#just because she isn’t as bad as endeavor doesn’t mean she isn’t bad at all?? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pianokantzart · 1 year

Text

YES! GOOD! I’m going to just going to analyze the whole dinner scene, because it’s one of my favorite parts of the movie.

Mario and Luigi walk in, and immediately the whole room lights up to greet them. Despite everything that follows, one thing is clear: The Mario Brothers are happy to see their family, and the family is happy to see them.

The whole family confirms that they watched their commercial. Everyone except their mom insists the commercial was a bad idea, but the fact that they all watched it speaks to the fact that there is no indifference regarding Mario and Luigi’s dream. They’re eager to see where this endeavor leads, even if they think it’s going to end in failure.

The moment Mario and Luigi sit down at the table, their uncles begin laying into them like it’s open season on financially struggling plumbers. Just full blown, no-holds-barred roast mode on their nephews.

Mario is on the defensive, but he doesn’t get angry, he’s just trying to argue his side. Clearly this is typical behavior for Uncle Tony and Uncle Arthur. They’re loud, overly honest, and obnoxiously confident in their opinions. Uncle Arthur, thankfully, has his wife to keep him in check. Uncle Tony, however, who is seated next to poor Luigi, is an absolute menace.

Luigi ignores all the teasing. He is only interested in getting food, but this is not an easy task. Tony’s verbal arguments are all directed at Mario, but Luigi is the one who gets prodded and shoved around, and that makes getting dinner next to impossible.

Luigi attempts to serve himself salad, attempts to ask for a roll, attempts to eat the mushrooms being put on his plate, and at every turn he’s either pushed away or talked over. He is clearly very soft spoken compared to the other men in his family, and never quite had the strength to stand up for himself... after all, everyone means well, they just lack self awareness. It isn’t worth the fight.

Thankfully, Luigi’s mom comes to the rescue, and puts a bowl of soup in front of her boy. She’s the queen of the caretaker role, making sure all the loose ends are tied up and that everybody eats.

But on the flip side, it’s interesting to note that once the uncles start tearing into Mario, Mario’s Dad serves him up a plate of food. He may have just been serving the person next to him because that was the polite thing to do, but I have a theory...

I think that this wasn’t the first night that Mario and his uncles went at each other. I think Mario’s Dad read the room, and figured that if Mario was going to spend dinner playing defense, he should at least remember to eat while doing so.

It also speaks volumes that Mario’s Dad doesn’t voice his disapproval until Mario asks for his opinion. Before then he avoids the subject and lets everyone else do the talking, but so long as he’s being questioned directly, he can’t help but be honest.

“I think... you’re nuts. You don’t quit a steady job for some crazy dream.” This sounds like a voice of experience. Mario’s Dad has the figure of someone who has worked physical labor for a good portion of his life (look the size of those arms). He may have had dreams of his own when he was younger, but he had a wife and kids to worry about, and family took priority.

Speaking of family taking priority: “... and the worst part? You’re bringing your brother down with you.” That settles it. The conversation has gone from a casual roast session to dead serious. The entire room falls quiet as Mario puts down his fork and storms off.

“What’d I say?” Everybody at the table (except the niece, she’s long since checked out) gives Mario’s Dad different versions of the look™. Uncle Tony and Uncle Arthur have the same “Jesus Christ bro, you didn’t have to go there” expression, and Luigi just looks hurt on Mario’s behalf. His Dad, however, is just confused.

He didn’t get the gravity of what he said. His relationship with his own brothers– loudmouthed schmucks who call their own shots – is completely alien to what Luigi and Mario have. He probably knows Mario is protective of Luigi, but he doesn’t realize the depth of responsibility Mario feels for him. Anyone can see that Luigi is loyal to his brother, but Mario alone knows how loyal he is, and the implication that he’s betraying that loyalty is intensely painful.

I doubt Uncle Arthur and Uncle Tony truly relate to Mario and Luigi’s relationship either, but they’ve probably teased Mario enough to understand one thing: bringing Luigi into it is a line you do not cross.

Conclusion:

There is a lot of love in the Mario family.

Uncle Tony and Uncle Arthur are definitely the most insufferable of the bunch, but there is no malice in their teasing. While they are brash and overbearing, it’s all in good fun, and they get visibly uncomfortable when things go too far and someone actually ends up hurt.

Luigi seems to take after his mother; kind, nonconfrontational, and happily invested in a supporting role. While his Mom cares for and assists the family, Luigi cares for and assists his brother, both emotionally and in his business ventures.

Mario, in the meantime, takes after his Dad, who appears to be the oldest of the three brothers. He doesn’t always think before speaking, but he isn’t constantly running his mouth like Arthur or Tony, and acts with the gravity of someone who bears a lot of responsibility. He doesn’t quite “get” his sons, but he knows enough to see that Luigi follows his brother everywhere, and Mario does not always think before jumping into things. Despite what Mario may believe, his Dad doesn’t see him as a “joke” so much as he sees him as an impulsive young man who doesn’t grasp the consequences of his actions. But Mario does understand the consequences of his actions, he just dreams big, and... thanks to Luigi... actually has the support he needs to pursue those dreams.

#mario movie #mario movie spoilers #super mario brothers movie #Luigi #Mario #Not Art #mario commentary #This got a lot longer than I thought it would #There were a lot of thoughts #Super Mario Brothers #Long Post

3K notes · View notes

laundrybiscuits · 10 months

Text

(continued from this and this)

“Yeah, I just told her to give them the cold shoulder. Don’t have to be mean or anything, just ignore ‘em a little. Play it cool. Drives girls crazy, ‘cause then they have to work to get your attention.”

Eddie stares at him.

“Holy shit, Buckley’s gonna die alone and it’s gonna be a hundred percent your fault. That is the worst fucking advice I’ve ever heard in my life.”

Steve actually looks offended, like his honor’s been impugned. “What the hell, man? I’ve picked up like a million girls that way. I’m telling you, it works.”

“Yeah, okay, now I’m seeing why my sage advice is required for this whole endeavor. That kind of thing might fly if you’re some alpha dog prom king, but lesbians are like…giant pandas or some shit, okay? The conditions have to be precisely calibrated or they’ll just hibernate in a cave by themselves eating bamboo forever.”

“That doesn’t sound right,” says Steve.

Eddie shrugs. “Whatever, I’m not a panda scientist. The point is…okay, let’s do a thought experiment.” Oh, this is a bad, bad idea. The Munson specialty. “Say you wanted to get a guy interested in you. How would you do it?”

“I’d just—” Steve stops, frowning. “I mean, girls usually just…laugh at guys’ jokes and stuff. Or wear, like, makeup?”

“How are you so awful at this,” says Eddie. “Jesus. I swear to god I remember you doing better with girls at school. Anyway, I didn’t ask what girls do, I asked what you’d do.”

“Shit, I don’t know. Isn’t that why I’m here?” Steve’s getting a little huffy, fidgeting. “I’d just…find a way to hang out with the guy, I guess. Laugh at his dumb jokes.”

“Yeah, sure,” Eddie says patiently. “But that’s what you do with friends too, right? And when you’re walking a perilous path far from the bright streets of heterosexuality, you probably don’t want to risk being too obvious, in case you’re wrong. So you gotta just…give them an opening to let them, like, signal if they’re interested. If they’re looking for a sign, they’ll take it.”

Steve wrinkles his nose. “Ok, but what if they’re not interested yet? Like…sometimes girls take a while to warm up to you.”

“Cut your losses and move on.” Admittedly, Eddie’s still working on that part.

“What? Man, I’m starting to think you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Eddie scowls at the skeptical look on Steve’s face. “Jesus, the disrespect. Why am I not telling this directly to Buckley, anyway? She’s the one in need of these hard-earned pearls of gay wisdom.”

Steve lets out a big, gusty sigh and tips his head back against the couch. “Because she said if I tried to give her any more help with dating, she’d smother me in my sleep and pin it on Dustin.”

“Attagirl,” says Eddie approvingly.

“But obviously she still needs help, so this is like—a stealth mission. For love.”

“For love,” says Eddie. “Yeah, okay.”

———

“Hey, can you—”

Robin whirls around at the unexpected voice and promptly trips over nothing at all, arms flailing out to avoid crashing into the library returns cart.

“Oh, shit,” says the stranger, reaching out a hand like she’s going to catch Robin’s elbow, but pulling back at the last second. “Um. Sorry.”

Robin blinks down at a girl in head-to-toe black, including dusty black combat boots. “Aren’t you hot,” she says, then wants to die. “I mean—like, just, with the heat and all, it’s a billion degrees out, I think if I tried to wear that much black I’d instantly dissolve like the Wicked Witch of the West.”

The girl stares back at her for a second, then bursts out laughing. It’s a nice laugh.

“As if. I’m from Utah, this is nothing.”

“Oh! Utah! You’re not—are you, uh, Argyle’s girlfriend?” The way Argyle’d described her, Robin had been picturing some kind of Elvira-themed ingenue in lace, maybe smoking like a 1920s flapper. This makes more sense for a real-life teenager, though: oversized t-shirt tucked into ratty black jeans, with some cheap-looking silver jewelry tied around her neck. Her eyeliner’s heavier than anything Robin’s ever seen in Hawkins, smudging messily a little in the heat that’s apparently nothing to her. It makes her look a little bit like a panda bear, but not in a bad way.

“Not anymore.” She grimaces. “Ugh, that sounds mean. We’re, y’know, still friends and everything. I’m Eden.”

“Robin,” says Robin, gesturing at herself like a loser. “Hi.”

“Hi,” says Eden, and smiles at her.

#soooo I actually wrote most of this before it became acutely ironic for me specifically #ik I'm vagueing a little but uhh yeah there have been some positive but VERY unexpected developments in my personal life #and originally I was going to apologize for the panda+lesbian slander but yknow what? I stand by it #really need to figure out a tag for this series tho #as always: I do try to keep everything updated/organized on my directory page!#fic: somewhere sometime somehow

186 notes · View notes

itsnothingofinterest · 10 months

Text

So, overall thoughts on 393 & predictions for 394:

I really liked 393 for the most part. I do have one gripe/concern with the current situation (and I’m gonna talk a lot more about that than anything else; that’s just how the internet is sometimes); but overall I really liked a lot of what this chapter did.

First off, the flashback to the League; the camaraderie, the stupid jokes, Dabi being a pretentious jerk who thinks these people aren’t his friends when they totally are. It’s all just *chef’s kiss* perfect, no notes. Other’s have gushed enough for this scene and analyzed all the interesting things it says about these characters so I’ll just add:

“Dudes...Being Dudes!” Can’t believe I didn't see that until now.

But moving on from the “dudes”: Uraraka has earned my praise for having done easily the best to reach out to her villain of any hero kid in the entire arc; not least of which because she’s the only one having any back and forth, and because she seems to be genuinely trying to help Toga. Uraraka’s position isn’t quite perfect, still room to improve for reasons we’ll get too; but she has by far done the best at talking to her villain out of the entire class thus far. Her blood offering™ especially is really big for Toga.

