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kcrossvine-art · 1 year

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hi friends! :D y'all voted and fought neck and neck for this SO- heres the first entry into our little cooking journey of J. R. R. Tolkeins fictional food for his fictional little guys he puts in fictional turmoils for our enjoyment and awe!

Before we get started i wanna say i owe my heart to all the LotR fans who upkeep the wiki, debate the cannon, and create their own versions of the foods mentioned. Both because of my love for people who LOVE (passionate people)(passion about anything) and because my own knowledge of this series is a little dusty. I've never seen the movies but I did read the books growing up. I'll be learning and remembering things from a fairly newbie standpoint, so no worries if you yourself arent familiar with the series! (and if you are familiar, hopefully youll forgive me!)

We will be making Lembas ('waybread') today! If you've made your own version of this please feel free to share it, similarly if you have any ideas for what we make next!

(As always you can find the cooking instructions and full ingredient list under the break-)

MY NAMES CROSS NOW LETS COOK LIKE ANIMALS

SO, “what goes in to Lembas?” YOU MIGHT ASKWell so the funny thing is we kinda dont know. At least not entirely? The elves are dicks like that. But heres what we'll be using in ours-

Butter

Self-rising flour

Granulated Sugar

Raisins

A small dried fruit of your choosing

Almonds OR Pecans

EGG

Whole Milk

Heavy Cream

And if you would like for dipping-

Blackberry jam

To the extent i understand this is kinda like hardtack from the bri'ish military, but a fantastical version of it that actually tastes really good. Hardtack was a military provision with the texture of a brick that took a long time to spoil and could be easily carried with soldiers. So the texture we're going for is super dense, packed full with nuts and fruits (haha just lik-), but perhaps not that dense. We want something closer to a dog biscuit than actual tack.

I remembered something about corn being mentioned, thankfully the wiki clarified that no actually the british just referred to any grain as corn back in the day. Thank Fuck! Although I would like to try a version of this using masa in the future.

AND, “what does Lembas taste like?” YOU MIGHT ASK

Took a few tries but eventually got it perfectly chewy and dense

The raisins cook-in like little beads of flavortown sweetness

Cant speak for other fruits but for dried apple it softened up nicely, kinda matching the raisins in the end

Im a big pecan slut, pecans fuck on anything especially here. Crumble them on top after you coat the dough with the egg-mixture for some visual appeal

Somewhat flakey outside

The jam was my idea, it was nice but might be too sweet for some tastes

Would pair very well with a kiwi flavored drink

Or mead

I can see why this would a travelling provision. Its both sugary (a good thing when expending energy) and filling (also a good thing when youre travelling) while not being overwhelming with flavor (if youre prone to motion sickness. Horse sickness? Do get motion sickness on horses?)

Its like how if you're going hiking you want a good mix of sugars and salts, to balance your intake of water.

. If you wanna make it like the illustrations or the movie, use a cookie cutter for either triangles or squares . If you don't have a cookie cutter, an apple cutter also works ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . try to keep the board you'll roll the dough out onto chilled before you use it, it seems better for the texture of the food though i dont entirely know why

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So from beginning to end, it took about an hour and half for the first attempt. Down to about 40 minutes for the second attempt. These are a real simple recipe because its not like a croissant where the margin for error is nonexistent. Middle-earth be damned my boy can work a grill.

I'd recommend storing in a tubberware container, but if you're deadset on using leaves please rinse and dry them first, and wrap the bread in either wax paper or saran wrap underneath. We dont have mallorn leaves in real life (as far as we know) but most salad greens should work, or as Marie Porter says (linked in the reblogs!) a banana leaf.

I really enjoyed the process of making this recipe, itd be really easy to batch-bake these en masse, and the process of eating said recipe. Like all jokes aside, i think this would be a great substitute for trailmix. Its not going to get smushed and even if it breaks a bit it wont affect the taste. It wont keep you fed for a whole day but pair it with some pickles or a salty snack and yeah itll keep your motor running.

I give this recipe a solid 10/10 (with 1 being food that makes one physically sick and 10 being food that gives one a lust for life again.) Let me know if you think I got something wrong, or if you ran into issues with the recipe. We're off to a strong start, lads!

🐁 ORIGINAL RESIPPY TEXT BELOW 🐁

Ingredients:

6 TBSP butter, chilled

2 cups self-rising flour

1 TBSP granulated sugar

½ cup raisins

½ other dried fruit (strawberry slices, oranges, etc.), chopped

Handful of almonds or pecans, chopped

1 egg, well beaten

½ cup whole milk

4 TBSP heavy cream

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400 f.

Cut the butter into slivers/small pieces. With your hands, combine the butter into the flour in a mixing bowl until the mixture resembles coarse sand.

Chop your dried nuts and dried fruit until it feels right.

Mix in the sugar, raisins, nut, and dried fruit of your choosing

In a seperate bowl, beat the egg until combined, and then mix in the milk until combined. Keep a bit of this mixture to brush the tops of the bread.

Stir while adding the egg/milk mixture and the heavy cream into the flour. Mix just until combined into a soft dough.

Knead the dough until firm on a floured surface.

Roll into a half inch thickness and cut with a square or leaf shaped cookie cutter. (...or in my case, an apple corer).

Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, with about an inch of space between each piece. Brush the tops of the lembas with some of the mixture you saved earlier.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until it turns a soft gold and the inside is chewy.

#cross cooks lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #lotr art

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lorarri · 6 days

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★ . . . 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 , 𝐋𝐇𝟒𝟒

summary , Y/N's hate for her mothers new boyfriend is amplified after she is forced to spend more time with him will it fix there relationship or make it worse?

pairing , step dad! lewis hamilton x fem! young teen! reader

dexumoi . 2hrs ago

seen by lewishamilton yourinstagram 21,378,540 others

LEWIS

I don't think this is a good idea

Y/N's really mad at the both of us

she says she has to miss her archery training

and that she is gonna be under prepared for her competition after winter

NANA

Lewis sweetheart Y/N doesn't have any comps till march

Trust me baby she's just angry at her dad and she's taking it out on everyone

other than that she's harmless

LEWIS

she threatened to use me as target practice

NANA

I'll talk to her...

Y/N

Someone fucking kill me rn 💀

MINJI

what has he done?

Y/N

he's making this plane ride awkward af rn 😭😭

HANNIE

Are you doing anything to help the situation?

Y/N

Well I'm speaking in Korean in an attempt to get him to drop it

but so far it's not working

anyone got any ideas

DANIELLE

Pretend to fall asleep?

Y/N

Tried that during the car ride to the airport

and it made it so much worse

HAERIN

Why don't you try actually talking to him?

...

Y/N

...

MINJI

...

HANNIE

...

DANIELLE

...

HAERIN

dumb idea?

Y/N

very much so

but we move

HANNIE

I mean atleast he is easy on the eyes 👀

Y/N

suddenly I have gone blind 😘

HANNIE

WHAT?!?!?!

IT'S TRUE HE IS KINDA FINE 😔

Y/N

MINJI

I hate to say it but I agree with Hannie

It's the tattoo's 🤭

HANNIE

agreed x 2

DANIELLE

agreed x 3

HAERIN

agreed x4

Y/N

ew 🤮

tf am I friends with you guys again?

HANNIE

CUZ YOU LOVE US 💕💕

MINJI

and cuz you know u could NEVA

have basic white ass bitches as your besties 👯

DANIELLE

friends?

baby we are married?

HAERIN

you can't stay away boo 😒

you would miss us to much

since you are crazy in love with us obvi 🙄

Y/N

debatable 🤔

anyway I gotta go

mom wants me to have dinner with her and Lewis

see u in a bit

mwah 💋

HANNIE

UFFF

I'm praying for you rn 🙏

DANIELLE

someone keep the engin running

cuz we gonna end up breaking Y/N out of jail for murder by the end of this

Y/N

Facts.

I've already got the knife ready 🙂

MINJI

KNIFE?

WHAT FUCKING KNIFE

BABE YOU CAN'T DO EXAM'S FROM PRISON

OKAY OKAY OKAY

QUICK SOMEONE GET A BODY BAG READY AND A CAR

AND BLEECH

STAY CALM PEOPLE

WE KNOW THE DRILL

HAERIN

that my child yall 💅

read

nanayn . 2hrs ago

seen by yourinstagram minji 78,360,612 others

MOTHER

hi sweetheart

clear your scedual from

March 31st - April 2nd

Lewis has got us VIP tickets to the Australian gp

Isn't that exciting! read

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sapphic-agent · 9 months

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Let's Talk About the Bakugou Problem

I've been enjoying the Bakugou slander here on Tumblr, but I haven't come across anyone that gets to the root of the problem with Bakugou's character yet. I think it goes further than him having anger issues, being annoying, or even how violent and abusive he is. Why I think Bakugou is a bad character is due to the effect he has on the plot, world-building, and the rest of the characters. There's a lot of layers here, so I'd like to take the time to talk as in-detail as I can while typing on mobile.

*Note: I'll be following the anime as it's easier for me to follow and pick specific examples. Manga readers if you have anything to add I'd love to hear it, even if it's against what I've listed here*

*Note: Bakugou fans you're more than welcome to read, though I warn you might not like what you see. I tried to keep this as constructive as I could without letting my own biases seep in (whether I succeeded is up for debate) so that everyone could read it whether you like Bakugou or not. I'm fine with criticism towards my points, I only ask that you remain respectful. I won't engage with anyone who disrespects me or other users*

1. Consequences

This is a big one among Bakugou critics, so I think it's a pretty good place to start. Bakugou has almost never faced actual consequences to his actions (there's a difference between something bad that happens to happen to him and the world around him not accepting his behavior). There are two instances that I can think of that there was a direct ramification to something Bakugou has done. The first was during the Deku vs Kacchan fight where Bakugou does get suspended for four days while Izuku gets suspended for three days. The other is when he and Todoroki fail the provisional licensing exam. However, there's a problem with these two instances I mentioned.

With the D vs K fight, Bakugou was the one who goaded Izuku out of the dorms and instigated a fight. Izuku was trying to get him to go back to the dorms so they could settle their "issue" under adult supervision. He was trying to do the responsible thing. For Izuku to only receive a day less of punishment seems unfair. Though, you could make the case that he should have ignored Bakugou, it's still very clear that one was way more at fault than the other and there was barely a difference in their punishment.

The provisional licensing exam actually did well with failing Bakugou. It was almost a great lesson; that he can't say and do whatever he wants and expect the world to roll over for him. Unfortunately, it's undermined by Todoroki failing as well. Yes, Todoroki failed because of Inasa. But a) Inasa attacked him first which should have resulted in disqualification (what was Todoroki supposed to do, not fight back when he was being assaulted?) and b) Inasa's entire character seems shoehorned into the story. He doesn't really add anything to Todoroki's character as most of his problems with Todoroki were already resolved back in season 2. He also contributes nothing to the overall story. Shindou, for example, has a hand in testing 1A and forces them to work together congruently. Inasa seems like he was put in the story simply to make Todoroki fail. Why does Todoroki have to fail? Because Bakugou does.

It seems like Horikoshi always softens the blow for Bakugou in a way, if he's dealt any blow at all. By not allowing Bakugou to face consequences on his own, he might as well not be facing them at all.

Why are consequences so important? Because Bakugou's privilege is a problem.

I don't think I've seen anyone address this. The root of Bakugou's behavior comes from the fact that he was allowed to do all those terrible things because the world around him was tolerant of it. Teachers turned a blind eyes when he bullied Izuku because he had a great quirk and Izuku was quirkless. He's allowed to do and say whatever he wants because he has a great quirk. While people seem to be harder on Izuku because of either having no quirk or not being able to fully control his quirk. This is a huge part of the story that was set up in the beginning, but was almost never addressed despite being persistent throughout. And it's the most present with Aizawa.

Bakugou attempts to attack a fellow student the first day of class? Simply restrained, no repercussions. Bakugou uses excessive force against a classmate despite his teacher telling him to stop? Nothing more than a few not-so-nice words. Bakugou assaults his partner and refuses to cooperate? No words at all.

