#before he could enact his evil plot

[gothicnights]

i had a dream last night that daniel had a side gig as an actor and he was so good at it that he got cast as the lead on an hbo show and in the dream i watched the trailer and the show looked so good and now i'm kinda sad it's not real

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - A Lot Ended, Quite Bit Started, I got things to say about it all

Organized, in each category, by ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Nov 2023 Wk 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

My Dear Gangster Oppa (Thurs iQIYI) 3 of 8 - This is just a great BL. So fun with few frills and paced nicely. Thai talent + Korean story is proving very harmonious for narrative flow. I’m delighted. I love that they don’t shy away from letting Tew be an actual violent criminal who is just gone and mushy for this one geeky cutie. Also I appreciate it when a show hangs a lantern on its own plot failing. In this case, the main character being drunk as a plot devise 2x in subsequent eps.

Twins the series (Fri GaGa) ep 2 of 10 - Love it. Love Spite and his chronic guilt over his younger brother, the golden child. Love that he is driven to repair for a past that no longer exists. Evil mom who cares more for what her son can do than that son, let alone his brother. The volleyball well…. erm. I played varsity (setter) so this is amusing to me but I’m not mad about it. 

I agree that this Not Me just sports and pulp. 

Last Twilight (Fri YT) 1 of 12 - JimmySea are back and is this... good? Do I like this? I don't have faith, GMMTV has been doing us dirty lately. But I think I like it! Why The Little Prince AGAIN? Ugh. 

Middleman’s Love (Fri YT & iQIYI 1 of 8 - Domundi giving us an office comedy hyung romance staring TutorYim (Cutie Pie) with NetJames (Bed Friend) and LeoTai (Friend Forever) providing support. Lets hope they stick to only 8 eps. Buckle up, I got shit talking to type.

I warned ya out the gate that this is a Cheewin comedy, so tonally it could be very OFF, and boy howdy is it EVER off. There's a place this kind of show goes where it's so cringe it's visually rotten and this one went there out that gate. Also, I'm gonna say it because no one else has, Yim is not good in this role. Comedy is HARD to do and Cheewin isn't doing this green actor any favors. He's chewing the scenery like a woodchuck after a diet.

To be fair, Tutor isn't great either, but he's been given less rope to hang himself with. Mai is currently suffering from seme obscurity: the love interest's defining characterization being = tall and handsome. (Which is not characterization... agony... glares at Cdramas.) We will see if he gets a personality, but based on past work form this director and this writer, don't bank on it.

Frankly? I'm not convinced either of them are mature enough as a pair or as actors to carry something this abrasive and to stand up to Cheewin's visual abuse of our eyeballs. I think this is going to be a rocky ride. HOWEVER, because it has tropes I'm good with (as opposed to SCOY) I'm sticking with it for now but this is gonna be ROUGH going for everyone.

Backstory: This used to be a JimmyTommy vehicle before the pair split (also prev title Middle Love). Adapted from a Y-novel. I can actually see Tommy in this role very clearly and I suspect he may have been bettern(and I am more a TutorYim fan as a pair). Also I will likely be referencing SCOY a lot while watching this because SCOY is peak Cheewin nonsense comedy but with an incredibly strong lead pair, so comparisons will be drawn.

Absolute Zero (Weds iQIYI) ep 7 of 12 - Sigh. Linguistic negotiation but for sad reasons? It fascinating but it hurts. Look, the cast is very good I just don’t like the premise.

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) The Camp Fire ep 12 of 24 - Well that was extremely odd. I’m not sure how I feel about it. If it hadn’t had the strange framework and horror component and been just a simple BL story I probably would’ve enjoyed it. Why do the pulps always  squander their best pairs? 5/10 New installment (Friends Forever) looks terrible and not BL.

Beyond The Star (Weds iQIYI) qp 1 of 8 - House of Stars meets Boyband. I am not impressed. Thailand just needs to leave everything music related to Korea. I’m enacting a ban. The framework on this is truly awful. The talent is not talented in acting let alone dance or song. I thought about sticking with it a few more eps but i putting in on hold. It’s too wooden even for me.

@heretherebedork I depend on you to report back. This is the kind of thing only you can watch. It’s like Cupid 2023. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

A Breeze of Love (Korea iQIYI) 1-2 of 8 - previously know as Weather Forecast Love this one popped up in MDL's currently airing, and I was like, what what? Basically: Tsundere insomniac grump and his sunshine jock ex bestie (human sleeping pill) who now hates him. Basketball is involved and I love it.

It ended, are we sad? REVIEWS

Kiseki: Dear to Me (Taiwan Viki & Gaga)

Yes, we sad! Ai Di and his dumb oversized sweaters and flappy flappy sleeves are EVERYTHING.

Final ep? Nice that the elder gays got screen time, more of this please? Sides dominated this finale, matched outfits and all. Also I’m living for the Bless this Mess shirt. Finally Taiwan gave us lots of biting and a counter lift. It’s like they know me!

Quick pitch for KDTM?  

The plot is totally ridiculous and slightly unhinged, but that’s normal for Taiwan. It involves all the tropes under a very casual framework of gay mafia gangs + food = love. Absolutely every character is queer. There’s a gum-ball machine of cameos, elder gay rep, great chemistry from all pairs, and a KILLER side couple. As a result Kiseki is a poster child for Taiwanese BL, and I happen to love Taiwanese BL. Bonus? They also managed to END IT WELL, which we cannot expect from Taiwan. 9/10 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 

Triggers for knife play, child abuse, lingering trauma. I found both platforms did not do a great job on subs, but I will give the edge to Viki for pure usability.

You Are Mine (Taiwan Viki & Gaga)

We are more disappointed than sad.

Far be it from me to extend this show, but we should’ve had 2 episodes of quality supportive boyfriends coping with family drama before the mom-confrontation climax and defense of the ESTABLISHED relationship. Baby's little speach had no power or impact coming where it did in this narrative, even though it was sweet. And while the make-out scenes were charming it mostly jsut felt like we'd squandered this pair. This last ep was good and rewatchable, but a series cannot be judged on its last ep alone.

Finally... could have used some side dishes. My vote? Lesbian secretaries!

Conclusion 

I am sorry Taiwan, you know I love you, but I have to say it: this show was a mess of terrible pacing. And not a hot mess, sadly. I should have liked everything about this: it’s an office drama, it’s mature characters, it’s grumpy/sunshine, it’s a strong power dynamic, and it’s Taiwan - which means good chemistry. YAM was all those things and yet… something went horribly wrong with the narrative structure. You tried dears, but not hard enough. 7/10 

Bump Up Business (Korea Gaga)

Well, poop. Don’t have them speak English. Also no playing drunk. Meanwhile, all the manipulative gay drama. No kiss of course.

How do I summate this?

An idol group did the best they could with a script tailored to idols but which they were not allowed to fully realize because they are active idols in the same group. Ultimately it felt a bit like OnlyOneOf were just doing one of those Kpop skits for a variety show were two of of them dresses in drag/gay/BL and "ha ha isn't it funny?" I don’t know, it was fine? 6/10

stop wasting my time, Korea

Mr Cinderella 2 (Vietnam YT)

DNF on the advice of several of my BL spies I will not be finishing this. Apparently it pretty much ends sad. Here's an explanation.

It's Airing But...

I Cannot Reach You AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai (Japan Tues Netflix-Japan & ????) 8 eps - in classic JBL fashion, I Cannot Reach You could not be reached. I will try it when I have some time and access to my home computer.

One Room Angel (Japan Gaga) 6 eps - adaptation of Harada’s manga (which I did not like) about a clerk who's stabbed, nearly dies, and returns home to find an angel waiting for him. With only 5 eps and a good chance this won’t end happy, I'm gonna wait and let you tell me how it goes.

WAITING FOR VERDICT OR TO BINGE

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - I find this series more fun to binge, so I'm waiting until it completes its run.

