#i don't think they will bring it to a satisfying conclusion - because i saw the barricade scene and it felt underwhelming but who knows

[lenievi]

bbc les misérables is like showing javert coming home to his empty apartment, being all sad, eating alone, sleeping alone, being unhappy in a montage together with valjean coming back home to cosette but also looking really sad and unhappy

okay

[air--so--sweet]

TUA Season 4 Spoilers

I saw my friend today who, I wouldn't say she necessarily ships Lila and Five, but she said she's read them as romantic since last season since she felt they were following the archetypal enemies to lovers plot, and the cheating didn't bother her because she sees that as fitting with the whole idea of the characters being flawed (also she never like Lila and Diego together).

All that said, she is in theory one of the fans that this is written for, and she hated it. She said it's unsatisfying because there's no resolution or conclusion to it. Lila neither reconciles with Diego nor leaves him for Five, and the conflict between Five and Diego goes no where because they don't even really argue, just physically fight and then Lila breaks it up and then they all die.

And I think this brings up and important point, because, a lot of us were never going to be behind Five and Lila, but if fans who were primed to enjoy that storyline, still aren't satisfied, then you've fucked up and written it poorly.

Also, while she wanted Five and Lila to happen, she wanted it to happen because the writers were trying to tell a particular story or they though that was what the characters would do naturally. She didn't want it to happen because Steve Blackman randomly decided Five should have a romance and he's not someone who would date so the only option in the existing cast is Lila.

And I think this one of my biggest issues with this season as a whole, none of the characters have any clear motivations - Klaus relapses because he has his powers again when he doesn't want them, not because he has powers again and so it terrorised by ghosts and can't take it (I mean this would retcon last season but it at least makes sense).

Viktor keeps saying he's fighting for Ben because he's his brother but he's not his brother, they didn't grow up together and they don't really have a relationship. Elliot Page said Viktor will always be in Ben's corner because of what Brelly Ben did for him in Dallas and I love that, but we get no hint of that in the show.

Allison says to Claire she has to save Klaus because that's what she's always done - that's objectively not true. In fact we've seen her actively enable Klaus in the past.

Aidan Gallagher keeps saying Five is lost and adrift, but bar the opening scene where Five talks about this at the Keepers meeting, we see no evidence of that. Show don't tell is one of the most basic tenets of writing, but also they tell us literally once and then don't mention it again (to be clear not blaming the actors for the writing, just saying what they're saying isn't demonstrated on screen).

Ben does what he does because he's controlled by the durango attracting the marigolds, he has no agency.

[joohanisms]

who in xh do you think has a corruption kink?

OMG ........... they got shorter towards the least likely members but i hope you enjoy either way!!!!

xdh + corruption kinks 💭💫

cw: corruption kink, mention of religion, caught watching porn, penetrative sex, possessive tones, loss of virginity, training (what is that even called???)

most likely

gunil

i have NEVER!!!!! seen a church guy without a corruption kink. sex before marriage and all that – as le sserafim said, i wish for what's forbidden <3

he wants to ruin you AND have you ruin him. LET'S SAY you're both virgins.

fine your first time would be sickly sweet, all 🥺 and 🥰, the softest most vanilla making love missionary sex you've ever seen

but the next time – after the guilt of ""betraying god"" goes away – he fucks you, legs in the air and all.

and he gets off sooooo much to the idea that both of you have become tainted; that both of you took that step together, that you'll be forever bonded by this. that somehow, you'll always belong to each other. your souls were painted red at the same time and that's not something you can just forget. you were the one to bring him down from heaven but also give heaven to him, and vice-versa.

this thought is always on the back of his mind whenever you have sex, and it always turns him on.

jiseok

tell me he wouldn't get SO HARD at the idea of introducing you to kinky shit.

you guys have been having vanilla sex – which isn't wrong or bad or boring at all – until you catch him jerking off to a video on his phone.

he's obviously burning red with shame, thinking you'll jump to conclusions and think he's jerking off to kinky videos on twitter because you haven't been satisfying him (which is a lie. you very much satisfy him. he just came across a hot video and got lost in the moment).

but the only thing you can think about is how the girl on his phone screen is doing the NASTIEST shit to her partner.

"jiseok, what are you watching?" you sit beside him, and he starts pulling his underwear up to stall.

"i can explain, baby. i just saw this on my–"

"what are you watching. explain it to me." it sounds more like an order, and his dick twitches in his boxers.

"it's just, um, a kinky video." reluctantly, he turns the screen towards you, watching your shiny eyes scan the video. you look up at him, with genuine innocence in your expression, and his cock twitches again.

"have you done this before?" he nods. "how does it feel?"

he's done for. he'll have to tell you, to show you, how good it is to explore, to figure out what you like.

don't be surprised if his way of introducing you to kink is by doing everything with you (consensually and with a safeword, of course). making you less innocent, corrupted, by the day.

seungmin

we all know seungmin is freaky.

and that extends to corruption kinks.

they're not his favorite, but he does really like to feel how you're slowly becoming as freaky as him.

every time you do something new, something different, he's reminded that he is the one to introduce you to it. he is making you freakier, dirtier, kinkier, and it's alllll his fault. he loves it.

if you were a virgin by the time you started dating him, he would get a little hard when he was reminded that you're pure and innocent and he's going to take it all away.

same as gunil, your first time would be softer – he doesn't want to hurt you or scare you away – but the next time you fuck (which could very easily be the morning after LMAO) he's going rough on you. fucking all that purity away.

you're not a good girl anymore, and it's his task to make you worse by the second ❤️

also, i'm a firm believer that he loves lingerie and other visual aspects of sex soooo if he comes home and you're sitting on the bed, on your knees, with a white lingerie set – something angel themed, even – you better be aware that not only it stays on during sex, he's also going to ruin the lace by cumming all over it.

jungsu

now, jungsu goes a little bit insane when you're having sex for the first time and you look up to him from between his legs and goes "it's not going to fit."

first of all, a delicious stroke to his ego

second of all, he knows you don't have much experience – you're not a virgin, but you're not the ceo of sex either. which means–

"i've never had anyone this big before."

fuck. he wants to rearrange your guts. fuck you so hard you think you'll split in half. fuck you so deep with his big cock your walls will remember its shape forever.

he settles on a "it will fit, baby. if you can't take it today, we'll try again some other time." with a caress to your hair.

(spoiler: it didn't actually fit. even after two orgasms his mouth generously gave you.)

and that's how training came up.

so jungsu is 1) too fucking big for your pussy 2) working you up to take his size and 3) being the one to stretch you out nice and loose.

you're so angelic, such a good girl – and here he is, making you bounce on a dildo that's slightly smaller than him, praising you for "how good you're taking it", "his cock will be next", and "you'll be able to take it in no time".

he's literally making your cunt loose and sloppy, only for him – and he's the only one who ever had to train you to take his cock.

it kinda goes away after that, though. he'll always feel a little hot when he's reminded of your training era but he doesn't care/doesn't have much interest in any other aspect of the corruption kink

jooyeon

he doesn't mind it, most of the time. it doesn't do much for him, but if you get off to it he'll make an effort to whisper some nasty shit in your ear while you take him missionary style

(which is a surprising position; he ALWAYS favors having you on top)

"not as much of a good girl anymore, yeah? couldn't resist me?"

"it's okay. your innocence was never going to last anyway. i was always meant to take it away."

"this white lingerie makes you look so dainty, so pretty. innocent. too bad you can't be that as long as i'm with you."

hyeongjun

look, it's not that he Doesn't like it. he's more about the marking aspect, the possessive aspect.

he's not corrupting you. he's making you His.

in a way, you were already corrupted when you started dating him – he's just staking his claim.

something along the lines of "from now on, i'm the only one who's taking advantage of your corrupted state", if that even makes sense.

least likely

[frost-felon]

Musing on Kashimo. I didn't originally find his character interesting, but 238 made me want to look into what Gege was going for with him. After some review, my conclusion is that he's constantly dissatisfied. Not because he's just a Fight Junkie™, but rather because if what Sukuna is saying is true (and Kashimo doesn't deny it), then Kashimo wants to treat others with care, but doesn't know how.

Fundamentally, violence can excite him (as much as it can be boring, like he implies many of his fights before Hakari were), but it can't bring him peace. Sukuna, to Kashimo, is "perfection". Why? Is it because Sukuna is unbothered? Or because Sukuna doesn't feel ill at-ease alone? Maybe it's just wanting a perfect body and a perfect soul, but given how Kashimo is looking away when Sukuna says he's greedy for being troubled by solitude when slaughtering others, I think it's deeper than that. Kashimo keeps his eyes closed, but makes what looks to be a grimace/smirk combo when Sukuna explains his own philosophy.

Using his Cursed Technique meant dying, and Kashimo used it to try and find an answer for his issues with connecting to others, and the pursuit of power. But I don't think Sukuna's answer satisfied him.

