#Though even then. I never relate at the beginning of their arcs either.

[variaandroise]

I... Don't know these characters. Like I've never heard of them. I can however say you are an insightful entity. I'm glad to have met you (and the rest of course).

As for my four characters... I only have two in recent memory I find terribly relatable, those being Voice of the Cold and Voice of the Opportunist from Slay the Princess. The other two spots I'm giving to Joshua Gillespie and Sasha James from The Magnus Archives, because the former only appears in one episode and I think I've been through enough on the latter to get the gist (On: Episode 61). And no, no one here has an official character design.

Under the cut will be a few quotes in case you've never heard of them. And if you have heard of them, I imagine what I highlight would be telling as well. But for tag (one of them), @acemakes-art143, care to join?

Voice of the Cold: "You're lucky you haven't been stuck here like the rest of them. There's no other way to keep going. You either need to forget or you need to stop feeling much of anything. They can't do either."

Voice of the Opportunist: "It's the blade, isn't it? I was going to tell you to grab it once we got upstairs, that was the whole 'Keep your eyes peeled' thing. Then you would've stabbed her in the back and we would've been on the top of the pecking order!"

Joshua Gillespie: (Context: He received a coffin labelled "Do Not Open" that scratched at anything put on top of it and melodically moaned in the rain) "I decided against doing any further experiments, and instead made the very deliberate decision to ignore it...Some might call me a coward, but I decided on the latter, that I would interact with it as little as possible while it lived in my house." "I lived like that for almost a year and a half. It’s funny how fear can just become as routine as hunger – at a certain point I just accepted it."

Sasha James: "I should really quit (Working at the Magnus Institute), you know. We, we all should. I don’t think this is a normal job, I, I don’t think this is a safe job." (She is asked if she's going to quit) "No. I’m just… I’m just too damned curious, I suppose."

Making a tag game cause I can

Rules: post 4 fictional characters you relate to and assume something about the person you reblogged from based on their characters

No pressure tag! @sidneyoftheblackwoods @mqstermindswift @stars-and-birds @zenilvar @forever-chained-to-myself @themidnightarcher @skeelly @thepencilsnameissteve @thislove-taylorsversion @thislifeissweeterthanfiction @swiftieannah @a-pessimistic-swiftie @catastrxblues @jellycanon @what-about-wendy and anyone else who wants to join<3

[phantosss]

some changes i would have made to the characters storylines in tua s4

disclaimer: i am no writer, it's just fun to think about the possibilities. btw anyone feel free to use any of these ideas for fics idc

lila doesn't cheat for starters. instead she and diego have both been secretly doing vigilante missions and keeping it from the other because they think they'll be mad. on one of these missions the two run into each other and rekindle their spark. basically the five and lila story but with diego and lila instead thanks. maybe one or both of them almost die or their kids are put in danger, and they decide to find a much less dangerous hobby, because while its thrilling in the moment they realize they wouldn't sacrifice their family for it

luther is shown to be much more depressed about sloanes absence (if there really is no way for her to come back) but he's trying to hold it together to be there for his family. would be nice if he bonded with characters like klaus, viktor or allison who have also lost their lovers. diego and lila shenanigans means they need luther to babysit a lot and luther finds happiness caring for his nieces and nephew. maybe he also finds a fulfilling job where he can meet a lot of people and help others.

five still finds the time subway but without lila. we get more time exploring the alternate timelines and seeing different ways the apocalypse has happened including ways the other sibs have ended the world. his PTSD and reliving his trauma is also explored. he eventually ends up in the five diner where he's told that they end the world every time but instead of excepting defeat and making everyone sacrifice themselves he finds another way (what exactly that is im not so sure) and becomes the first and only five to successfully prevent the apocalypse forever

allisons relationship with claire and ray are explored more heavily as well as everything she did in s3. i like the idea that she takes care of klaus because 1: hes the only sibling that will still talk to her and 2: because of the guilt she feels after getting him killed. i just wish her arc focused on something OTHER than saving klaus because thats basically all she did this season. would be nice if she spent more time with viktor and luther the two people she wronged most heavily in s3.

i would keep viktors confrontation with reggie but alternatively i would make this reginald umbrella reginald so it has much more weight to it. either that or have viktor express that even though he said his piece toward this reggie he will never actually get closure with their real father and nothing will remove the pain from his childhood. the rest i would keep pretty similar. reginald wants to kill ben and viktor wants to stop him at any cost. viktor knows what its like to be "the bomb" and doesn't want the same thing that happened to him to happen to ben. instead of working together to find ben however they're more in a race against eachother. maybe allison joins him and they make up on the way. i would have liked for ben and viktor to have had a heart to heart in the beginning of the season, maybe about how ben felt like a monster sometimes because of his powers, and viktor relating. idk how this would work with sparrow ben because he doesn't seem to hate his powers the same way brelly ben did but it would have been nice to show another reason why viktor is going through so much trouble to save him. and the ending where he trys to talk him down would be more impactful i think.

for klaus i would keep everything pretty much the same up until he runs into that quinn guy. instead i would have him travel to the subway with five in lilas place. five and klaus' powers are the most mind boggling out of the bunch not to mention time and death are inherently intertwined and this needed to be explored. also, you're telling me klaus literally has the power to talk to GOD and this never has any plot relevance???? klaus should have been involved in finding the solution to the apocalypse imo. also we needed klaus and ben interactions. idk how or when but it NEEDED to happen

ben and jennifer being the catalyst for the apocalypse is making it very hard for me to figure what to do with him tbh. i just wish he had more time with the other sibs and didn't turn into a horrific blob monster at the end 😭he felt less like a character this season and more like a plot device and he deserved to have some scenes that actually fleshed him out. it would have been cool if the reason he causes the apocalypse was actually because of his powers and not just because he happened to be the one to make skin contact with jennifer. i really thought that the twist was gonna be that the squid that jennifer was stuck in was the one that ben summons and that was why they were connected. not the fact that they both just had reactive magic particles in them that anyone could have set off. like what if jennifer being cut out of the squid was what killed ben?

OH! what if jennifer was an eldritch horror from the same dimension that bens tentacles are from and for some reason she wants to kill the brellys/end the world and because bens powers are linked to her she can control his mind ???? c'mon i feel like i've got something here

a have a couple of other ideas but don't know where they would fit in rn so yeah.

[genericpuff]

Was your Kore/Persephone portrayal inspired by dissociative disorders? I interpreted it more as her dark internal monologue that she was suppressing. Like when you have dark thoughts of know things inherently, but try to rationalize your way out of thinking them. I figured it was just a more dramatic way of portraying intrusive thoughts.

Ahh this isn't really a question I can answer with a simple "yes" or "no". Especially when considering everything you just listed are often inherently symptoms of many interlinked mental disorders like DID and BPD haha (especially when it comes to the suppressing).

As I mentioned in my previous post I've been writing these types of characters for years. Uzuki is a big one that comes to mind. I love writing conflicts of the self, mind vs. reality, identity vs. instinct, past vs. present, etc.

CW: BLOOD/GORE, GRAPHIC VIOLENCE, DEPICTION OF TRAUMATIC BREAKDOWNS AND DISSOCIATION AHEAD!!!

(note the black and grey pages are read right to left like a manga, this was from my weeb days LOL)

It wasn't until years later after I was diagnosed with ADHD and autism that I realized my love for those tropes was rooted in something far more internal. Sure, sometimes a trope is just a trope, but now I fully understand why I've found myself pulled back to that trope time and time again, because I myself have struggled with a lot of the same internal conflicts that characters like Uzuki and Kore have struggled with. It wasn't just me loving a trope, it was me finding solidarity and representation in characters who shared my experiences, even if they were largely hypothetical or for the sake of creative expression.

That realization came long before Rekindled, of course, but it hit me like a sack of bricks when it did, as any realization of an undiagnosed disorder tends to do after years of thinking you're just "broken". That said, it's allowed me to explore these topics with even more nuance and understanding, while also pointing out my own weaknesses and blind spots in the pre-conceived notions I had about myself that I was then able to challenge once I knew what was really going on. It was still challenging as it was so personal, but it ultimately made me a stronger person and a stronger writer.

Skip to the future though with Rekindled, everything I just explained is why I was so interested in LO's AoW plotline to begin with, because a lot of it played to my own interests in those sorts of characterizations - consequently, it was one of the plotlines I wanted to overhaul the most when I started coming up with the basis for Rekindled, as I was disappointed that it was forgotten about over the course of S2 and completely retconned by the trial arc. In a weird way, it almost feels like all the time I spent working with characters like Uzuki was preparing me for a character like Kore/Persephone. And conversely, writing about Kore/Persephone has helped me harness my skills more which I can take back with me when it comes time to continue Uzuki's story.

All that said, mental disorders and neurodiversity were never "inspiration" to me when I was learning how to write and/or designing these characters, but that didn't make them any less intersectional. It was more like something that just came naturally to me as someone who is neurotypical and has diagnosed mental disorders (I am my own worst inspirations LOL) and I wanted more characters like that who weren't just automatically "villains". I try to always treat them with care to ensure that I'm being kind to both the characters as well as myself as someone who heavily relates to these experiences, but I'm also not really afraid to express the more "ugly" sides of those experiences either. Especially with characters like Uzuki who are largely problematic to their core in their actions - much of those actions, as I would learn about myself in my own healing journey as well, are often spurred on by a lack of care, empathy, and understanding in their unique struggles.

There is so much I'd love to say about Kore and Persephone's characterizations and what led them to this point, but I got about a paragraph in before realizing that it would be WAY too massive of a spoiler LOL I'm really, really excited to get into it - though nervous too - but I hope that, at the very least, readers can have patience for her as she goes through everything that's on the horizon. There are times it may get ugly, even outright bleak, but that is simply one side of the coin that represents her duality as a goddess - the dreaded Bringer of Destruction, and the merciful Goddess of Spring.

[crumpet-doodles]

Hey. Rambling about Nexus and his situation. Part two.

So. Before we begin: THESE ARE JUST MY THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS PLEASE DON'T BE MEAN- I'm not saying what he did was right or wrong, this is just my perspective.

Good? Okay. Here we go.

