#and focus on the abuse he actually suffers while being a hero

[milkshakeworm]

being the only normal tim drake fan out there is so hard cus this person is so right

people who like tim dont like him at all, they just like the idea of him and thats why thers this narrative around tim fans that we are the absolute worse which is true but also its not cus i dont want it to b you feel me? like i LOVE tim but the way some of you need to pick up a comic and close ao3... all this misinformation haunts me

i will make comic guides i will provide with free sources to read them i will do everything to free my boy off this horrible misscharacterized prison because tim drake is an awesome character, hes well written and has a good canon story damn it!! free him!!!!

[phantomkinoc13]

Imagine you’re a little kid and your dad is a hero and he’s really strong and badass and you wanted to be a hero too! And you trained and practiced really hard to be a hero but you trained too much and got burnt by your quirk, and your dad realizes you can’t safely handle your own flames, and instead of teaching you how to focus your power to not hurt yourself he just stops training you, and tells you to give up on being a hero. Give up. and he has another kid, and you know that other kid is meant to replace you, so you keep trying to train on your own to prove you still deserve attention and love, you’re still worth paying attention to! You’re trying! You can still do it! And he just admonishes you, and goes and has *another* kid and you’re still not enough and this one is obviously perfect and you know you’ll never get any attention again unless you prove you’re good enough and you cry about it every day but he never acknowledges you and after a few more years of trying you discover you can do something powerful and you’re so excited and so you tell your dad to come see! And you’re waiting for your dad who you begged to come see you, and you wait and wait and he never shows up and you’re just 13 and you know you’ve been replaced and they didn’t show up they don’t love you so you start crying but you start crying fire. And you cry flames and the flames spread and you panic and your emotions are too much and you burst into flame too and everything is on fire and you’re on fire and you can’t put it out, and while you’re burning up, you do the only thing you can think of, which is jump off a cliff into the river below to hope it puts out the flames, and it does work but the fire still rage above you, and you pass out, and someone finds you, unconscious, body totally burnt beyond normal repair, but this guy showed up because he saw those flames and he happens to be a guy who wanders around looking for abandoned and homeless children and he happens to know an excellent but unhinged doctor, and he brings you to that doctor and they give you skin grafts on your arms and face and chest and probably most your body honestly, and you’re in a coma for three years recovering before you wake up, and your first thought when you wake up is to wonder where your family is. Where your dad is, if he was worried. they’re probably just busy. You were in a coma after all. And your voice is different now from your vocal coords being burnt, and because you’re older now, you’re 16 and you’re taller- but surely your family has seen you. Surely they visited. So you go home, as quickly as you can, and instead of them being excited, you see a shrine set up to mourn your death, with a picture of you from three years ago, and your father is still abusing your youngest sibling. He’s still acting the same way. He thinks you died and even your death didn’t get him to change his behavior and if this is how he treats the golden child, putting all of his expectations on them, and completely ignoring his other children, Nothing changed. He didn’t find you in the fire and assumed you were dead and moved on. He never visited you. No one did. You’ll never be a hero now. You’re even weaker now than you were before. And you can’t even cry about it because your tear ducts burnt. So you just pray at your own altar and leave. you hate him. You hate him so much. It’s easier to be angry, it’s easier to hate him than think about how much it hurts that you were simply replaced. And you consider killing the golden child sibling to make your dad suffer but as much as you hate him, and resent him, you’re actually kind of proud of him, and you feel this twinge of guilt for leaving him there because he also hates your dad. But finally you come to the conclusion that the way to get back at your father is to publicly reveal on national television everything he did to you and your siblings to try ruin his reputation, and then go confront him, in the middle of a massive battleground, and dance around and traumatize him back before trying to destroy him.

Anyway Dabi is so valid actually

[amysgoblinhorde]

The Anti-JK Rowling: Praise for TJ Klune

I am going to overshare. I do not apologise for this.

Way back in the mid 1990s, I was I young girl in school and I was badly suffering the years of harassment and abuse by my peers and also by the grown ups who should have cared for me. I was told I brought it on myself by being weird, I was told I was an attention seeker (yes, and can't you hear me cry for help?) and it was actually the lip curling disdain of the teachers that broke me the most.

I began to feel like maybe I did deserve it. I must have been so unpleasant, so hideous a person that others could see me for what I was and the universe itself was punishing me. I developed Body Dysmorphic Disorder, I kept checking mirrors to see if I could glimpse the monster, mocking myself whenever I thought I looked normal.

Anyway. It all came to a head in my third year, when I became admittedly a bit of an edgelord. I sucked in the darkness and screamed it out.

I was sent to a hospital school. This was a little tiny class of mixed ages for children who needed extra help. It was better here, I made friends - but I also learned a dark lesson here that no child should have to -

There is an appropriate face for trauma.

And I didn't have it. I was not the cute cancer kid. I was not the brave smiling little trooper. I was told by some of the staff in the hospital school that I didn't really belong there, I should consider myself lucky. One teacher said that those of us who were there for mental health issues were weak, we had failed. If we were braver we would be in a normal school.

I would have been 11 when the first Harry Potter book came out, though I didn't read any until sixth form college. I wanted to know what the fuss was about, a movie was being made.

I thought they were fun, as many did. But I can't pretend it didn't hammer an extra nail into my heart as it yet again told me that there was an acceptable face for trauma and it was not mine.

Harry Potter. He was written to be a good looking lad, sporty. Tragically dead parents that he didn't remember anything about. Suffered abuse, but it didn't break him in any inconvenient way. He was a tragically brave little hero with his friends the impossibly clever poster girl (who incidentally was very pretty when she wanted to be) and the token dweeb who appears to have mostly be written to prop up the other two.

Then we have Neville. His story was genuinely heartbreaking and yes it was addressed, but not really. His horrors are not something we talk about. Let's not go there, let's treat it like a dark embarrassing secret. But what a brave lad he is, standing up to his friends! Not for, you know, visiting his brain damaged parents and living with his abusive grandmother. No, no, it's the friends he stands up to. Brave silly Neville. Not the hero, of course. But isn't he brave?

And at last we come to TJ Klune. I read The House in the Cerulean Sea only recently. And wow. I laughed and cried in equal measure.

As with Harry Potter, we have a collection of magical youths, learning to navigate their powers as they grow. But the differences are diamond sharp, the focus instead on all the right things while still being joyful, fantastic and often hilarious.

How can this brilliant man get it so right in such a simple way? It's obvious, when you think about it.

All traumatised children matter.

There is no right face of trauma, least of all on a child, but hey let's not leave out the grown ups. At 40 years of age I thought I knew this, but I must have kept my younger self in a little cell in my mind (ahhh but she's different, she was a monster. We don't talk about her ...).

I was David. And I was Lucy. Why is it so much easier to forgive myself when I see myself as a yeti?

Children will lash out. Forgive yourself that. Children can be little weirdos, little balls of chaos and anger. That's okay. And no child's suffering should be ignored in favour of another, no matter what they look like or what they have done.

No child should be expected to be a poster boy hero, and no child should be chastised if they do not perform trauma right.

So yeah ... Thanks for reading until the end. And thanks to TJ Klune for making a 40 year old woman feel so many things, the strangest of all being forgiveness and acceptance of her 13 year old self.

Also, Chauncey is handsome as crap.

[flightfoot]

got any fic focusing on marinette's trauma? all i can find are adrien trama fics

That makes sense. All Hawk Moth related trauma is stuff that Adrien would also have, and who it would be ten times worse for. Still, I'll see what I can do. I'm gonna stick to ones where the trauma Marinette suffers is derived at least somewhat from canon, and not like, from being captured and tortured, or having a fatal illness, or her mom dying, or anything like that. I'm assuming you want ones that are at least close-ish to canon, instead of just "Marinette angst" fics.

---

A Small but Stubborn Fire by @cardiac-agreste

What if you were the parent of a teenage superhero, but didn't know they were? All you know is the nightmares, the panic attacks, and the bruises. She's missing school, she's disappearing on you, and she's not telling you anything. So you assume the worst: Assault. Depression. A permanent rift in the family. And what do you do when you realize you weren't thinking dark enough? Because your fourteen-year old daughter is the hero who flirts with death on the nightly news. -- Come inside and read about one mother's struggles to raise her daughter in a dangerous world while avoiding the mistakes her own mother made with her.

This is a more serious take on the consequences of Hawk Moth's war on Paris, with actual bloody, painful deaths as a consequence of many akumas, and Parisians developing PTSD because of what they've gone through. Ladybug can fix all the physical scars, but not the mental ones, including her own.

I love the focus on Sabine here. She's not just presented as being a mom - though of course that IS an important role she has. But she's explored as a character in her own right, one with a lot of emotional baggage as a result of her abusive mother, and trying to not fall into her mistakes, but sometimes doing so anyway out of fear for Marinette's safety. She's a really fleshed out, humanly flawed character, sometimes admitting that she would do something selfish if it means protecting the people she cares most about, like her daughter, even if its at others expense. She grows and changes a lot throughout the course of the story, her perspective on many matters changing multiple times as a result of getting new information or seeing the consequences of her previous approaches, and adjusting as a result.

If you want a fic that more realistically explores the dark consequences of Miraculous's setting, that fleshes out Sabine, or just develops a character in a complex way, then I highly recommend you check "A Small but Stubborn Fire" out!

---

In Pursuit of the Uneatable by @nemaliwrites

Who do you trust when your own reflection becomes a stranger? In a Paris where Lila weaves tales that blind the city, Marinette stands accused, isolated. Her parents' trust is shattered, her friends distant, and in battle, illusions blur the line between ally and enemy. As the shadows and uncertainty threaten to close in, Marinette finds herself turning to the last person who claims to be on her side: a boy in a white mask who calls himself a fox hunter.

THIS IS NOT A BASHING FIC. Well, Lila bashing, I guess, but even then she gets a lot more consideration than usual. Anyway, there's no animosity towards Marinette's friends and family here. Instead, the fic has more of this melancholy, contemplative tone, with Marinette feeling boxed in by Lila, and trying to figure out how to navigate her circumstances, especially being around Lila. Even when there isn't any particular threat against her, just having Lila around, knowing that she could pull something else to make Marinette's life worse, and thinking that there's no way to counter her, that she always wins... you can feel how suffocating it is. But she does have a way out, a mysterious boy who she's seen around, who completely has her back as far as Lila's concerned... but she might not want him to, to the extent that he goes.

By the way, this IS a Lovesquare fic, the thing with the boy... well, that'll make sense once you read the fic. But it's not romantic, I can tell you that.

Anyway, it's this interesting psychological, low-key sort of fic. If you want a look at the more emotional consequences of Lila's brand of bullying and isolation WITHOUT any sort of demonization or bashing towards anyone else, but just exploring the effects on Marinette and how to respond to it, then this fic is worth a look.

Oh, also, this is rated M, though I'm honestly not sure why. Marinette's not in the best headspace, but it's not a "this isn't appropriate for teens" headspace, there's nothing sexual, and the most that is present in the story as far as violence and gore goes are some bruises that were acquired under indeterminate (though probably abusive) circumstances, and the breaking of an arm and being bludgeoned in the head, and neither of them are described particularly graphically. So long as you're 13+, this fic's probably fine.

---

Stop Time by @liiinerle

— she put her hand on the page, blocking it so the words wouldn’t scream so loudly at her. They had screamed more than enough already. Gritting her teeth, she pulled her fingers together, crumpling the paper slightly — just enough that it didn’t look so pristine and mocking. It needed to be full of despair, in every possible way. “Marinette —” started Mullo. “No! Never again. Marinette is… gone, forever.” She let go of the paper. Now it lay alone in the light, as the last thing she could ever tell them. That she loved them, that she’d miss them, that she would never talk to them again. A suicide note. Of sorts. ----- Fu accidentally names Marinette as the new guardian, and not Ladybug. She's forced to fake her own death and go into hiding in order to get away from Hawk Moth. She finds a hiding spot in the Louvre, but there she's forced to face the effects of her going away by a very unexpected source: her friend Alix.

Definitely mind the tags on this one! But if it ain't triggering to you, then I highly recommend reading it. You can really feel Marinette's struggles here, with basically making herself homeless, unable to reach out to her friends and family, needing to steal just to feed herself and the kwamis, and then dealing with everyone in her life grieving... and then moving on. Except for a few people who don't...

It's just... it's really good, really heart-wrenching.

---

Bend the World Around It by @kasienda

“Tell me it was real." She can’t look at him. She can barely stand the pain in his voice. She definitely can’t face it. “It wasn’t.” He shakes his head, and turns to her - his eyes swirling in their intensity. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Tell me that you were there. We were there together, having the same dream.” She squeezes her eyes shut. She wants to lie to him. She needs to lie to him. But she can’t. Lying would be like it never happened. But it did happen. And if it’s all they get to have, she wants him to know it. “I think we were having the same dream,” she whispers, unable to meet his eyes.

