#but nothing has been disproven as of yet it canon and it really brings his expression of extortion out

[catlover4536]

I've seen so many artist draw Eddie lifting the others, but may I present: Eddie getting lifted instead.

[whumpkeys]

Blood Brothers (9-1-1 Lonestar Fic)

After an incident on a call leaves Carlos and Judd injured, TK has some guilt to look through. CW: Canon-typical violence, gun violence, drug mention.

It was a normal call. Or at least it was supposed to be. Dispatch had mentioned a simple car accident on the freeway with a possible missing kid. Nothing more, nothing less. They had found the kid and gotten four of the five people out of the cars with limited injuries and no deaths so far. The police were only really there for traffic control. Everything was going fine and overall, it was the kind of call that would no doubt be celebrated later with a night at the bar. Until Paul noticed something.

While Judd knew that he wasn’t as observant as Paul was, he was also far from oblivious. The sudden stiffening and look of concentration on Paul’s face betrays the fact that he had noticed something, though it wasn’t clear exactly what he’d noticed. It never was. Not until he did some fancy Sherlock Holmes type deduction and blew everyone away. Then it just seemed painfully obvious and left Judd with the thought that this is what Watson must feel like. A quick glance around reveals the fact that Judd isn’t the only one who’s noticed. Marjan and the probie were sharing a look of confusion and glee, clearly excited to see what it was that Paul had discovered.

Judd wasn’t immune to the lure of the trick either. Though he tries to remain outwardly uninterested, he still watches out of the corner of his eye as the other man approaches the truck, walking with purpose. Just as Paul’s about to make his first comment or ask his first question, something else catches Judd’s eye and he turns his head, recognizing the all-too-familiar glint as sunlight reflects off the long barrel of a shotgun. Judd follows it with his eyes, his heart stopping for a moment when he realizes who it was pointing at. TK wasn’t paying attention, of course, too busy chatting it up with his little cop boyfriend.

“Gun!” Judd’s shouting the warning almost immediately as he takes off towards the boy, knocking him to the ground just as the gun fires with a loud bang. The two of them land on the ground, Judd on top of TK, and he can only groan as TK shouts in surprise, asking what the hell was going on. Judd wants to answer. Really, he does. But just at that moment, the pain hits.

It’s a burning, searing pain that seems to spread out from his shoulder and throughout his entire body. He can hear somebody letting out a string of foul curses, ones that would get him smacked upside the head if Grace heard him saying, and it takes him a moment longer than it should for him to realize that it was him cussing up a storm and not some poor bystander. Judd tries to get up but his arms feel like Jell-O and refuse to follow his commands. All he can do is groan and hope he isn’t crushing poor TK under him.

As much as he liked to portray himself as this fearless, tough-guy cowboy, he was only human. He was susceptible to pain. And this shit? It hurt like a mother. Through the haze of pain and confusion, he can feel two people shifting him onto one of the stretchers. His arm moves at the same time that the pain spikes and a numb feeling shoots through his arm before making his entire body burn like it was on fire. He barely gets a strangled scream out before he's passing out on the stretcher.

~~~

Owen didn’t think he would ever be as scared as he had been when he found TK that night before moving to Austin. The stone-cold terror he’d felt when he’d found his son laying on the ground, cold as a corpse and not breathing, wasn’t something that was going to be easy to top. But the fear he feels when he sees the barrel of a gun pointed at him while he’s so clearly distracted definitely comes close.

“TK!” he yells, though it’s immediately drowned out by a louder shout, warning them about the gun. Owen freezes for just a moment, seeing a blur tackle TK to the ground just as the gun goes off. And that’s when everything goes to shit. Carlos is knocked aside in the commotion, his head hitting the edge of the truck and knocking him out, and TK himself doesn’t seem to come out unscathed despite what Owen is now considering divine intervention of some sort.

Owen forces himself forwards on unsteady legs, dropping to his knees beside the two. Michelle was already with Carlos, helping him to sit up and drink some water. For a moment, Owen’s convinced that he’s the only one who had seen this. The only one who knows what had happened. But his theory is quickly disproven when Paul and Marjan are there all of a sudden, helping him move Judd onto a stretcher. The cowboy was shouting out foul curses, causing most of the bystanders to cover their children's ears and look utterly scandalized. When he passes out, Owen finds that the silence is much worse.

TK hadn’t gotten up yet, which Owen was trying not to find concerning. He’s still laying on the pavement, curling up in the fetal position and not moving.“TK? TK, are you okay? TK!”

TK’s response is fairly quick and Owen just about sags in relief. “I’m fine. Just sore ribs. Think Judd broke ‘em. What was that all about anyway?” he asks, sitting up with one arm wrapped around his chest, a slight wince on his face.

Owen watches as the ambulance pulls away with Judd and Carlos inside and just shakes his head. “Come on. We’re going to the hospital.”

“Dad? It’s not that bad, seriously. I’m fine.”

“TK, it’s not for you.”

It takes a few seconds but the look on TK’s face when he finally realizes what had just happened makes Owen wish that he’d just invented some kind of elaborate lie or something to cover up the whole thing. He knew it was illogical but the urge to protect his son from any more hurt was there, overpowering any logic or rational thought. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

~~~

They arrive at the hospital shortly after. Despite what he’d been told, about the trip not being for him, his dad had still made him get checked out. The whole way to the hospital, he’d been hunched over with his arms wrapped around his chest and Owen had been understandably concerned. A few moments after arriving, he's diagnosed with cracked ribs. After being told about caring for his ribs, they head into the waiting room to find Carlos sitting in the corner with an ice pack to his head and a pink emesis bin in his lap. He glances up when the two walk in, giving TK a small, pained smile. TK immediately glances away.

From what he’d been told, this whole thing was his fault. If he had been paying attention to the call instead of hanging out with his boyfriend when they were both working, then he would have seen the gun. He would have ducked or moved or done something other than just stand there like a lovesick dork. Judd wouldn’t be in surgery. Carlos wouldn’t be sitting there in obvious pain.

TK knew he had a bad habit of internalizing things and blaming himself. His dad told him practically every time it happened. But in this case, he was certain that it was his fault. How could it not be? He had been standing there, flirting with his boyfriend while everyone else was working hard. Judd had been right, he was slacking. And now he was paying the price for TK’s mistake.

Before he even has a chance to try and stop it, a strangled sob escapes him, and just like that, the dam he’d oh so carefully constructed breaks. He sits there, in the cold, cramped hospital chair, with his legs pulled up to his chest and his face buried in his knees as loud sobs wracked his body. The fabric on his knees is getting wet with his tears but he can’t bring himself to care. With everything else happening, it doesn’t seem to matter that much. He feels somebody’s arm wrap around him, pulling him into their side with a quiet, “Oh, TK.”

He recognizes his dad’s voice and the feeling of his chest. Briefly, he’s reminded of the time when he was a kid and he’d had a nightmare. He’d stood over his dad’s bed for nearly ten minutes before Owen had woken up. His dad had later told him that he’d scared the shit out of him. But after that, he’d just hugged him and held him close. He had rubbed his hair like he was doing now and he’d told him that everything was going to be okay. That whatever had happened was just a dream and it couldn’t hurt him. The mantra was different today. Today, his dad was assuring him that what happened wasn’t his fault. “Everything will be okay. It wasn’t your fault, TK, these things happen. Judd’s gonna be fine. Carlos is—”

“I’m fine,” Carlos pipes up, though his voice is tinged with hurt. TK can’t tell if it’s from the concussion or TK ignoring him. Either way, he had caused it. It was his fault.

“Tyler Kennedy, you listen to me.” TK hadn’t realized he had been speaking out loud. “This was not your fault. Okay?”

“But Carlos got— and Judd he—”

“They’re fine, TK. Right now, I’m more worried about you.” Owen lowers his voice, leaning in closer to his son. “How are you feeling? Any… urges?”

TK sighs, rolling his eyes and looking up at his dad. “I’m not a werewolf, you know, and I’m not made of glass either. I’m not gonna- I’m not going to OD again, okay? That was… it was a one-time thing. Not every issue is going to break me, okay? Okay, dad?”

“I know,” Owen tells him, a small smile on his face. “I know. I’m just worried, okay?”

“Yeah, well you don’t have to be.”

“It’s kind of my job, TK.”

TK feels a small spark of inexplicable anger appear. “No, your <i>job</i> is to save people.”

“Not as a firefighter, TK, as your dad.”

