#I really like every character supposedly has a class

[i-trash-about-things]

Motherfucker is about to go on a rant at 2 am, get your pitchforks ready

So, if I remember correctly, Mike is often portrayed at the paladin of the Party, right? He's the heart and all

Bitch, where

what do you MEAN he's a paladin

Maybe it's because it's one of my favorite classes in D&D and Mike it's not my favorite character in ST, but I don't see the connection one bit???

According to google, Mike is a paladin because of his dedication to Eleven and doing the right thing. Going through that logic, he would basically be a paladin with the oath of devotion which I guess makes sense with his stance on season 1 and 2.

But after season 3... I don't know, dude, he just doesn't give me paladin vibes. He isn't particularly courageous or takes the front lines, he's supposed oath of devotion shoots him on the foot because his girlfriend broke up with him (and if you want to include Will in this, there's a whole break up scene in season 3 too– AND THE ENTIRETY OF SEASON 4) so he's just kinda... There.

And if it's the whole thing with being "the heart"– in my opinion, Will it's much more the heart than him. I never saw him as the center of the party. Like Dustin said in season 2(? I think?) The Party is a democracy. It feels a lot like the boys have friendships amongst themselves, instead of everyone being connected through Mike... That honestly feels like Mike is more attached to Will and Will connects him to the rest of the party but I digress.

I guess Mike is called Paladin these days because he doesn't really fit in any other class after season 2. Idk, I'm not the biggest Mike fan, but if you want to prove me wrong, please comment. Like, genuinely, I want to talk about this SO BAD

I NEED MORE FRIENDS INTO D&D

(Also be can we stop calling Eleven a mage, she's a sorcerer goddamnit)

[maxdibert]

James is not only the one who didn’t pay, he’s the only one who didn’t have any mitigating circumstances. Sirius is vicious, but he comes from a vicious family, and him deciding he was going to back James in everything makes perfect sense for a boy trying to break from his background and wishing he had parents more like James’. Remus is a coward, but him failing to stand up to his friends makes perfect sense from a boy whose condition meant he’d never been accepted before. Peter? Who cares, he’s a plot device.

But James? James had no excuse whatsoever. He was well loved, well cared for, well off financially. He wanted for nothing. He didn’t learn cruelty at the knees of his parents, they doted on him. Which means he’s just a sadist who enjoyed the rush of power he got from humiliating easy targets. And Lily is of questionable character for thinking him hot boyfriend material when he never displays any remorse.

It’s why I always say that, to me, James Potter is nothing more than a Draco Malfoy with “progresist” parents. He basically has the same abusive, classist, and violent attitude as Draco, except that, unlike Draco, James believes he is morally superior because he doesn’t share the typical pure-blood ideals. This makes him an absolute hypocrite, in addition to being a violent bully and a rich brat who takes advantage of his economic and social position to abuse those who are at a disadvantage.

It’s funny how people defend him with arguments like “he’s not a racist” because he accepts Muggle-borns. So, because he accepts Muggle-borns, are we going to ignore the fact that he’s a classist jerk who actively mocks people for having a lower socioeconomic status than him? Or that he uses his economic and social capital against those who don’t have it? Or that, knowing he has the upper hand, he torments those who don’t have the same resources? Like, why should I care that he boasts about a supposedly progressive ideology that’s entirely fake, and never really shows any understanding of, when his actions in the canon prove he’s just another member of the elite oppressing those below him, simply because he has the capital to do so?

He reminds me a lot of several guys I met during my time in political activism at university. I used to hang around leftist groups with Marxist tendencies, and there was always that typical rich kid raised in a bourgeois left-wing family, who was there because they were taught it was the right thing to do, but had no clue about the root of social problems or the reality of working-class life. In fact, their supposed political commitment stemmed from a sense of superiority, which manifested in incredibly patronising attitudes toward the working class. And yes, they’d date girls from humble families because it reinforced the persona they’d created, but in the end, they were the same rich jerks you’d find in right-wing groups. At least the rich jerks on the right didn’t have the audacity to give moralising speeches while still acting like pricks. They were just pricks, plain and simple.

That’s how I see James, but translated into the magical world. And god, how much I’ve hated, been disgusted by, and fought with guys like him. They’ve always made me sick. I’ve literally had better relationships with people whose politics are the polar opposite of mine than with guys like that, because I find them a cancer to any political group. But anyway, I digress. I don’t think there’s anything impressive about James joining the Order or dating a Muggle-born. It’s the bare minimum expected of someone who has had every single privilege, support, and education needed to choose the right path. I think it’s basic. Just like it would be basic to expect someone who’s had no problems in life and everything handed to them on a silver platter to be a decent person rather than a bully. But James Potter chooses to be a bully because his ego, as a rich heteropatriarchal man, can’t handle the fact that a poor kid with a non-normative appearance by masculine standards is friends with the girl he likes. And for that stupid reason, he decides to use all the power he has, and the other doesn’t, to bully him for 7 years. But hey, we should forgive him because, at the end of the day, he joined the Order. I mean, what? No, that’s not how it works.

I could say a lot about Lily too, but I’m just going to copy and paste something I said the other day because it basically sums up my opinion of her:

Honestly, I don’t know if Rowling didn’t think much about this, or if simply because she herself is a terrible person, she thought it was compatible to portray Lily as the epitome of goodness, a kind of perfect being like the Virgin Mary, while also having her marry her friend’s abuser—because, honestly, she’s not. To me, it seems like Lily was a person of questionable morals and ethics, which is ironic because her supposed moral superiority is what leads her to break off her relationship with Severus. What I find illogical is presenting a character who constantly talks about what’s morally right or wrong when her actions are quite contrary to her supposed value system.

I’ve had friendships throughout my life that have ended badly, for one reason or another, and that happens. But I would never, ever think of dating someone I’ve known for years as someone who abuses others, much less people who were my friends. Sometimes I think this is either a plot hole or that Lily was just your typical superficial “pick me” girl who wanted to “not be like other girls,” but deep down, she loved that a rich, popular guy like James was chasing after her. That’s the only explanation that gives her actions some sense—that deep down, her inferiority complex (being a Muggle-born and from a family that wasn’t even middle class) manifested in the need to be liked, be popular, and end up as the object of interest and admiration of rich and popular boys. That would actually be interesting because it would give her character some depth. The problem is that, in canon, all we see is a girl lecturing others on morality and then acting with ethical standards that leave much to be desired, with no explanation.

Because no, sorry, you don’t marry a bully. You might marry a bully if you meet them at 30 and you’re unaware of what they did as a teenager. But you don’t marry a bully you’ve seen harassing and abusing people for 7 years—like, what kind of sense does that make? And even less so do you do that and then give yourself the privilege of judging other people’s behavior and decisions. Lily Evans had no moral ground for that.

I could rant for hours about why she’s a terrible friend and a hypocrite, but I’ll settle for defining her as the typical basic girl who tries to act interesting. Unfortunately, many female characters in the series are like that: “pick me” girls. But then again, that’s nothing more than Rowling’s internalized misogyny coming to light, along with her insecurities projected into the need to be “one of the boys” and her unfounded hatred of women with traditionally feminine traits. And that’s another story.

[minty-thereader]

GOJO x READER

“She’d Rather Die.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Soooo wanna go on a date?” The young 19 year old Gojo Satoru asked sitting opposite you, facing the wrong side of the chair with his chin rested on his hands. You never once looked up from your book, your eye twitched with annoyance, continuing to ignore the popular white haired player.

Gojo looked from your book and back to your face. “How To Get Away With Murder..nice book. I read it like, five times. Who’s your favorite character?” “The murderer.” You grumbled, slamming your book shut as the instructor for the day walked in to give out your assignments.

“Look alive sorcerers! We’ve got plenty of reports today for minor spirits so you’ll be split into threes! And I don’t care if you don’t like your partner, the higher ups arranged your teammates, not me.” The bald teacher said handing out everyone’s slip of paper. You didn’t want to read yours knowing you’d already been paired with Gojo and his best friend Geto Suguru. “Would you look at that doll! You and I are paired up yet again!” Gojo tells you with the biggest smile, the brightest any has ever made him smile!

You wished that this day would just hurry up and end. “Oh yay,” sarcasm laced your tone and you grabbed your belongings, leaving before the two besties could meet up and discuss plans. You did not like Gojo, and if I said it before or not I’m repeating it! Did. Not.

Your dislike stemmed from your first meeting. You were new to the school and you just so happened to bump into the white haired man, when you wanted instructions on where to get to your first class! Gojo, full of energy grabbed your book and signed it with a smirk saying, ‘here baby! An autograph for you too!’ And that’s when you started to resent him. You really didn’t like arrogant men and he was sooo full of it.

Gojo liked that you didn’t want him too, which made him want you more! That’s why he would ask you to go out with him every time you guys got the chance to interact.

Some time passed and the three of you were outside of school on your way to complete your mission. A house was supposedly haunted and there was a child that behaved out of order when these haunting occurred; your jobs were to get rid of that spirit. Geto and Gojo giggled like two school girls as they talked about the most random of stuff behind you, causing your irritation to grow.

Not only was he arrogant but he was also really strong, so him being strong made being stuck with him on a mission feel like it was just child’s play to him. “Can you two take one mission seriously for once?” You asked them without turning back. Geto smirked at Gojo and gave him a shove, encouraging him to talk to you since you opened the gates for interaction. “Uhh-huh! I could definitely take the mission more seriously if you’d let me take you out.”

You scrunch your nose to show clear signs of disgust. “I would rather a giant monster with eight legs bite my head off, than go out with you.” Gojo gasped dramatically. Hey! In his defense this was the first time you’ve ever payed him any real attention!

“Whether you’re being sarcastic or not I would personally never let a thing happen to you y/n.” Gojo says with a kind smile, he tilts his glasses down to show off his striking blue eyes. You looked away quickly just as he did so. That was his signature flirty move, showing off his freaky eyes. So many women were caught with them, and you promised yourself not to be one of them.

“Let’s see if you’ll stick by your word.” You told him with a plain look on your face. While you walked up and away Geto nudged the man. “She likes you, she just doesn’t know it yet,” he encourages. “You think so? I do like it when they play hard to get~.” He sang out loud so you could hear. When you three finally neared the house, there was a strange smell that came out of it.

