#his whole goal of being a hero who saves is based in his past experiences

[delawaredetroit]

It’s not talked about enough that the reason Izuku thinks of saving others as an ideal is because he spent so much of his life being terrorized by others. That he’s a great hero because he knows what it feels like to be in need of saving

[greenhappyseed]

BnHA Chapter 317: Thoughts & comparisons part 2 - THE OLD MAN AND THE KID

As mentioned in Part 1, I'm splitting my thoughts on Chapter 317 into 3 posts: this one about Deku and All Might (part 2), plus separate posts on the hero brain trust and the media (part 1) and the hero killer Stain (part 3).

* * * * * * * * * *

This part of the chapter was an emotional sucker punch and gave me strong "Gift of the Magi" vibes. All Might is trying to protect his boy by following him, and Deku is trying to protect his idol by saying goodbye. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee of safety for anyone right now, so their "gifts" of protection are unusable. All Might isn't safe whether All Might follows Deku or stays behind. Same for Deku -- his loved ones aren't safe whether he accepts their help or not. It's the harsh reality of what AFO does. The real thing that All Might and Deku need to focus on isn't giving each other the "gift" of safety, but on how strong their bond is.

The main stumbling block is that Deku STILL idolizes All Might (as All Might recognized a few chapters ago). As the adult, it was on All Might to speak up, but he didn't because he's scared to disappoint his boy. He already knows the pain of disappointing a fanboy, so this would take it to a whole new level. But if he really wants to keep Izuku in his life, he MUST risk it and tell the kid all the things he wishes someone had told him. As I wrote previously (between Ch 315-16) it's maddening because we know All Might is capable of having this kind of frank talk with Izuku -- he did it all the way back in Ch 2. All Might saw Izuku overworking himself and modified the workout plan to moderate Izuku's extreme behavior, which would have prevented Izuku from reaching his ultimate goal if left unchecked. So yeah, All Might knows better, and knows he can’t stand idly by while his kid makes a massive deadly mistake. When a child doesn’t have the capacity to help themselves and the consequences are serious, an adult HAS to step in and help ASAP. Talk to the kid, talk to the kid’s friends/teachers, talk to professionals. Keep going until your kid gets the help they need, because even if a parent/guardian can’t help directly, it’s their responsibility to find that help for their kid. Haven’t we learned anything from the lost children in the League of Villains?

Meanwhile, Deku doesn't see All Might as a human who loves Izuku Midoriya. I think, in part due to his being bullied and his innate tendency to not take himself into account, he sees All Might's devotion to him as part of a predecessor-successor relationship. Deku will struggle as long as he sees "All Might" as an ideal and not the human in front of him. (Admittedly, I thought the HPSC storyline might go here and disclose All Might’s awareness of some “grey” missions, causing Deku to look at his mentor through a different lens.) But even now, Deku is trying to have an "I AM HERE" moment so All Might is proud of his successor, but fails to realize All Might is ALREADY PROUD (in part because All Might hasn't vocalized it in a way that Deku can truly hear it). The "You don't look back at me anymore..." in context is immediately followed up by this glowing Dadmight moment:

It only becomes a sad moment in retrospect as All Might realizes (1) he didn't really tell Deku explicitly how proud he was often enough; and (2) the full weight of what it means to nurture a child towards independence (and that his boy is just like him, and is heading towards the same fate as him....)

While I definitely think Bakugo will knock some sense into Deku, I still think All Might is the only one that can truly “release” Deku from these burdens, especially the ones related to the “Symbol of Peace” and the Shimura family that are tied directly to All Might. We see this in Deku’s callbacks:

Nana in the vestige world sobbing over her mistake in giving up Kotaro, saying she and Gran Torino were wrong, and testing Deku’s resolve to save Shigaraki. Juxtaposed with Gran Torino saying, "I should have made the kill...sorry...don't be so rigid. Killing can be another way to save someone," and Shigaraki screaming in emotional pain, “I don’t care if you understand. That’s what makes us heroes and villains!” It’s not just AFO — it’s the weight of generations and broken families on Deku’s shoulders. It’s All Might’s failure to save Shigaraki earlier that has become Deku’s problem now.

Post-USJ Deku meeting with All Might, talking about the first time he used OFA without breaking himself, and All Might pressuring Deku to become the Symbol of Peace. Even though All Might no longer feels that way, and SO MUCH has happened since then, he never clearly said so to Deku, and Deku keeps that weight on himself. The past never dies.

Deku is overwhelmed and destined for a poor decision that will hurt someone or himself, which would definitely play into the media's (and AFO's) hands. First, note the flashback inception with Deku recalling the post-USJ All Might meeting, which itself contains a flashback to Thirteen lecturing about how uncontrolled quirks can kill.

Second, the image of the defeated assassin is downright ominous, with the way All Might is shown above Deku's shoulder like a conscience [Edit: see @codenamesazanka's post here for a Spinner parallel!!] and the way the villain is tied up with his head hanging back, mouth open, eyes rolled back…. Deku and All Might are in shadow, and the villain is in the light…. no real attempt to talk to or understand the villain, just what he knows of AFO……SO MUCH POWER in a volatile teenager with too much responsibility and too few physical and emotional reserves. This won't end well.

Ok, time to bring the real Dadmight pain. All Might dives to save Midoriya and falls. The only other time he’s fallen flat on the ground like that is when he dove to save the random lady during the Cider House incident (which we got in the anime last week). In that fight, All Might needed a guardian gremlin to save him from falling debris. Hopefully that means he’ll go to UA and find young Bakugo soon, and he won't do something dumb and sacrificial in the meantime. WHO SAVES THE (EX-) HEROES?

All Might is a genuinely good person with good intentions, and he drove himself into the ground to help others, but he’s NOT a god. He’s not infallible or omniscient. He has tunnel vision from pursing the same mission from age 14 to, uh, 50-something, and is learning how to function as a "normal" adult. He never asked for help before, and in fact, considered it shameful (even in Kamino). He needs to follow the advice he was going to give to Deku, and reach out to others to save his little boy and himself. He’s still very much capable of inspiring others, even if he needs to rest sometimes. And with that, we cut to Stain, an extremist who believes in self-sacrifice and idolizes prime All Might. Cue Part 3...

A few other points:

Nobody in this arc (including Deku) seems to be using All Might as a resource based on his decades of experience with the media OR with AFO, and it really bothers me. Why is All Might excluded from the brain trust? They’re acting like All Might is useless because he’s quirkless and no longer a ranked hero, but he's still got his brain and his memories. Are Endeavor, Hawks, and Mt Lady really going to chat with Edgeshot and sort it all out??? Will Jeanist's fiber puns stop AFO??? Ugh. This is why hero society as we know it needs to be radically reworked; these top heroes are misusing resources and NOT TALKING to people who might actually have useful info. Does a "hero" need to wear a costume or hold a license to use their brain?

Will anyone tell Inko???? I posted before about this chapter's reference to All Might promising her that he’ll keep Deku safe. But she generally only appears after Deku gets a big advancement of some sort, so I don't know if she'll pop up soon...although I feel like she might need to? (E.g., my pet theory is that we only get her note in the hospital after the forest raid because Deku saved Kota but failed to save Bakugo.) Who else has "lifted up" All Might except Izuku, Inko, and Aizawa -- and Aizawa is probably not in a place to do heavy emotional labor right now???

Others have noted the outreached hand parallels (PAIN!) so I won’t belabor that. BUT look at All Might’s hand, how it is first outstretched and then starting to curl as he realizes he can’t reach Deku in time. Also, how small and frail All Might's hand looks as it curls up. He's normally drawn with huge hands (as big as Deku’s head) so to see his hands look equal in size to Deku’s shows Deku’s growth. Also, contrast this set of hands moving apart with how we saw hands moving together at Kamino, where All Might’s fighting inspired fearlessness. Hopefully All Might can “fight” here too, and inspire the next generation to to amazing things.

[9worldstales]

MCU What if Ep 1-2-3: My two cents

So, I’ve been watching the “What if” series. I won’t beat it around the bush, I’m enjoying it but at the same time I get the feeling this series is aimed at younger audience, younger audience which isn’t deeply familiar with the movies and needs to be feed a simpler storyline.

In fact from the way they present it in each episode 1 single change should be the one which gives life to a parallel universe in a sort of domino effect… only, from what I could see in those 3 episodes, there are actually multiple unconnected changes, 1 presented more markedly as if it were the one starting everything and the others… just there for unknown reasons but they aren’t remarked and might easily be missed by who doesn’t remember well the movies.

Characterizations are also simplified, with heroes more black and white than grey, and a general toning down of the drama. This isn’t necessarily tied to the short time, 30 minutes in the hand of a good storyteller are plenty of time to construct a complicate, adult, emotionally engaging story… but a complicate story requires an audience willing to put its mind to understand it, or capable to handle a more morally nuanced plot or that wouldn’t be too distressed by a more emotionally engaging one.

This kind of audience is clearly not what those stories are aiming at.

This isn’t meant to say they’re bad, they’re perfect for young audience, passing on a good message, being overall funny and giving them the chance to enjoy the heroes they love in a different setting.

Dialogues are nice, their voice actors so far delivered good performance, the art isn’t bad and the stories can feel still intriguing enough.

However, if you think too hard at them, especially in comparison to the original movie, the story tends to crumble or feel morally poor or mess up the characterization or some other thing.

Overall I think the “What if” so far are more enjoyable if you don’t really remember well the movies and, anyway, judge them as stand-alone more than “What if” based on how a single divergence from the plot could create a new timeline.

Some examples?

Pick “What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?”

The divergence supposedly happens when Peggy decides to stay in the room.

Erskine: Agent Carter, wouldn't you be more comfortable in the booth? Peggy: No, I'd prefer to stay. Watcher: There. That's the moment that created a new universe. When asked to leave the room, Margaret "Peggy" Carter chose to stay. But soon it would be her venturing into the unknown and creating a new world.

Only, in truth, it’s not just Peggy who was meant to go to the booth and didn’t.

EVERYONE was meant to go to the booth… only they all stay and Kruger, the spy from Hydra, who was seated in the booth BEHIND Peggy in “Captain America”, in the “What if” episode attacks the lab during Erskine’s explanation and not, as he did in “Captain America”, after the experiment took place, using as a distraction a bomb he left in the booth, and not on the floor of near to where the experiment was taking place so that it can kill Erskine.

And, to be really accurate, Erskine, in “Captain America”, asked Peggy to move to the booth when Steve was already lying down for the experiment, while here we see him asking her so while the two are standing next to each other and he hadn’t started undressing yet.

And there’s a reason why in the movie things were done like that.

Of course in the movie everyone was in the booth, it was safer should something go wrong with the experiment.

Of course Kruger waited for the experiment to be carried on, if it didn’t work there was no point in stealing a vial of a serum that didn’t work.

Of course Kruger left the bomb in the booth and made it explode when he was outside of it, so that he was sure it would create distraction but not harm him.

Overall, it’s not just Peggy that acts differently, it’s Erskine, who asked her to move in advance, it’s all the people there, who didn’t move to the booth, it’s ESPECIALLY, Kruger, who originally aimed to see if the serum worked and, in this case, steal it and kill Erskine so he couldn’t produce more and instead he now doesn’t check if the serum works and kills, for unknown reasons Chester Phillips, who didn’t even have a weapon in his hand and so didn’t pose a threat.

Even the placing of the bomb is poor because, since there was plenty of mechanisms in the lab, it could have triggered a series of explosions that were to destroy the whole place, himself and all the serum included.

But how many young viewers noticed all this or worry for the risk of everything exploding or realize that causing an explosion outside of the room in which the serum was worked as a diversion so as to take people away from that place, while if the bomb were to explode there, everyone would converge in that place, with hydrants possibly as no one worries about fire spreading but they should… even if there’s magically not as much as there should be.

And tragic scenes get tamed down, we don’t see Erskine die, we might not even realize he died in the explosion, young viewers might not remember or not like Chester Phillips so when he’s shoot he doesn’t leave an impression and Kruger’s shape gets shoot down by Peggy so we don’t have him committing suicide.

It’s not a complain, it’s a logic choice to make the series more palatable to a younger target by toning down the violence and the drama in it.

And so we reach the big event of the episode.

John Flynn would want Stark to get the serum injected in himself (forgetting there were men of the MP around him who shouldn’t be all dead) but starts to complain when Peggy volunteers to take the serum herself. Peggy does anyway and again things are tamed down, as Steve ended up screaming so loud in “Captain America” Peggy feared they were killing him and they considered stopping the experiment but Peggy doesn’t scream at all.

Sure, in had been scientifically proved women are built to handle pain better, but very likely Peggy’s lack of scream isn’t because she’s tougher, it’s again to not upset young audience.

So, while Steve lies on the ground and no one comes to help him, Peggy comes out of the experiment enhanced. But here we’ve the real core of the episode, John Flynn decides the experiment is an absolute failure. Why?

Flynn: Sixty million dollars and all the hope in the world down the drain. I was promised an army. I was promised peace and salvation. Instead, I get a girl.

Basically the real core of the episode, the real theme is that Captain Carter will have to fight discrimination based on sexism.

Peggy: You have a Super Soldier. Flynn: Women aren't soldiers, and they sure as hell don't fight on the front lines. They might break a nail.

Undoubtedly this is an important matter, it’s a good topic to make an episode about, to give young girls an heroine, to show to them and to the boys what an absolute moron Flynn was in discriminating Peggy, also presenting boys being supportive of Peggy and trusting her. Howard Stark, Steve Rogers, and then Bucky and everyone else, all the men who see Peggy fighting are ultimately supportive and admiring of her. This is important. But Flynn’s sexism is better remarked if we don’t remember what happened in “Captain America”.

Steve Rogers: Sir, if you’re going after Schmidt, I want in. Col. Chester Phillips: You’re an experiment. You’re going to Alamogordo. Steve Rogers: The serum worked. Col. Chester Phillips: I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough. Senator Brandt: [to Steve] With all due respect to the Colonel, I think we may be missing the point. I’ve seen you in action, Steve. More importantly, the country’s seen it. [to his aide] Paper.[the aide shows them the news paper (‘The New York Examiner’ Vol. XCVII No. 33.634, Wednesday, June 23, 1943), headlines: "Nazis in New York - mystery man saves child"] The enlistment lines have been around the block since your picture hit the newsstands. You don’t take a soldier, a symbol like that, and hide him in a lab. Son, do you want to serve your country on the most important battlefield of the war? Steve Rogers: Sir, that’s all I want. Senator Brandt: Then, congratulations. You just got promoted.

I mean, Rogers was a male and he too was judged ‘not enough’. Brandt has him tour the nation in a colorful costume as “Captain America” to promote war bonds, while scientists study him and attempt to reverse-engineer the formula.

Chester Phillips was likely killed because otherwise they would have no reason to deal with Peggy the same way he dealt with Steve ‘one is not enough’, only it wouldn’t have been a sexist problem, just math (though it could be argued Phillips never trusted Steve to begin with). This causes the message ‘sexism is dumb’ ends up feeling forced because it’s basically pasted over a previous narrative of ‘not being enough’. If you want, you can read it as always discrimination and discrimination it’s always bad, but it still cheapens the message.

All this not to say that the episode isn’t awesome if seen as a stand-alone… it’s just that when you compare it with “Captain America” it feels weaker.

And then there are the other discrepancies, like the Hydra bringing the Tesseract to Berlin and not to Azzano (a sign somehow Schmidt and Hitler didn’t have a fall out) with Stark using it to power up an “Hydra Stomper” suit that proves if he had had the right power sources and technologies he could have built “Iron Man” too.

They’re not bad points (actually I loved the “Hydra Stomper” suit and how Peggy rode it the way Tekkaman from “Uchu no Kishi Tekkaman” used to ride Pegas in my childhood memories) but again they’re divergences without a clear reason. Schmidt and Hitler shouldn’t get along better solely because Peggy got the serum.

And that’s the first episode.

“What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?” is also clearly aimed to a younger audience but with a goal different from “What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?”

Watcher: What you call destiny is just an equation, a product of variables. Right place, right time, or in some instances, the wrong place at the wrong time. As fate would have it, at that very moment, a Ravager spacecraft was arriving on Earth to abduct the spawn of the Celestial, Ego. But in this universe, Yondu outsourced the assignment to his subordinates. Yondu: You morons grabbed the wrong kid!

For start this episode doesn’t try to rewrite a single movie, but by taking pieces of assorted movies “Thor: The Dark World” (for Tivan) “Guardians of the Galaxy” (for the idea of the setting), “Black Panther” (for T’Challa), “Avengers: Infinity War” (for the Black Order), “Captain America” (Tivan has his shielf), “Thor: Ragnarok” (TIvan has and uses Hela’s headpiece, talking of her as if he knew her and we can see he also has Thor’s hammer), “Thor: The Dark World” (Tivan has Malekith’s dagger) creates a completely different timeline by changing something that happened in 1988 and then jumping straight in… 2014, I presume, where a lot is different but we aren’t meant to see the process due to which things were changed, just to accept how T’Challa, kidnapped as a kid by the Ravagers, managed to make the difference.

In fact the whole theme of this episode is that T’Challa is a hero and a role model that gets success and admiration by TALKING TO PEOPLE AND PERSUADING THEM TO DO THE RIGHT THING. He’s meant not to have a character arc but to create a world that’s the best possible for people.

In fact we’re told just by talking with Thanos he persuaded him to stop his whole plan without using violence.

Korath: How exactly did you stop Thanos, the Mad Titan, from decimating half of the universe? Oh, no. Thanos: I'm a big enough man to admit when I'm wrong. T'Challa here showed me there was more than one way to reallocate the universe's resources. T’Challa: Sometimes the best weapon in your arsenal is just a good argument.

I mean, he doesn’t just turn the Ravagers into Robin Hood’s “merry men”, he talks with Thanos and Thanos decides to change his ways.

This is great, a wonderful message, a message against violence, a message about the power of the words and it makes T’Challa a real hero who, just by talking, saves the universe from Thanos but… but T’Challa from the movies was maybe not so good at persuading people from not doing wrong but he still had something amazing that made him very human and, at the same time a role model.

T’Challa wasn’t perfect, he made mistakes… but then he would admit them and correct them.

In “Captain America: Civil War” he wants to kill Bucky in retaliation for what happened to his father…

Natasha Romanoff: T'Challa. Task force will decide who brings in Barnes. T'Challa: [He clenches his fist.] Don't bother, Miss Romanoff. I'll kill him myself.

…but then he understands killing his father’s murder would be wrong and even stops Zemo from committing suicide.

T'Challa: Vengeance has consumed you. It's consuming them. [He blinks ruefully and retracts the claws in his gloves.] I am done letting it consume me. Justice will come soon enough. Helmut Zemo: [Holding a gun Zemo smiles thinly.] Tell that to the dead. [He tries to shoot himself but T'Challa grabs him just as he fires.] T'Challa: The living are not done with you yet.

