#which led to interesting plotlines and shit

[garlic-sauc3]

versions of booster gold made by people who obviously dont know much about booster can be so infuriating because they tend to depict him as stupid or as a joke and then people who only know him from these depictions in more popular media have a skewed impression of him

[atoriv-art]

what are your thoughts on the hyuga siblings and their relationship

OOF now thats one of my favorite naruto dynamics lmao. i think neji and hinata have a very interesting relationship and i say that as someone who really didn't (and tbh still doesn't) love how that relationship developed in canon

i really like the hyuga fight in the chunin exams because the way it's perceived is sooo interesting to me.. neji comes off as an outright bully and i don't even blame the kids for calling him an asshole after all of that, but from reader's perspective it's really obvious that his animosity only exists because of a larger issue...

neji shouldn't treat hinata the way he does, but he does so because of her unique position as a scorned heir. she still benefits from everything that makes his life awful - her life is still valued more than his - but hiashi hates her enough that he won't care if neji dishes out verbal abuse on her. it's an awful dynamic and definitely contributes to hinata's terrible self-worth, but it's a symptom of the life they have been forced into by the man who the manga is intent on letting escape all of the blame for this situation lmao

(hiashi himself can be a really fascinating case honestly. i think he fully means everything he says, which is what makes him so grating but fun to me LOL. his apology to neji is entirely sincere AND it completely misses the point of all of the issues, but neji is young and deprived of acknowledgement enough that he accepts it wholeheartedly. hiashi thinks he's the best uncle of all time.)

hinata herself has so little belief in her own worth that she just sits there and takes whatever abuse people throw at her... i don't actually think neji's anger towards her was a constant - i think some people interpret it that way - rather i feel like it was something that came up whenever he was pushed too far. in more normal circumstances where he's not being made to fight her directly, he was likely more detached than anything. he wanted nothing to do with her.

in one of the filler mini arcs ive mentioned before (i think. the one that focuses on hanabi and hinata) there's a scene that rang very true to me (and im gonna recount this without rewatching it atm so sorry if i get details wrong,): neji was being made to train with hinata, asked to be allowed to leave because he felt his time was being wasted and correctly noted that it doesn't have to be him here, was told no by hiashi and then he started getting vicious and violent. towards hinata, of course, not hiashi. he then got horribly punished for it LOL i think that's the general dynamic they were living in, neji reaches a limit of disrespect that he can take and explodes on the nearest most acceptable target (we loove a boy with no emotional regulation <3), goes too far and suffers the consequence of it while nothing else changes. to him interacting with hinata at all is just asking for pain, either emotional or straight up physical

But, for hinata, she saw herself and neji as similar (the black sheep of the family i suppose), and would have liked to bond over that fact; theyve known each other since they were very little and she outright refers to him as a brother. it's clear to me she's always cared a lot about neji and imo feels responsible for what happened to his father (something that hiashi doesn't help with. Dad of the year), so she saw their match in the exams as a chance to close the distance between them and get neji to see her as a person, an equal instead of a symbol to lash out on.

but, you know, she was 12 LMAO so she ended up pressing all of his buttons instead and it led to his famous outburst, which led to the famous moment of Every Single Jonin (other than asuma.) coming to stop him and further cementing his belief that her life is seen as special. i think (and this is a mix of Shit I Made up, and Me trying to make sense of the manga's insane mishandling of their plotline) that despite her trying her hardest to reach neji she didn't really grasp the horror of his situation. that's the tragedy of neji's life really LMAO, no one really tries to grapple with the severity of what having that curse mark does to a person. she thought of his fatalism as more of a psychological, metaphorical way of dealing with hurt and not like... "my life literally does not belong to me no matter how much i try to fight it"

this is loooooong take this readmore.

i think hiashi-hizashi were hoping that the cousins could have had a better relationship than they did... letting them hang out often and stuff, introducing them early, hizashi not discouraging neji from being friendly with her, to me it all reads as very "ok well this didn't work for Us, but what if it works out for them... even though literally nothing has changed". they were proper family once and hizashi wanted to die for his brother, not his leader, so that just makes sense to me.

i do nautttt like the naruto vs neji fight so to keep the post positive i will gloss over it <3 but hinata and neji's relationship post-chunin exams to me is peak like. God i wish this was done better because it could have been soooo good

neji realizes that his anger is consuming him and adjusts his behavior accordingly, getting a lot of his kindness back, and he becomes intent on fixing his relationship with hinata... i don't hate that premise at all, it's just the way it's executed that bothers me!

the impression i got (and i could be mistaken im in the process of rewatching the anime + rereading the manga) is that their relationship getting better is done exclusively through like. neji repenting for being mean to her. which, don't get me wrong, he SHOULD apologize (AND THAT WOULDVE BEEN A COOL THING TO SEE ONSCREEN, BTW) but you CANNOT divorce his behavior from the hyuga system in general. from the way they act after the exams you would think their issues were born solely from neji being a bully for no reason, and not, like... him lashing out on her because his uncle is literally the devil.

i don't think hinata has the power to change a lot in her clan on short notice (she did get disowned. did that un-happen offscreen? we will never know. Hiashi gets to be a grandfather to her children btw.) but i certainly would have liked to see her standing up for branch members and in the stuff i draw that's the story i have in mind LMAO. like, her gaining a deeper understanding of neji's situation and trying to work against her father trying to make her cousin's life better? i think that would have been really sweet and even show her gaining more confidence in herself and her beliefs. you can still have neji fussing over her and being protective because he feels bad for how they used to be, i actually really like that because neji IS a very sweet person, i just reject the idea that it's his sole Moral Obligation to put everything aside and make things better by the power of I Will Die For You Now, But This Time, For The Right Reasons

as for hanabi i wish she had more screentime soooo bad because i'm obsessed with how she gives off Haunted Child vibes lmfao. talking abt her requires me to expose myself a little bit and have to admit hiashi is kind of a blorbo to me because of how much he sucks ass, but like. Essentially his insane resentment of hinata was born when hizashi died, it doesnt matter it wasn't really her fault, he needed someone to blame and he would never blame himself, at least not outwardly lol. hiashi did genuinely love his brother, it just didn't stop him from being a monster to him, and he is certainly not gonna grapple with that now that he's dead!

(and, you know, the whole "sorry we sent a guy to kidnap an heir. you do need to die for killing him though" thing is really dumb but if we stop at every single stupid thing in naruto we will be here all day.)

with all that being said i think hiashi tries his best to make hanabi everything hinata isn't, and he has very little interest in having her and hinata have any bond at all. he just left neji and hinata to fester in that god-awful dynamic with no supervising, and took hanabi as the best direction for the clan to head towards. but, you know, father of the year is very demanding and doesn't seem to be very fatherly to her at all from the little we see of them. she's just like. a good soldier, and that's what he needs.

i think hanabi growing to resent her sister for the situation she's been put into (if hinata weren't 'weak' she wouldn't have so much responsibility) is very interesting! by the time we meet her i think she's learned that the best thing to do wrt her sister is to just ignore that she exists. as for neji he barely registers as a presence to her; neji has no reason to interact with her and hiashi has no reason to incentivize it. it's very fun to me!

in general i really like all of their dynamics can be used to explore how hurt and trauma drive people apart, i could talk about them for hourssss LMAO i love the suna family for the same reason!

[stillness-in-green]

What do you think of shouto's arc? As a person who uh. used to be pretty similar to his "earlyroki" incarnation for lots of similar reasons I find it really reassuring that he gets to be a happy person who is generally content(somewhat negated by the treatment of Endeavor in the story admittedly lol)

Hey, anon; I'm touched that you'd come to me, a dedicated endgame hater with a question like this. I appreciate the interest and/or faith! This reply is going to talk a lot about the family in general and the broader themes of the story, as well as Endeavor and Dabi and their own arcs, but I've tried to keep tethering it back to Shouto throughout and at the end.

Shouto isn’t a character I devote a ton of thought to—I’m so-so on most of the Heroes at the best of times, and Dabi is an easy pick for my least favorite of the core League.  For a long while, Endeavor actually was my favorite of the Todorokis because I found him the most interesting—that went out the window in the last war, alas, as it became clear that the narrative had no intention of meaningfully grappling with his repeated failures to work with and prioritize his family despite his repeated promises to do so.

As to Shouto, though, I suppose I have three major thoughts: that he does okay for himself, that he got a bit shafted all the same by the decision not to kill Endeavor, and that I wish I felt more confident that his arc had any impact at all on his opinions about the Hero System.

(Hit the jump.)

Taking the last of those first, as it’s the point that involves Shouto himself the least, the systemic problems of the setting were always my primary interest with regard to the conflict between Heroes and Villains.  Because I was invested in relatively few of the Heroes, and also because the story was pretty assiduous about not letting the League kill off any characters the reader could reasonably be expected to give a shit about anyway, I never bought into stuff like Deku getting righteously fired up about the people Shigaraki had hurt.  For the most part, I cared about the Hero/Villain interpersonal dynamics only insomuch as they served as a path for the Heroes to recognize the scope of the real issues they needed to be addressing, and the Villains as—while dangerous—ultimately victims of those issues.