Everyone held their nose and you took a few steps back from the door, turning to talk to the men. “This place has a very strong evil scent.” The men nodded, agreeing. “Right, let’s get this over with—” Gojo and Geto watched with shocked eyes when a giant gray hand stuck out of the door and grabbed a hold of you, before pulling you in with the same speed. The once broken door repaired because of the curse. The men looked at each other, finding their voice before running after you and yelling your name.

Stuck in the hands of the enemy you freaked out. You had no idea what to do against this curse and you weren’t sure if it was a level 2 curse or a level 3. Scared you started to panic; what if this thing decided that he’d just eat you? You whimper feeling the creature breath against your head. With newfound strength you focused on your cursed energy to flow throughout your body, remembering that you could do that, and your body slowly became a liquid like puddle. The level 2/3 curse stared with awe watching you just lay there as a puddle, your clothes just floating around like that before you went skidding across the wooden floor to escape it!

On the other side of the room you were in, was where the men resided. Gojo placed his ear to the wall listening for anything strange or unusual, looking out for you. The slush like noise of water moving made him step back and summon cursed energy to his finger tips, ready to blast whatever it may be. Your body came seeping through the cracks, and then WAM! Straight into the arms of the player!

Everyone in the room made a small yelping sound except you, who wasn’t aware of what was happening. You look up into Gojo’s eyes, surprised but then relaxed. “It took you fools long enough!” Gojo’s stiff body confused you. “Why are you looking at me like that?” You asked, watching his face turn pink and sweat roll down his face. “Your clothes,” he said, his voice had a little quiver to it, “you’re naked.” You were now reacting just like him. Geto coughed hard, his back turned to the entire situation. Quickly Gojo took his shirt off and gave it to you. “Here!” He says, “I don’t wanna look. I can’t disgrace you like that. Please put my shirt on quickly.”

You grabbed it and did as told, staring off at the wooden floor with multiple thoughts flooding your head. You snap out of it for a second to look back at the men quickly, “Oh! Before anything else the curse is in the next room and I think it’s a level 2!” Geto shrugs, “not a big deal, right Gojo?” Gojo winds his arms, “nope, not a big deal at all!” They both walk over to the wall and Gojo placed his hand on it watching the wall crumble to reveal the curse. You watched in awe as they both attacked the curse at the same time, a bright smile on Gojo’s face while his bestie looked bored. You couldn’t compare to these two! It was embarrassing!

Gojo grabbed the monster by its neck and made it bow to you. “Apologize to the little lady.” The monster growled. Blood trickled down its head and its eyes were missing. “Blah blah! I don’t care if you can’t talk! You can understand me just enough and you know exactly the situation you’re in.” Gojo taunted. “Gojo, it’s alright. It’s just a stupid curse, just kill it.” Gojo shook his head a no at your reaction and his smile got brighter. “I wanna hear it beg a little first. Go on buddy! Beg! Say you’re sorry!” The monster again growled, and when it started shrieking you just outstretched your hand and closed it, using cursed energy to squeeze its body with an invisible force and its body went everywhere.

You and Gojo stared at each other, eyes boring into each other before Geto broke it up by walking out the house. “Gonna thank me for saving you?” Gojo asked with a smile, clearly teasing. “Nope. I’d rather die.” “You almost did.” Gojo pointed back at the house while Geto talked to the owners of it. The curse was dead and the family was no longer gonna be haunted, meaning mission complete! Gojo wrapped his arms around you holding you closer so his shirt was more secure on you. “…thank you.” You muttered when you two made it to a little hospital van that pulled up. Gojo gave you a pat on the head and nodded, “you’re welcome doll! And hey, keep the shirt.”

You smiled at him when he said that but deep down you were annoyed yet again, because you knew he would not let this rescue go.

[theloganator101]

What BNHA Got Wrong: Actions and Consequences

Hoo boy... this fucking topic.

Actions and consequences are a rather simple concept, do something and expect something to follow up whether it be something good or bad. Very simple right?

Well in BNHA... it's completely twisted.

For example: Shota Aizawa and just how he acts overall.

This man literally plays god with the fate of his student's future in UA and has the fucking audacity to be all

"You all lost my trust and now you'll have to work on earning it back."

And then there's the way he treats Izuku as a whole when Bakugou is literally a walking red flag. It's fine if Bakugou goes around calling people mean nicknames and yelling die every ten seconds, but it's wrong for Izuku for not knowing how to control his quirk that he literally got a few days ago and for "supposedly" agreeing to fight with Bakugou after curfew.

Oh, and the guy's also a hypocrite for getting onto All Might for playing favorites but does it with Shinsou over his entire class.

Now none of this would be a problem if someone actually called him out on his bullshit and hypocrisy and be like

"Hey! You're kind of going against your own logic you placed and haven't done shit for this class."

But... nobody does. They literally treat him like he's this super genius that has done so much for these kids and is a second parent to them when in actually, he's a bum that sleeps most of the time.

Then there's Bakugou... do I even need to explain?

But one thing I WILL talk about regarding him is the difference in how people say

"Well he lost the Licence Exam and died in the war! Those gotta count as consequences!"

No, not really.

Those would count more as KARMIC consequences than something directly linked to the horrible stuff he's done.

Not ONCE do any of the characters call either of them out for their actions nor do they face any consequences for their actions, but they're PRAISED and looked upon fondly where the characters that DO face consequences doesn't deserve it.

I.E Izuku with the House Arrest and Sero with the final exam.

[newbtheveryawesomeandkindanewby]

As I’m sure you know, Hazbin Hotel’s central character is the princess of Hell, Charlie Morningstar. A lot of people have said a lot of things about her, but I’m here to touch on a subject that doesn’t get brought up much: her title.

Part 1: What does “Princess of Hell” really mean?

When most people think of princesses, they tend to imagine Disney ones. Fancy dresses, animal sidekicks, singing a lot, all that jazz. Charlie tends to engage in musical numbers, and she does have a few marketable pets, but her wardrobe is severely lacking. Clothes are an excellent way to signify a character’s job and status. If you put a character in a big sparkly dress, everybody looking at them will go “yep, that’s a princess.” So far, Charlie’s never worn one of those. Her main outfit is the suit-bow tie combo that Medrano just loves, making her feel like every other demon in the crowd.

Okay, maybe Earth and Hell are different in this regard. (Heh, that’d be a first.) Maybe high-status demons don’t wear fancy clothes! Except we’re forgetting one detail: the Goetias. They also use titles like “prince” and stuff, and they’re always dressed to impress! The one exception to this is Octavia, but that’s most likely because of her teenage angst, a trait Charlie doesn’t share.

While we’re talking about the Goetias, there’s another thing worth bringing up. As previously stated, they tend to use royal titles. Stolas is a prince, and he’s supposedly one of the less important ones! Stella’s a royal of some flavor, and that might not have even been through marriage! Compounding on this, the Deadly Sins are all stated to be the king/queen of their respective sin! Or have we forgotten Miss Queen Bee’s antics? With all these royals running around kissing and/or shooting each other, Charlie is once again lost in a crowd of standard Tumblrized monsters.

So maybe her royal title isn’t the important part. Maybe what really matters is that she’s Lucifer’s kid. Makes sense, right? Well, no. The purpose of an heir is to take control of their parental figure’s assets (Hell, in our case) after said parental figure kicks the bucket. This doesn’t work here, since Lucifer’s immortal! He sure ain’t goin’ anywhere! Historically, princesses were mostly just used as bargaining chips to marry off to other kingdoms in exchange for stuff. That really doesn’t work here, because in this show there are no other kingdoms! You really think the ruling powers in Heaven are gonna want their kids marrying some demon?

So now that we’ve established that the title ‘Princess of Hell’ is virtually meaningless, we reach my second point: why even have it?

Part 2: Why even have it?

As any good English teacher will tell you, everything within a story was done for a reason. Yet, Charlie being a princess serves no narrative purpose. She never uses her title to get what she wants, and everyone around her treats her exactly the same way they’d treat any other demon. You could say it was to introduce Lucifer more organically into the story, but there’s other ways to do that.

One of the many, many aspects of storytelling that Medrano struggles with is the act of killing your darlings. What that means is, if something in your story isn’t doing much and thus has no reason to exist, get rid of it, no matter how much you like it. Viv’s inability to do this is the reason everything she writes has so damn many characters, and by extension why almost none of them are remotely interesting. A character being the Devil’s daughter sounds interesting, but if the writers can’t make it interesting, they shouldn’t do it. 

So, why did Viv make Charlie a princess? Here’s my theory; writers want their main characters to be relatable to general audiences, and Viv must’ve forgotten that general audiences aren’t composed of upper-class white women whose every need and want is supplied by their affluent parents. To the rest of us, such a character risks invoking that very worst of writing tropes. I won’t type it right here, but it has seven letters and sounds like hairy stew. 

[loweffortopinions]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Play Time: 70 hours and going because I like to hurt myself?

Platform: EA Pro Play 

Rating: 4/10

(Moved this Review from my other account because I can't mix art and text)

Environments 

I had a few oh, that’s pretty moments, but overall I found it hard to feel immersed. The cities are nice I guess and detailed, but they lack distinct, memorable qualities. 

A city like Minrathous has the potential to be an exciting showcase of magic woven into everyday life. Mages using spells to transport goods or to perform mundane tasks. I was also looking forward to see a clear divide between magic users and non-magic users, as previous games have implied that Minrathous is Ferelden in reverse. Instead, NPCs feel static, and there is nothing new or interesting done with the magic. For a place built up as legendary in previous games... Minrathous just doesn't deliver. Further, you only get to explore one district, so there is no contrast between richer and poorer areas. And Treviso? It's pretty... but I mostly remember pointy roofs and ziplines.

Character Design

Faces and hair are a big step up from previous games, and armors are varied and nice to look at. But it comes at the cost that it feels overdone, leaning into flashy, cartoony territory. I ran around in my starting armor for half the game because nothing really fit my character.

The companions suffer from this too to some extent. Darin’s open-chested armor seems impractical for a warrior, Neve, supposedly from Docktown, looks more like an aristocrat from Orlais than her background suggests. Bellara’s design is fine, but aside from her vallaslin, she doesn’t seem particularly Dalish. Emmerich and Harding look fine, especially in their camp outfits, which I prefer for most characters.

