#while also seeking validation from said hero

[cloud-navi]

So I finished DuckTales (2017), my thoughts:

⚠️ Spoilers ahead ⚠️

- Bradford Buzzard:

His feelings for hating adventure and chaos is valid but he should have told his grandma to fuck off and got therapy instead of trying to destroy it. Also its not his fault that Della took the Spear of Selene even if he told her about it.

You can’t have one thing without the other, there must be chaos if there is stability and vice versa.

- Webbigail Vanderquack and Bentina Beakly (Agent 22):

It was a good twist, but it makes me question where FOWL got Scrooge’s DNA to make Webby and why her exact clones (sisters) aren’t perceived as Scrooges kid like Webby is.

My theory: “The Papyrus of Binding only appears to a direct heir of Scrooge McDuck” I think it mean’s physically and emotionally. If June and May are Webby’s clones that means they are just as much Scrooge’s physical child as Webby is, except they don’t have a relationship with Scrooge. Scrooge even before knowing Webby was his kid thought of her like his Grandniece, like family, making her an heir like the boys.

For how much Beakly talked about how important and strong a family is together when getting the boys to talk to Scrooge again in Season 1, it doesn’t make much sense to have her go in alone without informing the family of what she knows of FOWL from SHUSH.

Goldie O’Gilt:

I love her so much, except in the ImpossiBin episode, there she was okay. At the end of the ImpossiBin episode Goldie calls Scooge assuming he took the fountain of youth when they agreed to keep it for both of them, (she went back to steal it for herself so she says). They made progress in the Youth Fountain episode and having Goldie call him about it being gone kinda defeats the whole purpose of their bonding in that episode. Except I understand they needed a character to tell him it was gone like the other missing mysteries but I find it defeated the whole point.

Lena and Violet Saberwing:

To me it looked like Violet’s parents adopted Lena and I’m all for that. Also love the hinted gay rep with their dads.

Magica De spell:

While it was Scrooge that blocked her spell, it was still her spell that she shot that turned her brother into a raven. Theres no reason or obligation for Scrooge to have caught him and give him to her when they were both terrible people. If anything her brother got a new chance at life as a raven instead.

I wish there was kinda a redemption arc when she was training Lena, if not for Lena a little redemption for Gladstone because I like those two.

Fenton Crackshell (GizmoDuck) and DarkWing Duck:

I like Drake with Fenton regardless if he’s Drake or playing DarkWing but I feel like he needs to accept that GizmoDuck is also a hero. Bro needs to know the difference between hero and vigilante.

Fenton is pretty bbg too <3

Launchpad McQuack:

Giant himbo and I love him so much.

Daisy Duck:

Love her, not much else to say. She had standards, that was clear when we heard what she said while driving away from their second date except she still fell in love and was willing to put up with Donald enough to go rescue him and keep going out. Overall a girl boss <3

Huey, Dewey and Louie:

While Dewey should have come forward earlier about looking for Della I understand his intentions more then Huey did when he found out. Louie was right, its not okay, but in the beginning Dewey was just trying to find if she was alive or not, not where she was. He was sorry because he ‘got caught’, he was genuinely sorry. It’s difficult to want to tell someone you’re finding all this stuff about someone you all seek when none of you know if they’re even alive or not. Dewey didn’t want them to lose hope that Della may be alive even if he found out she might not have. Yes he should have told them but I understand he didn’t want to them to be more hurt that she’s unalive instead of just missing. Also they aren’t even teenagers and communication skills are ass with teenagers what makes you think they’ll be any better as 10 year olds?

Again, their anger is misplaced when they’re mad at Scrooge for building a Spear of Selene.

Scrooge McDuck (sugar daddy?):

I like his character and I feel theres a bit of development through out the show with him and the kids, to be a teacher you need to be able to learn from your students.

While yes, he shouldn’t have built the rocket right there he also didn’t tell Della about it. Not his fault she left. Also the audacity to find out it wasn’t really his fault or the fact he nearly went bankrupt looking for her and they didn’t apologize at all.

Donald Duck (DILF):

Literally the best man in the whole show. He put his family first the whole time even when he should have taken breaks except he stepped up. We know that he had some form of falling out with Scrooge because of Della but even so he stepped up to take the kids and stayed in DuckBurg instead of moving anytime in the 10+ years they lived there. I have a feeling they stayed because he knew deep down that he could somewhat still count on Scrooge if not Beakly. Why else would he have stayed and gone to Beakly to watch the kids, granted he didn’t want to talk to Scrooge, Scrooge still took them in and watched them while Donald was off getting a job.

Donald may not be their bio-dad, but he is no way a fucking Uncle. He raised those boys by himself for 10+ years, through their formative years and until they were old enough to know he wasn’t their bio-dad. He stepped in to be a parent because Della chickened out and chose to go to space even when he told her she shouldn’t so she can be with her kids.

Donald Duck, not an uncle, a father.

Della Duck (cool-ish weird Aunt):

My opinion has not changed, she still isn’t a mother to me. Della is an estranged aunt that comes by and is the ‘cool aunt’. She willingly, without obligation, without threat, consciously CHOSE to leave her kids. Regardless of if she knew she would get killed or stuck in space, “there were too many variables” -Huey. She had a fight with Donald that specifically told her that it was a giant, dumb fucking idea with kids on the way. The idea that anyone would accept her back as a parent so blindly is so dumb. Yes she’s their egg-layer, but there is no way in hell she is their mother. A MOTHER would never choose to leave their children unless they positively fucking had too (obligation for safety). Whether or not she regrets it holds no power because she still chose to leave for a stupid reason.

Season 1 finale: “Get away from my kids” by Donald Duck will forever hold more power and significance then anytime she ever says it because she gave up parent rights before they were born. No parent would willingly, without valid cause like their safety (not fucking exploring space for funzys) would leave their child.

Over all:

Scrooge and Donald are DILFS and Della can get bent.

[class1akids]

I really would like to know if its just me or do you think Shouto had the same 'connecting' and 'hand-reaching' moment with Touya as Deku with Tenko and Ochaka with Toga? Especially when comparing the child images I personally feel a big difference. Within the one where Shouto and Touya are back to back he looks simply vicious (not that Touya looks any less angry) but also within the both boys crying panel Shouto is fighting and not reaching towards Touya in any way. This is also the case for Shoutos word towards Touya - he not once said, that he cares about him or wants to know him. You also point out, that Shouto saved Touya, but I actually feel more like he wanted to save everyone else. This is not meant as hate or anything, but for me it feels so devastating that between the villian-hero trios (even if Deku and Tenko are still to come) Shouto doesnt seems to reach out for Touya and I wanted to hear another perspective.

Despite the many common points, their situation is not at all the same. Toga was seeking acceptance pretty much from anyone, while Touya wanted validation ONLY from Endeavor. Toga wanted to live with the things and people she loved, Touya wanted to die with the object of his hatred taking others with him. Toga wanted Ochako or Deku to accept her since forever, but Touya had no personal interest in Shouto other than using him as a tool to hurt Endeavor or prove his superiority. Touya is clearly suicidal from the start - and Shouto's biggest challenge is to keep him alive despite his best efforts to burn himself to death.

Shouto never had the means to give Touya what he wanted - and let's not forget that he's been advocating since the PLF war for Endeavor and him go together to find Touya only to be let down by his father every single time. Plus Shouto believes his existence was the breaking point for the family (it's a belief nobody dispelled yet).

But still, Shouto showed up for Touya personally only to be told immediately that he's not what Touya wants:

And yet Shouto is saying that he can't be a hero if he just ignores Touya's pain (like Endeavor did). Shouto rather not be a hero, if he cannot help his brother. He's the ONLY person in the family who properly faces Touya (even if he's the one Touya doesn't want at all). He listens to Touya's story and he didn't attack him the whole time. It's Touya who escalates the fight deciding to kill Shouto and take him as a trophy to Endeavor.

Now, you also need to remember that the villains' love languages are different. Toga's emotions are expressed in blood. Touya's "love language" is his quirk. It's his bonding experience with Endeavor,

and he rejects any other quirk or move anyone else wants to teach him.

In the Todoroki family, quirk and who you are as a person and what is your worth is completely intertwined. Endeavor's flashfire connects Touya and Shouto even more profoundly than blood does, as out of the four siblings only the two of them share this.

so Shouto reaching out comes also essentially in a language unique to them - he makes an ultimate move just for Touya.

It's a move specifically made to stop him without hurting him. It's coming from Shouto's literal heart, from his healing, from him asserting who he wants to be as a brother and as a hero. It's also proof that there is a different way than the path that Endeavor has set them on. Instead of raising the fire and destruction with it, Shouto's quirk can be used to nope out from the toxic competition and save the family.

Touya's reply is rejecting Shouto - saying that they are not at all similar and that they cannot "mingle" - which Shouto counters with mingling with Touya anyways, refusing to accept their "separateness" - that leads to his power-up and copying of that very same move - the first proof that despite what Touya says, they are not completely different.

Shouto also tries to call Touya back when he tries to leave - this is a parallel moment when Ochako shouts at Toga how they haven't talked about love yet.

But Touya leaves, because Shouto despite pouring his heart out in his phosphor move, calling him Touya-nii, facing him properly - he cannot give to Touya what he ultimately wants: Endeavor's attention, approval and love (along with the attention of the other members of the family that Touya felt rejected by) and proof that his existence matters.

And it comes together in this brief delusional happy moment for Touya - getting the attention and validation he craves from his family.

And it's incredibly heartbreaking because it also makes it clear that Shouto could never give this to him, because it's not something Touya ever wanted from him. Because Shouto never denied him the way he perceived it from the others.

But also, this "perfect" moment falls apart almost immediately with Touya's realization that all he needed was just this small thing, something he could have gotten so easily, and he's unable to stop the explosion accumulating inside himself.

It's the symbol of all the rage he's been holding inside and it just seeks an outlet. And despite coming all together, Endeavor, Rei, Fuyumi and Natsuo are not enough to do anything about it.

And that's where Shouto comes in a second time - hits Touya again with Phosphor - just absorbing / neutralizing all that accumulated heat.

We don't get much of what Touya thinks of Shouto at this stage, but we his approach from Touya's POV in the moments when Touya is thinking about how it was all too late.

First he sees Shouto as this pupil-less monster, but then all the confrontation with Shouto and with the rest of the family makes Touya realize that he doesn't want to die anymore. He wants more time, he wants to say more things and at the same moment he sees Shouto finally as a crying child - as someone who is desperate to help his family, to fight for them and finally can give something to Touya that he wants - more time, a chance to say those unsaid things.

And sure, Shouto wants to save everyone - his friends, the pro heroes, the civilians in the blast radius. But also remember, Shouto doesn't know Rei, Natsuo and Fuyumi are there. Only Touya and Endeavor. And knowing his father, probably both All Might and Shouto knew that even if Endeavor had no ice to stop the explosion, he would take Touya up into the sky like he did with the nomu. I'm sure they both knew Endeavor's only option and the route he'd take.

So what All Might is truly asking Shouto is if he can live with himself if he doesn't try to save Endeavor and Touya - the two people who hurt him personally in very deep ways.

And while it's true that Shouto saves everyone (because Rei's intervention stops Endeavor's murder suicide), it's with Phosphor - the move he made specifically for Touya. And if that's not clear enough, then Shouto goes on to praise Touya in front to Endeavor - for his quirk, for how he was the one who finally did what Endeavor wanted and kept surpassing the heat limits going as far as saying that he can't do that, putting an end to the competition. He gives Touya the win he wants. He also rejects the "masterpiece" label and with the same move, freeing Touya from the "failure" label.

So maybe the ways Shouto is reaching out is not as straightforward and cutesy like Ochako or Deku in the spirit world vision - but Shouto keeps fighting despite Touya's rejection for his family, including Touya and when there is finally something he can give Touya (like a chance to live or ridding him of the "failure" label), he gives it to him.

He's been clearly paying attention and thinking what to do since he woke up in the hospital. Preparing for a chance to save his brother with training a move that serves no other purpose than to keep Touya alive. He's choosing the confrontation that's clearly emotionally very hard for him because he knows that Touya needs the family. He is the first one to ask him why he didn't come home, the first one to acknowledge his quirk and skill, the first one to tell him he's not a failure, but a masterpiece. And I think given what Touya's character is about and how his wants and needs differ from Toga's - it's really Shouto's best effort to save to him (being painfully aware that he's the last person Touya wants).

It all comes back to Shouto's arc - actions, not words.

It reminds me a bit of Midoriya vs Todoroki - where Shouto didn't want Izuku for more than to prove a point to Endeavor, and Izuku had to keep fighting and breaking himself just to get his attention. Or how Izuku was aware that after beating Shinsou, there are no words he can give him - it has to come from someone else. Or the time Deku let Kirishima take the lead to reach out for Bakugou, because he knew (thought) it wasn't his hand Kacchan wanted.

Like, sure, there are situations like Toga vs Uraraka, where Uraraka had the key all along to Toga because Toga wanted her. But there are also plenty of times in the story that are like Shouto's situation, where he knows that his hand is unwanted, but he still has to give it his best shot.

At the end of the day, it always takes a village to save someone. That was the point of the Eri arc. Uraraka is not doing it alone either - maybe the endpoint yes, but she couldn't have gotten here alone.

And I believe that Shouto's actions also matter for Touya eventually, we just haven't really seen it yet so expressly (but I hope we will), because the Todoroki plot is the darker, more nuanced plot and that comes with more complexity and less fairy tale-like turns.

TL;DR: Each villain's situation is different. Shouto is reaching out the ways he can, the ways that make sense for his and Touya's relationship. He is rejected, because Touya and Toga are different people with different wants, but Shouto despite that rejection keeps reaching for his brother to save him, to give him and their entire family another chance. And maybe, one day, all his actions will pay off with Touya also opening his heart to him. Sometimes, these things take time. But that doesn't make Shouto lesser, because connection is a two-way thing and Touya was clearly not ready to connect with anyone until he found some closure with Endeavor.

[strqyr]

With v9 really shining a light on the Ruby and Summer parallels and how Ruby being compared to Summer has shaped who she is. It makes me think about how this parallels Yang and Raven.

How Ruby feels like she has to have all the answers and how Yang in v5, trusted Ruby's opinion above her own.

Ruby gets compared to Summer being a good huntress and how she would be proud of her. While Yang gets Ravens stubbornness and she then apologizes for it. Tai does clarify after that it's not a bad thing. But those responses are telling.

I think about how sad it is that these two who were raised by the same mother. Seem to now have totally seperate moms. How quickly yang discovered summer wasn't her mom, after she disappeared. And how that must have shaped both of their lives.

