#and didn't really care

[codenamesazanka]

Maybe a hot take I dunno, but I feel like the way Deku handled Shigaraki could've been "justified" or at least a bit easier to accept if Shigaraki had actually killed Bakugou during the final fight.

That, or if Deku only found out Bakugo survived during the epilogue so he could have a moment of self reflection about giving up on saving Shigaraki because he thought someone he cared about got hurt.

Hm. On an emotional and story level, I get it! At first thought, it makes sense - Bakugou on the Heroes' side gets killed by Shigaraki, so narrative karma means Shigaraki has to die too. Would definitely help 'explain' Deku's cold attitude (tho I argue he was already pretty cold before).

But thinking about it more, I feel like it still wouldn't have worked? Shigaraki had already killed a bunch of other heroes and caused lots of destruction - so singling Bakugou out as the justification/last straw for Deku, him essentially killing Shigaraki as revenge for Bakugou, feels unfitting of him as a Hero - too personal, not him acting as impartial law enforcer. I know readers cared much more for Bakugou than Crust, but for the story, this different valuation of lives would look bad. imo.

Plus, Bakugou was truly dead. Shigaraki did kill him! It just didn't stick because of the greatest and weirdest asspull of story history, but that already happened. Bakugou was mangled and Deku did get really mad at that—for two seconds until Mirio spoke to him and Deku calmed down in order to ask about whether Shigaraki was still inside ShigAFO - to focus on his goal of saving Shigaraki.

Bakugou died, and Deku made the decision to still "not ignore the crying child". Which is a point towards him for sticking to wanting save Shigaraki despite this new evil thing Shigaraki has done! (But I guess it's just that his 'save' has always been reliant on his sympathy for a ghost child? Whose name he didn't know, so he had to have called Shigaraki 'Shigaraki', and I guess that made it seem like he wanted to save all of Shigaraki; but even at the moment, it was clear that Deku was focused on The Crying Child, given the visuals and Mirio speaking of Tenko's outburst.)

So while I get what you're going for, whether your first possibility or the second, it still does damage to the story of Deku being a Hero.

[thefirstanomally]

In the opposite direction: One time I accidentally stole a cheese stick bc my card declined while I was getting a drink at the register and I forgot it was in my hand. So I just ate it and didn't really think about it except that it was a nice consolation prize for not being able to get my coffee.

Tfw you are at taco bell and you grab the wrong size lid for your drink and you dont want to throw it away bc that's wasteful and just adds more plastic into the worlds landfills but you can't put it back bc you dont want to spread germs and how would you feel if someone did that to you plus no one is vaccinated any more so who knows you might end up killing some small child, but throwing the lid away is basically on par with killing thousands as you do nothing to fight global warming, I mean what are you doing in taco bell anyways? Dont you care about the environment? Dont you care about your own health? You should be drinking water from a glass that was washed with earth friendly soap. Why can't our government get anything right ever? It's all money and power! Corrupt money and power! Money should be abolished. We should have global communism! Would that mean no more taco bell tho?

[tossawary]

This is petty fandom salt, BUT... I've been chewing on this phenomenon that I've been calling "Fandom's Darling". It is related to things like "Author's Darling" and "Mary Sue / Gary Stu" and "Protagonist Halo" and all that jazz, where one character gains a peculiar narrative weight in a story.

"Author's Darling" is when a writer has a favorite character, and the world and all other characters sort of get... warped to put the Darling in the spotlight. It's most noticeable in TV shows with multiple writers, when a character you personally like suddenly has their previous characterization destroyed to make another character look good somehow. Every other character might become weirdly incompetent. The Darling's feelings are treated as The Most Important Feelings in any given situation. The logic of the fictional world seems broken past suspension of disbelief in order to validate this one character's beliefs or skillset or some other fantasy. And so on.

