#yeah she can handle this potentially important thing no problem

[gentil-minou]

Good morning to Loid Froger and Loid Forger only who saw Yor's excitement for Anya's dodgeball game and instead of making it his mission to train her and get the stella he put all his faith and trust in Yor. We stan a supportive fake husband

[cursedvibes]

I think Yuuji getting through to Megumi and finding out he has no will to live anymore would've been more impactful if we saw more of him during his possession than the three panels stretched over nearly 40 chapters where he's always just lying on the floor crying.

We initially get input that he's trying to fight back against Sukuna after he was hit with Jacob's Ladder, but then he's essentially just a footnote. "Btw, Megumi is somewhere in there and he's suffering." But we don't really see it.

I think it all comes down that the moment that really broke him, the Yorozu vs Sukuna fight should've given him more focus and Tsumiki. If that moment really hit and we saw him give up, his lack of presence for the rest of the chapters wouldn't be such a big problem.

The Yorozu fight was really just focused on her and Sukuna and their history. You get a mention that Sukuna is doing this to break Megumi and oh no, Tsumiki would die too, but really it's about Yorozu's character and Sukuna learning to handle 10 Shadows. Everything is about them, their jokes and then as a last addition we get "oh yeah, Megumi is sad because someone who has his sister's face died". Everything is already over at that point there is no tension, we don't feel with Megumi because the focus is on other people who vaguely look like him and Tsumiki. Looks are the only real connection to the sibling drama here and I think Yorozu and Sukuna don't even look that much like them. That should've been better balanced.

Take Yuuji's breakdown in Shibuya for example. That makes him want to die as well and throw everything away. We're there with him, how he goes through briefly raised hopes to crushing defeat, how his face distorts as he sees Nanami and Nobara die before him. He's going through anger, fighting with grit teeth for as long as he can until he just curls in on himself and wants to die like his friends. We hear his thoughts, we can emphasize with what is happening. Even when he finds out what happened while Sukuna took over, we see the memories swarm his mind, he desperately clutches his head, claws at the ground, throws up. It's utterly heartbreaking. And that is because we experience it with Yuuji. We don't just cut to him lying on the floor unresponsive and that's the only feedback we get to his emotional state, not even some thoughts.

Megumi clearly saw or felt what happened while Sukuna was in control of his body (I mean, if we didn't have the editor comment like in the volume release you could also think the Bath just numbed him, but I'm not gonna be that picky here). So show him struggle during the fight against Yorozu aka the body of Tsumiki. Show his reaction to being rendered mute and powerless, unable to even lift a finger to hinder Sukuna. Show me his thoughts, he clearly has them. Show me how he eventually came to just give up and wait for death. Just something, anything. All of this I mentioned I am just inferring, we don't get to go through his emotional journey that is clearly very important to the story. All we see is the aftermath with no additional context and then nothing for another 20 chapters or so.

For that matter, show me Tsumiki, if there's anything left of her at all. That is who Megumi tries to fight for after all and she's a victim in all this too. She might've gone through the same things Megumi did, she might've experienced similar pain, but we simply don't know. What would Megumi even be fighting for? Was Tsumiki just dead or gone ever since Yorozu woke up in the hospital or did she witness what was going on as well? Was the Yorozu fight just pointless in that regard because clearly Tsumiki was long gone anyway and Sukuna is essentially just burying a dead body? This fight could've actually been quite dramatic. It claimed to be that due to Megumi and potentially Tsumiki suffering in the background, but it was in the end completely inconsequential. Sukuna and Yorozu would've fought anyway, if Megumi and Tsumiki were there or not, and Yorozu would've always lost. Since except for some throwaway lines and the end panel there isn't really any acknowledgement of the emotional stakes, they fall completely flat. It's about Yorozu and her understanding of love and also a bit about Sukuna's backstory and all this is nice and interesting, I certainly enjoyed it, but this should've laid the groundwork for what is happening to possessed-Megumi as well.

Same with the Gojo fight. Was Megumi effected at all by seeing Gojo there, was he affected by what Gojo said, his disregard for Megumi's body that made Yuuji and Hana question if he even cared? Did he feel anything when Gojo died? Was he still capable of sensing what was going on outside at all or did he sleep through all that. For that matter, how did those 5 Unlimited Voids affect him? His brain should be toast by all accounts. Did he blame Gojo for anything? This could've added some much needed emotional stakes and depth to the Gojo vs Sukuna fight, but again, we don't see anything, just a repeat shot of Megumi crying on the floor.

Megumi went through some pretty significant character development and I assume that is going to go even further now that Yuuji has made contact, but that all happened off-screen. Especially "Tsumiki's" death and its impact should've been shown to lay the groundwork for what happens now. All we got so far is: what happened made him sad. Like yeah sure, I can imagine, but can't we get more than that? That's like skipping the majority of Shibuya except for Nanami and Nobara's deaths and then going right to Yuuji lying on the floor and Todo giving his inspirational speech without showing us even a hint of all the struggle and emotional turmoil Yuuji experienced in the meantime.

I'm not even a Megumi fan, it's just something I noticed while reading. Honestly, the last 30 chapters or so I pretty much forgot about Megumi. Yes, I want Yuuji to save him, but as for Megumi himself my thoughts were always just "well, I guess he's doing badly, who knows". It was all very abstract and hypothetical when it didn't need to be.

[utilitycaster]

Could you elaborate on that Orym-grief post? I find it interesting and I love ur character meta

Sure! The main thesis, is, well, the post: Orym has a healthy attitude towards his own grief and deals with it well, but isn't good at handling how the party feels. And, secondary to that, the fandom tends to flip this around in their perception of Orym.

Orym is very aware he is grieving and that this will be a life-long thing. He misses Will and Derrig very much and their absence is a hole in his life. He also has built a life around it. It's a process, certainly, but a process he trusts. He allows himself to feel his feelings (the gravesite sequence in Zephrah), but he also very much wants to live out his life (the feeling of failure when he died, his general enjoyment of things). He's a relatively subdued and quiet person, but he clearly finds a lot of joy in life.

The thing about grief is that it's a unique sort of pain, because there's really nothing to be done about it, and it is, typically, something that will always be there. The process is to find a way to live with that absence and make space for it while also making space for new things. It's an important lesson! It's also not how you should deal with other problems, because it's not really solution focused (or rather, the solution is "it is what it is, and it really hurts, and eventually, time will make it hurt somewhat less though it will flare up in specific situations.") For more on this: Caduceus covers very similar territory; his understanding of grief is incredibly strong, and his understanding of other problems often falters.

With grief, the answer for the living is ultimately "keep going," and that's the thing with Orym: he sure does keep going. But I think it leads him to push past things without stopping to unpack and solve them, because in his case (a guy with a great mother, a happy upbringing, a career he enjoyed, and a loving marriage, who then experienced a devastating loss) the answer really was "yeah, it really hurts that my husband and his father, who was essentially the only father figure I had, were senselessly murdered in an attack on my home. But let's put one foot in front of the other."

However, this is not actually great advice for much of Bells Hells. Several of them genuinely have conditions that lead to a complete loss of control and self that could harm or kill others, and they are at varying levels of dealing with it, potential to the peril of others. Orym notes that Fearne's impulses might put the party at risk, but he never does anything to address it other than say "hey, we need to work together." He even skirts around it himself! I think it's valid for him to approach Fearne to have a backup plan about Imogen potentially joining the Vanguard, but he says his piece and then goes and does that in private instead of fully hashing out why she'd say this in front of the people who were murdered by them, which means the root causes are never addressed. A lot of this party needs to be told both "hey, your feelings here are really valid and you should express your anger" and "hey, get your fucking shit together once you've done that." Orym tends to treat them either like they're grieving (a gentle "hey, we need to keep going, we need to get back"), or treat this like a group endeavor without delving into the individual.

I really suspect the reason we are having such a massive blow up right now is in part because this party has, for so long, been told "hey, your shit? It could ruin it for the rest of us, and we're a team," and Ashton very much went against this. I would not, frankly, be surprised if Imogen (for example) is angry not just only Ashton, but also generally, that she pushed down her stuff and maybe didn't make more efforts to contact her mother and work through that.

Essentially, Orym is really good at smoothing things over just enough to keep everything on task, but eventually, if the gear is broken, no amount of grease can keep it from jamming, and that's what just happened here with Ashton. This is what only repeated quick fixes and no preventative maintenance looks like.

(As for why the fandom thinks the opposite? I personally blame that most putrid - in several senses - belief, that conflict is always to be avoided, mixed in with a longstanding really toxic and genre/medium-ignorant attitude towards death and grieving. I think this goes hand and hand with the really pervasive attitude early on that Bells Hells were so open and honest instead of the truth: it was just a pleasant veneer.)

[slocumjoe]

I got that random encounter with a dude named Art and a synth that looks exactly like him and you have to decide which is the synth and which isn't, and it got me thinking...

How do you think the companions would react to encountering a synth that looks exactly like them (maybe sent to spy on the SS for the institute??), and the synth tries to convince the SS that they're actually the real version of their companion? What would each of the companions say to try to show the SS that they're the actual real version of themselves?

