#theres something to be said about the fact that his arc has come to an end though. hm

[arsenicflame]

this is more personal than about the episode but

izzy hands is the reason to have friends these days. his character has meant so much to me, hes given me a reason to interact with people, to socialise, to let myself exist again. because of izzy hands im on my first big trip alone as i write this. i never would have done any of these things if it wasn't for the izzy side of the fandom, you guys have changed my fucking life.

so im sad that he was done like that. im so happy he existed at all because he is the reason i have met every single one of you. but it hurts to see a character that has meant so so much to me treated in such a way. ive always joked around the discourse that hes just a fictional character & its not that deep but hes more than that to me.

he represents all the good things that have happened to me in the past year.

he represents my friendships.

he represents my hope.

[ultra-raging-ghost]

Just saw your post about demon trio GAAAHH they are my Roman Empire. The moment when Mouse approached Bad when he was brain resetting in a little patch of flowers he placed down, how close they shifted to each other, it felt so ALIEN and and and cool and I’m so NORMALLL. And when Tina splashed herself with perfume and when she had that role play moment when (idk if it was canon or a character) she was SO OBSESSED with going to heaven, I think she was born a demon, and SOMEHOW acquired religious trauma along the line probably as a child. Born a demon left at an orphanage door idk and they made all the kids go to church or something and Tina was OBSESSED because it gave order and meaning to her life but she was a demon and-

Ok right questions. Sorry, gah I love demon trio. I need an arc where Mouse and Bad get together and try to help Tina. Love how Bad hides the fact he’s a demon not because he hates himself for it (maybe a little) but because he’s a recognizable wanted fucking criminal. Where was I going with this again?

Do you have any thoughts on them? ;v; (sorry for rambling in the ask D: )

AAAA I LOVE LONG ASKS LIKE THIS

okay i TOTALLY agree with you have so many thoughts, i was literally just thinking the same thing last night!!! The absolute difference in upbringing as far as the demons really shows in how they act and i have sooooo so many thoughts about it!!!

So first off, i dont really know how old mouse is in terms of her lore but as far as BBH is concerned hes fucking weird and is constantly alluding to his existence extended FAR before the universe even existed, hell even time and space, we dont actually know what the fuck his deal in full is actually!!! What we do know is he was summoned to Earth roughly eleven to fourteen thousand years ago!

Mouse gives us not as much age-wise from what ive heard but she has expressed that she considers two thousand year olds to be "baby" not quite baby but like VERY young! (I have a personal HC that bad's summoning let loose a new age of demons, maybe not all at once but very quickly so mouse would probably be over ten thousand years old)

Tina gives us absolutely NOTHING she doesnt like talking about her demon ancestry aside from hiding it (when bagi said mouse taught her how to smell demons tina quickly panicked and doused herself in perfume, etc etc. nothing super explicit from what ive seen but im relatively new to her lore). But i personally have a hc that shes roughly three thousand years old, coming into existence around the Middle Ages in 1000 CE. That might seem extremely young but honestly thats what im going for for her!!! super extremely young!!! and born around the time when Catholicism was popular!

In my mind, they all have very much different reasons for acting the way they do and im soooooo ill about it

As a BBH main i have the most information on him so ill be talking about the lore i know from him first before getting into the other two lovely ladies!! So what we've heard from BBH is that he prefers to "hide" his demonic features and "blend in" with humans as much as possible if he can, obviously he doesnt do very good at this but hes old as shit and very powerful so like who's gonna tell him??? From what we've heard of his lore, Bad is the cause of a LOT of minor and major disasters in history; Mt Vesuvius (who he named after a dead lover) exploding, the plague taking out most of europe (which he was a plague doctor for), and alongside other major things theres some minor events as well! Small wars he's been present in such as the HG war he was in with cellbit very recently, various other wars he eluded to that he recalled "blended together" because there were so many, that time he went to medical school for 15 minutes just to do brain surgery on that president on a boat.... he also knows a lot of major historical figures and hes been EVERYWHERE, we actually have a rough timeline of where he's been and when just based on who he knows. He knew not only the fucking guy who created the study of viruses, HIS ASS KNOWS ISAAC NEWTON..... and i think once he alluded to knowing goddamn adam and eve, maybe even being the snake in the goddamn garden. Considering its cannon to his lore that he was the angel locked beneath the euphrates river i wouldnt be surprised at that point.

All this to say: Bad has been present for and had an active hand in a LOT of major and minor disastrous historical events, and hes repeatedly talked about how people would chase him with torches and pitchforks - even referring to that activity as "therapy" and said thats the reason he doesnt believe in therapy, because it hurts and doesnt do anything for him except get him running.

Bad does not personally feel shame about his demonic features, he's used to hiding them (or at least intending to.... hes doing a bad job at it) for his own personal safety, because his role as >>>>A) a demon and B) the fucking ferryman of death<<<< brings him a LOT of negative attention. Negative attention that he's had to deal with ALONE for a majority of his existence, up until about fourteen thousand years ago.** (**A major event i feel caused a new era of Demons, we will talk about it more through the post)

Moving on to Mouse; i mention bad's role as a demon having an affect on negative things around him because i honestly think that applies to all or most demons. I don't know much about mouse's lore, but i do know shes proud of her heritage to some degree, is unashamed to tell people shes a demon, and will even actively teach people things about her species (Bringing back Bagi again - We know in cannon Demons smell like Sulfur, its been stated pomme and dapper and bad and mouse and tina all smell like it, and we can assume empanada also does or is starting to).

I, to some degree, think the beginning of her existence was much more accepting and inviting, while bad dealt with his negative experiences alone, and tina had her own upbringing we'll get into, Mouse came into existence during a "Dark" age, when bad was summoned to earth there was a wave of the newest generation of demons being spawned into this world(not in a "father of all demons" way but more in a "large expressions of magic often lead to a ripple affect of more magic" way). A lot of shit probably happened, im not insane like badboyhalo im not gonna research what happened but theres probably some kinda major event that happened. Demons born around that era probably had some kind of support system or way of existing that was underground enough for them to not be wiped out, but they had enough freedoms that mouse and others probably felt comfortable enough to express demonic traits.

I like to think this was the era of her life that had the most influence over her existence, that she was created with pride and will ALWAYS have that pride in her species, it may be dampened but it will never go away fully!*

*I like to think shes experienced maybe some shame over her species when it comes to minor historical events that shes contributed to by just being present, but it very rarely lasts longer than the event itself.

Tina, as far as im concerned, is the youngest of the demon trio aside from their kids. I kinda write her akin to Amethyst from SU, her existence was very recent and she was alone with very little or no initial support system, she was brought up thinking she was "wrong" in some way, her teeth and nails were too sharp, and she has horns and sometimes her skin has a purpleish hue to it that make other people think theres something wrong with her. She has a VERY obviously christian/catholic upbringing which was brought to light recently in one of her conversations with foolish. She's always felt shame about her species and she probably would have continued if it wasnt for mouse and bad, but ESPECIALLY if it wasnt for Empanada.

I have my own thoughts on the demon babies that we'll get into later, but after gaining her daughter who is very much going to be a demon (two demon parents, obvious demon child lol) i cant help but wonder how tina's planning on pushing aside her feelings of shame to make Empanada feel welcomed and loved regardless of her species?

Tina's very young, of course shes seen some major events in history but shes never been raised in community, she probably didnt even know thats just something that comes with the horns until very recently! I can imagine bad and mouse joking and giggling about that town that they stayed the night in that caught fire the next day that they got chased out of a couple hundred years ago, and i can imagine tina being confused as to why they found that amusing, is that normal? Tina's always had minor disasters follow her, her home town very likely burned down or got sick following or preceding a major milestone in her life, and thats probably continued to happen over the thousands of years shes been alive! Being a demon brought up in a very anti-demon environment, whos to say she even knew there were other demons out there really? She was a curse from god, she brought nothing but poor luck and sickness to her household (which i agree with you she was probably residing in an orphanage), she brought it everywhere she went. I cant help but ask myself "did she feel relief that it wasnt just her, or even more shame finding out this is a common occurrence for demons?"

Now thats most of what i have regarding the parents but i have a few notes on the demon kids. I think all the eggs have some sort of demonic features, obviously bads a huge influence on all of them and they care about him as their tia so i draw most of the babies with horns and tails of some kind, but i am particularly focusing on Dapper, Pomme and Empanada, the three demon babies whos actual official parents are the demons.

I dont have anything too specific for them, but i do believe they will grow up to have an attitude towards their species akin to how Mouse acts.

Unlike other demons or even their parents growing up, they have a support system and parents to explain to them things that will happen to them as they get older! They'll have someone to come back to, who will explain "Yes, that village got the plague because you walked through it and the sulfur you spread supernaturally brought illness and bad luck. No, its not your fault in particular. No, you shouldn't stop going into towns and villages, its the 21st century and if they cant stop the plague by now then they were gonna die anyway"

When they inevitably get shunned by humans for their species, they have someone to come back to to let them know that that wasnt right, but its a part of what happens to people like us. Maybe some day we wont have to experience that anymore, but right now the most important thing is to not get caught, and come home to your Mama so we can give you bandaids for your knees and treat your wounds.

I'm so very invested in how the demon babies will be brought up by their parents, i hope we get more demon lore in the future </3

This turned into an essay, hope thats alright njkbhjvgchfg i have so many thoughts on them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[moss-sprouted]

the thing that strikes me about the laudna situation is that, even though her friends shes only known for like a month flipped a coin to decide if she should live or die, and they also put all their eggs in the "shes died before so she can come back" basket

they still have treated her with the most respect possible, the way fearne told her they'll bring her back before she brought back orym, and how imogen demanded her body be treated with the most respect and be carried, and bundled up and treated so well even if she isnt in there

the fact that they've contacted every source they could to find a way to resurrect her, even some of the worst options and how fcg cast gentle repose and his whole ceremony and even asking if they wanted to mourn her and how both ashton and imogen said basically at that same time that she's coming back, theres no reason to say goodbyes

dying the first time was the most brutal and traumatic thing thats ever happened to laudna, and how her body was treated after was horrific and the fact that she had her murderer bouncing around in her head, all of it was just horribly traumatic and theres something beautiful about the fact that even though it was a choice, no matter if it was the coin's fault it was still a choice, she has been treated better than she was the first time and she deserved that and she's shown that and its such a beautiful and sad and unexpected character arc that i hope ends positively for all of them

[seefasters]

Oh, i dont mean to overstate potters cruelty or agency in this matter- he cant let charles or klinger go at all and its true that charles is a prick. But to me there always felt like there was a tension to me as a viewer where the show invites you to laugh at charles's and klinger's expense when they make attempts to leave that potter stops. Cus the show knows charles and especially klinger are very well justified in their desire to leave. To me it brings about this sort of intersting disonance, not in a bad way so much as a complex and interesting way that enriches the text. Potters the voice of reason and the authority figure the narrative defers to, especially in the later seasons, but his general feeling on these matters is resignation. "It is what it is" "it cant be helped." That resignation certainly isnt wrong or bad- hes being practical. But its hard to sympathize with it over hawkeye or klinger or even charles's rebellion.

