#the final message is that the real value heroes can have

[melancholysway]

TMNT Imagines: S/O being mugged/stalked (2012)

Since this user PMed me about this request, I'm just going to put the message here :)

@miss-andromeda

Thank you so much! Could I actually request one more? 2012 headcanons again because it's my favorite era of the boys 😅 Anyway, we know that the turtles can be real protective when it comes to their family being in danger, including April and Casey. But when their S/O is in some type of danger (for example, they get mugged one night or they're being stalked), how would they respond? I do apologize for the back-to-back requests, but your writing is so good I can't help but ask for another request! (Okay, that sounded a lot better in my head 😅) But my point is, it would mean the world to me ❤️

Okay! I'm finally finished! So sorry for the wait! For some reason along with college, I wasn’t sure how exactly to write for this one! Like I said I write TOO much, so I have so many ideas that I can only squeeze in so much Yk? Anyways. Hope you enjoy!

Leonardo

- Now, 2012 Leo is usually level-headed, he thinks about everything before he does it. He’s a strategizer.

-But, if he sees you in danger, he doesn’t have to think of anything other than getting you out safe. He can deal with whoever is mugging you later.

-You’re his priority.

-Leonardo, much like Raphael, is protective over you. It’s in his nature as a leader to look after the ones he loves.

-You just so happened to be that person for him. He loved you, there was no denying that he did

-He trains you, to have some tricks up your sleeve if you were to ever get caught up by a Purple Dragon or some low-life mugger.

-Because he knows you can handle it. You can handle yourself.

-That’s why he fell in love with you in the first place. You were strong, especially during the times others would be weak.

-He spends his time with you, how to get into your fighting stance, how never to throw the first punch. Let them run out of stamina, and then go in for the finishing blow. It’s a bonding experience for the two of you, and it always ended in a beautiful kiss after every session.

-“If you ever get into trouble, Donnie made these, here,”

-He gives you a T-phone. It has a little shell as the case, and when you go through it, you see Leo is the only “special” contact. His name has hearts on it, and his contact photo is a selfie of you and him during one of your all-night Space Heroes marathons. It’s Leo holding up the camera and smiling while you sleep on his chest.

-You can’t help but smile. Leo is a very sweet boyfriend, that was the truth.

-Contrary to popular belief, and by popular I mean the fics about Leo mercilessly beating the shit out of anything that is a threat to his s/o because they mug them is…false.

-That’s more Raph’s style. Leonardo doesn’t handle things that way. -He thinks about you.

-Because that’s what matters here. His anger that someone hurt you doesn’t. He’d rather save you first and make sure to get you to safety before handling things his heart wants to.

-He thinks with his brain, not his heart. However, with you, it’s both.

-So when you press the emergency button on your T-phone to notify the guys, you’re hoping they can come and help in time before anything bad happens.

“Do you think it’s a butt dial?” Donnie asks, looking down at his Shell cell while the emergency alarm goes off. Usually, it goes off when April’s in danger, which is often. She’s the target of the Kraang or Shredder, not you. You- now see this as you want- had no value to either party.

This didn’t stop you from falling victim to any local gangs in your area.

Raphael and Michelangelo emerge from their rooms, yawning after a long day of training. They were visibly tired. Donnie was visibly tired as well since he’s been in his lab all day and night. Leonardo was somewhere in the middle, but the thought of you in any danger had woken him up.

“We should treat each one as an emergency, Donnie,” Leonardo says, a wave of nervousness going over him. This was the very first time you dialed them with the emergency button. After glancing at your location on the map, you weren’t in your apartment. In fact, you were a few blocks away, and the heart icon that represents you (which Donnie programmed to be a heart on Leo’s phone ever since you both started dating,) seemed to be between two buildings, and it appeared to mimic an alleyway.

So, yeah, fluke or not, he had to go see if you were okay.

Leonardo could visibly see the tiredness in his brothers’ eyes and decided to do this solo. He can handle it, he always could. He knew how, especially if it was a petty gang.

“You guys stay back, I’ll check it out,” Leo’s blue eyes stare at his brothers. Raph gives him a confused look, “Wait, you don’t think we can handle it?” He asks, now looking annoyed at his older brother.

“No no, it’s not that! It’s just…”

“Mwah mwah mwah!” Mikey teases, making kissy noises. Raphael and Donnie get the hint, and now Leonardo has a trio of kissing noises in his face, only for him to sigh.

“Guys stop! It’s…okay, it’s that. I want to be able to help Y/n out on my own. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I couldn’t do that? Right? Right? Say something, please,” Raph, Donnie, and Mikey exchange look, only for Raphael to do the talking.

“If you need us, just give us a call, bro. Go help Y/n,” That’s all Leonardo needs. He leaves quickly, while Mikey begins making kissy noises at his older brother, just for Raphael to smack him upside the head.

~

“Don’t make it any harder than this shit has to be, just fuckin hand over your bag!” You continue backing up into the alleyway, trying to buy yourself time, until your back hits the cement wall. You look up and realize you’ve hit a dead end. You think back to the defense lessons Splinter has given you, and right now, you wished you could move instead of being frozen in place. You were cornered like a mouse. The cat is holding a knife, hissing threatening words, and flashing its fangs into a sinister smile.

Your breathing becomes heavy, as you see the knife come closer to your neck, soon pressing up against it when you still won’t hand over your bag. There was valuable stuff in there. Your ID, a piece of Leo’s bandana that wrapped around your keys as a good luck cloth. Yeah, very valuable shit. You did not want to lose those.

“Don’t make me cut ya for it, love.” The man in a ski mask says, his beady eyes glaring down at you. The word “love” drips like venom from his covered mouth, and you can’t help but shiver in response.

You’re seriously wondering if the emergency alarm worked. It was late at night, almost midnight, what if the guys were sleeping? What if they were all busy or their t-phones died? These scenarios played in your head as to how you would respond to the situation you’re in but…they don’t end very well. You end up bruised and beaten for protecting your bag.

You don’t say anything, but your eyes say all the words your mouth doesn’t. You’re scared.

That is, until, a dagger that’s shot from God knows where perfectly grabs the knife from the loophole in the blade, taking it from the mugger’s hand as it flies and is stabbed into the brick wall off to the side. Nobody could do something with such precision except for one person. Err, turtle.

You don’t dare look around, because the man in front of you is also capable of using his hands to get what he wants. But. it seems that he’s confused, frantically looking around, yelling curses into the atmosphere. He doesn’t seem to look behind him, as can faintly see your savior emerge from the shadows, creeping up before grabbing the dirty mugger and bringing him into the darkness. You hear muffled protests and screams, only for them to go silent after you hear an angry voice whisper:

“Don’t catch me seeing you hurt them again.”

It’s quiet in the alley now, the only noises being the cars on the street nearby and their honking of them. You look into the darkness, trying to see your knight in the soft blue bandana.

“Leo,” You say softly. You can’t see anything, until Leonardo emerges from the shadows, looking at you with worry. Leonardo’s blue eyes scan your whole body, to see if there were any signs that he had hurt you. He looked panicked as if he had been dreading this scenario for the longest.

He has.

“Did he hurt you? Please tell me he didn’t.” Leo pleads, cupping your cheeks and checking to make sure you don’t have any marks. There is a small dribble of blood coming from where the knife was placed on your neck, and Leo notices, sighing to himself and kissing you on the lips. As you kiss back, you can’t help but cry. Leonardo feels your tears land on his cheeks, and he stops kissing you, looking into your eyes and wiping your tears. His big blue eyes were something that you could get lost in, and they could calm you down all the same. As he continued wiping your tears, your sobs passed, only into sporadic sniffles.

“Hey, love,” You feel better. That’s who you wanted to hear call you “love.” Leo was the only one who got the privilege of calling you that. You’re reassured by his soothing voice.

“I’m here,” He lifts your chin, making you look into his ocean eyes, “as long as I’m here, you won’t get hurt. Not on my watch.”

“L-Leo…I froze, I couldn’t…” “Y/n, you’re safe,” Leo reassures you before you can break down again in front of him, “We’ll work on defensive skills- together.” He takes your shaking hand into his own, and the shaking seems to die down. Slowly, but surely.

Leonardo was grateful he got there when he did, or you would’ve been hurt. Or worse, but he doesn’t wanna think about that happening. He knows he can’t be your bodyguard 24/7, and he knows things like this happen, rarely, but they do. The only thing he can do is train you. Train you like Splinter did April. For shit like this, for you to defend yourself, without freezing up. He hates that he never trained you for the actual beginning part of the fighting. How to not completely forget the training you’ve been through. How to calm your nerves. How to not expect the worst. He didn’t teach you that, Splinter wouldn’t forget to teach something like this, but Leo did.

“Come, I’ll take you home.” The leader says, putting his hand out for you to hold. You take it, as you would any other time he offered his hand. As you interlock your fingers with him, you can’t help but feel a sort of comfort. Like his presence is home for you.

Raphael

-Raph was never one to think as Leo does. He’s passionate, and therefore, he’s the type to think with his heart. If anyone hurt any of his family, they better be ready to feel the wrath of an angry green-eyed turtle.

-He was sure he would always be there to help you out. He wanted to be the one you called on. As usual, Raph is very reliable. That’s one of many amazing traits about him.

-Very cautious of you. He knows his strength, and the last thing he wants to do is hurt you.

-But, he WILL hurt those who hurt you.

-He’s fully devoted to you, so it’s only natural that he does this.

-“Need me to give little miss bitch an ass whooping?”

-Yeah, he was like that. And when you came around to meet Casey, ---Raphael made one thing very clear when he saw how the hockey player stared at you.

-“Back off, man. Y/n’s already taken.”

-“By who!? Casey Jones likes what he likes,”

-“Me.”

-“Oh. Well, I guess Casey Jones can let this slide.” Casey knew he would never dare cross his good friend Raph. Plus, Casey literally falls in love with anything that breathes that isn’t named or looks like Irma, so, there’s that.

now, you were almost sure someone had been following you home.

-You weren’t sure who exactly it was, but you had a feeling all the same.

-So when you told your boyfriend about it, he was on it.

-He freaked, though. Because, who’s the asshole who wanted to watch your every move??

-“When I find them I- they’re getting the ass-kicking of the century!”

-He wasn’t one to plan out anything, so he decided to watch you. Watch you walk home at night, and make sure nobody was following behind you.

-Because, well, he cared. He told you that when he had the courage to spill his feelings out.

-You cared about him, too.

-This went on for a while. He would watch over you from the rooftops while patrolling on his own, making sure you were okay during the day, and making his way to see you at night. He would escort you to the lair (what a gentleturtle,) and take you home after if you didn’t stay the night.

-Raph had not seen anyone following you, up until one evening, when he noticed someone in the weirdest of places.

“What the hell?” Raphael squints his electric green eyes into the distance, trying to figure out just who is watching from above the rooftops down at you. What was their reason? As he got closer, he noticed the familiar face.

Xever.

Now, just what the hell did this Salamander want with you? Why was he so infatuated with you? He looked to be studying you. How agile you were, how aware you were of the world around you.

Whatever he was doing, it wasn’t good. Because this quiet stalking would only turn into something worse. So, before Xever can do anything, Raph calls you.

“Baby, don’t freak, but I found out who’s watching you.” Your body turns cold, unsure of exactly who it could be. You start to look around frantically, wondering if someone is behind you. Feeling an overwhelming sense of anxiety wave over you, you walk faster.

“W-Who is it?” You ask after Raphael told you to walk as normal. There wasn’t anyone behind you, but the idea of someone hiding somewhere made you extremely nervous. As Raphael continued to watch over you and monitor Xever, he realized Xever had seen him.

“Fuck, he saw me. Okay, go straight home, okay? I’ll take care of Fish Face for ya.” That’s how he was, always. Always thinking of you.

“Are you sure? Raph, I-” “Of course I’m sure. I want you safe. I love you.”

“Be careful.”

“Do you know who you’re dating? I’m the most careful turtle I know.”

“Raph.”

“Okay okay, I’ll be careful,” With that, Raphael takes his sai from his belt, preparing his body and mind to take on Fish Face by himself.

Xever walks slowly, not with a need to run. He eventually makes it over to Raphael from a few rooftops away.

“Turtle.” He says as Raphael scrunches his nose from the sudden smell of the walking fish market. What he hated most about being around Xever was that he smelled like…well…fish.

“The talking Unagi Don, what the hell are you doing watching Y/n like that? Lonely much?” Raphael seers, throwing the first punch. Xever dodges and counters it, sweeping Raphael off his feet.

“Foolish mutant, I knew this human meant a lot to one of you, and now I know it’s you, I only want to take them to Shredder even more.” Raphael charges, causing the fish to back up onto the rooftop's edge, only to do a backflip and get back comfortably off the ledge.

“You’re not takin’ them anywhere. Not while I’m still around here to kick your ass like our regularly scheduled programming!”

With that, Raphael and Xever fight on the rooftop. It’s not unusual for Raphael to fight angrily, but right now, he was angry. Because, what exactly would Shredder do to you? Who was he to just pick someone he just happened to care about to use as a pawn? Shredder’s pointless vendetta was negatively affecting his family, and now his significant other. He didn’t want you to become another April. Someone that had to constantly look over their shoulder. You had a whole life to live, not that April didn’t, but, you were less involved with the turtle’s missions or issues than she was. It wasn’t right. And of course, he felt guilty.

He felt guilty, because, well, he got you into this mess when he revealed himself to you the first time you two had met. He should’ve thought it through, he let his personal attraction to you wind up to this point, where now you’re more than friends, yet at a cost.

It wasn’t right. And like Leo says, if you mess up something, it’s your job to fix it.

~

The fight was done. Xever had never experienced this type of Raph before. The “protecting their lover” Raph. Because, if we’re being honest, Raphael fighting for his significant other is a sight to see, yet an experience you wouldn’t want to be a part of. Unfortunately, Xever was.

And when it’s done, for the very first time, Xever feels defeated.

Because Raphael holds back a small part of himself when his brothers fight, but this time, no. There wasn’t Leo there to tell him to calm down, or Donnie to scold him for almost stabbing him on accident. No, right now, it was just Raph.

And as he goes running to your window, he wants to make sure you got there safe.

You hear the frantic knocking on your room window, and you open it, allowing the cold air to rush into your room. You stare at Raph, watching as the cuts and bruises littering his skin, with scratches on his plastron. He looks at you, smiling.

“You okay?” Another beautiful yet detrimental trait of Raph is that he thinks about you over himself. Right now, you were fine. But it didn’t matter. What mattered was Raph.

So you ignore his question and help him inside, sitting him on your bed and just kissing him as gently as you could. He’s a big boy, he can take some hits and scratches. But right now, you were there to doctor him up. He knows not to stop you once you’ve got that look of concern on your face; so instead of protesting, he lets you take care of him.

