what do you think toshiro's version of laios would've been like if he was still with the group during the shapeshifter shenanigans
there have been a few speculations in the tag and among the fans and they are all very good SO i am going to take this opportunity to insert a bit of my shipping bias as i like in my interpretation LMAO agdsfgdfgv
i noted that in actuality shuro seems to have a very good grasp on laios' character??? this is most obvious in the manga later on but even seeing how he criticises laios in their fight... iirc nothing he says is actually untrue or wildly exaggerated, and while he does express frustration over something he feels like laios Should have control over (noticing his cues), he is also aware that laios isnt being malicious and that hes Just Like That. what i mean to say is that while i think his version of laios may seem more pushy and in-your-face, i dont think it will be overwhelmingly so. if its post-fight, i think the idea of laios (and marcille) being willing to do anything to get falin back made a big impression on him, as well as the idea that they need to eat and rest in order to succeed in their goals, so those aspects would be prominent in his version. he seems pretty observant, so i think for the most part the physical traits would line up, but i think there would be specific things that stand out to him that would appear strangely striking on his version of laios (like. idk something about his eye colour or the subtle contrast of his armour and chainmail. he seems to have a weird sense of aesthetics if extras are anything to go by lmao). if hed actually been paying attention all those times laios had gone on about what the hell ever, then it might be even MORE hard to tell apart his version since he would also have a good grasp on what laios should know. so either his version of laios is pretty difficult to pick out, OR despite the character being accurate his appearance is too. stylised lmao (exaggerated features or something) OR!! they just get him to pull out his monster gourmet guide thing and are able to tell from there. iirc everyone was surprised at its appearance so its possible toshiro had also never seen it before
IN MY IMAGINARY SHIPPING SCENARIO............ lets say that his laios isnt able to be picked out immediately and that the monster guide thing also doesnt immediately occur to anyone. what the real laios Specifically notices is how close this other laios keeps getting to shuro. and hes like. ??? why is he getting so close to him, theres no way i get that close to him??? but no one else seems to be picking up on it as weird, so hes having a small crisis like do i REALLY get that close to him???? and now that hes on the outside he notices shuro subtly leaning away and he feels both a wave of shame and..... protectiveness??? (JEALOUSY??????) and he immediately steps in and grabs him like Hey!!! cant you see hes uncomfortable???? weve been through this already!!! and like. ok i cant believe im doing this again but i need to separate this into different endings
a) the whump route: i dont think shuro ever envisioned Actually Telling laios about his frustrations outside of being basically cornered into it. has he ever spoken up against what was expected of him?? has he ever been confrontational???? i think part of what held him back from expressing his frustrations, along with the cultural norms, could be fear of what the reaction would be. if he had done the same in any other aspect of his life (his family, his inheritance), i think he would expect disappointment, disapproval, more proof that he doesnt add up to expectation. to be honest i dont think he Truly believes that laios is the type of person to react like this. but it was strong enough to prevent him from acting and i think would be projected onto his image of laios. maybe fake!laios says something dismissive like Well if it really bothered him hed say something right? what, he cant even stand up for himself? cmon, shuro, prove that you cant handle it just like everything else. and thats pretty much the fastest giveaway that it isnt really laios. of course this would be a HUGE tonal departure from what the actual episode/chapter was, so:
b) the dumbass route: both laioses break into fisticuffs, and, yes.... barking. and so they speedrun the entire encounter as the shapeshifters true form appears and, after laios points out that thinking too hard about others versions of you can tear apart groups and peace of mind, they pointedly do not speak of it again. they think about it though. a LOT
c) the normal route: both laioses argue normal like and the group ends up being able to tell them apart because the fake laios goes on a little too long about how theyre all here for falin and everyones like ok its not like he DOESNT love his sister but.......... the rest of the scenario probably goes like canon, though then i would want to see what everyone Else thought of shuro
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What Exactly Do I Mean When I Say "Will is Jesus Christ?"
(or Why Will is the Chosen One)
Do I mean that Will is actually the second coming of Christ? Well, no, at least not in a literal sense. All I mean to say by this is that—
Will is the chosen one, and he is the hero of the story who is meant to save the world from the apocalypse.
Apocalypse imagery and references to Revelations is all over the place in season 4. The four victims representing the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Henry "One" effectively being a God-like figure, references to Revelations 1:8 regarding Henry, hell I'll go as far to say that Robin playing the trumpet at the beginning of the season is a nod to the sound of trumpets that is meant to signal the beginning of the apocalypse.
The important thing about Revelations being that at the end of the day, the second coming of Jesus Christ, the chosen one, saves the day.
