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wrestlingisfake · 4 years ago

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Wrestle Kingdom 15 day 2 preview

TBD vs. Jay White - White is challenging for the IWGP heavyweight title and IWGP intercontinental title, against the winner of Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi from last night. In fact several of the matches on this card are major spoilers for yesterday’s show, so I guess the whole thing needs to go under the cut.

Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White - Ibushi defeated Tetsuya Naito last night to become the 73rd IWGP heavyweight champion and the 27th IWGP intercontinental champion. White is using his “IWGP double championship right to challenge” contract to receive this title shot. If White wins, Ibushi’s 24 hours as double champion would be the shortest reign in the history of either championship.

Ibushi was devastated when he was knocked out of the Double Gold Dash last year, and moreso when he lost to White in the consolation match. Ibushi and White met again during the G1 Climax, where Jay beat him again. Ibushi nevertheless won the G1 Climax to earn the “right to challenge” contract. However, the contract is defended like a championship, and Ibushi put it on the line against White...who beat him again. White then elected to take January 4 off and schedule his title match with Naito for January 5. However, Naito decided to spend the 4th defending the title against Ibushi. The upshot is that Ibushi has finally achieved his dream, but he must immediately put it all on the line against his nemesis, who isn’t exhausted from working last night.

Frankly, I’m not sure why they set this up where the 1/4 main event sets up who gets to wrestle White, like he’s the biggest star in this thing. I suppose maybe the idea is that he’s unavoidable so that you’ll worry until the very end that he could ruin everything. Maybe that psychology connects with the Japanese audience. It doesn’t with me. I’d rather just see the best and/or biggest match close the second show, and White vs. Ibushi isn’t it. Their match at Wrestle Kingdom 14 last year was so dull that I lost interest for about 20 minutes. Jay will go for the same cheap heat spots he always goes for, and Ibushi will randomly no-sell or oversell each of them, depending on whether he wants to be Ultra Instinct Shaggy or Ricky Morton at any given moment.

I suppose White-Ibushi matches have been fun, sometimes. I really liked the G1 Climax 2019 final. But personally I was over this feud months ago. I really hope they’ve come up with some new material, or this is going to be a long slog for me. I’m picking Ibushi to win, because I really don’t think they’ll book White to win just to troll the Tokyo Dome. But the bigger problem is, I wouldn’t care if they did.

Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi - Ishimori is defending the IWGP junior heavyweight championship. Hiromu defeated El Phantasmo last night to earn this title shot. Ishimori won the title from Takahashi on August 29, although they met again in the Best of the Super Jr. tournament on November 15, where Hiromu won. So this is the rubber match.

This match should be good to great, but it feels inevitable that Takahashi will regain the title. That’s not all bad, since he’s a big star and I’m a fan, but the match would mean more if Ishimori had been built up bigger. I suppose the pandemic made that difficult, since there were enough shows (or junior heavyweights) for Taiji to really burn through other top contenders.

I guess I’ll just try to get in the mindset of enjoying Hiromu’s coronation, instead of hoping for a match that could go either way. Then, on the off chance Ishimori actually wins, I’ll be properly shocked. But I’m not betting on that happening.

EVIL vs. SANADA - Welp, it had to happen--after Evil turned on Los Ingobernables de Japon and joined Bullet Club, it was only a matter of time before his tag team partner Sanada finally got a hold of him and...wait. I’m looking at my notes for the Evil-Sanada match from October 17. I’m frankly not sure why Sanada suddenly got mad at Evil two months after winning that match. I’m pretty sure they just ran out of ideas for each guy. Well, the October bout wasn’t as emotionally charged as I wanted anyway, so I’ll take a delayed grudge match if I can get it.

I believe Kevin Kelly commented recently that a win for Sanada here moves him closer to the main event title picture, but a loss sends him tumbling back down. I’d agree with that assessment. Along the same lines, a win for Evil suggests a renewed push for him, whereas a loss would signal that they’re putting him on the back burner for a while. I don’t expect either guy to headline the really big shows, but even on the lesser shows, only the winner of this match makes sense chasing the heavyweight and intercontinental titles.

I’d be in favor of these two brawling all around the ringside area (as much as safety procedures allow) and getting it out of their system. Blow this feud off quickly, so we can get on with new business--Sanada working his way up the ladder, and Evil plotting against his rivals within Bullet Club. I’m picking Sanada to win.

Shingo Takagi vs. Jeff Cobb - Takagi is defending the NEVER title. Cobb beat Shingo in their last singles encounter in September, but Takagi wasn’t champion yet. So Cobb had to beat him again in a tag match in December to set up this match. Of course, in the meantime, Cobb turned heel by joining Will Ospreay’s new stable, the Empire.

You could always count on either of these guys to have a great clubberin’ battle, but Cobb’s heel turn should add a vicious new edge to this matchup. We should get a strong showcase of what to expect from Evil Jeff Cobb, above and beyond what he demonstrated in World Tag League. Accordingly, I think he basically has to win the title. There just isn’t anything so important that it’s worth keeping the belt on Takagi; the most interesting thing he could do right now is chase Cobb. So this is another “feels like a foregone conclusion” match on a card full of them. At least this one should be fairly different from the others.

El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi - Despy and Kanemaru are defending the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team titles. Wato and Taguchi each managed to beat Despy in one-on-one matches during Best of the Super Jr., so I guess they figured they’d make a go of it as a team.

If you’d told me a year ago that a Young Lion would come back from excursion with a bunch of fancy vignettes, and it was all to build to this match, past-me would never have dreamed that the new guy would be the dimmest star of this group. But as it happens, Desperado had an epic star-making performance in BOSJ, Taguchi is a comedy institution in the promotion, and Kanemaru is at least a champion. Wato just hasn’t been booked like a hot new star, and the whole idea of having guys like Taguchi and Hiroyoshi Tenzan coach him just makes him look weaker. You get the feeling this match is designed to help him recover from all that, except that I have no confidence he’ll actually win the big one in the Tokyo Dome. If he loses here, he’s basically Captain New Japan Mark II.

What’s worse for Wato is that I’m not even sure it’s a good idea for him to finally win the big one, not at Desperado’s expense. The drama of the BOSJ final took me from “Oh, that one guy who looks like Skeletor cosplaying El Kabong” to “holy shit El Desperado isn’t fucking around.” They need to run with that, and maybe dropping the tag title is step one. But dropping it to Master Wato? I guess Wato could pin Kanemaru, but still.

To me the best finish for everyone involved is if the champs retain and Wato flips out and turns on Taguchi. But that sort of thing is awfully swerve-y for New Japan, and it’s smarter not to assume it’ll happen every time it’d be a little convenient. So I guess we’ll see what they’ve got. But I feel safe predicting the champs retain and Wato doesn’t get over as a babyface.

Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale vs. Chase Owens vs. BUSHI - This is a four-way match to decide who gets first possession of the provisional KOPW 2021 trophy. Whoever holds the trophy at the end of the year will be the official King of Pro Wrestling in 2021, or something. Yano won the title for 2020, but it’s a new year so we have a new title. The participants here were the final four of last night’s New Japan Ranbo gauntlet match. I gather that the first man to score a fall over any other opponent wins.

This is a pretty oddball lineup so I would imagine this match will just be a lot of shenanigans. All four guys will cheat to win, but Owens and Fale will work together to double-team cheat, so they can be bigger heels than the other two.

Yano originally won the KOPW 2020 trophy in a four-way like this one, by stealing a pin over Kazuchika Okada of all people. So I would think that makes him a heavy favorite to win here. The only question is if the bookers think it’d be funnier for his tricks to backfire when dealing with the massive, extremely irritated Fale. I think I’d rather see Fale defending the trophy for six months, to be honest, but my gut says Yano will win again.

AZM & Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita vs. Natsupo & Himeka & Maika - This is one of two women’s matches to provide exposure to STARDOM, the women’s promotion owned by New Japan’s parent company. In Japan it’s seems to be considered normal for promotions to be all-male or all-female, and for fans to only want to see one or the other on a given event. So I get the impression some New Japan fans have a problem with running Stardom matches on a NJPW show, although I certainly don’t see why. In any case, TV and streaming rights mean that Western fans probably won’t actually see this match; I’m not even sure it will be televised. And I unfortunately know nothing baout Stardom, so it’s kind of pointless for me to comment on performers I’ve never heard of in a match I’ll probably never get to see.

Tam Nakano & Mayu Iwatani vs. Syuri & Giulia - Another women’s match to showcase Stardom. In this case I at least recognize Iwatani’s name from some ROH shows a couple of years ago, but that’s about it. I’m all for getting women’s wrestling some more exposure anywhere you can do it, but unfortunately these matches are aimed at the live audience in the Tokyo Dome, and won’t do much good raising my awareness.

#njpw #wrestle kingdom 15 #jay white #taiji ishimori #other guys but they're spoilers

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todomitoukei · 5 years ago

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Twice’s Fate: Reading Between the Lines

Chapter 266 - what a bitch. Before everyone starts to prepare Twice’s tombstone, how about we talk about his chances of still being alive. Don’t get me wrong, everything in the chapter indicates his death - minus one tiny detail: We didn’t actually see him die. So let’s talk about - realistically and objectively - what his chances are.

In general, when thinking about a character’s chances when their life is on the line, we have to take 3 factors into consideration:

1: Who is the author and how do they usually deal with their characters and possible character deaths?

2: What is the story that the character whose life is currently on the line like and how does the story usually deal with its characters and possible character deaths?

3: Who is the character whose life is currently on the line, what is their role in the story they are a part of and what would their death mean?

So let’s take a look at these three questions in regards to Twice:

1: The Author

Horikoshi has written a couple of one-shots, two of which are early beginnings for My Hero Academia, namely Tenko (2007) and My Hero (2008), as well as two series prior to My Hero Academia: Oumagadoki Zoo (2010-11) and Barrage (2012). Neither series include character deaths, which might not say much, aside from them both being on the light-hearted side. All we can draw from that is that so far, death hasn’t been a primal part of Horikoshi’s stories.

2: The Story

Let’s talk about My Hero Academia since an author can write varying stories. Generally, the story is kept relatively upbeat. Multiple characters have suffered/continue to suffer through trauma, abuse, and discrimination, still the story is filled with vibrant colors and jokes. The aforementioned darker themes of the story are often more hinted at, rather than explored to a deeper extent, possibly due to Horikoshi wanting to keep the story for a wider audience.

How does the story handle character deaths?

While several characters have died thus far, the majority of those deaths happened prior to the story. These types of deaths are usually part of a character’s backstory (like Shigaraki’s) and only briefly shown in flashbacks.

In this case, death can be used as a catalyst for a character’s motivation or role in the story. For example, had Shigaraki not killed his family, he most likely wouldn’t have met All For One, therefore never becoming a villain and thus the leader of the League of Villains. Although it’s impossible to say with certainty that he wouldn’t have become a villain, either way, he certainly wouldn’t have become the exact same person he is now.

Another example of this is Kota, whose hero parents were killed in the line of duty by Muscular, which led to Kota despising heroes (kind of like Shigaraki’s father hated heroes after Nana left him).

While Kotaro Shigaraki’s hatred toward heroes led to Shigaraki becoming a villain by being taken in by All For One, Kota’s hatred toward heroes serves as a plot tool to have Deku understand that people have different views and also showing Kota why heroes do what they do.

There are also some minor character deaths that happened shortly after said character is being introduced, like Miyashita.

In this case, his death is served to quickly introduce another character - the killer. Miyashita gets killed by his boss, not knowing he’s the supreme commander of the Meta Liberation Army, after criticizing the book by said organization, stating that they are criminals that just mask their crimes by calling it liberation.

Due to this, without knowing much about the Meta Liberation Army just yet, we can tell that those people clearly don’t accept other viewpoints and do not shy away from killing anyone that rebels against them.

Another character that dies shortly after being introduced is Motor Ed Snatch, who gets killed while trying to escort Overhaul to the villain hospital but is then stopped by the League.

What is the purpose of Snatch? Realistically, a hero needs to accompany Overhaul’s transport for safety reasons. Said hero would also need to be taken down in order for the League to get to Overhaul and snatch haha, get it? … anyway... the Quirk-destroying product from him.

But why does he really die; couldn’t the League just knock him unconscious?

This might be a far reach, so feel free to disagree, but generally, Snatch’s death is associated with Dabi, which is odd, considering that it’s more of a team effort between Dabi and Mr. Compress - the latter compresses Snatch along with Dabi’s fire and since Snatch is only able to turn his upper half into sand the fire would eventually kill him inside the marble.

There are a few reasons as to why Snatch’s death is associated with Dabi, though. First of all, Dabi doesn’t have a lot of action scenes. He is, relatably so, kind of a lazy character in the sense that he doesn’t involve himself in fights too much. Not only that, he sometimes can’t even be reached by anyone as shown by Giran asking Twice of Dabi’s whereabouts in chapter 115:

Don’t get me wrong, he does help out when necessary, but he sure likes to be other places. Anyway, prior to his death, Snatch asks Dabi whether he ever stops to think about how the families of the victims feel. This question doesn’t get an answer until after his confrontation with Endeavor in the Pro Hero Arc, where Endeavor recognizes Dabi as the one responsible for Snatch’s death. Dabi doesn’t remember Snatch at first, but later on remembers the question again, resulting in him giving the answer to himself, saying he thought about it so hard he went crazy (or “overthought things,” which implies the same).

Did Horikoshi kill off Snatch to give us some more evidence for our Dabi is Touya theory? We can’t say for sure, but I’m sure the above panels come to mind for most of us when thinking about Snatch.

What about characters that were introduced to us and then killed off at a later point?

Well, there are - so far- only two characters this applies to, both of which, funnily enough, happen in the Shie Hassaikai arc (so do the deaths of Miyashita and Snatch!)

Let’s take a look at them:

The first bigger character to die in the story is Magne. So why did she die?

