#or maybe all of hero society as they know it collapses and there is no more rankings just those who want to win and save for the sake of oth

[seagreenstardust]

Tbh when I first watched MHA and got to the preview for ep 3 and realized Izuku was going to be the world’s greatest hero because All Might was going to give him a quirk, and not because he was heroic enough without one, I was a little bit disappointed. The end of ep 2 leaves you feeling so high and that one spoiler brought down a notch for me

Now? Izuku deserves a quirk more than anyone, so sure, having him give everything, down to destroying parts of his body without repair, just to lose the quirk? Also feels a little bit disappointing, if that’s where we’re headed, just because he’s sacrificed so much

THAT BEING SAID. Izuku was a hero before OFA and he’s gonna be a hero after it. That’s an indisputable fact. And the last thing standing in his way is the barrier Kacchan and All Might put in front of him all the way at the front end of this story: that being a hero requires a quirk. Seeing Izuku overcome that would be so insane

[beyondthisdarkhouse]

Feeling really nostalgic about July 17-18, 2008, the last time I believed in Joss Whedon

It was just cool, you know? Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog dropped in three separate pieces over the course of the week. We'd get 15 minutes of story, and then two days to froth over the whys and wherefores in Livejournal comments before the next piece came out. And those days were so good.

Buffy fans are so fucking smart, y'all. They could combine academic rigor with unselfconscious fangirl squee. Squee was a hermeneutical method, a mode of interrogating the text--one we often dismiss and diminish, because if there's anything grosser than teenage girls getting goopy over a vampire they like, it's 30 or 50 or 70-year-old women getting goopy over a vampire they like. But it's similar to what I've seen called a "redemptive reading". You approach a piece of media specifically looking for its best parts, the pieces you love the best, and you allow yourself to fully embody the joy of liking something and caroling your joy to other people who like it too. In a perpetually burned-out time, squee can be like a desert oasis.

So the people who liked Buffy and Angel and Firefly watched Doctor Horrible in a manner both squeeful and intersectionally feminist, and saw all the amazing interesting things it was doing, showing how insecure geek masculinity fundamentally self-sabotages the main character, Billy, because the relationship he wants has been there in reach for months, and it's his own perception that he needs to be an alpha male warrior that has kept him from it. It interrogated the entire genre of costumed heroes, with two men thumping their chests and comparing their dick sizes, and none of them doing anything as direct and helpful for their society as Penny, the woman who stands on sidewalks collecting signatures to help a homeless shelter.

Part II came out on July 17, and the series would end with Part III on July 19. So on July 18, I spent most of the day reading Livejournal comments about it. There were all these theories: Maybe Penny was secretly Bad Horse, the archvillain whose approval Billy has craved since the beginning. Maybe she will collapse the love triangle with Billy's rival, Captain Hammer, by acting on her clearly-demonstrated discomfort and dumping him. Maybe Billy will learn that relationships are based on intimacy, not being The Best. Maybe Penny will become a superhero and replace Captain Hammer as Billy's nemesis. Maybe Billy will succeed and rule the world and give Penny Australia.

And then... none of those things happened. Joss Whedon ended the series in a way less progressive, less imaginative, less cool, than even the most half-baked fan theory out there. The story opened up possibilities to break out of an old, tired, toxic set of stories around men and women and sex and heroics, and then hid under a rock rather than change a single one of them.

July 19 was the day I concluded that while Joss Whedon might have his own baggage to work through about toxic masculinity, and artists have the right to make work meaningful to them, he wasn't making art that was meaningful to me. And I basically stopped expecting anything of him.

And then, for years, Buffy fans, educated and squeeful feminists and sharp pop culture critics, got told they were crazy histrionic SJWs for thinking Whedon didn't shit solid gold. For years. (I recently saw a video essay that included the line, "If you have the phrase 'mewling quim' branded onto your memory, you probably need some Metamucil" and, ouch, rude.)

There was so much excitement! A lot of us actually believed in the guy (although even then, there was enough evidence for many people to suspect what we now know to be 100% true about him.)

We wanted it to be good. We wanted to enjoy it.

I miss that feeling.

[darkonekrisrewrite]

Will Deku shred the Rug?

This ☝️ is amazing if that's really his intent now.

But I am personally not sure if Deku means this exactly because (while powerful) the words are still pretty vague.

Deku doesn't really know shigaraki that well yet and while maybe their vestige/mind link will lead to him finding out more through memory vision (which would be really cool), I can't help but wonder if deku really knows what "shredding the Rug" actually means here?

Because the "Rug" shigaraki is talking about is hero society as a whole.

Hero society can't exist as it is without the rejection and persecution of the "villains" in it, because while there are many villains who are that way just because they like it, a little less than half of all the antagonists in bnha have been shown to be made that way because of hero society's faults.

So if like, almost half of the villains in an already "oversaturated with Heroes" society, never become villains in the first place, what happens then?

Logically it can't sustain itself.

It can only change radically to adapt or collapse and end.

The problem is: no one else besides ochako and Deku have been shown to want either of those things.

That could change later (maybe with shoto or other heroes), but the point is that even just changing the hero system that much, means the end of their current way of life.

And many heroes and the people who profit off of them would definitely fight against that happening.

Heroes who got into it for the fame and money, companies who use heroes for advertising/marketing, and the government itself with the hero rankings and influence.

Without the villains (in a sustainable number), it would all be downgraded or disappear.

Hero society has never accepted those who went against the flow in anyway from the beginning.

And all of this without even touching on how the Civilians will react. (Based on evidence, extremely not well.)

So if the notion of Deku shredding the Rug is serious and how it's implied, then it can only really mean:

Deku shredding Hero Society.

Which would be awesome 🔥

(if that's really how it was meant)

[kacchanisms]

(spoilers for mha 395)

the final arc of mha is intentionally written to be the most pacifistic. the heroes want to save the core villains, to prove that their hearts have changed, to show that their society is redeemable, that they have a future. toga dying would collapse the whole arc.

it would be an egregious misstep on the author's side to shatter the narrative they spent nearly 400 chapters on. pairings and other nonsense aside, this ending would run directly counter to the ideas of the story.

there's foreshadowing as well. in toga's "final" moments, she refuses to be arrested. for her, it's freedom or death, living freely as a villain or dying before she's captured.

hawks said to twice to turn himself in or die. freedom or death, twice fought and died.

there has to be a third option, where toga can live freely as she is. ochako offered her another path through the promise of giving her blood, by telling her that her authentic self was beautiful, that her love was genuine and worthy of being reciprocated. acceptance.

hawks failed to see another path when he confronted twice. he didn't come to the battlefield with the desire to communicate, he came with his weapons out to arrest twice, no discussion. he had another choice there, you know? to reach out with real friendship. but he didn't.

ochako has done what hawks could not. she's forged a deep emotional connection with toga. now, hawks has to provide the third option, where toga doesn't die, where she can live freely as herself without imprisonment.

i don't know how toga will be saved from death. but hawks... has the potential to give toga a new future. he was once the child of a villain, someone who had no other avenues in life, who was eventually taken captive by the hero institution and trained into a child soldier. ultimately, hawks is a kind soul. all hawks ever held in his heart was the desire to help others, a savior complex, but this was exploited to make him a false hero, a bird in a cage. after his mother left, he saw a way out, but the mentality still remains to go for the kill.

... because he's a "hawk". a name that taught him how to be a predator.

himiko is also a bird. she's associated with sparrow imagery. she has a free love for others; in another world, she would've liked to help them. as she is, she is happy that she lived as she wanted.

since she was young, society has treated her love as predatory, which left a lasting impression on her self-worth. it forced her into a cage, one that was impossible for her to live in, until she finally became a villain so that she could live freely.

hawks and toga are akin to each other. they've both dropped a person from great heights. but they're also not irredeemable.

and hawks killed twice, toga's friend. those two are bound to interact one more time, just for that. this time hawks has the option to spare toga.

hawks and toga are bound by twice's death, a murderer and the best friend of the person he murdered. so hawks has obligations he needs to fulfill towards toga, to even begin to make it up to her. saving her would be the first step. since toga now parallels twice in this situation, hawks is also arriving at his own reckoning, just like how endeavor had to finally engage with touya, reckon with his own actions as a father. like endeavor, he may be tempted to self-destruct alongside his victim, or... he's crucial to saving her.

it's also maybe the only way out of the cage for hawks, too. the way to rid himself of the influence his hero-soldier upbringing had on him. to possibly acknowledge, apologize or atone for his actions.

with his past, hawks might have the chance to give toga another option -- to live freely, either as a rehabilitating civilian or a hero. she would be able to stay by ochako's side, where, like the LoV, ochako would reciprocate her love and provide her acceptance and community.

either way, there's so much set up for a strong ending with toga, building off mha's themes of redemption, acceptance, reaching out not with violence but with care and understanding. killing toga permanently would wreck all the careful work that went into this narrative.