When Kashimo lived 400 years ago, he chose a path of bloodshed that left him as a small, dying man amidst carnage, with Kenjaku's words as a final temptation. In the Culling Games, Kashimo once again chose slaughter, forgoing connection, until he met Hakari and found someone he could find surprise and satisfaction (delight, even) in. In the times Hakari seemed to be perishing, Kashimo deflates, first expressing boredom, then resignation (and perhaps loss). After giving Hakari a chance to do unto Kashimo as he had done to others, Hakari chooses to make a deal with him.

The expressions Kashimo makes throughout and after the fight are quite interesting. He's drawn as if he doesn't know what to do with himself, and clings to the goal he made in the last moments we saw of his first life. He's confused at Hakari's claim of getting another to obey by being his senpai (Yuji), which he mistakes for being Sukuna's senpai. But he doesn't voice this.

Ultimately, in his third chance at discovering himself, he chooses his goal of fighting Sukuna to the death, foregoing any future chances, and leaving the connections he could have made behind. In those moments where he converses with Sukuna, my interpretation is that he regrets it. In his final death, he realizes that he'd traded away his remaining chances to connect with others, so as to allay his fears of the unknown with the familiarity of battle and imagined purpose.

It's a negative character arc, where Kashimo chooses a lie (the thrall of battle) at the expense of growth and self-fulfillment (finding companionship and learning how to care for others). I don't think it's a perfect fit, and obviously there is a silly air to it, but the theme song for "Private Pure Love Train" does describe Kashimo's mentality and character arc destination:

I didn't care much for him before, but I'd have liked to see how Kashimo fared during the timeskip. Did he stick close to Hakari, or did he coop himself up and away from others? Did he get to know Kirara or Maki? What did he think of Sukuna's former vessel, and what might interacting with Yuji have revealed about both of their characters? In the end, that possible development or regression was skipped. All I know is that Kashimo exited life's station, alone.

[archivalofsins]

For Futa Jackalope really did just turn to camera and say chicken says what. Like he called the audience cowards. Too afraid to judge Futa because it would mean judging themselves.

Jackalope was on it. This end of trial report he hit all the right notes- He was in all the right places. He saw the audiences weaknesses and he hit them over and over.

He said you had your fun sowing lets chat before the reaping starts and he went in.

Like damn no remorse.

"Or……maybe you just couldn’t bring yourself to find him “guilty”, because he reminded you too much of yourself……I’m just blabbing."

Even down to highlighting the faceless Futa showing that he could easily be any of us as he said it. Jackalope said,

"I take no prisoners; you will see an ending before the end. It will be shaped like every door you did not open and every life you did not live. Then in the face of your doubts you will keep walking forward because where you came from no longer exists. Time has an insatiable appetite and we are all on it's menu. Hahaha I'm such a kidder."

Back to what he really said and the thing that intrigues me the most. Jackalope throughout the second trial report kept highlighting that despite finding Kotoko guilty we proved through our verdict that her actions do work.

By finding everyone who she attacked/threatened Innocent. This continues the trend of Kotoko jumping on any sign of agreement to get to the conclusion she wants to end up at. That being her methods are correct. So just because we found her guilty doesn't necessarily mean we found her methods wrong.

The way Jackalope interprets the guilty prisoners change in verdict may be exactly how Kotoko will view it herself.

"But, to put it another way, if this is because he showed remorse, you could also say his “innocent” verdict was thanks to the actions of Kotoko Yuzuriha, right?"

Cuz think about it…….who knows how he would have acted without the pain, right?

Q.04 Would you make the same mistake again?

Futa: I don’t think so. I don’t think I could take this kind of pain again.

Q.07 What have you been into lately?

Futa: Finding a way to distract myself from the pain.

Well next up Kazui~

He’s a self-admitted liar, have you been able to solve the mystery?

Well given the little amount of information provided in contrast to Jackalope's statement on Yuno... I would have to say we haven't. Instead Jackalope just reiterates things that Es brought to attention in Kazui's second voice drama.

Not mentioning anything about cheating or marriage in the slightest.

Again very interesting in comparison to Yuno who Jackalope admits told us what she did herself without ever really honing in on what part of what she told us should be considered.

Just stating,

"She said it herself, so her crime became quite clear, hasn’t it? And that crime didn’t raise to the level of murder to you, I take it. Interesting. I guess that’s how it is in your era."

Yet in Yuno's second trial interrogation she said a lot of things. Including dismissing the audience previous judgments on her and the guards desire to project a sob story onto her.

Yuno Second Trial Interrogation

This situations bothersome-ness has won out./I won't be bothered.

"So, I am extremely cooled off." (-273.15°C) "That is all."

"That’s the real Yuno Kashiki, you could say. Cold and logical. Practical and unromantic. Getting her to interact is gonna be a heavy lift, I’d say."

"You want to make clear the truth...huh? Fu... Haha!"

"The result of doing looots of sugar-daddying: ...abortion."

...!

"That's probably my murder. Well, please go ahead and partake of the truth."

...

"How is it? Satisfied? Then, can we be done already?"

Yuno...you...

"You don't surprise much, do you? As I thought, you knew it from the song extraction."

Cold and Logical

Well, yes. As one possibility, I thought it was likely. That, going by Milgram's scope of interpretation for murder, it was possible.

"I'm sure. Well, I generally got the sense that that's how it was. I could feel it."

You could feel it...you say?

"I can hear it, while I'm in Milgram. It's probably the same for everyone else."

Practical and unromantic.

"Voices peeking in, digging around, and discussing my sins."

Interesting that she uses sins plural here not singular. Didn't note this previously but probably should have.

Something like that...

"Are those not the thoughts you were having? Not that I would know."

But you get my point Jackalope's end of trial report on Yuno confirms that what she said in her second interrogation was in fact the truth and nothing but it. However, he speaks very little on how we interpreted what we were told in contrast to other prisoners.

Just making a sweeping statement,

Interesting. I guess that’s how it is in your era.

But he does ponder an interesting thing,

"I wonder though, what decides the worth of a life?"

Playing on the abortion debate that her trial turned into before plainly asking,

"……don’t tell me, did this murder seem smaller to you than the murders of the other prisoners? Thought-provoking!"

Again playing on the idea the fans have ran with that Yuno should not even be here because she hasn't committed murder like the other prisoners. He says a lot and not that much while discussing Yuno but Jackalope's statements on her can be used to further scrutinize what's not said about Kazui.

Like I said he basically confirms Yuno was in fact telling the truth throughout her second voice drama but doesn't mention any of what was brought up in Kazui's outside of reiterating Es' points.

Of Kazui being a liar and self-pitying going as far as to call him emo and even praise us for being so accommodating to him despite his woe is me routine.

Jackalope even comments that he can't bring himself to be interested in Kazui,

"It all feels very emo and I can’t bring myself to be very interested in him, but the fact that you’re so accommodating to him, is commendable."

However, he reiterates another point one that he brought up from the beginning that directly contradicts a statement that Kazui made in his second voice drama,

"He’s the only one who has the strength to fight off Kotoko and Mikoto after all."

Kazui states in his second voice drama that if Kotoko and Mikoto were to team up that would be the end of him and Milgram. Contradicting Jackalope's statement in Es' voice drama that if Milgram were an all out brawl then Kazui would come out victorious.

So Jackalope basically goes he's still lying have you figured out what the lies are and then just goes here's one of them for free.

Now onto the other interesting one- Amane.

Amane's is interesting because Jackalope basically goes her life would be this way in and out of Milgram. Showing that his focus with Amane is not us being tricked into going easier on her because she's a child but a desire for the audience to go harder on her because she is a child.

Coddling isn't going to prepare her for the real world but neither is being unnecessarily cruel to her either. Even admitting that he himself doesn't know what made the audience find Amane innocent this time around and stating he's curious about the judgement.

Despite how vocal people said Amane fans were being- This again highlights that no, they weren't. Amane fans weren't pushing super hard or really loud. They weren't going around shouting at people to vote her innocent or bribing people to. Hell, the staff couldn't even write a decent bit for her part of the video because they don't know what caused this.

"I remember feeling a sort of awe at your resoluteness to your duties, being a kid didn’t mean you couldn’t be “guilty”, right? So, what was it that made you choose “innocent” this time? I’m very curious. Is it her, or her beliefs, or her birthright, or her fate…."

Whatever the circumstances may be, she is the one that has to bear the blame. That’s just how it is. Both in and out of MILGRAM, isn’t that right?

They were wrong for highlighting the tasing scene like this again. They went I'm about to make you feel bad if you voted this kid guilty fucking suffer rip to you I guess- you are the problem. Like there was no joking here Jackalope looked at the camera and went,

Jackalope: This is just how it is everywhere. Your vote won't change that. It won't lessen the weight of the blame on her shoulders. In or outside of Milgram.

The “It can’t be helped”, from the scum that can’t be helped. That makes them doubtlessly, clearly, absolutely, unequivocally, beyond any doubt, categorically, emphatically, GUILTY.

Then just went to Mikoto like that shit was nothing like it didn't just destroy my soul.

That concludes my fucked up things from the end of trial two report.

