#// and they both do need to Die if we don't get any retcons or anything else

[demonsfate]

What I want most is retcons. The series loves to retcon MAJOR shit, after all. Jinpachji, for example, was clearly meant to have the devil gene.

As Heihachi even says he has Devil's blood. So it seems like originally, the Mishima line was gonna have the devil gene (with Heihachi being the ""unlucky"" one for some reason) but this was retconned for the Hachijo clan instead in Tek7. (Just how Tek7 also retconned other things concerning Heihachi's foundership of the Zaibatsu, as well as some Lee retcons). HELL. According to Alisa's Tek8 bio, they're already throwing out retcons. Now Alisa was apparently repaired by her father after her shutdown, and not Lee. I don't think her bio mentions anything about Lee, which is bizarre. Although technically not a retcon, it's clear that Claudio was supposed to have evil intentions with Xiao, but according to his Tek8 bio, they immediately backed out of that and now he's a good guy. Angel hasn't even been canonically mentioned since Tek2 I don't think, so she's likely been retconned out of existence unless Tek8 brings her up again.

So my point is... if Tek can do all these retcons... then the most obvious choice to get Jin to be a good guy as well as worthy of redemption is by retconning Tek6. Despite Jin's motives being a big part of the story, it's easier than it seems. Literally just go with either of my ideas: Jin was either completely taken over by Devil Jin who pretended to be Jin. As this was seen possible in Tek7... as clearly when Kazumi confronted Heihachi to kill him, it was actually Devil Kazumi despite not being in devil form. Some people try to say it was Kazumi and she can just control her devil - but I disagree. Why was she fainting and getting sick so often? That's because she was fighting against her devil - her devil wanted to kill Heihachi, but she didn't. In the end, her devil won. So, we can say the same thing happened with Jin and his Devil. Jin didn't want Devil to take over, therefore he joined the 5th tournament to find a way to get rid of Devil (which is practically canon) but in the end, Devil won. But since Jin wasn't killed like Kazumi, Jin was able to regain control eventually.

Or second possible retcon: Jin was brainwashed by Azazel. If Azazel can telepathically communicate with Jin, who's to say it can't do more? Azazel has a lot of bullshit powers, anyway. And of course, Azazel would want Jin to carry out this war in order to wake up from the prison humans put it in. But by making either Devil or Azazel in control, it does make Jin redeemable because he was in no control of his actions, nor did he actually start the war, and in a way, can even be seen as a victim as well. You can explain his guilt by saying... well, how is he not gonna feel guilty even if it's not his fault? Jin will feel guilty because he wasn't strong enough to fight back Azazel (or DJ) taking control, therefore his weakness is what lead to devastation. And either way, his body was used without his permission; somebody used his hands to slaughter many. He can't help but feel guilty about that. These retcons would also explain the sudden personality change in Jin. It will also explain why Lars is now friendlier with Jin. Because Lars understands what it's like when something takes control of you and makes you do something you'd never consciously do, he watched it happen to Alisa. Lars now understands, and sees Jin as a victim just as Alisa was.

Unfortunately, Tek writers are weird and it doesn't seem like they're gonna go with the obvious Retcons, but instead just go with Jin saying "I'm sowwy" and that's gonna be enough. Since the game isn't out yet, we don't know that for sure... but just from the looks of the very little content we've gotten so far...

[utilitycaster]

Do you think this new option could lead to a break up in the party and some of the characters leaving the group? Because I can't see everyone agreeing that this is the best solution, but I also think Ashton is stubborn enough to refuse to consider anything else

This is going to be a very long answer for what is a pretty short question that could be answered in one sentence, and here's why.

I've gotten a lot of questions in the past week or so that are specifically asking me what I think the future will be - for campaign 3, and for Critical Role generally. And I've gotten a little frustrated by them, which is somewhat uncharacteristic of me because I love having opinions, but the fact is, I don't know and I don't even have strong opinions. So I dug into that, and why people might be asking these things more than usual, and I really think it's because the narrative of this campaign is so constantly under threat of derailment or going in the same old circles that pretty much anyone in the fandom with any sense of narrative structure, and what makes for a well-crafted story is like "so...what's happening." Which is translating as coming to me, a person who is very good at sounding confident and knowledgeable.

I do not fucking know. I share this frustration, and I cannot be the person to clear it up. i am not even the best at narrative or analysis in this fandom; as I pretty frequently state I took the hard STEM option with regards to my education so while I read a lot and have a pretty good sense for the lay person, there are actual like, trained and published writers. For what it's worth several of them are my mutuals and while I'm not putting the rest of this post on them I do feel safe saying they agree that the lack of narrative direction is at the heart of most people's frustrations with this campaign, even if they enjoy the characters. But getting back to the point, I do not know.

Here's where I stand on the actual plot before I go back to the bigger picture. I think that unless Bells Hells decide on their course of action pretty quickly, no ending will really feel satisfying due to that sense of directionlessness - and there are arguments for Bells Hells to take either the Arch Heart or the Accord's plan, though I think the Accord's is far superior, but they need to pick one.

Because of the ongoing issues with this party lacking perspectives that tied in well to this story and having to hinge everything on either one singular interpretation of one single instance in extraordinary circumstances (eg: Dorian), or stuff that feels, as I've said before, retconned, I have generally been extremely amenable to Bells Hells losing party members either through a split or through character deaths. This is not out of any sort of vindictiveness or dislike of characters, but just a hope that now that they know the vibe, the cast will make a character who has a perspective that is relevant to the story (which, FCG is not an ideal example because they happened to be the character who had perhaps best grown from their original concept to fit into the themes of this campaign, but Braius obviously is a very strong character informed by the story as well). I also think that a lot of the indecisiveness is part of the characters' various natures and that will also be a factor, especially since a new character can be both decisive, have a clear point of view, and be a lot more comfortable pissing off the rest of the party to assert it. So: if Bells Hells as they currently stand can decide what to do quickly, no need to break up! But if they can't, yeah, it would be to their and the story's benefit to do so. That's before we get into, for example, the sacrifice required from specifically Imogen or Fearne for the Arch Heart's plan; Ashton is not the one who has to risk their own autonomy for the rest of eternity. They might die in battle, but they will not become a husk housing an ancient hunger. I think the people who might have to do so get to decide.

Now: it may seem counterintuitive to demand a clear direction from a TTRPG, when part of the appeal is that we don't know how it will end, but the thing is, with the past campaigns, we did not know if the party would succeed but we knew that they wanted to do. Vox Machina could have fallen to Vecna but we always knew they were going to fight Vecna. The Mighty Nein's decisions not to get involved with the war are not indecision but rather a very clear decision (do not get involved). Their later reversal of that decision similarly follows from who they are and the richness of their pasts.

Bells Hells does not have that, and the endless circular conversations are both circular in game and a vicious cycle out of it; because we've always been focused on this plot from very early on and because the characters were not developed as strongly, we have a lot of very indecisive people who are too trapped in this crisis to develop and become decisive. In a way, it feels like Matt's been something like the Arch Heart here: saying "oh, THIS would be interesting, I wonder what will happen" at everything when it's like "ok but consequences are like, important, and maybe you should let things play out. I mean, two cycles isn't great but it is still only two; maybe you should actually let your children/players figure this out, even if it doesn't fit your idea of what should happen, instead of throwing yet another new thing at them."

So: I don't know and I don't have answers about Campaign 3 events at this point because, again, as someone who has a pretty good sense of what makes for a satisfying narrative, it has frequently subverted those requirements (which, to be clear, is bad - it's not genre subversion or a masterful play on expectations, it's subverting actual satisfying narrative beats; as someone said on one of my other posts in not quite so many words, it's like storyline-baiting). I know I tend to present my points with confidence, and I am pretty confident about a lot of things like CR lore and said sense of narrative, but like...maybe this guess on the fandom vibe is incorrect, but I think I'm getting these questions because people are saying "hey, do you know where we're going? I think I am reading this map wrong" to me and I'm here to say "no, you're reading it fine, we've gone off the road and are just kinda crashing through underbrush, and maybe we'll hit another road and continue on that and I can give some insight, but also we might go off a cliff, no way to tell."

[randomnameless]

Sorry I need to send this about the "children of the goddess should not be allowed to rule" thing. Cause like, why shouldn't they. We, as humans generally appreciate the guidance of someone older and wiser. Wouldn't a nabatean's lifespan and experience make them the most "fit" to rule? Like, yeah, I trust someone with a millenia life experience to lead more than I trust someone with under 3 decades. And maybe it can be argued that Rhea didn't do a good enough job, but that doesn't actually disqualify the rest of them? Like, either they're truly godlike and should lead due to their inherent experience and wisdom, or they're just like any other person, in which case why shouldn't they get the CHANCE to lead. Like, is the situation that they live in fodlan, but have no rights to play a role in the future that they'll have to live in? They're not allowed to be in a position of leadership due to their race? Cause that's like. Pretty bad. But this is a question the game cannot answer because it might make homegirl look slightly morally questionable.

Go ahead anon, rant!

I think this issue could have also been raised in FE10 - but that game and "racism" is like... you believe you're eating a chocolate flavored peanut, and only realise you're actually eating a peanut flavored chocolate.

For all of the focus, in both games of the duology, Daien got as the laguz hating country, there's no line/zilch about them being happy - or not - with having a heron branded queen? Miccy will age slower than regular beorcs, will Daein peeps be okay with that? We don't know, but we sure know that legends will remember Ikey-poo fondly, just, don't give a fuck about the world or the other characters from the verse please.

As for Nabateans not being allow to do either X or Y based on their race... well, it was basically raised early in the fandom days by some people, myself included, but I guess being able to drink tea with Freezer overwrote that issue.