You clean the cuts and some small gashes, dressing his minor wounds. He doesn’t require any stitches and thank the Lord because that’s more Donnie’s thing.

You give him an ice pack (it’s a frozen pea bag) to put on his head while you retrieve some medicine for his headache when you stop as you see he’s staring at you.

“What?”

“Nothin,’ just like seeing you so…dominant.” He smirks, causing you to smile and roll your eyes in response.

“Hush,” You hand him two capsules of Tylenol, “and take these, you should feel fine, I hope.”

That last part seemed to get Raph. The last thing he wanted was for you to be concerned like that, he was going to be fine and he knew it.

“I’m gonna be more than fine thanks to you, PhD in reviving mutants,” he jokes, bringing you into his arms as he gives you a chaste kiss on the lips.

As long as you were safe, Raphael didn’t mind a few boo-boo’s.

Donatello

-The weakest out of all his brothers so

-Don’t expect him to come alone if you need saving

-Sure, if it’s a few foot ninjas, he can handle. But do NOT get mugged by the Purple Dragons, Donnie kind of can’t handle all of them at once. He’s better when he’s with the team. He fights more confidently.

-He gets overwhelmed if he’s outnumbered. This happens even when he’s fighting with his brothers. He starts to overthink everything and, well, it’s just a mess.

-As your boyfriend, Donnie is pretty protective over you, I mean, look at how he was with april in the show!

-He really wants you safe, because that’s how Donnie is.

-Calls you all the time, especially while walking home, he has to know you’re okay.

-He sees how much you care for him, when he comes back bruised from a mission, you’re there to take care of him.

-Donnie always aids his brothers, but he was so used to helping himself, that it felt foreign to him to have you dress his wounds.

-But anyway, he would freak if you were in danger.

-Like right now, Donnie walked you home after a long day of spending your Sunday with the turtles. They were your therapy, and down in the sewers, there were no worries; just family.

As you’re walking through the alley to climb the fire escape to your apartment window, You both stop as a person appears to peer in the alleyway from the entrance. You and Donnie can’t really see who they are but their figure, but the purple-banded turtle assumes it’s a homeless person. So, you both act normal, standing still for a bit in hopes that they’ll leave, as they probably can’t see either of you.

Oh, but they can. Well, you, at least.

After stumbling a bit in front of the alleyway, you can now see the unknown’s face. It’s a man, an older, greasy-looking guy who doesn’t know what deodorant is. He grins at the darkness engulfing the alleyway, “I see you~” The man’s voice snarls, causing you to scrunch your nose up in disgust. You weren’t sure how he could see you, but one thing’s for sure, there was gonna be a little situation in regard to getting him to leave you and Donnie alone.

You feel a protective arm wrap around you, and you sense Donnie behind you, putting on that protective face of his. Not like Leo’s, where he’s a mama bear looking out for his cubs, no, like a loving boyfriend, looking out for his significant other.

He wouldn’t let anything happen to you. He couldn’t, and this low-life wouldn’t be hard to deal with at all.

“I think you should leave,” You say, feeling a wave of confidence go over you since having Donnie by your side. Usually, you would try and ignore, but right now, you felt confident that he wouldn’t lay a finger on you.

“And I think you…should come with me…back home, sweetie~!” After every stop between his statement, he takes a step closer to you, and now, this is when Donatello intervenes. He’s not one to show himself unless absolutely necessary. And right now, it was absolutely necessary if it meant protecting you.

“Nope. You’re gonna walk away,” Donnie states flatly, hovering his free hand on his bo staff just in case this drunk tries something funny. He steps more toward the man, ultimately revealing himself to him. Honestly, he looks so drunk that he probably won’t remember this shit in the morning.

“Eugh! What the fuck are you!?” After jolting back from the sudden dramatic jumpscare, Donatello sighs. He’s used to that. Although, he always remembers that you didn’t react that way when you first saw him. It was more of a friendly first meet, considering you were being cornered by the local Purple Dragon gang and was saved.

“The one that’ll….put you in a hospital if you keep it up!” Donnie wasn’t the best at clapbacks when he’s in protective mode, maybe while under pressure but, that’s more Raph’s thing. But, he would save all the sarcastic remarks for later, right now, his priority was you.

It’s no surprise that the man laughed at this, and retorted with a comment about Donatello being a…

“I ain’t listenin’ to a fuckin…lizard thing,” Yeah. That. When did lizards get shells is beyond me, dear readers.

As the man steps closer, Donnie tells you to back up and steer away from him, to lessen his chances of a friendly fire.

“Love, let me be the hero for once,” Your boyfriend was so used to being helped by his brothers when it came to saving you or his other 2 human friends, that he never got the chance to be the only one praised. He would love to hear praise from you.

So, you get out the way quickly, to respect Donatello’s request. He smiles gently and kisses your forehead, and he approaches the man head on. He doesn’t want to hurt him per say, just rough him up that he gets the hint.

It all changes when the man takes Donnie’s approach the wrong way, and gets hostile. So, he runs (sloppily, might I add) into the alleyway fully, coming full force at Donnie. It’s nothing crazy, he tries to punch him but, Donnie’s much more smarter and sober than he is, so, it’s not nothing he can’t handle.

So when the drunk pulls out a knife, it’s all a little too cliche. The turtle in purple got shot at, stabbed at, shell, even spat at by a big spider…thing. So, this was nothing. He swore it was nothing.

Donatello ditches the bo staff utilization for a pressure point instead. Yes, it was risky, but, Donnie was sober, he was not. His vision is most likely impaired, and his cognitive ability isn’t so well.

Except sometimes, humans get unknown superhuman strength when drunk. Not in a good way, either. They do dumb things, regretful things.

You watch as Donatello meneuvers around the man, taking notice at how focused your boyfriend was, seeing his rare face covered in self-confidence, up until he got to putting his finger on the pressure point right under the man’s chin. Long story short, he got a little stab in at Donnie’s arm right before he was knocked out. It happened so quick, the ninja didn’t even realize what had happened until after the fact. His body was pumping with adrenaline that he almost didn’t notice. Not until you said something.

“Hey…Donnie! Your arm!” You run toward Donatello, who’s now feeling the pain in his arm as he’s coming down from the adrenaline high. His breath hitches as he notices the new fresh cut on his arm. He wasn’t stabbed, per say, just grazed. He couldn’t believe the man who could barely walk in a straight line managed to get a hit in on Donnie- a highly trained ninja.

He stops to look at the blood trickling down his bicep and onto the concrete, staining the ground with drops of crimson. “Gosh, ouch! Okay okay, ow!” The sudden winces from Donatello break your heart, he’s not usually one to outwardly show when he’s in pain.

“Okay, Donnie? I’m gonna take you back to the lair, okay?” You’re already dialing for Leonardo and pressing the button to let him know it’s an emergency.

You rub circles onto your boyfriend's shell as he struggles with the new massive headache and the world around him spinning slowly, “Leo? Donnie got hurt, can you get the fir-” “Already on it! Do you need any help getting him here? Are you in danger? Is Donnie breathing okay? Is-” Leo’s slew of panicked questions are cut off by you.

“Alrighty mama bear, Donnie’s conscious. I got him-” You take off your sweater, wrapping it around the turtle’s bicep, it seems to relieve him somehow, as the bleeding has slowed, staining your cotton lavender sweater to a deep plum.

“I just, let me be his hero for once.” You say. You can handle getting Donnie back to the Lair. It wasn’t hard. As long as you kept him conscious and moving, you would get back to the lair in no time.

“I…okay. Call me if anything happens, okay?”

“Leo, I got this,”

And you do, you so got this. You get Donatello down to the lair safe and sound, already grabbing an ice pack from the freezer once you set him down on his examination table. Since he doesn’t have the strength to dress his graze, you take charge,

“Just order me around on what to get and what to do, I got it.”

He’s so appreciative. He can’t help but smile at you. How beautiful your face looked when you were concentrated on patting down his graze with peroxide, knowing it’ll burn, so you do it as quickly as possible. How you give him a soft kiss on the forehead when you’re done (he loves forehead kisses by the way,) and tell HIM to rest. You’re the doctor now, and it’s your turn to take care of Donnie. He smiles weakly after it, and his purple-red eyes land on your lips, as you get the hint and dive down to kiss Donnie’s lips, giving him reassurance that you’re okay, and he will be, too.

Michelangelo

-Mikey is very outspoken. He calls it like he sees it. Maybe not in the best way, he’s direct without realizing it.

-So he’s the best person to confront a stalker

-Because he’s not the ��rah-rah” kind like Raph is, more like the “go away you’re weird” kind of confrontation.

-If it’s someone he doesn’t know, like a human, he’s not sure how to confront them.

-Like, should I show myself, should i not?

-For the past few weeks, someone on campus had a…weird obsession with you. There was a party coming up in a nearby house known for frat parties, and when you turned down their offer to be your “date,” they were upset. REALLY upset.

-But, they can’t get mad at you! You had a boyfriend.

-When you went down to the lair and complained that Romeo (this was Leo’s nickname for your new stalker) requested to follow you and message you again on Instagram, Mikey could feel a little mad.

-Which never happened, he wasn’t the angry or jealous type

-But when it came to you, he felt the need to be protective over you, and this Romeo guy wasn’t about to get in the way of you both.

-So, he does something kind of dumb?

-He does some FBI searching on the same social media site he found -Bradford, and was able to find Romeo. And trust me, it took a long, -LONG periodically time.

-Luckily, Romeo literally shows ALL of his life, where he’s at, what he’s doing, who he’s with, etc

He's status on facebook is that he's friends with you, which leaves Mikey slightly pressed?

For good reason, you were NOT Romeo's friend.

-When you reject him another time, the stalking gets worse, he begins going to your job, and sitting there, leaving when your shift ends. It’s until today that he tried to follow you home.

-Michelangelo just so happened to catch your emergency call as he was skateboarding on the rooftop, and he was on the job.

-He can handle it, no way he couldn’t. Some desperate guy?? ROMEO?? Yeah, he got this.

“Okay, seriously, stop fricken following me!” You decide to confront Romeo, head on. Although the streets were bare, you were still outside, meaning he seriously couldn’t do you no harm. The blonde haired football player couldn’t do anything but stop in place from a few feet behind you. He stands, slightly upset that you figured it out.

“One date, Y/n! One! Just one! I swear I’ll leave you alone! Or give me your number! Something!” This begging, coming from an soon-to-be adult is frankly very cringeworthy, and you’re catching secondhand embarrassment from the desperation his words hold.

“R-” You catch yourself from saying his code name, Romeo. You’ve been so used to saying it that it’s almost natural. “Steven, no.” You give a simple no once again, yet he persists.

“What could possibly be the reason why, huh?” Steven isn’t giving up, and now he’s just begging to be rejected again with that question.

“I have a boyfriend, that’s why! And honestly, even if I didn’t, I would still say no to you man!” What was so hard to understand?

“That’s harsh Y/n.” Steven’s demeanor had changed, he looked somewhat crazy right now, as he laughed after his statement, “I was being nice, but since you wanna be a fucking bitch to me, I’m gonna be mean.” The blue-eyed Romeo starts to walk over to you, and you back up, both going down the street. You make a turn, but instead of turning the curb, you wind up going into a more secluded area. As you back up even more, you realize the mistake you had made, as you were now in an alleyway.

‘Great,’ you think, ‘How cliché of me.’

You pressed the emergency button on the T-Phone your friend Donnie had given you a while back. This would be the first time you used the emergency feature on it. After pressing it, the signal had been sent to all T-Phones, notifying the turtles. Honestly, you were hoping that it would be quick, but you knew you had to do some serious stalling for the time being.

As Steven circled you like a cat honing in on its prey, you continued to back up, looking all around you for something to use as a weapon. Now, you had some training from Splinter, but you’ve only started to train like he taught April for a few days. So, you had no weapon of your own. But, Splinter always says that a great fighter can use anything around them as a weapon in some way.

After quickly glancing around you, scanning everything in the terribly lit alley, you find a potential weapon- a pole to what looks like an old american flag near the dumpster. Unfortunately, you had to get past Stev- you know what, Leo’s code name is funnier- Romeo, in order to get to the pole. So, you begin to look for ways to get around him. You’re unsure of what his intentions are with you, but you know they aren’t good. Romeo wears a…perverted look in his eyes, and now you realize that you need that pole.

You do something unthinkable, and walk closer to him. It’s a brave act, but you have tricks, dear reader. Romeo is taken back by the sudden change in your aura, as if you’re inviting him to touch you, yet…

When he gets close, you instantly knee him where the sun-don’t-shine. So bad, that he falls to his knees, whining in pain.

“Ow! My…my…my coconuts!” His voice is high-pitch like a school-girl, and you almost felt guilty for doing it so hard.

Almost.

What makes this all so good, is that suddenly, Romeo is hit by what appears to be a balloon, yet as it pops, his hair becomes wet.

As you look around, you can see a two white slits that resemble eyes from atop the rooftop, as it’s dark, you can’t see who it is, but you have a good feeling who it might be.

Suddenly, a large puff of purple smoke appears behind Romeo, and after it fades away, you can see Michelagelo emerge, winking at you as he kicks Romeo back down as he tries to get up, feeling a presence behind him and looking back.

“Eyes straight, Romeo!”

“Romeo?”

“You questioning me?” Mikey challenges, throwing another water balloon on your stalker. It must be some cold water in those balloons, because Mikey has the poor dude shivering in addition to the cold temperatures tonight.

“Uh, no! No! Y/n, you know this freak?”

“The only freak here is you! Following Y/n around like…a stalker!” Mikey exclaims, now pinning Romeo down after his freak comment. Totally unnecessary by the way.

“You’re the freak! What are you!? Some kind of mutant?” Romeo should really learn to shut his mouth if he knows what’s good for him. After the second freak comment, Mikey twists his arms tighter, how Raph does when he wants Mikey to say “Uncle.”

“Yeah, a mutant, and theres 3 others that look just like me so, we better not catch you doing this to our Y/n again!” To finish off the threat, Mikey bonks him on the head with his nunchuck, causing Romeo to whine in pain, and finally agree to leaving you alone after Mikey wouldn’t let go, almost spraining his wrists.

~ “So, our Y/n, huh?” After getting to the window of your apartment, all is fine. You felt a weight being lifted off your shoulders tonight thanks to Mikey. And, thanks to Donatello for being such a genius and making those T-Phones.

“Well, you know,” Mikey rubs the back of his neck, laughing nervously, “You are our friend, but…you know!” He nudges you playfully, wathcing as you giggle and embrace him into a hug.

“Thanks, for getting rid of Romeo.”

