#{{ shes not a good person but i DONT want to villainies her if that’s the word? yes she does evil things sometimes

[k4pp4-8]

In your future au is Darrel and the rest of the box bots still villains? And if so what's their drive to stay a villain? What they wanna accomplish and ect

OK SO in my future au most of the boxbots kind of abondoned villainy in order to pursue their personal interests.

Shannon became an actress and ended up hosting her own TV show. She started by playing props with her shapeshifting ability in plays but quickly got tired of not being in the spotlight.

Raymond started a solo music career and formed a band where he's the only member (like in canon his band is called "Ray and The Monds") He also did some collabs with drupe's fashion line.

Jethro followed his dream of becoming a dancer and eventually became a dancing instructor so he could help others also pursue their passion for dance.

Mikayla became an author and wrote many fantasy fiction novels, she often goes to conventions to meet fans and sign autographs.

Ernesto used to be an elementary school teacher (this time for real), but he ended up taking another job as a librarian.

Like in canon Fink becomes a popular pro gamer and a streamer.

The only ones who stayed in the villain business are Darrell and Boxman Jr. Darrell took over boxmore and unlike Boxman he doesn't care about attacking the plaza. His only employees are himself and Boxman Jr. So he's pretty much stuck with the worst minion ever.

I know that in canon Ernesto, Mikayla and Jethro inherit the company but that just makes absolutely no sense in my opinion.

Ernesto’s good at business and paperwork but he doesnt strike me as “boss material”. He’s too shy and gets stepped on so easily, i dont think he got what it takes to run a massive business, especially an evil one. Out of everyone in the family, Jethro is the only one who actually left Boxmore to pursue his own dream, so I just cannot imagine him wanting to keep working at Boxmore. He deserves to become a dancer!! PLus he’s the least evil of the boxbot! he doesn’t have an evil bolt in him and he doesn’t even do anything at boxmore. And finally from what I've seen, Mikayla could not care less about boxmore. Like I get that she doesn't do much in the show so we don't really get a good look at her personnality and desires, but there is absolutely nothing in the show that hints at her wanting or being able to run the company.

Darrell is the ONLY logical option for a Boxmore successor. He already does literally everything at boxmore (except paperwork cause that's ernesto's job). He knows how to build machines and robots and he's the only one we actually see do it.

And I think it would be the PERFECT way to show Boxman's character developpment. He would go from being furious at Darrell for stealing his company to willingly giving it to him. That gesture would mean alot to them since Boxman clearly does care about his company, so him trusting Darrell with it would show that he finally started thinking highly of his son.

I know that the ending was a little rushed but I hate that Ernesto, Mikayla and Jethro don't have an ending that fits their individual character. I think they deserve to have something that actually fits them instead of having an ending that feels like it was given to them because the creators couldn't think of something else

[ruiineedsfood]

Ruii's twts OC dump (will be updated)

So in order from top left

Yona Stone

Note : ignore how badly drawn the wheelchair is because i haven't made an updated rendered version hshsh

She's inspired by medusa in greek mythology, I know she appeared like 5 seconds in the disney movie, but like how can i not put such an iconic character??? also, medusa is quite villainy in the mythos, so i feel like it fits the twst theme yknow.

Nickname : Yona , Yonyon

Grade/class : 2-B

Club : Honestly, idk maybe board game or magift

Birthday : she's giving leo vibes idk what exactly but leo 100%

Homeland : Shaftlands in the big city area

Favorite subjects : Alchemy and Defense magic

Hobby : darts, swimming(used to be)

Talent : Good eye in fashion

Favorite food : seafood

Least favorite : beef

Bellaire Witcher

So her inspiration is basically a mix of the cheshire cat and mad hatter. she's a tortured artist, so not exactly based on a disney character i just find it fun to make a very wild and artistic character. now i don't know if i should keep her clover design maybe I'll change it because i gave her a clover bcs i thought it looked cute lmao.

Ruth Burn

I just wanted a fox oc lmao. I thought omg twst doesn't have foxes, and then fellow popped up, and I'm like, welp. So personality wise, Ruth is a very responsible person, but she has a cheeky side that is kinda like ruggie in a way. Her motivations are more social rather than self-preservation like ruggie. i didn't really base her on any character from disney i just knew i didn't want her to be text book cheeky fox character, wanted her to be more of like a normal teen with bits of fox like slyness in her.

Mielin Schoerin and Mimi Schoerin

They're kinda inspired by the twin cats in lady and the tramp. The first two that i designed, actually.

Mielin (dark hair) is the oldest between the two, and she's the most developed character in the cast because i just fell in love with her LMAO. Mielin's name came from a part of a cell in the nerve system cmiiw, so its main job is to protect, and i was like, hell yeah, that name sounds cool. So she's the more mellow twin takes things more seriously than her sister. She's usually seen to be very uptight and awkward by the other students but that's mostly because she's just quite dense with her surroundings. funfact but i like to imagine she's the girl crush of campus bcs i want to give her so much love shhshsb

Mimi (blondie) is the younger one, and i like to think she's the more energetic of the two, but she is more analytical than mielin. Mimi has this aura of being more laid back of the two, but she has the sense of being all knowing of things. kinda like floyd but not as wacky as floyd.

Naima / Zahra (can't decide but im leaning towards Naima)

Honestly, she's my fav design, but i have no clue on her background yet. I'm leaning towards her being a passionate dancer whose roots are from traditional dances from her culture, or i could go the other route of her being an ex athlete or ex idol. since the story i want to tell through her is to be her own self and come to terms with her choices because, like, what if our choices are just not right for us? Im trying to make her into a character that isn't similar to the existing cast in twst, idk im finding myself making her into a jamil 2.0 and im putting more thought into her to not be like that. the disney movie doesn't really have a character that i want to adopt to be her so im still thinking about it.

Melissa (Mel)

so diasomnia's book is still ongoing, i dont have any fixed plans for her involvement with the existing cast yet. but my plan is to make her a race of beings opposite to faes in a sense, since her magic doesn't come from her but the magic of others around her. so, like sucking the life out of them and repurposing it to be her own type of thing. Malleus finds her abandoned in the forest as a young kid with all the magic in the surrounding area gone. She gets adopted, but lilia refuses because she can be dangerous with her inate powers that can weaken malleus and endanger silver since in my head, they found her after lilia took in silver. so they came to an agreement to take care of mel with the condition she stays away from silver and malleus before learning to control her powers. Now, what makes mel okay with this treatment in her head is because she remembers everything from her birth and how her mother abandoned her and stuff so she feels like its normal and devotes herself to Malleus as a guard as a sense of gratitude for letting a monster like her in. Her arc is realizing that she's not a monster that she was made to believe. Instead, she was a neglected kid who wasn't taught properly. Honestly, i just feel really sad about her, and initially, i want her to explore lilia's character since he's one of my favorites but after concocting this i just want to give mel a hug.

Also, her OB-ing would be cool

[rithmeres]

phantom thoughts:

julia udine was a fantastic christine. really strong vocally, a courageous and compassionate and really solid leading lady. she starts out clueless and scared and grows into a capable and resolute person, even though she’s clearly damaged and still scared. i loved how her ‘wishing you were somehow here again’ came across as a rallying point for the character instead of just a lament. (hoped we would get to see emilie kouatchou in the role, since she was on the posters and promotional material, but alas)

ben crawford’s phantom was good, but unusual. he has weird diction where he tightens his vowels (instead of loosening them like most singers) which was a little distracting, but it wasn’t bad by any means. he played the role more like a straight-up villain which was exciting, considering my favorite and most-watched versions of the phantom are the softer/childish/sympathetic portrayals (we are hugh panaro stans first and people second) the only downside to this bad-guy take is that his change of heart during the final lair seems somewhat abrupt because of his prior villainy, but it was a fun change of pace to have an a-hole phantom. i wish he would have gone with a softer portrayal at times though because he was really really good in the quiet and tender moments!

he also did that thing where he doesnt know what to do with his hands any time he’s around christine, like he wants to touch her but isnt allowed to, ESPECIALLY when she kisses him (and i love it)

let me talk about my favorite ben crawford phantom moment now: the first high note in ‘music of the night’ (the high A♭ on soar). i was in shock bc i always hear vocalists go into falsetto or head voice on just that note and i was fully expecting to hear that little break/switch in the voice on soar but he sang it in full chest voice, and it still sounded gentle and floaty and ethereal.