We could argue using headcanons all day long, for 5 years lol about what Rhea did or didn't - since the game loves to tell and show different things, but the fact that Nopes had to add Yuri and Dimitri discussing about common sense, like feeding people first before giving them education, I'm pretty sure the devs never believed people would seriously wonder what would Clout/Supreme Leader/Dimi's policies about "making a better world" would entail : both Yuri and Ferdie's supports are just here to, in a typical Fodlan fashion, sprinkle peanuts on your ice cream to make you believe you're really eating a snickers.

"We're a very serious game about having three political powers discussing about the future of the world and what should be done to reach this ideal !"

"And no one thought about food? People needing food to survive? Before doing anything else like getting a proper education or wishing to have a say in the politics of their respective states?"

"... Well, we also tackle very serious themes like isolationism and its effect of society and prejudices!"

"By depicting the foreign neighbours as MENA inspired people being bloodthirsty and deadset on pillaging or rampaging in cities? They attack for fun and let their orphans die as canon fodder? And the main lead who wants to talk about opening the borders and isolationsim never mentions this? At all? Especially since he's a prince of this MENA inspired country?"

"... but we hammer in 3 routes how this lady is evil incarnate, and in the 4 others, we say she sus!"

"Your point being? One person hearsaid to be wrong doesn't suddenly make the rest of your cast likeable, especially if their writing has glaring holes like the ones I pointed!"

"... we can sell super rad umbrellas?"

And you know what, it's a damn shame the devs didn't believe in their "homegirl" as you said it, because Freezer is somehow super popular, and that was even before the DBS retcons!

[misc-obeyme]

I agree with your vision but I can also see what other people mean. Micheal seems more like an enforcer than a punisher even from what we know he prefers stern talks over violence, but when it comes to it he can be pretty harsh (with simeon over the ring and now mc with nb, both of which I kinda understand.) So that's just my interpretation.

Also something else I never see people talk about is the Micheal's diary, you know the quote from the nightmare too. I'm curious about what's in it, hopefully there'll be a chance to read it in the next season.

It'd be interesting to think of, whether it'll have more of his thoughts and memories and we can hopefully learn about him and his relationship with the brothers (mammon and luci specifically bc he was close to luci and for sure reason ppl think he abused mammon?? I still don't get that honestly but It'd be nice if u could explain.)

I doubt you really need to guess which anon it is (sorry for flooding your inbox lately)

Oh don't be sorry, feel free to flood my inbox anytime lol! I love having these discussions!

I think I originally didn't like Michael back in the OG specifically because of what happened with Simeon. It made me so angry because to me it didn't make any sense. All three realms were in danger and because of Simeon, nobody had to die to fix it. As far as I'm concerned, preventing the death of Lucifer or MC is a good deed that outweighs the bad deed of stealing the ring behind Michael's back. And the other thing that bothered me about this was that Simeon didn't feel like he could just ask Michael for the ring. I don't think Simeon would have stolen it if he didn't feel like it was the only option. However, I do feel like they are retconning a lot of stuff in NB and now I'm not so sure that situation is as black and white as I originally thought.

I also think it's possible that Michael himself is Nightbringer which I think would cause me to interpret all of his actions in a completely different way.

But assuming he's not, it's still hard to tell how strict he is. Because the way everybody talked about him, I always thought he was? But then he obviously has a bit of a silly side, too, so perhaps it's just that he can be either?

Oh wow I completely forgot about the Michael's diary quote! I think it would be really cool to experience some of Michael's memories and relationships through a diary! That would be an interesting way to tell that part of the story, for sure. We could get so much more insight on the Celestial Realm, too.

I have to say, I was unaware that people think Michael abused Mammon? I've seen some discussion about the treatment of Mammon in general - especially with Lucifer. He always seems to get punishments in the OG while everybody else doesn't. And I don't know, I always read this as kind of a running joke on the part of the devs. I don't think it was ever meant to indicate that anyone is getting abused or anything. But maybe people extended this to Michael because it's pretty well known that Michael couldn't handle Mammon back when he was in the Celestial Realm. In Season 3 of the OG, when MC goes back in time due to Solomon's whack cooking, everybody talks about how Mammon only became a good angel after Lucifer took over from Michael. So I don't know if that's what people are interpreting? Maybe there's a Devilgram about it that I missed or something? Anyone who knows what this is about, feel free to enlighten me because I was like oh what'd I miss lol.

[crossdressingdeath]

The thing that gets me with Mythal and the claims that she's the good one is that as far as I can tell she never does anything without personal gain, even if it's just "Well if the world ends where the fuck am I gonna go" gain? Like... she saves the Warden and Alistair for the sake of furthering whatever plot she has with Urthemiel's soul (which requires a living male Warden, and the chances of them reaching the point where the ritual becomes feasible do increase with two of them), she saves the Hawkes to make a deal that they'll set up her insurance policy for them, she wins either Quiz or Morrigan as her magical slave and gets Urthemiel's soul (if it's still around) before she even offers any sort of assistance and by that point she benefits from helping them since her magical slave is involved in the conflict and likely to die without her assistance. She never helps just because people need help or because it's the right thing to do; see how in both DAO and DA2 she saves the people who can help her and leaves everyone else to die because they can't do anything for her. Solas offers more unconditional help than she ever does just by saving Quiz's life at the end of Trespasser! (In fact he goes a step further because saving Quiz actually hurts his cause and I will never be over him choosing to save them anyway.) Plus there's the other thing I'm not over where if you have Cole in the party when you find Dirthamen's Wisdom he can say it was left there for them, which... we don't know enough about how that got there to know what exactly he's referring to, but to me (with the acknowledgement that I have deep-seated Dirthamen brainrot and that absolutely skews my judgement) that might suggest at least one other Evanuris who's also helping Quiz with no evidence of personal gain. Meanwhile Mythal helps only as much as is necessary to benefit her and no more. So Solas is calling her "the best of them" while she's the only one we can confirm acts solely based on self-interest? Bioware, please, less telling and more showing. Unless it turns out to have been deliberate and Solas's interpretation of events and the Evanuris is way off, which... I would take, actually! Please retcon that, Bioware!

But it's still interesting to me that Mythal is so incredibly selfish. It paints a very different picture of her part in the Evanuris than the one Solas wants.

[kethsi]

First of all never apologize for adding to runescape discussion posts. I'm a big supporter of these things, especially ones I post myself, being an open invitation for conversation whether people agree with me or disagree completely.

Second of all, you're completely right. The mods just went in with the 'well you know...... We can't build someone up without tearing everyone else down...... ' actually yes you can. "but it's completely consistent with the previous characterization!!!! :)))))" No. Clearly it isn't. "It's not a retcon at all! :))))))" yes it is. "X was ALWAYS like this!!!!!" No they weren't. Also the whole Moia betraying us bc "your lil boss's wellbeing is more important than having your word mean anything" is just a recycled plot from the Zarosian Mahjarrat betrayal of 2 quests ago. It's literally "Haha! You have been betrayed!" to "Oh actually I'm so sorry I betrayed you, maybe I can work with you now and earn your trust and forgiveness?" to "Haha! You have been betrayed!" by another character, this time one serving another god we wanna vilify this week... It's not the cute slap-your-knee-hilarious joke they think it is. It's in poor taste because it's not to serve a comedic purpose, it's to create stupid unnecessary drama to make us hate god X and all of that god's followers, and this time it was Zamorak. And yes, Zamorakian followers of all people shouldn't be trying to assassinate wg for the crime of thinking for themselves... WG's unpredictability, open-mindedness, ability to work with any group for a common goal, and willingness to fight for both their self improvement and the improvement of the world even against outside threats should endear us to him if anything. The mods just needed another 180 and for the character being assassinated to just go completely unreasonable immediately or else. They have severe issues with writing characterization and it shows. I'm not even touching the Adresteia being the one to try and kill us thing being a fun idea part because IT IS, and when implementing gods of CHAOS AND ORDER rather than "gods of GOOD AND EVIL" Jagex should've realized they're opening themselves to the level of detailed discussion and recognition of the grey areas of chaos AND order. But like Christians when presented with a mythology they don't like, they just bulldozed right over it with boring old take of "Order always good and represents God, and Chaos always bad and represents Satan!" I wish they hadn't. I wish we could've stayed a little longer within the grey and the nuance and the interesting possibilities. But alas. Give it another three years, maybe they'll bastardize and evillize Saradomin by then, too. You know, if the game doesn't die by then because everything gets the nerf except the 3 hardest pvm bosses of the week.

Oh and also Kerapac's character going down the drain the millisecond Vicendithas was introduced feeds into the whole "can't build anyone up without tearing someone else down" thing perfectly, too, and I hate it because Kerapac could've been a shit dad but still a nuanced character... these characters exist it's not that difficult to do Jagex come ON.

omg, I’m so glad that somebody else sees what Jagex did to Zamorak too — I feel like I’m driving myself crazy getting upset about how bad the retcons are because nobody else seems notice or care! :|

Thank you for showing me I’m not the only one so I can stop gaslighting myself into thinking I’m just being unreasonably bitter… (I totally still am.)

You're absolutely not alone in your realization there. If you feel like you've noticed the whiplash that is character 'progression' in RuneScape, chances are it's absolutely there, and also good on you for keeping your eyes peeled and either doing certain quests back to back or reading dialogue transcripts from time to time. The reason most people either don't notice or don't agree with you is because the mods sitting down in the RS discord lore channels are doing a phenomenal job shrugging and going "Eeeeeh you're wrong, we totally didn't do that" or "Agree to disagree" whenever someone brings up the slightest inconsistencies instead of owning it and committing to being better at consistent writing.

