#obviously the whole thing would be a traumatic experience for many reasons but I do think this adds a layer of hurt to it

[caitas-cooing]

So do you ever think about how when Saito's head explodes Date just saw the head of the body he's been living in for the past 6 years explode and the fact that he still identifies himself with that body when it happens? Like imagine seeing the head of your body explode in real time, obviously it's not actually his body, but like it still is to him

Also imagine how Mizuki feels when she sees his head explode. Even though she knows that it's not the guy who took care of her the past 4 years currently in that body it's still got to hurt to see his head explode on an emotional level

Idk just thinking thoughts

[badkitty3000]

What did you think was ooc for Five?

Great question, and I have already covered it a bit in my post here, but I could probably yammer on all day about it, so I'll add some thoughts.

Season 1 -3 Five was focused, determined, manic, arrogant, sometimes mean, violent, out-spoken, and full of love for his family above all. Yes, he insulted them and had no time or patience for their shit, but considering everything he'd been through and what he was up against, there was a reason for it. Season 4 Five? Ok, yeah, I can buy that maybe he was depressed and didn't really know what to do with himself anymore. Myself and others have certainly written him that way a few times. But, damn, he spent like all of season 3 bitching about wanting to be retired and here he could be! He could have played the stock market a few times, bought a little place somewhere, picked up a nice lady at the local Bingo hall and lived his peaceful live he deserved. Instead, he works (inexplicably) for the government and just wanders around with his sad little trenchcoat and CIA-issued pistol and flashlight, taking orders from The Man and just...existing I guess. I could see if they made it so that he joined the CIA to get inside info on Reginald and he had spent the last 6 years quietly plotting to take him down and get his revenge or set the world straight again. But no...he apparently hadn't even tried to look into anything Reggie was doing? Like he was just "*shrug*, it's probably fine".

Five loves his family above all else. We know this. If not, he wouldn't have spent decades alone fighting to get back to them and save all their stupid asses. Now, all of sudden, he just doesn't seem to care? Yes, he's present and has obviously kept in touch. He goes to the birthday party, etc. But there is zero interaction with Klaus, or his nieces, or even Viktor. When at the end, he finally gets some fight back (although for completely absurd reasons) and snaps at Luther, the whole family gasps in shock like this is some new occurence that Five would be mean to them. And he'd said much worse to them before! So, that leads me to believe he just has spent the last 6 years being a completely different person and everyone forgot he's actually an asshole?

And back to the family thing...fighting his brother over his wife? Falling in love with Lila, the same person who: conspired behind his and Diego's back in Season 2, was raised by his villainous boss, was the daughter of two innocent people he killed, tried to kill him with her fists, a frying pan, her feet, a knife, electrocution; and who he tried to kill multiple times as well. Yes, they have had time to heal some wounds and they have a shared traumatic experience with The Handler but come on...he would never! He would never be attracted to her that way. He would never betray Diego that way. And he certainly wouldn't fight him over her, not when she and Diego are married and have kids together. I don't care how many years they were together alone...just no. Best friends? Sure. Lovers? Fuck no.

Physically, where was his prowess? Five is supposed to be the all-time badass assassin, trained in martial arts and weaponry. His body is young at 19-20 years old, and at the peak of his physical fitness. Even without his powers he should be able to kick some ass, or at least try to. And then when he does have his powers, he just doesn't know how to use them correctly anymore? And again, he looks slow and weak in a fight. His solution to taking down the big Bennifer blob thing was to fire an entire clip at long range at it, and then just go "huh...weird that didn't work". Why wasn't he looking around the mall for a weapon? An axe? Something else to fight against it! That's what he does...that's his THING! We were fucking robbed of a Five-centric badass fight scene, when there were so many opportunities for one. Hell, he could have taken down a room full of Keepers with a fucking ballpoint pen while singing along to Abba's Dancing Queen! Why didn't we get that?

Meeting with Reginald. Remember in Season two when Five met with Reggie at the Tiki bar? He sat and had a drink with him, but it was still tension-filled with a lot of emotion there. Then in Season 3, when he was basically like "you're a sadistic lunatic that is going to kill all of us" and got right in his old man's face and told him he was a giant dick? This time...he's just standing around Reggie's house shooting the shit and not even acting like he's mad. That is just not the same guy. I realize this was supposed to be Viktor's fight with Reggie, but they still could have shown Five to have a little emotion there.

So, there you have it. I could probably keep going, but this is way too long as it is. It's just heartbreaking, really. This character that we have all come to love for all of his complexities and faults and heroics was just diminished to a one-dimensional, uninteresting character with no regard for his family. Basically, just undoing three season's worth of plot and character development. And it's not Aidan's fault. He did the best he could with the shit he was given, and I feel sorry for him. For as much as we love this character, Five was his. He made him come to life and there's not many other actors his age that could have pulled that off. So, I'm sad this was his end. They really did him dirty.

[carlyraejepsans]

Oh! What are your headcanons for frisk? I know we don't know much about them in canon so it's hard to extrapolate but I'm still curious

oh sure! mind, these are all personal headcanon, as there isn't all that much canon info i can go off of, HAHAHA

obviously I don't think frisk had a happy home life, just like chara. but while chara's abuse was more active, i think frisk's abuse came from neglect rather than outright hostility or violence from the people around them. maybe they were a single, unwanted child. maybe they were among the last of many, many siblings. too many to be notable... or missed. so they left.

by the time the game starts, they've already been living on the streets (of the city that became of the village of the humans that chara was born in) for a few years. they get by with their wits. i think they're VERY clever, unnaturally so for their age, and judging from their ability to talk/charm themself into and out of anything in the game, they probably refined that skill for survival (you make yourself liked enough, people are quicker to show you kindness. leftover food, a dry shop window to sleep in at night, some used clothes).

undertale itself raises the question of why frisk climbed Mt Ebott. i like the idea that it was a force outside of themself. like a sudden, SOUL deep tension that would only release if they followed the call. an intrinsic certainty that, somewhere, somehow, someone really needed them. maybe it was fate. maybe it wasn't. maybe they were tied to chara's spirit long before they ever fell (by blood, as a long descendant? by magic? both?) and they were reacting to flowey calling out for them. point is, they felt the instinct, and they followed it.

because here's the thing: in my take on this, frisk desperately wants to be needed. that's what ties them so closely to chara. going with the more literal interpretation of them as a ghost, chara still has unfinished business in the underground. they haunt their former home, much like flowey did, and they NEED to see more of it, they just can't let it go. and they can't do it without frisk. they need them. so frisk goes along, because FINALLY, they're needed. that's why they reset at the end and try again, that's why they keep returning to the underground. but of course, chara isn't the only undertale character who needs frisk. the entirety of monsterkind does, and the entirety of monsterkind gets better thanks to their intervention. flowey, too. asriel, too. that's what resolves chara's unfinished business and allows them to finally let go (i mean... as long as YOU do, too, of course :])

and this is precisely the reason I'm not a fan of making frisk traumatized by their experiences in the underground. having leftover baggage from before they came? love that. but the whole point of their journey, to me, is that they were the single most powerful being in the entire story. the amount of liberties they could take, with their actions, with their words, with their own person, due to the sheer scale of power they had on everything else.. sure there was violence, and fear, and adventures and misadventures and betrayals, but when you can literally control time, i think that was almost euphoric for them.

after the life they used to lead, i like to think frisk saw their experiences in the underground as positive. no more powerlessness. no more loneliness. finally in (shared) control of their life. was it maladaptive as hell? yeah! but it was better than nothing! and if you've been following me for more than a month, you'll know by now that i am obsessed with the idea of a post pacifist, reset-heavy frisk freaking out AFTER their happy ever after, when chara doesn't follow them out of mt ebott and takes the SAVE power along with them (which is... kinda what happens in the game). being back to square one would mess them Up. fortunately, they now have a whole support system of family and friends who love them to make them feel needed and safe. it's gonna take some work, but man. it's gonna be worth it.