And the same goes in “Black Panther”. At first he doesn’t want to ask Killmonger his name because he knows he is his uncle’s son and this would give him the right to compete for the throne as well as expose what his father did…

Killmonger: Oh, I ain't requesting nothing! Ask who I am? Shuri: You are Eric Steves. An American black operative. A mercenary nicknamed Killmonger. That's who you are. Killmonger: (LAUGHING) That's not my name, Princess. Ask me, King? T'Challa: No. Killmonger: Ask me. T'Challa: Take him away.

…but then he’ll acknowledges they had wronged him, will show him Wakanda’s beauty and will change things in Wakanda. T’Challa in the movies isn’t as perfect as T’Challa in the “What if” episode. He can’t solve everything and make the world perfect. He isn’t always right. He gets angry, vengeful, afraid of the truth. But then he rises above this and does the right thing.

“What if” T’Challa is a model of perfection that’s admirable… but that sits simply too high above the original T’Challa who also had to deal with Thanos but didn’t even think he could change his mind just by giving him a talk… and with good reason.

Younger kids might not realize because they might have not fully grasped how Thanos was a genocidal maniac, who massacred millions even prior to the snap, tortured his daughters and even removed body parts from Nebula. They might swallow it was just that easy to talk him into not doing the snap, and Thanos only needed someone to tell him it was wrong… and that in truth he loved Nebula… but for older viewers while beautiful, this is simply unbelievable.

And what about Yondu and the Ravagers? Just because they had T’Challa they became good and righteous. This is how Peter Quill described Yondu in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” which still gives a sympathetic portrayal of Yondu:

Quill: He wasn't my father. Yondu was the guy who abducted me. He'd beat the crap out of me so I'd learn how to fight and he kept me in terror threatening to eat me.

But T’Challa doesn’t seem to have such complains against Yondu.

Now… In Quill’s case Yondu kept Quill so as to protect him from Ego…

Yondu: Once I figured out what happened to the other kids, I wasn't gonna just hand you over.

…yet he kidnap him and tells him his home was destroyed so as to manipulate him into staying… but this is so easily forgotten by T’Challa to the point children might not even realize it was there. Yondu was a good dad for him, he kidnapped him because T’Challa was basically wasted at home.

Yondu: Sometimes you need to hear a lie to see the truth. You're just like me, T'Challa. T’Challa: I am nothing like you. Yondu: You're an explorer, Star-Lord. And for people like you, like us, the past ain't nothing but a prison. You don't belong down there with them. You belong up here with us, with your family.

Although T’Challa doesn’t seem to agree at first… in the end all is forgotten.

Yondu: Look, T'Challa, I just wanted to say... T’Challa: There's no need. I was the one who told you I wanted to see the world. All you did was show me the universe.

and

T’Chaka: (Voice shaking) My son, my son. I knew you would find your way home to us. T’Challa: I'm sorry it took me so long. Let me introduce you to the family I made along the way.

All this is to basically excuse the premise, something horrible like kidnapping a child is passed as not really something terrible so that kids wouldn’t deal with its emotional implications and can even think that it was a pity that, in the normal universe, it was Peter Quill that was kidnapped… without realizing that kidnapping is bad and that in T’Challa’s case Yondu wasn’t even doing it because he wanted to protect him. Actually it’s unexplained why, all of sudden, Yondu felt the need to keep T’Challa and completely forgot about Quill, didn’t even care about making sure Ego wouldn’t find Quill despite, thanks to T’Challa, becoming a better person. It’s another change, one that people knowing the movies is bound to notice but not kids.

So again, for who knows the movie well, the story ends up being weak and this is also because, while T’Challa could persuade Thanos off screen not to commit genocide… all of sudden his persuasive power isn’t even really tested out with Tivan. Tivan is the big evil… yet he’s somehow less fearsome than Thanos because we clearly don’t want to scare the kids.

So again, wonderful for young audience who doesn’t remember well the movies… not so solid for who’s older.

And so we move to “What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?” which is absolutely my favourite so far. This one at a first glance seems to be a “What if” of a comic named “The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week”.

The awesome thing of this story is we don’t know what changed the universe, we only discover that someone is killing off the Avengers before they could become the Avengers, starting with Tony Stark.

The mystery is, at a first glance, cool, the idea original, Natasha gets a big role as she investigates and even fights things along with Fury and, again, children will likely not really realize how the “What if” is actually changing the settings even when they’re supposedly not related to the change that caused this parallel reality, the death of Hope van Dyne. I mean, we can start our list of changes with the random funny things that has no reason to happen because Hope’s death shouldn’t have made Coulson and Barton to be so appreciative of Thor’s hair, something they never bring up in the movie…

Coulson: Whoa. I got visual on the intruder. He's a Caucasian male, mid-twenties with... really great hair. Fury: Excuse me? Coulson: It's an accurate description. Sir, he's gorgeous. Fury: I need eyes in the sky. Barton. Barton: Already on it. He's making a move on the hammer. One shot, one kill, sir. Just say the word. Fury: Hold your fire. I wanna see this. Barton: Whoa. Coulson wasn't lying about the hair. That's nice.

…to continue with more plot related matters like how Betty should have known Banner had intruded in her lab dressed up as a delivery boy and was now hiding in a wardrobe… but if we want we can forgive them. Maybe Hope’s death really changed some things in weird ways we couldn’t predict… but the place with the biggest revolution seems to be Asgard… which actually shouldn’t have been affected by by Hope’s death AT ALL and instead the situation is completely different from how it were in “Thor” to the point I could write a 20 pages meta on the changes. But, if we assume this episode is aimed at children, it works because the “Thor” situation was complicate and here instead they show solely some random and confuse elements that children might have picked up from talks about the movies… but that weren’t like that in “Thor”.

And again we have messages that can be good for children, how a father will love his little girl, how Nick Fury will save the day even without the Avengers, how:

Fury: S.H.I.E.L.D. is people, people willing to give their lives for something greater than themselves to save the world from men like you.

…and how in the darkest time new heroes will always come to save Earth as when Loki take over because it seems there are no more Avengers, Fury can still count on Carol Danvers and Steve Rogers.

Coulson: The Avengers fell before they had a chance to rise. May they rest in peace. Fury: They can, but we won't. The Avengers were always meant to be more than a team. They were an idea, the affirmation of humanity's need to believe that in our darkest hour, we will find our heroes. Watcher: I believe that in this universe, as in every other, hope never dies. As long as someone keeps their good eye on the bigger picture.

It’s a good message about hope… but again, it’s something for children. We’re meant to believe Earth could be conquered in one day time without struggle whatsoever… and that only the heroes could save it. Children might not remember it but in “The Avengers” humans tried to nuke New York to stop Loki… the idea they would just sit and say ‘whatever’ to Loki’s domination makes it look as if they actually agree with him to an adult… but, of course, the battle of New York is something we might not want to show to a little child.

And now… something else that’s relevant.

I said the “What ifs” are good stories for children… but we’re talking of young children here because if the child is a little older they can end up passing a completely wrong message.

Remember "What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?" and how it tackled sexism as an absurd behavior to keep? How Captain Carter overcomes it? By using her supersoldier powers to beat the Nazi. She shows as a supersoldier she works.

Does she turns over the concept that ‘Women aren't soldiers, and they sure as hell don't fight on the front lines. They might break a nail’?

At most she proves she can be a soldier. She doesn’t fight using the fact she’s a woman as her strongest point, she fights using her super strength as her strongest point… where Steve Roger’s strongest point wasn’t his enhanced strength but his moral values. Peggy proves as a super soldier she’s equal to Steve… but Steve as a super soldier proved he was better than Red Skull. Peggy’s actions in the story doesn’t cause people to revalue women in general, just her. People either aren’t sexist and accept her regardless of her genre (Howard, Steve) or they’re sexist but accept her because she is strong.

It’s meaningful that when she thinks Steve is dead Flynn goes back to his old mindset…

Flynn: She should never have been in the field in the first place.

… because the truth is he never changed it. Peggy had only yelled at them to stop calling Steve “Hydra Stomper” as his name was “Steve Roger” and Flynn decides she, not Steve who actually died, should have never been in the field.

They don’t show how Peggy got information from Zola, which seems to imply all she did to get them was to beat him up. Chester Phillips in “Captain America” manipulated him into talking with his intelligence only.

Do you know which were Peggy’s abilities in the universe in which she isn’t a super soldier? She’s a Master Martial Artist, an Expert Marksman, a Master Spy, an Expert Tactician, a Thief and can speak and read English, Russian and German fluently as well as use a convincing American accent.

This is hardly noticeable though in her own story.

Howard: Should we not have a plan? Peggy: Who needs a plan? I have a shield. Howard: A shield is not a plan. Oh, Carter...

She was a tactician!

Now… she has a shield. But whatever girl wants to be like her won’t have a shield, nor a super serum. To be a real role model for girls who aren’t anymore children Peggy needed to have qualities they too could have that would empower her. The only good moment is when she understands what Howard plans to do:

Howard: If I can get to the controls, I can transpose the ingress and do science stuff. Peggy: You mean transpose the polarity and reverse the suction? Howard: Being the genius is my thing.

But again, the irony here is that this is no genius plan, middle school students had probably seen him being done in movies and cartoons already. It might seem genius idea to kids, but when you’re older it hardly sounds like one… and when Howard complains all in the machine is written in German they don’t have Peggy show her knowledge of it, and translate the words as she fight, she just fight and he’s supposed to figure things out.

“Captain America” is a role model for what he has inside. I’m sure Peggy Carter has plenty of things inside her as well… but “What if” makes it more about the super strength she has gained.

Where Steve gains Phillips’ respect, Flynn’s respect is more a façade due to her successes thanks to her super strength, and that respect gets pulled back as soon as she gets upset by his behavior. Sure, Flynn is a worse person than Phillips in this black and white world but this too is part of the narrative. If Peggy can’t permanently win over sexism in one person, it’s not real victory at all. If what’s remarkable about her is how she fights (due to the serum) then who didn’t have it, will never have a hope. Peggy Carter was more of a female model when she wasn’t supersoldier, she felt more of a role model in “Captain America”, when she got to do this with her own strength:

Peggy Carter: Put your right foot forward. Gilmore Hodge: Mmm… We gonna wrassle? Cause I got a few moves I know you’ll like. [suddenly Peggy punches him hard in the face. Col.Phillips drives up] Col. Chester Phillips: Agent Carter. Peggy Carter: Colonel Phillips. Col. Chester Phillips: I see you’re breaking in the candidates. That’s good!

…than when she punched Nazis thanks to being a super soldier. Peggy has never been a fragile Fräulein, but this episode seems to remark she’s not one merely because she has taken the serum.

As a result… she sets an impossible role model for girls. If the key to be (partially) respected and accepted by males is to get the super soldier serum and/or the shiled… well, that serum doesn’t exist, not does the shield.

And a similar problem exists in “What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?”

Teaching a small child he can solve problems by talking and not by hitting is important… but passing the message that you can stop bullies or worse just by talking to them is again setting an impossible role model. People like Thanos can’t be stopped with just words. People like Yondu and the Ravagers wouldn’t become Robin Hood and his merry men merely because they have with themselves a young boy who tells them the right things… and what Yondu does to T’Challa is worse than what he did to Quill and having been kidnapped as a child shouldn’t be waved off so easily. We’re not talking of Yondu finding an orphaned T’Challa and raising him, if he had picked up N’Jadaka after he lost his father it would have been different, but here, he just ripped a child from a loving family, a family he loved back. And it’s almost presented as a good thing because this causes the universe to be saved by Thanos, Yondu’s lie giving T’Challa the motivation to try to to make the universe a better place.

Nebula: You lost your home, and now you save everyone else's.

And problems continue with “What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?” because there, the solution, the hope, is presented solely by the superheroes. No one opposes to Loki, the whole Earth is expected to be saved by Captain America and Carol Danvers. The one who refuses to kneel to Loki is Fury, who’s considered special. We don’t have in this story a lone old man who’s standing stubbornly despite the threat.

LOKI: Kneel before me. [The crowd ignores him. Three more Loki's appear, surrounding and blocking the crowd from escaping.] I said KNEEL! [While the crowd quietly kneels, Loki embraces out his arms with a wide smile] Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel. ELDER GERMAN MAN: [As the words resonate to the kneeling crowd, an elder German man refuses to kneel and stands, heroic.] Not to men like you. LOKI: There are no men like me. ELDER GERMAN MAN: There are always men like you. LOKI: Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example. [As Loki is about to execute the man with his scepter as the light glows blue. Right as the energy beam shoots out, Captain America arrives, diving in just in time to block the blast with his shield, and knocking down Loki]

So basically in this series heroes set impossible standards… and are the only ones who can save the day. It can be fun for an adult, as he doesn’t need role models… but for a boy who’s no more a small child but not yet old enough to do without viewing heroes are role models, the heroes presents a standard that is something unattainable. And this is bad because he too might enjoy watching the show, but the show gives him no hope… where ironically, Marvel movies were about giving positive role models in which you could identify.

Overall I stay my case, the “What if” series is definitely enjoyable… but the bar for the target audience is set to a very young age, they don’t really follow the idea that one small change can realistically change everything because they actually intrude plenty of small changes for their setting to work, and might end up not giving the right message if you’re in between a age between a small child and an adult. Of course future “What if” episodes might change, and I will probably still love them because I adore what if… but I would love them even more if they had aimed to a target audience a little older… making their heroes, more realistic role models which can be emulated and if they had respected their own premise, that ONE SINGLE CHANGE can create a completely different new reality.

What changed in the Peggy episode wasn’t just Peggy not sitting on the booth. What changed in the T’Challa episode wasn’t just Yondu sending his subordinates to pick up a kid. What changed in the mightiest heroes episode wasn’t just Hope dying.

The fact you need more changes in order to make the difference makes the initial point that one change can make the difference void. You destroy your own premise… and this is not really a great idea.

But whatever, I guess if the idea is that the audience is really young, they didn’t expect the audience to pick this up but just to swallow their idea that ‘a moment created a new universe’.

MEDIA MENTIONED:

Movies: “Iron Man 2” (2010), “The Incredible Hulk" (2008), “Thor” (2011), “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011), “The Avengers” (2012), “Thor: The Dark World” (2013), “Captain America: The Civil War” (2016), “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” (2017), “Thor – Ragnark” (2017), “Black Panther” (2018), "Avengers: Infinity War” (2018), “Captain Marvel” (2019)

Comics: “The Avengers Prelude Fury's Big Week” (2012)

[another-sonic-blog]

any advice to write Silver or Shadow?? Shadow it's the most difficult for me to write D:

Disclaimer: I am not a professional writer, but I wrote this with the few fanfiction experiences that I have as well that all of this is based off MY interpretation of Shadow’s character.

I am not going to lie Shadow the Hedgehog is hard to write. Mostly because you won’t have much canon content to work with. Or at least, there’s not canon content that portrays the REAL Shadow the Hedgehog (Besides Sonic 06 and SA2). If you are going to write Shadow then you are going to write it solely based on character interpretation mostly. There’s something I most say, there is a CONNECTION between Shadow and Silver (There’s a connection with Sonic as well, but we won’t talk about that right now). If you think these two hedgehogs are nothing alike … then let me tell you, they are actually very similarly written.  

Before we go into writing tips, it’s important to analyze the character at hand.

Let’s shortly analyze the character.

Alright, let’s talk about Shadow the Hedgehog

           Shadow’s character has constantly been mis-written throughout the years. Even in the recent IDW Sonic comics, the current writer didn’t do his character justice. The best interpretation that we have of his character is in Sonic 06. (SEGA may have failed to write a coherent plot story but they did great in Shadow’s character and portraying Silver’s character, but will talk about later) There’s a lot into Shadow’s character but to make things simple, I’ll say that there are 3 main traits that make up Shadow’s character (And a few other sub-traits that don’t show up often as well but they are there). First off, Let’s get rid of the idea that Shadow is an ‘edgy’ character. He is not.

So, if Shadow is not edgy? Who is Shadow the Hedgehog? Shadow is this …

1.     Determined. This may seem as a simple asset, but it really it is not. The Shadow that we see in Sonic 06 is not the same Shadow from SA2 or Shadow the Hedgehog’s game. After all the turmoil he went through, Shadow still wants to save the world and play an anti-hero character … But, why? After his tragic and complicated past … Wouldn’t he want to disappear and live a peaceful life? Why doesn’t he want to? Simple … He cares for others. (We will talk about this into more detail later) He cares for the world and the friends he made. He cares for Team Dark. He wants to keep saving the world because HE WANTS TO. Not because of a promise, not because of Maria, not because he was created to protect earth. In Shadow’s game, it was shown clearly that Shadow let go of his past and was born a new. If there’s something we all can agree on is that Shadow is the depiction of ‘Determination’ because even when the whole world is against him, he will still fight.  

If you are going to write his character, then this is an asset you for sure need to include and keep in mind when writing him.  He is determined and he cares.

2.  Insecure.  Although I really dislike how Sonic brought up Shadow’s past and even dared to compared Shadow to Eggman, the author did something good. He portrayed Shadow’s insecurities. Shadow has made ALOT of mistakes in the past. He had messed up again and again till the point in which he is insecure about the decisions his takes. We can see 2 things in these panels.  

1.     Shadow regrets and recognizes his past mistakes.

2.      Shadow is extremely insecure. (Which is really ironic because of his determination but we will speak about that later)

Alright, so what is there to insecurity? There is a lot actually, Sonic knows that Shadow is determined and he would do anything in order to accomplish his goals. Nothing will stop him, so the blue blur used Shadow’s insecurity against him to get what he wants. Shadow lets Sonic get into his head leaving the faith of the world on Sonic’s hands. Because unlike him, Sonic is a hero, Sonic has never done anything bad. Sonic always makes the right choices … unlike Shadow, Sonic was never evil.

He came to the realization that no matter what he chooses, he is going to be wrong.  If he ‘kills’ Eggman and it turns out that he was good, then that would be another mistake. If he lets Eggman go around freely and it turns out that he was evil, then that would be another mistake. In reality, no matter what he choses he would blame himself for whatever the outcome is. The only difference is that he can blame Sonic along with himself as well.

So, we see that Shadow’s insecurities can easily be manipulated by others. Thus, making him do whatever other people pleases.

This is character flaw that plays extremely well with determination, only if written correctly. It is hard to do but it is possible. I’ll talk about that in a few.

3. Caring. One of the best things to came out of Sonic 06 was Shadow’s interaction with Team Dark. Can you see how betrayed Shadow looks when Omega tells him that he would be the one to persecute him? How he says he will remember Rouge will stay by his side no matter what? Like I mentioned before, Shadow the Hedgehog cares for them and he is loyal to them to death. As you can see, he didn’t say anything to Omega nor plans anything against him even if in the future they become enemies. He may not show it often but the bond that he has with Team Dark is the main reason why he wakes up and saves the world from disaster. As well as that he cares for everyone living on it.

