#but weird that they would make such a big decision if it goes against the manga canon

[as-the-lights-went-out]

So interesting how Sarada becomes a chunin in the anime but in the manga, with the time skip, she’s still a genin 🤔

#I think I perfer the anime’s approach here #but weird that they would make such a big decision if it goes against the manga canon #boruto liveblog #225

[ririblogsss]

Ive been in a mood to write angst but I keep writing happy endings

So I read this fic ill link it when I remember the name, its basically a Suaci_al teen goes on a roadtrip before you know. But Damian escaped his mother and wanted to go meet his father, so he entered this teens van and accompanied her, and basically had a whole jurney together with each other so they could take Damian to gotham.

Anyways I got inspired by it, and thought what if the bat burger explosion still happened, but Danny decided he was more scared of becoming Dan. So he grabbed Sam's car and left Amity. During his drive he decided to honor Dani (who also passed) by going to each state before he went to the realms and locked himself in one of the darkest corners so he would never hurt anyone.

But when he was going through Philadelphia specifically he stumbles upon 2 teenagers fighting to the death arguing in front of a basically destroyed street. Danny mentally tells himself "not my crircus not my monkeys" over and over. But then he hears they are both child heroes, and he basically says 'FUCK IT WE BALL'.

Danny goes up to them and ask them if they need help with helping people out of the debris and the kids glare but relent. Cause they do need help in rescuing anyone that's in the debris.

As they finish rescuing everyone and taking them to the hospital if they need it or giving them to paramedics. They introduce each other. The younger being Billy batson (Aka Shazam) and Damian Wayne (AKA Robin) .The kids try to deny they are child heroes, but Danny just tells them he is also a hero and transforms, so they can trust him.

Apparently both Billy and Damian were sent to a nearby school to make sure nothing illegal was happening, but things got out of hand, as they always do. They bond over burgers (a veggie for Damian) and smoothies. The three fight about were the best burgers come from, Danny saying that the Best were from nasty (he gets a hazy look in his eyes when he mentions the joint). Damian argues that the bat burger are the most acceptable (high praise apparently). Billy argued for Big Belly.

In the end they parted ways, but Danny didn't know that both Billy and Damian snuck into his car. Look they didn't want to face the consequences of going against orders just yet. They had failed to tell Danny they hadn't actually been officially sent for the recon they sent themselfs.... oops

Look normally Danny would have been able to sense them or even notice the weird way his things were shifting every few minutes. But Danny wasn't in his right mind. He wasn't copping with his loss and grief as he should (not that there is a right way to grief) but Danny wasn't himself, so it wasn't until he got to savannah as a pit stop that he noticed the 2 extra passangers.

the interaction went something like this:

Billy: Can we stop now. I need to pee!

Danny: HOLy SHHH MaCaRONi!! (swearing the car almost causing a car accident)

Damian: Your spacial awareness skills need refining. But given your current position is understandable.

Danny: MY current position/?

Billy: Hahahaha about that you mutter and speak to yourself out loud a lot.

Damian: yes and clearly you are under no position to be making decision. So we are taking responsibility about your well being.

Billy: ahahahaha yeah no other reason, its not like our adopted father who is also our vigilante boss is currently hunting us down for disobeying not at all hahahahaha.

Danny: What the FU-dge stick

thus commences the road-trip of hell. Somehow Billy and Damian were able to convince Danny of bringing them along and trying to avoid the Big Bat.

#dc x dp #dpxdc #dp x dc #dp x dc crossover

[shysublimecoffee]

I prefer not to sound harsh, but Miraculous has become a fandom where I find more enjoyment in reading fanfics than watching the show. It feels like there's a lack of effort or an attempt to justify and rearrange elements, often ignoring past seasons and assuming the audience won't notice. The handling of Derision is a notable example, with more astute critics than me delving into their dissatisfaction and the evident retcons.

I didn't anticipate the show going to such lengths as portraying Gabriel as someone deserving of a statue, and it left a sour taste in my mouth to see the hero endorsing it. Adrien/ChatNoir's portrayal has become quite pitiful, with a peculiar shift where Ladybug takes on a significant role in the Agreste Saga despite her absence from that narrative. Ladybug, who isn't even part of the Agreste Saga, is the one delivering heartfelt moments. The decision to sideline Adrien and put him out of commission is disappointing. It's his story yet she the one who has to make it about her. She gets to shine along with a cool costume to boot.

There's a palpable bias from Astruc against Chloe, evident in the show's treatment of her character. Despite her being manipulated by Gabriel Agreste, the narrative blames her for becoming mayor, and the absurdity of the situation is magnified when everyone in the story goes along with it. The inclusion of a scene in Revolution where Chloe is crying is perplexing and frustrating, as it seems to perpetuate the negative and irredeemable image the show consistently paints of her. The added layer of her mother being horrid to her intensifies my annoyance, especially when sympathetic scenes are presented in a seemingly contradictory manner.

I mean you want her to be the worst but yet she has scenes like this? Why not go all the way wtf. Why give her depth only to take it away and then make her be so demonized in s5 and act like she was like this from the start. When she's been a joke

I hate to be critical, but seriously, it's hard to ignore how the Miraculous universe is just dripping with untapped potential. Five seasons in, and the movie outshines the show effortlessly. It makes you wonder about the writers' team and their approach—seems like they're just coasting on low effort for profit, and somehow, it's working, thanks to Miraculous inexplicable popularity.

The show's been beating the monster-of-the-week horse for five long seasons, lacking any creativity in crafting interesting villains. Gabriel, honestly, feels like a starter villain, and if they're going to make him the big bad, can we at least get some villains with a bit more pizzazz? You know craft creative interesting villains? KNDS, Original PPG, Totally Spies they got it so why not Miraculous. It's so damn tiring seeing the same old song and dance with Gabriel 24/7 monologuing to his wife and releasing the akuma I thought Mayura would be important but she's barely there.

It's not even an excuse kids do deserve better entertainment so why should Miraculous lower its standards. Marinette is very weird to me as the protagonist because her lovelife is more focused over everything I gauged her well enough to know about her that the rest of the secondary needs more of a spotlight to be cast on them. I like her but am I the only one who just skips when she starts the whining about Adrien and her plan to again get together it was cute at first now I fast forward to the more interesting part of the episode because it irks me i'm tired okay... what other facet of her character do the writers focus on besides her love life? I hope I don't appear to salt on her but Imma tag it just in case. I think she's in neutral treading to dislike because how can I come back from her gaslighting her boyfriends I'm sorry I can't.

You know what I'm afraid of that if Lila gonna be the next big bad they'll just recycle everything from Gabriel onto her. We'll have the same akumatizations same monster of the week formula only this time it's Lila.

I trust more in the fanfic community to come up with a better substantial plot than Miraculous could ever be. I know romance is a big part but the lore is so damn little it's season 5 are they ever going to expand more in the later seasons lol.

I'm tired from writing this long. Imma go to bed now.

#miraculous salt #miraculous critical #miraculous ladybug #marinette salt

[voidandabyssal]

Can I get add the swap and swapfell brothers to the Amalgam request? Maybe even Horrortale?

Of course you can! here's the link to the first amalgram post! I'll just do the Swap and SwapFell brothers for now though.

Blue:

when you go missing he's the first to notice. Both of you text pretty frequently when your not around each other (which is pretty rare in of itself). He visits your home, then your job, then any other areas your known to frequently vist. Getting more and more worried as you remain missing for longer and don't respond to his calls.

He calls Stretch out to help with looking for you, his brother knows a lot of people so they'd both find out pretty soon that you were last seen visiting Undyne.

Blue decides to sneak into Undyne's lab. Though he does think the best, "probably just some medical check up you forgot to tell him about. Nothing big!"

Immediately goes to comforting you when he does find you.