[winesharksea]

i think it's important that kit appears to straight up not know how to have a genuine conversation with someone. and a lot of that has to do with how he was raised, isolated with nobody really asking for his input or opinions, but for most of tda even when he's speaking to somebody he's rarely actually sharing his thoughts. and on top of that he's SUCH a people pleasing character, like beyond the initial snark he pretty much goes along with whatever people want or expect from him just for their attention or to make them happy. and on top of THAT, i think that tda is probably his first experience as like... a person among equals? i don't think it really occurs to him that the things he does or doesn't do impact other people because that's never been the case before, and obviously it leads to disaster but like i think he still just does not understand that his decisions affect people because he feels irrelevant and out of place among them. he can't feel accountable for the ways his choices affect other people because he just does not understand that he has the ability to affect people at all.

and like on ty's side i think even before the resurrection attempt he's very given to self blame, like when livvy gets hurt at the shadow market and he immediately blames himself for the injury. he feels an immense amount of responsibility to both livvy and to the rest of his family, and so many of his actions post-tda are rooted in this idea that he needs to do penance for the failed spell. (and here i'm also going to blame magnus a little for being really unnecessarily harsh at the end of tda when from everything preceding kit is literally just fleeing the country out of embarrassment and not really anger.) but he doesn't blame kit for lying to him or randomly dropping a love confession at him at possibly THE most inopportune time, he immediately put that back on himself and blames himself for being the reason kit left. there's also a lot to be said here about processing the world as an autistic person among an insular society of people who don't have the vocabulary or information to help you even when they want and try to, and how that affects the way you see your relationships with other people. ty doesn't blame kit for lying or running away because it does not occur to him that the fault lies with anyone but himself.

(also now i'm going to blame ragnor a LOT because listen if i was a 15 year old and traumatically lost someone i cared about i would probably not be making A+ decisions either but this man is a whole adult and also said not one word to anybody in a position to stop them or at least keep an eye on them)

so like at the end of the day i feel like so much of tda is about characters being so caught up in their own spirals of shame or self-doubt or pain that they don't notice what's happening to the people around them until it's already happened, and that even the people who love you will not always do it perfectly or even well, but as for these two hopefully that's the character growth we'll see in twp- kit now having a baseline of familial love, being an older brother, and finding self-worth to the point where he can hold himself accountable for the things he does and recognize his responsibility to other people, and ty growing in confidence and trusting himself enough to realize he doesn't have to punish himself or shoulder so much blame and that he can acknowledge when other people have not done right by him.

[orkbutch]

So I've been seeing A Viewpoint within the bg3 fandom occuring. And I gotta be honest. I disagree that the characters being bisexual in Baldur's Gate 3 means you cannot headcanon them as other sexualities for your own fandom content purposes. I think that's not reflective of how queer people and their sexual identities actually work, and its just antithetical to how fandom has always functioned, which is an exercise of imagination. I wanna clarify up front: I agree that someone saying that a character Can't or Shouldn't or Was Not Meant To Be bisexual because of whatever reason IS biphobic sentiment. The characters in Baldur's Gate 3 are canonically bi/pan, thats made pretty damn clear when you look through all their content. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about headcanons, au's; the kind of imaginitve play that is very much what fandom creativity is about. If you set a standard in fandom that depicting a character as a certain sexuality is Not Allowed, 1. you're kinda flattening sexuality in a weird way, like personally my sexuality is complicated as fuck and has changed over time, and 2. you're limiting creativity. And I think creativity in fandom is extremely important. It's the whole fun of fandom. Creativity is worth protecting and its worth establishing the nuance between Depicting A Version of Character who is X and Insisting That Character Should Be X in canon. Because like... we meddle with character's identities in fandom all the time. That's what headcanons ARE, they change appearance, social position, career, faith, species, traumatic experience, moral and political alignment, and SO much more. I think limiting what people can headcanon within fandom... is less fun! It's just less fun. Imaginative scope lets you do more, weird fun stuff. It lets you depict more complex interesting characters. Example: my Bad Nun AU. In that, Shadowheart identifies as a lesbian. Why is that? Because I wanted Shadowheart's experience within Bad Nun to specifically explore the history and context of lesbians within nunneries, especially how that manifested post Vatican II. These were also eras when 'lesbian' was more ubiquitos, had a different context and more flexibility; a lot of women that would probably consider themselves 'bisexual' now were identifying as lesbians, were in lesbian communities and events and spaces.

On that note: Flattening sexuality. You're gonna say people CANNOT depict these characters as ANYTHING but bisexual? That is not how most queer people's sexualities work. It simply isn't. I've identified as tons of different shit in my sexuality. I'm still not sure about it. For me half the time my "sexual identity" is just the words I use to communicate what I'm looking for, and that changes depends on What I Want at that time, what I'm looking to explore, my social context, ect. ect. like what. This isn't how sexuality works for real people. How are artists meant to be Creative and imaginatively depict real, complex, queer sexuality if they are restricted to depicting only what is within canon?? This is not how any other part of fandom works. Fandom art should work how all art works. If someone makes shit art, it gets dunked on and ignored for being bad or lazy or lame. If someone did Heterosexual Karlach fanfic, I would be like "what the fuck why" because they made Karlach less fucking cool. Het Karlach would be boring and thats More Egregious because they DECIDED to make her heterosexual DESPITE canon. But even then, EVEN THEN, I don't think that should be looked at as off limits shit, because I don't believe art should have many things off limits. Any limits must be very nuanced, because art and creativity is nuanced. Obviously my brain would go "het karlach? you deserve jail time and thats queerphobic", but I honestly believe creative license is more important than those feelings. I WOULD happily comment on their thing, "heterosexual karlach is boring, thats a shit idea" because I'm right

If you want good art and good writing, you need to protext creative license.

[thousand-winters]

Can you imagine Hunter trying to make himself as unburden as possible?

He sleeps as little as he can, eats just a little under the bare minimum, and does way to many chores in hopes that he Can makes Darius like him.

It probably doesn’t take long for Darius to catch on.

Oh, yeah, unfortunately he would so do that.

As I always mention, I think what really shakes him up between those months living at the Nocedas and when he first moves with Darius and Eber is that he doesn't have the other kids as a sort of "debuffer", nor a clear goal he can tell himself he's working toward that could justify that he's just kinda just having a good time here instead of earning his place like he had to do before, so a lot of anxieties he could ignore before just resurface and there's nothing to distract himself from it, no "well, my friends are doing this and it seems okay, so I suppose it applies to me too?"

Now he can't justify being "lazy" and sleeping more than, say, 5 hours, because there's no one else around doing the same, right? And it hardly matters in his mind that Darius and Eber obviously don't sleep that little because well, duh, why would they? This is where they live, they don't have to earn it unlike him. And the same goes for food and for asking for any necessities. He doesn't even want to mention when his scars itch or any lingering pain he might have from all those years at the castle.

First things first he has to earn something as basic as the right to stay here.

At first Darius thinks that it's reasonable that Hunter seems tired and that he always finds him awake already in the morning; he has gone through so much, having been dead and his best friend giving his life for him very much included, so for him to have trouble sleeping isn't odd. Concerning, yes, but Hunter is still a bit cagey when asked if he wants to talk about whatever's troubling him, so not too strange.

Similarly, it's normal for him not to have much of an appetite given all the traumatic experience he went through in such a short period of time, not to mention all the others he's barely processing now. And him seemingly not wanting to do much of anything? That's also normal, of course he wouldn't launch himself into trying to watch movies or read or do fun activities right away, everyone copes with trauma in different ways and if Hunter needs some quiet time for himself, that is alright.