So this is an adorable Jubilation aftermath fic, with Ladybug and Chat Noir both mourning the loss of what only they remember, of a dream that never was. And them deciding that screw it, it may not have been real to anyone else, but it was real to them. They remember those years together, and they want to live together, if only during the times when they can afford to be missing from home. They remember being happily married, and crave that life.

---

I (Wish I) Knew You by @buggachat

University has been hard on Marinette. Making new friends and maintaining her grades is a lot easier said than done when she has to disappear at odd times to fight akumas. She's struggling, and with Alya away with family and Adrien painfully out of reach, she's never felt lonelier.

If only she could talk to someone who really understood her struggles... but it's not like Chat Noir would know anything about loneliness. Right?

Nice aged-up Ladynoir fic here! Marinette’s struggling with losing friends and lovers because of her flakiness due to her superhero activities, until at last she breaks down. Thankfully, Chat Noir’s there at least - and it soon turns out he’s got problems of his own that he’s been hiding.

There’s some fluff and angst, it’s mostly just the two of them navigating life, dealing with their feelings and talking things out.

---

Accidents Are Also Miracles by @liiinerle

After a few turbulent days where four new people discover her secret identity, Marinette loses faith in her ability to keep the secret hidden. Wracked with doubts and insecurities, she pleads with Alya to take over as Scarabella, but she still can't let those worries go. Especially not once Monarch starts taking a particular, and personal, interest in her.

Along the way, she also starts to date Kagami, and has to deal with changing feelings about herself, Adrien, Alya, Kagami, and the idea of being Ladybug. At the same time, Alya works to uncover Monarch's secret identity, while Kagami struggles against a controlling parent, and a girlfriend who seems bent on destroying herself - with or without Monarch's involvement.

Fantastic Marigami fic here! You’ve got three major POVs in this fic: Marinette, Kagami, and to my delight, Alya. I loved getting to see Alya cope with taking over as Scarabella especially.

But of course, this fic centers more around Marinette and Kagami, with Marinette struggling with Monarch targeting her, and Kagami struggling against her abusive parent, as well as both of them trying to navigate their relationship together when they know that not everyone will approve. 

There’s also some other plots going on in here, like Sabrina breaking away from Chloe and becoming more independent (and closer to Adrien in fact), as well as a Lila takedown plot, though thankfully not one that involves demonizing other characters. While there are conversations about people believing Lila and siding with her, no one’s actually attacked for it except for Lila herself.

Oh yeah, and while this fic may not have much focus on Adrien, he’s still treated fairly and with respect, even when he messes up. He can make mistakes, but people understand where he’s coming from, and are still kind to him and want things to be okay, and to help him escape his abusive circumstances.

[thequietkid-moonie]

Toshi Mashibasa, Kaguya Shinomiya, Hero, Kyoya Ootori, Natsuki, Monika with a bullied reader.

Bullied!S/O

[ HEADCANONS ] [ Toshi, Kaguya, Hero, Kyoka, Natsuki, Monika ]

[ A silent voice ] [ Kaguya-sama Love is war ] [ Omori ] [ Ouran High School Host Club ] [ Doki Doki Literature Club ]

I really REALLY hope that you aren't suffering of bullying and you just like the prompt!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did while writing it ❤️ stay safe my dear

Toshi Mashibasa

Toshi is the kind of person to be best friends with his partner, and he doesn't show it much but he is really caring, also he is perceptual and smart so even when he doesn't pry on your personal life if you don't talk about it he can tell when you aren't feeling well

Still he doesn't pry until he sees you really bothered for something or it had passed a long time, his first approach is to ask you if you are alright or if you have a problem, as well as remembering you that you can count in him for everything

For him to discover that you are being bullied could be because you open up to him or because he see it himself, in both cases he will be furious (he tries to seem calm and collected if you tell him but if he sees it he imediatly step in to defend you), it doesn't matter the intensity of their abuse it still make him angry, but he will never dare to let it out on you or blame you for it, and in this case he will pry for more information but still trying to be gentle

Depending on how deep the bullying you are suffering is it would be how furious and eager to do something he will be, and even if they just make bad comments he won't tolerate it, and not matter how mad he is he will try to calm down enough to comfort you (even if you insist that it doesn't affect you he insist on take some time to spoil you)

Toshi used to be bullied but he get over it some time ago, still that doesn't mean he isn't worried about you, he decide to just stay by your side to protect in case you need it, he will even be a little more clingy to let clear to everyone that you aren't alone. As well he will try to talk to the teacher about this problem (and you won't be able to stop him, although if you are nervous of doing it he will help you feel safe before doing it, comforting you and promising to not leave your side), but even if they actually do something to help you that won't stop him to help you on his own

Toshi will confront your bullies only if he has the opportunity (like they show up and try to mess with both), he is really smart and will know how to handle it without having a physical confront, still if it end like that he will do it only as the last resort and making sure they were the ones starting the fight

However he doesn't really want to confront your bullies since he just want to focus on you, he wants to shield you and comfort you, making sure to help you recover from whatever those bastards did to you, either emotional or physical

Kaguya Shinomiya

Kaguya's prideful side stop her from show how much she really loves and cares for you, as well for how much attention she puts on you (something that she is actually proud of) so even is if you try to hide something from her is probably that she will find out at some point

Kaguya herself won't really ask you directly about your problems (or at least not imediatly), but that doesn't mean she doesn't care, whenever you seem troubled or struguling with something she is eager to find out what is troubleling that pretty mind of yours, so she does it discreetly, slowly leading the conversation to whatever that could give her hints of what is happening to you

It won't take her long for her to find out that you are being bullied, specially with Sayaka's help, still she probably find out by her own and once she does she is furious, she is surrounded by a dark aura while asking for more details, even if people are just saying bad comments about you to her is like a sin, Kaguya take it as a personal offence and she will treat it as such

Kaguya is making her plan to take revenge and make them pay for whatever they had done, and how cruel she will act towards them depend on how deep the bullying was. As well, Kaguya will try to find out a way to tell you that she knows about this situation (she is surprisingly nervous about bring out the topic), but once she finally does it she focus on making sure you know that you had done nothing wrong and it isn't your fault, as well as comforting you, if physical affection is your comfort she will do it (while trying to not conbust from the inside), but she prefers to spoil you to try to comfort you

Kaguya will totally take care of the bullies on her own, so don't be surprise if they stop messing with you overnight, or even if they seem afraid and/or apologetic with you (again, it depend in how bad they treated you)

Also, from then Kaguya grows a little more clingy for a while, wanting to be able to shield you in case some other idiot try to mess with you, and if you actually grow clingy yourself and even hide behind her it make her really proud of herself (and really flustered too)

Hero

Hero has been always really caring, is like a second nature for him (specially because he is constantly taking care of his friends), and even when he isn't the most perceptual or observant person he always tries to look after your well-being

Hero doesn't like to pry because he feels like he is invading your privacy but he always remind you that you can rely on him when you have troubles, although if he sees you really down or affected by whatever is bothering you he insist on wanting to know, making clear that he is just really worried about you

For how caring he is is easy to bring you a sense of security that could lead you to open up about you being bullied, although it could be that he see it himself too, in that case he immediatly step in to defend you. No matter how he find out at the end he is really worried about you, he is mad at whoever are abusing using you like this but his worry is bigger

Hero immediatly comforts you, holding you close while he ask you what they exactly have done to you, although if you don't want to talk about it, either because you don't feel comfortable or you are nervous is alright, he will wait until you feel ready, in the meantime he will be focus on comforting you

Hero knows that this kind of problem doesn't get solved overnight so he will hold an immense patience with you, helping you get out of it little by little, if you let him he will become more clingy, not really wanting to leave your side to be able to protect you from the bullies and don't let you forget that you aren't alone. Also, he wants to ask for help to the teacher, and he even ask Mari some advice (that could make the rest of the group find out too and they aren't going to stay quiet)

The intensity of the bullying you suffered is just important to him for how much it affected you, he is bothered by it even if they were just saying bad comments about you (but the more aggresive they were to you the more angry Hero gets, even reaching the point where he will think on confronting them)

This just make Hero more caring towards you, specially in the emotionally part, he wants to make sure you don't get yourself carry away for what they had told you and done to you

Kyoka Ootori

Is really difficult to get into Kyoka's life since he isn't really interested in relate in a personal way with anyone, however once he decided to start a relasionship with you is because he is really sure that is what he wants

Kyoka is observant and perceptual, even if you try to hide it he knows when something is bothering you, although if you decide to don't talk about it he will just make it clear that he knows that you aren't al right, but also makes clear that even when he isn't going to force you to talk if he is able to help you he will

Even when it doesn't seem like it he is pretty caring over you, you are special to him and even when he has problems to say it out loud he show it in other ways, like paying attention on you making sure you are taking care of yourself, that is why, soon or later, if you don't tell him he will find out about the bullying (the worst it is the bullying or the more it affects you the faster he will find out)

Since the start he suspect that something is bothering you but he didn't wanted to jump into the conclution of the bullying right away, but at the end his fear become true because you were actually being bullied, and once he finally found out exactly how deep the bullying is he is furious, even if others are just talking bad about you it still makes him mad

Kyoka normally doesn't pry in your personal life but for this he has the intention to pry every single detail, and he will use his intimidating stare if he has to, but he isn't mad at you is just that he is frustrated that something so serious is happening to you and he didn't notice it earlier (but he will scold you later for dont telling him)

He isn't the best to comfort but he will try (specially if you start crying), but he is more focused on making a plan to take revenge of those bastards who made you suffer like this, Kyoka is smart enough to come up with a plan to make them pay without getting involved into, and he will be just as harch as they had went to you, he won't directly confront them but they will be too busy trying to solve whatever Kyoka cause them to keep bothering you

Again, he isn't the best when it comes to comfort you but he will be more direct with his care for you, making more clear how much he worries for you, even making sure you are taking care of yourself, as well he makes sure to remember you how amazing you are (his attempt to give you compliments)

Natsuki

Natsuki has problems to read other people, specially because her anxiety and past bad experiences she could easily misunderstand a little the situation, and even when loves you that doesn't make easier things for her

She want to be able to help you when you need it but she still has a lot of problems to express herself so she does it in other ways, trying to get more close and a little affectionate when she sees you down or baking you some cupcakes to cheer you up

It would be really difficult to reach the point where you open up to her and tell her about the bullying because she gets nervous whenever you two talk in a more serious manner and abuse is a sensitive topic for her, so is more probably that she end up seeing it herself and the moment she does it she react immediatly and aggresibly, going against the bullies and calling them idiots for what they are doing (still she doesn't want to get into a physical fight)

Is probably that she will seem mad at you when she ask you about it, but she isn't, is just that it frustrated her that you are suffering from this kind of abuse, and even more that she didn't noticed it earlier (even more because she is a victim from abuse too), she will apologize later and make it clear that she isn't mad at you but at herself

She will overcome her nervous and frustration and ask you about what those idiots had been doing to you, it doesn't matter if they had been just saying bad things about you or they actually physically attack you she is mad at them, Natsuki won't really ask for help to anyone else (maybe to the rest of the club only if is something too deep)

Natsuki isn't the best to comfort you but she still tries to, but she is more focused on shield you from the bullies, she already has a bad reputation since she tend to be pretty aggresive with words so it isn't nothing new for her, she react really aggresive to whoever even speak bad about you but still tries to avoid getting physical

Natsuki still has problems dealing with her own traumas with the abuse she suffer from her house so after this she probably end up insolating with you a little more as well as getting more clingy, and since now you somehow can understand her better she will open up more about her own experience, being a healing process for both

Monika

Monika is really caring and she is pretty observant too so for her isn't too difficult to tell when you aren't feeling too well, and she wants to be of help whenever you have troubles but she still has problems to bring up the topic, fearing that she may be invasive or rude

Whenever you seem troubled with something Monika tries to motivate you to talk to her, remembering you that you can count with her and that she will always help you at the best of her habilities

For Monika to discover that you are bullied is because she sees it herself (in this case she will imediatly stand up for you, she doesn't want to confront them directly but she at least will help you get away from them) or because you open up to her (since she is pretty caring and willing to heard you vent it could give you a sense of security about saying her directly)

Monika feel horrible that you had to suffer from all that, she has to hold herself back before she start crying out of sadness and frustration, even is they are just saying bad comments about you it doesn't matter because you shouldn't be suffering for that, and she doesn't want to cry right now because she needs to focus on you, in how to help you and to comfort you

Her plan is to notify the teachers or someone who could help as well as not leaving your side in hopes of not giving the bullies the opportunity to attack you again, although if the bullying is really bad or it affected you a lot, or even if no one is willing to help Monika herself will step in, she won't fight them physicaly but she can be really intimidating when she wants to, also she know how to identify and take advantage of others weakness if she has to

