#(( idk if you quoted an actual comic arc but i did just make this up whole cloth ))

[usernamesuggestionsarefunny]

Possibly unpopular opinion (Or perhaps not idk): I love what they have done with Zuko and Ozai's relationship in the live action Netflix Avatar show.

In the cartoon we never get the ~vibes~ that Zuko has a complicated relationship with his father, only that it is abusive and one-sided in the sense only Zuko craves Ozai's approval, while Ozai straight up hates him, wants him dead or has no problem with him dying (Why doesn't he kill him if he has Azula? We don't know, plot has to happen, he sent Zuko to find the avatar in order to get rid of him, probably, or actually canon idk or remember), clearly prefers Azula to him as successor, etc, etc, etc (+ later the comics literally overkilled this trend "she was born lucky while..." omg stfu). Zuko is basically the perfect character to prove the fire nation is not all evil (Oh look, they hate him too, he is inherently their victim too from the very beginning).

So when Zuko switches sides in the cartoon, what I see as an adult rewatching is someone giving up on luxory, physical safety and... that is pretty much it. Sure it is a big deal to give up on those things to do what is right (Few would) and still awesome that he did the right thing in the end, but if you really think about it, he is not giving up that much, he is not giving up anything truly valuable to him. Respect? Honor? Sure he is said to have received it back after Azula "killed" Aang, but we never truly see it. For all intents and purposes his sister has that and wayyy more of it. His father's love and acceptance? Never had it, so he didn't truly "loose it" when he spoke up for those soldiers, got the scar and was banished, it is not really shown to have suddenly popped into existence when he was said to have killed the avatar. He literally had nothing in the fire nation, literally nothing. This could only make "doing the right thing" a lot easier for him, and for the adult audience (At least for me), his arc is just him realizing what is almost irritatingly obvious for us: That no one in the fire nation truly loves and respects him so might as well switch sides (Basically if we weren't also shown that Zuko is compassionate and does care about the horrible things the fire nation is doing, Ember Island Players would have gotten a bit of truth in it).

Now, in the live action, where do I even start? It has been so good so far when it comes to Ozai and Zuko. That man, if he hated Zuko in a cartoonishly evil way almost from birth, he sure doesn't show it. Don't get me wrong, he is just as abusive (Creepily so in many scenes, made me feel so protective of Zuko and Azula), but he is also shown to "care" about Zuko as in having some hope left that he can mold him into another powerful genocidal mini me. Is Azula winning by far? Ofc, she is still the prodigy, I am sure I am going to see flashbacks of favoritism later on. But Ozai doesn't yet seem to favor her in a way that makes Zuko's craving for his approval (Or even Ozai's hope in him as heir) hopeless. It seems, from his scenes with Azula, that Ozai foments the rivalry and competition between the two siblings not only because he personally thinks Azula is the best (Which he also might in this version), but also as a way of control through fear (Especially for prodigy Azula), and to make them (Especially comparatively weaker Zuko) "better", something this version of Ozai appears to think is possible EVEN when he banishes Zuko. Now, he might have done this "to get rid of him" as in the original, but in the live action he seems super open to and genuinely believe the idea that the exile could make Zuko stronger and better, not to mention worthy of the throne if he succeeds. Ozai treats Zuko like the heir despite favoring Azula is all I am saying. Zuko's actions are therefore almost impossible, yes, but not hopeless or even naive. And if this trend of Ozai's respect and "love" (Super on quotes) being achievable continues, Zuko's eventual turn to the good side will be much more powerful. He will have to give up much more after spending a summer with his abusive parent love bombing him for "killing" the avatar. Zuko's choice will be solely based on his findings about the horrors the fire nation has committed and not wanting to be the cause of more suffering even though he could have it all. Even though it was his fate to be his father's "mini me"-> Something terrifyingly likely and not so quickly discarded by the narrative itself as it was in the animated series.

I think the best part about this subtle change in the father-son dynamic (If it was the intention of the writers, I am aware it could have been unintended) is that the scar tm was a direct result of Zuko's compassion for those soldiers and not just the excuse Ozai used to banish him or "final straw" because he preferred Azula sooo much more, as it is pretty much implied later on in the animated series and comics by focusing so much on how much of a perfect victim Zuko was pretty much from birth. The addition of the 41st surviving because of Zuko was also pretty nice, and so is Zuko's relationship with them, he will need fire nation allies when he gets to the throne and this is a good start, something the animated series never touched upon much.

I am on episode 6 btw so my opinion might change. I will edit this post if that is the case. BUT my thoughts on these first scenes doesn't change, they are good imho

EDIT (And spoilers): I just watched Zhao’s revelation where he tells Zuko that Ozai would never let him return and he just wanted to use him to motivate Azula. It does change things and invalidates most of what I said, but taking out just this one scene, as I said, the Ozai-Zuko dynamic is great in this show, and also, Zhao is obviously not the most reliable source, because he was allied to Azula and obviously wanted to hurt Zuko, as he was losing the fight with him. There is also the fact that Azula wasn't watching Ozai and Zuko when Ozai told his son that he was being banished and that it was in part so he could get stronger etc, that was all for Zuko and had little way of serving as motivation for Azula (Unlike the scenes where Ozai praises Zuko in front of her, those could have totally been him bullshitting his daughter to motivate her to work even harder). So all in all this scene doesn't ruin the overall impression I had of the Ozai-Zuko father-son dynamic in the life action show. In fact, it could be taken to confirm one of my impressions which was that Ozai likes pitying his children against each other to push them harder.

EDIT 2: Ozai's reaction to Zuko's possible death is further proof imo that his “test” was very much real (even if almost impossible) and everything I said earlier still stands. He wouldn't mind that much if he died, it would just prove his “weakness”, and he is very pleased with Azula, but he didn't look happy or even indifferent when he learned the news.

[lobobobobo]

well i mean agree ta disagree there but-

huh well uh

not quite a FRAGGIN story-- i mean good fer you i guess gettin yer name cleared an all-- but i think i can muster up somethin ta inject a lil zazz back inta this:

SO THERE I WAS, COCK N BALLS FLAPPIN FREE AS THA DAY I WAS BORN, ON FIRE AS I WAS THA DAY I EXPLODED MY OWN HOMEWORLD, AND AS PISSED AS I WAS WHEN I LEARNED SANDY CLAWS AINT REAL--

-- takin ya back a bit fer some context i was on tha casino planet Blok 10, one of them crummy lil hive worlds were ya cant go ten steps without bumpin inta some scrumpled gizzard licker

one of them places were drinkin n eating and gamblin is real cheap but sleepin somewhere is a nightmare

an THAT is where the trouble started cus see i had just taken on a stringa jobs justa afford a few days here cus yknow i can sleep in a lil pod slong as THE MAIN MAN GETS HIS GRUB AND GROG KNOW WHAT IM SAYIN?

so there i was after a day a gamblin and drinkin and eatin heading back to my five foot by fifteen foot rented lil condo with a six titted so and so i had done convinced ta dance the dance yknow what im sayin

anyway we were in there workin on our two step when WOULD YA BELIEVE IT there comes this knockin at tha door and you KNOW the MAIN MAN dont like to be interrupted in the midst of no passionate waltz so i grab tha nearest gun i got and mosey on doorsways

pop open the hatch

n would you believe it

theres tha god damn landlord n some veiny pupil gitwit sayin that i aint paid fer tha room

AND I HAD PAID FER THE ROOM

i VERY RARELY pay fer rooms so believe me this was a fuckin ACHIVEMENT like i was doin RIGHT by this fraggin scumsack an he still had the GUTS ta try and throw me out on the street

ta make a long story short some words were said an i didnt have time ta tuck back into the old cosmic denim and stompers afore i had used my modest arsenal to reduce tha opposite side of the structure to atomic ash

and NOW THA SIX TITTED SO AND SO IS SCREAMIN and im sayin BABY CALM DOWN IT AINT NO THING but they was all

"THE MOOD IS RUINED"

and they were right tha vibe had kinda jumped ship so i started to gather my things and bid her farewell when BOOM BANG ZOOM OUTTA THE SMOGGY ORANGE SKY A BIG OL GREEN FIST SWATTED THE MAIN MAN THROUGH THE REMAININ WALL AND SENT ME SAILIN TEN BLOCKS OVER

WHERE I HIT A BIG TANK A REFINED FUEL

AND EXPLODE

LEVELING ANOTHER COUPLE BLOCKS

SO THERE I WAS, COCK N BALLS FLAPPIN FREE AS THA DAY I WAS BORN

ON FIRE AS I WAS THA DAY I EXPLODED MY OWN HOMEWORLD

AND AS PISSED AS I WAS WHEN I LEARNED SANDY CLAWS AINT REAL

AND THIS JOLLY GREEN FUCKWIT HAD THA NERVE TO COME UP TO ME AND START LISTIN OFF VIOLATIONS I DID AND HOW NAUGHTY A BOY I WAS AN SO ON

AND I AM FUMIN AND STEAMIN AND THIS VACATION IS PRETTY MUCH A FUCKIN WASH AT THIS POINT

AND THIS FUCKIN VERIDIAN TURD

I DONT KNOW WHAT HIS NAME WAS BUT HE WAS SOME KINDA BALL MAN

ANYWAY THIS GREEN SHIT HAD THA NERVE TO ACTUALLY INDICATE THAT HE WAS WANTIN TO ARREST ME

AND WELL PAL AT THAT POINT THE MAIN MAN COULDNT TAKE IT ANYMORE

WENT OFF THE HANDLE A LIL BIT

I KICKED HIS ASS UP AND DOWN THE STREET

BOOTED HIS STUPID SOCCER BALL COOTER THROUGH THE ALLEYS

AND WHEN I HAD FINALLY STOMPED HIM FLAT ENOUGH TO GET A BOOT ON THE LIL SUCKER I MADE HIM EAT HIS STUPID RING AND ALL THE OTHER GARBAGE I COULD FIND LAYIN AROUND

and now naturally by tha time all the kickin and punchin and maiming and rippin and snortin was done the two of us (mostly me the main man must admit) had demolished a sizable stretch of infrastructure

and so thats why i aint allowed on Blok 10 no more

and we all learned an important lesson eh?

how do i put a virus on batmans computer

[jade-kyo]

RvB 20th rewatch: s3

And we’re at season 3. The point where I feel like the show really starts to find its identity!

I was trying to remember what the zealots were called and I accidentally called them faggots…

For me season 3 is really when the humor kicks into high gear

It really feels like this is when the characters identities found their footing and solidified

The O’Malley/Doc/Lopez/Vic/Wyoming evil team up is so brilliant, it cracks me up so much

“What was your code name?” “Nevada” Tex’s willingness to just fuck with people is great

This is also the season where Caboose became Sarges favorite blue

“So I guess if I’m not on the team and you’re not on the team then nobody’s on the god damn team! The team sucks” another heavily quoted line for me

I love that the guy named Wyoming has the most comical British accent

Tex calls Tucker her friend and I start frothing at the mouth

Allison name reveal from freaking Wyoming of all people

You know early on it really does seem like Grif wants to gain Sarges approval

The crackpot retcon time travel arc here makes more sense than the actual time travel arc in the shisno trilogy

Man Tucker really is the one who worries about Church the most

The domestic evil lifestyle with O’Malley, Doc, and Lopez is such a good bit

Ah yes grimmons parked in the shade for two hours…

Super strong Caboose introduction!!

“Well can we at least rule out the gay stuff?” Grif you’re the one who brought up gay me thinks you’re projecting

“I miss the old days when we didn’t risk our lives and you were all a bunch of nameless assholes I’d yell at with Church” THEY DONT KNOW THE HORRORS THAT ARE TO COME SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP

THE SWORD!!!!!!!

I think it’s really interesting that Tucker doesn’t try to hype himself up about finding the sword- he just says it how it happened… idk I think it’s a good reflection of his character and what he’s actually like

Friendly reminder that Blood Gulch was an elaborate torture session to get the alpha to fragment more

CAPTAIN FLOWERS!!!!!

Since the time travel stuff with Church was a simulation does that mean Flowers actually had a heart attack or did the dude fr die from aspirin somehow unrelated to Church? Or was the time travel actually real and they were using Wyomings time distortion unit?? But like that was the only time travel that actually happened???

“Man first I kill myself then I realize I’m a honking dork” bro just like me fr

Requesting that Caboose speak at my funeral

“Mechanized… Americans” I cannot emphasize enough how much I love that line delivery it is one of my biggest vocal stims

Also a great example of how rvb has this sense of realness to its dialogue because people actually stutter and ramble on about a whole lot of nothing like that! It just makes the characters feel so relatable and real!

Church apologizing to Tex for getting her mixed up in everything and not being better for her and OH MY GOD THEY MAKE ME FERAL I AM ALSHAKBSKSHDKDH GOD HE HAS NO IDEA HE DOESNT KNOW WHAT THEYVE BEEN THROUGH!!!! HE DOESNT REMEMBER!!!!!!! YET HE STILL KNOWS SHE DESERVES BETTER AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Tex loves being part of the shenanigans omg she’s so silly. It’s what she deserves.

SHISNO!!!