I firmly believe that Jagex as a company as well as any of their lore teams never had a character sheet for any NPC in the game whatsoever. Not having a character's logical end goal written down is acceptable - growth, change and development are great things. The problems start where you can clearly tell they don't have the key traits or values that characters believe in discussed or written down anywhere. Their way of 'developing' characters is giving them 180s from one extreme to the next, while always using 'this is the only way!' as justification, whether it's Kerapac or the young god of the week. They also seem to have a weird liking for showing that their current 'fav' is good by demonizing and vilifying other characters, which is bizarre because you can be a 2/10 writer and still be more than adequate at making your favs likeable without having to go the Jagex route and bash another character to make yours look good (The complete bastardization of EVERYONE to make Saradomin look good in comparison was about as subtle as a Barrelchest in a WG's house). Zamorak specifically is such a baffling case. Going from 'the world is worse with Zaros in it, and if no one will remove him, I will', to having a borderline panic attack on his knees clutching the stone of Jas like a stabilizing support wall while the other gods were grilling him about killing Zaros (which, come on, you KNOW Saradomin totally wanted to do and would've if he could!) before nuking Forinthry partially out of the panic and confusion of being cornered like that, to winning the lower classes of Infernus their freedom because damnit they deserve to fight for their right to live, to perfecting the philosophy of wanting to fight to improve your life to this... uh... defeatist attitude? out of nowhere? Sending Khazard to steal an ancient artifact that could turn the tide of a war currently at a stalemate because we're all doomed and there's no sense trying? What? and destroying it because if he's not achieved victory over the Elder threat himself, none of us deserve to fight? Since when? Has he become Zaros's Legatus Maximus by quitting the moment things didn't go his way in combat? Obviously not. So why turn the one character with burning ambition and a will to live glowing as brightly as a newborn star into this sadsack that has to ruin it for everyone else if he can't get his way? Because you want to build Saradomin up as righteous? Because Armadyl deserves more screentime? Because you want him out of the way for when you bastardize Seren next quest before quickly coming back to grill him again? Clearly someone at Jagex ran out of ideas on who to character-assassinate next. And clearly not enough people have told that person to think it through.

Zamorak's not even the only one it happened to, y'know? Remember Kerapac? You know, Kerapac, who in OoaK is the bright, reasonable, genius scientist gritting his teeth through chronic pain to give a fighting chance to others he believe were affected by the selfishness of gods or fate, while respecting others' agency enough not to force them either way (Remember the whole 'Hey Hannibus, if you wanna sacrifice yourself for a chance and a shot in the dark, go for it, but no pressure either way' thing? I do. I remember. I remember that Kerapac before he got ripped away from us and replaced with a lunatic). Then, 2 quests down the line, he controls the needle and time itself and is an extremist who won't listen to reason whatsoever? What was it he said? 'I'm giving you a chance to say goodbye to your loved ones, be happy and take it?' something along those lines? Dude, you control time itself, you have a shadow anima device to force a non-interaction clause from the elders if you play it correctly, and the best you can give us is "It's my way or the highway and if you want any say or rights, f you", when an amicable solution that would've been preferable is "I'll rewind time for a few weeks while you evacuate everyone through the world gate so I can kill the elders in peace and you can return whenever I'm done fighting them if the planet survives" - Kerapac still gets to be reasonable, WG still gets to refuse because no other world has the biome to accommodate all species and factions on the planet, also putting them so close to eachother will just escalate old conflicts immediately and whatnot... But no. Let's make the enslaved guy battling chronic pain the monster while implying he's a monster specifically because he thinks the eldritch horrors enslaving his species deserve consequences. Why not. Oh wait. I'll tell you why not. Maybe because if you don't have anything new, helpful, or carefully nuanced to say about a heavy subject, you shouldn't touch the heavy subject.

[scorchedhearth]

also do you have any unpopular opinions about either the gl corps or the old guard (or both if you're feeling it)

oh, i can never pass on the opportunity to be a hater, thank you <33

i hate how the glc are now militarized, with shore leaves and a strict hierarchy and police/army language used by the corps themselves. i understand that they fight so there must be some kind of tactical and fighter aspect, but i hate how they're so much like an army instead of a bunch of people supposed to just help their sector. everytime guy calls himself a cop i die a little inside, full hate intended. you'd think the kid abused by his drunken cop of a father wouldn't idealize the profession so much but i guess the writers don't think that much! that and the critical lack of imagination the creators have for aliens culture. maybe if they stopped licking the us boots for a second we could have more interesting than 'it's just like earth but with funny colors!'. i did consider committing a crime when i saw that isamot's gf had boobs (she's a lizarkon, like him), or when every single planet has the same way of acting than the us (when on earth you only got one us, and many other countries. the way they write their alien planet you'd think they all have one country and one city and nothing more, not even two different cultures on the same planet ffs). i also hate the parallax retcon, but that one isn't unpopular it's a 50/50 situation from what i've seen

it's been a while since i actively interacted with tog so no idea what's unpopular or not these days, but quynh isn't crazy she's hurt beyond comprehension and deserves consideration that the comics haven't given her in full with her u-turn to a bad guy with little explanation. but also, the comics are fine (not great but not bad either), and the people who hate on them haven't read them or are too attached to the movie, you just need two different approaches to enjoy them both. the sequel shouldn't have a jn flashback, and andy's breakdown at the end of vol.2 makes sense, even if the others' reaction doesn't at all (they just fought to get booker back despite the exile, and now they're all abandoning andy out of the blue isn't of sticking with her? i call bullshit). nile's lack of recognition by the fandom while upsetting unfortunately isn't surprising, and i think a good portion of her story should focus on her grieving her life and family, which doesn't really happen in vol.2 and that's a shame, i think it should be addressed more closely in the sequel because she just lost her entire life. but also, i think too many people forget that it's a netflix action movie first and foremost, and while we got some good commentary out of it about humanity and its purpose, the main takeaway should be that people can fuck you up with a sword and a gun and that it's sexy as hell when they do, that and that military propaganda slither its way into anything and you gotta be careful. and also that fandom is stupid as shit because the 'he thinks you're a mouse' isn't a private joke between joe and nicky, it's literally to mock merrick, omg you people lack media comprehension skills to a level that worries me

anyway thanks for enabling me friend <3 i won't publish the first ask but now that it made me snort out loud, and also my deepest condolences for this moment you suffered through, i wouldn't have made it out alive if i were you

sleepover asks

[0aurelion-sol0]

The Fall Of Mikasa's Character (3/?)

SNK Endgame posts (4/?)

So wait...

Eren says the Founder's power made it so that there's no past and future and it kept messing with his head...

But that isn't the Founder's power.

It's supposed to be the Attack Titan's power.

This chapter literally retcons the rules it setted chapters before it.

The Founder's power has nothing to do with Time, it is the Attack Titan.

These are the Abilities of the Founder: Titan creation, Titan behavioral control, memory and body manipulation of Subjects Of Ymir (except Ackerman but the last chapter retconned that too since Mikasa speaks about "THAT DAY WHEN EREN CAME TO VISIT US") telepathic communication with Subjects of Ymir.

Moreover, how come Eren said time messed up with his head when he was literally able to mindplay Zeke in 120 into thinking he was in control of the memories while it was him who controlled the memories in the first place hence in control of his power through time?

Also Frieda didn't know about it and she had the Founder, Grisha suspects that it's because of Karl Fritz's will but he still says that every titan is unique in it's own way. If the Founder is capable of travelling through time, the Attack Titan is no more unique.

And if the Founder is capable to travel through time, DON'T YOU THINK A CERTAIN KARL FRITZ WOULD HAVE USED IT TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING GOES ACCORDINGLY TO HOW HE WANTED IT TO HAPPEN ?

Moreover The Attack Titan doesn't travel through time. It travels through memories big difference. So how come is Eren capable to go back to memories of people who do not have the Attack Titan, nor the Founder.

Also talking about the so called Lelouch plan of Eren.

Eren didn't have all the memories, how come is he able to make sure of that supposed end point with Mikasa will happen? After all in 121, Grisha gave up at the last second, it's Eren who had to influence him.

If anything the memories he saw could just change since even in the past things needed to be influenced. After all, in 134, he threw rocks at them while they were flying in mid air and the plane could've just exploded with everyone inside and all of his plan could've fell apart.

If Eren wanted his friends to pull a Lelouch, why did he put them in all of these dangerous situations ? So at times Eren can do something like in 131, but when Hange is about to get killed, he doesn't do anything ? It all seems too convenient to me. Was it him that send Falco the dream than ? Or is it something else ?

You can't have Eren not controlling his powers but able to in certain cases because "It's fate" and pull a Lelouch with so much limited information that he has when he himself doesn't have all the memories and doesn't understand most of them.

So we can manipulate the past but we can't change the future ?

In that case if the Attack Titan was striving for freedom ever since it existed. Does that mean Eren literally influenced all the events of the story including past wars ? Why does the Attack Titan strive for freedom when they are not even persecuted like during the Eldian Regime ?

If Eren has the power to influence the past, why doesn't he influence past events that created the whole mess between the Eldians and the world in that case ?

People are going to say it's Ymir, but the Attack Titan always refused to obey the King's Order and Ymir was devoted and "in love" with him so it can't be her ?

The Attack Titan's Owners eye colors changes when they get the Titan and ressemble those of Eren. Just like Frieda when she is taken by Karl Fritz's will.

But here, we see Eren's (and Grisha's titan) with two different eye color, pre-timeskip and post-timeskip. It seems more...translucid but Eren didn't have the Full Founder's power during Liberio so did Eren influence itself in titan form. If so, if it is him, why has Eren been shown to be afraid of his own will ? Why did Eren physically change to look more and more like his Titan ? Shouldn't he just look like himself ?

Also Eren had the Founder pre-timeskip, why his eyes changed colors during Liberio and not during the pre-timeskip ?

After all in one flashback when the Volunteers arrive on the island, Eren still has a semblance of pre-timeskip eyes. But is starting to turn into post timeskip eyes.

So does that mean Eren influenced everything into the story or is it just it's will that's controlling people ?

