#but the stakes were so unclear

[fandomsandfeminism]

Ok.

So.

I know this movie was very pretty. Very pretty. Super nice to look at.

But.

God so much of the plot felt very underdeveloped and confusing. It felt like it was missing 80% of the story from inside the U. She only has like 2 conversations with Beast? How does anything in the virtual world....work? Why does not-Gaston have a dox-ray? What exactly did Beast do that would make the not-internet-cops hunt him? Why is there no moderation happening? Do they...feel pain in U? Why? (It feels like Digimon rules. Is this Digimon rules?)

Honestly, the moment the movie really lost me was when an adult finally calls the cops for a wellness check and is told "they need to wait 48 hours" for....for what? To report an active assault? I...

But at least it was pretty?

This movie has 95% on rotten tomatoes.

[andypantsx3]

part ii of the dragon shouto au : prequel + part i warnings: unedited lol, afab implied fem reader, possessive dragon boyfriend shouto, unrealistically excellent first time, 18+ minors please dni!!

the thing about having a human-shaped shouto on your hands was that he didn't quite seem to understand humans did things differently than dragons.

where before you'd cuddle up against shouto in his dragon form and spend the night insulated under his thick leathery wings, or let him rest his head in your lap as you absently stroked his scales—those things took on an entirely different connotation when you thought about performing them with a human man.

particularly a human man who looked like shouto.

shouto did not appreciate the distinction.

"i am yours and you are mine," he said simply, the third night after he'd transformed.

you'd tried to take him home, at first, unclear about what to do with an entire human man on your hands, but had quickly realized this unwise.

your parents, ordinarily traditional and fussy, had been floored by the audacity of your bringing a man home still unwed. but they had kept their distance once shouto's pupils went slitted, and a familiar guttural noise tore out of him when they attempted to remove you from him, not-quite-human-teeth snapping.

it was exactly as it had been when you'd brought him home as a child, and he a lizard the size of a fat cat. he'd staked an unmistakable claim on you, and any hand that got between you two would be severed.

so you'd taken shouto back out into the field where he'd transformed, in the interest of keeping your family home intact. you'd lit a fire again, camping out with him over night, trying to keep your distance and failing.

"it's different with humans," you said, freezing when shouto's head suddenly appeared in your lap. he looked up at you expectantly, those blue and grey eyes searching your face, a tiny frown on his lovely mouth.

"it is not different. you are mine in any form," he said. a large, elegant-fingered hand caught yours, guiding your hand up to his hair.

you laughed despite yourself, his insistence on being pet all too familiar in any form as well. carefully, you stroked your fingers through the red and white strands, marveling at their silky softness. shouto's eyes slipped closed and he let out a contented huff, long eyelashes sweeping the tops of his cheeks.

your face heated. he was very beautiful.

"in human custom, i can only belong to one man," you said to shouto, unable to keep the dismay from your voice.

you did not want to take a husband, and it would be all the more difficult now that the entire village had seen human shouto trailing after you the last few days, following you as he always did in his dragon form. except now they had all seen very human, very male hands on you, had seen how closely shouto shadowed you, as if your body was an extension of his own, and no space was needed between you.

you knew there was already talk.

"i am one man," shouto rumbled, turning his face into your stomach. something fluttery jumped in your stomach as the feeling of his soft exhalation over your hip bone.

"i meant a husband, shouto," you said. "i am obliged to take a husband."

shouto was quiet a moment, before another slow, hot breath warmed the fabric of your shirt. "you said i was the only boy for you."

something lightning hot raced up your spine, embarrassment mixed with the thrill of the implication. you looked into the fire for something to do with your attention, watching the flames lick over the logs.

"i said that when you were a dragon," you hissed, your ears prickling with heat. "i didn't mean you would be my husband."

a strong arm wound its way around your waist, pulling you that much closer to shouto, locking you against him. a fiery blue eye cracked open, fixing on you with inhuman intensity. the pupil looked a little slitted in the firelight, and you swallowed in apprehension.

"i am yours and you are mine. if that means i am to be your husband then i will be," shouto said with unmistakable decisiveness.

the thing in your stomach fluttered again, and your thighs shifted beneath shouto's head. his other hand gripped the flesh above your knee, holding you in place.

you choked, your hands freezing in shouto's mop of white-and-scarlet hair. "you don't know what that means."

his hands tightened on you. "i have lived among your people nearly as long as you have. i am not unfamiliar with human custom."

your face burned, words slipping out of your reach. did he really understand what he was saying here? you'd known he'd long understood you, but it had never been clearly exactly how much his dragon brain was processing. but now...

"but you can't—if you know what it means—shouto, you can't—"

a hot mouth met the skin of your stomach, just under your shirt, and the words choked off in your throat. a slow, careful nip to your skin made you freeze.

"i will be your husband and you will be mine," he purred, his voice slightly muffled against your skin. his mouth dragged over your hip.

your hand fisted in his hair, gripping on for purchase. shouto did not seem to mind, his mouth mapping the edge of your stomach, your hip, the waistline of your unladylike trousers.

a shaky breath escaped you. "there are parts of a human union, though, shouto, that i'm not sure you, um, quite understand."

the hand at your knee slid up your thigh as the hand at your back disappeared, reappearing at your hip, pulling the waist of your pants a little lower.

"i understand," shouto replied, his mouth meeting the newly exposed strip of skin above your pelvis. it was only his grip on you, the weight of him across your legs that kept you from jumping a mile into the air. "i have taken this form for that reason."

words failed you, their meanings slipping right out of your mind as shouto's mouth moved painfully gently and deliberately lower and lower.

"ah, shouto—" you managed.

shouto hummed, and you felt his eyelashes flutter against the skin of your stomach, though most of his face was obscured by the fall of your shirt.

"you smell like mine," he rumbled into your skin, sounding altogether too pleased. "i will make it so. i will keep you and care for you as you have kept and cared for me."

another trembling breath quivered in your lungs before you found yourself flat on your back on the ground. shouto had somehow managed to keep himself beneath your shirt, only this time his mouth met the underside of your chest bindings.

"you like it," his voice sounded wondering where it issued from beneath your shirt. you'd have found it comical if not for what he was saying. "you like this form—i can smell it."

his weight moved on your legs, shifting into the cradle of your thighs. he was so warm and broad over you, hot as fire even though the shirt and trousers you'd managed to wrangle him into.

you did not like being laid so bare, but shouto was your oldest friend, and your attention was rapidly being subsumed not by his words but by the feeling of your chest bindings coming undone under your shirt.

"shouto—you are, um, of course very handsome," you said, your hands finding purchase on his shoulders. you thought you should push him away to have this conversation from a safer distance, but your arms were barren of the strength to do so, instead clutching him closer. "but you've only been a man for a couple of days. what if there are other women who—oh—oh!"

a hot mouth closed over your left nipple, soft but firm as if in reprimand. "there are no other women. there is only you."

a hot tongue, a little longer than you thought might be normal, laved over the peak. your hips pressed up into shouto without your say so, hands gripping the fabric of his shirt. he was doing a little too well under there.

"sho—shouto," you said when he found the other breast, long fingers pulling your bindings down to expose it to him. you'd never had a man's mouth on you before, except for the kiss shouto had given you upon first transforming.

the feeling was mind-numbingly good, and suddenly the idea of a husband—of shouto as your husband—was altogether too appealing, if this is what it was going to be like.

your hips shifted into him again, and you felt his rumbling purr in the meat of your breast.

"my treasure. mine." shouto said when he finally seemed satisfied with the attention he'd lavished on your breasts.

he pulled himself back out of your shirt, leaning in to take your mouth instead as he laid himself out over you. you could feel something firm and insistent press against your inner thigh, hot and hard and unmistakable.

shivers crawled up your skin, little frissons of pleasure.

"say you will be mine," shouto puffed against your mouth, his hands already yanking at your trousers. "please say you will be mine."

he was so handsome over you, your most steadfast friend wearing the most beautiful face you had ever seen, new to you and yet so undeniably familiar, somehow. the sight of him settled that feeling inside you you'd had your entire life, the feeling that the thing you were meant for was just out of reach, just beyond the next corner.

he looked like everything you were meant for—everything that was meant for you.

feeling strangely squirmish and shy, you managed an answer. "i always have been."

a heartbreakingly beautiful grin swept over shouto's mouth, a sweet half-moon. his pupils were unmistakably slitted, his two-toned eyes looking just as they did in his dragon form.

in a few shift movements shouto had you both divested of your trousers, and was pressing slowly, carefully inside you.

the feeling was strange, foreign. but with shouto over you, the weight of him holding you down kept you grounded, and soft kisses to your neck and shoulder kept you just distracted enough as he slid home inside of you.

you felt full in a way you'd never imagined, physically and otherwise. your nerves sparked to life when two of shouto's fingers found their way to where you connected, pressing firmly over your clit. a shivery moan escaped you, and shouto's mouth clamped down lightly over your shoulder.

"mine, mine, mine," he groaned into your skin, flexing his hips. the slide of him inside you was better than you'd known it would be, especially when he cupped the small of your back, pulling you into him at an angle.

between his fingers on your clit, rubbing little insistent circles, and the press of him inside of you, you quickly grew frantic, returning his thrusts with eager motions of your own hips, reveling in the way it sent sparks skittering up all your nerve endings.

your liked the way your breasts pressed into his chest, the firm way he held you to him, the bruises he was sucking into the skin of your neck. talented fingers pinched carefully at your clit, a slurry of sensation.

he seemed determined to work you up, hard and fast, and he was succeeding. you felt like pudding in his hands, melting, dripping, hot over his fingers. every single one of his movements seemed calculated to drive you insane, drive you to writhe against him harder, more desperately.

in no time at all you were gasping his name into the cool night air, chasing the release of an unfamiliar pressure.

"let go, love," shouto said, kissing your mouth again. "let go and be mine."

you nodded, words failing you as something inside of you snapped and a tidal wave of pleasure crashed into you, sweeping away all thought. shouto fucked you right through it, his groans rumbling into growls, full-throated and deep. the slide of him inside you became almost too much and you squirmed underneath him, but couldn't bring yourself to want it to stop.

shouto's thrusts grew faster, messier. you heard his fingers rake the ground at the side of your head as he finally came too, his slender hips grinding into your thigh as he spilled inside of you. he went rigid over you, huffing your name, until finally he relaxed into you, his hard body pinning you to the ground.

"this will be an interesting conversation to have," you said some minutes later, when both of you had settled. your hands found their way into shouto's hair again and he pressed up into them like a pleased tomcat.

"there will be no question now. you are my mate, and i am your husband," shouto said, sounding smug. his eyes were closed but you thought they would be glittering with pleasure if they were open.

"we'll still need to do the human ceremony," you said. "but i can't imagine anyone could stop us."

shouto all but purred. "i will eat them if they try."

you laughed, yanking on his hair. "you will do no such thing."

"then i will fly you off to the nearest cave and mate you so thoroughly no questions could ever be asked," he said instead. "there will be no doubt you are mine."

your thighs clenched involuntarily around his hips, and you could tell by the flutter of his long lashes that he was suppressing a smug expression.

"maybe for the honeymoon," you allowed, trying not to sound too interested.

but shouto was your oldest friend and you were learning he'd long known everything about you. "definitely for the honeymoon," he decided, shifting to pull you into the circle of his arms, tucked safely into his side.

you settled into his embrace, feeling truly content for the first time in your life, certain of the one thing shouto had been insisting this whole time.

you were his, and he was yours. always.