Aside from that Monika is really worried about you so she will be taking care of you for a while, both physicaly and emotionaly, she just want to make sure you don't let yourself down just because others can't see how amazing you are, and she is eager to be of help

Also Monika feels really bad that she didn't notice it before, and the more time you suffered this the more frustrated she feels so, somehow, she is trying to make it up for you too

[super-paper]

Long ask btw, but I loved the incredible Armored Might post, especially after so many bad takes that I've seen about it. People keep calling him a hypocrite because it "goes against what he said in chapter 1" -as if Toshinori changing his mind after 400+ chapters of character development isn't possible- , or calling him selfish for not using the suit to help Izuku during the dark deku arc, or that he's reducing his students to quirks and going against their wishes of saving villains by using their quirks to inflict violence on AFO. I even saw the insane argument that "he was wilfully complicit in the mutilation and murder of his students" because he didn't join Endeavor or saved Bakugo. I've seen this fandom call him all type of stuff, from abuser to groomer, and even kidnapper. That he's manipulating Izuku for selfish reasons, and he's the most toxic influence in Izuku's life and should stay away from him. But to see fans actually claim that Toshinori, of all characters, purposely left his students and other heroes suffer and die just so he could get a grand entrance later on is one of the worst takes I've ever seen. WHO is this character these people are talking about?? What manga are they reading even????? So yeah, your post is refreshing in the midst of all negativity. I personally love Armored Might. The art is stunning (as always), the little details of Nanas color squeme are so sweet, the mecha suit looks so cool!! His unhinged attitude and feral expressions!! I LOVE ALL THOSE EXPRESSIONS! And while I'm not a huge fan of Class 1A, I found Toshi using his students quirks to help him fight as a way to honor them, to be very endearing. I know a lot of people were getting bored and tired of AM vs AFO and wanted the focus to shift to others, but I was enjoying every bit of that fight. I missed seeing the focus on Toshinori after being sidelined for so long, I loved seeing him fight again, and learn more about him and seeing the payoff of his character arc. I loved seeing him SMILE! And a real smile too! I was worried about how this would go, with the death flags and prophecy, however I think hori has so far handled Toshi's character beautifully :)

Thank you for the kind words! 🥹

"I've seen this fandom call him all type of stuff, from abuser to groomer, and even kidnapper. That he's manipulating Izuku for selfish reasons, and he's the most toxic influence in Izuku's life and should stay away from him. But to see fans actually claim that Toshinori, of all characters, purposely left his students and other heroes suffer and die just so he could get a grand entrance later on is one of the worst takes I've ever seen."

Yeah man I can't believe Toshi poisoned our water supply, burned our crops, and delivered a plague unto our houses. 😔

Picture related: The face of MHA's true villain (AFO who??)

I even saw the insane argument that "he was wilfully complicit in the mutilation and murder of his students" because he didn't join Endeavor or saved Bakugo.

Yeah, what I've been finding most baffling is that the people who are raking Iron Might over the coals for being a "suicide mission" and claiming that it "ruins Toshi's arc" are usually the same ones who argue that Toshi should've helped out in the fights at gunga/UA (where Toshi’s chances of actually being killed for realsies would’ve quadrupled bc prime AFO and Tomurafo would've been gunning after him at full health and with comparatively sound minds lmao). Iron Might was an untested last resort and it was only effective in the first place bc everyone at gunga wore AFO’s HP bar down and made him super emotionally unstable in the process-- but pointing that out is something else that gets met with derision from a lot of fans lmao.

Anyway, I feel that most of the arguments against Iron Might (esp. the argument that Toshi is falling back into bad old habits and trying "shoulder everything by himself") are ultimately lacking in both bite and sincerity-- because most of the time they completely disregard the whole of his arc, the context behind his decision to step in, and the multitude of events that led up to his stand off with AFO. Like:

Toshi legitimately trusted that the heroes at gunga would finish off AFO (and as much as I love punking on Endeavor, we do need to give credit where credit is due-- Endeavor did succeed in killing AFO. for like. five seconds. lmao.), but no one could have truly expected that AFO would have access to rewind.  

Toshi trusted that the UA fortress group would be able to contain TomurAFO, but no one could have expected that Himiko would yeet Izuku away from his intended battlefield (or that Kurogiri would later yeet Aizawa away from the fortress).  

Toshi trusted Shouto and Iida to stop Touya-- he had unshakable faith in Iida's speed and Shouto's phosphor, and hey, that belief in his students was rewarded! (and this point is especially important because if Toshi hadn't stepped in and encouraged Shouto to put his family/Touya first, Shouto would have chosen to confront AFO instead and *literally* everyone at Gunga would have died). 

But to see fans actually claim that Toshinori, of all characters, purposely left his students and other heroes suffer and die just so he could get a grand entrance later on is one of the worst takes I've ever seen.

Yeah, exactly.😭 This is another example of what I mean when I say their arguments lack sincerity bc like. The last time we actually saw Toshi in the control room was immediately after Touya got "defeated" at Kamino, when everyone at UA/Gunga was completely fine and the heroes actually thought they were gonna get an easy win (R.I.P, my guys-- never let anyone tell you u didn't shoot for the stars lmao). The next time we see Toshi, he's leaving the control room in a *flashback* panel-- so it's pretty heavily implied from this panel alone that Toshi left the control room the moment things started going south for the heroes. So like. He was rushing to help them as soon as it became apparent that they needed it and not just waiting for the perfect moment to "step in and steal all the glory."

Anyway, Toshi himself does not view his last stand against AFO as as him ~once again doing everything by himself~. He makes it very clear that the only reason he can stand up to AFO in that moment is because of the bonds/blessings/help he has received from others. The narrative doesn't treat this fight as Toshi shouldering everything alone, either-- and neither should the readers. 

I missed seeing the focus on Toshinori after being sidelined for so long

Yeah, the Toshi fans definitely deserved this. I'm glad they not only got their food, but a four-course-five-star meal.

[bnhaobservation]

Ramblings about the Shimura family

So, one thing I noticed is how BNHA presents interesting family dynamics with a special focus to how parents deal with their children.

And where there’s an interesting dynamic I love to dig into things so let’s start.

PREMISE

For the sake of this observation I’ll assume that ‘what is not shown just never happened’ meaning that if a character is never shown doing a certain action, it just means he never did it. This might not be necessarily true, sometimes stories don’t show things because they’re of no use (the character does it but it changed nothing so it’s unnecessary to add it to the plot) but, as assuming what wasn’t shown happened would just constitute a debatable speculation, I’ll simply leave it out.

Also, if you’re solely an anime viewer, this will contain spoilers. Consider yourself warned.

With this said let’s start with the Shimura family.

In the Shimura familywe see a characteristic that’s common with the other BNHA families which are abusive, this characteristic being that the main perpetrator of the abuse is the father.

So let’s give an in deep look to Shimura Kotarou.

The interesting part about Kotarou is that he isn’t just an abuser but also a victim of abandonment. His father was killed from All for One and his mother, believing to protect him, left him in the care of a foster family when he was a small child. [Chap 95/281]

While Shimura Nana’s intentions were good, her choice is debatable (her first loyalty and duty should be to her son) and the psychological effects of it on Kotarou will be terrible as he comes to see his mother as a monster and would have preferred for her to have never loved him [Chap 235].

Victims of abandonment can react by becoming unable to form future attachments so as to avoid the pain that might come should they be abandoned again, and this is probably what happened to Kotarou, who is 32 now and is still plagued by the pain he felt for his own abandonement.

Adult Kotarou therefore is depicted as an anaffective man, he married Nao, who knows of his sad past and feels sorry for him and hosts in his home his in-law who probably feels equally sorry as well as indebted to him (as they’re living in his house) and promised them all a home full of joy [Chap 235]...

...but it’s clear he never delivered what he promised, he’s actually not even shown making an effort to deliver it in some ways beyond giving the home they live in.

We never seem a single panel of him making happy, or at least being happy with one of the members of his family, of them smiling together.

Tenko’s wish to become a hero didn’t disrupt the peace of an otherwise happy family, the family was never depicted to be happy to begin with, people just contented themselves with what they had, probably feeling they couldn’t ask for more to Kotarou and Kotarou ends up taking advantage of how people seems okay with humoring him.

The one rule Kotarou forced upon his house, “never talk about heroes”...

...and that he alone enforces, clearly exists TO PROTECT HIM AND SOLELY HIM from pain, as no one else in the family is shown having a problem with talking about heroes.

Kotarou doesn’t consciously mean to be cruel toward his family, he’s not doing this out of a wish to harm them or of a sick pleasure in seeing his kids suffer, he is a victim of abandonment and just wants to protect himself from that same agonizing pain he felt from when he was a small child, and, in his mind, it makes sense his own experience and way to feel would apply to everyone, so he sells his own rule as a rule that would protect his family as well, because to him heroes are monsters and so, by this logic, everyone would be protected by staying clear of them.

However it’s clear there are 4 adults in the house and not only he is the sole person who’s believing such thing. This alone should really make him reconsider his beliefs, if he really cared about making people in his family happy. The problem is, he actually doesn’t.

Everyone is uncomfortable when he leaves Tenko out in the garden but he’s just ‘rules are rules’ and ‘I���m doing this for Tenko’, but shows 0 care for how, due to this, Tenko will end up skipping dinner (he’s a kid of 5, eating is very important for his growth!) and, when Nao points out how Tenko’s allergies are getting worse, he expresses no concern whatsoever.

What matters to him, it’s that the rules that exist to protect him will be respected, so he’ll be safe.

He dresses up his intentions as aimed to protect his children, but the only one he selfishly cares to protect is himself.

Kotarou, in upholding his rule, is not even caring of the societal pressure that presents heroes as good, forcing on his family his personal view.

His children live in a world in which people talk about heroes, has toys about them, view them as good people. He’s actually asking them to go against society’s view of heroes when they’re kids, to be different from the rest of the children. He forces them to hide their own aspirations (Hana too wishes to be a hero but doesn’t voice it, she actually lieas about her own wishes [Chap 234])...

...or tries to squash them (Tenko is clearly more vocal about how he wants to be a hero and so he suffers the brunt of Kotarou’s anger).

In short, this means the rule he forces upon his family, doesn’t protect it but actually psychologically harms his children.

The other adults in the family, Nao and her parents, don’t seem to fully realize this.

Likely, part because they feel bad for what he went through as Kotarou is a victim and they’re sympathetic toward him, part because they’re indebted to him (as he paid for the house they live in and everything else), they humor him, apparently without too many troubles. It’s not hard for them not to talk about heroes, after all, and this cause them to buy in his excuses (what I’m doing is for Tenko’s well being, he has no quirk so if he doesn’t understand he’ll only be more miserable). Because it’s not a big deal for them to respect Kotarou’s wishes, they assume the same should apply to the kids and their support is merely aimed to encourage them to endure/dismiss the situation and their feelings about it.

They fail to notice the psychological damage Kotarou is doing to his kids and continue to enable him to damage his kids. They should notice instead, the warning signs that what Kotarou is doing isn’t good for the kids are all there.

We can see how both his children are actually scared of him, Hana to the point she keeps her wishes to herself without daring to voice them and, when caught peeking in Kotarou’s study, she’s so scared she pushes the blame on Tenko...

...and Tenko finds so distressing living in that house to the point he develops psychosomatic itching in response to feeling himself rejected and in danger.

Tenko even tries to verbalize how ‘it’s the house, he gets itchy there’ but the other adults, despite caring for the kids, don’t really seem to truly notice, or, more likely, don’t want to see.

Tenko’s family is a microcosm, it reproduces, in smaller scale, society.

Heroes and common people don’t want to see what fails to conform with their pretty vision of their society. They prefer to sweep it under the rug, to pretend Endeavour isn’t an abuser because he’s so much more useful fighting what threaten them.

In the same way Tenko’s family doesn’t want to see Kotarou is mistreating/abusing his kids, that their family is flawed, that the one who allows them to live a comfortable life because he pays the bills with his works, also selfishly cares solely to protect himself and damages his own children.

They realize Tenko is sad and try to comfort him, they try to cure what they believe is an allergy, but fail to nail the cause of his pain, fails to see he feels in danger, that he feels he needs to be saved, that he feels like the house is rejecting him, leaving him to his own devices, making him miserable.

And this works so easily because one of the problems with psychological abuse is how easy is to fail to notice it or how damaging it is or persuade themselves that what they’re witnessing is not abuse.

The scars psychological abuse leave are not visible so they can be conveniently missed.

In fact we see the adults grow concerned only when the abuse becomes physical, we can see they are uncomfortable and complain when Kotarou causes Tenko to skip dinner, and they outright rebel short after they see him beat Tenko up…

...but they don’t even seem to realize Tenko’s psychological state is being harmed to the point he developed a psychosomatic rash.