“It’s kind of fitting right now, since, you know, we’re on a balcony and such, like a tower,”

“Mikey, that’s Tangled,”

“Oh, well, whatever! I’m just glad you’re safe, cutie,” Mikey always gets excited during loving moments like these, and after breaking the hug, you reach up to kiss him on the lips, it’s no surprise, he tastes like pizza. It’s always like that, but, you’ve come to enjoy it. If pizza lip balm was a thing, it would taste like your boyfriend.

//

Taglist:

@bee-1n-space

Masterlist

#tmnt x reader #tmnt #tmnt fanfiction #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2012 x reader #2012 raph #2012 leo #raphael #leonardo #donatello #michelangelo #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt headcanons

[doctorprofessorsong]

A dramatic re-telling of my SPNDen adventure

So, I was supposed to go to the gold panel, but I had to run to the room for something. The elevator stops on the third floor and the doors open a few inches, close again, open a bit, close. Stop. I'm decidedly stuck.

I calmly (frantically) press every button, nothing happens.

So I call the emergency services with the call button. "Please hold for emergency services. *hold music."

Well fuck. Like a modern person with 12 minutes to get out of the elevator, I send completely normal messages like "HELP. I'M STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR." Nothing goes through.

It occurs to me this is my fault for locking Dean and Cas in an elevator in TBATT.

Someone comes on the line "emergency services how may I help you?"

I inform them I am stuck in the elevator. The operator responds as if I have ordered a value meal and she needs to know what soda I want: "is the power out?"

I confirm that my new prison is well lit. She says OK I'll let them know call if there are further emergencies. Click.

I am like: she didn't even ask me where I was? The doors open again a few inches.

I try pulling them. They stubbornly mock me. I wish Misha Collins, beefcake, was there. I try pacing a bit to see if I can get service. Nothing happens.

Finally, I hear someone walk by. I scream through the crack in the door to go tell the front desk and thankfully they do.

The facilities guy shows up and informs me the fire department is coming. As an added bonus to intermittent opening and closing of the doors, the emergency alarm also goes off sometimes.

I am now not making the beginning of the panel.

The fire department shows up. Finally! I will be free! This is gonna make such a great story in the panel if I'm...nope. they can't get the doors open. But now in addition to the intermittent wail of the alarm, the elevator is shaking as they try to use a tool to pry the doors open.

The doors are as stubborn as Cas, who ignores all my prayers to fly me away. Ass (affectionate). Perhaps I am an abomination.

A firefighter decides to pry the door open from the top. Much shaking ensues. He yells down that the doors are bent.

I joke: so are you saying I live here now?

The firefighter: haha. No. We'll just bring you through the top.

Me: oh nooooooo.

See I am doing great in my new tiny room actually. What I don't enjoy is heights.

And this is high. And small. And actually, I'm good.

The firefighters, unconcerned with the impending hit to my pride (it's as if they are unimpressed with my CLEAR bravery. I'm basically a hero at this point 😅)

They drop a ladder straight down. Understand this ladder is too short. It barely reaches the panel and it's supposed to be angled.

This is definitely how I die. Cool.

I hear the following discussion:

Firefighter 1: you gotta go down

Firefighter 2: oh am I the smallest on the truck

Firefighter 1: yeah. Neither of us are going to fit.

My brain: oh no. What if my ass doesn't fit through the skyhole? I am gonna be like Winnie the Pooh stuck in the cave, getting pushed.

Me (probably).

The firefighter does that cool slide thing they do without touching the rungs.

He has me climb up the ladder. I cannot overstate how much I, and therefore the ladder, is shaking. My buddy firefighter 2, bless him, is like: I'm not gonna let you fall, ma'am.

I get to the top of the ladder and very cooly (complete and total panic) point out (hysterically screech) there is nothing to hold onto.

Firefighter 1 (bless him) says: ma'am, do you want to hold on to me?

I grab his arm so tight the poor man probably has bruises and pull myself out. My ass and I make it...

But not to the J2 panel.

I thank them profusely. Confirm I do not require medical assistance and resolve not to see them again.

I see them a few hours later responding to the fire alarm and medical event.

The Aurora Fire Department is the real MVP of the con.

#spnden

[popculturebuffet]

Thomas the Tank Engine Retrospective: Series 5: Alec Baldwin Your Worthless (Comission for Lachey V)

Hello all you very useful engines and welcome back to my long retrospective look at Thomas the Tank Engine's golden age. It's hard to belive we're almost at the end. At least of this stretch. After this we only have one more part of this retrospective guaranteed.

The rest is up in the air: Lachey is considering seasons 6 and 7 and i'm considering the rest of the movies, the two more recent series.. seeing where the franchise has been as of late. But whatever wind blows I doubt I'll ever be free of the railway series and i'm okay with that. It can get boring at times binging 25 episodes of a childrens show, and belivie me it does, but the weird highs, production values, and endless material make up for it.

So for series 5 the good Rev Awdry had passed. It was a sad day: While I joke about his weird hatred of Henry being happy.. because it's fun, the guy did have a creative spirit and most of the eps up to this point came from his imagination. We woudln't have Thomas without him.

So with that this is the first season to simply go for all orginal stories. Some were based on real stories by David Maidment, who worked with the railway children charity and had shared some stories while asking the show to donate. They brought him on as a railway consultant, their last one for over a decade. Guess the others wanted to brick Henry back up or something.

Series 5.. is one of the best of the series and probably my faviorite. I've said that before but while it has plenty of the bollocks I love from this fine franchise, the stories are generally really well done and creative children's tales: While their kept acurate to a railway, these tales have more fun with character and it's a bit easier to keep track of who everyone is personality wise compared to previous seasons. It mixes "trains get punished for their hubris stories" with some more adventurous stories: we get a hunt for a lost castle, stepny nearly getting smelted, Percy getting stuck as a runaway, Henry plunging into the sea, and as a finale, a giant sapient bolder trying to murder our heroes

It gives the series something it needed more of: variety. While stupid train children getting punished for their hubris will never leave this franchise on penalty of death, it's nice to break from that and these types of stories play better to an older audience, which while good for the grown ass man who has to watch all these is also good for kids as they might stick with thomas longer if the stories keep their intrest. The messages it teaches are still valid, you just gotta throw a little razzle dazzle in there once in a while. It's why Owl House wrapped a fairly important message about religoius dogma and societal othering around magic, shipping and an owl tube.

This season also shifts things as this is the last time Micheal Angelis did his voice... and the first of two times someone else did in the use. Ladies, gentleman, they's, thems, and that beautiful rainbow in between I submit the glory that is Alec Baldwin narrating Thomas the Tank Engine.

WIth George Carlin retiring the US needed a new voice. Unlike Carlin who largely stuck to the style Ringo Starr and Michael Angelis used, with the voices being kind of samey, Alec Baldwin tried to give each character a unique voice. The idea.. is actually good. It's something the sreies needed and it makes the engines more distinct.

In practice though.. it's very clearly Alec, while a talented actor and terrible, TERRIBLE husband and father... has a pretty limited voice range. Some like Thomas or Toppam Hat, are fine. But then we get the bizzare ones and man oh man are they fun: Gordon and Henry sound like the dumbest cavemen he could imagine, which works for Gordon as he is the biggest idiot ever, but is weird for Henry who while proud never came off as an overly proud brick wall like his buddy. He's the one who gets put behind brick walls.

Then we have other ones like James who has a camp gay voice. There's .. no other way to describe it. Alec just used his sterotypical camp lispy gayman voice he kept in reserve because it was the late 90s, and it somehow works. We also get weird one offs , so many, from his ATTEMPT at doing a woman voice for Lady Hatt, to annie and clarabell being suddenly southren, to a cockney accent for Stepny. It's VERY obvious the show simply had too many voices for Alec's range and he pulled out every stupid acent, every inflectoin and every steroptype he had to make due.

I can however give him credit that.. at least he tried. He genuinely cared. He also had a sense of humor about the james thing

Granted the way they frame it is very... 2000's, but I can give him credit for acknowldging "yeah... yeahhhhh".

So with that let's settle in for a very Alec Baldwin Thomas the Tank Engine under the cut

1 . Cranky Bugs It's a new season and that means a new asshole to harass our stupid train children. In this case it's Cranky

Who i'm still not convinced isn't THIS Cranky in a lovematic grandpa situation. At any rate this Cranky/That Cranky is a crane whose also an asshole.. granted about 2/3 of the cast could be described as "(insert vechile) whose also an asshole". In his case he tries bossing the trains around, and Gordon and James don't help by agreeing with him, causing incidents. As is the natural order of things, god punishes Cranky for his hubris, with Thomas and Percy saving him. While he's still a racist crack ballon, he's no longer dominating.

2. Horrid Lorries

Cranky has learned absolutely nothing and taunts the trains about being replaced with Lorries. Which i'll give the us dub of thomas as I assumed, this being american they'd pull a 4kids and redub the british terms. But nope. Alec Baldwin uses all the british terms you'd expect, which felt weird at first, but I got used to and i'm happy they didn't try to half assedly take away one of the core parts of the show. Kids.. kids aren't dumb enough to need to think that every show takes place IN AMERICA.

Anyways some Lorries show up, are assholes, get smited for their hubris, and i've seen this sort of thing before. They vow vengance though so I can't wait for the sequel: The Lorries Strike Back.... annnnd looking at the wiki their only seen in this one episode.

3. A View for Gordon Gordon gets tangled in some stuff and plows through a wall. You can only imagine my joy. That said this is a solid one: gordon complains about the view at the new station.. and some shenanigans send him THROUGH a wall. And to the Fat Controller's credit he dosen't finish putting gordon through a fucking wall but instead just puts a nice window there. IT's also nice to have a story where Gordon isn't a complete tool just about 50 percent of one.

4. Lady Hatt's Birthday

This is both one of my faviorites for the season and the series in general. It's Sir Topham Hatt's birthday. Aka the Fat Controler Aka Jimmy the Reach. It's a simple fun romp as he tries to get to his wife's birthday party. Also he has a wife now. and kids. Human ones not just his stupid train children. It's just a bunch of fun slapstick as he falls in mud. I've seen this plot before but it's thomas the tank engine: it's introducing kids to this plot. it gets a pass. It's something diffrent from the usual hubris and the ending is sweet as she dosen't raise a fuss over him being so dirty. She just wants to get dirty. And on that horrifying mental image..

5. James and the Trouble With Trees James nearly gets murdered by a tree to be punished for his hubris. I honestly forgot that part of the plot. James also throws a fit about not getting to pull the special express. I will say I do like Thomas rescuing him, for once NOT rubbing the days lesson in his enemy's face. It shows he's a good guy.

6. Gordon and the Gremlin: Gordon is a dick, we get jokes about Gremlins but sadly no actual gremilns. We do meet Toppham Hatt's mother. Also if your curious I'm using his actual name more.. because the shows using it more. It used fat controller before but this season with more of his family appearing they've switched to just calling him Sir Toppham hat. I of course will alternate between their hilarious crass first name and the more respectiable second because i'm a smart and mature adult. And because it's funny.

7. Bye George!

George the racist Steamroller is back... I honestly forgot he existed. But he provides a fun one that I forgot was as fucked up as it was. So George is tearing up some railway and being a racist monster who wants to kill all trains and railways, is delighed. He tars up some to trip up thomas.. but then fucks up by blocking duck... which causes Gordon , who'd already been approved to pass to crash into the guy and murder a car. Shockingly not only was Gordon's first murder unintetional but he feels bad about it... granted it comes off like a large reason for it is he's worried about what his angry fat controlling god will do to him, but the Fat Controller knows it wasn't his fault and will tear the ass off whoever it is. So George is forced to work in lumber for a week, both a shockingly lenient sentence and a fitting one. He's gotten soft in his old age.. do characters here age?

8. Baa! A ram eat's the fat controller's hat. That's about all that's really intresting here. I do like the idea: a station decorating contest but execution wise it's just sorta there. Still a ram ate a man's hat which is more than I can say for other bog standard thomas episodes

9. Put Upon Percy Percy's trucks are assholes and nearly cause him to get killed in a mine collapse. And it's sentences like this that remind me WHY I do this series, pay aside. I also grew to like Percy this season as he grew out of being just "thomas 2" being more of a whiner, but in a relatable way.

10. Toby and the Flood

This one.. dear god. Okay so Toby is sent to inspect a dam. Simple enough.. but then it floods. Again simple enough... while Toby is on a rickiety bridge sending toby up river. This is another faviorite mostly because the sense of tension is real. I genuinley thought Toby could die, and given this series attitude toward death and not being bound by the books it easily could've happened. Granted Toby Toys are still being made I think, so he's thankfully invunerable as long as he has merch, but it's still a pretty harrowing episdoe and the effects work is top notch. how they pulled off an ep this ambitious I have no idea. Probably experince working with water from Tugs.

11. Haunted Henry This episode is dripping with atmosphere is Henry is hautned by a ggghost that turns out to be an old man instead who tried to warn Henry's crew who wouldn't listen. A nicely spooky episode, helped by me seeing it during spooky season. Spoo-ky!

12. Teething Troubles We get a new disel, another one whose entirley friendly. The twins are around and both sound like scratch from adventures of sonic the hedgehog for some reason. That's.. really all this episode has. We've seen a friendly disel before. WE've seen the twins being assholes before. The only thing we haven't seen is Alec Baldwin doing his best stratchy voiced robo chicken.

13. Stepney Gets Lost

Should be "Stepny almost dies". This is another one of those more adventurey stoires I mentioned, as on his way back from working at the quarry, Stepny gets lost and things esclate quickly as two disels, arry and bert, kidnap him, assuming him to be scrap and put him in the smelting shed, where h'es clawed. Stepny VERY NEARLY dies, the second near death in only 4 episodes, and it's incredibly tense. It's only thanks to the Fat Controller getting there just in time the poor guy life. I do like the FC in this one as he's nicer: he gave Stepny the assignment in the first place because he needed a change of scenery. I prefer this later characterization of a guy whose firm.. but also will do nice stuff for his stupid train children over the angry abusive god he was early on. He's still got SOME shady aspects, but he's mostly nice.. just like modern day god.

14. Toby's Discovery This is another personal faviorite and another classic, as Toby is taken by the Hatt's on an expedition to find an old castle someone found on a map. The concept itself is fun but the idea is also great. finding the castle is real easy, they just follow the line bu tthe visuals are beautiful and the castle itself looks fantastic. We also get a nice little ghost story as Toby hears rumors of a ghost.. but it's just Betram, a new engine.. or is he? My fan theory is that Betram, a narrow gage engine whose a fan of Toby's, is actually Smudger. While he has Smudger's face simply because he's a refit of duke with a diffrent face, it'd make sense: it wouldn't be the first time a train was replaced or the first time a train got refitted and Smudger WAS missing. It's better than the idea that the poor guy died rusting to death so i'm going with it. Smudger is reborn bitches!

