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troius · 1 year

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The Kids in the Room

The Fullbringer Arc is tighter and more coherent than anything in the manga so far, telling a very straightforward story about a young person’s alienation from the world he lives in. It has very specific things to say about the role of parents, mentors, and friends in the process of a kid becoming an adult and does a pretty decent job of looking at how different organizations (the state, gangs) can play into that young person’s life. And then, at the climax of the story, it very intentionally takes all that hard work, and for what I must assume were business reasons, tosses it all away.

The Arrancar Arc was a glorious, grandiose mess. It featured no fewer than three separate worlds, four distinct factions, and probably around twenty characters with active character arcs. Although it started off with the truly breathtaking ambition of weaving all of this together, by the end Kubo had cut a considerable amount of the subplots in favor of actually getting to the end of the story he was telling. And it still mostly worked! Ichigo’s character arc, at least, ended where I think it was always going to: sacrificing his nigh-unlimited power after understanding the price of that power.

But of course, giving up all of your powers isn’t really a long-term solution for Ichigo, just like it isn’t for any of us in life. Ruling over three worlds might tend to corrupt a person, but we all want—and need—to feel like we have some power over our own lives. Ichigo, in his final year of high school, living on the precipice of adulthood, feels this in more than one way. He had this power. He sacrificed it. And yet now, he’d do anything to get it back. Anything except ask for help.

You see, asking for help is hard, but especially in the context of “seeking power”, which in this story is an even less veiled metaphor for “growing up” than it usually is in shonen manga. Asking for help means admitting both weakness (you don’t have the power to get what you want right now) and discontentment (there is something you want that you don’t have). For Ichigo, whose primary method of coping with his mother’s death was asserting a premature independence, this would be difficult even if the thing he was seeking wasn’t something he had very publicly given up in front of his friends and family. Yes, there are times when he doesn’t want to involve them to protect them, but a big part of his self-imposed isolation is his own ego, his unwillingness to reveal to people who love him just how miserable he is, out of fear that it will reveal him to be somebody they won’t love anymore.

And that’s where the Fullbringers come in. Ginjo puts in a tremendous amount of work into getting close to Ichigo—lying to him, giving him little bits of information piecemeal without telling him the whole thing, and of course, offering him power that Ichigo desperately wants. But none of it would be possible if Ichigo didn’t have this preexisting desire to do it all himself, or at least to appear to his friends and family like he’s doing it himself. Ginjo does what nobody else in Ichigo’s life does—offers him assistance without making him ask for it. Hook, line, sinker.

The body of the arc covers this masterclass in manipulation from Ginjo, and it’s a huge change from what has, up until this point, been a very standard shonen battle manga in terms of content, where the fights happen on a more or less weekly basis. Here, it takes over half the arc for Ichigo to fight anybody! It’s all character development, even for the side characters like Orihime and Chad, who don’t get fights of their own but do get to express themselves and show initiative in ways they were largely denied in the previous arc. It’s all a long, slow burn to the climax, where Tsukishima suddenly strips away the support system that Ichigo had so undervalued, leaving him defenseless against Ginjo’s theft of his power.

And that’s my big frustration with the climax. It’s not that I like the Karakura kids more than I like the Soul Reapers, although I very well might. It’s that so much work has been put into drawing out and developing these relationships, so much effort put into showing how this is affecting all of them. And it’s not just metatextual effort either—yes, we spend a lot of pagetime with Chad and Orihime and Uryu, but Xcution also targets them all because of their importance to Ichigo! The very story itself recognizes that they’re the support system that Ichigo needs to be an emotionally healthy adult! Any logical resolution must therefore involve them!

But it doesn’t. Instead, it’s the Soul Reapers, who have not been physically or even narratively present at all for four volumes, who come in and repower Ichigo. They’re the ones who pair up for the fights against Xcution, fights that are very light on the sort of character work that is so characteristic of Bleach fights because there just isn’t the grounding for it! Even the fights that show character are mostly showing development that seemingly occurred off-panel, leaving you wondering when exactly Toshiro and Ikkaku achieved their newfound maturity. But the supporting characters from the bulk of the arc are written out, and even the personal feelings of Shigekuni Genryusai Yamamoto wind up being more important to the narrative.

This isn’t just unsatisfactory on the level of the supporting characters, it also fatally undercuts Ichigo’s own development. We expect the story to end with him overcoming the challenge set in front of him, which at the beginning is clearly his alienation from the people he loves. But he doesn’t really do that—instead, the Soul Reapers showing up is what solves his problems, which suggests that the actual problem in his life is just “they weren’t around”. I don’t think that’s actually what we’re meant to take away here, and the narrative doesn’t seem to think so either, which is why we end with the character development being passed on to Soul Society instead. They learn something in this arc, which is to trust Ichigo. But he doesn’t seem to have learned a damn thing.