[ofmermaidstories]

Hii Merms, thank you so much for the kind response 💌🩷

It's been days and I honestly did not get the chance to read the official chapter yet. Which I believe I should do before responding even, because the issue with the leaks was the mistranslations here and there. And because so much of it was also open-ended many fans came up with stuff out of nowhere and pushed it into the ending and called it canon. So it was a mess.

It's weird to me, it felt like Horikoshi forced himself into an ending that would satisfy everyone else and not him, which ultimately resulted in him messing up a bit. Because he put such great great effort and thought into sympathising with the villains and what they story means for how hero society operates. And he kept on showing how flawed the society is until ch.429, the before last.

In the end, like u said, traditional hero rankings are still a thing. Some people have changed yes, like the old lady who ignored Tenko but reached out her hand to another version of him, that could have been like him. But the last chapter also shows that the majority, or at least a huge part of society, is still sticking to the old ways of thinking. (Like the guy mocking Dai for his quirk, how being a hero is somehow more of a thingfor "elte people").

And while Uravity began a project for quirk counselling that's now fundamental for society and Tentacole fought against racism. It seems everyone else continues on to be normal pros. And there is no shame in that, but idk, the fact you all took part in wars that occurred because of how society and hero society operates but continue to do the same thing your predecessors did is asking for another League of villains, another group of children and young who would be pushed to that. But maybe I'm jumping to conclusions since we barely got to see any of what the new pros (like Mirio) are doing.

Also goodness, the mistranslation that class A did not see Izuku after graduation and people so QUICKLY believed it and spread it around. I saw alot of post both on twitter and tiktok shaming class A for it.

My dear "we don't fact-check leaks even though it's a very common occurrence that mistranslations happen" people, are we really talking about the same class A? The same class A, that collectively as a class, decided to join Izuku back in his vigilante arc to help him? They were willing to go out and be vigilantes with him. But then Nezu assured them they can bring him back instead so he could rest and be protected all the same.

THAT SAME CLASS A? Who knew what OFA means and all it's connections, the way he was quirkless and got it. and the only thing they(Oijiro) asked was how does it feel like? They never made him feel weirded out about it. (It might not seem like a big deal, but when you look at the public reaction to it, like "isn't that AFO's ability tho" or "he's like a Nomu" u would see).

So also yeah, I'm so so happy about the fact they all contributed funds to his suit. But prior to that he was a teacher for what, 5 to 6 years? While I do think being a teacher suits him. Keeping him in the dark about getting a chance to be a hero again JUST as he seemed to accept he can be a hero by teaching and inspiring younger generations seemed a bit off to me. But then again, I wanted him to be able to grow and continue to be a hero so I guess I can't complain much about it.

Overall I'm actually happy and sad it ended, this show was with me for 6 years. And it's my most cherished so I don't want to say goodbye (we still have a movie and the anime, so exciting). Even if that small disappointment is still lingering.

Hii Liliii. 🌷 How are you feeling about it now that we’ve had a little bit more distance? Have you read the official chapter yet? I dunno if it makes that much of a difference, but it did for me LOL. I don’t read the scanlations (they’re UGLY 😡) but I do think that like, seeing the dialogue in action verses hearing a brief summary from a rushed translator does matter. And that was the case for me!! Whenever the fandom took the leaks and then like, ran wild with them, it always… idk! I won’t say it ruined things, really, but it definitely made things less fun, and for me personally it had a lot to do with how quickly the discussion goes from, “oh, the leaks are suggesting (thing happens)” to, “omg, this is cold hard fact and now 50k people agree”. For example: the other day I saw a post here, made in the wake of the leaks, that said something like, “oh i can’t believe kacchan singlehandedly funded deku’s suit” and like??? no the fuck he did not!!!! LOL. I guess it’s just a lethal combo of like, overzealous fans taking what they want from the leaks without taking the time to tell themselves hold up and wait, and then making it everyone else’s problem too. 💀 Overwhelmed by the siren song of instant gratification.

Having re-read the last couple of chapters, tho, I don’t think Hori wrote himself into a corner! There’s definitely a disconnect, though, between us as an audience, and Hori as the author—like we’re kinda on different wavelengths? Because he’s shown what kind of writer he is (with the way he’s answered questions in like, interviews and stuff, he kinda actually reminds me of that Ralph Waldo Emerson quote. “The most interesting writing is that which does not quite satisfy the reader. Try and leave a little thinking for him; that will be better for both […] A little guessing does him no harm, so I would assist him with no connections.” emphasis mine). For better or for worse, Horikoshi just does not care/think to dwell in the big moments/emotional beats he creates, and I think that throws most of us as readers off, LOL. Like… we want to be more in Deku’s head, we maybe wanna see more of the kids in their final years at UA, or starting out as Pros, or like, linger with Deku a bit more in a school day. But Hori doesn’t wanna give us that. And I think that’s where everyone is getting their wires crossed—we want one thing (or several lmao) and Hori… wants and does another, LOL.

(The middle part of that Emerson quote above says, “The trouble with most writers is, they spread too thin. The reader is as quick as they; has got there before, and is ready and waiting […] If you can see how the harness fits, he can. But make sure that you see it.” And to me that’s the problem, we as readers have jumped ahead of Hori and have landed at a place we expect him to arrive, and instead he zigs in the complete opposite direction LMAOOOO. whether or not it works issss. Up for debate lmaooo. Are we seeing where the harness would fit, where he’s seeing a collar? Some food for thought maybe.)

One opinion I’ve seen in the wake of these last few chapters is that Hori often gets his messaging confuddled; I’m not sure if I agree or not. I think it’s another case of harness vs. collar lmao, like maybe we as readers are taking away different conclusions to what he’s intended (he’s sticking to his message; we just don’t like how he’s telling it LMAO). But it is stark, when you lay it out. Anyone can be a hero—as long as they have pro hero friends funding an Iron Man suit for them lmaooo (anyone can be a hero, but they need a community of people willing to hold out a hand for them to get there). Society is fundamentally selfish and overlooks uncomfortable things, and that breeds resentment and hate (society is capable of change, it’s just a slow crawl to get there, and that maybe we can’t help everyone—but the point is that we should help the people right in front of us).

I guess the biggest example, though, is indeed the League; I’ve seen soooo many heartbroken people point out that Hori spent all that effort—an entire POV arc!—on showcasing the villains, and getting us to sympathise with them, and what-was-the-point-of-it-if-he-was-just-going-to-kill-most-of-them-off? But they were always doomed. Doomed by the narrative, doomed by their society. It’s what makes them a tragedy. The tragedy of their tragedy is that Hori’s preferences with his storytelling (or his weakspots, depending) doesn’t really stop to give people the catharsis of like, a big goodbye. 🥺

(This is off-topic, but every time time I see that phrase—doomed by the [whatever]—it makes me think of a quote from one of my favourite books, Picnic at Hanging Rock:

“Edith echoed, ‘Doomed? What’s that mean, Irma?’

‘Doomed to die, of course! Like the boy who “stood on the burning deck, whence all but he had fled, tra… la la…” I forget the rest of it.’”)

Hori’s ending really wants to leave us/let us believe that like, our Heroes have solved the biggest problems their predecessors faced, and now they’re like, a glorified search and rescue—but I think the fun of the ending is that it does leave room for new villains, new League-type deals, to pop up. 😈 People are good and bad. There’s always going to be someone who wants to lock a kid in a basement, lmao, the point is that someone will be there to help them out of it. And maybe it’s baby steps at the moment, but the takeaway I got from the story was less about fixing everything forever, and more like, putting systems in place so that you and others—heroes and civvies alike—can catch what you can, when you can. 🥺 Deku might miss League 2.0, but maybe Kota or Stitches at the end there won’t. Our Heroes have turned the tide. They’ve reminded people at large to do their best. 🥹 They’re actively teaching them to do their best.

Which is why it drives me bonkers when the fandom likes to like…. discount Class-A’s bond!!! At it’s worse though—throughout that awful gap where all we had were the leaks—I just had to keep telling myself that the, “Izuku was abandoned by his friends!” stuff was a product of this fandom being an average age of like, twelve. 💀 LOL. But also it’s just—idk! A result of shipping culture, maybe. The inability to understand that people can and do have meaningful relationships outside of people they have sex with. 💀 That it’s possible for a whole class of kids who went through a war together to care for each other and still be busy with saving the world, outside of school. 💀💀

I’m happy and sad it ended, too. 🥺 A lot of complaints I’ve seen are valid—and have made me realise that the thing that threw me, personally, was how passive an ending it is (like how things just happen to Izuku, aka him being given the suit as a surprise and not being apart of it). I’d like to reread the series, back to back, and see how it flows! Maybe when the anime comes along and fills in some of those gaps where Hori couldn’t/didn’t want to, it’ll feel more… apt. 🥹 And I hope that by the time the anime ends, Lili, you feel a little more fulfilled by it. 🥺🌷

[epickiya722]

You know what, I'm going to be honest.

The whole "in Shonen, the female and male leads are expected to get together" is overplayed for me.

I get that it's the case but I do feel some of you bring that up as if to say "the female and male leads should get together" like it's a rule. A must. The mangaka has to put them together.

