#something something ‘‘the most tragic story is that of the clones’’

[lazinesswrites]

You know this thing that seems to be pretty accepted throughout the fandom, that the Clones’ armor and maybe their weapons are the only things that are really theirs? And that’s why the armor paint etc is so important to them?

Sometimes I think about this, and the switch from Phase 1 to Phase 2 armor and I *screams and bites and kicks and cries*.

[ajdrawshq]

i finished 7th dragon a lil while ago n some of the worldbuilding is so funny i cant stop thinking abt it. why is the lost city of atlantis populated by catgirls

[monrageo]

Saw a lot of Spider-Steve art so I had to jump in. Most art modernised him but I want my 80s, mallrat, neon lights Spider-Man + I wrote his origin story. *POSES FOUND ON PINTEREST*

Also Steve looks great in the classic red and blue but I wanted him to have his own costume so yellow he shall be. Now onto my headcanons.

In a world where Hawkins is a megapolis a teen boy gets bitten by a radioactive spider in 83’ while visiting Hawkins Lab (Think less abandoned more Oscorp/Alchemax) and so it begins. He starts doing small good things around the city, experimenting with his powers.

But he isn’t thinking about being a superhero or anything close to that (I imagine the drawing with the sweats and goggles is his first “costume”). Then he gets with this amazing girl-Nancy Wheeler.

Life is looking up for Steve he’s got these weird powers that get him to be the basketball and swim team captain. He’s popular, he’s got this amazing girl that inspires him to be better and better.

He looses his popular crowd friends, he wants to be better. He starts thinking about the superhero thing and actually goes through with it. He isn’t shouting it from the rooftops but news is getting around that a guy in spandex is busting criminals- Spider-man/King Spider.

Steve gets cocky, thinks he’s on top of the world, untouchable. Then Will Byers goes missing-that’s a whole separate story. Nancy and John start their investigation. Steve gets jealous etc.

In the end a battle breaks out and Steve is unable to save one person-Barbara Holland. His girlfriend’s best friend. That of course destroys Nancy. She doesn’t know Steve is Spider-man, she seeks comfort in him but things are not the same.

There’s this whole thing with Jonathan, the obvious attraction, the compatibility. But also Steve’s guilt, his self hatred. He realises he was too blindsided by his cockiness. Barb’s death is on his hands. He breaks up with Nancy and solely focuses on being the best Spider-man he can be.

That of course costs him friends etc. but when you’ve been through what he has high school drama just seems pointless… and so King Steve falls from the throne.

I imagine the Nancy story line parallels the Gwen Stacy one in the original comics (without the death and clones), maybe Nancy even blames and hates Spider-man the way Gwen did… that also contributes to the Stancy break-up.

Perhaps Nancy becomes hyper focused on catching this Spider-man so he can be held accountable for Barb’s death.

Anyways now Steddie, I think Eddie would love Spider-man / King Spider he’s some guy with spider powers and bright spandex that helps people, super camp, Eddie would love him.

I think Steve starts noticing Eddie in a new light when his lunch table tirades now also include how awesome spider-man is. This unapologetic support makes the now loser Steve feel like it is all worth it-the stress, the pain, the loneliness-

Tough he of course knows Eddie isn’t talking about him, he’s talking about Spider-man, the hero. Not the former popular guy Steve Harrington.

I have many ideas regarding a Stranger things!Spider-verse and which characters could be what. Maybe Barb’s death was something Lizard-like, but upside down version. Like something from the lap infected her? I like the idea of Steve’s father being involved in the labs, perhaps as a Norman Osborn parallel, without becoming the Goblin though.

The goblin/Norman/Harry Osborn storyline could be reimagined with Tommy perhaps??? Then Venom with Eddie (so perfect) or Billy (a tragic end)??

[seven-oomen]

Most tragic story in all of star wars has to be the story of the clones.

Created as weapons for genocide and mass destruction, seen as nothing more than property except by the people they were programmed to destroy. And casted aside and terminated as soon as they were deemed obsolete.

Except we see in the clone wars that they were people. They had individual personalities and dreams, they built friendships and relationships. Showed creativity and ART (on their armor) and they were fiercely protective of the people they loved.

Only to have that wiped away by something they were forced to do. That they had no control over. And that many of them regretted for the rest of their lives.

Do you think Bly cried and wailed once he realized what he'd done to Aayla?

Do you think Wolffe screamed in rage and pain once the effects of the order wore off? And he had to confirm Plo's death by looking for his corpse?

Do you think Cody looked at himself every day for the rest of his life and hated himself for what he'd done?

Do you think Rex ever stopped hating himself for not listening to Fives. Or for what he was almost forced to do to Ahsoka?

How many of the clones couldn't take that guilt?

How many of the clones mourned their loss of agency, the loss of their friends , and generals?

That is why to me, their story is the biggest tragedy in all of star wars. And you will never change my mind.

[indigo-casson]

something that i've been thinking about lately is the parallels between star wars: andor/rogue one and tamora pierce's trickster's queen duology. primarily because the star wars brainrot is real and the tamora pierce obsession is forever, but also because they are kind of both tonal and thematic departures from their main 'verses in some similar ways?

in both the star wars verse and the tortall verse, the majority of the media has focused on one individual (or a small group of individuals) who make a profound difference in the world. Whether that's alanna singlehandedly finding the dominion jewel/becoming king's champion/making way for female knights, or luke skywalker blowing up the death star, or daine and numair going to the divine realms during the immortals war, or anakin skywalker becoming a sith and dooming the republic, most of the original material has seen battle and political change as something that is affected by either an actual chosen one or simply a single very plucky and well-placed individual.

trickster's queen and andor, however, really look at rebellion as something that has to be done by a diverse group of flawed people who work together despite their differences. mon mothma knows that her role is raising money. ulasim, chenaol, and the other members of the raka conspiracy each take their individual roles in the rebellion, and recognize that even though they might not want to work with aly or the luarin nobility, they need their skills and influence to make it happen.

both stories also show rebellion as extremely costly and something that requires making tough calls. nobody has their hands clean by the end of a civil war. notably, trickster's queen explicitly narrowly avoids having the protagonists kill a group of 5 year olds. luthen is ready to kill cassian when he becomes a liability, and cassian does kill lots of people, including some allies whose only "crime" is being susceptible to giving up rebellion secrets.

in rogue one, we don't like davits draven because he orders jyn's father killed, and that just feels wrong. jyn is our heroine and it upsets her, so emotionally it's distressing. but of course, draven and cassian and jyn are all working towards the same goal. draven did what he had to--galen erso is a liability as long as he's alive. dove and sarai's little brother elsren has to die because he's a direct heir to the throne, ahead of his sisters. it doesn't matter that he's five and totally innocent. as long as he lives, a luarin has a greater claim to the throne than a raka, and as long as that's true, the rebellion can't succeed.

in the star wars original trilogy, people for sure die! i'm not trying to say that they don't, but it's definitely not something that's shown affecting our protagonists on a deep, emotional level. they're all side characters, or else they come back as force ghosts. the prequels are uh. fucking tragic, but at the end of it, almost all of our heroes make it out. even the casualties of the war are droids vs clones, which is to say, totally interchangeable cannon fodder on both sides!

the number of character deaths in the tortall 'verse is fewer, probably because it's primarily created for middle grades, but even when people do die, they're either demonstrably bad people or minor enough characters that the emotional resonance isn't the same.

by contrast, at the end of trickster's queen, almost the majority of the main conspirators die in battle, not to mention those who don't even make it to the final conflict. at the end of rogue one, all of our heroes are dead, and people aren't exactly making it out of andor s1 in good shape either. more than half of the aldhani team dies on that mission.