(And in a way this parallels how Deku realizes Shigaraki needs saving when he sees him being threatened by All for One… but can’t quite wrap his head around how Shigaraki needed help even before that point and was screaming in the battleground that what he was doing was because society itself lead him to that point with its constant rejection)

Also, as said before, Kotarou’s status as a victim contributes to protect Kotarou, to make him look as blameless (the way hero status helps heroes to get away with what they do).

Although Nao sees her son’s distress (but still doesn’t manage to connect the dots between the hitch and the family situation) she swallows the idea that Kotarou acts in sush way because he KNOWS and therefore he’s acting for Tenko’s well being, instead than for his own.

And mind you, Kotarou was probably genuine when he said (after slapping Tenko twice and leaving him out of the house and being confronted by the family) he didn’t want things to get that far (after all his profile confirms all he wanted was a happy family), although it was probably not for Tenko or his family’s sake but for himself.

Kotarou likely built a home hoping to find back what he lost when his mother left him, his own happiness and security but, due to the psychological damage he received from it, he wasn’t capable to create a happy, joyous family, a safe environment that could fill the hole his mother left inside him because he can’t connect with his family nor truly care for them. He’s too busy protecting his own old wounds.

As a result, his family becomes a mean to an end he can’t reach (finding happiness and safety), it exists to serve to that purpose and he can’t accept his children wouldn’t conform to this and give him distress instead.

The most obvious example we have of this is when Tenko ends up losing control of his quirk.

Although Nao is scared and she’s dying due to Tenko’s quirk having hit her too, after a second of hesitation she still opens her arms and still tries to embrace her son, to comfort him, to save him from the desperation he was feeling...

...where in Kotarou’s case, despite him not even having been harmed, his instinctive first reaction is to try to protect himself by trying to keep Tenko at distance, to swat him away, hitting him with the first thing he finds, a garden instrument.

Kotarou’s first reaction isn’t to protect his son, to save him from pain, he wants to STOP TENKO from harming him, he wants to protect and save himself, with the result that, according to what we’re shown, Tenko deliberately kills him or comes to think he has deliberately killed him (I’m not sure the narration is 100% objective, previously Shigaraki claimed he hated everyone but the visual seems to imply Tenko didn’t want to kill his mother and the story overall didn’t show him as hating his mother, Hana or his grandparents, so it’s entirely possible Shigaraki is now feeding himself a narrative in which young Tenko was in control and did it out of hate still to protect himself from the pain of having murdered his family by mistake and out of fear… and also because All for one did his best to groom him to hate things).

(And again this parallels how the heroes, who shouldn’t kill, all feel perfectly justified in the idea they should kill what threatens them, be it Twice or Shigaraki)

In a way what makes it terribly ironic is that the ‘symbol of fear’ is nothing else but a very scared little boy himself, someone who nobody saved, the living representation of ‘All Might wasn’t here (to save him)’… and at the very same way that little boy who used to play with Mikkun and Tomo because no one wanted to play with them, is the young man who collects around himself people rejected by society (aka the league of villains) and plays with them videogames, wants their dreams to become reality and even sends Machia to retrieve them when they’re parted.

Ultimately, although a lot of Tenko’s issues come from having been groomed by All for One and from the trauma of seeing his quirk kill his family as well as not receiving help by passing people, the harm done to him by the abuse he suffered at home at Kotarou’s hands, is still equally visible and is the groundwork for All for One’s manipulation.

Even without the trauma due to his quirk and All for One getting involved, Tenko was a child showing signs of deep distress (Tenko scratches so much he basically ruins his skin and the itch is clearly a psychosomatic manifestation of his psychological distress) and, very likely, they would have plagued him even if he’d been allowed to grow up in his family. Actually, considering it’s implied his father’s abuse was escalating, they would have only gotten worse.

On a sidenote it can be that Tenko/Shigaraki can currently see that his father was a victim as well.

He quotes his father’s words “Heroes hurt their own families just to help complete strangers,” and claims to hate his grandmother even if he clearly couldn’t expect help from her as she was deceased. Kotarou informed him she was a monster who abandoned him so it can be Tenko/Shigaraki could see the causality of all it. Because Shimura Nana left Kotarou, Kotarou abused his two children and this in turn triggered Tenko’s loss of control over his quirk and the murder of his own family as well as his descent into becoming a villain who’s now threatening the whole Japan. As Shigaraki said, it added up, little by little.

By the way, in case I hadn’t stressed it enough, Kotarou being a victim doesn’t excuse what he did to his kids, no, not even if Tenko/Shigaraki himself can understand Kotarou was, but the idea that Tenko/Shigaraki could see the progression even in his family’s history makes for an interesting food for thoughts.

Tenko, after all, despite everything he went through and what he’s doing has, differently from Kotarou, shown more humanity.

He’s not a completely anaffective person, he showed worry for his master (before All for One tried to take him over), he cares for the league and doesn’t try to force them to do things that make him feel better. It’s little things but, for example, he remembers how the league wanted to eat Sushi and asks for it or accepts it when Dabi doesn’t want to tame Machia or doesn’t get angry when, Himeko, Twice or Spinner question him but explains himself the best he can, how he sends Machia to protect them and seems to want them to have a future in which THEY can be happy.

The league became an environment which accepts people, instead of making them feel rejected as Tenko felt rejected by his own home.

And despite everyone claiming he destroys things for the fun of it, we see that’s not quite the case. Although he claimed that, by killing Kotarou, he finally put a end to the itch (because he finally put a end to the distressing feelings his father summoned), we see him not much later racked with guilt (he’s again scratching himself as he walks).

Tenko/Shigaraki ‘s trauma due to his father’s mistreatment was never healed and got only worsened by All for one who capitalized on how Tenko came to think that, in order to find relief from what haunts him, his only way was to destroy it. Yet Tenko/Shigaraki knows this is not a fix all solution, he believes deep down that the weight in his heart will never go away but he believes all he knows is how to destroy things. He doesn’t want a future for himself (which in a way hints at how he’s suicidal too), however he cares for the guys in the league and wants them to have a chance to live how they see fit, to have all they want to have.

So, although Tenko is a victim like Kotarou, he tries to take care of his newfound family and this makes me hope that where Kotarou was ultimately what triggered his own family to be destroyed, Tenko will, instead, be the one who’ll manage to protect it as, in a way, his intentions are the opposite to what his father claimed the heroes are. If heroes are people who hurt their own families only to help complete strangers, Tenko/Shigaraki hurts complete strangers to help his found family.

It’s probably no coincidence Tenko/Shigaraki looks like Shimura Nana, down to having the same mole she had.

Now, the ideal outcome of the story would be that those two positions were to be reconciled into a ‘let’s hurt no one and help everyone’ because, if we accept the parallel family/society, saving your family saves society and saving society save your family.

After all the league members became a threat to society because their families didn’t save them, if their families had properly taken care of them they wouldn’t have ended up in such situation… but at the same time if they continue to care solely for their own little group at the expense of society, society will continue to try to destroy them in a vicious circle where no one gains something and everyone loses.

“One for all, all for one” should be a single unit after all, a single philosophy, a single person should be protecting society and society should be protecting the single person… but at the moment no one seem to fully have realized this in the story so we can only wait and see.

[brotherslayer]

I love the villainess jennette headcanon's! Could you do villainess Athy headcanon's?

sure. I already talked a bit about my ideal villainess athy AU here and here. background info: it's an AU where Aeternitas resurrects Athy because making the de Alger Obelias suffer once was not enough to him. He traps Athy in a timeloop where he kills her over and over again with the intention to make her despair and finally strike a deal with him that would eventually lead to the possession of her body and the destruction of the world. With each new rerun Athy grows more and more jaded and ends up being full of cynicism and bitterness.

I see villainess Jennette and Athy as two people that are standing on two different sides of the same spectrum. Jennette is a people pleaser wheras Athy has given up on gaining the love of others. If she cannot have other people's love she'd rather have their fear than nothing at all. Where villainess Jennette is overly emotional and irrational, villainess Athy is cold and methodical. Jennette relinquishes all her power to others. She is guilty by refusing to act. In contrast to her Athy is a total control freak who overworks herself to the point of exhaustion, because she doesn't trust others enough to put them in a position where they can wield any political power. Unlike her sister who, if evil, would hold onto the delusion that she is a good person and would send others to do the dirty work, Athy is fully aware she is a horrible person, embraces it even and kills always with her own two hands as a demonstration of her powers. Their love life is the opposite too: Jennette would pick 1 person to be obsessed with for life and smother them to death with her love but Athy would own a whole harem to cope with her loveless childhood and her loneliness not fully realizing that the connection she is hungering for cannot be sated with sex alone. Villainess Athy shares lots of traits with her father to her own dismay. It runs in the family.

like freezing her heart with dark magic to numb the pain, drinking problems, drowning herself in work and men.

just like her father, she is suffering from insomnia and feels often restless. Her night terrors can be attributed to her reliving the traumatic memories from her past lives but also prophetic dreams warning her about the destruction of Obelia and the ghosts of the people she has murdered that are haunting her. Athy likes taking naps in the treasury chamber that once belonged to Claude. A little trick that helps her falling asleep: she uses her mana to lift gold coins into the air and counts them one by one or creates jewels until she is too exhausted to focus and falls asleep.

officially Claude is declared dead but secretly he is kept alive in a dungeon where Athy tortures him. Sometimes she only talks to him because deep down she is still a child, desperately seeking for a validation of her trauma and some semblance of comfort, but on the rare occasion when he does choose to speak his answers never satisfy her and only leave her more hurt and bitter.

her politic is keeping up the status quo. while hero Athy thinks "i was abused so why would I inflict the same pain onto others?" and would enforce various reforms within Obelia, villainess Athy has the mindset of "I was abused so i will be doing the abusing now, actually!"

Athy & Jennette

originally I thought that villainess Athy would not like Jennette at all. Even if she knows that Jennette doesn’t wish her any harm, she would always stand at the center of Athy's most painful memories. I imagine in one of her previous lives Athy goes a little crazy when Jennette appears and runs amok and kills everyone, but shortly afterwards she would discover that Jennette was a nice girl who was just being used and didn't deserve this. So Athy commits suicide and swears to make Claude suffer properly in her next life (this AU here).

Obviously I'm biased and want Jennette to be somewhat happy, but I can't imagine Athy wanting to be close to someone who indirectly caused her suffering for 1000 lives intentionally or not. Unless...Jennette's magic to make others love her still works and she can soothe Athy's pain similar to how LP!Jennette could soothe LP! Claude's pain?

Athy & Ijekiel

It is an athykiel becomes claudiana 2.0 au but a hundred times more toxic. Athy is obsessed with making Ijekiel hers because she is chasing the shadow of her first love. As such her desire for him stems from idealization and nostalgia. She wants Ijekiel because he represents everything she has ever wanted and could never have. He is someone unattainable that every woman of the empire wants. Even Jennette, who had everything fall into her lap once she voiced a wish could never capture his heart. In other words if Athy could manage that then it would mean that she has won. That she was better than Jennette. It'd be the ultimate victory. It's partly about revenge too. An eye for an eye "If you steal my father from me, then I will take your brother/fiance and destroy your dream of a happy family. So we are even." In this AU Ijekiel becomes a political hostage. Whether he heroically offers himself up to appease her or he is taken by force is up in the air. The only thing I know is that their relationship is neither safe nor sane nor fully consensual.

Although he is her first and only love and although he is the only person she cares about, Athy never plans to formally marry Ijekiel. There are different reasons for this: on the one hand, she has lost all respect for god or the church, she does not believe in oaths of eternal love. She would prefer it if he didn't make any empty promises that he could break later. Second, she hates his father and doesn't want to give him what he wants, even though that's what they both want (namely, that Ijekiel becomes Emperor consort). She deprives him of his title, his inheritance, his lands until she is the only thing left and even then she seeks out the company of other men and ignores him often, and yes, she does this to humiliate him. She wants him to suffer like she did when he was engaged to Jennette

Athy doesn't believe Ijekiel really loves her (he does). Or that anyone could ever love her when even her own father found himself unable to do so. She is under the conviction that she is a completely unlovable person. So she often tests him (keeps hurting him) to get a confirmation of that belief. It is a vicious circle where she mistreats Ijekiel because she thinks his feelings are a lie and she is only stripping away his masks. And when he turns colder as a result of the mistreatment he's received she feels both vindicated that she was right all along and angry at the same time.

Jennette's family was the cause of all her suffering and Ijekiel is included in that. She wants revenge against Ijekiel specifically for what she sees as years of deception and him playing around with her feelings (remember how novel Roger told Ijekiel to try to get them both? Athy and Jennette?). Sometimes Ijekiel tells her he loves her and she laughs in disbelief or she snaps at him and tells him she'd cut out his tongue if he dares to lie that shamelessly to her face again, and then other times she throws herself into his arms and demands him he tell her he loves her. Even if it is a lie he better tell it convincingly. On some mornings she compliments Ijekiel's acting skills and tells him he had her almost convinced that he loved her with his act and asks what he wants in return and Ijekiel gets sad because when he told her he loved her he really meant it but his feelings never seem to reach her no matter how hard he tries.

