#and none of this was the intent

[codenamesazanka]

What is up with this obsession over the "other half" of Decay. Less so now that Shigaraki is like dead-dead, so I guess it was copium, but still. So Decay was derived from the Overhaul quirk. Okay. It was stripped of the restorative half; then added with the five finger activation and lack of control. By this point, it is its own quirk.

(It's the same with Kurogiri/Shirakumo. Shirakumo's quirk was cloud generation and manipulation; then it got turned into the ability to bend the fabric of space. It's its own quirk at that point.)

I don't see the need for any more connection than that? Decay came from Overhaul - it's an artificial quirk AFO created to be a super dick. That's where Decay came from. It's somewhat fortunate(?) that it wasn't naturally occurring, which means there wasn't some other poor bastard out there who probably also had a tough time with it, but just the fact that it's 'half' the Overhaul quirk makes me wonder if Overhaul didn't at least 'half' a tough time with it as well.

Which btw - the reveal also confirms that AFO and the Doc were also responsible for Overhaul's own early childhood... which no one seems to care about.

Hello??? Shigaraki has to be referred to as groomed and abused and brainwashed every other sentence in order to induce the greatest level of sympathy for him (because apparently otherwise if he ever had any hint of agency or genuine malice at all, fuck him and he's not as much a victim, I guess???), and the orphanage Touya wakes up in has cult vibes where he can't even leave, but Overhaul growing up in such an orphanage is not worthy of attention. Like you gotta wonder how Doc got his hand on Overhaul's quirk - best case scenario it was from a simple blood draw at a routine doctor's check up; worse case scenario is that he was experimenting on these kids, even if subtly.

It's in this orphanage that Overhaul reads about quirks and gets the idea that it's a sickness. Was that somehow from the instruction of the orphanage staff that's under Ujiko's employment? Was it because something happened to Overhaul that caused him to end up in an orphanage? Kid didn't just sprout from the ground - he must have had parents, a family. But here he is, in an orphanage, gloomily reading about quirks while all the other kids are playing outside. Kouta resentfully says quirks are freaky and Deku and the story bends over backwards to prove to him that he's wrong, and violent quirks will save his life, so he should love Heroes; it's obvious that Overhaul hating quirks is a flaw.

Later, it looks like Overhaul would run away from this orphanage too, and then gets picked up by the Yakuza. Luckily it was a very honorable yakuza who treated him with kindness, but listen to that sentence - """"luckily"""" he gets picked up by a nice mobster who raised him. And Overhaul is so affected by this kindness it gives him a devotion that turns twisted. I mean, I think the guy definitely has his own selfish issues, but he really does care about Pops a lot and still thinks of what he's doing as being for Pop's and the Yakuza's sake.

I know no one cares about Overhaul and probably thinks it's even funny he loses his arms and goes half insane in Tartarus, that that's just karma for abusing and medically torturing a little girl, but it's very clear that he didn't start out that way, and if things had been different, he might not have grown up to become a Villain. That's true for nearly all the Villains we see on the story. And that's why there's such a big push to save the League, because of that "if only, if only". They're sympathetic and maybe redeemable.

But unsympathetic and irredeemable villains like Muscular and Overhaul were the best training wheels for Deku to work up to saving Shigaraki. If he can reach out a hand to those freaks, he can do it for not-as-much-a-freak Shigaraki. Even if Deku fails in trying to save Muscular and Overhaul, if he had tried, he could've learned something from those encounters that he could later apply to Shigaraki. But Deku said nope and then crashes when he has to save Shigaraki. Sorry—not even Shigaraki, but the ghost of a Crying Child.

Muscular insists that there's nothing but blood and violence inside of him, so Deku gives up on him because he can't psychically dive into Muscular's head to prove him wrong; later, Shigaraki insists that he overcame the Crying Child and he wants destruction, and fortunately Deku doesn't give up on him, but only because he can psychically dive into Shigaraki's head to prove him wrong - except it's this exact act that brings back AFO and drives the train wreck into the conclusion that is Shigaraki's body crumbling to nothing.