As for going awol as an immoral act i suppose i was mostly thinking of various episodes in which people encourage a soldier to return to the front. I believe mulcahy encouraged a young man whod stolen a dead comrades identity in order to escape the army to return to the front. He also spent a whole episode trying to convincea kid who was trying to come home after his fiancee left him that he needed to return to the front. The show always shows characters being reluctant to do that sort of thing, but later on in the show i feel a real sense of resignation to that status quo. Idk if thats making sense but ive been thinking about it a lot. I feel like MASH's castwide emotjonal arc as a whole often concerns itself with the tension between rebellion (which runs the risk of being unrealistic or dangerous) and resigning yourself to reality (which runs the risk of being callous or despair inducing) i personally feel that the show tends to strike a really good balance, but theres something really interesting to me about the fact that, in my opinion, potter (who is loved by pretty much the whole staff and is generally considered the voiceof reason and wisdom) is also the most ardent voice of resignation if that makes sense? Hes wonderful and smart and more often than not hes right- rebellious acts are unrealistic theyre dangerous they cant be done without serious repercussions, the best way to do good is within the system and slyly- not because its the best way to do it but because it is the most effective way to do it without being destroyed by the powers that be. Him being smart or empathetic or reasonable doesnt make him any less oppositional to the spirit of spitfire rebellion that hawkeye embodies it. Potter dampens that. Perhaps thats by necessity for fear that hawkeye burns out, but to me that sort of effect feels more complicated than good or bad. Potter's mediating presence is an expression of care- he is a buffer between his unit and the cruel beurocratic military machine. But making the weight of the armys control easier to bear normalizes it- it puts a kind paternal face on the military authority they are all bring crushed by. The fact that he truly cares and is working within the system in the manner his is doesnt really lessen thar to me- which doesnt make potter villianous or wrongheaded so much as it complicates his approach at least to me. (Sorry a million billion words. Poter thesis to me- i love him i think hes great and his ideological position in the show is rlly interesting)

i don't think the narrative defers to potter as thee authority figure necessarily - he's the "good" army man and the show has to marry this with hawkeye's (and, in turn, the show's) anti army sentiments, which it does with various degrees of success

i do agree with everything else you said though! the mulcahy thing has always confused me a bit too, like sometimes they give him this black and white thinking and sometimes they give him complex moral problems (if i remember correctly, his opposition to the soldier who stole a dead man's identity was that the dead family won't ever learn that the man died, not that the soldier won't return to the front). and there's the episode where he tries to shelter a soldier who's AWOL simply because the soldier requested sanctuary

[bankarayouth]

insane and unorganised brainwaves i wanted to jot down abt araidne (the song) and how it parallels things (obbligato spoilers)

scing what my friend said for a start point and yes !!!! fucking yes !!!

like thats also interesting bc if its a kaname song we dont know if he wrote it specifically about someone or how impersonal it is to him or not (theres some sort of potential link if it was kaname or perhaps a gifted song) however if it turns into a semi oremerupilled lyric change then it is also almost a sign/perception shift;

either oremeru is further embracing and refining his dedication to kaname as this reads a lot like a coauthored song OR if he redesigns it for himself it also redefine the way he sees himself adopting the kaname mold and whether this takes away from the og kanames vision of the song or not remains to be seen.

ultimately something something labyrinth for kaname means his own family troubles and/or the hierarchy at reimei and how it affects him and his own naivety or if oremeru changed some stuff around is he dragging out what he perceives as his godlike figure; not as a god per se but his main drive going forward with the imperfections and morality issues that come with holding someone above your standards and personal perception

the duality of himeru doing his best for kaname to have an idol place to return to bc he knows thats his biggest dream vs knowing its erasing himself and if kaname thinks his integrity and dreams have been crushed but still !! the fact that they used ariadne specifically bc she rescued theseus from the minotaurs labyrinth is so interesting bc we dont know if there any implications abt who is who. like theyre talking abt ariadne specifically. who is what. whos leading who out of the maze to impending doom.

who saves the one who saves the hero. what fucking then. something something considering that she eloped w theseus in a different story denotes how the brothers r both not supposed to band together and then in like 2 separate myths shes abandoned by theseus. which could either relate to kanames hospitalisation or the distance the two put apart by himeru. the love the longing the innocent betrayal the expectations the fact that theres no clear lead in what they had bc fucking both of them werent as attached like kaname loved the concept of himeru in his head so much and himeru didnt reciprocate until too late !!!

hes trying to make up for lost time by trying to save the person who saved him first even if its fruitless and his revenge arc is taking it out mentally on tatsumi and altering his relation w him without kaname. what if their selfishness is both their undoing and reprieve. what if i wasnt mentally ill even if the song didnt matter personally the song matters to himeru since he has the feelings associated w kaname. the song may be empty but the heart is full. like to oremeru specifically the song has no physical connection. to what is wavering between him and kaname (and to some extent to vision of himeru he sees) while it is a crazy:b song they absolutely slammed it on, its like himeru gets to convey more of kaname. to the world.

[thecustomcosplayed]

Shubble’s ep. 5 of Empires has come out... welp, it’s rambling time. ok the first thing I’m addressing is the fog and like the relationship Shelby has with the mangrove?? the end of the video is really interesting, Shelby going: does the fog look.. thicker back there? or is it just me? nah, it’s probably just me. but like, for me, it did look thicker/heavier/more of it was there. along with the fact Shelby thinks theres something making/manifesting the fog in the center of the Evermoore. also, from the POV’s I watch (Gem, Sausage, Shubble, Katherine), it seems like having a decent relationship with your land is gonna be kind of a thing? Sausage has the whole magic-land thing, Gem... I mean, Gem followed magical wisps that randomly appear? And Katherine had a whole back story about the land splitting underneath her kingdom. so Shubble having an okay relationship, at best, with the mangrove is not ideal. she said that it wasn’t just the other rulers getting lost (or other random people, i guess), she had gotten lost too when she tried to go deeper in.  also, the hint to the gnomes with her villager?! I mean, come on, that’s pretty cool. I wonder if it was just a nod to Shrub, or to the gnome society as a whole? if it was just Shrub, I wouldn’t think she would say thousands of years, instead just a thousand years. if it was the gnome society as a whole, does that imply the gnomes once were around the Empires land? the villager looks a bit different to the one in the Undergrove Shrub had, but witch Shelby is already doing better then gnome Shrub in villager regards. and, the sign? i’d like to rule out a few people; Sausage (a very strong ally to Shelby, also seems the type of person to confront somebody abt something), possibly Jimmy (he’s the law, he would defo confront Shelby), I wanna say Katherine, but unsure (she made Shelby’s hat).  as for who it could be (for me), I’d think maybe Lizzie (yes, they did clear some things up, but its Lizzie, so), False, fWhip(?), maybe Joey. I don’t watch any of their POV’s, so I can’t say for sure. I’d also say Scott because.. he’s the type of the person to do that, honestly, and with his eye being able to see magic auras (i think), he would be the type of person to know that type of thing? but I’m like.. 80% sure he’s like halfway across the map from her, I dunno. a little less about this episode, but I really wanna see a Shubble villain arc. like, we saw bits of villain/evil Shubble in ALSMP, with shadow walker Shubble, and even cat!Shubble stealing things to try to be good (which did not work, karma got her bad), but I think it could work for witch Shelby. She’s obviously got very powerful magic (see; moved a chunk of world to a different universe on accident), and in this ep. we heard from herself that while she’s working on getting better (or I guess, harnessing her magic), she’s going to be a psychically strong as possible, with fully enchanted netherite armor and tools, and she’s also already got her wand. anyways yeah, here’s my rambling :)

[quixoticrobotic]

When 90's dude went to karaoke during the Entity arc and was like "I'm gonna show you how Breakfast at Tiffany's can be the most extreme rock song EVVER" - That's LOVE!!! Like when I try and combine my fixations with my friend's fixations, even if they don't click in my brain as strongly, that is to me an act of love and friendship. And the fact that Harvey brushes it off is just like- please understand what is being said!!

HARVEY IS SO MEAN IN THE ACTUAL SHOW IT IS SO JARRING its just one of those things i kinda gently tone town in my head bc i don't think it's supposed to come off as mean as it does

i actually have a lil theory that like. harvey figured out the missingno thing because pokemon is his special interest

but like i also like to think he would have notice 90's dude seemed a little...off during karaoke night.

and then this leads into some juicy character introspection because like finding out someone who is your friend who you care about was possessed by some glitch monster god is upsetting like thats an awful thing for someone to go through obviously!

but like. harvey is used to bad things that are complicated "real world" problems with no real solutions

and so harvey is fretting about like. what if 90s dude isn't feeling well, or maybe hes like getting bullied at school or theres a problem with with his home life or just anything that has nothing to do with their little friend group, its just something harvey cant do anything about its something harvey cant help with or fix so like "oh no it was just the usual weird stuff that happens around here, the kind you can fight against and win and then its gone." its kind of a relief??? like again thats still not IDEAL but. things are gonna get better now. thats the thing that matters

tbh i headcanon the crew had noticed 90s dude seemed a little off like. the entity can shout all the catchphrases and stuff. but like its human impression is only so good. and these people know 90s dude, they're gonna notice if hes been a little more quiet than usual or talks a lot less or if little details are off

i just dont think anyone connected "hey our friend is acting strange, which could be bc of something thats not our business" with "there are mass disappearances happening all over the world thats....scary" bc like idk why you'd assume those were related at all

[ap-sadistics]

under the cut is what i nicknamed my ninjago oni arc retrospective. which is an obscene amount of rambling, ALMOST ENTIRELY CRITICISM ABOUT NINJAGOS WRITING, spurred on by the said trilogy. i had so many thoughts about the oni arc i literally could not tweet it. its literally so much. and by so much i mean about 5000 words of complaining, yelling, a lot of thoughts. coming from a place of genuine care for the characters that are in this godforsaken show. this is the first time im talking about ninjago on tumblr. and considering how twitter is going down im might just like. start liveblogging the rest of ninjago on tumblr lol...... its been years since ive liveblogged on tumblr, man. i wont be fucklong posts like this tho probably

anyways when i say 5k words. i am not exaggerating. this is That Long. youve been warned. i never shut the fuck up. yeehaw lets go

⬇️

garmadon. this is all about garmadon. i realized something while watching s10. like clearly ive been discontent with his narrative or more accurately the way the narrative has been using him (note the word using. its a talking point that i will return to later.). but what ive realized is interesting. garmadon in s10 is actually the garmadon i wish i got in s1/s2. but im discontent with this garmadon anyways why? 

its because. it was given to me. in such a. dissatisfying. way.. and its dissatisfying because..... the best opportunity to make him like this has been squandered in the first place. and theres not enough justification/proper justification to make garmadon the way he was in s10. THE FUCKING...... SEQUENCING OF HIS CHARACTER ARC... CAN IT REALLY BE CALLED A CHARACTER ARC WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE SERIES OVERALL....... 

its like... garmadon is a different character every season. in the pilots he was introduced as a sincerely menacing and evil threat and the only reason hes not is because he was trapped in the underworld or whatever but even then he was a threat threatening to be unleashed. someone dangerous. but then when you see him again in s1 hes like..... not.. that. the second impression of him that you get is that oh. hes not that evil actually. hes not so evil that he still loves his son. guess hes not that bad. and its like. okay so my personal opinion is that 1) a truly evil dad wouldnt even give a shit about his son and 2) okay so a villain being a caring parent CAN be an interesting and nuanced concept with depth (thinks about that one prozd vine) BUT the writers didnt actually make it that way and in fact they did it in a way that undermines the effectiveness of garmadons characters. the way they did it... just makes it feel..... inconsistent. 

and on top of that, the writers loved making incompetent villains for comedic purposes and so like. they also decided to make garmadon that incompetent type in s1+2. THE VIBES GARMADON HAS IN THE PILOTS VS THE FIRST SEASONS ARE SO DIFFERENT..... and so... on seeing the type of character garmadon is in s9/s10... this guy who lost his love for his son... it just reminds me of the kind of guy i wish i gotten in s1 and 2. in s10 garmadon is an ally but its like. weird. because they turned him into a character whos entirely rational and practical because hes apathetic towards everyone. and thats not what s1/2 used to be. s1 garmadon was a fucking cartoony asshole lol..... so like... even if garmadon was stripped of all this goodness i cant see him being the guy he was in s10? like personality changes/amnesia doesnt work like that i feel. theres that. and then there the transition from s9->s10. s9 garmadon is like. oddly blank. suggestible. hes cold and cruel. hes a tower. hes menacing. i get how a freshly resurrected garmadon whos entirely evil maybe could result in this a little bit. but i cant see how garmadon in s9 suddenly changed to be the guy in s10. he straight up became a different villain. he became calculative and cunning. competent. also like. rational. like he understands that theres greater priorities to protect ninjago from a greater force. LIKE. DID S9 GARMADON EVEN HAVE A HIGHER LEVEL OF THOUGHT THAN "hm....... son....... brother........ take over ninjago....... true potential.... power..... destroy..... be evil........" LIKE. HES PRETTY GODDAMN SIMPLE AINT HE. IN S9. AND THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO TRANSITION TO MAKE HIM LIKE THE WAY HE IS IN S10 OTHER THAN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. AND THAT WOULDNT PRODUCE A CHANGE IN CHARACTER LIKE THAT. GARMADONS CHARACTER IS ALL OVER THE PLACE OVER THE COURSE OF NINJAGO and this doesnt even address sensei garmadon. miss that dilf. anyways. 