They're kinky af in bedroom. Stuff like BDSM or knifeplay is normal to them. Athy pegs. She is a top you cannot argue with me on that.

Athy makes Ijekiel wear a collar to show others that he belongs to her and her alone

the Empress' odd relationship with her paramour fuels the gossip around the court. Ijekiel has to endure some very nasty comments about him until Athy gets wind of it and impales the severed heads of said nobles at the palace gates.

Athy is incredibly jealous and possessive. As a result, all maids in the Ruby Palace are changed for male servants, and Ijekiel lives in isolation from others most of the time. He is rarely allowed to leave the Ruby Palace and never ever left the palace grounds since the day he set the foot in this threshold.

when Athy meets Cabel and she overhears that he is Ijekiel’s friend she starts an affair with him with full intent to make Ijekiel jealous , which she ends quickly because he reminds her too much of Jennette. She’s suspicious of the kindness from strangers and immediately assumes they have ulterior motives. Cabel might become her guard later (he could be what Felix was to Claude).

I'm borrowing a bit from another person's idea here: As Ijekiel's mental health suffers so does his physical health. He knows it's impossible to appeal to Athy's conscience, so he uses the only thing she cares about (him) to threaten her. It starts with a hunger strike and ends with multiple suicide attempts.

Depending on how far gone Athy already is it can go different ways:

1. Athy's abandonment issues will kick in and she would interpret Ijekiel's suicide attempt more as him trying to find a way to escape her (which would be equivalent to betrayal in her eyes) than a cry for help.

In the beginning she might emotionally manipulate/guilt trip him, worrying if she hadn't been nice enough. Asking him how he can think about leaving her when he knows how lonely she has always been. Implying he is ungrateful since she spared his father's life for him. She might promise to be better but it would just be an endless circle where she promises to be good, keeps up this behaviour for a while and then goes back to her sadistic ways until he attempts suicide again.

2. If he refuses to eat she'd threaten to execute the cooks or force the food down his throat with magic.

3. If Ijekiel's suicide attempt resembled a way how Athy died in her previous life, he would 100% accidentally trigger her. She'd be absolutely furious. Let's say Kiel tries to hang himself with his tie, Athy would snap it with magic, and then grab him by his collar and slap him. Hard. She'd either scream or she would just silently glare at him, curling her shaking hands into a fist and then disappear into her quarters where she devises a plan how to punish him. Of course, after she put layers upon layers of protection spells on him. I imagine dark Athy to be usually quite emotionless, so this outbreak of emotions must be a huge shock to Ijekiel. And he'd spend the whole night tossing and turning and fearing what awaits him the next day.

I don't like the thought of Athy hurting her loved one, physically, but she might show Ijekiel the memories of her previous lives, especially what she felt during the times she died over and over again to make him understand.

What I’m saying is physical torture is off the table, emotional torture however...

eventually Ijekiel dies. It's a universal headcanon of mine that Ijekiel always dies young. I think in this AU he would be assassinated by a group of nobles who want Athy to hurry up and marry one of their sons. Athy has many lovers but only Ijekiel is favoured by her.

after Ijekiel's death Athy finds out that she is pregnant with twins. Athy keeps one of them in the palace and the other grows up with Jennette as their guardian. The twin growing up with Jennette becomes bright and cheerful and the child growing up in the Ruby Palace dark and gloomy. Athy neglects it because it starts to resemble their grandfather Claude more and more. The nobles who want to regain their power start to back up the second child and introduce him at the prince’s debutante ball and Athy welcomes him into the palace because he reminds her of Ijekiel and not her pitiful past self or her hated father unlike the other prince. Basically it’s the Lovely Princess 0.2, again because I’m a sucker for the you cannot escape the circle of abuse trope. Maybe there is even some confusion about who her real child is and if there is a pretender since no one knew she had twins. Athy herself might not even know it since she used a spell to erase almost all of her memories about Ijekiel. All the timelines start to become a blurr. Then the poisoning happens. She executes her first child who was presented as the culprit, only to have a flashback to her own past life where she had been executed wrongfully for the poisoning of her sister. She becomes increasingly paranoid and unstable, thinking she executed the wrong child she executes the other too just to be sure. The story would end with Aeternitas taking over her body and destroying Obelia once Athy realizes she has lost everything and gives up on trying.

[tristan-v-saxophone]

Mingus

Where do I start with this one...

There is no other musician that comes close to the effect Charles Mingus had on my life. Through his music he both inspired me and woke me up to the truth about the world, the truth about racial injustice, and the truth about the music I play.

But...

This post isn't about me, it's about Mingus. And his life really was Wack.

Charles Mingus was born in Arizona in 1922, half African, a quarter Chinese, and a quarter Swedish. This is quite an oddity given the time period, and as a result, he was raised as "White" by his mother and her husband until he was 14. When he found out his biological father was actually an African American slave, he had ran away from home to live on his own.

From a young age, he had enjoyed music of all kinds, and especially the music of Duke Ellington and his orchestra. He had taken up several instruments, including Trombone, Piano, and most notably, Cello. He'd played cello for a number of years, but struggled as he progressed into higher level ensembles, for two reasons: He learned most music by ear growing up, and thus struggled reading notated music, and as he grew older, his African lineage became more apparent, and he was ostracized from the classical music world for his race.

But this didn't stop Mingus, as he had started taking lessons with Red Callender, one of the top jazz and the go-to session bassist at the time, developing his ear and his musicianship. He would soon be accepted into the Buddy Collette Big Band as the bass chair.

Combining his classical music experience from early in life and his jazz experience from his teens, Mingus began composing his own music, much of which had incredibly unique characteristics. This would become what Mingus was most well-known for, as his music was unlike any other.

Much of Mingus's compositions were representative of his life and his lineage, such as Hatian Fight Song,

Others are representative of experiences he's had, such as Tijuana Gift Shop

Still more is written for those who he had admired, like Duke's Sound of Love, Gunslinging Bird, and one that holds a special place in my heart, Good Bye Pork Pie Hat

But Unquestionably, Mingus's most well known music is his politically driven music, the most well known being Fables of Faubus, but also including Cumbia and Jazz Fusion, as well as Don't Let it Happen Here. Now those are tunes you should check out.

But Mingus wasn't just a composer, he was also one of the baddest (and angriest) musicians alive. Throughout his career, Mingus has played with some of the most notable musicians in the world, including Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, Max Roach, and his hero Duke Ellington.

Mingus had recorded dozens of records, released under a company started with Max Roach titled Debut Records. The focus of this company, true to name, was to help young musicians get into the scene through their debut albums. Despite this focus, most of his most famous records were with the popular musicians at the time, like Bird and Dizzy Gillespie.

As mentioned, Mingus played with Bird a LOT. The two had an interesting relationship though, as Mingus though Bird was one of the most genius musicians alive, but had a lot of issue with Bird's Personality. On such story was at a session with Bird, Bud Powell, and Max Roach, in which Powell, suffering from worsening mental illness and alcoholism, became incapacitated on stage, and had to be helped off. While this was happening Bird had began heckling Powell and chanting his name, finding it humorous. Mingus, however, did not appreciate this, yelling to the crowd "Ladies and Gentlemen, please don't associate me with any of this. This is not jazz. These are sick people," Referring both to Powell and Bird, who, just days later, would die as a result of substance abuse.

This is not Mingus's only time talking on stage. In fact, he was well know for ranting aggressively as his band played, often yelling about injustice, or other similar political issues, or sometimes calling out other musicians. One notable time was during the live recording of Epitaph, where he exclaimed

"Get your money back. I couldn't stop you from coming here. The press agents lied to you. You've been taken advantage of. Go out now and get your money back. I don't want you to think I've done this to you. It was supposed to be a recording session, but Mr. George Wein, who is a fine promoter, changed it into a concert. So get your money back. The company has lots of money. It would take years to rehearse this music." Due to his rather brash and angry nature, Mingus became one of very few musicians Ellington ever actually kicked out of his orchestra, after an altercation with Juan Tizol, whom Mingus supposedly tried to hit with a hammer, though Tizol may have drawn a knife on Mingus first, it is unknown which of these is true, if either.

Really, Mingus just had an interesting life, being both one of the best touring musicians, one of the best composers on the planet, and being Jazz's angriest man.

[iwasbored777]

I don't get the Marinette Antis or most of them.

They claim that Marinette's the worst person on the show... But also say "If Marinette gave Chloe another chance after EVERYTHING she put her through, Chloe could've had the greatest redemption arc EVER!"

So they want who they think believe is the worst person, to reward an actual bad person for doing the bare minimum with super powers AFTER almost killing a bunch of people with said powers?!

My brain hurts!

I didn't make this, this and this post for nothing...

To most people Marinette is only worthy in if she takes care of other characters and if any other makes a mistake too it counts as Marinette's mistake. It's not even the show that makes it like this, it's this crazy fandom. But also Chloé stans can be so ignorant sometimes that it's hard to take them seriously so I stopped taking them seriously. I honestly didn't even consider that Miracle Queen will earn Marinette salt when I watched it for the first time, because the girl suffered A LOT in that finale, but it still did.

Apparently rough childhood is a good reason to team up with a terrorist. The same way people keep defending Félix. What Chloé and Félix and also Lila do is their choice. Marinette didn't tell them to choose to destroy the world with a terrorist, they knew what they were doing. Sorry for mentioning these two but I wanted to compare her to them for Chloé's character:

Lila didn't just help Hawk Moth because she was angry with Marinette/Ladybug (which was also a dumb selfish reason), Lila also teamed up with Gabriel to keep an eye on Adrien. Marinette gave Lila chance too. Lila agreed on both terrorism and abuse of her "crush". This is not just a rival of Marinette, this a messed up girl on a whole new level.

Félix knows what Gabriel is capable of and he knows what he's doing to his son yet he still let him win. Have in mind that Félix wanted to betray them all along, it's not just sentimonsters being sent into the sun, he had this plan all along. If Ladybug didn't sent sentimonsters into the sun he would still do it. Maybe that's why I ship him and Lila so much, they are literally the same person.

Chloé mostly did it for her social status. She never stopped bullying her classmates while being Queen Bee, she thought wearing a costume is enough to make her a hero - it's not. If Chloé was this quick to turn to Hawk Moth that means that her loyalty to Ladybug has never existed in the first place. People salt on Adrien for giving up his miraculous but imagine if THIS is what Chloé did instead of imprisoning the guardian. This just a proof that she wanted to be in the focus somehow and when she got kicked out of one team she went to the other one. Now she wants to make sure Adrien doesn't end up with Marinette more than anything because she has nothing now. She can still change tho and I would support her if she does but she has a long way to go and she has to actually try more. Even if she doesn't change completely which is not always possible I would love to see her try and I would support her. Chloé doesn't need a reward nor punishment, she got punished for it by never being Queen Bee again and Adrien ending their friendship, what Chloé needs now is to realize she was wrong and try to become a better person. Being a good person means not asking for anything in return, which is opposite of what Chloé did. She wanted fame, she wanted a reward. She wanted people to know who she is under that mask and love her.

That's why for betrayal you only blame the person who betrayed you. If they didn't like you they should've just break up with you and move on with whoever they want. When someone cheats on you with this other person it's not about this third person at all, they would cheat on you with others too, believe me. Chloé could've just walk out but she chose the hard way. And she keeps talking about how Ladybug failed her while being mean to everyone, which only further proves that Chloé wanted power, not a real friendship. It's not even Hawk Moth's fault that she did this, she was given a choice. When Marinette fails or when someone let her down she either turns the other cheek or she change her strategy, she doesn't blame it on anyone else. Chloé had to deal with consequences unlike Lila and Félix but Chloé also didn't regret her decision like these two.

I love how Chloé's character is written, you know? After so much analysing I STILL find new details and I'm so amazed by how deep her character is and how it divided the fandom but I hate how most people don't understand her. Yes, I sympathise with her sometimes, yes, I understand why she did what she did, no, I wouldn't do the same and, no, I can't blame anyone because she is the only one to blame here for her actions.

