#also yes hello geno but I'm afraid this one is not about you

[ehghtyseven]

Tanger just laying it out there for all the world to hear

[the-nysh]

(eisenartworks) hello, resident Garou expert. I in desperate need of ur help. I saw u offer ur take on Garou's sequence, and I did get a few good ones on reddit, but I'm afraid I can't pick. What are your thoughts? :0

Thank you so much 😊

*gasp* 👀👀!!!! YES, @eisenartworks I am here to help! (or provide the content to brainstorm more ideas) 8'D

Ok, so if you wanted to match his character’s progression with the same 5-step sequence as the others, it'll depend on how much ‘completeness’ of his story you want to show (aka from his childhood all the way to the end of his arc - with his eyes opening under the waterfall), or focusing only on certain parts of his story to emphasize, like on the tragedy or a hopeful message for ex. So choosing which moments to include or eliminate depends on that - on what overall theme you want to show.

Because there’s already a symbolic progression of his eyes shown ‘monsterizing’ over time in canon (teetering on a fine line of balance & duality between his human/hero and ‘monster’ sides), so including when one half turns red, to the ‘human’ side waking when he’s on the surface after saving Bang, to the ‘monster’ side opening as human again under the waterfall at the end - that could be a consistent theme to focus on for ex.

Also because he goes thru countless external transformations, so if you want to fit everything into 5 images (unless you compromise room up to 6) we’d have to creatively combine or condense down different parts of his story together, to focus on his most important internal (emotional) turning points of growth/change instead. That means we can confidently exclude all the moments where he’s deliberately unconscious or passively not in full control/awareness of his own actions, because they do not reflect his innermost feelings (or actively progress his heart’s true values/goals). So the part where he’s sleep-fighting vs Darkshine, the part where he’s ‘feral’ unconscious arriving at the surface (vs Bang), and faceless Cosmic Garou (under the influence of ‘god’) can all be eliminated as ‘not actually him’ - we can’t even see his real eyes there anyway. BUT the ‘cosmic’ Garou who’s come to his senses after Tareo’s death - now THAT moment is far more important to his journey’s self-realization. :’D

And I’ve previously compiled a bunch of photosets documenting his expressions that can be used as references, but also confession: I have a wip file of his eyes I haven’t finished. Because I’ve observed how he’s the character with the most panels focused on dramatic close-up crops of his eyes (yes especially even in the webcomic!) and I just wanted to collect them all, but they happen to align with the type of story progression you’re after, so among those panels I can help narrow down which (manga) moments are most important! 8′D

Childhood - if you wanted to begin his story with his childhood (to consistently match Genos & Saitama’s who started with theirs), then it’s the panel where he’s crying angry, bitter tears in frustration at his teacher dismissing and talking down to him after he’s suffered from injustice. The moment he learned this is what he hates about how the world works. Where he’s either surrounded by the mob of ‘Tacchans’ representative of his worst (repressed) childhood trauma/humiliation, or lit by the anime’s dramatic spotlight while he sits powerless and frustrated (at being ‘alone’ and weak, with no one to support or understand him) on the chair. 

Lone Wolf Hero Hunting - so he begins his hero hunt on the night of a full moon, (if you want to document his shifting phases of the moon, cause his arc ends with a gibbous one) complete with the aesthetic of a grinning/hungry wolf (nocturnal hunter). At this part of the story, his dark eyeliner is most prominent (cause it will fade later on). The panels that best represent this stage of his story (imo) are these, especially his ‘my eyes have adjusted (to the dark)’ panel.

Red Garou, Monster Hunter - (condensing more moments now) but here’s where he has the red eye, red hair, and fresh scar. All at once. The turning point (aka a reality/naivety check) where the monsters literally backstab him to kidnap Tareo, and he declares war (alone) on the Monster Association. (Gaining the tattered ‘scarf’ thru facing Rover and getting charred by Orochi’s flames.) Significant because this is the first time he switches targets (from fighting heroes) to unleash true lethal intent vs monsters. The angriest, bloodiest, most intense, and disgusted at real monsters we ever see him (in seething feral fury in response to save/protect Tareo.)

