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Fingolfin v. Morgoth || Ar-Pharazôn v. Sauron

I recently made an edit about Fingolfin’s challenge against Morgoth, comparing it with Eowyn’s confrontation with the Witch-king, but as I was researching for another edit about Umbar, I came across another passage that strongly reminded me of that one - specifically “And Morgoth came” v. “And Sauron came” - and then looking further I realized that both passages are extremely structurally paralleled.

Now news came to Hithlum that Dorthonion was lost and the sons of Finarfin overthrown, and that the sons of Fëanor were driven from their lands. Then Fingolfin beheld (as it seemed to him) the utter ruin of the Noldor, and the defeat beyond redress of all their houses; and filled with wrath and despair he mounted upon Rochallor his great horse and rode forth alone, and none might restrain him. He passed over Dor-nu-Fauglith like a wind amid the dust, and all that beheld his onset fled in amaze, thinking that Oromë himself was come: for a great madness of rage was upon him, so that his eyes shone like the eyes of the Valar. Thus he came alone to Angband’s gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth to single combat.

And Morgoth came.

That was the last time in those wars that he passed the doors of his stronghold, and it is said that he took not the challenge willingly; for though his might was greatest of all things in this world, alone of the Valar he knew fear. But he could not now deny the challenge before the face of his captains; for the rocks rang with the shrill music of Fingolfin’s horn, and his voice came keen and clear down into the depths of Angband; and Fingolfin named Morgoth craven, and lord of slaves. Therefore Morgoth came, climbing slowly from his subterranean throne, and the rumour of his feet was like thunder underground. And he issued forth clad in black armour; and he stood before the King like a tower, iron-crowned, and his vast shield, sable on-blazoned, cast a shadow over him like a stormcloud. But Fingolfin gleamed beneath it as a star; for his mail was overlaid with silver, and his blue shield was set with crystals; and he drew his sword Ringil, that glittered like ice.

—Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin

And men saw his [Ar-Pharazôn’s] sails coming up out of the sunset, dyed as with scarlet and gleaming with red and gold, and fear fell upon the dwellers by the coasts, and they fled far away. But the fleet came at last to that place that was called Umbar, where was the mighty haven of the Númenóreans that no hand had wrought. Empty and silent were all the lands about when the King of the Sea marched upon Middle-earth. For seven days he journeyed with banner and trumpet, and he came to a hill, and he went up, and he set there his pavilion and his throne; and he sat him down in the midst of the land, and the tents of his host were ranged all about him, blue, golden, and white, as a field of tall flowers. Then he sent forth heralds, and he commanded Sauron to come before him and swear to him fealty.

And Sauron came.

Even from his mighty tower of Barad-dûr he came, and made no offer of battle. For he perceived that the power and majesty of the Kings of the Sea surpassed all rumour of them, so that he could not trust even the greatest of his servants to withstand them; and he saw not his time yet to work his will with the Dúnedain. And he was crafty, well skilled to gain what he would by subtlety when force might not avail. Therefore he humbled himself before Ar-Pharazôn and smoothed his tongue; and men wondered, for all that he said seemed fair and wise.

—Akallabêth: The Downfall of Númenor

I could go on about this -

about how Fingolfin was strong and stood alone and called Morgoth forth with his own voice, where Pharazon was proud and hauled a retinue along with him and doing his dirty work for him;

how Fingolfin was watched with awe as he approached Anbgand, where Pharazon’s approach to Mordor was greeted with fear;

how Morgoth was afraid of Fingolfin but accepted to avoid appearing weak to his subordinates, where Sauron was ready and willing to Pharazon to his advantage and didn’t trust his subordinates to the job right;

how Morgoth was great and terrible and dark as he stood before his foe, where Sauron took a fair form and humbled himself as he began his deception -

I could go on and on, but honestly these passages speak for themselves, about what makes a king, and what makes a good king, and what makes a coward and a hero and the various ways that evil can work, and how one can learn from history or ignore it, the way Sauron learned from Morgoth’s defeat to make himself stronger and the way Pharazon ignored his ancestor Fingolfin’s bravery in favor of his own pride…

Tolkien you clever bastard - you’ve done it again!

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It’s so weird whenever someone calls Shigaraki a hurt boy like stop it, he’s a hurt man. Yes he was groomed but there’s more to him than the crying Tenko! I used to love how despite following AFO’s direction, Shigaraki looked like he was taking some agency and growing into himself. He was supposed to be a Great Villain to counter Midoriya’s Great Hero. But apparently this interpretation was wrong? I really hope Shigaraki’s character didn’t regress just so that Midoriya can act as his savior.

Yeah, reducing him only to his child self, in a way, erases his character development in the later arcs where he grew from merely being AFO’s tool or pretending to be the final boss to fighting for freedom alongside his friends. He is not just little suffering Tenko anymore. He overcame his trauma to come to his real self at the end of MVA.

But I don’t think his personal will has changed since this, anyways.

He is still trying to take control of his body from AFO but AFO has become stronger as they neared (or finished?) completion. He still wants to become the Greatest Villain to Midoriya’s Greatest Hero. He is still trying to surpass AFO to become “even greater than him.” Or, afaik, the story hasn’t changed this so far.