Unfortunately for me, the Todoroki plotline is ultimately treated by the overarching narrative as being, by and large, self-contained, unconnected and unreflective of the broader society in which it plays out.  Thus, while Uraraka connects Toga’s tragedy to the lack of acceptance of her quirk and devotes herself to finding some way to correct for that problem going forward, Shouto and Enji don’t make that same connection between Dabi’s tragedy and the problems in Hero Society that led to it.  Touya is, to be sure, primarily a victim of Enji’s choices, with Dabi being the ultimate result, but while no one forced Enji to make the choices he made, they were not made in a vacuum.

By my count, there are three ways in which the structure of Hero Society failed Todoroki Touya and his siblings, only one of which impacted them directly.  Firstly, Hero Society demonstrates a studied lack of concern for the mental health of orphaned children, which meant that young Enji was never going to get appropriate amounts of grief counselling, meaning there was nothing to inhibit his spiraling obsession with strength.[1]  Secondly, that obsession was given a perfect frame to build on in the form of the Hero ranking system.  And thirdly, we have no evidence that the Todoroki family was so much as mildly probed by law enforcement or regulatory bureaus about the string of accidents and tragedies facing it.[2]

1: From the Shimura Kotarou of forty goddamn years ago to the Izumi Kouta of the present, there is zero reason to believe that Enji would ever have gotten professional psychological help following his father’s death.

2: One might also add a fourth consideration, that being the whole-ass Himura situation that led to Rei feeling her abusive marriage was as inescapable as it was.  Perhaps if she felt less trapped by her family’s need—itself entirely a result of quirk-based bigotry, remember, so that’s a fifth societal consideration!—then maybe she would have been more willing to try taking the kids and leaving, or seeking help from authorities.  My focus here, however, is more on things that could have directly circumvented Endeavor's abuse, so I’ll leave the other factors here.

But BNHA doesn’t probe any of this, either, nor does Shouto.  The only people other than Endeavor who are remitted any scraps of responsibility about Dabi’s entire existence are All For One (for saving Touya’s life!) and Rei, Fuyumi and Natsuo, collectively given a few moments in which they regret not doing more. Otherwise, Endeavor is allowed whole and unadulterated blame for the situation.  It’s not something Shouto blames on any outside parties or circumstances, and so, once it’s resolved, he makes no efforts to try to address any of the very obvious contributing factors.

While it’s very much to Shouto's credit that he put so much proactive effort and thought into stopping “his” Villain without causing further harm—by far the most forethought of any of the students with Villain foils!—I’m not as positive about how he just lets everyone but his rotten father off the hook.  It’s a problem I think is less about Shouto as a person and more about the meta-narrative’s sudden third-act unwillingness to engage in systemic critique, but a problem it remains, given that it’s the systemic critique that I really wanted.

Moving on, I also think Shouto’s arc is severely hindered by Horikoshi changing his mind about not killing off Endeavor.  I’m not one of those people who thought Endeavor had to die to make up for his crimes, or who desperately wanted him dead because he’s an abuser and All Abusers Should Die, Actually.  Solely looking at it from the perspective of Endeavor’s arc, I think he should have lived!  It’s much more interesting for him to live and have to grapple with the consequences of his actions!

…But that would require that he actually have to grapple with said consequences.  Which he doesn’t.  And if he was not going to, and the story was not going to address him not going to, then yeah, absolutely, he should have died.  What’s the point of him surviving if he’s going to face no story-impacting consequences?  Feeling sad and bad about it, and getting yelled at once or twice by nameless bit characters, do not count as story-impacting consequences, I’m afraid.

More to the point, though, that’s Endeavor’s arc.  Endeavor’s arc, however, badly needed to take a backseat to Shouto’s arc, and probably Dabi’s, too!  While I think Endeavor could have survived without his arc torpedoing the arcs of his sons, that’s definitely not the story we got.  And I think this is in large part because Horikoshi didn’t change the story enough to account for Endeavor’s survival.

The echoes of that original story are all over the third act.  Consider:

Endeavor does nothing of consequence in the Edgy Deku arc.  His press conference doesn’t prevent societal breakdown; he limply defers to Deku in ways that let him remain active while ensuring those actions have no impact on the plot; he makes no major contributions to Hawks and Jeanist’s talks about the Villains; he’s not involved with the plans for the second war; and finally, we learn nothing from the hospital flashbacks that we couldn’t have gotten from any of the other family members, instead.      

We get early hints about too many quirks causing mental breakdowns, and this foreshadowing is fulfilled in Spinner’s corroded perceptions at the hospital—but miraculously, Lady Nagant has no problem at all with having an extra quirk.  Sure, she’s only got the one extra, and maybe it doesn’t happen every time, but…  Isn’t it a little odd that she comes out of nowhere, with very minimal foreshadowing, an elaborate HPSC backstory that Hawks shares, and the combination of quirks she���s packing is one that precisely replicates Hawks’s “long-distance flying attacker” shtick?  It’s pitifully easy to imagine a scenario in which Endeavor’s death in the first war leads to Hawks going rogue.  Also, while I don’t know exactly what circumstances would lead to him and Deku fighting, I do think Deku’s platitudinous speech about light and dark and reaching out to people feels far more tailored to a Hawks who only just went rogue than it does a woman betrayed by her own bosses who hates shallow platitudes, especially coming right on the heels of Deku rescuing Overhaul in a way that strongly echoes Hawks’s reflexive rescue of Twice but carries no inherent meaning for Lady Nagant.[3]       3: See here for the whole rant about this, but the short version is that it’s goddamn absurd that Lady Nagant hates platitudes and shoots at Overhaul on the assumption that Deku will have to save him, only for her heart to be changed by Deku’s platitudes and saving of Overhaul.      

Speaking of Hawks, the whole matter of Twice’s death goes less than nowhere, which makes one wonder what was the point of including it as an ethical dilemma at all? The public didn’t care, Hawks faced no consequences for it, and he was never forced to change his stance or grapple with his decision in any way, to the point that when he’s faced with the same situation later, he makes the exact same judgement, and this is something the narrative doesn’t even seem to notice, much less address.  Toga’s very personal feelings of hatred for Hawks get relegated to a single shallow knife slash from a clone that doesn’t even manage to leave a goddamn scar.  And all this lack of consequence leaves Hawks free to be reduced to nothing but an Endeavor Supporter in the final arc, possibly because whatever his arc could have been was incompatible with Endeavor’s survival, leaving Hawks with no final arc of his own but also no established place in anyone else’s.      

Endeavor’s dream about the family eating dinner around the table but him not being there, on top of Shouto’s stated intention to eat soba with his brother—seems like foreshadowing for an ending in which the family eats dinner around a table, doesn’t it!  But because Endeavor lives, Natsuo cuts contact in a way he’d have had no reason to do if Endeavor had died, and so there can be no family dinner, and Shouto’s soba thing has to be relegated to a frankly pretty thin line of dialogue about mutual favorite foods rather than an actual shared meal.      

The whole thing about buying/building a new house for Rei and the kids to live in so they can be away from the bad memories in Endeavor’s house.  Does that happen?  It kinda seems like that doesn’t happen, given that Rei seems perfectly happy to be pushing Enji around in a wheelchair at the end!      

The strange replay tape finale version of Shoto beating Dabi, where he does the exact same move twice, just once alone and once in the presence of family.  Almost like Horikoshi only came up with the one idea?      

The fact that the family promises to deal with Touya together but then Endeavor not only spends a chunk of time running from Dabi when he does arrive, but even when he does finally try to talk, he can’t because Dabi’s brain is so overboiled that he’s incapable of rational conversation—even though he was having rational conversation with Shouto some five minutes prior!  And then it’s Shouto and the family’s ice that actually save Dabi from those consuming flames, with Endeavor contributing nothing to that finale—huh, almost like the family saving Touya wasn’t written to include Enji to begin with!      

The Geten as a Himura reveal feels super vestigial.  I like it, mind you!  I like it a lot!  And I don’t know exactly how it would have factored into a version of the endgame in which Endeavor died, save that the Dabi-Geten combo really feels like The Final Boss Scenario That Wasn’t for Shouto—one guy with fire hotter than his who hates their father and Shouto personally, and one guy who can take control of any ice around him and stop it from melting and who hates the other side of Shouto’s family![4]  But instead Geten just winds up in prison and the Himura reveal does nothing but handwave Dabi having latent ice powers, which didn’t need a Himura reveal to justify it since we already knew Dabi had a physical compatibility with ice!  And even, via Shouto himself, that the mixing of ice and fire could produce a quirk with elements of both!  Geten being a Himura simply feels like a relic of a story in which Geten had more of a role to play, and while that may be my bias because I feel like the entire MLA was set up for a bigger role than they wound up having, it’s still easy to wonder if part of the whole, “We’ll deal with Touya as a family,” promise would have involved facing the other side of the family’s damage as well. 4: While also espousing a writ large version of Endeavor’s own Strength Is All That Matters mentality and still being a victim of eugenicist machinations masterminded by Shouto’s relatives!  Truly it is a mystery to me how Geten could just get defeated by Cementoss when he’s such a perfect distillation of so many of the issues swirling in and behind Shouto’s family situation. He even connects to a potential systemic critique in his ties to the MLA, who are practically nothing but systemic critiques of Hero Society.

And so on and so forth.

Shouto is a major character: by far one of the most prominent student characters, Deku’s first real victory in terms of changing someone’s heart, a foil for one of the central Villains, and with a profound insight into the kinds of damage the current system encourages and then willfully ignores.  He desperately needed an arc that centered him and his perspective.  But that arc also has to contend with Dabi, and Dabi as-written simply cannot convincingly prioritize Shouto when Endeavor is still alive.

