#This is something that should be listened to. We need to overhaul how our society functions.

[nicklloydnow]

“In the workaday world, complainers will not go far. When someone asks how you are doing, you had better be wise enough to reply, “I can't complain." If you do complain, even justifiably, people will stop asking how you are doing. Complaining will not help you succeed and influence people. You can complain to your physician or psychiatrist because they are paid to hear you complain. But you cannot complain to your boss or your friends, if you have any. You will soon be dismissed from your job and dropped from the social register. Then you will be left alone with your complaints and no one to listen to them. Perhaps then the message will sink into your head: If you do not feel good enough for long enough, you should act as if you do and even think as if you do. That is the way to get yourself to feel good enough for long enough and stop you from complaining for good, as any self-improvement book can affirm. But should you not improve, someone must assume the blame. And that someone will be you. This is monumentally so if you are a pessimist or a depressive. Should you conclude that life is obiectionable or that nothing matters - do not waste our time with your nonsense. We are on our way to the future, and the philosophically disheartening or the emotionally impaired are not going to hinder our progress. If you cannot say something positive, or at least equivocal, keep it to yourself. Pessimists and depressives need not apply for a position in the enterprise of life. You have two choices: Start thinking the way God and your society want you to think or be forsaken by all. The decision is yours, since you are a free agent who can choose to rejoin our fabricated world or stubbornly insist on . . . what? That we should mollycoddle non-positive thinkers like you or rethink how the whole world transacts its business? That we should start over from scratch? Or that we should go extinct? Try to be realistic. We did the best we could with the tools we had. After all, we are only human, as we like to say. Our world may not be in accord with nature's way, but it did develop organically according to our consciousness, which delivered us to a lofty prominence over the Creation. The whole thing just took on a life of its own, and nothing is going to stop it anytime soon. There can be no starting over and no going back. No major readjustments are up for a vote. And no melancholic head-case is going to bad-mouth our catastrophe. The universe was created by the Creator, damn it. We live in a country we love and that loves us back. We have families and friends and jobs that make it all worthwhile. We are some-bodies, not a bunch of nobodies without names or numbers or retirement plans. None of this is going to be overhauled by a thought criminal who contends that the world is not double-plusgood and never will be. Our lives may not be unflawed - that would deny us a better future to work toward - but if this charade is good enough for us, then it should be good enough for you. So if you cannot get your mind right, try walking away. You will find no place to go and no one who will have you. You will find only the same old trap the world over. Lighten up or leave us alone. You will never get us to give up our hopes. You will never get us to wake up from our dreams. We are not contradictory beings whose continuance only worsens our plight as mutants who embody the contorted logic of a paradox. Such opinions will not be accredited by institutions of authority or by the middling run of humanity. To lay it on the line, whatever thoughts may enter your chemically imbalanced brain are invalid, inauthentic, or whatever dismissive term we care to hang on you, who are only "one of those people." So start pretending that you feel good enough for long enough, stop your complaining, and get back in line. If you are not as strong as Samson - that no-good suicide and slaughterer of Philistines - then get loaded to the gills and return to the trap. Keep your medicine cabinet and your liquor cabinet well stocked, just like the rest of us.

(there is no break here in the original text, but Tumblr said the passage was too long so…)

Come on and join the party. No pessimists or depressives invited. Do you think we are morons? We know all about those complaints of yours. The only difference is that we have sense enough and feel good enough for long enough not to speak of them. Keep your powder dry and your brains blocked. Our shibboleth: "Up the Conspiracy and down with Consciousness."” (pages 172 - 174)

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 314: ...Or You Live Long Enough to See Yourself Become the Villain

Previously on BnHA: Some random assholes were all “let’s throw exploding spears at All Might and see if it activates his Conqueror’s Haki” and SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKERS, IT DID!! Elsewhere, Lady Nagant confusingly tried to capture Deku alive by shooting him in the stomach, but to be fair I guess that’s what happens when you send an assassin to do a bounty hunter’s job, so yeah. Deku was all “ouch”, and then because this is a shounen he basically just straight up forgot about it, and did a big fancy Smokescreen thing, and then activated his mildly incomprehensible new ki-blasting quirk which he got from the Third. En and the Third were all “hey Deku maybe let’s not just impulsively activate all this shit in the heat of battle when you don’t know how to use it yet and you’re already injured,” and Deku was all “thanks for the quirks guys but I’ll take it from here” and snuck up on Nagant and grabbed her arm and so now what’s going to happen I wonder.

Today on BnHA: Nagant is all “[shoots Deku again]” because of course she is lol. Deku is all “tell me about AFO!” and Nagant is all “why would I tell you anything?” and then proceeds to tell him her entire life story which is FILLED WITH SO MUCH MURDER, YOU GUYS. Holy shit. So basically she was an assassin for the HPSC, which we already knew, but somehow it’s one thing to know that, and another to actually see her running around capping dudes in the forehead and being covered in more blood than the elevator from The Shining. Anyway, so you’ll never believe it, but all that murder had a negative impact on her psychologically, and eventually led her to question everything she believed about hero society, and so she killed her creepy boss and was promptly sent to Tartarus. This extremely fun chapter ends with Overhaul showing up all “HI, HELLO, I’M STILL HERE”, because for some reason he is still here. Why are you still here, Overhaul.

“the beautiful Lady Nagant” oh you know your audience don’t you Horikoshi

well all right then! so I’m guessing this means that she is not, in fact, going to roll over and die just because Deku’s out here all “GOT YA!” like they’re playing a game or tag or something. ffff may the manga gods have mercy on our young suicidal protagonist

lmao so Deku is all “GOD I’M SO SMART, WHAT A GOOD STRATEGY I HAD, CAPITOL JOB THERE OL’ CHAP, CAPITOL” and lol, okay. I mean, it was a good plan though. but I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop here

“I’ll make you give me information on All for One” well there you go, lol. Deku Angst arc still fully engaged. still no light in his eyes either of course. just a lil chaotic ball of sleep deprivation and rage

lol, fucking THANK YOU though

oh my god what the hell did she do to him lol

did she shoot him with her elbow??? fucking look at this?? THIS IS WHY WE LISTEN TO HAWKS oh my god Deku are you dead

WHAT’S HAPPENING, IS THIS GOOD OR BAD, WHO’S WINNING

things that I wish I could tell from this panel which I unfortunately cannot tell

did she stab him or shoot him?? can you imagine if it was the former lol. why does Horikoshi keep stabbing all my kids. look Kacchan now the two of you can match

did she actually hit him or did he get away??

or did she hit him and then he jumped away?? just, what

well anyway, so now Deku is asking her why she sided with AFO, but he seems a lot more pissed off than when he was interrogating Muscular, though. probably because she shot him three times. fair enough

oh my god

does Lady have a blog here on tumblr dot com?? -- does Horikoshi have a blog here on tumblr motherfucking dot com?? why do I suddenly feel like this man is out here sneakily reading up on all our discourse

oh my god Deku it’s almost like getting up close and personal with someone who can shoot custom bullets from any distance and any position with deadly accuracy was a terrible fucking idea

IF ONLY SOMEONE HAD WARNED YOU NOT TO ENGAGE WITH HER AT ALL COSTS. IF ONLY SOMEONE HAD HAD THE FORESIGHT TO DO THAT sob. can you imagine how much shorter this series would be if characters actually listened to Hawks. Hawks, and Momo. why do we even let anyone else run the show ever

OH MY GOD

DEKU, RUN

OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING

this looks a lot like what happens to me whenever I play One’s Justice. those fucking combo attacks that you can’t fucking escape from and so your character just has to stand there getting their ass whalloped repeatedly while you wonder why you paid $40 for this

but anyways though. so Lady who did you kill?? I bet they deserved it, don’t worry I forgive you

(ETA: ANYWAY SO FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT LADY NAGANT DID NOTHING WRONG EVER IN HER ENTIRE LIFE. aside from murdering all those innocent people and shit. but there were CIRCUMSTANCES, and THEY WERE EXTENUATING, OKAY.)

-- holy shit

looks like the HPSC arc is back on the menu boys

so are we about to learn that the HPSC was going full Hydra on people’s asses? secretly dispatching anyone they deemed a threat to society?? “taken care of” as in you fucking shot them??

so then was the “hero” she killed actually one of the guys who was giving or carrying out these orders?? holy shit Lady, up until now I’ve mainly just been stanning you for your flawless eyebrow game and metal af quirk, but this shit could actually get real very quickly, and I am prepared to genuinely and sincerely love the shit out of you depending on what we learn next about your backstory

oh my god?!?

so wait, hold up. am I reading this right?? basically the HPSC started murdering vigilantes because they were worried they were gaining too much of the public’s favor?? holy fucking shit???

oh my GOD oh my god

“it’s been a while since I scarred you all with the dead dog and the graphic slaughter of an entire innocent family, huh,” Horikoshi says thoughtfully. “anyway so what do you all think of my new creation, the Spaghetti Bullet.” well, Horikoshi, so you know that squished-up face that Kermit the Frog makes sometimes? yeah. that’s what I think, if you must know lol

holy hell the juxtaposition

I’m actually kind of surprised to learn she had a lot of fans? what with her M.O., I was expecting her to have been an underground hero like Aizawa, but apparently not? then again I still have absolutely no idea how any of that works. I really need to read Vigilantes already

oh snap

nothing like a sweet dose of assassin trauma to finally round out our BnHA Trauma Bingo!! well done guys, we finally collected all of the traumas! hooray!

noooo Ladyyyyyyy

holy shit what a fucking chapter. like, this man promised us an assassin, and went and fucking delivered. I was not expecting it to be this dark, lol, but holy shit I am here for it

you know, at some point you have to start questioning the logistics of this, though

I mean, how do I put this... her quirk isn’t exactly subtle. that murder scene from a few pages back looked like the first season of Dexter for fuck’s sake, that’s not exactly “disappearing” people now is it?? and I mean, her bullets are literally made from her own fucking hair; it seems like it would be impossible not to leave any evidence behind. did no one start to wonder who the fuck was going around murdering all these people? or did the people who asked too many questions wind up getting conveniently “disappeared” themselves??

and hey, speaking of asking too many questions

holy shit is he blackmailing her??!? or no, wait -- what the hell is he reaching for in his pocket boy you better not

(ETA: what exactly was this man expecting fdslkjd. “uh oh my unstoppable hair trigger assassin who is literally always armed is asking questions, better announce that I am going to shoot her and then reach into my pocket veeeeeery slowly while she stands there all of two feet away.” how did this guy ever function as the head of a shadow government with these decision-making skills, I’m genuinely baffled.)

OH MY GOD LADY YES

this. right here. is why “run the fuck away” was damn good solid fucking advice. oh shit. but my god did this dude have it coming

so wait lol has she just been narrating all of this out loud to Deku this entire time

okay but can we just stop for a moment and appreciate the fact that they’re having this deep conversation about the dark secrets of hero society right in the middle of their intense mid-air sniper free-for-all lol

holy shit you guys, Nagant’s the one that should have made the tell-all video. I mean, no offense to you, Dabi, I’m sure you worked very hard on your video and did a ton of crunches every day so that you would look good with your shirt off while you told the world all about how your dad was a jerk. but seriously...

this is already like 100x more convincing than what he put out. also, gasp, is it another flashback

yes it is oh my gosh

so the HPSC Chairladyperson whom ReDestro killed used to be this guy’s direct subordinate, huh? I wonder if she kept the whole assassin program going after she took over. can’t say I was feeling any particular kind of grieving way about her death before, but certainly not now lol

but unfortunately Nagant has finally lost me at the same place where all of the villains inevitably do, which is to say when they somehow make the dubious mental leap from “society sucks and is bad” to “let’s just be openly fucking evil lol, worth a shot.” because when heroes murder innocent people and cover it up, that’s obviously bad (and I mean, it absolutely fucking is lol, don’t get me wrong); but when villains murder innocent people straight up out in the open without giving a fuck, they’re righteous revolutionaries? just -- is there really no non-murdery middle ground here?? I guess that’s what Deku and co. are for, hopefully

anyways oh shit Deku seems to have spotted something?? and he’s doing something weird with Blackwhip what

oh, he spotted her, I guess

lmaooooo

new favorite Deku panel right here. a masterpiece

oh my god you guys our little boy is starting to grow up before our eyes

you love to see it. and you can tell with those elipses that he’s gearing up to say something really cool and determined and badass like the shounen protag he is, yes please, Deku ilu so much please do your thing

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

IS THAT A TEENY TINY LIL EYE SPARKLE THERE OMG. still not anywhere close to his usual standard, but that’s some clear resolve there in his eyes there at long last! it always shines the most clearly when he’s being true to himself and his ideals, so I love that it finally shows up again here, when he’s reaffirming his resolve to help others no matter what

uh oh so what’s Lady going to do now

is it time for a trump card?? kinda sounding like it’s time for a trump card

???

I lied btw, this is my new favorite Deku panel. but anyways what is she up to now lol

ohhhhhh, lol

why does she seem shocked, lol. here I thought this was part of her plan, but apparently she forgot all about ol’ “Look Ma, No Hands” back up there

and so I guess that’s it for this week! so we’ve learned basically everything now about Lady and her quirk and her history with the HPSC and why she agreed to work for AFO. pretty much the only question that still remains is why the hell she decided to drag this asshole along for the ride! because I still cannot figure that out dsklkjlkf

(ETA: actually now I’m kind of wondering if they maybe have some past connection we don’t know about yet. when exactly was Nagant sent to Tartarus? is it possible she was ordered to track down and kill Overhaul at some point before that, but never got around to it? or something else along those lines? idk but now I’m curious.)

anyways Deku, I know that your empathy has no bounds and that you’re on a “saving villains” kick right now, and good on you... but also, if you decide to just like, skip all of that shit just this once, absolutely no one will hold it against you, I’m just saying. just, all I’m asking here is maybe let’s think twice before we start trying to reform guys who imprison and torture little girls for profit. I think maybe that’s a good place to draw the line. next week is going to be a very interesting chapter lol

[greenhappyseed]

BnHA Ch 316 - Things I noticed and comparisons

If the last chapter was AFO Rising, this one formally introduces us to Great Explosion Murder Devil AFO. Of course, it’s not new that AFO loves explosions. His attack on Nana involved an explosion and he used a big BOOM twice during Kamino; once at the beginning and once mid-fight to separate All Might from Best Jeanist, Kamui Woods, Mt Lady, and Endeavor (panels below). You know, the pros who were “easing [All Might’s] burden” and are now there for Deku.

We open the chapter with Endeavor saying he “got word from All Might,” which is weird phrasing because All Might clearly called, so I suppose the Top 3 hero brain trust sent him to voicemail. Also, Deku must be very confused about how All Might knew about Nagant and Overhaul. (And Deku doesn’t know All Might was attacked!!) But really, take a close look at this panel because I have NO idea what sequence of events lead to this image. I think Endeavor was trying to fly while carrying Hawks, and then when Hawks saw Nagant he yeeted himself towards her, falling with style until he realized those nubby wings couldn’t support them both. Plus, tiny Hawks looks like a scarecrow. Bones should have fun animating this someday.

Serious question time: Is Nagant a hero, as Hawks says? (Deku says she has the soul of a hero but doesn’t say she IS a hero.) “Hero” was once her job title, sure. But she wasn’t a “saving” hero — she murdered innocent people to protect the image of “heroes.” Then she became disillusioned with murdering and murdered the HPSC president so she wouldn’t have to murder anymore. Later, at some point while in Tartarus, she listened to AFO’s Caged Wisdom video series and believed he could solve society’s problems. Upon jailbreak she agreed to assault and kidnap a teenager so AFO could presumably torture him. (Whatever AFO wants with the kid, she had to know it wasn’t good.)

While Izuku faux 100%ed her into redemption, has she ever been a real “hero”? I think the answer is no, and what we are seeing is Hawks projecting because he wants to reassure himself that HE is a hero. He is an optimist. He is a good person, and he was just used by some bad people….right? Like how he was ordered to kill Twice, right????