TK’s quiet for a moment. Just like that, the spark is gone and another sob leaves him. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Owen assures him, rubbing small circles into his son’s back. TK just nods, too busy trying to hold back the sobs and tears that threatened to overspill. By now, Paul, Marjan, and Matéo had returned from taking the truck back for the next shift and were just sitting awkwardly in the chairs beside Carlos.

When Paul catches the captain's eye, he mouths something that Owen takes for meaning, ‘Is he okay?’ Owen hesitates, looking down at where TK was sitting, practically in his lap with his head buried in his chest. He nods. TK might not be completely okay right now, but he would be. Owen knew that. If his son was anything, he was resilient.

Owen glances up at the sound of footsteps, relieved to see the doctor approaching. He knows the exact moment that TK notices, shifting and accidentally elbowing Owen in the chest. “Oomph!”

“Sorry,” TK’s quick to apologize but pays his dad no heed as he looks over at the doctor, a tall blond man. “How is he? Is he okay?”

The doctor opens his mouth to say something when Paul pipes up. “Relax, TK, he’s fine. Doc’s relaxed.”

“Wel—”

“Plus, Judd’s a fighter. He’ll be fine in no time.”

“May I—”

“Wait, did anyone call his wife?”

“If I can—”

“Yeah, I called her earlier. You know, she’s actually really nice. She invited us for dinner this weekend.”

“Guys,” Owen says, holding up a hand. “Let the man speak.”

The doctor sends him a thankful look and adjusts his clipboard as he clears his throat. “Thank you, Captain. Mr. Ryder’s going to be just fine. He’s lost a bit of blood but we were able to remove the bullet without much difficulty at all. He’s awake and ready for visitors. If you would like to see him, somebody can go in now. He’s been asking for his little brother?”

As soon as the doctor’s finished speaking, Owen looks down at his son. “That’s you. Go see him, make sure he’s not giving the nurses a hard time.” TK hesitates before shaking his head slightly and pulling his phone out as if he got a text. “I uh- actually, I have to go. Meeting a friend.”

Before anyone can protest, he’s out of there, taking off like a bat out of hell. Owen sighs, standing up. “Guess, that’s me then.” As he heads for Judd’s room, he hears Mateo comment on TK leaving to see a friend instead of visiting his brother. Marjan smacks him upside the head and calls him an idiot before Owen can say anything. He’d talk to TK later, make sure he’s okay.

Nobody, not even Paul, notices Carlos slipping away.

~~~

As soon as he’s out of the hospital, TK breaks down completely. He slides down one of the large white pillars and buries his face in his arms as he cries. Loud sobs wrack his entire body as he struggles to get a breath in without choking on it. He can practically feel everyone staring at him, watching as he loses it right there on the pavement. TK can only imagine the sight he makes. He was still in his turnout gear minus his helmet, which was probably still in the waiting room with his dad, and definitely looked the part of a badass firefighter. And here he was, sobbing like a child.

Too focused on dwelling on his own mistakes and trying to get a breath in, TK doesn’t notice somebody sitting down beside him until there’s a sharp inhale from the spot to his left. “It’s bright out, huh?” TK freezes, recognizing his boyfriend’s voice. He looks up slowly, trying to wipe the tears away with the back of his hand. They just keep coming.

“What are you doing here?”

“Come on, TK. I know you. And I know that you’re taking this hard. It’s not your fault. You know that, right?”

TK shakes his head. “That’s not— I wasn’t doing my job. I was just standing around, talking to <i>you</i>. I was distracted.”

“Everyone was standing around, there wasn’t much to do. You did nothing wrong. Please tell me you understand that,” Carlos says, an arm around his shoulders as he pulls TK into an awkward, half hug. TK just laughs bitterly and shakes his head again. Carlos frowns and decides to try another tactic. “What, you’re not going to ask how I’m feeling?”

TK looks up at him, the slightest hint of a smile on his face. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I just won a steak-eating contest.”

“Nauseous?”

“Yeah. Doc says I have a concussion. Nothing serious though.”

TK nods. “Good. Look… I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

“TK, you have nothing to apologize for,” he tells him with a smile, squeezing him against his chest. “What happened was an accident. I know it doesn’t help much but it’s not your fault.”

“I know, it’s just…” TK shakes his head. “Nevermind.”

Carlos frowns but decides not to say anything for now. “Come on, Tiger. Let’s go see Judd. I heard he’s giving the doctors a hard time.”

This time, TK doesn’t protest as he’s led back towards the hospital.

~~~

“Where’s the kid?”

Standing at the end of Judd’s hospital bed, Owen got the strange feeling that he was at his judgment day. Judd didn’t look like he’d even been shot. If it weren’t for the bandage wrapped around his shoulder and the stark white hospital sheets, he could have just been laying in bed. He wasn’t wearing a hospital gown either, something the captain found fairly odd but not important enough to mention.

“He… had to leave. Had a date with a friend,” Owen tells him. They both knew he was lying.

“He’s blaming himself, ain’t he?” Judd asks, groaning slightly as he props himself up on his elbows and looks over. Owen just nods. “Fuck, knew he would. He’s okay though, right?”

Owen nods again. “Yeah, he’s fine. A couple of cracked ribs but he’ll be fine. How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m floating on cloud nine, Cap. Think they gave me the good stuff,” he responds with a shit-eating grin.

Owen laughs. “I don’t doubt it.”

There’s a moment of quiet as the mood slowly shifts and Judd looks up. “Any idea where he is?”

Owen shakes his head. They both knew who Judd was referring to. “I don’t know. He told me he wouldn’t be…” he trails off with a shake of his head. “But I don’t know.”

“Yeah, well, he’ll be fine. What happened out there?”

“Paul found cocaine. A ton of it. The guy didn’t want anyone finding out, I guess.”

“Whew-”

“What, no ‘welcome to Texas’?”

Judd shakes his head. “This ain’t Texas shit, Cap. That’s some LA shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

Though the silence between the two had never been awkward before, it was now rife with tension. Owen wasn’t too sure what to say. He knew TK wouldn’t appreciate him telling Judd about their earlier talk but right now, he was considering telling Judd their entire life story just to have something to talk about. Thankfully, by some sort of miracle, he’s stopped from oversharing by the door opening and a light cough from the doorway.

Owen turns around immediately to see TK and Carlos standing there in the doorway. Carlos’s arm is wrapped around TK’s shoulders in a protective gesture and the police officer is giving them both a look that dares them to try anything. TK, for his part, was just standing there with his eyes on his shoes and his arms wrapped around his chest as if he could hold himself together just like that.

Nobody says anything for a few moments before Carlos nudges TK, prompting a slight glare at the other man and a quiet, “Hey.”

“Howdy, kid. Nice of you to drop by,” Judd responds, not missing a beat. Despite how withdrawn and hesitant TK was at the moment, Judd was acting as if they were just hanging around the fire station. And for that, Owen was grateful. TK hated any kind of pity or sympathy or anything like that. And while Judd wasn’t the type to pity people, Owen knew that his son would definitely interpret any difference in behavior as such.

TK doesn’t respond, leaving them with yet another awkward silence. It takes Owen a moment to see the look Judd was giving him, too busy watching his son with obvious worry. Judd clears his throat and Owen gets the sense that he was tired of waiting for him to catch on. “Hey, Cap, why don’t you and Reyes go call Grace or something?”

The dismissal was anything except subtle but it got the job done. Carlos seems to snap out of whatever protective trance he was in and nods. “Right… yeah. Uh- see you later, TK?” TK just nods, still not looking up from his shoes.