Transformed Monster ‘Hero’ Garou - (so eliminating Spiral Garou pains me, because it was so short-lived) but this part is when his body monsterizes with the external shell of a ‘costume’ - but ONLY after he awakens to himself from saving Bang, with the realization + focus to ‘follow his heart.’ The symbolic, cracked open ‘window’ to his human eye here is so important! ;o; Cause this was the point he took action at his peak (antihero) ‘moral best’ - appearing like a monster, but saving everyone (including other heroes & Tareo) on the surface and destroying the baddest monster cadres with his own power. The moments where he took action because of, or in response to Bang (’awakened’ with the crack over his eye crumbling off his face, or the ‘blessing’ moment with the waves crashing from defeating the Centipede - in contrast to Red Garou’s fire/rage) are probably the strongest representations of his feelings here.   

‘Cosmic’ Garou’s emotional epiphany & resolve - so if the above was him at his peak, this becomes his lowest (emotionally). After ‘god’ interferes to fuck everything up, forcing Garou to learn what True Absolute Evil actually entails (not what Garou ever actually wanted) and experience the traumatic devastation & despair and self-loathing of having unknowingly killed Tareo himself. D: So horrific. (Note: actual Garou fans do not celebrate the faceless corrupted Cosmic ‘God’ entity, because it does not represent his true feelings, his own awareness/agency, or the person Garou actually is at all; he was cruelly used to destroy the humanity he’d previously staked his life to protect.) So it’s only after he finally comes to his senses, with his full face -both eyes- notably showing again, that matters most here. The strongest (most cathartic) moments being when he shares that beat of empathy with Saitama over their mutual loss of their most important person (still with residual ‘stardust’ tears grieving for Tareo - esp if you want to compare/contrast with Garou’s angry tears as a child), and then resolves to fix everything he never intended (choosing to sacrifice himself as a hero to help save the world.) Especially with the aesthetic of him still wearing his cosmic space ‘shell,’ the irradiated night sky with a watchful gibbous moon, or even parts of him turning to salt already.

Bonus: Waterfall Garou - cause whether you include or eliminate this moment (or exclude the first childhood one to include this one for a total 5, instead of 6) I like it because his story ideally shouldn’t end with his ‘death’ it finally shows him being ‘cleansed,’ with that one eye - that had symbolically been half ‘monsterized’ red before, opening up (as human) to new future possibilities.

So if you begin with crying kid Garou and end with him grieving over Tareo, that’s one approach (showing two different kinds of tears, keeping a bookend theme coming back full-circle in a way, and consistent with Genos & Saitama’s by including Garou’s childhood too.) But if you start with his hero hunting and end with the waterfall panel, it shows a more ‘complete’ progression of his active (present-day) journey instead, leaving off on a more hopeful, open-ended note (rather than ending at the implied, doomed tragedy of both his & Tareo’s death.) And because his arc is ‘complete’ anyway, it feels only fair to show most of the whole thing, imo. :’3

[nomorelonelydays]

Hello my name is Angst Goblin and I'm here to share some OoTP HP crossover AU pain because I am thinking about it and hurting? First, like, if Geno had been good-hearted and generally upstanding for most of his time at Hogwarts, he'd probably have to see/do WAY TOO MUCH bad shit just to prove he was committed to being a Death Eater and the communicates with Sid and the Order by having his parents direct the magically encrypted letters back and forth but it's not having Sid there to (1/9)

to comfort him in bed when the memories of screams get too loud or to rub between his shoulders when he feels so sick with what he's done to try and end the war that he can't keep his food down. Whenever Geno can sneak away, it's basically an official Order thing that everyone makes their best home-cooked meals and brings pictures of their kids if they have any and it's everyone trying so hard to bring a little bit of warmth to him. And he'll always be glued to Sid. And I can totally (2/9)

picture Harry being invited at some point and asking Geno like... how are you a Slytherin cause after talking to you for a good hour it's kind of hard to see??? And Geno jokes "Is because you never see me play quidditch," but after some laughs things get a little quiet and he admits that he wants people to be able to live a life where they're safe and free, his eyes linger on Sid softly when he says he doesn't like bullies, and then finishes up by saying that he'd kill every last Death (3/9)

Eater tomorrow without blinking an eye if the timing was right (with this taking place before Voldemort decided to get real sick and start getting to accept the Dark Mark because Geno draws the line at kids). And kind of a separate idea, but within the same scheme of things: while all the arrests of Voldemort's followers are going down the first time, Ovi very quietly informs the Order (sans Nicky) that with the intel they have, any number of the illegal dark arts-related possessions from (4/9)

his grandfather's estate, and his notorious family history, he could get into Azkaban, actually manage to get something out of the imprisoned Death Eaters on how they could possibly try and bring Voldemort back or who was still working with them that had evaded capture, stuff like that, and the bare majority of the Order was in favor of it, so they got everything ready and planted the evidence for the arrest and was like "ok Ovi ready when you are," and he's like, "yeah give me a day." (5/9)

