#but also voice aside yes his design is also targeted at Me Specifically

[astranauticus]

my friend, about liu xiao: i mean you have a type! and i can tell!!

me, reeling: i- ?????

[stillness-in-green]

MVA In Memoriam (4/5)

The Comprehensive Account of the Butchering of My Villain Academia

(Introduction and Part One, Episode 108: My Villain Academia) (Part Two, Episode 109: Revival Party) (Part Three, Episode 110: Sad Man's Parade)

Part Four, Episode 111: Origin: Shimura Tenko

Chapter 233 – Bright Future

• Twice clearly having arranged a Skeptic puppet to where its arm can be used as a pillow for Toga’s neck. A cute little character detail while also being kind of disturbing? Very on-brand for the League! A not-immediately-plot-crucial visual of a member of the League demonstrating obvious care for another member? The guillotine awaits!

• A little explanation about how clones’ physicality and memories work relative to the last time Twice saw the people the clones are based on. This is a very useful little nod of explanation to something that remained unclear from the dialogue of Mr. Clone-press last chapter. Twice’s quirk is pretty arcane in its ins and outs, frankly, and the clearer those details are, the fewer plot holes you’re leaving for later.

• The scene of Skeptic being right on the verge of confronting Twice. Skeptic has, oh, about five moments where he’s obviously a big tense neurotic who’s unpleasant to be around if things aren’t going his way, and the anime deleted or downplayed all but two of them. As ever, it’s obscenely damaging to the characterization of the MLA cast, who we have little enough time with as it is. Further, it was a particularly weird choice to make with Skeptic, who is as of this writing the only major MLA character who’ll emerge still free and active from the War Arc. Why shaft the characterization of the one of new characters who’s going to be getting the most attention out of any of them in the next arc, with yet more scenes yet to come after?[1]

• A full page’s-worth of Spinner’s rationalizations on targeting Trumpet and ordering the Twice doubles to do the same. This lays out the details on why targeting Trumpet stands to relieve some of the load on Shigaraki. It isn’t because Trumpet’s quirk makes the crowds more dangerous, though that is true. Spinner targets Trumpet because he’s seen enough to know that attacking the MLA’s leaders gets them crazy riled up; he knows that if he makes himself a threat to Trumpet, then all Trumpet’s followers’ attention will shift focus to Spinner, leaving Shigaraki with less to deal with.           Spinner also knows that that is ludicrously dangerous to him personally, given his weak quirk, but he actively makes that choice anyway, because that’s how much he’s devoted himself to Shigaraki without (yet) quite articulating the nature and reasons for that devotion. Targeting Trumpet without any of that reasoning made for a perfectly sound tactical decision, but it missed the regard Spinner shows the unnamed mobs of the MLA, and it really missed the probable savage beatdown and even possible death that Spinner consciously chooses to risk for Shigaraki’s sake.           Of course, a chunk of what the episode deleted is flashbacks to scenes the anime also cut, so they couldn’t figure into Anime!Spinner’s reasoning. This does not excuse yet more cuts to Spinner’s arc and characterization; it only adds to how badly the anime maimed him.           Also, on a less salty but still confused note, deleting all the Twice clones from the beginning of the scene and just having Spinner running along a wall past mobs of people instead of laboriously fighting his way through the street to the van was really dumb. Why did all those MLA people just stand there and let him run by? Where did all the Twice clones that just helped save Spinner from a huge flurry of long-distance attacks disappear to? Come on.

• Trumpet’s thought that using Sevens Loud will draw every bit of strength from their warriors, but that it’s necessary. Setting aside that it looks far less necessary when there hasn’t been a crowd of Twice clones fighting Trumpet’s people this whole time, just Spinner by his lonesome, we still lost quite a bit to this cut. Firstly, a nuance on the trade-off Incite gives—that its stat-boost is temporary, and that it’s borrowing from the future to pay for the present, a stock that is limited and a bill that will come due when the effect wears off.           Secondly, it’s another demonstration that the MLA leaders aren’t just thoughtlessly wasting their followers’ lives; they’re very consciously doing cost/benefit analysis on how much danger their people are in versus what stands to be gained by the potential exertion or outright deaths those people will suffer. It’s cold reasoning, yes, but that’s how the Liberation Army operates: not for the personal gain or lackadaisical ease of the people on top—Trumpet would just have been in the tower speaking through city-wide loudspeakers, if that were the case—but for the advancement of the group’s ideals.           It also just grants Trumpet some interiority, but of course the anime can’t have that.

• The note in Trumpet’s meta-ability explanation that the more his voice causes the air to vibrate, the stronger Incite’s effect. This is—good god, it is literally the entire design mentality behind Sevens Loud! Sevens Loud purpose isn't to make his voice louder so more people can hear him (which I would think is the most logical assumption an anime-only person would make as to why he puts it on); it’s to make himself louder because being louder enhances the boost. It’s about the quality of the effect, not the quantity of targets. This is why Trumpet has the thought about how using Sevens Loud will drain the strength reserves of his people. There’d be no correlation there if Sevens Loud were only about boosting his range.

• When Spinner got porcupined in the anime, they did a close-up on his face, possibly to avoid the gore of showing the spines piercing through his forearm. That’s fine, but they also emphasized the reaction by having him lose his grip on the huge fuck-off knife he had clutched in his teeth. In the manga, sure, he yells in pain, but he doesn’t lose the knife. Indeed, he gets the guy off him by slashing at him with it—a shot the anime dropped. So Spinner doesn’t even get to keep displays of his pain tolerance, a trait he doubtless improved during those six weeks against Machia. Why does the anime hate Spinner so much, you guys? Why did it go out of its way to make him look lamer, when Dabi and Toga were out there getting anime-original flourishes to make them look cooler?

• Spinner’s thoughts, “When I get inspired to act, I don’t know what the heck I’m doing! I’m just a loser jumping on a bandwagon. Or at least that’s what it looks like.” A humorous bit of self-awareness from Spinner here. The anime got at the self-awareness. The humor, as we’ll see, not so much.

• Spinner’s thoughts, “Look at me. Look at me!! With all that prejudice in your eyes!” Hah hah, laughed BNHA the anime nervously, what prejudice are you talking about, Spinner? No idea what you could possibly be referring to there! This one’s particularly annoying because, while one might think that the anime was just dodging the heteromorphobia angle it eradicated all references to back at the beginning of the arc, the prejudice line isn’t even about heteromorphobia, not really.           See, the Japanese line there literally translates to, “With those colored glasses!”—to see with colored glasses being a Japanese idiom for seeing something from a biased viewpoint. So aside from being a wordplay jab at Trumpet’s choice in eyewear, it’s also about Trumpet’s expressed view that Spinner, having been a shut-in with a weak quirk who decided to take his resentment out on the world, can’t possibly amount to anything much. So, what, did the people in charge of making those cuts think Trumpet was right? Why even keep the line where he disparages Spinner if you’re not going to let Spinner call it what it is? He’s not calling out fantasy racism there, anime! He’s calling out the bias against weak quirks that even the good guys in this world sometimes partake in!           Possibly it’s because non-villains in the world[2] sometimes use reasoning that leads logically to quirk supremacism that the anime got gunshy with it, or it was more reluctance to give the villains—and the Too-Real Iguchi Shuuichi especially—moral ground for accusations against their society that get too close to real life. Whatever the motivation, it’s a bullshit cut.

• Shigaraki calling RD “Detnerat,” presumably because he neither knows RD’s real name nor cares to dignify him by using his code name. The anime, again, made neither the connection nor Shigaraki’s recognition explicit, so it lost the specificity and pettiness of that little snub.

• A little exchange between Giran and a Twice clone as they flee. It doesn’t give you much you wouldn’t assume just from seeing them flee, but it always feels more immediate and empathetic when the characters talk and you can see their expressions, instead of just a quick shot of them from behind as they run away in complete silence. Heck, running away in complete silence is actively out of character for Twice!

• Because the anime has some kind of aversion/restriction on showing hand-related violence, it radically changed how Shigaraki lost his fingers,[3] resulting in the loss of several important shots. To the best of my parsing, in the manga, when Re-Destro makes that first big jump to avoid Shigaraki’s decay wave, he comes back down specifically aiming for Shigaraki’s outstretched left hand, spread wide and flat on the ground. Shigaraki tries to evade (you can see the blur of his left arm in the panel where RD lands), but either RD does manage to clip the hand or he simply hits the ground with so much force that the sheer explosive burst of rock shreds Shigaraki’s hand and part of his coat sleeve. Being so much larger, RD then simply snags Shigaraki by the wrist before he can get out of range. It’s very fast, a burst of speed and violence, and very different (read: cooler) from Shigaraki flipping end over end in slow motion in a way that seemed to imply visually that he was thrown well out of RD’s grabbing range.           As to the shots we lost? I counted three. First, Hana’s hand crumpling amidst all the flying debris. Second, that big dramatic panel of Shigaraki’s maimed hand ribboning blood into the air as the narration box finally drops Re-Destro’s identity and code name. Third, the shot of him catching Shigaraki, almost delicately, between one thumb and forefinger and delivering the, “Was it this hand that committed such evil acts?” line—a clear threat to what of that hand Shigaraki has remaining—as we find out what his meta-ability is.           This is all hugely dramatic in the manga, because, of course, readers always assumed Shigaraki needed all five fingers to activate his quirk, and here Re-Destro nigh-effortlessly robs him of fully half his capacity to use it. It’s a shocking turn-around and instantly ups RD’s threat level by allowing him to permanently maim Shigaraki in a way that no one, hero or villain, has done before or since. Robbing Re-Destro of the immediacy of that seemingly devastating blow—inflicted within moments of meeting the real Shigaraki—did immeasurable damage to his credibility as an arc boss.           The shot in the manga is also just arresting visually, with RD finally getting to properly loom over Shigaraki. Most of the shots up to this point have been framed such that, while RD is obviously bigger, he and Shigaraki have still been moving and fighting in a pretty level way. This is the first place where the viewer is situated so squarely behind Shigaraki that they can really feel how massive RD is in comparison. It’s certainly a more impressive visual than this mess—thanks, anime; thanks, whatever broadcasting standards forced overworked and uninspired animators to undertake a redraw of RD’s quirk reveal panel when every other member of the MLA brass had theirs carried over directly from the manga.

• A chapter-ending cliffhanger of Slidin’ Go helping direct traffic on the outskirts of Deika and the warning rumble as Gigantomachia approaches. Aside from being a nice little tension boost—Will Gigantomachia roll up just in time to see Re-Destro making a mess of Shigaraki? Who will he target? Will Shigaraki ever be able to win him over if he sees a scene like that?—it’s good foreshadowing for what the news reports will eventually be saying. Remember, the claim is that a bunch of villains lured Deika’s heroes away and then attacked the city while it was defenseless; that’s why we never see any of the MLA’s heroes involved with the fight once it starts. And now, here, we find out where they’ve been the whole time: making sure no outsiders get in who might be able to undermine that narrative.

Framing Shifts

• Once again had an MLA member using their Detnerat item say its name out loud, when it’s clear in the manga that they’re just thinking the names internally. Once again, it was kind of silly.

• When Spinner flashes back to watching Stain on TV and being inspired, the manga uses a shot of Stain’s face, snarling and defiant. The anime used—a shot of Stain from behind, only visible from the shoulders to the knees, hunched so that his lower back and ass were towards the camera. Bones… What exactly were you implying lit Spinner’s fire there? Or did you just not have the time or budget to go pull Stain’s reference sheets for drawing his face?

• A tone issue, but a major one: Spinner should be grinning, face alight with accusatory challenge, as he hurls his accusations of the MLA/Trumpet being the same bandwagon-jumping nobodies that he is. This is the moment in the manga where we see Spinner truly throw his hesitations and his doubts to the wind and embrace Shigaraki’s nihilistic fervor and the beauty, value and profundity of emptiness. So what if I’m empty? So what if he wants emptiness? Who cares about other peoples’ ideals if their ideals leave no room for me? It’s not a heroic triumph, but it’s a triumph all the same, and losing Spinner’s smile made the moment far too bitter.

• Meanwhile, in exactly the opposite problem, Shigaraki by this point is not smiling. In fact, he’s barely on his feet, swaying violently in place with accompanying sound effects. While his words are openly mocking, he seems to wholly lack the energy to back them up with his usual verve. The anime didn’t have him smiling, admittedly, but the whole time the ‘camera’ wasn’t directly on his face, his voice actor was reading the lines with an uneven, chuckling cadence that suggested Shigaraki was seconds away from breaking into howls of laughter. He was also, of course, impossibly clean, at a point at which his manga counterpart is muddy, bloody and tattered from the horrifically extended combat he’s been living for six weeks. It’s stuff like this that made it so impossible to take the Army or even Machia as much of a threat in the anime, when, other than the red cords on his hands being broken, Shigaraki looked absolutely no different than usual.

Additions

• Gave Spinner a tiny bit of new animation when he got mobbed by people hopped up on Incite. It was nice, but if they were going to give him a flourish, I’d rather it have come when he swipes Porcupine Dude off him with a combat knife. Or, you know, just kept the bit of him telling the Twices to attack and his reasoning on why.

• Cut inside briefly to show a ballerina girl dancing through a darkened apartment right before she sliced a neat circle out of the wall. I love it, A+, exactly the kind of expansion on the action of the manga I wanted to see. My only complaint is that her manga self looked more like Pearl from Steven Universe.[4] XD

• A quick new shot of RD when Shigaraki was hounding him about his feelings. His teeth were visibly gritted, the corners of his mouth pulled down. It stands out because there’s only one shot of RD there in the manga, and in it, he’s smiling, close-mouthed and calm. The anime copied said shot, smile and all, then cut away, and when it cut back, Re-Destro had a totally different expression on his face. Baffling. Anime!RD having a dour scowl everywhere manga!RD is smiling in a tight, controlled way was all over the fight scene, and it detracted from the sense of RD’s menace every time.