they brought garmadon back but its in such a way thats not compelling at all...... because they decide to forget about past established relationship dynamics. (ninjago can and will throw out past established narrative arcs bc they are inconvenient to them. because to the writers, past seasons have very little value in moving the present plot forward because they are completed. BECAUSE THE WRITERS ARENT CLEVER ENOUGH TO FIGURE OUT WAY TO HAVE CONSISTENCY AND CONTINUITY IN THEIR NARRATIVE AND ALSO INVENT NEW PLOT.) 

like entirely its like lloyd past relationship dynamic with his dad never happened bc lloyd never feels in a way that would make sense for a guy who had a positive and yet EXTREMELY COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP with his father. like come on s4 finale???? the last time lloyd talked to his dad (when he fucking sacrificed himself LIKE HE GOT YEETED THROUGH A PORTAL AND “DIED”)...... they dont bring any of that back. none of the anticipated feelings. theres no emotional logic to the way lloyd feels about his dad coming back. either that or they dont show it nearly enough. like clearly lloyd eventually feels some sorta way about his dad being pure evil and an amnesiac. but I WANT EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE MAN. THEY DONT EVER SHOW IT IN A WAY THAT WOULD MAKE SENSE..... LIKE. SHOULDNT LLOYD WANT.... TO FIX HIS DAD? WHY DOESNT HE TRY. WHY DOESNT HE MISS THE GOOD FATHER-SON MENTOR-MENTEE RELATIONSHIP HE LAST HAD WITH HIS DAD? ALSO MAYBE A LITTLE BIT OF GUILT???? BC HE HAD HELPED SACRIFICE HIS DAD AND HE DAD WAS CANONICALLY DEAD? OR MISPLACED SELFBLAME FOR FAILING TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING TO BOTH HIS DAD AND FREAKING NINJAGO. FOR ANGST REASONS. IDK MAYBE THAT BIT IS A BIT CONTRIVED BUT IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY THAT WAS THERE. I WANTED TO SEE LLOYD ACTUALLY TRY TO LIKE..... REACH OUT TO THE OLD GARMADON IN THIS HUSK OF HIS OLD MAN. I WANTED TO SEE AN ATTEMPT, A FRUITLESS ATTEMPT OF LLOYD TRYING TO GET HIS FATHER BACK. AND THEN DEVASTATION WHEN HE REALIZES HE FUCKING CANT!!!!!!!! THEY COULDVE MADE THIS SO MUCH MORE EMOTIONALLY COMPELLING. BY MAKING LLOYD THE ONE WHO NARRATIVELY CONNECTS THE OLD AND NEW GARMADON. LLOYD COULDVE BEEN A POINT OF COMPARISON TO GREATER EMPHASIZE HOW THE REVIVED GARMADON IS A DIFFERENT MAN. ill stop yelling now.

sighs. s9/10 is like...... considerably less compelling than s8 for this issue..... like not only are they bringing back lloyd+dad drama but also they dont put the right emotions in place for it to Be compelling. its missing so much for it to be... emotionally engaging..... it doesnt help that lloyd isnt my blorbo like they lose me so fucking hard after s8. s8 smacked. s8 smacked so hard and the follow up is disappointing. i was invested in lloyds character arc for once. harumis effect. im biased but im also right. 

anyways this whole thing has been about garmadon but....... also i gotta say. its not a garmadon exclusive problem. this is def a clear symptom of a larger problem of ninjago. how ninjago approaches characters. which is that there is no show/character bible. not a single character has a character bible for the writers to follow. at most they have a single line. a single consistent characteristic. oh god are ninjas inconsistent.

you see its because the writers use characters as they see fit. theres so many times when they definitely decided on traits the characters should have that would be most convenient them to have in the moment. they see characters as tools to drive the plot forward, rather than having characters drive the narratives on their own. and thats BAD. because this way, characters dont have rules in how they behave. they dont have patterns. resulting in conflicting moments! have you ever heard of the phrase "characters write themselves?" well that happens when you have a solidly rounded character. you dont make the characters do what you want them to do. you write characters how you THINK they would behave. you write the situation. and they react accordingly to their characterization. its like a roleplay almost 

anyways ninjago doesnt do that. ninjago is not character driven. so you end up with so much character inconsistency. 

well im not saying the ninjas are like entirely inconsistent. theres is a general pattern they return to. the few basic traits the writers remember they have

like here. heres what *I* think are the only things that the **WRITERS**  have truly set in stone for all the characters. this is not my personal observations and understanding of the characters but the way i think the writers see each character. im a guy who thinks characters are deeper than they are for the record. 

jay: talks a lot/the jokester->annoying 

nya: competent girl. 

kai: arrogant/hot head (the latter is however inconsistent)

lloyd: leader (-_-💢)

zane: robot with that very specific speech style that indicates hes very smart and/or not human (robot.)

cole: CAKE. 

and its evident that these characters are unequally fleshed out compared to one another. and im sorry this might be my bias goggles i have on which makes me automatically analyze the character im most invested in the sort out what their characteristics are but i think jay is arguable one of the most consistent characters. WELL. AT LEAST UP UNTIL I HAVE WATCHED. ive heard things about the studio change.... nya is also def arguably the most consistent. kai is a blorbo too but i know hes one of the less consistent ones and i have proof for this. lemme share a post by a showrunner. makes me so fucking mad. 

FLUCTUATES?!?!? SURE PPL BEHAVIORS DEPEND ON THE SITUATION BUT LIKE COME ON. THERES SOME CONSISTENCY BENEATH IT SOMEWHERE ALWAYS. okay here. people arent Always consistent. but like. these are characters you know. there should be a reasoning why they behave differently from one situation to another you know? this answer is way too flippant of an answer, it infuriates me. LIKE. UGH IF THIS KINDA OF FLEXIBILITY WAS WRITTEN WITH INTENT AND PURPOSE THEN ITS GREAT!!! IT MEANS KAI IS A COMPLEX CHARACTER!!!! BUT YOU KNOW!!!!! IT ISNT LIKE THAT. KAI IS A FLEXIBLE CHARACTER BECAUSE THAT IS CONVENIENT FOR THE WRITERS BECAUSE IT MEANS THEYLL WRITE HIM IN ANY MEANS THE SITUATION CALLS FOR. THEY NEED HIM TO BE VOICE OF REASON THEYLL MAKE HIM THE VOICE OF REASON. THEY NEED HIM TO BE THE PARANOID GUY THEYLL MAKE HIM THE PARANOID GUY. THEY NEED HIM TO BE AN IDIOT THEYLL MAKE HIM AN IDIOT. they do the latter a lot and i really do enjoy it to be honest its like an incredible charm point to me how fucking stupid he is, i aDore him. ANYWAYS MY POINT IS KAI DOESNT HAVE CONSISTENCY...... if i rewatch ninjago i could fucking cite them better i like Remember the examples that have happened but not accurately when they happened. but i know im right about this.

also with the power of fan interpretation i can take his actions that he has done and rework them in a way that makes an actually cohesively rounded character. WORKING WITH WHAT I GOT. PUTTING THOUGHT INTO HIM MORE THAN THE WRITERS EVER HAVE. AND ILL DO THIS WITH ALL OF THEM. OR AT LEAST THE ONES I CARE ABOUT.

kai is rational and sometimes hes so fucking stupid and sometimes hes like both so like he burns rubber while staying in one place. that part of my interpretation of him thats important to me. s7 kai you think so damn much and yet you make absolutely no fucking progress in your thoughts its so fucking funny and iconic i LOVE YOU YOU FUCKING DUMBASS. i love your fucking arrogance and ego and how thats youre downfall most of the time i love this as youre character flaw. its good. and yet you can be sensible sometimes which makes me think there could be a leader in you if it wasnt for your massive shortcomings. and also i love when you go older brother mode....... if anyone in the team is an elder sibling its definitely kai. literally and also in terms of vibes. its comes with being an older brother. 

anyways i dunno how that spiel happened kais isnt even my most favorite character, jay is. but he is second fav tho and also one of the guys who has a lot of inconsistencies. its late when im writing this section its truly a RAMBLE here

oh speaking of jay heres another evidence of ninjago writing for convenience and honestly its real character writing sin. the fact that they completely removed an entire character trait from him.  they wrote out how hes an inventor. its literally confirmed by the showrunner THAT IT WAS A DECISION THAT THEY MADE. TO GET RID OF AN ENTIRE ESTABLISHED CHARACTER TRAIT. YOU CANT JUST DO THAT. THATS LITERALLY BAD WRITING. YOU CANT JUST DO THAT ITS BAD WRITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT SHOWS A BLATANT DISREGARD FOR HIS CHARACTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ITS NOT LIKE HE WAS BEING DEVELOPED PRE SHOW AND BEING WORKED OUT. NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE WAS A MECHANIC FOR LITERALLY SEASONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND JUST BECAUSE THERES WERE “TOO MANY TECH PEOPLE” THEY WERE LIKE OH THATS TOO MANY WE DONT NEED THAT MANY WE GOTTA GET RID OR SOME WE HAVE TOO MANY! WHAT KIND OF?!?!?!? WHAT KIND OF FUCKING REASON IS THAT!??!?!????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ITS SHIT!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE THE SCIFI GENRES GONNA DO THEN. GOD. YOU CANT JUST DELETE TRAITS. ITS LITERALLY CARELESS WRITING. I HATE IT. AND ALSO TOTALLY UNNECESSARY. 

theres a lot of things i could probably reference as evidence of how incredibly irresponsibly ninjago writes characters. they do it a lot. as a guy who love characters, this is hell. and yet i am still here. invested. because putting work into characters is a different kind of joy i guess. LOVE ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING CHARACTERS WHO ARENT THAT DEEP BUT THEY COULD BE. THEY COULD BE. man.

this was mostly a talk about garmadon and character writing huh. oni arc spurred all theses thoughts but it wasnt all necessarily about that hbdgsdk. hm.... i do have more thoughts though..... ive stated before s8 slapped and both s9 and 10 are weaker right? increasingly so like 10 is much weaker than 9. they drop the ball. its one part because of everything i stated above regarding garmadon and characters. its another part because s8 wasnt about dad drama for the fourth time. sure garmadon was part of the plot indirectly. but the conflict wasnt Between them. the plot in s8 was honestly partly a mystery due to the investigative nature for a part of it. and the whole not knowing who the leader was thing. the conflict was against the sons of garmadon. and then when the reveal happened it was between harumi and lloyd built on the lies harumi made. the conflict lloyd had was one that was a personal betrayal. lloyd had to confront that harumi wasnt the girl he liked. that everything he knew and experienced with harumi was a part of a facade. i love this conflict lloyd has because it turned internal AND IT WASNT ABOUT HIS DAD. S8 WAS REFRESHING FOR THIS REASON. LLOYDS CONFLICT DIDNT ENTIRELY HINGE ON HIS DAD OR BEING THE CHOSEN ONE. CONFLICT THAT WAS NEW INTERPERSONAL DRAMA WOW!!!! I LOVE IT. well of course its more complicated than that his dad is definitely a factor in that he is harumis motive.... but heres a thing.... garmadon wasnt involved to make this happen. hes dead. he didnt spur harumi to become a fucked up little girl herself. its all on her. her problem turned into lloyds problem. harumi being cause of conflict is a different kind of conflict that lloyd hasnt experienced before you know? well i guess its sorta similar to morros deal in the sense that lloyds identity made him a target for pain BUT WHATS DIFFERENT IS THAT HE LIKE HAS AGENCY THIS TIME. AM I MAKING SENSE? DO YOU GET ME? DESPITE GARMADON IS A PASSIVE PART OF THE CONFLICT ITS NOT ABOUT HIM. ITS DIFFERENT FROM S9 AND S10 YOU KNOW? 

