#not exactly what we talked about but there isnt a lot of scenes unfortunately

[lover-of-mine]

Buddie Countdown to Season 7:

79 days.

inspired by @bucksbackwardcap

[desire-mona]

things abt dps i feel like we dont address enough (photos attached will be shit quality, i took screenshots from yt clips LMAO)

heavily ib @pencileraser1's post abt stuff he noticed n such

the fucking KIDS at welton. the CHILDREN. maybe its just me but i always find myself forgetting that welton isnt a highschool + there are in fact a lot more students than the ones we're focusing on. thats what makes welton so like. evil? to me? they start pushing these kids into a box EARLY.

related, i wouldve LOVED to see how(/if?) keating taught these kids, or rly any other class! he has other classes!!! i think!

ok. of course. neil is a smoker, we've touched on that. but charlie is too?? and he's the one who provides the cigs???? obviously the easy explanation is that he does it to be rebellious and stuff but also Is There Something Else. much to think abt. also wondering where he gets his cigs but thats not rly anything i dont think.

this ones just funny but when mr perry tells the boys they can take a seat and todd simply does not. i KNOW he wasnt sitting before and he needs to unpack and stuff but ITS STILL FUNNY.

"take your seats boys"

"🧍"

also my guilty pleasure is the dps but its todd being anxious video bc man usually crack videos arent my jam but unfortunately i find it so funny

also!!! neil calling his dad sir. obviously its something so glaringly obvious that we dont need to have a discussion abt how theres a disconnect between them. like wow rly thanks mona i didnt know. but come on!!! it makes me sad!!! also they shake hands later in this scene and its the most affectionate/ friendly we see these two get. and its a handshake. and i think what makes it worse is that neil is a SUPER physically affectionate person with his friends. if u watch the movie and pay attention to how often he's touching someone else then ur gonna be like man. he rly was jumping at every opportunity huh.

something about the way neil and the boys act around mr perry makes me view him as more of a drill sargent than anything. everyone immediately stands upon him entering the room. they dont sit until given permission. it rly puts the whole military school thing into perspective but NOT ENOUGH TO SATISFY ME. as much as i hate mr perry, i wanna know what his life was like growing up. this man lived thru the great depression AND wwii, theres stories.

cam's stupid fucking face when keatings behind him larping ghosts. i will never stop talking about how sassy this kid is. the dps redheads go criminally unacknowledged in terms of comedy because OH MY GOD. CAM AND MEEKS WERE SO FUCKING FUNNY??? they both pulled the most dastardly judgemental looks and they make me cackle. a bit earlier in this scene meeks goes full 🙄🤨 on sniffles (tissue kid. i call him sniffles) and it is, without exaggeration, my fav part of the movie.

the fact that i totally thought knox was gonna fall off his bike and eat shit in this scene. it would be so out of place since dps isn't exactly full of physical comedy but GOD i still fully anticipated it. either that or him getting attacked by a bird. theres totally symbolism surrounding birds in this movie btw and idk what to make of it. if any of u lovely ppl have a theory then lmk immediately.

keating so accurately calling cam out being like "is this right is this right. am i walking right." BC YESSS. i will eventually make a fully fledged cam post but to briefly touch on it, i find cam to be very confused on what is right, usually in terms of morals. a whole situation of confusing your personal values with the rules, thinking theyre one in the same, and completely abandoning what u actually believe. unfortunately i think neils death rly amplified that nd is what led him to tattle. cuz cam is still willing to break the rules in the beginning of the movie!! he's outwardly judgemental but he still does it!! much to discuss, i promise i will eventually.

keatings face after todd yawps!!! theres not much to say here he is just so proud!!! sweet little moment!!!! keatpostin!!!!!!!!

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

u guys know im an avid knox hater but this made me giggle. rip knox overstreet u wouldve loved twitch streaming.

THE SPECIFICS OF THIS SHOT. i was gonna make a post a while ago being like "idk i find it funny that the main focus of this shot isnt even one of the poets" and then i realised that WAITTTTTTT THATS THE POINT!!!! keating reached kids besides the poets!!! u didnt have to be in the dead poets society to be affected by the way he taught his classes!!! u just had to be his student!!!!! also i love the fact that the kids who stayed seated r ASHAMED. EMBARRASSED.

the ending shot. oihghgghgg. it was SUCH a choice to set it up this way and honestly i adore peter for making it. this shot is SOOOO UNCOMFORTABLE TO LOOK AT and i love it. when i first watched this i was like "uhm ok interesting choice putting todd between this kids legs but I GET IT. one of the biggest things i remember from the film classes i took is that the way u set up shots is sooo important narratively, and one way to rly push the narrative is the space around a character in a shot. for example! if u have a character on screen surrounded by a TON of negative space then it rly emphasises how alone/ isolated they are. on the other end of the spectrum (the todd spectrum), if you surround a character in a shot with other objects or obstructions, like todd and this kids legs, then it rly emphasises how trapped and confined they are. looking at this makes me feel like. claustrophobic almost, like it's genuinely a bit harder to breathe looking at it. TODD IS STILL TRAPPED IN THAT SCHOOL. YES HE STOOD ON THE DESK AND YES HE NOW HAS THE MOTIVATION TO BE MORE CONFIDENT BC OF NEIL BUT HE! IS STILL! TRAPPED THERE!

more on todd since im on a roll here.

i was also gonna add that we dont rly talk about todd personality wise outside of poetry and anxiety but then i realised, what else is there? we dont really see much about him as a person outside of that, and i think thats the point! todd is constantly overshadowed by his brother, we know that, but i dont think we realise HOW MUCH that ties in with his entire character. quite honestly, outside of poetry and anxiety, ALL we have surrounding todd is his brother and his achievements. and of course! that makes sense! his parents want him to be just like his brother, they dont care about who he is as a person. UGH.

the desk set scene rly is the most insight we'll get into todds actual personality and desires imo, and thats what kills me. he wants a car!!!! get this boy a car!!!!!!!!! we rly see him start to open up before neils death and i wouldve LOVED to get to know todd when he's actually in a place to be himself!! but of course we never got that! sobs.

anywho. thats all i have for now. PLEASE share ur thoughts if u have any pls pls pls. encouraging discussion!! i love love love hearing about the specifics nd stuff, theres soooo much to pick apart abt this movie so i wanna hear everyones thoughts.

[wandering-koyote]

Im using this chance to scream about my mortal kombat hot take that turned into a rlly long ramble (only loosely related bc its about two normal humans lol):

Everyone says Cassie and Jacqui shouldn't have been in MK11, since Cas has had the main character spotlight in MKX and Jacqui has the personality of cardboard, while Takeda/Jin are more interesting. HOWEVER I actually think they deserved to be in the game 500% more, but that Netherrealm completely fumbled them. Jacqui more than Cassie, like horribly so.

Both really need something 'unique' about them, and MK11 was that chance, but instead Jacqui is just. A plot device really. She only exists to support other character arcs and be a borderline macguffin for Jax to have motivation- her own damn tower ending is her dying to further someone else's life. MK11 should've given Jacqui something to define herself a bit more in the story! Some kind of plot!! Cassie's story is sorta interesting, but Sonya coming back kinda dulls the impact of Sonya, yknow, dying. Hanzo's death is more impactful since his character arc was just wiped, Sonya doesn't get that. The whole "you're my mom who just died but not yet because you're from the past and im really conflicted about this" angle was, as my dad who watched me play said, "really fucked up" (in a good way imo), but they really only confined that to one scene. If you're gonna go at that angle, put ur whole pussy into it babe!!!

Takeda/Jin have more than enough to separate themselves from their parents, so yeah Cassie and Jacqui really needed an extra game to grow. Unfortunately they didn't, they're just kinda static. So im delving into personal story ideas!

Cassie would've really benefitted from gifted kid syndrome- girl just killed a god and saved the world, mk11 shouldve rlly leaned into the idea that shes pulling herself apart to try and keep being the main character. Kid of Johnny and Sonya, god killer?? Make that shit keep her up at night. Make her take charge in every situation where the older characters aren't there, make her self sacrificial, make her want to be the hero not because she wants that fame again, but because earthrealm is notorious for crumbling without someone to protect it and she cant bear to have anyone else shoulder that weight. She did it once, she can take it again. Then make Sonya die doing exactly what Cassie's doing, sacrificing herself for the mission and for Earthrealm.

Then she comes back, younger and a little less hardened. I think it's infinitely better if we flip the whole "ur my mother" thing- make Sonya conflicted that this is her child who is writhing in agony over her mother's death and Sonya isn't sure what shes meant to do. Everything screams to go and comfort her- its her DAUGHTER for crying out loud, but how would Cassie react? Would it only make things worse? What the HELL did her future self do to make Cassie look at her with such mixed emotions? It's mentioned a few times that present Sonya valued work heavily over her family, and that it got worse and worse over time, so i think it should culminate in a scene where Sonya from the past tells Cassie that her future self was wrong- the mission isnt everything, and she has family she needs to look out for. I think it'd mirror the Johnny's well too, since old Johnny literally beat the shit out of younger Johnny because he refused to take his (future) family seriously.

Jacqui on the other hand? She just needs her own damn arc. Keep Jax becoming a bad guy, thats fine imo, but touch on the mother's death and Jacqui's feelings about it. Her damn MOTHER died and the story is completely "ohhh jax became a bAD GUY ABOUT THIS" and I don't even think Jacqui gets to like, I dont even think her death is mentioned around Jacqui at all. I think just adding a few scenes between present Jax and Jacqui would fix a lot. Have the two not talk since her death; Jacqui really wants to talk about it, acknowledge what happened and try and heal, while Jax is ignoring her attempts and distancing himself (depression) and simultaneously trying to protect Jacqui. Replace the Kronika and Jax scene with a scene of the two in a fight, Jax trying to tell Jacqui to leave the military and dodging any conversation about how badly theyre both hurting, while Jacqui is pissed that he's shutting himself off and is basically regressing her into a child as a way to cope. Jacqui leaves in a huff, and Jax alone going "please, i just want to protect my little girl", queue the clicking of the grandfather clock stopping the tears freezing midair. Dont even show us the conversation, just hard cut away- the fight tells us everything we need to know about why Jax is doing what hes doing. I think that ALONE would help with Jacqui a lot (we've acknowledged she has feelings about her mom's death and that she has a conflict with her dad going on now), but going further you might be able to replace the cassie/raiden scene with JACQUI instead. Have Jacqui be upset that Jax is so deep in grief that hes joined the bad guys, and that she cant even tell what type of person her father is anymore. Is he the father that pushed her on the swing when she squeeled 'higher!', who hugged her so gently with his metal arms, or is he the man he is now, joining with criminals and thieves and murderers in the name of her 'protection'? Is that who he's always been? Have Raiden tell her that it doesnt matter who her father is, but who SHE is. Is she the type of person who give up on her dad? Or will she look him in the eye and tell him "I love you despite everything" and fight to save him?

Jax and Jacqui should reconcile before the boat scene entirely so they can get a plot beat to just talk. Too much action for a pause in the boat scene. My timeline of events is iffy but maybe this can happen at the Tiara scene- iirc Cetrion LITERALLY threatens to kill Jacqui and Jax is STILL on Team Kronika after this. CMON. Have Jax switch sides and attack Cetrion when she tries killing Jacqui- Past Jax is a bit iffy to me as an addition to the scene, he doesnt rlly add anything. Have Jax snap out of everything at the realization that its not the military putting Jacqui in danger, its HIMSELF. Have him admit hes wrong, and the two finally get a moment to grief (even if briefly bc the world is dying again). Have Cetrion note this interaction too. Whens the last time her mother ever hugged her like that? When was the last time they grieved the loss of Father? Even MENTIONED Father? Is Kronika even her mother beyond just the name? Hot take but have Cetrion try and betray Kronika at the end of the plot because of this moment, and Kronika goes "lmao no" and absorbs her essence anyway.

VERY LONG ASK I KNOW BUT I NEED TO GET THIS IDEA OUT!!! It also adds a layer of theming around family and love, something thats vaguely there in MKX and MK11 but its like. Hidden and an afterthought. Jax protect Jacqui bc shes family. Cassie is grieving the death of a family member. The villian is the mother of two other villians and kills one and discards the other. Cassie and Jacqui deserve better thats my message im here all night folks

Yesss! The family themes need to hit hard! This is why I’m sad they rebooted when we could’ve had more familial growth, but maybe we’ll get it in the next few games 😭

I don’t have much input because I agree with so much (if only I could ring up NRS and get you hired)! BUT IM POSTING CUZ YOU COOKED FR FR AND NEED RECOGNITION 🔥🔥🔥

[wickedpact]

You can't just drop that "I read Forces Multiplied" bomb on us and not give a ten page written reaction.

[cracks knuckles] if u insist

nicky cant drive hc: destroyed. rip. also i loved how andy and nile stole those sports cars and were being badass and driving off the bridge & meanwhile joe and nicky were just absolutely vibing in the van

'heres the thing about power: people who have it think they deserve it' [shot of police car] i see u greg

5 whole panels being dedicated to booker not being able to unlock his door. booker not even seeing noriko sitting RIGHT THERE in the window at first. incredible

noriko being 24/7 horny was surprising. like wow all of the stuff i saw she did out of context was 100% equally horny in context as it was out of context. love that for her

i didnt think the 'andy + slavery' thing was handled as badly as everyone made it out to be when telling me about it. tho from the way it was talked about i had kind of figured the conflict between andy and nile re: slavery would be really racially charged (esp considering nile is a black american and would obvs have Thoughts on the subject in that regard) but like,, done in a cringey 'a-white-guy-obviously-wrote-it' kind of way? but it wasnt that. i mean. it makes sense that andy would be implicit in slavery through the years

i mean, like she says, is that not what people just did to each other in the aftermath of battles for thousands of years? and i really like how its pointed out that it was what she was raised with (in the beginning when you see her put shackles on that guy after the battle) but she also accepts responsibility for it and acknowledges that it was wrong and not just 'what people did'.

i like how from her expressions you can kind of tell baby andy knew it was off but she sets those feelings aside bc she felt angry. it explains how she felt but didnt make her out to be blameless in it. plus i mean. i dont know, the fact that andy was involved in a lot of morally shady stuff for 7000 years is not that wild for me. if you live that long youre just Going to be involved in some shit, and she didnt even have other immortals with her as positive community influences, she literally just did whatever the fuck she wanted for thousands of years

'i was worshipped as a god once' i mean, yeah no shit she wouldve been involved in some seriously fucked up stuff, gods were fucking scary back in the day

tldr it could use some polish but it wasnt that bad

tho everything people said about moose being boring was unfortunately a little true. sorry king i tried to be interested in you

joe and nicky writing verbal fanfiction about nile and moose was iconic. 'you seeing that?' 'i am definitely seeing that'

it was also extremely funny bc that was like 60% of their contribution to the whole comic, besides kidnapping copley. they came, they wrote some fanfic, they left. kings. at least in tog1 they had an excuse to be useless bc they got kidnapped

joe just found out his old friend who he thought was dead is alive (and also probably wants to murder them) and instead of investigating with andy he stopped to help nile up. champ.

nicky shooting noriko through andy was cool. rip to the concept since it wont happen in tog2

wanna see mr ejiofor deliver this line

on that note imo copley was. weirdly enough, more interesting in fm than in tog1. to me at least. the fact that andy let him live and he was so haunted by what had happened that he came back and sought them out despite knowing they would likely kill him for it bc he wanted to not only make up for what hed done but also to tell them what theyd done for the world was admittedly more interesting than andy just kind of drafting him to the cause and him going 'okie'

i like how nicky was drawn in this one. in opening fire he looks like a blob man but in fm he looks more like a very nice grampa with a very good dye job

'theres no pain like a broken heart' andy 🥺

noriko implying andy's never drowned. .. .idk about that one, she musta drowned sometime

joe and nicky came, they waxed poetic about nile's love life, they waxed poetic about grog, and then they left.

sports bras being a reason humanity is good. i mean..... okay, yeah.

i mean. wild but you cant exactly tell her shes wrong

i liked how noriko telling andy that their purpose is to make people suffer coincides with joe and nicky finding out that they actually did good all those years

joenicky in opening fire: jail for booker jail for booker for 100 years

joenicky when copley tells them he knows where booker is: WE'LL KILL YOU WHERE IS HE

joenicky when copley comes back: if your vibes come off as even remotely rancid we Will destroy you

joenicky 2 minutes later when copley helped them find booker: he made up some ground :)))) <3 lov you j cops

theyre forgiving af

moose: how old are you?? a hundred??? a thousand???

nile [vine voice]: I M 2 7 ?

alright andy you got me there

joe texts like my aunt

i dont know why noriko drowning andy in that car tickled me. Bad And Naughty Andromaches Get Put In The Pear Wiggler To Atone For Their Crimes.

