even the fact that they wear the same clothes all the time ties in with this. Autistic people very often have comfort items, including clothing which they want to wear every day. From a meta perspective, their costumes obviously stay the same to make characters played by the same person more distinct, and because of wardrobe budget. But in-universe, these are characters who have the ability to shapeshift into whatever they want, and wear whatever they want, yet they always choose to stick to the same outfits.

Secondly, the characters in Sanders Sides have difficulty seeing things from anyone else's point if view. This is an integral part of the series, and many of the plots revolve around the Sides struggling to understand each other’s perspectives. Logan and Roman notably get into a lot of arguments as a result of not understanding each others perspectives. Low empathy or varying empathy levels in different areas can be a trait of autism, which is part of the reason autistic people find it hard to relate to others, and I think this is present in Sanders Sides.

I've already mentioned how autistic people often group things into categories. This can also come across in a very black-and-white way of thinking about things. From personal experience, I'd describe this as only seeing things one way or another - for example, finding it difficult to compromise, or accept that people can do both good and bad things without being sorted into the categories of Good and Bad. This isn't the case for all autistic people, but both of these examples are particularly relevant to Sanders Sides. The whole idea of the light side/dark side dichotomy is a pretty straightforward example of this kind of thinking.

Patton in particular has a very black-and-white way of thinking about morality, and inability to see things from a perspective other than his own. Another thing linked to autism is a strong sense of justice - or at least, a strong sense of perceived justice. This means that autistic people tend to cling to the morals they've been taught, (whether that is because of the black-and-white thinking, or finding comfort in clearly defined rules in a world where little else seems to make sense, or a combination of the two). This is exactly what Patton does. He also struggles to see how the moral standards he's been taught could possibly be wrong.

It would be remiss of me to write an essay about autism-coding in Sanders Sides and not dedicate a section to Logan specifically.

Logan has a lot of more well-known autistic traits. He likes schedules and punctuality, meeting deadlines and making sure all of his time is planned. A lot of autistic people struggle to function without a rigid schedule and don't like changes to plans.

He also has a tendency to take things literally. This is shown by his panicked reaction of "who gave him a knife?" to Virgil’s "can I take a stab?". He always clarifies when he means something figuratively, because he would need the clarification if someone was talking to him. Idioms and slang phrases don't come naturally to him, so he uses note cards to help himself remember them.

He's very single-minded and struggles to see things from other's perspectives. Although he makes a clear effort to try, it does take conscious effort that it probably wouldn't take an allistic person. When discussing schedules with Roman, he doesn't see anything wrong with only leaving 5 minutes for creativity, because that's not his domain.

Difficulty connecting to or identifying one's own emotions can also be a trait of autism. Logan states frequently that he doesn't have emotions, or doesn't feel anything. That is honestly what autism can feel like sometimes. Even if the emotions are there, it can be really difficult to tell the difference between sadness and anger, feeling tired or frustrated or just hungry. This reminds me of Logan because even though he's clearly been angry and excited and scared on screen, he still insists that he doesn't feel those emotions.

This is all to say, I think the fact that the sides base their lives on specific interests, generally have difficulty empathising with each other, and other aspects of their characterisation make them unintentionally autistic-coded. This format of show especially lends itself to that because of the characters personifying abstract concepts and having very distinct designs.

#sanders sides #virgil sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #the dark sides aren't rlly mentioned that much so i won't tag them #sanders sides analysis #autisticsidesweek2023 #i could maybe elaborate or word things better in future. im tired but i wanted to get this out today

[justatalkingface]

The 'Great' MHA Read Along, Part Three (Chapters 8-11): "Support" Gear and Dodging Death.

Well. You asked for this, so I deliver; upon your head be it.

So. We start off with talking about costumes... actually pretty interesting, though, with companies doing these costumes, I'm kind of surprised there's not brand names on them; All Might, Brought To You By Sony, or something. I guess that was a level of realism Hori wasn't prepared to deal with.... (Note Bakugou's costume comments; 'kill with my knees'?) but then we get to Izuku. And I can't help but feel jipped by this, in a couple of ways. Izuku ends up looking... well, like his mom made his costume, a sore, underdressed thumb compared to all the professionally dressed heroes... and he's also the only one whose face is entirely covered for some reason?

On the other hand, though, it is a nice touching scene, the family reconnecting, Inko admitting her mistakes and that she'll support Izuku.... but couldn't it have been done differently? As is, it feels like Inko is being used as a blatant emotional tool to make Izuku different, and that's rough since her character is barely existent in the first place, and quickly fades away into oblivion as time passes. In the same way that Izuku is the only one who can't actually use his Quirk, the same way he's the only one who is so completely unprepared for UA, he's now the only one who who doesn't actually have a proper costume.

I mean, I get it; on one hand, it's symbolic, and the way he eventually updates it shows his evolution as a hero. But at the same time, I've already made it clear what I think of Izuku starting off so behind, so I don't actually like that symbolism, and even if I was, the narrative feels like it's going a little too hard on the 'he doesn't belong' thing at this point. First time around, I was fine with how Izuku was, and even now my dislike of the starting situation is more on a meta scale than anything, despite the bad logic behind it, because it's written in so engagingly, but I never once liked the costume thing.

There's also the question of why she's OK with Izuku going to UA with either, A, no Quirk that she knows of, or B, a Quirk he just... randomly got, somehow, while applying? When, according to a literal doctor (Dr. Diabolus Ex Machina himself; is the fact that AFO's most loyal minion apparently was Izuku's doctor going to be relevent at some point or...?), that was never going to happen? Ever?

There's... there's a lot of questions she should be asking, here, and as far as we can tell, that just never happens. This whole dynamic here, there was all sorts of room to play with it, expand it, develop Inko as a character and Izuku's background more (and look at the fact that she found out her son was Quirkless and... got fat? Because she handled that guilt badly? The way they talk is like they never talked about Inko saying he couldn't be a hero until just then. Did they... did they really just never ever talk about this again until just now? The more you think about all, the more things don't make sense) and Hori didn't just drop the ball with this, he spiked it into the ground rather than use it.

I'm... sort of grudgingly OK with All Might being a not great teacher here, but not really. I mean, it's still in line with how his brain got ripped out of his head after Arc One, which at this point is something I have a well established history of being... not well pleased about, but it'd track that he wouldn't know how to train students in basic heroism, unlike exercising....