So, once Nicky is freed from making statements and testimonies in front of the Wizengamot, Ovi whisks him off, and they apparate just outside of Moscow to get a late lunch at this really good traditional place Alex knows, and then they kinda just walk around town and Ovi buys Nicky flowers and Nicky thinks it's a little odd, but Merlin knows things have been so fucked up so if Ovi wants to take him to Moscow and buy him flowers, for now, he's not gonna say anything. And then they go to (6/9)

Ovi's house (ahem, mansion) and Alex shows Nicky all of the most interesting (but SAFE) relics that his family has collected, cooks dinner for the two of them, and gets a slow record playing on the gramophone ( "Love on the Brain" by Rihanna came on while I was writing this and now I can't stop thinking about it) with his hands on Nicky's waist, chin resting on top of his head before Nicky finally asks what's up. "Love you so much, Nicky. One day, we can be safe and happy, and that's all (7/9)

I want, so I'm asking your permission to hope for that, for us." One of his hands is in his pocket, holding the family ring. He's barely three syllables into, "Will you marry me, Nicklas Backstrom?" when Nicky's whispering "yes yes yes yes yes," and kissing him and Alex is sure that he'll survive Azkaban if can remember this. Cut to either 1996 or 1997, when the Order is gathering because holy shit there was a breakout but really all anyone is trying to do immediately is cast shield charms (8/9) 

because Alex is back!!! and Nicky is very silently but obviously livid and everyone’s waiting for curses. Ovi admits that not telling Nicky was wrong because that's not how the two of them do shit EVER, and that he gets if Nicky doesn't want them to be a thing and Sid's in the background *COUGH* nicky'sbeenwearingtheengagementringthisentiretime *COUGH* and Nicky just furiously hugs him like, "I wouldn't be this fucking mad if I wasn't in love with you." (9/9) AAAH SHIT I'M SORRY 

-

WHY ARE YOU APOLOGIZING??? THIS IS AMAZING AND I WANT MORE???? THIS IS SO GOOD HOLY COW????? i bEG

also post-war where Ovi becomes a teacher and students are genuninly afraid of him at first because they heard rumors that during the war, this guy went undercover in Azkaban as a prisoner and CAME OUT IN ONE PIECE. But then Professor Ovechkin is the silliest, nicest Slytherin these babs have ever met. It’s only during the lesson on dementors that a kid asked what Ovi’s happiest memory is. 

And he kind of hops back on he table, rubbing his wedding ring, and he says “I propose to my husband before I go undercover, and I remember his face, you know? When I come back, he so angry that I didn’t tell him. But he was still wearing the ring.”

So pretty much every student in the class go AWWWWWWWW 

Additionally, everyone knows that the Potions professor and the Head of Slytherin House, Evgeni Malkin, is a tough motherfucker as well. He’s a nice enough guy, from an old, wealthy pureblood family that eventually fought against Voldemort in the war; he will sit down with you if you’re a homesick first-year, loves talking about his husband, who is one of those higher-ups at the Ministry--who supposedly has Veela blood, but no one’s actually ever seen him in person--and their three kids. He not only seems to take care of his own House, but will help lost Hufflepuffs find their way back to their dorms. The paintings near the Hufflepuff dorms greet him with familiarity, saying, “How’s the kids, Geno?” 

The students ask him, “How do you know them so well?” And Professor Malkin will get a sappy look and say, “My husband Hufflepuff. Visit him a lot when we both in Hogwarts and kept trying to get Hufflepuff door to open, but just get sprayed with vinegar when password not right.”

It’s no surprise that the Hufflepuff kids readily adopt Professor Malkin and will gladly greet him when they pass him in the corridors, asking him if he’s coming to the Quidditch games, and asking who he’s cheering for.

“Professor Ovechkin kill me if I’m not cheer for Slytherin. But husband might make me sleep on couch if I’m not cheer for Hufflepuff.” Professor Malkin says. He shows up at the game with two scarfs--one green and the other yellow, and students giggle as they see Professor Ovechkin roll his eyes.

