#a cool hero he becomes a monster -> at first because he and everyone thought he was just a meta he was just the normal phantom shit -> then

[ghostreblogging]

Damian stands before the corpse of his brother.

Is it a corpse? He doesn't know.

They had come to this lonely stretch of land that was once called amity park because something something. Damian hadn't really cared. It was supposed to be a simple get in and get out situation . They were already much busier with their own cases .

Eerie ruined houses and buildings seemed to paint a rather depressing picture. Because you could feel that people used to live here. Half drunken bottles and stollers were out. Just like if everyone just disappeares while walking. But the rotting flesh In the strollers seemed to suggest that darker things have happened here. The everyday norm seemed to frame the gateway to hell. The green glow was the only thing that was truly out of the ordinary.

Perhaps it's just an opening to another Lazarus pit.

But It doesn't feel like a normal Lazarus pit . Damian would know that better than anyone. It somehow felt brighter. And an electric buzz permeated the air. It felt sickening. The destroyed sign makes somewhat of an archway for the entrance. It says Fen- something something? The letter had long fallen off from the elements

"God, bloody hell. This place just reeks of infinite realms," the laughing magician commented before pulling another cigarette from his pocket.

"Infinite realms?" Father grunted

"Don't get your panties twisted. There's a reason I didn't tell you about them, the more you know the harder they are to deal with"

There were more mindless chatter between his family. But Damian ignored that in favor of staring down the archway . It felt like a cold shiver on his back and a horrible burning sensation on the palm of his right hand. Weird.

Damian knew that what awaited him was death. He didn't know whose though.

"Do you feel that?" Damian asked before he could stop himself

Grayson turned to look at him, raising his eyebrow. "Babybat, what? What feeling?"

Damian knew he already walked into communication.

"The cold shiver, and the burning sensation on your right palm"

"Ha! Just sounds like your scared demon brat"

"Forget it"

And they promptly walked into hell.

Damian I've missed you so much! But it's dangerous here. You'll get caught by him

Inside Damian felt as if he was walking for years. All with that , horrible disgusting smell. Burnt flesh and plastic. So overwhelming that his eyes stung even through his mask. He had to wake with his eyes half closed. Stumbling his way through the uneven terrain.

Winding corridors made out of crushed rubble.

Damian , be careful there is sharp glass there

Eerie glow that never seems to get closer.

Damian? I really don't like the Lazarus pits

It was dark and an encompassing ceiling above him felt like spiderwebs, a trap. But beyond that you could see the sky.

Hey Damian? Let's go stargazing again!

Hey Damian please don't go further

Something kept bothering him but he didn't know what. But he kept on walking.

And eventually they found themselves in a big chamber. Lazarus pit waters filled the caver like a lake. Beautiful flowers that seemed misplaced grow up to the sky.

The sky.

Maybe that was the source of the discomfort?. They came in at dawn.

It shouldn't have been dark .

And the stars were wrong. How long did they walk for?

Long enough. Just go please

There was a huge rift. Beyond were Lazarus green lands with floating landscapes. Sometimes you could see something big float by . Damian wonders if they were living or just a part of the landscape.

Beautifully enchanting. Like freedom, feeling of wind on your ski-

And then Damian's eyes fell on the thing. How could he have not noticed that.

Please get away that is not me that is not me that is not me that is not me

Like some kind of a lost puppet it was hung in front of the rift. That was the source of the smell. A white suit that once had been sterile, burnt and fused with the flesh below. Dark burnt hair that hung and thankfully concealed the empty eyes.

For once Damian was thankful he couldn't see something. He just felt that if he saw the thing's eyes, he would never recover.

Because that face.

He knew that face

It was one of he had forgotten a long time ago.

Damian please that is not me plEase. I aM LOSiNg my SeLF

A brother that went missing during a mission.

"God what the fuck is that" Grayson's voice broke Damian's trance.

Damian frowned. It didn't feel appropriate to talk here.

Hide. Hide hide hide hide

A voice broke the silence soon after.

"I advise you to leave immediately" a familiar voice. From the oh so familiar corpse . It grated against his ears. And the corpse moved in tandem. Exaggerated and cartoonish but in a horrid way like a machine struggling to run in their later years. It felt like it was coming from everywhere at once.

Hey Damian let's not go here

Damian it's not a good idea to be here take you family and leave

Damian, let's go another route

I can barely maintain luciedicy please listen to me

"I advice you to leave immediately" just like clockwork. The exact same tone, the exact same horrid little dance.

"Well we can't. Well we can't before we know why In the everliving earth there is a direct portal to the infinite realms here." Constantine seemed to have nonchalance as he spoke but Damian saw his cold sweat. And eyes darting , trying to look anywhere but directly at it .

The corpse directly ignored Constantine. It turned to him . Each movement sharp and gutted.

"Damian we are finally together again :) "

[good-advice-ganondorf]

Majora's Mask and what it means to be grown up

(aka my collected analysis of the Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask)

I will say that generally I don't think Termina is purgatory, or a dream, or anything like that. To me, Termina is kind of like a Silent Hill type parallel world, where you face your deepest traumas.

First, the parallels between Majora's Mask, and the child section of Ocarina of Time.

The first dungeon for both games is in a vast wooded area, there are woodland races inhabiting both areas, the Kokiri for Ocarina of Time, and the Deku for Majora's mask. The second dungeon is in a great mountain, inhabited by the Gorons. The third dungeon is in a vast body of water, inhabited by the Zora.

Then, things split. After Jabu Jabu, Link becomes an adult. After Great Bay, there's Ikana Canyon. A land of nothing but Death.

Who caused the death of Ikana? Who else but the king, Igo Du Ikana. Ikana was plunged into disrepair, after Igos started a war with a clan of Ninjas, to receive a powerful artifact, in a great and mysterious temple. Sound familiar? It should, this is exactly what Ganondorf did, after Link was sealed away for seven years. But Ganondorf was successful.

But Ikana isn't completely occupied by the dead, no. Pamela remains, with her father, turned into an undead monster. Much like Sheik, the last Sheikah, who is revealed to be Zelda. And her father? He's never seen, but I'd imagine it would be easy enough for Ganondorf to become king, if the other one was no longer around. From a man, to a corpse.

So, if Ganondorf is a parallel to Igos, and Zelda is a parallel to Pamela, what about Link? He's a little different. I believe that, along with Kafei and Tingle, all three of the transformation masks are a representation of Link, and his feelings towards being forced to grow up.

Tingle is, as we know, a 35 year old man who thinks he's a fairy boy. Similar to how link was a 10 year old boy, who thought he was a fairy boy. I believe Tingle is a reflection of what Link could have been if he never left Kokiri Forest. An adult hylian man, thinking he's a Kokiri.

On the contrary, Kafei is distraught at the idea of becoming a child again. He's weaker, he can't marry his fiancee, and everyone treats him like well, a child, despite his maturity. I believe this is how Link feels after becoming a child again. He used to be a strong adult, and even if he's not as mature as Kafei, he still went through a lot, and knows a lot more about life now. Kafei even reuses Link's model and animations.

There's a reoccurring theme in Ocarina of Time where Link just doesn't belong anywhere he goes. He's an outsider to the other races, because he's a hylian, but he's also an outsider to the hylians, because he was raised as a Kokiri. I think the transformation masks reflect that.

The Deku Butler's Son is what he could have been as a Kokiri. He could have been a happy little boy, living with his father, and his community. But Link and the Deku butler's son both left home to explore, and as far as both the Kokiri and the Deku are concerned, neither came back.

Darmani is what he could have been as a Goron. A powerful hero to the Gorons, celebrated by them for clearing Dodongo's Cavern. A close link between the goron elder, Darunia, and their sons. Both him and Link remain after death, lamenting on their histories as heros.

Mikau is what he could have been as a Zora. Maybe not a cool as hell guitarist, but a husband to Ruto, and Prince of the Zora Who would stop at nothing to keep her happy and safe, like infiltrating a fortress, or climbing inside of a whale.

Even the Fierce Deity is just Link, but back as an adult. As if so much changed so rapidly, he felt like he transformed into something less like himself, and more like a powerful god. He could have continued being strong, and powerful, the defeater of Ganon, but he had to become a child again. He has to stay as a small, and unknown child.

The ages of the masks even match the human life cycle. According to the debug menu (and if you subscribe to the theory that Link and DBS's ages were swapped), DBS is 5, Link is 12, Darmani is 30, Mikau is 78, and, Fierce Deity is 17, likely due to his model being recycled from adult Link's. Link starts the game in the body of a 5 year old, then a 12 year old, then a 30 year old, then a 72 year old, and finally, a God.

We don't exactly know how Link feels. But I can't imagine it would be easy to go from a child, with no concept of death, to be thrust into a position where he's forced to fight and kill an adult man so much stronger than he is. And then everything was just reversed. Like that. As if it never happened. And only Link remembers the impending doom he faced. All he can do is remember Ganondorf's reign. Almost like he's reliving the same few days, again, and again, and again.

[altocat]

all 50 of those Honest fave character prompts for Sephiroth

( @izunias-meme-hole )

........*cracks knuckles* OKAY.

1. Do you project onto this character?

All the time, every day. Like Sephiroth, I can often be avoidant, depressed, and overly attached to my loved ones. The struggle is real lmao

2. Did you always like this character?

Before falling into fandom hell, I didn't really notice him much other than Kingdom Hearts stuff. Or the occasional thirst post online.

3. What first drew you to this character?

Crisis Core making him a sad soft baby that everyone is mean to lmao

4. Did you initially dislike/hate this character?

No. I always thought he had a cool design and a badass voice.

5. If this character were a woman, would you honestly still like them? Or in reverse, what if they were a man?

Of course! Sephiroth is a fascinating character regardless. His backstory is very unique and I don't think that would change.

6. Do you have any nicknames or pet names you use for this character?

I mostly just call him Seph. Sometimes Kittyroth. Sometimes "Mr. Compassion" whenever I'm being sarcastic about him. And sometimes just SMUGFUCK because that's what he is.

7. Does the character’s age matter to you?

Nah. Like I said, he's a fascinating character regardless.

8. Does the character’s looks/design matter to you?

I feel like there are certain aspects of his character that you NEED to keep in--his catlike pupils, silver hair, etc. They are plot-related indicators of his heritage and genetics. Thirstposts aside, they are reminder that he is a lab-grown monster with alien blood running through his veins.

9. Does this character remind you of anyone you know? Does that affect how you see them?

Not really. Seph is pretty unique. And honestly I'd rather not know someone like him irl lolol

10. Do you see yourself in this character even without projecting?

Physically? Hell no. Emotionally? Sometimes. But that's on rare occasions where we can actually tell what he's thinking and feeling.