It sure seems like the heroes are trying HARD to rally behind Nagant even when, objectively, she’s never been much of a hero. I can’t tell if we are supposed to cheer Deku and Hawks for giving a “villain traitor hero” a chance to do some good or if we’re supposed to see this as an example of heroes rallying around their own no matter how corrupt. I guess the real test is, would Deku and Hawks say the same things about a heroic soul to someone from the League of Villains?

Let’s get Overhaul over with. The official translation is far better than the leak summaries. It’s clear Deku isn’t going to take Overhaul’s bullshit AND won’t allow Overhaul to get anywhere near Eri. Instead, he says IF Overhaul will direct his “energy” towards saying sorry to Eri, he’ll fulfill Nagant’s “deal.” In other words, on our villain spectrum, if Muscular was unrepentant and deserved to be one-shotted, Overhaul shows he’s CAPABLE of remorse —but he doesn’t direct that towards all of his victims. He’s selectively repentant, so he doesn’t get full redemption, only the most base level of politeness required by society (that is, fulfilling a contract). In fact, note the repeated “contract” and “deal” language used for AFO/Nagant and the “subcontract” between Nagant/Overhaul. Contracts are a highly literal, unemotional type of basic trust transaction necessary for society to operate. It’s not about redemption or ideals or heroism; it’s “I give you x and you give me y” and we are both reliable.

Dadmight and Hercules are BACK baby! (Does All Might even tell anyone he was assaulted? Is HE okay?) Is he allowed to interact with anyone in this story anymore??) Top panel below is from 316; after that is one from 313 and below that is 3 pics of the Jeanistmobile with 1 of Hercules on the bottom right. Speaking of which, where the hell is Jeanist? Did Hawks stuff him inside a bag again?

Sorry Dadmight, but Deku’s not okay (TALK TO HIM, ghkhkjrjw). He’s badly injured and AFO is after his soul, which has caused badasses like Nagant to crack wide open. (Deku says Nagant has the soul of a hero in the last chapter, but here she says her soul is worn out. Chasing AFO takes a heavy toll.) Even so, look how Deku is doing his best, sitting tenderly by Nagant’s side and keeping his arm outstretched to her. This kid, indeed.

Apparently we just timeskip to everyone healed and ready to storm the mansion (sigh). Not that I need more hospital scenes, but it feels so rushed. Deku going with the Top 3 heroes and the Lurkers into a mansion to fight AFO should be an epic “I am here” moment. But there’s no moment for Deku to reflect — given the dire circumstances he’s just charging ahead and not listening to Endeavor’s warnings. Oh, and his gauntlet is still broken from the Nagant fight so there should be consequences? Maybe? At least (1) we found Jeanist so he can join the mansion raid; and (2) it seems Hawks (and All Might? Unclear!) are in a separate location, keeping in touch via radio comms.

Oooooo, AFO turning All Might’s “your turn” line towards Deku in Chapter 94 and now again in 316 before making mansion go boom. Except in 94, we all thought he meant the heroes vs villains battle passed to the next generation. Nope! AFO said in 296 that its HIS turn now, and his turn will never end, so “your” turn means you’re his latest plaything to torment.

Finally, I love how AFO squeezed in an insult to All Might, calling him an oaf. I mean, he IS an oaf, but that’s part of his charm. Oh, and I don’t believe for a second that AFO has actually lost interest in tormenting anyone, especially All Might. We KNOW how AFO holds on to petty grudges (he says so himself!).

I’m assuming the pros or a new quirk takes care of the boom, so tune in next week for more of Deku’s monster villain hunt! (If we didn’t get reunited with the hospital bed this week, I can’t imagine we will next week.) AFO now has an army or something, so in addition to Stain we could have more Nagant-style fights with brand new, completely disposable baddies! (I’m hoping not, and that AFO’s army is like Thanos’s random alien army in Avengers: Endgame, but we will see!)

[sarahjtv]

BNHA Chapter 312 Spoiler Analysis: Hero Turned Assassin

It’s Friday, my dudes!  That means the leaks for the new chapter is out!  This time, we’re focusing on our new lady assassin villain who we ended with last week.  Ngl, I love her design and concept.  I actually wouldn’t mind if she stepped on me 😳  All that aside, this was a damn good chapter, but I really hope Deku’s going to be ok taking her on by himself:

Alright, the chapter starts off with a little flashback of Hawks talking to Deku as Deku is suiting up to leave Central hospital.  Hawks reassures Deku that he should be ok from AFO and Shigaraki for now since they aren’t at full power yet.  Their best option would be to take Deku in alive rather than dead.  Hawks can only think of one person who might be capable of capturing Deku: the assassin woman.  Turns out, that woman was his senpai back at the Hero Safety Commision and she’s dangerous.

So, as far as we know, Deku’s most likely going to live several more days even if he does get captured.  However, he’s being hunted down by a highly skilled assassin who was also Hawk’s senpai back in the day.  The fact that Hawks of all people is warning Deku to run away from her if he can say something about her skills.  I can only guess how good her skills are, but I’d say they’re probably somewhere in the S-tier range if Hawks is afraid of her.

The next couple of pages help properly introduce our new villain: Lady Nagant!  A few points here: 1. The bullet is made from her hair which is colored dark blue and pink.  I personally love those two colors, so I’m glad to see that color scheme used on her.  Also hair bullets is such a great concept, 2. That rifle is definitely coming from her elbow which she can bring out and retract at will, which is badass as hell, 3. I looked up the word “Nagant” and it’s actually type of (Russian?) gun that ranges from a 7-shot revolver to a sniper rifle, so that’s a good Villain name for her, 4. She was a former hero under the Safety Commision who decided to go to the dark side for some reason.  Like, did she see the bad side of Hero Society and that caused her to change?  Did she see something in Villainy that caused her to change her POV?  I want to know what?, 5. Again, love her design like hoo boy, Horikoshi snapped with her. 

So, Deku’s on the run from her and he is completely on his own now that his phone is broken.  He doesn’t even know what happened to All Might 😭!  He’s also afraid that All Might and Hawks will be targeted by her.  Deku’s debating wheaher he should run or face Nagant face on.  With someone like Muscular, I wasn’t worried about Deku because he’s not only improved a lot since last time, but he’s taken on Muscular before so he knew what he was fighting.  But, this is a brand-new villain.  Not much is known about her and Deku has never fought her before.  I’d say run, but someone has to take her out.  Maybe Hawks will swoop in and have a reunion with his senpai.  Though, he doesn’t have wings now, so I’m not sure what he can really do against her besides have a chat…

And Deku is shot!  Not fatally thank god, but he did get hit.  Turns out Lady Nagant can actually curve her shots.  Even Deku’s Danger Sense couldn’t detect it in time good lord.  So she can just straight up made bullets that can curve too that is absolutely insane.  Any marksman would be jealous of her.  

Fun Fact of the Day: Based on Horikoshi-sensei’s comment of the week, Lady Nagant and her curve bullet are actually based off the 2008 film Wanted staring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie (he even thanked Ms. Jolie!)!  I decided to IMDB the film to see if I remembered it and it turns out that I have actually seen a little of it before.  You know that gif of McAvoy smacking Chris Pratt’s face with a keyboard and the loose keys spell out “Fuck You”?  Yeah, that’s from Wanted.  Also, the curved bullet Horikoshi is talking about is when Jolie manages to “curve” a bullet enough to kill a group of assassins who were standing in a circle.  Look, I don’t know if physics can actually make that work in real life, but I’ll be damned if that doesn’t sound badass.

Back to the story, we have a bit of flashback to an old TV special that interviewed 100 active Noteworthy Heroes.  The 25th Pro Hero being interview is none other than Snipe, one of UA’s teachers!  It’s been a hot couple of years since we’ve seen him around.  Actually, we don’t even know if he’s alive…  Let’s assume he is and continue with the story.

Anyway, Snipe was having some good friendly competition in the Long-Range sniping with Lady Nagant back in the day.  He explains while his Quirk, “Homing” allows him to lock-on to anyone within a 600 Meter range, he can’t choose where his attack hits and the hit isn’t that powerful (Shigaraki could’ve actually gotten killed back in the USJ if Snipe wasn’t careful enough damn).  Lady Nagant, on the other hand, has a range of 3 Kilometers with insane accuracy.  I did some quick calculations and it turns out that 3KM = 3,000M!  That’s 5 times farther than what Snipe can do.  That is absolutely nuts!

Lady Nagant’s Quirk is called “Rifle”!  Turns out that the secret lies in her bullets made out of hair.  When she mixes her duel colored hair, it works like epoxy putty.  Epoxy putty is a substance that hardens over time.  It’s normally used as a seal for cracks and holes, and it’s both highly-resistant and unshrinkable when hardened.  So, when Lady Nagant pulls strands out of her hair to mix and mould them, she can harden that hair into a bullet which explains the dark blue and pink fibers in the speaker bullet she fired at Deku’s phone.  Apparently, she can make any kind of bullet she wants ranging from hollow bullets to curved bullets.  She can then load and fire those bullets from her rifle into her right arm.  God, there’s so much potential for a Quirk like this.  The only limit I can think of for this Quirk is if she runs out of hair for bullets similar to how if Ibara Shiozaki from Class 1-B (or 2-B now I guess) would run out of hair to use her Vines.  I wonder if Lady Nagant using her hair so much is the reason why it’s shorter now than when she was a hero.

I gotta say, I think this is one of the coolest and unique Quirks Horikoshi has come up with in a while.  It’s just so unique and imaginative!  I don’t think I could ever come up with an idea like this.  I like that her Quirk is almost like a 2-in-1 thing: the putty hair and the rifle in her arm.  They’re both different functions that work in tandem together.  I also love Nagant hero outfit!  She was rocking the long ponytail work, had a visor and antenna on her right eye for accuracy, and a belt holding her hair bullets.  She’s also freakin’ stacked as hell, but I’ll let this one slide because her design is so freaking great.  

Back to the present, Deku managed to catch the bullet, but his left gauntlet has been damaged.  So, it looks like Deku won’t be punching with his left arm unless All Might has some backup Mid-Gauntlets.  Thankfully he’s found out where Lady Nagant is based on where she shot from just twice.  She’s only about 1KM away and Deku wants to get in closer.  God, Deku is so freaking smart.  I want to know his IQ because it must be insanely high for him to figure out where a trained sniper would be after just 2 bullets.  Nagant also says that Deku’s the first one to deflect 2 of her bullets, so yeah, goddamn Deku!

Now we’re finally getting a look at Overhaul (I’m cool with calling him by his villain name instead of his real name for now btw).  Dude’s broken.  Just completely mentally broken.  I don’t think he even notices Deku.  All he can think about is how he wants to go back to his adoptive father, Eri’s grandfather, the man Overhaul put in a coma.  I thought that Overhaul would be confronting Deku himself, but it looks like he can’t.  Maybe him not being able to get his father out of his coma traumatized him real bad with a lot of guilt.  He probably wants to go back to try to heal his dad.  If he can do that, again, I wonder how now that his Quirk probably functions somewhere else besides his hands.

Anyway, Lady Nagant is kind of protecting Overhaul for now.  She most likely has a plan for him later since she mentions helping Overhaul as soon as she’s done with Deku.  Overhaul would be a useful ally since his Quirk can literally destroy and restore matter both living and non-living.  There’s also that glowing effect on her arm again.  If it’s not a taser like I thought before, then maybe it’s some kind of strength enhancer her Quirk gives her.  That arm gun has to be heavy.  IDK it’s not really explained.  

Flashing back to the Tartarus Prision Break, AFO and his ugly mug are talking to Nagant, calling her the “Traitor Hero” and how it’s an honor to meet her.  Again, Lady Nagant’s skills must be incredibly high enough to be recognize by AFO.  Also, her turning her back on Hero Society must’ve been a big story at the time.

AFO tells Lady Nagant of his plan to capture Deku as he predicted this earlier.  So, either AFO is stupidly good at predicting things or he has a future-sight Quirk like Nighteye had.  I want to say it’s the latter since AFO probably did pick up a Quirk like that sometime in the past.

Lady Nagant originally refused to listen to AFO in a very sassy way LOL!  But, AFO seems to have made a deal with her.  He even mentions that Nagant killed many of her fellow heroes to cause the fall of Pro-Hero Society.  Yeah, killing your fellow colleagues will definitely get you sent straight to Tartarus…  I REALLY need to know what made her turn to the Dark Side Anakin Skywalker style.

Also, personal theory that I highly doubt is true, but I wonder if Lady Nagant is the real “UA Traitor” not any of the students.  If she can make bullets that she can remotely talk through, then she could probably make bullets that can eavesdrop on people.  Maybe she listened in on UA and told the LoV about the training camp.  Or she was locked in Tartarus before then and I’m just projecting my hopes/fears onto her.  That could be it too.

Actually, I just realized that she could probably wrap objects around her bullets and fire them.  So, she probably wrapped a speaker around her hair and that’s how she remotely spoke to Deku.  Eh, she could still wrap some listening device around her hair and eavesdrop that way.  I’m just Pepe Silvia’ing the possibilities of Rifle at this point.

AFO uses Overhaul as an example of someone who became a victim of Pro-Heroes.  This give him enough leverage to make a deal with Lady Nagant.  So, as part of the contract, AFO granted her his Air Walk Quirk!  On paper, a passive Quirk like Air Walk doesn’t seem very useful.  But, this series has proved to us time and time again that passive/support Quirks can be just as/if not more amazing than raw-powered Quirks.  So, a Quirk like Air Walk can get Lady Nagant to so many places for her to fire her bullets.  It’s an incredibly useful Quirk for a sniper.  I do wonder what the limits of it are (because all Quirks have some sort of limitation), but I guess we’ll find that out later.  I really do wonder how Deku’s going to handle Lady Nagant and Overhaul though.  That’s going to be interesting.

Oh boy, that the chapter!  Solid chapter per usual.  Gah, my fingers hurt after typing so much.  I’m glad we got to know more about Lady Nagant!  She was a mystery for weeks, but we finally got some backstory on her.  So, some answers, but a lot of questions are left behind.  I’m actually glad we’re still sticking with Deku so far.  I still want to see Bakugo and Shoto, but we also haven’t gotten a purely Deku-centric arc for a while, so this is good.  Horikoshi truly doesn’t miss!  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to be screaming about the next anime episode and Shoto Todoroki sakuga for the next week I will not apologize.         

Me @ Horikoshi every chapter:

Also, this is the Wanted scene I was talking about before:

[thevoidable]

Why Spinaraki is an underrated gem of a ship

Okay, so first of all I just have to make a quick disclaimer: this is not to discredit other Shigaraki and Spinner ships, this is just to highlight why I think these two in particular are just neat. 

Also, manga spoiler warning, as per usual. Content below the cut.

Why their characters work

Spinaraki’s dynamic is something that I feel like is overlooked by a lot of bnha fans, even from a platonic sense, so I’d like to briefly go over their individual characters to reiterate why they’re such a good match for each other.

Starting off, Shigaraki is an absolutely brilliantly-written villain, with a deep and complex past and personality that make him more than your average end-game bad guy. His broken mind that has been beaten to hell and back by severe trauma is still able to recognise flaws within society and the people that live in it, and has come such a long way since his first debut in the series. But what makes him stand out from most other villains is just how human and empathetic he is deep down.

Despite all of AFO’s grooming into making him a hate-filled, destruction-craving god, Shigaraki still retains a key quality from his childhood: a desire to befriend the friendless.

The reason why the League is such a good portrayal of a found family is because of this innate want to sympathize and look after the outcasts in his life. It didn’t take much time at all for him to come to respect the other members of the League by the time the Overhaul arc came around, and during the MVA arc, it’s clear he cares deeply about their wants and needs. He’s patient and listens to them, valuing their opinions greatly.

And now it’s time to turn our attention to the underrated character of this underrated ship: Spinner.

Spinner was understandably one of the more forgettable villains during the training camp arc - all he had to his character was that he was a hardcore Stain fanboy and nothing more.