So, now that we know his main traits … Determination, insecure and caring … What do we get? Shadow the Hedgehog. These are traits that are hard to write and that’s what is so appealing to this character. One single mistake and you can mess up the whole character. So, here is the question. How can we be determined and be insecure at the same time? Don’t you need to be confident about yourself in order to be determined? Not really and here is why.

           If you are insecure but you really care for others, then you are determined to protect them no matter the cost. It doesn’t matter if you will regret your decisions later, as long as the people you care about are safe.

Shadow’s blind loyalty is double edge sword. We can see in SA2 that Shadow is completely determined to blow up a planet because that was what ‘supposedly’ Maria wanted.

“Besides, there’s no way to save anyone.”

           This can imply a lot of things. I may be overthinking it but to me, this sentence revealed something about Shadow’s character. Before Amy arrived to ask for help, we find Shadow looking at the Earth, really REFLECTING for a long time. There was a part of Shadow who DID NOT WANT TO DESTROY EARTH.  The boy probably actually NEVER wanted to destroy Earth.

“That is the only thing that matters to me now.”

           Shadow really didn’t care if he was the real Shadow or not. Shadow is so loyal and he CARED so much for Maria that he puts his insecurities a side (Yes, he has insecurities even here. He is about to blow up a planet, of course he is insecure the boy doesn’t even remember fully who he is and he actually doesn’t want to destroy earth.) His determined side takes over and we can see that he would do ANYTHING, overcome his insecurities (even if it will haunt him later on) and destroy planets just because he really does CARES for others.

With this said, I think you will understand now why writing Shadow the Hedgehog is difficult. He is a complicated character and it is supposed to be so. How can you show that a quiet character cares without it being ‘out of character?’ How can you write a determined character without it being prepotent? How can you show that a character is insecure without making him look weak?

There is clearly a balance and it’s your job as a writer to create such balance.

So, I will pint point SEGA current and past ‘mistakes’ while writing Shadow the Hedgehog.

They want to highlight Shadow’s determination SO MUCH that he comes out as prepotent, arrogant, cocky, egocentric, etc. It just seems that they can’t get the balance right in this one. Let’s take for example this: 

“I don’t run.”

           So, Sonic IDW. Everyone hated this, calling Shadow a clown and such. Let’s take it into context. Shadow is stopping an army of Zombots to give time for a truck full of Mobians to escape. If you think about it Shadow sacrificed himself so the others could run away safely. That’s actually not bad, it’s a very Shadow thing to do. This panel had so much POTENTIAL to highlight Shadow’s personality but the writer failed to compliment one important element and that is to add Shadow’s caring side.

           The writer preferred to highlight Shadow and Sonic’s rivalry (which honestly is non-existent at this point). He wanted to show just how ‘determined’ Shadow was to prove that he is better than Sonic. However, it just came out as plain clownery. It made it seem that Shadow only cared to prove how ultimate he was instead of caring for the situation at hand.  The whole story could have been saved if Shadow had said something along the lines of: “If I don’t stop the Zombots everyone is going to get infected … Rouge and Omega, everyone … I can’t let that happen I am going to stop them no matter what!”

           That short dialogue alone showed two things, Shadow’s determination and that he cares for others. The author did show Shadow’s insecurity as to how surprised he was when he found out that he was infected. However, it came out short because once again his ‘overly determined’ side showed up.

Like I said before, this panel had potential to show Shadow’s personality. The writer really wanted to highlight Shadow’s three main traits but it wasn’t well balanced and it came out as another bad written Shadow the Hedgehog.

Before we continue, I want to say that I am not writing this to talk bad about Ian Flynn. He has written the other Sonic characters pretty decently, and it bothers me more how he wrote Sonic recently (but that’s another talk for another time) I understand why Shadow is hard to write and that’s why I don’t get as upset when people sometimes wrongly write him.  It honestly just shows how complex this character is.

So, now that we know that SEGA’S main problem is the unbalanced systematic writing of Shadow the Hedgehog, let’s jump into trying to keep on ‘character.’

Now, here are some basic tips.

1.     Remember Shadow top three traits. He is determined, he cares and he is insecure.

When writing him, always try to think of these traits. Shadow is composed of so much more but including more traits would be complicated to write about and many of your readers may not follow along as well. Especially if you starting to write. Even professional writers have problems writing him, so don’t put too much pressure on you. Ask yourself the following questions: “Why is Shadow doing this? Does this correctly highlight one of his main traits? Am I adding this to put more meaning to the story or the character?

2.     One of the main reasons why SEGA has such a hard time writing Shadow is because there has been so many writers throughout the years who wrote character. Everyone has different character interpretations. Although this is not wrong, having different character interpretations in writing is wrong when there is a CONTINUITY. Which is why most of the times Sonic game’s stories aren’t that great. Let’s talk for instance … Sonic has always being a good character throughout the whole games and then suddenly he is bad. Weird, right? It just doesn’t seem right. This is what happens to Shadow in every single game, his character has been interpreted in so many ways that at this point it Shadow is a really messed up character. So, my tip for this is to be consistent. You are going to be the only one writing your story, so don’t be influenced by other writers and suddenly writer Shadow in another way.

3.     The game Shadow the Hedgehog really tried to incorporate something about Shadow. That depending on the circumstances, Shadow would react differently. He is a very dynamic character and you never really know how he will react. Allow Shadow to experience many things. For him to experience unknown things and feelings because only that way the REAL Shadow the Hedgehog would come into light. Write stances that are unknown to him. He is at G.U.N. and others are trying to make friends with him? If he likes someone how would he react? What kind of activities would he do for fun? I cannot stress enough how important it is for your character to interact with other characters and for them to experience new things. Explore all of these!

This turned out longer than I expected, and I am actually missing so much more information I want to add but I don’t want to make this too long. Sorry for any writing mistakes, I wrote this on the go lol. I’ll write some tips on how to write Silver tomorrow. For now, I hope this helps you understand a little bit more of Shadow’s character and why he is hard to write but don’t worry! The more your write, the better you get.  I’ll give you some Silver tips soon, and explain how he is connected with Shadow’s character.

Thank you for the ask!

[lilsunshiny]

Thoughts on The Last Of Us Part II

WRITING (creative process)

the game’s storyline is straight to the point, you can see from the trailer that it’s going to be a timeline about revenge. the whole game happens around joel’s death in the beginning and I guess that’s the whole reason why people are upset. but guess what? neil druckmann’s goal was to make you upset, angry and nostalgic. he accomplished his goal and that’s why you’re feeling the way you are.

you not liking the the way things went down does not mean the game’s writing is awful, it just means you were expecting something and got another. not liking something isn’t a crime and it’s totally ok as long as you respect the creators and don’t use your hate to put others down, it’s a valid opinion and that’s it.

what makes a story good is the writing and the thought put into it to make the player/reader/viewer feel a certain way, and the developers did an incredible job to do that. we feel frustrated, anxious and weird the entire gameplay and that’s exactly what they wanted from us, which means they won. I’ll talk more about my opinion on the storyline far ahead.

the graphic visuals of this game are RIDICULOUS, they’re perfect. every detail is insane to look at, they worked so hard to get it right and it was so worth it. every time I entered a new scenario I would just go into photo mode and appreciate the art because that’s what makes the game unforgettable and groundbreaking. the red lighting scenes were so perfectly made and so badass, the sky when ellie goes outside the farm with JJ is breathtaking just like every other view in the game. by far the most beautiful game I’ve ever had the honor to play.

STORYLINE (joel’s death)

the first game gave us a story about love and hope, making us guide joel into taking ellie to the fireflies looking for a cure based on ellie’s immunity. we spend the whole game thinking we’d get to the fireflies, make a cure and live happily ever after but that never happened in those terms. the gameplay made us slowly fall in love with joel and ellie as characters, joel for his tough personality that would fade under the influence of a little girl and ellie for her nativity and innocence as a young teenager who really wants to help other people by making a cure. that’s the whole situation of it, joel getting attached to ellie while she developed a paternal affection for him but in the end joel ends up doing an unforgivable thing, basically destroying the hope for a cure and ruining all hope for the world to heal from the outbreak, so he decides to lie to ellie blaming the fireflies for everything so he doesn’t lose her trust and love.

I do understand liking and loving joel as a character, myself included, because they made the game thinking about it and they knew the audience would develop a major caring for him and ellie as daughter and father, that’s how it was supposed to go and it worked it.

now let’s talk about joel’s death. I think we were all surprised to watch him die so early in the game but considering the game time and storyline, it would have never happened differently. his death was brutal, violent, merciless and inhuman, abby and her crew tortured him until he couldn’t take it anymore and he obviously suffered with ellie being held to the ground begging them to stop. I agree that it was a horrible death but we can’t just pretend joel was a sweet innocent hero because he wasn’t, the audience portrays him as a hero when he literally stopped the human race from being saved, killing the fireflies and acting out of pure selfishness. joel isn’t the angel some people paint him as, he’s not a good person and if ellie herself could never forgive him for what he did, who are we to do so? she said she would try but she never got the chance to and it took her years to even come to terms with it.

most importantly, it’s obvious that people forget these characters are human beings, not real people but they’re real in that universe and technically speaking, they run and feel the same way we would feel if we were in their shoes. they’re people, every character in the game is a person, with feelings, a background, a past, a personality and thoughts. they’re no different than us except for them living in a post apocalyptic world were morality and ethics aren’t taken into consideration since there is no law or living lifestyle.

for us to understand this storyline, we need to step away from our society’s view of morality and wrong or right, because that does not apply to them, everyone in the game has killed people and/or have done something morally questionable in their life since it’s the apocalypse and there is no wrong or right, there’s only how the characters feel about certain situations and how they act on them, which is basically what guides the entire game to happening the way it did: human feelings.

joel obviously changed after the first game, since he starts living in jackson and having to raise ellie as a daughter in a relatively normal town with other people, he’s not the same person as he was in part I, now he turned into a father and a friend, not a merciless mercenary who doesn’t care about others. we see that when he and tommy decide to help abby, a complete stranger who was about to die in the hands of infected, and maybe that’s what led people into hating abby with their heart. but ending this topic, joel’s death was bound to happen, you can’t just expect someone to destroy the world’s hope for a cure and leave with no people being angry at him and wanting revenge, that cure could’ve saved many people’s loved ones but he chose to save his loved one. if joel is indeed a terrible person or not, that’s up to you to decide, that’s more of an internal turmoil within yourself that is different for everyone depending on their experience from part I and how they view joel in the end. it’s kind of messed up if you think about it, would you let the only person you care about die for a not confirmed chance of a cure in a world that is already doomed? that’s a question for yourself.

joel’s death happened so you could see things from multiple perspectives, which is the whole fucking point of the game. there are multiple sides to every story, it’s the same world we live in except in different circumstances. your actions affect others, people have feelings and if you hurt them they might act a certain way, those characters are no different than us because they were based on genuine human thoughts and actions.

ELLIE (growth and development)

ellie is one of the most well written characters I’ve ever seen in my life. she’s the symbol of badass but fragile woman and that’s so amazing to me. as the game goes by we start seeing many sides of ellie, she slowly starts to turn into a completely different person after joel’s death and her urge for revenge. killing abby becomes her main priority the second she leaves jackson and that’s clear in the way she acts and treats others. I’ll have to play the game again to pay more attention to ellie and abby’s behavior throughout the timeline. ellie is the reflection of how the excessive amount of effort you put into a negative thought, the more it will bring you and your loved ones down. watching ellie during the story is such a nice experience, there are times where you love her to death, others you get annoyed with her or don’t agree with how she acts, and that’s exactly how the creators wanted you to feel. revenge takes ellie’s soul from the inside out, from her not being able to forgive herself for letting joel die to her going after abby for nothing but hate for herself in the end.

ellie’s journey is exciting to play and to witness as her relationship with other people (specially dina) starts to fade away and being consumed by hate and regret. we were manipulated into loving ellie since part I and I don’t think she’s a bad person, she lost everything in the hands of other people and went through a lot, losing joel was a deal breaker for her but she just didn’t realize soon enough that killing abby wasn’t going to make things better. ellie’s gameplay was meant to make you reflect on losing a loved one, grief, mourning and revenge, she’s not the lost kid from part I anymore, she’s a grown woman who just lost her dad and she doesn’t even know exactly why. the funny thing for me, which is what makes the story realistic, is that ellie didn’t fully forgive joel yet she still suffered from losing him and went after abby for revenge, when not even herself could forgive him, that’s pretty realistic in my opinion. it’s the human uncontrollable instinct of still missing someone you’re mad at and not being able to say goodbye.

for me, ellie is the perfect and most detailed reflection of revenge and what it can do to you. the game is much more than “revenge is bad don’t do it”, we all obviously know it’s bad but we still have an urge to fight back against it and make the person who hurt us suffer too because it’s not fair for us and it wasn’t fair for ellie until the very last moment.

ABBY (point of view and perspective)

by far the most controversial character of the game. I’ll star off saying I actually like abby and I think the people who hate her so deeply just didn’t understand how things go. hating abby is no different than hating ellie, they’re in the same situation for almost the entire game. abby lost her father in joel’s hands, she was still a teenager and seeing her own dad die for trying to save humanity isn’t easy, just like ellie watching joel being tortured and killed wasn’t easy. being fully honest ellie would’ve done the same thing abby did if joel was the doctor and we can’t deny that.

on the other hand, I do think the ellie and abby gameplays could’ve been distributed better, maybe switching from ellie to abby and back and forth so it wouldn’t get too tiring or confusing since we don’t know the exact timeline when we first play it. that’s the only slightly negative thing I have to say about the game.

I do think abby is a great character, they built her perfectly to make the audience hate her in the begging, painting her as a sadistic monster only to show her side of the story later on in the game and make you realize that you have been wrong all this time, making you see the bigger picture and understand that ellie isn’t the only person in the world, she isn’t loved by everyone, she’s just a girl in the world and so is abby. they both have fucked up pasts and they both lost a lot, and in terms of personality, they’re actually quite similar. we love ellie because we got to see her grow up and WE know that deep down she’s not a bad person, the first impression we had of abby was of her recklessly killing joel with a golf club when ellie was begging her to stop, since that we tend to think abby is a horrible person and that ellie is an angel, but it’s not like that at all. obviously ellie didn’t do anything wrong up to that moment to justify that happening to her, but ellie isn’t the best person in the world either.

the duality in this game was created on purpose and with a deeper meaning, ellie is ellie, abby is abby and the cycle of revenge goes on until both parts understand that it’s useless to keep going. abby let go before ellie could and let her and dina live because of lev, killing joel didn’t change abby to the better, lev changed her. tommy couldn’t change ellie, jesse couldn’t change ellie and not even dina could do it, ellie had to change and forgive herself alone. the point I’m trying to make is that abby is no better than ellie and ellie is no better than abby, they’re both emotionally drained women who are not wrong or right in the end of things.

DINA (support and reflection)

dina is the only character I will 100% defend because she’s flawless and did absolutely nothing wrong during the whole game. in my head she represents ellie’s good side, dina is the constant reminder that ellie hasn’t lost her humanity and hasn’t completely changed into someone else because of revenge, even when she has her downs (example: calling her a burden when dina says she’s pregnant). dina is the most forgiving and loyal character, she loves ellie more than anything and it shows. the sad part of it is that even with dina’s huge amount of love and affection, that doesn’t stop ellie from going in the wrong direction, which brings us to another life lesson: loving someone is a choice you make everyday and nobody can control your choices when you’re determined to do something.

ellie decided to go after abby, dina followed and supported her the whole way through, then she took that for granted and left dina and JJ behind to go after abby again (after abby let her and dina live) officially breaking dina’s heart. that was a choice, dina obviously cared so much about ellie, loved her so much but she couldn’t change ellie’s mind. but the point here is that dina is a reflection of ellie’s bright side, she keeps ellie sane until the very last moment, saving her life multiple times, going with her in a revenge journey, “you go, I go, end of story”, telling the wolves to fuck off and staying by ellie’s side, constantly putting her life at risk while being pregnant, she has loves ellie for such a long time even before getting with jesse (you can read ellie’s journal where she says cat told her dina is jealous of their relationship) and she probably took ellie back when she came back from santa barbara (a theory that I believe in because it makes sense).

dina is one of the few positive ends in the universe of the last of us, highly optimistic, funny, beautiful and an amazing support system for ellie. if it weren’t for dina, ellie would’ve become a monster.

LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION (ellie x dina and lev)

it’s 2020 and people are still talking shit about the game just because of queer characters. that’s why I say people who hate the game are people who either didn’t capture the story or just didn’t even try to pay attention because of a closed mindset bigot sandwiches. representation is the best path to general acceptance, making people see different stories and realize that someone’s gender or sexuality does not influence on the quality of art.

ellie is a lesbian, that’s clear in the game when she says she’s “not into jessie’s type” (such a nice dialogue by the way), she talks about her ex girlfriend and clearly has had a crush on dina for the longest time (probably the reason why she broke up with cat).

dina is bisexual, in my opinion she always had a crush on ellie but maybe she lost motivation to to after her when she started to get close to cat and started talking to jessie because of that and it ended up working.

now dina and ellie’s relationship is probably the only thing that keeps us sane throughout the game, when we sit down to think “thank god ellie has dina, that means she’s not alone”, which is basically the whole concept of it, ellie not being alone because dina is there to hold her to the ground and stop her from becoming someone she doesn’t want to be.

lev being trans is something I can‘t have an opinion on, I have seen both sides: people saying it was a good approach and others saying it wasn’t an accurate representation. I’m not trans so my opinion isn’t valid and I can definitely see why many people think it was a bad reach but I also can see the other side, so I won’t comment on that.

the nice thing about representation in this game is that they brought it up as a normal thing, the only moment the focus is sexuality is when seth was being a dick and called dina the d-word, ellie got defensive but dina stopped her from getting into a fight. even then the main focus of that situation was how ellie dealt with joel saying she didn’t need his help. the point was never ellie’s sexuality, never, not even in a single moment, because it was never an issue. in a post apocalyptic society people don’t pay much attention to being homophobes (unless they’re in a fanatic religious cult or just assholes like seth).

the game approached the subject very bluntly but in a normal way, not making it that huge of a deal but it is a big deal for those who seek comfort and/or are dealing with their sexuality in a way. if a character they admire ends up being part of a minority group, they can relate to that and feel more comfortable in their own skin. we’re here, we’re real and we exist even in a fucked up infected world.