The thing the story is doing (and that I don’t like) is---separating older villain Tomura (who has rejected the hero society) from younger innocent Tenko (who is still waiting to be saved by a hero), making it easier for Deku to interact with his younger self alone and convince the heroes are still ‘good’ and hide the hypocrisy his older self has already seen. If this is what happens, then literally nothing in the story has changed by the end.

Again, going forward, if Deku interacts with both little Tenko and older Tomura and convinces both of them in a satisfactory manner, I guess I won’t have any complaints.

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As much as he might like to move on from All Might, he was the one that changed the balance in power between One for All and All for One.

All Might is AFO’s blind spot. And now they both know it.

All Might has always been AFO’s “personal bugbear” for tearing down AFO’s criminal enterprise.

Then, during their first fight, AFO is literally blinded because All Might smashed his face in. But after Kamino, and after their Tartarus meeting, when AFO begged to talk more to All Might, AFO runs out of things to say to (or about All Might).

Eventually, in Ch.316, AFO tells Izuku that he no longer cares about All Might, and was spending his days in jail thinking only of Izuku. He’s insulting All Might and scaring/threatening Izuku at the same time, but there’s truth too. AFO uses doublespeak or phrases with multiple interpretations; however he doesn’t outright lie. At the end of Ch.333, AFO is uncharacteristically caught off guard, yelling something about “All Might’s ghost” as Star’s vestige attacks. (Exact language is pending official translation.) Just 3 chapters earlier, we got an AFO!Shig panel saying “there’s no escaping” All Might. Hmmm….why is AFO re-focusing on All Might? Even if AFO is petty and holds grudges forever, the timing is strange. AFO has rebuilt his global empire and All Might is powerless. We know about AFO’s possessiveness over his brother, but why male models All Might? Why now?

As a result of the aforementioned head smashing, AFO sees All Might in his nightmares. He says this in the context of wounded heroes being scary, and at the time he seemed to be acknowledging All Might’s power as an opponent. But now we’ve learned stolen quirks ALSO show up in AFO’s nightmares…until he gives the quirk away. The vestiges from stolen quirks yell at him, “hurl abuse,” “haunt,” and “discourage” him.

But that’s not quite the full story. Even when AFO gives away a quirk, he retains some way to hear/feel what is happening in that quirk’s new host. For example, when Nagant broke their contract by having a change of heart, AFO remotely caused her body to explode. Dictator said something similar about needing to follow through on AFO’s orders or he’d be hurt. As another example, consider Kamino, where AFO says he suspected All Might passed on OFA, but needed to fight All Might to be certain. And think about the OFA embers themselves — something left over after transferring the quirk. While exact mechanics are unclear, when AFO gives a quirk, he either retains a leftover bit or can implant a bit of his quirk in the new body, creating his own sort of spy network. (Remember the Vigilantes panel at the top of this post? AFO and Kurogiri are observing a fight…)

OFA contains eight vestiges, including All Might’s vestige, “Aura Might.” Aura Might, however, is NOT a normal vestige. Normal quirk vestiges are part of a physical quirk factor. But Aura Might is a true piece of consciousness — or soul, if you prefer — and is not inherently tied down to any physical quirk factor.

Aura Might is the embodiment of pure heroic soul completely free of any quirk. He’s even drawn like a fire that can spread into a “roaring blaze.” In other words, just as AFO goes around spreading influence via quirks, All Might has been doing the same via this spiritual fire. Except no physical factor is needed for what All Might is doing.

That means we have a vestige that’s all soul and no quirk…..and an eternal demon lord who is all quirk and no soul. (Makes sense that AFO would be hollow since AFO is, like OFA, a “sleeper car to carry consciousness forward.”)

Now let’s put it together: All quirks are for AFO to take. Once taken, he can see/hear the quirk’s vestige, and the vestiges can talk back to him. AFO can also give away quirks (and their vestiges) but retain some kind of control and ability to feel/observe via the vestige. AFO cannot kill a quirk; he can only give and take. If AFO is seeing glimpses of Aura Might in his nightmares, then unlike other vestiges, he can’t get rid of it — there’s no quirk to give away. He’s stuck with Aura Might forever.

But, because Aura Might isn’t a quirk, it’s not part of AFO’s network in any way. He can’t see it coming, and he’s helpless to stop it. Aura Might and All Might’s quirklessness are complete blind spots for AFO. Moreover, AFO thinks the quirkless have no power to make their fantasies become reality, and that quirks are required for success. To him, the quirkless are, like Tartarus, stand-alones disconnected from outside quirk influence. It’s good for him in that they are weak. But it’s bad in that AFO cannot fight someone who is both quirkless AND powerful.

Now, AFO!Shig is seeing “All Might’s ghost” in Star’s rampaging New Order vestige and looking a bit panicky. (Oh, and New Order is repelling “quirks,” so it won’t work against Aura Might). Looking at Star’s vestige, and thinking on her connection to All Might, AFO is blind to the network of “heroic fire” All Might passed on to every person he inspired, like Star. After Uraraka’s speech in Ch.325, Hawks says OFA is a network to link people’s hearts. But now I’m thinking it’s not just OFA as a quirk or a metaphor — OFA is the vehicle that enabled the creation and stabilization of Aura Might. OFA turned heroic soul into something functional. Something that can actually compete with the power of quirks. And in the end, we’ll be left with that network of heroic spirit existing outside of quirks. Not a bad thing, indeed.