[ladyloveandjustice]

So I have no stake in ships in Avatar the Last Airbender, I do not have any real ships for the show. But when I was looking in Katara's tag for art and stuff, I saw this reoccuring claim that Katara always supported Aang with his problems and feelings, but that Aang never supported her back with hers.

And I don't care about the ships, but I do really like the friendships in Avatar, and that bothers me. It's a slight on Aang, but also on Katara (implying she wouldn't stand up for herself and break it off if a friend was all take and no give, which doesn't fit her personality at all.)

Aang does support Katara whenever he gets the chance, which is unfortunately few and far between because Katara seems to have a hard time leaning on the people she cares about and talking in depth about her own trauma and feelings about it, though she will do so when she literally doesn't care what the person thinks about her (and both times she opened up to Zuko about her Mom initially were her lashing out at him and not caring what he thought about her in return).

This would be something that would need to be addressed for a romantic relationship between them to truly work, and I imagine it would be part of the journey of finding a way to stay together, but it's very much not Aang's fault. And as I said, when he gets a chance to support her she does. Since I just recently rewatched most of the series, have a list of those times!

-His first time being supportive of her is literally a half hour after they first meet. As soon as she tells him about wanting more waterbending experience, he enthusiastically offers to fly all the way to the north pole so they can find her a master. And this very clearly means a lot to her.

-I don't think Aang knew how supportive of her he was being here, but there's the "I haven't done this since I was a kid" "You still are a kid!' exchange. As much as people accuse Aang of seeing Katara as his Mom (he's literally the one character who doesn't express that he does in The Runaway btw and I think that's for a reason) their first interaction establishes that he sees her as a kid, just like him, and think she should have fun like a kid does. This must have been huge for Katara, who'd been forced to take on adult responsibilities at a young age, who resented having to hold the family together, who thought her childhood was over. Aang helped her have fun and be the kid she is, and he'll continue to do so.

-When she lost her mother's necklace (And Zuko subsequently stole it) he was very concerned for her feelings and seemed to immediately understand the weight of that loss, due to his own experiences with loss. Not only did he make her a new necklace to wear as a way to comfort her, as soon as he saw Zuko had it he said "you're giving that back to me" and risked being hit by Zuko in his attempts to grab it. Then he gave it back to her and she was ecstatic!

-He was so supportive of her during the waterbending scroll episode it's actually ridiculous, despite how she lashed out at him. It's unclear if he actually understood she was upset or if this was just his unwavering respect for her coming out, but when she was upset that he learned the first move faster than her he said "well you didn't have such a great teacher!" and it clearly makes her feel better for a bit. He immediately forgives her for lashing out at him, doesn't judge her at all for stealing the waterbending scroll, or for accidentally dragging them into trouble. He, in fact, goes out of the way to reassure her, looking happy at the chance to work together and reminding her they need two waterbenders. And he appreciates her joke at the end (he's just straight up being simp (affectionate) there, and I get it).

-When Pakku won't teach her he immediately denounces him as wrong and unfair and is willing to sacrifice his own education (which he needs to save the world) because he won't stand for it. He remains upset about it even after Katara persuades him, tries to secretly show her what Pakku taught him, and cheers her on when she fights him.

-When she's crying over Jet's death, he's the first one to notice and reach out to her, putting his hand gently on her shoulder and drawing her into a hug (that becomes a group hug). She smiles and clearly feels comforted. They probably talked about it offscreen too (but this cannot be shown as they would need to directly acknowledge his death to do so)

-He's pretty much always praising her as a teacher, and when she grumbles about him not calling her Sifu, he goes out of his way to call her that.

-He notices that she's mad at her Dad and asks her about it, but she deflects

-He looks really sad when he has to remind her she has to take off her mother's necklace for their Fire Nation disguises, again it's something he very much seems to empathize with her about, he understands the weight of what it means to her.

-He not only doesn't judge her for lying during the Painted Lady saga, but praises her and enthusiastically helps her commit ecoterrorism.

-Both he and Sokka move to comfort her when she's crying after the bloodbending fiasco. Most of the comforting of her happens offscreen, which I do think is a shame, and a contrast to how Aang is handled- but it's more of a "he's the main character" thing, since the same happens for Sokka as well (I'm sure Katara and Aang talked to him about Yue's death and at least tried to comfort him, but we don't get to see that).

-He was trying to support her during the Southern Raiders ep, whether you believe he did it well or not, both according to his beliefs and cultural values and by trying to emulate the ways she's talked HIM down from revenge and hatred in the past. He specifically brings up those two incidents- losing his people and losing Appa- where she stepped in to keep him from losing himself to rage. As this post notes, he also specifically echoes her phrasing from when she was urging him not to lose himself to the Avatar state (she says "watching you be in that much rage and pain is really scary" and he echoes "you're feeling unbelievable pain and rage" while talking to her in this ep.)

It's not just the air nomads he's trying to emulate here, but her. Just like Katara doesn't want to see him consumed by hatred and pain, he wants the same for her. His concern is not for her mother's killer, but for her, he fears this will hurt her, just like her concern was always for him and how this would hurt him in those times he was raging.

He wants to do for her what she did for him. But, Katara is not him. She is not someone who will be talked down by someone else when she is grieving, angry, and looking for revenge. Nobody can stop her when she sets her mind to it. She needs to wrestle with whether to kill him and she needs to come to her own conclusions, because she's the only one that can stop her. And Aang realizes that. He says it's a journey she'll have to take on her own, that she needs to face him doesn't stand in her way.

(I wonder if it kind of hurt, deep down, that he couldn't reach her the way she always reached him. I wonder if he felt upset that he couldn't find the right words like she did for him. But I don't think there were any right words. She needed him to step back. It was her choice to make. So he did.)

And in the end, he was correct that she didn't want to do it. She did choose that based on her own feelings and values.

His assumption Katara not killing the guy = forgiveness is definitely him just kind of applying his assumptions and values, but when she says she doesn't forgive him, he doesn't like, judge her or anything that we can see.

So yeah, quite a few examples! It can feel lopsided because more attention is paid to Aang and Katara's personality affects things.

Katara is both open about her emotions and not. She's someone who will look after other's feelings but not really discuss her own pain with people she cares about, until it all builds up and bursts out.

And it's not surprising she's most concerned about Aang, if my friend had recently (from his perspective) survived a genocide where he lost everyone he loved and was now tasked with saving the world at twelve years old, I'd be pretty worried about him and want to support him too! Aang goes through a lot by virtue of being the protagonist, he has the most pressure on him, he's routinely in the most danger, he literally dies for a few minutes. It's not surprising Katara has more opportunities to comfort him, but he unfailingly supports her in any of her problems of goals (when they're not murder) when he can.

I do think there's some missed opportunities to explore Katara and develop their relationship, but it doesn't make Aang a bad, unsupportive friend, or Katara his Mom and not his peer.

[billyshakesp]

How Tamsyn Muir Uses Information

I've been trying to pinpoint exactly why I've been so obsessed with The Locked Tomb for the better part of a year by now, and I think I've finally been able to draw some useful conclusions. Here's my analysis of Tamsyn Muir's writing, and, specifically, how Muir uses information to drive a plot.

For me, and for most fiction writers, one of the most critical elements which drives the plot of a story is the information you choose to give to the reader, and the information you choose to withhold. It is my opinion that no one uses (and arguably misuses) information as beautifully as Muir does. Muir is surgical both in the way she delivers information to the reader, and the way she fails to deliver information to the reader. Most writers aim to feed the readers information about the story, bit by bit, letting the reader finish the picture. Muir uses this idea, but her writing is so lush and so sharp is that the information she gives us is distorted almost beyond recognition, but just coherent enough that the reader can guess at the bigger picture. This method of delivery persists from the inciting incident, basically up until the climax.

By the climax, we, the readers, have recieved just enough information to guess at the direction of the story, but we recieve so little information that we are still scrambling for more. It is at this point where Muir finally reveals one or two critical pieces of information, and when she does, the true stakes of the conflict hit the reader with, as Muir would put it, the inexorable weight of a gravity collapse. The truth is that Muir has been building suspense for an entire novel, but it's hard for the reader to conceptualise truly how dire the situation for the characters is because we have been left in the dark. We were crawling at a snail's pace, and so we didn't sense the danger until we stood before the precipice.

I was going to include specific examples of what I've just described, but I changed my mind, and I'll explain:

If you've read The Locked Tomb, you know what I'm talking about (my heart shall never be whole again).

If you haven't read The Locked Tomb, read it! It is lush, dark, vivacious, and many other adjectives which make it unclear whether I'm describing a book or a person.

Ahem. Anyway. TazMuir, I love your writing, and Alecto the Ninth will be my end, as swift and sure as the hammer to the oxygen-sealant machine of my childhood.

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

bites

this post is inspired by @beta-adjacent’s post about bite marks. i got really emotional thinking about friends exchanging bites and wanted to say more about it lol

bonding bite facts

bite scars, like all other scars, vary in visibility and permanence from person to person. in historical practice, various substances (clay, ash, or ink, most commonly) were applied to a fresh bite to improve visibility and permanence. modern practice uses ‘bite powder’ or ‘bite ink’ for those who want a more permanent, easily detectable scar. this is the most common scarification practice, present in most cultures globally.

bites can be exchanged in various locations on the body. claiming or mating bites tend to be found at the scent glands on the neck, but can be left anywhere on the body. marking other locations are considered nontraditional—it would be akin to wearing a wedding ring on a finger other than the left ring finger (in cultures where that is the traditional location).

healthy bonding bites do not typically affect a person’s inherent scent. a person may release more detectable ‘happy pheromones’ after exchanging bites with a loved one, but these tend to fade after a few weeks. conversely, a person may release more detectable ‘distressed pheromones’ after receiving a bite under duress, and these tend to linger much longer.

biting someone who accepts under duress is no different from biting someone who has clearly rejected it. in the US, forcing a bite is considered felony assault and battery

mating bites may be administered in a variety of settings. a traditional practice between omegas and their alpha or beta mates is to exchange bites during their first heat after the pair has agreed to mate. some cultures practice ‘claiming ceremonies,’ where the mated pair exchanges bites in front of their families and friends, community leaders, and/or religious leaders.

bite types

mating or claiming bites - most commonly located on or around the scent glands at the nape. historically, alphas were not marked when mating with betas or omegas, but in current society bites tend to be exchanged between mates of any sex rather than used as a tool for alphas to stake a claim on someone of a so-called ‘lower sex.’

pack or bonding bites - most commonly located on or around the scent glands at the wrist. in some more traditional or long-established packs, either the pack alpha or chief omega administers pack bites to new members. popular culture treats this practice as old-fashioned, with some young people referring to it as a ‘boomer bite.’ in younger or more progressive packs, any member may extend the bite to an unmarked pack mate.

camaraderie bites, also called ‘bestie bites’ - may be located anywhere on the body. a more recent practice, only from the last 60 years or so, stemming from the free love movement and sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s. these bites are exchanged between close friends, but are not typically an expectation. to share a camaraderie bite with a friend is a mark of profound intimacy. in many young adult novels, a life changing experience shared between friends is punctuated by the exchange of camaraderie bites. some groups have expressed displeasure with this trend, as they feel it cheapens the significance of the camaraderie bite.

bite perks

mated pairs report increased happiness in their relationship, though causality between the bite’s presence and relationship satisfaction is unclear.

bite-bonded packs demonstrate a similar phenomenon with similarly unclear causality

friends who exchange camaraderie bites tend to report a stronger sense of connection, satisfaction, and contentment in all of their friendships, not just the bite-bonded one.