as an aside, assuming ben stays on until february, i love that the role is bookended by two crawfords

paul adam schaefer was a solid raoul, no complaints. it sounds dismissive when i say it, but i mean it in the best way possible since raoul isnt as nuanced of a role compared to the phantom and christine. there wasnt anything that stood out as particularly different or extraordinary about his performance, nor anything negative. he was good and i liked him 👍

im just in awe of the sheer magnitude of the production. no expense spared. entire setpieces and props used only for five minutes and never seen again. the ensemble is massive and the costumes sumptuous and there’s always something else happening on stage (ballet chorus practicing during angel of music, stagehands running around ‘backstage’, etc) it’s so immersive. not to mention the chandelier 👁️👄👁️. and the pyrotechnics. and the hanging angel sculpture. and th

jaw on the mf floor when the curtain came up on the masquerade. the giant staircase, the entire ensemble in these insane costumes, the fake people on the ends of the rows. i could watch it twelve times and notice something new every time. they really dont make theatre like they used to

the two opera managers (nehal joshi as andre and craig bennett as firmin) almost stole the show. their comedic timing was impeccable and they both were able to inject humor into lines that i’ve seen otherwise played straight by other actors. & one of them is big and tall and the other is shorter and small, so theyve got that big/small comedy duo thing to add to the humor

emma thought meg sang a little flat when she wasn’t in harmony, but i didn’t hear it (emma is a much better vocalist than i am though, so i’ll just take her word for it)

raquel suarez groen as carlotta was just *chef kiss* she’s one of my favorite roles in the musical for the sheer skill required for such an underrated role

i still have no idea how he disappears through that chair at the end.

and finally, here’s me at da majestic, 9 years in the making :3

edit: i also bought this cool pin

[pwnyta]

I vaguely remember threatening someone with a villainous Dragonite at some point and I DID make one and I forgot about it... it was in a weird folder but I finished him off anyways.

But I dont remember his story... something about the Dra-line having their souls attached to the pearl and Ciars broke and made him... the way he is.

So ok the pearl is hidden as a Dratini to keep young dragons safe, their powers grow slowly when the pearl is embedded.

Dragonair have the option to keep their soul stone/pearl hidden to keep it safe though it will make them weaker in the long run so most keep it out however it the pearl is damaged or broken it can effect their personality and make their powers unpredictable.

And Dragonite has their soul stone return and it will stay within them forever and based on the Dragonairs training and the condition of the pearl a Dragonites own power will shape them as a person....

OR SOMETHING

Ciars broke so he effectively soulless. He forces his sister to stay a Dragonair because he wants to be close to a pearl thats related to him in a way, hes had an everstone implanted in her chest and had her pearl fixed to a necklace so its always out so he can look at it (since its attached to the metal frame by a bar that goes through it, its also somewhat damaged and fragile so he can continue to feel superior to her.)

His motivation for villainy... IDK... I just wanted to create a terrible Dragonite guy because Dragonite has had it too good for too long even tho its ruined the beauty of Dratini/Dragonair

---

Helene has a long attachment to her little brother and he really didnt need to do all the crazy shits hes done to keep her around, she would have helped him regardless. Because her pearl was damaged she refuses to evolve too and is actually fine with the everstone implant. She knows she’ll never get her little brother back the way he used to be but will stay at his side regardless to protect him.

If she could return she wouldnt even consider battling as shes never enjoyed it. Her god of choice is also Lugia (Soul Silver features Lugia & he controls the weather like Dragonair can so Id imagine all Dra-line are Lugia followers.) and she would like to visit Ecruteak City and see the Kimono girls dance for the gods.

[transvoxman]

Ok actually I was wrong in the tags, laserblast was never outwardly a jerk in highschool, not for anything that could be traced back to him. He was Always nice, he was Always the bigger person, specifically just so that no one could ever say "he wouldn't make a good hero, he was mean to me once." Poor guy created his Whole Personality around having a career as the Most Successful Hero Ever, he never did a genuine/true-to-humself thing in his whole goddamn life until he started being Venomous.

[elvesofnoldor]

morrigan approves when ur warden lets a slaver run free and/or has him kill the slaves he had kidnapped in a blood magic ritual for the warden’s own gain....but then she disapproves when you were just trying to help innocent people....hum, don’t like that!!!!!!! morrigan is getting a Greatly Disapprove (-900) from me!!!! 

[supercantaloupe]

okay yeah actually, i’ll bite. i’ve got some of my own thoughts about the unsleeping city and cultural representation and i’m gonna make a post about them now, i guess. i’ll put it under a cut though because this post is gonna be long.

i wanna start by saying i love dimension 20 and i really really enjoy the unsleeping city. i look forward to watching new episodes every week, and getting hooked on d20 as a whole last summer really helped pull me out of a pandemic depression, and i’m grateful to have this cool show to be excited about and interested in and to have met so many cool people to talk about it with.

that being said, however, i think there is a risk run in representing any group of people/their culture when you have the kind of setting that tuc has. by which i mean, tuc is set in a real world with real people and real human cultures in it. unlike fantasy high or a crown of candy where everything is made up (even if rooted in real-world cultures), tuc is explicitly rooted in reality, and all of its diversity -- both the ups and downs that go with it. and especially set in new york of all places, one of the most densely, diversely populated cities on earth. the cast is 7 people; it’s great that those 7 people come from a variety of backgrounds and identities and all bring their own unique perspectives to the table, and it’s great that those people and the entire crew are generally conscious of themselves and desire to tell stories/represent perspectives ethically. but you simply cannot authentically represent every culture or every perspective in the world (or even just in a city) when your cast is 7 people. it’s an impossible task. this is inherent to the setting, and acknowledged by the cast, and by brennan especially, who has been on record saying how one of the exciting aspects of doing a campaign set in nyc is its diversity, the fact that no two new yorkers have the same perspective of new york. i think that’s a good thing -- but it does have its challenges too, clearly.

i’m not going to go into detail on the question of whether or not tuc’s presentation of asian and asian american culture is appropriative/offensive or not. first of all, i don’t feel like it’s 100% fair to judge the show completely yet, since it’s a prerecorded season and currently airing midseason, so i don’t yet know how things wrap up. secondly, i’m not asian or asian american. i can have my own opinions on that content in the show, but i think it’s worth more to hear actual asian and asian american voices on this specific aspect of the show. having an asian american cast member doesn’t automatically absolve the show of any criticisms with regard to asian american cultural representation/appropriation, whether those criticisms are made by dozens of viewers or only a handful of them. regardless, i don’t think it’s my place as someone who is not asian to speak with any authority on that issue, and i know for a fact that there are asian american viewers sharing their own opinions. their thoughts in this instance hold more water than mine, i think.

what i will comment on in more depth, though, is a personal frustration with tuc. i’m jewish; i’ve never really been shy about that fact on my page here. i’m not from new york, but i visit a few times a year (or i did before covid anyway, lol), and i have some family from nyc. nyc, to me, is a jewish city. and for good reason, since it’s home to one of the largest jewish populations of the country, and even the world, and aspects of jewish culture (including culinary, like bagels and pastrami, and linguistic, like the common use of yiddish words and phrases in english colloquial speech) are prevalent and celebrated among jews and goyim alike. when i think of nyc, i think of a jewish city; that’s not everybody’s new york, but that’s my new york, and thats plenty of other people’s new york too. so i do find myself slightly disappointed or frustrated in tuc for its, in my opinion, rather stark lack of jewish representation.

now, i’m not saying that one of the PCs should have been jewish, full stop. i love to headcanon iga as jewish even though canon does not support that interpretation, and i’m fine with that. she’s not my character. it’s possible that simply no one thought of playing a jewish character, i dunno. but also, and i can’t be sure about this, i’m willing to bet that none of the players really wanted to play a jewish character because they didn’t want to play a character of a marginalized culture they dont belong to in the interest of avoiding stereotyping or offensive representation/cultural appropriation. (i don’t know if any of the cast members are jewish, but i’m assuming not.) and the concern there is certainly appreciated; there’s not a ton of mainstream jewish rep out there, and often what we get is either “unlikeable overly conservative hassidic jew” or “jokes about their bar mitzvah/one-off joke about hanukkah and then their jewishness is never mentioned ever again,” which sucks. it would be really cool to see some more good casual jewish rep in a well-rounded, three-dimensional character in the main cast of a show! even if there are a couple of stumbles along the way -- nobody is perfect and no two jews have the same level of knowledge, dedication, and adherence to their culture.