Overhaul begs to see Pops and wants to apologize, demonstrating some tiny broken strand of caring and goodness inside of him, but that's not someone Deku knows or cares about so it means nothing to him except that he can test whether Overhaul is worthy of any measure of forgiveness (and so rewarded by a Pops visit) by apologizing to Eri; later, Shigaraki gets his hatred smashed but stays the leader to the League, and Deku seems flummoxed by this, while using his last words to the guy he wanted to save to yammer on about not forgiving him and ending the cycle of sadness by stopping Shiagarki.

(Plus like. Overhaul has hurt sooooo many people other than Eri. He used and manipulated many of the Shie Hassaikai too. But once again, none of them are people Deku knows or cares about so they don't matter and they don't need an apology.)

This got really off topic because it started out about people focused on the Overhaul-Decay then turned into a Deku rant (only semi-sorry), but. Actually maybe not. People only care about the Overhaul-Decay thing because the Overhaul quirk might bring Shigaraki back, because Shigaraki deserves it; meanwhile the actual holder of the Overhaul quirk is ignored, because Overhaul doesn't deserve any comeback, or anything at all. It's really just people only caring about certain Villains because they personally like them and feel sorry for them. Which is fine! Go have your blorbo.

But like, ironically, caring only about your villain blorbo's situation in the context of the wider story, when discussing the story using the context of abuse and marginalization and who is deserving of saving, is the same as what Deku and Hawks did - singling out one victim out of many as worthy of being saved, and condemning every other Villain. And how did that turn out for Deku and Hawks?

[batcavescolony]

Katniss is such an unreliable narrator. She says "Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me" girl you deliver strawberries to the Mayor, you hunt and trade for the district, when you fell at Prim being chosen someone caught you, when you went to Prim people parted for you, when you volunteered EVERYONE stopped. Idk how to tell you but I think you're a pillar of the community.

[malkshake]

Venetian canids

(repost - 2018)

[sasmeo-bisaster]

There's just something about the fact that desert duo and renchanting so similar and opposite

Grian and Scar are the desert, the hottest day of summer, the burning sun, the cacti, isolation, loyalty born from guilt but never tested, being equals

Meanwhile Ren and Martyn are the forests, the coldest night of winter, the freezing moon, the trees, comradery, loyalty freely given but confirmed in blood, one above the other

[demon-of-the-ancient-world]

Hate (affectionate) how it's made so clear from the very beginning of part 1 just how loved Paul is by his family and household. Both his parents, Duncan, Gurney, Thufir, even Dr Yueh all clearly care so deeply for this kid, and we're shown that time and time again.

Cut to the end of part two, and almost every one of those people is gone. The only ones who remain are a weird, came-back-wrong version of Jessica, and Gurney who has gone from mentor to worshipper. Paul goes from someone deeply loved and valued for who he is by a small but caring group of people - to someone followed and worshipped and feared by thousands. They're obsessed with him in a way, as a leader and "messiah", but nobody loves him.

The only one remaining who loves him for who he is is Chani, who leaves him because in the end that love isn't enough to bring who he is back.

[deswhomst]

people acting like regulus black was a selfish person as if all we know about him doesn’t scream selfless

[lady-raziel]

idk man i know times are hard but i can't help but feel that watcher putting all their eggs in the basket that is their own streaming service is a bad call. like sure i totally get wanting a platform where you have full control both creatively and financially but i feel they might be misjudging how much loyalty non-hardcore fans might have for what they're creating. in every internet fandom there's a subsection of people willing to pay with actual money to support the creators they enjoy, and that's what services like patreon are for. but to expect that casual viewers will sign up and pay a monthly fee to get access to just watcher content when a large portion of them were likely just watching the content because it was free and accessible on youtube assumes that someone who isn't a diehard fan won't just go "oh well" and find something else on youtube that IS still free? that seems like a miscalculation to me. the massive fanbases online content creators have may literally be only possible because the content is available to anyone-- it seems foolish to assume that every single one of those fans is going to stick around once you try to upsell them.