[agrioxoiros]

you're a kid and you should have never been born. you are a kid and everything is telling you to die. telling most of your friends to die. you want to prove them wrong. you want to prove your worth and force them to accept you. you dream of being a hero, a warrior, a leader. you aspire to everything society holds dear, the same society that wants you dead. the gentler part of you is drawn to romance: how you may justify your existence through connection to others, in the ways that are prescribed and approved. the rules of it become second nature.

and your time comes. the crucible of your coming-of-age is here, and you are determined to rise to the challenge. you rally your friends, you establish yourself as uncontested leader, you devote your full effort to the cause. this is it.

you fail.

everything is falling the fuck apart. you're fucked, your friends are fucked, your dreams are fucked. all you can do to keep from collapsing is to lash out. find anyone to blame except yourself. it helps nothing. shit just keeps getting worse. your friends fall apart and turn on each other and you know it's because you fucked up. the closest thing you had to that dreamed love story falls apart too and you can't even pretend it isn't your fault. your attempts at damage control turn into screaming sessions directed at no one besides your own stupid self. you keep losing friends.

and the mess you've made gets gently pulled out of your hands as the people you've done nothing but scream at work on salvaging your failure. you're delegated to the margins of your own life. you try to play support to the few people that are still there. it doesn't work.

everything happens around you. plans are made regardless of your halfhearted input. you're not the leader, not the hero, not important. it's probably for the best. you just hope you can find a death laser to step in front of so maybe your corpse might noclip its way to heroism.

you don't even manage that. as the fireworks of everyone else's victory fade away, you're still there, still alive, still aimless. the guy you're in something resembling a relationship with seems happy. you try to be happy for him.

your name is karkat vantas, and you're not a kid anymore.

[bibiwrld]

SIMILAR!| MIGUEL O’HARA

★ Miguel O’Hara x Black fem anti-hero! [OC]

★ Before reading: I don’t speak Spanish, sorry for any mistakes made.

—Synopsis: A new face suddenly arrives at Nueva York, working at Alchemax, catching Miguel O’Hara’s eye and helping the Spider Society with catching villains and anomalies..well sort of.

previous: –four.

–five.

THIRD PERSON POV

Again and again, Wrenley and Miguel have gotten more than one taste of each other.

At his apartment, in the lab, at her apartment, in a random bar bathroom, in the backseat of his car.

They couldn’t stay off of each other. They became each other’s fuck buddies, calling and texting each other in moments of distress.

Miguel, when he was swamped with work from the Spider Society, letting an anomaly slip from his grasp, or when the Spiders would simply get on his nerves. He would need her in those moments.

And Wrenley, well she was secretive, never letting anything really get to her, never letting anyone know what was wrong or letting anyone see her face it, but deep down, it cut layers through her skin, whatever it was. When she was at her lowest, her fingers would desperately tap on Miguel’s contact name to make her forget.

They both needed each other to release that feeling, to relieve that stress. How compatible they were together, knowing what each other loved when it came to pleasure.

It was just sex. Nasty, raunchy, disgustingly amazing sex.

Still, Miguel knew nothing about her. She never spoke about herself, as much she did talk when she wanted to get under Miguel’s skin, she has never let anything slip. Miguel thought her mysteriousness was sexy, but he wanted to know what else there was to Wrenley Myers. Like where she moved from, if she had siblings, her favorite color— maybe he was getting attached, but it was human to be curious, it wasn’t a crime.

Like tonight, he wanted to know a little more about her, so he invited her for ice cream, which Wrenley found strange, but how could she turn down ice cream?

They were only getting ice cream, right?

Wrong.

After ordering 2 scoops of blueberry in a cup for herself, and Miguel who got 2 scoops of rocky road on a cone, which he paid for of course— they ended up in the backseat of his car, tangled up in one another.

Miguel was 9 inches deep inside of Wrenley, stirring up her insides.

“Y-you said…fuck— you said just..ice cream.” She choked out her moans underneath his large body, squeezing her legs around his waist.

“Mhmm, I know baby.” His hips snapped into her core, staring so lovingly in her eyes. “But how could I..resist you in th-those little… shorts, hm?” He pushed back the hair that was stuck to her forehead.

She moaned out, scratching his back. Oh how it hurt so good when she clawed at him.

“Miguel.” She drawled, hugging him tightly.

She was close. She could almost taste it.

Never stopping the rhythmic movement of his hips, he held her closer in his arms, giving her a peck on the cheek. “I know baby, let it out.”

Sending her over the edge, she came on his dick, body spasming erratically with cries of Miguel’s name escaping her throat.

Miguel kept going, he was almost there, peppering kisses all over her face and whispering into her ear how good she was taking him, and how close he was and how amazing she smelt— she was driving him over the edge.

Grunting and giving one final thrust, he filled her to the brim, his body slowly collapsing on top of hers.

“Fuck.” He breathed against her chest, listening to her sped up heart beat.

Her fingers caressed his hair. “You’re gonna kill me one of these days.”

He leaned up and shook his head with a smile.“You’re being dramatic.” He stretched to the front of the car, turning it on and putting on the AC to cool down and grabbing baby wipes to clean up.

With her legs spread wide, Wrenley pushed out his cream from her vagina, with her eyes dead set on him.

She was gonna make him hard all over again. He wiped her off, then himself, and as they were fixing their disheveled clothes, a cop siren went off behind them followed by red and blue lights.

“Shit.” Miguel groaned, trying to hurry to the front.

Wrenley followed suit and ended up in the driver’s seat.

The officer leaned down, tapping on the window.

Wrenley winded it down, looking at the male officer while leaning out the car window. “Good evening, Officer.” She batted her lashes and gave him that innocent voice.

“Good evening, ma’am.” The officer greeted with a smile and hands on his duty belt. “Can I see license and registration?”

Miguel quickly looked in the glove compartment for registration while Wrenley searched her purse for her driver’s license.

Handing them over to the officer, she spoke. “Here, this is my friend’s car, Officer.” Gesturing to Miguel.

‘Friend.’ Miguel thought to himself.

He spares a few glances at her, while scanning the documents. “Okay, can you step out the vehicle for me?”

Stepping out of the car, she put her hands up lazily, then turned around and put her hands out to balance against the car. “Am I in trouble, officer? Is it because I’m black?”

The officer stuttered, standing right behind. “N-no, of course not ma’am.”

Miguel chuckled at the officer’s response, but still looking out the window to make sure nothing strange was going on.

“What’s that replying to?” She rose a brow. “Me being in trouble question, or me being black question?”

He began patting her down, slowly running his hands along the curve of her waist. “The question about your race, ma’am. You could possibly be in trouble.”

She hung her head low and smirked. “But everybody knows that I’m a good girl, officer.”

“Then I’d have to find out myself.” He chuckled.

Miguel couldn’t believe the interaction.

“Should I step out the vehicle as well?” Miguel asked.

“No need for that, sir.” He worked his way to her breasts, patting lightly.

She smirked, turning her head to the side. “Do you always work alone so late?”

“Ye-yes, just me patrolling tonight.” He replied, going back down to her hips.

“How fun.” She giggled.

Miguel narrowed his eyes. “Aren’t you patting her down a little too much?” Miguel leaned over and stuck his head out the window. “If she had something on her, you would’ve found it by now.”

Quickly, the officer removed his hands from her, giving a nervous look.

Wrenley chuckled, shifting her weight to her right leg which perked her ass out even more. “Maybe he sees something he likes.”

The nervous officer blinked rapidly. “Uh..I– I’m on duty, ma’am.”

Slowly turning around, she looked him up and down. “That never stopped a cop from committing the most horrific crimes imaginable.”

“Why exactly did you even pull up behind us?” Miguel wanted nothing more than for this interaction to be over. “We’re parked and why did you only ask her to step out of the vehicle? It’s my car.”

The officer gave back her license and other documents. “There’s been a car stolen and the description matches your car, and I only needed the driver, sorry for any inconvenience.”

Wrenley pouted. “Aw it’s okay.”

Miguel rolled his eyes. ‘Does she do this with everyone?’

“Hope you catch the guy.” She tilted her head to the side and smiled.

The officer smiled back, holding his bullet proof vest tightly. “Thank you, ma’am. Have a good night.”

“You too.” She said before getting back into the car. “I’ll drive.”

“You’re really something.” Miguel shook his head.

“What?” She laughed. “Did I do something to upset you, O’Hara?” Before he could he respond, she answered her own question. “Oh wait, everything I do pisses you off.”

“Haha.” He dryly replied. “Is flirting with every guy a thing you do?”

“Yeah, it’s not like I’m tied to you.” She scoffed.

She was right, she wasn’t in a serious relationship with him.

“And who says I only flirt with guys?” She smirked, starting the car.

🕷️

“So what anomalies did you have in mind for the bait?” Miguel sat behind his desk, surrounded by Jess and the younger spiders.

After his little ice cream date with Wrenley, Jess contacted him and asked him to come to HQ.

“Scorpia, Earth-616.” Jessica started, reading from her holographic screen.