There are certainly signs that Dabi did care for his other family members at one point in time, most prominently that he thinks remorsefully about how he acted towards them when he wakes up after Sekoto Peak, and emphasizes that he has to apologize to them.  But when the story so prioritizes Dabi’s obsession with Endeavor, to the point that he’s gleefully endangering the rest of the family’s lives and peace by sending dangerous Villains to their door, airing videos outing Endeavor as a domestic abuser, and talking about Shouto like he wants to leave him disemboweled on the Endeavor Agency’s front stoop, then that obsession has to be dealt with in some way before I’m remotely capable of believing that anyone other than Endeavor can get through to him.

So, Endeavor could have died, which would have neatly deprived Dabi of that driving focus that kept him going—what does he do without it?  That’s a question Shouto could have given him an answer for.

Endeavor could have fallen into a coma, leaving genre savvy readers confident he’d eventually pull through but the characters themselves in a state of muddled emotions about when or if he’d ever regain consciousness—that’s a half-measure, but I like it better than the half-measure we got.[5]

5: And heck, maybe we could have gotten Dabi trying to invade Central Hospital alongside Spinner and the heteromorph army, since that plot included a number of small nods to the Todoroki plot anyway via Spinner reflecting on Dabi’s unstoppable will and Shouji on Shouto’s strength of character.  Also, you know, more chances to poke at Dabi and Shouto’s tendency towards calling heteromorphs derisive animal names.  Probably not a scenario that does the heteromorph mob scene any favors, I’ll grant, but it would be hard to make it worse.

Heck, I could even see a version of the story where the narrative was simply more cynical about Endeavor’s ability to prioritize his professed atonement.  All his actions in the story as we have it show him continuing to prioritize his Hero duties despite his repeated claims that he intends to prioritize his family.  If the story actually recognized that contradiction, it could build Dabi up to a point of screaming frustration that I could, hypothetically, see Shouto breaking through.  Endeavor could still be trying, still be sincere, but if his ego or a rational decision to prioritize the lives of strangers over those of his family mean he cannot ever be counted upon to truly put his family first, then maybe that would be something the rest of the family could tackle.  Alternatively, the whole story could have had a mindset more like Natsuo’s, with the goal being to cut Endeavor off because his desire to atone, regardless of its sincerity, does not entitle him to a presence in the lives of those he hurt.  But none of is an option when the story itself is cheering for Endeavor the way BNHA does.

For Shouto’s arc to be at its best, something needed to give.  Dabi needed to be more open to the rest of the family from the start, or Endeavor’s desire for atonement needed to be complicated or stymied in some way that made it not feasibly attainable, be it his narcissism, his health, or the whole story’s outlook on abusers trying to atone and whose perspective to center in a story involving such abuse.  But with the Dabi we have and the Endeavor the story insists on, Shouto’s arc itself is what wound up giving.  It certainly has its moments, but I can’t imagine a world in which it wouldn’t have been far, far better served by Endeavor kicking the bucket as originally planned, allowing the brothers to confront each other, properly and fully, with Shouto the primary driver in saving Touya rather than having to constantly fight for screentime in his own finale.

That all said, I can definitely see the perspective that Shouto is just one kid from a shitty family situation and he does not deserve being called upon to solve the problems of the whole world and wrangle his family damage for the rest of time.  It’s not what I would have prioritized, in that I have pretty steep meta-narrative demands for a class of kids that we’re being told collectively became the greatest heroes, but from a more grounded, realistic, in-story, individual frame of mind, I think it’s wonderful that Shouto is exploring who he is as a person separate from his family issues and the career he semi-chose when he was in pre-K.

No sarcasm here; I do actually quite like his last scene.  I have some quibbles with the framing—I don't like that the rankings still exist, and I think he should just be allowed to go on sabbatical rather than trying to fit time for self-improvement/self-exploration classes in between Hero work, if we’re really meant to believe that the Villain incident rate is declining.  But just in concept, taking pottery classes and cooking classes and figuring himself out? Good for him!  That’s wonderful!  He did his best and he deserves every inch of it.

That is all to say, what I want from a fictional character in a relatively moralistic narrative is not what I would want from a real person in a situation anything like Shouto's, and while I don't love what we got in the former regard, I’m glad that people who empathize/identify with him can take comfort in the ending he did get. You, anon, and any others to whom that applies, deserve all that and more.

Thanks for the ask!

[threestargirls]

my yellowjackets character ranking: (spoilers ahead!!!)

1. Nat - an obvious decision, i think. she managed to stay the most level-headed and empathetic during everything we’ve seen in the wilderness. she also seems to be the most…. sane, even after everything descended into insanity. her storyline is so sad my shaylaaaaaaa

2. Lottie - probably controversial. she’s a horrendous person and i know this, but i connect with her character on such a deep level for some reason. i love her insanity and i hope she gets more insane. she was neglected and felt out of place her entire life, and then when she finally felt a purpose, she latched onto it so tightly that she ended up harming people around her. overall obsessed with her, she’d be first if not for the thing with travis/akilah

3. Jackie - jackie taylor they could NEVER make me hate you. definitely had the most realistic reaction to the crash, as well as overall being the most sane up until her death. she was a good friend and a good person. snackie we will never forget you

4. Travis - perhaps a controversial opinion. it’s hard for me to get past the misogyny in season 1, but i’m honestly SO intrigued by his character and i wish we were seeing more of him this season. his death and how he spiraled was so sad. and him and his duck… OHHH MY SHAYLA

5. Mari - an absolute icon and a diva. she kinda pissed me off in season 2(?i think) because of the lottie/nat hunt thingy and how hard she was glazing lottie, but i love her so much now. absolutely hilarious and the comedic relief we all needed

6. Misty - i love you so much misty! so much hate from the fandom, but i’m truly so in love with her character. especially adult her!! she would be higher if not for the transmitter/crystal situations.

7. Van - i think as a teenager, van was definitely the most connected to the outside world. an overall positive person and also a necessary comedic relief. such a loving and realistic character. and taivan my beloved <3 honestly, van would be higher if not for how she treated javi’s death.

8. Taissa - scares the absolute SHIT out of me. that being said, her storyline is so interesting to me and hopefully we see more in the next episode, which i’m thinking we will. would also be higher if not for her haunting my dreams (and the simone situation)

9. Coach Scott - also extremely sane and we love him for that. his monologue when he was on trial made me so sad. this man deserved SO much better. honestly, despite loving his character, i wasn’t all that interested by him, which is why he’s at nine.

10. Akilah - why did we just abandon the lottie/vision plot line?! am i just watching this show with my eyes closed?! but i love akilah so much. with what lottie’s putting her through, she’s holding up so well. i think she’s incredibly brave and also has a LETHAL facecard. now that i’m thinking about it maybe she should be higher…

11. Laura Lee - honestly, she’s only this high because i’m obsessed with her lottie plotline and obsessed with how her religion seems to consume her (and dare i say blind her). her death episode is still my favorite episode in the whole show, and i think she was incredibly brave to try and save everyone. also very sun bleached flies coded

12. Crystal/Kristen - such a fun and sweet character, and i genuinley enjoyed her bond with misty so much. deserved so much better than what happened to her. i’m also very curious what happened to her body…. honestly though, the only thing i found that interesting about her was her death and how her kindness led to her demise

13. Javi - MY SHAYLAAAAAA. javi you deserved the world and more and i am so sorry you sweet boy that these hungry lesbians ate you (and your OWN BROTHER) but also overall while he always made me frown or go “aw!”, he wasn’t that interesting. i feel guilty saying that lmao

14. Melissa - literally the least interesting possible person we could have pushed to the front, and it was just for her to be obsessed with shauna too. i did however enjoy her adult self humbling shauna

15. Robin - has had like almost zero screen time but i love how she always looks on the verge of tears. very relatable

16. Shauna - i understand her, i just don’t like her. i find her character incredibly interesting and she lowkey carries the adult plotline. her expressing her grief with rage is so realistic and honestly, i feel her. i just dislike her she pisses me off endlessly despite her being interesting. love content and theories surrounding her though…. bonus points because i love melanie and sophie

17. Britt - girl who are you😭 her laughing in the background when they were gonna get rescued actually made me like her even though she has like no screentime. something about her giggling made me like her

18. Gen - oh girl sit DOWN. like zero screen time and that combined with the pushing natalie and telling her to stfu was my last straw. absolutely beautiful though

[daftmooncretin]

rip to rian johnson but star wars sequels would be way better if ben solo was just kinda cowardly and han solo coded so he defected from the jedi and went to be a fun swashbuckling anarchist space cowboy instead

and finn and poe have to find him and try to convince him to come back to the rebellion but hes afraid who he is and what he could become

also instead of luke trying to kill his nephew for NO REASON (so insanely out of character it boils my blood) he just realises after ben dips thats hes not cut out for teaching. and is living on a mandalorian colony as rebellion liason/ambassador with chewie and sometimes lando i guess (din djarin is there) he aids the rebellion (because of course he would fuck that plotline) but he wont stay on the rebel base because he doesnt like all the chosen one clout and mandalorians are very chill and mind their own business

han and leia are still together and play active parts in the rebellion because fuck that plotline too although they do disagree about the ben situation (leia is annoyed and han is understanding) poe and ben childhood friends and for what.

