#He doesn't try to make her weaker he just makes himself stronger

[itsmeblogname]

I love how during the Oldest Game, Dream starts out very aggresively, landing the first strike on Lucifer, but as he grows more desperate his transformations become less and less violent. Lucifer keeps attacking and destroying, and instead of fighting her on the same ground he finds ways not to counter her destruction, but to encompass it. Embrace it. Become bigger than it.

[coffee-master]

Ninjago Alternative Universe elemental change with Kai having Water and Nya having Fire powers:

Ok, so before you go hear me out.

#Sibling elemental change

I know it's hard to imagine Kai having water powers instead of fire. It probably would look as if didn't fit him. It's way easier to imagine Nya with Fire element I guess.

But I think it'd be interesting to see his character development with that power. The fact that his character wouldn't fit to his power and Especially adding to this Kai's fear of drowning and the fact that he hates water.

It'd be nice character development to see.

At the begining of the season it'd Kai who was kidnapped by skeletons.

Not because he was weaker than her or something. Kai would probably try to safe his sister and by coocidence got kidnapped instead of her. Just to make sure she was safe he prefered to sacrifice himself.

Nya would train why Master Wu and become a strong ninja of fire to rescue her brother. But also bonded with the other ninjas.

In the meantime she'd also think that Jay's flirting attempts are cute-

Later seasons would also have a big impact on Kai.

Kai was Nya's older brother. He practically raised her. So, the fact that she is a ninja fighting evil and risking her life every day would definitely made a big impact on him.

The fact that Nya is stronger than him, and he cannot protect or help her in any way, would cause frustration, anger, and above all, a sense of helplessness in him.

Kai would try to support the team in any way he could, but the helplessness would still make him feel down and be with him.

From time to time he'd act like a big brother.

He wouldn't like Jay's interest in Nya at first, but later would accept it, since she likes him so much.

There wouldn't be a phase of being a green ninja, because well he isn't a ninja.

Instead Nya would like to become one. Not because of the titel or anything, but becuase it'd mean to be better to improve. Nya wants perfection. She wants to be the best version of herself. So she works very hard to achieve that.

She wouldn't be annoying about becoming the green ninja like Kai- She would work hard to be the best.

In the meantime comes Lloyd.

Kai has way better relationship with him here compared to the cannon.

Suprisingly he isn't irritated by him, but just simply takes care with him. He plays kind of big role for young Lloyd.

Kai is patience with him and tries to teach him and be nice. Maybe it'd somehow remind him of rising his younger sister(?) Kai would spend time with him, shove comfort and some support that he needed and just act like a Big Brother towards him.

Their relationship would be pretty strong.

There would happen at slightly little drama between Kai, Nya & Lloyd. [BUT NOTHING TOO SERIOUS]

Nya would be probably a little annoyed why her brother is so nice towards him. She'd be irrited since Lloyd recently just acted like a brat. (He mostly made pranks like making Zane's costume pink and ect.-) And she doesn't understand Kai's indifference towards it.

But everything would resolve, when Nya safed Lloyd from vulcano and unlocked her true potential.

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Bla bla.. to lazy to write next seasons.. But basically Kai would be a big support as a red Samurai, Lloyd's role model and he'd slowly come closer to the other teammates.

He wouldn't be just fire ninjas brother, but feel more like a part of the group.

Then the situation with the ghost would happen.

Sensei Wu would tell him about his Water Powers and that's were everything starts to break.

Kai has to learn how control water.

But the point is that Kai hates water.

Kai can't swim, is afraid of drowning and basicly is aquafobic-

This is the time where he has to overcome his fear to safe everyone.

This is the time when everything that he belived turned into a lie. That%'s the time when his life turned upside down and just everything is a mess.

He tries to deny it. He doesn't belive in it. He hates it.

He hates water.

But in the end he begins his training, because the life of the loved one's is WAY more important.

He starts training with master Wu. Nothing goes well, because of his character that is a completely opposite to this power.

Moreover he got a few panic attacts while being in the deep water that doesn't end well.

Kai hates this power. He doens't accept it as his. He doesn't accept it being part of him. He's basically forced to learn it because of the situation and persuading the master.

But in the end his able to overcome it.

By the talk with someone he's able to see the source of his fear. He finally sees the beauty of his power.

He takes a deep breath and immerses himself in the water, clearing his mind and he's calm.

He's part of the water and water is part of him.

Kai accepts this part of him and is able to control it.

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Absolutely I hope that I've demonstrated the true potential of this idea, and how it could indeed turn into something really cool.

AND I HAVEN'T EVEN CAME TO THE SEABOUND PART-

But seriously I hope that someone will notice it. A nice fic could come from it.

I also really tired not to add and lavashipping ideas here, because it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it could have been here something.

I don't know if I will ever write this or not. It's really hard to tell.

But if anyone wants to write this or something simliar to it then go on. I don't see a problem. The more us the better!

First

[fluff-n-cookies]

I saw your post for more platonic Dabi and I was wondering how you think Dabi would comfort a reader who had a panic attack and or is extremely socially anxious and always seeks him out for comfort. Whenever reader is anxious in public they hold onto the corner of his shirt or sleeve and tend to follow him or stick close to his side. If reader didn’t have the best home life then they’re probably constantly afraid Dabi is going to hate them or leave them. Reader is the kind of person who will let people talk down to them, mistreat them but heaven forbid anyone so much as looks at Dabi in distain/disgust. Reader will defend him with their life and is constantly defending him from other people’s opinions. Basically just reader and Dabi being each other’s found family

Okay, for starters I would like to apologize from the deepest depths of my heart. I am not right the head (obviously.) and I would like to give you the right to owning my soul, for I have been putting off your kind request for so long, and I genuinely am so sorry for the delay.

Now I actually think that this is very interesting especially form an analytical stand point.

Because Dabi does not like weak people. both physically and mentally. It's primarily rooted form his turbulent relationship with his father where he constantly tried to get stronger and better through training and pushing himself to be a strong as possible to please his father. his idol.

from that I think he would despise those weaker than him, not because he actually hates them, but more so because he needs to put other people down to rise himself up. it's more so "it's not that I should succeed, others should fail." it makes him feel better about himself, gives him that feeling of accomplishment that he would normally get from his father saying "good job." but eh rather gets it from bullying.

You'd have to do something truly spectacular to catch his eye for him to not put you down like he does everyone else.

I don't think it could be kindness, since when Rei persuades him to stop training an pushing himself so hard, he instead takes it as her trying to stop him. I'm not saying that that exact senario would play out as in

reader : Dabi! I got you flowers.

Dabi : YOU WANT TO STOP ME FROM BEING A HERO??!?!?!?!?

I'm saying he has a hard time accepting kindness, I'm saying he might not know what is someone trying to help him and what is someone trying to hurt him. like Rei does. this might actually draw him away.

I think what might actually work is the relationship he had with Fuyumi and Natsuo. because all three were heavily affected by their father's neglect and violence and I think that this may be evidence of sympathy or a ledge to protect them one day as a hero.

(of course, he doesn't become a hero, rather going partially insane as I would say and focusing on getting revenge on Enji, most likely to avenge himself and his brother and sister.)

what may lead him to you is the shared sympathy the both of you have when it comes to bad origins. it's the same sympathy he had with this siblings (minus Shoto) I'm thinking he walks in at the wrong time while you're in the middle of crying your heart out I do that way to often and while he doesn't interfere right at that moment, he will talk to you as best as his unsocial ass can. things like "sorry that happened to you." "you're not alone, that happened to me too." undercover of sarcastic remarks like "you're such a crybaby."

or something easier where the both of you reveal more and about your pasts forming a close relationship. details like "my dad would be pissed about that." or "ugh! that's something mom would say!" after a cruel insult. it would be an unspoken bond but a bond nonetheless.

this gives him an undying sympathy for you that he can't properly express. trust me he has so many things to say.