However, that all changed when the MVA arc dropped, and we saw a side to Spinner that ties in to one of the BNHA universe’s underlying problems in their superhuman society, and made him so much more three-dimensional, lovable, and relatable. A victim of heteromorphic discrimination, Spinner was outcasted in his hometown and forced into reclusion, where he wasted his life away in his room lest he step outside and risk being called a freak again. It wasn’t until he saw Stain plaguing the news that he was finally inspired to act, seeking out the League who claimed to uphold Stain’s ideology.

At his core, Spinner was simply searching for something to jump on, something that would make him get up and make significant change in his life, and looking at his backstory, it’s no wonder why Stain’s ideals struck a chord with him. He has plenty of reason to despise society like the rest of the League, but his experience with being discriminated against also makes him a sympathetic and sensitive character. He recognises that he’s extremely out of place in the world, even amongst the League, because he was the last one of them to figure out what he really wanted in the end, and it’s clear he has plenty of insecurities when it comes to questioning his purpose in life, comparing himself to others - like Toga, another fan of Stain - and how they seem to fit in so easily.

It’s because of these insecurities that Shigaraki and Spinner work well together, because Shigaraki’s patience, understanding, and confidence is what allowed Spinner to solidify his conviction and come to terms with the fact that not 100% fitting in and just coming along for the ride is perfectly okay.

How their chemistry develops

Spinner and Shigaraki’s first proper on-screen interaction was during the highway scene after the Overhaul arc. This is also the first time we see Spinner question whether the League really is about Stain’s ideology or not, and Shigaraki responds by reassuring him that they’re making a necessary sacrifice. 

Since this is the point in the series where Shigaraki begins to really place his trust and respect in the League, it really shows with how he trusts Spinner’s driving enough to sit on top of the damn truck. And speaking of Spinner’s driving, this is the first time we get a glimpse into his character beyond the fanboy, scenes that we were unfortunately robbed of in the anime.

Spinner’s love for video games immediately gives him something in common with Shigaraki, and the both of them frequently use video game lingo to describe their battle strategies and thought processes.

(Spinner’s face in the corner absolutely sends me.)

From then on, their interactions go into a radio silence until the MVA arc kicks in, and this is where their relationship really begins to take off.

After we get some exposition on heteromorphic discrimination from Spinner, we return to the League in their temporary hideout where we discover that they’re not doing too hot. They’re at a stalemate, unable to really do anything too productive, which prompts Spinner to speak up. He’s frustrated with not knowing what direction they’re going in, and understandably so, because right now, the League is his only place to go. If he left, he would be entirely on his own again, and this time with the heroes breathing down his neck.

He goes into brief detail about the kind of harsh environment he came from and why he was inspired by Stain, and in the heat of the moment, he doesn’t think twice about grabbing the front of Shigaraki’s shirt, the man who could disintegrate him with one touch. Spinner’s got mad balls, I’ll give him that.

Now, it’s known that Shigaraki isn’t too fond of Stain, but he still doesn’t get angry at all, even when Spinner is right up in his face. He remains calm, patient, and is ready to explain what he wants to happen (until he gets interrupted by Machia, of course).

Fast-forward to when they’ve all been warped inside the doctor’s lab and Shigaraki now has to present his conviction to Ujiko - Spinner’s expression is a little difficult to read here, but it seems his expectations for what Shigaraki has to say are low.

However, when Shigaraki speaks, his words deeply resonate with Spinner, and it becomes clear that Shigaraki had listened very closely to Spinner’s frustrated rant back in the hideout.

That last panel is especially interesting and drawn in a very deliberate way. Notice how, as Shigaraki is explaining his feelings, everyone except for Spinner is either confused or uninterested, and the panel is framed so that Spinner is the only one looking directly at Shigaraki. It very subtly conveys how Spinner is the sole person in the room who understands how Shigaraki feels, because despite coming from completely different backgrounds and experiencing completely different levels of trauma, Spinner and Shigaraki still hold the exact same sentiments when it comes to their innermost thoughts and desires.

So, needless to say, Spinner is now somewhat invested, and ready to pay close attention to Shigaraki’s future actions.

The next time we see them, it’s a month and a half later, and here we see Spinner relaying his concerns about Stain once again to Toga.

It seems that he’s talking more to himself than to Toga, and it reveals his insecurities about his place in the League. He’s debating on whether or not he should stay or leave, and which is the better option. He appears to be willing to wait a little longer to see things through however; he wants to see where Shigaraki’s pursuit of his dream takes him.

(That’s pretty home of sexual of you, Spinner.)

Cut to when the League are battling with the MLA - Toga gets caught up with Curious, Twice runs off to go look for her, and Compress and Dabi are separated from the group via Geten, leaving Spinner and Shigaraki to fight together. Spinner is the first to witness Shigaraki’s Quirk suddenly evolve to where the decay will spread to whatever is touching it, and he’s quite amazed by it.

They begin to get a little overwhelmed with how many soldiers they’re up against, and since Shigaraki is in a very hazy, sleep-deprived state, Spinner voices his concern for him. Shigaraki brushes his own health off to the side to bring up his uncertainty in his decision to fight the MLA, and he asks for Spinner’s opinion on the matter, showing that once again, Shigaraki listens to and values what his allies have to say. This time it’s Spinner’s turn to reassure Shigaraki that he made the right choice, allowing him to refocus on getting to the tower.

Shortly after, the Twices show up to help escort Shigaraki to the tower, and Spinner takes this opportunity to help lighten the burden by taking out the politician, who is basically giving the MLA soldiers stat boosts.

In the midst of his fight, he reflects on where he came from and how he got here, and he finally solidifies why he wants to follow Shigaraki. After realising that they share the same sentiments, he too wants to see the horizon that Shigaraki is envisioning. Shigaraki “lit a fire in his heart”, and as all he can think about is helping him in whatever way he can, he comes to accept that it’s fine if he’s just coming along for the ride.

(”I’ve got nothing I love” Are you sure about that-)

As we come to the grand finale of the battle, Shigaraki obliterates a huge chunk of the city, levelling it completely, and Spinner is the only other member from the League to witness it.

He’s completely awestruck, and when it comes to Spinaraki, it doesn’t get any gayer than these two lines parallelling one another: 

Some post-development crumbs

Now that we have their relationship established and developed, we can poke at the smaller stuff that takes place afterwards.

The first little crumb we get is when Shigaraki is introduced on stage in the room beneath the MLA mansion. The other League members are waiting for their cue to walk out, and Spinner’s heart beats as he watches Shigaraki intently.

After the speech, Shigaraki collapses from exhaustion, and while Compress simply remarks on how it’s a miracle he was still standing, Spinner expresses legitimate surprise and concern.

And for one last crumb until we see them interact again, I just think it’s cute that Spinner is in the support regiment of the PLF, yet again continuing the notion of Spinner wanting to help Shigaraki however he can.

In conclusion…

Spinaraki is a surprisingly soft and wholesome villain ship with a lot of fluff potential. Just two local gaymers who want to get back at society for condemning them, and who have each other’s complete support and loyalty.

Shigaraki has a huge soft-spot for his fellow outcasts, and Spinner is no exception. He accepts Spinner for who he is, doesn’t make any condescending remarks about him or his appearance, and remains patient and calm even when Spinner gets frustrated, making sure to listen and take in every word that’s said. He values Spinner as a person, and that ends up meaning so much for Spinner in the long run.

Spinner was someone who had no desires of his own, and nowhere to go where he felt safe and accepted. Even after taking up Stain’s ideals and joining the League, he was uncertain if he still belonged there - he’s noticed how there is no longer a trace of Stain’s ideology within the League, and he’s still faced discrimination in the form of Dabi calling him a lizard during the highway scene, something which the CRC does at the beginning of the MVA arc. However, Shigaraki ended up becoming Spinner’s reason for staying, finally giving him purpose to his life. They feel the same when it comes to acting out against society, and they’re able to understand one another on that emotional level. They have plenty in common, and it’s very clear now that Spinner is fully-prepared to follow Shigaraki to the ends of the earth.

Spinaraki’s dynamic is severely underrated, and the concept of Spinner - who has no prior romantic experience - crushing on the world’s new destructive god is too good to pass up. And the video game dates? 10/10, so damn adorable, they could bond over so many different games and just chill out when they don’t feel like going outside. Not to mention it’s just so good how Shigaraki isn’t fazed by Spinner’s appearance and how Spinner desperately needs that from someone, because this boy has obviously not been loved at all and craves that kind of connection (I mean, just look at how easily flustered he got from Mandalay’s flirting; no wonder he was pissed about it afterwards, now that we know what kind of history he’s had. That was probably the first time anyone’s ever complimented his appearance, and it just ended up being a dirty trick).

So yeah, Spinaraki has my whole heart, and I can’t wait to see them interact more (pls lord Horikoshi, give us Spinner reacting to buffraki when they reunite, I need to see his gay little heart panic for a whole second). Their dynamic is one of the cutest within the League, and I really hope more people see it when the MVA arc gets animated.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this - have a cute little sketch my good friend @batsyart​ did as a bonus!

[cctinsleybaxter]

2020 in books

2020 was a year of changed reading habits; people reading more than ever or not at all, some changing their tastes and others turning to old comforts. While there weren’t any huge overhauls on my end, more free time did mean a total of 32 in a wider range of genres. In the past couple of years I found a lot of the things I read to be kind of middling and ranked them accordingly, but this year had some strong contenders in the mix. With college officially behind me I love nonfiction again, and I really need to stop being drawn in by novels with long titles that ‘sound interesting.’ A piece of advice to my future self: they will only make you angry.

The Good

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky I loved the BBC radio play when I first listened to it back in 2017, but didn’t know if I could stomach the idea of actually reading the 700-page book, especially since I already knew the plot (spoiler alert: this had no effect and I gasped multiple times despite knowing what was going to happen; Fyodor’s just that good at atmosphere.) The story follows Prince Lev Myshkin, a goodhearted but troubled man entering 1860s Petersburg high society and meeting all of the wretched people therein as he navigates life, laughs, love, unanswerable questions of faith, and human suffering. I care about it in the same way I think other people care about reality TV shows and soap operas. I’m so personally invested in the drama and feel so many different emotions directed at these clowns that it’s like being a fan of Invitation to Love (with an ending equally upsetting to that of the show ITL is from, Twin Peaks.)

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlanksy I adored this book. The first half reads a little like a Wikipedia article, and I was worried that it was leaning too clinical and would be disaffected with colonialism and indigenous peoples, but even that oversight is corrected for as the text goes on. It’s not going to be for everybody because it really is just the world’s longest encyclopedia entry on, well, salt, but it’s written with such excitement for the topic and is so well-researched and styled for commercial nonfiction that I think it deserves any and all praise it’s gotten. We have to talk about that time Cheshire was literally sinking into the ground, and companies who were over-pumping brine water to steal each other’s brine water said ‘no it’s okay it’s supposed to that’ so were legally dismissed as suspects.

Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy Cried. 10/10. The plot of Midnight Cowboy is very classic and actually has a lot in common with The Idiot, as 20-something Joe Buck moves from the American Southwest to NYC and meets myriad challenges as a sex worker. I’ve been obsessed with the movie for a few years now and the book made me appreciate it anew; I think it’s rare for an adaptation to take the risk of being so different from its source material while still capturing its spirit. The movie doesn’t include quieter moments like the full conversation with Towny or time spent in the X-flat, nor does it attempt to touch Joe’s internal monologue or his and Rico’s extensive backstories, but these things are essential to the book and are some of the best and most affecting writing I’ve ever read. Finally! The Great American Novel!

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones I would firmly like to say that this is probably the best horror novel ever written. The setup is very traditional in that it’s about a group of friends facing supernatural comeuppance for a past mistake, but delivery on that premise is anything but familiar. A story about personal and cultural trauma that raises questions about what we owe to each other and what it means to be Blackfeet, with a cast that’s unbelievably real and sympathetic even at their absolute worst. Creepypasta writers trying to cash in on the cultural mythos of lumped-together tribes wish they were capable of writing something a tenth as gruesome and good as this. It could very well be a movie the visuals and writing style were so arresting, and I can’t wait to read whatever Jones writes next.

Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas This is the least accessible title on the list since it’s a college textbook for people with background in film, but it was so nice to read a woman unpacking film theory with the expertise and confidence it deserves that I have to rank it among the best. I had an absolute blast reading it and am going to have to stop myself from bringing up the horror of 1960s safety films as a cocktail icebreaker.

Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson

The year’s toughest read by far, but also its most rewarding. Thompson uses mountains of documents, government-buried intel, and personal interviews to explain what happened at Attica from beginning to end, and does a fantastic job of balancing hard facts and ‘unbiased journalism’ with much-needed emotion and critical analysis. It’s more important reading in the 2020s than any kind of ‘why/how to not be racist’ book club book is going to be, and the historical context it provides is as interesting as it is invaluable. The second half drags a bit in going through lengthy trial processes with some assumed baseline knowledge of legalese (which I did not have. All that criminal minds in 2015… meaningless), but aside from that editing and prose are some of the best I’ve seen in nonfiction. 

The Bad

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn A friend and I decided to read this together because I’m obsessed with how insane the author is and wanted to know if he can actually write.

He cannot.

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron Barron is an indie darling of the horror fiction scene, so I was excited to finally read one of his collections but can now attest that I hate him. If you’re going to do Lovecraft please deconstruct Lovecraft in an interesting way. I had actually written a lot about the issues I have with how he develops characters and plots, but one of the only shorthand notes I took was “he won’t stop saying ‘bole’ instead of tree trunk” and I feel like that’s the only review we need.

Bats of the Republic by Zach Dodson Look up a photo of this author because if I had bothered to glance at the jacket bio I honest-to-god wouldn’t have even tried reading this.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone I went in with high expectations since this is an epistolary novella I’d seen praised on tumblr and youtube but oh my god was there a reason I was seeing it praised on tumblr and youtube. This is bad Steven Universe fanfiction. Both authors included ‘listening to the Steven Universe soundtrack throughout’ in the acknowledgements, and to add insult to injury there’s a plug from my nemesis Madeline Miller.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton The premise of this one plays with so many tropes I like that I should have been more suspicious. It’s a dinner party with stock characters one would expect of Clue, and rather than our protagonist being the detective he’s a man with amnesia stuck in a 24-hour time loop. Body-hopping between guests, he must gather evidence using the skillsets of each ‘host’ until he either solves Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder or the limit of eight hosts runs out. I read a lot of not-very-good books, and it’s so, so much worse when they have potential to be fun. This is how you lose the most points, and how I abandon decorum and end up writing a list of grievances: • Our protagonist can only inhabit male hosts, which I think is a stupid writing decision not because I’m ‘woke’ but because wouldn’t it make sense for him to also be working with the maids, cooks, and women close to the murder victim? • Complaining about the limitations of hosts makes some sense (e.g- there’s a section where he thinks that it’s hard to be an old man because it’s difficult to get to the places he needs to be quickly), but one of his hosts is a rapist and one of his hosts is fat. Guess which one gets complained about more. • One of the later hosts is just straight-up a cop with cop knowledge that singlehandedly solves the case. We spend some time being like ‘wow I couldn’t have done it without the info all eight hosts helped gather’ but it was 100% the detective and he solves the murder using information he got off-screen. • The mystery itself is actually well-paced and I didn’t have a lot of issues with it (e.g, there’s a twist that I guessed only shortly before the end), which makes it all the worse that the metanarrative of this book is INSANE. No spoilers but the reveal as to why our unnamed protagonist is even in this situation is stupid. I just know they’re going to make it into a movie and I’m preemptively going to aaaaaaaaa!!!

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi The fact that this was the worst book I read all year, worse even than the bad Steven Universe fanfiction, and it won multiple awards makes my blood boil. I could rant about it for hours but just know that it’s a former theater kid’s take on perception and memory, and deals with sexual abuse in a way that’s handled both very badly and with a level of fake deepness that’s laughable. Select fake-deep quotes I copied down because at one point I said ‘oh barf’ aloud: -I’m filled with melancholy that’s almost compassion. It’s sad the same way. -[On a friendship ending] We almost never know what we know until after we know it. -Because we’re none of us alone in this world. We injure each other.