Chex divorced but still in love vibes are immaculate man I love them so much

DONUT SCREAM LIKE A WOMAN

I love how O’Malley understands Lopez yet didn’t know he was being told to say stuff about his butt by Lopez

Donut discovers his bloodlust

I don’t really have a ton to say about the blood gulch seasons cause they’re the silly goofy seasons but I always enjoy rewatching them. They’re such a blast!

[wrose-writes]

Greetings and salutations!

You can call me Rose, pleasure to meet you (probably)

My main blog's @theroseempress, I mostly live over there but I decided to make a side-blog for writing stuff in order to make it easier to find.

Also I have a Wordpress: carolinaauthor, if you want to read actual writing pieces that's where I put them.

oh yeah here's my Big WIP Intro Post go check that out! (this is currently outdated but it's still somewhat accurate ahaha)

anyway time for 'current list of my main projects with Quick Descriptions'! If any of these catch your interest feel free to ask about them or ask to be taglisted for the rare occurence of me talking about my writing on my writing blog!

current list of my main projects* with Quick Descriptions-

WishWIP- Currently my 'main' project, which really needs a proper name with how much focus I've given it by now, this is just the main character's name with WIP after it. Anyway I want to make this one into a comic because I apparently don't have enough to do already. The plot is currently going through scripting in a libreoffice doc . Also this is the second fall in a row where I have become suddenly interested in this project so that's. odd. Basic Quick Description- Wish is just trying to find Someone for perfectly innocent reasons when she runs into an evil magic eating Creature, Song, who is a Very Normal and Not Being Chased By Assassins At All Girl, and the plot, in rapid succession. 'hey what if we went to the Library and you were my bodyguard?' Song suggests. 'no reason for that last part really just Girlish Worries.' she says, normally and casually. Wish looks very suspiciously at her but agrees nonetheless. You can find stuff for this one in #wishwip. Main Cast**- Wish, Song, Lyric, Rhythm, also a whole bunch more people who only show up in the second arc and might kind of be spoilers IDK so they're not here.

fallenstars- Probably my other main WIP! I really like a lot of the worldbuilding and plot in this one, it's one of my more recent projects and I rotate the main four guys in my head pretty frequently with varying velocity. (Fun fact a fair amount of the main four for this WIP's characterization was born of me playing with the incorrect quotes generator, which should give you a pretty good idea of what they're like.) You can find stuff for this one in #fallenstars. Basic Quick Description- A long, long time ago, the stars fell from the heavens. A slightly less long time after that, Rekha and Ven found them. Or at leas they think they did. That's what the ~expedition~ is for! Featuring; most of the cast being a little (or a lot) unhinged, most of the cast being a little (or a lot) traumatized, and certain members of the cast being very badass. Also magic. (hard magic systems my beloved). Also names. Names are important. Main Cast**- Vivian, Arielle, Jai, Mirren, Rekha, Ven, Sapphire/Saph, Auburn, and various other people also.

Mercy City- Was my main WIP for a while, I haven't worked on it for a longer while though. I still like it though. it's nice. I want to put Caden in a salad spinner desperately (smug little bastard) and I regularly make angsty head AMVs for Kiseki. Felice my beloved. You can find stuff for this one in #mercy city. Basic Quick Description- The world is made up of Resonance and we can manipulate that. Everyone is born with an affinity (can manipulate a certain bit of Resonance without needing to know the formula for it) except sometimes they aren't and even more sometimes they're born with Too Much Affinity. Too Much Affinity is bad because you blow up. Kiseki has so far avoided blowing up, and his sister Felice (who has No Affinity) would like to keep it that way. And then the plot happens. whoopsies. Main Cast**- Felice, Kiseki, Caden, Sophie, and a lot of other characters but I'm trying to keep it more to the main cast so probably just these four? idk. there's more guys tho.

sky pirates- *faux grumbling* I read ONE TWENTY PAGE PAMPHLET about pirates... Anyway yeah this one's pretty self explanatory. Sky pirates. That combined with another idea I've had for a year or two, where people hunt through dangerous ruins of skyscrapers for useful stuff to sell (that one never went anywhere because I had no plot) (now I have a plot) You can find stuff for this one in #sky pirates. Basic Quick Description- Lute (who is Completely Normal) and his crew are just going about their normal scrapper life and doing normal scrapper things (supposedly), when suddenly a girl runs away from the army and runs into them. (they help. they're polite like that. also they (for good reason) don't like the army). And then they discover she can manipulate the Mist. And then they discover a bunch of people want to steal her. And then she explains she needs to get to an old ruin for Magic Reasons. And now they're going on a quest. Main Cast**- I didn't remember naming anyone in this, but apparently the crew (Lute, Vanya, Blake, Robin, and Chess) all have names. Nobody else though. I should really get on that.

mecha project- A project born of me smushing my appreciation for mechs, space, and academy settings into one place! I'm less 'actively working' on this one and more 'actively imagining it as a TV show'. We'll see if that ever happens to it! (probably not) (but you never know) You can find stuff for this one in #mecha project. Basic Quick Description- space. mechs. people go to mech academy. fights in space. bad guy wants to take over universe. different visually appealing species. the main character is part dragon. one of the antagonists wants to dissect him (For Science). this is partially inspired by my dislike of the voltron reboot thingie that i watched like six seasons of and then bailed on. also that one time i wrote out a whole rewrite concept for high guardian spice. anyway mechs in space. Main Cast**- there's people but none of them have names. yet. ahaha. did i mention the main character is part dragon.

The Golden City- The oldest project on this list! I recently discovered the plot to this thing is a lot longer than I'd previously thought, so right now all I'm doing with this WIP is rotating it at high speed in my head while trying to figure out what the next two thirds of the story is about. You can find stuff for this one in #the golden city or #tgc. Basic Quick Description- Felix is just going about his normal life and definitely not being a criminal, except oops, he's been arrested now, oh dear, and how he has to go on a quest to Not Be In Jail >:(. Also people are blackmailing him to essentially cause a civil war. He's doing his best, guys, be nice to him. Main Cast**- Felix, Helen, Shannon, Florian, Tay (Taylor), Bricriu, Nikolai, Nerium, Iris, Raz.

keyWIP- a concept that was born entirely of me thinking about keys for too long. I'm not really actively working on/thinking about this one at the moment, but I like the idea (and Melody) so I'm keeping it here in the event I get more interested in it. You can find stuff for this one in #keyWIP. Basic Quick Description- There are keys that can open any door to any other door and also shapeshift! Conor gets harassed by the Scholars' Council into inviting all the people who have keys to come tell the Council that because [SECRET PLOT POINT]. To the surprise of both Conor and some other people, this actually works somehow. Things proceed to escalate rapidly from that point. Main Cast**- Melody, Kit, Conor, Shalom, Hope, Adora, Varian, Jasmin [redacted] (so yeah this cast list is just all the people with keys (excluding Conor)).

If any of these project descriptions catch your interest, please feel free to ask to be on the taglist, which will mean I'll tag you in the rare posts I make about my WIPs!

Or just send an ask about something you're curious about, I don't bite and I love talking about my little fictional guys :)

(*what I'm currently working on changes very suddenly and frequently so I can't really tell you that, but this should at least give you an idea of what I'm doing).

(**trust me, there's very probably more, I just listed the main people)

[ms-cartoon]

a

Seen the few sneak peaks of some upcoming episodes of HB. We might meet Moxxie’s family (mainly his father). Sorry if I’m being nitpicky, but I was kinda expecting his father to be a little bit different from his son, as well as have a different voice. It’s like he’s a literal clone of Moxxie but slightly taller with a deeper and cunning tone in his voice. And from what I’ve heard, he’s supposed to be a mobster or just apart of some kind of dangerous gang (correct me if I’m wrong). So yeah, I think his appearance should be a little bit different, more tough if anything.

Blitzo stays an a**hole to his co-workers I see. Even after that DeEp and HeArTwArMiNg conversation, he had with Moxxie back in season 1 ep 6 (Which didn’t hit deep at all). You think that after he humiliated himself in episode 7, he’d dial it back with his behavior. But I guess Viv can’t have a comedy without someone unnecessarily being a jerk.

We finally get to hear Andre’s voice. He actually sounded exactly how I imagined; almost deep and haughty. I guess it’s made clear that he and Stella have a good relationship. I’ve seen some comics that show that Andre was possibly very mean to Stella during her childhood which probably would explain her behavior and why she acts so cynically. 

He and Stella are having a discussion with Stolas, and Andre brings up that Stella deserves something since Stolas cheated on her?? Which makes no sense to me?? Cuz, yes, Stolas did cheat, but why would Stella even care?!! The show already made it clear that she never even liked Stolas from the start. She didn’t even like being married to him and was only throwing fits and getting him killed simply because she was petty and liked tormenting him. What exactly does Andre and Stella hope to gain from this anyway? Neither of these two even out-rank Stolas. And what exactly has the divorce done that caused any harm to the Goetia’s. When Stella confronted Stolas, she made it seem like the divorce was gonna be a huge issue, but as far as I know... it did nothing. And they already had Octavia who’s in her late-teens, so what’s the threat here??

If they’re gonna keep bringing up the cheating, then maybe they shouldn’t have retconned Stella as a character and kept it to where she is only pissed about the affair. Maybe not have her be an evil b*tch since birth and hate Stolas for whatever reason?

Idk man!! Make it make sense!!!

We also finally get to see Barbie, Blitzo’s sister. I thought those two had a decent sibling relationship as most of us did, but it turns out... those two had a falling out as well. Barbie says, and I quote “Come on, Blitzo! Haven’t you f*cked up my life enough already??”

Jeezus!! Another one?? 

First, it was Fizz, then Verosika, and now his own sister!!? I mean, it’s expected, cuz Blitzo is an a** and he definitely deserves it, but is he seriously that much of a bad influence he screwed up his own sister’s life? Like, is she just over-exaggerating it?? What did he do that was so screwed up, she started to despise him? Hopefully, she won’t be like Verosika or even Stella; just straight-up petty and b*tchy for no reason. I know I’m wrong though.

Also, I see that she and Moxxie are fighting... wonder what that’s about. Probably something dumb.

And I also see that Blitzo and Fizz are having a talk. Not sure what it’s about. It was only a few seconds of Fizz talking. But from what I can assume, they might be discussing their relationship as friends (or ex-friends), maybe having a slight argument? Don’t know if those two are ever gonna reconcile in the end. All I know is that this kind of arc should’ve been explored way before we got into Stolas’s backstory with Blitzo (which we clearly don’t give the slightest sh*t about.) What happened with Fizz and Blitzo that caused the two to split up seems way more interesting than how Stolas and Blitzo met.

Here’s another thing that caught my eye (and y’all this one’s my favorite to laugh at). Stolas is shown being kidnapped by Striker, tied up n all, and even stabbed with a dagger!?

.......

I’m sorry, but are we just gonna forget that Stolas is a POWERFUL FREAKIN’ DEMON??? The same guy that can do this -

And this -

And even turn into THIS -

..... Like, are we sure he’s more powerful than Alastor??? What’s the point of him being a powerful demon prince if all he’s useful for is being a damsel in distress??? Less than 3 times Stolas is shown to be powerful when the plot says so, which is almost NEVER!!! It’s irritating!

Ugh! I just know I’m gonna go through hell watching this (no pun intended). And I’ve already seen the last few recent leaks to these episodes. This just adds on to the ridiculous bull.

[mettywiththenotes]

320 bits I wanna talk about

Iieda looks like he’s doing the *inhale* before the BOI IF YOU DON’T- meme. Something along the lines of “BOI IF YOU DON’T GET YOUR ASS BACK TO UA-” kind of thing lol.

He holding something in definitely. Maybe charging up for an attack? Idk but he sure seems concentrated

Actually, Iieda seems kinda considering. Maybe he’s weighing up if he should join in the fight, as if he’s asking “Will I have to fight Midoriya, if it comes down to it? Or can the others handle this?” Something tells me he doesn’t want to have to weigh in on the fight. Maybe tear into Izuku verbally, but fight? No I don’t think he wants to do that

But also, I find it interesting that that black panel of text is under him and then it cuts to Bakugou yelling at Izuku. I mean, it could very well be Bakugou thinking that, but if that’s so, then why is Iieda the first person we see?

So, I think it’s Iieda thinking that. Tensions are rising, it seems. I’m expecting his turn to be full of a lot of emotion, or at least trying to get across to Izuku that he feels betrayed but mostly just wants Izuku to come back home.

I don’t really know what’ll happen with Iieda exactly, but I’m totally interested to see what happens

I know Bakugou has problems with his emotions and words and stuff, but I also think here he’s trying to anger Izuku in order to get him to fight back, maybe so he’s more angry than flexible in a fight, so the end result would be Izuku getting too angry to predict anything and eventually tripping up, and that’s when 1A could capture him.

The one thing to remember about Izuku is that allowing him to think is going to be the opponent’s downfall. We saw in the Kacchan VS Deku 2 fight that Bakugou knew this and so kept attacking as much as possible so Izuku wouldn’t have time to think. Which worked, because Izuku is great at analysis, so making his “Win” attitude [getting competitive therefore putting more energy into attacking than strategy] come out over his “Save” attitude [you’re my friend and I want to help you] is kind of a weakness of his. That’s kind of one of the reasons he lost that fight.

