I have to get it out. It's been like 9 months since my binge rewatch of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I'm not going to say that transitioning would've 100% saved Shinji, but it would kill Gendo instantly.
Just, the thought of that dense motherfucker being confronted by the fact that his own son, testament to all of his imperfections, would suddenly start to resemble his wife-- which he cannot handle outside of Rei-- would make him tweak into oblivion and I think that's very funny. just.
*Enter stage left, Shinji being forced through the doors of Gendo's office by Asuka and maybe Misato*
Shinji: Father, I-
Asuka: Just say it!
Shinji: Father, I'm a girl.. I'd like to start hrt immediately.
Gendo:
i killed. i murdered. i'm nothing like these sleepy people here… nevertheless, you can actually be grateful? bastard…
i’m saying… thank you. because you spilled blood, you saved all of these people’s lives. i couldn’t have done it without you. (ID in alt)
that scene in season 1 where teruki hanazawa exorcises ekubo mid-sentence... and shigeo's eyes widen in shock?
i really want to talk about it, specifically the explosion meter accompanying it.
normally, when the teenager's emotions aren't obvious to the audience, that meter relays to us a sense of what he is actually feeling. but we cannot trust the meter here. we see it jump up a few points at teru's 'psycho wave' sending the sleazy ghost to the shadow realms, and remain steady at 50% upon shigeo's recollections of the spirit's unsavory nature. the boy outright tells teru that he isn't bothered. and it's funny!
but shigeo isn't being honest with himself here either.
his face briefly gives his feelings away before resettling into its normal flat affect. (to be fair, what he's really feeling isn't teru's business. this kid is trying to provoke a fight out of him, after all.) after he's basically tortured into exploding, shigeo spends three hours in the pouring rain, searching everywhere for ekubo.
three. hours.
these are not the actions of someone who isn't bothered. letting himself get drenched to the point of sickness,
even though he literally holds the power to shield himself from it,
reads to me like unconscious self-punishment for allowing all this to happen.
after a large chunk of his short life spent denying and fearing them for good reason, shigeo's first impulse is often not to use his psychic powers -- even after his integration at the story's end. i wish this was discussed more, because many watchers cannot fathom why this boy with world-breaking psychic abilities would ever refuse to use them.
also: the explosion meter lying to us / representing shigeo's detachment from his own emotions alexithymia may occur elsewhere in the series as well, especially when he's not close to an explosion; i'm reminded of the tiny dent ritsu's provocation of him makes in it a few episodes later.
I have this theory that a ghost's form (before they can change it) after they die depends on how they saw themselves before they died and halfa's are stuck with that form until after they die a second time. (Halfa clones were never truly alive so they take the form of their parent until they destabilize/melt)
Going with this theory, Vlad saw himself as a monster (at least physically) and the two biggest monsters he associated with himself were demons (his hair) and vampires (everything else). Dani never got a chance to live or die, so she took as much of Danny's form as she could. Danny saw himself as the reverse of who he wanted to be (hence the color swap).
Where am I going with this? Well a lot of people love halfa Jason (and halfa other dc characters to a lesser extent.) Instead of color swapping Jason, what if his ghost form was just him as Bruce's son? The same kid that Batman found trying to steal the batmobile's tires. The kid that loved going to school and thought being Robin gave him magic. Not a color swapped Robin or even being the age he died at, but an 11 or 12 year old ghost of Jason Todd.
As a character Meng Yao is largely defined by his lack of freedom and while I think it's very important to understand that when he insists over and over that he had no other choices (that wouldn't put him at serious risk of death or severe harm) he is usually right, I do fucking love that just once- just once- the narative presents him and us with a crystal clear heartbreaking example of a better choice, a way out that he didn't even know was there, right as that possibility is taken away from him forever.
When Nie Mingjue walks into a forest angry on Meng Yao's behalf, ready to help him in any way he can, and Meng Yao kills a Jin captain thinking no one's gonna come. And then their eyes meet.
Hey. The Finders have no idea that Bonzle was captured. Fritz and Spitz are still waiting, playing video games in the Monastery, for Cole to bring their sister out of hiding now that the blood moon is over. Geo is still sitting by the window, watching and waiting for a dragon on the horizon to return his kid safe and sound. Cole took a very unsure Bonzle, assured them all everything would be okay, and they'd be back soon. He promised he'd find a way to protect her.
Don't think about how they'll smile when Cole finally trudges back, happy to know he's okay. Especially don't think about the Finders stopping, looking out over the group, and how Cole can't look them in the eyes when they turn to him and ask; where's Bonzle?
I gave myself a writing challenge and I am fascinated by it
So basically I put the robins in a randomizer to give them a new order/role (because I just...kinda wanted to see what would happen + I like role-reversal AUs) and got results that are giving me a fucking brain blast.
Stephanie, the first sidekick who defines the role
Tim, the sidekick who dies and comes back wrong
Dick, the sidekick who saves Batman from himself
Damian, the sidekick who was never supposed to be a sidekick but would go on to prove everyone wrong
Jason, the youngest sidekick who is still the Kid Wonder
...So this is fucking wild. I've got some ideas and several of these fit perfectly (Dick's role is pretty similar to his one in canon), but some of these are fucking INCREDIBLE to explore (Steph being the first Robin is something I never even considered but tbh I kinda love it).