I could go on further, but I think my main takeaway is that once you've invested a lot of time and attention and fandom into a 'verse, you have a lot more leeway to tell different kinds of stories. tamora pierce could not have written trickster's choice until after the values and world of tortall were so clearly established, and if she had, it wouldn't have had the impact that it did. similarly, part of what makes rogue one/andor so striking is the fact that it is such a departure from the preexisting values and story format of star wars.

for every chosen one we see in media, there are hundreds of people working behind the scenes to make their big, death star destroying moment possible. the only way to improve society is through collective action, and part of that is that everyone's hands are going to get dirty. i think lots of people want to imagine that they could be like luke skywalker and swoop in 2 weeks before the battle of yavin and become a hero, but the fact of the matter is that that's not how the world works! war requires us to do things that would ordinarily go against our values, but in the context of a drawn out, bloody, thankless battle, maybe we decide the ends justify the means.

[jedi-enthusiast]

I've seen a lot of posts on my feed lately that have, in some way shape or form, said "the story of the Jedi is tragic cause the Jedi caused their own genocide" followed by a list of just...stuff that's either untrue or the other option would've been worse in that game of roulette that Palpatine set up specifically to force the Jedi to make questionable decisions and wear them down with the weight of them. (Untagged posts btw, if you're gonna post shit along these lines please for the love of fuck tag it "Jedi critical," there are tags for a reason)

So I'm here to outline why that's complete and utter bullshit in one easy, simple to understand, post! No matter what the Jedi did, or what you think they did, they did not cause their own genocide. The fault of their genocide is solely on those who chose to commit said genocide of their people and culture.

Ignoring the fact that Palpatine's entire plan, the whole point of everything that we see in the Prequels, was to kill off all of the Jedi and erase their culture--so he was gonna figure out some way to do it, with or without Anakin/the clones/Dooku/etc.

You cannot make someone commit genocide against you.

That is the stupidest argument ever.

Committing genocide is a choice, one that you actively have to make over and over again--which we see Anakin do, even long after all (or all except a measly few survivors, most of which were literal children in the Prequel-era and couldn't have possibly done anything to piss Anakin off) of the Prequel-era Jedi--aka the ones that people say "brought this on themselves"--were dead!

The Jedi Order as a whole could've been the shittiest, most repressed group of arrogant assholes the galaxy had ever seen. They could've called Anakin a whiny bitch to his face and told him that Dooku should've gone for his head instead of his arm. They could've danced on his mother's grave and had tea parties with the Tuskens.

And guess what?

They still could not have made Anakin and Palpatine commit genocide against them. It was their choice, and their choice alone.

The only people that had no choice in committing that genocide were the clones and guess who took that choice away from them? Because it certainly wasn't the fucking Jedi!

Which is hilarious because most of these posts I've seen have said something along the lines of "the Jedi used the clones as slaves," ignoring the fact that--even if that were true (and it's not)--Anakin and Palpatine used them as slaves too!

And it was so much worse when they did it because, not only were they not given a choice, they were fucking mind-controlled in order to commit genocide against their will! So they didn't even get the choice to refuse and face the consequences of that--which is an option for them during the Clone Wars, albeit a shitty one.

So no, the Jedi did not bring anything upon themselves.

Start holding Anakin responsible for his own shitty decisions, and start tagging your damn anti-Jedi and Jedi critical posts properly!

[kimbureh]

TBB S2E12 The Outpost, Crosshair & Agency In Suicide

I haven't seen anybody talk about this specific aspect yet, but in truth I avoid reading TBB meta because I haven't finished watching season 2 and don't want to read spoilers.

"The Outpost" is an episode about being trapped in your position, even if you're ready to move on from your role. I've seen it pointed out by others, and indeed it was my first thought also: Mayday talks like Rex. Behaves like Rex. Is capable to adapt to adversary circumstances like Rex. But unlike Rex, Mayday is not given the chance to reform his life. He dies on Barton-4 without fulfilling his true potential. (But Rex has been gifted this chance, while he is acutely aware most clones haven't, and chooses to rectify that as much as he can.) The Outpost of Barton-4 is the epitome of being abandoned and trapped by circumstances. This will be important again in a minute.

Regs symbolize everything Crosshair feels ashamed for. I have talked about this before, but I don't want to pull a Tech and assume that's obvious. So. Crosshair is as grating towards regs as he is (especially in TCW) because of his projected self-hatred. He's a clone too, but at least he is enhanced. "Superior", as he says to Hunter. Showing kindness to Mayday, a reg, is the first step for Crosshair to come to terms with his Clone identity. I interpret Crosshair's arc as one of developing self-acceptance, and treating a reg with kindness is the first step to treating himself with kindness. And it speaks to Crosshair's developing sense of self-acceptance when he pleads (!) with Nolan to please help Mayday (the name here is telling!).

In another meta post of mine I outlined the two possible paths of Crosshair's arc: he either manages to develop self-acceptance and leaves the Empire, or he stays and self-destructs.

In his interactions with Mayday, Crosshair clearly veers into the direction of self-acceptance via Mayday as proxy. But the circumstances don't allow for the second step: leaving the Empire. Think of that tiny backroom in which we meet Mayday and his skeleton crew for the first time. Barton-4 is not a place you leave alive. This place is a frosty tomb, the rows of trooper helmets and the raider left behind in the tunnel are grim witness to that truth. And Crosshair knows this, knows he is trapped in a very real sense on this planet, at the mercy of a cruel superior who sees him as a piece of "used equipment". And so Crosshair picks the other option left to him: self-destruction. He knows he cannot get away with shooting a superior, not when he's weak, without his helmet, trapped on an icy planet with dozens of TK troopers to hold him accountable.

Crosshair's decision is not naive, not entirely hopeless either, it's coming from a place of self-empowerment despite the dreadful desperation. There are a few excruciating moments before Crosshair draws his blaster, moments in which he does the calculations in his mind and realizes there is no way for him to survive this. But he has the freedom to make one last decision: and that is bringing down Nolan with him.

This is Crosshair's tipping point. Through the interactions with Mayday he allowed himself to care for someone again, only for the Empire to immediately take that from him. They took his agency, but in what Crosshair must believe to be his last action, he regains some of his agency and avenges Mayday. In the face of death, Crosshair defends his decision to choose self-acceptance.