Keeps hugging you even when you try and push him away, apologising for melting over him.

He confronts Undyne he confesses to hiding both yourself and the rest of the amalgamites away.

Blue calls in Alphys to help deal with the situation and re-unite everyone. Then he and Stretch take you back home. He promises to help you in any way.

He tries to do what you want, if you want to find a cure, then he's recruiting Stretch, even a regretful Undyne to the cause. You just want to learn to live again? Yep and he's by your side every step of the way

Stretch:

Immediately suspicious when you just disappear. That's unusual for you. He asks around and finds that a few of his bar friends saw you and Undyne together. Weird, especially cause you don't really know her.

He shoots a text to Undyne asking her where you are. When she starts acting weird, changing subject, ignoring phone calls, asking dumb questions, he gets really suspicious

He goes down into the old lab his father used to work in. Guessing that Undyne still uses it.

Imagine his surprise (and horror) when he finds you, malformed, melting and in constant pain.

He carries you up and confronts Undyne. It's not a confrontation that goes well...

Of course Undyne is heartbroken and riddled with guilt. She had never thought that determination could do something like that.

Stretch keeps you in the lab. Hoping that with him and Undyne's intelligence, a cure could be found quickly.

He grabs things from your home that he knows would comfort you. Blankets, clothes, books, anything that keeps you stable and happy.

Somehow still manages to make time for cuddles.

Black (SF Sans)

boy if you even think you're leaving his eyesight!!!

seriously tho, I can only imagine Black would ever let someone like, euugh, Undyne, if you were in serious trouble.

Likely you had some serious health issues, or maybe you even fell down.

Whatever the case, he was desperate to help you and Undyne's kind of the only qualified doctor they have left. So off you go...

yeah, it doesn't go well. Black genuinely tries to murder Undyne. He takes this not only as a slight against you, but as action against him.

You're under HIS protection, meaning when someone fucks with you, they fuck with him.

Mutt steps in and manages to calm his brother down, pointing out that Undyne may actually be one of the only people to be able to help you.

Black keeps a VERY close eye on you. If you haven't already moved in with him, you are now!

Tasks his brother with keeping you safe when he has to leave.

Mutt (SF Papyrus):

probably the one to fuck up this time, ngl.

He was actually apart of the royal scientists before he left it. Like Black, he wouldn't want any science experiment stuff going on and he tries to keep you seperate from it.

We don't always get what we want though, from one reason to another, bad timing, thoughtless decisions, etc. You ended up overdosing from two much determination.

the guilt almost cracks his soul in two. He can't look you in the eye after what happened.

Keeps you hidden away in the true lab, occasionally popping in when he's either really drunk, high, or holding some new serum that's supposed to cure you.

Poor boy already struggled with substance abuse, this just makes it worse.

When he shortcuts in drunk; he just cries, holding your malformed body and crying apologies and begging for forgiveness.

Then he disappears in the morning when he wakes up hungover as hell and realises what he'd done.

#voidimagines #undertale au #swapfell #swapfell sans #swapfell papyrus #sans x reader #papyrus x reader #swap papyrus #swap sans #undertale headcanons

[peach-pot]

something I’m so fascinated by is when tv show/movie writers want to include jokes at a groups expensive, but don’t make a decision on whether they want just the audience to be laughing at them or the other characters as well, and end up in this weird space where they are both… canonically unserious and serious. here it’s better to just give examples:

(gonna talk about fatphobia and homophobia typical of 2000s comedies for a sec)

in pitch perfect they have jokes about fat amy where what she says/believes is meant to conflict with what’s true in universe. she sings for the first time for chloe and aubrey and the joke is meant to be that what she’s doing is embarrassing, even though she’s trying to show off. a lot of her jokes with bumper boil down to her thinking she’s attractive, when he thinks she’s not. so these jokes are meant to be funny to us, because she thinks she’s talented/attractive/etc., when everyone around her sees she’s not. but they also include jokes where the audience is supposed to laugh because she IS actually these things, and it’s meant to be unexpected/unrealistic to reality. the big example that comes to mind is when she gets a phone call over a school break and we see that she’s actually hanging out at a pool with a few attractive guys around her, calling back to a joke where she referred to multiple boyfriends of hers. the first time it was meant to be funny because the audience would assume she was lying, the second time it’s meant to be funny because it goes against the audience’s expectations… but now all those jokes that rely on fat amy being unattractive within the pitch perfect universe don’t work. because they just told us that she is.

and then in community, there’s troy and abed, who have jokes where everyone around them thinks they’re gay, but they turn out not to be. a clear example of this is when troy’s textbook has a romantic drawing of abed in it that shirley thinks he drew, but it turns out to be a used textbook that came that way. but there are also jokes where the audience is meant to laugh about troy and abed doing something gay together. for example, there’s a joke where annie says she thought troy was trying to hold her hand, but he had actually just confused her for abed. these jokes, unlike the ones where the characters are in on it to a greater extent, don’t offer any explanation for why troy and abed are doing something gay, and end up just… making them gay. so troy and abed both aren’t actually gay (and the joke is that their peers keep assuming they are) and ARE actually gay (which is meant to be inherently funny to the audience because it’s 2009)

idk, i just think it’s interesting to see the ways in which creators kind of forget to keep things consistent when they have the opportunity to make jokes about a marginalized group. like it doesn’t matter if they make a firm call on whether or not amy is actually attractive or if they always remember to give an in universe explanation for why troy and abed are doing something seen as gay if they aren’t gay. no one will notice if it changes joke to joke as long as the jokes are funny.

#this got long and ramble but it’s been on my mind #d’you know what I mean? d’y’all get what I’m saying? #it’s like. not even seen as a contradiction by the people making it (I don’t think) #because even when characters are canonically fat and attractive or canonically gay #it is/was something seen as funny enough that it didn’t matter #too unserious to REALLY be canon even if that’s what the text is plainly stating #hannah talks sometimes #like I wasn’t on the community set but I don’t think they were queerbaiting #I may be wrong but I get the vibe they just thought is was funny #and weren’t trying to purposefully get viewers to ship them just to never confirm it #they were never going to confirm it because then it wouldn’t be funny anymore #they were just going to put as many gay details into canon as they wanted #and rely on the fact that audiences would read them as jokes because gay=funny #because the 2009-2015 of it all #community

[goldenpinof]

The fact that looking into technical failures to understand the businesses we are patronizing (and let's be clear every bit of money sent DnP's way means you Are Doing Business With Them in the literal sense) is far from negativity aside... I don't think we should have a knee jerk reaction against anything negative being said as a rule, because that's how you end up platforming and pedestialising horrible things just because your favourite celebrity does them. Like, we need to bring back an understanding of when negativity is "uncalled for" (to do with things that are none of our business as consumers, audiences, and patrons, or otherwise to do with personal/harmless stuff) and when it isn't uncalled for, otherwise we create an expectation of just never being allowed to criticise anything, from the quality of the works presented to us, to quality of service with merch, to collabs with harmful partners, and eventually to misuse of a massive platform for nefarious ends.

Thankfully dnp have had way more integrity than most exploitative content creators out there. But that's certainly in part due to mutual respect between audience and creators and if we start hand wringing about small criticisms we will not be able to maintain that mutual respect and make ourselves easy to exploit.

