#fandom focus no. 43

[its-all-ineffable]

Fandom Focus #43

Oh how things have changed...I even have a whole NEW fandom I'm into, which is coming up first...

Dead Boy Detectives - So I kept seeing stuff about this on here and thought I'd give it a try in a few weeks. And then I got over-excited and binged it all in one night, and OMG SO FUCKING GOOD! What the hell did they put in this show, cause it's fucking addictive. Everyone go and watch it right now! I adore the main four (Crystal, Charles, Edwin & Niko) and their group dynamics and all the ships and...just go watch it!!

X-Men (Cherik mainly) - I don't even remember what started me on this but I'm back on my Cherik bullshit, reading fics and watching edits, and I re-watched First Class (thee BEST X-Men movie in my opinion) and I'm just...so into everything Charles and Erik atm.

Interview With the Vampire 2022 - OMG SEASON 2 IN A WEEK!!! I am so fucking excited, I am bursting. It's going to be such a good season I can feel it in my bones - I am LIVING for it!

Jurassic Park - I've been on one, and been re-watching the first two movies a LOT....just the best movie franchise ever (to me) and I wrote my uni assessment from the POV of the Doe T-Rex in The Lost World. Love the whole franchise but those first two movies just hit different for me.

IT movies - Yeah I did a re-watch of them. Wrote some more of my IT fic. Read a lot of Reddie fics. Massively obssessed with them still.

Young Royals still has it's own lil space carved in my brain! And Six of Crows/Shadow & Bone has a grip too (Jesper and Erik's powers? Kaz and Erik's demeanors? Maybe I need to write a SoC and X-Men cross-over?)

[linkspooky]

Dr. Venture vs. Enji Todoroki: How to Write Bad Dads

This is a post comparing two shows about two abusive dads who are the main characters instead of their children. My Hero Academia is a Shonen jump manga that takes inspiration from American comics and shonen manga. Whereas The Venture Bros is an adult swim cartoon that started out as a parody of Johnny Quest, and grew into a seven season long character study of former child star Rusty Venture.

The idea for this post came from the fact that I've noticed a common hot take from MHA fans that Endeavor's redemption arc is bad because it's wrong to make an abuser the main character.

I've always disagreed, and used The Venture Bros as an example of a show where making an abuser the main character works. Rusty is actually a well-liked character in the venture bros fandom. So my question is if these characters are both abusers why is one of them generally accepted and the other one so controversial?

Before we begin I want to say this is a story with fictional characters. Don't bring real life into the equation. We are doing literary criticism here and only talking about the events that happen in the story.

Anyway, My Hero Academia and The Venture Bros seem like the weirdest shows to compare but they are actually pretty similar. They are both comic book shows that are commentating on the comics they're inspired from.

What My Hero Academia is to Spiderman and Dragonball Z, Venture Bros is to Tom Swift Novels, the Hardy Boys, and old Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. They also make the decision to focus on the characters as people rather than heroes. They are telling the stories of real people that exist in a world overflowing with both heroes and villains.

1. Meet the Venture Brothers

If you've heard of the Venture Bros then you've probably heard of the premise that it's an adult parody of Johnny Quest. Johnny Quest for those of you who have a life and therefore haven't seen every old Hanna-Barbera Cartoon like I have is a show where eleven year old Johnny Quest travels around the world with his super scientist father Dr. Benton C. Quest and their bodyguard Race Bannon, going on adventures in Jungle Ruins or fighting villains.

In the Venture Bros the main character Dr. Thaddeus Venture is an emotionally abusive and neglectful father who constantly exposes his sons to danger in his trips around the world. Their bodyguard Brock Samson is a ultra violent and is basically a thirteen year old's idea of what a cool manly man is. The titular Venture Bros, Hank and Dean Venture are sheltered children who are constantly being chased around by men in costumes trying to kill them.

So the basic premise of the show lies in it's dark deconstruction of shows like Hardy Boys, Johnny Quest, these Tom Swift-esque stories where young boys go on adventures by showing the real dangers that children would be exposed to in that kind of life.

Between Johnny Quest, the Hardy Boys, and Tom Swift, what is up with these pie-eyed youths chasing pirates and international diamond thieves and stuff like that? They would get their throats cut the minute that stumbled upon a hideout. And that would be the gag. - ART AND MAKING OF THE VENTURE BROS.

The show does explore Hank and Dean's trauma, but despite the title of the show they are not the main characters. The protagonist is Doctor Thaddeus Venture who himself is other victim of the Boy Adventuring Lifestyle.

Dr. Venture: "Who was, for 43 years, the only son of Dr. Jonas Venture? Who, from the ages of 3 to 17 accompanied him on hundreds of adventures the chilling memories of which rouse him from sleep in a cold sweat to this day?"

Thaddeus used to travel around the world with his father the super scientist Dr. Jonas Venture who was a far more successful super scientist and hero. He's the former star of the "Rusty Venture Show" a cartoon based off of his travels with his father.

Jonas who continually neglected and gaslit him throughout his childhood to the point of not allowing him to go to therapy. He gaslit him so hard there's a scene where he literally pretends to be Rusty's therapist to tell his son to stop complaining.

Rusty: "So I don't know. Sometimes I wish I could just be a normal kid and go out and play with kids my own age and stuff. The only people I get to hang out with are grown ups. The only time I get to leave the compound is to go someplace creepy, like the Bermuda triangle, and then I get kidnapped, by grown ups. And I'm not even sure I want to be a super scientist when I grow up anyway, but I feel all this pressure because of my fa-It feels weird telling you this stuff." Jonas: "Remember Rusty, in here I'm your doctor not your father. Now let's get back to it shall we. You were telling me how you're ungrateful for all the opportunities your father's given you and you blame me for all your problems."

Rusty is both a washed up child star, and a faiilure to his father's legacy. He never formed an identity outside of being the star of the Rusty Venture show or the son of Jonas Venture. He drags his kids all around the world on crazy super science adventures because that's what he knows.

The central premise of the Venture Bros is that Rusty is basically stuck and cannot meaningfully grow up into an adult and his own person, despite the fact he is now a single father trying to raise two sons. The central theme is about three generations of one family, and what it says about the complicated nature of family itself,

As Rusty is both the victim and the perpetrator of the abuse it makes sense he is the main character the story centers around because he's the central link between Jonas and the Twins.

The themes can be summarized in one line said towards the end of the show:

BEN "Just a watch. Tells the time in two time zones. That fourth hand there? Little date window? Those are called complications. Complications make a watch special. More complications the more value. Read the engraving Jonas put on the back there. Elige Tua. It's Latin for Choose your family. Blood doesn't make a family, love does. Choose your family and remember that complications make it special."

In other words it's a seven season long show on how family is complicated.

2. Keeping up with the Todorokis

My Hero Academia is about a lot of things, but the central premise is that in a society where he quirk you were born with can determine a lot about your life, one boy without a quirk sets out to prove that anyone can be a hero.

If Complciations make it special is the central theme of Venture Bros, then the central theme of My Hero Academia is two sentences. "All People are not created equal" and "Anyone can become someone's hero" both said at different points in the story. The story itself is about Deku's attempts to overcome the first statement, that he was not born equal but he deserves to be a hero as much as anyone else because he represents the true spirit of heroes. That heroes don't just show up to beat the big bad, a hero saves people.

The story isn't just about Deku though. We're not even going to talk about Deku in this post, but rather the Tritagonist Todoroki Shoto.

Todrooki is introduced as a foil to Deku someone who is born with an extremely powerful quirk, but who's been groomed from childhood to be a hero.

Shoto's father Enji Todoroki is All Might's ultimate rival. In the world of MHA hers are highly commercialized and ranked by popularity and achievements and Enji has been number two his entire life. He decided to conceive of an heir that could surpass All Might instead.

He purchased a wife with an ice quirk for an arranged marriage to selectively breed for a child with a fire and ice quirk. When Shoto was born he raised Shoto up as a hero, forcing him through grueling training sessions from a young age, and beating his wife when she tried to intervene for Shoto's sake.

That's a lot and I didn't even cover all of it. After this reveal of Shoto's backstory, Enji seems like he's only going to be a one note abuser to give Shoto a tragic backstory to angst over.

However, later on in the show Enji ifinally becomes the number one hero only to realize how empty his lifelong dream has been. He feels remorse for the family he destroyed in pursuit of that dream and starts wanting to make ammends. After this , Enji basically becomes the second most important character of the "Todoroki Family" arc. . A lot of focus is put on Enji's attempts at atonement to the point where some accuse him of stealing the spotlight from his victims.

These two families have a lot in common. They are basically families who are not allowed to have normal lives because the patriarch of the family is a costumed hero. The hero is also someone who is generally well-respected and is considered extremely successful in their chosen career, but are terrible to their family members. They are a hero to the world and a villain to their own family.

If there is a central premise to the Todoroki Family outside of MHA's analysis of what exactly makes a hero, it's this:

Todoroki Shoto: "As a hero this endeavor guy is pretty darn amazing. But it's just like Nasu said. I'm not ready to forgive you... for abusing mom. So, heroics aside. What sort of dad are you going to be? That's what I want to find out?"

The challenge is if Endeavor can choose his family over being a hero.

You can se the parallels in Venture Bros, as Rusty's main struggle is to try to be a father to his twin sons and help them grow up while at the same time struggling in this dangerous worlds of super science. Rusty is a super scientist constantly getting chased around by guys in costumes, but he's also a normal father trying to raise two sons into adulthood with basically no idea what he's doing because he doesn't have a frame of reference for how fathers are supposed to act or what a normal childhood would even look like.

The comic book super scientist, and the comic book hero are expected to act like real fathers to their sons.

However, as I said above in Rusty's case it's pretty uncontroversial that he is the main character of his story, whereas Enji starts fights within the fandom very time he appears onscreen.

Why is this exactly?

It's not because it's offensive to have an abuser be the main character, but rather how these characters are written and how well they fit into their stories. As I said Rusty is naturally the main character of his story because he's the central link in the chain of abuse, but should Enji be the main character of the Todorokis? Does he fit as well as Rusty?

3. Who's your Daddy?

So as stated above Enji and Rusty simultaneously exist in worlds where heroes exist and yet they are also normal people who are expected to provide for their families and raise their kids. They both exist in what is basically the marvel universe, though in the case of Venture Bros it's the Marvel Universe fused with old Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

Because of this world some of the things both Enji and Rusty do are things that have no real life parallels. For example Rusty once created a machine using the soul of a dead orphan as a power supply. You can't do that in real life so I'm not going to use that as an example.

Both of these stories are drawing on real life parallels of parental abuse I'm going to be talking about those to tell what kind of neglectful parent each is.

Rusty raised Hank and Dean Venture as a single parent with the assistance of their body guard Brock Samson. They live on the Venture Compound and only leave when Rusty needs to take a trip around the world. Obviously, there's not many real life examples of parents taking their kids into egypt to fight mummies.

However, Rusty's main flaw as a parent is how much he shelters his children not allowing them to make their own choices. They are homeschooled until they are eighteen and almost never allowed to leave their home unsupervised. Rusty could be compared to a helicopter parent that feels the need to micromanage every aspect of their child's lives, sheltering them so much they're unprepared for the real world.

Rusty is a weird combination of controlling and neglectful, because while he doesn't let either of his childre go to public school aor interact with kids their own age, he constantly exposes them to danger. He is often disinterested in his kid's lives and puts most of the burden of protecting them and raising them on his bodyguard Brock, while he chases after whatever super-science project is occupying him at the moment. He's neglectful to dangerous extents too considering they're always getting cahsed around by crazy men in costumes.

Also, he lets them die a lot.

Hank and Dean have died several times over, only to be replaced by clones that Rusty grew in a lab with all the same memories. Once again there's no real life parallel to this, but it's interesting in the context of the show itself.

How do these children survive being chased by villains and constantly kidnapped? The answer is, they don't.

They die, and then Rusty just clones a new pair of boys. That in itself should make Rusty irredeemable but the show presents it in a more ambiguous light.

Dean: "You're telling me I'm a clone, that I'm not even Dean, that I'm some stupid science experiment." Ben: "No, no, no. You're Dean. There's no other Dean, you're it, flesh and blood. Look I was conceived in the back seat of a packard, you were conceived in a tank. So what?" Dean: "So I have no mommy? No nothing!?" Ben: "Dean, you have it all wrong. You have a mommy, and your dad is your dad. They made you by getting drunk and forgetting to wear a condem like everybody else, and your dad loved you so much that when you got a boo-boo, he kissed it and made it all better and made it go away." Dean: "You brought me back to life." Ben: "Yeah okay, well you and your brother had some pretty big boo boos. Have a kid one day, Dean. Hold it's lifeless body in your arms, and then tell me how wrong it is. Jonas, me, and yes your dad, saw it as nothing more than a fucking band-aid for a really big boo boo."

In the story itself it brings up the argument that if any parent was holding their dying child in their arms they'd want to bring them back somehow. That in the logic of the show it's the same as using magic to revive someone from the dead. At the same time it's not because Rusty's let his sons die multiple times and never changed his lifestyle because he can just keep replacing them with clones.

Super-science aside, it is kind of a metaphor for Rusty's parenting as a whole that his sons have been cloned and replaced so many times they're perpetually sixteen and never allowed to grow up. Rusty's so neglectful he's never taken an interest in raising them and this is the result, they literally do not grow up.

It's also probably relevant to mention that Rusty himself is a clone and died and was replaced multiple times much like his sons, and the technology for cloning Hank and Dean was invented by his father Jonas.