I was wondering what your thoughts were on this train of thought?

well, what this immediately made me realize is that much of how ruby and yang view summer and raven is based around how qrow talks about them; with ruby and summer there are obviously others making comparisons as well, but the point is, tai wouldn't talk about them (the most he told yang about raven was that they were on the same team so like. that's your baseline on how much he would actually talk about), so that left qrow as someone who knew both of them well.

and this is where the scenes qrow has with yang in V3 and with ruby in V7 come in. to yang, qrow reveals that he knows more about raven and her whereabouts that he has let on previously (they even talk! sometimes about yang, even!!) but also that raven's got "an interesting way of looking at the world" that he doesn't particularly agree with. oh, and also she's dangerous.

it's no wonder then that yang's first response is to apologize, to see any comparisons made to raven as a bad thing, when tai does so. of course, tai sets the record straight, and spends more time talking about the positive traits of raven that he sees in yang, too; her strength, her ambition, and her dedication to whatever cause she thought worth fighting for

"I'm proud of how much of her I see in you. But, I'm glad I don't see all of her in you."

this conversation gives yang a more balanced view of raven, and more importantly that despite any similarities and comparisons made, they're not the same person. but also that it's not just all bad... just like summer isn't going to be all good, either.

but that's pretty much how qrow talks about summer to ruby. to parallel his scene with yang, this time around qrow reinforces the previous assumption that no one actually knows anything about summer's final mission. it was a summer secret, through and through. but still, she was "the best of us", if a bit of a brat, but hey. he likes brats, so it's not really a bad thing.

all her life, ruby has seen any and all comparisons to summer as a good thing. it's a compliment, because summer was just that great. the best, even. so when someone does it and doesn't actually mean it as a compliment, it doesn't register. and as such, ruby also seeks validation for her choices from it; the moment she feels uncertainty with her choices, she goes and asks "what would have summer done, had she found the truth?"

but unlike yang, ruby hasn't gotten that balancing talk yet. every single thing said about summer has been said in a positive light. seemingly summer has no flaws, she would have done everything right, she was the best... and she failed. the hero went to fight the monster, and there was no fairytale ending. the world wasn't made better. and it's that pressure, the feeling of needing to measure up to summer and still being faced with failure, that is crushing ruby at the moment.

sidenote, but this is also why i'm concerned over the possibility that alyx didn't actually make it home. ruby has been following in summer's footsteps, and the end looks like a failure. now she's following in alyx's footsteps to try and get back home, but if it turns out that alyx never succeeded, then that's just. oof.

and also why i think that's exactly what's going to happen because ruby needs to realize she doesn't need to be summer (she isn't) or alyx (as weiss said, they aren't), she just needs to be herself:

"You do not go to the tree, the tree goes to you. Unless, of course, you're me, you see?"

taking into account the role qrow has played in this—being the person telling ruby stories, be it about summer or how ~special~ silver-eyed warriors are—it gives me a stronger reason to believe raven is going to play a part in ruby's journey—possibly by being the way out of the ever after, they still want to go home but if alyx's way doesn't work out (or wasn't real in the first place) then you need another way, and raven has a portal that can take them directly home to tai, who can then have a similar balancing talk with ruby as he had with yang—because raven directly calls out the fact that qrow has been filling ruby's head with stories, and that "you sound just like your mother" was not meant as a compliment:

"The truth is that "truth" is hard to come by. A story of victory for one person is a story of defeat for someone else. By now, your uncle has surely told Ruby and her friends plenty of stories."

either way, one way or another, ruby is going to get it drilled into her head that she doesn't need to be summer, that being like summer isn't necessarily a good thing, that summer had flaws too, and that she can, in fact, be just herself and still be successful.

[heliosrisingheroesimagines]

Can i pls req ren with daisy, marigold and sunflower? Tq in advance!

Ren Kisaragi:

🌻daisy: what is their love language, both giving and receiving?

Acts of Service/Quality Time. Ren didn’t know how to be in a relationship, so physical intimacy didn’t come easy to him; you’d have to be patient and start slow before he’s comfortable with showing that kind of affection. But he also worried that he’d bore you when you hung out as most of his time was taken up by being a hero or training, which wasn’t very interesting to talk about after a while. He tried to keep himself busy by doing little things for you, always insisting on running errands for you or at least with you so you won’t be out alone.

Gifts. They couldn't just be any gifts as Ren wasn't easily won over, but cat-themed gifts were always the surefire way to his heart. You might hesitate thinking, no he couldn’t possibly like this, but you’ll find he always responded positively when you find him something both useful to him and cute. There’s a collection of cat mugs, all from the same company that seemed to release a new one yearly, that you had started collecting for him and you knew he looked forward to seeing the new design every time the year rolled over.

🌻marigold: how jealous do they get? how do they react when they get jealous?

Ren doesn’t tend to get jealous at the drop of a hat. He trusts in you and you spend time together so he doesn’t think there’s a reason to be worried, but when someone comes at him in a gossipy manner about you it can affect him. If Akira happened to babble on about how you’re spending time with some other super cool hero it would give him the slightest tinge of jealousy, making him want to see you in the moment and reassure that you were still his. It’s silly to feel that way and he’s aware of that but he does seek some validation from you, just to give him a little peace of mind.

If you don’t soothe his jealousy he gets rather pouty, even giving you the cold shoulder when you try to figure out what was wrong. You’re used to Ren icing you out though and patiently chip away until he confided his troubles into you, proving again that he should’ve just trusted you from the start. You never minded soothing him because it was so rare for him to act like this, and someone who constantly kept his walls up deserved to relax his shoulders whenever the opportunity presented itself.

🌻sunflower: how would they confess their feelings to their crush?

Ren would rather die with his feelings, biting his tongue whenever a moment became too sentimental as he knew he was likely to throw his heart on the table if he got caught up. You’d be completely blindsided by a confession from him purely because his hot and cold treatment of you would never have you guessing he had a thing for you; even if you had an inkling, looking at his body language and the things he said to you wouldn’t indicate he had any interest in you. Unfortunately, Ren didn’t have many people to confide his feelings in but Will, who remained vigilant of his childhood friend, offered a listening ear with the hope of encouraging Ren into inviting a little bit more light into his life.

[ruthlesslistener]

Oohhh I get it now. But tbh if I'm going to be honest, at least proshippers hide their stuff away in their respective dark areas/behind safe walls and even tag and warn people about the dark content they make. Antis dont, they just invade places and engage in the said dark content just to get mad at it. At least from my own experiences from them. Idk I just see most proshippers as responsible in managing what they make, while antis don't. I actually got a taste of dark content from antis myself as a kid, in a lot of callouts made by antis lololol. And not because the proshipper were demanding their content be known. Its been like that even now actually, where dark content gets shoved in people's faces purely because an anti is trying to act like a hero. Though this is just my experience with them.

Another thing if you wouldn't mind, is that while it's true that dark content can lead to a lot of things in real life. I personally see that it has to be allowed to exist, because dark content shows the dark realities of life and that we shouldn't just leave it/ignore it. I seen victims of abuse for example, who had their experiences validated from reading dark content/about their abuse in stories. Or like the fact that a certain famous entertainment company doesnt want to show blood in their content because of "violence" in shows where kids and adults are watching, where some have pointed out that not showing even a small proportions of what violence can do (blood) will lead to a very naive understanding of the consequences of violence. Shocking because this is a western company, and the TV show in question involves guns and... you get the idea. Don't get me started on censorship and how that can get out of hand so easily.

I don't think I'm explaining this well but yeh. Dark content is needed and should be allowed to exist in my personal views, but should still be allowed to exist behind close doors and away from people who don't want to see it. You can delete this ask if it makes you uncomfortable, I'm just trying to put my two cents into this convo. But yeh, I prefer to live in a world where dark content exists and not one where its nothing but "wholesome" and "pure".

.

[Tone: calm and neutral]

Oh no yeah I agree with you 100%, this is my exact stance on things and is a mirror to most of my experiences- hell, I like exclusively dark content and part of the reason for that is bc I came from a psychologically/emotionally (and sometimes physically) where 'we're all just a big happy family and you're ruining it you little freak' was a big problem. Stuff that's just pure and wholesome actually makes me feel uneasy and on edge all the time because I always feel like the other shoe is about to drop, while horror is comforting because I can read the situation and know what's happening. Part of the issue in my household also stems from the fact that my dad has an issue with differentiating fiction and reality (he suffers from untreated ocd and paranoia and a whole slew of other issues), and he used to blame the stuff I was reading for making me 'disrespectful' and 'cold' whenever I dared to have a negative emotion- hence me just seeking out more and more fucked up shit so that I could vent my anger without getting cussed out (though it also was bc I wasn't allowed to watch anything over a G rating til I was fucking. 16.). Without going into more detail, he used extremely similar tactics to antis and that's why I have such a strongly negative response to them, discounting all of the times where I had nasty run-ins with them. I very much hate all of them and it is because I had to deal with people like them my whole life. It wasn't fun.

I have very few actual squicks, and if I'm in a curious mood I'll also read stuff even if it disgusts me- and hell, sometimes their are exceptions. Captive Prince is a series I'm very fond of full of rape, csa, incest, and psychological abuse, but the reason why I love it despite the content is because it is a very compelling story about how horrible all that abuse is and how deeply fucked up it can make a person, as well as how awful the victim can seem when your pov is being manipulated by the abuser. The problem I have isn't content-based as much as it is the people, and, to the lesser extent, the tone of some of what they make.

See, what soured me on proshippers aren't people who are quietly making darker content and posting/tagging it properly (those are just normal writers and artists imo), I'm talking those who proudly proclaim themselves as proship, aka the vocal few balls deep in The Discourse who make it their whole personality trait. They're mostly centered to Twitter rather than Tumblr nowadays, but the problem with said vocal minority is that they are. Well. Extremely fucking annoying, entitled, tone-deaf, and just overall awful people. Almost everyone who proudly flaunts that they're proship is so balls-deep in the discourse that they feel personally victimized by anyone who shows any negative reaction to the gross shit they're into bc that automatically means they're a puritan, when sometimes it really is just an expression of disgust. Twitter proshippers are a whole different breed than Tumblr ones after the porn ban, but unfortunatly I keep getting their arguments shown to me when I'm on the site scrolling for furry porn and its...bad. It's real fucking bad. Not as bad as antis half the time but certainly not much better in how they treat people and their personal boundaries.

It's also the people who will take content that's pretty fucked up and spins it through a fandom lens that also gets me, though most of the time I just block and move on with a bad taste in my mouth instead of getting actually angry. And by 'fandom lens', I mean people who will take a rape/abuse/etc situation and then go 'oh but what if they're a couple with only a few pokes at the fucked up elements in canon. Ex, some (admittedly few, but they exist) people ship Mohg and Miquella as a reciprocal pairing despite it being a kidnapping and nonconsensual body modification incest-for-power situation, and that just...it feels so wrong. It's just so shallow and such a bad take read on a complex situation that I cannot stand it, it makes me want to run the opposite way. I have zero authority to force people to not do things ofc, I'm not a fucking cop, but those people give me the vibe of someone who'd not help you out with an abusive partner because 'oh but his posessiveness and controlling nature is just so cute, and he clearly loves you so its okay!' and that rings the alarm bells of someone that I do NOT want to be around even if it logically means nothing.

Does that make sense? It's a convoluted mess, but I hope I made it more clear that it's not so much the content that bothers me as much as it is the people and how they use it.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #303: RECKONING!

May, 1989

Featuring... Quasar! Firelord! The Fantastic Four! And the West Coast Avengers!

When is so many guest stars too many guest stars? If not here then near here.

So, last times in Avengers: due to editorial meddling, the writer of Avengers went from Roger Stern to Walter Simonson. Simonson wanted to shake the book up with a hot new roster, including Mr Fantastic and Invisible Woman. He got editorial permission to use these Fantastic Four characters in Avengers but then the permission got withdrawn right after he'd already committed to it in the book. So he quit.

Now Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio are writing the book until the new permanent writer comes on, trying to smoothly write out the Richardses. So we get this three-parter about Super-Nova, coming to Earth to look for Nebula who blew up his home planet Xandar off-panel in an earlier story.

The Avengers flew up to Super-Nova's ship, at which point he blew it up and just flew to Earth on his own. The Avengers survived the explosion, thanks to Invisible Woman, and have made their way back to Earth. In the meantime, the West Coast Avengers and Quasar have tried - very high emphasis on tried - to stop Super-Nova.

Hawkeye tried to buy time by talking to the guy. But one page of talking to Hawkeye is enough for Super-Nova to want to squish the archer.

Which is a valid reaction to Clint Barton.

Super-Nova recaps why he's here and gives Hawkeye one more chance to tell him what he wants to know.

Super-Nova: "My homeworld, Xandar, was destroyed by a she-pirate named Nebula! She fled to Earth and has taken refuge as a member of the Avengers. I am the sole survivor of Xandar -- Super-Nova... And I have come here seeking her in the name of vengeance. You are the self-proclaimed leader of this group. You will reveal her whereabouts now -- or I will crush you and this puny world as well.

Meanwhile, at ground level, Tigra casually chats how she wants to slit Super-Nova's throat to get at his blood.

ARE YOU A VAMPIRE NOW?

Hank Pym tells her not to try anything foolish while Hawkeye is in Super-Nova's grasp.

Some police nearby decide now is a good time to start shooting at the giant man. Hank tells them to not start shit.

Hawkeye has apparently just hemmed and hawed and not said anything and Super-Nova runs out of patience.

He bemoans that a planet full of dumbos like Earth survives while Xandar had to die.

Hawkeye accuses that of being Super-Nova's real motive. He doesn't really care about Nebula, he just wants to take out his grief and frustration by destroying an innocent world.

In response, Super-Nova disintegrates Hawkeye.

Can't tell if that means Hawkeye's motive read was right or whether Super-Nova is just sick of his shit.

Super-Nova is also sick of Nebula not being brought to him and he blows up a building about it.

As it happens, Hawkeye did not die. It may surprise you to learn that he did not die while guest starring in another book and while his own book is in the middle of a story. But its true.

When he stops flinching from being about to die, he realizes he's being carried away by pink energy.

Yup, Quasar reappeared in the story.

After he failed to restrain Super-Nova, he shrugged and decided to focus on evacuating people instead of fighting the big, angry dude. In fairness, Super-Nova has been remarkably chill so far so Quasar probably saw no reason to rile him up further.

Despite being a rookie hero, Quasar is very not impressed with professional hero Hawkeye.

Quasar: "Exactly what strategy were you employing back there?" Hawkeye "Oh, that. Ahh -- special Avengers emergency tactic #1108 for dealing with giant aliens. Say, how about a lift back to the street?" Quasar: "Fine. I've more folks to rescue anyway."