But that leads back to the question of, 'Then why is he a teacher if he can't teach?' Him doing something he explicitly has no idea how to do makes no sense. It's super double dumb though since, again, this is All Might's precious powered-time, and he's using it to... not just to teach kids when he could be saving lives, but teach kids badly, and again, that's stupid, and everyone involved, including Nezu, Super Genius, should realize this.

God, he's so badly shoe-horned into all this I'm actually wondering if he was supposed to die in Arc One and pass on his Quirk to Izuku that way, and him being in at all is Hori changing that plan at the last minute.

So, before I start on Bakugou vs Izuku... let's pause it here so I can go on a tangent: Bakugou's support gear.

There's several problems with it as an in-setting item, all focused around a simple fact: they're not there for 'support', they're weapons. Fundamentally, Bakugou's Gauntlets are just... giant explosive cannons, just like the literal grenades he gets, or the edgy machine guns in late story. No other hero's support gear we see are like that, pure weapons based only around harming others (I remember later, a Random Civilian gets his hand on support gear, I think from Detnerat gear, and that's a weapon, but A, that's from Detnerat, and so made to bring society to its knees, literally, and two, the entire point of that little scene was to show how stupid and helpless civilians are, and how they should dare get above themselves and try to defend themselves (which is clearly set up to support sheep narrative of civilians Hri loves to pull, while also making it make less sense since, if civilians doing anything backfires that badly, then yeah, maybe they're right to do literally nothing so they can't fuck it up) and so I am far from giving it the benefit of the doubt.)

I know later, Bakugou take one off and Izuku uses it, and so they're just... literally giant explosive guns, literally just a pair of guns he has strapped to his arms. Everyone else has gear that supports their Quirks, even Snipe with his actual gun (which enhances his Quirk, which is dependant on a projectile), while Bakugou alone has something that replaces it.

Thematically, that's weird and has bad vibes. On a more practical level, someone, somewhere, must have approved this thing, looked at this design with the more or less literal description of 'giant bomb', and said, 'Yeah, this is OK, let's do it'. This basiclly has no purpose other than to kill people or to cause massive property damage; there's no... safe mode, no limiting, it's just point and FIRE EVERYTHING!!! Why? Why did they just hand it to him? (And, as a side note, how was it full enough to use when Bakugou had just got it? There's no way he sweat enough to fill that thing; otherwise he would have collapsed from dehydration.)

So. Yeah. I have problems with that. And now the fight, and I find this fact distinctive:

Bakugou starts off this fight by proclaiming he's going to use this to beat up Izuku. I'm going to be honest here; if I was a teacher? I would absolutely respond to that, somehow, even if it's simple as, 'Bakugou, no, also now I'm watching you'. It's not exactly a reach to call that an obvious red flag.

(Side note; 'Rage You Damn Nerd' or 'Ferocity of a Fucking Nerd'? Really? What the hell is this chapter title.)

Flashback: Bakugou, as a kid, saying to murder those villains. God, really? Was nobody ever concerned about that?

And then Izuku counters Bakugou, and he just... loses it. Completely. Because of course; how dare Izuku fight back! How dare he resist Bakugou's righteous anger?!

And yet another reminder of the cringy fact that Bakugou was first place, despite the fact it's against his narrative set up of being the little fish, just because of how much Hori hypes him up.

Bakugou: I've been torturing you for all these years, and you've been sitting back and taking it. Clearly, you've been hiding your Quirk all this time, just so you could laugh at me!

Me: ????

Holy fuck, the ego on that comment. I've heard about 'everything being about you', but this is nuts.

Izuku builds up courage to face his fears/bully, and meanwhile Bakugou flashes back to how useless everyone else is, and how great he is, and how dare Izuku stand up to him, when he gave him the perfect name to describe how worthless he is? How dare he try to rescue him that one time when they were kids?! How dare he have concern?!?!?!

*leans back in chair*

Hoolyyy fuck, Bakugou, that is a lot of clusterfuck in such a small, three page sequence.

'Ah, Iida. What a wholesome palate cleanser', I think, more or less in lockstep with Uraraka. I love how his big plan is literally cleaning; I mean, I get the logic, but still.

Alas. All good things end.

So, for a lot of people, the big, defining moment of Bakugou's story and how bad they think he is is Chapter One and the suicide baiting. That's obviously shit, but to me, this is the big moment, the, if you pardon the drama (I can't think of a way to phrase it better), the 'original sin' of MHA as a whole: Bakugou tries to kill someone, and absolutely nothing happens.

This isn't an exaggeration, BTW; let me lay out the scene here:

Bakugou is armed with, as I said before, an insanely aggressive weapon, one that has no purpose other than to kill people or destroy things. He is given this weapon with, apparently, absolutely no comments about being careful with it, not to harm someone with it, or anything, and then takes it into an exercise with his classmates.

This exercise takes place in a building, one that can easily be damaged by the blast of that thing. As this is a multi-story building, even a blast not aimed at someone could easily get someone killed if part of the building collapses on top of them.

Bakugou takes this weapon, and he aims it at a human being. To top it off, All Might, who by all means should be an authority in, 'Yeah, this could definitely kill someone', explicitly tells him that, 'No, you'll kill him!' before he fires.

Bakugou's response? 'He'll be fine if he dodges!"

And then he fires.

And the fact that, not only does this happen at all, but this fight continues afterwords, is inexcusable. Blatantly, obviously, inexcusable. This is, unironically, Bakugou attempting to kill someone.

On tape, no less!

I mean, hell, with this one chapter, we have the means (the gauntlet), the motive (Izuku's... existence? The fact that he dares to stand against Bakugou?), and the opportunity (this entire exercise), along with witnesses watching him do it in real time. If this had hit Izuku, the trial against Bakugou would have been a cakewalk.

And the thing is? Everything before this, everything, is something that could be excused. Granted, it would strain the suspension of belief to the breaking point at times, but everyone could be that stupid and/or that biased, in theory.

But this? There is absolutely no way that this could happen, and be acceptable in the logic of this story. I don't care if All Might is literally missing his brain, I don't care if Aizawa just.... hates Izuku with a deep and unexplainable loathing (BTW, I think I forgot to mention last time that Aizawa sabotaged Izuku's scores? Well, considering how Izuku with his super toss was in a contest against a girl that only is invisible, there's no way he was in last place, so... yeah. Aizawa sabotaged him). Forget their heroic instincts, forget all of that; if they let this happen, everyone involved with this would have their lives destroyed. They can't cover it up, because at some point, Inko is really going to wonder, 'Hey, where is my kid at?' and the second she asks that everything crumbles.