Cait; kills it on sight and just...digs around for the chip as proof. The real Cait wouldn't hesitate, but the biggest tell, is that the Institute synth would be too physically clean, not have her calluses, and wouldn't smell the way she does. Which is to say, like blood and B.O.

Curie; would 100% try to befriend the synth, being a synth herself. Questions the logic behind making a synth of a synth. Her trying to make friends is what you could use to figure out who's real, as the synth synth would be encouraging you to kill Curie, and Curie would be excited to have a sister.

Danse; kills it pre-BB, similar to Cait. Brings it back to the Prydwen for study and stays there for a while, since the Institute is now gunning for him. Post-BB, this would go so messy i don't even know how to describe it. I think the Danse synth synth would try to be the real, human Danse, in which case, you'd have to keep actual Danse from offing himself. Whichever one tries that, that's your Danse.

Deacon; I'm not me, how are you me??? Would try to talk the synth down into going to the Railroad, escaping. Problem is, the synth would do the same thing to Deacon. And both of them are insistent they aren't the synth. Also, both of them are liars. Your clue here? Skin. The synth wouldn't have Deacon's leathery skin and built up surgical markings. The Institute wouldn't give a synth years and years of plastic surgery. Also, could quiz them both on RR info. The synth wouldn't know.

Gage; ...I was going to go Cait style. But...Gage might be interested. An inside contact into the Institute...Gage canonically thinks better of them than the other factions. And hey, having a body double isn't the worst thing in the world. So, he might try to offer a little deal. Yeah, you can take my place, I'll handle the business side of things from the background, and you make it worth our while. The synth would, again, be the one wanting you to kill the other guy. That could potentially catch you up, but if you know Gage well enough to know he's always looking for an opportunity, you'll see who's who.

Hancock; Maybe the easiest one. Hancock would assume he's tripping and seeing things, ignoring the synth. The synth is the one that isn't high, and acknowledges the other first. Hancock would blink and be surprised you could see it too. Not sure if he'd want to kill the synth, but I think he'd feel like he had to. He's a mayor. He can't have a clone from the Institute, who could potentially go to Goodneighbor and hand it over on a silver platter.

MacCready; Freaked the fuck out and immediately worries about Duncan. That's your cue. The synth would be busy insisting he's the real one, MacCready would be openly panicked over Duncan's safety, if they got him, too. Also, the synth's teeth would be too white. Years of eating candy, drinking soda, not brushing? Can't fake that.

Nick; this is the plot of far harbor but whichever one stinks of cigarettes smoke and creaks too much when he moves. The other guy is cleaner and doesn't have the traits you get only from age. Would also try to talk the guy into bailing on the Institute, has a higher chance of succeeding.

Piper; Piper is the one who's horrifed...but also,, kinda proud. Like...smug. They felt she was important enough to replace her, which means her papers are right, which means McDonough is 100% a synth! Whichever one of them starts sassing is the real Piper, the fake one going crazy and begging you to kill the other is the synth. This has a high chance of catching someone up.

Preston; pities the fool who wants to be him, do what he does. Like Hancock, wouldn't want to kill it, but Preston has a position of power he can't let the Institute have on weekends or some shit. You could tell who's who based on two crucial things; hat hair, and eyebags. Preston wears his hat too much, the other guy probably just got it.

X6-88; Confused at this. Why? Takes the synth back to the Institute by force and goes around until someone gives him an answer. Who the fuck is wasting time like this? If the Institute is destroyed, kills it, and starts wondering if there are multiple of one synth, and the things like X6-88, M7-97, etc...are less like codes, and more like brand names. There's not much you could do to tell X6-88 and a copy apart. Your best bet is body language, or if you're a clever cookie, hand them both your gun and see who's most familiar with it. X6-88 would know it intimately even without using it, having watched you. The other guy would fumble a bit.

[maxwell-grant]

🔥 The Shadow in the pulps

Myra Reldon was really, really cool on her debut, and pretty much never again sadly. Like, she was okay on the following ones, but her spark was lost once she became entirely reliant on her gimmick and could not longer show up or match The Shadow to the same extent. She was the greatest beneficiary of Gibson's "introduce this new agent as a potential villain and then reveal later they were a good guy" method but unfortunately she turned out to be a one-trick pony with a very limited trick. I blame this more on Gibson being generally unwilling to/lackluster at writing women than anything, Myra has potential but she's in a rough spot (and not at all because of Margo, but that's a spiel for another time).

I don't think the early years were the absolute definitive best ones. Gibson was still finding his footing big time and the character was still operating on undercooked surroundings and cast. Like yeah, if you think these novels are worthless whenever The Shadow is not on screen, you're probably gonna gravitate more to the ones where he's at his most distant and invincible, but I think that's extremely reductive and also plainly wrong, he's not even at his absolute coolest in those either.

I've thought a lot on how to make the best of it and I have some ideas but frankly, and I could change my mind in the future but for now, if I could excise the Xincas from Kent Allard's character/backstory, I would. It's just, I don't think you can escape the mighty whitey bullshit baked into the concept guys, I like The Shadow having globetrotted extensively and done something important in South America and the ring having all that lore into it and etc but the Xincas are just, they get cut out of adaptations for good reason.

I agree that Shiwan Khan is overused as hell and usually a bad omen but, thing is, I actually do like him, I do think he had some really good things going for him, and I actually do think he had a lot of legit reasons for being The Shadow's arch-nemesis. That said, I do get that the character is toxic and, even if I argue the particulars of it, I do understand there is a degree of inescapable Yellow Peril there that might not really be worth salvaging. Really the biggest reason I even want Khan to work is less about him and more because, well,

The Shadow's villains kinda suck, and he's not particularly conductive towards having a good rogues gallery in the first place, which really wouldn't be an issue (most characters don't have one) if they didn't keep making a comic book superhero out of him. It's partially because, well he's already the villain to end all the villains for a start, hence why the best-regarded pulp villains generally had surface similarities to him. But The Shadow doesn't really invite that kind of deeper Spider-Man/Batman parallelism, he can't have an over-the-top collection of outsized personalities to fight ala Nick Carter/G-8 because he already is the central outsized over-the-top personality here, and he kinda has the Punisher problem (he can't have a bunch of villains running around because he's supposed to actually handle them for good even if he doesn't kill them) but worse, because his supporting cast actually matters, and fixing this villain problem would come at the expense of risking his supporting cast of agents and honestly, that wouldnt be remotely worth doing.

[thefirstknife]

Mara said Nezarec is out of the picture so does that mean it's over? That was all there was for Nezarec :(

Pretty much yeah! We might get some extra info on his role in the Collapse, but he is not going to be an active character in the future. Link to the video where she says it.

And he never was an active character! This is something that I actually wanted to touch on because I've seen way too many comments and sentiments about Nezarec that are incredibly incorrect. A lot of it is on Bungie's handling of this lore, which I and others have spoken about at length before; the introduction was clumsy and disjointed and left a lot of people wondering about how relevant he is.

But also a lot of it is on the fandom mystification of random story elements and characters, as well as the fandom's inability to distinguish between important topics and curiosities that exist to spice up the setting. This is a problem in general with media, not just Destiny. Fandoms tend to not have a filter when it comes to things mentioned in the story and the setting. The truth is that some things that are mentioned are simply not important or are less important and will never be brought up again.

Long post below where I go into details about this trend in the community and specifically about Nezarec, tangentially related to the ask:

A really good example for this is Suraya Hawthorne. I know. I want more about her too. She was a really cool character and I love getting updates about her. But is she relevant and important enough to have more special storylines dedicated to her? Not really. A part of it is on the fact that she has fulfilled her character arc back in vanilla. She served as the human element to the Red War and was a face for the civilians impacted by the invasion. She served as someone who survived due to her exceptional skill and reluctance to join the rest of us in the City; she was not there when the attack happened, which saved her. Her survival skills in the wild helped her survive while on the run and allowed her to save others, including us! She fought alongside everybody to retake the City, a place she shunned but nonetheless felt connected to.

It ended with her accepting her role as an exceptional human that can help the City grow; she accepted that her potential is fulfilled when she joins everyone else in the City and helps humanity, instead of pretending that everyone should live on their own in the wilds. Destiny is inherently about people coming together against insurmountable odds and Suraya's story showcases that and ends with her understanding that message. Her story is over. There is nothing more to be said. Outside of small lore snippets that are really nice to see (Suraya playing Guardian Games, Suraya visiting her dads often), there is nothing to add to Suraya's story and theme. Sometimes we have to understand when a character arc ends. It's a good thing. The story has been told in a cohesive way and it ended.

There's also meta reasons such as VA availability. Amanda fills almost the same niche as Suraya and her VA is available since she also voices Caiatl so Amanda featured more often than Suraya. This also doesn't mean that no story can ever be made involving this character; just that expecting her to be a part of some big ongoing plot is not reasonable. Getting minor updates is fine.

There's a lot of this in Destiny. The game has A LOT of characters. There are plenty of others that fit the same issue as Suraya; their stories have concluded or they weren't as important as people thought in the first place. We always want more about our blorbos, no matter how niche they are. Sometimes, the more niche they are, the more attractive they are. The element of mystery often makes the interest skyrocket.