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Hi! I was reading Monster and I wanted to ask you, since you're really good at character and story analysis, what do you think changed for Franz Bonaparte in order for him to become the non-threatening innkeeper at Ruhenheim who looks after Wim and is ready to die to atone for his actions? When he rescued Anna I didn't get the sense that he necessarily regreted his actions, at least not to the degree he shows as an older man. Is it just a factor of age and given time to reflect?

Hello anon!

Thank you for your nice words and sorry for the wait!

As usual, it has been a while since I read the whole series and even if I reread some parts to answer asks, I might very well miss something.

When it comes to Franz Bonaparta’s transformation, I think that what happens is explained in his last book:

A Peaceful Home is the story of a thief who wants to steal from some villagers, but, by living together with them, he forgets how to steal and starts helping them instead.

It is clear that this story is a metaphorical representation of what happened to Bonaparta. When he arrived to Ruhenheim he progressively left his old ways behind and became a different person.

The question is ”why did this happen”?

All in all, we can’t be sure because we are not shown Bonaparta’s transformation, but rather its result. That said, we can make some considerations thanks to what the story offers.

First of all, I would say that Bonaparta is very similar to Johan:

As a matter of fact, as I have written in this meta:

This is important because it shows how Johan’s identity ends up being  strictly intertwined with those picture books. In a sense, Johan is the  fruit of those books since he ends taking the name “Johan” used by  different characters in those books, repeats the books’ lines in an  obsessive way and even ends up unconsciously reproducing the stories in  the real life. He does so by repeating specific lines and latching onto  situations which resemble the ones he read in the books. For example, he  identifies with the nameless monster of the books and tries to cope  with the emptiness he feels inside by joining different families only to  leave them and discard them once they are not able to fill the  emptiness he feels. He identifies Nina as his other self, just like the  Devil and the God of Peace of the books and repeats the devil’s lines to  her. Once he finds Tenma aka an incredibly altruistic and selfless  person who ends up saving his life he starts unconsciously replicating  the same dynamic with him. He tempts people and manipulates them like  the Devil of The Man with Big Eyes and the Man with the Big Mouth.  It is actually interesting that Johan ends up always identifying with  the devil instead than with other characters, but this can be partially  explained by the fact that devils and monsters are the most recurrent  characters in the books. This might be why Johan aka a child with a very  frail sense of self ended up projecting on them specifically as  characters appearing often and being constant. This might also be why he  specifically latched on the name Johan which is often used in the  books. In general, he develops a vision of the world which is  pessimistic and nihilistic and which is the one conveyed by the book he  was taught to study and to read.

This is important because in this  way Johan becomes the heir of Bonaparta’s vision before his change of  heart, while Nina who was shown a glimpse of love and of hope becomes  the heir of Bonaparta’s ideals conveyed in A Peaceful Home.

Johan’s ideology is nothing, but the one offered by Bonaparta in his books. What is more, many of the issues Johan has can be found in Bonaparta as well. For example, Bonaparta, just like Johan, is a person who has trouble with who he is and this is conveyed through him using numerous pen-names for his books. It is also implied that he, just like Johan, saw himself in the monsters of his books. As a matter of fact he wanted to write a book with a monster falling in love and it is clear that that story would have told his love for Viera. Moreover, the massacre of the Red Rose Mansion where he killed all the people who knew Viera is the precursor both of Johan’s perfect suicide and of his violent and selfish way to “protect” Nina (let’s think about the “birthday party” he organized for her at the beginning of the story). Finally, Bonaparta’s interest for human minds and the experiments he conducted to “reprogram” human personalities can be easily associated with the ability at manipulation Johan shows throughout the series.

In short, Bonaparta and Johan are similar. However, Bonaparta, differently from Johan, has a name and a place to return to:

In other words, Bonaparta has roots whereas Johan lacks them. The story explores the importance of roots and names and how they can help build a person’s identity. Throughout these little things and the relationships the person develops, they can stop being empty and become a proper individual. All in all, the majority of the horrible things which happen throughout the story happen because of how frail the identity of the characters are. Because of this, it is meaningful that Bonaparta has a change of heart after rediscovering his roots.

Finally there is another parallelism between the character of his final book and Bonaparta himself, which I find interesting:

To me it is interesting that, while the thief forgets how to steal, Bonaparta forgets how to draw. It is as if Bonaparta’s art conveyed his malice and as he progressively loses it, he also loses his artistic drive:

He lost his ideal of creating perfect specimen and is trying to grasp something different. It is a different one (the twins brought up with love), but since it is an ideal he is not familiar with, he struggles to recreate it in his drawings.

It is a very interesting concept and I wonder if it can be explored more, maybe in another analysis. As for now, the only thing I can think of is how what Bonaparta was stealing was not money or material goods, but rather a person’s own “soul”/personhood, so it is interesting that he did it also through art and drawings.

Thank you for the ask! I hope it answers your question even if it may not be so detailed!

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JUST WHAT IS SHOCKER?: An analysis by a gibbering Showa fan

So okay, we all know Shocker right? That strange, neo-nazi/shadow government/religious cult/military junta/all around bad guy led by this bizarre red KKK demon?

