#the only major example or the villain creating the hero where i NEVER like it is when joker is responsible for the wayne deaths | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kookies2000 · 1 year

Text

Trailer for Kung Fu Panda 4 was released at a private convention, I believe. Po is looking for a successor to The Dragon Warrior name, and the villain will be a chameleon sorceress. I don't mind the concept. Po training and finding a Dragon Warrior successor will be like when Oogway picked him and Shifu trained him. So it's a nice concept. But people are already upset that the villain is a woman and the new successor might be a girl. How this film will overly push the feamle agenda. These people are completely ignoring Tigress, aren't they?

Tigress is a better female character than a majority of other films that wrote female characters. Not just animated films, films in general.

Types of female stereotypes in Hollywood,

The famous damsel in distress. Usually, these girls are princesses or made hopelessly weak and need someone to rescue them. It can work if written right. Like in Tangled where Flynn ran back to the tower to check if Rapunzel was ok. But he didn't do all the work. Rupunzle added in her part of the work, too. She saved Flynn as well.

Romance involved? Man stealers, love triangles, insecurities about appearance, etc. The cliché, remove glasses and straight hair to be beautiful move. I can't really think of a female character where this is good. It's just setting toxic beauty standers.

Sexualize everything about the female character. Make her small, and give her a noticeable chest, hips, and long eyelashes. Nothing wrong with being feminine but when it's overly done, it's kinda annoying. Epically if it's done to every female character you create. Maybe one or two, like, I have no issue with Roug from Sonic, but that's because we have other female characters who aren't sexualized. And Roug has a personality that doesn't always rely on her seductive looks. She is a badass treasure hunter and a partner in crime/best friend/I ship it fight me, with Shadow.

Obsessed with love and finding true love. Frozen was great because it tackled this cliché. Love obsessed Anna learned a mistake many females should've learned in past films.

Mother and caretaker. This works but not if that's 100% her only character trait. I can only see this in side characters like mothers or nannies. And who says men can't be in this role?

Brat or Queen Bee. I usually enjoy these girls if they have redemption like Pacifica in Gravity Falls. Or even Regina in Mean Girls.

The prize. Self-explanatory, she's the one the hero fights to gain in the end. Which is tackled in Mulan. All the men want a girl worth fighting for, only to realize war isn't about impressing women. It's about fighting for everyone, including little girls like the girl who the doll belonged to.

The clumsy one and that's her only flaw.

And of course, not like other girls. The best example I can think of now is the Bad Cinderella Broadway show that came out recently. Making Cinderella say she doesn't dress like others and yet 90% of the ensembles dress just like her. Not like other girls can work if you don't shove it in the audience face all the time.

And now, just try, TRY to put Tigress in any of these. She isn't a damsel in distress. Damsels in distress are always captured and rely on someone to rescue them. And sometimes, like 90% of the time, the one who captures her will be seductive toward her. Tigress was never placed in that position at all. The closest she got to that role was in the 2nd film. When Shen captured the Furious Five. And I just want to say this, does anyone else get uncomfortable or at least feel icky when Shen whispers "beautiful" in Tigress's ear? I know it isn't sexual but just the thought of someone getting that close makes me uncomfortable. Anyways! Po didn't need to rescue them exactly. He just threw them a weapon and boom! They were set free and ready to fight. And anytime she is in trouble, it's a teamwork situation. Tai Lung tried to choke her, but Viper held him off while Crane helped Tigress.

Romance? 90% of films have female characters who want true love or something related. Not here. There's no romance anywhere. You can say she and Po have something blossoming, which I'm 100% on board with!!! SHIP!!! But I do love how she wasn't created for the purpose of being Po's love interest. It's kinda rare for a female character to have zero romance in her story. And when they do have it, it's always your typical love at first sight situation. Which I understand if it's a single film. But in this case, I hope they do become canon because of the way it's developing through multiple films. I can't really think of any film that establishes a deep friendship before making it romantic. I can say Trolls did since Poppy and Branch don't become a couple until the 2nd film. And their "I love you" in the first film is a platonic one.

She is also far from being sexy. She is motherly and like a big sister to her team, but that isn't her only trait. She's not a mean girl or brat. And she never points out that she isn't like other girls. Like in Super Hero films, every female hero always mentions they are a woman or complain about men. Heck, none of the films even mentions her gender.

You know that scene in Mulan where she reveals herself to the villain and the villain says "warrior" instead of mentioning her gender like every other man in the film? You know that feeling we got of how much respect a villain showed towards a woman? That's what I get in all three Kung Fu Panda films. How easy was it for Dreamworks to go the Mulan route? IN ANCIENT CHINA!!! They could've made her arch about being the only female warrior. And how she wanted the title of Dragon Warrior to prove that a woman can be a warrior. But no, she isn't the only female warrior, and she wanted the title to make Shifu proud. Heck, Shifu WANTED Tigress to be The Dragon Warrior!!! He adopted her, he trained her, he was her father figuer, he shaped her into who she is. He and Oogway never looked down at her for being a girl. They could've given her an arch about how Shifu treats his daughter (Tigress) and son (Tai Lung) differently. Same treatment for Viper. Shifu accepted Viper with open arms.

How easy could it have been for the villains to treat Tigress differently? They could've been sexist towards her, and we would excuse it as villain behavior. But no!!! Tai Lung fights her like a warrior. He doesn't tease her about being a woman. He doesn't hold back. He tries to murder her on the bridge fight. Shen kills on sight. He doesn't care about her gender. Kai has his "little kitten" line. How easy was it for the writers to make that a sexist line? Instead, they make it a simple taunting line. The villains see her as an enemy. Her teammates see her as their friend and leader. Po admires her. The village sees her their protector. Shifu and Oogway see her as the top student/daughter. And DreamWorks treats her like any other character. The company isn't constantly shining a spotlight on her and calling attention to how great they are at making female characters. She is a Chinese lady who is treated just like everyone else in all three films. Which is pretty rare since the first one came out at 2008. A time when children films put a lot of attention on their female characters being female and advertise the hey out of it. I would say Moana was close, but Maui always pointed out that she's a princess. Go-go from Big Hero Six was SUPER close. Then she had her woman up line. There is nothing wrong with it, the film is great and so is Go-go. But I can't ignore that line that brought attention to her being a woman. I think Mirabel is one of the best female characters as well. Same level as Tigress since Mirabel is treated just like everyone else without her gender ever being in the spot light or falling in any cliché female role.

In conclusion! If there's any franchise I fully trust with women's representation, it's Kung Fu Panda. So, who cares if the villain is a woman? Who gives a care that the next Dragon Warrior might be a girl? Kung Fu Panda treated their female characters just like any other characters. It's almost as if sexism doesn't exist in the Kung Fu Panda universe......... Also, Encanto. I trust Encanto as much as I trust Kung Fu Panda.

#kung fu panda 4 #kung fu panda 3 #kung fu panda 2 #kung fu panda

43 notes · View notes

zuffer-weird-girl · 2 years

Note

Hi can you please do dabi and overhaul (separate) with a fem s/o who has some major sister issues

The reader was always trapped in her sister's shadow and reader used to want to be a hero but every time she did something good her sister would get all of the credit and not give reader her due, reader became a villain because she just wants attention and to be adored like her sister is .

The reader has a quirk called shadow. So basically User can create, shape and manipulate dark energy, usually drawn from inter-dimensional or other similar sources. It can be channeled to a variety of effects as an absence of light, a solid, gaseous and/or liquid substance that can be shaped/manifested in various ways.

Thanks

For this guy, this hits close to home-

Dabi is the one who understands you the most and mostly like would hate , despise, LOATHE your sister. Even if he never saw her.

Also probably also hates/dislikes your parents from going on with this shit of you do something than that sister of yours get credit for it.

And if you try to convince otherwise, or that he shouldn't hate them he will just stare at you with a face you know way too well.

Touya is angry at them because of the things they did and not because you told them. And our favorite arsonist isn't one to "forgive" someone that easy...

Actually, scratch that. He doesn't forgive anyone. Not all.

But he still says that you should be doing those things for yourself and yourself only since, at least for him, you are adored and perfect the way you act and the way you are.

Please he is your number one fan behind the curtains. Heck he even whistle at you wevery time on missions because his face screams "PROUD OF MY SO" while smirking.

Finds you not only a badass but also your quirk.

Likes to think, only to himself, that you both are the typical partners in crime couple. But would rather eat dust that Shigaraki made than admit that out loud.

"Address. Now."

Seriously. The first thing you will hear it from this man's mouth after you first talk about this he is demanding the address where your sister lives... likewise your parents even.

On the outside he sounds and seems like he could care less but on the inside he is fuming.

Kai when he loves and respects someone he would kill to protect and to honor them. Take Pops as a example from how far this dude went to bring the Yakusa back just to impress the elder.

Now imagine of its YOU.

This dude may be like a tsundere at first, but he worships the hell out of you.

So yeah... he doesn't take too well your "origin story"

As I have spoken many times before, Overhaul doesn't care if your quirk is amazing or not or heroic or not. He will still try to get rid of it since he thinks is a disease and you must be "cured"

Although he does admit that seeing you shape and create some kind of dark energy does surprise and is intriguing to him.

Might even find some use for it.

But different from the precepts, he doesn't treat you like garbage since he loves you and all.

Not one for compliments but he does pat your head a lot and point out how well you are on the most basic things even.

#dabi x reader #touya todoroki x reader #overhaul x reader #chisaki kai x reader #bnha villains x reader #bnha villains #overhaul #chisaki kai #zuffer writings

121 notes · View notes

isfjmel-phleg · 11 months

Text

All right, this is my one (1) gush post that I have been granted permission to do. I will try not to be too annoying about it. I'm going to talk about Young Justice, which is a comic that ran from 1998 to 2003 (not to be confused with an animated series of the same name that is almost nothing like its namesake). I've been rereading it lately after having read some of its characters' solo titles and have been reminded of just how good it is.

The series is about a group of young heroes (about 14-16, but for some of them exact age is...complicated). There's the usual battling villains and saving the world, but ultimately the heart of the ongoing story is how these kids have to navigate being a team and facing their own personal struggles. The tone tends to be light-hearted, and yes, it's frequently very silly and very 1990s and you have to go into this expecting all that. But the humor is well-balanced with more dramatic plotlines, some of which are quite poignant, and the series is unafraid to acknowledge when something is serious and shouldn't be brushed off with a joke. It tackles some surprisingly deep issues: war, mortality, loss of innocence, identity, trust, etc. But the sense of optimism is never lost, and the series ends on a (mostly) joyful note.

What I especially love about this series is the excellent characters. Most of the team are connected to well-known adult heroes, but they are not just smaller versions of their predecessors. They all have distinctive, well-developed personalities and arcs, and this extends even to the four major female characters (there's an equal number of guys and girls in the cast!), who do not exist simply to be love interests. Which is a big deal because this was not the norm in comics of this time, including those in which some of these characters also feature.

There's this scene in #7 in which the newly formed team is on a camping trip, and as they sit around the fire, they try to get to know each other better through a game of Truth or Dare that turns into a discussion of the question, "If you could just be normal, would you quit the superhero game?" And the ensuing conversation sets up the arc for every single character.

One of them would give it up "in a heartbeat" because the only circumstances in which he could do that would be if "mankind had entered utopia." Another, who was forced into heroics by her mother, would "ask my mother's advice...and then do the opposite." Another one declares she would never give up her opportunity to be part of "an epic of heroism and adventure that goes back millennia!" Another already considers himself normal; "it's the rest of the world that's weird." Another, who is a literal ghost, would give anything to be normal and able to connect with other people again. And the last one is vehemently in denial about how his unusual circumstances are actually hurting him.

Which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about where these kids are coming from, and where they're going. The stories are character-driven, and these arcs are followed through on.

I also appreciate that the writer clearly understood all the characters well despite not having created any of them (except for Anita and Slo-bo, later in the series). Their characterizations are consistent with their appearances in other series. And while you don't need to have read the solo comics that were running simultaneously, familiarity with them does enrich the YJ stories and vice versa--everything fits together.

It's a fun and satisfying read, unusually cohesive for a long-running comic due to having the same head writer throughout, and not perfect but an example of a comic from this era at its best potential. If this is your sort of thing, I highly recommend it. And goodness knows I can't say that about just any comic.

#comicsposting again #YJ: so glad we found each other

14 notes · View notes

wallisninety-six · 9 months

Text

Why 'Smile' is The Beach Boys'- and Brian Wilson's magnum opus

The Beach Boys, for many decades have had something of an identity crisis- the band mainly seen in mainstream as the fun & sun loving surfer band, soon gained newfound acclaim for the landmark production of Pet Sounds and saw growing interest in the band's (and Brian Wilson's) extremely tumultuous and even tragic history simultaneously. Smile manages to touch upon all of this at once, as we see the stunning transformation from the small teenage-led garage band in Hawthorne becoming musical and cultural icons.

What was planned to be a album meant to top Pet Sounds & The Beatles' soon-to-be album Sgt. Pepper- Smile has seen one of the most consequential episodes in all of rock history, But beside the legends & the endless debates surrounding it...what about the album itself? (For numerous reasons I talk about here, the 19-track, three-movement version on The Smile Sessions is the version (I believe) people should go to to experience their first listen with if you want the Beach Boys version of it- and is what this review is based on).