Not to go on a big rant or anything, I just feel it should be stated that criticisms aren't always bad faith, and it's good that we have people in this fandom (like yourself ❤️) willing to hold some stuff to account where it's important+ where it concerns us directly

~ 🪴

"let's be clear every bit of money sent DnP's way means you Are Doing Business With Them in the literal sense" EXACTLY. and their business decisions affect us, unfortunately.

thank you so much for saying all of this, Hazel. phandom has a weird relationship with criticism. i experienced it more than once, unfortunately (did it teach me anything? no, i'm still here. rip to my mental health). for some reason a lot of people think that if you criticise what dnp do, you automatically criticise and dislike them as people. which couldn't be further from the truth. i try to criticise their work and actions related to their work, not them personally. the same goes for Matryn and his work. and if in the end something gets fixed or just a little bit better, i try to comment on that as well. i like seeing progress. like today with wad merch. i will update my post about irl merch, because i mentioned 9 months to gather the merch from all over the world. but Dan found other way, and that's great! only he confused us with "many weeks" and "i will try" before that.

i realise that maybe a breakdown post (or two) would be better than making 10 about basically the same thing. it's emotions. merch stuff is a rollercoaster. i haven't felt so many completely opposite emotions in a long time. and some of them are ending up on my blog in a form of criticism and yelling.

#answered #wad merch launch is far from perfect. but it's better than i expected. like the range is bigger #the 4 shops stuff... i understand. but i wish we were told beforehand. and i wish there weren't inconsistencies within how they work #phandom #dapg-oatmebytheballs

[class1akids]

What is a story beat ? You said that Hawks sill has a storybeat left probably about Toga / Twice's death?

Sorry if I ask too many questions!… but you wrote this (I really doubt there would be any point in him dying for the narrativ) do you talk about Hawks or Twice ?

I'll take this two together. Story beat is a shift in the narrative. It can be emotional turns, incidents or events, actions, and reactions, or realizations. They can even be small shifts in narrative tone or a character’s emotional arc. 

Hawks' character arc has several different threads, but one important one is his relationship with Twice as a reflection of the tension between a true hero ideal (heroes save / don't kill) and the kind of pragmatic compromises hero society / HPSC taught him as well as Keigo's own perception of Jin being a "good person" and his evaluation of him as the biggest threat.

Basically Keigo's arc goes something like this: idealistic young boy -> groomed by HPSC for efficiency and following of orders -> infiltrates villain organization as a spy -> gets to know a sympathetic villain (Twice) on a personal level -> tries to save Twice in isolation and within the limits of hero society -> fails because he doesn't understand the human bonds Twice values -> he makes the choice to kill Twice as per his training -> aftermath as he's revealed to the public as a child of a villain / a hero who killed someone and his own struggle with the revelations about Endeavor and his own conscience about Twice -> decides to pour his energy into "fixing Endeavor" and avoids facing his own actions re: Twice -> he meets his reckoning on the battlefield when the threat posed by Twice messes up the entire plan via Toga's grief -> Hawks once again wants to deal with it by killing -> he loses his quirk and fails to stop AFO -> with nothing left to protect, he's ready to accept the consequences and stops fighting back against Toga's revenge.

This story-beat parallels Endeavor's decision to finally face Toya (and die with him)

They are both saved by the new gen - Endeavor by Shoto, Hawks by Uraraka. The old generation was ready to succumb to the hopelessness, even Hawks who is a self-proclaimed optimist and someone very much on the borderline between the old gen and the new gen.

So I think the storybeat missing here is some kind of resolution. MHA is an optimistic story and has set up the need for all of society to change so future Twices, Togas and Dabis don't fall through its cracks and so that it can offer villains a credible prospect of re-inclusion into society. Reformative justice if you will.

I don't really think there is a good narrative reason to kill Hawks (or anyone else from the old gen) now in the endgame. Many of them tried to sacrifice themselves - Endeavor, All Might, Edgeshot, Aizawa - but they have all been saved so far. I think that their role in the final part of the story is to get on board with the hopeful direction of the kids.

Since Hawks is the closest in age to the kids and spirit (he is the first one who really tries to save a villain) and since he's also a link between the world of villains and hero society (as the child of a villain and as a spy who infiltrated them), I think it would be natural for him to be spearheading this change. We saw in Ch 323-324 that the public won't necessarily listen to school kids, but Hawks is in a position of authority and if he gets on board with saving the villains, that can be a big push for change (basically it's the same reason the PLF wanted him for - a celebrity for their cause). So this is where the Hawks will save Toga theory comes in. He has the same blood type. There are news helicopters around. The stage is set for him to make some kind of stand that will help change the heart of the public (which was probably already moved by Ochako trying to reach out to Toga and by Toga's self-sacrifice).

I may be wrong of course, but from all the set-up, I'd find it weird if Gunga finished the way things have been left and we'd just skip to the epilogue.

#c1a asks #bnha manga spoilers #hawks #takami keigo #twice #bnha meta

[jacob-blogs]

Okay I can give you a Kendrick and Drake beef rundown. Apologies if I’m explaining shit you already know but IDK your background on this so I’ll be thorough just to make sure.

Major Characters:

Drake. Aubrey Graham, AKA Drake, is extremely financially successful, but not very well respected in actual hip hop scenes. He’s generally seen as a culture vulture because of his privileged child actor background and white suburban upbringing putting him at odds with other people in hip hop culture. Also, in 2018, he very publicly lost his beef with another rapper named Pusha T, who revealed he had a secret newborn son named Adonis. Lastly, he has a long history of being kind of a misogynistic creep, the worst parts being a history of being sketchy around underaged girls.

Kendrick. Kendrick Lamar is an extremely respected rapper, though his songs aren’t always the most radio friendly and he doesn’t release them super frequently. He’s extremely artistically minded, though, and is one of those artists who’s just so good they can feel borderline untouchable. If I had to pick a rapper who was the consensus greatest at the moment among big hip hop heads, it would be Kendrick.

Backstory: Drake and Kendrick are arguably the two biggest rappers right now. A third rapper, J. Cole, had a lyric about the “big 3” in October naming himself, Kendrick, and Drake. The second part is that in March, Kendrick had a bar where he said “fuck the big 3, it’s just big me.” Cole tried beefing back, dipped out pretty quick.

Drake released two diss tracks against Kendrick on April 19, Push Ups and Taylor Made Freestyle. The latter was especially controversial because he used AI to replicate the voice of Tupac, which is… a huge no-no.

Last Tuesday, Kendrick finally responded with his first track, Euphoria. It was what people were expecting, for the most part: he went in on Drake in the ways a diss track normally would, just with extra finesse since he’s Kendrick. Still an excellent record on its own.

On Friday morning, he released 6:16 in LA on Instagram, which mostly got attention for implying that Kendrick had a mole from among Drake’s own crew. Also, the cover image was an image of a black glove.

On Friday evening, Drake released his response to Euphoria, Family Matters. Among other things, Drake accused Kendrick of beating his wife, though since Drake has a history of lying people are unsure how seriously to take that. Notably, though, some of Drake’s bars seem to have been preempted by Euphoria, which lends some credence to the idea that he may have a leaker.

Only thirty minutes after Family Matters dropped, Kendrick released Meet the Grahams, which directly responded to several things Drake said, which confirms he has a leaker. Not to mention, the cover image was a zoomed out version of the 6:16 image, which now includes items like literal receipts and prescription bottles of Ozempic and Ambien with Drake’s legal name on them. So this photo was taken inside Drake’s mansion. The song itself is the equivalent of bringing a switchblade to a cage fight, and among other things drops that Drake also has a secret 11 year old daughter, as well as it accuses him of being a pedophile and a sex trafficker. This song is why everybody’s talking right now. Nothing like this has happened before.

Anyways, Kendrick dropped another track tonight, but the dust hasn’t quite settled on that yet so I won’t say too much.

Thank you sooo much for the context.

Rap as a genre is always interesting to me because it's characterized so much by not only the songwriting and lyrics, but also the messiness and drama that goes on behind the scenes. I don't necessarily listen to it on the daily, but it would be insane not to recognize the cultural influence it has on American pop culture. And hell, up until recently tumblr was a huge supporter of Drake through his weird career decisions.