11. How did you “fall in love” with this character?

Watching Crisis Core cutscenes one rainy night in 2021.

12. If you could write effortlessly and as much as you wanted, what story (s) would you write for this character?

AU Redemption arc trilogy in which Zack and Aerith save Sephiroth from himself and he dismantles Shinra to become the planet's hero.

13. If you could draw effortlessly and as much as you wanted, what scene (s) would you draw for this character?

I'd really like to illustrate a lot of fic scenes. Especially the trippier Jenova-focused ones.

14. Are you physically attracted to this character?

...Yeah lmao But I don't ship myself or my self-insert with him because NO lolol I think he's aesthetically pleasing but I don't associate myself with him in any romantic sense. That's just weird to me.

15. Are your thoughts surrounding this character usually sexual, non-sexual, or a mix of both?

Non-sexual. I'm more interested in his character progression/fall into villainy. Like yeah he's attractive and there are some seductive aspects of his personality. But he's just more interesting to dissect as a villain.

16. Have you ever cried when thinking about this character? Genuinely?

Several times lolol usually after First Soldier updates.

17. Have you ever felt physical pain over this character? (ex: physical heartache).

Miiiight have happened once in dms with other fans (thanks @heraldofcrow)

18. Do you prefer to see this character suffer or know peace? Angst or comfort? Both?

SUFFER. SUFFERRRRRRR 😈NO COMFORT FOR YOU ALL IS PAIN AND ANGUISH.

19. Does this character serve as a stress ball/ security blanket for you? Something you run to after a bad day to feel safe or happier?

Oh totally. All the time. Imagine cute aggression but it's more angsty lol Angst aggression.

20. Do you feel affectionate towards this character?

For Sane!Sephiroth, yes. Very much so. Not so much after Nibelheim. Then he's just an evil little shit who needs to get clowned by Cloud again.

21. Are your feelings about this character platonic, romantic, or familial? All of these feelings at once maybe?

Platonic-familial. He's my precious baby boy. Who I have to hurt. LET ME HURT HIM.

22. Do you think you will always love this character?

I hope so! Assuming Square doesn't do something stupid.

23. Has this character permanently altered or impacted your psyche in a way you won’t forget?

I'm HERE. lmao There's your evidence.

24. Do you ever dream about this character? If so, describe a dream you once had about them.

I never have dreams about him and it makes me SO MAD SZDFGHFDSA EVERYONE ELSE GETS BLORBO DREAMS EXCEPT FOR ME.

25. What kind of fan-fiction do you read about this character? If you don’t read fan-fics about them, why not?

I mostly like character studies. Or slow-burn AU fics with him. I'm currently reading The Fear of Falling Stars and it's sooooo good.

26. If you look for this character’s name on AO3, what tags are you including or excluding?

It really depends on the fic tbh.

27. Do you like to ship this character with other characters or do you prefer not to?

I SHIP HIM WITH EVERYONE *feral noises*

28. Do you get defensive about this character? If yes, then why?

Only in select instances. I don't like the dudebro logic of "well Sephiroth was always arrogant/evil even before Nibelheim and he can't be vulnerable or sensitive because that's not badass" because those are fundamentally not true. And an extreme disservice to his writing.

29. Do you affectionately bully this character?

😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈

30. Are you especially sensitive about this character?

He makes me sad. His story is heartbreaking.

31. Are you ashamed of liking this character?

Nope. Not at all.

32. If you could make this character a meal, what would you make them?

Pumpkin soup, of course!

33. Are you “blinded by love” for this character or do you accept any flaws they may have?

Oh not at all. I have said many many times and will keep saying that Sephiroth does not deserve a happy ending after everything he's done. He deserves to be destroyed for good. He's NOT a good guy, not any more at least. He's caused so much damage in so many horrible ways. There's no going back from that. I love the guy and I feel for him. But that's still no excuse for what he did.

34. Does this character inspire you with little things in your daily life?

Uhhhh no.

35. Has this character ever prevented you from sleeping because you can’t stop thinking about them?

@ me whenever First Soldier updates.

36. Do you feel a spiritual/soulmate connection with this character?

Idk. Probably not. He's my angsty trauma son. But I wouldn't go THAT far lol

37. Is your love for this character a secret from people you know in real life?

Nope. I will literally never shut up about Sephiroth to family or friends lololol

38. Do you tend to joke more about dying or killing for this character? Both? What causes the distinction?

NO because Sephiroth is a villain and the goal is to not become like him lolol

39. Do you feel lovesick over this character?

Nope. He just makes me casually distraught.

40. Are you very empathetic towards this character? When they feel a certain way in the story, do you feel those emotions too?

Very much so. Like I said before, his story is heartbreaking. I've ugly cried about him so many times in the past.

41. Do you prefer to interact with this character directly via self-insert/reader type content? Or do you enjoy seeing them mostly with other characters in the story and/or your OCs?

Other than background OCs, no. I prefer mostly just his relationship with canon characters.

42. If you could, would you write this character a song or poem?

It'd be cool to do something creepy with his relationship with Jenova...

43. What type of weather makes you think of this character?

Rainy days. Because he's depressing.

44. Which season makes you think of this character?

Fall.

45. Do you feel as if you are intimately familiar with this character?

At this point, I'd really like to hope so. They have certainly added a lot of new stuff that feels on point with my previous ideas for him. But I'm open to new stuff too!

46. How much do bad interpretations of this character upset you?

It really depends on how they characterize him as a person before Nibelheim. I don't really like how people sometimes equate his evil/smug/arrogant post-Nibelheim personality with his CC-era one. They're really completely different.

47. Does this character ever make you laugh sincerely?

He made some the FUNNIEST goddamn faces in Rebirth, just sayin'.

48. What’s your favorite physical/design feature for this character?

R trilogy has the best overall design. Hair, eyes, and the sheer SIZE of him. All perfect.

49. What’s your favorite personality trait in this character?

Sane!Seph: His love for his friends

Insane!Seph: Him being a huge petty dick just for the sake of it

50. Link your fav song, playlist, aesthetic board, fan-fiction, reference pile, personal artwork, analysis post, meme, headcanon, or quote for this character. Whichever one (s) you are most comfortable with!

UHHHHHHHHHHH I'm just going to cheat and say THIS ENTIRE COMMUNITY because Seph-fans are BEST fans and we get along and get shit done. Best content. Best fandom space. No in-fighting or drama on his character. We're ALL peak 😎

[angel-of-hunky-doryness]

How Disney (Unintentionally) Created The Most Sympathetic Disney Villain

Yes, we're talking about Hades. So strap in, folks, this is gonna be a long one.

It may or may not come to a surprise to some of y'all that Mr. Hot head is my favorite Disney Villain. His charm, his sass, and above all his sarcastic one-liners, what isn't there to love about this walking-talking wheeling and dealing Mephistopheles archetype with the most basic villainous ambition of taking over the world.

Okay, fine, the cosmos. But at the end of the day, Hades has a very cut and dry appearance in Disney's Hercules. He doesn't even have nearly as much screentime as other Villains as I had previously believed.

First appearing quite apropos in the shadiest corner of Olympus ready to raise hell and all manner of chicanery just to incite misery to a newborn baby, only to exit stage left to cue the villainous side-plot with a bit of prophetical verse thrown in for good measure. A plan comes into being and he orders a hit on the aforementioned baby, only for the hit to fail despite y'know being the yutz in charge of the land of the dead *cough cough*

18 years pass and suddenly Hades has to completely 180 his plans, focusing not on his intended target of Olympus but the prophecy hero he thought he already axed. And so he unleashes a horde of monsters upon the city of Thebes as a result. The Titans are freed for some reason, Olympus is easily defeated and rescued, and then so is the plot device- I mean the Titans, and Hercules gives Hades the one punch man treatment, and so Hades is left to reconsider his life choices for all of eternity swirling in the Phlegethon/abyss. Pick your poison, either work.

Alright, cool, glad I got that out of the way. Oh, hold on, my sponsor, is giving me that beady eyed stare to remind our lovely audience that Meg was also an unfortunate victim in Hades' scheme. We'll get to Meg and Hades' relationship in a future post, but to summarize, Hades' treatment of Meg is far, far harsher and has tons more animosity than Hades and Hercules- the titular character mind you- ever had.

But I digress.

Despite, Hades' antagonistic role in the film, there are many, many nuggets that Disney gives that allows the audience to sympathize with his lot in life.

In his very quick introduction- it's a Disney movie the plot has to establish quickly cuz animators have lives too. Insert obligatory pay animator's fairly line here.

We have what I like to call Exhibit Alpha: The Introduction.

Now Disney Villains are no strangers to a dramatic introduction.

I couldn't find the exact gif of Maleficent appearing, but I ended up putting the one above because it proves my point. Everything about Maleficent strikes fear in the hearts of her audience. Everyone is watching her every move because they know she's a formidable threat.

When Hades makes himself known, the Olympians aren't scared or spooked like King Stefan and the 3 fairies were when Maleficent first appeared.

They're annoyed.

To them, Hades is the weird uncle no one invited, but shows up anyway. If anything, it looks like the gods have dealt with him before and know how to put on the cold shoulder to get him to leave faster.

The only one oblivious to all this is Zeus who invites him to stay and enjoy the party. But Hades isn't an idiot. He's very aware of the chilly reception he's getting and declines with this one-liner:

Keep this line in mind, we're going to circle back to it.

Zeus then proceeds to meet Hades with a quip right back and a very punny one at that, earning the first laugh since Hades arrived, and one at Hades' expense.

A laughing fit ensues and Hades storms off in a quiet rage.

A short scene indeed, but it tells us a lot about Hades, Zeus, and the gods.

Hades is an outcast.

Boo-hoo, homeboy just needs a girlfriend. Maybe a flaming flower-picking one, but that's neither here nor there.

Now, the interchange between Zeus and Hades makes it very clear how Hades started to become excluded from his family. Hades is absent to a lot of social gatherings and most of it is because of his job. A job that deals with stiffs, the dead, the dearly departed, however you wanna slice it.

Now before you say- well he was scheming to take over the cosmos on his free time, what do we see in the very next scene?

Over 5 billion souls served. Hades is a busy guy and the movie makes it really clear that even in his spare time meeting with the Fates, the work is piling up. Maybe that's why he's a fast talker, he's always moving and grooving so he can get some time to relax.

Yeah, yeah, we saw him smite some of his people on his small world boat ride, but considering we only see one god working in the underworld, he doesn't have the time of day for them and after eons of this drudgery he's gotten quite apathetic to their pleading.

