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#literally one person on this earth knows the three characters I'm thinking of
chaoticsomeone · 9 months
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Heartrender!Reader x The Spiderverse Characters
Headcanon
(Im new a writing so i'm giving this a shot)
| Heartrenders have the ability to manipulate the body. They can snatch the air from your lungs, slow your pulse until you fall into a coma, or even literally crush your heart—all from a distance |
Seeing/when told that you put a villain into a coma
Miles, Miles 42, Gwen, Hobie, Pavitr, Miguel, Jessica, Lyla?
Miles Morales
Doesn't know whether or not he should be afraid or amazed. (Hes more amazed than afraid)
Immediately asks alot of questions
"So can you actually just murder someone in a second?"
"Can you hear/feel people's heartbeats?"
You told him yes to both of that questions and he just goes "That's amazing. How did you get your powers. I mean we spiderpeople get bit by spiders but what about you?"
"I'm born with it" you said smiling
More wows
He continues asking about it again but now 'scientifically'
(Miles x Gwen) Asks you if you can find out whether or not gwen likes him
(Romantic you x him) Asking you out buy bringing you to a science museum
(Platonic) He got tickets to a science museum for you and the crew
You showed him and the others that you can manipulate a heart on display to move
(Romantic) melts and heart speeding everytime you impress him even though he knows you can sense it
Miles Morales (Earth-42)
(Romantically) Fell in love with you the moment you walked into his dimension with the spidercrew even though he doesnt know anything about you
Think its cool that you're a heartrender
Asks you to slow down the other miles's pulse
He tells you he ships the other Miles and Gwen
Asks you to make them both blush and get a higher heart rate near each other
You both laugh together
Thinks you're the coolest person he has met when Hobie tells him how you put someone into a coma so easily
Asks you 2-3 questions but thats it
Will actually ask you politely to come with him on one patrol to help him put his enemies into a coma for a few months so he could take a leave and break
Gwen Stacy
First time you told her she asks you to knockout a villain just for jokes
When you actually did she was shocked and a little bit afraid
When you told her you 'accidentally' put them into a coma she was like "Wow"
(If platonic)Secretly annoyed that Jess didn't adopt her too because she wants to be your sister
(Romantic) Has a crush on you but is wary so that you dont detect her heart rate
Shes just listening closely to miles basically interviewing you
At one point asking you to help her at a science fair when shes teaming up with Miles to perform a trick on people
The trick being making them pass out for a second then bringing them back
Hobie Brown (Im sorry idk much abt him)
Says smth along the lines of "cool, try doing it to Pav and bring him back out of it"
After this he asks you to come to his universe to give the people he dislikes a heart attack.
A painful one
Proud of the science fair you and Miles did
Pavitr Prabhakar
Same reaction as Miles
Continues asking stuff with miles
Like "So you can actually know if someone has a crush on you?"
Becomes happy when you say yes
Asks you to come with him to meet Gayatri
At the end of the three of you meeting he asks you if you felt Gayatri or his heart beating up
Blushes and becomes giddy when you tell him both of them has a high heart rate near eachother
(Platonic)Eventually becomes best friends in crime and inseperable
(Romantic) both him and Gayatri became close with you and asks you to date them(?)
Miguel O'hara
Wary of you
Asks Lyla to watch over you during missions
Keeps a close eye of you to make sure you don't distrupt Cannon because you aren't a spiderman
When Jess recruited you he wasn't happy
Gave you a long speech when he learned that you put someone into a coma
Told you about dont do that or that or this when it is this that just to make sure you dont disturb cannon
Warms up to you eventually
Keeps you close to help him calm down sometimes
Jessica Drew
Recruited you even though you aren't a spider
Trained you to do combat outside of your powers
Genuinely adopts you
Looks out for you
Defends you against Miguel any day
You helped her name her daughter
You always is there to help her with her pregnancy by checking on the baby's heartbeat and all
If she has a health issue you are always the first she calls (everyone too tbh)
"That's my girl" when you put that one villain you and the others were fighting into a coma.
Lyla
Watches over you every second of everytime because of two things
Miguel or
Just pure curiosity of your powe4s
Reports back to miguel in an instant when you put the villain into a coma
Writes/keeps track of everything she knows about heartrenders
Interviews you with Miguel and Jessica every now and then to aks if you found or learnt anything new about heartrending
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This has been haunting me for well over a fucking month and now that I have time to kill (dinner is cooking) I'm gonna post it here because I've already raved at my friends enough.
Ford continually saves Arthur and takes care of him. Looking at it from an extradiegetic perspective (or out-of-universe, whatever you want to call it), I know it was probably a writing decision to move the plot along and make sure the characters don't get separated, but through the intradiegetic (in-universe) lense it's fascinating.
Arthur is the one thing Ford rescues from Earth aside of himself and his satchel. Ford seemingly didn't have a lot of time to prepare, only having the essentials on him - sub-etha sens-o-matic, electronic thumb, The Guide, and a towel. He doesn't even have much food on his person, he stops to buy peanuts. And he brings Arthur to the bar with him, gets him drinks to cushion his system in anticipation for a hyperspace jump, and buys him peanuts. Arthur is the one thing Ford would save in a house fire.
Then when they're on the vogon ship he takes the time to explain a lot of things to Arthur, and when Arthur asks what he can do besides panicking, Ford says "You just come along with me and have a good time." Ford even had a Babel fish ready for Arthur.
And at the end of the first book, Ford is the first one to protest when the mice say they want to take Arthur's brain. He seemingly had been on board with their plan to use Arthur to get at the Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything, but abandoned it the moment he learned Arthur would be hurt in the process.
When they go to Milliways in the second book and Ford is beyond drunk on three Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, the one person he chooses to talk to is Arthur, instead of just chatting with Zaphod and Trillian. And he talks to Arthur about something he found interesting, in order to impress him.
Later when they're on prehistoric Earth, Ford is the one to hunt for the both of them. And he lets Arthur call the apes "cavemen" after correcting the Golgafrinchans on it.
In the third book, after they've been separated for four whole years, Ford is the one to seek out Arthur. He's the first one to offer they shake hands. He attempts to explain the eddies-in-the-spacetime-continuum situation to Arthur multiple times.
At the cricket match Ford helps carry Arthur to the tent and has tea with him. After the Krikkit robots show up, he drags Arthur to Slartibartfast's ship, refusing to leave him behind.
Once they're on the ship, Ford immediately wants to be dropped off at some party with Arthur. Even after all this time, he wants to take Arthur along.
When they get back on the Bistromath after the flying house party, Ford chastises Arthur, literally yells at him, for putting himself in danger picking a fight with Thor.
Ford even goes down with Arthur to the cricket match to give the ashes back, despite earlier being too chickenshit to go talk to Hactar. He goes down to Earth again, and he indulges Arthur when he wants to try playing, and sits and waits for him.
Of course, you're free to read all this in any way you like, but I read it in a romantic way. Ford loves Arthur so much and when I think about it too long I start feeling like I hauve covid.
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kneelingshadowsalome · 6 months
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I promised, promised myself that I wouldn’t read the Roman König x Fee fic until it was completed because I knew i would get absolutely drawn in, wrapped up in your exquisite prose, then get addicted and suffer from withdrawals. Unneeded to say I broke said promise and welp here I am 🤡
Thing that surprised me was how quickly he endeared himself to me? A cock swinging village massacring brute that I was FULLY prepared to hate had me sighing by then end of chapter 3 with the “you care about my head?” ✋😩 YES I worry for your stupid head you adorable monster.
It’s uncanny how similarly Fee and I felt as the plot progressed. I know this is a self insert and though I made an OC for fee, you were able to capture the feeling of hate to curiousity to distrust to budding emotions on the readers side so beautifully and in only three chapters?? What sorcery is this?? I could go on and on about how I’m just… in awe of your writing skills.
It’s the small things too. The effort he went through to understand Fee, learning her language like he desperately wants to be a part of her. It’s just his delight in the simple things like having a woman and buying her pretty things. I AM GOING TO GNAW OFF MY ARM THIS IS SO GOOD!! I don’t know if you’ve watched HBOs Rome, but they remind me of Pullo and Eirene so much! Like you can’t tell me König doesn’t fit that goofy brawdy soldier who’s only hobbies are drinking and fucking and fighting to a T!
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Then it got me thinking…. If König is Pullo then Simon is Vorenus. He has that straight laced, no bs aura about him. Now I’m imagining them both in this universe and please excuse me while I melt in a puddle 🫠
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This is perhaps the best piece of fiction I’ve read in a while. I can’t wait for part 4, I have no doubt it will be wonderful as usual. Please accept my maladaptive daydream interpretation of Fee (first she was supposed to be a wood nymph, then the earth goddess then a fairy queen?? I’m not sure anymore. There was so much great imagery couldn’t settle on one. Your honor, we lost the plot.)
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Oh my goodness OH MY GOODNESS ❤️❤️❤️
You shower me with praise and I’m over here like aaahh... for me? 🥺❤️
And yes I’ve watched Rome like four times at least! Every time I watch it just gets better, the producers and crew really outdid themselves with all the details in that series. I consider it one of the best TV shows ever made and excuse me but you opened a Pandora’s box here, I'm just so pleased you brought this up...
It took so much time for Pullo to grow on me, I was so frustrated with his character but when he killed Eirene’s man because he was so in love with her and was just like: “Oh there's something in the way of our love? Oh well. *there*, solved.” Gosh I was IN LOVE. I’m sorry, I’m a horrible person, but I fell in love with Pullo right that second. And yeah König is kinda like Pullo in that sense! Eirene wails at the corpse of her ex-lover and Pullo is just like “Um, yeah nasty business but… why are you crying? Oh, oh yeah, oops. But hey, we could be together? Oh, you don’t want me? Damn. How come?” I wanted to shake and kiss him for being so dumb and adorable.
And Ghost is Vorenus YES, you get it 100 %! And the tragic love story of Vorenus & Niobe, oh god, took me about a month to get over it. And Vorenus being under the protection of Mars first and then literally becoming Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld… The mythology nerd in me is swooning over here. The only thing about Vorenus that's slightly König coded to me was when Pullo had to explain to him what a clitoris is, and Vorenus is like “How do you know this about my wife?!?!” and almost kills him :D That’s so so Roman!König.
But AHHH let me squeal about your maladaptive daydream adaption next: she’s the most gorgeous Fee ever, so lovely and feminine and yet, strong and possessing that earthly power in her. I love the color of her dress too!! There’s a lot of earth & water elements linked to Fee so that color (green to turquoise?) is the most perfect combination of earth and sea, while König is more like fire & air, coming from the mountains and slow to anger but when the fire rises, no one is safe...