But then Darius notices Hunter does seem like he's on the verge of falling asleep several times before waking up in a panic, and while he atributes that to nightmares first, Hunter acts as if he was caught committing a crime when he spots Darius watching him. At some other point he hears his stomach growling after he said he wasn't hungry anymore at lunch, and he certainly doesn't seem like he's planning to grab a snack or ask for one, so the suspicions start there. Darius knows Hunter and his unhealthy habits better than most after all, he witnesses quite a lot of them while they were both still in the coven.

The moment Hunter insists he would love to do the laundry when he looks a second away from passing out and he sounds more desperate than actually thrilled for a new life experience is when Darius decides enough is enough and he doesn't really need more evidence to know something is truly wrong here.

By this point, Hunter is probably at the end of his rope, so when Darius presses him gently, but firmly, he's just gonna break and spill. It's gonna be a bit ugly, but at least the problem will finally be out there, and while one single conversation with Darius clarifying that he doesn't need Hunter to try and mute his own presence for him to accept him won't fix everything, it'll be a start.

Now every time Hunter starts falling back into those habits, he can get some nudges and reminders that he can sleep a bit more, even sleep in late if he wants to (which definitely does NOT mean until 6am only), that he can actually eat his whole meal and ask for more (he's a growing teenager after all), and while it's good for him to do chores, he doesn't have to do everything, they can come to a household arrangement to see what everyone does, and that's more like basic house maintenance anyway, not something he's doing to earn his place. He can forget from time to time and he won't be kicked out for that.

It's going to be hard because it's going to be different but he'll get there.

[magmagpie]

Day 7: AU or Headcannon

Trigger Warning for talk of kidnapping and similar topics(don't judge me, I'm an edgy bitch)

((All/most of this information is in my Octonauts book on Wattpad))

I headcannon that pirates used to frequent Antarctica to steal penguin eggs. They would hatch them on their ship, then sell them off. To who, I dunno, but whatever ones didn't hatch, they would cook and eat them. Kwazii was born into one of the crews/families that did this, but he never liked it. He always tried to reason with the adults, but we all know how that usually goes.

Peso was stolen as an egg by Kwazii's crew, when Kwazii was about a year old. He hatched on their ship(he was also a premature chick but that's not important) and Kwazii helped all of the chicks escape into the water. He didn't know that penguin chicks can't swim, but it's okay, he was just a kitten. Peso and the rest of the chicks did know, but trying to make it back home was a better option than staying and going through with whatever the pirates wanted. Unfortunately, only Peso and two other chicks survived the swim home, and he's been traumatized by the experience ever since.

When he joined the Octonauts, and he "met" Kwazii, he almost turned around and swam all the way back home. But a big reason he was even joining this team was to overcome his fears and put some of his anxiety aside for once and just have a good time and help people. So he stayed, and over time, the fear went away. It took a while, but within a year of being his teammate, he started thinking of him as his best friend. That is how they view each other to this day. They don't know, however, that they've met once before, until Calico Jack has been introduced and the three of them have a small chat about the whole thing.

When he was more properly introduced to Calico Jack, he already knew he wasn't like the pirates that used to do that stuff, but he still shivered a little when they made eye contact. Overall, his fear of pirates had faded a lot by that point, but, as anyone who's had to 'get over' a traumatizing event will tell you, it's not always that simple. Kwazii is very obviously a soft heart, and he just wants to help as many people as he can, and he would die for his friends. Calico Jack is like that too, but it's not very upfront compared to his rugged pirate-ness. At least, not upfront enough for Peso to just bat an eye at his being a pirate like he's come to do for Kwazii. Not yet, anyway.

Captain Barnacles is the only one who knows about all of this. As the Captain, he knows the general history of everyone in his crew, career-wise. Peso confided in him about his fear of pirates and Kwazii pretty early on, like almost immediately, both because he's just that clearly a trustworthy person, and because keeping it a secret from him would have put unnecessary strain on the whole team and risked the downfall of their teamwork if he didn't. Barnacles being Barnacles, he tried to help them become friends, but stayed out of their way enough to let them work through it on their own.

[beanghostprincess]

that pudding card is GORGEOUS i love her so much she doesn't deserve to be a part of op discourse leave my girl alone she just needs love

Pudding is such a complex character! I love her so so much! She really means the world to me. Honestly, her whole story is completely relatable and the fact that it's basically used to parallel Sanji's doesn't help. It just makes everything hurt more. I could talk about her for hours and how misinterpreted her character is due to fandom discourse and the recent wave of "puritanism" within the internet.

I'm not gonna get too into fandom discourse because I hate it and I already have horrible experiences about it in this fandom (with Lawlu, specifically), but... I find it stupid. Her character has so many layers. She's just as complex and traumatized as Sanji. That's... That's quite the whole point? She made mistakes and has mixed feelings and different types of personalities due to her past and trauma responses. She made mistakes. Sanji made mistakes too. The only damn reason why people don't forgive her is because "she hurt our little meow meow <//3 She's so evil!!! Evil woman!!!" as if they wouldn't forgive her character right away if she were a MAN. Like. Misogyny who??

Anyway, I think it's pretty obvious people don't like Pudding because of obvious misogyny and overprotection of Sanji. Which is understandable because I'm also very intense when it comes to him, but damn... He would not like it if he knew y'all hate her for her mistakes.

Also, people only talk about her to say "she's a great character but her age gap with Sanj-" why does it always have to be about Sanji? Let the girl be her own character. Have you hear of the Bechdel test? No? Perhaps you could try it? Her character is obviously created for Sanji, but she's so much more! Let her escape!!! From the hands of patriarchy and men!! That being said, the whole discourse about their age gap is... Just... So fucking stupid.

Don't go cancelling me right away. I'm just saying that when it comes to stuff like age Oda doesn't seem to be very... Consistent? He's made mistakes before. And the Charlottes are a very huge family. I'm sure not even Oda knows the order of these children, lmfao. I think he would only say shit like "Katakuri is one of the oldest and Pudding is one of the youngest idk. Just made her one of the youngest to match Sanji's backstory of being one of the youngest". But leaving that aside-- Maturity never equals age in a show that's... About pirates... Where everyone has different experiences with different social surroundings... It's just like the Lawlu discourse, damn. You have to know the characters before saying crazy stuff like "Law would groom Luffy" because HOW??? HOW WOULD HE DO THAT??? That's basically impossible. And you need to think about the characters before assuming things. And Sanji and Pudding? Leaving aside the age difference, Pudding has more power over Sanji and that's noticeable. Does that even matter tho? They understand each other on the same level after all in the end. Tbh I couldn't tell about the age difference. I thought they were the same age ngl. Only found out bc I saw the discourse going on and my first reaction was "This is fucking dumb". Tbh their relationship is one of the healthiest I've ever seen for Sanji. We see him being himself for once without being extremely creepy. The whole arc about him losing himself is about a girl loving him for who he truly is. And the whole arc about a girl being judged for being different is about a boy loving her for who she truly is. It's so beautiful!!!

Anyway. Not the point. The thing is that people hate Pudding for... Absolutely nothing? Not knowing how to read complex characters? I still don't get it. Perhaps it's just that my mommy issues are too harsh and I can see through her but damn.

Ana also the whole thing about erasing Sanji's memories? People hate her for that and calling her... Selfish??? Did you not... Watch the scene... Of her crying because she lost the only person she has ever truly loved. But whatever. Call her selfish.

[dlanadhz]

Last Twilight Ending Reaction

As someone who can't see without a strong prescription, I really felt connected to Day's struggle. How his vision was shown is like mine but with that extra level of fuzzy. I can't see further than a palm's distance either. The longer the show went on, the more I noticed myself in the way Day did certain things - like leaning in way too close to see things and patting his hand around to find an item he knows is around there somewhere.

Obviously Day was worse than me. I put on my glasses every morning and go about my day. I don't need a caretaker. But without my glasses, we are so similar.

So I spent a good portion of the show wondering why the heck Day didn't get glasses for the time he was waiting on a potential surgery. They never explained that glasses wouldn't work for him, so it seems like a logical step to try.