The schools whispers that he went undercover as a Death Eater, back in the day, that he’s seen Voldemort and he’d managed to become one of the few trusted individuals in the Dark Lord’s circle, fooling everyone by pretending to be a double agent for Voldemort with how often he kept going back to the Ministry. But Professor Malkin never talks about it, and especially not when students ask. 

[the-nysh]

Hello! I am also shocked by this chapter. But I remember that Garu liked to win in battle. He did not want everyone around him to simply die from the sight of him, as if he were the Medusa Gorgon. Garou wanted to become fear or terror. But who will be afraid of him if everyone is unconscious? Therefore, I think that GOD controls everything, and Garu restrains him as much as possible so that everyone does not die for real. The radiation in their world can be cured by transferring the power of Blast or Saitama to other people. How Fubuki healed the Master. As for Genos, I'm afraid he's not what we think he is. But this is my opinion. It may be wrong, but Genos won't die because he doesn't and never had a human brain. This was suggested to him by Dr. Kuseno. For the cyborg to stop being cruel. It's anonymous, but I need a witness to confirm my hunch if it turns out to be correct.

Ooh, you have lots of thoughts in there, so let's see if I can address them.

Garou did want to win as the symbol of fear/terror, to scare everyone into uniting against him and solve the world's problems of injustice. (Trying to achieve it with the faster/preemptive/roundabout 'two birds with one stone' approach.) So yes that requires humanity to be ALIVE for them to 'be scared' of him and evolve into the better. So eliminating all life/humanity by literally killing everyone is precisely god's hostile agenda, not Garou's.

"Garou restrains (god) as much as possible so that everyone does not die for real." Which is a nice thought. :') Unfortunately the hostile god isn't as merciful or humane as the real Garou, who's always managed to hold back vs humans on purpose. (As in: he can't hold back or simply fake 'scare' the radiation damage now though.) Garou's 'resistance' was shown when he refused the offer, but endured an incomplete (forced) transfer anyway, enough to retain some of his lingering consciousness. However, as Blast said, his mind is still a warped fusion under the influence. The most we can still see of 'Garou' in there, is during those moments where he stops and visibly pauses when people ask him things or personally call out to him. Before processing a mental beat and then denying/twisting his words around into something else. Whether that's god's control/corruption at work actively blocking or spiraling Garou's last remaining awareness/humanity away into the void is one thing, or whether that's a sign of Garou still mentally struggling against him - or desperately trying to adhere to his usual script while blinded from reality, is another. Either way there's definitely two opposing forces at work (god's influence vs Garou's mind) struggling for control/balance, making his current mental state highly unstable. I think the really cruel thing is when the 'Garou' in there still thinks he's playing along 'scary' and in control as usual, without knowing how much the angry/hostile god in there is fully intent on (using him as an avatar) to enact divine wrath for real. Whether the real Garou in there can still hold back at all or make his actions seem much worse/brutal than they are, remains to be seen.

"The radiation can be cured by transferring the power of Blast or Saitama to other people. Like how Fubuki healed Tank Top Master." Now there's a thought! It's not the first time I've seen people bring up the idea that Saitama might sacrifice his power in exchange to save Genos + everyone. (It sounds like a very Murata-esque idea.) But I also feel like....to actually heal, instead of just transferred power/energy, it would need....actual cell reconstruction or something like some of Zombieman's power maybe too. (That is, if we're not doing a whole timeloop undo with Blast's warp powers.) But also when you mention sacrificing power.....what about from Garou himself once he fully realizes? :O If he can truly copy/absorb powers around into his own, what's stopping him from reversing god's powers against him too, from destruction into a different miracle. (He could even learn it from watching Fubuki too.) Esp if he truly feels the crushing weight/guilt/remorse and finally realizes how he can directly save the world at will. To me, narratively he'd be the most fit for this role in his arc's climax.

"Genos won't die because he doesn't and never had a human brain." Ah wait wait waitwaittttt, no - Genos is a cyborg precisely because he has a human brain. Otherwise he'd be fully robotic, which he's not. But beyond his power core, his body could have other life support functions we don't know of. Whether he's actually dead (meaning, his brain getting destroyed) or whether it was a huge scare made to look like he's dead (to piss off or break Saitama - which is what god wants) well....we still need those answers. How Genos can recover too - his body can be fixed, but his brain.....that's a different problem. He could end up with permanent damage/amnesia if things aren't simply just 'undone' the easy way thru timefuckery or something. So...yeah. :')