This was so lovely, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story 🩷💋
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sing-you-fools · 7 months
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Hi, I saw your post that Neil liked. I am sorry but I haven't read Terry's works and I'm curious, how do his themes in works connect to your post? Because you started the post saying you were thinking about his themes. So how exactly does it connect to what you have realized? I didn't quite understand. Thanks!
so i finally figured out how to access my inbox. sorry if it's been a little while!
i definitely wasn't expecting more than ten or so people to see that post, and i'm very much on the Discworld Side of Tumblr, so i didn't bother explaining. then person number 8 to like the post was @neil-gaiman himself, so...it went differently than i expected. so, sure! i'll do my best.
my first piece of advice is to read Terry Pratchett. and if you specifically want to understand what i mean in my other post, read the Witches books starting with Wyrd Sisters, or skip straight to Witches Abroad (Discworld books typically stand well on their own, though the more you've read, the more you'll pick up on). look up the Discworld Reading Order Guide 3.0 for further instruction. (it'll tell you to start with Equal Rites for the Witches, and you can, but it's less the first book in the Witches series and more the book the Witches series spun off from. personally, i like to treat it as a standalone prequel.)
in the Witches series, cackling is what happens to witches when they're too isolated and don't talk to other witches enough. they start to get a little unhinged. it shows in small ways at first, but it can get dangerous if it goes too far. specifically, the one time we actually see a cackling witch, she's forcing the world around her into literal fairy tale plots (sound familiar?). so when i said Aziraphale is cackling, i was drawing a connection to that specific book - i don't think Aziraphale is that far gone, but he's desperate and he's pushing things into a shape they're not supposed to be. he's so desperate for his happy ending, and i can't really blame him.
now, drawing this out to Pratchett's larger body of work - the thing to understand is that he was a master of archetypes. you know Aziraphale's "not just a southern pansy, the southern pansy!" line? that's all Pratchett's main characters. Vimes isn't just a bastard cop, he's the bastard cop. Moist is the slippery conman. and the witches, they're the three witches. the maiden, the mother, and...the other one. (there's always a twist, of course. archetypes without a twist would get boring.)
and he works with these archetypal plots, too - again, especially with the witches. and an overarching theme is that the characters need to work with the narrative they're in to bring it to a conclusion. if their solutions try to fight the shape of the story, they don’t work. the most common element on the Disc is narrativium, which serves to ensure that stories follow the narrative. stick to the proper shape. it, for example, forces Granny Weatherwax to be the good twin when her sister went dark side even though she wanted to be the evil one, because there has to be a good twin, because that's how stories work.
(as a writer, i can only imagine this was at least partially inspired by how hard it is to get your characters to do what you want them to.)
so, taking it back to Aziraphale. he's fighting the story they're actually in so hard, forcing it into another shape entirely. that was never going to work, because Good Omens is a Terry Pratchett story. it's a Neil Gaiman story, too, obviously, and Pratchett may not be here to help write it anymore, but Neil knows how to write a Terry Pratchett story, and he's not about to let his friend's spirit disappear from this world they created together. narrativium may not exist in Roundworld (Earth), but i'd bet it exists in heaven and hell, and probably Aziraphale's shop.
QUICK SNEAKY EDIT: if you're wondering if you should read more Pratchett, the humor in Good Omens is very much reflective of his writing
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nkjemisin · 1 year
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Things in my ask box
Hi folks. Every so often I get questions from folks that are good, but which I worry might catch them some flak from my other readers or whoever. Sometimes I answer those people privately, but in general I prefer not to do private replies to asks; for one thing, other people might want to know the answer, and for another, I've had a few awkward situations result from doing so (basically just people going parasocial on me), and I think that sort of thing is less likely when it's clear I'm talking to everyone. So, I'm going to handle these awkward asks by just treating them as Q&A questions -- without showing that person's username and where necessary, altering the question in order to protect their identity. I've got a few of these stored up, but just gonna do two this time for length and time reasons. I'll get to the rest later.
Are you a proshipper?
Yep. Feel free to alter your decision re following me on social media now that you've read that answer. But I believe in "don't like, don't read," and that fiction doesn't indicate what an author really believes (because it's fiction), and that there's no subject matter too immoral to explore on its face (everything depends on the execution), so... yep.
2. I love the Broken Earth trilogy, but I have to say, the middle book really didn't go anywhere, literally. Essun stayed in Castrima and Nassun moved around a little more but mostly stayed in the same place too. It killed a lot of the story momentum for me. Why did you decide to do this?
[spoilers for Broken Earth books, though I'll try to minimize them and will put a "read more" before I get there]
Because I felt like it. I'm not saying that defensively, I'm just noting that the answer to pretty much any question you might ask a writer about why they do a particular thing is... because they felt like it. Period full stop. Sorry that wasn't what you wanted to read! It was, however, the story I wanted to tell.
To elaborate... different people have different expectations of trilogies. That's because there are a lot of different ways to handle them, narratively speaking. Sometimes a trilogy is really a group of shared-universe stories taking place in the same world but not necessarily featuring the same characters, and with unrelated plots. Some are telling a single story, but through different POVs and smaller plot arcs that each have their own terminuses; that's what I did with the Inheritance Trilogy, for example. And sometimes, as I did with the Broken Earth books, the author is just telling one big story broken up into three parts. (There are more ways to do a trilogy than this, but let's keep this brief, lol.)
Now, there are a lot of ways to handle this kind of story, but a pattern that most of us are used to is:
Book One: Introduction to the world and important characters and the apparent stakes;
Book Two: Deep dive into the important characters and world, thus giving the audience a reason to care more; and
Book Three: Now we really know the stakes and shit just got real! Now we care what happens to the characters when EVERYTHING! BLOWS!! UP!!!
(I am feeling very silly today, sorry.)
We're familiar with this pattern because we see it all the time, especially in American media. It's a variation on the three-act structure seen in plays and other narratives. It's the basis of our most popular longform stories! The original Star Wars trilogy did it. The Mass Effect trilogy did it. (Andromeda was a separate story, probably meant to be the start of a new trilogy.) The Lord of the Rings did it, prequeled by the Hobbit and mirrored by the Silmarillion. I mentioned those examples because the middle stories of each all exhibit the same traits: a drastic change of pace or location for the protagonists, putting the protagonists through personal character growth arcs, and poking at minutia or seemingly unimportant aspects of the world (which usually end up pretty important before all is said and done).
Now let's answer your question. Spoiler warning again:
In the Broken Earth, we got introduced to the Stillness and Essun in Book One. There was a lot of physical movement in that book as Essun was on the road for most of it (as were other characters), but the plot itself was relatively simple: A bad thing happened to this person and she needs to go somewhere and find someone, to fix it! And then pretty much the entirety of that book's narrative was "Who is this person, why does the bad thing matter, and how close does she get to finding her missing person?" Then in Book Two, we learned a little more about this person, a lot more about her impact on other characters including the one she's been trying to find, and we spent a while learning about orogeny, the Obelisk Gate, and what the stone eaters have been up to. I cheated a little on this; there wasn't room to do a deep dive into the backstory of one pivotal character, but I did finally reveal that this character is the "secret" narrator of the whole trilogy, and made his agenda clearer. I ended up putting his "deep dive" into Book Three instead, where it was particularly relevant to the STUFF! BLOWING!! UP!!!
The reason a lot of readers complain about "Middle Book Syndrome," I suspect, is because of this pattern -- and because of their expectations. A lot of people come at a middle book expecting Book One Redux. That's what you often get in shared-universe trilogies -- Book One over and over again, roughly the same balance of characters vs events each time, in a familiar setting. We're conditioned to want that, I think, from other episodic works. Comic books, for example: When I was working on FAR SECTOR, my editor at the time explained that I needed to try and have a fight or action scene in most of the issues. I hate fight scenes -- sorry! -- so that was hard for me. TV shows -- the ones that aren't themselves telling a single big story over time -- do this, too. I think of it as the "If You Liked X, Then Try... X!" structure. Absolutely nothing wrong with this structure, by the way. I'm just describing it, not throwing shade. I'm a big fan of stories like this myself.
But even for audience members who were expecting the Three-Act Trilogy structure instead, that middle book is going to be jarring. It's supposed to be jarring. The refugees have survived the first book but stopped to dress their wounds and regroup; the adventurers on a quest have reached an impasse and need to find allies and grind to build up their strength; the stalwart hero has just suffered a massive setback and needs to overcome their own doubt or character flaws. A good way to handle this is to take the characters out of their familiar space, and put them somewhere new, or give them a very different kind of challenge. [Mass Effect and LOTR spoilers] Oh, no, Shepard died and their team broke up! What now? Oh, no, Frodo and Sam are on their own trying to get to Mordor! They're just these little guys! How are they gonna make it? If you got overly attached to Shepard team from ME1, or the Fellowship, you're in for a rough ride in these followups. But the jarring nature of this kind of followup is absolutely necessary. An author who does this knows they're going to lose some readers, when they do it. Clearly I almost lost you! But I stand by that choice, because I think it made the whole trilogy better.
Sidebar: I'm old enough to remember the controversy back when "The Empire Strikes Back" came out. Critics haaaaaated that movie! It was too dark, they said; wasted too much time on unimportant stuff. Too much character work, not enough space battles. Then it became clear that audiences loved the second movie even more than the first, precisely because it was darker and because Luke spent so much time futzing around with Yoda and because there were all these girl cooties romantic moments between Leia and Han. A lot of the critics backpedaled at that point, with some of them even acknowledged that they'd been hoping for Star Wars All Over Again and not What Happens Next That Is Not Star Wars. They'd simply brought the wrong expectations to the story.
This is not to say that you have the wrong expectations, Ask-er. Maybe you were expecting exactly that structure, and you just don't like the way I handled it, or you think I did a poor job. Every reader's experience of a story is different, and not everybody's gonna want to pick up everything I throw down. But you asked why did everyone stay in one place, and this is why: to do a deep dive into the character of the Stillness itself. In a story where the setting was as much a "character" as the people in it, I felt it necessary to show enough of that setting for readers to care about it. Would you care, for example, if the town of Brevard (Damaya and Schaffa spend one night there in Book One) got blown off the map in Book Three? Probably not, because I spent no time on any of its citizens or issues. A lot of people cared about Castrima, though, by the end of Book Two.
Whoo, this got long! Hope it answers your question, Ask-er.
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punkflower11 · 9 months
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Choose Your Own Adventure: Miles Morales - Part 5
Prev | Masterlist
————
Okay, time to diffuse this conversation.
"Tell me what? That his own father works for a fascist and oppressive organization intent on undermining a government of the people? Right, screw this. Sorry Miles, but I think I'm done 'ere."
He needed to do something and fast. By now, Miles definitely should have learned not to act upon the first idea that his mind supplies him with but apparently the universe thought that it was too out of character for him, so.
"You know, that's big talk coming from someone who looks like they'd tear apart the government themselves."
He could grab Hobie and kiss him. That... was certainly an idea. An idea that Miles would not be opposed to he thought, looking approvingly at Hobie's lips.
Ah, shit.
It was happening again.
What if he started choking? The absurdity of the notion slaps Miles across the face. Choosing to ignore how the fuck that idea spawned into his brain, Miles quickly decides that it would probably be the less stupid of the two ideas, given the circumstance.
(Not that it was the one that he preferred, of course.)
"Mate, you are literally proving my point by profiling me. That's exactly what officers like you are doing!"
Miles let out a singular, pathetic wheeze. It was the least convincing choking noise he had never heard, and definitely not enough to tear attention away from the conversation. Louder, Morales.
"'Officers like me?' Son, I don't think that I'm the one doing the profiling here-" the cop was cut off by a harsh cough to his left. Several pairs of eyes snapped in Miles direction.
Not that loud!
Seeing as he already had everyone's attention, he figured that may as well commit to the bit and continues hacking.
"Miles?"
"What's wrong with him?" Jeff asks, genuinely confused. Rio looks at him, incredulous.
"We call it 'coughing'," Hobie deadpans. Jefferson glares right back.
"Oh really? I had no idea."
"Hush. I think he might be choking on something." Rio observes. Miles begins another round of intense coughing. That's it, he thinks. Oh no, I'm dying! Be worried, pay attention to me and forget your quarrels!
Miraculously, it seems works as the arguing ceases and everyone grows concerned.
"Baby hold on- Does anyone know CPR?"
"Don't look at me." Jefferson tells her.
"'Punch to the gut 'll prob'ly help up," Hobie suggests.
What.
"What? No! In what way will winding him will help?" Yes, Thank you sane and reasonable person.
"Dunno, innit supposed to 'elp stun 'is diagram or somethin'?"
"What do you mean- that's exactly-"
"How on God's green Earth did you manage to pass Biology? Did you even pass Biology?"
"Guys, really not the time." Miles rasps. The three watched as Miles continues to figuratively cough up his soul, no doubt tainted by weeks of endless deceit.
The thing is that it wasn't even good deception. If Miles wasn't already cursed for lying then bad acting was definitely a runner-up.