Although, briefly moving on to predictions for the next chapter: my hottest take of a theory is that...I’m honestly not sure how Toga will take Uraraka’s offer. Because having someone in her life who understands her and is willing to offer her blood was, once upon a time, everything Toga ever wanted. But now there’s a bigger question on her mind that Uraraka hasn’t really answered properly yet.

What will she do with Toga? What will happen to Toga if she goes along with whatever Uraraka wants her to do now?

This is basically my biggest and only remaining concern for this plot-line: Toga still absolutely believes she’ll be sent to death row if she’s captured, and her prospects genuinely don’t look good from an objective view. And when Toga brings this up, Uraraka…doesn’t really go against her claim. I mean she makes clear she doesn’t want to murder Toga like Hawks did Jin; but her still going to death row seems a part “the obvious truth for both of [them]” and she “can’t wipe [Toga’s] slate clean”. So what will/can she do for Toga’s very real fear for her life?

It's possible Uraraka doesn’t have any good answer for that. I know some readers are interpreting the dialogue to think she does, that she’ll keep Toga from going to prison if Toga gives up; but putting myself in Toga’s shoes, it doesn’t sound like she’s willing or ready to go against the legal grain like that. And if she doesn’t then, for as much as she’d like that lifetime’s worth of blood, Toga may not give up here if she thinks her lifetime will be a few weeks that way. Heartbreaking as that’d be for her. (Which makes the drama queen in me consider this outcome even more.)

And also just in general, when the Todoroki’s fumbled saving Dabi as bad as they did; I can’t help but doubt Ochako’s chances of fully reaching to Toga in turn just a little.

Although…all that being said; Uraraka’s specific terms on the blood offering™ aren’t for Toga’s surrender. That’s just all of us reading between the lines, and maybe even jumping the gun. Ochako is asking to talk about love, so there may be a twist to expectations there where Toga still fulfills her end of the bargain without just giving up the fight for her life in exchange for blood.

What might come from that I can’t say. Well besides maybe discussing Uraraka’s feelings for Deku but I don’t know anything interesting that’d come from that. Although, maybe it’ll come back around to Toga’s fear for her life if she brings up her loved one, Twice, getting killed by a hero and who Toga is trying to avenge. And maybe this’ll get Uraraka to contemplate the kind of double standard she & her side have been applying to which actions warrant consequences. I mean if Hawks & Endeavor got off scot-free for their wrong doings (not to mention the currently ongoing Operation: Kill Shigaraki); maybe being lenient with the League in turn would be fair. That’s one way I think their conversation could go anyway.

96 notes · View notes

theelvenhaven · 2 years

Text

Ghost Hunting with the Elves

Rivendell

Elrond

When it comes to ghost hunting, Elrond isn’t going to exactly be keen on the idea of wanting to go searching for any kind of trouble. So if he joins you, it is certainly going to be done with the expectations that you are either cleansing the space or helping spirits crossover to Mandos.

Elrond isn’t afraid of what it is lurking in the dark, but that doesn’t mean that his guard isn’t up. He’s not likely to react to anything strange that happens, or anything but seemingly he expects it. Elrond is also very conversative with the spirits that are lurking around- gentle with those benevolent and trying to help them find peace so they can move on. Firm and commanding with those not so much.

Elrond as much as he wasn’t keen on the idea originally, really enjoys doing this with you in his spare time. You’ll probably find that he will subtly ask you when you two can do such a thing again. Happy to tag along with you every time, and also showing you how to protect yourself and help those lonely spirits move on too.

Elladan

Unlike his brother, Elladan believes in both the bad and good kind of spirits, definitely seeing that there is a balance when it comes to the paranormal. For once mor like minded with his father than Elrohir who usually is. Elladan loves a good adrenaline rush, so when you invite him to go ghost hunting with you, he is all game for it.

Elladan certainly doesn’t go unprepared though for such an endeavor, making sure that he knows banishing techniques to be able to ward off negative entities as well as a few cleansing ones. That way neither of you are bringing anything back from these haunted places. You’ll find that you won’t need much to prove to Elladan that ghosts exist, he enjoys running through the what could’ve beens or whys especially when they lead to one conclusion: ghosts.

You’ll find that Elladan is really jumpy the whole entire time, and he finds it absolutely hilarious. That iron gate down the hall slammed shut really loudly? Jumps. Unexpected and sudden moaning? Jumps. Some loud unexplained noise? Jumps. You touching him without him expecting it? Jumps. He finds the whole ordeal hilarious and has a really great time being out in such a spooky setting.

Elrohir

When you invite Elrohir to go ghost hunting with you, Elrohir isn’t going because he believes in benevolent spirits and wants to see if you can find them. He’s going because he certainly believes in the malevolent kind, and doesn’t want you in harms way. Elrohir certainly goes in armed with techniques he’s learned from his father in dealing with them much like his brother.

Everything you discover, or make note of, or even witness with your own eyes that isn’t a danger to you or himself is completely and totally written off or explained away. It gets pretty comical with how hard he tries to explain away everything that happens. Eru forbid if you hear any voices speaking to you and no matter how gentle it is, Elrohir will in fact try and explain it away.

It’s best if you ignore any of his dismissal to your benevolent spirits. Though try as you might to present evidence and give him burdens of proof, there is just no convincing Elrohir that you are there for anything than banishing negative entities from the place. Though if you do encounter any malevolent spirits, for him it’s only proving his case and this is why he’s glad you didn’t come alone. Unlike his brother he doesn’t scare easy and is quick to handle the situation.

Arwen

When you tell Arwen that you are going to go ghost hunting and you want her to come with you she honestly finds that it is a horrible idea. Elrond has taught her many things about spirits- good and bad- and knows how dangerous things can get. While she knows you are less likely to run into anything bad, the risk is certainly there.

You’ll find that she is more likely to try and convince you not to go at all. She runs through a list of reasons as to why you shouldn’t do any ghost hunting because of things that can attach, what you can bring home, the danger you could be in both against spirits and just being a place by yourself. As much as she wants to go with you to her it’s just a no go.

She won’t like it if you decide to go without her, but she won’t stop you either. Arwen will thoroughly have her father look you over when you get back, making sure there is nothing attached to you and that you are safe. Before she will finally let you talk to her about what all you experienced and what all you saw while you were there.

Erestor

When you tell Erestor that you want to go ghost hunting, I think that you will find that he is surprisingly receptive to the whole ordeal. The little secret he has been keeping to himself? He’s pretty sure there may be one in the library, so it he is secretly curious about the supernatural and spirits, etc.

Erestor will do a lot of research ahead of the ghost hunting in an effort to make the ordeal easier to handle. He will learn about the history of the place, the proclaimed ghosts to haunt the area and their life story if he can find anything about them. He does a lot of in depth work to aid in your investigation.

Erestor does indeed scare, but he hides it deep down and very well at that. He doesn’t get jumpy or scream out, but he does get very tense and aggressive. If anything him being scared makes him really angry, though he won’t take it out on you just because he’s scared. Regardless though, ghost hunting with Erestor will certainly be a memorable experience.

Lindir

Try as you might to take Lindir ghost hunting with you, the very idea sends terror through him at having to indulge in such a thing. If Lindir worked up the courage to join you, you’ll find that you will quite literally be having to hold his hand the whole way through the haunted places.

Everything makes him really nervous- strange sounds, smells, hearing voices, or doors closing on their own. He grips your hand really tightly and stays right on top of you as you two walk through the place. Lindir keeps quiet and really dislikes when you invite any ghosts to come and speak or interact with you. He’s nervous something bad would happen to you.

You’re really better off calling it a night early, or not taking him at all. It really puts him far more at ease when he’s not having to run around strange buildings in an effort to “look” for the spirits. Lindir very much likes being at home cozied up together as opposed to that.

Glorfindel

To be perfectly honest, when you bring up ghost hunting with Glorfindel, the first thing he is going to want to do is shield you and the spirits from one another. Knowing they are all tormented and lingering. Yet at your protests he takes your words into consideration before joining you on your endeavor, in the event that something happens to you.

Glorfindel, to the spirits, is like a big beaming beacon of wonderful energy for them to interact with. Every time you bring him you will probably find that they all flock to him and your investigation is chock full of spirit activity. Especially positive spirit activity, as the more malevolent beings are even afraid of him. Seeing that despite their spirit form, he probably could deal with them no matter what.

Glorfindel becomes very receptive to ghost hunting with you, and enjoys very much seeing how you and the spirits interact with one another. He gets highly amused when the spirits interact with him, and is just a big warm ball of sunshine interacting with them in return. Which is why the spirits would like him so much.

Bonus

Haldir

Haldir honestly isn’t keen on the idea of going ghost hunting, let alone you going ghost hunting. Especially alone. So it is mandatory, despite what you think, that he goes with you. Haldir is full of a lot of knowledge about the world, so you will find that he is giving you in depth history and lore lessons about the places that you are frequenting for these.

Haldir is on high alert the whole time that you are there, watching every dark corner to see what else might be lurking in the room. And soothing you when the dark corners seem a little too dark and frightening so you can keep your investigation going. He’s happy to hold your hand and let you drag him all through wherever you may be.

He certainly believes in spirits and the supernatural, but wants you to adhere to whenever he says something is dangerous. Haldir will absolutely put his foot down with you, he doesn’t care how interesting the investigation has gotten for you. If it’s dangerous and he says to bail, it’s time to bail.

* * *

Tags: @saviorsong @lilmelily @dicksoutformtl @fandomhoe101 @celebrimbor-telperinquar @red-riding @miriel-estelwen @ta-ka-shi-ma @nerdysimpy @thegirlwithoutaname87 @anunexpectedsideblog @spidergirla5 @eunoiaastralwings @eternalabysss

229 notes · View notes

linkspooky · 2 years

Photo

THE TRAGIC DEATH OF BAKUGO

Hamartia, also called the tragic flaw, (Harmartia from the Greek hamartien, “to err”) is an inherent defect or shortcoming in the hero of a tragedy, who is in other respects a superior being favored by fortune. Aristotle inroduced the term casually in poetics, in describing the tragic hero as a man of noble rank and nature whose misfortune is not brought about by villainy but by some “error of judgement”. Most importantyly, the hero’s suffering and it’s far-reaching reverberations are far out of proprotion with his flaw. An element of cosmic collusion among the hero’s flaw, chance, necessaity, and other external forces is essential to bring about the tragic catastrophe [x].

I start out with the lecture because, this week’s chapter, and the dramatic turn of events where it looked like the heroes had the advantage for most of this fight so far, only to have those advantages undone in a catastrophic turn of events, follows this idea of Hamartia. Just to be clear, I don’t think Horikoshi is specfically referencing Aristotle or anything like that. I just think the way the story is structure d right now is heavily reminiscent of it, the mistakes of the heroes are what brought about this current tragic turn of events. The events of this chapter are essentially the mistakes the heroes made so far going into the valley, catching up with them and benefitting the villains side of the fight. I’ll explain under the cut.