Because you, the audience, feel like it has to happen for the characters to have a satisfying conclusion.

I, for one, to not agree.

I have my ships, but I don't think it's even necessary for a mangaka to make a ship canon when romance is not the focus of the genre they're writing. Let alone need to be the most important detail for a character to be a good character.

I'm sorry, MHA fandom, but I don't agree with the idea of a future epilogue seeing Izuku and Ochako having a kid and naming them after someone because that was not in their intended future.

This is a story about them being heroes. About them becoming heroes. Why does having children have to be the ultimate ending for them?

Hell, even with a ship like BakuDeku, I don't care to be canon because ultimately romance was not their ultimate goals.

These characters shouldn't be looked at as prizes for each other to win. They just had to fight to LIVE! One of them even died (before coming back to life)!

Yes, these characters have relationships with each other that would make you ship them, but...

Is shipping them all what you see these characters for?

Again, I get it about the whole "getting together" is common in Shonen, but I feel like it became common because audience members pushed it to be and mangakas picked up on that. But Horikoshi? His writing just doesn't come off as the typical Shonen.

Not every Shonen needs to follow the typical Shonen formula to be recognized as a Shonen.

Think of it this way. Not every shirt needs to be made out of cotton to be a shirt. Not every sandwich has to be made with lettuce to be a complete sandwich.

Not every story needs to follow the typical guidelines to be a story of its genre.

I said it before, looking at Horikoshi's previous works, he didn't focus on characters having a romance, let alone made it crucial for them to have a love life by the end of the story.

"What about Ochako's crush?"

It's not unusual for a teen girl to have a crush. It's not terrible for her to have one either. I had crushes. But what if that "crush" wasn't a crush? What if it was Ochako having a reflection? An admiration? Inspiration? Remember that Ochako wasn't thinking about having a crush until the people around her voiced it as one.

Do some of you only seem to see Ochako as "a girl with a crush"? Why is that the only thing you focus on? What about her being Ochako Uraraka, hero name: Uravity?

The person who wanted to put smiles on people's faces just like the hero she saw as a little girl do? The person who wanted to help her parents? The person who laughs at Iida's antics whenever they have a hero exercise? The person with Zero-Gravity? The person who loves mochi? The person who has a caring nature but is also tough? The person who stood up for her friend against a mob of people? The person who wanted to save a villain?

This is just me.

But I don't see any of these characters as prizes to each other to "win" for them all to have a satisfying ending to their story.

If I wanted their characters to be fulfilled by having a romance, I would have engaged in a romance.

People will complain about everything being the same, and yet be the same people who pushes a story to be like other ones...

[arkiwii]

What do you think of Saria / Silence / Ptilopsis? Silence has two wings, and Joyce was very affectionate in the manhua...

that's! an amazing question! you can get a cookie

so I actually did condidered it at some point. I have absolutely nothing against polycule ships, and I do headcanon some characters as poly, so I was wondering hey, maybe I should consider Saria/Silence/Ptilopsis! I started by reading a few fanfictions, and I ended up with the conclusion "it's very cute"

and. that's all

I'm not against the ship, and I'm ok with it, but I just can't be into it - and the main reason comes from Ptilopsis herself. you see, she's such an amazing and complex character, and I ended up with a few headcanons about her. I'll explain it;

firstly, I can't decide whenever I want to imagine that Joyce does have romantic feelings for Olivia, or not. I don't want to say "she doesn't have them because of device #9" - she had proven a lot that she can feel things, she just can't express them well. so saying that she can't feel love is very wrong. but in any cases, I came with a conclusion; even if she was in love, she wouldn't even recognize it. my main example is with how seems to struggle to understand the concept of affection, and it's proven in her operator record:

it's taking place after Rhine Lab... is she doubting her friendship with Silence??* not saying she never considered Silence as a friend, but I think she's... unaware. it's like she can feel things, but can't process what she's feeling. so if she was in love, would she even know? does she think she's even able to feel love?

*(adding that it might just be a joke. in Silence's operator record, she does "register Silence as a friend". but it's because Silence said that Joyce was her friend. and when Silence reminds her again "you're my friend", she felt the need to confirm it? and she notes it in her diary, too. a diary where she writes things she doesn't want to forget. it's like she forgets that she's not just "Dr. Silence's assistant".)

and the second reason is, even if she was in love, even if she realized it... I don't think she would say it or want to engage in a relationship.

she knows that she's dying, and she cares a lot about Silence. she really does. but Olivia is going through a lot - Joyce knows that her death would cause a lot of pain for Olivia. because she's Olivia's friend - now imagine if she was Olivia's partner. that would cause way more pain. I don't think Joyce would allow this to happen, she wouldn't want. as she says, she wants them to have a happy ending, even if it means that Olivia has to be happy with someone else.

Ptilopsis is a very tragic character. love is a strong and beautiful feeling, and my god, you can write so much story about it. I can understand that people would want her to be in a relationship, after all, we all want her happy, and I wanr her happy too! but I'm a dumbass bound to "the scenario" and I tend to build headcanons and ships based on if it brings something interesting or not. and I think Ptilopsis is an amazing example of "to love is to want the person you love happy, even if it's without you".

and I also want to add that Joyce is happy either way! well, she says that she's satisfied with her life. it could have been better, but she doesn't mourn it. despite what device #9 brought in her life, it also gave her another view on life, and opened her eyes to things she never saw before. and she thinks it's suffisant

ANYWAY SO big tl;dr - they're cute and I don't mind it at all, but I can't ship them because it would bring nothing but pain when she'll be gone. and I fucking love drama and angst and bittersweet scenarios

[justamidnightfantasy]

a week after the release of good omens S2 and i'm still going through it. i can't stop overthinking so i might as well put it into a post.

Aziraphale's initial rejection

so when aziraphale was recounting his conversation with the metatron, we saw him flat out reject the Supreme Archangel position at first. he explicitly states that doesn't want to go back to heaven. aziraphale has never been known to want power. we know that he loves his life on earth and everything that comes with it. that was so very clear in S1 since they literally stopped Armageddon because they didn't want earth to be destroyed.

but then the metatron brings out the big guns that supposedly made him reconsider— making crowley an angel again. OK so maybe this would've been a major PRO in aziraphale's internal pros and cons list and we're led to believe that it was actually what made him change his mind and accept the offer.

to put it simply, i imagine aziraphale's mind going like:

Supreme Archangel job = no thanks. Supreme Archangel job with angel!crowley = hmm interesting.

what i get from this is that he didn't want the job itself. he wanted it because it would've meant "restoring" crowley's angelic status.

(don't even get me started on the topic on whether i believe that he actually thought crowley would want to be restored in the first place)

but then crowley refused. not just refused but was offended by it.

so effectively, there are no more pros if we think about it. why would aziraphale still accept the job without crowley when we were led to the conclusion that aziraphale only considered the offer because he would get to take crowley too? there's something more. there's something we're missing here. there was definitely more to that conversation than what we were shown.

aziraphale's eerie smile at the end makes me almost sure there's something more at play here because they probably made michael sheen smile like a satisfied villain for a reason. i would be more willing to believe he came willingly if he had a blank expression in the elevator. why would he smile like that especially when he just had the biggest confrontation with crowley in their entire existence mere minutes ago?!?!

i don't buy into one particular theory but there's something going on for sure.

as for what that is, i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[dazais-guardian-angel]

🧡💛💖💕 for the Ask meme! (Tales of the Abyss ;))

🧡: What is a popular (serious) theory you disagree with?

Lmao well..... I think you saw my previous ask 😂😭 Any theory that says Asch or Lorelei or some weird Luke-Asch personality hybrid or anyone else people come up with that isn't just Luke who comes back at the end. It's gotta be Luke; the narrative just falls apart if it isn't. The other day when I was answering the previous ask looking for your "theory" post again I saw the take (put very simply here) that Abyss is a tragedy, Luke's character is a tragic one, so it makes sense that he ultimately dies and stays dead, and I'm just like.... how?? Genuinely I don't understand how his character arc can possibly be read as that his entire struggle to change and for life was just completely futile in the end and that there was no meaning to any of it all, that's such a downer ending for what is ultimately, despite how much sad shit happens in it, a hopeful story 😭😭😭 (one of the main themes is LITERALLY CALLED MEANING OF BIRTH).

Even putting that aside though, I just feel like it makes even less sense for Asch to come back?? Like, his character arc finished when he died. The whole point is that he remained stagnant the whole game and his tragedy is that he dies that way, while Luke was willing and able to change!! What purpose would it serve narratively to bring him back after his very sad yet satisfying conclusion?? Again, by all means, it makes for juicy AUs, but as canon.... there's no way.

💛: What is a popular ship you just can’t get behind, and why?