However, after season 3 the cloning lab gets destroyed, and the body guard Brock leaves the family. With the safety net removed Rusty actually starts taking a more active role in both of his child's lives. This is basically a mirror to Endeavor's moment of realization after getting number one hero that his entire family has grown up without him and they all resent him.

Season four onwards Hank and Dean develop into their own people outside of Rusty. He responds to them in different ways but he's actually parenting them this time instead of shoving them away like annoyances. Hank becomes rebellious and fights back against Rusty for a long time after Brock leaves because he no longer has a role model and Rusty's response is to always get strict and punish him.

Whereas when Dean rebels not only does Rusty tolerate it, he also spends a lot more time in Dean's life trying to push him into the direction of being a super-scientist like him, supporting his efforts to go to college, while basically ignoring Hank. It's a running gag in the show that Dean is obviously Rusty's favorite, but even when playing favorites Rusty by this point in the show has reasons for why he's making those parenting choices.

Rusty: "Dean believes in this crap! He should have been Rusty Venture, Boy adventurer. Hank got this life thrown at him. And he fights against it. Just like I did."

Rusty playing favorites comes from an attempt to overcorrect for both children. He rejects Hank because he believes Hank doesn't want to be a boy adventure and therefore pushing Hank away from his family and the Venture lifestyle is what he needs. Whereas, he believes that Dean embraces the super scientist lifestyle and he tries to mentor Dean into another scientist like himself therefore he gives Dean most of his attention because he thinks Dean needs that guidance from him.

Of course, Rusty is totally wrong about his sons. If anything Hank is the one who wants to be an adventurer whereas Dean just wants a normal life away from his crazy family but parents often misunderstand their children. He's not actively malicious, he's just misguided in what he thinks is best for each of his sons. He's not really even playing favorites in this case he's choosing to parent his sons differently based on what he thinks is best for each of them, it's just in this case father doesn't know best.

Rusty isn't a stagnant character, but also there's no big redemption arc for him the way there is Endeavor. Rusty never narrates about how he needs to atone for his past mistakes. The result is Rusty is a far more amoral character than Endeavor because he's not trying to atone but the narrative also isn't trying to spin Rusty in any way. It's just showing you Rusty as he is, and with all the bad things he does he's still capable of loving his sons.

The question isn't really "Is Rusty redeemable?" but "When is Rusty gonna grow up?"

Then there's Endeavor (everyone starts booing) who is simultaneously a much better, and far worse person than Rusty.

Enji is honestly more comparable to Jonas, an incredibly successful hero who built a career and an empire in heroics and fame and then tried to force his son into that same lifestyle.He's the exploration of that same idea a supposedly great man with skeletons in his closet. Enji technically has saved thousands of people (such as Hawks one of the other main characters). A person who is so good at playing the role of a hero no one would ever expect there are skeletons in his closet.

"Rusty's father was more successful than you could ever imagine. Jonas Venture Sr. was a manipulative narcissist admired by the world for his scientific accomplishements and his hyper-masculine James Bond meets Doc Savage public persona. He's a geniuine villain who was able to take everything he wanted from the world by seamlessly fitting into the role of everyone's hero." [Source]

Jonas is like showing everything nasty about using someone like James Bond as a male power fantasy. He treats women like objects, he thinks he's aboe good and evil, he's effortlessly charming and suave and uses that to get what he wants out of people. Enji similiarly is everything that is wrong with the ideals of hero society. A society that glorifies flashy, strong quirks that are the best for taking down villains. The only person who even seems to care that he's number two is Enji himself, beause Enji is otherwise rich and succesful, a pillar of the hero community, and allowed to get away with a lot because of his position and influence.

Enji is at least a better hero than Rusty, because Rusty is an incompetent mad scientist who does stuff like mutate college interns into four armed freaks and build death rays.

However, as a parent strip away his status as a hero and Enji is little more than a show parent, pushing his children into a life they don't want in an attempt to live vicariously through them. Once again, resembling Jonas more than he really does Rusty. As Jonas forced Rusty to be a boy adventurer, and then made a cartoon out of it to make money like any show parent.

It's also the idea that generation put that kids into films and it was a very horrible selfish thing to do, they were doing trying to live out their own lives through their kids. That didn't exist before that was something that boomers brought to the world. "Oh I can't be these fun new things I'll make you be it." I think Jonas was a pioneer of throwing his kid at the world. I think Jonas was something of a boy adventurer himself, and made his kid be it. But also put his kid on TV to cash in the residuals. Jackson Publick, DVD Commentary

As stated above Enji gave up on his ambition to be the number one hero and so he decided to create a son with the right quirk to surpass All Might. He then pressured a woman into an arranged marriage, basically purchasing her from her parents and conceived four children until he got his designer baby.

Chapters 301-302 the wrong way to put out a fire, detail the slow descent of the Todoroki Household from Enji entering an arranged marriage with bad intention to create an ideal child to be heir to his legacy, into a full on child abuser. Enji is written like a normal person falling into a cycle of abuse, he never intended to hurt his children at first. Abusers aren't evil monsters, they're just people. Most abusers don't even think of themselves as abusers.

In fact he's shown positively bonding with his first born son who seems eager to learn to use his fire based quirk. He even mentions that he was alright at the time with the idea of Toya being the one to succeed him and letting go of his quirk experiment.

Enji only had kids to carry on his legacy, and only bonded with Toya because Toya was eager to participate in the training and become his heir. However, to give Enji some backstory it's quite clear the death of Enji's own father at a young age left him with no idea on how a father should act.

At a young age Enji witnessed his father attempt to save an innocent girl only to end up a burnt up corpse, and probably at that point conflated strength with being a good father. If his father had been strong enough he would have survived and continued to be a father to young Enji. At that point it's almost understandable that Enji thinks in his mind that earning his keep as the patriarch of the family, and being a powerful hero who will come home alive is the same thing as being a good father.

So Enji conflates masculine ideals of strength and heroism with being a good father, all the while not actually showing up to parent his kids. When Toya seemed like he could live up to Enji's expectations and be strong as a successor everything seemed fine.

However, Toya turned out to be disabled at which point everything in the household began to spiral out of control. After learning Toya could not use his quirk without burning himself, Enji tossed Toya aside and left raising him entirely up to Rei and then pressured her to have more children until one with his ideal quirk would be born.

Toya did not like his father ignoring him and began acting out for his attention. The response of everyone in the household was to politely tell Toya to shut up, because Enji while not being a parent is the money maker and authority in the household no one can stand up to him. When Toya's acting up got too out of hand, Enji would even hit Rei instead of just personally dealing with his son.

At the same time Shoto was finally born and being given his perfect heir after four attempts, Enji eagerly began training him. When Shoto resisted him, Enji stepped up to threats of physical violence and long grueling training sessions to force him to learn. All the while Toya continued to mentally spiral.

One day after his flames turned blue Toya asked his father to meet with him on Sekoto Peak. However that day Enji didn't show up, and Toya lost control of his flames starting a massive forest fire that killed him. Rather than changing anything after his firstborn's death, he doubled down and pushed Shoto even harder.

While being a far worse person, as a parent Rusty is far less malicious. He neglects his kids similarly to Enji at first, but when the safety net is removed and he can't keep cloning them anymore he actually does start taking a personal interest in their lives. Maybe it's too little too late because it's the 14th version of Hank and Dean but he does hear the wake up call and change his ways as a parent.

Enji always doubles down on ignoring his sons in favor of heroics when given the chance to be a father.

Even post redemption arc Enji behaves in the same way. There is no point in the story so far where Enji actively chooses to help or be a parent to one of his sons, when he can choose to be a part of a big important battle instead. Let me break out the list:

In the Pro Hero Arc Shoto sets the challenge for Enji to show what he can be like as a father rather than a hero.

In the internship arc Enji trains Shoto up as a hero but not a father. When he brings the family home to dinner they're attacked by a villain and Enji stands and watches as his son Natsuo gets kidnapped y a villain because he felt like it would be too awkward if he saved Natsuo because then Natsuo might feel inclined to forgive him.

In the War Arc aftewards Toya is revealed to be alive the entire time, and when given the chance to see his dead son come back to life, Enji not only does nothing but he sits and watches as his oldest son tries to kill his youngest without trying to talk to or appeal to Toya.

After the war arc, Enji doesn't bother looking for Toya and goes back to his job as a hero hunting down AFO. He also makes a promise to Shoto that they'll search for Toya together, only to break that promise multiple times.

In the second war arc, when Enji is given a chance to face Toya face to face, he instead sends his other son Shoto to fight him, while Enji fights against the big bad instead as the number one hero.

When Toya is literally dying and about to burn himself alive in front of him, Enji who has chosen to run away from Toya too many times by this point picks the murder suicide option and chooses to try dying with his son in a heroic sacrifice.

Every single chance he is given to act like a father, he acts like a hero instead. Enji Todoroki never steps out of the role of the hero Endeavor. Internally he's changed, yeah. He's remorseful now and realzies what he's done wrong. However, externally he hasn't. He doesn't do anything different. He neglected his family for his job his entire life so his way of making it up to them is... to keep going to his job.

The problem isn't whether or not he deserves to be redeemed, but rather that there's no change in his actions. Endeavor at the beginning of the story would have shown up to fight AFO in the war arc too, because being the hero is what he does. It's the only thing he does. The story never asks him to be anything other than a hero.

Which is I think a fundamental difference in Rusty and Enji in how they're written. Rusty is a flawed parent, but he's still a parent.

He does favor Dean over Hank, but that favoritism takes the form of him giving Hank more chores when Hank acts out, but when it's time for Dean to rebel giving him space and letting him have his own separate room in the attic. It's Rusty letting Dean have access to the family checkbook so he'll have spending money at college, but cutting Hank off from the checkbook because they agreed if Hank didn't want to go to college he needed to find a job to support himself.

Rusty is parenting these children. He's parenting them very badly, but he's still their parent. Enji never wanted to be a parent to begin with, he wanted to be his kid's abusive gymnastics coach. He wanted a prodigy that he could push and push until they won gold at the Olympics.

If you ignore the fantasy elements then you're left with how these men are shown interacting with their kids in their day to day lives.

Rusty has absolutely no idea what he's doing, so even when he has good intentions he screws up. However, he is making an effort to guide these kids.

Enji was an intentional manipulator more in line with Jonas. He controlled everything in the household, and was actively trying to groom Shoto into someone who would obediently carry on his legacy. He made the choice to isolate Shoto from his siblings so he'd have more control over him. Rusty keeps Dean and Hank away from kids their own age and from having a normal life because he never had a normal life. He doesn't even know what a normal life looks like.

Enji for most of his life didn't want kids, he wanted heirs. He even purchased a woman so his heirs would turn out with the right genetics, and tossed aside the ones that were disabled or born with the wrong quirk.

Rusty made the decision to become a parent on his own. In the last twist in the series it's revealed Dean and Hank had no mother. They were conceived in a test tube, raised in an artificial womb by Rusty himself. He is both their father and their mother. Kids were a deliberate decision on his part. He wanted to have a family, probably because his own childhood was so deprived of any familial love.

Dean: Okay, so who is our mom? Rusty: Seriously, Dean haven't we had enough family history for one day? I don't even know who my mom is. All you need to know is that the person who gave birth to you. I promise they do.

Remember as stated above the central thesis statement of Venture Bros is "Elige Tua - Choose your family". Rusty chose to bring those kids into the world because he wanted to be a father, it's an active choice his character makes.

Whereas the central statement of Endeavor's arc is "So, heroics aside. What sort of dad are you going to be? That's what I want to find out?" but we never witness Enji doing anything outside of being a hero.

Even post-redemption the only time he ever spends with Shoto is when they're either doing quirk training or working as heroes together. Toya as a character presents this challenge to him, because he's Enji's son, but he's also a villain who's killed innocent people. If he's acting as a hero he has to put a stop to Toya, but a father is supposed to put the safety and well-being of their children above everything else.

We never see Enji make that choice to be Toya's father over a hero. Which is why in story he comes off as a worse father than someone like Rusty, because he never makes any attempt to emotionally bond with his children.

Rusty will sit Hank and Dean down and tell them stories from his childhood. He'll find common ground with his sons to bond over because they've both been subjected to the boy adventurer lifestyle.

Rusty: Dean what are you doing? Dean: Hyperventilating into my knees. That smell a little like spit up... because I spit up a little. Rusty: Dean, you just baby burped onto a speed suit. Not a super scientist alive that hasn't coughed a little acid onto his speed suit. Dean: Really? Rusty: Why do you think these things are like 95 percent polyester? You can clean off fear-vomit with a wet nap. Dean: I thought you were used to this. Rusty: Dean I remember when the action man would wake me up with a gun pointed at my head. He'd just hold it there and pull the trigger. I'd hear the click really loud because it was right against my forehead. Dean: So it echoed. Rusty: Right, it sounded like he snapped one of my teeth out. Click! Then he'd go, "Not day Rusty. Not Today." Dean: Golly, and you took it because you had to? Rusty: No Dean, I took it because I was Rusty Venture. Boy adventurer. I didn't ask for this life, Dean, but it's mine. Sure, I fall down in the Speed Suit but I get up and Wet-Nap my puke off.

We never get any moments like this with Endeavor and his kids.

He only goes so far as apologizing for his past abuse. Yes, maybe it's cathartic hearing an abuser apologize for what they've done but that's not the question the story was asking. It wasn't asking "Can Endeavor be forgiven?" It was asking "What sort of dad are you going to be?"