Chapter 234 – Destruction Sense

• The illustration(s) accompanying Re-Destro’s, “Let’s not judge people by their quirks,” line. The pictures are cute, but the real loss there was the note informing us that they’re excerpts from a children’s book published by Shoowaysha—Curious’s outfit—called Quirks and Us. That’s a very concrete illustration of the kinds of things the MLA is getting up to in the world, and an equally concrete thing an anime-only viewer lost. Of course, that viewer never even found out Curious was in publishing, so it wouldn’t have meant anything on that front, but there is one other thing I think is notable: the way that book implies that the only people explicitly pushing a “don’t judge other people by their quirks” message are the radical Liberationists.           See, the rest of the story touches on the virtues of a nonjudgmental attitude here and there, but actually finding people willing to say it out loud is—unprecedented, I think. Deku comes across situations where he could say something like that multiple times and he never, ever does—not to Shouto, nor to Shinsou, nor to Eri, nor to the giant fox lady. And that’s not even touching on Shouji’s mask, or the discrimination Spinner faced, or the CRC “losing support” without being declared illegal. I think the manga itself is against judging people by their quirks, but it’s interesting that it doesn’t make its characters into mouthpieces to say as much. This is because its characters are thoroughly enmeshed in a society that very much does judge people by their quirks, regardless of whether or not it will say that doing so is bad or rude or prejudiced.           Re-Destro and the MLA aren’t immune, of course—Re-Destro himself says that quirks are linked to personality—but they adhere to a different set of values than the larger society does. While Hero Society talks about quirks in terms of being heroic and/or useful versus villainous and/or useless, the MLA spectrums instead emphasize how capable a person’s quirk is of helping them exert their will and how ambitious the quirk’s bearer is in that exertion. That is, their ethics are less about morality and utility-to-society than they are about aspiration and utility-to-self.[5] Both worldviews have their pros and cons, but that, I think, is what the children’s book is getting at when it says not to “judge”—don’t assign an arbitrary moral value to a quirk; judge a person by their actions.           And isn’t it interesting, that the only explicit verbal statement of that value comes from the leader of a radical cult descended from a famous insurrectionist quoting a children’s book published by a member of selfsame radical cult? The value is not ever stated by a member of the heroic cast, so are we to assume that the heroes don't actually believe it? Do people profess to believe it but everyone knows it’s only for courtesy’s sake, with only the MLA willing to breach that wall of “things we don’t talk about in polite society” to actually talk about it in anything other than platitudes? Obviously, you lose this entire line of discussion when the "don't judge people by their quirks" value is just never mentioned at all.

• The phrase, “In that case,” from RD’s, “You will never measure up to me.” It establishes continuity to what RD was saying before. He’s not taking breaks from talking while Shigaraki has flashbacks; the two are happening concurrently.

• RD’s, “Cracking apart…?” reaction to his Decayed fingertip, and the dripping blood from the injury. I’m not hugely fussed about the former, but I like the latter as indicative of what Re-Destro’s Stress powers actually do. That is to say, he isn’t covering himself in a thick shell of Stress power or something; his Stress powers make him physically larger, infusing his body and swelling his size. That’s why he bleeds when Shigaraki touches his fingertip.           Admittedly, the size distinction was more obvious in the anime, where the audience watched RD’s shoulders inflate like balloons last episode, compared to the manga, where you don’t get in-between animation. Still, given that RD still has that wound even when he goes back down to normal size, and is still wearing bandages for his speech a week later,[6] it’d be nice to mark the severity of the wound with a bit of blood. Oddly, the anime did keep the wound for the crater scene, visible red slices opened in the flesh along the length of his finger, very obviously the sort of injury that would have bled upon being first sustained. Maybe RD ran afoul of whatever the studio mandate is on when Decay has a dust effect and when it leaves gore? (More of that later.)

• Shigaraki’s, “Mother!” for the first panel we see of her. It’s obvious enough who she probably is, but odd that we got a whole bunch of narration for Hana, and likewise an acknowledgment of his grandparents, but not even a single word for Nao.

• Very significantly drops the grandfather’s, “Eating yummy things helps make the sadness go away.” Grandpa’s not just randomly handing Tenko his favorite snack in that memory—he’s trying to treat some kind of grief or wrong without actually addressing the wrong, opting to just put a flavorful band-aid on it. That could be fine if it were something outside Grandpa’s control, but we’ve already gotten some early hints from Hana’s phrasing that things are not okay in the household, and thus the grandfather’s attempt to bribe Tenko with sweets is just as ominous a sign of what’s to come as the grandmother’s attempt to guilt him into not crying lest he make her cry too.

• A little shot of Shigaraki stirring in the rubble when RD answers the phone. It’s a nice demonstration of their size difference, especially comparing both of them to Machia, who we just saw tearing through buildings like the kaiju his theme music declares him to be.

Framing Shifts

• When Shigaraki narrates that Hana always took him by the hand when he got weepy, she actually does take his hand in the manga, her fingers wrapped around his, his clasped over hers. It emphasizes that this is what he can’t do anymore, simply hold hands with people, the innocence lost aspect, and it suggests the closeness he once had with his sister.           In the anime, she reached out a hand but wound up taking him by the wrist instead, his hand splayed open beneath hers. This suggested, albeit very implicitly, that maybe that innocence was something he never had from the beginning; it also suggested less reciprocity in his relationship with Hana. Even though Tomura said in narration that their hands were joined, what we saw was that Hana just pulled him where she wanted him and he didn’t fight her on it, not that he held her hand in return.           Alternatively, the anime could have been drawing a parallel to how her hand would eventually be gripping his wrist in a much different context (a more necrotic one, for starters) later in life, though if that's what they were going for, they could have stood to tweak the dialogue so it actually matched the onscreen action. (Credit to @robotlesbianjavert and @aysall respectively for these two theories!)

• Shigaraki still having his fingers when Re-Destro squeezed his hand made RD look like a real moron. I assume the intention was that he assumed he’d done enough damage—broken bones, torn ligaments, etc—to prevent Shigaraki from being able to move his hand in more than spastic twitches, but like, if all it takes is a hard enough spasmodic clench to dust you, you are playing much riskier games than the MLA is generally portrayed as favoring. (Not that the anime kept many of the scenes that demonstrated all the planning and prep that the MLA did as groundwork for their attack, as I have complained about at length.)           In the same sequence, Anime!RD turned and bodily hurled Shigaraki away from him, while Manga!RD threw him a similar distance with nothing more than a flick of a finger. Anime, why you gotta make Re-Destro look so lame all the time?

Additions

• Just one episode prior, the anime managed to turn in an entirely reasonable assemblage of swiping and dodging between Shigaraki and Re-Destro while RD was rambling on about the Mother of Quirks. What the hell was the excuse for this episode’s ridiculous shot of Shigaraki literally running circles—big, broad circles—around RD multiple times in the time it took RD to finish one (1) thought? For heaven’s sake, if you don’t have the budget for flashy, just use slow motion or more flashback animation or something. I know there’s more leeway for long thoughts in manga, where the reader understands that thoughts are moving far faster than action, and that it can be hard to bridge that gap for anime, where motion is motion but voice acting still has to rattle its way to the end of a sentence. I understand that measures have to be taken to account for that. Still, I promise, something that just looks a bit padded is much preferable to something that looks outright dumb.

• I admit to having found huge Stress monster RD pulling out a teeeeeny-tiny cellphone very funny—even more so the distinct cracking sound it made when Skeptic reported in bad news and RD’s fingers tightened infinitesimally—but the manga suggests fairly strongly that RD’s just answering on some kind of earpiece or micro-receiver, the same kind of thing Ujiko hands out and that Skeptic is associated with on multiple occasions. It’d be nice if RD could have kept more of the jokes he actually makes, the ones that stem from his native good humor, rather than the anime making up new ones based entirely in the contrast of Re-Destro and the viewer’s expectations of Re-Destro.

Chapter 235 – Shimura Tenko: Origin

• The man at the door, whom Nao is apologizing to at the beginning of the Tenko flashback and the apparent reason Tenko got busted for playing hero. I don’t love the way deleting this obscured that Tenko, in some fashion, troubled someone to lead to Kotarou dragging him down the hall (the anime also dropped Kotarou’s subsequent line, “Causing trouble?!” that’s supposed to supplement his, “Playing hero again?”), but it’s not like the manga doesn’t imply that the same thing would happen for any hero-based rules infraction, regardless of whether it troubled strangers or not. No, the much, much funnier thing to me is how it just fuckin’ torpedoed the most obvious thing people point to when they posit that All For One gave Tenko Decay, kicking off the entire tragedy: the man at the door with the conspicuously shadowed face and the even more conspicuously AFO-like suit and dress shirt with the top button unfastened.           Listen, I hate that theory and what it would do to the narrative of Shigaraki Tomura/Shimura Tenko as Hero Society’s long-overdue reckoning, the villain they can’t put down and the victim they can’t silence, so watching the anime summarily cut out the scene that really kicked the theory into overdrive was very validating! Conversely, I still can't deny that it's a plausible theory, so if it does turn out to be true, that means the anime shot itself in the foot on the most obvious bit of foreshadowing this side of AFO addressing Tenko by name when he finds him in the alley. The schadenfreude of that would also be very funny. Really, unlike every other cut this season, I regard this one as win-win for my personal experience with the anime.           Incidentally, I was very prepared to complain about the anime dropping all the changes of clothes the Shimura family goes through over the course of the flashback—I regard the timelapse as one of the major points against the AFO Gave Tenko Decay theory, since it’s never taken a quirk bestowed by AFO multiple days, maybe even multiple weeks, to kick in before—but it turns out I’m a lot less bothered about them not taking the time to change the side characters’ clothes when the anime also deletes the dude at the door who is the only reason I care about clarity re: how much time the flashback covers! But just for the record, while they had more outfits than I was expecting them to, the family did go through fewer changes of clothes in the anime than in the manga.

• The full echo of the line about kids being sneaky and simple in favor of Narrator!Shigaraki just letting out this exhausted, rueful, “Ahhh, kids are…” I actually rather like it. It’s a clear reference back to the earlier line without having to restate the whole thing, and Uchiyama Kouki’s delivery is really excellent.

• Kotaro’s first slap of Tenko, the only one directly portrayed on-panel, and Mon-chan’s barking in response. On the one hand, I think there’s an argument to be made for the scene flowing a bit better like this—why wouldn’t Grandpa try to stop him from going for that second slap; why wouldn’t Nao pass Hana off to Grandma and do something instead of just standing there yelling for the entire scene? It makes a bit more sense if they’re hesitant to intervene because Kotarou has “only” grabbed at Tenko’s collar and they don’t yet know how that it’s going to escalate to naked physical violence in a way that it never has before.           On the other hand, that first slap is so visceral and shocking. Nowhere else in the manga is domestic violence portrayed more sharply and directly, in greater detail or more cruelly generous panel space than in this moment. It’s in the difference in size between Kotarou and Tenko, the force behind the hit that’s enough to knock Tenko clear off his feet, the pages upon pages of gut-churning lead-up to this moment and what we know will be following soon after.           Also too, it makes the family’s failure to help Tenko much worse that no one else acts when Kotarou pulls back for a second hit. The first one, you could almost excuse because no one saw it coming; the second throws those justifications out the window and spits on them afterward. Two hits are important—not only for what they tell Tenko in the moment about his family's inaction, but because two hits speak in ways one hit doesn't to how wildly uneven the power balance is in the house, that Nao and her parents could witness something like that and not only fail to intercede, but then take who knows how long to work up the courage to confront Kotarou afterwards.           I understand very well the fear of showing this in a family TV timeslot—the violence is so much more real than any big fantasy beat-‘em-up could ever be—but it’s the kind of thing that really drives home what Tenko needed to be saved from even back then, a social issue that heroes as they currently exist were in no position to address. Far from demonstrating that heroes aren't at fault for what happened to Tenko, though, what this scene truly does is vividly illustrate the flaws in All Might's social contract, in which his power and smile seem to promise that he can save absolutely everyone, only to leave children like Tenko out in the cold with no explanation as to why. It's brutal because it has to be, and the anime shying away from depicting Kotarou's physical abuse undercut that.

Framing Shifts

• There was a bizarre, nonsensical change to the scene at the beginning of the chapter where RD is figuring out how Shigaraki survived/got back up after taking a Burden attack head-on. The manga’s explanation is that Shigaraki didn’t actually take a full force hit because he was Decaying it even as it was blowing him back. This is somewhat silly, given that even a reduced-strength Burden is still strong enough to put him through multiple buildings. It is, however, less silly than the anime’s take, in which Shigaraki touched Re-Destro rather than the corporealized Stress of Burden. How Re-Destro survived a full-fingered touch from Shigaraki’s completely uninjured right hand[7] went totally unexplained; the problem was then compounded by Re-Destro delivering manga-accurate lines about Burden not being an evadable attack despite “evasion” having nothing to do with Shigaraki’s actions.           Anime!Shigaraki didn’t dodge the Burden attack any more than Manga!Shigaraki did; unlike Manga!Shigaraki, however, Anime!Shigaraki also did nothing to reduce the impact of the attack. So not only was how Shigaraki survived the Burden attack not explained, the change to the material also opened up the plot hole of how Re-Destro survived a direct touch attack that Shigaraki in the manga never lands.

• There was also an extremely weird decision made to give Tenko dark, gray-blue eyes, obviously reminiscent of Nana’s, and suggest that they became red at the same time as his hair was changing to white. But in the manga, other than the size, there’s no difference between young Tenko’s eyes and how Shigaraki’s eyes have always been drawn—an unshaded iris with a visible pupil and a relatively thick line delineating the iris from the white of the sclera. Tenko’s eyes never matched those of anyone else in his family, least of all his dark-eyed grandmother. His hair changed color because of a trauma response,[8] but his eyes were always red.

• Relocated Shigaraki’s first, “Little kids…are sneakier than you’d expect. And simpler,” to underscore Hana showing him Nana’s picture in the study, squarely centering the line on her. And like, yes, that line does get its bitter echo later when Hana panics in the face of her father’s fury and throws the blame onto Tenko—but that line isn’t just about her; it’s also about what Tenko wanted to hear from the other adults in his life. It didn’t matter that his father didn’t approve; if he could get at least one adult to say he could be a hero, to take his side, then he could feel vindicated.           It’s a child’s sneaky, simple reasoning: if an adult’s words are absolute, you just have to get one (1) adult to agree with you. It’s asking Dad if you can do something you don’t think Mom will agree to, and then going to Mom with Dad’s permission held defensively in-hand. Laying the line over Hana obscures that it’s as much about Tenko’s craving for external validation as it is Hana’s (entirely understandable) deceitful streak.

• After half a season full of internal monologue being voiced aloud even when it made little sense to do so, the anime decided to render clearly talk-bubbled dialogue—Tenko’s chatting at Mon about how he feels like he could take on the world—as internal monologue instead. Who talks to their animals in their heads when they could be talking at them directly like pet owners the world over?

Additions

• Added a few extra stills of Kotarou rebuking Tenko and dragging him around. I don’t think they’re inaccurate to the situation, though I wonder if it really needed to be underlined two more times than the manga did. Maybe they were trying to make up in advance for deleting the first slap?

• Added a few new stills of Nana and child!Kotarou. They hurt my soul and I love them without reservation.

Chapter 236 – Shimura Tenko: Origin, Part 2

• Hana’s second apology. What needs to get across was communicated with her first apology, but I do think the second one adds some naturalism to the dialogue. It feels very normal for a child feeling extremely guilty to apologize multiple times, like the more times they say it, the more true/convincing it will become.

• A bit of Tenko’s internal monologue—thinking Hana’s name, and Mon’s, and that he can’t talk. The anime slipped some attempts at verbalizing “Mon” into the dialogue, and it was painfully obvious just from listening to him gag and choke that he was too horror-struck to get words out, in ways that would be a little harder to convey on the page. Also, he thinks again that he can’t talk just as Hana runs away, so it gets across regardless. No real complaints here.

• Some thoughts about how he’s itchy, which, given what his itch represents (or at least what he thinks it does), they probably should have kept for continuity’s sake.

• Tenko’s last, “Hana-chan!” just as he grabs for her. I can imagine it having just that little bit more desperate impact, especially given Sekine Arisa’s great delivery of the first “Hana-chan!” but his delivery of the first one was great—weeks later, I can still remember it clearly—so it’s not a snip I’m inclined to doomsay about.