....I feel like I'm putting myself in danger answering this when it's coming from you 😂😭 But, well, I'm really not that interested in Luke/Tear lol. By no means do I hate it though, I just don't have any strong feelings towards it either way, and honestly part of that is just because I'm not really a shipper in general lol and nothing to do with them specifically. A lot of people who don't ship it say it's because they see Tear as more of a sister figure to Luke because that's how the game initially presents her as (and with the "big sister" title or whatever it's called), but idk... I honestly can't decide what I see her as to him. They just feel like very close friends to me by the end of the game, I guess, and although I like some of their touching scenes, I never really felt the chemistry between them. I guess it's just hard for me to imagine Luke in a relationship with everything he's going through during the game, and also Tear is pretty bland to me herself so that doesn't help. 😭 I know her Japanese voice is very different from her English one and her English one gets some flak, so maybe that's to blame ugh; maybe if I listened to her in Japanese sometime I would become more endeared to her.

💖: What is your biggest unpopular opinion about the series?

...If I had to pick another one that isn't just the first answer again lol, though this isn't exactly super unpopular, but Abyss is the best game in the Tales series, by a wide, wide margin. Not only do I believe it to be the best Tales game, but one of the best games of all time period, and one of the best stories of all time. Yes, I said what I said, fight me. And it has absolutely nothing to do with nostalgia; I played Abyss on my 3DS around 2014-2015, probably? in my early 20s, so I don't have any special childhood memories of it, nor was it even my first Tales game (Graces holds a special place in my heart for that). I just... played it, and it left such an incredible impact on me that has yet to be beaten by nearly any other media I've ever experienced. I don't know what it is about it that makes it so powerful, but it's true. Don't get me wrong, plenty of other stories have come very close to making me feel the same way..... but none of them have ever quite reached Abyss level.

So yeah, a lot of people agree Abyss is good.... but I still believe that most don't recognize it for the masterpiece it truly is.

💕: What is an unpopular ship that you like?

Like I said, I'm really not a shipper lol, but I'm really fond of Guy/Natalia? I just love their scenes together, how respectful and gentlemanly he is towards her, and how her growth is most strongly shown in plenty of her interactions with him; it's so lovely to see. 🥹 and I think about their time spent together post-Eldrant and before the epilogue, them helping each other grieve.... it destroys me so good :' ) they're very sweet together.

Thank youuu sista! 🩷

Ask game

[ben-talks-art]

Kindness, Strength, and Morals

This is probably going to be a very messy post since my thoughts and feelings towards the topic are kinda all over the place and I don't think I have the necessary amount of maturity and insight towards the subject to provide a satisfying conclusion... But I still wanna try talking about it anyway cause I feel this could be interesting to discuss.

So, basically, I've been thinking about how certain pieces of different media try to showcase depictions of bullying, abusers, victims, misuse of power, the consequences of one's actions on others, and so on, and all the different ways they each try to offer a, quote on quote, solution to the problem, and which of these solutions I, an outsider who really hasn't suffered THAT much abuse through life, like more or like less and why.

Naturally, my perspective is probably not gonna be as helpful as that of an actual victim or someone who closely studies these things as part of their job, but I still would like to take a moment to go "This is what the media I'm consuming is making me think about" and wonder if they're doing an actual good job and talking about these things.

So the first thing that kinda sparked my desire to discuss this was the movie Encanto.

For those who never saw it, Encanto is a movie about this one teen, Mirabel, who's the only member of her super-powered family who doesn't have powers, and due to that, her and certain members of her family tend to make her feel like she has less value than them.

Through some shenanigans, personal journey, and magic events revolving around helping their magic house that got sick, she ends up accepting that she has as much value as everyone even if she can't do all the stuff they can do, and by the end, she becomes closer than ever with her family.

Now, this is a nice message and all, to teach people who feel like they're less that they are just as much as anyone else, and that even if you feel powerless you are still strong enough to do what matters most for those that need you, be it your loved ones, or even just yourself.

The things is... This story brings up a small problem that I often see a lot for these types of plots, that being, the victim of the situation is usually the one that needs to save themselves.

Mirabel fighting to prove her worth is great, but it kinda bothers me that she has to fight basically alone. There isn't a lot of focus on her family members realizing how destroyed she is inside and how much they're indirectly hurting her. She literally has a whole song around the theme of "I'm not fine."

Red from OSP went into great detail about this in a Twitter thread and addressed how the victims of the situation basically had to do all the work of healing herself while the family basically just stood there watching and going "glad you finally feel good about yourself!" *thumbs up*

Now, the message still works because at the end of the day, you are the only person in your life that you can fully control, so it makes sense that stories will try to show that most of the work to begin self-healing lies in yourself, but not everyone has that inner strength to want to help themselves.

Many people are dealing with a lot of pressure and expectations of real life that are engraved into our minds from an early age, constantly being told "this is how good you need to be if you want to be happy!" and constantly comparing ourselves with others.

It's great that Mirabel decided to go on her journey to save her magic house and that resulted in her happy discoveries, but what if she hadn't? What if the house hadn't gotten sick? Would Mirabel just be miserable forever? Because nobody else was really doing anything to help her.

This made me think that, while I like these stories for addressing the pain of the victims to make us understand and sympathize with them, I would like to also see more stories that show how others could help them in case they can't help themselves.

Two stories that come to my mind on that are the manga "Is It My Fault That I Got Bullied?" and the webtoon "Get Schooled."

The manga tells a story about a former bullying victim that became a teacher in order to help out other victims, and through some twists of fate, ends up becoming the teacher of the daughter of his former bully, and now needs to decide if he will help her or not.

meanwhile, the webtoon tells a story about a government system that tries to directly fight against bullies at school and protect victims of abuse by openly infiltrating problematic schools, finding out who the oppressors are, and basically bodyguarding the victims from the abusers with brute force and lecturing them, and us, the readers, on why their actions can cause so much harm.

I like both series a lot. They both address the struggle of the victims, and what outsiders could to to help them, while also bringing up the fact that sometimes the priority should be in taking away the oppressor's ability to oppress.

In the manga, the main character devises a plan to record the actions of the bullies through multiple hidden cameras in order to expose them in the media and allow everyone to be aware of their actions so that people learn that if they become bullies everyone will know. On the webtoon, the main leads are given authority to punish the bullies as much as they see fit under the notion that they're doing it to protect someone, so if anyone hurts someone, they need to be ready to be hurt too.

The reason I like these is because, quite often in stories the focus is "forgive and forget, being happy is the best revenge, they don't know any better, they're just kids being kids" and so on.

They underplay the harm and lasting damage of being abused, while in these series, the idea is "being abused can scar someone for life, so let's do all we can to make sure the abusers won't want to abuse anyone."

It works under the premise that some people should be given more power and freedom so they can protect the weak and that bullies should have bigger consequences to fear.

That sounds very effective at first, but once you stop to think about it, you notice that a lot of these ideas heavily rely on the goodwill of those in a position of power for it to work.

Even the characters inside each comic point out at some point "Cool idea bro, but that's not exactly a practical solution."

Yeah, I would feel safer if I knew a good person was watching over me all the time and ready to freely beat up some bullies if I was in danger, but what would happen if all this power was given to some prick who's just waiting to use it to take advantage of others? Or what if they make a mistake and think I'm the abuser for some reason?

The liberty to beat up students or the implementation of cameras to invade people's privacy at school... This is just begging to be exploited.

The risk in putting too much power and freedom in the hands of someone to be responsible for our safety is that we might think we have a Superman when in reality we have a Homelander.

Superman works because he's a man with all the strength and all the kindness to safely protect victims from harm. He's a symbol of the best of the best because he can help and he wants to help.

It's not just about the power to help, it's about the sense of ethics and kindness to use that power well. But, again, that's still not a perfect solution to deal with situations of abuse because... How the heck do you make sure that you have a good person behind the wheel making these decisions for us? How do we guarantee our own Superman?

Each one of these stories does a good job of addressing parts of the problem and parts of the solution, but still not the full picture.

Encanto addresses the struggle and pain of the victim and the lasting impact that bad actions, even unintentional bad actions, can have on them;

The two comics address the need of those who are in a position capable of helping to actually help and the need to incapacitate the abusers' ability to abuse;

And Superman addresses the need for kindness behind your actions so you can use all that power responsibly and that maybe too much power isn't always a good thing if it goes to the wrong hands;

While trying to think of what would be a good way to mesh all these things together, I started to think about one of the comments I saw once regarding and Episode of Invincible focused on Atom Eve.

Basically, the comment was talking about a scene where Eve's friend ends up becoming afraid of her after finding out she had powers and starts distancing himself from her, and what they said was pretty much "Wouldn't it be cool if we had some sort of way of teaching civilians that they don't need to fear super-powered people at schools?"

I saw that comment and thought, "Wouldn't it be good to have this anyway, even without the superpower aspect to teach kids how to be morally good people, shouldn't we?"

This brings me to the last two series that kinda encapsulate a good compromise between all these points, "School Back" and "We Now Begin Ethics."

School Back is about a lady janitor who often notices that some of the kids in her school are dealing with a lot of stuff that they can't tell either their parents or teachers, so she talks to them herself... And that's it.

It shows the struggle of the kids, it puts just enough power of action in the hands of someone older and wiser, and it helps nurture the importance of kindness, all by having a story where children have someone to talk to about their problems who can help them, and she talks about these things in very clever ways that makes the kids themselves reach their own conclusions.