This is where Nezarec comes in. I want people to fully understand that Nezarec was just a name mentioned twice. He was never a character. It's highly unlikely that he was created with the idea of him being a disciple in mind; he was created as a mystery. It's a cool sounding name on a cool looking exotic with a mysterious lore tab. This immediately sparks people's curiosity. Nezarec's Sin was literally the only information about this character we had.

I've seen a lot of people claiming that Nezarec was a huge thing being set up for 5 years; this is simply incorrect. He is definitely a concept that was of personal interest to people who like digging and imagining solutions to mysteries, but he was never "set up." It was a cool name. The fandom created and enhanced the mystery around it, trying to "solve" who that was for years. The game did nothing to encourage this until Season of the Haunted.

There was a brief mention in Y2 where Drifter mentions that he's been to the "Fourth Tomb of Nezarec." Or rather, Shin mentions that Drifter mentioned it. This was meant to sound cool. That's all. You can tell because Shin mentions other mysterious things that Drifter claimed he's seen, none of which have ever been given the same scrutiny because people understand that they are supposed to be cool names;

"He says he's seen the deep side of Jupiter. Been to the Core Mines of Saturn. Name drops old myths no one's heard—the Luvial Crux, the Shift Chasms Below Elios, the Fourth Tomb of Nezarec. Goes on about the Idols of Lower Sul, the Treasure of Exodus Prime, the Solar Engine of Dead Star-Six.

Every single one of these is a "cool name" concept that you can speculate about for a thousand years. They don't mean anything, or at least they didn't in 2018. Nezarec only popped out because the exotic exists and people started imagining, again, that this is some incredible set up for epic reveals in the future about a character that will become super important and relevant and be the raid boss or whatever.

In a lot of writing, especially big ongoing MMO games and projects that last for years, things will be mentioned to spice up the setting and its mystery and size without the writers actually knowing or even planning to ever know what those things are. But then later, if they ever need to use something, they can look at those unexplained mysteries and pick one and use it to explain current content. It's easier than coming up with something brand new AND it gives you credit with the diehard fans who will see their niche blorbo being explained.

I can't confirm this obviously because I don't work for Bungie, but this is most likely what happened to Nezarec. He was never planned as a disciple, he was never planned as a big player or a huge character or a huge reveal. It was a mystery to make the setting exciting.

When they needed mysterious cursed artifacts for the pirate season AND they needed to tie that in with the current big story (Witness and its disciples) AND they needed to tie it with a location they can use AND that location has to be something known to people and mysterious in of itself AND they need a reason to talk about a very important historical event that shaped the world (the Collapse) which was also reframed in the current expansion by Savathun telling us we don't know anything about it = "revealing" that Nezarec was a disciple tied to the Lunar Pyramid whose body is used as evil artifacts is the perfect solution. Why invent a new character when you can name drop people's niche blorbo?

I'm mentioning this because people still insist that Nezarec was some huge mystery planned for years that kept us teased and primed for the eventual huge reveal. In reality, it really wasn't. That's personal bias talking, which I am also a subject to because I was obsessing about a name mentioned in two lore tabs as well. But it's important to recognise when the game is actually setting up an important plot point and when it's not.

All that said, you'd think that it doesn't really matter HOW it came to this. It only matters that now, Nezarec is no longer just a niche lore tab; he is a character! Which is true, to a certain extent. Once again, people tend to overblow the importance of something that is perceived as a big reveal.

Nezarec is certainly a character, but he is not an active one. He has been established as dead and gone ever since he was first mentioned. There have been vague hints about how he persists after death and how "he shall rise again." Persisting after death is not uncommon in the Destiny universe (Ahamkara are the most notable example), but it doesn't mean the character is active. Hints about him wanting to return are there, but don't necessarily signify that the character WILL return. Just that he wants to, as our villains tend to want. It's not exactly something to write home about? Taniks came back like 8 times and he's not even a disciple of the Witness (that we know of...............).

In Plunder, it was definitively established that Nezarec is dead and has been dead for a millennium. It was established that his body parts still have residual energy that whispers and influences people, but that keeping them apart effectively nullifies it. It was also established that these things can be cleansed and used for good, effectively ending Nezarec's influence and ambitions to return. Which is what happened and was always going to happen.

He is a character from our past who was always meant to be a mystery. Any further extrapolation of what that means is purely fandom speculation and fandom overhype of a name. He doesn't have a personality, he doesn't have a character arc, he doesn't have a story, he doesn't have relationships. Some of these might be explored in the context of the Collapse if they're relevant. He is part of our history and always was. Whatever the fans decided to overthink about him is on the fans.

And that's fun! I still like overthinking about him and speculating. Enrichment! The problem is when Bungie eventually says "there is nothing more to this" and people get disappointed and angry because of ideas they themselves conjured out of thin air. Bungie never gave us any reason to think that Nezarec is the next big villain that we will talk to and fight in the game. No more than they are implying that any of those mysteries mentioned by Shin are going to be new in-game locations or raid bosses.

Again, a lot of this is obviously on the storytelling itself. While there are obvious markers of stuff that's just here to enrich the setting and make players think and speculate and imagine, sometimes these markers aren't clear or they don't land well. I think with Nezarec a lot of this has to do with the additional hype created by the relase of Nezarec's Whisper glaive in Haunted that casually dropped flavour text about him being a disciple after not having heard of this niche mystery for 5 years. People lost their minds (me included) because that was an obvious hint that he is no longer purely a mystery.

And then we had to wait three more months in which people speculated to hell and back and conjured a story about how he MUST be an incoming next big bad disciple for us to fight. Only to be told, in Plunder, that he's a corpse. People's instinct is to say "No WAY they brought this guy back after 5 years just to have him be body parts." But there was never anything to "bring back." He was a name. Plunder gave information about that name. It's not like there was a treasure trove of information before or a promise that this specific concept will be the next villain.

Much like Destiny community insisting there's a secret mission when there isn't one, they're like that with this type of lore as well. Parsing through the overwhelming amount of information to figure out which bits and pieces are relevant and which are flavour for the setting is difficult, but it's something that has to be done. Every character is the most important character to someone in the community, every niche concept mentioned once is the most important next big hint to someone. And sometimes they will be correct! But in most cases they will not. And instead of sighing and moving on, a lot of it turns into "the writers are bad" spiel.

And sure. Everyone makes a bad storytelling decision sometimes. But that includes the fans as well. We can all be exceptionally bad at recognising and distinguishing between intended important events, plots and themes and those that are background information meant to enrich the setting.

Personal example would be the Aphelion. I desperately want to know more. I want an entire expansion about this. I think this is one of the most fascinating things in the entire setting. But that's just my personal preference. Bungie never explicitly stated that the Aphelion is some incredibly important concept that will be explored in the future. It's a flavour. It's meant to be mysterious. It's meant to be a cool scifi concept. I would love to see more, but if I never do, I will understand why that is. Bungie can obviously flip the switch and actually turn this into a big plot if they want to at any point in time, but we can't be angry with them if they don't.

This was not entirely related to the ask, but I had the need to write something about this anyway and it sort of fits. I've seen a lot of this recently especially with Nezarec. People have been claiming that Bungie "wasted" the potential of a super important character like Nezarec to end with him being turned into soup. They also tend to insist that it's impossible that his story is over and that he will still be some big villain or that it will turn out that he is possessing Osiris or something. The latter of which makes zero sense since Osiris had a storyline akin to this already. He will not have it again. I hope we can put that to rest. Osiris is Osiris and he will remain Osiris.

And the truth is that Nezarec was never an important character. He was never set up for anything extraordinary in the future. He is a curiosity from our past that has ties to the Collapse. He certainly WAS important in-setting for whatever happened back then, but he is now dead. Bungie didn't "waste" anything; whatever importance the fans projected onto Nezarec was the fans' own invention.

Remember back in Splicer when a completely new dialogue dropped where Mithrax mentioned the old Eliksni legend about "Skira the Watcher" and how it terrorised the Eliksni for a long time? And how it sparked about 7 billion posts and videos and theories about who this is and how this is hinting to the next big bad and how it has ties to everyone and everything and how this is obviously the next raid boss or whatever? Yeah. Does anyone remember now? Not really. It wasn't a hint for the next big bad. It was what it said on the tin; an old Eliksni legend.

Furthermore, Mithrax explained how it was defeated before the Eliksni had the Traveler and they did so by staying silent about it. I don't think that really spells "raid boss" or "big bad." Whatever it was, pre-Golden Age Eliksni were able to deal with it. It's probably not the Witness' next greatest agent.

Curiously, the new dungeon is called "Spire of the Watcher." I could make a clickbait video about this. Is there a connection for real though? Unlikely. And Bungie will not have "wasted the potential" of it to be, because it's not supposed to be. There's a difference between something being possible and something being probable. It's always possible because Bungie controls the setting, but it's not very probable.

You can genuinely make any connection to anything and blow a single mention of some lore thing out of proportion. And sometimes you'll be correct! A single lore mention of something called "Nefele Stronghold" led me, and others, to the conclusion that Rasputin has to be involved somehow with the story of Neomuna before Lightfall and that Rasputin needs to be brough up as a season this year. And we were correct!

To an extent, we were also correct that Nezarec was more than a flavour text on an exotic helmet. But that doesn't necessarily mean that he's the next big thing. Sometimes things are mildly important, or just temporarily important or important just for specific context. Just because something exists in the setting or was important in the setting once before, doesn't mean that it will remain important forever or that its narrative arc can't end.