SHADOW (Thai Gaga) 14eps - this is a horror BL with ghosts & paranormal elements in a boarding school setting. I'm not wild about Thai horror (or horror at all). It features Singto (who did paranormal BL He's Coming to Me) opposite Fluke N (who's done a couple horror's before). Also Fiat. Dan suffers from sleep paralysis, and in his dreams he sees a shadow that suffocates him. It gets worse when he transfers schools. I'm holding off on this one and if told it's good I'll binge watch.

Next Week Looks Like This

11/15 Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru AKA Aki wa Haru to Gohan wo (Japan Gaga) - this BL movie is coming to Gaga.

11/16 PLAYBOYY (Thurs ????) 10 eps - trailer here, high heat and it's helmed by Cheewin (shudder) with screenplay by Den (Only Friends) under Copy A Bangkok. It's gonna be a shizz show people. It's predicting Thai style "dark" (War of Y) one of my least favorites. Apparently there is a "plot" but when has Cheewin ever bothered with plot? A university kid who was involved with escorts, sex-trade, porn, online hook-ups, drugs, prostitution, blackmail, revenge, and so forth goes missing. His twin (sigh) and two friends look for him.

11/17 Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 1 of 14 - high heat teaser here, based on alittlebixth's omegaverse novel #พ���ษเบ๊บ’ set in the world of car racing (author says show will not be omegaverse). Charlie (fresh face), a young hot nerd, approaches his driver idol (Pavel "my love" 2 Moons 2) to borrow a racing car and win one for the team. Production house is new to BL but behind the Club Friday stuff. Show stars many known actors: Nut (Oxygen), Pop (Ram in La Cuisine), Pon (Phai in Gen Y, we LOVE him), Benz (twins in En of Love: This Is Love Story).

Thailand bring the November heat, I guess?

Upcoming November BL

11/19 Bake Me Please (Sun Gaga) ep 1 of 6 - trailer here, stars Ohm (of OhmFluke) opposite Guide (bestie from IFYLITA) and possibly also Poom (well known, but not for BL). This looks like an actually gay version of Antique Bakery (play it again, BL). Still, I'm intrigued, it looks HELLA pretty.

11/22 7 Days Before Valentine (Weds ????) ep 1 of 10 - trailer here, horror-esk. Adapted from y-novel of the same name, directed by Tu (180 Degree) stars Jet (Why You… Y Me?). When you want your old love again, but fate sends you a reaper instead. All he can do for you is kill people. I'll likely give this a pass and wait to binge if safe.

11/25 The Sign (Sat ????) ep 1 of 10 - trailer here, horror-esk, but with a suspense and adult characters. Special investigators who loved each other in previous lives reunite in new bodies. Stars Billy Patchanon (BillySeng) & Babe Tanatat (new). Includes other SCOY favorites as a special investigation team. I may give this a try because I'm into the non-horror bits.

11/26 The Whisperer (Sun ????) 1 of 10 - trailer here. Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). He has dimples (My Ride) but I don't think even that gives me the will. Maybe a binge for me.

11/26 Cooking Crush (Sun YT) 1 of 12 - OffGun are back, trailer here. Adapted from the novel “Love Course! เสื้อกาวน์รุกเสื้อกุ๊กรับ” by iJune4S this is about Prem who runs a not-so-popular restaurant with 2 friends. About to go on a cooking competition with a huge reward, Prem gets involved with Ten, a stressed-out med student who wants Prem to teach him to cook.

11/30 For Him (Thurs ????) ep 1 of 10 - high heat trailer, I suspect iQIYI will scoop this one up. From the people who brought us Unforgotten Night (please no) based on a y-novel, man nursing a heartbreak has a one-night stand, but the other boy didn't want it to end. It looks terribly trashy so I'm in! Maybe I'll do a trash watch?

VIP Only (Taiwan) - may be delayed/canceled

Wuju Bakery AKA Space Bakery (Korea) - this one may be DOA

A Breeze of Love (Korea) - I know less than nothing about this.

Nov 2023 line up with screen caps here. Not kept updated.

Original 2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

This is in the intro card of My Dear Gangster Oppa, I'm just amusing myself.

Thank you Keseki for givign this to us twice!

Also the tears! So pretty crying.

And, of course, my favorite the biting!

Have I mentioned recently how much I love Taiwanese BL?

(Last week)

[yuyinesque]

WINDBLUME BARD | “𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗇 𝖺𝗋𝖼𝗁𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝗇𝖾𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝖿𝖾𝖾𝗅 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀…”

⚘ précis. = you’ve noticed changes in your lover’s temperament the closer the two of you have grown. they’re not negative changes, per se, but you’re having trouble comprehending how exactly a guileless face could inure such terrors.

⚘ disclaimers. = blind!gn reader x venti/barbatos, poetic writing (he’s a bard, hadda switch up my groove), the baby gust of air goes by they/them, major character death mention (the nameless bard), not proofread.

⚘ category. = sfw fluff/angst headcanons/drabble.

⚘ wc. = 708.

𖦥 m.list. oc.list.

𖤥 Venti is the ballet dancer to your boxer. While all bards possess the ethereality to poetically enact stories that pertain to universal crises, this surrealist in question is the one that stuck out to you the most. You like to imagine that when you're in their vicinity, listening to them charm the ecstatic crowds with their intangible anecdotes, ivory cecilias scampered to flourish each time the mysterious individual would ramble, their trusted diaphanous lyre rejoiced in their memorable tunes to influence the tear-inducing plots, and their guileless giggles mistaking songbirds for melodic flirts from their mates. You naturally developed the obsessive need to protect them, casually and uncharacteristically threaten the ones who would dare disrupt his silly stories, earning a mischievous titter from Venti. Especially since they've been assisting you and your cecity ever since you've moved to Monstadt.

𖤥 You didn't need it, but you didn't say anything, for you believed that they'd leave you alone since there was no reason for them to linger around you anymore. Meanwhile, you're their anticipated fan, adoring the fact that you're the first one there when they're going to sing another song. The nostalgia was overwhelming for the both of you; they could never forget how concerned you were when they received minor backlash that didn't move them in the slightest. It left quite the reputation. How fast you almost ditched your walking stick to follow the voice of their awkward replies to the said outsiders who dared treat them in such a way; it was truly an adorable sight to keep embedded within their memory for eons.

"Well, aren't you as sweet as an ambrosia apple? Ehehe, thank you! Buuut, if you really wanna ensure my peace, I accept libations in decanters, if you know what I mean~... Huh!? What do you mean I "seem" too young to drink!? I'm as old as the Anemo Archen themself!"

𖤥 Meanwhile, Barbatos is the boxer to your baller dancer. As the two of you've grown closer, you've learned a thing or two about the bard who derived from an Archon. Or perhaps is an Archon; your expression was utterly priceless when they confided in you! They would seem to carry more of an aura of an Archon the more you ponder about it; was it because they seemed rather... serene with you now? Previously, they were the personification of bustling billows of suffocating winds, but now the winds practiced tranquility, converting into whispering zephyrs who implored to tell you all the truths needed to understand their character. Their implores were merely in vain, resulting in the bard to continuously quaff down bounties of alcohol to subdue the helpless sentiments they wish not to sing about. To think that he was a retired boxer all this time, subtly swaying you away from the evil of Teyvat to avoid another important loss. The idea of losing you was overwhelming; the thought of being incapable of burying themself in those achromic eyes of yours as they serenaded you under the moonlight was heartbreaking.

𖤥 You could tell that something was bothering them that specific day with the way the tunes were drearier than usual, slower than before, and even some notes were uncharacteristically misplayed.