Truth be told, I do think Smile actually ties Pet Sounds for their best work, because its existence makes it so hard for me to choose *just* one album considered to be their best. And even if you never knew the album's history, the original songs easily represent the absolute culmination of Brian Wilson's then-only 5-year long career as a songwriter, composer, producer, and innovator in the industry- and he was only 23 when he started Smile.

For all the growing concerns that the Boys weren't cool or heavy enough during the 60s, and even though the album leans more on the experimental- Smile is still unapologetically Beach Boys in its sound, staying on-brand and allowing us a comfortable way to listen to newer, even challenging musical ideas. Brian's radically experimental composition chops are shown in full, dizzying force- with Smile, Brian was creating editing and production techniques that were so new and novel at the time, it would rarely be attempted again until digital music editing was more common decades later. The music world was his playground, and he was ready to try anything.

Some people may lament certain tracks (like "Holidays") are majority instrumental (due to the album being unfinished)- especially in comparison to Brian's solo version, but this is nothing new: Most Beach Boys albums up to this point had instrumental tracks where Brian tried new compositions, and Pet Sounds & Smile was no exception. But where Pet Sounds evolved instrumentals into *compositions* to fit the album's flow- Smile takes it several steps further. It (unintentionally) sets a positive example that not every song in an album- nor the album itself, needs to be conventional in any way. It was a bold new world and experiment for rock music- why be dogmatic with established rules?

If "Good Vibrations" was a 'Pocket Symphony', then Smile is the symphony itself and these songs are Brian's compositions, and like with editing, tried everything and used various levels of instruments and non-instruments to create a raw, bold new sound- and with the other Beach Boys, Van Dyke Parks and The Wrecking Crew musicians, it would slowly (and painfully) be realized.

The array and variety of sounds and moods in Smile's very compositions are stunning- it's seen in the dizzying Americana and Western sound of "Heroes & Villains", the gorgeous baroque tones of "Wonderful", the monstrous and hypnotic industrial noise of "Cabinessence", and the freakishly apocalyptic orchestral breakdown of "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow"- easily the most unnerving, intense, and horrifying song in all of Beach Boys canon. And like any good Beach Boys album- the more you listen, the more things that were hidden show themselves to you in Smile.

But that didn't mean that the vocals were neglected- far from it, and some of the best vocal and harmony work ever from The Beach Boys exist in Smile- and the opening hymn "Our Prayer" starts the album out reminding us this. And they're all utilized to terrific extent, especially with the songs mentioned above- the whole album wouldn't be the same with it all *completely* gone.

That leads into why the album- even though it's unfinished, sounds so weirdly whole and complete, and that was the incredible musical ingenuity of Brian Wilson as a songwriter & producer and his creative ways of breaking through the future of music with passionate and stylish brute force, while tastefully and lovingly honoring the old that inspired his musical world- going over countless genres & emotions in the process... and having it all still sound like it fits together.

Smile represents the most delicate balance of extreme contrasts, but this balance is miraculously pulled off for each one- quiet and loud moments, humorous & emotional, conventional songs versus songs with no rules, new instrumentals & old classical ones, and a dying old world versus the birth of something new led by impassioned youth...sometimes all in the same song.

The youth and vulnerability of Brian, however, was also unintentionally the project's downfall- He had too many ideas, so many aspirations and grandiose statements to make- but also had too much mental trauma and issues, and like many of his contemporaries, he flew too close to the sun and burned up his talents and energy in the process with a fiery glow.

Smile's purpose as a spiritual statement of youth surrounds all of the album- but even back then, Brian knew it could never last, he was slowly getting older, and reality- like it does with most people, birthed a brutal wake up call to his ambitions & outlook for the world- that more just future where the young could transform society & the world for better never came, and Smile's collapse would be an eerie warning to what the world would look like. After that- politics of love would turn into politics of conflict, as racial hatred and war loomed over America, and the Summer of Love would be violently torn apart by reality.

But while Brian eventually took a serious mental blow and had to scrap the project- he went down fighting tooth and nail, still believing that the band, and rock music itself can ascend to something more- the song "Surf's Up" encapsulates this entirely, declaring an end to the band's surfer image, and embracing a new and freer musical world. And while it's filled with dazzling (and even confusing) wordplay, the most simple, and easily understood part came at the end of it- the clearest message from the album and Brian himself, and tellingly- added years after the project's collapse:

A children's song, Have you listened as they played?, Their song is love, And the children know the way...

The fact that Brian would be able to actually live to see his vision fulfilled and completed on is own terms despite so much extreme trauma he went through- and see newfound love for Smile by younger folks listening to it for the first time 40 years later *and* make their own versions out of musical passion, shows that with time, these dreams can become reality- and planting those seeds for that world you believe in for the next generation to be inspired by... is always worthwhile.

7 notes · View notes

my-job-is-a-series-of-sidequests · 1 year

Text

As a certified Elder Geek, I have been exposed to gaming products over a lot of years. Many of them haven't aged well. But there is a special place in my heart for roasting things that someone, somewhere, should have asked some hard questions about before they ever saw print.

Welcome to the first installment of Elder Abominations, a look at old RPG books where they should have known better.

Our first contestant comes from fallen industry titan TSR, and comes with a little backstory. But first:. The cover!

Fuck yeah! Scary dude floating in space and smashing bubble helmets! And that other guy looks like a budget wolfman! I'm fuckin' sold!

So, the origins of the Buck Rogers XXVc roleplaying game are amazingly mercenary. To assist me, I shall call upon the credits to the book. Also, keep in mind that the people below worked on this book, and maybe could have thought things through. I'm not trying to divine their intentions behind the book, and make no claims about that. All I know is what's on the page.

That's 1990, which can only have been about fifteen years ago, right?

Oh, right, I forgot. Never do the math about how old you are.

In 1990, Gary Gygax had been forced out of TSR and Lorraine Williams was the new boss. There's a lot of backstory I'm eliding here because it's not germane to the issue at hand. (Also, there are books you can read! I'm currently reading The Game Wizards.)

Williams is relevant here because of something buried there in the credits. "Buck Rogers and XXVC are trademarks used under license from The Dille Family Trust." The Dille Family Trust owned the rights to Buck Rogers. And you know who one of the major beneficiaries of that trust was?

That's right, Lorraine Williams. She had TSR try to create a franchise so she could double dip on the profits. It was not a smashing success, but Younger Elder Geek me didn't know or care about any of that.

The franchise did spawn an RPG boxed set, a handful of sourcebooks and adventures, and a couple of Gold Box style computer games by SSI. Loved those.

I did (and still do, somewhere) have a copy of the box set, as well as today's victim. Pictures are from a PDF, because it's just easier.

The elevator pitch is great. "What if we did a kinda hard sci-fi version of Rayguns and Rocketships? The aesthetic is all fishbowl helmets and Cadillac fins on spaceships!" Fuckin' rad. And they just lifted the mechanics wholesale from AD&D, with THAC0, descending armor class and all.

But. This book.

Perhaps my fascist sense is a bit overdeveloped, but this book bothered even the Tiny Elder Geek. Let us just say that someone on the design team had opinions.

I will grab our examples from one small section of the book, because synecdoche. Here's a bunch of NPC groups your heroes can interact with!

Huh. The super-virtuous good guys are called the Libertarians. I'm sure that's just a bit of fluff. Let's take a look at this Green Earth group?

Oh, cool. Ecoterrorists. And, no. There is not a group of good guy environmentalists to work with. And these guys don't get along with...

Wait, what? The Sixth Fucking Reich? Okay, so they absolutely have to be bad guys, right? Everyone loves punching or shooting Nazis, right?

Um. "Realm of Earth to come?" They're... Space pirates? Known for... being good at pirating? No acknowledgement in any way that the name might raise eyebrows anywhere, ever? I am utterly baffled as to why anyone would choose to do that, ever, in a published product.

No, I'm sorry. That is a lie. I know pre-fucking-cisely why someone would choose to do that.

Also, behold the art. Good enough, except for the fact that it definitely previously appeared in the core set. You know, the books you would absolutely need to have in order to use this book for your game? And, also, definitely not in line with that raygun aesthetic.

Last picture, I promise. We need a moustache-twirling villain. Dude needs a name. I'm sure it's a very subtle reference that...

Oh.

All of that in a mere ten pages of this book. Commies and hippies bad, rugged Libertarians good, and Nazis? Meh, they're okay.

I highlight this because this shit is pernicious. Unlike RPGs of today, this shit was squarely aimed at kids. This is stuff that gets in your head to help form your politics before you have a grasp of what politics even is.

And, while it's among the worst I've seen from TSR, it's not the worst I've ever seen. Perhaps that will be another day.

#XXVc #Elder Abominations #rpgs #antifascism #0/7 do not recommend

5 notes · View notes

whenimgoodandready · 2 years

Text

Trixx is gone, Wayzz is gone, Pollen is gone, basically all the miraculouses are gone! But fear not! For we still have Duusu, who may or may not be safe with Felix, Fluff, who’s 💯% safe with Alix and more importantly, Tikki and Plagg are still owned by the heroes! Phew! Ah, Plagg, the lovable rascal who’s always up to mischief and hungry for camembert. He’s helped Adrien so much. Like convincing him to enjoy his birthday party (“The Bubbler”), letting him know how important he is to him (“Syren”), playing piano together (“Feast”), and creating a third persona for him as Cat Walker! (“Kuro Neko”). Can’t imagine how much more powerful Monarch would be if he got his hands on Plagg!😅 However, it is the power of destruction😳. The damage is serious! See for yourself:

*Destruction-Monarchs in charge of those poor little Kwamies now. They’re scared, helpless and forced to do whatever he tells them to, like for example reveal Ladybugs identity! Don! Don! Don! Fortunately, despite the fact that the Kwamies are under his possession, Ladybug never denounced them as they’re still bonded to her as the guardian. Phew! What a relief!

He’s experiencing what Marinette went through all through the 4th season and he sees how troublesome those Kwamies can be! In spit of knowing all their powers, there were certain “limitations” to what he can and can’t do (ex.trying to use Orikko’s power of sublimation to time travel even though that’s Fluffs power and he can’t bestow that) for his goals involving those little rascals and that just put him on edge! I mean, yeah, Marinette was exhausted from keeping all of them in line too, but she was careful and sweet with them and Gabe was just rude and vicious with them and only sees them as pawns for his evil schemes. Glad the Kwamies at least talked back to him, he deserves it! :P Still, he slyly asks where at least Ladybug lives! Don! Don! Don!

HE’S AT MARINETTES HOUSE! OH SH*T! OH SH*T! THIS IS THE END! SAY GOOD-BYE! SAY GOOD-BYE! WE’RE FINISHED! WE’RE DONE! GAME, MAN! GAME OVER!😭 WAIT! Did Monarch just ask Marinette where Ladybug is!? (record scratch)🤨. Uuuuuuuuuuuh, did I miss something? Oh! Wait! I see what’s goin’ on here! Oh, this is precious🤭. THE KWAMIES ARE SENDING MONARCH ON A WILD GOOSE CHASE AROUND PARIS TO SAVE MARINETTE! (Badum-tish🥁) Oh good Lord!😂

Try as he might, Gabe/Monarch just can’t catch a break! I mean, sure he’s got a hold on a majority of the miraculouses, but it hasn’t been a picnic for him that’s for sure! First he kept falling face forward during his time travels (“Evolution”), then he was a joke when he said he’d be attacking “relentlessly” and everybody was just chillin’ (“Multiplication”) and now, his so called Villain Episode was all about him running around Paris like a halfwit thinking it would lead him to Ladybug!🤣 It was all part of Marinettes planning!👏👏👏Great job! Girl! Great job! She finally put her elaborate scheming to some good use! So, somewhere around maybe the 2nd or 3rd season (did the first three eps of this season all happen in the same day? I kinda noticed that. Was this cuz we the fans complained about the timeline in the show?), Marinette cultivated the ultimate fool proof plan to make sure her identity never got found out and to keep the main baddie busy! From using hidden notes to allies of authority, it worked like a charm!😉. You’re probably wondering what all this excessive planning and making the villain look stupid had to do with the episode title since it is about Plaggs power on destruction. Well, as if you couldn’t already tell from the gif above, Monarch risked Cat Noir cataclysming his arm! Don! Don! Don! All to get away again and prevent the heroes from taking back the Kwamies! DAMN! Even Cat was horrified by it cuz even though Monarch was the villain, behind that mask he wore was still a human being. More so his father! A sh*tty father, but a father none the less. That boy has such humanity🙏. Well, looks like we got our canon answer on “What happens when Cat Noir cataclysms a person?” FYI, they don’t die! Like how it scared the people with that illusion from “Heroes Day”. Instead, it just leaves a dark mark on the person and from what I saw in future eps in trailers, it slowly weakens them too! Yikes!😬The duo were this close! THIS CLOSE!👌to finally rescuing all the other Kwamies and being with their beloved guardian again. I’ll be honest, I accidentally saw a gif of Ladybug with all the Kwamies and I thought, “What!? She got them all back this early!?”, but of course, that would be too easy. We need the Kwamies to be stuck with Monarch for the season so the heroes can battle him and save them cuz otherwise, we won’t have any drama! Or a plot! Speaking of drama, it gets worse for our little Kwamies, Gabe trapped them in cages and turned their unique looking miraculouses into basic a** rings so he can wear them comfortably and then use them to secretly transmit the Kwamies powers to the alliance rings from last weeks ep to the civilians of Paris to akumatize them with! Don! Don! Don!😱

#miraculous ladybug #destruction

4 notes · View notes

jolyneswife-anime-reviews · 2 years

Text

My hero academia anime review

Spoilers for my hero academia and tw for family issues

Disclaimer: I have only watched everything up to about half of season 4.