Lemme start this out by saying I GET HIM. STARS ABOVE, I. GET HIM. I understand him, and even though it's not good what he's doing, I can see his point of view in this.

First of all, I am/used to be a "smart kid." The overachiever, the one who always got good grades, etc. Basically, high expectations. Who also had high expectations for them? Nexus.

For me, his situation represents that renegade phase I was never able to have.

There's just- everyone wants something specific from you, and when you fail to meet those expectations? They're disappointed. They're mad, they're sad, whatever. All those feelings, aimed at something YOU tried your hardest to do, only to be equally (if not more) disappointed as them. Nexus was trying his best to be a better brother than Old Moon, and... was in part doing pretty okay!!

However, with all the things happening, it went downhill real fast. He went over with Dark Sun, disowned his family, and is trying to harm people (as far as I've heard at least, I don't watch the episodes anymore)

And you know what?

I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to either.

There's just- part of me who has wanted to do the same thing as him for YEARS. To go on a villain arc, to hurt people, DOESN'T MATTER WHO. It could be people I love, people I hate, WHOEVER. AREN'T YOU TIRED OF BEING NICE!? DON'T YOU JUST WANNA GO APESHIT!?!?

Basically, Nexus is... living out my experiences of being the burnt out smart kid. He's doing what I never let myself do- and at that, he's enjoying it.

...what I'd give to have a taste of those feelings.

Anyways, again, I am NOT SAYING WHAT HE'S DOING IS GOOD- Quite the opposite, actually. I'm just saying- I get it, and I relate. Let's go Nexus, representing my mental state since your appearance.

[mantequillamcwhoremick]

Hi! I ended up reading through Choas Plan in pretty much two days (your writing is actually phenomenal) but I was actually curious on your inspirations to write it? Did it come from any other particular works or maybe episodes from sp?

WHAT NO WAY😭😭😭😭😭😭WHAT THE HELL THAT'S SO NICE HOLY SHIT THANK YOU SO MUCH <33333

You can't just ask me shit like that dude I will respond with a huge fucking essay I LOVE questions like that!!!!

I honestly have several inspirations, many come from the show itself and some I've drawn from cyber crime documentaries and books I like (namely the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo, you might recognize the scene with Mysterion and Harris in chapter 3 is very VERY similar to the one between Kaz and Jan Van Eck at the beginning of the book), but if you've read the notes in the fic you might have seen that the story idea was initially born when I was playing TFBW.

The Idea

The U-Stor-It scene where Butters/Chaos locks the C**n and Friends in the facility and talks to them through a screen was just so fascinating to me, it reminded me a lot of Jinx from Arcane and the Joker in The Dark Knight (especially because of the flashy decorations and graffiti). Mainly the story evolved from the question I posed to myself in that moment, which was: "What needs to happen for Butters to become someone like Jinx?" and that's how I started brainstorming the backstory.

The Backstory

Obviously that was inspired mainly by Linda's behavior in Butters' Very Own Episode, but it features elements from stuff all over the series and the games that prove just how fucked up Butters' parents are and treat him.

(Remember when in TFBW he mentioned that they bought an electronic lock system to keep him in his room because he left the bathroom once while grounded? yeah, that convinced me Butters' home life probably would only get worse with the years, especially with him entering his teens & puberty, and Post Covid honestly just confirmed that.)

The Villain/Hero Concept

I hadn't yet watched much more of South Park than up until seasons 15/16 so I didn't know about Post Covid's Vic Chaos yet, I mostly just wanted to do something with Mysterion and Chaos that had a darker and serious tone without either of them having any Marvel-esque powers or tech-organizations aiding them, something closer to the South Park lore at hand and realistic enough to feel like it could happen in our world.

Chaos' Methods

With Butters having a knack for Internet-related shit and him being able to hack into a baseball stadium screen to broadcast his evil plans in the Professor Chaos episode, and ofc his whole thing in TFBW and the episode of him becoming a pimp, I figured he has the stuff to be a hacker and entrepreneur.

I started getting spoilered a lot on the whole Vic Chaos and NFT scammer thing so even though I hadn't watched Post Covid I drew a lot of inspiration from that as well. I've been watching a lot of documentaries on Cryptocurrency scams and other cyber crime related stuff, so yeah all that shit also gets my brain generating a bunch of ideas as well.

Mysterion

As for Kenny/Mysterion's side of the story- I'm a huge fan of the "criminal who gets paid by a shitty pig/capitalist who would normally never hire them to take on a job" concept in Six of Crows, so that's how I got Harris involved, later further fueled by his Thin White Line arc in TFBW.

The way Kenny used his death powers in the C**n & Friends episodes I found very intriguing, and I absolutely LOVE playing around with them, so I included my own interpretation & spin of it as an active "superpower" he uses in order to be successful enough as a vigilante to be taken seriously. His canon powers separate him from your average humanbeing. It's a way to show the audience "hey look, Kenny really is just some guy, but also no one else could take on this role, ever. He may not have super strength or speed or money for equipment backing him, but he can get into places and out like no other person ever."

Coming up with a kryptonite-type weakness was also super fun, because I didn't want things to just be too easy. Mainly it's his need to remain anonymous, but the biggest reason for that need is because he needs to keep up his ability to financially support Karen. That, I obviously got from the show-, namely episodes like Mysterion Rises, The Poor Kid and City Part of Town, but his dynamic with Karen got increasingly more interesting and influenced in the fic after I played the TFBW DLC From Dusk Til Casa Bonita. The fact that he's so obsessed with keeping her safe the best way he knows how but completely overlooks to consider letting her have a say in it, is absolutely delicious. Like fuck yes, let's go complicate these character relationships (rubs hands evilly)

TL;DR

Inspirations come from all over, but of course the main ones do come from the show and games. Kenny and Butters have always been increasingly fascinating characters to me the more I watched the show, so the fact that Kenny canonically is the only kid Butters respects (source: s16, Ep "Going Native"), to an extent that in the future Butters funded his entire career, I thought had a shit ton of potential. Hence their friendship in the fic before "the incident", and the way Butters goes about Kenny now that he's taking over the town >:)))

Thank you SO SO MUCH for the ask!!!! I hope I didn't ramble too much for what you actually wanted to know, but I just absolutely love sharing my inspirations for this fic. Really gets my brain go brrrrr heheheh I'm so so grateful that this interests you <33333

[iforgotwhaticalledthis]

Rae Morningstar and Loneliness: An Analysis

SO something that occurred to me recently is how much being alone effects. well. everyone in Fable(not like everyone everyone but like,a not insignificant amount of people.) Their society is shown to be one of few(if not the only) thriving communities, and lots of people deal with being alone either before they join the cast, or during. Take Ulysses. when he shows up in Fable, he has to grapple with the fact that he is the last of his race. Same with Ari- being one of the last of the Aether. And for characters like Icarus, Caspian, and many many others, they have to deal with being alone before they find a community of people they can be around and trust. One such case is Rae Morningstar.

At the start of the story, Rae is alone. Almost everyone has some form of connection. Icarus, Centross, and Easton have ominous bane. Momboo, Jamie, and Easton are family. Haley already knows Momboo. The only people without any connection are Athena, Will, and Rae. Will's not really around much, and well, Athena had a retconned family so it doesn't really affect his character. (Though i totally do have thoughts about this post retconned Athena and stuff but this is a Rae post). However, by the end of the series, Rae is deeply embedded in the community. He was alone once. and he tries his hardest never to be again.

Rae's lowest moments are when he's alone. In season 1, when Enderian makes him that offer, he probably wouldve taken it in a heartbeat, if not for the fact that if he did, he would be Alone. (and also that he might be used against his friends) In s2 when he finds out he and Icarus are brothers, he is so desperate to hold on to that relationship. I think its why he's so desperate to keep that connection. He doesnt want to lose his brother again. Also the beginning of S2 IS SO bad for him. All of his friends, his family all gone. he's alone yet surrounded by the people he knows. He mentions how bad it wouldve been if not for Ocie- the one person who can relate to him. Someone that stops him from being completely alone. Then theres the sculk arc, which, do I even have to explain? In s3 , Rae gets mad at Centross. A big reason is because Centross left him alone. And when Icarus starts to isolate, later on, what does Rae say, in concern "I just don't want them to be alone." Rae was alone before. so now he tries to make sure that no one else in the community is. For example, he reaches out to everyone. He's always the one people go to for help, so that when they need it they won't be alone. See where Im going with this?

Another thing. Each and every time Rae met one of his partners? Bot him and the partner have been alone. Take Caspian- I mean Cas was alone in the prison, he was isolated. And Rae had been banned from seeing Jamie and Athena was being kept away. The two people he was closest too at the time had left him- even if it wasn't their own choice. When he met Aax, everyone he knew and loved had forgotten him. And Aax had been sitting alone in a cave. Waiting for Theo to return. Even when they first met, Aax was alone, being the only one to escape from the Telchins, and Rae was trapped in a home where he had no one to turn to. When he met Fenris, ,he was alone, having run from his home to keep people safe. And Fenris was alone after being turned into a wolf who couldnt even talk to other animals. for possibly centuries.

Even in smaller things, he doesn't want to be alone, like when he learns Centross and Fenris forgave Ven. He doesn't know how to deal with that anger, now that he's alone in it. He gets tatoos so that he wont forget these people, so he'll never be alone. And at the end of hist story? He and his family turn into gods. He'll never be alone, not even in death.

Anyway i just had some thoughts. if you noticed any inaccuries/have any points to add/ disagree with any of my points please reblog! i want to see waht other people think. Also i might make a follow up on how loneliness affects other characters, this really got me thinking

[meospseo]

Maki, Toji, and Freedom

I think the worst parroted talking point in JJK discussions is that "Maki just becomes Toji 2.0". It's an idea that commonly comes up in any discussion or Maki or female characters in JJK about how she was reduced to a facsimile of a dead male character the author prefers.

I think this is a gross misunderstanding and oversimplification of Maki's character arc and does a disservice to both characters. Yes, there are many very deliberate parallels in the manga, textually and sub-textually, that discusses their mirroring. But these are usually from the viewpoint of others or from the manga discussing her abilities and growth.