Combat and Gameplay 

I’ll be honest—I eventually turned the difficulty down to story mode just to get through the game. The combat didn’t do it for me: repetitive enemy hordes that seem randomly placed, limited abilities, and dodging and rolling mechanics that don’t feel very engaging.

Aside from a few setpieces and two boss fights, no encounter stood out. It’s not a particularly hard game, it just got tedious after a few hours.

Another complaint is that every class now feels overly magical. Since the lore around magic is such a key part of the series, this really rubbed me the wrong way. 

Story and World-Building 

Starting with the biggest issue: Veilguard’s main story is a weak.

In Inquisition, even if Corypheus wasn’t the most compelling villain, there was still a sense of growth as you built up your organization and connected with companions. In Veilguard, it feels like they stripped away what worked in previous games and just kept Corypheus. And the worst part? I miss Corypheus. At least he had a booming voice and some interesting lines. Veilguard has none of that.

The villains in this… honestly, where to start? Rather than feeling meaningful, they’re just names repeated so often it feels like the game worries I’ll forget them. Villains aside events unfold without much connection, leaving me questioning why things happen the way they do.

Why are we choosing these allies?

Why am I stuck doing busy work for them while the world is supposedly ending?

But who cares! It's not like your allies really matter. Rook is a one-man army after all. If we’d had them instead of the Hero of Ferelden, the Blight would’ve ended in Ostagar—and every named NPC would’ve survived, including whoever slay the Archdemon. 

Character and Companion Dynamics 

While presented as experts, they rarely get the chance to demonstrate their skills. Harding sometimes provides useful contacts, and Emmerich occasionally shows his abilities, but beyond that, companions often feel like tropes with minimal growth or depth.

For instance, one character is the “unwilling father,” but we never see him grapple with it genuinely—he just says it. Others are similarly shallow: the socially awkward “nerd,” the “noir detective” with a heavy burden, and the “tortured assassin” who doesn’t seem all that tortured. Insights rarely go deeper than quirks, like loving coffee or fish, which get mentioned repeatedly without further development. 

Previous games built strong, opinionated characters who added depth to the world, but here, companions are lacking. Banter is shallow, with little conflict or chemistry. I’ve never played a Dragon Age game where I wanted to skip side quests or companion quests, yet here, I actually did.

I honestly prefer Andromedas cast over this on. Never thought I'd say that but here we are.

Main Character and Roleplaying

Rook’s voice actor; I love em'... which only makes the limited dialogue options more frustrating. I tried to play Rook as a practical, no-nonsense character, but the writing kept steering me back to a softer, more agreeable tone.

If you’re aiming for a tougher or more forceful personality, you're out of luck. If you plan to play be prepared for Rook to come across as a diplomat. Further, you are forced to agree with everyone, and never get to question them or their motives.

So... maybe don't get this if you're into Baldurs Gate 3 and player agency?

Ending Words 

If you’re like me, and the highlights of previous games have been the banter, character depth, and exploring the world and lore, you’ll likely be disappointed. Honestly, I’d even recommend skipping it. Then again, I've seen people say the opposite. So what do I know?

No matter what you do, I’d suggest waiting for a sale. It’s not worth the full price. 

Extra shit

Combat and Gameplay 

There’s the matter of the quest marker, which gives you tunnel vision which distract you from the enviorments.

The loot feels out of place due to its flashy animation. I started skipping loot in certain areas because it felt inappropriate and slowed down the pacing.

You'll fast travel a lot. And I don't mean in a big open area. It's more of a design flaw: Fast Travel to the Lighthouse to talk to a companion. Fast travel to a location to start that companion's quest, walk to said spot to start the quest. Repeat 5 times.

Story and World-Building 

The ending to its credit, was nicely paced and visually strong. If the rest of the game had been more like that, it would’ve been a decent experience. 

The Shadow Dragons, the Crows, the Wardens—all these factions make sense to be here but do nothing meaningful for the story or the worldbuilding.

Even dramatic scenes lack memorable moments. For example, there is a prison escape that's visually pretty but otherwise lacks substance. The person you rescue has supposedly been there a year, but nothing about their appearance or behavior reflects this. There’s no memorable dialogue, nothing deeper—it’s all surface-level.

I personally think Bioware are cowards for only letting you side with an anti-slave organisation. Come on: This isn't the Teviner you've built towards for 3 games! *shakes fist*

[creature-wizard]

Toxic Individualism In Modern Witchcraft

The modern witchcraft movement is very much a product of the 20th century, and one thing it picked up from that was a pretty individualist way of thinking. This isn't all bad, since it helped normalize people being allowed to do spirituality in a way that truly resonated with them, rather than following whatever an institution prescribed for them.

But as many of us know, western individualism comes with a lot of really toxic shit, encouraging and even enshrining apathy, cruelty, and social Darwinism. This, unfortunately, is very much an attitude you occasionally see within modern witchcraft.

This is sometimes expressed through a "let 'em sink or swim" attitude. For example, you might see people bristle at the idea of warning people about dangers such as toxic plants; "well, they should know to just research this themselves, if they get hurt, that's their own faults." Never mind that most of us live in a socioeconomic environment where "natural" tends to be equated with "safe," and few people were taught any real amount of research skills. (Most people don't know how to research beyond "type a thing into Google and click the first link" or "watch a video on YouTube and follow the algorithm.")

There's this sort of idea that witchcraft and the occult is this kind of Darwinian proving ground. You're either just born having what it takes, or you're not. Supposedly, there's no need to warn people about red flags, fascist rhetoric, pseudohistory, or anything, because supposedly, the "worthy" will just be able to find their own way on their own. Anyone who doesn't make it? Anyone who ends up poisoning themselves or falling down the alt right pipeline or abused by a predator? Couldn't be helped; they were never "meant" for this path anyway. It was simply too much for them. Why, if you really think about it, it was their own faults for daring to reach above the station they were born for, anyway.

This is a completely irrational view, because it's simply not how things work. People aren't born having research skills, critical thinking skills, or knowing the difference between real history and pseudohistory; they're taught these things. And some people are statistically much less likely to receive a good education than others. There are a few people who beat the odds and end up better educated than most people in their socioeconomic status, but this doesn't mean that they were born with inherent greatness; it just means that they were curious and lucked out in finding the right materials.

As many of us also know, Victorian-era eugenicists believed that members of the upper class were just inherently better. They had the genes for intelligence and strength of will. (Yeah, that whole modern occult fixation with willpower has some dodgy origins, too.) They just ignored that whole thing where they lived in a socioeconomic system designed to keep most people in poverty. If they ever saw someone beat the system, they attributed it to that person being born exceptional for some reason. I would highly recommend that anyone who hasn't done so already watch Shaun's video, The Bell Curve, which criticizes the book by the same title that effectively tries to argue for Victorian-age eugenics, to get a better picture of this whole thing.

Toxic individualism also encourages thinking of individuals as main characters on some kind of hero's journey, where every pain they suffer and every mistake they make is a vitally important part of their journey and growth; so much so that any effort to prevent them from making mistakes or suffering harm is hindering their personal growth.

Sure, people do often gain valuable insight from their mistakes and suffering. But it's absurd to claim that this is always the best way for people to learn and grow, especially if there's a risk of serious harm for themselves or others. Certainly it's much better to learn from a friendly Tumblr post that essential oils can give you chemical burns or harm your pets than experience it first-hand. And it's much better to learn what far right rhetoric looks like beforehand so you can recognize it when you first see it, rather than get drawn into some far right belief system and perpetuate harm on vulnerable minorities for any amount of time. (This whole thing of acting like you're life's main character and other people are basically just NPCs on some hero's journey that you imagine yourself to be on is so immensely fucked up.)

And finally, if anybody out here finds themselves thinking, "but nobody should expect help from others; after all, I didn't get any!", I'm gonna tell you: it shouldn't have been that way. You didn't not get help because that's just how the world works; you didn't get help because that's how modern western socioeconomics are created to work. Toxic individualism is a construct, and it's one that we can dismantle and replace with something better.

[kingofbodyrolls]

BTS fic recs: September 2023

I want to thank each and every writer on this list for creating such wonderful stories and art - you are truly amazing ✨ All the fics on this list hold a dear place in my heart 🥹

❗Most of these fics are smutty as hell, so minors dni.❗ 

If you read anything on this list and you like it, please leave a comment to the writer or reblog the original fic’s post 💜And if you want more fic recs you can follow me to stay updated 🙂

BTS fic rec index → May | Jun | Jul | Aug | 💜 (jjk)(knj) | Oct (pjm) | Nov (*) | Dec (ksj)(kth) |

Emoji meaning → angst = 🌩️, smut = 🥵, fluff = 🥰, comedy = 😂, personal favorites = 💯. 

Namjoon

⭐The Interpretation of Dreams 💯 by @ppersonna // knj x f.reader // phd mentor!namjoon, university!au // 🥵🥰

📝 He’s the man of your dreams, the an you’ve spent over 6 years pining over.  and he’s also your Ph.D. mentor and in charge of your very future.

🗨️ Looking for a smutty, slutty, funny and comforting fic? Well, look no further! 🌟 This really delivered 👏🏾 really, really good. The sexual tension between reader and Namjoon 💯 and then best friend Jimin, being the best chaotic slutty wingman EVER 🥵

⭐Deep End by @here2bbtstrash // knj x f.reader // established relationship, period!smut // 🥵🥰

📝 Your boyfriend suggests a new way to relieve your period cramps.

🗨️ Awww, this was so cute and sweet 🥺💖💯

⭐Baby Fever by @95rkives // knj x f.reader // established relationship // 🥰🥰🥰

📝 What was supposedly a peaceful morning stroll in the park, an unexpected encounter triggers namjoon’s intense desire for a baby, turning him into an adorable, baby fever-filled mess.

🗨️ Gosh this was cute - and wonderfully fluffy 😍

⭐All Night 💯 by @luaspersona // knj x f.reader // college!au, brother’s best friend!au, s2l // 🥵

📝 When your brother bails on you, you have to find another way to entertain yourself for the night and Kim Namjoon just so happens to be a great company.

