#bracket D

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

John

This fella is Fascinating. just trust me on this he deserves to be here

He tried so hard to do the right thing, he feels bad and says things would be better if he was never born. He thinks he should've just stayed acting like a monster and continued to act threatening.

(LONG PROPAGANDA INCOMING)

John. Milgram. Here's a short description of the fortunes and misfortunes of the guy. It gets worse before it gets better (probably).

While MILGRAM is a prison that judges a bunch of sympathetic killers, it doesn't consider him to be one – it didn't even exactly know he existed until too little too late, when it got its grabby hands on the brain of prisoner 009, who claimed to not know anything about any murder he'd have committed. Then, footage from his brain was extracted, as MILGRAM does, into a music video, and… that was MeMe. Ninth prisoner, Kayano Mikoto, was revealed to have DID, and what obviously who do you think actually Killed Someone?

Enter John. Well. Mikoto is half deeply unaware half subconsciously scared of his existence, so the MV painted him in a rather. Deeply disturbing way, bathing in bloody baths and all that (not a blood bath though! easy mistake). Adding to that him showing up in the first Voice Drama for five seconds to punch the "protagonist" and yell for a bit, and the result wasn't. Assuring. The fandom proceeded to treat him like a cardboard cutout and variously dunk on MILGRAM for having a cliché "evil" character w/ DID despite the overall well handling of complex characters.

Two years time skip: second season ending. We get to prisoner 009 again. The protagonist Finally gets to chat with John: and voila, he's admitting to the crime, he's apparently "killed a bunch of people because they annoyed him", which means, as he's saying, Mikoto has nothing to do with the crime at all! And he, as per the judging system, should be forgiven, right! Well, he's so full of shit. The music video immediately reveals how protective he feels of Mikoto (and well, he definitely doesn't rebuke That one), that the events of murder were somehow tied in to Mikoto's job at a black company, his continuous overworking and him being mentally on the brink of breaking; that any committed violence was For The Sake of Mikoto and that John feels deeply horrible for messing up his life in any way. By making himself into the image of a "monster" he's trying to make Mikoto look good in comparison and be forgiven and all. He also mentioned if Mikoto is voted innocent he's gonna try to go dormant since he's The Issue, right, and the audience/protagonist hates him, Right, and Mikoto Also Hates him, Right?

I'm underselling the sheer devotion of this guy tbh.

Yeah, the fandom results were kinda mixed on that one. Lots of people immediately started to love him dearly and kinda forgot any people were maimed or killed with baseball bats; lots also got sold on him "messing up Mikoto's life" and actually voted Mikoto innocent Specifically because of John's promise to eventually "disappear". There's more of the babygirlifying kind in the English side of the fandom that I've seen, to be fair. And that's around where we are!

Dazai Osamu

He did bad things in the Mafia. He's trying to get better. He abused people but he also saved other people. Fans portraying him as an unforgivable abuser are WRONG. He perpetuated an abused cycle on Akutagawa thinking he was right to do that, because of trauma, before he could leave. But he left. He's still treating Akutagawa wrong because he's trying to be a better person but doesn't realize that it will not erase what he did and that he can't just ignore the past. Fans portraying him as a pure angel who didn't know what he was doing because he was sad are WRONG TOO. He abused Akutagawa. He was traumatized but it doesn't give him the right to traumatize innocent people. He's trying to be a better person but he can't keep ignoring Akutagawa. He needs to apologize. And even that won't erase what he did. Dazai is a complex character in a complex situation. He left the abuse cycle and tries to be a good person but did unforgivable things while he was still in this cycle and refuses to aknowledge them. He's not a monster but he's not innocent either.

