#pointless that someone else is gonna be a villain again???? i get why but like bro....... idk if you can tell im not a fan of the epilogue

[crunchycrystals]

side note i 100% called that evie was still alive after that first chapter in renegades

[hazbinbossbrainrot]

Things I would change in Helluva Boss:

Notes:

• Keep in the LGBTQIA+ but balance it out with the heterosexuals

* I don’t mean to sound homophobic when I say this, I know you can’t have too many gay people, but when there’s only TWO straights, Loona and Vortex — not counting everyone else’s parents that are female x male —, ONE transgender, Sallie May, and maybe two full on gay guys, Stolas & Andrealpus, then you know it’s imbalanced!

• Incorporate more female roles and have them do MORE than be sidelined to make way of the male characters (and, again, actually balance it out)

*ie: Moxxie and Millie take TURNS in fighting for each other rather than him just being saved or her being just “his wife”

• Not bring back pointless characters the audience is never going to see again or in a couple of months at a time ie:

*Chaz >>> 2x03

(If he’s dead he should stay dead or at least don’t just KILL HIM OFF to make new way for characters)

*Stolas (?) >>> 2x04

Same problem as above or better yet…. KEEP HIM ALIVE! HE’S THE SECOND MAIN CHARACTER! A hell of a lot more important than bloody Chaz!)

• Blitz treated his employees with respect (but still had that teasing “brotherly” relationship with Moxxie without everything else)

*Lol “respect for himself and his peers” is actually one of his goals canonically except for having a “familial” relationship with Moxxie (and Millie) because, to be honest, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.

(Orr he can still have feelings for M&M — because it’s hard to get rid of being sexually attracted to someone and it takes a serious amount of HARD work and energy — but he just can’t ACT on them the way he normally does/would canonically)

* Blitz and Stolas respectively go to therapy — whether the former likes it or not 😂 — to work on themselves and deal with their insecurities and inner demons, ideally, before they can be together

• Actually make some marital problems between Moxxie and Millie (like seriously, it’s toxic with the way it is now. with their relationship being a “fairytale”)

• Keep the abusive parents (it’s a good challenge for their children to turn them into better fathers — as bad as it sounds — than their own and never let it happen to their own child):

Blitz = Loona

Stolas = Octavia

Moxxie = N/A

• I’d make a interesting storyline between Helluva Boss crossover with Hazbin Hotel

• Not bring up controversial topics

Season 1:

1x01:

• Stolas still cheats on Stella with Blitz, regardless, because she’s being such a mega abusive bitch, and I need a villain (also he needs a relief for his suppressed sexuality, he at least deserves that much)

* But the only difference is maybe puts a stop to his adultery once he starts falling in love with him (but reassures Blitz he can still have his grimoire every month without the sexual side of things)

1x02:

• Actually have Stolas listen to Octavia when she clearly stated that she 👏🏻 does 👏🏻 NOT 👏🏻 enjoy 👏🏻 Loo 👏🏻 Loo 👏🏻Land 👏🏻 any -👏🏻 more 👏🏻 because it remind her of a time when she was happier as a child (and a time when her parents didn’t hate each other)

• Not have Stolas call Blitz to “bodyguard” him and Octavia (to flirt with unless he was actually going treat him like temporary employment of a bodyguard)

• I wouldn’t make Octavia run away due to being emotional just because Stolas was flirting with Blitz (surprise, surprise 🙄)

* I understand she’s sad and probably confused about the why it’s happening, but what with her being Stolas’s daughter I would have thought that meant she has his high IQ (probably does but is clouded by emotions)

• I’d keep in Stolas chasing after Octavia and consoling her and reassure her that he he was NOT going to leave her behind (specifically for Blitz)

the only thing I would change is to have him explain to her why he does what he does in regards of cheating on her mother

(Maybe Octavia would understand that he’s not only GAY as fuck but also he doesn’t love Stella BECAUSE of the ongoing abuse and the wrong gender)

1x03:

• Blitz respectfully told Verosika that it’s not working out for him and that he needs to heal himself and his toxicity.

*Verosika still sexually assaults (rapers gonna rape rape rape 😬 ) Moxxie to spite Blitz even though he was respectful about their break up and handled it maturely

• Blitz becomes a better parent for Loona (or at least tries his damn hardest to)

• Loona never told Blitz that he wasn’t her dad or called him an “asshole”

• Make Vortex single and not have a girlfriend (hehe Lortex 🥰)

1x04:

I’d keep everything the same pretty much

1x05:

• Stella still hires Striker to kill Stolas (twice)

*Striker offers Blitz to work for him and does his whole evil speech thing minus saying that he’d be more than “plaything” to Stolas lol

1x06:

• Moxxie asks Blitz (under the truth gas) if he currently has feelings for Stolas who responded with a “I knew it” after the latter confirmed it

* The drug trip would be pretty much the same except another reverse roles the one in Moxxie’s case (or maybe I’d include SOME inkling of stuff from 2x03)

• Stolas saves Blitz from the human agents (but keeps his distance both romantically and platonically platonically at least until they’re clean of their dysfunctional problems)

* Blitz still suggests he fucks Stolas for coming to his rescue (I know what I said before but this could be a once off thing. The guy saved his life! And I didn’t exactly say WHEN they’d have to take a break from each other 😈)

• I would definitely bring other important D.H.O.R.K. agents back in future episodes (like a James & Jesse thing from Pokémon 🤣)

1x07:

(This could really go two ways depending if you’re pro or anti Stolitz)

• Blitz never stalked M&M and never used Stolas or his title just to get inside somewhere like Ozzie’s

Alternative:

This still could have happened canonically but with a twist! Blitz turned around and would have payed more attention to his “date” — which happened, somewhat, canonically, for a brief moment, and wondered why Stolas was asking about happened at work (as normal people do on dates, for the sake of small talk 😂) — rather than obsessing over his employees M&M

• Stolas never hid his face from Blitz at the thought of Octavia’s — mainly — and Stella’s contempt towards him for sleeping with a commoner

* I’ll do one better and say that: he proudly stood up for the latter and called out everyone else in return (I mean, if he could stand up to Stella in 2x01 canonically…

• Blitz never would have gotten heartbroken (because let’s face it, he was) thinking Stolas was ashamed — allegedly — to be with someone like him

• Blitz wouldn’t have rejected Stolas to watch a movie or even cuddle (because he’s neither embarrassed like he was canonically or hurt)

* Who knows even just by “cuddling” it would have morphed into something more than that 😏

(Which technically means the hurt feelings at Ozzie’s never happened and Blitz never accused Stolas of treating him like a “plaything” because of the the whole changed storyline and the characters goals goals. Weird, huh? It’s like the Butterfly Effect)

🦋

Season 2

2x01:

• I would still have Paimon force Stolas to be engaged with Stella, whether he likes it or not (or even despite his sexuality 🏳️‍🌈)

• Baby Stolas still meets Baby Blitz(o) during his performance at the circus and befriended with (through their parents arranged payment)

• Still have Stolas demand Stella to get THE DIVORCE™️ (I’m not THAT inhumane)

* The difference would be and he focuses more on his family and building a relationship with his daughter and himself to be the best person he can be.

Which means Octavia won’t be scared of him leaving her behind especially for Blitz and actually has supportive parent she can turn to when Stella is giving her grief

2x02:

• Loona never physically attacked Blitz (since he never told her he’d replace her as either a daughter or receptionist)

• I would NOT make Octavia run away every time someone was busy (her dad) and if it was Stolitz related 1x02 >>> 2x12

* I get it. She was disappointed that Stolas couldn’t do hang out with her, and, you know what? Yeah, it sucks to be told “darling, not right now”, but really, pick a time and a place that suits both of you, even if she has to sacrifice missing Astaroth’s Tears (there’ll be more post-divorced opportunities, which, I’m SURE, Stolas won’t tell her that he’s busy becaus he’d drop everything to hang out with her.

Just… not THAT particular day in 2x02. It was just very bad timing, it doesn’t make him a “bad parent”

Also, I would just generally not make Stolas hostile towards Stella’s comebacks, whilst I understand he’s standing his ground… it’s not necessarily done in the right way, especially with calling her a “B-I-T-C-H” — even if it’s true, doesn’t mean he should put her mother down, regardless of their relationship — in FRONT of Octavia, which definitely instigated the whole “why does he hate her, more than he loves me?” thing

Then again, to be FAIR, if this never happened, she and Loona could never have that “dads fuck up all the time, but it doesn’t mean they DON’T care” chat

2x03:

• I would keep Crimson’s abuse towards Moxxie (as I said before and I need a another villain)

• I would make Chaz reunite with his two exes (M&M) and pretty much keep his personality

• I would NOT make Blitz take Chaz’s offer on sex even when he told him he’d show what he did with M&M

(Then again that’d make it harder for him to know what Chaz was up to…)

* Blitz recognised the difference between someone showing genuine love & care (Stolas ) versus treating him like an ACTUAL “plaything” (Chaz) — if the whole “transactional fucking” was still canon in my version

• At the end Crimson doesn’t kill Chaz (because that’s just pointless) instead announces that he has a job in mind for him

• Crimson would still want to kill Moxxie (maybe along with Chaz’s help? Or maybe even would go so far as to make an alliance with Stella of all people 😈)

2x04:

• I’d not continue Stolas call Blitz “Blitzy” whether he’s in the room or not and get him to simp for him (it’s no different to S1. Seriously what happened to the character development in 2x02! 🤦🏼‍♀️)

* Unless maybe Stolas calls him “Blitz” ONLY when he’s serious 🤔 (like the same reason when Blitz doesn’t swear, use sexual innuendos, or lacks any of the euphemisms)

• I wouldn’t make Andrealpus incestuous towards Stella (I mean I know it’s Hell and everything, there’s some things I’ll tolerate like rape but not this. It’s technically Jaime and Cersei Lannister all over again but I’m pretty sure one sided, hopefully 🥴)

* I know it was implied again in 2x02 (the episode Loo Loo Land) when Blitz told Stolas to “make sure she washes it” — in regards to Octavia — but at least it was quickly shut down by the latter before it could go on any further

• Stolas still get stabbed by Striker multiple times and has to go to the hospital somewhere in the Pride Ring

• Blitz texts Stolas he wants to talk about what happened at Ozzie’s but isn’t ready to and asks for some time (even though this conversation happened many texts ago probably on the night)

• Blitz still wishes Stolas to get better soon :(

(but say whatever he was going to say before he had deleted his message)

2x05:

I would never put Barbie in this episode because we don’t know about her, I understand there’s a whole “enigma backstory” thing but one of the things is don’t introduce a character you probably won’t see again for a while… it just gets confusing

(Like half the fandom are like why is Barbie in this? What did Blitz doooooo? What happened to their relationship? Why does she HATE him so much? Etc)

2x06: (TBA)

S3 (TBA):

Note: Be warned this season is NOT for anti-Stolitzers as it will contain them being in relationship, so, to avoid the drama, please skip over it… so you don’t ruin for other people who may enjoy this ship.

3x01:

• TBA

[dannybobany]

I think I’d like to talk about Cecil for a moment

Move along if you don’t want to hear because this is gonna be sort of a ramble

So.. I think Cecil probably has some trust issues? Not majorly but I do think he finds it hard to get close with people after he finds out about his mother and all that

I mean.. how could you trust anyone after that right? Such a sudden and full betrayal, after that Cecil starts expecting it to happen all over again, when he was young death stole everything he had then lured him into caring again only to steal that from him too in a way worse then death- she isn’t just gone she’s replaced by a villain wearing her face and clothes, something not absent but actively meaning harm to others

It took him years to let himself care about people again after Micheal, Sammy, Elizabeth and William died— the universe just kept taking from him and he was worried to get used to having stability again, for awhile he was convinced he was next and stopped caring about his future because he was so sure he wouldn’t have one, he assumed the world would steal that from him too

When the killings stopped and he had to move on it was really hard for him to accept what was given to him from there, still half sure the mysterious killer would come for him next … he had no way of knowing at that time that he wouldn’t be a victim

But eventually he DID get over it and he did learn to love again and then the universe ripped it all away from him AGAIN. I don’t blame him for feeling happiness was a pointless endeavor, every time he’d been happy it was so quickly taken from him, why should he expect the pattern to change?

I think all of this would make it difficult for him to be in a relationship- in the beginning he would be so sure something would take it away from him that it’d be hard to let himself care at all, but you don’t exactly choose who you do and do not feel love for which is why it probably took him so long to realize and accept his feelings, he didn’t really want too

In Cecil’s mind for a long time loneliness was the price he paid for safety - if you don’t get close to anyone then someone your close too won’t die or betray you, this behavior is why for a lot of his life you’d have to force him to be friends with you— that’s what happened with him and Carlton, Carl brute forced that friendship until Cecil finally opened up, but he only knew to do that because he knew Cecil before things went wrong, nobody else was near enough to see that he used to be different, nobody noticed when he changed

Ok ramble over you can go home now <3

[atomic-thomas]

(Fake ASMR Commission) Sailing With The Undead Pirate Queen [Part 2]

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

*just play the sound of the open ocean for the entire audio. this whole thing takes place out at sea*

"Ahhh, the smell of the open ocean. It's been ages since I felt so invigorated. It beats the smell of low tide any day."

...

"Yes, I can still smell. What, did you think being undead removed my senses? I've been able to interact with you this whole time without issue."

...

"What's it like. Well, being undead has some perks, but also some downsides."

"On one hand, I have several advantages over normal humans. Unnatural spiritual strength, desensitization to pain, an eternal body & no need for essentials like food or water. The afterlife is a self-sufficient existence.

"But on the other hand, it feels... Physically uncomfortable. I mean... Just look at me. The lower half of my body is skeletal & the upper half is comprised of putrid, gross, rotten flesh. I emit a horrible stench. My body is cold. And worst of all... I'm hideous. I used to be so pretty when I was alive."

...

"You think I'm still pretty. Come on. You don't have to senselessly flatter me. I know you don't really mean that. I'm basically a walking corpse. I literally look like death."

...

"Okay, well... Even if you are serious, how are you not bothered by the stench? The smell of decay is foul."

...