Then again, maybe Izuku has improved since then? I don’t really know but I think enough time has passed for him to have maybe improved more on that so idk we’ll see

I really love Bakugou’s expression in that bottom screencap lol

His wound!! All bandaged up!! I wonder if there’s a scar there or smthg :O

LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I know Enji or Bakugou probably gave them details about the multiple quirks but I still find it wild that everyone just knows now

KOUDA! MY SWEETHEART! I’m glad he’s getting a part in this too, along with Sero. Two of them who didn’t really hang around Izuku but still want him to come back :’)

Sero and Black Whip! Finally! I mean it’s not much but it’s still better than nothing

Also, seems like Sero is trying to taunt Izuku to get him to attack him maybe [same as Bakugou feeding into Izuku’s competitive side] soooo idk Sero following Bakugou’s lead? Maybe :)

Look at how,,,, innocent Izuku looks,,,,, *head in hands* AND SERO TEACHING HIM!!

I knew this lil moment would come bite me in the ass at some point, I knew and yet I’m still tearing up goddamn

That “I thought she was going to tell me its a useless hobby” bit really drives home how Izuku’s friends are 1A, that he loves them and they were the only friends he’s ever had [except Bakugou but he was a bully at the time so I’m not really gonna count him for back then]. HOW many people before UA had gone around and told Izuku his taking notes hobby was useless? SHOW me the people!

I, mettywiththenotes, will NOT allow anybody to slander one of my own!

I know it’s like the only moment Izuku and Ojiro shared, with the sports festival thing, but it’s still really sweet that Ojiro sees that Izuku stood up for him

*head in hands*

Shouldn’t this kid be more worried that he’s likely going to get kidnapped?

“Yeah this super evil villain guy has decided he wants to kidnap me and take me away, but like nbd guys really, that’s why I left in the first place! So I wouldn’t be a burden!” Somebody get this kid a fucking therapist or some shit

This is kind of a chilling and pretty scene though. The rain falling above Izuku and him looking down with these piercing green eyes likely being the only light between them. Good stuff.

Satou! Aha I like how he’s pulling all the stops, such as “I WON’T LET YOU BORROW MY INGREDIENTS FOR ERI!”

Also let’s appreciate that Satou caught Ojiro and Jirou and managed to land on a freaking traffic light. The balance on this kid! Very well done

Kaminari putting Izuku in a headlock! How cute :)

Be cuter if they weren’t trying to subdue a martyr-complex cryptid from killing himself, but still

Does Shouji have some kind of support-item?? Or could he always do the stretchy thing?? Or I guess maybe he’s just stretching his arms out like branches [like he usually does] and using them as more like a capture weapon rather than his usual stuff. I don’t think we’ve ever seen him use his heteromorph body and quirk for anything other than the 5 senses, though I could be wrong

Also Shouji remembering what Izuku said at the training camp, I’m so glad! Shouji always seems like the kind to be so protective over his friends, so I’m glad he remembered that. Then again, Izuku did compare them to freaking ALL MIGHT, but if the nice analytical kid in your class who knows your limits and strengths says you could basically beat A GOD, then that’s definitely one for the memory scrapbook lmao

“It’s nice and dark here, Dark Shadow.” Who said that?? Kami or Izuku?? I just have this mental image of Izuku being shrouded in darkness and trying to keep his eyes open from falling asleep haha

Tokoyami remembering that from all the way back then!! It makes me think that not only have Bakugou and Izuku been watching each other, but that Izuku has always had everybody’s eyes on him! Which is true, he’s inspired everyone! It goes both ways; Izuku loving his friends, and them loving him back :’)

Kami telling him to take a bath lmao I love it. Finally somebody said it

*ugly sobbing noises*

This kind of segment, with a mask falling, a space in-between and a reveal, reminds me of Compress’ reveal :) In that, the person is hiding their identity and then when the mask comes off, they reveal who they truly are underneath

While Izuku is of course determined to go after AFO and is quite the fearsome powerhouse, I really think when he takes off that mask, he’s showing who he really is underneath - a scared little boy who just wants everyone to be happy

JESUS, SHOUTO REALLY IMPROVED HIS QUIRK HUH!! LOOK AT IT, IT’S EVEN HIGHER THAN THE SKYSCRAPERS!!

“The burden placed on you... it doesn’t allow for tears, right?” He sounds so sassy here.

Kind of like saying “Oh you look upset. But that’s weird, I thought Heroes weren’t supposed to cry.” Lol it really shows here how pissed Shouto is at Izuku

But then he relents from that snark and is like “Hey, come on, we’ll share this burden. I’m not letting you go it alone, remember that we’re all here.” :’)

I love when Shouto is sassy and passive aggressive but I also love it when he shows that soft side of him

Okay, this is something I really love.

Tsuyu didn’t join the Bakugou Rescue Squad because “they would be just like Villains breaking the rules”

But here she is, learning from that regret of hers and coming right back to make sure Izuku isn’t the one struggling. She wants to be a part of this rescue squad and pick up where she left off :)

Tsuyu has always struggled with her regrets. It was shown after Kamino when she cried, but for me, I only realised this fully during the Joint Arc when she had her regrets about not making better decisions and not being quick enough [I think that was it].

“I won’t cry in such a flurry” reminds me of “I want to live a life without regret” and so that’s what she’s saying here. This won’t be another regret of hers. She wants to do her best to save her friend

“When scared, you’re allowed to tremble when it’s tough, you’re allowed to shed tears. That’s how you become a Hero like in the comics.”

I feel like that quote piggybacks off of Shouto’s “Heroes cry too”, in that, this is now 1A comforting Izuku. This is them fully coming up to him and telling him that they can help, and that he’s allowed to feel sad about his situation. Shouto’s quote was the teaser, while this entire chapter [and the rest that come to follow] is the main course.

And this is exactly who Tsuyu is. Reassuring, comforting, someone dependable. It says a lot that she’s come from not going to help in Kamino, confessing her feelings and crying about it, then coming back in a similar situation and offering her help - that she’s not willing to just let an opportunity go to better herself. I think I remember reading a few posts on her crying after Kamino and saying it was “performative” or that she just “wanted attention” or smthg like that, but I think she’s really just quite an honest person, and here she is making a great show of how she won’t let something like her guilt slow her down from being the hero she wants to be.

[A part of me feels like this is also a little more evidence with the whole People Not Caring About Bakugou’s Feelings Of Helplessness but like. I digress. It kinda counts but at the same time, it’s not what is going on at the moment.]

Seeing everyone try to reassure Izuku was lovely, and I can’t wait for the rest. I’ve seen a lot of people waiting more for Bakugou’s portion of the battle [AND YEAH DUDE ME TOO] but I really feel like Bakugou’s won’t come until like 2 chapters later or something.

Cause, if this chapter is anything to go by, we’ll probably get through Mina, Mineta, Kirishima, Hagakure and Aoyama next chapter, and then we’ll move onto the “more important” conflicts which will be Iieda and Uraraka, and if their segments are chocked with tension drama and tears, then Bakugou will have a whole chapter to himself hopefully.

Which means we’ll probably have to wait 2 more chapters until we get that sweet, sweet Bakugou chapter :( I hope I’m wrong and it comes sooner than predicted but whatever

I know for some people, that’s all they want, but personally I love these little bits that reflect on the background characters. As someone who isn’t really obsessed with the background characters but also likes them enough to appreciate their development/the little moments they have, I gotta say I really liked this :)

[funkyrabbit]

@gay-rat-and-aardvark-wedding said: FRR there’s this comic i found in deviantart and nigel x paige is canon in this comic, but the author just refuses to retcon paige for patrick for literally no reason 🙃🙃🙃 those two don’t even have any significance to the comic so it wouldn’t even change anything. mf made a whole comic strip just to complain about it 

OH yeah, i'm very familiar with that comic. i was following it for a while but when the author went and did That it really turned me off. the comic he made about it came off like he was really disapproving of the episode, just rubbed me the wrong way 

i’m putting this under a read more bc...i’m tired of keeping my criticisms of it to myself 

the nigel x paige thing was irritating to me for so many reasons. even if nigel never got married to patrick, i just never saw him as straight?? actually, for the longest time he gave me ace vibes. but there is a lot of evidence that nigel could be gay across many episodes of the show prior to the airing of “mr. ratburn and the special someone”. to just flat out ignore all of it, especially when it was confirmed to be canon by the show, is just so wrong to me

he spoke about it like it would be such a big change. but like you mentioned, it was SO insignificant to the comic ?? bro you made like FIVE comics out of close to 200 DIRECTLY talking about the nigel x paige thing and/or your OC, so i really don’t see how it would be such a big change. it’s a comic that mainly focuses on dw and her friend group anyway, at least that was how it started?? like i don’t get why he was getting so defensive over it 😐

ugh i could be wrong but it really seems because there is now a canon gay pairing, he decided to divert from keeping the comic as much of a canon continuation of the show as possible. which by the way, that seemed to be his original plan until “mr. ratburn and the special someone” came out?? so now he claims his comic has always “done its own thing” and doesn’t plan to match the continuity of the show 🙄

he said, and i quote, that he “want(s) their lives to be meaningful as well as canonically plausible, in accord with their established personas.” except when there’s a canon gay pairing involved right? then that plausible in canon stuff goes right out the window! let’s just ignore the evidence that nigel could be gay, across years and across numerous episodes.

again, maybe this was not the case, but it sure comes off like it! his reasoning just seems blatantly homophobic since i don’t recall him making such a big to-do over anything else that happened in the show since he started the comic! 

on that note, there are zero characters in his comic who are lgbt+. across like 200 comics with such a huge cast of characters. like all he has are het couples or characters getting het crushes? and you could make someone ace, or non-binary?? but no?? 

even aside from all of that, there’s one arc where he brought bo baxter back to elwood city and rekindled things with bitzi which literally made zero sense to me. i have a much easier time seeing her get back with harry mills. they had way more chemistry and if i recall correctly, bitzi even told buster at the end of “bitzi’s break up” that the reason they split was bc she was too busy for a relationship and they had different schedules. that doesn’t mean she and harry couldn’t get back together in the future?? that seemed more in the realm of “canonically plausible” than bitzi suddenly falling back in love with her ex-husband she’s been divorced from for years 

idk this comic just doesn’t make much of an effort to show diversity and representation which is literally what arthur is all about ??? bitzi getting back with her ex-husband, so there’s no longer buster having divorced parents and living in a single-parent household (which was huge representation for me growing up as a kid, actually)...tbh i started losing interest in the comic when it went in that direction

but whatever i’m done lol TL;DR it’s homophobic, boring, and i don’t follow it anymore anyway 😂

[angstbabyjae]

DSMP Tier List

This tier list was shared in a discord server I’m in, so I thought I’d give it a go. Not entirely satisfied with the section titles, so I used them quite liberally. I will explain why I put people where I did. On the tier itself I didn’t order them by preference but in my explanation I will. Please not that they will be ranked from favorite to least favorite per category (for example: I put Sapnap technically above Niki despite liking her character more) and not by how much they deserve to be in each category (for example: I prefer Technoblade to Phil but I believe people excuse Technoblade’s actions more than Phil’s). I encourage healthy suggestion in the comments since I only joined the fandom around the Green Festival and haven’t seen the history/POV’s of every character, though I try. Enjoy.

Gonna slap on a big ol’ “/rp” here just to be safe.

You've done nothing wrong come here (holds you gently)

So the thing about this section is that I don't believe any dream smp character is completely innocent, so I used this section more like a top of tier than as it's title implies.

1. TommyInnit

Ngl, Tommy is my favorite character in the Dream SMP. As a fellow Loud Person I relate to him a lot and his feelings that nobody really likes him. His mental health struggles are close to my heart and (SPOILERS) his death just made me so devastated. I really hope they don't end his arc like this. Not when he was just starting to heal, please. Tommy has certainly done a lot of things wrong. I'd highly recommend watching the exile decision from both Tubbo and Tommy's POV's because you can really get a grasp of their mindsets. Despite this, he is my fave.

2. Ranboo

Until recently I preferred Tubbo to Ranboo, but cc!Ranboo just totally outdid himself on lore and acting to the point where I couldn't deny it anymore. Ranboo did do *some* things wrong, but they are less extreme than many on this list (I don't count things he might have done under Dream's control since he wasn't conscious). Ranboo's character makes me go into protecc mode. So yeah, very good enderboi.

3. Tubbo_

Tubbo doesn't have much lore for his character, but like I do with many others on this list, I like to overanalyze and interpret certain characters to be deeper than they are. The Tubbo I have in my head is a lot more complex than what cc!Tubbo probably meant to portray. There is so much angst potential with his character, similar to many others, but what puts him top tier for me is the emotional connection I have to his character and how I relate to getting so much put on my shoulders and having to make tough decisions.

you're an amazing character

Okay so technically Schlatt should be on this list if we are speaking from a narrative standpoint, but seeing as the way OP labelled the other sections on this chart I'm guessing they meant morally as well.