You can just about feel the disillusionment wafting off Quasar.

And its not like he's full of himself. Half of what I've read of his solo so far is him kicking himself over what an incompetent goober he feels he is.

So for him to look at Hawkeye and go 'wow, you make me feel competent.'

Oof.

At ground level, Hank is having a breakdown that they just stood by while Hawkeye was killed and Tigra is trying to comfort him.

Hawkeye: "Save those tears, people! Your unflappable leader-man's back on the job!"

Tigra runs over to hug Hawkeye out of relief. And Hank shows his relief by berating his leader.

Dr Pym: "Well, I suppose you expect us to be grateful you're in one piece! What exactly was that little stunt you pulled that gave me fifty new gray hairs? And who was that guy who brought you down?" Hawkeye: "Gimme a break, Hank. Y'know, it seemed like such a good idea at the time -- teleporting, that is. I've been learning the technique in my yoga class. Heh, heh."

Okay. That's pretty funny. And halfway plausible in a comic universe.

(Is Hawkeye a Street Fighter fan? And a Dhalsim main?)

Tigra interrupts the Hank and Hawk Laff Zone to point out that the Fantastic Four have arrived. Yup, all three of them.

They never actually replaced Crystal when she left during Evolutionary War. It's almost been a year, guys. You can't have a gap on the roster for that long when the team name has a specific number in it.

Anyway, Thing and She-Thing jump out of the Fantasti-Car to pummel Super-Nova!

Annnnnnnnnnnnd.

Immediately get grabbed in his big, strong hands and bonked together like cymbals.

Super-Nova: "Thus are two more inconveniences dispensed with."

Good contribution, Fantastic Three.

Johnny Storm flames on and flies out of the Fantasti-Car (does that have auto-pilot?) and threatens to do Super-Nova a fire.

Super-Nova points out that he can survive the extreme temperatures of space pretty easily so some little flame blasts aren't going to do a lot.

And they don't. Human Torch splashes some flame off Super-Nova's shoulder and the guy doesn't even turn to look.

Johnny wants to hit him with nova flame, see how he holds up to that heat, but that would burn down Chicago and Chicago doesn't need that again. So he'll have to think of something else.

Quasar finds Thing and She-Thing in the crater they made of the street and goes to say hi.

He knows Ben from his Project Pegasus days! From Quasar's Project Pegasus days.

But he was only saying hi and making sure Ben and friend were okay. Because he then flies off to go help the Human Torch.

Human Torch also recognizes Quasar. From an issue that hasn't been printed yet. But I've read it so teal deer, Quasar is renting an office in the Baxter Building and he saw someone break into the Fantastic Four's floors. He went to stop the guy, had a little altercation with the Human Torch, and then teamed up with him.

Your standard Marvel meet-cute.

Anyway, Torch and Quasar pool their powers to blast at Super-Nova, who ineffectually swats at them like annoying flies.

The Avengers shortly arrive, in the extra Quinjet they borrowed from the West Coast Avengers Compound. But Cap decides not to jump right into things.

He knows that the West Coast Avengers are on the scene and wants to touch base with them, find out why they're not doing anything. So he calls him on the radio.

Captain America: "This is Captain America, Hawkeye! What in blazes is going on down there, mister?" Hawkeye: "Blazes is the word for it, Winghead! Welcome to the weenie roast! I hear you gents already ran into tall and gruesome in space. Glad to see you're still among the living. This dude's already downed Wonder Man and the Thing -- and the Torch and this Quasar guy don't seem to be having much luck!"

So Cap calls General Akord and tells him to absolutely evacuate the city. Super-Nova can explode with nuclear level force if he gets agitated and he's probably getting agitated, what with all the people trying to set him on fire.

General Akord tells Captain America that evacuating an entire city on short notice is basically impossible. So if the superheroes can't stop Super-Nova, the military is going to do what the military do and shoot guns at him.

So that puts a time-crunch on things. Save the city from the military being dumb.

Cap asks Thor, Firelord, and Gilgamesh to go into the fray and talk the Human Torch and Quasar into disengaging. He needs Invisible Woman to take up a good vantage point and be ready to put an invisible force field around Super-Nova should he go supernova again.

Invisible Sue says she doesn't know if she's up to it. After all the strain of surviving the explosion in space and having to keep a bubble up until they could get back to Earth... she might be tapped.

Mr Fantastic offers to go with her... to provide moral support I guess? Tell her when to use her powers, like he tends to do? I don't know but he wants to be by her side which is probably sweet.

But Cap tells Reed he needs his help talking with the authorities.

Mr Fantastic: "Couldn't you handle that yourself, Cap?" Captain America: "No! Reed, you're an Avenger now -- and I give the orders! Clear?" Mr Fantastic: "Yes. Clear."

I don't want to accuse Cap of being petty but I sorta wonder if he really does need Reed to talk to the authorities. Or if he's just trying to reign in Reed and chose this moment.

I don't want to tell Cap how to run a team but if you have a Mr Fantastic on call, his role in a fight should be 'hey smart guy, think of a smart guy solution!'

Invisible Woman jumps out of the Quinjet and makes an invisible slide to slide safely down to a rooftop.

God, Sue's cool.

But just in case Thor pops in and is like hey do you need a hand or? She tells him she's good so he goes righto, drops Gilgamesh to the ground, and goes to talk to Team Beat-Up Super-Nova.

Firelord asks Human Torch to stop attacking the big guy that could explode and Johnny says hey fuck you, you're just a copy of me.

Stay classy, Johnny.

Cap and Reed land by General Akord. While Cap explains the situation vis a vis Super-Nova looking for Nebula on Earth but actually she fell into a time hole, Reed gets that far-away genius plot resolving epiphany face and fucks off.

Just jump stretches away.

Right when Cap is asking him to explain the situation fully to the general.

Captain America: "Reed, where the --" Hawkeye: "Sure you're still in charge, ol' buddy?" Captain America: "Of the number one Avengers team? You bet! Reed -- blast it! Will you come down?" Hawkeye: "Heh, heh. How's that class on leadership lessons comin', Cap?" Captain America: "What's he doing? I didn't authorize him getting involved in this battle!"

Stay classy, Clint.

Mr Fantastic stretches over to the battle where Firelord is still trying to stop Human Torch from attacking Super-Nova. And where Thor seemingly forgot his mission briefing because he's taunting the big guy by saying he's fought bigger.

Reed forms himself into the shape of a Q or kind of a Q practically almost a Q to get Quasar's attention.

Mr Fantastic asks Quasar to fly him to the Baxter Building in New York as fast as possible.

This clearly needed to be done by Quasar and Reed couldn't just use the Quinjet he flew here in, clearly.

Captain America watches Reed and Quasar take off and is like '???'

Meanwhile, Thor forgot his mission assignment so hard that he's aggroed Super-Nova into blowing up.

One job, Thor.

You had one job.

But when Super-Nova builds his firey power up to explode, Firelord and Human Torch just absorb it all away before it does explode.

Human Torch talks a big game when Firelord asks him if he can handle half the energy burst but is secretly worried that he's never had to absorb this much before.

And just when Johnny feels like he's going to explode, the two firey heroes succeed in taking all of the energy from Super-Nova.

It's a LOT of energy though so they immediately have to fly off into the upper atmosphere to vent it where it won't do any harm.

The strain of containing so much energy makes Human Torch go all woozy so Firelord grabs him to carry him back to Earth.

Johnny apologizes for being such an argumentative dick to him and Firelord says hey its cool, we're fire bros.

Sometimes I'm being tongue in cheek when I paraphrase but not this time.

Firelord: "No apologies necessary, for we are one with the flame that transcends worlds."

They're fire bros.

With all of his built-up energy dissipating in space now, Super-Nova is just a really big dude.

Now even Gilgamesh is getting in on the 'I've fought bigger' boasting.

Thing and She-Thing have recovered from being bonked together and they start trying to trip up Super-Nova by lifting his foot.

She-Thing (Sharon Ventura, btw) tries to make this story arc seem big and epic by talking about all these different heroes coming together to face a threat none could challenge alone.

But Ben Thing Grimm tells her hey, c'mon, time and place and when we're trying to knock this guy over before he notices is not the time.

Wonder Man wanders up, finally recovered from the smack down he received. Sure took his time.

(Apparently his belt jets broke and that's why he took so long.)

He asks what Ben is up to and Ben jokes he's sizing Super-Nova up for a new pair of shoes. Then Ben asks where Wonder Man has been.

Wonder Man: "Oh, I was part of the underground effort here for a while."

HAH.

Cause he was knocked underground.

You're funny, Simon.

Thing: "I don't know whut yer talkin' about -- but grab a handful here, willya?"

Simon is funny but its really 'you had to be there' humor.

So Thing 1 and Thing 2 grab one foot, Wonder Man pushes the other, and Thor shoves the back of his knee and timberrrrrrr.

Super-Nova falls flat on his face.

Thor: "At last you see that e'en one such as thee may be toppled -- may fall before the righteous wrath of those you belittled!"

Super-Nova really does just stand around and let things happen to him, huh?

I guess it's hard to choreograph a fight involving a giant guy but he does just kind of stand around.

The Thing advises everyone should pile on him while before he can get back up and nearly everybody does rush in to kick the guy while he's down.

TEAMWORK!

Over at Manhattan, Quasar and Mr Fantastic have arrived at the Baxter Building. Which is technically called Four Freedoms Plaza at this point.

Reed runs into one of the small labs he used when he was with the Fantastic Four. He hasn't been back in months, since he and Sue quit the team, but what luck! The very specific non-descript thing he's looking for is in a crate, right where he left it! And also, an oversized adapter unit that he needs, right nearby!

Thank goodness for convenience, the comic is nearly out of pages!

On the topic, you may be wondering why Reed even needs to hurry back and save the day with his leftover scientific marvels when the other heroes have Super-Nova on his ass and kicking his face?

Well, he gets back up.

A big punch scatters the heroes and Super-Nova's power starts building up again. His body starts heating up too hot for even the rock-skinnned Thing and She-Thing to hold on.

Uh oh, he might be building up to an explosion again!

Well, can Firelord and Human Torch absorb the blast like last time?

No, Johnny is still woozy from last time.

Okay but Cap prepared for this by putting Invisible Woman in a good vantage point, ready to encase Super-Nova in a bubble, right?

Lol. Sue abandoned her post to go fret over Johnny.

One job.

You had one job, Sue.

He's not even hurt! Head in the game!

Firelord finally tries appealing to Super-Nova as a fellow Xandarian. I mean, doesn't it make him feel better that he's not the last of his kind?

But Super-Nova isn't in a listening mood.

Super-Nova: "No more talk -- DEATH!"

Captain America, strategic genius of the Avengers, comes up with an 11th hour strategy!

Hit him again! Just keep hitting him until the problem stops being a problem!

Good plan, Cap!

Thankfully, Reed arrives with a b- well, with a plan.

Hee has Quasar drop him right in front of Super-Nova.

Mr Fantastic: "Super-Nova -- this is Reed Richards! I have been known to your homeworld! I have met those in the Nova Corps and knew them to be honorable men! You are of them -- listen to me! Listen! Nebula is outside this timestream... She is not on Earth! But she can be sought with this time machine I have brought from New York!"

Super-Nova asks why he should trust Reed isn't just trying to get rid of him, Reed says Super-Nova has his word.

Super-Nova: "Reed Richards -- you were known on Xandar. I have heard you are a man of your word. Proceed."

Well, okay.

Its funny that this whole story could have been prevented if Super-Nova had trusted Reed to tell him what happened back on the spaceship.

I mean, this whole story has happened because people kept telling Super-Nova what happened to Nebula and every time he went 'nuh uh!'

Also, I guess it disproves Hawkeye's read that Super-Nova was just lashing out at Earth.

Anyway.

Mr Fantastic sets the (really big) time platform up and Super-Nova gets on it. The platform sends Super-Nova into the timestream, to be the timestream's problem if he gets mad again.

Thanks, Reed!

Super-Nova: "Your planet owes you a vast debt, Richards. For in my anger, I surely would have destroyed it. But in the end... reason has prevailed." Mr Fantastic: "May your search bear fruit. Farewell.

Yup, Reed Richards sure is cool. Too cool for the Avengers, probably.

Definitely too cool for the Fantastic Three, who seem to have shown up just to get shown up.

Zing.

But while everyone congratulates Reed on how cool he is, Captain America is grim in the corner of the panel.

Captain America: And you did it without clearing the plan with me. That's not how we play ball on the Avengers, mister. Not at all.

'Hmph hmph hmph most unorthodox!'

Anyway, this is the end of Mr Fantastic and Invisible Woman with the Avengers.

It's not made explicit in this issue. Next issue, Reed and Sue are gone and the team is just Captain America, Thor, and Gilgamesh.

In order to know why Reed and Sue quit, you'd have to read Fantastic Four #326.

At the beginning of that issue, the two are still with the Avengers. And start the issue hanging out on Avengers Island.

Reed suddenly announces that he's bored of being with the Avengers. Sue says she can tell he wants to go back to the Fantastic Four again and makes him promise not to take the team back when he goes to visit just to see how Manhattan is recovering from Inferno.

When Reed visits the Baxter building, he finds that his entry card doesn't open the rooftop door. And when he opens the door by turning his finger into a key, he finds the automatic defenses have activated and targeted him.

Because Ben hasn't been maintaining the security systems with the procedures that Reed left behind.

Reed swears up and down that he's definitely not here to take over.

Then the Wizard attacks with a new Frightful Four.

In the confusion, Ben gets tossed into a new cosmic ray gadget Reed whipped up to cure Johnny of being too hot. And the device turned Ben back into a squishy human.

Reed decides, well, Ben can't lead the Fantastic Four like this! It's not like he has some kind of robotic Thing suit he can wear. That'd be silly. So Reed needs to come back and take over.

It's not like Johnny or Sharon could do it!

Sue says she just wants to live as normal parents with Franklin but Reed asks her if she's really going to leave the FF in their hour of need? And she says no.

HA HA EVERYTHING BACK TO NORMAL. This will make the book start to sell, surely.

Fun fact, Steve Englehart was so disgruntled about editorial forcing Mr Fantastic and Invisible Woman back into the book that he used a pseudonym for his writing credit.

He Alan Smithee'd it.

Its funny that to shuffle Reed and Sue off the Avengers and back over to the Fantastic Four, everybody needs to look like incompetent idiots.

The West Coast and East Coast Avengers and Fantastic Three all try to stop Super-Nova and just wind up looking like chumps.

It's only Reed's enormous brain and reputation that saves the day.