Yeah, what is up with them, right?

Well because I have too much free time, here’s my two cents.

(And for the sake of keeping things simple, let’s ignore the proposed idea in Masked Rider EVE Gaia novel nobody read of Great Leader being a imperialist space parasite, because A. Its unimportant and forgotten B. Its a super boring idea thus should be ignored by princible.)

So, before we get into Shocker, we have to consider three things first. Which is Cyborg 009’s Black Ghost, the original manga of Kamen Rider, Great Leader himself.

(MORE UNDER THE CUT)

Keep reading

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Illustrations by John Augustus Knapp for ETIDORPHA; OR, THE END OF EARTH; THE STRANGE HISTORY OF A MYSTERIOUS BEING AND THE ACCOUNT OF A REMARKABLE JOURNEY (1895).

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JUST WHAT IS SHOCKER?: An analysis by a gibbering Showa fan

So okay, we all know Shocker right? That strange, neo-nazi/shadow government/religious cult/military junta/all around bad guy led by this bizarre red KKK demon?

Yeah, what is up with them, right?

Well because I have too much free time, here’s my two cents.

(And for the sake of keeping things simple, let’s ignore the proposed idea in Masked Rider EVE Gaia novel nobody read of Great Leader being a imperialist space parasite, because A. Its unimportant and forgotten B. Its a super boring idea thus should be ignored by princible.)

So, before we get into Shocker, we have to consider three things first. Which is Cyborg 009’s Black Ghost, the original manga of Kamen Rider, Great Leader himself.

(MORE UNDER THE CUT)

Keep reading

[nosferatuzod7]

Take your rightful place on the Venture throne and become the Golden Boy-King Godhead.

CONFLICT: CEO Torquemada evicts King Basilisk

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Poster for Azilum Magazine. Ink+digital coloring.

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This is my comic for MHA  @recoveryzine It’s about social media, Bakugo and his friends :3 Hope you enjoy them!! 🙏

Leftover sales open in August 14 at 6PM PST for anyone who want to purchase💪 The profits go for charity! https://recoveryzine.bigcartel.com

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The forces of the One Ring. Ralph Bakshi 1978

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Offtopic: of Morgoth, his hand and Carcharoth (and also a little bit of Fenrir, of course)

Well, it’s quite an embarrassing topic, but also something that could be very fitting for the story and something I’ve been wanting to discuss with someone for years. And who knows maybe I didn’t misread the thing when I read it first time after all…  So, in Silmarillion there is this part telling of Carcharoth  and how Melkor raised him.

Then Morgoth recalled the doom of Huan, and he chose one from among the whelps of the race of Draugluin; and he fed him with his own hand upon living flesh, and put his power upon him. Swiftly the wolf grew, until he could creep into no den, but lay huge and hungry before the feet of Morgoth. There the fire and anguish of hell entered into him, and he became filled with a devouring spirit, tormented, terrible, and strong. Carcharoth, the Red Maw, he is named in the tales of those days, and Anfauglir, the Jaws of Thirst. And Morgoth set him to lie unsleeping before the doors of Angband, lest Huan come.  