A more tragic story could end here; but Crosshair has more homework to do, and it still hasn't been revealed if he really doesn't have his inhibitor chip anymore, or whether he was implanted something else in its stead, and where those searing head pains are really coming from if not from the effects of the (a?) chip. I have a few theories, but we'll see (or maybe we won't).

(pls no season 2 spoilers, I haven't fully watched it yet)

[bewaretheidesofmarchyall]

what the fuck is the Wire Mother book. Sociology has lore now?

oh boy okay

so you remember the Divergent books? the YA boom of the early 2010's? The Wire Mother was one of those series. they turned the Harlow's monkey experiments into dystopia factions.

yeah. i know. bear with me

The first book, The Wire Mother (2010) is pretty standard YA dystopia fare. There's this girl named Leo Groves (the Leo's short for Leonore) who lives in the court of the Cloth Mother, a city where people live in comfort and camaraderie and a general vibe of hold hands around the campfire and sing, except for the people who die at random. This is accepted with unsettling what-can-you-do calm from the main characters. (Eventually, it's revealed that's happening because only a 1/5th of the food served in the city is real, so most of the people are dropping dead of starvation but their bodies are quickly hurried away as to not kill the vibe, so no one worries all that much about it).

Which could have been cool speculative fiction! A handy story about desensitization to violence or complacency or something. Unfortunately, this was 2010 YA, so the concept is quickly kicked under the bed in favor of. yeah. A love triangle. Leo, being a special little narratively significant thing, finds her way to the mysterious other city on the other side of her hometown, the court of the Wire Mother. And when she's there, she meets a boy. Coil 54810.

Coil goddamn 54810.

That brooding son of a bitch. His last name is 54810 because the concept of last names and family doesn't exist in the court of the Wire Mother, only functionality, so 54810 is just the number of Coils there's been in the city. He's not a clone or anything, it's just the amount of people who've had that name. It's like being named Jeremy 54810. Killer of plot pacing. Swoopy of hair. He would have deserved to be named Jeremy.

God, anyway, I'm talking a lot about this. Anyway: The Wire Mother is exactly as good as the average YA dystopia book from the time period. It has some high points (the Cloth and Wire mother are cool ominously looming entities, and the main antagonist Jane-Mary has a level of batshit mad science energy to her that makes her the most fun villain in the series) and some low points (the forced Romeo and Juliet references. the forced romance. It is so clear that Benjamin St. Jobs, the other guy in the love triangle, doesn't stand a chance, but we have to keep who-will-it-be-ing for so long anyway. And Coil's a dick), but it mostly just balances out.

There were three more books in the series. There was supposed to be four, but. Well

Anyway. Book Two, The Wire Mother: Hounds' Toll (2012), actually kind of slapped. It went to more tragic and horror-influenced places than the original book. One thing I'll give Angela Lee (the author) credit for: I don't think this was a sequel for the sake of having a sequel. I think that the series was always supposed to be a pentalogy.

Some of the stuff in this book has still stuck with me to this day- I have to hold myself back from adding ominously ringing church bells in so many of my projects. Also, it really filled out Leo Groves as a protagonist- I could take or leave her in the first book, but I started to genuinely like her by the second. And the stuff they do with Stellarose Ardent, her best friend turned rival... God, I could make a whole post about Stellarose Ardent.

this book series is good, readers thought. surely the third book will be as good if not better

THE THIRD BOOK WAS HELL. The Wire Mother: Ordained Voltage (2013)...I think it did everything wrong. There was a reason that there was a two year break between the first two books, and book three being out only a year after Hounds' Toll really shows.

It's incredibly rushed. Leo barely gets to do anything. Stellarose is killed off in the most unsatisfying way possible. And while it seemed like Book Two had neatly put the love triangle to bed, no! It claws its way out of its grave!! To torment me specifically!

The only good thing we got out of this car wreck is Anesthesia 3, lab rat girl and apocalypse maiden extraordinaire. I adore her. She's got real Fish Inside A Birdcage vibes. Everything else, though? Horrors.

But readers held out hope. At least the characters ended up trapped in an interesting setting at the end of book three. The merciless, multi-layered prison of Tithonus, the central antagonist of the series. It seemed like that was a good set-up for a prison escape storyline. Those have to be entertaining, right?

Somehow, some way, no. Book Four, The Wire Mother: Endless Sentence (2014) is not just bad. I could forgive bad. But it is bad, and it is boring.

so boring that I'm not even going to waste my words on it. It's a school night. I'm not staying up to describe that thing. The only interesting thing about it is how it could manage to be boring while being an homage to the fucking Stanford Prison experiments.

And that was the end of a lot of people's hopes for the Wire Mother series. Only one good book out of four isn't a great track record, you know? A lot of readers were willing to put Hounds' Toll down as a one-off.

Then, in November of 2014, the preview for Book Five, The Wire Mother: Quantum Claws came out. It was three chapters long. And people lost their shit.

First of all, it was good. Maybe as good as Hounds' Toll. Maybe better.

But more than that, it was a break from the relatively grounded, safe, company standard dystopia of the series. Because this bad boy was going to be about time travel. Tithonus, in his evil plans to live forever, had built a time machine and activated it just at the right moment when the plucky heroes were about to kill him once and for all.

Which seems like something that would be a train wreck, right? If this author can't handle the easy-to-please tropes of prison breaks and romance, what business does she have trying to handle a time travel story without completely fucking up the series?

And maybe that would have been true. But the first three chapters were insanely promising. They were refreshing, original- they got time travel. We were able to get characters like Stellarose and Jane-Mary and Turpentine back after the story cast them aside so soon. And it promised to really examine what Leo Groves meant for the book's world. So, hopes rose again.

Unfortunately, we'll never know if it would have been good or bad. The fifth book was never published. We don't know why. It was just promised, for months and months, and then. Poof. The updates stopped. It was gone.

And it haunts me. If you haven't stopped reading by now, you can probably tell that. The fandom was like a fraction of the size of the Divergent fandom, and I don't know anyone IRL who's read these things. I don't even know if I can or should recommend them.