𖤥 These were one of the rare times they adored the fact that you couldn't see, but loathed the fact that they could. The more they doted at your concerned expression, the more their face suffused with crimson, the more their under eyes surged, reddened, and swelled with disruptive tears, and the more their throat seethed with fears they failed to subdue. Although it's been a while since they last cried to someone, they refused to ruin such an amazing time with you. Because of such, they wiped out their doe, viridian eyes with a feigned giggle, scooting closer to you in order to cuff your hand, which only proceeded to worry you even more.

"Very intuitive. Hehe, as expected from my flawless lover. There's something that's been pestering me a bit, but don't you go worrying about it. Even Archons need to feel something every once in a while. Come on, come on! Let's indulge more in each other, I promise that your presence will wash every dread I have stored in my heart."

yuyinesque | translate with permission & peruse without theft.

[the1975attheirverybest]

TEN YEARS

A/N: Since it's looking like we won't be getting a livestream of the Leeds show tonight, and since I have a crazy few days coming up starting tomorrow, I wanted to post a little something to keep y'all happy while I get my schedule together and to also celebrate ST and last night! short, sweet, no plot, just vibes.

Warnings: none, except maybe typos (i have no clue where my glasses are)

----

She could hear her heartbeat in her ears despite the chattering crowds all around her. "Excuse me- could I just" mumbling apologies as she squeezed past the masses of giddy, sweaty, emotional, and excited fans. She could blame the ones who were struggling to keep from crying, or the ones who were immediately recounting the events they'd just witnessed onstage for fear of their memories eroding as the night came to a close, or maybe to make sure that what they'd experienced was actually real, that other people saw it too. In fact, she felt the same way and would've wanted to stick around and take it all in, if it weren't for her insatiable desire to lay her hands on Matty as soon as humanly possible.

She felt the butterflies flutter in her stomach, her anticipation and impatience spurred on by the glimpses and fragments of conversation that reached her ears from people around her.

"He looked so good in that leather jacket-" someone behind her had observed.

"I'm glad he took it off though. Cuz, arms? hello!"

somewhere from the center of the crowd, an overstimulated, antsy woman yelled out,

"but can we talk about Ross's hair?! I love him."

"I mean, I knew they weren't going to play antichrist, cuz Matty is evil, but at least give us fallingforyou?"

"bro, no matter what he does, you're never happy. he can't win at this point."

"ten years! it's been ten years! 2014 me, scrolling black and white tumblr would lose her shit if he could see this."

the smile that had plastered across her face grew wider with every comment she overheard. Though the walk to the backstage area wasn't long earlier in the day, when she'd wandered around, watching the backline tech and the crew set things up, right now, it felt miles away. Finally, too impatient to do things responsibly, she jumped the safety barrier and landed on the other side. giggling to herself as she sprinted to find the boys.

Her airy giggles broke into a fit of laughter when she spotted the four of them, dress in all black, huddled into a corner, whispering and laughing like children. Matty turned around at the clomping of her footsteps, a grin on his face.

"Babe-" was all he'd managed to say before she'd jumped into his arms with the full force of her body, laughing uncontrollably into his ear as she panted, breathless.

Matty's arms wrapped around her waist, picking her up, off the floor, and spinning around in circles, giggling until they were both dizzy.

"You- you did it!" was the first thing she could think to say, still out of breath and heaving, she pressed her lips to his, clumsily crashing into him. Her feet unsteady, and her head still dizzy, she chuckled when their teeth collided.

Remnants of Matty's aftershave still clung to his shirt. She could taste the cigarettes he'd smoked onstage and the drink he'd sipped on. She buried her face into him for a moment, leaning her body against his as she came down from the adrenalin high, then, with her feet firmly on the ground, she turned to face the boys.

"Congratulations! how're we feeling?"

chatter broke out again as they interrupted each other, answering her questions, describing the view from the stage, George boasting that his drum riser was the best spot up there, and Matty, restless as ever, re-enacting his moves.

"Ross, I, um, have some news." she looked up into his eyes, a gentle hand pressed on top of his. "Two people were injured, five lost consciousness. Your hair killed the entire front row." Ross's initial concern gave way to an innocent laugh, his head tilted upwards, his pearlescent smile drawing a dimple on his cheek.

"He knows, he knows." Adam patted Ross's back prompting Matty to reach over and pull the hair tie out of ross's hair. "glorious lions mane. He does it for the ladies."

***

She couldn't help but smile against the soft fabric of Matty's hoodie, clinging to him harder and letting her body sway along with his as he danced to the Killer's song from the side of the stage.

"Sorry, I'll calm down." Matty whispered down to her.

"No, no! Please don't. I love it when you like the music."

Hw wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her body against his and moving them both to the rhythm of the music.

"Matty? You happy?" she looked up at his eyes and saw his answer before he even spoke.

"So happy."

"Good. I mean, you looked like you were having fun up there."

"'course I was. I mean, we used to come here as kids-"

George laid a hand on his shoulder squeezing it lightly, "oh, here it comes." playfully rolling his eyes.

"same old story." Ross mumbled.

"oh about how he came to Reading instead of picking up exam results?" Adam giggled.

Matty laughed, telling them to fuck off, before looking back down at her. "Yeah, I'm happy."

"And you get to do it all again tomorrow." she planted a kiss on his cheek.

"I know. How lucky am I?"

[lenaellsi]

What are your gomens s3 predictions for crowley?

WELL

I have three categories of predictions. I know where I would take the character, but the show surprises me so often that I don't expect to get it right. Just for fun, though, and under the cut because it got so fucking long:

1. He sleeps/binge drinks/otherwise disengages from the world straight through to the start of S3.

The Crowley of S2 is, in a lot of ways, more stable than the Crowley of the Crowley of S1, but I think he's also more depressed. His only purpose was survival from the moment he Fell to the moment he and Aziraphale quit their jobs, and now that he has to live, he's completely directionless. He doesn't understand (and has never understood) how he fits into the universe, how angels and demons generally fit into the universe, and what the point is if God can just wipe them all out for any reason. He doesn't believe in any part of the Good/Evil system. Aziraphale leaving--and confirming some of his greatest fears about the foundations of their relationship along the way--could be enough to send Crowley into an apathetic coma for a bit.

So I can see it happening, but my instinct says that's not where they'll go with it. Crowley tends to fall back on his escape methods only when he truly sees no other way out. In S1, he tried to drink himself to death only when Aziraphale was gone and, to his knowledge, there was no way to locate the Antichrist and even try to stop Armageddon. A few episodes before that, he proposed leaving only because Aziraphale hadn't shared Adam's location, and because Hell was actively hunting him. Once he learned where Adam was--once there was a sliver of a chance to save the world--he drove through Hellfire to do it. Crowley's not afraid to work through tough situations, he's just always aware of how fragile things are, and is prone to feeling angry and hopeless when he sees no path forward. And of course he is--it's his oldest wound, and his deepest, that he and everything he loves will always be at the whims of ineffability, and that there's nothing he can do about it.

But in S3, since he's not at the point where the destruction of the Earth seems inevitable yet:

2. Crowley will form his own plan to stop the Second Coming.

This is what I think will happen. Crowley loves Earth. He loves humanity. He was the one to talk Aziraphale into stopping Armageddon, the one to toast "to the world" at the end of S1. The planned destruction of the universe is the exact thing that caused him to Fall. Crowley is his own person outside of his relationship with Aziraphale, and that person has a long history of fighting and scheming and suffering for the sake of humanity.

He's also a very active character. He is consistently the one making plans, moving the plot forward, trying to enact change. He saw the schematics in Heaven, and I really do think he'll do his best to come up with a plan to stop them, even though he's understandably very upset.

I don't think it'll be a good plan. If I had to guess (without knowing any specifics of the plot) I think he'll either try to disrupt the delivery of Christ to Earth or try to cut Heaven and Hell off from Earth entirely. He has no allies, no support, and very little reason to be cautious in his approach, which leads me to why you probably sent this ask:

Option 3: As above, only this time the plan is either not something he plans to survive, or his own survival is not something he is particularly concerned about.