The shades are just as doomed as him really.

Now we're going to gloss over a few scenes and move to Exhibit Beta: The Thebans.

Hold the phone, Hades isn't even in this scene.

My point exactly. Hades is a bit busy amassing a horde of monsters. Hecc, none of the disgruntled Thebans even mention a monster in their list of disasters. The Monster Mash party starts after Hercules rolled into town thanks to Meg after her failed recruitment of Nessus.

So what does that tell us? Whoever causes floods, earthquakes, fires probably caused by lightning incited these disasters not Hades. Hmm, on a weird side note, I don't think Hades' brothers, the earthshaker or god of storms, fit those descriptions at all.

All these disasters were happening while the Olympians did nothing. It wasn't unheard of for the ancient greek gods to send wayward mortals to do their bidding and help people or free them from monsters, so why does Phil put it upon himself to take Hercules out for the hero life? (Yeah Disney should've included the presence of other gods working on earth to make them out to really be responsible and helpful, hell maybe have Hermes fly in congratulating Herc for completing his training and direct him towards Thebes)

It's almost like Hades is the only god who's present or aware of the woes on earth. Sure he adds to it, but are the Olympians really lounging about doing nothing in this movie?

Exhibit Gamma: Storming the Palace

....

I have no words. Zeus and Hera could've been doing paperwork?? Looking out for their son??? Have a meeting with the Pantheon and that's why they're suddenly blindsided by the Titan attack???

Hades, though sassy, though sarcastic, and just a bucketful of ruthless and malicious described the Olympians to a T.

Hecc, the Olympians had no idea the Titans were out destroying the world until they were literally on their front doorstep. If Hades had told them to destroy half of Greece, they would've done so before the Olympians noticed.

And it's so contrived, but the only reason Hades lost was b/c Hercules shows up and frees some of the gods. Like if one other god was not on Mount Olympus they could've come save the day. But every god was there. Make that a fanfic y'all. ONe where the one god who was- I don't know confined to their island or something wondering where her mother went and so she has to gather all the nymphs and natures spirits to save olympus or some drivel like that.

Hermes had to sound the trumpet like judgement day to get the gods rocking and rolling. And that's not even considering how Hades gets punched into oblivion.

Exhibit Delta: Revelation 20:14 (NIV)

The one god who did his job has been thrown in prison??? Zombie apocalypse??? Is that you??? Where's Shawn when you need him???

Confine him to the underworld, Wonder Boy. Get your Greece Lightning father to take care of business in a flash. He'd get you Meg back in an instant. Just ask nicely. We know Psyche is in attendance. Meg deserves it after all she went through.

I know it's more dramatic, but the world of Hercules is absolutely screwed. Talk about a happy ending with terrible implications for the state of the world. Meg and Hercules are going to die and be sent to an afterlife with no deity to even send them to Elysium, and that's if Hades comes back at all.

*Takes a long drink from my pina colada*

I didn't mean for this post to turn into a hate show on the Disney Olympians. I'm just, I always knew Disney messed up hard on this movie. And yes I adore the hell out of it, but making a villain more sympathetic and likable than the hero? When I started writing this I didn't think it would get this bad, but the more I looked into it?

I haven't even touched how Hades has the worst employees, having to put up with his imps? The Titans who don't even know where the tallest mountain is?

For all his manipulation with Meg, Hades did give her everything he promised her. He's a devil sure, but he's a god of his word. He couldn't even force Meg to seduce Hercules, he had to convince her with some extra added relinquish your soul type bit. Hell, he was even willing to negotiate with Hercules after hurting his dog.

To finish off, even with those nuggets sprinkled in, at the end of the day Hades is a villain through and through. Yes, he's fun, yes, every single one of his lines is an improvised banger, but that's kind of the point.

One of the directors of Hercules once described Hades as being the type of evil that's attractive. Drags you in with promises of honey until you find yourself drowning in mercury. He's Mephistopheles offering you a Faustian deal, Satan with the apple, and this author trying to advertise their terrible fanfic that delves into this very topic.

I remain ever yours, dear readers.

Till next time.

[transpathfinder]

veilguard thots

[massive plot spoilers]

ok i did say i was gonna write up some brief thoughts after i completed but first of all before i start, as a lucanismancer i just want to say any lucanismancer who hates neve kys. you are not affiliated with me don't even speak to me or breathe in my direction. and bioware, idk when u will realise i have 2 hands. 1 is for lucanis 1 is for neve and my spare dick is for spite so just get with the programme

alright that being said... yeah i didn't really like the game much. i think it's easily the weakest DA game, which i consider a pretty big failing since i am not someone who thinks inquisition is good. i had a lot of problem with inquisition's main story and open world, but somehow veilguard's story is. Worse. i don't even have the energy to get into supervillain evil blighted elvhen gods, turning the old gods as stupid little dragon thralls, because obviously, again, nothing pagan or elemental matters, they're not real, they're not godly or saintly or divine, just stupid animals. making the antaam breakaway into this crazed faction you keep fighting cos they absolutely had zero ideas or interest in tying positively into qunari culture you can have a relationship with, it becomes an easy excuse - ''they're not reeeeaally qunari teehee'' first of all, crafting both the antaam and venatori into easily siding with supervillain elvhen gods who want to bring the blight to the world is fucking weak and pathetic excuse for it cos it doesn't even make sense with their goals/ideologies. a very, very cheap entry into the lore, i think lazy and diminishes the world as well the utter thinness of companion background and conversations. i know there's no dialogue wheel, but to me that's a basic aspect of getting to know in-depth background lore about factions, status of the worldstate, different parties' political ideologies and leanings, in standard video game infodumps cos yes this is still a video game, you need to write for it rather than focus on the realism of how conversations play out.... u can't even call solas a monster without morrigan attempting to school you like you're 5. this game wants you to suck solas' dick so bad as if the rest of us from inquisition didn't already peg him as a person who wants to cause genocide. veilguard only told us he already caused it once and now wants to do so again, but in 2 entire games, he is constantly made to be this sympathetic and deep figure that i'm supposed to be enamoured and intrigued by and want to save. why would i want to save this thousand plus year old mf who eradicated a race knowingly!! this game doesn't even give me the opportunity to kill him, i was so disappointed by my 3 choices in the end with him, of which 2 are literally functionally the exact same. there's no way i was gonna redeem this piece of shit even though i had mythal's essence peacefully or whatever the fuck yeah this other abuser piece of shit is also a hero now that morrigan carries lmafoo give me a break. all da2 did was demonise anders over and over again, and again in inquisition. these chars are not even in the same universe of ''crimes they've committed'' and yet, the disparity in writers sucking one dick and trying to get u to hate the other is crazy. i hate white liberals soo much fuck all of you!!!! bitchass mfs

which brings me to why i think this game is so thin and written so childishly - it's desperate to be liked. it wants to be liked by the masses sooo bad, that it becomes nothing to me. everyone is sweet, everyone is lovely, all factions are uwu heroes, even antivan crows, who torture and abuse children but hey nvm they're cool heroes now with no nuance. i loved all the crew, but the game makes it exactly so. no difficult stances to combat, nothing akin to any previous DA game, where there's at least a companion or 2 people would find their nerves fray over, which is the point. this is the only game that feels so typically found family where everyone loves each other, because it's deliberately made to be that way. a child's idea of big threats and saving the world and everyone happy in traditional hero centric journey with a team.

BUT EVEN THAT... it doesn't commit to it fully, because it so desperately also wants to teach u a lesson on how not everyone can survive this. so... yeah... harding died in my pt, and u know what? i felt nothing until the credits rolled. cos i straight up thought it wasn't real and we'd just get her back later. like she got stabbed and fell into the pit and i felt zero emotion cos i was like o okay she's injured we'll wait for this cutscene to end and next bit we'll look into a new sub-quest for finding her or something cos ofc i had already completed all personal quests, there's no way she would die unless the player didn't do it. and until the credits rolled i didn't believe she had cos i was just so stumped this game even pulled that... imagine the heartbreak and betrayal players who romanced her would have felt? it's soo shitty wtf... no idgaf how ''unrealistic'' it is everyone survives. this is a video game built off fun rp-ing and romances, which is a core bioware feature. you don't write romances and entice people on that front and then turn around and pull this shit. my god i'd have been livid but by then i was ready for the game to end so i already found myself semi-exhausted by the experience since i was maxed out at level 50 and already clocked in over 120++ hours taking my time with it slowly. certainly not something i binged through

it's not a horrible game... i do think the linear playstyle and the no death toggle was critical in my getting through it. i love the deviation from open world, and obviously, the lucanis romance really carried me through cos i adore the character and very much fell in love with him and the romance... and while like i said, i do love the crew as a whole, i can't shake the feeling away that it's an empty game void of classic DA mannerisms of choices and conflict of prior entries that i have strong memories of. i don't hate it and i'll still replay it in future if i do a DA run, but it hasn't captivated me enough. i may sound very angry in this write up but honestly i'm pretty chill in my explanation and thoughts about disliking this game. it's nothing to me. this DA game feels so bitchless and sauceless with no identity apart from ''wow i hope everyone loves this game i'm making this as palatable to for mass consumption as possible'' from hero to weak basic story to lack of imports from earlier games to classic hack-n-slash combat. definition of mid.

[corvitine]

This ended up being a lot longer than I intended but here’s the backstory and stuff about my Tavflayer, Dahlia! @wisp-of-chaos tagging you for the infodump lol

Dahlia Ainsworth is my Tavflayer, a bard with the entertainer background. She was born and raised in Baldur’s Gate and was a Tiefling whose great grandfather is Mephistopheles. Her family is actually rather proud of their heritage, mostly because of their powerful magic that they inherited from Mephistopheles. Her family members are all mages of some kind, and most of them study or teach magic. However, Dahlia decided she’d rather be a bard, as she has a passion for music. She is good with magic and does like using it but decided she wanted to be a bard. Her parents didn’t approve and saw it as a waste of her talents as a mage and they had a bit of a falling out. Dahlia thought they were unsupportive and wanted to be able to choose what she wanted to do with her life. This led to them having little contact for a few years.

She made her living as a traveling bard/adventurer, singing songs and ballads of great heroes. She always dreamed of having a grand adventure, the kind bards would sing of for years to come. Dahlia got her wish when she ended up captured by mind flayer and infected and having to save Baldur’s Gate.

Dahlia isn’t quite sure how she became the leader of their group and at times was a little overwhelmed by having to be the one to make decisions for her and her new friends. But she never let it show, putting on a brave face even when she was scared or unsure. She’s an upbeat and optimistic person and did her best to keep everyone’s spirits up.