Now look at Izuku. Doesn't have full control of his quirk? His teacher attempts to humiliate and expel him in front of his classmates on the first day of class. Saves a classmate in an admittedly risky rescue mission? Said teacher proclaims he lost his trust and labels him a problem child (despite the orchestrator of said mission- Kirishima- being in the same room and not getting spoken to at all).

(I don't know if Aizawa's projecting, but pandering to the kid with the strong quirk while simultaneously disliking All Might isn't a great look.)

Even before UA, Bakugou is praised by the heroes for his strong quirk against the sludge villain despite the fact that his quirk made everything worse while Izuku is scolded even though they were the ones who did nothing while he did what he could to save someone.

"All men aren't created equal." That's one of Izuku's very first lines and a central point of the story. It's something you expect it to address multiple times, especially in regards to Izuku and Bakugou. But Bakugou being spared from consequences every single time he does something terrible means that the statement is validated, but the problem still persists and is never rectified or solved. Even if you think Bakugou "changed," that doesn't make his privilege go away.

2. Plot Compensation

The story goes out of its way to make Bakugou seem like a better person than he is.

My first example is the Sports Festival, specifically his fight with Uraraka. In this fight, Bakugou is met with booing from the audience for not going easy on her. And right off the bat, this is weird. Because not only have we never seen this attitude toward women heroes before or after this, the show is trying to tell us something when Aizawa tears the crowd down. Almost as if saying, "The crowd is dumb and wrong and if you think like the crowd, you're dumb and wrong." Aizawa claims that Bakugou is treating Uraraka like a real opponent by not going easy on her.

...is he though?

Because we never see Bakugou stand still in a fight like he does with her. Bakugou's fighting style relies a lot on mobility. During his fight with Tokoyami, who he knew he had an advantage over because of the light from his quirk, he isn't standing still. During his fight with Todoroki he isn't standing still. He only does this with Uraraka. Because this isn't Bakugou showing respect, it's him still looking down on her. He doesn't see her as a serious opponent, just an obstacle in his way.

And I know this sounds like a bold claim. But if you recall, Bakugou immediately confronts Izuku after the fight and accuses him of giving Uraraka the idea she used during their match. He assumes it was a ploy from Izuku, implying that he didn't think Uraraka capable of coming up with a plan with the potential to work against him. This isn't respect for an opponent.

(Note: the only thing in Bakugou's favor is it's probably not because she's a girl. He just naturally looks down on everyone who doesn't immediately stand out to him with a show of power like Todoroki)

Then we have the revered scene with the League or Villains.

This scene is praised because it "subverts expectations." That the violent, angry kid doesn't want to be a villain. He wants to be a noble hero. Aizawa- again- silences claims against Bakugou, citing that he wants to win and he knows he can't do that if he's a villain.

My thing is, however, the League targeting him in the first place. Why would they do this? Bakugou clearly has a heroic quirk. He scored first on the entrance exam. If they did any research at all beforehand, they would know that Bakugou was at the top of his class before UA and is in the top five currently. And they'd know he has wealthy parents.

(You would think Dabi especially would draw parallels to Endeavor and would be aware that Bakugou's ambition and heroic quirk don't make him similar to the League who have been discriminated against, shunned, and abused for most of their lives. Even with his behavior at the Sports Festival, Endeavor isn't the noble and kind type like All Might and most other heroes. So I'm not sure why Bakugou's behavior immediately screamed villain potential)

Nothing about him suggests he's had a hard life like most of the League. Nothing about him suggests he'd want to leave his comfortable life and secured future to become a villain.

This scene sets up Bakugou's redemption, right? It leads us to the Deku vs Kacchan fight and All Might's advice is what makes him take on his "save to win" mentality.

But not only does this seem like a convenient plot device, it decidedly ignores the uglier part of Bakugou's decision.

Bakugou rejected the LOV because he saw them as losers. But what if they hadn't been losers? What if they had been doing as well as they were at the end of season 5? Merging and becoming the MLA front, organized teams, wealthy, successfully recruiting members right under the heroes' noses.

Maybe Bakugou wouldn't have outright joined them. But at this point before shifting his perspective, his answer might have been very different.

But the story goes out of its way to hammer in Bakugou's scarce good traits to take your focus away from his overwhelming bad ones.

3. Bakugou's Character Shift "Development"

The way Horikoshi wrote Bakugou in the beginning is very different to how he is portrayed later in the show. No, I don't mean his development. I mean the major shift in his character between seasons 1/2 and season 3/4.

Bakugou in the beginning of the show is cruel, meanspirited, and violent. And he's still all of those things throughout the show. The one difference is that it's played for laughs in later seasons.

Bakugou's actions and words in seasons 1 and 2 are portrayed a lot more serious than in later seasons. He's an antagonistic force, one that Izuku has to strive to overcome not just to be a good hero, but for himself as Bakugou has been one of the most prominent obstacles in his strive to become a hero.

Look at his behavior during the battle trials. It's something serious, something that has even All Might worried. Bakugou knew he could have very well killed Midoriya and didn't care. It's brutal and almost hard to watch because at this point in the show Midoriya is weak and tiny (visually, we know he's never really been weak) compared to Bakugou and can really only outsmart him to win.

We never see Bakugou display anything close to this level of violence in later seasons. Not in the Sports Festival or 1A vs 1B or D vs K or the licensing exam or even against literal villains. Season 1 went out of its way to show Bakugou's cruel behavior even using it as something Izuku has to learn how to overcome even if he has to risk everything.

By season 3, the perspective has changed. Bakugou name calling people, belittling people, yelling, and his acts of violence are now exaggerated for comedy. None of his actions are taken as seriously as they were before, despite some being almost or just as bad.

(It's worth mentioning that this was also around the time Bakugou began to get popular among fans)

A great example of this is in season 5 when he throws his headpiece at Izuku and makes him bleed. His casual act of his aggression towards his lifelong victim is present to make the audience laugh, despite the fact that Izuku was bleeding and the 1A boys are (rightfully) horrified.

(I'd like to add that there was no real reason to do this. Nothing he was saying would have exposed OFA and even if it had, he was done talking by the time Bakugou threw it)

If Bakugou had really changed at this point, this would have never happened in the first place. I can't call this changing or development, I call this his actions shifting into comedic relief and away from the serious connotations they previously held. By taking that away, it allows Bakugou to continue to do the same things he has all his life while under the guise of development. It undermines what's supposed to be his redemption arc.

4. Other Characters

Bakugou isn't the only one who gets a character shift. It's approximately the moment that Bakugou begins to get more attention that the other characters lose the substance they had at the beginning of the show.

The ones hit most notably by this are obviously Uraraka and Iida. They were Izuku's first friends, his original trio. More than that, they are set up as interesting characters with their own arcs and paths for becoming great heroes.

Even though I did have my complaints about her fight with Bakugou in the Sports Festival, it does turn Uraraka onto improving past her goal of becoming a rescue hero. She wants to become better in other aspects of being a hero so that she can succeed and keep up with her stronger classmates. She proved herself capable of this during her fight with Bakugou and it was the catalyst of her character development.

Iida was not only resolving himself with caring for Midoriya as a friend as well as being his rival and wanting to surpass him. There's also this darker side to him that no one expects from goody two shoes, straight-laced Iida that had so much potential for exploration.

Both of them are tossed to the side in favor of Bakugou. I would even go as far as to say that after season 2, they're almost irrelevant until season 6 and even then they're limited (before season 6 Uraraka's only character trait is that she ignores he feelings for Midoriya to become a better hero, which came out of nowhere and does nothing for her character). And they barley ever get moments with Izuku during time despite being his first friends.

Todoroki is a similar yet very different case. At the beginning of the show, he was intense and has strong feelings. (An interesting parallel is that if Iida was his friend becoming his rival, Todoroki was his rival becoming his friend and both relationships speak to Izuku as a character) Even if he didn't express them, we as the audience knew they were there. But as times passes he becomes flat and dull. Even though he's supposed to be part of the new trio, he's barley present (the dynamic between the three of them is uninteresting all around as it's basically Bakugou yelling at Izuku with Todoroki in the background. They never have any deep or heartfelt moments nor do they have good chemistry) and barely gets any one-on-one interaction with Izuku despite them being very good friends.

(I can't blame this all on Bakugou as the show also shifts from focusing to Todoroki to focusing on his own abuser which is part of the issue with his lack of character, but Bakugou's character does contribute to this problem of making the abusers more sympathetic than the victims)

Most if not the rest of 1A fade into the background after this, save for a few who have notable moments sprinkled in throughout the show. You can take this as a Bakugou prevalence problem, or it can be seen as Horikoshi just not knowing how to balance characters.

However, the character that suffers the most because of this is Izuku himself.

I don't think it's a bad thing that Izuku admires or looks up to Bakugou. I don't think it's a problem that he doesn't see anything wrong with Bakugou's behavior against him. Izuku grew up in an environment where that was normalized. That he's worthless because of his lack of quirk and Bakugou deserves to be on top because of his great quirk. Of course he internalized that, even though he knows that a quirk doesn't determine someone's worth. He was never given the tools or the means to beat that mindset.

What I despise is the fact that everyone around him enables it.

As I stated above, Aizawa is definitely the worst when it comes to this. Not only shoving Bakugou and Izuku together and making it Izuku's job to get Bakugou to cooperate, but hardly if ever condemning Bakugou when he lashes out against Izuku. Even without their history, what Bakugou does is wrong and should be treated as such.

Unfortunately and even though I love All Might, he's also guilty of this. It's true that he might not know the full extent of their toxic relationship, but All Might sees Bakugou instigate a fight with Izuku and decides it's okay to tell Bakugou about One For All. Bakugou did nothing to earn this honor: he hasn't shown Izuku support and hasn't been a reliable ally he could depend on. But even disregarding that, Bakugou had just been captured by villains who work for All For One. He was the last person on Earth who should have been entrusted with this secret.

The adults in Izuku's life enable and reward Bakugou's bad behavior and urge them into forming a relationship and partnership that frankly shouldn't exist (and only does to make Bakugou a better person and hero, it does nothing for Izuku). It's to the point where almost Izuku's entire character revolves around his relationship with Bakugou and how he improves because of it and how he helps Bakugou improve. And he further projects this when he "subtly" implies that Todoroki should forgive Endeavor, which feels like a justification towards the audience of his own feelings towards Bakugou.

5. Accountability

I mentioned consequences as my first point. But what many who want this miss, it goes hand-in-hand with accountability.

Unlike consequences, Bakugou more or less does take accountability in the form of his apology. But the apology was lackluster for a couple of reasons. The main thing is that it feels like a list of excuses rather than simply owning up to the fact that he was shitty and there's really no good reason for it. But simply explaining why you hurt the person you hurt isn't giving them the apology they deserve. It's making it about you.

Another thing, though, is that the apology is very scarce. It skips over the worst of Bakugou's actions. Nothing he said was anything 1A didn't already know. They don't know about the s*icide baiting which is one of the worst things he's done to Izuku (and that's only what we saw, who knows what Bakugou's been saying for years?). It also ignores everything he did in UA, which was a very big part of the problem. He treated Izuku poorly months prior to the apology and that shouldn't be ignored.

As far as accountability goes this apology isn't that great. But it's something. No, what's worse is that the other characters don't hold Bakugou accountable.

The other characters more often than not turn a blind eye to Bakugou's behavior. We've already covered Aizawa, but the rest of 1A is guilty of this too. No one says anything about the Battle Trials. Hardly anyone condemns Bakugou when he attacks or insults Izuku. Sometimes they'll chime in like Uraraka or Kirishima, but other than that no one outright tells him off. This is out of character for Iida in particular because he's such a stickler about rules and courtesy for others (he literally told off a six year old when he punched Izuku and tried to stop Mineta from perving on the girls, why wouldn't he do the same when it comes to Bakugou?). It's almost like the characters are blind to Bakugou's behavior.