but at the same time, i look at characters like iga and i really do long for a jewish character to be there. siobhan isn’t polish, yet she’s playing a characters whose identity as a polish immigrant to new york is very central to her story and arc. and part of me wonders why we can’t have the same for a jewish character. if not a PC, then why not an NPC? again, i’m jewish, and i am not native, but in my opinion i think the inclusion of jj is wonderful -- i think there are even fewer native main characters in mainstream media than there are jewish ones, and it’s great to see a native character who is both in touch with their culture as well as not being defined solely by their native-ness. to what extent does it count as ‘appropriative’ because brennan is a white dude? i dunno, but i’m like 99% sure they talked to sensitivity consultants to make sure the representation was as ethical as they could get it, and anyway, i can’t personally see and glaring missteps so far. but again, i’m not native, and if there are native viewers with their own opinions on jj, i’d be really interested in hearing them.

but getting back to the relative lack of jewish representation. it just...disappoints me that jewishness in new york is hardly ever even really mentioned? again, i know we’re only just over halfway through season 2, but also, we had a whole first season too. and it’s definitely not all bad. for example: willy! gd, i love willy so much. him being a golem of williamsburg makes me really really happy -- a jewish mythological creature animated from clay/mud (in this case bricks) to protect a jewish community (like that of williamsburg, a center for many of nyc’s jews) from threat. golem have so often been taken out of their original context and turned into evil monsters in fantasy settings, especially including dnd. (even within other seasons of d20! crush in fh being referred to as a “pavement golem” always rubbed me the wrong way, and i had hoped they’d learned better after tuc but in acoc they refer to another monster as a “corn golem” which just disappointed me all over again.) so the fact that tuc gets golems right makes my jewish heart very happy.

and yet...he doesn’t show up that much? sure, in s1, he’s very helpful when he does, but in s2 so far he shows up once and really does not say or do much of anything. he speaks with a lot more yiddish-influenced language than other characters, but if you didn’t know those words were specifically yiddish/jewish, you might not be able to otherwise clock the fact that willy is jewish. and while willy is a jewish mythological creature who is jewish in canon, he isn’t human. there are no other direct references to judaism, jewish characters, or jewish culture in the unsleeping city beyond him.

there are, in fact, two other canon jewish characters in tuc. but...here’s where i feel the most frustration, i think. the two canon jewish humans in tuc are stephen sondheim and robert moses. both of whom are real actual people, so it’s not like we can just pick and choose what their cultural backgrounds are. as much as i love stephen sondheim, i think there are inherent issues with including real world people as characters in a fictional setting, especially if they are from living/recent memory (sondheim is literally still alive), but anyway, sondheim and moses are both actual jewish people. from watching tuc alone you probably would not be able to guess that sondheim is jewish -- nothing from his character except name suggests it, and i wouldn’t even fault you for not thinking ‘sondheim’ is a jewish-sounding surname (and i dislike the idea/attitude/belief that you can tell who is or isn’t jewish by the sound of their name). and yeah, i’m not going to sit here and be like “brennan should have made sondheim more visibly jewish in canon!” because, like, he’s a real human being and it’s fucking weird to portray him in a way that isn’t as close to how he publicly presents himself, which is not in fact very identifiably jewish? i don’t know, this is what i mean by it’s inherently weird and arguably problematic to portray real living people as characters in a fictional setting, but i digress. sondheim’s jewish, even if you wouldn’t know it; not exactly a representation win.

and then there’s bob moses. you might be able to guess that he’s jewish from canon, actually. there’s the name, of course. but more insidious to me are the specifics of his villainy. greedy and powerhungry, a moneyman, a lich whose power is stored in a phylactery...it does kind of all add up to a Yikes from me. (in the stock market fight there’s a one-off line asking if he has green skin; it’s never really directly acknowledged or answered, but it made me really uncomfortable to hear at first and it’s stuck with me since viewing for the first time.) the issue for me here is that the most obviously jewish human character is the season’s bbeg, and his villainy is rooted in very antisemitic tropes and stereotypes.

i know this isn’t all brennan’s fault -- robert moses was a real ass person and he was in fact jewish, a powerhungry and greedy moneyman, a big giant racist asshole, etc. i’m not saying that jewish characters can’t be evil, and i’m not saying brennan should have tried to be like “this is my NPC robert christian he’s just like bob moses but instead he’s a goy so it’s okay” because...that would be fuckin weird bro. and bob moses was a real person who was jewish and really did do some heinous shit with his municipal power. i’m not necessarily saying brennan should have picked/created a different character to be the villain. i’m not even saying that he shouldn’t have made bob moses a lich (although, again, it doesn’t 100% sit right with me). but my point here is that bob moses is one of a grand total of three canon jewish characters in tuc, of which only two humans, of whom he is the one you’d most easily guess would be jewish and is the most influenced by antisemitic stereotypes/tropes. had there been more jewish representation in the show at all, even just some neutral jewish NPCs, this would not be as much of a problem as it is to me. but halfway through season 2, so far, this is literally all we get. and that bums me out.

listen, i really like tuc. i love d20. but the fact that it is set in a real world place with real world people does inherently raise challenges when it comes to ethical cultural representation. especially when the medium of the show is a game whose creatures, lore, and mechanics have been historically rooted in some questionable racial/cultural views. and dnd is making progress to correct some of those misguided views of older sourcebooks by updating them to more equitably reflect real world racial/cultural sensitivities; that’s a good thing! but these seasons, of course, were recorded before that. the game itself has some questionable cultural stuff baked into it, and that is (almost necessarily) going to be brought to the table in a campaign set in a real-world place filled with real-world people of diverse real-world cultures. the cast can have sensitivity consultants and empathy and the best intentions in the world, and they’ll still fuck up from time to time, that’s okay. your mileage may vary on whether or not it’s still worth sticking around with the show (or the fandom) through that. for me, it does not yet outweigh all the things i like about the show, and i’m gonna continue watching it. but it’s still very worth acknowledging that the cast is 7 people who cannot possibly hope to authentically or gracefully represent every culture in nyc. it’s an unfortunate limitation of the medium. yet it’s also still worthwhile to acknowledge and discuss the cultural representation as it is in the show -- both the goods and the bads, the ethically solid and the questionably appropriative -- and even to hold the creators accountable. (decently, though. i’m definitely not advocating anybody cyberbully brennan on twitter or whatever.) the show and its representation is far from perfect, but i also don’t think it ever could be. still, though, it could always be better, and there’s a worthwhile discussion to be had in the wheres, hows, and whys of that.

[kitkatopinions]

So let me get this straight: Hazel after killing all the huntsmen in Mistral and brutalising Oscar for most of v8 (and people dont come with "Ozpin took most of it" its still Oscars body???? Hello????) gets an redemption via death but Ironwood who we know since v2 and was always an ally and a really cool character till v8 dies as a iredemable villain???? How? Why? Its just so dumb... love you blog btw

You know, this reminds me of seeing posts that were like ‘RWDE posters are mad about Ironwood not getting redeemed and yet they don’t like Hazel or Emerald being redeemed???’ And just... Yes, Kathy, the two are incredibly different.

Ironwood has been a hero for seasons who has displayed flaws and made mistakes but was not ever treated as a possible future villain by the narrative, and he was treated as pure evil before he tried to do anything more evil than ‘saving the people he can since he can’t save everyone,’ but then started getting pushed into the maniacal heartless abuser villain role at lightspeed within one season + one episode of the show and (I cannot stress this enough) two or three days of in show time. Our main characters treated him like a monster without knowing about the more villainous actions for the better part of the season, without any of them wondering if there was some mistake, no sympathy given to the fact that Ironwood had his back against the wall or was suffering from mental strain or a horrible injury, no recognition of anything that the mains did badly that maybe contributed to the situation they were in. His ‘fall to villainy’ was outlandish, over the top, out of character, and lacking in any real emotional depth, they blamed him for all of Mantle’s problems despite him having done his very best to ‘go for both’ and Jacques Schnee and Watts being the actual ones responsible for the state of Mantle - as well as huge systemic issues that Jacques was purposefully trying to preserve. He then was (most likely) killed off by the writers who then laugh at how it was ‘always planned’ while no single person in the group of protagonists gives a care.