Magne dies right at the introduction of the Shie Hassaikai arc.

Twice originally introduces Overhaul to the League because Overhaul told him he wants to join forces. Once inside, however, he explains how due to the Kamino Incident, neither the light nor the dark side is currently having the upper hand, wondering who will have the upper hand next.

Shigaraki feels provoked by this, declaring he will be the next ruler and questions Overhaul’s true motive for meeting up with them, which Twice is shocked by, immediately worried that he made a mistake.

Overhaul then questions Shigaraki, asking why he didn’t have a problem sacrificing powerful chess-pawns (Stain, Muscular, Moonfish) and whether he even has a plan. Right after, he reveals that he didn’t come to join them.

Once Overhaul states that he wants the League to work for him, Magne refuses, telling him they didn’t join the League to become someone’s subordinates. As she tries to attack Overhaul, he gets her with his quirk first, resulting in a brutal on-screen death.

This establishes the hatred the League feels toward Overhaul on a personal level.

While they were already disagreeing about their principles and goals, the reason why Magne dies adds fuel to the fire.

Firstly, it gives us a reason to sympathize with the League. Aside from the many other factors, the story gives us over and over again to sympathize with them, in the end, they hold a grudge against Overhaul because of the fact that he killed Magne (and destroyed Mr. Compress’ arm). So when at the end of the Shie Hassaikai arc, the League obliterates Overhaul’s hands, it’s an act of revenge for their killed friend. Despite the cruel act, it’s without a doubt easier to sympathize with them than with Overhaul.

In addition, while the entire League despises Overhaul for this, Twice blames himself, which shows us that he is the heart of the group, the friend-type, and someone that trusts too much because he is a kind person, something that is brought up again in the current manga arc.

The other death that occurs at the end of the Shie Hassaikai arc: Sir Nighteye. One might argue that his death was for the drama or the shock factor alone, but some characters are only introduced for a single purpose.

Sir Nighteye is one of the few people who know about One For All, therefore part of All Might’s/Deku’s storyline. Once All Might’s sidekick, Sir Nighteye eventually ended that relationship, because All Might refused to retire despite Sir Nighteye’s warning about All Might’s death, which he predicted with his Quirk.

Even though his Foresight, later on, shows him that he and Deku would be killed by Overhaul, Deku refuses to believe this and ends up proving Sir Nighteye wrong, much to his surprise.

His death could mean various things, though one of them would be to underline Deku’s determination to save people, even when fate has other plans.

So what can we generally say about the meaning behind character deaths in the My Hero Academia story based on the aforementioned deaths?

Character deaths are used either for a character’s backstory (which explains the character’s current self), mainly when the deceased character died prior to the events of the story, or serve as motivation for a character/characters when the death happens during the story (which explains why they change/do certain things after the events of said death).

How does that apply to Twice? Let’s see!

3: The Character

Twice’s parents were killed when he was in middle school, which led to him being an orphan until he found a job that offered him shelter and food. After an accident when he was 16 in which he hit someone with his motorcycle, the police released him to give him another chance.

Because the victim was a recurring customer of the shop Twice worked at, his boss fired him after a complaint by said customer, which put him back on the streets.

This led to him creating multiple doubles of himself since he felt like he couldn’t trust anyone but himself. The doubles got out of control, eventually leading to them fighting each other over who was the original, which in turn led to Twice himself not being certain whether he even was the original or just another double.

While for a long time he felt like he was alone, Giran eventually showed him otherwise and introduced him to the League, where he finally felt accepted.

Generally, Twice’s goal has been to find and accept himself. He found like-minded people in the League of Villains and during the Meta Liberation Army arc gets the confirmation that he is, in fact, the original instead of just another double. He reached his goal there, so why didn’t he die right then and there, then? I’ve seen plenty of people use the argument that his story is over now etc. to justify believing his death, but that’s just an easy way to accept the obvious when the truth is he could’ve died a lot sooner if the reason for his death was him having reached his goal.

So let’s take a look at the current chapters.

First of all, this all started in chapter 263/264, when we first see Hawks cornering Twice. Hawks reveals his true intentions and offers Twice a fresh start once he pays for his crimes.

This is a nice parallel to Twice’s origin, where the police made the same offer, only this time Twice refuses the offer, as he now knows there is no such thing as a fresh start in that society.

All he cares about now is the League, aka his family.

In chapter 265, this conversation continues, and Twice is shown to fight Hawks despite having a breakdown over the broken trust.

At one point, Hawks says “Why do you think I prioritize speed when taking down villains? Because it’s the ones who don’t give up, who heroes need to fear the most.”

This means Hawks recognizes that Twice doesn’t give up. Twice believes in the League and his goal is to protect them.

Generally, selfless acts are seen as something that makes people invincible, whereas acting just for oneself doesn’t give people that same perseverance.

He continues by saying: “Experienced villains with wills of steel refuse to get knocked out.”

Hawks acknowledges that Twice isn’t beaten easily, so while it may seem like Hawks has the upper hand right now by threatening Twice with his feathers, Twice isn’t going to back down immediately.

Hawks is convinced that “someone has to die” when “neither side gives up,” which is why he then changes his attitude of merely threatening to arrest Twice to threaten to kill him.

Twice then goes on about how people like Hawks aren’t people, whereas his friends have been kind to him through everything, while he just kept endangering them, yet he has to protect their happiness, nonetheless.

Moving on to this week’s chapter, 266, when Dabi joins the scene with a huge fire blast.

Hawks saves Twice, just as Dabi expected him to.

This is also when Twice completely turns against Hawks, telling Dabi to “burn him good!!”

Dabi does as he is told, to which Twice reacts with a “Hot! Cold!”

- the flames hit him, but not enough for complete damage as he still stumbles past Dabi and out the door.

Just as Hawks gets ready to strike at Twice, Dabi calls out his real name, which catches Hawks off guard enough for Twice to get past him.

Twice, now out on the corridor, thinks about how he has to protect his friends and sends doubles to do so.

This is when we get the panel of Hawks getting ready to backstab him. Literally.

Next, we see Twice’s double fall down onto the concrete.

Said double then saves Mr. Compress and Toga, before thanking them for having been his friends.

He then goes to tell them that he can’t make any more double because “I got dropped down onto the concrete from up there.”

After returning the handkerchief to Toga, the double once again thanks her for having saved him as he melts away in her embrace.

Now, don’t get me wrong, everything about this last chapter indicates that he died.

But weren’t we all taught to always read between the lines?

I’m ready to put on the clown mask, but let’s think about this for now with all the information gathered so far.

First of all, while my gut just kept telling me that Twice didn’t die there, it’s difficult to argue how Twice would survive falling down on the concrete.

However, after the official translation came out yesterday, I decided to head over to Twitter and look at the trivia for this chapter written by Caleb Cook, who is the official translator for My Hero Academia. According to him, it was actually the double we see at the end of the chapter, who fell down. Granted, he does say “I fell down,” but at first I figured the doubles would even refer to the other doubles or the OG Twice as “I” - as it turns out, in this case, it was the double, though.

This means the last panel we get of OG Twice is the one where Hawks is ready to backstab him once and for all. The thing is, we don’t actually see him stab Twice.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t just accept the thought of a character having actually died unless I see it or it’s otherwise concretely (I’m sorry) confirmed in the story, instead of simply being implied.

Let’s think about some of the other instances, in which a character has died:

Magne? We saw that. It was one panel in the manga and a couple of seconds in the anime, where we are explicitly shown Magne’s body being destroyed. Can’t argue that.

Snatch? We see Dabi blasting his fire to him and then Mr. Compress compressing him. When Mr. Compress tells Dabi that fire doesn’t burn sand, Dabi confirms that, if Snatch hasn’t died yet, since only the upper half that can transform into the sand, the lower half is still trapped inside the marble with the flames, leading to Snatch’s inevitable death sooner or later.

Sir Nighteye? First, the doctors tell Deku there is nothing they can do to help him due to the severity of the wounds. After Sir Nighteye says his goodbyes to Deku, All Might and Mirio, we see the heart monitor go flat. I’m not an expert, but people usually don’t survive this (unless you’re getting reanimated, but, again, the wounds were too extreme for him to make it).

So what about Twice? Much like Sir Nighteye, Twice says his goodbyes to his friends. His last wish is to protect them, and he does, by saving them from the hero that corners them. What else could he want?

Well, the problem is simply this: We don’t see Twice actually die. His double disappears, yes. But if we focus back on the OG Twice, he supposedly gets stabbed by Hawks. What about Dabi, though?

The last time we see Dabi in this chapter is right after he sends another wave of his flames to Hawks after calling out his name, leaving Hawks to wonder who Dabi is.

Right after, we see Twice catching his breath outside the room after his successful exit.

While he thinks about how he has to protect his friends, we see neither Dabi nor Hawks.

We do see flames coming out of the room, so Dabi probably once again pushed Hawks outside.

While a lot of fans like to hang on to that whole “Dabi has a ‘C’ for his intelligence stat”, he is good at people. We see countless examples of this throughout the story, but to just focus on recent events: he knew that Hawks would protect Twice from the flames at the beginning of the chapter and he knew he could distract Hawks by saying his name. He also mentions that he never trusted Hawks to begin with.

Right now, it’s still hard to say how Dabi knows this nor do we know why Dabi let him join the League despite never trusting him. The fact remains that he understands enough about Hawks.

Earlier on in the chapter, when he first launches Hawks out of the room using his flames, he’s surprised when Hawks spins around and flies back into the room so quickly.

So would Dabi make that same mistake twice? Honestly? I doubt it. Sure, we still don’t have enough information on Dabi to say anything for sure, but the fact that he uses the same attack twice in the same fight sounds like he wants to use what he learned the first time around, instead. And because after the panel of Hawks supposedly backstabbing Twice for good, there is a cut gotta stop with the puns to Twice’s double, we simply don’t know whether Dabi possibly rushed out to somehow save Twice or not.

Aside from the fact that we don’t actually see Twice die, regardless of everything being laid out for this being a final goodbye, let’s focus on what his death would mean for the future of the story and its characters.

As mentioned before, while it’s sometimes difficult to say for sure why a character dies, it’s usually to introduce us to the people responsible for the character’s death (like with Magne to introduce the Shie Hassaikai or Miyashita to introduce the Meta Liberation Army) or to serve as character’s motivation moving forward, in whatever way that would be.

So who would Twice’s death affect?

First of all, we got the League. These are the people who genuinely care about Twice, meaning his death would lead to them mourning and then most likely also being fueled with anger. Additionally, this would also put Hawks’ life on the line, meaning Twice’s death would also heavily affect Hawks.

Let’s think about Hawks and his character for a while and see how that is connected to the League.

Who is Hawks as a character?

Hawks is someone who got taken in by the Hero Public Safety Commission as a child due to him saving a family from a car accident. They recognized his strength and decided to turn him into a hero.

This leads to some nice parallels between him, Shigaraki and Dabi:

While Hawks got taken in by the Commission and groomed into becoming a very cold-thinking hero, Shigaraki was taken in by All For One and groomed into becoming a villain. These two, therefore, form two sides of the same coin - two children who got taken in and turned into something without their choosing. Then, we have Dabi, who was (assuming he is Touya Todoroki) born specifically to become a hero. Granted, not much is known about Touya, but the fact that Endeavor knows that Touya’s flames were too strong for his own body tells us that he most likely trained him; we just can’t say for how long. At some point, Touya “died” and at some point, Dabi was born. This makes him similar to Hawks in terms of being pushed to heroism at a young age; the difference between them, though, is that Dabi broke free, while Hawks subjected himself to the hero side.

Many of us have already suspected that at some point Hawks would come to realize that the heroes are flawed and not as heroic as the world likes to believe - and who better to make him realize that then Dabi? What better way to shatter Hawks’ world than by telling him the truth about his childhood hero.

Again, this is just speculation, but what is Hawks’ role in the story, if not that of a hero whose views are being challenged to the point where he breaks free? What would the point of this be, if he continued playing hero?

And here’s the thing: If we look back at Overhaul, the League won’t ever forgive him for killing Magne. So if Hawks actually kills Twice, they would never forgive him, either.

But he hasn’t learned the truth about Endeavor yet. Would Dabi really still care to tell him, if Hawks killed his friend? If Hawks killed Twice, the League would turn against him and he would most likely die as a result. But what’s the point in that? Couldn’t Dabi just have killed him right there? Remember how after chapters 264 and 265 we all feared for Hawks’ life? Hawks survived and clearly, Dabi has some kind of reason for letting a spy into their group.

At this point in the story, Twice’s and Hawks’ fates are too intertwined for Twice’s death to make sense moving forward in relation to Hawks�� story.

The fact that Dabi admits to knowing about Hawks seems like a good indicator that Twice doesn’t die - at least Dabi doesn’t appear overly worried over the situation. Since we are talking about the Number Two Pro Hero, it seems only fair to assume that Dabi doesn’t underestimate him to the point where he let’s Hawks go as far as to kill his friend.

Clearly, we won’t know for sure what happened until the next time Horikoshi focuses on these characters; next time, because knowing Horikoshi’s twisted mind, the next chapter(s) will focus on other characters again, leaving us to wait for more than just a week.

This is also by no means saying that Twice is definitely still alive, but from a story/writer point of view, his death would not make sense in this constellation, even if he has reached his goal of saving his friends one last time.

I am 100 % willing to accept that I am wrong about all of this, but, depending on how Horikoshi handles this, it wouldn’t strike me as very plausible/great story writing. Not because I don’t want Twice to die (obviously I don’t, though), but because it feels like an unnecessary character death that would be added to the story for the drama/shock value alone, which disrupts other character’s storylines more than it supports them.

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kc-meets-dc · 5 years ago

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Okay, folks, you all knew this was coming...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

SO GOOD!!! OH, MY GOD!!! THAT WAS SO GOOD!!!