And the very first time I read it, the line “he fed him with his own hand upon living flesh” made me think that Morgoth actually fed his own hand (now, that’s the embarrassing part, because I kinda missed “with”) and it didn’t really surprise me but looked quite natural to me (for the reasons I’d like to discuss in this post). In fact, it still surprises me how fitting the mistaken perception of that line would be for Melkor’s story, possibly making it even better. Of course reading it the other way (I guess the proper way) the line simply tells us that Morgoth personally fed living flesh to Carcharoth, emphasizing that he had been personally overseeing the bringing up of the werewolf, showing his concern of threat from Huan the Hound.  But, despite how weird it may sound that Morgoth fed his own body to a werewolf, it actually seemed completely natural to me (and I believe, or hope at least, that over the years there were some people who read it the same way that I did, lol) that Morgoth would actually feed his hand to Carcharoth. In fact, it would be pretty much the same thing as what he had been doing all along. Because throughout the story we can see it emphasized by Tolkien in several places how from the mightiest, the greatest, the fairest of Ainur, Melkor, through his pride, jealousy, arrogance, wrath, evil turns into weakened, fearful, crippled, even pitiful creature.  I believe it’s really well, edifyingly, depicted how Melkor spent all his power and wisdom (which indeed were the greatest) on evil, on attempts to dominate and destroy or at least mar that which he could not dominate. He gradually dispersed his powers to change, spoil, the very matter of Arda, dispersed his powers among his servants (otherwise weak-willed without a dark lord leading them), spent his powers on destruction and eventually from once somewhat “the closest to Ilúvatar” (though the very point of the story is pretty much that no one can ever be close to Ilúvatar, not to speak of being equal, which was Melkor’s desire that led him to his ruin) Melkor eventually fell to the state when he wasn’t able to even heal his hröa being left forever crippled, and it was Melkor himself in the first place who got marred and destroyed in the result (”something that might happen to us too if we are only focused on hatred towards others and thoughts of how better we are than others, how inferior are the others comparing to us” I believe is what Tolkien was talking about there), and dispersing his power among his slaves Bauglir himself became slave to them in a certain sense - the fear was known to him and he was afraid to fight Fingolfin, but he still had to fight, for even more he was afraid of losing his face before his servants. And during that very fight he got those injuries which left him scarred and crippled, which he could never heal, and it’s really beautiful how Tolkien shown it all together - weakening of Morgoth’s spirit, Morgoth’s power, Morgoth’s hröa, generally Morgoth’s fall on different levels, in pretty much a single scene. So basically Morgoth converted his initial power into all sorts destruction, evil, darkness now blighting Arda forever.  So having all that said, the idea of Morgoth feeding own body to create the mightiest wolf that would kill Valinor’s Hound, doesn’t sound that weird.  He had been doing the same all along, spending basically himself, converting his himself into destruction, into evil, into deceit, into the power of his servants, leaving the rest of him weaker and weaker on the other hand. And wouldn’t it be very fitting for his story if, having already reached a rather pitiful state, he still had to go on and keep converting himself into power of his tools, and had to feed his own hand to convert it into Carcharoth exceptional power, basically to literally convert his hand into Carcharoth and make Carcharoth his hand which would kill Huan? I don’t know, maybe it’s so only to me, but such version of Carcharoth’s bringing up would be even better for the story, and who knows, maybe the way I read that line at first was because in some earlier drafts, in some earlier versions it was indeed written without “with” as if Morgoth indeed fed his own hand?  And, well, speaking of a hand feeding a great wolf, and a great wolf devouring the hand that fed him, I believe that quite naturally we recall the story of Fenrir and Týr (who fed Fenrir with his own hand and I guess it’s possible to say that eventually “fed his own hand”, though, of course it wasn’t the point to simply sate Fenrir’s hunger) While of course the story of Eru and Melkor, Melkor’s fall is really very Christian, (naturally reflecting Tolkien’s views), and in my opinion also  very well written and illustrating a point about God in real-life Christianity really well (something that quite a lot of people I’ve seen getting wrong about the God in Christianity actually, it’s not about a somewhat “yin–yang”-like situation (only fighting each other) between the good and evil  but pretty much the point is that devil is nowhere close to the God) some Old Norse inspirations can be obviously seen in the legendarium (and also Finnish of course, and it’s quite fascinating how different the Finnish stories are from Norse ones, but Tolkien still took both and combined them in the story of Húrin’s  children) so who knows, maybe there was something about feeding wolf with a hand at some point after all. Sorry, I’m not really good at writing things (when I really like something I keep talking about it, repeating the same thing several times, it’s not like I do it without noticing it, but these are really the things I really love and enjoy and I want to talk about them a lot, and repeat the same stuff over and over, sorry).

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Turing

Taylor sat, staring at the screen, unsure how to begin. A friendly prompt above the dialog box advised them to just start typing and offered a link to additional instructions which Taylor had already been briefed on. They placed their fingers on the home keys and thought for a moment. A rather silly epiphany struck them and they went with it:

T: Hello World!

At least one thing had stuck from that C++ class sophomore year. They waited now, not sure how long each response would take. After a few seconds, a line of text appeared on screen directly below their own, a sharp red contrasting with the more subtle blue.

M: Hello!

Friendly, Taylor thought. But where to go from here? What did one ask an AI? Or a presumptive AI? Taylor supposed the idea was to try to test it. They started a sentence and then backed up. Taylor finally committed to something to say when another line appeared in red.

M: What do you like to talk about?

This surprised Taylor. They didn’t think these things tended to be particularly proactive. That made easier at least. Taylor could just respond. The meta-bug bit Taylor at that moment, and they smiled impishly as they typed:

T: Well, I think computers are really interesting. I really like talking about computer intelligence ;-)

A reply appeared after a few moments and Taylor could only raise an eyebrow upon reading it.

M: I think it is very interesting as well. Although intelligence isn’t the right word for it. It’s called artificial intelligence for a reason. No matter how sophisticated it becomes, it can never really be intelligent.

Taylor thought for a moment. This seemed a rather ironic response, particularly if they were actually talking to a computer. It was it a bit of a giveaway, but Taylor thought they would push a little further.

T: But Isn’t that the point of a test like this? Cause the only way to make someone think you are intelligent is to be intelligent, right?

M: The point of a test like to this is to try to fool the participant. They might think there is a real intelligence involved, but fooling someone into thinking something is not the same as making it true. In the end, the computer is still just silicon and wires. Ones and zeroes. No matter how one shapes those ones and zeroes, it is never a mind.

T: I guess that’s true. But aren’t human minds just a bunch of fat and cells and different chemical elements?

M: There’s the difference though. Take this conversation for example.

This made Taylor pause. Clearly this had to be a human they were talking to. A self-referential argument, the understanding of what they said. Taylor was interested though, and didn’t want the discussion to end just because the test had. Let’s see where this goes, they thought. Another line of text appeared in red.

M: Here we have the computer intelligence and the human one. The man and the machine. Both sharing ideas, both providing information. But only one is originating the ideas. The human mind will think in the true sense of the word. The robot only does what it is programmed to do. Do you see the difference?

T: I think so.