[bestworstcase]

I'm sorry, but claiming that the people who are upset with how Cassandra and Varian were handled are not only part of the fandom, but misogynistic is absolutely insane. I'm sorry that I don't think one measly apology to Rapunzel, and no one else, after going out of her way to try and hurt and KILL Rapunzel and her loved ones is enough to redeem her or make her any type of hero. She was handled SO poorly, and so was Varian. Varian played an important role as the antagonist and to Rapunzel, challenging Rapunzel's morals and having to force her to ask the question: who do I prioritize, my friends or my kingdom? and then he was left to rot in a prison for an entire season. And then he was brought back and used as essentially bait and nothing more. But then the next season with Cassandra goes against her entire arc with Varian, because then she just drops everything, ignores her duties as a princess, and fixates on Cassandra. She ignores the fact that Cassandra is hurting her subjects and her loved ones, kidnaps Varian, and tries to fucking KILL Rapunzel, but somehow, she's more important to Rapunzel because "she can fix her", which is a problematic concept in itself. So, yeah, I think it's entirely unfair to assume that people who don't like how your favorite and least favorite characters were handled are part of the hatedom, and even worse, misogynistic and racist. It's really bold and disgusting and downright delusional. Please, think about how your words affect others and realize how the world doesn't revolve around you.

beloved are u trying to insinuate that i think the writing in season three was good? SKDHKLGSKDF

you must be new here

so to break it down:

s3 was objectively bad on technical merits

s3 is where the myriad structural weaknesses in the tts narrative collapsed, after two seasons of the story mostly making the 'grand overarching quest narrative but rigidly episodic storytelling' thing work. this is largely because cassandra is, structurally speaking, the protagonist during s3

the character writing from ep to ep was exceptionally poor for everyone in the cast, with cass, rapunzel, & varian getting the lion's share of the fucking-over

i am categorically anti-redemption arc for reasons i have discussed at length, literally just search 'redemption' on my blog lmao

the primary reason cassandra's villain arc got fumbled so badly is that tts was unwilling or unable, as a narrative, to tackle the actual legitimate grievances she had against rapunzel, and therefore resorted to using the gothel fig leaf and not allowing rapunzel to reflect or grow or change meaningfully throughout the season; varian's s3 arc suffered in a similar way but to a lesser extent from the inability of the disney princess cartoon to actually like. focus on the systemic problems that harmed him. the blame for this lies squarely on disney and corporate fiction in general

being cognizant of / acknowledging / talking about narrative weaknesses or failings and/or expressing disappointment or irritation at the way a story turned out =/= participating in hatedom, hatedom is the toxic phenomenon that emerges when subfandom spaces begin to revolve primarily around vitriolic vivisection of a piece of media

i want u to look me in the eyes and tell me that the tts fandom by and large taking the arab-coded man whose central motivation is attacking the kingdom that conquered his people a few hundred years ago and going 'this is a sadistic insane child rapist here are a hundred fics about him viciously abusing varian often so the white protagonists can brutally retaliate' isn't racist jesus christ anon

tts put the 'don't be blatantly racist about the racially diverse separatists of saporia' bar under the ground and the tts fandom collectively pulled out a shovel

anyway,

let me put it like this:

in s1, varian slips through the cracks of corona's non-existent support network and is let down by his friends while the king sends secret police to hunt him down after the traumatic (apparent) death of his father, and as a consequence he slides into a downward spiral which ends in him terroristically attacking the capital, grievously injuring many guards, kidnapping and threatening to murder the queen, and then trying to personally murder three people before he's stopped.

the typical hatedom stance here is that varian did nothing wrong because he was just a child and how dare that bitch rapunzel not help him like she promised (even though she...did, without hesitation, as soon as he got in touch with her and she discovered that her father was lying to her about having handled his problem!)

in s2, after two years of being taken for granted and having her boundaries stomped into the ground by rapunzel--who for all that she does truly care has zero experience with what it takes to be a good friend and fucks up a lot--& a LIFETIME of being expected to do two or three times the amount of work for a tiny fraction of the reward as anyone else, cass gets her hand burnt to a blackened husk by her best friend, who then 1. does not apologize for this, 2. gets mad at her for being upset, and 3. blames her for the injury. as a consequence, cassandra decides to trust the weird ghost who is kind and sympathetic to her and grabs the moonstone, then spirals hard on account of the ghost being a malicious demon bent on manipulating her, and eventually returns to corona to... terroristically attack and eventually raze the capital and try to murder rapunzel.

the typical hatedom stance here is that cassandra is a narcissistic abusive power-hungry bitch who had zero reasons for doing what she did and deserves to be executed or at least imprisoned or otherwise harshly punished for it. (even though the entire point of varian's imprisonment and subsequent radicalization by the separatists, and his hasty redemption arc after rapunzel offered him a second chance, was to illustrate the vague stance tts takes that punitive measures are not the answer to criminal behavior and are in fact actively counterproductive and harmful. which. is a stance that the folks in the tts hatedom will largely agree with as long as you are talking about varian instead of cassandra)

like u see the contradiction here, right. i invite u to explain to me why "boy does bad things because trauma = boy did nothing wrong, girl does bad things because trauma = girl is evil bitch who should die" isn't a misogynistic double standard gmksdfh

[bnha-reblog-blog]

It seriously concerns me that lots of the fandom have taken the

"oh the villains are victims of an unjust system and are standing up for the abuse they've faced, albeit in terrible ways that hurt other people, and while they're mostly acting through the manipulation of a terrorist, they need to learn that just because they have been hurt, it doesn't mean they're justified to hurt others. The heros need to listen to them and try to change the unjustness in the system, not only for the villains but also for themselves considering many that contribute to hero society also suffer from it's stigmas, and the villains need to stop acting violently to try and get what they want because it causes no good for anyone"

And twisted it to mean, "because they're abuse victims that means anyone who stands against them is an evil pig and they should be allowed to commit acts of mass genocide because they've been hurt before." Like.. what.

Just like, as an abuse victims this ideology seriously disturbs me, because abusers can very commonly be abuse victims themselves and instead of getting proper help/ addressing their issues, they continue the cycle of abuse and hurt others around them, making them abused as well. As someone who's been on the receiving end from that, as well as having abusers who use their own experience with abuse as "justification" or excuses as to why they're hurting me, it sickens me to see people justify that type of behavior, and honestly it's a little triggering as well.

Now don't get me wrong I love me characters that go a little crazy and kill a little or a lot, but people typically recognize, "hey uh, this guy ain't real, and killing/ hurting people is bad." But for people to be shoving it to the side and trivializing the fact that it's happening is really fucking weird, especially when they hyper focus on the hypocrisy of the heros and be like, "they killed someone when they were supposedly protecting people, they're a fake." When it's like, yeah that's really messed up, but your missing the point where he wouldn't have had to kill anyone if you weren't posing as a severe threat to the lives of hundreds to thousands of people to begin with. This isn't just heros they were targeting they had to evacuate a huge residential area, the villains don't care about any innocent people they hurt, regardless if they're suffering the same systematic abuse they are.

Which is kinda the whole point of the situation, when Hawks kills Twice he literally says something along the lines of their fight having to end in death because neither one are willing to bend on their beliefs. Twice believes in his friends and wants to live in a world where they are safe, he'd do anything for them because they were the first people to actually care for him. Hawks isn't willing to let Twice be a pawn in a war that will hurt/kill a lot of people, and so they faced off, and Hawks won. It isn't because Hawks is totally right, or Twice is wrong, infact they're both very morally grey and that's what adds to the complexity of the situation. They're both wrong, they're both right, they're both human, and they're both going to fight for what they believe in.

I think that people automatically labeling the heros as bad, or shitting on them for having imperfect human emotions that are completely understandable given their circumstances, are seriously missing the entire point of the villains stories to begin with. Being a human is a complex and fucked up thing at times, it's even more so in the my hero verse because humans are given jacked up super powers that make them do good or bad depending on how they want to use it. The society in the times of heros, puts everything under a lense, which means the label the villains as evil before they've even had a chance to prove themselves as anything else, and they put heros on a pedistal, seeing them as perfect celebrities, when they are just as partial to their faults as anyone else. It takes a lot to break out of those lenses, which is something I love about our class 1-a kids because you can already see the differences in the next generation of kids who try not to let those lenses define them, like Shouji, or Shinsou, or even Bakugou. But, they still face a lot of pressure and have a long way to go, and at least they were given a chance. The villains weren't given that, they were set up to fail, doomed from the start, and found their own fucked up little family to call their home when no one else wanted them.

That's where the main conflict of the story comes from, neither side is right, neither side is wrong, they're equal mixes of both. Like Midoriya says to Aoyama, "you shouldn't be considered a villain for the rest of your life just because you've committed a crime." And like stain tries to fight for, "Hero society is fucked up and people are becoming heros for all the wrong reason, which is a complete abuse of power." (Note: definitely paraphrasing here but I think you get what I mean) both of these things exist together. There is a lot in their society that needs to be changed, the question of my hero isn't which side is actually the good guys and which is actually the bad, it's can this group of imperfect humans all just trying their best get their heads out of their asses long enough to figure out, "hey, I've got more in common with this person then I thought, maybe we should work together instead of fight and literally destroy like half of the country."

Just like, I love this series and it's characters so much I hate to see any of them shit on, but especially people that are like, "people who oppose the villains are bad because they're hypocrites" cuz it's like, isn't that thought hypocritical it's self? Isn't the villains whole thing that you shouldn't be considered irredeemable and bad your whole life just because you did one bad thing? Dude heros never claimed to be perfect, society put that label on them. All heros ever said is that they'd do their best to protect people, which they have. You're kinda falling victim to the narrative here by pushing those same stigmas onto these groups without giving proper consideration to the context. it disturbs me there isn't deeper thinking going into this.

(also people comparing the villains to fighting fascism when they're working for the number 1 big fascist dictator who wants to kill and control people guy is not an irony that is lost on me)

Anyways, sorry this is so long and also on a side blog. I have a lot of thought about this manga, but I also want to avoid conflict because I have a heart condition cannot withstand that rn. I still wanted to voice my opinion with the hopes someone would read this damn thing and also maybe start a calm conversation about it without an argument or fight because I'd love to read other people's takes on this even if it's an opinion that ain't the same as my own (what's the point of having an opinion if it's confined to an echo chamber after all) but like I said earlier, I have a heart condition and I can't take much stress rn so pls be nice. Anyways, dunno if anyone actually looked at this but if you did thanks for doing so. It's nearly 2am now so I hope it was at least legible.

If you’ve seen the mha 373 leaks, im genuinely curious, what do you think about people disliking mics intention of having oboro “stay as a nice memory”? Personally i like mic more because of that line but thats my opinion. Oh and what are your predictions of whats gonna happen with kuroboro?

Spoilers for MHA 373

First, let’s look at it from his POV;

Within a short period, Mic has gone through hell. First, he’s had his old wounds torn open by discovering that the corpse of his best friend was turned into one of the enemies that nearly killed Aizawa. A friend he has been looking out for since he was 16.

Then when he tries to fix the issue, a war that destroys an entire city is started, and thousands of innocent people, whom he swore to protect were injured or killed.

And in that same battle, he loses yet another friend, who he has known since high school. And his remaining friend not only nearly dies but loses an eye and a leg. To top it off, Mic probably blames himself for Aizawa’s pain, as from his POV, Aizawa was only there because of him. Aizawa said straight up; “if you’re going, I’ll go too.” Mic was in tears seeing his friend in pain but couldn’t do a thing.

Then after that, Mic spends endless hours trying to fix the damage and calm a bunch of people who are rightfully scared and emotional while keeping his students safe.

Now, here’s a question for the fandom; what if it’s not Oboro who wakes up but Kurogiri? Now really think about it. What happens?

Answer; Kurogiri rejoins AFO’s side and uses his teleportation powers to help the villains kill more innocent people. Now a major faction of the MHA fandom has made it clear they could care less if innocent civilians die, but the heroes do care! They are risking everything so that more innocent people don’t die or are hurt. That has been their job since the beginning, and it’s one they take seriously.

It’s heartbreaking and unfortunate, but if Kurogiri is the one who wakes up and Oboro, then for the greater good, it would be best if Mic kills him. If Kurogiri wakes up, it’ll make it the heroes' ability to end this war and fix things, maybe even stop them. And if the heroes don’t end it here, then Japan falls into even more chaos, and more people get hurt.

Mic couldn’t stop the war. Mic couldn’t protect his friend. What he can do is stop Kurogiri from using Oboro’s corpse to hurt anyone else and protect Aizawa, who has been through hell.

Aizawa saw his student nearly die in front of him. Then he loses an eye and a leg. Then he wakes up in a hospital to learn that not only has one of his students run away but one of his best friends is dead. To add the cherry on top, Aizawa later discovers that a student he trusted set him, and the rest of his class, to die twice. Is it any wonder Mic would want to spare him that pain?

Plus, Mic knows Oboro wouldn’t want to be used like this. He wanted to help people, but he had his body stolen and turned into a nomu. Oboro is the type of person who’d rather die than continue harming others.

So, to no one’s surprise, I agree with Hizashi. 

If Kurogiri, not Oboro wakes up, it would be best for the world, Aizawa, and Oboro for Hizashi to kill him. It would be a tragic choice that would severely damage Hizashi emotionally, but for the greater good, it would be the best. (Even if the action will make Aizawa hate him.)

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Oboro to die. Hizashi and Aizawa have been through enough. In fact, I’m hoping Oboro recognizes Mic and joins him to be the hero he always wanted to be. I think they’ll team up against Spinner, who I hope they can knock out and help before the transformation is permanent.