And then when he goes to check on the Fantastic Four, Reed finds everything is falling apart because Ben doesn't have what it takes.

Englehart had enough respect for the characters that instead of undermining Ben further than that, he had him turn into a human again again again. Making the matter moot and having Ben give his blessing for Reed to be the leader again again again.

Having gotten through this little three issue filler, I again see why it's called the Worst Roster.

The first issue had great interactions between everyone. I could see how this team would work and different directions it could go, character wise.

And then issues 2 and 3, the team is pretty sidelined. Everything basically becomes an issue of Fantastic Four with tons of guest stars.

Reed brains up a solution from the scientific void while everyone else keeps the baddie busy.

The so-called Worst Roster can work. But in parts 2 and 3 of the story, there's not a focus on making it work. There's focus on demonstrating that Reed could warp the Avengers in his own image as an excuse for him to leave.

It's not entirely convincing. And I'm not convinced that Reed going off against orders to fix everything in his own Reedy way is final proof that he couldn't work on the Avengers.

It's still a good character dynamic between him and Cap.

Anyway.

Convincing or not, Gruenwald and Macchio did the mission brief. Transition Reed and Sue back to the Fantastic Four.

I can't say I give it a high score just in that regard because they don't even leave the team by the end. I'd have to read another book for that.

Next issue is another fill-in by a different creative team. And then Byrne takes over.

Both Avengers books under his pen! Wow. I know how that goes for the West Coast Avengers but I haven't heard a lot about his East Coast Avengers run.

Cautious optimism?

Follow @essential-avengers for all these same posts but without anything else in-between. Like, comment, and reblog maybe. I can't make you.

[faroreswinds]

I have a lot to say about the Totk story, and how it fails, but there was one particular thing I felt the need to note that only occurred to me while I sat in my warm tub, contemplating my sad existence in this world.

It occurred to me that Zelda, a person from the future with knowledge of said future, does not try to attempt to find the hero or the master sword of Rauru’s era.

And while that might seem like a minor thing, I don’t think it is.

In Zelda lore, we have a few other instances where a hero does not show up, but it is not for a lack of trying. In the case of LttP, for instance, the people sought the Master Sword, a powerful weapon said to be the bane of evil, in order to defeat Ganon and his spreading evil. But they could not find the Master Sword, no matter how hard they looked. And eventually, they ran out of time, and had to turn to the Knights of Hyrule and the Sages to complete the job. This ended up with the near total genocide of the Knights, and Ganon only being sealed away into the Dark World as a temporary measure. 

As for the Wind Waker, the people did basically nothing, because they had anticipated the Hero of Time to travel through time to their rescue. They relied on a hero who had rescued them before and therefore, through their negligence, failed to seek a hero of their era until it was far too late. By then, their only recourse was to pray to the gods to be saved from Ganondorf’s evil. Even after all of that, the King of Hyrule still sought the Hero of Time. It was only until he met WW Link that he realized that he could not rely on an ancient hero who was never going to show up. 

But what about the Imprisoning War in Totk? 

Zelda joins the ancient sages (who have no names or faces btw, I have no idea why they even bothered) and King Rauru in order to attempt to stop Ganondorf. But his power was too great, so Rauru sacrificed himself in a last ditch effort to seal Ganondorf for thousands of years, so that Link could defeat him in the far future.

At first, I didn’t really have any issue with this general set up. But as I thought about the other two No-Hero eras, I realized that Zelda really failed Rauru and his era. 

Zelda’s time is not one of complete ignorance. They have history and legends, recorded for thousands of years. It was common knowledge that the Princess sealed the darkness, and the Hero took up the Master Sword in an epic battle against evil. It was so known, in fact, that that was their entire plan against the Calamity. Find the Hero, awaken Zelda’s powers, and then defeat evil. 

And yet, when Zelda is forced into the past, it apparently does not occur to her to find the Hero of that era? If she remembered that the Master Sword could hurt Ganondorf, then surely she might think of seeking it in Rauru’s era? 

Rauru’s era seems to be one of ignorance. They do not seem to know about the Master Sword, or the concept of the Hero. So I don’t blame them for not looking for a Hero or the Master Sword. But Zelda DOES know. And yet, she never brings up the possibility of a hero of that time? Like, imagine if they looked for the MS and the Hero but failed to find both, and THEN resorted to their war? 

I am sure you could make all sorts of arguments as to why Zelda never bothers to mention the hero. Perhaps she didn’t know the Master Sword already existed in Rauru’s era. Perhaps she made all the connections too late. These are all technically valid, but do not excuse the writing of her character, which makes her seem kinda slow and pretty stupid.

She never makes the connection that Ganondorf is Calamity Ganon. She never considers that her actions in the past MIGHT change her future, perhaps even in drastic ways (she just decided she wanted to help the past, unsure if this would even affect her future). She and Sonia made a pretty foolish plan to confront Phantom Zelda, and then Zelda made no attempt to use her powers to rewind time to save Sonia. Zelda also never makes an attempt to use her sealing powers either, and while you can argue she lost her sealing powers at the end of BotW, this is also never brought up in Totk so it feels like a conversation is missing. 

It feels like at every turn, Zelda makes the worst decisions left and right, with her only decent decision in being to restore the Master Sword in a sacrificial mental suicide. But even that is full of oddities. 

How did she know that turning into a dragon would allow her Light powers to pour into the Master Sword? She is explicitly told that her Secret Stone amplifies her Time powers. As far as she knows, turning into a dragon will not enhance her Light powers in any way. 

Furthermore, how did she know that clutching the Master Sword during the transformation would allow it to be embedded in her body in such a way that Link could access it later? 

She took a HUGE gamble based on two facts: That the MS gains power as it absorbed sacred power, of which she possesses, and that eating a stone will make one a dragon forever. 

That’s it, that is all she knows. She knows nothing else, and yet jumped into this huge risk. As far as she knows, she could have dropped the MS during the transformation, and then her sacrifice would have been for naught. 

And it’s not like this is a knowledge Zelda. TP Zelda, for instance, is not a character who is fully explored, so any knowledge she possesses is fully believable. I don’t know what TP Zelda knows, so if she knows about the MS, then yeah, I believe that.

But BotW Zelda is explored more, and we know what she knows. And she does NOT know all the details about the dragonification process. She only knows eating a secret stone makes you a dragon. She got so unbelievably lucky in her guess that it borderlines insanity. 

This world and this Zelda was not designed for this story, and it shows in a big way. 

[shinidamachu]

So I thought of something... I HATED Sesshoumaru in the beginning, reminded me of all my brother's bad traits back then (we are now best friends). It was after he adopted Rin he started becoming a better person, like some others become better people when they become parents. So it was the two of the, a father-daughter combo I liked, without the other, they aren't much. Just see the time Sesshoumaru kills a man and uses his arm while Ah-Un watches over Rin while they go to steal tessaiga and kill Inuyasha again. Now again, he's just awful. It's not before he appreciates human lives because she introduces her to the good sides of humanity (like some children introduce their parents to the beautiful and not cynical parts of the world), he starts to see that their lives also have their worth and becomes a better person. Some characters come as duos to be whole..!

You bring on some excellent, absolutely valid points.

For me, it comes down to the fact that I usually find stoic characters such as Sesshomaru – with very few exceptions – extremely uninteresting.

As a woman of color who is very passionate about everything I hold dear – my family especially – Sesshomaru is particularly hard to relate to. And everything I've said so far also applies to Kikyo.

I understand the appeal, it's just that he never did it for me. It feels like the very reasons why people love him so much are precisely the things that drive me away.

For instance, his character design is gorgeous, but I've never felt attracted to him and, even if I had, his cold personality would have nipped that in the bud.

Don't get me wrong: I absolutely love morally grey characters. Sesshomaru just didn't make it to the cut because he has the charisma of a water cracker.

The few things I actually enjoy about his character – the dynamic between him and Rin, his almost romance with Kagura, the unexplored idea of a relationship with Kikyo – aren't even about him per se, but about other characters.

Compare this to Inuyasha, a male lead who's actually interesting, charismatic and three-dimensional. It's not a secret that his relationship with Kagome is my favorite thing about him, but take that away completely – along with his character development – and I'd still be crazy invested on his journey as an anti-hero because that's how compelling and relatable he is.

Sesshomaru, on the other hand, works just fine as an antagonistic side character, but to be honest, every time there was an episode centered on him I wish I was watching literally anything else. Toga and Izayoi's love story, Koga and the wolf tribe or just the Inugang doind whatever: any one of those sound way more appealing to me.

You say some characters come as duos to be whole and I agree, but it's also true that this can lead people to not care about them as individuals, which is exactly my case.

I guess people can interpret Sesshomaru as someone who was just seeking for his father's approval, but even this sounds more like headcanon than anything actually explored in the show. Sesshomaru feeling overlooked doesn't necessarily means Toga overlooked him.

He is biased and entitled and we never got to see Toga's perspective on their relationship, but the fact that he left Tenseiga to Sesshomaru shows that he knew his son well and loved him enough to give him what he needed instead of what he wanted, even if Sesshomaru couldn't understand his act of love for what it was at first.

It was never about Toga's legacy – because Tenseiga is just a part of it as Tessaiga – and it was never about his broken up family – because he didn't seem to give a shit about his mother. It was about Sesshomaru's hurt ego at seeing his half demon, "bastard" brother getting the sword he judged to be more powerful.

I'll give credit where credit is due and say that from all the Inuyasha characters who were supposed to be morally grey – Kikyo, Koga, etc – he was the one who had the best written redemption arc by far, Kagura being the exception.

I just don't think it's as perfect as people make it out to be. It was good and natural for where the story stopped – anything else would have felt forced–, but he still had a long way to go before I stopped seeing him as a lowkey racist, spoiled little brat.

Even if Toga had if fact neglect him and this fact had been properly shown, it still doesn't justify nor erase the awful things he did, especially to Inuyasha, who had to go through way worse stuff than daddy issues, mostly because of him.

Abandoning Inuyasha as a child and using the memory of his mother to steal the sword their father had rightfully left to him are just a few examples of why I think a fraternal relationship between these two is broken beyond repair.

It's great that Sesshomaru did become a better person – not that the bar was too high anyway –, but it shouldn't be on Inuyasha to forgive and forget just like that. Especially because Sesshomaru never even put on the effort to apologize and make things right.

[flintstill]

Hooooohoohoohoohooooooooo boy…

None of this will probably mean anything to you but I have to yell it somewhere while I’m watching this presentation about what was my patient and case.

“X-rays remained almost the same, indicating that the lesion did not really change over the 3 years”

Wow—JUST LIKE I FUCKING SAID AND WAS BLOWN OFF ABOUT because you couldn’t be bothered to take my word for it. Or read the chart notes. Or look at old x-rays. 😱 until now apparently before your grand rounds presentation that you’re using to glorify yourself after you hijacked my case and patient.

And your admission right there also contradicts how you yourself introduced the case—that the patient presented with “swelling and pain” NO. She did not. She presented with a bony expansion, no swelling, no pain. Pain and swelling was because I was told to close the access even tho I disagreed but deferred to the expertise of the specialist

Remember when you said the lesion had perforated the nasal cavity and I told you, that imaging modality only shows fucking hard tissue clearly, you can less distinctlysee a layer of soft tissue, and CYSTS are defined as having a lining/wall that would also serve as a barrier. and based on—you know—assessing the actual patient and having been there since the beginning, I told you it fucking wasn’t, that there was at minimum a soft tissue barrier and possible eggshell of bone still protecting the nasal cavity, and you again blew me off and planted catastrophizing thoughts in the patients head?

And the endo specialist saying in conclusion of the presentation that we shouldn’t jump to the surgical part of the treatment. LIKE I FUCKING SAIDDDDDDDDDDD. But after your putting catastrophizing thoughts in the patients head and that she needed surgical intervention urgently to make yourself look like a concerned hero, and trying to paint me as negligent, when I was DESPERATELY HERDING CATS as fast as I could when the specialist was out of the country for a month during this time. When the pt only ever ended up on your fucking schedule because I was texting with the patient after hours at like 9/10 PM after giving her my personal number, and then frantically looking at the schedule and emailing the scheduling department at bedtime to get her in the next morning and your fucking schedule was unfortunately the only one with an opening because I was stuck in urgent care that day.

In conclusion. FUCK YOU DUDE but I so enjoyed watching the specialists say in the official presentation everything I fucking told you myself that you ignored. I may have less clinical experience than you but I have a Doctorate in the field and you have a Bachelors. Which clearly DOES make a difference exhibited by your management of this case after your shady fucking grab when I was just trying to do the best by the patient before initiating any hugely invasive intervention one couldn't turn back from. Fahhhk you

And also the “I’ll make sure people know it was your diagnosis” in the presentation. There wasn’t even an acknowledgment. I'm validated by the content and am not your glory-seeking ass (you sure fit the surgeon archetype therein, so that's fitting 😒), but I'm bothered by your lie about it.

[tiny-tigers]

I come here because I’ve found very few blogs of girls a similar age to me discussing english rugby. I’ve been reading this blog for a very long time, and I have always just skimmed over the personal posts. I don’t think you are a bad person, or a bad feminist, I just noticed that these comments had become regular recently. I know you have said it’s sad they feel the need to do all this, but you also posted a week or so ago calling these girls ‘ugly fake tanned’ and ‘plastic barbies’, and have said similar things before.

I’m 21, live in England, go to university and play on one of the sports teams there and I can tell you with certainty that it is rare you will see a girl in any of those circles, especially at university, who either doesn’t have lip filler or fake tan at the very least. It’s also very rare you will meet a rugby boy who doesn’t do any of the things these boys do unfortunately!

Like I said and I think you have said in the past, it’s sad when people are not as great as you expect them to be. Never meet your heroes they say😅 They may be lovely to meet as players when they’re working (although even then…), but if you met them on a night out as just a girl rather than a fan I would bet they wouldn’t be so lovely! It’s the typical rugby boy culture of knowing they can get girls and so treating them badly. That’s also why they don’t care what these girls are posting about on their social media, they are more interested in their looks and what they offer sexually.

I wasn’t saying you were jealous of these girls, I don’t believe you are. That was speaking from my own personal experience with boys. I was trying to say dislike can often be triggered from another emotion. From everything you’ve said in response I understand you are frustrated that there are never any girls who are ‘natural’, which is very normal. You had said a while ago that it minimises the impact on you when they look ‘normal’, and so I understood that to mean that you wanted to see a part of yourself in the people they date to help your confidence. But maybe I had misread that.

I agree that things can be and often are posted or done for male validation, but once again, seeking male validation is because you are not confident enough in yourself and want someone else to validate your beauty, so it does all come back to being insecure. And this validation is not female exclusive, you could say the same about anytime a player posts a photo topless knowing people will like it.

