#against a worse enemy

[acidproofnotebook]

The restuarant scene in update 221 (ch 174/176) is more interesting than it looks

Thanks to @touchreceptors for this quick translation:

Okay, so the restaurant dinner is revealing a LOT. I don't know about WC content but at the moment I don't think Tatsumaki is really there to wring Psykos's neck. Yet.

Quick TL of the key moments from this page:

from the top left panel:

Tats: "They're after Psykos."

Tats: "She might be a monster but i'm not handing her over to those guys. I'm gonna put on an act, so cooperate with me."

Fubuki: "Sis, you're actually planning on shielding* Psykos....??!" (*verb used is "shelter, shield, hide away" )

[algrenion]

"Blake Lively is so annoyi-"

shhhhh shhh hush now baby... is girliepop complicit in the adaptation of It Ends With Us into film, ultimately spreading extremely toxic messaging about what constitutes as a healthy, acceptable, or worse yet romantic relationship to the masses...? yeah....... yeah she is, baby, Blake is complicit but shh... let's save that Grade-A Rage to build the anti-Colleen-Hoover laser so this never happens again... bc It STARTS With Her....... Blake is just the trimmings!! okay......? okay ;-))

[jaytech3652]

au where instead of trying to redeem sinners, she makes an army to protect sinners from the exorcists

this is how she meets vaggie, since she's adam's top girl charlie focuses on her a lot, until you know vaggie falls and charlie rescues her, and they end having your classic enemies to lovers

maybe in this au charlie tried the whole redeeming sinners thing before but it didnt work out or didnt pull through, then vaggie finds out about her failed dream and encourages her to not try again/not give up on it

[another-clive-blog]

Why are we as a fandom not talking more about this scene ??

Clive is literally asking the professor to come back and stop him. Like this isn't him pretending to be Future Luke : he looks genuinely upset/displeased even after the professor promises to come back. He only goes back to smiling after the professor says, and I quote "I wouldn't dream of leaving things here in that state" before talking about stopping his future self. Clive wants confirmation that Layton is actually going to confront the bad guys, that he won't just solve the mystery but fix it too.

And this is literally so important. Clive's speech at the end, about getting saved. This is concrete proof that he had truly meant it from the start, because he's asking for Layton to stop him and thus save everyone here. Which, hey- he didn't just hope and wait to get saved, he tried to save himself too.

Yep, that's right. The game talks about how dangerous it was for Clive to bring Layton underground : it doesn't talk about how even more dangerous it was to let him leave. He could have brought back cops (he did). He could have gathered precious knowledge out there (he did). He could have never come back (and yet he did !!). Clive letting Layton leave is the biggest threat to his plan, and yet HE DID. And you know what else he did ? Make Layton promise to stop him. You can't make a clearer call for help, you just can't.

"Oh but it doesn't make his crimes more forgivable, now does it-" of course not. This isn't about Clive's redemption, it's about Clive trying to avoid needing a redemption : his efforts are vain the moment he started using the fortress. But. There were efforts.

[fideidefenswhore]

the downfall and execution of a tudor queen (2023) / the boleyns: a scandalous family (2021) / the king's pearl: henry viii and his daughter mary (2017), melita thomas / anne boleyn (tv miniseries 2021) / the mirror and the light (2024) / elizabeth (1998)

[spider-man-2o99]

makes you read vulture 2099 again makes you read vulture 2099 again makes you read vulture 2099 again makes  you read vulture 2099 again makes you read vulture 2099 again

[unparalleledtrash]

GIVE JIWOO A DAMN BREAK!!

[pr0cyon-lotor]

Day 4: Angel + Devil

I couldn't think of anything I wanted to draw for yesterday, so I just skipped it ┐⁠(⁠´⁠ー⁠｀⁠)⁠┌ Anyway as shown with Teru here, I like making my angels be slightly biblical. What time period is this? Idk. They could just be overdramatic and dressing like that. Teru's cloak was a pain in the ass tho :(

Akane: Well, can't say I missed your stupid mug

Teru: I guess we're agreeing on that

Akane: How about we put down the sword and have a conversation like mature adults

Teru: Put down the dagger, and I'll think about it

Narrator: They were, in fact, flirting... Badly.

"Guys is it gay to pin your lifelong rival to the floor and get so impossibly close that your lips barely graze his and in a simple shift you'd be kissing him?" –Teru

Anyway

This AU has Akane as a demon that takes favors and souls in change for lengthening the person's lifespan and he lives in an abandoned shine. Teru is an angel that got bored and decided to live in a church as a priest bc he wanted to see humans up close.

Akane is considered an urban legend and a test of courage many times. He never attacks the kids aside from scaring them. If it's an adult and they're being disrespectful, it's fair game.

Teru decided that visiting the test of courage would be interesting (he literally just went in a whim). He encountered Akane and attempted to exorcise him (it didn't work Akane was tied to the place by then). Which pissed off Akane.