[stargatelov3r]

For the ship clarification - John/Elizabeth, Teyla/Ronon, Teyla/Kanaan, Teyla/John, Teyla/Kate

oh fun!

John/Elizabeth: doesn't make sense/compels me

it's funny with them because I used to be suuuch a huge shipper but in recent years I've come to believe that it wouldn't really work? i think Elizabeth needs much more than what John can give - but who am i to say that in the right moment they can't get together for a lil fling ;) ok maybe to clarify: long term: doesn't make sense. short term: definitely.

Teyla/Ronon: ooohhh, I'm kinda on the fence with them! i think they're the opposite of John/Elizabeth so make sense/doesn't compel me? I think it makes sense in that they have the connection with the wraith, who they both hate, but they handle it very differently. What connects them is the fear of the ongoing threat of the wraith, so i think there is a cameraderie that only the two of them share and that no one on atlantis can understand on that level.

they are both fighters, they both like to kick (each others) ass, they are both artistic people, close to nature. Ronon is a bit of a loner due to him being a runner but i think he craves connections but has a hard time allowing himself that? and like - allowing himself to just *stay* at one place without bringing doom to those around him, but i think as soon as he realizes that he's safe he would be the cuddliest teddy bear imaginable (and i think we partly see that). Teyla's sense of communit is enormeously important to her so i think her making ronon part of her family is not too far fetched.

HOWEVER, I mainly see them as friends. I can see them as metamours in a poly relationship with Elizabeth, and I see them as super duper close confidants, but I think their love is mainly platonic.

Teyla/Kanaan: doesn't make sense/doesn't compel me

clarification: i think in the way that the show handled the Athosians it doesn't make sense. I think it could make sense if we imagine Teyla still spending a lot of time with her people or them (and Kanaan) as being an integral part of the atlantis expedition. The relationship came so out of nowhere and honestly just confuses me. And to only bring Kanaan as the babydaddy? i dunno. this should probably be a different post about how pregancy and motherhood is handled in media. Sorry Kanaan, I'm sure you're a very sweet guy <3

Teyla/Kate: makes sense/compels me

ok, apart of the fact that Kate was Teyla's therapist which could potentially get a bit dicey i think it makes perfect sense and i am cursing the show once again for not giving us more Kate *shakes fist at the sky*. I like Kate, I like that she was part of the people who made Teyla understand how Tau'ri tick (by showing her how therapy works, how they handle emotional problems etc etc). My memory is as terrible as always, but i would have loved if there would have more of Kate trying to help Teyla cope with the whole "being part wraith" thing and if that would have led to a deeper understanding of each others cultures.

It's a bit harder to explain why they make sense to me? maybe because i'm getting a similar vibe from them at least on the base? both put a lot of stress on communication and resolving conflict, both are emotionally in touch with themselves, i feel like they both meditate and that's how they began spending time with each other. I like to imagine that there is so much more to Kate that we see from the few times we saw her, maybe she's an insane gymnast or something.

but yeah. good. I'd love to hear your thoughts on them tbh!

and thank you so much for the ask!

[whentranslatorscry]

Kakushidate Yakusuke Being Hospitalized (2/3)

Different from Satoi-sensei, who already enjoyed an unshakable position and was in a league of her own, this man was a new talent the editorial department had high hopes for and attached great importance to—or something.

"Yeah, yeah, more or less. Only, he's not exactly a newcomer. He's actually older than Satoi-sensei and has been around longer." 

"Really?"

The manga world gives the impression of young geniuses popping up constantly, but on the other hand there's also a tendency for some to take surprisingly long to make their mark. While it's true that anyone can become hugely popular regardless of age or status, reality isn't so rosy.

Sure it's better than being unemployed, but it was a harsh world I didn't think I could handle— though not exactly as Kondou-san put it, maybe only those like Satoi-sensei who take hardship as nourishment are bound to succeed.

"Fumoto-sensei's 'Verywell,' it started serializing in our magazine recently and… How to put it, it's something I feel has potential. His time is finally coming. As editor-in-chief, I am filled with excitement from the bottom of my heart."

Wow, Kondou-san's job must be so fulfilling—he sounds so enthusiastic that I temporarily put my own affairs at the back of my mind to feel sincere happiness for him. But not having read the manga, I couldn't really comment. 

Plus, from how he talks, he and Fumoto-sensei seemed to be sailing much as smoothly as Satoi-sensei, having no room for an unskilled person like me whose only talent is sidestepping trouble.

Just as I was puzzling about what this issue could possibly be,

"Just that, there's been a problem these past few days, and it's very serious." 

He finally got to the point.

I leaned forward, wanting to listen closely.

Just what was this "trouble not entirely unrelated to me."

"I mean, nothing unprecedented...Fumoto-sensei's issue isn't the bizarre, unheard-of, extraordinary kind that's befallen you almost daily. It's a problem that manga artists or novelists, or any 'creator' of some sort, could potentially face at any time. It's neither especially novel or especially classic." 

"...Kondou-san, you're talking in circles and making this more complicated than it needs to be. Don't worry, no matter what kind of request it is, if there's a real necessity for it, Kyouko-san will accept, you can rest assured. She's not the sort of detective who only takes on 'charming mysteries' or 'baffling cases.' Besides, as the forgetful detective, you know she keeps all secrets."

As far as the forgetful detective goes, unless it was a "case that could be solved within a day," she wouldn't take it on either. After all, just recently she had made a right mess of things by not strictly adhering to this rule.

Though I felt bad for Kondou-san, if I already could discern that the case was an unnecessary hardship at my end, I'd recommend another detective more suited for it than Kyouko-san— I too felt partially responsible for that previous incident.

"No, that's not what I meant... You're right though, no point in beating around the bush and raising your unwarranted expectations, that would counter my intentions. Being an editor, some things are just hard to express."

This hesitant manner was so unlike Kondou-san— not raising my expectations, but with his solemn preamble I couldn't help imagining what kind of huge deal it could be. 

However, just when I thought he had finally made up his mind to get down to business and start giving specifics, he jumped back to the previous topic.

"The fallen middle schooler...she was trying to commit suicide, wasn't she?"  

Though for some reason certain news reports (almost all of them) had morphed it into me trying to murder her, at the very least the fact she jumped off the building on her own was undisputed.

I, having personally experienced countless events straight out of a mystery novel, would be inclined to suspect that this entire affair was actually a homicide staged to look like a suicide. I've experienced such cases firsthand. This is not purely hypothetical. But there was a handwritten will left behind here, suggesting it was a suicide.

A note typed on a computer or sent via text message could potentially be forged, one handwritten, however, is irrefutable.

"Yeah, the problem lies with what she wrote."

"What problem exactly?"

As someone suspected of murder, the existence of the will was like a lifeline in my eyes. For now it's just baseless speculation by the media, but without that will I could have really been charged with attempted murder— come to think of it, a suicide does not necessarily need to leave a will, so I probably should be grateful to her for leaving one.

"Absolutely. As your friend, I feel I should be just as grateful to her as you are... But I simply cannot." 

Kondou-san's tone carried a hint of anger. This anger probably wasn't directed at me, but I still shrank back instinctively.

"H-how so?"

"That will has become the root of my… and also Fumoto-sensei's troubles. No, it has taken root, sprouted, and the vines growing from it are suffocating Fumoto-sensei so he can hardly breathe."

"......?"

"It's about what's written— she declared herself a fan of his."

Being as dense as I am, I was still left in the fog at this point. But the following words made it clear just how grave and heavy were the troubles they carried.

"She wrote in black and white that she was personally moved by Fumoto-sensei's piece to take her life, even considerately drew illustrations of his characters."

4

Unable to bear the relentless portrayal of "Secondhand bookstore employee (25)" as a suspect of critical concern, I'd not paid due attention to recent news and print media—thus, my understanding of the precise details pertaining to the middle school girl, and the specific content of her will, was rather limited.

All I know is that she left a will, and tried to end her life by jumping from a building— which, frankly speaking, was more unbearable for me to contemplate than my own reality of being suspected. The backdrop that led a twelve-year-old to commit suicide is something I found too distressing to face, neither did I wish to know what drove her to that.

It was far too sensitive a topic.

Even if it was the very reason for my hospitalization and job loss— the thought of her still hovering on the verge of death made it all the worse. I didn’t expect that the suicide note would be so baffling— or maybe baffling isn't quite the right word.

After all, it has to do with someone's life—not only.

It has to do with someone's profession as a manga artist. 

I never imagined that during my unconsciousness, things would turn out like this for Kondou-san…

“Is this the 'largely related to me' thing?”

“Well…had you not been in the exact spot where she fell, it would've blown up.”

He said.

Perhaps to calm his nerves, he began now to peel an apple. I then noticed that I'd actually been holding the apple that he had peeled for me the whole time without taking a bite, and immediately took a bite.

“You mean?”

I asked him munching on juicy fruit. 

Kondou-san sighed and said,

'What I mean is, if it wasn't for 'Secondhand bookstore employee (25)' becoming a media darling, the one under fire now would probably be Fumoto."