So the thing about Crowley is that I really don't think he has any substantial issues with self-loathing, or any active desire to do himself harm. He is a survivor; he values safety and contingency and isolation above most things. But he values three things more: 1) freedom of choice, 2) Earth, and 3) Aziraphale.

He's a very angry, very impulsive person, and he is dealing with a lot unresolved feelings on the issue of demons and angels existing in the universe at all, and he loves Aziraphale and the Earth so dearly that sometimes he doesn't think straight. He's reckless, he's pissed off, he's feeling hopeless, and, after their fight, he's also convinced that Aziraphale would probably be able to move on from losing him. (In his mind, 'Crowley' is not the person Aziraphale would mourn; he would mourn the dead angel he's been chasing since the Fall.) If a plan presents itself that would be dangerous to him, I think he would see no reason not to try it. If you've gotta go, go with style.

So, yeah. I don't think it's likely, for all sorts of reasons--this is a comedy show, a Bible parody, and the tone is always going to be a little lighter than the angstiest possible conclusion, final fifteen aside. But the self-sacrificial route is one I can see Crowley taking, and his inevitable survival and reunion with Aziraphale would have an aftermath that would be messy and painful and fascinating to watch. It would also have some obvious thematic resonance with Christ, a figure I assume they'll be exploring quite a bit in S3, so that would be kinda cool.

(Thoughts on the Duke of Hell theory, with a general warning it's not my favorite, so don't read if that'll upset you:)

Very much not for me, sorry. Crowley, for all he is a master of on-the-fly (ha) bullshitting, is not suited for playing politics. (Neither is Aziraphale, for what it's worth.) Crowley is too outspoken, too honorable, and too prone to fits of temper to have any patience for that kind of role. Besides that, he absolutely does not want it. He hates Hell just as much as he hates Heaven. I don't think he would ever go back to either of them, consequences be damned.

I also think that there's no practical way it could even happen? Beelzebub only offered him the role out of desperation to find Gabriel, and even then, it was almost certainly a lie. With Beelzebub gone, every single person in a position of power in Hell hates Crowley. And if they tried to dupe him into it the way the Metatron did, he'd run and not look back.

[rickktish]

Occasionally the contrast between the woobification of Jason Todd and the demonization of Damian Wayne makes me want to commit acts of untold violence.

Like, two of bruce’s kids have “tried to kill” tim. One spent a decent amount of his life being taught to care for and value others and to serve them, went through an incredibly traumatic experience, came back and decided to go full scorched earth on those he believed wronged him while he was gone. The other was raised in an extremely abusive environment and taught that his only value came from things outside his control and that if he wasn’t superior to everyone then he was inherently inferior. He came to his father’s house at a time of severe upheaval, with little to no experience with any kind of unmixed kindness, and felt the need to secure his position (i.e. make himself safe) by removing a competitor for that security, and later learned that person had a contingency plan to deal with him and retaliated out of fear. One of these guys was in his late teens when he caused grievous bodily injury to a younger opponent who had only enacted symbolic harm of which he (tim) was unaware of having caused. The other was prepubescent when he attacked someone more than half again his age out of a combination of fear and a belief that that was the correct and appropriate way to deal with a competitor for your personal position of security and safety because he was literally taught to kill before losing most of his baby teeth.

Guess who gets justified by the fandom and has dozens or more fics where the entire plot is specifically about tim forgiving him? Spoiler alert: it’s not the literal child from the death cult who’s been abused and manipulated by every single adult in his life until his arrival in Gotham.

Guess who gets portrayed as being somehow inherently evil, even biologically so, and utterly irredeemable no matter what he does? Spoiler alert: it’s not the grown ass man who had a whole villain arc before his public popularity elevated him to anti-hero status.

Edit: added quotation marks around “tried to kill” because somebody said Jason never tried to kill tim and I think what they meant was that he wasn’t approaching the situation with intent to actually murder him, only cause him grievous bodily harm, which i’m too tired after work rn to try to chase down atm. But also because regardless of whether or not Jason attacked tim with homicidal intent, this post is discussing fan interpretation used specifically and prolifically in fanfiction, which does tend to view Jason’s actions as falling under the umbrella of “trying to kill” tim. So. I don’t just want to wholesale remove those words. Perhaps I could simply alter them to say that “two of Bruce’s kids have enacted greivous bodily harm upon Tim intentionally, willfully, and with malice aforethought” but again. Most people just kind of call it “trying to kill tim.” So. Idk

[gofancyninjaworld]

There was a lot of complaints ant Saitama's breaking speech never making to the manga, but tbh even if the manga has a series of events that requires that to happen, I still don't want it to happen. Mostly bc what Saitama said is pretty hypocritical and doesn't make sense.

While I do give kudos that Saitama even admits he doesn't really have a concrete idea of what a "hero" should be... That doesn't give a vote of confidence considering he's um. Literally the most powerful hero alive. Kinda hard to believe in someone who doesn't even know if they're doing the right thing while wielding immeasurable power. He pretty much, well, dodged the question and never really bothered to shoulder the responsibility to figure out what kind of hero really wants to be.

Another is his "serious" hero hobby and Garou's "compromised" monster hobby, and the reason why he'll always win is bc he never half-assed his hobby. While he's right not to lower the hurdle before the goal... But the reason why opm more or less has a plot to begin with is because Saitama is half-assing his heroism. He barely takes anything seriously. Like, yes he never half-assed his training to be the strongest and while he's one of the more moral heroes out there he wasn't the best for a reason.

And tbh I'm really satisfied to how 166-169 played out. In the end, what the manga shows us is that they both have naive mindsets. Believing Absolute Evil would bring absolute world peace, believing heroes would always be on time and save the day — only to have reality crashing hard that for Garou to achieve Absolute Evil means people he cares about will in fact die and that Saitama's complacency and invulnerability means it's not him facing the consequences, but everyone else fatally paying that price. it just shows the perfect image that Garou and Saitama are not so different — Garou is a poor villain, Saitama is a poor hero, and it's bc of those flaws, despite them wielding incomprehensible, godly power, they both meet in the middle ground as humans. Which further reinforces ONE's intention to create Garou as the anti-Saitama.

An old, old comment that has aged like fine wine.

There's a question Garou asks Saitama in the webcomic that the latter never answers -- and really should. 'You're strong, but so what?' His questioning whether the mere fact of Saitama being stronger than anyone gave him any moral authority is one that desperately needs to be addressed in the webcomic. So far, so bad.

I really like that the manga has started to look at that question. The Japanese idiom Saitama used when looking at the carnage Cosmic Fear Garou had wrought was his being pierced by realisation (h/t @koumbaya). As if a spear had been thrown through his very soul.

It answered the question he'd been asking himself ever since the Superfight that he'd forgotten something important. In that moment, it came to him just how shallow he'd been for fretting over not learning new moves or finding tough fights. How irresponsible it'd been for him to forget that just because Garou was no threat to him, the same did not hold for others. He had become a hero so that when people were in trouble, he could be there to help them, and instead, little by little, he'd come to prioritise having a good time.

I love how the denouement of the arc has Garou and Saitama understand and enact what it is to be a hero. Garou puts aside his pride to ask for help and heroically sacrifices his life to teach Saitama how to go to the past, Saitama saves everyone who needs his help, *including* Garou.

I love how this fits into the structure of the bigger story, with King having challenged Saitama over this very notion. It's an important question. A hero may need to be strong, but how does that translate into morality? What gives a hero the right to say 'this is unacceptable and I must stop it?'

Of course, there's the small problem of Saitama having forgotten what happened. Which makes me think: whether he wants to or not, Genos has a responsibility to ensure Saitama learns those hard-won lessons without the rest of the world paying for it first.