And that’s what frustrates me so much about this arc: the lost potential, the fact that there was a very obvious story being told that was abruptly discarded, right at the moment it mattered most. There was probably no way Kubo could have fulfilled all the potential of the Arrancar Arc: there were just to many characters, too many storylines. But here, he condensed his writing, narrowed his scope, and still told a compelling story up until he suddenly threw it all away. Whatever the reason for it-- and I have no insight into the editing or business pressures that might have motivated a climax so different from that the story was obviously building to-- it’s disappointing.

#Bleach #Troius reads Bleach #I spent the weekend on this lol #hope y'all are in the mood for 1200 words of my complaints about this arc #it just really annoys me when an author appropriately limits their ambition and yet still fucks it up #anyhow I'll have more positive content out this week #my six hearts vs Xcution matchups #but I wanted to get this out first so you knew where I was coming from #wrap up post

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craft-quests · 1 month

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Tada! I have successfully completed an embroidery project! Ordinarily I believe you would wash it and dissolve away the pattern, but in this case I want to keep the names of the stitches visible.

Here's how the back looked before and after I backed it:

I've made myself a little wrap up questionnaire for the end of every project, to help me reflect or whatever. So here goes.

Would you do this craft again?

Yes! I enjoyed it. I really liked having all the different kinds of stitches, so I think I should probably avoid projects that are mostly just the same stitch over and over again. I think I would enjoy seeing a picture come together, though, so I'll try something more like that next time.

Favourite thing?

Chain stitch and blanket stitch were very satisfying. I also enjoyed basket weave, which makes me think I should mend some of my handknit socks that have developed holes.

Least favourite thing?

Did not enjoy the long and short stitch, although I can see how you could get a cool effect with it.

Anything you would do differently another time?

Probably buy from another seller. I really like the pattern, and the kit came with everything I needed, but it was irritating to not have consistent access to the tutorial videos.

Do you have a next project in mind for this craft?

Yes! I would like to embroider on this bag:

Ideas for which stitches to use are welcome!

#embroidery #embroidery for march #embroidery sampler #wrap up post #craft quests #craftblr #crafting #crafts

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colloydweek · 11 months

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Thank you for another great Colloyd Week 5 years running!

And with that, Colloyd Week 2023 is officially done! We’ve gotten a variety of wonderful fanworks again, including fanart, fanfic, (check the AO3 collection!), crafting, and some amazing creators have even put up their fan merchandise and artbook so you can take some colloyd creations home! We also got some new entries for last year’s prompts, which you can check out on the tag #colloydweek2022!

Which leads in that we’ll always reblog late entries for our weeks! So if you have any you’d still like to share, please be sure to use the tag #colloydweek or #colloydweek2023.

It’s been amazing that we’ve been able to run this event for 5 years now. Thank you all for making the 5th anniversary of the week a success! To catch up on this year’s entries, check out the tags below for each day!

Day 1: Wings

Day 2: Birthday Present

Day 3: Kiss / Confession (edit: fixed the link!)

Day 4: Soulmates

Day 5: AU / Crossover 2023

Day 6: Quote Day - “What would I wish for now if I saw a falling star cross the night sky?”

Day 7: Free Day / Colloyd Day 2023

And with that, we’re closing this post with our favorite couple in Flanoir. Thank you all again for your wonderful creations!

#tales of symphonia #colloydweek2023 #lloyd irving #colette brunel #colloyd #wrap up post

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take-the-hidden-paths · 1 year

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A slightly belated wrap up post!

I had intended to post this on the 28th, at the “official” end of the event, but life happened, as it sometimes does.

Anyway! Thank you very much to everyone who encouraged me to set this event up, and to all who participated, signal boosted, posted fanworks old and new to the AO3 collection, read, commented, reblogged, and provided moral support.

The collection will stay open, and you are welcome to keep using the prompts to inspire your fanworks in any way you like. The event was designed to be low pressure, so there is no deadline for sharing your creations - they will arrive precisely when they mean to ;)

Hidden Paths will be back in February 2024 with a brand new set of prompts. Until then, farewell!

~ Narya ~

#hidden paths #tolkien #tolkien fandom event #wrap up post

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authorkarajorgensen · 3 months

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January 2024 Wrap-Up Post

This week's blog is our January 2024 wrap-up, so take a look for mini book reviews, behind the scenes info, and some writing updates.