"I love you."

"thank you for being there for me."

"I would give you the world if asked."

"you're the reason I get up in the morning."

but for a child of an abusive and unloving relationship, the words are just not there. no seriously. there's only this feeling of warmth with you and nothing else. no words, only a flurry of pinkish love.

He'll let you come to him like the little ball of fear and sadness you are at times, he'll let you cuddle up you him as much as you want. he'll push you off when calm down a bit though, he'll leave with a grumble about how needy you can be.

note though, that he would probably never push you off immediately. it's not that he hates you, he thinks you're disgusting and the worst thing to ever exist.

it's just that he doesn't know how to respond. and I don't blame him.

it takes a while to get used to, get used to being loved and having something to love. but once he does you are SO in for it.

I'm talking flowers from the grocery store, free stolen popsicles, the right to murder anybody and have him help you clean it all up.

because he genuinely loves you, he really does, and when he understands after a couple years of knowing each other how to receiprocate your love, it suddenly all become to easy to be human, to be alive, to be happy.

he also does doesn't like you being talked down to. it comes from the depths of his childhood dream of being a hero and protecting people. especially loved ones like he does for Fuyumi and Natsuo. this also transforms into a need to provide for his loved ones, this can take form in helping you put together furniture, helping you with groceries, and talking to you when you're lonely. things you would do with your dad, which he basically is at this point.

on the same boat, he doesn't like you to fight for him. in his mind, it's HIS job to protect you not vice versa. he's seen you cry, talked you through your panic attacks, been there through those nights. you've already fought so much with yourself, you should not be fighting for him.

it's beautiful really. how much this one thing can change Dabi. it's just that you'll have to stick with him through the sarcasm and the insults and the roasts. but in the end.

he loves you. he'll protect you. maybe not Japan as a hero, but this one little thing. this one little perfect thing, he'll die for.

[andreal831]

Rebekah Mikaelson is the strongest vampire

This statement always starts arguments, most of them coming from societal misogyny.

The Original vampires are the strongest vampires (we are only talking about regular vampires). We are told by TVDU lore that a vampire's strength is determined by age or diet. These are the only factors that are ever stated in the show to affect their strength.

Now we don't see any of the other original vampires turned, but from the flashback, it appears Rebekah is the very first ever created vampire. This would give her vampire age over her siblings, even if just minutes, giving her a slight edge. Human age does not matter, only vampire age.

People will inevitably always try to say, oh but Klaus. This is only talking about vampires. As a hybrid, yes he is stronger. But for most of their life as a vampire, I would say no he's not. Whenever we see Klaus dagger his siblings, like with Kol, he physically overpowers them. But Rebekah, he emotionally tears her down to the point she doesn't even fight against him. Klaus is not a character who would shy away from physically overpowering a woman, even his own sister. While he does physically abuse her throughout their life, we don't see him overpower her in order to dagger her.

And here is where I think societal misogyny plays a part in the undervaluing of Rebekah's character.

The most common argument is that Kol and Elijah are somehow stronger. This has misogynistic undertones because of the hoops people jump through just to make her brothers stronger than her. While we never see Elijah and Rebekah or Kol and Rebekah face off in an actual fight, we do see Rebekah being held down by both Klaus and Elijah when she is cursed. People will argue that the curse gave her super strength or something, but again that's based on assumptions, not the show. It made her erratic but if Elijah was stronger, he still should have been able to hold her down himself. Elijah was able to restrain Kol numerous times when he helped Klaus dagger him. And Kol would have been fighting just as wildly as Rebekah to prevent being daggered again.

We do see hybrids have a boost because they still maintain their werewolf nature. So I've heard the argument that human strength plays a role in vampire strength. Again, this is based on made-up lore, not anything we see in the show. In fact, we see the opposite. Paul clearly has more muscles than Ian (I'm aware muscle doesn't automatically equal strength but it's really the only gauge we have and that's what everyone seems to be basing Kol's human strength on), yet because of their diet, Damon is still stronger. We also see that this can be made up relatively quickly when Ripper Stefan who has been drinking human blood for a much shorter time is still just as strong as Damon.

Additionally, we don't even see Kol as a teenage human. Who knows what his strength level is. We can assume being raised by Mikael he would have been trained to be a warrior, but we also know from history (and not the Euro-centric view the show tries to feed us) that Viking women, especially as they were colonizing new areas, were expected to be able to defend their homes and do a lot of physical labor. Rebekah would have been a lot stronger than the teenage girls we see today. So this assumption Kol was just stronger is only that, an assumption. And again, it is never said that human strength matters. Hybrids get an extra kick because they are still a werewolf. When the werewolf gets bound, they lose that advantage. When a human turns vampire, they are no longer human. If a vampire stopped working out, they wouldn't lose any strength, therefore, it doesn't function the same way as human strength. Also, this would likely mean Klaus was the weakest of all of them as a vampire since he wore a necklace to keep him physically weaker than the rest of them since he was a child.

This gets us into the next argument, that she's been daggered for a lot of her life so Elijah is stronger. I mostly see this argument to discredit Finn's strength. But, this would work in Rebekah's favor because we can kind of can tell from flashbacks that Rebekah has been daggered for less time than Kol, so she would be stronger than him. However, from what we are shown, daggering only slows them down slightly because they haven't been drinking blood. When all of the siblings are released, Klaus still fears them. When Elijah is released after months, he still holds his own against Klaus. When Rebekah is daggered by the Strix, she is able to take on a whole group of some of the oldest and best-fighting vampires (something Elijah struggled to do at full strength).

We clearly see Rebekah not only overpower other vampires, but we see she is a strong fighter. We never once see Kol actually fight. We only see him go against the Mystic Falls gang (and lose). So nothing in the show suggests Kol would be stronger than Rebekah.

And by this logic, Elijah would not be stronger either. Yes, I think he is a better fighter and would win in a fight inevitably. But only because of his fighting skills.

The only argument I accept is potentially about Mikael. But even his extra strength makes little to no sense to me. Besides we see Elijah and Klaus both overpower Mikael on different occasions.

So at the least, they are all even in strength, but at most, Rebekah is stronger than her brothers.

At the end of it all, there is so much plot armor in the show, I don't usually like to argue strengths (how Damon and Stefan survived Season 2 and 3 makes no sense). But it does pose an interesting question, why is it so important for Kol or Elijah to be the most powerful to the extent that people will make up lore and wild assumptions just to get them there? To me, it is important that Rebekah is the strongest because, one, the show's lore backs it up, and two, we seldom get to see the strongest creature on a show be a woman. The show does so much to undervalue the women, I hate when the fandom does so as well.