"I still smell better than a skunk. Wow. So the bar for compliments is really that low for me, huh? It's better than nothing I suppose."

"Just why are you acting so peachy anyway? I did try to kill you earlier, you know."

...

"You think I'm... Cool. Well... Yeah. I suppose it makes sense that you'd think an Undead Pirate Queen is cool. I thought you were getting cozy because you know I respect you now."

...

"No, that's not a problem at all. You earned it. You fought for your life, I saw that fiery determination in your eyes, you gave it your all &... It was a good enough display in the end. I see you as an equal. Someone I can clash swords with to get my thrills. Cure my boredom. Assuming we meet again of course. I don't really know what's gonna happen after you & your crew return home."

...

"Oh, don't fret about it. I won't force duels upon you if you're not in the mood. And even if we did fight again, it would just be friendly competition at this point. I like you."

...

"No, not in that way you silly swashbuckler. Someone like me can't be in a relationship. I'm a feared pirate legend. The queen of crime. The scourge of the sea. And in my eternal existence... That's all I can do. Raise hell until the end of time."

...

"Well, no. I don't technically have to. But it's not like I can restore my humanity. I'm dead. I'm too far gone... So far down this rabbit hole... Even in death... That nothing else can be done. My existence would be pointless otherwise."

"I shall spend all of eternity being the villain that I've always been known for. Killing... Stealing... Wreaking havoc on the Seven Seas with this rickety old ghost ship. All while being accompanied by the spiritual blue flames of my loyal crew."

...

"I do love my crew very dearly. They're basically family to me. I treat them with kindness & care. And in return, they show me their dedication."

...

"Not very pirate-like. What do you mean? Did you think I keelhauled them or forced them to walk the plank if they made a single mistake? No one's perfect. And besides... Being cruel & merciless to those who are close doesn't exactly command respect. I need their loyalty. If I'm gonna be the boss, then I wanna be the best damn boss there ever was. We even used to partake in Sea Shanties to keep our morale up."

...

"Oh... You're curious about the spirits of my crew themselves, huh? Well, from what I've observed, their spirits appear to have aspects of literal fire. You got stranded on that island because my crew set your ship ablaze. So they're clearly capable of causing physical burns even in death. It's quite extraordinary."

"I've also noticed that if they're in water, their spirits persist as a faint glow. And when they're out of water, they reignite as if nothing happened."

...

"I'm not actually sure if they can control their flames. Are you asking if you can touch one of them without getting burned?"

...

"Well... Let's find out then, shall we? Hey! One of you there. I need a volunteer to test something for me."

...

"You'll do just fine. Now... Try touching our new friend here without burning them. I want to know just how much control you have over your flame."

...

"Hmmm... Interesting. You appear to be fine. How does it feel?"

...

"Pleasantly warm. I see. So my crew really does have control over their fiery spirits. Fascinating. Even in death, they still manage to surprise me."

...

"It'll be a while before we make landfall. I wonder if that blasted kraken will show up again."

...

"Truth be told, I don't know if it's even still alive anymore. It's been many years since that fateful day. It may have died of natural causes... Or it could've been slain by formidable forces."

"Or perhaps... It may still live... Lurking beneath us just waiting to strike at any moment."

...

"Yohohohohoho! Fear not, matey. If that beast does show it's wretched mug again, we're far more prepared this time. Not only do we have strength in greater numbers thanks to you & your crew... But me & my crew have further advantages.

"A mortal creature cannot kill what no longer lives. The blazing spirits of my crew will roast that kraken alive. Then we can dine on delicious fried calamari afterwards."

"I dare that behemoth to show itself! It'll be the last mistake it ever makes."

...

"Nothing. Hmmm... Well, no matter. I don't care either way. Regardless of what happens, I'll see to it that you & your crew make it home safely. And once we part ways..."

...

"I'm not sure how I intended to finish that sentence. What will you do? Venture out to sea to pay me a visit? Clash swords in a friendly spar perhaps? I may act vile towards those who haven't earned my respect, but you're special. A pirate's honor."

...

"How would you find me. Well that's easy. I can just send out my crew to patrol the ocean. You're bound to encounter at least one of them. And when you do, they can lead you to my ship. It's really that simple."

"For now, just kick back & enjoy the ride."

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

THE END

[spectral-kitkat]

Miraculous Rant.

Where the hell do I begin…

Season 1:

The show was decent in season 1. Some episodes were just mindless filler and probably weren’t needed in the grand scheme of things but they helped us get introduced to the characters, we got to know the plot and the world our characters inhabit. It was good. The love story between Adrien and Marinette was cute and off to a touching and fluffy start.

Season 2:

This season was immediately better than season 1. It had character development, it went more into detail about the lore surrounding the Miraculous and we got to learn more about our characters and their families and the villian’s motives. (HM really went from “I wanna destroy the world” to “I wanna wake my wife from the coma she’s in”).

We got to see new heroes which was fun! We got new characters like Luka and Kagami.

The season finale was epic! The Miraculous team all taking down all the previous villains in the show was awesome. At the end we even got Mari kissing Adrien on the cheek. It was great! (Even though it clearly reset itself in season 3 cause it’s never mentioned again)

I really enjoyed season 2 and it’s probably my favourite out of the 4.

Season 3:

Season 3 was kinda good and kinda bad. We had some great episodes but this is where the show took the wrong turn.

Marinette lost some of her character in season 3. This was the start of her descent into being the Queen of Mary Sues. It’s also where she was crowned the Queen of Stalkers! Her character took a fucking nose dive in this season. We had so many moments that just creeped me the fuck out.

1. The ENTIRETY of Puppeteer 2 🤢🤢🤢 I could not stand that episode. When we reached the dreaded statue scene I physically had to pause it like 10 times. That scene takes about 3 minutes to watch… it took me about 20. I cringed so fucking hard because of the secondhand embarrassment I was feeling. That was not sweet, it wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t the least bit cute… it was a train wreck! It was creepy and stalkerish and it’s a wonder Adrien even spoke to her again after that atrocity!

2. LB delivering the present in Chat Blanc. Two words: STALKER BEHAVIOUR!!! I genuinely could not believe my eyes when I saw LB run her hand across everything in his room and then actually SNIFF Adrien’s pillow. Like WTF!!! 🤮 I’m pretty sure whoever was responsible for that scene clearly thought it was the equivalent of when someone gets their S/O’s jumper or something and it still smells like them. But this turned it up to the nth degree and way passed the line of sanity.

Adrien was extremely under-utilised in this season. He didn’t really do anything. The only episodes we got about him didn’t really focus on him. ‘Felix’ whilst focusing on Adrien’s family didn’t really feature him. ‘Party Crasher’ while a beautiful mess was more about Mari trying to get into the party than the party itself. ‘Chat Blanc’ again focused more on Mari trying to fix her mistake.

We got even more heroes in season 3, not in the right order but they were there. It was fun seeing everyone’s transformations.

Season 3 was also the season of destroying redemptions. The big one obviously being Chloe. Season 2 was setting up this amazing redemption for her and before it could go anywhere it was wiped off the face of the earth during the finale (and don’t worry we’ll get to that dumpster fire later). Gabriel also had any remaining sympathy ripped away from him. How did the guy who stopped Gorizilla from letting Adrien die when he only thought he was CN go from that to using his son like fucking baseball in Chat Blanc when he knew his son was CN. Like I knew you were a shit father but you still cared about Adrien in some way shape or form but after that episode I can see I was clearly mistaken!

Before we get to the finale I want to talk about probably my 2 least favourite episodes from this season: Desperada and Reflekdoll

Desperada:

I fucking hated this episode! The only good thing was Luka getting to be Viperion, other than that this episode was awful!

Marinette was a selfish cringey bitch. Completely ignoring Luka to gush about Adrien to Jagged. Brushing Luka off as soon as Adrien turns up. Immediately cuddling up to Aspik and flirting with him when she needed to focus on the akuma (something which she has told CN not to do many times before)

Adrien, I love you kid but Jesus Christ you were a dumbass in this episode! Aspik’s design was terrible! Aspik himself was awful. I know Adrien tried his best but dude you were given the Black Cat miraculous for a reason! He shouldn’t have tried to be Aspik but even when he did he should’ve called it quits after like 5 resets not 25,913 times.

The only person with a brain this episode was Luka. So well done guitar boy, gold star!

Reflekdoll:

This episode was annoying! It was basically the start of the Marinette can do no wrong streak! When they have to swap miraculous I was happy cause it meant we got to see new outfits and see how they each handle the different powers. It would also serve as a way to get LB and CN to see what their partners role is first hand. Until we actually get to it…

LadyNoire is of course amazing and needs no introduction to using this new miraculous that she’s never used before. She’s cocky and confident and basically just LB in Chat’s costume with his powers.

Mister Bug on the other hand is just useless. He struggles with this new miraculous (like anyone would!) and is stupid and goofy. He has to rely on LadyNoire to solve the lucky charm. They swapped miraculous so shouldn’t that mean that Mister Bug should get the lucky vision and the creative powers that the earrings give him.

Overall Reflekdoll is awful. It was shitty writing and the start of Adrien getting the short end of the stick.

And now the season 3 finale… Just what the fuck. That is my only reaction: what the fuck!

Chloe you poor fucking child! What did they do to you!!! So much potential SQUANDERED!!!!

What was the point in bringing in all these different superheros with unique skill sets, costumes and transformations if you were just going to immediately reveal them to the main villian so they can’t be used again. That’s stupid! If you wanted the shock value that is “Oh no HM knows some of the heroes identities!” Then keep it as only some. Have like Max, Kim and Kagami outside trying to find somewhere to hide but unfortunately they get hit. Or Nino and Alya are hiding but the windows open and they get hit. Have some of the heroes hide so they’re fine! Taking away every ally of LB and CN’s was a stupid move! (Even if they wanted Alya to become a spy have her as part of the like 4 that get revealed or something, it’s not that difficult)

Season 3 was 50/50 for me

Season 4:

So I know season 4 isn’t even halfway through yet but so much is wrong with this season already that I need to vent!

So my biggest problem with this season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybitch and Rena Rouge, I mean Rena Furtive… shit, Chat Noir! Is that CN is basically pointless! Adrien has been flung over a rainbow and is only remembered when he’s needed as

1. Marinette’s love interest

2. Someone for LB to shout at

3. A plot device

He has basically been sidelined. Partners my ASS!!!

Adrien is being blown off by pretty much EVERYONE! It’s coming to a point where this poor sweet summer child is going to crack! And it is not gonna be pretty… I definitely feel like the writers are leading up to a big fight between CN and LB which will probably end with Chat Blanc 2.0.

I REALLY HATE MARINETTE/LADYBUG!!!! In Season 3 I said it was the beginning of her descent, well in season 4 she’s done it. She’s descended, she has hit rock fucking bottom. She is so unlikable I don’t actually care about her as a person. She has entered full blown stalker territory it’s only a matter of time before she starts killing people for even looking at Adrien! Not to mention that Miss Mary Sue here can’t do anything wrong! She never has to suffer the consequences of her actions, she is always perfect no matter what she does… it pisses me off!)

She’s the Guardian now big whoop. I know what it feels like to be stressed and under pressure so I do understand why she needed to tell someone about it all. I just don’t see why that person had to Alya! Especially considering she has someone by her side every akuma attack going through pretty much the exact same thing. I know she’s worried about CB happening again but as I said before the more she leaves him out the more she is actually pushing that to become a possibility! Plus it makes sense for them to reveal their identities now since LB is now the guardian it’s probably a good idea to know who holds the cat miraculous, she knows everyone else’s identities!

Even if she didn’t want to tell CN her identity she could still explain the situation to him. If she didn’t want to tell him anything (which she doesn’t anyway) then instead of Alya she should’ve talked to Luka! Her boyfriend for all of half an episode (thanks writers…). He’s so sweet and caring and clearly loves her so much! If she wanted someone to confide in then why not choose the person you clearly wanted to date but couldn’t because of that very reason! (Yeah I know it’s kinda a moot point now since Luka knows both identities but still). He wanted to try and comfort her so it would’ve been the perfect moment for it. That way you could still date him and he’d know why you had to suddenly leave dates halfway through! But no break the boys heart instead!

Adrien and Marinette were both such fucking idiots in the first 2 episodes. Like why would you start a relationship with someone when you know your heart isn’t in it! That’s called leading someone on and is a really shitty thing to do to someone! No wonder Kagami and Luka ended up akumatized!

Another aspect of season 4 I don’t like is Rena Furtive. Yes ok having a spy for your side is a good strategy but when said spy basically tells an important member of a duo that the 2 person job doesn’t involve them… it just really ticks me off! Alya you are the sidekick to LB and CN! Chat isn’t!

Miraculous specials:

The Miraculous World specials suck! Shanghai is better than NY but still has its problems. Both specials add nothing to the overall plot/lore of the show apart from trying to set up some weird cinematic universe…

NY special:

One of the worst things I’ve ever had to sit through! The plane scene alone I paused a few times. I want to say well done to Mari for trying to move on from Adrien (especially considering I’m pretty sure she’s dating Luka at this point) but I can’t help but think it’s just to give her character some pointless development that goes nowhere and doesn’t actually develop anything!

LB can pretty much fuck off at this point! I hate her! She put all this shit on CN (like she doesn’t know exactly how that feels). It’s like why does she get to go off on holiday but CN can’t. LB should’ve stayed in Paris for 3 reasons:

1. She’s recently become the guardian meaning it would probably be best that she stayed with the Mircle Box

2. She’s the only one who can purity the akumas

3. If she’s so sure about being the boss then she should take responsibility of Paris and the citizens.

What really pisses me off about her is what she says to CN during the big fight. “I can’t trust you”… surely you could have this conversation afterwards since you’re supposed to be focusing on taking down the villian! Plus everyone bashes Adrien for giving his miraculous up in this episode but look at it from his point of view: His partner and best friend just said she couldn’t trust him which in turn caused him to cataclysm someone and essentially kill them. That’s gonna take a toll on anyone, especially a 14 year old! He probably thought in that moment. “Ladybug needs a partner she can trust and someone who won’t mess up and kill someone. She needs a better partner.” It makes sense he renounces his miraculous! I’m just upset that in doing so he loses Plagg who is pretty much his only friend who actually understands what Adrien goes through at home.