This is a list of all the mistakes and oversights, the heroes made so far, and just to be clear this isn’t really about whether I think personally the heroes are good or bad people. Hamartia is an intentionally written flaw in a hero character, that the plot is supposed to challenge, the hero rises or falls based on this flaw.

Peter Parker AKA Spiderman AKA the greatest superhero of all time (this isn’t an opinion it’s just objective fact fight me) is a character written around the central flaw of responsibility, in his origin story, because of him acting irresponsibly and wanting to selfishly use his new superhuman abilities for his own gain, he lets a robber go right by him, and as a tragic consequence his uncle is shot by that same robber and as he lies dying in his arm he tells Peter “with great power comes great responsibility.” This isn’t a moral judgement on the characters, but rather the flaw their arc resolves around and how there are consequences like Uncle Ben being shot when they don’t work on said flaws.

Tragic Mistake # 1: Escalating rather than Talking

Before the fight even begins, we’re introduced to a conflict that’s unique to the kids, that they’re starting to think of the villains as more than just people to be stopped and put down. Uraraka remembers that Toga cried when she felt rejected like a person would, Shoto wonders what kind of food Toya likes and considers sitting him down for family dinner, Deku says he can’t ignore the little boy inside of Shigaraki. They are considering the idea that their might be another way of dealing with the villains, but they are all also still using the language of “stop” rather than “save.”

If the central question of MHA is what makes a true hero, a hero who “wins” or a hero who “saves”, the adult heroes especially Hawks, Endeavor and Jeanist are all firmly on the side of “win” and so fixed that it doesn’t even seem to be a question, whereas the kids are sitting on the fence but they’re still using langauge like “stop” Touya, rather than “saving.”

Whether or not you think the villains deserve to be saved, further escalating the conflict instead of trying to seek out alternative means to deal with the villains is a conflict for pure strategic reasons. The reason it’s a strategic mistake is because the heroes already tried this in the war arc, they amassed every single force they had for a pre-emptive strike, to put the villains on the defensive. The language of the War Arc was even that if they didn’t stop the villains here, they probably will not have enough forces afterwards afterwards to keep fighting them. That’s the exact language AFO uses in this chapter when analyzing the situation, both the mass retirement of heroes, and also the losses in the War Arc, have made it so a full frontal assault against the villains and essentially going to war with them is no longer viable.

Like, let’s set the matter of forcing the 1-A kids to essentially fight on the front lines because they simply don’t have the numbers with the retirement of professional heroes to the side for now. This is just the situation of the heroes going into the fight, they didn’t have the numbers they had in the War Arc, and so going into this fight they tried once again with a pre-emptive strike, and a divide and conquer strategy to make use of their lack of numbers. However, they are essentially trying to do the war arc again with less numbers, and less preparation.

And the War Arc strategy did not even work in the first place. Despite Hawks having months of perparation, the complete element of surprise, Shigaraki, Toga, Dabi, Spinner all got away. Despite the execution of Twice, Toga still has Twice’s blood and Sad Man’s Parade is an option once more. Despite Hawks’ spying, Gigantoamachia got out. Hawks didn’t see the Touya reveal coming.

Basically what AFO is saying in this chapter is the Heroes had a situation where they had the villains scattered and fighting on the defensive, and they failed to finish them off this time. Now, they are trying to exact same strategy over again with less numbers, and that advantage of surprise and preperation gone. The heroes can’t afford to keep escalating the conflict and trying to put down the villains by overpowering, simply because it’s not strategically viable.

I’m going to quote Class 1-A kids to essentially seal the point I’m trying to make about the turn of the tides of battle in this chapter.

[Class 1-A Kids] like after this development, with Bakugo down, Shigarki still putting up a fight when the heroes essentially have him in a cage designed to neutralize all of his powers, Dabi back up, AFO at least partially healed even when Hawks’ strategy of breaking his mask completely successful and Endeavor hitting him with his strongest prominence burn, and also Toga still has Sad Man’s Parade in reserve as a surprise and hasn’t used it yet, then what exactly can the heroes do to turn the table at this point?

Either Deku showing up to the Shigaraki battle will somehow fix everything by being so overpowered, or you know, the heroes will have to try a different strategy. As Class 1akids says. The idea of saving the villains has been floated for 100+ chapters, the villains have now gone from Shigaraki a leader they were extremely loyal to, to AFO a leader who is mostly using them as pawns in his conflict, and Shigaraki himself is in need of saving, as Spinner has said over and over again he’s continuing the fight for Shigaraki’s sake to save him, not for AFO. There are several characters who could be turned against AFO if given reason to by the heroes, and also it gives the Villains a chance to work to undo at least some of the damage they did.

Mistake #2 PISSING TOGA OFF

So essentially the War Arc right now is focused on what are five individual fights, Toga vs Uraraka, everyone else Important vs Shigaraki, Shoto, Iida and Endeavor’s sidekicks vs. Touya, Hawks and Endeavor vs. AFO, and then the riots led by spinner and the heteromorphs. The last has gotten the least focus so I’m going to break the other four fights down in order. Toga is interesting because we have probably gotten the least focus on her fight, we didn’t even cut to her this chapter, and yet Toga is essentially the jenga brick that got pulled out of the tower in the heroes strategy.

The heroes decision to bet everything on Deku being able to take down Shigaraki with the support of everyone backing him up, was pulled out of the jenga tower when Toga grabbed him and dragged him out of the portal when Danger Sense didn’t trigger.

Interestingly enough, Toga not triggering Danger Sense did not have to be the disadvantage it turned out to be. As I said, there are clear mistakes and missed opportunities that he heroes mistake in each major battle. Fourth even says, that the reason Toga didn’t trigger the danger sense is because she doesn’t hurt people out of hatred.

Ignoring the Yandere aspects of Toga going “Deku, please be my boyfriend”, there is a lot of emotional complexity to Toga’s basic statement that she wants to become more like the people she loves. The entire time Toga a high schooler herself has been fascinated by the UA kids, especially Deku and Uraraka and wondering what the difference between them and herself is. Toga’s entire character revolves around the idea that she was labeled as a deviant the moment her quirk manifested and shunned, and yet she desires acceptance for who she is, especially after repressing herself to such an extreme extent to try to be “normal” and “good” lead to what was essentially a psyhotic break and a violent incident.

Shigaraki and Touya are perhaps the most self destructive of all the LOV characters, while Toga is someone who has questioned whether the heroes will ever come save her, or if what she really wants is acceptance rather than just destroying things.

Toga is the one questioning if things have to be a life or death battle between them, and Izuku and Ochaco both have the opportunity to show Toga there are other ways, and then they don’t.

Toga’s trajectory as a character is pretty clear, when people reject her, she rejects them back even harder. If you try violence on her, she will get violent back, and so Ochaco and Deku both pick the option of choosing to just defeat her in a physical battle is just a bad choice in general, because Toga is essentially sitting on a bomb. She has the nuke codes here. The biggest advantage of the fight is going to be when Toga uses sad man’s parade, so either Ochaco just defets her in a physical battle before Toga has the chance to use it (but if this happens then why does Horikoshi devote several chapters in a long running plot thread to bring up the possibility that Toga will create another Sad Man’s Parade, and also give Toga the ability to copy the abilities of people whose blood she drinks in the first place if not to make this happen), or Toga is talked down or even persuaded to turn against AFO.

But as for Uraraka herself, what is her tragic and central flaw in this scenario that she cannot overcome. It is essentially Uraraka who is the most empathic of the hero characters, and the one who is so sensitive that she can notice the struggles on other people’s faces and gave a big speech on how the heroes are essentially humans and they need help too. She even flashes back to Toga’s crying face in that speech, it’s a deliberate showing that Toga is being left out of this speech. If the heroes are still human, and need to be helped like any other human beings, then villains as the other side of the coin are just as human as the heroes. Yet Uraraka still fails to reconcile Toga with that idea, Toga is given the impression that Uraraka still doesn’t see her as a real person and that pushes Toga into more extreme forms of violence.

So anyway, what Ochaco and Deku essentially needed to do here was not poke the bear, and not only did they poke it, they shot it, threatened its cubs, and also the bear has rabies.

MISTAKE # 3 ENJI TODOROKI NOT FACING DABI

So yes, everyone and their mother has pointed out that Shoto has a better chance of actually reaching Dabi and empathizing him because they faced such similiar abused and lived experiences. And yes, apaprently it was Shoto’s idea himself to face Dabi alone while Enji handled AFO. I think since then, the plot has pointed out several times that Enji choosing to run away from Toya and not face him again, is him not improving on his central flaw as a character, and was the wrong choice in this situation.

If Shoto facing Dabi alone was the right choice, then Shoto using his best move against Dabi, his speech about everything he’s learned from his friends, and also his begging his brother to stop, would have stopped the fight there, but even after Shoto leverages all of that....

Dabi just gets back up and demands to see Endeavor again.

So, I think Dabi needs to face Endeavor. But like, to prove my point with actual in text citations. Number one, if Shoto’s objective is to get Toya to come home (something he has implied but not vocalized) and Enji’s intention is to take responsbility for Toya and the damage they did to this family, they both went into this fight with the wrong head. The conflict with Dabi is also another iteration of the central conflict of the story, what makes heroes “winning” or “saving.” We see another repeat of the language of Shoto’s objective of “stop” Toya, rather than saving him. This might not be Shoto’s intentions, deep down he might want to just bring his brother home, but we don’t see him vocalize that.

Enji himself, is the emblem of the hero who always prioritizes victory over saving others. Dabi is the shadow to Enji’s flaws as as hero meant to call out that flaws. To simplify the complex Todoroki drama in one central flaw, it’s established to us in the Touya flashback chapters. Like, for Toya himself, what is the origin as a conflict. He has a hero as a father, and he has a father who only cares about the world of heroes, and the potential his children have to be heroes to surpass all might. Enji even before he started to physically abuse Shoto, withdrew entirely from Toya, Natsuo and Fuyumi’s lives when they were no longer potential candidates for his dream to surpass All Might.

Enji’s central flaw as a character is that he chooses being a hero, over being a father and his responsibilities to his family ever single time. The only reason he had a family in the first place was to create a child who could carry on his dream as a hero, but Enji is given several opportunities to just give that up when he sees the way it’s hurting his family, and he just never does he always doubles down every single time choosing his ambitions and heroics over his children.

Enji is a hero at the expense of everything else, even atonement Enji who is supposedly facing the things he did to his family, does so as a hero first before anything else, and it’s shown in the choices he makes during the battle.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but Toya shouting “Look at me” his entire childhood, and Dabi repeating “Look at me” makes it pretty clear with what he wants. If that’s not obvious enough, AFO helpfully points it out for the audience.