But sometimes something doesn't have to be a literary masterpiece to burrow into your brain and not let go, I guess ASJSJS

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

so i've been thinking about horde prime and what a wasted potential he was. when we were first introduced to horde prime, we are led to believe that he is an intimidating and heartless dictator, the biggest threat adora has faced so far.

and yet, as the series progresses, we are just left with questions as to WHY this guy is so powerful and feared. all adora has to do is save catra and horde prime is already fuming and frothing at the mouth. literally all his clones could be taken out by just hitting a weak spot, as demonstrated by catra and glimmer. any of the etherians (i.e. the princesses) who were brainwashed were also easily reversed. catra basically died but not for more than 5 minutes, before adora brings her back to life. basically, there's nothing long-lasting about horde prime's actions and nothing intimidating about him.

i've already mentioned some of the other problems i have with horde prime's character, the main one being that.. he's just boring. it's so clear that horde prime was only created because catra and hordak were on their way to redemption, and the show needed a new threat. but horde prime is so lazily written, you barely register him as an actual villain.

in my opinion, there are three things you can add to a villain in order to flesh them out:

sympathetic qualities: the typical tragic backstory, misguided intentions, moments of humanization and compassion. it's an overdone trope but if utilized well and in moderation, it can be very compelling.

complex motives: even if you don't agree with their way of carrying out their plan, you do agree with their ideals or morals. you get where they're coming from and you can relate to their reason for doing what they're doing.

parallels with protagonist/hero: if your hero and villain have similarities or something that connects them, the stakes are automatically raised. there's the fear that the hero could end up like the villain, if they're not careful. even if we know that the hero is not gonna end up like the villain, there's still something satisfying about seeing two characters who are fundamentally the same person but on different sides with different experiences to back them up.

good ol' personality: if you want to create a pure evil villain who is just evil for the heck of it, that's fine. just make sure you give them something that makes them stand out, whether it's a flamboyant personality, witty quip or even a catchy musical number. this is the reason why most disney villains are so memorable despite having no complexity or redeeming qualities.

so, which one of these would work best for horde prime? any of them, honestly, but i would probably choose not to give him a tragic past, just because of how both catra and hordak already got those. i don't want to redeem all the villains of this show.

the other three are very applicable and can even be used all together. horde prime can have a complex motivation, parallels with adora (or heck, even catra) and have a compelling personality.

but honestly, just one of these is enough to flesh out a villain. for example, bill cipher from gravity falls has no tragic backstory, complex motive or parallels with the heroes. but what makes him so likeable and interesting to audience is his personality alone. he's humorous, he's snarky, he's chaotic and calmly admits to being crazy. his unique character design and insane power also makes him stand out from regular villains.

for another example, lord viren from the dragon prince is not very compelling, personality-wise. however, his goal of protecting and fighting for humans at any cost, and his parallels with callum make us want to see more of him and how his story ends.

in all these shows, the villains aren't just a decorative piece thrown into the story last-minute. whether they were introduced from the beginning or later on, they have a purpose. they pose a real threat and the main plotline is about defeating them. the romance is only secondary.

but in s5 of spop, the main conflict isn't “will adora stop horde prime from destroying the world?”, it's “will adora make out with her abusive sister?” or “can catra act like a responsible adult for once?” (hint: the answer is no.)

so either, you could explain why horde prime does what he does. all we know right now is his vague past with mara and the first ones, and his egotistic desire to “purify” everyone. while this is a good start, the show never elaborates on it. horde prime's character supposedly has themes of religious trauma but it's portrayed in an almost cartoonish way. we could have gotten more details about why he thinks his actions are justified. what he hopes to accomplish by purifying everyone.

or they could have given us a connection with horde prime and one of our protagonists. preferably adora. but no, the only character horde prime had a direct connection with was hordak. they could have expanded on that and shown more of their relationship. but instead of showing religious guilt and trauma through hordak, they replaced that with chipped catra. because of course, the only character whose trauma is acknowledged by the narrative is catra.

there were some clear-cut parallels between catra and horde prime (brainwashing people to turn them into weapons, abusing a family member, attempting to destroy the entire world) but they never even mentioned that. because that would mean reminding the audience that catra was just as bad as prime. it would have made for an interesting narrative, especially if catra acknowledged all of this and felt insanely guilty for doing all that she did, trying to do better so that she won't be like horde prime.

or, as a last resort, they could have given horde prime a personality. because in canon, his personality is just evil™ and egotistic. that's it. he's just a garden-variety villain and while his character design is interesting, there's nothing that stands out about him. (not to mention, giving him a hairstyle that resembles dreadlocks when he is supposed to be a representation of a white dictator)

i just feel like they could have made prime a really intimidating and complex villain but they completely missed the mark. horde prime is just a minor inconvenience in s5, the real threat is the “gay pining and angst” between catra and adora.

[darkonekrisrewrite]

Togachako is interesting

From both a smaller (personal) and larger (Plot) perspective

(Side Meta, not connected to the others) (Spoiler Warning)

Romance is and isn’t a central theme of Togachako I think, it’s more about the concepts and resulting individual goals motivated by love than anything else.

I don’t really think Toga and Ochako will wind up being Girlfriends by Bnha’s end, so much as the connections they develop through the themes of love, whether it’s for each other or not, is a bond that has a lot of interest to everything in Bnha.

Why that is, Togachako as a pairing that’s not exactly equal in their identities when separate, put together brings so much more to the story.

Toga Himiko is fascinating on her own and she has overarching plot relevance, which makes her one of the best in Bnha.

From a single character point of view, she’s a sympathetic villain with emotional weight. Having been born with a Quirk that eventually made it impossible for her to live a normal life, to the point of self-harming (biting her own wrist open) due to her bloodlust and constantly wearing a psychological mask, playing a role though her life.

Parents who didn’t care for her ^ and took no responsibility for how they failed to help their Daughter.

Toga’s whole relationship with the Lov, especially Twice, all the sweet moments (strictly friend based) and their tragic parting.

And from a wider point of view, Toga has a place in Bnha’s overall themes too.

Societal judgment based on a person’s Quirk (another way of looking at what happened in the picture above ^).

A direct connection through Twice to the moral arguments of the Hero’s choices/actions (then connecting to Hawks), and wherever that plot thread will lead as Toga is still hunting for Hawks and fighting other heroes with the Clones.

And finally what will happen in the Future of their society as a direct result of the Lov’s actions.

There’s a lot going on with Toga Himiko and all of it, the many connections and nuances, make her able to stand out and on her own as a character.

 But with Ochako, while there still is a lot of great character there, there doesn’t seem to be as much weight or impact on her own.

Ochako isn’t as much without Toga, even though Horikoshi stated that he created Toga for Ochako’s development (or something along those lines), most of the time it feels like the opposite of that, in never quite reaching Toga’s level until recently.

Ochako’s origins and ‘place’ in Bnha is very ‘normal’ most of the time, very ‘Hero Girl Teammate’.

While her goal of earning enough money so her parents can lead easier lives may seem different from the other hero kids (or at least that’s how Ochako acted when she first stated her goal), it’s never really brought up in any way other than being her motivation.

There’s never anything else surrounding this goal, not any conflicts or attention brought to the money desire specifically.

Does Ochako ever have any plot relevance with Hero Killer Stain, with their ideals and goals tailor made to oppose one another?

No. They never meet, before Stain’s arrest or even after Stain broke out of Prison and came close to other UA students.

Although Ochako’s goal soon changes or I guess you could say evolves to being ‘I love seeing People’s smiling faces’, so it seems like development without resolution?

It feels like that happens a lot in Ochako’s story, as she does change and grow over the Arcs but it always feels a bit…tacked on.