And on the flipside, you have Emerald and Hazel! Both of them spent seasons being three times worse than James at his worst (seriously, he at least had good intentions.) Emerald and Ironwood’s direct kill count is the same (one,) and Emerald contributed to the deaths of hundreds more at the Fall of Beacon, knowing what it would lead to, and only gives small, rare indications that she feels remorse for it (it’s almost sad.) And Hazel is hinted at being responsible for many of the deaths in Haven and spent his time blaming Ozpin for the fact he was actively trying to murder children. Both of them continued their villainy right up until the very season they got redeemed as they both continued working with Salem to bring down yet another kingdom and while Hazel was beating a fifteen year old, Emerald was eagerly volunteering to help Cinder try and murder Penny yet again. And then when it was revealed that Salem wanted to destroy everything including them, they turned out of self preservation without apologizing for their terrible, harmful, murderous actions. And then the narrative acts like Hazel was some martyr who taught Oscar a valuable lesson about not letting anyone else die and isn’t it sad he died before he could do the bare minimum to earn any sort of redemption. And Emerald winds up having friendly laughs and getting endearingly teased by the people she’s arguably hurt the most, with the girl she’d murdered right there laughing with them. And now she can get away with now being part of the group without any indication she’s changed, no apology, anyone that protests her involvement being scolded for their lack of trust...

One of these things is an incredibly badly handled hero-to-villain story, where they failed to get the beats of emotional depth for a fallen hero arc and rushed it instead without care, leaving it feeling out of character and out of the blue despite the small bit of groundwork that they had in place for the narrative.

The other two are incredibly badly handled villain-to-hero stories, where they failed to get the beats of emotional depth for good redemption arcs and rushed them instead without care, leaving them feeling very insincere and out of the blue despite the small bit of groundwork that they had in place for the narratives (mostly on Emerald’s side, Hazel gave less indication.) 

Also we weren’t playing Yankee Swap, we didn’t trade in James as a hero for Emerald or Hazel, we just had three characters who were all handled badly.

But yeah, it’s really weird that the same volume where the writers were trying to force us to sympathize with Hazel was also trying to force Ironwood into an irredeemable category. The thing is, if I didn’t know about James’ never-mentioned-in-show semblance, I’d not be down for a post volume 8 redemption because I think trying to kill children and actively wanting to torture people as a full grown adult is kind of hard to get redeemed from. But Hazel did that, Hazel is just as if not MUCH MORE evil than Ironwood, so why on earth did the series treat Hazel as redeemable and kind of right and just needing a hand of mercy extended to him? Why was James ‘keep soldiers off the battlefield, turn my gun around because I don’t want to hurt Qrow even though I think he’s trying to murder me, look away from the Grimm while I shoot it’ Ironwood treated as the 100% deserving of pain and death and treated as totally irredeemable villain no one could sympathize with?

When you factor in his semblance it really just makes even less sense. I literally cannot comprehend why the RWBY writers do what they do. Also, thank you so much for the compliment on my bog! Sorry to kind of rant there haha. XD 

[kiribakuficrecs]

hello!!! im going on a very long trip at the end of april and I'm looking for some very long fics to download to keep me entertained! i dont care what they're about as long as there's no major character death or mentions of non-con. ur blog is a godsend ilysm and you do such a good job thank you so much 🙏

hi there!! i definitely have a lot of good lengthy fics i can recommend to you!

quote love unquote by newamsterdam 

Sero nods. “It’s the chance of a lifetime, really,” he says. “We want you to date Bakugou, for the sake of his reputation with the press. Some public appearances, a few ‘candid’ photos. For at least a couple of months.”

“Bakugou sent you to ask me to date him?” Kirishima asks, baffled.

“Of course not. We, his people, are asking you to date him. He’s going to have to get on board, if he wants his career to survive. And in the bargain, Riot will get all sorts of publicity, because their lyricist will be dating one of the industry’s hottest stars. A win for everyone.”

When Kirishima Eijirou's band hits the big time, he's not prepared for his newfound fame. He's even less prepared to meet the actor he's been crushing on for years, or to start dating him as a publicity stunt. The closer Kirishima gets to Bakugou Katsuki, the more he realizes he's in over his head. But it's hard to stop, once his heart is in it.

acceptance and denial by poteto

It all goes okay when Kirishima decides to come out to his friends and it all goes wrong when decides that Bakugou is the best fake boyfriend material.

cause the darks not taking prisoners tonight by imatrisarahtops

“Are those soba noodles?” Kirishima asked.

Again Bakugou’s only reply was a grunt. He offered no further explanation—not that Kirishima honestly expected one—as though making soba noodles from scratch at half past four in the morning wasn’t at all a bizarre occurrence and made complete and total sense. For a fleeting moment, Kirishima even wondered if maybe he was the odd one here. Besides, he’d already decided it was generally not in his best interest to question these types of things with Bakugou, especially when it was something essentially harmless.

When Kirishima has a nightmare and is unable to fall back asleep, he accepts defeat and decides to study in the common area of the dorms. What he doesn't expect to find is Bakugou, also very much awake, and Kirishima can't help but think that maybe they're both having the same problems with sleeping. If he's worried, it's just because they're friends. (Right?)

the weight of your hand by kamin

That night, to the citizens, the explosions were a jolt of fear at every blast, but to the heroes and the students of UA, they were punches and swings, fierce fighting and loud strength. The explosions were the pulse of the battle, and the power of a boy that would never back down.

One after another, explosions set a chorus through the shuddering city.

And then, suddenly—the explosions stopped.

(In which Bakugou’s kidnapping goes a little differently, and just a few seconds could change so much.)

so take my hand (your life will be brighter) by multiclassmaps

When a stranger shows up at the ice rink during Bakugou's usually private training sessions, Bakugou expects to hate him. He doesn't expect to develop feelings that become increasingly difficult to deny, or for them to help each other sort through their emotional baggage. - Bakugou really didn't like Kirishima's smile. There was something about it that made his stomach hurt, something about it that made it difficult to focus. He definitely hadn't thought about that smile on his way to the ice rink that day. He definitely hadn't.

distance makes the heart grow fonder (false) by dragontrappedinhumanskin

When Bakugo and Kirishima get hit by a quirk that forces them to literally stick together or face the less then desirable consequences, how the fuck is Bakugo supposed to keep his crush hidden?! Well, turns out he never needed to.

-- “Well, this fucking sucks, how are we supposed to train?!” "Really closely?"

perihelion by tauontauoff

Bakugou was a comet, blazing out of reach. Kirishima knew he was stupidly lucky that his furious trajectory went by close enough that his fingertips got to graze the cowl of fire. It was enough.

During Christmas Class 1A and 1B spend a laid-back week learning about extreme environment hero work in the Alps. Kirishima was used to keeping part of his feelings for Bakugou hidden, and had every intention of keeping it that way, but things don't always go according to plan.

fight me by mr_todoroki

Bright red, spiky hair. Annoyingly bright smile. Clothes that radiate ‘look at me’ vibes. Neon yellow tank top with black shorts. And those were definitely crocs on his fucking feet.

Yeah, Katsuki hated this guy.

-

Bakugou gets a new roommate.

quietly by chezka

“We’ve been taking the same way to and from school for weeks,” Kirishima grinned, and then when Bakugou frowned at him he put on an affected pout, tilted his head so that he was looking at him through his thick, long lashes, “you never noticed? Am I that easy to miss?”

He could barely finish the sentence before a laugh escaped his lips, and Bakugou rolled his eyes, hit him with a shoulder a little more violently than necessary.

“You stick out like a sore thumb, broom-head,” he grumbled, promptly ignoring Kirishima's whining about his hairstyle when it started coming, “I didn’t notice ‘cause I didn’t care.”

“And now you do?”

everyone knows that cats are independent by purplepersnickety

Eijirou enjoys his job, working the graveyard shift at a 24/7 coffee shop. His daemon Riot is always there to keep him company, and he likes meeting the early-morning patrons and giving them the best possible kick-start to their day. It's been his routine for about a year now.

Then one day, a grouchy guy with a daemon in the form of a lion walks into the shop in the dead of night, and Eijirou decides to strike up a conversation with him.

punks not dead by wrunic

“So you want to use me to piss off your mom?” Kirishima summarized, raising one pierced eyebrow at Katsuki.

“Look, if you want to be all fucking judgy about it, I take cash,” Katsuki said, dropping his hand palm up on the table.

“Hey now,” Kirishima said, raising his hands in surrender, “I didn’t say I wasn’t doing it. I’m always down for a little chaos.” He flashed a grin, showing off his ridiculous shark teeth.

“Good,” Katsuki said. “We start tomorrow."

sent, delivered, read, loved by kiribakuhappiness

Kirishima E. [6.49pm]: ur okay for such an angry dude bakugou! :)

Bakugou K. [7.12pm]: FUCK YOU!

Kirishima E. [7.14pm]: haha! :D ttyl!

Bakugou K. [7.48pm]: FUCKING WHAT DO THOSE DUMB LETTERS MEAN???