Miguel rubbed his chin. “Too easy.”

“Sandman, Earth-12041.”

He twisted his lips, looking up at Jessica. “He’s a bit annoying.”

“Miguel.” Jessica sighed.

“No, boss man’s right.” Hobie interjected. Sandcastle had me playin’ tag for at least an hour on my last mission.”

“And he gets sand all in my suit!” Pavitr added with a finger pointed upwards.

Miguel tilted his head, agreeing with Hobie and Pavitr. “Any other options?”

“Doctor Octavius, Earth-1610B.” Jessica finished, eyeing Miguel.

“She’ll have to do.” Miguel said, looking at the younger spiders.

Miles groaned, throwing a little fit. “She’s sooooo annoying.”

Miguel narrowed his eyes at him. “I could say the same for you. One more complaint and you’re off this mission.”

Miles only huffed, making Pavjtr jab him with his elbow.

“So when do you want us to capture her?” Gwen placed a hand on her hip.

Leaning forward, Miguel replied. “Tomorrow, this is going down tomorrow. Do you guys think you do can do this?”

“It’s just Liv.” Gwen laughed. “We locate her and just kick her ass into this universe, easy.”

“No, I mean White Phantom.” Miguel thought back to his nightmare, quickly shaking it off.

“They’ve been training hard for this, Miguel.” Jessica assured him. “They got this, especially Miles. He’s been working on a plan to get White Phantom cornered and take em down.”

“Tell me more.”

🕷️

Next part: –six.

If you would like to be tagged in this story, please comment.

[inyujidraws]

Had this idea since the first Spiderverse movie, but didn't draw it out. This is the last bit of Spidersona I'll be doing for this year, I swear. Basically Inko became a vigilante after the death of her family and getting bitten by a radioactive spider.

This happened maybe afround Izuku's first year in Junior High (middle school), so 2 years before canon. Izuku died during a villain attack. Villain was doing massive damage and a building collapsed. Izuku was helping an elderly man to safety, and then he noticed another civilian about to be crushed. Izuku died pushing that guy out of the way of falling debris. Inko mourned and fell into depression. She also cut off ties with the Bakugous after Katsuki opened his stupid mouth. Mitsuki still checked in on Inko to make sure she was eating or taking care of herself. Inko was really unwell.

Then her husband, Hisashi, urged Inko to come visit him at his work. He was hoping to distract her from the recent death and hoping the visit would persuade her to move to America with him.

I made Hisashi a flawed but okay dad and husband. Yes he did initially freak out after Izuku's diagnosis, but then regretted working abroad. He then got an idea to propose creating and harvesting artificial quirks from insects. The goal in the end was to return home and gift Izuku a quirk...too little too late. It didn't help that the experiment was dangerous, unstable, and nearly resulted in many failures to even extract the quirks. Currently, there was only one specimen.

Inko was enraged when Hisashi explained why he was in America for so long. This kind of reasoning still sends the wrong message of not wanting to return home to his "quirkless kid." That wasn't exactly what he meant, but the man did feel guilty for a long time and felt that the only way to make it up to his son was to create a quirk. Again, not the best dad. He still sent money to his family and called. But it took almost 2 years after leaving for him to realize what a cruddy dad/husband he was.

But disaster struck again. Another villain attack struck the facility that Hisashi worked at. Hisashi died trying to protect Inko. During this chaos, the radioactive spider escaped and ended up biting Inko. Inko returned back to America even more depressed. Not realizing that her body underwent changes for almost a week.

While Inko was going through the motions, she noticed that she was stronger and more perceptive than usual. Then her quirk got supercharaged, and she started seeing visual trajectory webs from her hands and objects. The few times she defended herself against muggers, she was given a warning. Then there were few times she managed to talk down a mugger or a few criminals, only for a hero to rush in destroy any hopes for a criminal rehabilitating.

Not too long she started seeing so many flaws in the hero-obsessed society and how not much was being done. How dependent everyone was on heroes to keep the peace, while everyone stood back and did nothing. When in reality, sometimes the situation required a shoulder to cry on, a listening ear, a helping hand, or simple human decency.

Realizing she had the power to make a difference, she went to Izuku's analysis notebooks for inspiration. She decided to become a hero and uphold her son's dream. Rather than operating in daylight, she would operate where most heroes didn't operate or notice. From stopping muggings, alleyway assaults/murders, and kidnappings. While she does fight, sometimes she'll be willing to talk to the criminals and do her best to help them.

She pseudo adopts Himiko Toga and Jin (Twice). These 2 won't descend into villainy all because Inko herself helped them. Not as Green Widow, but just by being a good samaritan. A few other so-called villains end up being informants while they go about trying to do better with their life. It helps that Inko helps out or directs them to people she knows will help them better.

During the day she volunteers at some homeless centers and works part-time at a cafe. She doesn't need to work due to the settlement and Hisashi's life insurance policy setting her up for almost life. But she has nothing to do than stew in depression. Sometimes she'll intervene if something shady is happening, especially if a woman is being assaulted or harassed. Detective Naomasa is always annoyed since Inko technically didn't use her quirk, yet she is almost involved whenever a purse-snatcher or molester is called in for arrest.

Inko definitely got into training in some form of martial arts, and picking other skills, particularly analysis. Basically she asks herself "what would Izuku do?" Maybe she runs into Hatsume Mei, and that's how she got the grip claws she uses for web slinging. She flings those claws and then draws herself to her destination. Only she can see her "webs." It was a lot of trial and error and close calls to become fully competent. Competent enough that the HPSC considers her a problem later on. Shigaraki and All For One will find her a problem much later on. Especially when Inko accidentally stumbles upon some shady operations leading to them.

[canmom]

seasonal animes: Zom 100/Bucket List of the Dead

watched 5 of the current 6 episodes of Zom100 (I'm watching Zoombie's releases, which have Crunchyroll's translation with better typesetting).

tricky to know what I think...

visually there's nothing to fault - it's got energy and style all over and every episode brings a new crazy impressive sequence, with great choreography to music and inventive staging. that's why I'm watching it, and it consistently delivers! kVin has already written about the strength of the team behind it in great detail. the consistent bright colours of the zombie blood, the use of yellow, the seamless transition between real and abstract - all kick ass.

narratively... it's certainly direct with its themes, but not at all in a bad way, and it's a meaty subject matter for which the whole irreverent take on zombie movies is a fitting metaphor. it won't say it in so many words, but it's clearly about philosophy, finding the 'good life'.

As You Know, the zombies in Romero's movies stood for Consumerism(TM). if the modern world has a deadening, dissociative affect to it, we pull that further, and we get literal walking dead. alongside that is a huge element of wish fulfilment in zombie/post apoc stories: the idea of a reduction to a simpler world, where all the complications of society are stripped back. sure, everyone may die, it's tragic, but the protagonists are given a stage to come into their own as a badass hero type full of Machiavellian virtù.

zom100 doesn't bother with the smokescreen of tragedy, and indeed it uses the contrast between the feelings of of the protag who's getting to live his best life against the backdrop of collapse as a source of comedy. but then it's about poking and prodding at that wish fulfilment, trying to define it more sharply.

our protagonist wasted years at a hyper-exploitative 'black company' but now he's freed, he has to face existential aimlessness; his friend found material and social success but no personal fulfilment and had to conquer his fear to pursue his real dream; the blatant tsundere love-interest girl is too narrowly focused on survival to enjoy her life - each one seems set up to explore some facet of the human condition. the ED shows a fourth member of the MC group, who will presumably explore some other angle of 'how do you live'. if you know how much I like NieR Automata, you can probably imagine that's a theme that's up my street.

so what's the "but"? well it's just so much hetero guy pov lmao. I just... do not connect to the MC, and the show is very heavily structured around providing a stage for him to work out his shit.

for example, it's maybe a little too obvious in introducing characters to demonstrate the theme of the episode, then feeding them to zombies as soon as their purpose is served. the fate of the flight attendants in episode 4 especially bugged me: for our main two boys, the flight attendants are an opportunity to prove their masculinity and sexual prowess (the MC's ability to 'score' is questioned, while it comes effortlessly to his friend). so these girls show up and they hang out; one of the girls has sex with the friend and then promptly dies. the other refuses sex to our protagonist but she talks about her ambitions providing some insight to him and then gets chomped - don't you see, she was reminded of her childhood memories, she had one good day, ah, mono no aware! meanwhile the cynical and slightly arrogant leader of the flight attendant group is the most fun of them all, but she's just zombiebait. the protagonist grieves for all of one minute but then cheers himself up.

and of course you expect characters to die frequently in a zombie story; and the whole point of the show is that the MC's cheerful affect is completely inappropriate for a zombie apocalypse. but the effect of storylines like this is to that it's so manifestly a world of effectively invincible protagonists, where everyone else is basically an NPC. our protagonist will embarrass himself and suffer pratfalls for a joke, but ultimately this is a world that exists to serve him, and he acts like on some level he knows it!

all the same, I'm curious where it will go once it finishes establishing the main cast group.

on a more niche note, it's interesting observing that 'hypercompetent hacker girl in a big coat' is becoming fixated as a love interest pattern. the big coats are cool, so fair enough.