There are also bad sex scenes that I can’t quite make fun of because I think (HOPE?) they’re supposed to be a melodramatic take on how teenagers view sex, but I very much wanted to die. Flowers were alluded to. Nipples were compared to diamonds.

Honorable/Dishonorable Mentions (categorized as the same thing because, well,)

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North This book was frustrating because the first third of it is fantastic. It’s set up to be a takedown of the manic pixie dream girl trope, jumping from person to person discussing their relationship with the titular Sophie, and indirectly revealing that she was just some girl and not the difficult and mysterious genius they all believed her to be. Then in the third act, BAM! She was that difficult and mysterious genius and she’s now indirectly brought all the people from her past together. I wanted to scream the plot beefed it so bad, but the good news is I really liked this octopus description.

It was the size of a three-year-old child, and it seemed awful to me that something could be so far from human and obviously want something as badly as it wanted to get out of the tank.

Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore Cool new nightmare speedrun strat is to hear a 2-second anecdote from a documentary that people used to get radium poisoning from painting watch faces, be curious enough that you buy a book to learn more, and be met with medical and legal horror beyond anything you could have imagined. This was almost one of my favorite books of the year! Almost.

Radium Girls is very lovingly crafted and incredibly well-researched; one of those things that’s hard to get through but that you want to read sections of again as soon as you’ve finished. The umbrage I take with it is that it’s very Catholic. The author and many of her subjects are Irish and their religion is important to them, but it casts a martyr-y narrative over the whole thing that I found uncomfortable. Seventeen-year-old girls taking a factory job they didn’t know was dangerous are framed as brave, working-class heroes, but there’s not a set moral lesson to be gained from this story. Sarah Maillefer didn’t make “a sacrifice” when she agreed to the first radium tests, she agreed because she was terrified. She didn’t think she was helping she was begging for help.

The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Anna Tsing Tsing is an incredibly skilled researcher and ethnographer; there are so many good ideas in this book that I’d almost consider it essential leftist text… if I could stand the way it was structured. Tsing posits that because nature is built on precariousness she will build her book the same way, allowing it to grow like a mushroom, and thus chapters don’t progress linearly and are written more like freeform poetry than a series of academic arguments. Some people are really going to love that, but I’m me and a mushroom is a mushroom and a book is a book. I don’t think in the way Tsing does, and while I tried to keep an open mind it’s hard to play along when something is this academically dense and makes so many ambitious claims. As if to prove how different our structuring methods are, I’ve made my own thoughts into a pros and cons list

Things I liked: • ‘Contamination’ as something inherent to diversity • ‘Scalability’ as a flawed way of thinking (Tsing has written whole essays about this that I find very compelling, but a main example here is that China and the US have come down on Japanese matsutake research for being too ‘site specific’ and not yielding enough empirical data) • Discussing how Americans were so invested in self-regulating systems in the 1950s we thought they could be applied to literally everything, including ecosystems • “The survivors of war remind us of the bodies they climbed over- or shot- to get to us. We don’t know whether to love or hate the survivors. Simple moral judgements don’t come to hand.” • Any and all fieldwork Tsing shares is amazing; I especially liked reading about the culture of mushroom pickers living in the Cascades and their contained market system

Things I didn’t like: • Statements that sound deep but aren’t, e.g- “help is always in the service of another.” (Yep. That’s what that means. Unless an organism is doing something to help itself which then nullifies your whole opening argument.) • A very debatable definition of utilitarianism • “Capitalism vs pre-capitalism,” which seems like an insanely black-and-white stance for a book all about finding hidden middle ground • A chapter I found really interesting about how intertwined Japanese and American economies are, but it tries to cover the entire history of US-Japan relations. Seriously, starting with Governor Perry and continuing through present day, this could have been a whole different book and it’s a good example of what I mean when I say arguments feel too scattered (the conclusion it reaches is that in the 80s the yen was finally able to hold its own against the dollar. Just explain that part.) • A chapter arguing that ‘true biological mutualism’ is rarely a focus of STEM and is a new sociological development/way of thinking which is just… flat-out not true

For all the comparisons art gets to ‘being on a drug trip’ this anthropology textbook has come the closest for me. Moments of profound human wisdom, intercut with things I had trouble understanding because I wasn’t on the same wavelength, intercut with even more things that felt false or irrelevant. I can’t put it on the nice list but I am glad I read it.

[aysall]

on Jin, and his story.

A sort of analysis retracing Twice’s journey. It’s long and convoluted, but I wanted to give him a proper goodbye. 

[P.S. seeing a lot of discourse lately I want to specify that mine is not a moral analysis. I’m not interested in discussing who’s right or wrong in the conflict. I understand why other people do it, it’s just not me. Hope you enjoy.]

The parable of Twice’s character has been explored throughout the story of My Hero Academia in an extremely conscious way. His first appearance in chapter 77 occurs briefly and unexpectedly; unlike the other villains, he’s not depicted in a disturbing or dangerous light and that’s why at first glance he’s easy to categorize as unimportant (in hindsight, this sort of unique introduction should’ve said a lot about him). While the Forest Training Camp Arc reaches its peak Twice reappears several times in an increasingly comic light helped by the continuous, incomprehensible at the time, contradictions with himself. Still not scary, besides the funniness, he begins to be endearing.

A jump, and here comes chapter 115, the first to be completely dedicated to a villain and it really is interesting: hero society is seen through different eyes and its supposed “moral goodness” is questioned. Our gaze turns briefly towards the outcasts upon hearing «Heroes only save good people», is it really so? And why is a comic-relief character revealing this?

Jin Bubaigawara’s face is devoid of comedy as much as Twice’s mask is full of it: empty eyes marked by fatigue, a scar that divides the forehead in two, a story about losing oneself and their sense in the world. A double meaning, it’s early to comprehend it fully but My Hero Academia is opening to the other side, willingly listening and we listen with it. «By helping the League that accepted me as I am … I want to think that I am okay with the way I am, too» Mh. Okay. Let’s go on.

Twice’s development continues along the Overhaul Arc, as it opens with an error on his part which leads to Magne’s death, and from there it unfolds, in guilt, comfort and resoluteness. Toga, who until then was quite the flat character, cartoonishly depicted as creepy and psychotic, accompanies him showing a different side of herself through the first act of kindness we see from a villain. It’s worth underlining how, in regards to Twice, many of the bad guys soften, showing more delicate and empathic gestures: Giran welcomes him, Shigaraki allows (and uses at best) his sentimentality, even Dabi puts aside his indifference to encourage him. I think it’s because such dedication drives others to respond in kind.

Anyway, «I’m human too y’know… Shigaraki!» (ch.148) with this sentence, what previously was only speculation becomes clearer in the reader’s eyes and seals the promise of a conscious and attentive development: Twice’s role is aimed at opening a gash on the villain’s inwardness, invisible until that point, and it’s thanks to him that we begin to observe them in a more understanding light. Magne’s death has shaken up the League, and they find again their balance with new, stronger bonds, sealed by Shigaraki’s affirmation that they’re acting for their own sake. With Twice pouring out his feelings they’re able to build trust, work in tandem, emerge victorious. He was (and will keep being) useful, pity he doesn’t notice it.

Several and too many chapters later: My Villain Academia Arc. Twice’s humanity is confirmed yet again when he throws himself into the fray, first to save Giran, then Toga and then all his companions. In murmuring that the Legue is his home, another piece falls into place and it’s here, among other things, where we connect the most with him and his past: who has never lived a moment of loss and solitude, where the mistakes add up to one another to the point that one day you look in the mirror without knowing who you are, aware only of the ugly parts, thinking that maybe that’s why the pain doesn’t go away. You probably deserve all of it. 

Twice’s path is cathartic in regards to rejecting this view of himself because, partly by chance and partly by voluntary action, he began to recover when he built certainties in his life, realizing that it’s worth struggling for a connection with people and how much dear that becomes to you, how terrible the idea of ​​losing it (losing them) can be. The plot rewards him for his struggles.

«The important thing is to know who you are, what you want to become» isn’t it poetically perfect that when Twice decides not to run away from himself, he finally realizes that he is the original? The ground has stabilized under his feet because now he knows what his mission is, therefore the “real” Jin Bubaigawara can go back to being whole—or at least united enough to pursue the goal of protecting his home with all his power. Which is pretty fucking powerful.

Many have said that Twice is the heart of the League of Villains and I agree, he is a summary of the “good” (even if distorted) feelings that led every single member into joining the group. Misery does love company, the excluded sought each other because when one is alone reality is too scary to face. 

But a villain, however emotional, must have his tools to defend himself or his strenght will become his weakness. That’s why Twice is both the strongest and the most vulnerable and is twice (hah!) punished for this condition; the second is fatal. Despite this his narrative arc ends with a reaffirmation and reinforcement of everything he is and represents: he sees himself in Hawks and thinks he can help him (empathy), then he is betrayed and mourns and fights for his companions (self-sacrifice), he regrets his mistakes, he is ready to die (kindness). And he dies many times: protecting his home, full of anger and sadness, exposing the hypocrisy of people who are many things but perhaps not heroes—which is good, as Twice shows again and again, the world is not black and white, heroes and villains intertwine and maybe they do become “just human”. He dies without doubting himself nor his feelings, he dies in an attempt to reach his loved ones and he also dies reaching them. His last death happens in the arms of the girl who first showed him kindness, from whom he was sure he would have never received any comfort ever again. So he dies realizing that he was wrong, despite Jin Bubaigawara being the “Sad Man”, Twice is full of energy and affection to give, and these feelings are repaid by the very individuals who shouldn’t be able to do anything but inflict terror and fear. Again, that’s still because the world is not black and white and “Twice” and “Jin” are no different, one in the same.

Twice rejects Hawks’s words about his unfortunate condition. In doing so he rejects the words of himself to himself in chapter 229 «[you went wrong] when you were born without luck» and this stance can be connected to what Toga said against Curios «I’m not unfortunate at all!» (ch. 226) and Shigaraki’s response when he remembered his childhood «That was no tragedy.» (ch.237): all of them reject the inherent misfortune of their past to embrace who they are in the present, they abandon the self-pity. Therein lies the message that the choices they made are theirs alone and that no one should have the right to judge them with pity. These are all positive teachings that we are used to get from the good guys’ side, now that they’re seen through the villains everything becomes grayer and, in my opinion, more interesting.

And so, yet again, everything seems to be screaming that his death is not a tragedy because while he was looking for himself, he found a place to belong and learned to be happy with it. I like to think he also teached the League a thing or two but we’ll have to see, this is a point of no return for them; maybe it’s the start of their downfall, maybe they will change in something stronger, but Twice will keep having an impact on how things are.

I think he absolved his role.

This world doesn’t grant a just end to the outcasts, yet perhaps there is no need, if in the journey you can carve out a small space of happiness together with those who accepted you, with the good, the ugly and the incomprehensible parts all together.

I respect this, because I think there is nothing more important in the world. 

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Where kaito and kin planned ?? Did Kai have a preference like he wanted a boy or a girl?? Also you have mention in other post about the first time Kai saw Kaito in the ultrasound do you have a scenario about that or would you be willing to write about it ??:0

Here we go.

A snap of fingers broight him back to reality... only noticing shortly later that he had dozed off.

"Overhaul?" Chrono called right besides him, one hand on his front while the other had a firm grip on the quivering girl... Eri...

Chisaki stopped for a bit to look at the child, no emotions present, only staring at it... before sighing and returning to walk towards the experiment room.

"Eri don't make this even more complicated than you already do." He said monotonously before he froze on his steps, worring his childhood friend a bit.

"... cancel the experiments for now." He said suddenly before making his way to get out of the underground base he had created.

"What? Why?"

"I have something to do. I will be back before the afternoon, take her to her room and put someone to keep a eye on it." He turned to send one side cold glare.

"No escaping. Understood?" The girl teared up and looked down while trembling as he monotonously made his way out.

~

"Come on-!" You cursed under your breath as you tried to open a can of cookies that one precept had bdoight due to your husband's commands.

Tried.

"Just hand it over. We're going to be late." You scoffed at hearing your husband's monotomous voice as you groaned at trying again to push that tin off.

"No!" You protested and even if you weren't looking at him you knew he had arched one of his damn perfect eyebrows up "First, I need a snack so screw it, the doctor that waits for us. And second-" you groaned again, applying all of your force on that cursed thing "I'm a strong independent woman that acn still open a pot with no he-"

Chisaki snatched the pot out of your hands before opening it easily with a 'plop' sound. One eyebrow evidently arched up as he placed the pot on the counter.

"... I eased up for you." You mumbled with a pout before snatching one intere cookie on your mouth.

He hummed in sarcasm while crossing his arms, trying not to smirk at the adorable pout you had on your lips while you eated the sugary things.

"Right. Just like the heroe society is one of the best things in this world for me." He messed up with your hair even despite your whines of protest before flipping your forehead.

"We need to go now. I need to know what mutant of a demon and a angel is exactly inside of you."

"KAI!" you exclaimed but with a disbelieved smile no less as he opened the door for you to pass first.

"Is not a lie."

~

"Kai please don't kill the doctor." You pleaded as much silent as you could while you two walked the halls.

"Don't touch, doesn't get killed. Simple as that." He mumbled under his mask with a piercing glare at the doctor in front of you two.

"For God's sake, is a woman!" You whispered yelled "And I know her for ages now!"

"Still is sick." He snarled back "I read her profiles angel, she has a quirk that helps her on this job... disgusting."

"Kai plea-"

"Alright (Y/n)!" The older woman clapped her hands together and showed it to you another room "Go in there and put on the mantle so we can get started!" You nodded with a grateful smile, quickly rubbing your thumb on Chisaki's palm before going inside to change.

Chisaki sighed and took a seat, glaring at the smile the woman sended to him.

"Geez never took little old (Y/n) to have such a grumpy husband. Chin up daddy! You're about to meet your child in no time!" She exclaimed excitedly while she turned on the machine and prepared the machine.

He was about to get up to threaten her if it wasn't for your shy self getting out, blue mantle covering from your shoulder until thd middle of your thighs.

You layed down and sighed nervously, boucing a bit your leg in excitement and anxiousness.

"You two decided on names yet?"

Small talk... how he hated those.

"No..." both of you answered in synchrony, making the woman laughed while she placed the gloves of latex on.

He arched a eyebrow at that. He respected and at lleast she did a decent job on putting those... but the moment she had grabbed a gel for you to apply on yourself he got... confused.

The quirk of the woman consisted on a X-ray vision... some devices that connected to her glasses and the machine make it possible for her to show any fractures and even fetus to other people along with the machines.

She wasn't doing it...

"What's your deal?" He spated, placing a protective hand on your shoulder as both woman tilted their heads "You're not using your quirk, illness." He growled.

"Ah that!" She laughed before picking up the device "Ask your wife about it! Not ma fault!" She pushed a chair close to you.

He glared down at you, trying not to let his guard down at the smile you gave it to him.

"I asked for her to be the traditional way you know? No quirks, no powers... only the fashion old way." You whispered, giggling a bit at the way your husband's eyes widened a bit before returning it back to normal in a fraction of seconds with a 'I see.'

Always going out of your way to do these things for him? He was a goddamn blessed devil to have such a perfect angel on his arms...

You yelp a bit at feeling the cold material touching your skin as the woman laughed, deciding to start a small conversation with you since your husband she could sense it he didn't want it to speak much.

"Alright... is a bit difficult but I think Iiiii-" she squeezed her eyes a bit as she still moved the tool before she jerked a bit on her chair "AHA! GOT IT! SNAP!" she pressed one button on the device before pointing at the screen, laughing at both yours and Chisaki's confused as fuck face.

"Listen you two." She pointed at a small white part "This is the head of your little one!" You gasped with a open smile, turning it a bit to see Kai... with wide eyes staring at the screen.

"Following we can see the body... tiny hands... and adjusting just a bit the angleeeeee..." she moved the machine, not takung her gaze away from the screen "We can see that..." she smiled warmingly at the scene before looking at you both.