Final thing: Garou not being left as a foil to Saitama is the best thing of all. He hasn't received a pat answer and been sent into exile to do no more evil. He's getting to struggle with his ideas, to try to forge them into a coherent and workable way forward, and it's good to see him being his own person.

[iheartpeppino]

People aren't making as much content about Evil Peppino anymore and it's making me sad.

I don't know what it is, but the idea of Peppino being unhinged and evil does things to me. I love the original Peppino very much, don't get me wrong. He's basically my husband. But EVIL Peppino? OH MY GOD...

I've thought about my self-insert traveling to different Pizza Tower universes before, and Evil Peppino's universe would definitely be one of them. Melissa Monotoli has a HUGE crush on Evil Peppino but is also very afraid of him. She knows how dangerous he is, and while she's drawn to the thrill of that danger, she knows interacting with him is basically playing with fire.

I'd like to think that Evil Peppino's universe is very close to the canon one except for one crucial detail. Before Pizzahead could enact his plan to lure Peppino to the tower, Peppino had accidentally cut his hand off after too many nights without sleep caught up with him. Peppino had already replaced his lost hand with a pizza cutter prosthetic by the time Pizzaface came floating into his restaurant. Peppino, who had lost what little kindness he had left in his heart, not only took on the Pizza Tower and defeated Pizzahead... he TOOK OVER the Pizza Tower, and currently rules it with an iron fist (or stainless steel pizza cutter in this case). Not only that, but by the time Melissa Monotoli accidentally drops in, he's used the Tower and its magic to take over the entire city. He runs EVERYTHING, and everyone (including the police) ultimately answers to him. Also, the entire city is way more pizza-themed than before, like the Tower breached containment and infected the entire city. There are rebel camps hidden throughout the city who want to try and overthrow Evil Peppino. Noisette is the head of the rebellion. Her boyfriend, The Noise, is a double agent working for the rebellion while he poses as one of Evil Peppino's personal lackies. Evil Peppino suspects something is up with Theodore, but he can't prove anything, so he just keeps a close eye on him.

Melissa basically gets tangled up in the middle of a rebel plot to usurp Evil Peppino, wanting to help the rebels without killing Evil Peppino, and also trying to find a way to make it back to her universe alive.

I can't wait to make this a fanfic in the future!

[collidedscope]

Crowley’s Identity Theory:

After rewatching S1 and S2, I wanted to remake this post into clear “sections” of the theory, with only the pieces I find to be most convincing.

Basically, my theory is that Crowley’s pre-fallen/angelic identity was Lucifer, that Lucifer and Satan are 2 separate entities, and that every part of Crowley’s memory that included his “angelic identity” was erased. (This is not a new theory, but I did think of this list myself).

Evidence that Crowley was an Archangel/very powerful:

The miracle to hide Gabriel registered on heaven's radar as something that's powerful enough to raise the dead 25x over- "only the most powerful of archangels." This was when they were trying to perform half of a miracle as subtly as possible.

Crowley can pause time- something (I believe) nobody else has been shown to do.

Crowley had access to Gabriel's confidential files.

"[Gravity] seemed like a good idea when we were all talking about it." The way he said this made it seem like he was personally part of a group that discussed how physics should operate.

Evidence that Crowley was specifically Lucifer:

Crowley was the one to tempt Eve- historically this was Lucifer.

Crowley was the one to tempt Jesus by showing him "all of the kingdoms of the world”- historically this was Lucifer.

According to God, "Crowley has something no other demon has: an imagination." It takes an imagination to ask questions. It takes an imagination to organize the first rebellion.

The names "Lucifer" and "Satan" are never used interchangeably, allowing for the possibility they are two separate entities.

Lucifer means "light-bringer." The earliest scene we have of Crowley is creating a nebula.

Shax referred to Crowley as "the arch-traitor". Shax probably wouldn’t know, but this could be a bit of foreshadowing from the writers.

Evidence that Crowley lost some of his memory:

"I knew the angel you were" "The angel you knew is not me."

Crowley had no recollection of Furur (the demon who made the Nazis zombies) from before the Fall, even though apparently they were quite close. Furfur even immediately recognized Crowley’s name. Even when Furfur went into detail about how they used to horseplay, Crowley still didn’t remember

Crowley also had no recollection of Saraqael (the new archangel), even though they worked together on a nebula, which is something angel!Crowley seemed very passionate about. Again, even once Crowley was reminded of this, he still had no recollection of her.

Evidence that Lucifer lost his memory:

During his trial, Gabriel assumed he would be cast down to Hell (like Lucifer), and he also seemed to be expecting for his memories to be erased- he was carrying around a tool to store his memories, and he enacted his plan so quickly that he was gone before anyone noticed. I think it’s reasonable to assume that banishment to Hell+ memory-wiping is the precedent for this situation. And according to the Metatron, there was only one other time a supreme archangel was disowned- Lucifer.

Plot Significance:

Could be used by Heaven to turn Aziraphale against Crowley.

The arc could be that this leads Aziraphale to eventually understand that Heaven/Hell are not the good/bad binary. If Crowley was the first to rebel, the one who started the war, the first demon, the one who essentially created Hell…. then Hell simply cannot be inherently evil, because Crowley is the furthest thing from evil. The “angel/demon” dichotomy is arbitrary… essentially a social construct.

I don’t know much about The Second Coming, but from what I can tell online, Lucifer does seem to have a significant role in Revalations… so I imagine it would be easy to tie the Aziraphale/Crowley plot with the “world-ending” plot.

[devout-of-the-elder-scrolls]

Molag Bal in my worship

As a preface for anybody not familiar with my blog - I believe the Daedric Princes are generally either misrepresented or only represented from one side of the debate within TES canon (that they are more than just evil, cruel, dastardly beings that want humanity to suffer). This falls especially true for my worship of Molag Bal. I do not take TES canon lore to be infallible worship canon. This post also comes from my own personal perspective and experience with Him, so… UPG.

This post will probably be one of my most "I do not agree with TES canon". Other than maybe my actual guide to Molag when it finally comes around and my other Molag related posts. If you're looking for a post about worshiping a super close to canon Molag Bal, I'm sorry, but you won't be finding it here.

Very long post below, I rambled a lot.

So, let's get the nitty gritty out of the way. In TES canon, Molag Bal is essentially literally the worst of the worst. You can tell this from the most basic of His titles.

That's not really my Molag Bal. How is that so?

Let's go over my general belief systems.

I believe the TES Gods existed independent of the fiction before being input into the fiction. I've got an older post talking about this in depth, but the main thing to know here is that this is kinda like how people take the Abrahamic God and make Him pure evil in fiction. Why do they do that? Why, it's entertaining as all hell!

Think about it. Isn't it so much more entertaining in fiction to have that pure evil dude? If every god in TES was tame and kind, then the God situation wouldn't be as interesting, at least in my opinion. Part of what makes TES as games and series so great is the inclusion of deities that aren't exactly the best. It's also part of what I love about the Princes in my worship, that they aren't always "nice" and "kind" or whatever way you wanna put it, even if I believe they're a lot nicer than they actually are portrayed in TES fiction.

I admit as well that I believe that Molag may have been misrepresented as well. Who is to say that some dude didn't just have such an intense bias against the Princes, and decided "Fuck it. To keep people from worshiping them, I'm gonna make this one dude the worst of the worst!" It happened with plenty of real world deities, where they got re-written and re-framed as a lot more evil than they actually are or were originally. This could have happened both in-universe and in the writing of the fiction. (Not saying the writers of TES the series necessarily didn't want us to worship them, but they probably didn't consider it'd ever happen at the least.)

That's not to say I believe Molag Bal isn't capable of evil. He very much is. He's more prone to leaning to harsh things, tough love, and a lot else than my other guides are.

So... who is Molag Bal?

