#Even though I'm the one who orchestrated the circumstances to make it so.

[thecurioustale]

[Give] Fat [a] Chance

I got a bunch of writing done this evening (4,500+ words!) for a new sequence of scenes in ATH, on the back of a piece of music that has much inspired me in recent days. And in this sequence I couldn't help but to make reference over and over again to how fat my young Galan sandship officer Appeline is.

I have no problem with having done this. On the contrary, I enjoyed it! But I'm aware that many people are going to react "Okay, okay, we get it; she's fat. 🙄🙄🙄"

When a burst of self-indulgent writing like this happens, I usually just let myself enjoy it. I tell myself that I'll fix whatever I need to fix in the edits later on. Often, with me, once a scene has established itself on the page, taken root in the narrative, and graduated from writing to editing, only then does it truly begin its life of development.

When it comes to fat characters being fat, I take a tolerant view of my impulses. For one thing, artists are allowed to enjoy what they do, and create the things they want to create. Myself included! For another, assuming that the representation is itself interesting, audiences will be much more forgiving of your personal artistic eccentricities if you exercise a little bit of strategic restraint, on one hand, and, on the other, lampshade your eccentricities well.

This exact thing has happened with Appeline already. She used to be a skinny character, but when it occurred to me to make her fat I had so much fun with it that her first "big" scene at the time (pun intended) was similarly stuffed with references to her being fat and filled with a great deal of narrative dwelling upon that fact. In the editing, I dialed this back in a few key places, successfully refocusing a veritable fixation into more of a "color palette choice," with Appeline's fatness still being well-represented in the text but no longer monochromatically so. And I added exposition at various points explaining why her fatness is narratively relevant—and I did what I needed to do to make it narratively relevant: Among other things, I devised a fiendish pilot program of Silence's, definitely with ulterior motives, to test out different body compositions for military effectiveness. And if you have a hard time swallowing the notion that such a premise could actually be executed credibly in a non-comedy text, give me a little credit! I'm good at this.

As it was before, so it shall be now with this new scene for Appeline, which also makes much ado of her fatness. The initial writing pass is absolutely full of references to her being fat, and so in editing I will dial it back just a little bit, in strategic places, and I will do some work to make her fatness and the narrative dwelling thereupon sufficiently relevant.

I'm pretty sure that this is the sauce—that one of the biggest reasons longtime-successful authors often become sloppy later in their careers is that they continue in their comparable indulgences but grow lax and ineffective in their discipline with them. You do need the discipline. At some point, if an artist pushes their pet fixation hard enough, most readers are going to disembark. Not necessarily stop reading entirely (though there is that), but "check out" as it were and start treating the material like a slog.

On the other hand, this kind of thing is an audience selection knob. We are starved for fat representation as a species. It's a desert out there. And most of the fat representation that does exist is either mean-spiritedly comedic, pigeonholed into villainy, stereotypically confined to a small reservation of tropic space and character types, or is porn. I don't know of any examples of the kind of representation that I do in my work. I'm sure there must be some, but I'm not super well-read so I haven't encountered any of them yet, and in any case there can't be more than a few. This is one of those rare times where I find myself with a genuine opportunity to do what in the 21st century often seems like an impossibility: develop an artistic space that no human has ever done before. And if the price of that, and of all the smiling fat people and adorers of fat people who finally get to see dynamic variety in fat representation narratively, is some other readers and non-reader wags scoffing and rolling their eyes, I'd call it a steal of a deal.

I think I make it a fair proposition to the good-faith reader. It's not like being fat is what ATH is all about. It's just the occasional moments here and there among hundreds of pages. And the representation is interesting; I firmly believe that. There are many fat characters in ATH, of which Appeline is only one, and most the characters of any importance have some narrative relevance attached to their fatness, with different relevancies playing out for different characters. This allows me to dwell more on their fatness in the first place while also doing justice to the prospect of exploring a diverse range of life issues surrounding fatness. It's a win–win!

Or so I hope! I saw a fan art of Samus Aran not terribly long ago that was attached to a giant thought bubble of preface text, with the artist doing what I'm doing here, going on about how they're doing this bold new thing—not fat representation in their case but female character representation—and approaching it in a completely novel way, and how it'll be a revolution in art, etc. And then, for all that, the actual art was just Samus with bigger breasts. And the artist was not joking! They were being completely serious. I wish I'd saved the art and the preface.

And so I hope that this isn't that; I hope that I'm not just monumentally fooling myself. I don't think I am. But I guess we'll see. I do recognize that my interest in writing fat characters is partially erotic, whereas most of the text I am writing isn't generally meant to be erotic, and I realize that it's often difficult for an impetus born in eros to find a home in non-erotic storyelling without some of the sexualization slipping through. That's a common shortcoming in art, sadly. But at least I am aware of it, and can put my not-inconsiderable talents to work And at least the bar is super fucking low: Unlike the comic, simply having fat representation at all (outside of the stereotypical ways) is subversive and novel. If, beyond the fact of my merely doing this at all, my explorations of "fat issues" turn out to be underwhelming in their own right, or reductive to fat sexuality, then it will amount to a fantastic artistic failure for me. But I don't think that that's where this is headed. I think I'm on to something genuinely interesting, not just with Appeline's scene but with my fat representation in general. And, remembering what I said about lampshading, sometimes I do write erotic text, and by going about it with full force I think that helps to reset people's perspective.

In closing, I will say that if people notice the "abundance" of fat characters in my story (pun intended) and do begin to scoff and roll their eyes, this won't necessarily be an indictment of my work in itself. Because of the stigma attached to fatness and fat representation, most people are hypersensitized to fat representation and will tend to inflate it wherever they see it, sort of like how most people will perceive a book with a 50:50 female–male cast as being female-centric. So I won't necessarily be moved by criticisms that there's too much fat representation in my work. There definitely isn't. I will more so be interested in good-faith criticisms about whether or not my representations and explorations of fatness "land" well. (Thankfully, bad faith is very easy to spot, making good faith easy to tell by elimination.)

All right, that's enough 5 am musings. Time to go dream of big bitches eating steak and ice creams.

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

I got a depressing update. I overheard my mom saying they found my cat and she was dead (shot). I really hope I misheard her but can I get another scenario with the same characters (+adam)

Hi Squeezy. I'm so sorry to hear your update. Losing a pet is never easy, especially when it's in circumstances like this. I hope you like the headcanons.

Part 1 can be found here and the "good" ending can be found here.

Fandom: Sk8 the Infinity

Characters: Reki Kyan, Langa Hasegawa, Miya Chinen, Kojiro Nanjo, Kaoru Sakurayashiki, Ainosuke Shindo (Adam) x gn! Reader (separate)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your cat went missing and has sadly been found, shot. How will the characters react?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reki will be easily the most comforting person here. He’s right there for you if you want any form of comfort.

Definitely a bit in shock. He was keeping his hopes up, despite his more pessimistic side suggesting the worst so when he finds out about your cat, he’s definitely saddened.

Will help you in any way he can. Want him to duck out and get your favourite snack? He’s on it. Want him to stay with you and take your mind off things? You got it. Want a hug? He’s already wrapping his arms around you.

He’s furious by the way. How dare someone hurt your cat. But he’s going to hide that anger for now. You don’t need him going off at the moment. Right now, you need someone to comfort you.

Langa is greatly saddened by the news but may have trouble expressing it. It’s not that he struggles with emotions, it’s more that he has difficulty showing those emotions in a way that others can recognise.

He will probably run home as fast as possible to ask his mum for advice and see if she can make his favourite comfort food. If it works for him, it’s sure to work for you, right?

Langa’s not as angry as Reki but that doesn’t mean he isn’t itching to go and find whoever hurt your cat and teach them a lesson.

But in the meantime, he’ll keep you company and do what he can to help ease the pain you’re in.

Miya might be more distraught than you are. After everything he did to help find your furry friend, this happens?

He’ll probably need some comfort as well. It’s mutual. You give him hugs, he’ll give you hugs. Just don’t tell the others about this! He’s got a reputation to uphold.

Once he calms down a bit, he’s going on every social media platform he put posts on about your missing cat and giving the people who helped an update.

He’s probably found out exactly what happened to your cat by this point so he’s doxxing the culprit on those platforms as well. What? It’s not his fault their information was so easy to find…

Joe’s able to do a lot more than any of the kids, mostly because he’s got more life experience. He’s going to contact the authorities as soon as possible so that the culprit is brought to justice.

Then he’s making you your favourite food and sitting with you for a while. He’s happy to talk about anything or nothing, as long as he’s helping you feel even a tiny bit better.

Much like Reki, he’s got a lot of anger building inside him towards whoever hurt your cat but he’ll wait to let it out.

He will let it out though. Whether physically or verbally, is another matter but he’s certainly going to give the culprit a piece of his mind.

Cherry is going to take a far more subtle approach to the situation than Joe. His first priority is making sure you’re okay without smothering you.

Whatever form of comfort you want, he’ll do. Want some space? Need to talk? Want your mind taken off everything? You got it.

As soon as you’re okay though, Cherry’s enacting his revenge plan. He won’t play an active role in bringing the culprit to justice but you can be sure he’s the one orchestrating everything.

He’s calling the authorities so legal justice can be brought about. And then, should word get out around S that someone dared to hurt the pet of the partner of one of their top skater’s? Well, that’s hardly Cherry’s fault…

Adam is seething. How dare they hurt your cat and, by extension, hurt you? He’s going to take revenge as fast as possible.

Of course, he’ll make sure you’re okay first. You are his top priority after all. But as soon as he’s sure you’ll be okay, he’s putting Tadashi in charge of keeping you company and heading off to his office.

While there, he’ll call in a few favours from a variety of different places (both reputable and not) before slipping out of the house.