15. Something in the Air

Henry takes some asshole pills and thus rushes into his assigment.. despite thomas trying to warn him some track had eroded, leading him into a lake. Once again, top notch water effects.

16. Thomas, Percy and Old Slow Coach Now we'r eback to some old fashioned messed up Thomas the Tank Engine logic as Thomas and Percy meet an old engine named , and I swear to train jesus this is true, Old Slow Coach.

Now if you thought the name was bad... your right but it gets worse: turns out she's due to be scrapped.. and they just HAVEN'T GOTTEN TO IT. And as we find out later she's in the fat controller's jursdiction. Look am I suprised the fat controller has done some train murders? yes. Do I think he has saw traps but for trains? also yes. Do I think he mentored John Kramer? Of course. But did I think he scrapped his trains. No I can't say I did.

So our heroes try to think of a way to save her. Luckily for once the angry train god that choo choos his way through this universe and decides to use his smiting powers for good.. I mean mostly. He does casually blow james up for no reason. Maybe Train Jesus was working out his homophobia still. At any rate another fire breaks out with some workman's quarters and Thomas and Percy suggest OSC replace them. Granted it's as TEMPORARY lodgings.. but given a disaster occurs on Sodor once every few episodes, crisis housing will always be needed. Horay!

17. Thomas and the Rumors The children's playground dies and since there isn't a kind old man rethinking his life as he dies from cancer to fight for it, the Fat Controller is using Harold to survey. The trains think he's replacing them, it gets in Thomas' head, their wrong as usual, Thomas learns not to gossip, next.

18. Oliver's Find: Oliver ends up down an old branch line and finds a house the Fat Controller decides to make into a rest spot. I forgot who oliver is between seasons. Next.

19. Happy Ever After This is a fun one. Not much to mock really: A bride is getting married on sodor and needs her bridal package, i.e. something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. So the fat controller uses his engines to fill in. IT's a really sweet, fun little episode. In the spirit of it, and since i'm not using an image for EVERY episode this time, i'm going to try do this challenge. okay something old

Cocaine with sunglasses, a gag I haven't used in some time Something borrowed

Somone Else's running gag. Something new?

My new oc, Fred the Murder Engine and for something blue

A wholesome marge simpson meme. Woo nailed it. next!

20. Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday

Hey hey hey it's fat controller's vacation. Lady Hatt complains about a suddenly southren annie and clarabelle but is fine after their cleaned. The real show is that FC has Harold take his family to his country place.. and it takes FOUR DAYS TO GET THERE. FOUR DAYS. Does.. does harold Need fuel? did he stop? did they ever stop? where on sodor is only accesible by plane 4 days away? The logistics here will forever haunt me, just like a bi plane haunts the hats. Solid enough episode.

21. Percy's Surprise Percy is burnt out working in the coal mines so naturally his trucks, who haven't fufilled their seasonly attempted murder quota, break one of his cables. What follows is a thrilling ep as percy nearly murders everyone and can't stop. IT's geninely tense with me worried for Percy's safetey and everyone elses as he barely survivies. top notch episode.

22. Make Someone Happy James wants to make people happy, takes Ms Kyndly to see her sister after her transport gets derailed.. not literally for achange. A genuinely sweet little tale. 23. Toad Goes Backwards Toad, the tram train is tired of going forwards. his trucks are dicks, as is their nature, and push him forward so he can't help but nearly run everyone over. like the percy one this is thrilling and I was genuinely worried toad would die. Again I know these trains won't die as long as they have merchandise but whose buying toad merch I ask you? Me. I will. Hook me up.

24. Duncan Gets Spooked

This one sure did happen. And Duncan sure did get scared. And I sure do not care. Next

25. Snow

Scarlowe gets caught up in snow, he really hates the snow. He just needs a song and I think I have just th eone for him.

Also holy shit it took me several decades, and at least a good one and a half since I became a fan of his via garfield to realize that was Lou motherfucking Rawls. This dude is awesome and to help convince you , here's the muppets

... as you can probably guess I don't have much for this one. It's fine and the snow looks fantastic. They've really stepped up their game this season and season 4 had also done it. It just gets prettier each season. Anyways now for our finale... and this one I can't stop thining about

26. Rusty and the Bolder

Okay this one.. is an all time classic and the first Thomas Finale that's felt like a season finale. While my playlist on youtube had snow last i'm going with the wiki. So a giant bolder is precariously perched on a mountain.. it also ocasoinally has an ominus HAUNTING stone face. It's genuinely unsettling.. and then it gets free and proceeds to slasher villian stalk EVERY SINGLE TRAIN IT CAN. No really it nearly runs into most of the lines trains. Thomas gave us a slasher film with a bolder hunting trains. A TRAIN MURDERNIG BOULDER. see this is what gets me up in the morning: while I love writing about really good stuff.. sometimes I just love bizzare nonsense and Thomas is a mixture of geninely good children's entertainment and morbid bizzare nonsense. I'll miss this show whenever i'm done I swear.

This was one of the most fun episodes i've watched and ends with Toppham hat isolating boulder.. but he will hunt again.. HE WILL HUNT AGAIN. HE WILL HU...

So that does it for this season. All in all one of the series best it's just some episodes I really don't have much to say and others are attempted boulder murder. It's a show I dearly love on some level by this point

Next Time: THE MOVIE. is it any good.. i'll see. Will it at least have alec baldwin? Can confirm. Thanks for reading.

#thomas the tank engine #alec baldwin #gay trains #thomas #percy #gordon #james #Youtube

[the-nysh]

Yknow, when I reread King's speech to Saitama regarding his personal dilemma of boredom, overwhelming strength, and emotional alienation, I'm kinda struck on how its core message/issue is similar to Rick and Morty of all things. While Saitama is infinitely more moral than Rick is, they both have the same problem of being the apex of their respective areas, but it is their general approach to life that causes them problems, particularly interpersonal ones. Saitama likes to seep in the idea that his strength is both an unstoppable force and an inescapable curse, but tbh regardless of how is surroundings change and more people enter his life, Saitama is gonna remain miserable if he doesn't bother to change internally.

And Saitama is a really fucking stubborn person that is set in his ways. While he does change incrementally, his main thing is still the same, so his issues remained the same. I'm sure ONE himself has asked himself this question when he wrote the webcomic and realized Saitama needed to be brought to such a low point to really face some hard facts and lessons he needs to confront. So of course he's gonna hit him where it hurts :( what a mean bastard

And I just so happen to have an old meta post on King & Saitama's discussion, which you may like and yup we're seeing those themes become relevant once again vs Garou. (Now, I haven't seen Rick & Morty to comment on the similarities, but) "Saitama is gonna remain miserable if he doesn't bother to change internally" yes, that, or challenged on a mental/emotional level (not physical) to get him to move and step beyond his personal perceived bubble of alienation/stagnation. (Unfortunately using Genos for that is...hhhh;;;)

Both he and Garou are very stubborn in their own ways, that now ONE's been breaking them both in evil underhanded ways, to 'teach' them a cruel reality check lesson. Where after seeing his own worst fear come true (Genos), Saitama's faith in his own heroism is slipping and at risk of losing his last ability TO care (his humanity...) My earnest hope is that the real Garou in there is able to 'wake up' past the serious punches or regain more of his usual discernment past god's control, to actually SAY something with his usual 'what the hell, hero?!' scolding. To snap some actual attention or awareness back to Saitama's disturbing un-hero-like venting and destruction. To bring some of Saitama's usual heroic values/reason back under control. Because this battle's no longer become just a Garou problem (to help him find himself), it's also now a parallel Saitama problem to stop him from losing himself, and to illustrate his unaddressed (dangerous and darker) character flaws as well. :O (Who can actually 'help' the other regain themselves first remains to be seen...)

But Saitama won't realize that from a one-sided beatdown where all his venting remains unchecked by the other party who's not actually (mentally) participating, or if Saitama spirals in his darker thoughts all alone. You see what I'm getting at? How much more satisfying it would be if there's actually a two-sided dialogue calling (reaching?) each other out, where even Garou (and I mean the real Garou, once he's broken free enough before he's actually 'saved') can finally unload his hard critiques (just like King did) such as 'you're strong, but so what? some hero you turned out to be...' (oohf;;) It would be somewhat of a modified role reversal(?) from where it's not just wc Saitama schooling down from his fixed pedestal onto a desperately rock-bottom wc Garou anymore, but a manga Garou bringing attention to a lowered Saitama's flaws that he cannot ignore anymore either. Especially not after these consequences. (Hhh, anyway this is what I meant when they basically have the chance to 'bond' over their mutual losses - since no one is really 'winning' with grace here in the fallout; it doesn't even matter if Saitama can physically 'beat' god Garou either, since both their characters' sense of selves and perspectives - their 'light,' reason, and hope - still need saving.)

#opm #saitama #garou #manga spoilers #anonymous #replies #speculation #so i also feel like saitama is going to remain miserable unless the real garou comes out soon #or some actual attention is brought to what saitama's getting himself into... #i'll be beside myself if there's some actual role reversal happening

[realhankmccoy]

The empire always gives you this ‘what might have been, if only you had…’ which always smacks of the patriarchal hand

One can never picture the rebel heroes in Star Wars using such language

my dad gives it, Bruce gave it, Boi just gave it.

I once had this roommate in Madison who gave it. I washed all his dirty dishes while he and some Ayn Rand gay from money who wanted multiple homes or already had them trashed liberals and the people of Madison in the living room. Imagine yourself having read only a small handful of books and trashing a whole city of humans as beneath you! That’s how empire works.

I mean he was from Iowa so a rightism and royalist superiority-striving had been drilled into him — hoping for fame and wealth someday that sort of thing, the quest of ‘better than you’ — Ayn Rand boi was from Wisconsin and just another spoiled white nuclear family boi, one more motivated than Chicago boi

he trashed the entire place — like a pigsty — guy was a sales clerk at Forever 21 — loved Miley and Eminem

and then he robbed all my clothes and change jar, saying ‘while the cat’s away, the mice will play’ on his Facebook

which just goes to show that the empire, too, is happy to see itself as the underdog and the little guy — technically, I was making $11 an hour to his $8 or $9

but yes, that was his final absurd message to me, something about ‘what could have been if only I…’

the empire knows no gratitude but it preaches it

the real question, of course, is what could have been if only I had kicked Ayn Rand Boi out of my living room, told Forever 21 to clean up after himself like a grown adult and do the dishes and started telling him to his face that he had better learn some human decency and grown adult skills if he expects to be renting for $380 a month.

what a spoiled fucking brat imperialists always turn out to be tho

and that’s the wave of their ‘kiss my ass’ goodbye but my life is immediately better Without them so while they may think themselves to br God’s gift to me earth, a very magical adventure of what ‘could have been’ the truth is

that they’re the sort of person who would just sit there wanting more

until a woman shows empathy

and static as they are, they would only use this as an opportunity to say ‘see im more perceptive that this person I’m in a relationship with thus better than him’

and offer zero empathy to anyone

the fundamental core of empire is ‘sitting there feeling better than others and composing ways to prove to the self that one is better than others and their more leftist / humanitiarian values’

that’s what these people ‘do’

the empire takes and takes

it is fundamentally static, slow, and trying to wriggle its white fingers into saying it sees more knows more is more so you should serve it

it’s lazy

the laziness is often it’s own doom. Sean Hannity has soaked up a lot of empathy of the world. He has wriggled his brain into Much knowledge and a sort of Dark Side wisdom, if you can call it that.

but it may be a heart attack that undoes it all, as with all of Sean’s babble, he’s essentially a static person. Very powerful guy tho as far as the dark side is concerned.

[fantasyinvader]

I think hearing about the Hunters arc put the final nail in the coffin for me watching TLoU. It just feels like such a departure from the first game and it's messages.

Hear me out on this. In the first game, we escape Boston with Ellie, meet Bill with a warning about how the Infected aren't the only thing we need to worry about. We get to Philly, and we're dealing with the Hunters. These people attack and kill anyone who enters their area without mercy, even willing to hunt down kids with a tank. We learn through exploration and examining the artifacts that this place was a QZ that FEDRA lost after the Fireflies rallied the people, only for the people to accuse the Fireflies of using them when they ordered Philly to start marching to "liberate" other QZs. In essence, this sets up something that does carry over into the second game.

The Infected aren't the real monsters here. Those are just zombies doing what zombies do. The real monsters are humans, specifically humans who prey on other humans. We get the Hunters, who purged their weak. We have David and the cannibals, eating people just like zombies. In Part 2, we have the WLF taking over Seattle and enslaving the people there, forcing them to live and work in a stadium in order to support the fascist militia. Not to mention the Rattlers, same thing on a smaller scale down in California.

Then we have the Fireflies, who were similar to the WLF and accused of using people as well. We know from the first game they recruited children, while the second tells us they were told by their superiors to do whatever it takes to win even if it felt like you were sacrificing part of yourself to do so. We see Jerry, the commander of the Salt Lake City Fireflies, tell this to his daughter Abby. If we pay attention in the hospital as we attempt to rescue Ellie, we can learn they wanted to kill Joel while he was unconscious despite, you know, Joel bringing them the girl. Joel wasn't their enemy, he did a job for them and they wanted to repay him with his death only to be spared by Marlene's intervention because she wanted Joel to absolve her for deciding to sacrifice Ellie. Joel didn't, and they tried to escort him out of the building without his supplies let alone any sort of payment. The Fireflies used Joel and were going to use Ellie.

I know the creators of the show want to go for a "everyone's a hero from their own POV" thing like Neil did with Part 2...but that doesn't work here. That wasn't the story of the first game. The first game we saw ever escalating cruelty from people who stopped valuing human lives. First the cartoonishly evil Hunters, then David's group appearing okay at first, then we see the Fireflies are not the heroes we might have initially thought they were. All these people lost their humanity and started preying on humans. Joel was an ex-hunter himself, but he left that to become a smuggler and then a father to Ellie. A father who wouldn't let his daughter be sacrificed (...like Jerry would have).

Joel was the hero as he regained his humanity and rejected the idea of sacrificing Ellie. She was a person, not a resource. Not the Hunters, not David, and not the Fireflies. With that last group, the show is just retconning so much. No "getting back our guns from them," instead it's "we need a car battery from them." The Hunters are seemingly not their fault now, and they're skipping the university chapter. You know, where their incompetence is starting to really shine as some dumbass decided to free monkeys that served as carriers to the CBI. If you have to do all this in order to make them "heroes," chances are they weren't in the first game. Neil must have finally realized that and did something other than making the doctor white to make him sympathetic.

Also, for a franchise that tries to bank on representation it sure does love killing off or screwing over it's minority characters.