*deep breath* Okay. Now that that’s out of my system, time for the usual recap. Also, since this post is extremely long, you may skip down to the very bottom to find a tl;dr version of my predictions for season four based on what we saw here.

These last three episodes were AMAZING!!! And boy did they keep me on my toes! Even though it wasn’t the first of the three, I’d like to start this recap with episode 25, aka Goddammit, Will You Stop Horsing Around, Grandon, And Finally Freaking Confirm Or Deny Whether Or Not My Son Is Dead?????

I’ll admit I have lost a little (A veeeeeery little) amount of hope that Wally’s still alive somewhere. Thank God for that ending, though! There is still hope. But also, did anyone else pick up on the serious gay vibe Zatanna was giving off in the last two episodes? I know a lot of people are going to say her “Artemis, you know I love you” line was out of friendship. But, then again, this is Tumblr. When it comes to people being in lesbians with each other, we all kinda hope for the best here. And I have spent many an hour, a day, a week, a month, 525,600 minutes (You get the point) of my life analyzing whether or not people have romantic intentions or attractions in TV shows and movies. And, folks, I can say without a doubt that that “I love you” really meant “I love you.” And combine that with the fact that Artemis seems to finally have closure over Wally...

I think Snaibsel has a real shot at becoming canon next season. It’s either that or Zatanna is really Rocket’s significant other who we still know NOTHING about. Seriously, why is that? Why can’t we get a serious confirm or deny out of Grandon about even something this small? I highly doubt answering the question of whether or not Rocket is married to a woman would really “spoil” anything. In fact, it would probably get MORE people to watch the show because of the representation. So, yeah. We may be able to add two, possibly three depending on how Artemis feels, people to the LGBT characters list in Young Justice. On another note, I like to think that Will has also finally moved on. While he may not be in love with Artemis (Thank God!!!), I believe that him blowing out the candle in that final scene means that he has finally moved on from Cheshire, given that the first candle going out seemed to symbolize Artemis moving on from Wally, and now Will will finally start looking for someone else.

Then there’s episode 24, which all I can say about is TAKE THAT, GRANNY, YOU OLD BAG!!! Oh, and the same goes to Lex Luthor in episode 26, btw. Also, yeah, I guarantee you that Bart and Ed are a couple. Int he X-Pit, Ed’s first instinct wasn’t to save Jaime who was clearly suffering the most. It was to save Bart! Add that to the animation sequence that I can only assume was supposed to be a cheek kiss that was edited out because the crew severely underestimated Tumblr’s ability to see and analyze everything that ever happens in a show even when it happens at superspeed and thought they wouldn’t need to waste extra animation money on adding it in *inhales after such a long spiel* plus the fact that he was so concerned over Bart’s safety in Elder Wisdom, and you’ve got yourselves one can of 100% certified canon Goldpulse (Or Zetaflash or Bartuardo. Seriously, when are we all going to agree on one single ship name for those two? Which should definitely be #goldpulse, btw).

Also, go Vic for finally accepting who he is! He even went back to school and befriended Cisco, who I guarantee we’ll be seeing next season as Vibe! Honestly, my only real complaint about that episode is that the rest of The Outsiders didn’t get too much screentime in that or any of the other episodes released today besides Cyborg and Beast Boy. Same goes to Batman Inc, which I’m hoping we’ll be seeing more of next season. i.e. the totally mishandled and underused Cass Cain, Stephanie Brown, Cissie King-Jones, and, for the second season in a row, (Goddammit, Grandon!) Tim Drake.

Actually, I’m kinda betting that the so-called “core group of characters” that next season is supposed to be centered around will actually consist of the ORIGINAL Young Justice characters from the comics. Namely, Superboy, Impulse (I know he’s named Kid Flash now, but you get it), Tim Drake’s Robin, Wonder Girl, and maaaaaaaaybe Arrowette. Still not really sure if she’ll be featured more, or if they’ll switch her out for Spoiler to add some relationship drama to Cassie and Tim who I guess are still a couple??? But yeah, I think that might be the direction the next season is going.

Finally, that brings us to episode 26, and I have four words for you that perfectly describe my feelings about it: LONG LIVE THE LEGION!!! Legion of Superheroes was one of my absolute favorite shows growing up, so I am SO HYPED that they’re doing them next season! My guess is that the story will be that The Outsiders were the precursors to the 31st century’s Legion of Superheroes. i.e. a public team of meta teens who fight for good and people like them. I wonder which Legion characters they’ll include. Most likely it’ll be Brainiac 5, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad for sure, but then they’ll probably also throw in Cosmic Boy and maybe a few others. I need to do some digging on which Legionnaires were most important in the comics. Plus, with the Legion here now, we’ll probably also get Supergirl since she plays a big role in their story, and she could also play a big role in The Light’s plans to serve as another, better Superman copy that they can use to destroy The Team, The Outsiders, and the League.

Then you’ve got Fred Bugg openly revealing who he is to his classmates, which is AMAZING! And we’ve finally gotten a good twist on the Judas Contract storyline! Assuming she isn’t dead by the time it happens, I really hope we’ll be able to see more of Terra acting as a hero in season four! And I’m really excited to see what Brion will be like as a villain!

Which finally brings us to predictions. What will happen next in Young Justice? My guess is that the next season will be focused on the Legion of Superheroes coming to present day to fulfill a mission similar to Bart’s original mission in season two, but on a much larger scale. I’m guessing that they’re trying to prevent Vandal Savage, The Light, and/or Darkseid from taking over the galaxy in a way that could potentially alter time to change the future the Legion knows and comes from.

Secondly, I’m guessing that the next time jump will not be nearly as long as I originally anticipated. Actually, I’m guessing that there will be NO TIME JUMP AT ALL. Since the season didn’t end on the 4th of July or New Year’s, my guess is that the writers are throwing out the original formula for how they structure each season, meaning there’s a good chance this coming season will pick up right where season three left off.

Also most likely coming next season, we’ll have the Jason Todd storyline to deal with, we’ll have Artemis trying to discover new love (Possibly with Zatanna, or the other most likely option would be Icicle Jr since the two of them were actually married in the comics), and with the addition of characters from the 31st century to the series, we just might be seeing the Reverse Flash and Inertia, which could introduce us to the concept of the Speed Force, which will in turn finally lead to bringing Wally back from the dead. However, if Wally isn’t brought back by the end of next season, there’s pretty much a 100% chance we’ll never be getting him back at all.

So, to sum up my thoughts and theories: new characters we should be seeing next season include the Legion of Superheroes, Supergirl, and Reverse Flash, the season’s main focused characters will most likely be the original Young Justice team from the comics, and if we don’t get Wally back next season we won’t get him back at all. That’s all for now, folks. As always, stay whelmed, feel the aster, and have a very crash rest of your day!

#young justice #yjspoilers

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andrewuttaro · 5 years ago

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New Look Sabres: 2019 NHL Draft

Rasmus Dahlin is a hard act to follow. I think part of the reason Alex Nylander went through such Sabres popular opinion hell was because he was the first round pick the year after Jack Eichel’s Draft. Maybe that’s me projecting because my little Sabres heart hadn’t been broken for a while at that point. I really only jumped on the Sabres wagon at the beginning of the decade so my biggest lived disappointment in this team was the 2011 First Round against the Flyers. Picking Alex Nylander was a curve ball that year and he didn’t pan out immediately. That failing to hit on high draft picks was part of then-General Manager Tim Murray’s undoing and part of what ruined rebuild 1.0. That’s not to mention how bad GMTM was for Nylander’s development thrusting him right into the AHL. You couldn’t put all that on Nylander. I hoped so hard going into this Draft that whoever gets drafted the year after Dahlin isn’t under that kind of microscope right away. Nylander had a tiny little renaissance during his callup last season but he’s still not quite there yet. He’s about to enter what-the-hell-are-you territory but to be very honest his name coming up in trade talks made me a little angry. Hold back your snide tweets, apparently they’re informing the real insiders! I can’t imagine anything like the Nylander Saga repeating itself, but this is the Buffalo Sabres we’re talking about.

The Draft last year felt like a coronation for Sabres fans but just because we’re not getting a generational talent this go around doesn’t mean this draft isn’t ripe for drama. Rewind back about a month and Buffalo was once again the home of the NHL Combine. The event that now will be in Buffalo for several years to come saw the genesis of a few Draft narratives for the Sabres. The most notable one is the Alex Turcotte story. Apparently Sabres brass interviewed Turcotte and… his dad? The reports were conflicting but Turcotte definitely represented a big blip on the radar. The young Mittelstadt-color-palate-swapped center is from Chicagoland and was probably not likely falling any further than 7 – Buffalo’s first pick. Turcotte was a popular choice to go to the Blackhawks in many mock drafts because of the Chicago connection. Jason Botterill and the funky bunch also interviewed one London Knights forward Conor McMichael. Sabres bloggers smarter than I say he was an intriguing option for the other first round pick... that’s if we have that second first round pick because with other teams wheeling and dealing for a week plus going into the Draft Jason Botterill was quiet. There had been rumors galore connected to Buffalo from Tampa to Vancouver which made the lack of movement that much more peculiar. Add onto all this the debut of a Vegas Gold look for the Sabres “Golden Season” instead of royal blue and it was a wild week going into the Draft.

Jack Hughes and Kappo Kakko went first overall as expected. The Alex Turcotte watch was short lived, but he didn’t go third overall to Chicago as many predicted. He had to wait all the way to number 5 when the LA Kings scooped him up. Conor McMichael went 25th overall to Washington but this is a Sabres blog so you’re probably waiting for some Sabres talk. With the 7th overall pick the Buffalo Sabres selected WHL center Dylan Cozens. Once again, smarter bloggers than I say that selection was solid because the first round of this draft was really three tiers: the top two, two through about ten and then everyone else. The Red Wings threw a curve ball and selected Disney Channel star Moritz Seider throwing off everyone’s top ten but for the most part there weren’t many surprises. I was on the Cole Caulfield bandwagon, but he probably wasn’t a wise choice at seven. When he began to drop I even entertained the idea of Botterill trading up with that second first rounder to get him, but this was not one of those drafts and he went 15th overall to… Montreal. Ugh. How about something funny? The Panthers picked goalie Spencer Knight with their 13th overall. That was funny too, but this joke is a Sabres joke: Cozens is the first WHL draft pick in Jason Botterill’s time as General Manager of the Buffalo Sabres. This is a real, deep-cut Sabres joke but there is some humor to that. I think the social media guy for the team knew it too because one of the first photos from them after his pick was Sam Reinhart greeting him. Sam is the last WHL guy to be drafted onto the Sabres. Again, it’s deep cut joke about how Botts hates the WHL so it’s not going to get the whole room but there you go: Humor. I’m not going to pretend to know how to project out Cozens because again, I’m not the smart guy in the room; but I will say it is great to start to replenish the center depth in the organization which dropped off a cliff only a few guys down the depth chart.

The Sabres used the 31st overall pick to… just make a pick. No trades in the first round. As Day One wound down the swell of energy that it may happen dissipated and they picked USHL Defenseman Ryan Johnson. I am all for picking lefthanded D to help build up that side of the defense but the buzz around the pick was a guy with a Russian name who will certainly make me regret not knowing his name. Johnson could’ve easily fallen into the second round, but the pick was in and another defenseman is in the pipeline. Trades, at least the variety from the Sabres, were scarce in the remaining rounds on Saturday. The Sabres traded some late round picks but no real consequential trades on Draft weekend for Buffalo put a little bit of a damper on it all for me. I don’t really subscribe to the idea the yet-to-be-announced salary cap number is really what’s stopping trades. PK Subban got traded to the Devils for a bunch of no names and low picks while we wondered if Sabres 3rd round pick goalie Erik Portillo is in fact named after a type of pepper. The lack of movement right now isn’t something worth panicking about but if we’re sitting here next Monday on Free Agency Day wondering if we’re crazy I’m not going to blame anyone for hitting the panic button. Botterill has signaled a renewed faith in Rasmus Ristolainen probably egged on by the new coach so… you can fall either way on whether the OG Rasmus needs to go. I lean toward trade him but that doesn’t have to be right now. We’ll address all this stuff in the free agency blog so let’s take a look at who else was picked. I mentioned Portillo and we won’t see him even in Rochester for a couple years but that’s fine, the goalie depth was beginning to get shallow. Botts said openly he doesn’t want to rush Ukko Pekka-Lukkonen who will probably make his Rochester Americans debut this coming season. That is smart and frustrating because goalies take a long time to develop when you do it right but… uh… did you watch the second half of last season? Part of that collapse was the goalie tandem coming back down to earth hard. Folks were clamoring for UPL, probably a little too hastily but that’s what eight years out of the playoffs will do to you. I am not particularly jazzed about the other three guys we got. You take flyers on guys that far down in the draft and the chances are better than not all three of these guys I am about to mention don’t make the NHL: Aaron Huglen, Filip Cederqvist and Lukas Rousek. Hopefully one of them is a diamond in the rough. Perhaps it’s unfair for us to be so underwhelmed. Sean Tierney at Charting Hockey placed the Sabres in a top six of teams who did well at the Draft. He’s worth follow if you want to understand how you can make a graph of average likelihood to make the NHL because Lord knows I can’t explain that.

Like, share and comment on the New Look Sabres blog. It’s great to be back at it. You can expect the post on the 2019-2020 NHL Schedule later this week. By the sounds of it that will be released by the league either tomorrow or Wednesday. We already have the preseason, season opener and home opener but I’ll save all that analysis for that blog. Then later on next week you can expect a Free Agency Recap. Normally by the fourth of July the action quiets down. Jeff Skinner happened in August last summer but hey, I’m not psychic. Thank you to everyone who responded kindly to me dropping off the map for a couple days. My wife and I had a family emergency that we needed to address so we put everything on hold. We’re back now and things are going to be alright. Your support means a lot to me and I hope if you ever need something I can be there for you as well. To lighten the mood: let’s hope we don’t need to be here for each other after a worst-case scenario offseason! Pieces are moving and for all the rumors the Sabres are in on this guy and that guy there hasn’t been a lot to actually talk about. I guess we’ll see. It wouldn’t be fun if we knew the ending, eh? Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. That Moritz Seider was shocked to go as high as he did. The gif of his reaction is some precious draft video for the ages.