A mysteriously dressed man with wild blue hair will visit the culprit and deal out some justice before disappearing. Shortly after, the police will arrive to arrest the culprit. What? No, Adam was in his office the whole time…

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Hey, did you enjoy this? If you like my writing, please consider donating to my Ko-Fi page! This will allow me to make some money off my writing, something I enjoy doing.

ko-fi.com/justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms

Important Note: Please only donate if you are financially able to. If you are currently in a position where you can't donate, a like, comment or reblog will mean just as much.

[shepherds-of-haven]

Which of the characters would be the best at matchmaking/setting the MC up with someone else? I feel like Trouble would be an awesome wingman 👀

Good question! Let me think...

From best to worst wingman:

Lavinet: she lives for matchmaking, and she's extremely good at it, both in pairing the people in question up and nudging them towards realizing their feelings, but also in being subtle about it! I think the only time she's ever failed in this regard was when she didn't realize that her lady-in-waiting Clara had a secret paramour (her now-fiance Pendric), but had Clara told her about it, she would have helped them along then too 😌 (not that they really needed it lol)

Briony: she's not always as subtle as Lavinet, but she can't be matched in her sheer enthusiasm for facilitating ✨ true love ✨ and her bubbly "oh, X and Y should go on patrol together! 👀" can be read as casual and natural enough that many people won't pick up on her intentions! Some people still do, but in the right circumstances (like if they already like each other), this can still be more of a help than a hindrance!

Red: I think he can really be an excellent wingman, but the interest in meddling in other peoples' affairs/relationships isn't normally there... he doesn't want to be held responsible if the couple doesn't end up being compatible or if things end badly, so he'd prefer to be left out of it 😅 But if he does get involved or takes an interest enough, he's really very good at it!

Trouble: I think he's only a good wingman when he doesn't know he's being a wingman... It's like, if you tell him, "Hey Trouble, go over to that random person and talk to them on my behalf, I'm interested in them 👀" he would be quite bad at it... or even if you tell him, "Trouble, I have a crush on Briony" I don't think he's the best person to engineer that matchup, partially because he's really bad at concealing his true thoughts and feelings and being deceptive, so he's going to make things quite obvious... but if you don't tell him about these things ahead of time, he is somehow amazing at inadvertently hyping you up to a person or casually throwing the two of you together that he's quite the matchmaking savant!

Shery: she is emotionally perceptive, #1 shipper in the Order (like she LIVES to ship, she LIVES to matchmake and squeal quietly when things are going well between the two of you), and subtle enough to be a great matchmaker if you want her to quietly orchestrate/engineer situations from behind the scenes... just DON'T ask her to go over and like woo someone for you by proxy, the way some wingpeople are expected to do! Other than that, though, she's quite successful, and can lie surprisingly well--at least enough to not to give away your secrets!

Chase: like Red, the talent and ability are there, but the interest isn't always... like he's always notice if two people are into each other or if they would be a good match, but he has surprisingly little interest in helping to facilitate this unless 1) he's specifically asked or 2) he's already good friends with both parties. Unlike Lavinet or Briony, he won't bestir himself to get involved in the case of two recruits, but he will if it's, like, MC and Trouble. And even if one of those conditions are met, he's so unpredictable that sometimes he can have incredible success rates, or he can use the knowledge for Evil, like deliberately pairing you in awkward situations or calling you out in front of your crush just to make you squirm because he's a troll and is greatly amused by doing things like asking "who do you think is the best-looking person in this room, MC?" (knowing full well that they're trying to hide a crush on so-and-so) or full-on inventing situations to make drive one of the crushes into such a jealous fit that they HAVE to act, or daring them to kiss each other while playing an "innocent" card game... the man gives no fucks. He will get you results like 95% of the time, but the process of getting there is chaotic and you have to be so courageous to put that faith in him and endure it in the meantime 😩

Ayla (tied with Tallys?): her method of being a wingwoman literally just involves walking up to the person in question, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder, and saying bluntly, "MC is into you (and/or wants to bang). Are you into MC?" In terms of subtlety, this is horrible, but it cuts straight to the chase and works like 50% of the time because most of the time, the people already like each other or are up for it lol, so she's not the worst to ask for this!

Tallys (tied with Ayla?): I think she's far more subtle than Ayla, but she might actually go opposite way in that she might be too subtle... not only do Elves tend to move quite slowly when it comes to other people's relationships (lack of time/urgency), but the way she'd pair people up/try to "nudge" them towards each other (like hyping MC up to someone they like) might be so subtle and low-key that it would probably fly over a lot of people's heads, especially if you were dealing with someone like a Trouble or an Ayla--like "yeah, I agree, MC is the best, why are you... telling me that" Tallys, trying harder: "I think they'd make for an ideal romantic partner, wouldn't you agree" Trouble: "......oh shit, does MC know you're in love with them??"

Riel: okay, I think if the interest were there, he'd dominate this list--his knowledge of people, their psychology and body language, and his ability to manipulate situations (particularly social dynamics) to suit his needs would put him at the very top of the matchmakers, matched (haha) only by Lavinet in that she's much more natural about engineering these things than he is. However, he could give less of a shit about interfering in anyone's relationships unless it suits some larger purpose of his or benefits him in some way... Otherwise, if you ask him to "talk to Shery on your behalf and encourage a love match between the two of you" he'll just give you his 😒 face and tell you to do it yourself

Blade - Halek: these two are tied for absolute worst. Just don't even bother. "Wingman" doesn't even exist in the vocabulary of words that Blade understands and Halek will just groan and grumble so much about what a hassle you've placed on him that you're literally better off using Caine than you would be for either of them. (Let's not forget that Blade is usually 1) your boss and 2) main enforcer of the "don't date other Shepherds" rule so it's just not a good idea to ask him to not only look the other way about breaking that rule, but to go even farther and ask him to be your wingman LOL the sheer audacity)

[iamthemoonagedaydream]

I think I'd genuinely enjoy crimson rivers so much more (so far) if james died in the games. Only james.

I don't know if it's just because I'm on a high from Lord of the flies and love the thought that went into every tiny detail, but I think a fic finally about how real the circumstances are for the characters would be a literary masterpiece. Making it seem more real and less happy ending fairytale would just add to it.

James learning to protect Reg while experiencing all these emotions he never even knew he could feel WHILE trying to do his best to change the publics view on the games, for the greater good. He'd learn all the information he could while training to protect Regulus, and only ever himself to just keep Reg alive. Losing his life to a game that is to punish those who are long gone and is in no way fair. A game that was orchestrated to oppress thousands, that others view with glee.

I think what would make it worse, though, is that the scene where James threatens with the venom would play out the same except for when James drinks the venom.

He'd drink it because noone would believe him not to, because noone believed their story on James' part was ENTIRELY genuine. They thought he loved Reg, but didn't believe he'd go to the extremes such as that. What makes it worse is that they thought he was acting for all the wrong reasons. He was acting to cover up his hurt for being put in such a disgusting place. They just thought he was acting because he didn't love Regulus enough.

And of course they need a winner, don't they?

The fuckers would pull Regulus up from the river.

Throughout the fic, we'd get the pov changes like we did in crimson rivers, and then the final blow.

It ends with James' pov just before he takes the potion and the pain he feels as he does, then Regulus'.

Oh, God. Regulus' pov.

It'd describe him panting for air once he emerged from the water, and then a short passing description of the river. The hands. The blood. The blood.

Then he's angry. Why is he on land? What's happening. He was going to die for James. Where is James?

Where is James.

Where is he.

Good question Regulus, where is James.

Amd it ends with Regulus realising he's going to have to live without James. And he's never loved James more.

He's screaming, shouting and bawling as he sees his body being carried away in one of those helicopter things when he realises that he did that for nothing. Because James is now dead.

For Regulus.

[zackbuildit]

NEP essay: The Vois

1) what is Vois theory?

Vois theory is a conjecture about the nature, and more specifically, the origin of our universe. Vois theory states, quite simply, that reality as we know it did not form gradually under its own circumstances, but rather via a sudden process caused by the simultaneous interaction of numerous universes.

2) What universes?

Kylologists such as myself, who study the history of the origins of this world before year 1, have narrowed down a minimum inventory of at least x universes, though the upper number is still unknown. These are as follows, named after the sapient species to have originated in them:

Elvolycanic universe, anthropic universe, draconic universe, wyvernic universe, ornithomeridic universe, and formic universe, but these are simply what are definitive and confirmed. Many more played a role in the birth of this reality, and investigation into these is ongoing

3) What kinds of universes?

After careful analysis, it has been demonstrated that all known influences to our reality fall into one of two categories:

The first is those that seemed to be orchestrated around a central conflict, with all but on group of beings in the world having failed to resolve it and the given group nearly succeeding before the universe is suddenly interrupted by the collision. This category is referred to as protagonistic universes, with various protagonistic realities seeming to have different themes and central conflicts

The second are much more vague, and are identifiable in the sense of being common "themes". A key example is the overabundance of themes centered on the numbers 6, 7, and 8, and color wheels, which applies everywhere from the fundamentals of magic to massive things such as the planets of our solar system, and even 6 cube-form stars visible at night. These are referred to as thematic universes, due to their seeming incorporeal nature.

4) Where did those realities come from then?

After careful retrospective analysis of these worlds, kylologists have come to the conclusion that answering this question is simply impossible within the realm of our own universe. Sadly, some questions truly are unknowable.

Yeah well scratch that. You live long enough, you figure it out, everyone would if they were ancient enough in this 0-forsaken universe. So, here's the thing: the Vois is fiction. I don't just mean as in "oh this is unreality and I'm clarifying". No I mean, the Vois is literally what fiction is from your perspective. Whenever you people have an idea, the universe you're in checks if it's factually accurate, and if not? Boom, a new world is made in the Vois where it's true. Every idea you've had, every lie you've told, every mistake in logic you make, a world is made around that.