i feel like the last paragraph was really circuitous. like i think i made it 4 times longer than it needed to be. anyways thats that. but also i think s9 and 10 is weaker than s8 is because.... the villains are boring. the sons of garmadon was a fun antagonistic force. it was basically a motorcycle gang and cult. it was a pretty colorful gang! i love ultra violet especially!!! shes fucking unhinged. harumi is fucking nuts too. these villain had a fun thing going for them. now...... i get really weird... vibes from the dragon hunters..... like its kinda 😬 the way another worlds culture is presented? because the villains of this season is like..... basically an entire population of people. its not a minor group of humans. its basically all the humanoid residents of the realm. and theyre presented as vicious savages. am i alone in thinking this is bit kinda.... hm.... like eventually the show redeems itself and the group by having faith be the one wiser to what is going on (to show that Not Everyone Is Like This) and also eventually making the hunters realize they were living under a fascist regime (its highkey fascism right??). am i taking this too seriously for getting vague xenophobic vibes from this. im not saying that another worlds people all have to be pleasant and nice thats kinda unrealistic and also i do think that the first realm group needed to have an antagonistic force to light a fire under their ass. with the seasons theme i do think both groups of ninjas being “hunted” is fun concept and offers opportunity for parallels between them? its just. the presentation of the hostile group. leaves much to be desired. IVE SAID IT BEFORE A FEW WEEKS AGO AND I AM RIGHT ABOUT THAT ACTUALLY. THE DRAGON HUNTERS SHOULDVE BEEN COWBOY BOUNTY HUNTERS....... MAN. A WESTERN THEME COULDVE REALLY WORKED IN DUSTY ASS SETTING OF THE FIRST REALM. THE HARSHNESS OF THE DESOLATE LANDSCAPE. like instead of the villains being presented as savages i think it wouldve been better if they were more lawless and cutthroat. but like a different vibe of it. the western vibes. in my vision of it the reason why the boy would be hunted is because they did something stupid to get a hit on them lol. either that or a series misfortunate events and misunderstandings. tbh finding a way to make the conflict involve the golden dragon armor is hard so i havent thought about it. it doesnt help that it super doesnt fit into the setting/theme. highkey would be easier and like...... makes wus whole thing about something else. but idk what. fixing ninjago is hard work.

anyways desperado faith would be so sexy. cowboy versions of the dragon hunters would fucking smack. theres that

now the oni tho......... i sincerely think. the oni are the MOST BORING VILLAINOUS FACTION NINJAGO HAS EVER HAD. THEY ARE SO BORING THEYRE SO BORING!! NOT THAT MOST OF THE NINJAGO VILLAINS HAVE EVER BEEN VERY COMPLEX BUT GOD. THEY ARE. THE MOST SIMPLEST FORCE OF EVIL. EVER. THATS LITERALLY ALL THAT THEY ARE! THEYRE JUST LITERALLY A REPRESENTATION OF THE DARK EVIL~EVIL~ THATLL BRING ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD. AND THATS IT. THATS IT! WHY DO THEY WANT TO EVEN. THEY ARE JUST DOING IT BC THEY WANNA. NO DEEPER EXPLANATION FOR WHAT THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY DO. WHERE THE HELL WERE THEY BEFORE THEY SUDDENLY APPEARED. WHY DID THEY DISAPPEAR FROM THE FIRST REALM AND WHY WERE THEY ABLE TO COME BACK WHEN THEY DID THROUGH THE CRYSTAL?  theres almost no point in them being sentient even. they could literally be just monstrous beasts and That would be more interesting that what they are. bc at least if they are just monsters then their behaviors can be just easily handwaved. bc they would be animals. NOT SO FOR THE ONI AS ARE THO. NOT WHEN YOU HAVE?? MYSTAKE???? WHO IS AN ONI AND IS A CLEAR EXAMPLE THAT ONIS ARE A COMPLEX BEING. ninjago has Always been very reductive for their villains in that the ninja are Good and villains are Evil but GOD. THIS IS THE MOST REDUCTIVE THEYVE EVER BEEN. NO DEPTH! ABSOLUTELY NONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! INFURIATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! even the skeleton in the pilots had more depth bc they had character traits at least. the trait was that they were stupid BUT IT WAS SOMETHING AT LEAST. also theyre allowed to be simple for comedy reasons. s10 was all serious plot. they dont have that excuse. they are so mind numbing dull i hate the fucking oni. i know ninjago has always seen good and evil as things that can be clearly cut which has always been like. *sighs*. BUT THIS TIME IT REALLY MAKES ME. WANNA. *CHOKES NINJAGO SHOW WRITERS* DO MORE THINKING, FUCKOS.

this is largely my skybound bias talking but the sky pirates was one of the most interesting villains to me. like nadakhan is a good villain. he sucks but also hes like. developed. hes also very threatening. hes an effectively written villain in regards to his villainy. he has all the motives and the personality and like the *gestures* the way he acts. im lacking the words for it. i bet if skybound wasnt written so abjectly misogynistic i would probably call him the best ninjago villain. unfortunately i have to take points off of him for that. i think undeliberate sexism is cheating for villains. the sexism in skybound is definitely 90% because its baked into the writers biases rather than the writers going “hey you know whats really evil? misogyny.” no they def didnt think that. also more than nadakhan i do think flintlocke is the more interesting guy tho. AT LEAST HE IS IN MY HEAD. WHERE ALL THE SKYBOUND THOUGHTS ARE BOUNCING AROUND. 

beyond skybound i think pythor is ABSOLUTELY impeccable as a villain. I LOVE THAT GUY. HES GREAT. AND OF COURSE HARUMI. now i think truly harumi deserves the crown for this. morro is. wait. hang on i think im thinking about the potential morro had as a character rather than the character morro actually is. morro is woefully underdeveloped in reality but! HES STILL SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING THAN THE FUCKING ONI!!!!!! tho gotta be honest. i remember jack shit about the s2 villains. they were extremely unimpressionable. i still do think the oni are the most boring tho. also. what the fuck is that one dudes deal. the... overlord? *checks the wiki* (SPOILERS) WHAT THE FUCK HE COMES BACK IN CRYSTALIZED? also i entirely forgot he was in s3. all my homies hate s3 you cannot fault me for this. bitch got put into a box. he means nothing to me but the oni are still less interesting. nothing can change my mind about this. ALSO THE ONI NEVER EVEN SHAPESHIFTED. THAT MAKES ME SO MAD. AN ABILITY ALL THE ONIS HAVE BUT LICHERALLY ONLY MYSTAKE DOES IT. NINJAGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

is there anything else i want to complain about. probably but also i think that about covers it. s8>s9>>>>>s10. however s10>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>s3 still. like dont get me wrong. despite all my bashing s3 is still that bad. its just that as i wrote this i actually started feeling stronger about the way i did for the oni arc dfskhflsdhgiuth. its just like. its undeniable that the quality of the trilogy goes down each season no...? it started out So strong..... but it just gets weaker. its more apparent bc s8 was just that good. bring that quality baaaaaaack

WAIT. NO I DO STILL HAVE ANOTHER THING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT. I HATE THE WAY NINJAGO TREATS DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! like along with characters the writers absolutely use death as a tool. they use is as either plot convenience or for cheap drama. like remember dr julian? they fucking killed him BETWEEN SEASONS BC THEY FELT LIKE DIDNT NEED HIM ANYMORE. JUST LIKE THAT! and i bet thats why they killed mystake off screen too. they looooove making shit happen off screen. i cant believe thats how they decided to write off mystake. the writers dont treat death with any respect. its such a disservice to mystakes character to just get rid of her character like that. like she did a lot. and i feel like. she couldve easily not died if the writers wanted her to. like. she was a fucking oni. they couldve writing her escaping. or at least shown us a nobler death rather than the implied shit that they did. god i was so confused whether or not they killed mystake in that first scene “confirmation” scene with skylor BECAUSE IT WAS SO VAGUE. bc honestly it could be easily interpreted that she was just subdued or captured. but no, turns out shes dead :/ damn ://// hate fucking writing like this

theres that. then theres the fake out deaths. that they did twice in s10. and like. it was so clearly a fake out............ bc you know ninjago is a that wont kill their main characters for good. they simply cant! but they try this shit anyways bc maybe theyll upset some naive kid thatll believe it!! that want their audience to FEEL THINGS so they gonna make it SEEM like they killed cole/lloyd. but the attempt is transparent as fuck. sure didnt get me thats for sure. you see death is indeed a thing that happens in ninjago. but its been shown multiple times that it doesnt stick. thats its either fake or the character will simply be brought back with a handwave (if they are important enough). exhibit: garmadon himself, zane, nya, cole (the fucking ghost thing like. hes a ghost but clearly hes not a true ghost. im not going deeper into this like the ghost thing IS A WHOLE NOTHER THING AND THIS RAMBLE IS OVER 4K WORDS LONG). ninjago is a show that has stripped death of all its meaningfulness. theres that one scene where they killed mr e onscreen too and literally they only did because mr e is a robot so they could get extra violent with him in order to show off this current garmadons brutality ://////. also its so fucking wack that they for reals sent lloyd to fucking ninjago heaven for a hot second. like lloyd was def going to survive that and they made him die for drama but its still wild to me you know? anyways death has no emotional impact value in this show. makes me wish that they just wont use it. not unless if its a death that actually matters and is a genuine threat that can happen to the characters that matter. man.

oh another thing i just remembered. you know how garmadon was on their ship in s10. i wish the writers had remember that literally happened before. or maybe they did but like the way the ninjas talk about it its like never happened and im like. aw man i wish we had a funny call back to that. too bad this show forgets to have continuity sometimes. 

and SPEAKING OF WHICH, okay one last thing that been on my mind for fucking weeks, THE MURAL IN S10 SHOWING EVERY CONFLICT INCLUDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SKYBOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BIG FUCKING GLARING CONTIUITY ERROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS SHOW HAS PLENTY OF THOSE BUT MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS THE MOST FLAGRANT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JAY AND NYA DIDNT PAINT THAT. AND THOSE TWO ARE LITERALLY THE ONLY ONES WHO KNOW ABOUT NADAKHAN. NADAKHAN WAS NEVER RELEASED FROM THE TEAPOT SO NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT HIM!!!!! EVENTS OF SKYBOUND DIDNT FUCKING HAPPEN IN THIS TIMELINE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. anyways in GOES into the fanfic wishlist, a scene in which they didnt! paint skybound on that fucking wall and jay has some fucking Thoughts! and a !feeling! or two about that~!!!!!!! FIX IT FIC EXCEPT ITS FIXING A PLOTHOLE AND IS NOT THE TRADITIONAL FIXIT FIC IN WHICH EVENTS A WRITTEN TO BE BETTER :) but rather its a character study about jay. with optional trauma. maybe emotional turmoil may be not, the way the fic would depend entirely if theres a plot or not. at minimum jay needs to Feel A Way about it...... how nobody remembers the worst days of his life..... you know? i may brainstorm about this fanfic. i really want it. i may never get it. but i want it so bad. if anything should be written it should be this scene..................... SIGHS........

okay i think im finally out of thoughts for this oni arc retrospective that def extends beyond the oni arc. this ramble hit over 4.8k words by the point of this sentence. this took me literally over a month to write bc im busy with school work sdkjfhieurtghkdhflk. WHICH IM FUCKING MYSELF OVER WITH RIGHT NOW BC INSTEAD OF WORKING I DID THIS. but like. i need to accomplish something. even if the thing is entirely useless I NEED IT OUT OF MYSELF AND OFF! MY! PLATE!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!!!!! HUZZAH TO AIRING OUT ALL MY GRIEVANCES WOO!!!!!! a total of two ppl will read this. and thats great. literally if theres more than two pp who make it to the end of this ill be fucking shocked because this is lterally almost 5000 words of complaining. lightly put it. criticism. anyways i have so much to say about ninjago, its fucking obscene. i feel like i wrote an essay even though it is very much not that, but the feeling make me feel like i need to write a conclusion for this all. conclusion? wish ninjago was a more tightly written show. and final final note? please fucking excuse any typing errors that have been made theres a very high chance i forgot words or wrote the wrong words and i am incapable of catching all of them i certain of this. i tried to read thru but this is like 5k now man. typing more increases the wordcount isnt that fucking crazy. anyways, thank you understanding,

and youre so epic for reading this beast of a review. i am very right and i will not hear otherwise thanks ;p

[rottingsparrow]

Part 4! Of rereading Lore Olympus. Ep 31-40

Gotta be real I keep forgetting to post these even tho I'm reading them but it's fine. Obviously I won't finish before the end of the 2 week break (this Saturday) but after this I may start reviewing episodes as they come out, who knows. Last part:

Ep 31

Theres so many other reasons you shouldnt work together but ok

Also shes literally so smart right like thats canon

Artemis is cool hera,,,sometimes

Which two sons i wish i knew the lo family tree as opposed to the real one yknow

How do heras powers work she felt her pain but doesnt know who??