• Hana’s verbalization as the Decay hits her. Given that they kept Mon-chan’s last whimper, it’s kind of inconsistent not to keep this. It’s grueling, sure, but no more so than the rest of the horror show shortly to follow.

• An echo of Nao’s defense of Kotarou’s anti-hero stance. Frankly, I think anime already over-indulges in echoing dialogue we’ve heard not ten minutes prior, so I don’t mind losing this—in the manga, the moments would have fallen in different chapters, so it makes more sense to squeeze in the little reminder, but that wasn’t necessary for the anime, in which the original moment and the callback happened barely more than five minutes apart. It was obvious what the mental image was meant to draw attention to, since Tomura was narrating about exactly what his grievance was, and the image was followed by the two equivalent moments with the grandparents. (Admittedly, it hurt that correlation a bit that Grandpa’s line about the ohagi being intended to make the sadness go away got cut, but the sentiment was pretty clear from the man’s expression of nervy, abashed guilt regardless.)

• The line of Decay that splits Nao’s eye, one of the more vividly horrific little grace notes in the chapter. It undercut the grotesquerie just the tiniest bit, but the scene’s grotesque as-is, so I can understand that slight edit for TV standards. The discrepancy between Decay-to-dust and Decay-to-gore, discussed below in Framing Shifts, was much more damaging.

• A shot of Kotarou just after he hits Tenko with the tree pruning shears in which he looks, briefly, incredibly distraught, like he’s just realized what a monster he’s become. The anime didn’t make the slightest of attempts to keep that spasm of horror, grief, and regret, and thus lost that last moment of sympathy for a man deeply traumatized by a heroic character’s actions. It’s my only complaint about Anime!Kotarou, who I was otherwise far more pleased with than I was afraid might be the case, but it’s a complaint I must register nonetheless.

• A bit of inarticulate yelling before Tenko screams, “You... Die!!” It helps get across Tenko’s rage overflowing, to have that wordless garble before he can actually wrap words around it. He was still having trouble talking, too, so it makes sense that his first vocalization would just be a long, incomprehensible screech. That said, with the music there to supplement the mood in a way the manga would lack, I don’t think the anime’s rendition of the scene suffered overmuch from its absence.

Framing Shifts

• The anime, of course, has always gone the dust route for Decay because Decay is a little too gruesome for family hour TV, and anyway, when Tomura gets as fast with Decay as he is in Deika, he really is just insta-dusting people, such that not even blood remains. But he wasn’t that fast or that thorough as a child, hence why it’s all so much gorier—and it needs to be, because it’s hard to imagine Hana freaking out like she does if all she sees is a pile of dust instead of, well, dog gobbets. (Also, if his family had gone the dust route, it would have been very hard to convince the audience that Tomura’s hands are his family hands and not fakes provided to AFO by Ujiko.)           This obviously put the anime in a difficult spot, but apparently the decision they settled on was—to not decide? Everyone we saw in the active process of decaying decayed into dust as usual, but then once they were done decaying, once that transition from person to ruin was complete, there were all these heaps of gore everywhere. It was a very strange and distracting inconsistency that hurt the scene much more than any of the nearly invisible cuts, and I hope the blu-rays will change it.

• Added Grandpa catching Grandma as she staggered at the sight of things in the yard. Since his body language in the manga (the only non-Decayed shot of him in the sequence) has him leaned more forward, like he’s still halfway through running towards the kids, I thought this was a nice little touch on why he stopped, for reasons other than just the obvious.

                                                         ---

Episode 111 was about half of a really strong episode. Most of my complaints about the Shimura Family flashback are very minor, and most of the ones that are less minor are still easy to overlook when the rest of the presentation was so strong. Unfortunately, the non-flashback half of the episode had as many problems as ever, and those aren't over yet.

Come back next time for Part Five, Episode 112: Origin: Shigaraki Tomura. Assuming my complaining about the finalized gutting of Spinner's arc doesn't get too out of hand—which it may; if so, I'll tack on one final part to wrap things up—I'll also be running down a quick overview of the Paranormal Liberation Front scenes in the Endeavor Agency arc and some various odds & ends.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Yes, I know the Skeptic Confronts Twice scene goes nowhere, but maybe, instead of deleting it, they could have patched it up by showing Skeptic turning away from the confrontation when the tower went down? You know, actually made an effort to improve on the material?

[2] Bakugou, of course, but also Inko, Kotarou, and, very prominently, even All Might. Deku circa MVA has an entire arc lying in wait for him about how much he’s internalized All Might’s paternalism re: having the strongest quirk.

[3] Indeed, as of the scene in the crater, he still hadn’t lost them at all! He had his prosthetic by the time of the speech, so I guess we’re meant to assume that Ujiko or some MLA doctor declared them past saving and amputated them. I hope I don’t need to tell you how unbelievably lame it is to have a shounen manga character sustain a permanent injury like that off-panel.

[4] It’s the pointy nose.

[5] That, at least, is the best way I’ve found to reconcile all the related-but-distinct values professed by the various members of the MLA brass, from Re-Destro’s focus on liberation and purpose, what exactly Trumpet chooses to cite when he’s talking about Spinner not “amounting” to anything much, Geten’s open extolling of quirk supremacy, and so on.

[6] In the first big double-page spread. Oddly, no bandaging is visible in the other panel that has a good shot of that hand, possibly because Horikoshi was more focused on drawing RD’s empty pant leg. The anime kept the obvious wound during the crater scene, but not the bandages during the speech.

[7] I assume, anyway, that Re-Destro only survives Shigaraki’s first touch because it’s a weaker Decay, coming as it does from only from two fingers rather than five.

[8] The fabled Marie Antoinette Syndrome. Never been scientifically documented as such (hair can whiten because of extreme stress, but not overnight) but it endures in fiction because it’s pleasingly dramatic. Trauma-based eye-color changes, not so much.

[dracusfyre]

Wing and a Prayer

Had a pretty bad bout of writer’s block towards some of my WIPS so I took a break and wrote a quick wingfic, I’ve never written wingfic before and was intrigued to give it a shot. Shout out to @massivespacewren for the prompt :)