i hope this new venture goes well for the watcher crew. I really do. but i also know that a lot of brands and startups that bank on the loyalty they earned when their product was free or low cost and expect that to sustain them while they try to do something that historically has not gone well for the vast majority of businesses. at best, they'll have halved their fanbase by alienating those who can't or don't want to pay and made it much more difficult for remaining fans to create fandom products like memes or gifs that promote their shows on social media. at worst, they'll discover in the near future the independent streaming service model is unsustainable with only the fans they have left and by that point they'll have already deleted themselves from youtube and made it impossible to come back to the level of success they had before. any attempt to return to youtube will be an admission of a critical miscalculation and i doubt many remaining fans will tolerate the back and forth. they'll have crippled their credibility, relevancy, and fanbase loyalty over a very short period of time-- and i don't know if it would even be possible to come back and still be beloved after all that.

worst of all-- if the watcher streaming service crashes and burns after they've already removed all their content from youtube, all the watcher shows are essentially going to become lost media, only accessible via reuploaders willing to risk a copy strike or if you know someone who has a copy downloaded. given how genuinely good the watcher content is in the sea of lackluster youtube mush, that really seems like a damn shame.

i hope the watcher team sees how everyone is responding and decides to course correct before it's too late and get away with only the hit to their reputation that they've already taken by announcing this, instead of pushing forward on a path that might lose them everything instead. nothing i've said here is with any hate intended toward anyone involved or those who are excited about the new service, but this just seems like a really ill-advised decision to me.

[ewwww-what]

These freaks are not studying (good for them)

Closeups below :)

[ofswordsandpens]

oh and I sincerely believe that Poseidon telling Percy "You're my favorite child" was absolutely a manipulation tactic/power play and it worked

[shattered-earth]

LOOK AT THIS VASE I MADE IN MY CERAMCS CLASS IT WAS REALLY HARD AND THERE WERE SO MANY RISKS BUT I DID IT AND NOTHING WENT WRONG ITS A MIRACLE (also i know NOW it looks like ferrofluid, but it was actually not the intention from the start LOL) If you're curious as to the inspo + process, it was inspired by this minoan jug on the left! It was made in two parts, and was originally supposed to be sleeker, longer, and smaller spikes but uhh look I'm not very good at ceramics LOL. So the size of the spikes and the more round shape.. already not on purpose, a byproduct of my lack of skill.

There was a lot of waffling on what colors I wanted to do, I had floated Squeakoid colors (white base, colorful spikes), all black, tenmoku (black but breaks brown), as well as half and half.

I decided on black in the end because DARK GOTH VIBES and my teacher felt the shape was so much already that simple black would highlight the silhouette and not be too busy. And that's how in the end it turned into a ferrofluid vase by accident LMFAO

[paperbooart]

i got to see the beetlejuice tour today so naturally 4 days ago i decided to design an entire set of trading cards with a unique illustration formed from the images on the reverse sides

i got to meet a ton of the cast at the stagedoor, even though it was a matinee and i kinda didnt expect anyone to wanna stop and say hi, and they were all so nice!!! and the whole audience had such a fun vibe, we all understood we had to show up in stripes

[byersandhighers]

Fairly certain Mike did see Will crying, he just didn't say anything. Like I don't think he realized it was because of Will feeling sad over him specifically but I thought it was obvious he did see Will crying but didn't draw attention to it. I also think it is very important for both of their characters and their relationship, as well as very telling of how deeply Mike cares for Will to not say anything when he is crying, to just act normal and move on without addressing it.

Every time in the show that Mike notices Will's emotions and behaviors, especially his negative emotions, Mike never brings it up until after (unless he thinks Will actively needs help like when Will looks scared). This is the same Mike Wheeler who noticed every eyeroll and time Will was moping at Rink-o-Mania when he was literally there hanging out with his girlfriend, but he didn't bring it up until later when the two of them were fighting. The same Mike who, in season 2, said he knew something was off with Will because ‘he was quiet today’ when his friends just wrote it off because he’s always quiet. Mike always notices Will acting up but doesn't usually say anything in the moment unless he thinks Will is in trouble, he just lets him feel things and if it’s relevant later he'll bring it up.