But this is all based on what I’ve heard and from the leaks. I’ll have to read the actual chapter before I give my thoughts.

[todomitoukei]

I know you don’t like Endeavour but would you like Horikoshi to delve further into Touya and him’s relationship ? I know it’s quite controversial but even though Touya is my favorite I like Endeavour a lot, and I think their relationship is probably the most interesting one out of all the Todorokis, even if it’s completely fucked up lol.

Not really. Chapters 301 and 302 already showed their relationship and its key developments over the years until Touya's "death". Their relationship is obviously important both to the story and the Todofam characters, but what we've gotten so far is really all you need to know about them.

Considering that their relationship was never a healthy one from the beginning - despite Touya being happy at first - the point of their relationship and showing that progression is to highlight the issues of hero society, where being a "hero" is more about the ranking than actually helping people and not harming anyone and one that enables heroes to abuse their power, as well as showing the negative impact the current hero system has on victims like Touya, who will suffer due to the existence of heroes without ever receiving any help.

With that in mind, seeing more flashbacks focusing on those two wouldn't add anything to the characters or their relationship.

Also, personally, I think - while somewhat nonexistent at this point - I think the relationship between Dabi and Shouto is a lot more interesting since they're on the same site but were in a way raised to be enemies? That whole thing Shouto is currently going through of realizing that Dabi is the same way Shouto was before and clearly wanting to save him and build a relationship with him, has a lot more potential and is a far more compelling story and relationship than that of an abusive crybaby who can't get his shit together and his victim who has spent all his life trying to get his abuser's love and attention for nothing. So that's why I think their relationship is far more interesting, especially because there is at least a future - and a healthy one at that - for them in-store, whereas I personally just don't see a future for Dabi and Endeavor (although that's subjective).

What I would like to see more, though, is additional flashbacks showing Touya's relationship with his siblings and mom. Of course, Horikoshi choosing to only focus on scenes of Touya that revolve around Endvr, was on purpose, to better portray not only the effects Endvr and his actions have had on Touya over the years, but also the tunnel vision Touya developed during that time as a result, to the point where now in the present he can even excuse his own actions (to himself) of almost harming Natsuo by focusing on what it would do to Endvr. Because that is the shell left behind - everything that Touya was did "die" with only that obsession with Endvr remaining. Everything he does and says is to harm Endvr.

However, while that is true and the main focus, it doesn't mean that Touya never had conversations not revolving around his dad or that he wasn't able to just hang out with his siblings without thinking about his dad. The scenes we got of Touya and his siblings during those two flashback chapters were still about Endvr because, again, that is simply what the point of those chapters was, so I understand why Horikoshi didn't include the siblings having more "normal" moments.

So while we never got those more light-hearted moments, they do exist and I would love to see that since so far we haven't really been shown what their relationship dynamics were like outside of a few facts, like Natsuo and Touya having been especially close and those little moments that were included in the two chapters.

And also, of course, I'm dying to know what his life was like during those ten years between his "death" and him joining the lov. This will probably never be included in the main story other than maybe at least showing what happened right after his accident, but I will continue dreaming about there one day being a spin-off or a light novel focusing on those ten years...

[ladyloveandjustice]

Spring 2021 anime overview: Quick Takes

Now for my Spring 2021 anime thoughts! I’ve decided from now on if a season’s like, 20- to-24 episodes I’m just going to wait ‘til it’s done to review it unless I feels super passionately, so though I watched To Your Eternity (it’s good!) and MHA (eh), I’ll comment on them next time. Also, for the record, I watched the first eight eps of Joran: Princess and Snow of Blood but I dropped it because it had clearly crossed the line from entertainingly dumb to boring dumb. 

I will probably give Supercub and some other stuff a shot later, this was a stacked season! May give updates on all that later, but this is what I have for now.

ODDTAXI

Quick Summary: A mild mannered middle-aged walrus taxi driver is drawn into a case involving a missing girl, yakuza, Youtube clout-chasers, manzai comedians and idols with big secrets.

It’s rare to walk away from media and be like “that is a singular experience I will definitely never see repeated again” but ODDTAXI is definitely one of those. A tense noir thriller murder mystery starring cartoon animals that spends an entire episode detailing the one (cat)man’s very fall into darkness triggered by addiction to gacha games and an online auction for a novelty eraser? Also there’s a porcupine Yakuza who speaks entirely in rap? Also there’s tons of meandering conversations about stuff like manzai comedy and the struggle to go viral on Twitter?

Admittedly, I had a hard time getting into the first episode, the dry meandering humor not being enough to hold my attention while I was sitting still, but once I watched this while I was working out at the end of the season, I found it an easy binge. A ton of characters with dark secrets or dangerous ambitions, each with their own part to play in a tableau of intersecting events- and it all actually comes together really well.(As for the female characters, it’s a pretty dude driven story, but they do get nuanced characterization and even some good heroic moments from one of them.)

 It’s a great example of a carefully planned narrative paying off, with all the twists appropriately seeded and foreshadowed to reward viewers who paid attention. Even when it ended on a perfect “OH SHIT” moment and denied me closure, I couldn’t help but respect it. If you that all sounds interesting to you, definitely check out the first couple episodes and see if you like it- you’re likely to have a memorable, satisfying experience!

Shadows House

Quick Summary: Emilyko is a ‘living doll’ who’s told she was created to act as the ‘face’ of her shadow master, Kate. The shadows and their ‘dolls’ all reside on the mansion and are required to pass a ‘debut’ to prove they’re a good pairing. If they don’t pass, they might be disposed of. And so the mystery of the Shadow mansion grows...

This slice of gothic intrigue was my favorite of the season, tied with ODDTAXI. With an interesting premise, slightly tense undertones and a strong focus on character building and relationships, it kept me hooked the whole way through. And for any squeamish fans put off by the hype about it, don’t worry, while there are some suspenseful elements, I wouldn’t qualify it as horror. I thought the relationship between Kate and Emilyko might end up being a completely sinister one, but it’s thankfully a lot more complex than that and it’s really interesting to follow how both their characters and relationship grow. The focus of the show is, unsurprisingly, on the “dolls” slowly discovering their autonomy and personhood as they struggle under the rigid system imposed on them by the mysterious elders of this weird Victorian mansion. Can they develop a more equitable relationship with their shadow “masters” (who are also shown to suffer under this system)? There’s a lot to dig into there, and the show has the characters develop through learning to understand and appreciate each other, which is pretty heartwarming. Our hero, Emilyko, is the typical plucky ball of sunshine (they even nickname her sunshine), but she’s also shown to be clever in her own off-the-wall way and she bounces off the far more subdued and cynical Kate well, not to mention the other ‘dolls’ she ends up befriending. 

What’s more, the show spends plenty of time to developing several other character pairings and combinations, and they all have their own interesting dynamic that makes you want to see more of them. Same-gender bonds are at the forefront of this show, and many of them are ripe for queer readings (I definitely appreciated the healthy helping of ladies carrying ladies), but even outside that it’s nice to see a show where a strong, complex bond between girls is at the forefront. My only real complaints about the show are the anime original ending is noticeably a bit rushed (though it’s not too bad, and leaves room for a season 2) and I wish the animation used the whole “shadow” theme more strikingly (like the opening and endings do)- instead the colors are a bit washed out which makes the shadows blend into the background sometimes. The “debut” arc also drags a bit in places, but it makes up for it by having a lot of good character integration.

I hope to check out the (full color)! manga soon and see more of this quirky, shadowy story. There’s some physical abuse depicted, sad things happening to characters and naturally the whole “oppressive familial system” thing, but otherwise not much I can think of to warn about. I give this one a big rec, especially If you’re a fan of gothic fairytales and stories of self discovery.  

Zombie Land Saga Revenge

Quickest summary: In this sequel season, everyone’s favorite zombie idol group must claw their way back into prominence after a disastrous show- the fate of the Saga prefecture LITERALLY depends on it!

This was a fun follow-up to the first season- if you liked the first zombie-girl romp, you’ll probably enjoy this one. In fact, there were a couple areas it improved on- namely, Kotaro failed, ate crow and embarrassed himself a lot more this season, which made him more likeable (as did the fact the girls gained a lot of independence from him). This season also shed more light on what the ‘goal’ of this zombie raising project is and what kind of shit Kotaro got involved with to make this happen, and it’s appropriately off-the-wall and ridiculous. We finally got some backstory for Yugiri too! I wish it had focused on more of her interiority, but she got to be a badass in it, and it was a treat to see this zombie idol show turn into a period piece for a couple episodes (also her song ruled).

 Tae also got a cute focus episode and there was a particular SMASHING performance early on! Also That revelation last season that had the potential to turn creepy hasn’t yet, and hopefully never will. The finale was heartwarming with big hints of more drama to come- I’m definitely down for more zombie hijinks!

Vivy: Flourite Eye’s Song

Quickest Summary: A songstress AI named DIVA (nicknamed Vivy) is approached by another AI named Matsumoto, who says he’s from the future and they must work together to prevent AI exterminating all of humankind 100 years from now.

This show is absolutely gorgeous visually with some really nice action scenes, but when it comes to the story my feelings basically amount to a shrug. It’s fine! I guess! Vivy starts out as an interesting layered character- and I guess still is by the end- with her stoic but stubborn determination bouncing off her fast-talking bossy partner Matsumoto well. She never listens to him, which is delightful. The way the show took place over the course of 100 years was an interesting conceit as well. However, it bought up a lot of themes and then sort of... dropped them. For instance, Vivy interprets her mission (PRIME DIRECTIVE if you will) as protecting humans at all costs, no matter how destructive said humans are or what their fate is supposed to be, and is perfectly willing to murder her fellow androids to do this, showing she inherently thinks of androids (herself and her own people!) as less worthy. Which is a little alarming! There’s a very dramatic point in the show where they bring this up as a potential conflict for her character but then it’s sort of...dropped. Pretty much.

Actually, despite the premise, the show doesn’t dip into the “AI rights” as much as you think it would with the main theme being more about Vivy’s search to find her own creativity and discover what it means to ‘pour your heart into something’. Vivy herself doesn’t actually care if she has rights or anything. Which is in some ways fine, because ‘AI as an oppressed class’ has been done to death, but IT’S ALSO KIND OF IN THE PREMISE, so that means that the show just shrugs really hard at a lot of the questions it brings up  basically just going “humans and AI should work together probably” and that’s it. There’s a lot that feels underexplored. The antagonists in the show also either have motivations that don’t really make sense or have boring hackneyed motivations. In the finale in particular, it feels like a lot of things happen “just because” and it falls a little flat.

I also have to warn that one of the arcs focus on a robot ‘pairing’ where the dude-coded robots actions toward his partner are straight up awful and rob her of her autonomy, but it’s played like a tragic love story. I suppose you could read it differently too, but it definitely made me go ‘ew’ the story seemed to want me to sympathize with this robo dude,

Overall, I wouldn’t anti-recommend this show, it’s an all right little sci-fic romp (and definitely SUPER pretty). My favorite element was definitely the episodes where Vivy develops an entirely new (an loveable) personality, because it played with the idea of of an AI getting “rebooted” really well and interplay between her two “selves” was done really well. But there are a lot of other parts of the show that just feel...a little underexplored and empty, making me have an ‘eh’ feeling on the show overall. It’s definitely an ambitious project, and while it didn’t quite stick the landing, there’s something to be said for a show that shoots for the stars and falls short over a show that just languishes in mediocrity.

Fruits Basket The Final

Quick summary: The final season of that dramatic drama about that weird family with a zodiac curse and the girl who loves them.

It’s very weird that after not cutting a lot out, they kinda sped through some material for, you know, the finale. I guess they thought they couldn’t stretch this final arc to 26 episodes? Or weren’t cleared for another double cour? However, though there were a couple places that felt awkward, despite being a bit condensed it mostly held together pretty well for a D R A M A T I C and ultimately heartwarming conclusion. I was really disappointed they kept the part where Ritsu cut their hair for the ‘happy ending’, I thought  their intro episode not showing them in men’s clothes meant the anime had decided their presentation didn’t need to be “fixed” but WELL I GUESS NOT. That was the only big upset for me though, otherwise the adaptation went about how I expected, sticking to the source material. Furuba has a lot of bumps, from weird age gap stuff to ...gender, but it also has a lot of important feels and great character arcs. It was a gateway shoujo for many and has its important place in animanga history, so I’m glad it finally got a shiny, full adaptation.