That, and why would they try to cover it up? Bakugou's character is, in many ways, the cliche of the sports star from a small school, who the entire school, if not the town, bends over backwards to keep him in that position (which, ironically, never would have helped Aldera that much, because Bakugou, as is, would never give them credit, respect, or money. Bakugou, if he improved enough to give them that? Would give them shit for what they let him do instead. That plan was doomed from the start). The thing is? That tolerance only goes so far; sure, he can bully the nerd all day long, and hell, he can beat him half-to-literal-death if there's no one there of importance to serve as witness, but this? This isn't just attacking the nerd. This is chasing him in a car. And, when the nerd escapes into the school? The jock then drives into the school, and only stops when the car itself gets jammed in a wall.

There's a point, in other words, where all that tolerance ends. This is waay past that point.

That, and the fact that UA isn't a small school, with a sports department propped up by their one good athlete; UA is the school that athlete wants to go to. To UA, Bakugou the metaphorical athlete is completely replaceable; how many students were trying to get in again?

And all of that? All of that is assuming that every single one of them is, in fact, the absolute worse, trash, shallow self-serving shit versions of them possible, instead of being heroes, in a school for heroes, for whom there should be standards all over the place.

So the fact that he fires this shot, and that the flash-stepping All Might doesn't just bitch slap him out of it beforehand, or at least make it clear if he does his heroic life is over, and then afterwards he allows this fight to continue, and then after that, there's barely even a harsh word said in response to this, by anyone, much less any sort of consequences for it, school based or otherwise, shatters my SOD into dust.

The logic and foundation of this setting can not support this sequence of events. So... why? Why did this happen? Why was this allowed to happen?

Bakugou. The completely irrational, completely assholish Bakugou, who would do this, because this falls in line with his behavior from what we've seen of him thus far... if he was held to account for this? Given consequences, realistic consequences, for his realistically horrific behavior? He'd be gone, at least. Out of UA, out of Izuku's life (if only), and out of the story.

But... for whatever reason, even before all the polls came in (I think), Hori just wanted Bakugou to stay in the story. Why? Maybe there was a more proper redemption arc in the works. Maybe it was always going to be like it was now. Maybe Hori just likes Bakugou. Who knows?

The point is Bakugou, The Living Idiot Ball, is born into the story at this moment, a character who makes everyone around him their impossibly worse selves. His behavior will improve, somewhat, but the behavior of those around him won't.

Well, thankfully, the building doesn't collapse on all of them after that (thought maybe it should have? I'm not an expert, but that is a big hole there)... and here's something else that bothers me.

I can't understand All Might's motivation here for not stopping the match, as in I'm looking at his stated motivation for that, and it doesn't make sense.

In his head, he's talking about this will fuel Izuku's growth, basiclly. And, maybe it does, but that's not the problem here. The problem is Izuku could die, and is getting some serious injuries as Bakugou beats the living shit out of him; it's not worth all of that for some extra growth now, when he still has his entire school life to improve. And sure, we know that, in a meta sense, this is A, prep for the villains soon to show up, and that, B, Izuku does not, in fact, have his entire school life to get better. But All Might doesn't know that; All Might doesn't have any reason to think AFO is still alive, much less masterminding an attack. So... why the rush?

Before, he was rushing Izuku's training, but there was a concrete reason: Izuku needed to get into U.A. Well... mission accomplished; he's in. So why the push?

To give a somewhat in character reason, I guess, to try and excuse Bakugou, The Living Idiot Ball.

Meanwhile, all the characters can't stop talking up about how great a fighter Bakugou is, because it's not enough to excuse him from a murder attempt, apparently everyone needs to make sure the audience knows about how much of a 'beast' Bakugou is!

And, all of this, while Bakugou has this crazed sounding rant about how Izuku is 'looking down' on him, when until five seconds ago he thought he was beneath your boot. Even while they're fighting, Izuku can't help but talk up the person who single handedly ruined his entire life.

*sighs for forever*

Anyways, Izuku barely claims a win with teamwork, determination, and the magically ability to remember what his objective is!

(cue funny little omake where Mt Lady breaks her office with puns)

And... the last chapter of this arc: 'Bakugou's Starting Line'. Ugh.

Anyways, Bakugou beats Izuku half to death, but he loses. He loses, and has a mental break down because of that, and All Might is remarkably fine with this whole situation.

Then, Momo proves that she's smart and on top of things (enjoy that while it lasts), the other fights happen, which... brutally honest, I can't care much about, beyond Todoroki proving that, suprise suprise, he's actually the big fish in the 1A lake (enjoy that while it lasts as well! The nerfs are coming for everyone not named Bakugou or Izuku), which is yet more mental damage on Bakugou's oh so sensitive ego.

Izuku, unsurprisingly, ends up needing to be put back together after all that, and Recovery Girl has a rare positive portrayal where she says that Izuku getting beat to hell and back is, in fact, bad, which All Might agrees with like a sheepish child rather than an adult who has carried massive responsibilities for years now and who, need I remind you all, was not too long ago competent and did in fact avoid letting Izuku be permanently harmed... you know, the good old days.

Anyways, everyone is impressed by Izuku, cool, cool, and then... Izuku shits on it by telling Bakugou, 'This isn't my Quirk!', thus locking in his participation in late story stuff forever.

And again... why? Why does he feel responsible for this? Why does he need to make sure he's not... accidently, tricking Bakugou by letting him be an idiot and think he was just... holding back his entire life, and instead all but blows a secret of nigh incalculable value. To his bully. Because his bully felt bad.

*resists the urge to scream into my desk*

And, for a second time this sequence... why? Why would he do that? Why is he simping so damn hard for him?

*spreads hands*

Bakugou, The Living Idiot Ball, whom proximity to drives idiotic and irrational behavior into all.

And then Bakugou has tears in his eyes as he realizes he's not the top dog, and we're apparently supposed to feel sorry for him, and then All Might shows up, burning more of his precious time to talk to Bakugou, not long after his murder attempt, and rather than trying to... chastise him or anything, he rushes to tell Bakugou to cheer up!

I don't know about you, but if I could only give Bakugou one piece of advice, it would definitely be, 'protect your ego!'

Then Izuku affirms to the audience that Bakugou is still the standard he's chasing after, just in case we didn't get the message that Bakugou is the best, because Hori wants to make that very clear in our minds.

Finally: villians. ...Why is the mindless Nomu in the bar?