With one last lingering glance at his son, Owen follows Carlos out of the hospital room and back to the rest of the crew.

~~~

Judd doesn’t say anything as he watches the kid in the doorway. His posture and expression screams guilt and Judd knows that whatever he’s thinking about was eating at him. He shakes his head. “Am I gonna be receiving an invite to this pity party or is it one of them private affairs?”

TK glances up at that, a hint of a glare on his face as he looks towards Judd. It’s lacking any heat, though, and seemed more instinctual than anything. Judd sighs. “Come on, kid. What’s eating at you?”

There’s another brief moment of silence as TK seems to gather his words before speaking. “You got shot.”

Judd raises a brow. “Believe me, brother, I know.”

“No— you got shot because I wasn’t paying attention. I was flirting with Carlos. Flirting! At work. And you were— you—”

As he speaks, TK starts to pace back and forth across the room and Judd holds up a hand, stopping him in his tracks. “First of all, you’re making me dizzy. Second, this kind of shit happens. It could have happened to anyone. Probie, Marwani, your dad. Hell, even me. You know how many times I’ve tried flirting with Grace over the radio?” TK shakes his head. “Too many times.”

Judd pauses for a moment, just to get a sense of where they were, and then launches into the seemingly endless story of how he’d flirted with Grace over the radio, got himself smacked upside the head by his captain, and sent to the couch for the night by Grace, and almost drowned as a direct result from the incident. Partway through the story, TK migrates over to the hard plastic chair beside Judd’s bed and by the time he reaches the part about the couch, TK’s fast asleep with his head on the bed. Judd doesn’t stop talking just yet, continuing the story as TK lays there, his head laying on his folded arms.

He doesn’t reach the drowning part before he’s dozing off beside the kid, confident that they’d be alright.

[feralcherry]

Naruto takes that might enrage you (girl addition)

Warning, some of these takes might enrage you- that’s fine.

Fillers don’t count as canon, don’t even bring them up if you talk about this post lol. Also it’s been a while since I’ve seen the whole series, so some of these might be disproven as I continue with my rewatch. The excuse that Shounen is for boys is also very weak and holds no weight, as tons of girls (and nonbinary folk) relate to the characters in this show, so that doesn’t excuse Kishimoto for his weak writing of women.

To preface, I love this show. Love it to pieces. It was part of my childhood and holds a very special place in my heart. But there are some things I personally don’t like or wish could have been done better. I love every character and will go blue in the face talking about how much I still love this show. That doesn’t free it from my criticism. I’m also only listing what I don’t like and what I would change, though I’d be more than happy making a post about what I loved.

Let’s start off with my girl Sakura Haruno. She is easily the most hated girl in the series, and all because of how ‘weak’ or ‘annoying’ she is. As if that’s not the fault of Kishimoto himself lol. She was shoved off to the side continuously and never given cool storylines, unlike the other members of her team.

What I took issue with about Sakura:

-What were this girls dreams?? The whole reason she became a ninja was never really talked about nor were they really developed as time went on. She was all about Sasuke, which would be fine if she grew out of it. But no. 

-Her crush on Sasuke was super stale. He was handsome and powerful, but what else was there to him? He was a jerk to her most of the time (there are some instances he’s somewhat kind to her, but if we go off canon, it’s not enough to make her deep love make sense). I think it would have been so much more interesting to see her grow out of her infatuation for him. If they had to have ended up together, watching them relearn each other and fall in love would have made them more compelling. She stayed loving a boy who thought very little of her. 

-She’s pitted against her best friend and doesn’t develop much of a relationship with other girls her age. It’s kind of sad, and I think they should have fought over something other than a boy. 

-We are told repeatedly that she’s super powerful by other characters, but she’s never given time to truly shine. She got like a single battle with Sasori and she deserved more cool moments like that!

-She was a healer, which makes perfect sense. But why is it mostly girls who are the healers? It’s a bit weird, when there’s also Neji with his perfect chakra control. She only has her healing abilities and her super strength; but even then someone like Kabuto has more offensive healing based techniques than her. Like his chakra scalpel. 

What I would fix:

-New dreams. Show her find a dream outside of her team and grow into it. Also give her more of a backstory. Sai has more of a backstory than she does and he’s way newer than she is.

-I would let her fuck up one of the Peins instead of Konohomaru- she’s a main character and passed over for that little brat?? She should have gotten to do more than scream out for Naruto and heal people :/ 

-She her intellect a bit more. She’s so smart, and yet we don’t really see it.

-She’s perfect for genjutsu, Kakashi himself said so. So why not give that to her? Or play more with ninjutsu. She has earth and water on her chart, so why not give her those abilities? Maybe even wood jutsu to even her out with her super OP teammates. Idk how, it could have happened, this is a show full of demons and god like abilities, it could have happened someway.

-She should have grown out of Sasuke and not married a man who doesn’t really appreciate her and isn’t there for her at all.

-I would totally have expanded on Inner Sakura more. Imagine if it made her mind impenetrable? Could have woven that in with her skills for genjutsu and made her unaffected by other’s illusions.

Next, let’s go with a more beloved character of the fandom. Hinata. Now personally I don’t care much for her- she could have been so cool but just like Sakura, they kind of messed her up.

What I didn’t like about Hinata:

-Her entire existence is revolves around Naruto. Naruto this, Naruto that- and yet she simply sat back and watched as his life was shit and did nothing despite her ‘love’ for him. And then fillers/movies are added to show that oh wait! she’s been there this entire time!! no lol. Build her up from the start as his love interest at the very least.

-She stayed super meek the entire time. Shy girls are okay, but I wanted to see her grow into herself more and not need as much reassurance. She’s a ninja and should stand on her own two feet more.

-She’s less skilled then Neji and I would have loved to see her outmatch him at some point, even once. Or gain abilities outside of her clan, or do something that made a name for herself outside of being the heiress of the Hyuga.

-She never fixed her clan which was one of her few spoken goals. That was a huge bummer.

-I think it would have been cool to see her mess up Pein a little more. She only stepped in because it was Naruto, which reinforces that she’s only about him. But at least let her land a hit if she’s as powerful as people say she is. 

-She makes the most sense to be a housewife or a healer with the way her attitude is but in Boruto, she’s kind of rewritten to be a ‘scary’ mother which just doesn’t fit her. Plus, she tells Boruto to go and take care of his dad?? Bro, that’s your child and your husband is the hokage. 

What I’d fix:

-Prove her dad wrong and show him that her compassion isn’t a weakness but a strength. 

-Fix the Hyuga clan bs.

-More character growth and showing more of her life away from Naruto. Her romance with him could also have been better. I hated her always watching him but never standing up for him, it kills me.

-Neij dying for her proved their clans hierarchy bs to be right and it just doesn’t make sense for him to die for her. It showed that he was right to feel caged and that he simply existed for the benefit of the Main family.

Now with the others, there’s much less I have to say about them because they aren’t main characters or the love interests.

Ino-

-Jealous of Sakura, no dreams of her own, stupidly loves Sasuke and for what? WHAT’S SO COOL ABOUT HIM?

-I like her growth for the most part, it was cool watching her fight in the War Arc with her team. 

-Why is she the medical ninja? I never got that.

-She got with Sai but they didn’t really show their development and how they fell in love with each other. It’s like she only likes him because he looks like Sasuke and called her pretty once.

Tenten-

-Should have gotten to train with Tsunade at some point, since she was the one who originally idolized her. 

-We know nothing about this girl at all. She doesn’t even have a last name.

-Her weapon usage was meant to be so cool and yet she missed so often- there’s a disconnect there. Her abilities could have been built up more. Imagine if no matter what she never ever missed. That would have been cool.

-Her weapon shop isn’t doing well. Just because it’s an era of peace doesn’t mean the need for weapons is totally over, not if there are still active ninja??

Karin-

-I actually like her, she’s kind of funny and I like that she’s mean even if she can get annoying.

-Again, another healer, though she’s also sensory which is more interesting. I’d like to see her with some jutsus though. That would have been neat.

-Her love for Sasuke makes sense since he saved her and smiled at her, making her think of him as her hero. And she’s the only one he apologizes to without Naruto strong arming him into it.

Temari-

-She’s pretty solid in my opinion. Though I would have loved to see her more without her brothers.

Konan-

-Her goals in life were to support Yahiko and Nagito’s dreams. It would irritate me so much if other girls in the series were more well rounded and din’t also have some sort of dream involving a boy.

-She was underused. I would have loved to see her fight more.

Tsunade-

-Only becomes hokage to support others dreams...All of them men. And then later passes the title onto Kakashi who doesn’t even want to be Hokage either. 

-No other justus used, she’s on par with Jiraya and Orochimaru and yet she’s only super strong and the best medic. She should theoretically be more well rounded than that, right? She also should be shown fighting more even if she’s a medic, she’s also s legendary sannin 