also on AO3

~~~

"Oh, shit-"

It was just a brief curse before Tony's comms cut out, and in the scheme of things, "oh shit" was rather mild given the situation. But there was a note in Tony's voice that made Bucky look up from his rifle scope to find him, trying to see the flash of his repulsers and the dark brown of his wings amidst the cloud of drones that were swarming the city.

"Oh, fuck," Bucky breathed when he found him. He dropped his rifle and started running, keeping his eyes on where Tony was dropping rapidly, his desperately flapping wings and the intermittent bursts from apparently busted repulsors doing little to slow his fall.

Steve was on the other side of the fight, covering some escaping civilians as the dive-bombing drones tried to knock them from the sky, and Natasha and Clint were too far away. "Tony, I'm coming!" He shouted, ripping at the velcro on his body armor and shrugging it off as he ran. This was Tony's nightmare, his repulsors failing him while he was in the sky now that his flight muscles were compromised by the arc reactor.  He left his ammunition and hand grenades with his tac belt on the edge of the roof as he jumped, his wings stretching to their limit as he strove for height. As he flapped he realized he was still carrying too much weight to catch Tony, so he glided for a second, catching thermals coming off of the sun-lit city streets to lift him up as he reached down and unzipped his combat boots, kicking them off to land somewhere below. Another roof was coming up, so he sprinted along the roof, ignoring the broken glass and rocks that dug into his feet, then jumped off the edge again with more powerful beats of his wings. He was gaining on Tony, who had somehow figured out how to use the failing repulsors to at least steer him towards a place to land that might be more forgiving than the city streets, wings spread for a few moments at a time before the muscles gave out and they crumpled.

“Come on, come on,” Bucky said breathlessly, chest and lungs burning as he struggled to catch up. Whoever was controlling the drones had seen that Tony was vulnerable, and he was having to waste precious repulsor power shooting them down as they attacked him. A small swarm spotted Bucky trying to rescue him and moved to intercept, but as they closed in on him Bucky twisted into a tornado flip, flicking out his wings so the the razor sharp vibranium primaries on his wings sliced through the drones, leaving most of them damaged or disabled.  It cost him some height, though, and he cursed as he tried to make up for it, ignoring the last remaining drone as it dived at him like a mobbing bird, until it got too close and he grabbed it, metal arm crushing the central processer and tossing it to the side.

“Tony, I need you to fold your wings,” Bucky said urgently, searching their surroundings for a good landing point. He was finally a little higher than Tony and tilted his wings on a course for intercept, steeper than a glide but not quite so sharp as a dive.

“What?” Tony said with surprise, and Bucky saw him craning his neck to see where Bucky was. “What do you-“

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes, but-“

“Wings in, now!” It was gratifying to see the speed that Tony obeyed, folding his wings tight up against his back even though it violated every instinct a person had, to close their wings while falling. He also stopped trying to use his repulsors and brought his arms to his chest and his legs together, turning into exactly the kind of target that Bucky needed.

Bucky hit him at a high enough speed that it almost knocked the breath out of him and he heard Tony grunt, but Tony didn’t move as Bucky wrapped his arms around Tony’s chest, even though he probably crushed a few feathers in the process. Bucky’s wings strained with the extra weight, and the glide turned into more of a dive than Bucky was comfortable with. He knew he couldn’t land like this; they were picking up speed too fast to even land safely – or even unsafely - on a grassy field, the force of the impact would be fatal. They had to get out of the sky now.

Bucky eyed one of the skyscrapers that was looming in the sky in front of them and groaned inwardly. This was going to suck.  As he steered towards one of the huge glass windows, he brought his metal hand up to tuck Tony’s head into his shoulder and protect his spine, then at the last second he curled his wings around them and prayed that the vibranium-reinforced bones of his wing wrists would be enough to break through the glass.

It did, but it hurt; the impact shuddered through his bones, and his muscles screamed at the effort of keepings his wings tight around them as they rolled through desks and cubicle dividers before finally coming to a stop.

“Ow,” Bucky said, letting his exhausted wings flop open to splay out on the cheap commercial carpeting as he opened his eyes to check the damage. He looked down at Tony, who was laying on his chest. “Are you okay?” he asked, as he let go.

“Am I okay?” Tony sat up sharply and scrambled off of Bucky’s chest to start checking him for injuries. “You flew through an industrial-strength window! Are you insane? Those things are specifically designed to not be broken by people throwing themselves at them!”

“Seemed like a good idea at the time.” He wanted to say, I’m okay, but he wasn’t entirely sure if that was true or not – pain was starting to make itself known even through the adrenaline rush, the hot ache of overworked muscles, sharp pains that meant he was probably bleeding, and the throb of something that was probably torn or dislocated. But Tony seemed fine, judging from the way he was still scolding Bucky while his hands, gentle despite their briskness, ran over his arms and legs and combed through the feathers on his wings, searching for injuries. “Better than hitting the ground, right?”

Tony paused for a moment, sat back on his heels and looked Bucky in the eyes. Bucky wondered if he knew how his wings were hunched protectively over Bucky. “Thank you,” he said, and Bucky got a glimpse of the fear he must have felt as he fell. “Whoever is guiding the drones realized that the repulsors were helping me fly and also helping me shoot down the drones, so they had the drones suicide bomb me until they took them out.”

“Figured something like that had happened,” Bucky said, managing a wan smile. The pain was really starting to set in now, so he tried to sit up or roll over before he got stuck on the floor like a wet rag. The effort tore a groan out of him as he realized that yep, his maneuver had definitely dislocated his wings.

“Oh, God, Bucky,” Tony said, giving him a hand to help him sit up, looking with dismay at how Bucky’s wings sagged on his back, dragging limply on the carpet. He ran his hands along the wing bones, searching for breaks; Bucky could have told him that with the amount of vibranium that Hydra had used to reinforce his bones, they would probably be ripped off before anything broke, but instead Bucky watched and wished he could feel Tony’s touch around the unignorable shriek of pain coming from his shoulders. “I don’t feel any breaks, I think they’re just dislocated,” Tony said after a moment.

“Do you know how to reset them?”

“In theory.” Tony grimaced. Now he was smoothing down Bucky’s ruffled coverts, unconsciously grooming Bucky as his gaze searched the room that they’d tumbled into. Their impact had left a trail of broken or shoved aside office furniture, tangled computer cables, and dented filing cabinets, but it wasn’t like they’d landed in a doctor’s office so there wasn’t a convenient examination table with wing supports for them to use. “Guess we’ll just have to do it laying down.”

Bucky mourned when Tony stopped grooming to help Bucky move so he could lay down on his stomach, though the movement was less “laying down” and more “controlled topple” as Tony let him down slowly. Tony had to spread out Bucky’s wings by hand, fussing more than he needed to as he made sure that none of the feathers were torqued or twisted, staying carefully away from Bucky’s deadly primaries.  Tony also made tiny noises as he saw the places on Bucky’s back where the glass and debris had cut him on the way in, but reported that none of the injuries were major.  As Bucky rested his head on his arms, he directed Tony on how to reset his shoulder joints. “I need you to do it fast and hard,” Bucky warned him. “You can’t be afraid of hurting me, because doing it more than once would be even worse.”

“I will,” Tony said, patting Bucky between his shoulder blades reassuringly. “One, two, thr-“ and halfway into three he shoved hard, before Bucky could tense up, and even as Bucky choked on a scream of pain he heard the pop of the joint resetting. Bucky panted harshly as the pain on that side settled into an angry pulse that felt much better than it had before, even though it was going to be a while before Bucky would want to move his wings on purpose. “Do you want me to wait before I do the next one?” Tony asked, sounding concerned.

Bucky swallowed back a whimper at the thought of going through that again. “Yes,” he forced himself to say. “Just give me a minute.”

“Okay.” Tony sat against Bucky’s side, a warm weight at his hip, and started grooming Bucky’s wing comfortingly, straightening out the feathers, smoothing them down, and picking out the detritus that had gathered in them. Despite everything, Bucky felt himself relaxing; it had been a long time since anyone had cared for his wings with anything other than brisk professionalism.

He could have laid there all day letting Tony do that, but Bucky reminded himself that there was a battle going on outside their impromptu refuge and so he said, “Okay, I’m rea- FUCK!”

“I’m sorry, Bucky,” Tony said, this time stroking down Bucky’s back as he shuddered from the second relocation. “It’s better when you’re not expecting it.”

“Yep,” Bucky agreed through gritted teeth, trying to focus on the feeling of Tony’s hand on his back rather than the pain radiating from his shoulders. “So what’s the plan now?” he asked, trying to find something else to think about. He had no idea what was going on in the sky outside, his communicator had been lost in the impact, and wasn’t sure that there was anything they could do now that they were both grounded, but he figured Tony probably had an idea, he always did.

“As soon as you’re okay for me to leave you, I am going to finish trying to disrupt the signal to the drones,” Tony said. While Bucky slowly tried to relax the muscles that had instinctively tightened up from the pain, Tony went back to grooming his wings to help. “That’s what I was doing when they swarmed me.”

“You should go do that,” Bucky said, shoving down the selfish urge to let Tony keep grooming him. “I’m just going to lay here for a little while, then I’ll cut strips to bind my wings until my shoulders heal.”

“Are you sure?”

Bucky forced himself to nod, and then with a last pat on his secondary coverts Tony stood. “I just need to find this place’s IT closet and I think I’ll have everything I need,” Tony said, and Bucky lifted his head from his arms to watch as Tony disappeared through the maze of cubicles. After a few minutes, Bucky pushed himself to sitting, then to his feet, hissing as the movement jostled his wings. He unfastened the Velcro that held his shirt together along his ribs then pulled it over his head, trying to move his arms as little as possible, then started ripping it into long strips to help support his wings.

“Found it!” Tony crowed just as Bucky had gotten as far along as he could without help. Bucky looked up just in time to see Tony’s steps slow as he came around the corner and saw Bucky shirtless, and the way Tony’s eyes skimmed down his chest before coming back up to his face went a long way towards making Bucky’s day better. “I, uh, I just need five minutes with this router and we’ll be set,” Tony continued, dragging his eyes away to look at the electronics in his arms. He cleared the stuff off a nearby table and took a seat, leaning against the chest support as he started to disassemble everything and start plugging it into his headset, using his wings to brush the bits that he didn’t need out of his way. As Bucky took a seat too and watched, Tony started explaining what he was doing, which Bucky only listened to with half an ear, most of his attention on the sky outside the window to make sure they weren’t ambushed by any drones. He could tell when Tony was successful because suddenly clouds of drones started dropping all across the sky before Tony could even say “That should do it.” Bucky’s mouth quirked as Tony let out a smug ha as he turned to watch the black specks fall all across the city; it would never fail to impress Bucky how Tony could literally go from falling out of the sky to defeating the enemy in the space of twenty minutes. The newspapers had taken to calling him the Invincible Iron Hawk and even though Tony complained about the name Bucky thought the invincible part was spot on. Indomitable would work too, and as far as Bucky was concerned, he’d add irresistible to the list.

“Nice work,” Bucky said, and his face must have been showing more of his thoughts than he meant it to because when Tony met his gaze his face went red and his wings half opened before resettling against his back.

“Thanks,” he said, then cleared his throat. “I’ll bind up your wings, then we’ll hit the elevators and head home?”

“Sure.” Tony was an old hand at binding wings to carry the weight and ease the pressure from the chest and shoulders, making sure the strips went across Bucky’s chest and that it rested under the feathers to keep it from slipping and breaking any. “There,” he said when he was done, patting Bucky’s bare shoulder.

Bucky reached up and put his hand on top of Tony’s before he could pull it away. “Would you like to go flying with me sometime?” he asked before he could talk himself out of it, feeling his face flame. “Flying flying?”

Tony’s grin was rueful. “Flying flying? I don’t know, I think you did some pretty impressive flying to save my life back there,” he teased, but his wings were up and already unfurling, like he was ready to go right now. Bucky’s wings instinctively tried to match him, and the spike of pain made Bucky wince. Tony gave him a sympathetic look and refolded his wings, reaching over to squeeze his hand instead. “Yes, that would be lovely. I will fix my gauntlets, you heal, and then we’ll go flying.”

[skyhopedango]

State of the Season pt 1 - the rotten ones

Huh, it's already November. :( When did time get so fast? Years just fly by... Anyway, we're knee deep in the fall season, and I've been watching stuff. And frankly, it's mostly a letdown? Yes, I still miss Night Head 2041 but it's not just the raging fangirl in me that finds the fall season a letdown.

Dropped

Sakugan

I kind of hate this.

I've seen people praise it to high heavens and I just don't get why - like, it's more boring, derivative anime that feels like it had been designed by a committee specifically to pander to American anime viewers, and it's not even a particularly entertaining one at that. All the same tropes, all the same character archetypes without any particularly interesting spins or extras... the jokes are stale, the "banter" is annoying people shouting at each other, it's not heartwarming or sweet, the action is boring, and the worst of it all, the main girl. I can't stand Precocious Anime Kids and running out of patience with Cute Anime Girls, and she's both, also she's obnoxious and annoying and NINE YEARS OLD.

I just can't get over this. We're meant to see a father-daughter bond where the father needs to learn to trust his daugher more with her skills and ambitions and wish for independence, and on paper that sounds amazing, except - SHE IS NINE YEARS OLD. I know this is anime but it's still ridiculous, you can't expect me to suspend my disbelief that much! I'd be OK with it if she was a bit older, but NINE?! Why couldn't they make her at least a teenager - rhetoric question, it's because in a show like this, created mostly by dudes for a mainly male target audience, this is the only way for her not to be sexualized and given a romance subplot. A non-sexualized teen girl?! We can't have that!!

Also, her voice acting is terrible. I don't buy her as a young girl, I don't buy her as cute, I don't buy her as badass, I don't buy her as anything really. Apparently the seiyuu had to pass some special audition to get the role... well, whoever chose her, had strange ideas about how this character should be voiced.

.

Takt op. Destiny

If Sakugan feels like it had been designed by a committee this one feels like it was written and created by AI. It's so completely soulless and lacks any kind of ambition other than "looks good, has cute/sexy girls".

The story is contrived. (How come the big bads didn't even know about Cosette? also if she's so amazing and rare why are they just letting her go instead of taking her? and so on and so forth...) The action makes no sense - in theory one of the pair "conducting" the other in a fight is a nice idea but the way it is actually presented makes literally no sense, it's just a flimsy excuse to set the characters up in teams. And while I'd called its animation flashy before, past episode 2 it's not even that! Also, the characters are bland and lack any charm whatsoever.

Damn, what a waste of time and money this show is.

.

Sankaku mado no sotogawa wa yoru

I'd already ranted about this one - well, it didn't get better past episode one, and so I'm dropping it and lamenting about what could have been. It's one of the most baffling adaptations I've seen, it's like the people who made it either a) read the manga and didn't understand it at all, or b) read the manga and said "that's cute but Imma do it my way". It feels like its own parody, in a way that's vaguely offensive to the manga, really.

Also, wtf is Hatano Wataru doing?!

Such a pity because ridiculous premise aside the manga is good - it would've deserved so much better.

.

Blue Period

Oh yes, I remember why I stopped following the manga at the time - honestly I'm just too old for these "springtime of youth! young people finding their true calling!" type stories. Especially ones where the presentation is just... not really interesting, really.

Also, I fully admit that Paradise Kiss and Honey & Clover pretty much ruined me for these stories (ParaKiss is amazing from first chapter to last, Hachikuro has its issues but overall it's really good, too), but also it's like... none of the stories I'd read since then showed anything new or unique? Sure, it's always a different kind of passion, but in the end it's nothing new. And here not even the characters, the relationships, pacing, etc. are particularly interesting to me.

I'm not saying the show is bad, it's fine for what it is, I'm sure many people adore it, but as for me it's just not interesting.

[mtraki]

Brain chemistry is messing with me... got me in the bad feels looking at dark roads... So let’s try and drag ourselves out of it through hyperfixation!  It’s time to rant about Agent 47′s brain chemistry-- specifically all the serums and antidotes that artificially change it! (It’s a rant... I won’t take up space on your dashboard scroll if you don’t want to see it, but if you do, please check out under the cut.  Spoilers for the comics and Hitman Season 2-3 are unmarked...)