It’s implied he’s very perceptive when it comes to Will's emotions and behaviors and he is always watching, especially when Will doesn’t seem like he is doing well, so it would be so bizarre if he didn’t notice Will crying beside him. It's likely he just didn’t see a reason to bring it up, so he didn't. For all Mike knows, it may have just been that talking about El makes Will think about his sister who is currently missing and in potential danger, which is a justified reason for someone to cry. Or even that the painting reminds Will of the time in his youth he missed out on due to the mind-flayer and upside down and that his childhood of campaigns in Mike's basement is over, or Will could be grieving the party he is no longer near and his friends he is so far from. Or he could be so overwhelmed by many emotions over many different things that he doesn't know how to articulate.

Mike usually just registers what Will is feeling and not why Will is feeling that way. Mike never needed to know why because him and Will are a team and, before this season, Will was, to Mike's knowledge, always open and honest with him (hence where Mike got the 'friends don't lie' thing he told El in the beginning) and Will would come to Mike when he wanted to talk about things, so Mike probably figures even if their relationship feels strained right now, that wouldn't change and if Will wants to talk about it, he will come to him, much like how Jonathan doesn't push Will to come out.

I think it's important to draw parallels between Jonathan and Mike's behaviors, how both act towards Will: both are overprotective of Will, both very adamant early on in the show about how being 'weird' does not equate to being bad, and also about how Will doesn't have to feel negative about being different because they are weirdos as well (making it a shared experience so he doesn't feel alone). Both are also careful when it comes to making sure Will feels safe and comfortable which includes not forcing him to talk about things unless he wants to (while still reassuring him they are there for him should he want to).

This is probably why Mike doesn't bring up that Will is lying (he knew El's letter well enough to know she missed the flowers and brought her some he handpicked so they would be Hawkins flowers, so he would also know about the painting and how El had no idea what is was or who it was for, because Will wouldn't even let her see it), but he doesn't bring that up because he thinks Will probably has a reason for lying, and he trusts Will, so he is happy to let Will share in his own time. This is another parallel to Jonathan and Will when Jonathan hints he knows Will is not straight but doesn't force Will to talk about it, instead letting Will come to him at his own time when he feels ready. I don't think it's a coincidence both Jonathan and Mike act the same way towards Will because both probably witnessed first-hand how Lonnie treated Will.

When Will came back, we know Mike was protective, which we don’t know if it was him trying to cope with the trauma of not only losing Will for a long time but also the recent loss of El, or if he was always that protective over Will, but it is implied in season 1 this was a status quo of sorts from before Will went missing. Mike would feel protective over Will and he would fight back with no self-preservation in mind, especially when people would act in similar ways towards Will that Lonnie did (like the bullies making fun of Will for being gay just like what Joyce brings up Lonnie would make fun of Will for, which prompted Mike to shove them before getting saved by El), which is most likely due to Mike being around during the abuse Will faced from his father which caused him to be protective of Will, and to a lesser extent all his friends (not lesser in extremes, I mean season 1 he jumped off a cliff about to kill himself for Dustin and from Dustin immediately screaming for him not to do it, fully convinced Mike would, and to be fair he does without even knowing El is there to save him, we can infer it is a common thing that Mike is willing to go to great lengths, even risk his own safety, in order to protect. But in terms of frequency instead of amplitude, he is chronically protective of Will while only really protective of his other friends when he feels they need particular protection he can provide).

Mike said he became friends with Will on the first day of kindergarten which means they were likely around 5 and Lonnie was still in the picture. This was before Lucas and Dustin, as Mike says Will was his first friend, so Mike probably knows more about it than either of the two of them, and like Jonathan, was there helping Will through it and supporting him/protecting him to some extent, for longer, which is why he is likely so perceptive of Will's emotions and what Will is feeling, even if he can't pinpoint why.