“Even if it means twisting myself, I’ll win the way I choose,” - Katsuki Bakugo

Genre: action, high school, superhero

Where I watched it: Funimation

Characterisation: 8.5/10 (Characters have a very broad range of personalities and even minor side characters get some screen time. Most characters are gradually developed throughout the series, with the main characters being complex and diverse, but also improving as they learn more and make mistakes. An example is Todoroki’s struggle to view his fire as his own power after the abuse his father out his family through- gradually, he starts to realize that, despite it being the same power, it’s his power and he is not his father. There are a LOT of characters too, so there’s something for everyone. The series also strays from clichés a bit, making the characters more memorable, unique and the plot more enjoyable. An example of this is Uraraka, who appears light hearted, cutesy and carefree, but her real reason for becoming a hero is to make a lot of money so her parents can rest after working so hard for her whole life.)

Setting: 8/10 (As a setting, UA high school works very well- it has all the facilities that would be necessary for training future pro heroes for all kinds of situations, and the high school element adds a more realistic, slice of life feel. The setting is sometimes changed, with things like work studies at hero agencies or training camps, and this helps us to keep understanding this world and enjoy seeing the characters grow and develop. It also makes for a stimulating plot. Later on in the anime, the decision is also made to build dorms to keep the students safe from increasing villain attacks. This adds a nice, homely feel to the school, with each student personalising their room to reflect them, as well as creating opportunities for more relaxed and wholesome skits.)

Art style: 7/10 (The art style is pleasant- most characters are well drawn and their costumes as heroes are too. However, it’s nothing out of the ordinary, and settings tend to look way too computerised for my taste)

Plot: 8/10 (the plot is pretty fast paced and dynamic- it certainly doesn’t lack variety, as well as mysteries and questions that need answering. All this makes it quite engaging to watch, but sometimes, particularly with some battle arcs, some events dragged on for way too long, so I started to lose interest.)

Originality:9.5/10 (I absolutely adore the way this anime combined elements of a regular, slice of life, high school anime (friendships, rivalries, school events etc.) with a very comic like vision of heroes and superpowers. It managed to make the two go hand in hand in a very innovative way.)

Addictiveness: 7/10 (While the solid plot and the mystery elements, as well as the amazing world building do engage the viewer, I definitely wouldn’t say this anime was gripping- it didn’t leave me needing to know more, and, due to the storyline dragging in some arcs, I actually ended up losing interest for a short while)

Comfort: 7/10 (There are some darker areas to the anime- atrocious deeds are committed against vulnerable people, and there’s a lot of raw emotion too, due to the mental demand of being a hero. However, the friendship element of MHA, as well as the numerous funny or wholesome skits and the (for the most part) positive and good natured cast who always persevere make the anime quite comforting to watch.)

Philosophy: 8/10 (Due to the high level of character development, there are definitely some noteworthy points to take away from the anime. The majority of these are about self improvement, and come from the characters themselves growing. One of these is that you should never be so cocky that you don’t see your own weaknesses and don’t make progress, which is something Bakugo realised after failing his provisional license exam, despite being among the top students in the class. The main one however, is that no matter how impossible things seem, if someone is passionate, dedicated and works hard, they can make it happen. This is shown throughout Izuku’s own journey of training to become a hero.)

Consistency:7.5/10 (Despite the quality not really dropping from season to season, there are some areas where the plot drags and gets a bit repetitive, or where it becomes easy to lose interest.)

The plot

Izuku Midoriya dreams of becoming a pro hero, and has felt that way ever since he was a little kid. This was despite the fact that, in a superhuman society where 80% of people are born with some sort of power, or “quirk,”, he was born completely ordinary. When he saw All might, the number one hero, on TV as a kid, he grew to idolise him and wanted to become just like that. So, despite having no power, Izuku makes the decision to apply for UA, the school producing all the top pro heroes in Japan. His ambition is shut down by his childhood bully, Katsuki Bakugo, who insults him and tells him not to waste time applying- he himself is an amazing student with a powerful quirk. Before the UA entrance exam, Izuku meets all might, and asks him if he can ever become a hero. All might tells him he doesn’t think it’s possible, but a few days later, Izuku sees Bakugo being attacked by a villain and rushes to save him on impulse. After seeing all this, all might changes his mind, as it’s clear to him that Izuku has all the natural qualities of a pro hero. Because of this, he tells Izuku the secret about his own power, which greatly boosts strength and speed. It can be handed down from person to person- the previous user simply needs to choose someone, and all might has chosen Izuku. Once he knows this, Izuku works harder than ever, and he keeps up with a rigorous training regime all might sets up for him in order to be physically strong enough to wield the power. All might transfers his power to Izuku just before the entrance exams, telling him he will not be able to use it all straight away. The exam consists of taking down villain robots, with one robot being worth no points at all. Keeping in mind what all might told him, Izuku is cautious and reluctant to use his new power, but this quickly changes when he sees the 0 points robot heading towards a girl trapped under some rubble. The girl saved him from tripping up using her own zero gravity power before the exam, and had introduced herself as Ochaco Uraraka. Without thinking, Izuku jumps and punches the robot with all his strength, completely demolishing his arm in the process. He is then rushesd to the infirmary. This is the first of many challenges Izuku will face to become a pro hero, but his determination, as well as his skills, will only grow along the way, as he will work harder, and meet more incredible people; some mentors, some friends and some rivals.

Masterlist

1 note · View note

scottwbeattie · 1 year

Text

Review: Iron Fist Epic Colletion 1: The Fury of Iron Fist

Iron Fist 1: The Fury of Iron Fist

70’s Marvel Kung Fu Heroes are 2 for 2

It’s always nice when you go into a book with high expectations and are not disappointed. I was almost certain that I would love Iron Fist 1, since Brubaker and Fraction’s Immortal Iron Fist is one of my favorite modern Marvel runs and the Chris Claremont/John Byrne duo are one of comics’ legendary creative teams. This book was as good as expected.

Roy Thomas created the character and wrote the first issue, but he immediately gave way to Len Wein, Tony Isabella, and Doug Moench, before Chris Claremont became the permanent writer. In spite of the turnover, the beginning of the volume is essentially one long, serialized story. Once Claremont settles in, the book becomes slightly more episodic, which was more typical of Marvel comics in the 70’s. My favorite of the pre-Claremont issues are obviously Marvel Premier #17 and #18 where Iron Fist has to fight his way through the trap-laden Meachum building. I definitely think my love of death-traps comes from watching the Indiana Jones and Home Alone movies so many times as a child.

As good as it was under other writers, the book elevates once Claremont comes on board. Most people in this group are probably very familiar with his specific writing style from his legendary run on Uncanny X-Men, but because this was earlier in his career, he hadn’t yet developed some of the tics that he would become famous for later on (like repeated use of catchphrases). The plotting is also not quite as intricate as UXM; Iron Fist is a fairly straightforward narrative with a main plot that is occasionally interrupted by interludes which set up the next arc. It’s nowhere near as complex as Claremont’s Uncanny, in which he would be planting seeds for stories 5 years down the line while simultaneously spinning 3-4 plots and subplots, but Iron Fist is just as enjoyable.

I really liked how Misty Knight was developed across this volume. Claremont only reveals her background in small pieces, but we constantly see how competent she is, and, if you don’t already know why, it’s quite cool to see her do some really amazing feats. Her relationship with Danny Rand is also really interesting. You’d be forgiven for assuming that Colleen Wing was intended to be Danny’s love interest, but he and Misty have much better chemistry, and, at least in this volume, Misty is much better-developed and more interesting than Colleen Wing.

One minor complaint that I have about The Fury of Iron Fist is that most of the antagonists are forgettable. The Meachums, for example, are never more than your typical rich evil bad guys. Only the Wrecking Crew, on loan from Thor, have any real flair. Sabretooth also makes his debut here, and he does show a lot of potential, but given that he’s a prominent X-Men/Wolverine villain, I assume that he probably doesn’t return to this title.

One high point is that Iron Fist consistently looks great throughout this volume. John Byrne draws the majority of the Claremont issues, and it’s amazing how in sync the two of them were from the beginning. Even before Byrne, several others including a young Larry Hama provide solid contributions.

Something that I tried to be aware of while I read this was whether I’d recommend Master of Kung Fu or Iron Fist to someone. Ultimately, I decided that it wasn’t a fair comparison, because not only are both equally great, but, really, the 70’s Kung Fu trappings are where the similarities between the titles end. Master of Kung Fu has more in common with James Bond, whereas Iron Fist is a more traditional superhero. That said, if you enjoy one title, than there’s a good chance that you’d enjoy the other. Both would be among my most recommended Marvel Comics from the 70’s.

1 note · View note

shotorozu · 3 years

Text

relationship realizations

— ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦ 3k followers milestone

character(s) : multiple characters (bnha)

legend : [Y/N = your name] they/them pronouns used, quirk not mentioned

note(s) : happy 3k ‼️ thank you all for all the love, and most especially those that continue to send love, and indulge in my works. further context, this is what the bnha boys/men learned by being with you :))

»»————-　♡　————-««

midoriya izuku

↮ that his opinion does matter. okay— it’s not like you handed his confidence to him, no that’s different. but, you are a main contributor to the sudden increase of confidence in himself. before, he was just so used to be brushed aside, other people being told to ignore him whenever he does this, and for his rambles to be ignored like white noise— but after you showed up and spent some time with him, he realizes that it’s not the end of the world if he does ramble, and it’s not the end of the world to not be confident about your opinions 100% of the time, but what does matter is that his opinion was heard. which ultimately lead to him being more confident in expressing his own opinions, not caring if it’s apart of the vase majority, or the minority. he’ll forever love you for this.

todoroki shouto

↮ that taking your time isn’t abnormal. shouto, being someone that had little to no set example of what romance is, and being exposed to romance comedies, and tv shows— made him realize something. that people were already kissing on the first date, and he felt well,, under developed because of it. he was never the biggest fan of physical touch, it’s not to say that he never wanted to kiss you, he always does want to, but— he won’t just kiss you just because it’s the first date, or because the movies said so, even as much as he wanted to, no. that’s not what he wanted. he felt worried that he was moving too slowly, compared to the examples he’s seen online but— you say things differently. you allowed him to take his time, showing him patience as you peck him on his temples, and he couldn’t be more grateful to love someone like you.

bakugou katsuki

↮ that being vunerable isn’t a bad idea. you’re even aware of the many few boundaries katsuki has set up for himself— like no pda. which, you’re perfectly fine with, but katsuki hated the idea of being vunerable because well,, people shoved him onto this pedestal at a very young age, he’s thee bakugou katsuki, there’s no room for vulnerability (or so he thinks) besides all might and deku, you’re really the only one that has seen the vulnerable bakugou katsuki, not the loud and explosive one everyone is used to. he was repulsed by the idea, but after the first time he allowed himself to cry on your lap, shedding tears as he trembles in your caring embrace— he realized that he has someone, and that someone wouldn’t care for the world if he wasn’t this big and strong person 24/7. he won’t say it out loud, but he’s incredibly thankful

kaminari denki

↮ that people do take him seriously. nearly everyone sees this man as this.. class clown, goof ball, and that he’s ‘stupid’ or he’s ‘lacking braincells’ most of the time, and that’s all they make him out to be. denki doesn’t like drowning in self pity, but he can’t help it, why doesn’t anyone take him seriously? but wait, that’s when you come along. it was heartbreaking to say the least when you saw how shocked he was when you wanted to hear his plans and ideas. to anyone else, it might appear to be the bare minimum, but it’s everything to denki. to be taken seriously when the time says so, to be treated like the next person with ambitions. sure, he loves being a jokester, he loves making people laugh, but he can’t bite back the smile, when he sees you worry about him after every short circuit, and kiss him on the cheek whenever he comes back to his senses.

shinsou hitoshi

↮ that not everyone’s opinion is valid. okay hear me out, that might be considered a bad thing, but it’s really not. in fact, it’s a good thing. hitoshi’s just used to hearing sugar coated and backhanded compliments being thrown his way, people saying that “you’d be a good villain, at least!” but, he doesn’t want to be a villain. sometimes they’re not even backhanded, and he’s just used to accepting it as it is. because, everyone has been thinking that way, since well— he first manifested his quirk. but that’s when you come along, and blow away his expectations. you weren’t afraid to tell him the truth, that he shouldn’t have allowed all of them to insult him like that, since he deserved all of the good that was in the world. that wasn’t the part that stuck out the most, but it was the part where you told him that it’s the intent that mattered, and who cares if his quirk seems villainous, as long as he meant well? for once in his life, he stopped paying attention to the senseless comments, and focused on what really mattered— you.

kirishima eijirou

↮ that you don’t need a flashy quirk to be honorable. his quirk, while it took some time for it to be in the state that it is today, it has always been an insecurity of his, not that he’d admit that. that he can’t create big explosions or large glaciers of ice like bakugou or todoroki, or he can’t create whatever he desired like yaoyorozu, he just felt,, plain sometimes. which was something he never voiced out in such a blunt manner before, since he always presented himself as this cheery dude that’s always ready for the occasion. it might be easy, he probably curses at himself for being under your spell a little bit too easily, but he feels great whenever you praise him for his hard work, and especially his quirk. even when the insecurity slips out by accident, and when you’re questioned if you really meant that, you stay true to your statement, and that was an eye opener.