What's weirder is that Mina and Kirishima- who were both stated to hate bullying- are friends with him. Why would the show go out of its way to tell us this only to saddle them into the "BakuSquad?" It doesn't make sense.

It's hypocritical that everyone in 1A is so tolerant of Bakugou but get annoyed with others; like Monoma for example. Or even Mineta because as much as I dislike him he's constantly being called out by 1A. It means that they know certain behavior is wrong and/or shouldn't be entertained, so we know they aren't completely unaware. But the fact that they largely ignore Bakugou's behavior and condemn Monoma's is so weird. You can't excuse one and not the other.

Conclusion

There's certainly more than this to my dislike of Bakugou. But I think I've mostly covered his negative impact on the story. Doing a deep dive into his awful personality is something I wouldn't wish on anyway. Many others have done that anyway, so I'm content to leave it out. But I hope you liked my little breakdown!

#anti bakugo katsuki #anti bakugou #anti aizawa shota #bnha critical #bhna criticism #bhna #mha #mha critical #criticism

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bonefall · 23 days

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instead of asking what parts of wind you’ll be getting rid of, i’ll instead ask what parts you’re keeping. the list is shorter then haha

FROSTPAW AND WHISTLEPAW.

Best part of Wind is the bond between these two, in fact, the entire plot about WindClan felt like it dropped out of the alternate universe where the books are good. The sudden dream of catastrophe, the way StarClan gave Frostpaw this sign on purpose to make them know she's legitimate, Whistlepaw injuring herself to try and save her little sister... Even the little details, like Nightcloud and Hootwhisker trying to drag the tree by the trunk, were neat to see.

I Dont Rewrite Arcs Until They Are Done BUT I do know that I'm going to elevate and expand what's going on with Frost and Whistle. They're fantastic.

Another small thing I'm actually planning on keeping is this exchange between Squilf and Jayfeather, which you'll probably find surprising since I'm so open about how much I dislike the way they've made Squilfstar less proactive;

In a better book, I think this could have been a GREAT moment.

What I dislike about this exchange is that Squilf is able to rebuke it, because the writers DO feel that Bramblestar was a good leader. They're trying to show that Squilfstar is going to act more "mature" (read: boring) with her role now, probably to make a point about how Bramblestar wasn't being "indecisive" for the 10 years we were stuck with him but "responsible." Basically, she gets the power and finds out it isn't so easy-- I'll even bet at some point in the next arc or two she'll become frustrated by someone acting the way she used to.

I've seen some people praising this, and like, it's not illegal to have bad taste. But I think this is an AWFUL thing to do with a character who could have finally caused interesting things to happen, on top of just feeling like contempt of criticism on behalf of the writers.

"Ohhhh they thought she would be more decisive than our beloved baby boy, WELL, WE'LL SHOW THEM. You will sit through 10 paragraphs of debate no matter WHO is in charge!!!"

But like I said....... in a better book, this could have been great. If this was a wake-up call for her.

Suddenly experiencing the full weight of responsibility upon herself, she stops making bold decisions. The complicated political situation in front of her, individual opinions of her Clan around her, and the wounded glares of the furious Brambleclaw below her are all acting like briar vines, pulling her down.

Even StarClan itself seems to have placed a weight on her, cats who she's followed faithfully and been punished by.

So Jayfeather, with all of the changes he has in BB, brawling with angels, speaking defiance to the stars, and pulling spirits down from the heavens, is the perfect cat to be honest with her.

I'm still trying to find a good way to describe the electricity between them in this moment. BB!Jayfeather once reached up his paw through the veil between life and death to grab her ankle and fetch her from her own trial, knowing that she wanted to keep living. He's part of whatever motion she took to remove Bramblestar from power. Her son, her cleric, her ally. How do I put these emotions into words?

"Did you come this far just to become someone else?"

Just... what a moment it could be. For this to be the second that Squilfstar realizes in spite of everything, Bramblestar's thorns still jab at her. That she has to move forward, DAMN the uncertainty, by being herself.

#bone babble #asc spoilers #But a LOT of this book is up in the air for BB #Depending on how big of an overhaul this becomes #I don't have SOLID plans yet to keep it loose #But I'm planning some pretty big changes

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unrequitedloveletter · 1 year

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Cal, my love, how are you???

If heard your call for Kaz x Reader requests. If LOVE to see what you come up with for Kaz x Grisha!Reader (I'm feeling inferno, squaller, or Durant, but obviously it's up to you!) where the reader gets sicker and sicker from not using their small science! It's such a fascinating concept to me and hardly ever explored!

Back To Normal- K.B x gn! Squaller! Reader

Okay, hi! It's been nearly two weeks since you sent this in and I did write it! Editing it just took me longer than I expected and I woke up after a nap last night to discover that I have a bit of a cold developing so I couldn't edit the remainder of it and post it like I'd hoped, but I got it done today so yay, I hope you like this one!

This concept is one I've never seen a fic for but one I've debated writing a fic around in the past because the concept in and of itself is a really intriguing idea to me, and this gives me an excuse to write it and also an excuse to write a squaller! reader, which I've thought about doing but have never actually done, so I was really excited when I saw this in my inbox! Thank you so much for sending this in, and if it's not exactly what you had in mind, feel free to reach out and let me know, I'll totally rewrite if you'd like lol.

Fic type- hurt/comfort with moments of angst

Warnings- mentions of sickness, frailness, feelings of weakness, heart palpitations, loss of appetite, and there's reference to the second chapter of Six of Crows so slight spoiler warning too for people haven't read the books

As a Grisha, once your abilities to summon the small science were discovered, there were consequences for not summoning. You grew sick, your body grew weak, your bones fragile and you felt frail, even the smallest actions leaving you winded.

It was the universes way of punishing you for not using the gift you'd been given, another show of like calls to like. Refraining from summoning calls to sickness, and summoning calls to health.

You'd read Grisha theory, both in your time at the Little Palace before you left in the last few months before the war and in the time since, in the times wherein you needed something to read and happened upon a book containing Grisha theory and figured it would be good to pass the time.

You knew that you wouldn't last if you didn't summon, but you eventually stopped finding reason to. Nobody in the Dregs knew you were a squaller, and what good did wind do, anyway, unless it was summer and grossly humid as Ketterdam always got when the weather warmed up? You saw no point in using your small science, so eventually, you just stopped.

For a while, the differences weren't really noticeable. You didn't notice them, nobody in the Dregs noticed them, none of the crows did. You hadn't relied on your abilities as a Squaller since you'd lived in Ravka, and before you'd decided to stop, you mostly used them in summer or when Kaz needed a distraction in the middle of a negotiation in the rarer times they'd taken place outdoors, something to put the opposition a little on edge.

But then, they became noticeable. You stopped sleeping quite as comfortably as you used to, spending hours trying to get comfortable, trying to will your mind to quiet. You woke up and took to coffee to keep you awake, often running on between two and four hours to boot.

Because of your tiredness, dark circles developed under your eyes. Your appetite lessened and you grew to be tired all the time, even on a rarer night where your body rested for seven or eight hours. You still relied on the coffee even then, and Nina was beginning to take notice of the fact that you hardly ate.

Kaz had long taken notice of the exhaustion you exhibited even after jobs that you'd always considered pretty easy, ones that didn't require as much effort, as much physical strain, as the bigger heists always tended to.

Jesper had long taken notice of how much coffee you drank, the fact that you always seemed to have jurda on you even in the middle of the day, and Inej noticed it when your pace began to slow, afraid to walk at the pace you normally did because you didn't want to risk heart palpitations.

Wylan was beginning to notice when those heart palpitations kicked in, was the one to grab your hand and look at you, brown eyes silently trying to ask if something was wrong only to receive nothing in response.

One by one, each of the crows noticed something, and still, none of them said a word. They could've been wrong, they knew. All of them acknowledged that they could've been dramatizing things, making things out to be worse than they actually were.

The only one who was sure of the things they'd noticed was Kaz. You were someone who mattered to him. Of course he was going to notice if you were out of sorts. Observance was his pedigree.

So, one day, Kaz showed up at your door. "What's wrong?" He'd asked. "What is wrong with you, Y/N?"

You'd laughed, a lame, tired laugh. You'd barely slept three hours, and the long-term exhaustion was starting to finally have an impact. Kaz's tone was humorless, blunt like the edge of a knife gone too long without being run across a sharpening block.

It was normally gravel, normally coffee grounds being poured into a coffee press, but it was not that, not that day. It was the unsharpened edge of a knife, the voice that did not belong to the man you loved but rather to one they called Dirtyhands.

"What's wrong with me?" You asked. "Nothing, Kaz. Nothing is wrong with me."

"Exhaustion," Kaz said. "You drink coffee and chew jurda near constantly. You sleep hours after jobs that aren't even tiring. You are constantly tired because you can't sleep unless you are at the point wherein your body will die without resting. You get two hours most nights, four, six, on luckier ones. Nina has also noticed that you eat less lately. Wylan says you've been having heart palpitations and Matthias has noticed you zoning out. Why?"

"Why do I feel like that's a rhetorical question?"

"It's not. Stop trying to flirt."

"I'm not trying to flirt," you laughed again, a shallow, hollowed out version of the laugh Kaz recognized. "If I were trying to flirt, you'd know. I would know it was working because your cheeks would be tinged pink, which, of course, is something you'd deny."

Kaz laughed humorlessly once more. "What, are you sick?"

You paused. Some part of you had known he'd guess at that. With that realization came the one that he already knew why you were sick. Inej must've known, must've snooped for Kaz when the trust you shared was still developing. He was Kaz Brekker, and he had to know somehow, didn't he?

"You're a Squaller," he said, the words falling from his lips like they were something he'd forgotten, like the fact that you could summon the wind was something he'd merely heard and disregarded after having deemed it unimportant. "You're a Squaller, and you're one who hasn't summoned for at least six months. Why not?"

"I saw no point," you said. "Let me guess, though, you've known since I came in, since I joined up?"

"I've known since the night we confronted Bolliger about double dealing," Kaz said. "Geels, the negotiations. It was the day before--"

"The day before you came to me with the Ice Court proposition," you said with a nod. "I remember. What tipped you off?"

"The breeze," Kaz said. "It was late winter, and breezes like that are commonplace, sure, but after a bout of rain? Wind like that doesn't just happen. Especially not considering the fact that it nearly tipped Geels over, and Geels was nearly seven feet tall. It gave me something to use in the moment, and I just kind of noticed whenever you'd do it while I was falling short from then on. Nobody else knows."

"Well you'll need to grant me some leniency, Brekker. I stopped summoning because I didn't see a point."

"if the point of summoning is to keep you alive and healthy, I have to say, I see no sensible reason that one would stop," Kaz said. "You're deteriorating. I know you think it can't get any worse, but it can, and it will."

"I know," you said. "Relax. Let me find the proper time, when it doesn't feel like it'll be an inconvenience, and I'll give it a go."

Kaz looked at you solemnly for a minute before he nodded.

"Right, then," he said. "Work needs doing." He turned to go, and you watched him leave, not saying a word as he left, only closing your eyes and hoping for even another few moments of rest.

The next time you summoned, it was June and you hadn't summoned in a year. You were sitting in Kaz's office, the window open as you discussed heist plans with him, Jesper, Inej, and the rest of the crows.

The heat was growing unbearable, so you willed a strong breeze to flow gently through the room, making the area feel a bit colder, much to everyones delight. Kaz shot you a look because Ketterdam in the summer was not prone to breezes on humid days like that one, and you felt some of the energy that was long gone move back into your system, a spark of joy and pride at your small science lighting up in your chest.

You allowed yourself a small smile as you leaned back in the chair you'd occupied.

You were still sick, still frail and tired and coffee-reliant, but you were getting back to normal. You decided, in the moment, that that was what mattered.

#kaz brekker #kaz brekker x reader #six of crows #shadow and bone #shadow and bone netflix

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our-agender-experience · 3 months

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I've been debating whether I'm agender for a while now, and I think yeah, somehow I am, but also not quite. It's more like... I don't care? I am biologically female. That's fine, that's all I've ever known, but it's not part of my identity.