-Had to be saved by 12 year old Naruto. I know it’s a show about him, but she’s meant to be a literal badass but needs a kid to save her.

Kushina-

-Wanted to become the first woman hokage and then didn’t. Her husband did. and then she became a housewife?? What?? She should have become the first woman hokage with a badass husband or had another prominent role in the village like as a council member or something.

Kurenai-

-Always lost a fight? She’s some genjutsu using badass but always lost fights.

-No real personality, she’s just chilling there. Sexy as hell though. Has a kid and that’s about it.

-What I will give her is that I’m so glad she was allowed to age. So many anime mothers always look the same as their teenage self and she looks like she can be anybody's mama.

Over all, the girls could have been handled much better. I wouldn’t find issues with any of them being housewives or all about boys if that weren’t what seems to be the standard in the anime. I just wanted more of a variety and better character development, especially for Sakura and Hinata who are the mains 😩

Now to what might REALLY piss people off- ships! I’m not trying to start some war here, this is just my opinion and you can take it or leave it.

Sakura- Naruto, since they had the most development and showed more than two seconds of caring for each other. Even Sai in Shippuden has more of a connection to Sakura than Sasuke did.

Ino-Shikamaru, if she had to end up with a guy it makes sense it’d be him since they spend more time together than her and Sai did. (inosaku for the win tho)

Hinata-Shino or Kiba, again, because they spent more time with her. Naruto and her felt very rushed and I don’t quite understand the appeal.

The one that made the most sense and became canon was Shikatem, though their son’s design was lazy :D 

If I do a second part, it’ll be about the boys and the ships with them that made sense to me. For now, this is all I have. If you’ve made it this far, thank you lol

byeee

[duhragonball]

Hellsing Liveblog  Ch.4-6

This arc is called “Sword Dancer”, and I have no idea why, since they never call Anderson’s weapons anything other than “blades”.   Are they swords?   Maybe, but you never see him dance.  

The story starts at an orphanage, where Alexander Anderson is a priest there, settling a fight between two boys.   He sounds gentle and patient at first, until he tells them that the only thing they should be fighting are demons and heathens.   That pretty much sums up the character.   His mercy and compassion are almost entirely confined to the membership of the Catholic Church.   

Then another priest shows up and informs him of all the vampire incidents going on in the U.K.  Anderson doesn’t much care, since it only means more dead Protestants, right?  Except this latest incident is happening in Northern Ireland.  

So this neatly sets up one of the major conflicts within Hellsing.  Kouta Hirano took the vampire lore from Dracula and expanded it into a sort of 20th Century Cold War thing.   Instead of a single vampire hunter using crosses and holy water, we have an entire government agency, a secret service steeped in religious imagery.    But that religion isn’t a homogeneous thing.   Christendom has splintered a few times over the centuries.   Most notably, there was the East-West Schism of 1054, which saw the Eastern Orthodox Church separated from the Roman Catholic, and the Protestant Reformation that began in 1517.

I’m not sure how much research Kouta Hirano did into this topic, because he seems to have distilled the whole thing down into two major vampire-hunting groups, the Catholic “Section XIII” also known as the “Iscariot Organization”, and the Protestant Hellsing Organization.   Hellsing only bothers with vampire stuff in the United Kingdom, while Catholic Ireland is under the protection of the Iscariots.

Presumably, the Iscariots are tasked with protecting other Catholic nations as well, and maybe other Protestant countries have their own vampire-hunting sqauds to mirror Hellsing, but this overlooks the bigger issue: Catholics and Protestant populations don’t just fit neatly inside of political borders.   There’s plenty of Catholics inside Great Britain, for example, so it’s kind of glib for Anderson to write off British casualties as “not my problem”.  

And I think Hirano recognizes this, which is how Northern Ireland ends up in this story.    All of Ireland was British territory until 1921, when it was partitioned.   Southern Ireland became an independent nation, while Northern Ireland wanted to remain in the U.K., so it did.   This has caused no small amount of conflict in the decades since, and Hirano uses it here rather effectively.    There’s a treaty between Iscariot and Hellsing, one that recognizes Northern Ireland as their territory, but Iscariot still sees a duty to protect the minority Catholic population.  

So Anderson is sent to deal with the vampire attack at Badrick (or “Patrick” depending on who’s translating, and if he runs into Hellsing, well that’s too bad for them.    Despite the treaty, Iscariot considers themselves to be the morally superior group, so they won’t back down if confronted.  

From all of this, I get the sense that the normal relations between these two groups sort of depends on the rarity of vampire attacks.    There’s a lot of unsettled issues between them, but as long as nothing happens in disputed zones like Northern Ireland, everyone sort of minds their own business. 

Anyway, it’s now August 15, and Hellsing is indeed intervening in Patrick.   I never understood why Alucard had Seras sitting outside while he fought the ghouls in this house, especially when he was just going to call her in later.  But now it makes more sense to me.    He went in expecting to kill the vampire inside, and she’s outside to shoot down anyone who tries to escape, just like in Chapter 3.   Except Al found more ghouls inside than he bargained for, and he finds this dull, so he’s calling an audible and bringing Seras in to handle them instead.  

And this marks the debut of Seras’s Hellsing uniform.    In the anime, she gets this look pretty much from the start, so it’s weird to see her wearing pants in Chapter 3.   I assume she’s wearing pants in Chapter 2, but we don’t see her lower body in that.   My head canon is that she was still wearing her old police gear up until Chapter 4, while this uniform was still being tailored.   

I have mixed feelings about the design.    My first time seeing Seras was a cosplay photo, and I dug the idea of a vampire soldier.   Once I found out Hellsing was all about weaponizing vampires, I got into it pretty quickly.   And I found out Seras started out as a police officer, and that seemed really cool.   Like Alucard would handle all the spooky blood licking stuff, and she would dust for fingerprints and use pencils to pick up guns.   The uniform implies a professional discipline, the sort of thing that would set it apart from the almost casual villainy I find in vampire shows like Buffy or what-have-you. 

But, the artwork tends to make this look ridiculous, because Hirano keeps drawing it like it’s skin-tight around the boobs.   I don’t understand why he keeps doing this, since you don’t normally see it on the other women characters in this story.    Unless the idea is to set Seras apart from the others, which I can sort of understand.    Seras is the sidekick, and to a certain extent, she’s supposed to look kind of silly.   Even in this heroic pose, there’s still something goofy about her, like she can’t quite achieve full dignity yet.   Maybe this is supposed to be like Robin wearing the short pants until 1991, but I never really cared for that creative choice either.   

So she starts going to town, and Alucard takes a lunch break while she’s at it, which is a cool moment that didn’t make it into the anime.   He reminds her that the ghouls have to be killed expediently using shots to the heart or head.   That one who fell down the steps was still moving, you see, so Al had to finish him off.

And this is where Seras first addresses Al as “Master”.  This was one of the first scenes I found when I started trying to find out more about the character.  At first, it seemed like Seras was all business, but then you get stuff like this, where she’s doing the creepy vampire bit as well.    I like the way Hellsing approaches this.    Seras is gradually adjusting to being a vampire, and she isn’t always aware of that adjustment as it happens.   It seems like combat helps her get into that zone.   Early on, Seras would seem to change into a berzerker state, then snap out of it.   Except she never snaps out of calling Alucard “Master”.  

This is the start of that hard-to-define relationship between the pair.  Remember, the Cheddar Priest said she would have free will as a vampire, but she defers to Alucard anyway.    Before, that just seemed to be a practical matter.  She recognized Alucard as a superior officer, and as a mentor figure.   But now it seems more fanatical. 

Watching the anime, I was suspicious of Alucard’s intentions, because... well why wouldn’t I be?    He’s fucking Dracular for pete’s sake.   I thought maybe he was angling for some chance to escape from Hellsing’s control, and maybe Seras was part of his plan.  Scenes like this didn’t exactly dissuade me from that notion.  Seras got some ghoul blood on her, and she finds herself compelled to eat it, and he’s looking on very excitedly.    But then she gets impaled through the neck, and that puts an end to that.

Back at headquarters, Integra gets word that the Iscariots have send Alexander Anderson to Barick, and she realizes that this could escalate into a major incident.   No one at Hellsing seems to know much about Anderson, except that he’s powerful, and if he runs into Alucard it could be a major battle.  

This page marks the first appearance of Walter C. Dornez, whom she calls for consultation.   I find it odd that Walter has already received the same report, and has already taken steps to deal with it.   Almost like he expected something like this to happen...? 🤔 🤔 🤔 🤔 

As it turns out, Anderson’s already there.   He’s the one who impales Seras with a bunch of blades/swords/bayonets/whatever, and he already killed the vampire that Alucard was sent to find.    As far as Anderson’s concerned, the only thing left to do is kill Alucard and Seras, but Al shoots him in the head before he can really get started.    But as he goes to remove the holy blades from Seras, Anderson gets back up for Round Two.