The narrative challenged him to learn to act like a father to his family, and he never did. He stayed in the role of hero from beginning to end. It might be cathartic for his victims to hear him say sorry, but it's not good for Endeavor as a character because he hasn't changed and we've learned nothing about him. We already knew he was sorry at the beginning of the arc. Endeavor is sorry and knows he's done something wrong has already been established, but by Endeavor stepping out of the role of hero and acting like a father we could have learned something new about him or his character but no he stays the same from beginning to end.

They're both awful people but at the end of the day Rusty is a father, and Enji is not.

Stories are kind of like essays your English teacher used to force you to read. You need to make a thesis statement in the story itself, and then have evidence to support that thesis statement. The theme of Venture Bros is choose your family, and family is complicated, and in support of that theme we have Rusty choosing to connect with his sons. Jonas is basically nothing more than Rusty's biological father. Rusty's chosen a different way to connect with his sons, and he is their dad, and they can bond about the complicated lifestyle of being a Venture together.

The actions Enji takes in his story don't line up with his thesis statement. The Todoroki Family subplot is supposed to be about how one family was messed up because Enji only chose to have a family to further his career as a hero, and choosing his career again and again made things worse. The thesis statement was that Enji needed to choose to be a dad, but he's never shown doing that in the story.

So Enji as a character seems like he doesn't fit in with his narrative. Which is what I said at the very beginning about Rusty and why he works as a main character. Rusty is the center, because he's had this horrible life inflicted on him by his father, and he's in the process of raising his sons but he still has a chance to choose to be better.

Enji could also work as the center of his story, he has a chance to choose his family over his work as a hero, but he's ultimately not the one who does that, it's Shoto. Which yes Shoto is the main character of the Todoroki plotline, but by the end Enji's gotten as much screen time as his son. If the plot was going to focus on Shoto and his choices to begin with then he should have been the central point. You spent a lot of in story time asking this question with Enji on whether or not he's going to be able to choose to be a father over a hero, and who Enji is outside of being a hero only to not give the audience any answeres.

This again has nothing to do with Enji the person and whether I think he's likable or not, because Enji's a fictional character. He's an idea. If writing is communication, then a writer is trying to communciate some idea with every character in their novel. We're asking what is the author trying to say with Enji, and do they do a good job of getting that message across?

4. What's the Big Idea?

So the above section was mainly about the personal arcs of each characters: How do both of them fail at fatherhood and do they learn to be better fathers over the course of their narratives?

However, these characters are part of a much bigger world. How a character interacts with both the world around them, and the extended cast of characters is another way a story relates it's theme.

Venture Bros and My Hero Academia both exist in comic book worlds. There are people running around in costumes calling themselves heroes and villains and fighting each other on the streets.

In My Hero Academia heroes are basically professional athletes who sell sports drinks and pose for ads and compete for rankings on a big board, and heroics for the most part has been reduced to a day job for people with particularly powerful quirks. Heroism is an entire industry that's for profit, and run by the shadowy hero council who has far more power over their society than they let onto. You could compare Endeavor being the top hero to him is like a combination of being the best pro athlete, and also the best salaryman ever.

Ironically, the worldbuilding of Venture Bros is pretty similar. In Venture Bros. the villains are all unionized. There is a super villain trade union. It's a secret organization known as the guild of calamitous intent, which makes villainy into a bureaucracy.

All villains in the world have to register with the guild. If you're a part of the guild you receive the protection that the guild offers, as long as you follow the guilds rules and regulations. There's lots of small rules, like you can't torture someone who's having a medical issue, and if you're fighting a good guy and they have a doctor's appointment you have to let them go.

They even rank heroes and villains by their threat levels called "EMA LEVELS (equally matched aggression) and then assign you a hero who's about your equal so you won't get killed by someone way stronger than you. The guild basically decides who you're allowed to fight as a villain and picks a hero for you. The act of being someone's arch villain is called "arching" you show up to harass them once a week like a Saturday morning cartoon villain, fight them, then do it again next week. You're not allowed to kill your hero and you're supposed to follow specific rules. The tradeoff is the heroes won't kill you either, because you have guild protection.

The Monarch: I don't know, just keep it cat and mouse not cat and missile. JJ:: So it's a game? We fake fight? That's ridiculous. The Monarch: No, it's like fencing, it's about the art of the fight. JJ: Well, I'm about to deliver my killing stroke. Then what? Dr. Girlfriend: Then the guild steps up their game. You throw a rock, they throw a knife. You throw a knife, they come to your house when you're sleeping and murder your family. The Monarch: Look Dr. Venture you call the guild and you get the damn rulebook, I'll be waiting.

The justification for why the guild exists is that in world if you didn't give the villains a system with a bunch of rules, then you'd have a bunch of crazy people in costumes running around causing havoc.

Brock: You wanna what? Shoot him? And all his men and his wife? You could steal his cattle, too. Maybe burn his village down? JJ: It's an antiquated system. I mean my father did this fake arch enemy nonsense in the sxities. Maybe my brother is good with this namby pamby guy in a costume chases you around nonsense, but I'm not. Brock: Hey no disrespect Jonas, but it isn't so easy. These guys like their system. It's what they do. You take that away and you're looking at a bunch of pissed off nut bags with ray guns, and giant -- i don't know, a giant octopus / tank with laser eyes.

The villains and the OSI (who are like the GI JOE) of this world have signed a very long and detailed treaty that keeps both sides in a cold world stalemate and lets them fight every week like how the good guys and bad guys fight constantly while maintaining a status quo where neither side wins.

In MHA heroics is a commodity. It's commercialized and sold to the public. Heroes are like professional athletes selling you sports drinks, it's a spectacle to the public, and it's even intentionally made to be that way by the Hero Commission who use heroes as a bright shining light to distract the public while they do shady things like assassinate antigovernmental protestors from behind the scenes. The entire of hero society in MHA is built on the spectacle of heroes.

In Venture Bros heroes and villains are a spectacle too. It's just a job to them. Heroes and villains both show up to work, get in their costumes, fight each other and then go home. In Season 6 of Venture Bros, a parody of the Avengers is actively charging people to provide their services as heroes in the city of New York and you have to sign up for a protection plan if you want to get saved. Then the local mob boss takes a cut of the protection money they're charging.

In both settings the ideas of heroes exist, comic books exist, but the heroes themselves are incredibly mundane, they're just people showing up to jobs and making money for the most part. The only difference really is that in MHA the villains are societal rejects and trauma victims, whereas in Venture Bros they've unionized. In Venture Bros the villains and heroes basically fake fight under strict rules. Even in MHA though the villains need to exist in order to give the heroes someone to fight in front of the public. "Villain" is an actual legal term for a certain kind of quirk criminals with more than three strikes who gets sent to a super max prison if they're caught.

Both of these works are making comic book heroes and villains seem a lot more mundane by deconstructing them with this layer of realism. By making the roles of "hero" and "villain" seem much more mundane, and therefore more human, it also asks us to look at the characters who call themselves heroes and villains as human beings.

The Venture Bros like many richer takes on superhero stories really likes to play with the concept of identity. It's the idea that Good and Evil, Heroes and Villains, are just roles we play. They're not something fundamental or innate they're constructed by the world around us. In the show the main villainous organization the GCI is really just a bureaucracy of larpers sustaining their violent rolelplaying through organized crime. Rich and powerful lunatics who built the world around a game they wanted to play. There's really nothing of substance keeping Rusty on the "Good Guy" side. The good guys are also a mix and match. Shield, GI JOE, FBI. Another exmaple of people who never grew up. Only these people are running things, playing out their childhood power fantasies. They're barely less insane and blood thirsty than the bad guys. So what's even the point of being a good guy in the first place? That's the world Rusty is caught between...[x]

MHA and Venture Bros are both works that feature societies that divide people into two distinct categories "hero" and "villain" and then go on to show that these two categories are not as black and white as they would like us to believe.

Venture Bros features Brock Samson, a character who is ostensibly on the side of the good guys who also highest body count of nameless henchman who we see him gleefully kill onscreen over and over again. There are members of the OSI who are just as trigger happy as the guild so what's the difference between them besides what they've decided to personally identify as? On one side you have the Larpers who are roleplaying villainy, and on the other you have the military soliders who think they're real life GI JOES.

In My Hero Academia you have heroes who are essentially state sponsored peace keepers who suppress anyone who disrupts the status quo with violence, and villains who are rejected from that status quo who eventually turn into violent terrorists. While yes heroes have the responsibility of protecting innocent civilians, most of what heroes do is fight villains, in fact heroes with quirks suited to rescuing people aren't nearly as famous as ones with flashy violent quirks like Endeavor.

You have two sides and one calls themselves villains and the others heroes, but they both use extreme violence as a way to accomplish their goals.

Rusty and Enji are two characters who are caught between these two categories which aren't as distinct and separate as we'd like to believe they are.

Enji is basically the first deconstruction of heroes in MHA. He's a hero who's not interested in saving people, but instead wants to be the strongest and does everything in pursuit of selfish glory.

He's simultaneously the hero with the single most resolved cases in history, but at the same time he's always number two to All Might because he's not "super" enough of a super hero. In a manga where Deku's natural desire to save others make him a candidate to b ahero even without a quirk, we have a character who's a hero for purely selfish reasons. One that only cares about having the strongest quirk because being the best is all that matters to Enji.

In many ways the way Enji treats his family is more like a villain than a hero. Main villain AFO himself comments at one point he wasn't able to manipulate Toya, because his father did too good of a job manipulating him already. In fact you can draw a parallel between his actions of manipulating and grooming Shoto to be his heir, to how AFO raised orphaned child Shigaraki Tomura as his successor.

This is a good use of Enji's character, because making it hard to label him as hero and villain makes us think about who he is as a person instead.

There's an entire episode of Venture Bros dedicated to a villain Mentor named Dr. Henry Killinger, showing up and basically mentoring Rusty Venture when he's at a low point. He gives Rusty money, workers, gets his business up and running again and at the very end reveals that he's setting Rusty up to be a villain to arch his brother as a hero. Rusty is tempted with the idea that he'd make a much more successful villain than he ever would be a hero (because as a hero he's kind of just a loser) but he still chooses to be a hero at the end of the story because he doesn't want to fight his brother.

At which point his mentor, all his hired men, all just walk off and he loses all the money he would have gained and he goes back to being a mediocre super-scientist.

"Doc has the whole thing laid out for him clear as day. This role is here for you. Waiting for you to claim it. You have your nemesis. You have your means. You have the ability and the pain. You can do this and you'd be good at it. And Rusty can look at all of that, everything he's been through and say, "Yeah... but I don't wanna be evil." [x]

Rusty walks away from the chance to be a villain, but he's not exactly a hero either. He runs illegal cloning farms, he does lots of unethical scientific stuff and he's not even remotely the hero his father was considered to be.

Because he doesn't fit well into the category of hero or villain, the show instead asks you to evaluate who Rusty is as a person. He's one of the few characters in the show that's capable of stepping out of those categories.

"That's the great thing about him. Sometimes being disillusioned just means you can see through the whole thing. Sure the whole super science villain game feels stupid. It's not going anywhere. No one's accomplishing anything. It's all violence and roleplay. But at the end of the day it's still real. And it still means something to us. Choosing to be a villain means choosing to be a bad guy. It means relinquishing the premise that you could ever do better, ever actually help anyone. And that's not who Rusty is. He's a scum-bag, but he's a grown up. Even in a show with brilliant characters, old pros, and actual supermen, Rusty is the adult. And adults don't put on rubber masks and terrorize people for fun because that would be fucking silly." - [x]

Rusty spent his entire childhood being terrorized by guys in costumes, so he's now the cynical straight man pointing out how ridiculous this all is. He's the one normal person among the crazies.

Rusty is just too incompetent to ever be like his father. Jonas Venture is scum bag, but he's also a well-respected scientist and a world wide hero. Everyone in the scientific community thinks that Rusty is a joke, and his friends just barely put up with him

Jonas gets away with it because he perfectly fit what society's idea of a hyper masculine strong hero was, and no one questioned it or how he treated his son, whereas because balding, impotent, pathetic Rusty falls so short of toxic masculinity's standards he doesn't get the same respect or leeway that Jonas did. Jonas Venture continually got away with murder, and Rusty can't get away with anything.

He's a pill-popping, middle aged man who ran his father's business empire into the ground who continually gets laughed out of any scientific conference he tries to attend.

He can't be a hero. He can't be his father. He fall short of toxic masculinity's standards. He falls short of everyone's standards. The only way in which he's better than Jonas is that he's a much better father to both of his sons. His greatest triumphs as a character come from bonding with Hank and Dean. Jonas for all his accomplishments wasn't capable of bonding with Rusty because he didn't really care about anyone but himself. Jonas Venture is someone who perfectly fit society's standards of toxic masculinity, but he wasn't a person outside of that.

"Jonas Sr realized this too, but to him, it was a joke. To him it meant being above everyone. Rusty can't be above everyone so he has to meet them at eye level. Part of the bitterness of growing up is realizing that we're all just chidlren who got old. No one knows what they're doing and when you come to terms with that you can look down on people or give them the respect everyone deserves. How you treat children says a lot about how you treat people which in turn says a lot about you." [x]

Now returning to Endeavor we run into the same problem that we did earlier. This whole post is comparing Rusty and Endeavor because they are the protagonists, but Endeavor is far more like Jonas. He's someone who sees through the hero system and only cares about climbing to the top out of his own self interest. He knows it's a game, but he wants to win at the game.

Enji even sort of looks like Jonas.

They're both extremely bulky men at peak levels of physical fitness. Meanwhile Rusty is a balding, short and out of shape middle aged man.