I would kill for a comprehensive list of family tree and powers, dont even have to spoil powers just please i get so confused

Ep 32

Train ur fuckin dogs hades i think ive said that before

He changed skin color again but like not just light vs dark thats a whole diff shade of blue

Hehe threaten low class workers so cute and quirky hades

Why is uh psyche/whatever her nymph name is wearing more traditional clothes while not in the mortal realm

Love the dog

Hades has a point, even tho it makes no sense for him to have said that

Ok also point out in the like future episode he wants persephone to call him Aidoneus but doesnt like when others do it why

Thats my same thing with him calling her Kore like i know in the future its like explained or whatever but idk

Aphrodite has a point it was a favor in a way

A dumb way but yknow

I remember everyone losing it over the “im only interested in the dead ones” panel but looking at it its so lame LMAO changed his entire face shape for a panel

Ep 33

HECATE HECATE WOOOO

Im but a simple man

Hades texts like an old man i know he is one but

Also i am dying to know how his business works including as the god of the underworld like. Give me something

Then again, maybe i am a lil dumb when it comes to this

I always thought he was giving the little elevator friend a sugarcube lmao

I like how minthes ears react to her emotions

Stop fighting at work omg this would be the worst place to work at

“Hey can u do ur job”

Ep 34

Why this subplot ugh

The crown floats yet is sideways after she hits him

Also haha hitting

Also their relationship does confuse me just a tad bit yknow

All the clues were there hades you dumbass

“Cancel all my meetings” DO YOUR JOB

“This doesnt affect you in the same way” cause hes a man or a king or both but also kings seemed to get treated the same by their subjects until they are dicks and excute their power

From what ive seen

Then again we havent seen poseidon do that but that brings me to the point of I wanna see poseidon realm

thats . so creepy hades ew

“Smth must be done about this” like fair legal action right?....right?

Who reads newspapers these days anyways wait a second

Ep 35

See the laptop having news makes more sense like sure we make newspapers but ppl dont use em as often

“Biochemistry Theory” fun fact I switched majors to specifically avoid taking chemistry

What are they typing he just started speaking

What type of nymph is thetis bc i know minthe is a river nymph but thetis has fancy ears

They are so mean to each other lmao

The financial situation and the fact that they both are like sleeping with the kings confuse me why do both of them do it.

Like retrospectively i understand it but when i first read it i was like “are nymphs supposed to be like hookers??” so i was lost for a bit

“Hades micromanages computer usage” oh what a shit boss

Also the meal ticket she has a job sure hades gave it to her but

Idk maybe im slow

What an awful way to do a heart shape i just tried it wtf

“Crying is for wives” damn

Yes body issues that dont get brought up again right? Like she all of a sudden gets bigger boobs and i dont think hades pays ppl enough for cosmetic surgery

You guys know this is a work setting

Has rachel ever had a job bc this feels like a comical trope seen on tv the workplace drama yknow

LMAO IN THE LAST PANEL RACHEL FORGOT TO GIVE HER NYMPH EARS

Like fully normal ears i know its a mistake but its funny

Ep 36

“Not my circus not my monkeys” queen

Hades is it not your circus how dont involve hecate in this

“Stop starin at me with them big ol eyes”

Oof that does not look good on you, i mean why didnt you give her the coat

“I thought you didnt get jealous” ok she may have said that but literally everything about her contradicts that

And i love this part bc he doesnt call her crazy and they talk, i mean he hides some of the truth which like fuck him, and then they try to talk about the party and

Ugh i know minthe is supposed to be an antagonist but rachel does this weird thing where she tries to flesh her out, then realizes it would be an easy set up for a redemption arc and screws her over again

I know the ppl in the mortal realm are generally frightened of hades but why are ppl in olympus

“I wouldnt expect anything less from a goddess” so we are going to bring in the racism/speciesism that occurs in this story right

Its the middle of the day isnt he supposed to be in the mortal realm moving the sun or some shit

Ep 37

“Last night” Rachel its ok to space things out sweetie

Ok ok so one thing i hate about her characterization of apollo is he goes from being delusional to knowing what he did was at least slightly wrong and i hate both are fine stories but pick one he either is so infatuated with persephone that he thinks that they had a great time or he wants her for her power

And! A transition from one to the other would be fine, but she goes back in forth in his characterization

Little red vines look cool

Hehe cerberus

How did he escape tho

I love that dog

Ep 38

Oh its the greenhouse again

But this time it represents the evil feeling?

Idk but i like eye symbolism im lame lol

Why was she sleeping in the chair

When did she get those clothes i dunno if eros would buy her business casual

Artemis really sees all the signs and then goes “meh”

Like points out the possible crush on persephone just connect the dots they are so close

Why is there not more than one door

Why is no one getting off

How does rachel think train stops work

Ep 39

Also not thatanos with an undercut lmao

Ope its thanatos i mixed it up

Also minthe you just actively arent doing a good job like lmao how are you not getting fired

Hades smoking a cigar is so old and gross tbh

What an awful boss

That man has a point dont stand infront of the door

She gave her a little flower nice

Minthe i know ur being spiteful, weird bc hades explained shes just the daughter of a friend( i know its a lie but still) but just do your job

“It says restricted access but that lady says it was fine” i would just wait until someone came out theres no reason to go inside

Ep 40

Why would they not have a lock on this place actually

Why wouldnt she just leave the way she came

When did hades put on his glasses

How is it hades fault what

So many questions yknow for such a short episode

Also does this place not have security cameras in places that are tartarus

[irkenheretic]

Uhhh numbers 2 and 5 if they haven't been done

they have not!!! because of the way the google sheet is formatted, number 2 is actually the first character on the sheet, with row 1 being the column labels, so its real lucky you didnt wanna know number 1!!

anyway, number 2 is 777 himself!! heres where im gonna tell on myself a little and reveal that surprisingly large swathes of the plot has not been done yet. this is because i like to let the story flow on its own and see how the characters develop as i'm writing it, and i don't want to be married to a certain idea and realize that with the way the character's arc actually developed in-story, it won't work. or worse- not realize it and do it anyway and it turning out shit as a result. and besides, we're only on the prolouges! i have LOTS of time to hash out the meat of the story, but as it stands now, the farther away from the prolouges we get, the vauger it gets

i say all this because 777 is largely irrelevant until very deep into the story so theres not too much i can say about his role in the story because most of it just hasnt been set in stone yet, and what has been set in stone, is a spoiler!! i love doing this askmeme but i try to stay away from spoilers as best i can cause this is still a series that will be coming out and i dont wanna spoil everyones fun! anyone who sends numbers is clearly invested in the series if they care enough and i dont wanna punish that care by spoiling the fun

but!! what i can say about 777 is that he and zim are genuine friends- the comics have made a decision to make 777 only cooperate with zim because zim has his kids hostage, but considering thats a stupid fucking decision i will be ignoring it. 777 is also buddies with lard nar, although 777 isnt formally involved with the resisty due to yknow... being in prison. he does eventually get out of prison in the story though, and begins to take a more active role in the story after that ^^ he also knows lefy, and they used to be romantically involved, before 777 broke it off with him due to lefys lack of trust over certain things

also fun facts: i still havent decided on a name for 777, because every time i try to think of one, i just think of the name "sevince vinseven" from in short supply and i cant think of anyfuckingthings else

meanwhile number 5 is a lil guy named angie!! back on the oc train woo woo!!!!

angie is a mating facility drone which is exactly what it sounds like- he works at facilities where irkens go to fuck each other, which for pretty much all conformists, is just in the quest for a smeet and actually is only done in these facilities. pay is low, however, so angie offers an extra service in said facilities

he's a prostitute. there really isnt any nicer way to put it lmfao. escorts and the like are absolutely a thing in irken society, and specific escorts have specific niches- angie specifically caters to conformists. they hire him in his mating facility and mate there, too, technically having done everything "correctly" in irken society. it's not exactly uncommon for mating facility drones to offer this service for irkens who want to do their part wrt contributing a smeet, but cant get laid for whatever reason

however, angie has leeway to work outside his facility for one reason: he's a red eye. many conformists who want to mate outside of a mating facility dont want anyone to find out about it due to how taboo it is to mate for fun and not for a smeet, so the peace of mind that comes with having an infertile mate is something that is.... extremely valued

but here's the thing:

he's not infertile.

angie has a rare eye colorway called "flecked" eyes- the eye will primarily be a base color, with "eye-freckles" of a secondary color scattered over them. he has mainly purple eyes, with red flecks. due to the red-eye gene being not as dominant as in someone like, say, red, he didn't get hit as hard with the downsides of his genetic condition. so, for the most part, he doesn't really have any fertility issues. of course, things have gone wrong for him sometimes, but not nearly as much as red

this is where i need to mention that angie is a LAYER, he is not impregnating anyone based on false pretenses. he really only lets people think he's infertile so he has justification to charge a premium for his services- when he inevitably lays an egg, he lies and says he never caught the name of the fertilizer. his clients get the peace of mind that itll never come back to haunt them since, due to angie lying, the fertilizer is listed as "unknown" in the database, and angie gets fat stacks. everybody wins i guess? yeah fine ill admit, what angie does is incredibly dishonest but im gonna be real with you: its nowhere near the worst thing someone does in this fic. its not even the worst sex related thing someone does- if i had a nickel for a worse sex-related event that involves a red eye, id have two nickles. which isnt a lot but its weird that it happens twice

[traumatictouch]

why tomura reads like a sexual abuse survivor

ive noticed that a lot of survivors - including me - easily read tomura as a csa survivor. ive decided to try to put these impressions into words, mostly for myself, but also for anyone curious as to why he’s so frequently read this way, or why i personally write him as such. i will mostly be elaborating on the reoccurring sexual assault imagery and csa survivor traits tomura exhibits.

triggering themes ahead, including discussed child sexual abuse, incest (sibling and pseudo), trauma and its effects, and sexual assault imagery (from the bnha manga itself). also spoilers for the most recent manga arc.

(disclaimer: i realize symptoms of trauma are pretty much common all across the board, and depression also comes with a lot of these behaviors - but there are some that crop up more commonly in cases of sexual abuse (especially from a young age) than in others. csa survivors also frequently end up with depression, too, so that doesn't necessarily take away from it.)

i’ll start with the cover above. the hands touching him here are much more expressive than the ones he usually wears. it's also framed in a way where you can't see the ends/cap things very well, and they don't appear so symmetrical, making them feel much more like real, living hands grabbing him.

there's also the fact that his face is exposed, which is something we had rarely seen him do willingly at this point in the manga, and even when he had he was still covered up with a hoodie or completely alone. the way he's covering half his face gives off the impression that he's not okay with the way he's exposed.

all of that, plus the obvious distress tomura is in, gives this very glaring assault vibes.

also, the hands on his head are clearly someone's actual, living hands as well. my guess is afo, especially since they seem to be petting him, which is reoccurring imagery between tomura and afo.

tomura's total lack of privacy

there's a clear lack of boundaries between tomura and the adults in his life. most of the spaces that seem to belong to tomura (the bar - he feels safe enough there to take Father off, and his room) are accompanied by cameras and audio transmissions from afo. he has no privacy, and doesn't even seem bothered by this fact.

he also doesn't seem to set boundaries with other people in general. toga can hold a knife to his neck, spinner can grab him and yell in his face, the doctor can shout over his earpiece, dabi (or anyone, really) can say whatever rude or callous things he wants to him… really the only time i can think of that even comes close was when mr. compress made a joke about working with overhaul and tomura said "hey, not funny."

he seems to kinda just let whatever happen to him. earlier in the series, tomura seemed to rely on kurogiri to notice when he needed space and step in for him rather than ask for it himself. that's a pretty telltale sign of someone who's had their needs and boundaries violated (or even punished) for a long time.

Tomuras over-attachment to afo and his praise/affection

obviously afo groomed tomura whether it involved sexual abuse or not, but it is something that could have easily lended itself to that as well. early in the series, tomura clearly highly valued afos opinion of him, and seemed to strive to please and repay him for his kindness. these are feelings afo incited in him on purpose and did, canonically, take advantage of to turn tomura into a villain and pawn - who's to say he didn't use it for other purposes, too?

it's also the kind of thing survivors tend to latch onto to cope with their abuse. it can be easier to think of the event as being affection, returning a favor, and/or special treatment, than to think of it as abuse. tomura looked up to afo so much that it's possible he could have considered (or been convinced) that it was special that someone as great as afo wanted to do something so intimate with him.

also, if this is really tomura realizing his sensei isn't as special and powerful as he'd been led to believe, then his reaction being to cover up while looking angry might, well… be a reaction to feeling used.