When Uncanny gets CN to come back, LB acts like it’s not her fault in the first place that he feels inadequate! She didn’t even apologise for saying what she did! He apologised for lying about not being in Paris but nope LB wasn’t in the wrong at all and didn’t have anything to apologise for 🙄… (yes the LadyNoir hug was amazing but I just wish it was under different circumstances!)

Also are we not gonna mention Gabriel Agreste almost starting WW3??? He wanted to launch a fucking missile!!!

Shanghai:

As I said before, this special is way better for several reasons.

We got MariChat! (Best side to the love square imo). This special actually had some semblance on a plot. Fei, whilst a bit op, was a cool character. It was nice to see Wang Cheng again.

However once again there were many problems.

A big one being Marinette yet again! (What a shock! 😒 I’ll come back to this). Another was that once again HM’s motivation has changed. How is getting the Prodigious gonna help bring back Emilie??

Back to Marinette… The fact that the words “Huh?! There must be some kind of mistake! I always know what's up with Adrien! … His 5 first names and every corresponding name date, his yearly schedule, even his shoe size! If there were anything to know about him, I would know it!” come out of her mouth whilst she is flipping through his schedule that she keeps in her pocketbook is a hugh red flag!!! That is not cute or adorable! That’s messed up and Adrien needs to fucking run and maybe possibly go into witness protection… Marinette is a full blown stalker! Not to mention the GPS she has (that could just be the find my friends app on iphone but still).

It also is extremely rude of her to use not only her great uncle’s birthday but also a lie about wanting to know her Chinese heritage in order to go to Shanghai to stalk her obsession, I mean crush. This could’ve been avoided if the Dupain-Chengs were going to Shanghai for the purpose of celebrating Wang Cheng’s bday and then Adrien just so happened to be in Shanghai.

Also this means LB left Paris without telling CN! I know CN did the same but again he can’t purify the akumas. Plus he has a reason he couldn’t stay in Paris, Mari just went cause her crush did. Great guardianship there Marinette.

This was also the last time CN actually did something. Even if it was for a short while before LB and her female partner took over (the beginning of a theme…)

Other things:

There are 2 other things that I wanna say but felt they needed a separate bit.

In Furious Fu, Su-Han has a rule book that he uses to tell Marinette which rules she has broken. At the end of the episode he tells her that is she breaks 1 more rule that he will take the Miraculous and the Miracle Box off her, which fair enough but wouldn’t it be helpful to leave the rule book with her?! How can she be wary of not breaking anymore rules when she doesn’t even know what the rules are??

Now the big one: Master Fu…

Where do I even start with him. He is so fucking manipulative!! He is Asian Dumbledore!

He decides to leave these extremely powerful jewels in the hands of 13 year olds! Surely leaving the miraculous to someone in their 20s would’ve been better!

He clearly favours LB over CN even though the Ladybug and Black Cat are supposed to be partners! Wouldn’t it make sense for them both to be in contact with the guardian from the start?? He randomly started introducing rules such as if LB and CN find out each other’s identities they would lose their miraculous… what kind of bullshit rule is that? It also came out of fucking nowhere!

Final Thoughts:

But to summarise all of that: Miraculous is on quite a steep decline but I’m invested at this point and I am genuinely curious as to where the fuck this will go.

Marinette needs professional fucking help before the writers even consider canonising Adrienette cause at the moment she is not what Adrien needs!

Adrien needs to stand up for himself! He needs to pull LB to the side and tell her what he feels and what he’s going through cause he is on the precipice of a breakdown!

(Small point that’s more to do with the fandom: when searching for fanfics it’s really annoying that Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Bashing is a tag but Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug Bashing isn’t. Why does everyone think Marinette can do no wrong???)

[witchy-jadda]

rott spoilers ahead

so i’ve given myself some time to think about everything and try to process it all and here are some of my thoughts on trollhunters: rise of the titans...

- straight off the bat, i loved the intro. opening with blinky telling the story of what happened up until this point was incredible. i would have loved if they had circled back to this though (i saw someone else say it should have been him telling the story to jim and claire’s kids and i loved that idea!)

- i also liked that they didn’t waste time at the start, instead they just jumped right into the action which was fun.

- honestly, i thought jim’s plotline throughout the movie where he basically thought he was useless without the amulet was just really not fun to watch. i understand why it was there and it played into the climax but i really did not find it one bit necessary seeing as i felt that we have grown beyond that. i felt it was overused. we’ve been there before and jim is aware that he’s the trollhunter, amulet or not.

- douxie being so soft with nari was genuinely one of the most heartwarming parts of the movie. i feel that we were really robbed of so much potential with douxie in this movie though. we didn’t see nearly enough of him. it seemed that the writers were picking and choosing when to remember how powerful he is. switching with nari and connecting to her are two examples of when they actually used his power, but aside from that they just disregarded it a lot.

- and speaking of forgetting how powerful people are... i’m genuinely so hurt and let down over what they did to claire. do they not realise how powerful she is? did they just forget about her character arc? it sure felt like it. she got to use her powers a few times (connecting to nari, portalling the titan, etc) but mostly it felt like she was saying she was spent and therefore unable to do anything. she is so strong and so powerful, and that’s just so empowering - especially for young girls. and then it kinda felt to me that rott was reducing her to basically nothing more than jim’s love interest.

- okay another quick note, it kinda felt to me that krel’s potential was also pretty wasted? he barely did anything and i just think he deserved more too.

- ew okay i don’t even want to think about it but i know i can’t discuss rott without talking about the mpreg thing. seriously, what the fuck was that? at first, i thought it was going to be a joke. i thought aja and krel were gonna wind steve up and see how far they could go with making him think he was pregnant just for a little bit of comic relief. but then he was actually pregnant. and so i laughed, because even though it was dumb it was kind of funny. weird and unexpected, but kind of funny. but by the time the movie was over it just didn’t sit right with me. looking past the fact that it was just more of them making steve’s character into a joke, i couldn’t see the logic in giving so much time to that subplot when other characters (claire, douxie) and other relationships (claire and douxie’s friendship) were sidelined. maybe if he had gotten a whole season the mpreg thing could have been included as comic relief or whatever, but with such limited time i really don’t see the point of wasting so much time on something so pointless. 

- speaking of steve, i need to talk about creepslayerz... they really deserved more :( like i get that eli literally helped steve through child birth and then named one after him which was lowkey adorable but i loved their friendship so much and i was really hoping to see more of them. i was kind of hoping they’d get to do more as well. look i gave up on hopes of a romance long ago (even though i still really wished it would happen) but i hoped that at least we’d see some more of their friendship.

* by this point my brain has decided to forget absolutely every point i wanted to make... cue the brain fog (we don’t like her) and allow me to take a moment to read back and try to find my point again *

- i don’t think i can stress enough how much i loved the visuals in this movie. holy fucking shit it was just phenomenal. like wow. the art was absolutely fantastic and i’m really hoping for another the art of... book because i love the art of trollhunters and i feel that they could do with updating it to include the newer stuff. but yep, the animation quality was incredible and i don’t have a bad thing to say about it because just wow.

- speaking of art... a moment of appreciation for character designs. just wow wow wow. we love to see such intricately designed villains. we love to see growth in our other much loved characters. and the locations too? fantastic. beautiful. amazing. loved it.

- another moment of appreciation for jim. the hair. the scars. the injuries. the winter jacket. the fact that he looked a little older.... loved it. loved it, loved it, loved it. i cannot wait to spend hours pouring over reference pictures to draw them all.

- and claire... her armor being weathered and worn. her eyes!! her hair looked great as always. i just love her...

- nari nari nari... my goodness, her magic is so beautiful. i wish we got to see more.

- also, the jlaire moments were very cute. their kisses? so soft. they literally love each other so much. i adore them.

- what happened to the babies from the darklands btw? is not enrique just chilling in the lake’s house with a ton of babies? 

- barbara deserved better. i would have liked to see her and strickler happy.

- on that note, why the actual fuck did they think a few explosives would win against magic?? literal ancient magic and these dumbasses were like huh i guess we should blow it up. i’m sorry, what?? y’all are stupid.

* currently trying to think of every possible point that isn’t to do with the ending because i really don’t want to think about that yet *

- the whole thing with archie and charlemagne felt super unnecessary. like usually characters sacrifice themselves and it’s like sad and you can see the reasoning and stuff. but they literally could have gotten out. i really did not vibe with that. it felt like they just did that to leave douxie with no one.

- that trollmarket was beautiful though.

- speaking of trollmarket... they really restored the heartstone just like that? are you joking? i was not impressed at all. the heartstone was dead and gone, could not be destroyed. did they just forget that? half the shit in wizards wouldn’t have happened if the heartstone could have been restored. very pissed off by that. it was dead, that was it.

- okay back to jim... love that he pulled the sword from the stone. it was cute that it was a group effort, kinda would have preferred if it was just him but that’s just a me thing. and maybe me and my daylight tattoo are biased here, but excalibur is not half as pretty as daylight.

- not gonna lie, jim yelling come on trollhunters! kinda got me. i was very emotional watching this.

- i think the most in character jim moment of the whole movie was when he dropped excalibur, he didn’t have his armor, he was all alone and he decided to make a fist and fight the wizard/god with literally no weapon or means of defence. i don’t think y’all understand how much i love this dumb self sacrificing selfless boy. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, he is literally one of my most favourite characters of all time. i love him with all my heart.

- the armor!! wow wow wow. that was a fucking cool scene. beautiful.

- jim getting stabbed or whatever with that fucking spear thing nearly killed me.

- okay here goes... toby. my sweet toby. jim and toby’s friendship is one of my absolute favourites ever. my goodness. and toby getting in the van and going to save jim was incredible and such a toby thing to do. of course he would think of doing that.

- but like seriously... claire and douxie are so fucking powerful and they were both just like lol i guess we can’t do anything to help jim? i’m sorry what?? don’t tell me that claire wouldn’t go full on black and purple eyes and get herself up their to him. i just... i’m so bothered by the fact that they were sidelined y’all :|

- also, do not seriously try to tell me that aaarrrgghh!!! would let toby go on his own. he would have went with him. he would have followed him.

- literally as jim was falling the first thing that went through my mind was oh aaarrrgghh!!! is gonna run up and catch him.

- and while we’re on the topic of aaarrrgghh!!! why tf did they have such a build up that something was going to happen to either him or blinky for literally no reason? wtf

- aaarrrgghh!!! would not have let toby go alone!!! if he had been there, he would have protected toby, he would have saved him and none of that mess of an ending would have happened.

* ugh here’s the bit i was dreading... the ending *

- first off, i am choosing to ignore it.

- time stone? really? we’re... we’re gonna do this? literally one of the most original things i have ever watched is now - at the literal last possible minute - rip off another movie?? really?? whyyyy???

- i literally cannot express how much i hated it. it was so fucking unnecessary.

- he didn’t need to go back that far!!!

- i’m actually trying to block this out but i suppose i have to at least touch on it. jim would never ever put that burden on to toby. he just wouldn’t. before even looking at all of the other issues with toby getting the amulet, i need to say that. it just wouldn’t happen. he struggled so much with being the trollhunter, he wouldn’t put that on toby. 

- also toby literally never wanted to be the trollhunter?? he never wanted the amulet? he wanted to be a duke and have his war hammer and go on adventures with his best friend and his wingman and eat mexican food.

- okay so um i guess they all just forgot about unbecoming? cool cool cool.

- seriously though, was it not established many times that jim literally had to be trollhunter? and if he wasn’t it would be draal and everything would go to shit? did they just forget about that??

- having jim just decide to give toby the amulet literally takes away from the entire meaning behind jim getting the amulet and becoming the trollhunter. the amulet chose jim. merlin chose him. out of all of the creatures in the world, it had to be jim. he can’t just give that to toby!!

- and as much as i love toby, he would not last a day as trollhunter.

- and that’s not even beginning to mention all that jim erased by not becoming trollhunter. no father son relationship between him and blinky. they didn’t stop steve from picking on eli so no steve redemption and no creepslayerz. is he just going to allow enrique to be taken? toby will not have the same incentive to go into the darklands to save him if that’s the case. strickler will not show any sort of sentiment towards toby either. and then the big one...

- IS THAT FUCKER REALLY GOING TO ALLOW CLAIRE TO NOT GET HER POWERS??? WHAT???

- if jim isn’t trollhunter and the whole thing with enrique doesn’t happen then claire will never get her shadowstaff. let’s be real, strickler probably wouldn’t even need angor rot with toby as trollhunter. somehow i can’t see him making it that far...

- if claire doesn’t have her shadow staff then the whole thing with morgana won’t happen. she won’t destroy the shadow staff and then she will never develop her powers. would jim really rob her of that?

- okay i can’t do anymore, it’s too much for me now...

- i touched on this already in a separate post but i gotta say it again... i did not enjoy the destiny is a gift bit at the end. first of all, jim having toby find the amulet literally takes the meaning of that speech and his destiny away instanty. and second, i just could not stand hearing emile hirsch say the words that belonged to anton yelchin. it was just uncomfortable.

aaand i think i’m done. maybe i’ll have more later but i have a headache now from all of this.

[western-magical-girl-confessions]

“Maybe not that hot of a take depending on who you ask but the PPGZ dub HAS to be redone. It may not be as bad as Glitter Force or Mew Mew Power, but it definitely has problems. Yeah half these problems were especially prominent in older anime dubs, but I hardly see anyone talk about PPGZ. Although I don't know why I'm surprised considering the amount of people who hated it. I just think it's one of the many (?) magical girl animes that should be done justice with the dubbing. Also, at the moment this is pretty much the only place I can really talk about this.

For one thing, I don't understand why the girls' civilian names & their hero names were the same? That ruins the whole point of a secret identity? I mean yeah it was probably for localization reasons (not that that's exactly a good thing but still) but was that really the best they can do?

Second, I don't get some of the name changes. Not all of them, since again I can understand that's as for localization reasons. It's still a bad thing, but is it really that surprising? I'm mostly talking about the fact they changed (most of) the GGG's names in the 50th episode. Other than Snake/Ivy whose been changed from the start, there was no point. There are others that I found pretty pointless, but honestly what else can I say?