ENDING + THOUGHTS (moving on)

the last of us part II is a story about revenge, being completely different than part I which is a story about love and surviving. what happens in the second game are the consequences of the first, the choices joel made reflected upon himself, saving ellie costed everything; the cure, people’s lives and maybe a brighter future. people who are bashing the game for it’s storyline and how things went down need to understand that it’s not because we love joel that his actions didn’t matter to others. joel is a human being, so is abby and those who got harmed by joel’s choice to save ellie. joel killed abby’s dad, abby went after him for revenge, a predictable and reasonable thing to do if you just try to see it from her point of view, keep in mind that ellie would do the same exact thing.

if you can’t get yourself to see things from other people’s point of view, you missed the whole point of the game. the storyline isn’t summed up in “revenge is bad don’t do it kids”, it’s just based on the fact that death can never and will never bring you any sort of relief.

the game is the reflection of the cycle of revenge. abby going after joel for killing her dad, ellie going after abby and killing all of her friends in the process, abby finally breaks the cycle letting ellie and dina live but ellie couldn’t get over the guilt and went after abby again, yet she ended up letting her ago and officially breaking the chain for good.

the whole concept of the game is how seeking someone else’s suffering can lead to full destruction of someone’s character and values.

if ellie had killed abby she would’ve turned into the monster she was fighting against and she would lose literally everything she hadn’t already lost: her humanity. I don’t actually know the exact reason that compelled ellie to let abby go, maybe it was losing her fingers and realizing that she’ll never be able to play guitar again, which was her very last memory of joel and what he taught her. it could also be thinking of lev and how he’s the only thing abby has and vice versa, which is what she had with joel and what was taken from her, therefore she didn’t want to turn into the person who put someone through the same pain she was going through. technically if she killed abby she would have to kill lev to avoid him coming after her and continuing the cycle and doing that would kill ellie even more.

to make this shorter, abby moved on earlier than ellie. mostly because abby actually got her revenge killing joel but you gotta look through things before you put all the blame on her. ellie lost everyone in her life, her parents, riley, tess, sam and then joel, going after abby was a defense mechanism since she couldn’t have done anything to save those she lost before, but losing the one who took care and raised her was something she couldn’t bare, specially when she thought joel was the only person she had even though they weren’t in good terms and she and dina weren’t a thing yet.

ellie needed to revenge joel at all costs because that’s what she thought he would want, but in the end she realizes he would want her to move on and be happy, because that’s what he always tried to give her: the best shot in life that he couldn’t give sarah. ellie thought that by killing abby she would be able to let go, when in reality she would just feel more guilty for leaving lev alone like she was having no emotional relief concerning her PTSD. ellie got to that beach fully aware that killing abby wasn’t going to solve any of her problems, but a single memory of joel made her make the decision that she wasn’t going to let her go without a fight. their final fight was silent, in the middle of nowhere, they had absolutely nothing to say to each other because they were both fighting for nothing but excessive mental emptiness. they both knew that nothing would bring their loved ones back and they were ready to move on.

what the game wants to teach you is that nothing good comes from searching revenge and other’s suffering. ellie gets consumed by her own view of justice and ends up losing herself both inside and outside, when she comes to terms with the fact that killing abby won’t bring joel back from the dead, it’s already too late. she lost jessie, her friendship with tommy, her good memories with joel, her fingers which results in her not being able to play guitar anymore, the love of her life and her son.

in the last of us part one ellie says that her biggest fear is to end up alone, and the saddest part of all is that her actions led her to making that fear come true. the ending is ambiguous, it can mean something different to different people depending on what you choose to interpret things and how you view the characters. for some, ellie could just end up alone looking for a life purpose that doesn’t involve anyone from her past. to others, ellie returned to jackson and proved dina that she loved her and that now she’s ready to fully commit because she let go of her anger and is at peace with herself and her inner struggles. but that’s all up to you to decide what you want to believe in.

at the end of the day, this storyline is beautiful, heartbreaking, breathtaking and emotionally draining. it makes you think and open your mind to new perspectives, which is honestly one of the best things art is able to do, create a new universe for you to deep your thoughts in and take your own conclusions. the last of us didn’t have a bad or good ending, it had a realistic ending. just because they didn’t make this the way you wanted it doesn’t mean the writing is bad, it means you’re probably disappointed and that’s fine, but hating on it isn’t the way to make a point.

I can only thank everyone involved for creating this world and making me so invested in it, connecting me with these amazing characters and emotions that I never experienced playing a game before. there is nothing more to say except: endure and survive.

[ashitakaxsan]

Why Takahashi Rumiko’s MAO is BLAST

Her current manga series MAO (story &art) has a lot of action.At the core of the story –deeper than time travel,magic,occult,dealings with yokai and ayakashi-are relationships of ex classmates have gone awry,plus a man’s pain and grief from the death his fiancee.The entire plot is based on events that occured during Japan’s Heian period(1000 AD),prior to the now timeline.

It begins with Kiba Nanoka,a female high school student,who 8 years ago escaped a near-death experience-due to some supernatural circumstances.She remembers it,even though She couldn’t figure the reasons and circumstances.

Now fifteen years old,she’s whiskered in the Taishou era,gets chased down by a man-eating yokai, but she’s saved by the mysterious Mao—a young man of this era.As she uses the time portal to pay visits to Mao(to get the answers about why her First death)she befriends with him.What’s more ?She likes Him.Now the two orphans cowork to unriddle the scheme in his past,that turned his friends into Vengeful Hunters Against Him.

(image above:Mao in his current appearance and outfit)

The Origin and the Grief

Mao was born in Japan,during 1000 AD.His early life began an orphanage,with many hardships,at the same time he was sharpening his higher skills and learning magic techniques.On his teens he entered a boarding school for onmyuji,being run by the prestigious Gokou clan.Where it was divided to five classes Water,Earth,Fire,Metal and Wood.

The earnest Mao got the good interest of the principal,and Sana’s cat Haimaru.The principal favored him,by entrusting him the magical,sentient-but Ominous-Hagunsei katana and arranging him(for a badding marriage)with his daughter Sana.Mao was in love with her.It would go smooth.But overnight Shishou Gokou was killed by an unknown perpetrator,Mao was shot by many arrows,meanwhile (Sana’s cat who had transformed to a Horrible Cat  Demon)the Byouki rampaged the manor and its men.Soon it came face to face with Mao. To defend himself, with the Hagunsei ,he severed Byouki’s head from the body,while its head led way –there causing a freak mishap:Byouki’s body got fused with Mao’s,transmutating him to a Hanyou.

When after hours he turned to human and regained his consciousness he saw devastation everywhere: Sana was dead, many guards too ,as for the Temple  was burned down.Ever since (for 9 centuries) he wandered across Japan ,having assumed the Byouki was someone’s field agent[Image below:Lady Sana]. 

(Above:The Daughter of Onmyuji Instructor Lady Sana and her cat Haimaru)

Now,in the Taishou era,Mao gets vehemently blamed,by ex classmates for the murder of the Gokou Instructor and Sana,and for the arson.All these while He’s unable to remember all the events of  that night.

Sadly  ex disciples Shiranui,Hakubi detest Mao for his  alleged treason,they hunt Him down to eliminate him.Weird they gladly take orders from a mysterious woman,called Yurako.Who has the exact appearance of the long ago deceased Sana sama!Is Sana resurrected,or is she a mere double?

The Mystery all around

So who(and how)could’ve killed the Gokou?All of it remaines a mystery.There were slight indications:The eyes of dead Shishou Gokou(with his chest on the floor)eyes were looking strait forward, with glare of shock.Implying he had come face to face with the would-be killer.

Plus ex worker in the manor,now turned to assassin,Mokuzu explaines (chapter 34)shocking details to Mao and Hyakka:As he followed a person’s orders he tossed Haimaru in a poison Imp hole,by killing snakes and boars he Transformed to the Byouki.This says it was  the Beginning of the plan to destroy the Gokou.Telling hat Byouki ate the Secret  Book of Taizunfukun.But in the Chamber there was Only Mao.So how did Mokuzu know of this?Can this imply that there was a  watcher,from distance of the whole scene?

The Pendulum of Fate has turned for.

Nanoka’s encounter with Mao  is a work of fate for the great Good.The Byuoki  decided for a new vessel,so  it soaked Nanoka to his blood,mutating her to an ayakashi.But it has good side effects on the story:When Nanoka  accidentally gave her blood(chapter 38:Mixing Of Blood)to injured Mao it worked as transfusion healing him by any injuries.In addition:When they’re are together,due to Byouki’s Blood flowing in each of them,has  amazing effects.Such as they become stealth for any onmyodo surveillance methods![image below Nanoka]

(Above:Japanese Student Kiba Nanoka)

But Mao unexpectadly finds for good an ex disciple:The girl Natsuno,an earth user,who reveales to Him and his friends how Sana sama was murdered.The very night of the fire in the Treasury a Black jaki(taking advantage of the commotion)ripped off Sana’s  heart organ,taking along it while fleeing. She also clarifies something awful too:Every other disciple-albeit never saw it- simply assumed he had seen  Mao have done it.

Due Hakubi,as the most respected pupil, strongly blamed  Mao for it every one accepted it.That’s why the low value onmyoji Natsuno wasn’t believed at all! She objects to the notion about Sana being alive:”Sana sama is definitely dead.I saw it with my eyes”.

As she states to Mao “After that I couldn’t do anything,the Gokou family was finished.And no one cared about knowing the truth”.[image below

Natsuno] 

(Above:Earth User natsuno as she tosses charms)

Hakubi the Dangerous.

The Flavors in there

a)The romance between Mao and Nanoka is what offers a Flavor to the Series,to his case as well.She likes him,she gladly comes to His Era and assist him,all these while she could chose easiness with classmate Shiraha kun.She also helps him muster the courage to get over with the issues of the long ago dead Sana.While Yurako is her mere lookalike. With now a difference they have their arguments,they mend them with maturity.Fascinating:)

b)The strong women.Nanoka,Natsuno,Tenko and Yurako.Their heart,their mind and their abilities convey the messages of Takahashi rumiko.Each one and all capture our interest.

Creepy Thoughts

If a Villainous Mastermind is always one step ahead of the hero that’s because of:

a)He’s quite networked,he’s got an immense organization to carry out projects instantly.

B)He has known Him.Probably has a personal grudge on Him.

C) All these two above .

Who in purpose did kill the Gokou,easily framed Mao for these crimes? Probably the Black Jaki followed orders by some one, a person who knew them,and others  in there.Otherwise it wouldn’t be  with out a pattern.[Below image of Romance]

 At that time there was only one person who could’ve been the mastermind.One who had been disciple in the school,and relishing with the idea to manipulate people.Mao’s close friend from the orphanage,Daigo.

In chapter 59 he reveals to Mao the Great Desire.”You’ll be able to control the world from behind the scenes”,had told him. So his Goal,obsession,was to become a Ruthless,Manipulative Emperor.

But he was seen dead,at the start of a succession war.But what if it was his Ruse?

It will last for Very Long

Albeit early to tell it’s  safe estimation that Mao team has a Quite long and Dangerous Route ahead.To unravel the Mystery,to publicly prove Mao’s Innocense to the other ex pupils,and to defeat the Villain of the story.It really worths it:)!

[harrowscore]

Mikasa Ackermann, Levi Ackermann, Amane Misa, Aeron Greyjoy for the charactet ask :3

SOMEONE HEARD MY PRAYERS AND NOW MY TIME HAS COME, tysm!!!!! <3

okay, let's start with levi (my beloved):

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life (THEE little feral anime man after my heart)

hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang (Dark, Tall and Snarky + piercing grey-blue eyes and chronic insomnia? clearly my type ❤)

hogwarts house: gryffindor (maybe....?) | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

ugh, the hp sorting house system is way too reductive. he has qualities of gryffindor, slytherin, and hufflepuff - brave, astute, loyal to a fault, etc. so it's a hard choice. but if i really have to choose, i'd go for gryffindor. i know that his Bad Boy facade shouts slytherin, but while he has larger goals (killing all the titans, then saving the world etc.), he's got no actual ambition for himself. hufflepuff would also be a good option.

daemon (from the his dark materials series): (because i've just decided that's just way more accurate than the hp method) some kind of big feline. maybe a panther - a black panther would be the ideal - aloof, predatory, dangerous, fiercely independent.

best quality: besides his obvious strenghts as a leader and warrior, the way he cares for his comrades-in-arms. it's very hard to gain his trust and respect, but once you have it, it's forever. he's pragmatic and ruthless, yes, but he also has a huge capacity for compassion and friendship. not that he would be effusive about his affections, of course.

worst quality: none, he's absolutely perfect ❤ jklsdfhjk jokes aside, he really struggles to open up (a serious understatement), idt he ever talked about his traumatic past with anyone. i mean, maybe he mentioned it to hange and erwin (erwin knew him when he was still an undergound thug, so...), but... he's not great with feelings. despite his apathetic, intimidating mask, he feels and cares deeply, but he has a long history with losing the people he loves, so he tries to not personally care about his squadmates, which can be both a strenght and a weakness. of course, he spectacularly fails at this.

ship them with: well, it's not a secret that i'm a huge rivamika fan, this ship is almost literally consuming my waking thoughts lmao. imo they're perfectly compatible: very similar personalities (stoic, the strongest warriors, absolutely terrifying on the battlefield but with a soft underbelly), very similar pasts/experiences, so many parallels that it's actually ridiculous, etc. i love how they're both each other's equals and likeness (yes, i took it from jane eyre. no, i don't regret anything lmao). a lot of tropes i love, too: Terrible First Impression (the Pride and Prejudice vibes are so strong with these two, you have no idea), Kindred Spirits/Mirror Images, Veteran/Young Prodigy, The Last of Their Kind, even Height Difference lmao. i could write a whole rivamika manifesto, but this is already too long. (maybe for some other time 👀) i would've loved for their dynamic to be more explored in canon but alas, isayama clearly didn't give a shit about the ackerman legacy, he just used it as a plot shortcut to give them conveniently unique powers, since they never really talked about it 🙄 (and before some troll comes into my askbox shouting "you iNcEsT fReAk!!!!1!!", they're only very distantly related. we know shit about the ackermans but we know for sure that they've got at least several generations between them. biologically their shared DNA is 0%, obviously they don't see each other as family, all the eldians have a dead ass common ancestor from 2000 years ago so they're all basically ⁓related anyway. if you really wanna scream about i.ncest, go watch got/dark/the borgias and shut the fuck up please. or alternatively go outside and touch some grass) sorry for the rant, uh. anyway, i can also see levi/erwin. idk if i'd ever care enough to read a fic about them (i'm usually a huge multishipper, but for some weird reason not when it comes to rivamika? same with braime and kastle tbh), but still, i can see it.

brotp them with: hange and erwin, obv. veteran trio >>> ema trio, sorry not sorry (at least h. and e. died before yams had the chance to ruin their character arcs)

needs to stay away from: ...uh, filth, i guess? lmao

misc. thoughts: besides the stupid teenage fangirl crush i have on him, i'm genuinely fascinated by the man himself. he's a huge mess of a contradictions, and yet somehow it works: he's violent and brash and kind of an asshole, but also has a strong moral code and integrity; he's obv very skilled at all the killing/torturing stuff and yet he has a huge respect for life; he's got a potty mouth to say the least, and yet some very aristocratic manners/tastes (the way he sits, his preference for tea and usually refined clothes); he comes from what's supposed to be an illustrous bloodline, he's methodical and very precise, and yet he was born and raised in the underground, he's been used to filth and blood and poverty since he was a child, kenny of all people was his father figure, and probably has known no other life than a perennial survival mode existence. he's "humanity's strongest soldier", but while well-built he's also small, the david to the titans' goliah, and probably not what people would assume a born warrior looks like. he's also one of the few characters who stayed true to himself and his original characterization until the end, bless you smol king ❤

(okay, this is getting long!)

mikasa:

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them (so much. she deserved better ❤️) | actual love of my life 

hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! (stunning lady ❤) | 10/10 would bang

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

this is actually easy: mikasa belongs to hufflepuff and no, i won't take criticism (just joking lol). enough with this "hufflepuffs are fluffy puppies/Cinnamon Rolls <3" thing: mikasa values loyalty and duty more than anything else. she's also hardworking... and fierce, strong, lethal. yes, hufflepuff and lethal are not mutually exclusive concepts.

daemon: (finally the better option) a she-wolf, fiercely protective of her pack.

best quality: loyal, brave, incredibly strong (alongside her more fragile qualities). practical and level-headed on the battlefield, at least when eren is not included in the picture.

worst quality: struggles to let go of the past (understandable, considering her trauma). tunnel-vision when it comes to eren, obv. extreme levels of delusions ("if only i spoke openly about my romantic feelings for him - as if i didn't made them abundantly clear in ⁓6 years - he wouldn't kill 80% of humanity :(((" lmao okay. just. okay), but that's more on the writing. she's sadly more static than any other main character throughtout the whole series.

ship them with: see above :) but recently i've also started to be intrigued by mikasa/annie and mikasa/sasha. also, i'm sympathetic to jeankasa fans, though i don't actually care for the ship.

brotp them with: EMA trio, especially armin+mikasa. their friendship is so beautiful and special. also sasha.

needs to stay away from: ...... eren, at least romantically. again, that's more on the writing than anything else, but e.remika unfortunately encompasses many tropes i loathe with all the strength of my old shriveled heart: childhood friends-to lovers where the (male) childhood friend doesn't acknolewdge/is completely indifferent to the other (female) friend's romantic feelings, she hopelessly pines for him for years without anything more than a cold shoulder... until in the last chapter it's revealed that he loved her all along and doesn't "want other men to have her!!! :((" (then why did you have no reaction whatsoever to jean's years-long crush on her while she was jealous of any vaguely female-shaped human being you were friendly to, including hange? are you that dumb, man?); the female character's development and entire arc 100% revolves around the male protagonist - she has no goals, no dreams of her own except staying with him forever and ever; the romance is based on an idealized childhood dream, therefore reaffirming those childish illusions would make the character regress, not actually grow up (and nope, epilogue!jk doesn’t count; that also lacks build-up - i would’ve said the same about rm as well, so it’s not about shipping, guys, it really isn’t - and mikasa needed an inner change; getting married to another man but still praying to eren’s shrine is not substitute to actual development lol). post-time skip she's never really frustrated/angry with him, they never get a confrontation about him becoming a, y'know, mass-murderer of gigantic (pun intended) proportions; she puts him on a pedestal, and never stops idealizing him/never sees him for what he actually is (the narrative framing him as some kind of tragic martyr/saint eren from paradis with zero agency and basically... no clear motivation for the abovementioned mass murder, and not the actual complex tragic anti-hero/villain motivated by revenge and righteous fury he deserved to be, does not help). it lacks a good or even decent build-up - it's basically all tell and not show. now, if they'd actually been childhood friends to enemies to lovers/mutually co-dependent... it could have been interesting. sadly, it's not my cup of tea. of course this is just my personal preference, no hard feelings to the shippers.