[fave-fight]

ROUND 2, MATCH 50

NO MAGIC, POWERS, WEAPONS, OR ADDITIONAL HELP FROM OTHERS

Candace Flynn:

“She should win she wrestled an alligator with bare hands”

“She's hilariously bad at a lot of things she tries. However, sometimes this trait makes her actually good? Basically she'd flail about wildly and have a 50/50 shot of beating her opponent”

Ace Trappola:

“honestly this fuckin guy could not win in a fist fight he would TRY and then get his ass beat in 2 seconds unless its someone of equal strength as him and then it's just a battle of endurance. of which he does not have much of. he usually relies on his magic to get through battle conflicts but even then that's also not very good and since he isn't able to use magic his chances of winning a fight are kind of down the drain. UNLESS he tries to do a distraction thing with magic tricks and run away which he probably would if he's not pissed off at the person he's fighting. all about the misdirection babey”

“Gonna be honest: I don't actually expect this guy to win the entire bracket. But I do expect him to get decently far - maybe somewhere in the middle.

He doesn't have any official training, but he's still strong and decently athletic enough (and has canonically threw good punches) to defeat the weaker characters in the bracket.

Ace is smart enough to trick the dumber physically stronger opponents, but it's also possible to get HIM angry enough to make reckless decisions.

(Saw someone else submitted him and thought, "why not")”

“He has so much confidence in himself and yet keeps getting his ass beat. He could probably take down some people with pure rage and 15-year-old-ness though”

[lordpheles]

Shura/Mephisto Ship.

The Shura/Mephisto ship..

It's a weird thing. Not quite a ship, not quite a demon contract.

But Mephisto is working on it desperately.

It's complicated...because this ain't romance, it's about ownership.

We just don't know the terms of the agreement.

But we can assume that the leverage was the lives of Rin and Yukio Okumura. In exchange, Mephisto wants Shura to be his next human body.

We never see Mephisto and Shura make a demon contract. That conversation has been denied to us.

All we know is that after chapter 94, Shura changes from hating Mephisto with every ounce of her being to collaborating with him (albeit without major disinterest and misgivings).

We know Mephisto is growing weaker and weaker as he tries to hold the world together. His body is barely hanging on.

He will need a new vessel to keep him alive, and Shura, being a powerful exorcist is a good match for him.

First of all, she comes from a long line of ninjas. These ninjas are cursed with a demonic temptaint from the Hydra, Hachitaro Okami. The temptaint seems to have made her body super-powered and resilient. Like the most powerful exorcists in the order, she is almost a demon herself. But unlike Lightning, she isn't devoid of empathy. She feels love and devotion, especially towards Shiro's kids.

Shura's familial power has only gotten stronger with each new generation. As part of Hachiro's curse, each female descendent born from Tatsuko Kirigakure is a carbon copy of the child before it. (Basically demon created clones)

Tatsuko's cloning has repeated for at least, 500 years or more, with each new "Tatsuko" becoming more and more imbued with Hachiro's DNA. Even though Hachiro tries to groom them into the original Tatsuko, they all have different souls.

Our version, Shura Kirigakure, the last descendent of Tatsuko Kirigakure is crazy strong. But doesn't share the ambitious, power-hungry nature of the original.

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Why Does Mephisto Want Shura?

Demon kings have been experimenting with cloning to try and get strong vessels that can withstand their energies. Vessels they can possess to live on in Assiah. Shura meanwhile, has developed without section 13 and asylum. Her body became strong over years and years of demonic heritage.

Mephisto has had her in mind for quite some time.

Mephisto made sure that Shura was kept outside of section 13.

Mephisto had Shiro rescue Shura as a child from Hachiro and had Shiro train her as his apprentice before she was placed in orphanage. Mephisto kept Shura well away from Asylum. The last thing he needed was his demon brother Lucifer and the section 13 scientists getting wind of a new potential vessel. Mephisto keeps the best options hidden for himself. Also, having Shiro, Mephisto's personal assassin/loaded gun as Shura's caregiver was added protection. Nobody dare mess with Shiro.

But..Mephisto has one big problem with Shura. She hates his guts.

Shura doesn't trust him and threatens to kill him all the time. Mephisto could easily kill Shura with little more than a snap of his finger. But Mephisto holds back. He cannot kill her, he needs her to survive.

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Mephisto fully decides Shura's the one, after Lucifer declares war on True Cross.

Shura has regenerative abilities. Her body is so resilient, she withstood a direct hit from Lucifer's seraphim. If she can withstand Lucifer, the strongest demon king, she can surely take on Mephisto's powers.

When Mephisto is rebuilding the the fallen barriers after Lucifer's attack, an injured Shura confronts him. Mephisto admits that he knows everything about Shura's injury, despite the chaos swirling around him. He affirms it's in her abdomen and the left side. He's researched the situation because he's invested in her. He's super impressed that she survived Lucifer.

Mephisto at this point stops threatening Shura and becomes overly concerned with her health and well-being. He has her admitted to a hospital, and also orchestrates her release from Hachiro's curse with the aid of Rin and Yukio. He wants Shura's body is in good health and free from other demonic contracts.

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Mephisto wants Shura to agree to be his body.

Mephisto, unlike the other demon kings seems to have more success living and collaborating with humans. Yet, like the other demon kings he believes that he is more powerful, and much more cunning. He gets off outsmarting humans and setting them up to fail.

Mephisto offers to grant them wishes, and in return they must give him something he desires. This game in which he balances the scales of morality, are rarely won (if ever) by the humans. Mephisto makes up all the rules, and stacks the deck against them.

But what does Shura wish for? What are her greatest desires?

What could Mephisto possibly offer to ensnare his prey?

Shura wants four things:

-She wants to fall in love.

-She wants a family

-She wants Rin and Yukio to be safe.

-Originally she wanted Shiro to love her, but he's dead, so that wish is out of play.

These are not simple wishes for a demon to grant. Easier things are money, sex and power.

Shura, meanwhile, wants love, attachment and family.

Mephisto according to Shura is incapable of providing or understanding love, as are all demons. Yet, he has to honour her wishes, or he won't get what he desperately needs.

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But, here's the thing. Mephisto wants Shura to win and lose at the same time.

That way he can take her body as his own without guilt. He doesn't want her to fight the possession but give in to him willingly.

Demonic possession is a difficult process that, if done improperly, can kill both the demon and the host.

Mephisto has convinced himself that humans are silly little pawns that he gets to play with. Shura is no different.

He promises to fulfill the desires of humans, but somehow he makes those desires come true in a bittersweet way. A way which he outsmarts the humans regardless of how cruel that outcome turns out to be.

Look at what happened to poor Shiro. He wanted sex, money and to be the Paladin. Mephisto makes it all possible, but in the end he loses the one thing he really wanted, but just didn't know it. The love of Yuri Egin and his future family. He got Shiro to agree to his deal when he was only a child, knowing that he'd grow up to feel very differently about the world.

It wasn't fair.

Mephisto hoped that Shura would take after Tatsuko, her ancestor and want something easy to grant like power. He was also hoping that Shura would become more like the Shiro, hence why he left her in his care. Luckily Shiro abandoned her at the orphanage before more emotional damage could be done. Even though Shura avoided all attachment, deep down she had a big loving heart.

And Shiro knew it, and affirmed it later on, when he asked her to watch out for his young son, Yukio.

Shiro also knew Shura's loving heart was the thing that could defeat Mephisto, because the demon sucks in the love and empathy department. Love is a big curiosity to demons, and it also befuddles them.

Because of Shura's big heart, Mephisto has a major challenge.

He has to make this woman...what? Love him? Want him? Does he try to fulfill this love through someone else? Did he promise her a child? How can he provide something he doesn't personally feel, or feel at a much lesser extent? Does he lie?

Her requests are such a tall order.....especially for a heartless demon. If he could make Shura fall in love with him, that would be a major victory. But so far it hasn't worked.