We're stuck in this weirdo reality cuz someone up where you guys are made a big fucking mistake, and there was one too many realities right up all touchy-touchy

[nulltune]

a general / vague-ish backstory post, inspired by canon but much more hakuno-centric cuz that's the focus of this blog, babyyy! if you wanna know more a lil more about the stuff hakuno's been through without getting into fate/extra, this is the post for you 😌💖 it's just the barebones of it though and i'll probably add more details depending on whatever verse/setting i'm throwing her at ✨️ (tho i might just leave it at Amnesiac in some cases 🤷‍♀️ rlly just depends tbh !)

can't recall her past. she has no memories of a home or a family, she doesn't even know who she is or what values she believes in. she's just a nobody with no passions, desires, emotions or anything of value. nothing.

she has no reason to fight either, but when she's forced into a circumstance where it's either kill or be killed (think of some battle royale kinda thing sgfjsh), what drove her to fight was just the basic survival instinct of not wanting to die.

"Even though you can’t describe what it is yet, there must be something that gives you a purpose. Through combat, find the reason you fight, and the reason you can't lose. Find your answers. It’s your responsibility to have the answers when you survive this war."

(for some context, remember her canon source is fate which has a "holy grail war", basically a battle royale with heroic spirits, it's not really important rn but yeah that's why you'll see it being called a war!)

^ advice she received from an opponent she defeated which really left a mark on her. and as she continued to fight, everyone she encountered gave her something to learn and remember in one way or another.

at the end of it, she is "a soul that has been tempered by crisis and conflict". hakuno learned a lot from her battles and though she was the weakest at the start, she ended as the strongest. (nOT to the point of being insanely strong btw gdjfhsdg i'd say she's probably stronger than an average person but hakuno Cannot beat goku </3 )

it fits the ideology the person who orchestrated the whole thing believed in: that conflict ultimately strengthens people, making them grow and change into something stronger.

hakuno herself is living proof of that, but the conclusion she ended up with is much more sentimental.

she started out empty and hollow but grew to become an incredibly compassionate and softhearted person. though they were her enemies, she did her best to try and understand them and through that, she came to understand the value of a life, bonds and connections, and humanity.

she's like a doll that gained a heart <3 (which is how i rlly want my portrayal of her to be like !!!) there was no substance at the start beyond a pretty image, but it's her experiences, interactions and memories with others that slowly fill that emptiness.

in the end, her conclusion was that this system that forced to kill or be killed is just rotten at its core. so though she was encouraged to keep this cycle going, after seeing all the suffering and experiencing it herself, what she wants is to put an end to all this cruelty.

(canon has hakuno resolve all her issues and die at the end of the story but i'm halting her character development for interaction purposes 😉)

she made the resolve to do so fully knowing that she'd have to give up her life to accomplish this, but ended up surviving somehow.

her desire to live is still as strong as ever so it's not that she wanted to die, deep down she really didn't want to disappear but kept it to herself because she feels like it'd be "too greedy" of her.

despite her better understanding of others, hakuno still doesn't fully understand herself and her own emotions tbh! while she has more substance to her, she's still trying to find herself.

anddd she still questions whether she has the right to be alive, what worth she has, and just what place she has in the world she feels so detached from. definitely has her own unresolved issues from what she's been through ^_T

[valorxdrive]

https://youtu . be/rBSuDFL8uAk?si=ZWd7amG-HUznB-jF

^ good question

It's more of a forward question to me.

The answer? Yes, Sora is a happy person and is happy. It just never meant it's the only thing that he comes to feel, just like anyone else.

_____

I sat down and watched the video and had my agreements and disagreements. A primary thing being I believe the nuances of some scenes they picked (primarily in KH1 and CoM) aren't done in good faith. While in 1 the 'Toxic positivity' I heavily disagree with as that throws Donald and Goofy in bad faith. A genuine line has to be seen for the situation. 1. The Gummi ship will literally power down on heavy despair, but secondly, it's important to have a solid foundation in his circumstance of helping the worlds as being off his game can quite literally get him killed.

As for CoM, we can't even say that's completely Sora as the Namine rewrites of memory are also Namine projecting her perception. Similar to Riku replica, her power was drawing a level of mind control that altered a touch of his qualities. Where he was gaining a touch of that KH1 Riku energy in the CoM part of the series. A centralized, obsessive focus that is not him and leading him to do things he normally never would. (That snap argument at his allies in this particular way shows that the Castle (Namine) was doing exactly what Marluxia warned, even though he's orchestrating that. The goal was to confuse and deceive.) When we see the truth of Sora's decision after learning of the manipulations, we're seeing that GENUINE him at the forefront again.

Now if we're to bring in the conversation about his self-doubt, that he belittles himself and what he can truly do, this is where I'm really listening. Yes! This has been a long running chord of weakness through him, further exacerbated by the Organization and with instances in KH3. A Keyblade War was on the horizon and naturally such a cataclysm, creation ending event can even get the best on edge. He needs to be ready and there's the creeping horror he may not hold his appropriate weight against the machinations of Xehanort.

What I believe this video is trying to highlight is that like everyone else, he has weaknesses. They show and so do the cracks. However, what it heavily sleeps on is good faith in Sora's nature as a person. He's someone who enjoys looking on the brighter side, to recognize the grim and rough aspects and try to see a horizon beyond that.

Despite this being a journey to help make things right, he loves the fact he's out there to a degree too, seeing new worlds, meeting new people and taking the pain of his past and applying it to a more positive outcome. Does he miss home? Yes. Is he still dealing with a wealth of other issues deep within? Also yes. Does he hide that self-doubt until it all shatters at the Keyblade Graveyard? Absolutely.

I believe this video just leans too hard in trying to show a 'tortured soul' aspect in the effort of showcasing these humanizing qualities.

I'm fully aware that a nice chunk KH fanbase can be blind in considering him a one note if the pain isn't forwardly displayed on screen. (Or maybe more 'impactful' and dramatized cutscenes?) This felt like it could've taken the value of his character more into account in my opinion.

[abybweisse]

isn't ronald a bit too apprehensive in this ch? collecting souls is their job, i get it, but it seems too much even for ron. what i'm trying to say is i believe there's more to it, like ron must complete a task by collecting the soul(s), maybe its something relevant to the investigation

Investigation at Athena Sanatorium

Well, I was saying earlier in posts (as well as in comments) that Ronald might not be there simply to collect souls. We’ve seen this before: a reaper sent ahead to investigate before a large number of people are killed. Examples:

William is sent to Noah’s Arc Circus before many of the performers are killed at Baron Kelvin’s manor and Phantomhive Manor. They are not killed on circus grounds, nor are the kidnapped children killed there, though many children also die at Kelvin’s manor. We don’t know why he was sent to investigate, but it could be due to the fact many of the deaths are caused by Sebastian, a demon. And William is the one who follows to Kelvin’s manor, so that’s the important part, not the deaths at Phantomhive Manor, where Grelle ends up going. These impending deaths are investigated because most of them are caused by a demon.

Ronald is sent ahead to board Campania, in preparation for ~1500 expected to die there. It’s not because of Sebastian this time but because of Undertaker. The ship is destined to hit an iceberg anyway, but Undertaker brings all those bizarre dolls, and they kill people even before the ship hits the iceberg. Specifically, Ronald says he was sent to investigate all the reanimated corpses, because the reaper organization doesn’t understand why they are walking around. Ronald has to prove that their souls had already been collected; they really are walking corpses, not paperwork goof-ups or reapers failing to do their job. These deaths have to be investigated because extra deaths are being caused by soulless bodies and a rogue reaper.

The mystery person shown in ch137 is likely a reaper sent to investigate the impending deaths at the cult’s sacrificial ritual. We know it’s not Grelle or Ronald, because they are clueless about it. It could be William… or someone we haven’t yet met. Not all of the deaths would be under investigation; the children previously killed by the cult didn’t work to summon any demons, so there’s nothing “unusual” about their deaths (they were killed by humans). This event is investigated because the majority of the deaths that day are caused by a demon answering a summons and making a contract.

Madam Red is being investigated by Grelle… until Grelle decides to help with the murders. I’m not sure why Madam Red was actually being investigated; she’s just a human… on a killing spree. Perhaps reapers investigate serial killers, even if they are mere humans? 🤷‍♀️

So, what’s interesting enough about this situation, at Athena Sanatorium, to get the reaper organization to send someone ahead to investigate, days or even weeks before the impending deaths? Baldo works for someone who has a demon contract, but Baldo himself is human. Lau is probably just a human, too. So is Ada, and even Layla is probably a regular (though sadistic) human being. And the patients are very human.

But ch185 tells us that there will be a blood pickup the very next day, and we know (from Mey-Rin’s and Ran-Mao’s assignment) that Lord Polaris and other cloaked figures will arrive to help orchestrate that pickup, even if it’s just regular people who load up the carriages. And we know that Lord Polaris reports back to Undertaker and real Ciel after the operation at Heathfield Manor is destroyed. If Lord Polaris or another “lord of the stars” shows up the next day at the sanatorium, they could kill people when they find out the blood isn’t ready for pickup. These “lords” are advanced bizarre dolls, after all, so that would be deaths caused in unusual circumstances… and Lord Polaris is already on edge, angry at people for failing at their jobs. Considering what he says and does when he makes his previous report, he could easily “go off” and lash out against Ada or anyone else who refuses to let him take the collected blood… or when Ada tells him they stopped collecting.