[lumbercase2]

Fifty Six Simple Summer Season Get Together Recipes

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#外燴

[recallthename]

it’s funny how buffy summers is just the best fucking hero that has ever existed

#i'm not having an emotional breakdown in the middle of the day about buffy again #hahhahaa no no #couldn't be #(but okay also the fact that in the end #the final message is that the real value heroes can have #is in making themselves have less purpose #not by beating the final evil #because that's impossible #but in paving the way for collective action #for everyone to have the power of the hero #so people don't need to be saved because they can save themselves #i just #ahhhhhh #also f anyone who says season seven is bad)

[filipinoizukuu]

hello mr simp do you have any thoughts on the leeks 👀

FIRST OF ALL. THEY CAME SO FUCKING EARLY??? BRO I WAS ASLEEP

SECOND OF ALL

holy SHIT YALL

Okay, it's no secret that I'm an All Might stan. I LOVE All Might. Very very much. Not just as a simp, but genuinely, I enjoy his character SO MUCH.

--And unlike what some people may think, I'm not totally blind to his flaws. I know he sucks as a mentor and that he's done way more harm to Deku than good. He's.... not perfect. in every sense of the word. The whole point of AM's character is that he is a DEEPLY FLAWED individual— but at the end of the day, still good.

This new chapter gave me SOOO many new feelings. I'm not gonna lie to y'all and say I was a Stain apologist beforehand because I wasn't. I disliked Stain to a certain degree, but I also knew he was morally grey enough that I was able to still quite appreciate him as a character. This chapter was about EVERYTHING to me because I honestly did NOT expect Hori to go in this direction and for things to happen the way they did. It was too good to be true! Too fanfic-y! The disbelief I felt when I read what happened was on par with when Bakugou and Deku had that apology and kinda-hug in the rain!

But this disbelief is not because it was a bad thing.

I think the writing in Chapter 326 is phenomenal. The moment that All Might was really beginning to lose hope in not just himself as a hero, but himself as a PERSON... we finally hear the opinion of someone who would abso-fucking-LUTELY make or break the last of his spirit.

Stain is, as much as his views are pretty agreeable and his label is that of a vigilante, still a pretty shitty guy. He's tried to kill literal kids who got in his way, even if said kids made pretty dumb decisions. AM hearing what he has to say is absolutely mind-boggling to him because he knows all of that. He knows Stain is a shitty person and that his worldview is perhaps terribly skewed. He knows Stain has spent a hot minute frying his brains down in Tartarus and isn't good at making judgment calls. Knows that for all intents and purposes, Stain's opinions are not to be trusted.

But the thing is... Toshinori also knows that Stain, regardless of the soundness of his mind, is telling the truth.

Regardless of how fucked-in-the-head Stain is, we as readers are able to acknowledge that he isn't blinded by hero worship. Sure, he's bitter, cynical, and quite the absolutist--but Stain is still clear-headed enough to be able to see AM's flaws for what they are and accept them, ultimately proving to Toshinori that the power of All Might was never his own but rather the legacy that he inspired.

The society MHA takes place in is flawed. We all know this. Heroes, as a concept, had been corrupted into being purely about good and evil. Purely winning fights for money or fame or the abstract concept of victory (coughs Endeavor and the no.1 spot coughs), making heroism as we know it about flashiness and power instead of mercy and the desire to help others.

All Might symbolizes the ideal version of the Hero Society. He represents doing the best you can. Being a hero until you reach your limits, and then going even past that. He symbolizes pure intention and the desire to be a hero not for material gains but because of the pure want to make society a better and safer place. Stain refers to Kamino Ward and the statue as a "holy land" because he believes that through and through, AM's only had the purest of intentions and morals. To him, Toshinori was like a deity that had no fault in making society what it was in the present because that accountability fell on the generations of heroes that failed to fulfill his legacy.

The point being, Stain understood that All Might was fundamentally not about 'being there' for everyone 24/7, but rather the message his presence had sent.

All Might's monologue at the beginning of the chapter essentially boiled down to the ideas that:

A. He regrets not being there properly for Deku

B. His image was a delusion that ultimately led to the downfall of hero society.

To break this down, his problem with Deku is his inability to be a competent mentor. It shows that he has led him down dangerous and horrible paths (Deku's stubbornness to do things by himself and his 'dark' arc post-war), and is unable to bring him back into the light even if he tries. It was only when Class 1-A had intervened that they were able to get Deku to rest and let people tag along, after all, which is why Toshinori was far too embarrassed to follow him into UA's walls even after everyone had come out with umbrellas.

Stain disproves this in two ways.

First, he says that it was never about All Might's ability to actually be there for people. The whole point of what inspired Deku to be the inherently good-hearted "true hero" he is today is because of the values that AM's brand had instilled in him as a child. AM's biggest positive impacts came from behind the screen where he was used as the proof that true heroes can and do exist. Deku does want to be exactly like All Might, yes, which is why we see Toshinori leading him down the same path that he walked--but the underlying message of this is that the very first thing All Might gave him even before OfA was the courage to help fix society.

I do believe Deku is an innately compassionate person. Most people in the series are. However, what makes All Might's smile so uniquely impactful to what it did to Hero Society is the way it gave people courage to help people. Less hesitation. Less bystander syndromes. The ability to move without thinking. Because you can feel the want to help a person, but the courage to be nosey and actually do it? That's portrayed as something AM's image teaches people.

The second way he disproves AM's insecurity of dragging Deku down is that he makes it clear that this pain is somewhat of a necessity in reforming society. He says, interestingly enough, that this is but the 'middle process' in reforming society. This spills over to how he addresses Problem B, but what Stain is essentially saying here is that this sort of brutality and isolation that Izuku faces is impermanent. A phase. It implies that even if Deku is struggling and Toshinori is unable to help him, it is something that needs to happen before they re-realize the ideal heroes All Might's image is meant to create.

The second problem in regards to how All Might feels about current society (how it's collapsing because of him, etc. etc.) is more interestingly addressed. There are many things that Stain says--like how Toshinori doesn't need to actually be the one to fix society with his bare hands. The current society is not his fault because of the fact that it is not finished developing. I'm not sure if I can go so far as to say that Stain means this in the sense of the Scorched Earth method of tearing everything down to build it back up better-- but I can say that Stain still has faith in society to rebuild after this period of chaos.

This rebuilding starts with the old generation of heroes correcting what they messed up (i.e. Endeavor v Dabi) and more importantly, paving the way for a better generation of heroes that was inspired by All Might's image. Heroes that are led by people like Deku, who is defined by his proclivity to help without thinking. The violent deconstruction of society is about exposing society to the raw truth of All Might's image that not everybody can be as strong as him-- which is why we have to take care of each other.

When the lady comes in to remove the sign and start cleaning the statue, it's symbolic. It's a clear metaphor that the past few chapters are the turning point for society as a whole, and how people are starting to remember what real heroism is. From the distrust that was seeded in society ever since LoV had surfaced, we are seeing that trust being returned TEN-FOLD now that people can see not only the mask of a hero's smile, but also the person underneath.

I think it's some really neat symbolism here too about how Deku, who's metal mouth guard was literally all about representing All Might's smile, is shed.

This is hero society dropping their masks. Letting people see them for as they are. Toshinori revisiting the statue in this form makes all the more impact because he shed his mask ages ago during the Kamino Bust, so this is him coming face to face with the image he's created and seeing the differences between them, and how his image continues to live on even after he's almost completely Quirkless. The lady cleaning the All Might statue shows off the fact that things can be repaired again--that society can be clean (hehe stain pun) again.

It's interesting to me here how Stain offers the information from Tartarus.

He doesn't care anymore about his life. It's evident. He disagrees with what the LoV is doing, but believes enough in Deku to think that it's time for him to retire the mantle of 'Stain'. Unless this is another test, it's very odd for me to hear that Stain is offering a blade and his life to someone he isn't even sure is All Might.

But the impact of this action reads loud and clear.

This is Stain taking pity on All Might. This is him realizing that All Might too is a person behind the hero. That Toshinori Yagi is incapable of doing anything past the image he had already created. By offering that knife and information on Tartarus, Stain is giving control back to Toshinori. He is giving AM the chance to do something big again to help society's reconstruction. To be a part of the revolution that he so badly deserves to see. That knife is essentially an exit ticket from the sidelines, and one last chance for All Might to be able to see what his image has done for people.

I personally think that the main reason Stain is willing to die then and there by Toshinori's hand, despite not being sure that he is All Might to begin with, is because of the final impact it creates that it isn't about Toshinori Yagi's true power as a person, but the image of All Might. It is because he looks like the symbol of peace, that Stain (the literal HERO KILLER) feels comfortable laying his life in his hands and giving away valuable information.

If that isn't a great testament to the power of AM's image, I don't know WHAT is.

I guess all I have to say is I absolutely love what Stain did in this chapter. Everything felt so incredibly symbolic and emotional and as someone who absolutely ADORES All Might and what he stands for in the story, this felt like a cool balm after seeing Deku tragically reject his bento box a good few chapters ago. I have a few more opinions about symbolism, and how I think Deku's generation of heroes is going to stray from the old gen, but I think that's a discussion for another time.

Thanks for reading 'til the end!

#asks #anon #bnha meta #mha meta #all might #toshinori yagi #yagi toshinori #stain #mha stain #mha #bnha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha spoilers #bnha spoilers #mha 326 #bnha 326

[jeptwin]

My thoughts on Tim Drake now being queer: I love it. However, not for the reasons you’d expect.

To be perfectly honest, I have sincere doubts about Timkon ever happening in canon, and it may be better if it doesn’t. Timkon could very easily be a mistake. I would love to see it happen of course, but the only reason for it to happen would be for it to compete with Wiccan and Hulkling from Marvel-due to their similar dynamics, demographics, and characters-but by doing so they would actually devalue both Tim and Connor by essentially forcing them to serve as foils to a more popular couple that was canon from the start, thus sending the message that DC is only willing to make LGBT+ characters and relationships for the purpose of competing with Marvel. This would not only devalue the significance of any and all LGBT+ characters within the DC universe, but in the process be a pretty serious hit to the LGBT+ community by basically openly stating that the only reason LGBT+ characters exist is to make money, rather than because they deserve to exist and it is normal for them to exist. So, as much as people want Timkon, it may be for the best that it never happens.

Now, let’s address the value of Tim’s queerness. We can start by looking at his character as a whole. Originally Tim was the prodigy Robin, performing well amongst audiences and showing himself to be capable and well fleshed out. However with the introduction of Damian-as we all have noticed and commented on-Tim’s character has slowly degraded over time, becoming less and less significant and pushed off further to the side. Much of his popularity has been superseded by Damian, in no small part because Damian has taken his place as the main Robin now. Thus, for a good while Tim has been stuck in a limbo both in real life and in the comics. Damian has slowly usurped his place in the family-for the most part unintentionally-and left Tim as something of an outsider, his only real significance in his relationships. However many of the people closest to him have died, left him, or he has distanced himself from in recent years, leading him to a tumultuous state where his character is at a point of flux. He is no longer Red Robin, but he cannot truly be Robin with Damian around. He’s not dating Steph anymore, and he’s reunited with this cute boy he was friends with a while ago and who clearly is interested in him. Thus, he is clearly going through some intense emotional changes, one of which appears to be a crisis of sexuality. Now, to explain, I do not believe that he is in any way concerned about his sexuality, but I do believe that all of this is new to him and he is still figuring himself out. Thus we get a real chance to see Tim develop a lot as a character for the first time in several years, and perhaps gain a lot more significance in the process

Now let’s examine the thought behind making him queer. This is very clever in my opinion, and though it could be taken as a bit underhanded it doesn’t diminish the positive impact of Tim’s becoming a member of the LGBT+ community. The fact of the matter is, Urban Legends’ decision to make him queer was greenlit solely because of his performance in recent years. For YEARS Tim was the most popular Robin, a massive success. Everyone loved him, and as evidenced by earlier comics where he was without Batman-such as the Young Justice series, in which he was one of the main characters alongside fellow members Impulse, Superboy, and Wonder Girl. But since the introduction of Damian, his popularity and significance have steadily waned until today, where he is one of the lower performing Gotham heroes and frequently overlooked as a character. All of the other members of the Batfamily have a hook of some kind, particularly the other Robins-present and former. Dick was the first, and his popularity as Nightwing is also tremendous. Jason is the rebel, and the one Batman couldn’t save. Damian is the blood son, the former assassin Bruce tries so hard to do right by. And Stephanie was the only girl, the daughter of Batman’s villain-third rate or otherwise-with a significant audience of her own as one of the major female members of the Batfamily. However Tim was only ever known as Robin, and as a member of Young Justice. Well, Young Justice has, for the moment, taken a sideline due to the popularity of the animated show, and Red Robin was never as popular as his siblings’ solo identities. Take DCeased as an example: Both Dick and Bruce were elaborated on-either in plot or by Damian and Jason-while Tim ended up with a tombstone that simply said ‘the best of us’. He got basically no time in the hit series, nor in Dark Knights or Joker War-both central to Batman and the Batfamily.

In addition to the progress DC has shown by allowing Urban Legends to write this, it was a clever marketing move designed to capitalize on the increasing significance, sway, and wealth of the LGBT+ community, which is one of the fastest growing markets with some of the largest spending power. Not only does it give Tim a unique hook that draws people in to his character-as well as making room for some significant development on his part-it also attracts an immediate and significant crowd in the form of LGBT+ comic readers, who have long been awaiting such a move by DC.

Tim Drake’s status as an LGBT+ character has been a long time coming, and I for one am glad that DC decided to finally act and make it canon. Not only does this spell good things for the future of Tim Drake and the Batman comics in general, it also shows that DC is not afraid to make controversial decisions and take risks in order to make better stories and more compelling characters. And that, to me, is worth far more than simply making a new LGBT+ superhero or villain.

#dc #dcmultiverse #dc characters #dc community #dc comics #Batman #Robin #Red Robin #Tim drake #LGBT #lgbt+ #lgbtq #lgbtq+ #bisexual #queer #gay #tim drake bi

[hamliet]

What Does It Mean to Save?

I keep seeing it said that Deku, Ochaco, and Shouto will “save” Shigaraki, Himiko, and Dabi, but that there will be no redemption and/or no survival for them. I’m truly not trying to vague these posts and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but literary criticism is fundamentally responsive so I’m writing this anyways.

I personally think that’s not BNHA’s definition of saving nor of redemption. So here, have a deep dive into literary tropes related to redemption, genre, and character arcs as they pertain to BNHA and the question of: what does it mean to save Shigaraki, Touya, and Himiko?

Before we begin, let me say that while we might be personally uncomfortable with redemption (there’s a redemption arc in BNHA I am personally quite uncomfortable with), that doesn’t inherently mean the narrative won’t go there. The key principle I’m operating on here is BNHA’s message that heroes save people. It’s held up as the highest ideal. 