While Maki does undergo a personality shift after awakening, she does not begin echoing Toji in any capacity. Toji is arrogant, flippant, and selfish; a man willing to kill kids and sell his own son for cash. He is at the end of the day a broken man who threw away all personal relations after the death of someone he deeply cared about.

Maki on the other hand is at first blunt, determined, and brash; a woman who only decided to become a sorcerer to spite her family. although she has moments of levity and kindheartedness, she is still motivated by revenge.

When Maki awakens after losing Mai, the person she cared most about, Maki retreats inward, becoming more distant and bitter, but still equally determined; a woman living with the burden of having killed her own parents.

On a surface level, it's easy to see how Maki acting more emotionally detached mirror's Toji's grief, but it's just that; grief. both of them have lost who they cared about the most and it would be strange not to see them retreat inward emotionally.

The difference is in how they deal with their grief; Toji becomes solely self-destructive, selling his own services and his own son only to gamble it away. he is completely lost without his wife. Maki on the other hand becomes outwardly destructive, desperately trying to honor Mai’s and her own dream to destroy the Zen’in clan. Even with these differences, Maki still continues to grow, expressing remorse over indulging in vengeance. Where Maki makes a mistake and learns from it, Toji dies for it.

These differences exist beyond their personalities, even with the same abilities, they utilize their skill sets in different ways that reflect their personalities. Toji is known as the Sorcerer Killer, he is an assassin and hired killer. In Hidden Inventory, instead of attempting to assassinate Riko outright, he delegates the work to others by putting a fake bounty up to tire down Gojo. Toji doesn’t work for free, he isn’t a man held by ideals like pride, loyalty, or friendship. His true self is an opportunist, and when he deviates from that, he dies.

At least, that’s what he tells himself in his last moments, but his desire for self-affirmation, to completely discredit the apex of jujutsu sorcery and spite the Zen’in clan, says otherwise.

I don't think it's a coincidence, either, that a discussion of Maki's abilities and being shunned by the Zen'in family is immediately followed by Mei-Mei's comment about connections based on money, the same belief that brought about Toji's downfall.

Maki, meanwhile, is a woman defined by strength, both physical and mental. Maki’s determination to spite her family is the core of her motivation for much of the story, it’s what drives her to be stronger. Though Maki is far from dumb, she manages to figure out and counter Naoya’s technique in a matter of moments, she never relies on trickery or plans the same way Toji does. This stems from the fact that Maki has the luxury to rely on others; though Maki desires self-affirmation through internal strength, she isn’t stubborn enough to turn to isolation. Toji meanwhile, is completely alone and forced to fight through unorthodox plans – strength exists merely as a means to an end for Toji, while strength exists as a source of pride and a goal in of itself for Maki.

Freedom is perhaps the greatest line connecting the two stains of the Zen’in clan. Free from cursed energy, free from expectations, free the constraints of a cursed technique. It’s what really, truly motivated Maki in the first place; the freedom to choose what to be, to leave home. Maki refused to live a normal life and fall into a hole serving her family with Mai and instead opted to become stronger.

Toji, meanwhile, is described as a man who escaped fate and broke the chain of destiny keeping the star plasma vessel and the six eyes together.

But Toji’s defiance only shatters others chains, as he never truly escaped the shadow of the Zen’in clan, being haunted by them and the fate of his son in his last moments.

Maki, meanwhile, makes peace with the fact that she can never really make peace, that she can only look forward and keep moving.

Maki Zen’in is arguably one of the best written characters in the series, and to see any discussion or her reduced to “she’s good but Toji 2.0” is disheartening and a rejection of reading characters on even a basic level. Reducing characters to their powers and abilities is literally exactly what the story is actively disparaging in current chapters! When all you can see is someone’s strengths and abilities, you’re dehumanizing them into a monster; and Maki deserves better to be known as nothing more than a monster.

[aihoshiino]

chapter 141 thoughts!

The usual reminder: because of the content of this arc, I will unavoidably have to discuss CSA and topics related to it in this & future chapter reviews. I do not discuss them in great detail, but if you very understandably just aren't in the headspace for that, no hard feelings - look after yourself and I'll see you next time.

This chapter starts us off on the note of answering something I've been wondering for a while and confirming that Ai did, in fact, know that Hikaru was being abused by Airi. On the one hand, this feels like it should go without saying, since it answers the question of where Aqua would have gotten some of this info, but it feels strange to have this dropped on us in such a matter of fact way.

In general, I continue to be both baffled and impressed by Oshi no Ko's dedication to never showing characters learning or reacting to huge, status-quo altering pieces of information on screen lol. I think this is more a case of the movie's framing than the manga's - hard cutting from the HKAI exchange at the end of last chapter to the Ai & Airi confrontation is very cinematically appropriate - but it does bother me regardless. In isolation, I think it's fine and we get more than enough information about Ai's thoughts and feelings on the situation in the confrontation but it's nevertheless part of a pattern that's been going on for a long while now of important reveals and reactions to really huge pieces of information are happening entirely offscreen and are only told to the viewer in retrospect, or are backfilled into the story once Akasaka wants to make use of it. It's not a world-ending flaw or anything but I'm noticing it more and more and I think it's been harming the series more than it's helping.

That said, I do really like this confrontation Ai has with Airi. It definitely feels more like Ai speaking for Aqua than it does Ai herself speaking - the cold, straightforward way she addresses Airi pretty clearly mirrors the way Aqua spoke to the director on Akane's behalf back in LoveNow. Whether this is a case of Aqua using Ai as a mouthpiece or their similarities as mother and son coming out in a moment like this, I think it's interesting either way. Given what we learned about Ai's own abuse and her own history with narrowly avoided CSA, it makes total sense that upon learning someone she cares about was being similarly exploited by an adult that she would have some very strong feelings about it.

Airi's meltdown in response is also something I have mixed feelings on. As a piece of characterization in isolation, it's fascinating and I think it provides some important insight into how and why Airi was able to rationalize and justify her abuse of Hikaru to herself, even though she clearly knows it was objectively wrong. I honestly can't help but see parallels in the way she centers her own feelings and pain and uses that as justification for her actions with Ayumi, Ai's mother, who had a more subdued but emotionally similar breakdown when talking about her history with her daughter.

Ultimately, I do feel it adds more than it takes away - I would much rather see the story continue to humanize characters who could otherwise have just been left as uncomplicatedly black and white Evil People Doing Bad Things. People very rarely begin acting in cruel, exploitative or antisocial ways out of nowhere and I think the manga's story is better for highlighting that this is the case.

H O W E V E R. . . where my feelings become more negative is the talk that follows, but I have like a million things to say about that so I'll put a pin in it for now to not derail too badly.

Given how Airi responds here, I'm also suddenly very curious as to if this direct confrontation was what put an end to her abuse of Hikaru. It's hard for me to imagine her going back to it after being so directly called out and if that's the case, I can't help but wonder if this was the trigger for the HKAI romance. I already talked last chapter that there's some imagery already implying Hikaru views Ai as his light, which OnK thematically associates with the role of a savior in someone's life. If Ai really did manage to intervene and protect Hikaru from Airi's abuse, then that would have intensified those feelings one hundredfold.

holy shit akane AND miyako are back! wow, isn't it totally crazy that across the arcs where they could have contributed to and potentially resolved the conflicts at play they were just totally absent but now they're just reappearing without comment or reaction to any of that other shit!

As I mentioned before, I have really mixed feelings on this scene with Miyako and the others. In isolation, I do like it and I think it kind of brings into explicit text something that had been just floating around as vibes before, which is how absolutely symbiotic with misogyny and sexual exploitation the entertainment industry is. The way misogyny played into Ai's exploration was always a really fascinating part of her arc to me, but given that Akasaka at least publicly presents as a person without that sort of lived experience, I was curious as to how much was intentional and how much was accidental, just because of how surprising it was to see a man centering this sort of thing so thoroughly in his writing. This scene with Miyako makes it clear that it's something Akasaka absolutely wants to highlight and discuss in Oshi no Ko, to the point of him being willing to call out even likable and sympathetic characters like Taiki for casually taking part in and perpetuating it.

THAT SAID… I really don't like that this scene, accidentally or otherwise, ends up centering and discussing Airi's victimhood over Hikaru's. His story has always been an indictment of the way children, specifically, are at risk in the entertainment industry not just in terms of being exploited as workers, but in the ways that adults in power can and will use their positions of authority to do exactly what Airi has done. That is what needed to be discussed here; the way that Hikaru's abuse is in no way an isolated incident and how people like Airi will continue to get away with hurting children so long as the industry - and society at large - treats children like second-class citizens at best and commodities at worst. I do think this scene is trying to use Airi and Miyako's experiences as a jumping off point to talk about exploitation in general and the way a person's ability to say 'no' can be compromised by outside pressures but it talks so much and so exclusively about the experiences of young girls and adult women specifically that it's hard not to read it as the story placing more value - at least for now - in exploring Airi's perspective over Hikaru's and that just feels kind of grody to me.

The timeline of this chapter is also just… really weird? Given Frill's, uh, appearance at the end of the chapter I have to assume it's taking place right after she films her scene with Aqua last chapter but that makes no sense given where the Ai and Airi confrontation is placed…? My best guess is that the scene we get at the start is some kind of visualization of the script by the characters who are reading it but it's all still very needlessly confusing lol

frill just barging in with her tits out when she knew rbkn were waiting for her was so fucking funny though i gotta admit. weird ass lizard woman.

Her mentioning it was her own decision to do the scene like that is also shrimptresting because it seems to implicitly confirm that there is, thank god, SOME kind of intimacy coordinator on set that the cast are talking about these scenes with. I actually also think the level of trust and comfort between Aqua and Frill this implies is also really interesting…? In general, I've always really like the idea of AQFR friendship, so this is kind of making me daydream a bit about seeing more of one…

As for the ending… man, it's such transparent reaction bait that I can't really summon the energy to get annoyed LOL. At least we won't have to wait a whole extra week to see what it amounts to.