The best metaphor I could come up with is like it's an old sweater that I've owned for ages, and it's maybe not the prettiest or the comfiest but it's there and I've always worn it so it's fine. Sure, sometimes it looks a bit off. I could embrace it, make a whole look. But then people might take notice that I'm wearing a sweater and that would be weird, because I'm not wearing it for any particular reason other than 'it's there' and people might compliment it which would be super uncomfortable because it's just an old sweater? Haven't we all got one? Sure, maybe it would be nice to wear a jacket instead from time to time, jackets are cool, but I don't care enough about jackets either to put in the effort. So I'll keep wearing my sweater, because that's what I've always done and if someone calls me 'the person with the sweater' that's fine too, because even though it doesn't really resonate with me, on the surface it's true.

It's weird, because I don't feel like a woman, but I'm so used to being seen as a woman and most of the time it's not uncomfortable enough that I feel like I have to change that perception of me. Sometimes I wonder if I would be happier as not-a-woman, but that concept is so nebulous that I can't really imagine it. I don't know. Sorry for the rambling, but it's hard to put into words and I am kinda curious if there are other people out there feeling similarly? Maybe someone even invented a word for it already?

I don't personally feel like that, but hopefully you find someone who can relate. Good luck!

#agender #our agender experience #agender pride #have a nice day #gender presentation #gendered language #pronouns

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matan4il · 16 days

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Don't think I'll get over the irony of someone posting about the whole "40 beheaded babies" is a lie thing and then saying the death toll is 33000-55000.

Where the hell did they get 55000? Never seen that claimed by anyone, not even hamas. But, yeah Israel is the evil lier.

Like, how the heck can someone decry something as a lie while spewing lies? The fact that post had so many reblogs makes me think everyone is a dumb hypocritical asshole.

Hi Nonnie, I absolutely agree with you! In fact, the "40 beheaded babies" was people conflating two different things (confusing a report that there WERE Israeli kids and babies beheaded, tortured and mutilated, with a specific number that was reported in a different context) and basically creating a strawman argument (that's when people in a debate argue something the opposing side said isn't true, even though that side never said it). Which makes the fact that people who screamed about it were actually lying when they were (or supporting a lie) while they continue to take the unreliable (at the very least) Hamas numbers as gospel truth.

I've also noticed the inexplicable inflation of numbers related to Palestinians in a lot of different contexts. It's like the anti-Israel lie is never big enough, so people have to keep inflating it! There's the 33,000 fatalities claimed by Hamas which keeps being inflated by people online (I haven't seen specifically the 55,000 figure, but I have seen people constantly up the number from that claimed by Hamas).

There's the number of how many Palestinians lived in Gaza before the war. Officially, it's 2.1 million people, but then I saw people start to quote it as 2.2 million Gazans, then 2.3 million, and once I've even seen a post claiming there were 2.5 million people in Gaza before the war, I guess all in attempt to make Israel out to be a bigger monster, by exaggerating the number of people endangered and suffering due to this war.

I've also seen the number of north Gazans finding refuge in Rafah grow exponentially... Over one night (between Feb 12 and 13 according to our time zone), when Israel was rescuing 2 of its hostages held in Rafah from Hamas in a limited operation (it had to be limited in scope, so as not to alert too many terrorists to what Israel was doing, and increase the danger to the soldiers and hostages), Tumblr filled up with anti-Israel posts claiming that Israel had started bombing/has launched its ground operation in Rafah, and was nastily doing it during the Superbawl to take advantage of how distracted Americans would be (I cannot stress enough how much Israelis have no idea about the Superbawl... or American football in general). To make it all the more emotionally loaded, they kept insisting that Israel is bombing all the Gazans who found refuge in Rafah, and it's insane to see how the number of evacuees increases by hundreds of thousands over the course of just a few hours, from 1.1 million refugees in the first posts to 1.5 or 1.6 in some of the posts made later that same night.

I guess there's just no number that can't be fabricated if your goal is to turn people against the Jews...

I hope you're doing well, Nonnie! xoxox

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stranger-theory · 2 months

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Expand on current narrative that means byler? Because biased based theories aren’t a narrative I could argue a whole theory that Joyce and Karen want to get down and dirty with time and screenshots and easily led “narrative”

Although i'm not as articulate or as expert in expressing my opinions on this as I would like, i'm willing to try my best to explain to anyone who will politely listen.

Quick note: Using "bias" would mean that I treat Byler with higher status, and that I don't listen to any Mileven perspective, even if it's objectively the right one. Both ships have a shot, I just lean to the Byler side, but that doesn't mean i'll never listen to a Mileven. I'm more than open to hear why that perspective makes sense to them.

That being said, the first thing I would like to say is that technically, yes. You could argue that Karen and Joyce would be into something like that. But it's obviously not anything like Byler, specifically considering that there isn't a love triangle situation going on between Joyce, Karen, and Hopper.

Again, you are correct in the sense that these are simply theories, and anything can be the outcome at the end of the day, but it's more likely for Byler to happen than Joyce/Karen. The relationship between Mike and Will has been explored far more than an example like that. By that comparison, Byler's chance skyrockets.

-Karen/Joyce haven't had scenes with [tender, emotional music playing],

-Karen/Joyce haven't had the most obvious queer coding,

-Karen/Joyce haven't been confirmed by the Duffers that one has been canonically in love with the other through the whole show,

-Karen/Joyce don't have a famous love triangle where people debate wether or not Joyce wants to leave Hopper for Karen,

-Karen/Joyce aren't being promoted along with the other couples in posters or general media for the show,

-Karen/Joyce are not in a similar situation to Byler.

Now that we've established which is more likely, let's remove the comparison, and talk of Byler generally.

I've always said: there's always a ship for anything. So it isn't really a surprise that there were big Byler stans back in 2016, and I can't count that as proof. What's bigger proof to me is how many people have become stans now. There's such a large community of Bylers on tumblr who genuinely believe they'll end up together, and they're dedicated fans. I've seen this show sixteen times, and the past six watches have given me confidence that they stand a good chance. Their story makes sense to me in a lot of ways, mainly being the general idea for the love triangle.

Let me explain the Byler plot through my lens.

Imagine this: Two best friends since kindergarten. One day, Boy1 meets Girl. Their friend group keeps insisting that they like each other, so Boy1 gives in and says, "Why not? It's all part of growing up anyway, right?". Boy2 becomes jealous and sad that Boy1 is pushing him away for Girl. What Boy2 doesn't know is that Boy1 and Girl aren't the happy couple he thinks they are. Boy1 feels unfulfilled in this relationship, and he feels strange about his friend. In hopes that these feelings leave, he pushes Boy2 further away. Because of obvious tension, Girl confronts Boy1 about why he can't say "I love you". And it's simple. He can't say what he doesn't mean. Friends don't lie. Girl and Boy1 know they aren't in love, but for the sake of normality, they pretend. (Next is my idea of after canon) They eventually talk about everything, and feel at peace. They become best friends who want nothing more. Boy1 grows more comfortable with his feelings for Boy2, and they even flirt sometimes. Something dangerous has returned to their small town, and stress is high. Through this stress, their bond is even closer, and they confess the years of feelings they have. Maybe a smooch?? Who knows. They're secret for a bit, but when they tell people, everyone is happy for them. Boys who've been pining for years, but couldn't say anything about it because of heteronormativity(rip), finally have their happy end.

That's a dramatic run down of how I see their relationship going. Again, you don't have to agree, but since you asked, that's how I see it. There are also other things that aren't in the show itself, that I find interesting. They constantly promote Byler along with Jancy, Lumax, and Jopper, meanwhile El always has her own posters/pictures. They use a song between Lumax for a Byler scene (we know how important music is). Mike's top Spotify song is "Smalltown Boy", a song about being gay in a smalltown and wanting to run away so you can be out. There's also "Are Friends Electric?" in the playlist (I think the title explains itself). Honestly there's a lot his playlist says, but those are my top picks for kinda fruity.

ANYWAY, i'm sorry that this was a bit long, i'm just not one who's very good at explaining what I mean with fewer words. I hope you understand better why I see them becoming a thing, and why I wouldn't say it's an unfair bias. I think both have a chance, but this is my take on why this makes more sense to me. Thank you for asking! This took me way too long to write, but I hope it helped.

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jewish-vents · 1 month

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I'm feeling really frustrated. My mom identifies as Jewish, but she grew up in Poland during communism in the '70s, and told me that it was really unsafe to be Jewish at the time (I think she also implied that her mom/my grandmother converted away from Judaism to Catholicism?) And like, my mom tells me I'm Jewish, too, but ... I'm not really observant and don't keep kosher. I want to go to synagogue, but the nearest ones from me are far away. It might change when I go away to college, but I just want to be a "true" Jew, y'know? Like the kind that posts about going to synagogue and having fun with my friends on Purim and examines the Torah even though I don't really believe in the events (what attracted me to Judaism was the community aspect and what my family members were killed for. I also really like learning, and debating different aspects of things. But I present as female so I might not be able to find that at a more conservative shul?)

I know that there's an easy fix to this (being just doing more research), but as a lonely person ... I feel like being in an environment with other people who hold the same faith and understand the same struggles might help.

Sorry if this is a jumbled mess. I've been feeling really worn down by the antisemitism and anti-Israeli propaganda I've seen lately. Thanks for having this blog open, venting has really helped. You're awesome <3

Hi anon, it can be really hard for descendants of Jewish people who had to hide or convert for their safety to find their way back. But just know you are a real Jew. I hope you can learn and find a community and joy in Judaism. It really helps to make more Jewish friends, either here on jumblr, in a synagogue you might attend in the future, a discord server, wherever.

In fact I'll tag this with the jumblr tag, jumblr people do your thing. Reblog or comment with encouragement and advice if you want, or just let anon know if you're free to be messaged to make a new friend!!

Best of luck and welcome back home.

- 🐺

#jewish vents #jumblr #mentions of antisemitism #jewish solidarity #jewish joy #jewblr

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nekropsii · 1 year

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man what I hate about the fandom excusing the Dave blog with the n word like "it's not IN the comic so it's not canon" is that in THE comic, Hussie was way too obsessed with having Dave rap about segregation and slavery as quips one of the first raps even referenced the slur negro, which textually went over many people's heads (because "it's just "black" in French") when the context was racist white men in segregation-era and how they pronounced that very closely to the well-known slur, pronouncing it with "knee" these types of raps weren't just in Act 1, it was even in Act 3 it's so uncomfortable considering Hussie said "I just type out how I'd talk" when it came to Dave's dialogue, considering his humor and how those raps and the blog came into light it's so annoying how people keep suggesting it's not IN the comic at all- like it's giving "read it once 5 years ago and never freshened up on it while still debating it", y'know?

I'll give as many sources to what you said here as I can, just so people listen more. Wasn't able to track everything down, so some things are more up in the air, but overall, you're on the money.

[Blog of Dave Strider- February 17, 2010.]

I heavily agree and identify with your frustration. Just because it's "not in the comic" doesn't mean Hussie didn't write it and that it's not worth evaluating. This isn't a case where you can disregard it for noncanonicity reasons, like Post Canon. This was written concurrently with canon, and therefore it reflects the political mindset of Hussie during the time of writing Homestuck. That much is valuable information. What I will point out is that the next paragraph here contains yet another phrase that is rather telling of Hussie's... Racial vocabulary.

Definitely not the most comfortable thing in the world, to put it nicely. Haven't personally seen it get mentioned, and I feel like it's apt to bring up here, since this is the closest I've seen Hussie get to the big Hard R. Typically, they default to Soft A, which doesn't make it less racist, but does have a different... Vibe, so to speak. It's more hateful sounding.

Moving on.

[Andrew Hussie's Formspring- Feb 24, 2010 - Mar 7, 2010. Exact date unknown.]