Going off of that last part, those stupid gender changes. I know it was the 2000's so anything remotely queer was usually edited but something about it here really ticks me off. IIRC the only gender non-conforming characters that weren't changed were Him (for obvious reasons) & Michel/Gilbert (who I honestly don't know what the original writers were trying to do with. Was he supposed to be laughable or insufferable? (surprise surprise he wasn't either to me, just sad) Either way, one time villain, only appeared like 2 times after that, no one cares.) In Snake/Ivy's case I both somewhat understand & am just... really confused? 

I believe the main reason for this change was the scene with them massaging Bubbles as a way to prevent her from stopping the gang, & it comes of as rather creepy. In my opinion that doesn't fix the problem it just makes it gay. The only other instance of this I can name from the top of my head is the fashion designer from Fashion Action. Why'd they turn him into a Coco Chanel parody. What was the point? 

Oh I see, when it's a villain being gender non-conforming it's okay since they're a villain, but if it's someone else with a significant role in an episode then it should be edited because the children can't see a man acting feminine & think it's normal! (Also I'm confused as to whether or not Arturo was a girl in the original anime, though if that were true I wouldn't know why. Then I can kind of understand the gender change but other than that it's honestly so stupid. But again, I don't know what I expected from the 2000s.)

An honorable mention I'd like to make was the editing/removal of the more emotional scenes, but honestly after Glitter Force I wouldn't be surprised if that's still going to be an issue for future anime dubs.

This probably isn't the best way to voice this but at the moment this is the best place. Even with these flaws, I still find PPGZ better than whatever other reboot they've tried to throw in our faces these past few years. I just hope some company finds this suitable enough to re-dub.

Anyway I think I'm gonna take Ivy & Michel from this hellstorm & use them for whatever other PPG related projects I have in mind; I like them fairly enough. Okay that's it. Sorry you had to read this.”

[qqueenofhades]

hilary listen the old guards slayed me. I mean the plot the pacing the writing the acting?? the diversity that didn’t feel like lip service? tHAT ENDING??? Charlize Theron also knocked it out off the park. like the bone weary fatigue that comes with seeing too much and for too long could’ve been played as that snarky cynical and jaded god. but she dIDNT. and it was such an impactful and nuanced performance. Agh I’m running out of characters gdi moving over to another ask (1/2)

ALSO BOOKER. I fucking love when they make a characters actions reasonable. like the man is clearly depressed. he’s tired and he wants some sort of agency back in the face of devastating loss over and over again. like waiting for your friends to heal themselves each time they die?? my god that amount of stress has to get to you at some point. which also lends to this self-awareness and surety among all of the characters (especially Nicky omg Nicky you beautiful cinnamon roll). GDI no space (2/3) 

RIGHT. Nicky! what a compassionate but ruthlessly efficient solider (also that part near the end where he puts the gun over his shoulder for joe to take was kinda hot ngl). the juxtaposition is so interesting and compelling and we see it throughout the movie with all of the characters too. even their relationship as a team. it’s odd because they’re really professional with each other but still choose to be a family from the get go. it’s even more profound when you think about it (NO SPACE Y) 3/4 

because that’s the one thing they truly have a choice over. they’re going to see these 4 people for the rest of their long longgg lives and they can very easily say no. I’ll find others and lose them but I refuse to be forced to get stuck with you instead of someone else. they don’t though and such props to the writer who didn’t go down that traditional path of conflict. aggghh I could on about how andy didn’t die either but I’m running out of space Again and have spammed you enough lolollll 

LOOK.

It was as if ye olde Netflix Powers Thatte Be said “look we know 2020 has been a flaming hellpit dumpster of Why God Why, so we’re gonna give the gays everything they want”

There was world-weary ancient Greek warrior short-haired lesbian Charlize Theron (that scene with the hot French pharmacy lady tenderly patching up her shoulder in the bathroom and the obvious sexual tension was SO UNNECESSARY BUT ALSO COMPLETELY NECESSARY GOD BLESS THE FILMMAKERS!) She has lost her equally hot and badass wife and there was Angst and Feelings and now we have Drama with said wife returning from the sea floor and I don’t know what’s gonna happen but my body is ready and I need the sequel immediately.

There were Joe and Nicky, the most beautiful devoted interracial/interreligious mlm immortal husbands who are still completely gaga for each other after hundreds of years, there are absolutely no gay “jokes” or even any calling attention to their status, they whup ass and they make out in front of stormtroopers because why not get you a man who can do both. We have already discussed the fact that I am Deep down the rabbit hole for them.

There was Nile (NILE! I WOULD DIE FOR YOU!) the most PRECIOUS immortal bean, who is a Black woman who literally cannot be shot down, who takes the hits from the military (DON’T THINK I DID NOT NOTICE THAT THE US ARMY WAS ALSO GOING TO PUT HER IN A CAGE/INSTITUTION ONCE THEY FOUND OUT ABOUT HER) and from the white supremacist violence but GETS BACK UP EVERY TIME BECAUSE THEY CANNOT STOP HER WITH THEIR USUAL MINDLESS STATE SPONSORED MACHINE GUNS. She gets to rescue the whole team like a BADASS and go into the lab with the action-hero angles almost ALWAYS received by the Hard Bitten White Man, she gets to tackle the main villain off the top of a goddamn skyscraper and walk away from it while he’s dead, she is nonetheless Sweet and Vulnerable and in need of Protection so she gets to be BOTH the damsel in distress and the hero and I just... I have a lot of feelings about Nile okay.

Even the Hard Bitten White Man we did get, i.e. Booker, is the guy who makes painful choices and is driven by the pain of having to watch his children die and yet also still displays emotions and cares for his other family and awfully regrets what he did to hurt them (and when he realizes Andy’s not healing he PANICS) and now he’s met Quynh and oh the dramaaaa.

I VERY MUCH NOTICED THE CIA AND BIG PHARMA/AN INSUFFERABLE KNOW IT ALL RICH BRITISH WHITE MAN BEING THE VILLAINS UNDER CLAIMING TO DO “GOOD.” THANK YOU. (And good on you Chiwetel Ejiofor, I knew you wouldn’t let Dudley Dursley actually get away with it)

THE ADVENTURES ACROSS HISTORY TO BE! GOOD! PEOPLE! NOT GRIMDARK POINTLESS ANNIHILATION! THEIR HEROISM MEANS SOMETHING IN THE END!!!

THE FOUND FAMILY OF IT ALL. As you note, they completely avoided the “oh no they all hate each other and snipe over petty things and try to kill each other” and went “nope they are a family and they watch football together in their loud church in France where they like to live and all sleep in the same bedroom” LIKE UP YOURS MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE oops

And Andy DIDN’T die and is gonna see her wife again and now has to reckon with that and has to figure out how to fight when she’s no longer completely invulnerable and has to mentor Nile and figure out how to be part of the team in a different way and and and

(I CAN’T BELIEVE I ORIGINALLY FORGOT TO MENTION IT WAS DIRECTED BY A BLACK WOMAN AND A LOT OF WOMEN WORKED ON IT)

/breathes deeply

Anyway I liked it a normal amount.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis is a series that looks at villains across various media in the hopes of coming to something of a consensus on the overall quality of the character. Are they performed well? Do they enrich the narrative? Are their motives fleshed out? Are they voiced by Tim Curry and thus a sex icon? 

There are a lot of important questions that I look into, but ultimately, Psycho Analysis boils down to asking one simple little question: How bad can a character be?

Thankfully, there’s one villain who decided to answer that question for me... in song form.

Psycho Analysis: The Once-ler

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Yeah, I’m finally talking about everyone’s favorite greedy bastard who, back in some of the darkest days of Tumblr history, ended up being the premier sexyman on the website. People were thirsting over this twiggy weirdo, acting as if he were God’s gift to women and shipping him with alternate versions of himself. Much like the movie he’s from, he is now incredibly hard to take seriously.

But hey, speaking of alternate versions of himself, I’m going to be covering him from the original book and the animated short film as well. Might as well just knock it all out of the park at once, right? Now let’s see how ba-a-a-ad this guy can be.

Motivation/Goals: The Once-ler is all about biggering. He’s making thneeds (things that everyone needs) and he is gonna stop at nothing to craft these things. Not even the power of the Lorax, Danny DeVito or otherwise, is going to stay his hand from getting that sweet, soft Truffula fluff to make his wares. This is ultimately a little unrealistic, at least for the Illumination version; if Danny DeVito asked me not to do something, I’d listen, no questions asked.

Performance: In the animated special, Bob Holt does double duty, as he is portraying both Once-ler and the title character. It works really well for what they’re going for, and the double casting is interesting because it highlights the ultimate role of the Lorax as the Once-ler’s conscience given form.

In the film, Ed Helms portrays the Once-ler, and he’s fine. He’s certainly better casting than Audrey, but that’s not particularly saying much considering that’s a non-singing Taylor Swift (when Cats is able to utilize Taylor Swift better than your musical, you know there’s trouble). I don’t know, Ed Helms is fun and all, but I’m just not sure his take on the Once-ler is all too compelling overall.

Final Fate: In the original book and the special, the Once-ler wins… but even he realizes it’s a terrible, pointless victory, and all he has achieved is ruin, his family leaving him, his business ultimately collapsing, and the environment permanently damaged. He’s left as a miserable, jaded hermit, broken by the bleak consequences his greedy actions have sown upon the world and only able to tell his story and pass on the last Truffula seed in the hopes that maybe, maybe someday the trees can regrow and the Lorax will return. The Illumination version follows this but then tacks on a happy ending  where the Lorax and Once-ler reunite because as we know ambiguity and bittersweet endings cannot exist in children’s films.

Best Scene: Obviously it’s the scene where he shakes his ass to seduce Jack Frost, in one of the greatest gay romances ever put to film.

Joking aside, it is undoubtedly his villain song. It has become such a meme, but real talk? “How Bad Can I Be” slaps. This is a really good song, probably too good for the movie but you know what, I’ll take it.

Best Quote: HOW BA-A-A-AD CAN I BE? Yes, I’m using a line from his villain song. Sue me.

Final Thoughts & Score: What can one really say about the movie version of the Once-ler that hasn’t already been run into the ground? Well, how about… He’s not too bad, honestly? Like, yes, he has next to nothing to do with his book counterpart and they really go way too far into trying to make a capitalist pig sympathetic… but the animated special from the 70s did that too. I think the Once-ler honestly works better when there is a dash of complexity to him and he isn’t just a simple-minded Captain Planet villain.

Of course, the issue here is that the 70s version took a simpler approach, kind of less is more. The 70s Once-ler brings up some valid points to the Lorax about his work, and the Lorax can’t help but agree that there’s no easy answer while also stressing that the environmental devastation is still really, really bad. It works, it feels complex, and it arguably helps the ultimate point that we need to protect the environment better than even the book did (and I love the book, don’t get me wrong, but its take on the Once-ler is a bit too simple for its own good; it almost runs into the Femme Fatale problem by being a bit too much of a strawman). The movie version has a bit too much going on, especially with his family. His family are much more blatantly evil, greedy, and manipulative, but they’re relegated to the background for much of the film and don’t effect things all that much. The whole narrative would have been infinitely stronger if they were the greater scope villains behind Once-ler and were who needed to be defeated and maybe taught a lesson, but instead they are ignored in favor of someone I’ll address very shortly.

All of this leaves movie Once-ler feeling extremely disjointed, but not irredeemably so. As I said before, his villain song is unironically awesome, and as lame as it is compared to the more haunting, contemplative ending of the book and the special, I’m not so much of a curmudgeon that I didn’t at least smile when he finally reconciled with the Lorax. Ultimately though, him being memed to death really didn’t help his case, but it means I’m not giving the movie version anything less than a 3/10. He might in fact be the best “so bad it’s good” villain ever, or at least up there. He’s just so undeniably enjoyable even if the narrative isn’t making him as complex as it thinks it is. The animated special version gets a 9/10, the book version is a 7/10, and the Once-ler’s family gets a 5/10 for being an interesting concept they sadly do little with, which will now be elaborated on as I follow up on the foreshadowing from the last paragraph...

Psycho Analysis: Aloysius O’Hare

Remember how I said the Once-ler’s family gets ignored in favor of someone else? Here he is, Aloysius O’Hare, one of the absolute lamest villains ever put to screen.

Motivation/Goals: He’s greedy. That’s it. I’m not kidding. He’s just a cartoonish caricature of a rich person, which still makes him a realistic portayal but also makes him boring as sin compared to the wacky dude with a big musical number about how bad he can be.

Performance: Rob Riggle does a decent job, but there’s really not much for him to work with here. This character is a cardboard cutout who exists to be as cartoonishly greedy and evil as possible with no nuance so the kids know who to root against and so that Once-ler doesn’t look bad in comparison.

Final Fate: Look, he’s a blatantly evil corporate villain in a kid’s movie about the environment. Of course he gets defeated and everyone turns on him. What’s especially funny though is that, on the brink of learning his lesson, he rejects any form of redemption and just goes whole hog on being a villain.

Best Scene: I will absolutely give him this: in the face of his ultimate defeat, after having the virtues of trees sung to him and the entire town turning on him, he for a moment contemplates turning over a new leaf… and then absolutely rejects the thought and instead decides being evil is just too much fun, at which point he tries to get everyone back on his side by seeing a funny little song about death while wavedashing. If more shitty villains did this, I don’t think there would be shitty villains.

Best Quote: LET IT DIE, LET IT DIE, LET IT SHRIVEL UP AND DIE! Yes I’m quoting a song again.

Final Thoughts & Score: Look, I’m not gonna mine words here: O’Hare sucks. Big time. He is a prime example of why The Lorax failed as an adaptation. In a story that is dealing with a moral grayness with no easy answers, O’Hare is just a big, blatant target, a dark shade of black in terms of black-and-white morality. He’s like a reject Captain Planet villain with Edna Mode’s haircut.