Because of this, and because corrective eye surgery is actually so common, I walked into this show on day 1 fully ready to accept an ending where Day got his eye surgery and was able to see again.

We spent 12 episodes following Day's journey of learning to accept himself as he was, disability or not. He learned how to love his life, how to care more about the people around him, how to appreciate the things around him - not just what he could see. He gained a new understanding of who he was and what he needed to be happy.

Episode 12 has whole speeches about how going blind is the only reason Day knows how to be happy and what he truly wants out of life. This a beautiful message that we got throughout the whole series. He was loved when he was blind. He was loved when it seemed he would stay that way forever. He accepted himself and loved himself. And he was still loved when he got his sight back. He became a better person.

So to come online and see the absolute vitriol being thrown around like somehow this ending ruins the entire series, like somehow him getting a very realistic eye surgery to correct damage done in an accident erases all the character growth and the message of loving yourself, finding people who love you regardless of illness or disability, and appreciating the world around you....

It's really ruining the show for me. Day's surgery didn't do that. The fans are doing that.

Day getting his sight back does not erase his experience as a blind person. Just like a cast and pt doesn't erase your experience with a broken leg. Just like time and healing doesn't erase your experience with traumatic brain injuries. Just like getting a prosthetic doesn't erase the experience of losing a limb.

Like, damn. Someone get me some eye surgery pronto. It still won't change the last 27 years of my life.

And to suggest that bad things should happen to the director for such a choice is a really terrible thing to do.

When I saw Day looking at Mhok while they knelt by Rung's grave, I felt overwhelmed with emotion, because Day has been wanting to see clearly for so long and here he was, staring lovingly at his boyfriend - the boyfriend who chose to be with him despite everything. I thought it was beautiful.

And all these haters are really making it hard to even search for gifs. I wanted to roll around in the joy and emotion of the episode, but there are too many people treating it like a god damned funeral protest.

[coastxlwaters]

(Not part of the knowledge au since I haven’t rewatched all the episodes yet since I keep zoning out midway)

Tw: depression, talk of trauma, denial,, mental health, coping mechanisms, and slight vents (mine)

More theories since my iPad is getting fixed and I need a little vent time as well.

I see so many people make Eclipse seems depressed, nothing is wrong with that, but I also notice many people think if you experience trauma and are still affected by it your depressed. Since I have gone through similar things but not on the scale of eclipse obviously, think I would be dead if I had, I can relate to him in some aspects and then go from there to figure out how is feeling in some of those moments. I am getting the feeling that the whole memory thing isn’t faulty coding or reuploading. He is still missing things that were pretty obvious throughout the backup and original. Even if ruin was rushed he doesn’t strike me as the type of guy to leave a project half finished. Now since it’s proven that the human brain will block out most traumatic memories you have (other than huge ones that leave gigantic scars on mental or physical health) and since the animatronic mind works so similar it seems like Eclipse’s code is trying to replicate that inside eclipse. Basically trying to deny the fact he had the amount of trauma build up he had so he DOESN’T get depressed.The chronic pains and (maybe headaches?) could be his animatronic body fighting back against what his memory storage is trying to do which could end up damaging his systems in one way or another. So basically he is in denial. This could be me simply reading into things too much or projecting and not realizing it but in my head it is a valid theory, if you would like to add on or simply tell me I am wrong reeling it with your concerns attached I will read them even if it is yelling at me for maybe projecting, your reasons and thoughts are valid to me since it’s clear TSAMS doesn’t like us projecting.

Some more while I’m at it, his trauma was always put down by somebody every time it was slightly brought up. This pained me every time I saw it since when I started watching this show, which was basically when it started, I had the same thing happen to me. Though it didn’t happen very often since no one really on the show talked about it much. I think the reason I read into characters so much is because I have went through many different versions of trauma that most people shouldn’t or wouldn’t have at the age I started receiving it.

[elvenbeard]

It's 8:42 in the morning, I didn't sleep, I finished Phantom Liberty.

MAN. OH MAN.

I have so so so many emotions, I'm so... HHHH.

Big big big big big spoilers below the cut.

I only played through one of the expansion endings so far (siding with Songbird), and I played the new main game ending... and I'm such a fucking puddle of feels now hhhh.

What I can say is that... I still love the Sun ending a lot for Vince, and that won't ever change. But this new one now... I don't even know where to start MAAAnnn...

I started my 12 hour gaming session yesterday briefly before shit went down like... Feels like it was all in a different life (HAH). I really liked the whole prep-work for taking on Hansen, tracking down the rental car, the convo with Songbird about her past, and man, I said that before, the lil scene with Alex had me bawling. The little human moments of connection in the face of all the horrors Cyberpunk does so well that get me everytime. Vince getting up to dance with her was so fucking cute, and internally both me and him and Alex probably too knew that that would be the last moment of peace - and potentially (and he ended up being right) the last night they'd play on the same team.

Like... Even after the convo with Song, me, the player, was pretty sure I'd end up siding with Reed. He and Vince had a lot in common with their backgrounds, principles, etc etc. and Songbird seemed out of control, in a way, like Reed had said. But that whole sentiment he kept repeating ("she doesn't know what's best for her", "I gotta save her" etc etc) was beginning to creep into Vince's head and rubbing him the wrong way (having grown up with an over-bearing, controlling parent, the whole control-shit at Arasaka, etc etc) - subconsciously at first, but it got to a point where he could no longer rationalize it away.

AND THEN. FUCKING FUCK. The faceplate. I had been dreading that shit so fucking much, I knew it was coming but yeah... I think Vince would rather die than having that done on him out of his own free will. Like... the tech is insanely cool for a spy ngl. But Vince is not a spy. Not really. With his background and opinions of cyberware and everything... getting your face replaced is a step too far, a step he wouldn't wanna take, ever, unless like, he got his face melted off in a horrible accident or something like that. Not for a one-off mission, more or less, for people he didn't even fully trust. Both he and me were hoping that somehow there would be a way around it. Like you can talk your way out of taking the oath and so many other things. But no, this thing is forced on you (for plot reasons, obviously, and again, I fucking love the concept of it and the options it offers for gameplay. I'm really just speaking for my V's personal experience here XD)

That whole situation felt so fucking invasive to begin with, and I'm not even speaking about the cyberware. There was so much pressure, from Reed and the Ripper, zero explanation as to what exactly the Ripper was gonna do, just how invasive the procedure is (that it's not reversible just like that, for example). V was never shown the thing beforehand, never got an explanation what it's made of, how it works, how to maintain it. There way not a single friendly word, nocalming him down. Worst doctor expereience ever, and that's quite the achievement with Vince's trackrecord of dealing with horrible doctors in the past. The whole thing was traumatizing as hell for him, the whole experience, just being knocked out without much of a warning, then not even fully and HHHHHH.

And then he stumbles back out of there, desperately clinging onto the hope and trying to tell himself that it's all gonna be worth it, all the trauma, the pain, questioning his identity even more than he already does. But the show must go on. And so he goes on to kidnap the Frenchies, and for some reason he wants to believe these two nobodies will make it out of this mess alive somehow, against all odds. Yeah. No. But not just *that* they died, but *how* they died was the final straw. So fucking cold and brutal. Vince was shocked how Alex was suddenly so cold and brutal, although not quite as much as Reed. And then when Vince gets rightfully upset about the situation, how it was handled, how inhumane... Like, he had to kill a lot of people working for Arasaka, and as a merc, but he would always wanna make it quick, painless, if it was really necessary to kill someone to begin with. Unbekownst to the victim, bullet to the head, precise and quick. Especially if it was supposed to be an execution, not something that happens in combat. But these two kids were scared shitless, dragged out of the car and not executed but butchered, brutally. And when Vince gets upset, complains, is enraged about how unprofessional these two alleged spys are, Reed says "they were just some criminals, why would you care?" - you know, to the lowly criminal standing in front of him. That was the line that shattered the fragile trust V had left in Reed for good. Like... he didn't trust So Mi either, but she had just as many reasons to distrust Reed and the FIA and Myers as V, and he would've rather taken his chances with her instead after this final display of something he could absolutely not stand behind any longer.