"We should punch him." Please don't.
"Try it and see what happens."
"Miles, hold on-"
“You know what, I think I'm actually starting to feel a little better now, so y-” Oh no.
That's when Miles actually begins to choke.
It's kind of hilarious. What moron thinks he can fool his family by pretending to choke, and then in the process actually starts choking? Miles wants to scoff at the comical misfortune, but can't because at the moment is busy coughing up his own lungs.
Miles feels a hand begin rub circles his around back. Tearing his gaze from the table to find the owner of the arm, his eyes find Hobie. At this Miles dies a little on the inside, dumbstruck by Hobie's touch. He tries not to overthink it. Tries.
Fortunately, his coughing begins to tapper off shortly after downing two glasses of water (his own and Hobie's). Never doing that again, he promises himself, clearing his throat.
"You police and all ya shady tactics." Hobie scoffs. 'Wanna help people.' What a load of bull."
Miles was about to pound his boyfriend's head in for cursing but decided to let it slide as his voice was a bit sore.
"I'm shady?" Jefferson reeled, incredulous. "Alright then, I'd like to know what you were doing with Miles all that time he was at your house." Oh shit. They did not prepare for this.
"Well we- uh, ahem. That's nunya effin' business. As if I would sell Miles out to a copper."
"Well as a 'copper' and his father I'm the best person he could trust." Yikes. This was not a road Miles wanted to go down tonight.
"And I’m asking you to for once get your head out of your arse- er, assets, and try see it from his perspective!”
"This is who you’re dating? Really, Miles? This guy.” Jefferson asks Miles. "I’m just gonna say it. I don’t like him."
"Funny, because I don't remember asking you to." Miles replies, irritated. He isn't sure why, but this tips him the wrong way.
"Miles," Rio warns.
"I’m sorry but no, actually. You asked to meet him and here he is. Why do you have to like him? I do, and really, that should be enough. All I've asked you to do is sit at the same table with him for ten minutes and not kill each other, which for some reason is proving to be a difficult task."
Honestly so what if his parents didn’t like everything about Hobie. Did it really matter if they didn’t approve of his clothes, attitude or opinions so long as Miles was cool with it? In the end he was the one dating the teen, not his parents.
“He is an anarchist-”
"He's also my boyfriend, who clearly happens to care about me. Didn't you tell me to watch out for people who have my back? Guess what; Hobie has my back. Even when you can't." He knows it’s cruel, but it doesn’t stop him.
Underneath the table Hobie intertwines his fingers with Miles’ and gives the hold an encouraging squeeze. Miles continues.
"I'm not asking you to love him. I mean, I would appreciate it, but just getting along would more than enough."
Surprisingly, this seems to silence any remaining disputes. Reluctantly, both Hobie and his Dad turn their attention back to the once abandoned meals.
The stillness is stiff and uncomfortable, which Miles knows he’s likely responsible for.
Miles hates how much of this he has to fight tooth and nail for. And how in the end it wasn't going to matter as he and Hobie weren't even seeing each other in the first place.
If a little part of Miles was somewhat hoping that the whole experience could bring two together, it had proved to be a dumb idea. He wasn't exactly sure why he thought it would work, as fake dating was always recipe doomed to fail spectacularly. Which was fair, as deception hadn't done much for him anyways.
Oh well. Guess you can't lie your way into happy parents and a free boyfriend. It was really too bad.
"I know that it's probably impossible for just one cop to change a system. In fact, sometimes I think I might be contributing to it, doing more harm than good." Jefferson eventually says. "But damn if I won't try anyways."
Miles is left stunned. His eyes follow Hobie who seems to be having a similar reaction to the words. What shocks him even more is the admiration he finds twinkling in the teen's eyes.
"I... actually respect that. A lot."
"You're a little odd, but I think I understand where you're coming from. Miles seems to like you, so you must be alright." Rio adds.
"Yeah. Even if you still look like vandalism and bad ideas." the officer chuckles. Hobie grins mischievously.
"Guilty."
"And you're grades are alright?"
"Dad."
"My grades are brilliant." Funny enough, this was actually true.
"I had to ask."
"You really didn't."
"They had better be for all that silver crap you wear." Jefferson then says to Hobie, much to Miles' mortification. Thankfully, Hobie's response to this is to laugh.
"S'what Abe said too."
"He sounds like a smart guy."
"He wishes." Hobie snorts.
"That your brother?"
"Unfortunately."
"I had a brother." the elder takes a sip from his glass.
"I heard. Sorry 'bout that one." Jefferson smiles, bittersweet.
"All good. Just gotta keep pushin' you know?"
"Yeah."
The four continued to converse throughout the evening, managing to steer clear of any more hiccups. Rio and Hobie engage in a light debate over whether Elvis Presley was really an icon or a fraud, and later, Hobie shares his love of 'expressive art' with Miles' parents.
("I even did this piece on the B's bridge last week," Jefferson chokes on his water.
"Wait, that was you?")
Eventually the dishes were scrubbed clean after Rio's insistence that everyone take a fifth serving (Hobie somehow able to eat more meanwhile Miles was on the verge of combustion) when Miles decided to take the opportunity and excuse the two from the table.
"If you don’t mind, Hobie and I are gonna tap out now." He says, arising from the station. Miles looks to the other and smiles tellingly.
"My room?" Hobie chirps a 'sure' and gets up, following Miles down the corridor.
"Remember to leave the door open!" he hears Rio call from behind him.
"Right." He was not doing that.
Sliding down the corridor with help from his socks, Hobie purposefully slams into Miles. The two stumble forward, awkwardly catching each other all whilst failing to stifle their laughter.
"You boys better be behaving yourselves!" A voice sounds from the kitchen.
Miles stills and gives Hobie a pointed look, grabbing the other by his hand. Hobie fastens the grip and doesn't let go. Instead, he pulls Miles in closer and playfully presses a kiss to his forehead.
"For performance points," Bastard. Heart pounding in his ears, Miles half-hardheartedly rolls his eyes before pushing open the door to his bedroom. Hobie wastes no time in collapsing onto Miles' bed as the door swings closed behind them. Draping himself over his desk chair, Miles sighs a breath of relief.
"We actually pulled that off. Huh."
"I can hardly believe it myself."
"I guess fake dating really does work."
"Careful, you don’t want to jinx it." Miles jokes.
He watches Hobie's gaze thoughtfully trail around his room from his posters, to figurines and art supplies. In a way, having Hobie in his room felt like opening him up an intimate part of Miles' life. Encompassed around his own personal space, filled to the brim with personality and expression. The last non-relative person to visit his room had been Gwen, who, at the time Miles had also low key had a thing for-
-and why exactly was he drawing parallels between people he liked visiting his room-
-honestly it was almost like he enjoyed setting himself up for disaster but-
"Did your mom actually play trombone in high school?" Hobie asks suddenly, fishing Miles from out of his spiral.
"Yup. She’s really proud of it."
"I liked her. Concise." Hobie chuckles.
"Well she hasn’t expressly forbid me from seeing you yet so I’d say that’s a good sign." He says, thoughtful.
"And Jefferson?" Miles winces.
"He doesn't hate you. Dislike certainty, but I think he respects you."
"'e’s not too terrible himself." Hobie shrugs.
"Glad you think so." Miles says dryly.
"But we aren't dating," Hobie points out.
So it doesn't matter anyways.
Miles frowns.
"Guess not." Hobie cocks his head to the right.
"You sound bummed."
"I mean, a little." Miles stiffens.
Did he really just say that?
Out loud?
Goddammit Morales.
"Could have been fun." he hastily adds.
"The food was good," Fortunately Hobie doesn't seem to catch on to the slip up.
"Aye. Shame I can’t eat like that every night." Hobie pokes fun.
Well.
Technically,
"You’re always welcome back, you know. I’m sure my mom would be ecstatic to have you." Miles pokes fun.
"As your…?"
"Which ever. Friend. Boyfriend." Hopefully both. "Just show up as yourself, whoever that is."
"Cool. I uh, should probably head out now."
"Right. Want me to show you out?"
"Out your window?" He asks, confused. Right. Because leaving through the front door is apparently a foreign concept.
"Never mind. So, see you in a bit?" Miles watches as Hobie slides open the unlocked window.
"Sure thing babe." Hobie says whilst climbing out of the room.
What if.
The idea grabs and shakes him by the shoulders, but once it pops up it's definitely there.
Technically, nothing was stopping Miles from asking Hobie out right now. Except for the fact that, well, it was crazy.
It wasn't even a question of whether he liked him or not. Frankly, It was so painfully obvious that it was a good thing his parents thought that they were already dating.
Plus, was it really okay to ask the universe for more? Because, really, it had already been a miracle that tonight had turned out okay. The chance that he could monumentally fuck things up between them were so high on the scale that it should have scared him into going back to chasing Gwen.
But they didn't.
Wait, Miles was getting ahead of himself here. Did Hobie even like him back? Even reading into it was difficult. Additionally, Miles knew that Hobie was a flirt. While it was nice to think that the gestures were sweet, in reality they were probably meaningless. Ouch.
Then again, what was the worst that could happen? It wasn't like Miles was expecting him to say yes anyways. At least this way he'll always know that he tried, and that for sure that nothing was ever there.
"Hobie wait," He blurts out before he's finished weighing the pros and cons.
"Yeah?" Hobie waits, one foot out the window. Miles inhales sharply.
Was this it?
Now or never.
massive shout out to my beta beloved @ihrtwillow for helping with me out with that ending. yeesh.
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royakahoshiart · 2 months
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okay fine. I need people to know this.
I feel like most tbhk fans are Christian from America and Europe. So they probably don't really think about the religion in tbhk but it actually has such a big role.
I'll get straight to the point, all of tbhk (or at least main charactes and the plot) is revolved around the worship of Kami ( 神 ) gods, spirits and supernaturals alike.
ThE most obvious ones are the seven mysteries themselves, yako in a kitsune (litterally fox) a fox spirit/yokai whom like to pull pranks of humans either by shaoeshifiting, seducing or even killing at points, this can be seen in yako's sort of cocky personality. Yako is more specifically an Inari statue of an Inari temple for the goddess of agriculture, they say it protects crops and foxes.
Tsuchigomori is a tsuchigomo (literally earth spider) it's a giant spider who can be at least as tall as 10 meters. In one story, minamoto no yorimitsu (or raiko) killed one and had found multiple skulls inside, obviusly implying that the creature eats humans.
Hakubo is an Oni, a general word for demonic creatures in Japanese, thought I can't pin point which exact one. Another story involving yorimitsu is the drunken demon, when hakubo was found by the exorcist he said to have given the biggest Oni poisoned sake, as the real story says that three old men gave yorimitsu and his men sake that revealed the oni's real appearance but didn't hurt humans because he prayed at 3 nearby shinto shrines, and later slashed his neck like in the original text.
Hanako is straightforward but it is different in almost all prefectures of japan.
The gist of it is that hanako was a little girl who died either by herself of by her classmates in the girls bathroom around 5-10 years old. She can grant your wish but is you make her angry she'll curse you with a painful and slow death that'll happen very soon. One prefecture even says that she died in the nuclear blast during the last years of ww2.
Im not sure where nº3, nº1 and nº4 come from.
Now Onto the more subtle details, you might ask "hold up Roy, but Japanese buddhisim is very in touch with supernaturals aswell, how do you know if it's japanese buddhisim or shinto?"
Well let's talk about the minamotos. As you might've read, yorimitsu killed many yokais, so he would be called an exorcist where now are kou and teru, the staff kou has is real and is in some temples, teru's bracelet wards off evil spirits in shinto (rather not talk about the Buddhist thoughts on it....) .well teru's blade is obviously not real as a sword like that would've been impractical.