Like after the important things in the Arc are done or close to being finished, Ochako will have some form of personal revelation, one that doesn’t seem to be capitalized on anytime soon (in the case of ‘who saves the heroes’, her megaphone moment addressing the civilian mob at UA came much later).

There are crumbs or maybe put more generously seeds of character development but no big hero moments or victories accompanying them, nothing to really impress or put an epic point to.

An example of this would be Kirishima’s big hero moment during the Overhaul Operation, with him fulfilling his heroic ideals while at the same time having a Plus Ultra moment against his enemy.  

And even after her big scene of convincing the civilians to let Izuku stay at UA, her desire to ‘protect the heroes who need it’ falls a little short after that too.

Because where was Shoto and Aoyama’s help, specifically from Ochako?

It’s true that they already were getting help from their other friends/classmates but why didn’t Ochako have a moment here?

She didn’t have to make another big speech or anything, maybe just a small moment of Ochako trying to comfort Shoto as a friend or stepping up beside Izuku to say something in Aoyama’s defense.

Because having her only do that sort of thing for Izuku gives the impression that Ochako only did it because it was for Izuku.

I’m not saying all this to hate on Ochako, I’m just pointing out what did and didn’t happen in her story, and that being paired with Toga changes all of that for her.

Toga elevates Ochako by capitalizing on her evolving ideals and makes sure to point out that it’s her story, her hero narrative, influenced by Izuku but not involving him.

(Along with Asui too I guess? But no, this is definitely about Ochako/Toga.)

Putting Ochako into focus against her chosen Villain, completely of her own decision, in a greater conflict that will help to decide the course of Bnha’s future, all the while sticking to her ideals as the fight goes on.

Through Toga bringing Ochako higher on a personal and plot level, maybe that’s what Horikoshi meant when he said that he created Toga for Ochako.

Though I’m sure they’ll have to be developed equally from this point on (I hope).

(Side point: Izuku x Ochako is standard, not boring but kind of leaning towards it. It’s just like most of the other ‘main boy x side character girl’ Shonen relationships, unless it’s literally the first one you’ve ever seen then you’ve probably seen it before.

They work together to the same goals, they never have any real conflicts with one another, and they’re both firmly on the hero side of things.

Unless you’re really into uncomplicated Hero x Hero relationships, and there’s nothing wrong with that if true, there’s nothing in Izuku x Ochako to really point to and say: “Wow! I wonder where this will go?!”

It’s not bad just predictable, and if you’ve seen the same thing play out in other series, it gets old after a while, again unless you like it personally.)

 Final Point: How Togachako develops may direct how Bnha’s story ends, at least I hope it does, it’s pretty much the only Villain/hero pairing that I’d bet on.

Because Dabi is pretty Toast at this point (definitely not as in dead or will die, just extremely burnt) and might not be functioning well for a while until he is somehow healed later.

And as long as Izuku still believes in Hero Society and his heroic answer hasn’t yet evolved beyond ‘Give helping hand’, I can’t think of anything he could say that would sway or impact Shigaraki.

With Togachako there are still a lot of possibilities left, another reason why it’s so interesting.

[super-paper]

"382 - You Won't Get Away"

Hori opens and closes the chapter foiling AFO and Hawks and their different perspectives on the flow of their battle, and it's clear that the chapter title itself refers to the mass effort to stop AFO from leaving Gunga.

But Himiko and Ochako are at the heart of 382, and the chapter title takes on a much kinder meaning when its applied to them.

Ochako is able to pick Himiko out of an utterly chaotic crowd of clones specifically because she's now focusing on trying to understand Himiko's feelings and perspective-- when Tsuyu theorizes that Himiko simply doesn't love the LOV enough to use their quirks, Ochako remembers their first meeting where Himiko talked about her idea of love and how it involves "becoming" the person she loves. Rather than leaning into the idea that Himiko's love for her friends is lacking in some capacity, Ochako instead focuses on how Himiko must be hurting because she isn't actually able to "become" Jin-- And with budding understanding, their eyes finally meet. Ochako realized Himiko would be hurt, and so, she was able to "see" her.

Himiko's ability to "disappear" into crowds and almost completely erase her presence has been touched upon at several different points in the series, and it's now something that's coming into play with Ochako's outright refusal to "lose sight of her again."

Himiko attributes her ability to disappear to constantly being on the run from heroes, but tbh, one can easily argue that its development precedes that. She has spent almost her entire life trying to make herself disappear behind a mask in some capacity. At some tragic point, the mask became "transforming into people she loves."

Erasure of herself is at the core of Himiko's pain-- we see this most blatantly with the scene where it's revealed that her parents threw out all her personal belongings, even scraping away the most harmless evidence that she was ever a part of her life. The league M.O. can also be summed up as: "Living is too painful so lets just erase everything we hate (even if that includes ourselves)." Even her concept of love is based around self-erasure-- she hates herself and wants to "disappear" into the identities of the people she loves, thereby associating love with the complete erasure of herself. She treats the people she loves as her own coffin, a place where she can finally put Toga Himiko to rest-- if only for a little while.

But Ochako is refusing to lose sight of her, refusing to let Himiko disappear, refusing to let Himiko continue down a path that is only hurting her. Just as Izuku took Tomura from his coffin, now Ochako is getting ready to pull Himiko from hers.

MHA is a story about kindness, ad infinitum.

[masterjedilenawrites]

👥 My OCs 👥 [Master List]

Open to reading about original/non-canon characters? This list will link to stories, headcanons, and blurbs where I've shared about my dearly beloved OCs.

Check out other master lists here.

⛑ Dr. Joan Vo

A civilian medic during the clone wars. Worked with the 116th. Eventual love interest of Crosshair.

Story: The Sniper & the Medic

One Shot: How she joins the 116th battalion

Art: Picrew of how I picture her

If she were a shoe / If she were a setting / Something you'd immediately notice about her vs later

Her voice / Where she grew up / Her ideal weapon

Most important thing / Her hobby / Her Starbucks order

Her core wound / What she'd do at a party / Her signature color palette

🐦‍⬛ Commander Crowe & the 116th

A regular infantry battalion during the clone wars. Led by General Rhee. Tragic ending.

Additional troopers: Captain Civic, R.J. (pilot), Diver (co-pilot), Breeze, Mack, Coma, Commander Falcon (leads the 115th, Crowe's bestie)

One Shot: Introduction to Crowe & the 116th battalion

Quick Crowe HCs

More Crowe HCs & profile pic

Chapter: Their tragic end

If he were a shoe / If he were a setting / Something you'd immediately notice about him vs later

His favorite book / My favorite trait of his / His weakness

💟 Jedi General Rhee Cthedsard

A Jedi Knight during the clone wars. Trained under Mace Windu and led the 116th. Tragic ending.