Damn. I loved the whole sequence with Kurt, the convo, pretending to be Aymeric (from a player standpoint it was amazing, I also cackled later when I played Run this Town and got to use the disguise in a different context xD but honestly, Vince was hating every second of the meeting, also knowing he was just about to betray the people that hat brought him there.

Kurt's death was... maaan. Epic and a letdown at the same time. He would've deserved so much more screentime and a bigger part in all of it. I would've loved the option to side with him xD but then the DLC wouldve been even larger and even more complicated. Loved it as is though, still but yeah. Needs more Kurt!!!

Vince had no regrets about betraying Reed and putting his trust in Songbird until the very end... even when she ended up betraying him one final time with her revelation of the cure only working once. I fucking loved the confrontation with Reed on the bridge at the spaceport, I had been crossing my fingers so so hard for it to come to a showdown like that. I was so tempted for the dialogue choice of "take her, and I don't want anything for it in return". Cause like... despite everything, Vince had no desire to kill Reed. It wouldn't have changed a thing. Too many people had already died on his behalf anyway, and his hope for a cure was lost either way. So he ended up surrendering So Mi. I picked the option "deal", because I absolutely wanted to see the new main game ending, and I'm not sure if maybe with the "I dont want anything" choice you lock yourself out of it, but I will definitely test that out next time around.

The whole stuff that happened at the spaceport in general... I'm still trying to process it. And of fucking course Mr Blue-Eyes has his disgusting creepy fingers in all of it (or one of his associates) by helping So Mi, offering her this way out. I hate it (I love it). But that whole sequence of getting her to the spacecraft, I loved it so so much. Like all the boss fights and main missions, it was so nicely paced and structured, I had so much fun and I'm speaking as someone who is not good at fighting in video games.

So Mi's betrayal hurt, but letting her down in the end hurt even more. URGH. UUUURGH. But like... in that moment Vince was also like "okay... no cure. fine. But I'm not without leads, I'm just so done with all this spy crap. I should've never agreed to help her in the first place." If anything, he was sorry for things not turning out good for any of them really, but when do they do in NC.

He was glad to talk things out with Reed in the end to a degree, say his farewells. Still not getting his hopes up too high about him, still not really trusting him all that much. In a way still sympathizing, but at that point he'd be certain that he's done with the corporate world and anything like it for good. Revenge and hard feelings were pointless, Reed suffering from his decisions was punishment enough for Vince in that case.

I'm not sure if Vince would end up asking the FIA for help realistically. Like I said, I love the Sun ending for him a lot from a narrative standpoint. And Johnny's whole "please, don't do it", and him getting wiped as the price for it for good... that was at the same time not as bad as I had pictured it, but simultaneously it was awful. So yeah... I really don't know if, with all the choices present, the FIA would be number one. Realistically he'd wanna hear out Hanako first, and I think with how time-sensitive everything else is beyond that, the FIA is propbably off the table. Either way though... I wanted to see the ending.

I was bawling my eyes out during the AV ride, V and Johnny making up, talking a final time... and Johnny calling him Vincent in the end fucking destroyed me asödhjfasfasdf ;______; Doctor detected heightened emotions not just on V but on me as well that was so... HHHHHH. My feels ;__;

And then... the new main game ending. God. Like... ever since those new holocall icons of Kerry and Judy appearing a while ago, with Kerry's 2079 world tour promo... We had to get a timeskip. And I feared the cure would be tied to working for the FIA long term or some shit like that, something that would drive a wedge between V and his loved ones for good. The cure being tied to all sorts of horrible things I kept imagining...

And then the reality was so much more gentle and in a way so so fucking happy if that makes sense? Like... fuck, two years have passed. And fucking Reed and no one else in fucking Langley apparently considered even telling anyone back in NC about the complications of V's operation and all. Y'know, keep his loved ones in the loop after even telling him "tell your friends you'll be gone for a bit, a month tops". And that's the worst betrayal of the whole expansion for me cause like... it was so pointless. Did no one tell anyone cause they had no hope? Cause they wanted to sever V's ties on purpose? Was it Reed's decision, someone else's? Was it intended as punishment? Or was it downright laziness and uncaringness for V as a person, and he maybe just an interesting yet complicated experiment. That one really really hurt. And Vince could not blame Kerry or any of the others for being hurt by that and having moved on with their lives. He would've in their spot, for sure. And no, Reed, he absolutely fucking will not work for the FIA, fuck off. And then Vince fucked out of there as quickly as possible and never looked back.

The whole "your body can't tolerate implants anymore" thing... Did not really hit him that hard. Like... yeah. Netrunning, hacking, which he was always so fucking good at, is not gonna be a thing anymore in this timeline. And that he'll miss sorely. Feeling really really fucking capable about something he built a big part of his life around. That was a central part of his life for all his life, really.

But apart from that... he was always low on chrome. He wouldnt miss it nearly as much as other Vs I think. I think what he struggles with more is just recovering from the coma physically, how weak he is for sure for a while, the fact he probably will never be as fit as he used to be. But still... there's hope in that. Cause he gets to live. He never wanted to be a merc, he would make a damn good fixer for sure... but he'll find something else, something less dangerous. He won't be happy being just a nobody in the crowd, but he's also fallen from high places before and climbed back up, coming out on top every time, every time more himself, seizing new opportunities and making his way. He can make it out of that hole. Like, yeah, the timing sucks... But Kerry wants to see him again, and they can rekindle things. I'm sure they will. I'm so happy Kerry got to play at the Crystal Palace, he's so on top of his game, given how low he was when he and V first met. You know... he says he was hit hard by V's disappearance and potential death, but he's out there rocking the world. He's doing good, he didn't fall back into a spiral of depression and despair. And that makes me so happy. And Vince is gonna hold on to that thought of a future together not just not being off the table, but being so much more certain than before now.

Vince is upset about Panam being so upset, but he can understand her well. He wouldn't feel much different than her. He is sad about River not wanting to see him, but he hopes he can change his mind, somewhere down the line. He is so excited to meet Judy's wife, he is so happy she found peace and love. Hell, Vince would happily just be Kerry's useless trophy husband, if I'm being completely honest, and it's possible now. With no obligations in Night City left, no reputation to upkeep, they can do whatever they want. Rogue promises he wont be forgotten, he will be a legend of the Afterlife forever - one that actually gets to live a full life. Who can forget about all the horrors. He's gonna adapt and find his new thing and like, you know...

This little scene, and the farewell scene with Misty hit me so hard cause... remember this?

I actually... had something very very very similar planned for Vince in the long run that we get with PL now. I'm feeling extremely validated with my headcanons and ideas and concepts and just... Yeah. Not that that's absolutely necessary for fanfiction to be valid or anything, but I'm just... so happy.

I said it in a prev post, PL is the gift that gives on giving by granting me all my little wishes and confirming so many tiny random headcanons. But I didn't think it would also get me pretty much the ending I'd been working on already in the background, the one that he'd deserve. So yeah... idk. Cyberpunk can have happy (or at least bittersweet) endings, it does for me 100% now. V gets to live and survive, if you choose to, canonically.

[milkywaydrinker]

Having watched Amphibia and thought it over, I guess I can understand why some viewers interpret Marcy's arc as having unfortunate implications regarding her parents, even if I personally don't see her parents as abusive.

Judging by Braly's statements regarding Marcy's father, the job he took that required his family to move out of state was a big 'opportunity' for him. From the way Braly worded it, Mr. Wu took the job not out of necessity, but because he wanted to, which can easily come across as selfish and uncaring, especially since Marcy's house in L.A. already looked pretty well-off.