But like.... homie's gotta hang it up flat screen. Drake and his team of ghost writers literally ain't got shit on K. Dot. Like how can you pay folks actual money to take up in your defense over a dance beat while this other dude's dishing out bar after bar of straight fire getting after you, your career, your family, your crew, your lies, your shitty behavior...

Like okay, it's a rap battle but also this has got to be THEE cultural reset of 2024

#jacob blogs #ask #reply #sontarangaming

[random-krab]

TSOA rant

I think it is time i bring up my change of tags If you don’t know or haven’t noticed I have changed most tags on my Iliad and “TSOA” posts tags to Anti-madeline miller, there are multiple reasons for this for one re-reading Tsoa her blatant fetishism of gay men is clear and she misuses the mythology and each characters original characterization, But i’m getting ahead of myself.  I’m going to start with Patroclus because he is a protagonist in this, which I admit isn’t a bad idea in itself but she changes so much about him that is hard to recognize but let's start with his age, while we don’t know his exact age we do know that he is older than Achilles because he was a squire, role model, and counsel to him, But she changes this which I admit makes sense when trying to appeal to a modern audience but in doing that you strip him of any solo characterization and authority, He goes from an angry boy to a generally calm man who can make good decisions which really makes his choice to go into battle in disguise really impactful. But she changes that and therefore changes his original personality. Speaking of personality she does something bluntly homophobic which is the feminization of Patroclus’s character, Patroclus goes from a very good warrior, strategist and medic to only a medic in her “Retelling” it is very reminiscent of the “Warrior husband and Healer wife” trope as pointed out by @booklover42 on my "Tsoa isn't accurate" Post; fun fact; most death counts either end with Patroclus having a higher or same body count as Achilles and It is never hidden that he is a fighter.

Speaking of Achilles. Achilles is probably the worst in this. A Lot of his personality, relationships, and actions are retconned which is weird for someone like madeline miller who claims to care about the mythology and accuracy of her “retellings” to do. The first thing I really hate is his relationship with Thetis, his mother. Her overall characterization is horrible, in the iliad she is a caring mother who might be slightly overbearing but she isn’t nearly as bad as she is in this. Her interactions with Patroclus automatically turns the reader against her even after finding out she was forced into marriage.

AND SPEAKING OF MARRIAGE. I will say this over and over and over again. Achilles was sexually attracted to women and men (or at least patroclus). You have no idea how angry I get when I see posts talking about how Achilles was gay. Because 2 things 1. No he wasn’t, he was just Greek literally no one would care about him having a male lover (expect maybe Peleus even then it would be more about the heir aspect of yk having a wife) the only point anyone has a thing to say about his relationship with Patroclus in a negative light is in  that one Shakespearean play where they just complain that they are having too much sex and aren’t doing anything. And Actually saying he was gay is weird because they didn’t have a word for it (Well actually that's kind of a lie they had pederasty, eromenos, and Kinaidos but uh) and 2. He had a wife and at least 1 sex slave of which I will get into later. But on to the marriage thing, His marriage to Deidamia wasn’t her sexually assaulting him or really even forced by thetis like it's implied (actually in one account its said that Achilles sexually assaulted her) but like no, in most versions they just started a intimate relationship while he was in disguise and eventually got married and then he left for war. She wasn’t a big character in the Iliad but she was nowhere near as antagonistic and Madeline miller describes her as. Another fun fact actually Neoptolemus was never taken by thetis?, I don’t know where Madeline got that from but it was in none of the sources I read. But Deidamia actually begged and tried to convince Neoptolemus not to go to war just like Thetis did with Achilles. And Actually let me get to the sex slave  Briseis, someone everyone loves in tsoa but her original character is nice, like actually she doesn’t have a lot of screen time but she is a good character, she was someone of decent standing reduced to a sex slave and a prisoner of war and a thing to be passed off and taken away at a king's wish not to mention she was promised that she would be married but achilles died before they had the chance and when his son arrived and wanted her she would rather try to run away and die in the process then be handed off to him. She is an amazing character and she is a good representation of what war looked like for the people taken captive but in tsoa she is made to be a pity character only used to make the main characters look like good men. I have nothing else to say at least right now anyway I may add to this later but yeah

#the iliad #ancient greek mythology #greek mythology #achilles #greek myth #anti madelin miller #anti tsoa #tsoa #rant #hate rant #neoptolemus #patroclus #deidamia #tagamemnon

[feroluce]

I've decided Ingo and Irida can bang once, under sex pollen circumstances, because it would be hilarious.

My ideal is that it's actually only Ingo who gets sex pollened, so poor Ingo is kind of a hot mess and meanwhile Irida is totally fine and normal and just trying to take care of her Warden. Hisui has different values and views than Unova, and Irida just. She does not care. She doesn’t see what the big deal is. She thinks Ingo is the weird one. And I think Ingo would be appalled by his own behavior later and be embarrassed about it and he's cute and funny when he's suffering through his own self-imposed Catholic Guilt akldjlafsjdlka

Ingo has some weird reaction to a pokemon attack or whatever on his way to the main settlement, so he isolates himself in an empty hut reserved for clan members from outside of the icelands. Irida eventually goes to check on him, because this is extremely unusual behavior. Ingo is typically pretty social, and as clan leader, he always goes to her to announce his arrival first thing.

Irida finds him basically in a rut, Ingo has shoved himself into a corner of the bed up against the wall and bundled up under all the blankets, all she sees at first are two silver cat eyes staring out at her. He feels weird, like he's burning up with a fever, and he can't sit still, he keeps shifting around uncomfortably. Irida asks what's up with him and Ingo takes way too long to answer, he keeps trailing off like he can barely think and just staring at her.

Irida finally declares that she knows what's wrong with him, she's seen this before! And if they leave this alone, it'll get way way worse before it gets better, but luckily Irida knows what to do for it! Ingo sags forward with relief because oh, thank goodness, he feels wretched, like the worst flu and just miserably uncomfortable, it's already been a couple hours and he can't take much more of this.

And then he sits back up and nearly keels right over again because WHY ARE YOU STRIPPING?!?!?

Irida: ??? You've seen me bare before, we've been in the hot springs together more than once?

Ingo: BUT THIS ISN'T THE HOT SPRINGS. ///

(Ingo says this facing the wall with his hand over his eyes because he turned around so fast it made him dizzy skzjskskx)

Ingo is very determinedly staring at a spot on the wall and he nearly jumps out of his skin when Irida just casually crawls up onto the bed and sits behind him. Irida tells him he can suffer through it if he really wants to, of course. She doesn't really get why he would, but she's seen people make that decision before. The clan will watch over him until it passes. Ingo asks how long it will last, because he already plans on doing so.

Irida: Days.

Ingo: ...

Irida: Several days, sometimes.

Ingo: ......

Irida: The longest recorded was maybe almost a fortnight?

Ingo: ............

It's only been hours and Ingo is already feeling desperate, and he's going to be like this for days? Possibly over a week? And Irida mentioned it would get worse? Ugh, just kill him.

But then Irida presses up against his back and even through all his clothes and the blankets, Ingo can feel her body and it's weirdly relieving for his current condition, like a heat pack on a sore muscle. Irida tells him he can do that, OR he can just let her help him. No one's ever died of this or anything, but it can get dangerous. Irida wants to help! Ingo is one of hers now. And she doesn't want to risk the life of one of her people.

Ingo doesn't really say anything, but he uncurls a little bit and stops gripping the blankets around him quite so tight, which she takes as a good sign! He has his knees drawn up to his chest, so she has to straddle his feet and lower legs a bit to make it work, but Irida manages to wedge herself between Ingo and the wall so she can at least get him to look at her and give her a straight answer. Ingo tries to start speaking a couple times, but he can't quite seem to string words together, he trails off just like earlier, staring at her like how Irida has seen people stare at the hot springs after being half frozen in the wastes of the icelands.