Bakugou K. [7.52pm]: I JUST LOOKED IT UP DONT FUCKING TALK TO ME LATER!

Bakugou K. [7.52pm]: STOP TXTING ME!!!

- OR -

Bakugou's and Kirishima's relationship develops from classmates to friends to more, as told through their text conversations.

flicker by mr_todoroki

He was starting to feel depressed. Life was so uninteresting. It was so mundane and forgettable. He had no one to hang out with besides Kota, his family didn’t even live in the city.

He grew his hair out as some sort of rebellion, some sort of stand to make his life the slightest bit more interesting. But he could already feel himself giving in to the pressure of cutting it. He needed to work to live. Without a job, he’d truly have nothing.

OR

Kirishima never applied to UA, therefore never became a hero.

let’s get down to business by kjelfalconer

Katsuki Bakugou, one of the brightest rising stars on wall street, is in need of a new personal assistant. Again. Could Eijirou Kirishima finally be the one to last more than two months?

Katsuki's long suffering HR department sure hope so.

something about us by bigstupidjellyfish

nothing like being in highschool and having no idea how to deal with emotions

fireproof by inkbender

Four years after a classmate nobody seems to remember is kidnapped by the League of Villains, Kirishima drags an amnesiac hobo he found washed up on the beach into his apartment, attempts to teach him how to adult (with varying degrees of success), and discovers along the way that the line between heroism and villainy is quite fine indeed. Plot-divergent after episode 45, the Forest Training Camp arc.

blood riot by magicallee (alternatively)

Kirishima from a universe with no quirks is mind-swapped with an alternate universe version of himself where there are superpowers.

And in that universe he’s a super villain.

And Bakugou is the superhero who caught Evil-Kirishima and put him in prison.

blindside by drowclericpelor

“You’re the first guy friend I’ve had that I can just like, be friends with. You’re either the most unthirstiest boy ever...” Camie shrugged and made another wobbly illusion appear between her hands. It looked like a sparkly rainbow with the word ‘friendship’ beneath it, accompanied by what Bakugou assumed was supposed to be a twinkling sound effect, but it had a tinny quality to it and sounded far away. “...or I just ain’t got the kinda straw you like to ssssip.”

Carefully, Bakugou considered the strange turn this conversation had taken.

He had never been asked, point blank, if he was gay before. And he honestly had never thought about how he would respond. Lying about himself didn’t sit right with him. But he’d always wanted to wait until he was the number one hero - when he stood above everyone else - before coming out. Though he’d had times when he’d thought about doing it before then and had almost gone through with it once. But being the number one hero came first. It wouldn’t matter what people would say about it then as long as he’d risen to the top.

Bakugou knew his lack of a response would give Camie all the answers she needed.

flour power by wingsonghalo

“I’m telling you now, Shitty Hair,” the blonde growled, “I am not gonna play house with you. We will cart this stupid flour around for a week like the assignment says. But some of our idiot classmates are naming the thing and setting up ‘playdates’ and dressing it and I am not doing anything that stupid. Got it?”

Kirishima and Bakugou are paired up to take care of a flour sack for a week. It would be so simple, except nothing with Bakugou is ever simple. Also Kirishima might be kinda sorta completely head over heels for him.

sunchaser by chonideno

that feeling when you suddenly want to jump off a cliff for no reason but instead of a cliff it’s your best friend and instead of jumping it’s growing feelings out of nowhere

or how Bakugou has to try really hard not to throw everything to the wind, and Kirishima doesn't help

i also have a tag specifically for fics that reach somewhere between 30k-70k words long if you wanted to check that out as well! i hope you enjoy the fics here and that i was able to help, ily enjoy your trip!!! :D 

[dragonflavoredpie]

Ok, you guys know what Tommy's arc reminds me of?

Varian.

Now hear me out. Tangled the series used to be my guilty pleasure show. Yeah, it was pretty cheesy and mostly for kids, but there is one thing it was not and that is cliche. Varian's path to villainy was one of the most compelling and well-thought out character arcs I've ever seen, and I just thought of some notable similarities between this and the "Villaininnit" theories. More specifically on what a villain Tommy's motivations would be like.

Also spoilers for dream smp and tangled the series lol.

And I think im supposed to put /roleplay in front of these things so... yeah

First, Varian.

Varian was originally on the "good side". He was good friends with rapunzel and cassandra and all the others.

Varian became a villain because of a single tragic incident: the loss of his dad. More specifically, it was his friends' response to him asking for help. Rapunzel **chose her nation over Varian** (im not saying Rapunzel Tubbo but Rapunzel Tubbo) because she could not deal with his problems and a crisis that the kingdom was facing at the same time.

Varian felt resentment towards Rapunzel for not helping him, and in the days-weeks (idk how long it was) after the fact, he was left pretty much alone. Nobody came to check on him. He had no support, no friends, left alone with his guilt and anger.

His plans revolved around doing anything in his power to bring back his dad, but when nothing worked, that eventually came to a desire for revenge. Because Rapunzel and all the other people obviously didn't care because they hadn't tried to help him. And since they didn't care, he wanted to inflict the same pain, loss, and agony that he had experienced (without support or friendship) onto Rapunzel.

Now compare this to tommy.

Obviously, there is no good side on the smp, everything is morally grey and based on whose perspective you watch, but for the sake of the argument, we'll say that is L'Manburg. He's best friends with Tubbo. He's gone through wars with the lmanburgians. They're thick as thieves.

Tommy's inciting incident is due to a couple of factors. Primarily the exile, but I'd say the loss of Wilbur- his brother and a primary guiding force in his life- also had a less visible, but still significant impact on his character. The juxtaposition between Wilbur and Ghostbur only serves to exacerbate that, because Wilbur and Ghostbur are COMPLETELY different. I almost find myself mourning Wilbur because as a character, that strong, confident leader is just gone.

The response to Tommy's exile is the most important part, and that's fairly obvious. Tubbo chose the security of the country over his friend and continues to stay away to avoid provoking Dream. Tommy takes this as Tubbo not caring, and says so many times per stream that he has no friends

(...except dream). A major difference between Varian and Tommy is that Tommy has someone to latch onto (albeit a really bad person to latch onto). This gives dream the opportunity to channel Tommy's anger, resentment, and sadness in whatever direction he wants.

So.

Whats the ultimate point?

If this is going in the direction of villaininnit, I'd say that Tommy's character motivation is going to be centered around revenge. Its not just going to be about following dream because dream is his friend, no. He has to have a personal reason why he is fighting. He already lashes out at many who try to visit him, and while he misses tubbo a lot, the negativity that he associates with Tubbo seemingly abandoning him is likely enough to spark a desire for revenge. To get back at the people who hurt him so much. Dreams expert manipulation has been steering him to feel abandoned by everyone, and that's probably going to come to a head in the next week or so.

I dont think Tommy's story ends so soon. These guys know what they're doing, and this is building up to much more than Tommy going out without coming into actual conflict with Tubbo.

I, for one, am excited.

[thealmightyemprex]

10 Favorite Walt Era Disney villains

Been thinking aboutthe classic Disney villa,back when villains were the best part of the movie and were both entertaining and unrepentingly evil.Counting down specificallly the Walt Era animated movie villains (1937 -1967)

1.Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Gotta admit she is kind of the villain I think of when I think Disney Villain. Great design ,one of the bestevil plans /monologues ofany Disney villain ,and she just raidiates class and villainy

2.Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmatians

Great animation by Marc Davis ,PERFECT character design Wonderful vocal performance by Betty Lou Gerson,larger then life personality ,is a mixture of hilarious and kind of terrifying ,Cruella is a love to hate villain ,and this fashion obsessed would be puppy murderer MAKES this movie

3.Honest John Worthington Foulfellow from Pinocchio (1940)

The villains of Pinocchio are in a weird spot cause there are four of em :Honest John , Stromboli ,The Coachman and Monstero .Now there is a weird misconception that Stromboli is the main villain (Not helped by him being themain villain used on merch ) ,but honestly it'spretty evenly split :Stromboli is the badguyfor the firstact , the Coachman is the badguy forthe second , and Monstero is the final boss .....But then you have Honest John ,who appears the most and is my favorite .Now he's not scary likethe other three ,but Honest John to me has the most personality : a shifty well spoken con man who acts more sophisticated and refined then he is .He also has a great dynamic with Pinocchio ,convincing the puppet he is his buddy and TWICE tricking him into a dangerous situation ,be it into the hands of the abusive Stromboli or luring him to Pleasure Island .Adding to that he is one ofthe funniest villains ,especiallly with his relationship with hishenchman Gideon ,an amazing vocalperformance by Walter Catlet and is the first Disney villain toget a villain song ,Hi Diddle Dee Dee (Which I dontknowhow many people realize is a villain song )