She ended up having a massive crush on her dream guardian; after all, “How could I not fall for my knight in shining armor?” The Emperor had appeared to her as a handsome Tiefling man and the two of them grew close. When she found out his true identity, she felt hurt. Not only because she felt he had been lying to her but because he seemingly didn’t trust her. Despite this, she still loved him, and was very happy when she found out that he felt the same and they became lovers.

Dahlia chose to become a mind flayer, not only to defeat the Netherbrain but because she came to realize it was what she wanted. She was a little afraid of losing herself but made the choice anyway, and came to love her new illithid self. She loves being a mind flayer and her relationship with the Emperor became even closer than before. She feels she understands him better than before. She also loves her new powers feels very cool as an illithid. She just wishes more people saw her as more than a brain-eating monster. Dahlia had a bit of a difficult time controlling her new powers (and her emotions) at first, but luckily had the Emperor to help her, who was incredibly patient and helpful to her.

After saving Baldur’s Gate, Dahlia started mending her relationship with her family. She has her parents, an older sister, younger brother, grandparents, an aunt, uncle, and cousin. They were a little unsure at first with her now being a mind flayer (and being in a relationship with one), but slowly accepted her and her new partner. They were happy to be back on speaking terms with her, and proud of her for saving Baldur’s Gate. The Emperor is cordial but rather awkward around her family though they do their best to accept him.

Dahlia joined the Harper’s after the reunion with her friend, and has been helping to rebuild. She also assists the Emperor with the Knights when she can. She and the Emperor live together.

Out of all of her friends, she is closest with Wyll and considers him to be her best friend. She is also very good friends with Blurg and Omeluum.

Personality-wise, she is what many call a ray of sunshine. Outgoing, bubbly, and friendly. She’s the type of person you can’t help but like. She does have her limits though. She’s protective of her friends and incredibly loyal. Some see her as naive and too kind and trusting, though. When she sets her mind to something she is very stubborn.

And yeah, that’s what I have right now? I’m sure there’s a lot more I could say about Dahlia because I love her a lot and she lives in my head rent free lol.

[randomfoxehs-belly]

Still thinking Dragon Quest thoughts but DQ11 is running out of steam for me so I'm switching to DQ3's remake properly lol

And that game is making me think of a different noms oriented DQ inspired idea track I've had, with a bunny preyboy protagonist instead >3> Name of Mudison, because his dad would be name Muda.

Thinking of basically like, he was taken in as an orphan by a foxeh who used to be an devil demon king overlord final boss dude who was in charge of a nation of monsters (predators), but that was a long time ago and now he's just living in seclusion. Found the bunny infant after his home was destroyed during a storm and his family was gobbled up by preds, so he took the child in and raised him to be a 勇者 "yuusha" (the "hero" title in japanese in Dragon Quest) because he thought that'd be funny.

was basically ruling the world being a walking natural disaster and kingdom devourer, then one day was like "okay this is boring I'm done" and just up and disappeared. Various stories about what happened to him, but no one really knows the truth. That he just dipped lol. Found prey protag boy alone and was like "this might be fun for a while I guess" and adopted him raised him to be RPG protagonist OP busted O-o

Finally once he turns 16 his dad boots him out to go become an adventuring hero dude, and the bunny is all like " c= " cuz he's a real boy scout paragon type who wants to help everyone and solve problems.

Dressed up like this cuz I DO love the Erdrick costume lol

Heads into the closest castle town to get his start, first person he runs into literally runs into him because she's a thief-y mouse girl. She yoinks his coinpurse but he snatches her hand. And while she's like >.>'' he's just like " =3 hi, speaking of my money, know where I can get some more? Don't think I have enough to buy some proper adventuring gear with." And she's like =x well you can always go gamble it at the town Arena.

And he's like oh cool an Arena, I can fight in that and get prize money maybe, good suggestion ^^

And mouse girl is like =/ yeah no, I said you should try betting on the fights, not actually JOIN the fights. Little bunny boy like you would get gobbled up instantly.

But he's already heading towards the fight pits and she's like >.> and follows along. He enters to fight despite all skeptism, and uses the Arena provided sword and shield gear. Gets sent out to fight some "Monsters"

In this setting I'm basically imagining it just being furries. Prey species furries as the "civilized" ones with towns and castles and whatnot. Pred animals just being overworld and dungeon dwelling random encounter dudes. In place of the typical fantasy monster races, you'd just have carnivore furries. like going through the monster manual and just making them lions and tigers and bears instead lol. Instead of harpies, you'd have raptors like eagles and hawks. Instead of orcs, you'd have boars. Ect. Probably still would be dragons though cuz dragons HAVE been pretty much coopted by furries lol.

So he goes out in the Arena to fight the Arena preds, like beefy tiger dude and wolf dude and bear dude. And long story short he totally wins in a darkhorse victory. Using unique Yuusha magic like Zap to pull out the win. Gets the prize money for beating the Arena. And as he leaves the mouse thief girl is like hey wow good job not getting eaten, and it turns out she bet on him and made BANK because he was the underdog. Her name is Hazel. He wants to start an adventuring party which he invites her to join. She says she'll think about it, but the next day after he buys some Adventure gear she meets up with him at the pub where they go to recruit two more Party members.

First recruited party member to join is a black mage squirrel boy, big hat logan sized wizard hat and he casts from a spell book. He's a squeaky book worm type. He joins up because the news about a bunny boy winning at the arena was making waves in the city so he figured he should tag along with a strong adventurer and go out and get some practical experience.

Last to join the party is a white mage dog girl. Canines are predators, but dogs are domesticated and it's a whole world building thing. Dogs are the only carnivores accepted in prey society, because they can be trusted to at least ask prey permission before eating them and know that No means No. But the mousie and squirrelly would still be a little nervous about her asking to join them, because she's have MASSIVE fat voluptuous knockers. Just huge boobs. And preds having weight on them like that is an overt indication that they've eaten people - like her tits are obviously that big because she ate some dudes and they went to being padding on her breasts. But she promises that they were willing prey and in fact she has offered to let them out, but they like being a part of her, she's a good girl she promises. Bunny boy has no scruples about letting her join since he was raised by a predator anyway so he's nonplussed about it anyway (he does not reveal this information naturally.)

So we got Yuusha (hero) bunny boy, thief mouse girl, black mage squirrel, and white mage doggy. Going on QUESTS

[ask-the-pale-elf]

(Cont. from he gives you one last glare before walking away)

They don’t go after him, not right now anyway. He needs some time to cool off and they need some time to figure out their response. Plenty of time to do that while cooking.

They wait till after everyone is fed and asleep, or, well, most everyone. Walking over to Astarion’s tent, they say the words they’ve been mulling over, “I’m sorry. You were right,” they raise a hand to keep him from interrupting them, ‘It’s hells of a lot easier to be selfish. And I try and be a hero, a saint even. That’s just how I’m selfish in my own way, I guess. To give myself a feel good feeling, a pat on the back, by helping others.”

“I didn’t say any of that stuff before to make you feel bad, and I’m sorry I did. I’m sorry you’ve been through the literal and metaphorical hells and back. I’m sorry you e been hurt so much. I’m sorry you got your life taken from you before it really even began. My feelings haven’t changed though. You have your way of handling things, I have mine.”

“Mine just so happens to make me want to be a hero. Want to help others. Maybe it’s for my own peace of mind or feeling of goodness rather than it’s for their sake. Maybe it’s so I can feel better about myself.p,” their eyes shift from Astarion to the ground and their voice turns wry and derisive, “Maybe it’s because I’m so selfish in wanting to play the hero, I can’t mind my own business and drag others into helping with me against their will all so I can get that feel good feeling,” they scoff at their own words before looking back at Astarion, voice becoming more neutral, “Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter.”

“I am how I am and I won’t change,” they throw their arms wide and begin to gesture more and more dramatically, “Try and take advantage of the wannabe foolish hero. Throw me in the face of whatever monster we face next, use me as a meat shield, drain me of my sickeningly sweet goody two shoes blood, kill me, I don’t care! At least then we’ll both get what we want. I get to die feeling like I actually did something good, you get a ‘foolish hero’ out of your way, hells, even Lae’zel will get something out of it by having one less person to worry about turning into a mind flayer!”

“Or,” they bring their back back closer to them and cross them over their chest, “we can try and get along until we figure out a way to rid ourselves of our little hitchhikers. You won’t ever have to look or even think about the stupid adventurer who wanted to play hero. I’ll get to be selfish in knowing I did a good thing by helping others and being able to feel like a hero.” They snort as they mockingly mirror their previous words, “And Lae’zel won’t have to be on edge sharpening her sword, waiting for one of us to bust tentacles out of our skull.”

They don’t walk away this time. Instead they look in his face and try to see what he may be thinking, “We’ll each get what we want. It’s just a matter of when. Maybe I’ll throw myself into death’s arms trying to play hero before any of that, who knows. Until any of that happens, we should try and get along. If only so we work well together in battle, if nothing else.”

It’s as close to an olive branch as they’re willing to offer.

- Starlight (tell me if these are too long please, I have anxiety and worry. Also, you’re totally okay for lack of updates, you have your personal life offline and shouldn’t feel obligated to update if you’re busy or stressed. Hope all works well for you!)

(Cont. from here)

His ruby red eyes narrowed at you as you forbade him from interrupting, how utterly rude of you. First you prided yourself on your moral high ground, then you strolled up to his tent without any invitation, and now you told him to shut up!

Astarion stifled the urge to bear his fangs at you, he'll tear a new one into you later. As he kept listening to you go on and on, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. How naive.

You really thought you were making a difference, didn't you? The pale elf knew your kind very well, intimately even. There were many a bedfellow who promised to love him or hells even free him from his master, but they all failed. By either running with their tails between their legs or being disappointed by Astarion not being the affectionate damsel in distress they wanted him to be. Either way they met their ends swiftly enough.

Even heroes wouldn't stoop so low as to help a vampire spawn and in his eyes, you were no different. Astarion had half a right mind to take you up on your offer and suck you dry and leave you in the dust. But...

He knew your potential, as much as he would hate to admit it. The vampire spawn needed you, he needed your strength to finally take down Cazador.

Astarion bit into his lip in frustration, "Fine! You're more useful to me alive than dead anyway. Just don't expect me to like what you're doing, least of all be nice."

He turned his back to you in a huff, frustrated at your good points but somewhat relieved that you had his back.

[onequalityduck]

Rambly thoughts on Ganondorf:

Many of Nintendo’s franchises don’t focus on things like continuity and complex morality. For them, characters are thought of in a gameplay manner rather than a storytelling manner. For example, Bowser is evil because he kidnaps Princess Peach because we need Mario (the player) to find and save Peach. Bowser is not (entirely) evil when we play with him in Mario Tennis, Golf, Party, etc. games because we need him to be playable.