Irida nods and tells him physical touch is supposed to help, takes the hand that Ingo hadn't even realized he'd reached out, and sets it on her shoulder. She manages to get him to give her his other one, too, and sets it on her waist, and Ingo sighs. It really does help. It's not even that it feels good, it's just that he feels less bad.

Irida presses in closer, happily and proudly rambling poetic about how it must be a blessing of Almighty Sinnoh, that the cure for something so terrible is simply for two bodies to share the same space together so closely they interlock, isn't it nice?

The next morning, Ingo wakes up all groggy, and just kinda lays there blinking at the ceiling for several minutes until he realizes he hears someone else in the hut with him. So he rolls over and almost immediately has a fucking heart attack because there's Irida, still naked, kneeling in front of the fire and poking at with a stick trying to get it going again.

Ingo finally croaks out a quiet little please help me and Irida pats his arm and tells him of course she will. He's her Warden, he can lean on her when he needs to. 💕

She has bruises! And handprints! And oh god, did he seriously leave those bite marks on her?! NOOOOOO-

He behaved as though a depraved animal! A beast!! He shouldn't even be allowed near people anymore!!

Ingo is facing the corner, moping and red-faced and dealing with his Catholic Guilt, and meanwhile Irida is trying to decide what she wants for breakfast VSKDKXJKSKXKX

===========================

(About three weeks later, just when he's almost able to look her in the eye again, Ingo goes to Irida to report on some happening in the highlands. Irida pats him and tells him good boy. Ingo lights up and all but purrs for a second before his brain catches up like WAIT WHAT, NO.

Irida: Oh. Is that not ok? You liked being called that that one time.

Ingo, steaming red face in his hands: MY LADY, PLEASE.)

((Gaeric is unfortunately within earshot when this happens, and he laughs so hard he wheezes, and then when he and Irida depart, he slaps Ingo on the back so hard he stands straight for a few minutes afterwards ndodjwkskmdkx))

#nobokai #pla ingo #pla irida #pokemon legends ingo #pokemon legends irida #Ingo's Catholic Guilt vs Irida being dense as a brick FIGHT #they're such an amazing combination for stupidity I love them so much #(I know a lot of that is probably just me but like. you know kdlsajdkl) #nearly faceplanted into my steering wheel thinking about this afterwards but like #I love the thought of Hisui also not sharing Unova's weird ickiness around virginity and the concept of it #anyway Irida just casually saying over breakfast that oh so that's what sex is like she guesses she can see why so many people seem into it #and Ingo having a crisis while choking on his food because OH GOD HE TOOK HER FIRST TIME TOO NOOOOOOOO JFKDLSAJFKLDASJDFKLJAD #ingirida #submas #ingo #warden ingo #irida #suggestive

[gayleviticus]

i think dantes plan for gaining the philosophers stone in fma 03 feels kindve awkward on a plot level, because yu'd expect the logical synthesis of 'philosophers stone is made of people' and 'causing wars to make the stone' would be 'amestris is genociding people in order to directly churn them into a Stone'

so the fact 03 instead goes for the more convoluted 'war and disaster makes people desperate for the Stone which means they will massacre others to make it' seems a really weird and unnecessary bump in the road plotwise against the straightforward elegance of 'cause war to make the stone yourself'. and yes, there is a plot reason given for it (or at least implied?): making the Stone requires both great skill and is very dangerous, so Dante doesn't want to do it herself. but I get the feeling that surely after 500 years and with a military dictatorship full of state alchemists at her disposal she could have found a more reliable method for having others make the Stone than 'cause trouble and hope someone is both smart and reckless enough to make it'

BUT I think it's another one of those 03 writing decisions that is messy plotwise but extremely interesting theme wise, because I think it helps tie together a lot of the big threads to do with war and equivalent exchange. the philosophers stone is a fabled treasure that lets you bypass equivalent exchange; except that's not true at all because making it requires the tremendous cost of thousands of human lives.

im having a bit of a hard time piecing my thoughts together here but i think eds line towards the finale about how there's no war we aren't involved is really important. the elrics began their journey believing in the fairy tale philosophers stone and joined the genocidal military because it was convenient to them. they believed that equivalent exchange would mean all their hard work would pay off eventually, but I think in another sense they didn't really understand that equivalent exchange means actions have consequences. just as the prosperity of powerful nations and its citizens comes from imperialism, so too does the magic of the philosophers stone stem directly from violence and bloodshed of war.

but the thing is, if dantes plan was just to have the military make the stone directly from war and massacre... it would be s typical evil bad guy plot and nasty and evil but nothing to do with our heroes. but the fact her plan relies on individuals seeking the stone changes things up I think - if ed and al were just a bit more ruthless that could very much have been them. The War for the philosophers stone very much has something to do with them. it's not an evil scheme they're helplessly embroiled in as victims.

and the fact this then means scar turns the tables on the military to make them into a Stone is also v interesting because it manages to be such a nuanced depiction. the elrics are clearly against it. but 03 often depicts the elrics as wrong and naive in their ideals, and it's undeniable the amestrian soldiers have done terrible terrible things in liore. scar is no longer even really an anti villain, but an anti hero, and his final act is to bequeath the stone as a gift to alphonse. but at the same time, even if we find scars motives here deeply sympathetic - the fact is it's still exactly what Dante wanted, all the same.

and so I think the Liore arc manages to have this really nuanced and open to interpretation depiction of violence and vengeance and killing that doesn't feel preachy but also doesn't flinch from being very upfront about the stakes. if we want to celebrate scar killing 7000 soldiers as an unambiguously good thing there's the awkward fact that Dante doesn't care who dies to make the Stone as long as it gets made. But it's hard to disapprovingly tut tut about how killing is bad and revenge is bad when characters like scar and Rose are so sympathetic and understandable.

not to mention of course the fact that Dante herself fully rejects the concept of equivalent exchange and hence of taking responsibility for her actions, even as she fancies herself as humanity's guardian. she wants other people to do the work for her and then swoop in just so she can live a little bit longer. she herself never comes even close to paying the price for the Stone.

#anyway tldr is i think dantes scheme re the stone allows for the stone to be thematically important in a lot of diff ways #than if it was just 'the government is churning people into stones through war' #fma 03 #fma 2003 #fma 03 meta #fma #my posts #fma 03 spoilers #fullmetal alchemist 2003

[rdng1230]

More Ted Lasso Musings

Before I start let me say once again that this season has contained absolutely wonderful moments and is still a wonderful bit of light in a buuuuunch of darkness. Also spoiler warning.

Cool, so I've figured out what's bothering me this season and its that they're either showing us everything and telling us nothing, or showing us nothing (of actual character significance) and telling us everything. in the showing us everything and telling us nothing category we've got my love Keeley Jones. I feel like we've spent a massive amount of time at KJPR and I still feel like I'm scratching my head as to what they were trying to tell us. They've set Keeley up to be this incredibly competent and bright person, and when they give her her shot it all goes to shit. and I get it "you can't always get what you want" so says the song for this season's trailer, but I'm struggling to understand the thing that she got that she needed that she didn't already have. She had Rebeccas love and support, I mean she has Roy back but this does not seem like the show where the moral of a long story about her starting her own business is that she has her boyfriend back. I actually would love people's take on what you think we're supposed to get out of Keeley's storyline.