Dazai used to be a mafia executive until his best friend (a former assassin who remained in the mafia but refused to kill) died. As the friend was dying he told him "I know you don't care about whether you're a good or bad person, so if it doesn't matter to you, be on the side that saves people." Despite that, I've seen countless people insisting that Dazai is a good person/trying his best to be a good person when he really only changed sides by joining a detective agency, while still continuing to do the same things he did while in the mafia (including but not limited to: harassing his coworkers for fun, manipulating people, killing people instead of just trying to incapacitate them, and even torturing an innocent man in one of the side stories). That being said, he's not evil either. Even when he does cruel things, it's not for the sake of being cruel (even when he harasses his coworkers he still has limits), it's just a means to an end. I think most of the confusion comes from a scene where he's talking to a young girl, another former mafia member, who asks if he thinks people can change and he assures her they can, but what the anime left out was that he was thinking about his former assassin friend during that discussion, not himself. The entire series is themed around gray morality, to the point where it's even reflected in the main protagonist and antagonist's designs (mainly white with a bit of black, and mainly black with a bit of white), so I feel like insisting that he's a good person now completely misses the point of the story.

[soundtrackshowdown]

[officialweezerelections]

And now, for mod gf’s least favorite matchup,

BRACKET D

Shoebill Stork (Balaeniceps rex)

They’re tall, clack their beaks, stare at you like that, look like muppets, don’t take care of their weaker young, one submitter was apparently bitten by one and I don’t like thinking about how much that might hurt.

VERSUS

American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)

They’ll eat anything that moves, and that means ANYTHING. They push their spines out of their mouths when they yawn. They are the longest bird native to North America. As adults they have no natural predators. You cannot stop the American White Pelican.

[most-delicious-bugsnax-bracket]

Bracket D, Round 1

[themostdracula]

Bracket D, Round 1

Draculaura from Monster High is a Dracula by blood as a member of the Dracula family.

Lucy Westenra from the book Dracula is a Dracula because she has three boyfriends plus Mina, which mirrors Dracula's three brides plus Jonathan. Bonus points for vampirism.

[first-frost-fallen-snow]

Royalty Bracket

Ardyn Pendragon vs Loralie "Lie" Centra-Gloria-Victoria-Janice-Brooklyn-Quinston of the Caventria family

Marphellus vs Rolin Nightingale

Ayyan Acosta vs Altis Acosta

Asiya Acosta vs Loqi Sturgis

Pearl vs Zahara Isembard

[catholic-character-tournament]

FINALS - Catholic Character Tournament

Propaganda below ⬇️

Wolfwood

I love him. Man who has no faith in himself or humanity or god with so much blood on his hands, fighting for something he knows he can never see come to fruition in person. He carries his own literal cross and grave marker on his back. Just… he’s so iconic to me.

I'm sure I'm not the first to submit him. But I did it anyway. I hope he wins and I'll do anything in my power to make sure he does

Dude is literally a priest who carries around a giant cross. Yes he uses the cross to murder people but that is besides the point. Also he has a mini church he carries around for on-the-go confession services.

hes literally a priest(hes not a priest in the reboot but he is in the original and thats what matters to Me). he carries around a cross that is actually secretly a gun with guns inside that gun. he runs a church/orphanage. he carries around a portable confession booth and charges people money for it because he is broke as fuck. he dies bleeding out over an alter begging to god for forgiveness he doesnt think he deserves. he is everything to me.

look at this man he's a priest with a cross shaped gun that (spoilers) dies against the side of a church while waxing poetic about life and redemption (/spoilers), this is the Catholic ever.

Wolfwood is liiiiiterally Judas coded in the text. AND his weapon is a massive cross that turns into a machine gun and a LASER. Not to mention his religious trauma. Oh baby. The religious trauma.

Homeboy literally walks around with a giantass 300lb machine gun shaped like a cross called the Punisher. Hes a priest/undertaker depending on what version of trigun you reference. Grew up in a church orphanage. Also literally walks around with a portable confessional box for people to pay to confess to him. Need i say more.