Alucard calls him a “Regenerator”, like this is a thing he’s encountered before.   Anderson’s not just a priest with blessed weapons, he’s got special powers that the Vatican gave him for the purpose of hunting vampires.  Then he stabs Alucard a bunch of times and prepares to cut off his head for good measure, until Polnareff jumps in and... no, wait, wrong story.   Yeah, Andy just chops his head off, then goes to finish off Seras.  

Except Seras got away.    Somehow she got up and lumbered off while he wasn’t looking, pulled out all the knives in her back, and then managed to double back and fetch Alucard’s head.   Trouble is, she still can’t get out of the house, because Anderson set up a mystical barrier using sheets of paper.   Boy, that’d suck if you touched a wall and it shocked you.  Seras probably won’t forget this moment....

Then Al’s head is like “Ight Imma head out,” and melts into a puddle of blood. 

The blood then arranges itself into words, which tell Seras to drink the blood, as this will make her into a “true” vampire, instead of a “servant” vampire, which I guess is what she is now.   And this is also the first time we learn Seras’ true name.   Everyone had been calling her “Police Girl” up until this point.   

Although, one might argue from this scene that this is not her original name, and perhaps it’s a brand new name Alucard invented for her, one that she has to earn by willfully drinking blood.   I’m pretty sure this was disproven by later flashbacks to Seras’ childhood, but it’s fun to think about.    Maybe we never knew her human name.   Maybe she doesn’t even remember it.

But before Seras can make that choice, Integra shows up with a couple of guards and tells Anderson to stand down.   He kills the guards, and promises to finish her off as well, but she tells him that Alucard can’t be killed with a simple decapitation.   

Also, Seras is back up.  She hasn’t consumed Al’s blood, but she does pick up a gun to defend Integra, which is pretty cool.   See?  She looks badass here, maybe because you can’t see her anime boobs in this shot.  

Anderson still likes his chances, until Alucard starts to reassemble his body.   Unlike other vampires, stabbing Al through the heart and cutting off his head aren’t enough to kill him.   This is because of... something the Hellsing family did to him over the past century.  I don’t think it gets spelled out in this story, but it’s heavily implied that the Van Hellsing from the Dracula novel defeated Dracula and then enslaved him, and his family line has been modifying him ever since to turn him into their anti-vampire weapon.    And a big part of that involves making him stronger than the typical vampire. 

So Anderson withdraws, but only because he now sees he’ll need a bigger boat.  Alucard tells Integra that Seras’s performance was “the usual”, which is funny considering how pleased he was with her before.    Also he scolds her for not drinking his blood, and calls her a coward when she asks to be addressed by her name.   One way or another, the theme here is that Seras has to earn a name.   The way she is now, Al doesn’t seem to think she needs one.

Volume 1 ends with some notes by Kouta Hirano, including the part about how Alucard and Anderson never seem to run out of weapons.   Cosmoguns? Fourth dimensional priests?   I’m beginning to think this manga about super-powered vampires may not be entirely realistic.

Since chapters 1-6 aren’t quite big enough to fill out a collected edition, Hirano also includes a backup feature called “Cross Fire”, which he produced for “a defunct comic master”.    He calls this a “springboard for Hellsing”, which isn’t hard to see, since it features the Iscariot Organization, including Enrico Maxwell, Heinkel Wolfe, and Yumiko Takagi, who show up later in Hellsing.

This short helps me understand these characters a lot better, because when I watched the anime, Wolfe and Yumiko just seemed to show up out of nowhere, with no explanation given.    I think it was assumed that you would have read the manga collections first, and would know who they were.   Anyway, they’re both nun assassins.   Heinkel dresses like a man and uses guns, while Yumiko weilds a sword, but only when he “berzerker” personality, named “Yumie” is activated.   In this story, she’s actually among the hostages that the duo were sent to protect, but Heinkel shows up and knocks her unconscious, which prompts her to wake up as Yumie and they killerize everyone.   

I’m not sure if the Cross Fire stories are considered canon or not.   The characters show up in Hellsing later, but not quite the same as before.  So maybe these are prototypes rather than the real things.  Maxwell, in particular, looks a lot like Integra here, to the point where I thought he might be a woman in this version.   But the Heinkel/Yumiko team bears a strong resemblance to Alucard and Seras working together in Chapters 4-6, so it’s not hard to see the connection. 

[truthbeetoldmedia]

The Toxicity of Kylo Ren and Reylo 

It’s no secret that the newest villain of the Star Wars franchise, Kylo Ren, is a polarizing figure. In fact, there’s a large fanbase that don’t think of him as a villain at all (despite confirmation from cast and crew). If you take issue with that statement, look at the marketing: it’s Rey, Finn, and Poe at the center of the franchise. Not Kylo. Instead, he’s framed as a misunderstood underdog that is undeserving of the criticism he faces.

Now, that’s not to say that Kylo Ren can’t be appreciated as a character. It’s completely possible to appreciate him as a character and not as a person — after all, thinking someone is interesting or well-written isn't an endorsement of their behavior, or a claim that they deserve the benefit of the doubt.

People can be drawn to characters for all sorts of reasons. A lot of people enjoy rooting for the villain simply because they’re a villain. You can appreciate a character's potential, or their personality. It could even be as simple as thinking Adam Driver is good looking, or appreciating his portrayal of Kylo, with that being the reasoning for being drawn to that character. 

Despite all of this, there’s an interesting (and troubling) phenomenon happening with people who have decided to “stan” Kylo Ren — not his potential as a villain, or because Adam Driver is talented, but the character himself, so much so that there is a fundamental misunderstanding (or willful ignorance) of his actions and motivations. 

I’m not apprehensive to call this kind of fanservice toxic, because that’s what it is. There’s something really unnerving about stanning someone who has commited genocide, runs labor camps, and has direct, not-at-all subtle parallels to Nazism. 

Ignoring Canon

The main theme here is that Kylo is somehow “misunderstood,” and not only that, but deserving of a full redemption (and a girlfriend in the form of Rey, but I’ll get to that in a bit). The narrative and what we know about Kylo in canon is a stark contrast to how fandom sees him. There’s this image of him as a down on his luck, unloved, victimized person who has been wronged by the people in his life, which simply isn’t true. 

Kylo is the ultimate example of privilege. He arguably has the coolest parents in the world in the form of Han and Leia. He was, at the time of his turn to the dark side, being taught by Luke Skywalker (his uncle). From the get go, he had the support and resources that we rarely see someone have in the Star Wars universe. 

And for those who like to counter with the argument that Han left Leia and is somehow a deadbeat dad — he did so after Kylo killed the entire group of Jedis Luke was instructing and abandoned his family willingly. You can dislike that decision all you’d like, but it had no bearing on Kylo’s turn to the dark side. 

A more fitting criticism would be towards Luke, who admitted that he sensed something disturbing in his nephew and briefly thought about killing him. I’ll admit that this is fair enough, but for Kylo to react with murdering numerous Jedi students and then immediately joining the space fascists? I’d say this side of him has been lurking under the surface for a while. 

Also consider — was Luke wrong? Dude literally built a device specifically to commit genocide. 

This romanticization of a hard life that never existed is even more disturbing when you consider that there’s another character whose backstory fits this narrative: Finn. 

Finn’s storyline is what certain fans desperately want Kylo’s to be. Finn was kidnapped at a very young age, forced to become a stormtrooper and was embedded in the hateful doctrine that Kylo is such a fan of. Despite being raised in that toxic environment and being indoctrinated with propaganda from such a young age, Finn — of his own volition, before he met Rey or Poe or anyone else — made the decision to resist and break free of the Empire. 

He did this because he felt it was morally correct, at great risk to himself and his well being. He’s been in that environment for his entire life, so he knows exactly what happens to traitors. Despite all of this, he does it anyway. 

Unwanted and Unearned Redemption

There’s also this strange need to advocate for Kylo’s redemption, something that is very clear he doesn’t deserve or want. 

I’ve noticed a lot of fans who are desperate for his redemption call him Ben — his given name — which is both hilarious to me and makes no sense. He literally chose to change his name to Kylo Ren. He doesn't want to be Ben anymore, and he’s made that very clear. 

Leia and Han clearly wanted him to abandon his position in the First Order and come home during The Force Awakens. During his showdown with Han towards the end of the film he’s given a shot at redemption, which he rejects violently by murdering his own father. After this happened it was speculated that this was a sacrifice Kylo had to make to rise up in the First Order, or to prove to Snoke his loyalty to infiltrate the First Order better and ultimately turn against it. 

This was pretty easily disproven in The Last Jedi when he also attempts to kill his mother, Leia, who barely manages to survive. At the end of that same film, he’s also responsible for the death of the definitive hero of the franchise, Luke Skywalker. 

If the theory about Kylo proving himself to Snoke was true, the tendency to murder his own family (and consequently the people offering him redemption after all he’s done) would have ended with Han.

After all of this, he’s given yet another chance to redeem himself, this time by Rey. He turns down this opportunity like he did the others. 