"Congrats you two, a healthy and beautiful baby boy!"

Your breath was taken away as you smiled with a bit of tears in your eyes, the woman placing the device with a 'fuck it I already took the picture GIVE ME A HUG!' as she opened her arms and hugged you close while you laughed, rubbing your tears.

While in the other hand, Chisaki was simply... astonished, out of words... breath stolen.

The realization that this was his child there had definitely hitted him like a train only on that moment, sure he knew of your pregnancy ever since you told him but...

Seing a completely new life, gerated by a fruit of love that involved you and him was... shocking.

He made that life. He made that fetus...

He created along with his angel a soon to be a boy on this world...

He hasn't said more than one world ever since you both left that place, arriving on the Shie Hassaikai house to take a shower...

He was supposed to go back to his experiments but... something felt... different at only comimg to his head the thought of...Eri.

"Angel that woman gave you the-" he stopped talking the moment he saw you holding them on your hands while sitting on the couch.

He sighed before taking a seat close to you, analyzing alongsides with you.

Your fingers traced delicately the form of the legs while your other subconsciously went to your growing belly to carress it... Without any of his control, his own gloved fingers went to touch the area where the little head was forming it.

"Kai oh my god..." you whispered with a hand on your mouth, looking up at him with teary eyes.

"What?" He growled before widening his eyes at you pointing at both his and your eyes...

Oh.. he was with one tear on both of his eyes...

He scoffed at that and immediately went to rub it away before your gently fingers beat him on it.

"Thank you..." you whispered before touching forehead with him "For giving me such a beautiful and unique gift Chisaki Kai."

"You are the one who I should be thanking for... although I have to admit..." his eyebrows furrowed, making your frow as well in concern.

"This kid. They have me as a father. I don't think I would be one of the... most suitable ones." He sighed while closing his eyes, placing his gloved hand on the plave his son was growing.

"Chisaki Kai I am a first parent too mister." He opened his eyes again, arching his eyebrow "Both of us surely wont know what the fuck is going on by the first few weeks." You giggled at the pinch in your side.

"Language brat." He smirked behind his mask at your smile.

"Back on, most people would say the same to you as a lover, and as always, you rubbed their disgusting faces on the asphalt... proving them wrong."

"Is different." He growled.

"Maybe. But is still half me and half you in here...we won't be perfect, but we will try... and that is already enough for our son, Im sure of it. He will never suffer on his life if both of us show what we already feel for him."

Our son... his son suffering. His angel's son suffering... that seentence gave him the worst of the chills.

The feeling of deja vuu hitted him completly as scenes of his experiments went through his head... he hesitantly looked down at the ultrasound and mentally wimced at only imagining his own child passing through... what he did with her.

Shit. What was happening to him?

"Although both os us know what I am capable of after what I went through." He sighed while laying his head on the back of the couch "Pops was explendid on my creation but the same can't go to those prokects of humans..." he clenched his jaw at remembering his biological parents... his father probably burning in hell while his project of a mother was still somewhere on the streets.

"You're not like them my devil." You reminded him.

"I have their disgusting parts of DNA... and imagine if him, a half pure being growing up to become something similiar of what I once was or even worse? Imagine the chaos." He said nonchalantly while you shook your head

"Pure this pure that. You know the difference here Kai? Every human is unique... I know who you are..." you sighed with a smile, laying your head besides his and broughting the photo up for both of you see "And this little one, will be the luckies little mobster to have the Chisaki's name. No wonder why I wanted it so badly when we married." You cooed the last part, turning your head to stare lovimgly at him.

"And you know what else?" You whispered, catching his attention as he turned his head to you "This boy will grow up in the yakusa, but with actual good and decent parents, whose will care and love him... will you? My devil?"

His heart did one of the worst flips in his chest as he looked into your eyes... imagine if you even discovred a bit of what he already did with a child...

Experiments after experimwnts, nursing her back to health only to put it back again for more and more...

The images of a little boy replaced the girl and that only got worse... your face of horror, the shouts of his parents... all coming like a desperate train on his mind.

"... this is my creation with you my angel. I maybe not be the bets for those things still..." he placed his gloved hand on your belly while the kthed cupped your cheek "I won't fail on my job of keeping you both safe and unharmed."

"I love you so much that it hurts..." you whispered with a smile at him, he brought you close to touch foreheads again with a sigh before lowering his mask down to connect his lips with yours and a sweet and passionate synchrony... enjoying the warmth that your body brought to his.

He...needed to find another way...

~

"You sure about that Kai? It's been a long time since you planned those things... aren't you going to tell Pops about it?" Chrono asked while walking not much away from Chisaki in the middle of three a.m on the base of the Shie Hassaikai.

Kai had demanded his oresence before he went to his room, widening his eyes at what the young man told him before nodding with uncertain.

Sure, the plan was fucked up, but it was a way of bringing the yakusa back from the shadows... and he knew how stubborm and straight forward Kai was with whatever he wanted.

So... why the sudden drastic change of plans?

Kai didn't said a world... only his and Hari's sound of steps on the area... before they stopped on the front of the oh so familiar door.

Chisaki sighed before opening it, not bothering if he was waking up the girl or not.

Eri widened her eyes immediately and muffled her terrified gasp at seing both men, standing on the other side of the door.

Golden yes piercing her sould before she almost sweared that the man hshe feared was shivering a bit before he averted his gaze from her.

For his son...

"You no longer will be used to my plan." He said after regaining his posture, glaring down at her.

For the family he finally could have it on his damn life...

"Your things will be packed soon, and you will be moved to a place where other people can keep a eye on you." He said darkly, Chrono geffing imprissed at seing that it was for real that Chisaki was saying this... without a hint of hesitation or regret on his voice neither eyes.

For his wife... he would do anything. Anything to not lose her...

"You are free Eri." The girl widened her ruby eyes at the man's words before he glared at her "Don't make me regret my decision, don't return. Just stay with those whose are from your own kind." He spitted the words before turning his back to her and leaving the room, allowing a bunch of man to enter to start helping on the change.

Hari, now walking besides his childhood best friend, decuded that now was better than ever.

"Mind me asking what was the miracke that made you change your mind? Or just leave it at that?" Chisaki took it from his pocket a folded black thing before handing it to Chrono with two gloved fingers, gaze still locked on his front.

Kurono took it and unfolded the image before widening his eyes a bit and smirking.

"This uh?" He asked with a smirk, not minding the scoff Chisaki gave it to him as he returned his gaze at the ultrasound "Have no idea wjere its what... but I can guess that this is my godchild or something?"

"You're NOT being the godfather of of my son Chrono." He growled back.

"Ah so its a boy, nice. Godson. And by the way; (Y/n) said it was no problem and even agreed with it."

"But I didn't. Stay away from my son block head."

He almost laughed but decided ti stay quiet...

So things were going to change a bit on the Hassaikai...

"Man just wait until Pops know about this, he will print it..."

"That's why I am not showing it."

[erinoddly]

Okay, I fumed about this some in the rant I just posted and then deleted, but let’s talk more about this specific issue:

English scholars and gatekeeping literature.

More specifically: Upholding outdated values of what makes a piece of literature ‘worthwhile,’ in this case specifically surrounding collegiate English communities. I’m aware that there are more than likely others outside of the college community who feel the same, but I’m going to talk about what I know.

Last semester in one of my classes, a debate started up. This debate was surrounding the following statement said by one of my classmates:

“Ebooks, self-publishing, and fanfiction are killing literature.”

At first, I thought that there was no way that statement would stand. I mean, it seems so outdated. But the thing was, only a couple of my classmates tried to argue against it. Almost everyone in the class agreed. And among those who did argue, the majority argued against the ebook point, one or two argued against the self-publishing point, and no one argued against the fanfiction point. I was the only person in my class who tried to argue against all three of the above points. And I’m pretty sure that the other people who argued against any of the points....weren’t English majors....

I became an English major thinking that people who studied literature did so because they had an appreciation for it. And I had always had this naive view of the world, where people would want the things they appreciate to be shared with a wide audience, not locked away where only a select few can enjoy it. I thought that this would be especially true for English majors, since so many of our discussions are about the roles and treatment of minorities in society, about classism, about equality.

But instead, I came across more people than I would have liked who seem to actively want to keep literature out of certain hands just because they have a list of criteria of what makes a piece of writing ~*worthwhile literature*~ and if it doesn’t hit every criteria, then it’s worthless and “killing literature” (and trust me, that phrase has me rolling my eyes so hard it hurts. Humans have always been storytellers and we always will be. Literature isn’t dying any time soon. Only your outdated ideals of what it ‘should’ be are.)

So. Let’s start with the idea that Ebooks are killing literature.

The classmate who said this works at a locally owned used bookstore. So I wholeheartedly understand the idea that online shopping is killing local businesses and that being able to buy books in an electronic format is making people less likely to buy physical copies, especially at smaller bookstores. That’s a valid fear that a lot of people have. And I’m not going to get into whether or not that’s factually correct because that isn’t the point (also I’m too lazy to find the research on it.)

The fact is, whether or not they’re killing small bookstores, ebooks make literature more accessible.

My mother has bad eyesight and needs a new prescription on her glasses. But she doesn’t have insurance and can’t get in to see an optometrist. But she absolutely adores reading. So guess what happened when I told her she could get the Kindle app for free on her computer? She lit up like a Christmas tree. It’s so much easier for her to read because 1. she doesn’t have to bend over a physical book and hurt her back and 2. she can make the font as large as she needs to in order to not strain her eyes. She also found books from her favorite authors that were electronic only. And yeah, there are a lot of ethical dilemmas about Amazon. I’m not saying there aren’t. But ebooks can be a better alternative for people with bad eyesight. And there are probably plenty of other disabilities that ebooks help with. Hell, I prefer ebooks sometimes because there’s so much more you can do with a computer interface that makes note taking, highlighting, bookmarking, using indexes, etc. so much easier than a physical copy of a book.

But, you know, it’s funny that my classmates (who are usually young and have decent eyesight) don’t complain about audiobooks killing literature as well. Even though a lot of them prefer listening over reading. But then again, a lot of them find the books they want to read for free on youtube and listen to them there instead of buying an audiobook. But I guess that’s okay.

This isn’t even bringing up the point that ebooks are less expensive than physical books. I grew up poor. To me, buying a new book is a luxury. So I get new books way less often than I would like to because I feel like I can’t justify the expense. I mean...upwards of $20-$30? For one book? But I can get ebooks online for $1-$5 sometimes. It’s so much easier to justify buying a new ebook every now and then than it is a physical book, though I still like to buy in person when I can.

Now the next point: Self-publishing

Okay. This one hits hard. My class was discussing this one as if the only authors who self-publish are the ones who were too awful to be accepted by traditional publishers. Which is bullshit. I’m not going to get much into this point because I’m writing this on a writeblr account and this community has talked a lot about traditional vs self publishing and I’m not going to rehash the same arguments.

But there are a couple of things I want to bring up.

Not everything that’s traditionally published is good literature. *cough*50shadesofgraygettingpickedupbyapublishingcompany*cough* And not everything that’s self-published is awful. One of my favorite series of all time was self-published. And sure, it’s got its flaws, but so does any piece of literature.

Getting published traditionally isn’t a matter of skill. You can be a great writer and never get picked up by a publisher if you’re not writing the right thing at the right time or if you’re not lucky or this or that or whatever. And there are some not so great authors who do get published.

And let’s be honest. The publishing industry is a complete mess in need of an overhaul right now. There have been at least two diversity scandals that I’ve heard of just within the last few months, one of which was making major headlines. And this definitely throws a wrench into the ‘getting traditionally published’ idea, especially for authors of color, LGBT authors, or authors that are trying to bring more diversity into mainstream literature. If you aren’t meeting a white man’s ideals of what diversity should be and are lucky enough to get picked to be their token diverse author of the year, you’re not going to get much in the way of marketing, if you’re even lucky enough to get published to begin with. But most of the diversity issues are around POC specifically and I feel like it isn’t my place as a white woman to talk about this any more than I already have.

And even with all this in mind, some people choose to self-publish over traditional publishing. It doesn’t automatically mean that they got rejected and took it upon themselves to share their masterpiece with the world despite the publishing industry telling them it’s a piece of shit, or whatever the gatekeepers think.

And the last point: Fanfiction

okay. listen. i’m done with this argument. we shouldn’t have to defend the existence of fanfiction. and I’m tired of arguing with people over whether or not it’s a literary genre or not. because it is. end of story. i’m not taking any criticism at this time, thank you.

It opens the door to new writers.

Some readers are more likely to read about characters they already know rather than trying to get to know brand new characters, but can also serve as a gateway to introducing to people to reading literature.

Some fanfics are written better than a lot of traditionally published literature than I’ve read.

Fanfic writers don’t even get paid, even when they crank out a fanfic longer than a novel. Like? What saints

It feels like, and I may be wrong but, fanfic writers tend to have more consistent one-on-one interaction with fans and those fans (no offense) in some cases tend to be...how do I say this....extremely entitled.

People have been writing fanfiction for who knows how long. It isn’t exactly new. But just as the internet is making it easier to access traditional literature, it’s making it easier to access fanfiction as well.

And a host of other things. FANFICTION IS NOT KILLING LITERATURE YOU PRETENTIOUS ASSHATS. YOU JUST WANT TO PRETEND THE ONLY FANFIC WRITERS ARE CRINGEY PRETEENS WHO DON’T KNOW HOW TO WRITE. And you know what?? So what if preteens are writing fanfic? That doesn’t mean it has no literary value. And it’s teaching them lessons and helping curate and improve their creative writing skills. It’s like you expect writers to just pop out of the womb with a quill in hand, a cigarette between their lips, twirling their fucking handlebar mustache as they discuss the value of metaphors in Paradise Lost with the doctor before writing a masterpiece as their family takes them home from the hospital for the first time.

TLDR; we can’t argue that something is ‘killing literature’ when literature isn’t dying. The medium is shifting with the times, just like everything else, while some people’s close-minded ideas of what constitutes ‘good’ or ‘worthwhile’ literature is stagnant. It’s irresponsible, as literary scholars, to gatekeep literature. All you’re doing, in the end, is shaming people out of reading in general, let alone reading what you believe are the correct things to read in the correct ways of reading them. You can’t argue the value of minorities, class differences, and diversity in literature and then also try and claim that only certain types of literature are allowed, when narrowing down those types blocks the very people you believe literature is supposed to uplift from accessing it.

[csnews]

Will we now commit to saving the Northwest’s orcas? A task force meets Tuesday

Lynda V. Mapes - August 6, 2018

Scientists say saving the southern resident orcas is going to take a variety of solutions, from quieting vessel noise to fishing cutbacks, to restraint on development in what habitat remains for salmon and even breaching the lower Snake River dams.

Will the sad spectacle of a mother orca clinging to her dead calf day after day and the urgent decline of a dying 4-year-old in her same family spark real action to save a species from extinction, or will it just be more business as usual?

A task force on orca recovery, convened by Gov. Jay Inslee, will meet Tuesday in Wenatchee for the first time since the whales riveted the world’s attention, adding poignant urgency to the panel’s deliberations. It is charged with examining the threats and conditions that have depleted the southern-resident killer whales, and recommending a recovery program.

Stephanie Solien, co-chair of the task force, and vice chair of the Puget Sound Partnership Leadership Council, is convinced the orca mother is making a statement intended to get results.

“It is such a tragic and heartbreaking situation, I honestly believe that Tahlequah is on a mission,” Solien said of J35, the mother orca whale who as of Thursday had carried her dead calf for 10 days and more than 250 miles, refusing to let it go.

The southern-resident killer whales have declined to 75 animals. They rely primarily on chinook salmon for their food — a fish that decision-makers must take big steps to restore if the whales are to survive.

One reason the sight of the mother and her baby — and the dying 4-year-old — have been so hard to watch is because of people’s own knowledge, deep down, that we are connected to their plight, said Jason M. Colby, history professor at the University of Victoria, and author of the book “Orca: How we Came to Know and Love the Ocean’s Greatest Predator” (Oxford, 2018).