Weary as I am with the reaction bait cliffhangers, I am at least glad to see the story coming around to finally addressing the elephant in the room here. As the chapter end text points out in the Japanese versions of this chapter, a scene like this was an inevitability of playing Ai and Hikaru and it's been where I've expected to see the underlying tension that's been floating around AQRB's relationship since the past life reveal finally get drawn out and addressed. Given its placement in the story (ch 142 is only the second chapter of its corresponding volume) and the framing of that last page as more of a gag/punchline than a serious dramatic beat, I don't things are quite going to play out like Ruby seems to want, but I'm nevertheless curious as to wtf is even going to happen

Honestly, at this point, I kind of just want Akasaka to shit or get off the pot. If he's going to bring a topic like incest to the table, then I want him to actually have something to say about it that isn't just Ruby going 'kyaa oniichan' and acting like a fanservice imouto character from a harem anime. If we're going to have something like 'Ruby falls in love with her brother' actually happen in story, then I want to see how she feels about this, how she rationalizes it, how she expects this to play out when she and Aqua live in a society that by and large condemns incest and treats it as taboo. At the very least, give me something to dig into and examine and chew on that wouldn't have already felt dated during the mid 2010s little sister boom.

[glitteringcrab]

I've seen this technology before

...Have we... really considered the implications of this?

The first possibility is that the creators of Rick and Morty kinda made certain things up as they went along (which makes sense) and this was simply Evil Morty's introduction: he's clever, he's ruthless, he can perform mind control. Cool. Spooky.

The second possibility, if Evil Morty's whole arc is planned from the very beginning and he's always been intended to be an overarching villain/antihero (honestly, it feels this way) is that in some point in the past there was either (at least one) Villain Of The Week (let's call him Random Puppetmaster Villain) or a Rick (let's call him Puppetmaster Rick) who would puppeteer people to promote his own agenda.

The Citadel Ricks examining Evil Rick had evidently no clue who could have been puppeteering Evil Rick. This can be read in two ways:

A) Random Puppetmaster Villain/Puppetmaster Rick is still at large, never been caught. The Citadel Ricks have no idea where to even begin looking. Evil Morty would likely know who it is.

I feel like this theory has some basis plot-wise, given that with Rick Prime dead and the Intergalactic Federation gone we're sorta running out of overarching villains.

B) Random Puppetmaster Villain/Puppetmaster Rick is dead, his villain lair destroyed, all his mooks defeated. The Citadel Ricks are like "wtf, what's this up now?" as all possible leads are long gone. They have no idea who could possibly be using the same technology now.

This theory has some basis if we consider the fact that Evil Morty does not appear particularly scared--just angry. His motivation to leave was because he was sick of being trapped with Ricks, not because he was worried a past enemy might hunt him down. I guess one possibility doesn't rule out the other (you can be scared and angry at the same time) but Evil Morty seems to be the living incarnation of the toxicity of the Rick-Morty dynamic; nudging that on the side with a generic being-a-victim-to-a-villain backstory feels very disappointing.

I guess in theory both possibilities could be true; Puppetmaster might have been defeated, Evil Morty might, along everyone else, think the dude (or dudette) is dead, but that person could have escaped.

There is also the possibility that Puppetmaster and Evil Morty parted in good-ish terms with each other, so one has no reason to fear the other.

C) Evil Rick was the Puppetmaster. I feel this is unlikely, same as I feel it is unlikely that Evil Rick was ever physically abusive with Evil Morty, despite Evil Morty's reaction to his yells. If he was in habit of hitting Evil Morty (or worse), I doubt Evil Morty would have worked up the courage to get in his face over something as mundane as a shitty (literally lol) adventure. (Other Ricks might have been though, which would explain Evil Morty's reaction).

IN ANY CASE

Evil Morty had the... good fortune (?) to interact with this person in the past. In the same way Morty Prime is used to disarming neutrino bombs drunkenly assembled by Rick C-137, Evil Morty was experienced enough to successfully perform brain surgery on Evil Rick. This is supported by Evil Morty's large range of brain-related abilities, and I'm not referring to the manipulation:

1. Performing brain surgery on at least two Ricks. It wasn't a one-time thing. He did it with Evil Rick, and he did it again when he was running for president:

Look at the Rick in the picture: he doesn't have the eye bags nor mouth scar that Evil Rick had, and Evil Morty is wearing his Candidate Suit.

It's unclear if Evil Morty set his assistant up for a failed assassination attempt to gain votes through sympathy, or if someone had really been keeping tabs of him... But whichever is true, I can totally see any people in the know being afraid to speak up: any of the Ricks accompanying Evil Morty might in reality be puppeteered by Evil Morty. Some of the guards that shot the District Ricks might have been Evil Morty. The Ricks that approved of him participating in the campaign run might have been Evil Morty. Good luck speaking to anyone; you risk basically confessing to Evil Morty.

2. Scanning Rick C-137's entire brain (when he finished this in the Citadel, he did it with no visible apparatus, I might add).

3. Scanning dead Ricks' entire brains. You'd think that the death would deteriorate the memories, but nope. Evil Morty was good to go.

4. Being able to instantly scan another person's brain and find out what they're planning:

5. Creating small devices that can instantly hijack robotic brains and enslave them to his own will:

6. Downloading specific data from another person more-or-less on the spot:

I mean, that wasn't even Evil Morty's tablet! He threw it away after he was done, and it seems that he had hastily wrecked Rick Prime's control room to hook him up with some cables so he could get what he wants.

(Interesting that he didn't bother downloading Rick Prime's insta-healing ability though; one with think that it'd be quite a catch, but Evil Morty apparently does not want to be able to live forever)

I mean, we've seen the Galactic Federation going into a lot of trouble to get Rick C-137's interdimensional travel secret, and those weird little dudes that specialized on simulations going to equally lot of trouble just to get Rick C-137's concentrated dark matter recipe.

They'd all wish they had the same abilities Evil Morty has, it'd all be over in a jiffy.

SO.

What I'm concluding when taking all the above into consideration is that Evil Morty was at some point paired with a Rick who specialized in brain control. Evil Morty got to observe the surgeries, assist in the surgeries...

...and have a surgery done to him.

Because he might be able to perform brain surgery on an incapacitated Rick, but I doubt he'd be able to do it to himself in his bedroom.

He had no trouble hooking his own cables with the eyepatch, even though the cables were sticking out of his freaking eye. He knew how to connect them. He knew how to make the eyepatch work. He knew what he was doing. This was all familiar to him.

And given that once he became fed up with Evil Rick he acted with no hesitation, it's clear that he had already considered this technique as a possible way out, and up to then had been simply deciding against it.

Now.

Best case scenario. BEST CASE:

Evil Morty was simply one of the Puppetmaster's experiments. (No hard feelings.) After all, Evil Morty had no transmitter in his skull. He had to hook up one externally. This means that Puppetmaster never considered him a partner; Evil Morty was never given free reign to puppet others. He was one of the people being puppeteered.

It's unclear whether Evil Morty has a receiver of his own still stuck somewhere in his brain (I mean, if Puppetmaster's transmitter is destroyed, I guess that Evil Morty would stop receiving orders and he'd be free) although even if that's the case, I'm sure once he became president and got access to more superior tech he'd make sure to fix this possible contingency.

The cables sticking out of his freaking eye kinda point out to Puppetmaster connecting Evil Morty to a machine while immobile (especially if Evil Morty was the initial experiment, needed updates, maintenance, etc) or having him wear a mook mask or helmet of some sort. Those cables are not really easy to use otherwise. Or maybe there was a receiver once in his skull, was later removed (e.g. once Puppetmaster was defeated) but the cables hooking up the removed receiver to his brain have remained.

Worst case scenario:

Evil Morty was not simply an experiment, but one of the people regularly puppeteered. Theoretically possible, although given that Ricks don't think highly of Mortys, and that Mortys usually do what they're told (a clone Morty with nowhere else to go even more so), I'm not really sure what kind of things Puppetmaster thought Evil Morty would be useful for and thought that the best way to get obeyed was literal brain control.

In any case, this wasn't just "a body modification" nor "just an implant", in the same way that Morty Prime can turn into a boat or breathe in space. This is a lot, A LOT more intrusive.

In conclusion:

Possible villain still at large.

Someone hug Evil Morty ASAP.

[theshadowandhislight]

(Not arc related) Has the thought of Silver possibly being related to either of you ever crossed your minds?

' ' What? no! ' ' .. ' ' Potentially. ' '

The Two answered at the same time. Sonic flashes a nervously bewildered look at Shadow but Shadow's unamused expression doesn't change.

' ' Two things. Why and how? ' '

' ' ..I needn't give you the talk right? ' '

' ' WHAT- You know that is not what I meant! ' '

' ' That covers the how. the Why is simple but complex. ' '

Sonic crosses his arms and adjusts his posture, raising a brow as he spoke with sarcasm.

' ' Then tell me, genius. ' '

' ' One, I'm not blind. I know that you must know that I know what you are. even if you were fully male to begin with, My genes from the Black arms allow me to reproduce Asexually meaning we would still have the possibility of children regardless of gender. ' '

' ' How'd you figure that one out? ' '

' ' Focus. ' '

Shadow moves a paw to pinch his own nosebridge with an irritated sigh. Sonic merely gives a nervous chuckle and shrugs.

' ' Fine, fine. go on. ' '

Shadow lowers his paw to move and cross his arms. he seems to do this though when Sonic uncrosses his own arms.

' ' What does Red and Green make? Generically, Brown. but that is with the darker color spectrum. my eyes are bright red, and yours are emerald green. What color does that make? ' '

' ' ...Lighter brown? ' '

' ' No, It makes Yellow. and Silver's eyes are Yellow. ' '

' ' How does that prove relations to either of us though? ' '

' ' His chest fur is white. I have white chestfur. his natural birth eye shape is similar to mine, but his coloration on his muzzle and the inside of his ears are closer to yours. the spines on the back of his head bend back far like mine, but bend down like yours. ' '

' ' Oooohh... yikes, I didn't think about all of that.. ' '

Sonic taps a paw to his chin, glancing away with self thought.

' ' It could be pure coincidence. we never asked Silver about his parents. he could either be nothing related to us, or it could be a timeline thing. it's difficult to say. ' '

Shadow concludes with a sigh, almost as if he was mildly annoyed to point out a lot of his observations. he turns his head away too.