amajiki tamaki

↮ that there are other ways of being strong. look, it’s not like tamaki’s quirk is weak— in fact, it’s the very opposite, but his self esteem, and the absence of a sociable personality does take a toll on him sometimes. he feels like he can’t do anything right, especially when he mutters, messes up on what he wants to say, more importantly when he has an idea on what to say. he feels helpless, compared to the other two strong personalities of UA’s big three. and that’s why, you’ve showed him that shyness is completely normal and fine, and it’s not just him that struggles with socializing— and besides, tamaki does have other strong points, like his ability to be considerate with his actions, and his carefully selected words of affirmation whenever he sits next to you on a date. tamaki might be socially uh.. weak sometimes, but he’s come to realize that it’s fine, since he has other strong parts!

monoma neito

↮ that he won’t be forgotten, and also— that being nice to class 1-A doesn’t sound that bad. come to think of it, neito DOES have a nice side in him, but it’s just not exposed to class 1-A for several different reasons (that are layered) when he was younger, he was told that his quirk wasn’t that spectacular, people have underestimated his quirk a lot. not because it’s ‘boring’ but because it just ‘copies other quirks,’ and has no individual attributes. thus, lead neito to act out as an attempt to stand out and not be ‘boring.’ in reality, neito doesn’t realize that he’s anything close to that, and that he can be remembered in the best ways. like, when you first saw his room, and it was covered in pastels, and whenever he sees you, the first thing he says is a compliment. who would’ve guessed it from him? and most importantly, when he is nice to class 1-A, he finds himself laughing at amusement— and he thinks ‘hey! this,, isn’t bad.’ it’s a slowburn for him to finally act like how he is with his class but hey, process!

dabi todoroki touya

↮ that he needs someone. how ironic, a villain— needing someone, and all for what? just to be abandoned for someone better? no thanks. you didn’t actually shove it in his face for him to realize it but, you did contribute to it. his staples were starting to falling off again after another gruesome mission, dabi didn’t feel like plucking them out himself, but he knows that he has to— he went to go pick them off, until, you come in. a stapler in your hand, as you practically make him sit tightly as you replaced the staples. it stings, not that he’ll ever admit that, he’ll just stick to making fun at you in such dabi fashion. but ugh, there’s that warmth again everytime he looks at you. it’s not the cruel burn, similar to his quirk— but it’s,, gentle. it makes him want to disembowel himself, but he doesn’t mind it when you touch the cool metal. just,, get out of his face before he decides to flame you, all just because he learned that he needs someone (he won’t actually flame you but ugh, he’s still dealing with that kind of warmth you’re making him feel)

»»————-　♡　————-««

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei, i only own the writing and i do not profit off of my hobby

do not plagiarize, reupload, translate, or use my works for audio readings without permission

763 notes · View notes

wordsnstuff · 3 years

Text

Guide to Writing Dark Fantasy

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress

–

What Is “Dark” Fantasy?

Dark Fantasy subscribes to the tropes and conventions of fantasy, while mixing in elements of the horror, thriller, and sometimes dystopia. Loosely, the magical elements of fantasy take a gloomier, more frightening turn. Dark fantasy is not simply “fantasy, but make it sexy or gory”. (I’m talking to those who cite Game of Thrones as an example of the genre.)

Yes, a lot of authors choose to incorporate heavier subject matter into dark fantasy stories, but things like rape and copious amounts of gore and death are not genre-defining. Darkness exists in every adult story, even if it’s only in symbolism, but the darkness in this sub-genre specifically persists throughout each scene and coats every element. This includes character development, plot development, world building, etc.

Death Still Has to Mean Something

Something you have to understand about dark fantasy is that death can be a tool, but the nature of the genre shouldn’t make it any less impactful. When a side character or an extra gets killed, it should affect the reader emotionally, even if death is very common. If the death isn’t going to surprise them, it should unease or upset the reader. Death should never serve the purpose of filling space.

Incorporate The Horrific

A lot of dark fantasy authors and writers have trouble or fail to incorporate the dark elements in a rounded, even manner. A lot of authors go for the “show the reader something undoubtedly tragic or traumatizing and the tone will endure” or the “if I sporadically kill characters for no apparent reason throughout the plot, the reader will stay disturbed and none will be the wiser”.

The Villain Is The Key

The antagonist must be complex and compelling, and you have to use them well. Dark fantasy is a genre which depends on a fantastic villain or antagonist. It’s wise to create an antagonist whom the reader can understand, but who is severely misguided or obviously facing their own demons. Stories with a standard “I’m evil because my mommy didn’t love me” or “The world has been unkind to me so let there be fire” villain is outdated and, at this point, you have all the opportunity in the world to do better.

If there’s one place where you should invest your creativity, make it the antagonist.

The Darkness Is In Everything

Incorporating horrific things into fantasy is what makes this genre, true, but it has to be a consistent effort and an author must play the long-game. The darkness has to penetrate your word choice, the way you deliver new information in the text, the way you build up to important events, etc. The horror shouldn’t just spurt out every couple of chapters. You want to create a dark atmosphere, and an atmosphere must stretch beyond one or two scenes here and there.

Flawed vs. Unlikeable

This is a major downfall of a lot of dark fantasy works. It’s difficult to create a character whose flaws are so integral to the storytelling without making them unlikeable, but if you don’t toe this line carefully, your readers will put the story down. Yes, the character must be flawed and complex, and there are no heroes in the situation, but if there’s nobody to have hope for, then the reader will abandon the story. Nobody wants to sit and watch something that is sad and frustrating for the sake of depressing themselves. Well, some do, but not enough to convince someone there’s a market for your story.

Common Struggles

~ How do you craft a dark fantasy ending?... Not all pessimistic stories have to have a pessimistic ending. You can give your characters a positive outcome (or even just somewhat positive) without sacrificing the work you’ve done to maintain the genre’s tone and message. Most dark fantasy is about topics that are larger than the story itself, such as equality (in many aspects), existence, freedom vs. security, society vs. individuality, etc. Dark fantasy tends to branch off from the typical fantasy in terms of messaging because incorporating darker aspects of reality forces the reader to face harsher truths. Make your ending about what you want the reader to walk away with, and you should have no problem figuring out how to do it.

~ How do you warn readers of possible triggers in non-fanfiction works?... Simply put, market your story honestly. Disclose any especially dark elements, and when advertising on platforms such as social media, perhaps provide an official disclaimer. The manner in which you warn readers of possible triggers is up to your own and whatever marketing team you have’s discretion.

~ How do you research dark topics while writing?... With purpose, caution, and practicality. I see a lot of posts that cover very tiny details that may go into fantasy, and while I encourage research of all kinds for every genre, I think fantasy is one where writers can get so caught up in getting every minute detail researched and recorded that they get burned out with their own ideas before they even put pen to paper. Research what you missed, then find holes as you write, and then do the rest of the research for the second draft once you’re finished with the first. Avoid burnout that comes with extensive research beforehand.

~ How do common fantasy tropes interact with darker aspects of the sub-genre?... There’s a lot of ways you can mix typical fantasy with typical horror/thriller and come out with dark fantasy. The main fantasy characteristics that persist in dark fantasy are setting and the way magic systems are executed in the story. Secondly, I see a lot of similarities in general world building. Where it deviates, I think, is in character development, plot structure, plot development, and messaging. The smaller events tend to be more mature, the character arcs turn more raw, the characters themselves are more flawed, and the plot develops in a much less linear fashion. The messages are heavier because the content is heavier.

Other Resources

Resources For Fantasy/Mythology Writers

20 Mistakes To Avoid in Fantasy

Guide to Writing Fantasy

Guide to Story Researching

Commentary on Social Issues In Writing

On Writing About Sensitive Topics

Resources For Writing Royalty

Dark Quotes & Prompts

Angst Prompts

31 Days of Character Development : May 2018 Writing Challenge

Suspenseful Prompts

Sad Prompts

31 Days of World Building : August 2018 Writing Challenge

31 Days of Plot Development : January 2019 Writing Challenge

31 Days of Horror : October 2019 Writing Challenge

Resources For Creating Characters

Giving Your Protagonists Negative Traits

Writing Good Villains

Showing Vulnerability Without Death

Giving Characters Flaws

Creating Villains

Flipping Character Traits On Their Head

“Male characters are more relatable”

Tips on Character Motivations

Tips on Character Consistency

Resources For Plot Development

Guide To Plot Development

How To Write A Good Plot Twist

How To Foreshadow

Plot Structures

Describing Setting

Resources For Worldbuilding

Guide To Political World Building

Creating Diverse Otherworld Characters

Tips on Creating Magic Systems

Tips on Introducing Political Backstory

Resources For Writing (Global) Period Pieces : High Middle Ages & Renaissance

Resources For Writing (Global) Period Pieces : 1600s

Resources For Writing (Global) Period Pieces : 1700s

Resources For Writing (Global) Period Pieces : 1800s

Tips on Writing Fight Scenes

Tips on Writing Chase Scenes

How To Make The Journey Interesting

Tips For Horror Writers

Tips on Writing Pyschological Thrillers

10 Mistakes to Avoid in Horror

–

Masterlist | WIP Blog

If you enjoy my blog and wish for it to continue being updated frequently and for me to continue putting my energy toward answering your questions, please consider Buying Me A Coffee, or pledging your support on Patreon, where I offer early access and exclusive benefits for only $5/month.

Shoutout to my $15+ patrons, Jade Ashley and Douglas S.!

#writing #writeblr #fantasy #dark fantasy #fantasy writing #writing advice #writing help #writing tips #writing resources #resources for writers #writing reference #guide to writing

2K notes · View notes

thyandrawrites · 2 years

Note

Hey, I was reading your post on character regression in the villains and you have some good points but I was wondering about you saying that deku says he doesn't understand how Toga could hurt someone for her own sake when that's exactly what heros do to villains but that's not true? Heros have never been shown to hurt people for fun or whatever, they always do it in reaction to the villains causing destruction of people and property, in order to protect those who would otherwise become victims of a villain, so what do you actually mean when you say heros hurt villains for their own gain?

Hey. First of all, I want to stress that I never said I thought either party hurts people for fun. I said they both do it for their own sake. Please note this because those two statements are not equivalent, but phrasing it as though they are comes across like you already are sure of your own reading and are just checking what I mean by it so you can reinforce that you’re right and I’m wrong. Which is why I wasn’t even sure I wanted to reply, to be honest.

But I’m going to assume you didn’t mean it like that and actually care about what I think on the matter. So. To answer you. What I meant by it is exactly what I said. Both parties act on the belief that their violence is justified.

Let’s go with the villains first, cause it would make sense to think they are the ones who kill “for fun”. Or it would, if you just read their actions at face value, at least.

Let’s start with Dabi, who is the perfect example of what I mean. Dabi kills because he feels that he has something to prove to his dad, and at the same time he’s lashing out against the system for abandoning him. He keeps count of his victims, owns up to it and calls himself “filthy” and a “sin” for what he’s done, showing that he doesn’t do it because he enjoys violence for sadistic reasons. But at the same time he doesn’t show that he’s sorry for adopting these methods. He thinks they’re a necessary evil to make his voice heard above his father’s. To make the public see that he wasn’t born into violence, but groomed into it.

Similarly, Shigaraki sees violence as a megaphone to amplify his voice and shout his hurt at the world, so that they can stop silencing him for existing. Just like Dabi, he doesn’t take pleasure in it. In fact, he admits that he has an emptiness in his chest that doesn’t get better when he kills, but he still does it because that’s what AFO told him to do to “scratch the itch”. In other words, AFO gaslit him into thinking that extreme violence and indiscriminate destruction were his only tools to fight back against the system, and as such, Shigaraki embraces that violence as justified.

Then there’s Toga. At first glance, she seems like a less good example of this because at the very least she takes pleasure in drawing blood, doesn’t she? But in fact, she also fits this pattern. Toga doesn’t actually want to kill the people she loves. She wants to take their blood and transform into them. For her, becoming one with the subject of her affections is the truest form of love. But it was always misunderstood as something monstrous, repulsive. People begin to demand for her to suppress herself for their own peace of mind. As a result, when she begins to kill, she embraces that violence as her only way to stay alive without being hunted down and suppressed. She thinks she needs to kill in order to create a world where she’s not rejected purely for existing.

Now, as for the heroes.

You realize that saying that the heroes are entitled to their violence because the villains were violent first is not an argument, right? I just went over how it’s not that black and white. Sure, there are villains who are threats to civilians just because they wake up one day and decide to wreck shit for the sake of wrecking shit. Guys like Muscular and Moonfish fit that pattern. But what the series actually shows us is that a vast majority of the villains the kids face off against, particularly the League, resort to destruction as a result of falling through the crack of the hero system.

Please note that I’m not arguing that because sympathetic villains exist, all criminals should be condoned and forgiven by default. But to reduce the entire villain problem in bnha to one (1) type of villainy is a broad generalization, and a naive one to boot, that only serves to echo one side of the argument. What you’re saying is essentially just a repeat of what the heroes believe. Just because they are sure of their methods, it doesn’t mean those methods are right. Just like how the villains’ methods aren’t right simply because the villains think that what they’re doing is right.