In the same way, Link and the player need an enemy to fight. Ganon, or Demise, Calamity Ganon, they will all be evil simply to be a villain. Nintendo will always make light good and darkness evil, monsters are always evil and born from evil, and people are only evil if they are corrupted by the evil thing.

I would say the most complexity for Ganon we get is actually the introduction of Ganondorf the man in Ocarina of Time. He is introduced as a politician and leader of the Gerudo, who also are pretty morally complex (at least for the Zelda games). The Gerudo are a tribe of “bandits and thieves” but their second-in-command Nabooru becomes the Sage of Spirit so they can’t be absolutely bad. The first time we see of Ganondorf is child Zelda saying “everyone trusts this guy but I think he’s evil!” which well, he is, but human (or I guess Gerudo) Ganondorf is much different from evil pig Ganon- the incarnation of evil, that we had only seen in the previous games.

Ocarina of Time doesn’t give us much to work with, but it does give us speculation. Monsters are monsters are pure evil beings, as these stories go, but like I said before npcs are only truly evil when they are corrupted by evil thoughts. Otherwise they are tragic.

Skyward Sword gives us another reason to think Ganondorf could be influenced by evil in the form of Demise. Ganondorf is an incarnation of Demise in the same way Zelda is an incarnation of Hylia, but Zelda isn’t fully good in fact she can be quite flawed. In the same way, Ganondorf could be merely influenced by his past life as Demise but otherwise a more morally complexed character.

Link himself isn’t even technically a “purely good” character, instead Zelda is the incarnation of Hylia, the one with the Light powers, and normally placed directly opposite Ganon. Link is more the errand boy of Zelda, or otherwise just a guy placed in a situation trying to help the people. His triforce and motif, Courage, is more humanistic as courage can only be gained in the face of fear. Rather than always being good or always being evil Link simply chooses to be a hero and help others.

I think that choice of the main character provides a good parallel to Ganondorf, that he chooses above all to be evil not that he is evil itself (except in pig form). It’s also interesting that we always start the adventure after Ganon’s enacted his revenge or is getting ready for part 2. Every time we as Link get to Ganon he’s already got beef with Hyrule.

Makes you wonder why.

…

…Or not, because clearly with Tears of the Kingdom retconning EVERYTHING in the “timeline” we get good-old-purely-evil Ganondorf anyways.

So while it would have been cool to see the kingdom of Hyrule being called out for past mistakes, I think that might be too much story in Nintendo’s gameplay. I understand if some people hate the whole unshakeable good/evil thing, because irl there is TONS of people who claim they’re purely good and are definitely not, but I don’t think they will ever uno reverse and make the royal family secretly the bad guys or something.

…or make Ganondorf finally reincarnate into an ally please Nintendo set him free it was the same damn man sealed since Ocarina give him a break

[fryingpan1234567]

Danny made Frank watch Deadpool

so Danny, true to his Ghostface identity, is a huge movie nerd

like huge hUGE

anyways Frank is… not

he went with Susie to see La La Land. In order to make up for sleeping through it, he let her talk him into dancing on the LA hilltop when they visited America— but he wasn’t quite as graceful as Ryan lmao (it’s okay they were just messing around ^^)

he also went with Julie to see Black Phone (Danny too)

Joey dragged him to see Bullet Train

and all those were fine, but Frank would never sit and rant about them for whatever like Danny did

explosion big. parkour cool. nice murder. that’s all that goes through Frank’s head

at some point, Danny asks him if he wants to watch Deadpool 2, because he hadn’t gotten around to it but thought Frank would love it

only Frank hadn’t seen the first one. that was unacceptable, so it was time for a DP marathon

Frank is grumpy about it because he’s got better things to do than lay around and watch movies, but Danny isn’t taking no for an answer

as expected, Frank fucking loves both of them (despite his bitching)

every time Wade is on screen, they both point and go “that’s you”

dumbass bisexuals watching the Deadpool franchise:

Frank complaining that everyone is hot while Danny laughs endlessly

anyways because he can’t exactly… die in the Realm, he wants to try all that shit for himself IMMEDIATELY

the idiot deadass steals Oni and Spirit’s katanas

that's how bad he wanted to try them all

Danny is singing Wham! in his ear the entire time and Frank would have stabbed him a long time ago if he weren’t pressing kisses to all the exposed skin around his neck he can reach in between verses (Frank is pretty sure Danny isn’t even watching the movie and he’s apparently attempting to prevent him from doing so either, despite it being his idea)

“That holiday fucking thing they have going on isn’t a bad idea…” (Danny chokes on his popcorn)

it’s truly astonishing how similar Danny and Frank are to Vanessa and Wade

when Warhead and Yukio pop up Frank gasps dramatically and screams “IT’S JULIE AND SUSIE!!!!”

and after that every character is compared to someone in the Realm

Michael would make a lovely time traveling dude with a big gun (or knife)

Juggernaut has been twinsies with Pyramid Head since he first showed

that shiny alien dude I don’t remember the name of is dubbed Ji-Woon

Domino is Joey (SLAY KING)

anyways for Halloween Frank wears a DP suit and makes sure to crack a joke before stabbing survivors

“sack of assholes” is Frank’s new favorite thing to call people

shit-biscuits also becomes a regular thing

”MAXIMUM EFFORT, JULIE! STAB BETTER!” “I WILL STAB YOU.”

super. hero. landings. as often as possible

Frank has turned into so much more of a gremlin since watching the movies

everyone blames Danny for creating a monster but he just thinks it’s hot when Frank cuts a survivor clean in half with those stolen swords

[morganee]

Byler Fic Rec Week - Day 6: Canon divergence

the taste of the color by waffles_isa (@waffles-isa) (699 words, complete)

It's a world where people are only able to see in black and white until they find their soulmate. Everyone's worried about it, but Mike is completely chill.

Static Re-connection by IllogicalFallacy (@illogical-fallacy) (62k, complete)

AND - H E R E - I - T H O U G H T - U ‘ D - F O R G E T - M E N E V E R N E V E R - E V E R - ? N E V E R - E V E R He thought about the way Will had looked at him all those years ago, lying in the hospital bed, eyes not his own. Even through the fog of possession, something behind Will’s gaze had clicked and recognized Mike for who he was. Even without anything else left, Will had still remembered the connection he had to his mom - and... to Mike. His trembling fingers hesitated for an infinite moment, before typing faster than his brain could hope to process, P R M S E - ? Y E S A miles-apart, oblivious mutual pining, emotional summer vacation disaster-fest starring Mike, Will, and one incredibly unreliable radio connection.

must be a devil between us by els bloody rollerskate (@super-nova5045) (37k, ongoing)

Don’t assume that because every gate was closed by your telekinetic girlfriend before the world split in two everything will be okay. Your best friend might become a new target of this monster four months later on summer camp and be in grave danger. Or do. He’ll have to die. Ever since November 1983, when Will Byers went missing, shit has just gone downhill for Hawkins, tragedy after tragedy afflicting a once peaceful town. For the first time ever, Mike Wheeler, is at peace – he’s going to Camp Hero in the summer of ’86, where the high-schoolers of Hawkins bond for a summer of “totally rad, epic fun”. The only thing that could possibly spoil it? His best friend, Will, happens to be attending camp too, as well as his girlfriend El – the two people Mike was trying to avoid; the sheer level of awkward tension between them driving him insane. Mike’s trying his best to ignore Will and even worse, ignore the feelings for Will he tried to repress, too. However, when his assumed-dead dungeon master, Eddie Munson, steps foot on Camp Hero on one midsummer night, Mike knows he must get over his tension with Will and El and reunite his friends to destroy Vecna, once and for all.

A Hope to Cling To by midnighteverlark (18k, complete)

While talking to Will in the shed, trying to break through the Mind Flayer's control, Mike starts thinking about what he would do if Will gave up, and completely unintentionally blurts, "I love you." Mike's existential crisis follows. Meanwhile, Will uses the words as his anchor, holding onto this glimmer of hope with all his might as he struggles to hang on against the Mind Flayer. Basically, a more Mike/Will-centric version of episodes 8 and 9 and the time beyond, with a good dose of of grit and Serious Stuff but also plenty of happiness and some fluff to come. (I mean, come on - Will is a gay kid in the 80s who just craves love and acceptance, and he deserves A Break. Mike is just realizing he's bisexual and he needs some love and acceptance and A Break too.)

king of my heart by bookinit (@bookinit02) (21k, complete)

Will finds himself wondering, sometimes, if his mark matches Mike’s. He thinks it must, really—he can’t imagine wanting to spend the rest of his life with anyone else. Mike’s cool and strong and brave and funny. His hair flops down over his forehead and his eyes bore into Will’s soul, always so steadily intense. He doesn’t cry when he scrapes his knee. Instead, he just gets back up. Will thinks that if Mike isn’t his soulmate, something is seriously wrong with the world.

truth serum side effects (may include: accidental gay confessions) by sterrenhemel (1k, complete)

"You okay?" Mike asks him. "Yeah, your hands are really soft." And— Jesus Christ, what was that? Sure, it wasn't a lie, but... what?! "Uh, thank you?" Mike replies awkwardly. Will wants to hit himself. Why would he say that?  "I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that." Or the one in which Will is hit by a truth serum.

[moviemunchies]

Supposedly this movie was received better by critics than the first movie, with a line in Wikipedia even claiming that critics thought this one explained some of the Plot holes.

I don’t understand that.

But whatever! I don’t like this movie as much as Mask of Light, but I do like it.

This story follows the 2004 BIONICLE storyline, which was a flashback to long before the Mata Nui island Plot. Six Matoran from across the island city of Metru Nui are chosen by Toa Lhikan to go to the Great Temple, where they suddenly find themselves becoming Toa. Guided by Vakama’s visions, they decide to prove their worth by obtaining the six Great Disks, but upon presenting them to the city’s leader, Turaga Dume, they’re labeled as fakes and framed for Toa Lhikan’s disappearance. With half of them capture, and half of them on the run from the law and the two Dark Hunters actually responsible for Lhikan’s disappearance, they’ve got to figure out how to use their Mask Powers to rescue “the heart of Metru Nui.”

This one is, like the original film, Mask of Light, a story of self-discovery for the main characters as they work out their own powers and learn to be heroes. And in the context of the movie, this mostly works? Out-of-context it’s a bit odd, because if you keep track of the comics and books, the Toa Metru have already been doing a lot. Not enough to necessarily invalidate this character arc, but this movie treats them like they haven’t done anything, when we know from the stories that they’ve been going on epic quests to get the Great Disks and fighting an evil vine monster.