🗨️ This was the most perfect, pure masterpiece of fucking gold writing 🤌🏾🥵 it is insanely filthy, so deliciously smutty!! Like I think my soul has left my body 🥵 the writing, story and the characters were brilliant ✨ this is hands down one of my new favorites and I WILL read this again soon, I promise you! Don’t sleep on this sweet bad boy Namjoon, okay 🥵 such an easy recommendation for me to make - do yourself a favor and read it if you haven’t (and if you have, then read it again!) ♥️💯

⭐Love Language 💯 by @rmnamjoons // knj x f.reader // soulmate!au // 🥵🥰

📝 Exactly one year before one meets their soulmate, their love’s first words spoken to them appear as a tattoo on their wrist. When Namjoon’s tattoo appears, however, it’s not of words, but of the most beautiful set of eyes he’s ever seen.

🗨️ I know that most of this was just pure smut, but damn it was cute 😭🥺💖

Yoongi

⭐Oh, darling! [series; ongoing] 💯 by @yoongiofmine // myg x f.reader // university!au, non idol au, professor!yoongi, student!reader // 🥰🌩️🥵

📝 Starting your second semester at one of South Korea’s most prestigious universities should be stressful enough. Between juggling classes, good grades and a social life, your plate was full. Hoping to spice up your academic career, you thought it was a good idea to enroll as an assistant for your literature professor, whom you’ve held a very secret and very forbidden crush on for the past several months. What will happen now that you’re forced to work closely together? And what if your crush isn’t as one sided as you thought? 

🗨️ Holy fucking shit 🥵🫣😳 I am speechless. My soul have left my body 🥵 it’s so good! ‘Kay bye 🫣 There’s only one chapter left!!!

⭐The Road Not Taken [series; ongoing] by @prodagustd // myg x f.reader // Brother’s best friend, pinning, lawyer!Yoongi x actress!reader // 🥰🌩️🥵

📝 This doesn’t have a summary, so here my take: it’s about OC’s pining for her brother’s best friend, Yoongi. Her life is quite messy, but her love for Yoongi has always stayed the same through all the years and hardship. He just doesn’t see her as anything other than his best friend’s sister (or does he???).

🗨️ I really like the back story in this so far, and damn, I feel like OC’s life is just a mangled puzzle of lies. Like she hasn’t found her thing yet, or what makes her truly happy in life 🥺 Only the first chapter is out, but it’s already good!🌸❤️

Jimin

⭐Exhaust by @jungk0oksthighs // pjm x f.reader // breakups, rebound sex - frenemies to ??? // 🥵

📝 Stuck in the middle of nowhere with a dead cell, you were overjoyed to see another car pull up to the rescue. However when the owner of that car knocked on your window, you were faced with the one person you once vowed you never wanted to see ever again. Park Jimin. 

🗨️ It was too good 😭 and it says part 1 of 4 but I can’t find other parts to it 😭 gosh, it’s still good and the open ending is fine with a one shot, but damn I want more! 😂 I have questions that I want answers to, more stuff than I want to see unfold 🫣 but alas, it works fine as a standalone, and it was a good read ♥️

⭐Wait for Me 💯 by @jiminniethemarshmallow // pjm x f.reader // established relationship, pwp // 🥵

📝 This one doesn’t have a summary, but it’s about Jimin just wanting to fuck OC, but she has homework – it’s just really good pwp!

🗨️ This 🥵 OMG! If you value dirty talk, this one is definitely for you! ♥️ The smut was perfection and Jimin was just such a tease 😜💯

⭐Sleepless Night by @kwanisms // pjm x f.reader // cheating!au, work!au, coworker!Jimin // 🥵🥰🌩️

📝 Y/N’s first business trip was supposed to be easy. She and her co-worker, Jimin, were to deliver a presentation for a client then return to the airport to catch a flight home but no one expected a blizzard to roll in. After having their flight cancelled Christmas Eve due to the storm, Y/N and Jimin are forced to share the only remaining hotel room with one king size bed.

🗨️ I think I’ve read this before – It’s really good. Although I’m not really into cheating!aus, I found it a good read 🙂

⭐Something Sweet by @moni-logues // pjm x f.reader // established relationship, pwp, tattoo artist!Jimin // 🥵🥰

📝 You've had a frustratingly slow day at the cafe and Jimin has had a no-show. There's only one thing for it, and that's to get busy yourselves.

🗨️ This was sweet and smutty and also hilarious (something happens that I won’t spoil). It’s a good read ❤️‍🔥

⭐Worth the Wait by @noona-la-la-la // pjm x f.reader // idol!au, virgin!Jimin, soft and romantic smut // 🥵🥰

📝 You aren’t sure why your boyfriend Jimin has taken things so slowly but you are now finally ready to have your first night together.

🗨️ This was actually really sweet, how Jimin wanted the night to be special 🥹

⭐The Bucket List, Prologue by @jeonggukingdom // pjm x f.reader // established relationship // 🥵🥰

📝 Friday nights at the club are a common routine for you and your boyfriend but when you decided to go out that night with your usual group of friends, you had no idea Mina would tipsily confess to him the existence of a sexual bucket list you both made when you were still in college. And you sure as hell did not expect for your boyfriend to propose to help you fulfil every single wish written on that old piece of paper as soon as he got his hands on it.

🗨️ Holy fucking shit 🥵 🫣 this was so incredibly good, the smut was superb, and the promise of the the bucket list was just so enticing! The only thing I didn’t like, is that this is the only part there is 🤣 but as a discontinued series, this has brilliant potential, and it also works just fine as a one-shot (which is why I’m recommending it 😉).

Jungkook

⭐When the End Comes [series; ongoing] 💯 by @oddinary4bts // jjk x f.reader // breakup!au, slice of life!au, photographer!Jungkook x lawyer!reader // 🌩️🌩️🌩️🥵

📝 Seven years after you've started dating Jungkook, long distance creates a wedge in your relationship. When the only solution seems to be breaking up, you go your separate ways even though love still lives in the two of you. Will you find a way back together, or has the end come for you and Jeon Jungkook?

🗨️ This is a sequel to ‘The Forgotten Spaces’, which was just *chef’s kiss* 😘This has a lot, and I mean A LOT more angst in it – but it is worth it! I cannot describe how much I genuinely adore this couple with all my heart, I just want them to be happy! There’s only one chapter left of the series. The sequel is heart wrenchingly beautiful, it truly is. When you read it, stock up on tissues before hand 😉💜

⭐Stretch You Out 💯 by @chateautae // jjk x knj x f.reader // college!au, s2f2l, gym employee!namjoon, gym employee!jungkook // 🥵🥰

📝 You have a plan for your crappy, diabolical ex who’s set on ruining your life; making him jealous by snagging a raunchy photo with two hot employees at the gym. what you didn’t have a plan for? befriending the mischievous pair to aid in your revenge and ending up underneath not just one, but both of them.

🗨️ Holy fucking shit 🥵 🫣 this was so exceptionally good! So deliciously filthy, it really delivered on every freaking aspect 💯 incredible 👏🏾 perfection 👏🏾 💎

I feel like I haven’t read that much this month – which is understanding because I’ve been writing a lot. But gosh, I miss reading all of the amazing stories out there and my reading list is still hella long 😂 I am moving in the beginning of October, so I don’t know how much I’ll get to read (or write for that matter), but I hope I’ll have some time here and there 😀

Borahae 💜

[bcbdrums]

Perfect Edition is a little less than perfect...

I've bought up through volume 5 of Soul Eater's perfect edition, very excited to have the manga hard-bound and with supposedly a better translation... But I found almost immediately that was not the case.

This is far from a complete commentary since as I said, I've only bought up through volume 5. But I have parallel-read the Perfect Edition alongside the original Yen Press publication to note each and every change. A pattern emerged immediately that remained consistent, and sadly....as I said...these releases are far from perfect.

All text changes are ink-saving. Nearly everything has been altered and reduced to use as few letters as possible, eliminating entire sentences and phrases from the original. Often times the meaning is less clear or changed entirely as a result. Example: replacing the word "ambiguity" with the word "anger." These aren't even remotely close in meaning, but it saves several letters! Nothing at all ever increases in length or gains clarity. All changes make the text shorter and...kind of "abridged" feeling. This was clear from volume 1 and it's only gotten worse with each volume.

Many changes are trying to sound extremely American, to the point of characters sounding stereotyped. There are a couple of cute dialogue changes, but for the most part they come across as contrived, unnatural, and don't sound in character at all for anyone, which has also gotten worse with each volume. A lot of times I'm left re-reading a dialogue box in confusion because it's so out of character in the attempt to sound American and save ink.

Following that last point up... Sid's dialogue specifically is altered to sound more "black" which I find offensive, even worse when combined with the ink-saving strategy. Abridged racially stereotyped dialogue...

They removed all Japanese (okay, no problem) but there is no consistency with how it was replaced/changed except in the case of Lord Death which makes me wonder if different translators worked on each character's dialogue. For whatever reason, a character's name is not enough so Lord Death gives everyone cutesy nicknames. Some of that feels in character for him, some does not. But no one else has any consistency... Sometimes a -chan is replaced with just a name, but sometimes the same character addressing the same person will be trying to say something cutesy. The fact is, the Japanese way of addressing people by social class and respect doesn't translate because it's not part of American culture, and they shouldn't have tried to find a middle-ground. It comes off weird, distracting, and out of character.

There is no new art. As I recall, one selling point for Perfect Edition was the inclusion of new art. No. There is no new art. None whatsoever. They have changed the order in which some of the original art pieces are presented in the manga, but it's all entirely the same. Unless you count the covers. But that's all.

The harsher language is severely softened. All of the swearing is greatly reduced, which for characters like Giriko for example greatly impact characterization. Part of who he is is crude and terrible, but with his using only the mild swears he comes across entirely differently. It's not just swear words, but insulting phrases spoken by many characters are entirely changed as well (just like all the text). This really changes the meaning of things from the original.

Things in the actual art you'd expect to be fixed aren't, such as Medusa's hair twist being on the wrong side. No art errors are fixed at all.

The manga still reads right to left, but in the vertical text boxes many of those suddenly have the text reading left to right like English. But then a few still read right to left like the original, like Japanese translated manga is meant to be. There's no rhyme or reason, except the ones reading properly (right to left) do seem often clustered together like the translator forgot. This change to try to read left to right is very, very confusing and since vertical text boxes are common in manga it slows down the reading.

They didn't change all of Crona's pronouns. That's right...they missed some. One error was very early on, too. I was like, wait a second, "he"??? But I read it right. The translators missed some.