He sent her flowers at the hospital, sent her to a bathhouse. He said rude sexual things to her, to try and show his interest. The innuendo would have worked for Shiro...but Mephisto comes across as a total skeeze. Plus, he's her boss. She should march him right down to HR.

(Well...she guilty too, she started the entire fake flirting thing back in Kyoto.)

Despite all of Mephisto's scheming, Shura hasn't bonded with him.

Even after he was shot, and she was his security detail. All Shura cared about was poor Yukio. She left Mephisto laying on the ground covered in blood.

Pretty fucking funny....

The only thing that troubles me, is the fact that we have this unknown kid, Nemu Takara. He looks so much like Shura, it's uncanny.

Somehow I think Mephisto grants her wish, and along with it, cripples her child with a terrible, sleeping curse.

I'm hoping that part of the theory is wrong.

[moonspirit]

One of the many things I like about the Connie-laughing-at-Annie-eating-pie scene is how we get a brief glimpse of Armin's protective side free of his usual self-sacrificial tendencies.

Because he doesn't think of himself as someone who can protect others. Armin sees himself as weaker than everyone else, lacking the ability to be someone stronger (say Reiner for example) and more confident (say Jean) who can protect others much better. The fact is that he's always been very protective of everyone he cares about; it's only that this trait of his character tends to show up most often at the sacrificial end of the spectrum. I think it tends to draw our attention away from his protective nature and puts greater focus on how little he values his life instead.

We see him always trying to get the others out of danger, starting with getting Hannes to come rescue Eren and Mikasa when Shiganshina fell, convincing the garrison not to kill Eren (tho his idea in this situation was to put himself directly in front of the cannons), sending Mikasa off in Trost with his blades, punching Eren for Mikasa, putting himself in front of Muller's guns at the end, so on and so forth etc etc, there are a million situations honestly---and in all of them, he tries to protect the others the only way he thinks he's capable of: by being the bait.

Which is why it always makes me so happy to see the pie scene, where you have a starving Annie stuffing her cheeks with pie, Connie making fun of her, and Armin's immediate reaction is to put himself between her and his harmless friend and indignantly yell, "She hasn't eaten in four years Connie, stop laughing at her!"

(Like, nevermind the fact that he's seeing Annie "alive" after four years, his girl's honour comes first lol. I bet he thought: I must protecc her chipmunk cheeks).

For once we see him defending someone without offering himself up in the process. It's just such a wholesome moment where we get to know that he's naturally protective, and in a light-hearted situation that doesn't drag his self-loathing and insecurities to the surface, "sacrifice myself" isn't the damned first thing on his mind.

How many more traits we'd able to see, both new and existing ones in a different light, if he'd been able to live in a way that didn't constantly fuel his hatred for himself?

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super Movie 1: Broly (2/3)

Well, enough of that flashback stuff. Let's move on to the present.

So after the destruction of Planet Vegeta, uh all of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super happened. This is kind of a weak point for this movie, because it's story is rooted in Goku's origin tale, but the climax takes place when Goku's a middle-aged man, so a lot of lore has happened in between. There's a similar thing going on when Raditz and Frieza show up in DBZ, and when Broly made his debut in the 1993 film, but Goku was 24-30 in those stories, so it wasn't quite as big a strain.

The thing is, the stuff we had to skip over was extremely important, and the movie simply can't go over all of it. If someone who knew nothing about Dragon Ball watched this thing, they would probably think that this is a story about Goku and Vegeta trying to avenge their people by defeating Frieza, except that already got dealt with in 1991. Goku, Vegeta, and Frieza have each been killed and resurrected... twice. This movie doesn't have time to explain all their baggage, much less how Goku and Vegeta became pals. So no one even tries to fill in the audience on who this big purple cat man is. You either saw Battle of Gods or you just have to roll with it.

And you know what? Good. No one was there to explain Ox King or Mr. Popo to me when I first got into this thing. I've been watching this stuff for a quarter century, and I still don't know what the fuck Tien's third eye is all about. Context is for the weak.

Anyway, this scene takes place on a private island Bulma bought some time ago. She had a resort built here so Goku and Vegeta could spar without damaging West City. And the food is good, so Beerus and Whis tagged along, although neither of them really have any impact on the plot at all. Whis asks Goku why he wants to get stronger, and Goku explains that he's feeling inspired after the recent Tournament of Power arc from the tail end of the DBS anime. Vegeta, on the other hand, is only concerned with Frieza, who was restored to life during that storyline. Frieza's more powerful than ever before, and Vegeta expects him to get even stronger and menace the Earth again.

Sure enough, Bulma gets a call from Trunks as Capsule Corp, who informs them that Bulma's collection of Dragon Balls and the Dragon Radar have been stolen by goons wearing Frieza Force uniforms. But the joke's on them, because Bulma only had six of the Dragon Balls collected. The seventh is on the Ice Continent, so they know exactly where to go to intercept the thieves. Beerus doesn't want to tag along for the trip, so Bulma leaves her infant daughter Bulla with Beerus.

So what was Bulma planning to wish for? She admits that she was going to ask Shenron to make her look five years younger. Why only five? Because if she got too young all at once, people would think she had work done.

So what does Frieza plan to wish for? Immortality was what he wanted on Namek, but not this time. No he only wants to grow about five centimeters taller. Why not just use his second or third forms to be tall? Because he wants to be taller in any of his forms. Why only five centimeters? Because he wants it to seem like he's still growing.

I've never been too happy about this gag. I mean, it's a good gag, but I liked it better the first time, when Commander Red planned to use the Dragon Balls to make himself taller. It does add some complexity to Frieza's character, though, since he's not just stubbornly trying the exact same routine that got him wrecked on Namek, and then killed on Earth, and then re-killed on Earth again.

This time, he's not trying to take the Dragon Balls by force, because he knows Goku and Vegeta are too powerful to challenge head-on. So he's using stealth instead. The minions he sent to Earth are weaker guys, which mean Goku and Vegeta wouldn't sense their ki. And it seems like Frieza's plan is to just sneak down to Earth, make the wish, and head out before anyone can stop them.

And he's not pursuing the same wish he had twenty-odd years ago. Really, Frieza was never that interested in immortality in the first place. He only decided to wish for that because it was the one thing he didn't already have. But now he's been dead twice over, and that's given him a new perspective on life and death, and he seems to think being unable to die would be similar to the unending torment he experienced in hell. Neither does he seek an invincible body. I'm not sure Shenron could give him greater strength, but Frieza feels that would take all the fun out of "the game". If nothing else, it's interesting to see Frieza consider this at all. Back in the Namek Saga, he never thought about wishing for greater power, because he believed he already was the strongest in the universe. Now that he knows otherwise, he seems fairly content with that.

Meanwhile, we meet the last two players in this drama, Leemo and Cheelai. They're operatives in the Frieza Force, but they're not warriors. Leemo's been with the Frieza Force from the beginning, and Cheelai's a recent recruit, having joined up to avoid the consequences of stealing a Galactic Patrol ship. Their orders are to find more warriors to join the Frieza Force, since their ranks are pretty threadbare. Remember, when Frieza destroyed the Saiyans, they made up half of his fighting force. The other half was still quite formidable, but all of his best troops ended up getting killed during Frieza's disastrous invasion of Namek. Then Frieza came back and tried to attach Earth in Resurrection F, and he brought like a thousand soldiers with him, and those guys all got killed as well.