In story Jonas is still widley beloved by the public and is constantly praised, while no one but Rusty is aware of his faults, but there's a reason for that. Jonas is someone who is basically allowed to do anything he wants, because the patriarchy means all of society is built around letting men like Jonas succeed.

Jonas is also someone who literally uses his position as a hero to manipulate people into getting what he wants and glorify himself.

Jonas can casually destroy people's lives, all while still believing he's the good guy because in his world being good guy is just a role to play and he plays it well. One of the best three episodes of the series is the Morphic Trilogy, the opening to season 7 where some of Jonas's past crimes are revealed.

In the past he tricked a married man into making a sex tape with him, and then when that man Don Carraldo aka the Blue Morpho turned out to regret that, he used the tape to constantly blackmail him into doing his dirty work. Killing people in secret while Jonas Venture remained Squeaky clean. After years of being forced to act as a mercenary for Jonas, the Blue Morpho died in a plane crash. Jonas then revived his best friend as a cyborg. He got bored of his new cyborg within a few months and reassigned him to babysit his son Rusty. The cyborg glitched and started to strangle Rusty and then he snaps his friends neck, and throws the cyborg away in the garbage.

Jonas can just completely destroy a man's life because he can. Because everyone around him enables him and no one is going to stop him. Because this is how people in power act when they're given too much power. Because might does not make right.

He's the gold standard. He's the ideal. Who would question him?

Enji occupies a similar position in the story, where he fits the role of a hero so well that even when his family abuse is revealed to the public basically every character and their mom is tripping over themselves to defend him.

Jonas is constantly praised in story years after his death and every bad thing he's done is swept under the rug, but that's because number one Jonas was a manipulative monster, and number two it shows toxic masculinity is a false ideal. This is how Jonas who everyone thinks is the ideal man's man, really acts. This is what he gets away with it, because the thing society glorifies are toxic and bad.

When people bend over backwards to defend Endeavor what does it say exactly? Because we're supposed to believe that Enji's willing to work for redemption even if people don't forgive him. We're not supposed to think Enji is a manipulative monster intentionally twisting people around his finger like Jonas was.

There are some ways Enji is like Jonas, especially in his backstory. He did use his money and influence to buy a woman. Rei was definitely not going to get the option of divorcing him if she actually wanted to leave.

However, in the present time we don't see Enji doing the kind of manipulation that Jonas does, because really he doesn't have to. Hawks does it for him. There is a character in the narrative named Takami Keigo / Hawks who is a little boy that Enji indirectly saved as a child by putting his father in prison. Because of this he is obsessed with making Endeavor live up to the hero he imagined him to be when he was young, and does everything he can to prop Enji up behind the scenes and make him look like that hero to the public.

Hawks is a whole other can of worms, but in effect what this means is there is someone manipulating public opinion in favor of Endeavor so he'll be able to shine in spite of the numerous skeletons in his closet, it's just not Endeavor himself. Hawks also takes away a lot of the active decisions on Endeavor's part. When Endeavor chooses to ignore Toya in the latter part of the story, it's not Endeavor's choice, he's just following Hawks plan to fight AFO. When Endeavor makes a public apology, Hawks is the one who wrote it for him.

The result is that Endeavor comes off as less of a Jonas, after all Hawks is the one manipulating his public image. On the other hand, he's also less good of a character because he's not making choices anymore. It'd be better If Enji was trying to manipulate the public into forgiving him in the wake of his scandal, because that'd be an active choice on his part. When a character makes a choice it tells us something about who that character is.

Horikoshi doesn't want us to think that Enji is the kind of selfish monster that Jonas is, but then who is he supposed to be?

The entire point of this post is to compare Enji to Rusty, but Enji's far too successful to be Rusty. Rusty is a failure in basically everything he set out to do in life. He's the butt of the series jokes. He's the victim in as many ways as he's the perpetrator. He had a lot of money and then wasted it all. None of his inventions are succesful. The scientific community thinks he's a joke, or they don't even know who he is. Women won't even go near him. No one ever defends him. At no point in the story does someone stop and say "Hey, Hank I know your dad's an asshole but he's really good at science so that makes it okay."

Rusty's such a failure at being a hero that he's forced to be a person. He's as equally narcissticic and toxic as his father, he treats women like objects for sex and comfort like his father does, he just doesn't get away with it. You can't point to some heroic feat of his that justifies his toxic behavior because he doesn't have any.

The story however can't stop singing Enji's praises for what a good hero he is. He's never forced to step out of the role of hero and be a person like Rusty is, and because of that the message of his character becomes confused.

Are we supposed to think he's a manipulative narcissist like Jonas is? Are we supposed to think he's an incredibly flawed individual trying to figure out how to be a father late into his kid's lives like Rusty?

Rusty has a clear role in his story, and what the author wants to say with Enji is unclear.

Everyone praises Jonas to death and no one can see him for the terrible purpose he is, because that's the point. Venture Bros is about failure. It's about the death of the space ag optimisme. It's about how much the boomer generation sucked.

From the Radiant is the Baboon Heart Commentary. Question: Did Jonas only keep Rusty around for the press and his cloning tech or did he actually care about him? Answer: . The show has a villain called the monarch, but if you watch all the show the villain is Jonas Venture Sr. He is a bad dad. What you need to realize is that in this kind of baby boomers gen x millenials kind of thing we are of the generation that had bad parents. For the good and the bad of it. The good was we were all left alone by our parents, and we had a freedom in our thought that I don't think the millennials have. Because we made the millennials, and we were like You know what Our parents suck and we're gonna be great parents." And they helicoptered them and they gave playdates. [...] I did hate the boomers, they were awful fathers they were terrible people they did horrible things to our world, and at the time they were celebrated as good people. They were a bunch of hippies and they failed and they did everything wrong that they wanted to fix [...]. You and I are lost people we observed our generation. We are fully aware of it. We observed our parents generation. My actual father was a classic distant father, very bright had a lot of work to do, but I observed that generation and the way that toxic masculinity was set in stone. Just branded onto their tombstone. Toxic masculinity. Our generation grew up wanting to be adults, childhood was something that was not examined. When people were growing up we wanted to be grown ups, we wanted to wear suits, it was something you guys don't have. It was a very different way to grow up. So we wanted to be like this generation that immediately we looked at and went oh my god they're monsters. So Jonas Venture Sr. is a monster.

Jonas is a commentary on how much the boomer generation is glorified, and how much they suck if you look at them critically at all. It's written by authors who were observing basically three different generations of parenting, the way boomers parented, the ways Gen-Xers did in response to that and now the way millennials act as they reach adulthood. Rusty can't escape Jonas' shadow because Toxic Masculinity is set in stone.

The role of Jonas in the story is to serve as an antagonist to Rusty and be the cause of Rusty's struggles, and also his impetus to change because Rusty doesn't want to be like his father. Rusty and Jonas both exist as characters to show the author's observations on parenting through the generations, and yeah it's a very american idea of parenting and family but it's you know... a cartoon made in america.

What is Endeavor's role of the story? If he's a criticism of toxic masculinity he's not criticized enough, because the story spends just as much time glorifying him his obsession with strength and power as it does criticizing him. There's no scenes like this for Rusty to show off how cool he is, or how determined. The story wants you to believe that there's something redeeming in the fact that Enji is always struggling to be the greatest, even though his obsession with being number one is what caused him to abuse his family in the first place

It's criticizing and praising Enji's obsession with power in the same breath, because My Hero Academia can't fully deconstruct toxic masculinity the way that Venture Bros can. It keeps trying to find something redeemable in Endeavor's toxic pursuit of power, but that's the whole point. Toxic masculinity isn't redeemable, because toxic masculinity is toxic. There's nothing wrong with masculinity itself, or the values people traditionally consider masculine but the kind of hyper-aggressive pursuit of physical strength Endeavor chases after is toxic masculinity. In Endeavor's mind men are warriors, protectors and providers and nothing else, and he never learns to be anything else either.

MHA would never treat Endeavor the way Vbros treats Rusty, constantly humiliating him or making him the butt of jokes. It would never make Enji out to be weak or pathetic the way Rusty is.

The central concept of Endeavor is struggle. His chosen hero nae "Endeavor" means to try hard to achieve something. His entire character is based around the concept of struggle. His central struggle is that he's a normal guy trying to compete with a superhero like all might, and everything he does he struggles with even if that struggle is pointless.

However, in the actual narrative itself he doesn't struggle. He definitely doesn't struggle the way Rusty does. Rusty's a lazy, incompetent, and entitled man sitting on a pile of money he didn't earn who thinks he's entitled to more who fails at all he sets out to achieve. Rusty never gets what he wants, and even when he does get what he wants like when his brother leaves him a billion dollar corporation in his will, he bankrupts that company in two seasons. Struggle means that the world isn't going to give you what you want and you keep trying anyway.

Endeavor's never subjected to nearly the same amount of narrative punishment that Rusty is. He's still well-respected. People defend him. He fights in all the major battles of the series and gets victories. No one's disgusted when they hear that he's a wife beater. We are told that he struggles, that the central concept of his character is struggle, but the narrative keeps handing him wins and cool moments.

As I've said above several times, Enji's never really forced to step out of the role as hero because he's not a failure the way Rusty is.

My Hero Academia hits some of the same notes as Venture Bros. It's criticizing apanese hegemonic masculinity, specifically that of salaryman masculinity and the way men in japan completely put their careers over their families. Read about it here in this convenient power point presentation. Enji is essentially an incredibly successful salaryman who has completely disappeared from his kid's lives in order to earn money and success and believes that he's still entitled to be a father because he's performed adequately in his role as earner of the household.

The story does show how giving too much power to the patriarch of a household can cause a house to fall apart. It shows that traditional family roles aren't all they're cracked up to be. Enji is assigned the role of father but he doesn't live up to it. The very rigid and traditional Todoroki Household crumbles because basically everyone fails to live up to their roles. The father isn't present. The mother isn't a good caretaker. The first born is defective. The youngest is given all the responsibility of the first born. No one is able to live up to those roles because maybe those rigid set in stone roles shouldn't exist in the first place.

Once again though, that's all in the backstory. Enji never changes from the Pro Hero Arc to his last showdown with Toya. The story never tells us anything about who Enji is as a person. Therefore, it also never comments on Enji's role as the patriarch. What is Horikoshi using Enji to say about patriarchy besides... it exists?

The story shows you how destructive the idea of patriarchy that Enji represents can be in the backstory, but because Enji doesn't do much for 90 percent of the story it never says anything about how Enji can learn to be a father or if it's even possible for him to be a father this late in the game. Because Enji's story isn't about fatherhood ultimately, it's about him becoming a less selfish hero.

Which might just be a problem with the whole of MHA. Venture Bros is about who the characters are outside of their identity as heroes and villains, but MHA is ultimately more about the optimism of heroes and what it means to be a hero than these characters personal lives.

Rusty is never going to be as sucessful as his father. He's always going to be mediocre, ad even if he's sympathetic he's still a scum bag. However, Rusty has one thing his father doesn't have which are his two sons who he made a deliberate decision to get closer to. Unlike a serial user of people Jonas, Rusty has the ability to actually love and care for people and he chooses to make those connections.

Endeavor never chooses to be a father. He didn't choose to go to Toya's side. He was too busy being a hero and fighting the big bad. As a result of that we never learn anything about Enji as a character outside of being a hero because he never chose to be anything other than a hero.

He also never failed. As I said the narrative kept handing him wins. You'd think never choosing to see Toya would mean he can't save Toya in the end, but in the end of the story Toya's just fine. There are no consequences to his choices. He's revealed to be an abuser to the public but he gets to keep being a hero. Enji never really fails in some big way that forces him to rfelect and change on his actions, so he just keeps doing the same thing from beginning to end.

Which is why Enji doesn't work as a character compared to Rusty. He doesn't fail. He's supposed to be a flawed protagonist struggling against himself, but he never really loses. He's too much like Jonas and not enough like Rusty.

"I think Jonas was something of a boy adventurer himself, and made his kid be it. But also put his kid on TV to cash in the residuals. He was just a shitty parent. When he went to bed he was just, he was moral, and he was fighting the good fight. When he woke up he ignored his son and made his son do terrible things. He voted for nixon like a good american. He was a winner and our show is not about winners. Our show is about losers and people we love." Jackson Publick. n

[bzhitstruth]

Coincidental circumstances

In this post I want to list the circumstances that attract my attention due to their pattern or simultaneity. I won't interpret anything, analyze the images or draw any conclusions. They are simply coincidental circumstances, things that actually happened but that may seem intriguing, strange or intentional.

It's not even really a CPN because I'm not making any assumptions. Just events.

1. Their schedules coincided in such a way that several times they were briefly in the same city, for no more than a day. This happened supposedly three times in this month and every time after that GG posts personal content. May 12-13, GGDD were both in Beijing - May 14, old Parisian selfies and videos appear; June 5-6, GGDD were in Beijing again - June 6, GG posts Chongqing photos; June 13-14, GGDD were both in Shanghai - June 14, Chongqing vlog is published.

2. On June 10, both appear in very similar clothes - brown T-shirts and green sneakers of the same style.

3. On June 10, was noticed that GG appeared at the airport without the usual amulets, but with Apple Watch. He hasn't worn one for a very long time, and in general he rarely appears with a watch, except for promotional photo shoots. On June 13, DD also wore Apple Watch during racing training, the last time he was seen with such watch was in October 2023. And it turns out that after a long break, they both wore Apple Watch simultaneously.

4. On June 13, DD flied to Shanghai, where GG has been for three days, and on the evening of June 14, they both flied out of Shanghai, each on their own business and to different places, but about an hour and a half apart.