Speaking of Crona, the one thing I've found that didn't save ink but was an added editorialization was in Crona's very first scenes to state they are a victim. Part of the power of Crona's story is the slow reveal/discovery of who they are and what they've been through. Simply stating from....what knowledge??? That they are a victim in their very first appearance undermines the power of their story, which is just my opinion but still. Our main characters are suddenly declaring from nothing that Crona is a victim and that's weak storytelling too.

This next point isn't an issue with the translation, but I have seen many a Tumblr post and Reddit post with people saying their Perfect Editions arrived with missing pages. One of mine arrived with several pages stained in bright blue dye. There's a lack of quality control somewhere in the printing and distribution....

And you might say, but I only have volumes 1 through 5, so why am I so sure about all this? Well, it's been extremely consistent in all five volumes. But more, I've asked some people who have later volumes for pictures of various important pages, and all the flaws of these early volumes continue in the exact same pattern.

Thus, my conclusion is.... It's not "perfect" at all. It's just yet another translation. One with far fewer words, slightly more family-friendly in language, and with stereotyped Americanizations. It's not worth my money.

Will I still read it (paralleled to the original of course)? I can't help my curiosity, so yes, yes I will. By checking them all out from my local library. But I'm not gonna be suckered out of any more money on something that is just not what was implied to be in the title and advertising.

[the-way-astray]

if you were the author of kotlc, what would be different? (besides keefe)

i'm so sorry this is so late, anon, but every time i feel like i'm done and up to posting i feel the urge to add something else. here's a (long) list:

representation/diversity stuff

it would be completely normal to be queer in the lost cities. you tell the matchmakers what your sexuality is and if you don't know then they just assume you're pan and are cool with any gender. also, they don’t care if you’re trans and there are plenty of elixirs (temporary and permanent) to help with transitions and dysphoria. the elves are still scared of blood and sharp things though, so instead of top/bottom surgery, there’s permanent elixirs that can change . . . what you’ve got down there. recovery time is also zero

fitz and dex becomes canon. but don't you ship keefitz- yes, sir, i do indeed. but the sad truth (for me) is that fidex is more suitable for canon and keefitz is more of a fanon daydream. it brings both fitz's arc about learning the world isn't perfect and dex's arc about not judging vackers just for being vackers to a satisfying close

stina is non-binary and goes by they/them

sophie is a (straight) trans girl, mostly because it would be funny as hell. alden and fitz spend twelve years looking for a boy, but sophie’s on puberty blockers and goes by sophie, so they miss her completely. forkle has to send alden the article on sophie three times before alden realizes the “boy” they’ve been searching for might be a girl. sophie’s transness was the best defense against being found by the neverseen all along. sophie’s also alienated by her senior class’s transphobic thoughts towards her. when she goes to the lost cities, they treat it like it’s completely normal and della gives her a gender-affirming elixir with her birth fund. this is never brought up again and is completely irrelevant to the rest of the story

talked about this a tiny bit in my keefe rant but the sexism in the supposedly un-sexist world really grates on me. i would take it all out. sophie wouldn't be forced into wearing girly clothes all the time, either by herself or by anyone else. women frequently do/wear "masculine" things and vice versa. oh, and alden wears a dress at one point. also, foxfire uniforms are unisex. definitely no weird sexist comments made by keefe or anyone else. the lost cities are truly and really gender-equal

alden and della are t4t

the women aren't all housewives that get like one over-the-top girlboss-y moment because shannon realized she was being unintentionally sexist

female characters are allowed to be angry instead of sad more and are allowed to yell instead of cry more

della is a more prominent character. edaline is a more prominent character. juline is a more prominent character

cut down on poc stereotypes (like quinlin and livvy's crumbling marriage, prentice being in jail for his son's entire teenagehood, tiger parent songs, comparing tam and linh to both k-pop idols and anime . . . )

the main vacker family are all poc

the main heks family are all poc

bronte is a poc

tiergan is a poc

the elves have normal-colored eyes and the thing that makes sophie different visually is that she's the only elf not to have pointed ears (and i would erase the whole “elves only get pointy ears as they age” thing). all the poc have brown eyes, including the vackers (i'm so sorry, fitz). sophie tries to cover her non-pointed ears with her hair as a sign of insecurity, which could be related to the way she used to hide behind her hair in her high school senior class

the poc don’t all have dyed hair (tam, linh, maruca) and are allowed to keep their natural hair color

despite the lost cities’ progressiveness when it comes to gender and sexuality, polyamory is not socially acceptable because it is considered “imperfect”. sophie learns about this and campaigns against it

there's two polyam relationships: alden, della, grady, and edaline, and tiergan, prentice and cyrah

vacker stuff

alden and della's trust issues and generally fucked up relationship are explored (but minus the forced gender roles because i took out the sexism)

alvar is closer emotionally to sophie (kind of like alden), making his betrayal feel less cheap

the pressure for vackers to be perfect in every way is explored more

fitz is not demonized just because he and sophie didn’t work out

fitz and biana are twins, actually. alden and della just hid it really, really well

alvar knew that fitz and biana were twins and tried to use this as blackmail to get them to join the neverseen because he genuinely loved his little siblings and hated betraying them (his gripes were with his parents and the immense pressure put on him because he was a vacker). when they refuse, he makes good on his threat, leading to actual repercussions that affect the story (alden and della are kicked out of the nobility)

brant is a vacker and that's why his name is redacted (could still happen) and alden and della know his parents

tiergan and alden used to be best friends canon for real for real (could still happen, i guess)

biana's scars arc is given the time it needs to feel like a full arc and not a half-baked two-scene wonder. also she has scars on her face, too

fitz actually kills alvar (could still happen, i suppose)

biana's feelings with regards to alvar are explored more

keefe and alvar lore is expanded upon

ruewen/dizznee stuff

more stories of jolie. we don't really get to know her for her. maybe from brant, or grady and edaline, or someone. stories of mundane things, like her worst subject and her hobbies and her ex-friends and her conjuring classes and what she got her friends for midterms and how she got in trouble and grady and edaline's parties and how she picked a fight with anyone that put brant down

grady and edaline's parties are talked about more when people bring up how different they used to be

the fact that jolie died in an everblaze fire is actually acknowledged

the ruewens are just as prominent a family as the vackers because on the original council, just like fallon vacker was a member, there was also a ruewen

ruewen is juline and edaline's name, which is why grady took edaline's and also why juline took kesler's because that is a sign that she's literally forsaking her incredibly prominent noble family for a life of scorn. it's also why edaline and grady hoped jolie and brant would end up together (because a vacker and a ruewen together is like. the ultimate noble couple)

juline's struggles with adjusting to a life of scorn are acknowledged because it couldn't have been easy to be the top of the top falling all the way to the bottom of the hierarchy. she beats herself up about this, too, thinking it means she doesn't actually love kesler. he reassures her that he understands but she still feels guilty

the triplets act like actual twelve-year-olds instead of six

dex's family is more relevant, as the primary bad match couple and an example of the lost cities’ injustices (the main point of the story)

the lost cities inequalities/other worldbuilding stuff

sophie campaigns for rights for pyrokinetics, shades, talentless people, twins, bad matches, polyamorous people like the moonlark she's supposed to be and the entire point of the story isn't forgotten

the fact that councillors are the only ones allowed to elect and impeach other councillors is called out and fixed (could still happen, i guess)

the elvin justice system is fixed (vackers are not let off easier just because they're vackers, the council's say isn't what decides a person's fate) (could still happen, maybe)

exile is made out to be the horrendous prison it is and in the end, is banned. sophie heals the minds of everyone with a broken mind in the end (i honestly don't think shannon's going to do this. but hey. she might)

controversial: the elves' relative beauty is emphasized more. i think it should be immediately obvious to humans that something's off when an elf is around. they look too beautiful, almost ethereal, and it makes humans uneasy, but they can't quite put a finger on why that is. this is also why sophie had no friends and even her family felt strange around her. that scene in nightfall where the girls are staring at tam and fitz? well actually, they’re trying their hardest to avoid the group. humans are fleeing left and right at the sign of the group, but they can’t really put a finger on why they feel so off

shades are not allowed to take the elite levels. the ability isn't banned or anything, but they are barred from the elite levels anyway. sophie and co call this out

vanishing and flashing is one ability. hydrokinetic and cyrokinetic is one ability. mesmering and beguiling is one ability. empathy and inflicting is one ability. also there's an earth ability and it's not just given to the dwarves because man, that's cheap

the dwarves and gnomes are one species that can control plants and are really good with minerals. they are still in charge of exile, though, because plants roots can go that far deep or something. this means there are no gnomish slaves servants

there is confirmed to be a third school where you go if you aren't a noble and also not a criminal

the segregation that happens between the classes with regards to mysterium and atlantis is acknowledged

other types of couples are explored, such as talentless-talentless matched couples and talented-talented bad matches. nuance is acknowledged

that rule about councillors not being allowed to be married is challenged. i don't care whether it actually gets revoked or not, but i want it to be challenged (could still happen, i suppose)

if it does get revoked, councillor fitz! (could still happen, maybe)

at the end of the series, a multispecial council with two representatives from each species is formed with the goal of promoting equality among all species. this is different from the actual rulers of each species (could still happen)

talentless people are allowed to serve in the nobility at the end (probably will happen, would be weird if shannon didn't do that. but just saying in case)

controversial: cognates are erased. i don't like the concept of cognates very much. i find it makes telepathy too overpowered compared to other abilities. i'm so sorry, keepblr

the council are called out publicly for their unfair treatment of talentless people, pyrokinetics, shades, twins, bad matches, and polyamorous relationships by the neverseen. this leads to the sophie and the black swan being conflicted

black swan/neverseen stuff

gethen is kenric and oralie’s secret child. this gives gethen an interesting motive, makes us question kenric and oralie, characters we are supposed to like, makes sophie have to grapple with the fact that her half-brother by blood is a neverseen member, and gives oralie an internal conflict

glimmer is keefe's twin sister and lady gisela's daughter, explaining why she's so loyal and how she ended up with the neverseen (she was kicked out by cassius, who didn't want the shame of twins). keefe is forced to grapple with this