Hawks’ justification for the choice to just, not have Enji face Dabi is that he wouldn’t be able to objectively face Toya and fight him like any other villain. Once again we have the language, Enji couldn’t “FIGHT AND BEAT” Toya.

Hawks’ thinking is pure strategy, using Endeavor as their biggest fighter with Hawks’ support, they pound everything they have against AFO to take him out of the fight as quickly as possible since he has effectively taken leadership of the villain’s forces, and while he still is their muscles he’s also essentially a glass cannon due to requiring life support with all the injuries All Might left on his body.

It is a sound strategy, that is if it had worked. Even with AFO taunting Enji and shaking him up, we basically see everything in the fight go completely the way Hawks envisioned, they smash his mask, and not only that but Enji uses his strongest fire on AFO. However, as I said Enji in doing this has ignored his central flaw, putting his duty as a hero over his duty to his family. Yeah, he says that, after this he will watch Toya, but hasn’t anyone ever told Enji, the most basic rule of storytelling is show don’t tell. So anyway, everything works out exactly the way Hawks wanted... and then AFO just gets back up.

We see a similiar result in the fight against Toya. I think Enji’s mistakes are much clearer than Shoto’s in this situation, because like it’s not really Shoto’s fault that Enji destroyed his family he’s a victim in this too. However, to briefly touch upon why Shoto alone isn’t enough to Toya, and why he didn’t reach Toya.

Well, to put it simply he didn’t really reach out much in the first place. Dabi is created by his family not seeing him. Shoto chooses not the path of relating to his brother, but by beating him down with his strongest move, putting a stop to him above all else.

If anything I think shoto is a little bit mixed about what he wants going into this fight, and it is in Shoto’s character to being in two minds about things (he is quite literally split down the middle, fire and ice, mother and father, family and heroics, etc. etc.) Is his big brother a villain to be stopped, or someone suffering in need of saving, and I think (I use I think because honestly I’m not sure what to make of Shoto’s character here entirely and where he plays in on this it’s less clean cut than what Enji needs to do. Shoto hears Dabii out for the reason why he ddin’t come back home so he did try talking, but he also like, doesn’t make the leap that Dabi didn’t become a villain in a vaccum.)

So Shoto hasn’t made up his mind, whether Dabi should be dealt with as a villain, or as his brother and fellow abuse victim, and his choice is to simply try overpowering him. I’d say this analysis is supported by the way Shoto fails to take down Toya, by not seeing Toya and underestimating him. By underestimating Toya, he forgot that Toya is someone who spent years honing his quirk on his own, so Toya essentially copies Shoto’s move and Shoto doesn’t see it coming. Failure to see his brother therefore, leads to Shoto making a strategic oversight and Dabi gets back up stronger. The tragic flaw then for both Shoto and Enji is acting as heroes first, and treating the conflict as another hero villain conflict when it’s not, Dabi isn’t just a villain, he’s Toya Todoroki, he’s there brother and son and the person their family failed and let die the first time who is at risk of just dying all over again.

MISTAKE #4 SHIGARAKI IS A VIDEO GAME BOSS FIGHT

So, to quickly recap. The heroes have tried several times already, to take Shigaraki out. They got him in the tube and stopped his heart when he was only halfway through the surgery, and Shigaraki got back up.

The heroes amassed every single one of their best members against him, with the decay quirk mostly deactivated, and his body incomplete and therefore breaking down on him. Deku completely lost his mind and went full violence, activating his quirk in his desperation. Shigaraki was burned by Endeavor, had his quirk neutralized by Eraserhead, was pummeled by Deku into oblivion, was tied up by Jeanist, and then... he got back up. Not only that but when Deku and Shigaraki are together in the vestiges, it’s pointed out that the more the heroes fight against Shigaraki, the more his hatred increases, and more he fuses with AFO. The more Shigaraki hates, the more it eats away at Shigarki, the more the lines between him and AFO blur.

It’s also been said by Shigaraki several times, the more the heroes reject him, the more that Shigaraki will reject him back, his desire to destroy comes from the fact that he knows society has absolutely no place for him. The american hero shoots a missile at Shigaraki, and... he gets back up.

Definition of insanity, trying the same thing over and over again, and all that. Basically, two long running threads have been established by Shigarki, that the more he is hated, the more he will be hated in return, grow more violent, lash out wildly, and the more control AFO has over him. However, no matter how much AFO tries to possess him, a small part of Tenko remains, there is a crying child inside of Shigaraki.

If Shigaraki is beyond saving and needs to be put down, why not only the continued showing of Tenko inside of Shigaraki as a child trapped in horrifying imagery of hundreds and hundreds of hands he can’t escape from, but also people like AFO and Deku both insisting that some small part of the childhood victim remains inside of Shigaraki.

Why is AFO so concerned about the fact that Shigaraki is resisting him in some small ways, if the heroes are not capable of reaching Shigaraki? Why is he suddenly worried about the loss of his total and complete hold of Shigaraki right now. Why suggest that there is a fission within Shigarki, if it’s not possible for Shigarakito break free of AFO’s control?

Onto the fight itself, even without Deku there we are shown not only the trap that the heroes laid against Shigaraki by building an entire arena to neutralize Shigarki’s decay ability, and also copying the erasure quirk to keep it focused on Shigaraki the entire time working, but even without Deku there, the heroes being able to work together and pull off several combo teamwork attacks. Rumi and Bakugo getting close and landing several hits in spite of the mutant hands,the big three of UA landing their three way combo attack that consists of a giant chimera hybrid that shoots lasers. Even without Deku, everything is pretty much working, so why does Shigarki not go down? Two answers, once again the strategy going in was wrong. It’s even mentioned several time, just building a giant arena to contain Shigaraki and trying to unite everyone to destroy him like he’s a video game boss, is the wrong-headed strategy.

Most of all because they literally already tried that. They had the entirety of the strongest heroes unite their forces against Shigaraki in the war arc... and he got back up again.

However, my second reason, to show the central flaw, the Hamartia of Bakugo in this scenario I want to ask the question, why didn’t Deku show up to this battle in the first place?

I mean physically we know why he’s not there, he got dragged into the wrong portal, and now he’s flying making his way there. However, thematically why is Bakugo essentially fighting alone against AFO, and what does that represent in story.

By viewing Shigaraki as just a video game boss to be defeated, all of the heroes here, but especially Bakugo are choosing winning rather than saving. Yes, I do think that winning is still important to being a hero, because without winning Deku will just break his own body over and over again trying to save others.

But Deku is the emblematic hero who wants to save everyone. His entire character revolves around the concept of having an overwhelming desire to save that doesn’t follow any logic. Deku saves people without thinking like it’s an urge inside of him. So of course, Deku is absent from a fight where the main strategy is to win against Shigaraki no matter what. Deku is not ther,e and Bakugo leads the fight.

Bakugo is not only the one who has always prioritized winning, he has also always worshipped All Might as the perfect symbol of victory.

Shigaraki even calls attention to this fact, when delivering his one-sided beatdown.

Bakugo worships All-Might’s triumphs, but without Midoriya there to balance him out, Bakugo only thinks about winning and overpowering the enemy. Bakugo’s only focus is victory, and he himself leverages absolutely everything he has against Shigaraki, his biggest move, and it doesn’t work...

Whether you believe Bakugo’s death is going to be permanent or not, there’s also something truly tragic, about the fact that Bakugo even after his full power not being eough to fight Shigaraki, getting back up and trying again, and practically unlocking a new ability in his quirk. He pushes himself to extremes taking down Shigaraki, then pushed himself even further, and even started to threaten Shigaraki all on his own. And then, his heart literally just gives out on him.

Bakugo gives absolutely everything he has fighting on his own, to achieve the perfect victory against the villains with zero casualties on their side, and he becomes the first casualty himself.

B/c Bakugo’s philosophy of winning, is only half of the philosophy. Bakugo needs Deku not because he needs a strong quirk or because Deku is stronger than him, but because both of their philosophies when brought together balance each other out enough. It’s not winning, or saving, it’s winning and saving. There is no saving without winning, and there is no winning without saving. If there’s anything to be learned from Deku’s solo arc, is that Deku focused too much on the saving aspect of being a hero, at the expense of himself and taking care of himself, and it’s Bakugo who shows up and not only convinces Deku to come home and accept people’s help and stop sacrificing himself, Bakugo even apologizes to Deku for bullying him all these years in an effort to get him to value himself more.

Midoriya needs to learn Bakugo’s self-assured image of victory, to be able to save people without feeling the need to sacrifice himself over and over again. However, Bakugo himself hasn’t learned to balance Midoriya’s philosophy with his own. Bakugo even goes halfway to acknowledging that he needs to do things more Midoriya’s way.

Saving people is how we win. Save by winning, and win by saving. While trying to tell Deku he needs to take care of himself and accept their help, he also accepts Deku’s ideals for the first time, Deku’s method of being a hero is just as valid as him but what they need is to work together.

So the problem with Bakugo fighting alone in this, isn’t that he’ll never be as strong as Deku, or that he’s like Deku’s supporting character or something, but they haven’t reached a true compromise on their ideals. Saving people is how they win, but Bakugo doesn’t even consider saving Shigaraki the way Deku has, and he instead rushes in guns blazing, and leverages everything he has into winning against a villain.

Not only is Bakugo’s sudden death, emblematic of his flaw that he hasn’t learned to compromise his ideals between him and Deku, to become a hero who surpasses All Might bey winning and saving. Bakugo’s flaw has always been the focus on winning above all else, his own fears of inferiority to Deku and his fear that his beliefs don’t make him a good enough hero which causes him to push himself too far (like maybe I don’t know, charging straight at the villain when he’s already injured in order to prove himself) and only seeing half of what made All Might the greatest hero. I mean even on a tactical front, Shigaraki even asks, why was Bakugo, a long range hero who shoots explosions at people... running in and turning things into a close ranged fight? When trying to blow Shigaraki doesn’t work, it leaves Bakugo open to be physically brutalized, and all the injuries that cause his heart to give out in the first place, are a direct result of Bakugo just... charging straight in and trying to win by overpowering Shigaraki.

However, Bakugo’s death is also emblematic of the tragic flaws of the heroes as well. By prioritizing winning over everything else, they’ve inadvertantly caused Bakugo’s death. Shigaraki said at the beginning of the fight he no longer thinks Eraserhead is cool.

What caused Shigaraki to admire Eraserhead in the first place, was his actions of prioritizing the student’s safety above everything else, and fighting on the front lines himself. However, Eraserhead is no longer doing that, and Shigaraki voices the reason for his disappointment this chapter.

The decision to win at the expense of everything else, for the heroes, and for Bakugo, causes Bakugo himself to put way too much responsibility on his shoulders when he’s just one person, and instead of stepping out of the fight and hanging back when he was too injured to continue, he pushed himself too far and his body gave out on him. The Heroes strategy overall of prioritizing winning against the villains over all else, and refusing to try any other strategy other than overpowering him, causes them to put kids on the front line.