the drowning sequence was cool

copley trying to talk to andy while she was like o_o at him was great

ive hit the picture limit but id seen that panel where nicky goes 'forgive me' as he kills a guy out of context and it was HILARIOUSLY anticlimactic for me to discover that there was literally no context to it. nicky just apologizes to random people he kills. i thought that guy was someone he knew or something. nope its just Some Guy that nicky didnt know from adam

nile's complaint that andy was especially brutal to the guys on the boat... i mean. . , how exactly does one kill a man with an axe and not be brutal about it?

it was funny how noriko kissed andy and the only people who seemed surprised by that were nile and also andy

nicky and joe's complete non-reaction to finding out noriko is alive And Evil Now is endlesly funny. they just left her on that boat and neither cared. i get book and nile not caring but joe and nicky knew her, and they just have 0 input on the subject of what to do with her

pinstripe suit guy!

joe and nicky and booker packing up and leaving with nile

andy blowing up at nile was A Moment tho

i dont know, i get why people didnt like the ending but its. .. . it makes more sense in the comicverse. bc the squad doesnt really. .. interact outside of jobs? i mean, think of the moon landing story in ttt. that was booker and joe and nicky doing a job and andy only showed up a for a couple minutes after it was done. or the brunch in the first issue of opening fire. the squad arent as tight in the comic, and andy often seems to do her own thing outside of work, so andy saying 'i dont want to do work anymore' and the squad being like 'alright bye then' makes more sense in this universe than the movie one

also i feel like greg was Trying to set up a thing where nile becomes the Leader of The Squad after andy dies but like. its not very well done since. . . i mean, nile hasnt spoken to booker since opening fire, (and she only knew him A Day). and shes known joe and nicky all that time, but there isnt really anything that indicates that they have any relationship at all, much less one that's grown. in all the comicverse the only time nile and nicky speak is in FM, and in that scene nicky tells nile about noriko. nile goes from someone who needs to be set aside to have background knowledge explained to her to being the Leader of the group with nothing in between. it kind of... comes out of nowhere.

on the other hand tho... i felt really bad for andy thru the whole thing. well, i always felt bad for andy, but in this one she seemed so miserable, especially since it really felt like none of the others actually.... cared about her. when noriko came back no one asked andy how she was doing (big question ik, but it wouldve showed they cared at least), nobody ever expressed any concern for her, no one even really seemed to want to be around her. in opening fire everyone was more distant than in the movie of course, but there were little moments where she would joke with joe, or nicky would try and comfort her, or stuff like that, but in FM it really felt like they just didnt really care about her. & in opening fire it felt a lot like andy's relationship with nile breathed some new life into her, but in FM it felt like all they did was argue. i get theyre not *as* close in the comics but it really felt like the only person who cared about andy at all was noriko (which was probably also how andy felt) but it just seemed to come out of nowhere. honestly i was reading and i was honestly agreeing with andy that she might just be better off if she did just die. opening fire, on the other hand, never make me feel that way

tho everyone made it sound like when the squad split up it was one of those cursed 'the found family leaves each other at the end of the journey' tropes. but guys i mean,,, this is the second installment out of three. that isnt the End. theyll come back in the third one and Dramatically Reunite to fight some baddies (probably those 'others' noriko mentioned). im guessing yitzhak fits into that too somehow.

anyways it wasnt That Bad but it made me kind of sad and the only Sweet Found Family vibes in it were when they saved booker. also they shouldve beefed up that nilemoose romance, it underwhelmed me. 6.5/10

i also ABSOLUTELY understand all of greg's comments about how you couldnt make FM directly into a movie, he always said that it had no plot and. i get it now. it really didnt have a plot sdfghjkl

[jett-dawson]

🌈 RH POSITIVITY🌈

DISCLAIMER: this doesn’t exactly have to do with the dolls, the creators, etc. it’s literally just about the web series alone. i figured since i have been feeling quite negative in the doll community, i kinda just wanted to shed some positive light on my current comfort show. also, you don’t have to agree or anything! not that these are really opinions... they are more facts with evidence from the show haha.

FEATURING:

Ruby Anderson

Poppy Rowan

Sunny Madison

Jade Hunter

Skyler Bradshaw

Violet Willow

Bella Parker

Amaya Raine

❤️ RUBY ANDERSON - she’s a supportive girl. she is always there for her friends when the right time calls for it. we can often see her being supportive of violet’s channel (at least in the earlier episodes), her working hard to complete group projects, her complimenting their friends, her bringing them up from their worst moments and more. some of my favourite scenes of ruby being supportive is definitely in episode three when poppy was showing her music to the a’s. you can see ruby excitedly standing there with her thumbs up for poppy. another great scene is ofc in episodes five and six when she immediately dumps the boy she was interested in just to go comfort skyler, because she knew she needed it. i also love how she was supportive of bella’s feelings and was quick to defend them. she truly cared for her roommate and was rightfully upset to see her go. the group as a whole is usually supportive of each other and each other’s decisions, but i have noticed a lot of that hype is channeled through Ruby’s support

🧡POPPY ROWAN - she’s a dedicated, passionate artist. poppy definitely has a personality, i just don’t think it’s as prominent as the other girls. poppy doesn’t usually get the spotlight (other than in her two respective episodes) and she doesn’t usually get into drama. i noticed she’s usually in the background or remains neutral during drama. so we really don’t get to see sides of her like we do with violet, ruby, or jade. but she’s still really sweet! she’s a total goofball, loves to be silly and is clearly close with sunny. she dedicates her time to her music, a clear fixation. she relies on music for comfort and to express her feelings and emotions. when feeling homesick, she found comfort in the sounds of the waves from her home. when excited, she loves to pay hard attention to her music, and just simply channels all creativity into that. it’s not that “being a dj” is her only personality trait, it’s the time, effort, love, creativity and passion that is part of her personality, and part of anyone ever for that matter!

💛SUNNY MADISON - she’s the sweetest friend. sunny is always there for those she loves, no matter what. a perfect example would be w/ violet. she grew up w/ violet! they are best friends! seeing violet attempt to drift away for her was an obvious stab at sunny’s heart. and while i wish the drama lasted a bit longer and not get resolved off screen, it’s clear that sunny still loves violet & they worked past those problems together. she is seen hyping violet up, supporting her vlog, bringing up past memories, etc. even when violet had wrongfully exploited bella, sunny still remained loyal to violet because of how much she cares for her. another perfect example would be with amaya. amaya was the new girl, and came at the wrong time. she did absolutely nothing wrong and sunny knew this. on the other hand, the other girls’ heads were clouded with judgment because they had just lost their very best friend. sunny knew she had to be their for amaya. she’s caring that way! she welcomed amaya, & immediately grabbed her hand when first walking in to introduce her to the girls.

💚JADE HUNTER - she’s a loyal defender. i figured she wouldn’t just be some mean girl who had this cold, hard exterior for no reason. luckily, we get to see a soft, goofy, lovable side with jade. she’s emotional. she’s dependent on positive energy & comfort. she gets these through doing what she loves & caring for who she loves. her being a loyal defender is clearly seen in episodes 5-9. she was defending ruby & skyler when yelling at colin. when bella was leaving, she was quick to be upset. that’s her girl & she was no longer going to be there! even though bella didn’t fully listen to jade, she didn’t waste any time blaming bella. she immediately was filled w/ powerful emotions. she wrongfully took them out on amaya, which had reason, but wasn’t right. she ended up apologizing & grew from it/developed. same with the violet situation. violet did something wrong, and it filled jade with powerful emotions. what jade did was wrong, even with good intentions. but in the end, it got resolved and they moved on from it. development!

💙SKYLER BRADSHAW - her emotions are powerful. i often hear talk about how emotions and feelings are lame. “get your head out of the clouds & come back to reality.” statements like that are hurtful, and i can 100% imagine them being hurtful to skyler. she takes a lot of things personally. she didn’t know how exactly to feel when she found out colin and her were no longer a couple. her thoughts were all over the place, & it took the help of a friend to bring her back to her senses. skyler is more than just “colin’s girlfriend”. even though she’s shy, she’s got big talent. it’s like ruby and even skyler herself said... she may not talk a lot, but she loves to let her artwork speak for itself. and she clearly channels all of her emotions and feelings into her artwork. so these creations speak a thousand words. she’s always the mutual one, taking emotions and thoughts into consideration. never picking sides, always being reasonable and rational. she’s not just the shy girl. she is arguably one of the most mature girls in the group!

💜VIOLET WILLOW - she is outspoken, loud & proud. i will confidently say that she’s been doing better since her dev. arc... she was always looking to record this n that, only ever talk about her vlog, ignore others feelings & just wanted to focus on her channel. focusing on what you’re passionate about isn’t wrong! it’s abt how you handle it! she was shown the cold, hard truth in episode 11. she had to experience a similar pain that bella was feeling to understand what she did wrong. and ever since then, she hasnt really started any drama or been involved in any! she definitely is a passionate girl. it’s good to be outspoken! it’s good to put your thoughts to words for the public to hear! she just wants to have fun as an entertainer & share school stories w/ her audience. needing a friend to bring you back to your senses isnt always bad! it’s the development that counts! she just wants to enjoy her time with her friends! i do want to point out that scene in the recent episode (15) where she asked amaya before posting the video of her dancing.

💗BELLA PARKER - she’s an impulsive, hard worker. bella likes to work hard & get the job done. this can be seen in episodes where she’s trying to complete school tasks or help her friends with their situations. she also clearly puts effort into friends! she stopped everything during the escape room just to have a fun moment to cheer jade & her friends up. when she knows what she wants, she goes for it. even if it takes a little debating, she will go for what she is passionate abt. this is seen in episode 7, and is unfortunately at the expense of her space at RH. yes, she broke a rule. yes, that is technically wrong. but the rule was sort of dumb, and she rightfully applied for that internship with her idol. i, too, would do just about anything to get a chance to work with my favourite celeb! honestly, bella was gone too soon, especially considering how many episodes there are. it’s all just truth anyway. she’s a supportive, caring, goofy, impulsive, hard worker who honestly means nothing but the best!

🤍AMAYA RAINE - she isn’t afraid to stand out and show some spirit. amaya is definitely a feeler. she feels things at a deep level and just wants to make a significance at her dream school. she unfortunately entered at the wrong time, but was luckily able to work hard to solve the problems. even though she was filled with negative emotions about the drama, she still found ways to be positive, whether it was by trying her best to fit in and work with the girls on their project, she tried her best. and in the end, succeeded! it seems she likes to take the lead during some things, but definitely isnt someone who fully picks sides during conflict, especially when it has nothing to do with her. like skyler, she is someone remains mutual and can see both sides of an argument... sort of in a diplomatic way perhaps? she’s obviously a strong girl who lets her emotions take full power, and she is definitely a bold character. i really hope we can see more of her personality develop in these final episodes and see how bold she truly is!

[sophfandoms53]

So would you say Dewey and Louie were the most consistently well written characters on Ducktales from start to finish with his arc overall? Considering how others either were not focused enough (Huey, Donald, Della, and LP), had not so good writing in the finale (Scrooge/Webby), and a bit of both (Beakley), those two seems to be the consistent ones.

Anon, honestly, I would love to agree with you about both Dewey and Louie in this regard, unfortunately, there’s a slight issue.

Louie’s character in the sense of his arc was handled very well throughout seasons 1 and 2, and throughout the majority of season 3. However, there are two episodes where Louie’s writing hits a bump in season 3, those two episodes being The Trickening and Fight For Castle McDuck.

Ironically, the two episodes from this season (outside of the finale) that caused the most discussion and uproar in the fandom.

While Trickening doesn’t mishandle Louie’s character as poorly as Fight for Castle McDuck did, it doesn’t change the fact this episode is the source of this writing issue involving Louie’s character, at least where his treatment of Huey is concerned.

Now in these two episodes we see Louie having issue w/ Huey’s planning/schedule tendencies, something Louie is very well aware that his brother does and that it’s a source of comfort for Huey, so it’s a little odd seeing Louie have this sort of animosity towards this rather normal behavior Huey displays.

In Trickening, Louie’s seen mocking Huey’s attachment to the JWG (again something that is a comfort for Huey, and Louie KNOWS that) and then getting extremely upset at Huey for lying about his awareness of the existence of the haunted house and immediately jumping down Huey’s throat about being selfish and for lying (the former is false and absolutely the last thing Huey is, and the latter, while true, Huey had his reasons for why he lied) and while an upset response to Huey lying is a normal reaction, it coming from Louie is a bit odd.

Louie’s anger towards Huey is over a minor harmless lie and could’ve just been solved with a simple “Huey, why did you lie?” and insert Huey’s explanation, but we have an episode length to fill so we gotta have some tension through a misunderstanding and then at the end we can have people finally communicate. As much as I’m being sarcastic, I do really like that scene of Huey and Louie talking and apologizing for their respective actions, and both coming together over their love for each other and for Halloween, the biggest holiday they had together w/ Dewey before going to the mansion, but it is slightly frustrating watching this inorganic Louie vs Huey conflict that is actually handled better in another episode, I’ll get to that later though.

Let’s talk Fight for Castle McDuck, holy crud is this episode a mess. Not even just with Huey and Louie’s plot, but Dewey and Webby’s as well as Scrooge and Matilda’s plots are so unbearable to watch. I rewatched this episode recently and I cannot tell you guys the amount of times I wanted to break my television over practically every single characters behavior in this episode, save for Dewey and Huey who were completely fine in the episode, but everyone else? OH. MY. GOD.

Critiquing the problems on this episode can be a whole discussion in itself, and I might do that, but right now, let’s focus on Louie in this episode.

Louie has the same issue with Huey that he had in Trickening, so essentially it’s a “we’ve done this plot before but let’s do it again except slightly differently” type of plot, nothing wrong with those, except Louie is uncharacteristically mean to Huey throughout the episode, like, borderline how Huey and Dewey treated him in Other Bin mean, and we all know how I feel about Other Bin.

Just at the start of the episode Louie yells at Huey by saying, “No! BAD NERD.” And that’s just a line that doesn’t sit well with me, like Louie, Huey isn’t a dog, there was no need for such a line. And then later when Huey is explaining his plan to find the bagpipes, Louie is dozing off and explains how he’s taking a Huooze, something he does when Huey explains nerd stuff, except Louie’s never done that before or after this episode so that’s always fun. Louie is just not giving off good vibes the entire episode, and I understand the lesson Louie was meant to have is sometimes doing things the easy way isn’t always the best way, and that lesson is fine, but they didn’t need to execute it the way that they did.

Not to mention how this plot, which is completely disconnected to Dewey and Webby’s & Scrooge and Matilda’s plots, suddenly gets dragged into those two plots because this is season 3 where comedy is our passion so let’s have every single character be overly dramatic and insult everyone around them despite us being family and then after everyone’s been absolutely awful to each other, let’s not apologize no, let’s just act like this was a normal lesson in family’s fight but we can work through it and be stronger because of it! AND OH MY GOD NO NONE OF WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS EPISODE WAS A NORMAL FAMILY FIGHT. PLEASE DONT TELL YOUR AUDIENCE OF CHILDREN THIS IS NORMAL.

AND THIS ISNT EVEN SCRATCHING THE SURFACE OF HOW AWFUL WEBBY’S BEHAVIOR IN THE EPISODE WAS AND-

Okay okay, rant for another time, back to Louie.

I bring up Trickening and Fight for Castle McDuck as examples as bumps in Louie’s writing because outside of these episodes, Louie is written rather well and very supportive of both Huey and Dewey’s comfort tendencies, Huey w/ his JWG and Dewey w/ his thirst for attention/validation.

Focusing on season 3 episodes specifically, in Challenge of the Senior-Junior Woodchucks Louie is the only one who actually helps Huey feel better about not having the guidebook with him, he even calls Huey “king-nerd” in a very kind way, then in Lost Harp of Mervana Louie learns from Webby’s optimism that sometimes looking for the best in people isn’t so bad just as Webby learns that sometimes people don’t always have your best interest from Louie, that’s a balance in their dynamic and is done very well, and finally in Rumble for Ragnorak Louie’s behavior is reliant solely on knowing Dewey his whole life and exactly how his brother is going to react when being put in front of a crowd, and because of how well Louie knows Dewey, when his older brother is doubting himself, Louie has learned the best way to get Dewey back to himself by telling him “Let’s Dewey it.”

Louie’s grown a lot and he understands his family incredibly well, so seeing that aspect of him disappear in two episodes, while minor, still sucks in the sense of character consistency.