This really robust old post that I made, which was also one of my first theory posts, goes into detail on how Will fits the criteria of a Christ-figure, or a figure in literature or media that is allegorical to Jesus Christ. Will's biggest piece of evidence being his full on burial and resurrection in the first season.
If I'm talking about Christ-figures in the show then I should probably talk about El, who admittedly has much more in your face Christ-coding than Will does. Walking on water, performance of miracles, the mother who got pregnant out of strange circumstances, along with her own resurrection and so-on.
So then, if El clearly has more Christ-coding than Will, why am I placing the title of Jesus onto Will? Is it just because I like him more than El? Is it because I see Will as a more important character than El?
Just as a general disclaimer, I will admit that I do have a major Will bias, anyone who follows me knows that. He's been my favorite character since I first watched the show. Although, my labeling of him as the chosen one has nothing to do a dislike of El or a belief that she is not an important character. I love El, and it's plain to everyone that watches the show how important she is. However, I just don't believe that the chosen one who saves the day is what her arc is building towards.
They've been building up El's chosen one status while also quietly breaking it down in the background, in the same way that they've quietly been leaving bread crumbs pointing toward Will's Christ status while also seemingly suggesting that he isn't that important of a character. Why have a character tell El that she's "the cure," then make a point that she loses against Henry at the end of the season? Why sideline Will for the past two seasons, but throw in lines of dialogue pointing toward his involvement with the Upside Down?
What I believe they are going for is a classic bait-and-switch to subvert expectations in the final season. Lead the audience to believe one thing, while still leaving clues to suggest the other so that when the twist is revealed it doesn't come out of nowhere.
So what is El's arc actually about? I won't deny El's role in the final battle of the show, it's not like she's going to be completely sidelined, but I don't think that her saving the world on her own while everyone else watches is what her arc is building towards. The real core of her arc is El discovering who she is as a girl, rather than becoming a superhero.
I actually made a post awhile ago talking about El’s monster/superhero dichotomy, and it’s actually incredibly important to my argument. The post itself is more in depth, but tl:dr: El believes that she can either be a superhero or a monster, and bases her worth on her ability to save the world and others, an unfair expectation to place onto one girl.
If at the end of the season, El single-handedly saves the entire world, wouldn’t it feel counterintuitive to her arc? She needs to learn that her self worth doesn’t rely on her ability to save the world, and if she ends the show this way, it wouldn’t create a solution for her cyclical train of thought.
Furthermore, wouldn’t this ending be a bit expected, and even boring? This is what El has been doing for the past four seasons of the show. Continuing that pattern would only feel anticlimactic. From a writer’s pov, if you wanted the ending of you show to be dynamic and interesting, you would want to do something new.
So why do I think that Will is the chosen one?
It’s not like I’m pulling the chosen-one-Jesus-Christ label out of my ass just because I like Will. I actually do have many reasons to believe this.
The first one is the confirmation that Will is going to be a big part and focus for next season. It’s been theorized that this means Will is going to become a villian, and while I do love a good Will villian AU, there are many reasons I could list off as to why he wouldn’t become a villian. Without going into it all right now, let’s just say that it would not only go against what Will stands for, but also what the show itself stands for.
Even in show, we have signs pointing toward Will’s chosen status. Let’s start with the fact that Will is the one who kicks the entire show off in the first place, when he is taken by who we later learn to be Henry. Now, this could have just been wrong-place-wrong-time kind of thing, but given how much has been revealed has actually been part of a larger plan constructed by Henry, I highly doubt that mere coincidence is the case.
Let’s look at some more evidence within the fourth season. Let’s talk about the fact that, despite not even being present in Hawkins and gone for much of the supernatural action, Will is still being brought up by name and even implicated in the strangeness of the Upside Down.
Do I think Will is gonna solo-kill Vecna in the climax of the show? Chosen one doesn’t mean only one. No, despite all my rambling about El not being the hero, I’m not gonna deny her importance to the supernatural plot. I think something else the show keeps building upon is the importance of support from friends and family— saving the world is likely gonna be a group effort. I do think, however, that Will possesses some kind of unique ability that is going to be crucial to winning.
What would being the hero mean for Will’s arc? Well, it would give him a sense of control that he hasn’t had before. Will has had a lot of agency and autonomy ripped from him in past seasons, and this would be his way of reclaiming that. It would be the perfect subversion of expectations as well. The character that everyone expects to be just the helpless victim, or hell even the villian, is the one who rises to become the hero who saves the day in his own way.
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Ride 739: The training camp's fourth day!!
Pag 1
1: Training camp of Sohoku High School's racing team...
2: fourth and last day, 10:18 in the morning
3: Here it comes, Rokudai!!