We Now Begin Ethics is very similar in that it is about a wise adult in a moderate position of power who simply gives classes about ethics and morals. And again, that's all it needs, just showing that these people in need have someone who can help them.

He gives out lessons for them to think about (all while posing sexily to the camera every now and then because the artist of the manga really wants to drive home how attractive this man is), tells stories and describes situations so at the end he can ask them what to they think, inspires them to communicate with one another and to try to be open to new ideas without forcing his own ideas on them.

Basically going "This is what I think. Do you agree?"

And again, that's all there is to it. Just an adult talking with kids and helping them become better people by teaching them how to think about what really matters and not about what society wants us to think matters.

Now you might ask, "What about preventing the abusers from abusing?"

The idea in these cases is more about preventing these kids from ever becoming abusers to begin with. We get rid of bullies by teaching what's right and wrong from an early age and making so they never consider the idea of hurting others to begin with.

Teaching how to sympathize, how to listen, how to be patient, how to be humble, how to not put your needs above others, how to use your words and think about your actions, how to properly value yourself and how to be honest with your feelings.

It's not a perfect solution, especially for those who are already too far gone, but just being there for someone who needs to talk honestly does wonders to help one another.

A lot of bullies are just people with many negative thoughts who never had someone to help them properly deal with these thoughts, mostly because a lot of adults really struggle to understand kids and teens, and in both these series, the protagonists are great examples of adults who know exactly how to use their words to reach the point they need to reach for those that need to listen to it.

There are a lot of stories about people wanting to help out others, but they kinda make it look easier than it actually is, which is not bad as it motivates you to be more open to the idea of being selfless and more being there for others... But you need to know what you're doing so you won't cause more harm than good.

If I was in Encanto and were to try and talk with Mirabel to convince her she's as special as anyone in her family, what would I say?

If I was one of the teachers fighting bullies in Get Schooled, how would I know when to hold back and stop fighting? How would I know which resources are going too far?

If I was Superman, how would I make people know they can trust me so they can come to me for help?

It's not just about understanding the victim's struggle like in Encanto, it's not just about being strong enough to protect the victim like in Get Schooled, It's not about having enough kindness in your heart to want to help, it is about being mature enough to know what the situation needs, being kind enough to want to offer it, and being good enough to able to offer it.

I'm sure there are a lot more to learn when it comes to abuse and being abused, about offenders and victims, about having power and being powerless, being mature or immature, about helping those in need, and so on... These were just my quick thoughts based on a couple of pieces of media that made me think about each respective case and how much I like the way they tackled it.

Encanto taught about the struggle of the victim

Get Schooled and Is it my Fault taught about the need of empowering those that can help and depowering those that can harm

My Adventures with Superman teaches about the significance of real good intentions when wanting to help

And School Back and We Begin Ethics taught how even something as simple as just knowing how to talk to others can have a great positive effect on others

This is all very surface-level discussion around each topic, of course, but it's still interesting to see how writers try to talk about it at all.

(Edit, these were all feelings I had before learning about the recent events regarding Get Schooled 😓 I'm deeply sorry for having promoted a series that carried so much ill will inside of it. This post literally aged like milk in a matter of days...)

[voteformightyclocks]

Rebels Season 1 Rewatch

Let's start off with Rebels being an awesome show. It was a major part of my life ever since I was 14 (which was when Season 3 came out), and I remember actively checking the library website daily when Season 4 came out, desperate to reserve it or get on the waitlist for it as early as possible. It was the first show I was immensely invested in, and as such it holds a special place in my heart. So, I decided to (FINALLY) rewatch it after all these years, and wow am I not disappointed

I've always defended Season 1, saying it's not as bad as people say. Sure, it's got a lot of issues, and it's definitely not the best Rebels has to offer, but it's at least good. I think I underappreciated it last time I watched it though. The show is clumsy, but only because it fails to balance being a kids show with being a deep show with complex themes like the Clone Wars did. Each individual episode was good, everything built up to a satisfying finale, and characters were fleshed out really well. I can't really complain too much about it because quite frankly, it's only fault is experimenting and trying to be something amazing

But, there are two changes I would make to Season 1 if I got to redo it. And it's worth noting that neither would change the overarching plotline, and most episodes would remain as-is, they're more minor changes that would've had a much stronger impact

Ezra Isn't Kanan's First Padawan

This is the biggest change I would make. Kanan has renewed hope by the start of Season 1, and he's fighting hard, so it would've been cool if we had the show hinting at a former padawan prior to Ezra. In Episode 10 "Path of the Jedi" when Yoda and Kanan talk, have Kanan admit he's scared of failing Ezra like he failed his other padawan. Leave the other padawan's fate ambiguous of course, so you could potentially bring them back. Likely as an Inquisitor for the Ahsoka show so that you don't have to use an animated suit of Inquisitor armor. This would add so much depth to Kanan's pain and trauma, and it would add a lot of gravity to Ezra's training for older audiences, but for kids it would just be a cool fun fact about Kanan's past

2. Kanan Taps Into The Dark Side

In Episode 15, we get the finale, "Fire Across the Galaxy". Ezra saves Kanan, and the two end up facing off against the Grand Inquisitor. This is an epic Star Wars battle, and it shows off the Grand Inquisitor's power, as he defends against opponents on either side of him. He gives Ezra his iconic cheek scars and knocks him off the platform. Ezra's fine, of course, but Kanan (and maybe a couple of audience members? But that's a stretch lol) believes Ezra was killed.

K: "That was a mistake." GI: "Why? Because you have no one else to die for you?" K: "No, because I have nothing left to fear."

EPIC leadup to Kanan tapping into the Dark Side, but instead the show squanders their opportunity. Kanan is stronger than ever in the Light Side, and instead of the Grand Inquisitor being killed in a fair fight at his full power, he's killed by his own failure to recognize the flaw in his lightsaber design. It feels unsatisfying when rewatching it. I wish Kanan tapped into the Dark Side, calling upon it for power, and using it to destroy the Grand Inquisitor. I wish Ezra witnessed that, and saw the darkness within Kanan, yet still chose to learn from him. It could be a cautionary tale for Ezra, who now understands what the Dark Side is, and in early Season 3 when Ezra taps into the Dark Side himself, and when he talks to Kanan about it, have him say something like "I understand why you used it. It makes sense now" or something

Conclusion

Rebels Season 1 is amazing and heavily underrated, but it fails to balance it's themes efficiently, which pushes more mature audiences away and damages the show way more than it should

If you have yet to watch Rebels Season 1, please give it a chance, and continue on to the end of Season 4

[nyxnightshade1332]

Expectations When Expecting (Prologue)

Chapter 17

Chapter 18:

The three teens and the cat monster raced out of the abandoned dwarfs’ mine, clutching the magestone they had recovered. They rushed into the silent woods, only to realize that the giant, inky monster had managed to follow them. The monster howled and gurgled on its own ink as it approached them. 

Ace looked back, incredulous and nervous at the sight of such a disgusting monster stomping toward them. 

“Are you kiddin' me?!” He cried in exasperation. “It's still coming! It pushed off all that weight!” 

Yuu felt her heart drop at the knowledge. 

“Giiive it baaaaack...!” The giant roared, launching a tree at the group, Yuu barely managing to dodge it. 

“It's too fast!” Deuce gasped, exhausted. “It's about to catch us!” He stated nervously as he began to fall behind. 

“You know what? Fuck it! Then it's kill or be killed!” She cried, glaring at the monster, shaking as she guarded her abdomen. Ace seemed to notice her fear, but followed along, a crazed smirk painted on his face. 

“Aw, yeah! Let's just smash the thing. Try not to wet yourself, Deucey!”

“Same to you, Ace!” Deuce smirked back, clutching his magic pen. 

Yuu watched as Grim placed himself in front of her. “I'm gonna show ya why they call me Grim the Great!” She watched Grim inhale, puffing out his chest. It was a clear indication of the monster’s signature attack of blue flames. She gave Grim a grateful smile as she picked up a stone. 

Yuu pulled her arm back, eyes locking onto the monster giant, glass head with only one conclusion in mind. Break the head and it will die. 

When Grim released his flurry of flames, she threw the rock as hard as she could, hearing the satisfying cracking sound, and she picked up a second stone she watched, weaving between the trees, similarly to the way she would when playing hunters with her friends as a child. She pulled back her arm again when the monster was distracted. She took a breath as she aimed, her eyes fixated on the cracked part of the monster. 

And as she released the stone, there was one final CLANG that echoed in the woods. Yuu felt herself be pulled away, a white light seemingly keeping her from being crushed or drowned by the monster. She shut her eyes in fear and surprise of the light that blinded her bracing herself. 

She froze when she felt the cool, ghostly brush of a hand against her face. Tentatively, the young woman opened her eyes for long enough to catch a glimpse of who had touched her, only to see the familiar form of her deceased lover leading a small man away. She saw the smaller figure pause, turning toward her before nodding what appeared to be his gratitude. She nodded back, watching the two figures retreat before she realized that she had not been breathing. 