individuals in healthy bite-bonded relationships of any type report a stronger sense of self and belonging, which is associated with positive health outcomes, job satisfaction, and overall happiness

bite-bonded married couples and unmarried couples with registered mating bites receive the same social and legal privileges

global acceptance for same sex (i.e. a-a and o-o) mates is increasing rapidly, with legal recognition for these mating arrangements in over 85% of countries

[uriekukistan]

alright i've been seeing so much megumi hate recently, and especially after the new chapter (not on here, mostly twitter youtube and tiktok), so as president of the megumi defense squad, here is my dissertation defending him against the bum allegations.

i've seen a lot of people comparing megumi's situation to yuuji in shibuya, and saying that megumi should be able to "just get up and keep fighting," so i'm going to tell you why this is not a fair comparison, and give some context on yuuji's "recovery" from shibuya that i feel people are missing when they say this. this is quite lengthy, sorry in advance

i. fundamental differences in the ways in which yuuji & megumi view saving people

yuuji wants to save everyone. he wants to save as many people as he can because of what his grandfather said to him on his deathbed. this is what kickstarted the events of jjk. if yuuji hadn't felt this way, he never would have eaten that finger to say some guy he met an hour ago, which is another point. yuuji cares for people easily. he threw his life on the line to save megumi immediately after meeting him. he mourned junpei, who he spent all of a few hours with in total like he had known him for years.

this is very different from megumi, who both does not get attached to people easily, and does not care to save everyone. he only cares to save people he deems worthy, and as far as we know, this list consists of only tsumiki and yuuji. its even unclear if he feels this way about nobara or gojo, despite them also being relatively important in his life. as you can see, when he thinks about saving people by his conscience, the only two characters shown are tsumiki and yuuji.

this is why he sometimes gets some criticism for not doing a half-assed job as a sorcerer, but i think its important to remember that he does not actually want to be a sorcerer, only doing it out of necessity to keep tsumiki from the zen'in clan. the times where we do see him taking things seriously are when yuuji and/or tsumiki's lives are what's at stake.

so in shibuya, after watching his own hands slaughter innocent people, and watching nanami and nobara die, yuuji is able to keep going because there are still more people who need to be saved, and he wants to save everyone. in contrast, megumi has watched his own hands kill one of the two people that he cares about saving, and severely maim the other one, so what is there to keep fighting for, given the way he views the world?

and i think it's also important to note that megumi has not been aware of his surroundings since sukuna v yorozu, so saying that he should get up now to save yuuji is not reasonable because he doesn't even know yuuji is there.

ii. the environment yuuji was in in shibuya vs the environment megumi is in right now

now none of that is to say that yuuji did not also break down and want to give up in shibuya, because he absolutely did (actually, im not sure if this is canon or just my theory, but the reason he did not switch back with sukuna at the detention center was because he wanted to give up), but the circumstances were way different

within minutes of watching nanami and nobara die, todo & nitta were there to encourage him and get him back on his feet (most of that was due to todo, but nitta was also telling yuuji not to lose hope).

meanwhile, megumi has been alone for over a month now, save the few seconds in 251 where i'm pretty sure he didn't even know yuuji was there, with nothing but his own misery to keep him company. sukuna took over his body and killed tsumiki with megumi's technique on november 16th. the shinjuku showdown takes place on december 24th. that's over a month stewing in guilt and mourning with no one to support him at all. that makes it a lot more difficult to bounce back quickly like that.

iii. more context on yuuji

even after todo's little pep talk that gave him the strength to get up and finish mahito off, yuuji didn't just "bounce back" and stand up to keep fighting in the way people think he did. in the days following the shibuya incident, he was really directionless, probably a bit reckless, because he genuinely didn't know what to do with himself, and didn't know if he even deserved to be alive. in my personal interpretation of yuuji immediately post-shibuya, if it weren't for choso, he would have likely lost his life, as he just showed a lack of self-regard in those days following. just one example:

it's not until megumi shows up again that yuuji finds a direction to go, and even then, he's operating with the mindset that once everything is over, megumi and tsumiki are safe, and gojo is unsealed, he will die and stop causing trouble for everyone.

so again, i think the megumi/yuuji comparison as a way to hate on megumi is not fair, both because there are important differences in the way they think and their situations, and because yuuji's reaction post shibuya isn't quite as resolved and strong as people make it out to be. this is not to say that yuuji is not strong! he absolutely is, just to point out that he, like megumi, was/is also lacking the will to live, and there's nothing wrong with that! wanting to give up is a completely reasonable reaction to being in this situation as an ADULT, let alone at 15 years old.

if you've made it this far, thank you for listening to me ramble 🙏 pls let me know any of your thoughts as well, i'd love to chat about this!

[halfway-house-in-hell]

alastor redesign

click for higher quality (and also to see his antlers tumblr cut them off 😢)

ramblings under the cut!!

-alastor was a famous radio presenter in the 1930's. he was also a serial killer and a cannibal, who died in 1939.

-he wished to be famous in his life, but he could not safely become a tv show host or a movie star because of the racism of the time, so he chose to hide behind radio instead, never showing his face. he was quite poor in his youth and so became obsessed with eating, which led to him becoming a cannibal. he is always hungry. hungry for fame, hungry for power, hungry for flesh.

-he died of starvation. he was chasing a victim through the woods when his foot got caught in a bear trap. he was stuck there for 3 days before succumbing to his injuries. (thats why hes so alarmingly skinny)

-his reputation as a serial killer preceded him when he arrived in hell. major evils dying is always a big event, and he used this to gain power

-he now sits as a major overlord - but none of his empire is real. he doesn't have any major powers, and has lied his way to the top by implying that he has more power than he is letting on. he doesn't.

-he discovers Charlie's hotel through her tv show last-ditch pitch (same as the pilot, except ive now decided that that interview cost them the last of their hotel money, so the stakes to find an investor were higher). he decides to sponsor Charlie's hotel because he wants POWER, real substantial power to ensure his throne of lies is safe, and he figures manipulating Lucifer's weak daughter is the easiest way to get that power.

-he is immediately overbearingly friendly to her, which valtiel & the other guests find suspicious. he begins bending the hotel to his whims, making it more suited to his tastes.

-he has large amounts of money and a popular radio show, which he uses to fund and advertise the hotel

-he tends to disappear when fights start

-his best friend is nifty. they have a very strong bond. he often communicates her worries for her, and in return she spies on the guests for him. he doesn't even own her soul they're just buddies

-he's still aroace but not bc he only cares about himself. thats stupid

-he is intentionally mysterious and speaks in riddles & lotts of 1930s slang

-he is firmly still in the 1930s, to an unusual extent. he has all the dated ideas and mannerisms of the 30's, refusing to become more modern.

-his room in the hotel is entirely monochrome

-he shares Charlie's love of musicals, and often encourages her to sing. whether his like of them is genuine or an act is unclear

-ok thats it thanks for reading

[stillness-in-green]

Counting Cliffhangers: The Heroes Are Not the Underdogs in BNHA's War Arcs

(Being a project to tally up which side, if either, of Team Hero or Team Villain is "on top" at the end of each chapter in the war arcs, in consideration of the impact of the overall totals. This is one of those mega-long list posts; do not click the Expand/Read More unless you're prepared for a lot of reading and/or scrolling.)

One of the things that bothered me throughout both of the war arcs was the persistent sense that, for all that the manga was trying very hard to convince me that the Heroes were up against the wall and really having to give it everything they had, I never really felt that level of danger.  Of course, one always expects a degree of that—it’s not as though any sensible reader would really think this manga could end with the Villains winning!—but the problem went beyond that.  Expecting that the protagonist will win out in the end is the standard, after all, but good stories still find ways to keep readers engaged and believing in the stakes.

So why didn’t I?  I certainly believed in the stakes for the Villains—Twice’s death happens very early in the first war, and it sets the stakes quite clearly!  Was it just the difference between my own engagement with the Villains compared to the Heroes?  That didn’t seem quite right—even if I cared about one side for more than the other, it shouldn’t have been the case that that affection alone was skewing my suspension of disbelief about the dangers faced by the Heroes.  The threat posed to Midnight certainly seemed real enough, as was also the case for the Heroes left trampled in Gigantomachia’s wake, like Gang Orca and Fatgum.  As I’ve had to tell the occasional asker here before, just because I don’t particularly care about a character doesn’t mean I become incapable of evaluating their story beats!

What was the problem, then?  Why did the dangers to the Villains seem so desperately real, while the dangers to the Heroes, for the most part, just had me rolling my eyes and waiting for the next asspull that would save them?

I think there are two primary factors.  The first and biggest factor is simply baked into the worldbuilding and the decisions made in the writing: the sides are poorly matched.  I’m not going to go into all of that here, but as a thought exercise, go through the arcs of the story that contain active conflict and consider which side has the advantage in each of the following categories: individual combatant quality (stuff like raw power, endurance, and training/experience to improve upon their inherent capabilities), equipment quality, information about the opponent, ability to set the terms of engagement, and raw numbers of warm bodies to throw at a fight. 

By my measure, much of the early confrontations in BNHA work because these advantages are divided evenly between the Heroes and Villains.  Likewise, My Villain Academia is so gripping because the Meta Liberation Army has virtually every advantage over the League, making the League really and truly feel like the underdogs in the fight.  Conversely, the Heroes are the ones with virtually every advantage in the war arcs,[1] meaning they cannot convincingly be the underdogs the story so desperately wants us to believe they are.

1:  I swear I’m not going to go into all of it, at least not in this post, but to be very brief, I think the only advantages the Villains could even kind of claim during the war arcs are numbers and combatant quality.  The numbers advantage is mostly illusory; the PLF are leveled in the cursory mass arrest of the first war and, despite repeated insistence otherwise, the only place where the Villains’ numbers are a true threat in the second war is at the hospital attack, where said numbers consist chiefly of untrained and easily swayed civilians in a battle it’s desperately unclear why the Heroes allowed to take place at all.  The quality advantage, meanwhile, is heavily concentrated in only a handful of hard-hitting, A-to-S-rank threats on the Villains’ side, while the Heroes maintain clear quality supremacy in rank-and-file or side character battles.

The other factor, and the one this post concerns, is the structure of the chapters themselves, to wit, the way that they end.  In a serialized story being published and read week to week, each installment’s ending is a crucial factor in the story’s overall tone.  What happens on the last page is a major factor in the impact each chapter makes, the feeling the reader is left with while they wait for the next part.  If the intent, therefore, is for the Heroes to feel threatened, pushed to the very edge of their endurance, then a very basic thing needs to be observed: don’t end every fucking chapter with the Heroes having the fucking advantage.

I’m so serious here, guys.  It’s not that the Villains never have the advantage, never get twists or reveals or reinforcements that turn the tide of the battle in their favor.  It’s that, by and large, those advantages come in the middle of chapters, while the Heroes’ twists and reveals and reinforcements get the benefit of being at the end of chapters, so the dominant feeling—the side that’s left wildly cheering for their “team” at the end of the week—is usually the Heroes.  While it’s possible that the impression left is different when reading the story in volume form,[2] when reading week to week, that imbalance critically damages the story’s ability to portray the desperation and strain of the Heroes’ struggle.

2: Having not read the arcs in this fashion, I couldn't say. Obviously I don't know how a volume-only reader would experience this aspect of the story, but even reading (or rereading) a bunch of chapters all in one go online suffers from some impaired momentum between chapters by having to specifically navigate to the next chapter webpage and wait for it to load rather than just being able to turn pages freely.