[a-bad-case-of-the-stephs]

Had an extremely sad Steph thought related to her social isolation; you've mentioned before that Steph is never shown with a consistent friend group (her gymnastics teammates are one offs and dean sucks and gets dropped from her life the same issue he's introduced. Bc he sucks). And I started thinking about why, since Steph is generally sociable and not portrayed as unpopular usually.

I forget the issue but during her pregnancy arc (I think near the beginning since she isn't drawn pregnant at that point yet?) she's seemingly friendly with two girls who are aware of her pregnancy (though iirc it's left ambiguous if they're casual or close friends. The poor girls are mostly used as racist props by Dixon to yell about how being a teen parent is Bad and Uncool and it's Stupid to disagree. So, uh. They might not be friends with Steph after that issue. They certainly never appear again)

And then I thought (going into full on headcanon territory here)...what if Steph's utter lack of friends is (partially) bc of her pregnancy? Like I'm sure she wouldn't have been the first in her school but it's still a very isolating experience I imagine- she had to leave school for months on end, already putting her behind socially, and while there's those two girls who think the idea of Steph having a baby is cool (and get yelled at for it) it's not unrealistic that many more would judge her for it (even if not for getting pregnant then for having had sex)

I bring up this headcanon bc while at first it seems like baseless speculation, I'm pretty sure all of Steph's school friends are from before her pregnancy arc and then she isn't shown with a group of civilian kids til after she switches schools post return (in the Robin/spoiler special). Which is probably a coincidence but I find potentially telling.

Anyway, sorry to spring this incredibly sad headcanon on you. It just seemed realistic to me. Still though, poor Stephie :(

That’s fucking horrible. Headcanon accepted into my reality. You’re dead right about how Steph is really not shown with any of her own friends in between her pregnancy till post war games, I don’t think it’s a big leap at all to attribute that in part to the fact she had to take off of school + the social alienation of going through a pregnancy at 15. A good example of this is how Steph seems to have has no one else to ask to take her to Lamaze classes besides Tim. And the two girls you mention (which Dixon does totally use to moralize in a clearly racist way) ask when Steph is is due, implying she hasn’t been in contact with either of them beforehand. This insulates that she probabaly isn’t very close them, and at the very least, that she probably hasn’t been in contact with either of them during her pregnancy.

But what truly sucks is even after she gives birth she doesn’t get a “return” to status quo and have her own friends or even new friends. She still doesn’t seem to have any civilian friends shown or referenced all the way to her death in War Games.

The thing I’m always thinking about is how if you look at the crowd at Stephanie’s funeral there is no one who looks her age there (save for Tim and Cass). Like everyone else is an adult. It’s a sizable group of mourners but no one there both a) around her age and b) also not a vigilante.

Its especially obvious when you contrast it to the funeral she and Tim both attend for their classmate Karl Ranck back in Robin #26, a good chunk of the mourners are his former classmates and friends. Tim mentions the crowd indicates how popular Karl was. For Stephanie’s funeral to not have only a few (civilian) people her age but instead none at all is genuinely shocking in comparison.

For me, it really cements the idea that she was really on her own, that by the time she “died” she more than likely had no non-vigilante friends, or at the very least none who went to her funeral. Which is just so so sad to me.

And I think it in part informs some of her behavior. Socially, her main group of people in her life seem to be majority vigilantes and then her mom. That’s like it. Which is just so…. Ugh. No wonder she ends up so dependent on the being a part of the team and getting that approval. She doesn’t seem like she’s got much else, and her ability to hang out with some of those people is somewhat dependent on whether or not she’s in Batman’s good graces.

Stephanies has the trappings of a basic popular peppy high school girl but the text and the subtext of the comics she’s in tend to imply (intentionally or not) that she’s pretty damn lonely. If you ask me, she’s a little bit weird and strange and lonely with a thin veneer of “peppy/normal high school girl” plastered over all that.

Thank you so much for the ask and the headcanon which I have assimilated into my worldview and understanding of Steph. I love hearing peoples thoughts on Stephanie and your insight is always so powerful and real and based.

[spookybluebirdcupcake]

So I'm just getting through more 9-1-1 Lone Star and I wanted to share some of my 9-1-1 related thoughts

(I've watched to the end of season 7 on the main show though I do know some spoilers for season 8) and just at the end of season 2 of Lone Star)

1 (a). I am not a Buddie fan. If it happens like sure I wouldn't HATE it, but I don't want it to happen and my headcanon is that Eddie could actually be ace (I'm ace and I love platonic relationships in media so I'd love to see that!) I also don't hate Buck/Tommy but I am very confused by that episode where Buck spends all his time trying to get Eddie's attention and ends up saying he wants Tommy's and idk their relationship is just weird... my fav Buck relationship was actually with Taylor and I'm kinda mad they didn't last tbh.

1 (b). The writers of this show have no idea how to make characters start relationships. I love Bobby and Athena but the way they got together was so random. Buck and Abbie was a weird storyline/couple. Eddie doesn't know how to talk to women so I'll give them points for being able to use that as to why him getting into a relationship with someone is weird. TK and Carlos also kinda weird how it just sorta happens out of nowhere??? This show just doesn't know how to organically start a couple 😂 I do love the couples once they are established though because they are all just amazing!

2 (a). Judd and Grace are my fav 9-1-1 couple followed closely by Chim and Maddie. The difference is Chim carries Maddie but Judd and Grace carry each other... but it is also kinda fair given Maddie's trauma that she would need a bit more help. Chim is still a saint though. He was my first favourite character when watching season 1.

2 (b). The Boston episode and the Saving Grace episodes are 2 of my favs that focus on those couples and I feel like i haven't seen either of them get as much love as they should.

3. Eddie is my fav character and I am not even slightly sorry about the amount of posts I have in my queue of him 😂

4. Characters I thought I would hate but ended up loving: Eddie, Judd, and Mateo. I did start the main show being very frustrated by Hen - they did her dirty to begin with - but I never actually disliked her. I never liked Abbie and I was glad she didn't stick around - replacing her role in the show with Maddie was the best decision they could have made!

5. I miss so many characters that are no longer in there. I want May to come back so badly! And I did hear the actor wasn't a great dude but Michael was such a fun character!

6. The tsunami storyline was the best 3 episodes of 9-1-1 and you will never convince me otherwise. The power outage is in 2nd place though because those episodes were also insane!

7. Seasons 3-5 were the best, 6 and 7 had me losing interest and I'm honestly scared to start season 8 because I don't want it to be as bad as season 7

8. The crossover episode in Lone Star should have been a 3 episode arc and/or I would have loved them to have done more crossovers. I understand why they couldn't/why it wouldn't make sense but I still wish it could have happened.

9. I don't like Lone Star as much as the main show yet, but the end of season 2 has picked up a lot so I really hope it stays at this level! I love the diverse cast and feel like there are so many stories that could be told with these people.

10. Marjan and Eddie would be such a power duo if they worked at the same fire house and I would absolutely have loved to have seen that... I'm not super into fan fiction but I would read the shit outta that! I was so excited for them in the crossover ep but I feel like they weren't given enough time/story to really do anything fun. But I feel like that about all the characters being paired up in that episode which brings me back to number 8 😂

I probably have more I can add to this but that's all I can think of right now..

[getoffthesoapbox]

[VK/M] What's In A Kaname?

Before I dive into my thoughts concerning some recent happenings in the horror show that is VK/M, I figured I'd set the stage with a preliminary dive into the skeletal structure of Kaname's narrative arc from the original VK. If this is triggering to anyone, well, take it up with Hino.

I don't know why I've never done a deep dive into the skeletal structure of Kaname's narrative arc before, but I think it's because we were always waiting for the "big reveal" of his "great plans" that never came. Instead of sitting in that mode of thinking, I've changed perspectives for this exercise--I'm now looking only at what is ACTUALLY there once you strip away the dumb things that don't matter (like the vampiric politicking that never goes anywhere with Hino because this is a love story at its heart). Going into this without preconceived notions or expectations for "narrative twists" made it easier to parse what is actually in Hino's story. And once I did that, I found a very straight-forward, simple arc for Kaname. It'll take a minute to detail first, but I'll lay it out simply at the end.

We'll start post-time skip because the first part of the story is mostly Kaname working in the background without much narrative thrust.

Night 49: Kaname obtains what he's wanted--Yuuki is now a vampire, is in a relationship with him, and is estranged from Zero. Kaname thinks that he and Yuuki will be in loving bliss from now on.

Night 49-50: Things don't go as Kaname planned. Yuuki struggles with using her fangs on him, even though he wants her to and encourages her. Initially he thinks this is due to her humanity interfering with her vampiric side (6 months into the time skip). Their relationship stagnates while she starves herself. No progress. He's stuck in the "bro zone." As far as any super plans, he has none at this time outside of Yuuki.

Night 51-52: Kaname discovers Yuuki has attempted to not only bite herself, but also take blood tablets from Aidou. This shouldn't even be a thing when Kaname is a willing blood source for her--not only does he love her, but he's a Pureblood. She shouldn't be able to resist either of those two things, not when she loves him. Whelp, unfortunately for him, she confesses her heart is still attached to that Zero guy. But that's ok because she loves Kaname too, right? Whelp, about that...Yuuki won't admit she loves Kaname either and instead acts sorry while beating around the bush about it. Their interaction ends with Kaname placing a restriction on her eating--she'll have to take blood from him and no one else.

Night 52-54: Now that Yuuki is drinking blood from him and has confessed to having feelings for Zero, Kaname needs to test the depth of those feelings. He's reassessing where their relationship stands in light of this new information. He takes Yuuki to a ball with Zero, making sure to give her ample time to interact with him. Zero fails to drive home the estrangement, and Yuuki emerges from the ball more determined than ever to help Zero.

A sub-point here is this is when Kaname's Plan A begins. This plan is never detailed explicitly in the story, but I believe his Plan A was to gather all the Pureblood bloodline strains into Zero and then transform Zero into the cure (likely by killing him).

Night 56-59: Yuuki leaves the house (with Kaname's knowledge) for the first time in order to go and do what she can to help Zero. She runs into Touma and is injured. Zero appears. Kaname watches from a distance via remote-viewing from his familiars, keeping tabs on things but letting them play out because he's still testing Yuuki's feelings for Zero.