The fact that Dave is a near exact emulation of Hussie themself in speech mannerisms, down to the lifting of entire chatlogs, is telling. As we've seen from Hussie's past work, he was clearly... excessively comfortable with throwing around the N-word, as a white man. Why would Dave be any different? It's hard to argue that Dave's racism is "not indicative of Dave's flaws, but indicative of Hussie's", when Dave as a character is both a product of Hussie's mind and a direct extension of her. You can't truly divorce the two. Dave is racist because Hussie is racist. Dave is an extension of Hussie.

[Homestuck, Act 2, page 294- June 23, 2009.]

I believe this is what you were talking about in reference to that particular version of the N-word being used, as well as the references to slavery. This is in Act 2. I couldn't find much in Dave's other raps, outside of his fixation on the idea of Black presidents as a novel concept... Other than this.

[Homestuck, Act 5 Act 2, page 2825- November 1, 2010.]

Apparently using the term "Urban" to refer to Black people, culture, art, and music is a recurring Hussie-ism, even in Homestuck. Rose also uses this a couple times, notably more than Dave does. It sees more usage in Problem Sleuth as well- unsurprising, considering it is an older work than Homestuck is.

[Homestuck, Act 4, page 1590- March 17, 2010.]

[Homestuck, [o], page 3879- July 2, 2011.]

[Problem Sleuth, page 62- March 15, 2008.]

TL;DR: I don't think there's any real excuse to leave Hussie's racism out of genuine discussion of the contents of his works. It's obvious. The only valid defense for leaving it out of analytical conversations is ignorance, because... Well, some people just aren't that observant. Homestuck does not exist in a vacuum. Hussie did, in fact, write this, and Hussie is, in fact, bigoted. Bigotry shows throughout their works not because they're spinning a grand narrative of overcoming your moral failings, but because they kind of just suck. Dave isn't an exception, and shouldn't be divorced from the context of having been written by Andrew Hussie. There's no debate to be had over the existence of Hussie's bigotry, because contesting such a clear cut fact is pure stupidity. It's like arguing that evolution isn't real because you, personally, do not understand it, or don't find it comforting. Hussie's bigotry is one of the only things we can be 100% sure is a real part of his personhood, rather than another figment of his ironic online persona. The level of "Well, Actually"-ism people will engage in over this is mind-numbing, quite frankly.

Thank you for the ask- people being aware of the racism in Homestuck keep me sane. Have a lovely day.

#homestuck #problem sleuth #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #beta kids #dave strider #rose lalonde #john egbert #andrew hussie #cw racism #homestuck.pdf #dave.pdf #dave.prtsc #rose.prtsc #john.prtsc #nekro.pdf #nekro.sms

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frozen-snowflakesandsunflowers · 6 months

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Elsa losing her powers & Hans' Redemption + backstory | Theory

Cover created by me

Since Frozen 3 has been announced, it's left us questioning; What more could be told of the sisters' story, especially Elsa's story now that after years of searching she finally found herself as the 5th spirit? But has she really found herself? What would she be without her powers? The very thing that defines her to most. How would the world see her? But most of all how would she see herself if she lost them, even if it was temporarily. Who would this time pull her out of this new found identity crisis and who would she then become and stay as?

[Long post alert]

Elsa's losing her powers

I've seen a few posts going around theorising and wanting Elsa to lose her powers by Ahotohallan being destroyed. And reading them and understanding their perspective, I start to love the idea more and more to be honest because I honestly feel Elsa is mostly loved by the audience for her powers or at least some of the people who know her in - universe see her for her powers but what we really need to see is who she really is without it too. I think that could be quite important to see. How would she continue to look out for her family, her people, her kingdom and her forest?

Frozen 3 has been debatable since its announcement because of Frozen 2's ending, also quite controversial. I personally am always generally excited for more movement in the franchise because I'll always love Frozen no matter what. Frozen will always be in my heart, especially the first movie. But yes I am unfortunately on that "disappointing ending for Frozen 2" boat but I also see that Frozen 3 could potentially fix some of things that have been bugging some of us as well as adding and keeping the things we love. Frozen 2 was originally going to be the last film I think given Jen Lee's words in one of the interviews back then but looks like they changed their minds and might possibly be listening to us and this new director of Frozen 3 could do just that. Jennifer has recently said that there's a strategy to 'more Frozen' and that is that if there's more to tell for the story, then more Frozen will happen. So they can't keep the sisters separated for too long and will expand on the characters growth which is a good thing because it gives them the opportunity to fix the things we don't like and add things we do want to see.

Some people don't quite understand Elsa's fifth spirit role, why she had become something so unclear to understand, and made a decision to live in the forest instead. I from a perspective can understand it. Though the podcast is non canon, it's still something Elsa would do and act in on a situation given as so. The spirits are quite mythical and powerful but can easily be in evil or someone who doesn't understand magic's eye's catch and make them rage, as we do see in the podcast with Disa. But at the same time as looking after the forest, she is also concerned about her own kingdom. My explanation includes spoilers from the Frozen Podcast so skip to the 'Reasons for powerless Elsa' part. Queen Disa lives in Arendelle after a flood encounters her kingdom. Anna with open arms accepts Disa and all her people to her kingdom while Elsa had her doubts on Disa over time with her uncertainty yet knowledge for magic but respects Anna's decision of course. But actually it's just Elsa who misses being Queen having her schedule, knowing what decisions to make, but she's not at all saying Anna's a bad Queen, she just missed the role. Weird shaped machines are found in the forest that cause the spirits to act up and Elsa deals with them with Anna's help. Disa eventually admits she put the machines there because she wanted to help Arendelle. When Anna tells Disa of her confession, Elsa still feels no good about Disa despite her good intentions. The point is that Elsa is mainly in the forest to keep it out of harm's way such as we see. Also because of the fifth spirit being the bridge between Arendelle and Northuldra. If you look at the scene where the sisters reunite you could say that Elsa actually means that the bridge, the fifth spirit is both her and Anna. While Anna looks after Arendelle, Elsa looks after the forest. But I do also wish to see Elsa return back to Arendelle permanently at some point. I'll expand more on Elsa's fifth spirit role in another post but what this has to do with powerless Elsa is you first have to understand what she is with those powers now to understand how she'll be once they go.

Reason for powerless Elsa

Elsa has recently got a lot of hate - well actually I really wouldn't say hate but rather less love than she used to get because looking at the franchise as a whole Elsa takes up some of the spotlight and her growth through her powers is evident throughout. Why not really show her development in the character she really is, by making her understand not what they're worth but what she's worth with and without them. She's first seen looking at her powers as a curse and feeling fear of accepting her powers completely and seeing it as a gift that it actually was in reward to Iduna's act of saving Agnarr, her people's enemy. She's always been the most popular between the sisters too within fans and stood out more in merchandise too partly because of these powers. You'd even see kids dress more as Elsa than Anna. And that in her iconic icy blue gown. But while Elsa lost some love, Anna has gotten more love. Throughout the franchise, we see Anna's growth through optimism through all her ups and downs, especially her deepest darkest moment in Frozen 2, given she thought she lost everyone and everything at that point. It's not easy being head steady and strong in such a situation but she really showed us that we can do it.

And no I'm not saying Anna had more character growth than Elsa or vice versa in any way - please don't get me wrong here. I love the sisters both equally - it's true! I'm saying we need to see the natural side of Elsa. We need to get to know her for who she is without them too. Just like how Anna was more than just the spare (as it goes in a deleted song for Frozen) and a few years later she became Queen because she did truly earn the role through everything she endured in that sequel, the same way I want to see Elsa being more than just her powers. And while you're at it let's give her another big solo, with most or all of it being without her powers showing her athletic abilities and strong determination that is already there and is enough to survive whatever situation goes on. That moment in the dark sea when Elsa faces the very sea that killed her parents was one of my if not number one favourite moments in Frozen 2. We got to see Elsa run and jump and dive and literally fight and tame at the same time, a water horse. Elsa had been wondering her whole life about her powers origin and now that she's so close to not only seeking the truth about that but about the past that could somehow destroy the future of Arendelle too. That determination to set things right, to find out who she is is what I want to see but extract the literal magical side of it.

And as far as the theory of Anna getting powers goes, I personally don't approve of it because I think it sends the wrong message if Anna becomes like Elsa. That would make people prefer one or another even more and create the typical 'whose more powerful' argument etc. Anna already has powers. It's love. Yes love. It may not be a literal thing she can shoot out her Hans like Elsa but like hers, it's in a way a true force of nature. It's the strongest power there and Anna shares that power with everyone. So instead of giving a character powers they should strip Elsa of her powers temporarily to get those who see her for just her powers, to see her as so much more than that.

The effect of losing her powers

Elsa losing her powers would make Elsa be in an identity crisis, thinking she's nothing without them. In Frozen, her identity crisis was about how she was with her powers, feeling too dangerous for this world. But she's grown since then and has come to terms with them so now instead of feeling relieved as she would've in the first movie, she feels anxiety of not being enough to protect this world. Everyone has mostly relied on her because of her magic, so she would fear everyone loving her less or thinking herself as useless without them or something along those lines. (In Frozen 2 we literally see her taking requests from a few of the citizens to make ice sculptures). Elsa then finds herself back to square one; Hiding from everyone, wanting to be alone or hating herself. And I'm not saying everyone, in Arendelle and around, love for her for her magic only but Elsa, losing her powers, would think that but now that she's embraced her powers, with Arendelle and Northuldra now looking onto her as their saviour, protector, warrior etc, it's natural for her to think so. I mean think about it - girl has been with these powers since she was born, they're literally a part of her. She hated them for most of her life ever since she first hit Anna with them, then she sees let's go of holding it back to finally seeing the beauty in them and then starts questioning it's purpose and if she was meant for more as she feels them growing so she starts to search for answers in a place where she meets other creatures similar to her feeling like she's not alone with being the only known magical being as a call comes from the North which leads her to finally finding the birthplace of her powers and finally embracing them but then.. they just go. Just like that. That would totally cause major trauma and grief and stress. She's relied on them for so long. She finally embraced them. Finally found out she was with them. They even saved her life multiple times. They were the very first gift. She thinks she's everything she is because of her powers; in Frozen, she thinks she can only harm with them, feeling like a monster and here she thinks she can only save and protect lives with them, feeling like a saviour/ protector. But through a journey she could have with Anna or even solo one similar to the journey to the North mountain (or rather to her building her ice castle) in Frozen or the journey to Ahotohallan in Frozen 2, she starts to see that she's more than just her powers. She learns to love herself for her true self, with or without them. That would mean she would learn to be less reliant on her powers and more of her natural elements. It's what's inside the heart that really matters. With everything she's been through so far she thinks she's finally found herself, finally embraced her magic, in Frozen 2, but no she really hasn't. I know she's the Fifth Spirit/ the Snow Queen and that's what her powers are of and that's what she is and you would think that would be her final destination of her journey of growth but no - fact is she is more than just her powers and she needs to see this.

How would she lose them?

Some of you might be wondering well, how would Elsa lose her powers? It would mean something bad happens to Ahotohallan. But no not necessarily because Ahotohallan could be the one testing her. It did give her the gift in the first place so it's much capable of taking it back too. But you also wonder, she finally finds who she is, what her role in life is, so how can she live up to it and fulfil her duties without her powers? Remember that these were a gift to her as a reward for Iduna saving Agnarr when they were younger. Let's not forget the most important part of it all that, Iduna saved Agnarr without any powers. From what we saw of her flashbacks, she had a close relationship with the spirits so they helped her in saving Agnarr. So Elsa should look back to that moment and believe she can still save the forest and her kingdom from any kinds of threats without her powers too. The spirits will obviously keep their bond with Elsa, if they're around depending on how Elsa loses her powers but she could too, like her mother, use the spirits' help but not for things that would take away the whole point of this test. That's one option to stripping Elsa's powers temporarily, a test from Ahotohallan to see her courage and determination to protect her kingdom and forest as well as those she loves, too see if she will still keep what she has learnt of the lessons she has learnt from last experiences. Another option could be a punishment from Ahotohallan. Perhaps Elsa takes her magic too far and gets carried away with it leading Ahotohallan to see Elsa being ungrateful. I mean she was originally in the concept set to be the villain if it wasn't for "Let it go"'s huge success and other reasons too. It would be interesting to see if Elsa takes a dark turn in believing whatever it is she's doing wrong is for the good. But I think the first option is more likely if Elsa were to lose her powers because it really pushes her limits and her character growth and shows everyone that she can be just as naturally strong like her sister and can depend on her one natural abilities and skills too.