That, in any case, was my thesis when I first started this count, listing which side has the upper hand at the end of each chapter of the two war arcs, as well as the total overall.  With the second war arc finally having ended, I figured I’d go ahead and post my results. 

Hit the jump!

For each arc, I started counting at the chapter where active conflict breaks out, including as a dramatic end cliffhanger.  Thus, for the first war, I didn’t start in Chapter 258, where the groups are still gathering, but rather in Chapter 259, when the forward momentum begins and the first Villain (Ujiko) is confronted.  Likewise, the second war count begins with Chapter 343, when the armies confront each other.  The counts end with the last chapter containing active Hero/Villain conflict rather than narrated montage.  Thus, the first war ends in 295, when AFO and the League flee the field, not in 296 with the looming threat of the long-awaited jailbreak.  The second war ends with Deku’s weather-clearing fist in 423.

My basic categories are Hero Advantage, Villain Advantage, and Neither.  Fake-outs are categorized as they are perceived in the moment of reading them, not as they read in retrospect.  Further, I do not categorize based on the overall tenor of the chapter, but only the impact of the final page.  This is by nature somewhat subjective, but I’ve done my best to call them as I think they’re meant to be read.

What is the feeling the reader takes with them into the next chapter?  Excitement for the heroes?  Dismay and fear?  A simmering tension?  Which side, if either, got the HELL YEAH HELL YEAH fist-pump?  If there's a relative clear answer, I'll call it for one side of the other; chapters that end with no particular new reveals, arrivals, power-ups, or other such shifts in the tides with be called as neither.

Finally, for ease of tracking and reading, my tallies and accompanying brief explanations are separated by volume. I'll provide totals for each category at the end of each volume, and full totals, as well as a total count for which category the volumes end in, at the end of the arcs. Final counts and commentary will close the post.

Let's get started.

FIRST WAR ARC

Volume 27: 259: Hero Advantage.  Endeavor and company confront (apparently) Ujiko, catching him completely flat-footed.

260: Hero.  Mirko crashes into Ujiko’s lab, to his horror, and kills John-chan in doing so.

261: Neither.  Mirko and the High Ends square up for their Round 2.

262: Hero.  The Villa gets cracked open like an egg, catching its inhabitants entirely off-guard.

263: Hero.  If they were on more level footing, I’d call this Neither, but given the positions Hawks and Twice end the chapter in, and the clear difference in emotional preparedness, this one goes to the Heroes.

264: Neither.  The Hawks/Twice fight continues inconclusively; Dabi is revealed to be on his way, but has not yet arrived on-scene to affect any changes.

265: Villain.  Dabi makes a strong and, for Hawks, unexpected entrance, pinning Hawks beneath his boot.

266: Neither.  Twice dies, which is a huge hit to the Villains, but the narrative sympathy is so clearly with Twice and Toga that it’s impossible to describe the chapter as ending on a fist-pumping note for anyone.

267: Hero.  Doubly so, as Endeavor and Tokoyami both show up to intervene in fights that were about to go to the villains, but we'll be fair and only count it as one anyway.

                   Heroes 5 | Villains 1 | Neither 3 | Total 9     

Volume 28: 268: Neither.  Basement action.  The tube gets cracked; Aizawa and Mic are told not to let Shigaraki wake up.  Nothing conclusive.

269: Hero Advantage.  Literally ends with Ujiko wailing that the Lord of Evil’s dream is over.

270: Villain.  It ends with Deku getting a warning about Shigaraki, which makes it a bit borderline, but Shigaraki being awake at all has to count for the Villains.

271: Villain.  Gigantomachia stands up.

272: Neither.  The kids start rallying against the Decay wave.  Deku gets a new move that doesn’t seem like it should have any effect but is played as being effective.  Shigaraki’s Decay wave is being monstrously effective, even apocalyptic, but the tone of the last page is ambiguous.

273: Neither.  Shigaraki faces off with Endeavor.  Both are known factors on this field of battle.

274: Neither.  Deku is on the move in hopes of leading Shigaraki to a more deserted area.

275: Hero.  Aizawa arrives at the Shigaraki fight, locking down his quirk use.

276: Hero.  Deku and Bakugou arrive in time to save Aizawa from what likely would have been the same kind of blow that will later cost him his eye.

                   Heroes 3 | Villains 2 | Neither 4 | Total 9     

Volume 29: 277: Neither.  Mount Lady attempts to stop Gigantomachia.  Results inconclusive; both known factors.

278: Neither.  Leans a bit Hero side because it’s Momo dramatically getting her head on straight, but it’s really just more preparations for a face-off.

279: Hero Advantage.  The League is getting swarmed and Mina is on the brink of delivering what’s framed as a knock-out blow to Machia.

280: Neither.  Shigaraki laboriously gathers himself, preparing to monologue.

281: Villain.  Shigaraki readies a quirk-destroying bullet with Aizawa’s name on it.

282: Villain.  Gigantomachia, who is very much not knocked out,  looms over an unsuspecting city.

283: Hero.  Deku negates the (immediate) danger of Decay by activating Float.

284: Hero.  Deku lands a full-power blow on Shigaraki, who’s been largely unable to fend him off in the air.

285: Villain.  It pains me to grant this because I knew good and well Bakugou would be completely fine.  But he is a major combatant and face for the Hero side and this is clearly intended to look like it will take him out, at least for the fight.

                   Heroes 3 | Villains 3 | Neither 3 | Total 9     

Volume 30: 286: Hero Advantage.  The action moves to the vestige realm.  Very borderline, but Nana’s words are definitive: “Let us handle this.”  The implication is very much that there’s no need to fear because the vestiges have got this.

287: Neither.  Chapter ends with Toga reflecting on heroes and the weight they give to the lives of Villains.  Could represent a major turning point for Toga, but it’s still soft-pedaled by making that turning point dependent on a Hero’s yet-unspoken words.

288: Neither.  Chapter ends mid-dialogue in the Toga/Ochaco fight.

289: Villain.  Machia and his passengers arrive.

290: Villain.  A little borderline because the actual very last panel is the plane containing Best Jeanist, but the audience doesn’t know that yet, and the bulk of the final page is dedicated the devastation of the Touya Reveal, so I have to give this one to them.

291: Hero.  Best Jeanist arrives.

292: Hero.  Mirio arrives with his quirk restored.

293: Hero.  Machia goes down because the sedative finally kicks in.

294: Villain.  Mr. Compress backstory reveal and big escape moment.

295: Neither.  The battle ends save for the wrap-up.  The villains are neither victorious nor defeated.

                   Heroes 4 | Villains 3 | Neither 3 | Total 10

FIRST WAR TOTAL: Heroes 15 | Villains 9 | Neither 13 | Total 37 Volume End Advantage Count: Heroes 2  |  Villains 1  |  Neither 1

                       

SECOND WAR ARC

Volume 35: 343: Hero Advantage.  The Heroes counter AFO’s army by “unexpectedly” whipping out their own via Warp Gate.

344: Hero.  The Heroes take the offensive and split up the villains’ army.

345: Villain.  Toga lassos Deku through a gate, separating him from the field he’s supposed to be on.

346: Villain.  The beginning of Fingervetr.

347: Neither.  Borderline because it’s a big dramatic page of Toga, but it’s more conversational then confrontational to me, and isn’t revealing anything particularly new.

348: Neither.  Deku flees the island, leaving Toga to Ochaco.

349: Neither.  Dabi gears up to provide the answers Shouto has specifically asked for.

350: Neither.  Dabi’s coming on strong, but Shouto remains undaunted.  I’d give it to the Villains if the last page were Dabi liquidating the All Might statue, though.

                   Heroes 2 | Villains 2 | Neither 4 | Total 8                    

Volume 36: 351: Hero Advantage.  Shouto unleashes Phosphor.

352: Hero.  Shouto appears to beat Dabi.

353: Neither.  AFO is talking a lot, but not about anything groundbreaking.

354: Neither.  AFO and Jirou exchange smacktalk.

355: Hero.  Hawks and Jirou combine efforts to break AFO’s mask.

356: Neither.  Endeavor has a big moment, but AFO gets his hands up in time to block and is still shown intact at the end of the chapter.  Borderline, but I’d say not quite definitive enough to qualify it for the hero side.

357: Villain.  AFO regenerates.  A little borderline because it actually ends with Deku, and the approach of what I guessed at the time were the American jets, but I think it’s a similar enough scenario as the end of Chapter 270 to call it for the Villains as well.

358: Neither.  No impact from the Hero attack leaves it a little unclear how much effect it will have, and a new attack is not a big enough game changer for me to really count it even unproven.  It’d be easy to call it for the Heroes, though.

359: Hero.  Return of the Big Three.

360: Hero.  Bakugou’s in rough shape, but there’s a hint that he’s noticed something important, which could foreshadow a change in the tides of the battle.

361: Hero.  Suneater’s Chimera Cannon, which certainly looks incredibly hype and impressive in the moment.

362: Villain.  Bakugou’s “death.”

                   Heroes 6 | Villains 2 | Neither 4 | Total 12                    

Volume 37: 363: Villain Advantage.  AFO finishes regenerating; full face reveal.

364: Hero.  The impossibly moronic Edgeshot-as-Bakugou’s-heart business.  Not conclusive, but it steals one of the Villains’ victories out from under from them.

365: Villain.  A shift in Inner Tenko’s emotional state heralds Shigaraki’s next form.

366: Hero.  Deku arrives at the Sky Coffin.

367: Neither.  Deku attempts conversation to ask about Shigaraki’s status.

368: Hero.  Deku lands a full-power hit on ShigAFO while Yoichi talks to his big brother about letting this being the day that their battle ends.

369: Villain.  A scene change to Spinner that’s timed in such a way that it could really only foreshadow Spinner’s victory.

370: Neither.  It’s very close to a Hero call, but mostly what Shouji’s doing is shaking off mundane attackers and making a dramatic proclamation.  Not quite enough direct impact for an end-of-chapter Hero Advantage.

371: Neither.  Even closer than the last one, but neither blow the kids are gearing up for actually connect on-page.  I wouldn’t fault anyone who called it for the Heroes, though.

372: Neither.  An extremely effective cliffhanger, for once, as Spinner and Mic call out to Kurogiri simultaneously.

373: Villain.  Kurogiri gets up, calling himself the protector of Shigaraki Tomura.

374: Villain.  Toga deploys Sad Man’s Death Parade; Hawks proves he hasn’t learned jack shit from the last time he faced this question.

                   Heroes 3 | Villains 5 | Neither 4 | Total 12                    

Volume 38: 375: Hero Advantage.  Toga’s narrative-destined rival manages to follow her off the island and to the Villa ruins.  Close to a Neither call.

376: Neither.  Setting up a Dabi/Endeavor clash with Endeavor not caught on the back foot.

377: Hero.  Return of La Brava.

378: Hero.  Return of Lady Nagant.

379: Neither.  Sets up a reengaged clash between Shigaraki and Deku.

380: Hero.  Arrival of Shiketsu.

381: Hero.  Tokoyami lands a blow that AFO is explicitly afraid to get hit with.

382: Hero.  Shinsou and Kirishima arrive with a brainwashed Gigantomachia.

383: Neither.  Reiterates that AFO is in trouble, but it’s not new information, and the choppers coming in at the very end are an unpredictable element.

384: Hero.  The choppers are full of Hero-supporting journalists here to tell the world how incredibly hard-working and earnest and admirable Heroes are.  Gag.

385: Neither.  AFO’s belated but impressive show of force gets dampened somewhat by the Heroes refusing to give in, and even getting one of their number back.  It’s back and forth, but Stain really tips it for good over to a neutral chapter ending.  While he’s obviously not aligned with the Villains, he’s far too murderous to chalk him up as a Hero yet, either, especially on-scene watching two kids he tried to kill last time he saw them.