And these enhancements are only the same as Freddie getting braces, the difference is his just wasn’t plastic, but it’s something he wanted to change that a professional didn’t think medically needed to be or it would’ve been done when he was a kid. I would put money on a fair few England players getting sunbeds every now and then too.

Of course it is your blog and your point of view, I respect that your opinion is different from my own. I just felt like what I believed your reasons for disliking some of these people were seemed slightly unjustified when it was because of their looks alone. Much like you are saying these kinds of girls bullied you at school, I understand that is why you may view them in a certain way, but don’t bring yourself to their level. You may not be saying it to their faces, or commenting on their photos, but as soon as you hit send anyone can find it.

I also don’t know any influencers personally but I’ve always thought it was a very odd career choice. But hell they’re making more money than I probably ever will😅

The girl you mentioned talking about skin cancer, I don’t know who she is or follow her so I can’t personally comment on what she posts about but obviously I agree that if you have a platform you should use it wisely. And it is very much justified to dislike people who promote hateful or morally incorrect things.

My comment to fredanon was more about managing how you’re feeling because it is easy to be caught up in someone else’s reality. I’m not offended on behalf of my friends, I was simply pointing out that disliking someone for their looks alone can be shallow because they could be the sweetest person. As for their comment about ‘not coming to the blog’ if I didn’t like what was posted, it seemed quite hypocritical considering they don’t seem to like seeing what these girls or even players post or do yet continue to look or even follow. But like me, they follow these because they are interested in other things they do, as I’m interested in what this blog posts about rugby.

I don’t think you came across as rude Amelie, and I’m always very impressed with your English to say it’s not your first language I believe?😅. You are allowed to have an opinion, and you can obviously post whatever you would like to here, I wasn’t trying to stop either of those things. I was just offering a different perspective, and hoping that your dislike for these people wasn’t based on the fact you didn’t like how they chose to look. I myself fake tan sometimes, and I would hate to think I would be disliked because of that or equally I would hate to think people would dislike me because of the things I choose not to do too.

Similar age ( I want to hide in a hole omg🙈😭 if only I was 21. ) I am sad you are skimming my personal post as it is part of the blog really otherwise getty images is your friend I don't do much.

Let's say for one and for all I value MORE natural beauty over artificial addings to make it look natural yes. I agree. I don't think you should change anything for anyone. Ok so you state facts but aren't you sad about those that at uni already they are doing procedures that aren't necessary ? Isn't a bit sad they cannot stop to follow a trend and use rather huge sugery procedures that will change them forever with sometimes non reversible dammages in the near future?

Doesn't make you angry ? Because why exactely are they doing that, to fit in ?

I still have hope they are a bit more than that but I currently agree, boys will be boys and they are deceiving. No that is true I think it ease my mind a bit when I see how they look without their artifices , you didn't misread that. I assume it makes me believe we are just all the same.

I still think it is a lot of sexism in beauty industry that promote those kind of behaviour and yes play on insercurities of women MORE than men and we aren't equal on that matter. A girl is considered aged around 30.

I still think it cannot be compared to the mortality ratio that plastic surgery creates on very more and more younger girls each year. You cannot compare Freddie job teeth and a boob job on a teenage girl no I am sorry even if I get what you are trying to say it is not the same.

Oh really the pressure on boys and girls is not the same please. Don't dare to tell me that. If a player do sunbed he will not be called fake tanned bitch but a girl yes ( I just use my own comment to proove you that misoginy is more present than ever and creating gaps between us all , even women. I don't say I am right I just it is more likely a woman will receive bad comments or comments on her appearance than a man and they will have less hateful ones ).

Mmmmh do not agree on that point as I assume my discourse. I don't think I am doing any wrong in what I voiced. I may think twice before I criticize them because of yours messages but still from what they show and it is 90 % their naked bodies and nothing else I am left with 10 % of really nothingness and they validate my first impresison : kind or not kind they usually act : artificial / shallow/ money interested / only appearance and apparel / superficial / ...

But I get for the 1% who is not I gave you the point and will think twice.

Yeah she was promoting coconut oil as sunscreen and staying she had skin cancer removed last year saying maybe it wasn't the best choice tho like oopsie and promoting her life when she ended up in dangerous situation but it is not an isolated case and influencer use a lot their power on underrage audience or very vulnerable people and I hate it.

I think with them when you are into their spiral it is hard to get out. We peak through their life and what they show us so it is logical to want a bit more from time to time.

As for content I can start tagging personal stuffs so you can avoid it and use the anti tag.

Nop' first language is french :) then dutch then english so thank you ! I studied english only for some years at school.

I liked the different opinion as I am always ok to discuss topics and not entitled to a final oppinion but I surely wasn't a fan of the tone which looked patronizing at some points even towards Fredanon.

I am really ok with this message tho and you seem more open to discussion so am I.

You gave me some good points but I still think some of mine are valid as well.

[frozen-hearts-cannot-be-broken]

What does your muse smell like?

Before the Blaze- Lavender or lilac deodorant & strawberry shampoo; will put on some nice perfume if she’s feeling fancy or if it’s a special occasion

After the Blaze- Like a doctor’s office; cannot use scented deodorants or hair products due to her line of work; emits a musk that smells faintly of ozone & winter when using her powers

What do your muse’s hands feel like?

Before- Smooth & delicate; she’s never really had to work a day in her life & it shows

After- Very dry due to her constantly being cold; the beginnings of callouses are starting to form & her touch is literally as cold as ice; she wears specially made gloves not so much for her comfort, but everyone else’s 

What does your muse usually eat in a day?

Before- Anything quick & easy to make (frozen & microwavable meals, sandwiches, etc.) or takeout; she does try to keep track of what she puts in her body though, making sure to keep her meals balanced & more or less healthy

After- Whatever Kray puts in front of her; he has her on a very strict, well-balanced diet to keep in her in the best shape possible; sweets & takeout are out of the question the majority of the time, but he does treat her on special occasions or when she does a good job (a happy prisoner worker is a good worker, after all); to Kray’s credit(?), the meals he has prepared for her are always gourmet level, so I guess that’s something?

Does your muse have a good singing voice?

Before- Yes; she didn’t have much interest in following in either of her parent’s footsteps, preferring to seek a career in the arts rather than the sciences, & her parents were both encouraging & able to finance her pursuits; her mother’s best friend was a former rock singer turned vocal coach who started giving Thiya lessons as an early teen; a few years later, Thiya started a YouTube channel where she would post her various covers & over time gained a decent-sized fanbase, big enough to warrant the occasional live performance

After- Thiya still retains her powerful voice, but she’s very out of practice; she also doesn’t really feel like it anymore, saying it doesn’t make her as happy as it once did; that being said, she can still be heard humming or singing under her breath whenever she hears a song she likes (most of which are now considered ‘oldies’ or ‘classics’); the few times she sang while under Kray’s care were to distract herself from the pain brought on by her physical therapy and/or recovery from battles with Mad Burnish

Does your muse have any bad habits or nervous ticks?

Before- Wrings her hands when nervous, along with stammering & stuttering; laughs when she’s overwhelmed & can’t figure out how to express it, which can be a bit unsettling to those around her

After- Any & all physical nervous ticks have been conditioned out, although she does cackle hysterically when receiving devastating news; has probably developed a crap-ton of unhealthy coping mechanisms, especially once she’s learned the truth about Kray; much like Galo, she deeply craves validation & praise from Kray; this hero worship is later shifted to Galo, Lio, & to a lesser extent, Ignis

What does your muse usually look like / wear?

Before- Will usually prioritize comfort over fashion, doesn’t really have a very unique style; hates high heels with a burning passion; will put in the effort for special occasions such as black-tie events hosted by her parents’ colleagues (long dress, a little makeup & putting her hair up or a suit & tie combo, depending on how she’s feeling) or concerts (tight clothes that show off her figure, combat boots, styled hair, leather jacket or trench-coat; think, Mad Burnish Lite); doesn’t like showing much skin, regardless of occasion 

After- When working as the Freezish, Thiya doesn’t wear much under her armor so as not to restrict her movements (usually a specially made catsuit, combat boots, utility belt, & goggles--almost like a superhero); when she’s not working, she dresses as casually as she did before, just with more layers; all of her clothes are custom made, preserving what little natural body heat she has left

Is your muse affectionate? How much? How so?

Before- Thiya is very affectionate with her loved ones, although she’s not the biggest fan of PDA; her preferred means of conveying affection are acts of service, gift giving & words of confirmation, but also enjoys physical affection if the other person is comfortable with it; is VERY touchy when intoxicated

After- Same as before, if not a little more reserved; she was a bit affectionate with Kray at times; closes herself off something fierce after the events of the movie; still strongly desires to give & receive affection but distances herself from others to keep from getting hurt or worse, making others uncomfortable; she also doesn’t believe she deserves any, so she doesn’t really give it

What position does your muse sleep in?

Before- On her side or stomach while cuddling her pillow, which she also drools on

After- On her back with her hands at her sides; could easily pass for a corpse

Could you hear your muse in the hallway from another room?

Before- Only if she’s singing or mad

After- Only if she’s singing or absolutely livid

Thanks to @ofhope for the template

[shotorozu]

encountering a ‘pick me’ girl

character(s) : kirishima eijirou, todoroki shouto, bakugou katsuki (bnha)

warning : PICK ME GIRL, misogyny (?) pick me girl makes an off handed comment about your body but it’s not detailed at all

PART TWO — PART THREE

legend : [Y/N = your name] afab! reader, but they/them pronouns used, quirk not mentioned

headcanon type : fluff, angst if you squint

note(s) : i made 2 versions of this post so,, if you’re reading this— then i probably decided that i liked this one more than the other one i made,, anyways, i used real life examples 💀

»»————-　♡　————-««

kirishima eijirou

i’d imagine that eijirou would have an idea of what a pick me girl is— i mean, there were probably 2 of those girls in middle school

but has he experienced it first hand? nahh.

though, eijirou didn’t think he’d encounter one when he was already in a healthy and committed relationship!

eijirou is practically friends with everyone— and yeah, even the most unexpected. so, he’s bound to accidentally befriend a pick me girl

him, being the nicest one out of all of the characters in this list, will still be nice to said pick me girl, despite wanting to snob them to the core

because really— you can’t really fight fire with fire in some cases

but, he can be everything but lenient when the pick me girl starts insulting you for doing certain things, and for absurd reasons too

like,, how you laugh, and how you take care of yourself (for example— if you wear makeup, or how you style your hair)

which is odd! everything about you is everything but the things the pick me girl has stated so.. he cannot stand by.

SCENARIO

the girl giggles to herself after that snide comment leaves her lip gloss coated lips. eijirou shifts uncomfortably— honestly taken aback by the anything but subtle insult that was thrown at you

“like.. seriously! it’s honestly quite superficial if you look at it like that. who the hell would put that much effort infront of your boyfriend? i’d assume they’d see everything AND everything but.. i guess not.”

you blink. superficial? now that’s a new one. the girl infront of you has been babbling insults sugarcoated in boasts the entire time, and you’re just wondering if it’s about time you guys leave but—

“well that’s unfair,” your boyfriend laughs, “i put the same amount of effort as this cutie right here,” eijirou pokes at your cheek, earning a quick laugh from you— which he can only thank the heavens for that

“but that’s different. it actually looks put together when you’re doing it, eiji.” the certain glint in her smile makes you want to wipe it right off with a dirty mop, “it’s impossible to look put together with expensive clothes, but being built like a—”

the sound of the sliding of a chair is quicker than your actions, and it easily cuts her off.

“i’m sorry, but we gotta go, it’s totally not cool of you to say those things about Y/N!”

“what? but i mean.. it’s true, right? i’m looking out for them! they’re literally out here l—”

“bye!” eijirou waves her goodbye with your hand, dismissing the sour expression on her face— as he dashes off with you

you’d question how he’s just so nice to people like that, but when he turns around, you could see the distaste in his eyes

“so that’s what a pick me girl’s like,” shaking his head, his expression lights up with such a quick manner “i’ll never make friends that are like that again!”

safe to say, eijirou’s friend list has been a a person shorter ever since that incident

bakugou katsuki

oh, so that girl’s bold bold.

if she thinks she could get away with being a not so subtle pick me girl infront of bakugou katsuki, then she couldn’t be more wrong.

it’s absolutely revolting— i mean, he hasn’t displayed any romantic feelings towards ANYONE that isn’t you.

also, they’re quite gutsy if you ask me. so congrats for having guts??

i don’t think he’d be friends with a pick me girl. he’s very selective of who he’s befriending, so it’s probably your friend that’s the pick me girl in this case

he wouldn’t know what a pick me girl would be, but he’d probably know the description of one.

over some time, he’d grow some resistance to insults directed at him, but when someone insults his s/o

oh boy. that’s not good. remember when i said that katsuki was almost like your scary and intimidating dog

this is what i mean

knows he can’t make a scene, so his first option is to be dismissive asf— but if said pick me girl literally can’t get it, he won’t be afraid of shoving some explosions into her face

because his hands are rated e for everyone

SCENARIO

“so you wanna be picked or something, is that it?” he hates how you literally have the resistance of a rock— which is something he always liked, but in this case hated. if it weren’t for you— he would’ve blasted explosions into her sorry excuse of a face until it’s beyond recognition (that wouldn’t be hero like, is what you’ve said in the past, but he disagrees.)

but seriously? ugh. he just wants to leave this horrid place, and make some dinner with you in the comfort of his home. why are you even friends with her anyway? she’s not even trying to be slick at this point.

“p-picked? i’m not understanding, katsu.”

“it’s bakugou.”

“right,” her laughter is like nails on chalkboard, “i’m just watching out for Y/N, y’know? there’s no point in wearing all of that.. on their face.” and she’s obviously referring to your obviously very well done makeup

“it’ll make your skin terrible in the long run! and really— i couldn’t really understand on why someone would wear that much, when you could survive with i dunno.. lip gloss at most?”

you would’ve actually said something as a rebuttal, but your boyfriend is quicker, and a lot more direct than anyone else in the area.