[grimalkinmessor]

Hmm, yeah. The way Hori wrote Hawks feeling guilty, it's like he doesn't see his parents as abusive. I mean, we even get a whole narration from adult Hawks saying he just saw them as "broken people" that he couldn't help. But I think, at the very least, he...psychologically feels some distance towards them because some internal part of himself does recognize it as abuse, even if he hasn't reached that conclusion himself? I say that because he says he was fine with cutting the relationship with his mom when his name was taken away, and he even though he's sad she ran away and that he couldn't face her, he's also relieved. He's free of his shackles now. Just that realistic feeling of when you're scared of making choices so when your life goes to hell and the choice is made for you, that you go "oh well, it is what it is" he doesn't have to feel guilty that this resulted from his hands that way, and secretly take comfort in the freedom it offers. As for the HPSC, he may not be actively working to shut them down, considering all that they use to control him with his mom, his criminal father, his literal lack of a legal identity before them, and his desire to help people, he's happy about them being shut down because "there's no one to give me orders anymore." And RE: Shouto and them not exactly singing Endeavor praises. I think Hawks comes to that conclusion of things being different now, because he has that flashback to Shouto, because Shouto chose to intern with Endeavor like...three times now? So maybe he doesn't fully hate his guts. But when we see him visit the TodoFam, he puts his arm around Shouto and asks, "was this scar also Endeavor's doing?" he says "Endeavor" as if he's speaking generally to everyone in the room, while giving him The Look, before frantically backtracking with wide eyes and a "oh shit" expression when Rei says it was her, so hey at least he's considerate and open to changing his theories if he was wrong about Endeavor changing?

Hori puts a lot of thought and layers into all of his characters, for sure. Though you're right on the fact that he glosses over several issues bc he either doesn't think about them or thinks they're fine—don't even get me STARTED on the treatment of Quirkless people I can rant forever—and that neglect and verbal abuse might not even cross his mind as actual abuse.

I think I've said it before (I might've even said it in the post you're referencing but tbh I have the memory of a goldfish) but I'm pretty sure that Hawks's primary coping mechanism is avoidance and denial. If he just yeets it far enough out of his brain that he doesn't think about it then it can't hurt him.

I say this mostly because this is also one of my biggest coping mechanisms, and I recognize a lot of Hawks's mannerisms as something I personally do when I'm trying to justify things that I know either aren't true or aren't right. And you're right—I have noticed him start to address the things that he's been avoiding, BUT he has yet to address the one that seemed to urge him to confront some of those truths in the first place.

I said it in a different ask (and I apologize for a bit of misinformation there, it had been a while since I read the manga chapters and I forgot that my Twicehawks brain didn't just,,,make some of that shit up) but Hawks doesn't seem particularly affected by Twice's death. Which, if the future chapters are any indication, we will be seeing that change soon and I can't WAIT—but I digress.

Hawks killing Twice was the ultimate catalyst for his sudden will to address his own thoughts upfront.

Everything spirals for him after he kills Twice. Dabi roasts his wings off, his mother flees, Endeavor gets exposed as an abusive father, hero society begins to collapse, etc. And yes, a lot of these aren't directly connected to Twice's death...but they are in Hawks's mind.

We don't know if it's the first time he's ever had to kill someone on HPSC orders, but it really looks like it is. He stalls, he bargains, and he ultimately has to kill Jin anyway. And not only was Twice likely his first kill, Twice was someone Hawks genuinely seemed to like. He was someone Hawks spent time around and got to know before he quite literally stabbed the villain in the back. That had to have put him in a weird headspace.

Because before Twice, we see Hawks internally justifying everything and tunneling his vision onto his goals, but after Twice, we see him finally start to acknowledge the problems he's been putting off and ignoring. And just in time too, because you can bet that Lady Nagant coming into play also threw him for a loop. And learning her story—a young hero hopeful trained to be little more than a glittery government assassin, gone rogue after getting tired of the blood on her hands—would've slapped Hawks in the face with not only the confirmation that the HPSC sucks, but that he could've easily turned out just like her.

After all, he'd already killed for them once, right? Who's to say that they wouldn't make him do it again? Hell, he knows they would make him do it again.

That's why I'm so interested in how this newest fight will turn out. Why I'm so interested in Hawks specifically; because not only is Twice back on the field, but Dabi has also shown up, like a mirror of the battle of Jakku. Because Dabi is both similar and different to Hawks in that he acknowledges that he has trauma, but he lies to himself about what exactly that trauma is. Dabi knows that he has been wronged, but he's got a skewed view on how he's been wronged: physical abuse vs verbal abuse vs neglectful abuse.

And I'm highly interested in seeing how Hawks, a man who is just now coming to terms with his own problems, is going to handle that. What he'll say, if he'll repeat himself or learn from his mistakes—if he'll be able to get through to anyone in particular :)

[codenamesazanka]

I feel for Shoji. I really do. And I get where Shoji is coming from.

Shoji doesn’t have seemed to forgive his town, only let go of his resentment. Shoji wants to make the world better. Shoji understands the anger and pain the heteromorphs feel, he doesn’t at all deny their feelings or experiences; he only wants them to channel it into something less chaotic and more productive. He doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, and he knows neither do the rioters. He’s got an eye out for how heteromorphs will be represented and portrayed, and it’s a somber, realistic take.

Most of all, though, he’s not trying to solve the discrimination issue, he’s just trying to stop the rioters, especially because he cannot afford to let the revolt be exploited by a Demon King trying to usher in a thousand years of darkness. What can be said in a situation like that? If I was in his shoes, trying to find a way to stop a revolt, I don’t know if I can. I’ll probably resort to rhetoric too, appealing to emotion. Please stop. This is a hospital. There could be collateral damage. No one wants that.

(This argument probably would’ve worked better if it didn’t seemed like such an underhanded move by the Heroes. The facts are:

Kurogiri is at Central Hospital. He has to be there because it seems that’s the only place they can do recovery research on him.

Heroes knew AFO will try to retrieve Kurogiri.

Heroes knew about a “call to action,” that a group of heteromorphs are going after the hospital.

They knew the hospital will be targeted by the riot specifically because Kurogiri is held there—

But for some reason they decided not to move Kurogiri elsewhere and make AFO redirect the mob, now nor they they decided to evacuate the hospital despite having days beforehand to do so.

Perhaps the Heroes underestimated the number of heteromorphs that would join in the fight. They can point out Kurogiri is in the Research Building that’s separate from the Patient Ward so maybe the mob would spare that part of the hospital. They can even say the Heroes were hoping the heteromorphs would refrain from attacking the hospital because they trusted in the heteromorphs’ better natures, which is nice of them! But, objectively, planning-for-worst-case-scenario-ly, goal-is-minimizing-the-amount-of-damage-ly, this-probably-won’t-happen-but-let’s-be-extra-careful-ly they really wanted to risk that? Apparently they did.)

But Shoji’s words still ultimately fall flat for me because he’s not actually proposing any change at all, not a hint of it. The rioters are there because they want something, anything to change. Shoji essentially tells them to endure nobly, without promising anything will be different at all. He’s just a kid, sure, he can’t make any promises, but unfortunately he is a Hero student (soldier) representative of the establishment. When he took up that mantle, he’s gotta answer for the system that had promised it would protect and save its all citizens but failed to do so. (In fact they might have enabled viewing heteromorphs as more Villainous.)

What happened 30 years ago? Did the massacres finally stop? The massacres that happened because non-heteromorphs felt like it, they felt uncomfortable around heteromorphs? Fast-forward to now-ish, and villages are still tormenting their heteromorphic citizens because they feel uncomfortable. I guess that’s improvement, because Shoji, Spinner, and PLF Speech Guy aren’t dead. But the scars left on Shoji and PLF Speech Guy are on their faces, their heads; the people that hurt them seemed to have felt free enough to not care about head injuries or leaving eternally visible scars that reminds them of what they did. The moment society collapsed after Jaku, all that old latent hatred came back. All Ordinary Woman wanted was safe shelter and was denied that over and over again. What on earth has ‘not being avengers’ done? The core of their bigotry and the unspoken allowance to unleash that remains.

(I saw a Japanese tweet that observed how a system that allows shelters to refuse heteromorphs probably means there are no laws that prohibit heteromorph discrimination in the [HeroAca] world. Makes sense, especially if you consider that these are government-and-Hero-schools-run shelters, as Best Jeanist proposed? Maybe there are also private shelters, but Ordinary Woman said she went to several and all of them rejected heteromorphs and there has to be at least one government-and-Hero-schools-run shelter in those attempts.)

I’m not saying the heteromorphs should rampage and destroy a hospital and be avengers - and in the end, they didn’t! It’s just Heroes gotta give them a promise of change, to especially if the Heroes believed in the mob’s core inner goodness. The heteromorphs are doing their part; what exactly are the Heroes giving back?