misc. thoughts: enormous potential. she's been my fav female character since s1 - and ah, i miss s1!mikasa, when she had actually other stuff to do besides mothering eren. i love that she's the strongest warrior (second only to levi, obv), that her skills are never called into questions despite her gender, i love how she stands up for herself and the people she loves, that she may seem cold and stoic and yet has a such a huge heart, that she's not perfect but also sometimes awe-inspiring. sadly, she never really gets out of eren's shadow; what she lacks is an arc focused on herself. that's why imo getting deeper into the ackerman lore would've helped (also, you cannot make the main female character and the most popular male character descend from the same Unique Bloodline or whatever, and never really make them acknowledge it out loud; as a writer, you just can't lol). my spite is so strong that i'm currently writing a ridiculously pretentious fic that's 70% development for her character, to give her a voice, and 30% ackerthirsting. (yes, that's the fic i'm always vagueblogging about lmao, rip @ my brain). if any other rivamika fan is interested… mind you, it’s in italian tho, and idt i have the skills to translate into english.

misa:

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life 

hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

daemon: mmh, maybe some kind of butterfly? beautiful, colorful, and short-lived.

best quality: glorious fashion sense, more inventive and ingenious than fans actually give her credit for.

worst quality: shallow, impulsive, and obv her dependence on/obsession with light (which stems from trauma btw, but still… the very opposite of a relationship between equals).

ship them with: rem, kinda (monster/human ftw!). also weirdly enough mogi, a little bit? she deserves someone who actually respects her… though she’s far from being a perfect angel. she may actually be crazier than light on some aspects. but in this house we stan evil ladies anyway, so i have no problem with that <3

brotp them with: uh, idk, maybe matsuda?

needs to stay away from: obv light. also takada.

misc. thoughts: a tragic victim of sexist writing. she may be… unhinged to say the least, but she didn’t deserve the abuse she got from light (and from the fans). the female characters’ writing in dn is so bad that idk if it’s on purpose, to kinda mirror the reality of women in a patriarchal society (dependent on men, housewives whose life entirely revolves around their husband/boyfriend etc.), or just casual misogyny lol. it’s even more baffling since we don’t know the author’s gender (they may be a man, a woman, nb, anything really). i tend for the latter option tho.

aegon greyjoy (now, i wasn’t expecting him lol):

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life 

hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

i’m so sorry, i haven’t the slightest idea lmao. maybe gryffindor? mind you, it’s been a long time since i’ve re-read the books, so i don’t have many thoughts about him.

daemon: maybe it’s cliché, but some kind of fish/squid lmao

best quality: ugh, i really can’t remember much from his chapters :(( he’s not a coward, i guess? (lame answer, sorry!)

worst quality: definitely his religious fanaticism.

ship them with: no one.

brotp them with: uh… his family, ig? except euron.

needs to stay away from: obv euron. brr ://

misc. thoughts: i genuinely like the greyjoys chapters, though i vastly prefer the martells (with the exception of theon and asha, bcs i love them). yes, they’re deranged. yes, victarion is… well, victarion lol. but the drowned god religion is actually interesting, grrm knows how to write trauma - every time aeron mentions euron and that freaking door i’m like… :// - and the tragedy of it all… just great writing all around.

okay, that’s the end lmao. thank you so much, love!!! ❤❤

[todomitoukei]

On Shouto, Secrets & Social Isolation

Something that’s been on my mind for a while is, in light of the current situation in the manga, once again worth thinking about: Shouto is still being socially isolated. Kind of like us, only that he doesn’t know it.

We all know that sooner or later, the Touya reveal will happen. It’s just a question of when and how.

Once Shouto learns that Dabi = Touya, that’s gonna be quite the shock to him, considering everything this entails (i.e. his brother was secretly alive for the past ~10 years, lots of mental damage, ended up becoming a villain, could’ve been him instead)

There are a lot of theories on what might possibly happen when he finds out, though it’s clear to say that the whole point of the Touya storyline is to have some kind of effect on him.

What people don’t talk about enough is:

At some point, Shouto could also find out about the whole Deku/All Might/One For All etc. story

He would also learn that Bakugou is in on the secret

He considers both Deku and Bakugou his friends; both are people who know about his family situation and even know about Touya, the one topic he never talks about

All Might was his idol growing up, someone who, unlike his own father, represents a genuine hero, but now turns out to not be the person Shouto thought he was

So how would he react to that?

Shouto doesn’t strike me as someone who would take this personal, but rather someone who understands why this isn’t public knowledge or something Deku/Bakugou would just tell everyone about

In a most likely scenario, he would probably not make a big deal out of this to them

However, the way someone reacts to something doesn’t have to be how they feel about it. Keeping that in mind, what is the one big thing about Shouto’s backstory?

Isolation

Growing up, he was never allowed to be around his own siblings

His social circle consisted solely of his parents, one of which was taken away from him at a young age, the other someone he dislikes and was never treated by as a human being/child

When he first joined U.A., he made it very clear that he wasn’t there to make friends; his goal was solely on becoming the Number One Hero

Though we’re not shown what his middle school experience was like, it’s likely he’s never had friends before

It’s constantly shown he doesn’t understand social cues or really knows how to interact with others socially, still he views certain people as his friends now

So what do these two secrets have in common? 

Shouto being left out of them

While he wasn’t specifically left out on purpose, when being isolated from his own siblings is such a fundamental part of his life, secrets can feel a lot more isolating than intended.

Not only does someone from his own family fake their own death (in whatever way), become a villain and still not bother mentioning that upon meeting Shouto for the first time since then (during the camp raid arc), even his friends keep a big secret from him alongside the hero he looked up to growing up.

Shouto, on the other hand, isn’t shown to share any secrets with someone else. Instead, he is very open to people, and has made it clear on numerous occasions how his isolation during childhood has damaged him and continues to be an obstacle he needs to overcome.

In other words, finding out about those two secrets would show him that there is still a distance between him and those around him.

Furthermore, circling back to the Dabi = Touya thing, much like the other secret, this one is also not just kept by one individual, but rather several people.

While we don’t know the circumstances of Touya’s death, chances are the Hero Public Safety Commission knows about it and helped Endeavour to keep this information away from the public, since his death is most likely linked to Endeavor’s quirk-breeding and quirk-training

Shouto is already aware that heroes can be corrupt (see: Endeavor) yet still wants to be a hero because he believes that this is not the norm

Much like with Hawks’ undercover mission for which the HSPC explicitly allowed casualties, their reason for covering Endeavor’s past up would be to keep the balance between the heroes and the rest of society

How would they deal with the Touya reveal? Based on the corruptness we’ve seen from them so far (in reference to Hawks’ backstory and his undercover mission), they would probably cover up their involvement in this/knowledge of Endeavor’s abusive actions to maintain their own credibility

This could lead to Shouto questioning the foundations on which the hero society stands (you know... kind of exactly what the LOV wants to do?)

To be honest, I don’t know how all of that individually and/or altogether would affect him canonically; how that would change his views and bonds, nor am I sure whether or not Horikoshi will even bring this up or just pretend like it wouldn’t make a difference to him, when his own brother, his idol, and two of his friends all turn out to withhold important information from him, as well as the HPSC and their corruptness. Not to mention what would happen once he learns that another hero he looks up to, Hawks, has a kill count!

While the HPSC and Hawks aren’t exactly people close to Shouto keeping a secret from him, they are, much like All Might, a big represenation of what being a hero is all about. Realizing all these entities are not heroic means realizing that heroes are fake. This would distance Shouto from the thing he was born for, the reason he exists, and his personal ambition of becoming a hero.

For one final example on why this should have effects on him, let’s put this into the perspective of 

The Trolley Problem:

This ethical though experiment is about choosing to either save one person or a group of five people from being run over by a trolley. Most people naturally base their decisions on utilitarianism (basing one’s decision on the greater good), until that one person is being turned into someone you know (close friend or relative) - then the choice becomes much harder.

Now in this scenario, Shouto is the one person, the group of people is the rest of society

The person in control of who to save is any one of the people keeping a secret from him

Their decisions: the greater good!

Shouto wants to become a hero; wants to become someone who saves others. With that, he would understand and respect the decision to be hurt for the sake of the greater good. However, even when he understands to be sacrificed, even if he specifically gave his okay for this, it would still hurt him to not be more important to people he considers close than a group of strangers. Because why does he not deserve to be cared about?

Additionally, learning about the HPSC and heroes he considers good (Hawks) to not have such a clean slate, would add to the hurt and ultimately weaken or even destroy the trust he has in heroes and his friends altogether, thus socially isolating himself from them.

So while it’s uncertain whether Horikoshi will include this, partially because there is no telling whether Shouto will even learn about the whole One For All thing, it would be great to see that being included, especially as a way to further empathize how damaging the existence of heroes is to those they are close to, despite the fact that their actions are supposed to help people.

[rwdestuffs]

There’s a lot of ironwood stans and a lot of ironwood haters out there. Now, to be fair, one’s opinion on the guy is likely dependent on that person’s view of the real-world military, as well as their own opinion of the writing in general.

Due to the… let’s be nice and use the phrase “lackluster writing”, ironwood is a very polarizing character. One can see his view on wanting to save people, but once a single chess price shows up, he loses it, and plans to abandon all of Remnant.

Keep in mind that the main characters have no reason to trust him. Not only has atlasian forces been around Mantle for a long time, causing distress and by extension, attracting Grimm, but ironwood seems to have no interest in using any atlas resources to build the communications tower. He only expends atlas military resources to protect it. Everything else comes from Mantle, including the time and energy of their best protector.

It took a submission post [here] to kinda spell it out:

The writing is so bad that we aren’t entirely sure if we should be sympathetic to ironprick or not. Given that I am calling him ironprick, you can probably tell where I lie on that whole thing.

Our own views of the US military has kinda skewed our view of ironwood and the atlasian military, so, let’s try to take a much more objective look at what they do, and how it either makes ironwood a tragic character, or a downright villainous one.

The discussion as to how the show has more or less demonized characters with prosthetics, has been done better in this post [here].

Our first introduction to Atlas in general is honestly… not that great. in this post [here], we see that right off the bat, Atlas is… well, sus. Their resident robot girl is “combat ready” and while this seems like an innocent line in this world, it makes one wonder “Why would she need to state that?”

In addition, with the SDC being a major point for resident racist turned un-racist off=screen, Weiss, the view of Atlas is already not that great. And as a quick tangent, but can we at least have mention of an apology? Like, just a random line of dialogue that tells us, yes, Weiss did in fact apologize? If these writers can’t resolve that conflict on-screen, the least they could do is give us the details of what happened off-screen.

With that rant done, it’s pretty clear that Atlas is either full of a bunch of trigger-happy gun-toting military personnel, or that they seem to be gearing up for a war with the rest of the world.

In Volume 2, we also get the reveal that Penny isn’t allowed to have social interaction, and that her status as an android is kept secret for unknown reasons. Had this show gone in the route of “Penny would absorb the Fall Maiden powers, but we run into the philosophical question of ‘She is also a living being, should she not also have a say in how her future is determined?’“, then that would have made sense.

In this Volume, and in Volume 3, we see that not only is the Ozluminati willing to sacrifice a young girl and rob her of her dreams, but that Atlas isn’t willing to expend any resources for her sake either.

With Volume 4, we kinda get a sort of insight into Ironwood and Jacques’ relationship. Jacques more or less tries to play the “I’m your friend” card with Ironwood. Given Jacques’ easily recognizable racism, it’s telling that Ironwood kept him as good company until he decided on an embargo, which, really only hurt the rest of the world. Ironwood wasn’t protecting anyone, he was trying to hold onto resources.

This is further exemplified in Volume 7, where, as mentioned earlier, he is taking Mantle’s resources to fuel his own pet project… And we later find out that that pet project was a total lie, as it turns out, it was just bait to lure out one of Shadow Queen’s minions.

We then see this all culminate in Volume 8, where Ironwood starts working with Watts to get payback on Penny for betraying him. His dialogue mirrors a lot of rhetoric that an abuser would use to try to coerce their victim to their side. And his casual discard of Penny is honestly something to take note of. Ironwood doesn’t value differing opinions. He never wanted anyone who would question him. He wanted loyalty. If he had his way, he would have installed Order 66 in all Atlasian troops to make them turn on any hunter that wasn’t loyal to him.

All of Volume 8 happened because he saw that his supposedly perfect defenses weren’t so perfect after all. And instead of resolving to try to do better once they expelled the intruder, he instead turns on the main heroes for not trusting him.

Now here comes the next question:

Should have team RWBY trusted ironwood from the start?

Now, we as the audience know that all of that stuff about Ironwood makes him look suspicious. But what do the characters know? Well, Weiss knows that they’re a bunch of militaristic assholes who refused to help her or her family escape from her abusive father even though one of their top specialists was her sister.

Ruby and Yang likely have a poor view on Atlas and Ironwood in general thanks to their conversations with Qrow.

And Blake knows that they’re basically the racism capital of the world.

As for team JNOR, their experiences likely come from how team rwby acts. With them being so close, and adding the fact that all of them got arrested for fighting grimm when they first arrived, their views are also negative.

On top of which, Ironwood is the headmaster of Atlas Academy. The last headmaster they trusted (Leo) stabbed them in the back, and the one before that (Oz) lied to them about their mission, so they have every right to be suspicious of Ironwood. They don’t exactly have a good track record with these headmasters.

So clearly, with what both the audience knows, and with what the characters know, their lack of trust in Ironwood was not misplaced.

With all that said and done, let’s dive into the final question of this post:

Is Ironwood a sympathetic villain?

As a blunt answer, yes. As an equally blunt answer, no.

Ironwood is a human character who is in charge of a military force. He hasn’t had to deal with racism like Ilia, Blake, or Velvet, but he also has been through a lot of battles if his large amount of prosthetics is to be seen.

Ironwood clearly has not had the world be kind to him, but by contrast, he hasn’t been kind to the world. As for which came first, is up to interpretation, but the point of the matter still stands: Ironwood was acting like a dictator.

Now, is his horribly described semblance Mettle to blame for this? Well, let’s think for a moment as to how it would have affected the story if we had known about it beforehand. Either in an interview, or because (in this hypothetical scenario) the writers were smart and had maybe Qrow try to talk him down by saying something like “James, calm down. You’re letting your semblance talk for you” really doesn’t matter. Let’s ask ourselves: How would knowing his semblance beforehand had affected our view of this?

Simply put, it would make us sympathetic to him, until we see his aura break and that he’s still going on his main goal of ditching all of Remnant and being selfish. It would have informed us that it wasn’t just Mettle driving Ironwood, Ironwood had that sort of thing in him the entire time, but he reached a breaking point. It’s been said that “people go from 0 to 60 over one little thing” but really, that’s not true. People don’t just go “from 0 to 60.″ People just don’t pay attention to how long a person has been at 59. And quite frankly, Ironwood was doing an admittedly good job at hiding how long he was at 59. He was constantly calm, cool, and collected in a lot of stressful situations, like when he had to confront the rest of the council.

But we also know that he was locking up dissenters. Labeling them as “traitors” and more or less, acting like he knew best. Plus, we know that he was doing a lot of questionable things in the past that makes a lot of his actions rather dubious at best.

But, once we view this with the view of the US Military, which Atlas is based on, intentionally or not, we kinda see something. Not some “grand protectors of the border and ideology of the country” but a bunch of power-hungry generals willing to throw bodies just to get their way, only for them to be unprepared when they are the ones who get invaded. And for them to basically be the fuel that gives their supposed enemies their power to cause so much destruction. Atlas was already at a breaking point. All Salem and her forces did was just add that one little extra bit of weight that caused it to all come crashing down.

In this case, literally.

[incarnateirony]

15.11 and moving forward

Some of you may have seen my Putrefied in Purgatory video surrounding 15.09. Putrefaction is the reduction of a material to its barest state for a new foundation, rotting away to the alchemical Blackened state to rebuild on new stages of whitening (which seemed to crest in 15.10 for Dean), then yellowing and reddening en route, though for completion there's other stages ahead of us (as per what I lended towards in Philosopher's Gold, also 15.09 video.)

But I think what I need to do is discuss the tree.

SO MOVING FORWARD, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN ALCHEMY AND QABBALAH SPN LAND. GLAD YOU ASKED, NOBODY.

I *AM* gonna need you to bear with me right now, because I’m about to data-dump out a bunch of information and then go back over and explain how this is connecting to what Andrew Fucking Dabb and company are doing actively, episode by episode. If you don’t get it on first read, that’s fine, once I start putting it in terms and concepts and show stuff you get, scroll back and re-digest in frame.

Okay so, let’s drop some points. You may have remembered me making early videos of Belphegor as the ruler of Thagirion after 15.01 (x) and later, one called Worthy of Love for Tiphareth (x), but not before he who blocks and hampers the heart guides walked them through flames they were not yet ready to access (x), causing an unlevel involution between the Three Principles with Castiel reaching a reddening while Dean sat in darkness and Sam struggled to maintain his own light.

 This is going to become very important to my babbling, but the concept is that there is a nega/void/blockage version of the tree that has “evil” versions of each node. Tiphareth’s shadow is Thagirion. Tiphareth is the essence of love, true and genuine. It dominates the heart chakra, and its disputer, Belphegor, the blocker, is he who does not believe in love and observes marriages for dissent and further aggitates the blockage in the path. Sound familiar?

This Sephira is in some respects the most important of all. It is the centre of the whole system; it is the only Sephira below the Abyss which communicates directly with Kether. (Think crown/godhead/source -- white node #1) It is fed directly from Chokmah and Binah; also from Chesed and Geburah. (I’ll... get into these another time, they’re a higher segment) It is thus admirably fitted to dominate the lower Sephiroth; it is balanced both vertically and horizontally. In the planetary system it represents the Sun; in the system of Tetragrammaton it represents the Son. In other words, the Son is an interpretation of the Father in terms of the Mind. [Tiphareth is] thus representative of [the four] elements at their practical best.  (Book of Thoth, p.181) 

You don’t say. (vaguely screams into fist about who and what the Mind is and who and what the Father in this Aeon is)

Soft Husband Gaze Dot Gif not found in tumblr search so I’ma nab and tag another by @starsmish​

Dean and Cas’ blowout over Jack, “you’re dead to me”, was over Cas knowing something was wrong with Jack, and not telling them, and Dean’s anger leading to distrust.

That was putrefied in purgatory, everything laid bare. And while they haven’t had their heart to heart yet (that big good omens energy shot is probably from 12, a bobocuda episode like The Future was), here–

Cas already had his gasping, shocked, clutched reunion with the son. Sam came home and gave a squeeze too.

But Dean walked up, put a hand behind his son’s neck, stared deeply into his eyes to see if it was him. And, as if doubting himself, looked to his somber husband, who silently communicated and affirmed it, and Dean knew, and trusted, and believed, and their son was home.

Someone launch me to jupiter please

oh wait neverfuckingmind, Dabb and co are working on that shortly.

Tiphareth, the heart, is the central vein, the power between godhood and the terrestrial earth as manifest in Malkuth.