#NHL Draft #nhl #hockey #blog #buffalo sabres #rochester americans

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junker-town · 4 years ago

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Our WNBA 2021 season preview with title predictions, MVP picks, and more

Our huge WNBA preseason roundtable includes predictions for all of the league’s big questions.

As the WNBA enters its 25th season, it feels like the league has never had more talent than it does today. It is hyper-competitive just to make a roster on each of the 12 teams. At this point, it fees like the W could add several more teams via expansion and still have plenty of star-power to go around.

The WNBA returns to home arenas this year after spending last season in the bubble wubble. The Seattle Storm enter the year as defending champions, and will be searching for their third title in four years. Storm forward Breanna Stewart is on her way to becoming one of the most accomplished players in the history of the sport, while veteran point guard Sue Bird remains a steady floor general as she enters her 18th season.

If the Storm are the favorites, there are no shortage of competitors. The Washington Mystics, Las Vegas Aces, and Chicago Sky are becoming popular picks to win it all at the end of the season.

Before the 2021 WNBA season gets underway, we asked our staff to predict how this year will go. Picks are being made by Sabreena Merchant, Sydney Umeri, Ricky O’Donnell, Brady Klopfer, Cat Ariail, Zack Ward, Eric Nemchock, and Jim Savell. For continued coverage of the WNBA all season, follow our excellent women’s basketball community Swish Appeal.

Which team will be the must-watch this year?

Cat: The Indiana Fever. Yes, the team that finished last in Swish Appeal’s preseason power rankings. However, if everything breaks right, Indy could emerge as a super-fun, young team. There’s a scenario where Kelsey Mitchell is a surefire All-Star, Teaira McCowan makes the leap many have been waiting on, Victoria Vivians strokes it from deep, Kysre Gondreszick shines like a lottery pick and vets Jantel Lavender and Danielle Robinson provide steady leadership, and just enough defense. The alternative scenario — where the Fever’s talent deficit resigns them to the WNBA cellar — is still intriguing. While I think we all want to see Tamika Catchings succeed as general manager, a disappointing season has to raise questions about the direction of the franchise. Will Indiana stand behind Catchings or make changes within the organization’s decision-making structure?

Sydney: The Las Vegas Aces. They are looking very strong this season, and they’re a team you won’t want to miss. Last season they were runner-ups to the Seattle Storm, and they didn’t even have everyone available to play. With Liz Cambage back after opting out of the 2020 season and Kelsey Plum fully recovered from her achilles injury, they will be fun to watch. They are also returning their core including, Tamera Young, Dearica Hamby, and A’ja Wilson; not to mention, they now have Chelsea Gray.

Ricky: The Chicago Sky. Chicago already had one of the most exciting teams in the league even before adding Candace Parker in free agency. Veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot is the league’s top facilitator, Diamond DeShields feels primed for a breakout season at age-26, and Azurá Stevens is an inside-out scoring threat in the front court. The Sky have a great mix of established veterans and burgeoning young talent, and it feels like Parker could be the missing piece to tie it all together.

Jim: The New York Liberty. Sabrina Ionescu and Asia Durr playing together combined with the arrival of Natasha Howard make the Liberty quite an intriguing team. The Liberty shot 602 3-point shots last season and that should continue to be a part of their offensive gameplan. If they make more than the 27 percent they did last season, the Liberty might find themselves in the playoff hunt.

Sabreena: Any team that has Chennedy Carter, Aari McDonald, and Courtney Williams in the same backcourt is must-see for me. If anything, the fact that the Atlanta Dream lost their head coach less than two weeks before the start of the season makes them more interesting because Carter and McDonald are just going to be given the ball and asked to go to work. The Dream also have LaChina Robinson and Angel Gray on the League Pass broadcast, so they’ve got everything going for them.

Brady: The Chicago Sky. The Sky have every ingredient you want for entertainment. Candace Parker is one of the best players in league history, and still good for numerous highlights a night. Courtney Vandersloot is the best passer in the league, with an assist rate in 2020 that nearly doubled the next-best player. Diamond DeShields might be the best pure athlete in the league. Beyond that, they have dynamics that could fill up the drama, entertainment, and intrigue bars. Parker’s an all-time great, but her teams have had their fair share of off-court stories and tension in recent years. Vandersloot and her backcourt partner, Allie Quiqley, are married. Many predicted a Sky breakout last year, but they finished just 12-10. It’s easy to envision the Sky ending the regular season as title favorites, or as a disappointing middle of the pack crew. And they’ll be must-watch TV the whole way.

Zack: The Chicago Sky. Candace Parker on her own makes any team worth watching with her passion and leadership. The story of her returning to her hometown of Chicago is so compelling. She has a big personality and fit in in Hollywood, but her return to her roots has revealed a different, humbler side to her. As a player, Parker proved doubters wrong last year by making the All-WNBA First Team and winning Defensive Player of the Year after struggling with an injury in 2019. She has a chip on her shoulder to prove she can still be one of the best at age 35. And Courtney Vandersloot must have a chip on her shoulder too after all these years of being kept out of the MVP discussion because she’s a point guard. She is a unique talent as the only player in the league who can pile up assists at a prolific rate and her teaming up with Parker just makes Chicago that much more interesting.

Eric: The Atlanta Dream. Granted, Atlanta is a bit of an unknown quantity entering the season, with former head coach Nicki Collen accepting a job at Baylor University in the middle of training camp and an overstock of ball-dominant combo guards making the Dream’s potential rotation a complete enigma. It’s that rotation, however, that makes Atlanta so tantalizing: 2021 No. 3 overall pick Aari McDonald, who became a national star during Arizona’s improbable run in the NCAA Tournament, joins budding stars Chennedy Carter and Courtney Williams on a team brimming with vibrant personality. The jury’s still out on whether or not the Dream will be any good, but they’ll be League Pass favorites regardless.

Which player will be a household name by the end of the season?

Sydney: Mark my words Charli Collier will be a name to remember by the end of this season. Though it’s her rookie year, and there might be a bit of a learning curve, Collier is extremely talented. She was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft coming out of the University of Texas as a junior. She is a center/forward with the ability to stretch defenses and knock down threes when needed, but is also a force on the glass, finishing with a combination of power and finesse around the rim.

Eric: Kysre Gondrezick. The Fever caused a stir when they drafted Gondrezick at No. 4 overall, but they clearly see something in her that they like, so it’d be surprising if she doesn’t get plenty of opportunity to carve out a spot for herself on a rebuilding Indiana team. She’s already signed a contract with Adidas - according to ESPN’s Nick DePaula, Gondrezick will be the face of Adidas Basketball moving forward - and she’s spoken at length about the importance of branding and influencing future generations. Gondrezick has yet to play a single minute of WNBA basketball, but she’s already on the fast track to widespread visibility.

Ricky: Chennedy Carter. Carter didn’t win Rookie of the Year last season (the award went to Crystal Dangerfield), but the 5’9 guard did establish herself the future face of the Atlanta Dream with a terrific all-around debut in the W. Carter is a dynamic three-point shooter, and should be freed up to work off the ball at times with the arrival of top draft pick Aari McDonald. The Dream might be in disarray after head coach Nicki Collen bolted for Baylor, but Carter will give fans something to cheer about.

Sabreena: Am I too late on Napheesa Collier? It feels like the hype train for Collier is so much softer than other big-name Connecticut prospects. She won Rookie of the Year in 2019, was second-team all-WNBA a year ago, and almost makes you forget that Maya Moore isn’t in Minnesota right now. Collier feels like she should be the biggest up-and-coming player in the W other than maybe her podcast co-host A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, but Collier is damn good, and if the Lynx exceed preseason expectations, she’ll be the reason why.

Cat: Brianna Turner. In the latter half of her sophomore season, Turner served as a needed spark for the then-floundering Phoenix Mercury, with her relentless effort and energy translating into All-Defensive honors. She proved especially prolific in grabbing rebounds and swatting shots. Yet, Turner is overshadowed by the multiple starry names on this Mercury team — Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Kia Nurse. However, if Phoenix approaches their championship aspirations, expect Turner to be integral to their success. Turner also deserves more shine as an incisive voice on matters of racial justice.

Zack: Courtney Williams. Williams made a bit of a name for herself during the 2019 WNBA Finals when she was a member of the Connecticut Sun, but look for her to become even more well-known this season. She doesn’t often get talked about as one of the best players in the WNBA, but numbers suggest she had a case to be in Swish Appeal’s Top 30 players. With career-best averages of 14.6 points (2020), 7.2 rebounds (2020), 3.8 assists (2019) and 1.4 steals (2019), she deserves more respect and should put up even bigger numbers at age 27 for a Dream team that is looking for other members of its deep roster besides Tiffany Hayes and rising star Chennedy Carter to step up and give them a legit big three.

Jim: Ezi Magbegor. The 2019 first round pick of the Seattle Storm from Australia played her rookie season in 2020 and played 13 minutes per game. With Natasha Howard off to New York, there will be a hole at the center position. The young 6’4” center scored 17 points in 19 minutes in the Storm’s preseason game against the Phoenix Mercury, showing that she is ready to compete for the starting spot.

Brady: Napheesa Collier’s game isn’t quite as flashy as it is valuable, but if you like watching elite-level players play, there are few people who can hold a candle to her. She’s been under-appreciated early in her career as Minnesota tried to retool on the fly for the post-Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen era. But I suspect the Lynx will be title contenders this year, with Collier on the short list of MVP candidates. And I expect both of those things to be true for most years for the next decade or so.

Who will lead the WNBA in scoring?

Eric: Arike Ogunbowale. Dallas may be more balanced offensively than it was last season, but the roster is still very young, and it will probably be Ogunbowale’s team until proven otherwise. She’s posted massive usage ratings thus far in her career (over 30 percent in both 2019 and 2020, according to Basketball Reference), and that was with the Wings playing at a relatively slow pace. If head coach Vicki Johnson emphasizes early offense in her first season at the helm, Ogunbowale will get that many more possessions to put the ball in the hoop.

Cat: Breanna Stewart. On first instinct, the answer is Dallas Wings’ scoring dynamo Arike Ogunbowale. Yet, the 2021 Wings have a deeper suite of scorers. While it should be expected that an improved Satou Sabally will get more touches on offense, rookies Chelsea Dungee and Dana Evans also have the potential to fill it up. In contrast, Breanna Stewart will have to assume a bigger scoring burden on a retooled Seattle Storm squad that features a supporting cast of younger, still-unproven players and past-their-prime vets. With Jewell Loyd as the only other consistent bucket getter on the Storm, Stewie should turn in many big scoring nights.

Ricky: Arike Ogunbowale. Ogunbowale led the WNBA in scoring at 22.8 points per game inside the bubble last season, and she will be expected to carry the Dallas Wings again this year. While Ogunbowale put up big numbers, her scoring efficiency — 41.2 percent from the field, 33.6 percent from three — leaves her plenty of room for improvement going into this season.

Sabreena: Arike seems like the obvious pick, but I’m going to go with DeWanna Bonner. She was third in scoring last season, but now has a year of playing in Curt Miller’s system under her belt. Bonner will have more offensive responsibility without Alyssa Thomas available and potentially more space to work with now that Jonquel Jones is back, too. Conditions seem ripe for the league’s 19th-leading scorer of all-time to grab her first scoring title.

Brady: Breanna Stewart. Full disclosure: Ogunbowale should be the odds-on favorite, but Stewart has a very strong case after finishing third a year ago in her first season back after tearing her Achilles. On what figures to be a bad team with a lot of rookies to develop, it wouldn’t be a shock if Ogunbowale sees a slight decrease in minutes and role, as the Wings try and build up her teammates so they can be competitive in 2022. Stewart, on the other hand, will be given the key to the Storm’s car, and also their other car, as well as their courtesy car and golf cart.

Zack: Breanna Stewart. She has the edge over Ogunbowale with her ability to post-up and score as a frontcourt player as well as a guard-like perimeter player. Both are incredibly gifted with stellar moves and this is a close call. But expect 2021 to be the year of Stewie and expect that to include the scoring title.

Sydney: Arike Ogunbowale. She was the leading scorer last season, and it doesn’t look like anyone will stand in her way and slow her down anytime soon, not even the new additions to the Dallas Wings roster. She is very efficient and ultimately a guard that can accurately read defenses, take advantage of missteps by defenders and finish at a high percentage whether she’s slashing to the rim, pulling up in the lane, or from beyond the arch.

Jim: Breanna Stewart. The Storm’s roster has changed quite a bit from last season and the other top five scorers from last season (Arike Ogunbowale, A’ja Wilson, DeWanna Bonner, and Diana Taurasi) will have more scoring options. Stewart was coming off of an Achilles injury in 2020 and still managed to finish fourth in scoring. Look for her to be a prime number one option for the Storm.

Who will be MVP?

Sabreena: WNBA voters have a very clear “best player on best team” pattern when it comes to awarding the MVP. Not since 2015 has the MVP come from a team that wasn’t the No. 1 seed, and even then, Elena Delle Donne played for the second-seeded Sky. This really might come down to who has the best record, and I think that will be the Storm, who are projected to clear the field by three games by FiveThirtyEight. That means Breanna Stewart should be the MVP for the second time in her career. It’s already been three weeks since Stewart added a trophy to her case as the 2021 EuroLeague Final Four MVP, so it’s past time she added another one, right?