Overall, things are framed as inspiring when it really isn’t, and i really think the manga should acknowledge how Heroes risked the lives in the hospital either out of hopeful but calculated strategy or astoundingly stupid incompetence. And give the heteromorphs at least one solid promise of change.

[lizisodd]

Richie Jerimovich Needs a Buddy Garrity Makeover

It's going to be interesting how The Bear handles the redemption of Richie Jerimovich, because he obviously can't stay the asshole he is and fit in with the new restaurant (he already wasn't fitting in at the old one). The last time I hated a character so much was Buddy Garrity. Chris Storer et al are going to need to pull off a Buddy Garrity–level transformation I order to make Richie worth watching rather than me just fast-forwarding through his scenes (like I did with Frank on Shameless, you can skip 90% of Frank storylines without it affecting the overall show).

Buddy Garrity was a villain in early seasons of Friday Night Lights who eventually moved to frenemy and ultimately to a redeemed close friend. A football booster stuck in his high school glory days who'd be a town joke if he wasn't a successful middle class businessman with a picket fence life, he schemes against Coach Taylor (the show's hero), his daughter, her newly paralyzed boyfriend, his wife, and several others. He threatens Coach's job, something he holds actual power over since the boosters basically can fire him at will and tarnish his reputation. He makes countless sexist remarks. The paralyzed player now has no star quarterback future, so he cuts ties and encourages his daughter to do the same. He cheats on his wife countless times. He's bad with money, he's bad with bonding with his kids, he's bad with boundaries.

But eventually he begins to soften. Personal setbacks and humiliations, including the collapse of his marriage and business, humble him. He still exudes major Drunk Uncle energy, but he's trying a little, which is more than most of the other men in this little depressed town are doing. He takes in a foster son (for just his football skills at first, but he later loves him, although hilariously the writer's strike and actor contracts meant the kid was never seen again after S2). He tries to repair his relationship with his children, including the eldest daughter whose college fund he decimated. He's jealous about being pushed out as head booster when a richer man with a football prodigy son takes his place, so he fuels this into revenge. Buddy knows where all the bodies are buried, and he's not afraid to air the boosters' dirty laundry, essentially blackmailing a town into keeping quiet and leaving Coach alone so they can keep their state champ rings. In his ultimate triumph, Buddy does what even Coach cannot: get a beloved character out of prison and on parole early, speaking eloquently to the parole board and giving him a job to secure his freedom. Buddy becomes a hero. He stands up for the young men of the football team, who at the end of the show are majority black and poor. His brown-nosing and connections, which had been obnoxious in previous seasons, becomes his strength. You begin to see why his name also means "friend." Sure, the man will still walk into Coach's house uninvited, but now it's to offer friendly advice rather than threaten his job. (Coach moves in the last episode, but you know Buddy is still calling the man at midnight, not understanding the time zone difference.)

So it will be interesting if The Bear can transition Richie from a blowhard loser asshole who's been right about maybe two things in his life ever (he hates litter!) into a functional human man who can exist in modern society while making the change earned. Unfortunately, while he's a main character, he's not the star, and there may just not be room to "show, don't tell." Worst case scenario: Syd (and the rest, but mostly Syd) accept a half-assed apology in order to keep the peace (and the story moving). But The Bear managed to pull off a miracle in making one of the best shows of the year, so perhaps there's another miracle brewing. Maybe he'll find some deus ex machina personality change sealed in a tomato can. Can't wait for season 2.

[loversj0y]

(this ask contains mentions of domestic violence) 

Heyyy i'm still here churning out wilbur blurbs  (wilblurbs?) until their quantity exceeds their quality, like a true capitalist. 

So we’re going back to my boy SIren. 

With how the Hero/Villain society is structured, I think that several West-End rich people would probably take in children who show potential. Not “take in” as “adopt”-- not all of these kids are orphans, although plenty are– but “take in” as in sponsoring them, paying for their education and taking it upon themselves that they become a successful hero. 

Nasty process. 

Anyway, I bring you the reader, straight from the alleyways and juvenile detention centers of East End L’manburg, who’s been training to be a hero ever since they were “sponsored”. 

I wanted to base the sponsor after Pearl from the Inheritance Games– I haven’t read the series, but a friend told me about it. Basically, Mrs. Coriander (or whatever you want to call her) is from a long lineage of prestigious families, yada yada, and has been widowed for 20 years. Back in her day, she used to be a talented pianist, not exactly famous but well-renowned in some circles. Her husband, utter bastard that he was, came home drunk one night to hear her play the piano, and he ended up crippling her hands. Later, he’d mysteriously die of unfortunate circumstances. Too much medicine in his coffee. Could happen to anyone, said Mrs. Coriander’s lawyers. And with after a couple hours of publicity, two days of court hearings, and a couple thousand dollars passed under the table to each of the jurors, Mrs. Coriander was found innocent. To this day, she remains a bitter, sharp-tongued and sometimes downright nasty lady. 

Despite owing their entire education and most of their livelihood to this woman, the reader had barely seen her until 3 years into their partnership. Maybe one of the grandkids/employees in the Coriander mafia family died and left a lot of loose ends, and Mrs. Coriander needed someone to fill the spot– and because there was no time to look for another hire, they just brought in the reader temporarily. 

The reader gets closer to the old woman– but never warm or familiar. A sort of respect/understanding is created between them, but it's far from “found family.”

Maybe the reader plays piano, and learns to play Mrs. Coriander’s songs so she can hear them again? (even if the lady is never pleased with how the reader plays them. She’s a picky lady– but she’s internally grateful, i promise). 

So that’s the time period when Siren meets the reader, a bit bored and not really invested in their hero career that was chosen for them instead of by them. 

They still fight him though.

Maybe the reader has the ability to create illusions? Which can be extremely advantageous in a fight– unless the opponent learns to deal with them. After all, their illusions don’t have sound. So while an illusion of a building collapsing would certainly catch someone off guard, they’d quickly realize something is off when the catastrophe is completely silent. 

Maybe Siren starts treating the reader a bit more like a vigilante than a villain? They still fight when they see each other, but they have some sort of hesitant respect. You know, the good old ‘silently/solemnly nods at you from across the battlefield’ or something. 

The reader won’t stay as a hero though, obviously. Once Mrs. Coriander’s old age starts getting to her, she calls the reader to her deathbed and requests that no matter what, they keep the House of Coriander alive and functioning— even at the cost of breaking the law (i say that Mrs. Coriander doesn’t really like her kids/grandkids and shows favoritism towards the reader). 

Mrs. Coriander dies, reader pays their respects, and then proceeds to take over the entire family business. And if the other family members/employees are against an outsider and a – *gag*– poor person /j taking over their business?  

Maybe they disappear. Or are inexplicably fired and blackmailed. 

Maybe siren and the syndicate is helping

Maybe he doesn’t dislike how the reader looks in their shiny new mafia suit and feels compelled to help out. 

Maybe—---

im LATE TO THIS so sorry (also apologies for any mistypes/bad english i was off drinking so im not 100% sober atm)

but okay holy shit the concept of like "sponsoring" heros is fucking genius and i can imagine it having such a sinister connotation where like, it is a lot of these kid's biggest FEARS because they want to be heros, but they are terrified children like they dont know if they're ready for it

like let me flesh this out more accurately with like social dynaimcs and shit okay?

im bringing hunger games into this because i. fucking love the hungergames but okay so from the tribute pools, a few are people who are a bit better off and who have been training in facilities for the explicit purpose of winning the games (careers), there are some people who are completely terrified of the games and would not volunteer for anything: it's a death sentence for them; but then you have people who are terrified but will volunteer, because they have some reason to (this also brings me a terrible idea for worldbuilding that is dark but i could very much see happening but i digress)

so imagine these kids are the same: some of the more lower-middle class kids actually take classes to hopefully be sponsored by rich people and become heros. you have people who, even if they have overpowered powers, they would NEVER go near a rich person in the fear of getting their power discovered and being found out (it feels more like a death wish than becoming a hero) and then you have people who dont care either way, are still afraid, but they have a bigger motivation to push them to agree: which is where i imagine reader would lie

so reader i imagine is pretty neutral on the whole hero/villain thing. they kinda dont villainize the villains or see the heros heroically. their battles have never concerned them.

but maybe their only family member gets injuried because of some rubble during a hero/villain fight

and said family member is now in the hospital, likely a coma, and reader now has no way to actually pay any of these bills (do NOT tell me to go into the complexities of hero-au insurance companies)

so this random rich person heard abt their powers and wants to sponsor them? fuck it lets take it

(plus i feel like this have a healthy tie in with the mafia concept: she pays for the family member's hospital bills, keeping the reader involved and unable to really leave the family business)

but yeah they get close, reader is basically now the mafia's hero-for-hire (as if they haven't bought out the majority of them anyway) (do not ask me to go into the socio-political climate of hero-aus)

but here's the thing, bc the mafia is more who the reader works for, the reader doesnt really fight villains unless theyre trying to fuck with their stuff - hence the vigilante angle that siren has on reader. but because they're a crime family, the syndicate actually doesnt come after them often. no they usually work together.

reader was never allowed to go to the meetings before she passed away, since the whole "needs to keep the hero identity a secret" thing, but i imagine that civilian reader and wilbur knew each other. wilbur came into one of the businesses that the mafia runs, mostly to run a watchful eye and make sure they're upholding part of their deal, but civilian reader is there sitting in the corner, surrounded by a stack of shady papers, and hey. he's curious

not sure how they would eventually have the identity to civilian discussion but still

after ms. coriander dies, right, the syndicate shows up, and now this hero is standing at the head of the table, clearly corrupt, and theyre like. oh fuck yes.

it just makes their relations better. having an in to the hero committee while having a crime organization that can help cover their trails? yes please

plus... a syndicate member dating the leader of the biggest mafia family in the city? a power fucking couple. not to mention, the businesses could merge, making a full gotham-esque take over

[owlf45]

Sixth One For All Holder | Roleswap

“Everyone in the world believes in one. In you.”