Hold on. Shouldn't I be the one sighing at this? It seemed I'd somehow helped Kondou-san without realizing it, just through a layer of separation— which did please me of course, but becoming a media darling (or 'media target' rather) because of it was hardly something to celebrate.

"I am not happy that you became the punching bag. But it is fact that I was saved because of it. I spoke up for you when you were wrongly accused before, and now not only can we call it even, there is even some left over, the surplus may even rival the national budget! And maybe in order to maintain the narrative that you are the culprit, the will has barely been reported on."

That's how it was.

Looking at it with tinted glasses, we could also say that in order to frame me, the media concealed the existence of the will— of course, considerations were also made because the "victim" was an underage girl who still showed signs of life. But if I hadn't been standing at the spot where she fell that day, she probably would have gone to meet the King of Hell according to plan, and the contents of the will would likely have been made public, with the barrel pointed at the "culprit" who drove her to suicide.  

Indeed—at Fumoto Shun.

"Uh, the piece that moved her, isn't it that manga, the one currently being serialized, 'Verywell', was it?"

"No, not that one. It's Fumoto-sensei's early work. It's a short story he drew when he was just starting out… A one-shot called Cicerone."  

Kondou-san explained.

I didn't even know the name of his currently serializing work until just now, so of course I'd never heard of this one-shot or had any idea what it was about. And I didn't understand the meaning of that loanword(?) Cicerone either.

"Well, that's one only people in the know would know about. If she read that, she must really be a true fan of his. Having such a huge fan should have been a happy thing."

"And what kind of manga is it?"

I wasn't sure if I should ask, but if I didn't, the conversation would grind to a halt, so I picked up the courage to ask.

"Hard to describe in one sentence…but for sure, there is suicide in the piece. From a certain point of view, if you ask whether it glorifies suicide, yes, it does. Since he had just debuted at the time and it was drawn when he was very young, should we call it radical...? It's undeniable that some parts are sharp and thorny."

Kondou-san seemed rather reluctant to elaborate—hmm. 

I hadn't seen the content, so I won't comment much, but from what I had gathered, some people were sure to blame that manga for the schoolgirl's suicide, believing she imitated what she saw. 

Especially since she wasn't just any fan— she spelled it out in her will. If it weren't for the media making me out to be a suspect and giving it widespread coverage, the prevailing narrative in the media would definitely have been full of tired arguments about "the harmful influence of manga on children" or that "creative freedom shouldn't be unlimited".

The mere thought of it sent shivers down my spine.

I used to half-jokingly, half-seriously curse heaven for treating me this way. But this was the first time I thanked my innate misfortune without the slightest hint of self-mockery. Even if there's no need to be so dramatic, just thinking about what would have happened if the one passing by when she jumped wasn't me with my inborn misfortune, but someone smaller, and the suicide girl and them were killed together... 

No doubt Fumoto-sensei's manga would have become the target of public backlash for taking two lives. 

Needless to say that as a mystery novel reader,I stand on the side of defending creative freedom. But on the other hand, it's not that I want to restrict press freedom either, yet I also don't want authors to have to turn their imaginations into reality under so many constraints— this is my personal opinion.

Rather, not so much an opinion as just some random thought— expressing my feelings without much due consideration. Just my reflexive, unexamined thoughts— in fact, if I were to come across works full of blatant discrimination, I'm sure it would make me uncomfortable. I would certainly 'feel' that children shouldn't be exposed to such things.

There's no solution to this dilemma.

All you end up with is mixed reviews.

If you ask whether creative works can influence their audience's lives or sensibilities, the answer is of course yes— if there are readers who became professional baseball or football players because of reading comics, then how can we definitively say there are none who became juvenile delinquents or criminals? Not just children, even adults can be influenced by fiction, become better or worse people because of them— this is undeniable. Rather, one might say people seek out creative works precisely with the desire to change their own lives. 

Be it comics, novels, movies, or nonfiction reality, it is basically impossible to come into contact with certain things and remain unaffected whatsoever. At the extreme, some readers or viewers might see the relentless media attacking me and think, "That suspicious guy deserves all the criticism he gets."—who knows. 

No media under the sun does not influence its consumers.  

Nevertheless, to play the relativist and go, "all judgments are intrinsically subjective" is equally meaningless. Hence, when both sides can only muster impressions that don't amount to opinions, the debate is basically over— that's what I think.

People are naturally influenced by what's around them, but if your own feelings were to be overturned by this reasoning— that would be untenable for anyone. Of course, to be defeated in an argument is not to lose. It's not a question of victory or defeat, and it's not a question of value perspective.

"There's a good chance it could have caused a tremendous scandal, but Kondou-san, we seem to have averted the worst case scenario, haven't we? A close shave, I suppose... or should we say it ended as an incident not worth calling an accident... Anyway, no longer a problem, is it?"

The endless argument has ended. And so has the problem, it's solved.

While it's hard to say the deep root of it was resolved completely, still, by me becoming the scapegoat, the worst seems to have been avoided. It may not be a perfectly tidy resolution, but hasn't the matter been settled?

"No, it's not that simple. Certainly thanks to you— although it's weird to say— since it didn't become public, the problem didn't surface. However, even if it didn't become public, the man in question still found out."

"The man in question?"

"Fumoto-sensei."

He was greatly devastated, Kondou-san told me. 

Someone passed this news on to him. Who told him anyway? Well, I can't get too angry about it now, but I can't help feeling for Kondou-san's feelings.

"For his own work to nearly take a child's life— it made him so upset he's considering putting down his pen— or rather, it's making his creative work painful."

What a forced pun.

But I understand the feeling, even if I can't fully understand as I've never heard of a manga directly leading to something like this. Though it's a sad universal truth that young people have been driven to suicide after being inspired by novels, plays and other creative works since historical times. That brings no comfort here of course.

If the manga artist he has such high hopes for is being driven into such dire straits, it's not unthinkable that Kondou-san would be anxious. As the magazine's editor and as a human, it's hard not to share in that distress.

That's the kind of man he is.

But if there is any advice I could give as a third party regarding this matter, ultimately, it's a hardship that Fumoto-sensei will have to overcome by himself I think. Or if he's reached the point where he doesn't even want to draw manga anymore, then that decision should be respected.

"I understand that too of course. We are trying to persuade him in consultation with his direct editor, but in the end it will come down to his own judgment."

"Seems fair. Yeah, it's not my place to interfere...I'm being too nosy. Terribly rude of me. But why tell me about this?'"

After hearing the whole story, I felt this was entirely a trade secret— even though it was closely related to what happened to me, was it really okay for him to tell me the contents of a will involving Fumoto-sensei's dismissal? And wasn't he originally asking me to introduce Kyouko-san to him... From listening to it all, I still felt this wasn't a case suitable to entrust to the forgetful detective. 

No, not just the forgetful detective, no detective at all— because there's neither a mystery that needs solving, nor a criminal that needs catching.

"You're absolutely right, Yakusuke— only if the story I just told is true."

"Only if it's true?" 

—Wasn't it true?

I was listening the whole time thinking it was.

All this while I have been burdened with countless unfounded accusations labeled "facts." Just like how now the media was portraying me as a critical suspect and making a big fuss. Even if you told me that everything just now was "fabricated," I could not easily deny it either.

Nothing can be certain— a certain perfectionist detective once said this. 

"Hmm...I may have misled you. The reality is what it is. I didn't see the original suicide note but the police showed me a copy and revealed some insider details that haven't been told to you yet— Simply put, Fumoto-sensei's current circumstances are not entirely separate from yours."  

"Is that so..."

"But you know, something just doesn't feel quite right about it."

Kondou-san said.

Despite his use of "feel quite" in an offhand way, his tone was one of firm conviction.

Something was off.

What could it be that was off?

"On the flip side, you could say it feels too contrived— I can't quite put it in words, but there's something forced about it." 

"Forced..."

Was there some... conspiracy or something?

A plot to undermine a promising young manga creator expected to carry the future of the magazine, making a middle school girl leave behind a suicide note like that and killing herself— that's what he was getting at?

That's too forced.

A storyline like that would be not only forced but delusional paranoia that even I wouldn't entertain.

"Of course, I have no intention of spouting such wild speculations, and if she really did attempt suicide because of Fumoto-sensei's work, as editor-in-chief I have no intention of shirking responsibility either. But the malaise I feel makes me think there's more to it."

Malaise...that was really far too abstract to base anything on. But even so, can't ignore a felt sense of unease.

Is this why he requested Kyouko-san?

This is why he needed Okitegami Kyouko?