But still. Why is Ronald snooping around and listening to Baldo and Ada talk? It’s possible that Ada was on the list to die right then, but Baldo listens to her, gives her an ultimatum, and she complies. So, Baldo doesn’t kill her. But that doesn’t necessarily mean she was on the list for death just yet. Could be that Baldo was never going to shoot her; I mean the reapers might have already known she wasn’t going to die right then. But “tomorrow”, when the others come to pick up the blood? If they try to kill her, Ronald will be stuck with a decision to make: should he collect her soul… or should he give her a shinigami pass?

It would be very interesting if that’s why we are privy to this particular investigation. We have yet to see a reaper choose not to collect. And he might decide that Ada living would make a large enough impact on humanity that it would be worth letting her live. That’s something I’d like to see.

[lov3nerdstuff]

Hi Kay!

I just wanted to take a moment and say how deeply moving (and overall comforting) I find your writing to be! I've gone through almost the entirety of your masterlist twice in the past month alone and have found myself returning more often to the pieces of literature/poems your reference sometimes. (Especially that one poem by Benedict Smith! I've read a few more by him because of you and they're just wonderfully lovely 💛 so I'm eternally thankful to you for including it.)

I may be wrong in assuming, but I believe you may have studied/are currently studying a degree involving literature. I hope this isn't too foreward of me but I was wandering if you have any other works of literature that you'd recommend? (I'd love to read anything you recommend from poems to plays 💛) I'm slightly embaressed to say but the works I've read are quite limited to a highschool level and since I'm currently studying Pharmacy, there are very few people who can recommend me such moving works. :)

I also feel like I should apologise for writing such a large ask, so please accept this apology as well hehe 💕🥺

Sincerely,

Bek 🌻

Hey there Bek 💚💕✨

First of all... I'm incredibly sorry for how long it took me to reply to this ask, I know you sent it weeks ago and I'm honestly just ashamed of myself for only replying now! I've been taking a bit of a Tumblr break again, or rather a break from literally everything, and I guess not having written anything in a while made me feel guilty whenever I opened Tumblr, so... All I can say for myself really is that I'm sorry you had to wait so long! Again, I never ever ignore anyone, I promise! It just sometimes takes a while for me to reply 😅🙈

Now, I'm so happy to hear that you've been enjoying my writing! 🥺🥰 Hearing that it's comforting and inspiring to you is honestly such a relief and indeed does make me happy more than I can say 💚 It's so cool that you're checking up on all the references I make aaahhh 🥺🥺🥺 I love it 😁 You're always more than welcome, love! I don't think I could stop including references to literature, culture, history and the science around it even if I tried 😅☺️

And yeah, I did study classics and newer literature as a minor for my undergrad degree 😄 But tbh I still work with literally a lot even now (I'm in grad school for media and cultural studies) even though it's technically not something I've been properly taught ☺️ I'm just a nerd who likes to learn on her own, and with media and culture you can pretty much delve into almost anything you want 😂😅🤷🏻‍♀️

Now, it's not forward at all to ask me for literature recommendations! 😁😃 I truly love recommending stuff!!! I have a few up my sleeve, even though you've probably heard of a few already, for obvious reasons: A lot of what I truly enjoyed reading was something Tom Hiddleston has worked on in one way or another! It's truly a magnificent guideline for picking new literature... Just look up the literary origins of his films/shows/plays and you will be in for quality literature most of the time! I don't think I've ever mentioned it on here, but me reading High-Rise (JG Ballard) because I heard Tom would be partaking in the film adaptation was actually what sparked my love and passion for literature!!! Yep, it's that good. Now on to the recommendations though 😁(This... got rather long):

Plays

Anything by Harold Pinter really, but for obvious reasons you'll find a lot of additionally fun stuff for Betrayal, which is lovely and truly funny if you're in on the kind of humour btw

Medea by Euripides (a classic, but I love it nonetheless... You can find translations in almost every language) ((and pls stay away from Seneca's Medea, because ugh... Euripides is far better AND the og story, as much as anyone can say that for Greek mythology)

La Bohème by Puccini (I know, this is technically an opera, but if you read the libretto it's honestly just like a play... And if you're up for it, the og story is in prose and written by Henri Murger... It's better than the opera, but oftentimes more difficult to find) ((this one is hilarious and basically explains an entire cultural subgroup in the 19th century)

Faust by Goethe (many people hate it, but I LOVE this one!!! It's also been translated into any and every language, and it's so interesting philosophically!!! It's also referenced SO freaking often literally everywhere, and the operas and ballets based on it are always my fave) ((there's technically Faust I and Faust II, but you're good to go just reading the first one)

Anything by Shakespeare, obviously... Though I do love me my Hamlet like every other literature enthusiast (Yes, I can do that one famous soliloquy in act 3 scene 1 by heart as well...)

Poetry

Again, anything Shakespeare for the win, but I LOVE the sonnets and keep a copy of them with me most of the time (Yes, I own multiple copies of the sonnets...) ((My faves are 116 and 91, but there's always so much truth to be found in there!!!))

A lot of the stuff William Blake wrote is amazing, though you have to pick carefully with him if certain religious motives aren't your thing... I love The Tyger, which is an individual poem, and the collection of works called Tyger, Tyger which does have many good ones and a few ones that are a little more on the mediocre side

Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas (I know this one by heart as well... It's beautiful, and there's a version of Hiddleston reading it on YouTube, which gives you even more goosebumps than the poem does anyway)

Invictus by William Ernest Henley (same for this one, also read by the one and only) ((I love to read this when I'm feeling down or powerless))

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot (This is another wow piece with many quotable lines and truths... I love it a lot and keep coming back to it! It's also a great example of how literary modernism tried to condense the complexity and passing of time and history into a single frame that had to be intrinsically poetical in nature... As in, this poem could've been a short story in any other period, but modernists loved to make everything a poem so here you go)

Der Zauberlehrling by Goethe (This one sucks in all English translations I’ve found, poetically speaking, but in German it’s such a fun piece! If you’ve ever seen the Disney ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ with Mickey Mouse or listened to the orchestral piece by Paul Dukas, then this poem proves very useful in truly understanding either! But again, the English translation should only be taken for informational value... The German one is also worded hilariously)

Prose

Short edited by Alan Ziegler (This is a collection of short prose forms that honestly is a must for me... I love this book to pieces and have had it for years now! It’s an international anthology, so you’ll find more and less famous authors from all around the world represented with short stories, prose poems, short essays and just curious and interesting snippets of writing! I draw a lot of inspiration from this book)

High-Rise by JG Ballard (As mentioned above, I owe this book part of my personality... I don’t think I would be the same person without having read it. It’s not necessarily full of wisdom, but if you’re interested in a different kind of portrayal of the human condition, then this is the read you need to take a look at)

The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers (This is another piece that changed my perception of literature, even though this is a more ordinary and ‘fun’-value read... It’s one of my favourite books and it’s endlessly entertaining! So if the classics are a bit heavy for you, this one is perfect for casual readers as well! Its value really does lie more in the realisation of how fun literature can be, and the freedom you have as an author... So really, I could recommend everything by Moers, his style is amazing both in the German original and in the English translation. Yes, I’ve read both.)

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (This is comedic gold, stylistic gold and generally a bloody perfect book. Also a ‘fun’-value read, but it also does a magnificent job at showing you what you can do with literature, and how well-developed characters are supposed to be written)

The Penguin Book of the Undead (Penguin Classics) edited by Scott G. Bruce (This book is basically an education on fifteen hundred years of supernatural encounters and how culture wrote, used and perceived them. You get introductory texts for different periods and social groups, explaining how and why ghost stories were written and used, followed by passages of the prime source texts (eg. ancient necromancy shown on The Odyssey). Really, this book is just for cultural history nerds)

The Earthquake in Chile by Kleist (This isn’t necessarily one of my faves, but it has helped me understand what studying literature and culture can do for you. In case anyone remembers my insistence in Wicked Game that you gotta know what a pomegranate symbolises... this novella is such an instance where this knowledge would prove useful. Generally, it gives many opportunities to think about privilege and circumstance)

The Symposium by Plato (You’ll probably not want to read the entire collection of speeches tbh... But the concepts introduced mainly here and in some of Plato’s other work are well worth looking into! For example, the ‘double being’ introduces a concept that in modern fiction is called soulmates... Just sayin’)

[onlyfangz]

my school bully killed herself. i want to rant about it. warning, it's a lot. but feel free to read it, i need to feel like someone's hearing me.

i feel like ive spoke about this on here before. but i found out in the past month that my school bully died. when i say bully, i don't mean teasing and name-calling, i mean beat the shit out of me on the regular, ripping clumps of hair out of my head, orchestrated a false allegation against my dad to drag us through a court case type of bully. and this bully basically knocked me off of my life trajectory. i was a severe agoraphobe for years, severe social anxiety, i had a stutter that led to mutism, i was institutionalised twice, i tried to kill myself several times over starting from the age of seven (that's not a typo, i do actually mean seven, not seventeen), and i missed all of school between the ages of 12-16, which is when i left. and she killed herself. in december. and i'm having a really hard time processing it. a lot of memories i hadn't thought about in years, that truthfully, i didn't really remember, all of a sudden is all i can think about. and they're stretching out for years and years, even after she moved to a different school. and through all of this im having to see people mourn her, and i want to scream at them all, even though i know it's not their fault, everyone has at least one person that cares about them, even the people that have hurt us. i've been looking up articles about people who's bullies have died, and they all talk about how they managed to posthumously forgive their bullies because they feel sorry for them, especially in cases similar to hers in which they died due to suicide or drugs or stuff like that, and it's making me feel so upset at myself that i can't bring myself to feel anything other than angry that she took the easy way out when i didn't. i would never think that about suicide normally, i don't think it's easy. but because it's her... the spiteful part of myself that i know exists is angry she didn't suffer more. because from my point of view, all of her suffering was from the circumstances she was in, MY suffering was because of HER. all of these articles keep telling me that i should be the bigger person, to move on not for her sake, but for mine. but i can't. i just can't. nothing that happened to her could make me feel a shred of sympathy for her because at the end of the day she got to live her life as normal up until she killed herself, and i can't even talk to my friends about anything before the age of 18 because it's all unbearably depressing. i can't even talk to my friends about the stress of exams, or how my prom was, or school crushes, romances, exploring my identity, teen troublemaking, teachers i liked, teachers i hated, school friends, because i didn't HAVE any of those things. they all have these abundances of memories that they show me and tell me about and im supposed to, what? tell them about the time we played charades in the fucking psych ward to distract us all from the fact that all the staff had been called away bc someone tried to kill themselves in another ward?? i missed so much of my life because of her, so no, fuck forgiveness, she deserves to miss out on the rest of hers, and i hope she's rotting in hell.