Eric: Candace Parker. Let’s be honest: MVP is largely a narrative-driven award. Parker may not be as individually dominant as Stewart, Delle Donne, Wilson and other popular MVP picks at this point in her career, but she proved in 2020 that she still has plenty left to contribute to winning basketball. Parker brings defense, rebounding, playmaking and experience to a Chicago team that needed every bit of her diverse skillset; if the Sky take the leap many are expecting of them and finish near the top of the WNBA standings, Parker will likely have a compelling case for MVP.

Jim: I think it comes down to Breanna Stewart and Candace Parker. Stewart will have the stats and, although I think the Storm are generally weaker as a team than they have been recently, the Storm will be near the top of the standings. Eric’s argument about the award being narrative-driven is compelling. If the Sky finish third or better and Parker remains healthy, look for Parker to take the award.

Ricky: Breanna Stewart. Stewart might be on track to become women’s basketball’s GOAT by the time she retires. Still just 26 years old, Stewart is already incredibly accomplished and seems to be firmly in her prime. She successfully recovered from a torn Achilles last year, and immediately led the Storm to a WNBA championship in the bubble. Elena Delle Donne and A’ja Wilson will push her, but Stewart is still the best player alive.

Sydney: Candace Parker. She’s in her hometown, with a new team and a new system, but I feel like this will be a dominant year for her. Thirty-five years old and having spent the past 13 seasons in LA, her change to Chicago shocked the basketball world. I feel like Parker, though a veteran, will continue to amaze us on her new team with many dominant MVP caliber performances. I think she’ll remind us that the young players are great, but even as a veteran she’s still one of the best in the game.

Brady: Breanna Stewart. Stewart is the best player alive, on a team with a solid chance of being the best in the league. That’s a pretty strong formula. Reigning MVP A’ja Wilson could make a push, but her usage might drop a little with Liz Cambage’s return. Elena Delle Donne has the skills to win, but is already hampered by back injuries. Others like Candace Parker, Napheesa Collier, Nneka Ogwumike, Brittney Griner, and Jonquel Jones all have cases, but also obstacles. Stewie has the most straightforward path while, again, already being the best player in the world.

Cat: Napheesa Collier. With A’ja Wilson and Liz Cambage stealing votes from each other on the Las Vegas Aces, Breanna Stewart on a Seattle Storms team that likely will not match last season’s heights and the Washington Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne working her way back from offseason back surgery, there is a potential MVP void. As the Minnesota Lynx are poised to be near the top of the standings, Napheesa Collier, who finished fifth on last season’s MVP ballot, is a strong candidate to fill it. Even as the Lynx have bolstered their roster, it is Collier, with her ability to credibly play three positions on both ends of the floor, who unlocks the versatility that makes the Lynx a dangerous, championship-caliber team. Collier also should post the raw numbers and impact metrics requisite of an MVP.

Zack: Breanna Stewart. There really couldn’t be a more perfect storm for Breanna Stewart right now. She’s a little quicker than Elena Delle Donne, who is arguably the second-best player in the world, and more youthful at age 26. She eliminated any thoughts that the Achilles injury in 2019 would lower her level of play by averaging 19.7 points and 8.3 rebounds last year en route to a second-place finish in MVP voting. Expect her to win the award for the second time this year.

Let’s talk defense. Which team will finish No. 1 in defensive efficiency? Who will win Defensive Player of the Year?

Ricky: A’ja Wilson for DPOY. Aces finish with the top defense. Wilson won MVP last season, and is unquestionably one of the top overall talents in the league. The Aces’ defense only finished behind the Storm last year, and they’re getting Liz Cambage back this season. All signs are pointing to the Aces being a powerhouse, and their size inside is going to be a big part of a dominant defense.

Sabreena: At the risk of repeating everything Ricky just said, the Aces will have the best defense in the league. They have the bones of the defense that finished atop the league in 2019, and getting Liz Cambage back in place of Carolyn Swords/Emma Cannon/whatever was happening at the 5 last year should help them get back from second place to that perch. As for defensive player of the year, let’s just say it will go to someone who will also appear on one of the league’s all-defense teams.

Brady: There are a million and one good options for DPOY, but I’m choosing Natasha Howard. The last time Howard wasn’t fighting for minutes and spotlight next to Breanna Stewart, she almost unanimously won DPOY. She’ll have a tall task righting a Liberty defense that was last in the league a year ago, but if she can, she’ll be in pole position for the award. As for team defense, I’m going with the Lynx. Minnesota wasn’t a good defensive team last year, but they were lacking Sylvia Fowles for all but seven games. With a hopefully healthy Fowles, the additions of Kayla McBride and Aerial Powers, and a year of growth from Napheesa Collier, they could be elite on that end of the court. Most Cheryl Reeve teams are.

Cat: Sylvia Fowles. In her brief time on the court last season, the longtime Minnesota Lynx stalwart flashed DOY form. This season, with less of a burden on offense, Fowles should be able to devote her energies to anchoring Minnesota’s defense. In 2020, without Fowles, the Lynx’s defensive rating was nearly seven points worse than the league leader, a departure from season after season of being within two points of the league’s best defense, if not at the top. With a healthy Fowles, the Lynx should be back in their more familiar defensive stratosphere, and Big Syl might have earned more hardware.

Zack: Elizabeth Williams best defensive player. Lynx best defensive team. To me, Williams was the second-best defensive player in the league last year after Alyssa Thomas, who will miss all of 2021 with a torn Achilles. Thomas made more disruptive plays, but Williams provided sound fundamental defense on a consistent basis. She also averaged 1.4 blocks per game. The Lynx return nine-time All-Defensive player and three-time Defensive Player of the Year Sylvia Fowles from a calf injury to a team that was fifth in the league in defensive rating last year. The trio of Fowles, Napheesa Collier and Damiris Dantas in the frontcourt is formidable defensively and I’ll give it the edge over the backcourt duo of Briann January and Jasmine Thomas in Connecticut.

Eric: The Las Vegas Aces are looking pretty tough defensively. Losing Angel McCoughtry to a knee injury is a big hit for their perimeter defense, but they should remain an excellent defensive rebounding team, and if they lead the WNBA in opponents’ free throw rate by as wide of a margin as they did in 2020, their overall defensive efficiency will once again be excellent. As far as Defensive Player of the Year, I think this is Napheesa Collier’s year to be recognized; her versatility and basketball IQ on the defensive end of the floor are unparalleled, and if Sylvia Fowles can stay healthy enough to contribute her usual stout interior defense, Collier will have all the room she needs to wreak havoc elsewhere.

Jim: I like the Minnesota Lynx here with Napheesa Collier to take the Defensive Player of the Year award. The Lynx were fifth last season and I expect the teams who finished in front of them to regress defensively based on roster changes and injuries. Minnesota plays great team defense and Collier is a versatile defender and should have the statistical argument to back it up by the end of the season.

Give me one bold WNBA prediction

Brady: Is it bold to say that Sabrina Ionescu will be one of the best players in the W? After being one of the most highly-touted prospects in league history a year ago, Ionescu struggled with ankle injuries and played just three games. In essence, she’s still a rookie, but she won’t play like one. I’ll say she makes an All-WNBA team.

Cat: The Atlanta Dream will earn a top-five playoff seed. It’s been a good year for interim head coaches in the ATL. (Shout out Nate McMillan!) Despite all of the unexpected turnover within the Dream organization, interim head coach Mike Petersen and lead assistant coach Darius Taylor inherit a team with a ton of talent. Last season’s oft-injured core of Chennedy Carter, Courtney Williams, Elizabeth Williams, Monique Billings and Shekinna Stricklen will welcome back Tiffany Hayes, with No. 3 draft pick Aari McDonald and free agents Cheynne Parker, Odyssey Sims and Tianna Hawkins highlighting the new arrivals. If Petersen and Taylor can get all these unfamiliar faces to coalesce into a team, the Dream should be in the middle of the playoff picture.

Eric: Teaira McCowan will win Most Improved Player. Though the criteria for this award aren’t exactly clear, the young Fever center seems like a good candidate to earn it; she struggled to stay on the floor in 2020, but her per-minute stats remained impressive, and with Indiana overhauling its frontcourt in free agency, McCowan seems to be in line for more minutes and a consistent starting role. If she improves her defensive mechanics enough to stay in the good graces of head coach Marianne Stanley, McCowan could realistically average a double-double, which would give her a good argument for Most Improved honors.

Zack: Dallas and New York make the playoffs. Charli Collier, Awak Kuier, Chelsea Dungee and Dana Evans will all make impacts as rookies with Collier and Kuier becoming stars. It’s not unprecedented in the WNBA for top two draft picks to do so in their first seasons. Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally will also play well and Dallas won’t have any weak links. Marina Mabrey will remain an X factor. Meanwhile the Liberty will see a big three form with Natasha Howard, Betnijah Laney and a Sabrina Ionescu who lives up to expectations. Howard will be in contention for an All-WNBA spot and Ionescu’s distributing abilities will make the Liberty offense run smoothly so that they are able to bounce back from a 2-20 campaign.

Sabreena: The Mystics fall off. The expectation seems to be that Washington will be right back in the contending class now that all of the players who opted out in 2020 are back, but I don’t think it’ll be that easy. Elena Delle Donne won’t be ready to start the season, Emma Meesseman won’t be coming until after the Olympic break at the earliest, and Alysha Clark won’t suit up at all. Tina Charles is a damn good consolation prize with all those players at less than full strength, and Natasha Cloud has shown the ability to lead a championship team, but there’s enough uncertainty that I don’t think the Mystics can be penciled in alongside the Storm, Aces, Sky, or even the Lynx depending on when Collier gets back.

Jim: The Indiana Fever finally make the playoff leap. The Fever have drafted some of the best young talent to leave college over the last few years. However, that potential has not translated to success on the court, averaging just 8.5 wins over the last four seasons. As head coach Marianne Stanley enters her second season, look for the Fever to be much improved and fighting for spot in the playoffs.

Ricky: Dallas makes the playoffs. The Wings have missed the postseason each of the last two seasons, but they’re too talented to do it again. Dallas has one of the league’s top scorers in Arike Ogunbowale, while 6’4 forward Satou Sabally could turn into a star in her second season. Dallas also had three of the first five picks in the 2021 draft, adding Charli Collier and Awak Kuier to the front court, and Chelsea Dungee to the backcourt. They’re ready to crash the playoffs.

Sydney: The Atlanta Dream will make the playoffs. This is definitely a bold prediction considering that the team is in flux. They are under new ownership, have an interim head coach since Nicki Collen took the head coaching job for Baylor women’s basketball 11 days before the start of the season. The road to the start of the season hasn’t been a straight shot for the Dream, and yet I feel like this team has the heart to do what most people think they can’t. From Chennedy Carter to Aari McDonald, Elizabeth Williams, and the whole squad, I think there’s a chance for them to make the postseason despite their circumstances.

What’s your Finals prediction?

Sabreena: Until it happens, I can’t see the Storm being beaten. They have Stewie, and that’s a better starting point than anyone else. Here’s hoping they get to play the Aces in a rematch of both teams at full strength.

Eric: Mystics over Aces. Washington may struggle out of the gate with Elena Delle Donne recovering from a back injury and Emma Meesseman competing internationally with Belgium, but if both of those players are back in the fold by the time the playoffs roll around, the Mystics will be balanced, skilled and experienced. The contrasting offensive philosophies and amount of star power would make this a tremendous series to watch, and assuming both teams will be at their strongest, I think Washington will have the firepower to win it all.

Sydney: The Aces win it all. I know, we haven’t seen that happen before, especially since this franchise is just four years old, but their talent cannot be denied. It’s not to say that other teams aren’t talented, but I can see the Aces getting hot late in the season and being hard to cool down as long as they stay healthy.

Ricky: Storm over Sky. Seattle is the betting favorite for a reason. The Storm have won the title two of the last three years, and will be going for back-to-back championships for the first time in franchise history. Despite a couple questionable offseason moves, this is still a stacked roster led by Stewie, the best player alive. They remain the team to beat.

Cat: Mystics over Aces. The Washington Mystics may not finish with the league’s best record during the regular season, but, as long as Emma Messeman returns for the second half of the season and Elena Delle Donne remains healthy, DC has the ingredients needed to survive what promises to be a hyper-competitive championship chase and claim a second trophy in three seasons. With a do-it-all superstar in EDD flanked by numerous “stars in the role” with playoff experience — headlined by Messeman, Tina Charles, Natasha Cloud and Ariel Atkins — Washington has the intangibles characteristic of title-winning teams.

Brady: Storm over Lynx. I can see a path to the Finals for eight teams, which is part of what makes this league so fun. But the Storm have the strongest case, and the most Breanna Stewarts on their team, so I give them the nod to repeat. Choosing an opponent is harder, but I love the construction of Minnesota’s club. The pieces fit together seamlessly, there’s talent at every position, and they’ve got a budding superstar in Napheesa Collier. They’re deep and experienced, and led by an all-time great coach with plenty of postseason experience.

Zack: Aces over Mystics. Despite Angel McCoughtry being out for the season with a torn ACL and a torn meniscus, the Aces are still the most talented team in the league. The Mystics will prove doubters wrong by being a Top 2 team, but the Aces will have too much firepower with A’ja Wilson, Liz Cambage and Chelsea Gray in the Finals.

Jim: Aces over Lynx. With Liz Cambage back, the season-ending injury to McCoughtry can be weathered. Additionally, the rest of the Aces team has improved after making the WNBA Finals last season. After getting swept, look for the Aces to be on a mission. I like the Lynx to make a big jump this season. The Storm, Mystics, and Sky will be on the cusp but I like the defense of Minnesota to carry them to the finals but come up short to Las Vegas.

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themyskira · 7 years ago

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Wonder Woman #37

Previously in this slowly unfolding car crash: Wonder Woman’s secret brother is a whining, entitled tool who was duped into helping Darkseid murder Diana because baaaawww he never knew his mummyyyyy it’s not faaaaair.

Just before Darkseid could suck out the last of Wondy’s life essence, her loser brother had an attack of conscience. Then Hercule Poirot appeared, revealed that he was Zeus in disguise, and prepared to throw down with Darkseid. Because it would be too much to ask for Wonder Woman to be the hero of her own book.