By the way how come their eyes changes to those of Eren, if they literally existed before him ? Did Eren sent his DNA to the past ?

So does that means Eren influenced wars even at times when Eldians weren't persecuted, killed Faye, killed Carla just so because he wanted to do genocide ?

Eren says it's because he had an endgame which was Mikasa's choice, than says it's because the Founder messed with his head and than he says it's because he wanted to do it. And let's not even count past chapters and how Eren's motivation changed like a hundred times.

Why doesn't he tell anybody about what he saw during the ceremony in chapter 90 ?

He seemed afraid by the Rumbling but still wants to do it ? Because he has to ?

So Eren can manipulate 2000 years of history but isn't capable of saving his own mother from a titan he already controlled before ? Because yet again, it's "fate." But Eren already hated the titans before his mother died, both in chapter 1 and 73, we learn that Eren already wants to go outside and is mad at the titans for stealing his freedom. His mother doesn't need to die since he is already angry anyway.

If Eren doesn't go with Zeke's plan, Zeke doesn't suggest to retake the founder during the meeting at the start of the Marley arc and the Liberio event doesn't happen.

That man manipulated the whole conflict. If Willy doesn't die (he says that to Magath), most of the world won't believe him and therefore an international attack on Paradis is very likely not to happen. They knew they were being spied upon and that they were going to get attacked.

Eren says he wants his friends to be heroes but half of them died and are forced to kill many people including innocents during Liberio including Armin who blew up a whole port.

Nothing is consistent in this story anymore.

Eren cannot be able to manipulate possibly hundreds of people and titan shifters before him and change the past to how he wants it (like in 121) than be unable to stop Dina, a titan who he was able to control earlier because the Founder messed up with his head and time when 121 proves otherwise.

So Eren is capable of precisely erase the memories of all his friends (including an Ackermam) in the blink of an eye but isn't able to save his own mom ?

All of this speaks "The power works when the author wants it to work".

By the way, if The Attack Titan only travels through memories of past owners, how come Eren was able to sent a memory to himself in chapter 1 when he didn't have the Founder nor the Attack Titan ?

Also how can he receive that memory from the future when the Memory Wipe of Karl Fritz stops any memory that has something to do with the outside world or something he doesn't like ? This was shown with Eren who had headaches about his father injecting him the serum but couldn't remember it because of that Memory Wipe.

Why would Eren send that memory to the past ? To change something but what ? He wanted to do the Rumbling ? Oh Of course I forgot his thoughts were inconsistent but he is able to manipulate a titan through 2000 years of History including his own father.

It was with Kruger who only had the Attack Titan that we were shown you can receive memories from the future. Kruger doesn't even know whose memories belong to and why would Eren sent a memory there when none of them know who Mikasa and Armin are ?

Also if Eren manipulated everything, how come Grisha who lost his first wife a few hours before he met Carla fell in love with her after seeing her for the first time? Did Eren influence his own father to be in love with his mother so he could be born just to destroy 80% of the world ?

I mean he does exactly what Kruger told him to do, he loves someone while the guy lost his first wife just a few hours before that moment.

Grisha should be a little more troubled by this.

Also VERY IMPORTANT!

Why does Grisha give Eren the Founder and the Attack Titan when he saw the Rumbling and asked Zeke to stop Eren ?

Why did Eren wanted Zeke to see that memory ? What was important in that memory ? Why is it never brought up again ?

Why would Grisha tell to Eren that if he wanted to save his friends, he'll have to control that "power" when Eren literally influenced him in the past and he saw that Eren got the Full power of the Founder in the future and unleashed the Rumbling ?

What power was he talking about ?

Why did he give Eren the Titan when he knew what he was about to do and didn't agree with it ?

Did Eren influence him but why would he tell Eren to control this power when he already does in the future ?

What was the point of that ?

I'm really starting to question whether this was Isayama's original ending anymore.

The Eremin teaser (4.5/?)

[littleeyesofpallas]

I was wondering if there was anything funky about the term "Kamikake," either the kanji or the English translations. And there kind of is, but also kind of isn't?? For one, both "God Sworn" and "Divine Vow" are sort of a weird degree removed from what I feel would be an accurate translation, but they do still rub up against the right idea... so they aren't exactly wrong either? But they feel like they lack context to be read correctly in English.

The immediate word/term referenced here is kamikakete[神掛けて] which most English translations seem to take as "swear by god" but very specifically it is an adverb, not a verb. Alternatively, "absolutely" shows up in a few sources, and less frequently "utterly," "dead," and "perfectly." So the practical use seems to be to describe something as being done with great certainty or without fail. Kubo however, uses just the kanji [神掛] in quotes and as a noun.

So right off the bat, the English use of it based on the adjectival "God Sworn" is wrong, because that seems to put the emphasis on the act of swearing (swearing how? to god.) rather than the idea that a different act was what was sworn. (you did what? how did you do it? in a godsworn fashion.)

To put it another way: The word is used more in the sense of something like, "I swear to god, I'm telling the truth!" where the phrase is kind of more clunky in English, rather than being a singular article in Japanese, but what it's describing is the act of "telling." In this kind of way a synonymous phrase might be something like "In all honesty, I'm telling the truth!" or "Without a doubt, I'm telling the truth!" the phrases don't actually involve or evoke an act of "swearing" or "vowing" the way it might otherwise imply in English, it's an emphasis of on the assurance of the action it's linked to. With all the certainty that "God assures..." or perhaps which "God has been assured..."

Sorry, got kind of carried away... Point being: That term I just described is the thing that Kubo turned from an adverb into a noun, and not the very similar sounding adjective in English. So, obviously this means we need to break down the colloquial phrase to the root words if we expect any kind of clarity...

The individual kanji read as [神]: "god(s)"/"[the] divine," and is of course pretty commonly used, so it's not like there's a lot of room for variations there... but [掛] can read a few ways...

The most readily available interpretation is "credit (as in finance)" or "money owed." Another is "-rest"/"-rack"/"-hanger" and although these might seem wildly disparate it does make a certain linguistic sense, especially in this particular case; A thing upon which someone's money "rests" is effectively a financial credit, or a debt depending on context. That upon which "god rests", or "god's credit(account)", or "a god debt" all describe Ukitake's circumstances with a little more clarity than "god sworn" or "god vow." (Also, a bit of a tangent, but it does evoke something like "god is resting on you" in a sense, which kinda relates to a point I'll get to later...)

So, it is effectively, "[The Thing] Sworn to God" or "Indebted to God" or with a little liberty, "What God is Assuredly Owed." And certainly calling it something just "Divine Vow" doesn't really imply all that. (or did it make sense to everyone else and I just did a lot of talking to point out the obvious?)

And what is the god Mimihagi "owed?" What was "sworn" to it? Ukitake's body and longevity, which was granted to him and his parents, effectively on loan, and which Mimihagi then collects on. Ukitake's parents basically sold their child to a creepy hand deity, because so long as that deity had use for him one day, it would keep him alive until then. And Ukitake understood that he owed his life to Mimihagi, so when he invoked the Kamikake himself, he was effectively choosing to repay his debt: Choosing to make good on his (parents') "vow."

And interestingly it's actually very much like what YHWACH's powers and the Sternritter Schrift were described as; Where YHWACH was born without any powers, or even basic bodily senses of his own, but could grant health and powers to others. Then they develop and cultivate further power by their own effort and merits, only to eventually die and give their accumulated power, talent, and experience back to YWHACH, making him stronger. And in the case of the Sternritter specifically, they also swore themselves to him via their blood oath, like what we saw Uryuu do. (Which btw links back to the christian references in the Vollstandig's use of the kanji for Eucharist/Holy-Communion)

Both Mimihagi and YHWACH have this ability to effectively loan their power and more importantly to collect on that loan with interest. (And if Kubo hadn't retconned Chad and Orihime's powers as having come from their proximity to the hogyoku, instead of Ichigo, we might have even been able to say Ichigo had such an effect as well...)

So, what's interesting about Szayel (and really, Kubo) bringing it up in the new chapter is that it's not just a random fancy epithet he's throwing at Ukitake, he's evoking that debt as a part of Ukitake. It makes it sound like Ukitake's being in Hell is somehow part of his debt. It's part of what he owes Mimihagi or the Soul King or perhaps a more nebulous god/the gods. So it may very well be that Ukitake is uniquely the new big scary skelly-door knife-hand guy because of that, and not because of a more general process of being a powerful shinigami in Hell. It's possible that other captains like Yamamoto and Unohana are in a role closer to Szayel's as prisoners, than they are to Ukitake's position or relative power as some kind of enforcer of Hell's boundaries.

[emeraldvagabond]

I don't know why people are still fighting over the Tamlin's redemption. I saw a few people saying that he will probably die and a heroic death can be his only form of redemption. I honestly don't think he needs a redemption other than genuinely apologizing to feyre and lucien for his behaviour. I don't want a step by step justification for everything he did. Just apologizing and improving should be enough... Don't you think? PS: Not really relevant but in my head, his mate is a therapist lol :)

I don't see why people think his only redemption can be death when Rhysand's redemption was crying into a bowl of soup about how, actually, all the trauma he caused was even more traumatizing for him.

Not to mention...I don't think dying, heroic or otherwise, is ever redemption. I think it's a shitty and easy write-off. I think people who think that's the only way he can ever redeem himself have very low expectations of sjm already. I think killing Ianthe was also a poor write-off. I think Tamlin realizing how he allowed her to abuse Lucien is a very vital part in own redemption and in repairing their relationship. I think her punishment should have been decided upon by them- ngl, because at every other point the Spring Court and Tamlin are Lucien's safe place, and Tamlin did ruin that by choosing Ianthe's word over his court, and by extension, over his friend. Tbh, i think if his character hadn't been retconned...Tamlin would have sent her away or killed her anyway, and Lucien would have never have suffered just for the sake of the court. But i'm off topic.