Night 60: While injured, Yuuki nearly bites Zero. She only stops because she a.) wants to savor him and b.) snaps out of her stupor to realize that she's in the arms of the man who supposedly wants to kill her. None of her motivations are Kaname-related, but she does run back to Kaname.

Night 61: Kaname is furious with Yuuki because she basically betrayed him entirely and revealed that her feelings for Zero are stronger than her feelings for him. His recourse now is to try to force her feelings to shift toward him. The best way to do that is to break down her image of him as her brother so that she'll see him as a man.

Night 62-64: Kaname drains Yuuki to the point where she has no choice but to drink from him and then sends her down memory lane. His plan backfires, though. Rather than seeing him as a man, she sees her own feelings for Zero in his feelings for the Hooded Woman and she also sees the utter darkness in his heart.

Night 65-66: Yuuki awakens and Kaname tests her feelings to see if she has changed her mind about him. He tries to see if she was jealous about the Hooded Woman, but gets a neutral response from Yuuki. He then asks how Yuuki sees him now. The best that Yuuki can offer him is that she adored him as her brother and senpai, but that she doesn't know who he is as the ancestor, and that she'd like to start over fresh with him. This is NOT what Kaname wanted. He wanted her to see him as a man and realize she loved him romantically. The answer here becomes obvious--he needs to accelerate Plan A (Zero cure) and get rid of the "interference" in his relationship with Yuuki. But the only way he can do this is of course if Yuuki doesn't know what's going on. So he gives her one last test--stay home and wait for his return. Yuuki fails the test.

Night 67-82ish: Kaname dumps Yuuki back onto Zero after he kills Aidou's father (and yes, I do believe Aidou's father is dead--we've never seen him in VK/M, not even for Aidou's wedding, and Ruka did not seem like she was creating an illusion for Kaname at this time), and then begins to initiate Plan A. This mostly involves him letting Sara run around, drinking and attacking Purebloods, and Kaname wandering around after her cleaning up the mess. Sara is then driven into Zero's vicinity, and Kaname allows Zero to drink from her. At this time Kaname has no plans for Yuuki outside of perhaps planning to turn her human again if she doesn't take well to the Zero-dying thing.

Night 83-88: Kaname breaks into Hunter Headquarters, but he doesn't do so in order to "find" the forge--he just "discovers" the forge, which implies his Forge Plan is Plan B. When he enters headquarters, he's still operating under Plan A (which I assume is the Zero cure). Zero and Yuuki catch up to him here, and Yuuki cuts her hair to signal her determination. Kaname, upon seeing the forge again, decides to open up to the idea of Plan B (a.k.a. he becomes the forge in the Hooded Woman's stead). He releases the Hooded Woman and runs.

Night 89: Yuuki returns to Kaname after having taken Zero's memories and destroyed her relationship with him. At this point, Kaname is ready to abandon both Plan A and Plan B if Yuuki genuinely wants a real romantic relationship with him. He attempts to suss this out by sleeping with her. After all, she gave up Zero for him! Surely she loves him!

Night 90-92: Kaname realizes all's not well in paradise; Yuuki appears to still want to turn him human even after sleeping together and her reaction once they both wake up is to huddle in blankets and accusing both of them of not deserving to be in Zero's presence. Kaien "sends" Zero over to Kaname, but I suspect Kaname requested Zero as yet another test for Yuuki. Kaname tests the strength of Zero's memory loss and finds it solid; he then tests whether or not Zero has feelings for Yuuki even without his memories and whether Yuuki still loves Zero without his memories. Kaname finds both are still true, and he picks Plan B back up again. At this point he's intending to have Isaya turn Yuuki because Zero has no memories. This also still "removes" Yuuki from Zero. Unfortunately for him, Zero regains his memories.

Night 93: Kaname completes Plan B, placing his heart in the forge and unloading his last thoughts onto Yuuki. She can't even give him a final grand love confession--the best she can offer him is wishing she'd never been born. Kaname gives up at last at the idea that he held a major place in her heart and wishes her and Zero well.

VKM begins.

This long ramble was merely to demonstrate the justification for the following skeletal arc for Kaname:

Nights 49-68 (before Kaname leaves Yuuki):

Gets Yuuki, separates her from Zero, gets Zero positioned perfectly for devouring purebloods. -> Finds out Yuuki doesn't actually love him, but thinks he can overcome this because, well, he's her master and a Pureblood, and we know from his past history that this can overcome love. -> Tests the strength of Yuuki's love for Zero while setting up Sara to gather bloodlines for Zero for Plan A -> Realizes Yuuki's love for Zero is stronger than expected -> Gets butthurt and tries to salvage Yuuki's feelings for him via changing her perspective on him with his memories -> Fails. Decides to pursue Plan A to get Zero out of the way.

Nights 69-93 (after leaving Yuuki):

Follows Sara and stirs up events to get Sara to gather Pureblood lineages and take them to Zero. -> Discovers Forge location. -> Plan B now an option (become forge). -> Nearly discards both Plan A AND Plan B when Yuuki takes Zero's memories. -> Gives up on Yuuki entirely after he has sex with her and nothing changes and she still shows signs of preferring Zero. -> Goes full bore into Plan B because it's the easiest and he can still separate Yuuki from Zero via Isaya. -> Fails to separate Yuuki from Zero and accepts his fate while succeeding at Plan B.

In the shortest sense, we simply have: After the timeskip, Kaname thinks he's won Yuuki's heart and can sacrifice Zero for Plan A, the Zero Cure. He discovers he's wrong about both and, after first attempting to win Yuuki's heart one last time, ultimately changes his plan to Plan B, becoming the forge. The end.

There is nothing in Kaname's arc that suggests he ever once felt secure in Yuuki's romantic love for him, and this is the key reason he follows through with Plan B.

What this shows me is Kaname is a shit for beans planner. He just throws things against the wall to see if they stick. The reason he seems "mysterious" is that he's always changing his mind, not that he has a master plan. His main motivation is to get in Yuuki's pants, and when he can't get that it's either kill the guy she actually loves (Zero) or kill himself. It's obvious how toxic he is when you break down the structure of the story and remove all Hino's flowery language and artwork. There's just nothing positive here to work with--he's literally the villain of the story.

The reason I wanted to work through Kaname's narrative skeleton here is because the latest chapter has a hint that Plan A (kill Zero for Zero cure) really did exist. There's tons of evidence for "a" Plan A in the original story of course--Kaname letting Sara run free, Kaname silencing Aidou's dad for investigating, Kaname disliking letting Zero drink from Sara but saying it's "necessary" (necessary for what, certainly not the forge plan!), Kaname seeming to only realize where the forge even was AFTER he entered Hunter Headquarters, implying he was there for a different purpose before discovering the forge's location.

Yuuki in the story assumes Kaname was always trying to become the forge, and because she's the protagonist, we're meant to assume that too in the original story. But I think there's enough evidence to suggest Kaname had a Plan A that involved the Pureblood lineages and Zero. The most logical conclusion is that it's the Zero cure, which lines up both with his attempt to reverse the Hooded Woman's sacrifice in the past AND with his "surprise" at discovering Ichiru and Zero were Hunter twins. It also explains his early involvement with Shizuka, which hasn't been narratively resolved yet. It's still just hanging in the breeze, waiting for someone to fold it up and put it back in the closet.

This is a long-winded way of saying the Zero Cure is BACK ON THE MENU, BABIES! More contemporary thoughts later!

[aiyexayen]

🐇📚🦷🍬🪐🏜️🌸🎨🧩 ((((:

a feast of answers it is, then! 😌

🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both?

though not frequently applicable, i prefer writing original characters. i come up with the odd one now and again (like some of my beloved queer siji disciples in my chengling fix it au). i don't believe i've ever done a reader insert! maybe someday.

📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app?

i don't actually have a notes app but i do take notes in my personal discord server. the last fic related note i wrote was, "5 times wen kexing caught liu qianqiao + 1 time she caught him" and the beginnings of an outline to that end 🤭

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

i assume this is meant to be writing-related, but my best hacks are actually, "just put a new chapstick in every location instead of trying to remember to take one around with you" and "put a bench/stool in the kitchen and bathroom, maybe even ones with wheels, you deserve to sit down while you do things"

writing advice? "write what fulfils you, when it fulfils you" -- need to stop everything and write a vent fic? do it. need to get out just an outline to an idea that grabbed your soul but never write or post it? do it. need to spend 3 months going feral writing a longfic that makes you happy and then leave it unfinished? Do It. need to write nothing but smutty pwp oneshots for your friends? you know you should just do it. need to stop writing for 2 years and then come back just to write some poetry for a rarepair in a fandom nobody's ever heard of? DO IT. as a hobby writer with no deadlines keeping food on my table, holding onto ownership of my agency around writing and only writing whatever i want and need whenever i want or need to--and the implied *don't* force myself to write things that hurt me or write when i can't--is what keeps writing healthy and joyous for me. and this isn't in conflict with fandom as community or participating in fic events, either--i write more prompt and gift fic than anything, tbh.

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

i don't typically keep up with popular fandom characters and opinions. uh. oh, here's one for shl. i don't think canon zhou zishu makes a good dad figure for zhang chengling. i think he does his best to be chengling's shifu: a distinctly different relationship to a father-son one, especially for them, that he formed as a late-20-something with a mostly grown teenaged boy. and i don't think either of them would even think of disrespecting chengling's father's memory by trying to just replace him. i think wenzhou and chengling are found family in a more grounded and queerly expansive way, distinct from some nuclear ideal of parents-with-a-kid, and trying to force them into that relational tropey box does a serious disservice to the narrative and themes as they stand, to the character arcs as they stand, and feels like a weirdly unnecessary dismissal of the vast sprawling possibilities of human relationship.

but i mean, this is an opinion i hold in general about almost every fandom space so it's not new. i think characters are often much more (and sometimes much less) than "the mom of the trio" or "married with a kid" or anything else that tries to memeily-but-then-abruptly-seriously boil down characters to a single note, be it a gender role or a parental role or anything else. and sometimes the memes are funny, but often they transcend meme into serious character fanon and i bounce off it pretty quick.