As mentioned before, even without his violence towards those who want to help him, his actions are enough to completely eliminate the possibility of redemption. He’s overseen and advocated for genocide. He’s a member of an actual fascist organization. At this point, there’s no plausible way that he could be redeemed, nor should he be. 

Romanticizing Abuse 

This leads me to the discussion surrounding Rey and Kylo, or “Reylo,” an incredibly convoluted and twisted way to look at romance. 

Reylo fans desperately need Rey to be the one to “save” Kylo, a textbook example of an abusive and toxic relationship. This is the Star Wars version of “She can change him,” making Rey the bearer of Kylo’s emotional labor when he has no interest in changing at all. 

It’s not Rey’s responsibility to bring about his redemption. A true redemption needs to happen organically, of his own volition, and not because he’ll get rewarded with a girlfriend if he does. And, let’s be honest, it’s not a realistic expectation. If he only changes for Rey and not because he realizes that genocide is morally wrong, that’s profoundly disturbing and also selfish. 

Here’s some advice: if someone says they’ve changed only for you and because of their love for you, that’s a red flag. They aren’t changing for reasons that are morally correct, or for anyone’s benefit; they’re changing because their feelings and their feelings alone matter. If Kylo changes because he loves Rey, that is a self serving act for his benefit only. 

Further, what happened to Kylo torturing Rey in The Force Awakens? He kidnapped her, holding her captive, and entered her mind without consent. That’s as clear a metaphor for abuse you can find, and that’s not even my only example. 

In The Last Jedi, Kylo attempts to persuade Rey to join him on the dark side. He tells her that she’s “nothing,” but not to him. To him, she matters. This is very commonly touted as a romantic moment, but the emotional manipulation is more than obvious. 

Kylo doesn’t care about Rey. He says she’s “nothing,” that none of her friends care about her, that she’s worthless to them. By tearing her down then building her up by saying that she’s not nothing to him, he’s enforcing the idea that the only way she can have significance is with him. 

I don’t even mean “with him” in the romantic sense — he pretty transparently only wants her on the dark side for her power. Kylo is a terrible jedi, and he’s witnessed Rey’s prowess a number of times. He only wants her power and skill, not her as a person. 

He murdered her father figure, Han, in front of her, and nearly killed her best friend, Finn; he’s tortured her and manipulated her — it’s never been more obvious that he doesn’t care about her at all. 

If anyone knows anything about abusive relationships, this is the first thing that abusers do. They alienate their intended victim from their friends and family, ensuring that they alone are the only source of comfort. It ensures that if things ever get bad, the victim has nowhere to go and no one to turn to but right back to the abuser. 

What message would it send to little girls and boys if Rey were to end up with Kylo after all of that? Deal with his violence and manipulation long enough and he might change? If I have to spell out why that’s dangerous, I don’t know what else to say. 

In addition — what does this say about how people view Rey? Do you really want her to be with someone who has tortured her, betrayed her, and manipulated her? The answer is that people who want Reylo to be together only care about Kylo, not Rey. 

Toxic Masculinity 

Despite these specifics, the general acceptance of Kylo’s behavior is surprisingly rampant in fandom. His actions aren’t simply excused, but romanticized. He has obvious anger issues, control issues — that scene in the beginning of The Force Awakens when he lashes out and destroys the control panel with his lightsaber? That may as well have been a shot of an abusive, angry man throwing around furniture and punching walls because he has no emotional control. 

Sure, people like Kylo. They’re allowed to. But there’s a clear difference between liking a character and blind endorsement of that character's actions. I know plenty of people who like Kylo as a character, but the difference is if they meet someone like Kylo in bar or see one of his outbursts, you’d call the fucking cops. You wouldn’t ship him with your best friend. That's the dividing line here.

Kylo Ren is a direct parallel to real-world men who lash out because they’re filled with anger and frustration that’s turned into something truly ugly. They lash out at the people who are willing to help, all because they feel themselves robbed of things they think they deserve. Kylo wants power, he wants control, and he cares about nothing else. 

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theatres internationally on December 19, 2019.

[pmiller1]

Let debunk some Deja Vu. Woah. Deja Vu.

Already I had to debunk and it from Young Xehanort. This could be me, but it seem like talking about the Many Young Sora that is wounding around here.

Kinda surreal if you ask me.

Within Kingdom Hearts, there’s a general rule of thumb that even though the mind may not remember, the heart never forgets. This was established pretty early as a concept with Chain of Memories (imagine, with a name like that).

This specific example is even further proven by being one of the memories Sora can choose from during his Dive to the Heart. Something he otherwise can’t actively recall, but it remains within him.

We doesn’t know if Sora actually remember this. But given this is for the Guardian class so to say. It best bring the idea of when Sora choses to be a guardian for his friend. (This doesn’t really matter)

This is also kind of the idea behind some of the effects of Time Travel. If traveling through and into the future, your experiences and memories don’t come back with you once you return to the past. You continue to live your life, but with an underlying, subliminal need or sense to follow whatever brings you to the future you’ve experienced as “It has been etched” into your heart.

It’s a continuity failsafe.

Time Travel.

So regardless of the means (time travel, memory erasure, etc), having experienced something guarantees that the memory still remains somewhere, deep within your heart.

So the breakdown from this if your Time Travel from another time and once you return from time, you forget everything in that other time, but you hearts will keep on as fate. Given it a subcontinent memory kinda of deal.

Can I just point this memory erasure only happen when you return to own time. Not when you traveling pass time. Or how would Young Xehanort know he from the future, he there to make sure he future action does happen.

And in away, this is going with the idea that Sora and Riku want back in time before the Keyblade War, before Kingdom Hearts III so to say. How would there forget there action. I mean it not like going to the past would remove the memory, Maleficent remember everything before she dead in KH1 when she was in the past in a date of her home world. She try to set plan to get the seven princess of heart, only for the 7th princess Kairi being unable to reach her do not having a date worlds of where she would be. “Darkness” himself told her that.

So the idea is this Deja Vu is already faulty.

We see what seems like evidence of this throughout the game like, a lot. A lot a lot. A notable amount of verbalized forgetting of details, characters reacting to something before it happens or aren’t present for, or unwarranted familiarity with a given situation. In most instances characters even provide an easy to swallow explanation for it, seeming to deliberately hand wave the issue so you don’t take much notice. 

The game begins with a cutscene from the end of 0.2. This functions as a means to refresh players of what Sora needs to do, but they have a very interesting conversation where Goofy brings up the very important phrase “May your heart be your guiding key”. Something they’ve never heard (yet), but Goofy insists he had.

Even with the implication that the timeline restart happens at the end of II.9, we’re still including this scene and how pointedly odd it is.

And here the real reason why Goofy, Our anthropomorphic dog recall Yen-Sid saying “May your heart be your guiding key” where the two doesn’t. He heard it when he mutter, whisper those lined. And Goofy the anthropomorphic dog, pick up it, being a one to pick up noise more better than the other two. Didn’t you see Goofy pick of the little girl screaming for help for away, or when he pick Elsa singing “Let it go?” before the other? Because that seem like the reason.

note: In Jiminy's Journal, it says Hayner, Pence and Olette are “still on their summer vacation”. So it really hasn’t been that long at all.

This does beg the question of how long was Dream Drop Distance? Heck, How long was it between Kingdom Hearts II and III. I know Re:code was there between that, along with DDD and 0.2 where Mickey recalling his time with Aqua.

But there said that in italic. Meaning there saying it haven’t been a very very long time. Like say a Year. Maybe a week had pass, who know.

Plus, this haven’t been confirmed but the idea of world having there own time is there to. I mean The Caribbean is going by the 3rd movie. At world ends.

Hann: “Yozora!”

Yeah. There point here is that Sora here look like Yozora from the game Verum Rex. Rex even think he is Yozora.

Sora’s mentioning of this line is interesting as a direct reference to DDD. In the Country of Musketeers, Sora runs into Mickey, Donald, and Goofy and has a little difficulty dealing with meeting his friends who don’t know or remember him. Regardless, he keeps the experience and phrase close to his heart, which makes it stand out as he says it to himself like a reassurance.

True. Sora had met the past Mickey, Donald and Goofy in Country of Musketeers. But I think there said “All for One, and one for all”, when there team up back in KH1. I think it more that there are dream of that world past of them that would having a effect of that person heart with the Real One, Given that Tron, even if he isn’t the Tron in Ansem’s computer had somehow able to recall Sora. And I like the think the Real TWEwY gang recall Sora even if he met only the dream memory of them.

Note: We went through BBS and confirmed Donald and Goofy never leave Yen Sid’s tower. They never see the Unversed for themselves. Goofy goes from feeling like he’s “seen them before”, to confirming only Mickey ever fought and told him about them.