Like I was saying, death is never really a redemption arc, it's a way out of writing one. If someone dies a heroic death and gets forgiven...they don't actually have to go through the steps of earning forgiveness. They don't have to feel the guilt, or make their apologies, (and i mean real apologies...not spinning it to make themselves look like the "true victim" rhysand )they don't have to earn that trust back, they don't have to suffer the possibility of not being forgiven., because the truth is no one owes them forgiveness. They never have to look at the ugly parts of themselves, they never have to rebuild, they never have to reconcile.

So yeah, I think anyone dying for redemption is a shitty excuse to not put in the effort to create a redemption arc. Not to mention, Tamlin's already at the guilt part- which is further than Rhysand ever got. When you're truly sorry you don't spin the narrative in your favor, you acknowledge your wrongs, something that we have yet to see Rhysand ever do. And, if Rhysand, Eris, Cassian, Azriel, etc. can be redeemed? Absolutely so can Tamlin, and without dying. A true redemption- because he's truly sorry.

And- I think Feyre needs to accept her part in the fall of both Spring and Summer. Because Feyre doesn't owe Tamlin forgiveness but the flip-side of that is Tamlin doesn't owe Feyre forgiveness either. A redemption arc is going to be very hard when she wronged the entirety of two courts and refuses to admit to it because she's such a girlboss. Now, we already see that Tamlin is guilty and sorry for accidentally hurting her, and for putting the shield around the house...but giving an apology is a lot harder when the other person also hurt you, and the thousands of innocents under you, and continues to tell you and the whole world that it was actually your fault. That's not to say I think he wouldn't, because I think Tamlin gives very freely in the past books without expecting anything in return, but i think it's going to make a redemption very unfulfilling because it will be one-sided.

I also think it will continue to perpetuate this guilt he feels- I think Feyre and Rhysand will keep feeding into this depression he has over the loss of his people because they're fucking gross and that's what they do. I think, without Feyre's recognition of her role, that it'll be a "of so you know everything was your fault all the time," sort of thing they try to push. And I think Tamlin would accept that as truth, I think he already does.

The topic of a redemption is very difficult for some people cause they can't see outside of Feyre's POV, or around Rhysand's mf sick wings.(/j) so their first reaction is "he has to die!!!!1!111!!!!" without considering like....any other fulfilling possibility. It's very hard to look outside of the perspective we're given to recognize that...yes Tamlin did abuse Feyre, but he was also abused. And Feyre was also his abuser at points. Both of these narratives exist and can coexist. But it's hard to see that when we're only given Feyre's POV. To be honest, i don't think him and Feyre will ever truly reconcile the way I believe he and Lucien can and will, because Feyre will always have Rhysand whispering in her ear and telling her how to feel. Unfortunately.

also, i hope whoever his mate is, he gets to be happy in the end because he deserves it. I do like the idea of them being a therapist- or someone who works in an environment that makes them very practiced in emotional regulation and understanding. :P

[agent-jones]

In Defence of Gwendolyn Elizabeth Cooper

Okay, I want to start this out with a few DISCLAIMERS. First, this is probably going to be a long post, so buckle in. Second, I just want to say upfront that I DO NOT CONDONE the mistakes Gwen has made. Defending and understanding her are far different from actually condoning what she’s done and I figured I would put that blanket statement right here at the top. I know she did Bad Things. This isn’t to excuse that, it’s to explain, maybe, why she did what she did and perhaps people can gain a new perspective on Gwen Cooper in the process.

Okay. Leggo.

I asked for people to send their reasonings for not liking Gwen and I did get a few responses, so THANK YOU to those who messaged me! Everyone was very polite about it and I’m very grateful for that. The overwhelming reason people seem to hate Gwen is how she acted in regards to her relationship with RHYS. There is a lot to unpack there so I’m going to put all of the Rhys stuff in one section, and then move on to the other reasons I’ve seen about the fandom.

Rhys

Cheating on Rhys with Owen.

The thing about Torchwood is that they deal with the shittiest parts of the Universe. Suzie was right about that. Gwen came in not really knowing what she was getting herself into. Suddenly, she’s thrown into this chaotic, messy environment where she’s almost killed on basically a daily basis and she comes home from work and she can’t talk about it. She has to pretend to Rhys that she spent the day pushing paperwork, when actually the deadliest alien in the Universe tried to cut her head open with scary conversion tools and a member of their team ended up being the reason for it. She deals with trauma on a daily basis and the one person she should be able to talk to, who should be able to hold her and let her fall apart to him, isn’t allowed to know. Of course she feels isolated, wouldn’t you? Our partners are supposed to be the people we go to for support and help, but she literally cannot tell him a single thing about her life anymore. But she gets home and she has to it there and think about everything that scares her and all of the horrible things she sees, the death and destruction and tragedy, and she can’t say a single thing about it.

So, of course the idea of being with someone she can talk to is tempting, being with someone who shares her experiences and can truly empathise with her fears and help her through this new, and tragedy-filled, way of life. Why wouldn’t she want that? Owen offers it. Owen. Who knows she has a boyfriend, who literally says “I torture people in happy relationships,” comes to her and says “you can share these things with me.” And lost and unable to talk to anyone else but him, she gives into the temptation. Because, maybe this is better for her than having a partner who can’t be allowed to know the new Gwen Cooper: Torchwood Operative. Maybe she can finally have someone who will hold her and help her through things she can’t share with her boyfriend.

Flirting with/“Throwing herself at” Jack

Not going to lie, this one really bugs me when I see it. Why? Because Jack Harkness instigates pretty much every flirtation they have. The gun range scene: Jack sensually moving against her body to “show her the proper way to shoot.” Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: that cellar scene, where he caresses her arm and gives her this line about coming back for her [ after he had just said the same thing to Ianto so ]. Her wedding: the nostrovite was the one to lean in to kiss Gwen, the one to say “sometimes you meet someone who knocks your world off--” whatever the wording is. That nostrovite, using Jack, knew that he flirts with her like that, for it was the one making all of the moves. 

Jack is this enigmatic, BEAUTIFUL man who swoops into the life of Gwen Cooper, shows her that the Universe is bigger than anyone could imagine, and flirts with her, looks at her like she’s the most special human being on Earth. It’s no surprise she got a crush. It happens. But never, does she throw herself at him, in fact he always seems to be the one trying to do something, even though he also knows she has a boyfriend and consistently reminds her to keep hold of that life. Yes, she kissed him in Day One. But you know who else kissed Jack Harkness even though she had a boyfriend? Martha Jones. People make mistakes. It was the heat of the moment where Jack saved this girl that Gwen cared for and was so scared was going to die, she saw Jack act gentle and kind and yes, she made a mistake. But, it happens.

If you’re going to crucify Gwen for making very human mistakes such as this, it’s unfair to crucify her and not the men who played just as big of a role in it. They’re in no way innocent and to turn Gwen into this horrid, cheating slut and not condemn the men for knowingly throwing themselves at her despite her relationship status is really, quite frankly, sexist and a double-standard. 

Drugging Rhys

A horrible decision. Wrong. Yes, she did something incredibly invasive and absolutely not okay. She did it because she was spiraling. The thing with Owen had ended and I truly believed Gwen realised that she needed and loved Rhys, that he was the man for her and she needed to hold onto that. But, she was still holding back secrets, there were still things she couldn’t tell him. She was feeling guilty and wanted to tell Rhys the truth. But, if he left her because of it? That’s it. She loses her life outside of Torchwood, she loses the one thing keeping her grounded on Earth as the Universe tears into her at work. Of course she’s terrified and yes, it made her do something incredibly not okay. She took away Rhys’s ability to choose for himself.

She shows remorse for this, obviously, when she refuses to retcon Rhys at the end of Meat. She won’t do that to him again, won’t take away his right to know what he knows. And then again at their wedding. Jack offers them both retcon and Gwen says no, no secrets anymore. In that moment, Rhys’s face almost seemed disappointed that they weren’t going to forget that hellish day, that maybe he wanted to remember it in a way that didn’t involve aliens and their families almost being torn to shreds. But, Gwen has learned from her mistake. She won’t do it again.

Also. Gwen is not the only team member who has done something like that, in fact they all have:

Owen: took away the agency of two people by spraying them with a perfume that made them want to have sex with him. Two people who didn’t want to before they were drugged. That is date r*** and it is very bad. But, Owen is forgiven by the fandom for it. He’s loved and not bashed.

Jack: literally retcons anyone who talks to him for too long.

Tosh: dug around in the inner-most private thoughts of the people around her, invaded the deepest crevices of their minds and peered in on their secrets. This is absolutely not okay.

Ianto: clearly took advantage of and manipulated Jack in order to save Lisa. Got two innocent people killed, nearly got the entire team killed, and then allowed Jack to be given to slave traders and killed, before changing his mind and rescuing him. These are really horrible things, and yet he is the fan favourite. 

Gwen has done no more wrong than the rest of the team. This is the point of Torchwood: flawed human beings doing what they can to save the world and that “flawed” descriptor is for Gwen too. 

“She’s a Bitch”

Oh I’ve heard this one a few times and it always confuses me. She’s a bitch? When? When was Gwen ever mean to anyone? 

When she thought the thing about Tosh’s boots over jeans look being out of fashion? First, it was her private thought that Tosh had no business listening to. Second, it wasn’t thought in a mean-spirited way, she was simply making a fashion observation. We all do it. It does make us bitches to point out when things have gone out of fashion. Tosh was more of a bitch to Gwen when she found out about her and Owen in Countrycide “didn’t take you long to get your feet under the table.” That’s a bitchy and petty thing to say, but no one is calling Tosh a bitch.