There is an episode from season 3 that does this conflict between Huey and Louie really well and it’s Let’s Get Dangerous, the reason being: Louie doesn’t mock Huey in this episode for his JW tendencies or questions, instead, Louie just straight up tells Huey that not everything has be a problem or a mystery, which ironically leads to Huey discovering the problem with Bulba’s machine and that it was part of a lost mystery that Finch was searching for. That’s exactly how Louie should react when he feels Huey’s want for answers can get in the way of him getting a quick fortune. Not mocking his brother for comfort tendencies he is well aware his brother has.

Overall, Louie has been well written throughout the series but we can’t ignore how the writing for him in both Trickening and Fight for Castle McDuck mess up his rather solid consistency.

Now Dewey’s character arc and development can also be an entire post like this as well as I genuinely feel, favorite character bias aside, Dewey is the best written character in the entire series, and I mean that from a writers and critic’s perspective.

But like I said, that can be a whole other discussion.

[bridgyrose]

Infiltration AU. Is Salem gonna play hero to impress Ruby? Or will she sabotage the huntresses-in-training?

Xanthic pulled out her scroll and started running through a few of the cameras near the dust shop in Vale. “I’ve tapped into a few of the cameras around, which means we can see where Blake went and hopefully find her quickly.” 

Ruby smiled a bit, feeling a bit better. “That’ll be great. The last thing I want is for my team to fall apart before we can really become a team.” 

Salem sighed in displeasure, a bit miffed that her plan was already starting to fall apart. She needed to get Ruby alone, not have her team start helping the girl out. But, then again, if she could play the hero that Ruby wanted to see in a huntress… 

“If the technology fails to find her, I might have another way to do so.” 

Ruby looked over at Salem, curious as to what the girl was offering. “What do you mean?” 

“My… semblance… allows me to track people down,” Salem lied. It felt unnatural to say those words, but since this brand of humanity had no magic to help them, she had to start using their own lingo. Not that they’d ever really know what magic was if it bit them in the ass. Even those four girls that Ozma shared his magic with could never dream of using it to its full extent. “It’ll take a bit of time and I’ll need one of her possessions, but the tracking is flawless and will lead us straight to her.” 

Xanthic looked at Salem with a little disdain, not exactly happy at being shown up. “Saph, thanks for the offer, but I’m sure Ruby would rather a professional help her out.” She quickly sat her scroll down and pulled out one of the gloves her father and mentor taught her how to make, connecting it to her scroll and pulling out multiple camera views. “This isnt the first time I’ve had to track someone down and more than likely wont be the last. We’ll find Blake before you’ll ever be needed.” 

Salem rolled her eyes a bit as she watched Xanthic. As true as it was that technology could be helpful, a lot of it felt primitive to what she could do. Not that she could actually do much if she wanted to keep her cover from being blown. She at least needed to stay hidden long enough to find the vault so her piece could move in and swipe the relic right from under Ozma’s nose. “If you say so. It all seems unreliable to me.” 

Xanthic ignored Salem, just focusing on her work. She methodically started moving the camera views around, giving her as much clarity as she could. She smiled as she watched the recording of Blake move along the rooftops towards the industrial quarter. “Here we are. Found her.” 

Ruby looked over Xanthic’s shoulder, smiling a bit. “I cant believe you found her that quick.” 

“Well, it’s not quite that simple yet. Unfortunately, we’re about an hour behind her already, which means she might not be there anymore.” 

“But it’s a start, right?” 

“That it is.” Xanthic snapped her fingers, lining up all the camera views before shutting down her scroll. “Which means once we get there, we can start checking out the scene and maybe find out where she went next. Most of that area is cameraless, so I wont be able to have my eyes in the sky for that.” 

Salem smirked a bit. “Well, sounds like you might end up being useless after all.” 

Xanthic glared at Salem, not particularly happy about everything that she was saying. “Shut it Saph. I will put you in your place.” 

Salem felt amused by Xanthic’s threat, slowly moving closer to her and whispering in her ear. “I’d love to see you try.” 

Xanthic hesitated as she heard the calmness in Salem’s voice, not even remotely phased by the threat. Everything about Sapphire started seeming off to her. The way she seemed calm around grimm. The way she seemed to know more about others and how they’d act. It was almost as if she wasnt entirely human. 

Salem started walking out the door, turning to smile at her team and Ruby. “So, are we going then?” 

Sitri shook her head and started pulling out her books to study. “Unlike the rest of you, I need to study for class. You all go ahead. Maybe with a little peace and quiet I can get something done.” 

Aurora smiled and started following after Salem. “Sure, I see no reason why not. And maybe if there are a few White Fang around, we can show them just what kind of mistake they’re making.” 

Salem turned her gaze to Ruby, her real target of all of this. “And you, my dear? You’ll want to come and find your friend, right?” 

Ruby nodded and rushed past using her semblance. “I’ll meet you there!” 

Salem smiled as she watched the girl run off. The longer she lived, the easier this second round of humanity seemed to be manipulated. All it took was a few promises here and there and she could bend their will at her fingers. 

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

Aurora ran up the sides of a few buildings on the way to the industrial quarter, getting herself a view of the city and trying to spot anyone moving around. It was one of the few times she felt free. No gravity to bind her to its rules. Just the wind in her hair and the complete freedom of doing whatever she pleased. 

Xanthic followed behind Aurora, keeping tabs on the camera she was holding. This was one of the few times where Aurora’s talents came in plenty of use. Even without any street cameras around, at least she could count on Aurora to give her the eyes she needed. She quickly tapped the com-piece in her ear. “Think you can get me a clear shot of the area? I think I can pinpoint a few places she could be hiding.” 

“You can count on me!” 

Salem sighed as she watched Aurora rush off ahead, using a combination of lighting and gravity dust to move faster and higher. Once again, her efforts to get Ruby alone were eluding her. There had to be another way… 

Ruby pulled out her scroll and tried to call Blake for the third time on the search, no longer paying attention to her surroundings. “Come on Blake, please answer-” It didnt take long for her to run into what felt like a metal wall, falling over and dropping her scroll. 

“Sal-u-taions!” 

Ruby sat up, hesitating when she saw a red-haired girl flat on her back. “O-oh, sorry, I didnt mean to run into you like.” Ruby got up and offered her hand to the girl.

The girl slowly got up, smiling at Ruby. “It’s fine. I should’ve paid a bit more attention to where I was going. I’m… a bit lost.” 

Xanthic watched the girl, suddenly feeling unsure about her, while Salem hesitated on trying to get a read on her. 

Ruby smiled at her. “Where were you heading? Sapphire, Xanthic, and I are heading to the industrial quarter to find a friend of mine.” 

“Maybe I could help you find her. My name is Penny. And yours?” 

“Ruby.” Ruby started to relax a bit as she talked to Penny. The girl seemed off, but in the same off kind of way that she was when trying to talk to others. “Another pair of eyes would definitely be useful.” 

Xanthic slowly pulled out her scroll, hesitating as it pointed out a new access point in the area. “Huh, that cant be right…” 

Salem looked over to Xanthic. “What’s that?” 

“Its that girl. There’s… something off about her. I’ll tell you more when I can figure it out.” 

Salem nodded a bit, keeping an eye on Penny and seeing how close she had gotten to Ruby so quick. It was almost as if the two were practically made for each other. Which didnt bode well for her. She had to find a way to separate them. “I have a thought. Why dont we split up while we search? We can cover a bit more ground that way.” 

Xanthic nodded in agreement. “That doesnt sound like a bad plan. I’ll go with-” 

Ruby quickly took Penny’s hand and started darting off. “Penny and I will take the north section. We’ll make our way east and meet up with you guys there!” 

Salem frowned a bit as she watched Ruby run off with Penny, starting to get irritated on how hard it was to get close to a single girl. Almost as if the gods themselves were just toying with her. 

Xanthic smirked a bit as she messed with her scroll. “I knew it! Penny’s not human!” 

Salem hesitated for a moment. “What do you mean she’s not human?” 

“Besides the camera on Aurora and our scrolls, which I’ve already tapped into, there arent any access points… except for one. And it’s coming from Penny.” 

“So, you could tap into her and see what she sees then?” 

“Its possible, but… I’ve never seen anything like her before. Even most Atlas tech is simple but Penny… she’s on a different level.” 

Salem nodded, taking everything she was told into consideration. As inferior as this humanity was, every now and again they seemed to surprise her. And this was no exception. “Try to hack into her.” 

Xanthic looked at Salem a bit curiously. “Why? Even if I do, all she’d do is give me another pair of eyes to look through.” 

Salem started walking off, heading to the south of the quarter. “I want to see if it can be done. And if so, it’ll confirm something for me about you.” 

“And what would that confirm?” 

“Who taught you to use your technology like that. And if it’s who I think it is, then we have a lot to discuss later.” 

[theunconcernedembalmer]

Toko! I was thinking of creating an ask the character blog for IDV or Genshin Impact and wanted a few tips on how to start off. Anything you can share?

ey yo my dude!! thank you so much for this question, now im lowkey tempted (again) to make a genshin ask blog sjadhlkshgkahshglsaj anyway my 1.5 cents is under the cut, yall know how much i talk here HAHAHAHAH

uhhhhhh so i guess we start with picking a character u really Vibe with tm? I KNOW THIS SOUNDS LIKE COMMON SENSE BUT LIKE ive been considering making a genshin ask blog for a while now but i never really got to it cos i couldnt really decide on a character (plus the fact that their outfits are. so intricate. is also a hmm since i try to follow details to a t) (at first i wanted to do zhongli, but i feel like to be able to muse him well u need to know the lore super super well, which i dont n im too lazy to research on that aha. n u know how much i respect characterizations, especially for such a complex character like him. i also considered xiangling for a period of time mostly for guoba but also like i have 2+1 blogs here n having one more might not be a very good idea aha) (as for aesop he was my Hyperfixation Character tm also cos i looked at his kit n went Yep i could work with this. probably)

so assuming ur not a dumbass like me n u kinda know who u wanna pick, id actually say to snoop around here for other ask blogs n kinda get a feel of the... scene? is that the word? or like u know, other blogs that u can potentially vibe with. ive run a couple of ask blogs before this current one (both that have died for different reasons) n from my experience interacting with other blogs (if theyre okay with it, i think most should be) is pretty fun. it also kinda helps get ur blog around to other ppl on other blogs so they can go Oh whats this cool shit n check u out, n its also a reason why we kinda reblog promo posts for other blogs (also cos we’re always excited when someone new comes on, its really the more the merrier. we see all :eyes:). interacting with other blogs is also an option when ur inbox is looking real roomy too

another reason why i havent exactly done a genshin blog is that idk i cant actually seem to find genshin ask blogs around (i have seen rp blogs, or those that answer asks with mostly text instead of art, but thats. not my thing since i hate my own writing aha) (i did find one aether blog some time ago, but for some reason i hardly see them around anymore??? idk man i might be wrong). its not like im trying super hard to find them ask blogs, so im sure they exist out there (hopefully?? im not sure but im being optimistic). i mean theres nothing wrong with just starting an ask blog without others around, but for me i do find a difference when i interact with other ask blogs n when i dont, n i prefer when theres others to have fun with (unfortunately i couldnt find any ask blogs to interact with in my previous fandom. i tried, but the blogs i approached seemed to go inactive shortly afterwards...) plus u get to meet friends that way too :D (i made a lot of friends via idv askblogs n its really been a joy vibing with others)

as for the idv scene. gestures around me. unfortunately there are a lot of ask blogs that arent that active anymore, but theres still some of us who are alive n kicking empty inboxes, n im sure everyone would love to see a new face around. winks at u. also there seems to be a lot more blogs popping up lately, which is really heartening to see.

then u kinda just. make ur blog? n a starting introduction post so ppl can reblog it n spread the word XD n yay u have a blog i guess??? XD

i gotta say tho. dont expect ur blog to take off immediately (especially for smaller fandoms like idv, tvbh i didnt think my blog would even get half this far when i started cos of how non existent idv tumblr seemed to be) n ur inbox will probably be looking pretty empty a lot of the time (or at least filled with some that u havent quite thought of how to reply to yet aha) (but also like empty inboxes happen pretty often, im sure most of us here have experienced this problem)

in the case of the first ask blog i ever started, it never really took off at all. ngl it was kind of demoralizing n depressing but to be fair i had picked one of the more obscure characters in the series, so obscure that many ppl in the fandom would have never heard of this character before. if u wanted to know, i took a character that only appeared in the 2nd musical of the series, who also made a very brief cameo in the manga to acknowledge his existence within that universe. thats how obscure my character was, but i went with him purely because he was my favourite character. i will say though i did enjoy it while it lasted n i learnt a lot from the experience, n i think thats whats important really.

i guess this kinda leads on (not really but let me digress) to the whole uhhhh thing where if u choose a more popular character, u get more attention. which is fine i guess? if u really vibe with the character, i mean theyre popular for a reason. n choosing a more popular fandom (like genshin) would objectively also get u more viewers n numbers. but like honestly i believe that ask blogs are meant for u to have fun with, n like trying to get popular gets tiring pretty fast (this shouldnt be like a main goal, but u know sometimes u subconsciously also want that gucci follower count n bomb ass notes or something. i used to be guilty of this until i realized it isnt worth it) especially if ur not enjoying yourself in the process. (case in point: my previous fandom was considerably larger n my blog got about 700 followers within a year or so, but it got very tiring n stressful to maintain after my interest in it died, n no one was really interacting with the blog even though i tried which kinda made it even more depressing despite the so called success n popularity of the blog)

anyway on a less serious note, theres a lot of fun stuff u can do with the ask blog, like some ask blogs have really fancy tags that i really like n try to do but also like not really HAHAHAHA. i kinda just channel what i want to see in an ask blog into my own ask blogs (good art is one, i try very hard for it to be good :,DD another is characterization, n others is just extra miscellaneous arts n stuffs like au ideas or memes. these are also somethings u could work on during ask box downtimes perhaps)

uhhh another side thing is like a posting schedule i guess? like ppl would be more likely to interact (i think) if ur blog is relatively active, n this is usually determined by the last post u made (i think XD). but like generally for blog maintenence id say try to kinda find a frequency that ur comfortable with?? cos i know my once a day posting is kinda insane if i wasnt so hyperfixated on all of this n fight the urge to dump all ur replies when u finish them XD (though ive seen some blogs do that n they do it pretty frequently so its pretty nice to know once u see their post u can spend some time going through the latest batch of posts XD) the queue function is pretty useful here even though i truthfully have never really used it, i kinda just post from my drafts really but it also helps to space out ur content to seem somewhat active especially when u dont have the time to be working on replies sometimes. i hope u know what im trying to say here aha

ANYWAY that was like my 1.5 cents cos i dont even think its worth 2 cents HAHAHAHAH these are just my thoughts from running all my blogs up till now, some that are still running n the others that have just died a natural death. i wouldnt actually delete them (theyre still around actually XD) cos theyre kinda like archives n i can look back at what i did last time. cos ngl i made some high quality stuff back then, n i dont even know how i managed to do that aldhflhdsgk. also ppl do look at archive blogs every now n then for the content thats there yknow

BUT YES anyway if u do decide to join the idv ask blogs hmu, ill be sure to give u a lil shoutout here. winks

[honeypirate]

-Operation save Bakugou (Summer camp part 2 ) -

—Okay so I know this is really long but I wrote with my phone and I don’t know how to do read more breaks and it has a lot of the show in it and not all is how it is in the episodes I used some of the script and some just how I remember the episodes because I was excited to write. But I had to get to the part where Bakugou is saved because I don’t think I would do a good job writing fight scenes if I made y/n get captured too. Maybe I’ll rewrite part two when I get better haha but right now this is it! I hope you still like it

I didn’t know when to stop like because I wrote in some of the actual show I could keep it going with different things lol I had a hard time so this is what it needed up being.

Also I probably don’t write characters very well I’m still learning. To me I think Bakugou would treat the one he has romantic feelings for differently when they’re alone. But anyway

-To the story-

When you woke up you were falling into the arms of Shoji, apparently some man used his quirk on you to turn you into a small marble thing, you didn’t really understand. Shoji’s other arms were holding Tokoyami. You quickly looked for Bakugou and noticed him in the hands of some patch face villain as they were being warped away, you screamed his name along side Midoriya and you struggle against Shojis hold on you your pain forgotten about. Midoriya is running tho, he’s gonna make it, he has to make it “Stay back, Deku” Bakugous voice makes you start to cry and he looks right into your eyes as he disappears. The summer training camp that everyone was looking forward to couldn’t have been more of a disaster. You didn’t stop quietly crying until you got to the hospital. You ended up needing surgery to help repair some of the tendons in your shoulder that ripped and when you woke up you were in a room with Jiro and Yaoyorozu, with the combination of doctors and Recovery Girl you were able to be up and out in a couple of days, although you’d still have take it easy for a few months and don’t do anything to strain it, limit its use.