So let’s talk redemption in BNHA-verse. With this guy, whose redemption arc I dislike in principle but accept as part of the story so don’t come for me stans and/or antis. I’m analyzing because it shows us what redemption means in BNHA-verse, whether or not that is satisfying to you personally as it fits/does not fit with your own morality/philosophy.

If Endeavor can be redeemed and live, and he’s Bakugou’s negative foil, I highly doubt Shigaraki and Deku as well as Touya and Shouto and Ochaco and Himiko will be any different. Why? Because Enji is an adult character. The others--well, Himiko’s age we don’t know, but we do know that Shigaraki and Dabi are technically adults. But does the story consider them adults?

(It doesn’t.)

Child-coded characters are generally more likely to survive a redemption, which I’ll explain more later. First I have to define what I mean by child-coding, because I DO NOT mean this in the way it’s often (mis)used in fandom wank. Child-coding is a real thing, but it is not done to infantilize and it has nothing to do with shipping.

Child coding frames the character as a child for a few narrative purposes to convey a story’s theme or purpose. For example, if it’s a coming of age story coding a character as a child even if they legally are not emphasizes their journey to an understanding of self-actualization, or a true understanding of self with self-awareness and an understanding of self-value. An example of an adult coded as a child is The Kite Runner, wherein Amir is a legal adult for half the story, even married for fifteen years so we’re talking 30s-40s, but he does not truly become an adult until he returns to his homeland and takes responsibility for a childhood sin. In Attack on Titan, the main characters are now nineteen, but are still struggling to take responsibility as adults and have only started doing so now that their mentors/parental figures have started dying.

Along those lines, in any kind of story, you can code a character as a child of someone, regardless of biological relationship, to convey the type of relationship they have (usually a mentor one). For an example of this, see Bungo Stray Dogs’ Dazai and Akutagawa. Despite their two year age difference, Dazai recruited him to the mafia, abandoned him, and Akutagawa desperately seeks his approval. Usually in these stories a character will “overcome” their parental figure. This can be done through overcoming their need for the parental figure’s approval in stories where the parental figure is kindly (such as in Harry Potter, when in the final book Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave the Weasleys to find the Horcruxes despite Mrs. Weasley’s please) or through like, killing/stopping/leaving the parental figure when they are abusive (see fairy tales like Rapunzel and Cinderella). The parental link to self-actualization is because it is childlike (and a part of actual psychology that is reflected in literature) to see yourself as a part of your parent; self-actualized person would see yourself as a distinct person from your parent, but also acknowledge the ways in which they’ve shaped you.

So, how do you code a character as a child? BNHA isn’t subtle about it, because Horikoshi seldom is subtle about anything. The villain trio are all coded as children.

Shigaraki Tomura:

Who cannot achieve self-actualization so long as AFO has access to his body, as he’s literally trying to possess him. He’s trying, but it’s not gonna work because Shigaraki can’t keep AFO and become an adult at the same time. It’s a choice the narrative is setting up: your dream of destroying, or your freedom? (To get the latter, he’ll probably have to destroy AFO).

Todoroki Touya, who is repeatedly emphasized as a small child when compared to his siblings, and yes, I know he’s now tall. Specifically he’s spotlighted as the child of Endeavor:

And he’s the least self-actualized one in a lot of ways, contradicting himself constantly. I’m not Endeavor, DUH! But these are Endeavor’s flames! He’s gonna have to choose one or the other, because the tragic irony is that the more he takes out his rage on those around him, the more like Endeavor he becomes.

And Toga Himiko (who might well literally be a legal child), who is actually the most self-actualized one thus far, because she rejects Curious’s child insistence (Curious holds her in a Pieta pose, based on Michelangelo’s statue wherein Mary holds a deceased Christ):

She’s still got, like, a way to go though:

Because Himiko also wants to be like the people she loves to the point where she loses her own identity in them, which is er, not self-actualization. So she’ll have to choose whether or not she really wants to be like the people she loves or whether she wants to live her own way, which she herself tells us how that would end (death):

Deku said it himself: it’s good to focus on what someone is doing now. And look, I have issues with this statement and how it’s framed. I’ve talked about it at length and it was doomed to fail because Shouto himself told us long ago that it was annoying to hear a righteous speech by a stranger when you hadn’t gone through the same, plus Endeavor kinda failed by choosing being a hero over a dad here. But, the principle is that if the past doesn’t preclude Endeavor from seeking a better self, why would it preclude three characters coded as children, one of whom is literally somewhat the product of Endeavor’s sins? BNHA doesn’t think the past keeps someone from a better future. 

So what about Dabi’s counterpoint, which is indeed valid? Well, redemption doesn’t mean the past forgets, either. It’s complicated and nuanced, and we can debate how well Horikoshi strikes this nuance (it’s got its flaws), and admittedly I don’t know how this will go down in the future. But it is asking Endeavor: how do you redeem yourself to the people you’ve hurt? And we have Endeavor asking this question to Touya’s shrine. I mean, the foreshadowing is obvious. Endeavor has to redeem himself by trying to save Touya. However, it will still probably come down to Shouto to save Touya.

For our three villains, it’s a little harder to predict... well, sort of. For Shigaraki it’s extremely obvious: he has to help take down AFO. Dabi probably has to do something to help his family (siblings probably), but it’s vague. Toga needs help and not condemnation, but presumably she’ll help Ochaco with something.

So, is this redemption? I’d define it as redemption in the eyes of the narrative. To address what makes a redemption is another essay unto itself, but if we bring in the oft-compared Star Wars example: did Darth Vader get a redemption? Did Ben Solo? Everyone says yes to both. However, only Luke witnesses Vader’s redemption, and only Rey Ben Solo’s. So the rest of the galaxy? Doesn’t think so. When I say they’ll be redeemed, I’m defining it as their role in the eyes of the narrative, not whether or not society will accept them or even whether their victims will forgive them (of note, in canonical novels, Leia never forgave Darth Vader despite learning he was her father and obviously knowing Luke’s account of his redemption was true).

So, redemption in a narrative doesn’t mean all of society has to forgive and accept them. Dabi has still like, murdered 30 people--many of whom were thugs, but he himself acknowledges they didn’t deserve to die. Additionally, he himself also acknowledges that the families left behind--their feelings matter:

But why does that mean they have to die? Why even does it mean they have to languish in prison forever? (If there’s even a safe prison at the end of BNHA which I kinda have doubts about.) Heroes have also killed: see Hawks as Exhibit A. In fact, some people want revenge on the heroes precisely because they arrested or killed their loved ones (jail isn’t held up as a rehabilitative place in BNHA’s world. In most countries it isn’t in real life, either, but again that’s for another essay). So why don’t the League’s feelings on Twice’s death matter just as much as the feelings of unnamed and unseen (and thereby less important narratively) characters?

Additionally, regarding death... the villains routinely get called on their death wishes. Himiko’s determination to decide how/when she dies is called out because this is right  before Twice overcomes his trauma to save her, and the next arc they appear in is when Twice dies trying to save her again. Dabi’s suicide wish keeps him from getting close to others, and it keeps getting thwarted. Shigaraki’s obsession with destruction and death is clearly not a good thing, and his rejection of his family’s desire for them to join him in death this past arc is growth.

In other words: what Dabi said and what Snatch said about families and how they feel matter for the villains too. The villains are their own weird found family (Dabi as the deadbeat prodigal brother of both his families). Their deaths--Magne’s and Twice’s thus far, and I’m not ruling out further deaths in the future--affect the others. People’s feelings on losing loved ones matter. The villains are people, as Himiko said herself this arc:

Their feelings about each other matter:

How would Touya dying affect the Todorokis? At least they saved him spiritually, I guess, but that’s absolutely lame narratively, and if you have Enji eventually do a sacrifice to save Dabi (pretty likely, even if I personally think Enji will survive said sacrifice) then what’s the point of Dabi dying? How would Himiko dying affect society? As a martyr like Curious wanted her to be, even a redeemed one? A tragic warning story? What even is the point of Ochaco saving her if that’s the case? If Shigaraki dies, well, who would mourn besides Deku? How would Shigaraki dying affect the surviving members of the league? He just couldn’t be saved physically? 

It’s not impossible some of this happens, but it doesn’t seem like great writing, especially with panels like, oh, these that show us BNHA’s perspective on death:

Sacrificing something is a type of death that occurs in stories; this should happen in a redemption arc, which is why I’ve been saying Enji needs to sacrifice his hero reputation to help save Touya and even then it’ll still be Shouto imo who does the saving. But physical death?

If you want further analysis of the latter two panels and how they relate to the ending, see here.

We already have another villain who will definitely die redemptively (Kurogiri--an adult coded character--because he’s already, like, dead), and Spinner and Mr. Compress aren’t coded as kids so I hold them with anxiety towards the end. But again, this isn’t me being ageist or saying this is the way things ought to be in fiction or real life: it’s me looking at writing tropes and saying that child-coded characters tend to survive their redemptions. See: Zuko. Why? Because the death of children or child-coded characters is a tragedy. When a child-coded character dies redemptively it doesn’t feel like a happy ending and if framed as such, it’s often criticized for bad writing (see: Ben Solo). Curious even called this out in her fight with Himiko. I would hope Horikoshi doesn’t end the story being like yeah Curious was right that’s the best use of Himiko’s/Dabi’s/Shigaraki’s arcs:

Additionally, as for the believability of a character getting a new chance after so much destruction and murder... well, it’s kinda a thing in shonen and even in seinen? For better or for worse, it’s a thing. We have Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z and Kaneki Ken in Tokyo Ghoul (Kaneki, by the way, is absolutely an inspiration for Shigaraki). We can debate how well-written these redemptions are (I personally have been quite critical of Kaneki’s despite wanting it to happen narratively), but it can be done. BNHA’s Japan especially isn’t as harsh a world as Tokyo Ghoul’s Japan, so it would make even more sense for something like Kaneki’s ending.

The reality is that the cycle of revenge via hurting people and then leaving hurting families and loved ones has to stop somewhere. Someone has to be the bigger person and step up and be like “naw.” That’s heroic. That’s brave. That’s sacrificial itself. Justice itself doesn’t really exist in its purest form without mercy.

There’s another genre-reason I don’t see death or jail as likely (I could see, like, maybe a mental health ward like Rei’s? But it’s too soon to speculate).

If saving is considered a good thing for the story, if it’s truly the highest ideal, then saving someone should be rewarded by the narrative. The characters who save should have a positive result to show us this a good thing.

This is why it doesn’t work for the heroes’ end journey to be accepting that some people cannot be saved. The notion of just accepting that you cannot do something, you cannot save everyone, you cannot, cannot, cannot, is called out as a flaw of society. Determination, on the other hand, is rewarded.

We see it with Deku as well as with Mirio.

So, what if they save them and the redeemed characters then go on to sacrifice themselves in their redemption and die (come to the same end)? If saving changes absolutely nothing for the saved person, if it’s too late for the saved from themselves to change and/or do anything that matters besides die, then the narrative theme of saving as important is left unemphasized at best and undermined at worst. Simple intrinsic knowledge that the kids “did the right thing” doesn’t cut it for a story with so much focus on physical saving when the kids are already doing the right thing; moral struggles about whether to choose to be good aren’t really Deku, Ochaco, or Shouto’s arcs. It works for Aizawa’s arc with Kurogiri, but not for the kiddos. If BNHA was more of a philosophical/spiritual text, that would indeed make sense, but it is not. Genre-wise, BNHA is a fantastical superhero optimistic story, not a gritty real-world set drama.

#bnha meta #mha meta #bnha 295 #mha 295 #deku #league of villains #shigaraki tomura #shimura tenko #todoroki shouto #todoroki touya #todoroki enji #endeavor #todoroki family #toga himiko #all for one #afo #uraraka ochako #bakugou katsuki #aizawa shouta #bnha theory #mha theory #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #midoriya izuku #kurogiri

[urupotter]

Dumbledore as a Mentor

Dumbledore is the most well executed mentor figure for Harry in the series, for two reasons.

First is what he represents. Since the very beginning of the series, he trusts him absolutely, and is along with the Weasleys the only adult with whom he shares that title. But Harry trusts Dumbledore even though he doesn't know anything about him. Harry, who has a pathological mistrust of adults, always feels that he can rely on him. He's the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared, and his very presence at Hogwarts makes it so that there is at least one place which Harry knows is safe.

And then he's killed. Just before the final book, before the last confrontation Harry and the Dark Lord will have, the man whom Harry though he could most rely on dies. The warm blanket of comfort and safety that Dumbledore provided is suddenly gone, and Harry must face Voldemort as his own man, no mentors to guide and protect him. His final challenge. "The last and greatest of his protectors had died, and he was more alone than he had ever been before" Of course, there was another protector left still, but Harry didn't know that at the time.

Dumbledore is also unique among Harry Potter characters in that he's the one who most understands the Harry Potter settings supernatural elements.

Fantasy and supernatural are not the same. Fantasy is when things that would not be possible in our world, indeed, what in the real world would be classified as supernatural, are mundane elements of the setting, as real and part of nature as anything else. Magic, dragons, spells, potions and house elves and all, is part of the nature of the world. They are not considered supernatural elements for wizards, the way they are for muggles. Supernatural elements are those that surpass what is perceived as natural in any given setting. Harry Potter as a series has both, and Dumbledore is the only character who truly understands them.

What am I talking about? Mainly (though not exclusively) Love, capital L. In Harry Potter, Love, unconditional, true, Love is more than just an emotion. It has magical reality, it tangibly affects the world. While it falls under the umbrella of magic, It is the most mysterious and least understood of the magics. It is ancient, and powerful beyond belief. It is what made Harry's mind agony for the Dark Lord to touch. What permitted Dumbledore to trust Snape absolutely (and if you want a more detailed analysis of how Love and Snape are fundamentally intertwined, and how his arc is among the most important in telling the message Rowling wanted to tell, read this meta by rex-luscus), what allowed Harry to survive the unstoppable Killing curse, when no one had ever done it before.

Most powerful mentor figures in fiction teach the protagonist powerful spells and magic. It's expected. After all, in most stories, the hero defeats the villain by growing to match them in power. Not so in Harry Potter. Harry, while a powerful wizard, and very talented in DADA, is nothing out of this world. He never approaches Voldemort's league. Whenever his killing curse fails, it is by supernatural mechanisms, that Voldemort cannot fathom but that neither fully understand. Lily's protection. Priori Incantatem. The supernatural phenomenon of the magical world. In both these scenarios, the first to understand what truly happened and explain is Dumbledore. In their private sessions, Dumbledore never teaches Harry powerful spells, or Potions, as many would expect him to (that role is left to other mentors of his, mainly Lupin and Snape). He teaches him philosophy, how to understand the mind of Tom Riddle, and about the nature of magic itself as a phenomenon. He teaches him wisdom, to understand the world. That's why, when Harry comes into his own, it is no surprise that he defeats him by understanding, on a deeper level, the Deathstick. Another of the myths and legends of the magical world, that is nonetheless real. When Voldemort casts at Harry his third and last killing curse, he dies, with only Harry understanding why. He has learned all that Dumbledore wanted to teach him. He has taught him to be wise.