Is she ever a bitch to Rhys? Not that I remember [ of course beyond the everything up there ]. But, there are moments where Rhys is a total ASS to her. Her new boss runs up to her saying there’s an emergency and that she’s needed, what does Rhys do? He screams at her “SIT THE FUCK DOWN, GWEN”  in front of her boss. That is not an okay thing to do, ever. Then, there’s the moment in Adrift when he says something like “sometimes I really hate you, Gwen.” He says this to his wife because she’s going through something very hard on her that is making her question the Universe and because it’s swaying her decision on if she wants to bring kids into the world, he says he hates her. At this point, he knows what she sees, knows what she goes through on a daily basis and doesn’t bother to take into consideration that she’s stressed and traumatised when trying to get her to make huge life decisions.

Gwen has emotions, but she’s never flat out mean to people, but there have been times where others have been cruel to her, and they aren’t hated for it.

“What she said at the end of Meat was uncalled for”

This is what she says:

GWEN: But none of you have any partners outside of this. JACK: But we understand how you feel. GWEN: No, you don't. No, you don't, Jack. You all think it's cold and lonely out there. But it isn't for me because I have him. 

She isn’t wrong. She doesn’t say anything cruel about the team. She points out the fact that they can’t understand what it’s like to have to hide her ENTIRE life from her partner. Jack and Ianto have a relationship, they’re partners yes, but they can actually talk about how hard the job is, they can talk about Torchwood and the shit they see and how it affects them. Is it so wrong for Gwen to say they can’t understand how she feels that she can’t? The entire team apart from her have been so entwined with Torchwood for so long that they don’t have lives outside of it, and that’s what she’s saying and she’s not wrong. Why hate her for pointing out the truth because she wants to be able to talk to the person she loves about the harder parts of her life?

“She acts superior to the team”

This one I see a lot. That people seem to think she somehow acts like she’s better than them, that she acts righteous somehow. But, that’s not what she’s doing. I’ve made a post about this before, but I’ll sum it up here. Jack hired Gwen because he needed someone with a new perspective, someone who could see how what they do affects civilians and help them use that to work better. He brought her in to remind them that they need to do better by the people of Cardiff. 

And that’s what she does,

She calls them out for being callous about Carys because that’s what Jack hired her for. The girl was dying and to her, it seemed like they didn’t care and so she spoke up, like Jack had asked her to do. She realises that she’s wrong in a way and she adjusts how she goes about it. Jack consistently reminds her why she was brought on, to call them out when they needed it and to remind them that there are human beings that are affected by what they do and they should care. And then when she does that, the fandom hates her for it. Don’t hate her for doing the job she was brought in to do.

Her Miracle Day speech

The Gwen in Miracle Day is not the same Gwen who peered over that parking garage barrier to spy on Torchwood. She saw the worst of the Universe, she watched as so many people died around her. Her friends all died horrific deaths. She was yanked by Jack into this whirlwind of a life, into the chaos and destruction that was Torchwood-- and then he left her. 

GWEN: Are you ever coming back, Jack? JACK: What for? GWEN: Me. 

He says nothing and leaves anyway. She begged her best friend to not leave her, after the last of her friends was killed, and he basically said she wasn’t worth staying for. How could she not be broken after that? As two people very close to me have said [ credit to @cxptained​ and @agent-sato​ ]: everyone else on the team was brought into Torchwood already broken, Torchwood took them in and put them back together again. Gwen came into Torchwood whole. She had a life and was happy. She lived, but she was SHATTERED. Torchwood took her and broke her. 

So yes, she says something that is horrible. She says that when everyone else died and she survived, she felt better than them. But sometimes we have thoughts that we don’t control, we have thoughts that we know are wrong. She knows it’s wrong. Eve’s acting? You can tell that she had those thoughts and that she felt horrible for having them.

Not to mention, she says this as she’s trying to get her baby daughter back from strangers who have kidnapped her. She’s desperate and terrified and angry and her daughter is in danger. Her mental space is horrible right now. She was abandoned by Jack, broken by Torchwood and when he appears again and she’s dragged back in? Her daughter is put in danger. But she also missed Torchwood and Jack. She’s terrified and lost and conflicted and she said something bad. But she knows she is wrong.

And So...

Gwen Cooper is a human being. She is a character in a show where ALL of the main characters are written to be flawed and complicated and to make mistakes while saving the world. She was put through so much and it seems as though she’s blamed for the fact that it changed her and led her to making decisions she may not have made had Torchwood not dragged her in.

She deserves more than how she’s treated by the fans.

[seyaryminamoto]

Do you think they could make Azula gay in the netflix live-action? Many people in the fandom seem to think she had a thing for Ty Lee. I don't see it, but do you think they could retcon the show just to pander to shippers?

Somehow I knew this sort of question would pop up in my inbox one day. I just did. Such foresight powers I have (?)

Anyways, the answer got pretty long, but I hope it’s comprehensive enough in regards of why I don’t think it’s likely, why, even if it happens, we shouldn’t freak out about it regardless of if it negates our headcanons, and why, on top of it all any characterization the ATLA cast gets in the liveaction should be judged as part of a second timeline, removed from the first, and analyzed as such.

Alright, first of all... despite what popular opinion these days would have everyone believe, a character’s sexuality and sexual identity are not the only relevant and important factors in them; in fact, I wouldn’t even call them the most important factors unless you’re outright telling a story with very specific socially critical purposes in mind. Yes, you can deal with these subjects in stories that aren’t exclusively about sexuality, and yes, it offers important representation to communities that were largely unseen for the bulk of human history. But making a character’s entire story arc revolve around nothing but sexuality and their struggles because of it is actually a failure at offering good representation? The point in having media featuring representation in the form of diverse fictional characters is based on allowing minorities to see themselves in this kind of content and for majorities to understand these minorities and their stories are just as valid as theirs are. If minorities are reduced to a single aspect of their multifacetic lives, the only thing the story in question would achieve is turning a character with the potential to be dynamic and complex into some flat minority stereotype, throwing away the countless human complexities through which media can tell rich and important stories that do provide genuine, quality representation to these communities.

Ergo, if Azula were written as a gay character in this Netflix adaptation, this aspect of the reworked character should not, and frankly, CANNOT, be the only thing that matters about her. Azula has a large role to play in this story, a role related to the war, her family, her friends and her nation, and a lot of her complexities stem from how she deals with all these subjects, none of which have anything to do with romance or sexuality. Therefore, I’m pretty sure a lot of us loved her character for reasons that had nothing to do with her interactions with potential love interests, whether they’re of her same or opposite sex: Azula has always been SO MUCH MORE than whatever we’ve headcanoned her sexuality to be, and this is something I hope everyone keeps in mind for this liveaction show.

We need to stick to our priorities, to a fault, as Azula’s fans: whatever sexuality or love interests she’s given, if she’s given either thing to begin with, her story isn’t exclusively about that. So, if Bryke decide to alter this aspect of her original characterization by dialing up Azula’s love life, it’s not the driving aspect of the character and it’s not the only thing we should be concerned with when it comes to her new portrayal in the future liveaction show, regardless of whether said sexuality agrees with our headcanons or disagrees with them.

Alright, then. After that particular clarification had been made... I’m of the opinion that Bryke have indeed pandered to shippers and fans in the past, namely in their sequel show and certain later announcements related to it, announcements that were basically the LOK version of “Dumbledore was gay all along but I thought it’d hurt the book sales and that’s why I only said so in a press conference after the final book was a bestseller and my bank accounts were overflowing” (by which I mean, the last-minute sudden “Aiwei (the dead guy) and Kya (Aang’s daughter) are also gay” comments Bryke made post-Book 4 to convince people they were aboslutely pro-LGBT and their world was very diverse despite said diversity only became known in the final scene of the show and was never portrayed positively or properly through these side-and-background characters...?).

So, would I say, categorically, that Bryke would NEVER write Azula as a gay character if they thought it’d make their show more popular? Nope, I can’t. I really don’t trust them enough to think they’ll prioritize top-of-the-line storytelling over pandering to the crowd that will cheer them on most loudly.

THAT BEING SAID...!

The story they told with Azula in ATLA, despite what certain people are convinced of, had a very straight-forward message, one that I didn’t like very much, especially since that message seemed to render irrelevant the character’s incredible storytelling potential and remarkable complexities. Where Azula could have been so many things, in the show’s finale she became some sort of flat, sad warning stating: “don’t try to control people through fear or they’ll turn against you and you’ll end up all alone.”

As much as I have no doubts Bryke will want to incorporate new themes and somewhat “update” ATLA into more progressive times, I really doubt they’ll sacrifice the story they’re apparently so proud of having told through Azula only to pander to a specific part of ATLA’s audience. For that matter, there’s been a growing movement promoting many same-sex ships and trans interpretations of virtually ALL ATLA characters, so if they were to pander to the fanbase through Azula, why her? And if they do pick her, why stop there? If they do stop there, then they’re not being inclusive enough with their fandom. Why satisfy one portion of the fandom and not satisfy the other ones too? :’D

Worse yet, accusations of foul play will absolutely be guaranteed to rise when a potentially gay Azula isn’t given a redemption (because, considering the latest Azula-related comments by the creators and comic writers, they’re not likely to do it this time either), because “irredemably evil lesbian trope, that’s so sexist and homophobic!” And with that, the long, glorious time ATLA has spent as the golden, poster child of western animation will suddenly be overrun with the very same hysterical purity police that has overtaken all newer fandoms and filled them with antis who attack creators, writers, actors and other fans for creating or supporting “toxic” content.

Point and case being... if they don’t stray from the story they already told, they have a slam dunk since a lot of people will love the show if it’s virtually the same as the one they watched when growing up. All they have to do is alter a few events, maybe expand on a few things, stall the story for a few more years so the actors can age realistically and not be overworked... and tadaaaah! You have a blockbuster! Change fundamental aspects of characters by adding new factors to pander to certain fan demographics? You’d basically be poking a wasp’s nest and hoping they will turn out to be honeybees instead, ESPECIALLY if the character being coded as LGBT is either evil or fated to die, as both those tropes are what seem to incense that side of fandoms more than anything else.