“She has made the most powerful and eloquent statement of any of us by far,” Colby said. “We know on a fundamental level, or we should know, that this is caused by us, that the pain she is experiencing and showing and the hunger they are experiencing is the result of hard decisions we haven’t made. We did this.”

Food is the priority

Solutions include quieting vessel noise, fishing cutbacks, restraint on development in what habitat remains for salmon, and more money to fix what is destroyed. Even breaching the lower Snake River dams to open up passage to some of the last best habitat in the region — that’s all got to be on the table if the whales are to survive, scientists say. The most urgent need, they agree, is food.

“There is no question the whales are starving,” said Sam Wasser, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington. His research has linked miscarriages in the whales to lack of food, especially chinook.

Scientists know from analysis of the whales’ scat that they target chinook salmon returning to the Columbia and Snake system in the early spring to sustain themselves until the Fraser River runs start later in the year.

“These are the fatty chinook these whales are incredibly dependent on,” Wasser said. “These dams are impacting them at a critical place and time before they even hit Haro Strait, where we are also seeing big declines of chinook in the Fraser River.

“The bottom line is, it all comes down to salmon.”

Some scientists are dismayed that a few of the early solutions being discussed — from shooting sea lions to producing more hatchery fish — won’t help and could even make the situation worse.

“Shooting sea lions is a knee-jerk response,” said Ken Balcomb, a member of the task force and founding director of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor. “A natural ecosystem that functions is what we need.”

According to the Center for Whale Research, an 8,000-pound pregnant orca must eat about 4 to 5 percent of her body weight every day — 320 to 420 pounds of suitable prey. Mostly that’s chinook.

If the southern residents don’t get food fast, they will keep losing mothers and their babies, Balcomb said.

“Then it’s over. You will still have whales going around, but it will just be a few grandmothers and old guys.” The population will be functionally extinct, he said.

Debate over dams

Jaime Smith, spokeswoman for the governor, said all options are open for consideration as the task force deliberates.

The 45-member panel, plus two co-chairs, is composed of state, local and tribal government officials as well as representatives from nonprofits and industry trade associations. The panel is charged with delivering draft recommendations to the governor by Oct. 1, and a final report by Nov. 1. This is to provide time to mount a recovery program based on those recommendations to take to the state Legislature, Smith said.

Recommendations are required to identify and address all of the major threats to southern residents, including prey availability, toxic contaminants and disturbance from noise and vessel traffic.

But the very size of the panel can be a curse, said Joseph Bogaard, executive director of the nonprofit Save Our Wild Salmon. “Its strength is also its weakness,” he said of the task force. “It is very hard to get decisions out of such a big group.”

The sheer number of problems — and necessary solutions — and controversy they are sure to engender is daunting. The whales feed on chinook from a broad geography, from rivers in Puget Sound to the trans-boundary waters of the Salish Sea and Columbia and Snake rivers.

The debate over taking down the lower Snake River dams has festered for more than 20 years, amid opposition from irrigators, dryland wheat farmers, shippers and utilities wedded to the status quo. Federal judge Malcolm Marsh in 1993 rejected the feds’ claim that the dams pose no jeopardy to salmon.

“The process is seriously, significantly flawed because it is too heavily geared towards a status quo that has allowed all forms of river activity to proceed in a deficit situation — that is, relatively small steps, minor improvements and adjustments — when the situation literally cries out for a major overhaul.”

Marsh wrote that 25 years ago — before Tahlequah, now 20, was even born.

The litigation continues, with the fifth, most-recent federal decision on the matter in 2016 calling for a redo of the science and plan for river operations that looks at all alternatives to protect salmon, including Snake River dam removal — a process that won’t conclude for years.

“I guess I am just wondering if we have the courage to act rather than just talk,” said Rick Williams, a fisheries ecologist at The College of Idaho who with other scientists published a recent report on the need for wild salmon and protected habitat to support them. “The reality is that falls into the social and political and economic landscape, more than the biologic. The debate focuses on uncertainty to stall action, but we really have enough science.”

To some, the problem facing the orcas is no different from that confronting an unhealthy person. Quick fixes are only that; treating symptoms without addressing the underlying causes won’t be enough.

“I liken it to a patient in a hospital,” said Joe Gaydos, a member of the task force, veterinarian and director of the SeaDoc Society, a nonprofit conservation group. “You’ve had a heart attack. You have to triage the situation, but you also have to talk about lifestyle changes, like changing your diet and quitting smoking and exercise.”

To him, shooting sea lions or producing more hatchery fish isn’t the answer.

Even beyond the animal-welfare issue, killing sea lions could have unintended consequences in a complicated, interconnected food web, Gaydos said. Scientists have long documented that hatchery fish compete for space and food with wild salmon and can interbreed with them, weakening their genetics. They also can be vectors of disease.

Today’s threats

While hatchery fish may have a role in providing food for the short term, just pushing out more and more of the fish ignores history: The region has been flooding its waterways with hatchery fish for decades, and still the orcas decline.

“From my point of view, it’s exactly the wrong thing to do, pump out more hatchery fish,” said Jack Stanford, professor emeritus at the Flathead Lake Biological Station at the University of Montana.

“The sea lions are there because we are giving them this huge subsidy of hatchery fish. And the return on investment just is not there,” Stanford said. “These fish are so maladapted, who knows what happens to them, but they go into a black hole.”

Wild fish and the habitat to sustain them are what’s needed, Stanford said — something scientists have been saying for a long time. “But the orcas might be like some of us scientists, we just are not listened to.”

Former Washington Secretary of State Ralph Munro, when he was an aide to then-Gov. Dan Evans, worked in 1976 to stop what he helped make sure was the last capture of killer whales for aquariums ever in Washington waters.

He said the whales that he and others fought to save now face a mortal struggle from threats less obvious than the nets and captors who once pursued them. Now, it’s the day-to-day activities and ordinary desires of millions of people that have put the southern residents on the brink of extinction.

“I hope that mother’s attachment to her baby has woken people up, and that people realize the lives of these animals are about over,” Munro said.

“We have to fix every single culvert that blocks salmon runs, we have to stop chinook fishing, people have to step back,” he said. “Or we are going to lose one of the greatest gifts God ever gave us.”

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 221: What’s Up, Doc

Previously on BnHA: We caught up with everyone’s favorite squad of homicidal misfits some six-odd weeks before the start of the current arc. Tomura and the gang were straight up broke, squatting in a condemned building somewhere out in the mountains and raiding racist secret societies to steal their shit. As it turns out, having no money and no sense of direction or purpose starts to weigh on one’s soul after a while, and Spinner in particular seemed to be having a bit of a hard time, since he only joined the League because of Stain. Just when it looked like we might be in for a bit of internal strife, our friend Gigantomachia literally tore the door down, announced he was there to meet AFO’s successor, and then demanded for him to prove that he was worthy. Which is how the League found themselves getting their asses kicked by this sobbing giant rock man as he lamented over how weak they were. The chapter ended with Giganto’s discarded radio trying to get Tomura’s attention. Apparently the voice on the other end belongs to none other than AFO’s personal physician, a mysterious man known only as “the doctor” who is behind the creation of the Noumus.

Today on BnHA: The doc explains that Gigantomachia is All for One’s former bodyguard and one of the people AFO trusted the most. AFO hid him away a few years back, anticipating his own eventual defeat. Unfortunately, Giganto’s unfailing loyalty to AFO has made him unwilling to accept anyone who doesn’t live up to his former master. For the time being, the doc calms him down by playing a recording of AFO’s voice. He then proceeds to teleport the entire League to his hideout using the black sludge warping quirk. Over at the hideout, we see that the doc is in fact the spitting image of Deku’s old doctor from chapter 1, pretty much confirming a long-held fan theory. Also, this dude’s got no fewer than 12 motherfucking High-End Noumus floating around in tanks. The doc introduces himself as Ujiko Daruma (which even he admits is a fake name), and he tells Tomura that he summoned him and his gang because he wants Tomura to prove he’s worth. Anyway so during this chapter I proceeded to lose my shit like 1700 times, and tbh even rereading it now it still gets me hyped up. Oh my freaking god.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly-unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’m caught up with the manga now at chapter 226, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

oh my god

safe to say that “hyped as fuck” is a pretty accurate description of what I’m feeling right now

lol what the

Horikoshi, PSA, that’s not how radios work. were you perhaps thinking of cell phones? or walkie-talkies??

then again I suppose this might be some fancy schmancy radio FROM THE FUTURE or whatever

oh shit Tomura ain’t even joking though

giganto smash

I can’t believe Shigaraki Tomura is fucking dead. so much for your successor AFO

nah just kidding, he’s fine, at least presuming that he’s able to somehow land safely after all... this

guess we know what happened to poor Naomasa and that mountainside now

anyway, so guys. shit like this? is why Deku fucking needs to power the fuck up though. friendly reminder that the current #1 hero almost lost to fucking Hide and Seek Noumu. meanwhile this guy is out here leveling countrysides with a single Goron Pound. even Gran Torino wasn’t able to touch him. literally if our boy doesn’t get his Avatar State on soon the heroes are going to be in very bad shape here

anyway, so Giganto is still sobbing, and shouting to All for One (he can’t hear you, bro) that he wants to accept Tomura but he just can’t

okay but consider reading chapters 159 and 160 and then coming back and letting me know if you’ve had a change of heart. I’m just saying. he fucked up Overhaul something fierce and he deserves some credit. even if it was all just so he could steal Overhaul’s evil plan all for himself. because he has yet to come up with any kind of decent evil plan of his own. because between you and me, I don’t think he’s quite cut out for -- you know what, shit. maybe you’re onto something after all

so now Tomura is having a hilarious conversation with this sobbing rock man and a radio while still in mid-air

-- RECORD SCRATCH. FREEZE FRAME

SAY WHAT NOW. BACK THE FUCK UP, PRAYTELL??

are you saying this guy is the original Talking Noumu?? did AFO give him multiple quirks? is he like Wolverine or something and he’s got like a healing factor that can take a licking and keep on ticking? so they got all excited and loaded him up? ARE YOU EVEN REALLY MADE OF ROCK, FRIEND, OR IS THAT JUST ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR LIES

(ETA: I think this translation is wrong, actually; Viz’s translation says that Giganto is strong enough to be AFO’s bodyguard even without multiple quirks. in other words, he’s as strong as a Noumu without actually being one. which is arguably just as much of a shocking statement though.)

anyway so What’s Up Doc is continuing to explain Giganto’s life story so let’s un-freeze that frame

more evidence that AFO was taking steps to ensure himself a line of succession even before meeting Tomura. AFO have you ever seen Guardians of the Galaxy 2? spoiler alert, you know how Peter’s dad went and had a bunch of kids with people of all different species in order to try and create offspring that carried the same power as him, so he could use them to destroy the galaxy and shit? well my question for you is Did You Do That Exact Same Thing, Minus The Galaxy-Destroying Part. huh. huh

anyway now Dabi’s weighing in

and What’s Up Doc is all

“yep! we fucked up!!”

lol he says Giganto’s loyalty is too strong for his own good. went a bit overboard did we AFO

and nice lowkey Tomura burn as well. he says that Giganto is despairing at the “huge gap” between AFO and Tomura

so now Dabi is all “okay so we just have to do our best to kick his ass until he likes us?”

and he’s firing some flames, looking like he’s not exactly opposed to the thought

but WUD is saying that’s impossible, oh damn

what the

the hell was that click?? did he just hang up??

doesn’t seem that way, so... hmm. does he maybe have Giganto conditioned to respond to certain sounds or something? Pavlov-style?

(ETA: this really reminds me of the Avengers doing that “hey big guy, sun’s getting real low” lullaby thing with the Hulk lol.)

did he just shrink back down to size

um, what

should we... give him a moment

ohhhhhhhhhh

well that explains it then. no wonder they had him with the radio strapped around his neck

I wonder what would happen if they found out Mina was also capable of calming him down. Giganto whisperer. if SIXQUIRKS Deku ultimately fails, she may just be our last hope

and Tomura, shush. we’ve been waiting for him to join your party since chapter 50-something. this is literally years in the making. it took you time to warm up to your other misfits too, so you shut up and you deal with it

last observation before I click to the next page: is Giganto not wearing any pants. because. it looks to me like he’s not wearing any pants. just saying. um. ...

(ETA: you guys this makes me so uncomfortable though.)

OH SHIT WUD is calling Tomura out!!

AS THE PHILOSOPHER JAGGER ONCE SAID, “YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT”

fucking look at that halo of realization surrounding Tomura at this concept, though

wow he’s taking it better than I thought though

I’m not sure what Tomura’s relationship with WUD is, but up until this point I can’t recall him ever actually listening to another character and not throwing a tantrum even when they tell him something he doesn’t want to hear. like, he listened to Kurogiri more or less, but bitched about it endlessly when he didn’t like it. and even with AFO he would whine until he got his way

and yet here WUD is straight up telling him “AFO done spoiled you, kid” and he’s just like “ouch. that’s pretty harsh” but at the same time just... accepting it. Tomura you’ve done quite a bit of growing up, haven’t you?

and I think part of it is also that he’s probably been coming to these realizations on his own as well, but not really wanting to accept them yet. but he’s not stupid; what with their recent troubles it was probably starting to sink in just how good he’d had it earlier

anyway, so now WUD is saying “a moment please” and I guess he’s going off to do something

DFAKLSDJFLAKSD

HOLY SHIT IT’S THE BLACK OOZE WARP AGAIN

ARE WE FINALLY GOING TO MEET THE MYSTERIOUS UJIKO PLEASE SAY YES OH MY GOD OH SHIT

holy shit

so even they don’t know what’s going on. well I’m glad that someone is finally having the same freaking-the-fuck-out reaction that I did back in chapter 191 but no one else seemed to share my shock or concern even though WHAT THE FUCK YOU GUYS

so quick reminder that this quirk works by teleporting the user a short-range distance (supposedly; I think the limit was 5km) either toward the quirk-user, or toward someone with whom the user is well-acquainted with. so presumably that means that whoever’s using the quirk is closer to them than they think, and also this person is with the doc right now

(ETA: though on further reflection I think that AFO’s may have just had limited range because he’d just acquired it. it must be one of those quirks that you can power up with time and practice. 5km is way too limited of a range given how this quirk has been used the last few times we’ve seen it.)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HOLY SHIT IT REALLY IS HIM!?!?!

holy fucking shit holy shit oh my god holy shit

this is Deku’s quirk doctor. that’s him, 100%. Tsubasa’s grandpa, who 100% confirmed turned his grandson into a Noumu. and who is now confirmed to be AFO’s personal doctor. and just happened to be hanging out in Musutafu conducting quirk tests on our protagonist when he was a young child

you guys I’m calling it -- Dad for One just went up to 50% likelihood. we are up to a 1 in 2 chance of this shit being confirmed as fucking canon. we have officially reached the point where these are confirmed to no longer be coincidences, or reaching for something that isn’t actually there. this is now either deliberate misdirection on Horikoshi’s part... or. it’s fucking true

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: that was a four-page quadruple fucking whammy you guys. shock after fucking shock. this chapter is amazing.)

oh my god!?!?!

okay so first of all, is that Hyped Up Noumu there on the far right?? it’s the same head, for sure. doesn’t quite look exactly the same as the final version, though. so maybe just a brother or cousin, or maybe he was incomplete

and we’ve got our first female Noumu as well! League of Villains doesn’t discriminate! nope

two of these Noumus appear to be missing the lower halves of their legs. friendly reminder that these were once normal people -- quite possibly children -- and we don’t know how much they can actually still feel. this is fucking horrifying and I’m not even joking, it’s fairly sickening to think about

I’m trying to see if I can identify any other familiar quirks, but so far it’s a no. I will point out that that one Noumu second from the left appears to have multiple Xenomorph heads. enjoy your nightmares kids

and last, these are all black Noumus, a.k.a. the special super-powerful kind. and there are at least a dozen here that we can see

so once again, just throwing it out there -- we might just be in need of a superpowered OFA kid with SIXQUIRKS once shit hits the fan and the fucking APOCALYPSE breaks loose or whatever the fuck this is all building up to, holy fucking shit