"Fandom's Darling" is what I've been calling the pattern where a fandom essentially crowns a New Protagonist for their fanfiction stories (it's often a side character rather than the original protagonist, but it can also happen to protagonists). This character becomes the self-insert for all sorts of indulgent fantasies, gaining special powers or backstories, and/or becoming the focus of extreme whump, and/or hooking up with all the various hotties, starring in all sorts of tropey AUs, and so on. They're not always an obvious Mary Sue version of themselves, but the character's original personality and interpersonal relationships tend to get warped or dropped completely, and other characters tend to become a little flat around them. I call it "Fandom's Darling" because it's not just one self-indulgent fantasy fic (you do you! Have fun!) with characterization choices that I don't vibe with (I have neither the time nor the desire nor the authority to police anything, I am just venting), but rather a prolific mini-fandom of sorts revolving around this empty doll / fanon version of the chosen vessel character, so it becomes a little unavoidable.

I am salty about this (mildly frustrated) (imagine a soft sigh of disappointment before I just go do something else) because you are FUCKED if you actually liked the canonical version of this character and their interpersonal relationships. It's almost worse than liking an obscure character that no one cares about. There's about a thousand fics starring your fave, but maybe only about a dozen of them are actually rooted in any kind of recognisable canon.

[mourn-and-watch]

ekko describing jinx from his timeline to powder as someone who's just different but whose ideas change the world. jayce saying to machine herald!viktor that his imperfections are a part of everything that made him so admirable. powder getting mesmerized when she sees different timeline!ekko before he leaves. jayce building his whole life around the idea he got from different timeline!viktor when he saved him. love does transcend reality after all

[ryllen]

[ x ]

[egophiliac]

Your first initial impressions of any Twst character vs your current feelings about them?

honestly, my perception of pretty much every character went through some metamorphosis of "this guy looks like a jerk" to "oh, he's a stupid jerk? now hold on." it's all about that balancing act between a dark brooding asshole and a dark brooding asshole who is also totally ridiculous, and it really does make ALL the difference.

perhaps most ironically, I've mentioned before that I was absolutely not into the Diasomnias at first, because the impression the website gave pre-release was somehow even less favorable than for everyone else and I was mad at Lilia for getting my hopes up for a token girl). and then we got their stories and, well, I kind of just haven't stopped thinking about them since. 🤷

also, I went in thinking that Crowley was going to be. y'know. competent at his job. a helpful guide. a mysterious yet caring mentor figure, a fitting leader for this band of delicate young magic waifs with their fancy little magic outfits and their perfect, perfect hair. I've never been so glad to be wrong.

[gracefireheart]

A few sketches of these guys :]

[booigi-boi]

Ooh, Teddy bear 🧸🐐💛

[bet-on-me-13]

Dark Secret

So! Danny was discovered pretty quickly after his first battle against the Lunch Lady. His hair turned white, and his body shape was a little different, but he largely looked very similar to his Human Form, so it was only a matter of time really.

Thankfully he was assumed to be a Metahuman.

He didn't look like any other Ghost, the closest resemblance was his hair and eye color, but even that could be explained away. Also his parents were adamant that he couldn't be a Ghost because he was still Sentient and not Evil, so he must just have powers that just looked similar to Ghost Powers esthetically. Probably as a result of the Portal Accident, which he used as an explanation for how his powers awakened.

Danny also avoided using the more obvious Ghost Powers like Intangiblity and Invisiblity, sticking mostly to the most basic Flight and Energy based Powers he got to be as generic as possible. If anybody saw otherwise, it was a trick of the light or a trick of the Ghosts.

Danny became the Hero of Amity Park, always pretending to be something else. It was his darkest secret.

Unfortunately because the public never saw a Ghost like Phantom on a positive light, their perception of Ghosts never changed. Nobody believed that Ghosts could be anything aside from Evil, and as the knowledge of Ghosts and the Ghost Zone began to spread around the world that perception became more and more commonplace.

If Danny had been revealed in the early days, it could have been salvageable, but nowadays if his secret was revealed he would have to convince the entire world that everything they knew about Ghosts was wrong. It would practically be impossible.