in this au, rey is raised in the empire and is a sith lord but she has doubts and isnt as abjectly disgusting as kylo ren because of course not. (appears slightly too interested in the rebellion when poe is captured and maybe??? possibly lets finn and poe escape but thats up for debate.) rey gets more evil over course of movies before turning to light for plot drama and a satisfying zuko arc.

force awakens timeline

prophecy that a new jedi will rise and take down the dark side. rey and sith lord (dk who but fuck snoke im writing him out) assume it is the missing ben solo (its finn and rey tho fr) and are intent on finding him. movie opens on rey being evil probably and capturing poe. also finn as a character actully needs no real changes hes great. and then next scene space pirate ben solo doing his thing (but without identity revealed so we dont know who he is yet he may go by kylo because funny)

instead of luke poe has a lead on missing almost-jedi before he dipped ben solo and is searching for him on leias orders.(rebellion also believe the prophecy is about him. but nuh uh) torture scene and escape scene doesnt need to change but show reys nuances and how lost she is.

in the interest of narrative poe and finn still crash on tatooine but finn manages to pull poe out of the crash. (finn still gets the jacket at some point because i say so) poe is too injured to fly so they seek out help and and meet ben solo who saves them from pirates or something idk. (but neither know who the other is)

finn and poe convince ben solo to be their pilot still thinking hes a random smuggler named kylo. they get along very well, especially finn and ben. rey by this point is tracking their whereabouts

they end up on that lightsaber planet and ben gets the weird darth vader nightmare and freaks out, (hes afraid of being evil or something idk) poe is getting suspicious now also finn feels the force and takes up the lightsaber. rey comes and finn trys to hold her off. finn get hurt and drops lightsaber. ben is forced to take it up and his identity is revealed as rebel reeforcements led by han and leia arrive and they see him fighting. rey and ben have a weird charged moment (yes i guess i am still making reylo a thing but its reyben now and its woke so shh) and in a dramatic desperate effort he manages to knock her lightsaber away with the force. poe crawls into a plane at somepoint and blows up reys ship. the rebels destroy the stormtroopers but rey captures finn and escapes in a stolen ship.

ben has a oh-shit-i-said-id-never-use-the-force-again related existential crisis which makes him freak out and leaves. a distraught finn-less poe calls him a coward. poe picks up the discarded lightsaber and the jackettm and sadly packs them up. leia tells him about the starkiller and poe volunteers to go on the starkiller and save finn. han and leia have a sweet moment and han decides to go with poe on the suicide mission, chewie goes too.(chewie arrived at somepoint i guess)

mid hostage situation finn blocks reys force attempt and shes shook up. he sees something in her (finn is a beautiful sweetheart) and he trys to appeal to her. she force chokes him and books it out of there. but it is clear she fears him a little. he escapes with mind tricks and runs into han poe and chewie on the deck. finnpoe moment fr. poe gives him his jacket back in order to get the keep it it looks good on you line.

meanwhile ben is back on his ship(i guess its the falcon?) and he thinks about finn and his mom and luke or something.. a dream maybe?? idk something emotional and motivational for his arc. and he goes to a box under the floor in his ship and pulls out a green lightsaber. he turns the ship around.

on the ship poe finn han and chewie are planting the bombs and escaping when they get stopped by stormtroopers ordered by rey. poe is about to be shot by a big droid thing when it is cut in half by ben wow big reveal hes here oooo ah. rey is shot in the shoulder by chewie and angrily orders more stormtroopers. they cant take them all. han sacrifices himself by blowing up the bridge. he tells finn and poe to find luke in the mandolorian colony ben is distraught him and han have an emotional goodbye he tells him to tell leia he’s sorry and that he loves him and he proud of him then he makes chewy get ben out of there and he blows himself up. leia senses it v sad rip man but he had to die to intensify plot drama

rey chases them onto the ice planet and another weird charged moment. mind link established??? this time ben is too angry and grieving though so its not a good match and she wounds him real bad all over hes v scarred now. poe shoots at rey and throws lightsaber at finn. he gets ben onto the ship and finn and rey have the big force awakens show down. finn uses the force v powerful all that jazz the good guys get away. on the ship finn mentions how he felt a connection with rey to poe and claims he sees good in her

movie ends with meeting luke on mandolore. ben is very traumatised wont really speak to finn or poe and avoiding luke. finn returns lukes lightsaber and rey has doubts movie over. movies ends with ominous rey ben mind link

final notes (on first movie and overarching rewrite plans)

finn

finn is the protagonist of this movie so it would be much more character heavy on him them the original. more in depth on his stormtrooper trauma, how he always chooses the people he loves over the cause and his reluctance to join the rebellion. his friendship with poe and the han/leia parallel’s especially. relationships with han and ben important for his character exposition and he plays a key role in supporting both rey and bens character progression. possesses the strong sense of mercy and kindness at the heart of the star wars franchise.

rey

rey is raised in the first empire and does not know anything different. when she meets finn who was able to rebel and escape from the same system she is trapped in she becomes plagued by doubts and projects all of her hatred and resentment onto finn to compensate, but it is clear she fears him. to escape from her doubts she fixates on finding and capturing ben solo imagining him to be a frightening and terrible adversary. however when she meets him they see eachothers minds, and she sees how plagued by doubt and fear he is, how he runs from everything and he sees her too. they connect and develop a strange mutual fascination/understanding. this is put askew by finns appearance at the end of the movie in defence of ben. reys fear of finn increases when she sees the true extent of his power. she fears and hates equally finns strength of character and easy goodness and by extension hates ben for his alliance with finn. she blames finn for “taking” ben from her.

ben solo

kylo ren is a disgusting blight on the star wars names so ben solo is being completely reclaimed by me into a different character because i fucking hate that stupid pretentious eboy. instead ben solo is an incredibly han solo coded character with a heart of gold and deep love and loyalty to his friends and family. his main weakness as a character in this rewrite is his fear and lack of self belief. ben is terrified of being a jedi and of his own power. he fears his own nature and was so afraid he would become his grandfather that he ran from the jedi altogether. ben solo is a runner that wont face his problems, he runs from the jedi and from his parents to avoid failing or becoming something terrible. finn and ben recognise the need to run in eachother (although important distinction finn runs because he doesn’t want to fight for a cause. and ben runs because hes afraid he will be the reason the cause fails) and ultimately encourage eachother to break the cycle and stand their ground (well finn motivated ben in this movie, finns not fixed yet.) Bens arc in these movies is about learning to live with his own nature and fighting for what he believes in despite his fear. also dealing with mommy issues (ben is kind of jealous of poe and leias relationship the son she wanted or something blah blah blah etc) and being a malewife to his murder girlfriend. his job is kind of to support and fight with finn and later rey and help them save the world

finnpoe (will be a gay couple)

their friendship will be front and centre in these movies because they represent duty vs personal loyalty. poe puts the cause above all else and values his own life and personal relationships little. finn on the other hand is disillusioned with establishment cause of stormtrooper trauma and wants to protect himself and others from it. poe is the first person that finn truly bonds with and loves. he puts poe above everything, including being a jedi and the rebellion. this leads to a lot of fighting and discord between finn and poe as finn doesn’t understand how important the rebellion is to poe and poe doesnt get why finn is trying to protect him from it. ultimately though poe teaches finn faith and belief and finn teaches poe to accept love and value himself. (also many hanleia parallels) the two of them are the harbingers of a new age. poe as future leader of the new republic and finn as the jedi messiah or whatever. in terms of romance, im thinking slowburn. baity first movie, kiss at the end of the second and established relationship by the halfway mark of the third.

also when rey eventually joins the light in the beginning she refuses to talk to ben (cause of romantic drama i havent thought of yet but centres around some sort or betrayal in the second movie) or finn (because hes her narrative foil and slow burn best friend forever) so her first friend is poe and she kind of follows him around in her first few months before she eventually bonds with finn 4eva. her poe shadowing has lots of cute friend moments where they fly together and he tries to talk her down about finn and the ben drama but also more importantly it foreshadows her leadership ability and tactical mind as she gives him advice and aids him with the rebellion behind the scenes (also leads to leia taking rey under her wing probably because poe is her surrogate son and mirror) which will eventually lead to her and poe leading the republic together because in my mind rey is a jedi but actively a member of republic government because ben can’t do politics and finn won’t but shes great at it so she’d be a perfect jedi liason and vice president to poe. meanwhile finn and ben lead the jedi. finn as a knight travelling across the galaxy and ben as a teacher. (luke is happy in retirement rn on mandalore but leia is still probably an advisor in the republic because retirement is definitely not for her) and everyone is happy the end. force ghost han solo is clapping.

[quasiquack666]

My Gay Agenda aside, it honestly feels really late for Gestella to appear as a love interest for Kayden?

She only first appeared in Chapter 294, which seems like the middle of the comic. And the writers didn't even add backstory for Gestella and Kayden (like they did for Kayden & Kartein or Kayden & Pluton). They clearly don't know anything about each other.

(More detailed spoilers under the break. Screen readers stop now)

There's no way Gestella would believe how sappy those letters were if she knew Kayden, nor would Kayden have been so distrustful of her with Jiwoo if he knew that she had a decent personality (similar to his understanding that neither Kartein or Pluton would likely hurt Jiwoo, which is how he led Kartein to Jiwoo's house and only fought Pluton for jabbing at his ego rather than solely because he discovered their location).