This time: Diana and Jason continue to be useless, James Robinson plumbs new depths of hackery, and editors Chris Conroy and Andrew Marino have stopped giving a single fuck.

Jenny Frison is back on variant covers, so at least we’ve got one bright spot in this never-ending hellhole.

Robinson has arbitrarily decided to introduce narration boxes in this issue, in which Diana is apparently recounting to Steve the events unfolding on the page. It’s a perfectly acceptable narrative device on its own, but hamfistedly employed here. It lacks consistency (none of the other main-arc issues use narration boxes), confuses the chronology (all of a sudden we have future!Diana telling us what’s happening in the present as though it’s a flashback) and ultimately serves no purpose except as a narrative crutch for a creative team too talentless to convey the drama and emotion of the story through dialogue and art.

We open with Diana, aged and decrepit from Darkseid’s life-sucking attack, staring in frozen awe at Zeus, who tells her, “hey kiddo, brb gotta save the day and stuff”.

I couldn’t think, Steve. I couldn’t move, I was so surprised. I think we all were— at the sight of him— Zeus! My father, standing there. … By [base creature] he meant Darkseid, of course… who by killing my half-brothers and -sisters, the other children of Zeus, and stealing the energy they had within them from being Zeus’ children… had grown from a baby to roughly eighteen years in age. Younger. Weaker, I hoped. And so it began— the battle…

Like I said: pure writing crutch. There is nothing in this narration that adds anything to the page. Diana’s shock at seeing Zeus should be apparent enough in the art and dialogue. We don’t need to be introduced to Zeus and Darkseid, nor do we need the tedious recap of how we got here, because we’ve been reading the damn comic. Fuck’s sake, the last issue was only two weeks ago!

This also strengthens my suspicion that Robinson’s script has not undergone a single edit, because just look at that abomination of a sentence. “[K]illing my half-brothers and -sisters, the other children of Zeus, and stealing the energy they had within them from being Zeus’ children”— how the fuck did this come from the pen of a professional writer, let alone get through the two credited editors? This is not complicated, structural shit; this is the kind of thing a proofreader should pick up. I can give you a bandaid fix right off the top of my head: “hunting down my half-siblings, the children of Zeus, and stealing their divine energy”. It’s not bloody rocket surgery.

Oh lord, and I’m only at the end of page one.

btw, I’m going to call it now: Zeus is going to heroically sacrifice himself to save his children and restore Diana’s youth.

Page two, and Robinson kicks the hacky dialogue up a notch.

[Double-page spread of Zeus and Darkseid charging towards one another as lightning crackles and the ground rumbles beneath them, while Diana and Jason stare in wonder.]

Jason: Sister, is that really him? Is that our—

Diana: Yes! Yes, Jason, it’s— he’s— Father, wait, I’ll help you!

Zeus: No, Diana, you’re still weak from Darkseid’s attack! And it’s been too long since I’ve faced a foe worthy of me. Let’s see how Darkseid fares!

Also, note that Diana -- who has met Zeus all of once, if at all (depending on how much of the Finch run is still canon), who has never been shown to feel the absence of a father in her life nor the need to have a relationship with Zeus once she discovered her paternity -- upon clapping eyes on her deadbeat dad immediately skips straight to ‘Daddeeeeeee! I must save my daddeeeeee! I love you, Daddeeeee!’ Evidently James Robinson thinks conflict and logical character progression is for chumps.

Blah blah fight scene. Lightning and omega beams and hacky insults and mass destruction. Some nonsense narration from Diana, once again highlighting the complete absence of editing:

The first blows exchanged… All that destruction… I think the rain was my father, too… In mere moments.

This reads like a seventeen-year-old’s first foray into found poetry.

It actually makes reasonable sense if you cut out the weird comment about Zeus being the rain — though it’s still unnecessary, as it’s simply restating what we can plainly see on the page, i.e. that the fight is fast-paced and destructive. That makes me suspect that the “I think the rain was my father” line was inserted as an afterthought, when Robinson realised he hadn’t made it clear that Zeus was supposed to be manifest in the rainstorm.

Useless as ever, Jason tells Diana he’s still too weak from that time when he turned into a tidal wave and tried to kill her. Diana replies, “Then it’s a good thing I’m getting stronger. Age, too.”

AGE, TOO.

what the fuck manner of drunken chimpanzees edited this dreck?

What she means, by the way, is that her youth is returning. Yeah, just like that. All the divine life energy that Darkseid took from Diana, reducing her to a withered husk? Apparently it’s an infinitely renewable resource.

Diana charges in all ‘I WILL HELP YOU FATHER’, only to be tackled by Grail, who rants a lot about the coming of the “appointed time”. Jason fights Grail and Diana races to the aid of a weakening Zeus. Grail shrieks, “No, you’ll die, fool! When you could have had it all!” and it’s not made clear if she’s talking to Diana or Jason.

Darkseid opens a boom tube and everybody follows him in while chattering inanely.

They emerge in the Philippines, where Zeus and Darkseid are tearing shit up as Darkseid conveniently expounds on his grand plan. In the least shocking reveal of the arc, we learn that Zeus was Darkseid’s true target.

Then…

wow.

Wow, that was so much more anticlimactic than I predicted.

See, I’d just assumed that Robinson was setting Zeus up for the heroic sacrifice. It would have made logical sense, in the context of the story. Zeus was never there for either Diana or Jason, just as he was never there for most of his illegitimate children. Again and again, he’s dodged responsibility for his actions, careless of the hurt and destruction he brings down on others. So it would have been somewhat fitting for Zeus at the last to see a severely weakened Diana still bracing for the fight, still prepared to sacrifice her own life to prevent Darkseid’s ascendancy. For his pride in that moment to be tainted by grief and shame at his complacency over the murders of his many children, and for him to resolve at the last that he will not fail Diana and Jason as he failed all the others. For Zeus, in his first genuine act as her father, to step in front of Diana and take the killing blow she had been bracing for.

I mean, it would still suck balls, but it would at least fit with the trajectory of the arc, resolve the story of the demigod murders, feed into Diana and Jason’s struggles to come to terms with their family tree and give Zeus some semblance of character progression, while highlighting Diana’s compassion, courage and capacity for inspiring those around her.

But nah, instead what happens is that, as Diana is distracted saving civilians from the fallout of the battle, Darkseid sucks out all of Zeus’s power, monologuing all the while about how awesome his plan was. Zeus cries out piteously, “Diana! Daughter!” Diana looks around all, ‘Huhwhatnow? Ohnooooo, Daddeeeeeeeee!’ Zeus dies and Darkseid is restored to full power.

But wait, it gets duller. Diana charges Darkseid, vowing revenge. Darkseid’s like, ‘lol, as if you could hope to defeat me without help from— oh, the Justice League just showed up? welp, never mind. places to go, people to conquer. peeeeeace!’ and fucks right off out of there.

In another redundant narration box, Diana whines ungratefully about how she’s never been angrier at the Justice League for recklessly trying to support her and prevent mass civilian casualties. She would have defeated Darkseid this time, she knows it, if only those selfish jerks hadn’t showed up to help her defeat him! And now, because of them, her daddeeeeee is dead. Noooooo daddeeeeee.

As Diana mourns over her dad’s crumbling corpse, Jason approaches to apologise. They hug, make up and affirm that they are family, because there’s nothing like trying to murder the sister you’ve never met to build a great sibling relationship.

We close on one final example of shitty editing:

Jason: I’m so sorry! Whatever I can do to— Diana: No. Enough. I’m sorry, too. Jason: Yes, but not soon enough— my father is dead. Diana: No. Our father.

So, if Diana had been sorry earlier, Zeus wouldn’t be dead? Wait, what is she sorry for again? Whowhathuh?

This reads like another instance of a scene having been partially rewritten and then never proofread. When Jason says “but not soon enough”, he’s clearly not responding to Diana’s “I’m sorry, too” — which suggests that she had another cut line, probably reassuring him that he was tricked and that he joined the good guys in the end.

fuuuuuuuuck this is the worst-written, most poorly edited comic I’ve read in a long while.

And the bullshit is only going to continue, because in his next arc, Robinson is planning to butcher Vanessa Kapatelis and Silver Swan.

#comics talk #the james robinson shitshow

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Top New YA Books in March 2020

Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

Type: Novel (Second in series) Publisher: Balzer + Bray Release date: 2/4/20

Den of Geek says: Justina Ireland’s Dread Nation was a buzzy historical zombie novel with a keen awareness of racial dynamics in Civil War-era America. The sequel looks to be just as intense as the first.

Publisher’s summary: The sequel to the New York Times bestselling epic Dread Nation is an unforgettable journey of revenge and salvation across a divided America.

After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler: Get out of town, stay alive, and head west to California to find her mother.

But nothing is easy when you’re a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to a protected village called Nicodemus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880s America.

What’s more, this safe haven is not what it appears—as Jane discovers when she sees familiar faces from Summerland amid this new society. Caught between mysteries and lies, the undead, and her own inner demons, Jane soon finds herself on a dark path of blood and violence that threatens to consume her.

But she won’t be in it alone.

Katherine Deveraux never expected to be allied with Jane McKeene. But after the hell she has endured, she knows friends are hard to come by—and that Jane needs her too, whether Jane wants to admit it or not.

Watching Jane’s back, however, is more than she bargained for, and when they both reach a breaking point, it’s up to Katherine to keep hope alive—even as she begins to fear that there is no happily-ever-after for girls like her.

Buy Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland on Amazon.

Cast Away: Poems for Our Time by Naomi Shihab Nye

Type: Poetry Publisher: Greenwillow Books Release date: 2/11/2020

Den of Geek says: This unique book of poetry seems perfectly suited to today’s environmental and humanitarian issues. What happens to the things we throw away? What happens to the people who aren’t wanted? The metaphor is rich.

Publisher’s summary: Acclaimed poet and Young People’s Poet Laureate Naomi Shihab Nye shines a spotlight on the things we cast away, from plastic water bottles to those less fortunate, in this collection of more than eighty original and never-before-published poems. A deeply moving, sometimes funny, and always provocative poetry collection for all ages.

“Nye at her engaging, insightful best.”―Kirkus (starred review)

“How much have you thrown away in your lifetime already? Do you ever think about it? Where does this plethora of leavings come from? How long does it take you, even one little you, to fill the can by your desk?”―Naomi Shihab Nye

National Book Award Finalist, Young People’s Poet Laureate, and devoted trash-picker-upper Naomi Shihab Nye explores these questions and more in this original collection of poetry that features more than eighty new poems. “I couldn’t save the world, but I could pick up trash,” she says in her introduction to this stunning volume.

With poems about food wrappers, lost mittens, plastic straws, refugee children, trashy talk, the environment, connection, community, responsibility to the planet, politics, immigration, time, junk mail, trash collectors, garbage trucks, all that we carry and all that we discard, this is a rich, engaging, moving, and sometimes humorous collection for readers ages twelve to adult.

Buy Cast Away: Poems for Our Time on Amazon.

Rebelwing by Andrea Tang

Type: Novel Publisher: Razorbill Release date: 2/25/20

Den of Geek says: Robot dragons? What more to say? The fantastical war story setting and high-energy cast of characters looks like it’ll make this one a good read for fans of Pacific Rim.

Publisher’s summary: Things just got weird for Prudence Wu.

One minute, she’s cashing in on a routine smuggling deal. The next, she’s escaping enforcers on the wings of what very much appears to be a sentient cybernetic dragon.

Pru is used to life throwing her some unpleasant surprises–she goes to prep school, after all, and selling banned media across the border in a country with a ruthless corporate government obviously has its risks. But a cybernetic dragon? That’s new.

She tries to forget about the fact that the only reason she’s not in jail is because some sort of robot saved her, and that she’s going to have to get a new side job now that enforcers are on to her. So she’s not exactly thrilled when Rebelwing shows up again.

Even worse, it’s become increasingly clear that the rogue machine has imprinted on her permanently, which means she’d better figure out this whole piloting-a-dragon thing–fast. Because Rebelwing just happens to be the ridiculously expensive weapon her government needs in a brewing war with its neighbor, and Pru’s the only one who can fly it.

Set in a wonderfully inventive near-future Washington, D.C., this hilarious, defiant debut sparkles with wit and wisdom, deftly exploring media consumption, personal freedoms, and the weight of one life as Pru, rather reluctantly, takes to the skies.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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undeadimpulsereviews · 7 years ago

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Complex Age Review

Quick side note; some of the pictures I use in this review may not be the default image of the character in question. For example, the picture above shows Nagisa, the main character, in costume; the picture of nagisa below has her in partial costume, but her face and hair are the real deal. This is due to the limited amount of reference material that can be found for the manga due to lack of online scanning/exposure in the west. Please pick up Complex Age, highly recommend it.

Are you part of a fandom? Have you ever dressed as your favorite character? Have you ever gone to a convention for your favorite series? The chances are this story might just speak to you.

Complex Age, a Seinen, Drama manga from mangaka Sakuma Yui, is a story of ones love for their hobby and how that might be viewed by society. It’s a deep and hard hitting tale that hits close to home. It’s also Yui’s first big work in the manga business.

The manga was published in Morning Magazine and ran a total of six volumes; for those in the states the manga is published by Kodansha. The last volume of Complex Age came out this last September totaling out at - chapters. The manga is only available in physical format; online there are only two chapters translated, after that the project was dropped by scanners and was never picked back up.

If you’re more the person who likes to read your manga online, and are skeptical on if you should buy this manga; I understand where you’re coming from. Though fear not, I took the dive into Complex Age and have since finished the series. Now you may not feel the same way as I do, but please take my opinion into account. Complex Age is an amazing story, and deserves your support. The story, the characters, the art; all of it is so fascinating and beautifully constructed that I was sad to say goodbye to the series. Yui made such a complex, no play on words intended, story that many can identify with. I am one of these many people that fall into this group. This manga not only provided me with something enjoying to read, but also made me think about my life and hobbies more. This isn’t thanks to one singular idea in the story; every piece of the story helps to convey what Complex Age is all about, starting with the overarching story.