386: Hero.  All Might gets a cool robot suit and the last-page chapter title drop references his iconic catchphrase.

                   Heroes 8 | Villains 0 | Neither 4 | Total 12                    

Volume 39: 387: Hero Advantage.  Rei is, of course, a civilian, not a hero, but she’s clearly aligned on the Team Good Guy, so I have to give it to them.  It’s not a hill I’d die on, however, particularly with the very last panel being the flashback to Touya emphasizing Rei’s culpability.

388: Neither.  What a nice vision of hell as everyone burns to death, including Dabi.  If I gave it to anyone, I’d lean Villain, because it’s certainly more in line with what Dabi wants—what he’s always wanted.  But in terms of impact on the reader, it certainly isn’t going to get anyone whooping and cheering for the Villains.

389: Neither.  It’s a good last few pages of Shouto and Iida, but the reader already knows they’re on their way, so it’s not a pleasant surprise to see them enroute.  The fact that they are still enroute rather than dramatically arriving to save the day keeps this from being a full Hero moment ending.

390: Neither.  Teasing more of the fight between Toga and Uraraka, but no sudden turns, new elements, or grand statements on either side.

391: Neither.  Ongoing fight; while Ochaco gets the stirring line, the actual last page is Toga lashing out.

392: Villain.  While I’m loathe to give it to them on the basis of an injury I was not for one second actually worried about, the chapter does end with Toga putting a knife into Uraraka’s gut and a flashback to Twice asking Toga about a Villain name.  A clear Villain-upper-hand ending.

393: Hero.  Ochaco comes through with flying colors, getting a quirk awakening and making Toga an offer she’s dreamed of her whole life.

394: BOTH.  For literally the first time in this whole count, I can’t count this against either side.  If pressed, I’d call it a Hero win, but it’s a win because it validates both sides.

395: Neither.  Sorry, gang.  I’m utterly incapable of calling this one in an unbiased way.  It’s an all-too-real death scare for Toga and, regardless of how happy she is in the moment, I can’t call her potential death a victory.  But since Ochaco obviously feels the same, it’s not a Hero win, either.

396: Hero.  And get ready, ‘cause there're about to be a whole lot of them.  Good god, but I hate this All Mech sequence.

397: Neither.  Ongoing battle, no major tides turning in the final page.

398: Neither.  As above.

                   Heroes 3 | Villains 1 | Neither 7 | Both 1 | Total 12                    

Volume 40: 399: Hero Advantage.  The big turn-around with Aoyama, with All Might dropping the Aoyama-themed laser of AFO.

400: Hero.  Stain’s return.  Stain’s a Villain himself, but far too aligned with Hero orthodoxy for me to count him returning to help All Might as anything but a Hero-side victory.

401: Neither.  All Might’s still kicking, AFO is within range of Shigaraki, but nothing decisive deployed on the final page.

402: Neither.  To all appearances, All Might continues to shovel more battle damage onto AFO.  There’s a death threat in the explosion, one I don’t think I took very seriously at the time, though plenty of others did.  Left to my own devices, I’d call it for Team Hero, but I’ll err on the side of restraint and call it a hero equivalent of Toga’s death threat.

403: Hero.  Unequivocal Hero victory—Bakugou’s back up.

404: Hero.  Saving All Might with the literal power of prayer.

405: Hero.  If I wanted to be snide, I’d point out that Final Boss is definitionally a Villain role, so Bakugou enthusiastically claiming it for himself implicates Heroes as having been the Villains all along, while the Villains are the clear heroic underdogs struggling against a corrupt, violent system.  But that’s just my bitterness making me perverse; this is a clear Hero victory.

406: Neither.  Exchanging of smack talk, Bakugou gets a good but not definitive hit in.

407: Neither.  AFO’s flashback ends with one of the most crushing emotional defeats of his life, but you can hardly call AFO slice-and-dicing Yoichi a Hero win, either.

408: Neither.  AFO’s going all-out, but Bakugou remains undaunted.

409: Hero.  AFO’s effective defeat at Bakugou’s hands.  Yoichi’s regretful glance is not enough to shift the needle.

410: Villain.  Shigaraki does what the narrative has long been warning that he can and steals a portion of One For All, grabbing Danger Sense for himself and stealing Shinomori from the OFA collective.

                   Heroes 6 | Villains 1 | Neither 5 | Total 12                    

Volume 41: 411: Neither.  Deku’s readying an offensive that gives Shigaraki lots of Danger Sense tinglies, but nothing definitive.

412: Neither.  The temptation is strong to call this for the Hero side, as it’s the moment Kudou formulates the plan that will soon be leading to Shigaraki’s ultimate defeat, but the caveat that the plan requires losing One For All kiboshes that feeling very triumphant.

413: Hero.  There’s some nominal sadness for Deku gearing up to lose OFA, but the tone here is much more about how great and awesome Deku is for being willing to do it, on top of how incredibly fucking rad the art plainly wants us to think that he looks.

414: Hero.  I’d normally call it Neither for lacking new elements or definitive actions, but I have to acknowledge the sheer disparity between, on the one hand, the vestiges telling Deku that it’s working and to keep going as Deku gears up to unleash another punch while, on the other hand, all Shigaraki can manage is huddling in on himself and choking out a few pained grunts.

415: Neither.  Borderline in that Eri is a clear Hero-side ally with an absolutely game-changing power, but the truth is that she’s at U.A. with no immediately clear way to make it to the battle even if anyone were to let her go, so it’s not too different from any other chapter that ended with a major player en route but not yet arriving.

416: Hero.  Deku finally breaks into Shigaraki’s inner mind, over Shigaraki’s protestations.

417: Neither.  Deku and Nana make a major breakthrough, but Shigaraki’s backstory yet has terrible bombs to drop.  I can’t call it a Villain advantage, though, because it’s still stuff Shigaraki very much does not want Deku meddling with.

418: Villain.  AFO returns yet again, spoiling Deku’s hard-won moment of equilibrium and understanding with Shigaraki.

419: Hero.  We can’t even get a week to savor/freak out over Deku losing his arms because the actual last beat of the chapter is Aizawa bringing in a pair of classmates via Kurogiri’s warp gate, suggesting (albeit inaccurately) that Kurogiri has settled as a Hero ally.

420: Hero.  More of the above and Deku gets his arms back after a world-shakingly relevant and momentous chapter and a half.

421: Hero.  All around Hero support, now including from civilians too.

422: Hero.  More of the above and now Deku’s punching Shigaraki at the end of it under a chapter title of Midoriya Izuku Rising.

423: Hero.  Deku’s triumphantly raised fist clears storm clouds, changes the weather, and kills the man he was trying to save.  This is framed as a victory anyway.

                   Heroes 8 | Villains 1 | Neither 4 | Total 13

SECOND WAR TOTAL: Heroes 36 | Villains 12 | Neither 32 | BOTH 1 | Total 81 Volume Count Total: Heroes 2 | Villains 3 | Neither 2

                   

TOTAL CHAPTER COUNT FOR BOTH WAR ARCS: 118 CHAPTERS Final Page Hero Advantage: 51 Final Page Villain Advantage: 21 Final Page Neither: 45 Final Page Both: 1

Total Volume Count: 11 Volumes Last Page Hero Advantage: 4 Last Page Villain Advantage: 4 Last Page Neither: 3

---------------------

Now, you could (and I might) write a whole different post about the unbalanced strategic advantages that I discussed at the beginning of the post, but I think this breakdown also serves to illustrate the scope of the problem with raw numbers (percentages rounded off a bit such that they total to neat 100s).

In the first war, 40.5% of the chapters end with the Heroes on the upswing, 35% have no clear advantage, and only 24.5% end with the Villains waxing triumphant. Despite Hawks reflecting at the end of My Villain Academia about how the Paranormal Liberation Front was a power on par with, or possibly even greater than, that of Hero Society, the numbers don't really back that up. Instead, Heroes have the advantage over half again as often as Villains do, and even the uncertain chapters are still more numerous.

The second war is worse—much worse. Hero Advantage chapters account for nearly half of the arc at 44.5%, while chapters where Neither side clears account for the bulk of the remaining chapters at 39.5%. Only 15% of the chapters, well under a quarter, are Villain Advantage. For an endgame that wants to be about "saving Villains," only one single chapter (1%) ends with something you could credibly call both sides winning.

Now, of course, the second war is the climax of the whole series, so of you might say that of course the Heroes are going to ultimately do better. They have to win in the end, after all, so of course the arc will eventually feature mostly Hero victories.

I would counter that, while that is true, the story repeatedly tries to convince us that the Heroes are really struggling, that they've lost so many people, that they're at this huge disadvantage that neccessitates the extreme measures they use. And the numbers simply don't back that up, even less than they did in the first war!

If you look at the totals for each volume, Heroes have a wild advantage in two of the first four volumes (the arc is seven volumes in total), numbers the Villains never come close to meeting. There's one volume (the third, Volume 37) where they have the majority of the chapter-ending advantages, and even there, it's a narrow margin. Volume 38 is then a blow-out with not a single Villain Advantage chapter cliffhanger in the whole book, and in the final three volumes of the arc, the Villains get exactly one Advantage chapter per volume.

Not very convincing numbers, if the aim is to convince the reader of how much Plus Extra effort the Heroes are going to have to exert, if you ask me!

Between them, Hero Advantage and Neither chapters make up a shocking 81% of the two war arcs, with merely 18%, less than fifth, of the chapters ending on Villain Advantage beats that could serve to freshly drum up, "Our heroes are really in trouble now!" anxiety.

Looking back to what I said about the Heroes having the bulk of the strategic advantages for both arcs, that surely can't be all that surprising. You can't expect a set-up that slanted to leave much room at all for Villains to get time to shine; they simply don't have the room in the story for that when, for everything they try, the Heroes already have some countermeasure.

As a final comparison, remember I praised MVA back at the start for being gripping in large part because the "Heroes" of that arc, the League of Villains, were at such a disadvantage?

I briefly ran the numbers there, and I'd say, of nineteen chapters that contain active confrontation of some sort between the League and an antagonistic force (Gigantomachia, Ujiko, and the MLA), the League have the chapter-ending advantage beat in four of those chapters: Toga's victory in 226, Twice overcoming his mental block and starting to replicate himself in 229, and the two chapters covering Shigaraki's ultimate victory over Re-Destro, 238 and 239. That's a grand total of 20% "Hero" Advantage chapters for them, and half of those are the arc climax chapters.

The "Villains" for the arc likewise have the ending advantage in 20% of the arc, four chapters: Machia having comprehensively whipped the League at the end of 419, RD making the League an offer they can't refuse in 223, Skeptic pushing all of Twice's buttons in 228, and RD plucking off Shigaraki's fingers in 233.

The remaining eleven chapters—60%—go to the Neither category. Compare that back to the percentages for the war arcs, and you can see that, while the Villain Advantage percentage is similar (~5% higher in the first war and likewise lower in the second), the Hero Advantage is twice the percentage (40+%) in both arcs, while the Neither chapters are accordingly lower (the war arcs are 35% and ~40% Neither respectively).

In other words, the Heroes in the war arcs just straight-up have more chapter-ending awesome moments and reveals, and spend less time facing chapter-ending uncertainty, compared to not just the Villains they're fighting in those arcs, but also compared to what those same Villains got when they were being Heroes for an arc.

And to think, Horikoshi wants me to think his Heroes are being challenged. Pull the other one, Sensei; it's got bells on.