Your parents kept you at home for a couple days, your dad still worried and your mom was okay about things, but you couldn’t just sit and do nothing, so you found yourself at the hospital with your classmates in support of the other students still unconscious. During this time you became closer friends with Kirishima, when he brought up his plan of having Yaoyorozu make another tracker for the device she put on a Nomu and you guys go rescue Bakugou, you were one of the first to join him. You knew the risks, you remember Hosu (your blood type unfortunately the one that lasted the longest paralyzed so you didn’t even fight), you knew that if you did this wrong it would reflect badly on the school and heros. But you also knew how smart your classmates were, you knew that if you all worked together you could figure a way to rescue him without fighting. You could be stealth. When Midoriya woke up the few of you went to visit him, you weren’t a part of the gift choosing or you would have suggested something else but Mineta was super excited about it. it was kind of cute but you would keep that thought to yourself. “I brought you a present! its from all of us, it’s a melon!!” Mineta holds the melon proudly. It was shortly after that when Kirishima brought up going to rescue Bakugou, and only you and Todoroki so far will go with. Before you realized Midoriya was crying “i couldn’t save someone right in front of me” he says his voice breaking “then, let’s save him this time!” Kirishima steps forward, you can feel his resolve in the air. Iida is upset “This is something we should leave to the pros! This isnt the time to act like idiots!” He practically yells and you place your hand on his arm softly “we know that” you say quietly and Kirishima turns to face Iida “after I heard that my friend was being targeted, I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything! ...” he takes a deep breath “if I don’t do anything now I won’t be a hero or a man anymore” he sounds so dejected, which is exactly how you feel. Mina pipes in “So, in short, you're planning on getting the receiver from Yao-momo, following it, and going to save Bakugo yourselves?” Kirishima nods and says “yeah” Todoroki speaks up, saying “Even though the villains said we were targets to be killed, they took Bakugo without killing him. They probably let him live, but that doesn't mean they won't kill him eventually. Y/n, Kirishima, and I are going.” “Don't go overboard with your messing around!” Iida says and does his normal arm flails. “We need to leave this to All Might” you didn’t say much, you could see clearly each side of the arguments, but there was nothing that could stop you from going to rescue Bakugou if you could. You were already thinking of ways you could get him without fighting when Tsu’s voice cuts through your thoughts “Everyone, we're all shocked from Bakugo's kidnapping. But let's think things through calmly. No matter how just your feelings, if you're saying you'll fight again ...that you'll break the rules.... Those acts are the same as those of villains” your heart dropped into your stomach. “It’s a reach to call what we want to do the same as villains, we want to quietly go in and find a moment to save him. No fighting. No harm. We want to get him out so that when All Might and the heros get there they don’t have to hold back in fear of harming Bakugou too. If I was them I would go in as soon as possible to get Bakugou out. If that’s so then we can...” you get cut off as a nurse walks in to the room saying it’s time for Midoriya’s exam, everyone went to see Jiro but you went off by yourself to clear your mind and prepare for tonight. You were going to rescue Bakugou tonight.

You, Kirishima, and Todoroki stood outside of the doors to the hospital, waiting to see if Midoriya and Yaoyorozu will show. Kirishima speaks quietly “I wonder what Yaoyorozu decided” you felt nervous “ Well, no matter how restless we are, it's up to her.” Todoroki pointed out. “There she is” you say and when you all look Yaoyorozu and Midoriya come out of the door “what did you decide?” Kirishima asks but before she can respond Iida comes out of no where and punches Midoriya “Why... Why did it have to be you guys of all people?! The ones who stopped me when I acted recklessly for personal reasons...You, who received amnesty with me...Why are you trying to make the same mistake I did? It's too much!” He shouts in frustration. “When I saw your injuries, I also saw my brother in his sickbed! What if your bodies end up irreparable, like my brother's, because of your recklessness? Are you saying that you don't care about my worries?Are you saying that you don't care about how I feel...?” You could feel waves of worry and sadness coming from Iida. You felt his worry. “Iida” you say softly and you can see all of his emotions in his eyes. “Iida. We don't expect to face them head-on and win either. We'll extricate him without fighting.” Todoroki says “In other words, covert action!” Kiri adds “That's the way we students can fightwhile toeing the line on the rules!” You added, confident you could pull this off. Yaoyorozu speaks up “I trust Todoroki. But so that I can stop them if anything happens, I plan to accompany them, as well.” “Well if we can’t come to an agreement, then take me with you as well! am accompanying you because I am not convinced you will behave yourselves. If I think it will turn to combat I will make you return immediately.” Iida was definitely the right one to be the class rep. You nod, completely okay with his conditions. You didn’t want to fight, your body wasn’t even close to being able to fight, so you would do this on his terms.

The reciever said that Nomu was in Camino ward which was two hours away so you’d be there by ten pm and when you got there it was busier than you thought it would be. There were so many people out and about and with the school being in the news recently there was no way you wouldn’t be recognized. The villains also know what you look like, which led you all to getting disguises to look more like adults instead of the teens you were. Todoroki pointed out that Yao-Momo could have just made your disguises with her quirk but she said as a good citizen we had to help the economy. As you follow Yaoyorozu to the destination everyone around you starts to talk about UA as a screen in the square begins to broadcast clips from the schools press conference. “They’re treating them like the bad guys” you say quietly to your friends. Before you knew it you were at the location that the device said, It looked like an abandoned warehouse. “What should we do? We’re out in the open right here we need to make a plan” you say as you pretend to check out a soda machine. Midoriya starts to mutter to himself before he suggests going around the back of the building. “We’re gonna get stuck” you whisper to Yao-momo and she agrees “just keep moving” Midoriya says back to you guys from the front. Once you make it to the back you decide to have Kirishima and Midoriya stand on Iidas and Todorokis shoulders to use Kirishimas night vision scope. The warehouse was full of Nomu, you felt sick to your stomach. Bakugou wasn’t here but what was is terrifying. You were so busy thinking of what you were going to do so you didn’t notice when the Pro Heros arrived, but you did notice when the place exploded and you were knocked to the ground by falling concrete. Iida quickly pulling you next to him to hide. What is going on!? Your body ached and your shoulder screamed, there was a villian who was hurting Best Jeanist, and you and your friends were huddled on the other side of the wall, terrified. Before you could even collect your thoughts you recognized All Might as he busted in and started fighting followed by the rest of the league warping in through some sort of black goo.

You automatically recognized Bakugous voice and your body reacted propelling you to go try and save him. Iida stops you and Midoriya at the same time and then Midoriya reveals the plan he’s thought up. “We can get him without fighting. Iida and I will use our quirks and Todoroki will make a huge ice wall too high for anyone to even think of coming after us, but it all depends on you, Kirishima. It will be up to him to save himself and you guys have a built a good friendship, he needs someone he can trust” all eyes were on Kiri but he was looking right at you “I don’t know if you guys have noticed but...I’m not the one you want. Y/n here has grown closer to Bakugou” his voice sounded, slightly jealous, you blush “if you want him to have no doubts then use her” it was in that moment that they all put all the pieces together and they all looked at you “yes you’re right! Y/n! Can you do this?” you nodded confidently and you all got into position. “Now!” Modoriya says and you’re off. Flying up a giant ice wall going faster then you’ve ever traveled. This was it. You were going to get him back “y/n! Now!” You were being held by Iida as you leaned your body down holding your good arm out towards to blonde haired boy “KATSUKI!” You yelled his name and not even a second later he was blasting through the air towards you, when his hand wraps around your forearm you let out a choked cry. You wrap your arms around him holding him so he didn’t fall. “Bakugou make a blast to..” Iida started to direct him to help us land but Bakugou cut him off “dON’t TELL ME WHAT TO DO” he shouts but does as he’s instructed anyway. When you land you quickly disperse into the crowds downtown, Iida and Midoriya going one way and you and Bakugou headed off in a different direction. When you found a place to blend in with the crowd he turned to you and pulled you into a tight hug “I was so worried” he said softly laying his cheek against the top of your head and your cheek against his chest. Your hands were shaking as they gripped his shirt in your fists “Katsuki” you whispered and pulled back to look up at him and then the words started and you couldn’t stop speaking “I’m so glad you’re okay. I mean I know you’re like the strongest person with your convictions and there’s absolutely nothing that can stop you being the number one hero but I still couldn’t help but be worried. I know it’s a little dumb but I guess I .. I.. just. If something when wrong then I don’t know. ..” you took a breath “I guess I would really miss giving you shit or something” you laughed awkwardly and nervously scratched the back of your neck. He laughed “of course that’s why. And I knew you realized I was gonna be number one. I guess you can be the number two hero or you can be my side kick” he gave you a little friendly flirty nudge before taking your hand in his, he was suddenly very serious and upset, his red eyes like fire staring into your (e/c) ones “y/n I swear to god if you ever do anything so stupid and reckless again I’ll kick your ass” he says and pulls you into another hug and you hide the pain of your shoulder by laughing against his chest “I promise I won’t be reckless unless it’s to save you. I will always choose to save you.” you say softly feeling your cheeks blush you pull away and take his hand “we can probably go and find the others now” before he can say anything you take off through the crowd pulling him along. You meet back up with Iida and Midoriya when the TVs start broadcasting the rest of the fight. Your hand never leaves Bakugou’s, even if you tried to let go he wouldn’t have let you. you end up leaning up against him as you watched the fight unfold, you were shaking a little from exhaustion and your injuries hurting more now that the adrenaline wore off. When All Might turned into a skinny skeleton version of himself safe to say everyone was shocked. You don’t think you blinked for several minutes watching it happen. “All Might” Bakugou whispered next to you. He looked like he was.... losing.

You saw that a few other heros had arrived there as Endevour and Gran Torino were in the corner of the screen. He can do it. He can still beat the villian. Come on All Might kick his ass! Suddenly everyone is yelling and screaming for him, “COME ON ALL MIGHT KICK HIS ASS!” Bakugou yells next to you and you squeeze his hand right and cheer for All Might as well. This energy, All Might had to feel it! And he does! He puts all his power into one arm and then there’s too much dust in the area to see what happened and everyone went quiet. You held your breath and Bakugou wrapped his arm around you pulling you right next to him, you cover your mouth with your hand, eyebrows knit tigether in worry, you don’t even blink as you wait for the dust to settle chanting “all might all might all might” in your head. The cheers when the dust settled were so loud you were sure you were deaf. Bakugou hugged you again, and this time it hurt. You gasp in pain and he pulls back “you stupid idiot! you overdid it and you aren’t healed are you?!” You whisper an apology, embarrassed, then place your forehead against his chest. Your body floods with relief that this night is over. You have Bakugou back, All Might won, everyone you care about is okay. You take a deep breath in, filling your senses with him, your shoulders shake and you can’t help the tears that start to flow. Ever since you lost him in the woods you had been stressed and filled with worry, your heart strained and your stomach felt like it had cement in it. You were overwhelmed for so long and now that the heros won your body flooded with relief and it was even more overwhelming “I’m sorry” you whisper, afraid your voice would crack, he holds you close to him and rubs your back softly “don’t worry” his voice was kind. “It’s overwhelming, I understand” you felt his breath next to your ear and realize he’s holding you and bent around you like he’s shielding you from everyone else. It’s only for a few minutes five tops but it feels like time stops. Him holding you makes it easy for you to calm down and once you’re breathing normal he pulls back and smiles at you, you doubt he’s ever looked at anyone how he’s looking at you now, you can’t help but draw your face closer to his turning your jaw up and your nose brushes against his softly, . . . “There you guys are the commotion must of split us up again” Iidas voice cuts through your bubble and you pull back quick and instinctually blushing and looking at the ground Bakugou takes your hand and laces your fingers together. Iida didn’t act like he noticed anything wrong here he just kept talking, you looked up at Bakugou who was glaring his usual glare at the world and at Iida. “We should get Bakugou to the police and talk to them.” Midoriya nods and smiles at you and when you meet his eye which causes you to blush again. “Let’s go then” Iida turns and you follow, keeping a hold on Bakugou’s hand so you didn’t get lost in the crowd, and partially because you didnt want to lose him again period. You didn’t want to ever let him go. Before you get to the police you stop for a second and keep Bakugou with you “I .. I don’t know if I can let you go..” you whisper quietly and rub your thumb softly across his and he pulls you in close “y/n..” his voice was gruff right by your ear “take a deep breath” you do as he says and he keeps talking “don’t be a damn idiot” you laugh at him, loving that he’s acting normal with you, and he smiles but hides it by turning his face into your hair. His lips softly kiss your temple . “Let’s get this over with so I can take you out on a date” he’s back to keeping his angry mask on and starts to walk again. “I’ll see you as soon as I can” he whispers just to you before he goes off with the police, you give your statement to another officer and hero and then you’re free to go, knowing you’ll be reprimanded by Aizawa next time you see him and you hope he won’t expel you all. You wait for hours for the trains to start up again before you make your way back home with the rest of your friends.

Your parents grounded you. No phones no friends, nothing but homework and house work. Although you were lucky that your parents still had faith in the heros and school, you suffered through the next few days not being able to talk to anyone and you were constantly thinking about Bakugou. When a letter came in the mail, followed by Mr. Aizawa stopping by, you were filled with a flicker of hope. They were bringing all the students to dorms on the school campus. Your parents agreed the moment they read the letter, they knew it would be the safest option if you were going to keep attending UA. When Mr. Aizawa showed up on your door step, they were even more impressed. Your mom bows to him “We really loved what you said during the broadcast and we still have the utmost faith in you heros, we know how hard it must be to have everything scrutinized when you’re doing the best you can. You’re obviously a wonderful teacher, y/n is always talking about how much she loves your class..” you blush and look away “so yes. We will send her to your dorms. We know you’ll protect her”

You run and hug Yao-momo when you see her outside of the dorms, dropping your bags and laughing. “I’m glad you’re okay” you say and smile when Todoroki appears. “You too Todoroki” you add and he ruffles your hair with a smirk before moving in his things. “This is kind of exciting isn’t it?” Yao-momo says and then gets distracted directing her movers who were carrying in an awfully large bed. You smile and look around at the commotion and bend down to pick up your duffel bag but before you can Bakugou swipes it and throws it over his shoulder “there you are” he says and you throw your arms around his neck, you couldn’t help yourself, you pull away embarrassed and pick up your other bag, you weren’t moving in with a lot all you really wanted were clothes and decorations. “Here I am” you say with an awkward laugh and look back up at him. he’s blushing a little, he looked so good it made your heart skip. “I’m so glad to see you Bakugou” you say and you notice the corners of his lips turn up into a small smile for just a split second “let’s get going,” he takes your hand “your shit is getting heavy” he’s back to scowling but it doesn’t reach his eyes this time. He walks you to your room and puts your stuff down and you are practically bouncing with excitement. “This is so amazing Bakugou!” You’re so happy “Katsuki” he says softly and you turn look at him “what?” “I love when you call me by my name. Or even Suki really.” He says and finally meets your eyes as you walk over to him taking his hands in yours “that’s wonderful to know” You were suddenly very glad that your parents let you move in alone, giving you a small moment of alone time with Bakugou. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you Katsuki Bakugou, you’re actually being nice!” He genuinely smiles for what you bet was the first time in a long time. “What’s going on is you make me crazy y/n!” You laugh and then Aizawa opens your door and you quickly step away from Bakugou, Aizawa just sighs “let’s go Bakugou” you laugh again a little frustrated at how you keep getting caught when you want to kiss him. “Meet me tonight” he whispers into your ear and you nod and wave goodbye, apologizing to Mr. Aizawa as he turns and leaves with Bakugou.

You spend what feels like four billion hours unpacking and decorating your room exactly how you want it, you have a wall covered in pictures of you and your loved ones and band posters and color changing Bluetooth LED lights around the tops of the walls, don’t forget black out curtains with black sheets and black comforter, with three extra blankets because you get so cold. When you finished you went down and met up with everyone else in the common area. You sat next to Uraraka when you didn’t see Bakugou right away and when she came up with the plans for a bedroom contest you silently bowed out saying you were too tired and wanted to catch up on sleep, as you were walking back to the elevator you heard Bakugou make up a very similar excuse to kirishima before he caught up to you.