The temple where Teru and Akane go during the severance is a shinto shrine, we can see this from the Torii gates and the architecture as well. The workers at the temple are also not bald therefore they aren't Buddhist monks. It was also very customary to serve tea to the visitors. On the front gate of the shrine there at this 'weird Rope' with papers attached on it, it's on most temples and its a direct reference to a story involving amaterasu , the sun goddess, wich i wont get into.
The train to the farshore is actually a story itself and the place being full of water isn't just an artistic choice but it rapresents the river to the farshore.
Haha wow this is all to conviniet, yeah I believe in shinto bye I'm writing this in the fucking school bathrooms. Need to start school soon bye.
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thebestofoneshots · 18 days
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firstly, I absolutely adore your blog!! <3 ur so cool
secondly im curious to know- what marvel superhero would you assign to each of the marauders? I personally think sirius would love ironman, he’s so tony stark coded
AH, you're combining some of my favourite fandoms, babe! Which is why I might end up writing a way deeper analysis than I need to lol. But let's go through it one by one.
My darling James, the golden boy of his era, he is 100% Captain America. He is hell-bent on protecting those he loves, and he would do anything for them. Also, he's been in love with one girl for all of his life. It's just so fitting for him, I feel?
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But also, I feel like James could also be a great Spiderman (and that is probably his favourite superhero), especially younger James, with his charm and charisma and how he is loved and cherished by his people. Also, he is totally in love with a redhead.
Remus Lupin is a complicated one. You know, I feel like Hulk is quite fitting, since you know he gets angry and turns into a green monster, which kind of relates to Rem in a deeper level. Having said that, I think his superhero would be Moon Knight and I'm ready to diе on this grave.
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Hear me out, it's about the deep-held emotional trauma and the way Steven and Jake came into existence to protect Mark, he would absolutely love, love Moon Knight, especially the Disney+ version of him. There's also the lack of control the multiple personalities entail (which is very much like Remus' turning into Moony) and the moon theme. Besides, Rem would totally have a mini crush on Oscar Isaac.
And for Sirius, I agree, he is definitely Iron Man coded and would love Tony, I mean it's in the daddy issues they share with each other, the family background, the rich kid persona and all that. But I also think Sirius would love, and I mean LOVE Peter Quill (StarLord).
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StarLord also has family issues, but he grew to become an absolutely charming character, sharing his love for beings with Sirius (aka they're both a little bit of heartbreakers) and he is super funny, which I feel Sirius would love. They both love music, and Sirius would praise Starlord's taste every single day of the week. Something else Siri would love about StarLord is his found family. He met the Guardians of the Galaxy and they all adopted each other, in the same way, Sirius adopted and was adopted by James and Remus.
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Reggie is Bucky Barnes (and this is one of my favourite Marvel characters). Bucky was brainwashed and tortured by Hydra, in pretty much the same way Reggie was by his family. He shared that traumatic past and his absolute desire to be better, and to improve, he doesn't want to be a deatheater anymore and he fights for what's good. Also, if he is Bucky and James is Cap, we can have a bit of Starchaser hehe.
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Lily loves Spiderman, and not because James does, nah, Lily has been a fan since she was a kid, she loves his sense of justice and how he fights for what's good. Spiderman's motto "With great power, comes great responsibility" is literally Lily's bible.
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Marlene is into Black Window, and not only bc she has a massive crush on her, but because she thinks she is the most badass character in the entire fucking Marvel universe, no joke. She can stand against beasts three times her size, and fight alongside the most powerful superheroes on earth by being just a human woman? She is INCREDIBLE!
Mary gives me Vision vibes, I'm not sure why, but I totally see her reading Vision fanfiction and writing some too.
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Barty is a Loki kid, you cannot change my mind. I mean, forgotten and neglected child who has to be exceptionally good at everything to get the attention from his dad? He becomes evil bc he thinks it's the only way he'll get Odin to see him? This to me screams Barty, and he would love Loki.
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And lastly, I think Evan likes Quick Silver. Firstly, he thinks he's super hot, but he also loved his relationship with his sister, and he loves Pietro's charm. There's just something about him that he can't stop thinking about. I also feel he would like Mystique, but that's due to her complicated past, and her ability to become anything anyone she wants. He feels it would be so freeing to do that.
PS. Didn't I say I'd go crazy with this analysis? Aaaah I'm such a nerd...
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anonymous-dentist · 7 months
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Do you have any fics for qsmp you enjoy reading? Like your personal favs? Or ones you think have potential?
YES OKAY!
1. Along Came a Spider
If you aren't reading this one, you're wrong because it's super good? Basically, Roier gets bit by a radioactive spider, Quackity is I think Norman Osborn, and Cellbit is a Very Normal Person who definitely isn't a literal cat burglar. It's super well written, all the characters are fun, there's a lot of intrigue going on, and the fandom needs more superhero aus, and what better character to use than the literal Spider-Man?
2. Divided Soul
I think everyone's been keeping up with this one, but I still recommend it!! It's some cool high fantasy shit starring Vegetta as a prince being haunted by his ex boyfriend (/pos) and Foolish as the Literal Most Traumatized Man On Earth. If you like angst and hurt/comfort, this is the one for you.
3. eternally, forever.
Another Fooligetta fic, this one's another popular one, but for good reason! It's heartbreaking in the amount of love you can feel coming off of Foolish the entire time, and then? Yeah. Read it, it's definitely worth it.
4. The Reason (English version linked here, but definitely check out the Portuguese or Spanish ones if that language works better for you!!
Where do I even begin. F!Cell never escaped from prison, and he is making it everybody's problem, including the new guy on the (cell) block, Roier, who is definitely supposed to be there. Definitely. This one's darker so only check it out if you're into like. Dark shit. But also it's super good, so yeah!!
5. partners (in crime)
This one is an Ordem Paranormal au and it's only one chapter rn but I think there will be more? Unsure! But, as it is, it's cute! I don't know a ton about OP, but Cellbit gets teased, and everyone is cute, and I hope there's more because I'm already invested. It is in Portuguese, but translating it is so worth it.
6. Red Gunpowder
This one's a newer one, only one chapter so far, but I'm super into it already I think? Basically, Cellbit is a Traumatized Cop and Roier is... not in the fic yet, but he sounds fun just from the description. The first chapter was pretty cool, and I can't wait to see where it goes!
7. Icarus is Flying Too Close to the Sun & This is How It Feels to Take a Fall (series linked)
Two fics in one bullet point because they're both just that good! All three of Bobby's parents try and get Bobby back, and it's super heartfelt and I felt Emotions and it's sweet :( Definitely read it!
8. your palms; a home for my soul
This one is so SWEET!! Basically, Roier's heart is broken, and he goes to a heart fixer to... fix it. (It's magic, don't question it.) It's a twoshot, but it's sooooo cute, the metaphor is INSANE and I went AAAA
9. Breaking Dawn
So this one's pretty popular as well, but it's for good reason! Basically, Cellbit is a wannabe paranormal investigator and Roier is a werewolf. I think it was supposed to just be a romcom from the author's description, but there's so much more? There's this whole sideplot with Felps being kidnapped and Roier being real shady about everything and Cellbit being the densest man on the planet, and it's super worth a read if you've got a couple hours to spare!
10. The Red Means I Love You!!
Okay so you know me by now, you know I love fucked up little guys finding love, and this one sure does have a fucked up little guy! Basically, q!Cellbit accidentally summons c!Roier to possess his husband when he was trying to summon Romero Richas to interrogate it, and things sure do happen. The characterization is killer, and so is c!Roier, who is so desperate for love that he'd kill for it. (Unfortunately for him, he's kinda met his match in the form of someone who'd kill to get his love back.)
11. Bad Romance
This is the direct sequel to the last fic, and normally I'm not too into that? But this one's worth it imo. Picking up after the end of the last fic, c!Roier breaks f!Cell out of prison and f!Cell definitely doesn't manipulate Roier into agreeing to help him murder Pac e Mike over them leaving him behind in prison. I'm not too into toxic relationships, but I have hope for these two tbh, who else could love them but each other?
And that's my fic rec list! It's just off the top of my head tbh, so sorry about that!
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mdhwrites · 7 months
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I feel part of the reason toh is hold in such high standart over series of the same demographic is how fast it abandons the episodic format in favor of a more serialized vibe. I have noticed lately that audiences have come to see episodic as the lesser form of storyteling in comparation to serial, and unlike series like amphibia that remain episodic the vast mayority of their runtime, toh feels very serial in his later half even if it still holds an episodic format for most of s2. People like that didn't bother them with 'silly & inconsecuental' episodic adventures more than other shows. There's a reason some people skip most of s1 of amphibia and a big part of that is how episodic it is.
Okay so this is going to get wild because I'm going to seem incredibly critical of filler but I want to make something clear here: Filler is flavor. As a writer, I'm actually happy that I personally think I've been adding MORE filler to my stories. There's a reason I have a good number of reviews on my early books commenting how surprised people were that I get a LOT done with a low word count after all.
But let's first define Filler. It actually refers to non-canon material in anime which... makes sense actually. The issue with filler arcs, even the good ones, in anime are that you have to reset to zero afterwards for the sake of being able to keep in line with whatever the mangaka creates eventually.
But how does that translate to Western animation where the director for a given show is effectively its mangaka? Well... It's complicated but many will position themselves as it being anything not critical to the plot, themes and core elements of the show. Put a pin in the phrasing I use there.
With that being the definition though, how much of TOH do you have to see to grasp its core narrative? Well...
A Lying Witch and a Warden simply to be introduced to the main three characters and for the setup.
The Intruder so as to learn about the curse.
Covention so as to learn about Lilith and Eda's relationship as well as the Coven system.
And then Agony of a Witch/Young Blood Old Souls to see resolution to the curse and the destruction of the portal door.
And if you're going "What about-"
What about anything else? Amity doesn't develop Luz's character in any way that changes her actions in the finale, though arguably at all in general. Gus and Willow appear in the finale and Covention but you don't need to be introduced to them. As far as the plot is concerned, "Luz's friends" is literally all you need to know and you don't need a full episode's introduction to that. Lilith and Eda's relationship starts catty and slightly childish and competitive and the last thing they do before the finale? Play a Grudgby Match that Eda would have probably tricked Lilith out of having to pay the consequences for if she'd lost... Literally just like back in Covention but less dramatic. Literally NONE of these elements matter to the story of TOH.
It gets WORSE for S2/3. Hunter's whole character payoff is in Belos' Backstory... Which doesn't matter. The Collector never matters. Going to Earth doesn't matter. Hell, the portal does so little to progress ANYTHING but Lumity, that it doesn't matter. The episodes that matter are:
Elsewhere Elsewhen because Luz is the main character so knowing the context for her angst arc is important, even if her angst arc goes literally nowhere. You might think this means Yesterday's Lie but the promise in that literally doesn't matter as her angst is unrelated and not about the promise. She wants to stay in the human realm for other reasons, rendering Yesterday's Lie and Vee pointless... Except this episode is pointless because the reveal of Belos as Philip is the only part that matters which-
Hollow Mind: Is done properly here to the cast as the one in Elsewhere Elsewhen only is to the audience and so demanded that it be done a second time, harming this one's reveal. You won't know as many specifics but as Luz claims the light glyph was part of her sin when we see literally no evidence of him knowing the light glyph matters... Yeah, the writers didn't care about the specifics either.
Edge of the World: I almost included Echoes of the Past because that introduces this issue but it's so different from how King is for 80% of S1 that really what you need to know is that King is the Titan's son. Not even that he himself as a Titan as King is not important to the story of TOH. Only the fact that he is related to the thing that will allow Luz to beat Belos matters to the story of TOH.