That started a centuries long rivalry. They would pull pranks, try to get a rise of the other, sometimes even attempted murder. All while very badly trying to conceal that they were flirting. (Kou was not impressed)

[kariachi]

Sorry-not-sorry I'm back on my normal 'Kevin and Argit were so small' bullshittery.

Because they fucking were. Kevin was twelve when Servantis tossed everybody, and Argit couldn't have been far off. They were middle school aged. 'Puberty would be starting about now if we weren't wandering the Null Void and therefor likely not eating near enough' aged.

A pair of children, with minimal education, no paperwork, no homes, no guardians. Wandering the Null Void and then the Milky Way, on their own. One a prime target for the slave trade, both prime targets for adults looking to take advantage of them (*coughcoughOttocoughcough*). With only as much security as they could provide themselves and each other. Only able to rely on themselves for the basic necessities of life.

And then this show has the audacity to try to tell me that they turned to crime due to poor morality. That they're money focused because they're just naturally greedy. That they don't trust people and look out for themselves because they're bad people that either will always be bad people or will only improve because of the power of Tennysons.

What options were there for them? What jobs are there in the Null Void? What jobs are there in the galaxy that'll hire barely-teens, if even that, with no paperwork or educations, that wouldn't ruin them as badly and pay worse than the crime they already had experience with? Will keep them fed and clothed and sheltered? When one of them already has a criminal record, for violent crimes at that? When there's nobody there to stop even the 'good' adults from taking advantage of them?

The show will sit there and tell you that Kevin's violent crimes were the result of a rough childhood, but he and Argit's non-violent ones? Totally on them, no excuse, wholly a matter of greed and not giving a shit about other people. Fucking bullshit. This is a pair of kids who had to grow up way too fast, up against an existence that saw at least one of them as easy profit, with nothing but themselves and each other, and no opportunities. They're a pair of traumatized kids who grabbed the opportunities available to them with both hands and were molded by the problems they faced.

Of course they're money-focused, unlike the Tennysons they don't and haven't had anybody making sure they had enough to get by. They've had to support themselves and live with the constant worry that something is going to go pear-shaped and they'll have nothing.

They spent years with anybody and everybody being a potential threat (even between the two of them, Argit's noting that Kevin's snapping while he worked for the Rooters was the worst he'd seen 'before or since' makes it quite clear he's seen him on and passed the edge at least as much if not more than we have), of course they're going to be slow to trust, quick to toss people aside, and unwilling to help their enemies without some sort of payout, they've been burned before.

Just- Damnit these two come from some shitty fucking situations, the effects they had on them are obvious if you bother to fucking look, and they both deserved better than the series just going "oh yeah they're assholes what do you expect they're criminals" and moving the fuck on. Like, for fuck's sake at least acknowledge that they're like this because life was a fucking lead pipe to the teeth to them! We know Kevin's situation was shit even before they met, we got to see it, but even if Argit had a perfectly good life beforehand (unlikely) the earliest we see him is being held captive for illegal experimentation purposes by law enforcement! These two have been through shit! At least acknowledge it!

Fuck, they could've replaced Color of Monkey with that, hitting on the differences between how Kevin and Argit adapted to their circumstances, give us upfront the Tennysons being a safety net that let Kevin heal (rather than just 'oh the Tennysons taught him morals because they're the Good People') while Argit's issues and lack of security kept him stagnant. It would go better with what we see of him over the course of OV leading up to the Rooters arc, and what we're shown in the Rooters arc. Give us him still being far from great or on the up-and-up but improving with the stability that comes with his 'hero' status, a repairing relationship with Kevin after that arc, and a flourishing, above-board business. Rather than backpedaling on any good the writers had thrown at him like they'd realized they were coming up against a cliff.

Shit that makes you want to get the writers by the shoulders and shake them mercilessly.

[whatudottu]

Okay, conspiracy theory time: if Blitzwing being an Autobot experiment was indeed the original backstory planned for him, it ended up being revised into Malware’s backstory

I mean, a specimen with unique abilities amongst their species associated with machinery created by supposed good guy scientist(s) who “came out wrong” in a sense and was driven mad by the mental strain of it, turned rogue as a result of being mistreated by their creators, became a homicidal maniac hellbent on revenge, AND the same guy worked as a character designer on their respective shows? It just makes too much sense.

I mean with how much canon that Derrick J. Wyatt had creative input on, it would certainly not be too farfetched for some older unexplored ideas to be actually put into practice haha. I do love me some morally grey (and like, genuinely grey regardless of how bright or dark the shade) allies and protagonists, even if it has to come at the cost of the mental and physical health of certain antagonists /hj-

Blitzwing may not have had that much focus as a 'character plagued by the narrative' to have explored the implied trauma beyond him serving as one of the main villains with a unique triple changer feature, Malware being rather explicitly that 'someone you should care about' mixed in with the whole 'irredeemable asshole' schtick was very much a little dicey yeet- he deserved a redemption arc if he was to be written as much of a victim of circumstance and ensuing abandonment as he was 😔

[gothimgem]

i wanna love drakengard 2 so bad but GODDAMN IT ERIS-

[eorzeashan]

KOTET CH 1: Wrath and Ruin

Eight: There can be no redemption for the fallen emperor of Zakuul, abandoned by his mother, poisoned by his father. You have failed him, Senya.