You’re saying that the heroes use violence “in reaction to the villains causing destruction”. Which is true. But consider: reactions, by definition, imply a chain of events. So it doesn’t really work as a justification because it will always be partial to who’s speaking.

To simplify what I mean by this: the League’s violence is born out of unaddressed societal issues. So while the heroes are confident that putting them down is the moral thing to do because the League was destructive first, that’s just an oversimplification. From the villains’ perspective, society enacted violence towards them first, and they’re simply reacting to that as well.

Protecting the status quo at the expense of those who don’t fit into it is an act of violence. The fact that it’s carried out by the government doesn’t justify it by default. In fact, historically the worst types of brutality always started with the scapegoating of minorities from those in power, who were interested in upkeeping a certain type of status quo that only benefited the privileged.

Besides, this statement here: “Heros have never been shown to hurt people for fun” is false. We have seen it. Perhaps you haven’t metabolized it as such because you read it through the lense of justified violence, but we have seen the heroes abusing their power or just using it to satisfy their egos. The most obvious example is Endeavor, who stated on screen that he never cared about easing civilians’ worries, but only wanted to be number one to prove he was the strongest. The same Endeavor who is also guilty of the property damage you mention. In fact, if we are to take vigilantes into the equation, he also nearly killed civilian bystanders on the job.

I believe, correct me if I’m wrong, that in vigilantes we were also given Miruko’s backstory, and her reason to become a hero was that she enjoys a fight. Which ties into the main manga as well, when we were shown her elation when she didn’t have to “hold back” on the noumus as she normally did since they were already dead.

And that’s already two heroes from the top ten. I’m not even touching the can of worms that are Hawks and Lady Nagant. Overall, bnha shows us that the matter of morality itself isn’t as black and white as “heroes good” and “villains bad”. Both live in shades of gray, and that’s kinda the point.

So when I stated that both heroes and villains use violence for their own sakes, I meant exactly what I stated. Both think that they were wronged by the other party first, and both think that reacting with killing intent is justified. It doesn’t mean it is, or that one of those sides is more “moral” than the other. At the end of the day, violence is violence whether you dress it up as justice or whether you don’t try to hide it for what it is.

A theme that bnha has been pushing forward from its very first arc, and recently brought up again. Heroes and villains are just two sides of the same coin.

#ali replies #meta:bnha society #my post #bnha spoilers

35 notes · View notes

iamnmbr3 · 3 years

Text

Another day. Another questionable interview from someone involved with the production. This time the Director (who to her credit at least is better than Mike Waldron in that she is able to say she likes Loki’s character whereas his interviews drip with open disdain and disrespect and he can’t even pretend otherwise). (x)

Kate Herron: But Loki doesn't have many friends, you know? He builds this friendship with Mobius across the second episode.

Here again we get out-of-universe confirmation that the narrative framing of Mobius in a positive light is intentional. Mobius is not Loki’s friend. He’s his captor and his torturer. Loki isn’t on equal footing with Mobius. They don’t even have a boss-employee relationship. LOKI WAS MOBIUS’S SLAVE until he escaped. He was being held against his will and coerced under threat of death to work for Mobius and his organization without compensation. That is slavery. And it’s not ok.

Mobius also berated him by telling him that he is inherently evil and monstrous - the very things that drove him to suicide. Mobius is complicit in acts of torture, genocide, murder, privacy violation, and police brutality and shows no signs of having any problem with it. He’s no more Loki’s friend than Thanos or the Black Order are.

When has he ever treated Loki with dignity or respect? Even if we ignore all the horrific stuff, he’s just plain not nice to Loki. He constantly mocks and belittles him and never takes his side. That’s not a how a friend behaves! That’s how a bully behaves! Where is the basis for this friendship??!!

Kate Herron: “And obviously, we're seeing it through Loki and Sylvie's POV. You know, neither of them are good or bad. A complete, pure good hero would probably join the queue and be like, "Well, hopefully we'll get on the train." But they're not those characters. They're going to try and get on it.”

They snuck onto a train??? That’s what she thinks a grey character is? That’s so dull! Loki was a complex and grey character. Larry (as I call the tv show character) and Sylvie...got on a train without a ticket. That’s laughable! That doesn’t make me think about complex morality or issues. And c’mon. All the heroic Avengers have done that level of rule breaking MANY times and they don’t lose their “pure good hero status.” Tony Stark constantly does things like that! I want Loki back. HE is a grey character. But I haven’t seen him in the show so far. Instead I get Larry the watered down clown.

Kate Herron: “When Loki and Mobius are at Pompeii, for example, that's shown through Loki's POV, right? He's joyous and he cracked the case. Pompeii was horrific, but we're seeing it through his perspective and he's in a completely different headspace.”

You know a scene can have more than one emotion right? Like he could be happy about solving the case but also horrified at the destruction of Pompeii? Instead he is laughing at the people who are about to die horrifically and seems to have no compassion for them whatsoever. Sure people can headcanon reasons why he behaved that way (and more power to them. Fixing dumb canon is what fandom is all about!) but the narrative framing is to me pretty clearly lighthearted and the director confirms that intent. There seems to be no awareness that by having Loki behave so callously it makes him come across as incredibly cruel. Far more than he ever was in canon.

In Thor 2011 Thor is laughing while slaughtering Jotnar (as is considered appropriate in his culture) but Loki isn’t. He kills when he has to but he doesn’t enjoy it, something that’s unusual for the culture he was raised in. This Pompeii scene could’ve been a great time to see Loki’s more compassionate side as he looks at the people who are going to die. We could’ve seen some real conflict from him. And it would’ve been a great moment to start introducing the concept that he’s more than just a simple villain to more casual viewers. Instead, although they think they’re “redeeming” Larry over the course of the show they’ve made him far worse and more villainous. I wish they had hired an experienced Director who also understands Loki - like Kenneth Brannaugh!!! - rather than a Director who has never headed up a major project before. Though even the best Director couldn’t fix the abysmal and ooc script and story Mike Waldron came up with.

Kate Herron: “I think that's the thing that's really key for her is that she's a completely original character, completely born out of our writers, and that, for me, was exciting.”

Remember when I said Sylvie is the favored OC? Called it.

Kate Herron: “The train scene I love because Loki doesn't get many wins and it's nice to see him having a nice sing-song. He's just enjoying himself. Because I think that's such a funny way, as well, to show the difference between him and Sylvie is that she's on a mission. She's like, "We're going to get off this moon." And when she's offered a drink, she's like, "No, thank you."

WOW. I hate this SO much. So suddenly Sylvie gets to act more like Loki and Loki suddenly doesn’t know how to be subtle and is just a dumb clown messing everything up. C’mon! This is absolutely ridiculous. This is not Loki silvertongue. This is not the Loki who tried to diffuse the situation on Jotunheim and almost succeeded. This is not the Loki who was always a restraining voice in Thor’s ear. They’ve turned Sylvie into discount Loki without any depth or complexity or vulnerability and they’ve turned Loki into discount Thor ft. dumb clown! Absolutely outrageous.

Kate Herron: “everything is not what it seems and even in our design, people have picked up on certain things. Like the way that they dress, or the posters and that there's something a bit more going on there.”

If the TVA actually turn out to be twist villains I will laugh SO hard; I’d say that twist is too dumb even for Marvel but...it’s really not! Like. Guys. If they’re gonna be TWIST villains you have to not have them do obviously villainous things on screen!!!! BECAUSE THEN IT’S NOT A TWIST!!!!

From the moment we meet them we see them commit acts of police brutality, murder, genocide, trial without due process, enslavement, privacy violation, and torture IN ORDER TO ELIMINATE FREE WILL. Like. They are literally the most evil organization in the MCU. Even Thanos can’t compare. So having them be revealed as villains will fall flat. Because the twist isn’t the audience learning new information or the main character learning it. It’s just the narrative suddenly acknowledging it and treating their atrocities seriously. So the twist is in the real world not the show. And it’ll make Larry look like an even bigger idiot than he already does if he’s suddenly like “Wait the people who tortured and enslaved me are evil?! What?!??!” (I stg if he has to fight miss minutes in the end like I joked about I will lose it).

Also. Why make it a twist?! When you treat the villains as a joke it robs the narrative of tension. Their acts of evil should’ve been acknowledged from the beginning in order to create sympathy for the protagonist and tension in the narrative as we watch him try to escape this situation! Smh. The only funny joke in this series is how badly the writing fails.

#Loki tv series #random musings #Marvel #MCU #loki show #loki series #loki 2021 #loki tv show #Loki Series critical #loki tv series interviews #my post

195 notes · View notes

bbq-hawks-wings · 3 years

Text

Chapter 316: BBQ is capable of critiquing BNHA and… Oh boy.

Let's start this off properly, Horikoshi's typical quality of writing has been diminishing in recent chapters, but this week it was so different that it didn't even feel like Horikoshi was the one who wrote it.

To be clear, I'm not blaming Horikoshi for the issues I'm about to bring up. The man is criminally overworked, usually doesn't even get the final say in what makes it in the final drafts, and even in his other rough patches he's still produced decent chapters that hold up amongst the grand scheme of things. This feels like something else is going on behind the scenes, and while I have my suspicions on who/what might be the culprit behind it, I choose not to share it at this time because if I name names some people might go off on a crusade, and that's not what I want.

I just want to be clear that I'm not blindly firing off shots in the dark, but despite my frustrations I want to wait to see if this gets resolved down the line, and while I do I can complain about the specific reasons this chapter left such a bitter taste in my mouth.

Buckle up, buttercups, because we got a lot of points to cover.

Where's the Gun?

Not a literal gun, but I mean Chekhov's Gun. It has always been a staple of Horikoshi's writing and the reason so many of his long-standing plot lines have paid off so well.

Chekhov's Gun is a writing principal that if you see a gun on the table in the first act of a play, it will be used in the murder that happens in act 2. Basically, the author should include details that are relevant to the story and not betray the audience by leading them in one direction and at the last minute pull the rug out from underneath them to go in another direction.

Horikoshi has done this to phenomenal success in the past. Just as one example, he dropped hints about Nomu being human experiments early in the series but held off explicitly stating it for a while. He hinted at the loss of Shirakumo in the main narrative and that he was important to Aizawa and Mic as well as approved it for Vigilantes so when it was revealed that Kurogiri was Shirakumo's body, not only did it narratively make sense but it also pulled in Eraserhead and Present Mic's emotional stakes into the battle with the Doctor, and then when Ujiko reveals he was after Aizawa's quirk the whole time it made the payoff for Mic punching him in the face all that much better and brings the weight of his crimes and the impact they have on the victims full circle.

That's 3 different guns paying off in the long run: the Nomu, Shirakumo, and both Mic and Eraserheads' personal arcs past the loss of their childhood friend and that they could finally finish processing their grief and avenge him in full righteous fury instead of chalking it all up to cruel chance.

He has left details, some particularly innocuously, in plot lines like the Touya Todoroki reveal, Hawks' backstory, Shigaraki's blood connection to Nana Shimura, even with Mr. Compress's backstory, and more. When re-read, these details become more obvious and usually leaves us with a greater sense of satisfaction in the plot knowing that twists and turns were not only planned, but built up to and hinted at for us to find so the payoff is that much better and it feels purposeful instead of just shock factor.

None of that happened this chapter.

Lady Nagant has zero business being in this plotline. She was never hinted about before this arc, and her existence does nothing to tell us about the plot moving forward or the world that they're trying to change. Nothing her existence provides actually has any bearing on the universe or tells us anything we don't already know. But that's not how she was presented.

In the beginning we're given a glimpse of her helping Overhaul escape from Tartarus. The focus on her was odd enough to begin with as a new character, and the fact that she didn't look like she fit the profile of someone who belonged in Tartarus was like a flashing neon sign saying, "Pay attention! This new character is important!!!" She then shows up later with Overhaul in hand to attack Deku out of the blue. We get her talking about how she thought Overhaul might be useful and her disillusions with Hero Society. We catch her mannerisms with eery similarity to Hawks only to find out immediately after she was a senior colleague in the HPSC. Never once to my knowledge has Hawks referred to any of his senior colleagues as a "senpai" - not even his fellow heroes - and when he catches her in midair, he uses the words, "Don't die on me, senpai!" as if she's near and dear to his heart.

The entire character arc is set up for her to have known about Hawks and grapple with her desire to help people and her fear of re-creating what she hated, and this also set up Hawks to be the successor who succeeded where she failed and helped bring her to a place where she could be a hero without guilt again. What actually happened?

They're strangers.

They have never actually met before, and while he seems to know a lot about her, she doesn't even seem to have any idea of who he was - at least as far as being another hero under the thumb of the HPSC. So ALLLL that setup, all that gesturing, and all of the potential themes that would be right at home in an arc like this goes completely out the window.

Her story doesn't tell us anything new. The HPSC bad. We knew that. They're not above throwing innocents under the bus to achieve that goal. We knew that. They preyed upon young hopefuls with powerful quirks with the intent to maintain the status quo. We knew that even if the fact that Hawks isn't the only one now makes more questions than answers. We know that these young heroes can never say no under threat of steep, life-shattering consequences. We knew that already.

So what does Lady Nagant even bring to the table?! The entire "you're just a puppet doing what you've been told" angle is a little tired and out of place in this point and time with actual anarchy in the streets (not to mention hypocritical considering she was a blind puppet following orders and offers zero actual solutions that supposedly fall in line with her heroic nature), and it could have been left to any number of other villain characters who could have executed on the theme better - you know, like Shigaraki who's justification this entire time has been, "hero society doesn't make people safe, it just makes them feel safe" from the moment of his inception.