If they want to write Azula as openly gay, they’d have to alter her general character message and whole arc to avoid the guaranteed problems I’ve pointed out up here. Paired with this? They’d have to retcon their recently established “the Fire Nation became homophobic in Sozin’s time!” canon imposed by LOK’s comics, so, if they stick with this tidbit of recent LGBT info, a gay Azula would most likely have to be a highly repressed lesbian who can’t even accept herself? It’s not impossible to tell that story... but it kind of feels counterproductive, and absolutely discouraging too for people who are struggling to come to terms with their own sexuality to see themselves reflected in a repressed character who most likely will meet the same depressing end she does in ATLA.

Now, my final point: again, I can’t say it’s impossible that this might happen. But EVEN IF Bryke decide that this is how their new story will work, and the new Azula will be gay, and they change everything so it’s non-problematic and they successfully avoid being chased with pitchforks by the purity police...

A new characterization doesn’t negate the one from the original show in the least. The first ATLA is what it is, a finished product that can be judged and interpreted in a thousand ways, and has been, for the past 10+ years. A new canon does NOT overrule an old one, a thought that I’m sure the very same purity and nostalgia police I’ve mentioned will absolutely adhere to once the new story changes ANYTHING and they don’t like it. Whatever new possibilities they test out with a new story don’t have to be taken as facts that apply to every iteration of the characters. For reference, imagine judging every Marvel comics character for the actions and behavior of their MCU counterparts. Imagine people raging at Peter Quill in the comic books because he’s in love with Kitty Pryde and how DARES he cheat on Gamora with her?!

... Just how would that make any sense? :’) Likewise, it would make no sense to behave this way with ATLA and its future liveaction adaptation. What happens in the liveaction concerns the liveaction. What happened in the original show can serve as a guideline for the liveaction, if anything, a frame of reference, but they can (and will) change elements in the story as they please in the new adaptation. However similar as they might be, they’re TWO stories, and they should work perfectly well as standalone shows.

Let’s look at it from the opposite POV, to further illustrate my point: if the new show SOMEHOW made Sokkla canon, unlikely and damn near impossible as it is: that doesn’t make it canon in the original ATLA. Hence, if I were to run out in the streets screaming Sokkla is real and endgame in EVERY POSSIBLE VERSION OF ATLA, the entire world would have every right to throw rotten eggs at me and tell me to shut the fuck up because it’s not true, it’s only real in the liveaction, and that doesn’t have any bearing on the original show.

Same principle applies with a potential gay Azula :’) Even if it happens, it’s liveaction only. The original show remains what it is, and her characterization there can be interpreted and derived from as we see fit.

To close this answer, I confess that I, personally, have next to no interest in this liveaction remake. I can’t even say I’ll watch any of it. For one thing, I’m really annoyed by the trend there is these days to turn animation into liveaction, because it seriously feels like an underlying way to say that liveaction is somehow the superior choice for audiovisual storytelling and that really grinds my gears. Animation has been fascinating media for me for years, I’ve always felt it’s more versatile than liveaction, and if I ever happened to write something that gets an onscreen adaptation, I’d probably choose animation over liveaction even if I’m not given a choice on the matter :’) So, for starters, I’m not happy with the notion of a liveaction remake for this show. If they wanted to remake ATLA and had chosen to do so with animation, I’d definitely be much more interested. But this way? Uh... not my cup of tea.

So, whatever Bryke want to do with this new product is absolutely their business (same as it was their business with ATLA, frankly). People will criticize it, that’s a guaranteed thing, and people will love it, and people will be angry, and people will be happy. But I’m probably not going to be one of any of these people this time around. The only way I would likely enjoy that show would be if it’s a genuine, critical overhaul of everything they did in the original show, reworking many key aspects of MANY characters, no matter if the main anecdote remains intact. And considering how highly self-critical the recent ATLA-related content has been, I doubt I’ll get my wish. So... good luck to everyone who wants to watch this liveaction, have fun, I won’t spoil it for you by dumping on it this time as I did with the comics, but I certainly won’t be joining any of your parades much either :’D

[aspoonofsugar]

I know this might be weird but can you pinpoint what Eren actual plan is actually is? I still don't believe his declaration and i'm sure there is more that meets the eye. Can you give any other probability of what his real plan is judging from his character before his POV was shut off. Can you also include how the role of Kruger memory and advise to Grisha helped shaped the current Eren since I see a lot of similarities between the two in this final arc

The same dude btw. Do you have any theory on why Eren set up PATHS discord to declare his goal. Don't get me wrong but so far Eren intention has been presented as noble even though his method and goal isn't. The intention we have gotten from other character POV btw is to protect his friends and Paradise. What then do Eren benefit from monologuing like a stereotypical villain before unleashing his plan? He isn't the type to instill fear into people before killing them. That's OOC for him            

The wall titans will take days or even weeks before they realistically reach the shores of Marley. Maybe it cause of bias but if I want to commit a genocide with something as slow as the wall titan, I will cut off flow of information so that they will meet their doom by surprise. Also thanks to him announcing his goal, he has helped clear indecisiveness for any Paradisians that's opposed to that outcome. Did he really expect Armin to sit still and allow him after what he pulled in 112?

Lastly, in Eren memory shard. We saw a shard of the fez boy whom he was looking at the last night. The general consensus among the fandom is that Eren decided for the genocide after what transpired in the meeting but if Eren really went out of his way to meet that boy after he ditched the SC, that kind of puts a dent in his genocide plan cause that shard looks to pure with the hand placed on shoulder and the whole body language. Sorry for rambling too much. I know it kind of makes other         

characters development pointless if Eren isn't genuine. But it's just like saying Mikasa character development when Eren died is pointless cause Eren came back alive. I don't know if I make sense

One question, I want to ask about Kruger word on the wall " you have to complete your mission if you want to save Mikasa, Armin and everyone". Are we supposed to ignore that line or is it retconned or what? Many of the analysis I see base off of post timeskip Eren with no POV and ignoring established themes. I just see a lot of theory about big bad Eren and I can't help but wonder considering the scene was emphasized by both Grisha and Kruger. I feel like something is missing            

Hello anons!

These asks can be answered together. I am also sorry for the wait since it has been a while since  I have received them.

I have talked about Eren here and in particular I have said this:

Finally, when it comes to Eren’s future development, I currently see two possibilities.

a)  Either we are given more information through Historia and his POV and this new information can modify the reading of Eren’s actions up until now.

b) He will grow and develop because of the actions of the   other characters exactly like them will grow because of his current   ones.

I think that point a and b which describe two possible ways in which Eren can gain future development lead to two different machro-theories I see going around.

1) Eren plans to turn himself into humaniy’s enemy, so that humanity can join hands, fight him and overcome their struggle in the meantime.

2) Eren’s wish to protect his home and loved ones coupled with his future memories led him to think that destroying the world is the only way he can ensure Paradis safet and so he is doing so even if he knows it is wrong.

I call them “machro-theories” because they can be interpreted in numerous ways and each one has a different nuance and a different spin to it. I am also sure that other explanations could be found, but, as for now, they are the two I find more plausible.

They can both make sense under certain conditions and I think they are the two ones that would have the more foreshadowing if proven true.

Now, let’s address some points you make against theory 2 and in favor of theory 1.

1) The boy with the fez.  I don’t think him appearing in Eren’s memories disproves nor proves anything. Him appearing in Eren’s memories shows how much important was that night for Eren himself. It is the last night he spends with the people he loves before leaving them and starting to act coldly towards them. What is more, the child is a person who reminds Eren of his past self since he is a victim of war and a refugee like he was. Because of this, it makes sense that Eren was such impressed by the child since he represents both his past self and how people outside and inside the walls are the same.

As a matter of fact even if Eren is indeed doing what he seems to be doing it does not mean that he does not realize its gravity (different from the Jeagersists). He clearly does. That is why he cries after seeing the child. It is because he realizes he will die together with other people when he activates the Rumbling. Or at least the hapter implies this.

Alternatively, in case theory 1 is correct, Eren crying might simply be because he is somehow giving up on his past and possibly on his future since he knows he needs to sacrifice himself.

2) Eren’s speech to the world Eldians.

As the first anon said in their asks, it might be a trick Eren is using to stage himself as the only true monster in order to unite the world against him.

Alternatively, someone (whose name I don’t remember, so tell me if yuou know) noticed that the Founding Titan powers seem to work without specific restrictions. So, for example, when Eren ordered that all the hardening had to become undone, not only the walls, but also Reiner and Annie resented of the effect of Eren’s order. So, Eren might have wanted to announce his plan only on the Eldians of Paradis, but ended up bradcasting to all the world Eldians. That said, I don’t find the theory that convincing even if it is interesting simply because Eren’s words seem to be directed to all Eldians.

3) Eren as an antagonist being against the themes.

To this I disagree. As a matter of fact a way to explore a theme is to have the MC have a tragic arc which embodies the opposite of a story themes. Because of this, having Eren who wants freedom ending up representing freedom’s opposite can be an effective way to explore the theme of “freedom”. If anything Eren manipulating everyone, so that things go according to his plan is something which risks not to fit with the idea of freedom. As a matter of fact, having a single character giving “freedom” to others through manipulation seems kind of hypocritical. That said, there could be ways in which theory 1 can be proven true without this happening. So we’ll see.

4) Kruger’s words. I have talked about Kruger’s words here:

He might be doing it because he has seen  Kruger mentioning to Grisha that if he learns to use this power  correctly he can save Mikasa, Armin and everyone else. All in all, just  this hope might be enough for him to push forward in a confused hell despite the fact he has only partial information and that he might very well mess up in the process.