[grasslandgirl]

i must have missed the director’s commentary post when you rbed it but. ⭐️ for i pour my heart a new foundation?

OOOOH YES MARY WOULD LOVE TO!! <3

(oh my god i forgot this fic is literally 10k skjvnskfjvnsf)

anyway! i'm just a sucker for a good coffee shop au and for a good bookstore au and why have one when you can have both, right?? i really liked the idea of nonmagic cody who's still something of a little shit getting begrudgingly adopted by the dream team SPECIFICALLY sofie who sees him and is like "god fuck i guess i have to make sure this screw up doesnt die accidentally and actually makes some fucking friends"

ummm i dont remember. the specific circumstances of the au itself other than it was in the middle of tuc2 airing last december and everyone was DEEP in the codypete sauce, myself included, and i just got really inspired to write a silly goofy au!!

one of my favorite things about it is the movie night and sleepover that sofie orchestrates and convinces both cody and pete to hike over to staten island to hang out at her house and she spends the ENTIRE TIME playing blatant matchmaker between the two of them

also this moment specifically:

“Oh yeah,” Cody said, face twisted in condescension, “that’s what they call me, that goth science guy.” Their eyes caught on the mug Pete had set on the counter in front of them; eyebrows raising comically high.

Pete twisted the mug around to look at the design on the front; he’d pulled it out of the cabinet without really paying attention to what it said, even though he knew Sofia and Dale’s cheesy mug collection was legendary. Good Morning, Loverboy! The mug proclaimed in gaudy, bright red bubble letters, complete with a cartoon face with heart-eyes bugging out of their head.

“Uh,” Pete glanced between the mug and Cody’s face, stomach twisting in abrupt nerves. Fuck, shit, Sofie couldn’t have planned this better if she tried, Pete thought, before turning the mug back around and trying to laugh it off. “Hah, Sof’s got some weird fucking mugs.” Pete started shovelling sugar into the coffee. “I mean, the one I’m using says At Least We’re Better Than Jersey, which, I mean yeah, but what the fuck, right?”

“I’m from Jersey, dude.”

“Oh. Fuck.” Pete pushed the mug across the counter to Cody. “At least you live in New York now, right? Can’t control where we grow up.”

Cody stared at him for a moment, the same unwavering, sullen glare that used to unnerve Pete back when Cody was just Night Angel, the cute goth barista, and Pete was just a guy who’d come in and get tea sometimes before work. Now, Pete could see the twitch of their mouth as Cody tried- and eventually failed- not to smile. “Shut the fuck up, dude. Whatever.” They picked up the mug, cradling it in both hands, and took a sip. “Not the worst.”

so much love can be stored in the Goofy Novelty Mug !!

send in a fic and ill give you some “director’s commentary” about it!!

[zoffra]

Why Hisoka decided to kill the troupe ?

Analysis in two parts:

1- Hisoka's pre-fight personality

2- Hisoka's post fight psychological change

Part 1 -

Let us make a point on Hisoka's character.

Hisoka's a character who takes pleasure in fighting strong opponents, it's his reason for living, it's like a drug in the proper sense of the term. If he doesn't fight for a long time, or if he's about to fight and - for whatever reason - the fight doesn't start, he'll kill anyone to satisfy his need and calm his excitement. This happens, for example, during hunter exam after meeting Kurapika and Leorio (= satisfying his need), or after Illumi's meeting with Killua and Alluka (= calming his excitement).

Other than that, he carefully chooses his opponents and will even refuse fights if he judges that the person isn't worth it.

Hisoka's incredibly patient. In order to fight Chrollo, he'll put in a lot of effort. He joins the spiders - which already isn't an easy task - and waits for three years that an opportunity presents itself, so that he finds himself alone with the leader and can fight him. The other members don't interest him - except maybe Machi to a much lesser extent.

After Chrollo lost his Nen, Hisoka assists the troupe in search for the exorcist. Shizuku assumes that Chrollo promised him a fight in exchange for his help. It's not known how long Chrollo's deprived of his Nen, whats certain is that several months go by.

Abengan's Nen works like this: he invokes a Nen beast whose shape and size varies according to the curse's power posed by his user. The stronger the curse, the longer that will takes time- and you can be sure that Kurapika's chain was far more powerful than Genthru's bomb.

Later, we learn from Gitarakuru that after recovering his Nen, Chrollo fled. During this time, he returned to Meteor city to prepare his fight and steal various capacities - in particular that of the dean, Shalnark and Kortopi. Finally, after all these waiting years, Hisoka's finally rewarded and they'll fight in a place - that Chrollo himself chooses, as floor master : Celestial tower.

I'll not describe the fight, I can only advise those who haven't read the manga to go and find out for themselves. If I could sum it up in one word, it would be 'disappointing'. But not for us, readers, for Hisoka.

Chrollo used sneaky methods, avoiding to maximum close contacts with Hisoka, while sending his puppets to fight for him, waiting for opportunities to hit him critically. Warning! This isn't a criticism, I'm not saying it's something bad, these are just the facts.

We know that Chrollo's calculating and that beyond his extraordinary physical abilities, he distinguishes himself from others by his intelligence. For me, this fight is the very reflection of his personality, calculated like music paper and orchestrated by Chrollo as master of ceremonies.

It's also a nose thumb at the relationship they've always had. Hisoka spent more time killing puppets with no interest to reach Chrollo, rather than fighting him. He finds himself in the situation where he has always been.

At the time of his 'death', Hisoka made a pact with the Nen to bring him back to life. By using condition and oath - his death being the condition to be fulfilled - he wish that his heart's functions and his lungs will be restored. And from there, the troupe will have big problems.

Part 2 -

Spiders made several mistakes. When they inspected Hisoka's body, they were negligent. When Shalnark testified to Hisoka's death by asphyxiation, no one found his hands position strange. By that I mean they're seasoned Nen users, cold-blooded killers, they know that Nen gets stronger after death.

An important detail is that you can revive a suffocation victim - it shouldn't last too long of course, but it's not as if his head was cut off. And that's exactly what Hisoka will do.

He probably used Ken to absorb the explosion, surrounded his heart and his lungs with his Gum, then practiced a cardiac massage to resuscitate himself, - I pass about after-effects that his brain would normally have undergone, which is an ease logical scenario.

Machi said one interesting thing: '[Hisoka] still paid me in advance.' This means that she was in contact with him before, and Hisoka asked her to stitch up his wounds after the fight. Machi probably understood it as 'if I win the fight, can you heal me', but for Hisoka there was probably a double meaning: healing his wounds if they were too serious so that he do himself, or if he hadn't been in fit state to do it.

Biggest mistake spiders have made has been to underestimate Hisoka.

Towards fight's end (chap 355) when a puppets horde rush towards him, Hisoka has an angry expression. Hisoka's neutral facial expression is a mischievous pout, or in fights where he has to fight seriously, he has a concentrated expression.

It's extremely rare to see him angry, and I think his change of mind manifests himself at that time. Hisoka's face takes half a page's place and is a terrifying blackness, it's an important moment. All accumulated frustration since years literally explodes during this bitter taster fight.

When he wakes up, we don't immediately notice his change of mind, but when he speaks it's clearer.

'Reality knows how to wake you up.' Hisoka realizes - if not already done - that he'll not be able to defeat Chrollo with his usual methods.

A little higher, I said the trio had underestimated Hisoka but I also think of Chrollo. During the fight he was arrogant, explaining his abilities, inviting him to flee and then, telling him that isn't to taunt him - you can't make me believe thats true.

'If you've learned your lessons from this, then next time make sure to choose your opponent and the location you fight.' Machi's words complete Hisoka's decision, it was clearly not the thing to say to him at this precise moment.

This how Hisoka's change of mind worked for me. Hisoka's an irrational person but he killed with a certain consistent logic - strong ones who deserve his attention. His death - more precisely, circumstances of the fight leding to his death - played a major role in his transformation. He's no longer undefeated and has been ridiculed, Chrollo practically whistling when he sent his puppets against him.

'No matter where they go and who they are with, I won't stop until I kill them all' It's revenge.

His actions are no longer directed by the will to fight strong adversaries, they're guided by the outright brigade eradication.

Strangely, he leaves Machi alive. Don't tell me thats because he just wants she getting her message across to the other members, there were a thousand ways to warn Chrollo and the others without leaving her alive - and considering the awkward position she was in, he could have kill her without slightest concern. - In an interview, Togashi says that he didn't want to kill her at that time because he has other plans for her.

Kortopi was visibly relieving himself when he was killed. He was a pointless opponent for Hisoka, especially considering the situation in which he found himself. This proves once again his change of mind, it's a method of murderer.

Same method when he sends Kortopi's head to Shalnark. At that moment, Shalnark grabs his friend's head - which is edifying of stupidity - to verify that it's him, and Hisoka punches him.

On several occasions, I've read some people would have liked to see a real Shalnark vs Hisoka fight. But we had it, and difference in strength is too great. At that moment, it's true that Shalnark couldn't use his Hatsu, nevertheless he could still use his Nen but he didn't even had time to defend himself with his Ten.