4. Alex Quackity

Quackity is my favorite adult character. I don't even know why, I just love the idea of this comic relief character becoming such a catalyst for plot and more serious as time goes on. I love taking the dream smp characters and making them deeper than they probably are, as I do with Tubbo, but now it seems cc!Quackity is fully taking his character to the height of his potential and I can't wait to see what he does with him next.

5. AweSamDude

(SPOILERS) As such a big Tommy fan I must admit, my first thought when Tommy died was that Sam was partly responsible. If Dream told him what he did to Tommy in exile like he claims then he would have at least put up the obsidian barrier between them or something. After watching Ranboo's most recent stream (right now it's March 3rd) I understand why Sam did what he did more. My initial anger towards him has dissipated a bit. I still love his character so much. He really did care about Tommy and now... dang. I can't wait to see what happens with him next.

6. Captain Puffy

It was very close between ranking her or Sam higher, but given all the in depth character stuff we're getting from Sam right now, I'd have to rank him above. Despite this, Puffy is a character that I started out not knowing anything about and am now feeling her climb the ranks in my books. Sometimes I feel like she's the only adult who actually put Tommy's well-being above other things, despite them not interacting often. I wasn't around for the whole "duckling" thing with Dream and have yet to watch the VODs, but I just want her to visit him now and punish him for the Tommy stuff. (SPOILERS) I can feel Dream's next ploy being trying to convince someone to let him out in exchange for bringing back Tommy and if Sam doesn't cave then Puffy probably will. Also, I really hope that her and Niki's relationship isn't forgotten. There's so much angst potential there. Also, I need sapphics to survive.

7. Eret

So, I wasn't a fan of the SMP during season one. I hadn't even heard of it except for like my friend referencing Technoblade now and then. After watching some VODs of Eret's I am slowly starting to fall in love with her characterization. I am so soft for their redemption arc, for the regret he feels. Now that cc!Eret is back from their mental health break I am so ready for more.

8. Fundy

Fundy's a character that I will forget how much I love until he goes live again, or until I reread his old quotes. He has a lot of lore to him that surprises you every time you remember. Whether its his last speech to Schlatt to COCONUT 2020, Fundy always gives the audience something more to think about.

9. "Ghostbur"

Ghostbur is one of the few characters who genuinely make me want to cry. cc!Wilbur's performance was both hilarious and immaculate. I really want to find out more about his lore, though. Do all dead people with unfinished business get an alternate version of themselves to roam the Earth while you stay in the afterlife unable to make contact unless the veil is thin? Was Ghostbur just Wilbur pretending the whole time? (SPOILERS) Is Tommy going to get one? Is Glatt canon? Much to think about.

10. BadBoyHalo

While I despise egg-possessed BBH, normal BBH has my entire heart. The fact he gave up his mind for Skeppy is *chef's kiss*. I am very impressed with everything cc!BBH is writing right now.

11. Karl Jacobs

My second favorite polyamorous dimension hopper after Star Butterfly (let me have Startomco please)! TFTSMP just gets better and better each week. His time travel shenanigans are so fun and mysterious. Karlnapity is just a big ol' pot of angst just waiting to happen. WEDDING SOON PLEASE!

no intense opinion

While I do have opinions on some of these characters, they aren't intense enough to place them anywhere else.

12. Ponk

I don't watch him all that often since he's live during my school time, but what I've seen I love. Him starting that whole side plot expanding on that one TFTSMP episode intrigues me and I can see it tying into the egg somehow. Him and Sam are really cute together (/rp) and I want him to become more plot relevant again.

13. Antfrost

GAY CAT GAY CAT GAY CAT! In all seriousness, I really want him to do stuff with his character to make him more than just BBH's second-in-command (I have similar feelings with Skeppy, but I know he isn't very big on lore). Side note, but I really love the hc that RedVelvetCake is inside the egg. I want him to join so bad.

14. Purpled

I've only just started watching the actual clips from pre-L'Manberg times and Purpled was once much more plot involved than I thought. Him planning on getting his revenge on Tommy at the same time as the "police" investigating the Camarvan back in early season one was comedy gold. Shout out to BlueberryTV on YouTube for making it so easy to watch. In conclusion, we stan an underage mercenary.

15. GeorgeNotFound

Idk if this is a hot take or not, but I feel a good portion of people who love George's character are just DNF shippers who want to turn his crumbs into an angst factory, but you know what? Valid. While I am not a DNF shipper, I have seen the angst y'all have brought to the table and very much appreciate it.

16. ConnorEatsPants

The most I think I've seen of Connor has been the hostage scene and the non-canon party scene from this season. I don't have much to say except that his small speech to Tommy after he was let go about him not being a bad person despite traumatizing him hit surprisingly hard in the feels.

17. Skeppy

cc!Skeppy is not a big roleplayer, and I get that, it's just sometimes his character feels a little like an accessory to Bad's character. Please link me some good Skeppy moments in the comments if you can, I want to try and learn more about his character. His angst with Bad right now is top tier, though, and I choose to believe that Big Daddy Island is canon and that Bad took him there to keep him free from the egg. I actually wrote a fic about this if you want to check it out! Mind the tags, though, I went a little macabre with it.

18. HBomb

When I first learned about the SMP it was two nights before the green festival and I was up until 3am at my aunt's house reading the plot summary. The first clip of the smp I saw was the election VOD, where HBomb joined for the first time. I don't know much about him other than the fact he was Fundy's maid for a time and it was absolutely hilarious. I saw the recent stuff with him leaving Greater SMP to start over and enjoyed it. Hope we get more stuff like that with him.

19. Callahan

Gets all the ladies. What else can I say?

you're trying your best and I respect that

20. Sapnap

I put Sapnap here because he's on his way to becoming an amazing character. The angst stuff with Dream is the stuff George fans can only dream of (pun unintended). I like how he went from the cop, the pet killer, Dream's right hand man, to mushroom cottegecore gay living his best life and dealing with the pain of losing his best friend. The whole "Dream's bitch" conversation with Tommy that I saw an animatic for some time ago made me hurt so good. Also #KarlnapityWedding2021.

you're redeemable, thin fucking ice though

These are characters who I somewhat dislike to a degree, but still have hope for. In my opinion this section should be switched with the one after it in terms of which is worse, but oh well.

21. Wilbur Soot

I know he's already dead but if he's brought back to life I want a redemption arc from him back. (SPOILERS) If neither him nor Tommy come back to life then dsmp has a horrible track record with killing off their mentally ill and (tw) suicidal characters. Wilbur has done some awful things, but if he's brought back I don't think he'd be beyond saving.

22. Jack Manifold

I need to say something about Jack. He is so very very close to being in the "you're trying your best" section right now after his most recent stream. His redemption arc is so close I can taste it and if he is redeemed right I can see him joining my faves. His most recent stream was just so well acted that my heart just wants to forgive him already... until my brain remembers he tried to nuke a child. Don’t know if this is also a hot take, but I think he had more of a right to be mad at Tommy than Niki did, but I know for Niki it's more complicated than that.

23. Niki Nihachu

There was a time that I adored Niki Nihachu and a part of me still does, but she has gone a little bit off the deep end. I do understand it's a trauma response, though. cc!Niki said that her villain arc is almost over, which disappointed me a bit because we kinda barely got to see it since it was so overshadowed, but I am also relieved. I just want my wlw baker back :(

people excuse your actions more than you deserve

I am just going to pretend that this section doesn't say "love". I still like these characters a lot even though they get away with a lot of shit.

24. Technoblade

I love Technoblade too much for him to be ranked this low, but like I said this ranking is based on fitting the section descriptions, not how much I love them. Technoblade's POV is understandable but also that doesn't excuse the pain he's caused so many people. L'Manberg was more than it's a government as much as Techno is more than a weapon.

25. Philza Minecraft

Philza deserves to be in this section a little less than Technoblade because I actually agree with a lot of what Philza fans say. Tommy is not Philza's kid. Phil has a lot of trauma around killing Wilbur, yes. I just don't see how you could watch Ghostbur's Friend speech during Doomsday and think he was in the right for doing it.

i don't like you

26. JSchlatt

JSchlatt is an amazing character in many ways. The acting? Glorious. The dialogue? Spot on. With that being said, YAYY HE'S DEAD!!! I really like leaning into the abusive relationship hc with him and his cabinet. He was probably the most fun villain we've ever had, though.

I WANT THIS MOTHER FUCKER DEAD

27. DreamWasTaken

Come on, do I even have to explain?

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Okay I was gonna do another SG:WoT post anyway because we’ve got a new King interview but THEN, he released the cover to issue four so you KNOW I gotta geek out about this.

(Sorry that this blog is all SG:WoT, all the time now, but I am just. Insanely excited that Evely is drawing Supergirl. Feel free to block/mute these posts as needed. XD)

Okay, so!

First! The interview!

It’s on (ugh) screenrant so I’m not gonna link, I’m just gonna nab the interesting bits:

On the different direction of the book, and if he wanted to go back to the original Adventure Comics vibes: “So, the idea of this thing was to strip her story down, because Supergirl has a majorly weird history in terms of continuity. At least 13 writers have rewritten her origin over the years. Her dad has 13 origin stories; sometimes he's evil, sometimes he's a robot, sometimes alive, sometimes he's dead. She's changed dramatically in the last 10 years, between coming back to life to the New 52 to Rebirth. She's gone through so much that it's hard to get a hold of her. Not to mention in the '90s, when I was coming up, she was like an ectoplasmic space angel. There's so much there, and I just wanted to take all that stuff off and get to the core of the character; get her out of her normal environments and her normal conflicts. It seems like all our stories are about her dad or her relationship to Superman. Instead, let's see the purity of that character.”

On starting the book the way he did: “...I wanted to start out with a very human moment of a person turning 21 and getting drunk. And a person who is getting drunk because they want to be alone, and they just want to forget about the shit that's happened in their past. That's such a human moment. And the fact that she's Supergirl, so she waits till it's legal - because these super people, they follow the rules. She waited, and now it's legal and she can have this moment. She goes off by herself, with her dog that always follows her, and she has a moment where she can be free. For a lot of people in the US, whether you've been drinking since you were 14 or started that day, your 21st birthday and the day after are days you remember for the rest of your life. It's a day of freedom and consequence, and I wanted to show Supergirl going through that.”

On rising to the challenge of helping Supergirl perform better, sales/popularity-wise: “ When I first got on this book, I called Steve Orlando, who had just written a Supergirl run. And he was the one who opened my eyes to how good the character is. He had such insight into her. He was like, ‘There is a difference between Clark and her, and what she's gone through.’ He just laid it for me.”

On starting the book off with Ruthye’s journey, and gradually building to Kara’s: “ I was like, "Okay, this is going to be from the point of view of someone under Supergirl." And so I switched the point of view to this new brand new character, whose name is Ruthye. And we went from there: we start with Ruthye's story, we see her discover Supergirl, and she's our audience. She's our way in, the way Robin has always been the way into Batman.”

On whether or not other characters will show up, outside of Supergirl and Ruthye: “It's like my Superman: Up in the Sky, where it's a distillation of the character. You'll see other characters, but the focus of every issue will be on Supergirl. And it's something where at the very end, you can be like, "Why is Supergirl great? Why is she important to the DC Universe? What is her future in the DC Universe? Here, read this one trade that can answer all three of those questions at once."So, there will be other characters in the Super universe. But the focus will always be on her; on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. It's her finding out about herself and her own strength.”

On Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow vs. his other titles: “Supergirl is my first 2021 book, or my first book of the 20s. That wrapped up my books of the teens, and now we're in a new generation. God willing, from the moment I started this book, I was like, ‘I'm gonna take a risk, and I'm gonna write books that are a little brighter.’ I know that's coming from me, and it's not to say we're going to avoid conflict or we're not going to explore the depths of the human soul. All that stuff will be in there. But these books are made from a place of joy, not from a place of anger; from a place of hope, not from a place of despair. It very much contrasts to those other books, in my mind.”

On how he thinks folks will react to the Krypto cliffhanger: “I mean, they're gonna think it's a good cliffhanger. That's how I think they're going to react. They're going to say, ‘I want the next issue.’ That's literally my job as written in my contract. Something where at the end of an issue, someone says, ‘I want more.’ So, that's how I hope they react.”

As mentioned, this is not the full interview; the whole thing can be found on screenrant, and I think Tom King shared a link on his twitter. 

And now, as always, SOME THOUGHTS:

I love that he brings up the fact that so many Supergirl stories focus on Zor-El and Clark, and how he was like, ‘let’s not do that.’

That’s my big gripe with modern Supergirl comics; they are trying so hard to make a statement on why we need both a Supergirl AND a Superman, that they end up spending ALL THEIR TIME talking about Clark, instead of, you know. Telling a fun Supergirl story.

Same thing with Zor-El! I know folks love Rebirth--I like it quite a bit myself--but I think the nostalgia goggles prevent folks from remembering that the whole first arc of that book was re-doing the ‘Cyborg Superman’ garbage from the Nu52. 

Speaking of Rebirth, really like that of all the recent SG writers he coulda talked to, he talked to Steve Orlando.

Like, if ya can’t get Gates on the phone, get Orlando.

(I get the sense that Gates doesn’t like this book, actually, based on a vague tweet. But don’t quote me on that.) 