Prev | Next

[tiny-katara]

cilla my beloved not to bother you in the asks again BUT i realized i’ve never seen your LOK thoughts & i’d love to know them! (i just saw ur tags & u mentioned the animated movie probably wouldn’t be any better than lok - agreed - so i assume you’ve seen it, but if u haven’t then feel free to ignore this!)

have a great day my bestie!!

bestie you literally cannot bother me in the asks i don't think it's possible. i love seeing you pop up in them! it makes me so happy <3

if i'm being perfectly honest, i've only seen 3 or 4 episodes of lok, but i do have a vague understanding of the plot and it's such a mess??? some of these things i say could very well be misinformed, so don't hesitate to correct me lol.

honestly i think korra herself is kinda cool. she reminds me a lot of katara tbh because she wants to fight and she's really good at it. her design is cute and i do like her shorter hair as well. i think her little gang is also pretty fun and they all had some good potential. it's also never going to not be funny that korra and asami both date mako and then decide that dating each other is better. also bolin seems like he's a cute little dorky guy, which i whole-heartedly support. they all deserved better characterizations but the overall concepts weren't bad at all.

something about korra that really bothers me is that energybending isn't exclusive to the avatar. it seems pretty dangerous for the average person to use, so i wish that it had just stayed as something the avatar could do to maintain peace when absolutely necessary. it just feels wrong to take a core part of someone's identity. kind of reminds me vaguely of the way our restraints work at the hospital i work at. we consider chemical restraints to be much more severe and intense than like literally tying someone down to the bed because takes their identity and very being away from them. we have some pretty nasty patients here in america and i have never seen us use chemical restraints and my unit has some batshit people. so yeah, something about that whole thing rubs me the wrong way. i think taking away ozai's bending was valid because he had abused it, but that conclusion was far too easy for aang to come to. it is not something that should be taken lightly.

i also hate they solve the airbender crisis by just "now everyone bends" because it just kind of fuels this idea that if you don't have an exceptional skill, you're not as good as other people. like nonbenders have their strengths too??? getting rid of them does not solve the problem, it will only create new weaknesses. becoming too reliant on something that can be taken away is dangerous. we want a functioning society, not a building on the edge of a cliff that will crumble if one little stone chips off.

one of the worst things about korra is how they treat bloodbending though. do you have any idea how fucking useful that could be??? literally life saving. so many zutara fics under like 100k handle bloodbending better than a 4 season show and that's just ridiculous. katara should have been able to hone the skill and find its weaknesses and strengths. it's honestly very ignorant and just shows that they have a very poor understanding of the importance of blood in the body, which i could excuse if they didn't also demonize the skill and treat it as pure evil. i swear part of the point of the oringial show is that no form of bending is inherently good or evil and then they do that??? they don't even have a proper understanding of their own themes.

i don't think i really need to mention that the show is just full of blatant sexism towards katara doesn't get a statute, autonomy, accomplishments, etc. but that happens to all the women??? like where tf is suki??? you're telling me this girl that hijacked an airship and just vanished off the face of the earth??? yeah, i don't think so.

also yue??? she's badass of her own accord--and this a bit of a tangent but yue is a badass in a feminine way. like katara and suki are both feminine and badass, but they're badass bc they'll beat you up in the street if you're out of line. yue is badass in the sense that she is endlessly serene and patient and can calmly take you down without a single rude word. she will not be a pushover even tho she is kind and she is understanding, yet stern with her judgements. she is so cool snd it literally does not make any kind of sense that she is not mentioned or given a statue or any kind of acknowledgment. its literally so ridiculous and infuriating.

toph is treated slightly better, but is still a bad mom and everything surrounding her is just a mess. the fact that the stupid cabbage guy (sorry i don't really like him that much lol) gets his own statue makes my blood boil. like i know it's supposed to be a joke, but it's just a slap in the face because none of our beloved female protagonists get the same respect. it's disgusting.

i really don't even have the strength to get into kata/ang and their children and the damaged relationships and ignored cultural values and all of that, but just know that it's absolutely horrifying that katara had to give so much of the culture and identity she was proud of up for a man. no one should ever have to give up a piece of their identity for their partner.

anyways thanks for the ask bestie <3 you're welcome to drop in anytime i really do love hearing from youuu!!

[sometipsygnostalgic]

(Shipping bingo) Catrapta?

it's--- it's not a shipping bingo, flare xD

nonetheless i will answer for both characters individually

Catra:

I really do think Catra's an amazing protagonist/antagonist. One of the best written villains, period. And I love drawing her!!! I've put a lot of thoughts into Catra. I think she's very emotionally intelligent and tender.

However I feel alone in how I approach this show sometimes, and it's because the big thing that draws me to she-ra isn't one or two characters, it's the wider ensemble. Specifically the dynamics of Best Friend Squad, Super Pal Trio, Entrapta and Hordak, the Horde Trio, Catra and Glimmer....

When it comes to She-ra, 95% of fans focus on Catra and Adora's relationships to each other, and that's it. But they spent SO MUCH of the show apart. Catra has relationships with so many other people, and one of the points of the series is showing just how unhealthily fixated on just having that One Person she was, to the point she pushed out all other possible connections when she lost Adora. There's also complicated dynamics like Catra and Hordak which undergo a huge power shift. And you all know how much I love Super Pal Trio, with all their unhealthiness, and how at the end of the show they actually start becoming friends for real.

So it impacts not just how important other characters are in fan works, it also impacts Catra's own growth. I think her relationship to Glimmer is for example one with enormous raw chemistry. I do think part of this is the show's fault - towards the end of season 5 it fixated on the Catradora relationship but didn't give the time of day to any of these characters' OTHER dynamics. Adora didn't get scenes with Razz, Mara, or even Glimmer and Bow by the end of the season. Catra lost out on Scorpia, big oopsie, she didn't talk to Hordak again, her interactions with Entrapta were present but minimal, and she only got maybe 2 scenes with Glimmer after Corridors. So it's not a surprise that fans ALSO ignore all those other relationships, but it's still sad.

THE BLORBO OF THE YEAR

I don't think Entrapta has much wasted potential, the only problem I can think of is she never got a reunion with Scorpia. That would've been great, but during the only s5 ep where they interact, it's way after that and things are a lot more tense.

Entrapta is a paradox in terms of her handling of the show. From one point of view, she's an incredibly strong character, very relatable autistic representation, who retains relevance from start to finish - the ace card, the chess piece that sways the direction of the game - and she makes tons of friends along the way. Instead of being heartless she's proven to being very sensitive and emotionally mature. From another point of view, she's a caricature of autistic people who is consistently dehumanized by characters who are supposed to be her friends, with the biggest offender being how she was thrown on an actual fucking leash, and this ableism was never properly addressed or even recognised by the people who wrote it in, who assumed we'd side with the good guys because... i dont know. were the writers really that allistic???

I think she can be both things at the same time, yeah? you can have a character who is amazing in some ways and painful in others. and that is my experience with entrapta, but frankly, because the show's crew evidently loved her a lot, i find it easier to embrace the positive aspects. also she's just so much fun. how can i not? she just has her own energy that pushes out of the show she's trapped in. never change, entrapta.

You want to know my opinions on them as a ship...?

My favourite ship in She-ra is Glitra. I like Catradora too. I don't have any other gravitations to actual ships. I love drawing Catra and Entrapta as a duo and @phosphoricbomb is constantly egging me to draw them together, which is adorable. But they don't have any romantic chemistry in the show (much like how Entrapta doesn't have much romantic chemistry with ANYONE) outside of one or two interactions where Catra flirts with her to mess with her or with Adora.

I think they are one of the FUNNIEST pairings, however. Can you fucking imagine if Catra and Entrapta had started dating and Scorpia found out? Also there's no way they'd realise straight away they were dating. They'd just be hanging out a lot and get really affectionate until one day someone asks "are you two dating?" and theyre like "what? no. wait. wait, are we dating?" "we cuddled this morning and you kissed me on the head" "oh shit well that probably means something" +

But in terms of canon compliance, Entrapta is very much an "older sister" character to the best friend squad in the final season. Like. Sometimes she's the one looked after, and sometimes she's looking after them. And Catra falls into that equation. What's unique about their dynamic is they fall into a position where they have the potential to understand each other in a way the others will never get, because they've fucked up the world together, hacking the black garnet, building portals, and now they're facing the music together and making up for it by helping their friends. Catra can see how far Entrapta's grown, she might be the only person who knows her well enough to see since Hordak hasn't got the same perspective, and Entrapta is now starting to truly understand Catra for the first time, helping her out of a panic attack and even making her a new outfit and space suit because she's excited to be friends.

That's at the heart of their potential dynamic, I feel. Two people who are learning and growing at the same time, Catra's certainly the "smart one" but she does look up to Entrapta from time to time like Stevenson said.

Oh, also, theyre both autistic, and cats. 

[maledictongue]

I am seeing a lot of backlash against Geto from people on youtube reaction compilations, some even saying "I would have wanted to kill Suguru too if he'd called me arrogant" as if they're in Gojo's shoes.

Did ya'll even watch the fucking episode???

Geto doesn't want anyone else to die, he and Gojo unfortunately have the same desire, an INTENSE desire to protect, but they both went to different extremes to get there and Gojo realized his method wasn't working- that it'd only work if the next generation of sorcerers were as powerful and capable as he was, since he can't solve everything alone like he thought he could.

I also feel like Geto is well aware of how batshit his goal sounds, but he doesn't HAVE ANYTHING ELSE. He knows it's childish and it's radical, but he even said in JJK 0 no matter what happened differently, he just couldn't continue pretending to be happy the way things were in jujutsu society. Being used up until you burn out or die prematurely isn't the kind of life he wanted for his friends, it obviously wasn't the path he wanted for himself because it was wearing him down amongst other things (feeling 'weak' because he couldn't protect Satoru OR Riko, his enemy on the battlefield didn't even consider him a threat enough to kill him, he thought his best friend was DEAD and failed at avenging him, what other trauma can I throw in there while we're at it).