#bnha critical #mha critical #The 'Great' MHA Read Along #bakugou critical #izuku deserves better #bakugou the living idiot ball #the arc the SOD breaks and never quite recovers #i have no idea what i'm doing #what the fuck did i just bring upon this cursed land

[chireikiden]

Do you think there's any reason for Hecatia being one of the strongest characters in the series? Someone from a religion that isn't believed in anymore being powerful, doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the series. If someone from a dead religion showed up in Touhou, the first question should be how they're even still alive.

I'm sure you could reverse-engineer some headcanon excuses, but my personal guess is that rather than any particular in-universe justification, once ZUN decided that he wanted to have a powerful, "independent" Hell goddess (outside the Ministry's hierarchy), it wasn't a long leap - if a leap at all - to "Okay, so let's make her more powerful than the Ministry".

I mean, I don't know what led him to go for specifically Hecate/Hecatia in the first place, so we don't really have any first principles to start from.

She didn't have to be especially powerful just to be an independent Hell goddess; could've just been someone from the middle or bottom of the pecking order. But the story of LoLK is about her and Junko clowning on the Moon, so the tone is pretty different depending on whether she's super powerful or some scrappy underdog (and DDC had just come out). I'm sure that like any other writer, a lot of the time ZUN just does things because the end result is what he wants, rather than every step following naturally from the previous one. Or hecc, maybe the only Greek goddess in the series just had some exotic prestige in his eyes that Japanese gods don't, I don't know.

If you really get into some weird... comparative mythology, you could make a decent argument for Hecate the pre-Olympian titan-killer (cherrypicking the best of all versions, as one does) to be more powerful than most of the gods we see in Touhou, but cross-mythological power level debates are probably even less fruitful than Touhou ones. The very question of characters that in human belief predate humanity and how they might come into being "retroactively", and what that actually means for their backstories or power levels, is a whole swamp I'm not gonna wade into. (This may include some Lunarians, but it's hard to say which - humans just kinda appear unannounced in Japanese mythology. In the Kojiki, they already seem to exist by the time of Izanami's death.)

Somehow the matter of fading faith and belief has never come up in relation to any characters outside Earth and Gensokyo, that I can remember. I can easily imagine that the afterlife itself and maybe the oni there still have enough belief in the present day for it to not be a problem, or that ZUN as the writer simply has other things to talk about whenever those characters appear. But whether the otherworlders are actually protected somehow or ZUN just doesn't bring it up, faith or lack thereof has never seemed relevant there on a meta level.

#ask #anonymous #hecatia lapislazuli #general disc.

[sylvestris123]

Gabriel and Beelzebub's relationship was neither surprising nor rushed

I read an early review of GO2 where the reviewer thought that Gabriel and Beelzebub's relationship was surprising and a bit rushed. I don’t think it was, and this is why.

First,  what are the chances that a second angel and demon should fall in love? I think that the answer is ‘quite high'.

Demons, as fallen angels, have been cast away from God’s love. But a lot of demonic behaviour can be explained in the same way that a toddler, having been scolded by a parent, decides that they hate mummy and her stupid hair and her stupid shoes and all the stupid stuff that she cares for, but then desperately crave her love anyway. An angel showing a bit of affection for a demon is likely to fill that craving and provoke a strong positive reaction.

Angels, living in God’s love, should not have the same craving. But we see that something is not quite right in the Good Omens Heaven. I can’t be the only person getting a little stab in the feels when Gabriel was quite overcome and confessed to Beelzebub that nobody had ever given him anything before. (And this is full-fat total dickhead Gabriel, not sweet innocent Jim). It seems that either God's love alone is not enough to sustain an angel in Heaven, or maybe it has gone missing...

(This is a subject for a whole other meta, so we’ll leave it there for now).

So apparently angels are also starved of affection, and a simple kind gesture will provoke a strong positive reaction.

So action and reaction will feed off each other and you’ll see a strong mutual attachment develop.

In fact, my personal head canon is that both angels and demons in general would be quite inclined to form strong attachments if they were to speak to each other rather than smiting first.

As an aside, do angels and demons form relationships with their own kind? Canon neither confirms nor denies this. I think in some ways it might be more difficult to initiate because in both cases there are unspoken rules ‘this is how we do things'. In Heaven everything is supposed to be perfect, so who is going to risk confessing that it is not enough? In Hell the vibe is ‘we don’t need all that stuff’, so who is going to admit that they do?

An angel and demon talking together already crosses one line, and then you are in uncharted territory, and it may actually be easier to continue into the unknown.

So the relationship that develops between Gabriel and Beelzebub is not surprising, once they met and started to speak.

What about the timing? Actually I don’t think that there is so much difference in how long it took both pairs to form a relationship  - Aziraphale and Crowley certainly didn’t behave like enemies even very early on. There is (neither confirmed nor denied) canonical evidence that Aziraphale was at least a bit smitten by Angel!Crowley before the Fall, and Crowley was pretty taken with Aziraphale on the walls of Eden.

So compared with our favourite angel/demon pair, Gabriel and Beelzebub’s relationship probably took quite a similar trajectory.

The only difference (and it is a huge one) is how long it took each pair to *admit* to having feelings for each other, and that can be explained by their psychological makeup.

Aziraphale is desperate to be a good angel, to do what is right according to God and Heaven (without necessarily noticing that those two things are not always the same). He is also fiercely protective of Crowley, and doesn’t want to do anything that will result in punishment for the demon. Crowley, for his part, wants to protect Aziraphale from what he can see are the cruelties of both Heaven and Hell.

The Archangel Fucking Gabriel on the other hand, knows that he is right. If he does it or feels it, by definition it must be the right thing to do. Start Armageddon leading to the destruction of the Earth and a terrible war between Heaven and Hell? Sure! Total U-turn as soon as it’s in his interest? Of course! Must be right, if Archangel Gabriel says so. Falling holds no fear either for him or for Beelzebub on his behalf. He won’t be punished by Hell, when the most senior demon is there to protect him. He’s also been in Heaven for long enough to know its weaknesses and flaws, even if he would never admit them. Beelzebub has nothing to fear either – they are both senior enough for punishment by either side to be less of a threat than it is to either Aziraphale or Crowley.

Plus, finally, neither of them cares particularly about the Earth or its people, so they have no feelings of guilt about running away from their jobs and abandoning all of their responsibilities.

So I would summarise by saying that I don’t think the relationship between Gabriel and Beelzebub was any more rushed in its development than that between Aziraphale and Crowley, but they got to acknowledge and act on it a good deal faster, because they are both inherently more selfish individuals, as well as being a lot more senior in their respective hierarchies.