Really, this movie leaves out a lot. For starters, the Toa don’t show any elemental powers at all. The books explain that the Toa had expended their elemental energies fighting the evil vine monster and have to wait for them to recharge, but the movie does not mention this. There’s no mention of elemental powers in this movie, which is odd, considering that’s the Thing Toa are known for in the stories. Yeah, Mask Powers are important too, but elemental powers? That’s where it’s at.

Lhikan has no excuse, given that he didn’t use up all his powers. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be barbecuing Nidhiki when they fight, instead of jumping around and throwing his swords (though that, like all the action sequences, are pretty cool). The reasoning, I suspect, is budget and because this is aimed at children. Can’t exactly have that level of violence in the movie on-screen.

The changes from comics and novels to books are the result of another year where the Plot of the movie dictates what has to happen in the story for that year. This resulted in some weird things, like Lhikan not appearing until the actual movie, despite his giving Toa stones to the six Metru being something that SHOULD have been shown to us, along with characters like Dume.

And there are things that the movie leaves out, or oddly done. Lhikan declares that Makuta swore to protect the Matoran, but this is the first time, we, the audience, have any indication that he used to be a good guy or that people knew who he was, or that he was involved in this storyline at all. It makes that Vakama seemed to know who he was before the reveal a little strange, as well. This was true back in 2004. His scenes where he and Dume talk to each other don’t really make much sense, considering he’s pretending to be Dume–the novelization tries to fix this with “fake Dume was talking to a mirror,” but it doesn’t really make it any more logical. There are clearly two-sided conversations going on here! And if this is some sort of magic mirror, well, that kind of thing has never been explained or referenced again!

This watch-through made me realize that they made Nokama incredibly competent, almost to the detriment of everyone else? She’s apparently the best fighter and has a better idea of what to do than any of the other Toa. And there’s a scene where they’re getting sucked into a whirlwind, and she’s the one that digs her Hydro Blade into the ground (Matau follows her example seconds later). To be clear: both Onewa and Nuju (Toa of Stone and Ice, respectively) have Toa tools designed specifically for climbing, anchoring someone into a solid surface. And yet Nokama, the Toa of Water, who has tools designed for swimming, who has experience as a teacher and swimming through canals, is the only one who thinks of using her weapon as an anchor.

I’m not going to lie, though: watching her deflect disks from Krekka by spinning her Hydro Blades is pretty darn awesome.

And you know what? The Kanohi Vahi, the Mask of Time, is completely extraneous to the story. It’s an important artifact that the Makuta is after, but it doesn’t really have that much of a role in the story. It’s kind of there, an extra thing, as if the LEGO story team realized that they should explain what the deal with this mask is, and you know what? I kind of appreciate it. But the only real explanation we have as to why Makuta wants it is because he just wants to… I don’t know, fast forward to the part where he wins, I guess? I can make some estimates based on what I know of the story later on, but I don’t think that knowledge was in the writers’ minds when they crated this movie. I strongly suspect it wasn’t.

[rubs head] Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I’m making it sound like I hate this movie. I don’t. I love this movie. I haven’t seen it as many times as Mask of Light, so I don’t have as much of it memorized, but it still sticks in my head quite a bit. I suspect, in part, because I absolutely love the soundtrack (maybe even more than the first movie?).

And the ending–I talk about how the Mask of Time doesn’t really do much with the Plot, but the final fight with Makuta is great and I love that dialogue. I love watching Vakama go from a timid mask maker (albeit apparently the most skilled one in Ta-Metru) to realizing that he can be a hero, standing up to the ultimate evil. 

Also the soundtrack is fantastic. Nathan Furst is great and I’m sad he’s not talked about more.

But while Mask of Light felt very much like a BIONICLE movie, this one is working with a setting and ideas that fans are still getting used to at the time of release. It’s not completely inaccessible to newcomers, but it doesn’t feel representative of the story overall, with things like the lack of elemental powers. Long-time fans will be happy with some of the reveals, but at the same time it skips over so much of the books and comics I don’t know that they’ll be thrilled either.

I like this movie, but I suspect because I saw it when I was super into BIONICLE. Someone going into BIONICLE now, or trying to understand it, might not be as forgiving towards this movie.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Yakuza Apocalypse (2015)

Every source I've seen describes Yakuza Apocalypse as an action film. This must mean that my initial thought to categorize it as a parody comedy is inaccurate. So what is it then? An incomprehensible tale that seems to halfheartedly say one thing until it devolves into absolute madness and then just ends. I kind of hated it.

Beloved Yakuza crime boss Genyō Kamiura (Lily Franky) is the idol of Kageyama (Hayato Ichihara) and secretly, a vampire that drinks the blood of criminals. When a gunslinging priest (Ryushin Tei) and an assassin (Yayan Ruhian as Mad-Dog) decapitate Kamiura, he uses the last of his strength to turn Kageyama into a Yakuza Vampire. Unfortunately, he only learns the rules of his new condition after biting a civilian and unleashing a plague upon Japan. Meanwhile, the priest is not done yet and summons the ultimate terrorist (Masanori Mimoto) to finish what he started.

At first, I thought this was prolific director Takashi Miike lampooning Yakuza films. We’re told Kamiura has kept the big companies and chain stores out of the city and that he instructs his men only to harm other criminals. This makes him a hero of the people because Yakuza gangsters are so cool. Kageyama thinks so. All his life, that’s all he’s wanted to be but he’s never been able to get the trademark tattoos. When Kamiura bites him and transforms him into a Yakuza vampire, he becomes the real deal but in time, vampirism is rampant. Teachers, high-school girls, nurses, police officers are all becoming Yakuza vampires! Where is this going? Is it a lamentation that the criminal identity has become meaningless today, that it no longer inspires fear?

I'd say yes, if the idea went somewhere but in-depth analysis has no place in a film like this. Ambitious criminal Masaru (Makoto Sakaguchi) starts leaking brain matter out her ears like a hose, we get psychedellic gardens, martial arts battles between people in the worst monster costumes you’ve ever seen, and more. It should be so nutty it becomes awesome but it isn’t. All of the characters are so flat you don’t care about them and the incomprehensible non-logic means you have no idea what you should be paying attention to, what’s there just to be weird or if anything means anything at all. Did we just witness a rape scene? Who cares? Not the people who made this film. If they did, they might’ve tried harder to give us some convincing special effects or believeable performances. When you don’t speak Japanese and you can still tell the actors are struggling with their lines, you’ve experienced a badness so intense it transcends language.

The only thing that keeps you watching Yakuza Apocalypse is that something will make all of this click together. Is Miike saying the Yakuza are the vampires of Japan as they bleed the population dry? Does he suggest we’ve become infatuated with people who should be hated like we have with vampires? Your guess is as good as mine. The non-ending doesn't help. Abruptly cutting off your story can work - sometimes. Here it feels as though everyone got bored and said “let’s just end it here and move onto the next thing. It’ll be too late for them to get their money back after nearly two hours”. That’s another mark against this picture. It’s way, WAY too long.

Yakuza Apocalypse is little more than a mad-lib of supernatural action. Ideas are tossed in at random. Few of them pay off. You’ll retain nothing from the experience and will feel like you wasted your time. (Original Japanese with English subtitles, April 2, 2021)

[storylocke]

I really just want a chance to ramble after a conversation this morning woke up the muses.

Dippy:

Back when we did the TPP Gauntlet in 2020, I started a series of fics to go with it. No surprise. It's funny though because I didn't start one for Oriana / "Red0" from Gauntlet Red even though G.Crystal connects directly to it. So the first one we meet in all this is Dippy. More specifically, we meet his mother. She doesn't play a huge role in all this, but it says a lot about the kind of person she is that she won the Who Wants to be a Millionaire (pregame) and her first priority was to get her son out of Rainbow Rocket ruled Kanto (Randomized Ultra Moon comes before this in the timeline so all of the Gauntlet leaders are different from the canon gang), and then went off the radar to protect him. She bought a small house in Newbark Town, helped Dippy to graduate early and go after his dreams in music and botany. Or biology. Pokemon is weird about what Grass types would be considered. And that's it really. She stays at home and sells stuff from their garden, most of her remaining fortune is saved in secret for Dippy and he likes to add to it too when he can. They live pretty comfortable and planned to stay in their small town the rest of their lives where they've become loved by the community with no one knowing how they afford things.

Then came the Voices. Honestly, they're barely an inconvenience for Dippy besides dragging him into fights he'd rather avoid, but he and Elm both notice that things suddenly start happening. Dippy gets picked up by Oak's Dex project and Elm encourages him to branch out in his field studies to better himself. Then the break in. Then Rockets... It's about Azalea Town when Dippy realizes he's in over his head, but that's okay because he's got a sharp memory and a lot of patience. Especially as it's here his story shifts. He's the hero, of course, that's the role of the Host in all the stories he's read or heard, but this isn't "his" story.

This is about Alaija, who broke into Elm's Lab when he saw no other way. This is about the Rainbow Rockets, who Alaija has sworn to destroy before they can begin their terrible world takeover plan. This is about Red0, who everyone thought had crushed the Rockets only to mysteriously disappear shortly before disaster struck on Cinnabar Island.

Dippy may have been called to rise up against all of them, but instead he does what he does best. Listen. He finds out what he can from the people who knew Red0, including from a glitched entity that once belonged to him (Missingno) who he promised he'll help find the boy any way he can. He gets Alaija to open up about his past with the Rainbow Rockets and the pair decide to work together with Dippy gladly taking any advice Alaija has to offer. If someone has information for him, he'll sit transfixed as he takes it all in. Because what he lacks in strength (which he really isn't) he wholeheartedly gives as a support to everyone he meets.

By the end of the story, this hasn't changed. With the Rockets gone but not defeated, Dippy finds Alaija and gives him a place to stay in case they try to come after him. Dippy gets a teammate that tells him about Cinnabar and he realizes where he has to go. Red0 didn't just disappear, he's in trouble, an no one would ever know. Red0 has become a monster after suffering from his own hubris in playing with the Glitches (his run ended with a crash after we were allowed to play with the game unpatched). In the battle to bring him back, he seems to be completely taken over by the ghost of Red in Red0's weakened state. (Phase two fight was super cool, but man kid, what happened to you?) But even seeing this lost child, scared, crazed, and out of control, Dippy doesn't put the boy out of his misery. He wants to help him. He gets him home. And when home turns out to be no place for an unstable and extremely powerful Glitch, Dippy and his mother dig into their funds to get him a place of his own.