4: Yeah!! Teh, Kinaka-kun
Pag 2
1: The training camp fourth and last day!!
The total distance we've ran so far is....
Pag 3
2: Here we go!!
5: 800km!!
Pag 4
1: We still have 200km to go until we reach 1000km!!
2: Teeh.....!! We've ran so much, teh
3: That's right, we already went beyond what I said at first, the distance from “Aomori”
4: “Aomori”!
It's still 10:30 in the morning, so if we keep going like this we can run the remaining 200km that are required!!
We can!!
Yeah!!
Pag 5
1: My legs are all sore
2: I'm trembling all over, teh
3: The Aomori thing, when we first came here
4: 700km!!
I thought it would be impossible
5: When on the first day, the senpai created such a gap between us, I resigned myself and thought that it really was impossible
6: But then, on that day's evening, you had that idea, Kinaka-kun
8: We worked so hard starting from the morning, we closed the gap, and ran until here
Pag 6
1: Being “buddies” really was our “breakthorugh”, teh!!
2: Breakthrough...!!
3: ??
4: Right!!
Teh...!!
5: Somehow, when I think about seeing the “goal”
6: I feel a surge of power, teh!!
Ohh...
7: Yeah, nice Rokudai, that's good!!
8: We've survived so far, so let's run through the end!!
Pag 7
2: Pfui
Yeah....
Let's do... our best and.... run....
5: Huh, where's my bottle?
Teh
Pag 8
3: Rokudaiii!!
6: Oooooogh
Pag 9
3: Ah....
Kinaka....kun? Huh.... I... fell.... and my bo.... ttle?
4: Rokudaii!!
5: So-sorry
You- you saved me, because you're my “buddy”!!
Pag 10
1: Because I'm your friend
3: Because you're my precious and reliable friend!!
4: Don't fall
Pag 11
1: Don't fall yet!!
2: There's still a chance
3: A small one
4: We can't know until the end of this last day of this training camp
Our
5: target
Pag 12
1: is to go together to the Inter High!!
Yeah!!
Pag 13
2: Ohh, they got back up, those first years
They ran 800km, so I thought their pace would drop for 2 or 3 laps
3: and that they would lose momentum like that
5: There are two ways of winning a road race
Pag 14
1: The first way is enduring determinedly, following without giving up in any situation
2: So that you survive and become the last man standing
4: And the other way is attacking yourself, actively passing and leaving behind your opponents
5: showing your strength and taking the victory....!!
6: They're both “victories”, that doesn't change
But the one who brings you more praises and admiration
Pag 15
1: It's the latter, Issa!!
2: That's right, Danchiku!!
3: First year Omihata, my jersey
Yessir!!
4: The heat resistance training ends here!!
5: Kaburagi-san.... he took off his long-sleeved jersey....!!
That means he's gotten serious!!
6: Let's go with with Full Spec, Danchiku!!
Now that our bodies are ready, we'll definitely do our “human sacrifice”....
Pag 16
1: We'll defeat Sugimoto-san and go to the Inter High!!
Of course, Issa!!
Pag 17
3: Let's catch him, Danchiku!!
4: So you're here
Pag 18
1: You two!!
2: We've come to give back to you that “you allowed us to train with you”!! Sugimoto-san!!
Pag 19
2: Danchiku has already mastered the new bike he's riding, and he doesn't stagger anymore
Thanks to you, he's now in perfect condition!! Perfect!!
3: Yeah
Pag 20
1: I'm just next to you and yet I can feel your pressure enough!!
3: Sugimoto-san, sorry but I'm gonna defeat you in one blow
4: I won't let you beat me in one blow
Pag 21
1: Is that your “expectations”? Or your “hope”?
2: Yeah.... for now
3: I'll also take off my arms warmer!!
4: Sugimoto took off his arms warmer!!
5: If you come at me seriously....
Pag 22
1: It's only polite of me to get serious too!!
Pag 23
3: Sugimoto himself hit their handles!!
Even though usually his play-style is to avoid rough play and contact!!
4: You're in high spirits....!!
5: Not as much as you!! Danchiku!!
Pag 24
1: Honestly, I'm surprised that you're going all out like this.... you're worth defeating!!
2: I'll let you train with me one more time, Danchiku!!
Pag 25
2: Ah crap, they've started already!!
The last battle
3: of the fourth and last day of this training camp!!
4: Danchiku-kun!! Sugimoto-kun!!
Pag 26
1: I'll pull now, teh, Kinaka-kun
Yeah, thank you, Rokudai!!
2: Please....
3: No....
4: I'm beaten....
Even though I've finally... cut the 200km left point...
5: That moment.... I overdid it a little....
6: My legs hurt.....
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