#good omens #good omens 2 #crowley #aziraphale #gabriel #beelzebub #good omens meta #terry pratchett #neil gaiman #gabriel x beelzebub #aziraphale x crowley #crowley x aziraphale #beelzebub x gabriel

[hikennosabo]

#tristampparty day 8, episode 8: our home

okay i was very busy (read: distracted) today so i'm posting this late but LET'S GOOOO

let's start out with some psychic damage targeting me personally 👍 my heart hurts so much already

thinking about how both young vash and nai relate to food... they have opposite needs, but it must be an isolating experience for both of them. nai is different from vash and rem, vash is different from nai and other plants... they're both in between humans and plants without really belonging to either.

nai specifically, though... he doesn't seem happy that rem made him food, but it might be equally isolating if he was the only one who didn't get served food... so it's awkward either way. rem did the best she could.

what if i died right now

the geranium on the table... is it... i wonder... if rem put it there for tesla...

LOOK AT HIM HES SO HAPPY AND HE LOVES HIS MOM SO MUCH :((((((((

i don't know what it is but something about the footprints is getting to me, man. the way that nai's go on ahead of vash...

is it the composition maybe. nai's footprints leading down to the bottom of the frame... down... fallen angel... etc etc am i just making things up- no i'm right. i'm right.

brad is the one who noticed vash... even though he acted pretty hostile to him for a while after... he's the one who saved him... i wonder if that's some of the reason for his hostility? like if vash did turn out to be dangerous brad would have been the one responsible... idk

also brad is voiced by junichi suwabe my beloved

this has gotta be an orange original, right? we never learn how plants are made in the manga...

"sinners"... i've heard that word before... wait a sec...

here!! the EoM broadcast right at the start of episode 5!! what does it mean...

why would scientists call themselves Sinners, as like a formal(?) group name(??) is it because they know they're playing god by studying plants? i wonder about the radio program, too. here it could simply be referring to humanity as a whole, but then why the capital S? conrad is the one who ties this all together... the "team leader," huh...

"plant research," huh...

(insert "she should've been at the club" joke here)

much to think about. lying about nai being dead yes but. not the only thing he's keeping from them. "just one" more independent?

brad is so mean sometimes, lol... tbh i think they really nailed his personality. his role in the story and his relationship with vash are both very different than in the manga but he's still recognizably brad, and i think that's cool. it shows orange really understands the core of his character.

it's probably natural that this is the first question she asks, but it's also kind of mean... not on purpose ofc, but it probably hurts a lot for him to be asked that, especially now...

also vash isn't eating again. his unhealthy relationship with food... not eating as a form of self-harm... when we got reminded just at the beginning of this episode that it's something he needs to do. i remember reading a meta post a while back about his relationship with food but idk if i have it in me to try and find it right now...

once again glad i can watch this in hd so i can notice that vash covers his ears when luida says this hahahahahaha (<- in pain)

we see the one on the left the most so we need to look at the other family photos for a second. they're so cute what the heck... rem's big smile in the bottom right one... and i see both vash and nai are right-handed... *jots that down*

wasn't there a theory post about vash's number tally on the walls. i don't remember what it said.

she asked "who did this" so she knew it wasn't something like a computer error. Did She Know.

ohhh sister i'm so sorry but no they will not be

this is such a blink-and-you-miss-it, but brad shielding vash from this guy is really sweet. because as we've seen the other residents of the ship haven't exactly been nice to vash. brad's been mean too but he's just... a tsundere, really.

sorry this post lacks substance, there is probably a lot more to say but my brain just isn't working at full capacity and i need to go to bed

mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah. up until now the only clear, non-obstructed shots of nai's face were from when he was a little kid. he's still young here, and the shot itself is pretty dark, but here he is... the boy...

next episode is going to kill me dead! goodnight

#tristampparty #trigun talk #june speaks #don't get distracted by vtuber nonsense challenge failed

[beebopboom]

Hey friends!! I’ve got some updates and changes coming your way

Actually let me just start with this, in case you don’t want to read the rest as it gets personal, and it’s that I made a second page here, @boppinbee that is going to be for more personal/random/important things to me. Nothing is posted there yet but yknow there will be.

but anyway back to what I was saying

I haven’t been posting as much.

I’ve had a lot of change come my way in my personal life this past month, emotionally and just my routine in general, so it’s made being here difficult as much as I love it - if that makes sense. Things are settling back down and I’m getting used to everything again - including getting back into Good Omens, not that I ever lost my love for it just yknow got very suddenly pulled out of my hyperfixation on it by real life.

It’s been very weird to have my brain silent but those cogs have started turning again.

Interacting with you guys(gn)!!

I do so love interacting with you guys(gn) whether through reblogs, the comments, or messages but I’m not the best at it. I’m a painfully awkward person that has trouble with tone and will think I’m bothering you. But that’s my problem and I have gotten a little better. It can also be overwhelming because you guys(gn) are so nice?? and I still get baffled even though it’s been months. Also just figuring out what to say can be difficult cause I got at least 7 different responses loaded up.

but all this to say that i’m working on it and im very sorry for poor replying and not being the one to reach out first

This new page

so I made a second one to be a lot more loose with what I post. I understand that this page has pretty much only posted about Good Omens and I don’t just want to spring other content on you more than I already have. So all the personal post will move over there - the random shit I want to say, the important things to me, other fandom content - just all that fun stuff

Mainly I just have a very big need to have things organized

the future of this page

this page isn’t going anywhere. Still plenty of metas floating around in the drafts(no the meta has not “dried up”) and i’m still going to gush about this show on the regular - I just love them so much.

To be honest things happening in this fandom has been pretty overwhelming on top of everything else so i’ve kinda taken a step back and been hiding on my following tab when I have gotten on which hasn’t been that often. I’ve taken to just re-enjoying the book and show for the moment (and looking for that damn picture I can’t find)

This page is still largely going to be Good Omens some other fandom content might make its way on here though and I am taking a dabble in writing fanfic - don’t know what is going to come of it but yknow thought i’d try.

I also have a backlog of things to reply to - I promise i’m not ignoring - and a whole lot of things to go spam like/reblog so things to look forward to

but yeah - just a look inside my brain and an update on all that is happening :)

#just a little update on life

[lunarriviera]

why Du Cheng can't hold a grudge: a little  猎罪图鉴 | Under the Skin meta

When Shen Yi first joins the Beijiang City precinct, Du Cheng can't stand him. Not only is he still pissed off about Tragic Backstory, but he doesn't believe a sketch artist can hold any real value, especially not in our era of policing via surveillance. In another drama, he might have continued to nurse his animosity for the duration of the season. But there's one moment very early on which expresses Du Cheng's whole character so succinctly that you know he'll very soon give it up, and quite quickly succumb to Shen Yi's charms usefulness.