He is no older than the last one was, when Shigaraki first met him—twenty, maybe, if he’s stretching it. His eyes are dark. His mouth is hidden behind the collar of his suit.

Shigaraki thinks, quietly, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.

“The entire world— All their faith for one pair of hands. For the hero who has always stood since the dawn of quirks.”

He—En, one of Shigaraki’s quirks mumbles—speaks softly, flatly, sarcastically. He looks more like Yoichi than any of the others. It stings.

I’m sorry, Shigaraki thinks. There’s blood pouring from his mouth, and he wipes his chin. En might be the one to finally kill him. He’s the sixth one. Shigaraki’s brother was the first.

Shigaraki never meant to kill his brother. He only meant to stop him—only tried to prove that one leader for all would only cause the balance between quirked and quirkless to collapse.

“I’ve never forgotten.”

I know.

En steps closer to the bridge. Smoke spills and unfurls from his skin. Shigaraki thinks he can see the other five who’d died right in front of him—by his hands, even though he desperately asked, pleaded, screamed, whispered that he didn’t want their blood on his hands—within, haunting, still, refusing to move on.

En has Yoichi’s eyes. They all do: him and the five ghosts over his shoulder.

“And I’ll never forgive you.”

I know, Shigaraki thinks. I know.

All For One wonders when the time will come that he will no longer be strong enough. That One For All will surpass All For One. When they will stop throwing themselves at him, again and again, unwavering, flare burning brighter before snuffing out in a pitiful plume of smoke.

He wonders when he’ll stop killing young dreamers with his brother’s eyes.

All For One is the first hero. Hero society— and by extension, quirked society, has never existed without him. His power is never questioned. He is timeless, immortal, unkillable. He’s the best hero, the Symbol of Protection, right?

All For One is the first hero. Hero society— and by extension, quirked society, has never existed without him. His power is never questioned. He is timeless, immortal, unkillable. He’s the best hero, the Symbol of Protection, right?

All For One’s hero name = All the world for one (for Shigaraki) to protect

All For One takes the young grandson of Yoichi’s seventh successor, a poor young boy whose quirk causes tragedy among his family. Tomura impresses him, and All For One wants to pass his legacy on to him. He knows it’s only a matter of time before he is killed, and Yoichi’s successors only want revenge. It’s only All For One that One For All wants, but he can’t let society crumble without him, and he can’t let One For All get so powerful that he kills innocent people in their routine fights

All For One has a family, but after Eighth— All Might begins to dismantle All For One’s hard work, he distances himself from them. He can’t bear to let Inko and his quirkless Izuku get caught in the crossfire. Especially not after he loses his eyesight to a fight he scrapes by to survive.

Except— Izuku looks so much like Yoichi. And when he has One For All, has Yoichi’s eyes, with the hurt of Quirkless discrimination that All For One’s own, rigid, timeless system created, that All For One’s parental distance created, All For One has to swallow the old truth—that he only fails the people closest to him.

[levitatingbiscuits]

Seeing Din be like 'oh unlike Jedi we Mandalorians value attachments and solidarity'? That shit was funny because attachments are NOT the same as healthy relationships and trying to position Mandalorians' understanding of relationships and families as somehow superior to the Jedi community's is weird. At some point he needs to learn more beyond what limited info his covert and the Armorer feed him. I don't really have faith in Favroni since they don't seem to get what Jedi beliefs are either.

it's super obnoxious, especially since the mandalorians were literally created to be boba fett's backstory and then he got completely overlooked IN HIS OWN SHOW so favroni's OC could get yet more attention. boba has GOOD REASON to conflict with the jedi in general and luke in particular, if you want to mine that for drama. din has no history with them and doesn't know shit about them so i really don't give a fuck what he thinks about their way of life. and the fucking HYPOCRISY when he's literally in a violence-worshipping cult that serves whichever morally bankrupt organization has enough money or beskar to hire them to do their dirty work (even CHILD TRAFFICKING, don't think i forgot about that, DIN) and doesn't even let its members show their faces. you wanna talk about fucked up ways to live, maybe start there. (and if his covert is an offshoot of death watch, as is heavily implied, he's even more in the wrong considering how they kidnapped and brainwashed kids to use as child soldiers.)

i'm still so fucking mad about how we were robbed. we could've had SO MUCH JUICY SHIT about how boba wrestles with his identity as a clone, his own hatred of the jedi for killing jango, how the legacy of his father and his brothers has permanently altered the galaxy for the worse, how he worked for the empire, how luke feels about all that, how GROGU feels about a man with the face of the killers of his entire culture, and so much more. i would've LOVED to see luke and boba talk about vader. did we really need DIN to steal the spotlight from one of the COOLEST AND MOST BELOVED STAR WARS CHARACTERS who is FAR MORE RELEVANT TO THIS CONFLICT???

and furthermore, why would you even write for star wars if you hate the jedi and think they suck? the jedi are the heroes. the entire story literally revolves around them and was created for them. they've already all DIED, okay, what is the point of continuing to shit on them in favor of the hyperviolent guys who worship war and whose societies keep collapsing because they keep starting wars with everyone, including themselves?? they're really saying THEIR way of life is objectively better than the dudes who went around defending innocents and mediating conflicts with their zen philosophy and cool laser swords??

and i don't mean to hate on the mandalorians. they're super cool and fun to watch! but holy shit, their way of life is not aspirational. but i'm not surprised that the ones saying that are two middle aged american white men, one of whom wears a cowboy hat everywhere and the other of whom directed iron man.

one of the reasons i'm so fond of george lucas, despite his many weaknesses as a creator, is that he was all about compassion and forgiveness and selflessness when he created the jedi and luke, which his fanboys all missed bc they instead wanted to be like han solo BEFORE he became the character he was at the end of rotj -- loving, supportive, loyal, reliable, and willing to let leia go if that would make her happy. anakin could never. i THOUGHT din could when he let grogu go at the end of s2, but apparently fucking not.

[itsnothingofinterest]

Okay, I’ve b*tched and moaned about how tensionless this current arc is because of how stacked in the heroes favour this whole fight is more than once (...but quick refresher: the heroes outgun the villains by about ~250 times the forces needed to beat the villains in a straight fight, even before they got off an ambush that let’s them pick their fights to put villains against their hard counters. Frankly it’s embarrassing any fighting’s still going on after 10 minutes.)

So to be a bit constructive, I thought I might try to come up with some theories as to how things might get turned around and introduce some sorely needed tension into things and put the possibility of the villains winning on the table. Probably not to the degree of hero society facing an imminent collapse and the villains winning the central conflict of the series, that’s way too far outside the realm of possibility to happen. We’ll just aim for a point where the heroes are no longer guaranteed to sweep the villains & win, a point where the the idea of the villains surviving this to fight another day is at least feasible.

Let’s get started.

1. Have Shigaraki escape UA and travel the country like Deku to join in other fights

A comparatively boring one to start with, but one that’d work at least. Have Tomura escape the gaze of Erasure of just a moment, and use it to eradicate and dust UA in an instant. They could have everyone make it out if they wanted, maybe even have a tense moment of Yaomomo & the rest of the underground heroes making a hurried escape out the sky coffin a la the Jaku Hospital escape. What comes after is what’s important.

You know those theories about Deku nosing his way into everyone else’s fights as he travels to UA? Well, reverse them; have Tomura show up at any fight going the heroes way a bit too much and turn them around. Is Dabi losing his fight against his brother while all his allies are getting steam-rolled? Tomura could turn that around for him right quick. Heck, maybe have Deku do the same and show up in the Mountains to fight AFO or something before getting turned back around to Tomura. You could get some nation-wide cat & mouse game going.

This probably wouldn’t be the most interesting way to turn things around, and certainly wouldn’t be my pick, but it could have some merits to it.