The focus of the rant is thus: “Exactly what did Ether’s antidote do?” ‘That’s easy, MT,’ I hear you tell me, ‘It brought back 47′s memories that were wiped by Ort-Meyer before he escaped the lab.’ Forgive me, strawman Reader, (but as always, thank you for your faithful engagement) but I don’t think it’s that simple...  Maybe because I overthink things, or maybe because the details aren’t adding up... Let’s discuss. In the cutscene in HITMAN 2 (Hitman Season 2) ‘Long Shot’, Olivia and Lucas provide a syringe from Ether Biotech Corporation.  According to their information, Ort-Meyer’s estate and his research were granted to the corporation (through Providence) after his passing.  The syringe is supposed to be an antidote to what Ort-Meyer used to wipe 47′s memory.  Using the syringe, 47 is able to remember Janus, the first Constant of Providence, so they can go get his info on the Partners... and kill him. ‘Yes, MT,’ you say, ‘so it’s easy.  The answer is right there.’ Well, please bear with me... In the next cutscene ‘Gifts and Curses’, our leading ladies Diana and Olivia are doing the real work (tracking Janus’s coffin) while our lads are being moody.  Lucas asks 47 if he’s all right and 47 says, “It comes back in flashes.  Fear.  Anger.  But like it happened to someone else.” Later, in ‘Precautions’, Lucas and Diana talk about how Lucas has feelings about the things he’s done, and 47 does not-- a parallel is drawn between these feelings and “having a conscience”. In ‘The Ark Society’ mission, on the Isle of Sgàil, as you’re marching Arthur Edwards, the Constant you are abducting, to the harbor, he’ll fish around for information by giving some of his own.  For the purposes of my rant, there is an exchange I want to focus on: Edwards: “...Your murdered him [Janus] to get to me.” 47: “Not just that.  He had it coming.” Edwards: “Interesting.  It was my impression that you were cured of such... sentiment.  The ‘good doctor’ built his serum specifically to target the seats of your emotions.  Has Miss Burnwood’s sense of justice rubbed off on you, I wonder?” This is where I feel the need to stop and point out that there are TWO DIFFERENT SERUMS at play here, that were forced on 47 at TWO DIFFERENT TIMES in his forgotten past.  This is shown in the comic series. SERUM #1) This serum was given in 1989, after 47 and 6 failed to take over the Institute.  47 sacrificed himself so 6 could escape (though he was presumed dead) and instead of being killed like he expected, due to pressure from Janus (who spoke as Constant for the Partners of Providence) Ort-Meyer instead used a serum to stifle his and the remaining clones’ emotions.  This one was an injection to the neck (like the antidote).  Here are his exact words: “I gave you something most people lack: a true purpose.  And you cast it aside.  For some misguided dream of freedom.  Why?” “It’s that storm inside you.  All those feelings I fought so hard to lock away.  Raging, driving you.  So now I must wipe them out entirely.  A small chemical insult designed to target the amygdala, the hypothalamus, the cingulate gyrus.  The seats of emotion.  I’ve just sawed the legs off them.  Do you understand, 47?” “Your memories remain intact.  But now they’re a series of events with no significance.” The effects of this serum were devastating.  With the singular exception of 47, every other clone more or less lost the will to live.  They died of starvation, dehydration, infected bed sores... losing any and all motivation for anything.  Meanwhile, 47 became an apex predator of murder, stating that the opportunity to complete the assassinations handed down by Providence through Ort-Meyer were the reason he went through each day.  He had a hand in the deaths of a good number of clones, either via poisoning or smothering. SERUM #2) This serum was given in 1998 (that’s nine years after the first one) after Providence demands Ort-Meyer give them 47 as the only success of his very expensive perceived failure.  Ort-Meyer gives this serum, without the permission of Providence, very specifically so that 47 will not remember him to assassinate him.  This serum is given orally, and through a hose and pump apparatus.  Here are his exact words: “I only need one more day, and a moment alone.” (This is included strictly to point out that 47 must have escaped that exact same day) “I raised you as my own.  Taught you everything you needed to thrive in this fallen world.  And now I have to take it all away.  You would come after me.  It’s the only way I can be free from having to watch over my shoulder for the rest of my life.  It feels like drowning at first.  Don’t struggle.  I’m going to make you perfect.  Now you have all the potential in the world.” 47 wakes up later to the voice of Ort-Meyer over the intercom.  He implicitly trusts the voice, as he knows nothing else.  He knows about the existence of nothing outside of the room and the voice.  He starts making associations as he goes on, and points out that he understands how some things work (”The mechanics of breathing, the science that makes remotely operated restraints possible.”) and the justifications behind their existence (”Somewhere deep down, I even understand the need for them.”).  As he makes his escape, he observes that their is familiarity in the sensations of killing.  Out in the world, he continues killing on his own for about a year, claiming that his work is his only indulgence and that he doesn’t need things, friends, or stories.  He does also claim to have a few stray memories that haunt him-- elicit emotional responses in him (which we also see in Absolution with the whole “doctors” flashbacks). Edwards should not know about the mind-wiping, and his dialogue does not betray that he does.  Lucas apparently knows about both, but I’m going to attribute this to “Lucas became personally invested in learning what happened to 47 specifically after learning he was alive and working for ICA, so put the pieces together once he stole the data from Providence” because he wasn’t around for either serum.  Meanwhile, Edwards doesn’t have many reasons to worry about 47 until he starts trying to use his past as a lure for Diana.  Because his angle is to eventually reveal that it was 47 (AND 6... they were on the job together, per the comics) who killed her parents, and the fact that that juicy reveal would hurt that much more if he could reveal it as something 47 knowingly hid from her... I don’t think he’d go out of his way to discredit Janus’s reporting on the situation that only the first serum was given, and something else happened that allowed 47 to escape into the wild.  Janus is apparently Edwards’s beloved mentor, after all. ‘MT,’ I hear you say, ‘You’re rambling.  What’s the point here?’ The point is that 47, a man who does not mince words, makes the observation, when asked, that he remembers fear and anger.  These are the things that stand out to him in his memories.  The emotions.  This is in violation of the first serum’s properties as well as the second. Now, why is this happening?  Perhaps the first serum has an effective lifespan, and perhaps it’s wearing off.  Perhaps 47′s human (arguably superhuman, per some sources) brain is adapting to make necessary associations despite the “chemical insult”. Or... was this antidote supposed to also be an antidote for the first serum?  It is noteworthy that 47 starts behaving in ways that suggest more emotionally-driven motivations after the antidote is given-- at least it seems that way to me.  This seems especially the case at the very end of HITMAN 3 (Season 3), ‘Untouchable’, when 47 is confronted with his guilt, with his feelings about what he perceives Diana’s thoughts and feelings to be, and with his choice in the end concerning Edwards in the final confrontation.  No matter what he chooses, he owns his choice and all the baggage and consequences that come with it.  At the very end, in the cutscene 'New Deal', he tells Diana that he isn’t ‘Agent 47′ anymore.  That he chooses this path because he can. Perhaps I’m very much misunderstanding the themes, here, but 47 not remembering his past never struck me as something that held him back from choosing something else.  It has always been his inability to connect with others in any way outside of infiltrating their spaces and killing them... with very, very few exceptions... that has kept him from choosing a path outside of murder-for-hire (perfectly executed, of course ;) )  So I’m left at the end with the conclusion that 47 is now able to operate as his own conscience because he now has a... mostly usable independent sense of morality-- which requires a certain level of empathy. So... again: what’s the deal with the antidote?  Is it two-in-one?  This would be fine, (Okay, not really, I would then have to rant about how this only makes sense as a convenient plot device because for which person BESIDES Agent 47 would such an antidote be useful unless they also work with the first serum... and oh boy IMPLICATIONS... I know we keep crashing their stock but can we crash their production too?) except the antidote is only referenced as working to return 47′s memory... and his ‘warmer’ dialogues through the end of 2 and into 3 with his allies is simply treated as matter of course-- nobody points it out. I don’t know if this is a problem with my perspective, the writing, or what... But it seems like Lucas knows and doesn’t know about both serums at the same time (he comments specifically about 47 remembering things... but not him behaving more emotionally engaged)... Or like the games smooshed both serums together while the comics had them separate.  This isn’t like the whole “we don’t talk about Absolution though we do wink and nod that it mostly happened in canon” thing.  The comics were written as a companion for the HITMAN: World of Assassination trilogy! I know how I’m treating it for 'Monstrous’ (because if I don’t, I’ll go crazy and rage-quit the fic) but it still bothers me...  Anybody got any ideas?  Nuggets of lore I missed?  Am I the only one stressing out about this??

[bionic-penis]

Here it is! Before we get into it I'd just like to say that I sent this all in discord and so i dont use the most academic language and i also had to cut out some bits where I was speaking/replying to friends :)

Okay so maybe Yang and Blake are just good friends, I can see that, but the storyline and all their major character events are so intertwined that it wouldnt make sense not to make them a couple

Spoilers for literally everything

But in my defense its been seven years

Anyway Yang and Blake's stories dont start getting seriously interconnected until around volume 3, but we do see them being closer to eachother than the rest of team rwby (save for Yang and Ruby but they're sisters so it doesnt count)

When Blake is stressed out over the White Fang in Volume 2, it takes Yang to snap her out of it

Also a lot of people have mentioned this but I'm gonna say it again for those who havent heard it but colours and weapons matter in rwby. They're a key element in the show

ahem

Colours play a big part in the design and storytelling aspect and rwby and its no coincidence that Yang eyes are purple and Blakes are yellow, which are eachothers like signature colours outside of Blakes black

But even more than that is weapons

As we learn from Ruby in the first Volume, a lot of students make their own weapons and, as it is constantly reiterated, weapons are an extension of the self in RWBY. They're not just a tool to be tossed around

In the show we see little instances of people interacting with and using other peoples weapons. There's that one scene where Ruby uses one of Penny's swords to defend Pyrrah, but that was out of necessity. however, over and over again we see Yang interacting with Blake's weapon, Gambol Shroud

As someones mentioned before, an entire moveset of theirs is dependent on it

So it's clear that these two characters are incredibly close

Moving on from that point, Id like to analyze the incidents thst occur in volume 3 and following events that further Yang and Blakes connection

In volume 3 after Yang "breaks" Mercurys leg due to Emeralds illusion, she sits in the dorm room surrounded by her teammates, yet the scene singles out Yang and Blake. When Yang asked if they (her team) believed her, Ruby and Weiss are ready to say yes, but Blake hesitates. Yang and Blake then share a moment where Blake explains that shes trusted people before who turned out to be cruel. She asks Yang to look her in the eyes and tell her that she (Yang) is telling the truth. Yang does so and Blake believes her this level of affirmation from one another is so unlike the rest of Team RWBY and even Team JNPR

Ofc in the dorm scene the person Blake is talking about is Adam, her abusive and possessive ex. Obviously your relationship with an abusive person effects any and all interactions/relationships, regardless of their extent, but I think it bears mentioning

Continuing on in the events of volume 3 when Beacon is being attacked and Blake is confronted by Adam, he has her pinned down and says something along the lines of "I am going to destroy everything that you love". Unfortunately this is when Yang happens to stumble into the scene. Horror is prominent on Blakes face. Yang sees Adam over Blake and yells at him before charging forward, which is when Adam cuts her arm off. It's a very emotional scene imo. Blake then uses her semblance to get her and Yang to safety

So let's analyze this

Adam specifically singled Yang out

Ofc yang was the only one there at the time but Adam didnt say "starting with your little teammates" he said "starting with her". Ofc this could just be me cherrypicking but I think that word choice has meaning

Regardless, this is an intense moment for Yang and Blake that really welds their stories together, romantic or not

In volume 4 Yang and Blake take a break from one another-- Jk but theyre separated. After the events at Beacon, and especially after what happened to Yang, Blake runs. And we get to see both women dealing with this and trying to come to terms with it. Yang is bitter. She's angry that Blake, specifically, left her. And Blake feels like she had to run away to keep everyone, specifically Yang, safe

In Volume 5 we dont get much interaction at all between Yang and Blake aside from the same feelings represented in Volume 4, but these are put on the back burner for Blakes White Fang arc

However these feelings take a forward play in Yangs mind and she even voices these feelings to Weiss and Ruby

I take a deep breath

Volume 6, Blake and Yang are together again but tensions are high. They have to learn how to be together again. When Blake and Yang finally have alone time in the shed, Blake expresses how she won't leave, which comforts Yang. However, Blake continues on to say how she will protect Yang to which Yang gets mad and the moment is ruined.

Despite this, Yang and Blake are still going strong and trying to make things work by being there and supporting each other

Yang and Blake's arc for Volume 6 reaches its peak in the fight against Adam. In this fight we see both women fighting the actual source of their trauma. One thing id like to note about this fight is that Blake starts it alone but is joined by Yang, who tells her to catch her breath. This fight is the first major fight Blake and Yang have fought together in a long time. And its amazing. During the fight, Adam screams at Yang in anger and jealousy, asking "WHAT DOES SHE SEE IN YOU?" And saying that she (Blake) cant protect Yang to which Blake replies "I'm not protecting her. And she's not protecting me." MIRRORING the conversation in the shed

the fight ends with Yang and Blake stabbing Adam through with Gambol Shroud, killing him

Now theres some little things id like to point out with this fight, aside from the amazing chemistry between Blake and Yang and the awesome choreography

Its during this fight that we learn about Adams semblance (magic power basically), which is that any hit he absorbs with his sword, he can return with greater force. This is a corruption of Yang's semblance, where any hit she takes herself she can return with greater force

Now why do I think this is significant? Because rwby is all about symbolism. I think Adam's semblance was specifically chosen to mirror Yangs. Adam doesnt have to deal with pain, he just deflects it, which is how his relationship with Blake plays out. She tries to let him off easy, she tells him to leave her alone, but he just can't take the hint, just like he can't take a hit. However, Yang does take the hits. Yang takes them all and it makes her stronger. She empathizes with Blake and works with her. Adam doesnt have to deal with the pain his actions cause because he doesnt care. This reflects Yangs extremely empathetic personality. Yang knows what consequences her actions can have. She can take the pain

Another thing id like to point out is Adam's behaviour during the fight. He lashes out as Yang for getting in between Blake and him, blaming her for his flaws. He targets her just like in Volume 3. I think this was done purposefully

Another thing is Yang runs Bumblebee off the cliff to help Blake! Her bike! I think this is important bc yang loved her bike. It was part of her brand for the longest time. Perhaps running it off the cliff in the fight vs Adam is a nod to growing by letting things go? Idk I just feel like its an important beat

In Volume 7 we see Yang and Blake working together more regularly again with even a few flustered glances (maybe). Marrow even mentions that they never pair up with anyone else to which they respond with a cool fight scene this feels like the extent of their interaction since Volume 7 focuses more on ruby

Volume 8 isnt finished but there is one line that I think is important which is when Yang asked Jaune if "she'll think bad of me if we fail?" To which Jaune responds "Ruby's your sister" and Yang says "yeah... Ruby..." LIKE EXCUSE ME?

[I take some time to riff with my friends and partner before continuing]

ANOTHER THING

Adam BREAKS Gambol Shroud during their fight, mirroring how Yang, once again, works with Blake and Gambol Shroud. This is yet another example of Adam being violent and abusive towards Blake where Yang is sympathetic and kind. Theyre set up to be narrative opposites

Even though both Adam and Yang are both hot heads, utilize a similar semblance, and both have a deep connection with Blake, they are not the same bc Yang trusts and appreciates Blake while Adam does not

Also Adam and Yang both share the same sentiment of "Blake left me" but whereas Adam lashes out at Blake, Yang is mostly frustrated. Unlike Yang, Adam never attempts to work it out with Blake, which is where the two differ greatly. Yang is willing to listen whilst Adam is not

TLDR: uh give me Bmblb content right now Roosterteeth or I will suck the marrow from ur bones

[gffa]

@ap-trash-compactor replied:

1/7 I wanna preface this by saying I agree with everything you’re saying here but I think there’s another layer to how Raffa’s story functions both textually and meta-textually, and to what it illustrates about how many people in the Galaxy /might/ perceive the Jedi, which I personally haven’t seen addressed yet. Sorry in advance if this is something you’ve heard/read/discussed ten million times already, but... 2/7 If you took Raffa’s story out of Star Wars and put it into a contemporary drama, changed the word “Jedi” to the word “police,” and made the particulars about a high-speed car chase? I think it would sound pretty believable. And I think this illustrates something Palpatine does through the mechanism of the Clone Wars to make the position of the Jedi especially vulnerable or precarious wrt to public opinion. 3/7 Even if every single Jedi engages w the power and authority of their military or police role only in the best intentioned, most good-faith way imaginable (which the Umbara arc tells us doesn’t always happen), any time you are in a role where you, even have without wanting or intending to, exercise the power of life and death other lives, you will cause pain and be a target for resentment. Someone will lose someone, and be angry. 4/7 No matter how good or how well-intentioned or how compassionate they are, during the Clone Wars the Jedi are forced into the role of a state authority exercising the power of life and death. They are not only a cultural minority during the Clone Wars. They are also a branch of the state, and in that role they sometimes either kill people, or are involved in events where people die and where, no matter their intentions, they are the face of the state and the voice of authority. 5/7 Many of the military and police actions shown in different episodes of this series leave destruction in their wake. The Jedi’s participation is barely by choice and almost never by preference— but if you are one of the Raffas of the galaxy and your parents just died, the distinction probably does not matter much. I think this is a corner Palpatine absolutely wanted to paint the Jedi into, because it absolutely serves his goals. 6/7 There are not many Jedi during the Clone Wars. Certainly there are not many compared to the problems they are trying to fix. I have no doubt Luminara tried her best, wanted a different outcome, and gave Raffa all the comfort she had the time and the opportunity to give... But if you are one of the Raffas of the galaxy and your only direct experience of the Jedi is like the one Raffa describes? You’re probably primed to consume all of Palpatine’s worst lies. 7/7 If you’re Palpatine, making the Jedi rush from violent crisis to violent crisis doesn’t just distract them from the fact that you’re a Sith Lord — it also makes the Jedi into the face of a lot of negative, hurtful interactions with the state, which is going to impact the way people see them.