(I welcome anyone else to run similar numbers with e.g. the trainng camp attack or the Hassaikai base raid. For myself, I'm too sleepy to figure out a better ending for this post, so I'm just turning out the lights and hitting the sack. Sorry if there's any formatting wigginess or the closing analysis is lacking; I will clean it up later if need be.)

[ozthedm]

Vampire Ascendant Ramblings!

I love Baldur’s Gate 3. I love the vampire genre. I am particularly fascinated with the concept of the Vampire Ascendant for a number of reasons that mainly boil down to “what does it mean to be the Vampire Ascendant and what is the true cost of this power?”

This post is essentially a collection of my observations, thoughts, and headcanons regarding the ascension ritual. Think of this as fanfic inspiration material. Get ready folks, because we’re about to dip a toe into 5e lore and get existential.

What does the Rite of Profane Ascension actually do?

Raphael explains the ritual as thus:

“If he completes the rite, he will become a new kind of being - the Vampire Ascendant. All the strengths of his vampiric form will be amplified, and alongside them he will enjoy the luxuries of the living. The arousals and appetites of man will return to him, and unlike Astarion, he will have no need of a parasite to protect him from the sun. But the ritual has a price, as all worthwhile things do. Lord Cazador will need to sacrifice a number of souls including all of his vampiric spawn if he is to ascend… Your soul will set off a very wave of death, bringing Cazador his twisted life.” 

TLDR: If Cazador offers up the souls of 7000 vampire spawn, then maybe he’ll feel less like shit.

Other specific perks include:

The hunger for blood that plagues all vampires will no longer affect him.

His heart will beat again (Could he even be considered undead at that point?)

He still gets to remain immortal in the sense that he will never age

He can choose to extend his protection from the sun to his spawn, but this protection can be revoked

He can be reflected in mirrors.

There are some details that remain unclear, so here’s where we step into headcanon territory:

Running water will no longer harm him

A normal wooden stake won’t be enough to paralyze him. You’d be better off with a magical weapon

Although he will still need an invitation to enter homes, His enhanced vampiric charm practically makes it a nonissue

And now a couple of notes on Mephistopheles and the contract itself:

“Devils bargain with mortals to upend the divine order. They stake claims on souls that would otherwise go to the gods or be cast adrift somewhere other than the Nine Hells. If you are already a creature of Law and Evil devoted to no other entity, your damned spirit is of meager value.”

  - Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes

Mephistopheles is an arcane innovator. His realm, Cania, is essentially a giant laboratory where he conducts extensive experiments. 

When it comes to souls, Mephistopheles prefers quality over quantity. He mostly acquires the souls of highly accomplished wizards and sages to help him with his research. To demand the souls of 7000 vampire spawn seems uncharacteristically beneath him (especially for the power he’s offering) 

My thinking is that Mephistopheles is working on something that specifically requires vampiric energy and lots of it. The 7000 spawns are nothing more than fodder.

A devil’s deal never ends well. This is repeatedly stated throughout the game. Considering what we know of Mephistopheles and how little Cazador cares for his spawn, this whole contract sounds far too good to be true. So what’s the catch?

A few possible ideas as to the downsides:

Mephistopheles is always watching. After all, this is a completely new kind of being that warrants study. 

The Ascendant’s hunger for blood is replaced with a different hunger. A hunger that is indescribable and insatiable. He will always yearn for more. More power, more control, more anything. He may even return to Mephistopheles in an attempt to fill the void. 

The Ascendant’s own soul is included in the price, albeit differently. Where the other souls were simply consumed by the ritual, his will serve another purpose. (Not gonna lie, this one sent me on a whole existential journey trying to figure out what is means to have/lack a soul)

I might post more thoughts later, but this is enough for now

[the-final-sif]

Okay, insane worldbuilding baby god c!Dream time now that I'm doing a bit less dying. You were warned about the worldbuilding.

To start this off, I have to introduce the nonsense deity system that this universe has running in the background.

Humans exist, hybrids exist, gods exist. Gods are not quite immortal, but they're close to it. Gods are separated out into different factions or "titles", there's quite a few factions with different corresponding hybrid groups. Some titles must be held by a hybrid from a certain group, some titles can be held by anyone from anywhere. More than one god can exist for a single title, and the inter-faction relationships vary.

Ex, there can be 2 death gods, and how they work together will be different depending on their personalities. Each god will have a specific role usually assigned at their ascension.

For a very long time, gods existed in a natural cycle. They would be born when a hybrid or human was chosen by the universe to be a prospective god (nicknamed "baby gods" or "godlings"), they would be marked from birth, but gods are generally unable to pick out godlings until they start to grow up, usually between 6-10. A baby god will be compelled to undergo a set of trials depending on their prospective title.

A baby god failing could have a range of consequences, from death to simply losing the prospective godhood. It mostly depends on the requirements of the trial. The trials have been set in place by a force that existed prior to the gods, and they have no control over it.

There will only ever be one baby god at a time. The universe picks one for the current title, that one is given the ability to attempt the trials. Upon success, the universe moves to the next title. Upon failure, there's often a waiting period of 50-100 years before the universe picks again for another prospective of the same title. The universe will not move on until a new god has joined the ranks of the current title.

When a baby god succeeds, they ascend to godhood. They're gifted a new name offering them a specific role under their title. Most gods also keep their human names in some capacity, although those are reserved for a chosen few. Some ditch their human names. Some pick new names. Some tell other gods their role, others do not.

Ex: Kristen (Human Name), God of death (title), Soul guide (Role)

Another example would be XD, (human name unknown), God of the End (title), Claims his role was given as "XD", lying.

Gods obviously have a lot at stake for helping out the best of their own titles, so they have agreements in place and rules about what sort of help can and can't be given to godlings. Unlike human agreements, gods are bound by their word (with one exception), so these rules maintained a fair process for a very long time. Right up until they didn't.

See, I mentioned before that gods are mostly immortal. There are exactly two things that can kill a god. Expulsion or an End God.

Expulsion is a process that requires all other gods to agree that the chosen god needs to die, that not doing so would threaten the universe itself. If there is an agreement from all other gods, then the god in question is stripped of their godhood and killed. While modern gods aren't entirely sure why this works, the best evidence suggests it is due to a very old pact made at the start of the universe that almost all gods are bound by.

The other exception are End Gods, also known among gods as "The Unbound". They possess a simple yet devastating ability that no other god has. They can lie.

It's generally assumed that this ability is why End Gods retained the ability to kill other gods. Either that or they were given the ability to lie in order to retain that ability. It's unclear which came first, or if it even matters.

Because End Gods can lie, they remained unbound by the pact of the other gods, and can kill as they like.

In fact, not only CAN End gods kill, but their trial requires them to do so. In order for a godling to complete their trial, they must slay two fully fledged gods.

This complicates the End gods relationship to other gods. On some level, End gods are much needed. While gods of various titles don't die naturally, they do age in a way, and they can lose themselves to madness. The older a god is, the more likely they are to lose themselves. It can be extremely difficult to gather and convince every single other god that one god is beyond saving and has to be stripped of godhood.

Still, other gods regard End Gods with a level of fear. It's only natural to fear something that can kill you. Beyond that, trusting an End God is always a gamble. Any promise made to them must be fulfilled, while they aren't bound in return.

Despite this or perhaps because of this, End Gods still generally maintained good relationships with other gods. They usually honored their word unless they had been slighted, and killings were generally well justified.

End Gods create a natural cull, and they also act as balance keepers. They tend not to bother with humans much if at all, and instead focus primarily on other gods. As such, they remain relatively unknown or misunderstood by humans. On the flip side, other gods often sought them out as peacekeepers or to provide an unbiased opinion since End Gods stood apart from other titles that were often tied up in promises, obligations, loyalties and favors. They had their role and they played it well.

The birth of a new End God was considered both the end of the prior cycle and the beginning of a new one. It takes quite a long time for new gods to be born when considering a human time scale, so gods started tracking the birth of end gods to mark passages of time for them.

Or they did.

See, the problem was that XD was born.

That wasn't the only problem, there were a lot of problems, but the tipping point was XD.

XD was one of two gods of the end. He had killed one of the prior End Gods to obtain his godhood, the younger of the two, and he took up his mantle with pride. XD was a bit of an oddball among end gods though. Not that that shouldn't have been expected.

End Gods tended not to interact with each other much. One liar was enough, and many saw it as their duty to maintain distance. When End Gods did interact, it was generally in conflict. They were considered unbound after all, and it wouldn't do to break that status.

XD didn't believe in that. He was taken with the other End God and persistently followed them around until his efforts were rewarded with a reluctant friendship. The other god was much much older, and to some degree they were worried about leaving such a young End God to their own devices. They saw their own end coming, and didn't forsee the damage this would cause.

Things were good, for a time. Some of the other gods were unnerved, but others saw it as necessary. After all, XD managing to kill an End God in their prime had also been concern. Signs were there for the eldest End God being on their way out, and having a trained replacement was better.

Because of the danger they pose if they lose themselves to madness, End Gods chose their own deaths. Some claim that the universe told them it was time, others simply said they were done putting up with the other gods. But each End God would know when it was their time, and they would pick how they wanted to go. None ever seemed sad, they were unbound to the world after all.

But XD... XD changed that for his elder. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it was purposefully ignoring the signs. But the closer XD grew to the Elder death god, the less they found themselves willing to leave.

The madness set in quickly, and XD did the one thing an End God should never do. He hesitated. He couldn't bring himself to kill his elder. He let himself be bound.

When a vote was called to revoke the elder's godhood, XD had to agree. And again, he hesitated. That hesitation proved to be a grave error.

For the gods, it was a blink of an eye before nearly half of them were wiped out in the mad rage of the elder End God. No title was left unscathed, although thankfully no title was left empty.

XD acted the moment he found himself again, he took the other End God's life and put an end to the carnage. Not before irreversible damage was done, and XD was now left alone.

The incident scared the other titles deeply. It proved just what could happen if End Gods were let unchecked. Many blamed XD, others blamed the fact that two End Gods had been allowed to exist at the same time.

After a heated discussion, an agreement was made between the other gods that this could never be allowed to happen again. End Gods needed to be kept under firm rule.

XD would be allowed to live (if only because not having at least one god for each title could cause major destabilization) but no new End God could be born until his time was up. If XD refused to comply, he would be killed. If he attempted to kill another god, he would also be killed.

There was a newfound fear of death in the gods, and they would not allow themselves to be slaughtered again.

Some even saw this as a method of obtaining true immortality. Of breaking beyond their former limits. They saw a chance for power.

The current cycle continued until it reached it's end, where a new End God should've been allowed to have been born. Tension had been building for what all the gods knew would come next.

End Gods had specific requirements. They had to be born from Ender Dragon hybrids, a race that was generally reclusive and isolated.

The gods merely... increased their isolation. Separating Ender Dragon hybrids from the rest of the universe until they became a myth.

Every time a new End Godling was born and began to show signs, the child was killed before they could truly begin their journey or pose a real threat to the gods. It was cowardly. Pathetic.

And so a new status quo was born.

XD watched as child after child was slaughtered, never given a chance to put up a fair fight. At first he considered it his punishment for hesitating, but over time he watched as the other gods grew... complacent.

He overheard discussions that maybe there should never be another End God. That they should just be rid of them. That the gods shouldn't have to live in fear. They should be above it.

Even as he overheard this, he saw some of the older gods begin their decent into madness. His own ability to act halted by the fear that if he did, if he killed, then he would be killed in turn and no end Godling would be allowed to take his place.