Onto the telling but not showing category we got my guy Nate the Great. He has been so totally short changed this season on his redemption arc. It is HARD to become a better person. It is HARD to admit you fucked up. It is HARD to turn against your own knee jerk insecurities and reactions. It is ESPECIALLY HARD to do that in an environment that is actively incentivizing you to act on those insecurities and reactions. So even though I absolutely believe Nate deserving and capable of these huge leaps forward in overcoming his own internal crap, I think we've completely sidelined that narrative of what's pushing him to actually take those huge leaps forward. At the end of season 2, it was clear Nate was really struggling, and I'm not gonna lie I hated the way he treated those around him, like Beard said it was "personal, and weird" but I also felt a huge amount of sympathy and compassion because no one gets that way without something horrible happening to them first. So when the last scene of season 2 happened and he was teased as this big time villain, I was sad, but not surprised. I expected him to get his redemption, but I also expected that to be a really difficult journey for him where he was likely going to get worse before he got better. So now we're in season 3 and he suddenly just makes all these huge leaps forward, they feel from out of nowhere, not because I don't feel like he's capable of it, but rather that should've been more difficult to do, and also it should've been a moment of great personal triumph for Nate! The way I think of it is imagine if Rebecca had just waltzed into teds office in season 1 and confessed about the sabotage with no context. Sure we would've believed her capable of it, sure we would've believed she deserved forgiveness, but we all would've been scratching our heads as to what made her have this reckoning within herself. they would've told us Rebecca changed instead of shown why and how she changed like what they're doing with Nate.

I actually think there's so many parallels between the relationship of Nate and Jade and the relationship of Roy and Jamie. Both Nate and Roy made stupidly bad and self destructive decisions around the end of last season. Both are in a low point in their emotional journeys, almost all of Nathan's emotional scenes have been with Jade while all of Roy's emotional scenes have been with Jamie. The thing is, that's not where their respective internal work really needs to get done? Nate already took the plunge and asked out Jade last season, and Roy already showed real vulnerability when he hugged Jamie after the thing with his dad (not that I think that means everything wrapped up with a shiny bow or anything, but just that each character has much bigger fish to fry in terms of character growth) I do think Nate and Jade have become really cute just as Roy and Jamie's scenes have felt ripped straight out of a fluffy fanfic. but do these scenes actually show us that Nate/Roy are getting better? We've already seen Nate being an absolute sweetheart with the women in his life who he loves, his mother, his niece (even if we didn't actually see her till this season it was clear that they had a very warm and positive relationship) and Keeley, so him being able to be vulnerable and open up with Jade is lovely, but not really that new of a territory. If we could just see Nate having a shift maybe with his coaching staff or the West Ham players, this would feel more meaningful because we saw him struggle way more with people he perceives as part of his own hierarchy structure. Its the same with Roy. We've seen Roy open up to Jamie in the past so their relationship, while fucking adorable, is not doing anything to address the real struggle inside Roy that he's ignoring. It would be way more meaningful to see Roy have moments where he chooses to have joy instead of running away. Instead we get scenes like where the sports pundit squad just says oh by the way Nate left West Ham, in the same way that Ms. Bowen says to Roy that he seems less stuck. Umm what? Since when? what happened? All tell and no show. Or showing only the least character growth relevant scenes and then just be like oh by the way they fixed it.

reblog and comment away because I'm interested in people's take on this.

#ted lasso #keeley jones #nate shelley #wonderkid #Roy Kent #Jamie Tartt

[kravisaweeb]

okay ive just been thinking about bkdk wayy too much recently (when am i not, though, honestly?) and i just Have to dump my thoughts somewhere. these are my own personal opinions and if you don't agree 100% (or at all) that's perfectly fine!

it's kinda Long and Rambly so beware lmao

so ive been reading more bkdk meta (of course) and like, i have so many conflicting feelings cause. y'all, no amount of evidence and logic and reasoning and thematic and narrative parallels and development and arc conclusions and build-up and Everything will make a weekly shonen jump main title gay. that's My opinion as a terribly bitter cynic, and it is in no way meant to rain on other people's parades (if you think they will be canon, you are more optimistic than i and are making the world a sweeter place). I've just been burnt too many times, i don't really expect anything from mainstream media At All—only indie content gets my unfiltered hype and hopes—and whenever things do shake up differently from what i thought, it's a nice surprise! cause the alternative is, This Mountain of Evidence and Development... and then oops get hit with the straightification beam on the last second.

"but it would be so unsatisfying! and completely out of nowhere! and just plain out of character! and ignore so much development! and it wouldn't make any sense at all with what has been established in the story!" Yeah. i know! im as angry and annoyed and disappointed about it as anyone. and yet, so many fucking times, that's how it goes. it would be terrible, and weird, and completely against everything that's been set up, and yet it would happen anyway. this is true even for things that are not shipping-related—ask game of thrones how it ended. cause executives are Executives everywhere, including the "west", which is """"supposedly"""" more liberal (lol, lmao). people with money that make all the decisions force creatives to comply, or fight with tooth and nail and blood and sweat and tears into allowing them to make the story they DO want to make. so it's really hard for me to see it in any other light, when i have seen it happen so many times before.

and yet.

And Yet. i cant help but think, but wonder—what is it all for then, anyway??

i can honestly say, taking off my shipping goggles for a moment, bkdks platonic relationship has ended. it really ended two years ago, culminating when bkg took a bullet for him, and then was cemented when he apologised, you know, to trample down any doubts. there we go, narrative concluded! from rival to best friend. all loose threads tied in terms of their relationship. if that's how it had ended, how it had stagnated, remained in stasis, with this New Dynamic the new canon going into the final battle then show over. yeah. typical shonen bestie stuff. it would have ended and i would have gone "oh they were in LOVE fr" forever, but knowing that people who were like "this is what besties are like! this is what siblings are like!" also had as much of a claim to their interpretation as mine (even if i didn't personally agree w it lmao)

BUT IT DIDN'T STOP THERE and i have to ask why???? WHY is it more central i Don't Get It. i dont understand? i really dont get it cause.... why? bkg is important to deku, yes. other people are also important to deku (all might, his mom, his other friends, civilians, any lost pet he has to kill himself over cause he is a Good Caring Shonen Protag). that has been established for forever. so i don't rly understand the necessity to further highlight that One part of his personality (caring about kacchan) to motivate him into fighting the Big Bad Villain, when 1. he would've fought the villain anyway cause that's what heroes do, and 2. it could have been a generic "you hurt my friends!!" and like lump in more people there, like in the first war arc where several people got hurt (aizawa, gran torino, etc).

but No! you hurt that guy. that guy, that while he was dying, the villain, textually, explicitly says, "i am hurting you because it will make deku angry and sad, since you are his most important person" (that's almost a fucking quote im basically QUOTING here). and it's like, what? lmao wait. what?? why???

what is it building up towards?? i dont get it. it's not going to build up to the apology/their relationship being mended (what we thought would be the climax of the whole thing), cause that already happened. there's no "oh my god if kacchan dies he'll never get to say sorry!" stakes, or "oh my god if deku fails he'll never be able to be friends with kacchan again!" stakes, cause like, that already did happen though. i mean i know obviously in real life, you do things for people just for their sake, not because of what it will mean for your narrative arc. but this is a made up story and thus needs storytelling reasons for shit to happen. so what is the reason for deku needing to be pushed, needing to be backed into a corner, over kacchan dying? why did bakugo have to die (had to get FRIDGED, it's a trope and everything), if not so that his death would fuel dekus rage (which we were told explicitly was the reason why)? why, out of everyone on the battlefield, out of everyone in the CAST, did it have to be bakugo, the one to make deku Lose It?

i mean we know why, but still. what? is it really, textually, canonically That?

i just don't get it. and secretly, deep deep inside, i really hope we get to find out soon

#bkdk #dkbk #bkdk meta #idk how to tag this lol #it's just me rambling!! cause i have so many FEELINGS

[oddlyhale]

Tough Luck brainrot rewrite of V7-V8:

Winter had been so worried about becoming the next Winter Maiden that she felt unsure of how to talk about her worries. Clover had always been there to hear her out.