We don't know if Hisoka kills Shalnark in one blow, it's possible that he survived for a moment. However, this isn't what the staging seems to evoke. The fight literally takes a half page, speed with which Hisoka starts the fight and shock's power when he hits Shalnark leaves no doubt as to the fight speed end. In addition, even though Hisoka's Nen strengthened, he was seriously injured - he was able to repair his limbs in appearance, but he has no healing ability like Machi or quick regeneration like an enhancer.

The last chapter page sounds like a real turning point. We knew Hisoka was sadistic, he likes to torture his opponents psychologically (cf: Kastro fight, Goto), but we had never seen him at work physically. After his fight, he took the trouble to stage the Shalnark's and Kortopi corpses, tying Shalnark to the swing like a puppet, refering to his ability and his fight against Chrollo.

Chapter ends abruptly with a sentence / thought from Hisoka: 'There are 10 left.'

Number 10 is interesting. At that moment, members still alive are the following: Phinks, Feitan, Machi, Kalluto, Nobunaga, Shizuku, Franklin, Bonorenov and Chrollo.

That makes 9. I consider that - even if he didn't see her die - Hisoka is aware of the Pakunoda's death. He spent a lot of time with members at Greed Island and Chrollo, it's impossible that he didn't learn it.

The 10th member is therefore Illumi - reader learns of his membership in the troupe only 20 chapters later -, he was therefore recruited before Hisoka announced his vendetta against spiders.

Last point I wanted to emphasize: when Hisoka says 'there is 10 left', he includes Chrollo. This shows that he no longer puts him on a pedestal, seeing him as the head or someone important. It's simply a leg to be eliminated.

Hisoka's personality has radically changed, he has finished playing.

[rappaccini]

1x04 rewatch | og deepdive

0:00

as much as i love how well morcheeba's 'blood like lemonade' fits the show... this song is diego's, not luther's. 'becoming a reluctant outlaw wandering alone seeking revenge after his female lover's death?' hello???

but hey, an alluther crumb: if we accept the song has to be luther's, the implication of him being a total wife guy who's now wandering as a shell of himself now that she's out of reach? lovely.

also, continuity error: luther’s awake, in his old body, when vanya publishes her book circa 2014, but according to show canon, in 2012 he goes into a coma and has his body transformed.

damn remember when the errors were so few because the rest of the show was so tight?

3:00

constant: luther's ape body always happens before the funeral and lands him on the moon.

variable: luther has his head transplanted to a martian ape body, not his body mutated with super monkey juice. likely done bc of fx limitations. which, i feel. and i do like the s2 addition of the same being done to pogo. a good addition to this version of the story.

variable: luther loses his body because of a mission to mars gone wrong, not a run-of-the-mill solo mission gone wrong. i like the revision, because it shows you why luther's so insistent on them being a team: when he's alone, this is what happens.

5:06

the monkey music box? another phantom reference. bless.

5:40

luther being sad about grace being switched off = direct parallel to how he'll feel about vanya.

you know what, the switch-mom-off plot can stay if it's maintained as a parallel to vanya. that's what makes it work well here, and i think it can be maintained in the right circumstances. as far as filler goes, it's pretty good.

7:40

the show not making leonard hot fucked this entire plotline up.

he had to take the audience for a ride just as much as he does vanya and to do that he had to be a smoking hot charisma bomb.

ok. aside from that, i think reimagining the conductor as an abusive boyfriend is clever. one of the big issues with the comics is that vanya throws in with literal bloodied murderers as soon as she's rejected once, which just reads as.... awful. making it a gradual seduction as she's lured into the revenge plot is a clever way to draw it out and keep it plausible.

9:50

klaus's kidnapping and torture at hazel and cha-cha's hands is a constant, but from dallas and not apocalypse suite.

i thought it was very smart to speed that plotline up and apply it here. it's a great adaptational folding, and i hope it stays if more versions of this story decide to squeeze the first two volumes together.

though variable: how he responds to it. in the comics klaus holds out against much worse torture, and orchestrates his own escape in the show, when he somehow manipulates the television to tell luther how to aid him. in the show he eventually gives in and spills all.

variable: agnes is a fellow captive, forced to watch in the comics. in the show, ben's the one watching klaus.

also "i'll get you amputee hookers" is directly from the comics.

“they don’t tell me shit… i’m the one person in that house that nobody will even notice is gone.” i can hear the sound of a thousand rabid klaus stans unzipping their jeans to that. but has it occurred to anyone that klaus is almost certainly exaggerating to get hazel and cha-cha to let him go?

12:06

i really do feel like david castaneda is perfect as diego. he's got the physicality, the face, the body language, the voice. he knows how to communicate how stilted diego's emotions are and how much he struggles to be vulnerable. he's criminally better than what he has to work with and i'm sorry he's wasted.

14:40

it was monumentally stupid of the show to draw attention to leonard rifling through vanya's apartment. they should've focused on allison charging in. a good bait-and-switch that actually holds her accountable for her boundary issues.

this scene is two kettles calling each other black and the show doesn't get that.

18:30

haha remember when the show always showed the tasteless comments about luther's body as a fucked-up, mean spirited thing to do?

20:20

smart of the wardrobe team to make ben's hoodie change color and pull away from his head when klaus sobers up.

22:50

hazel and cha-cha doing drugs and causing destruction is comics canon. it's just mentioned as a thing they did off-panel.

and so ends five's container plot. honestly if 'five fucks things up by insisting to go it alone' had culminated in him... say, doing a certain thing in the climax, i'd say it ultimately works. but they didn't do it, so it really is just filler. fun filler, but filler.

25:33

i love how being an actress impacts allison's character.

also, in the comics, patrick is an older, beard-and-glasses dude. in the show, he's a young hot diet chris evans and diet luther lookalike who's a fellow celebrity.

it's very notable how comic allison simply left the academy and settled down in a nice townhouse quietly (and might've genuinely been a homemaker, given how we have no idea what she does for a living), while show allison flew off to superstardom. i like the latter better, because it really separates the extraordinary from vanya and make it that much more overwhelming.

+we still haven't seen claire in the comics. no clue what she looks like.

(+the roller derby poster in the corner of the frame might be a whip it! reference)

28:16

klaus having to endure intense torture in order to tap into his mediumship powers is a constant. the details vary but the effect is the same.

i like that the show gives it lasting psychological impact in the form of him actively becoming afraid of his power. a much stronger arc than in the comics, where he's pretty nonchanging for two solid arcs.

30:50

the public library as setting was pulled in from the comics. a great expansion that makes sense.

33:19

so, allison's holding pattern is trailing after vanya. i have mixed feelings about this bc on the one i hand i love how we actually get to see them interact, because they never get the chance in apocalypse suite until they're fighting.

but on the other... it's imbalanced. vanya gets a plotline outside of allison, allison doesn't get one outside of vanya.

it's all allison constantly tripping over herself to apologize to vanya, all season with no break, no exception. and honest to god, it is bad that allison is apologetic and repentant at this point in the story. she shouldn't be at all.

and knowing that the change to allison and vanya's relationship came down to "we decided to End Girl Hate by making vanya and allison get along" ......... k. so you decided to take the most emotionally fraught and complex harg relationship and... turn it into 'haha let's get drunk and talk romance. two seasons in a row!' and called it a feminism. ugh.

how the hell a comic from the 2000s has a better understanding of a complex female relationship than a show from 2019 i will never get.

35:47

the writers gave ben a gf in s2 because the pose min makes in this scene is so overwhelmingly unheterosexual that it made them sweat.

37:50

ugh okay. so. basically the whole 'good cop' thing is that there are no good cops. they all get swallowed up by the system, quit, or die. and here comes eudora, getting swallowed up by diego and his colleagues' reckless, overstepping, illegal behavior, and then dying for it.

which, point made. but also point out of character. this absolutely should've been diego's fault.

39:00

constant: five lands in his younger body.

variable: in the show, it's thirteen. in the comics, it's ten. in the show, he's going to age back to adulthood. in the comics, he's stuck in his young body forever.

almost definitely changed because it's easier to find a preteen child actor who's good than a child child actor. and because that actor is going to grow up.

i think the change is an improvement. five being a little bit older makes him seem a bit more plausible in his scenes (i could easily see us watching a ten year old beat people up and just cracking up), and him having to grow up again puts a timestamp on the story: five being trapped in his young body is a sort of allegory for how his trauma's affected him, so when he's grown out of it, you know he's recovered. and it puts a five-ish year timeline on when that'll happen. so you know, five seasons of a tv show.

41:45

vanya's apartment is nice. i know it's 'tv poor' but it's absurdly lovely.

the comics captured a much better take on her situation.

you really get how hungry she is for a piece of the family pie when you see her living like the left rather than the right. especially the piles of unsold autobiographies that she's practically tripping over.

43:39

oh my god don't. show. us. the. flushing.

and aside from that, variable: how the conductor awakens vanya's powers. in the comics, her powers have nothing to do with her meds, and it's a vastly painful surgical procedure he performs without her consent. in the show, he weans her off her meds.

personally i think the meds were an improvement. a more gradual way to let vanya discover her power and explore it. i just hate how they hammered it in here. this should've been a surprise.

50:39

constant: klaus time-travels to vietnam.

variable: he does it in the dallas arc with luther and diego. he does it intentionally, and by channeling the corpse of a commission member. he travels to 1963, not 1968, and what he does in vietnam is totally different.

i think it's a useful way to get his ass out of the way for a few episodes, but i can't help but wonder about the variations this could've had. for example-- what if he goes with diego?