4.Captain James Hook from Peter Pan (1953)

The dear Captain has been adapted several times,butthe Disney version is rightfully oneofthe most remembered .As a kid I adoredthismovie just because I loved Captain Hook and he is still one ofthe most defining Disney villains to me .Perfectly animated by Frank Thomas , and wonderfully voiced and modeled after Hans Conried ,Hook is a refined gentleman who has bursts of rage and panic

5. The Headless Horseman from the Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (1949)

The villain who scared me the most . Dude lost his head and wants to DECAPITATE our protagonist Ichabod to replace it .Combined with a bone chilling evil laugh and the fact he mightve won ,makes him a memorable villain

6.Shere Kahn from the Jungle Book (1967)

He's falllen down in my rankings in recentyears butthat doesntmean I dont love this guy . A dignified refined tiger who will not hesitate to murder the hell out of you .Built up throughout most of the moviehe does not disappoint

7.Queen Grimhilda from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

This is both a villain and movie who have grown on me .She is simple in her motives ,but reallly it's her animation and superb voice work by Lucille Le Verne(As bothe the Queen and her Witchly disguise ) that make her memorable to me

8.Chernabog from Fantasia (1940)

Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaahhhhh I better explain this .This guy is BELOVED by Disney fans ,including myself .He's both cool and scary ,and the Night on Bald Mountain is my favorite part of Fantasia ......But I just prefer more active villains and even going by scary factor he wasnt the Disney villain who scared me the most as a kid (HEaqdless Horseman did that).That said he is a brillaint piece of animation and he is one of my favorite deptctions of the devil

9.Queen of Hearts from Alice In Wonderland (1951)

I legit feel bad putting her low ,because she is one ofthe funniest Disney villains .Bombastic and with a temper that leads to decaptations ,she only appears near the end of the movie but makes the most of her screentime

10.Mad Madam Mim from Sword In The Stone (1963)

I considered Willie The Gian from Fun and Fancy Free ,another good comedic villain but Mim is funnier ,crazier ,and more villinous .She's not necessary to the film,but she issuch a scene stealer

@marquisedemasque @filmcityworld1 @ariel-seagull-wings @metropolitan-mutant-of-ark

[thevoidcannotbefilled]

Its been a while and I dont remember it well, what happened with the w359 finale?

Ooof okay. To you and the other anon here’s my answer. I’m not blind myself, so if I say something out of line, please tell me and I’ll make correction. But here we go: 

Dr. Miranda Pryce was introduced in the final season as one of the main big bad villains of the show. She’s an AI specialized who created Hera, who we already know put the thought of “You’re Not Good Enough” in her head in order to control her. As we hear more of her, we learn that 1) she has a habit of punishing/abusing AIs in order to control them, even revels in it, and 2) she is willing and for the fun of it, used her technological abilities in order to essentially turn the crew on her ship into brain-dead soldiers, not quite dead but only living bc of her machines like human puppets. She also uses said technology to 1) torture information out of Eiffel’s brain and 2) turn everyone else into puppets. 

Overall the impression we get of her: She is a scientist who uses technology in order to control people in whatever means necessary because she finds the ability to control and change people both satisfying and amusing. 

Now, I set this background up to 1) remembering what happened in W359 and 2) the impression we get of this character. She is not sympathetic nor is she trying to be. And that’s fine! You don’t need those type of characters all the time, especially since W359 is FULL of characters that join our side after realizing they’re being used or help the team in one way or another because of sympathy. 

But then, we’re also told that she has cybernetic eyes. And at one point, she losing full sight in them after they were destroyed in an explosion that Eiffel caused. I won’t analyze up to this point how Pryce’s blindness was treated in universe. Again, I’m not an expert and there would be a lot of more subtle nuances I would be missing if I tried to analyze the writing. The only questionable part is having a blind villain when no other character other than arguably Hera are disabled. But also, again, I’m won’t make a fuss for the writing up to that point. 

HOWEVER WE GET TO THE FINALE AND OH BOY. 

The finale starts with a speech from Pryce. Summed up? Pryce was a blind orphan girl who was treated badly because she was blind and was creepy for making “dolls”. She then was recruited by Cutler in order to make AIs and eventually, get the technology to copy people and to change humanity in a way that in their eyes is “better”. IE: turning people into perfect puppets for them to control. 

Okay, lot to unpack there: 

1) In the speech Pryce repeatedly calls herself broken. In fact, describing herself as a “broken girl” when she was picked up by Cutler. Yes, the speech wasn’t literal and was meant to be like she was telling a story, but that doesn’t mean that it makes it any less ableist. No, it does not matter if the blind character is the only who is calling herself broken, 1) there are no other blind characters to counter that, 2) none of our heroes countered her, and 3) may I remind you she is 100% a villain. This means “I was blind and treated awfully for it. I wanted to change the world bc I was mad about I was treated and then went full dictator on things with less power than me” is one of our VILLAIN’S backstory. Idk if they were trying to have some humanity in her or what, but it does not work. This character is too far gone to make sympathetic especially in your finale episode. And if they weren’t trying to make her sympathetic, they were straight up saying, “This character felt so broken by how she was treated and her blindness that she used her skills in order to manipulate and hurt others for my own gain”. That just straight up demonizes blind people. It’s bad writing at best and straight up ableist at worst. 

2) This one is more subtle, but the general idea of technology being used to make people’s lives better, especially enhancements to the body being framed in a negative light has ableist elements in it. Because you know, technology isn’t the issue, it’s what people use technology for that’s the issue. For example, there’s a scene where Pryce is working on her eyes while someone else is in the room. The other person found the idea of talking to her while she didn’t have both eyes in unsettling. Ergo, the message is “cybernetic eyes are creepy”. In reality, technology that can be used to replace body parts, especially tricky things like eyes is so good!!! It shouldn’t be required to have, of course, (Some blind folks don’t mind being blind and people should always have control in regards to what happens to their body if it only affects their body!!!) but having the choice to repair your vision if you’d like is AMAZING. But the show sort of frames any sort of technology as invasive and inhumane. Another example, only the main villains have body modifications. Cutler made enhancements to his body to make it faster and stronger (which makes sense in character), but also with it, the implication that having body modifications makes him less humane. 

There’s a running theme in the show that humanity is a choice, a messy choice with messy lives, but one you make. With that, while the villains are human, they lose their humanity by not caring about others. Which good!!! Excellent theming!!! But, in Wolf 359, the villains also make body modifications to themselves, and only the villains. This builds on the long and tired trope of things like canes, braces, artificial limbs, and other similar things are a sign of villainy or inhumanity, as if adding these elements to yourself modifies your humanity. Which, just isn’t the case. This is especially strange in this series because we have an AI main character who struggles with being treated as human because she’s an AI, but definitely sees herself  and wants others to treat her as a person.

This is especially disappointing because the villains’ plan is to reshape people and make them “better”. Cutler’s plan is to turn humanity into mindless puppets for them to control. It’s a natural conclusion from “being utterly disposable when necessary” to “you’re being kept around because you’re useful” to “you’re useful, but we don’t care about your humanity, so we’re taking away all your humanity to control you”. You didn’t need the other stuff with the blindness and the implication that body enhancements at all to make this point. 

So, I won’t go on for longer, but TLDR: Wolf359′s finale has a blind character not only call herself broken but also has her be one of the main villains. A villain who doesn’t care for other’s boundaries and repeatedly uses her technological skills to modify others without permission. There are also undertones within the series that physical modification in general is creepy and invasive without nuance.  This could have easily been avoided within the narrative because most of this was added either within the final season or within the finale itself. That’s why parts of the final season and especially the finale are ableist. 

(If I’m overstepping, please tell me, and I’ll reblog additions/edit the post as necessary. This is meant to be an explanation because I got a few anons about it). 

[maariarogers]

flash review for episode 14

i KNEW this episode was gonna tear my heart apart but man, i didn’t know it’d be this bad

but lets start from the beginning: i love sua, man. i’ve always loved her in the comics, and madam kang min-ah really delivered her SO WELL

and i know at one point it might even look petty, but personally like, i truly felt sua feeling betrayed when jugyeong didn’t tell her anything — like, yes, jugyeong has a right to tell or not to tell, but the idea of someone withholding information from you when you thought they trusted you does hurt

so i feel like sua’s hurt is valid, and im so SO SOOOO happy she talked it out

im also SO happy when she said the line “sujin was the one who lost us” because in that sort of mindset, i’m more towards jugyeong? in a sense that i still tried to rationalise or justified what she did, especially knowing her circumstances and the fact that she’s like, only 17 or 18

but sua’s right. sujin made the choice all on her own. she was the one who decided not to care for jugyeong or sua any longer. and that’s a strong message to put out there.