And then Watching and Dreaming for S3... Because Luz confronting Belos in King's Tide doesn't matter. It's not like it even weakens Belos in a substantial way and King releasing the Collector doesn't matter either. Moments like "I want to be understood!" in the first two parts of S3 don't matter to Luz's character because they actively make the dream sequence at the start of the finale worse because the show is still mining the same conflict for Luz that it has been since Hollow Mind. Luz's friends and Hexide are barely in the finale, you're only missing out on caring about them during the epilogue and despite skipping over Harpy Eda, Harpy Eda barely matters to Eda's character, same goes for Raine.
That's the thing with people claiming filler as much as they do online. They POSITION themselves to be about plot and narrative. About getting down to just what matters. If they were being honest, they'd admit that most of what they call filler is because it doesn't cover elements they care about. The Plantars are main characters of Amphibia but many who criticize filler in Amphibia explicitly don't give a shit about the frogs. A lot of them skipped S1 because it focused on the frogs and Anne was rougher...
But that's also why VERY little of S1 of Amphibia IS filler. I would argue it's more serialized, just in a more classic manner of making old elements eventually important, because the development of its characters and the push and pull the characters have about change versus who they are and how to handle change is important to the payoffs of the series overall. Hop Pop's Noir episode? Actively talking about things that will come up even in the FINALE of the series. Anne learning to ride Bessie? Teaches her about learning the quirks of others and the importance of doing something right instead of wanting instant gratification.
And instant gratification is what TOH is all about... Ruining its serialization. Like I pointed out with Lilith: Eda and hers relationship starts as sympathetic towards Eda and NEVER CHANGES. What if in Covention, Eda had to be saved and over the course of S1, we saw Lilith softening so the tragedy of Agony of a Witch hit harder as Lilith decided to go back to who she was. To do anything for the Coven... And thus make Belos' betrayal SO MUCH WORSE?
Luz starts as a genuinely good person. Hell, she regresses over the course of the series as in Young Blood, Old Souls, she chooses that sacrificing one life isn't worth her safety or her potentially not screwing up... And then condemns an entire world to death when she chooses not to go back in Thanks to Them. She doesn't learn and grow and her relationships are shaky at best. They also arguably do a poor job at pushing the themes of TOH because TOH struggles to keep consistent with its themes. If it's about community, why is the EC purely demonized instead of trying to be rallied so Hunter doesn't have to lose his community? If it's about self expression, why do both Hunter and Amity end up being clones of past generations where Amity is just her father, right down to being subservient to the girl who enchanted them in High School, and Hunter is just Caleb? If it's about individuality and creativity versus rigidity and order, why don't Amity, Gus or Willow ever actually pick up a second coven or just in general, why aren't the covens treated as the illegal thing they are instead of college? This is why I say TOH struggles with theme because it's all about wish fulfillment for Luz and how she's just the greatest person in existence who never had to change and grow which is a pretty shit theme.
BUT
With all of that said, TOH would be WAY worse without the filler... Because Filler is Flavor. Amity adds a lot of good to the show in S1. Hunter adds good flavor to S2. Raeda is neat. I honestly wish I had more good to say about Gus or Willow because their episodes are genuinely filler as they don't make the world more interesting, usually make it genuinely worse, and are kind of boring in general with their episodes. Or repetitive for that matter. Lilith and Eda though? I still like that Grudgby match they have, even if it's derivative because it's fun and it's neat to see different sides of these characters.
Honestly, I kind of wish My Adventures with Superman had MORE filler. Just more time to breathe and just enjoy these characters being kind of quirky or fun or just neat. Not everything needs to feel breakneck. If it's plot time all the time, an issue for S2D of TOH where after Hollow Mind everything is EXHAUSTING, then you never get a chance to breathe. Never get a chance to just enjoy the world and explore it.
I just wish there was more to explore with TOH but it's too busy not caring about its own elements or making an interesting world to explore anything. Not anything explore anything besides how clever it thinks it is. Just like how people think it's clever for claiming to be serialized when it really isn't.
After all: How much of green haired Amity do you really need to see in order to understand Purple Haired Amity? Like people kept pointing out: Would you believe these two are even the same character?
Does it even matter? For a serialized story, it should have and that's why TOH isn't serialized.
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inkblackorchid · 2 months
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What the hell happened with Crow: an autopsy (Part 2)
Hope you didn't think I'd forgotten about this post yet. Lads, ladies, and other lovely people, here we go. I have more yelling about bird boy to do.
But first, a few disclaimers. For people who may have missed part one, yes, as the title implies, this post is part two of an attempt to analyse Crow's character throughout 5Ds' whole run. You can find part one here. Now, both for people who may not have the time/energy to read my first, huge post about this right now, let me explain what I'm about here before we start again: My analysis is not meant to deter people who like Crow from liking him. It's also not meant to convince Crow haters otherwise, even if I admittedly personally like Crow. All of this stuff is just my personal attempt at dissecting how his character was handled in the show and why that might have been. And because this is part two, and I covered the Fortune Cup and Dark Signers arc in the first post, I'll start with the pre-WRGP arc, then dig into the backstory Crow was given directly before the WRGP begins properly. Also, mind the length of this post. I'm physically incapable of writing short things.
I also feel the need to reiterate another thing before I really get into the meat of things again: If you were hoping to see any old rumours about 5Ds confirmed, this is the wrong post. In fact, thanks to the very thorough work of someone over on Reddit (another shoutout to @mbg159 here, who's the author of those posts), I know for a fact that literally all the big rumours surrounding Crow are one big pile of logistically impossible horseshit, and I think after so, so many years of people citing this nonsense, the fandom as a whole finally deserves to let these go:
No, Crow was not meant to be a dark signer, least of all the final boss of season one, and Blackwings were not the reason he got more screentime later.
No, Aki being sidelined was not the result of her irl voice actress' pregnancy.
Yes, I know these two posts are both a long read each, but I cannot begin to tell you how tired I am of these rumours. So even if you don't have time to read the stuff above, please take away this: The big 5Ds production conspiracy theories are. all. bullshit. Because, to put it in as simple terms as possible, none of them work out logistically. The events people have pretended affected the show's production in a major way all don't line up with the actual production timeline. So just can the rumours already. Please let them die. And no pitting Aki and Crow against each other on his post or because of this post, yes? I beg you, I am so tired. Ok? Ok.
All right, now we can get to the good part. In my previous post, I left off at the end of the DS arc. So, in what position is Crow at the end of the DS arc? He helped save the world by defeating Goodwin and got his very own signer mark after Rudger/Roman Goodwin's death.
And now, where is Crow at the start of the pre-WRGP arc?
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(Bam. Delivery bird boy be upon ye.)
This time, Crow wastes absolutely no time coming back on screen. We see him again within the first episode of the second half of the show, and wouldn't you know it! He moved in with Yusei and Jack and the three of them have a funny, brotherly, bickering dynamic between them. Also, as a fun little add-on that is very much in line with his deeply Satellite, down to earth characterisation from the first half, Crow now works as a delivery driver to earn money for the household. That's all very nice and good.
But what is his role in the plot from here on out? Well.
First, a small note about the pre-WRGP arc. Though this arc is fun to watch because it gives us a lot of silly character interactions the show no longer found the time for once the WRGP started, the pre-WRGP arc really can't be said to bother with actual plot much. It's the known filler arc of 5Ds, and as such, Crow is not the only character who gets pretty much nothing plot-related to do during this arc. Thus, I'll only give a quick run-down of what he does get up to, just in case any of these tidbits end up showcasing a relevant aspect of Crow's character I might come back to later.
Furthermore, another thing that's pretty much obvious to everyone who's ever watched the show in its entirety but still bears mentioning: Crow gets a lot more screentime from this point on out. Technically. Why do I say "technically"? I'll get back to that further below. For now, just keep it in mind.
So, how does Bird Boy spend his time during the arc where the plot's on the back burner? To be honest, on the sidelines, mostly. Don't get me wrong, Crow's there. Most of the time. But he gets pretty much only two episodes where he's the focus, and both of those aren't exactly known for being 5Ds' most memorable episodes (even though I still like them both tbh, but I digress): For one, in episode 68, he gets to convince Bashford to move in with Martha so the depressed old man isn't spending his entire retirement living in a scrapyard.
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(This episode's comedic moments are actually fairly solid. But those are just my two cents.)
And for two, in episode 85, Crow gets to bond with the boys' somewhat cranky landlady, Zora, by duelling some sense into her son, Lyndon. (Which also introduces us to a duelling tactic only Crow uses that we will later see again: Losing on purpose.)
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(And here we can see Crow showing off his skills at dealing with petulant children.)
Now, do these two episodes where he gets to be relevant actually do anything for Crow? As a character? Debatable. If nothing else, they strongly reaffirm the values Crow represents which we were introduced to in the first half of the show, though. They reintroduce us to his stubbornness, to his (in comparison to Jack and Yusei) more playful nature, to his very Yusei-ish dedication to doing the right thing, to his penchant for spite, and to his strong sense of family and community and his belief that these two things shouldn't be abandoned unless you have a damned good reason for it.
You may notice that there's a sizeable gap between these two episodes. That's because those episodes are where we get the only smidgens of plot in this arc. Among them, highlights like Sherry's introduction, the first reveal of accel synchro, Aki's turbo duelling license exam, three separate story beats hinting at the machinations of the emperors of Iliaster (Luciano's little stunt with Rua and Ruka, Placido getting started on building a killer robot army, and the Jack double being unleashed onto NDC), and Bruno's introduction. So, here's the thing: Crow is technically present during most of those episodes, too, but he doesn't actually get to meaningfully interact with the plot-relevant elements. (Which is not to say he doesn't have nice moments here and there. He does get to bounce off the other characters, and, just as one example, helps Yusei and Jack upgrade Aki's duel runner, as well as help Yusei build Rua's duel board. Crucially, he doesn't get to do anything that later becomes plot-relevant, though.) Moreover, not one, but two characters who end up becoming major players in the series' finale are introduced here, which is relevant insofar as that Bruno and Sherry both end up needing a good amount of development before they can impactfully take their later roles. Now, I say this with nothing but genuine appreciation for both these characters, because I do like them, but I feel the need to point out what this means not just for Crow, but for pretty much everyone who isn't Jack or Yusei: Every minute of screentime that was dedicated to Bruno and/or Sherry was one minute less the writers could spend on the rest of the cast. This is not to say that time shouldn't have been spent on them, they needed it, especially because they were introduced so late, but it's something I do want people to keep in mind when talking about who got how much screentime and whether or not that time was well spent. (I also have a larger gripe with the definition of "screentime" in general, but more on that later.)
So when does Crow get to be relevant to the plot again, now that he's even a signer and all? Well, not until episode 94, when the WRGP arc has already started. (Note that I'm using the 5Ds episode list on wikipedia as a general guide for which arc and which season starts where. You can find it here.)
*Deep breath*
So. Episode 94.
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(Pictured: One very scruffy dragon. Bird? Dragon-bird. Bird-dragon. You figure this shit out.)
That episode. The episode where Crow, who was awarded with the status of a signer during the finale of the DS arc, finally gets a dragon to match his mark. And the episode where we finally, finally, get some actual backstory for Crow that goes beyond his involvement with the Enforcers and childhood with Jack and Yusei. A backstory that's only Crow's own. Except. How do I put this politely...
This shit doesn't make a lick of sense. Neither the events in the duel between Crow and Bolger in the present resulting in Black-Winged Dragon's appearance, nor the Pearson backstory.