As Cheelai observes, Frieza is down to women and old men like herself and Leemo. There just aren't many warriors available in the universe these days, because all the good talent got killed off a long time ago. As they discuss this, Leemo picks up a distress signal from Planet Vampa. Thinking their might be a reward for it, they head over to answer the call, and find...

Paragus! Also a bunch of alien monsters. Fortunately, Paragus isn't alone...

They also find Broly on Vampa, and he's all grown up and stronger than ever. Their scouters measure Paragus' power level at 4200, which isn't too impressive these days, but it's way better than anything the Frieza Force has at the moment. And Broly's power is too high for the scouters to measure, so they definitely want him to come along. On the way to Frieza's ship, Cheelai feeds Broly rations and takes a liking to the big guy.

When the four of them report to Frieza, Paragus explains that he had to cut off Broly's tail because of the frequent full moons on Vampa, which cause Broly to lose control of himself as a giant ape. Occasionally, Broly still loses control of himself anyway, but Paragus can rein him in using...

... a shock collar, which he can activate with a remote control. Leemo and Cheelai are horrified to learn of this, but not so horrified that they turn down the generous reward Frieza gives them for their discovery.

Now, one thing that always bugged me about this movie is that Frieza immediately starts making plans to use Broly against Goku and Vegeta. He wasn't planning to attack them this time around, but now that he has Broly on his team, it seems much more favorable. Later, when the fighting starts, Frieza is disappointed to find that Broly can't transform into a Super Saiyan, but why would he expect Broly to be able to do any of that? Sure he's a Saiyan, but Goku and Vegeta have mastered power levels far, far beyond what other Saiyans have ever dreamed possible.

But I keep forgetting that Frieza can sense ki these days, the same way Goku can. Back in the Namek Saga, Frieza had to rely on scouters like the rest of his goons, but when he trained to become Golden Frieza in Res F, he learned to sense energy. So when he sizes up Broly, he's not just guessing at how strong this guy is. He can actually perceive the untapped potential in Broly's body, and he seems to recognize that Broly would be capable of giving Goku and Vegeta a hard time. So it makes sense.

Anyway, Paragus is happy to cooperate, since he still despises King Vegeta for what happened, and he's down to attack Prince Vegeta to even the score. And Broly has to do whatever Paragus wants or he gets another shock.

Later, Cheelai tries to get to know Broly better, but Paragus forbids Broly from speaking. While they argue over this, another henchman tries to drunkenly hit on Cheelai. I really like how Leemo tries to defuse the situation here. He's not a fighter, so it suits his character that he'd try to employ a nonviolent solution, like offering to buy this guy a drink. Being a noncombatant in the Frieza Force, he's probably grown accustomed to swimming with the sharks like this. But it doesn't work, and then Broly steps up to use a non-nonviolent solution, which is violence.

But Paragus doesn't want to offend his host, so he gives Broly another shock. Cheelai confronts him over this, and while she chews him out, she swipes his remote control. Then Paragus gets summoned to talk with Frieza. While he's gone, Cheelai destroys the remote, and they listen to Broly tell the story of his green fur wrap.

It's a pretty simple story. The closest thing Broly had to a friend on Vampa was one of the large green creatures on the planet. Paragus used the creature to train Broly, goading it to attack, and then having Broly dodge it. But over time, the creature became accustomed to Broly, and they became pals. But Paragus wanted the creature to be hostile, so he shot its ear off with a laser pistol to piss it off. Ever since, Broly has kept the ear and wears it as a memento of their friendship.

I like how easily Cheelai and Leemo sympathize with Broly in this movie. They're not good guys at all. Cheelai's an opportunistic thief, and Leemo's a cog in Frieza's evil empire. But they're not heartless, and Broly's story is so tragic and innocent that you can't help but feel for the guy. Leemo compares Paragus to his own rotten father, so you can tell that he can relate to what Broly is going through. And Cheelai can tell when someone's being used. Paragus can dress it up all he likes, but he's just using Broly's power to serve his own selfish interests.

Moving on, Frieza's team on Earth have located the seventh Dragon Ball, and Frieza's fleet moves in to join them for the wish-making. But Bulma, Goku, and Vegeta get their first. They probably would have arrived sooner, but Bulma wanted to stop somewhere to buy cold-weather gear. Let's just take a moment to admire her safety-yellow snowsuit. She looks like a baby duck in this thing and it's great.

Frieza confronts Goku and Vegeta and introduces Paragus and Broly. I never really noticed these guardsmen who stand by while Frieza steps out of the ship. Paragus should have gotten one of those uniforms, since that pink shower curtain he's wearing looks dumb as hell.

I mean, look at Goku. Bulma got him a sweet blue coat and he looks like a million bucks. He tries to convince Paragus and Broly to get along as fellow Saiyans, but that doesn't get him anywhere. You'd think he'd know better by now.

So Broly's rarin' to go, and Frieza sees no reason to make him wait, and it's on. Broly attacks Vegeta, and that brings us to the final leg of this movie, which we'll cover next time.

[theobs3ssivepuppeteer]

AU where Cassidy goes kinda batshit crazy in the custom night because all her friends leave her one by one to move on and find peace. She's stuck with these paper cutouts that act like her friends, and look like her friends (or at least their animatronics), but they're not her friends. Taking out her stress on William doesn't work anymore. She starts taking it all out on the other animatronics. Every time one of them displeases her somehow, they are violently torn apart and discarded. She doesn't need them. She can torture Afton herself.

This goes on. The animatronics grow to fear crossing her, as much as they can fear with their limited sentience. They are quiet. no longer even trying to please her. They just do what they were made to and hope.

Eventually, Cassidy is the only one left. Even animatronics that she barely saw, like marionette and scraptrap, somehow managed to piss her off. It's just her and Afton. She smiles, for she feels like she has won. She won. It's just her and William, for the rest of eternity. Nobody stands between her and the one she hates.

William knows that something has been going on. Less and less animatronics showing up. Sometimes he swore he heard distant screaming while he was in the selection menu. But it wasn't until Cassidy appeared before him that he realized what had happened. It wasn't Golden Freddy who appeared. It was Cassidy herself. Cassidy, with a hollow look in her eyes and a manic grin on her face. For the first time in a very long time, he feels fear.

"What did you do?"

...

"...I won."

Cut to a few years later. William has grown even more tired of Cassidy's hell. It's not even a game anymore. It's just an endless cycle of violently dismembered over and over. Sometimes, he tries to hide in the selection menu, but Cassidy just forces the game to start when he does. There's no escape. No peace.

Until the events of help wanted.

William suddenly finds himself in a whole new place. His consciousness was uploaded into the game. He spends some time just being relieved to have escaped. But then, he goes back to scheming. He knows he hasn't long to escape before Cassidy comes after him.

Meanwhile, Cassidy finds he's gone and is furious. She starts breaking everything in a fit of rage. Everything she worked so hard to build for the sake of Afton's torture, now being thrown or torn apart or shattered. When she is done, she tries to find William, but tracking him down is hard.

Eventually, William makes his way to the pizzaplex, taking over almost all the systems there. Cassidy finally detects him. She goes into the Princess Quest game to try and find him.

But it was a trap. William has gotten stronger. Cassidy has gotten weaker. Her mind is fragile, and as such she acts without thinking. Does she even think anymore? Or is she now an animal, just like the others had become? "the others are like animals, but I am very aware"

The ending of Princess Quest I shows William winning. He blocks Cassidy's escape and takes her into his darkness and corruption. He places her in his own sort of purgatory. A punishment for the years of torture she put him through. It's his turn to torture her. But he doesn't have his fun for long. He brings her back to the real world, and for a moment she thinks she's beaten him. Until her body starts moving without her.