Tomura & older men

there's not a lot of people besides afo that tomura seems very quickly, openly… invested in. there are two major ones i can think of, and they are both 1. older men, and 2. mentor figures (even if not to tomura.)

the most obvious of the two is aizawa, who tomura has seemed pretty fond of since his first appearance and, even in the most recent chapters, can't seem to help but think about how cool aizawa is. aizawa isn't a mentor to tomura, obviously, but he is a teacher and tomura knows this. (and seems impressed by the way he tries to protect the students in his care--something afo very specifically does not do for tomura.)

the second, and perhaps less obvious to most, is Stain. i wrote up a whole post trying (trying.) to explain the way tomura seemed interested in him, and you can see a bit more about that and how tomura was hoping he'd be a mentor to him here.

in other words, tomura has shown reoccurring interest in older men, who are mentors, that he does not show for anyone else.

early sexual abuse can influence a person's attractions. survivors tend to be drawn to what is familiar, even if it hurt, and so it's pretty common for them to be attracted to and/or desire a relationship with those who resemble their abuser(s).

and afo is an older man who is a mentor to tomura (and others.)

immaturity (& age regression)

tomura, in early canon, is often described by characters in-universe as being childish, especially in regards to how he processes his emotions. (i don't really like to conflate these things with "age" or "being childish" - but the way the manga itself presents these qualities is clearly intended to give tomura a immature/childish vibe.)

tomura's emotional processing, simple motivations, fixation with video games, toys littering his room, and need for close caregiving (kurogiri) all give off the impression that he's had trouble developing the way he "”should”" have--kind of like he didn't really move on at all.

this sort of stunted development tends to occur in people with childhood trauma, especially csa survivors. ptsd at its core is the brain getting "stuck" in the moment of trauma, so if the trauma occurred as a child, then one's development is somewhat halted there, especially in areas of emotional processing, because the brain and body have to dedicate so much energy to just trying to cope and survive. it's pretty common for csa survivors to have trouble coping with and controlling their emotions.

relatedly: i have no real way to confirm this right now, but i’ve heard that during the mla arc, while tomura was kind of going in and out of flashbacks, he started switching to using “boku” - a self pronoun for young boys - as opposed to his usual “ore”). ive since had to wonder if this is a reoccurring state for tomura - it might partly explain why he keeps his toys around despite never showing interest in them on-screen, and has such close supervision from kurogiri.

again, age regression can go for any kind of childhood trauma, but seems very common in child sexual abuse survivors in particular.

Lack of hygiene (esp oral)

look at how tomura's teeth are drawn compared to even another villains. dabis teeth are straight and clean, whereas tomura's have holes and chips, and tend to be drawn uneven with wobbly lines, like they're covered in plaque.

not caring for one's hygiene is common for people with depression too - but failure to care for teeth also frequently crops up in survivors of sexual abuse, due to an aversion to things touching or being inside their mouth, because it can remind them of the abuse.

in a similar vein, tomura's hair looks unwashed and greasy to me, especially when it gets long. it sort of gathers in clumps and appears heavy. survivors may avoid taking showers because they aren't comfortable removing their clothes for long periods of time, or because the abuse occurred in proximity to bathing. (which is a convenient time for parental figures to groom and abuse their children, since it already involves them being naked and the parent touching them closely.)

in general, there just seems to be something off about tomura's relationship with his body. maybe it's the way he barely bats an eye at major injuries, doesn't care for his hygiene, self-injures, and didn't mind undergoing a surgery that altered its shape and function pretty heavily--but i get the impression that tomura sees his body as just a tool more than anything.

which, if someone grew up having their body regarded as nothing but a means of pleasure, kind of makes sense.

his clothing

im not sure if this has the same “connotations” (for lack of a better word) for flat chested people, but tomura always wearing a lowcut shirt that shows off a fair amount of his chest, but covering the rest of himself head to toe--including his face--feels significant to me. as well as the way he covers up even more (his hoodie) when he’s stressed. the hands, too--being covered up seems to be calming for him.

the placement of the hands afo gave him

you can't tell me little tenko placed these hands where they are by himself. the ones on his chest aren’t even from his family or meant to resemble them - they’re additional hands afo gave him to wear. pretty weird place for “afo”’s hands to go...

I feel like theres a little bit something to tomura frequently having his clothes ripped off during fights

not that it's particularly uncommon for bnha characters to get their clothes a bit shredded during fights, but i can't help but feel like there's something to tomura getting torn down to nothing but his pants twice, with both battles heavily involving tomura's traumas, including the ones related to afo. the vs mla arc with how tomura met afo and how he turned him into what he is today, then the war arc where the methods afo used to control and abuse tomura (the hands) are brought back again--and afo repeatedly takes tomura's bodily autonomy away from him.

AFO's predatory behaviors

tomuras own behavior aside, All For One himself has some behaviors and imagery that gives off very predatory vibes. i’ll start with Ragdoll…

most people theorize that she was going to be turned into a nomu, but there are two important things here. ragdoll was found 1. alive, and 2. naked. all nomu are made from corpses - if afo had time to take her quirk and undress her, he certainly had time to kill her, especially since three days had passed since she was kidnapped. (and, what benefit would there be to making a nomu out of a quirkless hero?)

her dazed state is also curious - we've never been told taking or giving quirks has a side effect like this, and i would think itd at least wear off after three days…

there's also not actually a lot to suggest she was submerged in one of the tanks (that i know of); in the full body image, she doesn't seem to be soaking wet or anything. there's no water dripping off her. there's just a bit of liquid on her face and neck, which could merely be sweat, or… other fluids.

this next part is more debatable due to it being more dubiously canon (although My Hero: One’s Justice has been known to basically spoil villain related lore before it appears in the manga) - but he has some dialogue that makes him sound... pretty fuckin enthusiastic about sexual violence.

and time and time again, afo has been... very creepy and obsessive about his brother. who happens to look an awful lot like tomura, and is vaguely connected to nana as a user of OFA, and we know how far afo would go to spite both of them.

The "wow this is pretty much confirmed now" page

i always thought i was just projecting when i read tomura as a csa survivor - until i saw this page, which was so viscerally uncomfortable that it made me nauseous. it definitely made me decide i wasn't just reading into things that weren't there. that's not exactly to say this panel 100% confirmed it (though it certainly did in my mind, personally) -- but the imagery here can't not be deliberate.

tomura is literally shirtless and bent over before afo, and sure, afos not completely standing behind him, but that's partially because his lower half is inside of tomura. and from our previous example of afo taking over tomura's body…

i wish i could find the translation i first saw - this is the viz translation, which is notoriously horrible - but the one i read felt much more along the lines of "i saved you, so i get to do what i want with your body."

that is a line of logic that could have EASILY applied to their earlier relationship. the way afo saved tenko was very much on the forefront of tomura's mind early in the series, possibly either an idea he clung onto to justify the abuse he experienced from afo, or something afo personally reminded him of frequently.

also… part of afos body is definitely wrapped around tomura's upper thigh, and in certain panels seems to be emanating from between his legs.

speaking of, tomura's stance is also notable to me. compared to the panel where tomura first realized afo was taking control of him, where his knees are pretty straight on or outwards in a powerful balanced brace, in these panels his knees seem to be bending in towards his body, like he wants to squeeze his legs shut. huh.

i touched on this before, but it's interesting to me that what finally let afo fully take control of tomura's body, was having a hand (one afo very specifically used to control and abuse tomura into doing what he wanted) placed upon his body without permission.

so, all in all, afo is "inside" tomura's body, using it for his own means, against tomura's wishes.

what else does that sound like? no wonder deku feels like tomura needs help, despite everything...

again, this isn't to say that csa is definitely the cause of these things, just that tomura does have an abundance of behaviors and imagery that could easily be read that way.

[simkjrs]

for the ask game i am asking you to write about midoriya izuku

hope everyone who reads this one is ready to hear me hate on bnha

favorite thing about them

1) izukus ability to maintain the ability to be "just some guy" or even "just a guy in a shirt" in any given situation even if he is clearly not being just some guy and may not even be wearing a shirt

2) the fact that hes completely deranged about how far hes willing to go to save someone else. lets just casually break every single bone in my body i think this is probably an acceptable cost. now that ive broken my arms too much ill just switch to using my legs <3 like how are you 15 and with that much pain tolerance. and with that much willingness to test your pain tolerance. i love that he has something severely wrong with him in this respect. i wish we got to see how far he'd go to help someone else in other respects as well!

least favorite thing about them

warning: haterisms ahead

my biggest problem with izuku is just that i dont think hes very interesting as a protagonist. i dont think his ambition to be a hero is interesting because i dont think the way it clashes with his surroundings is interesting. LOL

like izuku is mostly a passive protagonist. things happen to him. he doesnt go out and do things. by the structure of the world horikoshi has created, he Literally Cant because of the restrictions that hero students work under.

now that could be interesting if izuku was more proactive and tried to do things beyond the limit of the law because he thought it was right. because then we have a conflict between order and justice, order and doing whats right, order and the human heart, etc. izuku would have to make choices, and sacrifices, and choose what he wants to stand for

but as far as the story is concerned, this never happens ... he never really has to make that choice! he faces a challenge and a conflict, something that could make him think and change and grow ... and then he just goes back to the status quo. the only thing that changes is the combat power he has. even his most recent emo phase where he dropped out of yuuei just ended with izuku going back to school and being a hero again or whatever LOL like what was even the point of that then? where is his character development?

the conflicts come to izuku, and izuku doesn't proactively cause or resolve any problems. he's a reactionary protagonist. that's why horikoshi has to constantly introduce new villains and new attacks to prod izuku into motion. and after a while, that kind of story telling gets boring. i feel like horikoshi doesn't have any faith in izuku to be an interesting or compelling character if he like, stands up for a belief or has a personality. but theres only so far you can go with having a "generic" protagonist before you have to give them something of substance so that the story can actually be interesting

honestly there's nothing wrong with being a passive protagonist but izuku being a passive protagonist isnt even done in an interesting way where being targeted by outside forces causes him to face consequences for all his efforts to stay uninvolved or to start being more proactive, or something. like the bottom line is that i want izuku to be a more active agent -- where maintaining the status quo, or challenging it, both are active choices with active consequences for the story.

that said, i like izuku's personality and i havent personally read anything of the manga since the gentleman villain arc so maybe horikoshis writing has secretly improved in the years since i dropped bnha. LOL

favorite line

i havent read the manga in like five years.

brOTP

1) bakugou ... i love their completely fucked childhood friends relationship and theres nothing i love more than when it is as awful for bakugou as it is for izuku. i love it when characters experience the horror of the consequences of their actions

2) shinsou. theyre just funny i wish that there were more interesting ways to bounce off izukus quirklessness and shinsous villainous quirk status against each other

3) kirishima ... this one is a secret self indulgence that has never left after i wrote msa. i dont think it really works that well in normal circumstances but it still has a soft spot in my heart

OTP

idk i kinda dont care. hes 15 its none of my business

nOTP

[instantly] bakudeku

honestky i think all the izuku ships are dogshit and most people are just shipping for the sake of shipping. his most interesting relationship is with bakugou and its way better when you leave them as fucked up friends. his second most interesting relationship imo is with uraraka but horikoshi is too afraid to make it complicated and fraught so the potential is completely wasted. also uraraka and izukus relationship is more interesting as friends too. is it my aromantic sensibilities that make me think all the ships are stupid? maybe. but maybe my opinion would change if someone actually made them funny or compelling. think about it

random headcanon

hes really good at eating spicy food. regular champ. he can chow down straight some shit that would knock out a lesser man

unpopular opinion

i think i already swung my bat at all the big hornets nests. what else is there

ok heres one. i think that izukus "quirklessness" status hasnt really contributed anything to the story thus far aside from being a convenient reason why he can be the last inheritor of one for all or something. and making izuku feel bad about lying about having a quirk? and now he has like, a sad backstory too i guess, but it hasnt really contributed anything to the story yet either. like what are we going for here. when is this going to be relevant. can he spill his secret to someone yet or like, start championing rights for quirkless ppl or something

oh heres another. i thik izuku would be a more interesting protagonist if horikoshi let izuku be angry at his friends more. like i know he has all that repressed rage locked away in there... let him let it out. he needs to be free

song i associate with them

south 2nd by cocorosie - has the song lyric that gave birth to the titular "but you gotta get up at least once more"

final boss by doomtree - has the song lyric that gave birth to the titular "know what ive made by the marks on my hands

favorite picture of them

havent read the manga in 5 years. let me check my discord logs

i think izukus taylor swift "look what you made me do" moment was really really really fucking funny. give me more of this

[madmaddyenby]

/rp /dsmp

ok so- c!tommy. we are all aware he’s traumatized, and experiences ptsd from being in traumatic experiences, this is basically fact.  while i’d like to talk how c!tommy experiences ptsd, i’d like to bring up a thing i haven’t seen mentioned a lot when it comes to c!tommy and his trauma- c-ptsd.  also known as complex-ptsd.   it occurs when someone experiences something traumatizing for a period of time.