The physical change

Speaking of Iduna, losing her powers would mean all those physical features of hers that show her powers would go making her go brunette like her mother, just like Anna has strawberry blonde hair similar to their father's and grandfather's. Her clothes would perish given they're mostly created with her own magic and so she'd have to rely on earth material clothes. Her skin would turn warmer from being as pale as the skin gets when one's cold. Her attire colour pall would de - transform from a bright and pale cool colour bright palette to a darker, desaturated one, still in cool colours to separate it from Anna's wardrobe but also to show that she still loves her cool colours. Anna has the greens and reds and warm pinks but I think Elsa will be similar to how she was locked up in her room with the dark pale blues and blacks representing the trauma and identity crisis within. It'll be a parallel to her trauma when being locked up. While her role-found gown is white, her no power attire should black. Then as she starts to understand the point of all this, starts to learn the lesson from this, her costumes start having more colour and perhaps when she's finally found herself it'll be blue and white showing the two parts of herself she found while struggling on a journey with her powers inn Frozen and Frozen 2.

Hans' role and redemption

Okay I know the very mentioned of Hans will blow some peoples heads off thinking “He's just a one time villain and joke” or “He tried to kill Elsa! Anna won't ever forgive him” or “Elsa mocked him in Frozen 2! She won't forgive him either” etc etc. But I'm not going to waste my time trying to explain why Hans deserves redemption and that he wasn't really evil or the real villain of the story, when the lovely @a13thprincefora13thprincess has taken hours out of her time to write the most beautifully written 13 part analysis on who Hans really is. It's incredible. It's what got me to really push on the call to Redeem Hans.

So while she breaks down Hans' true intention, I'm going to try and explain his return for redemption and his pivotal role in Elsa's identify crisis.

I think Hans would be quite important here and have a good parallel with Elsa's crisis here. How and what's his role in it? Well let me briefly explain Hans true intention first. Anna hates Hans, and everyone does too really for almost killing Elsa and attempting to overthrow Elsa's newly royal status as monarchy of Arendelle. But really if we look at the situation closely, the entire council including the Duke were begging Hans to kill her because she couldn't end it the winter herself and because they fear Elsa's powers could harm others. They wouldn't get off his back. Hans wasn't listening at first because in almost all the scenes Hans has encountered Elsa he's tried to convince her to not be what “they” [Citizens and the council] (not him) fear she is and try and stop this winter. But the more he saw Elsa controlling her powers by making a huge ice castle, a snow beast, a new attire, hurting Anna (seemingly intentional to him as by Anna's words), breaking out of the handcuffs and the prison cell and finally the blizzard having a sudden stop the moment he told Elsa Anna's dead, the more he saw that Elsa lied to him about not being able to control her powers which led to him eventually agreeing to kill Elsa seeing as innocent lives were in danger given the blizzard. Before the final straw, being the handcuff and prison break, he was gentle and kind, he never said anything mean about the sisters nor did anything against them til. Hans was stressed and put under pressure given the citizens of Arendelle freezing to death, the council begging him to execute Elsa, Anna going missing for days in freezing weather, begging Elsa to end this winter and Anna being the case of Elsa going rouge and freezing the kingdom by causing as scene at the coronation party. It was really a misunderstanding and his behalf. As I'm sure you've heard a few times in Disney media, villains aren't evil, just misunderstood. But really the council are the real villains of Frozen, not Hans. But then again seeing that kind of magic and the way her powers came out, one would feel scared and think she's some kind of Sorceress.

Hans' "villainy" reveal scene

When the kingdom was thawed, and Hans was surprised to see Anna alive, he said to her he thought Elsa froze her heart. I just want to go back to the scene where Hans "villainy" is revealed because I want to explain as briefly, as I can, how him being stressed was the cause of his bad decisions from that point after. Hans is surprised to see Anna alive, when she came to him for the kiss, because when his horse, who Anna rode to find Elsa, ran back to him he thought Anna didn't survive the cold and died. But Anna tells him Elsa froze his heart which genuinely surprises him because Anna before had told him Elsa would never hurt her and with such powers that Elsa had making everyone fear her, Hans genuinely believed Anna with that being said. What makes Hans think Elsa did this deliberately, is her lack of explanation, her precise words to Hans, who says she said herself Elsa wouldn't hurt her, being “Nope. I was wrong”. From this point Hans starts feeling confused as to what Elsa's intention is and realises that he has to kill Elsa before she hurts anyone else. As for Anna he starts thinking she deserved it because all of this was all Anna's fault because if she didn't create a scene at the coronation party, Elsa wouldn't have ran and accidentally cause the Kingdom to freeze and wouldn't have had the repetitive suggestions to kill Elsa and Anna too wouldn't have been hurt and Arendelle would've kept their respect for him. So it makes sense for Hans to burst under stress in anger on Anna leading him to go mad. Imagine it like this: You are put in charge of a kingdom. You have to make sure the citizens are warm and safe, but have to reason with the 'gone rouge' Queen and have to find the missing Princess all the while the Kingdom gets colder and people start to freeze to death. Stressful right? Not just for a ruler but anyone put in charge would feel the same kind of pressure in a situation like that.

Swapped roles and intended plot holes

Originally, Hans was supposed to be a good guy while Elsa was the Villain. The good and evil roles were swapped around after Disney heard "Let it Go". That's why Hans' villain reveal felt so sudden and was unexpected. And that's why Hans' is alongside Elsa, Aan, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf I'm some of the movie posters. That confirms that what we saw of Hans before this villain reveal was indeed genuine. They also wanted Hans falling for Elsa too, which is why they have that chemistry, that dynamic, those scenes that get us, Hesla fans, to ship them. That's why the plot holes such as how Hans brought Elsa to the castle and how and why he gave her the blanket in the dungeon etc exist. And speaking of those specific plot holes [events from Elsa's ice palace to the dungeon], we can almost say for certain that it was Hans who carried her to and on his horse and gave her the blanket in the dungeon. The chains could be Hans or either or the guards, believing that the chains would hold back Elsa's powers. What I say it was Hans is because why would the Weselton guards carry her when they hate her and follow the order to kill her, and why would her one Arendellian guards carry her when they fear her. Hans is probably the only one who doesn't fear her. He's really just shown doing his responsibility as the one in charge.

So really we, who want Hans redeemed, are just trying to make sense of Hans' character rather than accept that he's all of a sudden a villain when before he revealed it, it wasn't really shown, hence the twist of the movie.

Feeling the guilt

Back to the Frozen's real villains, the Duke's punishment was cutting off all trades with Weselton and Hans' punishment was being sent back home. When the guards send both of them in the boat (separately), the Duke tried to resist and get out of it making excuses but Hans didn't. He didn't even say nor do anything to resist being sent back home and leave Arendelle. It's like he was already feeling the heavy guilt and regret. So why is going home a cruel enough punishment for Hans whether or not Arendelle knew Hans' backstory? But more so what is Hans' backstory? Let's find out.

Hans' backstory and intention

Hans is a prince from the Southern Isles, a neighbouring kingdom to Arendelle. His family consists of both his parents, and 13 older brothers. Being the youngest and least important in a large family would be difficult for anyone, royal or not. He is the youngest of 13 brothers. In the book 'A Frozen heart', it's revealed that Hans' father and brothers excluding the third oldest, Lars, treated him harshly and disrespectfully both emotionally and physically because he was the youngest son and last in line throne and hence to their eyes, useless. To add to it, all of his brothers including Lars, are married excluding Hans making him more vulnerable to his father's and brothers despise for him. His mother however, loves Hans' nonetheless just like any mother would love her son. His father had a saying to him that goes something like “The strong should pick on the weak”, which was his excuse of treating Hans like so. Hans wanted to prove to his father and brothers that they are wrong about him, and in fact is capable of ruling a kingdom, of respect, of love. He had to face it; he's never going to get the throne of his own and feel loved, whether his brothers have offspring or not and as much as he tried he just felt neglected, so he decided to squeeze into a throne somewhere else. Lars was the youngest child for a while so he knows somewhat how Hans is feeling. With his help, Hans found out that he could fit into the throne of Arendelle hearing upon Elsa's coronation. While his brothers and father could care less about where or what Hans' was doing, I'm assuming he told his mother that he was going to Arendelle for the coronation as a guest on behalf of his kingdom.

So when he got to Arendelle, after Anna ran off to find Elsa after the incident and the coronation party, she left him in charge and that led the the kingdom and the council to rely on him and that is what made Hans feel important and feel like this is his chance to prove himself worthy of love and respect by giving the same to the people. But being put in charge of the kingdom also came with pressure of holding the responsibility such as making sure the princess and Queen are safe, making sure the people are looked after, etc. Having sent back home, after attempting to kill Elsa, instead of receiving respect and love from his family he originally thought he would do so by gaining or rather stealing the throne and proving his worthiness of love and attention, he instead will be recieving more despise and disappointment from them along with other punishments of their own too like we see in Frozen Fever. And as he faces punishment he would regret more and more giving in to the council's manipulation to attempt to murder Elsa and most of all for letting the people of Arendelle, who looked up to him and relied on him for care and warmth (metaphorically and literally), down. In fact no; the worst of punishments is his mother's disappointment in him. He let his own respect down from the eyes of everyone down.

Hans' role in Elsa's identity crisis

So now we can finally answer the question, 'How and what's Hans' role in Elsa's identity crisis?'. Given all that said about Hans' intention, a way for him to seek forgiveness would be doing the exact opposite of what he was going to do, which would be saving Elsa's life. He won't have this idea come to mind when going ot seek forgiveness but a situation may arise in which he does do so and rectifies his past mistake. Now many have theorised and hoped for Elsa's powers to disappear temporally leading Elsa to go on an identity crisis, given she's had her whole life with them, fearing them loving them and for them to go would cause chaos within her as I've explained above. If Hans returns for redemption, he would also be finding himself while trying to seek that forgiveness. Hans will never be king and he may not feel himself worthy to be king anyways after what he's done. He's the spare of all the spares. So what his purpose in life? All he can do to start the road to redemption is ask for forgiveness to Elsa and Anna by helping them somehow perhaps..? So while Hans has his identity crisis (his own redemption arc), Elsa begins hers too. Elsa is now just a regular girl and she would think everyone hates but Hans would tell her that no, she's more than just her powers as he knows what it feels like not being important anymore and feeling like you've let people down, losing everything of which you claimed as your identity. They'd share a moment of heart felt talks and understandings but perhaps before this moment he saves her from doing something that would kill her and he saves her knowing he might die instead because saving Elsa without a risk to himself would make Elsa not buy it as he has saved her once, before he trusted to kill her, which would rectify his crime in attempted murder of Elsa. Why would Hans want to die? Well as I just explained on what I believe Hans backstory to be of, and given the outcome the situation in Frozen, Hans' would have to accept that he will never be loved by anyone. So upon trying to see forgiveness from Elsa (and Anna), he doesn't think they'll accept it and just sarafices himself for Elsa because he now knows Anna can't live without her. He knows that they have a stronger sibling bond than he had with his brothers. But when they're both safe, they sit somewhere and have a conversation in the situation they're in, like mini conversation in the dungeon in Frozen, but more impactful and meaningful. It would make Elsa begin to see that there really is more to Hans than just his mistakes and he starts to grow on her. She has no reason to believe he's still after the throne or any kind of power because she's not Queen anymore and doesn't even have her powers but is instead just a regular girl (and Anna is taken anyways). Their interaction could go something like this: “I'm nothing. I'm not the Queen anymore, I don't been have my powers. I'm just.. a regular girl”/ “A regular girl who is a Princess who gave up her crown to someone who you thought deserved it more because you didn't want to take away the attention of being the 5th spirit and Queen from someone who loved so much, she save your life twice. That's a true nobility of a Queen.”. Those wondering how Hans would know what went down in Frozen 2, well, given that Arendelle has made peace with the Southern Isles (as written in a newsletter in the new Arendelle theme park in Japan), the King and Queen would be talking about it and Hans would know from them. If Elsa was still Queen there would be doubts that he is still after the throne or if Elsa has her powers, some might say he wouldn't love her without them or he's trying to study Elsa's magic etc. We know her own family, Anna, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf would love her with or without powers and I'm sure the people of Arendelle and Northulra do but we need someone who would cause some doubts to people in order for Elsa to find herself. So that's why it's so perfect for Hans to come into the picture when Elsa loses her powers temporarily.