5. On June 14, in his Chongqing vlog, GG appeared wearing Stone Island shorts, which caused a strong resonance in the fandom, because this is the brand that DD wears quite often, this is clothing from personal wardrobe. On June 16, DD flied to Shanghai wearing Stone Island long-sleeve shirt; the heat in Shanghai at that time was 30 degrees.

6. On June 16, DD received the award at the Weibo Movie Night ceremony, the ceremony ended around 20-21 hours, at 21:43 GG posted the photo from the trip, and 11 minutes later DD made the humorous post on his account. There is another coincidence on this day: exactly a year ago, on June 16, 2023, there was also an award ceremony (20th Movie Channel Media Focus Unit), and DD also received the award. And GG then made the post at 21:41 in support of the film “Street Kid”, in the text of the caption there are words: “those who work hard will shine brightly!” This year the chain of events is repeated, even GG's publications time differs by only 2 minutes.

I won't speculate and assume what exactly happened in GGDD life this month, whether these circumstances are related or not, but the fact is that we are now experiencing a rather eventful time. I just really want the events to be positive.💚❤️.

Photos of clothes are taken from this Weibo account.

[lgbtlunaverse]

3zun data analysis

I was wondering how much the different 2-out-of-3zun ship fics were actually focused specifically on them, rather than having them feature as side pairings, so I did a little mini-experiment. Beginning by searching for otp:true in each tag

(This doesn't give you the real number of fics were the pairing is the main focus, for the record. The other tagged ships might've been a side pairing, and the one we're filtering for the main one, and otp:true also filters out platonic relationships. So, for example, a nielan fic that has the nie brothers tagged as a platonic bond will also be filtered out. But since it does that for all ships you can still get a good idea how likely each one of them is to be the center in their fics)

My hypothesis was that Nielan would be the least likely, as they're frequently tagged as a side pairing in wangxian focused fics, with xiyao and nieyao having comparable results.

Nielan, as I type this, have 2154 works, of which only 627 have only nielan tagged. That is 29% of all nielan fics.

Next up is xiyao, who have 4534 works, of which 2195 only have xiyao tagged, a significanly higher 48%

And lastly nieyao, who have the least works in total with 1749, but have 683 works only tagged nieyao, more than nielan despite having less fics overall. Ending up at 39% of all nieyao fics

So I was right about nielan being lower, but turned out to be wrong in my hypothesis that nieyao and xiyao would end up with comparable results!

One possible factor is that nieyao, being a smaller ship, is more affected by those big collection-type fics that have a dozen pairings tagged for every chapter, as well as 3zun fics that have the individual pairings tagged. (Which we'll get to later!!)

Also, Huaisang - typical of him - butts into nieyao more. 5% of nieyao fics have the Nie brothers tagged platonically, and almost exactly the same number are tagged sangyao. Compare that to lan xichen's much more reserved little brother who really doesn't want to be a part of this, as only 3% of xiyao fics are tagged with the twin jades, and zhanyao... isn't much of a thing.

I'd anticipated both of these, but I'd also expected that xiyao, being a bigger ship, would be a less controversial background pairing for wangxian, who - let's be real - are the main players within the mdzs fic space so they massively impact the numbers. I know xiyao are certainly not without controversy (god no) and the go-to side pairings are xicheng and xuanli instead but like... compared to nieyao, surely they're the normie pick? And, well, 25% of xiyao fics are tagged wangxian compared to only 20% of nieyao fics so that is somewhat true, but not as much as I'd thought. (For comparison, 43% of nielan fics are tagged wangxian)

Now let's look at 3zun overall. Of the 1127 3zun fics, 277 are exclusively tagged 3zun. That's only 25%

But that doesn't feel right. After all, a lot of 3zun fics also tag the individual pairings. And excluding them like we did with the 2-out-of-3zun ships feels wrong. You'd categorize a fic tagged with both nieyao and 3zun as a 3zun fic, wouldn't you?

So I manually excluded each non 2-out-of-3zun pair. This took a bit, but you end up with 538 3zun fics which are either not tagged with any side pairing, or only tagged with a ship already contained in 3zun. That is 48% of all 3zun fics, similar to xiyao.

So there you have it! Xiyao is the most independent of the subfandoms, having almost half of its works centered solely around xiyao (and even more primarily focused on xiyao. As I said, otp:true also filters out works that still focus on xiyao but have other background relationships) with the overall 3zun fandom having a similar focus, followed by nieyao, and then nielan.

edit: this has a part 2 now

[joyswonderland1108]

With that being fucking said, i just wanted to give a sense of comfort for those of you who are still trying to accept the fact that all of our boys starting from tomorrow will be off to the military.

I know it sounds hard, it sounds like a long time but hey

I know that many of you didn't even realize Jin did 66% of his terms Hobi 43% and even Yoongi with 21 months already did 12%. Soon enough all of our boys will comeback and whether we notice it or not, even the surge of content with our daily lives of course are keeping us distracted.

All i will ask of you is to always be there for our boys, if the fandom is shitty fuck it you don't have to love the fandom but please don't let your hate towards the fandom overpower your love towards the boys. No matter how toxic this stupid fandom can get, ignore them, focus on the boys, if someone is being stupid on your TL block them or just mute them, we can't let a fucked up fandom chase away the good people in it then when 2025 comes the boys come back to fandom full of brain dead rats, so please, let the love we have for the boys be stronger, let's all be there for them when they reunite.

Another thing i will ask of you is to trust them, yes the military is not a happy sunshine place but please please PLEASE trust them, believe in them, our boys will be fine, our boys will do amazing, and in no time they'll all already be back to us. Please believe that our boys will be safe and sound, yes training is hard, military work is hard, but our boys are capable please believe in them, please look forward to seeing them all in 2025.

For my fellow Jikookies, please trust Jimin and JK too, trust them on many levels that is, please love them, please stay strong for them, do not let anyone call you a mere shipper and prompt you to give up on them, please.. Just believe in them. Everything they do or do not do is for a reason so please believe in them, support them, they will be okay, if it's not me you should trust about this, then at the very least trust THEM for that as well.

Go and come back safely my boys 💜

[philosophiums]

hi sam!! 1, 2, 6, 8, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 50, 51, 55, 57, 66 (lmhs), 71, 72, 76, 78, 79 😊 i just love picking another writer's brain hehe

KSJDBVJKDFBV MARIAM IM CRYING HELP 😂 *cracks knuckles* okay let's gooooo 💜 (there's gonna be a read more somewhere)

questions from here!

1. Do you daydream a lot before you write, or go for it as soon as the ideas strike?

Truly depends on the length of the wip! For short stuff that I'm confident will be under 10k, I just go in swinging. For longer stuff, I'm daydreaming constantly, even during the writing process. When I had a desk job, I would spend Work Time thinking and then write stuff out in my notes app, but now that I operate a moving vehicle for 7+ hours a day, I just spend the majority of that time Daydreaming, Thinking, and Planning for LMHS.

2. Where do you get your fic ideas?

It's about a 60/40 split between original thoughts (as much as anyone can claim to truly have original creative thoughts that are 100% not inspired by anything else) and ideas that are based on or inspired by the premises of other fics or by fanart (sometimes not even from the same fandom).

6. What’s the last line you wrote?

From LMHS, last line of chapter 3: "Sun shining on their backs, sweet snacks in their stomachs, and laughter in the air, the three of them take off together, venturing once again deeper into Changyin’s busy streets."

8. Post an out-of-context spoiler from a wip.

Not written out yet so I can't post a snippet, but in LMHS, water is so important to Megumi's character, way beyond just bending.

12. Do you outline your fics?  If yes, how detailed are your outlines?  How far do you stray from them?

Sometimes! I did outline LMHS, though that was mostly an attempt on my part at keeping track of all the thoughts @hinamie and I were throwing at each other. It's not very detailed at all, just a bullet point list of things like "they travel to [location] - remember that [this character] is with them" or stuff like that. It's a guide for the like... movement™ of the fic, but less so the nitty gritty details, which I kind of enjoy discovering as I go (be it while I'm writing or while Hina and I are talking). But the last long fic I wrote (250k) did not have an outline. I just followed my heart and the vision I had of the end of the fic <3 The back half of that fic did have a canon timeline to follow, though, which made it easier.

14. What is your favorite location and position to write in?

SJKDBJKSDB I do about 95% of my writing in a big leather wingback armchair in my living room, usually with one leg hooked over an arm of the chair. The other 5% is bleary-eyed, 2am in bed, notes app, half-finished sentences with just the worst spelling you've ever seen.

15. What’s your favorite time to write?

It used to be between 1am and 3am, back when I was unemployed/working a job I didn't have to properly sleep for. Now, the only time I seem to be able to write is from about 8:30pm to 11pm. It takes me forever to unwind after coming home, so I can really only get myself to focus way at the end of the day. 100% if I went back to a desk job or stumbled into a pile of money that could let me stop working, I'd be right back to typing away well after midnight.

17. Do you have a writing routine?

Sit down > open word doc > reread last paragraph > dissociate > walk away > come back three hours later and write SKJDVBDKJBVJKDFBV

18. Do you enjoy research?  Which fic of yours required the most research?

I don't necessarily enjoy it, mostly because when I'm researching, I tend to get pulled down a rabbit hole of stuff I don't need to know and will never use. However, I do find that I end up doing impromptu "shotgun" research a lot while writing. Literally while writing the first chapter of LMHS, I had to pull up some research on trees just to make absolutely sure I was describing something correctly. It's 100% an inconsequential detail, but at least I know I wasn't pulling it completely out of thin air KSJVDBDKJVB I don't think I could honestly say which fic required the most research. If we include the amount of time I spent on the respective fandom wikis for character/canon details, then Swallow the Stars for sure. But if it's only for Other Stuff™, then I think they're all about equal.

19. Do you enjoy creating OCs or do you prefer to stick solely to canon characters?

I love making OCs in general, but not really for fanfic. I'll make an OC for an inconsequential side character no problem (did this a couple times in Swallow the Stars), but, for the most part, I prefer to stick to canon characters. I've never written a fic from the POV of an OC, and I doubt I ever will. I would much rather explore the dynamics between canon characters than insert a new main character into a story that already has one.

22. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process?  How do you come up with titles?

Depends! I've done all three before SKJDVBDKJVBF Sometimes, a title comes to me right away, and I can sort of circle around it while I'm writing (this is more common for me with short fics). Sometimes, I get a few thousands words in, and have played with the themes long enough to have it just sort of come to me. Other times, I'm fully edited and just staring at the words begging a title to appear so I can post KSJDVBDKJFVBDFV LMHS had a title before I even started writing, because I wanted to have a title when I posted the fic announcement. As far as how I come up with them, I've pulled directly from words in the fic, I've gone on random quote generators and pulled from those, I've sat down and literally just strung words together based on a theme or a single specific word I wanted (LMHS, for instance, came from a desire to use the word "haunt"). It just kinda depends and is different for every fic!

23. Is writing the beginning, middle, or end of the story easiest? Hardest?

The beginning is easiest because it's fun character introductions and scene setting, not a lot of plot yet. The middle is by far the hardest because that's where the plot is beefiest and where a lot of the transition spaces are, and at the same time you're starting to gather up the threads you want to tie off at the end.

24. How do you choose whose POV to write in?

I choose based on whose thoughts I'm imagining most when I'm first thinking of the story! When I'm new to writing for a fandom, I will sometimes have to start a fic 2 or 3 times to find the voice that comes easiest to me, though. I have a tendency to lean towards the quieter characters, but that's not always true! For example, Andrew Minyard's POV is easier for me to write in, but I have more fun writing Neil, so I tend to gravitate towards Neil for AFTG fics.

25. What’s your favorite part of the writing process (worldbuilding, brainstorming/outlining, writing, editing, etc)?

World building my beloved..... I love coming up with Reasons for things that I want to happen, tying things into the setting and the history and making sure it works for the characters as well. The moment when everything connects is so magical.

26. What’s your least favorite part of the writing process?

Writing KJDBKJDFBVJKDBFV Words are just.... so hard 😭

28. What area of writing do you want to improve in?

Detailing! Descriptions! I am constantly fighting with myself over how much detail I actually need to include in my descriptions, because on some level, I want to describe it as much as I possibly can so that it can be envisioned easier, but on the flip side I know for a fact that no matter how much I describe something, no one will ever see it exactly the same way I do. And so then I pull back too far, I think, and keep my descriptions bare minimum, which I think is just as unhelpful. I need to work on finding a balance. Maybe metaphor can be my friend here.....

30. How much do you edit your fics?  Do you edit as you write or wait until you finish the first draft?

I usually go through for edits a minimum of two times and a maximum of 4 times. I always do an initial read-through for details that I missed or clarifications I need to make or continuity problems, stuff like that. Then I'll go through for grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc. If I end up rewriting a lot during that second edit, I'll go back through yet again just to double-check everything. And, more often than not, I do a last read-through right before I post. Though, inevitably, there's always something that I don't catch until it's already posted KJSBDVKDJBV

42. What’s your favorite title that you’ve come up with?

I'm really quite keen on Like the Moon Haunts the Sun !! It's longer than what I usually go for with titles, but it's sooooo thematically fitting and just really really pretty imo. But, This Is What Hollows holds a special place in my heart because it's a bit different and yet perfectly fitting for that fic. Plus, it was titled loooong before I came up with a way to include it in the actual writing of the fic, and I felt like an absolute genius when I managed to do that organically.