I think you and I are very much on the same page!  I have discussed this before (the public’s turning on the Jedi), but I’m always down for discussing it again!  Especially when I love pretty much allllll of this. If you’re Palpatine, making the Jedi rush from violent crisis to violent crisis doesn’t just distract them from the fact that you’re a Sith Lord — it also makes the Jedi into the face of a lot of negative, hurtful interactions with the state, which is going to impact the way people see them. You are spot on with your summation, to the point it’s almost hard for me to respond with anything because I feel like all I can do is bang my fist on the table and go, “Yes!  This is what I’ve been talking about!”  Though, of course, there is a lot going on here that’s making it complicated. This post that you’re responding to is focused more specifically on the theme of unreliable narrators + the close associations this season has had with Revenge of the Sith (the moments that make us sit up and go, “Oh, that’s foreshadowing for stuff in ROTS!” like Padme’s pregnancy, Anakin’s advice to Rex, etc.), but there’s also what you’re talking about here--that it’s been a long-running theme in the GFFA that public sentiment turned against the Jedi and that the causes of that are fascinating. I said a bunch of times that Rafa’s hurt in this episode is valid, that there’s room for both the Jedi acting with honorable intentions and that people don’t trust them, don’t draw comfort from them, that these things are not mutually exclusive and you’re hitting on exactly why--because they were put into a situation where, if they’re not 100% perfect, then they’re going to fall off the pedestal they’ve been put onto.  That any flaw they have will then get magnified a hundred times. Luminara seems to have made a point to go back and try to talk to Rafa, to tell her a phrase that is narratively meaningful within Star Wars on a meta level, like, that says to me that she has really good intentions!  But that Rafa doesn’t draw any comfort from it, as a non-Force sensitive and someone who probably is left to the Republic’s shitty welfare services (which isn’t the Jedi’s jurisdiction, they’re not social workers and we can’t expect them to be), doesn’t undercut Luminara’s presumed good intentions, just as Luminara’s presumed good intentions don’t undercut Rafa’s hurt. And that it’s understandable--because, as the Maul arc in season 5 says, the Jedi aren’t doing the things that they used to do, that crime is flourishing because they’re being so busy with this war they’ve been drafted into.  Even Star Wars: Propaganda makes it clear that public sentiment turned against the Jedi because of a cultural absence, rather than anything they actively did. This is all by design from Palpatine, that he’s keeping them so busy putting out tire fires on Ryloth (who were being slaughtered by the Separatists), on Mon Calamari (who were being enslaved by the Separatists), on Kiros (who were being kidnapped and taken into the resumed Zygerrian slave empire), that they don’t have time to do the things they used to, like take care of a lot of the criminal elements or the outreach programs that we see hinted at in the supplementary material. The Jedi had to make a choice between fighting in a war where entire worlds were being enslaved, that there were only so many of them and they were dying, that they died in droves on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones and they’re dying every day in the war, that they were literally one out of six billion in the galaxy at their height, and that they had a million expectations placed on them.  They have very little political capital/power, yet they’re expected to solve all the problems in ways that will last.  They’re expected to police the Underworld, but also not police the Underworld because then they’re restricting people.  They’re expected to be social workers.  They’re expected to fight and die in a war that the public itself refuses to stand up in.  And when they don’t live up to those impossible perfections, they’re torn down. This is not to set aside that of course there are instances of people like Trace and Rafa, where the destruction wreaked by chasing down someone like Ziro is going to sometimes cause people to get hurt and, honestly, I don’t feel like Rafa really blamed Luminara for that, given the acknowledgement of the crowded platform she was trying to avoid.  But if she had?  That, too, would have been reasonable and understandable!  That it doesn’t matter if the Jedi were doing literally everything they could, that doesn’t mean there’s not also room for Rafa’s hurt.  And that, even if I think there was absolutely nothing that Luminara could say that would have given Rafa comfort, that doesn’t make Rafa’s hurt/viewpoint any less empathizable. My blog tends to focus on the Jedi side of things because those are the characters I’m interested in, not because they’re the only element that matters. In the meta we’re responding to, a lot of the focus is on Luminara and the Jedi because that’s my jam, that’s the part I thrive on, but we’re definitely in agreement that Rafa’s feelings are not wrong and it’s not hard to see where they come from! I do take issue with the idea of--whether it’s true or not, we can all argue about it all day long, but it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not--that if the Jedi are remote and distant from the galaxy, that that narratively is approved of how they then “kind of brought their downfall (aka, violent genocide) on themselves”.  That’s something I’ve seen skirted around in commentary from the creators and I’m wary of it leaking into the narrative in a more substantial way.  But that’s an entirely separate issue from the fact that anti-Jedi sentiments exist in the narrative and that they led to the Jedi Purge/Jedi genocide. As part of the propaganda and manipulations Palpatine did, yes, absolutely, that is one of the most fascinating things!  And that doesn’t mean that there’s not validity to those feelings, even if they’re rooted in propaganda and manipulation! But that, just as there’s room for Rafa’s hurt despite Luminara’s intentions, there’s room for the Jedi’s good intentions despite the public’s hurt and/or mistrust. My thing is that I tend to look at why the Jedi act the way they do and I usually come away with empathy for how they got into the situations they did.  Like, take their alignment with the Republic, which was an organization with corruption down to the roots by the time of the Twilight of the Republic, that that association absolutely led to their downfall/genocide.  But what else could they do?  Being part of the Republic in that way allowed them to actually help people, to have negotiating power, to form treaties that would be honored even when they were no longer on a given planet.  If they weren’t under the jurisdiction of the Senate, they could not have helped as many people as they did, especially because how would they even be able to afford starship fuel or housing costs?  Would they charge people for their services?  That’s a disaster waiting to happen! There’s room for both “the best option for the Jedi was to be part of the Republic and try to improve the system from the inside, which is what they did” AND “the being part of the Republic is what ultimately fucked them”, those things are both true! but if you are one of the Raffas of the galaxy and your parents just died, the distinction probably does not matter much. I think this is a corner Palpatine absolutely wanted to paint the Jedi into, because it absolutely serves his goals. Spot on!  I have fun looking at what Luminara’s intentions likely were and what the context of the structure of the show entails, that Rafa’s character doesn’t have to be a reliable narrator to be valuable (and I say this as someone who actually really loves the unreliable narrators of SW, which honestly is almost literally every single character, very few are ones you can take at face value without seeing the circumstances for yourself), but to Rafa it doesn’t really matter what Luminara did or didn’t say, because that’s not what she was looking for or what she got out of that conversation.  I can’t say I would act differently in her position! And that’s exactly what Palpatine did.  He pulled the Jedi in so many different directions, made them responsible for things that literally no group could possibly have survived with public sentiment intact, and even if the Jedi had been literally perfect (which they weren’t), it wouldn’t have mattered, given that the entire point of the prequels is that you gotta choose between Shitty Option A and Shitty Option B. It’s the galaxy’s worst ever version of, “Which would you rather?” except its real and you have to play the game, because not playing gets you fucked over even faster, like it did with Mandalore.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Kagami VS The Wall of Faces - A Kagaminette Commission

A dragon is a fierce creature. Strong. Dangerous. Greedy.

And Kagami was so very greedy.

Particularly when it came to the time and attention of one Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

It started small at first, beginning with that contest they had participated in together. For all of the missteps, Kagami’s awkward attempts, and the other girl’s anxiety, it was probably one of the best days of Kagami’s life. Even if they hadn’t won the contest, they both had gained something from it. A unique experience. A better relationship.

It hadn’t been until she finally confronted her mother after the akuma battle that she realized.

Kagami had her first “friend”.

One who was willing to defend her. One who was willing to stand up to her mother. One who stayed by her with an ease and jovial mind even when they lost at their goal.

The life of a Tsurugi was one of strictness and discipline. A loss was a burden. A failure was a shame.

But here...drinking juice together and talking and just being together...Kagami felt none of that.

It was freeing in a way. Confusing, true. But freeing, like the weight that normally dragged her down after any failure was lightened...perhaps even nonexistent.

If she felt this way in Marinette’s presence despite a loss, perhaps it was a feeling she could continue to have around her?

And so, Kagami started making a point to spend more time with the other girl. Seeing her more often at school. Joining her for lunch. And even taking precious moments she would use to hurry to fencing practice and get a head start to stay with the other girl for a bit longer, arriving to her practice on time instead of early as per her usual. And as she grew closer with Marinette, she was invited on more outings with her and her friends, which was something she had come to enjoy.

And yet...something had to be wrong, because Kagami found she couldn’t seem to get enough. As time passed, Kagami slowly began to feel dissatisfied but didn’t know why.

Was it because of Marinette’s infatuation with Adrien? It had to be, Kagami realized one day as she found herself glaring at the horde of pictures of the boy on Marinette’s wall. They were both in love with the same boy, after all.

Except then Marinette started talking about the blue-haired boy, Luka. Some pictures of him slowly started to make their way onto the wall. And to her surprise, rather than lessen, that dark feeling was just as strong.

Was she...jealous of Marinette?

Or was she jealous over Marinette?

Did she want Marinette to get rid of the pictures of Adrien? Yes. That meant she saw her as a rival for his affections, right?

But then the niggling little thought interfered. That one questioning little thought with a loud voice and a perfect image of how Marinette’s wall would look so much nicer if it had pictures of Kagami up instead…

It hit her.

She remembered hearing before...how everyone had something that represented their heart and what was most important to them within it. For more traditional folks, it would be some manner of collection—antiques, trophies, souvenirs, or other collectables. For many, it would be their computers. Or their phone. Their music. Some sort of tangible thing to display that showed a person’s heart.

And for Marinette, it was that Wall.

That wall of pictures wasn’t just a sign of Marinette’s love for Adrien. It was also symbolic of just how much space Adrien took in her heart.

...Kagami wanted that space.

She wanted to be in Marinette’s heart.

She wanted to be on that Wall.

____________________

Much as a dragon would hoard its treasures, Kagami found herself inclined to hoard what meant most to her.

And her “treasure” was the time and attention she received from her new good friend. Seeing Marinette smile. Hearing her laugh. Having her gaze solely on herself.

She started with little things. Compliments of Marinette’s appearance. Praise of her skills. And something in Kagami sparked when she got a blush or stammer in response.

Then she started increasing their time spent together.  Visiting the bakery Marinette’s parents owned after school as a post-fencing practice “break”. Staying in the bakery itself if Marinette happened to be working that day and chatting with her between customers. Arriving early to walk to school together in the mornings, and gaining gratitude from Marinette’s parents and much surprise from everyone else that her doing so has since helped Marinette to start arriving on time.

As days and weeks passed, she saw how Marinette became ever more comfortable around her. Her friends were nervous and uncertain. And that Rossi girl and Bourgeois brat certainly made themselves scarce. But Marinette was genuinely happy to have her around.

And never was this more clear than the day Kagami entered Marinette’s room and discovered a change to the Wall of Faces that took up her heart.

More pictures took up space on the Wall. Some of that blue-haired boy. A couple of the hero Chat Noir. A few of her friends all together.

And then there was one of her.

Of Kagami.

Not even of her and others in a group. But just one—a profile picture. Something she recognized from a magazine that had done an article about her once. It had been a while ago. Marinette would have had to do some searching to find it.

Marinette had gone out of her way to find a picture of Kagami for her Wall. And furthermore, she had not placed her in the somewhat limited section that seemed specifically set aside for her friends. Rather, Kagami was in the mix of photos that seemed to be designated for a deeper feeling.

She...felt warm at the prospect. Almost giddy.

And yet...

It wasn’t enough.

She didn’t just want a part of her heart.

She wanted all of it.

And that meant only one thing.

She had to take over the Wall.

____________________

She continued from there in a rather simple manner. Marinette had an instagram account and Kagami shortly after started her own as well. With this excuse, she suggested they take “selfies” and pictures of their outings together to add to her account. Marinette had happily agreed, and soon both Kagami and Marinette’s accounts had pictures of the two of them at various activities.

This also had the fortunate effect of providing additional photos available for Marinette to add to her Wall at any point. Something Kagami saw was working, as she noted more pictures of herself taking up increased space on the Wall. It was still not as much as she would have liked, but given that the Wall had originally been solely dedicated to Adrien, it was substantial progress.

The next step was to introduce herself as a potential object of Marinette’s affections. While she seemed to hold some feeling for Kagami, the limited space on the Wall and the girl’s own mixed feelings meant that she likely didn’t consciously realize Kagami as an option.

She had to fix that.

And what better way than to offer her tokens of her esteem?

So Kagami started giving her gifts. A keychain from a souvenir stand they happened upon during one of their outings. A small plush toy from the arcade. A mask from a carnival. Just small things here and there...at least at first.

In her time with Marinette, she took note of the other girl’s interests. Design, obviously. Sewing and knitting as well. And then there was the less noted one of gardening.

Marinette gasped in delight the day Kagami presented her with a gift of potted pink hydrangeas.

“They’re beautiful! But are you sure you want to give them to me?”

Kagami smiled.

“I wouldn’t have brought them for you if I wasn’t certain. In fact, I could think of no one I would entrust with them more.”

Marinette blushed at that, gratefully accepting the gift.

(Marinette didn’t understand why Tikki kept giggling the rest of that day. It wasn’t until she looked up online for information about hydrangeas and how to care for them that she discovered the symbolism.)

When Kagami next came into Marinette’s room, the number of her pictures on The Wall exceeded those of Couffaine. She felt a thrum of pleasure in her heart.

And so she continued. Gifts of yarn. New sewing needles. And at one point, much to Marinette’s awe, a rather expensive roll of fabric that earned her a very pleasant hug of excitement. Kagami kept the gifts sporadic—she didn’t want to overwhelm her after all. But the more time she spent with her and the more gifts she gave her, the more that Kagami found she was slowly but surely taking over the wall as well as forging her own place in Marinette’s heart. One that was eventually comparable to the space of Adrien’s own.

This was never more clear than when, to Kagami’s joy, Marinette started to reciprocate.

“Hey, Kagami! I made you some mittens!”

“Here’s a scarf I made for you! As thanks! For...for the materials you gave me…”

“I had a thought about a new fencing uniform. Would you like to take a look and tell me what  you think? Um...if that’s all right?”

Kagami’s new fencing uniform three weeks later made it more than all right.

Marinette was acting different. Stammering a bit more. A little awkward. Flushing and blushing and making Kagami’s heart thrum with delight. Even her friends started to realize what was happening.

...Adrien, it seemed, did not.

“I’m glad to see you two are becoming such good friends!” He told her one day after practice when she was about to leave with Marinette.

Kagami had to hold back her laughter. Because really, how ridiculous could he get?

She didn’t want to just be Marinette’s “friend”.

She wanted to be Marinette’s “one”.

That meant wooing Marinette.

Kagami smirked.

Well, if Adrien wasn’t going to get a clue, it might as well be a woman who shows him how it’s done.

____________________

Things came to a head at a specific point.

It was an akuma battle. Not any different from the usual, except that the akuma this time was a slighted fencing rival who was targeting Kagami herself. Her attempts to fend him off would have been admirable, but were sadly lacking as she didn’t have the power of a Miraculous or akuma to defend herself with. At most, she had only her own physical abilities and skill.

“LEAVE HER ALONE!”

And one Marinette Dupain-Cheng attacking with a frying pan she must have grabbed from her kitchen when the akuma barged in and WHAT WAS THAT GIRL THINKING?

“Are you CRAZY?!”

“Kagami, he’s after you! Just RUN!” Marinette shouted as she parried a strike.

Kagami could only stare in shock. Partly in fear. Mostly in awe of this girl who was only an amateur in fencing at best but who was still trying to step in for her sake.

...She hadn’t thought she could be any more in love with her.

Unfortunately, the moment didn’t last. Now that the akuma was focused on Marinette, the two adult Dupain-Chengs grabbed Kagami and rushed outside of the bakery, ordering her to run. Then pushing her when she attempted to refuse until she had no choice without making all their attempts futile and risk them coming to even more harm. If she wasn’t there, at least, maybe the akuma would leave them alone to try and chase after her? Maybe it would lose interest in them?

That is a big “maybe”, though...