Looks like Ruthye is gonna be our POV/audience insert character for the whole run. I’m...mmmm. I don’t love it, but I understand the logic here. Especially since he compared it to Batman and Robin--how you use Robin as your entry point for a bat book. 

And you know what? Kara’s supporting cast needs some help, so. Welcome to the Superfam, Ruthye.

I also love the explanation behind the drinking thing, as well as the fact that Kara waited until it was 100% legal for her to drink because OF COURSE SHE WOULD.

I am so worried that Krypto is gonna die b/c of what we saw in Future State. I’m over here with my Pepe Silva board like, ‘Well, what if Kara agrees to help Ruthye because Krem MURDERED HER DOG?!?! WHAT IF THIS IS JOHN WICK IN SPACE?!?!?!’

So I am DISMAYED that King does not reassure us AT ALL.

Thus I am forced to cling to this tidbit here: “ But these books are made from a place of joy, not from a place of anger; from a place of hope, not from a place of despair. It very much contrasts to those other books, in my mind.”

Killing the dog would not be joyful. XD So, like. I’m REALLY HOPIN’ HE’LL BE OKAY.

AND LASTLY, (Except not really)

I have some additional, miscellaneous thoughts unrelated to the interview b/c I’m me and I’m loving having a Supergirl comic back on the shelves, however polarizing it may be.

Something I realized, when details started to come out regarding the book, and that other folks have now noted as well: Kara was 16 when Rebirth launched in 2016; she’s just turned 21 in 2021, making her one of the extremely few comic characters to age in real time.

I don’t think that was planned, but it is cool.

It occurred to me on a re-read that Ruthye never calls Kara Kara in her narration, only Supergirl. And I was a little sad! But then I remembered that Kara wouldn’t necessarily reveal her identity to people she’s helping, she would just be ‘Supergirl’ to them. 

I really do love how, so far, there has been NARY A MENTION of Kara angst-ing over being in Clark’s shadow, or being Superman’s cousin.

It appears that her drinking alone on a remote planet is more related to trying to forget her trauma/grief related to Krypton. MAYBE. We don’t know yet.

The Clark thing could still come up. I hope it doesn’t. 

(Interesting to note! Kara recently appeared in Action Comics, helping Clark and Jon investigate some Kryptonian refugees; IDK how closely these books will necessarily ‘work together’ in terms of continuity, but! It’s possible that the discovery of those mysterious refugees was triggering, thus sending her on her way to her own solo title.)

(Well. That’s gonna be my headcanon, anyway. XD)

AND LASTLY, (for real this time)

ISSUE FOUR COVER!!!!

Okay, some immediate thoughts:

GOOD LORD IT’S STUNNING.

I loooooove the fire motif, reminds me of a part from the Rebirth run, where Kara met the Super-Man of China, and they visually referenced All-Star Superman, having the Kryptonians kind of...become the sun.

Also STAR CHART?!?! PIRATE MAP!?!?!?! 

The VIBES I tell you, the VIIIIIIIBES.

Also I love that it’s just Kara.

Don’t get me wrong! I like Ruthye just fine so far! But yeah, yeah, give me some more solo-Kara focus, even if it’s just in the art.

Just realized that once this thing gets collected as a TBP, we might get some Evely art backmatter. OhHhhHHhhH YESSSS. 

Anyways, the long wait for issue 2 begins! 

[ironxkid]

why don't you like endgame or civil war

((hoo buddy, idk what brought this up but salt under the cut!! Like... a lot of salt - specifically regarding Endgame lmao

I’m gonna start off with CACW because it’s a short response lol

I don’t like it simply because I was done with the infighting between the Avengers. The found family crumbs we were given in Endgame was something I really wanted to see, and them just... ripping them apart frustrated me lol

honestly, the movie was... fine? Idk, I found it to be a lil slow for my taste (it felt like it just dragged on when I watched it in theaters), and I just don’t care for it in general  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also, ngl, I’m really bummed that Captain America: Serpent Society was a joke announcement because that sounds dope as hell and I really wanted to see that before I realized it’d been a joke dfgjhdsfhj

but, yeah, literally just because CACW is specifically an infighting movie annoys me to no end so I just won’t watch it again dgsfjhsfdhj

now, Endgame?

fuck Endgame

I. have a lot of issues with it, all of which are major grievances throughout the fandom. I’m pissed they killed Natasha and didn’t even bother giving her a fucking funeral because, I quote from Joe Russo, “Well, Tony does not have another movie. Tony is done. And Natasha has another film. And Marvel Universe obviously does not have to move forward linearly anymore. But that character still has more screen time coming.” (see here) and that annoys the hell out of me. She’s getting another movie - great! So you killed one of the few characters doing her fucking best to keep everything together at the compound, the one who was taking charge, give her a big role, and then murk her and... give her nothing but a brief mention at the end. Like... what the fuck? Natasha deserved so much better than what she was given. Tony’s funeral could’ve (and, frankly, should’ve) been a funeral for him, Natasha, and Vision because god forbid we see anyone mourn Vision other than Wanda

(actually this post covers how Endgame fucked over the MCU women perfectly, though Wanda’s not mentioned :c )

plus... Tony’s not done lol - he’s still a massive figure in the films/shows despite RDJ not acting in them, so his character has left shockwaves that aren’t dying any time soon. Natasha... basically disappeared, and I believe she would’ve been dropped completely if it wasn’t for the fact she does have a film coming out soon. Which, frankly, seems awesome and all, but it’s a film that goes back to post-CACW pre-IW and... frankly doesn’t give me any reason to understand why that means she didn’t get a funeral. She’s not coming back in future movies/shows that are in present MCU timeline - her movie is set in the past. She could’ve gotten a decent sendoff 

now, Clint’s arc as Ronin rubs me the wrong way. I know it’s a huge thing in the comics, and it’s not him taking a different mantle that I have an issue with. It’s the fact he, a white man, went around murdering people and got off scot-free. Yes, he was targeting genuinely bad people, but... to show that, they specifically singled out Mexican cartels and the yakuza (Japanese mafia, essentially) - so, in other words, the bad guys were people of color! I feel like I don’t need to explain how fucked up that is. And, to clarify, I love Clint! Clint is honestly one of my favorite characters, and the whole thing was just handled... poorly in the film

Tony’s arc genuinely hurts. This is a man who has suffered for years and has tried to make things right, and finally got a chance to settle down. He finally retired from the Avengers, finally settled down, and had a fucking life he could enjoy despite his ghosts, and yet... His arc ends with a message of “tortured soul finally gets rest by dying”. Because, y’know, it’s great seeing yet another long-suffering character only reaching peace through death, because god forbid they let characters heal! He could’ve still caused the second Snap, and he could’ve survived. He could’ve finally been able to step away for good and focus on his family, focus on recovering, and be truly happy. What’s so wrong with letting him stay alive so he can rest and be with his family? What’s so wrong with letting a long-suffering character finally find peace after one last bang? 

plus it pisses me off that they’re now using him as a reasoning as to why bad things are still happening. Why is this person the bad guy? Because Tony Stark somehow may or may not have done something that hurt them! Even though most of that really stems from Howard or Obadiah. Tony just ends up getting the blame in their place. He’s just an easy target to use, much like the tesseract seems to be the go-to answer for why things go wrong. But this is a different train of thought

Steve’s ending pisses me off just as much as the next person lmao. You take a character who has acknowledged he no longer belongs in the past (which, funnily enough, was written by the Russos), aaaaaaand have him go back to the past while ignoring two important people in his life that were still right there. He got Bucky and Sam back, and he leaves them. His arc is ruined within a matter of minutes, and it paints a hella bad picture of him in the process. He goes back in time to stay with Peggy (which ultimately destroys her own arc, and the fact she’s a person outside of her relationship (or lack thereof) with him because, y’know, why have her be able to move on and be her own person?), and we’re supposed to believe he’s fine with everything he knows from the future? Fine with knowing Bucky’s trapped with HYDRA and is suffering as the Winter Soldier? Fine with knowing HYDRA has infested SHIELD from day one? Fine with knowing Howard and Maria are going to die? Fine with royally fucking up the timelines? We’re supposed to believe he sat back and did nothing with all of that? They could’ve had him still hand the shield over to Sam - they could’ve let Steve stay an Avenger without the mantle

also the fact the Russos said he didn’t recognize Red Skull when he returned to Vormir to return the soul stone? Like... what the fuck?? Not to mention he literally returns the stone to Vormir, which “soul for a soul”, and they didn’t bring Nat back that way??

and now onto Thor. Thor... holy fuck is this hitting something personal for me. Thor was ridden with guilt - he was furious with himself, hated himself, and blamed himself for failing to stop the Snap. He fell into a massive depression, and... was promptly danced around as laughing stock. Like, “oh! look at Thor! he’s fat and drunk because he’s depressed haha!” - like fuck off. It’s not funny in any form. His suffering was made into a joke and it pisses me off because I suffer from depression. A lot of people suffer from depression. It’s not funny. It’s fucking terrifying at times. I wasted a shit ton of money on a stupid online sim game because it was a distraction - it gave me... god, I wouldn’t even say temporary happiness, but it gave me something to temporarily help, and I still hate myself for doing it. It was a poor decision on my part, and I wish I could change it. And, during that time, I was scared because I couldn’t see myself pulling out of it. I thought I was gonna feel that way forever. I called out of work multiple times because there were days I couldn’t stop crying (something I still feel horrible for doing), I couldn’t get myself to contact any of my friends for months, and it was all because the medication I was on at the time... stopped working. Thankfully, my depression doesn’t work in a way that makes me a danger to myself, so that wasn’t an issue, but it still fucking sucked. And to see a character that I could relate to on such a personal level treated as laughing stock fucking hurt. I’m not sharing this for sympathy - I’m sharing this because it Thor’s arc hit home and it’s literally the main reason why I will not watch Endgame again

this is more of a nitpick than anything else, but... I didn’t really care for Carol in it tbh? Which is unfortunately because Captain Marvel is one of my absolute favorite movies! And I’m well aware she was introduced in Endgame while CM was being drafted, but that in itself is annoying?? Because Carol was originally going to be introduced in AoU, but was cut because it wasn’t going to introduce her character properly. And yet they decide to introduce her character in a clusterfuck of a movie before her movie is in the final stages, and proceed to release her movie first and then give a complete different characterization in her following appearance

honestly I just wanna cover this now to clarify some things regarding Carter and her backstory: the only reason I keep Endgame as is is because it felt easier for me to do so for the purpose of bending canon for specific threads. I wanted to stay as true to the given plots as possible to help with fudging of both the movies and her background, and also because I didn’t want anyone to feel like I was trying to force my own headcanons onto them, y’know? 

I’m just gonna plug this here because fuck it lol, but I did start a fix-it fic regarding Endgame that you can read here! I... probably won’t finish it tbh, and I haven’t gone over it in a hot minute so it might be riddled with errors ahah - plus I’m not sure about how I wrote the characters! I get nervous when writing canon characters because I feel like I’ll miss their characterization completely, which is actually why I,,, rarely rp canon characters dgfjhgsfdhj

also the image in the doc was created by @/archervale!! 

[iamnotawomanimagod]

The 100 for the indepth ask thing!

Thank you, my friend!! Always happy to hear from you 🥰

Top 5 favourite characters:

1. Octavia

2. Murphy

3. Emori

4. Echo

5. Jasper

Other characters you like:

I will always have a lot of love in my heart for Monty, Raven, Lincoln, and Lexa. 

Least favourite characters:

Clarke, Bellamy, Kane, and Abby.  

OTPs: 

Linctavia and Memori 

NoTPs: 

Bellarke, Kabby, a handful of others that are more “meh” than outright “no.” 

Favourite friendships:

Jasper and Monty; Raven and Emori; Monty and Bellamy; Octavia, Jasper, and Monty; Indra and Octavia; Clarke and Roan; Raven and Echo. 

Favourite family: 

Spacekru! Forever! Although the Diyoza-Blakes give them a run for their money.

Favourite episodes: 

I’m a sucker for good standalones, even when the rest of the season sucks, or the episodes don’t make much thematic sense in context of the season/show. Fair warning. That being said: 

1x05, 1x08, 2x08, 2x12, 3x04, 4x07, 4x08, 4x10, 4x13*, 5x02, 5x11, and uhhh that’s when the show ended right**??

*For someone who hates s4, I sure do like a lot of individual episodes from it.

**There were storylines and moments I liked in s6 and s7, but no one episode stands out for me in either season.

Favourite season/book/movie:

Probably s2 or s5.

Favourite quotes:

Pretty much all the Trigedasleng lol.

“Yu gonplei ste odon.”

“Gomon gon oson.”

“Jus drein, jus daun.”

What a fun and silly conlang. 

Best musical moment:

I really love this moment, where Raven takes The Chip, and “Thousand Eyes” by Of Mouse and Men plays. Lindsey does such an incredible job portraying Raven’s sorrow, pain, and desperation. It’s so chilling when the music picks up and gets louder, and Raven slowly realizes that her pain is gone, and she looks up and sees ALIE for the first time. We as an audience realize how dangerous Raven will be, on ALIE’s side, but all Raven feels is wonder and relief. I think the song really captures that feeling so well, and the lyrics reflect Raven’s motivation: “I lie awake, and watch it all/it feels like a thousand eyes.” She’s under so much pressure, mostly internal, but also external, to help her friends and make sure people she cares about survives. I love this song and I’ll always associate it with this moment.

Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest:

 “You are wonkru, or you are the enemy of wonkru. Choose.”

Roan versus Lexa

Royal Memori Saving Everyone

When it really disappointed you:

Season 6. With the exceptions of Memori and my affection for Josephine, the season was a total flop for me. Season 7 just continued the downward spiral at an even faster rate. A few bright spots, but overall, just garbage. 

Saddest moment:

Woof. There’s several.

1. Lexa’s death, obvi

2. Jasper’s death

3. Lincoln’s death

4. Monty and Harper’s farewell videos

5. Emori’s death (only so low on the list because she came back) 

Most well done character death:

I got a lot of satisfaction out of Cage Wallace’s death. Lincoln deserved that vengeance.

In terms of emotional impact, I do think Jasper and Lexa’s death scenes were very well-done.

I know it’s messed up and I’m probably wrong, but god if I don’t love seeing Pike get run through with that sword.

Favourite guest star:

Alycia Debnam Carey put this show on the fucking map, and no one can truly argue otherwise. Without her, I doubt this show would’ve gone on for as long as it did. The show was carried by appearances and mentions of her right up until the very end. She even got the last word. Tell me of a more iconic guest star?? 

Favourite cast member:

I definitely really like Richard Harmon and Luisa d’Oliveria. I think they have the greatest chances of having truly successful careers out of everyone. 

Character you wish was still alive:

Jasper. :( 

One thing you hope really happens:

Well, it’s over. So nothing is going to happen again. I like the idea of some other pocket of humanity that decided not to transcend stumbling upon the Beachkru several years post-canon. And the aliens conveniently forget to actually make that sterile thing real. Humanity lives in, cultures continue to develop and grow, and there are lots of new generations to come! AKA the thing I wanted all along and really hoped they’d do, but they just kept destroying every society they met!!

Most shocking twist:

Finn’s death was really, truly so shocking to me. For one, Lexa’s death so greatly overshadowed it in fandom (at the time) that I managed to see it completely unspoiled. I also wasn’t into the BTS stuff at the time, so I didn’t know about any drama. It took me fully by surprise - I never expected the show to really kill another lead like that. 

When did you start watching/reading?:

It took me several tries to start this show. Getting through those first four episodes was a tough ask for me. By the time I finished what was available, s3 was over. So I technically joined fandom during the hiatus between s3 and s4.  

Best animal/creature:

God the animals in this show were silly. I liked those weird panther things.

Favourite location:

The dropship, Memori’s palace, Becca’s lab. 

Trope you wish they would stop using:

Listen. I loved the callbacks at first. I fucking ate them up. But at some point, this show became so self-referential that new plotlines ceased to exist. It became almost comical. How many times did these characters need to learn these lessons??

One thing this show/book/film does better than others:

The early camaraderie of The Hundred, and the way they worked sort of against the Establishment/Adults, was a lot of fun. Other shows have done it, but I think The 100 does it very well.

Funniest moments:

Unintentionally or intentionally, lmao?? Idk, there were a lot of quippy moments. Most of what Murphy said was hilarious.

Couple you would like to see:

I always wanted them to give Niytavia a shot, but they were cowards. 

Actor/Actress you want to join the cast:

I’m not super attached to any actors or actresses that would fit on this show. 

Favourite outfit:

Blodreina’s red cape, Emori’s royal Naming Day ‘fit, Murphy’s sleek black formal looks, Clarke’s soda can tab jacket, Raven’s red bomber jacket.

Favourite item:

When Clarke picks up a piece of Lexa’s throne and uses it as a walking stick when she’s alone post Praimfaya 2.0

Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?:

Nah.

What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?:

I mean, I feel like Spacekru is the most obvious choice.

Most boring plotline:

When they spent several episodes rescuing Clarke from Josephine. Most of s4. The back half of s3. Most of s7.

Most laughably bad moment:

When Bellamy brought Clarke back to life by repeatedly punching her in the chest, and inside of her mind, Clarke threw an axe at Josephine’s face and Josie exploded into a bunch of shards of light.

When Clarke shot Bellamy over Madi’s sketchbook and left the sketchbook behind.

When Clarke and Bellamy took turns tying each other up and putting the people most important to one another in horrible situations and it was treated like a cute little bump in their timeless friendship. 

Best flashback/flashfoward if any:

I really love the Spacewalker reveal.

Most layered character:

Murphy came so far, and had so much development. I think Richard did a great job giving him a lot of depth and dimension. 

Most one dimensional character:

Clarke’s entire personality and arc didn’t change at all after the s2 finale. She was a loose cannon hell-bent on saving the people she loved, no matter what the cost. The most interesting things that happened to her were almost dying and actually dying, and the main reason for that is because it gave other characters and storylines more time to shine.

Scariest moment:

That fucking creepy cage creature on Nakara that attacked Raven’s face. Seeing it through the helmet was so terrifying. Another one is that scene in s2 when Lincoln is a reaper, and Octavia and Bellamy are trying to lure him into a trap in an old parking garage.

Grossest moment:

This show was remarkably gory for its network and time slot. I can think of several. I’d rather not dwell on them. 

Best looking male:

Lincoln is a babe.

Best looking female:

Gotta hand this one to Lexa

Who you’re crushing on (if any):

I mean, most of them. Half of why I watched was pure thirst. Emori, Murphy, Lexa, and Octavia all come to mind. Diyoza, too.

Favourite cast moment:

Idk I’m always partial to blooper reels.

Favourite transportation:

HELIOS. The most beautiful badass horse in the world. 

Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise):

I mean, most of the overhead shots are really pretty, but it’s also the same five locations in Vancouver, and that really starts to show at some point.

Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you:

I genuinely think we don’t have time for this. I have way too many to count. 

Best promo:

Nothing really comes to mind.

At what point did you fall in love with this show/book:

I was convinced to stick it out and see it through by 1x05. I truly thought it was something special by 2x08. I’ve gone up and down about it ever since.

Thanks again, Meghan!

Send Me a Fandom and I’ll Answer Some In-Depth Questions!

[mysterious-prophetess]

Some BnHA Thoughts I’ve had recently

Warning: this gets long and rambly and is a personal opinion.

I know I’m probably not the only person who’s thought this but the whole Hero System of BnHA/MHA is just kind of...weird. 

The origins are explained in the spin-off, I think. IDK I don’t read Illegals. 

Nothing against Illegals I just don’t want to read it. What I’ve seen is ok, but anyway, back to my point.

Heroes working legit and for money is just very.....weird for someone like me who has grown up with the older Western comic hero canon where superheroes were, and still are, vigilantes who don’t get paid and don’t get to really enjoy any sort of public accolades, unless you’re particular heroes in the DC or Marvel universes. 

Even then, someone like my favorite hero of all time—Superman—doesn’t get to really be Superman 24/7. He still has to be Clark Kent and live Clark Kent’s life. Honestly, it’s what makes an alien with OP godlike powers relatable. That is if writers actually take the time to write his relationships with his family/friends and not jettison off the other characters in stupid OOC ways that previous characterizations of Clark wouldn’t have tolerated.

Sure, Clark can do all that super-powered stuff but it doesn’t get his articles in on time or his bills paid. He has to still participate in society and keep his lives relatively separate. 

My second favorite hero of all time—and my love for Superman is pretty unshakable so this second place has a decent gap—is Spider-Man. Specifically Peter Parker the original. The others are ok too but Peter is the one I grew up with, so he’s the one to which I’m most attached.

Peter Parker’s life—in a proper adaptation—always is full of struggle between being Spider-Man and being Peter Parker. 

Even after he comes out as Spider-Man during the proper Civil War story arc (nope, still not over what the MCU did to it especially when they gave my favorite Cap quote to a glorified extra and made it so IRON-MAN WAS IN THE RIGHT, ARE YOU KIDDING ME) Peter’s life is still a struggle, it’s just now a public one like the Fantastic Four who, probably, are the only group close to a sort of BnHA/MHA style of heroics for their whole existence (even Tony had a secret identity for a while in early Iron-Man. Look it up). And their lives were a struggle. Plus, I’m also pretty sure they didn’t get paid for their heroics? I’d have to do research to verify that because I’m not actually a Fantastic Four fan.

My point is, I’m just much more used to heroes who have to do heroics as a side job(more like a calling) but still have a day job (unless you’re Bruce Wayne but he’s got other stuff to balance that out). 

The Illegals, though I don’t read their manga, are a bit more like traditional superheroes, but they also sort of don’t remind me of them because they live in a society where there are legit vs illegal heroes. Unlike all of the western canon superheroes who are, by legal definition, committing a crime by stopping crimes. It’s an aspect that Marvel for a long time had better than DC because the cops were treating some of the heroes like Spider-Man like the vigilantes they actually were. 

I think that Horikoshi will explore stuff about this system later but I can’t help but feel that the system he created within his universe is ripe for exploitation by the wrong sort of people.

Look at the reviled purple one. His superpower is actually excellent. His spheres can easily contain a criminal until they need to be processed and if he’s paired up with someone like Sero, their combo as a capture team is amplified. Stick some of the spheres onto a strip of Sero’s tape and it’s an instant sticky bola. 

If his life had progressed without being an ancillary background character who keeps being shoved into shit to keep him in the story artificially by authorial bias, Mineta would have graduated and become a hero and would have been doing it for all the wrong reasons and (if he kept his nose clean of scandals) been able to live a decent life while also using his position to be a total piece of garbage.

See Captain Celebrity from Illegals for the adult version of this motivation taken to its extreme.

People rag on Endeavor for being a hero for the wrong reasons, but actually, he still does do a lot of good even if he’s a flaming jerk and he’s still popular enough to be the eternal number 2 prior to All Might’s retirement. 

Then there’s Mount Lady who swooped in and sniped Kamui Woods’s villain for the attention. And snake lady, Uwabumi, who seems more into being an idol of sorts than being a hero. The point is, the heroes of the BnHA/MHA universe aren’t actually incentivized to be heroes for justice or the general good. I personally blame the popularity aspect for a lot of the exploitation I see potentially within this system.

With that popularity aspect, the hero system has become tainted by people who are just in it to be idols and make money off of side hustles/brand deals/commercials/toys. There are enough in the system like Izuku—who genuinely wants to save people— that keep it from being overrun by people who are just in it for themselves, but as it is, the BnHA/MHA system is just so weird and ripe for twisting (which I as a fic writer & reader appreciate for the fertile ground it provides).

We flip back to the Western Canon and we have maybe a handful of characters at best I can point to that fit this “hero for popularity reasons” mould, with DC character Booster Gold the time-traveling con-man being the only one I can name off the top of my head. 

This is because Western Canon heroes are, usually, in heroics/vigilantism for personal reasons that tend to be motivated by justice, vengeance, or some mix of the two. 

Or, as quoted to death in most every adaptation of Spider-Man, Uncle Ben’s immortal words,

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

Plus, popularity and merchandizing is next-to-impossible for the Western canon hero because they actually have secret identities and don’t compete in highly publicized school festivals as minors that are said to be more popular than the Olympics where their real names are on display (sorry, the more you look at the UA Sports Festival, the less it makes any damn sense from a security standpoint). 

So, a character could go into heroics within the western canon wanting to be popular but unless they want to be a public hero (which is technically illegal) they can never profit from said-heroics directly. Again, we have Booster Gold who tried it and the other superheroes of the DC universe despised him.

He’s had a moment where he realized being in it for fame and glory is not a good thing and has turned over a new leaf, I think, so again heroes in it for themselves are generally not a major thing in the Western canon universes. 

Horikoshi has been using the system and its flaws for some great story moments and will likely continue to do so. 

It still doesn’t stop me from looking at it like the beautiful piece of weirdness that it is. I may never stop thinking it’s weird but that’s ok. 

Note 1: I know The Incredibles showed heroes being heroes without it being vigilantism but they were also employed/protected by the government and still had to maintain secret identities and when told to stop by the government, did. That, in and of itself, was explored by the movie to being a bit of an issue somewhat. 2 did an ok job of also exploring it but neither played the angle as well as they could have.

Note 2: Sky High’s heroes might have a hero school but they still have secret identities and day jobs.

[homicidal-sheep]

Notable Quotes from TOG Comic

I finally got around to reading the first volume of The Old Guard and while I’m sure other people have done this much better, I’m still gonna write down my thoughts. 

1.) “Bring me one of them, I don’t care which one” - Merrick

Okay seriously? I love movie Booker but in the comics, he easily could have given himself up. Merrick literally stated he only needed one. Again, I love Book but it’s slightly harder to sympathize with him here. 

2.) “[Booker’s] practically a fucking baby” “If he’s dead thats just...its so unfair. Why does he get to die and not me?...I don’t know what I’m gonna do if I’ve lost him too” - Andy

Okay so this is multilayered. The first quote is quite a bit before the rest but it stills shows how Andy views Booker. When she thinks Copley’s men killed him she’s first a bit jealous. Bitter that this baby got to die and she would be forced to keep on living. She does care for her soldiers though, and doesn’t want to lose another. Earlier, in the argument over retrieving Nile, its actually Andy arguing against it, Booker agrees with Joe and Nicky. Andy brings up that she was made leader, and she needs to protect her people. Getting Nile puts them more at risk. She goes on to list Booker’s usefulness but its clear she cares.