As the elevator doors close he takes your hands and pulls you next to him. “Want to see how I decorated? I think you’ll like it” you say and finally turn your head to look up meeting his eyes “show me” he says and you can’t help the smile spread across your face as you felt the air get heavy with tension. You were so close to him you could smell his scent and sweat, you loved it. you could have sworn you felt little pricks against your palm as you quickly snuck him into your room again. Your lights were set to orange and you closed the door as he took it all in “it’s exactly what I’d expect a losers room to look like” he says gruffly, facing away from you. you feel your jaw drop from shock before he turns around and you see his smirk “that was not nice! I worked so hard on this! And I made the lights orange for you!” You were kind of annoyed and it just made him laugh and he caught one of your hands in the air as you gestured to the lights, closing the distance between you both and wrapping his arms around you in a hug. “I love the lights” he says and takes a deep breath of your hair, he always enjoyed that your hair smelled like rose shampoo. “Can’t seem to get enough of me Suki, if I knew any better I would say you even like me” he laughs again and pulls back to really look at you “you’d be right” he tucks your hair behind your ear and leaves his hand on your cheek, your heart stops, your breathing stops, you don’t blink, you can’t move, is this really happening?? your body is full of butterflies “Katsuki” you whisper and your hands travel up from his chest one resting on his neck one deep in his soft hair “finally” he whispers the moment before his lips meet yours. They’re soft and warm, giving, unlike his personality. Your lips fit tigether in the most perfect way, you moved together like you’ve done this many times before like you knew him better than anyone. A moan escapes your lips and you laugh at yourself, he takes that moment to deepen the kiss sliding his tongue into your mouth. You relax into him, his arm around your back. When you finally pull away and look up at him you’re out of breath and your cheeks are flushed “this isn’t some one time thing right? Because you can’t give a girl a taste of something as amazing as that to just take it away. I gotta have that every day of my life now” you’re on a nervous ramble when he kisses you again softly to kind of pause you before laughing out “you idiot. I’d never do that to you” you blush and he touches your cheek “pink is a good color on you” he kisses the tip of your nose “I thought you hated me at first, which is why I thought it was so funny to pester you” you confess, not really sure why, “you infuriated me. You didn’t care about any of the walls I had up or any of my attitudes. No one other than my parents have shown me that. People always think I’m too angry or think I’ll for sure turn into a villian. They say I’m too loud or obnoxious. That I’m too cocky. Then I realized that you never made me feel like I was anything bad” “that’s because you don’t have anything bad about you” you cut him off and he gives you a quick peck and a shush “let me finish pelase” “sorry go ahead” he smiles “I realized that I wasn’t infuriated, I was enamored. When I heard your voice and saw you fly through the air that night, you were like an angel. My angel.” His lips press softly to yours again and you feel all your anxiety and worries about this being a one time thing wash away. He called you his. “So I’m yours huh?” You cock an eyebrow “that’s what you got from my whole speech? You do realize that I’m not going to say it again right?” He’s gruff again and you laugh “if you’re mine,I’m yours” you whisper into his ear and his arms around you tighten. “I really do like the decorations. The orange lights are a great touch” he says as he pulls you down into your bed to cuddle.

He just wants to hold you, never let you go for as long as he can get away with it. He’s never felt this strongly about anything other than becoming number one. You laid on your back, his head was on your chest and he was laying between your legs, your arms around him playing with his hair and drawing on his back as you both talked about things you loved between kisses. You never knew he was this funny, your stomach hurt from laughing so hard “you’re amazing Katsuki I knew you had some secret hidden qualities but I am truly delighted the more I learn about you. The more you trust me with” his kisses you and when he pulls back you notice his blushed cheeks “you better keep this all to yourself or I’ll kick your ass” his threat was empty but what you had with him was so special you want to keep as much as you can close to your heart “don’t worry baby” you say laughing and as he cuddles into you again you sigh “You should get back to your room and get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow and I can’t get into trouble or I’ll be expelled, you heard Aizawa.” You wiggle out from under him and pull him up to his feet, kissing him softly before you walk him to the door. “I’ll see you in the morning. My sweet girl” he kisses you and after you stick your tongue out at him as he walks off laughing. “Goodnight Katsuki!” You say to him, not worried too much because the only other girl on your floor is Mina and you know for a fact she’s still downstairs. You watch him enter the elevator “goodnight sweetheart” he says and winks at you with a grin before the elevator doors close fully. You would not be able to sleep at all tonight.

Tag list : @succulent-momma

[akechicrimes]

I'm a brand new goroboy and have questions if you don't mind answering any of them 1. Was everything that Akechi said about the PTs being unjust a part of his detective act or did he really believe that changing hearts was bad prior to the engine room? 2. When did he first suspect the PTs? Did he figure them out immediately at the TV station or did he just become interested in Joker cuz he's gay and figured it out afterwards lol. Basically who sussed who out first? (1/2)

hello welcome!!!!!! we are happy to have u!!!!!!!! 

unfortunately we dont have concrete answers to a lot of these, but i will do my best!!!! these are some really excellent questions so i want to do them justice. and by do them justice, i mean theyre under a cut because it got really long lmfao.

thanks for the ask–this was really fun to write, instead of doing literally any of the work that i was supposed to.

1. Was everything that Akechi said about the PTs being unjust a part of his detective act or did he really believe that changing hearts was bad prior to the engine room?

SHORT ANSWER: we don’t know.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: we can’t say for sure but there’s strong evidence that he was probably telling the truth, actually.

VERY LONG ANSWER: there’s strong evidence he both is and isn’t telling the truth in the TV studio scene, but with the qualifiers that (1) he never necessarily says theyre unjust, he says they’re dangerous. (2) he probably thinks the phantom thieves change hearts in the same way that he makes people go psychotic. (3) his sense of justice is basically entirely based on righting wrongs that have been committed against individuals, not what the law says. (also, when i say “individuals,” i mean himself.)

to the extent that he’s lying–he does say that they’re operating outside the law, and that they have unknown and apparently very effective power that cannot be stopped by traditional law enforcement. traditional justice says that if you operate outside the law, that makes you automatically bad. akechi is playing the part of someone who’s lawful good, so when he says, “they’re dangerous and operating outside the law,” he has to say, “that makes them unjust.”

to the extent that he’s telling the truth, that’s basically everything else he says. i do think those viewpoints are his own for a lot of reasons.

when he talks about the changes of heart, he makes it sound like it’s a thing that could just happen to anyone–even people who’ve done no wrong. when akira voices support for the PT, akechi argues back against akira to say “If [Ryuji’s] heart suddenly changed, wouldn’t you think it was the work of the Phantom Thieves?” like it could just happen to any random joe schmoe. he’s acting like someone could just one day change their entire attitude–possibly for the worse–resulting in terror amongst the population.

we have to keep in mind that at this point in time, akechi has no idea that you can steal treasure to change a person’s heart. he doesn’t even know treasure is a thing, let alone that you have to send a calling card to make it manifest. morgana is the person who knew all that stuff, and akechi definitely didnt have access to morgana when he started his hitman career.

so with the way that he’s talking about the changes of heart, i dont think he assumes that changes of heart always change the person for the better. he has no idea that it’s literally removing a person’s distorted desires. i’m like NINETY-FIVE PERCENT SURE that he thinks changes of heart operate in the same way that his psychotic abilities work: you cast a persona spell, and a person goes apeshit.

from his point of view, that’s kind of what’s happening. when akechi casts call of chaos, a person starts behaving in a way they never would under ordinary circumstances in the real world. the changes of heart really look exactly the same way to an outsider’s POV. and to akechi’s understanding, call of chaos can be cast on even good people. from the phantom thieves’ POV, only people who’re mega-dicks can have their hearts changed in the first place, because the requisite to have a palace is a certain level of distortion. (futaba, of course, proving that you don’t have to be a mega-dick to have a distortion, but the TV studio scene happens before futaba.)

akechi’s argument is that leaving that sort of power in just anyone’s hands is dangerous. because that’s a LOT of power for one person to have. akechi would know, considering that he’s in the same position. he’s wary of the fact that there’s no guarantee that that person will use it for good.

that, of course, brings us to the question of “well, what does akechi think ‘using power for good’ is in the first place?” does he think that the phantom thieves are using their powers for good? does he think he’s using his powers for good?

when asked why he seeks justice, akechi says: “Because of sickening human beings… Yes, my contempt for such people drives my sense of justice. It isn’t some grand reason like society’s sake or some lofty ideal. It’s simply an absurd grudge… and extremely personal.” 

the traditional, lawful-good way of thinking about justice is that if you operate outside the law, you’re automatically bad. but akechi’s sense of justice seems to be driven primarily from the hurts he’s suffered, the grudges he still bears, and his conviction that wrongs personally done against individuals should be righted. it’s an end-goal oriented sense of justice.

if wrong-doers are punished and the grudges are appeased, then justice is delivered. how that happens does not necessarily constitute justice. my best guess at this time is that he’d qualify a lot as “the ends justify the means,” since his concept of justice is end-goal oriented. 

of course, i think akechi definitely shows throughout the game that he knows that how you achieve those ends is… not irrelevant. i think his black mask outfit (and a bunch of other things he says) implies that he feels like he is a “villain” of sorts. he demonstrates feeling a type of way about killing okumura. he definitely knows that his actions are morally wrong under particular lenses. take a look at this section:

Akechi: Who cares? My targets were all doing the same damn thing in this eat or be eaten world. [referencing that all his victims were dicks who kind of deserved to get glocked]

Akechi: How is that any different from the Phantom Thieves?

Ann: We’re not murderers!

Akechi: (now looking kind of pissed) So what?! [launches into speil about how it’ll all be worth it when he exacts revenge on Shido]

obviously he knows that murder is morally indefensible. but i think he’s justified it to himself as either not so bad because he killed primarily corrupt people, and/or that it’d be worth it if he achieves revenge on shido. he’s doing some kind of weird karma cosmic-scale balancing of “how much can i get away with and still be able to call it justifiable and justice,” and it looks like his answer is “quite a fucking lot.”

ironically, this makes his views on justice fairly practical. rather than idealistically committed to some platonic edition of justice, he’s more of a “what do i need to do to get the goals i want achieved? what needs to happen to make sure that asshole abusers get what’s coming to them? what needs to happen to make sure that i get emotional closure?” the biggest issue with that is the danger of a Pyrrhic victory–the moment where the means so go far that the ends no longer justify them.

all of this is to say: when akechi is talking about the phantom thieves as potentially unjust, i dont think he has a problem with their methods. “methods” are like a knife–it’s about how you use it, and for what.

i think he knows that changing hearts, and turning people psychotic, is morally skeevy if your sense of justice is very puritanical, but his sense of justice isn’t puritanical. i think he’s wary of what they might be using their methods for. again: his big argument in the studio scene isnt necessarily that theyre unjust, only that they’re dangerous.

seriously, though–changing hearts is potentially a recipe for societal collapse if used the wrong way. imagine if the PT were more self-centered and they went the light yagami route with their new supernatural powers, maintaining peace and order through authoritarian fear. that is, actually, the entire premise of the P5 Vanilla Bad End, in which the PT enforce peace through relentlessly changing hearts and making people too terrified to keep committing crime. 

since his views on justice seem to be defined by what the end goal is, he’d have to know what those goals are before understanding if they’re “just” or “unjust”–which is probably why he keeps hounding akira for akira’s viewpoints on justice, tbh. the phantom thieves are only unjust if their end goal is unjust, not necessarily because of their methods. (see answer to question 2 for related/continued discussion.)

2. When did he first suspect the PTs? Did he figure them out immediately at the TV station or did he just become interested in Joker cuz he’s gay and figured it out afterwards lol. Basically who sussed who out first?

SHORT ANSWER: i pretty sure atlus expects us to believe that he figured it from even before the TV showing–he figured it out when he overheard ryuji saying “It’s not easy being phantom thieves” when they were in the hallway. it’s the same time and place where akechi did his famous pancake fuck-up.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: the idea that akechi was just super horny for the guy who gave him shit on live TV and then realized that akira was a phantom thief later as a neat bonus is fuckign SENDING me.

VERY LONG ANSWER: because of the scene with ryuji, i’m pretty sure he knew that akira was a phantom thief, and also i’m half-convinced that he somehow got the TV host to specifically choose akira during the “ask the audience” portion of the show. it’s really too much of a coincidence. 

because of that, i think the other implication of the scene is that he wanted to see what akira was made of when he invited akira for a debate on live television, and was pleasantly surprised when akira had something very interesting to say on the topic of grey morality and achieving justice outside the law.

what’s interesting about that scene is that akechi becomes interested in akira regardless of what akira says about the phantom thieves. akira’s options are “They’re justice itself,” “They’re necessary,” and “They do more than the cops”–so it’s not like akira ever says that he dislikes the phantom thieves, but the level of support ranges and two of these imply a justification/reasoning for it. and then akechi fucking argues back on live television like this is some kind of debate, instead of a daytime talk show meant to distract bored housewives. 

like. akechi gets INTO it. justice is his THING. and here’s akira, who seems to be not only a metaverse user operating outside the law like akechi himself, but also has some pretty grey morality thoughts on what justice is and could be, also like akechi himself.

taking it as a given that he knows for a fact that akira is a phantom thief from the get-go, from even before the TV scene ever even happened, then akechi probably keeps hounding him because akechi’s interested in hearing akira’s reasons. he’s not fishing for evidence, since he already knows. this is very speculative, now, but my best guess is that he keeps hounding akira ever after this scene because he wants to compare notes, one vigilante to another, to hear how akira rationalizes his vigilante work as a type of justice. very possibly, he’s seeking reassurance to himself that his own actions are justifiable. (he certainly seems that way in P5R, especially when he wonders about if a “justice nobody wants” is really a true justice at all, or just someone being self-centered.)

so re: “did akechi figure him out or was he just gay,” the answer is. yes. akechi did figure him out, and also akira made him so intellectually horny on live television that he hounded the man down in public for follow-up dates. 

what a king.

3. Does Akechi have a Velvet Room? Does he experience rank ups with Joker and the game over stuff too? 

SHORT ANSWER: we don’t know. no, seriously, we have no idea.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: i’ve seen compelling takes on him having his own velvet room, and i think it’s thematically very fascinating if akechi is quite literally akira’s counterpart in terms of cosmic chess pieces, but i would be surprised if he did. but again, seriously, since there’s no confirmation on the matter, i say akechi’s potential velvet room is fair game.

VERY LONG ANSWER: lore-wise, i’m betting no. akechi was yaldabaoth’s piece, while akira was philemon’s (if i’m remembering my lore correctly). philemon provides the velvet room to aid the people he chooses–yaldabaoth has no such deal. the only reason why yaldo was in the velvet room in the first place was because he wanted to fuck over philemon’s chosen trickster.

it’s the same logic for why someone like adachi wouldn’t have a velvet room: while souji/yu, namatame, and adachi were all given the power to go into the tv world by izanami, only souji/yu was selected by philemon to save the world from ruin, and was accordingly given the resources and aid to do so.

secondary bonus: the psychotic ability/call of chaos just removes a person’s bonds in their heart, which makes them behave as if they were crazy. it’s the exact opposite of joker’s ability to create bonds. yaldabaoth’s one gift to his chosen chess piece was to essentially undo the very social links that make akira strong. so again, i’d be shocked if akechi experiences things like ranking up, or any sort of velvet room/persona fusing mechanic.

personally i think the loki/robin hood divide just happened because he awoke to a persona twice. awakening to your persona just happens at moments of rebellion and strong resolve, and canonically even other persona-users “awaken” (sorta) twice when you max their social link. i’m betting that he just had two moments of resolve: one in which he wanted to be a hero of justice, and one in which he decided he was going to tear shido to the ground no matter how far into villainy he had to go.

but as always, it’s not like there’s a hard consensus on the matter. 

4. How did he kill the shadows of people who don’t have a palace? Does *everyone* have a shadow in mementos?

SHORT ANSWER: he probably kills them in mementos, and also i think we’re expected to believe that literally everyone has a shadow in mementos.

SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER: i’m almost certain that the mementos depths section of the game confirms that basically everyone’s shadows are in there somewhere, even if they’re just your average joe with no significant distortions. the palace ruler for that section is “the public,” and also we do see the shadows of palace rulers who’ve had their hearts changed in the mementos depths. so even if you’ve had your heart changed and are supposedly a perfectly good human being now, this evidently doesnt disqualify you for having a shadow in mementos.

VERY LONG ANSWER: morgana says that mementos is the collective distortion of everyone in the area, but not a lot more concretely than that. morgana also says that reality is fairly plastic and that reality is somewhat determined by how we perceive the world, so i think that we’re expected to believe that everyone has, to some degree, some level of distortion.

i could say that jungian theory, which is the theory that the persona series is based off of, says that everyone without exception has a shadow. but this seems a little bit of a doylist explanation. instead i’ll point to persona 3, in which people without shadows literally become comatose and apathetic husks of themselves. this is because having a shadow is actually a fairly important part of a person’s psyche, and not having one doesnt make you a good and perfect person, it makes you a nonfunctional vegetable incapable of cognitive thought.

so yeah, i’m pretty sure EVERYONE is in mementos. with the exception of the phantom thieves, because… i think we’re expected to believe that their personas are in some ways their shadows? but also their personas are like, real-life kinning mythological/fictional characters so hard that you bind them to your soul? frankly i’ve been confused about how shadows work ever since persona 5 had people’s eyes turn yellow when they go through their awakenings, since perosna 4 used to use that as a sign that the person was a shadow, so… maybe i have no idea what the fuck im talking about. LMFAO.