SPEAKING OF......... CAN WE GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO PARK YOUNA???????????? DUDE..... she killed it

i was so, so, SO thrilled by the way sujin was written in the k-drama you have no idea. its so much more fleshed out, the depths are astronomical, and almost like a reflection of suho in earlier episodes — we can see the fragility of her mental health, and how she isn’t coping well, and how that led her to lash out to everyone around her

but unlike suho, she didn’t learn. or rather, she refused to. she villainies herself, thinking it would hurt less or it wouldn’t matter as much when she caused this amount of damage. and thats so so so good. thats excellent writing. im amazed.

and i love how that also reflected the three other main characters well as well: jugyeong overcame her trauma — she stopped hiding — and sujin allowed it to lead her to a more destructive path — she was the one who ran away; suho is an accumulation of bad parenting, same as sujin, but they reversed their roles with suho warming up to people towards the end of the season, and sujin cutting off one good relationship after another as opposed to when the series started; seojun is a reflection of them inhabiting the same roles of pining over people they can’t have, but seojun chose to respect the relationship, while sujin couldn’t. it’s fucking amazing. just hit me up if u wanna talk about it more

joo hye-min was so, so good. i think she was supposed to be the other friend with sua and jugyeong (i couldn’t remember her name omg) so that was a really good circle of returning back to the webtoon original plot, which seemed to be the main theme right now rip us

i fucking LOVE the insight to how anxious suho actually is when it comes to dating jugyeong, to the point it could be unhealthy. taehoon is absolutely right, and its so NICE that suho has friends now — reliable peers that he trusts — to tell him as it is

we can see that he has these train of thoughts that he knows logically he shouldn’t do as a romantic partner, and u know what he did? he didn’t do it. he didn’t say those thoughts. he approached it differently. HE LEARNS!!!!!!!

and the seojun/suho date night out pls kill me,,,,, its so good,,,

seojun is still a better fighter in my heart because the webtoon says so (im just a webtoon hoe i cannot change this) but its all good cause we RESPECT healthy communication among friends

and we RESPECT seojun saying whatever the fuck he wants to say as long as he knows his points get across like that boy could like, get it

i fucking love that it’s consistent throughout the few minutes we see of jugyeong trying to take her exam and suho trying to fill his time that it’s obvious suho misses her. he expresses this several times, too. and yet when he knew seojun wants to see his girlfriend after WEEKS (presumably) of not properly seeing her? he lets her go. he gives seojun a chance

because as much as seojun respects suho, he respects him back

BITCH,,,, IF THAT AINT THE PINNACLE OF HEALTHY ROMANCE RIVALRY IDK WHAT IS.....

the whole date scene just,,, i died,,,, i knew it was gonna be their last day (due to the clothes) so towards the end i was already crying

and in my head, i kept saying, this is so sad. they’re not gonna see each other again. suho said, “go home.” to jugyeong, as if he’ll be there the next day to walk her to school, but he won’t. we all know he won’t. that will be the last time they see each other. and that ripped me apart.

but u know what jugyeong said? she broke down the moment suho was gone from the view and all she said was, “what happens if [suho’s father] passes away? what will happen to suho?” because all she thought was that she couldn’t be there for him, that suho is alone

and that kills me more. she’s just so kind in loving him, but they were always the star-crossed lovers. they were always meant to separate right there, so no zendaya and zac efron, they cant rewrite the stars

i am a bit pissed off that they decide to follow the webtoon at the end. i feel like, more than anything, it seems as if they’re only throwing that plot for shock value??? idk tho

because i’m not the biggest seojun fan, but even i felt offended that they would do it this late into the series and in return sacrifice what could’ve been a good romantic development for seojun and jugyeong

so now all we’re gonna get are like scrapes of what-could’ve-been

but then again, the series have been good at surprising us so far, so i’m not quite sure what they’re planning ahead

speaking of, idk the fate of suho and jugyeong either???? i dont think its smth to forgive suho for in two episodes so????? @ true beauty writers, whats good????

other notes: i personally dont care about mr. han that much, i much rather see the lim family interacting among themselves as is, but yeah. good for them. welcome, mr. han, into the chaotic mess that is the lim family

overall, it’s... a strong 8/10. suho and jugyeong should’ve kissed more. seojun and sujin as usual, are the lowkey power couple and no im not accepting criticism. idk from where jugyeong suddenly knew how to throw a punch but ok, go home park saemi ure done. i hope selena comes back. pretty sure she’ll save the whole show if our main cast couldn’t. what are y’all thought

[rrandomtthings]

Why i hate hawks and what i think about the heroes and villains :

Firstly I always thought of hawks to be really sus when i was watching bnha, and even before season 5 or when i started to read the manga this year. I didn’t trust that he was a good character and got really bad vibes from him. While everyone else liked him, I just couldn’t bring myself to see how. Sure he’s cool and I guess good looking to others. But I never understood why people could like him. Moving on. He’s a huge ahole. In season 5 , he really made me mad when he was treating tokoyami that way. Even though he ended up being a great teacher and helping him out, it still bugged me, idk but that’s my opinion. Now to the biggest reason I hate hawks, is what he had done twice. He had no reason . No reason to do that to him . Even though it was his job to betray the Lov, he really didn’t have to go down that path. Where was the good in killing twice? Making him think that they were friends, making him think that twice had another person to trust and someone else who understood . It's like hawks said right ? That he was only going to take him into custody, and help him change his ways . He said this right before he killed him off. And even more, what was the point at ALL for saving him from dabi’s fire???? What was the reason, if he was just going to kill him off himself . How is that being a hero ? Heroes are supposed to do anything to stop the villain, without causing deaths. There was no justice in killing twice, there was no justice in betraying the league, there was no justice in even giving the hero's information on the villains, because in the end, they just ended up having a huge war that they didn't even when, and let many heros die and villains get away, and everyone disagreeing with the heroes and having them against them. All i'm trying to say is , i don’t think hawks should be called a hero , and i hate him for what he has done, not only to twice, but also making things so much worse, gaining the trust of people who really believed him and then betrayed them, and for him getting justice for killing when isn't that a crime when the villains do it?

Speaking of heros. I don’t condone any of the villains for their crimes. But none of it would have happened if it wasn’t for society . The way I see it, it's the world's fault for how every villain turns out. No one is willing to help them. Listen to them. Understand their story . Villains, in my opinion, are understood people that lash out against the world, because the world turns their back on them. Just like what happened to Shigaraki when he was little. The old lady went up to him, gave him some type of hope that someone was there, got a good look at his appearance and she walked away and said “I'm sure the police or heroes will come soon” . Even the people on the street just gave him glances , not even bothering to see what's wrong.

“ After that, i left home and ran away . I had no idea what to do .” None of this would have happened if his family treated him better . “ What am i supposed to do now ?. Someone … Anyone… please tell me. Help me!”

“ But even so , in a society overflowing with heroes , I couldn't help but wonder if no one saving me was my punishment for killing my family “ . He even feels guilt for what happened, but he was put in a position where he had no choice, or that's what he was led to believe. That if he could take away the thing that led to his itchiness, he’ll finally be okay. He didn't know that it was a wrong thing, he was desperate to be finally okay, he didn't even know what to do , he didn't know what he was doing

“ If only he had done something , if only she had done something, I thought the itching went away but . If at that time, just one person had lent a helping hand … maybe all of the itchiness would have gone away.”

Why wasn't anyone there? Aren't heroes supposed to always be there, saving people, helping them, isn't society responsible for what happens around them since they are the ones who control how it can change and what happens to it from their actions? And then they wonder why things happen to them. Why not step into the villains shoes. Why can't the world just be kind , and right . But his itching went away, because just when he found himself all alone, surrounded by nothing but loneliness and getting hurt by the people around him, someone came to save him. And that person wasn't a hero, but a villain . Do you understand where I'm getting at? Of course shigaraki would grow up thinking that things that are illegal are okay, and why he turned out that way.