I had pointed out the choice taste in Dean emerging from black in a white suit to look into yellow light and past red drapes in 15.10 and that Dean seemed to be approaching his whitening, but that’s even truer now.

The phases I speak of bear relevance to these.

Just--humor me and see earth as the blackened base from the human perspective, even if the blackened base of the Shadow of Man lies beneath the Ain Soph (which I’ll show some inverted trees for later). I’ve spoken of lunar light in regards to the whitening before, and it even rose in my Reflection video about crucifying the ego before it was too late (x) (please mind the video was made a year ago now based on hermetic pattern spec)  “The moon gives me her secret, a confidant; as full and bright as I am, this light is not my own and a million light reflections pass over me.” 

(aside re: crucifying the ego, it’s about removing the blackened snake of our unrefined parts of the self, similar to putrefaction, so a step we just crossed)

In alchemy, albedo is one of the four major stages of the magnum opus, along with nigredo, citrinitas/xanthosis and rubedo. It is a Latinicized term meaning "whiteness". Following the chaos or massa confusa of the nigredo stage, the alchemist undertakes a purification or rectification in albedo, which is literally referred to as ablutio or absolution – the washing away of impurities. This phase is concerned with "bringing light and clarity to the prima materia (personal material)". But the transmutational state is ... well.

“The whitening phase is ruled by the moon and as such is reflective, in that it does not have its own light. The maturation of the whitening happens via reflection and is often described as mirroring. The reflective processes, of thinking and feeling, dominate the direct experiences of intuition, sensation and imagination. Knowledge is King, and Mystery is banished by the whitening ego's searchlight. Perfection is idealised, and imperfection seen as weakness. Immediate gratification is expected. Nothing is allowed to mature. Lacking true wisdom, we are children in adult's bodies. Our leaders lack the vision to see the real problems, and the guts to really change things.

“The first main goal of the process... highly prized by many alchemists... is the silver or moon condition, which still has to be raised to the sun condition. The albedo [whitening], is so to speak, the daybreak, but not till the rubedo [reddening] is it sunrise. The transition to the rubedo is formed by the citrinitas [yellowing], though this, as we said, was omitted later.” (x)

Now let’s take a look at how that applies to Yesod in the middle pillar, above Malkuth, both of which gain power from light *elsewhere* -- that is, Tiphareth.

Of Yesod: 

“After the double excursion into misfortune, (Hod and Netzach) the current returns to the middle pillar. This Sephira is the seat of the great crystallization of Energy. But it takes place very far down the Tree, at the apex of the third descending triangle, and a flat triangle at that. There is little help from low, unbalanced spheres like Netzach and Hod. What saves Yesod is the direct ray from Tiphareth; this Sephira is in the direct line of succession. (Book of Thoth) “

Yesod is that subtle basis upon which the physical world is based....It is the Astral Plane, which in one sense being passive and reflecting energies from above is lunar, even as the moon reflects the light of the sun. The Astral Light is an omnipresent and all-permeating fluid or medium of extremely subtle matter; substance in a highly tenuous state, electric and magnetic in constitution, which is the model upon which the physical world is built. It is the endless, changeless, ebb and flow of the world's forces that, in the last resort, guarantee the stability of the world and provides its foundation. [...]  The general conception of Yesod is of change with stability. (Regardie, 1994)

So let’s take a quick aside on that double journey into instability in Hod and netzach, and I’ll leave everyone to think of how this correlates now.

The position of Netzach is doubly unbalanced; off the middle pillar, and very low down on the Tree. It is taking a very great risk to descend so far into illusion, and, above all, to do it by frantic struggle. Netzach pertains to Venus...and the greatest catastrophe that can befall Venus is to lose her Heavenly origin. (Book of Thoth, p.182)

The sphere of Hod represents on a very much lower plane similar qualities to those obtaining in Chokmah. It is the lower plane, first primitive version of union and sharing between the divine masculine and feminine (SPN video recs [x], [x] ) as mirrored to Netzach’s above details.

So we’ve got... lesser unions *scrolls over 15.9* cast down Mark wedding, check, from a blackened putrified base of Malkuth not yet even fully acquiring its own awareness of reflected light in Yesod or Albedo. 15.10 Dean does seem to start gaining some sense of light and dream, if reflected off of imaginings of others while coming out from behind the curtain *checks* but it’s not fully manifest yet. Now the heroes struggle through descending into illusion and frantic struggle, questioning all they know in existence, or their “luck”. *checks* 

Now, Fortuna tells our heroes a good deal of what we knew they needed to hear. In the end it really isn’t about their luck. Heroes aren’t extinct, but it’s not about playing god’s game, it’s about playing their own. The divine feminine told them the secrets of the gods and, in a way, it is the steps towards mastering their human sovereignty.

Notice the lunar card path lending towards the lunar Yesod node, for example, even using arcana -- given this is Grey’s system, there’s a few others.

Uh, ignore the given card/highlighted path for now, that’s there for reasons you may recognize that I’ll bang on about elsewhere.(Aeon, for the record, is basically the same as Judgement and World=Universe, and Lust=Strength different naming system -- you’ll notice the second names on the first chart apply here, though in a matter of descending vs ascending. A few are different; and I’m not gonna pledge up and down which version Dabb is using, so I’m more going to take the raw idea that works across multiple models)

In the interim -- and defaulting back to Tiphareth after following the path of the Sun through Art, towards the philosopher’s stone of unabridged love, marriage, the sun and the son, the moon reflects the light of the sun, the Rising Sun, albeit not yet back to its proper reddening -- the yellow familial light I’ve banged on about in this show, even beyond our romantic pairings. The sun had been lost and the family and the three principles fell into chaos, needing to rebuild. And yet, as Castiel brings home Jack, we see the growth even in these few episodes: 

With pain and distrust betrayed in purgatory, over having failed to communicate issues with Jack, once everything was laid bare and rotten to base to rebuild in Purgatory, Dean looked to Castiel after doubting himself staring into Jack’s eyes to know if their son was truly home, and by a look, he knew, and accepted, and as weighty as it was, that family was complete.

Back to Tiphareth as the four elements in harmony, we have our future playing field here. 

I will tap back to Hod reflecting Chokmah though, at a lesser value, by citing some points of Chokmah: “male creative energy, wisdom and the expression of a single idea in terms of duality. It transmits the idea of the divine unity to its feminine counterpart, the understanding, somewhat as a man transmits the essence of his character to his wife so that he perceives his inmost nature, itself unintelligible to him directly, by observing the flowering of that essence in his son. “

Cough. blossom.

Anyway,

the yellowing is upon them all now, in actual harmony, with the return of the sun by which to reflect their light in Yesod, but furthermore, to step forward.

Hm. What saves Yesod is the direct ray from Tiphareth.

Their su/on. Is home. And the yellow light, if faint at first, as they come to speak, has returned, lingering between them. The yellowing itself comes from moving into a form of being where one’s own soul is less a reflected light of the grand scheme of things and one’s own personal, generated light, and that is landing upon us shortly.

To like, fully break down this path shit I’d have to go full like alchemical sermon here, but I’m more trying to map out just how artistically rendered this show is using these paths. 

So where do we go now? The crown, Kether, is our goal. But we’re not ready to Priestess rocket straight that direction, as much as there’s still a strong overshadow of Kether upon them, even if the Star’s light descending leads towards hope. 

But we’ve left the primitive base triangle now. Geburah and Chesed await. 

Geburah:

The introduction of the number Five shows the idea of motion coming to the aid of that of matter...The result is a complete upset of the statically stabilized system. Now appear storm and stress. (The Book of Thoth, p.180)

Despite the fact that Geburah is a feminine potency, as are all Sephiros [sic] on the left-hand column of the Tree, practically all its attributions are male and vigorous...This is not confusion of thought, but a recognition of the necessity for equilibrium." (Regardie, 1994)

Geburah represents on a much lower plane the Sakti force-element attributed to Binah. (Regardie, 1994)

The quality of Geburah is summed up in the general idea of strength and power and force. Its card based attributions are strife, disappointment, defeat, and worry. That which the heart must overcome with strength.

Chesed:

Lots of crazy mystic math involved but summarily Righteousness, Mercy, and Love, combining seemingly diverse ideas.

 "below the Abyss"; therefore, in practice, it means solidification, materialization. Things have become manifest. The essential point is that it expresses the Rule of Law...The manifestation promised by Binah has now taken place. Chesed...is the highest idea which can be understood in an intellectual way. (The Book of Thoth).

These are given to travel to Chokmah (which I’ve noted already) and Binah “For she is omniform as Love and as Death, the Great Sea whence all Life springs, and whose black womb reabsorbs all. She thus resumes in herself the duplex process of the Formula of Love under Will" (Little Esssays Towards Truth, "Love") - planetary association Saturn, so you may.. *gestures back at other videos* (x)

Like... Rowena’s Reverse Womb Symbolism Dot Jaypeg, “Death is an infinite vessel.” (reminder drop x)

“In short, Binah is the substantive vehicle of every possible phenomenon, physical or mental” (Regardie, 1994)

opposite chokmah, as above mentioned in the masculine presence of the union to meet the godhead.

These lovers must still walk different paths for a time, but will meet across the void of hidden knowledge before standing at the crown, if only after facing their strife and personal strength, taking the understanding of the moon and fortuna, to not play another’s game, to blossom into holding one’s own light along with completion in the family unit, and to find wisdom in the hidden things between them, by which the aged hermit, the hierophant, he who held the unofficiated wedding’s gold, the incomplete, lesser manifestation at Hod, and formerly cast it down -- as his foundation to approach the crown.

At more immediate, Netzach is also led forward by Fortune or Fortuna towards Chesed. The Hermit, a role Sam has heavily embodied on his Hierophant path, crosses from Tiphareth. As the one that impressed Fortuna, Sam is likely the one to hold the torch of her words right now, and figure out how to make Chuck play their game. Whereas Hod travels the road of the Hanged Man, each to find their strength sourced upward from Tiphareth, the heart, the sun, the son, the marriage, the family light, the yellowing, with adjustment through Tiphareth removing some of the pillar of severity and the hanged man road ahead of the struggling, still separated union.

Death descends from Binah to Geburah, enacting her volatile change and meeting the path of the hanged man, empowered by heart and adjustment; the hierophant will meet and become the hermit at Chesed. The path of the united lovers is an inevitability in any system rising from the heart towards the path of the hanged man in affiliation with the divine feminine, death's forces included; and the hierophant enacts the emperor on way to the divine masculine. The Emperor and Empress' marriage will end up being the fundament by which to face that final triangle of upper creation.

For those of you who remember me banging on about Art/Temperance versus Lovers arcana all goddamn hiatus, enjoy seeing them spawn out of Tiphareth there.

Here the red eagle and white lion commune and share in their parts, for the restoration of the golden orphic (x) child and great work under the hands of the Hierophant against the pillars of overseeing divine fem/masc (here represented in Adam and Lilith, other versions Adam and Eve)

Just... honestly just read this (x) if you want to know more about how each of these elementson those cards correspond to the above paths.

So I guess this is a really long magical way of shipper Sam is gonna have to get these two knuckleheads cosmically married and complete before standing as the godman and subverting the allfather with the rebirth of the heart and their su/on. And hopefully not have Eileen recreate the Rowena thing on the way. Or Cas for that matter.

The complete deconstruction of the lovers in purgatory was necessary, having been in the cursed and evil, inverted tree and blocked at Tiphareth. Now we can build forward in light and knowledge and the sovereign journey of man, even if it has its pitfalls and misfortunes. The Empress’ marriage to the Emperor makes foundation for the Fool (which isn’t what it sounds like) and the Magician’s completed work, finalizing the top triangle of unity to complete their magnum opus against god. Man created the gods, and are to soon prove themselves the equal of him.

And that’s my rambling because I suck at teaching this shit.

*nervous chuckling for potential ways for Castiel’s deal to work out right now*

[makeste]

what we could have been

this is a post about the similarities between these old farts

and these lil bubbas

but more importantly, it’s a post about the differences.

so! the manga has recently entered the Internships 2 arc, also known as the Child Soldiers/Todoroki Drama 2.5 arc! so far it is very exciting, and I can’t wait to see how Deku and co. will somehow level up by a factor of 11 just in time to defeat Tomura and his new new upgrade. I assume that this will happen though, since the alternative is... [checks] everyone dies a horrible death. well shit.

anyway, we’ve already had like 12 arcs of All Might being a mentor, but this arc features the first time Endeavor has tried his hand at it! this is of course a universally beloved decision by Horikoshi which everyone in the fandom is very happy about! but I actually do like it, because the Endeavor redemption arc is complicated as fuck and endlessly fascinating to me, and because, truth be told, there is something that even a Certified Son Of A Bitch can still teach these young whippersnappers. even if Endeavor is 99.9% a dick, that 0.01% can still impart something of value. but anyways that’s not what I came here to talk about so let’s move on.

what I want to discuss is the fact that Izuku and Katsuki share very obvious similarities with All Might and Endeavor, and there are very obvious parallels between their respective arcs. Izuku is basically All Might 2.0, whereas Endeavor is presented as a version of what Katsuki could have been. but they are not the same people, either of them, and their paths have started to diverge in ways that are very much for the better. and the reasons for that can all be traced to one simple action, which in turn stemmed from one simple, honest impulse. and I have approximately 10,000 thoughts about it, so here goes.

first let’s briefly touch on those similarities. as far as Izuku and All Might go, their backstories very closely resemble one another. they both started out as quirkless kids who nonetheless held a stubborn idealism and were driven to help others. they’re both incredibly determined and remarkably self-sacrificing. both of them spent the first part of their lives overlooked, undervalued, and underestimated, and they both understand the combination of validation and gut-churning pressure that comes with being chosen as the successor to a great power and a heavy burden. the similarities between them are a large part of why All Might chose Izuku as his successor, despite there being other options on the table. All Might sees himself in Izuku, and that’s part of the reason why they share such a strong bond.

now let’s talk about Endeavor and Katsuki, who share absolutely no bond at all (for now, anyway), but nonetheless hold just as much common ground as their counterparts. they are both fiercely determined and have made it their goal to reach the top. they’re also both foul-tempered with notoriously unfriendly attitudes. and last but not least, they’re both loners who have a tendency to push others away.

one thing that’s interesting is that both Katsuki and Endeavor formerly held strong beliefs about quirks being inextricably tied to strength. Katsuki shunned and scorned Izuku for years because he lacked a quirk. meanwhile Endeavor wrote off 3/4 of his own children because their quirks didn’t develop the way he wanted them to. and it’s only recently that each of them has come to see the error of their ways, which in Endeavor’s case is quite unfortunate, because he’s already well into his forties and has only just now started to con on to the fact that he’s an asshole. whereas Katsuki started this process a whole lot earlier, and as a result is a lot better poised to bounce back from his mistakes and make redemption his bitch.

so segueing now into the “differences” part of this comparative essay, that is Key Difference # 1 for you: Katsuki managed to not waste the next 30 years of his life focusing only on Achieving Strength at the cost of destroying every other positive thing in his life. and while I think there is one reason in particular for this, which I’ll get to shortly, I’ll also go ahead and give Katsuki some of the credit here, because what he did is hard. it’s hard to realize that you have had the wrong way of thinking for your entire life, and to take the steps to get it straightened out. many people are not that open to change. rather than admitting their mistakes, they double down on them and stubbornly defend them. but Katsuki was willing to question everything he’d ever known, and look at it with an open mind, and realize that he was heading down a wrong path. and then he was able to course-correct.

and that takes strength. not the kind of strength he’s so preoccupied with, but an inner strength that he might not have even realized that he has. in this respect he is much stronger than Endeavor, who’s had much more difficulty doing his own course-correcting, although he too is finally starting to figure his shit out (too late to salvage some things, but “better late than never” is a term that still applies here regardless). in my opinion, Katsuki’s willingness to accept his own faults, and to try to change them, is one of the most unexpected and remarkable things about his character, because you wouldn’t necessarily see that coming based on his attitude at the start of the series. anyways, I really like it.

but I did say some of the credit, as opposed to all of it. and the reason for that is because in my opinion, it’s actually Izuku who deserves most of it. but before I explain, let me first backtrack and talk about another aspect of All Might’s character, one he does not share with Izuku.

All Might, like Katsuki and Endeavor, is actually a loner as well. we tend to not notice as much, because he doesn’t really seem to fit the stereotypical profile of a loner-type character; he has a very close bond with Izuku, and he speaks with an earnest and straightforward candor about emotions and subjects that most people wouldn’t be able to discuss with the same sincerity. but it’s true nonetheless. even putting aside this moment in chapter 166 where he outright admits it, there are numerous other little details in the series that show this. he has no family that we know of. only one close friend (and a non-hero at that). at the start of the manga, he was estranged from both his mentor (referring here to Gran, not Nana) and his sidekick. he’s close-lipped about a lot of things, including things he honestly should have been upfront with Izuku about much sooner. and he hides his true self from the world in an effort to preserve that unwaveringly steady image that people have put their trust in.

in the very first chapter of BnHA, All Might makes a speech to Izuku about the reason why he smiles: “to stave off the overwhelming pressure and fear I feel.” All Might was the Symbol of Peace, the pillar that society relied on -- but he was a lone pillar. he kept to himself, and made the choice to bear that weight alone. and this had consequences. I’m speaking not only of the chaos after his fall, but of other, subtler impacts as well.

so now, let’s talk about Izuku.

let’s start with Key Difference # 2: Izuku is not a loner. yes, at one point he was alone -- not by choice -- but that isn’t a defining trait of his character. Izuku reaches out. he reaches out to everyone. he makes friends easily. he’s open with his feelings in a way that All Might is not (and which All Might in fact often scolds him for).

boy just puts it out there. he’s not ashamed. but anyways, it’s actually the part about him reaching out to others that I want to talk about. I’ve said in past essays that Izuku has an instinct to save others which surpasses even All Might’s. when he sees someone in pain, his instinct is to reach out. he will do this every time. regardless of whether it’s asked for, and regardless of how often his attempts may be shunned.

and this, right here, is the most important difference between Izuku (and Katsuki), and All Might (and Endeavor). because you see, All Might, for all his strength and sacrifice, always stood alone.

he kept his burden to himself, and never looked back.

but Izuku did.

“I got my quirk from someone else.”

this was in spite of All Might, his hero, telling him in no uncertain terms to not share his secret with anyone else. and in spite of the fact that Katsuki hadn’t been anything close to a friend to him for many years. like, it’s actually wild to think about all of the reasons that Izuku had not to do this. but the fact of the matter is this: that where All Might never turned, never wavered, and never attempted to help anyone else cross that gap, when Izuku saw Katsuki in pain, he acted on the same instinct that has guided him his entire life: he reached.

and that...

...has made all the difference.