2. Get Kurogiri to shuffle the fights again

This is one I’ve talked about at least the start of a few times: bring Kurogiri back into things to help Tomura. Once he’s back, inform him in some way of all the battlefield locations and have him reshuffle all the fights around to make things more suited the villains benefit/interests.

Possible villain-benefiting match-ups might include Dabi vs Endevor, Toga vs Hawks, Dabi vs Hawks (must suck to be popular), and Shigaraki or AFO vs Deku alone. And of course, because the heroes overwhelming forces are annoying to deal with, they can send about 99.9% of them to some location with no villains so they’re effectively out of the fight. Or alternatively: if Tomura’s free of AFO’s control somehow and is in a proper “ditch him” mood, he could dump only him & his followers where they dumped all the heroes and just let that sort itself out.

This would be a good one to finally instill some tension into things because, while it may take some leaps to get here, it’d completely upend the advantages the heroes have that are stacking the deck so heavily in their favour. These are some match-ups the heroes aren’t guaranteed to win, which we currently don’t have going on.

Also if you’re a My Hero Part 2 believer like myself; this option might facilitate that. Kurogiri returning to Tomura allows for an escape route for the villains to leave to fight another day, after being reinvigorated and renewed by life-changing encounters and hopefully also ditching AFO.

3. Break out the PLF so the heroes are outnumbered

Another one I’ve theorized before, as freeing the Paranormal Liberation Front is something I’ve theorized being what Spinner’s up too. Being several times (seemingly several hundred times) the size of the villains’ current forces, they’re quite the prize, and quite the upheaval to the current circumstances.

I’m honestly not sure how they’d get to the battlefields around the country, but if they did; well these are the guys once theorized to be capable of beating the all heroes if they had struck first (the only force in the series even granted that possibility), and the hero forces have since been halved. And it gets even worse if we assume they’re locked up in the same place as the un-recruited Jailbreakers like Muscular.

Combine with the return of fan favourites like Mr. Compress, and characters of at least moderate interest like Redestro & Geten, and there’s a lot of appeal to this method of turning this ‘war’ around into a real conflict the heroes could lose. Actually, I know I said I wasn’t gonna theorize situations to this degree, but forget destabilization to sow chaos they could manipulate later because the PLF would present a possibility for the villains that has not been on the table for a long time: just beating all the heroes and conquering the country here and now.

4. All of the Above.

And the last way I can think of to flip this arc into something that the heroes might logically have a chance to lose is...everything else I listed all at once. Free Tomura, reunite him with Kurogiri, break-out the PLF, and warp them all around the country to wherever’s most convenient for them to turn this war around.

This would combine the villain-favouring match-ups of the Kurogiri theory with the massive boost to the villain’s forces of the PLF theory, while also solving the problem of moving the PLF and the problem of a lot of heroes not having anything to do. Overall this would create a dire situation that, if nothing else, would have a fitting set of stakes and tension for the final arc of My Hero Academia.

Honestly I think the only potential issue to this theory in particular, is that it probably just straight wouldn’t be a situation the heroes could win right here and now it’d flip the script so much. Which I’m fine with because I’d like that My Hero Part II idea (and this theory still lets Kurogiri act as an exit strategy after everyone’s had their character arcs), but I know not everyone else is.

Although that said, if Izuku really is going for a peaceful resolution, then the forces backing Tomura might not matter. Might even work better actually, if he extends a hand to Tomura without Tomura risking death if he refuses; Tomura might feel the offer’s insincere the other way and spitefully refuse regardless. A sort of even-footing between them could allow for talks to go smoother, actually.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 325: Deku VS the Outside of U.A. ~Conclusion~

Previously on BnHA: Ochako was all “dear bloodthirsty mob, this kid you see standing before you has fought harder than anyone and put his life on the line to protect you all, so please chill the fuck out, jesus christ. like, putting aside that he’s humanity’s best hope and so it’s very much in your best interests to let him rest and recover someplace safe so that he can keep fighting for us, are y’all seriously going to turn away an injured and exhausted child in front of his sobbing mother?? seriously?? come on now.” I’m paraphrasing here but that’s basically how it went down. Anyway so then the mob was all, “...” and Deku collapsed to his knees in tears, and Gigantic Fox Lady and Kouta ran over to give him a hug but then the chapter ended.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “FINE, YOU CAN HUG HIM”, which, was that so hard?? The U.A. Clown Mob is all “come to think of it, we’ve kind of been taking the heroes for granted this entire time, maybe we should be less passive in the future. anyway so Deku if it’s not too much to ask, can you please save everyone and fix everything.” Deku is all “I sure can, and by the way I forgive you for swarming around all menacingly two minutes ago and trying to deny me basic shelter and stuff.” Ectoplasm is all, “hey Todogang get a load of this. [walks in a circle].” Hawks is all, “that’s literally the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.” Rat Principal is all, “anyway so that’s what your students did today, hope you’re enjoying your new *~*ROBOT LEG*~*, Aizawa.” Aizawa is all “[lots of exposition about Kurogiri and for some reason, Toga, while being all brooding and sexy].” All Might is all “[standing here right outside of U.A. doing absolutely nothing and being foreboding AF]” and that immediately sucked away all of the warm fuzzy feelings from the hugs, goddammit.

each new week has become a waiting game of “when will Deku finally get to take a bath so people will actually be willing to go near him and give him the hugs he deserves.” the stakes have never been so compelling. I’ve almost forgotten about AFO entirely

lmaoooooo

me: for the love of god will someone please give Deku a hug before I die of old age

Mineta: YOU GOT IT!! --

Iida: [SWIFTLY CUTS HIM OFF] NOT YOU

fucking losing it at Mineta’s crying face. he really wanted to hug him. I legit feel bad but this is also the funniest thing I have seen all week, omg

somehow Kouta, who last week was only a hand’s breadth away from touching Deku’s head, is now twenty miles away from him in this new chapter

can I make a Loki reference here. is this recap a good place to insert a joke about someone using a TVA time-rewinding device to fuck with my poor boy Kouta over here. well anyway there it is

AND NOW HE’S BACK ALL OF A SUDDEN OMG

(ETA: since when is he “niichan” omg?? can’t handle this cuteness.)

BUT THEY’RE STILL NOT HUGGING HIM FFFFKFFFFF. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO. WHO DO I HAVE TO BRIBE AND/OR BLACKMAIL

OH NO KOUTA IS CRYING THAT’S IT I’M DONE FOR

“when I heard that lady I knew that I had to go, but then stop again within inches of actually touching you because you smell like week-old rotten onions.” listen Kouta, I’m not saying I don’t get it, but you all can’t keep doing this to me. it’s the way you guys keep teasing it. like, if you’re gonna hug him, hug him. don’t just stand there with your arms held rigidly out in front of you like a molded action figure

OH MY GOSH BUT HE SAID THE THING

KOUTA SWOOPING IN AT THE LAST MINUTE TO TAKE ALL THE CREDIT FOR FIXING DEKU LIKE THAT ONE KID IN THE GROUP PROJECT WHO DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT STILL TAGS HIS NAME ONTO THE REPORT ANYWAY, WHAT A KNAVE

GASP

(  ´͈ ᗨ `͈ )

SHE PICKED HIM UP LIKE A LITTLE BABY OMG?? she just leaned right over and lifted this child like he was a small animal. like a lil baby futon that she was about to hang up to dry. oh my god

-- HEY WHAT

(: well that’s extremely fucked up. though sadly not too surprising given what we just saw these past couple chapters

incidentally, I hope that anyone who was legitimately defending the civilians’ perspective earlier takes note here of how quickly that line of thinking -- “we’re just trying to keep our families safe” and all that-- can lead to straight up bigotry. if you’re willing to deny a child shelter and protection simply because he’s not YOUR child, and because you’ve decided based on Internet rumors (no real-world parallels there, I’m sure) that he might present a threat, it’s really not that much further of a leap to discriminating against entire groups of people simply because you perceive those groups as being dangerous. I’m sure the people who turned Gigantic Fox Lady away also told themselves afterwards that they did it to protect their families. “better safe than sorry.” “she’ll be fine, someone will take her in, but as for us, we can’t afford to take that risk.” people can come up with all kinds of justifications for treating other people as less than human, and the really scary thing about it is how fucking easy it is

one last quick side note, which is that Horikoshi does a great job here of showing how scapegoating works, given that AFO is the one who’s really to blame and who presents the actual threat, and yet Deku is the one who ultimately winds up being the target of the mob’s fear and outrage despite him being as much of a victim as they are. gotta love that irony, which unfortunately plays out far too often in the real world as well.

anyway I’ll get off my soapbox now, sorry about that. let us continue

YES, FINALLY OH MY GOD!!!!