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

1, i am no longer living in a house i am allergic to

2, i am working on my solstice time playlist

3, i just got a package in the mail from a friend!

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

anything that points out a specific thing the commenter noticed or liked. whether it's one quote, one little detail, or a whole essay. it's that feeling of being seen and noticed that's delicious. but honestly i also love incoherent emotion and emojis too. there's so much to enjoy about comment variety.

🌸 ⇢ do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them

chengling! my black cat!

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

i literally don't have a favourite. i love so fucking many fanarts, all of them equally for different reasons. i don't know how i would realistically answer this. i might make a fanart rec post sometime.

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

finding one of my squicks that didn't make it into the tags to be filtered for (often i have squicks or unpreferences that aren't likely to be filterable via tags--like use of pet names that remind me of my ex, or other personal junk lol)

grammar/dialogue that is too difficult to parse is another. i'm not too picky about grammar or typos or anything normally, but like if i literally can't tell who's talking or what's happening at all, there's no real point keeping on reading. stuff like that.

i hope you enjoyed all this info lmao

ask game

[blue-dream-rhapsody]

On Kugo Ginjo, Part 5 - Side A: The Blade

[First] [Previous] [Next]

I broached the subject of Kugo’s sword once a while ago, but I don’t think I really backed it up with much canon material. Then a little bit ago I saw MrTommo’s video about Ichigo’s Horn of Salvation form and it made me want to take another look, so here we go!

(Note: the numbered asterisks sprinkled throughout are more like tangents than proper footnotes. You can save them to the end without much trouble I think, the mark just notates what point I was making that I think it relates to best.)

————

So even though Kugo and Ichigo are both hybrids, the differing circumstances that make Ichigo ✨ special ✨ mean he’s not very helpful as a point of reference for the rules of existence Kugo operates under. There are a handful of things about their abilities I think are clearly meant to match up between them, or at least point the way—and that is disregarding the obvious use of Getsuga Tensho as a blatantly stolen ability—but it doesn’t give us a full picture. So today I just want to take a look at Kugo’s sword, its various forms, and what I think is going on with his powers in the current state of things.

To begin, I do want to go back to the farthest in the past we have seen Kugo—Tsukishima’s memory of when they met, at which time Kugo appears to have still been a Soul Reaper and presumably acting as a Deputy.

Purely, to confirm that he had a completely standard asauchi at this point, which he carries on his hip like any other typical Soul Reaper.

Tite Kubo stated at one time that Rukia knew of the method for transferring Soul Reaper power to a human in an emergency because it had been done before, and that Ginjo was at least the successful example. Upon his own acquiring of said power, given Ichigo is the only one who ever has, as of years later, had his sword spontaneously appear rather than be forged by Oetsu Nimaiya (*1)—it would make complete sense for Kugo to have to take up the blade of the Soul Reaper who gave him their power, at least in the moment, to survive that situation. Whether he was issued his own asauchi to imprint later, or the former owner was no longer able to wield it and he ended up keeping it to make his own, I can’t say. The latter isn’t an unprecedented event either, as Tosen got Suzumushi from his friend Kakyo after her death. And truthfully, I couldn’t tell you if it makes a difference either way, at least for what we’re discussing here. What matters ultimately, is that this is so far as we can tell, a completely standard-issue zanpakuto that a typical Soul Reaper would have.

Now we never see that zanpakuto in anything other than its sealed state. No shikai, no bankai. This means, we don’t know what shape it would have in its unsealed states, so we can’t compare that to what we know of now as Cross of Scaffold. (Keep in mind, just because it’s slender sealed doesn’t mean its shikai is the same shape. Zabimaru is an easy example.) We don’t know anything about its ability, either, nor any name it goes by. But we know that in the present time, Kugo does use something he calls “bankai,” notably without ever saying a name. So is that a real bankai? Does that mean the sword is a zanpakuto even in the present, that is just no longer sheathed like a zanpakuto?

Well, to begin to answer that, I want to bring forward a specific set of panels:

What Kugo’s saying tends to get the focus for the plot reasons, but it’s his actions that interest me here. He pulls his own Combat Pass out of his pocket (*2) and Kubo makes a point to show him putting it against his sword, and that it changes.

As a reminder, here’s a clearer view of what the sword has looked like up until this point:

And in fact, let’s look at what’s visible of the sword when he used it on Uryu when he cuts him at the very beginning of the arc, too, for good measure:

You can ignore the actual blade part for most of this post, as it doesn’t significantly change at any point, but focus on the guard in particular, where the hilt passes through, and the hilt extension as well. Between these two moments they are clearly the same, meaning at least from the point of Uryu’s getting attacked, this is what Cross of Scaffold has looked like for the entirety of the arc so far.

Yet, once his Combat Pass makes contact with the sword, and they seem to combine, it looks like this:

The skull is of course the most obvious addition, clearly reflecting the image depicted on the Pass itself. But notice too that the hilt extension is no longer cross-wrapped like the rest of the hilt is (or like most zanpakuto hilts are, if in different wrapping styles). It’s become what looks to be a column of vertebrae, like the skull’s neck.

I point this out because it is critical to note that this transformation occurs before Kugo even begins to take Ichigo’s powers. It is purely a result of combining the Pass with the sword we’ve known as Cross of Scaffold. And keep an eye on these two specific aspects, the skull with cross marking and the bone hilt, as they will continue through additional forms—leading to a certain conclusion we will discuss in a bit.

Now the next change that occurs, we don’t see until after he has taken Ichigo’s power and his own form has changed. And I’ll actually give us a couple views, because it’s hard to see everything in any one image, and it also proves consistency in the design.

There are two major differences in this new form. The first is the addition of a backing shape beneath the skull, as best seen in the first two, which while far from an exact shape match, still evokes the plaque part of the Combat Pass. And the second, as seen in the latter two images, is that the entire hilt is now a column of vertebrae, not just the part extending into the blade.

And lest you think these aren’t new aspects, but merely Kubo forgetting to draw part of his design in the first form, here’s a second panel from before Kugo begins taking Ichigo’s powers showing both of these things still absent:

(With a bonus Ichigo at the bottom still clearly having his Fullbring.)

It’s a “change” in a sense, from one to the other, but more than that these are additions, still in line with what we already have. That is not the case, however, for the last version we have to look at. With the form Kugo calls bankai, we have this:

The skull with X-markings and the vertebrae in the hilt extension both still remain, as ever. Notably though, the normal hilt has morphed again to an unrecognizable form which, quite frankly, I’m not sure how to describe. Its irregular shape makes it unclear if it’s still (the semblance of) bone, though it’d probably be a safe bet given the rest of what’s present in his entire design, not only the sword. There’s also resemblance, in the slightly arced shape, to part of the markings that appear on his face, but that’s not necessarily intentional.

The new hilt of Kugo’s blade does not resemble at all, however, the twisting horn shape the guard has taken on, which is also completely unlike the fleur-de-lys like pattern it has had even from its most basic form. And this is, notably, the most obvious thread connecting the sword and pendant forms, so it’s interesting it is absent here. Also worth noting this is completely different from the horns Ichigo’s Hollow has.

Incidentally, the plaque-like backing to the skull has also disappeared, though the skull is a more concrete tether to the Pass.

There is one more addition which is maybe the one I find most unsettling by visual alone. The skull, though I haven’t mentioned it, has only ever been the top portion without the lower jawbone. (*3) And this still continues; however, the opening that the hilt extension passes through is now lined, top and bottom, by a row of teeth, like a giant gaping maw. And from the “gums” of the bottom row, another row aims out the other way toward the blade. Which is. Horrifying.

It’s important to take the context of this particular blade into consideration, too, because Kugo makes a point to say that this “bankai” form includes Hollow elements. And from bones to horns to teeth I would definitely say this is reflected. (Especially horrifying as, while I am not a dentist or a zoologist, the sharpness of those teeth strikes me as carnivorous. With the whole of this sword I overall get this sense of a hellish humanoid entity with a too-big mouth full of too many teeth, a neck that’s too too long. And it’s screaming.)

————

Now that we’ve seen all the forms at play, let’s come back to the fact that two elements remain consistent from when the Combat Pass is added in, up through his strongest form. You’re probably wondering why I keep hammering this home, and the reason is because these elements existed independently of Ichigo’s power. And while with the bankai form in particular, there are certainly some independent components, there are also changes that seem to just be extrapolations of what’s already there. What this means is that, while Getsuga Tensho is clearly Ichigo’s, and Ichigo’s completed Fullbring form was designed on a meta level, per Kubo, with the intention of being better suited to Ginjo from the start, it just can’t all be derived from Ichigo.

I think we have to consider what it means, too, that he combines the Combat Pass and Cross of Scaffold before he begins extracting Ichigo’s power from him. Not just for the divide between what’s from who, but for why he would take the time to do so before.

Keep in mind, there was no need to power up in preparation for a battle. The original plan had been to take Ichigo’s powers, so he would have nothing to fight back with, and then leave. When the Soul Reapers showed up, it was clearly a surprise to Kugo—and with Ichigo’s loved ones from the human world already also under Tsukishima’s thrall, they really expected no significant opposition. The chances it was in anticipation of a fight are certainly never zero in a series focused on fights, but with all of that being the case, they’re still very low odds. There must be a reason to do this at this point, though, so if not for a boost in power, then could it be for a change of power?

Kugo tells Ichigo that a Deputy Soul Reaper was able to take Fullbrings from those who had them, when he explains why Xcution wants to help him become a Soul Reaper again. While there was a ruse at play here, Kugo was not aware of it when he said this; he’s likewise not aware that he was himself the Deputy in question. Now the rule that Tsukishima’s ability can’t actually add or remove events or people, only modify them, didn’t get established officially until Can’t Fear Your Own World, but that rule dictates the power exchange between him and those Fullbringers did happen to at least some extent—and we see Kugo exchanging powers in canon regardless. He takes from Ichigo, but also gives to the others in Xcution. The question here isn’t whether this occurred in the past or not, but rather, is this ability one a Deputy Soul Reaper, generally speaking, has with Fullbringers? Or is it just that, without realizing it, Kugo was attributing the nature of his personal ability (as the only Deputy before Ichigo) to being something Deputies can generally do, since he didn’t know it was him from the start?