Bakugo’s death, almost works perfectly as an example of a tragic flaw causing a hero to fall. Literally in this case, because Bakugo is a hero, who has quite tragically, fallen in the middle of combat. Whether or not Bakugo can come back, or even he heroes can come back from this as a whole, it will require to heroes to battle against and overcome all the flaws I’ve pointed out in the previous sections of this post. Because that is essentailly what makes the heroes journey, a hero struggling against their flaws until they overcome them.

#shigaraki tomura #bakugo katsuki #toya todoroki #shoto todoroki #enji todoroki #himiko toga #uraraka ochako #afo #hawks #takami keigo #Dabi #mha #lov meta #mha spoilers #mha 363 #my hero academia 363 #mha 363 spoilers

303 notes · View notes

twistedtummies2 · 3 months

Text

Year of the Bat - Number 22

Welcome to Year of the Bat! In honor of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Richard Moll, I’m counting down my Top 31 Favorite Episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” throughout this January. TODAY’S EPISODE QUOTE: “All I wanted from you, dearie, was a little friendship! That would have cost you nothing!” Number 22 is…Birds of a Feather.

Much like Catwoman, the Penguin was a villain who was slightly shortchanged in the Animated Series, some would argue. Which is ironic because, in my opinion, the Animated Series gave us probably the best and most definitive take on the character there’s ever been. Why? Well, as I’ve said in the past, it’s because I feel the Penguin in this show sort of had a little something for everyone: in the first three seasons, he was depicted with a design inspired by the Danny DeVito version from “Batman: Returns,” due to a studio mandate by Warner Bros. His personality and methodology, however, was what you might call “Classic Penguin,” with him acting as an eccentric (but not deranged) gentleman thief. In the fourth season, things changed: now the Penguin had a more “Classic” design, making him appear more human and less grotesque, but his role as a gangster operating out of the Iceberg Lounge was more in line with the “Modern Penguin” most people are more familiar with today. So, no matter how you preferred your Pengy – more classic, more modern, more human, more monstrous – you kind of had your whole cake and could eat it, too. Despite this, most of Penguin’s appearances essentially just used him as the villain of the week, so to speak. He was never really the focal character, just a supporting rogue, or the chosen antagonist. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it did make him feel a little less interesting when compared to a lot of other villains in the series. One grand and glorious exception to this rule, however, has stood out over time: a somewhat more obscure episode entitled “Birds of a Feather.”

The plot is a classic “Villain Reform Episode,” as the Penguin vows to go straight…and actually means it! He genuinely wants to turn over a new leaf and start a new life. Unfortunately, he finds this to be more difficult than he expected…and his endeavors are only made more problematic by the introduction of a young lady named Veronica Vreeland. Veronica is a good friend of Bruce Wayne’s, and became a recurring character in the series; she’s a rich and somewhat spoiled socialite, whose privileged existence does lead to conflict…but her heart is usually in the right place, all the same. (Think of her as SORT OF like Charlotte from “Princess and the Frog,” from you Disney fans…just…way less hyperactive.) In this episode, Veronica – under some peer pressure from other wealthy friends of hers – begins to form a bond with Penguin, under the pretense of eventually inviting him to a big party she’s hosting.

Veronica is not doing this out of the goodness of her heart. The intention is that Oswald will be “part of the entertainment,” able to embarrass everybody that Veronica doesn’t like, and amuse everyone else. He’s essentially being treated as a clown, and he doesn’t even know it. All the while, Penguin starts to form romantic feelings for the young woman…and Veronica’s conscience starts to get the better of her, as she starts to form an affectionate attachment towards Penguin, as well. Of course, this being Gotham City, this can only lead to anything EXCEPT a happy ending. What’s great about the episode is the duality of its twin leads, and the way they get along. Penguin puts on the airs of an overblown aristocrat, but he’s not treated as a member of the social elite at all. He lives in squalor and is seen as a laughingstock at best, and a menace to society at worst. You truly feel bad for Penguin, because of the way he’s being treated, and because he is so totally sincere in both his desire to change and his hopes to befriend Veronica, or even gain her love. As for Veronica, while what she’s doing is horrible, not only does she see the error of her ways, but you’re given the impression that she’s really doing this to try and be “hip with the cool kids,” more than any innate malicious desire on her own part. Both are flawed people, but both are also not totally wicked in this story; the problem is simply that their desires clash, and by the time either could pull out and save face, it’s far too late. While Penguin was a great villain and had many fine antagonistic roles, it’s this episode that really cemented what a good character he truly was, and it remains something of a cult classic story for the series. It’s not as renowned as tales like “Heart of Ice” or “Mad Love,” but it’s definitely got a lot of fans, and I am certainly among them. Again, this is another episode where I feel bad for placing it so low, but hopefully the ones to come will not disappoint.

Tomorrow we move on to Number 21! Hint: “I’m a civic-minded citizen, with a lot of time on his hands!”

#list #countdown #best #favorites #new year's special #year of the bat #top 31 btas episodes #btas #batman: the animated series #dcau #dc #batman #animation #tv #number 22 #birds of a feather #penguin #oswald cobblepot #veronica vreeland

9 notes · View notes

tsubasa-1999 · 1 year

Text

First off, I want to say that this is my opinion and I do respect your if it’s in any way different than mine. We as humans have different experiences and those experiences shape our view of things. With that been said, apologies in advance, my english grammar is not the best, since english is my second language.

In this post I would mention triggering topics like suicide so please proceed with caution.

To start I would like to say that, initially I highly dislike Dabi, this was because of how the fandom sees him. I personally love metas and character analysis in deep and as loyal to the canon material as possible. However, in Dabi’s case, he is one of the characters that people have the worse takes on, and completely misinterpret what his actually personality is. I had seems some good ones tho.

“Dabi is a psychopath”

Now before anything let’s see the definition of a psychopath according to google:

(a person affected by chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior)(an unstable and aggressive person.)

Seems pretty accurate to how Dabi behaved, or does it?

You see, even if this might fit with Dabi’s behavior, truth is, in order to understand Dabi you need to watch what he do instead of what he says. Once he is introduce, the first thing that we are told is that he haven’t committed any flashy crimes, which means, he most likely just did a couple of petty theft in order to survive or something like it. Which means that he isn’t somebody that just kill a bunch of people randomly and just because he is crazy. In fact, all the people that he kills are either villains and heroes, which more than the actions of a psychopath, it ties more to the actions of a teenage who committed petty theft and misbehave in order to get their parents attention. Dabi’s criminal behavior is pretty accurate with what kids that are emotionally neglect by their parents do; they do everything to get positive attention and when they don’t get it, they resort to get any type of attention, even if it is negative. In fact, personally, I think that, Dabi burning Toga’s old house was a desesperate attempt to get Endeavor’s attention. Dabi’s thought process: “my father knows that I’m alive now, nobody else have blue flames, he is a hero, he is going to know if something bad happens, therefor, if he sees a house burning with blue flames, he is going to know it was me and, he is going to come” just a theory of mine.

“Dabi dones’t love his family”

This come from Shoto asking him if he knew that Ending almost killed Natsuo and Dabi saying that that would’ve been good. So, for this I would like to say that Dabi is suicidal; this is a very important, very canon fact. Suicidal people see the world in two ways, simultaneously, in one hand, they want to hold on to every reason to live, they want to see change and get out of the emotional position they are in. If you want examples, first there is when his mom was trying to stop him to go to Sekoto Peak, he first listens to what she has to say, before lashing out. Then there is Tokoyami, and Dabi asking him “who is the one that really needs saving?”, after showing him Twice dead body; almost like he has hope that Tokoyami can, at least understand that a hero killing is not right. Another instance is when he revel who he is and, after Deku fails to empathize with him, Dabi even asked Deku he doesn’t even feel bad for him. In the other hand, however, suicidal people want to die, or more specifically, they want to stop feeling, they are in too much emotional pain and want it to stop. This is why, in order to find the courage to kill themselves, they need to first, lose any reason to live. For Touya this reason is being hated by his family. If he kills Endeavor, and Shoto, if he is responsible for the death of Natsuo, half of his family would be death, and the other half would hate him for it. Therefor, giving him enough reason to die.

“Dabi hates his family”

There is a lot to unpack here. First “the women of this family are useless”. This have always been funny to me, because he doesn’t say this irrationally, there is a reason for his thought presses. First, Fuyumi, he went to ask Fuyumi why his dad didn’t let him train anymore, Fuyumi, being a kid only said “don’t know, stop hurting yourself”, words that trigger Touya because, they are not a satisfactory answer, not to mention basically a copy and paste of what Endeavor tells Touya whenever he sees him get hurt because of his own flames. Rei is something similar, with the added bonus that, her telling Touya to stop doing what he was basically breed for, and she is also part responsible for (to be honest, Rei “free will” in all of this is debatable but this post is already long enogh). So, yeah the woman in the Todoroki family are useless when it comes to Touya and the situation on the family. Also he say the woman in OUR family specifically so there is also that, he didn’t call woman in general useless.

Then, there is the sibling dynamic which at first he wasn’t very trill with Shoto and Natsuo being born, because he knew why they were there for. And this is important because, even though he have the same reaction for both Natsuo and Shoto, he ended up having a close relationship with Natsuo and hating Shoto. If you like math, the common denominator in this equation is Endeavor, and, how he made Shoto the golden child.

Also to add to this part, right after he woke up from the coma, and after being told that he might never be able to use his body and quirk the same way he did before, he still was hopeful, because all he wanted all along was Endeavor’s attention. Note: little kids don’t really develop strong desires to achieve something as early as 4 years old. If a 4 year old wants to do something really bad is most likely because their parents and/or siblings are doing it and they want to feel included. In Touya’s case though, Enji unknowingly did something call “classical conditioning”, by only giving Touya positive reinforcement when he train and give good results, he condition Touya to believe that he was only love if he train hard and was good enough.

So yeah Touya didn’t hate the woman of his family, he hated how submissive and compliant they were to what was happening in the house.

He didn’t hate his siblings, he hate that they were there to replace him and steal his dad’s attention.

And finally, even though he attacked baby Shoto, he don’t really hate Shoto, more so, he hate that he isn’t Shoto. Even in the “My hero one justice” dialogue with Shoto, he sound low key self conscious that he only has fire to fight Shoto, and in the fight of chapter 350-352 he sounds more like he thinks everything would’ve been good, if only he was good enough. Which is the most tragic thing about Touya, people saying that he was only mad that Endeavor replace him with Shoto, and didn’t care that Shoto was being beaten up. PEOPLE, the most tragic thing about Touya, is that he WANTED to be beaten up. He thinks that, that is normal, he thinks that if he would have had Shoto’s quirk, he could’ve had been the perfect master piece that his dad wanted, and he would’ve been happy. DO YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND THAT? He is okay with being use, he is ok with getting burn, he is ok with being beaten up, because he thinks that that is what you need to go through to be loved.