Now, I'm not saying this to step on anyone's toes. From a writing standpoint, I can even make a fairly reasonable guess as to why this episode/mini-arc is here, I think: As I mentioned in part one of this analysis, Crow was not only introduced very late, but also got very little backstory of his own, which set him apart from the other signers. Don't get me wrong, he did get some backstory—we know of his strong connection to Duel Monsters because he learned to read from cards, and we know of his involvement with the Enforcers/Team Satisfaction. Crucially, though, Crow doesn't really get a backstory segment that feels as unique to him as the others. Aki gets her tragic past with her parents and her powers, Jack gets his betrayal of Yusei, which also doubles as part of Yusei's backstory, who as the protagonist understandably gets the most backstory, and even the twins, though they are as always treated as one unit, get their very own segment about the time when Ruka was essentially in a coma. Meanwhile, Crow only has that one-off tear-jerker moment about learning to read from his cards and his being a part of the boys' duel gang, which, and I cannot stress this enough, is treated as more of a Yusei and Kalin/Kiryu backstory by canon than a Crow backstory. Thus, it makes perfect sense from a writing standpoint that the Pearson/Black-Winged Dragon mini-arc would be here. Crow, up until this point, has neither a backstory segment dedicated solely to him, nor a signer dragon to call his own. So, how do we solve this? Give him both in a strategic double-whammy! The math checks out. Unfortunately, the writing of said mini-arc... doesn't.
Now, look. The juicy question of whether Crow would have worked better as a non-signer or not, which I already discussed in part one aside, I personally don't hate what this backstory is trying to do. It's just that the whole Pearson-drama has some very notable, logical holes which I'll get into below. Furthermore, this is not the first time something related to Crow has some unfortunate, logical and/or chronological issues. I already brought up the infamous fridge and Rex Goodwin's rather confusing backstory in part one, both of which raise some serious questions. However, Pearson and everything surrounding him arguably blow that clean out of the water. Let's examine this more closely, shall we.
The long-overdue backstory we get for Crow begins with a mystery: Mikage and Trudge, for a reason that is never given to us, are investigating the death of Robert Pearson (whose death would have been several years ago at this point), whom Crow knew very well, and they're doing it because they found a hint that the person who killed Pearson used an illegal card, Crimson Mefist, to do it.
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(Post redemption-arc Trudge actually doing his job instead of bullying random Satellite citizens. Who would have thunk.)
Thing is, here, we already encounter our first, minor problem: Pearson has never been mentioned up until this point, not even as an aside. And this issue is compounded by the fact that not only Crow seems to know him, but Trudge claims to as well, because "Satellite used to be his jurisdiction". So, a named character who's familiar to both one of our protagonists and a notable side character, and we've never seen hide nor hair of him. If we pull our heads out of the story for a second, the irl reason for how this came to be is probably pretty obvious: Pearson was never mentioned before because the writers had nowhere near as solid of a plan for Crow as they did for the other characters, which leads to him being introduced out of nowhere here because we need a backstory and a dragon for Crow and we need those now. Moving on.
The mention of Pearson having been not simply killed in a fire, like Crow previously assumed, but having been murdered through a special, illegal card immediately makes him suspicious. So, he goes to consult Bolger/Bolton, another never-before-seen character who gets introduced in service of this backstory, and who knew Pearson well. And while this guy certainly acts amiable towards Crow at first, implying that the two have a good rapport, at least, he quickly starts acting suspicious when Pearson's murder comes up. Moreover, we as the audience at this point already know Bolger's looking for Black-Winged Dragon so he can use the card essentially as collateral to save his company. And the name "Black-Winged Dragon" already leaves very little to the imagination as to whose deck this monster is supposed to fit into. But, in a small twist, we learn from Crow that this was apparently Pearson's card, and supposedly lost in the fire where said man died, to boot. Then Bolger challenges Crow to a duel, too, offering to tell the truth about Pearson's death if he loses, but demanding Black-Winged Dragon, which he believes Crow to be in possession of, if he wins. So far, so good. We've got a mystery here, and canon is not contradicting itself just yet. Until we get to the actual backstory, which shows us the time Crow spent with Pearson, that is. Before we get into that, I'd like to highlight one theme this mini-arc introduces that actually feels like it fits Crow: Legacy. Over the course of meeting Bolger again and being reminded of his time with Pearson, Crow starts thinking about whether he's taking over his former mentor's/father figure's legacy well enough.
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(Crow having some Deep Thoughts TM, featuring one of Yusei's most relaxed, easygoing smiles in the entire show, probably.)
This theme, I would argue, is one of the major things this backstory introduces that really meshes well with the Crow we already had until this point. He's a community-focussed guy and absolutely a family person, if him taking care of Satellite orphans is anything to go by, so leaving behind a good legacy for the people after him (read: the kids he took care of) would absolutely be something he cares about. We see this element of legacy again in his cards during this episode, too, which canon implies he inherited from Pearson. (I'll get to THAT can of worms below.) And on paper, with the themes he's already got going, Crow being the only one to inherit his deck rather than build it all by himself would actually make sense!
However. This is where we have to get into the meat of the backstory. I'll start by listing the barebones information Crow's backstory with Pearson gives us, then going into why several aspects of it are either logistical or chronological nonsense.
So, as canon tells us, Crow met Pearson after Kiryu/Kalin was arrested, when the Enforcers/Team Satisfaction all went their separate ways. During this period, Crow had already set up shop near the original Daedalus Bridge and started out taking care of orphans, but it wasn't all smooth sailing. He was, by his own admission, "living aimlessly". Then, during a pinch, Pearson and Bolger show up, take care of some bad guys for Crow and the kids, and Crow sees a new role model in Pearson. Pearson, who rides the Blackbird, plays a Blackwing deck and owns Black-Winged Dragon. So, he joins up with Pearson, presumably learns how to work on duel runners from him, and also befriends Bolger. Then, one day, a fire breaks out at Pearson's workshop and the man in question dies, but leaves Crow his runner and his duel disk before he does so. End flashback. Because I want to tie this together nicely, we also learn later that Pearson technically left him Black-Winged Dragon, too, by sealing it in his runner. And, of course, that dragon later becomes Crow's very own signer dragon.
Several points to be dissected here. And funnily enough, Bolger's duel with Crow isn't relevant for any of them. Let's start with the big one: The timeline. I want you to remember that as far as canon is concerned, Crow is 17 during the DS arc. Moreover, it's canonically stated that Jack stole Yusei's first duel runner two years before the show's start, at which time Crow would have been 15. And their time together as the Enforcers must have been even before that, because Kiryu/Kalin was already in prison for a while at that point and Crow and Yusei don't reunite until the DS arc is basically in full swing. So, I'll make a vague estimate here and say that during the time of the Enforcers, Crow would have probably been 13-14. (Which is hilarious when you think about the fact that this gang of angry teenagers essentially took over the entire duelling underground of Satellite, but I digress.) Now we add the idea that Crow met Pearson after the Enforcers, but that he died before canon starts into the mix. That means Crow first ran into Pearson sometime around age 15, and that he then died presumably before Crow turned 17. So far, so good, that still slots into canon, even if it makes Crow pretty damn young for some things. He's even missing the personalised Blackbird duel disk he later wears during the Enforcer days, I went back to check. What he is not missing, however, are his Blackwings. And this is where canon may or may not have made an implication that, if intentional, breaks this timeline. See, during the scene where Pearson's workshop is burning down and he's already trapped under debris and has embraced death, he tosses Crow his duel disk and leaves him his runner.
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(Two important screenshots, in sequence. One, Pearson with his duel disk still strapped to his arm. His deck is very obviously still in there. Two, Crow with that same duel disk, as made obvious by its distinct shape.)
What this implies is that Pearson also left Crow his deck. Which, yeah, fair enough, if I were dying in a fire I'd probably also think "fuck it, not like I'll need my cards in the afterlife". What this (and Crow's look the first time he sees Pearson's monsters) implies, though, is that Crow didn't start playing Blackwings until Pearson left him his deck. Which is factually untrue, because there is literal evidence in the show that Crow already had Blackwings during his time as part of the duel gang, before ever meeting Pearson. (The exact episode, if you want to check for yourself, is 33, where Crow summons both Bora the Spear and Blackwing Armor Master during a flashback.) However, I will concede that the show never actually states this is the case, it's just implied by what we see on screen, so perhaps the idea here was that Crow already played Blackwings before Pearson, but grew to love them even more through his mentor/father figure, and so later happily integrated the deck he inherited into his own. Crucially, canon never states this outright, either, though, so the option remains on the table. But, to give the benefit of the doubt here, the possibility that this could still slot in with canon and that it was just handled poorly is there. The same cannot be said for the Blackbird, however.
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(Uh oh. So much for canon continuity.)
The above two screenshots directly contradict each other. First we have Yusei, upon reuniting with Crow in Satellite during the DS arc, casually remarking that Crow finished his duel runner. Which means that canon at this point suggests to the audience that one, Crow built this duel runner by himself, for himself, and two, that Yusei knew about it for a while already. Then there's the second screenshot, from the Pearson backstory episode, where Crow outright claims the Blackbird was left to him when Pearson died. I don't think I need to tell anyone that these two things can't be true at the same time. And again, I think this is where Crow fell victim to the writers not having a clear outline for him. At first, he was supposed to be this scrappy guy who also built a duel runner for himself, just like Yusei. But now, he's a signer, needs a backstory and a dragon, and because a theme of legacy is introduced alongside Pearson, the runner suddenly needs to be inherited, as well as (possibly) Crow's cards. Now, a crafty fanfic writer could probably reconcile the above contradiction somehow, and I know some stories that accomplished that. But the point isn't that we, as the audience/fandom could make this work, the point is that canon didn't make it work. What canon, sadly, also didn't get to work was Black-Winged Dragon.
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(We meet again, bird-dragon.)
Here comes the next elephant in the room: Everyone and their mother who has watched 5Ds knows that Black-Winged Dragon was never implied to be a signer dragon up until the duel where Crow acquires it. In fact, an entirely different dragon is teased so heavily long before BWD ever shows up that it to this day is one of many people's major gripes with the show's writing.
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(Why, hello, Life Stream Dragon! Fancy seeing you here.)
And yet, Black-Winged Dragon is turned into a signer dragon before Life Stream Dragon, who was teased more than sixty (!!!) episodes before BWD was ever even mentioned. Why? Simple: Because Crow became a signer and Rua/Leo didn't, because the signers all need dragons (or else the "5Ds" part kind of doesn't work), and because Life Stream Dragon thematically doesn't fit Crow.
Now, I've seen people post theories to reconcile this weird hitch in canon, hell, I've even posted an idea for how it could be reconciled myself. But, again, that isn't the point here. The point is that as far as good old, barebones canon is concerned, it isn't reconciled. Canon at first states there are five signers, suggesting that there are also five dragons. But then, the fifth dragon never shows up, and one of the signers dies, to boot. Only for canon to then teach us, oh, no, look, the signer marks can wander from one person to the next. And to add insult to injury (at least where the show's writing and internal consistency is concerned), the signer mark that was "freed up" by Roman/Rudger's death doesn't wander to Rua/Leo, who any attentive watcher would have expected to become a signer because it was heavily teased during the DS arc, but to Crow. Frankly, I'm not surprised many people were angry about this, but in case my disclaimer didn't make it clear, I don't think it's productive to pin this on Crow by claiming his cards became super popular irl. There was definitely an out-of-left-field writing choice made here, but the only answers as to "why" were left in the 5Ds' writer's room, I believe. At a guess, if you want me to throw out a non-sugarcoated theory as to why, though? They probably thought Crow would be a more interesting character for their target audience. He's a scrappy guy who sticks it to authority, he's brave, he's funny, he plays a cool deck, and most of all, unlike Rua, he never embarrasses himself in a duel on screen. Why am I highlighting that last part? Because I feel like people sometimes forget that the target audience for this show, at the time of its creation, were about twelve year-old boys. And you can feel free to contradict me on this, but most twelve year-old boys I've known and know don't want to project themselves onto a chracter who loses and gets his butt kicked a lot, and who's a bit awkward and steps in it sometimes, which is much closer to how actual twelve year-olds are—but that's exactly why they prefer the cooler characters. And Crow is the cooler character, by average twelve year-old boy logic, regardless of what the grownups of this fandom think.