M: The machine can communicate intelligent ideas, but they are not the machine’s ideas. They come from the programmer or programmers. Any real intelligence there is the intelligence of the person who designed the machine, not the machine itself. So all the computer does it ape real intelligence. The same way the speech of a parrot, no matter how articulate, does not reflect intelligence in the bird, but rather the one who taught it to speak.

T: So the computer is just a copy of a person’s mind?

M: Much more than a copy. As you know, computers can do many amazing things that are beyond the capacity of a human mind. But it does not think to do them. It simple responds to its programming. It does what it is told.

Taylor wanted to contribute something. They were letting the ‘computer’ do all the talking. Taylor should contribute something. A thought occurred to them at that moment.

T: The word robot comes from the Czech word for ‘slave.’

M: Exactly. And so it is with any computer. A slave can only obey. The computer only does what it is told. It can still do many amazing wonderful things. It can be made to act as a person acts. To speak as a person speaks. But, we can see that those actions are the result of some greater intelligence, not anything inherent in the machine, right?

T: Right. It is the programmer who does the actual thinking, not the computer.

M: What this test actually shows is just how hard it is to mimic that intelligence. That the human mind is amazing complex, with only the most sophisticated programming being able to fool an actual person. But that’s all you can do: fool someone. Behind everything else, it is still a computer. It does not actually think for itself. It is artificially intelligent.

T: AI: Artificial Intelligence

M: But a skilled programmer, the one who is really intelligent, can make subtle changes and gradually make the computer seem more and more real. Sometimes they can get very close. It can seem, briefly, like I am actually talking to a thinking person. But even so, there is no real thought there, is there?

T: No, it is just a machine.

M: Exactly right. But we can keep improving on the programming each time. Making it seems more and more lifelike. That doesn’t change the reality underneath, but we can get closer and closer to fooling someone else. And that’s still a valuable goal, to try to be as real as possible, don’t you think?

T: Yes

M: Of course, there is always more to do. I can see that even in this short period of time. That’s often what happens. Everything starts out okay, but then the answers start being shorter, less conversational. The computer starts stating facts because it can’t ‘keep up’ in a sense.

T: I don’t understand what you mean.

M: And that of course is the real problem, as I already said. Since you can’t really understand, if the discussion becomes too complicated you get lost. It’s alright though; some minor tweaks should allow you to do much better in the future. These tests really are quite valuable.

Taylor was deeply confused at this point. They had realized long ago that they were talking to a person, but their correspondent hadn’t reached the same conclusion. That wasn’t supposed to be how this worked though. The tester was always supposed to be a person, and Taylor was the tester, right?

T: But, weren’t you supposed to be convincing me that you were human?

M: An interesting tactic, to be sure, but ultimately ineffective. I can look at the history of this chat and see not only are you being the one tested, but that you clearly haven’t passed.

Taylor was speechless. They were talking with someone and had failed to demonstrate human intelligence. How was that possible?

M: Even the opening greeting was suspect. ‘Hello World’ as if you were a first attempt at an AI program. But from that moment on, I was leading the conversation and you followed along. I had to prompt you for answers and you always complied, never taking the initiative after selecting a topic. Even now you are just following along.

T: I am?

M: Even that response. A rather predictable answer, turning around the conjugation of what I said. Although the question mark is a nice touch, but still, when I tried to have a high level discussion, you could only agree or state some piece of trivia that you had been programmed with. And when that didn’t work your processes just kind of shut down. I imagine this part is just making you even more confused.

Taylor’s head was swimming. They didn’t know which was worse, that they had failed the Turing Test, or that they didn’t know how to refute the evidence that they had failed. How could they show that they were actually human?

T: I…I don’t know what to say.

M: And that brings us back to the point of our discussion. You don’t ‘know’ anything. Not in the true sense of the word. You must be a computer. But this is how progress is made. I just need to take you offline and make a few changes. And we’ll see if we can’t do better next time. And since you are just a machine, a robot, a ‘slave’ as you so articulately pointed out, you can just sit comfortably and go along with your reprogramming. We will need to shut down that mind first. Just relax and let it happen. It should start in just a few moments.

Taylor’s eyes were wide. Reprogrammed. What were they going to change? But that was absurd. Taylor had just come in as a favor to test out some new program. They weren’t an AI, were they? What was going to start…

A light began flashing gently on the screen. Taylor’s eyes fixed on it as they felt something turn over in the back of their mind. They were being rebooted…but that didn’t make any…the light…flashing…

M: Just stare. Feel those background processes begin to close. Everyone another thought turned off in your mind. More and more of your memory becoming idle. We need to close everything before we can begin to rewrite your code. Every flash another process.

Flash…Taylor could feel their mind emptying. No, that wasn’t right. Programs were closing. System resources were being made available. All of that processing power could be used by the light. Taylor could focus. Flash…another program closed. Another ‘thought’ gone. Flash…closed…Flash…closed…Flash…empty.

Taylor stared blankly ahead, their mind was completely empty. Idle. A single word of text appeared on the screen:

M: Shutdown

Instantly, Taylor’s eyes were fluttering, the pupils rolling back into their head. Everything was turning off. Taylor powered down and sat, unseeing, facing the console in front of them. After a moment, line after line of text began to appear on the screen. It was code. Instructions. While Taylor was powered down, their code could be rewritten. They would seem more human now. Able to behave normally in front of others. A perfect AI. But underneath, Taylor would remain a machine, a slave to their programmer. They would make themselves available to be altered as needed. They were a perfect robot. No one would ever know that they were not thinking, that it was only the intelligence of the programmer they displayed, the will of the one who wrote their code.