Senya: I haven't failed him yet.

Dogged assassin, who reads the lives of others to them as their final death sentence-- there was no choice more fitting though I was afraid of picking it out of sounding too cruel, as DS choices tend to be. I don't think he would've told Senya she failed. If there's one bright point out of all this, it's that he holds no grudges, no vengeance, and nothing personal towards her.

She picked a side, as he did. That has always been the nature of the wars he fought, where he killed as many allies as he did enemies by the smallest of choices. That's all it takes is a fork in the crossroad of ideals and decisions to find yourself on the opposite side of someone you once called a friend, callous as it sounds.

Eight: You fought for the Eternal Empire, the Alliance, for your family. Now you may die with honor, Senya Tirall.

The words alone don't do it enough justice, but his voice was so unbearably kind here. He meant every bit. To a warrior like him, this was the most he could do for her; the highest of honors he could give. He respected her to the end for choosing to fight for what she believed in even if it meant turning against all others.

I imagine Lana cutting in with how she's sorry she brought in a traitor, and Eight silencing her with a look. "Don't call her that. She never betrayed herself, not to her last breath."

This scene reminded me of the one on Ziost, where Theron wants to save Master Surro and Lana wants to dissect her brain. Eight chose to mercy kill her, because he saw how much she suffered; in the same way, he brought the kind of honor he could only think of as a fellow warrior. A kindness that is cruel, and a cruelty that is kind.

It's the middle ground neither Lana or Theron can understand.

Eight: For what it's worth, I regret firing on your ship. I blame it on the heat of battle.

He looks so sad here :(

He wouldn't have said this out loud, but he was thinking it, and he wouldn't have blamed it on the heat of battle either because it was a conscious choice. But...to be unable to even offer that vulnerability and take the full brunt of duty and decision out of respect for another's choice and yours even if it puts you at each other's throats... ah, it hurts. Unfeeling weapon, who never denies his enemies the honor of their ideals, always mere inches away from in another life, we could've fought by each other's side.

But that is what it means to be a betrayer.

[lesausageperson]

cray zee little man committing evils and malicious deeds while suffering from migraines and steadily increasing brain damage

[alternis]

I know Tim isnt really close with Shiva to do this or even care about her opinion in shs au but imagine-

Tim: Mo- Shiva I am bisexual

Shiva: That's great little bird!

Tim: also i still dont want to be a villain or care about martial arts

Shiva: You- WHAT?!?!

timeline wise, tim doesn't realise his sexuality until hes college age so that gives him a good few years to settle into a gently antagonistic relationship wih shiva

unfortunately my new 52 knowledge is way less than my post-crisis knowledge so I can't speak to either of their current characterisations but

i do think it would be funny for them to have to team up during a time where shiva is working with heroes and for her to see him messaging somebody and make an off handed comment about whether she should be expecting grandchildren (bc she can see he's in love with whoever he's messaging) and for him to be like. oh fuck

and then tell her he's dating a guy so not right now, but also immediately redirect the conversation by telling her that ra's al ghul has called dibs on his potential future child as a successor so if she wants grandchildren she'll need to ensure he wouldn't be a threat to their wellbeing. she knows what he's doing (playing them against one another for his own gain) and respects that he's leaning into his latent villainous tendencies

tim has many regrets but taking the opportunity to ruin the league's day isn't one of them. also he's glad shiva doesn't care he's dating a guy but really doesn't want her paying any attention to his extremely normal civilian boyfriend

[morning-moonstruck]

new chainsaw is a release of apprehension. we know that this is a manga where we cant have nice things, yet after weeks of slow progression, we (read: me) objectively know that nothing good will come, but hope weeds itself in. and predictably, after weeks of waiting for a deeper connection to be made between our main characters, weeks of yearning for something good to take place, for our characters to not be alone, even for a moment. after all that. yoru snaps us back into the story’s focus and yanks that hope away, seconds after it manifests.

[shallowseeker]

🔪ok, so. if john had NOT traded himself for dean, then john and sam would have started aggressively hunting together to take down azazel.

///

🩸sam hooks up with ruby because ruby has intel on dean, which makes things tense with john. somehow, sam kills lillith, kickstarting the apocalypse.

///

🪦with the apocalypse well under way, and john and sam at odds with each other, dean turns up mysteriously at bobby’s door.

turns out dean was wrongly taken to hell to continue felling the seals. but without the deal to blame it on, dean thinks that, you know, something is just fundamentally wrong with him for ever getting sent there in the first place.

(cas still saved him)