With that in mind, I can understand why some would object to Amphibia answering this situation with 'Well, things change and it's healthier to accept it, for good or ill, rather than fight it.' In response, some people are like 'Hold up, why are you just ignoring the way Marcy's dad is acting? Surely the right thing to do is have Marcy's dad realize he never needed this job, appreciate what he already has, and start putting what his daughter wants ahead of his own wants.'

Now, a route like that would obviously clash with a story that desires to end with Marcy accepting the move. But looking back on things, I think one of the biggest reasons it's a shame we don't see Sasha or Marcy's parents is that we never get to see how Marcy's dad viewed his own choices. We see Marcy's reaction to it, but we never get to see his side of things.

I mean, what if Mr. Wu thought he was doing a good thing for his family by taking a job he didn't necessarily need? What if he understood he already lived a pretty good life, but believed that, if there was a chance for him to provide an even better life for his wife and daughter, he should take it?

I think there were ways to explore this that didn't make a villain out of the man and still end with Marcy moving. For example; Mr. Wu could learn it's not inherently wrong to desire more for yourself; what's wrong is ignoring/forgetting the feelings of those you love. Meanwhile, Marcy could learn the same lesson as in canon, with the added understanding that her dad, while making mistakes, genuinely thought he was doing good by her by taking the job. Knowing that, as well as her father apologizing, combined with her accepting that distance and time won't mean she loses Anne or Sasha's friendship, makes her more comfortable going ahead with the move. Mr. Wu could still take the job with Marcy's blessing, while promising to do better by her and make a greater effort to understand her better.

Think there was a missed opportunity for a more nuanced story here, or am I looking too deeply into things?

Sorry for the late reply! I think you're very much onto something here.

As someone whose parents decided to move just like so, this specific aspect of Marcy's story bothered me.

With enough time and perspective, as an adult living on my own, I grew to understand why they decided to do so. Despite that, moving as a neurodivergent child was a really traumatic experience for me. I had great friends in my first school, I had a group of peers who had the same hobbies as me and understood me. After the move, it took me many years (until high school) to get something similar again.

My parents also realized how much this hurt me, and while they couldn't undo the move, they did everything to help me through this time and after a few years apologized to me for their decision.

Showing what Marcy's relationship with their parents looked like, would've helped with actually fleshing out the emotional impact of the story.

(Same with Sasha but that is a whole another can of worms)

In the show, the narrative fails at making its points. It's both pro and anti authoritarian. It's trying to play the "respect your culture, respect your parents, be a good child" card and then calls it all off with adding Andrias and his backstory into the mix. It's not thematically coherent. I love children's media but it requires a delicate balance. It's an art of its own, to make a story that's both thematically cohesive and engaging without being overly scholastic.

Marcy does what she does for a good and valid reason. Sasha and Anne are her support network, people who tolerate her quirks and often indulge her even if they aren't even half as invested in her hobbies as she is. Tearing her out of her safe environment is cruel and hinted to be unnecessary. It's a "Parents know what's best for you so don't fight their decisions" moment. Showing something that would balance it out would have made it less harsh and seemingly cruel.

[wellofhavoc]

Hello I just want to thank you for being the only person on here with consistent hawk and dove content (especially on your art account). They are my special little guys and your characterization of them is SO GOOD. I’ve read some of your tags about the Mordru/Hector/Unity stuff and I’d love to hear your thoughts about it if you’re comfortable. Hank haters be damned 💙💙💙

Oh thank you so much! I'm really glad to be here for anyone who is looking for content. I don't fill the fanfic niche quite yet, but that can be fixed with my Many Thoughts- so thank you for asking to hear them and in advance: I'm Sorry.

[TW for mention of SA during The Conception, the rest doesn't mention it.]

A Quick Guide

For the sake of simplicity when talking about this with my friends who didn't read all of this comic stuff, I've built a list of shorthand that makes things easier for people listening. Since this is written, I won't have to use ones like "Dawn" and "Donny" but I feel like some others being explained here could help. I also have headcanons I'll explain my reasons for in some areas, but in others it's just how I deal with the MANY retcons that surround the whole "Monarch/Extant/Mordru" nonsense.

The body Hector Hall possesses- the actual, lost child of Hawk and Dove- is "Dector" Hall [because it's funny and simple.]

"Mordru" and "Hank" as one body are known as "Extant" and it's my general belief that Hank started with more control that he gradually lost over time but Hank never stopped fighting the control Mordru had over his powers and his body.

Dawn did die in the moment "Monarch" killed her, but then Mordru simply revived her in the hand-waving fashion most villains get to just do that when he wanted to have their child instead.

The point of the Unity project wasn't just to have a baby, but for Hawk and Dove to decide to have a baby. This means that Dector is not a true Unity and, in my opinion, doesn't have full access to the Hawk and Dove powers, just the propensity for a balance between Order and Chaos.

The Conception

The only part I've ever hesitated to share is my feeling on how Hank and Dawn would process their trauma regarding Hector's conception because I largely think Dawn would handle it by: Not Handling It and Hank would probably immediately try to process his feelings by finding a target for his aggression only to be faced with one simple fact: The JSA and Dawn already killed him.

There's also the less simple fact that Hank probably wouldn't immediately assume Dawn knew as much as he did about the time he was under Mordru's control considering she was dead for a portion of the time, asleep for a lot of it, and just not physically present for much of the stuff Mordru did as "Extant." This means that he feels bad not talking about it because- even though probably one of the first conversations since Blackest Night [when he was resurrected] was about the whole "baby thing" was about the assault so he knows she knows- he convinces himself that he IS keeping how BAD IT was from her and that that makes him just as horrible and that he "must have actually gotten some satisfaction out of it." At the same time, he doesn't feel like he can bring it up to her again and again without making it seem like he WANTS her to be traumatized, because all he actually wants is a conversation he doesn't feel the right to ask for.

All of this to say that I want to include Hank's perspective on the assault without CENTERING him because I do think Dawn's experience with being killed, being assaulted, and her lost motherhood that she never asked for [and in my opinion, never saw for herself] would absolutely wreck her but Dawn has always been the type to bottle up and focus on the "practical." She would try to "get over" her feelings without processing them because... what is the logical point in doing the work when she can just skip to the pay off? Obviously the answer is that that's largely not how emotions work, but she wouldn't care, but not realize that she's not handling it as well as she thinks. Sure she could talk about it with Hank, but she would understand it upsets him and wouldn't see any benefit to bringing it up or letting him talk himself into the ground about it.

The main issue is that they both hold themselves to an impossibly high standard: How they see each other. They would both probably come to the conclusion that the other one is FINE so they should be FINE and that's not only not how feelings/trauma works but it's also not true.

If I had a season of a TV show or five issues to delve into their dynamic post-possession, I think it would take a third party to maybe cross that line for them and ask how they are regarding that specific blip in their history or likely privately ask one of them how it's affected their relationship and open their eyes to the fact that their partner is definitely not taking this as well as they seem to think they are. Maybe then they could actually start unpacking Hank's known horror of his time as Mordru's puppet and Dawn's unknown horror of their lost time and how she was used.

Dector Hall

Of course there's still one person we haven't addressed in regards to their feelings. Some people forget that this was a character- or at the very least was intended to have character at some point.

When Hector visits with the other Fates inside of the helmet at the barbecue, there is an implication that someone is missing from the party outside of Mordru. Hector's subconscious is lined with pictures of Hawk and Dove before he was forced to reconcile with the fact that this body was their child.

Dector was a child sacrificed to the mantle of Doctor Fate- to be a vessel for Hector Hall- for the fate of the universe and then forcibly aged. If it wasn't Hector, it would have been Mordru, after all. It's just an incredibly sad thought, and considering this child seems to have been either conscious enough of the circumstances of his birth to know who his biological parents are. He was a PERSON, isn't that fucked up?