XD watched this go on for a very, very long time. He watched so many children get killed that he couldn't remember all of their names anymore. It broke something in him. He stopped speaking to the other gods. He withdrew.

Finally, he decided he'd had enough. He entered the human world and worked tirelessly to create something new. Something that broke the rules the universe had laid out. Something only an End God could create.

At the end of his work, he had a simple white mask and a plan.

The mask was the cruelest thing he'd ever created, and it was also the only way out. If it worked as he intended, it would hide a godling from the universe itself. Separating the godling from their budding powers and letting them grow strong enough to complete their mission.

It would hide what they were almost entirely, and if XD kept them close to him, any little trickles of godly power that came out could be disguised as his own.

He stalked the remaining colony of ender dragon hybrids for years until finally he found the next godling.

They were only 4, and they had been born very early. It had only been 40 years since the last one.

XD took it as a sign from the universe that he was in the right. The other gods wouldn't really begin their search until it hit 50 years, and they wouldn't really worry until nearly 100 had passed. More than enough time for this little one to grow up and claim their place.

Under the cover of night, he stole the little one away. He pressed the mask onto their face, and took them to a server near where other humans and hybrids were. The child would need to blend in with them eventually.

Although the child protested at first, they eventually understood that XD had taken them for their own safety. That it had to be done. In time, the child began to forget where they came from.

As a part of the process, XD found himself tasked with renaming the little one.

In the end, he chose to share part of his own name. One that he hadn't shared with anyone else. When he'd taken up his own godhood, he'd been given the role of "Dreamer". It was a role he still didn't understand. But maybe his future companion would?

Dream loved his new name, and XD loved him in turn.

Now he just needed to make sure that he kept Dream alive.

How hard could that be?

Anyways the next part of the godling c!Dream AU is just "XD, a god who never talks to humans now has to try to keep a human child alive and also Badboyhalo believes he may be co-parenting with the moon". So stay tuned for that.

[genericpuff]

On your post about rather having 100 mature readers than having a large group of immature readers for your comic, in the tags you mentioned the "hanza situation". If you don't mind me asking, what's that?

So there's been talk about Hanza , the creator of The Guy Upstairs on Webtoon, supposedly wanting to drop the comic altogether due to how their fanbase ships the main characters (one of which is a serial killer) and just due to the fact they've fallen out of love with their own comic over the course of publishing it on Webtoons. The comic isn't confirmed cancelled yet, it's just what they apparently want to do and are gonna be running it by WT for approval.

Which like, yeah, I don't blame them if that's true and if they've "fallen out of love" with their work, that shit can and does happen all the time especially when your work winds up exploding to a degree that you become 'detached' from it. And I don't blame them for being ick at the fandom for their comic shipping their main characters, apparently that started when it was being pirated on another site and miscategorized as a romance when it's a horror / thriller comic but that's just what I've heard from others who do read the comic.

The actual vibe on the whole situation is unclear, they posted like last week about how the two characters were siblings which I THOUGHT was an April Fool's joke because it was legit posted on April 1st. But now apparently they actually ARE siblings? So they deadass just spoiled their comic before it was over? Though apparently this was for the purpose of trying to get their fandom to knock it off, but it's just led to people getting even more pissed because they see that as Hanza 'baiting' them into reading a dark romance comic which... it never was.

IDK man I'm getting such mixed signals off the whole thing esp because we haven't seen these DM's/emails/etc. which like... okay obviously Hanza doesn't need to share anything they're not comfortable with but there's tinfoil hat theories about them using it as a cover for just not wanting to do the comic anymore. But I don't really subscribe fully to that theory because... why? I'm just not sure which thread of logic to follow here lmao

I honestly have no fucking clue what's going on with this situation anymore because it seems to get more complicated by the day LOL I don't read The Guy Upstairs so I have zero stake in it but let's just say this - I've been on Webtoons since 2016 and am more than aware of how the WT fandom tends to behave on a regular basis, and that's just an audience that I personally don't want, regardless of how positive or negative other people's experiences are. There are people in the WT fandom who are sane and normal, yes, but I'd like to think those people are also fully capable of finding comics outside of WT if they so choose. The general demographic of WT who don't travel outside of it as I've experienced it over the years is just not one I want to tailor to so I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if Hanza was experiencing this and just wanting it to stop. Someone mentioned to me the other day that Webtoons is like the webcomic version of BookTok and ngl I couldn't agree more 💀😆

But yeah, that's about all of my knowledge on the Hanza situation lol

[skyeoak]

Tmagp 30 thoughts

Vocal performances all slayed. 10/10

I think there’s a lot of good and bad in the finale! But overall, it feels underbaked. (Or overplotted/overplanned?)

I’ll save my finalized thoughts on the hilltop center to see if it’s developed in further seasons, because uh, hmm. Jonny said in the live drop that carousels of horrors were his favorite to write, but they sure are not realllyyyy my favorite to listen to. They’re kind of thematic scattershot. And yeah, one of my critiques about TMA is that I don’t love how we only rarely see how the fears combine and interact. Having multiple creepy things in a curiosity cabinet -com shopping center doesn’t really solve that problem for me.

The idea of a character turning a blind eye to an obviously creepy job is still interesting, especially in how it parallels the staff of the OIAR. But that’s kinda the start and end of my interest in the custodian? It feels like this story could have been shrunk to 1/3 length and had a better effect. I just feel like this should have been a midseason statement, and the finale could have focused on having some sort of action or tension. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting the finale to have a statement at all, to be structurally in line with early TMA. Maybe a full statement/story from Celia, giving the non-TMA audience some idea of why she thinks there’s nothing to go back to in her universe. Hell. Maybe she could just. Tell Sam, uncompelled. I would have loved to see her try to convince him to jump. Convince him that her new life matters more than his (perceived) failure of one. Instead… this is another episode where I feel like the double meaning titles weigh down what the statement could be. And it’s the season finale.

I wondered early on if the finale for this season would feel more like setup for future seasons, and yep. Yep it did. It just felt like there was this inherent tension between the stakes of the story, which are already at interdimensional travel, and the level of danger it feels like everyone is in. Not to mention how Celia just drops a list of alchemical balance things out of the blue. Magnus Protocol is in a tricky situation: they need to set up a new conflict and new characters, and at the same time, Magpod has already done mega-apocalypse hellscapes and so TMagP might feel the need to go bigger. (Imo I don’t think sequels always need to raise the stakes but I understand that’s industry standard). It’s also tackling alchemy, a notoriously complex subject that’s probably hard to explain to an audience in any way that feels natural. You can’t just throw murder worm lady and screaming main character in the finale and call it a day. There’s a lot going on, less time, and I don’t know if the characterization this season was consistent (/consistently good) enough to hold the full weight of it all.

OKAY, WHELMED THOUGHTS OVER, now for the good! Surprise surprise, it’s all the little character payoffs!

Gwen and Lena’s confrontation was EVERYTHING. Gwen is kicking anthills, and Lena is so content to let her stand in them while the ants crawl up her legs. I won’t lie though, I’m not sure if this plotline will be interesting to me. I think it depends on how fast the OIAR staff can get Gwen to actually be on their side.

Sam deciding to protect Celia by pushing the archivist into the void is SENSATIONAL CHARACTER PAYOFF. (This is my interpretation of the scene, audio was super unclear once again, and there was a line change from transcript to podcast that made this super ambiguous in the actual canon audio.) My poor guy has ZERO self esteem, and still wants to be a hero. He probably realized that if what Celia just told him was true, an archivist could actually kill her on the spot. My guess is that (tma spoilers) this balanced the rift not because Celia replaced her own missing soul (plenty of folks got sent through hilltop road in that same incident) but because an archivist+a person were pulled through to replace Jon and Martin. Truly excited to see where they end up, and if this archivist gets developed more as a character next season. Also the implications of interdimensional balance on what happened at the end of TMA are… interesting.

Oh Alice. Everything in this intricately balanced house of checking up on people and soothing them and deflecting tension with jokes is about to come crashing down. I’m so sorry this is happening to you.

And yes, this is a super lukewarm episode review but I do wanna say I liked this season a lot, and TMAGP is still a cut above a LOT of horror I have read/listened to this year. I’m hoping seasons 2 and 3 will either steer further into a direct TMA sequel, angle OR steer clear and become their own thing. TMAGP is stuck uncomfortably in the middle right now. Just be the good parts of her. But completely new.

[lupinuslepidus]

so that i don't run the risk of entirely romanticizing my summer work, here is a brief list of The Various Incidents we have dealt with our first week, there will almost certainly be More Incidents, that's just how it goes:

the night no one got more than 4 hrs of sleep bc there was an Actual Windstorm from 11pm onwards that ripped up all of our tent stakes and was actively collapsing the tents around us

which happened to be the same night we had been trying to fall asleep to the gentle sounds of. target shooters practicing in the near distance

collecting data to the gentle sounds of target shooters practicing in the near distance (we were on public lands so it's par for the course, we made sure to do our part and wear our hi-vis vests the whole time we were out there, still not my fave vibe)

that time i got engulfed by a literal swarm of bees

(generally working overtime but that's not nearly as exciting)

the night i had to return to camp alone, well after nightfall, after dropping off crew at the airport, and was driving our 4WD up a steep, barely-one-car-wide rock road, which was tilted toward the cliff edge instead of the hillside for some reason, around blind hairpin turns

did i mention the swarm of honey bees?

like, i know now they were probably just chilling and only interested in finding a new place to set up a hive, and that swarms aren't aggressive since they're not defending a colony

but the irony of the fact that i had been the one to remove the section on stinging insects from our safety protocol on the basis of 'unlikely to be an issue' is not lost on me

imagine, for a moment, that you think you hear the wind picking up in the distance -- you can usually hear a gust of wind coming from a good ways off, out in the woods, when it rushes through the trees. now imagine you realize that it sounds just a little off. that you can't feel any wind and that there is an Edge to it. now imagine that you can hear it growing louder and realize it is in fact a Buzz and that the air around and above you is now filled with honeybees. where did they come from? unclear. did someone disturb a hive? what do the Bees Want? unclear. you start walking. the buzzing is still all around you. very ominous. you can't shake the feeling that they're moving with you. you remember that someone on your crew has an allergy to hornets and wasps. are Bees different enough? you should probably stop walking towards the rest of the crew. you crouch down on the ground. eventually the buzzing fades, though it doesn't go away entirely.

there is now a swarm of Bees setting up shop on a tree next to our plot center. my crewmate and i organize a rescue effort for the equipment we've left at plot center. we have sacrificed plot center to the Bees.

[sigmas-split-hair]

Ranking ADA members on how likely I think it is that they'll be the PM transfer

9. Kunikida Doppo

Kunikida is far too driven by his ideals, morals and ideas of righteousness. He certainly doesn't have the most powerful ability in terms of combat and would therefore not be the Port Mafia's first pick either way. If they were to pick him he would probably refuse to collaborate and he'd cause more harm than good to the organisation.

8. Fukuzawa Yukichi

Fukuzawa's low on the list for many of the same reasons as Kunikida.

But I think he'd be more favoured than Kunikida by Mori, because of his combat capabilities and past moral ambiguity. As the president of the agency he's central to their dynamic too and it would shake the agency up, even if Kunikida were to replace him.

7. Miyazawa Kenji

Kenji's one of the strongest fighters in the ADA. But his ability is somewhat unpredictable and Kenji's very naive, which isn't a good thing to be in the criminal underworld. Mori is also probably the least familiar with him out of all the members of the ADA, so I can't really pinpoint a motivation he'd have for choosing Kenji.