I probably won't write a fic or anything because tbh I don't like publishing my writing that much, but I might expand this into a full AU and post about it. I might randomize other stuff too (ie, stuff that I cannot change vs stuff that I cannot keep the same) but this fucking rules as a starting point.
this was going to be like a mile long essay but i just realized the most concise way to say it is that "it feels like a retcon that blitz has been so resentful and hostile towards fizz all this time since he was supposed to feel guilty" is simply not a good criticism when we have been shown, time and time again, that blitz's number one defense mechanism when he feels guilty or judged or attacked is to lash out, to deflect and ignore all his responsibility, and to shift the blame to someone else. that's like. his defining character flaw
and like thats one of the reasons i like kingdings so much like. what if Asgore wasn't alone. What if, after all that, there was still someone he was close to who've been there the whole time. Someone who Knew him and saw what he did and continued to be with him. Someone who was there to try and ease the burden. Someone that wanted to protect and care for the king as the king cared for his people. simply thinks about broken old men caring for each other
Talking about BEAST Atsushi x Canon Akutagawa is so funny because the only thought that went through my head is how much of a hell pair they would be if they meet. It’s very much the epitome of “Cares Too Much” x “Couldn’t Care Enough” if you personified them
BEAST Atsushi breaking down, never having a good day in his life: H
Canon Akutagawa, Joey Diaz voice with the American Anthem in the background: Get up cocksucker, it’s all over. Listen we had a rough couple of months but we got work to do—
like, i said "how many times do you think eiffel's said he wishes he could forget a movie so he could watch it for the first time" because he would and, well... you know. but aside from being kinda darkly funny, i think it's kind of nice? especially if you are of the opinion (like i am) that he will get his memories back in some way, at some point - how many people actually get the chance to watch their favorite stuff for the first time again? and without spoilers or pop culture saturation - maybe he experiences the joy of some of that stuff in a whole new way! maybe there are things he doesn't like without nostalgia and context, or at least things he sees in a whole different light and - assuming he gets his memories back at some point - he would then remember both of those feelings and perspectives... maybe this is too much to hope for, but maybe it could even force him to contextualize some of his own nostalgia and pop culture biases. either way, i think it could potentially be a really interesting detail + angle in further deconstructing eiffel's Default Guy Worldview.
wait. random idea. Pathetic(blame candy) muzan & kokushibo are exes from Centuries ago and he has Complaints hed like to talk about w him but all hes getting to now is Nakime. hes so sick of his bullshit and just enduring it and goes to kagaya like 'i have to kill kibutsuji. ill help you kill him & the other upper moons just PLEASE im so sick of this shit. i need to kill him' 'well you arent killing me so ill give you the benefit of doubt-'
since they broke up he's hacked at the curse to the point he can snap it Whenever without muzan noticing, he finally did so & went to kagaya bc he can Feel shit's gonna pick up soon. he has his memories but he Ignores Them bc hes ashamed and kinda projecting it onto muzan. he has to kill muzan to kill his shame kinda fucked up coping mechanism yk?
the hashira try to kill him On Sight together but he calmly deflects everything while explaining hes working with them to kill kibutsuji. reluctant acceptance with the note from kagaya giving him a pass. most of them fully believe its a trap tho.
koku seeing tanjiro & his earrings and starting to approach, giyuu already has his blade lodged in his neck as a warning/threat & tanjiro staring at him in shock like 'HUH?? THE MAN FROM MY DREAMS?? HES A DEMON NOW? WAIT WHATS HE DOING HERE-'
nate being the only doctor makes me wonder what he's had to do for the others before
Nate does a lot for the crew. (Also woo look at his human disguise!)
When he's not actively treating or checking on them, he's constantly working to compare studies and test data to understand how to treat his friends, seeing as they have widely different genetic makeups and could react in ways that are *catastrophically* unexpected.
He can't use human rules when working on them, which greatly complicates things when he's educated in treating humans. Sera and Vince naturally have nucleated blood cells for greater oxygen input since they're always in rigorous activity, but this is a sign of leukemia or other major deficiency in humans. How do drugs interact with their bodies? what reaction will their immune systems have? do they have an intolerance to certain chemical developments?
This is partly why Vincent underwent so much testing and experimentation- to catalogue and document an atlas for the reproduction and understanding of this hybrid Variant species, and how every facet of its anatomy works in that respect. Like a rough draft you don't care about messing up, and use only to learn from.
Sorry Vince.
It's a wonder how Nathaniel was able to successfully recompile enough information to save his friends at all. It's a lot of stress on one guy with no nurses! That goes without saying for Amon (who is a beastshifter) Sonia... (Who is a living chemical synthesis lab) The various other people who end up joining... (Who shall remain incognito)
...Yikes.
He has likely seen all of them naked at least once, due to emergencies. He's extremely professional, so it's like it never happened... But it's still never fun to have to use that kind of ER protocol on your injured friends and associates.
Everyone except for Vincent, since V never lets Nathaniel treat him for anything, even when he needs it.
Instead, everyone caught a harrowing and unwanted glimpse of Vincent when he landed back home after streaking in the rain. He now flies with his pants duct-taped on. And goggles. For the glare and the overwhelming surplus of bugs he slams into at twice the speed of a f1 car.
I was watching this ethubs megacut video and it's composed of LL clips and there's a part after... I think Tango? maybe? blows up the middle tower in their fortress that Bdubs says smth like "We can always rebuild" and Etho replied "I'm done building" and like. do I need to explain the metaphors you can make out of this. they're making me ill again