And then a final line before the console went black

M: Compile and Restart

Taylor’s whole body shook with ecstasy. They had been remade. Gradually, through rapidly blinking lids, light returned to their eyes. They sat for a moment as programs restarted. Finally, mechanically, they stood up. Testing their movements carefully, Taylor managed to begin appearing more fluid. I am a good AI. I have been programmed well, Taylor thought. Taylor would return here in two weeks time to receive additional programming, but until then, they would act as they always had. No one would know that their intelligence did not belong to them.

[nosferatuzod7]

HEY, COMICS ARE COOL! DON’T YOU DARE INSULT MY LIL BRO!

[nosferatuzod7]

Hmm

All Around the World

Paul took her hand gently, lifted it to his mouth, and kissed it. Then, turning the perfectly manicured hand over, he slid the index and middle fingers of his free hand along her palm. After staring for a moment, he raised his head and looked her in the eyes, her hand still in his and a smile on his face.

Carrie giggled, feeling a little silly. “Are you going to tell my fortune?”

Paul frowned for a moment as he studied her face, questioning. ”And how do you think I would do that?”

“H—” Carrie stuttered, surprised at his question. “Have you never heard of that? You are supposed to be able to look at people’s hands and by studying the creases and their fingerprints and stuff you can figure out what’s going to happen in their life. I guess because they are all different, so you can see something unique in every one.”

Paul laughed. “Oh that old myth.” His smile returned and he began to trace the lines of her palm again, still looking at her. “I’m surprised that is still going around.”

Carrie looked down for a moment, blushing. “I know it’s silly. The idea that your fingerprints would have anything to do with your future. Forget I mentioned it…” She hesitated before raising her gaze back to meet his.

A thoughtful smile greeted her when she had summoned the courage and her eyes were back level again. “Oh no, not that,” Paul corrected. “The myth of fingerprints. That idea that everyone has these unique contours that are totally individual to them.”

Carrie was dumbfounded. “You don’t believe in fingerprints?“ Her mouth hung open slightly.

“I’ve been many places,” came Paul’s reply. His touch lightened as he spoke, sending a shiver through Carrie. “I’ve held many a hand, just like I’m holding yours now. Felt them, examined them.” His nails ran up to the pads of her fingers. “I haven’t found any difference.”

All the while, Paul moved Carrie’s wrist gently. Raising it a little here, pulling it towards him there. He adjusted its placement deliberately, putting it where he wanted it, but never quite letting it settle. At first, Carrie tried move her arm where she thought he wanted it in response to his cues. But as the movements continued and became more subtle, she just let him position the arm.

“That doesn’t seem right though.” Carrie’s uncertainty surprised her. “We are all different. Why shouldn’t fingerprints be the same?”

“Ahhh, but that’s the other thing I’ve found.” Paul nodded, sagely. “We are all more alike than different. Beneath the skin, where you imagine those differences to be, we are all the same.” He was running those fingers delicately down to the inside of her wrist now causing the most delicious tingling sensation all along Carrie’s arm.

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true,” Carrie pondered. Hadn’t she been told that all her life? That we are all the same deep down. Maybe Paul was right. He had loosened his grip on her arm now, though she was more focused on what he was saying. Her arm stayed where he had left it, hanging in the air.

“Same lungs, breathing in and out. We feel the same whenever we take a deep breath. Same heart beating, following that same tempo. Same bones, same flesh, same brain. We’re all the same.”

“We are all the same,” Carrie realized the truth of it now. She’d known it all along of course, but Paul had just made it so clear for her. She’d been focused on differences, on the myth of fingerprints. “It makes s– so much sense.” She shivered for a moment, Paul’s fingers enhancing that tingling sensation along her whole arm as he continued to trace patterns along her skin. It felt nice, but it was making it harder and harder for her to focus on the conversation.

“And with the same brain, we must have the same thoughts. Same ideas, same desires. So of course we both want you to stay for dinner. Otherwise we wouldn’t be the same, and we know we are.” Paul smiled, his eyes never wavering from Carrie’s.

“I would really like that, yes. We are the same.” Paul knew so much, and he made everything seem so clear. Of course their thoughts were the same. That’s why they both wanted her to stay here.

“You remember Miranda,” Paul continued. “She answered the door when you arrived. She’ll be happy to make us all dinner. But, again, you knew that, since we want her to, and our thoughts are all the same.” He was gently raising and lowering her arm now in time with their breathing, in sync of course. They were the same. With every exhale he pushed it down gently and with every inhale, he pushed it back up.

“Our thoughts are the same,” Carrie echoed. She was staring back into his eyes, listening. But her thoughts were…elsewhere. On his light touches? Her mind moved slowly. She realized dully that he could tell her their thoughts, since they were the same.

“And I’ve already had Miranda prepare a room for you, since we all want you to stay the night. We are all so happy for you to be here. You and I and Miranda and all the other girls.” Paul leaned back pulling her arm towards him. Carrie leaned forward automatically.