Ah, January, the new start to the year and the time when “new year, new me” expectations weigh heavily upon us. As much as I try to temper that feeling in January, this year it felt more like December 2.0 as I tried to wrap up the projects I had left from 2023 before diving into my main goals for 2024. Let’s get into it. Here were the goals I made for January: Finish/edit “An Unexpected…

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#2024 #an unexpected question #january #mini book reviews #monthly goals #Monthly Review #the reanimator mysteries #wrap up post #writing

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maeamian · 10 months

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WGA's asking people interested in all the tree law fun to also sign this petition about a god damned bitch of an unsatisfactory situation on another street on the Same FUCKING lot. NBC Universal (whose CEO is Mike Cavanagh just btw in case Ron Pearlman is listening) has started a construction project that completely removed the sidewalks from five different gates, in two cases forcing pedestrians to literally walk into oncoming traffic. In addition to being an ADA violation, it's just flat out despicably evil of them and WGA's asking for public support on this issue.

#Putting this as its own separate post in case you want to spread it around that way #Since the tree law one has roughly wrapped up the period where our participation helps #whereas this has not

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demigods-posts · 2 months

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say what you want but annabeth is 100% the big spoon. and it definitely stems from the fact that everything she loves seems to leave her in some way. at least it feels like that for a long time. but cradling percy reassures her that's he's here and here to stay.

#and percy definitely knows how important it is for her to hold him #so he always snuggles close and wraps his arms around her waist #the only downside is annabeth always wakes up with drool on her chest #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo text post #pjo #pjo headcanon #percy jackson #annabeth chase #percabeth #percabeth headcanon #percabeth fluff #percabeth for the win #percabeth being amazing #percabeth being the cutest couple to ever not exist

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mroddmod · 1 year

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the party visits Hawkins for the holidays, circa December 1991.

i was lucky enough to get to participate in a secret santa gift exchange along with my friends, some of the most talented people in the stranger things fandom! my recipient was @halosketches, one of the coolest people i know. it was a pleasure to be able to work on this and i'm happy to able to share it now! happy holidays, boys 🫶

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euphor1a · 1 year

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haven’t seen this yet, so... how long is your wrapped playlist? mine is 5 hours and 27 minutes long :)

#🌺; aleyna rambles #spotify wrapped #🥲 help why did this blow up #my notifications will never recover from this post... 🧍🏽‍♀️

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anneapocalypse · 1 year

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I love every YouTuber who has ever made "[Character] dialogue - all options" video.

#been watching a lot of Sera Content as i try to wrap up this next post #which is i regret to say #NOT the one that got the most votes #lol #turns out that one is actually the least written. whoops #i'll get there though!#in the meantime i'm trying to wrap and post the ones that are close to done

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booksteacupandreviews · 2 years

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August was not all bad #MonthlyWrapUp

How was your month? What do you plan to read in September? Check out my month in reading and life my #bookblog #BooksTeacupandReviews ⬇️

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#August Wrap Up #bibliophile #Book Blog #book blog feature #Book blogger #book review blog #Books Teacup and Reviews #Books This Month #Eclectic Book Blog #Indian Book Blogger #Month In Reading #monthly post #monthly wrap-up #Reader #reading month #reviewer #Wrap Up Post

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clowndensation · 1 year

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thinking about connor in prague saying "dad's theory was you got two fighting dogs, you send the weak one away, you punish the weak one." in relation to this episode, and the way the siblings view abuse inside their own family.

shiv and kendall and their belief that connor and roman are the weak dogs that got the brunt of logan's worst behavior, because abuse is reserved for the kids who can't behave - the ones who aren't smart and mature enough to make it in the world. abuse evokes pity, because abuse is what happens when you expect too much from people who obviously aren't capable of more.

and then they go forward in life, believing that they're just naturally more intelligent and more capable than connor and roman, as if being raised seeing what happens to you if you aren't a perfect child wasn't the entire point of the "punish the weak dog" mentality that logan instilled in them. the looming threat implied behind any praise they do receive that tacitly tells them "you're not like roman and connor" because everyone knows what happens to roman and connor.

the absolute height of the rich capitalist mindset. "we're succeeding because of our own merit, and other people fail because they don't have what it takes" when in reality they're succeeding because of arbitrary rules made up by someone who knows that infighting makes meaner dogs.

#he's literally putting them in a position where admitting that he abused them #forces them to admit that they're 'weak dogs' just like roman and connor #and that's SO antithetical to their own image of themselves that it would destabilize their entire worldview to admit that #and so they're stuck in this state of being able to admit that their dad IS abusive and he IS an asshole #but are absolutely unable to view themselves as receiving of that abuse #because being abused means being a victim. and victims are weak people who get fucked over.#and if they're weak people than how are they ever going to beat their dad?#they're so wrapped up in the worldview logan raised them in that they're completely unable to see #that he's set them up in a game they can't win #you can't heal from abuse if you can't admit that the things that happened to you were abuse in the first place #succession #also you may be asking 'vinnie didn't you make a post just like this last night'#and the answer is yes. but i'm still thinking about it. so.

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gunsatthaphan · 4 months

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