43. Is there a trope or idea that you’d really like to write but haven’t yet?

I have a world mostly built for a fantasy setting with dragon gods and stuff that I've planned out all the lore for and yet cannot for the life of me actually think up a plot that would be interesting to write SKJVBDJKVB I have characters, I have setting, I have themes, but a plot? Evading me. And it's been haunting me for like 7 years.

44. What is your favorite genre to write?

Urban fantasy 100%!! I love writing magic systems without having to do historical research SKJBDVKJDVB Also just the idea of magic in a place that we live in is so special to me like... there is magic everywhere in the world, but sometimes that magic really does come from a spell book like Yes Please.

45. What genre/trope do you tend to write the most?

Found family trope my beloved,,,,,,,, don't look too closely at it; it doesn't say anything about me as a person I Promise.

47. Is there a trope that you’ve written before but are now sick of?

Not a trope, but when I was younger and Working Through Some Shit, I included a, I guess, circumstance™ that I will not actually say (bc it's like. triggering) in just about every fic I wrote, but I'm past the point now (thank god) of needing to vent through it, so I truly don't think I'll ever include it in anything ever again.

50. How would you describe your writing style?

HHHHHHH I have no idea. I think I am incapable of looking at my writing objectively enough to describe it.

51. Does what you like to write differ from what you like to read?

Very much so! I love reading prose that is rich in metaphor and simile, but for the life of me I can't write like that. I don't have the gift of constantly being able to turn a phrase so beautifully, but god is it gorgeous to read.

55. Have you noticed any patterns in your fics?  Words/expressions that appear a lot, themes, common settings, etc?

I don't even want to think about the words and phrases I overuse because I'm sure there's plenty JSKDBVKJDFVB I do have a recurring theme of like... healing, though. This deep inner struggle of the characters to get to a better place is just... so important to me. I want them to heal, but more than that I want them to want to heal.

57. How conscious are you about including symbolism or foreshadowing in your fics?

I'm certainly conscious of it, but less so on the first draft. I think foreshadowing has a way of sneaking into my writing naturally (especially because I write chronologically), and then I can really hammer it in during the edit. Symbolism is purely being brought in during the first edit unless it's something so important that it was underlined a lot during the drafting/planning stage.

66. What’s a fun fact about LMHS?

It started as me just randomly thinking about ATLA and sending a question to Hina about what she thought the main trio's bending elements would be, and it just tumbled out of control from there SKJDVBDJKVFB

71. Do you spend more time reading or writing?

Writing, which is... saying something because I really don't spend a lot of time writing on a day-to-day basis. But I haven't read a published book in.... 4 years? And I don't read fanfic very often either, despite my bookmarks tab being overflowing with fics that I would like to read at some point. I just feel like I never have the time or energy to sit down and read.

72. What’s your favorite writing compliment you’ve gotten?

I have gotten a similar comment from multiple people that is about my characterization of canon characters within AUs and how it still feels like the canon characters but with realistic changes based on a different setting, and in fic writing I can't think of higher praise. Like... that's exactly what I want. I don't want the characters to be exactly the same as canon because their circumstances have changed, but I still want them to be recognizable. That's always what I'm striving for, and it makes me happy that people notice and think it's executed well enough to comment on.

76. How do you deal with writing pressure, whether internal or external?

Poorly KDEJVBKJDEFVBJKDFVBJF Really though, I struggle managing pressure when I'm writing. And it's always internal, because external pressure on fics just makes me petty since it's Free Labor, and people who complain about a slow upload schedule or whatever just make me Mad. But internal pressure is HHHHHHHHHH I am Going Through It with LMHS. I want it to live up to expectations, but I also want to finish it quickly, but I also want it to be lush and complete, and there's always this voice in my head telling me I'm not writing fast enough or good enough. Mostly I work past it by reminding myself that the time will pass anyway and that it's a miracle that I can even write ~1k words a day with how tired my job makes me. And on the days when that doesn't work, I have loud music KSJDVBDKJVBJDKFV

78. What motivates you during the writing process?

Up to the point where I start posting (for my last long fic, I was >100k in before I uploaded the first chapter), the motivation comes from a simple desire to write that particular story. For me, it can't come from anywhere else. If I don't want to write on a fic anymore and I haven't uploaded yet, I'll just stop. However, once I start posting, comments and general interaction with the fic gives me a huge bump in motivation. Engagement and talking about the story and the characters and the plot just makes me so excited to keep going so that I can drop the next plot twist or cliffhanger and read everyone's reactions. This time, for LMHS, I am very very lucky to have my own personal cheer squad of one (Hina) motivating me daily through memes and character discussion and new pieces of art and other various things <3

79. Do you have any writing advice you want to share?

The best actual constructive writing advice that I can give is: Do Not Edit Something Until You're Done. And yes, I mean the entire story - do not go back and reread/rewrite until you're done with it. Nothing will make your forward momentum disappear faster than going back to edit. If you're too hung up on details and perfection right away, you're never going to get done. You have to just write and accept that things will need to be reworked. Make notes for yourself on things to fix later or whatever, just do not scroll back up and start editing before you're done with something. It will only make you disappointed that where you pick up again isn't going to look as nice as what you just edited.

[thecreaturecodex]

Sartan

Still from Return of Ultraman accessed at the Ultraman Wiki here

[I am coming to the Ultra franchise pretty much cold, and am watching it in isolation from its fandom except for my girlfriend @abominationimperatrix. One of the things that I gather from her is that the monsters that stand out to me from these series are rarely fandom favorites. Like, I'm not planning on statting up Black King or Gudon or Twintail from Return of Ultraman... but this ratty anthro Snuffleupagus was immediately on my list. Part of that is how grody and gross he looks. Part of it is he has an interesting power set, one that led to my conception of the flavor text. It seems that Tsubaraya Studios thought the idea of a ninja elephant was worth exploring long before it was a joke on RPG.net about D&D 3.0's skill system]

Sartan CR 17 CE Monstrous Humanoid This creature is as tall as a building. Its features are lumpy and misshapen, with bulging eyes and sparse, bristly hair growing from its head. It has a long, elephant-like trunk, clawed hands, and a short tail.

A sartan is an interplanetary thrill killer. They travel from world to world, using their powers of invisibility to spy on people and learn who their heroes are. They then seek these heroes out and kill them for no reason other than to challenge their abilities and to cause other people emotional suffering. Sartans are cruel and enjoy collateral damage in these assassination attempts. Some powerful entities attempt to hire sartans to work for them as assassins, but sartans care little for money. Only if a target interests them, or if the employer resorts to charm spells, will they take on one of these jobs.

A sartan usually only enters combat if it suits them, whether because they have found their target, they want to lure that target into the open, or if they just feel like committing some cruelty for fun. Their supernatural abilities are mostly defensive—a sartan is invisible unless it chooses to appear, or is actively locked in combat. They can become incorporeal, which they often do in order to have mundane weapons pass right through them. When it comes to actual violence, however, sartans do it the old-fashioned way, by getting their claws bloody or grabbing a foe with their trunks and squeezing it to death. Sartans value their own hides too strongly to fight to the death. They will usually attempt to flee a losing battle, but may come back for a rematch on their own terms. 

Sartan  CR 17 XP 102,400 CE Colossal monstrous humanoid Init +13; Senses darkvision 120 ft., Perception +24, scent, see invisibility

Defense AC 32, touch 12, flat-footed 32 (-8 size, +9 Dex, +1 dodge, +20 natural) hp 261 (18d10+162) Fort +15, Ref +20, Will +14 DR 15/magic; Resist electricity 20, fire 20 Defensive Abilities evasion, ghost form, natural invisibility, uncanny dodge

Offense Speed 60 ft. Melee 2 claws +23 (2d8+13/19-20), slam +23 (4d6+13 plus grab) Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft. Special Attacks constrict (4d6+19), leap attack, strangle, studied target (+4, swift action, up to 4 targets) Spell-like Abilities CL 18th, concentration +22 Constant—comprehend languages, see invisibility 1/day—find the path

Statistics Str 36, Dex 28, Con 29, Int 11, Wis 17, Cha 18 Base Atk +18; CMB +39 (+43 grapple and sunder); CMD 59 (61 vs. sunder) Feats Dodge, Greater Sunder, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Mobility, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Stealth), Spring Attack Skills Acrobatics +27 (+39 when jumping), Perception +24, Stealth +28, Survival +24; Racial Modifiers +8 Stealth Languages Aklo SQ meteoric starflight

Ecology Environment any land Organization solitary Treasure standard

Special Abilities Ghost Form (Su) A sartan can become incorporeal as a swift action. In this form, it loses its natural armor but gains a deflection bonus to Armor Class and CMD equal to its Charisma modifier. It cannot make attacks in this form, but does gain a fly speed equal to twice its land speed with perfect maneuverability. It can resume corporeality as a free action. A sartan can remain incorporeal for a number of minutes up to its Hit Dice in a day. Leap Attack (Su) As a full round action, a sartan can launch itself an impossible distance, traveling up to 1000 feet in a single bound. This movement can be vertical or horizontal, and the sartan lands on its feet unharmed regardless of the height it travels. It can make a single melee attack against an opponent in its reach during any part of this movement. A sartan can use this ability once every 1d4 rounds. Meteoric Starflight (Su) Over the course of 1 minute, a sartan can turn itself into a Medium sized hovering rock-like object, then blast itself into space. In this meteoric form, it has hardness 8, can make no attacks, and requires no food, water or air. In this form, it can fly at a speed of 300 ft. with perfect maneuverability, and can survive in the void of outer space and fly with incredible speed. Although exact travel times vary, a trip within a single solar system should take 3d20 hours, while a trip beyond should take 3d20 days (or more, at the GM’s discretion)—provided the sartan knows the way to its destination. Natural Invisibility (Su) A sartan can become invisible or visible as a move action. Its invisibility is broken when it attacks. Strangle (Ex) Due to its enormous size, a sartan can only strangle when it is grappling an opponent of Huge or larger size. Studied Target (Ex) A sartan gains the studied target ability of a slayer with a level equal to its Hit Dice. It does not gain other slayer class abilities, such as sneak attack or slayer talents, unless it takes levels in the slayer class.

[fractualized]

hi!! i hope you don’t mind me asking this but i recently read harleen (specifically issue 1) and wondered if you might know of any other comics that have an outsider perspective of batjokes? thanks !!

I don't mind at all, anon! I also enjoy in-universe outside perspectives on Batman and Joker's relationship (and I've included quite a bit of it in fic). Harleen #1 does have a pretty great one:

The most common commentary on Batman and Joker from other characters is the ol' "why haven't you killed him yet?!" but that reflects more frustration than any inkling of the connection between Gotham's most famous nemeses. So with the help of @distort-opia, I wrangled panels from a couple dozen comics that show characters having a better (even if incomplete) understanding of what the heck is going on there.

Many of these may already be familiar if you've been around batjokes fandom long enough. Regardless, spoilers abound!

I've ordered these (mostly) in cover date order.

June 1996 - The Batman Chronicles #5

This is a flashback that takes place shortly after The Killing Joke. Barbara is understandably bitter about being fridged, and it's clear that officers who saw Batman and Joker laughing together have spread the word, because heyyyyy wtf?

October 1996 - Catwoman (1993) #38

Selina knows releasing other rogues is a good distraction; Batman is always more concerned about Joker than her.

May 1997 - Batman: Batgirl

Before this, Joker was firing his gun willy-nilly, hitting his own men, and he hit Batman accidentally. Barbara doesn't seem to think he fully understands the consequences of killing Batman, especially given the surprise he shows when Batman goes down.

Five years later, this story gets retold (with a worse rendition of Joker's fantastic oufit):

July 2002 - DC First: Batgirl/Joker 

In this version, Barbara more actively realizes she needs to get at Joker by laughing at him, because he's caught up in a reality where Batman is the only other real person. (Not sure if this is the first comic to posit that idea, but it has shown up elsewhere.)

February 1999 - Catwoman (1993) #65

Joker has been terrorizing Catwoman for Batman-related reasons for a few issues, and she knows that saying she's killed Batman will devastate him. (You know, the more stories like this I see, the more I see Tom King actually didn't have too far a walk to jokerize Selina.)

August 2001 - Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (1989) #144

Alfred has noticed that Joker's presence affects Bruce's behavior. 

September 2003 - Batman: Gotham Knights #43

This take from Barbara is set before TKJ and meant to foreshadow (aftershadow?) it. Here she shows a better understanding of Batman and Joker's relationship than Bruce does.

October 2003 - Outsiders (2003) #3

Luthor knows just how to get under Joker's skin.

March 2011 - Streets of Gotham #19

Hush also knows how to get under Joker's skin.

March 2011 - Gotham City Sirens #19 

Selina and Harley are thinking more about themselves here, but it's not hard to connect the dots. Joker is part of the criminal morass that Bruce is focused on fighting, and Joker's focus is constantly on how to best the Batman.

November 2011 - Batman: Noël

Bruce has been told that Catwoman has information about the Joker's whereabouts. Note that Selina isn't saying she's aware that Joker is up to something right now; she implies that Batman is always thinking about Joker. It's a fact she can bank on.

May 2013 - Injustice: Gods Among Us #4 (digital release #11) 

Perhaps the most infamous example. This is related to the "why won't you kill him?" trope, but Clark's accusation takes it further by directly saying it's because Bruce loves fighting Joker more than he loves his friends and family.

Clark says something similar about Joker being Bruce's playmate in another comic:

August 2014 - Adventures of Superman (2013) #14 (digital release #41

Even outside of the Injustice universe, Clark knows Bruce's priorities are out of whack when it comes to Joker.