Fake heroes couldn't care less. They are in it for themselves , not giving a dang about anyone else. It's just for show. They just want to keep up appearances, show that they could never do wrong . But a true hero would keep fighting, and keep helping , making sure everyone was okay and preventing things from happening. He would fight for what's right. I dont think a true hero would let the villain get away of course, but they would look for the good in them and help them become a better person. Again, i do not condone the villains' actions. Because I do also believe that there are just some things that are purely evil and cannot be forgiven or even have an excuse for , but I'm saying, there are always two sides to a story. We just need someone who can look at both and make a change .Because maybe the heroes aren't really the people who should be getting praise in the story . In the end, sometimes the heroes are the hypocrites and the ones doing wrong. And we just need people to see that.

I don't know if I have a strong sense of justice, or think in grey, or maybe I'm just rambling. But I always felt strongly about these types of things. I am happy to share some more thoughts on bnha and some opinions and theories i have - 🔥❄️️

And anon!! You are super valid to have this opinion

I do understand where you’re coming from. I’m a very indecisive person. So when it comes to this situation I understand both sides. I understand why it was awful for Hawks to kill Twice, but I also understand why he had to do it. I generally agree with what you’re saying though and do understand where you’re coming from. But I also think it’s important to remember that Hawks did not want to kill Twice. It was 100% the worst case scenario — the scenario that had happened. It was an awful thing to do and you’re once again very valid to dislike him for this reason, totally understandable. I personally like Hawks bc,, he is the personification of what’s wrong with hero society. He was a child with a gifted quirk who was groomed to be what is perfect for societal standards — to be a good hero. He was stripped of everything from such a young age and to him,, this was normal. This shows how fucked up hero society is and how, being someone raised by the government, that has influenced his thinking. For example with the Twice situation and how he did not hesitate to hurt Twice

As for the villains, I 100% agree with you. They are a result of a failed hero society. Take Toga for example, she was completely trashed bc of her quirk. These people are pushed to villainy bc they literally have no where else to go. Where was Toga supposed to go after everyone treated her so horribly? Where was Dabi supposed to go after Endeavor? These people had no one. They are the result of a toxic mentality that revolves around quirks. The lesser or more “villainous” your quirk is, the further down you are in the chain. This was shown with Deku, but to a much lesser extent. Bc Deku was quirkless, he was treated like his quirk — he was treated like nothing. This is why I love villain!Deku AU’s so much bc,, it’s so interesting to think about where Deku would have gone if he had grown hatred for the people who treated him so horribly.

This reminds me of Ochakos question of “who saves the heroes” bc the answer is that the heroes save the heroes. They are the ones who are there for each other. This is why I want her to change her question to “who saves the villains” as she tries to save Toga,, bc who does save the villains? Bc it sure as hell isn’t the heroes

Also!! Pls feel free to come into my inbox at anytime!! I had a lot of fun analyzing and chatting about this <3

[seyaryminamoto]

Will Iroh mend fences with Azula and support her by the end of Part 2 or The beginning of Part 3 once the truth comes out or will there still be animosity coming from both of them due to past arguments? Call me crazy, because i have a weird feeling Iroh will be (one of) the reason/s because of their one-on-one a couple chapters ago. I hope this is not the case though cause i think, because thats cruel even for Iroh and i dont thinks that's the kind of character you want him to be portrayed as.

Well, uh, gee, look at the time! I am just gonna....

Okay, okay, FINE then, I can answer, I totally can...

Foooor the record... I’m not actively trying to portray Iroh as a bad or good person: I’m trying to portray him as a person, period. The whole point of this story arc was to generate a rather complicated situation where someone can actually understand both why Azula is so adamant about protecting her biggest secret (Iroh has been aaaaaaabsolutely nightmarish throughout Part 2 to her and some of her friends, namely over saltiness because Zuko is gone, she has zero reason to trust him after he’s been acting this way for as long as he did), and why Iroh is simultaneously willing to believe Azula MAY not be as bad as he thought she was while still feeling considerably reluctant to leave the fate of the Fire Nation and the world at large in her hands.

But alas, I... will say Iroh and Azula will work together at one point in Part 2′s penultimate arc. Circumstances will force them to cooperate in a complicated operation, so they won’t be constantly at each other’s throats right then. Still, it’s a circumstantial matter where the two of them realize the more people on their side, the better, and they join forces because of that rather than any genuine mending of fences. If you want to see them being cordial-ish again, however, you can look forward to that.

Now, then, will Iroh be on Azula’s side in Part 2′s conclusion and Part 3 as a whole? Will he try to help her...?

... The answer to that, for an array of reasons, in a thousand ways, is no. Eventually, yes, Iroh will decide something needs to be done to help Azula, if you MUST know that much, but he won’t be anywhere near her for, uh... most of Part 3, honestly, if they ever meet again in Part 3 it’s probably only going to be one scene and I can’t even guarantee that it will happen.

Again, I try my best to write Iroh as a character with understandable motivations while keeping in mind his canon self, taking into account as well that he is living in a world at war that, as per the predictions he was given over ten years prior, should NOT be at war at all anymore, but it still is. The man is frustrated, confused, unsure if he’s going about things the right way or not, and while I’m never going to call myself an Iroh fan, I would be lying if I said I don’t understand where he’s coming from, or that, in a similar situation with a family member I can’t seem to get along with and who basically laughed in my face when I finally tried to extend an olive branch to them, I wouldn’t feel as frustrated and lost as Iroh does right now. Likewise, I completely understand Azula considering Iroh 100% unworthy of knowing the truth: what if they have another falling out after this, same as they did back at the end of Part 1 despite they were perfectly friendly after the events in Ba Sing Se? How can she trust someone who, as far as she can tell, will never truly trust her? There’s people, yes, that she can trust with her secret... but Iroh, out of the many characters in our main cast, simply hasn’t proven to be one of them.

I don’t want my characters to be heroes or villains, something that I REALLY hope will show in Part 3 (once I get my ass moving and... get started with that...), and I don’t write them that way because, frankly, that flat-out bores me xD I intended for Zhao to just be a villain for a veeeeery long time while plotting Gladiator and I got so bored writing him that way during the late arcs of Part 1 and the early ones in Part 2 that I decided I needed to make him more interesting and dynamic than he had been, both in my story and in canon. There were some ideas I had for further developing him from early on (Ozai’s flashback to his first encounter with him, as seen in Chapter 57), but all of it was always poised in order to present him as a villain and like I said, I was just BORED. Characters with no motivation beyond villainy aren’t worth writing xD hence, Iroh is a much more complicated character than that. It’s easy enough to see him as an antagonist in Gladiator, he has been one in countless ways, but he was an ally for a while as well, wasn’t he? He wasn’t faking being friends with them back in late Part 1, he actually allowed himself to think Azula wasn’t that terrible, briefly as it was, and even offered her help with a few things back then, such as his advice with how she could approach the ceremony. But as complications arise, characters react, and that’s how we got to where we’re at :’D

What I have in mind for Iroh may not be what anyone wants it to be, it may not make a lot of people happy, I might get a lot of strong reactions because of it... I’m honestly expecting it because I’ve gotten such reactions nearly with every impopular choice I’ve ever made with his character (and with a lot of things in this story, in general). As long as the decision makes sense with the story’s logic and the character’s arc... I’ll stand by it, whatever the consequences may be. That’s part of what being a writer entails, as far as I’ve been able to tell over the course of the past years.

[twisted-legacies]

What forgotten archetype are you? 

the killer

you got fucked up something awful. sorry. i dont know why or when it got so bad for you, but now that heat feels so true to you that it’s hard to imagine a you without it. there’s nothing grand about the damage you do. it isn’t the kind that people write stories about. for this reason, it’ll be a while before anyone stops you, if they ever come around to it. it’s all the more likely that you’ll have to dig your own way out of this pit. one day you won’t even remember how blood tasted. the rage won’t keep you warm forever, killer! / / personality: intense, introspective, edgy / / counterpart: the dark horse

Hey! 

Something that shows Quentin isn’t just a caring, and overall motherly figure! 

Because, while it’s easy to forget (even I forgot at times), Quentin is more than capable of committing really terrible acts of violence if she wants to, just like the rest of the main cast of TWST! After all, she is going to a school for villains, and by her own choice. So in some regards, she’s capable of worse crimes than the main boys can do, since she’s not destined for this villainy and is choosing her actions herself, with little to no influences from fate (because according to fate, Quentin should be dead). So, she’s a self-made villain, which can be considered worse than those destined to be villains. This is even indicated by her Light Magic changing to Dark Magic when she came back from her Overblot incident.

But, despite her potential to be bad, she chooses not to! She chooses to be a good person first, and then use. . . Methods her classmates would use when her back is against the wall. 

Don’t get me wrong! Quentin is more than capable of murder. But she just prefers to use it as a last resort.