I'm not even saying that Gojo 'handling everything' is the answer since it clearly ISN'T and it's not fair to put that kind of responsibility on his shoulders alone just because of his abilities/capabilities. Even if Gojo really did think what he was doing was right and was certain his training would prevent people from dying, he shouldn't have to take on that burden by himself, he is a literal teenager.

These kids needed support from their mentors/the people higher up in jujutsu society and they were left to handle the aftermath of everything alone and just move on since "Tengen's not a threat, so it's okay", no period of grieving for Riko since "she was just going to 'die' anyway" being the SPV... Like there's a natural and obvious progression to how things fell apart and their response is simply to sentence Geto to death because he's "an evil curse user now", no further examination of circumstances that may have lead to him do what he did, no potential for amnesty whatsoever.

Even Yaga asked Gojo "why didn't you pursue him" and had to apologize because oh yeah, I'm asking Satoru why he didn't just pop his best friend like a water balloon in front of the entirety of Shibuya. OOPS.

I think that's why Gojo being rebellious and going against the grain of what's currently acceptable in jujutsu society is so important, he experienced firsthand how their system failed him and failed his friends, of course he'll use everything he possibly can to ensure that things change for the better. He's thinking ahead and trying to PREVENT problems before they become an issue, not simply focus on the present and very passive to reactionary stance that their higher ups take as a stop-gap solution.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

I just realise that Sylvie is not mixed from amora, lady loki and Sylvie luston. Sylvie more like bad Wanda waxinoff /scarlet witch rip off version.

I meant let recap between similarly between wanda and Sylvie

- sad story

-biological women

- magic

- there's manig that they just can did without teaching by anyone except taught self

-signature color

- special because a women

And before you attack me, Wanda is more better than Sylvie, even sometime I want strangled her but she more than Sylvie, wanda had everything and we know who is she, emotions and motivation, sometimes I sympathy to her and sometime I want stabbing her but Sylvie?

Who is she? We didn't know her and more important I can't bring myself sympathy to her even they keep saying "her trauma is more hurt, she trough a lot, she's in pain" ,yeah but Sylvie didn't even showing anything that make me sympathy to her, it only make me want to torture her rather than sympathy.

And we all know that Scarlet witch is special because chaos magic and cthon, I didn't know about Scarlet witch supposed to be women that had the title or not. But whatever. Scarlet witch is special ( not super special)

And there's Sylvie special because she only women loki variant , question, is he only women? Or there's more? And please fans what gender fluid and gender supposed not problem for loki (not really understand gender fluid thing) oh they playing fore with comics fans.

And more important we saw how powerful Wanda is they not claimed she like a goddes or superior, they showing how powerfull she is (except in MOM thay make everyone look weak to make Wanda look powerful), and they like giving hint Wanda can be dangerous have potential be more strong (prophecy) and it make sense (even I still bitter that they make her sound like The GOD, yeah I kind religious person)

And Sylvie? They only claimed that she she superior and strong but we saw turn out she's weak, she not smart and not powerful, and they claimed that she is superior? Are they blind. Sylvie being superior because she's a weak women is not make sense.

I can't say I agree with you on some points but I'm not going to attack you (seriously, have you ever seen me attacking anybody here? That's really not my thing 😉)

I don't think Wanda's character has anything to do with her being a woman. Her gender isn't brought up at any point, and she doesn't have the narrative protection Sylvie does. No one ever mentioned she's "special" because she's a woman.

The signature colour is something that applies to a lot of characters and usually the magic-wielders will have their own to separate them from the rest. And regarding her powers, she did practice with them as Steve says at the beginning of CW. The sad backstory, well… how many characters have that?

The issue with Sylvie is that we're told she's traumatized but we don't see her show that at any point. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too: either she's traumatized (and therefore held back in certain situations + shows vulnerability and emotional duress) or she's a badass strong super independent character who doesn't need anybody and can do everything themselves.

I get the feeling that maybe you agree with the people who claim ever since Phase Four was released, all the female characters are treated like angels who never did anything wrong and the studio is kissing their ass in every movie and show... but that's quite simply not true.

Sylvie was written awfully wrong and I've heard a few people say the same about She-Hulk (I can't confirm because I haven't seen that one). But the others? Layla is wonderful, the women in Eternals are fantastic, the women in WF are what makes the movie so damn good, the widows in BW, Kate Bishop, Sarah in TFATWS (and I'll include Sharon but that's because I like her, I'm not a fan of them turning her into a villain).... they were all great and none of them was handled like Sylvie was.

I honestly see no similarities between her and Wanda.

[shares-a-vest]

I was initially going to post some death predictions but then I started thinking about who I really don’t want to die *Steve and Robin* so I’m going to talk about that. It’s long-winded (because I’m incapable of writing anything short) so it is under the cut. Plus I’m doing some death speculation, so yeah.

I just think it would be a complete waste of character development to kill off Steve. I’m obviously sooooooo biased because he’s my fave but, why establish his platonic relationship with Robin and show him in the middle of trying to find someone to be with and struggling to transition out of high school only to kill him off? It feels like a character who is still ultimately in the middle of their character arc rather than some other characters who seem like they are reaching finality (Brenner). I would also like to see more of an exploration of the impact all the fighting monsters stuff has on people – including Steve – and more about his crap relationship with his parents.

I feel similarly about Robin. Last season she was cool but was immediately thrown into the thick of a Russian conspiracy. We are really only starting to see her beyond that this season: when she is crushing on Vicky, being besties with Steve and pairing up with Nancy. I would really like to see more of the Steve/Robin dynamic because I have always found there to be a TOTAL lacking of platonic male/female relationships in media and theirs is great, but has so much more potential to explore.

Also straight up - if Robin dies, as a queer person I would find it such a blow. Her coming out scene last season was literally so important to me. For once I was seeing someone come out and it wasn’t entirely about the person they are talking to and it wasn’t a forced outing situation or steeped with queer suffering. And on a personal note, being able to engage with my family about a queer character in a show we all collectively love has been fucking awesome for me and I can't emotionally handle that being taken away.

I don’t want to sound like an anti (shipping wars are dumb guys) but for Nancy to get back with Steve at the last minute – or they declare their love and then immediately die – it undoes like four seasons worth of character development for both of them. And it just kinda leaves Jonathan out completely and dismisses Jancy in a way that feels like actively bad writing on the Duffer Bros part. To me, Nancy and Jonathan are having a rough patch because they have been separated geographically and now they are unable to communicate with each other because everything has turned to shit. Aaaaand they have no idea what is happening with the other AT ALL.

Another problem I have with Steve potentially dying is that it would be like this other level of cruelty to have Dustin working through that death (and likely see it). There are many sad/emotional moments throughout Stranger Things that I feel are completely earned. For me, Steve dying would just be shock value. He is such a popular character and plays this protective/heroic role to other characters and for me it would veer into that space of like, hopelessness that other series go in where it becomes a downer to watch. Personally, I would hate for ST to go in that direction because I just don’t get those vibes from this show and it’s a big part of the reason I love it so much (that isn't to say I need to be handled with kid gloves all the time but, yeah - can i have stuff that isn't an insufferable bummer to watch lol).

[redwineconversation]

who is going to stop us from waltzing back into rekindled flames (Lyon - PSG Postgame Thoughts)

31 new Taylor Swift songs means plenty of lyrics to choose from as post titles! This is, after all, a Taylor Swift fan blog first and foremost.

Putting it under a read more because there is a lot to talk about.

For me this game had a definite parallel to the infamous 2018 UWCL final against Wolfsburg (a must watch game if there ever was such a thing).

There will be a lot of talk about mentality following this game, so, yeah, let's. Let's talk about Lyon's defense completely checking out of the game. There are no excuses for the first goal, where Carpenter seemed oblivious to one of PSG's top strikers lurking in the box. It's unacceptable for a defender at this level to have been so level. While I will concede she was off-balance when she tried to clear it, for me that still doesn't give her a pass. I expected better from her. I still do.

PSG's second goal came courtesy of Bacha doing everything in her power to play PSG onside. It was sloppy, careless and amateur at best, but also a reflection of how checked out Bacha has been both offensively and defensively for a majority of the season. Whatever is going with her needs to be sorted out.

Losing MBock to injury pretty much sums up Lyon's injury crisis in general. Bompastor said that she will undergo tests this week, which I took to mean definitely rules her out against EAG and most likely against PSG. While I do think that MBock is a better defender than Gilles, I also think that Gilles has proven herself in MBock's absence (except for that one super careless pass). Let's see Gilles in a super hostile stadium. This is what the big games are about.

Renard not even waiting for the team to be back in the locker room after the final whistle before chewing them out for that performance is why she is so respected as a leader and human being. She holds the team to standards that she knows they are able to live up to, and doesn't hesitate to remind them when they fail to do so. Accountability is important, and it starts with the team itself.

I found the midfield uninspiring. Damaris did her job, which is probably the only positive I can take away from it. Horan was disappointing. The shots were soft and her play lacked the bite necessary against PSG. She could and should have done better.

