bearerofgrail

[bearerofgrail]

i am deleting all forms of social media and never socializing again

[bearerofgrail]

i wonder if the 'fake heroes' that enlighter speaks of is because of the situation with yang cheng and what had happened further on after the years that come

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i know it's been only two arcs but i noticed how each story is manipulated by someone above in the hero companies.

Miss J in Nice/Lin Ling's story

Uncle Rock in Yang Cheng's story

[bearerofgrail]

this episode made me sick:

Yang Cheng's hesitation and the feeling of responsibility on his shoulders by the death of Sheng Chao.

MG CEO pretending to be Uncle Rock, manipulating everybody that he knew.

the Delivery Brothers being sunk into cement where the battle occurred, then the rubble left by Yang Cheng and the old E-Soul.

Xia Qing crying alone before leaving the concert.

Yang Cheng becoming another puppet in MG CEO's hands while knowing that MG CEO is Uncle Rock.

Possible reasonings on why MG CEO had to remove the old E-Soul from the company is because he's no longer a puppet in their hands and has realized that this one has no use anymore.

With Yang Cheng's personality now? He might really be the one that killed Moon.

oh also! X snapping in the background that changed the art style that must mean something.

OH OH AND LET'S NOT FORGET THAT ONE OF THE EXECUTIVES IN MG IS MR. SHAND/SHENG'S DAD, MAKING UNCLE ROCK KILL AN EMPLOYEE'S GRANDCHILD.

[bearerofgrail]

i love enlighter showing up for this ep, it fits his character so much to show up in a case like that. i miss his asshole all-knowing attitude but let's be honest

WHAT THE FUCK??

[bearerofgrail]

Enlighter x LinLing idea

LinLing to make ads for smaller heroes too, not just nice and moon like we see now, when he was starting he would almost exclusively do the lower rated heroes promos

These promos were some of his best work(looking at the fact that he had a zero dollar budget and a dream) he was full of passion just like he is now but back then his ideas were not looked at as strictly as the heroes just wanted an add

He gets an email from Enlighters hero agency about possibly working together to promote their upcoming hero, he of course agrees as he want that sweet sweet bonus at the end of the month

LinLing writes a script not really looking at who the hero is... because he wrote everything at 3 am and didn't read think anything through(he was hit with a creative flow can you blame him?) he had an idea and he wrote it

his idea is very much painting Enlighter as a cool guy who can throw an awesome punch to impress a girl or two, its almost completely the opposite of what Enlighter actually is

He sends the script over and goes to sleep

>>>><<<<

Enlighter received the script at 3 am, he didn't understand why his manager decided to send it over to him at such an ungodly time, whatever he will read it in the morning

He goes to sleep but ends up very much sleep deprived due to the interruption in his sleep

When he looks at the script he looks more shocked than words could explain, because what is this??? he's written like he's- like he's some grand hero- like he can actually go something other than ruining another person's image

The more he reads the more he asks himself about how the awkward photo that was sent with the email invoked the emotions to write... that.

He finishes reading it and stares at the wall for 20 minutes

Did he really look this badass?

his face felt like it went up in flames from how much the blush burned his delicate face, he was almost giggling like a little kid reading about his favorite hero in a comic

>>>>><<<<<

In the end when LinLing realizes how the guy he wrote that cool badass script for was actually a lanky awkward guy that was like 5 years older than him and his only power was truth detection

he felt embarrassed enough that he blocked the entire company and didn't even acknowledge them to his boss

>>>>><<<<<

After Enlighter learns that LinLing had ghosted them he develops a grudge that follows him all the way until he fights the man that one time

however the grudge is almost immediately gone when he sees the handsome man walk towards him fuming(the punches were great too)

he cringed to himself but nobody needed to know that

[bearerofgrail]

Sorry, tbhx fandom, but this is what I see when I hear "X is main antagonist" theories

[bearerofgrail]

Do you think X ever had to run a campaign on winterwear.

[bearerofgrail]

The Power of Communication Media in To Be Hero X

SPOILERS ON TBHX!! This is just a speculation that will be continued or edited while moving forward of the series and it has the word count of ~1500. This is just for funsies, plus I am bored so don’t take anything to heart.

TLDR; Communication, especially Journalism, holds a lot in the world of TBHX, especially a lot of power because they’re the ones giving the information and news. However, they still can be manipulated by big companies and word of mouth by the people in such extremes.

Journalism is a medium that has been around in the centuries, it’s a medium to tell the events that happened on the day. It’s a way to give out the truth, keep the public knowledgeable on the events, or speak out. Many journalists have a code to be neutral, portray each news in a perspective of an unbiased manner rather than the one they have an opinion of. Though there are many categories of journalism, such as column and opinionated writing, that focuses on the journalist’s perspective instead. There’s many outlets of journalism: newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, Internet, news agencies, and the alternative media.