“just say you can’t do makeup and fucking scram,” katsuki’s ice cold glare finally breaks out of the act he’s been trying to hold together for you

“their makeup is fucking bomb as hell, compared to your ridiculous spider lashes, lady. come back when you’ve watched james charles’ entire fucking channel.” he harshly states in similar bakugou fashion, despite the lack of screaming.

and if you squinted hard enough, you could see tears welling up in her eyes. but katsuki tugs your hand before anything else could be said

“let’s fucking go, you need better friends.”

he makes you cut ties with all of them, and he practically scolds your terrible choice of friends— but he goes quiet when you tell him that you’ve been friends with her since middle school

“good fucking riddance. next time, i’ll punch them as soon as they say something outta line, got that?” and next time (hopefully, there won’t be a next time) you’ll actually lash out— or maybe,, you’ll let him loose for once.

todoroki shouto

now shouto might be,, socially unaware sometimes. but he can tell whenever someone’s trying to insult his s/o

like,, right away.

now— you both run into this person after a pleasant date, and she eagerly presented herself as your friend

so, her attitude catches him off guard because who’d have anything rude to say about you and towards shouto’s face? especially when it’s about something normal.

like,, wasn’t she your friend?? why is she even like this?

his hostility is very well known, so they should be scared.

he gets detached from the conversation, and he’ll immediately go cold— and shouto would probably go as far as walking away with your hand in his

doesn’t matter if he properly says goodbye or not— if a girl’s being rude to his s/o, they obviously don’t deserve his usually polite attitude. nope, that’s a luxury.

oh— and what more when they’re seeking for his validation. newsflash! said pick me girl won’t be get any from him.

SCENARIO

shouto couldn’t stop the bitterness bleeding into his mouth, when the girl in front of him continued to babble and take up the valuable time he had left with his s/o

initially, she presented herself as your friend from middle school— but as of now? she seems to be more interested in him more than you, despite knowing you first.

she’d ask him a string of obvious questions with very obvious answers, like ‘is she treating you well?’ ‘is she acting correctly?’ and questions of the sort

“oh, sorry! i’d hate to cut this conversation short, but—” you finally decide that it was about time to leave, while shouto looks pretty,, deadpanned right now, you could tell that he was gradually starting to get irritated by your friend’s words.

“wait. thats.. kind of controlling, don’t you think? do you ever let shou make decisions?”

“uh.. controlling? since when??” you question at the accusation. this girl knows nothing about your relationship dynamic, and she’s already jumping the gun and making conclusions.

your gaze snaps back to shouto, who looks just as surprised as he could possibly be.

“yeah! it clearly looks like he still wants to talk” which is an obvious lie, shouto just wants it out of here “i wonder how you managed to snag such a guy like him,” she comments with a smile that looked anything above suspicion (yet, it makes your stomach churn)

you could see the way her hand gets gradually closer to him— and frankly, you’re not sure about what she was planning to do next, “you wouldn’t need to dress all expensive and fancy, if you’re with a girl with an already classy appear—”

“i think this conversation is over,” shouto grip is firm on the wrist that was attempting to grab his shoulder, shouto makes no attempt to even look at the girl infront of him “i don’t know what you’re trying to do, but it’s not humorous. at all.”

“what?” she stammers, drawing her hand back “i-it’s obvious they don’t know how to take a joke! this is why there are barely any good w—”

shouto’s next actions knocks her speechless, his hand rests at the small of your back, before gently guiding you forward— “love, what movie are we watching later?” he says, making an effort to press a quick, yet intense kiss on your lips

“oh,” you breathe out, surprised by this action. “don’t be so tense, love.” shouto comments on how tense your shoulders have looked, ever since she started running her mouth, “now.. what movie do you want to watch tonight? comedy? thriller?”

“you pick,” you laugh at the quick shift of topic. and when you look behind you, you could see shame and defeat welling up on her face. shouto finally feels like he could smile again, the bitterness dissipating from his mouth

after shouto questions you if that was what a pick me girl was, he makes sure that you guys won’t ever encounter such thing again

“you.. don’t have more friends like that, right? if you do— we could always do another friend list cleansing.” this statement makes you laugh but shouto is anything but joking

but being reminded of his reaction to that ‘pick me’ girl does puts a smile on your face.

»»————-　♡　————-««

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei, i only own the writing and i do not profit off of my hobby

do not plagiarize, reupload, translate, or use my works for audio readings without permission

[ahb-writes]

15 Unconventional Senses and Sensory Attributes

How many heroes or villains have you encountered in books, comics, or films who couldn't feel pain? Ever read a story with a character who is cursed with an odd hunger they must satisfy to retain their sanity? Unique or unconventional senses, attributes, or neurobiological mechanisms can punch-up an already, curiously assembled character. Readers and writers of sci-fi and fantasy know this well. But when starting from scratch, or seeking to craft something distinctive, one might view the expanse of published literature and feel like it's all been done before. Well, maybe so.

Or, maybe the big, wide world is hugely bored. All the more reason to take up character building, conduct a few deep dives into all the ways animal biology is fantastic (and fantastically weird), and push and pull each never-ending query toward its nearest (or farthest) logical (or illogical) conclusion.

➔ "If you start from the wrong construction of the phenomena, then you might produce a very clever piece of philosophy, but it will be worthless because it's not actually getting to grips with how things really are." (Barry C. Smith, Director, Centre for the Study of the Senses, Univ. of London, as quoted in The Irish Times)

This research article explores 15 unique methods of sensory awareness, some of their related pathologies, and other curious traits or manifestations.

Agency

Auditory Hallucinations

Chemoreceptors

Effort

Electroreception

Equilibrioception

Exoskeletons

Homeostasis

Itch

Magnetoreception

Pain

Polarized Vision

Proprioception

Spinal Reflexes

Thermoception

Some of these "senses" are largely cerebral (sense of agency), others are more instinctive (reflexive senses) or intuitive (sense of effort), while yet others are evolutionary survival mechanisms (sensing another animal's heartbeat). Others are extraordinarily combinative (sense of balance). Many of these senses and sensory response faculties overlap (e.g., magnetoreception and polarized light).

❯❯ Agency

The sense of knowing/understanding one's ability to act on one's own accord. Pop psychology on mindfulness will frame this as "self-advocacy" or of "taking control of one's life," but such views don't provide a fully nuanced perspective. Instead, consider how studied social psychologists may frame a sense of agency as a sense of ownership-accountability over the mind and the body, but monitored and influenced by the variables, constraints, and controversies that manifest in one's environment, real or perceived. In this context, agency represents voluntary control over one's thoughts and actions to reach a desired, experiential state. An important caveat, however, rests behind the descriptors "perceived" and "desired"; agency can also be dangerously misleading, as "priming thoughts" about forthcoming events often "foster [an] illusory sense of agency" over said actions or events, notes an article in Frontiers in Psychology. A sense of agency is affirmational, yes, but it can also make one delusional.

In storytelling, agency regards characters and the level of control they exert over their engagement with the narrative reality. On the micro level, agency can also refer to a character's control, attempted control, or accountability concerning specific experiences. What environmental pressures would force a character to act in her self-interest? What dangers may be present, and how intense might they be, to force a character to work against her self-interest? Human history is rife with political machinations that have resulted in individuals who feared greater punishment for doing what was right than for their acquiescing to that which was wicked.

The differing theories of agency and cognitive causation are intensely layered. But for writers determined to validate this on the page, it may help to recall German philosopher Thomas Metzinger's self-model theory of subjectivity. Metzinger's theory holds that for one's self-representation to be fully experienced, it must be transparent, and a conscious self-representation can only be fully transparent if its internal properties are accessible.

❯❯ Auditory Hallucinations

Gothic literature is bursting with auditory hallucinations, whether from the sound or voice of an "other" that has gained a sense of autonomy, from a valorized voice meant to warn against danger, from a word of the defiant who ardently resists entrapment, or from a disturbed and narcissistic, disembodied entity.

An auditory hallucination can manifest as either incoherent sounds, echoic memories of traumatic experiences, or distinct voices. In humans, such hallucinations might arise or occur in various disorders (paracusis), as a result of post-traumatic stress, or in a patient with psychosis. Auditory hallucinations occur in the general population ranging from 5% to 28%, according research appearing in the journal World Psychiatry. Altered or damaged brain connectivity (cognitive processing) is the subject of much research. But in some cases, scientists suggest the origin stems from spontaneous activation of an individual's auditory network; that is, the spontaneous firing of sensory neurons in the absence of appropriately functioning inhibitory mechanisms (i.e., the limbic system). From the perspective of the individual, the source of the hallucination varies, as does the quality and intensity of said hallucination.

❯❯ Chemoreceptors

Sensory cells or organs that interact with chemicals in the blood; or more specifically, chemical controls for stimulating or inhibiting respiration. The amount of respiration depends on this neuronal network's response effectiveness. Peripheral chemoreceptors detect large changes in arterial blood oxygen, notably as it relates to the respiratory rate (allowing oxygen into the blood), blood flow (sensitivity to hypoxia), and cardiac output (supplying oxygen to the body). Central chemoreceptors detect changes in arterial carbon dioxide, notably concerning brain blood flow and metabolism, lung ventilation, and pH control (for optimal protein structure and function). A simple example would be to imagine a fantasy novel in which a character or adventurer is impervious (or not) to a gaseous poison that would inhibit proper breathing.

From a more practical standpoint, abnormally enhanced peripheral chemosensory inputs result in an overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system. According to the journal Biological Research, onsetting pathologies can include "hypertension, heart failure, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (e.g., systemic inflammation, muscle dysfunction, and/or cachexia, which is when the body literally wastes away), and metabolic syndrome (e.g., sympathetic hyperactivity, impaired blood-pressure sensitivity)."

❯❯ Effort

Prior to undertaking an activity, physical or mental, most humans make an assessment of the energy required to successfully complete said effort. The "sense of effort" deemed necessary to effectively conduct a task can occur consciously or subconsciously, depending on one's familiarity with the event at hand. Cognitive fatigue, muscular fatigue, cost-benefit analyses, and more, all affect the perception of effort.

In physical/behavioral terms, some scientists call the sense of effort a "judgment of force," because of how an individual must accurately estimate the ratio of vigor to fatigue, assign various motor commands (intuitively or peripherally), and dynamically assess how sustained the effort must be (duration of force application). However, for individuals with disabilities, a sense of effort is tangibly skewed; practice doesn't always make perfect; local, social, and environmental factors influence one's quality of concentration, feelings of strain, and stimulus sensitivity (or insensitivity).

On a related note, in psychological terms, self-control is viewed as an aversive mechanism. That is to say, to consciously recognize the costs of exerting effort or to establish a credible perspective on what is or is not a rational level exertion given the scenario at hand. Too much effort? Not enough effort? The right amount of effort, but for the wrong reasons? Self-control will surely have something to say about that. Psychologists frequently debate the extent to which humans are evolutionarily hostile toward effort-contingent rewards (or, conversely, actively assign positive values to effort).

❯❯ Electroreception

At its broadest, electroreception concerns sensitivity to electrical fields. Applied narrowly, electroreception explains a predator's capacity to locate and monitor its prey based on the electrical signals produced by said prey's heartbeat or nerves. For a predator, this means locating one's prey no matter where it hides, as well as at extended distances, depending on the medium through which the electrical field passes (e.g., water, air). Sensors are often delicate (e.g., beneath the skin of a shark's head rest hundreds of highly conductive, ampullary electroreceptors). Fascinatingly, some weakly electric fish have evolved their signal frequencies away from the sensory range of their predators in an effort to increase environmental fitness. Other animals use electroreception for intraspecies communication, identifying mates, or sensing and evading unwanted visitors.

❯❯ Equilibrioception

The sense of balance. A generally unobtrusive physiological sense in humans and animals to prevent them from falling over as they move or stand. It entails a visual system, a vestibular system (spatial awareness via the inner ear apparatus), and proprioception ("kinesthesia," the sense that lets one perceive the location, movement, and action of various parts of the body), all working together to orient the individual to the surrounding environment (and gravity) to achieve balance.

Balance is a quintessentially multi-modal sense. To summarize an array of medical literature on the matter, balance occurs when (1) sensory input (vestibular, visual, proprioceptive) is processed by (2) the cerebellum (coordination and regulation), the cerebral cortex (higher-level thinking), and the brainstem (sorting of sensory information), and is then paired with (3) motor output reflexes, motor impulses, and postural adjustments.

Cognitive or physiological damage, spatial disorientation, illness, or malfunctioning sensory inputs all affect one's sense of balance and one's dependence on it. As cheekily noted in an editorial published in Behavioral Sciences, "It is said that (perfect) balance is the action of not moving."

❯❯ Exoskeletons

Not traditionally thought of as a unique sense, the exoskeleton, while protecting the body, also enhances one's capacity to interpret the surrounding environment. Some animal exoskeletons specialize in providing certain types of sensory enhancements (e.g., stress or pressure sensitivity), some exoskeletons possess environment-particular chemical compositions (e.g., to maintain osmotic balance or inhibit infection).

For writers who are interested in this clever brand of defense and offense curiously bundled into the same package, one recommends researching the differences between exoskeletons, ossified scale exteriors, and for extra credit: whatever the hell turtles are made of (hint: a combination of bony plates, fused scapula, and fused rib bones, blended over countless years of evolution).

❯❯ Homeostasis

To wit, it's "any process that living things use to actively maintain fairly stable conditions necessary for survival," per Scientific American. Achieving homeostasis relies on a convergence of multiple senses.

More critically, achieving homeostasis also means maintaining stability despite an array of conflicting stressors or environmental characteristics (which themselves influence hormone secretion and sensitivity). Hunger? Thirst? Sweat? Blood pressure? In terms of what the body requires, homeostasis concerns regulatory mechanisms or processes that enable one to dynamically maintain steady-state conditions. Anticipatory feedforward mechanisms initiate advantageous and predictive responses to keep the body healthy (or, healthy enough).

Never underestimate the value of negative feedback mechanisms (i.e., change or error signaling; disturbances of the "normal range" of critical feedback), and never overlook the danger of having a time lag in repairing otherwise natural or effective systems once they're damaged (i.e., disturbance or departure from equilibrium).

❯❯ Itch

As the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy explains, "itch, or pruritus, can be defined as an unpleasant sensation that evokes the desire to scratch. [C]hronic itch originates from [..] [a] serious, unmet clinical need. Broadly, subtypes of chronic itch have been delineated and termed pruriceptive, neuropathic, neurogenic, and psychogenic itch."

Pruriceptive itch follows activation of primary nerve terminals, is inflammatory in nature, and notably follows, not precedes, skin damage. A neuropathic-type itch stems from nerve injury or nerve trauma. The neurogenic type is an itch resulting from central nervous system activation without necessarily activating the sensory nerve fibers (e.g., internal injury results in external, physiological reaction). A psychogenic-type itch comes from underlying mental illness (as with delirium). So, an itch can be caused by something seemingly minor (skin irritation), injurious (nerve trauma), deceptive (overactive nerves), or systemic (internal injury or disease).