[image description: A screenshot of text with the words “CPTSD stands for Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is a mental health condition in which a person might experience intense PTSD symptoms that coincide with other mental issues. CPTSD occurs in people who have been subjected to on going traumatizing experiences”. end description]

which, as we know, the exile arc fits the description of “ongoing traumatizing experiences” pretty fucking well.  the exile was basically just two weeks of trauma.  for a lot of reasons too, there was dream abusing tommy, tommy being isolated, tommys own depression/suicidal thoughts/bad mindset in general.   this would all be considered a ongoing traumatizing experience(s).  

ptsd is very similar to c-ptsd in how it develops, but ptsd occurs after one singular traumatizing event . (by the way, the event doesnt have to be life or death, it could be something like witnessing or hearing about a shocking event!!!)

symptoms of c-ptsd overlap with ptsd a good lot of the time, due to them both being trauma disorders.  however, there are a few differences.  here r some symptoms of c-ptsd, alot of which are ptsd symptoms that alot ofpeople with c-ptsd experience as well

reliving the traumatic experience

avoiding certain situations 

changes in beliefs and feelings about yourself and others

hyperarousal (jitteriness, being on alert, etc)

somatic symptoms (physical symptoms with no underlying cause)

lack of emotional regulation 

change in consciousness

negative self-perception

difficulty with relationships

distorted reception of abuser

loss of system of meanings

now, i’ll go over which of these fit our boy c!tommy, and how they fit for some of them atleast.  i will only be talking about the things that are a result from c-ptsd, but also c-ptsd works where it coincides with other mental illnesses a person has so.  its also important to note that within a person these symptoms might not stay the same over time, and not everyone who has c-ptsd or ptsd is going to experience it the same.   (so not talking abt how pain affects him after dying in the prison, though that is a clear sign of ptsd) 

reliving the traumatic experience

tommy’s done this with exile a few times, when revisiting logstedshire, when he saw the craters in logstedshire, when visiting dream in prison, when during the disc finale dream dug the hole and told him to put his armour in, etc etc, he’s even described himself as being trembly in the fingers near plain biomes, while visting logsted he mentioned how shaky it made him to be there, and when he visited logsted one time he had an immediate reaction to seeing a hole in the ground that came off as him reliving it. flashbacks come in from sensations during a traumatic event, like sight, feeling, emotion, etc, etc.  it seems like with these he’s experiencing more of a reliving the emotions kind of thing. 

avoiding certain situations 

i was originally not gonna include this one, but thinking about it, he kind of does in a way.   this symptom also includes keeping yourself preoccupied to avoid thinking about it, which is something c!tommy seems to do alot.  with focusing on building the hotel, and doing tasks, or grinding for supplies instead of actually thinking about it.  

changes in beliefs and feelings about yourself and others

c!tommy uh. does this a lot.  a lot of it stems from how during exile tommy was isolated and made to believe no one cared for him, and even if that wasn’t true c!tommy never really got much closure on that.  hes not really trusting ppl that b4 were really close to him, tubbo n ranboo for example

lack of emotional regulation

this can also be described as uncontrollable feelings.  this is the one i’ve wanted to talk about the most i think- because this is really fits c!tommy.  he tends to lash out alot, for example burning the flower c!ranboo gave him, there are a bunch more examples of this that include him yelling at others, that one time when he spleefed c!jack 

negative self-perception

yeah.  theres a few examples of this one, the one that first comes to mind is that time during the green festival where he was talking about how he was worse than everyone he didn’t wanna be (including his abuser, c!dream...) .  theres now when he was building his tower by the prison when he was saying he couldn’t use the cobble because it was too him, and people didnt like the cobble. alot of this i think comes from c!dream making him feel basically worthless in exile :(

difficulty with relationships

  Yeah. um.  Alot for this one!!! The first to come to mind is c!tubbo.  c!tommy and c!tubbos relationship is very very wonky, especially considering recent events with tommy feeling like he is being replaced with c!ranboo.  (which he isnt by the way! he just feels as though, which is a valid feeling for him to have :]) .  another person that comes to mind is c!ranboo.  he’s even mentioned how his and ranboos relationship goes back and forth quite alot.  its not very surprising to see that he has difficulty with relationships especially considering a lot of the reason that the exile affected him so badly was because he felt so alone and was so isolated from his friends.  another thing that comes to mind, is when he made c!sam sign that contract promising hat he’d be his best friend and protect him.  theres most likely way more that can be said here, but this is the first stuff that comes to mind.  

distorted reception of abuser

um... yeah.  this one.  this can also be described as , “ becoming preoccupied with the relationship between you and your abuser. It can also include preoccupation with revenge or giving your abuser complete power over your life. “  which is um.  yeah.  c!tommy.  he’s mentioned how whenever he’s around c!dream he feels like hes conditioned to be his friend (which. yea . he was .).  right after he left logstedshire this was very very prominent, he was the biggest c!dream apologist around (/j), saying things like “dream didnt do anything wrong” and even explaining how he wasnt sure about things when it comes to c!dream, that his mind became flip floppy whenever he thought about him.   right now, hes focused on getting back at c!dream, not fully for revenge, mainly for his friends and how he doesnt want c!dream to go around killing and reviving everyone, but the point still stands.  (this all makes me extra sad because he had gone to the prison the second time in the first place to get closure :(( )

loss of system of meanings

Systems of meaning refer to your religion or beliefs about the world.  This can also refer to getting a strong sense of hopelessness or despair about the world, which as of late mainly c!tommy seems to have.  mainly referencing in his stream where he visited dreams bunker, he was asking what the point was of finding things that made him happy if dream was just going to get out the prison and destroy it.  theres also a few things that also go with this, in one stream while he burnt down ponks lemon tree for sam nook he said  "thats still decaying, but yknow, arent we all." and that one time when he gave that hotel invitation to c!techno he was like “ahahha we could die tomorrow anyway” 

-

its also important to note that, “Any type of long-term trauma, over several months or years, can lead to CPTSD. However, it seems to appear frequently in people who’ve been abused by someone who was supposed to be their caregiver or protector. “ Which is.. fairly accurate in c!tommy’s situation.  c!dream might’ve not been a caregiver or protector necessarily but he was still someone that was looking after him yknow? 

there are most likely more things than what i layed out that show that c!tommy most likely also has cptsd, however this is just the stuff that i thought up :] add to the post if you’d like to!

(also this isn’t saying that c!tommy doesnt have ptsd, he had both ptsd and c-ptsd. also i am not an expert about ptsd, cptsd, or mental health in general, if i got any information wrong let me know)

[shoezuki]

ok so like i been Thinkin a lot on that stream techno had today and i may be Thinkin Too Much cuz i was doing psychology while watching but im going to say Words Now

the entire idea and Plot of tommy going from only interacting/being manipulated by dream to only interacting with techno is a Lot. theres a lot here. and i am feasting like a fucking king on the potential of it and what this could all Mean

I think we’re building up the idea of how techno and dream differ and how they house both similarities and extreme differences in their ideals. 

So if we considered how Tommy’s arcs have changed theres a very, VERY clear juxtaposition between the exile arc to.... raccoon arc? whatever the fuck is goin on

Tommy Was manipulated, isolated, and gaslit by dream. that was the only guy he really had interacted with and that was Intentional entirely. Its very obvious this will have and currently has an affect on tommy. 

Now, he’s with technoblade. theres a lot of shit that can be read in this simply as considered right now. I feel we’re clearly supposed to at least somehow compare dream and technoblade because their positions are somewhat similar concerning how they are interacting with tommy. 

Tommy can only really interact with techno, only techno really has the ability to see him (although ranboo, ghostbur, and phil could see him but theres obvious difficulties in their case), and how tommy regards technoblade is.... complicated. like how he regards dream at the moment.

but theres some really, really important and clear differences in this that i think will show a lot about techno’s character and what’s to come

first of all, there’s a question of why techno is seemingly ‘letting’ tommy live with him. No joke, i’ve discussed this a LOT in the technocord and it’s made me realize it from a different perspective since many of those people in there are from Before techno joined the smp.

so, there’s no clear ‘rational’ reason why techno would benefit from teaming with tommy. there’s some arguments that could be made; tommy’s position with people and especially tubbo, using tommy as a bargaining chip with dream, and something else i cant remember. but the technocord hardcore ppl feel tommy is a liability in the long term. techno doesn’t really have much to gain beyond a distraction. the idea of using tommy in order to convince him he’s getting the disks and then to destroy lmanberg is kinda.... its jus more trouble to techno. In fact, it wouldve been defendable for techno to kick him out; he stole his stuff, and we saw how he reacted to his cows being killed, his previous base being pillaged. You’d have thought techno wouldve been angrier.

but like. that aside. there’s little reason for techno to open up to tommy. and thats the point.

there’s no necessity on techno’s part. he doesnt need tommy. he could kick him out easily. but he won’t. 

I imagine technoblade sees the trauma and hardship tommy went through and he sympathizes with him. Its been made clear that techno doesnt know the full extent of what happened, but he doesnt need to. he knows enough. 

Now, back to the happenings of the last stream,

it wasnt plot heavy at all. (mostly because techno’s fuckign glasses are held together with SCOTCH TAPE the guy couldnt even fucking use ducttape i hate that) but there were a Few interesting things, including the Plot Stream a bit;

the ‘box’ techno made with the idea of hiding tommy from dream. (perhaps a joke but it still shows something i feel)

how he’s been giving tommy a Lot of stuff. he hasnt Genuinely been upset at his golden apples being taken; in fact, techno gave him more food in protest of him eating all the gapples instead of.... demanding them back

went mining in the nether with the intention of getting tommy better stuff

he replaced the log he accidentally stripped. extremely funny considering he got the wrong type of wood but he tried

expending more resources on tommy with invisibility potions so that he wasnt in danger of being seen

Repeatedly would assure tommy that dream Is Not His Friend.

at the idea of tommy being ‘banned’ from the nether and being attacked in lmanberg, techno laughed at the idea of him being ‘attacked’ and killed even when tommy worried that he’d die for the Last Time

implicated that techno WOULD defend him. and the idea of someone killing Either him or tommy was funny because of that

okay so slight comparison to dream; techno is instead GIVING tommy resources instead of blowing them up, he’s obviously intent on protecting him in some way, and he assures tommy that dream is No Good (rather than how dream was telling tommy no one cared about him)

But there’s one instance that was really, really important to me

the control room had a very bad impact on tommy. most likely a panic attack (the shaking, heavy breathing, scattered speech/thought is something i know so intimately lmao) and techno’s reaction to it was extremely interesting. 

first, techno said he was ‘freaking out for no reason’ which could be a) techno is horrific at emotions and vulnerability lmao and b) to Him, it Is nothing. he has no clue what tommy had been through. 

He repeatedly asked what was wrong. what had happened in that room. He pressed Slightly. but as soon as tommy said he didnt want to talk about that, techno instantly backed off and said its alright. specifically, he said:

“It’s fine, no one recovers in a day tommy. Healing is a long process, it’s fine.”

that shit hit me like a freight train. Mostly i didnt expect anything to come from this stream like that but FUCK LMAO.