So from that angle she's unnecessary.

Her presence messes with the continuity of the series as well. If Hawks is supposed to explicitly replace her, that would mean that he wasn't just a fluke find on the commission's part and grabbed to mold into their own special superweapon; and that also would mean that her killing of the former president was before he was discovered which should put her at least in her forties. If this isn't the case, and he was meant to simply replace her in a "special agent" case, that still begs the question of how many more gifted children the commission preyed upon and are still out there.

And maybe the worst kicker for me is that something stinks. The way the art in this chapter is presented, if you completely blanked out the speech bubbles, is the same setup I had before - Hawks reaches out to his former mentor and pulls her from the brink of despair with a moving message about why he never gave up hope in being a hero who could actually make a difference.

Again, this is not what we got. He claims he knows her, and it's implied to have been a deep, personal character witness; but at best he only knows about her from secondhand sources. Even his reasoning as to how he never lost hope doesn't vibe with his character.

We have gotten so many cool one-liners for Hawks, but there has always been a consistent tone and imagery with them.

"Those who can fly, should."

"I don't belong in a cage."

"I'm free of my shackles."

"Can I be a shining light, just like him?"

What we got was, "I'm an optimist to a fault" which was the wording the official release went with and was by far the best iteration I have seen, but even this falls short of being truly in character for him and answering her question properly.

@mikeana made an edit of the titular panels for us Hawks stans this week with dialogue we and a few other friends felt was more fitting not only with the imagery of the chapter itself but internally consistent with the specific expressions Hawks uses in his heartfelt, personal dialogue. I just tweaked it a little bit more to fit what I was going for in our original conversation.

Which brings me to another concern.

2. What's the point?

There was no use for Nagant in the series as she's been presented so far. But more than that, Hawks has no business in this fight to begin with. He literally did nothing to earn this emotional moment, and this should have been Deku's moment.

We were teased in an interview with Horikoshi that Hawks was going to get a special moment as an important end-game character as a "shining light" of hope for others to follow as well as promises for Ochako to have another moment in the spotlight to make a difference.

If this was Hawks' shining light moment, it wasn't necessary, and it does nothing to move the plot forward or develop characters in any true or believable way. It just happened because plot. This should have been Deku's victory through and through, and even he is the reason BOTH Hawks and Nagant made it out alive instead of painting the street below them.

Deku's victory was stolen from him, too. It sours the other promises made to us about other characters moving forward, as well, if this really was Hawks' "Shining Light" moment.

By the way, did you forget about Overhaul? Me too!!! What was the point of getting our hopes up about reintroducing this beloved character with the implications this was a major arc setup to have him scream about pops and then get detained with no clues about what's going to happen to him besides, "Say you're sorry to Eri, and you get to see pops"?!

All this posturing and clumsy narrative flailing only actually succeeded in getting Deku in front of AFO again for plot when we already know Mr. Potato Head could summon, show himself to, or find Deku at any time he wanted. But instead we get this time skip with a bunch of heroes completely mended walking into a big, spooky mansion for AFO to evil monologue at Deku for… *counts*

FOUR PAGES!!!

Only to then give him the "I want YOU!" point over a pre-recorded message and the final nail in the coffin to me that something is off.

3. Ex-pu-LOOOO-SHUN!

It's become almost a game among friends to count how many explosions have happened since the end of the war arc - and specifically fake-out explosions. In the end of 311 we get All Might's car attacked via explosion and Deku cornered by Nagant only for All Might to be fine in the next chapter. In 315 Lady Nagant herself explodes in a blaze of glory to once again not be dead.

Gee! I wOnDeR if aLl the heroes were AcTuAlLy cornered and KiLlEd in that explosion in the mansion!

None of us do. They're fine. We're going to see it first thing next week. The shock has worn off, and it's repetitive and annoying at this point. There is no cliffhanger despite how the framing might try to tell you otherwise.

It's BAD WRITING.

The writing has been moving far too quickly and clumsily with no explanation in sight, and even character interactions are being cut short to the point of them being meaningless and empty.

This doesn't even feel like Horikoshi's bad writing. It feels like someone else is trying to call the shots and rushing him through these final bits of the series, and he's run out of things he's previously set up for months and months to reappear so someone is trying to get Dabi-reveal levels of attention with arcs and storylines that don't have the build-up to result in a satisfactory payoff.

4. At least it can get better... I hope.

Maybe those who share my suspicions or know what particular suspicions I have are with me in believing that this is a temporary disappointment and we haven't seen the last of the writing that's captivated me for years. I don't blame Horikoshi for these glaring faults that all came to a head in this chapter.

It CAN get better later, and I think it WILL- we just probably are going to have to wait for it. Until then, I'm going to enjoy the Hawks panels we got, maybe edit the last few chapters to be more in line with something more like the BNHA I know in a "fix it fic" fashion so I don't groan in anticipation of how long it might take us to get there.

See you all next week, hopefully on a much brighter note.

#she speaks #chapter review #bnha 316 #bnha chapter 316 #bnha manga spoilers

133 notes · View notes

ectonurites · 3 years

Note

idk how to quote tags on mobile where is the conner kent essay i NEED it

ALRIGHT OKAY! here’s 5k+ words plus panels & screenshots of me comparing and contrasting the two drastically different versions of Superboy (comics vs young justice cartoon) and going over what makes them such distinctly separate characters. someday i’ll refine this a bit more its kinda just a word dump that’s been living in my brain that i wanted to actually articulate after i read through Reign of the Supermen but here we go:

Pretty frequently I see the question “Why is Superboy so different in the Young Justice cartoon?” float around in DC circles. I think there are two main approaches to answering this:

Why did the writers of the cartoon decide to create a very different version of Superboy?

What factors make this Superboy so different from the comic version?

For the first approach the answer is relatively straight-forward, from the start Young Justice as a cartoon was never meant to be a direct adaptation of the comics. They just used the title and a few elements so they could create their own approach to the DC universe with a focus on younger heroes. For example, Artemis Crock in their show is also COMPLETELY different from her comic counterpart, Zatanna is aged way down to be a member of the teen team, and Kaldur’ahm was created for this show (and integrated into the comics as Jackson Hyde). They were always trying to do different things than the main comics universe, so them making a different version of Conner also makes sense. Their approach to him is also very clearly influenced more by how he appeared in the Teen Titans comic run that was still coming out as Young Justice started airing (his design, and some other elements we’ll discuss along the way), as opposed to his original version from the 90′s/the Young Justice comic.

So the basic “why” is that from the start they wanted to create something unique to their universe, which they definitely did accomplish.

The much more interesting subject to dive into, though, is looking at the differences in Superboy’s story that contribute to him becoming such a different person.

The drastic changes made to the following factors are what I view as the main source of his differences in personality/outlook/characterization:

The conditions and history of the world at the time he is introduced

The circumstances around him being introduced/leaving Cadmus

The reaction Clark has to him and how their relationship starts

The people he first interacted with & became close to, and how he interacts with the world

The timing of him finding out about his connection to Luthor

The State of the Worlds

In the comics, Superboy is first introduced in Adventures of Superman #500 by iconically saying “Don’t ever call me Superboy!”

during a 1993 event called “Reign of the Supermen”, a follow up to the 1992 event “The Death of Superman”. Based on the title of the 1992 event, I think you can, uh, guess what one major difference in the setting here was vs. the state of the world at the time he was introduced in the cartoon. Obviously Clark didn’t stay dead forever, but Superboy first comes onto the scene as a young clone of Superman who insists he is the new Superman (one of the four characters trying to do so during the event). This is in the main DC universe in the early 90’s, which means that heroes in general, including teen heroes, aren’t a new thing! Not only has the Justice League been around for a while but so has the Teen Titans. Once Clark is alive again, Superboy goes off on his own to establish himself as an individual teen hero.

So how is that different in the cartoon?

In the cartoon, Superboy is first introduced in the pilot episodes “Independence Day” and “Fireworks”

on the 4th of July in (what most people consider to be) 2010. This was supposed to be the day that Robin (Dick Grayson), Speedy (Roy Harper), Kid Flash (Wally West), and Aqualad (Kaldur’ahm) would get to see the true Justice League HQ at the Hall of Justice, which... doesn’t go exactly as planned.

In this world, superheroes are a newer thing, this is something that the creators have talked about before. At this point, while there is an established Justice League, there are no known teams of teen superheroes. Just the fact that as of season one Dick Grayson is still Robin is a pretty good indicator that this world is early in it’s time with a Batman. Now, the sidekicks aren’t a secret, as they appear very publicly in this first episode, but they are almost always seen acting with their mentors at this point. Again, there is no Teen Titans in this setting, and there never has been.

So when they do form the first teen hero team? It is kept covert-ops. They do not publicize that they act as a superhero team, and the members who weren’t already publicly known heroes (mainly Miss Martian and Superboy) end up being pretty… unknown to a lot of the world outside the hero/villain community! Again their existence is not strictly kept a secret, but they keep the fact that there’s a team of minors who are heroes going on independent missions VERY under the radar on purpose. Thus, those who aren’t going around doing super public hero activities just don’t have nearly as much of a presence.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy is immediately put in a spotlight (he befriends a reporter and is all over tv and literally trademarks the name Superman) becoming known to the world and establishes himself as a solo acting hero YEARS before joining any teams.

In the cartoon, Superboy is kept relatively out of the spotlight, immediately becomes part of a covert-ops team and doesn’t act solo very often. The well known teen heroes in this setting are sidekicks working under a mentor, and Superboy does not actually act as a sidekick.

What does this mean for Superboy?

Superboy in the comics gets to, right away, act on his own and get a taste of what being Superman is like. In the cartoon, he’s brought into the world at a time where there already is a Superman. I think back to this bit from the therapy episode, where he says:

“See, from the moment I first opened my eyes in that Cadmus pod, there’s been one thing I’ve wanted, and feared. To know what it is to be Superman.”

Comics Superboy started out getting to do that! He immediately got a shot at filling that role, and he then makes the choice to relinquish it back to the original once he’s alive again. He (begrudgingly at first) understood that it wasn’t yet his time to be Superman, and knows he’ll someday fill those shoes for real- but in the meantime being Superboy is gonna be his own thing and he’ll embrace it and make it work.

Cartoon Superboy is left in a shadow, not ever truly knowing what it’s like to fill those shoes (except in a doomsday scenario training exercise gone awry that he then just feels intense guilt over). This leaves him a lot more frustrated and lost, and I think is a major contributor to how angry this version of Superboy is compared to his much more ‘chill go with the flow’ attitude in the comics.

Cadmus

In the comics, in that same issue he’s introduced, we find out that Superboy broke out of his cloning tube prematurely and left Cadmus with the assistance of the second Newsboy Legion, who also gave him his first leather jacket, before the programming that would allow Cadmus to control him was implemented.

He quickly gets up to speed with the situation, that Clark is dead. So he comes on the scene starting to save people and saying he is Superman, or at least the clone of the original one. A major thing that does influence his character here is the fact that… this is the 90’s. He is designed around the idea of what is ‘cool’ back in 1993. (look, even his original character design sheets call him cool)

So right off the bat he’s got a stereotypical ‘cool teen guy in that era’ personality, which is often played for comedy to add a little lightness to some of the dark things happening during this event.

Anyways, he has left Cadmus, he’s acting on his own, and he starts realizing that his powers aren’t exactly the same as Superman’s over the course of the Reign of the Supermen story.

After the main conflict is settled and Clark is fully alive and acting as Superman again, the two of them end up going back to Cadmus to find out what the exact deal is with him. I’ll go into this more in a later point, but they find out he’s not exactly a clone of Superman (or Lex- him being actually involved as a DNA donor is a retcon that happened a decade later). They agree to let someone from Cadmus (Dubbilex- the grey guy with the horns in this pic) leave Metropolis with him, as he sets out on a press tour to establish himself as Superboy now that he relinquished the trademark on the Superman name back to Clark.

Let’s pause and look at how this is different in the cartoon.

In the cartoon, when the trio of Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad decide to prove themselves to their mentors they run off on their own to attend to a fire at Project Cadmus when the Justice League got called off to do something else. Upon arriving, they accidentally uncover some weird things about Cadmus, like the crazy amount of sublevels, the creatures roaming around, and the fact that it’s not on the main power grids. They eventually find Superboy, still in his cloning tube. They break him out, but then get captured themselves.

When they are then put into tubes by Cadmus personnel, they manage to convince Superboy to help free them by promising him things like getting to meet Superman, and see the moon. The group of four now working together manages to escape from the building and it topples down, where they are then greeted by the Justice League who are Not Happy.

Superman flies away shortly after, and the group of kids explain to their remaining mentors that sure, they disobeyed orders, but they accomplished something good here, and they are going to keep doing it, whether the League likes it or not. The compromise is the formation of The Team, to be covert-ops while the Justice League acts publicly, and the boys are joined by Miss Martian.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy leaves Cadmus pretty independently (with some assistance) to go act on his own as a hero immediately. He returns to Cadmus later for more information, and they reveal truths to him about his existence. After he knows his truth, he goes off to continue establishing himself as a solo hero but lets Cadmus still supervise what he’s doing through Dubbilex.

In the cartoon, Superboy is rescued from Cadmus by Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, without knowing pretty much anything about himself besides the fact that he is a clone of Superman, and is immediately put on the covert ops team.