Voldemort's main flaw is that magic only has value to him in so much as it is a tool that he can bring under his control to increase his power. He views it almost like a scientific discipline. And in those areas, the non supernatural ones, he is unrivalled. Dumbledore is at most his equal, but probably not. When they fight, they are evenly matched, even though Dumbledore has the Elder Wand. Dumbledore acknowledges him as the most brilliant student that Hogwarts has ever seen, a tacit admission that he is his superior. And yet, Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer to ever live. Why? Because he understands the mysteries of magic, knows that magic is a fundamentally supernatural force. Voldemort opened his mind to the power of magic, but could not see what lay beyond. His mind remained shackled, and he never did understand magic beyond what is conceivable by science. Dumbledore did, and that's why he's the only one he ever feared. And it's what makes him the perfect mentor for Harry.

#albus dumbledore #dumbledore #albus dumbledore meta #meta #hp meta #harry james potter #voldemort #lord voldemort #tom riddle #severus snape #harry potter #hp #hp series #magic #harry potter worldbuilding

[rhaenyras]

EXTENDED LIST OF THINGS THAT ARE WRONG WITH CHAPTER 139

ymir the founder fritz, aka the most powerful and compelling plot device that isayama could have ever employed in order to explain the origin of the titans, the inherent slavery of the eldian people, and also everything else wrong in the world, was emptied of all value and purpose when she was revealed to have loved her abuser and oppressor. her life-long struggle to break free from the slave mentality that was pounded into her since childhood turned out to be... totally hollow. the woman's real purpose was to keep loving the man who cut off her tongue, raped her as a child and eventually had her cannibalized by their daughters when she failed to survive a murder attempt on his person. which makes for a very pinpoint parallel with eren, tbh, but he gets a whole paragraph all to himself later. amor vincit omnia should not become a convenient fix-it trope so that stuff can magically make sense in less than 50 pages. not to mention that this makeshift “solution” doesn't account for countless plot holes, that would only make sense if ymir was an abuse survivor looking to get her agency back. and even if i was keen on excusing the sloppy writing, i still wouldn't let the whole romanticisation of rape and trauma thing slide so easily. by giving a young victim like ymir fritz romantic feelings and a blind devotion towards her rapist, isayama is basically conveying a very pitiful and toxic message, one he refuses to even dignify with a realistic explanation for the thousands of readers who couldn't make a sense of it. the way this twisted version of love seems to be universally accepted by all the characters in the last chapter, as they just shrug it off like some sort of inevitable superior force that works in mysterious ways, made me wanna gouge my eyes out and never read another word again

mikasa's arc. mikasa had the potential to be the only character in the entire manga to come out on top when all was said and done. she had openly opposed eren's idea of a genocide. she had left the scarf behind when he voiced his hatred for her. she seemed ready enough to sever the proverbial umbilical cord and move on, live a life with pride, knowing how she could have outgrown her silly, dependent, obsessive old self. she might have started out as a yandere caricature, a passive and annoying side-effect to having eren as the main character, but she could have done so much better later on. she, too, just like ymir fritz, might have broken free, if only isayama liked liberated and strong women. she had the range. she had the potential, the backstory, everything. given the chance, she could have redeemed herself. but did isayama care? nope. he just threw her to the sickos in the fandom and said “here's your little psycho doll. do what you will with her. also, she's the key to understanding the superior force that works in mysterious ways aka love aka all the nonsense i'm actually too lazy to commit to”. and so, mikasa is as inconsequential in the ending as she ever was as eren's ever-present bodyguard, if not more, because now she's even refusing to look ahead and fight. two things that she at least tried to do every so often back when eren was alive. not only she surrendered to her own mental illness, but she even saw it turned into a pretty fantasy that the readers can idealise (again, romanticisation of all the wrong things) and that she'll never be able to escape so long as she lives. what's worse, she doesn't even want to, because in this manga we love downgrading and being stuck in the past, as the worst possible versions of ourselves.

historia's pregnancy. it shouldn't even have happened in the first place, unless it was dictated by historia's explicit desire to have a child precisely when she asked for one and by that one unnamed farmer guy and nobody else. whether that was the case or not remains, to this day, still shrouded in mystery because, again, isayama didn't think of coming clean about any aspect of historia's sudden decision. the notion that she might have been raped or submitted to something she really didn't want simply for the drama of it leads to some pretty terrifying implications. i have already explained countless times how it didn't even make sense for eren to be so adamant about rejecting the 50 year plan on account of not wanting historia to be breeded like cattle, titanised, and eventually devoured by her children, if he was just... gonna let her have her way, she only had to ask him nicely. why ever would historia need eren's permission to have a child? what was she even trying to tell him in chapter 130? why did eren tell her something as pivotal as the genocide plan if the friendship between them wasn't any different from any other in the 104th? why would eren take the risk to meet her in secret and suggest that they do something as radical as fighting the mp's or running away, if all she had to do was just... ask that he let her get pregnant? i suppose that was just a bait for a very specific side of the fandom, at this point, as the extent of the entire cryptic conversation from ch. 130 was never covered, and we were probably just supposed to forget about it. I can only forgive isayama for basically baiting me into shipping erehisu because he still gave historia a decent wrap-up in the ending, she looked in control and happy enough with her new life, which is something i warmly wished for her. she seems to be in a better spot than most of her former comrades, and virtually, she is the true inheritor of eren's original (and later disowned) ideology, as she is the one who will lead eldia into the future as a free nation, whatever that may mean for them now that titan powers are no longer a thing. I'm very proud of her and generally i am happy with how things played out for her and yeah, thinking back on it with a colder mind... i wouldn't have wanted it any other way, ships be damned

wHY WAS LEVI IN A WHEELCHAIR????? like..... scars aside, he was up and about in one panel, and in the next he was disabled... that was just... idk?? weird but i suppose isayama went overboard to provide us with some residual dramatic value here

the genocide being just a red herring. APPARENTLY eren never believed that the genocide was a solid way to achieve freedom. his true intention was to antagonize himself so that his friends would be hailed as heroes, but like... why... he didn't even achieve the complete annihilation of conflict in the world by doing so? his friends might be heroes now, but they're going to spend the rest of their lives fighting for their very lives. if anything, eren sparked new conflicts and made the new order so much worse for the eldians, as they have no choice but to keep fighting, except with the same weapons as anybody else now. he basically doomed his people to a bleak future of war and possibly extinction. he killed 80% of the entire world to cause nothing but a disappointing regretful outcome, and in the end he even disowned everything he ever believed in. in comparison, zeke's euthanasia plan was some genius level shit that would have achieved the same result as eren, except with not nearly as much bloodshed.

the parasite. again, great idea, poor execution. what on earth happened to it? it was the Scientific Shit that made titans happen one moment, and then gone in the next, wrestled to death by a buff war criminal with ptsd... my disappointment is over the roof

eren himself. like, as a whole. oh, what's not to regret about the 180 eren did in the finale? witnessing a mc forsaking every relevant trait that's ever made him who he is, is simply painful on the eyes. isayama basically went and said “remember eren yaeger aka the suicidal blockhead who would sacrifice everything in order to achieve freedom? yes? well forget about him, you've got aaron yogurt now.” …... who even is this man? when he broke down and cried in front of armin, whining like a baby that he wanted mikasa to never move on from him, i legit got second-hand embarassment. I felt actual shame for the way isayama handled his characterisation. like... he is a mass murderer, ok... how can he just... kneel down and cry about his step-sister whom he never did anything to date anyway like it's nothing??? armin is right to be pissed at him but he's pissed for the wrong reasons, sadly. I don't even want to tackle the topic of eren murdering his own mother, as he basically confessed to going through life on autopilot because the founding titan just erased all his feelings, gave him superior knowledge of all things and compelled him to go with the flow of things, aka the exact opposite of what he's been preaching ever since day 1. W HAT on earth man. like i said in point #1, eren's crush on mikasa is actually very frightening too, and it leads us back to that one dark force that overpowered even ymir fritz. eren is in love with a girl who's obsessed, in denial and damaged. and what's worse, mikasa reciprocates his feelings, even though eren always overlooked her or manipulated her. ymir fritz kept misunderstanding all those red flags from the king as love, probably. this is really not a story of breaking the cursed cycle, because it seems to me that everyone has returned full circle in the end.

CONCLUSION: nothing isayama or anyone might have said in interviews or elsewhere could have prepared me for this raging shitfest. the entirety of that last chapter was farfetched to say the least, everything looked half-hearted and rushed, clumsily glued together because the real isayama died and somebody else had to ghostwrite the ending for him. I am sorry if i do sound a bit disillusioned about the whole thing and can't bring myself to be outraged either, but i've been way too invested into this manga for nearly a decade, and now it all blew up in my face, so i guess i no longer give it the power to upset me lol

#sorry for the wait guys. it's not even that great lol i just had to get some things off my chest and then forget about it #i didn't even edit lol. snk doesn't deserve my efforts #snk spoilers #snk #aot spoilers #anti aot #chapter 139 spoilers #aot #snk chapter 139

[kateis-cakeis]

This analysis is specifically for this anon

HELLO, Ghostbur did some SHOUTING today! Do you know how amazing that is? Do you know how long I’ve been craving that?! HOLY FUCK

Hi... Let’s reset. Ghostbur shouting at Phil was a big step, and even though he forgot all about it, it shows a lot about Ghostbur and what he cares about, and that in turn shows why he’s changed his mind on being brought back to life.

(All these quotes are from Wilbur’s stream, First Time Ghostbur Live: 6th Jan)

When he begins talking to Phil, he’s... calm.

“Why- Why did you- Why did you blow up L’Manberg?” - (17:19)

The way Ghostbur says this with such sadness, such sorrow. It hurts.

I MEAN LOOK AT THE POOR GUY! He’s emotionally destroyed by it. Because of Friend, because Friend’s dead, again, and we know what that does to Ghostbur, it hurts him. Because he loves Friend. (Which suggests that canon deaths in the Dream SMP are real, painful deaths, which is why they’re so serious in their nature.)

And then he shouts, and he makes Phil listen (after he tries to make the excuse that Friend has infinite canon lives like that makes it better):

“You knew Friend was in your house! You knew! Stop! Stop! Stop! You knew Friend was in your house! You knew everything everyone owned was in this town!” - (17:39)

This line shows how Ghostbur is thinking, him putting his head in his hands, him shouting, it shows his emotional state. He’s full of anguish and pain, sadness and anger.

But what does it suggest he’s thinking? That he puts value on people’s belongings. (Including books, because like rip to them, that one hurts.) Friend is a physical being, something he loves, but he applies that same love and value to what people owned in L’Manberg. 

It causes him great pain to think of this, that those things are gone, without ever getting them back (a bit like death, huh).

Then we get this line, where he’s completely done with Phil’s explanation:

“I don’t- I don’t- I don’t- I don’t want to listen- I don’t want to hear what you have to say. I don’t want to have to hear what you have to say. I- I- I’ve read the history books, Phil. I’ve read the history books. You- You- You slayed the dragon, you slayed Alivebur. You were the- You- You are the St George of the Dream SMP. We understand, everyone understands that, Phil. But, look what you’ve done. How can you look at this and still see yourself as a hero. Sending a message, Phil. Sending a message?” - (17:58)

So, that’s a big quote, and every single part of it is so important.

His repetition shows his struggle with his emotions. But he makes the point again that he’s read the history books (no one else, but that’s a separate thing entirely). He knows what Phil did, hell! He remembers it! He sees Alivebur’s death as a good thing, and the parallel to him being a dragon and Phil being St George, where do I even start with that???

Because dragons in legends hoard things, right? So you could see Alivebur’s hoard as L’Manberg itself, that’s his gold. And Phil is the hero for slaying the dragon who wanted to keep L’Manberg from anyone else (which shows how Ghostbur doesn’t remember Alivebur’s final motivations for blowing it up).

But Ghostbur understands, he’s telling Phil that everyone understands why he killed Alivebur, only to point out that the destruction of L’Manberg removes the title of hero from him. He can’t be a hero when he caused so much destruction. (At least Alivebur knew he was the bad guy. Phil and Techno think they’re in the right, that they’re heroes.)

He specifically calls out Phil’s wording of sending a message. Ghostbur can’t understand that, because it doesn’t make sense. Sending a message. I get the implication of what Ghostbur is suggesting, that sending a message makes Phil the villain, makes him as bad, if not worse than Alivebur.

At least Alivebur had cause! Sending a message is pure evil, through and through. (but that’s just my opinion :P)

“So you make me suffer? I- I don’t know what Alivebur did, and I’m really trying to remember. But I know what I did, and I just wrote books. I built- Remember the lanterns we used to make? I built them. I- I built a house for people- I- I set up this area- I built this town just like I built Logstedshire, and I watched them both blow up. And I didn’t- I- I didn’t- I didn’t hurt anyone, and yet I’m the one who pays. Tommy didn’t even live here, Tommy didn’t have a house here. I sowed the seeds of peace, and yet I’m the one who pays for war.”  - (18:47)

I picked out this screenshot specifically because he’s making this expression as he talks about the lanterns, the anguish in his expression, the way he’s looking out at L’Manberg, head slightly tilted up towards the lanterns. It shows how Ghostbur holds onto the good memories, but he feels the deep sadness of building up L’Manberg again, making it look nice, houses, the main area, he built that town more than anyone else, gave it a personality, only to lose it.

And he feels that, as well as the pain of losing Logstedshire. He makes the point that he hasn’t hurt anyone. And he hasn’t. Not physically anyway, the only damage he’s done as Ghostbur is the pain others feel knowing he doesn’t remember the bad. 

And this line, this 30 second line, it shows so much. It shows how Ghostbur still feels how Tommy never even lived in L’Manberg (I know he had that house under Ranboo’s but he never really lived there like the others). It shows that Ghostbur feels like he’s paying the most because he built it, because he lived there, because he had the history books, because.... “Everything for L’Manberg. For L’Manberg, my L’Manberg.” (Wilbur’s Amangus with new and old friends :): 1:46:29, 24th Nov) 

And he’s right, he set up peace. He called out Tubbo, he made sure to remind him of the values. He made his point to Phil that L’Manberg wasn’t doing things right. He made the same point to Ranboo. He tried. He read the history books, he kept telling people! But they didn’t listen, and in the end... he paid for it the most because he thought he had done enough, but it’s not enough. With L’Manberg it never is... was, I suppose.