Wish the comics had more to say about these implications- but I sure do!

I fear a lot of them won't make sense outside of the story I've elaborately crafted in my head- but a lot of things I like to think about stem from me thinking about how it would feel from behind the eyes of someone not quite a friend and not quite a stranger to watch your mom leave in search of someone to belong to and someone that she can take care of while you're so small and without the voice to ask for her to turn around and really look at you.

Dawn and Motherhood

I think Dawn's feelings about motherhood would be complicated. I think Dawn is a caretaker, but helplessness scares her. She likes responsibility. It makes her feel good, and she likes to be trusted and needed.

But helplessness frustrates her. We can see this with Ren freaking out about Copperhead and Dawn telling her to calm down because "people are watching" while Hank just keeps consoling her. She's not a robot, but she isn't good with high emotions- she thinks the insurgence on Druspa Tau must be totally born from Hank or M'shulla because she knows the logic behind the decisions regarding population and resource control, doesn't think to check in with Ren until she starts avoiding her because SHE knows she's not hitting on Hank and thus doesn't see why Ren should be upset, her immediate reaction after Terataya and T'charr confess their plans for the future of Hawk and Dove and kiss in their bodies is to ask if she and Hank should fall in love as if it's that simple.

She was also still getting her associates in college in her early 20s when she was killed/abducted, so something tells me "I'm ready to have a baby" never crossed her mind.

But she had one, and it's the last purpose Tarataya and T'charr laid out for her and Hank before they vanished. Crossing that off of her list and no longer needing to justify a possible romantic relationship she wasn't ever really interested in: What's next?

I do feel she would have a sense of loss, though. How could she not think about those possible futures she saw from Waverider and how she felt watching and living in them?

I think Dawn could be happy as a mother if she had time to prepare for it, but that's definitely not the case here. I don't think Dawn is a very warm person, but she still cares about other people. That means I can't believe she doesn't have SOME emotions about the person Hector has warped into his new body. Even if Dector isn't conscious at all- which he definitely was at at least some point between the writers- it would be hard to separate the logic of this body being a shell from the emotion that that shell was a human being that grew inside of her- that she met with different faces in a sea of different futures and in one of those worlds held in her arms.

Unity

I have plans- so many plans- I will one day sit down and properly start "Hawk and Dove: Revenge" a long-form fancomic where I hope to explore a full AU. This will also include the Don Revival AU and my ideas on other unexplored or half-explored Hawk and Dove concepts [The War Council, Revisiting Druspa Tau, Holly and Dawn's relationship, Holly Granger Character Arcs, power evolution-] but for now-

Unity!

She doesn't have a canon name- only known as "Dr. Arsala," considering this was 1. Never meant to be a canon ending for Hawk and Dove, just another possibility but this one being born of both of their futures if they survive to the future together and 2. In a book FULL of alternate children- sons and daughters, brown, black, and blonde haired- we can assume "Dr. Arsala" is just another "what if?" an example of the kind of person a child of Hawk and Dove could be.

Still she's a GREAT character- a mouthy neurosurgeon who is as direct as she is crafty. That's why I choose the more literal interpretation- that she was their future in a universe ruled by Monarch. Of course, that universe can't really exist now and Hawk and Dove are loosely implied to only be a "One in a span of different universes" kind of deal, meaning one Hawk and one Dove per each cluster of timelines since there is only one Chaos and Order dimension across those timelines [See the Phantom Zone for a better idea of how that works- it's too much to explain here- the idea is that Druspa Tau, the Chaos Dimension, and the Phantom Zone are their own dimensions separate of multi-universe theory, meaning that for however many infinite Earths exist, there will only be one Hawk and Dove per that cluster.]

Of course, due to the nature of INFINITE Earths being infinite- it stands to reason that- in theory- there could exist multiple Hawks and Doves... they'd just be from Universe Group B instead of another dimension in Universe Group A- just like there being a possibility of other Phantom Zones and maybe even a group of universes without ANY Hawks or Doves either because there is no Chaos or Order Dimension or because T'charr and Terataya never met or simply ran off together.

All of this to say, there's plenty of room for A Unity to exist out there somewhere, and I would love to see her get to replant a world on Monarch's scorched ground.

More than that, I'd like to break down her feelings on her mysterious conception- did her mom cheat on her dad? Did Sal know about it? Did Hank and Dawn knowingly have this child as a last resort against Monarch? Is she a weapon?

Personally, I think what we see of our Doctor is that she has Dawn's tendency toward the practical in high-stress situations, but that she has Hank's heart. From both of them, she has their sense of duty. I think that means she'd understand if she was conceived with the sole purpose of saving the world, and from there struggle with how that makes her feel or if she gets to have feelings. It's not as though the people responsible for her being alive would be around to talk to her about why they did what they did or to apologize for putting so much onto her.

She is the last hero of Earth in the future, too. If she rewrites Monarch's mind into something useful, he will still only be a weapon- no one that she can relay information to or discuss her place in the world with. Without Monarch's iron fist in place, there would definitely be a new wave of people trying to fill a perceived power vacuum. Just because she was strong enough to beat an inflated dictator doesn't mean that taking over his world and rebuilding it will be easy, nor does it mean that more intense threats will be just as easy to handle. Sharp claws and a sharper mind are good weapons, but they aren't the only thing she'll need against any possible underground revolts that might fear the last Meta Human might be a WORSE dictator than Monarch was.

Of course, we'll never get to see her tact or how it would stack up to these new types of foes, but this is about my thoughts and this is what Unity makes me think about.

There's also the cosmic implications- what would magic users previously removed from the now VERY dangerous, Monarch-Ruled dimension think of its new caretaker and her power source? The War Council? So many possibilities for a future never meant to be in canon.

I think even if she got everything she wanted- full Utopia- she's not the kind of person to not like having a project. Maybe she'd have to take her services elsewhere, and we'd get to see the Doc make a few house calls.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading my rambles, however much you did. I am very grateful for the excuse to dump my thoughts out like this.

[wildissylupus]

Your take on Yeehan was very interesting and I agree with it 100%. Same thing happens with Spuriken though, and it bothers me so much. The emasculation and hyper sexualization of Genji is a so icky and ended up pushing me away from the ship. I just don’t get why he needs Cassidy to defend/protect him when he has mfing ninja training. Idk, people don’t seem to know how to treat Japanese characters.

Yeah I agree with this too, it's less common in my experience but that's probably due to it basically being a rare pair compared to Yeehan. Personally when it comes Spuriken I like the idea of Cassidy, not necessarily defending him, but being of the opinion that he shouldn't be on the field. Cassidy outright states that he regrets what Overwatch and Blackwatch did in Hanamura, I think them enabling Genji's revenge complex and anger issues is a part of that regret.

And though I do believe Genji would wear eyeliner, I hate it when people hyper sexualize him, glamorize his body dysmorphia and treat his trauma as something only Cassidy can fix. (This is a similar problem with Yeehan but not to the extent of Spuriken)

Genji needed therapy, not a just as traumatized Cowboy.

Also again, every time a Shimada uses the term "cowman" I loose brain cells. I hate that trope so much you don't understand-

Another common problem I see with Spuriken shippers is that they romanticize Blackwatch, look, I understand the appeal, but they can't do that while also demonizing Deadlock. While Yeehan shippers often demonize Ashe specifically, Spuriken shippers, in my experience, demonize Deadlock as a whole.

I am of the opinion that Cassidy is the only Blackwatch member he remained in constant contact with after it's suspension but that is only because one, it's implied in dialog in "Storm Rising" and two, because Cassidy was the only other person who addressed how fucked up Blackwatch could be.

I honestly have a lot of headcannons on what Cassidy and Genji's dynamic was like (outside of the ship) and often they're things that I see a lot of Spuriken shippers disagreeing with. I think this is because the fandom tends to baby Genji, yes he's traumatized and reasonably so, but an important part of his story is that he made the choice to change for the better. People often forget that Genji is very obviously a foil to Reaper and his development. One chose to get better while the other doubled down.