Complex Age follows the story of Nagisa Kataura (We’ll just use Nagisa), a twenty six year old women, as she lives her life and explores her hobby. This hobby is cosplay; for those who may not know, cosplay is when people dress up in costume as certain characters for certain events. It may not seem like something taboo on the surface; however, in Japan, cosplay undertaken by someone above a certain age is seen as odd to society. Especially when it’s an adult cosplaying something from an anime; which are seen as something for children in Japan. Given Nagisa’s age, she falls into this category; so she hides her hobby. Her co-workers, parents, etc; no one but her closest friends are aware of her secret. Though hiding this isn’t easy, and what if it does get out? How will these people look at her? Will she be judged, will they accept her? The thought scares Nagisa, and it proves to influence how she sees her hobby. Can she stay in this forever, or will she eventually have to give up what she loves? Society can be a scary thing.

Complex Age is a heavy story to undertake; think of your hobbies, cosplay, gaming, manga, anime, are they fun? For me that’s a huge yes, but it’s scary to think that one day I might have to give these up. It’s all apart of growing up; yet I’ve played games, and read manga for a decent amount of time, it’s part of my identity. Does society effect me as much as Nagisa, no, I don’t care that people know I’m a nerd; however, that doesn’t mean it can’t hurt me, and I feel that is where Complex Age really shines. The manga shows a very possible course of events, that can pertain to a large group of people. Though, at the same time, it advocates the idea that we should strive for our hobbies as well. You are not wrong for retiring from your hobbies through age; though at the same time you can also explore deeper into said hobbies. There are many ways to view this, and no one way is wrong, and it doesn’t just speak to people interested in cosplay. This can pertain to anyone, and any hobby; just place yourself in Nagisa’s shoes, think of yourself and how society might think of your hobby and you.

Yui does an amazing job at developing the story, and giving it a deep human feeling. There are no power levels, no entering another world unlike our own; just an original story on growing up in the world. It can be sad, happy, you name it; it captures the drama almost perfectly and keeps the reader invested. I’m actually sad that scanners dropped this series; it’s an extremely underrated manga and needs the exposure. From beginning to end I was invested, the ending was a little predictable in the grand scheme of themes, but it works. Though what really makes the story what it is are the characters present.

Complex age, offers a very complex and imperfect cast of characters. Nagisa for example is imperfect in the sense that she’s a perfectionist. She wants her cosplay to come off as perfect to others; like she herself is the character, and not herself. Though it doesn’t stop there, her mentality also extends to people around her. Strangers who are new at cosplay are inadvertently targeted and hurt in the process. I’ll be honest, this side of Nagisa is not a pleasant one. That’s not to say that Yui didn’t convey the character well, but in my opinion it’s conveyed to well. Nagisa’s quest for perfection in her craft is scary to say the least, and at first it kind of made me want to distance myself from the character; however, this also adds to the growth of the character. As the story progresses, and society becomes a bigger factor in Nagisa’s life, she is forced to look at her hobby from a different perspective and builds upon her old ideals. While she’s not perfect in overcoming her perfectionist side, she does understand the problems behind it.

Complex Age is more the story of Nagisa and her overcoming her problems and growing to be an adult in a hobby that isn’t suited for adults according to society; however, Nagisa’s friends all play a big role in how she develops and sees the hobby she’s loved for years. For example, her friend Kimiko has been with her since high school; she was the person to introduce her to cosplay. From their humble beginnings they were able to find something fun. Though it’s clear that Nagisa and Kimiko are leagues apart in terms of skill. Nagisa is much more adapt at making the costumes and making them look authentic while worn and not. Kimiko has always been more of the photographer of the group, but that never stopped her from following in the fun. Though, like Nagisa, she’s in her late twenties; plus she has a fiance and will be heading down a new road untraveled. Can she really stay down this path with Nagisa, and how does this effect our main character? Every character has weight in the story, and adds to Nagisa’s journey. (Picture below, Kimiko on the right and Nagisa left.)

Only one character in the manga didn’t sit with me; that would be Riu. Riu appears rather early in the manga, but at this point doesn’t play a role other than introducing Nagisa’s perfectionist tendencies. She returns in volume four and joins the group for a little bit; her main role is to show Nagisa that this is how she once ones. Riu also pushes the characters in certain directions on the idea of whether they should follow their dreams, or retire the hobby. She’s an effective character, but for me I felt she came on a little to strong for my liking. I don’t think she’s a bad character, but her overall personality seemed a little to extreme at times.

Complex Age is truly what it is, thanks to it’s story and the characters that drive it; however, Yui and her team also made the manga something visual stunning on top of that. The best part about the art is that it conveys the characters emotion so well. Nagisa especially has a wide range of emotions throughout the manga, so the detailed visuals help expand upon these moments. With in the first chapter you get a glimpse of some really well done and detailed work from the team.

This image was one of the big things that sold me on the manga; I wanted to see more from here on out. Nagisa is a little distraught on what she heard at a recent convention she attended, but that doesn’t keep her down for long. She feels at home as this character she’s donned, to the point that she feels she’s closer to the characters of this anime than that of the real world. The detail put into Nagisa over the anime characters is really well done; seeing the two dimensional characters melding with Nagisa is captivating. Though this image is early and doesn’t fully convey what Nagisa will go through.

The scope of the manga, and it’s art get bigger over time; every little bit of Nagisa’s hobby, all the years she spent toiling away will come back to her. They hit her like a brick wall and the art never stops showing this. Whether it’s the detail in the design of a characters costume, or Nagisa in her day to day life, the art hits hard and keeps on hitting.

Overall I give Complex Age a 9 out of 10. This manga is amazing and one of my favorites if I had to say. I highly recommend this to anyone and everyone; you may not like drama’s or slice of life manga, yet this is something that might pertain to your life more than you think. Story, characters, art, everything just delivers. This manga needs more recognition, and I hope I was at least somewhat successful in conveying that to you.

I’ve been behind on reviews and I’m sorry for that; school has hit me hard and it’s still coming down on me. Papers upon papers galore, but I will still be posting. Just stay with me now; I’ll get this back on track in due time. Next review is the game Dead by Dayight, and then after that the manga Ajin. I’ll try to release both with in this week if all goes well.Then get into the reviews for november, and my new plans for the blog. Until then however, happy belated halloween, and I’ll see you soon.

#Kodansha #kodansha comics #manga #complex age #cosplay #morning magazine #sakuma yui #yui sakuma #drama #seinen #slice of life

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alleyblack2-blog · 5 years ago

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The Linc - Eagles “really like Josh Jacobs”

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

Report: Eagles ‘really like’ Alabama RB Josh Jacobs - CBS Sports Geoff Mosher: “I’ve been hearing that...don’t be shocked if the Eagles take a running back in the first round. They really like Josh Jacobs.” Adam Caplan: “I talked to Greg Cosell from NFL Films. He likes (Jacobs) a lot. An offensive coordinator who I ran into at the combine said Jacobs is his top graded back in the draft. He’s a three-down back.” Geoff Mosher: “I think we need to adjust our philosophy. The people that said Howie Roseman would never take a running back in the first round. Do remember, two years ago...if Christian McCaffery was there at No. 14, he would have been an Eagle.”

Why The Eagles Brought Ronald Darby Back - BGN All things considered, Darby’s transitional quickness gives him route-mirroring ability that is starting-caliber in the NFL; his click-and-close explosiveness and catch-point skills are in the upper echelon of NFL starters altogether. Darby hasn’t finished a season since 2016, but he has Pro Bowl ability on the field, and if he can stay healthy (and return to health without losing his athletic ability), Eagles fans should be excited about his starting role in 2019.

NFC East free agency grades: Dallas Cowboys edition - PhillyVoice Without knowing exactly what Lawrence is looking for, contract-wise, the clock is ticking on a resolution there. The Cowboys can ill-afford to mess up that situation, because their defense is in deep trouble without him. Otherwise, predictably, the Cowboys were not players in the first wave of free agency. They’ll hunt bargains the rest of the way. Their grade is probably better saved until we see what these contract extensions for their current players look like, but they might not happen until much later this offseason. For now, we’ll give them an arbitrary C+.

Lawlor: Players show they want to come to Philly - PE.com I think you have to give Howie Roseman a lot of credit for adding an impact player to the offense and defense. Too often people think of teams that make the most moves as being those who win in the offseason. That’s wrong. You want to make smart, selective moves. The Eagles have done just that. One thing that really stood out to me is that players wanted to be here. Graham didn’t even talk to other teams. He wanted to stay with the Eagles. Malik Jackson wants to play in an attacking scheme and for a winning team. DeSean Jackson has talked a lot over the years about wanting a chance to return to Philly.

2019 NFL Free Agency winners and losers: PFF WAR - PFF While getting back a first- and a third-round pick for Odell Beckham Jr. may seem like a strong return, the truth of the matter is this: OBJ was one of the most valuable non-quarterbacks in recent memory and his nearly two full wins above replacement are going to be hard to come by. Combine that with their loss of Landon Collins, who was worth three-quarters of a win, on the defensive side of the ball, and the Giants have done more harm than good to a roster depleted of playmakers outside of Saquon Barkley.

A Giant Mess - Rotoworld There’s no denying Barkley’s remarkable skill set, but when a foundation piece at the most important position is staring you square in the face, you don’t dare look that gift horse in the mouth. To say Barkley had a superior rookie year to Darnold is both a statement of fact and a short-sighted, ludicrously flawed rationale for Gettleman’s poor use of draft capital. Even if Barkley continues on this path and becomes the next LaDainian Tomlinson—a distinct possibility after leading the league in yards from scrimmage last year—the Giants still got it wrong from a team-building philosophy. It’s not just that running backs have a significantly shorter shelf life than QBs (the continued dominance of Drew Brees and Tom Brady would point to that fact). It’s a simple matter of supply and demand. Compared to elite quarterbacks, star running backs practically grow on trees. Chris Carson was four picks away from being Mr. Irrelevant two years ago. Phillip “who lives at home” Lindsay wasn’t even drafted last year. Both rushed for over 1,000 yards last season.

Eagles’ offseason is going much better than rest of NFC East - NBCSP Collins got a mega-deal, the kind the Giants were never going to pay him. The ‘Skins got a great player, but they clearly had to overpay to do it. He’s getting $14M a year. The Keenum deal isn’t awful given their circumstances, but Keenum vs. Colt McCoy in training camp kind of tells you about the ceiling the Redskins have in 2019. They actually signed Flowers, the failed Giants draft pick, and plan to play him at guard. The Eagles have to be thrilled about that decision. The worst part of the ‘Skins’ offseason is that we’re apparently finding out about all these moves at the same time as head coach Jay Gruden. According to a report from 106.7, Gruden learned about the Collins signing only when a media member texted him. That’s not great.

Passing-game role makes Ezekiel Elliott even more valuable - PFT Also, there are two contracts that control the relationship: The contract between the player and the team, and the contract between the union and the league. Elliott has rights under the broader contract that are independent of his individual contract, and that allow him to technically violate the terms of his own deal. By taking advantage of those rights, he can try to leverage the Cowboys into doing the right thing, before he ends up being the next guy who finally makes it to free agency with bald tires and far less money in the bank than he deserves.

Teams Readying for Rosen, Peppers’s Fit for the Giants, Adrian Peterson’s Other Suitors - MMQB It’s hard to find a better way to announce a retirement than what Haloti Ngata pulled off on Monday morning: posting a picture of himself holding a flag atop Mount Kilimanjaro. I’m not a Hall of Fame voter, and I try to be sparing with calling guys future Hall of Famers, but Ngata should be a serious consideration in five years. Really, he helped anchor a generation of great defenses in Baltimore, along with Hall of Famer Ray Lewis, 2019 inductee Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs, another potential HOFer. If all four get in, by the way, that would be more than the ’86 Bears defense had inducted (Dan Hampton, Richard Dent and Mike Singeltary are the three from that group), which says a lot about the job Ozzie Newsome did building those teams.

Redskins Sign Offensive Lineman Ereck Flowers to a One-Year Deal - Hogs Haven The Redskins just received some help on the offensive line, and it comes in the form of a 6’6” 335 pound 24 year old player. Former Giants first round pick Ereck Flowers has signed a one-year, $4 million dollar contract to join the Washington Redskins.

Jets re-sign Eric Tomlinson and Brent Qvale - Gang Green Nation [BLG Note: The Eagles originally signed Tomlinson as an undrafted free agent back in 2015 and he’s still hanging on in the league.]

Slot size matters - Niners Nation You just need to scheme for it, and add downfield blocking to your mix. This is what Chip Kelly did at Oregon, but was never quite able to achieve in the NFL. And he picked Jordan Matthews in the second round of his second draft as part of his attempt to make it happen. Kelly’s Philly teams had great WR blocking, once DeSean Jackson was gone, and one of the best blocking receivers was a veteran named Miles Austin, now an offensive quality control coach for the Niners. He mentored Matthews in Philly and recruited him to the team this offseason, Matthews told team reporter Keiana Martin.

The completely risk free nature of Mychal Kendricks’ contract with the Seahawks - Field Gulls It has been less than a week since the Seattle Seahawks inked Mychal Kendricks to a one year contract, and that has led many observers to believe that it was an extremely good sign for his prospects for freedom. Terms of the contract have now been released, and it shows that the signing carries effectively no financial risk for the Hawks, as there is no guaranteed money.