This will sound extremely counterpointed to TES canon lore, because it really is lol I'm willing to admit that, but He's a man who protects from abuse and harm. He's always been so enraged with my stories of being abused and harmed, in such a way that doesn't seem fake or just some evil plot to make me worship Him. I firmly believe that if I asked Him to enact vengeance for me, He would, gladly.

He claims, at the very least, to hate bigotry and discrimination. He stands up for my gender for example, and seems to be genuinely sympathetic when I get misgendered.

He is strong, powerful, and grand. He doesn't tolerate bullshit or fucking around, doesn't tolerate cruelty towards those who don't deserve it. He teaches me to be strong and grand, to defend myself against any and all harm that might come my way.

Many of my lessons on how to defend myself come from Molag. He teaches me Daedric Magic to help me protect myself, He puts His power into my protective sigils and spells.

When I'm crying about my traumas and pains, it's often Molag who comes to me and lets me metaphorically cry on His shoulder.

Whether or not Molag agrees with His canon counterpart in any way is lost on me. I don't know. But I do know that if He was all-powerful, if He had the choice, He'd never let me come under harm in any way. It still happens sometimes, for He's not, but I appreciate the effort.

Maybe it's true that Molag only does this as I am a follower and a devout worshiper of Him and His name. It's possible that He really is that vile to others, and I do admit I sincerely hope not, especially with my guess that Molag got evil-ified by canon lore for some reason.

This is the Molag Bal I know. The Molag Bal I worship. And I, for one, think He's pretty cool and worth it.

You may ask... "why did you start with Molag Bal?" Which is a great question, because I too worried that He was actually That Bad. So I asked another guide of mine (not TES, amazingly going by what this blog is) what They thought of Him. And I was told a lot of the above, plus just general positive-leaning reviews, if not at least neutral.

So I was going into my worship of Him already believing that He wasn't that bad, even though I will admit I did have my apprehensions because of what canon says about Him. I will never deny that TES canon is extremely brutal and dark when it comes to Molag Bal. There's no denying all of that, nor the triggering nature of it, which was a turn off to me in the beginning.

You can also argue that I'm not really worshiping Molag Bal because the Molag I know and worship is so... different than canon Molag. For me, with my beliefs, I don't really see it that way, but I'm not really gonna blame anybody who does see it that way. That's fair lol!

I wanna end this post with... if you've been harmed by Molag Bal, or anything of that sort, I am genuinely sorry. I don't know why it happened and won't pretend I do, and I won't pretend that my version of Him and the side I see of Him erases what happened to you, because it doesn't.

You can block me and move on with your life if that makes you happy. I'm not gonna preach that you need to forgive and move forward, and absolutely not that you should return to His worship. Do as you need to heal.

[palant1r]

Between light and mikami, who would u say is worse

ooo interesting question! "worst" is a metric with such a wide variety of interpretations, so i'm gonna put forward a few definitions...

Least fun to hang out with at a party: Mikami, no doubt. He's the most boring person alive. Light is a charismatic person who's very good at acting personable and feigning interest in others, so I feel like he'd be a pretty fun acquaintance to have, even if he never lets anyone beneath the surface

Least fun to actually be close friends with, at least for me: Light. It would be like being friends with an incredibly sophisticated chatbot — all the right responses, but you can't get a peek at what actually makes him tick without a 400 IQ and 3 separate terminal degrees, plus years of hannibal-level psychoanalysis. But I could be friends with Mikami. I'm actually a bit of a law nerd — the kind of person who got tickets to a conference about public document requests for fun — so while we wouldn't be able to make small talk, I feel like once we got to know each other we could have some autistic ass conversations about court precedent. Also I could use a gym buddy.

Most net negative impact on the world: I mean, Light, obviously

Most pleasure taken in atrocities: Light. Mikami doesn't actually seem to take much personal pleasure in killing beyond his worship of Kira. Light, meanwhile, despite his self-justification of just wanting to make a good world, looooves to vindictively gloat over victims, even those that aren't those he thinks of as "criminals." See: L, Raye Penber, Near

Least coherent moral code: Mikami. His moral code is just like. Some religion he duct taped together out of a bunch of coincidences and terminal cop brain, plus a heavy dose of inexplicable cultural christianity despite not being culturally christian. Which makes it all the more baffling that he's apparently able to hold coherent conversations about politics. Light's own situation may be a middle schooler's first introduction to deontology and consequentalism, but at least it's something

Most aggravating moral code: Light. Man, I fucking hate the way this guy thinks about the world, because it's eerily similar to shit I see IRL. It's the idea of a moral code that exists fully to justify oneself as Good, cruelty justified through hatred of a so-called "evil," assuming that bad people are an ontological class that can be eliminated with no consequences and society will improve as a result. There are people who deadass believe this shit. I've compared Light tongue-in-cheek to Republicans in a fic before, but honestly I see it in leftist spaces all the time — just replace "criminals" with "billionaires." Hating the "bad people" and wanting them gone is such a convenient way for people to deny systemic injustice and their own role in it. And of course, as long as one defines oneself as "good," one gives themself free rein to eliminate opposition with righteous vindication. It's a mindset that's not unique to Light Yagami, he's just unique in the power he wields to enact it. It's the reason that, while as a Light Yagami Enjoyer I would never judge someone for loving Light Yagami, I tend to side-eye the side of the fandom that unironically argues Kira was right. I need to cut myself off before I go on my full anti-Kira rant...

Worst in bed: I'm not entirely confident Mikami knows what sex is.

Worst at being Kira: Light, by default — it was his own damn fault they lost, though he tried to blame Mikami. Hell, if he hadn't insisted on gloating in the warehouse, he might even have talked his way out of that situation. After all, it made sense for him to be the owner — someone in the task force had to be, and I'm pretty sure it's actually a plot hole that Mikami could see Aizawa's name. It wouldn't have convinced the SPK and Aizawa, but it would have given Ide and Mogi hesitation and Matsuda would certainly have been convinced. "But Mikami should have checked the notebook again before coming to the warehouse and it's stupid that he didn't—" HE WAS BEING CONTROLLED OK I 100% THINK MATSUDA IS RIGHT ABOUT THIS because otherwise both near and mikami's characters are assassinated in the final chapter more brutally than JFK and i do have a bit of respect for O&O as writers lmao. Mikami played his part perfectly. If he'd been the one to find the first notebook, I think he would have lasted longer than Light, simply because he wouldn't decide to do all the galaxy brain plays to get close to L.

[penandwind]

You know, while I think that corporatism and the capitalistic desire to appeal to the broadest demographis as possible wring as much money out of media is the exact opposite of art, I do think at the very least major comic book publishers should requrie their writers to pitch a story arc to a group of just like 10 average people to see if its actually a good story or incredibly convoluted and stupid.

I'll give two examples just from the last few years of Spider-Man comics: Having a long dead enemy that was a former friend Harry Osborn return from the dead, his hatred corrupting him into a demon, unleash a calculated plot to completely destroy Peter Parker? Not bad, pretty solid. Revealing that, psych, it wasn't the old enemy, but rather the old enemy before he died took the DNA of Peter's long dead girlfriend and of Norman Osborn to make test tube babies in an attempt to break Peter by convincing him that his girfriend cheated on him with his greatest enemy, but then having those twin's be raised by an AI of Harry to try and kill Peter, and then a demon who kinda hated both Peter and Norman corrupted the AI and gave the twins demonic powers so they could enact the revenge and pretend to be Harry for some unknown reason? Fucking stupid, what the hell?