HE IS LITERALLY JUDAS. he is literally leading the jesus allegory to his doom. hes also in love with the jesus allegory (vash). he is also carrying arouns a giant cross rhat is also a gun. hes literally catholic and judas and his tits are perfect. in one piece of official art he's wearing a cross choker. also the catholicism on gunsmoke is about making vash submit. wolfwood looking at that pathetic wet mess of a man oh i can make him submit easily.

He literally carries around a giant cross and is referred to as a priest by multiple characters. also he offers people confessionals

He carries a huge machine gun that is in the shape of a cross that is really heavy (he is strong) and his boobs are huge. So you know hes serving cunt in a god honoring way. Also in trigun 1998 he brings around a small chapel that he uses as a portable confessional and in trigun stampede he holds funeral services as an undertaker which are way overly priced. Also he dies very gayly (basicly confessing his love to his best boy friend forever)

Nick's funny bc he's probably the least Christian acting guy but is literally a preacher. There's a running gag with Vash asking some variation of "what the hell kinda churchman are you?" His gun is a gigantic cross. He rides a shitty motorcycle in the middle of the desert.

ok so thematically the main conflict in trigun is about peace vs violence and its represented by the characters vash and knives respectively. the two aren't /technically/ angels but thematically and through imagery they are and are comparable to michael and lucifer specifically. ANYWAYS. vash and knives are the characters who are constantly pushing and pulling at wolfwood's morality, sort of like a "the devil and god are raging inside of me" kinda deal. his grappling with his morality and faith is a big factor in his character. also he has a giant fucking gun shaped like a cross. and he dies in a church while praying.

Bros an orphan who grew up at a Catholic orphanage and taken away to be trained and genetically changed into a supercharged assassin for interworldly beings that have lots of angel imagery attached. Guy thought he was just going to be taken to become a missonary...instead he got 6 years of religious trauma. He still wears a cross necklace and holds it often. His gun is a literal cross "full of mercy" (its a missile launcher). He never really believed fully in the faith or anything, but the way he interacts with it is FASCINATING. He's jaded by the planet he lives on and his upbringing, and makes him say his most iconic quote: "We're nothing like God. Not only do we have limited powers, but sometimes we're driven to become the devil himself." He prays to a God he doesn't know if he actually believes in, asking for another day— for hope for the human race. The organization hes part of (The Eye of Michael) works for an interdimensional otherworldly being that has an incredible amount of angelic metaphor and imagery attached who intends to purge the planet of humans... and ends up siding with that guy's twin brother who is so Jesus coded it's insane. They are best friends even as Wolfwood is acting under instructions to babysit and watch him for his twin brother. He dies after facing down against his old mentor (named Chapel) and his pseudo brother from the orphanage who was taken into the Eye as well and his Jesus bestie buries him and sticks his cross-gun in the ground after losing his shit crazy style and using his pseudo alien angel Jesus powers to lash out at his brother for being the cause of Wolfwood's death. Rest in peace king

64.media.tumblr.com

via @monvment

Sister Michael

She drives a DeLorean. She does judo on Fridays. She likes a good statue and despises the French. Her full nun name is Sister George Michael, after the guy from Wham!. She is the fiercest nun you’ll ever come across and, if you’re attending Lady Immaculate College, she’s the woman in charge. So whatever you do, if you’re feeling anxious or worried or just need a chat: don’t come crying to her.

joined the nunnery for the free accommodation?

she does love a good statue it has to be said

She is the headmistress of a catholic school <3

sister michael so reminds me of the nuns who taught me. they're tough and sometimes a little harsher than a woman who dedicated her life to god should be but they're also wonderful people. i had a nun teacher who was 60 years old and would do handstands. another nun (also in her 60s) told me god was nonbinary. another was really mean and made me cry. (so did the handstand nun.) while the catholic girls school is The Catholic Experience, the school wouldn't have been the same for me or the derry girls without at least one nun who seemed to have sprung up out of the ground fully formed, ageless.