Izuku pulled Katsuki across the gap with him. he let him in. he did this with no expectation of reward, or even gratitude. quite the opposite; Katsuki had always rebuffed his attempts to help before, and even in this case, it initially appeared that he had misjudged again, and that he was just lucky that Katsuki didn’t press the matter. it was a move that defied not just common sense, but all of Izuku’s past experience; nothing about their past relationship ever hinted at a hope for common ground in the future. nothing, that is, except a shared dream.

but he reached out anyway. and because of that, Katsuki was eventually able to put two and two together. and when he did, he did something very unexpected: he reached back.

he asked Izuku for help. he did something that Endeavor never managed to do until after All Might had retired and he found himself, at long last, in the number one position, but adrift and without a driver’s manual.

it took a lifetime of failure and the loss of everything he’d been working toward for Endeavor to finally realize he was doing something wrong, and to ask for help. but this isn’t the case with Katsuki. partly because he was able to put his ego aside in this one crucial moment, but even more than that, it was simply because Izuku had never left a gap between them. Katsuki never had to work to build a bridge. Izuku was laying planks behind him every single step of the way. never expecting that Katsuki would actually follow them, but leaving them there for him regardless. leaving this path back open for them to reconcile, should Katsuki ever choose to finally meet him halfway.

and because of that faith, because of his open and giving nature, the end result is that he now has something that All Might never had: a partner. someone to help shoulder that weight. someone else who understands that burden. and someone who is now working together with Izuku with unexpected earnestness.

and so this is Key Difference # 3: whereas All Might and Endeavor were only ever at odds, two opposites on a polarized scale, Izuku and Katsuki are learning to work together. to learn from one another. to share what the other lacks, and to make each other stronger.

incidentally, just in case any part of this essay has come off as me being overly critical of All Might, or pinning the blame on him for the failures of the previous generation, let me assure you that I don’t fault him at all. All Might did what he thought was right, and managed to turn an impossible dream into a shining reality against all odds. the Symbol he became brought about peace for many years and inspired the next generation of heroes. he was not wrong in what he was trying to do; his only flaw was in being so determined to shield others that he ended up taking on too much by himself.

and I’ll say this for All Might too: in the end, he himself realized where he had gone wrong. there’s a reason why, particularly since his retirement, he’s started mentoring Katsuki in addition to Izuku. All Might knows better than anyone else the burden that sits on Izuku’s shoulders, and he knows just how hard it is to go that course alone. I already gave credit to the boys, but let’s go ahead and give All Might some credit as well, because he, too, is now course-correcting. he’s learning from his mistakes, and helping build a new generation that can succeed in building an even brighter future than the one he once sought.

as a certain melty-face scenery-chewing villain once said, “when people know that there will be an end, they entrust.” this series began with the passing of a legacy from one generation to the next. and now in this latest arc, we’re again seeing that theme of entrusting, of the old guard passing down the torch to the young guns. and shockingly, not just with All Might, but Endeavor as well. reluctant though he was at first, he, too, is now doing his best to help guide these kids down the right path. placing his faith in their strength.

I started off this essay by saying that All Might and Endeavor are who Izuku and Katsuki could have been. but now, to conclude things, I think it’s only fitting that I turn that on its head. All Might and Endeavor are not who Katsuki and Izuku could have been. Izuku and Katsuki are who All Might and Endeavor could have been. they are the ideal vision that never came to pass. the brand reimagined. the song remastered. Izuku and Katsuki will be able to reach heights that All Might and Endeavor never achieved, because they were able to shed loneliness and pride in favor of trust and a sincere willingness to learn.

so yeah.

 all hail the new kids.

[urkpoppsychic]

SF9 reading ⭐️❤️💰personality & Love + career.

Note: This is just a reading, it is for entertaining purposes it might not be 100% accurate. Move on if you dont like the reading. Thank you and enjoy the reading 😉💝.

Young Bin

Personality:This person is playful and not that serious as you think he is. He cares about having fun at his workplace than being always so serious. To make other people feel good about working with him. He might be good at doing multitasking. He is a good public speaker, and a communicator. He might be a logical thinker and honest with his words. He is someone who doesn't have enough patients. He is fast when it comes to taking actions. He doesn't have time to wait around. He might be always active and busy. He is someone who will fall asleep easily. because of his busy day. He seems to be an optimistic guy. He might need to learn to say NO to others. Because he loves to help. 

Love life

Past: There could be a woman or lover who was hiding her true self or didn't follow her intuition to pursue the relationship. 

Present: He is the knight in shiny armor, he wants to pursue now or never and feel loyal to her. No one can stop him. He will move towards his lover passionately. 

Future: The woman who wasn't true to herself will rethink this connection. He might also rethink if this lover could be the one. 

outcome: He might see the clarity in the connection that he might be better of single and that when the time is right, there will be the person who will be his true self and be open for him to love. 

Inseong

Personality: He is someone who is very stable when it comes to his money. He knows how to save his money and is careful not to overspend it. He might not be very open towards strangers. He has his own friends and people who he can be his true self. He might have many talents. It is good in almost everything. He is good with manifesting. Making new connections might be a bit of a struggle for him. He is the person who is very charming and attractive and he might take advantage of his appearance to get attention.  to feel wanted and whole. He might be a bit in a player role. because he still needs to figure out how to make true connections. He might not know how to do it right. But he is learning. 

Love Life

Past: Juggling within 2 people.

Present: He is now working with 2 people with the same interest. He isn't even thinking about choosing between them. as if 2 girls are fighting over him and he is standing there and doesn't know how to solve this. 

Future: He will find another way to get out of this situation cus it is no longer serving him. A new passion with somebody else is coming on his way who will catch his interest. 

Outcome but this time he will be the one who needs the chase and take effort for the new woman. before he was a bit laid back and not doing anything for a relationship. But for this new person he will need to put more effort or else he might lose her. 

Jaeyoon

Personality: He is someone who is dependent on others, He might be an extravert ( That will mean he doesn't like to be alone, that he gain his energy from other people and to be with people. ) It will make him feel alive and whole again. He doesn't really know how to be on his own. He might struggle to handle things on his own. how to deal with his money and his self-care and career wise. He might be naive when it comes to his experiences with new connections and with love and friendships. He might be emotionally and mentally out of balance at this moment. He might be a bit rebellious or ignorant. because of how reality hits him. He has a strong will and desire to understand the new perspectives and let the old idealism go. He has still a long way to go. 

Love Life:

Past: There was an unexpected positive movement in the relationship, could be an offer, text message or a call or a date. 

Present: He is trusting in the relationship that he is in. He feels really balanced and whole with this situation. He might be in a romantic relationship. 

Future: He is choosing her as his longlasting partner. 

Outcome: He is a bit insecure or afraid about the future investment. more about his financial stability. He might have some codependency on his side. might deal with some fears or addictions that might be affecting his lovelife. or he is spending too much on his relationship on her feeling like addicted and possessive over her.  

Dawon

Personality: He is someone who is independent and he can take good care of himself. He is grateful towards the little things in life. He might sometimes hide his honest opinion or feelings about something or someone.  He might also sound a bit cocky.  He is assertive and wants to be the one in control and he would like to be the hero. He is strong-willed and is confident and has a high self-esteem and is brave. He might be a perfectionist and well organized person. He has his cold side and has high ideals.  He intelligent and willy and smart. 

Love Life: 

Past: He might have dealt with someone who he broke some rules with or  actions that might be rebellious. That is beyond the Korean standards. 

Present: He is at all-in control with his strength towards a relationship. He is the man in the relationship.

Future: He wants to be honest, and wants to bring more justice in the relationship. 

Outcome: Somehow he might be in a situation that he might feel trapped/stuck. of his own high ideals/ illusions. 

Zu Ho

Personality: This person is carefree and a big dreamer. He is always full of joy and unexpected surprises. He is overwhelmed by passion and emotions towards his sudden focus. have a willpower to keep going. He is someone who won't easily give up on things. He will fight until he breaks down. He might have always needed to be responsible and wants to take care of things but he might dwell and end up being over his limits . He is very giving and romantic. It might emotionally overwhelm him. He might take things too fast/quickly while he is someone who actually needs to do things slowly and step by step. When a change is too quick he might feel overwhelmed and out of balance. 

Love Life

Past: He is ready for a new beginning to dive in. He is open and ready to trust and fall towards the opportunity. 

Present: He is working on himself cus he wants to be fully ready for something he really wants. 

Future: He might sometimes act childish because of his insecurities in his career/financial situation. But he is still wanting to bring her an offer.  

Outcome: He might be not single anymore and be in a romantic relationship. 

Rowoon

Personality: This person is very friendly, intuitive, sensitive and artistic. He is someone who is very stable and financially stable and a great father figure. He might have some wisdom in him. He might be good with kids and love to have celebrations and hang out with friends and family. He also loves animals. He believes that somewhere he can find his one and only soulmate. He has good intentions towards others. but people might misinterpret that. He is a good person. 

Love Life:

Past: He might have been through some sleepless night but it comes to an end for him luckily. no more nightmares and worries for him. He might have dealt with a break up or rejections. 

Present: It was something that was meant to happen to help him grow as an individual. Luck is on his side, unexpected things will happen, maybe a new person or a friend will come towards his path.  

Future: He is now slowly investing in his future to build a long term goal. To build a stable foundation to be able count on himself. so that in the next relationship he has balance in himself and her. 

Outcome: He might be in transformation/ changing new ideas and old things that no longer serve him will be gone. Time for a new beginning. He will recover from the past. 

Taeyang

Personality: Independent, experienced and smart. He is realistic and lively. He is someone who makes decisions based on objectives. He stays out of toxic people. He will not tolerate any kind of misbehaviours in his environment. He is someone who looks serious but he is someone who sees humour in every situation. He is someone who is very helpful and is always ready to give advice. He is materialistic. He makes sure he got the nicest clothes on and the best accessories, He cares about his appearance. He loves to buy his close friends and family nice gifts. 

Love Life: 

Past: He is walking away from a connection or a situation. He might have dealt with someone who he knows for a long time. Like a friend or childhood friend. 

Present: He seems to be still stuck in the past and naive. Missing the nostalgic moments. 

Future: He will finally be in the energy to be on the right track to control his own destiny and his own choices in life. He has to remember that there are more opportunities for him and if he still is living in the past he might miss new opportunities. 

Outcome: He might still have struggles with seeing the truth. He might still have difficulties letting this idea go. Not really ready to see it. But he needs time to accept it. 

Hwi Young

Personality: He is strong minded and confident in his talents. He knows what he wants. He has a lot of excitement in his energy. He loves new challenges and new things and wants to try out. He might have dealt with a lot of pain in his life. He has a lot of wounds. Because he might have to deal with people who take advantage of his good and soft personality. Poor guy :(. But he grew strong cus of this. He knows how to defend himself now. He wants to create a better situation of experiences that he learned. Make the best out of it. He is balanced, harmonious and well-being. He is getting his life together. He might at the beginning be ignorant and different but he grew out of this old energy and transformed into a better version of himself. He might dealt with someone who used to be manipulative. 

Love Life:

Past: There is a feminime figure who he admires and sees her really high. 

Present: He has hopes and wishes about his love life and the person he requires. 

Future: He might feel insecure and might hesitate to move forward not knowing if she would reject him. 

Outcome: He might not move towards the person he likes. He is not feeling secure to pursue her and put it stagnant. 

Chani

Personality:

He is very calm and he shows within his appearances that he has it all. He is grateful and is easily satisfied or maybe a bit spoiled.  He is charming and attractive and he knows it. He might have a lot of female admires. He might be young at age but he would be very great as a leader. He knows how to make others feel special. He might be a bit flirtatious. He kinda loves the attention. He is also a very caring and good father figure and stable partner to be with. He might be a player because of curiosity. But when he found the one his loyal heart will be for the only one. 

Love life:

Past: He is running away from all of the attention and the admires. Run away with his price but didn't expect that this price would affect his heart. 

Present: He is thinking about investing in her and wants something long term. Planting the seeds. 

Future: He is still a bit immature and doesn't really know how to give the person the right enough material offers, He might also be unsure to continue this relationship. He is still used to his old habit (getting a lot of attention from his admirers).

Outcome: He might be in trouble for not understanding the consequences if he is not able to change his habit. He might lose her or feel guilty or regret. Trying to change for the better but isn't fully committed to change yet.  That will be his lesson that he can't have both. Life will teach him to break free when he finds the one. 

Career reading for the group SF9

PAST: They had to deal with a struggle to feel left out in the cloud by their own agency. Feeling a little helpless sometimes. 

PRESENT: There is a sudden disruption. An unexpected change. Maybe a fight or disagreements and things. Confrontation. A new opportunity is going to be on the planning. Preparing for an album.

FUTURE: Planning new ideas in the future. Orientations. Acitvities.

OUTCOME: Open and generous energy. moving and working. The team needs to learn how to bring balance and be equal.  because I see some problems within some members or with a manager or mentor.

[squicky-fannish-discourse]

Athanasia and Jason + Damian

Or my theory on their relationships and reactions. I might not have it all right, and that’s why it’s a fan headcanon and open to disagreement :) I’m just trying to get her character right  and build her up for writing. 

building off this post about athanasia, I decided to do a second post on her potential reaction to the rest of the batfam (Damian and Jason here), making more sense of her character. 

The premise would be AU, because in Injustice, people are dead or don’t seem to exist :) 

Athanasia lived 16 years without her father, and under the influence of her grandfather, who is her father’s enemy.

Upon coming to Gotham after what appears to be a series of unfortunate events involving her grandfather, her father redeems himself in the eyes of her grandfather and herself, she’ll probably return to live with Alfred and her Father’s family and yes, Damian.

The main thing about this whole thing is that she’s from a position of control to an environment where she doesn’t have that much control. So it’s one of the things she has to fight. 

Neither is romantic!! Platonic only. 

Under the cut, because this is long. 

Athanasia and Damian: She thinks her brother is astonishingly one dimensional and entitled and even foolish at times (he’s not). She views herself as the black sheep of the family. She is not immune to Damian’s mouthy comments (often truthful) firing back at him. She will not easily admit she is wrong, and the pair of them fight and bicker a lot to the point of having to be separated by Bruce, but at the end of the day, Athanasia growth is often internal. She doesn’t like the lack of heirarchy in the Bat family. But if Damian is in a tough spot, the girl would save him (while gloating) but nevertheless, Damian understands. He says nothing usually. Sometimes, if she gets herself injured, he’d be blaming himself. 

Damian internally likes being an older brother. He likes being what Dick was to him. But unfortunately, he’s not as patient as Dick, and she’s far more difficult than his image of a younger sister. Damian’s ideal of a younger sister doesn’t fit  Athanasia. She’s strong-minded, and she has Ra’s upbringing and rearing with her. She’s got a strong sense of justice. 

At the end of the day, they’ll work well and in sync. They both have the same training and similar battle strategies. They spar often.  

Athanasia and Jason: 

As the black sheep of the family, these two relate to each other better than others, and often speaking more candidly about family, goals and feelings since neither of them are judging each other. Athanasia doesn’t know how to navigate feelings. They’ve also had the experience of the Lazarus pit. For Athanasia, more than Jason. But she’s a self aware character, as in she knows what it’s done for her.

Jason’s main thing with her is that she doesn’t become like he was, and he recognizes that she’s slowly growing and developing and experiencing more feelings and emotions. And sometimes, new experiences put Athanasia in a strange state of mind. She’s afraid. She reacts with anger when she’s afraid. He understands this. 

He helps her navigate these things based on his own past and experience. He comes to the mansion more often. As a young teen, Athanasia is trying to find people who relate to her, and people who are like her. Jason is like one of those people. He has committed crimes in his anger that he regrets. 

Bruce doesn’t like the fact that she’s associating with Jason more, but I suppose Alfred suggests that this might be a good thing for the pair of them. Athanasia spends a lot of time and missions with Jason. And a lot of these missions aren’t approved by Bruce, but he doesn’t say anything when she returns to the mansion after days of being away. He knows where she’s been anyway. Bruce might need more time with her to figure out the right things to say, recognizing she’s taking Jason’s path at times. 

To Athanasia, Jason is like the older brother she always wanted, so while they throw jibes at each other, he recognizes that hell, she’s a kid. She’s going to act out, but she was always groomed to be obedient, while he was more rebellious. It’s like a cage for her. She’s unsure of herself if she’s not following a goal. So he focuses on helping her build resolve and how to become a better hero without following someone’s ambition. 

They both know that Damian will one day take the Batcape. I think that’s why these two want to develop independently. 

[altimys]

Zero Escape Thoughts

I just finished playing all the Zero Escape games over the course of the past three weeks. Some thoughts.

Overall, I really liked the series. Most of the characters are well-written and dynamic, the plots entangled and unpredictable, and the ties to science, psychology, and sci-fi quite well done. I’d been dying to play these games since high school when I first heard about 999, and I’m very glad to be able to finally accomplish that goal. Spoilers ahead, of course.

999

999 is by far the best one in the series, maybe because it was planned as a single game and the series wasn’t anticipated. I’m a fan of the visual novel style, and the puzzles in here took advantage of math and cryptology, which was really cool. Junpei was an excellent protagonist, because he had the right balance of naivete, heroism, and wit to pull through the story. The banter with all the other characters made him feel a lot less shounen protag and more like a real person, someone who could say a lot of silly stuff at odd times, or slyly try to make Akane say perverted things. The other characters were also quite charismatic!

When the reason for the Nonary games was revealed, the impact was unforgettable. Unintentionally dragged into a plot to reach across time to save the one you loved. Like fated lovers, though it felt more than a simple romance because of how everything was entangled, and the fact that Junpei was not exactly saving adult Akane but the Akane that was a child. The true end was really great, with Aoi and Akane on the run (felt like noble outlaws), but the hope that Junpei could and would catch up with them.

Virtue’s Last Reward

I admit, initially I was not impressed with VLR, because the mechanic of the AB game and the overly mascot-like Zero III felt like some contrived death game rather than a masterfully crafted plot like 999. As the game progressed however, the mystery of the bombs, Radical-6, and the killer on the loose really got me engaged, wondering what the heck was really going on.

Sigma was also a pretty fun protagonist to play as, with his clueless nature and his sometimes perverted lines (ahaha). I felt like his relationships with the other characters were much more developed (as compared to Junpei), and his banter with Phi was more fun and relaxed as compared to Junpei and Akane in 999.

They really latched onto the multiverse theory with the jumping and everything, giving it more of a mechanic than 999, which was okay, but it kind of makes the “fate” of 999 lose a bit of its impact. Otherwise, the jumping mechanic was really cool, and did reasonably frame the reason the Nonary game here was started in the first place. However, the weakest plot points here were that somehow Hongou was said to have done the original Nonary game as a Free the Soul experiment, which was a weak excuse for a connection to the first game (no mention of FtS whatsoever then) and Akane being so cold as to never contact Junpei in that history and help conceive a game that *had* to kill people before it achieved its goal. Also, who is ? in the last scenario, and where did K go? It felt like it was implied to be the player, but the question is never answered.