And didn’t that just grate everything in Kagami? To run away? Unacceptable. To flee from an opponent? Unacceptable. To allow Marinette to be facing an enemy in her stead? To be injured—possibly killed for Kagami’s sake?

UNACCEPTABLE!

She was about ready to turn around and head back, damn the consequences! But something else stood in her way.

A certain black-clad something with a rather familiar box.

“Special delivery!”

Chat Noir had somehow gotten ahold of the Dragon Miraculous and sought out Kagami for her aid in the battle. She didn’t know how or why. She didn’t know if this was part of a plan. She had no idea where Ladybug even was.

None of that mattered.

The only thing that mattered was that she finally had a way to fight back and defend the treasure precious to her heart.

“Loong, bring the storm!”

Within mere moments, she was transformed and taking to the sky, leaving Chat Noir yelping out in surprise. She didn’t have time to wait on him, though. She had a treasure to protect. And a lady to save!

For Marinette, the fight had been a short one—little wonder, as she was untransformed and a frying pan could really only do so much against a skilled fencer. Within minutes, the akuma had Marinette cornered and unarmed.

Marinette saw the akuma’s weapon raised and ready to swing down on her. She closed her eyes, knowing this may very well be it.

Something slammed into her, though. But it wasn’t a weapon. It didn’t hurt.

“I have you, Hime!”

Her eyes snapped open in shock.

It wasn’t that she was alive. It wasn’t that she was in the air. It wasn’t that there was a Miraculous user active.

It was that her saviour was Ryuko.

Kagami.

She was in Kagami’s arms. With Kagami smiling at her. With Kagami holding her oh so closely.

“Are you unharmed, Mari-hime?”

And calling her “Princess”.

Marinette felt herself blush in a way she hadn’t around Adrien in weeks.

“Fine! You’re fine! I-I mean I’M fine! We’re fine! Just…”

Very fine. Were her arms always this muscled?

She squeaked.

Kagami—Ryuko! Her hero name is Ryuko!

Marinette shook her head.

Ryuko gently set Marinette to stand on a nearby rooftop. To Marinette’s embarrassment, she stumbled, causing Kaga—Ryuko to grab her again to steady her.

“Careful!”

“Thank me! I mean—you!” Marinette couldn’t even bring herself to speak.

Kagami—because it WAS Kagami behind that mask damn her—gave a gentle smile.

“Of course, Hime. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”

She bowed and placed a kiss to the other girl’s hand.

“Until we meet again, Mari-hime.” Kagami told her, giving that oh so satisfied smirk she always wore when she knew she was winning.

Which she was and she knew it, seeing the way the pigtailed girl flushed a deep red and started stammering. Kagami would almost say the reaction made everything worth it.

“Ryuuko!” Came the call from a distance. Chat Noir was in trouble.

Kagami gave Marinette a wink before going after the cry.

Marinette curled into a ball, covering her face with her jacket and giving out a muffled cry with only Tikki to witness the display and try to calm her down enough to get her to transform.

Needless to say, Ladybug was distracted for the rest of the fight.

____________________

Two days later, Kagami met with Marinette in her room. To her inner glee, there was a picture of Ryuko front and center in the middle of The Wall. More pictures of Adrien had been taken down in its wake as she saw her Miraculous self standing tall with sword in hand. The picture was larger than a good majority of the others, and it in combination with her other pictures left her taking up a good three quarters of the entire canvas that represented Marinette’s heart.

There were still some pictures of Adrien left on The Wall. But Kagami had time to remove those. As things stood, it was clear who held most of the space in Marinette’s heart.

“Marinette? I was wondering if you would perhaps like to go out to dinner with me?”

The designer blinked in surprise at that. “You mean like hanging out at the cafe like usual?”

She shook her head and took Marinette’s hand in her own. “No. I mean...dinner. With me. Together.”

Marinette gaped in surprise. But Kagami did not falter.

“The fight with the akuma the other day really made me realize that I have been...hesitating. I like you. I like being with you. And I...want to be with you. If you will have me.”

Marinette blushed. When her eyes met Kagami’s, there was uncertainty. But she was looking at Kagami—just at Kagami. The way Kagami had been wanting her to.

“I think I would like that.”

Kagami smiled. They both did.

The Wall still had pictures of Adrien. And a few of Luka. As well as a couple of Chat Noir.

Kagami didn’t care.

It didn’t matter if Adrien still had a part of Marinette’s heart. Kagami had most of it, she was sure. And if the amount of space she took up in Marinette’s heart was enough for her to at least get to call Marinette her own…

She wouldn’t be wholly satisfied with that, but she could at least try to be. For now.

____________________

This is a commission for Sbelle, who asked for Kagaminette with an “unambiguously happy gay ending”. I hope you are satisfied with how this turned out! Thank you for your patronage!

If you would like to support me or request a commission, please check out my ko-fi.

[lynnetendo]

What is the game“Detective Pikachu” about?

Hello! So this is going to be a long post.

Ever since the trailer was posted recently, I’ve seen a lot of reactions towards Detective Pikachu: The Movie. Most people know it’s based on the 2017 released 3DS game Detective Pikachu, few (of those) people have actually played it. I personally always understood why it was like that, but thought it was a pity because it’s filled with great details. Now my own opinion on the game aside, which is that I really love it, I felt like I should make an “extensive” info post on facts and things to know about the game! And I don’t care if this gets barely any notes - I just want to feel more peace knowing I tried explaining what the game is about! So here’s some facts, partially highlighting similarities and differences between game and (what we know of the) movie.

tl;dr In this post, I’ll explain what you should know about the game!

Premise

The very rough premise between the movie and the game seems exactly the same: A detective mystery in a world with Pokemon. (To unpromptedly point out a reason why I loved the game: There is a difference between the main games’ and lot of spinoffs’ setting, “Pokemon world”, and this game’s setting, “what a world much like ours would be like if it had actual Pokemon in it”.) Tim Goodman, young adult, comes to Ryme City after his father, Harry Goodman, went missing. His father was a detective last seen working on a tough case around Ryme City. But upon Tim’s arrival there he gets to know an odd Pikachu that only he is able to communicate with. They decide to team up, combining their wits to solve cases that slowly get them closer to the secret behind the case Harry has been last working on.

Gameplay

Here’s the reason I think only few people have played the game or the people who played it weren’t violently recommending it: The cases are VERY easy to solve and the gameplay is rather simple even when still subjectively fun. Complexity is, precisely, age-wise ranging to be fit for smart 10 year olds until interested 16-year olds. This comes from the story being too complex to follow for younger kids really, but the writing style and happenings in the story and the gameplay being too silly and straightforward for a majority of anyone older to enjoy. A specific target audience. It’s a detective game by nature: As Tim, accompanied or instructed by Pikachu, you usually run around in a certain location after having stumbled across a case, asking the people present at that place about hints, testimonies and other related things. Not only humans can be asked as witnesses, even and especially Pokemon too, just as much as humans. You also check out things in the area to collect hints.

Sometimes riddles have to be solved. The main gameplay revolves around working towards the answer to the big question of the case, like “Who was the culprit?”, by answering smaller questions leading to that, by finding evidence in things characters have said and things you’ve found. Rarely there’s simple quicktime events, for some reason, mostly in the middle of action cutscenes when a case isn’t done yet.

Simple facts about the game’s story

-Tim Goodman is actually a college student who also knows how to drive. (I felt like pointing this out. This dude looks like a lost 16 year old at the max.) -The story is 9 or so chapters long. In each a case is solved. -Literal only problem I had with the game: A major central story question was left open even until the very end. As in, not answered. (Still wondering whether the movie answers that and all related questions.) -Pikachu is the prominent main Pokemon role. Other Pokemon have side roles, some to a bigger degree than others, but Pikachu is very prominently the Spotlight Pokemon. -There’s a bunch of reoccurring important characters, such as friendly TV reporter Emilia Christie (who as far as I remember prominently is in every chapter?), levelheaded detective office boss Mike Baker, and others. -Only mild violence, as some age warnings say. Down to earth language. Zero murders, but themes like theft and more or less, vaguely, smuggling or black market.

Other facts about the game

-3D cartoon graphics overall. No dialogue sprites or 2D cutscenes or anything. -In general, it’s optically more bright and colorful rather than the opposite. (hint hint, the movie’s visuals are the COMPLETE opposite.) -Ryme City is the general location everything happens in and around, but the places specifically get rather diverse. You’ve got the city and the detective’s offices, sure, but there’s a park, a laboratory, a TV studio, an abandoned theme park, an island, and a cave, among other places. -The cases are pretty diverse too. -I feel like it’s important to highlight: Pokemon from all current 7 main gens make an appearance. Yes, indeed, Alola Pokemon are in there. On top of my mind I can think of a Mimikyu and a Brionne. (Ah yeah, there’s also Stufful for example.) But there’s Kalos pokemon like Fletchling and Phantump and Floette, Unova’s Trubbish and Chandelure and Solosis, Sinnoh’s Kricketune and Drifloon and Buneary, Hoenn’s Feebas and Metang and Tropius... and of course Johto and Kanto are there. Duh. This is just an excerpt - there’s honestly tons of Pokemon in there playing a role, even some unexpected ones.

-All cutscenes are fully (and nicely!) voiced, and what’s more, all Pokemon have voiced sounds even outside of them. For some reason the game has environmentally individual sound design in that regard, by which I mean that if you run with Tim next to a Pokemon, you’ll hear its sound louder than you would standing on the opposite side of the room. -This Pikachu is a coffee enthusiast (and as far as I remember a big cookie fan too). -This isn’t a game fact, but I don’t know why the Detective Pikachu amiibo is so huge. Someone please tell me.

Any other questions? Rambles? Definitely drop me a message!

[calleo-bricriu]

I mean, inevitably, you’ll catch me.

(( Cleaned up set of threads with @absintheabsence ; minor edits for spelling/clarity. This is definitely one of those stories Calleo should not tell @lamentedhope because that poor man is stressed enough as it is.

This would have been mid August, 1990. ))

“Hold still, I’m nearly finished-“ he murmurs it almost crossly, slightly muffled- his fingers twist again twice or so before he is satisfied enough to take the twine from his teeth, and he ties the braid in place with a complex series of knots. “There, now.” He gives the tail of it a gentle tug, before bending his silvered head to kiss the bottom most curl, just once. “Pretty as a rosebud.”

“If I’m any more still, I’ll have to stop breathing and even then parts of me are still going to move.” That was probably a lie but, if nothing else was clear at the moment, it was that Calleo seemed to never really be entirely still.

Something was always moving, at least a little bit.  He did, however, stop talking for a few seconds as that, at least, was likely to keep his head still for the moment.

When there was implicit permission to move again, Calleo turned around and canted his head, “If you somehow weren’t already aware, the only time I tie it back is if I’m expecting a duel.”

“That,” a stupidly playful grin that most definitely reached his voice left no question as to what he was skirting around directly asking, “is something you can interpret as you wish but, for the record: Nothing lethal within twelve hours of a hit, nothing permanently disfiguring, nothing permanently debilitating, anything else I can patch up myself.”

“Don’t humour me, and don’t patronise me, just fuck me up. I want to see how long it takes.”

It begins in a white-hot flash of teeth and anticipation before Calleo hits the floor for the first time, coming down hard on cracked stone. Grindelwald was on his feet faster than he ought to be given his age and the condition Calleo found him in, but then again, he’d been eating better these days.

The cherry wand moved in that gnarled old hand like a whip- of course, of course he would lead with the Cruciatus. Test the defenses with a brutal series of hooks and barbs that fall into a rhythm- short, short, long, short, long, short-

The younger man’s skin is steaming as though he’d been hit by lightning when he hears the Dark wizard speak, his voice barely more than a breath.

“Pretty little bird- I will do more than that. I am going to tear you apart.”

The first moment Calleo could do anything besides remembering to breathe, he laughed; a breathy, ragged laugh, but still a laugh.

“Do that again, only this time, at the end, turn the hooks around opposite, interlock them, then,” he gestured upward with a slightly shaky hand, “up, and apart. It’s much worse that way.”

He didn’t wait for a second hit, despite knowing it’d be an inevitability. The warding in the rooms may have prevented apparating out of the building (or even the room) but it didn’t stop it from within the room and that was the quickest way to get into a less direct position.

Behind would have been too obvious, and off to either side? Likely expected as well. Instead, he disappeared from the floor in a whirl of black, reappearing instantly directly in front of the older Wizard, “Don’t tell me, show me.”

A quick, vivid flash of red that seemed to be a strangely modified version of a blasting curse came off more as a distraction than an attempt at a point blank hit. Considering the first dumb thing that came out of his mouth, Calleo at least realised he probably ought to–for now–remain defensive, or at least try to dodge by keeping it easy to break line of sight.

Not that it’d do any good.

The wards covering the inside of the room did not seem the least bit pleased at the interaction; several had sprung to life, coiled and waiting to be allowed at what they were guarding, and were…immediately disarmed by Calleo with one gesture, the second wave of his wand killed all of the lighting, including any that might have dared to leak in from one of the windows, leaving the room unnaturally dark. One of Braxford’s spells.

The next cast was aimed partially on sound, partially on memory as to where Gellert had been standing prior, though Calleo didn’t intend to actually hit him, assuming he’d have moved by now. It did, however, tear a path through the stone floor, acting more as magical scattershot.

Grindelwald ducked down with the burst of red heat that flew past, shredding fingernails in its wake, singing hair; it’s knocked aside a split second later, but his knuckles are already smeared and burning. Back in the day, he’d dropped men that stood against him by the dozen without taking a scratch, but who’s to say what he’ll allow now when he needn’t fear shedding a little blood?

A heartbeat passes, words moving through the space between them, and the cell is drained of every last drop of light. The two might as well have been at the bottom of the ocean, might as well have been six feet underground. He can taste the drop in pressure as the warding designed to quell prisoner uprising is snapped apart, can feel it crackling in his ears, the air stinging his insides as he pulls in breath after shuddering, joyful breath.

Then comes the current through the floor like a small earthquake; in the next blink of an eye (unseen, of course) he’s atop the rickety desk, and the hiss of a thought from him is enough to stop it creaking under his weight.

The fellow knows what he’s doing, he’ll give him that much.

Grindelwald is more than disposed to take the clever thing’s advice- he’s a glutton for punishment, naturally, but it’s more than that, he knows, oh yes, does he ever know- but not right away.

(And it’s more than advice, he knows that too; candidly telling a body the things you want, the things you need in these intimate kinds of situations, especially with someone new, is something the importance of which just cannot be overstated.)

Delayed gratification is always the most delicious kind.

A vicious, swift movement of his wand hand like the serrated edge of a knife brings phantom teeth clamping down on the softest parts of the body, the most vulnerable, targeted even as they still lay trembling after the latest Unforgivable- the backs of the knees, the tender points behind the ears, the webbing of the fingers and toes.

-and there, right on the heels of it, right there is something new, something invasive and wrong, slipping in under the skin through the smallest of lacerations and beginning to move.

The desk gave away the other occupant’s position fairly easily, though Calleo knew he wasn’t bound to stay there for long.

Before he had a chance to take another shot–things–began biting at him. A sharp intake of breath was the best Grindelwald was going to get out of him for that. Calleo was rarely loud in any regard, after all.

While one part of him quickly ran through potential counters to whatever magic was biting and clawing at him, Calleo reoriented himself in an attempt to keep tags on where the spells were coming from.

Even spells that didn’t leave a direct trail of light to follow had a direction based on how and where they hit.

The movement under the areas that spell had been chewing, Calleo had to admit, was highly startling. He was also well trained enough not so much in dueling but in fighting to know that if he let it keep him still he was only making himself a bigger target. The things moving, to him, felt more unpleasant and terribly, terribly wrong than they did painful and it took a good amount of mental wherewithal to work on stopping (or worse, removing) whatever was happening while still paying majority attention to the actual duel at hand.

Calleo hadn’t heard any other movement and assumed Grindelwald hadn’t moved from the desk, but he wasn’t about to take that risk. Instead of adding light–and making himself an easier target–to the room, he re-activated and triggered one of the prison’s locating wards and had it do exactly what it was meant to do: Find its prisoner.

The next spell lit the room yellow for the split-second it took it to reach Grindelwald. As it passed the other Wizard, missing only by a fraction of an inch, the locating ward went dead, and the wall behind him simply was gone.

Not quietly, not disappeared, the explosion rocked the entire foundation of the tower and the curse itself didn’t just detonate an explosion, it continued chewing its way through the walls, causing the ceiling and roof they held up to waver and collapse not to rubble, but to a fine dust that laid dead where it fell; not even movement stirred it as it would regular dust, and, seconds later ate its way down to the floor.

The warding it chewed up in its path flared once the curse came close, then were torn apart as it passed.

Interestingly, it didn’t seem to be mindless destruction as the warding that was left dimly lit and crossed the empty air where its walls and floors used to be, filling them back in so escape from the prison still remained an annoying impossibility. Still, the specific negating and defensive warding had been left disarmed. Present, but off for the moment.