The movie would have been infinitely better if, instead of him, the Once-ler’s family were in control of the town, and they needed to learn the lesson about saving the trees instead of simply vanishing from the story. They were shown to be overbearing, manipulative, and greedy, and they had a much more personal connection with Once-ler being, you know, his actual family. The fact they abandon him and never really get any sort of comeuppance despite being perhaps the most evil people in the move, egging on Once-ler and taking full advantage of him, makes O’Hare all the more egregious, because there could have been some strong thematic elements that would have tied the film together and made it come off as much less preachy and more nuanced.

But we don’t live in a world where that happened, we live in a world where we got O’Hare. Aside from some genuine hilarity from him at the end, O’Hare really adds very little to the film. I gotta give him a 2/10, but I will say he’s a lot closer to a 3 than he is to a 1; there’s no denying his absolute rejection of learning a moral is absolutely hilarious. I love when villains do that. It’s just a shame those funny moments are wrapped up in something monumentally unimpressive.

[yellowbluemoonshine]

Why Kacchako would be bad idea in canon

Thanks for question, anon. Actually, i didnt care bnha ships these much in past. And i didnt understand why people ship Kacchako so i wanted to give a chance to see their point cause it was so popular. I wanted to understand why they like it. And many people write some metas about ‘Kacchaco would be better as canon’ and i thought about it a lot. Sooo i wanna explain why i think kacchaco is bad ship in canon.

‘Bakugou respects Uraraka’

So we all know that Bakugou started to respect Uraraka cause she is strong girl and its true. She is. But point is;

People dont become strong on their own, people who supported us, people who inspired us makes us strong. We can show the true strengh in ourselves, thanks to those people.

Uraraka did her best when he fought with Bakugou but she wouldnt do her best, if she wasnt inspired by Deku who always does his best. You know, at first, Uraraka was kind of girl who doesnt take things seriously, unlike others. She is normal girl who just wanted to make her family happy.

And again, like i said, people dont become strong on their own. Bakugou respects Uraraka cause he realized she is strong but the one who make Uraraka strong isnt Bakugou. So if Uraraka didnt meet with Deku or Uraraka hadnt those people around her, she couldnt show her real strong. And Bakugou wouldnt respect her.

Like; when you need help, this person wont care about you and wont help you but when you got the help you need and show the strengh you always had inside of you, this person will respect you.

Not even need to mention how that fight portrayed.Like, who cares Uraraka is a girl, she is human being and those much violence was unnecessary. This is not respecting someone, this is just simply not caring the person in front of you.

‘Uraraka understand Bakugou’

First, Uraraka doesnt specifcially uınderstand Bakugou, she has high emotionally intelligece. She is good at reading people’s emotions. This is why she realized Tsuyu when she was in pain and tried to help her etc etc.

And there is this scene many things like it;

Uraraka says if we tried to save Bakugou, Bakugou wouldnt like it and its truth but also there is this scene;

Look how Bakugou is happy to be saved. Basically, if they did what Uraraka did, they couldnt have saved Bakugou.

Bakugou’s ego problem

We all know why Bakugou has his inferioty complex cause he was praised for the things he was born, how everyone see him as amazing cause he has strong quirk and naturally talented.

Hero society, even UE also does same thing to bakugou and Uraraka is one of those people. Just like everyone; she thinks he is cool, she trust him. But its a problem should be solved.

In novel. Uraraka talks about how bakugou wouldnt be Bakugou, if he wasnt badmouthing. This is how people treated Bakugou, they justify his wrong actions and Uraraka does the same so how can Uraraka can be the one who changes him, if she thinks and treats Bakugou just like others did.

And another scene from novel. Uraraka says she wants to be like Bakugou cause of his crazy sides but again, Bakugou’s ego, his strengh is not something that should be admired.

This is a flaw that needs to be fixed. It shouldnt justified. This is why i dont think Uraraka is good option cause Bakugou needs to be together with someone who wont justify his wrong actions and someone who wont praise his ego, i think.

Even her development after her fight with bakugou is all about strengh, not personal development so i dont think they would be good match.

Their interaction is based on ‘Deku’

Their character interaction is mainly about Deku. Those two dont interact each other, otherwise.

For example;

- Uraraka vs Bakugou; Bakugou thought Deku helped Uraraka with her plan, he even pointed that her self destructive moves  is really similar to Deku’s. And when Uraraka fought with Deku, she thought how she wants to do her best like Deku.

- Uraraka comes to Bakugou to talk about his relationship with Deku cause she cares about Deku. Bakugou treats everyone like this but Uraraka only comes for Deku.

- She even keep warning him and saying stop bullying Deku.

 etc etc

I am not saying that they never talk about something else but what brings them encounter is Deku. This is one of the main reasons i dont ship them cause their relationship is full of Deku.

For example; Uraraka and Iida.

The reason Uraraka and Iida encounter is because they both interested in Deku but after a while, they have relationship outside of Deku.

Like, Uraraka is worrying about Iida’s match (she doesnt do it in Bakugou’s match), she even find Iida funny and they sometimes interact etc etc. I am not saying that Uraraka x Iida should be canon but at least, they have interaction, outside of Deku.

Bakugou will truly grow when he faced with what he did to Deku, so Deku is important here but at least, Bakugou has interactions, outside of Deku, like with Kirishima, kaminari, Jirou etc.

This is why i dislike this ship because its like cutting Deku from the picture, even though he is always there. Ship itself ignore Deku’s existence and affect on characters.

Uraraka can reach out to Bakugou

I think this is reason people like this ship cause they realized somehow Uraraka’s word affects Bakugou’s actions.

But here is this happens;

1- Every person improve when they face with their flaws and take responsibility for their actions.

We all know Bakugou’s ego problem and mostly, how this problem lead him to bully Deku. This is exaclty why Bakugou truly grow when he faces with what he did to Deku.

The reason Uraraka’s word is affecting him isnt about Uraraka’s being special. Its because its about Deku. And Deku is important here cause he is the one who suffered by Bakugou’s ego the most.

2- How to deal with people who have anger issues?

Simple; take a distance. You dont need to endure anyone’s anger, its not worth it which is something that Uraraka does. She wont endure Bakugou’s anger, like Deku did, Krishima did, Todoroki did.

This is why her words are more effective. Its because she doesnt have relationship with him. If she hanging aroung with Bakugou a lot, he would treat her like the way he treats others. But Uraraka wont be with people who dont see her as an indivual. This is why it lead bakugou to see Uraraka as more invidual, compared to others.

So basicaly it works because she doesnt have relationship with him.

And i think, Bakugou isnt really prepared to have healthy relationship right now. This doesnt mean that Bakugou should never togethet with someone. Its just i dont think it should be Uraraka cause i think Bakugou should be together with someone who will only see him as special too.

Btw; Uraraka is selfless and Bakugou is selfish, yes but Uraraka isnt opposite of Bakugou because Bakugou isnt selfish, he is also abusive. Yeah, Uraraka needs to think about herself more but unfortunately, you dont learn to think about yourself by being selfish people. Its not how it works. Being with selfish people only makes you feel more worthless. This is why they dont match as the way people thought about them.

People want to see Uraraka’s having an arc outside of Deku

Its because author always focus on Uraraka’s feelings for Deku but actually, Uraraka’s flaw isnt her feelings. Her flaw is being selfless.

This girl literally stop eating so her family can work less. Problem isnt Izuocha at all. ıts about how Uraraka put other needs on her own.

I think its a problem with writing. Author could focus on this side of Uraraka more. But instead, it kinda looks like her felings is problem, even though its opposite.

Uraraka’s arc is about both learning to be better hero and learning to being onest with herself. First one is happenning with Deku cause he is the one who inspires her. Second will most likely happen with Toga who is Uraraka’s villain foil.

So basically, we can get interesting interactions with Uraraka and story could deal with her arc better but author doesnt prefer it so erasing Uraraka’s feelings for Deku from story wont actually solve anything.

Izuocha

There is already set up for this ship since the beginning. Also their relationship is so nice.

Uraraka and Deku literally enter UE, thanks to kindness they showed each others. It shows they are meant toe be partners who works together.

I know we didnt get development in their relationship for long time but think about how it started; Both Uraraka and Deku’s development stopped when they stopped interactng with each others.

The problem isnt izuocha. Both Deku and Uraraka have their own flaws and for their character development,they also should be together.

Uraraka should learning to be honest with herself and her inspiration for Deku what makes her better hero at first place.

Deku needs to learn to be invidual, before than being hero. He shouldnt be like Allmight, he should have his own life. Deku always has obsession with heroes and Uraraka is important here cause his relationship with her is also outside of being hero. Also she makes him feel worthy.

Basically, being side with each other helps them to grow as characters too.

Not to mention how many scenes we have too many izuocha scenes in manga.

Here; https://twitter.com/Chaizu2/status/1146634421094645761

And Izuocha’s being parallel with shigatoga too.

For more details;

Here;

https://savetenko.tumblr.com/post/616248203846828032/partners-deku-uraraka-shigaraki-toga

And here;

https://savetenko.tumblr.com/post/620471397600378880/meeting-with-the-boy

So whats the point of detroying this nice relationship?

Why did we watch their feelings then?

If its not gonna resolve or if it was just a little pointless thig, then what was the point?

Its true that ızuocha could’ve been writen better, it still can, it has that potential and its up to author but not making this ship canon wont make things better at all.

A story about abuse

I think this is the main reason i dislike this ship as canon.

Bnha is a story about abuse, abusers, abuse victims. How violence affect and destroy people’s minds.

Also, main characters in bnha is being punished for wrong actions and bakugou is one of those main characters too.

For example;

Deku here says Shouto is forgiving Endeavour cause he is good person.

Look at how story punches Deku’s face, even though Deku didnt even mean to hurt Natsuo and its not even weird since Deku is abuse victim too.

And what Bakugou did to Deku isnt even one little wrong word. And he meant to hurt him. Its a huge big wrong thing what Bakugou did to Deku.

So basically, making kacchako canon is like; Bakugou will get redemption, exchange he will be with the person Deku loves.

In real life, things like this can happen but this is not real life, its a story and in stories, actions have consequences, especially in a story about abuse. Of course, Uraraka is her own character but this is not about her.

Its just the idea; Bakugou will get redemption, exchange he will get love interest and that love interest is someone Deku really close. Abuser’s being with abuse victims’s love interest is terrible idea especially in a story about abuse.

Uraraka wouldnt even interact with Bakugou, if it wasnt for Deku’s sake but somehow, she will like Bakugou because???

Its literally like using Deku as a stepping stone cause if Deku wasnt there, Bakugou and Uraraka wouldnt interact and as long as Deku is there/after meeting with Deku, i dont think Uraraka would love Bakugou.

Its also seem like good girl-bad boy cliche we saw in shoujo mangas. It will turn into love triangle (which is i personally hate) and this story isnt even romance series so no point.

Uraraka s type

You see, Uraraka has certain type (just like Toga and many other people). Point is; we all have. Unconciously we chose the people we love cause there are some behaviours we liked and we fall in love with the people who has those behaviours. This is how love works in real life and bnha’s author actually does the same.

Uraraka is hight emotionally girl, she immediately saw something in Deku. Something that makes her interested in him. She realized this, before than Deku cause she is better at reading people. And that type doesnt fit to Bakugou's character at all. So basically loving Deku is also part of Uraraka’s character.

Basically;

After all of this point, there is no point of making Kacchako canon, it would be terrible idea.

‘If author started with Kacchako, would it be good ship?’

It wouldnt cause again and again, it doesnt fit to their characters. Remember she interact with him cause she cares Deku. Uraraka wouldnt bother to deal with Bakugou and she wouldnt find him inetersting. And bakugou wouldnt chase after a girl who doesnt interested in him.

‘If they meet in completely in different situtions, maybe they would like each others or they would be together?’

I dont think so and actually with this logic, almost any ship can happen, for example; like Uraraka x Shigaraki.

This is all my own opinion. Of course, i dont say anything to people who find them cute together cause even though i dislike it, everyone have different tastes. I just explained why Kacchako is bad idea for canon. All that fandom has idea of Kacchako is completely fanon.

And the reason i dislike is also i am kinda scared it can be canon, even though it doesnt make sense but anything can happen, especialy author is Bakugou fan, i wouldnt be surprised every character fall in love with Bakugou at all. Lol.

People make depth analysis about it and actually those analysis are good, except i think people forget why Kacchako didnt become canon at first place. I dont like that ignorance, especially its ignoring Deku’s existence. I also think its so forced, especially fandom make many edits. Its like people completely ignore canon cases happenning in story and they write a new story and making them love each others. But i think Kacchako doesnt really work in canon at all.

There might be things i forget to write but for now, thats it.

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Okay, so the brain’s a bit caught up in one of my other writing projects, but I refuse to abandon this entirely. So I’m gonna just power through this and then get back to Vibing™. 

Actually, it’s kinda cute that the hero Thirteen is introduced in chapter thirteen. I wonder if Hori did that on purpose or just managed it as a fun coincidence. 

[No. 13 - Rescue Training]

So we start off on Wednesday morning (which would be April 12th/11th) at 7:35 AM. There’s a hostage situation by a villain who looks like a goddamned pokemon (my brain has made the ‘buff ditto’ comparison and now I am Shook) who is, according to Mt. Lady, a serial robber and murderer by the name of Habit Headgear. Kamui Woods, whose wood bindings have apparently been broken trying and failing to contain the guy, is tossed back on the ground as he notes the villain is strong and a quick strategist.

Seems like she and Kamui Woods have teamed up together! Or at least responded to the same villain attack again. Also, who’s this dude?

Random Mii Blaster escaped from Smash Ultimate and is now in BNHA, when will the madness end. 

Naturally, the hostages are not handling this situation super well, though the crowds watching don’t seem as worried? IDK hard to tell from far away. The buff ditto villain uses double team, no wait I mean agility, actually his high speed to show how outclasses the heroes on the scene are. 

As he announces his plans to escape, we see All Might rushing in loud enough for the stomps to be heard. He announces his arrival mere moments before he fucking snaps the villain’s neck with a handchop - or, well, not really, but damn that had to be a hard hit. All Might also managed to grab the family out of harm’s way in the process, announcing that he’s on his morning commute. 

The crowds cheer for All Might, while Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods are somewhat put out - they appreciate the help, but also worry All Might will put them out of business.