Initial development of his character

One Shot: Introduction to Rhee & the 116th

If he were a shoe / If he were a setting / Something you'd immediately notice about him vs later

His voice / Where he grew up / His ideal weapon

His core wound / What he'd do at a party / His signature color palette

⚽️ Bethany Batch

Single adoptive mom of the Bad Batch in a modern AU. Eventual relationship with a clone I have yet to reveal.

The Batch Family Master List

✂️ Scraps

A defective clone meant to work with the Bad Batch. Tragic ending.

Brief mention in The Sniper & the Medic

His favorite book / My favorite trait of his / His weakness

✈️ Kohl Morley

An Imperial pilot. Trained (unwillingly) by Reader character. Tragic past which leads to complicated connection with Reader.

First appearance in Broken Wings (unnamed - he's the "soft spoken one")

His favorite book / My favorite trait of his / His weakness

🪐 Unpublished "Rebel Girl" characters

Jetstream / JJ-505: An Imperial Elite Trooper. Birth name and home world have been long forgotten. Raised an orphan and conscripted as a stormtrooper from a very young age. Partial to using jetpacks and rifle weapons in battle.

Luche Race: An Imperial Special Forces Command Officer. Assigned to Mission Command for the Elite Trooper Program, overseeing the soldier JJ-505. Born and raised on Pantora, suspected to be half-Pantoran/half-human. Personal interests include history and architecture.

Kye "KB" Bodalla: A Rebel leader. Born on a cargo ferry and transient thereafter. Worked as a contractor in a variety of fields until turning a blind eye to the atrocities of the Empire was no longer an option. Now leads a band of Rebel Alliance fighters in the mid and outer rims.

The only snippet I've shared so far

💫 Canon characters from Rebels I gave a name and/or personality to

Valen Rudor/Charlemagne and Supply Master Lyste (S1, E4)

Aresko/Vampire Officer and Mr. Grint (S1, E6)

Gunter (S1, E8)

Konstantine/Mustache Officer (S1, E9)

Konstantine and Yves (S1, E11)

Dave (S1, E15)

Yves and Dave (again), and Tito (S2, E4)

Huey, Louie, Dewey, and Miles (S2, E8)

🗂️ Misc characters

Natalia Mercer and Sergeant Kieron Beloch, from In Other Words

Suula and Mallona, from Spitting Image

Amara Tilde, Sergeant Lou Mam, and Heva, from Broken Wings

Arden, Commander Burdick, Eva Carroway, and Sadie Amiko, from Blueberries & Cowboys

[chattegeorgiana]

Hello! Thank you again for always taking the time to respond to any notes I send, can’t wait to see what comes next! On your IG I noticed how Sakura’s Crown of the Sun seal reminds me of Hashiram’s warrior monk sage mode from a cosmetic pov. Which made me think about how you pointed out how Sakura is thematically a Senju or represents them in the overall themes of the story. Which leads to a head cannon I wanted to bounce off you. Shinachiku in other fanfics I have read he’s never written to have Sage mode which would be something that fits his universal traits given to him. From the show/manga I felt that Sage mode you a character who had the physical, mental & spiritual fortitude. Shina fits the bill but if he were to have a Sage mode it would look similar to Hashiram that way he’s not following directly in his father footsteps but it gives Sakura homage as Shina powers align closer to her. Which I like that Shina both in designs and abilities come from Sakura. It makes him unique not just to be another Naruto clone which only really works when you have a tragic backstory like him. My point is that I felt like Shina that warrior monk sage mode shows his duality as a character. He’s universally acknowledged as a skilled medic which implies he has a value and sanctity for life and seeks to prevent death and heal others but at the same time he’s expert hand to hand combatant and wields tanto blades which are specifically made for killing. It’s one of things I love about his character that duality, he’s both the yin and yang. Much like his parents. Sorry for the long paragraph I just enjoy sharing these thoughts!

Hi dear,

Welcome back!

I'll start by saying please stop apologizing for these long asks, I love them! Even if I'm not always able to respond right away to them, do know that I love getting them and reading them and exchange all these headcanons with you.

Makes my heart smile when I see someone is really analyzing Kaika in such a beautiful way. Feels like an honor, tbh.

Now to get to the actual point of the story...

First of all, Sakura's seal... well, there's a reason why I made that seal the way I did it. Those old theories of mine echoes so hard and far away, that nowadays they're used as commercial hook in the franchise.

And it's not the first time that I see in the franchise concepts that have been used that I talked about at some point in my theories.

One of the biggest I've seen is ironically the one theory that I couldn't recover after losing my blog 2 or 3 times already (lost the count tbh cuz when you have to build it from scratch every time, it's so tiresome honestly) called Spiritual Enlightenment: Sakura Haruno, Slug Sage mode and possible genjutsu connection.

Most of what I see in the sequel nowadays in terms of certain power-ups are mechanics that I've laid down in that theory that I lost.

Most will say that eh, I'm talking BS cuz I don't have that theory so I don't have a way to prove it. But the thing is, there are certain residuals/artifacts if you may say so of that theory around the internet.

So then, the reason I had her seal look like Hashirama's is precisely because I'm making use of my own theories in a way that I think Kishimoto wanted to develop Sakura, like I said so many times.

Now, as for Shina, the way I plan on developing him has connections to that and doesn't at the same time. I won't go too much into detail, but I made him that way because I wanted to have something unique to him, in a way, like you said. I don't want him to be a copy of anyone.

That's why some of the power-ups I have in mind for him are and aren't connected to that specific similarity. I have a little twist in mind.

But what I do have prepared for Shina, is the Heaven & Earth symbolism in his power-ups. He's not gonna necessarily fit the warrior monk archetype tbh. If anything, the monk type will fit more for Arashi, the way I have him built.

But, in a way partially, it will also fit with Shina. So you see, that's why I say that it is and it isn't at the same time. But I do get from where you're coming and I agree with you in the sense that Shina has respect for the sanctity of life. After all, he is very laid back and respectable like Katsuyu. That's why she becomes his favorite summon and always has a Katsuyu plushie haha.

The thing is, I built all 3 siblings in a way that fit certain themes and symbolism, but with a unique twist, I'd say.

For example one of Shina's power-ups is going to be tied to Hanami, and through that, Hanami also gets her own power-up. Arashi in a way is the one who's more hermit/monk like so his power-ups aren't tied directly to his siblings per se. But that's because I want Arashi to be more connected with the Uzumakis.

And I did all that because I wanted to have the family theme represented in more ways than one, which is the classic blood relation.

I won't go exactly into too much detail because I don't want to give away the "juicy" parts so to speak, haha. But I hope everyone will find it as interesting as I seem to be finding them in my head, lol.

Once again, thank you very much for your ask, it's really a pleasure to talk all these things with you.

Have an amazing rest of your day/evening/night.

[sneezemonster15]

Besides naruto and sasuke, who are some of your other favorite characters?

Gaara. I related with him the most in the entire manga. His backstory was the moment when I got truly hooked. Kishi had me by his claws. I was very invested in his story and it was quite apparent that he was one of the crucial characters that would affect the plot and the protagonist in the process of which, both will undergo change, and so there was a lot of anticipation there.