Having an evil guy trap Peter and Mary Jane in a ruined alternate Earth, and in their escape attempt the evil guy's son (also evil) shoves Peter out alone, trapping him and Mary Jane alone in that dimension with Peter doing everything in his power to save her? Solid. Revealing that there as a time differential and that over time as the only two people in that dimension Mary Jane and evil son had kids together? Kind of an assassination of Mary Jane and Peter's characterized love for each other but still somewhat understandable. It won't be a popular decision but it is at least understandable from a human perspective so it tracks writing wise. Going on to say evil son revealed he puposely pushed Peter out so he could trap Mary Jane in that world together with nothing but him, and Mary Jane, knowing this, still decides to have kids with him, even conitnuing their "marriage" after they are freed and acting cold and hostile toward Peter, admiting she knew that was the evil guy's plan but still treating Peter like HE'S the one at fault? What the absolute fuck? I'm revoking your writing license. Stop bringing your convoluted cuckholdry fanfic into the realms of popular and well loved characters, or at the very least keep it on AO3.

I could give literally dozens of examples of comics taking a good idea and going too far and running it into the ground. And these aren't matters of "I personally don't like this, therefore its bad." People tend to get that confused a lot these days. No this is pure and simple "you took a good idea or very classic and relateable plot, and then you drowned it in complicated garbage." So yeah who's with me on enacting the Thats Fucking Stupid Commitee? At the very least it'll give my fellow English and Literature majors an actual employment opportunity for once.

[dailycharacteroption]

Deity Drop 5: Aroggus

With today’s entry, this week’s special continues to be about the lawful evil side, but unlike yesterday this one does not seem to be any reference to any real-world mythology as far as I can tell.

Today, we are looking at our first velstrac demagogue, in fact, today’s subject is in fact the first of the demagogues, and is also the first velstrac period!

Originally called Kyton Demagogues before Paizo renamed kytons to velstracs for legal reasons and retconned kyton to a misnomer meaning “grand master”, demagogues are powerful demigods among their kind, truly worthy of the title of “kyton”

Aroggus, along with all velstracs that came after, were originally from Hell, but left it when Asmodeus and his devils colonized the plane, immigrating to the Plane of Shadow where they could hone their pursuit of blood-drenched perfection in relative peace.

According to velstrac lore, Aroggus was born from the depraved thoughts of mortals long before Asmodeus ever set foot in Hell, and when the gods realized his power, they bound him in chains and left him to rot. Eventually he tore free, but was bound again. The next time he broke free, he accepted his chains as part of himself, making them his own, unable to be bound by them again. He then created his lesser kin from the very flesh of Hell itself, and when the Asura Rana Geryon betrayed his own kin for Asmodeus, Aroggus took his kin with him into the shadows rather than be subjugated by the ruler of devils (with a little help from Doloras, one of the Queens of Night). There in the shadows, he shed his physical form to become one with the abbey fortress he built.

All of these events taught Aroggus lessons which have become central to the worldview of all velstracs, that pain is a reward, willpower makes one strong, and that perfection must be forced upon those that lack the understanding to chase it willingly. You can probably see how they became the sadistic monsters they are today.

Aroggus long ago shed his physical form to become one with his realm, the Abbey of Nevers. However, he can inhabit a suit of armor as a shadowy mass when he needs to leave for whatever reason, wielding his mighty warhammer that he took with him in the exodus from Hell.

The Abbey of Nevers itself was a shadowy parody of a temple with an ever-shifting interior that Aroggus created to hide his people from devilkind. While most velstracs have left now that they no longer fear devils, some remain, as does Aroggus, having transcended his material form to become the Abbey itself, always being a safe place that the velstracs can return to. There, he broods and plans his revenge against Asmodeus, Geryon, and all devilkind.

With his focus on revenge, the Abbey Maker attracts faithful that are consumed with thoughts of revenge to the point of being willing to use any tactic no matter how depraved. He offers protection to those seeking such revenge, giving them time to plan and plot until they are ready to enact their vengeance. As such, the only long-term cults of Aroggus are composed of member whose revenge has no clear defined goal or is targeted against entire demographics.

As the first velstrac, Aroggus hates Asmodeus and Geryon in particular, though her perhaps may have mixed feelings towards Doloras. Meanwhile, he likely holds disdain towards more chaotic gods, and malicious indifference towards goodly gods.

Futhermore, as the first of his kind, the Abbey Maker can command the loyalty of nearly every velstrac, and at least expect the other demagogues to hear him out when he requires something of them.

Naturally, Aroggus holds sway over the Evil, Law, Protection, and Trickery domains, with the Deception, Defense, Fear, and Tyranny subdomains, all reflecting his role as the father and protector of the velstracs and the cunning planner and ruler of his domain.

Aroggus hasn’t been focused on in Second Edition, so sadly his domains aren’t detailed in that system. More time is required.

As a lesser power, his obedience only grants minor powers. In this case, the devotee must list every person that ever wronged them until the page is full and then consume the page. In return, they gain resistance to magic that compels behavior. Additionally, they gain a handful of spells, namely magic to hide themselves from magical detection, trap foes in magical force, or even imprison a target within the earth.

Aroggus has been mentioned in Starfinder, as his teachings are heavily detailed as part of the Signal of Screams AP. In that era, he acts much as he always has, though his followers benefit from all sorts of technology in their plots to enact revenges reflecting the thousand fantasized revenges that Aroggus indulges in.

[pretentious-art-love]

Show Reviews #4 - Tanya the Evil

Okay so here my thoughts on the anime in general. When I was recommended this anime I was intrigued by name Tanya of Evil, I thought we would get someone with a lot of blood-lust and someone who would do anything to achieve her status of power, I knew it was an isekai and I was willing to put up with the whole "loli" aspect of the character if it had a compelling narrative, but it seems that the title itself is not really accurate, it is only a localization blunder, and her character is actually more strategical than plain evil. The crazy bits of her character seem to be exaggerated either by the anime or the story itself put it is clear is just smoke and mirrors to make the protagonist more "fun" than what she actually is. Overall, this is what I have seen:

The character is put in a situation where they lack the social advantages to advance, this would have been interesting to see, but they were given enough magical power to make them competent, so any struggles the anime gives the protagonist don't really matter, they are OP.

There is no clear reason as to why Tanya has to fight so early in her childhood, she just says that its her only choice, but no sense of urgency is given to let the army join her so soon.

Considering that the character went through a full reincarnation, it would be fair to say that her brain is starting to develop again, nevertheless this doesn't show and Tanya is given a logical, reason focused thinking when it comes to battle and strategic planning. She is shown having some breakdowns, but it is never a plot that is followed up, another aspect of the issues her new body would give her that is not followed upon.

Her strength and stamina seem to be the same as an adult's, sure, they use magic and guns most of the time, but she is seen kicking, pushing and even hurting people with no physical problems, another issues of her body that is not followed upon.

Never she is seen to be not taken seriously because of her age or gender, aside two or three mentions of concern of sending a child to a war. Not followed upon.

While the story focuses in the battle and war tactics, reading the commentaries of episodes before it seems that the strategical thinking is heavily reduced in the anime. More than that, having only one side with an ace up their sleeve comes as rather boring since there is no competent adversary for the enemy to fight. I have been watching other war focused anime like Legend of the Galatic Heroes, where we see the fighting from two sides, which makes the strategical thinking of war a lot more interesting with the two sides trying to outsmart each other.

Most of the battle and war focused thinking seems to be focused in repeat or reenact previous world war battles verbatim. The people who are into these historical subjects might enjoy the references and see the events re-enacted over with the new characters, but little is given for the people who are not in the subject at all.

While I have enjoyed explaining the reincarnation side as a result of making God angry, his role seems to be rather to active in the story, appearing several times in the anime, which I find rather conflicting since it feels he might be interfering too much in the protagonist's world.

The magic system is not interesting, it is only a way for the writers to make the battles go whatever they want without little effort.

While making the protagonist an atheist is interesting, I feel that the duality of believing in God or praying to God as an almighty being could be clarified further or explored more with its implications since this is the basis for the story overall. The protagonists knows there is a being that can mess up her life, a being that can reincarnate her and make her suffer, so it seems unwise to make him angry, this could have worked if Being X didn't appear so frequently in the story since it could have put doubt in Tanya's mind about his existence and the memories she has.