53:00

diego's plot is bad.

it feels like it's going to go the route of critiquing his toxic masculinity, and the idea that vigilantism ever actually helped anyone, through him witnessing how his hubris gets eudora killed and just causes a giant mess. instead he.... goes out for revenge???

the writers did not bother to think his plot through. at all.

meanwhile in the comics he's our deuteragonist under vanya, and his plotline is fueled with him trying to track her down to ensure her safety when he learns violinists are going missing.

i think given the swap of the viego vibe to the fiveya vibe, that him losing that plotline is good, because it speaks to vanya's isolation. i think what they replaced it with is awful. next time, try something different. even just... follow through with what you set up.

101 | 102 | 103 | x | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | overall

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY team impact anon. Thank you for answering my asks! I did want to follow up with one quick question. Does RWBY actually represent anyone? Nobody appointed/elected them. Blake is a princess bc she's Ghira's kid and that's it. IW has a commissioned duty. RWBY doesn't seem to have a legal right to make decisions for Solitas...let alone withhold information from IW that could impact the continent's defense. I'm confused why these kids are the protagonists? Has CRBWY done enough to justify that?

Of course! :D

I touched on this briefly many months back and as far as I can tell, no, the show hasn’t done a particularly good job of answering that question: Why are these people our protagonists? What gives them the power to get involved? Usually stories—particularly fantasy stories—provide clear-cut answers so that we can best immerse ourselves in this situation, rather than continually questioning why this group, out of all groups, is the one we get to follow. The two most common explanations are: 

This group has to fight whether they want to or not. Meaning, some outside force is exerting control over them. They’re stuck in the center of this fight whether they like it or not and thus we, in turn, are stuck with them as our protagonists. Think Harry Potter with a prophecy hanging over his head. Luke being born as a Skywalker. Geralt forced into a witcher’s life with a destiny to juggle. These characters are all bound to something larger than themselves and are, to one extent or another, carried along on the current of that. They have to fight. (“Have” — often overcoming the internal conflict of whether they’ll agree to this unwanted responsibility adds to their heroism. They COULD just run for the hills like Ozpin with his cabin, but they won’t). 

RWBY, however, undermines this sort of setup at every turn. Our characters continually reject responsibilities that may have led them to being a part of other fights—Blake leaves the White Fang despite her parentage and life-long involvement in it, Weiss walks about from the SDC despite being born as an heir and wanting to improve the company—and the closest thing we get to fate is with Ruby’s silver eyes. However, that was likewise undermined when Maria came onto the scene. Rather than presenting us with a world where silver eyes are either unique or rare enough that Ruby feels compelled to fight Salem even if she doesn’t otherwise want to, they gave us a character with the same skill, even more talent (if Maria’s moniker as The Grimm Reaper is any indication) who then said no thanks. She left. Bowed out. So what’s stopping Ruby from doing the same? Nothing. She could pull a Maria and be done with this nonsense and the world would continue surviving as it has for over a thousand years (with the exception of Salem’s new involvement, but again, we don’t see Ruby deciding to fight because Salem is now a more active threat). Ruby is not at the center of the world’s safety and there is no other outside force acting on the group to a point where the audience feels that their involvement in the fight is unquestionably necessary. We might have gotten that if the story had spent more time developing Ruby’s silver eyes. We might have gotten that if the story had spent more time establishing that if Ruby were to bow out, she and her friends would still be endlessly hunted by Salem (AKA, if she wants any kind of life, Salem has to be defeated first). We might have gotten that if the silver eyes/other talents were presented as lynchpins, etc. As it is, RWBY keeps providing examples of how heroes can leave, do leave, have every reason to leave, because they’re not the most talented, their powers are not unique, not necessary, there is nothing in the universe saying YOU have to be a part of this fight... so why are they? 

This leaves us with heroes who fight because it’s the right thing to do. Think Frodo saying he’ll take the ring to Mordor. Katniss stepping in to save her sister. Peter Quill yelling that he’s going to try to save the universe because he’s one of the assholes who lives in it. There’s nothing like destiny, a prophecy, or an inborn talent forcing (“forcing”) the hero to step up, they just do it because it’s the right thing to do and/or they realize that no one is able or willing to help. They and others might both assume they’re not be the best for the job (insert theme of underestimating Hobbits here), but they’re doing it anyway. They’re all that’s available. 

Similar to the above, Ruby could fit really well into this setup. She’s just a kid, she’s talented but she’s barely trained, she knows nothing about magic or this intricate war... surely there’s someone better to take her place? But Ruby wants to help people, which means she’s poised to step up if that’s required of her... but RWBY failed to create those circumstances. Ozpin is not an inept or corrupt leader who she must replace — he created a time of peace and kept the relics safe for who knows how long. Ruby does not live in a world where others refuse to step up — she’s surrounded by talented fighters who are already involved in this war. Ruby doesn’t even live in a world where she fights alongside these more talented and informed fighters — by the end of each volume she’s replaced them as the “real” hero. When someone asks, “Why is the screw up group of convicts trying to save the world in Guardians of the Galaxy?” the answer is, “Because no one else is doing it. The world has to take what it gets.” With RWBY it’s, “Why is the group of second year students, traumatized from a recent battle, going off to find a Maiden they definitely can’t beat?” and the answer is, “Because... they want to? There are other older, more powerful, more informed people dealing with this situation already but Ruby’s group is going off regardless.” “Why is RWBYJNR at the center of this fight now? Have they proven themselves some way? Is there no one else?” “Well no, not exactly. They just showed up at Ozpin’s safehouse expecting to be involved, they definitely provided much needed support at the Haven battle, but then they created circumstances where they were at the center of things regardless of whether others approved of that: stealing Ozpin’s secrets, driving him off, lying to Ironwood, etc.” Then, because the story hasn’t successfully laid out why they have to fight or why others would want them to fight (they often don’t), we get the plot turning in on itself to explain their continued involvement. Like refusing to grapple with their recent behavior. Or having them suddenly able to beat the Ace Ops. 

RWBY’s underlying reasoning for why this group is at the center of this plot is “Because they’re the protagonists” which is a circular explanation. You should craft protagonists that have a reason to be involved, not ignore the lack of a reason for the generic protagonists you’ve got. And don’t get me wrong, RWBY has lots and lots of nods towards various reasons, but they’re never well developed. Things like Ruby’s eyes, her “I want to help people,” the others’ devotion to her, the villains’ interest in them... they’re all the beginnings of compelling explanations, but RWBY never does much of anything with it, largely because we haven’t gotten enough of a look into the group’s personal motivations. Why is Ruby so compelled to throw herself into a war? Because of her mom? That’s never said. Why is Jaune? Because Cinder killed Pyrrha? Then why isn’t he trying to hunt her down? Why is Yang? Because she’s Ruby’s sister? Give us better motivation for Ruby then. And so on and so forth. This is particularly important post the lore episode because the group learned about Salem’s immortality and came to the unanimous conclusion that this war was impossible to win. So why are you still in it?? Volume 6 and 7 should have been an exploration of why they’re fighting, what they’re fighting for, and what they can bring to the table. Instead they happily ignore all of it until Salem and her subordinates get right in their face, then Ruby took control of the situation despite the story failing to establish why she wants to, let alone why she should. 

When we have characters like Ironwood and the Ace Ops trying to stop her and the takeaway is supposed to be “Omg how could they stand against Ruby they’re evil!” ... I just find myself agreeing. Ruby is a teenager. Ruby has one year of formal training. Ruby has thus far rejected or screwed over everyone she’s allied herself with (outside of the group who has agreed to follow her). Ruby has a very useful skill, but does incredibly little to learn about it or train it. Regarding the question, “Should Ruby be the hero we follow?” we’re shown a number of things that give a resounding “No.” She’s the protagonist because her name is in the title, not RWBY has convincingly written a world where her help is necessary or, at this point, even desired. She runs off to nearly get kidnapped, orchestrates an attack on the Argus military that results in a Leviathan grimm showing up, emotionally cripples the world’s oldest defender, undermines and betrays his replacement, and is now risking two relics/a Maiden by hanging around to fight Salem head on. At this point it doesn’t matter how pure her intentions are, Ruby’s actions have been inconvenient at best and downright damaging at worst. Though they clearly don’t intend it, RT is closer to writing antagonists then protagonists. Outside of their pure “We want to help people” outlook, we’ve got this group shouldering their way into this war and, more often than not, making things a whole lot worse. If the story had done a better job of explaining their involvement, such mistakes would be quiet sympathetic, but as it is their insistence on getting involved reads more as arrogance rather than resignation/drive: I have to help. There’s no one else. I’m needed. 

[goron-king-darunia]

Annon-Guy: Marta has her flaws, don't get me wrong. She was definitely pushy at the beginning. I just don't agree about her being manipulative. She does grow as a character in my opinion, she's just hampered by poor writing, miscommunication with her unchanged Post-Battle Quotes and putting her character development in the Journal. (Crossover Titles do Marta good though.) People who defend Marta make good points personally. But, I'm sorry for disagreeing on the subject of Marta here.