Neji. While I appreciate him more in retrospect, because this was a boy who stood in the middle of the stadium where all the kages and jounins and the civilians were gathered, and fearlessly talked of oppression supported by the system at the risk of being rendered paralysed or half dead by his slavemaker curse, at the time I liked how he carried himself. Intelligent and talented, a no nonsense dude. And he shut Hinata up who was deliberately egging him on. I loved their fight during chuunin exams, I would not have minded if he were allowed to keep going on... He is individualistic and strong, he is a non conformist and has solid reasons to be that way, I appreciate that.

Deidara. He is just so much fun. Kishi can write all sorts of villains, that's one of his many strengths. He doesn't have a tragic backstory like others, and he doesn't suffer from savior complex or mad acquisition of knowledge and secrets of the world, or retribution (except for Itachi, but that's just another art driven shenanigans of his). He does it for art, lol. He is just a crazy, artsy guy who loves arson. Lol. And that makes up for interesting, engaging action.

Orochimaru. Another wonderful villain. He creates a sense of dread, a certain squirmy quality that is also very thrilling and suspense building. He is so cunning, always one step ahead. He always has an Uno reverse card in his sleeve. Lol. And his wit. Lolol. He is so catty and incisively so. He is also the product of this system and he has a very real insight into this world himself but he has been desensitized. He uses the system itself for his own objective, that benefits his own self. He is certainly a very interesting character in his own right. And he is the only adult who takes a serious stand for Sasuke and that means something. Because it is done in front of all the dead kages, no matter how strong they were.

Madara. Crazy mofo. I happen to love characters that are hella strong, intelligent, stylish, have a sense of humor and are justifiably arrogant. I love how he keeps roasting the five kages, acting like the cat playing with the little mice just for fun before killing them off. I like bloody mayhem in a battle, and this man is so skilled and so powerful, it just makes for such good and humorous action. Not to mention his crazy obsession with Hashirama, he is strong but has his vulnerabilities and doesn't care to hide them, I mean the man just plants his ass on the ground like a stubborn child in a cereal aisle when Hashi sends his clone to fight him, like he just won't be mollycoddled. He is enjoying the battle so much. He exemplifies battle lust. Also, I liked how he was not so predictable. Hashirama sends Sasuke to somehow reason with Madara seeing he looked like Izuna. But Madara wasn't having it. He won't be manipulated. The way he was backstabbed by that piddly ass Black Zetsu, just like Hashirama did, was just cruel man. Kishi and his cruel parallels.

Kakuzu and Hidan. I say both of their names because their rapport is what brings out both their characters. They are snarky, stylish, well Hidan is, smart, strong and form a good team. Their fight with Naruto, Shikamaru and the rest of the team was pretty enjoyable.

I would say Temari, she is bold, sharp, strong, confident, displays strong leadership, with a level head on her shoulders. But of course, her character is not very explored, and I wish it was. I also like sand siblings' dynamic. Kankuro also has his good moments, funny dude. I would have also liked to see Tenten been given a chance. Oh Kish..

Gai. He is a kind man, always positive but not in a toxic way. Persevered despite his handicap and worked haaard. Strong, sensitive, vulnerable, has a close bond with his team, and is the perennial cheerleader. He cares for his friends, subordinates, and doesn't back away from a fight. He was already knocking on death's door when he decided to tackle Madara, and he did it with such aplomb. Impressive. His interaction with Kisame is also quite funny. I like Kisame as well. Such a gentleman. I also like his backstory, quite a complex one.

Yamato. The perennial nanny. The babysitter. He used to work for Root so he doesn't know how to deal with other peoples' individuality. But he tries. He takes his team out for a nice stay at an expensive inn, treats them to good food, all so that his team can bond and not be at each other's throat all the time. He does care about his team, and he is always trying to be the peacekeeper. I also like his dynamic with Naruto. At first, Naruto finds him scary/weird but then finds out he is just a pumpkin on the inside. So he teases him and plays pranks, and Yamato reacts just like how an exasperated older sister would to a naughty younger brother's pranks. Lol. And he is strong and smart. He has some good comedic moments, and he learns not to take himself so seriously. I would have liked to see him in action during the war arc but sadly, Kishi decided not to have him.

Suigetsu. That boy knows how to self preserve. He is bold, funny and a little devilish. He likes chaos and doesn't care for anything other than his own interests. He owns the way he is. He doesn't pretend to be anything different. He doesn't submit to Sasuke, he calls Karin out, he makes fun of Juugo, he takes everyone on. He is entertaining. But he also supports and helps Sasuke in his effort for revolution, he is adamant about it too. I also like his pointy teeth. Heh.

[samasmith23]

The Retconning of Aunt May's death from Amazing Spider-Man #400... aka, screw John Byrne!

Wanna know something else we can criticize John Byrne for aside from his general creepiness and bigotry? He undid Aunt May’s death in the beautifully written Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #400, "The Gift," aka one of the best stories to come out of the entire infamous Clone Saga era.

Like... when Linkara reviewed the Web of Death storyline, one particular complaint he brought up was how all of the all the beautiful & emotional moments between Peter Parker and comatose Aunt May were severely undermined in hindsight due to the later retcon that this wasn't actually May Parker, but instead an highly-skilled actress whom Norman Osborn replaced Aunt May with after her stroke and made resemble Peter's aunt through cloning technology.

And the person who was responsible for this controversial retcon? None other than John Byrne!

Byrne apparently refused to even initiate his divisive 1999 Chapter One and The Next Chapter reboots of the Spider-Man titles unless he was allowed to utilize Aunt May as a member of Peter's supporting cast. Consequently, this meant completely retconning Aunt May's lovely and tragic send-off by J.M. DeMatteis & Mark Bagley in ASM #400, even though that issue was highly regarded and celebrated by even the most hardened detractors of The Clone Saga era as a whole.

And you know what made the retconning of Aunt May's death even more stupid? It directly contradicted Norman Osborn's own recounting of The Clone Saga from his perspective in The Osborn Journal one-shot after he was revealed to be the true mastermind behind the whole saga. Writer & editor Glenn Greenberg specifically made sure to include these passages from Norman's private journals:

-"And as luck would have it, the clone -- Reilly -- learned of May Parker's stroke and returned to New York to be near her during her final days. This saved me the trouble of concocting some elaborate scheme to lure him back to the city."

-"Then the old woman finally died, delivering a major emotional blow to Parker and his wife. My only regret is that I was NOT the cause."

Yup, Greenberg wanted to make sure that DeMatteis' brilliant work from ASM #400 wouldn't be undone by having Norman himself state in his private journals that May's death was strictly due to natural causes instead of another part of his behind-the-scene's manipulations. Which makes sense considering that the entire issue was dedicated to Peter & Aunt May's final days together as she revealed to her nephew that she had always known he was Spider-Man and was deeply proud of him before passing away in her bed right besides Peter, Mary Jane & Aunt Anna, with Peter's final words to his surrogate mother-figure being him quoting his favorite childhood novel Peter Pan to her, telling Aunt May:

"Let go. Fly. 'Second to the right... and straight on until morning.'"