Learning from the situation

After she regains her powers, the lesson she would have learnt is that she is more than just her powers. And Hans would be the king to his Queen and gain his respect and love without actually being the king and having respect through being a monarch. And I think it fits in well with the story, making that part of the reason why Elsa gave up the throne to Anna; So that Hans would love her for who she is, with or without her powers, with or without the crown. Some might say Elsa is better off alone but I think not because one, love can happen to anyone even if they're an independent person, and two, I personally find it necessary for Elsa's partner to be one who loves her with or without the crown and her powers and as I just explained Hans is a perfect example of that. Just because Elsa seems alone doesn't mean she's not interested in men or isn't attracted to anyone. I believe she was just focusing on self discovery through her powers and family through Anna. Now that she's found herself and is assuming that Anna is well and about to enter a new life with marriage to Kristoff, it would be a great time to get Elsa to unintentionally explore romantic love. But anyways I think this theory, of Elsa having a love interest whose no longer after status, would fit in well because Anna deserves the crown for everything she is and has done for others with or without the crown and Elsa would be loved with or without her powers and the crown and by someone too. It would fit in with their individual arcs perfectly! Elsa and Hans need unconditional love from each other. Hans' biological family don't give him enough of that and Elsa needs it from someone other than family.

If Hans returns, which I believe is possible with all the hints lately, and if the writers feel like taking Elsa's powers away for some time, in the movie, then there you have it - my theory comes true.

Plus further reasons why Elsa and Hans are soulmates are these; Elsa is a North girl, while Hans is south. Elsa is born in winter and given Hans' hair colour and some people associate him with fire, but imma take that as an Autumn guy.

But alas until the run up to Frozen 3, updates of it, and/ or until we get further Frozen content with its 10th anniversary coming up in just 17 days, we can only keep hoping and joining the dots for more of a possibility.

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ashe-studies · 2 months

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another issue i have with sonic prime - shadow the hedgehog. ( very long )

just gonna say this upfront - do not interact if you are a prime shadow fan and just want to insult or start an argument // debate with me in the comments.

ever since his debut in the show, shadow in sonic prime has been frequently called 'the best he's been written in years', well loved by a large majority of the prime fandom.

because of this popularity, i was under the belief that shadow was going to be more like how he's written in sa2, satbk, or sonic 06. i've since learned that many shadow fans ( that i've seen ) just like shadow on screen

which isn't necessarily a problem, but i think it's safe to say the sonic fandom has always been a mixed bag when it comes to critiques of the games and their contents ( ever since sa1, or even before that, to sonic frontiers, but i can't comment on the comics, as i've never read them ).

so, in hindsight, i should've proceeded with caution and not take popular opinion into high account.

anyway, i'll get to the point. shadow in sonic prime is one of the worst characterizations of shadow i've seen. i think the only one worse is shadow from the sonic boom universe.

shadow is quite frustrating in this show for a few reasons:

he loses the chaos emerald within five minutes of obtaining it, like an absolute idiot.

he antagonizes sonic every chance he gets and seems to believe the only way to resolve an issue is through violence or aggression. like, yes, of course, shadow, i totally wanna listen to you after you punched me in the face so hard that i literally suffered amnesia.

does next to nothing in the entire show ( up until, like, s3? ), but acts like he's needed.

insults sonic's friends for no reason ( originals and alters alike ).

somehow thought the tech was the only reason sonic could pass through the gateways when he literally saw sonic pass into new yolk before he got the tech. it'd be one thing if he knew sonic could pass regardless and figured the tech would help himself pass through, but he just ignored or forgot what he saw, i guess??? and this is never brought up again.

real question, what does sonic need him for again? even if shadow was never there, sonic would eventually come up with the plan on his own. it's not rocket science.

keeps insisting the alters aren't real people ( this is a problem of the show in general, esp where they go back and forth with sonic in particular, but it's extremely aggravating with shadow as, even if he was right, he's basically saying that sonic shouldn't care about the people that look like his friends, even if they're copies ).

last but not least, HE KEEPS BRINGING UP THAT HE'S THE ULTIMATE LIFEFORM, WHO FUCKING CARES, GET A LIFE-

( should i also mention how misleading it was for it to seem like shadow was concerned and trying to warn sonic about the shatteverse, only to immediately go on the assault when the two meet up? what the fuck? )

after i got my hopes up by the reviews and all the love for this show, this was just sad and annoying to watch. how many times is it gonna take for sega and any writers associated with them to get it?

shadow is not an overtly aggressive, hot-headed, domineering person. that was never what shadow was or was supposed to be.

shadow is a kind, loving person. yes, you might not see it from pretty much every canon media of him aside from a few select games, but that's who he was meant to be.

of course, in sa2, he did nearly destroy the world. the difference between that shadow and prime shadow is that, in sa2, he did it out of the love he had for maria and because his memories were affected, making him misremember what maria really wanted.

in his debut game, shadow is meant to be something akin to a guardian angel. the 'ultimate lifeform' meant wish fulfillment, immortality, healing. and to have shadow believe that sonic is the true ultimate lifeform instead speaks volumes of who he is and how he's changed in a considerably short amount of time.

in prime, shadow isn't any of these things. sure, he protects sonic every now and then, but for a while, i didn't even know if it was because he actually cared about sonic or if it was because it was necessary to get back home. the 'ultimate lifeform' doesn't mean anything to him or to this show. it's just to wave his big dick energy around. it shows he doesn't actually see anyone, let alone sonic, as his equal.

yes, shadow is standoffish, but it's not like he's ever been out of touch with emotions or relationships. i don't believe that it was because of maria's death that shadow had essentially 'shut down', but rather because he wanted to grant her wish as soon as possible. and even then, he saved rouge's life. while the game could've led us to believe it was because she had the chaos emeralds, they showed us that he just couldn't let her die if he could prevent it by showing that he couldn't save maria way back then.

this is what a lot of the games, and frankly, most of sonic media in general, seem to have entirely forgotten about shadow.

even as a child, it wasn't difficult for me to understand that shadow did care. that he does care. in fact, that's pretty much what drives him throughout his entire debut game, that he cares so much for maria, so much for her wish, and, eventually, so much for humanity.

i think the closest we've ever been to getting a characterization just like shadow in sa2 is in sonic 06. say what you will about the game, i personally like it ( i acknowledge it has a lot of flaws, but let me be ).

in sonic 06, shadow doesn't have any hostility with sonic. in fact, sonic gives a silent thanks to him for saving him from silver. and shadow proves that you don't have to tell your friends you love them in order for them to know, 'cause he loves rouge and omega in this game. he deeply cares about them and is noticeably disheartened when he discovers what becomes of omega in the future.

shadow doesn't become persuaded by mephiles' tactics to turn against humanity, even when he gives plausible ( but not 100% ) evidence that it is likely authorities would blame shadow for the downfall of humanity, due to his power. in fact, the only thing about any of that information that brings shadow pause is the fact omega would have been the one to arrest him in said future.

and to mephiles' face, he accepts the possibility humanity will turn on him head-on and tells him that he will choose his own fate, that he will fight like he always has, that he decides how his story ends.

i find it hilariously sad that the few games that gets shadow is a game largely hated by a majority of the sonic fandom ( this included me at some point, i'll admit ). i think i'm seeing a turnaround though, especially with P-06 in the works, so that's some good news.

but back to my main point, there's a reason why sa2 and s06 shadow work much better than prime shadow. because shadow honestly, truly, completely cares.

he saves rouge from prison island.

he works alongside sonic without a second thought.

he saves humanity from his own wrong-doings.

he acknowledges sonic's power.

he saves rouge from eggman.

he is upset about omega's possible future circumstances.

he protects sonic from silver.

he is aware of how much rouge cares for him.

he helps in bringing sonic back to life.

and he does all of these with little to no complaint, no sarcastic remarks, almost no attempt to hide his true feelings under a mask, none of that. shadow is completely true to himself. shadow doesn't only care about others, he cares enough about himself to know who and what he truly is and everything he's capable of.

like, goddamnit, shadow isn't my #1 favorite sonic character, but he's SO close in these specific games.

this is why prime shadow feels so hollow and dry in comparison. he's just devoid of almost everything that made shadow... well, shadow. and it's been like this for years!

i'm not sure why people are saying this is the 'best he's been written in years' when, for a long while, he was no different from a majority of his characterizations.

but, hey, he's better in s3, right?

well, yes, but we don't know why he's like that.

in s2, he had balls of steel for treating and talking to sonic the way he did, but now he's...

kinder? protective? actually listening? ( sort of, dude's still kinda stubborn )

what the hell happened???

did his sympathy finally kick in? did he get hit by a coconut and had amnesia for a while? was he one of infinite's copies ( honestly, i would've bought that )?

seriously, what happened?

yeah, obviously, s3 shadow still has flaws, but i think if they were established in s1 or s2 and slowly developed over the course of the show, he would've actually been a really good character.

not that the shadow i know would call the alters 'not real' anyway, but, y'know, for the prime universe and all that.

anyway, overall, i think shadow in sonic prime is one of the worst versions of shadow to date. in their efforts to make him cool ( i guess? ), they made him devoid of a lot of emotion and connection with the rest of the cast, but especially sonic.

completely pushing shipping aside, shadow and sonic do not have a healthy relationship in this show. i'm not going to ignore that sonic definitely has flaws in his writing, but the relationship is unhealthy from sonic's passiveness and shadow's aggressiveness.

due to this, i only like specific moments of prime sonadow, and all of them are in s3. which is saying something.

if it were me, i would've written shadow more true to the original, with my own minor creative liberties here and there, in terms of his personality.

with sonic, i would've made it so he's definitely more on the line of friendly allies with him, but not quite friends yet. throughout the show, their bond would've become stronger and stronger, with a lot of queer undertones ( c'mon, i'm gay and i like these little freaks, leave me be ) and mayhaps a romantically undertone ending, if i didn't wanna be bold about it? maybe? i'm as transparent as glass.

i absolutely would've included omega into the cast and make his relationships with omega and rouge very important to shadow and his character, 'cause HOW DARE YOU TAKE THAT AWAY?!

generally speaking, there's just a lot i would've changed about shadow if i was in charge of writing sonic prime, but alas...

i can only write fanfiction.

and yes, i'm absolutely serious.

thank you for reading this long, ridiculous rant with me about a popular character that is guaranteed to get me some flack in one way or another.

lemme know if you'd have done anything different with shadow's character in the prime universe, or if you have any questions!

#sonic prime #prime sonic #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #sonic prime shadow #prime shadow #shadow the hedgehog #sonic prime analysis #i guess

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callofdudes · 1 year

Text

Vampire Simon "Ghost" Riley.

CW: Sexual themes and mild gore.

Featuring ✨GhostSoap✨

Alright, so I've been going through some AU's and I've been wondering about Monster AU's for COD because who doesn't like a monster AU?? And I was thinking about vampire Simon. Apparently i'm not the only one with this idea so I'll put my spin on it here for you guys. I've put a lot more thought into this than I probably should have but hey, whatever.