AND THAT’S THE STORY OF HOW GIGANTIC FOX LADY BECAME THE GREATEST HERO. PACK IT ALL UP, WE’RE DONE HERE KIDS

holy shit. the real MVP right there. thanks for getting it done champ

jesus christ I have had it up to here with these people

literally the bar is set so low at this point that I’ll go ahead and take it. helping him because it offers them a tactical advantage is at least one step up from not helping him at all

“WHY NOT SHIKETSU” MOTHERFUCKER I SWEAR TO GOD

-- thank you!!

okay this one guy with the antennae hair is having himself a character development speedrun here

-- okay, but this part?? fucking this part, right here??

can we repeat that again?? the part where this guy acknowledges that the problems of hero society were caused not just by said heroes, but also by said society?? the part where he acknowledges that they treated the heroes like celebrities who were putting on a show for them?? the part where he acknowledges that when push came to shove, the vast majority of those heroes, when faced with a situation that offered no reward, were nonetheless willing to put their lives on the line to protect the very same people who then turned around and blamed them rather than thanking them?? are the civilians of BnHA even allowed to have actual deep thoughts about this stuff. holy shit

bro!!

ANTENNAE HAIR GUY SHOVING KOUTA AND GIGANTIC FOX LADY OUT OF THE WAY TO SLAP HIS NAME ONTO THE END CREDITS AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER. CONGRATULATIONS SON YOU FIGURED OUT THE CORE PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION AT THE VERY HEART OF THE MANGA. WAY TO GO BUD

meanwhile, on today’s episode of “one more chapter to go till the big volume cliffhanger, how else can I drag things out let’s see”

it’s a panel. of people’s feet. just a bunch of normal feet. with sneakers and shit

this All Might shirt guy is getting more screentime in this arc than 90% of the class 1-A kids

I guess I’m supposed to feel sorry for this dude now that he’s all “if we let you stay here do you promise to somehow magically fix every single problem that we are now currently facing?” those are some ridiculously exacting standards my dude. come on now

KACCHAN SIGHTING

thank fuck I’m not the only one who’s thoroughly unimpressed by absolutely all of this lol. I feel better now. meanwhile Iida and Kouda and Kiri are ready to run over there and hug them all. you guys are way too forgiving. damn you and your pure hearts

anyway so Deku’s like “yeah, definitely”

(ETA: almost forgot to comment on the “I’m no longer alone” part – he basically corrects the guy and says “sorry, but you’ll need to direct that question towards all of us, not just me, because moving forward we’re a team.” good stuff.)

you know what though, all joking aside... fuck yeah. because perfect victory, right. the strongest guys don’t settle for anything less. so I guess Deku has pretty exacting standards himself

also can you all just take a look at this fucking kid who’s got so much light in his eyes now that I’m gonna need eclipse goggles. hot damn. “you’re welcome” says All Might Shirt Guy as he is frantically interviewed by several local news networks asking him how he daringly managed to save Deku all by himself. “well I guess I’ve just never been the kind of guy who can sit back and let a bunch of rabble-rousers blame a little kid for all of humanity’s problems. someone had to step in and take action, you know?”

oH MY GOD THE SCENE IS FINALLY ENDING

don’t let the door hit you on your way out All Might Shirt Guy

but meanwhile, sudden Tododrama action??

oh shit

there are honestly so many ways in which Ochako’s very moving speech could have wildly backfired that I genuinely have no clue where this is headed lol. how exciting!!

so now Horikoshi is once again stalling for time with random filler panels, but this one is 10x better than the shoes lol omg

(1) was Ectoplasm’s jacket always this oversized. (2) did you guys know that if you go back to chapter 319 you can see that Horikoshi gave us a sneak peak at Enji’s Sad Detective disguise and I in fact made a joke about it in the 319 recap not realizing it was actually the stone cold truth. (3) did Shouto deliberately speed up out of impatience because Hawks was walking so fucking slow and he couldn’t take it any longer. (4) and what, I ask you, is up with these dramatic speedlines. so many mysteries here. what a masterpiece

everyone is acting all shocked about something ahh what’s going on

wait what

what the heck. did they just loop around behind everyone. what was the point of that lol. “anyway, so this is what they look like from the back” well okay, thanks for that Ectoplasm

(ETA: so it seems like they were actually hanging out someplace else away from the crowd this whole time, I guess? here I thought they had more faith in Enji’s disguise. I guess Shouto and Hawks don’t particularly want to attract this crowd’s attention themselves right now either, though.)

I am so fucking confused lmao

speaking of All Might WHERE THE FUCK IS HE lol. but yes, good, OFA brings everyone together, and Hawks is very deeply moved about this out of the blue all of a sudden. you know how it is

aw heck yeah now this is another filler panel I can get behind

Mineta really wants that hug, good lord. I genuinely love this actually. Mineta if you could just stay little and cute and keep crying about how much you love your classmates in a non-gross way for the rest of the series I would be so appreciative. you’re doing great

IIDA IS HOLDING DEKU’S HAND THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ONE TIME WASN’T ENOUGH FOR MY MAN HE’S ADDICTED NOW

what did I tell you. Kiri wants to get all of the mob’s autographs now. Kiri you’re a peach

Shouji having a conversation with another mutant type is a very nice touch! we really need to get to his backstory soon. I feel like that casual remark from GFL earlier was kind of hinting at more to come

is this the first time we’ve ever seen the Yaoyorictionary in action?? never forget that Viz tried to call it the “Yaoyorozu Reference Book” because they hate fun

last but not least, KAMIBAKU IS BACK ON THE MENU, FUCK YEAH. Kaminari trying to spice things up and introduce a little bit of controversy by smacking Kacchan on the back of the head for god knows what. I will be deeply disappointed after this if I can’t find at least one person unironically declaring that KamiBaku is now toxic and abusive

lfkdlWLWK TODODRAMA??

oh my god. Shouto’s face. Enji’s face. the back to “oyaji” again. the blunt, not-taking-no-for-an-answer, “I don’t know how much louder the universe can scream at you that doing things alone is not it, so hopefully you got the point” directness of it. fffdlkslj I’m so ready for this Horikoshi please don’t fuck it up my expectations are so high

HOLY FUCK

I SCROLLED DOWN AND HE WAS ALL “( ❛‿❛)” AND I JUST WASN’T FUCKING EXPECTING THAT OKAY. JESUS CHRIST. GIVE ME A SEC

lol okay moment over and now Enji’s pulling his hat down all dramatically like a world-weary Cowboy

OH MY GOD WERE YOU FACETIMING??

AHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: not to put Iida down or anything, but it’s kind of strange that Aizawa is all “the class rep sure did great” when Ochako is the one that was giving that whole big speech for like twenty minutes just now lol.)

(ETA 2: “thank god Iida stepped in just in the nick of time to keep Mineta from hugging Deku.” sorry Mineta I really do like you lately but it’s still low-hanging fruit lol.)

HE LOOKS SO SAD??! HE LOOKS LIKE HEARTBREAK ITSELF??! I AM BESOUGHT WITH THE URGE TO REACH INTO MY SCREEN AND PULL HIM INTO THE SAFETY OF MY ARMS??? MY GOD, AND I THOUGHT DEKU NEEDED HUGS

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH okay I was gonna just hold down the letter H for a full minute and count it out loud but within about ten seconds I realized I needed to chill lol

-- but then again NO, I DON’T NEED TO CHILL, I HAVE ZERO CHILL, ACTUALLY, BECAUSE IT’S AIZAWA WITH A ROBOT LEG AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

COMPLETE WITH ROBOT TOES FOR THAT EXTRA TOUCH OF AUTHENTICITY!! I LIKE HOW HORIKOSHI PUT ALL THIS EXTRA “!!!” EMPHASIS AROUND IT IN CASE WE COULD SOMEHOW POSSIBLY FAIL TO TAKE NOTICE. “REMEMBER, EVERYONE?” SAYS HORIKOSHI HELPFULLY. “REMEMBER THAT TIME AIZAWA CHOPPED OFF HIS OWN LEG?” oh wow now that you mention it we somehow forgot all about that. like who do you take us for

OH NO NOT THE SAD BOYFRIEND ANGST THAT I WAS SECRETLY LOOKING FORWARD TO WITH GLEE

well at least he’s not M.I.A. or back with the villains again like I thought he might be. still, that’s gotta be brutal to know your friend is in there somewhere, but to not be able to reach him again no matter how hard you try. that’s the kind of angst that pays off in final battles just when you most expect it. such is my hope, at any rate

what’s this now??

trying to decide if this is Horikoshi’s way of saying don’t worry about that, or his way of saying definitely worry about that lol

anyway so Aizawa is out here being all irresponsibly handsome once again. when is someone going to do something about him

here for Sexy Robot Leg Eyepatch Aizawa clenching his fists and making speeches about revenge. pretty sure we’re all here for that

WELL, WELL, WELL

IT’S ABOUT FUCKING TIME

I’M VERY GLAD YOU’RE ALIVE AND SEEMINGLY WELL, THOUGH!

BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK THOUGH, ALL MIGHT

ffff. bracing myself for that cliffhanger next week. you’d better not touch one hair on this man’s head Horikoshi. I’m watching you