. . . or maybe glimmer just. wouldn't exist. i don't know

brant, vespera, umber, and possibly alvar wouldn't have died such anti-climatic deaths

vespera and biana face-off. brant and edaline face-off. umber gets a proper backstory (which still might happen). umber and trix are a bad match (which still might happen)

cut the keefe’s legacy plotline. fintan stays the main villain the entire series instead of randomly being hijacked by gisela halfway through

cut the forkle twin reveal

cut the trolls and everglen plotline. fitz kills alvar a different way

cut the timeline to extinction plotline and silveny/greyfell. i'm sorry, but it adds nothing to the overall story besides "the neverseen are evil and want to control the council"

cut the lodestar symbol plotline. it was interesting, but took too much page time for a plotline that effectively ended up changing nothing about the overall story

cut the criterion plotline. it's never brought up again anyway and takes too much time for something that goes nowhere

cut the gnomish plague plotline. it didn't have much of an impact on the overall plot. all it proves is "the neverseen are evil", which is kind of the point of the story. also dimitar's project is never brought up again

cut team valiant. it never should've happened

cut the lodestar initiative plotline. It’s too vague and hasn’t affected anything important to the overall story in a while

cut the boy who disappeared plotline. it added nothing except "alvar is evil". also, don’t have fintan purposefully spill the beans about alvar. the black swan find out he's part of the neverseen a different way

cut the unmatchable sophie plotline. instead have the elves do matchmaking by dna. the point of this plotline is to show why matchmaking is unfair, but the system targets talentless people and pyrokinetics more than anyone else, so it feels forced to try to have sophie be a victim of it. sophie has a (non-pyrokinetic) ability, so she can’t be oppressed by the matchmaking system. sophie isn't affected by the matchmaking system in the way that it's supposed to target its victims, so the plotline fails to showcase the real reason matchmaking is unfair

instead, have the black swan and sophie actually listen to the povs of characters who are directly affected by matchmaking and fix it

marella's dad pushed marella's mom off the balcony (he’s not trix, though) (could still happen, i suppose)

fintan ends up being sophie's biological father (could still happen. pretty likely actually. but just in case)

the black swan are actually competent and don't throw away the entire point of their organization by working with the council

the black swan actually fight for change instead of hiding in the shadows

sophie realizes that forkle sucks over the course of the series and never talks to him again after the end

fintan is confirmed to have long hair and a flat ass from the start

fintan and vespera are confirmed to be childhood friends and fintan is confirmed to be the councillor that threw her in the dungeon. this means that there is tension between them when fintan breaks vespera out

the black swan learn about this and sophie comes up with a plan to divide and conquer by taking advantage of this rift and worsening it. this gives sophie a chance to actually use her brain to fight the neverseen instead of her abilities. the black swan hatch a plan to subtly worsen fintan and vespera's relationship: through the use of a double agent, keefe

this leads to the keefe double agent storyline, where keefe learns to listen to other people and consult them on his plans, and actually works toward a very specific goal (try to split the neverseen into two neverseens: fintan’s neverseen and vespera’s neverseen by subtly turning them against each other). the plan actually ends up working, but there are serious repercussions that actually affect the story (in the process, keefe is slightly indoctrinated by the neverseen and starts to sympathize with them and even bonds with fintan a little bit, which alarms sophie and co)

the neverseen actually act like a found family (with the exception of fintan and vespera)

the collective hire people to throw the council off their scent

bronte and fintan are confirmed to have had a thing that didn't work out

fintan is thrown in jail by a heartbroken bronte at the end of the story

after fintan’s captured, he still trains marella in pyrokinesis

livvy opens up a medical school

instead of dying, vespera is locked up again. this is her worst fear, and a fate worse than death for her

the neverseen are not a large group, like shannon implies. it's no more then twenty people. this actually makes them more terrifying than not, because if such a small group can cause such large scale damage, then that is alarming and the council looks extra incompetent

writing stuff

multiple perspectives. but not evenly. like 80% of the story would still be sophie's pov, but here and there there are chapters sprinkled in from other characters' perspectives as a break

a few chapters from the adults' povs that go into stuff they got up to before the series

a few chapters from the neverseen members’ povs

a few chapters from sophie and co's povs

the love triangle takes a backseat to the actual plot

keefe and fitz actually act like best friends

the cast is cut down significantly to just sophie, fitz, keefe, biana, dex, marella, stina, and wylie (i’m so sorry tam, linh, maruca, and jensi). there are just too many characters. instead of tam and linh being from exillium, have marella manifest earlier and get kicked out to exillium, highlighting the injustice against pyrokinetics through someone in sophie’s own friend group and making the injustice much more jarring and in-your-face. sophie, biana, fitz, dex, and keefe go to exillium later as well and meet marella there

stina's arc would not have been undone. instead, there would be a conversation between her and dex about how stina apologizes for bullying him and we learn that the reason she did that was to deflect attention off of herself and her own parents' shaky match status by pretending she was better than dex, a "real" bad match's child (the book would be multiple povs, so this would be possible)

dex and sophie never kiss and remain purely platonic friends for the entire series. erase dex's crush on sophie entirely. because we need a single purely platonic male-female relationship goddammit

sophie ends up single, but takes away something from both her relationship with keefe and her relationship with fitz

prentice and sophie's first conversation after prentice wakes up is actually meaningful

the series is only four books long because please shannon i can't handle this anymore

move the lumenaria-collapse climax to the second-to-last (third) book. that plotline slapped so hard and shannon had no business losing it in the middle of the series like it was just some random neverseen plan. it needs to be given the proper weight, so it needs to be the climax that truly showcases the neverseen's might and wit that finally kicks sophie and co into gear and motivates them to knock out the neverseen for good in the last book

i don't know where shannon's going with this yet, so this is tentative, but: move the elysian/ability-to-strip-elves-of-their-abilities plotline to the third-to-last (second) book's climax, so that sophie and co can have a proper reason to not rely entirely on their abilities all the time and actually use their brains for the rest of the series (like the divide-and-conquer-the-neverseen plan)

first book's climax is still the kidnapping

last book's climax is they take the neverseen down for good and fix the lost cities' problems (i assume this will still happen)

miscellaneous stuff

terik is talentless. i'm going to be so honest: i don't think shannon's going to do it. the series isn't done but i feel like i know shannon's style well enough to be able to tell how far she's willing to go with regards to plot twists

keefe is adopted by elwin (could still happen)

the great gulon incident was such a great triumph that it actually made alina quit. she's elected to the council a few years later

whatever stina's parents did to get matched is finally revealed and they fall out of favor with the public. stina gets character development and a reason to help sophie fix the world

alden and della and grady and edaline actually all act like friends (partners?) with inside jokes and not coworkers that only come to each other with problems. sophie wakes up and comes downstairs for breakfast and della and grady are chatting about dinosaurs. she goes into grady and edaline's room and alden's there, helping them pick a new wallpaper. she goes to everglen after school to play with fitz and biana and goes inside and edaline and alden are chilling on the couch talking about how that team got absolutely crushed at the latest bramble match. she goes outside and sees della getting thrown around by verdi and grady, edaline, and alden are laughing at her. and this is like. normal stuff. they're the kinds of friends where they can just show up to each other's houses and it's not a big deal. edaline and grady's dna is on everglen's gate

everglen's gate is explicitly said to also have security measures protecting it from levitators, because that is currently a plot hole

alden is not a century older than della. this is not because i think it's toxic. this is because i want alden, della, edaline, grady, tiergan, prentice, cadence, and quinlin to have all been foxfire friends and that's kind of not possible if alden and della are a century apart

grady, edaline, della and alden's blind spots with regards to the way society is laid out is acknowledged and actually a major part of the story. they are prominent nobles, after all. at the end they all become more aware of the lost cities' problems and are at the forefront of change

timkin and kesler end up best friends by the end of the story somehow. they realize they are in the same situation in different lightings. timkin (and vika) help out at slurps and burps by the end of the story as an apology

that's all for now, but there's probably something else that'll come up that'll make me go "oh, shannon should've done this instead!!!" so. there may be a part two, i don't know

[bibibbon]

Wait, did Hori completely skip over their second and third year at UA? Or is the graduation talking about a different year?

Love how there's still absolutely ZERO introspection from anybody about the war, what drove Aoyama's parents to force him into being the traitor, Tokoyami and Izuku possibly being Quirkless, or Aizawa being such a shitty teacher that he never noticed the UA traitor being one of his own students.

And Shinsou can go kick rocks. I've never liked him since I learned how pervasive Fanon!Shinsou is in the fandom, and seeing his Goob from Meet The Robinsons ass being rewarded for his victim mentality really irks me. Again, love how Aizawa supposedly hates favoritism despite turning around and favoring Shinsou (and Bakugou).

#BringIzuku'sFluffyHairBack

Hi @nutzgunray-lvt 👋

No hori didn't completely skip over 1A's seconds and third year. The time skip was only a few days (which bugs me even more) so I was talking about mirio and his classes graduation. Personally I feel like it's too early to do such a thing but I mind of see it as hori making a full circle moment with what he mentioned in the war arc.

Oh my Iam so mad that there is no and I mean NO INTROSPECTION about what everyone or anyone just went through!??!?! Like y'all just went through a whole war and there is nothing acknowledging that!!!! Heck not even last chapters hospital scene made an effort in acknowledging what went down. The only type of acknowledgement we get is mirio's speech talking about how the heroes are trying hard to go back to square one and how they know there is a lot of work cut out for them but other than that complete radio silence which is weird as hell.

I mean we have seen people die in that war arc, many suffered injuries or lost things, many are probably mentally or physically scarred or both and hori opening no acknowledgement to that and trying to go back to normal is just horrible writing. The fact that it's been a few days since the war and they're going back to school is horrible in itself.

The series in itself doesn't even bother to mention aizawas faults as a character or teacher. Look I got into MHA because of the fanon promise of dadzawa (so Iam bias and have a soft spot for it) but dam horis writing of aizawa is such a let down to what fics and friends have told me about dadzawa. Also it's such a shame that aizawa apologises to izuku mid battle using his first name btw and then we are never brought back to that moment it's simply a one off. Also the simple lack of intropsection and information coming from every character is seriously annoying me it's like I can tell that they're simply puppets that hori is horribly controlling.

Also yuuga deserves better I have talked about how I wanted hori to use the idea of transfer students and students dropping out but this was unsatisfactory. Iam not saying that yuuga shouldn't of dropped out but Iam saying that there was no point considering that he went through that whole ordeal saying that if he fights that the education system may overlook his treachery but now he is leaving?!?!?!?