“If only I had been perfect, you would’ve loved me”.

#touya todoroki #bnha dabi #bnha meta

20 notes · View notes

unit-zero-two · 1 year

Text

I totally understand anyone who feels uncomfortable about Endeavor as a character with massive prominence that is allowed to be a hero. Domestic abuse and violence is a real issue and media doesn’t always handle it the best. An abusive father and husband being in a position of power and influence in the society of MHA has a lot of powerful implications. If you can’t ever get yourself to like him because of this, that’s totally fair.

But I think he’s important to understand and acknowledge as a character. He’s one of the primary heroes we follow and the father of major characters in the series. He also ties into several of the main themes. So, to understand MHA we kind of need to understand Endeavor.

(Spoilers for up to season 6 of MHA)

Inspiration is a huge theme of MHA. Deku and Bakugo are inspired by All Might. Deku helps to inspire characters like Kota and Eri specifically, but also his whole class in general. They want to be better heroes because of him. Ochako’s feelings towards Deku are complicated to discuss, but in their barest form they’re based around inspiration. Bakugo also takes inspiration in how to improve from Deku, and Deku is inspired by Bakugo. Endeavor was inspired by, and wanted to overcome, All Might. As the only person seriously attempting this feat, he rose to the position of Number 2 Hero and in turn inspired Hawks to become a hero by his example.

Inspiration can have it’s dark aspects though. Bakugo learns the wrong lessons about being the strongest from watching All Might. Stain is inspired by All Might, but concludes that violence and terror are the answer. Stain inspires Spinner and Toga who both end up on dark paths as villains. Endeavor is spurred so much by his desire to overcome All Might that he ends up hurting those around him and scarring them emotionally. He hurts his wife so badly that she snaps and physically scars Shoto.

MHA is about cycles of love and hate. Inspiration can come from many sources and feelings of love are often conflated and distorted by these motivations of inspiration. The desire to become someone else. But you can’t be someone else, you can only ever be a version of yourself. The question is whether that’s the best or worst version of yourself. When we meet Endeavor his feelings have been so twisted that he’s estranged from and hated by his family. He might be a hero, but his popularity is rock bottom. No one likes him, they’re just forced to accept him. No one is inspired by Endeavor like they are All Might.

Well, with a few exceptions. Hawks is inspired by Endeavor’s will to succeed as a hero. Shoto is inspired by the desire to defeat his father and get revenge for his mother. And Dabi is consumed by the fires of revenge so thoroughly that barely anything else occupies his thoughts. Endeavor created one of the greatest villains in the series. The society that permitted him to do this is a deeply flawed one and when it is brought to light it helps to expose the seedy underbelly of the series in general. Endeavor represents the Hero Society without All Might, the good and the bad.

Endeavor is the abuse of power and influence. He is the all consuming desire for success that burns up those around him. He is cruel, uncaring and focused only on perfection. Endeavor may rescue people, but he does not care for them. He does not see them, even the boy who loves heroes and just wants to become one. He is a cog that keeps the status quo safe and functioning. He is what is wrong with their society.

But he’s also an ember of hope. When All Might retires, Hero Society needs to go through a restructuring. Everyone needs to look inward and think about what it means to be a hero. To inspire instead of just be inspired. Endeavor takes this as seriously as he did the race to overcome All Might. He knows that as he is he isn’t enough, so he needs to improve. To become a Symbol of Hope. Endeavor puts his life on the line and works to inspire and teach the next generations. Hero Society was carried on the shoulders of one man, and now everyone else needs to step up. Endeavor leads the charge.

Endeavor apologizes to the people he hurt and tries to act nicely to those who approach him. He starts to see his family as more than tools, reaching out with small gestures. Flowers, promises and a presence in their lives. But he never forces himself on them, and everything is done at their pace. The process is painful, several steps forward and several steps back. When he finally comprehends the damage he’s done, he compromises by buying his family a house to give them the space they need. If they want him in their lives, they can come find him when they’re ready.

But what he did doesn’t go away. The hurt still lurks in people’s hearts. Dabi, a manifestation of his sins, is out there hurting people in return. The sins of hero society have not been properly addressed yet. The victims of their society have not been fully acknowledged and healed. The processes of atonement, forgiveness and redemption are long and painful. What Endeavor is going through in his personal life, Hero Society if going through together. Their decisions and actions questioned.

Endeavor and hero society need to put in the work to atone. Forgiveness isn’t owed to them, but given by the victims based on what they need to move past the pain. Redemption is a long, painful process, but their society needs to redeem itself and this is exemplified by Endeavor’s personal arc. He is a man who has finally started to realize his mistakes and is working to be a better person. This is what makes him thematically relevant. And what makes him a compelling character. He is not the same person he was at the beginning of the story, and he won’t be the same at the end.

Endeavor is a hero. Endeavor is an abuser. Endeavor is a symbol or inspiration. Endeavor is a symbol of sin. Endeavor is a husband. Endeavor is a father. Endeavor is what is wrong with society. Endeavor is the will to scale mountains. Endeavor is the desire to improve yourself. He’s a symbol. He’s a Man. Endeavor is the realization that heroes are humans who belong to society. Flawed and mortal. Endeavor is all of this and more.

Endeavor is deeply flawed and that makes him interesting. He’s trying to improve as a person to be the best he can be and that makes him compelling. Endeavor is a nexus of themes for My Hero Academia and a study of it’s society and characters, and if nothing else, that’s worth acknowledging.

#mha #endeavor #I actually wrote this the day before the new episode #and didn't realize it was going to be so Endeavor focused #but the episode just gives further proof to what I'm talking about

18 notes · View notes

astridthevalkyrie · 4 months

Text

aot characters' favorite mha characters bc i'm funny (not meant to be taken seriously in the slightest pls)

eren—loves ochako uraraka but he breaths a little heavily every time shigaraki’s on screen

everyone thinks it would be bakugo but he saw him being mean to an armin kinnie (deku) and huffed through his nose and now he’s a bakugo anti

mikasa—bops to the hero too song but jirou isn’t her favorite character since she’s “too emo”

bakugo became her favorite as soon as he stepped up on stage in the sports festival and told everyone he was gonna win, she shed a single and called the entire gang extras after that

armin—tries so hard not to have deku as his favorite character but tbh it’s just like when he watched encanto and saw mirabel it was like it was meant to be

cries when deku eats all might’s hair

coincidentally also a huuuuge all might stan and defender who actually gets pissy everytime someone slanders him

jean—“ew i don’t watch that gay hero show” (momo bc “hot and underrated leader”)

also ojiro because “there’s just something ab that guy's voice…”

sasha—denki :) jean makes kissy faces at her when connie looks away and when connie doesn’t look away. sasha thinks it’s an invitation to make out. it isn’t.

but also momo bc of the boobs

connie—“this toga mfer is creepy as helllll”

unironically stans sir nighteye and cried when he died and makes a hate shrine dedicated to overhaul (“isn’t that a video game lolzzz” “that’s overwatch you fucking moron”)

historia—aizawa DICKRIDER bro she screamed when he cut his leg off and eren paused to shout at her for six minutes during which she kept crying about the leg

also saw dabi’s backstory and her face was just permanently stuck like this ☹️ becomes a dabi fan only after that so eren accuses her of being fake bc he’s a hater

ymir—“that girl with the green hair that moves and shit”

says she likes bakugo because he’s funny but the first time hawks appeared on screen her eyes were WIDE and she giggles a bit every time he’s in the show after that

reiner—“oh definitely mirio”

“is it because you’re also a better version of the main character”

eren: “hey what the FUCK actually” giggles and twirls hair cutely “reiner mirio’s actually in my top five too”

cried when aoyama was exposed he was like ong that’s me

bertholdt—he also likes uraraka but his one and only fav character is hagakure

there’s not much to be said there but when he told everyone that mikasa was like “yiiiiiiiikes 😬 aren’t you literally the colossal titan too 😂”

annie—she says it’s endeavor and everyone groans really loudly and connie says “ofc you like him abusive dad ahh dickrider”

her second fav is toga.

and her third fav is wash.

erwin—hero commission president blonde lady

this one ->

says he wishes he bought levi as a child

levi isn't happy about that

hange—obviously the evil doctor who helps all for one

she also thinks all for one is hot

“i wanna look at the frog girl’s tongue soooo bad”

levi—mr compress

#aot #mha #attack on titan #my hero academia #'would you ever write a crossover fic?' i just did

4 notes · View notes

bellatrixobsessed1 · 5 months

Text

Vicarious (Part 33)

“As a father.” Azula repeats to Sokka over breakfast. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sokka furrows his brows and spares a glance at the tent that Hakoda has yet to emerge from. “What do you mean, what does that mean? It means he’s a father. Katara’s father and my father.” He says it as though she is the one mentioning ridiculous things.

“No, no! He said that he was giving advice as a father and then when I said ‘Sokka’s father?’ He said, ‘as a father.’ So not just your father?”

“Yes! He’s Katara’s dad too!” Sokka declares with such a gleeful smile. “Glad that we could clear that up.”

Azula folds her arms across her chest and frowns. And that is just how he is; annoyingly simple-minded. Doubly so since she knows that he is perfectly capable of thinking much grander and much more complexly. “That’s not…” she beignets. “There was an implication there.”

Sokka swallows his mouthful of egg and laughs. “I think that you’re overthinking things.”

Azula shakes her head. “I think that I’m not.”

“Well what do you think that it means then?”

Azula blinks. Honestly, the man leaves her absolutely incredulous sometimes. “I…! That’s exactly what I asked you.”Is that not what I just asked you?”

This time when he laughs he does it with his head tossed back. He gives his knee a gentle slap. “Well I was asking you for your interpretation before giving you mine.”

Azula sniffs. “You think that you are clever don’t you? I have asked you for your input because I have no interpretations of my own.”

“That can’t be true if you think that there’s an implication.”

He has her there and she begrudges him for that. “I think that he’s trying to be a father figure to me.” She says bluntly. “Well I am looking for a mother right now, not a father.”

Sokka shrugs. “I mean he did think that you were his son for a few months. I think that it feels natural enough to him.”

“Right.” Azula picks at her own eggs. “As I’ve said, I am already looking for one parent. I would like to get that settled first before considering getting to know a second parent.”

She swears that if the man laughs any harder he is going to be rolling on the ground. “Well I have some bad news for you about how being born works. This might be alarming but everyone has two parents.”

Azula rolls her eyes. “I know that you know what I mean, Sokka.”

.oOo.

She is grumpy for the better part of the morning and Sokka attributes that to her having to sleep on the bumpy ground and to being anxious about seeing her mother again…possibly with a new face.