Not only that but the more toxic Spuriken shippers will go on and on about how Cassidy would be hostile towards Hanzo, while completely ignoring the canon fact that Cassidy didn't trust Genji.

Again these problems aren't as prominent in Spuriken as a whole, most of these come from the Blackwatch side of the shippers, but the fact that it happens often enough for it to be a pattern shows me that if this ship was as popular as Yeehan it would suffer from the same problems Yeehan does.

Again I want to say that I do ship Spuriken, like Yeehan it has a lot of interesting story potential, but I think what a lot of people miss is that you can like something and still be critical of it or the way the community around it acts. I have been in way too many toxic fandoms to not be critical of the communities I'm in at this point.

[elder-sister]

Okay so!

Hoshido is very peaceful, and prosperous. But also isolationist and racist

Nohr is a land in eternal night, and with few resources, forcing them to Conquer other lands, starting a war with Hoshido who refuses to trade with them. It doesn't help that an unknown (until you play the third route then you find out) killed Nohr's good king and slowly turned him into a brutal, bloodthirst tyrant.

While many of the Nohr characters who aren't recruited are obviously evil, I do think things are a bit more gray.

And also, Nohr's worldbuilding is interesting

Plants grow via moonlight, most cities are underground, the castle is in a hole. The place is militeristic, the history of the royal family is VERY interesting, the flora is bioluminescent, it's just cool

Nohr survives by conquering nearby lands such as the Ice Tribe, Notre Saggesse, and Cheve

Even then, those places are small. And have a tendency to rebel

Also, Conquest is more difficult. Units level up slower, you need to buy DLC for grinding, and it's harder and more expensive to get items. The map designs are also some of the most difficult yet fair in the series. Birthright is very Easy

Also, Nohr's music is pretty Celtic, with instruments such as bagpipes.

Hoshido is heavily Japanese inspired

And oh boy. The royal family of Nohr...

I feel bad for them. So very bad for them. They are the reason I can't play Birthright because I don't wanna hurt them ;-;

Yeah the Hoshido siblings lost their dad and Corrin but oh boy that's NOTHING compared to Nohr.

And also the Hoshidan royals, specifically Takumi and Hinoka, are racist

Nohr had a Queen, Katerina. She had a son with King Garon. Xander. And then she died. Now at this time, Garon was a loving father. Then, the concubines wanted power. They used their children for this. Hundreds of them forced to kill each other, or play the roles of political pawns. This lasted years. During this time, Garon remarried a woman named Arete, a foreigner with a daughter named Azura. However, throughout what would be called the Concubine wars, with so many of his children dying, he grew cold and callous. And eventually the whole mysterious guy killing and secretly puppetyring him thing happened.

Only 5 kids remained.

Xander, Camilla, Azura, Leo, and Elise

All very traumatized.

Xander constantly facing assassinations, Camilla made into a weapon for her mother, Azura being picked on relentlessly and the guards turning a blind eye, Leo forced to be a pawn and outright stating in a support that his mother didn't love him, and Elise was too young to remember, but she was never around for good guy Garon.

Then came Corrin's kidnapping and Azura's kidnapping.

And when they met Corrin, their new sibling, they became EXTREMELY close. They only had each other.

But they are effected. Xander hides his feelings for the greater good, Camilla is so violently protective and attached to people if she leaves she freaks out, Azura honestly got the best out of this because the Hoshidans saw her as "one of the good ones" Corrin was isolated and longed for the outside world, Leo has a massive inferiority complex, feeling his not good enough, not worthy, and strives to make his siblings proud even when they already are, and Elise takes it upon herself to make sure everyone is happy.

Even their retainers aren't as close to them as they are to the siblings. Niles broke in with a group of thieves and when they abandoned him and Leo confronted Niles, he begged for death, intriguing Leo enough to spare and hire him. Beruka was hired to kill Camilla, so Camilla hired her for more money to be a retainer. Laslow, Selena, and Odin are actually Inigo Severa and Owain from Awakening and are thus incredibly secretive. And Peri loves killing. Elise has the best retainers with her best friend and a Justice loving man.

ALL OF THIS BEFORE THE GAME EVEN STARTS!!!!!!!!!

Every trauma thing stays the same except Corrin. I mean her first experience outside the Northern Fortress is being a commander in a war so...

Also, headcanon ages (during the game)

Elise is 16 (Japanese Version has her as a child and she's written like one but she is called an adult once in the English version so I'm going with 16 as a comprise), Leo is 18, Corrin is 20, Azura is 20, Camilla is 22 and Xander is 25. But the ages are just headcanon

Oof that was... uh. Something? /pos

[asknarashikari]

Regarding this ask, this is a good explanation about the "it’s a bit of a miracle he was able to cooperate with Berobitch at all" (this was written during JGP; before DR where Daichi used deceit):

Yes, Azuma would target those who already clearly fit his view first like Morio or Daichi (afterwards in DR), but he believes the others can pull something like Morio too, despite appearing decent, but he's waiting to see it.

People like Beroba openly revel in how evil they are and own up to her acts. So it's not like Morio type, two-faced ones which feeds Azuma's distrust and paranoia, Beroba makes it known that she's evil, which means she's more readable to Azuma and thus more trustworthy.

Geats aside, this belief is maybe more common among people. Some believe that an entire group, or humans as a whole, is inherently evil. Obviously, worst examples are brought up, like war, genocide, or torture, but blame can also be placed on mundane stuff like lifestyle, due to, for example, harming the environment or exploiting slavery (e.g. buying products from those) just for more comfort.

By this, it means nothing good done by them is genuine. Some can even think doing good out of conscience disqualifies as it's seen as self-serving to avoid discomfort (haunted by guilt).

Those who adhere to morality can be viewed as hypocrite or sheltered, believing they're just that way because they have not had a wake-up call that 'proves' their (evil) nature is the same (not only traumatizing experiences but also things like retail work).

Obviously above will involve judging people in extreme situations and "[x] is bad so everyone who does [x] is bad". Some villains are motivated to prove that humans can't ever be good (if they face a supposedly noble hero) and they make use of the above too.

Or at best, they think people can only be genuinely good towards those close to them. So if they're kind to strangers, for instance, it has to be done for ulterior motives, such as validation, attention, PR, getting laid, etc.

While cruelty towards other people can be supported/condoned if it's done for the sake of loved ones (e.g. justifying MCU Scarlet Witch's villainy for her children's sake). Which is why I think being good to friends or family doesn't necessarily mean they're good people.

I've seen many considering being an open asshole as being genuine and honest, thus they can encourage and normalize direct shitty behavior, depicting it as blunt and non-deceptive. They don't pretend to be anything other than their 'inherent nature' (so yes, two-faced moves like Morio are still discouraged).

I still don't necessarily think Buffabutt trusted the people he worked with (i.e. Berobitch and Kabuto-wannabe), he just worked with whoever was the most convenient for his purposes. Maybe he does think they're somewhat more "honest" with their intentions, but that doesn't mean he works with them because of that. They're just more useful to him, a means to an end.

Though I do agree with you on how he views people. He fundamentally distrusts their ability to be altruistic. He deems someone who does try to do good for the sake of doing good as dishonest about their "true" intentions.

Imo? I think people like these assume too much and only the worst about others. People could have multiple reasons for wanting to do good things. Just because they have some "selfish" reason for doing it, it doesn't make them dishonest about also wanting to do it because it's the right thing to do.

Honestly though, the way you put Azuma's philosophy just makes it even more baffling that he was the one lecturing Keiwa over the whole Darth Tanuki debacle. In that instance, not only was Keiwa not being the goody-two-shoes type he seems to loathe, he was actually pretty clear about why he was doing all of it. It would seem to me that Keiwa was just doing exactly what Azuma would've expected him to do.