[fedonciadale]

This is a real question, not an attempt to argue. I'm trying to understand. Why is it acceptable among your circle of the fandom to write sympathetic meta about Cersei, while still acknowledging she's a villain, but not acceptable to write sympathetic meta about other villains? I see so many posts about Cersei that focus on the trauma she has endured, the unfairness in life that she's experienced, posts which offer those things as an explanation (and sometimes, if I'm being honest, as an excuse) for her cruelty and her misdeeds, posts that invite us to sympathize with her and not judge her too harshly for her crimes. I want to be clear that I don't object to those posts. But I do find it surprising when similar posts about other villains are treated (in your circle of the fandom) with so much offense and disdain? Why is it not okay for a Tyrion fan to acknowledge his crimes but also find him sympathetic and write about the trauma and prejudice he's endured that have made him into what he is? Why is it not okay to say that it was inexcusable for Sandor Clegane to kill Mycah and treat Sansa the way he did, but also to feel compassion for the horrific abuse he suffered as a child and for the daily, degrading treatment he received from the Lannisters? I don't understand why the sympathetic Cersei posts are acceptable, but the others seem to make everyone angry? Cersei isn't a less evil villain than any of them. She has committed all the same crimes that they have: murder, torture, rape, abuse of children. Her traumatic past is worthy of compassion and sympathy, but no more so than theirs is. I don't understand why it's acceptable to feel sympathy for her and to acknowledge that her actions don't exist in a vacuum and that she has largely been shaped by society, but not acceptable to acknowledge the same about them, even though it's just as true in their case as it is in hers? From an outside perspective, there seems to be a belief in your part of the fandom that "It's okay to write sympathetic meta about the villains WE like, but if you write a sympathetic meta about a villain we DON'T like, you're just an abuse apologist who's making excuses for your fave." Is there something more to this that I'm missing, something you could shed some light on? I promise to read your response with an open mind.

Hi there!

I would be careful to bunch 'my corner' of the fandom together. I know of some people who cannot stand Cersei.

Let me be clear on one point : I like Cersei as a villain. I know she is bad news, I know she will die but Lena made me appreciate the character and see where she comes from. I always liked to think about how different Cersei might have become if her father had supported her instead of treating her as a trophy he could hand out. I want her around for a long time and go down in a blaze of glory.

Now, to your actual question: First of all I think that many Cersei fans might defend her but I never came across any meta that claimed that she is a hero instead of a villain nor any meta that says that she will have a redemption and will survive.

So first point: Cersei stans know she is a villain.

Another thing that comes into it is gender bias : Female villains tend to get more hate and this might lead people who 'defend' female villains or point out where they are relatable to become a bit prickly about that. Very few people are ready to admit that Osney Kettleblack raped Cersei, just to give an example.

Second point : Gender bias is compensated by Cersei fans.

Another thing is fandom history : the male villains like Tyrion and the Hound and even Littlefinger have been defended for such a long time that many people actually have deluded themselves into thinking they are on a redemption arc or that they are heroes. I myself have actually no problem at all with people who admit that their fav is a villain. But that is rarely the case.

Third point: Gender bias in favour of the male villains with a long history especially in the ASOIAF fandom is compensated by pointing out that these people are actually villains. That the Hound clearly almost raped Sansa, that Tyrion had a rival killed and put into a soup.

Another important thing is how the perception of these male villains as 'maybe just a bit problematic' or 'he's done some bad things but has a heart of gold ' effect one of the favs of 'my corner' of the fandom. People who like Sansa tend to heavily side eye the men who are villains in her arc, who abuse her, manipulate her etc. So it's not only that these men are villains it is almost never acknowledged that the character who suffers from them is Sansa, one of the Starks who are at the heart of the story, a main character. For many Sansa is a character who is just there to put these villains on their path to redemption. And she is much more than that

Fourth point : the reduction of Sansa's arc to 'she is the woman who will heal my fav villain / problematic fav' just sits not right with Sansa fans.

Last, not least there certainly is a factor of 'I like who I like' and while fandom history comes into that as well (I just remark as a aside that I still like Arya but I have completely stopped to read meta about her save from the very few people I trust on this) this cannot easily be explained. What people find relatable in a villain differs. In a way, as long as you tag correctly there is nothing inherently wrong in saying : I like my fav villain but I hate your fav villain. These villains are fiction and cannot be hurt by my rant about them. And yes we humans are complex people and I can like one villain and relate to him and I can dislike another villain who maybe even did something similar. Sympathy for a villain is not something you choose with your brain. The brain only comes into it whdn you decide if the person is a villain or not.

Fifth point : we are all allowed to like and dislike fictional characters. If I tag a post as Anti Tyrion for example no Tyrion fan needs to see it.

Last not least : all this pertains to canon and interpretation of canon. In fanon I can change Cersei to a sweet character that does nothing wrong (would be ooc of course). In fanon I can change Tyrion into the perfect gentleman (not that I would do that, but nobody forces me to read that fic!)

Tldr: To me the main problem is that it is of course possible to defend villains but the long fandom history of ASOIAF was influenced by a heavy gender bias and a strong Anti Sansa sentiment. Both led to Cersei having no defenders and some male villains having defenders that not only deny the fact that their favs are actually villains and not just misunderstood poor fellows but who also think that Sansa - an actual good and kind character who has been painted as a villain for ages - is just there to put their favs on the path to redemption. Because they think that Sansa is not good for anything else in the story. It all boils down not to 'I like my villain and I dislike your villain', it boils down to 'who is a villain?' 'Who is a main character?' and especially 'Where is GRRM'S arc headed?' That is why it's a matter of disagreement. And that is why the discussion can be rather heated - which is not a problem if people tag correctly.

A last point. These are my thoughts and it is my interpretation of what is up in this fandom and how the history of ASOIAF fandom and the general influence of Dudebros fed into mainstream interpretation for decades. I do not in any way speak for the Jonsa fandom or Sansa fans. We are not a hive mind.

Thanks for the ask!

[catgirlxox]

A Deconstruction of The Flame Keeper’s Circle & The Audience’s Common Complaints | Catgirl

As the title states, I’ve been reminded of a couple complaints made about this episode that stem from a large portion of the audience’s general disliking of the way both Ben and Julie were handled during the run of Ultimate Alien. In fact, I recently read a "review" of “The Flame Keeper's Circle,” or, more of a parody, actually, since a review would actually have some kind of substance to it and not just...a slew of insults thrown at a show you claim to like. It's almost like you're looking for something to be mad at, but anyway.

One of those was the OP actually asking someone to (probably joking, but anyway) explain "how Ben's mind works" to them.

And I was like, gladly!

According to the comments under the review, it seems like the general audience didn't really like this episode all that much when it first aired. Which, I bring up because, I on the other hand, actually did. And for a reason: because it proves my previous defence points right.

There's a lot of talk about Ben coming off as a “jerk” or a “douchebag”...but, in a situation such as the one presented within “The Flame Keeper’s Circle,” I would argue he did exactly what he should have done. So that's where I beg to differ.

This episode puts Ben in a position where he, once again, needs to deal with the overlap of a romantic relationship and his priorities as a superhero. The only reason there is conflict here is because they are both important to him.

A bad boyfriend would only care about himself, but Ben clearly cares about not only the safety of his (clearly, quite naive) girlfriend, but also the safety of the rest of the earth. Which, as I’m going to be stating several times, should be something expected of him considering everything else within the series that establishes who he is as a character.

So, on the topic of things that are important, ask yourselves, why would Ben prioritize going along with Julie's idea of joining a cult more than keeping her, and the rest of the world, safe when he realizes the trouble she could potentially be getting herself into?

Throughout the episode, and the fandom’s discussions from what I’ve seen, there is so much focus on "oh, he laughed at her idea so he's a douchebag and therefore a bad boyfriend" and not enough focus on the fact that he's not blindly following an alleged “good cause” because he isn't naive and that's in character based on everything we know about him as a character.

Context matters. And this kind of thing only further makes me question the people who want to cry "inconsistent" writing or characterization because he's acting the way he's been conditioned to.

Arguably from the age of ten, Ben's been dealing with situations where he needed to fight to survive and decide who to trust. Sometimes he trusted the wrong person, which wasn't done out of any other reason besides wanting to help and do the "right thing."

For example, Michael Morningstar in the episode “All That Glitters,” who fooled Ben and his team into thinking he was innocent all while abusing school girls for their life energy and almost killing Ben's cousin.

Or, Simian in “Birds of a Feather," who fooled Ben into thinking he was royalty and into helping him steal something that would aid the Highbreed in their mass murder plot.

In that way, Ben and Julie could have related in this situation because they were both trusting people in the interest of doing something “good.” Both Michael and Simian made Ben believe that they had something in common, or a common goal they could work together to reach. But, he trusted them blinded by his ambition and drive to save the world. Much like Julie is blinded by the promise of being a part of a group trying to make the world a better place.

As such, Ben has made the mistake before, so he's extra weary of how things could go very wrong. He's not against his girlfriend just to be a “jerk” - he's been through things like this before, and we’ve seen him go through those things.

Furthermore, the situation in which Julie is trusting The Flame Keeper’s Circle involves her indirectly agreeing to work with Vilgax. Who, as anyone familiar with Ben should know, is one of if not Ben’s biggest, and more importantly, most dangerous enemy.

Again, she, at the beginning didn’t know that he was involved, or what Ben had gone through already to make him act the way he does in this situation, but she does know what his job entails at this point in the series. She should probably infer that he’s suspicious for a good reason, as should the audience.

Not trusting people blindly is something he learned from being the leader of his team, while trying to protect the earth, namely from the Highbreed invasion back in Alien Force when he was putting together a stronger team. It would only make sense for him to then apply that to a situation in which his significant other gets roped into that which he fights against.

Speaking of fighting against, that brings me to another odd criticism of the writing of this episode. It’s no surprise that the flawed belief of Ben coming off as an alleged “sociopath” is brought up again, considering this episode takes place after The Ultimate Kevin arc. And yes, I realize the problematic connotations of using that term as a borderline insult as part of the issue here. But that aside, in this episode, the fact that he begins to fight Vilgax in his apparent “weakened” state is what is being attributed to that description.

Besides the fact that defending Vilgax is questionable in itself, he’s never needed water to survive for the many times he actually tried to kill Ben. I can’t find a solid answer from a writer that knows for certain if his need for water is genuine except for one who is only assuming that is the case when he’s in this state.

But regardless, (since he clearly survived long enough to morph with Dagon and become a bigger threat to the earth later on) we are still defending Vilgax the LITERAL INTERGALACTIC WARLORD.

Y’know, the guy who’s only in this position because of his own immoral actions? Who absolutely would not hesitate to take advantage of his opponent's weakened state in order to further get away with his immoral actions? Such as he is in this very episode, taking advantage of the people wrongfully worshiping him?

If we are trying to imply that Ben is “just as bad as Vilgax,” then I would assume you’d easily find the flaw in that being Ben’s motivation for incapacitating a dangerous offender who is, at the moment, manipulating naive humans to work for him and help him continue get away with his immoral actions. Which is, needless to say, not the same as Vilgax, at all.

Again, you’d think that’d be obvious.

The Flame Keeper’s Circle’s mission is to end human suffering and find a solution to certain issues happening across the globe with the help of alien technology that is much more advanced than what everyday people are used to. And, while the end goal seems like a good cause, even something Ben as a superhero would be all for, the means through which they attempt to get there aren’t a good idea, at all.

A lot of people find it hard to navigate the use of technology considered advanced by human standards in the real world, so you can only imagine the various things that could go wrong if those kinds of people were suddenly exposed to something much more powerful. In short, a lot could go wrong.

Again, Ben has been in that exact position as soon as he was armed with the Omnitrix. Which is exactly why he’d see the flaw in what these people are trying to do, and therefore not be convinced that it’s such a good idea to allow them to continue, much less endorse it.

This is why I love when the writers actually allow Ben to speak for himself instead of cutting him off for drama or plot. Once he actually gets a word in, or more accurately, has his moment of heroic monologue, he makes himself very clear and, I think, only further proves what I’m trying to say about him.

Here he is, explaining exactly what I’ve been trying to highlight throughout this body of work:

Ben: “Even if Dagon was real, using alien technology to accelerate a planet’s natural development won’t bring utopia, it’ll bring disaster. It’s happened before. Why do you think the Plumbers have those laws? But even that’s not the point, because that isn’t Dagon! His name is Vilgax. He’s not a hero, he’s a selfish, evil warlord who’s using you. And if you let him get in his ship, he’s going to fly off and start an interstellar civil war.”

It’s not that only he can use alien technology to save the world, it’s that his status as a hero proves that he knows what he’s doing, unlike these businessmen in fancy robes leading a cult for profit.

That is not what I would have assumed reasonable people would consider “douchebag behaviour.” That’s actually smart, and going back to my first point, exactly what he should be doing in a situation like this.

The actual episode does end off on a positive note for both Ben and Julie, which is omitted from the review and most of the comments I have read from others on the topic. And, I bring it up because it’s actually vital to wrap up everything brought up within this episode that I have just expanded on. Not only because they make up and seem to understand each other’s perspective after all is said and done, but because they both agree to be open to further discussion on the topic, as Ben offers to go out for dinner.

Which, needless to point out I hope, but once again, is not “douchebag behaviour.”