3.) “...as bait!” - Andy and Nile

I just included this because it explains why Booker was left behind in the safe house. I’ve seen people discussing why. 

4.) “Andy wants me to tell you that keeping in touch with your family risks exposing us all...that is not the real reason. The real reason is to protect your heart.” - Booker

Something I thought was interesting was that Booker did not initiate the talk on family. Andy suggested Nile ask Booker. Booker is a warning of what can happen. His family grew bitter and resentful, they could easily have told anyone. He in turn also grew bitter and resentful. Andy had a similar experience, staying and loving a human as they grew old. Her lover was far more understanding but it still hurt her in the end. Both learned the hard way that loving humans only ended up with pain on their ends, so to protect their hearts they had to stop loving so much. Andy was far better at this than Book.

5.) “Andy just cuz you got a computer doesn’t mean you’re on the internet...Booker connecting to the web in a damn cave thats-” - Nile

5.5.) “Nile tried to warn me. She saw this coming. But the truth is, so did I.” - Andy

Okay first off, love Nile. So smart. I 100% support her dreams of becoming an art history major like damn, follow your dreams. You have the guards one brain cell, take advantage!

Secondly, Andy’s reaction to Booker’s betrayal. She knew, she suspected, but she was blinded by love and apathy. She says something along the lines of finally feeling angry. And how it felt good to feel things again. Between Niles presence and Book’s betrayal, she finally has something to fight for, and live for, thats not sex, booze, and death. 

6.) “I want something to live for. Right now thats the people on my team.” - Andy (which was inspired partly by Niles “Every day you waste is one you don’t get back”)

As I said above, this gave her the push she needed to realize how much of her immortal life she had wasted wallowing. This is said after Booker explains why he did what he did. How he did it for THEM because he saw his own misery in her eyes and wanted to do something about it. The parallels between her and Bookers arcs show how easy it was for them to get lost, and how easy it was to lose hope and give into their bitterness and jealousy. 

7.) I don’t have a quote but I would like to mention Nicky and Joe

They aren’t as...idk abundant? Nothing quote wise stuck out, it was more artwork. Besides the art being...questionable, I just felt they were more, maybe not ruthless, but callous. In the movie, Joe and Nicky can be violent, but they don’t take pleasure in it. I don’t know if their actions in the comics can be seen as “pleasurable” but they just seems more, willing I suppose. I don’t blame them in the least, it’s just different. I just love all the analysis of Joe and Nicky and their relationship with violence and the comics just felt off, after reading them.

8.) “What’re you gonna do?” “Live” - Nile + Booker’s last conversation. 

I have really mixed feelings on this. My initial thought was, this doesn’t feel earned. As I wrote this long ass ramble, I somewhat changed my mind. 

In the movie, I could see something like this, at least with Andy. She is the one who flat out told him, we have been doing a shit job of living these past few centuries. So it makes sense for him to look at her and say, I will try, I will try and live because thats what you want from me.” Do I think he would succeed? Maybe. Not before a lot of wallowing at least. He is still depressed and I really do not think he can pull himself out without some help, be it his family or just some random neighbors that grow weirdly attached to him. He defines himself by the people around him and what he can do for them, and never really seemed to learn grow as a person beyond his all consuming grief. 

Comics wise, Andy gave a somewhat inspiring speech, threw them out a window, drove off, then she and Booker shot each other like children throwing dirt until Nile used a machine gun on them (good for her btw. I’m also going to throw this quote from Booker in, “Let me explain damn you! You owe me that much at least!”) Andy hasn’t lost her immortality so he feels less guilt over that specifically, enough to still feel entitled to explain himself, even when he has now sentenced 2 of his brothers to torture. He still truly believes he did this for both of them as I said before, and if it was just Book and her, no Nicky, Joe, or Nile, I think she would have been more inclined to agree. Seeing her resolve, and change of heart, it seems to be enough for Book to realize that he was indeed, in the wrong.

I suppose seeing Andy with a newfound purpose could inspire him a bit to try. Good for him, maybe he’s have more luck. He seems more of a chainsmoker than an actual alcoholic (not that thats a lot healthier or a better coping skill). I just think he would grow disillusioned pretty quickly. I felt the comic was trying to show he had a newfound appreciation for life (what with him smiling (? its hard to tell with the art) off into the distance) but I just don’t think enough has happened to keep it up. So maybe in that instance it’s maybe earned, but is in no way gonna stick around for long. (I haven’t read vol 2 yet so who knows).  

Idk this was a very long ramble, maybe it makes sense, maybe it doesn’t. I didn’t mean to make that last bit all about Booker, whoops. These were just the big things I noticed while reading that I wanted to bring up. (Sorry about any typos!)

[everythingirl44]

One last game of Tag? Agents of Shield #PartingShot

I was tagged by the wonderful @daisylincs, thank you Lily!

With this tag game, I want to know the answers to these five (5) questions and then tag 5 or more mutuals. Wasn’t tagged but want to join? Join in ! Everyone is an essential part of this fandom! Name from @ agent.of.shield_ on Instagram ( @agents-of-fangirling ) who had a great idea to post a picture of yourself with a drink (or just a drink) and tag it #partingshot as a finale goodbye to the show.

Where were you in life when you first started to watching AoS?

I was in eighth grade, going through one of the hardest years of my life so far. Let’s just say middle school girls are mean, toxic and love to cause drama. Especially since the school was by a very wealthy neighborhood.

I was in like a group of girls who were kinda mean and twisted things all the wrong way. I’ve made my peace with it and I’m actually friends with one of them again. I came across Chloe Bennet through YouTube. I didn’t have any social media except twitter back then.

So I looked up the show and saw the first four seasons were on Netflix. I was a huge DC girl growing up so when AoS first came out I wasn’t interested in Marvel. Oh boy how that has changed! I started watching around the end of the school year. Then around July on my birthday I watched the season three finale, I watched Lincoln Campbell die on my birthday which was horrible. Finished the whole thing about a week or two later. Then went to look up if it was renewed for a season five. Obviously it was and I continued watching.

Where are you now?

Kinda dreading writing this part because I never really put anything that could give away my age out there, but quick background. I believe some people like Lily think I’m older then I actually am. I’m a senior in high school, so I’m in twelfth grade. My high school is special in a sence that it offers students medical classes. Pretty much I’ve learned when a first year medical student learns, but in high school.

Yeah, I’m still a baby pretty much. Which might explain a lot or just make you more confused. I digress. Currently dealing with college apps and trying to be an adult. Also trying to deal with my anxiety with everything going on.

Super emotional about the show ending because for the past three years I kept saying on day I would go to comic con or wonder con and see their panel. That never happened, never will. None of my friends watch the show so I turned to Tumblr to ‘meet’ other people who watch it. I really love the AoS Tumblr community.

What character development arc (or storyline in general) did you love the most?

All of them? See I don’t know because they’re all different and amazing and taught me something about life.

If I had to pick I’d go with Daisy Johnson of course because she’s amazing and a badass. How she started out as hackavist Skye who was an orphan. Only to find out she has parents who have been looking for her. Also she’s the Juan anlien who has powers. Becomes a superhero and goes on this journey to figure out who she is. Falls in love, has a family, loses a lot, and still comes out strong because there is something worth fighting for out there. Also because I second guess my culture a lot growing up so seeing a female Asian American superhero on TV was really inspiring.

Honestly, hear me out, Wards whole storyline was absolutely amazing and very well written. He’s an undercover spy pretty much, then he’s the bad guy, then he’s trying to be the good guy but has childhood trauma that really screwed him over. Then he’s the bad guy again, then he dies gets brought back to life as Hive. Dies again, rest in piece Lincoln Campbell. Then he gets a redemption in the Framework which kinda shows he has a good side if it weren’t for Garrett. There is my really bad rendition.

Everyone’s storyline is amazing, definitely favorite Daisy Johnson. Ward isn’t my favorite, but I loved how it was written.

What will you miss the most?

The question is, what won’t I miss. I will miss the entire show, cast, and crew. I mean they are literally amazing people who do amazing thing in the entertainment industry.

I’m not even lying when I say this has been such a big part of my life. I’ve learned so much about myself the past few years. The show has been the only constant thing in my life and now it’s gone. I’m not ready! I don’t want to say goodbye to these amazing people and this show!

Favorite quote?

I have a few. They may be a few words off because this is from my memory.

“They’re only human.” Lincoln Campbell’s last words.

“With great power... comes a ton of weird crap that you are not prepared to deal with.” Skye/Daisy Johnson to Mike Peterson.

“I didn’t go to your stupid Shield Hogwarts or whatever.” Skye/Daisy Johnson to Fitzsimmon?

“The steps you take don’t need to be big; the just need to take you in the right direction.” Jemma Simmons to idk.

“May hates coffee.” Coulson to fake May/ Agent 33. That one was funny to me.

“Don’t touch Lola.” Coulson to everyone who tries to touch Lola.

“It’s funny what can happen when someone believes in you.” Coulson and Daisy in the finale.

Yeah I think that’s all of them? Off the top of my head. I might add more just for myself but wow. That’s that then, it’s never going to be the same.

Okay for tags, I am a little late to finishing this and everyone has probably already done it, but just for the final tag I’m gonna tag people anyway. @springmagpies @ohwriteiforgot @tomatobookworm @clementinewhy @2minutes2midnight @agentpolarbear also just me telling you I love all your work. You’re all amazing and thank you for being so nice!

[suckishima]

suckishima’s hq!! 30 day gif challenge masterpost

I’m doing the 30 Day Haikyu!! Gif/GFX challenge! But I’m slightly modifying the rules so it’s more fun for myself.

Link to the prompts here!

I’m skipping a few prompts because I felt like it lol. So I’m doing 22 of the 30 *shrugs*

I’m not allowed to repeat any characters, because if I did, well, basically the whole challenge would just be Tsukki gifsets and as much as I love him, that wouldn’t be much fun for me or for anyone else lol. This also works out for me because I’m generally bad at choosing definitive favorites, and now most everyone gets a turn.

I’m only choosing moments from the anime and therefore doing gifs only, because it would have just taken me too long to add colorings into the mix. Maybe one day I’ll do the challenge again but with only gfx/manga edits. That does sound fun lol, especially since a lot of my favorite moments haven’t actually been animated yet.

If I’ve done my math/timing right (and I stay on schedule) there should be one set every day from today until the second cour of Season 4 airs on October 2! So it’s kinda like a countdown event? idk lol

See which ones I’ve done so far here!

I’ve listed why I chose what I chose for each day under the cut if you wanna see me ramble on some more!

(I’ll update each prompt with a link to its post when it’s uploaded)

Favorite character: Yamaguchi Tadashi. Tsukki is probably more of my actual favorite, but he fits better for the character development category for me. So, I went with my second favorite, Yamaguchi! I love him so much, he’s such a sweetheart and I really like how we get to see him slowly grow more into his own. His big moments are some of my favorites of the entire series and I just really relate to his drive to just get to play with the rest of the first years.

Character first fell in love with: Hinata Shoyo. This one was easy peasy lol. Hinata is the light and love of my life and I’d honestly be surprised if anyone picked anyone other than Hinata for this prompt. He’s just so *clenches fist* good. Hard working, fun, determined, a little dumb, and so so caring and compassionate. And I’m so proud of him too tbh. I don’t care how cliche and overrated it is to say this, he is a ray of sunshine and I love him.

Character gradually warmed up to: Tendou Satori. Again, this could easily be Tsukki lmao since I didn’t like him at allll at first until he slowly began to grow on me in s2. Anyway, Tendou also grew on me. I tend not to like characters that feel chaotic just for the sake of it, and that’s how I felt about him at first. But as the Shiratorizawa match goes on, and especially in the Ball Boy arc as we see him interact with his teammates more I realized he just wants to have a good time and shame on me for wanting to be down on that. He’s funny, fun, doesn’t give a fuck what people think, and is a supportive friend. Nothing not to like tbh.

Favorite karasuno ship: Tsukkiyama. I mean, it’s my two favorite characters together lmao, it was bound to happen. Especially since a lot of the reasons they’re my favorites is because of their interactions together. I feel like each significant interaction between them isn’t just development for them together, but for them individually and I love that. There’s like this silent building each other up. They’re both there for each other without having to say anything, but then when they do voice it, it makes it that much more powerful. I just love how strong their friendship feels by the end of nationals arc, it feels so earned and genuine. I love that Tsukki is proud of how far Yamaguchi has grown, and that Yamaguchi is proud of not just Tsukki with volleyball, but Tsukki’s relationship with Akiteru. They’re both just so proud. I’m cool with all ships being just platonic too, but if we’re talking non-canonically, them being together just makes me happy. I’m a big ol’ sucker for friends to lovers.

Favorite episode/chapter: Illusionary Hero. Sensing a pattern yet? ha ha haaaa. The relationship between the Tsukishima brothers is one of my favorite in the series (i still cry over the peace signs), and this episode is where I really began to not only fall in love with Tsukki but the writing of the show. I too had been wondering “what IS the point of them working so hard,” and I loooooved how Furudate addresses that question through Tsukki’s backstory. Great stuff. (favorite manga chapter is 298 when yams and tsukki do their successful serve and block for the first time, if you were interested lol).