I mean, that’s very fair and she’s definitely not done any favors by having all her (alleged) development happen in the journal and she DEFINITELY got the shaft for poor writing. Her main arc could have been finally having the courage to face Brute, and then they did that and then just completely forgot to develop her at all and then were like “Whoops, game’s not over, let’s do the romance thing now real quick” and then they 100% fell flat with it. I think it depends on the crossover title. Rays I think did a good job, but from what I’ve seen in Crestoria (I haven’t played yet.) she’s, like, SUPER selfish. Emil goes through some shit and he’s just like “Okay so... this is Ratatosk.” And Marta’s just “Haha, great WHEN CAN HE LEAVE?” Like... In that one moment, Crestoria basically undid all the good faith I’d built up for her. Marta in Rays? 8/10. Actually has decent interactions with everyone else and isn’t so pushy with Emil since they’re post-game and just yadda yadda’s over the important shit and just starts with her and Emil basically being a couple and Emil seems fine with it so it’s WAY less uncomfy. Marta in Crestoria (just what I’ve seen, maybe she gets better) is like -1/10 for me because they somehow made me like her less. She literally treats Ratatosk (who in Crestoria LITERALLY EXISTS WITHOUT HIS CONSENT, HE JUST FUCKING APPEARED) as a COCKBLOCK. Her main concern seemed to be NOT what Emil went through, NOT what Ratatosk must be going through, but the fact that Ratatosk lives in Emil’s body so it throws a wrench in her being able to do kissy kissy things with Emil. DotNW canon Marta is, like, 3/10 for me. Cute design, has some good moments, had great potential, and was COMPLETELY MISHANDLED. Like, obviously this is to taste so I’m not trying to shit on anyone that likes Marta as is, but I think she could have been done SO much better if they dialed that clinginess down from an 11 to an 8 and actually gave her a consistent arc instead of waffling over it. What they did early on with her and Colette? That was good. Appropriately casting Colette as Marta’s “villain” and then having Marta learn that, no, Colette’s a genuinely good person. It works well with the overall themes that sometimes good people (Richter, Ratatosk, Lloyd, Marta, Colette, Emil) make terrible mistakes and that doesn’t make them bad people. Like, I don’t think Marta is a terrible person. I just absolutely HATE how she’s written and she’s NOT someone I can see myself being friends with if I met her in real life. But then Marta’s later arcs did her so dirty. Her arc that should have been about standing up to her dad got absolutely kneecapped by Emil’s man-pain and the arc that should have been about Marta learning to accept Emil and Ratatosk as they are was completely reversed as soon as it was over because she went right back to showing Emil preferential treatment and nothing about her DEMONSTRABLY changed. We’re told she changed but the fact that this change doesn’t carry through in the battle quotes or any subsequent interactions is just... terrible.  And the manipulation bit? I’m getting that 100% from the hot springs scene. In ToS, Zelos is framed as being a sleeze who’s taking advantage of a situation and Lloyd gets punished for his crimes. DotNW tries to do a call back to that but WAY WORSE because Marta LITERALLY ORCHESTRATES THE CIRCUMSTANCES by making Emil think he’s going in for a soak with the other guys, WAITING UNTIL HE’S ALONE, putting up a sign so no one comes looking, and then sneaking in to be alone with him. She’s not a manipulator of people necessarily, but she’s DEFINITELY a manipulator of circumstance and that does NOT vibe well with me. I get that the game was trying to make it cheeky and cute and they do try to make Marta look good by having her trying to take the blame for it, but the fact that she didn’t think about the consequences before doing it, or the fact that she DID and decided they were worth it anyway just... makes me hate her for doing it. And I think the scene could EASILY be fixed if, like. Marta had ASKED Emil to go to the hot springs alone with her and he agreed and they got discovered a different way (Too loud cheeky giggling might have been enough) If Emil had been part of it consensually and then everyone accused him of being a letch and then Marta tried to take the blame like “No, it was my idea, I talked him into it.” That would have been SO MUCH BETTER TO ME. Same fundamental interaction but makes Marta look a LOT better because she’s not being a puppeteer trying to get Emil alone. She’d instead just be a hormonal, slightly pushy teen girl trying to do grown up things with the boyfriend she’s trying to woo and Emil would be doing it willingly because he likes her back. Instead Marta’s just... ambushing him and he clearly wasn’t 100% into it. This wasn’t like a welcome surprise because when he finds out she’s in there with him he SCREAMS.  Like if we saw the same scene play out but with the gender reversed: A man orchestrating a situation where a woman is in a hot spring bath alone, then putting up a sign so he can sneak in and be alone with her and she was not expecting it and her first instinct is to SCREAM? Yeah, we’d view that situation as pretty gross. Putting it in context does help because the game is trying to establish that Marta is trying to court Emil and Emil’s at least shown to not be 100% opposed. But if Emil had been a girl and Marta a boy, Marta would rightfully have gotten the blame. So I just hate it on two vectors, because the characters are low key sexist for acting like Marta couldn’t possibly have been the one trying to be a letch (even though it was DEFINITELY EMIL THAT SCREAMED so maybe high key sexist...) and Marta’s just pulling strings instead of thinking about what Emil would want. Like, even if Emil was 100% down for a sneaky hotspring couple’s bath, I think he would have liked to know about it first hand instead of being surprised by it, because even if you think Emil was 100% down for it and only screamed because he was surprised, HE STILL SCREAMED. If Marta wanted to surprise him, she could have put up the sign FIRST, and then told Emil “Hey, so, I put up the cleaning sign so the hot springs are available for just the twooooo of ussssss~” instead of what she actually did.  Maybe I’m just putting too much importance on scenes that are meant to be funny, but even if that’s true, the writers are seriously hiding some very uncomfy messages behind a veil of humor and I DO NOT LIKE THAT.

[rael-rider]

I'm looking forward to TFATWS the most but I'm also afraid they'll make US Agent Cap over Sam.

Well the US Government will certainly try but by the end Sam will be Captain America so you don’t have to worry.

Also I am going to talk about US Agent, lol, a character that I initially didn’t like but after reading a bunch of comics with him I ended up seeing him in a whole new light.

John Walker was initially a throwaway character that was created was to be the patriotic anti-thesis to Steve Rogers’ own patriotism. Walker’s patriotism was blind, unquestioning, and toxic. He was originally a corporate sponsored villain called Super-Patriot and he would stage fights to appear more heroic and did things for fame. He was definitely not in it to help people. I mean he ignores an old lady being mugged and he stages a fight to discredit Cap. He’s a pretty awful person.But when Mark Gruenwald (RIP) re-introduced the character in the pages of Captain America he decided to move him away from that and do something better and more interesting with him.

Around the time Walker was created characters like Wolverine and Punisher were pretty popular and overshadowed heroes like Captain America and there were fans who even wanted Cap to act like them. Gruenwald noticed this and after he does an arc where Steve quits being Captain America Gruenwald reintroduces John Walker and makes him the new Captain America. The ultimate point Gruenwald tried to make with Walker was that not just anyone can be Captain America.

But instead of making Walker just stay as a selfish asshole throughout the whole thing Gruenwald decides to make the character grow as a person as well.

When Walker starts off as Captain America he’s really not that great it, he’s very careless, indecisive, not very well trained as a hero (takes too long to save Lemar from the Watchdogs and basically risks his life), acts without thinking, and he’s very aggressive. But he does start changing and growing. He confronts the fact that the terrorist group that he’s going to take down has a similar worldview that he does and that definitely makes him take a good look at himself as a person. He finds out that an old buddy of his is part of said right wing terrorist group. He sees that the US Government isn’t perfect and corrupt and starts seeing why Steve quit being Cap. As the comic progresses he starts becoming more heroic and selfless, and his perspective and beliefs start to change.

His biggest failing though is that he’s violent and when he beats up villains he goes to far. One moment he’s checking the vitals of a villain named Professor Power because he’s unconscious but when Professor Power blasts Walker he gets so angry he beats him to death. It’s something Steve Rogers would never do. Lemar tells him not to worry about it but at that point Walker knows that as Captain America he has to be a better person. But that violence is what ends up screwing him over in the end.

So when Walker’s parents get murdered by the Watchdogs, plus the pressure of being Captain America, it breaks him mentally and he goes on a Punisher-like revenge spree against those he thinks are responsible for his parent’s murder. At one pint the Red Skull (who is inhabiting a cloned body of Steve Rogers because comics) reveals to Steve that he orchestrated everything, including Walker being chosen as Cap, because he knew someone like Walker would tarnish the image and legacy of Captain America. After a misunderstanding and both confronting and defeating the Red Skull, Walker and Steve go to the Commission on Superhuman Activities and explain to them everything regarding the Red Skull. Walker is fired from being Cap and they offer Steve the mantle back but Steve doesn’t care to take it back.

In the end we get this exchange:

Steve then takes back the mantle and becomes Captain America again. Walker eventually takes Steve’s old uniform and comes back as US Agent, joins the Avengers West Coast and grows more as a character in that comic. He fights a lot with some of the Avengers in that team but also befriends them. He particularly grows close with Julia Carpenter and becomes like a brother to her. We even see Walker playing video games with Julia’s daughter Rachel. When the East Coast Avengers come to disband the team he sticks up for his teammates and then gets depressed because even though he fought a lot with his teammates he enjoyed being with them. When Tony Stark creates Force Works he’s not too sure about joining and calls himself a violent second rate Captain America. But Wanda asks him to stay and tells him he was a big support for her when she was running the West Coast team and he joins.

I think it will be a similar thing in the Disney + with Walker being touted as the new Cap, he’s an awful person in the beginning and obviously not who Cap is suppose to be. But as the series goes along he learns and grows as a character. Then tragedy happens, he breaks down, does something violent. Zemo is behind all of it trying to discredit Captain America’s legacy and Sam has to step in and has to take up the mantle of Captain America. Maybe Walker also sees that Sam is perfect for the role and tells him to take the mantle using the same reasoning he did with Steve in the comics. That if he doesn’t take the mantle then they’ll appoint another person like Walker AKA someone who isn’t right for the job of Captain America.

So yeah Walker won’t become the new permanent holder of the Cap mantle and, really, we all know Sam will eventually get it (Bucky doesn’t seem to be interested in being Cap and his circumstances are different than in the comics).The one thing I’m concerned about is that it’s so darn easy to make a character like US Agent into a cookie cutter supervillain instead of the complex character he is in the comics. Mark Gruenwald could have taken the easy route and kept Walker as a bad guy but he went and gave him development and depth. I hope they do the same thing on the Disney + show and not just make him a one time done and gone bad guy.