So Crow gets a dragon and the writing doesn't bother explaining the how or why of it, let alone tackles any of the implications made by Black-Winged Dragon's existence as a signer dragon. (Like what does this mean for the larger worldbuilding? Does the Crimson Dragon actually have more than five servants, but chooses to only ever bestow five marks at a time? Can any "dragon" the Crimson Dragon chooses be a signer dragon, and it just so happens that the constellation of signer dragons is nearly the same as the original one in present-time 5Ds canon? Did the Crimson Dragon specifically elevate BWD to a signer dragon because it felt like it? Was BWD always supposed to be a signer dragon? Was Pearson supposed to be a signer, but died too early before the dark signer prophecy was set into motion? Am I overthinking this? (Yes.)) He also obtains his dragon in what feels like the weirdest way possible to me, because it suddenly??? Just decides to appear in his runner????? Out of nowhere??????
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(Why is that here. How did it get there. Why did Pearson even put it in there. And HOW. Is it just wedged between the machinery or what???? And how on earth did Yusei, Bruno, and/or Crow never find it before this point considering how often someone tinkered on the Blackbird on screen???)
(This scenario, of course, also raises the question how the other signers even got their dragons. But like many other, interesting questions, this episode chooses not to interact with that one whatsoever.)
In short, this backstory is a bit of a mess, to say the least. For as much good as it tries to do by contextualising Crow's character and giving him something that sets him apart from the rest of the protag group, it feels like a rough draft of an episode was given the green light to be produced without any editing, judging by the contradictions and weird implications. As such, it harms Crow's character as much as it builds it, as evidenced by how much fandom backlash he still receives years later for the things that were bungled in this backstory and also in different aspects of his character writing.
Now, you may notice this post has gotten stupidly long due to just how convoluted the specific hangups of Crow's backstory are. I originally meant to cover the WRGP and even the Ark Cradle arc for Crow in this post, too, but due to how much there was to say about canon's attempt to finally make Crow a "proper" signer, I've decided that trying to force another two whole arcs in here would be a disservice to the analysis and the character, and also make this agonisingly long, so I'll close this part out here and write a part three, perhaps even a part four depending on how much material the WRGP gives me to work with.
There's one more thing I need to get back to before I finish up this part, though: The "screentime" discussion. I mentioned far above that I take issue with how some people seem to be using the word screentime, and now I can explain why. First, I want you to take a look back at the episodes I covered here, those being 65-95, essentially. Now, as anyone who usually dislikes Crow will tell you, Crow is present in most, if not all of these episodes. He's on screen. He's getting screentime, and, according to many people, hogging it, even. Okay. Now, I want you to look back up at the analysis. How many episodes did I cover where Crow actually gets something to do? As in, where he's either the focus of the plot or gets to contribute to it in a significant way? There's the old man Bashford episode. There's the Poppo Time clock episode. There's his two backstory episodes. That's four. Four episodes. If you're generous, you might add in the episode where he gets to narrate Yusei's backstory alongside Jack and the two fake Jack episodes where he gets to have an emotional moment or two with his foster-brother. If you're less generous, you'll note that none of these episodes have Crow actually interacting with the main antagonists in a meaningful way or set up anything important that pays off later. (Hell, he doesn't even get any, and I really mean, any meaningful setup interactions with Sherry, who ends up being his final-boss-level opponent during the final episodes! Aki gets more meaningful interactions with Sherry than him, not that this ever gets a payoff.) And this is why I take an issue with people claiming Crow gets so much "screentime" post DS arc. Because to me, "screentime" should be time spent letting a character act meaningfully within the story, which most of the pre-WRGP episodes aren't for Crow. He's on screen, yes, but in many episodes, it wouldn't matter one whit whether you replaced him with a nameless side character, which isn't exactly a great look for a supposed third of a protagonist trifecta. Perhaps I'm being too strict with my definition of "screentime" here, fair enough! But the claim that Crow hogs screentime already rubs the wrong way during this comparably unimportant arc, so I can't leave it alone. It feels very decidedly malicious to claim a character who during some episodes seems to only be there to provide exposition or make whatever jokes Yusei and Jack's personalities aren't suited to is stealing screentime from other characters. As for the WRGP duels and whether he's "hogging" anyone's screentime there, I'll dig into that nonsense in the next part, please be patient with me.
...Phew. Okay.
Now, before I leave you to wonder whether I'm every finishing my Crow analysis in full again, I want to attempt to do the same thing I did in part one—propose some changes that could have been made to the writing for Crow's character in order to make things slot in better with the rest of canon. With a small disclaimer, of course: These are just my suggestions as to how Crow's character could have fit into canon more smoothly and been done less of a disservice by his own backstory.
So. First, a quick-fire thing about the pre-WRGP, to get that out of the way: Crow, alongside Aki, is the only signer who didn't get his own confrontation with either Iliaster or their minions. (Yusei had Ghost, Jack had fake Jack, Rua and Ruka had Luciano.) Instead of having him confront a cranky old man in a scrapyard or Zora's son, they could have easily given him a very short side-story where he gets to experience the threat of Iliaster up close and personal, too. Hell, they could have very nicely cut the recap episode where Crow and Jack lie in the mess of Jack's terribly built coffee table and philosophise about Yusei's backstory for this, too. (As funny as their interaction about the coffee table and Jack lying on the floor with a perfectly intact coffee cup are.)
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(Pictured: Two idiots (affectionate) contemplating life among the scraps of a shitty, broken coffee table.)
Then, there's the Pearson backstory, of course. So, here's the thing, I think two very different kinds of "fixes" could have worked here. Crucially, they both depend on Crow's status as a signer. I argued in part one that Crow might have worked better as a character if he hadn't actually become a signer, so I'll give both versions here. Let's go.
Option A: We try not to touch canon too much and Crow stays a signer.
How to do this? Frankly, I think what Crow's mark and Black-Winged Dragon were majorly missing was setup. The mark is the smaller offence here, since, fair enough, the idea that signer marks can wander from person to person isn't too out there for 5Ds canon. However, the lack of a dragon despite the alleged 5Ds stands out, and Life Stream Dragon's wasted setup only makes it worse. Thus, making Black-Winged Dragon make sense would have required giving him the same amount of foreshadowing as Life Stream Dragon, at the very least. And you know who could have been great for that? Sweet, ever-forgotten-by-canon Ruka. She was already shown having flashback dreams to the signer dragons' first battle against the dark signers, so who's to say she couldn't have gotten dreams about a shadowy, new dragon she's never seen before? Perhaps even dreams where she's not sure if the dragon is good or bad at first! It could have provided intrigue, it could have made the audience curious. To strengthen that, canon could have also bothered taking the question "hey why are there only four dragons now" seriously. No character in canon ever questions why there are five marks, but only four dragons. Even Rua, who was previously hopeful that he might secretly be a signer, never brings it up. If canon had bothered to actually point this mystery out, they could have used it not only to foreshadow Black-Winged Dragon, but to aid Life Stream Dragon's setup, too. What the fuck am I talking about, I hear you ask. Hear me out: Life Stream Dragon is shown way, way later down the line, long after the audience probably already accepted that it was simply never going to show up, literally bursting out of Power Tool Dragon's armour. We are not provided with an explanation as to why. Imagine if they had sprinkled in another dream Ruka could have had about the ancient past here. Imagine if they had used the opportunity to show something like, oh, during the battle, Life Stream Dragon got injured so badly they had to protect its wounded body with a suit of armour, in the hopes that it would heal. And with one original signer dragon out of commission, the Crimson Dragon sadly had to choose a replacement in between, because the Earthbound Immortals were sure to return. Bam. Black-Winged Dragon. Two signer dragons, set up simultaneously, without forcing the canon lore to do somersaults. Furthermore, to actually explain why Pearson had the dragon but wasn't a signer, they could have easily sprinkled in a flashback between him and Crow. Maybe Pearson could have mentioned how the dragon always feels like it's never really his, as a joking aside. It would have been enough for me to suspend my disbelief, you know? And then the rest of canon could have played out exactly as we know it. Crow could have confronted Bolger, could have obtained Black-Winged Dragon because maybe the dragon finally decided he was worth throwing its weight behind. The mystery behind the missing fifth dragon could have been solved, and it would have made for satisfying payoff without kneecapping Life Stream Dragon's setup or conjuring an extra dragon out of thin air. And really, stuff like the runner thing could have so easily been solved by simply picking one version (did he build it himself or inherit it?) and sticking with it. All it took was a little more care.
Option B: We assume Crow didn't actually become a signer, but try to keep his backstory intact.
Okay, this version works under the assumption that Crow, despite partaking in the final battle against Goodwin during the DS arc, didn't receive a signer mark. To make this work, I would, bluntly put, simply make it so that Black-Winged Dragon doesn't exist. Pearson can still play a powerful Blackwing monster during his flashback that Bolger wants to find and sell later, but it simply isn't that dragon. Really, Blackwings have enough to choose from there. If the backstory episodes had been placed a little later, say, during the pause in the middle of the WRGP, he could have even received something like Blackwing Full Armor Master here. (Yes, I know that card didn't exist at the time, but my point is that he could have simply received a powerup like Yusei and Jack did, instead of a completely new monster.) With this setup, they could have still added the intrigue of taking the question why there are only four signers now seriously. They could have still set up a mystery about why no one ever saw the fifth dragon outside of dreams. And it could have made Rua becoming a signer later, and in this version getting the tail mark instead of a completely new one, that much more satisfying. And Crow could have kept his "fuck destiny, I'm trying to save the world here"-attitude from the DS arc, providing a nice, amusing counterweight to our heroes chosen by an ancient Incan dragon deity. All it would have taken would have been not giving him a mark and switching out Black-Winged Dragon for something else.
So, take your pick, I guess. In the meantime, I'll try my best to work on part three faster than I did part two, lmao.
See you next time!
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juletheghoul · 10 months
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Babes. With Halloween 147 days away I gotta know all the Pedro characters you hc as monsters. Like Din = demon, Ezra = werewolf, etc (lol idk how to word it)
Excuse me.. have you been looking in my google docs??
Okay - so I've actually given this a lot of thought, shockingly. I've come up with a list of what I think the boys would be for a story / series that might or might not ever actually see the light of day lol.
Here goes- hope you enjoy!
Jack Daniels; This man is a centaur. Cowboy through and through and nothing makes more sense to me than him being half man, half horse. Do with this information what you like. 👀
Din Djarin; For Din I have two headcanons—first one is Demon!Din, the lovable, sexy one that eats pussy like a champ and is a feminist lol. In the second one I don't think he'd be a monster per say, I think he'd be a droid, or some really advanced AI. He'd be intelligent, but surprisingly human underneath all that beskar.
Marcus Moreno; Homeboy is already super, so it makes sense to me that he'd be like a Magneto / Professor X hybrid. Intuitive, crazy smart, and very handy to have around.
Pero Tovar; I don't actually think he'd be a monster either, more like a time traveler who is perpetually lost. Never in his own time, never knows what's going on but point him towards somewhere he can have a stiff drink, a fight, and a woman or five and he's right at home.
Javier Pena; Javi would be a Nahual, the Mesoamerican version of a shapeshifter, also known as an animal protector and guardian spirit. I'm not sure which animal he'd change into-I'll leave it open to interpretation.
Francisco Morales; Werewolf. Hands down. Literally nothing else to add to this-he'd be normal and cool most of the time, and then disappear for the three days of the full moon.
Max Phillips; This one's a given, he's a vampire and it makes sense for him. No notes- they got it in one.
Marcus Pike; This is where we get a bit sad, I think Marcus would be a ghost. A lonely spirit, wandering the earth in search of a true love.
Ezra; He's a little different, he gives me 'Old God' vibes. A pagan harvest God or deity, someone you leave offerings to in order to have a bountiful harvest, or good health, fertility.
Dave York; This man is a crossroads Demon. He's cold, and distant, and is always ready to offer you a deal you can't possibly afford.