(I guess this is where all those fics that do bring up how All Might cuts down the hero job market on his own pull from? Or just coincidence, who knows.)

The police thank All Might with salutes for the help, and All Might give his own quick responding salute before he declares he needs to head off so he won’t be late. Of course, that’s when he hears about a hit-and-run (that super hearing lol) and takes off, just so coincidentally in the direction of said trouble. Despite that fact that he needs to get to work. This man.

While he’s in the air, he considers how his speed has dropped, and that he’s been weakening since he passed on his power. Not to mention that after his rescue of Izuku and Katsuki from the sludge villain, his maximum time went down. Which is not at all referencing him about to overdo it again and lose more time, no siree.

We descend into a flashback to right where we left off after the battle trial, with All Might confronting Izuku about telling Katsuki about (some of) One For All. All Might is surprised and a bit nervous? Worried? Or that bead of sweat in the flashback might be from the strain of holding the form when he’s about to run out of time. 

In any case, Izuku in the past apologizes and says he hasn’t even told his mom, but that he had to tell Katsuki something… All Might determines this might be a consequence of not being explicit enough about keeping the secret, since Izuku isn’t the type to brag or boast. Also calls Izuku too sincere, hah, isn’t that the truth. All Might says it’s lucky Katsuki thought he was joking, so All Might can forgive the slip this time, but that Izuku cannot tell another soul. 

(Stares at this.) (Looks at recent manga events.) Whelp.

Anyways, All Might catches the car of the hit and run guy (and man, that face the dude is making) while thinking about how, suitable successor or not, Izuku’s still just fifteen, so All Might had to make things clear. Of course, then All Might overhears about a hostage crisis the next town over, and, well.

We transition to right after lunch (12:50) with Aizawa announcing that that day’s hero training plans - something supervised by himself, All Might, and one other teacher. Izuku realizes it has to be a special class, while Sero raises his hand to ask what they’re doing. Aziawa’s reply?

I swear this is exactly the same shit All Might did before the battle trial, gimme a second-

Bahahahaha incredible. Though then again, I wonder if those are security cards keys to certain locations. It would make sense, though then I wonder how Katsuki and Izuku were able to get into Training Ground Beta without one… hrm…

Anyways! Kaminari, Ashido, and Kirishima end up talking about it; Kaminari says it’ll be a rough day, with Ashido pumped as she agrees, and Kirishima also pumped as he says that it’s what being a hero is all about. Asui notes that she’ll be right as home in a flood. Aizawa silences them with a glare, saying he’s not done. He presses the button to unveil the costume lockers, telling the class that it’s their choice whether or not to wear their costumes, since some of them are ill-suited for this kind of activity.

Oh boy, will this put you on the path to the hero you’ll be come… but not for the reasons you think, buddy. The joke here is trauma.

It seems like most of the class does still choose to go in costume, barring Izuku - whose costume is still being repaired after the damage done to it in battle training. However, he still has his belt, gloves, knee pads, and mouth guard (with the mouth guard being new) on him. 

Golly, I wonder why your costume needed to be replaced, Izuku.

(thonk.)

Also Tenya jkfdkjdgfkj Oh My God You Dramatic Egg. He’s got a whistle and he’s directing the class to line up by ID number so they can fill the seats in an orderly fashion. 

I’m love this boy so much. And it’s even funnier because the bus has an open layout, meaning it was pointless. Poor Tenya is in Despair, with Ashido teasing him for his efforts being wasted. 

Savage. But yeah, looks like it’s Sato, Izuku, Asui, Kirishima, Tenya, Ashido, Aoyama, and Kaminari in the front seats. And Asui - sorry, Tsuyu - just outright says she says what’s on her mind, which startles Izuku since he didn’t expect her to talk to him I guess? She tells Izuku to call her Tsuyu, then turns to him and just says his quirk resembles All Might’s. 

Izuku, being the sincere boy he is, stutters and stumbles out something that almost looks like a denial, before Kirishima, bless his himbo soul, points out that All Might doesn’t get hurt by his own quirk, so they’re already different in that way. He then goes on to state that that kind of simple, strength enhancing quirk is awesome and that a lot of cool stuff can be done with it. 

Kirishima then goes on to show off his hardening, saying that it’s good for a fight, but otherwise boring. Midoriya ‘holy fuck I love quirks’ Izuku thinks otherwise, actually sparkling as he proclaims the quirk to be neat and more than enough for going pro. Kaminari notes that heroes also have to worry about popular appeal. Aoyama says his navel laser quirk is both strong and cool, and thus perfect for heroics. Ashido then kneecaps him by adding in that that’s as long as he doesn’t blow up his own stomach.

Ashido’s Savagery: The Sequel.

In the next panel, we see Katsuki’s been paying attention to this convo, which has me wondering if this is when he was first starting to piece together OFA from Izuku’s mention of ‘getting the quirk from someone else’ and ‘like All Might’s’. However, when he is brought up in the conversation (alongside Shouto) as examples of ‘strong and cool quirks’, he feigns disinterest and looks away, trying to play cool.

(Also, he doesn’t seem to have his gauntlets on him here, though I know he’s brought one with him as seen a bit later. I wonder whether he chose to leave one of them behind or if he might have been restricted from bringing more than one by Aizawa… interesting either way.)

Tsuyu then brings up how Katsuki being so unhinged means he’ll never be popular. Katsuki, naturally, takes offence and slams his hands on the rail in front of him, demanding to know what she just said. Tsuyu sticks out her tongue as she points at him making her point. Poor Jirou, having to be seated next to someone so loud.

And the moment literally the whole discord was waiting for, Kaminari’s brutal vocabulary takedown of Katsuki, something cut entirely from the anime. Friendly reminder that Kaminari is, in fact, a major lit nerd! He’s Not Dumb! Stop Making Him Dumb In Fics! He not only has the most verbose vocabulary in the class that isn’t from the rich kids (and in some ways is even more so), he also has Katsuki absolutely pegged despite only knowing him for a few days. He Earned His UA Spot.

While Katsuki snaps back at Kaminari, Izuku is hunched over in disbelief that Katsuki’s the one getting bullied for once, but he supposes that that’s UA for you…

To the side, Yaomomo declares the conversation vulgar, while Ochako is laughing and saying it’s fun. Offscreen, I’m assuming that it’s Kaminari mock-marvelling at how he didn’t think Katsuki’s mouth could get any fouler. 

The last panel on the page is Aizawa interrupting them to announce that they’ve arrived at the training grounds, and to look sharp. The whole class (I guess?) snaps to attention.

And that’s the halfway point, so I will leave the USJ proper for next time! This has been a Savage Mina and Smart Denki appreciation post, so appreciate them, or else.

[fxndom-hoe]

So I was reading a ScreenRant article about what BBC Merlin got right about the stories and what it got wrong, but some of their explanations about the show were wrong and it was starting to annoy me. So I decided to hash it out here on tumblr and have my piece. And so that means you all are forced to hear me rant about some dumb article from the internet (or you can ignore me, I’m not the boss of you 😂).

Anyway, here's:

(I’m not gonna go through all the points, just the one’s I feel they got totally wrong.)

(Also, I’m going to try to keep this as unshippy as possible, but my own interpretations of the show are probably going to come out.)

WARNING: MENTION OF R*PE FROM SOURCE MATERIAL. ALSO, SPOILERS!!!

Ok so maybe this is my own opinion (like this whole post is going to be) but Merlin is technically a teacher. Not in the sense that Gaius is, not in the traditional “here, read this book for a lesson” sort of teacher, but he has actively tried to teach Arthur right from wrong during some instances where the royals were being stupid. Especially when Uther was trying to influence Arthur to do something that he thought was right (but since we know Uther, it was usually (always) actually wrong). Merlin was there to tell Arthur that his father was wrong, and in a way, that’s teaching/being a teacher.

Also, Merlin not being a lover is really a matter of opinion. He may not have had many actual romantic relationships canonically, but that isn’t what defines a “ladies man.” He’s attracted lots of women (and women). “Seen as inferior” my ass. In season one, Gwen had a major crush on him. In season five, Merlin had a slight flirtation with Sefa, even if that didn’t really last long. Throughout the series, we see the sexual tension between Merlin and Arthur. And Gwaine fell madly in love with him since they first met. And, of course, there’s Freya, which they already implied. So just because he’s only had one on-screen relationship doesn’t mean he’s not a heartbreaker. Also, he may not have had an actual relationship with Morgana, there’s definitely some kind of tension between them after she turns evil (whether it’s sexual or just them being enemies is up to you).

This may be me being really nitpicky, but the first time we see Excalibur IS 👏 NOT 👏 WITH 👏 FREYA 👏 This is the part that made me want to make this post. MERLIN 👏 DID 👏 NOT 👏 GET 👏 EXCALIBUR 👏 FROM 👏 FREYA 👏 Like, did the writer of this article even watch the show??? The episode where we see Excalibur for the first time is LITERALLY CALLED “EXCALIBUR!!!” And in the episode, it shows Excalibur being made when Kilgharrah BREATHED ON IT!!! Like, I don’t mean to be rude to the author, but you literally just had to watch the show one (1) time to know this. Maybe don’t write an article about a show you’ve never watched?? (Again, I really don’t wanna be rude, but this really rubbed me the wrong way.)

Again, I’m probably nitpicking, but wasn’t that the point of the show? Like, “Here’s the story of King Arthur except Merlin’s a twenty year old twink instead.” ? I mean, this really wasn’t all that big of a deal, but I need content and I had an opinion on this, so I’m sharing it. 

I mean, for the most part, this is right. We got the whole love triangle thing going on between these three. We got the tasteless “Lancelot du Lac” episode, which I just... we’re not going to talk about it.

 I think we all know, at this point, assuming we’ve all seen the posts talking/complaining about how Gwen was a princess, but instead they made her a servant. Especially because I think in the source material, Gwen was white, and when the show made her black and demoted her to a servant it was racist. Personally (and if this is racist, you guys should call me out on it), I like it because it shows a poor woman of color rising above everyone else and becoming queen, and that’s very badass of her and very empowering for WOC. (I’m not BIPOC so if I’m wrong about this, and anyone who is BIPOC found it offensive that they made Gwen a servant rather than a princess, you have every right to be.)

And now for my complaint: Gwen did actually become an antagonist for a few episodes. I mean, yes, she was technically under Morgana’s spell, so that makes her a victim more than a villain, but the storyline of Dark!Gwen makes her a temporary antagonist. So, article, you are wrong (in a way).

Ok so apparently Uther is just a despicable man no matter what story you try to tell. Just absolutely disgusting. And the fact that in the tales, Merlin actually helps Uther r*pe a woman 🤢🤮 Absolutely disgusting. 

But that's not why I’m talking about this part. The reason I bring this up is because if you watched the show, you would know that Nimueh tells Uther that they WERE FRIENDS. She wasn’t just some random sorcerer who he asked to use dark magic. She was his FRIEND who he asked for help when his wife couldn’t conceive. I think it might’ve also been implied that she was Court Sorcerer (but that might’ve just been a headcanon that I read). But either way, Uther didn’t just turn to dark magic to have a child. He asked his friend for help then betrayed her when it backfired on him.

Again, no matter what happened, Uther is just all around a terrible man.

Ok so this part I don't really have a problem with, but I am confused. I haven't read any source material, so I don’t know this for sure, but I thought Arthur did know about Merlin’s magic. Maybe not in all the tales, but is there not a single one where Arthur knows of Merlin’s abilities? Can someone who’s read up on the source material fact check this for me please. Because I thought the whole “magic is illegal so Merlin has to hide from Arthur” thing was made up for the show, but maybe I’m wrong? Someone help please, thank you! 😊 

Ooohoohoo! Again, no problem with this specifically, but I am reacting. I always thought that Merlin always played a big role in Arthur’s life (not as best friend like in the show) but like an important advisor. I thought Merlin was more than just someone who played a minor role in Arthur’s life. Like, Merlin is such a big figure in pop culture, I could never even imagine that he wasn’t that important in Arthur’s life. Is he more important in the stories than he is to Arthur himself? Is that it? How does that work? I think it might be because I’m a huge Merthur shipper (yes, I know I said I wouldn’t bring ships into this, but I had to for this one), but I really can’t imagine Merlin not being important to Arthur. I mean, I watched this three hour long movie called Merlin starring Sam Neill, and if I’m remembering that correctly, didn’t Merlin raise Arthur? I can’t really remember, but this just feels so wrong to me.

So that's the end of the screenshots, but I do want to mention that the article (which I’ll be linking in the source) talked about how a difference between the story and the show is that in the story, Merlin doesn’t have a family, and just...   HOW SAD??? That is so heartbreaking, and maybe that’s just me imagining the show’s Merlin, our sweet boy who cares about family so fucking much, without a family, and that just makes me sad. But is that true, though? Does the Merlin in the King Arthur tales NOT HAVE A FAMILY??? OOOOOFFF! That’s fuckin rough. 

All right, so this is the end, but if any of you have opinions on the article or on my own opinions, I’d love to hear them. Thanks to anyone who actually read this whole thing. It was kind of long and pointless, but some of what was mentioned brought out such STRONG EMOTIONS from me, I just had to share.

[zodiyack]

Heart Eyes

Requested by @thekillingjoke-haha​: BOP Harley x Gangster!Reader since you dont have any. The news shows that the Joker is dead[murdered by (villian name)]and someone else wears the crown as...Queen? Harley always was attracted to people that were bad for her,but what happens when she has heart eyes for reader and reader feels the same.

Pairing: Harley Quinn x Gender Neutral!Gangster!Reader

Warnings: Murder, swearing, fluff?

Words: 1,316

Note: I wasn’t sure whether you wanted it to be a female or male reader, so I made it a GN fic...I think that’s it!

Key: V/n = Villian Name

Taglist: @matth1w​, @redspaceace​, @darling-i-read-it​, @fandom-puff​

Masterlist | Birds Of Prey Masterlist

“Harley, we’ve told you, you’re not allowed here.” A bouncer stood in front of the doors, crossing his arms and giving her a pleading look. For once in her villainous life, Harley had a good reputation with a number of people. Sadly, some of those people had restrictions even they couldn’t make an exception for her to.