[penebui]

Lgbt manga pt. 2

My last lgbt manga post mostly consisted of gender representation, so with this post I’ll try to incorporate more gay/lesbian/same sex representation! Just for clarification I have read all of them!! 

For obvious mangas that I have not recommended on this list, itll stay like that. Either because they are already well known and popular, or its because despite being popular, it has some very problematic themes that arent portrayed in a negative spotlight, ultimately idolizing the problems (cough cough) or are the ‘kill your gays’ trope and have tragic endings which defeats the purpose of this list.

1. My Son is Probably Gay by Okura

This is such a sweet manga. The story follows a mom who slowly sees that her son might be gay because he’s very upfront with his feelings and isn’t very good at lying. However instead of assuming and forcing him to come out, she lets him be and quietly supports him from behind the scenes. His brother also seems to have taken the hint as well and is showing support in his own way. I guess this is what the “I’m proud that you had the courage to tell me, and I’ve already had a hunch anyways” parents see before we come out to them. 

2. Dasadanan by Herb Mandu

The reason why I’ve been refraining from posting about same sex couples is because some of them are put in the genres where they sexualize lgbt couples. However I can safely guarantee you that Dasadanan is very lgbt friendly! Seyeon receives a confession from his childhood friend Kang Chan and he doesn’t know how to respond. Seyeon’s other friend whos a girl gets into a fight with Kang Chan cause she also loves Seyeon. However the girl gets into a lesbian relationship at the end, and there are some other gay couples in it too!! It is very fluffy and lovey dovey, and there isnt a lot of angst stuff in it so if you want to read something comfy this one is your go to!! 

3.  Raion Gotoki no Kuni kara by Hakase

Although it is labelled as yaoi, it is actually surprisingly wholesome??? Makoto’s family is registered as a host family and an exchange student moves into their family!! However the exchange student is a masaai warrior (or in better terms from a masaai tribe). Overnight Makoto researches on the subject to learn more about the student they will be housing and tries to come up with a greeting in their native language  to welcome them. The exchange student Nairobi shows up at his house, completely fluent in english (or japanese depending on if we’re talking about the original manga) but when he finds out that Makoto wrote down a greeting in his language it warms his heart. The art depicting the masai people are actually very nice!!! Nairobi even has dreads. Even though there is only one chapter out right now, I can’t wait for more!! 

4. Hero-san and Former General-san by Sometime

There are an alien race disguised amongst humans named Antinoids! Honey Trap, an antinoid, fights the human hero in a mecha bunny suit named Rapid Rabbit. When the mask comes off, it turns out Rapid Rabbit is a girl! Honey Trap quickly falls for her, and is therefor unable to kill her. Confronted with this by her boss, she is fired. Honey Trap suddenly jobless and homeless, runs into Rapid Rabbit and starts living with her. She then starts teaming up with her to fight against her old business! It is very sweet and humorous, I loved it since I first read it. 

5. Gay Fuuzoku no Mochigi-san: Sexuality wa Jinsei da. by Mochigi 

An autobiography of Mochigi, a gay former-sex worker who lives out in the countryside! This autobiography describes the sex industry in japan also. If you’d like to support and follow the author, here is his twitter, and here is his amazon to buy his works! 

6. Boys Run the Riot by Gaku Keito

The protagonist, Ryou is a trans guy. He suffers from dysphoria and tries his best to go past the school’s rules to wear anything but a girls uniform. He even binds his chest (with ace bandages, even though thats unsafe and potentially hazardous). He has a crush on his friend, Chika. In his second year of highschool, a new student arrives by the name of Satou Jin. Although everyone is terrified of him because of his looks (looks like a gangster) and his mannerisms, he’s actually a bright and cool guy. When trying to start a brand together, Jin’s old friends point out Ryou and ask if he’s a girl. In an arguement, Jin convinces Ryou to tell him his true feelings, and so he comes out tohim. Jin instantly accepts him for who he is. Although there are only two chapters translated into english atm, there are about 20+ raw chapters untranslated (fairly recent too, at the time of posting the last chapter was released 22 hours ago). I hope that a scanlation team picks this manga up to translate the rest because I absolutely love it!! 

7. Half & Half by Nanami Mao 

Hina reminisces about her first love named Itsuki, even though she has a boyfriend. One night, she has a dream about him. The next morning a tall, beautiful girl shows up at her doorstep, its actually Itsuki! She herself is a trans woman, and is now living how she wants to live. Hina slowly falls back in love with her first love, even if she is a girl now. She also defends Itsuki and becomes an ally for her, and even supports her. This shit is cute and I love it 

8.  Kyou Kara Yonshimai by Satou Nanki

Three sisters suddenly receive an email from their supposed brother, Kashiwa who left for college 2 years ago and is suddenly coming back home to live with them! When Kashiwa arrives however, he had actually transitioned to a woman! The three try to get adjusted to the new change, and live with a fourth sister. This is labelled as romance because of the main protagonist, Sakura, having a love subplot. Kashiwa also has a girlfriend as well. 

9. 19 Days by Old Xian

If this artstyle looks familiar, you’d be right! Old Xian has a manhua that is a collab with Tan Jiu, the one who wrote Tamen de Gushi, a very popular manhua about two girls in a relationship and their misadventures. 19 Days is exactly like it, about two childhood friends (who fall in love) and their misadventures. It slowly evolves into a plot-driven story, which introduces two other characters. 

Unfortunately, this is where my list ends because its very hard to find lgbt manga!! However I’ll continue searching for more! I’ll add them on when I find them! 

[rosykims]

A-Z HEADCANONS // DUNCAN THEIRIN

i was tagged by @nordxz thanks so much tash !! i'm gonna answer this for duncan, my babey and the next gen son of alistair and ella cousland 😊😚😘

i snappped while answering these and accidentally wrote 6 pages and almost 4k words so uh. loooooong infodump ahead.

Alignment: What would be their D&D alignment? How might it come into play?

duncan very easily falls into the lawful neutral category, like i dont rly need to give his alignment too much thought unlike with some of my other ocs. duncan is.....hmm. hes a very KIND person, generous and selfless, and tries his best to make people happy, but i wouldn’t necessarily say he's good, considering a lot his issues lie with his inability to act, or stand up to others. he’s guilty of very blindly following the law, or other people's ideas of what's right, and he doesn't really feel confident enough to rely on his own conscience for most things. so i'd say while he tries to do the right thing and act within the law, sometimes he goes against his own values out of fear or confusion or, simply out of ignorance, since he was born into a life of privilege and can't always distinguish what's right and what’s believed ykno

Beverage: What do they most like to drink, and why?

duncan shares a weird trait with both his brother and sister where they all just inexplicably ?? don't like alcohol at all. so stuff like wine and liquors is off the table. he absolutely LOVES tea though. u know that one scene in scott pilgrim where the gal is going thru her list of like 72 teas? thats him 100%. it's his lifeblood at this point, he has SO much of it and a perk of being the heir to a monarchy means he's got a lot of foreign merchant acquaintances, so he tends to order in different blends from all over. he's a chronic insomniac, and he uses it as a crutch to get through the days some times. modern!duncan still loves tea but obviously has a stronger love for coffee, since its far more effective!

Co-Habitat: Do they live with anyone? What’s “need to know” before moving in?

duncan currently lives in the residential dorms of the college of enchanters, while he's sort of aimlessly studying a bunch of subjects he's already mostly adept at. firstly, duncan is VERY sick lol, he was conceived while ella and alistair still hadn't found the cure for the joining, and essentially he inherited both of their darkspawn taint so 🙂🙂🙂 thats always a good time. so anyone who lives with him needs to prepare for 1) him being sick obviously,, throwing up, coughing up blood, looking like a corpse virtually 23 hours of the day lol. and obviously the fear that one day he might actually die. but also 2) he suffers from grey warden nightmares for the same reasons, hence the insomnia. he can go a concerning number of days without sleeping and usually only takes strategic cat naps when he needs to, but obviously he has his limits. it's very rare that he goes a full night without waking up in a cold sweat due to nightmares so. we stan one depressed king ! oh he also is Incapable of locking the door to his apartment. he always forgets and hes too tired to care about people stealing his stuff fkdkdjdjd he would probably make more of an effort if he had someone living with him, but old habits die hard so !!!!!!

Decor: What kind of home do they keep? Are there any defining details?

honestly , duncan's house is very devoid of clutter or personal items in general, which is sad. he definitely would have a lot of decor if he could, but since his current housing is only temporary while he's in orlais, he doesn't really want to get... comfortable ykno. other than that, duncan's home is always kept impeccably neat and clean, for two reasons. firstly, growing up in denerim's palace really engrained into his head the importance of keeping up appearances, so its sort of a subconscious ritual of his at this point. but i think more importantly its because of all the nights when he cant sleep, so during the night with nothing to keep him from dwelling on his thoughts or nightmares, he really needs the distraction, and cleaning gives him something to do. duncan really needs to feel like he's doing something, like he's managing, like he's able to achieve something so cleaning is just one little way of taking ownership of his life.

Escape: What do they do to de-stress? How successful is it?

nsfw warning but uhhh..... he has a LOT of sex basically dkdkdksk u wouldn’t know it by looking at him tho ! bc hes very polite and nervous and kinda shy?? but hes also charming and obviously attractive so he doesnt really lack for interested parties. mainly he just sticks to one night stands, with no strings attached, and it helps him take his mind off things when hes exhausted or its late at night and hes afraid to go to sleep. otherwise he also has had some friends with benefits but usually his personal life is too complicated for a serious relationship. aside from that, he also reads a LOT, writes too – when he has the time/energy – and obviously cuddling sessions with his cat, moira dkdkdk

Fluff: What hits their soft spot? Does anything turn them into emotional goo?

so ik above i said that duncan doesnt do serious relationships but thats,, not through any will of his own. he LOVES love and is a complete hopeless romantic , but unfortunately for a number of reasons he's just very unlucky at love ! 😔 so having an emotional, intimate connection with someone that isnt just sex is super healing for him, since he's not used to it at all. being with nadaia is such a positive thing for him, just knowing that his feelings are reciprocated and that he's valued and wanted.

Grudge: How bad does an insult go over? Do they hold a grudge long?

i think it depends on who its directed at !! duncan usually ignores any insults directed at him because he's grown up being so scrutinized by the public and for the most part, fereldens are very weary of him so he hears A LOT. most of criticisms about him he just.. automatically accepts as fact and really buys into them, bc he has such low self esteem. but as for other people, and ESPECIALLY loved ones thats a very different story!! he's not exactly the type to start throwing punches if anyone says a bad word against someone he cares about, but he WILL personally see to it in his own sneaky way that they get whats coming to them dkdkkdjd usually he'll either find a way to expose their dirty laundry, embarrass them in public, prevent a promotion, something like that lol. this goes double if the insult is directed at nadaia or his family.

Hobby: What’s something they do for fun that might be surprising?

ive already mentioned that he's an avid reader and he likes to write occasionally, but he's also a talented musician! He can play harp and lute, and has a beautiful singing voice ! tho he never EVER sings in public and u have to be like,, a ride or die for him to even consider singing in front of u.

Insomnia: What’s their sleeping schedule like? Snorer? Sound sleeper?

well like i said he's an insomniac so sleep rly is a vague, barely recognised concept to him at the point dksksksk he also experiences sleep paralysis during especially bad nightmares, honestly he rly hit the misery jackpot and i feel so bad like hes indisputably my most tormented oc 🙃🙃🙃 so yea hehe doesnt really thrash around during nightmares but he sweats A LOT and sometimes talks in his sleep. during sleep paraylsis obviouslyy he goes COMPLETELY rigid and still which is terrifying for everyone involved lol. on the rare occasion that he is able to sleep he is out like a light lol he would sleep for 17 hours if he could. in saying that because he is also a Strategic Napper he is usually comfortable falling asleep ANYWHERE, because hes so tired comfort really isnt a concern lol.

Jaded: Do they buy into the “happily ever after” ideal? What’s their standard?

no he doesn't unfortunately 😔 or at least i should say he doesn't believe in it for himself - he's pretty convinced that he won't live til 30 and he's existing on borrowed time as it is, so he hasn't really put a lot of thought into his own happiness or the pursuit of his own goals because he doesn't believe he'll be around to see them realized

Kin: What’s their role among their relations? Do they consider others family?

duncan is the firstborn son of king!alistair and ella cousland, my canon warden. he's also the eldest brother to roslyn and bryce theirin. he's also, obviously , the half brother of keiran, tho none of the theirin kids are aware of that oof. his role, officially, is to become king when his parents eventually pass. its NOT something he wants, due to being so sick and unsure of himself. despite what his parents tell him, he doesnt believe he will make a good king and is really terrified of the notion in general, i guess a little like alistair was in dao. duncan kinda,,, avoids his duties, to the point where he literally LEAVES to live and study in orlais. he still does what he needs to do, keeps in correspondence with people he needs to, but its all bare minimum stuff because hes just. so afraid of it lol. he has a mostly good relationship with his family, despite that – theres some resentment between him and his sister, rose, but thats a whole entire story we dont have time for dkdkskdk

Law: What do they think about abiding rules? Are they selective about it?

like i said before he's pretty adherent to the rules and laws of society tho i do see that as more of a flaw than anything. he doesnt really feel comfortable stepping outside the norm and tends to accept that other people know best ! even if he disagrees he's usually too unsure of himself to speak up. that does change quite a bit once he and nadaia grow closer, since SHE is big on bending ridiculous or unjust rules, but he's always gonna be a bit of a follower i think 😒

Magic: In a magic series or not, are they accepting, or is each instance a shock?

he's accepting!! he's a mage so it would be wild of him if he didnt lmao. during his childhood/adolesence he was kinda harsh on himself and had a lot of internalized guilt for being a mage, bc this was obviously still fresh after the mage rebellions. he resented his own abilities and just wanted to be normal, but that was also him projecting a lot of his other problems as well. he had amazing teachers who helped him come to terms with his abilities, and the best of all was my inquisitor, ashara, who is kind of like a very distant, scary aunt who always had a soft spot for him. she helped him – and alistair and ella – RIGHT after they discovered he was a mage, and she was really the biggest role model in his life when it came to magic. duncan has always looked up to her skill and control and confidence, and tried very hard to match that.

Network: Are they connected to the people? How much do they reach out to others?

duncan has an ARMY of acquaintances and connections due to his family, but doesn't really have a lot of people he considers his close friends. he's super friendly and he gets along with most people, but like ive said before serious relationships including friendships are always a bit complicated for him bc of who he is as a person lol. as for reaching out, he's a very independent, introverted person and so he tends not to seek out other people unless he's close to them or has no other choice. he's very self conscious about being a burden on people or being to “needy" so he holds himself back and sometimes comes across as a little cold.

Offspring: What kind of parent would they be? Would they prefer one, or multiple?

he.... probably can't physically have kids unfortunately due to his condition, and as a result he's never really wanted to think too much about it, or imagine a scenario that he believes he cant have. but if it WERE a possibility, or if he felt stable in his own life enough to adopt, he'd probably be comfortable with just one child to completely spoil. he would be such a good father, albiet maybe not the coolest dad ddkdkdks i think nadaia would be the one who got up to the crazy shenanigans and let her child get away with everything, and duncan would be more of the nurturing, responsible one. he'd be a MASTER at telling bedtime stories, would kick ass at homework assistance, and would sing his kid to sleep every single night (until they got too old for it obviously). ooooo im so IMMENSELY emo abt this au now that i think about it

Pistol: Is this character skilled with a weapon? What’s their opinion of violence?

duncan is a very non-violent person, but he does believe that sometimes violence is necessary and will BE violent if he needs to – only in self defence scenarios though. he's an adept mage, and very skilled with a staff, but he isn't a fighter, really – more of a defensive, protective figure.

Question: How often do they feel doubt? What topics are they defensive about?

oh the doubt is constant with him 🙃🙃 he has a lot of deep routed dread about his own morality and whether or not he's a good person or if the maker will accept him when he dies. he's andrastian but TERRIFIED of the notion that its all actually real, bc then he doesnt know where that leaves him. he has this weird existential dichotomy where he doesnt know if hes closer resembling a grey warden or a darkspawn bc of his tainted blood. he also doubts his abilities and his magic bc he's afraid that the taint just,, makes him inherently a corrupted thing. he doubts himself on a more basic level with like, being a good brother, a good son, a good king when the time comes. he wants to be a good student and partner but sometimes his health makes him feel like he cant, and it weighs on him so heavily, almost all the time. basically he needs a hug so badly its not funny 😔😔😔

Reminder: How are they at remembering daily needs? What falls through the cracks?

uhh its very selective !!! for the most part he's very good at taking care of himself, mostly because he NEEDS to otherwise his health gets out of control, but sometimes he tends to prioritize one set of needs above another,, which usually means not sleeping (the most common), forgetting to eat, not letting his loved ones know when he's having a poor health day which usually results in him getting really sick and nobody is around to help him. he also forgets to do certain things like lock up his house, buy foodstuffs, reply to peoples letters n stuff like that.