Developing a relationship for KayStella from square one in the middle of the comic sounds like a clusterfuck waiting to fail.

Especially when the whole current basis of their relationship is them being pissed off at each other based on misunderstandings.

The forced romance only feels more jarring when Kartein and Kayden had the perfect romantic setup in contrast. They had a clear background from how they talked to each other, they knew how to get on each other's nerves, they could trust each other (in a bare sense but still), and Kartein was introduced in Chapter 136 which gives readers plenty of time to get to know him. Kartein has several major development arcs since his introduction and only became closer to Kayden. Kartein is a well-developed character whose relationship to Kayden never felt very forced or contrived solely for a romance plot. Kartein is actually a character by himself before he would be romantically inclined.

Therefore, the writers knew how to set up a character to have long-term development alongside Kayden while also getting development by themselves. So if anything, Gestella should have been the one introduced early on so we could get to know her.

I'm just pointing out that it's a mistake logistically for her to be introduced so late, compounded with having no shared background to Kayden. Their relationship will almost certainly be inferior to one that is well-developed over the majority of the comic versus halfway through.

Because personally, I adore Gestella, stupid plotline aside. So the way the writers throw both her and Kayden under the bus for the forced romance plot really pisses me off on so many levels. The plot feels utterly disrespectful to their development. It makes Gestella yet another forced female love interest (which sucks even worse when the only main female characters are made solely for the males). Then randomly shoots a romance plot at Kayden even though he's been fine this whole time as just a cat dad to Jiwoo.

Again, Gay Agenda aside, even my Het Agenda is ruined by this. How am I supposed to ship their canon selves on such a shit foundation? (Although my headcanon ideas for them are still raging; I'm too much of a simp for them separately to not pair them together. Fuck)

Meanwhile, Gay Agenda at full rainbow power, Kartein and Kayden is obviously the queer romance that we will never get in canon. They were the perfect setup and have been since their first chapters. This forced heteronormative nonsense is why queer pairings are the majority of fandom ships, let's not lie.

(Shoutout to @heartrenderscove . Our convos make me realize all this shit)

[guiltycorp]

I feel the most upset over Mel though... realised this when i saw how my fellow fujoshis have reacted to her involvement in jayvik jdfhgfd, the Viktor parallels that i have always enjoyed and pointed out before are now treated as Yaoi Proof and nothing else. ...because well yeah they lead nowhere else this season sadly, her relevance was cannibalized by her future league iteration and by fandom's reductive approach to shipping. To me the parallels used to be interesting because Viktor and Mel in s1 were polar opposites in social standing/background & physical health and visibly disliked each other BUT they were more or less on the same page when it came to their rather centrist but ultimately pacifistic beliefs, and they both were enamored by Jayce's ambition from the second they heard him talk about magic, inserting themselves into his life immediately. Those comparisons and visual symmetry were compelling because Jayce was lowkey trying to find a way to unite the two most important people in his life (telling Mel about Viktor's importance to him, trying to get Viktor to accept his involvement in politics, having them in the room together) while technically opposing both of them ideologically by not caring that much either about applying hextech for the benefit of the Undercity or about Piltover's participation in global politics and preserving its neutral status. While initially it seemed like he had to 'choose' between them, ultimately their separate character journeys (Viktor with Hexcore and killing Sky, Jayce with Vi and killing a zaunite kid, Mel with hearing her mother's justifications of war) led them to be on the same page in the last episode of the season which was a cool twist. So logically for character growth they either needed to improve their relationships further or to have sudden conflict, right? ...but s2 ultimately went for... just getting rid of both Mel and Viktor entirely! Viktor's motivation to give himself more time to leave more of a mark on the world (and finally getting to feel good about his own efforts by focusing on the Undercity rather than working for Piltover's financial benefit) was overshadowed by Hexcore corruption and a sudden inexplicable wish to transform humanity into a hivemind, that's a different guy entirely. Mel's motivations ended up not mattering at all, the only progression was her hardening into a proper warrior, like sure yay... her vision for Piltover and her identity as a Medarda was rewritten by sudden magical powers that ultimately, yeah, also make her into a different character. She did have a brief argument with Jayce over seeing him as an 'investment' of sorts but they didn't even get to finish it and their relationship is just one big ? before Jayce fucks off to die alongside his one true partner, like all of their previous loving interactions were just a situationship they both easily moved past without even acknowledging it. Like sure yeah we got our yaoi fanservice but at the expense of female characters and previously established relationships and plotlines... And btw there's a lot to be said about the cowardly approach of the showrunners to once again centering a 'male friendship and brotherhood' while getting pissy at anyone who might interpret it as romantic at the same time, as if a canon lesbian romance is a great excuse to be saying shit like that. Also imo timebomb pairing got more actual development and emotional investment compared to CaitVi in this season despite how hollow Jinx's character felt, so there's still a vibe that a hetero ship was more interesting to the writers... while the only things they wanted from queer ships were the aesthetic and the fan engagement.

[punkspacepirate]

Doctor Who e8 ops

LIKES:

Bone beasts

Reality doesn't function without trans people fuck you jkr

Anita!!!!

Conrad was pathetic as he should be

Return of 13 to be an icon

The glimpse of the chess smackdown with 11 in the hotel

15th doctor says if I wear enough blue pinstripe I can implode fascist wishverse

Kate hating tweed

Rani remembered mel

The implication that everything was orange just bc conrad didn't have the brain power to remember a more complicated set of bins

Rani reminds us eugenics are evil

DISLIKES:

Entire poppy plotline

Omega's design

Reality randomly retconning a child into Belinda's life

Underused rani, Mrs flood didn't need to be there why tf did the bigeneration happen and why did Mrs flood completely defer to the rani

Mel didn't get to talk enough shit to the rani tf u mean we meet again

They had him say "joy to the world" again. Was hammy enough first time.

More action film than doctor who put those gun turrets away or so help me

The fact that Belinda's response to finding out that she'd been Conrad'd into having a daughter wasn't sheer horror to the point she was ok w the doctor doing a suicide run to unearth this child

No explanation on the visions of Susan

They left Rogue in greenscreen superhell

Anita pregnancy adds nothing

Plot was too convoluted

Belinda got way too mad at Ruby for asking if she had a daughter shed forgotten

Explanation not clear enough on time lord fertility + too much talking about time lord fertility. Do they mean that time Lords are sterilised as part of the academy process, bc that I could buy and it would be pretty interesting? But it sounds like they were saying gallifreyans are a sterile species which isn't true. Then it sounded like one of the two major time lord Extinction events sterilised them across time in the aftermath, which I could also buy but then that would mean the doctor shouldn't be so confident in that knowledge

Conrad got happy ending :/ and didn't get punched even though Ruby specifically stated her intent to do so

No explanation of why Ruby could remember what she could even though that ended up being significant twice over and led to the re-Poppying

Too many wishes, there's a reason genies put a cap on this stuff

Yaz mention yet no mention of getting Ruby into her support group

The fact he regenerated. Even though the writing has been patchy across 15s run I really liked him as a doctor and he deserved way more (both character and actor) than the 18 (?) And a bit episodes he got, I wanted more it's not a good decision it feels like they're scrambling

The way he regenerated???? Effectively suicide??? To possibly save a child he accidentally wished up in conservative wes andersons wet dream that is only questionably real?? Even if he did need to blow up reality they could've used the vindicator for that and not the Omega shit. Or said there was enough power in it for another go. Or have him drive his tardis rly fast. Or use the power of friendship. There's so many deus ex machinas to use in that moment that it seems the weakest justification and a real insult to the character to have that happen in the way it did

Billie piper next doctor. Girl I love you but no.

(My most surprising takeaway at end of season is that initially I like belinda a lot more than Ruby, and then by the end I had completely switched up bc of these past episodes)

(This is no hate to any actors involved I think they've done a great job, and I also don't think that doctor who being cheesy, campy, complicated, political, full of macguffins, and nonsensical is bad. I love this nonsense show I just think the writers are doing a disservice to the actors, characters, story, and show. )

[voyaging-too]

I don't think Andor's season 2 is *quite* as good as the first one, but it's really very good. It kind of shows that the original idea was a five-season show, each season covering one year, and that was transformed into a two-season show, the second season of which covers four years with timeskips every three episodes. I get why they did it, there's no way they could have raised the money to do five seasons and the production designers would have died of exhaustion no matter how much they were paid, but the compression shows, a little. There are fascinating plotlines that are hinted at, but not fully drawn out.

Specific spoilers under the cut.

I don't think either Bix or Cinta got enough screentime, but my big frustration isn't with individual character arcs, it's with the Rebellion itself. We are told that Luthen's behind the screen work funneling money, equipment and information to different resistance groups eventually led to the creation of the Yavin base, which is so regimented that it no longer has a place for Luthen, barely has one for Cassian. We get minimal insight into that happening. In the last season, Saw looks paranoid when he refuses to work with anyone else, but in due time he's proven fully right about almost all the factions he lists. Anton Kreegyr has shit opsec and drops the ball even before Luthen betrays him. Maya Pei's people are incompetent volatile idiots playing rock paper scissors in the forest. The Ghorman Front drags its feet and refuses to act, then immediately falls for an ISB agent provocateur. (It's not their fault that they were targeted for an intelligence operation that sought to create a pretext for genocide, but it's their fault that they let the ISB puppet them.)