First, though, he stomps into Bureau Chief Zhang's office pitching a fit about Shen Yi, of all people, occupying the late Captain Lei's office. But Zhang-ju is not a woman to be messed with. She promptly calls his bluff.

Du Cheng, still hacked off, doubles down. He throws his badge on her desk. Fine! Fuck being a cop! He'll deliver pizzas! Anything, not to have to work with THAT VERY PRETTY GUY.

But then Jiang Feng comes to the door to announce that a body's dropped. Try to sound a little less thrilled, please, Jiang Feng.

A murder you say??? This is Du Cheng catnip. Can he hold out?

Look at his big dumb head swiveling around helplessly, like someone's just announced there's free cake in the break room.

Zhang-ju is canny as fuck, though. She looks down at his badge and idly wonders aloud who's going to catch this one. No idea really. Who could it possibly be.

At this point, Du Cheng has managed not to be a police officer for a whole fifteen seconds.

UGH FINE GIVE ME MY BADGE BACK YOU WIN. But Zhang-ju has not finished winning.

(This woman is a mother of four or I will eat my laptop.)

Du Cheng has to pretend to think about this for another whole three seconds or so.

UGH FINE JUST GIVE IT BACK I'LL TAKE HIM WITH ME OKAY? OKAY???

(And then they proceed to drive off without him anyway, so that our little hero must ride to the crime scene alone on his bicycle. But the ways in which Shen Yi returns everyone's cold shoulder with this kind of serene tai-chi-like nonresistance is another meta entirely.)

All of this underscores two things: 1) Du Cheng's compulsive need to clear cases himself, and 2) his imminent practicality about so doing. When it turns out that Shen Yi is actually incredibly useful, Du Cheng stows his shit with remarkable rapidity and they do an enemies-to-friends speedrun in like three episodes, because nothing else matters to Du Cheng like solving crimes. It's truly the way to his heart. And when Shen Yi gets captured by Cai Dong in episode 3, what does Du Cheng say? "He's got one of our own." It's not just blind loyalty to the force; Shen Yi has already proven to Du Cheng that he really is a cop.

(And, ACAB; and China suffers from massive police corruption. So this procedural, like all the others, isn't reality, isn't a valorization of police work, but is probably some secret third thing.)

#under the skin #猎罪图鉴 #du cheng #shen yi #jin shijia #tan jianci #cdrama meta #cdramas #meta

[ao3cassandraic]

Crowley the Maker, God the Wrecker, Part 1

I've been thinking about do be do be do since I first posted it. It's big. It's woolly. It's got a lot of parts. I can't get a handle on it, entirely.

But there's one piece I think I'm on firm ground with, so let's have a look at it.

By your leave, I will preface with a personal story: My former niche in librarianship was running a sort of then-new online library service with a strong change agenda that (it turned out) nobody really wanted. I did the marketing, I did the schmoozing, I did the service-model and software revisions (as best I could, anyway; I'm not a developer) to make the service more inviting, I proposed endless ways to make the service better, or have it serve additional constituencies, or leverage some of my other skills in service to the service's avowed mission... none of it took.

I wasn't supposed to actually do anything, much less change anything (it turned out). I was supposed to sit there quietly and make an incredibly backward, set-in-its-ways library look all shiny and innovative via nothing but my existence on its payroll.

And the sheer pointless indolence of it drove me absolutely around the bend. I need to do things. I need to do things I think are worthwhile! I went more than a bit feral -- not in good ways -- when I couldn't, when I was blocked at every turn. I'm still ashamed of myself for that, but I understand why it happened.

So yeah. I'm not in that job or that niche of librarianship any more. (Many librarians would say that as a library/archives educator, I'm not even in librarianship any more!) And I think Crowley would absolutely understand why I'm not.

Before the Beginning, we see angel!Crowley (as I will call him, not wishing to deadname) doing maker work and exulting in it. We see Aziraphale a bit confused by the whole idea of hands-on work, but game to give it a try (especially for this attractive and dynamic redhead). Then we learn that angel!Crowley is making a star factory. He is literally making a thing that will do more making! And he loves it! He loves his thing that will make things!

And he's distraught, poor soul, at the idea that the thing he just made won't actually make anything else, it won't have time. That's just some bullshit. Things that make things should make their things! Or what was the point (arc word!) of making them at all?

We also learn that he "wasn't the original concept designer," though he claims to be on fairly close terms with the being Who was. And that's key to what distinguishes Her from Crowley: She thinks and delegates, he DIYs. (Though She doesn't even do all the thinking he thinks She does! "Show me a Great Plan!" he begs Her, when we all know it's only an ineffable game because She told us as much from the start of s1.) There can be no clearer demonstration of this than taking the line "Let there be light!" away from Her -- it's quite definitely God who says this in the Bible! -- and giving it to angel!Crowley.

Angel!Crowley is also a bit of a fixer; when something is wrong, he'll do something about it if he can. Aziraphale hints pretty strongly that angel!Crowley should back off critiquing Her or even asking for a suggestion box by which anyone else might critique Her. Angel!Crowley scoffs, because fixers assume others want things fixed as badly as they do; what kind of muttonhead wouldn't want things fixed? (Je suis fixer. I'm trying to learn to restrain myself.)

But Aziraphale's right! She doesn't want to hear it, and She boots angel!Crowley out of Heaven over it, torturing him horribly and unconscionably along the way. So what does She make? She makes demons by wrecking angels. By contrast, Angel!Crowley made star factories.

(I'm aware of the theory that She had already stopped listening, such that it was the Metatron who booted angel!Crowley out. Curiously, if that turns out to be true, it doesn't change this meta a whole lot.)

So here's what Crowley knows: God can't be arsed to listen to anybody even when they mean well, nor will she lift a finger (or divine analogue) to fix one blessed thing, and even worse, She only bothers to take actual action when She's out to do harm! And this lazy vindictive schmuck has set Herself up as the sole and entire arbiter of what counts as "being good"? What She did to angel!Crowley was not by any measure good!

(Comparisons between GO!God's behavior and Lone Skum's treatment of Twitter-I-mean-X are not only warranted, they're practically impossible to avoid.)