At first I started making Headcanons for Simon to be your typical bloodsucker vampire which is what I'll stick with. But there are also two other kinds of vampires. One of them I think could really work with Simon as well, so I'll briefly explain that below along with my Headcanons for bloodsucker Simon.

There is a difference between the viral vampire and a psychic vampire. (There are also supernatural vampires which i guess just have different powers??) Psychic vampires don't rely on blood but psychic energy. They don't have to be unalive or immortal but just humans with the ability to draw energy from others to feed themselves. But they are no less dangerous than a blood feasting ones, especially if they cannot control their powers. People say they are born with their abilities so most don't even know they're feeding off of others.

This could work for Simon because Johnny has lots of energy that he can spend and using his families energy would align with the abuse. With these vampires, feeding on the energy of friends and family isn't ideal because you can drain all their energy.

Simon occasionally feeds on Johnny because he can jump back easily the next day from whatever little Simon does take. When Simon comes clean about who he is during their relationship Johnny gives him permission to feed on him whenever he needs, but only him or enemies. Eventually it turns into a little game. During sex Johnny begs Simon to take his energy and after some convincing it turns into this kinky thing. Simon takes Johnny's energy during sex and Johnny loves the feeling. It makes everything feel so much better and that minute shift in his body feels amazing.

Simon is a vampire, which ties into one of the many reasons he was abused and not seen as an equal in his family. Simon is the only vampire, it's a recessive gene but Simon's older brother did not get said gene.

Simon was abused by his father who thought his son's growing abilities to be unfair and being a vampire he needed to "man up" faster.

This is a reason why Simon has very few freedoms as a child. He couldn't go to school since as a young child up into his teen years he slept for a large majority of the day and was up all night. Lenient online classes worked best for him.

Simon was conditioned to animal blood, and although human blood always smelt ten times better, he didn't start to sense the difference until his early teens. But his father would beat and abuse him out of the thought of drinking human blood. Whether he knew this would keep Simon weak and in submission or he was genuinely against hurting anyone outside of his own family (abusive bro) Is debatable.

When Simon signed up for the military he didn't know much about the world around him. He would wear a hoodie under his gear to hide his face and his skull gloves on his hands.

One of the reasons Simon is almost never shown with less than two layers on is because he works out in the sun a lot. His skin is deathly pale underneath. Simon's fangs also grew longer and more notice from 17 to early 30s so the mask Is another additive to that.

Simon didn't classify to anyone in the military that he was a monster. But Simon started to gain attention for the way he could take down enemies. He could kill them with speed and stealth that was probably inhuman for someone his size. But with Simon's ability to teleport and transform, along with his superhuman stamina and durability he made the perfect soldier.

Simon trims his nails frequently, but he doesn't dull the point of his nails, making it easier to tear into flesh. Why would he need this??

When Simon became a soldier he was away from blood for a long time. Considering their meals are limited and they are in no way being served medium rare stake on the dime every night.

When Simon went on his first field mission he was hungry, and after raiding a small campout he'd been stung by the delicious taste of human blood. He'd never had it before. But they were dead anyway, so what was the harm?? Granted they were still fresh bodies. He'd find the bullet wound or sometimes he'd make a different puncture hole and feast. Knees in the dirt draining the fresh bodies of their blood.

And Simon loved it. He could never drink animal blood again after letting his aching fangs sink into the throat of these men.

Rumors started going around that some bodies collected had puncture wounds on their throat or in their wrists, but they could never trace it back.

Now Simon was never cruel. He only drank from the fresh bodies around him. After tasting such blood the different scents around him did make him hungrier, but he went on missions frequent enough that he wouldn't starve to near death.

And he kept this up for a couple years with no problems.

Now you might be asking, what about him sleeping all day!? Well, Simon is an insomniac, that's what normal humans call him. He's up all night either in his room or prowling the grounds . Usually if Simon has enough energy he can walk around during the day. When he has time to spare he'll catch a quick nap, and make up for all the lost energy on the days he gets time off. If he has no recruits to deal with for a while Simon will go to his room and crash. People have rumored about this because once Simon curls up he doesn't wake up until his body permits him to. Which has only occasionally been a problem.

Well when Simon was finally recruited to the 141 he doesn't tell Price (or maybe he does I haven't decided) whether he tells Price or not it doesn't really matter. Simon had enough energy to live when he was in a larger unit, but being in the 141 for specifically very strong soldiers he was fed much more.

And it was only him and Price for a bit until John "Soap" MacTavish and Kyle "Gaz" Garrick joined.

Now this wouldn't have been a problem. Gaz was quiet and stuck by Price's side like Ghost, which Ghost had no problems with. It was Soap he had a problem with.

Soap was loud and bubbly. He was always trying to hang out with Simon which already wasn't really his thing. But Ghost and Soap share a blood type. Now I headcanon that Simon finds people with his own blood type so much more delicious.

Simon wanted to tear out his throat the minute he smelt the scent radiating off the Scotsman. But he only drinks from the freshly dead, that was what he told himself. So he tries to avoid Johnny because every time he's around him his fangs ache and he starts acting up.

But Johnny is always around him and he can't get away. It's when they go to Las Almas that Simon starts to slip.

When the events of the mission "Alone" take place Simon is already out of energy and hungry. Soap is actively bleeding out and Simon doesn't want to risk being around him, so against his better judgement he takes off.

Of course he makes up a half truth excuse for this and brushes it off. He helps Johnny maneuver through the buildings.

When Johnny comes across the soldier with one of Simon's knives in his throat and pulls it out, there is no extra blood splatter. Blood is covering the knife and dried from the wound, but there is no extra blood splatter when the obstruction is removed. Later he comes across another body slumped in the corner. John searches him and finds two puncture marks in his throat by his Adams apple.

And each body he finds has those same puncture marks in different places. He brings this up to Simon who is a little two eager to dismiss it. Simon is just trying to hold himself together because he knows when he is reunited with Johnny he will be bleeding. And he doesn't want to hurt him.

Other things point to this, and for extra points Johnny noticed it all. Keeping tabs of sorts.

Simon can see in the dark better than anyone else so when they get to Alejandro's safehouse he notices Rodolfo's movement before Johnny does.

When Simon removes his mask his lips are an odd reddish hue though his face is pale. Johnny recognizes Simon's odd eye shape, one of the things that sets Simon apart from the others is his oddly slitted pupils. Their sharper than the others. And they contract oddly with the flickering light above them. Johnny also takes in the odd point of Simon's ears.

Again, Johnny keeps a tab on all of this. At first it's just simply because he wants to remember Simon. He wants to know more about the legendary Ghost. And so he can draw him and write on him in his journal. But then things start mysteriously clicking in his brain.

Simon doesn't eat dinner with them. Or food of any kind. Simon goes to his room to eat but Johnny has never seen the man eat any food.

If Captain Price knows what Simon is there is probably a classified freezer for lieutenant or higher members, but that only classifies Simon and Price. Who are the only two who have ever taken a vested interested in the freezer. When Johnny goes snooping it's just a bunch of vacuum sealed white bags with a mysterious liquid in them.

He brings it up to Gaz who doesn't really care and eventually to Price who he mentions it to offhandedly when talking about Ghost. Whether Price knows or not he won't give much thought to it and easily dismisses it.

Simon was always very careful about where he treaded. Considering there were many limitations to being considered soulless. But when on a mission and cutting through a home, Johnny briefly, very briefly looking in a mirror along one of the houses hallways. And it was just him. Simon was right next to him but it was only him in the mirror. Simon had played it off as Johnny's unpredicted adrenaline rush and his eyes playing tricks on him. And Johnny believed him. For a while.

(fill in the blanks a lot for plot duh duh)

When Johnny does come to the conclusion that Simon is infact, a vampire, he doesn't confront the man right away. He waits. And he waits. And he waits. By this point Johnny had already developed feelings for Simon and doesn't want to risk the very real blossoming relationship by confronting him.

If Simon was really a vampire could they love each other??

When Johnny does confront Simon it's when he decides to confess. He knocks on his door at a late hour and Simon is not surprisingly awake. He lets Johnny in and they sit. Johnny pours his heart out to Simon. About their missions and about his growing attraction toward him every single day.

But he doesn't bring up anything about vampires.

Simon is hesitant, on one hand he loves Johnny. On the other he doesn't want to potentially hurt Johnny with the truth of his existence and trying to hide. Because he yearns for Johnny in more than one way.

Simon ultimately reciprocates and they start dating. Johnny's theory is only backed up by Simon not wanting to kiss or to touch. It's odd at first, but it all slowly makes sense.

After a couple months of their relationship Johnny had decided he's done and he's going to kick the can. Late when he's staying in Simon's room and their talking, Johnny lunges for it.

He slides closer on Simon's bed and clutches his mask. Simon rushes to stop him but Johnny is already pulling the mask up, lips settling on Simon's. They're cold and rough. Simon is caught between freaking out and melting.

Johnny pulls Simon in and whispers against his lips "I know." When he pulls away Simon is stunned. Johnny pulls the mask off fully and watches his eyes shift to look at Johnny.

"Do it, bite me. You're probably starving." He pants when they part. After convincing, Simon pulls off Johnny's shirt and traces his fingers over his neck. "Will it hurt??" "I don't know. But hold your breath. I'll try to be gentle."

"You know??" They talk and eventually Johnny convinces Simon to show him his fangs. Their sharp and pearly white. That goes straight to Johnny's dick. He kisses Simon and shoves his tongue in his mouth. Simon moans as Johnny's tongue explores his mouth and glides over his fangs. Johnny can feel them prick into his tongue and draw blood from just the point. It makes Johnny hornier than he expected. He thought he'd be freaked out.

It doesn't hurt. Johnny can feel Simon's cold lips trail over his skin, teasing him and then his fangs trace the skin. The hairs on the back of his neck raise and Simon breaks his skin. It's not painful, it's pleasurable. Johnny isn't ready for the pleasure that blossoms in his stomach and hits him like a thousand kisses over his throat.

Simon latches onto his throat and shudders, finally getting to taste Johnny's blood after so long smelling it and longing. It goes straight to his dick and his body is trembling. Johnny is crying and moaning' clawing Simon's shoulderblades.

Simon could drink until Johnny is cold and silent but he forces himself to pull away. Johnny smashes his mouth onto Simon's and can taste the crimson liquid on his tongue.

Neither expected this to be so erotic but their first time together is better than anything they could have imagined. It turns into this little game. Simon feeds on Johnny at the dead of night before fucking the life out of him. Sometimes it's gentle but most of the time after getting hard at the taste of his blood Simon is feral and wants to have Johnny in every single way.

Johnny teases him about his abilities too. With his shape shifting Johnny will often beg him to turn into a bat, Simon tries to tell Johnny that's a myth until he's caught having a nap in the rafters of the shower/locker room by Johnny. He then starts to beg his boyfriend to be a bat more often because he looks so cute.

Another thing Johnny's notices is how Simon's pupils expand and sharpen. When he's relaxed his pupils will relax and almost soften out, mostly around Johnny or Price. When he's feasting or hunting/on a mission his pupils are sharp slits.

After Johnny finds out Simon does not hesitate with himself around Johnny. He can whisk Johnny away without care for how fast he runs and feast in front of him.

Simon only feels comfortable drinking from Johnny now that he knows his fangs have the opposite effect of pain.

Drinking is not a fast process so if Johnny has a fresh kill and Simon is getting tired he'll guard the entrance of wherever they are for at least ten minutes to give Simon time to replenish himself.

That's all the thoughts I have for now. I don't have anything planned for this out I wanted to write down the ideas I had for a blood sucking Simon who has erotic sex with Johnny- 😂

Apologies for any spelling mistakes!

#simon ghost riley #call of duty headcanons #john soap mactavish #johnny soap mactavish #call of duty #vampire Simon Riley #monster AU #COD au #cod headcanons #ghostsoap #soapghost #simon riley headcanons #ghost x soap #soap x ghost #ghoap #vampire AU

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