Journalism helps us shape our perspectives in multiple ways, especially on belief. Belief is a powerful tool that our world benefits from. An example are religions, if you keep an idea long enough of a higher being up there, it can result in billions of people believing in that concept for a millenia that affects more ways than the believers but a state as well. What more if the world was shaped by an actual belief system where it becomes real?

In the world of To Be Hero X (TBHX), that is apparent. Though it’s called Trust Value and Fear Value, we know that the world is shaped through belief itself. The stronger the belief is (Trust or Fear), the stronger the individual is with that belief, it’s basically a power up. That belief however is only held by the fans of the Hero, we see this with Episode 4 where Lin Ling or Nice’s fans didn’t want him to leave the Hero Tower.

Through the timeline, we know that it has been 41 years in Lin Ling's arc (while in E-Soul it has been 36 years) since the Commission was created, with the concept of heroes being created by the trust value was only 5 years before the commission started. It’s not a surprise on why there would be a Commission of sorts by keeping everyone in check.

In the trailers, one of the CEOs spoke on how superheroes should be monitored or be placed in strict management is backed up by how they want the system managed. I don’t want to get deeply political with just the implications of what the MG CEO said, “We can’t let heroes grow rampantly on the platform.”

There was always a power dynamic to the CEOs > Heroes > Civilians (Heroes and Civilians can be changed depending on the setting). To them, there’s always a need for ‘balance’ or a class system for the others to stay “down” like the rankings of the heroes. Sure, the ranks are controlled by the civilians and the fans, but who controls the heroes the most are the companies.

It could be pointing to X’s situation where the Commission could possibly feel threatened by the fact that X is a freelancer, it has been 2 years since being the Top hero, and his quote in one of the trailers was “It’s time to tell the truth.” What does that mean technically? It’s almost the same goal as the Enlighter trying to expose Nice, but this feels more global to tell the truth. Is it the truth about the companies? The world?

There’s 4 main hero companies: DOS, Mighty Glory, TREEMAN, and FOMO. When Lin Ling skyrocketed to the top with his identity to the public still being a nobody; each of the CEOs talked about him as if he was a product or a fascinating subject. Miss J specifically has talked about Nice being a ‘valuable product’ especially when Lin Ling is about to expose himself being Nice.

News Outlets Around Each Episode

We see many news outlets in TBHX like the TV broadcasts that seem to show up in Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 4. These are Focus News and OBTV that broadcasted the news of the Nice/Lin Ling arc. OBTV is seen in the background most of the time, you might even say that it’s the preferred news outlet, while Focus News is only used in Episode 2 in the first part where we see Wreck watching what had happened to Moon and Nice.

Outside of these news outlets, we know that there are live streams that are created by the hero companies for the fans to give their heroes much higher trust by glazing them through a more biased perspective. We can say that these are operated by the companies’ media outlets like official accounts on social media that will feature a livestream on a script or event such as Episode 2 and Episode 3.

Adding on in the first episode of E-Soul’s arc we find out that there are well known journalists to the point of companies like Mighty Glory being able to hire them in such events for their heroes. While this event is more of an anniversary to E-Soul and an Actor Audition Competition rather than a ‘serious’ one, it’s counted on how companies can hire journalists or buy news outlets for their own gain.

The Corporation’s Control to the Press

In real life, some news outlet companies are owned and run by politicians. These news outlets would lean on a biased perspective to the campaigns of the politicians or lean onto a specific political ideal. Who's to say that in the world of TBHX that happens as well to news outlets becoming owned by hero companies?

It can be beneficial for their heroes and to lose some of the trust value of the other competitors – same company or not. I follow this with the mindset of “Neither of you can be X,” said by Miss J when telling Lin Ling to take the N.10 spot from Firm Man even if he’s Nice’s coworker.

Another thing noticed is that companies have the capability to remove any evidence of a hero’s past or wrongdoing to save reputation. This is in Episode 4 where God’s Eye leaked news of a previous boxer who was playing dirty that was erased by TREEMAN. Of course, these companies have the money to ‘erase’ any controversy said to their workers, especially to heroes. This is similar to Lin Ling’s “fake” suicide post by an account called “Focus” which is a cover up for TREEMAN or to expose the company from the Enligtener.

There’s no mention of any politicians in the world TBHX; becoming a hero or being a hero is relevant which holds a lot of power and influence to civilians. They are celebrities, idols, and even could be political. Why I see it could be political is from Queen; her speech in her PV seems like from a political party to promise to give them peace. Heroes aren’t technically there to be politicians, they’re products and concepts, they are there to serve the people, but Queen’s arc could help show that side.