Like Ironwood, Winter sometimes lets herself silently spiral too much into worrying about the big and little things. Clover was always there to bring her back to not think so hard and to trust that the others have everything on their ends figured out, that she shouldn't try to micromanage everything.

Winter is the one that highly suggests that Team RWBY+JNR go out to train with the Ace Ops. She speaks highly of them, especially of Clover. Weiss jokingly suggests Winter may have a crush, which Winter bashfully denies.

Clover, though, does admit to Qrow that he really does like Winter, so this entire process of her becoming the next maiden has quietly worried him. He doesn't want her to become the newest target for Cinder and Salem. Qrow, while not always being the best at advice, gives some of what he knows, learning from his own past mistakes. To be honest, something he wishes he was with Summer.

Winter and Clover are getting closer throughout V7. They have a moment alone where it seems like Clover is ready to commit himself to her, when suddenly, Cinder and co. attack. They have to separate to deal with the different villains.

Clover gets killed by Tyrian and Qrow's poor decision-making. Winter is attacked by Cinder. She is radioed by the Ace Ops that have arrested Qrow and Robyn, as well as Watts and Jacques. That is where she learns that Clover is dead. She knows Qrow was with Clover last, so she decides to ask him what exactly happened.

This doesn't exactly go well. Winter is distraught by the news that the person she romantically loved is dead and she never got a chance to tell him how much she loved him.

Clover's body is not on the other side of the hall from Winter's hospital room (that's fucking weird that it was set up like that in the first place.) Instead, after Winter is done recovering, she goes to see him in the morgue. She makes a promise to Clover that she will get the person that killed him.

Harriet, knowing Winter loved Clover deep down, gives her his lucky pin.

Winter learns how Clover died, though not through Qrow. Robyn tells her because Qrow was far too ashamed to admit what happened. Winter's feelings towards Qrow had soured greatly to the point where she says she would rather leave him with Jacques to rot than help him. While the anger was impulsive, Winter leaves without apologizing.

While fighting Ironwood, Winter feels stung by the situation. She saw Penny in the white void, knowing that she has died. Now, she needs to fight the man that she looked up to as a second father. Instead of blasting him with her new maiden powers, she tries to make him listen to reason, but to no avail. Instead, she leaves, easily avoiding the canon blasts with her new agility. She doesn't know what to do at that point.

At the end of V8, when Winter becomes the next maiden, she is once against struck with grief that she couldn't save Weiss from falling. She keeps losing the people she loves so fast that it makes her feel horrible that she isn't fast or strong enough for them. She still helps get the survivors out to Vacuo's desert, but she still cries silently about the four losses in such a short amount of time.

The whole time during V8, Winter could be seen wearing the lucky pin on her lapel.

#winter schnee #clover ebi #tough luck #v7 and v8 rewrite for a ship #winter schnee x clover ebi

[aeirithgainsborough]

I have a bit of a hot take regarding tlou/tlou2 which is that sometimes a parent will make a decision that goes against a child's wishes for their own wellbeing. I've heard it said "What parent wouldn't make the choice Joel did" and I think it relates to that, taking in everything with the fireflies and that Ellie is A Child, I think Joel was in the right to make that choice for her. I hope this doesn't come across as dismissive of Ellie, because I'm more trying to think of it from the point of view of a parent. Sorry this was so long.

i honestly think this is a very normal take and any to the contrary i find so baffling lol. like look we can debate all day about whether joel did the morally right or wrong thing in terms of the wider world and in regards to his lying too. i personally think he lied to alleviate ellie of this burden she was carrying that she personally had to save the world to make it up to her loved ones that they died and she didn’t. in the context of him telling her that he’d struggled with surviving but you had to find something to live for i can see his wish for her to not carry that burden cus ofc as a parent you wouldn’t want that and for me i think it’s a bit of a superficial take to say he saved her and then lied out of selfishness cus he couldn’t bear to lose her bcus whilst yes it benefits him too, i don’t see that as his primary reasoning - I think this is backed up too when he tells ellie that he’d do the whole thing again. that’s so striking to me cus the (stupid) consequence of his actions was losing a kid for a second time but despite that pain, knowing that consequence, he’d do it again. doesn’t smack of selfishness for me, i think that’s incredibly selfless of him actually considering he’d lost a kid before and took so long to get over it. but that’s MY interpretation and everyone’s will be different and i can at least acknowledge that.

but this continued nonsense about joel doing the wrong thing for ellie when he saved her bcus he was taking away her agency makes me want to die actually. it’s so fucking weird. ellie is ready to die bcus of TRAUMA. and that’s not actually a good reason to let a 14yr old kid die. if we wanna talk about agency/autonomy let’s talk about how the fireflies were attempting to manipulate/exploit ellie’s trauma and survivor’s guilt in order to justify what they were going to with her, cus that’s far more fucked up and is what ACTUALLY takes away ellie’s agency. it so fucking exploitative. ‘you know she’d want this’ well first of all then at least have the decency to actually ask her and second of all yeah i think she’d have agreed to it but wanting to out of guilt and trauma isn’t actually a free choice lol? and there should be no fucking debate on that. joel absolutely did the right thing to stop them.

i think a big part of this agency/autonomy thing is a result of part 2 lol. i think it’s easy to use it as some war cry to justify why joel had absolution coming to him and deserved to be beaten to death the disgusting way he was. almost as though it’s some sort of justification for abby and liking her. joel had it coming blah blah he stole the cure from the world and he took away ellie’s agency go abby!! which is just bullshit imo but what can you do.

what i think is the biggest shame of all is that part 2, in its attempt to justify a complete estrangement between joel and ellie so that her suffering would be Worse when he died (cus they didn’t give her enough trauma in that horrible game), went with this idea of ellie being mad that joel took away her chance to have a life that mattered. that fucking sucks for me cus she’s my favourite character and i wanted more for her. i wanted to see her overcome that trauma and let go of her guilt by realising it wasn’t her fault her friends died and i most of all wanted her to realise her life ALWAYS mattered and that’s why joel saved her. instead ofc the narrative wouldn’t work unless we had 25 hours of it being shoved down our throats that joel was so Wrong for saving ellie that they didn’t examine his actions and the reasons with any nuance or care, it was just so superficial and boring and heavy handed. how sad that at 14 ellie was ready to die bcus of trauma and thought her life didn’t matter/have value unless she was a cure and at 19 she still thought her life didn’t matter cus she wasn’t a cure. she deserved better. from the narrative AND this fandom that, if they actually cared about her as a character, wouldn’t keep banging on about joel taking away her agency/autonomy and would have wanted to see the same growth in her i wanted to see instead of thinking it’s some great masterpiece that she’s completely stagnant, even after she’s been tortured relentlessly for 25 straight hours lmao. i find it all so bizarre to see ppl claim to care about ellie but don’t see anything wrong with how the devs treated her in order to tell their misery porn story. these are the same ppl who so patronisingly write on this app about how they’re ‘the real fans’ (ive had this directed to me personally) cus they were sooooo clever to understand part 2 lmfaoooo.

anyway this got away from me and was far bitchier in parts than id intended it to be ajsjjs it just Grinds My Gears when this agency crap comes up cus it’s ridiculous BUT yes i agree with you completely.

#the last of us spoilers #tlou2 #tlou

[justatalkingface]

You seem to have a really good grasp of Bakugo's character, and his character flaws in the story. Although it's more of a theory than a criticism, I was wondering if I could run something by you, a thought I had that would make Bakugo's character make a little more sense.