Harley broke out the puppy eyes, “Pretty please?”

“I-” He looked around, “Fine. But don’t make a scene. If anyone knows you’re in there-”

“You’ll get fired, blah blah blah, I know.” She gave him one of her infamous smirks. “Thank you cutie!” Once she entered the club, she walked around for a moment, taking in a deep breath of air. “Well, it’s a shame this place is only open for this last night. Never partied much here.”

“They’re closing?” A woman on a stool in front of the bar Harley stood by asked, words slurred as a side effect of the alcohol she’d been drinking.

“Kind of. Hey, drink-guy! Can I get what she’s having?”

“Drinking on the job? I’m not sure whether to be proud or disappointed.” Harley’s eyes lit up, corners of her mouth reaching her eyes as she smiled. Turning around, she practically threw herself into the person’s arms. “Hello darling.”

“Baby! Do you wanna join me for a drink before we blow this joint?” She chuckled at her joke, Y/n joining in. The irony of a foreshadowing comment, paired with the cluelessness of the people surrounding them in the club made the mischievous smile on Harley’s lips grow somewhat proud.

“...Why not. Make that two, sir.”

“Mhm.” He began mixing drinks, stopping to hand people their drinks when they came to collect them.

The T.V. at the bar was at a low volume, allowing the people working to hear the music coming from the rest of the club just a bit away. It was a wonder how anyone could hear the smallish box on the counter.

Then the news played, the man at the bar furrowing his eyebrows as he turned it up.

“Let me tell you, today’s news is far more shocking than anything I’ve ever heard us say. Harley getting captured? Joker breaking her out? Joker and her breaking up? None of it was as shocking as the newest crime committed. The one we never thought was possible.”

“The Joker has been found dead.” A photo of The Joker, covered by a big red X appeared on the screen. “While normally, we’d be beyond happy, celebrating and cheering, there is a catch to this blessing. The killer, and their accomplice, are none other than V/n and Harley Quinn.” Another photo showed, this one with a blurred Y/n and Harley running and holding hands.

The couple exchanged looks, recognizing the photo from when they murdered the Joker. They looked back to the T.V, listening more intensely than before.

“I thought Harley wore the crown as Joker’s queen?”

“Well it seems V/n just has a lot more of Harley’s interest than The Joker does...or did. What’s so special about V/n? Why is Harley with them? Are they dating or just working together? We have so many questions, yet no way to get our answers.”

“Besides. Harley really likes the ones who don’t give a shit about her, so it’s obviously pointless-” One of the news-guys chuckled, his partner laughing as well. “This odd relationship might just become our new research topic.”

“Screw the Joker’s death, we wanna know about V/n and Harley!” The two guys on the television snorted, eyes closed and arms holding their stomach as they laughed their asses off. 

The man at the bar shook his head as he turned the volume back down, “Sorry. It’s just... Well- I’m new here, to Gotham, and I’m... I guess I’m trying to figure out everything I may need to know... You kinda look like her, ya know.” He joked to Harley while he made her drink.

“Look like who?”

“Harley. I couldn’t see a whole lot in the photo they showed, but you kind of look like her.” He handed Y/n and Harley the drinks. “I don’t really know...sorry for bothering you. Enjoy your drinks!”

Once they were far enough away from the bar, Y/n laughed. “Jeez Harls, didn’t know you looked just like that badass from the news!”

“I feel so honored! I mean, looking like that chick?” She took a sip of her drink, “I can’t wait till we blow this place to smithereens. Scare Gotham. After having such a fucked up reputation and getting away with it only ‘cause I was with that dick?” Harley snorted, “Gotham’s gonna see that I don’t need him. They’re gonna see that the Joker was an understatement compared to me and you, right babe?”

“Right. Just give me the word and we’ll go.”

“You set everything up?” The blond downed the rest of her drink, looking around eagerly.

“Yep. While waiting for you. So now, we just get out of here, click the button, and then...” Harley imitated an explosion, eyes full of excitement and intrigue. Y/n nodded, copying Harley’s imitation with a nod. 

“I’m ready.”

Y/n downed the rest of their drink, hopping out of their seat. They left their drinks on the table, walking to the doors while maintaining eye contact with one another as they walked. Y/n pulled the door open, smiling to Harley as they let her go first, then followed behind shortly.

“Hey! Harley! You didn’t get caught in there, did you?” The bouncer chuckled.

“Nope! Thanks for letting me in.” She remembered their plan, and how the bouncer would likely never be seen again had he stayed where he was. “Um, why don’t you go get a breath of fresh air, yeah?”

“I’m outside already, Harley.”

Harley continued trying and trying. Y/n noticed, walking back around the corner and into the bouncer’s view. “I know... I mean-”

“Question.” His attention turned to Y/n, standing next to Harley with an eyebrow quirked. “Who’s car is in that parking lot back there? It’s pretty much the only car there-”

“That’s mine. Why?”

“Uh- Well, your car’s being broken into.” Y/n smirked as the bouncer’s eyes widened. He ran as fast as he could, stumbling over his feet trying to get to the lot. “Now that he’s out of the way...ready Harls?”

“Yup!” They held hands, walking away from the club and stopping in between the club and it’s parking lot. Fortunately, the space between the two was quite large, giving them enough space to be away and safe from the explosion but in range for the most recent add-on to their plan.

Clicking the button, the place erupted into flames. Helicopters appeared over the building about a half hour later. “Just on time.” Y/n pulled Harley into a harsh kiss, smiling into it when they felt the light from the copter shine on them, seeing it’s brightness through their eyelids.

Their mission was accomplished. Gotham wanted to see who Harley had heart eyes for? Why not give them what they want. Call it... business. That’s what they were doing. Business...with a little fun on the side.

Gotham’s newest rulers; this time, heart eyes were being made both ways rather than one- showing that they weren’t kidding. Harley would do anything for Y/n, and Y/n for Harley. Harley could think of a thousand cheesy sayings about love, and prove that they were true for her and her gangster.

For example, that one saying about love overpowering evil was true...in a way. Because Y/n loved her, Harley was more dangerous than she’d ever been, and with Harley loving Y/n, they were just as dangerous. The couple was like an upgraded version of Harley and the joker. Smarter, far more dangerous, even stronger, genuinely in love- not to mention, way more crazier.

But you know what they say;

Love Heart-eyes makes you crazy.

[waitimcomingtoo]

Ghosting

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader but he’s dead 😔

Masterlist

“Do you have to go out tonight?” You pouted at Peter perched himself on the fire escape. He reached sour to hold your hand, but it wasn’t the same. The iron suit was safer and more intuitive, but it prevented you from feeling the warmth of your boyfriends hands.

“There was a robbery down on Bleeker street. I can get a better aerial view than the cops can.” Peter told you, giving your hand a squeeze. You frowned, not liking the idea of him getting involved so late at night.

“Was it an armed robbery?” You questioned, and his face told you everything you needed to know. You looked down but he tilted your chin up so you would look at him.

“My suit is bulletproof.” He reminded you and pressed a chaste kiss to your lips.

“But your face isn’t.” You sighed. Peter could see the fear in your eyes and gave you an assuring smile.

“My mask will be on. I can’t risk anything happening to this.” He gestured to his face and shot you a wink, making you laugh lightly.

“Are you sure?” You worried. “I thought you were still having troubles with your suit. What if the mask comes off again?”

“That hasn’t happened in weeks. I’ll be fine, baby. Don’t you worry that pretty little head.” Peter pulled you in for another kiss, letting it linger this time.

“I can’t help it. I love you too much.” You smiled sadly as he rested his forehead against yours. Peter chuckled and kissed the tip of your nose.

“I love you even more. I’ll be home in an hour. Two, tops. Then I’m all yours. Sound good?” He asked you as he prepared to leave.

“Sounds good.” You said reluctantly. “Be safe.”

“Don’t you know who you’re talking to? I’m Spiderman, baby. I’m always safe.” He winked at you again, making you roll your eyes this time. His mask enveloped his face and he gave you a wave.

“I love you.” You called after him as he swung away.

“Love you.” He yelled into the night.

The sound of a gunshot woke you out of your sleep. An ice cold sweat adhered your shirt to your skin, making you throw the covers off. You stared at the ceiling for a moment, thinking about the last time you saw Peter. That dream had been plaguing you for the past six years. You always knew what was coming. And you always woke up in a cold sweat with a rock in your stomach. You put a hand over your mouth to muffle your cries and turned to face the wall. Your body shook as silent sobs escaped your lips. It wasn’t long before you heard your boyfriend stir and sit up beside you.

“What’s wrong?” He grumbled, rubbing his eyes. He was used to this, being woken up by your crying. He could usually tune it out, and did, but tonight pushed him a little too far. It was the third time that week he’d heard you crying over Peter. He wasn’t gonna tune it out anymore.

“Nothing. Go back to bed.” You tried to keep your voice steady as you wiped your face on your sleeve.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” He said, voice tired but not from lack of sleep.

“I’m fine, Nick.” You repeated, trying to hold back tears so he wouldn’t get suspicious. You shifted your head on the damp pillowcase to hide the wet spot in case he turned on the lights. All your efforts were pointless. He already heard. He always heard, and you knew that it broke his heart every time.

“Is it gonna be like this every night?” He snapped and turned the bedside lamp on. You sat up and plastered a fake smile on your face.

“No.” You shook your head and he rolled his eyes. “I said I’m fine. Just go back to sleep.

“I can’t. I can’t sleep.” Nick yelled, throwing the covers off of himself to get out of bed. You jumped a little at his tone and held the blankets close to your body. “Not when you’re crying right beside me over another man. How am I supposed to sleep knowing that you’d rather be with someone else?” He pointed an accusing finger at you and your lip began to tremble. Not from fear, but from anger.

“He’s dead!” You shouted as tears stung your eyes. “So what if I’m crying over him? It’s not like I can be with him. He just comes and visits me when I’m dreaming every now and then.”

“You still love him.” Nick put his hands on his hips and looked at your tearfully. “You still love him and you wish you were with him instead of me.”

“That’s not true. I love you and I want us to be together. But when you act like this,” your voice broke, “then yeah, I wish I were still with him.”

Nick stares at you for a moment, silent tears running down his face. In the year you’d been together, you’d never seen him cry. You didn’t even know he was capable. It frightened you to see him like this.

“How are we supposed to be together when you are still in love with your ex? It’s been 6 years, Y/n. You need to move on.” He said through gritted teeth. Any remorse you felt for him melted into anger.

“I have moved on.” You declared. “I said yes to your date, to your advances, to moving in with you, to everything! But that doesn’t mean I don’t miss him.” You cried and he let out a humorless laugh.

“Miss him? You’re still in love with him!” He shouted at you. “I can’t keep living in his shadow. I can’t spend the rest of my life with a woman who would rather be with a pile of dust.”

“How dare you?” You said gravely, seething with anger. Your eyes flickered to the urn on your desk where you kept Peters ashes before they farted back to Nick.

“How dare I? How dare you?” He bellowed. “You’re lying to the both of us every time you say you love me.”

“That’s not true!” You protested.

“If he came back tomorrow, who would you pick?” Nick asked, suddenly calm. “Who’s arms would you run into? His or mine?”

His anger was gone, and now he just looked upset. He wiped his face with his hands as he waited for an answer.

“His.” You muttered and he nodded his head, looking up at the ceiling to avoid your guilt ridden eyes.

“That’s what I thought.” He sucked his teeth and turned his back to you. You went around the bed to get closer, still keeping a short distance between the two of you.

“I don’t understand why you’re so angry.” You said quietly. “You have been so understanding about this our entire relationship but you pick tonight to explode on me? I know I’ve put you through more than anyone should have to go through, but you have to understand why.”

Nick slowly turned around and sized you up.

“So tell me. Why?” He shrugged and clasped his hands together.

“Because loved him, and he loved me.” You smiled as crystal clear tears ran down your face. “I thought I was gonna be with him for the rest of my life. But that didn’t happen. So I’m sorry if I have a little baggage after the love of my life died, but this hasn’t been easy for me either.”

Nick glared at you, anger pooling into his light green eyes.

“You did it again.” He shook his head. “You called him the love of your life. What am I?”

“You’re my boyfriend. And you aren’t being fair. You think I don’t know how much it hurts you when I talk about him? You think I can’t see the look on your face when I bring him up? Or when I have lunch dates with his aunt? But you would never admit that to me. You didn’t want to admit that it hurt you. So how can you yell at me now? I’ve been crying over him nearly every night since we started going out. What makes tonight so special? Why does it upset you now?” You asked him desperately. He looked at you blanks, embarrassed that you saw through his coverup.

“I guess I just decided that I had enough.” He said lowly, eyes tearing into you. There was something animalistic about his gaze that made your pulse quicken.

“Maybe I’ve had enough too.” You whispered, eyes trailing from Nicks face to Peters urn. The way the moonlight was coming in through the window gave it an appearance that it was glowing. You smiled for a moment, almost being able to feel his touch on your now.

“I think it’s time we call it quits.” Nick swallowed and you nodded.

“I think so too.” You gave him an apologetic smile that he wanted no part of. He brushed past you and opened the closet, beginning to take his clothes out and set them on the bed.

“Nick, please. You don’t have to leave. This is your apartment. I’ll go.” You offered when he began to transfer his clothes into a suitcase.

“Don’t bother. I hate this apartment. And I hate that thing staring at me every night.” He said as he pointed at the urn. You silently watched him pack his clothes, making no further attempts to stop him. He raised the handle of his suit case and approached you, solemn look in his eyes.

“Just so you know, anybody else wouldn’t have lasted a day in this relationship. I tried to stick it out, but you just won’t change.” He said bitterly. You stepped aside so he could reach the door, but grabbed his arm before he could leave.

“I’m sorry. Really, I am. But I love him.” You said and Nick looked away. “And you’re right, that’s never going to change.”

Nicks gaze returned to you and you could almost see hesitation in his eyes. You thought he might accept your apology until his eyes shifted to Peters urn. He swallowed and looked back at you, having made up his mind.

“I’ll be back tomorrow to get the rest of my things.” He said, and left the room, taking the remains of your relationship with him.