Yuu took a gasp of air, registering the sounds of triumph of the boys, Grim happily prancing around her. He stopped in front of her, sharp teeth flashing a happy smile at her, and he held up one paw. 

“C’mon! Gimme a victory high-five!” 

Yuu felt a relieved smile form on her lips as she bent down, giving a high five to the cat. She looked to Ace and Deuce, whose celebrations were ongoing. She stood up Grim scampering onto her shoulders. 

“Shared adversity sure brings people together, huh?” She gave a smirk as she noticed the boys scramble backward. 

“Uh... I don't think that had anything to do with it.” Deuce muttered, rubbing the back of his neck in an attempt to soothe his embarrassment. 

“Yeah! Spare us the clichés, bro.” Ace chimed, face slightly red. 

“There's no "together" here! We won 'cause of me!” Grim bragged, nose held high. “This is all from me bein' a magical genius!” 

“Hush you.” She half-scolded before noticing Ace’s expression toward her. 

“Y'know... I hate to admit it, but... We mostly won because of your plan.” 

“Yeah... if you hadn't managed to keep your cool and tell us all what to do, we never would have got this magestone.” Deuce agreed, noticing the sudden sheepish appearance of Yuu. He said something else that Yuu couldn't quite remember, apparently a thanks for preventing the expulsion. 

“Aww, c’mon guys. It wasn’t really much… I'm just glad no one got hurt.” She muttered shyly. 

“Yeah, yeah, lessons were learned, et cetera. Can we just go home already? I'm wiped.” Ace remarked. 

“I think that may be the most logical thing you’ve said since I met you.” She teased.

“Shut up!” 

“UGH, Usin' all that magic made me hungry!” Grim whined, annoyed before he paused. Yuu stopped, noting the strange-looking stone on the ground. 

“Huh? What's this?” Grim made his way to the mysterious object, picking it up in his paws and bringing the stone up to his nose curiously. 

“Is that a part of the monster we just beat?” Deuce questioned. “It looks like... a magestone? But it's black as coal! I've never seen one like that before.” 

Yuu watched, her eyes narrow, watching Grim as he sniffed the stone, his eyes widening. “Woah! What IS this? It smells amazing!” He took a deep sniff of the stone once more, eyes wide with excitement.

Yuu recognied the look in Grim’s eyes as the same one her dog had when she’d accidentally dropped a $100 bill. She tensed, completely prepared to scramble to wrestle it out of Grim jaws. Maybe he won’t try to eat it? Hopefully? 

“What are you, Insane?” Ace exclaimed. 

“Must be some kinda fancy monster candy that it was hidin' from us! If this tastes half as good as it smells…” 

It all happened much quicker than she’d expected. Grim opened his maw, tossing the entire stone in before the sound of crunching was heard. 

“Grim, you trash panda!” Yuu screeched. “Spit it out! Out! Bad cat!”

She rushed to open is jaws when she heard the heavy swallow. A very loud meow echoed in the woods, startling the group. 

“Are you okay?!” Deuce squawked in surprise. 

“That's what you get for eating trash!” Ace stated, eyes trained on the monster.

“Oooooogh... Urrrgggh... That…” Grim groaned out. “ …was AMAZING!” The group stared, bewildered at the cat’s pleased smile.

“Rich in flavor and full-bodied... Like sweet, fragrant flowers burstin' into bloom on my tongue. A whole field of 'em! Right in my mouth!” He sang, praising the flavor of a random stone. Yuu’s shock quickly melted as she slightly knocked the cat on the head. 

“Darn it Grim! I thought you were going to die!”

“Gross. Monsters must have real weird tastes.” Ace stated, earning himself agreements from both of the other humans. 

“And… you’re sure you're okay?” Yuu asked, examining her cat. 

Grim belted out a cocky laugh. “Don't worry about me. I don't got a weak stomach like you humans do.” 

Ace snorted, looking at Grim. “Hmph. We'll see if you're so smug when you're sick later tonight.” 

“Okay, let's pull ourselves together. We need to get this magestone to the headmage!” 

Chapter 19

[julian-jacoss]

I forgive you (or another theory, of which there are already many)

So, we all remember Aziraphale's phrase "I forgive you". There was a lot of speculation, the whole fandom is still guessing why he forgives Crowley, and I don't know if someone has already expressed the opinion that I'm about to write, but I haven't seen it (because I don't watch the whole tumblr), so I can speak up. (Actually, this is my friend's opinion, and I, like most of the fandom, sat in tears and couldn't understand why he forgave Crowley.)

Let's look at this whole scene again. Maybe what I'm about to say will make sense. Or maybe it won't. In any case, you have nothing to lose by reading this.

The first thing I want to say is that no one betrayed anyone. They just didn't hear each other. And that's why all this shit happened.

Let's go back to the beginning. When Metatron offered Aziraphale to return to Heaven, and with such a great condition as the restoration of Angel status for Crowley. We can see how happy Aziraphale was to tell Crowley about it. After all, the Angel realizes that Heaven is shitty, at the moment, and he believes he can fix it all. Together with Crowley. And Aziraphael runs to tell Crowley the news that they can build a new Heaven together, and thinks that of course Crowley will be excited about the prospect of returning to Heaven with him and changing it together. To make everything the way it really should be. Aziraphale remembers how happy Crowley was when he created the universe, the stars, how he enjoyed and rejoiced in it, and he was an Angel then. And he also knows that Crowley doesn't like Heaven now, so he thinks, he believes, that he can make a Heaven in which Crowley will want to be an angel with him.

But this is not the message Crowley sees in his words. From his words he draws the conclusion that Aziraphale is not satisfied with the fact that he is a demon. That he wants to remake Crowley to become an Angel. Do you see the line? Aziraphale wants to remake Heaven with Crowley, but Crowley understands it to mean that Aziraphale wants to remake HIM in Heaven. And so he gets angry. He feels betrayed, because they were friends for so many years, they had a connection, and then he hears Azirafail say "go and become an Angel again".

So he gets upset, reacts very negatively to this proposal and refuses Aziraphale, and now at this moment the Angel feels betrayed, because he ran to Crowley to say that they could make the world a better place together, but he realized that Crowley did not want to make the world a better place with him. Aziraphale is also offended, and he feels sad.

So Crowley suggests that they run away together, just like Gabriel and Beelzebub did. He literally almost says, "Man, we can run away and live together. Just you and me. Without Heaven and Hell. We can be free together, without any restrictions." This is his idea of their happy life together.

And again, I emphasize, Aziraphale feels betrayed, and Crowley feels betrayed.

They are not selfish, they want happiness for each other. They think about what is best not only for themselves but also for the other. However, they did not hear and understand each other. They heard and understood something completely different, something that their partner did not mean at all. Both saw the other's proposal as a betrayal. And this ruined everything.

It happend. They are both offended and unable to accept any new arguments. When people are offended (we will exclude the fact that they are not people), they are not able to digest new arguments that the other person can tell them to explain their opinion. That is, no matter how many arguments they bring up after the point of conflict, they will still not see any positive aspects in them. They will only feed their resentment, aggression in a sense, and so on.

A kiss takes place. We can see how much desperation and pleading there is in this kiss. Perhaps this is the last attempt to leave Aziraphale on Earth, perhaps it's just desperation, perhaps it's some other option, which are enough on the tumblr and I don't see the point of writing them.

And this phrase "I forgive you". It doesn't refer to the kiss at all (he doesn't forgive him for the kiss), because a few seconds ago he was offended (they both were). He forgave him for WHAT he was offended by.

He realizes that Crowley loves him and that's it.

That's all I wanted to say. They just needed to cool down and talk again. But that didn't happen.

(And if it had, it's unlikely we could have had any hope for a third season. Their story would have ended. The end of the Good Omens.)

And now we have this interesting thing that makes @neil-gaiman do a victory dance.

(Якщо ти зараз читаєш цей текст без перекладача, значить розумієш українську😏 а це значить, що я можу запросити тебе на наш канал по добрим передвісникам у телеграмі😚 Місце, де ти можеш покричати на другий сезон, і поусміхатися з деяких едітів та артів, та, звичайно, поплакати. Лиш поглянь на це🙃👉 https://t.me/good_omens_ua )

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

DID YOU SEE WATCHING AND DREAMING. I CRIED.

Oh, I saw it!

First of all, I'm genuinely impressed that they wrapped things up in such a succinct and satisfying way after Disney pulled the rug out from under them. Apparently, (and I only just learned this) The Collector wasn't even part of the original plan? He was added after they found out they weren't getting a Season 3? That is wild, but in hindsight, yeah, I can kind of see it. And sure, we didn't get everything we wanted - personally, I'd have loved more development of Phillip's backstory - but overall it was a powerful conclusion. One thing that comes to mind is that we don't get much resolution on The Collectors/Archivists, even though to be frank, they are a problem. Enslaving and genociding their way across the universe, but the story just didn't have time to dwell on that. I've also seen people lament that this was mainly a showcase for the original three protagonists and that the ensemble didn't have much to do. True enough, but they're also called protagonists for a reason. It started with Luz, Eda, and King. It had to end with them too.