In BBY 4, the Rebellion is a bunch of disconnected squabbling factions, and the outpost on Yavin IV is twelve idiots starving to death. By BBY 2, the Rebellion is organized, centralized, well-armed, if not ready for open conflict, and Yavin is up and running. How we got from A to B would be the really interesting part of this story, and we're not getting it.

[cartoonrival]

Wow that was quick and quiet. How was it. Were there any parts you liked. Any you didn’t. How do you feel about every character from su hating you

ok. so for anyone who doesn't know , the premise of kist is that yoon bum, who is sort of a loner pervert stalker freak, is obsessed w this guy he met once in the military (oh sangwoo) so he breaks into sangwoo's house because he's in love with him. but when he does this he finds a woman tied up in sangwoo's basement and sangwoo shows up and clonks him on the head then breaks his ankles so he can't leave. the story simultaneously follows sangwoo and bum's relationship as it morphs from a pretty basic kidnapper-kidnappee dynamic into something that would be love if it wasn't so much not that, and also a cop (yang seungbae) who is trying to catch a sangwoo but he's sort of disgraced so no one believes him. + porn is there also.

most of it was like ok..... i'm by no means unfamiliar with stories that are fucked up in a way that doesn't mean anything its just Did you see that shit? anyways im rod sterling. like considering i forked over the cash to watch terrifier 3 in theaters i am not the guy who thinks horrible plotlines need to justify themselves. so for the vast majority of the story it was just like .... it was vaguely interesting watching sangwoo and bum's relationship develop as sangwoo became less concerned that bum would try and run away and started to treat him less like a hostage and more like a lover (who is also a hostage). didn't care for the sex scenes because no part of me was reading the story for sexual reasons i was reading it to watch something fucked up happen. so bum's waifish appearance and behaviors were really starting to piss me off. but we persist.

as i mentioned in my halfway post, i DID find seungbae's perspective somewhat interesting because it let me view sangwoo from a perspective other than bum's terrified but smitten one. which i think those povs work best in tandem. the story would be boring if it was just one or the other.

a little background first for the insane twist that made me start posting for realsies: sangwoo's father was abusive, and he drove his mother into madness. his father died of poisoning by pills cooked into his food, it's unspecified whether sangwoo or his mother was responsible for this directly but even if it wasn't by his own hands sangwoo feels responsible. in the absence of his father, sangwoo's mother starts referring to and treating sangwoo (who looks like his father) AS IF he WERE her husband. like she calls him babe not infrequently, stuff like that. this freaks him out. the fact that he looks like his father makes the irrational part of her hate him. he starts to suspect that she's been poisoning him, so he starts counting the pills so he can know if she's been putting them in his food. he learns that she has. she ties him up and almost kills him in the basement, but he manages to overpower her and kill her before she can kill him.

Now. first relevant detail is that sangwoo has been living in his childhood home this whole time. this detail is known from the start. he vaguely references not wanting to be abusive in the way his father was throughout the story, but you aren't fully told what exactly led to the deaths of his parents until later. the point when you DO learn is after sangwoo and bum have gone on a series of outings together, with strange but seemingly innocuous details-- sangwoo buys them apples and seems strangely familiar with the stand theyre sold at, he has bum wear weirdly specific outfits (the main outfit being a striped shirt and long black skirt).

then, as backstory details about sangwoo are being revealed, you slowly realize that sangwoo has been REENACTING MOMENTS BETWEEN HIMSELF AND HIS MOTHER, WITH BUM AS THE STAND-IN FOR HIS MOTHER. HE HAS BEEN REENACTING THE MOST TRAUMATIC MOMENTS OF HIS CHILDHOOD. HE HAS BUM KILL THIS RANDOM GIRL AND TAKES HIM TO BURY HER IN THE SAME MOUNTAIN WHERE HIS MOTHER TOOK HIM TO BURY HIS FATHER. HE HAS BUM WEAR THE SAME OUTFIT HIS MOTHER WORE THAT DAY. there are more fucked up and uncomfortable instances of these parallels but i won't get into them because the specifics aren't necessary. the point is that bum is serving as a stand-in for sangwoo's mother, who mistook him for her husband and also tried to kill him. just a bizarre and insane revelation and the way it's revealed is honestly so effective. just repeated panels but this time it's his mother in the passenger seat type stuff. like WOAHHH OKAY.

and where it gets even crazier is that sangwoo starts becoming paranoid that bum is plotting to kill him like his mother was-- he starts counting the pills again and thinks bum has poisoned him when he accidentally spills them and miscounts. it's a bizarre role flip-- sangwoo is neurotic and terrified, and bum seems well adjusted in comparison. sangwoo steps on broken glass and CAN'T LEAVE THE HOUSE, putting HIM in the position that he'd put BUM in for the first portion of the story, the reason bum stayed long enough to get stockholmed to begin with. this break down and subsequent flipping of their roles is what made me sort of lose it. i genuinely enjoyed reading that portion, the reveal about sangwoo's mother and his breakdown afterwards.

the ending was honestly not much to write home about, lowkey dropped the ball a little. i think sangwoo and bum should've died in a double suicide situation. sangwoo did make bum promise that they would die together and that if sangwoo died bum would kill himself. sort of think they should've gone w that. but instead seungbae catches sangwoo and there's a freak incident and sangwoo ends up DYING in the hospital and bum is cleared of police suspicion in terms of being an accomplice rather than a victim. but then he goes sort of crazy about never being able to see sangwoo again (he already symbolically proposed to him but he wanted to give him a ring) and he goes crazy and then gets hit by a car and dies. lame! but it's fine.

tldr it was mostly mid and what you'd expect except for that one part which sort of knocked my socks off a little bit. but then it went back to being mid. i don't NOT get why it was popular and to be completely honest dressing up as sangwoo and bum would be like darkly funny if it wasn't for the fact that people see them as just like uwaa yaoi!!! instead of two really fucked up individuals who are like destined to die badly and stuff. i'm glad i read it but i don't recommend it. honestly having read it the "every character from steven universe will hate you" thing is even funnier like this isn't basic shitty toxic yaoi this is psychological horror. why do the characters in steven universe have an opinion on that. too funny.

[draw-n-vent-with-imani]

PatB Review- Happy Narfday

**Before we get into it, I want to apologize for how long this has taken me to get out. I've been juggling a few different projects around and this always got pushed to the back burner.**

Oh dear, you guys want me to start off angry, don't ya?

Okay okay, I said I'd praise every episode at least a little, so I'll start off positive:

The first few minutes were actually pretty decent

Loved the song in this segment, I laugh every time Pinky starts singing

Any episode that gives more insight as to how Pinky thinks has some serious potential, and this one did NOT disappoint in that regard

It really had the potential to have a seriously sweet ending, or at least an interesting ending

Unfortunately...

That's where the positives end

When I tell you that my heart dropped when I read the episode summary before even seeing the segment, it fucking DROPPED.

If you don't need to read an overly negative rant of your favorite segment, here's your que to dip now, I won't be holding back just because I've had a year or two to simmer down.

You're here for the long haul, eh?

Alrighty then

Let's start with the premise: "Brain is forced to celebrate Pinky's Birthday"

There is no better way to piss me off than to word a summary like that. Brain not wanting to celebrate his own birthday is one thing, but to have him despise the idea of celebrating his ONLY FRIEND'S birthday is something completely different. These are the kinds of plotlines where Brain is at his most insufferable because he has to put himself aside. I was actually really worried that Talladega Mouse would turn out this way, but it thankfully didn't (maybe I'll do a review on that one next if it wins the next poll XD).

Brain being 'forced' to do something means he's just going to complain or lie or be antagonistic for the duration of the segment, and in this one he surprisingly manages to tick all of those.

But enough about the premise; I'm sure y'all are more interested in what I think of the meat of the episode. I will tackle this in 3 sections- The Build-Up, The Moment I "Walked Away", and Why the Apology Sucks- and then I'll wrap everything up with my final thoughts. Let's get into it!

The Build-Up (Everything leading up to the reveal)

I went into this segment knowing that there was a 50% chance I wouldn't like it because I HATE plotlines where Brain treats Pinky like he's a 'chore' to deal with, but I was hoping I could be pleasantly surprised.

And the first few minutes actually aren't that bad. Like I said, I love the song, and Pinky actually almost saying that he doesn't want to take over the world all the time could have led to a very interesting conversation.

However, that all changes when Brain decides to lie about the amulet he finds. And I've gotta stop to rant about his 'idea' because it's fucking stupid. So...his plan was to give it to Pinky as a present, take it while he was sleeping, and then use it for his plan (which we all know he wasn't going to enact that night because he had already been up for a FULL 24 HOURS). How stupid does he think Pinky is? It was kind of implied earlier in the episode that Pinky wasn't even really expecting Brain to get him anything. Did Brain think he could just take Pinky's present, one that he loved to the point that he was going to sleep right next to it, and then have that be the end of it? No shit he's going to notice. It makes more sense to just HIDE it for the rest of the episode and have Pinky realize Brain was planning behind his back.

You'll soon realize that a lot of my issues with episodes like these are linked to how if you think about what Brain is doing for more than 5 seconds, it immediately falls apart (i.e. Brain making B.R.A.I.N unfeeling and dumping his feelings on it, making a pocket dimension where he's married to Julia, throwing Pinky under the bus in court).

Anyway, Pinky finds Brain, gets his 'present' and then says this:

"I don't need anything but your friendship to have the best Narfday ever! And I mean it! Zort!"