None of the characters aside from Tanya and Erich are actually interesting.

So overall we have, no blood lust protagonist, no actually interesting strategical battles, no rise from the bottom of the social chain protagonist, no social hurdles, no physical hurdles, no psychological hurdles, nothing really to latch ourselves upon. Yes, I have seen some interesting stuff, like how Erich seems to think and react towards Tanya, or how she is starting to get angry at the chain of command and God herself, which could lay upon a path for a slightly more interesting narrative when we stop reenacting real life events (those episodes were really boring) and the anger of the protagonist comes more into light. The only thing we have is a slightly fun character that over react at times but not even nearly enough, not really. So my final verdict is: this anime is just your below average isekai trash, sorry!

5/10

[bugeyedfreaks]

To Mojo Jojo: How many evil schemes do you make to try and defeat the Powerpuff Girls? (You made so many that I lost count)

Mojo Jojo: [rubbing his chin thoughtfully] Hmm. Interestingly enough, Mr. Powerpuff Girls Guy Number Zero Six, I too have lost count of the number of schemes I have schemed! My brain is indeed very large, and I am of course very intelligent, but the number of plans and plots that I have plotted and planned is quite a vast number indeed… so vast, I suppose, that if I were inclined to calculate the exact amount, I would have no choice but to consult–

Blossom: [swooping in with a grin] –an expert?

Mojo Jojo: [wearily] I was going to say my personal database, but it seems I have unfortunately summoned Little Miss Know-It-All.

Blossom: [beaming] Thanks, I sure do know a lot!

Mojo Jojo: The intent of my comment was to insult you, you know.

Blossom: I’ll take it as a compliment instead. So! To answer ppgguy06’s question, when it comes to the total amount of Mojo’s plans–

Mojo Jojo: Please. You may think you know all there is to know about me, your greatest villainous foe, but all you and your annoying sisters ever do is try to thwart my genius plots. You mean to have me believe the unbelievable notion that you have counted them as well? Ha! It isn’t as if you have some of log or record of–

Blossom: [proudly whips out a huge accordion folder bursting with papers] I own records logging every plan that Mojo Jojo has enacted upon the city of Townsville.

Mojo Jojo: WHAT?!

Blossom: Yep! I’ve kept track of every single stupid scheme of yours, from the massive plots to the petty thefts, outlined and detailed in full.

Mojo Jojo: Give me that! [snatches the folder and starts rifling through it, picking through each plan record and muttering to himself] Oh, and I see these records are rife with your usual smart alecky comments. Just look at this one. [clears his throat] “Mojo Jojo once again attempted to rob Townsville Jewelry Store early Friday morning, pursuing a plot to purloin all of the precious pearls he could plunder. Luckily, I (with additional support from my sisters) was able to cut him down to size with my usual super powered polish and charm. Seems like he’ll have a hard time trying to pry his way out of his latest prison sentence, or out of his new pair of metal bracelets for that matter.” And you took the liberty of entitling this plot of mine “Pearls Before Crime?”

Blossom: [shrugs] It had a nice ring to it.

Mojo Jojo: [going through the other plans] Ugh, it seems as if most of these are similarly named with awful puns.

Blossom: They’re awful plans, what do you expect?

Mojo Jojo: [grumbles at her comment as he continues looking through the files] I certainly did not expect this level of organization on your behalf, at least. Look at all that is included in these documents! Blueprints? Organizational charts? Photographs of the crime scenes?! Hmmmm. Seems like an awful lot of material to collect. [grins smugly] Obsessed with my evil genius much?

Blossom: You wish, monkey boy. I have files for every villain that we fight. As any good leader should, I keep track of all of our encounters with evil in order to detect any villainous patterns and form the best counterattack plans against our foes. Your plans tend to get a little more involved, so this file just happens to be larger than the others.

Mojo Jojo: [looking pleased with himself] Well, naturally…

Blossom: [shakes her head] But I think the wrong question is being asked here. What we really need to ask isn’t about the amount, but about how many of Mojo’s plans have actually been a success? And… hmm… let’s see… [takes back the folder and pantomimes pulling out a document, gasping in mock surprise at her empty hand] Wow, imagine that! None exist!

Mojo Jojo: Rrrrgh! You will not exist when I am through with yo– agh! [lunges at her, but trips onto his face as she gracefully swoops out of the way] Curses!

Blossom: [chuckles] Well, even though the question was originally for Mojo, I hope I helped, ppgguy06! Unfortunately the one thing I can’t help with is how terrible his schemes are.

[codenamesazanka]

Any thoughts on an au where Hana becomes All For Ones successor instead of Tomura? Or where they are both his successors and have a sorta Daki and Gyutaro (Demon Slayer) dynamic of villainous siblings?

I once wondered why exactly AFO didn’t pick Hana to kidnap/manipulate/groom. Like, she’s also a Shimura child - in fact she was born first, so if he had been planning for a sort of ‘Torture All Might With A Shimura Descendant (Before Then Using The Child As A Vessel For My Immortal Evil Soul?)’ all this time, he could’ve started earlier. She’s a girl, who looks even more like Nana, so the psychological torment for All Might would’ve been higher, probably.

One of the more popular theories in fandom seems to be: Shimura Tenko was born quirkless; AFO gave him the Decay quirk that would eventually bring ruin to the family and allow for AFO to swoop in as a ‘savior’. And thus it seemed like the Shimura tragedy was plotted by AFO nearly every step of the way:

1) Take one Shimura Child

2) Give them Decay

3) Wait for (or somehow induce) Accident

4) Profit

But then, if this was the plan, why not use Hana? All For One (Quirk) can take away any original quirk Hana had anyways, so Decay could still be bestowed and he can still bullshit some explanation about mutant quirks and innate urge to destroy and cultivate a ‘Symbol of Fear’. Simply put, why Tenko as the figure for his nefarious plan and not Hana?

Was it because AFO found the Shimura family too late and Hana already manifested a quirk and so it would’ve been suspicious if she suddenly changed powers? Was it because AFO didn’t actually have a specific ‘Use Shimura to Eventually Torture All Might’ plan (or had several to choose from but hasn’t decided on one yet) but when Tenko was indeed born quirkless, AFO thought that was too good an opportunity to pass up? Did Tenko have some quality that Hana didn’t and AFO focused on that? Or was it, as the responses to my question suggest, because AFO is a sexist bastard and a girl was no good (although he seemed to have been okay having girls as spares in his shady orphanage)?

It’s all kinda convoluted, these questions and what ifs. In any case, an AU where (Tenko still exists but) Hana was chosen as successor would mean, I think, that: All For One had an eye on the Shimura family for a long while before deciding to enact his plan, and he would specifically pick Hana either for a small bonus psychological torment to give All Might (super Nana look-alike) or because Hana had some quality he preferred/needed (her budding trait of sneakiness?) or a secret third thing. Which means AFO here is just a bit crueler, and his exact plot is slightly different, and also apparently he does not mind having a girl for a vessel (agender/genderfluid All For One, Go!). Fun elements to explore.

-

For some shameless self promotion tho, I actually have written an (unfinished) fanfic in which Hana survives and while she isn’t AFO’s successor, she’s nevertheless also groomed to take on a role in AFO’s evil plots, as sort of support for Tomura:

Unfortunately I am not familiar with Demon Slayer and am not sure what dynamic Daki and Gyutaro have, but I too had wanted to explore what villainous Shimura siblings would be like.

Between the different and perhaps clashing survival tactics both would develop; the potential for some unnerving AFO/OFA older sibling-younger sibling parallel; me having AFO give Hana a lying quirk (because he’s cruel with a terrible sense of humor like that); and me taking cues from this real interesting quote of Oneshot Tenko’s Hana’s

—I thought I could have a fascinating AU to play with. It’s a WIP I’m actually particularly proud of, and if you decide to read it, I hope you like it too!