Sing: Do they like music? Do they listen often/sing/hum/play songs in their head?

yes and yes !! duncan loves music altho its a very personal and private thing for him. he's pretty naturally gifted with music and gets it from ella, who taught him a lot of what he knows. he has a gorgeous singing voice (i kinda hc something similar to dan smith’s vocals from bastille!) that he rarely uses bc he only ever sings when he's alone or if he's forced to by a nosy loved one or something lol

Touch: How do they handle contact? Is their personal bubble big?

duncan doesn't mind being touched !!! in fact in most situations he welcomes it, as long as its like,,, appropriate and not some random stranger obviously. he grew up with ella and alistair who obviously are VERY affectionate people so he loves giving and receiving hugs from friends and he doesnt flinch or feel weird about just? random natural touches or anything. his ~love language~ is also physical touch so he LIVES for cuddling with nadaia and holding hands and anything like that. however !!! his little sister rose HATES being touched by virtually anybody and in any capacity, so he's very aware that not everybody is okay with touch, and is always careful and considerate of other peoples boundaries. he usually waits for the other person to make the first move, or simply asks them first !

Upcoming: How much do they think of the future? Do they make long-term plans?

he doesn't at all 😔 i mentioned this before but he doesn't see himself living very long, and its really impacted his outlook on life. he is afraid to commit to a lot of things, even if its something he really, truly wants, because he doesn't want to get his hopes up for things. it also keeps him from forging positive relationships. a lot of it has to do with him just being overly polite, but he refuses to make the first move with anything, or communicate what HE wants out of something. for example, his relationship with nadaia could have progressed so much faster if he had just,,, told her what he wanted. she had to make a lot of the first moves in the relationship because he just,, doesnt know how to take chances i guess !!! we love a Deeply Flawed king

Vice: What bad habits do they have? Is there something they would be ashamed of?

Some harmless ones are ; him talking to his cat constantly dkdskd also he has very poor time management skills so he's almost always a few minutes late, forgetting to lock his stuff up, and slouching, probably !!! some more serious ones would be like,, having sex with strangers as a coping mechanism lol, not speaking his mind and instead just letting himself be a doormat, also INTENSE avoidance of his problems (moving away to orlais for 9 years to avoid his fear of being king for example 🙃) tho i guess they fall under the same category oof.

Wardrobe: What’s their fashion style? Do they have any staple pieces?

duncan dresses nice, for the most part !!! again, it's mostly to do with growing up in court and having to keep up appearances, but also hes just. a nice bisexual boy who wants to take care of himself ykno, and that includes hygiene/clothing/grooming etc ! he's maybe a bit TOO reserved tho, he mostly wears dark colours like blacks, greys and brows, but hes been known to wears reds/blues/whites as well, and there’s a lot of subtle yet beautiful details on his more formal attire that might go unnoticed by a casual eye. a lot of his clothes are specifically tailored but he's also fond of big oversized sweaters for when hes just hanging out ! he's got a not great relationship with his body lol so he usually dresses very conservatively, with long sleeves and pants and usually more than one layer, but hes also a thot so !!! pants be TIGHT dksksksks

X-Ray: How’s their health? Any problem areas? Do they take care of themselves?

Djdjdksksndjddjkekdidksjs OKAY WELL if u have read this far than obviously u kno the answer to this question. if ur just skimming tho first of all ur valid ! second of all duncan is VERY sick. he was conceived when ella and alistair where still searching for the joining cur, so basically he inherited the darkspawn taint x 2 and nearly died a bunch of times as a baby/young child. obviously idk how the cure storyline is gonna resolve but my hc is that bc the darkspawn taint is something he was BORN with, not just something that happened to him via ritual, his body is much more impacted by it so even if they are able to find a cure, it wouldnt work THAT well and his health would still suffer bc of the prolonged damage. so physically, he deals with a LOT – intense migraines, insomnia, nausea, fatigue, problems with breathing and fevers and stuff. obviously mentally hes.... not doing great either, tho he’s trying his best. sometimes his insomnia gets so bad he starts hallucinating visions from his darkspawn nightmares, and sometimes he just feel paranoid in general that he's actually an Evil Darkspawn and hes just somehow managed to convince everyone hes a normal person – sort of a weird blend of imposter syndrome and body dysmorphia its. complicated. anyway he has very low self esteem and tends to think hes a huge inconvenience to everybody, and when he was a teenager he went thru a period where he was very suicidal, and ANGRY and afraid 😔 he’s doing better though, now that he has learnt how to manage most of his symptoms and he's not suffering in denerim court. nadaia is also a huge help, though he tries not to become too heavily reliant on her, since he's had bad experiences with depending too much on other people.

Yack: What’s their favorite thing to talk about? What do they go on about?

skskdkdk im already crying hehe 🙂 duncan is so introverted and self conscious of being “Too Much" for other people so he tends to keep his thoughts/interests to himself and stick w just. boring small tall or non invasive questions relating to the other person. BUT if u show an interest and he trusts u then oh boy. hes an absolute dork. he loves talking about magic and having really intense conversations abt the technical sides of it (he and dorian would get along SO well) but he also loves history !!!! before he began studying at the college of enchanters he received multiple ??? qualifications?? (idk if thats the right term but u kno) from the university of orlais, one of them being orlesian and ferelden history. also anything to do with the grey wardens, the blights and darkspawn for personal reasons obviously. He's a VERY good storyteller so he somehow finds a way to make even the dryest topics seem very compelling and Cool – varric would be proud !! he finds the orlesian Great Game fascinating, and he enjoys sharing wild anecdotes about the things he's seen asshole nobles get up to. thats always thrilling skdksksk ALSO. He has a secret interest in necromancy and the mortalitasi (its only a secret bc hes the heir and that wouldnt look ... great lol ) but he only ever really talks about that with nadaia, who finds that stuff almost as interesting as he does. also, finally, he loves talking about nadaia 😊😊😊😊 hes the type of guy who will always namedrop “my girlfriend" into any conversation, loves telling people about her accomplishments and how Cool she is ..... he loves her a Lot is what im getting at sksksks

Zodiac: What’s their astro sign? Does it fit? What would you pick, if it’s unknown?

duncan is a pisces babey like his mother !!! tho he could also be a virgo but,,, i think for now pisces works better for him. he's very smart and introspective and creative, but he has some issues with critical thoughts, avoidance and melancholy like ive mentioned. also pisces is a water element so i guess that makes even more sense, since hes an ice mage 👌👌👌

okay !!! im done !!! i cant believe i wrote all that but i guess if u didnt know abt duncan before, u absolutely do now dksksks im so sorry to anyone who actually read thru all of this, u really are braver than the troops

[personagf-moved]

alphabet & soft questions ✨

I was tagged by my bb’s @prksjmiin (alphabet ask) and @joonieblossoms (soft ask) and i didn’t want to make two separate posts so im gonna apologize in advance bc i decided to stick both posts together :’) dkdkkdkd yall aint gotta read everything but if u do ily and im sorry i write novels on novels dlfksdkf

i’ll tag @koyasdad, @1ovegf, @joonlit, @sleepyyyoongs, @constellationstars and @capgi 💘

honestly feel free to do either one or both or none if u want dkkdkdkd i just wanted to tag u guys bc ily

Alphabet ask:

a // age: 21

b // birthplace: new jersey!

c // current time: 1:17 am

d // drink you had last: coffee

e // easiest person to talk to: my brother when he isnt being an absolute fool

f // favorite songs: 

aint it fun - paramore

trivia love 

honey - kehlani

abbey - mitski

moonlight - ariana grande

g // grossest memory: i was in the city one time and a bird shit on my forehead. i think about it at least twice a week 

h // horror yes or horror no:  H O R R O R   Y E S   B A B E E E Y Y Y Y Y Y Y im the absolute worst person i’ll dead ass watch a scary movie/video or read horror stories by myself just bc. 

i // in love: with my whole ass soulmate namjoon. i luv u string bean man

j // jealous of people: im not even gonna try to lie i am a very jealous person and i am so sorry about it but i really cant help it lmfao. blame my scorpio venus i guess

k // kids of your own someday: when i say i have been thinking about this everyday.........! i wanna have it all i want the kids the white picket fence the dream house everything. i cant wait to be a mommy one day and love n support my bb’s :’)

l // love at first sight or should i walk by again: we a whole ass fool on main and believe in love at first sight!!!! i really do believe soulmates are a true thing and if a love is destined to be across an infinite span of lifetimes and universes then it will always find its way back. when you know, you know, and i genuinely believe that. 

m // middle name: padilla

n // number of siblings: 1 older brother, 1 half brother (older), and 1 half sister (older)

o // one wish: to find true love

p // person you last called: my manager bc i had a work question lol

q // question you’re always asked: “why are you like this” (usually friends @ me when i wild out...which is like everyday), “are you mad?”, “how old are you REALLY?”, “how’s your brother?” (bc he ghosts all family n i have to speak on his behalf like always fsdfjksdf)

r // random fact about you: i once used a horrible bootleg copy of the force awakens to make a star wars crack video dubbing the part in shrek when he first meets donkey over the scene when rey first met bb-8 and it went viral and has like 200,000 notes and even had articles written about it. also i had a weird fascination with jar jar binks and danny devito when i was in high school and i had a habit of making either one of them my icon on school accounts so i could make people laugh when they emailed me or saw me in a word document skfkkkfkf

s // song you last sang: “abbey” by mitski :’(

t // time you woke up: exactly 10 this morning and it was weird bc i picked up my phone and it had JUST turned 10 when i looked i was so shook lol 

u // underwear colour: she be black 

v // vacation destination: paris bc im a basic bitch :’) also japan/all asian countries. i wanna connect with my roots more :/

w // worst habit: yeeting the fuck outta people’s lives when i think they’re getting too close/when i get overwhelmed. im sorry im a flighty bitch @ anyone i’ve ever ghosted :( i love anyone who’s ever tried to talk to me and its never ur fault, i just get the urge to escape sometimes and i’m trying to fix it 

x // x-rays: omg @ tori dead ass me too tho, i had x-rays when i broke my arm when i was around 6 :o

y // your favorite food: my mom’s spaghetti! and sushi. also i love any and all filipino food but specifically i like nilaga and kare-kare oooo baby

z // zodiac sign: we’re a proud libra sun 

Soft ask:

What’s the smell of your shampoo?

we got them fruity scents up in here we keep that shit smellin like a goddamn strawberry field take a fuckin whiff babes

What’s your aesthetic?

the moon and stars, soft pink and purple sunsets with a burning red on the horizon, sunrises as well, paintings and generally all art revolving around flowers and the celestial, pretty pastel pink and yellow, the sound and smell of rain falling against the window while being curled up in bed uwu 

What’s your favorite time of the day and why?

lately it’s been night time. i generally get more creative and feel more at home during the night. i miss being a morning person tho. 

What do you most like about the beach?

not a lot fklsjdjfkslkdflksdlkf i usually only go to get a tan and walk the boardwalk with my friends, but if i had it my way i would never step foot in the ocean for the rest of my life sdjdjdjdjsj we dont trust her!!!!!!!!!

What do you worry about constantly?

when i’m gonna figure out what i wanna do with my life lol. i took a year off to think about it but all i ended up doing was working myself to exhaustion and getting comfy in a work only mindset and now i’m only even more confused about what i want to pursue. i’m just glad im going to chicago next week because i feel like a change of setting for even just a week could give me a much needed reset on my mindset going into the next year. i worry about the future but the problem is i worry about the present too lol. oh well, we’ll figure it out!

What is a song you’ve cried to before?

oh boy...

trivia love

moonchild

first love

she used to be mine - waitress soundtrack

20 something - sza

26 - paramore

the letter - kehlani

landslide - fleetwood mac

when you see my friends - mayday parade

and many........many many more...... skskskks music is my main emotional outlet so naturally im gonna cry over anything that reflects my heart

What are some relaxing tips for your followers?

as The World’s Number One Most Stressed Out Human Being™️ i am definitely in no way fit to give advice on how to relax LMFAO 

but i guess something that always works for me is putting on music i KNOW will make me sing a long or make me happy to distract me from the nerves i’m feeling. also putting on my favorite comfort movies to make me feel better (they’re big fish, scott pilgrim vs the world, and spirited away btw lol)

 What are some things that make you tear up?

the ending of coco, seeing my mom cry, or anyone i love cry tbh, when children are neglected/abused, thinking about the world i’ll have to bring my future children into and how i’m going to be able to teach them to stay strong and bright in the face of it, lyrics that hit too close to home, absolutely anything tbh i cry easy

What is your favorite from each sense?

sight - the view of my cherry blossom tree against a pink sunset in the spring of my childhood home, a person’s eyes and how they light up when they smile, especially when they crinkle as they laugh

smell - the earth after rain, a forest in autumn

taste - my mom’s cooking, good coffee on an early morning

sound - beautiful melodies and harmonies to accompany them, a baby cooing, birds chirping at sunrise

touch - my pillow when its nice and cool, a cat’s tummy, a baby’s cheeks, fingers running through my hair

What is an alternative reality you’d like to live in?

one where im married to namjoon n we have a lot of smart musical prodigy babies who have his dopey smile and i live comfortably in our big ass home in korea where i raise our babies n get that good pipe down every night like i should

jk i wanna live in a reality where magic is real and i can cast spells and live my best life as the true witch that i am

What are some troubles you face on a daily basis?

for starters im ugly as shit so theres one

if we mean practically then i have really bad knees and i recently busted them again so its been really hard getting up and down stairs lately and bending over 

but idk theres not really much. emotionally i just tend to get withdrawn and timid in public so it can be hard for me to speak up when i go out

What is one scene from a book that makes you really sad?

unfortunately i haven’t read as many books lately as i did when i was younger...so a lot of my memories are from books that i read like as a kid lol......THAT BEING SAID i think rue and finnick’s death in the hunger games was truly heartbreaking to read, the spine of my copies of both books have cracks on those pages bc i had to read it several times just to really believe it. also i thought it was written so heart wrenchingly well that i had to go back.  also in looking for alaska when pudge, a man who loved to know people’s last words, realized that he would never know alaska’s last words. im also really thankful for that book bc it introduced me to wh auden’s poetry and to this day he’s still one of my favorite poets of all time.  

Say something to your followers:

thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU for following me and for some reason deciding to stay after how many times i act up on the daily. all jokes aside i really appreciate every single one of you no matter the number and i sincerely hope that you always have love and joy in your heart and that 2019 treats you well. i HONESTLY mean it when i say that i am always here if you guys want to talk or send me things or roast me or talk shit seriously i wanna hear it all and talk about it all i think all of you are so interesting and so beautiful and i’d love to get to know more about you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS! yeet!