If it was his own ability all along, then, why did we never see it used during the bulk of the arc? Well, this is where we come back to the question of combining the Pass with his Fullbring. Why do so before taking Ichigo’s power? Perhaps because, without doing so, he would not have the ability to with the ability he currently has?

Was something contained within the Combat Pass, with the purpose of hiding it away? Something he wouldn’t realize was hidden away until the bookmark on him was undone and he remembered who and what he was? Something hidden as to not arouse Ichigo’s suspicion when he did start to become spiritually aware again, because Ichigo would recognize it as something other than the nature of a Fullbringer as someone who’s been exposed to other types of spirit energy before?

Is it a coincidence that, for all the other forms we’ve seen a Fullbring take—animate plushies, digital entities, destructive boots, time contracts, strengthened skin, hairpin spirits, brass knuckles—one of only two Fullbringers who aren’t Ichigo, a Soul Reaper, who has a sword as their Fullbring’s form, was also a Soul Reaper?

Even if it’s not the nature of his personal ability, and is instead just something Deputy Soul Reapers can do—doesn’t that mean he needs to already have Soul Reaper power at that moment to be able to take the Fullbring from Ichigo? And if it was something he did with the other Fullbringers prior to the slaughter that caused him to start killing and stealing from other Soul Reapers in the first place, doesn’t that mean that power can’t have originated from the Soul Reapers he killed?

If Kugo’s Combat Pass monitors and controls him, and he hates that, why keep it on him like he has? And given that he has, why have the Court Guards been unable to track him down with it until Ichigo flushes him out? Something Hitsugaya explicitly says they were waiting for?

Any one of these things, or even any two, you could of course just handwave away, or find an explanation for. But altogether, these questions call to mind a possibility I find it hard to ignore: that Kugo is not entirely without Soul Reaper power prior to taking what he does from Ichigo—or at least, not without it stashed away, but close at hand. And that what is called Cross of Scaffold is perhaps not just a Fullbring object, but the physical vessel of his zanpakuto transformed by Fullbring into sword and pendant in turn—because isn’t a zanpakuto, in a sense, an object with a soul? The very thing Fullbring works on? In combining his Combat Pass with the sword, is he therefore bringing the spirit of his zanpakuto back to its home, adding it back into the mix of his power?

Of course the last of this is more extrapolation, but with no real precedent for this specific mix of power, it’s certainly interesting territory to tread.

————

Notes:

*1. Per Oetsu himself, he knows the location of every sword he’s ever made, so you may be thinking about the fact the Court Guards have been hunting Kugo as a fugitive for a couple years at least and wondering, “Well, if he has his sword still, shouldn’t Oetsu be able to find him so the Court Guards can catch him?” But keep in mind what Squad Zero’s job is. Their focus is the Soul King and preservation of the state of the worlds themselves. Kugo shows zero interest in the former, and of the latter, at most an interest in destroying the Court Guards soldier by soldier, and maybe usurping the social structure, neither of which does he really come anywhere close to. Being the all-overseeing Squad Zero as well, they may be aware of the circumstances of his heel-turn being orchestrated to begin with, and do not get involved not so much out of a sense of justice but just due to a lack of need to pursue him for not having particularly done anything. Soul Reapers just die all the time, what else is new? Even if Kugo had the desire to interfere with the Soul King, he’s no Aizen in terms of ability to do so, and they didn’t even interfere with him. 

(Also if you take Klub Outside answers, Kubo stated this was meant in a more metaphorical sense than a GPS tracker, so do with that what you will.)

*2. Ichigo’s isn’t on a chain like this, is it? More like a leather cord? Is this meant to be a match to Kugo’s necklace chain? That said, Ichigo’s newest bankai at this point does still have the chain at the end of the hilt. This isn’t important, just something I noticed.

*3 You know what? The markings on the skull of course reflect markings Kugo’s face has in his bankai form, and the skull only being the top half also matches the Pass; but doesn’t that raise the question of which came first? Are they a change resulting from the Combat Pass being integrated in? Or was the Pass designed with the imagery it has because it was made for Kugo specifically?

Also, it just occurred to me that Ichigo and Kugo both have the Pass integrated at the base of the blade. Ichigo’s is much more literal about it, but the image on it does change to suit what form he’ll have in his upcoming shikai state. Suiting it moreso than it does his current Fullbring form, so that’s… interesting. Either way, this particular imagery that appears on Ichigo’s doesn’t present itself in Kugo after taking Ichigo’s powers, at least in any way he isn’t already connected with X imagery (like his belt-thing). It does seem to influence how Ichigo appears later, though, even after it’s taken away.

[blonde-batgirl]

Okay, let’s talk about how Isagi and Chigiri are set up as foils from the beginning of the story. Foils are contrasting characters, whose differences highlight aspects of each other's character. I’m going to focus mainly on the First Selection here, but I think it resonates throughout (U20 qualifiers, anyone?)

First of all, let’s talk about a couple of things they have in common:

Neither Isagi nor Chigiri shares their weapon in the discussion in Volume Two – Isagi because he doesn’t know what his weapon is and Chigiri because as far as he’s concerned he can never use his weapon again.

Both of their backstories involve a football-related loss of identity – Isagi assimilates with his coach’s philosophies around teamwork, becoming disillusioned when they don’t work, and Chigiri injures his knee, meaning he’s unable to run temporarily and risks losing the ability completely if it happens again.

Additionally, despite arguably overcoming said loss of identity, both of them have found solutions that don’t deal with the root cause of their problems – Isagi has really just switched from following one person’s ideal to another and Chigiri flat-out states whilst having his breakthrough that he only believes in himself when breaking past someone. Isagi is still following someone else’s philosophy and Chigiri’s entire sense of identity is still tied up in his ability to run.

Two of the above points relate to the characters’ sense of identity. I would argue that the first one does too – in fact, I think this is the point of them being foils.  

Isagi comes into Blue Lock with no real sense of identity as a player. Any work he might have done to develop one was stifled by the philosophy (and attitude) of his previous team. As a consequence of this, everyone around him already knows exactly what their weapon is, but he doesn’t have a clue. Chigiri has the opposite problem. He has a very solid sense of his own identity… but it’s completely tied up in his speed. If he can’t run, he’d rather give up than look for another way to play. Literally. Whilst any sense of identity Isagi might have had has been lost to other people’s ideals, Chigiri has a sense of identity that’s been completely cratered by his injury. Isagi spends much of the first arc searching for an answer to what his weapon is and this is frequently an external search rather than an internal one. He discusses it with multiple characters throughout the First Selection, including Kunigami, Chigiri, and even Barou (who flat-out tells him to use his own brain). Whilst Isagi’s existential crisis is external, Chigiri’s having his quietly in the corner. He rarely speaks at all – let alone about this – until Isagi pushes him past the point of his temper.

This contrast is epitomised by their reactions to Ego: Isagi is inspired by his philosophies from the moment he starts speaking, whereas one of the first things we learn about Chigiri is that he thinks Ego’s lying. He doesn’t seem particularly bothered by it – it’s just a fact. At this point of the story (Volume Two), he intends to use Blue Lock for his own ends anyway (even if those ends are finding an excuse to give up). Here's the thing about Ego: he’s not actually looking for the best striker, he’s looking for a player he can mould into his own ideal of what the best striker should be. Anyone whose philosophies either don’t mesh well with his or directly oppose his isn’t going to last very long (see Kira). So far, the manga hasn’t revealed anything about his qualifications or experience in this area and the characters don’t seem to have any idea who he is (though it does seem that he did used to play). At the time he was invited to Blue Lock, Isagi was primed to jump on basically any ideal that was opposed to that of his current team. He was completely disillusioned with teamwork, couldn’t see a future where he achieved his dream, and just needed someone to tell him that his old team’s philosophies were not the be all and end all. He’s not the problem here – he’s just surrounded by the wrong people with the wrong ideas. Ego’s speech can’t have the same effect on Chigiri because nothing he says can solve Chigiri’s problem. His entire sense of identity has been rocked by his injury and he’s too shaken up by that to risk losing it for good – he’s just looking for permission to give up and failing here will give him that. (Also, I would just like to highlight that he dropped out of school for this and he wasn’t even planning to try and win at the time, because that horrifies me.)

Which brings us to bullet point three: neither of them has solved their initial issue. Isagi has just switched his old team’s philosophies for Ego’s. Isagi isn’t a hero-worshipper and he doesn’t come across as a pushover – I mean, he goes toe-to-toe with Barou for crying out loud. This isn’t about Ego himself, just his ideas – and it’s not just his ideas. When it comes to ideas, Isagi is a scavenger. That sounds bad, but it’s actually one of his greatest strengths: he takes things that other characters say and do all the time and he builds on them. The whole concept of devouring other players initially comes from Naruhaya in the 2 VS 2. He’s the one who tries to copy Isagi’s direct shot, which then gives Isagi the idea of stealing his weapon (hey, turnabout is fair play). I’m really struggling to think of a time where he came up with something completely on his own without taking inspiration from the words or actions of either Ego or another player. None of that changes the fact that as soon as a new football-related authority figure came along and told him to do the opposite of what his coach said, Isagi jumped on it at once. He’s assimilated with this just like he originally assimilated with his old coach’s ideals. Arguably, he’s more into Ego’s philosophies than Ego is by the time of the U20 match – when Ego was ready to take the loss, it was Isagi who bit his head off. Naruhaya also told Isagi that he was adaptable (which, again, is definitely a strength), but is that at least in part because his philosophies and ideas are borrowed and therefore more flexible? Not that this is all one way – Isagi has tried to help other players with their own plays on plenty of occasions. This is how he ends up trying to help Chigiri with his weapon, after all, trying to return the favour. But the breakthrough Chigiri has after Isagi riles him up is fragile and doesn’t solve the underlying issue. His sense of identity is still entirely tied up in his ability to run. If he injures his knee again, he’ll be right back where he started.

Neither character has gotten past their initial internal conflict – they’ve just papered over the cracks. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.