Could it be DOS’s way to control everything? Isn’t almost everything controlled by the Hero Companies? Plus the CEO’s seem to be all knowing on every event.

The Commentary of the Citizens

The only thing that the CEOs are unable to control are the alternative media that the civilians can create

Alternative Media can be beneficial for unknown heroes by getting them into the spotlight or fighting back from the perpetrators like the livestream of Yang Cheng’s fight in Episode 5. The livestream which literally had given Yang Cheng publicity and trust points shown in Episode 6 Preview. (Credits to steIIarevue on the bird app for the translation)

Word of mouth is an important tool in their world. The whole “The Ever Standing Hero” episode is such a run on how it all works with multiple examples: Wolf Girl’s classmates that affected how Firm Man is a masculine guy, Wolf Girl’s comics that twists Firm Man’s image, and lastly Miss J’s dialogue about Imagination.

“Plant an idea to the hearts of the people, then nurture it. It will grow into a sapling… until it blossoms into a concrete thought.”

Each episode you will see responses by the citizens on what happened from the Love Recipe Show to Moon’s fake death to Nice exceeding Firm Man’s trust value to Lin Ling exposing himself to Little Pomelo’s commentary of Yang Cheng’s act and Yang Cheng, himself, to E-Soul. They’re important because they’re the ones that feed on the idea of the heroes.

These are mostly online in chat rooms or from coworkers and friends. A very important social media app that I see lurking around is the FOMO company, since they're also a hero company would there be limits on what the people post about the heroes in the company? Or any mass threads that could possibly ruin the reputation.

The most word of mouth in the PV’s is from X on how OP he is which is how he gets his powers. In the CN BiliBili app or link, X had a video about live streams that gave commentary as well on who he is.

The whole reason why I made this post is from Miss J’s dialogue, itself. It’s a world that can give you so many possibilities by just communication and belief in what has happened. It’s a scary thing that it’s just the norm for them and that what could be fake news or real news can be indistinguishable. Which is why I believe that in this world, journalists or communication specialists are the ones who have such power.

[bearerofgrail]

Hi! :3 I saw your post about today's (5) ep of tbhx and the mention of no X advertisement since it's 36 year into commission. Whats interesting, there actually are 2 visible X ads in this episode, though they're a bit hard to spot (It would be timestamps around 1:21 and 12:23). First is the yellow ad with "The strongest hero" written on the top, which also could be seen way more clearly in ep 4 during the fight between Lin Ling and Enlighter. It's super blurry though because it's when Yang Cheng is driving a bike, and it also looks like the person in it has different (not white) clothes but the eyeglasses are clearly still there and it's clearly the same type of ad. Theres also a simple black ad with X written on it on the later timestamp. The PV for next episode also has the soda can with X. I guess it's absolutely possible that the ads/soda are not exclusive only to the current X and were also around for the other ones before him or, I actually have no idea what it could mean but it's interesting. Sorry for butting into your asks box, just wanted to let you know >.<

hi anon! that's perfectly cool for you to go in my inbox :D

but honestly, if there are ads of him around this time (i'm trying to look for them anon don't worry) some theories of him that we know –X being a v-tuber or hijacking ads – could be put on like an additional fact for those theories. it is possible that X's rise is slower than we think it is since he is technically a freelancer with little info how he got into the top.

X either broke the system or at first it was a cult following and it rose higher than anticipated. it could be both. i mean, what do we know? his character is definitely an interesting one as it seems he wants to broke the system or tell the truth.

[bearerofgrail]

today's ep seems to confirm on the trust value system. the concept of a hero or who that hero's themes and identity is isn't just limiting to one person (as we see with Nice and Lin Ling), but it could be multiple people all at once.

the concept of nice or the concept of E-Soul can be inherited or be multiple people if the people have trust in them. if we remember what firm man said to Lin Ling, "No matter who you are, just be yourself," when the people's princess said he isn't nice. it's no wonder why he didn't give much care on who that Nice is with the example of E-Soul having multiple successors after him.

my point is with an example: if you give your trust point to someone and BELIEVE that they are that hero that you in place in your head, it will possibly work. i've noticed that it also works best if you say it out loud like an affirmation or confirmation.

not to bring X back on the table, but seriously how did he get to become X with his civilian self? in twitter some saw he was a v-tuber whose trust value was inherited by the worker who was handling him. if we look in his pv, civilian! X is not recording anything at all and is an office worker. the possibility of how did he do it? how did he get it? is still in the air especially that we won't be getting hints since it's 36 years into the commission (that means no X advertisements).

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To be Hero X Agencies

So I've been thinking alot after Ep. 4 (for....reasons 🥲) but opened up and brought attention of somethings.