Now that Hira’a is in sight she looks downright miserable and withdrawn. The Mother of Face’s pool, according to Yōeki is between Hira’a and its sister village, Esukutai. Sokka is beginning to wonder if they should skip their trip to the spirit pool today, in spite of the great time that they had made.

It might be better for all of them to take a moment of rest in Hira’a’s inn. Azula had taken very well to her down time on Ember Island, he thinks that she could do for another break. He knows that he could use one for himself—just a little moment of leisure before things get truly taxing.

They have gotten well used to life on the road and the lack of luxuries that comes with adventures and quests. They have gotten used to sleeping on the ground and baths in the rivers.

They are only slightly accustomed to taking these journeys with Azula and all of her peculiarities and rigid habits.

What they are not accustomed to in the slightest, is dramatic family reunions with spirit shenanigans on top of it. Family drama, sure! Zuko had brought plenty of that and Katara’s reunion with Hakoda had been a good deal rocky. But at least Hakoda had still been Hakoda through and through. Who knows who Ursa is now.

Based upon the look on her face, Azula isn’t exactly itching to find out. In fact, she is looking more and more like she is regretting this whole endeavor. To his surprise, she doesn’t shove him away when he encircles her in his arms. “Say, how would you feel about spending the night in an inn. I’m pretty tired of sleeping in a tent.”

“I’d speculate that you’re implying that you think I need a break but you’re trying to frame it as you needing a break. In which case, you should just say what you mean.”

“You are just full of assumptions today!” He throws his hands up. “Maybe I do want a break. A man can hold two motivations at once.”

“Personally, I could go for a break.” Zuko admits. It is only after Katara and Hakoda agree that Azula disgruntledly agrees that she might find a night of sleep in a real bed to be of use.

#avatar the last airbender #azula #sokka #sokkla #fanfiction

3 notes · View notes

sand-siblings · 2 years

Text

My Hero Academia Analysis: Overhaul

(But mostly just how I think his character could have been better.)

I’ve never done a character analysis before so it might be bad.

In my opinion, Overhaul’s character wasn’t really all that well fleshed out. Which as a concept, isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes characters are just unexplainably evil, sometimes there just isn’t a reason. And Overhaul’s character is most likely simple because he’s supposed to be unredeemable. And there’s nothing wrong with that either, I don’t think Overhaul should be able to be justified in any way.

But I also don’t that characters have to unexplained to BE unredeemable. So I think that

Overhaul’s character would have been better if they explained why he acted the way he did.

Just as stated shown in the picture, the reason that he thought the way that he did was because he believed that quirks were similar to a plague. So therefore, Overhaul’s whole thing was cleanliness. The whole reason that he thought the way he did was because he wanted the world to be ‘cleansed’ of quirks. He thought that quirks were a ‘sickness.’ But I don’t really think that this mindset makes any sense because there really isn’t any explanation for as to why he believes this. So therefore I think that

Overhaul would have been a better character if they explained that his mindset was because of his quirk.

I know that might sound silly, but it’s canon in mha that quirks sometimes ‘warp’ the minds of certain characters. A huge example of being Himiko Toga. The series explicitly states that she acts the way she does because of her quirk, so I think the same could have applied to Overhaul.

Overhaul’s quirk

I think that Overhaul’s quirk is definitely one of the strongest in the series so it would make sense if this strong power warped the way that he thought. (Not that strength warped every strong character but still.)

His quirk was all about reforming ANYTHING into the way he wanted it to be, so why would he not have an innate desire to ‘fix’ because of this?

I think that it would have made more sense if Overhaul’s ability was the reason he wanted to get rid of quirks. With such strength, it would have made sense if he wanted to use it to ‘fix’ people. Paired with the ideal that quirks were a ‘disease’ it would have made perfect sense for him to want to take it upon himself and ‘fix’ society.

This could also explain his hypocrisy in believing quirks should be gotten rid of, but also wanting to be exclusively referred to by the name of his quirk. This is because he could have believed himself (and therefore also his quirk) to be the only one ‘clean enough.’ He could have considered himself above others because he was the only one who could ‘save’ the world and make it ‘clean’ again. His mindset could’ve been that he was also ‘plagued’ with the disease of having a quirk, but he was also the only one who could get rid of quirks. So therefore he considers himself ‘cleaner’ than everyone else and the only one worthy of a quirk.

Why this could have been beneficial:

I also think that this would have helped push the narrative further in mha because it would further push the idea that just because their quirk gave them the mindset doesn’t mean it’s justifiable. In my opinion, it would have further pushed Toga’s character because it would’ve help show the difference between her mindset and Overhaul’s. And how not every villain who was changed by their quirk was the same.

It also could’ve help push idea to the audience that Endeavor is unredeemable. (I know the series does try to redeem Endeavor, but I really hate that so I’m ignoring it.) I think it could’ve helped show that Endeavor’s redemption was unreasonable because it would show that just because there WAS an explanation as to why he did what he did, it doesn’t make it right. (I know that Endeavor also ‘felt sorry’ for his actions or whatever but I’m ignoring that too. lol)

Anyways, thought? I know it’s kind of a stretch but I’m just been thinking lately lmao

#my hero acedamia #boku no academia #mha analysis #but like not really an actual analysis #mha overhaul #character analysis #kai chisaki #bnha overhaul

17 notes · View notes

garnet-xx-rose · 1 year

Note

About you asking for Christine x Erik asks: Yes, hello. For the love of god hi! Please tell me more about your head canon for their dynamic in general (or whatever you want to talk about) but also imagine Erik’s reaction if Christine ever takes up sword fighting. The man would be going feral with how much he is simping. Would probably write a whole Opera about how glorious Christine looks while skewering her practice dummy dhajasnsn this is not at all inspired by that one pirate Christine art

My hc for Erik and Christine’s relationship varies, its kinda complicated. For example, Ramin and Sierra’s interpretation I find the most shippable and enjoy pondering about post-Final Lair. So if we’re just talking about Erik x Christine in the ALW-verse, I’m basing it off RAH, cause I love what they do with the characters. I love how touchy Erik and Christine are, I love how messy it is, I love *that* ending even though it hurts my soul, I LOVE how awkward Erik is. Ramin’s Erik is so awkward, but it’s also sexy and I feel like him and Christine would have some interesting conversations and soft moments if shit didn’t go bad so quick. I think watching RAH made me so frustrated (in a good way) because they look so beautiful together but ERIK MY DUDE, please just have a normal conversation with this woman and not jump to conclusions.

But at the same time, Emilie is without a doubt my favorite interpretation of Christine, while Ramin is still my favorite phantom. So, in like Modern AU situations, I’ve been basing my writing ideas off of their Erik and Christine being together, which I think would be a lot of fun: Ramin’s nerdy and reserved but passionate Erik vs Emilie’s warm, confident and excitable Christine. Erik does his sardonic theatrics and Christine’s like “Ok that was something but do you wanna go to Target with me to get groceries?

BUT ALSO: I do like Christine and Erik’s with an age gap. A good 10-15 years. Like Christine being 23+ and Erik mid 30s to early 40s. Before people start coming at me. As someone who’s in her early 20s that finds older people hella attractive but wouldn’t want to date them cause of the obvious power imbalance, enjoying Christine and Erik fills that gap. I love fics where even though Christine is younger, she has a strong grip on Erik and has a lot of power in the dynamic. Watching men, be deeply in love with women is a passion of mine, and I think they fit it in really well. Also love an older Erik that’s a bit husky in shape. Giving DILF real ness.

Overall though, these attributes exist in all my Erik x Christine dynamic hcs:

-Christine is very outspoken

-Erik is a simp

-Christine is trying out new hobbies and ways to express herself (sword fighting, dying and chopping off her hair) so that she can have an identity outside of music

-Erik is her #1 supporter in her endeavors

-They’re attraction to each other can be overwhelming, and it’s what causes initial conflict. They get lost in each other to the point they ignore other relationships and their friends confront them about it. Erik doesn’t understand the problem but its Christine who explains why its not healthy or sustainable for them

-Erik has a lot of issues and is also doing everything in his power to manage his problems. He often struggles with Christine choosing him and has a lot of insecurities, but he doesn’t put that on Christine and instead is learning to use other avenues for stress-relieving than Christine or music. He talks a lot more with Daroga and takes up non-music hobbies like cooking and crochet. (Now when he’s having a bad time, he makes a mean triple chocolate cookie)

-Christine is healing from her grief and it’s a emotional process: She misses her Dad but also realizes that her childhood wasn’t the most stable. She realizes that she’s been looking for this stability in her relationships, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, she’s uncomfortable being with herself. So, she’s learning how to exist in her own.

- Erik and Christine are messy, but they love each other and they love their unique connection. Both are committed to putting the work to make this last.

And heck yeah, love Pirate Christine so much!

#erik/christine #christine daae #erik #poto #e/c #Christine x Erik #shipping thoughts #asks

16 notes · View notes

sexycraisinthanos · 2 years

Text

One of the few things I appreciate about MHA is how they’re handling Endeavor’s redemption arc.

When we first see him, he comes off as a narcissist who only cares about himself and Shoto surpassing All Might.

We see explicit abuse towards both Rei and Shoto (and neglect towards his other children) even though once his arc starts, we see undeniable proof that his family means the world to him

But when he actually gets the title of Number One, he doesn’t keep the same attitude.

He changes.

Because he knows that the title of number one isn’t just something to take lightly

When we first meet him, we think he’s just a secondary antagonist meant to fuel Shoto’s angst machine.

He’s cold and angry.

He encourages Shoto to be angry at him so his anger fuels him to be better than him.

He was apparently so cruel that it caused Rei to have a breakdown because she couldn’t stand to see Shoto’s left side of his face

Then All Might retires and it’s up to Endeavor to take his place and fit the role, which he knows he can’t do if he keeps going on the way he was.

So he asks All Might for advice

He tries to be friendlier with the public (even if that kid was off put by it)

He tries to find ways to make up to his family for the years he hurt them because he didn’t realize how bad he was treating them

He lets himself be more emotional

He wants to make himself better

But he never asks to be forgiven (even if he does try to force a bond with Shoto at times)

He knows that half his family hates him, and he doesn’t expect them to stop because that’s not just something you can forgive

But he still makes an effort to show that he is changing

#my hero academia #mha #endeavor mha #todoroki enji

9 notes · View notes

adamwatchesmovies · 1 month

Text

Bad Genius (2017)

No matter how difficult your studies might’ve been, they’ll seem like a walk in the park after Bad Genius. The cultural pressures imposed on the young protagonist make you understand why this story about an important test turns into a heist.

Brilliant Lynn (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) is accepted into a prestigious school. She doesn’t realize that her scholarship covered only the initial application fees, leaving her father to struggle to afford a number of additional payments that weren’t disclosed intially. Out of guilt, Lynn agrees to help some of her friends cheat during their exams, which turns into a highly profitable endeavor. As her clientele grows, so do the stakes, culminating in an elaborate scheme to steal the answers for the STIC.