Red0:

I didn't write a story for him because I didn't have a story. The GRed Run was fun and we had a lot of lore for the kid, but his arc was mostly in stages in my head. Oriana grew up in the Church of Helix where from early on he'd been told he was to be one the next Red. The threat of the Rockets was a sign of corruption that needed to be purged from Kanto, and this boy prayed to be taken by the Voices so he could fulfill the will of Helix. But... Once the Voices actually came and Red0 got out into the world, the sudden freedom and seeming invincibility pushed him to rebel against the lessons that had ruled his life. He hated Red, he wanted nothing to do with Helix, he was reckless with power and took it out on any Rocket he came across. He made a name for himself and quickly became a target by the big man himself: Mr. Grimsley. Red0 didn't think much of Grimsley saying he planned to scatter the group and leave Kanto for a while. Good riddance. The boy was overconfident and proud of himself to have destroyed the Rockets without the help of any so-called god! So it was little surprise that when the Glitches started to appear and Red0 learned he could gain even more power if he could catch them, that that's exactly what he set out to do. Most of his team was quickly replaced with little abominations and he admired the riches and cool talents they gave him. Until he wandered too far. Until a certain alien jellyfish appeared that he mistook for a Tentacool and gave him the bite. Until his friends from the haze seemingly turned against him. Until everything in his mind had gone to mist.

Red0 was presumed dead after Cinnabar erupted. Probably for the better that he was, surely it would have grieved his family more to see what he had become. The Voices had left, and with them, so did his sense of invincibility. He was a god among ants but these ants merely drifted along the edges of the Void. He didn't know how long he'd been on Mt. Silver by the time Dippy came to rescue him, all he knew was to destroy anything and anyone that came near him. How many had come to hunt the beast? Enough to have the gateway blocked until they are strong enough to trust they knew their lives were at risk beyond there. But then something strange happened when Dippy managed to tear down his team and break through the Glitchwork armor. Red0's greatest nightmare, the one he had spent YEARS running away from such lunatic prophecies, finally came true. While he had hardly been himself since being riddled with corruption, it wasn't Red. Red0 completely lost himself as the bizarre ritual took hold, trying to bring the epic hero fully into the plane of existence, but Dippy beat it back. Red0 fell, no armor, no ghost, no teammates left to protect him. He honestly feared the worst as he saw this Trainer with an air of fearlessness standing over him. He would finally get what was coming to him.

A hand up.

Red0 still doesn't understand why Dippy saved him. Why he trusts him, the boy understands even less. All he knows for sure is the Voices sent Dippy there that day, and for that, he's forever grateful to Them for not abandoning him like he once thought. They are a strange and unpredictable entity though. More than that, he's grateful for Dippy. The boy lives quietly up in the mountains still, but it's with a small farm his new plant-loving friend has been teaching him how to manage. There's comfort there in working with the land, in the company and protection of his Pokemon now that he's been humbled about thinking he could do everything himself. He's still traumatized though, prone to nightmares and outbursts, and cloaking himself in the cursed armor when feeling overwhelmed. He's glad sometimes he's alone. Dippy's been helping with that too. Staying with him whenever he has to go into town for supplies or meet the occasional customer, eventually even meeting some of the other hosts. Battle can be fun again as he gets back into the swing of things, usually just sparring with Alaija when he comes along to the farm. Even as they hear about the Rockets still out there and trouble overseas, Red0 might be scared but the Voices will send someone... Right?

Alaija:

Alaija is by all accounts Mr. Grimsley's son. He grew up in Rocket Castle with the other heads of the organization looking after him and everything until they were overthrown by Virginia and the team was scattered to the winds. Fortunately, he ended up with his dad when they split up, but it also meant getting to really know the guy in a way he hadn't before. Grimsley was a monster. No, not cruel necessarily, but according to many who feared him, an actual monster. Alaija had been cursed plenty of times as some kind of little freak but it was only as he got older, he started to really understand what being a Glitch meant. And even started to question if he actually was his father's son or merely something dredged up from the Void himself. Alaija had glitch powers, mostly just super speed and the ability to walk through walls normally, but thanks to Mr. Grimsley, most high ranking members in the RR have a unique power of their own. It helps bind them to each other. In a way, it helps bind them to him. Being the youngest heir to the supposed throne, Alaija spent several years being groomed for his role in the takeover. But the more he learned about it, the less certain he was about going along with it. It's not like he could just leave though. His father would find him. He would always find him. So imagine the boy's shock when Red0 blasted his way through to break up the team and leave a certain redheaded orphan suddenly alone. He's sure if he stayed in Kanto the Rockets would have come back for him. If nothing else, Grimsley would be back for him, and he was too angry and afraid to wait.

Now the thing about Grimsley is, this is actually the same Grimsley from back in Season 1. He was corrupted by the Glitches in a sort of twisted experiment by Fennel. He fought against the curse eating away at him for quite a number of years, but when Unova was nearly swallowed by the Void in Randomized White 2, Grimsley finally gave in. It's been a couple of centuries since he gained this unwanted immortality and it's been enough to drive him crazy trying to find a way to get his humanity back. There's a ritual spoken of in legend that may hold the key, but it requires someone of the same blood... And he's not dumb enough to go first.

As Alaija has grown, there's a certain level of trust given to him about what's going to happen when the RR make their move. But unlike even most of the higher ups, Alaija has also learned what it is his father is after. And it terrifies him to think in the end he'll lose his life so his father may live. A lot of his issues stem from his dad, especially given the level of Glitchery the RR has now, he's just one kid trying to stop an army. He's so scared, he doesn't even get a Trainer's licence for Johto because he feels like the RR could use it to track him down after he makes himself known, and if he's planning to poke the hornet's nest, he better be sure they can't follow. But without an ID, he can't even get a Pokemon. Johto seems oddly trusting though that once he steals one for himself everyone just assumes he's a normal Trainer. Living off found items is hard though when he can't use the Pokemon Center and going from training with the best to starting from scratch is infuriating. He's not a bad Trainer, he's just not used to using such weak Pokemon! And then there's Dippy. Why the Voices chose some meek, passive, sheltered brat is beyond him but the more the run into each other, the more they seem to rub off on each other.

Alaija was almost caught in Azalea Town and found himself having to rely on Dippy of all people to bail him out. They aren't friends, but it's the first time they genuinely get to meet. After that, he finds himself slowing down, and knowing the fate of the world could be resting with this idiot, he even starts training Dippy on how to stand up to the Rockets. Admittedly, his powers are no match for them, but at least Dippy has the Voices on his side. And after hearing what happened with Virginia and witnessing first hand with Red0, he knows better than to underestimate a Host. They talk more often and he slowly warms up to the idea that maybe taking time to care for his Pokemon can make them better as well. Turns out, it might even make him better too. And when it turns out somewhere along the line Dippy surpassed him? Then... Maybe he can trust things will be okay. With the Rockets gone, for the first time in his life, Alaija has time for self reflection. He's got a home for the first time in years, and can feel safe setting foot back in Kanto again. ...Then Dippy brought home Red0. Alaija is glad the kid has no idea who he is, but seeing him brings back memories. He's also quite scared of Red0's power as his own pales in comparison. They may both be Glitched, but there's still a hierarchy there. Hearing what happened to the kid makes him sick. And when Dippy tells him about Mt. Silver, Alaija feels his fears returning. Given Red0's history, he can't shake the feeling this has Grimsley's hands all over it. He doesn't have the heart to tell the kid though. He wouldn't want to bring up bad blood anyway.

Dippy knows his friends have a lot of stuff to work through, but that's okay. He'll use whatever resources he can gather to help them every step of the way. It actually gets a lot better when fellow RR escapee Nia shows up to reunite with her little brother. She helps a lot with Red0 too with her nature loving ways. It's still sad to see how it affects them all though when GBlaze Black 2 comes around though. Dippy makes Alaija stay home just to be safe. There's no telling what Grimsley planned to do if he went. Red0 is a little better with Dippy, Nia, and Izzy there to both protect him and keep him in line.

[erudianokabe]

Is people on the BS that Reiner should have died instead of Eren because he started this entire thing? Shut the fuck up, this is the first time a character that I love and really matters to me survived up until the bloody end. I'll fucking strangle people who keeps on saying he deserved to die. That aside...

By that notion, isn't it great that Eren died because he was the one who orchestrated the entire fucking mess in the first place, how's about that for reasoning? Like. I didn't want Ereh to die either. He's my son. But that was the goal he worked for. To be the villain, to make his friends come out as heroes in order to not only bring peace to Paradis, but also for the world to stop seeing his friends as monsters, and see them for the heroes... For the people that they truly were. Eren didn't want to die. No one truly does, but there are consequences to actions. It's just that the consequence for his was his death. Not everyone gets a second chance, not everyone gets redemption. That's how it is in the real world, regardless if you have supernatural factors or not.

There's nothing wrong with having the people who suffered through so much trauma, so much suffering, so much pain and abuse... Both physical, mental, and spiritual to survive up until the end. What's wrong if they get a new lease on life? They survived for a reason, and that reason is because they fought hard to be where they are now. Granted it's a story and an author can just kill off whoever they want, but looking at it from the view point of someone who wants to send a message... dying isn't just the only message a writer wants when they decide what the fate of a character will be as the curtains of a story draws to a close.

Telling a story is not just about looking cool. It's about sending a message. And depending on who consumes the work, the message can be interpreted in multiple ways. Isn't it impactful that people who committed crimes they thought were death-worthy, were able to survive up until the end because they sincerely wanted to change? Or because they learned they were mistaken their entire lives, they wanted to do what was "right" for a change, regardless of whether anyone would acknowledge their effort, gave them forgiveness, let alone doing all these without expecting redemption, acceptance, love, or even a fucking thank you at the very end? Isn't it impactful that someone who carries the dreams of their fallen comrades survive up until the end because he becomes the representative of the future they could have had, carrying that responsibility on his back willingly and have them live through him vicariously? In a society that say they care about mental health, isn't it impactful that killing or getting himself out of guilt was not the solution? That there's more ways than just dying, to solve your self-hatred? There's literally nothing that's not impactful about those that survived, simply because it gives people the message that despite going through hardship, despite making mistakes mistakes, despite being ignorant, despite being wrong... and despite hating what you've become, it's alright to survive.