[ectonuritez]

"I think I tell Megatron what I would do to every Decepticon and Autobot I could find. I think my voice breaks. I think I am broken."

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

On the left, the Yuan-ti Abomination! 10 ft (3 m) long snake person, so many of these! They can constrict, cause fear, and have mild mind manipulation! Fun nature fact: Snakes and lizards actually have two hemipenes (cloaca extensions for reproduction), each hooked up to a different teste so they can swap between them while one's recharging. Given this one's almost entirely snake, I'd assume it has the same. They also means two clits!

On the right is the orc! 6 ft (1.8 m) tall and naturally beefy, enhanced by a love of fighting and wrestling. 5e orcs are either green or greyish blue depending on the setting/location, this one being grey. Meaning it's one of the extraplanar invaders from planet orc, who chilled out quickly because they don't have to deal with messages from constant the gods. Don't worry about it. I don't think I need to explain what an orc is.

[its-to-the-death]

Battle of the Gingers Bracket D Round 2

Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb) vs Kim Possible (Kim Possible)

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Doug Eiffel

I get he’s the main character but he has done some pretty bad stuff, not to mention being neglectful of his duties in life or death situations. everyone in the fandom forgives him very easily

Evan Hansen

Oh my god. No one has ever had a normal take about this guy. He did some truly awful things, partially for altruistic reasons, partially for personal gain, and crucially he did it all while being an extremely unwell 17-year-old. And there are people out there who think he should have ritualistically killed himself for his crimes. He's just a little guy and it's his birthday.

[soundtrackshowdown]

[officialweezerelections]

BRACKET D

Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta)

Pointy

VERSUS

Capuchinbird (Perissocephalus tricolor)

One nomination says, “Are. Are you kidding me. It looks like someone took a perfectly good bird, removed the neck entirely, and attached an alien head onto its shoulders. The dark vacant eyes do not help. And if you think this is all, you're wrong. The sound it makes is....like an old computer attempting and failing to run.”

[most-delicious-bugsnax-bracket]

[themostdracula]

Bracket D, Round 1

Kate Bush at the 1986 Brit Awards and Alex Turner in the AM era are both Draculas based on aesthetics and/or vibes.

[sleepyhead-poll]

FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Usagi Tsukino:

Girl would far rather take a nap than fight the forces of evil, but thankfully for us (and thanks to a persuasive cat) she does both. Loves naps almost as much as she loves food, which is a lot.

in the very first episode, she prioritizes taking a nap over studying immediately after getting in trouble for failing a test, in the episode where people are coming down with a sleeping sickness, Usagi says it sounds nice, because you can spend your whole life dreaming, in one episode, a student from another school asks her what her best subjects are, and she replies "naps and lunch," she frequently oversleeps and has to rush to get ready in order to not be late to school (sometimes, despite rushing, she's still late), and her little introduction she does at the beginning of every episode in the early seasons mentions that she loves to sleep.

PEOPLE OF EARTH SAILOE MOON NEEDS YOUR ENERGY

Portgas D. Ace:

he’s got narcolepsy and regularly falls asleep in his food, but given his personality I feel like he’d fall asleep in his lunch even without the narcolepsy

Routinely falls asleep in the middle of meals, still becomes the second division commander of the whitebeard pirates.

he sleeps anytime anywhere

Ace's introduction is the civilians thinking he was dead because he fell asleep so suddenly. Every one piece character has a trait and his is falling asleep while eating.

Ace Propaganda I have a legal obligation as an Ace kin to fight for my man - The narcolepsy thing happens multiple times both in the anime and in the prequel books. - Every time he does that, he wakes up and wipes his mouth on the nearest person’s clothes, save for in the first Ace light novel where Deuce scolded him awake - He also does this on Buggy’s ship and once again they thought he was dead. Why he was there I don’t know. - Also he’s got fire powers so therefore human heater and the coziest of naps