❯❯ Magnetoreception

Most commonly, navigation by way of sensitivity to magnetic field intensity. In birds, for example, the optic nerves receive and process the magnetic intensity of their environment and transmit said information to the brain. Sensitivity to magnetic fields is frequently cited when discussing what the greater animal kingdom has but humanity does not (at least, at scale). Salmon, hatchling turtles, honeybees, whales, and bats are all said to use magnetoreception, for navigation or migration, to some extent.

Magnetic fields, unlike other sensory stimuli, pass completely unimpeded through biological tissue. By extension, magnetic-field sensitivity is more ambiguous and under-researched than other senses, as the process of transducing the magnetic stimulus into a cellular response lacks specificity. Three hypotheses dominate: (1) mechanically sensitive magnetoreceptors; (2) light-sensitive, chemical-based mechanisms; (3) an anatomical structure that would enable electromagnetic induction. These concepts are not mutually exclusive, according to research published in PLOS Biology, "animals may have evolved multiple mechanisms to detect different components of the (magnetic) field." Wild.

❯❯ Pain

Neural feedback permitting the central nervous system to detect (or avoid) potentially damaging stimuli, either passively or actively. This is nociception. A StatPearls article on PubMed notes: "Inactive nociceptors provide less-than-conscious nudges that strongly encourage the avoidance of potentially injurious and hazardous exposures." Now, if you want to get technical, then general pain and nociception are not identical; nociceptive pain is more acutely defined according to the locus of sensory activation (e.g., skin, tendons, joints, bones, muscles, internal organs). But to keep the conversation accessible, only a few additional notes remain.

Consider, for example, congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis, a rare nervous system disorder that begets a lack of sensitivity to noxious stimuli (resulting in recurring infections, cuts, bruises, and unintentional self-harm). Following such a diagnosis, "pain-sensing nerves in these patients are not properly connected in parts of brain that receive the pain messages," per the Iranian Journal of Pediatrics. With no cure for this hereditary disease, treatment regimens aim to control body temperature and prevent self-injury.

Consider also, allodynia, a different type of pain. In short, allodynia is chronic pain brought on by extreme sensitivity to touch. Actions or behaviors that are not typically considered painful can be excruciating. Pain and pain sensitivity are essential to survival, but what if one's body is unable to differentiate variations in pressure or temperature? The result is debilitating. In a medical environment, reducing such pain is extraordinarily complex (e.g., nerve-block injections, surgery, opioids, lots of therapy).

❯❯ Polarized Vision

Interestingly, animals with polarized vision can control the amount of light entering their eyes (or, attenuate the orientation at which light waves oscillate). Many animal species have developed superior navigational skills by basing their efforts on the sun's various positions. In other words, navigating the sky using time-dependent light patterns. Some animals use polarized vision (or polarized-light sensitivity) for "contrast enhancement, camouflage breaking, object recognition, and signal detection and discrimination," according to a research article published in Integrative and Comparative Biology.

When perceiving scattered or refracted light, environmental factors, atmospheric factors, perturbations in the medium (e.g., waves in water), medium quality, and pollution all affect an already highly sensitive manner of pattern discernment.

Human-world applications abound, from fancy sunglasses that enable one to increase visual clarity in high-glare environments to increasing the precision of advanced military technology. In one fantastic example, engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studied the mantis shrimp in extraordinary detail and developed a camera (i.e., a one-inch cube) that mimics the shrimp's use of polarized light as well as the shrimp's capacity to manipulate its detection of light intensity. According to Scientific American, the camera's dynamic emulation of these natural abilities could help cars detect hazards in ambiguous conditions, enable military drones to identify camouflaged or shadowed targets, and help surgeons perform more accurately. It's difficult to state how powerful this new technology is: The engineers' cube camera's light-detection ability was 10,000-times higher than today's commercial cameras (and yes, the tech is already available for cheap, mass production...).

❯❯ Proprioception

The sense that allows an individual to perceive or otherwise intuit the location, movement, and action of various parts of the body (i.e., a limb-position sense). Proprioception is also defined as the unconscious awareness of joint position, for how one absently-mindedly deliberates, identifies, and predicts willed movement. That is to say, knowing what one's body is doing, in the moment (not reactive or reflexive), without really thinking about it. This is all about movement detection and movement-detection thresholds.

Likening proprioception to kinesthesia, either broadly or narrowly, is common, but may not be entirely appropriate when one considers how dependent (and specific) proprioception is regarding sensory nerve endings and their correlation to the particular location, position, and orientation of specific joints, muscles, and limbs (e.g., athletic trainers often focus on soft tissues, such as muscles, tendons, and ligaments). Some researchers have gone so far as to detail the number and type of skin receptors pertinent to signaling limb position. To simplify, proprioception is imperative for precise and fluid movements.

Impairment doesn't simply mean reduced movement-sense and spatial-bodily awareness (kinesthesia), damaged receptors mean the body's physical pathway to communicate with the brain is broken or askew. For example, imprecise sensory interpretation as a result of muscle vibration (e.g., antagonistic conditioning, muscle fatigue) may encourage receptors to inform the brain of the illusion of limb movement or of limb displacement.

❯❯ Spinal Reflexes

Also not considered among the traditional senses, reflexes are important and effective components of sensory stimulus-reaction complexes. Reflexes are involuntary or unintentional (uncontrolled). Each type of reflex response is initiated by sensory stimuli relayed from any of the other major senses. Most importantly, the stimulus itself excites specialized sensory receptors that respond unambiguously to a certain type, quality, or intensity of stimulation.

Interestingly, reflexive actions receive their signals from the spinal cord. This makes them considerably faster than one's normal reactions because they bypass the traditional neural pathway (the brain). Not to say the brain is uninvolved. The brain continuously builds, adapts, and influences spinal circuitry, in both short- and long-term development, and many spinal reflexes operate simultaneously as a result. An overview of the main types of spinal reflexes will include: stretch reflex (muscle contraction), crossed-extensor reflex (opposite limb compensating for loss of support), withdrawal reflex (nociceptive reflex, protecting the body from pain), and autogenic inhibition reflex (negative feedback mechanism to control muscle tension).

"The spinal cord is the simplest and most technically accessible part of the mammalian [central nervous system]. Thus, spinal cord reflexes, the brain's influence over them, and the spinal cord plasticity this influence produces provide the basis of a powerful experimental protocol for studying the mechanisms and substrates of learning." (Encyclopedia of Neuroscience)

❯❯ Thermoception

The brain's recognition and the body's ability to register changes in temperature. Or, put more simply, sensitivity to heat flux and temperature intensity. Animals possess a diversity of temperature sensitivity mechanisms. All thermosensors have activation thresholds and are moderated by various inflammatory mediators (e.g., some proteins are intrinsically heat-sensitive, others are cold-sensitive).

What does this mean? It means thermoception is fundamental to animal survival, as temperature homeostasis is essential to comfort and reproduction. It also means the human body cannot actually determine the absolute temperature of its environment; it must instead regulate its own temperature relative to that of its immediate surroundings.

Mutated or damaged proteins (as with inflamed or damaged tissue), associated with temperature detection, can result in heat hyperalgesia (pathological sensitivity to heat), in which one's heat-activation thresholds are so markedly low that otherwise pleasant and warm temperatures can be very painful.

[thyandrawrites]

I think people need to realize that Endeavor didn't suddenly become a dick after Shouto's quirk manifested. First of all it comes off as blaming Shouto for getting his quirk, but it also doesn't take into consideration the fact that Touya didn't rebel against Endeavor. Touya seemed to like training with Endeavor, meanwhile Shouto didn't want to train-so Endeavor's true colors showed themselves. He was always an abuser, just kept at bay with Touya.

Hey! I agree and disagree on this, so I hope you don’t mind if I expand on why.

The bit I agree with is that Enji didn’t become a dick after Shouto’s quirk manifested. His actions are unjustifiable (and some of them are crimes) even before Shouto’s birth. He still bought Rei for eugenics purposes. He still breeded children irresponsibly by trying to mix two quirks so at odds with each other. He still trained Touya, and whether Touya liked it or not (I’m gonna return on this in a second), that doesn’t matter at all, because the responsibility of those actions still falls on Enji, his legal guardian and the adult of the two. He still neglected Natsuo and Fuyumi. Still forced his wife to breed more children (while Rei might or might not have suggested having Fuyumi, there’s no mention of her wanting more than two kids. There’s no mention of her even wanting to be married. Whenever the marriage agreement is brought up, it’s always said that Enji made a deal with her parents, not Rei herself, and it’s strongly implied that money was involved). 

So. Endeavor was an abuser even before Shouto’s quirk manifested. Marital rape and child neglect are still abuse. And pain is not something you can put on a scale, so whether or not he became more abusive afterwards, that’s not a valid or even appropriate argument to bring up when talking about the responsibilities of his actions. Point still stands that he had a duty as a husband and a father, and he still abused his power. Besides, breeding children to make them the recipients of your ambitions is another form of abuse. Your children are not your property. They have wishes and desires of their own. Whether Touya wanted to be a hero at first or not, that doesn’t change the fact that Endeavor wouldn’t have given him the option to opt out of that career. Touya “liking” it is just a favorable plus that happened to work in Endeavor’s favor, not a requirement.

Now, about the things I disagree on.

One thing I think it’s important to keep in mind while analyzing 290/291 is that pov narratives are always inherently biased. Pov means “point of view”, and as such it’s a subjective take on the events narrated, filtered by the beliefs / morals / feelings of the person who is narrating it. This is why, for example, Deku can punch Shigaraki with the force of a thousand suns and feel no regret or sympathy for him, because to him Shigaraki is not an abuse survivor trying to regain his personhood against a system that tried to silence and kill him, but he’s a violent mass murderer who hurt Deku’s mentor and tried to kill Deku’s friends.

Why am I making this digression, you might be wondering. Well, I’m doing it because the two chapters purposefully present us with two opposite versions of the same events. Compare this:

to this:

The first panel is Endeavor’s pov. Touya appears smiling, chipper, eager to please him and really self-confident. The second one shows us Touya crumpled to the floor, clutching his head, the opposite of easy-going and confident as he informs us that he was suffering so much in that household that he not only wondered what was the purpose of his existence, but he also had to seek out comfort from his little brother. Not his mother, not his father. His little brother, a fellow child.

The first panel shows us that from Endeavor’s perspective, there was a certain degree of complicity between himself and his son. Touya talked to him openly, and even goaded him a little. Yet that reading of their dynamic is contradicted by the fact that Touya never sought him out for comfort and understanding. For emotional stabillity. Let me state here again that Endeavor is a parent. Parents are supposed to care for their children’s emotional wellbeing. They’re the adults of the family. Yet Touya had to crawl to Natsuo in tears to get a little sympathy.

Now, I’m not trying to state that only one of these events actually took place. It’s possible that both did. It’s possible that Touya was enthusiastic about his training at first, and that his father’s expectations started to weight heavily on him at a later date (as it’s also suggested by the hair color shift). But regardless of that, the most important thing to take away from this is that Hori deliberately set up their opposing povs to show something.

Dabi/Touya doesn’t linger on the training, skipping over to the consequences, and how severely it impacted his emotional and physical wellbeing. Remarkably, Endeavor does the opposite. He focuses his narration on how enthusiastic Touya was, how proud he was to show off his powerful quirk to his dad, and deliberately skips over the entire latter part of Touya’s life, skipping over the suffering he inflicted on his child, and neglecting to acknowledge his responsibility in it. Endeavor’s pov is only focusing on the part of the story that make his action look justified. Touya wanted this. Touya liked this. So Endeavor can’t have failed him. And that’s the point Hori is trying to make: where was Endeavor when Touya didn’t want this anymore? Why is he deliberately skipping over the part of his actions that unequivocally paint him as the abuser he always was?

Because the point of Endeavor’s arc is to make him acknowledge that he’s trying to make amends for the wrong things.

(click the link above for a more detailed breakthrough of why exactly Endeavor’s atonement arc predictably ended in a huge failure)

Endeavor is essentially someone who has been making easy excuses for his actions for over 20 years of his life. That’s not going to abruptly change because he decided he wanted to do something nice for his family, or because he just got faced with his presumed-dead son. His pov is biased, and so is Dabi’s.

But the point still stands.

He cannot get real atonement so long as he keeps brushing the obvious elephant in the room under the rug. That’s Dabi’s narrative purpose in the story. The villain moniker “Dabi” exists to confront Endeavor with the truth that his actions have consequences. The past still exists even if Endeavor skips over it. And for Endeavor’s atonement to ring true, he needs to make true on his supposed desire to right his wrong.

Back in the Tododinner miniarc, Endeavor mentioned wanting Touya to still be with the rest of the family. The point now is, does Endeavor still want that, now that he saw who Touya became?

Does he still think Touya is worth saving, or will he judge him a lost cause and conveniently brush the past under the rug again?

Endeavor here is a symbol for the society he represents. His choice will represent hero society’s standing on villains. This is a question bnha has been asking over an over.

Where do heroes draw the line between who gets to be saved and who doesn’t?

Jin tells us that only the virtuous get saved, and Hawks’ actions point in the direction that he has a point.

This is hero society’s biggest flaw: its hypocrisy. They apply this standard to villains, but they don’t do the same to heroes. And the League exists within the story to point out this fallacy.

If someone like Endeavor wants to do what he pleases with his family and make them go through hell, then he also has to face the consequences. So his choices are gonna reflect the direction hero society is also going to take after this.

Will Endeavor try to save Dabi, or will he keep doing what he’s always done and try to put him down? And whose version is hero society going to believe? That of a domestic abuser failing to acknowledge the consequenes of his actions, or that of his victim?

[gch1995]

“Life seems so much simpler when you’re fixing things. I’m good at fixing things. I always was. But I..”

-Anakin Skywalker to Padme Amidala in chapter 21 of the novelization of Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones (Salvatore, 1749).

While Anakin is technically talking about a broken shifter on the surface, this quote he says to Padme pretty much explains his motivations for why he ends up making the personal life choices he does, for better or worse. He feels like he needs to be powerful enough to fix the galaxy for the better and protect everyone he loves from bad things happening by being their hero and savior because he never had the ability to do so before. Then, when he can’t do that, he hates himself, and lashes out violently at those who caused himself and/or loved ones grief, guilt, and/or pain in the heat of the moment because Sidious taught him that was valid catharsis, and he constantly was being emotionally/individually denied and shamed for seeking healthy opportunities for catharsis, expression, personal freedoms, and support from Obi-Wan, Yoda, and the Jedi Council who all had power over him over the past ten years altogether. Afterwards, he hates himself even more for lashing out violently, but he doesn’t feel safe enough to go back because he knows there aren’t many opportunities for him to be safe doing so in these constantly toxic and oppressive environments under abusive, corrupt, and manipulative authority, so eventually he stops trying after going dark out of exhaustion until Luke comes along in ESB and ROTJ.