I have to think Crowley thinks he's well rid of Her, and I also have to think his loathing of Her hypocrisy -- She is good without doing good, which is practically the definition of hypocrisy -- is part of the reason he clings to the identity as demon that She forced on him so brutally. (Not the whole of the reason; kayfabe is also part of it.) He, unlike Her, is damned well going to -- well, either be honest about himself (as She isn't about Herself) or make Her eat Her blessed words about what he is and what he does. He can do better than She ever did. Who couldn't?

So at Eden, Crowley's been told to "make some trouble." Which he does! He likes making stuff, even if it's trouble. Then he has his opinion of Her confirmed: God takes action again, to boot Adam and Eve out of Eden. Once more, Crowley thinks that's bullshit, only he's rather less direct in how he expresses it this time around. The poor snake does learn.

But. Crowley also finds, atop the garden wall, another being who actually does things, who tries to fix things! Who's not so different from him! And he's mesmerized! But he can't stop himself poking at the "do good" vs. "be good" sore place again: "oh, you're an angel, I don't think you can do the wrong thing" "wouldn't it be funny if I did the good thing and you did the bad one?" Aziraphale doesn't quite pick up on what's going on in Crowley's head, being quite immovably (as it turns out) stuck in essentialism, such that anything a demon does must be wrong because of what a demon is. Our angel's only other surety is that doing whatever She thinks is the wrong thing (and She's not exactly clear about that, is She?) has terrifying consequences.

This is already quite long, so let's call it a post. Next up: Job and speech-act theory, since @ferallair asked me about it. Mind you, I'm not by any means an expert therein; my linguistics specialty was historical Iberian phonology with a side of semantic drift in Spanish verbs, okay? But I can explain the extreme basics of the idea.

#good omens meta #gos2 spoilers #gos2spoilers #good omens season 2 spoilers #do be do be do #good omens #ineffable husbands #good omens god #good omens god is a horror #and a lazy one at that

[poibynt]

This is a really long-winded work up to a fic idea/vague character analysis BEAR WITH ME.

this'll be the last HTTYD meta post of the night. It's hard to pinpoint when Cowell fully created the later book's storyline (The seeds really start getting planted in 5, but of course 8 kicks things off, but was that the book when she first truly knew? who knows) but it's obvious the end game plot wasn't conceived by the start of the series. Cowell manages to transition from mostly episodic style adventure books to an overarching plot pretty well but there's some occasional wonkyness. The most fascinating weirdness to me is how the earlier books treat dragons and their societal standing.

I am doing a very out of order re-listen rn so I could be very wrong but while dragons are treated as 'creatures to own' from the start the slavery and mistreatment of dragons by humans starts to really become more textual rather than messy implications by like the 3rd and 4th books. But I don't think Cowell knew if she wanted to Unpack All That Right Now just yet when writing those books, so we get this weird ground where the mistreatment of dragons is there and explicit but none of the characters linger or reflect on it. Specifically in book 4 Oneye is all very "y'all are fucking pig slave drivers" and Hiccup doesn't object or anything but does not think about or engage with Oneye's rhetoric at all. This was a tad jarring coming off of listening to Hiccup giving a massive impassioned speech about how slavery is disgusting and needs to be eradicated in 10 to Hiccup meekly telling Snotlout not to whip dragons for fun in 4. Of course, Hiccup is a child and very rarely do elementary schooler age members of the oppressor class fully understand the abusive systems they profit off of (and obviously Hiccup not standing up to Snotlout is a whole other thing bc Snotlout is a horrible little shit. I'm not condemning Hiccup for not doing much here). Hiccup has all the groundwork of becoming the little leftist abolitionist revolutionary he ends up but he isn't there just yet.

This should have been ground for a bit of a character arc. And yet, it sort of wasn't?? Kinda?? It is but isnt. I think by 7 Cressida knew where the series was going enough to know that Hiccup needed to have a personal reconing with slavery & that's what the Northern Wanderers were for. Hiccup has a close brush with human slaves, gets marked as a slave and comes to see their humanity and dignity despite the rest of his friends and his culture not respecting them or their personhood. On paper, that's decent. Maybe not very good indigenous rep, but decent plot wise. However, it doesn't entirely work. Firstly because Hiccup should already know that captial S Slavery is Bad because of 5. That's a large part of 5. And yet I do not remember Hiccup ever really having much dialogue or internal introspection about slavery and the horrors of it & how it has effected Windwalker and those around him. The narration drills in it's awfulness but Hiccup sort of...doesn't super acknowledge it. Which is weird bc Hiccup is so pro dragon and such a good person you think he might be a bit angry or have some shit to say about Lavalout island or what happened to Humongous (I think there was some 'wow that's awfuls' but nothing much more then that. Or maybe I'm mis remembering grain of salt) 5 should have already done this, but again in 7 we don't get any introspection! The wanderers say a lot of things to Hiccup. They call him a devil, they say that all of history is against his kind, they think that he is inherently irredeemable and should be killed before he himself does harm. Hiccup doesn't think about any of this. And so the attempted arc kind of...falls flat for me. But cool Hiccup is in theory like yeah capital S slavery is bad. Then 8 is what REALLY starts off on Hiccup's abolitionism. Hiccup saves Furious, empathises with the chained monster against possible best judgement, and is disgusted by his torture. He wants to free all the prisoners, everyone locked away on Berserk. This is finally when Hiccup starts having a bit more of a reaction to slavery and imprisonment, and then he starts truly pushing against it out of his own accord and disgust and anger at it.

And yet. Not much inner monologue or reflection or dialogue about slavery outside of Hiccup's talk with Furious. It stays that way until book 9, where Hiccup faces the concept of being a king for the first time and then fights his father for the throne, knowing his father won't do the right thing. So, character arc! We get all the beats but I feel like we sort of don't get the development that goes along with the beats so it doesn't totally feeel like a character arc. Why the internal radio silence? Truly it's probably something about Cowell not wanting to make the books too depressing too early on by lingering on the messed up stuff too hard or something else but. I think there's a very in character and plausible explanation for Hiccup's arc around slavery. And it's all about his father.