It's curious how there are multiple points where the story does a fake-out with The Collector and makes you think they're going to be the new Big Bad, but they never are. Certainly the end of King's Tide and the beginning of For The Future implied as much, but in the end it was always Belos. (And to a lesser extent, Kikimora.) I've got a whole post in the works about him, because I genuinely think he's one of the greatest villains ever written in modern media, which is a surprise even to me, but he totally is. And since this is the final episode, Dana dropped all pretense and had Belos scream that he would "cleanse this Perdition" himself. Which is a religious term. Yep, he's a Puritan bigot, and they're coming right out and saying it now. By contrast, we learn a lot more about The Collector and how he was never the bad guy. Seeing him sobbing in the corner, lonely and desperate for a friend...learning how the Archivists used him, enslaved his friends, and abandoned him...only for him to take the blame for their crimes...god, can you see why they're an unresolved issue? Fuck the Archivists. But by far, one of the most chilling lines was "So? Toys break all the time. You just fix em." Like. Wow. It explains so much, and gives us some insight into Collector/Archivist culture.

Belos possessing The Titan's corpse is something I never saw coming, but it works for me because Belos didn't realize it was possible either. Any more than he realized King was The Titan's son. Why would he? I love his surprised reaction, "The dog?" Especially coming from Raine's voice. I have to give credit where it's due to their voice actor. I bet it was a lot of fun to play Belos during those lines. But speaking of The Titan, I never expected to see him either, but man oh man do I love him. I can't really bring anything new to the conversation about how wonderful he is. From how he acts like Sans, to the casual way they reveal that he's bi-gendered, to the implications of a Hooty-like appendage sticking out of his eye socket. (Why didn't Hooty get any lines, by the way? That's a little disappointing...) Like he might be some kind of maggot that grows on Titans or something. I adore The Titan and his laid-back, good-natured attitude, complete with a bread pun message for his son! The way his works about Luz choosing herself echo back to Eda's words, and how Luz finally does it. I can't get enough of her Titan Form, by the way. Especially since it reminds me of Harpy Eda, and seems like Luz has taken on aspects of both her best friends. (Shame Amity never saw it, though...)

In general, Luz as a hero of this story works really well.

I'm not a fan of the fake-out death trope but they really got the most out of it here. (Similar to Frozen 2.) They reveal almost immediately that Luz is still alive, and what matters is that her loved ones think she's dead. The Collector is forced to deal with loss for the first time and he does not know how to handle it at all. King's rage is awe-inspiring, as is Eda's line about how she can't control herself. In general, the moment of Luz dying to save The Collector, in their failed attempt to pull the forgiveness trope? Oh my stars, that was poignant. And the actual scene of her simultaneously dissolving into goo and yet also turning into light? I don't know how else to describe it but if you saw the scene, you know what I'm talking about, right? The way The Camilia doll sheds a tear. The ball of light falling into the pool of liquid and turning back into Luz as it does. Luz's final thought being a realization of how she should have said goodbye. Like, oof...for a split second, I honestly thought we were losing her. Oh, and the music. The music told us Luz was dying long before anything else did. That track punches your feelz.

But I also love how there's an inversion of what we've come to expect. How Luz's friends are all using Glyphs but she, for the first time, doesn't need them. With the Titan's power, she can cast magic the normal way, with Eda guiding her in how to do it. It feels like comradery, like teamwork, like everyone coming together to save The Isles. Right down to Luz's declaration to Belos at the end. How she is both a child of the human realm and student of the demon realm. Unlike him, she didn't reject either world. She embraces both parts of herself. "Now eat this, sucker!" Ah, so satisfying. I'll talk more about Philip's death in my master-post about him, but since I'm just showering praise on Luz right here, I absolutely love her reaction (or lack thereof) to his final, last-ditch effort to scheme his way out of this, and his subsequent death. Like he said, she just stands there. The Boiling Rain doesn't even hurt her - since, at least in that moment, she's not human anymore. Philip's pretense is figuratively and literally stripped away as the rain causes his human form to melt and reveal the monster underneath. And Luz is all out of fucks to give. She and everyone else have been fooled too many times. It's not going to work this time.

...and then the whole thing is ruined with the stomp-out death, and a serious, poetic moment is played for laughs. Yeah, I know people love this, but I just wasn't a fan of it. Totally kills the tension, and it's not worth it when Belos is a character who hasn't ever come anywhere close to the comedy in this show. He's always been played straight. Also, The Collector smashed him into a wall at full speed, and that didn't kill him...but getting stepped on does? How? Why? It's just a little weak...

But never mind that, time to talk about the ending and epilogue!

I know a lot of people were disappointed that The Collector didn't stick around and get adopted into the big found family, but I like this. One, they were never looking for a family. They were looking friends. That was the word they specifically and repeatedly used. King and the others are still going to be their friends. Cause like, The Collector isn't leaving forever. The final scene proves that. They come and visit. Possibly all the time. But the point was made that he has a lot of growing up to do, and I love that. I love that it was his realization, too. And that final moment between him and King made me sob, even if everyone predicted it. I like how Luz loses the ability to use her magic, and I wouldn't even have minded if that had been permanent, but I also like how there's hope for something new. Hunter gets reunited with Darius (but not explicitly adopted by him. Hunter Noceda fans, y'all are still valid.) and there's seemingly no punishment for Odalia, but also no love. Alador gets a big hug, she gets squat.

Dana, I swear, that fake-out in the epilogue was uncalled for. "After all this time..." Had me gaping. But I will say that Camila's "Luz, you saw them last week." Was perfectly delivered and very funny. Vee is as cute as ever and I love the implication that she became Luz's adopted sister like we all wanted. Luz majors in everything because of course she does, (honestly, I can relate) and I don't even care that the new doorway to The Boiling Isles is incredibly conspicuous and easy for humans to stumble upon because Headmaster Eda! Head. Master. Eda. It's perfect. Amity's redesign makes her look like a pirate, I love it, she actually kind of resembles Alador. Gus's hair is on point, Willow's lost of a ton of her baby fat, and-excuse me? Blue Jay? Blue?! Jay!? Hunter got a new Palisman! And his name is Waffles?!? Nope, sorry, I can't. Nothing could destroy me more than thi-Flapjack has a grave?!?!? Yeah, no. I'm done. I'm out. Dana, you want my heart? Take it. This is just too much. Blair out.

I'm going to miss this show. So, so much.

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Saw X (2023)”

SAW is one of those franchises that I feel like it should have ended long ago. SAW III had the iconic villain die but nope the franchise continued. SAW 3D was titled the final chapter but nope the franchise continued. Somehow, this franchise managed to get to its 10th entry but is there any worth to it or is this just another pointless cash grab?

Firstly, I love how this entry does something different. For the first time in the series, John Kramer himself is the main protagonist. Previous entries would usually have a protagonist who is trying to survive his traps. We get a lot more insight into his moral code and we get to see a more human side to him. One thing this film does well is make us fully in support of Jigsaw. Sometimes Jigsaw will make certain people be involved in his games but it is very questionable whether they deserve it. This is not the case in SAW X as the antagonists are just vile human beings who prey on sick individuals. Additionally, having this movie set after SAW I but before SAW II was a good choice. This meant not having any of the convoluted baggage of entries after 2.

Tobin Bell returns as Jigsaw and he gives a great performance. I loved seeing him portray these new sides to John while also showing his anger towards these scammers. Shawnee Smith also returns as Amanda and seeing more of her relationship with John was a big focus in the film. Amanda is having doubts about being able to follow in his footsteps but John being a mentor and encouraging her is surprisingly heart-warming in a torture movie. I do like they also explore the idea of whether one truly deserves it or not. The scammers all have different levels of involvement in the scam, does someone with minimal involvement deserve to be in the game? They also raise the question of his moral code. John believes everyone deserves a second chance which is why his games have a chance of surviving. However, these scammers are terrible and one of them is truly unforgivable. It is doubtful they would changed if they survived. Both of these are raised by Amanda to John and build up their eventual conflict. The biggest reason anyone is watching these movies is the traps which are enjoyable enough in SAW X. They are not overly ridiculous and gratuitous like some previous entries but they are gruesome enough to make you want to look away.

Nevertheless, the film does have some problems. There is a twist in the 3rd act that is a little questionable. You have to wonder why the characters bothered to take that risk when it could easily go wrong. Additionally, the conclusion is not very satisfying because it not giving a proper closure to a certain character. John also has a thing against bringing innocents into his games but in future films, chronologically, he brings people who made honest mistakes and even used a player's child as bait. John is very flippant with his code.

Overall, this is one of the best SAW movies in a long time. It brings something fresh to the franchise and feels like a coherent movie. I still don't think there should be any more in this franchise but the studio is obviously going to make more. However, if it is of a similar quality to SAW X then I might warm up to the idea of more SAW.

For more reviews like this visit: https://moviewarfarereviews.blogspot.com/