I’m not saying that Anakin is innocent, or that Obi-Wan, Yoda, the Jedi Council, or even Palpatine forced him to turn on the Jedi in Revenge of the Sith. Padme, the Jedi Order, and the Republic didn’t deserve Order 66, being hurt in ways that contributed to their ultimate demise by Anakin, and/or being killed outright. As deeply compromised as Anakin’s agency and emotional/mental health was with his limited options, grooming for subservience to corrupt, manipulative, and oppressive authority, and slave mentality, he did still have a conscience. While Palpatine did also tell him he could end the war by joining him, Anakin genuinely didn’t feel he had much of a choice after years of conditioning, and his support system was really limited, too he also was motivated to do terrible things that he knew were wrong to achieve personal worthy ends of saving Padme. He did stop trying after going dark. He deserved punishment for his crimes.

However, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, but I don’t know how so many people in this fandom can blame it all on Anakin for growing up to eventually become Vader when his entire life was spent under the thumb of abusive, corrupt, emotionally negligent, morally hypocritical, and oppressive authority figures in slavery and two space soldier cults from whom there was limited to nonexistent healthy support and safe escape opportunities. I don’t know how so many fans can pretend like Obi-Wan, Yoda, and the rest of the Jedi Council in the prequels didn’t heavily contribute to turning Anakin into a monster almost as much as Palpatine, even if unintentionally, by emotionally/individually/socially denying, invalidating, shaming, and oppressing him every time he did try to reach out to them for healthy and reasonable support, teaching him that emotional expression and individuality was “dangerous” altogether, instructing him to use the clones as slaves and enable slavery on the outer rims, including on his home planets, whenever they deemed it “necessary” for their “greater good.”

Like, I know Obi-Wan and the Jedi Council got their karma for treating Anakin like garbage, though it was far worse than they deserved. I know Luke found a healthy balance in the OT movies with that whole “no attachment” Jedi rule, if you ignore the bullshit Disney sequels that retcon everything. However, it always did bother me that Obi-Wan and especially Yoda never could admit just how much their old system was a toxic mess in which they fucked up. I’m not just talking about in regards to Anakin Skywalker, though he stands out as their greatest failure because he was an opportunity for them to self reflect on their flaws and improve their system, but pretty much every kid in general. Children never should have been getting trained to be soldiers under the age of 18, and, enforcing that whole “no attachment” rule created more harm than good.

[hamliet]

What Does It Mean to Save?

I keep seeing it said that Deku, Ochaco, and Shouto will “save” Shigaraki, Himiko, and Dabi, but that there will be no redemption and/or no survival for them. I’m truly not trying to vague these posts and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but literary criticism is fundamentally responsive so I’m writing this anyways.

I personally think that’s not BNHA’s definition of saving nor of redemption. So here, have a deep dive into literary tropes related to redemption, genre, and character arcs as they pertain to BNHA and the question of: what does it mean to save Shigaraki, Touya, and Himiko?

Before we begin, let me say that while we might be personally uncomfortable with redemption (there’s a redemption arc in BNHA I am personally quite uncomfortable with), that doesn’t inherently mean the narrative won’t go there. The key principle I’m operating on here is BNHA’s message that heroes save people. It’s held up as the highest ideal. 

So let’s talk redemption in BNHA-verse. With this guy, whose redemption arc I dislike in principle but accept as part of the story so don’t come for me stans and/or antis. I’m analyzing because it shows us what redemption means in BNHA-verse, whether or not that is satisfying to you personally as it fits/does not fit with your own morality/philosophy.

If Endeavor can be redeemed and live, and he’s Bakugou’s negative foil, I highly doubt Shigaraki and Deku as well as Touya and Shouto and Ochaco and Himiko will be any different. Why? Because Enji is an adult character. The others--well, Himiko’s age we don’t know, but we do know that Shigaraki and Dabi are technically adults. But does the story consider them adults?

(It doesn’t.)

Child-coded characters are generally more likely to survive a redemption, which I’ll explain more later. First I have to define what I mean by child-coding, because I DO NOT mean this in the way it’s often (mis)used in fandom wank. Child-coding is a real thing, but it is not done to infantilize and it has nothing to do with shipping.

Child coding frames the character as a child for a few narrative purposes to convey a story’s theme or purpose. For example, if it’s a coming of age story coding a character as a child even if they legally are not emphasizes their journey to an understanding of self-actualization, or a true understanding of self with self-awareness and an understanding of self-value. An example of an adult coded as a child is The Kite Runner, wherein Amir is a legal adult for half the story, even married for fifteen years so we’re talking 30s-40s, but he does not truly become an adult until he returns to his homeland and takes responsibility for a childhood sin. In Attack on Titan, the main characters are now nineteen, but are still struggling to take responsibility as adults and have only started doing so now that their mentors/parental figures have started dying.

Along those lines, in any kind of story, you can code a character as a child of someone, regardless of biological relationship, to convey the type of relationship they have (usually a mentor one). For an example of this, see Bungo Stray Dogs’ Dazai and Akutagawa. Despite their two year age difference, Dazai recruited him to the mafia, abandoned him, and Akutagawa desperately seeks his approval. Usually in these stories a character will “overcome” their parental figure. This can be done through overcoming their need for the parental figure’s approval in stories where the parental figure is kindly (such as in Harry Potter, when in the final book Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave the Weasleys to find the Horcruxes despite Mrs. Weasley’s please) or through like, killing/stopping/leaving the parental figure when they are abusive (see fairy tales like Rapunzel and Cinderella). The parental link to self-actualization is because it is childlike (and a part of actual psychology that is reflected in literature) to see yourself as a part of your parent; self-actualized person would see yourself as a distinct person from your parent, but also acknowledge the ways in which they’ve shaped you.

So, how do you code a character as a child? BNHA isn’t subtle about it, because Horikoshi seldom is subtle about anything. The villain trio are all coded as children.

Shigaraki Tomura:

Who cannot achieve self-actualization so long as AFO has access to his body, as he’s literally trying to possess him. He’s trying, but it’s not gonna work because Shigaraki can’t keep AFO and become an adult at the same time. It’s a choice the narrative is setting up: your dream of destroying, or your freedom? (To get the latter, he’ll probably have to destroy AFO).

Todoroki Touya, who is repeatedly emphasized as a small child when compared to his siblings, and yes, I know he’s now tall. Specifically he’s spotlighted as the child of Endeavor:

And he’s the least self-actualized one in a lot of ways, contradicting himself constantly. I’m not Endeavor, DUH! But these are Endeavor’s flames! He’s gonna have to choose one or the other, because the tragic irony is that the more he takes out his rage on those around him, the more like Endeavor he becomes.

And Toga Himiko (who might well literally be a legal child), who is actually the most self-actualized one thus far, because she rejects Curious’s child insistence (Curious holds her in a Pieta pose, based on Michelangelo’s statue wherein Mary holds a deceased Christ):

She’s still got, like, a way to go though:

Because Himiko also wants to be like the people she loves to the point where she loses her own identity in them, which is er, not self-actualization. So she’ll have to choose whether or not she really wants to be like the people she loves or whether she wants to live her own way, which she herself tells us how that would end (death):

Deku said it himself: it’s good to focus on what someone is doing now. And look, I have issues with this statement and how it’s framed. I’ve talked about it at length and it was doomed to fail because Shouto himself told us long ago that it was annoying to hear a righteous speech by a stranger when you hadn’t gone through the same, plus Endeavor kinda failed by choosing being a hero over a dad here. But, the principle is that if the past doesn’t preclude Endeavor from seeking a better self, why would it preclude three characters coded as children, one of whom is literally somewhat the product of Endeavor’s sins? BNHA doesn’t think the past keeps someone from a better future. 

So what about Dabi’s counterpoint, which is indeed valid? Well, redemption doesn’t mean the past forgets, either. It’s complicated and nuanced, and we can debate how well Horikoshi strikes this nuance (it’s got its flaws), and admittedly I don’t know how this will go down in the future. But it is asking Endeavor: how do you redeem yourself to the people you’ve hurt? And we have Endeavor asking this question to Touya’s shrine. I mean, the foreshadowing is obvious. Endeavor has to redeem himself by trying to save Touya. However, it will still probably come down to Shouto to save Touya.

For our three villains, it’s a little harder to predict... well, sort of. For Shigaraki it’s extremely obvious: he has to help take down AFO. Dabi probably has to do something to help his family (siblings probably), but it’s vague. Toga needs help and not condemnation, but presumably she’ll help Ochaco with something.

So, is this redemption? I’d define it as redemption in the eyes of the narrative. To address what makes a redemption is another essay unto itself, but if we bring in the oft-compared Star Wars example: did Darth Vader get a redemption? Did Ben Solo? Everyone says yes to both. However, only Luke witnesses Vader’s redemption, and only Rey Ben Solo’s. So the rest of the galaxy? Doesn’t think so. When I say they’ll be redeemed, I’m defining it as their role in the eyes of the narrative, not whether or not society will accept them or even whether their victims will forgive them (of note, in canonical novels, Leia never forgave Darth Vader despite learning he was her father and obviously knowing Luke’s account of his redemption was true).

So, redemption in a narrative doesn’t mean all of society has to forgive and accept them. Dabi has still like, murdered 30 people--many of whom were thugs, but he himself acknowledges they didn’t deserve to die. Additionally, he himself also acknowledges that the families left behind--their feelings matter:

But why does that mean they have to die? Why even does it mean they have to languish in prison forever? (If there’s even a safe prison at the end of BNHA which I kinda have doubts about.) Heroes have also killed: see Hawks as Exhibit A. In fact, some people want revenge on the heroes precisely because they arrested or killed their loved ones (jail isn’t held up as a rehabilitative place in BNHA’s world. In most countries it isn’t in real life, either, but again that’s for another essay). So why don’t the League’s feelings on Twice’s death matter just as much as the feelings of unnamed and unseen (and thereby less important narratively) characters?

Additionally, regarding death... the villains routinely get called on their death wishes. Himiko’s determination to decide how/when she dies is called out because this is right  before Twice overcomes his trauma to save her, and the next arc they appear in is when Twice dies trying to save her again. Dabi’s suicide wish keeps him from getting close to others, and it keeps getting thwarted. Shigaraki’s obsession with destruction and death is clearly not a good thing, and his rejection of his family’s desire for them to join him in death this past arc is growth.

In other words: what Dabi said and what Snatch said about families and how they feel matter for the villains too. The villains are their own weird found family (Dabi as the deadbeat prodigal brother of both his families). Their deaths--Magne’s and Twice’s thus far, and I’m not ruling out further deaths in the future--affect the others. People’s feelings on losing loved ones matter. The villains are people, as Himiko said herself this arc:

Their feelings about each other matter:

How would Touya dying affect the Todorokis? At least they saved him spiritually, I guess, but that’s absolutely lame narratively, and if you have Enji eventually do a sacrifice to save Dabi (pretty likely, even if I personally think Enji will survive said sacrifice) then what’s the point of Dabi dying? How would Himiko dying affect society? As a martyr like Curious wanted her to be, even a redeemed one? A tragic warning story? What even is the point of Ochaco saving her if that’s the case? If Shigaraki dies, well, who would mourn besides Deku? How would Shigaraki dying affect the surviving members of the league? He just couldn’t be saved physically? 

It’s not impossible some of this happens, but it doesn’t seem like great writing, especially with panels like, oh, these that show us BNHA’s perspective on death:

Sacrificing something is a type of death that occurs in stories; this should happen in a redemption arc, which is why I’ve been saying Enji needs to sacrifice his hero reputation to help save Touya and even then it’ll still be Shouto imo who does the saving. But physical death?

If you want further analysis of the latter two panels and how they relate to the ending, see here.

We already have another villain who will definitely die redemptively (Kurogiri--an adult coded character--because he’s already, like, dead), and Spinner and Mr. Compress aren’t coded as kids so I hold them with anxiety towards the end. But again, this isn’t me being ageist or saying this is the way things ought to be in fiction or real life: it’s me looking at writing tropes and saying that child-coded characters tend to survive their redemptions. See: Zuko. Why? Because the death of children or child-coded characters is a tragedy. When a child-coded character dies redemptively it doesn’t feel like a happy ending and if framed as such, it’s often criticized for bad writing (see: Ben Solo). Curious even called this out in her fight with Himiko. I would hope Horikoshi doesn’t end the story being like yeah Curious was right that’s the best use of Himiko’s/Dabi’s/Shigaraki’s arcs:

Additionally, as for the believability of a character getting a new chance after so much destruction and murder... well, it’s kinda a thing in shonen and even in seinen? For better or for worse, it’s a thing. We have Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z and Kaneki Ken in Tokyo Ghoul (Kaneki, by the way, is absolutely an inspiration for Shigaraki). We can debate how well-written these redemptions are (I personally have been quite critical of Kaneki’s despite wanting it to happen narratively), but it can be done. BNHA’s Japan especially isn’t as harsh a world as Tokyo Ghoul’s Japan, so it would make even more sense for something like Kaneki’s ending.

The reality is that the cycle of revenge via hurting people and then leaving hurting families and loved ones has to stop somewhere. Someone has to be the bigger person and step up and be like “naw.” That’s heroic. That’s brave. That’s sacrificial itself. Justice itself doesn’t really exist in its purest form without mercy.

There’s another genre-reason I don’t see death or jail as likely (I could see, like, maybe a mental health ward like Rei’s? But it’s too soon to speculate).

If saving is considered a good thing for the story, if it’s truly the highest ideal, then saving someone should be rewarded by the narrative. The characters who save should have a positive result to show us this a good thing.

This is why it doesn’t work for the heroes’ end journey to be accepting that some people cannot be saved. The notion of just accepting that you cannot do something, you cannot save everyone, you cannot, cannot, cannot, is called out as a flaw of society. Determination, on the other hand, is rewarded.

We see it with Deku as well as with Mirio.

So, what if they save them and the redeemed characters then go on to sacrifice themselves in their redemption and die (come to the same end)? If saving changes absolutely nothing for the saved person, if it’s too late for the saved from themselves to change and/or do anything that matters besides die, then the narrative theme of saving as important is left unemphasized at best and undermined at worst. Simple intrinsic knowledge that the kids “did the right thing” doesn’t cut it for a story with so much focus on physical saving when the kids are already doing the right thing; moral struggles about whether to choose to be good aren’t really Deku, Ochaco, or Shouto’s arcs. It works for Aizawa’s arc with Kurogiri, but not for the kiddos. If BNHA was more of a philosophical/spiritual text, that would indeed make sense, but it is not. Genre-wise, BNHA is a fantastical superhero optimistic story, not a gritty real-world set drama.