Idk about you I just personally think that if your reason to kill off that character because they're one of the following: 20+ adult (the main cast are teens hence you treat said character as 'old' )/suicidal or traumatized hence treating death like a 'reward to put them to rest' /a 'not badass' female character who's biggest crime is going for a more peaceful approach in a show with edgelord vengeful male lead hence to show what a naive shelter-minded fool she is (I'm awfully specific here for a reason) /to shit on their fans (I frankly dgaf how ~toxic~ they are)

It's kinda shitty and of course people would be upset

Some know-it-all: media literacy is dead grow up you can't handle your fav even getting a scratch 😡😡😡

[kirishimas-manly-eyeliner]

➶ WHAT MAKES THE MHA BOYS BREAK (PT. 1)

pairings: mezo shoji, tokoyami fumikage, hanta sero, izuku midoriya, shoto todoroki, eijiro kirishima, denki kaminari, hitoshi shinsou

warnings: reverse comfort, may or may not have cried a lil’ while writing this. this one hurt a lot but it’s so sweet and fluffy, enjoy luvs!! also lol you could see my favoritism for kirishima

part two with bakugo, iida, ojiro, tamaki, mirio, hawks, dabi, shigaraki, and aizawa is here!

WHEN YOU CALL THEM BEAUTIFUL: MEZO SHOJI, TOKOYAMI FUMIKAGE, HANTA SERO

MEZO SHOJI 

(HE’S SO UNDERRATED LIKE PLS Y’ALL 😩)

he starts panicking as soon as you ask him to take off his mask

at first, he declines right away before turning his face around so you couldn’t touch the fabric

“mezo, i promise. i won’t hurt you, or judge you i just- i want you to trust me, is that alright with you?” you said gently. “but if you don’t want to, don’t worry about it, ‘kay?”

could he really trust you? or would you leave when he found out he wasn’t a normal person with a normal smile, that he was a monster, that was someone who looked different, what would you do?

but if you didn’t love him for who he really was, then... what was the point, right?

shoji let out a trembled sighed in defeat as his dupli-arms took the mask off. he looked down in shame, eyes shut so he couldn’t see your reaction

but your reaction was... completely unexpected

"You're beautiful!!! Why didn't you tell me that you looked so lovely all this time baby??" 

did he just hear you correctly?

did you just-- call him beautiful?

and in that moment, in those small moments, you can see his geniune smile.

his real smile beneath the mask, as his eyes shine for the first time with sincere, and earnest love and thanks

pls keep him 🥺

TOKOYAMI FUMIKAGE

the moment he hear the words "you're beautiful" come out of your mouth, he couldn't stop thinking about it for days. 

and i mean days as in multiple days, so probably weeks

and he’ll probably think about it for the rest of his life

because when he looked at himself, he thought: what about him was beautiful? 

he didn't have human-like features like everyone else, he didn't have those big muscles and a nice body, because-- well, he had a bird head!

A LITERAL BIRD HEAD, so why on earth did you: you who had human features, you who was so nice to everyone, and you who could have gone for so many other people call him beautiful?

he didn’t have that charisma and extroverted personality like some others did, and he kept to himself 

why did you think he was beautiful? how?

but you were the one who said it. you were the one who reminded him, you were the one who gave him hope

and he knew that you were always straightforward with the truth-- and this was a truth, too

and to him, that was the most beautiful thing.

HANTA SERO

this amazing bby doesn’t get enough recognition

but for a good part of his life, he’d been surrounded by people with amazing quirks, levels of strength, and amazing appearances.

he was literally friends with bakugo fricking katsuki, and he was in the same class as shoto todoroki

when he first met you, he had to convince himself for days that there was no way that he could ever catch your eye,

until he did.

when you two met after a long day of training and you told him a joke, his eyes sparkled and he laughed, genuinely

before you knew it, you blurted out the words, “you’re beautiful” before realizing what you’d said and flushing

lol sero chokes on his water

“...did you really mean that?” 

“i- yeah, sorry, i didn’t-”

“no, uh, thank you. thank you so much.”

for the next few days, he stays up at night and keeps on training because he thinks of the time you called him, who constantly felt like he wasn’t enough, beautiful

and that was more than enough to make him smile. 🥺💕

WHEN YOU KISS THEIR SCARS: IZUKU MIDORIYA, SHOTO TODOROKI

IZUKU MIDORIYA

he immediately starts tearing up when you kiss them

most people probably expect him to get flushed with something so intimate, but it’s the opposite

his scars are just something that’s so meaningful to him because it’s evidence of what he’s been through

but at the same time, he’s also insecure about them because he feels like he disappointed his mom by getting hurt so often 🥺

when you kiss his scars and tell them that they’re beautiful, he starts tearing up because-- wow

this is the moment that he’ll remember until the day he dies, because it’s when he feels free to finally open up to you

it’s when he feels free to open up to anyone, for that matter, and a huge weight just gets lifted off his chest

you took his hands and kissed his knuckles before pressing your forehead to his

izuku begins to cry, just a little bit as you gingerly kiss his scars again

“you see? you’re safe. you’re safe with me, okay?”

he nods slowly. “th-thank you.”

SHOTO TODOROKI

you two were walking back to the dorms after training out on the field together

it wasn’t too late a night, just a few minutes before curfew

your hands were buried in your pockets as you two talked about your day and what you could improve on in training

“shoto, can i ask you a question?”

he thought you were mad at him for a moment 😳

“sure.”

you swallowed, as you took a breath, “can i touch your scar?”

he whips his head around, out of shock and confusion

you wanted to touch his scar?

shoto had never planned on anything like that happening to him, and especially not from someone who meant so much to him

“...i suppose so,”

you hid your anxiousness and swallowed, cupping his face in your hands as your hand brushed across his scar

a jolt went through your fingers at that moment, and it was the first time you’d ever felt so connected to someone

shoto todoroki, the prodigy and son of endeavor was letting you touch his scar

to your surprise, shoto melted into it as he closed his eyes, placing his hand gently on top of yours 

you could feel his hands shaking though his expressions were so relaxed

you kissed the side of his scar, running a hand through his hair

“i’m so lucky to have you.”

WHEN YOU COMPLIMENT HIS QUIRK: EIJIRO KIRISHIMA, DENKI KAMINARI, HITOSHI SHINSOU 

EIJIRO KIRISHIMA

eijiro cursed as he slammed his head against the wall for the hundredth time that day

he hated to admit it, but ever since the sports festival, everything had just been falling apart

for starters, he was already insecure enough on his own about his quirk

it seemed like everyone had something flashy and made them look invincible, while he was stuck with something that could only follow around his body and cracked if he used it too much

and that... that made him upset

but when the sports festival came around, not only did he see everyone with amazing quirks and using them to their full potential, tetsutetsu had nearly the same quirk as him

and to make matters worse, they had tied and had to settle it with a fist fight

“why?” he asked to himself, looking down at the floor. “why couldn’t i- why couldn’t i have been born with a flashier quirk?”

great, now he was crying.

at least no one else was around to see him this weak-

“kirishima?”

oh shit.

he turned around, his bloodshot eyes locking with yours. “h-hey,” eijiro said weakly 

“what are you- what are you doing here-?” you noticed the way his body trembled when he took a breath and blood trickling from his forehead. “hey, are you okay?” you said.

eijiro sincerely had no idea what to say. “my quirk,” he looked down at his hands. 

you cocked your head. “what about it? i think it’s pretty neat!”

kirishima looked up. “really?”

“mhm!” you nodded enthusiastically. “it can be the strongest barrier, or the most powerful weapon! i think it’s cool that your body can just become a shield out of nowhere, it’s like-- it’s like you’re a shield, ya know? sure, todoroki might have his ice, but that makes damage and takes time to clean up, like midoriya’s punches or bakugo’s explosions. but your quirk is its own little thing! and i think that’s pretty neat.”

kirishima beamed. huh, maybe so. 

DENKI KAMINARI

“good job, bakugo!” 

“haha, nice job on that one, kirishima.”

“your quirk is so cool, todoroki! i love how the ice just went striaght through the roof!”

“nice jumping, deku! your punches are amazing.”

but i...

i was the one who helped the power come back, i was the one who literally fried my brain, i was the one who did all of that, and i-

i’m so weak.

denki inhaled through his nose, exhaled through his mouth, trying to stop the trembling in his breath as he closed his eyes

he had done so much, and what did he get in return?

all he wanted was to be someone, to be someone that made people smile, to be someone that people genuinely wanted to see

did anyone even want to see him?

“i’m a failure, i’m a failure, what am i doing, why am i so weakwhat’swrongwithmewhycan’tidoanythingright-”

“good job, kaminari!”

he turned his head, finding you running up to him and waving your hands up in the air

“hey! pikachu!” you exclaimed, trying to catch your breath once you stopped. “great job up there! you left before anyone else could notice, i can’t believe you managed to do all that. your quirk is so cool!”

denki’s heart swelled with pride, his eyes saying nothing but thanks.

your quirk is so cool!

“thanks, y/n! so, how do you feel about going to the arcade after school?”

HITOSHI SHINSOU

hitoshi stared at himself in the mirror, his eyes blood-shot and head fuzzy

“i’m not a villain.” hitoshi said slowly. “i can’t be a villain. i want to be a hero.” 

he splashed the sink water onto his face. “get yourself together, are you really going to let a few words hurt you?”

but hitoshi couldn’t help but feel that way-- what could he even use his quirk for- no, no, he could use it for so much. but...

“ha! a quirk such as yours should be only used for villains, you monster! you might as well get out of here before anyone else tries to kick you out.”

hitoshi screamed in anger, splashing the water across his face and pressing hard into his eyes, before slapping himself across the face

“get yourself together..”

“hey, shinsou!! i was wondering if-”

your eyes locked with his frustrated expression. “shinsou? is... something wrong?”

normally, he’d push you away, but-- but now, he really needed someone

your breath hitched when you saw his eyes land onto yours, but for some reason, there was something so lonely and upsetting behind them, before you remembered what a few students at ua had said.

you didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but you were on a rush to get to school that morning and had to run ahead and pass through that area. 

“if it’s about what some of those idiots said this morning, just... know that i think, for the record, that your quirk is so cool.”

shinsou’s eyes furrowed in confusion. you? you thought his quirk was cool?

“i’m not lying,” you said, as if reading through his thoughts. “i really think its amazing. you can help so many people with it, you can change the entire world with a quirk as special as that, so act like it! because it’s true, your quirk is really amazing, and i’m pretty sure you’re the only one who doesn’t see it, you knucklehead.”

he doesn’t tell you this, but-

ever since that day, he’s never stopped thinking about it. 

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hey bbys! reminder to go drink water if you’re reading this! water nourshies your sexc body and can make you feel a heck ton better ‘bout yourself-- and remember, whatever you did today was more than enough. ily very much, but if it’s past your bedtime, GO TO SLEEP KIDDO, ily!

qotd, what’s your favorite drink 👀

join my family! 

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