The Hooligans are later named as one of the 'kinder tribes' who don't engage in slavery and don't agree with it morally but turn a blind eye to rampant slavery happening elsewhere. Slavery seems to really not be discussed much on Berk, but Hiccup and the other Hooligan boys his age probably grew up with some vague sense of pride in being 'the better ones', for having more honour and morals, something shared by the older tribe members. But this inaction is immoral and even though the Hooligans and other tribes aren't slave fairing, they do abuse and exploit dragons on a daily basis. Book 9 is about Hiccup finally acknowledging what has stopped him from thinking too hard or engaging with the enslavement and mistreatment of dragons. The Hooligans are still in the wrong, doing the wrong thing, upholding a bad system. Which means his father is. Stoick is the HTTYD equivalent of a neo-liberal. He dislikes the disdainful messy bits of capitalism, but he ultimately upholds the abusive and violent capitalist system while helping put down leftist organising. And seeing that in your beloved father, for someone as impassioned as Hiccup, is a fucking bitch. It's what makes their fight so heartbreaking. Hiccup couldn't let himself start down the path of unpacking the suffering of dragons and other humans until it was VITAL to do so because I think he knew things would lead back to the feet of his father, and also Hiccup's own. You don't grow up in an abusive system as a member of the oppressor class without being at least a bit complicit in violence and oppression, and I think that eats at hiccup.

ANYWAY fic idea what if I actually fleshed this all out through fic via like snapshots of Hiccup's various radicalisation moments which then focuses on the gap between 9 and 10 where Hiccup is in the woods for like a year with nothing but dragons, anti war domestic terrorism/sabotage and his thoughts for company while showing more anti war rebellion groups bc surely Hiccup and Cami were not the only ones. Cami's team getting a spotlight. ....thuggory pov??? I have vague fic soup rn and it's threatening to engulf me so I had to get this out somehow.

#httyd books #httyd book spoilers #listen idk if this makes sense I have a couple of beans rattling around in my brain as the main processing power #shut up flynn #Explicitly leftist anti-establishment readings of vaguely leftist anti-establishment children's books? more likely than you might think. #not sw

[goldenkamuyhunting]

It interesting to read your analysis or meta ( even though I read it 2 am while being stress ). I want to ask since I do remember you didnt really like how the story ended Ogata, so how do you think that it might be better ? The way it end he think that he always blessed feel weird for me but I do kinda like that what he do all those time it's just that he's thinking what broken person would do. Though this might contract about my first point about he always blessed, in the end what you become is always the choice is yours not always because the aspect from other people (I do found interesting fan comic what if Yuusaku and Ogata swap place). Sorry if it's going random or you actually the answer already in one of your post. Thank you once again 💖

Sorry for the late reply, I'm glad you enjoy my meta!

As usual WARNING as this is not a Noda praising fest.

Yes, I've ranted in the past about how I didn't like how Noda handled Ogata in his last 11 volumes but I don't mind repeating it.

The whole 'Ogata was ALWAYS blessed because maybe for a moment Hanazawa loved his mother' felt like very poorly constructed.

The ability to feel guilt isn't tied to your parents loving each other or not, but to plenty of other factors... and anyway it's pretty difficult to prove Hanazawa ever loved his mother and it wasn't just in Tome's head and he merely wanted her for sex.

We heard how Hanazawa spoke of her, without a shred of love.

I don't know if this is due to something in Japanese culture but to me, tying Ogata's ability to feel guilt to Hanazawa loving his mother feels like tying two completely unrelated things together, a leap in logic I can't follow.

I'm not sure how, at this point, the story could have handled Ogata. He was left useless for 10 volumes and then the last gave contraddicting info on his past and, basically, ends with a repeated the situation on Vol 19 only to have Ogata kill himself. At this point it was better to murder him on Vol 19 because... beyond the fact he was a popular character, the story had no need for him to survive (same as Vasily, really).

It's something I stated back then in Vol 19, I was interested in Ogata, I liked him as a character, because he was interesting. The moment Noda made him uninteresting because he gives 0 contribute in carrying on the plot, I see no point in having him in the story.

Not even his death affects the plot because in the end he murders himself on his own so the guilt for his death doesn't truly befall on Asirpa and whatever wound he gave to Sugimoto is of no consequence to the battle nor is his stalling them.

The most he did was to cause the drivers of the train to die (in the magazine version)/to escape (in the volume version).

Both moves feel stupid as he ends up on a train no one is driving when he could have just said he was one of Tsurumi's men and went aboard just the same (he's wearing an army uniform).

But Noda needed the drivers to get off so he used him to do so, though everything else would have been fine. They could have been distracted by the explosion and this would have allowed the bear to end up on the train and the bear could have caused them to escape.

It would have made more sense.

So my options to make the whole thing better are two: either write him off in Vol 19/20 or rewrite the last 11 volumes to give him a role in them. As the second option is way too complex and would end up creating a different GK I think the first one is the best one.

Let Ogata die in Vol 19/20, the story doesn't need him anymore and his faceoff with Asirpa back then had more impact than the last one.

His death could be used to push forward the discussion if it's all right to kill or not instead than... just happening.

And if Asirpa really need to show she's willing to kill someone to save Sugimoto she can shoot/try to shoot a arrow at Tsurumi instead than just aim at him and not shoot.

On a final note... GK wasn't a story about the importance of your choices but since this is still very discussed in the fandom, I want to toss in that the idea that we become what we chose is an over simplification.

What we become is the result of a combination of genetic, education, opportunities and personal choices.

We can make our choices solely among the opportunities we're offered, which might be plenty or just few or none at all, and we decide according to our physical/mental abilities and knowledge and understanding of the world.

Ogata had clearly a flawed understanding of the world due to the way he'd been raised, and a very limited number of choices due to his social and economical background.

His chances of becoming a second lieutenant like Yuusaku are so low they can as well not exist, his chances to get Hanazawa to love him are even less.

Ogata couldn't choose to become (someone like) Yuusaku, even if he wanted to. That choice was never on the table.

And, since his understanding of the world was flawed and he never managed to correct it, he took some objectively VERY BAD decisions to try to become someone he would never be allowed to become and, without even realizing, made his situation even worse instead than improving it.

GK though, wasn't the sort of story that was interested in this kind of aspect so, if you like stories that instead dig more into personal choices and their consequences, I recommend reading "Umineko no naku koro ni" (the manga as the anime is SO HORRIBLE they never finished it and the last chapter of the visual novel was poorly handled and Ryukishi basically rewrote it for the manga version).

Just keep in mind it's a mystery horror with some gruesome scenes... though since there are gruesome scenes in GK too, those might be not a problem.

Thank you for your ask and sorry again for the late reply!

#Ask #Ogata Hyakunosuke #Asirpa #Hanazawa Koujirou #Ogata Tome #Hanazawa Yuusaku