If the Giants pass on Haskins the Jaguars’ decision may not be easy - Big Cat Country The question the Jaguars need to answer is how close they think this team is to competing without upgrading the offensive line or receiving corps with their present draft slot. As Oehser further noted, if the Jaguars believe Foles is the answer then they should not expect to be sitting high in in the first round for a few years to come. Your opportunity to grab a premier quarterback may be a present truth. Oehser makes a compelling point, one that mirrors what the Green Bay Packers did years ago when you still had Brett Favre on the roster but Aaron Rodgers fell to them. If you believe Haskins has the head for the NFL, but needs some bench time to transition considering his limited playing time at Ohio State, sitting behind Foles seems like an optimal scenario for the Jaguars.

How the NFL can save the onside kick - ESPN The NFL’s onside kick might be responsible for more drama than any other single strategy in football. The mere possibility that a team can steal an extra possession has preserved hope and extended the attention of fans for generations. So it’s no wonder that the competition committee and coaches around the league are scouring for ways to restore the onside kick this offseason after it faded as a viable option in 2018. Restricted by rule changes designed to make the kickoff safer, teams recovered only four of 52 attempts last season for a 7.7 conversion rate -- a sharp drop from 2017 (21.1) and well below the long-term average between 2001 and 2017 (19.7 percent).

What Does All That Cap Space Really Mean for NFL Teams, and How Should They Use It? - The Ringer The Colts came into free agency with over $100 million in room and big expectations. But as they’ve played things conservatively, Indy has illustrated the value in using that financial flexibility with patience and creativity.

Ledyard: 2019 NFL Draft Edge Defender Rankings - The Draft Network Nick Bosa or Josh Allen? Montez Sweat or Brian Burns? Rashan Gary or Chase Winovich? These are the questions that will invade our pre-draft conversations from now until April 25th. While the draft world likely remains unsettled on anything close to a strong consensus on the 2019 edge defender class, my grade on the position group have been finalized. I went trait-by-trait to break down how each of my top nine prospects grade out.

Is DeSean Jackson actually a good fit for the Eagles? - SB Nation The Eagles brought back a fan favorite in DeSean Jackson, but is he right player to help Philadelphia’s offense take off? [BLG Note: Yes, he is.]

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socialattractionuk · 5 years ago

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How Love Island helped to heal my broken heart

Only the chronically hopeful believe that this year’s batch of contestants will actually find love (Picture: ITV)

Love Island is back! Again! I for one have already carved an anticipatory bum-groove in my sofa.

By now only the chronically hopeful believe that this year’s batch of contestants will actually find love in Casa Amor. Short lived reality shows – yes. Fulfilling, lasting relationship – meh.

What Love Island can do – unexpectedly, inexplicably – is help you get over love. I know, because it did it for me.

Last year, in mid-May, I split up with my boyfriend of almost three years. It was, predictably, awful. I moved out of the home we shared and into a friend’s spare bedroom, and used my newly-freed up evenings to cry over glasses of white wine (fine, bottles).

To compound the situation, my birthday fell two weeks later, which was the same day Love Island 2018 launched. So in a pseudo-celebration, my friend and I opened some (more) wine, I created a WhatsApp group of m’girls and bucked up just enough not to sob through the opening credits.

Eyal had barely matched with Kendall before I was hooked. It was all bright colours and hot sun and hotter people and after the abject heartbreak of the previous few weeks, it provided an hour of fantastical escapism.

Love Island is accused, frequently and loudly, of being trash TV but this is its exact appeal. That first episode was an ocean away from the onslaught of emotions I was tangled in and gave my brain a chance to switch off. And as my phone lit up with my friends’ comments and memes, I felt safe for the first time in weeks.

It is legitimate, not embarrassing, to say that you are going home to watch Love Island (Picture: Rosy Edwards)

The series drew on and I didn’t miss an episode. In the wake of a serious break up, some people take up a new hobby; some people throw themselves into socialising. The intention in both cases is the same: to fill the aching mental and physical voids previously occupied by your ex. I took up Love Island.

As any hardened fan will tell you, watching Love Island is A Plan. It is legitimate, not embarrassing, to say that you are going home to watch Love Island. Someone has taken the time to do actual research to back this up: one in 20 young Brits say they have cancelled plans to watch Love Island (and those are just the ones who will admit to it).

Add in that you will be doing it without distraction, whilst eating a family-sized lemon tart and listen as your coupled up friends groan in envy.

The reliable 9pm start, the hour-long escape and the four-break format gave me a structure and sense of comfort I had lost post break-up. Frankly, on the days where it felt painful just to breathe, Love Island gave me something to look forward to. Something to cling on to. A metaphorical ice-cream lilo in the aqua swimming pool of misery.

And when I wasn’t watching, I could talk about it – to colleagues, to friends, to dates (who didn’t care) to my mum (who cared even less). In this way Love Island made me feel part of something bigger than myself. I felt part of the Love Island phenomenon, conversant in the zeitgeist. It made me feel less alone.

I immersed myself in Rosie’s gaslighting, in Georgia’s ‘loyalty’, in Megan and Alex, Megan and Eyal, Megan and Wes… (Picture: Joel Anderson/ITV)

Then there was the show itself. The drama provided ample distraction. I immersed myself in Rosie’s gaslighting, in Georgia’s ‘loyalty’, in Megan and Alex, and Megan and Eyal, and Megan and Wes, and Megan and Laura.

Finally, of course there was Jack and Dani, love young’s dream in Misguided swimwear. It seems contrary to want to watch people fall in love having fallen so disastrously out of it. But I watched with a perversity usually reserved for pushing your tongue against an aching tooth: I watched them be happy, and I cried. For myself, for the future I’d given up, for the family I was no longer going to have.

I also cried when Rosie got hurt, and Laura got ditched, and Georgia got replaced. It hurt because I could relate but it also made me feel better. These women were far more beautiful and a decade younger than me, but their losses reminded me that heartbreak does not discriminate and the feelings are universal.

A whole year has now passed and things have changed.

A new flock of toned, tanned Insta-lovelies are about to enter the villa, but far from the giddy anticipation of last year, criticism has already been levied at 2019’s series for its lack of diversity and ignorance as to what the phrase ‘plus size’ really means.

Personally, I couldn’t be further from the weeping wreck I was last year: I am in a relationship with the man I am going to marry. I live in my own flat. And unlike most of 2018’s alumni, I am still on friendly terms with my ex.

More: TV

What time is the Britain's Got Talent final on tonight?

Little Mix's Perrie Edwards celebrates Liverpool win with beau Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Liverpool fans party all night after historic Champions League victory

Say what you will about Love Island – and plenty will – but there is something uplifting about watching people navigate their way through lust and love and proving that no matter what you look like, no matter your Instagram followers, relationships are not easy and breaking up hurts.

But you know what they say: time is a great healer, and even in Casa Amor, love wins in the end.

MORE: Love Island’s Caroline Flack promises ‘ultimate summer of love’ in suitably cheesy new trailer

MORE: Carrie Hope Fletcher is not happy with Love Island’s response to diversity criticism

MORE: Amber Gill isn’t racist but her prejudice towards black men has consequences beyond Love Island

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tipsoctopus · 6 years ago

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"He's the man who could break Liverpool hearts" - Fan Predictions: The title showdown

The final day of the Premier League season is upon us, and what a campaign it has been for both Manchester City and Liverpool.

Nobody thought anyone would get near Pep Guardiola’s title-winning centurions, but Jurgen Klopp’s resilient Liverpool side have run them extremely close – they may even snatch their crown from them if Brighton perform a miracle and the Reds can beat Wolves.

Just a point separates City and Liverpool, and having lost just one game all season with 94 points under their belts, the fact that Klopp’s men may not win the title just goes to show the quality on offer in arguably the best title race in years.

Ahead of the final day, we’ve taken time to chat with Football FanCast’s assistant editor and Manchester City fan, Jack Saville, and staff writer Charles Jones, a Liverpool supporter, to discuss the big talking points as a truly memorable campaign reaches its conclusion…

Q: They’ve barely put a foot wrong all season, but Liverpool look like missing out on a maiden Premier League title. Where do you think they lost it and what could they have done better?

Jack: “I’m in danger of sitting on the fence here but I think it undermines what Liverpool have done to suggest that they have in any way lost it. Jurgen Klopp has performed miracles with his squad this season and they will only be thwarted by virtue of Manchester City’s unfathomable supremacy. They have, of course, had some huge strokes of luck along the way, but you need that to have any chance of coming close to Pep Guardiola’s side.”

Charles: “Liverpool definitely lost the title back in January and February. We’ve lost just one game all season, but the draws against West Ham, Leicester, Man Utd and Everton were really costly.”

Consecutive 1-1 draws against Leicester and West Ham look like they’ll cost Liverpool in the grand scheme of things, which will really disappoint Klopp as his men simply didn’t look up for it in those two games. Squandered chances against Everton and a stuttering game against United also haven’t helped, and you simply can’t afford any minor errors when it’s Guardiola you’re up against.

Q: Pep Guardiola’s men seem virtually unstoppable, but Liverpool have ran them admirably close this season. What do City need to do in the summer to record three titles in a row next season and become the first team to do so in over a decade? (If they win on Sunday that is!)

Jack: “Regardless of whether City manage to achieve a monumental feat and defend the Premier League title for the first time, they’ll need to ensure they add a defensive midfielder of immense quality in the summer as well as a new left-back. Benjamin Mendy needs a serious challenger. As much as I admire Oleksandr Zinchenko I don’t see him as a solid long-term option and I doubt Guardiola does either. It’s a romantic story but not one which will run for much longer. Ilkay Gundogan has been incredible in the holding role in recent weeks and his run of games in the side has facilitated an impressive transformation, but it’s no secret that more depth is needed to ease the burden on Fernandinho. If Nicolas Otamendi packs his bags then I imagine a new centre-back will arrive.”

Charles: “City seem unstoppable. They have incredible depth in every position but if they are to strengthen anywhere they need a new left back and a new midfielder. Fernandinho isn’t getting any younger and Benjamin Mendy looks to be too injury prone. If Kevin De Bruyne can go all of next season injury free then it’ll be tough for anyone to overcome them.”

How do you improve one of the Premier League’s greatest ever sides? Well, there are a few areas that need some polishing. Like Charles alluded to, Mendy’s fitness problems and constant off-field antics seem to be causing Guardiola some angst, whilst the pivotal Fernandinho has just celebrated his 34th birthday.

Q: Where do you think Brighton can hurt City this Sunday? And likewise, where do you think Wolves could cause Liverpool problems?

Jack: “Chris Hughton is an excellent defensive tactician and Brighton are capable of frustrating the very best in the division on their day. Expect a deep line and plenty of bodies behind the ball. City are well accustomed to breaking teams down who play in this manner but the enormity of the occasion will add an extra layer of intensity to the challenge. Wolves’ strength lies on the counter-attack, as the top-six clubs have discovered this season. Technically they are strong and they have players with the vision to carve Liverpool open in the blinking of an eye, and equally the players to finish clinically inside the penalty area. Watch out for goal-machine Raul Jimenez: he’s the man who could break Liverpool hearts. “

Charles: “Brighton have had a tendency to get results against big teams, beating Man Utd and drawing twice with Arsenal. Glenn Murray is exceptional when it comes to putting away chances so that’s where City will have to be careful. Wolves have an incredible record against the top six and their strengths are well documented; depending on whether or not Andy Robertson will be fit after his injury against Barcelona, Matt Doherty could have a great day at Anfield.”

The Seagulls will be starved of the ball inside their own stadium on Sunday, no doubt. Their best bet at causing an upset will be to focus on set pieces whilst staying solid at the back, where the likes of Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy can be a real force when they’re up for it.

Wolves have beaten every European Cup finalist this season in Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea, which goes to show just how good they can be against the top sides.

Q: 90th minute. The scores are level. Who do you choose to score an Aguero-esque title winner for your respective side?

Jack: “Wow, what a question! I was there when Aguero scored against QPR and I don’t think my ticker has ever quite recovered. Given everything that has happened in recent years I simply cannot look beyond Raheem Sterling. Imagine that, the former Liverpool player – routinely booed by the Anfield faithful and slandered in the media for almost the entirety of his short career – scoring a last minute winner to steal the title away from his former club. It’s truly the stuff of fairytales but I think football has had enough miraculous drama for one week already…”

Charles: “Sadio Mane. He may not score as many goals as Mohamed Salah but he doesn’t shy away from the big occasion; his goals in the Champions League over the past two years have shown that.”

We would be extremely lucky to see another moment of that ilk ever again, as Martin Tyler famously exclaimed. I’m sure that most Liverpool fans would like to see Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain net a goal of such importance, having endured the toughest time of his career injury wise, or the inspirational Jordan Henderson.

City? Well, City don’t deserve another one of those moments. One per lifetime is enough, don’t be greedy!

Q: How big of a challenge will it be for Liverpool to pick themselves up and go again next season from a mental aspect, considering they’ve lost just one league game?

Jack: “The way this Liverpool team are playing I’d have to say it will make them stronger. They are relentlessly determined and I don’t see them easing up until they clinch the title. Perhaps the double blow of losing in the Champions League final and ending the season with nothing would damage them mentally, particularly given they lost against Real Madrid last season as well, but I think they’ll push Man City all the way once again whatever happens. I backed them to fade away in the early stages of the season and they proved me wrong, so I could be way off the mark once again here…”

Charles: “Losing just one league game all year and not winning the title will hurt Jurgen Klopp’s side, but they recovered from losing the Champions League final last year by reaching the final again this season. There shouldn’t be a problem in terms of motivation for Liverpool, just watch the second leg against Barcelona to see what mental grit they have.”

To add to Charles’ point, Klopp has lost all three finals that he has led his Liverpool side to, and always seems to improve them and get them going again next season; finishing 2nd this year will be tough to take, but you can expect the Reds to be back chomping at the bit next term.

Finally, what are your score predictions for the two games?

Jack: “Brighton 0-3 Manchester City & Liverpool 3-1 Wolves.”

Charles: “Brighton 1-4 Manchester City & Liverpool 2-0 Wolves.”

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