One of them being that we get to see more of other Hero Agencies, glimpses of how they operate, and what each of their "brand" is for the Hero Commission.I'd like to dedicated this post on the info that we know and my on personal theories on them.

TREEMAN

First off, we have the Treeman Group whose CEO is Mr. Shand. For their employed Hero/Villain rooster so far has featured:

Nice

Moon

Wreck

Firm Man

Blankster

Lin Ling ( new recruit )

Translated desc.- "a hero agency that makes good use of marketing to shape the hero's personality" (@tbhx_officialCN)

From what we've seen, the mangers and staff take in precaution on how their heroes are depicted on stage, their meet-ups with fans, as well as crafting a boosting narrative for their heroes trust values to grow in the eyes of the fans. They are not above bribery, coercion, and stunt casting in order to push their quota ( as seen by the actions of Miss.J )

Also from what I've seen and gathered, it seems that Treeman possibly owns much of the real estate and city development in this world cause much of their promo features a lot of residential areas and shopping districts with their brand on them.

So maybe them hiring people to play the part of villains is because they are the ones who are able to rebuild plus reshape how fans live and consume.

FOMO

Up next is FOMO, which literally stands for "Fear of Missing Out". Their CEO seems to be this young guy named Zac. Their rooster so far consists of:

Loli

Ahu

Translated desc.- "provides ordinary people with opportunities to speak out and become famous" (@tbhx_officialCN)

So from their general description they seem like the mostly are in tune with regular people are doing and finding out what's new and fresh.

From the look of their office space, FOMO it's the most colorful and lively of the 4 agencies. It gives off what a lot of start-up tech,social media, and web HQs like Google and Youtube.

It's possible that most, if not all, of their heroes started out as Influencers or people that became heroes through viral moments on the web. Maybe their dark side is that their heroes have to keep coming up with more new, and exciting acts or content to please their fans to keep raking in Trust Value.

It could be more possible that FOMO has the same guide lines like YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch. ( Which would be pretty bleak ^^')

MIGHTY GLORY

Third, we have Mighty Glory whose CEO is the mystery guy right here. Their rooster, as far as we know, consist of:

E-Soul

Ghostblade

Dragon Boy

Translated desc.- "The ace hero organization Mighty Glory has successfully cultivated many high-ranking heroes"(@tbhx_officialCN)

Just looking at the main heroes they have, this agency mainly focuses on acquiring heroes that have a wide-ranged of fighting and physical skills.

They also seem to have morally gray code and ethics. Some not against pummeling or killing those that they deemed "deserve it".

My theories on the CEO is that he is collects and sees their heroes how a Roman Emperor does with Gladiators. They are valued solely on their combatant attributes and merciless displays, but are kept in line behind the scenes like wild animals or slaves.

DOS

And lastly, we have DOS. I have yet to find what it the abbreviation means, but this is their CEO, Mickey. Their hero rooster, so far in the show, consists of:

Queen

Lucky Cyan

The Johnnies

Translated desc. - "DOS pursues high efficiency by acquiring a large number of small hero companies to grow stronger." (@tbhx_officialCN)

So it seems like they are the largest AND most powerful agency out of the collective 4. It has a very...Disney way of acquiring more heroes to cultivate it's company.

They have means to tap into different markets of branding for their heroes.

On one brand, you can appeal to animal lovers and sell marketable mascot plushies, and on the other, you can appeal to pop star and music fans who want to see their favorite idol to succeed.

Not to mention they hold one of the strongest powerhouses to take the title of X.

O_O!!

Disney Evil! This company is willing to obtain and cultivate their heroes so it can become the most controlling Hero IP out in the world (This CEO is Steve Jobs and Bob Iger rolled into one).

So if their was ever a chance or motive for these agencies claim to dominance. it's DOS.

So I hope you enjoyed my on-the spot, collective analysis and ramblings on the agencies so far. I'm still holding on to some other theories and little details I spot that I want to post soon (hopefully a shorter one ^^')

[bearerofgrail]

i know these two just beaten each other up like just yesterday, but the song dead girl walking reprise with the edit of Lin Ling as Veronica and God's Eye as JD made me think "hear me out" as a ship

i see a potential here but im not saying anything

[bearerofgrail]

i agree but hear me out on DOS's CEO

okay finally returning to ep 4 and i gotta say. mr. shand kinda fine

[bearerofgrail]

im guessing this episode will focus on the CEOs of the hero companies (TREEMAN, Mighty Glory, FOMO, and DOS) as they've appeared in the trailer with the same art style

[bearerofgrail]

the commoner? the people's hero? more like the people's princess

[bearerofgrail]

director LH0 please tell me this is not a female char who will be destroyed by the narrative like Moon