Its honestly one of the most simultaneously heartbreaking & beautiful scenes that I've personally ever read in a comic. The silent panels of Ben Reilly crying to himself on the roof of the house, unable to be by his Aunt's side during her final moments since he's only a clone of her nephew, especially tug at my heartstrings (poor Benjy)! And its an issue that resonates with me even more deeply today than back when I initially read it a few years ago, since I now know what it feels like to lose a dearly beloved relative, with both my paternal grandmother (Nana) and maternal grandfather (Paps) having since passed away.

But then John Byrne decided in his infinite wisdom to screw it all up, ignoring all of that emotional weight and feelings of down-to-Earth loss by not only revealing that the Aunt May Peter watched die was actually just a random actress whom Norman Osborn "genetically modified via the Jackal’s cloning technology" (which again… makes ZERO sense), but that Osborn apparently now lied in his own personal diaries or something?

So yeah, the resurrection of Aunt May by John Byrne during the Spider-Man: The Gathering of Five/The Final Chapter arcs is easily one of the most insulting retcons that I've ever encountered since it spits in the face of one of the most beautifully written single-issues that I've personally ever read (both because of how it personally resonates with me as someone who's lost two grandparents, and because is J.M. DeMatteis is among my Top 5 favorite comic book writers).

But trust me, this is the LEAST of John Byrne's problems, which fellow comic creator Ramon Villalobos made an excellent thread discussing in detail if you want further information:

[haleigh-sloth]

On Hawks and Twice:

Alright, gonna dive into this pool of needles that is this topic.

I'll start by saying I've been through every stage of feeling for this particular arc. At one point I wanted Hawks to die a tragic heroic death, at another I just wanted to see him get called out about Twice's death by the kids, then I wanted Hawks to face his past demons through Twice via the clones, but I'm past all of that now, though it took some time and a LOT of thinking and talking it out with friends.

Currently where I'm at is just trying to make sense of the decisions made in the manga. I think a lot of people are confused by the Twice clones disappearing and Hawks still standing, and my initial reaction to that was also confusion.

BUT

Let's be real, there were issues with the "Hawks faces Twice through the clones" trajectory from the get go.

It seemed VERY likely and plausible at first, in fact almost guaranteed from the moment we saw Hawks say "kill him, now" with the most deranged look on his face. But then the battle progressed and he kept running away from the situation with Twice, despite AFO reminding him to go make an attempt at mending his mistakes (even though there was no way he could). Hawks meddled with AFO instead and got a whirlwind of punishment as a result, and here we are.

But meanwhile in all of that we found that the Twice clones were not what they were originally thought to be--which was clones of Twice, as if Twice himself had cloned them. No, instead we find out that the clones are simply just Toga. They're just Togas, transformed into Twice. Once that was apparent, that was the main issue I had with the Hawks vs Twice round 2 idea. The impact of Hawks facing "Twice" was immediately blunted by the sheer fact that it wasn't Twice, it was Toga. So it becomes a whole other situation.

The other potential situation was Hawks vs Toga (something I always hated the idea of tbh). But that would have been complicated, as it would have been introducing, initiating, developing, and concluding a relationship all in one arc, or rather even less in a matter of chapters. It felt very possible (and I can't discount that it could still happen in a different way later on, idk) but then Ochacko got the job done first before Hawks could get involved. So now we're left with Hawks who has nobody to face to deal with the consequences of killing Twice, a guy he says he genuinely liked and cared about, and wants to be like.

After talking it out....I'm landing on the point of--the only person Hawks has to face about killing Twice is himself.

Reasons:

The narrative as a whole....doesn't give much reaction to Twice's death. If we're being completely and brutally honest, which I am right now, the only reaction we got were from two characters: Dabi and Toga. Dabi continued on his merry way not really...giving much of a fuck beyond caring enough to give the blood he collected to Toga who he knew would cherish it. We literally got nothing from Tomura and when/if we do it won't be for a very long time after a point when it won't really matter, Spinner and Compress both barely reacted.

All that to say: nobody in the story itself gives a shit about Hawks killing Twice. Not the civilians, not the heroes, the LOV BARELY but not even enough for it to spread beyond Toga. Just....it's not something that weighs heavily outside of Toga's and Hawks's arcs. It just doesn't. That isn't to say it doesn't matter, because it does, clearly. But that is to say that the way Twice's killer gets "consequences" is going to look a lot different than what a lot of people--myself included--originally expected.

Because Twice has now vanished for good, it seems a lot like Hawks is responsible for his own closure now. Meaning he might not be forced into it via a confrontation from Toga (in fact I'd argue the chances of that happening are close to 0 at this point).

Hawks himself had a visceral reaction to his last encounter with Twice. (Read that, you won't regret it). Toga's grief is probably not resolved or gone, but her misery is finally starting to be lifted. Symbolically, all of the Twice's disappearing and Toga's smiling and crying face is her letting her feelings of anger and vengeance go so she can move forward.

All that's left is Hawks. All Hawks has to face is himself.

Hawks has his own feelings to face. Because Hawks is about to witness the results of Shouto and Ochacko succeeding where he failed because they both refused to give up no matter how difficult it got. I'd argue that Shouto's actions and the results from them speak very loudly on this, more than even Ochacko's. Because Touya was about to literally nuke the entire vicinity, and yet here he is, alive. Toga was literally doing exactly what Hawks feared Twice would do. And yet here she is, alive. Granted Toga was in a more reachable head space, but at the beginning she wasn't so easy to get through to. Ochacko didn't stop or give up and she opened up herself to Toga and validated Toga's feelings and doubt about being saved, unlike Hawks.

Hawks seeing these kids succeed where he didn't is the catalyst he needs to have a strong reaction to remembering what he did and how he's done nothing but run away from it (because he was so conflicted and fucked up over it in the first place). Nothing he does can change what happened, but he can at least start to have some introspection and ask himself why he is the way he is, emotionally stuck in one place, latching onto a man who has a family to take care of that Hawks isn't a part of, maybe start to work through that shit too.

Basically, removing all of the outside forces from Hawks's arc to me feels very intentional. Hawks has ALWAYS been a character who internalizes everything to his core. It feels appropriate that everything that moves him forward continues to be what he internalizes--which if I'm right later, will be his reaction to seeing the kids save the villains in the way that he genuinely wanted to do for Twice, but failed.

This isn't as coherent as I'd usually try to make it because I'm not trying to meta anything right now. Right now I'm just trying to reason out my own thinking for leaving Hawks with literally nothing to do or say or anyone to do or say it to. He's all alone now and if he's going to get out of this emotionally STUCK place he's in he has to look in the mirror and think really hard about himself.