What it means for Superboy:

Comic Superboy goes to act on his own, even after he admits he’s not the real Superman anymore. Yes he’s not 100% alone in terms of ‘he’s got people (Rex, Roxy, Dubbilex, Tana) around him’, but as a hero he’s a solo act and ends up taking residence in Hawaii. In the cartoon, by joining a team right away, he’s taking on a very different style of being a hero, especially because the team itself is covert-ops. Rather than regularly saving the day all on his own much like Superman, which can help comic Superboy feel like he’s still living up to the name more, cartoon Superboy is working under the radar in a group setting, while still wanting to desperately fill those Superman shoes.

He is overconfident in his abilities and wants to be the hero he was created to be, so him being put into this very different type of superhero situation is another major contributor to the frustration/anger. Even later on when comics Superboy is part of forming the Young Justice team, they were never a secret covert-ops team, they were always publicly known. (hell, a reporter is the one who gave them the team name Young Justice because he’d misheard Bart)

Superboy & Superman

In the comics, as we have established, Clark was dead at the time Superboy first came on the hero scene. Clark comes back to life, during a little bit of a lull in the middle of the huge conflict. He immediately accepts that Superboy is one of four who came forward to try to replace him, and one of the only two (Superboy & Steel) who genuinely only had good intentions in doing so. Clark, Steel, Supergirl, Hal Jordan, and Superboy then all work together in the big battle against the Cyborg Superman.

Once things are settled, Clark is curious about him, and where he came from and his origin, so they end up going to Cadmus together with Guardian and learning more about him, as I previously mentioned. Once it is established that Superboy is in fact a metahuman clone who was created to mimic Superman, but is not actually a clone of him, Superman still accepts him and thinks he’s earned his right to continue using the ’S’ shield and have the name of Superboy.

They part ways so Superboy can go on his press tour, but in general they have pretty positive interactions where they mutually respect each other! Not too much later in the comics even (I forget exaaactly when this happens but it’s definitely before the 1998 Young justice comic), Superman is the first one to give Superboy a real name, “Kon-El”, something he is so happy about he literally cries.

How is this different in the cartoon?

When the boys first escaped, and Superboy first meets the Justice League, Clark is standoffish. Other members of the league need to nudge him over to go actually talk to Superboy, and it’s not much of a conversation before he flies off and away, leaving Superboy frustrated and alone.

This… turns into the standard for almost the entire first season. Other characters constantly telling Clark that he needs to reach out and be support for the boy (like in this iconic diner scene with Bruce and Clark), but Clark consistently being too freaked out by the fact that someone made a clone of him without his knowledge to properly accept Conner. While this does over time get better, this being the immediate reaction when Superboy is brand new in the world definitely… has an impact!

He is rejected by the person he idolizes, and feels neglected and abandoned, and definitely kinda overcompensates with ego to try to make up for it.

So:

In the comics, Superman and Superboy work together from the start, not falling into a hero/sidekick situation but rather acknowledging each other as individual heroes with respect for one another. They grow to see each other as family much faster, and little tension between them. A crucial difference in situations, though, is that at the time these versions first meet Superboy is not actually a clone of Superman.

In the cartoon, Superman at first avoids Superboy, and does not offer guidance or mentorship or anything the boy needs. It is clear that he wants to work with Superman and be like him, since it was what he was created to do. It takes a lot of time for Clark to accept Conner in this setting, and there is a lot of tension for the first several months Conner exists. (they seem to settle this towards the end of season 1/during the gap between season 2, but it still has it’s impact on who Conner is early in his life)

What does this mean?

I feel like this is another major factor that contributes to Conner being so angry all the time in the cartoon, he feels immediately rejected by the person he’s supposed to be someday, rather than accepted by him. Again, very different from how comics Superboy got a chance to be Superman, and a chance to then work with the real deal as equals.

Friendships, Relationships and Identity

When Superboy is freed by the second Newsboy Legion, it’s primarily out of a ‘we’re clones who are stuck here, but you need to be out there, you’re what Metropolis needs right now!’ kind of idea. The first person he actually becomes close to is a reporter named Tana Moon.

Tana and Superboy’s relationship is… bad once it actually becomes romantic due to their huge age difference (she’s around 23, he is for all intents and purposes 16), but during the Reign of the Supermen where they’re still just friends for the most part, it’s not as bad. Tana becomes the GBS correspondent who focuses on everything Superboy (at this time still insisting he is the new Superman) is doing as a hero, and they become close friends.

GBS then also brings in Rex Leech (and his daughter Roxy) to be his agent, to promote Superboy and manage things for him. Rex is exploitative as hell, but Roxy does become another really important person to Superboy. These characters along with Dubbilex are his main supporting cast at the start of his solo comic when he’s in Hawaii.

In this whole era, Superboy is pretty much a celebrity. He’s cool, he’s a superhero, and I think it’s very notable he does not have a secret Identity. For a decent chunk of time, he is always just ‘Superboy’ (until, as I mentioned earlier, Clark gives him the name Kon-El. Even so, he doesn’t adopt a regular secret identity [Conner Kent, although he actually used a different one, Carl Grummett, before that!] until he begins living with the Kents in the early 2000s). By the time he joins any teams, Kon is pretty damn confident in who he is as a hero and has a relatively good grasp on who he is in general, if anything he’s a little too confident.

Young Justice was created in the aftermath of World Without Grown Ups when the trio of Superboy, Robin (Tim Drake) and Impulse (Bart Allen) had teamed up. After they saved the day they realized they worked well together and formed their team, utilizing the old Justice League base in Mount Justice. They were eventually joined by more members, especially relevant here is Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) who Kon later dates for a portion of the Teen Titans run that these four are in after Young Justice ends.

The four of them become close, and when Kon dies during Infinite Crisis it rips a hole in everything they had established growing up together over the past several years (Cassie joins a cult dedicated to bringing him back, Tim tries to clone a new Kon, Bart got aged up and took on the mantle of the Flash, etc) and Bart’s death that followed similarly shook the remaining Cassie and Tim. This group eventually does get to reunite, with Kon and Bart coming back during Final Crisis, solidifying how even things like death don’t keep them apart for long. It’s hard to look at the comic book versions of these four characters and imagine how they would be without their connections to each other... until you look at the YJ cartoon and see a world where they’re not even all part of the same generation, let alone a friend group.

Now in the cartoon…

The first people Conner primarily interacts with are Dick, Wally, Kaldur, and M’gann, along with the League members who interact with The Team pretty regularly, Red Tornado, Batman, and Black Canary. He’s shown to be friends with the other memebers of the team and get along with them relatively well, but in general he’s not much of a social person.

Much like in the comics, Superboy is considered very attractive, and immediately upon their meeting, M’gann is interested in him. Very, very interested in him.

At first it definitely does seem more just like an innocent crush, but it’s later revealed to be a little more… concerning than that. As in ‘Megan subtlety influencing Superboy to become her dream boyfriend based on a TV show she likes’ concerning. Like… she literally gives him the name ‘Conner’ after the TV show character that was the boyfriend of the character she bases her human self and entire identity on. The two date and once that becomes a thing, a lot of their plot lines in the following seasons revolve around the ups and downs of their relationship.

In general in this show, Superboy doesn’t really get much of a chance to establish himself on his own terms. Within months of him leaving his cloning pod, he and M’gann start going to high school with secret identities, so he’s already having to hide who he truly is to blend in with other people, before he even knows who he truly is.

So to compare:

In the comics, Superboy gets to figure out who he is as Superman’s Clone/Superboy very publicly, has multiple love interests and a celebrity status, and over time becomes part of a tight-knit group of friends. He doesn’t use a regular secret identity for the first several years he’s active.

In the cartoon, Superboy has one love interest with a very large impact on him, not nearly as much focus is given to his other friendships, and he immediately adopts a secret identity meaning he needs to hide who he is from the start.

What it means:

These factors play a big difference in his attitude, particularly highlighting how extroverted his comic version is and how introverted his cartoon version is. Comic Superboy never really needed to hide who he was until years into his career, vs being told to do so early on in his life. When you get used to needing to hide things so early, that can definitely lead to being more private/disconnected from others. Also somewhat related- in the comics, when Kon is given knowledge in his cloning tube, more pop culture got included. He mentions knowing Star Wars without having seen it, and references a ton of TV and Movies, vs the cartoon version of him that seems to have been given a lot of history of the world but not the current fun stuff. It’s the difference between knowing what’s going on in the world and what’s popular, vs only knowing the past and what’s fundamental. Not knowing pop culture like this can also really contribute to feeling alienated and lead to introversion. (I just... I think about how in the comics Kon’s favorite TV show is Wendy The Werewolf Stalker, in the cartoon Conner just... watches white noise static)

Also, having a completely different set of friends with different personalities has a big effect, people are always gonna be influenced by the people they’re close to to some extent. Bumping Conner up to Dick’s generation of heroes instead of Tim’s not only gives him completely different friends, but it also puts him in this position of being one of the ‘Original Team Members’. By this I mean, a member of the first iteration of the only teen team, one of the people that younger heroes coming onto the scene and joining the team in later seasons see as an experienced and older team member to look up to (despite the fact that cartoon Conner is permanently 16- they never fixed that for him like in the comics). That just creates a different dynamic entirely, because in the comics even when the Tim/Kon/Cassie/Bart group are more experienced on their team late in the Teen Titans run, they are still always going to have heroes like Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Wally West etc as the older generation of ‘original teen heroes’ who came before them.

Also, while I am talking mostly about in-universe reasoning here, I do wanna bring up one slightly more meta reason that might also have contributed to them choosing to go for a more ‘introverted brooding hero’ characterization with him: the fact that their version of Wally already filled the ‘flirty jokey’ archetype original Comics Kon fits into. Having two characters like that in the show from the start would definitely get... overwhelming. And at the time this show was first airing, in the comics, he was relatively devoted to Cassie and not nearly as flirty anymore anyways.

Lex Luthor / Details of Cloning

In the comics, as I have already mentioned and will now actually explain, when Superboy was first introduced he was not the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor as we know him to be today. Kon was a metahuman clone, made with the DNA of Paul Westfield who worked at Cadmus, that they genetically altered to look like Superman, and gave powers based on the energy aura they discovered to exist around Clark’s dead body. This telekinetic field gave Kon the distinct powers he had for his first decade of existence: His Tactile Telekinesis (often referred to by him as TTK)

Lex Luthor was originally not directly involved in his creation, but he was aware that it was going on as is revealed during the Reign of the Supermen arc. Kon’s TTK allowed him to mimic Superman’s flight and strength, but not all of his powers. TTK also gave him powers Superman DOESN’T have, such as his ability to dismantle machinery or mold materials he is touching into different shapes. (The reason this is called Tactile Telekinesis is because there needs to be a tactile element, he needs to be touching the things)

It is not until 2003, a decade after Superboy was created, that writer Geoff Johns in his Teen Titans run decided to alter Superboy’s origin. He established that Lex Luthor had been the real human DNA donor and that Superman’s Kryptonian DNA was actually used in the cloning process. Around this time, Conner also begins to exhibit more of the typical Kryptonian powers, like Clark did around this age.

This information is at first only known by Conner and Tim, because the email had actually been sent to Tim directly. The two keep it a secret as Conner was not ready to tell the rest of the team, because he fears the implications it has, and is afraid of becoming evil or being rejected. This revelation about Lex being one of his ‘parents’ DNA-wise coming years into his hero career changes a lot of things for Conner, and makes him begin to question who he is. Unfortunately, Lex does at one point take control of Conner and force him to break Tim’s arm and attack Cassie directly (as well as the rest of the team, but these two specifically are what Conner expresses the most guilt over after the fact). This era of Conner in the comics is where he’s definitely closest to his cartoon counterpart, because he’s very troubled and dealing with a lot of heavy stuff regarding himself as a person. Yet there’s still traces of who he has always been in there. I mean, if you’re only familiar with cartoon Conner, can you really imagine his final words as he’s dying after saving the world being “Isn’t it cool?”

Now, looking at the cartoon…

Conner finds out about his connection to Lex in November, only a few months after having existed outside of a cloning tube. He finds it out on his own, from Lex speaking to him directly, after Conner went back to investigate the remains of Cadmus and ended up having a fight with Match (another clone who is able to pass for Conner’s duplicate who they… their version of Match is another thing they drastically changed from the comic version but as we’ve established that’s something they like to do so I’m not gonna dwell on it).

In the cartoon, Conner’s powerset is, from the start, different from both Superman and comic Superboy. Here he has heightened senses and strength and the ability to leap really far, but he lacks actual flight and some of the other standard Kryptonian powers, and has no TTK. The cartoon explains these gaps in his powers as being due to his half human DNA, and they introduce these patches that are able to suppress his human DNA and give him temporary access to full powers. Lex uses these patches as a way to manipulate him. Much like in the comics, Lex has a code word programmed into Conner that effects him, although it isn’t quite used for the same amount of ‘total mind control’, and he doesn’t get fully brainwashed and turn against the team or anything. Instead, the code word (here “Red Sun” rather than “Aut vincere, aut mori” [Translated as “to conquer or die" / "victory or death”]) just leaves him stuck in a hypnotic trance.