In short, the panel of Kruger mentioning Armin and Mikasa is clearly important and I think that that panel together with the one of Mikasa in chapter one have still to be explained and will be in the future. What is more, I think they are connected to the Attack Titan piower somehow.

When it comes to Kruger’s words it is possible that, as I say above, Eren is also animated by them in doing what he is doing. As a matter of fact being told by my future self that doing something will save the lives of people I love might be a reason good enough to do whatever I am told. I also think we might see Eren sending himself this message in future chapters.

In conclusion, both theories 1 and 2 are still possible. They have both positive and negative aspects to them.

For example, having theory 1 be true would make difficult to understand why Eren could not simply tell the others about it. Why did he have to risk the destruction of the world hoping that a bunch of people who could have died countless times would join together and stop him against all odds? This is something which seriously needs to be addressed not to make the whole situation ridiculous and it can be addressed either by adding plot-points which make Eren’s choices understandable or by clearly showing that Eren was wrong not to tell others.

At the same time, for theory 2 to be true there is the need to find a convincing reason why both Historia and Eren’s POV have been hidden from us up until now. If Eren wants to destroy the world and that is, why have we not been shown his pov and why is there still mystery about a meeting between him and Historia? Similarly, there is the fact that it makes no sense for Eren to have told Floche his plan and not people he truly cared about. As a matter of fact even if he wants to destroy the world, why should he want a group like the Jeagersists rule over Paradis considering they are a threath to people like Hange and Levi he cares about?

All in all, why is he pushing Armin and Mikasa and the others away? No matter what theory is true, it must address this point.

These are my two cents as per now.

Have a great day!

[annavolovodov]

so i recently binged all of home fires (i knew what i was getting in for and yet,,, still can't not watch a period drama w 12 women as the leads) but like can you give me a run down of what happens to the character's (esp Teresa's) plots in the books as i don't have the time to read them but i need to know what happens to everyone!

(anon abt home fires again) so i jsut found your rundown of everything that happens in the second part. I honestly cried reading the shit that happens w teresa. having her and annie together would've been so good and the way you ran down how they could've done it was exactly what i was thinking. god i'm pissed w shows doing things like this. what happens w Sarah? is she in the other part? have you read the other part(s?) yet?

Welcome to the fandom! 

Bear in mind it’s been over a year since I last read the books and I gave up after volume 3 because I literally couldn’t deal with the poor writing anymore but I’ll try to give a quick summary.

Spoilers under the cut!

It starts a little before the end of the finale but you don’t get any new or important information. The way the chapters are written means that some prominent characters from the show don’t get that much focus or development and Simon Block has a really irritating habit of retconning stuff from his own series. I also got the impression throughout that he doesn’t quite know his characters as there were some severely OOC moments (Alison leaves Boris behind during a bombing!!!!! wtf!!!!!!!!!!) so yeah, you haven’t missed much.

Everyone survives the plane crash, albeit with some injuries. We don’t spend much time with the Brindsleys but the baby was a girl (called Vivian) and while Miriam is certain that the worst is over for all of them, Bryn isn’t so sure.

We don’t hear much from Joyce, either, though she has anxiety issues from the accident. Pat and Bob have moved in with her temporarily due to the destruction of their house and Bob is enjoying having someone new to fuss over him. Pat receives no letters from Marek and worries about him, then starts writing anonymously to the Mass Observation service that’s recording life during the war. She details Bob’s abuse, how much she hates him and discusses her affair with Marek. At the very end she finds out that Marek has been trying to contact her after all but Bob has been intercepting the letters.

Erica and Will both survive but the accident has exacerbated Will’s condition to the point he has only mere weeks left. Erica has to deal with the knowledge that her husband will soon die and the family decides to bring him home to the village. These chapters were some of the best written imo. Also, a new doctor arrives and doesn’t quite fit in.

Frances decides to send Noah to boarding school but evidently misses him as she keeps calling the headmaster. She eventually comes to love him like a son but receives word that he’s ran away from school and went missing.

The very little content we get on Sarah is often from Frances’ storyline but she doesn’t get much focus on her own. Likewise for Steph and Laura: they get practically nothing.

Alison is depressed after the events of last season. She misses Teresa and Frances still won’t forgive her for the factory drama. A bunch of people from Liverpool show up in the village taking shelter in the fields from the bombing. Some villagers are angry about this and others want to help them. This one guy shows up and starts hanging around Alison and I just know some forced het nonsense is on the horizon there.

Teresa’s stuff, well, you already know, but I want to reiterate how garbage it is. As you know, there are details we really did not need on her sex life with Nick and she eventually loses her job due to her marriage, too. Essentially she ends up completely isolated from the rest of the village and her whole life revolves around Nick 🙃

Annie still has hardly any development and is Just Kinda There. I’m sure there’s some sort of scene between her and Teresa that I think was supposed to be romantic but I found quite horrible, I can’t remember what it was though. I think there’s some sort of argument, Annie basically calls Teresa a coward for marrying Nick and then kisses her. Idk but I remember thinking “wow what a mess” followed by “we have to ban straight men from writing”.

Honestly if you want to know what happens next just read some fanfiction. Most works on the Home Fires AO3 are Teresa-centric and do a much better job of continuing the storyline than the actual books.

I hope this has answered some questions for you and if there’s anything else you want to ask (or if you want to discuss Home Fires in general) please just message me!

[snserendipity]

Uh man...If Kishi really don't write Boruto,and if it's all in sp hands,what will happened with Naruto characters?More important,what will happened whit sasuke and naruto? Kishi is the one who created their bond and now when he is out of boruto,do you think that sns moments are officially over???I really hope that I have wrong opinion...

I actually don’t think that Kishimoto is working on Boruto. He, most likely, gave basic ideas of how the story should go and obviously we know that he wrote Gaiden. But, honestly, I don’t think he did any more than that. He definitely isn’t looking over every single episode which SP is making (especially these filler-type episodes) and SP also doesn’t have any manga material to follow, which gives them more freedom to do what they please. They do have the Boruto manga which Ikemoto is working on, but more than half of that manga is the Boruto movie and the rest is set after. That’s why it’ll be a while before we see any of the manga getting adapted.

What will happen with Naruto characters?

Not much, I guess. But it also depends if you’re looking at the old gen or new gen. It’s only been like 3 episodes, yeah? That’s why it’s difficult to judge the characters in this short amount of time. But, I’ll do a quick analysis.

Naruto - Okay, so we haven’t actually seen that much of Naruto (which is strange) but it’s been made pretty clear that he’s often made to look worn-out because of his work as the Hokage. We know he doesn’t spend time with his family and the one time that he does come back home early, he goes straight to bed without getting anything to eat. You’d think he would be happy to see his family after not seeing them for some time or he would at least greet them? It gives me a feeling that Naruto doesn’t particularly feel the need to spend time with the family that he often neglects because of work. 

I don’t find it strange that SP could be ruining Naruto’s character, or generally pushing him away from the spotlight because we all know what they did with him in The Last. There are major hints that Naruto might die, later on in the Boruto series, and maybe the reason for pushing back Naruto is so that we will focus on Boruto and forget about Naruto? They might be doing this so that fans start loving Boruto and don’t get overly upset when they do kill off Naruto. It’s all up to debate for now, though.

Hinata - Where do I even begin? -sigh- 

So, apparently, SP felt like retconning Hinata’s character and make her into a ‘scary mum’ as Boruto describes. I honestly feel so tired about talking about this over and over again so I’ll share two links which perfectly explain what happened: 1 & 2.

Since this is SP’s doing and Kishimoto isn’t involved then I’m not surprised that they’re doing all of this. They’re putting her into every episode to make her look somewhat ‘important’. But what she’s doing when she is actually shown is either taking care of the house or taking care of Boruto or Himawari. And that’s not anything important or entertaining. They’re just trying to shove her down people’s throats in any occasion which they can because she’s SP’s favourite.

Temari - I hate what they did with Temari. She is shown hitting Shikadai or pulling him by the ear because he did something at school. Like, she can just talk to him? And when Shikamaru tries to just stay calm and let go of the situation, Temari says that Shikamaru is being too lenient and that’s why Shikadai is behaving that way. But what way? Seriously, Shikadai is always shown to be good and he’s the one who watches over Boruto to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. So, he’s the sensible and responsible one. Yet, Temari is still complaining about him not behaving well. It’s like she doesn’t know her own son. She didn’t even let them have dinner because they were both thinking ‘what a drag’. Isn’t that going a bit too far…?

Sasuke and Sakura - I’m going to write about the two of them of them because it seems like they’re both being treated like side characters. I know that they aren’t playing a major role right now but it’s strange to see that these two really important characters are getting thrown off to the side like they’re nothing (kind of like Naruto, though he did get some screen time). But, for some reason, Hinata gets the most attention out of all of the old gen. Again, obvious favouritism. We’ve seen Sakura in both the opening and ending of Boruto but Sasuke was only shown in the ending. I’m not sure when we will see Sakura, but I think that Sasuke will be shown when they start to animate Gaiden. 

 What will happen with SNS? 

I honestly don’t know. It looks like SP is in charge of everything right now so we have to wait and see what they will do. 

There’s just one thing which worries me and that is Ikemoto’s take on the Boruto manga. I did a full analysis of how he removed the SNS moments or changed them to make it look platonic, which you can check out here. I don’t think SP dislike SNS and they might give us fanservice but that’s just not the same. Hopefully, SP doesn’t do the same thing as Ikemoto. There were plenty SNS moments in Gaiden so hopefully, SP doesn’t mess that up. But, we just have to wait and see. 

I just want to say that you shouldn’t worry because, as you said, Kishimoto is the one who created the SNS bond. That’s why we shouldn’t worry so much about this Boruto crap because we’ve already got the upper hand. We have all those moments that Kishimoto created himself. Whatever SP try to do, they won’t be able to destroy that :)