Oberyn Martell; This is obvious to me too, Oberyn is an Incubus. The breeding kink is so strong it's basically his personality. He's only here to have a good time, and fuck his way through humanity (consensually, of course), leaving as many babies as he can in his wake.
Max lord; Another obvious one for me, he's a genie. Make your wishes, and he'll grant them, so long as there's something in it for him at the end of the day.
Would love to hear your thoughts, and thots on this! 💜
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lorenzobane · 2 years
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I really am not like this most of the time, but my Everyone Is Wrong About Them character analysis is Julian and his relationship with his parents.
People like to make their relationship incredibly simple when it seems somewhat obvious to me that their relationship is intensely complicated. Anyway! Let's look at the receipts.
RICHARD: Oh, so now we're not taking it seriously. We're not as bright as he is. We don't have your gifted intellect so we can't see the perfectly obvious. BASHIR: This is exactly why I haven't been home in three years. AMSHA: Jules, please.
Julian tells us, in this episode, that he hasn't been home to visit in three years. He tells us this in Season 5, which means that at some point in Season 2, Julian went to Earth to visit his parents. They are not estranged, and it is not true that they haven't spoken since he went to DS9. In fact, they were still in close enough contact for him to go all the way to Earth, a long trip, just to see them. Of course, it went wrong- but they do speak to each other. People often use his awkwardness in Homefront to suggest that they're not speaking, but it seems somewhat obvious to me that he wouldn't want Sisko or Odo to meet his parents because it would immediately show how different from them he is.
AMSHA: No, this is important. You can condemn us for what we did. You can say it's illegal or immoral or whatever you want to say, but you have to understand that we didn't do it because we were ashamed, but because you were our son and we loved you. (Bashir and Amsha hug.)
This is after they've already found out that they've outed him. He still cares about them, and specifically her, enough to hug her and comfort her.
BASHIR: Well, I want no part of it. I'm not going to just stand by while my father-- RICHARD: Jules. Julian. Listen to me. This is my decision. I'm the one who took you to Adigeon Prime. I'm the one who should take responsibility for it. AMSHA: Let him do this, Julian. BASHIR: Two years? Isn't that a bit harsh?
Again, this further complicates their relationship because while Julian DOES want his father to take responsibility, he doesn't want him to suffer. He's protective of them, there is an intimacy that exists between them because for the majority of his life they were all reliant on each other keeping a huge secret from everyone. For many years, his parents were the only people he can be honest with.
And, as Julian keeps saying in the episode, part of why he's keeping the secret so tightly is to protect them. He's worried about his commission but he's ALSO worried about their punishment and I think that adds to his emotional complexity with them. He wants them punished, he wants them to take responsibility- but he also doesn't want them to suffer.
RICHARD: I guess I'll see you in a couple of years. BASHIR: I'm sure they have visiting hours at your facility. Maybe I could RICHARD: That would be most welcome.
Does that sound like the line of someone who plans to never speak to his father again? No. I think Julian views his parents with a type of constant agony- where it is painful and confusing and hard every single day, and yet, he doesn't cut them out. I understand that people want it to be easy- Julian just cuts them off! But it's not. It's especially complicated because the worst thing they ever did to him was years ago, and there is no way to undo it. And then his father went to prison for him, because he loves him. How do you reconcile those things? I don't think Julian can.
Even MORE to the point though- like, if you write him cutting his parents out of his life entirely you are actually just mischaracterizing him. I think there is a reason why so many first-generation kids relate so hard to Julian (I'm not the first person to point this out and I won't be the last- but i'm not going to get into that can of worms now).
I know I’ve literally written an entire fic on this subject before but it still Irritates me.
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malinaa · 6 months
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TOP 9 BOOKS
tagged : @hmsharmony ty jennifer this was SOOO hard oh my god like. genuinely agonized me for days to think about what to choose but it was SOOO fun tho <3 tagging : @rosesau | @evcndiaz | @pendrgcn | @gayarthur | @the-tenth-arcanum | @oretsev | @wherepoetsdie | @bellamyblakru | @ryekat & anyone else who wants to do it !!! rules : list your top 9 books obviously. i cheated a little and put series as as one option because that's just who i am as a person. most of these i chose at random from my 5 star reads from the past few years btw
1. percy jackson and the olympians (series) by rick riordan
i was never a big reader in elementary school—or at least not to the extent that my classmates had been. my sixth grade english class required us to bring a personal book from home for silent reading and i stole my brother's spine-cracked copies of pjo and brought them to class. i finished the whole series in less than a school week (i had to scramble to the library to pick up another series because the single novel should have lasted me at least three weeks). pjo literally kickstarted my love for reading as a hobby and i truly don't know how to state the importance it had on my little ten-year-old brain fr
2. on earth we're briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong
i have never read a book more beautiful in prose and so uncommonly human than this. there's just something so incredibly heartbreaking knowing this whole book is the narrator's letter to his mother who can't read! like what the fuck
3. alone with you in the ether by olivie blake
this came as a surprise to Me when i first read it. i meandered through the first quarter, loving the writing style but feeling disconnected from the characters until the Church Hand Scene™ and it was hook, line, and sinker at that point (i have since come to love the disconnectedness in subsequent rereads, knowing that the feeling was the Point). i have read this book four (4) times since i read it first last year. LAST YEAR!!! olivie has like... fundamentally altered my brain chemistry or something because i feel like everything i have written since having read this book has been somewhat influenced by it.
4. much ado about nothing by william shakespeare
what can i say! this is theeeeeee romcom ever. i have watched so many adaptations of this play, read it countless of times and can recite some iconic lines, and still the banter between benedick and beatrice is sooo elite. cannot be topped!!
5. a place for us by fatima farheen mirza
fun fact: seed rec'd this book to me and has been reccing it to anybody who would listen. the prose is so lush and melancholic. it's one of those books where nothing Really happens, but you feel Every Emotion Under The Sun and you're just like. altered by reading it
6. the song of achilles by madeline miller
obviously.... OBVIOUSLYYYYYYY this had to go here. if i had two nickels for every greek myth retelling i read during school that fundamentally changed me etc etc u get it. i read this as a junior in high school when we, yet again, had to bring a personal book to read durin class. i think at that point of my life, i've never read something that tragic yet so beautiful at the same time and now i am always looking at the beautiful and tragic in media. so! there u go! brain cells rewired and whatnot!
7. the grisha trilogy by leigh bardugo
this is funny because i . technically did not rate any of these books 5 stars i'm sobbing. but like, considering the fact that my url is what it is and the way i always have them in the back of my mind, it's no wonder that i put them here. i have such an odd attachment to these books and these characters. i had copies of these books since their release but didn't touch them until ... before the sab tv release which is so fucking funny. like i don't know what i would be like if i read this as a t(w)een. i would've been so fucking insufferable ngl
8. when my brother was an aztec by natalie diaz
i actually read this for an assignment and had to write a report on it and i had SO much fun doing it. diaz plays a lot with hunger and her imagery is literally unmatched. i think about the way she contructs sentences and am filled with such envy. my beginning sentence for my paper was a nod to her style (though i failed miserably). it was: "in a paradoxical sleight of hand, hunger feeds in natalie diaz's debut." she is just. so fucking good at words i need to CHOMP on it
9. sharp objects by gillian flynn
you know the thing where you see a really popular author for a really long time and they have their work adapted to the screen and it's so good but you still haven't read their actual writing? yeah, that was me with gillian flynn (specifically about gone girl). i read gone girl, i read sharp objects, i read her short story the grownup, i'm currently reading the last novel of hers that i haven't read, dark places, and flynn is just so... incredibly good at constructing harrowing stories. it's no wonder why all three of her novels got adapted to the screen! her prose is so grounded. vivid. there's this ease to her writing that, whenever i concurrently read another novel, i always find the other piece to be lacking. i slink back to flynn's prose and immerse myself in her awful, human worlds.
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siren--squid · 3 months
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heyheyheyyyy!!! Youve talked abt Waterparks fondly before but i literally know NOTHING abt them like genre members etc, im sitting cross legged on the floor listening to u explain this rn. and recs maybe 👀?
OH MY GOD THANK YOU. ALRIGHT, SO -
Waterparks is a weird little pop rock pop punk emo band type thing, hard to really narrow them down? Sometimes they lean more pop [funeral gray, 2 best friends, etc] BUT they can also lean REALLY HEAVY into the other stuff [REAL SUPER DARK, RITUAL, etc]
They consist of three dudes, Awsten, Otto, and Geoff!! Awsten as the lead singer and many different instruments, Geoff does some epic guitar moves and awesome backing vocals and such, Otto does the literally best drums EVER and some backing vocals!!!
Awsten changes his hair color based on albums or general vibes of their content, CURRENTLY we are in a red hair era for their latest album INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY which is absolutely one of their absolute best!! My personal favorite is A Night Out On Earth, or RITUAL !! ❤️
Geoff has a twitch channel, it's super fun and chill and he is genuinely so awesome and sweet. UnderscoreGeoff, I think it's called! Such good hang out vibes!
Otto is a serial killer but don't mind that.
Awsten has synesthesia which I believe is why everything is super related to colors, and why the albums and songs have very specific colors associated with them!
Personally I HIGHLY recommend the album Greatest Hits, but FANDOM was probably their most popular? Entertainment is also super super good,,,,,
Also the song Dizzy comes to mind because of your username lmao, I think I've said this before oops.....
I'm always recommending their COVER of the song Starry Eyes?? It's so good omg???????
But if you want a SAD song for your blorbos i recommend the songs Closer, High Definition, and Never Bloom Again ❤️
This band is an absolute special interest and I am genuinely so excited over this ask omgomg. 💙💙
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THESE ARE THE BOYS, AREN'T THEY COOL
Also they have LORE. BAND LORE. WITH TWO CHARACTERS NAMED STARFUCKER AND SOULSUCKER. YOU CAN SEE THEM IN THE FIRST PIC.... THE CROSS AND THE STAR.
Im NOT caught up on the lore BUT we're getting songs abt it soon i think????? :D
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snow-lavender · 1 month
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character impressions centross
First impression: I actually couldn't stand them at first! I thought he was needlessly melodramatic and not a very compelling villain. Maybe part of that comes down to me being an archival viewer of S1; it seems like some of his POV from then wasn't saved. But then I started watching S2 and went ohhh. and then the prison and castle arcs happened and i went ohhhhhhhhh.
Impression now: Brain go brrrrrrr. I grab him on either side of his head and go "You. You my beloved exploration of evil and devotion and justice and redemption and love and forgiveness and family. You dumbass jackass angst-riddled sorry sack of a person. You search for love without knowing what it looks like until you do. You." Actually not my favourite Fable character, that's a tossup between Wolf and Ari, but definitely the one I have the most Big Thoughts and Feelings TM about. In case you couldn't tell lol.
Favorite moment: Might be recency bias but I think it's got to be their talk with Haley in An Oracle's Truth. The subtleties, the looming tragedy, the foreshadowing that his death isn't quite the end, i rotate it in my head like a microwave. Also literally any breakfast stream.
Idea for a story: I actually have two that i'm in the process of brainstorming! One that revolves around him and oscar post-cathedral, when the loss of innocence is inevitable and you don't know what on fucking earth to say. And another that's a wolftross hurt/comfort twoshot about nightmares.
Unpopular opinion: S1 centross isn't very interesting. Killing a bunch of people isn't compelling to me; trying to be a person again afterwards is.
Favorite relationship: Can I cheat and say all of castle trio? The three of them together work so well, emotionally and narratively. They can all serve as another one's foil and parallel at the same time and they're idiots and i love them.
Favorite headcanon: In the first part of S3, their focus on Epros was him trying to find a new god to worship. Because he couldn't in good conscience worship Enderian anymore, but he didn't know how to function in a non-religious worldview. And then Epros let them down and the whole thing fell apart.
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