I like the potential that shinsou had but in all honesty he is way too underdeveloped for anything. There hasn't been any acknowledgements of his own mistakes and flawed ideology, we never see his interaction with Izuku and him learning that izuku isnt privileged, we don't see him apologising to ojiro for insulting him, we don't see him actually warming up to 1A rather he seems to be happier in his own class. I have talked more about shinsou and what he could of been here

Honestly it never made sense to me why aizawa likes bakugo so much when bakugo is like a carbon copy of his childhood bully so🤷‍♀️. Shinsou I kinda get but dam it's not a good look for sure.

#BRINGIZUKUSFLUFFYHAIRBACK

Horikoshi has no reason to take away Izuku's fluffy hair!! I need it to comeback and I beg for him not to give izuku a disgusting undercut like those aged up fan arts do. Also best Izuku is MHA 411 izuku!!!

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Lol.

Yeah… the more news that comes out just confirms more of what I thought. This unnamed character who moves from HYBE to ADOR, and mere weeks later, HYBE gets a ‘tip-off’ and all the incriminating documents are in his work diaries where he narrates things MHJ has supposedly said, including that she believes that Bang establishing BTS or groups with the same cache as BTS, was him copying her…. Everything that’s found in his documents is almost clinically incendiary lmao. Like, weapons-grade rage bait. Partly because of how bizarre it is. And the sinker - they tie it to Min Heejin supposedly wanting more money. MHJ has meanwhile released another, stronger statement refuting the allegations about trying to stage a management takeover, or artists contract leaks etc.

Of course, the discourse about this is going to develop predictably, especially after the mention of BTS and other groups MHJ supposedly says copied her.

This has all the makings of one thing and only one thing, to me. It doesn’t change my opinion about Bang PD but it does make me revise my view on Min Heejin, she’s a bit more naive than I assumed her to be. I feel a bit sorry for her, because she’s been got. Again. It’s similar to the ig situation that also started with ‘a gift’ her ‘friend from SM’ gave her to congratulate her on launching ADOR - a gift that ended up being the most damning controversy that almost sunk the group. A controversy where the primary demand was for her to leave NewJeans and HYBE. Now, a ‘right-hand man’ transfers from HQ to her team and it’s his uncorroborated narrations that match what’s in the ‘tip-off’… the demands are the same.

I like MHJ, but I’ve always watched her with caution because in Korea, no woman makes it to the c-suite without making a shit tonne of enemies. Imagine it to be triple the amount a regular working class man makes on his way up the ladder, because that kind of status in Korea is something you’re either born into, or born close to. It’s rare for working class men to work their way up and even more rare for women. In fact, I’d say it’s an aberration.

I see all the flack MHJ gets for being a narcissistic bitch, wanting to constantly assert ownership of her ideas, wanting to be widely associated with her successful projects, etc. I see people irritated by her arrogance, but full disclosure, I like her for it. For several reasons, but one reason is that in her environment, the default is to let your male superiors take credit for your work. It happens in corporate environments all over the world, but in Korea it’s a mentality entrenched in the DNA. Pushing against that earns you enemies every time you speak, by default. But I suspect that’s how she worked her way up from being a graphic designer to having a seat on the board of directors at SM Entertainment before leaving when they wouldn’t give her more autonomy. So, in my eyes, she’s got spunk. But also, now I see she’s clumsy.

Oftentimes with corporate drama, there’s no point using moral language because it’s just business. You either pitched the best deal or you didn’t. You either fucked up or you didn’t. It’s cold numbers and rationality - business. But… there are some cases where it’s not really about the business, cases where it’s personal.

I don’t have meaningful insider information, I’m reading the press releases and ‘leaks’ along with everyone else, so I can’t be certain and that’s why I’m talking in this long-winded ramble without coming right out to say exactly what I think. What I’ll say though is that this is less about NewJeans and more about Min Heejin. And she’s the first person who should’ve understood that and taken necessary precautions.

Clearly, it doesn’t look like she has, and in that sense she has no one but herself to blame. She’s being stupid, in fact I’d say delusional in some ways, but I guess some things can’t be helped. NewJeans isn’t exactly fucked, but it’s clear that yet again, they are collateral damage. And it’s a shame.

[expectopatronum18]

Unpopular opinion

Ron and/or Hermione should have died in the deathly hallows. And I say this as someone who loves these characters (probably Hermione more than Ron), but here me out

Now let's be fucking real, I really like ron, but he really wasn't skilled or prepared enough to fight in a war against voldemort, be it magically or mentally. And that's ok! He's still 17, he's not meant to be fighting a war. And to some degree he probably knew that the chances of him actually making it were pretty slim too. But he still stuck with Harry anyways coz there's no way he was going to let his best friend go through with this alone. Because that's who ron is, he'd rather die fighting beside his best friend, for his family, his muggleborn gf and for the cause than play it safe and hide.

Now coming to Hermione, things get a tad trickier here. Yes, she is very skilled and powerful and quick on her feet. But is she powerful enough to take on an army of adult DEs who've trained for years and have experience from the first wizarding war? To win against the darkest wizard who ever lived, who's said to be worse than Grindelwald, who's the most powerful wizard in the whole world after Dumbledore? No, I'd say she isn't. Because she's also fucking 17, she's not even done with school yet. But I think she'd live longer than Ron, or that there's a better chance of her making it out alive. But if she did die it would be extra heartbreaking coz a) Harry (and the readers) just lost 2 of the people who had been there from the very beginning, b) Hermione's parents would live on in Australia, not remembering that they had a daughter, not knowing that their daughter gave her life in hopes of saving her friend and creating a better world.

I majorly have 2 specific reasons for being this sadistic. The first one is the fact that the plot dumbs down it's main villain and his followers just to make the kids win. Voldemort (during Harry's time) is probably the dumbest villain ever written, he doesn't live up to his hype. People have already discussed how stupid his gof plan was. In ootp, during the DoM fight Lucius says that voldemort can't come get the prophecy himself coz the ministry is filled with ppl and he would risk revealing himself. But it's possible for 6 mostly dumb teenagers and an army of DEs, (who hv just escaped azkaban and are sought after by the ministry) to enter in undetected? Doesn't 👏 make 👏 any 👏 sense. The supposedly feared DEs who were trained by voldemort himself can't win against a group of teenagers. It's surprising how long it takes them to take the kids down in the DoM battle. The thing is though, this is out of character for ALL of them. It seems like they were dumbed down just so the MCs could make it out alive. Voldemort during the first WW started out as absolutely no one to having the highest class of the wizarding society obeying his every command. The whole wizarding world was so afraid of him that they wouldn't even say his name. The DEs picked out member after member of the original ootp, mostly coz they were outnumbered but also coz they're fucking death eaters. And ur telling me these guys can't fight kids? Pathetic. Also it doesn't make sense that most of the adults from the first war are dead but all the kids live. Like did the war become safer or sm shit? Instead i would have loved it if the trio got away with things in the first few books, but then realised what a war against voldemort actually means later on. But they won't back down, and they'll still stick with their friend and fight for each other and the cause anyways, and that vil have real, legitimate consequences

Now, the second reason is that it would have been an amazing but heartbreaking callback to book 1. Ron sacrifices himself in a game of chess and Hermione says that there are more important things than books and cleverness, like friendship and bravery. Ron's line of "It's you who has to go on Harry, I know it! Not me, not Hermione, you!" would have also come full circle. Back then they were still 11, so they could still get their happy ending. Now they're in a real war and the stakes are higher, but they'll stick to what they started anyways. Ron sacrifices himself so the other 2 can move forwards, Hermione's intelligence gets her further but she still needs to part with Harry. Harry needs to leave them behind and face voldemort alone because that's how it was always meant to be

And finally, it would have given us a more bittersweet ending to the series instead of that vanilla 'all is well' epilogue. Harry has lost almost every one he loved. But there's still life, there's still hope, and he lives by cherishing their memories and making their sacrifice have meaning. Kinda like the ending of the hunger games. Ik this is a kids book, but Harry Potter as a series is incredibly deep and deals with a lot of fucked up shit, so I think it could handle it if it was written well.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk

[vanmarkus]

As a late in life gay who figured it out pretty much at the same age as Buck discovered his bisexuality, I am weirdly moved by how they're handling it? Deleted scene being canon or not, I can accept it as confirming what the writers have already laid down - Buck is super enthusiastic about exploring his queerness, in every aspect. I can relate so hard because it's exhilarating to learn something new at a point in life where you're starting to feel like you've run out of new discoveries. Ship wars be damned, I'm just so happy for him, I'm happy it's canon, and I'm happy mainstream media has finally reached a point where this is something that can *really happen*.

hii~

first of all let me just say that i am very happy for you and your journey of self-discovery and how you see yourself represented by the show! one of the best things that came out of this season— actually, scratch that, thee best thing that came out of this season is queer people seeing themselves represented on screen in an authentic light.

it's never too late to learn new things about yourself and a lot of the times, even when you think you got yourself all figured out, there are still surprises coming your way!

i also think this is why ship wars turning into a habit of throwing around homophobic slurs, calling for violence against a fictional queer character, his fans and the actor portraying him (yes, i've seen all of these on twt, unfortunately) is really wild to me, cuz like... okay.

so the thing is, most people acting that way are people who are 23 at most, but usually 19 at best and we have to remember that these people were socialised in a bubble — literally.

these are the kids of zoom classes and lockdowns, the "wearing masks and gloves to even interact with the outside world" kids, the "millions have died and we just moved past it like nothing happened" kids who also happened to know very little of queer history or how saying words online actually still have ramifications and weight on real people.

it's a touchy subject and everyone is defensive, which i get, but having the queer people of this fandom witness all this vitriol over something as trivial as a fictional man does break my heart a little ngl

anyway, i completely agree, the show went above and beyond to portray the characters and the relationship as something authentic and normal. there's not another primetime TV show (to my knowledge) that made an established, supposedly straight character —a male character, no less — canonically bisexual.

which is a feat of its own because there just isn't much bi rep out there that isn't just a one-off storyline, there's barely any bi man rep out there en masse, let alone a character like Buck, who's in a macho line of work and had been introduced as a womanizer (even though, as Oliver pointed out, that actually lines up with the storyline pretty well)

so i am definitely grateful for the leap of faith the show took with this arc and even if we have to deal with people acting a certain way, i am still very happy we have this.

[jackdaniel69nice]

hi thoughts on tokoyami & aoyama? both as a ship and a platonic duo.