You can say it’s just a continuity issue. But BBS and DDD were planned at the same time to lead into KH3, and the series has stayed remarkably consistent with itself especially post-2010. And all of that doesn’t explain why Goofy would contradict himself, in his very next sentence.

By the way. I want to point out, that I’ve check the wiki for this and Donald and Goofy are D-Link in BbS for both Ventus and Aqua. Granted in Story there never leave the tower, but in gameplayed, unless you haven’t made the two use the two d-link, there kinda have fought the Unversed. And there didn’t say there didn’t fought them, just that the King Mickey fought a whole bunch of battles against ‘em.

Pooh being forgetful isn’t anything new, but for what little time we spend here coupled with everyone else struggling to remember what they were even there for, it stands out.

Something there just need a reminder that there here for a harvested. Also, Pooh told his reason once he had his honey and that he felt Sora link lost, that even Sora can tell and fear it.

I mean, why wouldn’t you trust Sora? He that person that you can be friend with. This have nothing to do with Anna and Kristoff having to feeling like there know him already, Just he can be trusted.

Sora’s phantom pain here is probably one of the more interesting and unexplained oddities. It’s hard to believe that it’s just his connection with Anna, seeing as we’ve never seen anything like this with any other character before. He feels the pain at the same moment she was struck, a shot of ice straight to the heart. The mind may forget, but the heart remembers, suggesting that maybe Sora took the blow in the past.

Even within the movie it’s said, “The heart is not so easily changed, but the head can be persuaded”.

I’m sorry what?! Are you implying that Sora take the blow of Elas cold freak out, instead of Anna?

If so, then how is Sora isn’t dead by a frozen heart? It clear from your Theory (and in Canon) that Sora died in Keyblade Graveyard. And Riku and Kairi wasn’t there to help Sora from that spell by there true loved.

I’m guessing that do to Anna being a Princesses of Heart, made Sora felt the same pain from Kairi Heart back in Hollow Bastion. As he felt Anna pain just then as he did with Kairi.

You know what best about this, Donald really did say “The Sea belong to everyone.” back in Davy Jones Locker.

I let Goofy say the rest for me up there.

Aww. Let Sore be a Teenage Kid. He just excited and want to tell his best friend about the world he at.

I’d bet he gonna call Riku about how awesome Shibuya is, even if he still in the Reaper Game in the 1st day just for humor. Now that I’d love to see.

Emm... Riku is just being caution here. Using the Stop spell would be very costly here and given Donald's Zettaflare just out right cost his own life to cast it. It safe to say that Riku doesn’t want them to pull another powerful spell at the cost of their own life.

Also this after Sora changed fate. So this wouldn’t counded.

“More than once” despite the fact we only visited here during that first dive.

“On your visits to the Station of Awakening.” That mean that the Station of Awakening is part of the Final World. At least I think so.

I like to remind you, the final world is last stop before the afterlife. The people are holding on there life. That remind here before that move on to afterlife or there could come back to life. This is the crossroad between sleep and death.

Also, No I don’t think the final world is a Sleeping World, not even can be part of this “Realm of Sleep” given that is been disproven to be a real thing.

[motorcyclegirlfriends]

I didn't like it either but 24 is the right age for Lena because she still is a little naive, she's quick to believe those with supposedly good intentions probably due to her lack of exposure and that would only make sense if ms prodigy was 24. a 28 year old with the intelligence (and position&past) of Lena wouldn't let herself be as easily influenced. she would be far more calculative if she were a 28 year old

lol idk if you’ve met a 28 year old but they can be emotionally naive too

But Lena isn’t quick to believe people have good intentions because of a lack of exposure—she’s been emotionally fucked over many a time in her life.

I mean, toward the beginning of when we’re getting to know her, she gives a whole speech about not trusting people and not being naive, grounded in her personal experiences:

“You know, when I was first adopted by the Luthors, I adored Lex. When he showed his true colors, I was crushed. I tried everything to reach him, bring him back to the side of good. But it was no use. I’d lost him. 

Finally, I realized that some people are just bad. And there is nothing you can do to change that. 

But, you can learn to protect yourself.”

Does that sound like someone who is new to the concept of being screwed over? It’s like… her origin story.

So regardless of if it all happened within the span of 24 years or 28, she still has the same canonical experience with people, and that’s the experience of someone who knows what it’s like to be let down. It’s a huge part of her personality when we meet her.

And Lena is pretty calculative, initially. She isn’t exactly quick to believe anyone. It’s just that she lets her emotions overpower her “logic” when it plays against her emotional needs. Which isn’t an age-restricted personality trait.

And that’s canonically the reason that she didn’t believe that Rhea was going to backstab her. 

She started out suspicious of Rhea, gathering evidence about her, but then Rhea said the magic words ‘you’re not like your mother’ and Lena craved the approval. And Rhea kept giving her approval, even as she went against everything Lena stood for behind her back. That’s one of the reasons why Lena bought into it.

“How could you let that woman deceive you? I taught you to be a scientist, to question everything.”

“No, what you taught me was to doubt myself. To look for validation elsewhere, so much that I was willing to take it from the first mentor that offered it to me.”

Lena let her issues influence her judgement. She had the intelligence and the tools—more experience than she rightfully should have with being let down—to be suspicious of her, and yet she wanted to believe her. And that’s not because of her age, it’s because of who she is and how she’s been hurt. 

It’s Lena’s kryptonite.

Not to mention, Lena has also been heavily influenced by Kara and her “everyone is good on the inside” worldview this season, likely because Kara is so validating and supportive of her. In a way, Kara is proving her Good People Exist worldview to Lena by being such a good friend, and it’s making Lena alter the perception of the world that she built up over the years.

In a lot of ways, I think Kara is like… Lena’s emotional mentor. (Whether or not that’s a role Kara should have—at least as Lena’s sole mentor and only true friend—is another question.)

She listens to Kara when she says that she should go see her mother, despite not seeming to want to give the relationship another shot. She calls Kara when she’s deciding if she should go on a date with Jack, calls Kara to ask if she should trust Rhea. 

And when Kara can’t talk, Lena decides to trust Rhea, likely knowing what Kara would say. She seems to have internalized Kara’s worldview a bit, at this point.

I mean, it’s really a good thing to internalize, that you should trust people. It’s something Lena needs, even if Kara “Sunny” Danvers goes too far with the idea. 

But Lena’s luck is shit, and this is a television show, so she keeps getting screwed over.

But I think it’s a mistake to believe that Lena is necessarily unintelligent in her newfound trusting of people, or that a 28 year old shouldn’t make these same choices.

I said that Lena’s naturally suspicious nature was shrouded by Rhea’s emotional manipulation, but she also seems to be making a conscious choice to be more trusting, for her own emotional wellbeing in the form of intimacy. She should continue trusting people until she finds the ones who really won’t let her down. 

She should continue trusting people throughout her life.

She should trust people until they’ve proven they can’t be trusted, because that’s the only way you can really connect to people. 

This, in a way, is her arc for the season. From semi-distrusting and secluded, to more open and accepting. And the audience is supposed to hope that she doesn’t close herself off again, worse than before, because of the people that hurt her while she is open to it.

As for Kara’s secret, we accepted for 2 seasons that a 50 year old woman didn’t recognize that her assistant of two years was Supergirl. The Secret Identity™ trope is not about naivety or experience or intelligence, it’s supposed to fool everyone. It wouldn’t be a surprise when it’s revealed that Cat has known for some time that Kara is Supergirl if it weren’t possible that she wouldn’t know.

And really? Lena should trust Kara. Like, it’s a good call. Her having this secret doesn’t mean that Lena’s foolish to accept her explanations at face value. Her read of Kara, that she’s someone she can trust, is the right and logical move to make with the information she has about her. Like, who would suspect that their friend is a superhero?

So the only kind of experience that Lena doesn’t have, 24 or 28 or 100, is with a genuine and honest emotional connection. But that’s because of her environment, not her age. When you reach 28, you don’t magically have positive and fulfilling relationships (unfortunately).

I mean, headcanon what you’d like! If you like Young Prodigy Lena Luthor who doesn’t know who to trust because she’s young, you do you. The 24 year old thing hasn’t been disproven yet, so there’s definitely room to take it where you want to in your own stuff.

Just don’t try to tell me that that’s what is canonically right, because at no point in the story is her supposed young-ness brought up in any context or used as an explanation for anything she does.

[these-are-the-first-steps]

Firstly, I’d like to say thank you, @srgnts, for giving me a very thoughtful reply and for giving my post a chance, I appreciate it. I hear what you’re saying here, and I understand where you’re coming from. If it’s alright, I’d like to add a little more info and a little more context, especially since the post in question is around a year old now and is missing both those things. It might help, it might not, but I’d like to make sure you have all the information at your disposal. This got long, so I’ve sectioned it off- I hope that’s ok. It might make it easier, I'm not sure.