[caelin-ismycity]

Please tell us more about Tellius ships

god theres a lot of ships with how many bitches there are in this game- like id have to play through the game some more which i plan on doing anyway to write an essay-ass anthology of all the good shit here but for now i can shoot off my faves

ike/boyd:

yall already know i like myself some elihec and one reason is cause of their lil rivalry/best friend relationship yknow- you can look at those losers romantically or not and it’d still be some Good Shit. 

same logic with ike/boyd honestly- especially with there bantering asses in the beginning and generally how boyd tends to think of ike immediately when it comes to finding a sparring partner or just helping him out during their quest with the tri-arrow attack discussed with rolf and oscar.

another scene i found cute was after ike and others disobeyed titania and sought out the bandits alone and when greil is about to rip into ike about disrespecting orders, boyd’s the first one (i think its been awhile since i played that chapter) to step up and take the blame (admitted by him to be pretty out of character which i like to interpret as boyd just being flustered that hes caught caring for ike beyond their competitiveness)

unfortunately, not only is fe9 hard to play legally because of its stupid price, but even if you did sell your soul to buy the game intelligence systems has cursed my household by not allowing ike and boyd to have any support conversations, nor any interactions all together beyond a certain chapter, so ike/boyd is one of the rarest pairs you can like in this series especially considering the most popular ship is ike/soren with the tellius series

ike/ranulf

ike and ranulf meet uhhh god i dont rememebr honestly- but they meet about halfway into the game when ike and co properly become associated with the beast laguz where ranulf, considerably, becomes a reoccurring ally to the greil mercenaries.

couple reasons why i love these two- one being the whole laguz/beorc thing ight (lemme get on that in a sec). i.e., ike is big on joining laguz and beorc together, and ranulf doesnt really seem to mind them (i say ‘doesnt seem to mind them’ because, if i remember right, ranulf has real issues trusting beorc and even tells ike that if he naively trusts people he’ll end up hurt). ergo, id imagine that ike would love to get to know more about the laguz alltogether and ranulf himself (he’s clearly curious considering h is supports with lethe as well). additionally, their C support is fuckin cute as hell with ranulf taking pride in making ike laugh/smile at one of his jokes (which tbh i thought would set the grounds for a lovely af A support but instead i get ranulf calling ike a nitwit for trusting him so easily so thanks intell).

another big moment for me is how ike hardly hesitated to defend ranulf from the other beorcs after he was discovered in that one really racist town (its the one where you get zihark and board nasir’s ship y’all know the one) even if it jeopardized the possibility of them escaping the town quietly (double points for ranulf insisting on ike leaving him alone and ike essentially telling ranulf to fuck off with that shit)

its utter trash that ranulf joins the mercenaries at the very end of the game (maybe chapter 25-26? you get JUST enough chapters to achieve their A support), not to mention he pops in-and-out of the gang’s path to actually talk to ike. but im grateful there’s some content for these two, even if there isn’t as much as i would like

kieren/oscar

again yall know i love that rivalry shit but this time it’s extremely one sided on kieran’s part (oscar more-or-less just dealing with it and not making a fuss about it). but damn if there isn’t potential, especially when you can take kieran’s insistent rivalry as some form of admiration for oscar (not to mention the possibilities of their past with oscar originally working alongside kieran)

double points for kieran’s insistence that oscar come back with him to work as a crimean knight again (obviously more because kieran’s genuinely astonished oscar would willingly work with lowly-payed, unknown, not-pristine mercenaries). you can really just take it as kieran really lowkey missing oscar but being too prideful to admit it

ill also be damned if oscar cooking with kieran/teaching him how to cook wouldnt be the tightest shit to watch; i cant tell if kieran would be too stubborn to let oscar fully mandate what he does, begrudgingly listens to oscar, or is utterly impressed with oscar’s culinary skills and insists that ‘only someone as amazing as his rival would obviously be fit with abilities like that’

kieren/rhys

not exactly phat on my radar but it is cute as hell considering how easily concerned rhys becomes of kieran (and for good reason to the fucker regularly bludgeons himself with an axe and he wrestles bears jesus christ man), so its easy to imagine rhys making the excuse to kind of baby kieran to make sure he isn’t seriously hurt on or off the battlefield to just look/watch him

its also pretty fun to imagine rhys going with kieran when the dumb bitch proudly tells the army he’s about to go bear wrestling and rhys getting to see kieran ;lightly’ clothed to fight a fucking bear

im pretty sure in their A support, rhys tells kieran that if he isn’t more careful then the army’ll lose their most valuable soldier to something as stupid as a self-inflicted axe wound. its obvious that rhys said something along the lines of that (as well as a couple of other things in that support) because he acknowledges kieran’s self importance, but its also cute to imagine that rhys was able to use that fact to his advantage to tell kieran how much he means to himself (bonus points if, alternatively, rhy’s dialogue would follow some shit like ‘I- uh... We can’t lose a soldier as important as you, Kieran.’)

gatrie/shinon

another lowkey one (considering shinon and gatrie are absent for a decent portion of the game post initial chapters), but the one support i did manage to get of them was enough to sell me- cause frankly i find the idea of shinon teasing gatrie about buying them dinner and gatrie just being like “hhrhrum” as he begrudgingly agrees to be endearing; i.e. the sinon mentallity being ‘If you’re going to throw your money at everything, you might as well spend it on something worthwhile’ aka ‘lets just have a nice dinner together instead of you buying some random girl three bouquets of roses’

they also have a pre-planned attack together (albeit quickly mentioned to titania) like cmon they bondin yall they conversin

finally i love how shinon’s taller than gatrie- like this isnt necessarily ship-related i just finally have the opportunity to say it. like shinon could absolutely tease gatrie about it like ‘what did you say you wanted a kiss? ? ? i cant hear you from down there’ and gatrie just playfully punches his arm like ‘bro- dude- cmon please i missed you all day just bend down for two seconds’

i’ve been typing for a while and ive got the attention span of a brick but these are the ships i think of the most. during my second playthrough ill be damned if i dont develop more but feel free to send in more ship shit

[genngraymane]

America: Really THAT Bad? (spoilers btw)

BEFORE:

It’s been a while since I read anything Marvel in the last few years. I think I stopped reading around the time of Marvel Now! because I was too focused on DC’s New 52 at the time (plus I took a break from comics around that time shortly after). So aside from the few issues of Young Avengers I’ve read years ago, I know nothing about this character. Obviously, I’ve heard some polarizing things about this book, but I’m still pretty excited to see what the hubub’s all about. One thing I remember loving about Marvel was their teen heroes. Hopefully America rekindles the things I missed from Marvel.

AFTER:

Okay so I just finished the first 7 issues. Overall it wasn’t the horribly unbearable experience my buddies kept warning me about. No where near as offensively bad as they made it out to be. If anything my only gripe with the book is that it’s rather forgettable. With the exception of Kate, America’s supporting cast feel like they’re just background pieces with speech bubbles. Her girlfriend didn’t do anything aside from filling in a damsel in distress role. Her parents and Grandmother really only serve as plot-devices, and the rest the students of Sotomayor don’t really do anything except gush over America’s self-imposed greatness.

And it really is a shame, because Rivera introduces some really cool concepts like the interdimensional schooling of Sotomayor and the cosmic origins of Planeta Fuertona. There’s some really cool wacky Sci-Fi stuff in this book, and I’m pretty sure if that was the focus of the book then I would have enjoyed it a lot more. But unfortunately that’s not the case because the main focus of this book is also one of the things I can’t stand about it.

THE ROMANCE.

Oh my God is America an asshole to her girlfriend. If there is anything I can’t stand about romance, it’s needless drama. And holy shit, Rivera did not hold back from it. This is the first appearance of Lisa, one of America’s love interests.

I’m sorry, WHAT??? You’re not going to tell me jack about our MC’s love-interest and then break them off in just TWO PAGES? I’m generally used to teen drama bullshit like this from other teen hero books (I have Johns’ Teen Titans to thank for that), but this sequence here is just too much for me to ignore. We don’t know anything about Lisa aside from being America’s girlfriend, so that’s all she ends up being, and America just breaks things off and leaves before they even have a legitimate conversation? And America’s acting as if she’s in the right? This sets up every interaction we see between these two as needless melodrama. And that’s exactly what it becomes in later issues. There’s all but one scene of America showing remorse for dumping this chick, but then America acts like the victim again in a later issue with Storm.

Like, what is your damage, America? You’re the one who broke up with her and left in a fit but then you say shit like “SHE SENT ME AWAY” as if we’re supposed to sympathize with you throwing that necklace at her. And when Lisa finally shows up again, they act as if they spoke and came to terms, but this is the first and last time we ever see these two actually speaking to each other anyway, so what was the point?

America’s other love interest is an actual character this time around in the sense that she’s actually involved in the story, but when Magdalena is introduced, it’s almost as if Rivera forgot about the first love interest.

Either America has amnesia, or Lisa never gave America flowers, which probably puts America in the right for breaking up with her. I’d be pretty upset if my girlfriend never gave me flowers. What was the point of all this? Why didn’t Rivera just start with Magdalena as the badass action-girl love interest instead of having us deal with the damsel in distress bullshit from the non-character that was Lisa during the Chavez Guerrillas arc?

I think all of my gripes with the romance in here comes from a combination of two different things regarding this book. One is that nearly every character in this book has NOTHING going on with them. The other is that America is painfully unlikable in this.

I think the introduction of Sotomayor was pretty awesome. Rivera introduced us to a setting with a lot of potential for crazy, dimension hopping adventures while providing the framework of introducing new characters within a self contained story similar to that of Hero Academia or Avengers Academy. If America’s badly written relationships were at the background of the series while introducing a diverse, well-written cast that interacts almost exclusively with America through the school setting, then yes, I think this book would have won me over. But that’s not the case because nearly every student in Sotomayer doesn’t do anything meaningful to the story or help America progress as a character. How the hell do you have a character like freaking Prodigy on the sidelines with nothing insightful to say? They were on the same team before this! Even America’s parents, the main reason she became a hero, are constantly glossed over in this book until the reveal of her Grandmother. 

Speaking of this page here, why did Madrimar even wait to reveal herself to America until now? It’s not like anything was stopping her during all the time she spent at Sotomayor.

A lot of people I’ve talked to about this book says Rivera was trying too hard. In my opinion, she didn’t try hard enough. I know a bunch of people gave this writer shit for coming off as too preachy, but expressing positivity through diversity is a core part if America’s character and the reality we live in. The only problem I see with her writing regarding this is that it the way she portrays America makes it difficult. Rivera’s America just shouts out slogans and gets confrontational with anyone that challenges her way of thinking. America needs to be put in a situation where expressing her cultural and sexual identity isn’t accentuated through punching things while preaching about how awesome she is and getting constant validation from background characters (the prep-school cyborg fight is a jarring example). 

One of the only characters I actually liked in this book was Kate. She actually acts like she’s in the story. She talks to America about her problems, consoles her in times of need, and is generally a blast to have in this book.

With the exception of Magdalena, Kate is the only person in this book that America actually approaches like a civil human being. America doesn’t get all up in her face and throw snarky insults at her like she does with nearly everyone else. Kate is one of the only characters here that can actually get America to feel like a person instead of some impregnable brick wall. And Kate is actually involved in America’s story! She has presence! But the more I read about these two in here the more I notice Rivera was just queer-baiting them for no reason.

Like, we get Kate’s into her. But if Rivera had real control over this, why didn’t she just start things off with Kate as the friends with benefits into girlfriends angle? Why have us go through all the damsels in distress and generic femme fatale action girls in America’s life instead of a popular established character like Kate Bishop? They have a history together, so it wouldn’t be unbelievable at all. This book focuses so much on romance but never has its priorities straight on who these people are to America. It only seems to care who America is to them. And tbh I think that’s the core issue of Rivera’s America.

This is the first page of the book, and it got me super excited. I thought the approach Rivera was going to go was make America relevant not only as a hero but as a symbol. I thought this book would highlight the importance of expressing pride in diversity while expressing how America represents that pride and what that means to the people around her. I thought it would have been akin to All-Star Superman’s approach of finding the balance between the symbol and the person while struggling to understand what that might mean to the people of the world. But instead any concept of that constantly gets sidelined by the badly written melodrama bullshit all across this book. It just always stops me from getting into this.

Now if I’m not mistaken, this book is canceled at issue 12, so at some point I’ll go back and finish the last couple issues, but honestly I could see why this book got canceled. Rivera has some really cool concepts in this book, but falls short on the execution on multiple levels. Hopefully they bring America back with a new creative team because there is some cool stuff here and I don’t want it all to just disappear. Maybe even keep Rivera and give her a co-writer to help?

[crispynipple]

Ok so i know its been a few weeks since haikyuu season three ended but ive been thinking a lot recently about what Tendou says in the last episode and i dont browse the Haikyuu tag enough to know if anyones talked about it yet so if not im here to talk about it. So in the final episode of season three after Shiratorizawa loses, we get a scene with Tendou saying the following: “Farewell, my paradise” as seen in the photo below.

So when i first heard him say this, of course, being the Tendou fanatic i am, i did get a little emotional. I thought he was talking about all the straight wins that he acquired while attending Shiratorizawa. But this scene truly got me thinking, “why is it so bad that he lost before going to Nationals, when he has gone the past two years?”, then  i realized, he isn’t talking about losing, he’s talking about the safe haven he found at Shiratorizawa, or more specifically, the Shiratorizawa team. In a previous episode we gathered insight and flashbacks of Tendou’s childhood days playing volleyball. When he was just starting out playing volleyball, no one wanted to play with him because he was the weird kid, or a “monster” as they said in one of these flashbacks.

They even go as far as to say he looks like one. For what reason they believe that, i have no clue. I mean, hell, the kid on the right looks like something straight out of a toilet wand commercial but whatever. They leave Tendou alone and exclude them from playing simply because they dont like him. Later in this episode we get to witness a scene where Tendou finally gets to play with the other kids and he wins a point against them. Now going back to the second season for a second, we get to see Tsukki talking to Bokuto and Kuroo about how he has never truly experienced a moment where he loved volleyball. Bokuto then tells Tsukki, “it’s a matter of whether ‘that moment’ exists for you or not...If you experience that moment,...”

“...it’ll really get you hooked on volleyball.” In this scene, Tendou truly experiences his blooming love for volleyball, and doesn’t let anyone let him not play and he decides to do his own thing. So, great. He’s gained his love for volleyball and continues playing throughout elementary school despite being bullied by the other kids trying to exclude him. That’s great, but then comes middle school. In middle school, he experiences what it’s like having a coach telling him how to play, instead of coming up with his own play style, saying:

Though this is how he plays and how he feels comfortable playing, he gets scolded for doing it and for playing how he wants. Even though Tendou is later quoted saying “but I’ve scored a lot of points on just my hunch”, his coach continually berates him, saying:

Though this in and of itself is correct, do you really think Tendou cares personally? If he truly cared whether or not he won, wouldn’t you think he would follow his coaches advice? We saw before that he only started playing because he felt good while playing, he felt good when he was able to score a point. That right there doesn’t bother him. He just wants to play volleyball where volleyball is more enjoyable instead of stressful(though throughout season three he was always striving to win more points to win and even playing against the opposing team emotionally). Add another obstacle onto Tendou’s list, a controlling coach. Boom, done. After Tendou walks away, he head towards what looks like a storage closet in the gym, where he overhears his fellow teammates talking about him, saying the following:

Once again, he’s being judged for something that is just a part of him, his personality. He has already experienced this one time before, when he first started volleyball. Tendou, after overhearing the conversation, then walks away, presumably to get away from people who are talking bad about him behind his back. Tendou throughout his volleyball career has had to deal with unhelpful teammates, a coach that tries to control how he plays, and teammates that try excluding him from any club activity. Tendou just deserves a hug can we make a protect Tendou squad? I just love him so much. #ProtectTendou2k17. Anyways back to the subject at hand. After finishing middle school, he then has to choose the high school he wishes to attend. Like most other Japanese students, he probably did some research according to the things he wants to do in future life and, of course, according to his club activities. Assuming Shiratorizawa was already a major powerhouse school before Ushijima went there(i believe it was) Tendou decided to go there not only for his studies but also to pursue volleyball further. When he goes to meet the coach of the volleyball team at Shiratorizawa, he says that he “just want[s] to play volleyball that makes [him] feel good”. I wish i screencaped him saying that but i didn’t unfortunately so you have to deal with me quoting him. After he expresses his feelings about the matter he shows this expression:

This is the expression of someone who has gradually lost their love for something this is a very solemn expression. He feels somewhat embarrassed that he has to express what he wants in such a plain manner to the coach. The person in charge of exposing the teams true potential in matches. He tells this to the coach specifically because he’s already gone through not being able to play the way he wants and having to conform to the ways the coach wants him to. If the coach at Shiratorizawa doesn’t allow him to play how he wants, Tendou most likely would’ve quit volleyball, considering the way he looks and how desperate he acts towards the coach about this matter. You can even tell the difference between how he acts in front of this coach than he did with his old middle school coach. He talked back to his middle school one but over time he gradually caved inward on himself and no longer is the free spirit he once was, all because of how he was treated during his volleyball years. But then the coach responded to him(and i wish i had screencapped this too ughh), “I don’t care, as long as you’re able to win” (more or less).

Can’t you just feel his expression and mood lift? He finally gets to play volleyball the way he desires, the way he loves to play, and on a team where he feels needed. And that’s exactly what happens. Over the course of his next three years at school, he finally gets to play a version of volleyball he loves, a version of volleyball where he always has the upper hand and it’s just overall so beautiful. Then the game against Karasuno happens, and Shiratorizawa loses. As we see in the manga and also in the anime i believe, Tendou says he isn’t going to continue playing volleyball. When he says “farewell, my paradise”, he isnt just referring to their constant win streak. He’s talking about the paradise he found in the Shiratorizawa volleyball team, a paradise where he can play how he wants, a paradise where he’s included in the matches, a paradise that didn’t and couldn’t last forever, and this makes me upset. Tendou is such a complex character and he deserves a lot more love than he gets. I’m not going to be re reading this through so f there are any spelling mistakes i apologize. And remember, #ProtectTendou2k17. Thank you for reading!