So:

In the comics, Kon finds out after years of believing he was a metahuman clone who was given powers to mimic Superman, that he is actually a clone of Lex Luthor and Superman, which alters his entire perspective on himself! This causes him to become a lot more unsure and anxious about who he is, in stark contrast with how confident he was before. There are still traces of his old self within him, but this is a development in his character that influences him moving forward, making him a bit more serious but still at his core the same person he used to be.

In the cartoon, Conner finds out after months of thinking he was a clone of just Superman, that he has half human DNA and the donor was Lex Luthor. While he always had confidence in his abilities, he was still somewhat lost as a person in knowing who he really was outside of things other people have assigned to him (teammate, boyfriend, superhero, etc), and finding out this information about himself just adds to the uncertainty and frustration.

What it means:

Having this struggle be something Conner has to deal with so early in his existence is one of the most fundamental changes in my opinion. Finding out that Lex Luthor is one of your clone parents is something that will alter your entire perception of yourself and who you are! In the comics, Conner had already been confident in who he was so it shakes his world in a really big way, but in the cartoon he still didn’t know who he really was so it just adds to further confusion.

I think that even with the more serious characterization Kon starts getting in the 2003 Teen TItans run, his history and past as the fun cool 90′s Metropolis Kid isn’t entirely forgotten, it’s still a part of who he is/was. Sure, maybe he’s sometimes even embarrassed by how he used to be, but it’s not treated as though it didn’t happen. All of his history comes together to create the character and who he is by the time he wears just a T shirt as a costume.

By skipping over the fun era of his life and jumping right into who he was when he started facing these huge changes, it creates such a completely different set of challenges for him and that contributes directly to how he’s characterized.

Putting it all together

The ultimate point I am trying to reach in all of this is that, beyond just ‘they made a writing choice to make him different’ the environment that Superboy was brought into and the events that took place right when he came into the world greatly influenced the type of character he would become. Every time an adaptation is made of something like comics, there are going to be changes and alterations to fit the world the creators want to make. Sometimes these changes are minor and don’t actually change who a character is (an example for the YJ cartoon’s universe itself: In the tie-in comics [issue 6] it’s established in this universe that the Flying Graysons weren’t just Dick and his parents, but other family members were active parts of it too. One was an uncle also named Richard, who actually survived the fall that killed the rest of his family but was left paralyzed and thus unable to care for him. This uncle already used the nickname ‘Rick’ which is likely why Dick ended up using ‘Dick’ as a name in a modern setting even though it has fallen out of popularity as a nickname because uh, connotations. This is something that is mostly unique to their world and helps to explain some things, but it’s not like tragically losing a few more family members changed their version of Dick and his backstory that drastically. At his core, he still has many similarities to his comic self) but they’re still changes, and that’s okay. Superboy, though, is such an extreme case where they made so many changes that at his core he really does become a completely separate character. Sure he has the name and design, but I was able to write five thousand words about differences here and am struggling to come up with more similarities beyond that.

I think there still could be specks of the original Superboy buried inside cartoon Conner, and that maybe he could have been more like his original version under other circumstances. Looking at these differences and where they come from is, I think, a cool way to begin to understand what elements contribute to who each version of Conner Kent really is. I think it’s clear from how I wrote this that I prefer the comic version, but there are definitely things that are fun to look at and think about with both.

if u read all of this UH thanks for listenin to me ramble! sorry if this is incomprehensibe!

#rainbowroadimpulse #sam writes #conner kent #superboy

229 notes · View notes

along-came-atsushi · 3 years

Text

The search for yourself – An analysis about Tachihara

Several characters in BSD express a wish for home and family. Most of them have either lost their families or were abandoned by them. Especially for those characters, the word ‘family’ expands the definition of being related by blood.

In BSD ‘family’ doesn’t mean people who are related to you, but people who accept you for who you really are and who truly care about you. Some examples would be the relationship between Fukuzawa and Ranpo, or Sigma and how he sees his customers.

Tachihara’s arc deals with the same theme and his search for who he really is.

[Beware: Spoilers for the whole Hunting Dogs Arc!]

His Past:

It’s been shown that Tachihara and his older brother are granted with a similar ability: The ability to create and/or manipulate metal. But Tachihara seemed to be less talented or able to control his ability than his brother, at least in the eyes of his family. When his brother died in the war they were outraged and sad about his death. At the same time, they openly told Tachihara to be the one that should have died in his stead, showing complete disregard for his existence:

Tachihara’s brother thinks positively about his family, given how he talks about them. He knows that they miss him and he himself wishes to return back home. Due to this it’s possible that he doesn’t even notice the difference in his family’s treatment between him and Tachihara, since he never addresses that problem anywhere. Tachihara on the other hand has to feel that no matter who he is and what he does, even ultimately if he’d die, they wouldn’t care for him.

He has been compared to his older brother his whole life and was never accepted as his own person, which leads to him in not understanding who he is and what he should do.

[Side note: I’m not a psychologist, but I read that parents that treat one child as the golden egg (Tachihara’s brother), while treating the other as the black sheep (Tachihara) is a trait found in narcissists. With this they try to have one person who admires them (Tachihara’s brother) and the other who fears them (Tachihara). Considering this and the way Tachihara has been treated by his family, it is highly possible that he is the victim of a narcissistic upbringing. It might be that one family member was a narcissist and with their treatment of Tachihara influenced the other family members to do the same. They joined the narcissist in their behaviour out of fear (acting as enablers), so that they themselves wouldn’t get viewed and treated by the narcissist and others the same way.]

Joining the Hunting Dogs:

After his brother’s death Tachihara ran away from his family and decided to live a life on the streets, trying to survive by stealing and doing other criminal activities, where he then was found by the Hunting Dogs and invited to join them:

The Hunting Dogs highest priority is to protect their country and its citizens, no matter what it takes. They have been shown to let people join them when they realize that those people have an intention to protect others, or are willing to self-sacrifice in order to protect something. (e.g. Jouno offering Kunikida to join after he saw that Kunikida wanted to protect the ADA, Fukuchi offering to train Akutagawa after he realized he was fighting for something.)

But the problem of the Hunting Dogs’ mentality is that they have a black and white view regarding “justice” and “crime”, or people they perceive as “good” and “evil”. They immediately hunt down the ADA without further investigation on their assertions (that they’re innocent and all was a set-up), even expressing joy about torture and killing, when a person is a “criminal” and therefore “evil” in their eyes.

The only way to get rid of your crime is to join them and in this way being useful to them. This results in people involuntarily joining them, because they have no other way, which has been the case with Tachihara. He was found being guilty, because he stole something from them, and then offered of being freed from his crime, but only if he joins them. Which means that he doesn’t join them on his own accord and is then pressured into their black and white morale.

[Side note: Tecchou seems to be the only one able to look on a more greyish view regarding “good” and “evil” people, as seen when he talks with the café owner and promises to not kill Lucy and the ADA. Fukuchi feels guilty for at least having to kill children in the past.]

The Hunting Dogs seem to stick together because they have to, less because they want to. Jouno is annoyed with Tecchou’s behaviour and Tecchou is annoyed by Jouno’s actions. Teruko dares Jouno not to read her heartbeat and with that tries to keep him from getting to know how she truly feels. She also seems to be afraid of Fukuchi for some reason, hence why she butters him up in an extreme and exaggerated way:

Ultimately, Fukuchi their own captain, is the one who plays them all and lies to them the most. They are bound together by their duty and have no real trust in each other.

Tachihara has been shown to feel somewhat uncomfortable when being with the Hunting Dogs and is sometimes weirded out by their behaviours. Even though he is the only one who has no quarrels with his colleagues and gets along with them pretty well, openly expressing concern when Teruko is wounded. But at the same time, he keeps his distance to them and addresses them formally or by their ranks.

While Tachirara talks with Yosano it can be understood that he didn’t join the Hunting Dogs out of his own conviction, but because that way they wouldn’t kill him for his crime. By joining and fighting for them he had a purpose in life and people who needed him because of his ability. He claims to have turned into someone who was “neither my older brother nor his opposite” and that “orders make me who I am.”

Infiltrating Port Mafia:

When Tachihara joins the Port Mafia as a spy and works for the Black Lizard, he is met with a different mentality regarding loyalty and justice. As explained above the Hunting Dogs have a black and white view regarding justice and crime, and people they consider to be good or evil. They express joy about killing and torturing, even though they are considered to be “the good guys”. While the Port Mafia is also known to be extremely cruel, they are not considered as “the good guys”. In other words, the Port Mafia are represented as the “villains”, and the Hunting Dogs are represented as the “heroes” in the eyes of the government.

Although it’s been mentioned that you shouldn’t get too close with anyone in the Port Mafia, forming a close bond with others is still possible. Something that differs the Black Lizard from the Hunting Dogs is that they stick together, e.g. when Higuchi saved Akutagawa, despite the fact that she could’ve died doing so alone, which is something that Tachihara was concerned about:

In the end, the Black Lizard stood behind Higuchi’s decision and followed her, saving Akutagawa in the process. They did so not solely because she was their superior, but because they have trust in her and respect her.

Tachihara playing the Double Agent is similar to Ango’s role during Dark Era. They both joined the “evil” side as a spy, but found people they got close with and care about. Both of them aren’t able to shake off their feelings regarding these people who became dear to them, despite their original orders and mission.

Characters in the BSD universe make friends with people who are on the opposite side or who are their enemies. They also tend to ally with their actual or former enemies, if it means to achieve the same goal.

Tachihara acts way more casual with his Black Lizard colleagues. He calls Hirotsu “gramps”, Higuchi “big sis” and Akutagawa “big bro”, suggesting that he sees them as his family, even though he may do so unconsciously. The Black Lizard have shown to truly care about Tachihara as a person as well, even without knowing about his ability.

They are relieved to know that he isn’t hurt or dead. Furthermore, Hirotsu highly compliments Tachihara and admires him for his mindset and actions. In return, Tachihara feels guilty for having to hurt Hirotsu and Gin, back then already not able to fully betray them.

Playing the Double Agent:

Later on, Tachihara’s true intentions for joining Port Mafia get revealed. He realizes that he used his brother as an excuse, and understands that in reality he was just trying to find his true self. Before that, he told himself that he joined only to get close to Yosano for revenge. During his whole childhood he had been compared to his brother, which left him with major self-doubts and a lack of self-identity. If he wasn’t as good, as useful, as heroic like his brother, he would be nothing. He would have no value:

Tachihara states several times that he “wanted to become someone”. Too insecure and afraid to identify with who he is, he simply decided to take the opposite way his brother took, and identified with the role he was given. First, he was a delinquent and simply “bad”. As a Hunting Dog he was then given the role of a military officer, whose job was to catch terrorists. When he got his order to infiltrate Port Mafia as a spy, he probably tried to identify with just that. But this given mission helped him to get away from his role as a Hunting Dog, and he found a place where he feels he truly belongs to.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that throughout this arc he gets portrayed in a mirror-like way:

It’s supposed to point out his search for himself, and which side he will choose in the end, now that he is learning to trust his own instincts. He slowly steps out of the shadow of his brother and accepts the person he is.

This is possible for him to do, because he has the support of the Black Lizard. During his time with the Hunting Dogs he simply followed orders and had no opinion of his own, but a purpose in life. He did this to please them and being accepted as someone worthy by them. When he rejoins the Hunting Dogs, but secretly still works as a spy in the Port Mafia, he realizes that his mindset already follows that of a Port Mafia member:

Since the Port Mafia has a more greyish view on crime and justice and have clashed with the ADA several times in the past, they turn out to be the ones to truly believe that the ADA were set-up by someone and are not terrorists.

Hirotsu and Gin both encourage and support Tachihara to form an opinion of his own, when he asks them about the ADA’s case, and not to simply believe the false facts:

This is furthermore emphasized by Mori as the Port Mafia’s boss discussing the ADA’s case with the Black Lizard and with this, stating his trust in them:

Due to the circumstance that Tachihara is treated as an equal among his Black Lizard peers and treated with trust, he’s starting to be able to question the accusations against the ADA and comes to the logical conclusion that something is wrong. This later leads him to take the search for the real mastermind into his own hands, instead of simply following orders.

It’s his own opinion and own choice what leads to the tearing of the page and its power, and with it the Decay of Angel’s plan:

This in itself is a very nice twist, because it was something neither Fyodor nor Dazai could know about or orchestrate. They both could only make people go so far and act in a certain way, but not tear through bonds people share with each other. Which gets confirmed when Dazai said that it’s the people on the battlefield making the world turn, and not those planning schemes.

In the end, it’s Mori as the Port Mafia’s boss to decide whether he keeps or kills Tachihara for his betrayal. It’s a rule to kill those who have betrayed the Port Mafia. But Mori already knew which side Tachihara will choose and which side he feels he belongs to, even before Tachihara himself did.

- - - - -

Last but not least, I want to thank the person who requested this meta from me. I hope you enjoyed reading this and that it was worth the wait. I had immense fun writing about characters who usually aren’t on my radar that much. Thank you very much!

[Edit: “he simply followed orders and had no opinion of his own, or a purpose in life” was changed to “he simply followed orders and had no opinion of his own, but a purpose in life“. Which was phrased wrong by me in the original post!]

#Michizou Tachihara #michizou tachihara bsd #Hunting Dogs #Port Mafia #hunting dogs bsd #bsd meta #Bungou Stray Dogs #BSD #my metas #Ougai Mori #Ryuro Hirotsu #Ouchi Fukuchi #Saigiku Jouno #Tecchou Suehiro #Teruko Okura #Ichiyo Higuchi

322 notes · View notes