Not to sound like a broken record but lord knows the problems I have with Dumornay and they are going to stay until the showboating gets nipped in the bud. It was a good goal, not above giving credit where credit is due, but she had made so many bad decisions in the 84 minutes prior that I am somewhat perplexed why all of those got swept under the rug. This team is not the Melchie Dumornay Show.

Becho should not be starting at Lyon. Idk how many performances like today she has to put up before people understand that Lyon can either be a club focusing on developing young players or a club focused on winning the UWCL but cannot be both. She was drowning out there, Lyon massively improved once she was subbed off, but I guess it's okay because she scored a hat trick against a weak team and is young/has potential.

Welcome to Case of the Ex, Diani. Possibly the only noteworthy thing she did all game.

So that was the negatives, and yes, there were a lot. So what was the good?

Lyon's mentality, mainly. This team is a team who genuinely hates losing. I like how you can actually have a proper philosophical discussion about this hypothetical: is the only thing stronger than Lyon's desire to win their hatred of losing?

And part of that comes Lyon's experience. It's one of those things which I think gets overlooked a lot with this team. But the reality is Lyon has played in so, so many games that they have the experience to - usually - deal with what is happening in front of them. Majri was talking about it in the postgame, that Lyon's experience means both that they know how to handle their emotions: not to get overly excited once they've scored, and not to plummet into depression like a tortured poet if they concede.

It'll be interesting to see what happens next Sunday. Le Sommer and Dabritz are out for sure, if Hegerberg is there it will be on managed minutes, MBock I have doubts because we won't know until next week.

For now, it's a question of coasting on the adrenaline. Winning is fun. Winning is even more fun when it's against your biggest rival in front of almost 40,000 people.

[dgcatanisiri]

So latest on the medical thing I'd rather not think about.

It's actually leaning into the positive side of things right now - in talking with hospice, they basically seemed to be looking at things with an eye of having Mom discontinue everything, her meds and her therapy, and just... effectively wait until the end.

And the response that myself, my aunt, and my mother had was on the '...why should we do that, we're not going to do that' sort.

Which effectively is more in the line of NOT placing her on hospice for the time being.

And, in my personal estimation of things, another part of the problem was consistently the way the nurses in the wing she had been getting treatment in were handling her care. Because she got moved from the standard in-patient wing to the rehab wing, and the nurse there immediately noted a pressure wound that hadn't been documented and said as much to the nurse from the previous wing, who responded with basically "oh, yeah, I saw that, I just hadn't gotten around to writing it down." This conversation when she was taken in to the rehab wing at around seven-ish, and that nurse had been on duty for mom since the afternoon.

There was also the fact that my aunt, recognizing that mom was getting loopy like she tends to when having a UTI, checked her catheter bag and saw that it was brown-ish, which tends to be a sign, and brought up that it seemed like those nurses hadn't been paying it much attention.

Like, where my head's at now with the hospital and the diagnosis is that the hospital staff in the standard overnight wing, for whatever reason - because, look, I'm not going to condemn anyone in the medical field that hard right now, considering that they certainly would know that we are actually still in a pandemic, but the world around us wants to act like we're not, I'm not looking to attribute to malice what can be explained by exhaustion - were honestly just looking to take the easy and quick diagnosis and solution, especially considering how my mother basically had been going through a revolving door there.

But when we actually have her working with rehab therapists and such, she IS actually getting better. She is motivated by goals, and they weren't giving her actual goals as motivation there.

The most we're looking with that involves hospice is the chaplain, mostly because having the chaplain come and talk to her is a way of getting her to have someone COME TO SEE HER - that's been one of the biggest issues she's had honestly ever, the majority of people who come to the house are here for my aunt, not for her. But when she's had people come to see her in the hospital, she is active and responsive, so we're okay with having someone come in and speak with her, interact with her in a way she doesn't normally get.

Basically, she's DEFINITELY interested in telling the doctors who were framing things with her as potentially being short-term hospice care that they clearly had no idea what they were talking about.

Like, to be clear, on my aunt and my own side of things, we're game to agree with that, but we're also still going to work to do the important things about the ultimate end of life stuff. We just are standing down from red alert at this point, because we are GENUINELY seeing improvement, not a decline.

[talenlee]

Story Pile: The Executioner And Her Way Of Life

Story Pile: The Executioner And Her Way Of Life

Really? That’s what this is titled? That’s awful.

Originally, this anime was going to get released under the title of Virgin Road, which at the very least is a little less cumbersome. Long titles are common amongst light novel stories, but I think in this case it’s especially egregious because the entire secondary clause on the title is a long-form reading of the phrase ‘and such and such.’ This title, for this anime yada-yadas its way through its pitch, which is kinda frustrating. As far as first impressions go, when you bottle it on the title, you’re really not inspiring confidence to start with. First impressions are important! It’s like if the series is full of characters wearing outfits that look extremely silly.

Oh no.

First impressions aside, this is a series that caused a fairly inconsequential-seeming stir when it was new because of its use of a first-episode twist that got to live at the level of ‘your shoe’s untied’ for unfair surprises on the viewer. The narrative opens introducing a fairly generic Isekai protagonist boy, who introduces us to the world of this isekai through details like ‘this culture knows what Isekai is’ and ‘he’s not inherently special in the context,’ all while he explains himself to a cute priest who has taken pity on his pathetic state. Where, he wonders, are his superpowers for being an isekai protagonist? Oh there they are. And as soon as he finds them, the cute priest stabs him in the head, and the story kicks its actual premise into gear.

The protagonist we follow in this story is Menou, a skilled executioner working almost directly under the Archbishop Orwell, and remember what I said about the first episode twist not being that shocking once it happens? Yeah, well, just keep that one in mind. Menou is a seasoned assassin, very good at her job, and immediately after dispatching Decoy Protagonist One, in the first of this series’ solidly handled twist-of-the-expectations, the story pivots to her going after the second isekai protagonist summoned on the same day, a helpful adventure bimbo named Akari.

Akari is her next mark, and Menou kills her, only to find that Akari’s power means she can’t be killed. What follows then is a quest, where Menou tries to lead Akari to different things that she hopes will kill her, only to find it not work, and as they adventure together, Menou gets less and less certain of her wants to murderlate the sweetheart and more and more entangled in things like church politics and the exploitation of otherworldly power as a metaphor for society-scope problems.

It’s a good time and you can spend the twelve episodes going ‘wait, are they gunna kiss?’ and the answer is no, but also, the anime is unambiguously gay. Menou and Akari are on a track towards one another, and while it’s a little more complicated than ‘do they bang y/N,’ and the story does end before any real dokis get doki’d, it’s still a series where women being interested in women – multiple! – is fundamentally a part of the world and there’s nobody around going ‘whaaat? but girls can kiss?’

I say it’s a good time, but I guess that’s very specific to my interests. I think it’s a good time. I found it a good time. But I like the ways this series gets weird. The first-episode twist isn’t the only surprise the series has going for it, and I’d say you mostly only have two episodes at a time between major revelations that change the texture of the world or the relationships you can perceive between characters.

In a world where isekai protagonists can show up with superpowers, each of those individuals would represent a potential out-of-context problem that would require, nay, demand, lethal retaliatory force to keep contained. The scope of the world opens up, introducing you to a world with dreadful monsters and Person Of Mass Destruction Aftermath Events, and a pair of ruling classes at war with one another to try and contain and weaponise the ongoing slow-drip transformation that happens when an isekai protagonist shows up.

It’s if the SCP Foundation had only one thing to deal with, and didn’t have to operate in strict secrecy. The church is a church and it behaves like a church and whether or not the church’s stories are true or not are not important to the social stability they offer, which means the church can have elite executioners whose only role in life is to get close to people the church deems worthy of death and kill them. The church’s power is even currently on the rise, because of structural failings of the state (the nobility) to address recent problems, too.

Assassin would be the normal term for this kind of killing (since it’s to achieve a political end without judicial oversight), but the characters insist on ‘executioner’ as it’s a type of morally agnostic act. They don’t care about outcomes or aftermath. Their job is to kill, and that’s that.

The series is very pretty and the world looks very nice. It’s a vision of a fantasy kingdom that’s going through an industrial revolution by copying notes from modern day Japanese high school students. Architecture and vehicles all have that thoughtful kind of design, familiar in ways that are a little bit wrong, and I like that. I also like the ways that magic’s presence in the story lets more modern story tension conventions show up, like instant communication through phones and not having those phones, without making it omnipresent the way it is now.

Chances are you’re not going to be against a anime about hot girls in stupid outfits being steadily more dangerously gay for one another getting fanservicey. It’s worth mention though because unlike in Summertime Rendering, an anime so fantastic I forgive its egregious fanservice in the first episode, I feel that the fanservice here is kind of the point. You’re not watching the series about the stacked isekai girl squirming nakedly against the girl she has a very specific crush on because you want to avoid sentences like that one, right?

I might be being a little vague about what happens in this series, but it’s not because it’s somehow sublime or intriguing, but I think it’s because, in part, this series deliberately kept messing with my expectations. At first it was going to be a mid 5/10 anime about a isekai dickhead, then he dies and things look more interesting and weird. Then I think I’ve got my expectations dialled in, and it surprises me. Once more, there’s expectations, and then those expectations are confused and the whole time, I keep thinking ‘oh, this is a little bit cleverer than I thought.’

And it kept doing it.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Media #StoryPile