William needs a puppet for his plans.

[seaescapologist]

Since I've been waiting for Year 4 of the story for so long, kind of wanted to ramble for a bit, both about my impressions and theories. So, spoilers below the cut.

So now that it's confirmed that it was Elliot who was watching MC. I am even more convinced, that Elliot's sixth former associate (the only one that hadn't been caught by the Ministry) is probably why Ollivander noted that there is something familiar about MC. It also all better explains an actual reason why Elliot needed Daniel, since even if he simply wanted an ally at Hogwarts, a third year no matter how talented at potions is a bit of an odd choice (especially if they are the only one).

Also I feel like it also adds fuel to the fact that Hagrid was sent with a letter to MC intentionally, and not because they now do that for all muggleborns. But not as certain about it.

Still wonder about Winifred's warning though. Since it wasn't just about him watching. But that he will try to pose as a friend, which Elliot did both with Daniel. But also now with his 'friend of all' speech. At this point I am more inclined to believe it's less of a kind of 'seer-like' prediction, and more likely a warning from that Sixth Associate using Winifred as a conduit. After all if it was someone who knew Elliot well enough, they might predict what he'd try to do just based on their experience, especially if something like that happened with NOTME. And it'd make sense that it's down in a roundabout way, if that person doesn't want Elliot to find them, approaching MC directly isn't an option.

Also been thinking about Elliot's true motives and what caused his falling out with original NOTME. Admittedly it's all more of a conjecture. I have a feeling that NOTME (and more specifically that Sixth person), found some way. To give/amplify magic. Though I obviously don't think it would be that simple, there likely is a price and some limitations. And there was a conflict as to how to use it, maybe even if they should at all, depending on the price of the power (or maybe Elliot straight up wanted the power to himself). But something like that fits with the name of the game 'Magic Awakened', right? It would fit why Winny abilities (I'd say it's fair to say legilimency), became so much stronger if that sixth person indeed used her as a way to warn MC, so they likely had a contact with her. So I do wonder if MC's magic was 'awakened' in this way.

Anyway, mostly done with theories, so more of a general thoughts about Y4! Originally Y4 felt a lot weaker than previous years, but it definitely picked up at the end, I enjoyed those final parts. Even if in part we are roughly back where we ended Y3. Well, aside from Cass being set up as a friend of course. And part of me hopes that Kenji was set up to transfer to Hogwarts (he has motives - finding a cure for his curse AND he clearly seems to be more welcome there at this point), but that might just be wishful thinking on my parts. But it would be a nice way for the game to add another Forbidden Forest and dance companion, without it feeling like they came out of nowhere.

I hope Y5 finally gives focus to MC. They finally got a chance to shine in Y4 (but mostly everyone did). But it'd be nice if they finally started feeling as a protagonist. Also kind of wish they weren't just framed as an all-rounder. I'd prefer if MC had their 'own thing' too, like all companions do (ideally based on our choice of course. but either way something would be better than nothing). Magizoology and transfiguration still seemingly not tied to anyone right (like Ivy's expertice at charms, Daniel's potions etc)? Would be neat if in Y5 MC got a chance to become an animagus. Especially with Abigail and maybe/hopefully Kenji transferring, it especially could come in handy.

What else? Ngl, I was a bit disappointed about Winny's character, maybe because it's so completely different from how she spoke/acted in both Y1 (flashback) and in Y3, so maybe I built up some expectations in my head? Or maybe because I wasn't expecting to get a clarification about her warning so late, so i felt robbed. But I am still curious about Warrington family. Even back in Y1 it felt odd how Ivy's grandmother chose to handle it. But now, despite previously apologizing for hiding things from her, once again we learn things were hidden thanks to her instructions. Idk, there is something there. Recently stumbled upon a concept of Ivy's and Winny's mother, so maybe it all somehow ties back to whatever happened to her.

On a final note. MC punching Viggo had no business of being so funny, one of the highlights of the year for me! So yeah, don't know if anyone read all this. But it was nice to put my thoughts in writing even if they are all over place.

[sakuraharuno156]

Who do you think would win

This Naruto

Vs

Beginning of Shippuden Sakura

Both out for blood but Naruto's is less because if he was out for blood he would be like this:

It's not my typical post, but I thought it would be fun, so thank you for the question ❤️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First, a prefise:

1) I'll base it on manga abilities only because even tho databooks are fun for this type of power scaling, they are not canonically correct. If they were - Choji would have the most powerful technique in the world (where Rasenshuriken, Bijudama, etc. exists....) so... 🤷‍♀️

2) I'll take all abilities up to their next power up, so Sakura up to byakugou and Naruto till the end of the fight with Sasuke (spoiler alert: I don't think it's needed)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that we are clear...

There is no way that Sakura is winning with that Naruto. Let's face it - untill byakugou, I don't think Sakura has any chance with any Naruto in Kurama form. No kurama form - sure, beginning of Shippuuden Sakura would smash any Naruto from OG, but.... with Kurama mode? HECK NO. I love her, she is great, but let's be honest here.

In real fight there are a few key abilities:

Speed,

Strength,

Durability,

Intelligence,

Additional skills (healing, genjutsu, summonigs, etc.)

I'll love to make this longer, but the short answer can be found in the first arc.

How fast is this Naruto? Fast af.

Haku was so fast, that Sasuke needed sharinngan to even SEE Haku moving. Haku was so fast, that he managed to jump in front of a chidori performed by an adult Kakashi (i'm adding "adult" because technically Rin did it to, but the distance was different and kid Kakashi was a lot slower than an adult one).

Naruto in Kurama mode did this:

In strength, as in straight-up punches- it may be Sakura, but.... HOW IS SHE SUPPOSED TO EVEN TOUCH HIM?

But let's say she did punch him WITH ALL HER STRENGTH....

I doubt that in the beginning of Shippuuden, she punches with so much strength that it has a bigger impact than THE WHOLE WEIGHT OF MANDA, that Naruto just... stopped.

She is good at dodging, so 1000 of Naruto's clones are not a problem, as we've seen here:

But in Kurama mode? Nah.

In durability, I don't think I have to explain a lot. Sakura needs to stop and touch the body part that she wants to heal, but Naruto, in Kurama mode...

Is literally healing himself at all times.

Intelligence is where Sakura has an important upperhand. She is smart af and her BIQ is also high af, so I think she may land a punch or 2 based solely on that.

Something like she did here:

Pretending to be already dead and then a strike. It may do SOME damage IF Naruto wouldn't just, you know... dodge it, but would it be enough to win? No.

And in additional skils... well... I don't think they are needed.

Sakura has no summon at that point (or at least we don't know about it) - Naruto has Gamabunta.

For Sakura to heal herself, it's an activity, Naruto does it subconsciously.

Sakura can get out of genjutsu (that Naruto doesn't use), but we have never seen her catch anyone into one.

So we don't even need to get to Naruto vs Sasuke fight to know that Sakura is out.

All we can count on is that she will somehow outsmart him or that Naruto out for blood is still Nauto so he will just stop himself or try talk no justsu, but in fight outside od emotions? NO WAY.

Don't get me wrong, she is strong, but Naruto is her worst opponent. She has more of a chance with people stronger than this Naruto, and some people weaker than her have more of a chance with him, but Narutos abilities are just canceling her out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope that it answered your question - Sakura would be dead.