It is at this point that I knew I would be cringing anytime Brain lies through his teeth. Like I said before, my feelings do end up making me view this episode in a very weird light. Just, Pinky wanted to spend a day with his best friend and not have to worry about ANYTHING. It was a plus to get a gift because he already loves being with Brain so damn much. At this point in season 2, Brain hasn't realized how much he should value his time with Pinky

The next song segment proceeds and then we get to...

The Moment I "Walked Away"

Pinky's confrontation was one of the hardest scenes for me to get through due to one important factor: second-hand rage. I get angry for Pinky a lot of the time ESPECIALLY in the reboot, and this episode had me reach my peak.

For starters, you get to hear Pinky try to get Brain to relax but Brain's trying to lie to get the amulet, which results in it getting destroyed and Brain blowing up at Pinky. This leads to the big reveal that Pinky's birthday had long since past and that he could never find the right time to bring it up until now.

Brain finally realizes he's been a dick and he apologizes and asks for forgiveness. This is where I get irrationally angry

When I tell you I couldn't sit though the scene, I mean every few seconds, I had to pause the video and pace around my room, mentally walking myself through Brain's behavior because I just couldn't comprehend it. What doesn't help is that the structure of the episode prevents any of what Pinky or Brain do in this moment to hit as hard as it really could have.

At this moment, I'm getting into my personal feelings about how I would have written the episode, because the way it is- it's just infuriating:

For starters, I'd make it a full 22 minutes (or at least somewhere between 11-15) because the episode was too damn short for the story they were trying to tell. If they wanted Brain to actually EARN any sort of forgiveness, you can not have him apologize and then have Pinky immediately forgive him. Pinky has more of an edge than that, he's gotten Brain to properly apologize before; let him run off in a huff, or just have him tell Brain "I need some alone time", or SOMETHING

You gotta move the reveal to earlier so that we can see Pinky take some time before he forgives Brain, or give time so that Brain can actually TRY to make it up to Pinky

Brain's apology consisted of him putting himself down and THEN asking for forgiveness; he says NOTHING that implies he won't do the same thing again if he thinks he can get away with it. The reboot gave us one of the darkest interpretations of this character and they give him such an elementary school apology that I just can't accept it.

The whole "returining to the status quo" thing can happen, but why did it have to zoom in so damn quickly? This show just doesn't like letting anyone sit in their emotions

You know what would have been interesting to see? Brain blows up just as he does in the episode, but Pinky goes to get some space and drops his birthday list. When Brain goes to pick it up, he sees what the last thing on Pinky's birthday list was: "Try to take over the world with Brain". Brain has a moment to himself where it is completely silent and he has to live with his mistake and try to make it better. Brain eventually finds Pinky and then gives a PROPER apology

Speaking of the "apology"...

Why the Apology Sucks

I want you to just THINK about the apology again for a second:

"PerhapsI did end up solving my Absolute Zero theory after all, Pinky. For I'm an Absolute Zero when it comes to being a friend. Can you ever forgive me?"

Brain's never been the best at issuing apologies, but this one got be riled up, so I felt the need to add this section in to analyze exactly what makes this not work.

An Ohio State University study cited 6 elements of an effective apology:

More specifically:

Looking at the 2 key elements, while Brain's apology meets the first requirement, he fails to offer to fix the problem himself. Instead, Pinky is the one to ask to do the last thing on his list and Brain allows it.

What's more is that out of the 6 main elements, Brain really only meets 2 of them through his words: Expression of Regret, and Request for forgiveness (the article even talks about how the request isn't the strongest element)

Like I said earlier, Brain spent a majority of the apology saying how bad he was instead of showcasing that he fully understands why Pinky is upset or how sorry he is or saying how selfish he was or simply offering Pinky another chance to do something for his birthday now that he knows it was several weeks ago.

I know I'm being extra hard on Brain, but if you've heard any of my past rambles, you know it's because of how much I love his character and I was actually rooting for his arc he was going on in the reboot.

Final Thoughts

Happy Narfday was an episode that not only met my expectations, it exceeded them in how I expected Brain to be portrayed in this episode.

Have any of you watched "A Family That Poits Together"? Well the first couple of minutes of that episode is EXACTLY how Brain was written for over half of this episode's runtime. Brain being unreasonably angry and annoyed at Pinky the whole time gets irritating and the ending just sends me over the edge in second-hand rage.

Is this an awful episode? No, not by a long shot by this season's standards. Was it the most disappointing? Actually no, that award goes to a completely different season 2 episode.

What this episode represents in my eyes is an attempt to make Brain be more considerate of Pinky, and by my standards, it failed horribly

And with that, this is where this ramble ends

Thank you for being so patient with me, and I'll see you soon with the next episode poll!

[dragynkeep]

I genuinely could have excused the whole lying to Ironwood cheap subplot if the show had done two things;

1 - Replaced those scenes in which RWB sip tea at the manor feeling sorry for themselves with the scenes where the two of them (not all three because I admit that someone physically capable has to protect Nora and the others who for whatever reason didn't evacuate to the underground IIRC) with scenes in which they either join the Atlesian army and actually fight Salem and the grimm or went to Mantle to kill the grimm there, or they split forces to help both. This at least would've shown that the heroes' actions match their words. "This is my home. And I'm not giving it up without a fight", my ass.

2 - In the Ever After they continued to elaborate on the heroes' despair and have them think that it's their actions that led to so many deaths and destruction. And the narrative wouldn't brush off Ruby's doubts and regrets as a flaw like "If you as much as presume that we didn't do everything less than perfect then there must be something wrong with you, don't listen to that demon on your shoulder whispering that evil shit to you"

It may not have been enouch to "save" the show from the clownery it proudly presents as a mOrAlY gRaY cONfLicT, but at least there would've been a good theme about how sometimes even with one's utmost benevolent intentions, they can still end up making horrible mistakes, good intentions don't necessarily make you a good person. And the characters wouldn't have been such blatant hypocrites lmao. I mean that manor scene proves that these characters have no idea who they are and what they've gotten into.

It's so annoying because these are simple ways to not make me wanna pull my own teeth out whenever the show tries to do anything interesting with the plot. The whole lying to Ironwood plotline could've been good, and in V7 it WAS good because it was setting everything up for Ruby to realise that, like Ozpin, it's hard to know when to trust when you've been betrayed and hurt before.

But the show doesn't want Ruby to be wrong. Every time it's brought up that she, and Team RWBY as a whole, fucked up, they just hide behind sad eyes and that they tried so that's all that matters. When no, just because you had good intentions doesn't mean you're washed of the consequences of those actions you made.

And while Ruby was slightly saved in V9 with how she was actually reacting to everything she did, WBY are just horrible people and horrible characters.

Who cares about the people that died in our plan, or the lives displaced or the impoverished kingdom forced to clean up our mistakes? We did our best so that's that, and anyone who still calls us out is like the comically evil Ironwood who wanted to bomb the poor.

No wonder the FNDM has a poor comprehension of grey morality and actual good writing if this is the show they stan so hard.

[alessandrxs]

HSHQTASK059

when did you join ? what made you join ? what do you remember from the plotlines that were current at the time ? where were you in life when you joined and where are you now ?

i joined back in 2018 , which is crazy to even think about because it's now six years later ! i remember having seen the group a few times in the tags but didn't apply until a few months later ... but when i DID pluck up the courage to join , it was just before the olimpiel wedding which was so fun to be a part of ! i think i was literally just starting a new job too around the time i joined , so it was changes all around , which was really refreshing !!

2. which characters have you written over the years ?

too many ... starting with prycilla , aurora , danilo , amon , kris , ale , renee , aalayna , omari , pretty sure i had a kelsey merrit at one point , eloa , the madelyn cline and drew starkey i had for seconds , i think there was a sofia carson in there somewhere too ...

3. what is your favourite plotline that you've been part of ?

being a part of the italy plotline was so fun ! i'm not good at politics by any means but being around people who had so many good ideas which would always boggle my brain bc i'm dumb as shit was so fun to be a part of ! but also , the egypt plotline will always have a place in my heart ...

4. what about other people's plotlines ?

so so SO many !! the english plotline , the french ..... i was always on the edge of my seat whenever they were written out on the dash waiting for the next person to reply so the tea could be dished out ! but honestly every single plotline was just so interesting and amazing to read that i was always in awe

5. who is your favourite character from the ones you've played ? why ? what made you love them ? what made them so fun to write ?

considering how many times i've brought him back after thinking his time was done , without a doubt my favourite would have to be ale ... i just feel like he became such a comfort character for me , especially since when i've been going through things he's always been the character i've reached out for to write ! but kris was also so much fun to write and then my fool of omari , he really was my comedic relief character !

6. if you could relive a plotline, which would it be ?

kris realising just how much of a prick his dad is and becoming firmly team silje <3 it was a defining moment for him , and now silje has a job and is in college !! she's doing so good !!!

7. is there a plotline that you'd edit now if you could ?

literally not a single one ! i loved all the twists and turns , seeing how things unfolded , it was fun to just be able to write them out and see where they led and go from there

8. what's a plotline you wish you would have been able to finish before closing or just write more of ?

definitely the egypt plotline ... it happened at a time where i really didn't have time to be fully involved in and i think it's just been so unresolved , if only life didn't happen 😔

9. what is your favourite ooc memory ?

the panic in the ooc chat when evy fucked up the counting bot when we were at like 300+ ..... AKJDNFKJDF there are so many moments that i'll cherish forever but this one is the first that came to mind !