6. Tanizaki Juni'chirou

Tanizaki's ability is very useful and would be perfect for crime. We also know very little about Tanizaki's past and backstory, so him becoming more in central in the next couple of arcs would be logical as he's the only member of the ADA that hasn't really been given this kind of attention.

But so far, it's unclear how central the transfer is going to be. For all we know, Tanizaki transferring could lead to less plot relevance for him.

5. Izumi Kyouka

Kyouka has already been in the Mafia, and is an experienced murderer. She also seems more prone to going back to her criminal ways than the other members when protecting the people she loves.

What stops me from putting her higher up on the list is that she fought long and hard to quit the Port Mafia, and would probably continue to do so if she came back. Kouyou and Akutagawa are both also content with her place in the light, and probably wouldn't vouch for her return.

4. Yosano Akiko

I've seen a lot of people theorise that she'll be the transfer, which is seemingly impossible as her not transferring is the one condition of Fukuzawa and Mori's agreement.

However, the only person who knows about this condition is Fukuzawa. If something is to happen to him, which Mori may be relying on, then she'll have no choice to comply. I think that she's almost guaranteed to get picked if Fukuzawa dies, but I find that unlikely as of now

Her ability is extremely powerful in terms of healing, and would be of great use to the Port Mafia. If she were to quit the Armed Detective Agency then the stakes would be a lot higher. In Yosano's own words; almost dead is the same as completely fine in the Armed Detective Agency.

She'd probably be reluctant though, and forcing her to join the PM at all would be tricky since she'd rather die than use her ability the way she used it in the war. That's why I rank Ranpo above her.

3. Ranpo Edogawa

Ranpo's the pillar that upholds the agency. It was started because of him and he's the person who keeps them in business.

We're also unsure of what Mori's motivation for the transfer is. If it's to hurt the agency, then Ranpo would be the best way to do so.

Ranpo is also one of, if not the smartest character in Bungou Stray dogs. He would make an incredible strategist for the Port Mafia, and holds a high amount of power within Yokahoma's law enforcement. Ranpo could probably make innocent people take the blame for crimes committed by the Port Mafia. But he may be too smart for Mori, which would lessen his chance of getting picked.

2. Nakajima Atsushi

Atsushi's the main character of Bungou Stray dogs, which makes him a likely candidate for the transfer. He's also shown to be very self-sacrificial, and would probably offer to go instead of someone else. I could see him for an instance try to give himself up for the sake of Kyouka or Dazai.

Additionally, he's one half of the newest generation of Double Black. Him and Akutagawa are often shown as parallels, and giving their relationship more depth and screentime would be a logical step for the show. He's also one of, if not the most powerful fighter in the ADA and his ability is said to be The Book's guidepost.

If the Port Mafia's after the book then Atsushi is the best choice they can make.

Dazai Osamu

The only way I can honestly see Dazai not transferring to the Port Mafia is if the setup for him doing so is a red herring.

First and foremost, Dazai's blood is "Mafia black" as Higuchi put it. He has a long history in the Port Mafia, and used to be central in it.

When Dazai was fifteen, Mori predicted that he'd take over the throne in seven years. Now he's twenty-two.

Mori's shown to be an intelligent and manipulative man, and it's not impossible for him to have deliberately killed Oda Sakonosuke knowing that it would lead to Dazai going to the light side. Whilst Dazai was certainly useful, he wasn't a good mentor or leader, as shown with the abuse he made Akutagawa endure. Him going over to the light side made him more compassionate towards his mentees, as shown with Atsushi.

There's also been a very clear development with him in the last couple of seasons. Dazai's crimes were leaked, and he may not be able to return to a normal life even if the agency prove their innocence. Even if his old crimes are erased again, he has also committed new ones, like jailbreak. He's also repeatedly shown with his bangs covering his right eye, which parallels the bandages he wore "in the dark".

We see several characters forgetting to count him as a part of the Armed Detective Agency. They may have forgotten it, but it's more likely that they've realised that Dazai's going to be the transfer or that it's foreshadowing.

And whilst he was central to the plot, Dazai was separated from the rest of the Agency in the majority of season five, and could only communicate with Ango. This may have been a demonstration of the Agency's capabilities without him, and they were shown to manage the crisis on their own.

Everyone has their own role in the agency, except for Dazai and Ranpo who share the role of the "brain". If Dazai were removed, then Ranpo could probably cover his bases but Dazai couldn't cover Ranpo's bases.

There's also his partnership with Chuuya. It was focused on a lot during the Meursault arc, and is the focus of a lot of light novels. It would make sense to have Chuuya be a more central character by having him team up with Dazai, the shows secondary main character. Chuuya's character development is clearly not near finished, and reuniting with Dazai would accelerate it greatly.

Lastly, Dazai's a genius and a part of Double Black. His return would not only bring back the Port Mafia's infamous weapon of Corruption, but also their infamous strategist and Demon Prodigy.

These are all of the actual clues, so this last part is just me going off about the Dazai-is-the-book theory and why I think it fits in with this:

Mori knows more about Dazai than the other characters, and he's also the leader of the only organisation not shown to be after The Book. Dazai's life prior to him joining the Port Mafia is a mystery, and might be very central to the plot.

The book is said to be sealed, and Dazai might very much be the seal. If he was created by The Book in order to seal it then that would explain his suicidal tendencies. He's a projection of the page on which the seal was written's wishes, and if the book wants to be destroyed then he wants to destroy it. Alternatively, the seal was forced upon the book, and can only be broken by his death.

If he wasn't created to be the seal, but rather was given the role by someone/thing else then he could be suicidal because:

a) he wants the seal to break and the book to return

b) he wants the book to be destroyed

If this is the case, then Mori would have good reason to want him back into the Port Mafia. It's not unlikely for Dazai to "replace" him upon his return, which Mori is well-aware of.

Isn't that a bit weird? Unless, Mori has more important motivations than the preservation of his own life. Like for an instance getting a hold of the book, or a chance to destroy it.

[writerthreads]

How to write a gripping fight scene

By Writerthreads on Instagram

Context

Provide the readers with preliminary details about the basics:

When is the fight? Where is the fight? Who are the characters involved in it?

Before you write the scene, it would be helpful to pre-plan the events and know the basic "itinerary" of the fight. This could be how it was initiated, which characters fight each other and how, and the way the fight ends.

Identify the backstory

The key to how to write a fight scene or battle scene is Goal, Motivation and Conflict (GMC). 

Ask yourself:

Why is this fight or battle taking place? (This supplies motivations, what each fighter or army has to gain or lose)

What each party wants (the goals). Goals may differ for the same conflict. One soldier may want to prove themselves worthy of promotion, for example. Another may just want to survive to see family or a lover back home. In a battle scene, what does the unit want, versus the individual?

What are the potential conflicts in the scene? For example, an argument might break out within ranks, or a sadistic leader might find themselves without aid at the peak of battle because their troops secretly despise them. A single, larger conflict could have smaller, breakaway conflicts that add further, lesser tensions to an already dramatic scene.

(From NowNovel)

Use characterisation in action

A fight scene can seem long and boring. To spice things up, you can provide readers with a bit more insight to the character as they fight.

Why does the character make the choices that they make in the fight?

How does each choice reinforce their characterization?

How does each choice impact their internal and/ or external goals?

Is this conflict getting the character closer or further away from their goals? How?

What are the stakes for each character? What do they stand to win? What will they lose?

What type of fighter is the character? What are their physical or mental abilities? (Remember that not every protagonist will be a trained assassin, so they’re prone to make sloppy mistakes during a fight.)

Use the fight scene to reveal necessary information about the characters. Be sure to give the reader a glimpse into the character’s soul and not just into their fighting skills.

(From NYBookEditors)

Use all the senses

To make the scene truly gripping, you have to make it visceral. Hit the readers with all the senses other than just sight. Sounds and textiles are particularly helpful and make the scene much more memorable.

So, next time you want to write one person's sword hitting another, you can describe the clang of the two steel pieces hitting each other, the smell of fresh blood in the air, and how heavy the sword welder's arm feels after parrying for ages.

Know the limits of each weapon and magic (if applicable)

Before you start writing, do some research about the "code of conduct" fighters in your time period had and how the weapons work. If you're very dedicated, you could try some classes in martial arts or fencing to get a rough idea of what the specific fight scene should feel like.

The ending

Let the readers know what the results of the fight are. Did one side clearly win? Were the results unclear (not in the sense of bad writing but of a draw-like scenario), or was it a Pyrrhic victory that incurred so much loss that it wasn't worth it?

One pet peeve of mine is a fight that ends when a Super Boss Weapon is revealed and ends the fight immediately. It's a quick way to finish the scene with no hassle, but in my opinion, it seems lazy and makes me wonder why the Super Boss Weapon wasn't used in the beginning. Unless it's justified, eg. the Super Boss Weapon had to be charged up, I get very mad when it happens. (But this opinion is very personal and you can obviously ignore it!)

Conclusion and disclaimer

Hopefully these tips will help you pen the perfect fight scene! I have minimal experience in fight scenes and all the fighting I do in real life is fencing (badly).

And as always, our tips are just tips and not rules -- you obviously don't need to follow them since they're just a guide to make your writing better! Good luck in writing your fight scene! :)

Sources: NowNovel, NYBookEditors

[bokettochild]

loved your new story

really awsome

and i was thinking during the part where sky quetions if he's just a selfish hero since he only went on his quest to save zelda

forgive me for my bias but i actually think those questions can apply to wind as well

as far as i can tell he seemed perfectly content and happy living on outset till aryll was kidnapped and even after he saved her is anyone he cares about actually safe if gannondorf is still around?

and even in Phantom hourglass he only started that journey to save tetra and he doesn't truly save her till he's defeating bellum and even when tetra is saved now linebeck is the one in trouble

he was never chosen

he chose for himself to save the world

he listened to daphness not because he cared about hyrule and the world but because daphness is helping him protect the ones he loves (which he becomes part of)

i think wind might be a character who's also only a hero to help out those he cares for

it's not about the world

it's about his world

just a little food for thought from my random brain

I actually was thinking of Wind as well when i wrote it! But since Sky doesn't know the circumstances any of his brothers were under, he can't judge them at all.

That said, yes! Wind did what he did only because the people he loved were in trouble, and going on his journey expanded that list, so even after Aryll was safe he needed to take care of the bigger issue to keep his new friends safe as well. He's not the only one with such a tale though! Twilight would never have left Ordon if it's children hadn't been taken! Four would never have set out if his best friend hadn't been turned to stone!

We have no clue about what Warriors would or would not have done, honestly, since as the threatened and endangered person himself, he really had very little choice in the matter...

Really, it's only the boys of the Downfall Timeline (including Wild here for reasons) that had no reason at all to help, but did anyway. Time was just some kid in a forest. Granted, the Deku tree told him too, but by saving the world he in no way was able to bring back the Deku tree. For Legend and Hyrule it was an utter stranger who told them that the world needed protecting (Zelda and impa), and they had no stakes in seeing it saved. Legend had already lost the only family and anchor he had, and Hyrule wasn't even from the kingdom in the first place!

Granted, Wild had a voice calling to him since he woke, telling him to save everything. He also had the old man who helped him get used to the world (and who turned out to be a victim like himself who also died), but it's left very unclear if he felt connection or care for these two, or if he just did what he was told because it was the right thing.

Personally, I think if Sky sat down with the others and compared notes, he'd be shocked at how many of them had "selfish" reasons for becoming the hero! But he didn't get to in this story, so I didn't get to touch on that at all.