Tag List 🏷

@maybemona​ @foreverxholland​ @writingforhoursonend​ @lavender-writer​ @captainmandeestudent17​ @whatareyouhidingpeter​ @takenbyheartstrings​ @ultrunning​ @imyourliquor-youremypoison​ @theolwebshooter​ @andreasworlsboring101​ @guksmyfav​ @waiting-to-be-myself​ @letsloveimagines​ @peterparkoure​ @a-villain-vying-for-attention​ @justcallmehitgirl​ @averyfosterthoughts​ @jackiehollanderr​ @tiny-friggin-human​ @celestial-skylines​ @mara-twins​ @iamaunicorn4704​ @delicately-important-trash​ @spideygirl2003​ @the-crazy-fanfictionist​ @maryjanee23​ @spacebitch2​ @geeksareunique​ @emmamarshmellow​ @jillanaholland​ @unbelievableholland​ @rebekkah4766​ @flixndchill​ @sovereignparker​ @wendaiii @thisisthebiplace​ @spideydobrik​ @every-marveler-ever​ @undiadeestos​ @caelestii-e​ @eridanuswave​​ @itscaminow​​ @thegr8kush​​ @solarxmoonchild​ @where-art-thau-romeo​ @canyouevencauseicant​ @probablyparker​ @illwritetomorrow​ @thehappygrungelife​ @saysomethingspiderman​ @parkerboop​ @smilexcaptainx​ @hes-amarillo​ @quaksonhehe​ @kelieah​ @cahosinparadise​ @silteplaittais-toi​ @kickingn-ames @purefluff @seasidecrowbar @lovelessdagger @love-sick-blues​ @todaynotseen

[autumn-foxfire]

Seen too many people say Tomie was a good mom because "she still loved him!" "she got him that plushie!" "she gave him that letter!" And I'm trying so hard not to use the "yeah but it squicks me out bc she reminds me of my mom esp when people write meta explaining her" card bc I know you're not supposed to project on fictional characters like that, yada yada can't be a hypocrite with what we say to villain stans.

(+) but its just so unhealthy. I hate seeing Hawks feel guilty about "turning his back on her" and "not saving her" when he's been expected to since he was born. And he's not obliged to care about abusive or toxic parents. And who tf says he didn't save her, ahem. She should take some responsibility herself. He literally went through all that training and saved her from poverty. Being proud of him doesn't mean much when she was the one asking why he was even born or what good was he

(+) until money came knocking in the form of the Hpsc. And look, I get it. Not all bad parents will be on "be utter crap" mode 24/7, there's gonna be cooldown periods where they're semi-decent. And it shouldn't erase the hurt, it doesn't make all the bad times "okay" all of a sudden. But I think it hurts because Hawks is so forgiving. He doesn't mind. That one moment does wonders to make her a more preferable parent to him

(+) even tho I think her true colors would be right back to how she was before without that fancy house and her child bringing in all these luxuries. "Let's hope you grow up as strong as this guy." Doesn't feel as sweet to me, I'm sorry. Maybe she means it? Hori always sprinkles in good and bad traits. It's realistic and complex, but I need to think it over more. My feelings keep changing about this line.

(+) Rn I'm stuck on "it's just a comment, it was before she presumably got worse, anyone could say that to their child but is it hope out of care or hope bc anything else would make Keigo so pointless?" Still. Doesn't. Erase. How. She. Hurt. Him. I'll respect Hawks's feelings about this, but I don't think its healthy for him to feel guilty like this. Give him a better family please, its obvious his sense of self-worth came from her.

I understand how you feel Nonnie and I think on this matter, it comes down more to personal feelings rather than hard facts.

For me, I agree with your view that Tomie wasn’t a good mother. She was neglective to him at the worst and verbally abusive to him too and has probably been the root to many of Hawks self-esteem issues that we’ve seen him express in adulthood.

I think Tomie’s feeling for Hawks were complicated because she was an abused and mentally ill woman. Hawks was clearly an unwanted child (...and damn does that hurt to write) whose birth caused issues for her and her relationship with his bastard father and we see this expressed many times in the chapter (with both parents berating him for being born like he had any choice in that matter).

However, her going out to buy him the Endeavor plushie and going against the rules set by their abuser to do so also shows us that she does care about Hawks, even if a little. Sure Hawks might have excused it as “to shut him up” but it takes more then just that to go against an abuser and her comment to Hawks about hoping he grew up to be as strong as Endeavor also shows us she cares about him.

Tomie may have loved Hawks but it requires more then just love to be a good mother. I’d argue that Tomie was a bad parent towards Hawks and her treatment towards him shouldn’t just be brushed off because she was caring at times.

Her running away from her problems again, putting herself above the life of her son, shows us that she’s not a good parent, in my opinion. Just like how she put her child at risk by making him homeless, she put him at risk once again and can’t even bring herself to apologise to him for doing so. She’s not ready to face her problems and if she keeps running, I don’t think she ever will be.

Hearing Hawks blame himself for not “saving” his mother hurt me too because it should never be the obligation of the children to save their parents, especially ones who have hurt them in the past and he’s done plenty for her to begin with. However I think (and hope) this was just to showcase to us more of Hawks more negative traits where he tries to blame himself for everything that goes wrong (like he did when the League joined up with the MLA and formed the PLF).

I hope someone tells Hawks there is nothing wrong with cutting ties with someone who has hurt you too much and you don’t have to “save” them at the expense of yourself just because you’re a good person. I don’t want him to blame himself for Tomie anymore.

...Hawks past hurts me so much because it’s such a complicated situation where he was failed by both his parents T-T

[novannna]

On the Other Side of the Glass

My contribution for Danissa December!!!

@renegadesnet event 6: danissa december

↪️ [ Though Narcissa never told anyone, she went back to that house countless times. She watched through any small reflective surface she could, trying to imagine herself in that girl's shoes. Ace Anarchy fell, and order returned to Gatlon, making it harder for her and her grandpa to get by.  No weapons sales, so she had to steal as much as possible.  Narcissa barely ever had time for the butterfly girl.  But, when her grandpa was busy, she slipped away, and pretended that she and the butterfly girl were best friends. ]

Wc: 1640 

The first time Narcissa Cronin saw Danna Bell, she was only seven years old.  She had been traveling through mirrors, looking for an empty home, one that was full of food and other things to take.  Her grandfather had told her to take anything of value, and that was what she was doing.  A bag stuffed full hung heavy in her hand.  She felt a little guilty, but she ignored that feeling.  They did what they needed to to survive.  Just like everyone else.  She needed to help her grandfather.  He was all she had. He couldn’t survive on his own and she couldn’t either.  

Narcissa looked out through the mirror to her right.  Was anyone in the room?  No, a quick glance confirmed that it was empty.  It looked like a bathroom.  This was where she normally ended up.  It was the main spot for mirrors.  She poked her head through the cold glass, it flowing over her head.   It was a weird sensation, traveling through mirrors.  Like diving through a pool of ice cold water, but not getting wet. She suppressed a shudder as her head emerged.  

Just to jerk it back in.

A door slammed closed, and a little girl stormed into the bathroom, her face wet with tears.  Her frizzy blond hair tied up into twin buns.  She sniffed deeply, and curled down to the floor.   

“Danna,” a voice yelled, right outside the bathroom.  “Danna, let me in!”

She shook her head.  “No,” her quivering voice replied.  “Go away!”

“Danna, sweetie, you have to come out.  I’m sorry I yelled, but you have to understand why,” the voice pleaded.  “It’s too dangerous for you outside.  I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“You want me to pretend to be ordinary?”  Narcissa could hear the scorn in her voice.  “You want me to pretend to be someone I’m not?”  

“Just for now.  It’s too dangerous.”

The little girl- Danna, stood up, and cracked the door open a tiny bit.  “I don’t wanna hide who I am.  I’m not gonna pretend to be a civilian.  That’s not who I am.”  Her body burst into a swarm of butterflies, and flew through the door, away from whoever was talking to her.  And away from Narcissa.  She shook herself.  Why was she spending so much time thinking about a civilian?  She had to get back to her grandpa.  He was counting on her.  

Narcissa kept moving forward, looking through the next mirror, thoughts still stuck on the little girl made of butterflies.  

---

Though Narcissa never told anyone, she went back to that house countless times. She watched through any small reflective surface she could, trying to imagine herself in that girl's shoes. Ace Anarchy fell, and order returned to Gatlon, making it harder for her and her grandpa to get by.  No weapons sales, so she had to steal as much as possible.  Narcissa barely ever had time for the butterfly girl.  But, when her grandpa was busy, she slipped away, and pretended that she and the butterfly girl were best friends. Narcissa would invent fantastical scenes in her mind, where she walked out of the mirror, and she became closer to her than anything. But she remembered her grandpa's warnings. And she just watched from the other side of the glass as Danna grew. 

—-

Narcissa knew the Renegades wanted as many prodigies, but she never thought her butterfly would believe their lies.  That’s how she had started to think of Danna. Hers. The girl who didn’t even know she existed.  Her butterfly.  Narcissa watched from the sides as Danna did push ups, and sit ups, and sprinted for miles and miles on end.  But she never could find out why.  No one else was pushing themselves to such extreme limits.  So why was Danna?  And then it dawned on her.  

Danna was a prodigy.  A powerful one.  SHe was also a good person, who wanted to do good.  

Danna was training to join the Renegades.  

When Narcissa realized what she was preparing for, she ran away, and sobbed for hours.  She knew there was no chance of her foolish childhood dream coming now.  

No.  Danna was with the enemy, and she would never be Narcissa’s.  

The next time Nova visited with Ingrid, she kissed her behind a bookshelf, trying to replace an aching hole in her heart. And it worked. At least for a while. 

But Nova… well she was so different from Danna. 

She was angry, passionate, and rebellious.  She moved too fast, and spoke too loud.  Narcissa liked her certainly, but did she love her?  No.  Narcissa realized that her childhood fantasies had grown into something so much bigger.  She had a crush on Danna Bell, a Renegade. Her enemy. 

“No,” her mind whispered. “Not your enemy. She’s your butterfly.”  But Narcissa couldn’t deny the truth.  Even if Danna liked girls, the chances were low enough already, they could never be together. They were opposite sides of a battle that never ended, and Narcissa wasn’t going to betray her grandfather for a girl she had never even met. 

Still, in the middle of the night, Narcissa couldn’t help creeping through a mirror, and into Danna’s room.  She traced the sleeping girl’s face with her nail, and brushed a blonde dreadlock away from her forehead.  

She knew how incredibly stupid it was for her to be there, but she needed to see Danna’s face. She needed to know whether her heart really belonged to this girl. And it did. It beat with each breath, the subtle rise and fall of her chest giving Narcissa life. Her hand ached to be clenched between Danna’s long fingers, and she wanted to cup Danna’s dark face between her hands, and kiss her lips until she forgot about everything. Until she forgot about every illegal thing her grandpa had ever done. Until she forgot how many criminals like her Danna had caught. Until they weren’t heroes and villains. Just two girls in love.  Narcissa stretched out her skinny fingers, and brushed Danna’s cheeks. 

Narcissa gasped in pain. It hurt to be so close… but at the same time, so far. 

Danna stirred, and flickered open her eyelids. 

Narcissa darted into the mirror, her heartbeat thudding in her ears.  Danna rubbed her eyes blearily, and scanned the room, but no one was there.  Obviously.  She couldn’t see Narcissa from where she crouched inside the mirror.  Even half asleep, Danna was absolutely breathtaking.  Apparently deciding she was fine, she lay back down.  Narcissa cast one last longing glance at the sleeping girl, and darted off through the mirrors, heading home.  

---

Narcissa wished she could say that she gave up on Danna.  

But that would be a lie.  

She did stop watching her when she was alone- it hurt too much to know that it was just the two of them, and only one cared.  But everytime Narcissa could, she watched Danna.  Especially when she was on patrol.  She couldn’t help but worry for Danna.  She wished she didn’t but Narcissa always found her feet carrying her to the nearest mirror, for just a glance.  She had to make sure Danna was alright.  She always was.  But Narcissa still checked.  Again, and again and again.  

Then one day, she noticed something.  Danna was looking at someone in such an achingly familiar way.  It was the same way Narcissa looked at Danna.  

But Danna wasn’t looking at her.  She was looking at someone else.  Her teammate.  Ruby?  That was her name, wasn’t it?  Did it matter?  

Narcissa hadn’t even considered the fact that one day her butterfly would want someone else.  Had Narcissa really been that selfish to forget that her butterfly would want a life of her own?  Every single thought had been about them, never just her.  Never what Danna wanted.  

Narcissa dropped to the bottom of the mirror realm.  Her body shook with sobs as she realized exactly how stupid and pointless her crush had been.  So she vowed to forget about Danna.  Forget the beautiful Renegade even existed.  Forget about her, and let them both continue on with their lives.  It was better for everyone. 

So Narcissa lay curled in a ball in the bottom of a place only she knew, crying her heart out, knowing everything she wanted was over.  

And she was the only person who knew that it ever existed.  

---

A year later, when Narcissa saw the fluttering butterfly on Nova’s dresser, she couldn’t help herself.  Her first love surged back to the surface, and let the glass shatter, freeing her trapped love. It did nothing but bring up painful memories, but at least Narcissa had done something good.  Even if people thought her intentions were bad, she knew that they were good.  What was better than freeing the girl she loved.  

And a few weeks later, when she saw Danna again, those emotions surged up once more.  She couldn’t contain her glee.  For the first time in 17 years, Danna had seen her face.  Danna knew her name.  Danna knew she existed.  It was hard to stop smiling for hours after.  

And even later, when she saw Danna trapped in the cathedral, she knew that she was going to have to make the final decision.  Whether she wanted to be the person she had grown up to be.  To stick with her grandfather's path.  Or to do something good.  Do something brave.  Be a hero.  

She did what Danna would have done.  And now, everything was perfect.  

Her butterfly was now truly hers.   

And Narcissa wasn’t alone anymore.  Her mirror had found it’s reflection.  

Tag list: @honey-harper-official @quinterickson @thepurpledragon4444 @nova-artino @lesbianariescalante @prudence-barnett  (let me know if u want to be added or taken off my tag list!!!)