Even when he joined the Justice League when he became an Adult, he still had to hide his secret. Years of hiding made sure he could conceal his true Nature from the magic users on the team, but he still had to be distant from the team just to be sure.

While all this was going on in the Living Realm, his adventures in the Ghost Zone still happened as normal. He saved Pandora and the Acropolis, dethroned the Tyrant King Aragon, managed to defeat Pariah Dark in Single combat, and even became recognized as a Great Warrior by the Far Frozen.

After years of hiding, he actually felt more at home in the Ghost Zone than in the Human Realm. There he could be his true self without having to hide a huge part of his identity, and people accepted him for who he was. Sure he had enemies there, but he also had more real friends outside of Tucker and Sam.

He was content with his double life, acting as a Hero to the Public while hiding his true self, and secretly going to the Ghost Zone to be himself among his friends and even his enemies.

Of course it all came crashing down when he Anti Ecto Acts finally passed.

Now there was a Legal Path for Humans to enter and profit off of the Ghost Zone. Beyond just being able to legally kill and experiment on Ghosts, the Acts also allowed Humans to claim parts of the Ghost Zone as their own Property, enslaving the Ghosts residing there, and destroying the Ecosystem of the Zone because there were no laws preventing it.

And now Danny had a choice.

He could either side with the Humans to which he was a Hero, allowing them to destroy the Ghost Zone and Enslave the denizens living there with the full support of the Government, or he could side with the Ghost Zone, betraying Humanity and the people he had been protecting for years, but trying to save those who had accepted him for his true self years ago.

To him the answer was obvious.

[aunmenosheteroenespanol]

2.12 Chimney Begins - 2.09 Hen Begins - 2.16 Bobby Begins Again - 7.04 Buck, Bothered and Bewildered

Tommy's family arc

[nelkcats]

Strange courtship gifts

The last thing anyone would expect is for the Joker to believe in the supernatural, but apparently Gotham was in luck, because the clown was about to make a deal with the King of all ghosts to revive his prized foe.

Said King was not happy about the request, nor did he care about the clown's feelings, but he knew it was a necessary evil. Or at least, that's what Clockwork told him; of course, Danny didn't intend to do anything for free.

The Joker got his wish, Bruce came back from the dead and Danny wondered what he should do with the clown's soul. With a shrug he decided to put it to the best possible use and wrapped it in a little bow before handing it over to Jason Todd.

Jason thought it was a joke, a cute guy giving him a gift out of nowhere and claiming that the frozen ball in his hand was the Joker's soul? Yeah, right.

However, John Constantine came through Gotham and it became obvious that it wasn't a joke and that the cute guy was more than just a regular guy. It also came with the feature that Bruce returned to the living, which made him strangely relieved.

And fuck, reckless or not, Jason needed to find the guy again and steal the air out of his lungs, because that weird ball was the best gift he'd ever been given in his life and it might as well be an engagement ring.

[bietrofastimoff23]

criston with aegon:

unlike your father, i will always be on your side.

unlike your grandfather, i will always defend your honor.

unlike your mother, i will not spare your enemies.

unlike your brother, i really care about you.

the only person who sincerely supported aegon, treated him with respect, glorified his name with conquests of castles and was eager to avenge jaehaerys. and how determined he was to get to the fallen aegon at any cost, even though he could barely stand on his own feet ?? criston, you're not just the dad that stepped up, you're EVERYTHING.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Another year has passed, and with it the opportunity to reflect back on all that has happened. While my growth was not as dramatic as last year, I can still see lots of positive change.

I'll never have enough ways to say thank you for all the love and support you have given me this year. On to 2025!

(2023 summary here!)

[uncanny-tranny]

Basically, my philosophy around disability fakers is: I would rather a thousand people fake a disability than have one disabled person suffer without care, aids, compassion, or any help.

[keferon]

Thinking about the parallels between Blurr and Swerve. Blurr had nobody to sit beside his hospital bed in the aftermath of the mech crash. Swerve had nobody to recognize when he fell into a coma. They really both need somebody don’t they?

You. You get it >:)