Favorite team: Karasuno. This was another easy choice. I love every single team in the series, truly. But I can’t just abandon my boys lmao. Karasuno is the heart and soul of the show, and they are also now my heart and soul.

Favorite position: Setter. “The setter is the information tower of the team” is the “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” of volleyball. Okay, not really, that quote was just repeating in my head while I made this set. I don’t have any cool meaningful reasons for this one. Setters are just cool.

Favorite wing spiker: Ushijima Wakatoshi. Ohhhh how I love Ushijima. At first you think he’s just big huge muscle baddie (and, like, he kinda is) BUT he’s also some of my absolute favorite comic relief in the whole series. He is so frickn earnest and blunt and doesn’t give a Fuck what people think and I love him.

Favorite middle blocker: Kuroo Tetsuro. This was a hard choice lol, because my top three favorite characters (tsukki, yamaguchi, and hinata) are all MBs, so I was like uhh which one do I choose? Aone was a close second to Kuroo too.

Favorite libero: Nishinoya Yuu. He’s just so dang cool.

Favorite setter: Kageyama Tobio. My boyyyyyy. God I love Kageyama. I’m not sure I can put into words how much he means to me. His character arc of shedding the King mantle only to pick it back up again with a new context is one of my favorite character developments of all time. His arc is all about learning to communicate and not only relying on others but learning to be relied on and I just ah - and the stuff about self care??? i love him.

Favorite captain: Sawamura Daichi. He just, is The Captain ya know. He’s got the vibe down pat. We love a good solid foundation for our team. He’s integral and Karasuno would have never made it as far as they do without him.

Favorite manager: Yachi Hitoka. I love Shimizu too, I do, but Yachi’s very unique brand of crazy is just too much fun lol. The first season feels so empty without her, and she brings so much joy to the team and to the show.

Favorite match: Shiratorizawa. Of the whole series, my favorites in order are actually, Nekoma, Inarizaki, Kamomedai and then Shiratorizawa, then Aoba Johsai 2. But since most of those aren’t animated yet, we get to focus on Shiratorizawa. Which I do still love, the hype is SO real the entire match, I still get chills at the end and during Tsukki’s Block.

Favorite non-match scene: BAR-BE-QUE!! Lmao tbh it was a close one between the fun of the bbq and heartwrench of the meal after the lose to Aoba Johsai in s1. Furudate said let them eat.

Favorite arc: Tokyo Training Camp. I love to see them improving and practicing and growing and ah it just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Favorite underrated character: Tanaka Ryuunosuke. I LOVE HIM. HE IS SO FULL OF LOVE. And he’s so slept on I feel like. He is one of the most supportive characters in the show. He is always positive and is a great morale booster and is just an overall Good Boy. Yeah yeah he’s a bit intense with his crush, but he’s always respectful and I’ll fight anyone who thinks he’d do anything that makes Shimizu uncomfortable.

Favorite character development: Tsukishima Kei. Ah, we’re finally here lol. The top two reasons Tsukki is my favorite character is 1 because I relate to him sooo so much and I’ve never seen a character written in a way that feels so much like just how I personally think about and see things. 2, because of just how amazingly earned and cathartic his development is. I could ramble about this forever so I won’t. But when I found out he was still playing volleyball after the time-skip, I actually cried. Like, after everything, he’s still playing? He WANTS to play?? godddd.

Favorite non-player: Tsukishima Akiteru. Ah, I gotta say I relate to his struggle. Plus I love how expressive he is lmao, crying over like every little thing.

Favorite friendship(s): The Tsukishima Brothers. They are so important to me okay. The admiration, the falling out, the chasm for years that affects how they both interact and even see the world, the slowly piecing things back together, and then the reversal of the peace signs in the Kamomedai match, wow. (kageyama/hinata is a VERY close second, i’m bad at favorites)

Favorite pairing(s): Kageyama/Hinata, Bokuto/Akaashi, Shimizu/Yachi, Ushijima/Tendou. There’s so so many more tbh, but I had to narrow it down.

Favorite rare pair: skipped

1st, 2nd, or 3rd years: First Years. They’re my babies. I love them all and they way they all interact and I need them to be friends forever thanks.

Girls: skipped

Most relatable: skipped

Most like to be friends with: skipped

Most heartbreaking moment: skipped

Most heartwarming moment: skipped

Stage play day: skipped

Your choice: skipped

[codenamesazanka]

I know this is a really vague thing to ask, but do you have any tips for writing Shigaraki? I know Echodrops made a whole meta about fanon Shigaraki vs canon Shigaraki but do you personally have anything in particular you'd want to mention yourself about the portrayal of Shigaraki in fanfics?

(Here’s the link to @echodrops‘s post! It’s really, really good, and helped me figure out Shigaraki a lot in the first place. thank you!)

oooh! Not at all a vague thing, this is a great question. I started all this meta because I wanted to figure out how to write Shigaraki as well. A word of caution tho, because this would be my personal interpretation of Shigaraki, though I’ll try to use as much manga examples as I can. As always, super long post. 

Note: images are edited to fit exact quotes to relevant and reasonable sized images, instead of a whole manga page

Here’s some hand man characteristics/traits that I think are overlooked:

Shigaraki Tomura, in his beliefs/values, has a tendency for all-or-nothing thinking, to be extreme in his actions. In all three of his incarnations - the oneshot Tenko, the draft Sazanka, and this current one - a core of the character is 1) finding something flawed/bad/had hurt him somehow 2) completely loathing it 3) vowing to destroy it. 

Tenko despised samurai and their warring, and wishes to rid the world of swords. Sazanka is on a quest to kill quirk-users with quirks he deems too dangerous for society. And Shigaraki has decided that the Heroes and justice system is a farce, and is out to destroy it. 

Kinda fitting for a guy with his quirk - he either doesn’t destroy something, or destroys it completely. The moment he makes his decision, it’s fast and permanent. 

For Shigaraki, murder is murder, destruction is destruction, violence is violence, no matter how you dress it up. That’s why he couldn’t see the difference between him and Stain. That’s why he can’t see that Bakugou, as aggressive and vicious as he is, still wants to be a good guy. 

Now this is my take, but I think his mindset is: Because All Might can’t save everyone, he’s a fake, he’s trash; because everyone will say they condemn murder yet go about their lives carefree even though they know logically someone is out there getting killed, morality and justice is an illusion; because justice is so fragile and flimsy, I will expose it and destroy it. 

Not in any goodwill or for a better society, mind you. He just hates it. 

He also has no illusions about himself or his actions, he knows he’s evil.

Shigaraki is a lot more sarcastic and sardonic than usually portrayed in fanon. He’s very rude and can be foul mouthed, but the real insult comes from his tone and behavior. He condescendingly calls Eraserhead cool. He calls Stain the ‘Great Senpai of scoundrels’. He points out to Overhaul how a wakagashira/underboss like him should be more polite. Just about half of everything he says is dripping with mockery, and he’s very breezy and irreverent. So a bit less ‘I hate you, fuck off’, and more cheek.

Adding to that, if I’m reading my Japanese right, Shigaraki can change how he addresses people depending on the person and situation. His default speech is rude, but he’ll talk somewhat (barely) politely-ish if needed; it’s just it’s very obvious he’s not taking it seriously. 

Related, I feel like Shigaraki says a lot of things he doesn’t really believe. He tries out concepts, half-heartedly, on a whim. There’s that infamous speech at USJ about Heroes and Villains both using violence - which does seem to have some semblance to the actual ‘two sides of the same coin’ that even Best Jeanist talks about. 

And here’s him considering Stain’s effects on heroes, with gusto, before ditching it.

I know it’s Smash!, but here’s him reciting some sort of pseudo education philosophy he picked up somewhere??? to Kurogiri to get out of exercise. 

He’s a total smartass 

Of course, this brings up the question, is he genuine in his speech to Bakugou, or to Toga and Twice? 

 Like Echodrop notes, he can be in a good mood. He can be (seem?) happy, he can smile, he will acknowledge when someone does a good job of something. 

Sure, it’s got a manic edge to it, it’s probably not coming from a place of good, fluffy, innocent feelings, but he can laugh, enjoy the moment, be psyched about something. 

I really like this scene because he actually giggles a bit. He squeezes Midoriya, and he really does seem excited for a chat. 

He’s quick to go back to being default cranky tho. Quick to enjoy, quick to get irked.  

Shigaraki is a weirdo and I love him.

 My boy is smart. Really, Shigaraki is smarter than he looks. In the Ultra Archive, his profile lists his intelligence as ‘A’, ranking him above most characters, including Midoriya. I get that Deku’s whole thing is being the strategizing main character, but Shigaraki’s just as analytical. Even the Smash! Comic points this out. 

His room is filled with books, so either he reads a lot or he hoards them to look smart. I think it’s the former. Well, it’s not mutually exclusive, I should know.

He thinks and reflects and questions. He was super pissed about Stain, but he realized Stain was right and tried to figure out why. He went on a walk to calm down and just ruminate. He sought out Midoriya just to get second opinion. Afterwards, he quickly sees the bigger picture and realizes the issue is systemic and he’s gotta attack the structure. Of course, kinda shaky on the specific details and it’s not endgame long term, but still impressive. 

There’s a lot of Villain!Deku fanfics - and I like them a lot! - that turns Deku into the criminal mastermind or makes him the brains behind Shigaraki’s operations. Which is fair, Deku could totally be one! And also a lot of fics where Shigaraki is dismissed, with everything he does being AFO’s machinations. Again, fair. But Canon Shigaraki is AFO’s successor and leads the League for a reason.

This also means, I think, that Shigaraki isn’t as clueless to the fact that All For One is manipulating him. This point is entirely debatable, though. All I have to back this is how Shigaraki wondered if he was lied to in the USJ.

Even tho he’s facepalm crusty boi neet, Shigaraki is still a very dangerous S-ranked villain. I feel like sometimes people forget this. 

 He’s not that childish. He can be immature, he’s still learning the ropes of being a supervillain, he’s got an irritable and sullen disposition, but he’s not a five-year-old. He’s also not completely unhinged. 

When things don’t go his way, his first response usually isn’t to shriek or whine or immediately snap. He’s got a clear head and a good sense of what he can and can’t do. Kurogiri is down, All Might escaped their grasp, but Nomu’s still active? Cool, we got this. It’s only when Nomu gets team-rocket-ed that he panics. Stain stabs him? Doesn’t start a fight right there and then, asks Master for some Nomu, is patient enough to wait until he decides he really can’t stand Stain, then finally gives the go ahead for a rampage. 

Shigaraki knew from the start he can’t handle All Might. That’s Nomu’s job. As much as he hates All Might, he doesn’t jump at the chance to kill the hero personally. He’s not ruled by impulse or easy distractions, not really. And he will back down if Kurogiri reasons with him - see accepting Stain as a party member, see letting Toga and Dabi live. And after he got his motivation, he’s been very restraint since. 

He doesn’t immediately destroy his things in anger - we only see him destroy only few items pre-mall talk. He decays binoculars, a photo of Deku, maybe a newspaper, all quiet and deliberate. Kurogiri’s bar is intact and clean, despite being the long-time hang out spot of the destructive Shigaraki Tomura. Would he decay a controller after losing a game? Maybe, but also just as likely maybe not. 

Shigaraki will complain and bitch and sulk and hold a grudge, tho, yeah. He will lose it after a series of stressors/things gone wrong. He can be moody, cruel and sadistic, bloodthirsty and mayhem-loving. But he’s got himself under control more often than not. 

Finally, video games: My biggest pet peeve about portrayal of Shigaraki in fanfics: He’s super obsessed with video games, to the point that he plays them all day long, and he can’t stop using video game slang for everything - or so a lot of the fandom believes. 

I’ve pointed out before that we’re more likely to see him reading the newspaper and we’ve never actually seen him use a console ever in manga or anime. True, he likens scenarios to games frequently, but not all the time - the USJ fight was when he did that the most, then in his other appearances only once or twice during the whole scene (Doesn’t want Stain as a ‘party member’, none at all when meeting Dabi or Toga and then at the mall, camp arc has him seeing himself playing a Sim instead of an RPG, calls All Might ‘last boss’ during the raid, then nothing for his next appearances). At least not out loud. As fun as it is to imagine him as a geeky gamer, and he is, but he does more than just that. 

I think Shigaraki uses video games and media to create mental scripts for himself to understand/interact with the world, but it serves as a skeleton. He fleshes it out, always adding to that mental model to create a more complex one. He calls his change of strategy as playing a Sim game, but it’s a good analogy that works for him, and we see how layered his plan is - dealing a blow to UA that works whether the Vanguard succeed or not, kidnapping Bakugou and Ragdoll, in order to bring about the media and public criticism of UA/heroes, and had it not been for the raid, something would’ve happen to Bakugou that would’ve demoralized everyone. 

He def is grounded in reality enough to know what he’s doing is more than just a game. 

And that’s all I got for now! There might be a part two. idk, but I hope this was helpful!