The biggest thing is, i think technoblade is going to help tommy heal from the dream shit and get back on his feet. 

but also, even though im not entirely sure i need to see more, tommy will get techno to be more caring. We know philza is the only one techno is really close to, and ghostbur as well. both of which either weren’t involved in betraying techno, or doesnt remember it. i see it pointed out that techno is going at tubbo and his government rather than dream, but i think it makes sense. 

dream technically hasnt challenged techno’s ideals or what he wants; while tubbo stole from him, used him as a weapon, and reinstated a government despite everything techno was saying. 

Tommy took part in betraying him, thats without a doubt. but tommy was also screwed over by the government in place. so techno empathizes with him. maybe they dont fully trust each other, but thats a work in progress. and it will progress to technoblade trusting tommy despite their past, and realizing that dream is in a position of power over Everyone. 

tl:dr: tommy is going to heal with techno’s help and full come to terms with/realize what dream did to him, and techno is going to realize he CAN trust people and that dream has been the one pulling the strings all along

[raveneira]

One very important fact about KawaSara people dont talk enough about, or at all, is that out of everyone Kawaki encountered [anime specifically] Naruto and Sarada are the only ones who have never threatened violence against Kawaki for not complying or just disobeying in general.

I know this scene was cut in the anime but just for the sake of the point because of the misunderstanding regarding this scene in the manga, Naruto was NOT threatening Kawaki here, he flat out reassures him by telling him he HAS no intention of hurting him, his powering up was to get Kawaki to quit trying to run away and realize its pointless to which worked. He never threatened violence, just that he simply couldnt allow him to roam around the village freely until they learn more about him and the organization he comes from.

Now back to the anime, since that scene was cut theres no debate whether or not Naruto was threatening Kawaki. As for Sarada she never threatened violence against Kawaki in the anime or manga either, no matter how rude or even violent he was to her she never threatened violence against him.

"But chapter 58-"

Sparring is not a threat of violence, both parties literally consent to fighting one another, her being pissed and saying she'll make him regret this was her consenting to the sparring match she originally was trying to AVOID until Kawaki pushed her into it, she gave him the fight that he wanted. But at no point did she THREATEN him, she never said 'If you dont do things our way Im gonna make you regret it' or anything like that, all she said is she was gonna make him regret pushing her for a fight, again consenting to the sparring match KAWAKI wanted.

"But she still wanted to fight even after Boruto stopped it"

Yeah, a fight HE wanted, Kawaki WANTED a fight and the only way to make him STOP seeking a fight was to beat him, same way the only way to get him to stop running was for Naruto to show him it was pointless, Sarada knew that and so did Boruto which is why he challenged Kawaki to a fight himself to decide how they would do things going forward.

It wasnt a threat, violence was something KAWAKI instigated, not something Sarada threatened him with, but literally something Kawaki forced to ensue.

Rewatch the Kawaki arc in both the anime and manga, not once has Sarada threatened violence against him meanwhile every other character he's encountered has.

Boruto both threatened and has used violence against him multiple times

Sumire threatened violence against him when he was largely defenseless and did use violence against him when he tried to avoid it

the police force threatened and used violence against him several times

I'll exclude Mitsuki because the two of them havent had much interaction.

But when you look at all his interactions with Sarada thus far in both the anime and manga, she is the only person he's had extended interaction with that has never threatened to or actually use violence to intimidate him no matter what he did to her or anyone else, the most shes ever done was get annoyed and scold him. This is something she hasnt even done with Boruto, her childhood friend, who she has both threatened and used violence against.

She's resorted to using violence against Boruto for far less than anything Kawaki has done, and this is her without even knowing his full trauma, she just genuinely hasnt tried or wanted to use violence against him for any reason, which speaks volumes considering she has no problem doing so to her childhood friend for far less.

Sarada has actually gone out of her way to AVOID using force or threatening him, in chapter 58 Sarada tries several times to de-escalate the situation and is against Kawaki's idea of doing actual combat training, Mitsuki was the only one who agreed without protest. Even when Kawaki explains his reasoning for this method, Sarada STILL protests against it until Kawaki swings at her and she decides to give him the fight he wants since he wont listen to reason. But at no point did Sarada actually WANT to fight him or WANT to use force and she even held back immensely not even using her whole arsenal. She only fought when it became clear he wouldnt listen to anything else.

In the anime when he was surrounded by police and strangling Sumire, Sarada didnt get violent or threaten him, you could argue it was because Sumire was there, however, even AFTER Kawaki ran away and was by himself Sarada STILL begged the police not to shoot, showing regardless of who was or wasnt around Sarada didnt want to use force against him.

Back at the facility when Kawaki was still perceived as a threat and dangerous because he tried to break free, Sarada was angry and scolded Boruto for hurting him while he's still injured, despite seeing Kawaki kicking the tray of food away from Sumire, she was still against the use of violence against him.

No other character besides Naruto has done that, Sarada and Naruto are literally the only characters who have never threatened Kawaki with violence nor actually used violence against him.

Note: Please dont be stupid and think Im forgetting Hinata and Himawari, whenever I make these posts it should be common sense Im excluding the Uzumaki fam unless I mention someone specifically, in this case, Im mentioning Naruto because thats who Kawaki is most attached to and who he idolizes the most, so the fact that Sarada is the only other person who hasnt threatened or used violence against him but went out of her way to avoid it like Naruto did means alot. Himawari and Hinata are not included in this because this is really about ppl outside the Uzumaki fam. This also excludes characters like Inojin, Shikadai, and Chocho because this is only including ppl Kawaki has spent an extended period of time with, Kawaki only occasionally hangs out with them so I am also excluding them from this scenerio.

Why is this important? because whenever Kawaki disobeyed Jigen or just anyone from Kara in general, he was always threatened and punished with violence, thats what he's used to, and one of the many contributing factors of his PTSD. His biological father also threatened him with abuse.

So the fact that the only people who have never threatened or abused him are Sarada and Naruto is hella significant and definitely should be talked about more than it has been.

[kendallsdreamsong]

okayyy heres the roman analysis. cw: discussion of nsfw topics (its about his sexuality. so), abuse (references to physical & emotional abuse, heavy discussion of sexual abuse), homophobia, ummm. yeah okay that should be it

romans sex deal is so interesting to me bc its a major facet of his character but its also so open-ended. there are the 4 main interpretations that ive seen; intimacy, power, queerness, and that hes a csa survivor

intimacy makes the most sense imo. he is most comfortable when he cant see the other party, with tabitha he creates this whole. weird necrophilia thing to justify not having to properly interact with her, and with gerri theres always something *between* them -- a phone, or a door, or the fact that they can never actually discuss it since gerri doesnt want her career ruined. this would also parallel nicely with shivs marriage issues, since those also come down to intimacy. shiv even says, in 3x07, "the relationship was fine sexually and you're loving the intimacy and all?" to roman and like. if anyone knows roman its shiv. self recognition through the other (derogatory). see also: tomshiv/romangerri parallels. theres not rlly much i can say here, its like. just metaphorical enough for it to be a theme but not Too much that its grasping at straws.

the only thing i'd have to say against the intimacy interpretation is that i think the fact that they explicitly said it in s3, *especially at kendalls bday party* (where the csa survivor implications are the heaviest), prob means theres something more. if that was meant to be taken straight-on as a whole explanation of romans sex issues then it wouldve been part of a major turning point in his arc -- instead, well. literally in the next episode dickpicgate happens. so. nothing changed. it reads as a one-off line that reflects more on shiv than it does on roman

if u want to read it as a power play thing, i think it has to be in combination with another interpretation. its certainly not enough to stand on its own, since most of romans sex deal is a Lack of sex. having said that, his relationship with gerri attests to this in a very particular way. it started with gerri degrading roman, with him seemingly taking less power in the relationship (which is only hammered in by the age gap), until u realize just how much power roman has over gerri. yes, gerri is a board member, but roman is a *roy*. yes, hes *roman* roy, but a roy nonetheless. he could ruin her career just by a wrong text message, and he almost fucking did! because he was too shortsighted with his own power that he didnt fully conceptualize how dangerous the game he was playing truly was, even though gerri told him time and time again. either way, their dynamic creates this interesting faux secession of power, in which roman can play a sort of. charade that hes less powerful than he truly is

queer interpretation: okay. this one… definitely has backing. i get that the bathroom thing is about masculinity and exclusivity, but its also very very gay to bring not 1, not 2, but 3 men into the bathroom with you. there is no heterosexual explanation for the mencken bathroom meeting. in any case, there are also lines with double meanings, like "i am a walking rainbow band" and logan saying to "get straightened out" when discussing his sex deal. which is. definitely one way to phrase it! roman also has a very noticeable reaction to being called queer/the f slur by logan, which to me says theres some truth to it. overall, i wouldnt say this makes sense as an Explanation of his sex deal, since yknow. his relationship with gerri is to some degree about sexual attraction, from what i can tell. i think hes just queer And has a lot of psychosexual issues. he can do both❤️ (i also left out a Lottt of examples of him being. so manliking. like his entire agreement to "seduce" eduardo, saying "i could rim with vim", etc. theres a 5 minute fancam of him just being gay and the only reason its that short is bc of tumblrs video limit. to give u an idea of just how not-straight he is)

the csa survivor reading is. well. okay. he has a tendency to separate "sex" from "bodies", for example when tabitha says shes wet he cringes and asks her to be less specific. even gerri and romans whole Thing carries with it the knowledge that it is solely gerri degrading roman, only mentioning his behavior and not his body. roman does say shit like "i'd lay you badly but i'd lay you gladly" but like. gerri has made it VERY clear that its not gonna get physical and they both know that. which means roman can make those advances without actually having to fulfill them. additionally, (edit: nvm im proofreading and this is all wrong, sorry i wrote this in the middle of season 2 i didnt know what was coming) he feels isolated from the family bc they think hes "weird"/"has something wrong with [him]". this can presumably be brought back to the dog pound, as thats when he "went weird" and was sent to military school. however we know that his recounting of the event that transpired is unreliable, seeing as kendall confirms later that that wasnt the whole story. ssssso. something big happened around the same time as the dog pound. we get mentions of bedwetting, which is a common symptom of csa, and he makes a Lot of incest/pedophilia jokes, particularly where he is the victim (see: "…said the father as the sexual assault allegations poured in" "like a camp counselor in my butt when i was 12"). like, um, more than any other sibling (except for shiv, whose incest jokes are also always about roman). ESPECIALLY in season 3, like. it feels like every time roman is on-screen in s3 theres some joke about him wanting to fuck his mom. in any case, this has all been talked about before. if u wanna see more about it, heres an article discussing it that i really liked: https://medium.com/@krpilon/successions-roman-roy-is-a-csa-victim-here-s-why-b96aa628fe71 . what i havent seen discussed while ppl talk about this interpretation/theory, is his role in the argestes panel. for a refresher: the panel was waystars initial statement following the news of the sexual assault and murders in cruises. shiv and kendall take haphazard turns making statements, while roman is notably quiet. now, u could just say that this is a metaphor for their respective roles within the company, and u'd be right -- shiv and kendall are really the only two that are at all being considered for ceo, while roman fades into the background, despite technically being there. but i wanna try out a different interpretation. lets take a look at the cinematography first. at ~50:56, kendall says, "we dont know." at the same time, the camera moves to romans face. kendalls voice is overlayed, "right now we just dont know". before zooming back out and focusing on the rest of the panel as kendall moves on. if were running with the csa survivor interpretation here, which we are in this case, this would reference people not knowing about romans sexual abuse, only bolstered by the fact that the argestes panel *was literally discussing sexual abuse*. finally, the only thing roman says during this panel is, "we'll do whatever anyone wants". again, double meaning. theres other stuff, like in 3x01 the camera focuses on roman when the possibility of logan sexually assaulting someone is brought up, but that was the most clear example i could see of cinematography being used to imply this

FUCK i forgot another thing with the csa interpretation. okay so like. theres sexual abuse within the company. thats a pretty big piece of season 2 and season 3. and we know that the violence of capital (abuse within waystar) is the violence of the family (abuse within the roy family). so it would make sense that there would also be sexual abuse within the family. this leads into theories surrounding rose as well, since if romans csa mirrors the sexual abuse in cruises, then the murder of rose would mirror the murder in cruises

IN ANY CASE. those are the 4 most common interpretations ive seen. i agree with all of them to some degree, but i also trust in succession's ability to throw us curveballs