Ahhhh tokoyami and aoyama our classic sun and moon duo, i'll be happy to oblige anon ;)

There is a very obvious and glaring issue of Aoyama's quirk weakening and hurting dark shadow. Normally they would be very defensive and on guard around someone with a light based quirk but quite frankly aoyama is a bit pathetic (lovingly). Aoyama has a very weak and cowardly aura, and while he is certainly shown to have brave moments, he is just like koji and mineta in that there isnt an intimidating bone in his body. Dark Shadow could probably just look at him and he would faint with fear (very lovingly, i adore a pathetic crybaby man). Regardless Yuga does constantly give off light unintentionally due to his lazer leaking and his shining atire so Shadow keeps their distance out of annoyance of accidental burns. There is really only so much you can do when you are neighbors though.

Tokoyami's early avoidance was very superficial, he thought aoyama was loud, pompous, and annoying. tokoyami has a distain for bright things to the point he would claim he's "allergic to color" and decided Yuga's wardrobe was more than enough reason to avoid the blond. For as much as every one seems to think tokoyami is afraid of the dark that seems like a truly ridiculous idea. He purposefully makes his room as dark as possible and his character sheet says one of his favorite things is “dimly lit places”. Tokoyami feels at home in the dark (one could say he revels in it) and aoyama is one with the light, they couldn't possibly get along...right?

Aizawa obviously chose aoyama to be tokoyami's neighbor on purpose. As such they naturally have to spend more time together mostly due to aoyama's medaling. He has always found something alluring about our mysterious bird friends as such is the nature of light always chasing after the darkness. Although he is a bit frightened of the demonic shadow they do seem kind enough around the girls. Once Yuga decided to talk to him their conversations come naturally as they have a surprising lot in common (what a twist!). As someone (supposedly) from France he has a lot of knowledge on Europe and its culture and history which is a fascination of tokoyami's. And while their wardrobes are in opposing color schemes they have a surprisingly similar style in the mildly effeminate and victorian fashion. Aoyama admits to having taken fencing classes and dabeling in sewing but seems to have failed spectacularly at both although he plays oblivious to this and boasts his false talents. (If bakugo is a wonder boy who is good at everything he does, aoyama is the opposite who is spectacularly bad at everything) Tokoyami is good at both sword fighting and sewing and offers to help him try his hand at these hobbies again which obviously reveals yugas failings but tokoyami is willing to teach him until he succeeds. He still remembers to keep his distance though for shadow.

Dark Shadow and Aoyama end up having a lot in common too. They are both ridiculously dramatic and flamboyant in their actions and attention seekers. Even more important they are both chronically ill from their quirk side effects. Most people don’t understand the constant level of pain from lights darks shadow has to deal with but Yuga listens to them and shares his own struggles with his incontinence and stomach pain. Obviously Aoyama’s laser itself is a literal pain to deal with but after that conversation he tries hard to keep it covered when around them (he so thoughtfully what a gentleman). They can end up being very silly with each other due to their eccentric and emotional personalities. Which is good because Aoyama needs all the love he can get.

From here on out is season 7 Spoilers for the anime ->

Dark Shadow always knew there was something off about Aoyama. They have the ability to read the auras or emotions of people and they could tell he was hiding something very dark inside him. When they told fumikage he brushed it off as them being vehement towards his quirk. This assumption strengthened once they moved into the dorms and shadow could hear him crying late and night, pacing, sneaking around, and even getting an odd phone call or two. They tried to tell fumikage and even others but was once again was brushed off, most people don’t take shadow seriously. They did try to visit Aoyama when he was crying but he only let them in very rarely and never talked about what was bothering him, his perfect mask back in place by the time he opened the door. Shadow did their best to cheer him up. When he was revealed to be the traitor shadow wasn’t surprised but still felt betrayed (Tokoyami learned a very important lesson to listen to his shadow’s instincts from now on). Shadow usually holds grudges against people who have wronged them especially since they had almost gotten kidnapped because of him. But Yuga also saved them from being kidnapped too, and he was being forced into the situation to protect his parents. Tokoyami and Shadow felt the same about this for once. All they felt was pity and understood why he did what he had to, it was easy to forgive.

Aoyama was reluctant to get too close to any of his classmates but if anyone could understand him it was the prince of darkness himself. Although tokoyami never recognized the mask Aoyama wore Aoyama could recognize his. He could see fumikage carries a terrible weight of guilt on his shoulders and felt empathetic. Tokoyami and Aoyama were both trying to cheer each other up just as hero’s do.

For tokoyami and Shadow their relationship went from dislike to “reluctant” friendship after getting to know him. Aoyama is forever grateful to have gotten so close to them.

Manga spoilers past here ->

Aoyama’s decision to leave was a devastating one and was the worst betrayal of all to shadow. They took it personally as him saying they aren’t friends anymore and that he doesn’t care about 1-a anymore. This is an illogical and emotional conclusion to cover up their hurting because they would rather feel anger and resentment than heartbreak. Tokoyami was much more rational about his decision and realizes his feelings about being abandoned and hurt as an untrustworthy emotional response. He deals with this the same way he deals with all his unwanted emotions, intense suppression. (You guys thought he was going to work through his feelings normally? HA! WRONG!)

Yuga’s decision to leave is admittedly not one I understand well. All I can see is that his quirk hurts him far too much for a long career of hero work with it. I would like to think all he did was change to general studies like trading places with shinso. He could have had his license revoked for a year, had private training, then went back to the hero course with support gear to fight with instead. The in universe explanation that he never even wanted to come to UA doesn’t make any sense. He obviously said he wanted to be a hero and likewise had many heroic moments (6 off the top of my head) that prove he could back up his motives. UA is the best place to become a hero, so there is no reason for him to leave. The only real reason he could have wanted to leave was his guilt and fear pushing himself away from his friends. Which is very similar to when Midoriya pushed everyone away during his dark deku phase, but everyone came after him and forced him to come home then. Will they go after Aoyama too? My hc says yes they do because they are a family and I said so. Mido was on his own for a few months so I think it will be a few months of them trying to contact Yuga and him trying to run away before they hunt him down >:)

In the mean time Dark Shadow takes out their anger about Yuga leaving on Shinso unfortunately. Since he’s an insomniac they have far too many times to interact without tokoyami to mitigate…but that’s another can of worms to deal with. Eventually tokoyami’s suppressed feelings blow up in his face (like always) and he has a breakdown saying how much he misses him and doesn’t want anyone to leave their class ever. Things get better after that with toko not denying his emotions anymore and Yuga soon to return. They will make up and become proper friends again (although tokoyami will still act tsundere towards him). Dark shadow cries and hugs him which they have never done before because of the burning; they are to happy to see him to care though!

I know this was sort of all over the place but I needed to talk about Aoyama’s decisions somewhere. Thanks again for the ask anon!

[hondafuckingodyssey]

X-men comic recommendations

The other day I went on a rant about how nobody should attempt to read all of the x-men comics in order because if the x-men have no respect for the spacetime continuum, you shouldn't have to respect reading their shit in order.

So here's a list of comics series, some that I've read and some that are on my to read list. Mind the authors and the dates, Marvel likes to recycle titles so sometimes you'll accidentally pick up something that's a completely different story from ten years later.

If you're going to getting your comics from the library and different sources (cough archive.org cough), or skipping around to different eras, I recommend an app like Comic Geeks where you can track which issues you've read. As a bonus, you get a satisfying little dopamine hit every time you check off a comic you read.

The original silver age comics from 1963 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby These are fun, but they kind of suck. I believe X-men was one of their worst selling titles for many years. They are campy fun though, like that island has a giant acme magnet on on top of it, I wonder if that's Magneto's secret base, hmmm? I'm kind of working through these when I just have my phone because they're easier to read on a smaller screen than the new stuff with full page spreads.

Chris Claremont's classic X-men run, starting in 1975. This is the classic starting point I hear recommended again and again. You start with Giant Size x-men number 1, and then go to X-men issue 94. This is where all the classic x-men are introduced. You got your Dark Phoenix saga, and Days of Future Past, and a lot of the storylines that were used in the 90's animated series. Everybody should read some of these. But Chris Claremont was writing the X-men for FOURTEEN years. Do not attempt to read all of these before you move onto the modern stuff.

The Dark Phoenix saga, 1980 Chris Claremont, issues 129-138 Ok, I just finished these last night and they're so good that I want to make a special call out for them. I jumped ahead to read them and I'm so glad I didn't wait. I can't figure out how the movies sucked so bad when they had this source material to work with. We could have had an epic moon battle? If you don't read anything else from this era read these. Pro tip: get the epic version of like a prayer stuck in your head right before starting on issue 137. Really adds to the atmosphere.

X-men Season 1 by Dennis Hopeless, 2012 This is a graphic novel (so published altogether instead of in individual issues) retelling of the original silver age comics. It's mostly from Jean Grey's point of view. It's very fun.

Children of the Atom, 1999 by Joe Casey, 6 issues Sort of a prequel, explains how Charles Xavier recruited a bunch of teenagers. This looks good, but it started out with mutants being lynched, and with the way I always compare being a mutant to being queer, and the election and project 2025 looming, I decided this one was too much for me right now.

X-men First Class, 2006 by Jeff Parker, 8 issues I read the first four of these and they were cute. Bobby is writing home to his parents about his time in school, Scott and Jean go to the beach. Lots of fun character stuff. Originally 8 issues but it looks like they immediately did another run of issues the next year.

New X-men, 2001 by Grant Morrison his run starts with issue 114 This is a great place to jump in if Deadpool & Wolverine got you interested in x-men comics, because it's got Cassandra Nova in it. She's doing her weird finger thing! Supposedly this is one of best places to jump into modern x-men. I've read about 6 of them, so far so good.

Astonishing X-men, 2004 by Joss Whedon This is supposed to be the best x-men run ever. It continues directly from Grant Morrison's run. I'm saving it for next time I have a mental breakdown a rainy day.

All-New X-men, 2013 by Brian Michael Bendis This is what I'm reading the most of right now. Cyclops is being an asshole, and Beast decides the best way to solve this problem is to go back in time and bring the original teenage x-men from '60s back with him to confront him. This works particularly well as a jumping in point because they keep explaining backstory through the kids finding out all the ridiculous things that have happened. Like, poor Jean asking how she died, and they're is like, um which time?