“I know I’m forgetful, I know I’m an amnesiac, and I know I’m the comic relief in all of your stories, but I still feel this, I still feel things. And I try my best to make sure no one else feels it... And I just.” - (19:32)

This is Ghostbur’s turning point for the quote that comes after this.

You know what all of this is? All these quotes, Ghostbur making someone listen to HIM for once. All people have done since Ghostbur has been around is shout at him, belittle him, treat him like he’s stupid, patronise him, go against all of his wishes. Finally, this talk with Phil allowed him to take control again and speak his own mind without being beat down, he was loud, not quiet, he even banged his fist, something Alivebur did a lot.

He had his fire.

But this line... He’s calling people out, calling them all out. He knows he’s forgetful, an amnesiac, the comic relief in their stories (is that why he’s inserting himself back in the narrative? to put himself back in, to take control of his story again?)

And he makes the point that he feels this, he still feels things! And why would he make this point? For what I said above. He’s only ever been beaten down by others, or patronised. He’s reminding Phil that he’s still very much a being that can feel, he isn’t devoid of emotion, in fact he’s full of ‘em. All the emotions, especially sadness.

You can see it in his expressions too, the way he puts his head in his hands, the way he covers his mouth. He’s full of pain.

His goal though is to make sure no one else feels what he does - the sadness - which makes sense to why he hands out Blue like it’s gone out of fashion. It may be his unhealthy coping mechanism for his depression, but he’s trying his best. He just wants people to be happy.

But, as I said, this is his turning point. He hangs up on Phil and thinks for a moment, in complete silence, nothing but the sounds of the surviving campfires in the apiary to keep him company. He realises that Alivebur needs to come back, he knows that in being forgetful, he isn’t helping people like he wants to.

He knows as Ghostbur he can never make any progress (especially since he forgot the entire conversation with Phil). 

And so...

“I take it back, Tommy. Tommy, I take it back. I’m burning in the rain right now, and I just- Tommy, I want you to bring me back to life.” - (20:07)

“Tommy, I know- I know I said- Tommy, I know how I said I didn’t want- I didn’t want to be brought back to life because I didn’t want to- Because that would mean me as Ghostbur would stop existing. But I want- I want you to bring me back to life. I don’t want to be Ghostbur anymore.” - (22:12)

These quotes are so important. They show how Ghostbur’s mind has changed from:

“Hey, Tommy, I was having a think about it, and I don’t think I want people to bring me back to life.” - (Tommy’s Alone?: 47:38, 19th Dec) 

“If I am given a life, does that mean I die? Like Ghostbur dies? And Alivebur is alive but Ghostbur is dead.” - (Tommy’s Alone?: 48:11, 19th Dec) 

To now wanting to be resurrected. He’s made peace with the fact that he must die for Alivebur to exist again (which is sus, like this poor depressed boyyyy). But he’s doing it for noble reasons, it seems, not uh.... not other reasons, I don’t think. He wants Alivebur to exist because Ghostbur can’t help as much as his alive self could.

And hell, maybe he’d be able to make up for his mistakes.

Overall, his conversation with Phil shows many things. Mainly, that Ghostbur saw what he was doing in L’Manberg as sowing peace, that he relates his love for Friend to people’s belongings, that this is his turning point in how he sees himself (and how he can’t stay dead), and that it’s him putting himself back in the narrative.

This one conversation had so much to tell, and I’m sure I could analyse it further but this is far too long (1.8k words). So, if you made it this far, thank you for reading <3

#dream smp #ghostbur #pls pls dont let this flop #this is the most intense analysis ive done on ghostbur so far #it's his turning point #he's putting himself back in the narrative #he made someone listen to him for once #he thought he had brought peace to l'manberg #i was gonna add a read more but idk where to put it #so uh sorry for the long post #dream smp analysis

[miraculouscontent]

You’re getting one reply, my dude.

Chat Noir did NOT fall in love with Ladybug on first sight. It was kinda the same way as with Luka; she was little awkward and anxious at first, but later showed how amazing she is. This is what made BOTH Luka AND Chat fall in love with her. So I don't understand why you see Luka positively and Chat negatively.

“First sight” is referring to “first episode,” so “Origins” for love square and “Captain Hardrock” for Lukanette. That’s not even the issue

Also, no. Luka was charmed by Marinette before he saw how “amazing” she was (at best, he heard about the photo curse breakage from Juleka given that the “Reflekta” picture is hanging where Luka can clearly see it from his bed), and then he fell deeper with the whole, “that girl is incredibly brave” line, whereas Chat Noir only got big heart eyes and started being interested in Ladybug when she was doing “amazing things.”

Marinette disliked Adrien at first. That was due to the situation.

...Yeah? A very dumb situation and misunderstanding that led to needless drama and the briefest one-sided “Enemy to Friend to Crush” subplot that I have ever seen and still made the jump all the more jarring? Lukanette’s “problem” revolves around the love square existing, not misunderstandings that hold no weight or value (even Adrimi is guilty of this because Kagami thinks that Adrien loves Marinette; Lukanette is the only ship free of misunderstandings), which is why it’s so ridiculous to me when people say “you can’t ship Lukanette because Adrien/love square,” because shipping Lukanette (as with any other Marinette ship) would usually imply that the love square isn’t a problem anymore..

And he din't lie. Adrien said that he's never had any friends BESIDE CHLOE.

Ohohooookay, now you are literally lying about what is said in the actual “Origins” episode, or just not telling the full truth.

Because yes, Adrien did say that he’s never had any friends besides Chloe... to Nino.

Adrien: I've known Chloé since I was a little kid. I know she's not perfect, but I can't throw her under the bus. She's like my only friend.

But what does he say when it’s time to clear the air with Marinette?

Adrien: Hey. I just wanted you to know that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat, I swear. I've never been to school before. I've never had friends.

He tells her that he’s never had friends, yet he tells Nino that Chloe is “like his only friend” and will go on later in “Malediktator” to explicitly say that Chloe is his friend.

Adrien being Chloe’s friend in “Origins” was a huge dealbreaker for both Alya and Marinette, then Adrien lied to her and said that he’s never had any friends (which, I get it, a lot of people miss because I fully admit that the atmosphere in the umbrella scene is really good and you will miss it if you’re a heavy shipper not focusing on the details; you can say it a nicer way by going, “he worded it poorly” or “the writers are bad at dialog,” but the fact is that he told her something that wasn’t true), which started their relationship on false pretenses. It’s just like in “Gamer” where he exaggerates (whether intentionally or otherwise) to fish for someone’s pity/sympathy/forgiveness.

Adrien has tried and actually confessed his love to Ladybug. Ladybug knows that Chat loves her. Marinette has never gotten the chance to do that. She's also sending mixed signals when she panics.

So when Marinette would have the chance to confess, she doesn't and instead denies it. This isn't her fault, but it does mean that Adrien can't be sure. She's told him that she's not in love with him. So you can't really compare Chat and Marinette.

Yes I absolutely can and I absolutely will, because Adrien not being sure about how she feels sure didn’t stop him when Ladybug has repeatedly pushed him away when he’s leaned close to her/tried to kiss her hand. Like, wow that’s sure interesting how “Marinette might love someone else, maybe these hearts are friendly” (because yes, he would absolutely be dense enough for that) didn’t stop him from confessing to her in “Chat Blanc” the instant he thought she was Ladybug.

Same with “Stormy Weather 2,” he doesn’t even consider the what ifs of if she were in love with him and what his reaction would be, and “Weredad” is basically a full confirmation that he’s not interested in her. He’s basically like, “Meh, she doesn’t love me, so it doesn’t matter.”

Ladybug also hasn't said ,,I don't feel about you that way". She kind of talked around it because she doesn't want to hurt him.

My dude, my bro, my guy, don’t be in my inbox to come at me with arguments unless you’re ready for me to pull out the transcripts.

Ladybug in “Glaciator“: Listen, I don't wanna play around with your feelings. It would be the same as lying to you. I don't wanna do that. You're more than a partner, Cat Noir. You're my friend. And I'd never wanna lie to a friend.

Cat Noir: Why do you think it'd be lying?

Ladybug: Because there's this boy I...

Adrien later, a direct confirmation to the audience that he’s aware that Ladybug doesn’t feel that way for him: Perhaps Ladybug will love me someday. I mean, like I love her.

Ladybug in “Frozer” because clearly that message didn’t get through anyway: I can't accept this rose from you. I told you already. I'm in love with someone else. (after which he asks about “what if this guy didn’t exist” which means literally nothing and is just him reaching unless he’s planning to enact a murder which he obviously isn’t)

Ladybug in “Ladybug” because he’s still hoping for no reason: But the real Ladybug's heart still belongs to someone else.

Ladybug again in “Miracle Queen”: I can't be in love with you Cat Noir, you know that.

Seems pretty clear to me.

Besides, it wasn't the fact that Marinette confessed nor the fact they knew their identities that the world ended. It was because Gabriel was still Hawkmoth, so he manipulated the situation to his advantage.

Yes? And then Chat Blanc told her that “our love did this,” which puts blame on Marinette. That’s my point (though I’ll let Chat Blanc off the hook for that one since he’s akumatized... however it still doesn’t make much sense as to how he knows that Gabriel saw him transform unless he knew that Gabriel was watching from somewhere (it was Nathalie and Gorilla actually); he could’ve just presumed that Gabriel had known for a while, there was no evidence he saw that told him it was him transforming into Chat Noir in front of Nathalie and Gorilla that tipped Gabriel off and it’s also super unfair to blame Marinette for it anyway when it was Gabriel behind this whole thing but sure, just make Marinette feel at fault for the world almost ending).

Because that’s what the love square is all about; making Marinette feel bad about liking a boy, Marinette being humiliated for trying to confess to said boy, the universe constantly sabotaging her whenever she manages to do something right, having Marinette reconsider her feelings for Chat Noir AND blush at his cheek kiss after he ditched her as Adrien (presumably; we never saw Gabriel tell Adrien he couldn’t go and Chat Noir made plans with Ladybug as if he planned to ditch them even if Gabriel didn’t do anything) to go prepare a date with Ladybug (wow that sure is interesting how we don’t get an equivalent moment for Marinette from Adrien in “Chat Blanc” at the end, almost like they only care about making Chat Noir feel good about himself and not Marinette), then get mad when Ladybug doesn’t show up even after she tells him that she has prior plans, throwing a tantrum mid-battle and forcing her to apologize first before he’s finally like, “no... I’m sorry,” and then has the gall to add, “Maybe another time.”

Adrimi didn’t need to exist to torment Marinette. The love square already does a good enough job of that and I despise its very existence in all aspects of the writing.

Chat Noir got his damn closure, he just refuses to give up on the very first girl he saw when he went out heroing (I thought he just wanted to make friends but I guess he decided that wasn’t enough for him and “making friends” was immediately sidelined in favor of chasing after “his lady” (ugh)), who he doesn’t know the likes/dislikes of, who he can’t know the identity of, and who he can’t see all parts of because she has to maintain a professional attitude or everyone in Paris is going to die.

Marinette still hasn’t gotten her closure, so it’s no wonder to me why she’s still pining and struggling, especially when people like Alya keep pushing for the love square even when she asks her for help seeing Adrien as a friend.

#category: salt #relationship: love square #other: ask and answer

[catie-does-things]

There’s a certain pushback against the common criticism of how Aang’s character arc was handled in AtLA - the criticism that he doesn’t have to actually learn anything or grow in any way in the story’s resolution - that goes along the lines of: Well, he shouldn’t have to grow up any more, because the war has already forced him to grow up too soon, and holding on to his childhood innocence in the face of that is a powerful message.

But...that’s not how stories work.

Aang is the protagonist of the show. You can’t tell a compelling story where the protagonist doesn’t change. If your hero comes out the other end of his journey with all the same wisdom, values, and maturity that he started with, then he hasn’t really gone on a successful journey, in the narrative sense. To be sure, not every character has to go through radical growth over the course of the story - but the protagonist has to. Otherwise, they shouldn’t be the protagonist.

And the problem with “holding on to childhood innocence” as Aang’s heroic boon is - it’s temporary at best. He’s not some sort of Peter Pan character who can stay a child forever. (And incidentally, you know who is the protagonist of the original Peter Pan story? Wendy, who at the end of the story grows up.) At some point, Aang will have to grow up, as we all do. And growing up is not something negative, but something good and natural that should happen in every child’s life.

Even when you have a character who has been forced to grow up too soon by their circumstances, this is no exception. You can’t redress that wrong by regressing the character or keeping them stagnant. Children of war still have to become adults. Moving forward is still the only option. And in terms of what message we want this show to send, showing how to grow and mature in a healthy way even with the trauma you have suffered would be a lot more powerful than simply saying you don’t have to grow up after all. 

And with other major characters in AtLA, the writers clearly understood this. Katara, Sokka, and Zuko have all been forced to grow up too soon just as much as Aang has, if not more, but they all continue to mature over the course of the series and get to actually resolve the traumas and insecurities that the war has left them with. Aang gets this in partial and temporary ways in certain one-off episodes, but his overall arc does the opposite. In the final resolution of the story, the only lesson he has learned is that everything he believed and wanted was right all along. For him, character growth is treated as unnecessary, even though as the protagonist of the story it is actually more necessary for him than for anyone else.

And this actually ties in to another common counter-argument, that Aang is preserving the culture of his people by maintaining their pacifist ways. Because Aang, as a twelve-year-old, can not possibly have a fully mature understanding of his own culture - no twelve-year-old does. There’s even ample evidence in the show that this is not the case - from the implication that Gyatso killed many of the Fire Nation soldiers who attacked him, to the advice Yangchen gives Aang in the finale. Allowing Aang to cling to a simplistic, childish understanding of Air Nomad values does not in fact preserve their culture - but having him reach a more nuanced, mature understanding of those same values would.

All that said, I will add my usual caveat that I don’t think Aang necessarily should have killed Ozai, from a narrative perspective, but the way that he gets out of having to do it still should have required him to mature in some way, rather than simply being handed to him the way it was. And of course there was a perfect set up for this in the book two finale - mastering the Avatar state (which he evidently needs in order to use his energybending ability) requires him to let go of his attachments. Making that sacrifice would in theory bring him more in line with the Air Nomad philosophy. But then that entire plot point got dropped like a hot rock and completely forgotten about in favor of a deus ex machina.

And as a final final caveat - I don’t hate Aang. I don’t say these things because I think Aang is somehow a bad person or bad character. I just think the writing on the show had some serious flaws regarding his character arc specifically. And these flaws are ultimately a disservice to Aang himself, who would have gotten so much more out of his own story if the writers had allowed him to have real growth.

#avatar the last airbender #atla meta #anti bryke #aang