NOTE TO MY FOLLOWERS: Please do not add your own reply to this. Please. You can reach me via chat if you want to talk about it.

Some Admissions: To begin, I admit that the tone of the post, standing alone like that, is far from the best it could have and perhaps should have been. It was also written late at night, which you might recall being mentioned right at the beginning, and I was a bit exhausted with little filter left after a frankly awful day at work. But it is one of a series of short posts that were made as I was combing through the “Before the Awakening” novel looking for information- there are many of them about Rey and Poe as well. I’ve got a pretty good collection of TFA-related books going for this very purpose- I like knowing as much as I can as I try to form theories and work on material.

Finn and Kylo are actually stellar mirror images of each other: This post was also made during a stretch of time where the ‘good guy’ characters were being a bit coddled in the fandom, and as I’m personally someone who believes everybody’s got some sort of skeleton in their closet (frankly it’s more interesting when they do), especially when the villains were being so blindly thrashed, I really latched on to the thought that I had finally found Finn’s- Rey’s previously being that she’s killed many times before and that the area around her home was rigged with fatal booby traps (source: Rey’s Survival Guide). But when I found Finn’s, my mind went into over-drive- why was this his main sin? Did he always do it? (according to ‘Before the Awakening’, he did not- and I also made a post about that the next day) So why did he feel compelled now? As some time has passed, I’ve begun to realize that Kylo and Finn are actually mirror opposites of each other both in path AND in characterization. Parents vs. no parents. Didn’t choose the order vs. chose the order, brainwashed (Finn) vs. Stockholm Syndrome (Ben), chose to leave vs. chose to stay, chose not to kill vs. chose to kill, chose to lie vs. chose not to lie, wants to go WITH Rey vs. wants Rey to go with THEM. Literally in every respect, mirror opposites. Thus why the emphasis on how the only real positive thing Kylo has going for him is that he’s openly honest with Rey- it becomes another opposing piece of the Kylo-Finn puzzle. But at the time I’d made that post, I hadn’t quite figured that out yet. What you see there is me skirting along the edges of this realization before I had it. I hope that makes sense. On the topic of Kylo’s interactions with Rey: I’d also like to share some information from the TFA novel as it has deleted scenes that didn’t make it to the film. Pablo Hidalgo, canon keeper for the new trilogy, has said that the books count as canon unless disproven by future films, so I’m going with that assumption. To begin, I will have to insist that two people battling on opposite sides of a war who are in no discernible relationship whatsoever cannot possibly be abuse. I really do have to insist on that. It was made clear in the TFA novel that Kylo had no intention of hurting Rey during the interrogation- he explicitly says, “Despite what you may believe, it gives me no pleasure. I will go as easily as possible- but I will take what I need.” (source: TFA novel, p. 199). His line about “You know I can take whatever I want” is, according to the film script, the second half of an unspoken conversation, essentially, that the audience never hears. To quote:  “KYLO REN: ...You. A scavenger-- Rey reacts -- afraid -- how does he know? KYLO REN (CON’T): You know I can take whatever I want. (TFA oscars submission script, p. 79)”

He’s referencing her thoughts, which he’s casually reading, but the Audience isn’t aware of this. It’s actually a really brilliant storytelling ploy that I’ve come to love a lot. I use it in lots of places now. Second is that Kylo actually argued *against* the destruction of the Hosnian system. He argued against it so insistently that Snoke yelled at and threatened him and this is where Snoke accuses him of having compassion for Rey, and if Rey had essentially become his ‘weakness’, then he needed to bring the girl to him. (Source: TFA Novelization, p.207-208) Snoke attempted to blackmail Kylo for his compassion. This is why he refuses to be on Starkiller when the weapon is used- it’s his admittedly weak rebellion against what happens. Thirdly, I have to protest the new over-use of the word ‘Nazi’ on the basis that my grandmother survived 5 years under Nazi, REAL Nazi, occupation and I take a firm stance against her experiences being belittled by seeing that word applied to fiction. The First Order is reprehensible, but they do not, as of this moment, have goals of genocide, and worlds under their control such as Jakku are clearly left to be free societies because the FO only seems concerned with how big their territory is, not with running it. We have no knowledge of whether or not they seize all possessions of everyone on every planet they capture, like the nazis did to my grandmother and her entire island. We have no knowledge whether or not they subject every single person under their rule to a strict and paltry rations regimen. If we go by Jakku, and that’s really all we have to go by, Extreme Capitalism runs free and laissez-faire governance is the order of the day- that is the exact opposite of nazism. So please, as someone who grew up constantly hearing stories about the Occupation, please refrain from tossing that word around so much. I was at the AAAS meeting last weekend which is a massive gathering of scientists, and one very old scientist from Vienna recounted the day the nazis took over his schoolyard and regimented them all, how the planes flew over (my grandmother’s experience as well- she was forced to learn german for a time), etc. and he has also said that the current state of affairs in the US is nothing like those times- a court in Washington state would never have been able to stop an order from Hitler in the 1930s. He says we are far from that reality at the moment and should also refrain from constantly making that comparison, and as much as I’m personally afraid of nuclear war breaking out, I have to agree- what’s going on today and back then are two separate situations.

Analyzing characters from TFA vs. trying to contextualize them against the real world: I understand what you’re saying about the perception you’re picking up on. The world is in a shameful state, and as someone who has the rather terrible task of combing through US news for a living, I understand this so intimately that I have nightmares about what goes on. This is why sometimes my posts come out with a bit more edge than is meant from time to time, but how could anyone know that? It’s no one’s job to know that. And again, I do understand that my tone wasn’t the best in that post- I’ve been working over the past year since it was made to try and correct that. Tone has admittedly always been my biggest enemy online.

You feel that Kylo is excused because of his actor’s skin color, and that Finn gets nit-picked because of his actor’s skin color. I hear you, and I admit that I cannot weigh in on that. I’m simply not equipped with the experiences you have had in order to do so. All I can do is share with you why I’ve spent so much time analyzing Kylo/Ben and Rey in depth, and I will try to do so without getting too personal. Essentially, I grew up in a situation not dissimilar to Kylo’s current state in the story. Imagine a close family member in the place of Snoke and there you have it. I mostly managed to escape. Mostly. But the damage has been done and recently they have begun to actively stalk me again. I spent a lot of last fall calling the police and filling out reports. But I’m still damaged goods. Kids used to fight me in school but I always bent the rules so not only did I win but I only ever got sort-of in trouble once. I have on very, very rare occasions been in terrible rages that luckily either no one was around or I still had enough sense of self to leave. I’ve survived murder attempts. I had to twist my future around just to keep a roof over my head in high school and I’m only now, so, so late, starting to get things back on track. Nothing will ever be what it should have been- all because of that one person from the moment I was born. So I see a lot of myself in Kylo. I can understand his perspective better than the rest of the characters and this makes him not only enjoyable for me to write in fics but also analyze from a literary perspective. I’m interested in seeing Ben succeed because it means if he can do it- space maniac that he is- then maybe I can, too. This is why I find him fascinating. This is also why I’d like to see him get some self-fulfillment along with Rey, who is also a different kind of damaged goods with her own dark streak, but that’s admittedly a purely selfish hope on my part. So somewhere in the middle of all of these things, all of these points above times about ten or so, my mind was nowhere near current events. It was nowhere near current events at all. In fact, everything I do here is my one tiny corner to try and get away from current events, at least for a moment or two, while my main blog is filled with more news headlines, unreported crimes, and rally information. I realize the tiny escape is a luxury that many don’t have. I want you to know, though, that I understand your perspective, and I hope, somehow, in this now way, way too long post that I’ve been able to more clearly describe my own. There was never any intention for a racist perception to come across in my post, and I hope that’s something at least a little more clear now. I’d also like to take this opportunity to say that I, for the confusion, apologize. For my part, I’ll continue to be much more mindful of tone, but will also take your words to heart and consider wider perspectives outside of the immediate story as well when constructing posts. Honestly, I’d like to write more about Finn on a whole assortment of topics, but we get so crucified for even liking him that many of us in this corner of the fandom are too nervous to. I feel like there would be much more Finn content if not for things like that. This post has gotten too long- I’m sorry. But thank you again for taking the time out to write, and I hope you maybe read at least a little of this. Please let me know if I’ve missed anything. I feel like this is such a big topic that I probably have in trying to connect all the dots. Please also feel free to start a chat with me if you like- you are very much welcome to.