I’m seriously fucking stunned, though. leave it to Horikoshi to have me dropping my jaw to the floor on one page and then making my eyes fucking bug out of their sockets with the next

and so the heroes, as it turns out, did not even come close to unpacking all of AFO’s secrets. didn’t that one cop say way back in like chapter 96 that it was almost like he’d wanted the police to find that warehouse, and that it almost seemed too easy? so now this is evidence that everything -- basically all of Kamino -- was actually all according to AFO’s plan, and he intentionally let that hideout fall into the heroes’ hands. and even more terrifyingly, he most likely intentionally let himself get captured and it’s all part of a long con that he is currently enjoying the shit out of

tl;dr we’re screwed

anyways I think that’s all the freaking out and speculation and weak-attempts-at-analysis I can squeeze out from this two page spread for now. so let’s finish up the rest of the chapter then

so we’re getting confirmation now that Tomura has never been here before

oh my god the shock is finally wearing down and being replaced by HYPPPPPPPPE you guys...!!

so Doctor Eggman here is cackling and confirming that these are indeed not your everyday Noumu

“these children” oh my god

I suddenly feel the urge to go and hug all my U.A. babies. god bless them and please keep them safe! and I feel a particularly urgent need to hug my boy Katsuki especially, because yet again I got to wondering just what would have happened to him if he hadn’t been rescued, if All Might and the Pizza Delivery Team hadn’t come right when they did. and if he’d still refused to join Tomura. and just... shit

and one last friendly reminder that Tsubasa was Katsuki’s friend. the two of them were colossal assholes to Deku together (or well, Katsuki was an asshole and Tsubasa just followed him around smiling, mostly) when they were only four years old. there is a decent chance he’s actually met this man in the context of him being Tsubasa’s grandfather (not that he’d recognize the face given how little attention he pays to these things). and of course, Deku has met him face to face as well -- this is the man that completely altered the course of his life from age 4 through 14

sorry I keep getting so sidetracked guys, but this chapter just portends. y’know? this is some ominous foreshadowing fucking destiny shit. like, this seriously just became one of the most important plot chapters in the entire series. and just, we are finally, finally on to big things once again, and ffffffffffff but I’m so excited I can’t even fucking sit still

sdlfkjsadlkflSLDFHHSDKHFLKHLKJLKJ

THE HANDS. THE FUCKING -- HOLY SHIT

and also! he’s going to duplicate the fucking PERMANENT QUIRK-BE-GONE AHHHHHHH

this just got so much worse. everything. so much fucking worse

honestly starting to feel like six quirks may not actually be enough

anyway, so Compress is squinting and saying that he can’t clearly make out Eggman’s face “what with that backlight”

and. uh

hahaha well fuck. okay then

and Twice is all “jesus christ okay then dude, you’re the one who fucking brought us here to begin with”

and yeah, speaking of. care to explain that?? ever???

all right, so Eggman’s saying that he teleported them there because he doesn’t want to reveal his location

DLSAFHOIHW

so he’s Ujiko??? well shit, there goes the possibility of Ujiko being a lady villain. sorry Toga. still all you, Best Girl

after this I’ll have to go check out Caleb Cook’s twitter to see what he has to say about the name, given that Ujiko claims to have made it up on the spot just now

(ETA: here:

so basically his way of saying he’s AFO’s disciple, I guess.)

anyway, so now he’s saying that the reason he called Tomura here was out of respect for some arrangement that he had with AFO

I’m gonna assume that AFO was procuring quirks for him to aid in his research

oh my god you guys

it just occurred to me that this arc? might be Tomura’s version of getting his own power-ups similar to what Deku’s gotten recently. gotta keep that playing field level after all

lol oh damn

so this is like a Price is Right showcase. all this can be yours, if...

so what are you gonna do now, Tomura. ball’s in your court

and that’s the end of the chapter. oh my god

how many chapters into this arc are we actually?? and already we’ve got the Detnerat shit; Shouto and Katsuki finally getting their licenses (KACCHAN WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO CONFIRM YOUR HERO NAME???); and now these last two incredible League of Villain plot chapters. it’s been like five chapters, and this arc is already like a top three. absolutely incredible

[9thbutterfly]

Ö1 Radiokolleg series "What should our children learn?“

@dendritic-trees, like we talked about, I’m listening to this again and attempting to keep notes. I do not, however, have the brain capacity to condense 25 minutes of quotes from teachers and experts interrupted by bits of narration into a comprehensive text, I’m just writing down whatever I can keep up with and then translating it as well as I can - and be glad that I have to translate it, because if I could post it in German, I would not bother to get rid of the completely ridiculous amount of typos I made.

Part 1

It starts off with quotes from a few teachers:

"The language, spoken and in writing, basic grammar and spelling, the basic arithmetic functions, and for our students, preparing them to work in a trade"

"media competency and critical thinking"

"working in teams, social competency, recognising their talents and strengths, independence, how to  find information – reading skills and a desire to learn more"

Finding something out yourself is more difficult than just memorising it.

Solution-oriented thinking

interdisciplinary topics – it‘s more work for teachers, but it teaches the students not to be "trapped" in the subjects – like learning something in chemistry, but then not being able to apply it in biology if the same knowledge is needed there.

An interlude from a comedian talking about his schooldays: "we had this very progressive Latin teacher – we learned Latin from Asterix comics. But they were always talking about practical relevance – how often was I going to sit in a Roman tent and want to order a roast wild boar? Or, take physical education – how often would I need these gymnastics? Unless I became a burglar. But they are on the curriculum. How often have you thought, 'now the roll forward is the right answer!'?"

"it's a pity that so many people make a face when they hear 'physics' or 'mathematics'. In mathematics, you learn to draw logical conclusions and work with complex information. Or you should – instead, you mostly memorise formulas and then do five problems that are all the same. But these subjects are tools, that you can use to understand, for example, recycling or food."

Commerical academies usually get their curricula overhauled every ten years or so – first it was the digitisation, now it's entrepeneurship

they are always looking at what the economy needs

[not sure if this part was strictly about the commercial academies any more, or the school system in general]

curricula need to be overhauled

which contents are outdated?

What is didactically outdated?

How to evaluate/grade?

What are the minimum learning objectives?

Skills orientation

you should have knowledge and know how to use your knowledge, in different situations

knowledge keeps changing faster and faster – how can you use it and increase/update it?

"standardised tests are bad – we teachers already know how well or badly our students can read etc, and it does not motivate the students to learn more"

"students have such different starting points, for example in regards to digital competency – it makes such a difference whether their parents work with computers every day, or whether they have a job where they don't need that at all. The students are so heterogenous, we need different approaches to solve their problems."

The PISA test always points out we have so many functional analphabets.

But it mainly measures how well the students can be used by the economy.

Some students know how to read, but not how to tie their shoelaces, some don't know German or have other language difficulties, others can read but not do maths. Some get a lot of support from their families, others don't, but they are also not allowed to go outside and play, they just get to sit in front of the tv.

But we should not just ask, how will they do well on the job market?

We should also ask: what do we need as humans? To be happy, to build a good society? To be prepared for life paths that do not lead in a straight line?

We should not measure children against their economic value, but encourage their personal growth, enable them to lead an independent life, a fulfilling life, more than just work all day and then fall into bed. [this came with a side of criticism for the recent expansion of the maximum daily/weekly work hours]

If the curriculum is not systematically decluttered, then each teacher must do that for themselves.

"'declutter' is an awful word, we don't have clutter in our curriculum. But what would be better is to bundle similar subjects together – we call this 'domains'. For example, natural sciences – what are problems that the natural sciences can solve? And for which problems are they useless? And that's where the social sciences come in – what do those do? Which discipines give them support for their future life? In their private life and on the job."

"Memorising scientific terms – having to just memorise stuff is not ideal? But you need the terms to understand the world. Take, for example, 'symbiose' – if a text talks about a symbiotic relationship, what does that mean? We talk a lot about functional analphabets – many of them can't read texts because they don't understand the words."

The recent focus on entrepeneurship makes success more important than knowledge. You mainly need to be able to sell yourself well. Like speaking in front of an audience without anxiety – that is good. But often the contents do not get enough attention. The importance of being able to present yourself well has grown a lot – you also see this on social media. No matter how talented you are, if you can't present yourself well, you won't be successful."

[aizawamizuchi]

Slow Healing

Mizuchi was on the scene when they caught Overhaul. Eri was rushed to the hospital along with the other students that were hurt. Nighteye was badly injured, she stood near his bedside with tears in her eyes. He smiled at her sadly, "Mizu, I'm sorry for everything. You are a great hero and I cherished the times that we worked together in our youth," he said gripping her hand.

Aizawa rubbed his wife's back, Mizuchi kissed Nighteye on the forehead and held back a sob.

They both worked under All Might at the beginning of their hero careers. When Nighteye left Mizuchi stayed. They never spoke after that, until now. "Don't blame yourself Mizu. I know why you stayed, he needed you and he still does," Nighteye said looking over at All Might who was also crying. "Keep looking after him," Nighteye said.

Mizuchi nodded, "Always."

Aizawa pulled Mizuchi to the side to comfort her. He held her as she silently cried into his chest. They all stayed with Nighteye until he passed. Everyone left the room silently comforting one another. A nurse hesitantly walked up to Mizuchi, "Excuse me I am sorry to interrupt, but the doctors would like you to do a trauma diagnosis on Eri," the nurse said.

Aizawa glared at the nurse, "Can you give her a minute? Are there not any other therapists in this hospital?" he asked irritated.

Mizuchi touched her husband's arm, "It's ok Sho, I will be down there in a few minutes." she said dismissing the nurse.

Mizuchi went into the bathroom and cleaned up her face. Once she got herself together she made her way to Eri's room. She was still in her hero suit. When switching roles from hero to therapist she would change but, this was an emergency. She opened the door and silently made her way in.

Eri was sitting with her back to Mizuchi, she walked up to her bed.

"Eri…"

The young girl turned around and her eyes went wide, "You….you're… a hero Mizumi," she said in a whisper. The tension slowly started to leave the girl's body.

Mizuchi sat down at the edge of the hospital bed, "How are you feeling?" she asked.

Eri shrugged, "Ok," she said.

Mizuchi saw her tools on a nearby table, she reached for her file folder. She pulled out a chart with faces on it. "Can you chose which one you are?" she said with a kind smile holding up the chart.

Eri pointed to the worried face, Mizuchi frowned, "Why are you worried Eri?"

"Is Mr. Deku and Lemillion ok?" she asked looking up at Mizuchi with sad eyes.

Mizuchi's heart melted, "Yes, they are going to be fine," she said reassuring her.

Mizuchi did a few more tests on Eri and what she was learning made her stomach churn. Overhaul used this young girl over and over. Breaking her body down and rebuilding her, the amount of trauma she has been through was disturbing.

By the end of their talk Mizuchi had gathered all the info she needed to start Eri's file. As she was putting her things away Eri asked her a question, "Is he going to find me?" Eri asked her eyes filling with tears.

Mizuchi looked into the girl's eyes, "As long as I am around, no one will ever hurt you again."

Tears fell from Eri's eyes, she leaped forward and buried her face in Mizuchi's chest. She wrapped her small arms around Mizuchi's waist. The woman froze, they were all told not to touch Eri due to her quirk. Yet the girl was touching her now and nothing was happening.

Mizuchi slowly wrapped her arms around Eri, embracing her in a warm hug.

Shouta was outside the room standing watch. He didn't hear them talking anymore and he started to worry. He cracked open the door and saw his wife hugging the girl. At first, he was going to intervene but, he saw that his wife was fine.

Mizichi felt like she was being watched, she opened her eyes and saw her husband. She smiled at him letting him know that she was fine. He nodded and closed the door.

After her session with Eri, the couple went back to the dorms together with the other students. Deku and Mirio stayed at the hospital for another night for observation. The next day Mizichi had a meeting with the students that were on the scene.

It was her job to assess any mental damage that any student may have from a traumatic event. Most were mourning Nighteye's death which she was expecting. After she was done with her sessions she had to go back to the hospital. She had three more sessions to do with Deku, Mirio, and Eri. Both the boys were deeply saddened by Nighteye, as well as what they saw underground during the mission.

Eri was more talkative today since she had time to rest. She was staying at the hospital while the police were deciding what to do with her. For the time being Mizuchi was Eri's personal therapist. Once Mizichi was done for the day she left the hospital feeling drained. As she walked out she saw that All Might was waiting for her holding a bag of onigiri. He smiled at her holding up the bag, she smirked at her mentor with exhaustion.

They walked to a near by park and sat on a bench. They eat their food in silence for a moment, enjoying the still of the evening. "You've been busy all day," All Might said breaking the silence.

"Yep, just the usual post incident clean up," Mizuchi said taking a sip of her drink.

All Might shrugged, "I wouldn't say usual, you have been a Pro for 10 plus years and this is your first loss."

Mizuchi put her drink down and lowered her head.

"Have you made an appointment with your therapist yet? If you haven't I advice you to do it tonight. It's only been a day and Aizawa told me that you skipped breakfast and lunch. You've been burying yourself in your work all day. You only do that when you are trying to avoid your own problems. Do you need to talk?" All Might said turning to her.

Tears ran down Mizuchi's face, she tried to speak but she chocked on her words. All Might pulled her into his chest. Mizuchi sobbed into the man's chest. "If I was just quicker!" she cried.

"I could have saved him, it just keeps replaying in my head! Everything I could have done! It…It…IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!" she sobbed gripping All Might's shirt.

All Might placed a hand on Mizuchi's head, tears started to run down his face. "Mizu you listen to me. There is nothing you can do to change what happened. I know it hurts but, he is gone sweetheart. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." he said as he started to choke on his words.

"This pain you feel has been felt by every Pro Hero in the world. Even Pro's like you can not escape this pain. This will not be the last person you lose in the field. Remember this feeling, remember why you wanted to become a Pro. Keep fighting for those who can no longer fight." All Might said holding her by the shoulders.

She cried silently and he wiped her face, he did not see a woman in front of him. He saw the young girl that he decided to take under his wing all those years ago. Mizuchi has always been a caring hero. That's why he called her sweetheart, because she truly was one. He remembered the day she excepted his offer.

Mizuchi shifted in the chair while All Might looked out of his office window. "So have you thought about my offer? I heard that Endeavor also offered you a position," All Might said looking out at the city.

"I have… I turned him down." she said looking at her hands.

"Why?" All Might asked. He assumed that the girl would say she rather work for the #1 Hero instead.

"Because he told me I could not go to school and be a Pro Hero!" she said with frustration in her tone.

He looked over his shoulder at her, "You want to go to University?" he asked.

Mizuchi stood up, "Yes, I want to be come a therapist and a Pro Hero. I believe that mental health is something in hero society that is ignored. I grew up in hero society and I've seen a need for it."

All Might turned around fully, "Do you believe that you can do hero training and school?" he asked.

"Yes I can, I promise you I will work hard," she said bowing to him.

He looked at her for a moment, he walked out from behind his desk and stood in front of her. She looked up at him as he held out his hand to her. "Welcome to the agency, Sweetheart."

She has grown so much since that day. All Might has seen Mizuchi rise to the top ten Pro hero list in Japan and top 20 worldwide. He was very proud of his old sidekick. She broke off from his side after working beside him for 6 years. Started her own agency with a focus on mental health. She achieved her goal and All Might felt like a prideful father figure to her.

Mizuchi was silent for a moment before she looked up at him, "I'll keep fighting, for them." she said referring to Nighteye and her father who passed when she was young.

She smiled and wiped the tears off All Might's face, he laughed, "I came to comfort you and here you are comforting me." he said jokingly.

"I think we both can comfort each other simultaneously," she said with a smile.

All Might smiled at her, "I agree."