January 2013 - Catwoman (2011) #14

Selina just stating the obvious here, again after a now-faceless Joker has tormented her for Batman-related reasons for a couple issues.

April 2016 - Batman (2011) #49

Heartbreaking example from Alfred here. He watched Bruce's obsessiveness and understood that Bruce, consciously or subconsciously, saw dying with Joker as his destiny. He probably suspects that Joker didn't really die either and knows they're going to end up back on the same track.

April 2016 - Batman: Europa #4

These panels sum up Europa. Bane, always looking for fresh ways to break the Bat, saw Joker as a clear catalyst (even if he had to make up a convoluted plot to make Batman see it first).

January 2017 - All-Star Batman #4 (backer)

Duke is pretty much repeating Bruce's soliloquy from Death of the Family here, so he's not saying anything Bruce doesn't really know, but he doesn't know that Bruce knows. lol Interestingly, this happens before Dark Days: The Casting, in which Duke watches Joker demonstrate his love in a more positive way by trying to stop Bruce from blundering into everything that happens in Dark Nights: Metal and beyond.

January 2018 - Batman: White Knight #2

White Knight is problematic from a batjokes standpoint (and other standpoints!) but poor Harley presents another infamous outsider perspective here.

October 2018 - Harley/Gossamer Special

She's right and right to say it!

August 2020 - Birds of Prey (2020) 

This take is interesting in how it posits that Joker already felt unfulfilled by Batman by the time he met Harley and that she was kind of a rebound.

August 2020 - The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular

This is from "The Last Smile," in which Harley reveals Joker's recurring nightmare about Batman mocking him as he's put to death. Joker didn't picture Harley appearing to save him, but perhaps he felt like Batman's respect was "saving" him all the long.

September 2020 - Batgirl (2016) #47

Nooooo! That's the thing he's sensitive about!

April 2021 - Batman/Catwoman #3

I have… a lot of thoughts about Batman/Catwoman, few positive, but if you can push past the muddling storytelling technique (and the batcat if that's not your thing), Selina has a lot to say about Bruce and Joker's relationship, like in this and the following example.

May 2021 - Batman/Catwoman #4

Catwoman describes how Batman treats all his rogues and then equates that with how he treats his lovers. How much do you know, Selina? Who is Joker's main competition?? It's Harvey, isn't it?!

May 2022 - Detective Comics (2016) #1058 (backer)

Even newbie F-level antagonists like The Forgotten know what's up!

Well, that was a lengthy but surely not exhaustive account of what other DC characters think about the vibes between the Dark Knight and Clown Prince of Crime. (May they be bewildered for years to come!) I hope you spotted some comics that caught your interest, anon.

[puppetmaster13u]

One-Word Prompts

Mostly for DC, DCxDP, or DP, but can be used for any sort of fandom or original world as well. Go wild! (Each day has two prompts to choose from, feel free to skip or use something else if you don't like something!)

Day 01: Enigma | Silence

Day 02: Celebrate | Pet

Day 03: Gods | Ghosts

Day 04: Family | Alone

Day 05: Hope | Courage

Day 06: Wings | Nest

Day 07: Levitate | Melody

Day 08: Spectrum | Overwhelmed

Day 09: Fire | Gun

Day 10: Mystery | Birthday

Day 11: Ice | Heat

Day 12: Night | Day

Day 13: Hurt | Brick

Day 14: Picnic | Shadows

Day 15: Gargoyle | Rain

Day 16: Fangs | Claws

Day 17: Cat | Dog

Day 18: High | Beacon

Day 19: Free | Fault

Day 20: Formula | Smile

Day 21: Sand | Leaf

Day 22: Songbird | Glass

Day 23: Home | Friday

Day 24: Lurk | Charm

Day 25: Reflection | Teeth

Day 26: Witness | Haunt

Day 27: Scar | Rest

Day 28: Drive | Safe

Day 29: Picture | Shatter

Day 30: Wish | Forgive

Day 31: Risky | Invite

Day 32: Trust | Dance

Day 33: Focus | Kiss

Day 34: Neglect | Connection

Day 35: Solitude | Bone

Day 36: Cook | Crystal

Day 37: Stare | Clouds

Day 38: Luck | Wander

Day 39: Mimic | Visit

Day 40: Dig | Blade

Day 41: Radio | Friendly

Day 42: Letter | Glasses

Day 43: Slump | Snack

Day 44: Vault | Candy

Day 45: Wreck | Ancient

Day 46: Sweater | Tarot 

Day 47: Circus | Missing 

Day 48: Quarrel | Dance

Day 49: Hug | Cry

Day 50: Disaster | Fireflies

Day 51: Explosion | Injury

Day 52: Meeting | Stars

Day 53: Invisible | Drift

Day 54: Aura | Mind

Day 55: Worry | Guilt

Day 56: Train | Tranquill 

Day 57: Rescue | Enemy

Day 58: Breathless | Wave

Day 59: Glow | Explore

Day 60: Flashlight | Lightning

Day 61: Portal | Alarm

Day 62: Fantasy | Orbit

Day 63: Blue | Compromised 

Day 64: Grave | Stain

Day 65: Friend | Dreams

Day 66: Exhaustion | Loss

Day 67: Love | Present 

Day 68: Chaos | Glitter

Day 69: Rebel | Camp

Day 70: Empty | Beauty 

Day 71: Book | Doodle

Day 72: Solitude | Prophecy

Day 73: Lie | Treasure

Day 74: Lost | Cold

Day 75: Crime | Cut

Day 76: Sick | Haunt

Day 77: Task | Glory

Day 78: Chain | Machine 

Day 79: Shiver | Outlaw

Day 80: Hospital | Fragile

Day 81: Drink | Fight

Day 82: Stiff | Smoke

Day 83: Green | Blood

Day 84: Faith | Vision

Day 85: Whistle | Fog

Day 86: Hide | Window

Day 87: Breath | Crawl

Day 88: Trap | Armor

Day 89: Antidote | Splinter

Day 90: Race | Piano

Day 91: Border | Electrical 

Day 92: Savor | Phantom

Day 93: Evening | Spell

Day 94: Unknown | Chase

Day 95: Hold | Disconnect

Day 96: War | Fall

Day 97: Party | Blood

Day 98: Thrive | Goodbye

Day 99: Mask | Fear

Day 100: Youth | Journey

Bonus Prompts: Street | Angel | Aftermath | Coffee | Ribbon | Candle | Prepare | Snow | Desperate | Nightmare | School

[rosemirmir]

AO3 Fic Meme

Was tagged by @belovedstill for this! Thank you so much for the tag B! :D

Rules: Go to your AO3 account and find the following:

What ratings do you write most of your fics under?

General Audiences (94)

Teen And Up Audiences: (27)

What are your top three fandoms?

Kamen Rider OOO (45)

Kamen Rider Gotchard (42)

Arcadia of My Youth (Captain Harlock Series Film) (15)

What is the top character you write about?

Ankh (43)

What are your top three pairings?

Ankh/Hino Eiji (35)

Harlock/Maya (15)

Kurogane Spanner/Minato (9)

What are the top three additional tags?

Fluff (28)

Slice of Life (25)

Introspection (22)

(Note: Tweaked this a bit to focus on three tropes for this, Missing are: Drabble (35) and Community: toku100challenge (28) which would originally also be there)

Does any of this surprise you?

Not really! I am certified obsessed with these characters, ships, and series. I also love just seeing the day to day moments of characters. I've been big on slice of life media since I was a kid. I also love digging into the heads of characters. And just writing fluffy scenarios for my soul.

--

Tagging: @chancellorxofxtrash @lunar-gl1tch @stickers-on-a-laptop @tellmewhatyouc and @mattdillon (if you want to do this! No pressure.)

[lord-aldhelm]

About Me

Since somebody (who shall go unnamed) told me I talk too much about Aldhelm, I wanted to make a post about this.

Like, you know that there is more to me than this right? Like this man and TLK is my obsession but there is so much more to me than just this. It has become an important part of my life, a hobby and an obsession, and I feel like my life has become all the richer for it. I have gone WAY out of my comfort zone in so many ways because of this fandom and have done so many things that I never would have even considered because of it. And have met so many amazing and wonderful people and made some (hopefully) lifelong friends from this. Like it has seriously enriched my life way beyond my ordinary day to day hum-drum bullshit and I am eternally thankful for it.

I am 43 years old. I am married and have two cats (they are my kids lol). I was a veterinary technician (or veterinary nurse depending on your language) for over 16 years before it took such a toll on my physical and mental health that I had to quit. I do my art full time now, so I mostly stay at home. A good friend got me into doing pet portraits in 2017 so that has been my focus, although I also do original paintings, mostly of animals, that I sell online as art prints and merch (like stickers, blankets, totes, t-shirt designs, puzzles, etc). It is not a livable income but it is a nice supplement, and I can relax and work at my own pace and not get stressed out.

When I am not doing that we like to take walks in the forests near our house, go out and explore the local area, take little trips, watch TV and movies together, you know all those kinds of things. I love gardening and yard work, and can't wait until the weather warms so I can get more work done in our gardens. I am somewhat handy and can do some repairs around the house, which is a good thing because this house has a lot of issues.

I love to read, and am reading a book called "Hild" right now by Nicola Griffith, which takes place in the 7th century Britain. I have learned a lot about the Anglo-Saxon time period because of TLK and it has intrigued me to learn more about early British history. I also LOVE fantasy, especially Lord of the Rings and Neil Gaiman. I don't have a big collection of books but I get more all the time!

I love fantasy and Ghibli movies, and have a nice little collection of DVD's that we like to rewatch. I would love to do some fanart from LOTR and Princess Mononoke, and now that I feel more comfortable drawing people I may do so.

Maybe I draw Aldhelm a lot, but that is just because I love drawing him so much... I honestly don't have a lot of time to do personal art and when I do I want to do something that I love. And drawing him relaxes me and makes me very happy. And not only that it has taken me outside my comfort zone to do a subject that I typically don't draw, and gets me acquainted with drawing textures that I am unfamiliar with, like cloth, chainmail, human hair, skin, and metal. I have learned a lot in the past year doing these drawing and I will continue for a very long time. I might do other things if I feel up to it, but drawing him has become a cornerstone of my creativity and I will not stop.

I am sorry that I like to talk about TLK and Aldhelm a lot... when I am passionate about something I don't let up. I just don't want anyone to think this is ALL I do and I am one dimensional.

[runawaymun]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by: @zealouswerewolfcollector @melestasflight & @niennawept - thanks guys!!!!

Under the cut for length.

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

43 total. 26 on my reg runawaymun account, and 17 spicy works under spicy_runawaymun.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

466,324. Geez.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently just Tolkien. Mostly focusing on early third age and late second age. I used to write for Stargate and Doctor Who but that was like ten years ago.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

To Partake - 842 kudos - Longfic in progress. Elrond/Celebrimbor set in the second age, based loosely off The Rings of Power but it's really gone off the rails now because I didn't like some choices in the show and am trying to fix them haha. Show knowledge is honestly not needed because I stop following it after like the seventh chapter. Mostly an Elrond character study disguised as porn.

And the Stars Shine the Same - 695 kudos - Longfic, complete. a look at early third age Rivendell as told by two kids from proto-Rohan who get adopted into Elrond's family out of harsh and traumatic circumstances.

Beneath a Boundless Sky - 520 kudos - longfic and in progress. Sequel to above. Much wider scope. Dealing with the politics of proto-Rohan and exploring Fram's rise to power, while also keeping a firm focus on Elrond, his relationship with Maglor, and his relationship with his family. Oh yeah, and there's an eldritch monster in the mix (one that isn't Elrond that is!)

A Gown Spun from Starlight - 400 kudos - Thranduil x Reader insert oneshot. Mostly fluff.

Supine - 358 kudos - exploratory kidnap fam multi shot. Mostly Maedhros-centric.

Tinúvion - 289 kudos - Oneshot. Elrond and Sauron meet and hiss at each other and fight over Gil-Galad for 1972 words. Sauron shits his pants. Transitive property Luthien-Elrond.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! Sometimes often my spoons are low so I am not always as fast as I like. But I endeavor to respond to everybody!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ohhhhh. Let me think, here. Probably That We Are Still - in which Elrond has a foresight nightmare about Cel's death and they have sex about it, which fixes nothing.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of them have happy endings, because I love happy endings and I've written a good deal of fluff! I think And the Stars Shine the Same has the happiest/most satisfying ending, though. But it's an unfair comparison because it's a longfic. But Never Doubt I Love (Russingon) has a happy/bittersweet ending that's one of my favs. And Equinox (Elrond and Lindir's first meeting) is just pure sugar haha.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I recall, honestly. Hopefully it stays that way. I've gotten one or two slightly homophobic comments but I believe the commenter meant well. It was a weird experience.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes! I find exploring how characters are sexual really really fascinating. It's like a microcosm of everything -- of their relationships, of their trauma, of their securities and insecurities. It's so interesting and fun! And especially the journeys that characters can take sexually, learning to open up and explore :) it's very rewarding. All of that is over on my spicy account. It's nearly exclusively Celrond but there's a few others in there.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I've written a few, but none on AO3. My favorite was one I wrote a long time ago where SG-1 (Stargate SG-1) got into a tangled up mission with the Eleventh Doctor and River. I also do a lot of daydreaming and play in my free time imagining my OCs from my original works winding up in middle earth. :)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've had someone offer but if it wound up happening, I wasn't tagged, so I am not sure! But receiving the offer was very nice <3

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not any of the ones posted to AO3, but @the-commonplace-book and I have collaborated on a lot of work together! I'm always open to collaboration. It's so much fun.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

CELROND CELROND CELROND. Though Brimbrond is becoming a close contender now!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

All of them, really. I try not to doubt I will finish things and just trust my process. I am a naturally slow writer who's a perfectionist and tends to hop from project to project, which is why I focus myself on one or two longfics at most, and I just let the others percolate in outline form until I finish something. I used to not finish things ever and it drove me crazy, so I try my best to stay focused so that things will always get finished in their due time.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Prose. Action and horror. Long character arcs -- especially the unfolding of characters who are recovering from traumatic experiences. I have a pattern haha.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions of settings and characters (I know what they look like in my head and have to actively remind myself that this image isn't downloaded into someone's brain). Politics and schemes. And IMO I am not good at twisty plots. I tend to write pretty linear progressions with few unexpected surprises.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic.