The culture Bad Genius is based in makes this more than a generic heist film. While there is pressure on everyone to get good grades, the school Lynn attends takes it to another level. After Lynn and Bank (Chanon Santinatornkul) perform well in a TV competition that pits schools against each other, a gigantic banner with their portraits and achievements is hung on the side of the skyscraper-like learning institution for all to see. Talk about pressure. With the corrupt academic officials basically coercing her father into giving them more money, you can see why she succumbs to temptation and decides to help Grace (Eisaya Hosuwan). That leads to Lynn helping Grace and her boyfriend Pat (Teeradon Supapunpinyo) cheat, which leads to loads of people wanting her "help" too. There could’ve been a slight problem with this story. You might care about Lynn but all of her friends are spoiled rich idiots who couldn’t answer a multiple-choice exam if their gift of a brand new car depended on it, so where are the stakes? Thankfully, writers Tanida Hantaweewatana, Vasudhorn Piyaromna and Nattawut Poonpiriya (who also directs) are aware of this potential issue. They team Lynn up with Bank (Chanon Santinatornkul), who also desperately needs the money. He's also from a lower caste, in a country that would never give him or Lynn the chance to move up if it wasn't for this scheme.

Another element that makes Bad Genius unique is that it isn’t all about stealing the STIC answers. At first, the movie is just about Lynn figuring out how she’ll pass her messages to her classmates without the teachers figuring out what’s going on. To anyone who ever read Naruto - or watched the animated series - it’ll remind you of one of the very first chapters, where all of these wild techniques are used to do what is really just a mundane task. The thing is, the tests feel big because of what it means to the people involved.

That's great and the performances are strong. You wouldn’t even know most of the young actors are relatively inexperienced. Then, there’s the direction by Poonpiriya. The film begins with Lynn as she's being confronted about cheating on the STIC. You think the movie is spoiling itself but actually, it’s pulling a fast one on you and when we get to the reveal, it's so good I kind of want any aspiring screenwriters to see this movie just so they can add a new trick to their arsenal.

One aspect of the film that doesn’t quite match the rest is the conclusion. There’s one particular character whose allegiance changes drastically towards the end and while it isn’t completely out of nowhere, it sort of makes you wish the whole film had been done from their point of view. At the very least, you wish they had gotten more screentime so we'd seen more of their journey. There are also a few moments where the tension feels like it’s being ramped up artificially. A cell phone vibrates. Its owner is afraid to pick up because they know the message they've received is incriminating… but the person looking at them doesn’t know that. If they just looked at the phone and casually turned the screen off after two seconds, no one would be the wiser. Their reaction makes you frustrated.

Bad Genius does a terrific job making what should be a no-stakes, boring scene - students taking an exam - into a compelling drama. That alone makes it delightful. While this movie or the true events that inspired it might not get directly remade by Hollywood, it's only a matter of time before someone takes inspiration from it. I say check out Bad Genius before it’s the cool thing to do. (Original Thai with English subtitles, February 4, 2022)

#Bad Genius #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #Nattawut Poonpiriya #Tanida Hantaweewatana #Vasudhorn Piyaromna #Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying #Chanon Santinatornkul #Teeradon Supapunpinyo #Eisaya Hosuwan

1 note · View note

luffythinker · 6 months

Note

Alright, lets put this in two different sections

Naruto universe

My hero universe

just gonna talk about the Naruto universe right now

In the Naruto universe i think Bakugo as a bully as he was when he was a kid would not par-take in shunning Naruto for the reason he was shunned, i think Bakugo would stay away from him simply because he’s “weird” he doesn’t listen to the rumors and stuff and honestly i think Bakugo would have Naruto on his list of people he wants to fight at the academy. Deku on the other hand would be Naruto’s friend i also think Deku would be like Lee and not be able to use ninjutsu or genjutsu so Naruto would honestly, as a kid be friends with Deku this would make Bakugo angry cause Bakugo pegs me as the ‘nobody can be friends with a loser like Deku except me’ and he would think Naruto is trying to take the one person who chases after me and thinks im cool.

Enough about the kid life i want academy life, i like to go by canon in events so we know Neji Lee and Tenten grauated from the academy earlier because they are older by a little bit i guess? i think some of Deku’s class would be included in their class so it makes room for Deku, Bakugo, Uraraka and Iida to be in Naruto’s class.

Bakugo would absolutly hate Sasuke he would absolutly believe his clan the Bakugo clan is the best clan in the leaf village and he wants to prove either he can be better then hokage or be hokage which he gets into a fight with Naruto about all the time. Bakugo still being mad with Deku because he can’t use any form of jutsu so why is someone like him even here? Lee would probably be a inspiration to Deku they are so similar to eachother it’s cute and needs to be explored. ANyway Uraraka would probably not be friends with Sakura or Ino because (Love Sakura to death i really do but we all know she was super mean as a kid she didn’t know any better i blame and don’t blame her for it i had a whole theory that she was only this way because she acted how Ino act as a kid but we wont get into that right now) ANYWAY AGAIN teams are made (I have not finished Naruto yet but idc for spoilers so talk about it to your hearts content with me)

There is Team 7, Team 8, Team 10 and Team Guy.

Team 9 - Bakugo Kirishima Kaminari - Squad leader - Aizawa

Team 6 - Deku Iida Uraraka - Squad leader - All Might

Team 1 Todoroki Momo Jiro - Squad leader - Midnight? or Endeavor??

Team 2 Jirou Mina Sero - Squad leader - Present Mic

Team 3 Tokoyami Shoji Mineta - Squad leader - Cementoss? or Midnight??

Team 4 Sato Ojiro Koda - Squad leader - Thirteen?

Team 5 Aoyama Toru Tsuyu - Squad leader - Snipe?

if you could think of better teams let me know

sasuke rescue mission i think Deku would help even if he and Sasuke probably had a lot of bad run ins everytime Deku interacts with Sasuke it would be to help his character Deku would say everything Sasuke needs to hear even if he didn’t wanna hear it, he may not want to listen and he needs to hear it but it would just not be the right time to hear these things so he would probably also want to fight Deku for being strong just like Lee he’s a target to Sasuke

I KNOW DEKU WOULD COME GUNS BLAZING TO FIGHT SASUKE OFF NARUTO he would have to be too injuried to help in the battle and feel like losing Bakugo for Naruto at the lost of Sasuke this is a you got hurt and im bleeding kind of pain cause that’s just the kind of person Deku is this would hurt him but not as much as it hurt Naruto

Bakugo would be there as well to back up Shikamaru when shit hit the fan, Temari Kankuro Gaara Bakugo Kirishima and Kaminari helping out in those fights to aid Neji and Choji and Kiba

I feel like Uraraka could sort of help convince Sakura to be a little nicer to Naruto ealier just cause she couldn’t stand to see her treat him that way it just isn’t right but it would make the mission a little less impactful to her character so i feel like Uraraka or Deku would talk to Sakura after it and this would help ease her into being super glue tight buddies with Naruto early on in turn being friends with Deku and Uraraka as well I don’t think Sakura would like Bakugo at all but she can understand his strength demands respect i can see Bakugo saving Sakura in a mission and her getting mad at him

Kirishima would be friends with Kiba i think he would nobody could stand Neji except Deku probably Kaminari might glue himself to him too once he becomes a better person as well

the rookie 20+ lmao

Todoroki would relate to Gaara so hard after they've both been helped AND YOU KNOW WHAT actually lets make Todoroki family half Suna his mother comes ACTUALLY WAIT AGAIN lets actually make his mother from the Land of Water and his dad from the leaf this makes everything hard on Todoroki

I can see Momo maybe being from Suna? she would be friends with Temari her and Jirou i could see it

Shoji and Kankuro could be friends maybe? lets maybe also put him in Suna???

BUT YOU KNOW WHAT? Todoroki would so fit in being apart of the Hyuga clan i keep switching sides with Todoroki but Rei as a Hyuga and Todoroki being a cousin to Neji had theory that the Uchiha clan was a Hyuga branching clan because it said that it was believed the sharingan came from the byakugan so if we are not introducing new jutus (which we probably are)

im gonna talk about the other way around in my hero universe another time my fingers hurt from typing ronewgjienhvrhtsj

Okay, let's go!!

Oh, i love that, Bakugo would not want anything to do with Naruto but he wouldn't really do anything (kind of how Shikamaru was, he knew people didn't like the guy but he was like yeah whatever), a fight between the two of them would go crazy, I wonder how that would go [lowkey still think naruto would win]. Izuku and Naruto would be besties so much, they would bond over the village hating one of them and the other not being able to use ninjutsu and hype each other up saying they could still reach their respective goals!! Love the concept of Bakugo being "posessive" over deku without ever admiting that hihihi

Hokage Bakugo is something I would really love to seekjdfjkdfjdf bc I can't imagine at all him being great at it, I think it's more about the position of power than the job itself that attracts him. Really don't see Ochako and Sakura as friends, Uraraka is such a nice and gentle person I don't think she could get along with Sakura at first, only if they were forced some proximity and got to know each other a little bit better (i love sakura, I think she's great but def not the easiest person to be withjdfjk)

team 9 - bakugo, kiri, and denki in one team is such a chaotic pick, like omg poor Aizawa, I wonder how he has energy for these very active boys

team 6 - solid team, I also thought of them as a team at first

team 1 - I feel like they would need somebody more firm to get the team moving but I'm happy with these

I think the other teams are pretty balanced too tbh!!

Deku would definitely join, it's just in his nature to help, especially since it would mean a lot to Naruto. AND YEAH HE WOULD FIGHT HIM FOR HURTING HIS FRIEND, SASUKE WOULD GET AWAY BUT NOT WITHOUT GETTING HIS ASS BEAT (and the other way around too cause at this point Izuku would not be able to win). love the idea of team 9 going there for backup too!!

I agree, I think if there were to be a talk it would be after Sasuke leaves and after they get back from the failed mission, ochako probably has a heart-to-heart with her about how she's not the only one hurting from this situation, etc; I can see sakura tolerating bakugo, but he's just not the kind of guy she would want to be close withkjdfjkd she respects him but that's about it

kiri and kiba would be such good friends for sure, they just have the same aura i think; i feel like todoroki could become close to neji, who else outside of the hyuuga clan could understand fucked up family dynamics

can see how todoroki and gaara could hit it off after gaara is saved, but i think he would hit it off best with his sibling tbhsdjhds

momo and temari being friends, now that makes so much sense, they would do each other's hair

OMG I'M SO GLAD WE THOUGHT ALMOST OF THE SAME THING, BC YES TODOROKI IS SO HYUUGA CLAN CODEDKJDFJKDF

I'm loving this discussion, we can get into the my hero universe some other time, have a great day anon <3

#naruto #bnha #mha #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #naruto uzumaki #sasuke uchiha #haruno sakura #ochako uraraka #rei replies

1 note · View note