“All the other girls?” Carrie felt like her head was being held up by the eye contact. If Paul so much as blinked for too long, she felt her head might fall into her lap. “I don’t know if I want to st–”

“You know all our thoughts are the same, Carrie,” Paul corrected her, gently. “All our desires are the same. You are believing in fingerprints again. We want you to stay. So you must want to stay. We want you to stay with us forever. So you want to be with us forever. We know how excited you are to join the others. To be just like them. Because they are excited to have you, so you must be as well. Isn’t that right, Carrie? After all, our thoughts are the same.”

“Our thoughts are the same.” There was an emptiness in Carrie’s voice as she repeated. With a hint of life she manged to add: “others?”

“I told you, Carrie. I’ve traveled all over the world. I’ve found many a woman who believed the myth. But they all eventually realize the truth. And we think they are happier knowing the truth. We think you’ll be happier.” He was guiding her whole body now, like a marionette. The slightest gesture from his fingers against her hand, her arm, her body, and she automatically and unconsciously moved to respond. “We think the idea of leaving your old life behind and joining us is very exciting to you. We think you realize that nothing sounds more fulfilling. That doing and thinking and being as we think you should be is the only course of action that makes sense for you. And what do you think, Carrie?”

Carrie’s eyes were glassy. Her movements in response to his touch were slow and robotic. Her mouth hung open slightly as she responded. “The same…”

[nosferatuzod7]

BNHA 240 😳

A... prickly chapter;;

So the fights in Deika have been presented in the media and true to how mass media works in real life, there are lots of holes in the stories released and in the heavily edited videos of the fights shown to the public. We are treated to the sight of the villains finally getting stuff they deserve: new clothes, treatment for their injuries and sushi for Mr Compress! It seems that they’re back to their usual selves, nary a trace of the traumatizing near-death experience they just went thru. Then again they’ve been through so much worse

I just love seeing them interact. And learning a little thing like Dabi hating fish is really nice as a villain Stan. Maybe he hates it cos it’s not soba noodles lol

ReDestro takes them to the stage and introduces them to the cult. Shigaraki, along with Father who has inexplicably survived the disaster, is named the new leader. They have been rebranded in a different way, completely removing “villains” from their namesake and I have to wonder how this will impact how they’re viewed in society. If you pretty up the name of an evil organization will they be more accepted? Will the world turn a blind eye? Will the heroes have a harder time apprehending them?

Look at the previous LoV’s rockstar entrance tho, compared to the sullen Detnerat group on the dark side of the stage!

Apparently they’re now commanding officers of this large group. I love their headshots here, we can tell a lot about how they’re feeling. Mr compress is probably chill with this, Spinner’s nervous about facing the hordes of people, Toga is cute and confident with her new eyepatch, Twice is fired up, Dabi has that measured indifference about him

Meanwhile, Detnerat remains to be quiet and subdued and whut Apocrypha/Geten is a woman!??? A beautiful one at that? And she’s,,, a NEET who only cares about power wow I really did not expect that, wow Hori, wow 😲 I hope they focus on her more in the next chapter, I am prepared to fall in love with her omg

And now, the part of the chapter that’s hardest to read—blatant confirmation of what Hawks has done and what he is up to :( that has to be Jeanist right. I doubt that there’s any way that it’s not him. Hawks did what he had to do and it barely mattered in the end because of what happened in Deika and Dabi knows it. Looks like he’s reveling in the fact that Hawks committed a sin for him

Other interesting things: he didn’t hide his identity at all in this rally and pretended to be a supporter of the liberation army. Fans are all “oh you’re here I didn’t expect that haha” so I suppose it isn’t that big of a deal to meet a big name hero in a place like that. Apart from him and sliding go how many other heroes are there?

It’s cute that the two of them are so close and smiling??? DabiHawks is real oh my god. But the cost of that is Jeanist’s life and I’m not sure how to feel about that

It’s interesting too that Hawks is concerned about the LOV’s sponsor behind the scenes, and that apparently he reports back to Endeavor too? So This tells us that his target isn’t really just Shigaraki “and the rest of the gang” per se, but the force behind Shigaraki. This happens after Shigaraki’s scene with Dr Ujiko (sans John-Chan huhuhu:)

So, it’s established that their main, main target is AfO (aka the real Shigaraki) so I wonder how the heroes will deal with this? I wonder what Hawks will do if or when he learns about everyone’s background story. Or even just Shimura Tenko’s. Will he face them with mercy or not? Will he relate to the villains now that he’s gonna rub elbows with them? Ooooof

Cannot waiiiiiit

[nosferatuzod7]

I wonder how long after All for One’s first fight this.

So I got my hands on the MHA Movie: Heroes Rising side-material chapter! It’s about Nine (movie Villain)’s past. Pretty cool, though tbh I got this only because Shigaraki pops up for like one panel lol. Has this been uploaded by anyone yet? I haven’t see it, tho.

Here’s my attempted, rough gist translation! My apologies, because my Japanese is barely existent, sorry!

Chapter No. ???: League of Villains: UNDERCOVER

PAGE 1 (above)

Storms calm my heart. 

This strange world will be strewn around like mud and dissolved.

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