It is sad, but unfortunately, true 🤷‍♀️

[buckybarnesss]

As someone that has figured out how power transfers on the show, can you explain why Derek's alpha spark could withstand resurrecting Peter but couldn't withstand healing Cora's magical mistletoe poisoning?

On paper I absolutely love what the sacrifice says about Derek and his capacity for love but on the actual screen I can't see past how slapdash all the stuff with the three Hales in Alpha Pack and Lunar Eclipse feel. I genuinely laugh every time I watch Lunar Eclipse at how jarring it is to go from the intricate dream sequence/ice bath vision sequence then cut to Cora awkwardly feeding Derek water on the loft floor and kinda sort almost supporting his head (when he's apparently been out as many hours as the others were in their ice bath comas?).

This is actually something I'm going into detail with in my meta and let me tell you it's one thing to understand it but another thing entirely to actually explain it coherently with words.

I'll try to give the main gist of what I believe is happening.

Firstly, Peter is lying to Cora and Stiles in Visionary. Arbitrary morality has nothing to do with how power transfers within the Teen Wolf universe. Instead, listen to what Duecalion says to Theo later in season 5. He explains the underlying principal of every instance of power stealing we see in universe.

"That's the secret to taking power. Pain. Take their pain, take their life, take their power. It's all or nothing. You take until there's nothing more to give. That's where you find the spark of power. and then, you take that as well. Pain, life, power. In that order and only that order."

Duecalion isn't lying to Theo. Theo is able to use this advice to take Josh and Tracy's powers to make himself stronger. He just wasn't a match for Sebastian Valet because the Beast is way more powerful and very Other compared to normal werewolves.

We even see Duecalion do this in Visionary itself when he kills Marco.

Derek's eyes change not because he killed an innocent person. His eyes changed due to him taking on a significant amount of Paige's pain and killing her. The overflow of supernatural energy that her body was rejecting went to him.

Energy cannot be created nor destroyed. That remains fundamental in the Teen Wolf universe. Deaton even discusses that while the Dread Doctors found work arounds to the usual laws that govern the supernatural they couldn't break the law of conservation of energy.

There is power in death and power in taking a life. We see variations on this throughout the show. The Nogitsune feeds off pain and we see it do this to Scott. Jennifer is able to gain power by doing ritual sacrifices and Peter takes that power when he kills her which is why he's more powerful in season 4. It's how Peter gained Laura's alpha spark and how Derek did the same to Peter.

Peter did almost kill Derek during his resurrection ritual. We see him in what looks like the Bardo white room like we see later in season 3 and Deaton calls him back.

Sparks act a bit like batteries. They can recharge so long as you don't drain them fully. Peter had the additional help of a Banshee.

When Peter returned he was almost weaker than an omega but he was alive.

So knowing all this why does Derek lose his Alpha spark entirely?

Derek's aware if he goes to far he could die or kill Cora even. Peter reinforces what Duecalion says when he tells us in Alpha Pact:

"It's the spark of power that makes you an Alpha. When you take her pain she draws on the power that provides you with those special gifts"

Again. It's about the pain.

Derek is making a sacrifice of power. He's drawing Cora's pain as she hovers near death while she draws on his power and life to heal. She takes the excess power that makes him an Alpha.

She doesn't take enough that it makes her more powerful but takes enough that it heals her. He loses enough that he becomes a Beta again. Between them they consumed the Alpha spark.

It's all about the pain.

[indigos-shits-and-giggles]

Shiny from Moana is so Neptune coded actually, ESPECIALLY in timelines where he's ascended to their Lord in Black form, Starry (or, A'stertunus, if you want to be extra formal). And, interestingly, I think this particular song would be very interesting if it's centered around Starry singing to Hannah.

Now, the first verse seems to be mainly Starry singing about "hey look how cool and pretty I am, I'm a fucking immortal cat god and you're just mortal you fucking loser," and of course the "did your granny say listen to your heart / be who you are on the inside / I need three words to tear her argument apart / your granny LIED" is Starry mocking the things Webby might've told Hannah growing up. Y'know, classic "Webby is a stupid bitch" stuff. But, what these lines really are is the start of the Neptune/Starry and Hannah parallels, yippee!

While most of the song goes about as you'd expect, with Starry singing a cool and awesome song while bragging about how cool and awesome hy is, as Hannah just... Tries to survive, where it REALLY gets juicy is the "Far from the ones who abandoned you" bit where in the original song it's Tamatoa making fun of Maui's backstory and how weak that makes him, here that same part is recontextualized as Starry seeing a reflection of himself in Hannah and HATING IT.

Here's a lyric by lyric breakdown of the parallels so it can fully understand how GENIUS they are.

"Far from the ones who abandoned you / chasing the love of these humans who made you feel wanted."

At first glance, these lines are simply Starry mocking Hannah for their fraught relationship with both their parents, with an absent father and a neglectful, abusive mother, and how that drove them to follow Webby. However, if you know anything about Neptune's backstory, this is strikingly similar to THEIR reason for worshipping Pokey, becoming his adopted son, and in timelines where hy's ascended to his Lord in Black form as Starry, EVEN BECAME A GOD AT ALL. Neptune had a similarly fraught relationship with both his parents, where they were borderline neglectful to them, only caring enough to keep hymn fed, watered, and sheltered, leaving him constantly starved for some form of attention, affection, or a scrap of parental approval. And, just like Hannah, this drove Neptune into the waiting arms of an eldritch god, though instead of the benevolent Queen in White, Webby, it was the most uncompromising of her brothers, Pokotho, the Singular Voice himself.

"You tried to be tough / but your armor's just not hard enough."

This line, in this case, gives away Neptune/Starry's underlying feelings towards Hannah. Again, they realize how similar they are, how they were taken in by eldritch paternal figures for similar reasons, and hy HATES it. In his mind, this just means they have to work to prove hy's BETTER than Hannah somehow, that he's stronger, tougher, and they didn't get where hy was just by being Pokey's son. Acknowledging their similarities would mean acknowledging all his deep rooted issues with their parents, hymns need for approval, and shockingly low self worth, and he doesn't want to do that because that would mean (to Starry, at least), acknowledging hy's weak. So, his goading and mocking of Hannah and how they're supposedly weaker than them is, in reality, hymn grasping at straws, trying to find something that sets him apart from Hannah, makes them better and still worthwhile.

It's honestly kind of depressing, if you think of it. What with all their similarities, Neptune and Hannah might have had an opportunity to become friends once upon a time if Neptune just got a bit of therapy, but because of hymns inferiority complex and fear of not being "good enough" for Pokey, for ANYONE, it's these same similarities that drive them further apart.

[bug-the-chicken-nug]

Thinking about like

An Adrien-focused MLB AU that works like a more "shonen-esque" magical girl show, basically. And also Adrien is like. Either bigender or a full on trans girl in this AU, because I've been projecting way too hard.

Marinette and Adrien are weaker than canon at first, and have to actually set aside time to train and all that, but in exchange, will be able to get much stronger and more versatile without having to rely on situational powerups

Like at first Marinette doesn't even have Lucky Charm, all she can do is see ways to use what's already around her, and not as quickly or creatively, either.

Adrien doesn't even have a true Cataclysm right away, and all Proto-Cataclysm does is like, expose/highlight weak spots.

There's a limit, albeit steadily increasing, to what Marinette can actually fix after a battle is over.