I like peppering individual words here and there, or perhaps small phrases. Pet names, absolutely. But nothing more than that. IMO adding in language can really help ground a story in the worldbuilding.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Funnily enough, Tolkien. When I was a kid I set out to rewrite the entire books just from Merry and Pippin's perspectives. I did not get very far.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I think it's honest to god And the Stars Shine the Same. I am obviously fond of To Partake, but Stars just is in its own special category for me. It came to me at the exact right time in my life when I really needed it. It's a very personal story, and it revived my love of writing and reminded me why I liked doing it.

I am rather late to this and I am not sure who has been tagged and who hasn't, so forgive me if I tag someone who has already done this! But no pressure tags for: @emyn-arnens @jaz-the-bard @lordgrimwing @greyjedijaneite @maglor-my-beloved and whomever else would like to participate!

[mycupofrum]

20 Qᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ꜰɪᴄ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀꜱ

Thanks for the tag @fiendishfyre 💙💙

Ao3 Username: mycupofrum

1. How many works do you have on A03?

All in all 43 fics (24 in English and 19 in Finnish).

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

149k

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Harry Potter. (I've written one Obikin fic for Star Wars but haven’t posted it in English.)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Bathe with me (Prongsfoot, E, 4k)

A lesson in love (Prongsfoot, M, 6k)

What are best friends for (Prongsfoot, E, 2k)

Practice makes perfect (Prongsfoot, E, 4k)

The art of seduction (Prongsfoot, T, 798)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes. I try to respond within a few days but sometimes it takes a longer while. Still, I always read and appreciate them!!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don’t usually write angsty endings but Guilt has one and Darkness has some unhinged tones to it. :D

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of them have happy endings.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

None so far, which is lucky.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yeah. It's pretty basic sex, no major kinks there. xD I focus on building tension between the characters because I think that's hot.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Nope, nothing so far.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not by anyone else. I'd be so happy if that ever happened! I translate my own fics though.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! Years ago I co-wrote some crack fics. They're not available anywhere anymore. xD

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Prongsfoot! ❤️ They've been living rent free in my mind for a very long time.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I haven’t posted any WIPs so we'll see which ones I can finish and post and which will stay hidden in the folder.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Maybe dialogue. And humour? I tend to add it in the story without meaning to (I don't know if that's a strength or not).

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

The longer the fic, the more scattered my brain gets in remembering details and making the story work.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm all for it if it makes sense for the story.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Specialised in you (Prongsfoot, E, 11k)

I like how it turned out to be more than I intended with some smut, angst, action, drama, hurt/comfort...you name it. Also it was a bit experimental for me with James polyjuiced into a woman for a short while. I loved writing f/m and m/m Prongsfoot in the same fic!

Tagging @cassiaratheslytherpuff @gracelesslady23 @forestdeath1 @heartofspells @in-flvx and anyone who wants to do this!

[alshamswelnahr]

52 demon slayer questions

1) Which chapter title do you find the most clever or fitting

2) Which character(s) in the manga do you believe is/are the most well-written and what makes them stand out to you

3) Which character introduction stands out the most to you and what makes it memorable

4) Whose character's conclusion impacted you the most and which one do you believe was the most skillfully crafted

5) Thoughts on "Kimetsu Gakuen" and your favorite character(s)/chapter(s)

6) Favorite character design (including: eyes, color scheme, hairstyle, attire)

7) Top three breathing styles

8) Which character has the most compelling backstory

9) Favorite sword or weapon design

10) Favorite original soundtrack/OP/ED

11) Name your top three favorite fights

12) Favorite anime adaptation change or added scene

13) Is there any scene, aspect, or a detail that you preferred in it's manga version over it's anime counterpart

14) Which sibling or familial bond is your favorite and what distinguishes it as your favorite

15) Which three panels do you find visually stunning and which three panels are your personal favorites

16) Standout quote/dialogue from the manga and what makes it special to you

17) Your favorite parallel or foil within the story

18) What do you think each Hashira/Upper Moon represents symbolically in the story

19) What moment(s) in the manga saddened you the most

20) Have you read the light novels and if so which story was your favorite

21) If you could add an extra manga arc what would it be about and where would it fit in the story

22) Share any headcanons you won't take any criticism on

23) Is there an element of the story you feel passionate enough about to write a thesis on

24) What is your favorite blood demon art

25) In your opinion who is the best-written demon and why

26) Which side character do you think deserved more spotlight

27) If a new Gaiden were released which Hashira would you want it to focus on

28) Your favorite volume cover/sketch and your favorite cover page/colored page

29) Favorite Taisho era whisper

30) How would you rank the story arcs

31) What is the most intriguing piece of lore or world-building element for you and what aspects would you like to see explored further

32) Name a moment in the manga you'd love to experience for the first time again

33) What is your opinion on the manga's ending

34) What initially drew you to watch or read the series

35) What message(s) do you believe kny is trying to convey to its readers, and what idea(s) you think it aims to explore throughout the story

36) What scene in the manga/anime do you find the funniest

37) How would you recommend this manga to someone who's never read it before

38) Which location/setting in the manga or anime do you find the most beautiful

39) Do you create fandom content like fanfiction or fanart and if so what kind

40) What is your favorite dynamic whether platonic or romantic

41) Are there any chapters or volumes you never get tired of rereading

42) What was the most surprising twist in the story for you

43) If you could switch two characters roles in the story (living or dead) would you and how would that affect the narrative

44) Which character did you have the biggest change of opinion about throughout the manga

45) Since love plays a central role in KNY which act or display of love touched your heart the most in the story

46) Do you own any Demon Slayer merch? If yes what items do you own

47) Is there an anime episode you could watch repeatedly without getting tired of it

48) Which version do you prefer watching: sub or dub? also which voice actor do you believe truly embodied their character or portrayed them most convincingly?

49) Does kny bring you comfort? If it does in what way or through which character do you find comfort

50) In demon slayer love's endurance surpasses death making it a story haunted by ghosts. Which one of them do you like the most and which interaction between the living and the dead stands out as your favorite

51) Is there a character that inspires you or whom you strive to be like and is there any you hope to never resemble

52) Lastly, out of Tanjiro's connections and empathies towards the characters, which bond or connection resonated with you the most and what was the reason behind that

[shivunin]

Fanfic Writer Questions

Tagged by @greypetrel - thank you so much! 💗

I know this has made the rounds already. If I tag you and you've already done it, please feel free to tag me in the replies or disregard!

Tagging: @nightwardenminthara @vakarians-babe @transprincecaspian @star--nymph @blightbear @inquisimer @dreadfutures @scribbledquillz

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

43

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

688,185

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Published? Just Dragon Age. But I have some unfinished/unpublished Mass Effect and Baldur's Gate stuff as well.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

All of these are Cullavellan fic:

Your Fate for Mine (129,681 Words | E)

More Than Memory (5,214 Words | E)

Search Your Hands (13,581 Words | E)

Unyielding (3,083 Words | M)

The Epaulet Mate (7,303 Words | E)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes, though more slowly than I used to!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Ooh. Probably The Scourge of Sundermount, though it wound up less angsty than the original ending (in which Cullen and Lavellan are turned to stone forever)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'm a sucker for a happy ending, so this is much harder to answer! I am avoiding answering this with the obvious innuendo haha. Maybe In Any Life? I feel like the vibe of that last chapter is so very soft, with a spring breeze blowing through the window in the house Fenris and Maria made together c:

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've gotten some snarky comments, but never outright hate (thankfully!)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes--not sure what is meant by "kind." M/F and F/F--soft and gentle, hard and fast, mildly kinky, plot-relevant and pwp, etc. A variety of smut, haha.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Not really. Crossovers aren't really my jam, but if I wrote one it would probably be Inquisition characters in Mass Effect (like a genre switch thing, not picked up and dropped into our solar system).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

When I was like 13 on FF.net, yes. It's why I stopped writing fic until I was 28.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Only in a sense! I have a few pieces sharing an OC with a friend that were largely rp first before I set them down as a narrative c:

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

God. Don't ask me this haha. My first DA ship was Fenris/Hawke and it still lives so closed to my heart, but Cullen/Lavellan got me into the fandom and Zevran/Tabris brought me someone very dear to me. I don't think I could ever judge any of them by the merits of the ship alone at this point!

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Hmmm more than I'd like to admit :/ Probably The Red Crossing Arrangement, which is an arranged marriage/Halamshiral still belongs to the elves AU. It took so much more world building that my ability to write it slowly petered out. The odds are high that it will remain at roughly 80k for the foreseeable future (unless I suddenly want to get back to working out trade routes and governance and commerce, which is what did me in; I'm good at world-building culture on account of the degree and all, but the semantics of daily life don't really interest me as much) (tragically, this means the Adalene and Elandrin fix-it portions of this story may never be published :C and this does honestly make me so sad :C)

16. What are your writing strengths?

Voice and characterization/internal dialogue. I've been told that the canon characters I write feel very similar to canon and that's something I'm really proud of c:

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Physical space. I forget to define the setting very, very frequently. It's the next thing I want to focus on in my writing, actually, when I get back into it!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Eh. I think it can add flavor, especially in fantasy settings where the cultures and worlds are built dissimilarly to the real world. I don't think there's anything especially fun about not being able to discern what's happening in conversation---I think it's most effective when it's a handful of phrases that repeat (hello, I'm sorry, I love you, etc.) or when followed by a translation of some sort. As a lover of Latin, I especially find google translations very unreliable and often incorrect. Better to just italicize it and indicate it's another language, imo.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Code Lyoko

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Oof. It depends on when you ask me this haha. For the moment, I think I'm loving As Two Reflected Stars a little extra right now c: I just love wound-tending and idiots in love and this is definitely both!

Blank version below!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favorite fic you've written?

[sejrart]

Commissions

Hi all! I'm opening commissions. I focus a lot on characters in my art and as such, that's what I'm going to be most proficient at.

I'll do original characters, paintings for fanfic or webnovel covers, fanart, NSFW and pretty much any other work I feel qualified to do (i.e. I will not draw, say, machines, a subject I have barely any experience with).

In terms of fanart, I'll do art for any fandom, but I'll put a list of those fandoms I'm particularly familiar with under the cut if you want someone who already knows the world and characters of a given story.

Types of Commissions

Coloured Sketch (25€, around $27 or 21£)

A full body sketch of a character, coloured in.

Simple Illustration (50€, around $54 or 43£)

An illustration with thick line art and mostly flat colours. Full body or more detailed close up.

Character Illustration (100€, around $109 or 85£)

An illustration with line art and shaded colours. For couple or group poses, each extra character is 30€.

Full Illustration (150€, around $163 or 128£)

A composition centering on a character within an environment. Shaded line art and colours, many details. For couple or group poses, each extra character is 30€.

Character Painting (150€, around $163 or 128£)

A painted character on a simple, painted background. For couple or group poses, each extra character is 30€.

Full Painting (400€, around $435 or 342£)

A painted composition. Can involve characters in an enviroment, a landscape, a portrait, etc.

If you're interested, you can message me here on Tumblr or write to me at sejrart@gmail.com

Payment will be through PayPal.

Process

Once you've contacted me about buying a commission, I will ask you a series of questions about the piece to clarify if I am the right artist for what you want and to make sure I have all the information I need to make it what you want.

I will then give you an estimate of how long the work will take me to do. This depends to a large degree on the complexity of the piece, ranging from a few days to several weeks.

If we both agree on going forward with it, I will send you a PayPal request for payment. Once paid, I will start working on your commission.

For pieces above "simple illustration" in complexity, I will send you a few process images as I work on the commission where you can clarify anything you might want changed.

For all commissions, I will send you a preview when I'm close to done where you can request any final changes (within a reasonable degree of complexity).

Finally, you will receive a full-size image file of the piece in question in as a PNG and/or in any other file format you might want. If wanted, I can send versions cropped to fit icon, banner, etc sizes, as well as (if applicable) both transparent and non-transparent versions.

Terms

Upon receiving a commissioned piece from me, you have the rights to post it anywhere you like, as well as adapt it as you see fit. By default, these commissions are for non-commercial use only. If you want a commission for commercial purposes, we can discuss the specifics and come to an agreement.

I will retain the right to use the piece in a portfolio context as well as for developing other work.

Should you want a refund, said refund will be based on how much work I have done on the commission at that time. I.e. you will receive an almost full refund if you request one early in the process.

If you request large changes to the piece, particularly late in the process, that may cost extra.

Fandoms

In the past, I have made fanart for:

Dragon Age

Star Wars

Harry Potter

Les Misérables

Black Sails

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Dungeons & Dragons

I am further familiar with:

Disco Elysium

Mass Effect

Baldur's Gate (all three)

Doctor Who (NuWho)

Merlin

Our Flag Means Death

Steven Universe

DC animated shows

MCU

A lot of smaller video games and ttrpgs