What if all of the inconsistency in bakugo is intentional? Like what if the truth of Bakugo's goals and arc, and his decisions was all to get one thing? One For All

Because Bakugo knows OFA can be given, he partially knew because izuku told him, then (for some reason!) All might told him everything else confirming that. Though the second bnha movie is only kind of canonical, I always found it weird how bakugo didn't remember anything about getting OFA, and judging by the dialogue had no intention of even attempting to give it back to izuku.

Bakugo seems to learn these valuable lessons and then goes back to doing the exact same thing, like you said in your post, which makes it not feel genuine. So like, what if it isn't genuine? And he was only acting like he needed to so he could get things the way he wanted them to be?

Bakugo isn't stupid, he's actually very perspective, not overly intelligent but it seems like he's always been pretty good at strategy. So at least to me it doesn't seem like it'd be that big of a stretch to think that bakugo would be smart enough to tell people what they want to hear when it matters, with the kid at the gang orca test, then to all might and midoriya.

And while it might seem his 'sacrifice' for izuku might debunk this theory, it's also true that bakugo has always been willing to sacrifice his body to win, like he himself said in the fight with izuku against all might. What if that sacrifice wasn't for izuku in the first place, but One For All?

I can't account for how all the other characters constantly cover for/praise him but the hero's side has never been good at not doing that, when it's someone that the heroes need, endeavor is proof of that. Maybe that's intentional too?

I'd really like to know what you think about this theory, if you think it's just too crazy or if it might have some merit. Thanks!

...You know, I kind of hate that I can't dismiss this instantly. Like, part of me started nodding before I even finished reading.

Let's separate 'What Hori Is Showing Us' Bakugou from 'what the hell a realistic person could be like' Bakugou for the purposes of this, because barring some truly unexpected, mind screwing levels of a turns table move, I honestly doubt that Hori is going to make the fan favorite, *gasp*, look bad, but that actually... makes a lot of sense?

...If we ignore how literally everyone else falls over themselves to praise him, like you said.

So, on the face of it, the obvious problem is that Bakugou's sin is Pride as much as Wraith, and he's canonly so damn stubborn he's willing to accept an obvious loss just so he doesn't look bad... ignoring that losing because you're too proud makes you look bad, but whatever, Bakugou logic. So not only would he be too proud to 'demean' himself to even get the Quirk, he's also too proud to even want that outside assistance of someone else's Quirk, because, Ra Ra, Bakugou is the best, he'll do everything himself, what the fuck ever.

The thing is, with that very incident, and with others, Bakugou did learn things, he did get it forced through his thick skull that he's not the top dog (granted, he now thinks he's second, and deep down part of him might even admit he's third or fourth, depending on the status of AFO and/or Shigaraki, but, again, Bakugou Logic(TM)). Moreover, it's been pounded into his head that Deku, the helpless, worthless nerd who could never be his equal, never even hope to reach the bottom of his shoes, has gone zero to hero just with the power of this Quirk, and through that alone he's close to equalling him, if not surpassing him, something he'd only admit in the darkest corner of his heart (again, we're ignoring: all the work Izuku has done on and off screen to improve himself, his actual fucking name, and that later on Izuku's power levels just... go fucking nuts, because this is from Bakugou's limited, prejudiced perspective, and this would have to happened before the power ups started, back when Izuku with a Quirk for less than a year was just rivaling Bakugou, who had his most his life).

Beyond that, there's also the fact that he's been an enormous All Might fanboy right until he started talking to him about OFA (and presumably learning he's a Mere Mortal, not worth Bakugou's precious time/respect, and also I'm still convinced Hori hates All Might's guts and so loves to make him seem pathetic at every possible opportunity), and as one fic put it, getting All Might's Quirk, even more than its absurd raw power, is in fact the ultimate piece of All Might merch. Even if it wasn't something he could tell the public (and we all know he'd tell the public at some point), the sheer status of having One For All, All Might's Quirk, has to be heady for someone in MHA's society, where All Might is the closest thing to a living god.

So, even in the face of his overwhelming pride, this, for the power and/or the prestige of it, is something I could see him lower himself to act humbled for, for a time. And that's the only major objection, from a character perspective, I could see to this kind of theory.

In the actual execution of it there are, of course, problems, as you've pointed out, but let's put that aside for the moment to think about how it'd go:

Bakugou, at this point in time, would have been getting more and more uneasy that a stupid 'Deku' is actually being real competition, and fast growing one at that. He also probably noticed that All Might was spending extra time with Izuku, which would piss him off... and then Kamino happened.

In the midst of all that emotional turmoil he realizes that Izuku was chosen over him, and, through that, the implication that that Quirk can be given. And it bugs him, that someone this unworthy can have something so great, so beyond him, when there are others more deserving.

And maybe that's not the exact time he comes up with this plan, but the seed of it is born from his discontent and that knowledge, and at some point between then and the exam, the first major time since then he has a big heroic moment, or even as he takes the make up, he comes up with an idea, as audacious as it is 'brilliant': what if he makes Izuku give him the Quirk?

Because Bakugou is smart (high Int, anyways, even if Wis is clearly his dump stat), and he's got to be aware that Izuku is only a few steps above suicidal, between his non-existent self worth and how he treats his body. As is, one day he'll get himself killed, or crippled to a point where heroic work is no longer feasible. And if that happens?

One For All would have to go to someone else, or else it would die with him, and Izuku would never let that happen, never let that heroic legacy die with him, let down his beloved mentor, as long as there was another option. And who better than his childhood friend?

Of course, even if he's truly refusing to admit fault, he's aware that All Might chose Izuku over him (indirectly, since All Might barely knew he existed before UA, and there's no reason for him to be considered as a candidate, but Bakugou Logic(TM)), for some reason. He also knows that driving Izuku away means he's less likely to be there when Izuku inevitably falls in battle, and that probably he's going to have be around Izuku more, and that he'll probably be a better candidate, when that time comes, if he behaves like Izuku, the kid who got All Might's Quirk.... for some reason.

Because, yeah, even if, intellectually, he gets that Izuku has traits All Might sees as desirable, as heroic, if he actually got it, understood it on a deeper, more emotional level that this is what it means to be a hero, he'd change his behavior in real ways, not performative ones. This theory revolves around, among other things, Bakugou understanding heroism at a similar level to AFO, who can predict it, generally, understands that 'this is what a hero would do in that situation', but doesn't understand why they would do that, and instead thinks they're all morons who refuse to work for their own best interests.

It says a lot that I don't think it's a big reach that Bakugou's moral understanding of heroism isn't that far from AFO's.

And so he starts to act.... and that's the point where the plan falls apart.

Because Bakugou maybe be smart (or 'smart'), but for all his many, many flaws, he's generally brutally honest about what he's feeling, and so I don't think he'd be good at deception. Sure, he gets the dramatic moments where he's like, 'Yeah, I'm being so heroic saving Deku!' or something, but he can't contain his constant, festering disdain for everyone around him, Izuku especially.

And that leads to the flaws of this theory: first, like you're aware of, that people should notice this, how he's acting, his utterly transparent contempt, even though they never, ever do, and thus ruin everything for him. The second is I honestly don't think he's patient enough to not blow it, to not just angrily shout, 'Damn it, Deku, give me All Might's Quirk already!' at some point when he inevitably loses his shit over someone breathing in his general vicinity or something.

So, do I think this is going to be canon? Never. Like I said, this would make Bakugou look absolutely awful, and we all know Hori will never allow that.

At the same time, though, I think this theory (which I'm calling 'One For Bakugou' in my mind, because it sounds entirely selfish and thus fits this perfectly) is the best, and only, explanation I've ever heard (beyond being tsundere), to explain how he acts in the later half of the story.

#ask #bnha critical #mha critical #bakugou critical #crack theory time #i guess #i kinda hate that this makes sense #i'm dubbing this the 'one for bakugou' theory for the record #because this wasn't named and it fits too well #and it amuses me #one for bakugou