The saving grace is that Hawkmoth is also weaker at first, and in fact pushing himself to even be as strong as he already is, with his powers only temporarily able to restore his strength... And even then, it takes everything he has just to stand there and monitor an Akuma.

Causing Gabriel to at first be sick and weak all the time, which in turn is what pushes Adrien to try so hard to improve and innovate in this AU, and gives him all the more reason to constantly make excuses for Gabriel.

And I imagine that all the "themed", intelligent Akumatized people are like, actually a "2.0" creation in this AU, the first Akuma victims he creates are just like, people turned into directionless shadowy monsters that can't think critically and don't have powers beyond "strong and tough", making them predictable.

I also want to like just straight up replace the concept of letting people borrow Miraculouses with a power system/group of people i call the Torn:

Basically, a remnant of Hawkmoth's power, "trapped" within a victim who has strong, chronic negative emotions, well beyond just the scope of what's allowed them to be Akumatized. Emotions so strong that the butterfly can't be fully "severed" from them.

So, it gets its name from the fact that victims can be initially identified by the butterfly failing to leave them fully intact- a part of it stuck with them instead.

Hawkmoth himself actually dislikes it when this happens, as the Torn are no longer actually under his control. They no longer need him to use their powers.

Rather, their powers typically become markedly weaker. Still based on personality and emotion, but their emotional energy is converted into magical power much less efficiently. In practice, this makes them either normal people with a couple of weak, subtle powers, or people who build up their energy over time and periodically burn it all at once, effectively meaning that they have temporary transformations too.

Torn who push themselves too far or get too stressed can "relapse", suddenly spiking back to their original, long lasting power levels, or perhaps even beyond... At a cost.

Not only do their become reckless and unruly, but this power spike doesn't last forever, or come out of nowhere.

If they're not calmed, they're just... Gone.

Empty husks.

Used themselves up.

This creates a group that can simultaneously have both good and bad, desirable and undesirable people in it, creating both obstacles and new opportunities for the characters, and well as basically being an infinite well of sweet, sweet, delicious angst.

And like the main characters, the Torn can also steadily become stronger over time, and learn to store, convert, and release their emotional energy in safer, more efficient ways.

I don't do this to spite the Kwami Loaning idea, but just because I feel like this does more in service of making the AU "shonen-esque" in conjunction with its magical girl vibes.

[deltastra]

My Thoughts on Tower of God Season 2 Episode 2

So, premiere was great! Now it's time for a slower episode!

WEBTOON SPOILERS WAS TEASED BUT NOT OUTRIGHT STATED

Rating: 8/10

Summary: Music was great! Not much happened as it is meant to be the calm before the storm, but it was still enjoyable! I was a little disappointed over some of the scenes that were skipped but it's not a huge deal-breaker for me.

Always loved Rachel's story to Bam. Because it shows how different they are. Bam finds the story sad, but Rachel sees it as a happy one.

HAHA MY FAV SCENE IS ANIMATED NOW YAY! THIS WAS SO FUNNY.

This scene was always so cute! Miseng giving the "monster" some chocolate, and the "monster" actually accepting it politely. But...i thought she gave chips in the webtoon??? I dont know. I wonder if Viole thought of Rak when he saw that chocolate bar.

Oof I forgot that Prince was a jerk back then

WELL PUT HIM IN THE RING WITH HATZ AGAIN I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THAT. Also it's so cool to see Hatz's name be held with such honour. Team Shibisu really made a name for themselves!

THE GOAT IS HEREEEEEEEEE. Also perfect voice for him! Exactly how I pictured it!

Man they nailed the feeling of dread they're all having over geting so low. I legit felt so sorry for them despite knowing what happens.

ABSOLUTE QUEEN I LOVE HER SIU I BEG OF YOU BRING HER BACK IN THE WEBTOON PLEASE I WANNA SEE HER AGAIINNNN

Hehehe He loves his fried chicken!

And its finally here! The OST was perfect for the build up. Viole just lightly touched it without making a sound and he instantly went to 1st place! Though, i remember Love doing the test as well and still scoring higher, showing that Rankers are still stronger than Viole and forshadowin of what's to come. I wish they kept that in.

I felt a bit sad seeing some anime-onlies finding this scene cringe. But honestly? I love it. Because it shows how unlike most of them, Wagnan KNOWS he's weaker. He KNOWS he needs someone to help him. And he NEEDS to climb the tower no matter what. So he is going to try his absolute hardest to be picked, even if he has to humiliate himself. That's dedication. Usually other stories would show these types of people as pathetic so it makes sense that people found this scene pathetic as well. Just wanted to provide my thoughts on this scene and why I love it so much. Oh and I love how the only people that begged were the ones who NEEDS to climb the tower no matter what.

:(((((((((((((((((((((( Poor Bam.

No thoughts I just love every scene Yihwa is in

BAHAHAHAHA IM SO GLAD THEY AT LEAST KEPT THIS SCENE IN IT WAS SO FUNNY!! (Also Yihwa's VA absolute kills this role I love her performance)

Hmm they skipped the whole bath scene. Tragic but given the amount of episodes for this cour, makes sense.

Honestly looking back at this scene, I didn't realise that it also shows that Viole's doesn't care about eliminating Jahad and the Ten Great Families. If he did, Wagnan would've been so screwed. But he just got his ring back without any further questioning.

Okayyy so that's all I have to say about episode 2. Sorry that I don't have much thoughts about this episode. It was mostly talking. But now, I am caught up with the episodes I have already watched! Episode 3's post will be my most initial thoughts as I will be watching while writing my thoughts!

[fave-fight]

ROUND 1, MATCH 36

NO MAGIC, POWERS, OR WEAPONS

Ace Trappola:

“honestly this fuckin guy could not win in a fist fight he would TRY and then get his ass beat in 2 seconds unless its someone of equal strength as him and then it's just a battle of endurance. of which he does not have much of. he usually relies on his magic to get through battle conflicts but even then that's also not very good and since he isn't able to use magic his chances of winning a fight are kind of down the drain. UNLESS he tries to do a distraction thing with magic tricks and run away which he probably would if he's not pissed off at the person he's fighting. all about the misdirection babey”

“Gonna be honest: I don't actually expect this guy to win the entire bracket. But I do expect him to get decently far - maybe somewhere in the middle. He doesn't have any official training, but he's still strong and decently athletic enough (and has canonically threw good punches) to defeat the weaker characters in the bracket. Ace is smart enough to trick the dumber physically stronger opponents, but it's also possible to get HIM angry enough to make reckless decisions. (Saw someone else submitted him and thought, "why not")”

“He has so much confidence in himself and yet keeps getting his ass beat. He could probably take down some people with pure rage and 15-year-old-ness though”

Kanade Yoisaki:

“She can't even leave the house without almost passing out, eats nothing but instant ramen, and sleeps about once a week”

“she is a wet rag of a girl but i think if she had enough rage she could topple anyone. plus anyone would feel bad about attacking her”

“She's gonna lose SO. BAD. Girlie pop CANONICALLY can't take a five minute walk without fucking disintegrating ohhhh my god no matter who she's put against she'll end up as a smear on the pavement... i love her.”

“Kanade should lose every fight. She has canonically fainted because she forgets to eat for too long, passes out on her desk instead of going to bed, hates the sunlight, she only eats instant noodles, and she gets winded after walking one block. She's from a rhythm game and they can't animate any songs that are too up-tempo with her in them because it's out of character for her to dance that energetically. She's so frail she looks like a breeze would blow her over.”