We are told this whole time that Will is a ‘sensitive boy’, and Lonnie would abuse him and try to change him for that as well as his perceived sexuality, so actually I think it’s important Mike didn’t say anything and let Will cry because it shows Mike provides space for Will to feel, space that others didn't and sometimes still don’t. He lets Will be sensitive and cry even though both of them have had people trying to teach them to suppress their emotions, especially their fathers (Mike's parents, especially Ted, did not respect Mike's grief over Will when he was missing and was not taking him seriously because Mike was not following those same ideals of toxic masculinity Ted and Lonnie were both trying to enforce, to different degrees, in their sons).

Mike is actively trying to stop the cycles Will, and himself, endured. He is trying to be conscious but accepting of all Will's emotions so Will doesn't have to go through what he did with Lonnie. He refuses to give up on or abandon Will when he went missing because Will had a dead-beat dad who stopped caring and abandoned him. And Mike not only praised his art but kept every piece given to him, with binders of it in his room and hanging it on his walls, keeping and displaying it proudly when we know Lonnie didn’t like Will making art because it fueled the ‘sensitive kid’ who was queer narrative he tried to force out of Will.

That's also why Mike immediately looks so guilty in the rain scene when he said what he said about Will's sexuality, because he realizes it is something Lonnie would say. That is also why he immediately goes to apologize despite the same rain he was telling Will not to leave because of. Why he prioritizes making amends and admitting wrong-doing when it comes to Will in a way he doesn't even do with his girlfriend. He is trying to break the cycles and not enforce the toxic masculinity Will painfully had to endure with Lonnie for years and he is trying to, despite feeling the effects of toxic masculinity himself that he is trying to overcome in his own 5-season arc, make sure it is not in his relationship with Will, especially not by his own hands.

Overall, I guess I think it’s not that Mike didn’t notice, but that Mike lets Will feel whatever he feels without judgement or trying to change or 'fix' it. He just sits beside Will and acts normal because he doesn’t want Will to feel like it’s bad to cry; he wants to normalize emotions between the two of them because he wants Will to have a safe place to express emotions, which is important for someone who’s dad abused him and enforced toxic masculinity before abandoning him because he saw him as ‘too sensitive’. It shows Will he is not 'too sensitive' for others and that people won't try to change him or abandon him for being himself, or even for being 'too much' or 'emotional', like his father did and probably convinced Will everyone would do. I don't think Mike realized the crying was because of him, but I think he did notice that Will was crying. He noticed the what and trusted that Will will tell him the why when he is ready.

[wasyago]

they've evolved <3 crazy what 4 months on a boat with a bunch of idiots can do to a person

[raining-its-pouring]

What if Pebbles succeeded?

[purpleshadow-star]

It's kind of funny (heartbreaking) that there were multiple Ravens who wanted a number, to the point where some tried to manipulate Jean into helping them one way or another, but none of them would have been next in line. No matter what they did, there was always someone ahead of them on the list. Someone who wasn't even on the team. That someone wasn't Neil. Neil was a surprise to everyone, including Riko. That someone was Andrew.

Kevin might have had to beg Riko to go visit Andrew, and Riko might have laughed at Kevin and dismissed Andrew when Andrew turned him down, but make no mistake, if Andrew had accepted and had become a Raven, he would have taken that #4 spot within his first year.

If we're being real, Andrew had more of a chance at becoming part of the perfect Court than any of those Ravens ever had. Even Jean thinks of Andrew as one of them.

The other Ravens never stood a chance.

[pingustuffings]

The fact that roier is the only active spanish speaker left that isnt either on hell or cant log in, and the horrors of him having multiple days to communicate but NOBODY understanding him because no one knows spanish well enough to make out what hes saying.

I will admit I AM KINDA OBSESSED OF THAT. The language barrier being the only thing keeping you away from help? That's fun!! That's a type of horror that could strictly be found in something like the qsmp!