The game introduced Luna, and I really came to like her a lot. I felt extremely hurt every time I had to betray her. I cherished her ending with Sigma, and did kind of ship them a little (LOL). Little did I know...

Zero Time Dilemma

The tone of this actually was more of a contrived death game than VLR, because it was implied that there was no chance at all nine characters surviving whatsoever, unlike 999 or VLR. Luckily, they got rid of the mascot and just went with a sinister Zero. The deaths were much more gruesome than the previous two games and definitely showed more blood. Shock value?

The fragmented timeline both adds and subtracts from the overall experience. It helped me as the player experience firsthand the disorienting gaps in time and memory that the characters were going through. However, the lack of a chronological timeline, or at least following different timelines in a more organized or linear fashion made decisions lose their impact. Every event felt transient.

Junpei and Akane were written far too out of character from what I would imagine them being like one year after the events of 999. Within one year, would it be possible for Junpei to be that jaded and edgy? Would he not try to revert to parts of his old self and at least be neutral, if not nice? Akane also had some serious yandere bits, which were bizarre because I didn’t think someone who is so focused on saving humanity would be that unhinged, especially if it was the death of someone she steeled her heart from interacting with. I would have expected her to show frustrated disappointment or even disdain, not straight up crazy murder time.

The new characters were difficult to get to like. You could like Carlos through his friendly banter with C-Team, and Diana because you could tell she was kind and synergized with Sigma and Phi, but Sean, Eric, and Mira were difficult to like, because no rapport was really built between the three of them at all. Almost all the Q-Team interactions were wrought with tension and misunderstanding. I also felt like Mira was supposed to play the role of The Killer (like Ace or Dio), but since the teams were so separate and memory so limited, it was incredibly difficult to rouse the same kind of suspicion and fear, so she just because a lackluster pretty killer. Not really much of a satisfying redemption arc for her in her post-game files either.

D-Team was simply my favorite, probably because Sigma and Phi were still true to their VLR personalities, and as mentioned before, the whole team synergized very well. The two bombs that were dropped in this team were the parts that make this game redeemable for me. The first reveal, that Diana was the one Luna was based off of, made me drop my jaw, but it also did not prepare me for the second reveal, which was the entire Sigma/Diana/Phi/Delta thing. Suddenly, everything made odd sense, even though it was kind of fucked up. No wonder the D-Team chemistry was there. Even now, I’m still kind of shocked at how unbelievable it is...

Well, the true ending was okay, but it felt largely unsatisfying, since Zero was portrayed to be some kind of anti-hero/anti-villain, but really it came across as just a big asshole who didn’t really care about justifying the means. Even with the “we will save the world because of this” mentality that was induced in the participants, it really felt like a letdown that we wouldn’t be able to serve justice for all the horrible things that happened to the characters, nor actually see the foiling of the future terrorist’s plan. Really felt like a cop-out. Other post-game complaints are (1) where the fuck is my post-game D-team files and (2) where is ? and K???

I do think ZTD is the weakest by far, but the writing that surrounded team D was emotional and well done, and is my favorite part. Without that, I don’t know if I would really have liked everything else that happened in ZTD.

Erhhh well, thanks for reading, I guess! Despite its faults (like overexplaining concepts like jesus shut up sometimes), I do like this series a lot!

[noncommited-writer]

WARNING FFH SPOILERS!!

Basically all my thoughts!

.

.

.

Okay can we just talk about literally the beginning??????

'I Will Always Love You' memoirs??? Holy shit I was cackling but also crying inside when they showed pictures of Tony

Then the whole plan??? To get MJ??? Oh my god, I fucking melt. I want a man like Peter who will confess to me on top of the Eiffel Tower and buy me jewellery based on the shit I'm passionate about!!!!

Also, that scene at the shelter? When he becomes overwhelmed by the mention of Tony, I started to think he might have PTSD or some sort of knee jerk reaction whenever he hears his name. The way he was already teary eyed after swinging away. I couldn't deal with that.

Then the whole plan failing on the plane and oh my god the bathroom scene?? When he starts cleaning up oh my god that's just pure cinnamon roll Peter, I die I swear.

Theeen Betty and Ned???? OH MY GOD SUCH CUTIES!!!!!! AHHHHHH they were so fun to watch istg "babe?" "babe."

When they had the whole montage of Peter just trailing around MJ and being sulky over Brad like an adorable puppy. Then getting that necklace??? Ooooof ugh kill me with your cuteness istg.

Then the whole thing with Peter not having his suit with him??? And wearing that festival mask? Shit cracked me up

And dear god save this kid from the never ending concussions from the bell tower.

Then the whole conversation between Talos Fury and Peter in his hotel room. Literally two very different energies meeting to a head. It was glorious.

Also when they introduced Quentin?? I was like fucking shOOk. For two reasons

One because he was such a dramatic, unsubtle, little bitch talking about his family's death and praising Peter like Tony did!

For another, BECAUSE HE HAD LOWKEY DADDY ENERGY AROUND PETER AND THE WAY PETER LIGHTS UP WHENEVER HE PRAISES HIM OH MY GOD IT REMINDED ME SO MUCH OF HIM AND TONY. FUCK.

ALSO UNIVERSE 616?? CMON BITCH HOW DARE YOU PULL THAT STUNT. MARVEL YOU COP OUT! :(

Then the inevitable glasses. Dear lord. Fuck me up with the whole Iron dad (or starker) feels that whole scene gave off. My heart hurted.

Then that scene when he had to take off his clothes to wear his suit fUCK! Lowkey tho I felt hot. Then Brad walks in and then tells him he's gonna tell MJ?? Like who the fuck????

Then that bus scene. Oh my god, shit made me laugh so hard istg. When he punched Flash and actually had to web the freaking air strike drone he sent in!!!!!!! Hswhhdhhe Peter is a fuckin mess.

EDITH :(((((( even dead I'm the hero. My fucking feelings took a fucking dive. "He always did love his acronyms" and the way Peter just chuckles, looks away with tearing eyes, voice cracking as he says "Yeah he did"

God fucking damn it.

Istg Marvel is just playing with my feelings now. It's so fucking unfair.

And then that whole fighting scene with the Fire Elemental? When I saw one of the drone take the hit, I was like. Wait a fucking moment.

Also, I caught this thing where Mysterio's magic hits the windshield of Fury’s car but instead of cracks like it should be, I saw bullet holes. And I took a moment to notice that.

NIGHT MONKEY! NIGHT MONKEY!

Then that bar scene!!!! Jesus christ. That was a whirlwind of emotions. The way Peter's smile just dropped when Beck wore the glasses and saw Tony within him. God.

Also like those backstories????? Damn. Legit. I got no other words.

The way that Peter seemed soooo disappointed when MJ lied about the reason why she kept staring at him? Ugh my heart.

YAS GIRL DO IT FOR ALL OF US! TURN AROUND!!!! (Also what the fuck that cute little chub on Tom's tummy before he tenses up for the camera is so fucking cute oh my god I fucking melt, I wanna hug him)

"It's not a competition." Yea sure, Ned. Sure.

Holy fuck. Holy fuck. HOLY FUCK.

THAT WHOLE ILLUSION SCENE?

One of the best things ever. It reminded me so much of the intros to the James Bond movies. All the smooth transitions and stunning fx. Fuck. It was all trippy.

And jesus. Using MJ like that????

Also What The Actual Fuck. When he made an illusion of Tony rising from his grave.

When I saw that tombstone, I already knew what name on it was. Didn't make it easier to see it with my own eyes.

I cant with this movie its too much for my poor heart to take.

Jesus christ when he got hit by the train.fuck nylife.

Then happy?

Oh no, I actually pretty much died at this scene.

The way Peter was so desperate on who to trust and the way he just relaxed when he realised Happy wasn't an illusion. The way Happy just went with it immediately, having similar past experience with Tony's paranoia. The way he held Peter in his arms, confused but so so so worried. The way he takes care of Peter's wounds and tries to calm him down. The way Peter breaks down over being alone, his friends being in danger, hurt over MJ, not being enough to measure up to Tony, all of his emotions coming to head. That was probably the most grounding scene I've seen of Peter ever. It really hurt in all the best ways.

"You can't measure up to Tony. No one can. Not even Tony." That line was so good because he knows the weight thats on Peter's shoulders, he knows that Peter feels pressured to take on the world, unwavering and brave and so sure of himself like Tony was. But the truth is, Tony was exactly like him behind the scenes. Tony was always breaking down, lagging behind and alone. So when he sees Peter break down, it's like seeing Tony all over again. And he can't help but soften.

"I don't think Tony would have done what he did if he didn't know you were going to be here after he was gone." And that just shattered me. He basically said that Tony would've done it all over again if he knew Peter was going to come back.

That moment, when he stares at Peter, that moment when he notices something that twists and warms his heart at the same time. When he sees Peter handle that tech and holograms seamlessly like Tony did, the way he runs his mouth with his genius, the way he seems so excited over the tech, you can see in Happy's eyes that all he sees is Tony. Tony imprinting the best parts of himself onto Peter.

He knows Peter can handle it.

And jesus christ, baby no. Its not led zeppelin, cmon.

That whole fight scene was fucking lit! I can't really explain much but wow MJ!!!! GO MJ AND BETTY!!! AYYY.

Fuck and the way Peter used his Peter Tingle to fight off the rest of the drones. That was so cool. Then when illusion Beck was handing him the glasses, he already knew that it wasn't the real him.

That heartbroken look in his eyes when he realised he can't save Beck.

His voice cracking when he wants to know theres no more illusions.

That peck? That kiss? That makeout???? These two ooze so much chemistry it actually hurts.

Ahhh that hand brush and them actually holding hands!!!!! That!!!!!!

Then flash with his mother not being around comment, fuck that kinda hurt me in the feels.

Peter having an intervention with Happy and May???? Holy shit I need more of that.

Then that date? Where they swing??? Wow goals.

And fuck Peter getting exposed. I swear my heart dropped down to my stomach.

ALSO J JONAH JAMESON HOLY SHIT I WAS SHAKING BECAUSE OF THAT!!!!

Credits scene:

Fury taking a vacation but not really is such a mood. Like he'd like a vacation but he also has to work. Idk but it might be hinting at the next captain marvel movie!!!!

Ahhh

This movie is a treasure. I am most likely going to watch it again because wow. I don't think I can take it all in 100% without watching it twice.

I saw it only a few hours ago but I already love it with all my heart. ❤️

I cant believe Marvel has me hooked with their Peter Parker. ❤️❤️❤️

[sometimesrosy]

Anonymous said:B/cho is going into the last season together and you will say Bellarke is endgame [blah blah blah] B/cho [blah blah blah] You are no different from those CLs who think the show is about L/xa. [blah blah blah] B/cho still canon and just because Bellarke stood next to each other in the last frame [blah blah blah b/e endgame]Your denial is out of this world. I'm watching in shock. You won't answer this one cause you have nothing to tell:/

I don’t answer questions like these because I don’t give a shit what you think and I don’t know why you give a shit what I think. If you think I’m full of shit then I should be so easy to ignore that you never send me a disparaging anon.

I don’t answer these questions, not because I have nothing to say. I have MILLIONS of words of canon based meta to defend my position. I’ve been arguing for Bellarke for YEARS. WITH CANON EVIDENCE. If there is canon evidence then I am not delusional, it’s an analysis of the show as it stands. 

I don’t answer these questions not because I’m afraid to face your pitiful endgame story, but because I’m so fucking tired of having to argue with you people. I don’t care what you think. I think your reasoning is shallow and foolish and actually ignorant. YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW STORIES WORK. And because you don’t understand, you think it doesn’t exist. Despite the fact that you can study how stories work and there are degrees and certifications you can get in that study and there are professions entirely about HOW TO TELL STORIES, and you have no idea of any of it. The reason why so many people call me “delusional” is because I am completely talking over their heads. I’m talking about structure and narrative and symbolism and allusions and archetypes and they think I’m making it all up. Not all shows use those things but this one does. And I’m using them in my analysis. I’m, like, giving a college level course in analysis of The 100. 

And that is not even relevant to shipping. Whether I have multiple degrees and decades of experience with this discipline or not. Whether I’m in denial or not. This is my fandom blog where I enjoy my favorite show and my otp and this is my hobby and my hobby is about loving the stuff I love not getting into fights over shipwars.

I don’t answer these questions because it is within my rights to ship WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT whether you believe it or not. It is MY blog where I get to steer the conversation. 

B/E is not endgame because it is NOT THE STORY. There is actually no b/e story on this show. There is no romance. There is no longing. There is no fight to be together. There is only b/e finding clarke alive and bellamy being in love with clarke. 

The reason why we didn’t see b/e get together, or any flashbacks to them on the ship, is because b/e is not the story. If there’s no story, there’s no endgame... for me. You’re told they’re dating and you think it’s true love. Even though season 6 had them fighting the whole time and drawing apart and NOT being intimate and NOT sharing themselves, and only leaning on each other AS COMRADES AND FAMILY. The B/E story is NOT A STORY. It’s a C/B/E story. Bellamy is with Echo but he loves Clarke. Clarke loves Bellamy but she cannot have him. Echo doesn’t know (or does she?) that Bellamy is in love with Clarke, but she’s keeping a secret from him about her true identity.

The B/E story is this. B/E are together, after being enemies for YEARS. We never saw them get together, the growth, or development or romance. His soulmate returns from the dead. Bellamy is torn between his love for Clarke and his commitment to Echo. Bellamy gets closer to Clarke as his relationship with Echo falls apart due to secrets, an unequal power dynamic (king/good spy,) and lack of emotional intimacy. ACTUAL CANON OBSTACLES. When he said he’d forget the past and move forward with her after she finally told him about her family, the narrative did not SHOW that. The narrative actually showed him, instead, lost in grief for Clarke, and not once opening up to Echo about his feelings, but rather sitting alone without human support AT ALL. 

It is much like him saying “nothing will change on the ground.” A statement that proved a complete and utter lie. Bellamy can NOT let go of the past (Clarke) even when she is “dead.” 

Bellarke IS the story. This show is ABOUT the relationship between Clarke and Bellamy and how they come together, again and again to save their people and humanity. EVERY season Bellarke has gotten closer and more romantic. YES there are obstacles between them, that is so that there IS A STORY TO TELL. In a romance, the obstacle is there to keep the lovers apart. For them to fight through in order to prove that they belong together and will fight to be together.

The entire show is about Bellarke’s relationship, but the secondary plot of season 5 was about Clarke reuniting with Bellamy. It took all season. Now in season 6, the MAIN PLOT was about Bellamy fighting to save Clarke. Bellamy. By himself. Not spacekru. Not her mom. Not her friends. It was Clarke on her own, in her head, facing her past and her fears and loves, and Bellamy on the outside, desperate to keep her alive doing whatever he could, SAYING he wouldn’t let her die, AND THEN PROVING IT by bringing her back with NOTHING BUT HIS LOVE, saying he needed her, saying he couldn’t lose her, saying he wasn’t giving up on her, and then giving her the KISS OF LIFE, despite it not being necessary for CPR. 

The KISS OF LIFE. That’s what it’s called. No it wasn’t a real kiss. Absolutely not. It WAS the Kiss of Life. You know where else we see that concept?

Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Two fairytales that are embedded in our collective subconscious as stories of true love, love saving the day. Clarke was put under a spell by the wicked witch (Josephine) and Bellamy brought her back with True Love’s Kiss. The realistic interpretation of that fairy tale trope is CPR mouth to mouth. Literally, not symbolically, brought back to life by the touch of lip to lip. 

Oh but wait. That’s the part that you don’t get. That writers do this shit on purpose to signal to us that this is a love story. That Bellamy and Clarke, the head and the heart, are soulmates. That this is true love. That they are endgame.

The 100 is a post apocalyptic adventure sci fi survival story. Bellarke is an epic, slow burn, soulmate true love story. They committed to THAT story, even if they never got the chance to get to the end of the story. If it had ended anywhere in the middle, they would not have reached their endgame. Every finale had bellarke separated in one way or another. S5 had them TOGETHER, if not with a kiss/confess/sex. I personally do not thing a love story is found in kiss/confess/sex. That is not love. That is not story. It’s cheap. If characters have to kiss/confess/sex to show that they are in love, then the story has failed to show love. 

B/E NEEDS to have someone actually SAY that they are together in order to tell us that they are together. We need to see the kiss/confess/sex to know it’s happening, because otherwise it’s not there. (also he has not said he loves echo. script doesn’t count. they took it out.) 

We DO NOT NEED to see a kiss/confess/sex to know that Bellarke are in love, soulmates, true love, together, because THE STORY SHOWS US THEIR FEELINGS FOR EACH OTHER. 

One is a love story that is amazing. The other is a romantic obstacle to put in the way of our romantic heroes, Clarke and Bellamy, achieving what they truly want. 2199 days/calling her back from the dead levels of truly want. If there’s no obstacle to the goal there’s no story. 

B/E is a narrative tool to tell the story of Bellarke. Season 6 set Echo up to have a story about independence, identity and no longer being the good spy to her master. Whether you like that dynamic or not, Bellamy is her master. The story is setting her up to break up with him, Bellarke or no. S6 showed B/E falling apart. They did not have the gravity to exist outside of the ring where there were no outside forces. S6 had Bellamy spending more time, thought, effort and emotion on Clarke than on Echo. And had Echo spending more time, thought, effort and emotion on ECHO than on Bellamy. The B/E relationship is unravelling. Or is unravelled. We’ll find out next season if it’s over or still unwinding. 

This is in direct contrast to the Bellarke relationship that has gotten closer, tighter, more intimate, more focused on each other, more physical, more emotionally dependent. 

The penultimate scene of s6, the conclusion to the season (the last scene was more like an epilogue that set up s7) had us end on Clarke and Bellamy hugging and talking about emotions and grief and self worth and togetherness and doing better and morals. Somewhere before that, not sure when, it wasn’t shown as important, Bellamy patted Echo on the back and was like “see ya later.” 

Catching his breath, running to meet each other, double hug, emotional intimacy, commitment to working together to be better, confirmation of identity, buttery sunlight, sunflares, shadow of two people becoming one. That is how you show an endgame.

Pat on the back see-ya-later is how you show a not-endgame. Because there is actually no game there. 

But you don’t understand that, do you? That’s about how you tell a story. Which apparently is irrelevant to you. You only seem to take dialogue as canon. And ignore the dialogue that shows that Bellamy loves Clarke not Echo.

Now we’re getting to the end of the story. Season 7. JR ASKED to be able to tell the end of the story and end it with a satisfying, bittersweet ending. The 100′s version of a happy ending. Just so you know, JR said that season 5 would have a happy ever after ending for one couple. That couple was Marper. That is The 100′s version of a happy ending. True love. Happiness. Peace. Loneliness. Death. Grief. Loss. Dying on their own terms. Living a good life. 

Endgame. Bellarke.