10. where can others find you if they want to get in touch ?

i have a tumblr for indie / 1x1 purposes which is @gcdlybehaviour ( currently under co ) and a discord that's with the same name ! honestly feel free to contact me at either of them at any time !

11. what else would you like to say ?

thank u all so , so much for all the memories and making hshq such a special place <3 i joined at a time where joining groups had become such an anxiety inducing experience for me but everyone was so , so welcoming and it soon became a place of comfort and to just get away from everything ! i've genuinely loved writing out every single thread , plotting out every single plot and just being able to be in an environment where everyone has been like a family ! i'm going to miss everyone so much <3

[rawwkfingers]

Kinda

The experimental episodes of New Who are often some of my favorites, and I've really felt that Classic Who hasn't been up to par in that regard

Partially, thats because for so long the show was still figuring itself out so EVERYTHING was experimental. Some more so than others ofc, but literally the third serial of the series was a story about being trapped inside the Tardis. Season 2 alone had Planet of Giants, The Chase, and The Time Meddler. Pertwee's entire era was an experiment on whether or not the show needed the Tardis to function. The first decade of the show they really said "the sky's the limit how far can we stretch this premise" and created so many off the wall ideas that they began to become the norm (Mind Robber is the perfect example of this imo, feeling like a retread of the Toymaker plot)

By the time we got to Baker the show had mostly figured itself out, keeping to the "conflict between two alien species on a spacebase and/or alien planet" structure that is now the standard of the show. There were still experiments ofc, but by and large those experiments were focused on expanding the wider lore around Gallifrey and the Time Lords rather than experiments with story structure.

Three serials into the Davison era and we already have two stories that, while still staying close to that baseline formula, also have really attempted to do something different with it. I feel like Castrovalva failed in that, but I really enjoyed the mind-bending plot and editing of Kinda

The Mara is one of the most interesting villains we've had in a long time, joining the echelon of "villains whose full power and origin is left unknown" alongside the Toymaker, Omega, and the Black Guardian. The scenes with Tegan in the dark dreamscape were incredible

Choosing to have other mind-warping plotlines like the telepathic Kinda and their box, or Hindle suffering an extreme mental breakdown could have muddied the impact but I actually felt that they heightened the tension. We never really knew who was in their right mind or not which led to a fantastic sense of drama

So yea, I liked this serial a lot. But it has a LOT of issues

For one, while I understand why Nyssa was written out this episode, I really disliked how Tegan was sidelined after the Mara had moved on from her. I understand there's only so much time in four 23 minute episodes but even like, one final confrontstion between her and the Mara-controlled Aris would have been enough for me. And then with her story arc ending with Adric randomly being so rude to her just came out of nowhere, felt very out of character for him, and accomplished nothing

I'm also really conflicted on the politics of this serial. On one hand, I liked the sort of anthropological tone it had, particularly the scene of the Doctor and the scientist discussing the social uses of comedy. And I respect that the racist military guys were very clearly depicted as bad and wrong

But truthfully, I'm sick and tired of this show depicting "primitive" cultures with the exact same "tribal' attire. It gives very... noble savage undertones to every scene the Kinda are in. And I'm also not a fan of the fact that the two racist officers got a happy ending at all! Yea their minds had been opened by the Kinda or whatever, but they still were racist shits and it'd been heavily implied that they'd colonized other worlds before this so like, walking into the jungle sunset is not the ending they deserve

I guess what I'm saying is I dislike what this story is saying, but I love how it said it if that makes sense

[practically-an-x-man]

1, 10, 16, 21 for the "choose violence" asks. Whatever fandom fits these questions, choose violence.

Thanks! I think I'm going to answer this for Star Wars, just because... idk, I've been talking about X-Men a lot tonight and want to switch it up, and there's plenty to talk about here XD

Choose Violence Ask Game

the character everyone gets wrong

So many. That's the curse of a big fandom... so many beloved characters, and so many people that don't quite understand them, which leads to conflicting opinions and inaccuracies... it's hard to choose just one character.

But for the sake of choosing one... Hux. Yes, I know I'm biased because I actually do find him to be an interesting character with a lot of potential, and biased because liking him has led to me seeing more of his fanon characterization than other characters (I'm not deep into any fandom really, I tend to keep to my own for the most part, so I'm really just going off of fanfics I've read), but I think it is genuinely worth talking about.

I think canon gave us some interesting threads for him, and even more once you look into his backstory from the books, but I think a lot of that just goes fairly unacknowledged when it comes to fanon. I've seen him mischaracterized a thousand different ways, but a lot of it just boils down to taking his character at face value and not even glancing at that backstory or potential character evolution. I think there are a lot of paths you could take his character that would still result in a consistent, accurate, and satisfying arc for him, but we need to see that arc happen or it just reads as OOC.

That's how I feel about a lot of characters, really - there's a lot more sway in how you can conceivably write them than people think, but if you just drop us in the middle of that arc with no context, it's just going to come across as annoyingly inaccurate. I think that's why one of the most common comments I get on my Star Wars fic is "I didn't like Hux before I read this but now I'm hooked" (or variations on that) - I guarantee you I don't have The Most Accurate depiction of him out there, and there are absolutely liberties I took, but I took the time to actually boil the frog and showcase that character development so it doesn't just come off as flagrantly OOC.

10. worst part of fanon

This is an annoyance I have with fanon culture as a whole, but it's particularly powerful with Star Wars: don't go out of your way to shit on what other people love.

Has Star Wars had a few misses? Oh, absolutely. Are there people that will still unironically love those things you consider misses? Absolutely. It's just statistics - just about any piece of media out there has to be someone's favorite, and it's very rare to find an exception.

So if you don't like a particular movie, show, character, plotline, ship, whatever, that's totally fine. But if you see someone expressing their enjoyment of that same thing, for one reason or another? Just scroll past.

(and yes, you could raise the question of "but what if it's ~problematic~?", but I think that's its own discussion. at best, even if there is a genuine flaw with the media, chances are good that they already know and you coming onto their post to point it out isn't going to sway their opinion. block and move on. and at worse, you're getting your personal gripes and opinions twisted up with morality and there's really nothing "wrong" with the media itself, and then you're just an asshole dunking on what someone loves. block and move on.)

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Reylo. Next question.

Ok but actually- yeah, I'm gonna give a little more context for this one. I don't hate the ship, and like I said above, I'm not going to dunk on people that like it, I just don't get it. To each their own, but at the same time... there's a lot more potential ships that had a lot more canon chemistry and setup, I don't see why so many people ended up going feral for that one in particular.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

This is a bit of an unpopular opinion, but... the original movies, actually. They're fantastic films, don't get me wrong, and I do love them, but I see a lot of other hate for pretty much every other branch of the fandom (sequels, prequels, shows, books, etc.) and I think it's partially because people have hyped up the originals so much in their minds that nothing can ever reach them. For the most part, those other projects aren't bad, they just don't match the incredible level of hype that the originals have.

Idk, I think it's just like... the originals deserve a lot of appreciation, but they get so much appreciation that it leads to hate on other projects that don't deserve it.

[a-tale-of-legends]

regarding Piers and Dynamaxing: it's implied in-game that Rose wanted Piers to move the dark gym to a town with a Dynamax spot, and when Piers refused he started making things economically difficult for Spikemuth (parallel to real life industrial towns in the north of england). so it's a mixture of spite, pride AND the fact that Dynamaxing is contra to the strengths of the dark-type itself, which rely on tactics and cunning

Hey there, anon!

You know I completely forgot about the whole "dark types mostly rely on tactics and cunning strategy",which would be a valid reason to not wanting to use dynamaxing.

I had to reread your ask anon cause I thought you were implying that Piers was the one that led Spikemuth down it's current state. Then I reread it and "he" was Rose, whoops. But yes!!! I totally agree with that. Cause honestly, from my very little knowledge on how all of this shit works, moving to a power spot would make things worse. Yes, the advertisement from dynamaxing would be helpful, but the process of moving( either just the dark type gym or the entirety of Spikemuth) is costly,and given how Spikemuth was already in a state before Piers became a gym leader. So unless Rose offered to pay for everything ( and honestly, he might have,I don't think he would be that cruel), Spikemuth could have had to pay for the move. There's also the fact that it's implied that Piers raised Marnie on his own, no mention of either parents. Too move a gym away from Spikemuth means that Piers would be away from Marnie and that's obviously a big no for him.

Want to know something interesting? Spikemuth only sponsor is themselves. Literally just the Spikemuth Chamber of Commerce, that's literally it. Everyone else has multiple sponsors to their gym, most of them being sponsored by Macros Cosmos, Rose's company. So yeah, Rose making things economically difficult for Spikemuth is definitely a possibility. Like even if they refuse to move, you could have at least sponsored them. I will say that maybe Piers denied sponsors too, but even then there's other possibilities here.

So yeah, Piers' refusal to use dynamaxing is a mix of spite and pride. I do wish, if they were reasons to not use dynamaxing related to the pokemon ( which there seems to be but never explained), I wish the games would expand on it more. Cause you can be cunning with your dynamaxing. Sure it's a power boost, but you can be smart about it ( maybe that's what Marnie aims to showcase). In general, I wish there was just more to this plotline, rather than going off implications.