[thisdaynews]

Without restructuring, Igbo or S’West presidency can’t save Nigeria — Olanipekun

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/without-restructuring-igbo-or-swest-presidency-cant-save-nigeria-olanipekun/

Without restructuring, Igbo or S’West presidency can’t save Nigeria — Olanipekun

A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association and popular legal practitioner, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), shares his thoughts on the clamours for a new constitution and how the country can overcome its challenges

As a foremost lawyer, what do you make of the clamour for the restructuring of the country?

I didn’t just start advocating for the restructuring of Nigeria yesterday; it’s been a long time that I have been calling for the overhauling, replacement and restructuring of the 1999 Constitution. When I was the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, I led a team of lawyers to the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and among the things we suggested to him stoically and patriotically was the overhauling of the constitution. We also volunteered to assist him, but he didn’t like it. I told him in clear terms that this constitution would not take us anywhere. One thing I have noticed is that at all levels, every person who comes to power and is enjoying the benefits of the present situation as brought about by the constitution want the status quo to remain. You also see a lot of people who have not been consistent. If you love your nation, you have to be consistent about your prognosis and views. When I talk about my nation, I talk as an elder who enjoyed Nigeria when it was good, when education was virtually free and there was liberty and security. At my age and as a lawyer, I should be able to say the truth to power. Honestly, I feel bad about this country. Nigeria has a lot of fiends and a few friends and it’s sad that everybody wants to take advantage of this country.

You said a few months ago that Nigeria needs a new constitution but some people feel we can make do with amendments because they feel it’s near impossible to convene a constituent assembly that would draft a new constitution, how do you think we can go about it?

Lord Denning said years ago in Macfoy vs UAC that you cannot put something on nothing, and Nigeria’s Supreme Court re-echoed it with approval through two beautiful jurists, Kayode Eso JSC and another jurist. May their souls continue to rest in peace. True to that statement, you cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand. A constitution should be de facto and de jure, meaning in fact and in actuality; in practice and in theory; in honesty and in sincerity. I’m familiar with the social media to an extent and I listened to Chief John Nwodo, the Minister of Information during the regime of former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), who foisted this constitution on us. He said the constitution was drafted by about 47 persons, out of which 40 were military personnel. Nwodo has been my friend since our Student Union days in the early 70s. He was at the University of Ibadan while I was at the University of Lagos. He’s not given to frivolities and I can beat my chest for him to a reasonable degree. He said even when Obasanjo was to be sworn in, there was no clean copy of the constitution. Is that the way it is done, for 47 persons to prepare the constitution that governs a diverse nation like Nigeria? Elders of this country must stand up to be counted; do we just want to live by the convenience of today and not think of tomorrow; what happens to our children and grandchildren? It is not a question of who is in power, it started since the time of Obasanjo. It’s sad that some people are not even ready for intellectual discourse and that is why once they have a view different from yours, you become an enemy. Why are we treating Nigeria like a bastard? We are being unfair, unjust, careless and ungodly about this country.

Politicians have shifted the discourse to 2023 already, do you agree with those who feel that is misplaced?

Politicians can be very funny and arrogant about the future. It’s only God who owns 2023, but people are already talking about 2023, which is still two years away. By and large, if you want to be elected into any office in 2023, don’t you want to govern people that would be alive? Then, you need a working document. We still have two years three months to May 2023 and that is enough time to do something. Failure to do that, if an Igbo man or a Yoruba man win, we will witness the same thing we are experiencing under President (Muhammadu) Buhari. Then, where are we going? Is that a way to build a country? Many of us were busy trying to out-speak one another during the last election in the United States, whereas we don’t have a system or institutions here.

The reservations most people have with the constitution starts from the Preamble, what is your take on that?

I will take you through some constitutions of the world and we will compare. First, the preamble in our constitution says ‘We the people of Nigeria…’ Who are the ‘we’? That is fake and false and it’s not something we should be proud of. Let’s start with the constitution of Albania of 1998. The preamble reads, ‘We the people of Albania, proud and aware of our history, with responsibility for the future, and with faith in God and/or other universal values, with determination to build a social and democratic state based on the rule of law, and to guarantee the fundamental human rights and freedoms, with a spirit of religious coexistence and tolerance….’ My goodness! Why can’t we have something like this? Look at the religious coexistence part? They simply took cognisance of their past, why are we denying ours? That was 1998, a year before Abdulsalami imposed ours on us. God has been kind to give Nigeria good, intelligent and focused people who would think of the nation and not themselves, but what have we made of that? The Albanian preamble continues, ‘…with a pledge to protect human dignity and personhood, as well as for the prosperity of the whole nation, for peace, well-being, culture and social solidarity, with the centuries-old aspiration of the Albanian people for national identity and unity, with a deep conviction that justice, peace, harmony and cooperation between nations are among the highest values of humanity, we establish this constitution…’ This is the way it is done. Even God invited people, as stated in Isaiah 1:18 that come and let us reason together’. Who are you to say I don’t have a right to contribute to the present and future of my country?

Which other country can we learn from?

Let’s talk about Algeria, another country that didn’t run away from its history. The preamble of the 1989 constitution reads, ‘The Algerian people are a free people and decided to remain so… having fought and still fighting for the freedom and democracy, the Algerian people by this constitution decided to build constitutional institutions, based on the persuasion of the Algerian people…’ They mentioned constitutional institutions; do we have institutions in Nigeria? No. I dare say the only enduring institution in Nigeria today is the Presidency, not as characterised by the incumbent, but as it has been since 1999. PUNCH reported how the Ooni of Ife and the governors of Ondo (Rotimi Akeredolu) and Oyo (Seyi Makinde) states met with the President over insecurity. My brother, Makinde, a man in whom I’m well pleased, needed to run to Abuja to demand for Mobile Police units, in a federal republic? I’m not blaming him; I’m blaming the warped, undulating, slippery, undetermined, mercurial system and organogram of the nation. There is nothing wrong with going to see your President, but where the constitution is fair and not selfish, why can’t Oyo State be able to have its own police system?

You also mentioned Argentina, how does theirs compare to ours?

Let’s look at the preamble of Argentina’s 1853 constitution, ‘We the representatives of the people of the people of the Argentine Nation, assembled in General Constituent Congress by the will and election of the provinces which compose it, in fulfilment of pre-existing pacts, with the object of constituting the national union, ensuring justice, preserving domestic peace, providing for the common defence, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves, to our posterity, and to all men in the world who wish to dwell on Argentine soil: invoking the protection of God, source of all reason and justice, do ordain, decree and establish this Constitution for the Argentine Nation.’ Can you compare them? The preamble should reflect your history and aspirations as a people, but what do we have here? Let’s look at the preamble of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, which reads, ‘We the representatives of the Brazilian people, convened in the National Constituent Assembly to institute a democratic state for the purpose of ensuring the exercise of social and individual rights, liberty, security, well-being, development, equality and justice as supreme values of a fraternal, pluralist and unprejudiced society, founded on social harmony and committed, in the internal and international orders, to the peaceful settlement of disputes, promulgate, under the protection of God, this Constitution of The Federative Republic of Brazil’. Can you see the clear difference?

You also mentioned Egypt and Ethiopia, both of which are African countries.

Egypt is one of the oldest civilisation as stated in the Bible. The preamble of their 1980 constitution reads, ‘We, the people of Egypt, who have been toiling on this glorious land since the dawn of history and civilization; we, the people working in Egypt’s villages, fields, cities, factories, centres of education, industry and in any field of work; we, the people who believe in our spiritual and immortal heritage, and who are confident in our profound faith, and cherish the honour of man and of humanity at large…..; our people have passed through successive experiences, meantime offering rich experiences on both the national and international level and being guided by them, which ultimately took shape in the basic documentations of the July 23 revolution, led by the alliance of the working forces of our struggling people.’ You see how rich that is, but here we are behaving like the ostrich, trying to bury our past? Let’s look at Ethiopia, another great empire rooted in civilisation and history. The Ethiopian Constitution of 1995 has this preamble, ‘We the nations, nationalities and people of Ethiopia…’ Nigeria also has a lot of nations, nationalities and peoples, like the Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, Hausa, Kanuri, Tivs, Ijaws, etc. Look at how their constitution recognises these but ours was silent on that.

[kimanilaurenbooks]

Writing Challenge Day 4: Rant about anything

(I’ll have you know that ranting is my specialty). 

Politically, I’ll be the first to admit that I have a hard time identifying myself. Until very recently, I thought Republicans were the most evil people in the Milky Way Galaxy (Milky Way- who came up with that? I’ll have to look it up later.), but paying attention has shown me all politicians are pretty much despicable. Well, I knew that, but they’re even more despicable than I originally knew. 

I was always a Democrat, but I remember when I really became a Democrat. It was election night 2008. I was living in a 4 family home on the border of the South and West sides of Syracuse. For some reason or another, the Republican headquarters was right around the corner from my house. Two white Republican men kicked the door in and attacked my neighbors who lived across the hall. Well, can you call it an attack, because they wound up getting the shit kicked out of them by the male representatives of all four households that night. They disappeared as quickly as they came. 

After that, everything felt magical. The first black president was elected. My boyfriend of the time (who is ironically now my ex, much like the love I had for Barack) and I felt like we could conquer the world. We couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the majestic auras of Barack and Michelle as they took over our TV screen and stepped into the position of the most powerful people on the planet. It was until about ten years later that symbol wore off, and I realized that was all he was. He carried out the same agenda of demonizing black Americans for a position we never asked to be in nor put ourselves in. Black people were killed by police on his watch, and he signed a law protecting the killers rather than the victims and those who stood up against the killers. I watched him get walked all over, do nothing to pass laws that prompted the change he promised, and listened to him say “Uuuhhh” after every three words during every single speech. 

The Obamas’ departure from office left me asking myself some hard questions. Where do I stand is the most pressing query. The last group of presidential candidates left a lot to be desired. In fact, I wanted to write on my ballot “Let’s all go out for tacos and try this again in 2020 with better people.” My vote was simply out of fear that Donald Trump would actually be allowed to be in charge of something besides a really crappy show on NBC and some businesses that I’d never be rich enough to frequent. I hated voting out of fear of a Republican taking control of the office. I rationalized my fear by telling myself there really wasn’t anyone better to vote for. It didn’t matter anyway. The Mango Mussolini won, and here we are. Yet I’m still asking myself where do I stand? 

Everyday I ask this question and come up empty. I have some firm beliefs. I strongly believe that this two party system needs to be overhauled, yet I remain a registered Democrat. I hate capitalism but hope to win the Lottery as long as society remains capitalistic. I have never had a problem with communism and socialism, but I don’t know which one I believe would be best at this point. I find Maxine Waters delightful even though she won’t vote in favor of Medicare for All, which is a bill that I am strongly in favor of. 

Delightful! I think of a politician delightful, and that bothers me. It makes me question my political maturity. It tells me that I’m still falling for the same figureheads. Throw in a black woman who reminds me of me. Never mind that her stances are staunchly opposed to mine. 

I’ve never voted for anything other than what I feel and the misconceptions with which I align my feelings. The faster I read to keep myself informed, the faster things happen. I can’t keep up. It makes me feel inadequate. 

I tend to keep quiet regarding my political views for fear of sounding as stupid as the people at whom I roll my eyes daily. They can’t wait to be loud and wrong, or show just how much empathy they lack under the guise of being “practical thinkers.” I feel as though my lack of speech should be replaced with actions, but I don’t know what to do, and so I read. And I give money to those in need where I can. Not to those hundreds of e-mails I get from back when I joined Occupy Wall Street, because most of those people are looking to line their own pockets, and I have a whole ass family to take care of. But when will my reading be enough to lead me to form a position and take action? 

[greenhappyseed]

BnHA 314 - Things I noticed & comparisons

It’s flashback time again! We even have some inception happening with a teen Nagant flashback within the regular Nagant flashback. Even though there’s some real meaty stuff here, (1) there’s no Dadmight; and (2) I’m not sure how it’s all fitting together with the post-war storyline yet. I really don’t think BnHA is turning into a political thriller, so while I enjoy hearing about the dark side of the HPSC, and how they manipulated the media and public perception, I feel like we are still building up for some other development. In particular, I was struck by how similar the full page of Nagant’s back(side?) was to All Might in Ch 2:

I still suspect some kind of connection here — if All Might knows something about the HPSC it could really impact his relationship with Izuku, kicking off a big change for them both (as engineered by AFO, naturally). I’m already feeling some angst over the chance Izuku pushes away peak Dadmight.

Another thing that jumped out at me was the absolute and conclusive nature of what “super powered society” means to the HPSC and Nagant.

It’s terrifying that Nagant’s killings were deemed “necessary” and “needed” to preserve the hope created by “front facing” heroes. “Law and order won’t cut it”?? WHY NOT?? Isn’t that the point of pro heroes and the limits on how they operate?? The HPSC wanted the image of heroes to be so untouchable that they wouldn’t allow law enforcement to do their job and arrest terrorism conspirators; instead the HPSC ordered assassinations. Obviously, the extrajudicial murder of people who don’t perpetuate a political narrative is immoral. It’s not justice, it’s not heroic, and was not done with even the faintest pretense of “saving” civilians. There is no redemption for a HPSC with these ideals.

Also, the phrase “front facing” heroes reduces them to cheap actors, especially outside the context of law and order (“fake muscles,” as All Might says in Ch 1). Yes, many heroes seek fame and money. And yes, many have separate public and private personas. We’ve known since Ch 1 that heroes and villains are both capable of good actions and bad actions, because they’re all human. But many heroes ARE willing to sacrifice and ARE motivated by saving, even if some wouldn’t meet Stain’s threshold of extreme purity (like Ochako). BnHA is a very different world from The Boys (for example) where heroes are mere products above all else. I dare say that Shigaraki’s view of heroes is more charitable to heroes (and more accurate) than the HPSC. It makes sense given that young Tenko wanted to be a hero himself — his rage centers not on individual “cool” heroes or “brave guardians” but on the narrative that heroes are impeccable and will save everyone, which means there’s no safety net and civilians can deny personal responsibility. I’m glad this chapter showed Deku listened to, and understood, what Shigaraki was saying, even if Shiggy himself said he didn’t care whether the heroes understood.

Picking up on the taint/tinge/rose-colored language, Deku says he’s seeing shades of gray. But then he refers to “fear and anger” rather than the potential for good and evil in all of us. It’s odd because he’s thinking of fox-shark girl, who is a victim without any anger or evil, so I’m not sure how she represents a “blend” or “gray.” I also think it’s problematic to show Endeavor near Dabi, considering Dabi was victimized by Endeavor’s anger over Endeavor’s fear that he’d never reach #1 and had to “settle” for mere #2 of hero society. There is no way to argue Endeavor is a victim. Then again, Deku is 16, sleepless, isolated, has been shot, is losing his voice, and can’t seem to fully focus his eyes (again). Others have also pointed out his Bakugo-like faces, indicating how hard he’s trying to WIN. Given the circumstances, it’s a small bit of progress to see Deku at least acknowledging Endeavor’s dark side. I continue to hope he will see things even more clearly after some downtime.

Speaking of gray, there’s a modest parallel to the Vigilantes story where civilians get dosed with the Trigger drug that turns them into rampaging villains. The police ask the heroes to take an extra cautious approach in subduing and identifying villains because what appear to be “villains” may in fact be innocent civilians. Of course, Endeavor wants to be violent when he spots any kind of villainous activity, while Aizawa notes there are already procedures in place for handling “gray zone opponents” that are “suspected” of villainy. It would seem there should also be procedures for arresting and prosecuting would-be terrorists who haven’t actually used their quirks to do anything villainous yet.

Oooh, this chapter had HANDS. Nagant retracts her bloody hand after reaching out to kids (a BRILLIANT visualization of a hero switching sides), Deku swears to extend his hand, Deku thinks of Shigaraki (who is at least 40% hands), and Overhaul has no hands to retract or extend!

Finally, check out Deku’s eyes in the panel above when he talks about saving — he’s still exhausted but there’s a glimmer of light there. I can’t imagine him NOT trying to save Overhaul’s life because it’s Deku’s origin, it’s where he came from, it’s what our boy DOES!!!