When it coiled back around toward Grindelwald, the colour gradually faded from yellow to a red that manifested itself as less a colour and more of a feeling; a vicious, burning cold, in spite of the color. It detonated near him at an angle Calleo was decent enough to make sure would knock him back toward the parts of the room that still had a functioning floor.

In its wake, the curse left a seething, grasping cold that did not dissipate the magic did. Anyone that crossed the path it had taken would be aware of the lingering presence.

Now, Calleo needed some time to put some distance between them and see if he could figure out if there were actual creatures ‘crawling’ in him or if it was an unsettling spell that wasn’t really causing any lasting damage.

The room, despite the violent removal of three walls, most of the roof, and half of the floor, remained dark.

That spell neither of them had moved out of the way. Yet.

Calleo knew full well how to end Braxford’s spell, but there was little fun in that. Instead, a swirling movement from his wand produced what would have been a spectacular Fiendfyre–if either of them could have seen it in the darkness. Being what it was, it was a certainty that they could both feel it, however.

Calleo didn’t stick around after the remainder of the room had been turned into a wall of black, magical flame, and disapparated, still running through anything he might know to counter what was, to him, unknown magic. If it weren’t so unsettling, he’d be impressed, but there would be time for being impressed by it later and after it wasn’t doing–whatever it was doing to him.

The door to the cell had, of course, been left opened and disarmed.

Blinded for that fraction of an instant, the old tyrant had fallen through to the stairway below, his shoulder and his hip coming down hard on merciless corners of stone; he bites back a swear now, and, as always, gets right back up again. Reactions not quite what they used to be, but that’s only to be expected.

The tower is broken, the walls are gone-

Not in decades has he breathed the night air without gasping out through the bars on a window narrower than the span of his hand like a man drowning.

They are gone-

Since he has known the bitter tang of this kind of cold, however, this particular taste of red that is more visceral than any mere word could ever tell you- that has been even longer still. The ringing absence that Excidium left in its wake, breathless and profound, was always something that could be felt in the teeth.

He never could have walked out that door of his own free will. Perhaps his new companion knew this. But either way, the choice has been made for him. The Blutmondhaarig have always been deliverers of fortune, good and ill; Grindelwald was all but ravenous with the thought of where this one might lead him, this one who bursts open the world when every way has been shut already.

His own curse is a lingering thing, line of sight or no; he can feel it as it does its good work. In former days, he had used it on hunts, and really this isn’t quite so different. It surges, carrying the sensation of strong fingers with their nails out sliding through muscle, through and through and all the way down to the bones, pressing deep and shoving apart. As it is, it makes movement difficult, but if he breathed another word it would have the power to render the clever Calleo Bricriu into something ready for a spit and a slow…

The Fiendfyre erupted spectacularly over his head, snatching the moisture from the air, from his mouth, from his eyes- but Grindelwald does not turn his face away, does not try to protect those parts of him that have grown so soft and brittle; he instead sets his teeth, seething through the broken gaps.

Lashing the wand whose old master’s handiwork this is, he captured the tail of the crackling, roaring beast, and draws it in. This he forges into coils of scorching rope, lurid and bright. His bony chest is heaving.

“Find him,” he tells it in a low hiss, and sends it firing off in the wake of an arrow that Bricriu ought to consider something of an old friend, if his writings are anything to go by.

The Skincrawl grows greedier, crueler, inner parts twisting and tugging and bleeding- until it finds its mark. Hungry tendrils snap tight around and bind him, ankle to ankle, wrist to waist, and the man is dragged down, down into the dark where Grindelwald stands waiting.

The chance that that fiery curse would harmlessly pass over him if he was dragged to the ground was…about at zero. There was a chaser on it, it would follow until it hit and a hit would be unpleasantly lethal.

Calleo had a split second to decide if he could maybe figure out a quick way out of whatever the unfamiliar spell trying to bind and drag him was or, while he could still move, at last knock the Sagitta Debilitatem off of the Fiendfyre; at that point, it might continue on it the direction it was going–and there was no guarantee he’d get that charm off of it before it had aimed itself properly at him.

Not really a tough decision, all things considered. He couldn’t fully move, but he could move enough to get that charm off the front of the curse and let himself fall to the stone floor as gracefully as possible–which really wasn’t very graceful at all, considering how little he could move.

The Fiendfyre itself hit and spread along one of the walls, burning through the warding and part of the alarm structure there. Wonderful! Except–not particularly.

Leaving that unchecked would be a problem, and was already causing the wards that hadn’t been burned out to regroup and rearm, again, focusing their aim on the prisoner they were designed to subdue.

He still had some movement in his hands, which he probably should have used to try and break himself free but, instead, he aimed it at those stupid wards that kept threatening to end the game as they weren’t quite smart enough to know that it was a game. They were reacting as they were designed, and as they were designed was inconvenient, Calleo shut them off.

They’d have to deal with the fire later as, now. Calleo couldn’t move at all, unless continued questionable decision making landed either of them on the idea of, “Hey, Ashwinders!”

Calleo had figured out, the moment whatever this was started doing what it was doing, that struggling against it would probably make it worse; no reason to think that beyond that was how these sorts of spells generally worked.

Most of them were a lot less unpleasant if you didn’t struggle.

So, he didn’t.

He let himself be dragged back to Grindelwald and, not wanting to let the other Wizard even get the slightest of ideas that this was over, “Too old to chase me, hm? I can slow down, if you’d like.”

Calleo knew damn well that was a stupid thing to say, which is entirely why he said it. He was more than aware that whatever was about to hit him would now likely be even worse than if he’d kept his mouth shut. For as much as the unpleasant spell binding him would let him, he relaxed; these things were always worse if one was tense, after all.

[translationandbetrayals]

Milky Holmes' Rise to Fall, or How to Find Hope in Troubled Times

Milky Holmes reminds me of Žižek. And while it might seem quite nonsensical to tie this sentence together, it’s also something that gives us light about the times we’re facing.

Milky GODS

Always controversial, the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek does have some interesting things to say. But even though he’s mostly known for his approach of leftist politics, the analysis of his that has stuck with me the most doesn’t relate to politics, or at least not directly. It’s his commentary about the animated film Kung Fu Panda, produced by Dreamworks. He has referred to the film a couple of times while highlighting something that has now become sort of a recurrent topic of his mythos. The idea of faith. This idea, also explained by him in the form of an anecdote about a scientist (Niels Bohr) who didn’t believe in charms, yet used to put one in his house just because he was told “it would work, even if he didn’t believe in it”, is essential to Kung Fu Panda and to Dreamworks as a whole (even if Žižek doesn’t directly acknowledge it). While the film works as a parody of Chinese martial arts films, and spends part of its runtime satirizing Chinese philosophy, in the end these principles are embraced, as Po’s wu wei defeats Tai Lung’s ambition (and we can say the same about the way Shrek and Megamind relate to fairy tales and superhero fantasy, just to cite other examples). 

But what does any of this have to do with Milky Holmes? What is this Milky Holmes, even? And as many of you might not be familiar with this long running multimedia franchise, it wouldn’t do harm to recapitulate its history. To understand Milky Holmes, we must first understand its seeds, which are in Broccoli and Bushiroad, two Japanese companies which were both founded by a single man, named Takaaki Kidani. Kidani started Broccoli in the late ‘90s, which first worked as a doujin management company for events, then expanding itself through Gamers, a goods store directed towards the otaku market. Gamers was immortalized and popularized through the Di Gi Charat franchise, produced by Broccoli and extremely massive through the late 90s and early 2000s. Spanning various anime adaptations, numerous manga, and lots of merchandise, the now classic characters were a boom within this same otaku market, and part of this success even crossed overseas, as you might see if you venture into old anime archives.

This really handsome dude is Takaaki Kidani

Now the success of Di Gi Charat probably wasn’t just because of the mascot made designs, though of course that had a part in its popularity. Aside from the already obvious fact, the Di Gi Charat franchise, at least in its first animated adaptation, had a pretty good sense of humor and irony. In a way, it was mocking the very own otaku it was targeted towards, and while it sure wasn’t the first to do so, this style of self-deprecating and sometimes grotesque or even infantile humor the series subjected its viewers to was something special. And while Di Gi Charat had quite the acid tone, it wasn’t without its share of tame and even heartwarming moments. It was moe, marketable of course, but there was something else as well. This series had a heart.

The heart of the show has a name and it’s Puchiko

It’s this spirit that Milky Holmes, more than 10 years after the creation of Di Gi Charat, held as its foundation as one of the star projects of the then recently started Bushiroad, founded after Kidani left Broccoli. Learning from his success in Broccoli’s projects such as the aforementioned Di Gi Charat, and also the media franchise Galaxy Angel, Milky Holmes was thought of as a multimedia project from the start. In the case of Milky Holmes, radio dramas, a manga, a PSP video game, an anime adaptation, and, perhaps most importantly, a seiyuu/idol unit were launched. I say most importantly because it was the disbandment of this unit that signaled the end of the franchise as a whole. In January’s 28th of 2019, Milky Holmes gave their final live performance at the Budokan, in fact ending the decade old franchise.

The end of Milky Holmes

On the anime side of things, the last installment was Psycho no Aisatsu, a crossover special episode featuring the main character of the Cardfight!! Vanguard franchise, a trading card game series for kids that was also created by Bushiroad. It was the symbolic pass on the torch to a younger, still profitable franchise in Bushi, that hopefully might keep the spirit of the Milkies alive. But we must not be sad for what has ended, as this franchise will always stay there to be revisited, even for people who never got to experience it when it was still active.

And it’s because of this that I have not forgotten about Milky Holmes, even though it has been years since it ended. I feel especially partial to the anime, particularly its first two seasons, and the 2016 movie: Milky Holmes' Counterattack (and what a movie is that one). One common thing about these three is that all of them feature Makoto Moriwaki as a director. And I feel she’s the one who better captures the spirit I mentioned above when talking about Di Gi Charat. It isn’t the only way to understand the series: there’s the video games, that might be seen as the source material; the Alternative OVAs, that are a closer adaptation of the games; and the two other anime seasons, which are completely different to anything else (and most people don’t seem to like); but Morikawi’s interpretation is the most interesting one, at least to me.

Now, you might be tired of so much anticipation and context, but it’s important to understand the background of this director to realize what she brought to the franchise (because yes, it’s a she) to, as I believe, perfect it. Makoto Moriwaki has mostly made a career out of directing children’s anime, more specifically anime for girls. Series such as the Sanrio based My Melody and PriPara have been directed by her, along with some Jewelpet seasons and even some Doraemon episodes. But a sort of black sheep among all that family friendly content is the raunchy adult comedy Ebichu, which, in spite of its cutesy visuals reminiscent of Hamtaro, is a series mostly targeted towards older women, full of jokes about adult life that, of course, involve a lot of sex.

it means a dirty word, if you didn’t realize

The Milky Holmes directed by Moriwaki is a middle ground between those two poles. On one hand, the cynicism, irony, and hidden sexual references in an outwardly kids friendly series, and on the other, the fantasy and the hopeful nature of magical girls and idol anime. And this dichotomy is also highlighted when we understand the target of this series. Despite its looks, Milky Holmes is not directed towards children. It’s not a kids show, but rather, a completely otaku business. It was broadcasted as shinya anime at 11 pm, it has its share of adult humor, and of course, the moe characters are exactly that, there’s no ambiguity there. It’s made to sell merchandise, discs and BDs to fat weirdos. But it’s quite interesting how the show treats its own audience, because if we’re to take Milky Holmes as an otaku product, it isn’t simply cynical.

Yes, that there is a ****plug

We have talked about Milky Holmes as a product and as a media franchise, but let’s review the series itself. To those who don’t know, Milky Holmes is set in a fantastical time and space called the Age of Great Detectives. In this world, Great Detectives and their eternal rivals, Gentlemen Thieves, are in constant struggle. They’re aided by their Toys, special powers whose name might be an irony on Bushiroad’s own status as a company.

A fascinating part of the Milky Holmes franchise for any crime or detective fiction freak is that most of the character names are taken from legendary detectives and criminals. There’s the 4 Milky Holmes members, which are respectively: Sherlock “Sheryl” Shellingford, the always energetic and optimistic leader (named after the most famous detective of all); Nero Yurizaki, a greedy, egotistical bokukko (named after the gluttonous Nero Wolfe); Hercule “Elly” Burton, a shy girl who has the most awareness inside the Milkies (named after Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot); and Cordelia Glauca, the shoujo-esque dramatic and delusional member of the crew (named after Cordelia Gray, the only character of the four that is originally female).

From left to right, unlike your Japanese mangos

They battle constantly against the Gentlemen Thief Empire, led by the intense and prideful Arsene (after Arsène Lupin, the French gentleman thief also recalled by the Monkey Punch character); and completed with Twenty, a narcissistic nudist that weaponizes his erect nipples (based on Menso Nijuu, a villain from the Ranpo Edogawa canon); Stone River, a prude warrior with a samurai pride (based on Goemon Ishikawa, the outlaw hero from Japanese folklore, also referenced by Lupin III); and Rat, who’s victim of everyone’s forgetfulness (based on Kozo Nezumi, a folk hero from the Edo period).

Twenty, Arsene, Stone River, and Rat

There’s also a third party in discord, that can either work as ally or enemy depending on circumstance (much like in your typical detective story) which is of course formed by the cops. The G4 is the “elite” patrol of law enforcement whose effectiveness also depends on plot convenience, and their leader (and child genius with infinite amounts of IQ) Kokoro-chan’s (named after Kogoro Akechi, the famous Ranpo Edogawa detective) mood. The other members are Tsugiko Zenigata (after Heiji Zenigata, a Japanese legend), a somewhat tomboyish girl voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro; Hirano Hasegawa (after Heizo Hasegawa, from the Onihei Hankacho novels), a traditional Japanese girl who is a master of combat; and Saku Toyama (after Kagemoto Toyama, a historic character made legend), the technological expert of the gang.

She just keeps it going up

Don’t call her Kokoro-chan, she’ll get angry

However, the main source of conflict (and comedy) in the series is that, despite being quite powerful and capable as detectives with the aid of their toys, the Milkies are pretty much nothing without them. Dame dame (useless), is something they’ll often have to hear, as they constantly struggle with the loss of their toys at the start of almost every new installment (save for Futari wa and TD, in which they weren’t the main characters because of this exact reason). Nonetheless, in spite of how hard they might fall, how much they can be humiliated and degraded (and they sure will), and basically turn into dumb slapstick cartoons, they will always stand up again, never losing hope even when taking a detour, or when they’re becoming farmers instead.

Milky farmers

In this acknowledgment of the cyclical and absurd nature of their misfortunes, made explicit in the movie by the (unintentional) use of words by Sheryl: “it’s rise to fall”, the philosophical implications of the series are unlocked, at least from the Moriwaki iteration of it. It’s an absurd reality, in which no matter how high one can be, one can always fall to the lowest of the low. Yet, when you have fallen, there’s nothing else you can do but go up, try and hope for the best, never giving in to life no matter how discouraging or absurd it might become.

It’s existential philosophy, right inside a moe anime, and one can’t be anything but thankful of someone who is giving such messages inside a work that could conform to just offering a product for profit. Instead, what Milky Holmes is doing is to tell its audience that no matter how hard their lives might get, no matter how repeatedly they might hear that they’re useless, that they’re dumb or hopeless, they must never give up. It’s quite beautiful, even more so when you’re aware of the darker sides of the otaku and the stigma and social alienation a lot of these people face in their country. And so, Milky Holmes might be a ray of light amidst a rabbit hole of isolation, which can be relatable to most of us as we face the current pandemic. A sign that even if we can’t see it, there’s hope at the end of the tunnel.

Yes, she’s saying that when they’re in prison

Closing on a hopeful note, I’ll let you in on a cool fact. Do you know who directed the Milky Holmes movie alongside Moriwaki? I will give you some lines to guess, if you think you’re smart detectives.

… 

… 

… 

… 

… 

… 

… 

… 

Yes! It was Hiroaki Sakurai, who, coincidentally (or not), was the series director for most of the Di Gi Charat anime versions since its first installment in 1999. It’s really cool how everything circles back to a now almost prehistoric franchise, but it also circles back in a less symbolic way. 2021 seems to be a new year for Di Gi Charat, as the franchise is getting a revival as “Di Gi Charat Reiwa”, a new generation of the series which contemplates lots of merchandise and, most importantly, a new anime series, helmed by no other than the same Hiroaki Sakurai. Here’s hoping for a revitalization of this lively spirit, a hopeful affirmation of the disgusting manchildren we all have inside.

Promotional image for this era’s own Charat

Salvador González Turrientes

Links and additional sources of information:

Žižek on Kung Fu Panda 

The Milky Holmes article from the English Wikipedia 

Wikipedia list of the Milky Holmes characters (in English)

Takaaki Kidani's article (in English)

Takaaki Kidani’s article (in Japanese)

Di Gi Charat's Wikipedia (in English)  

Hiroaki Sakurai's (in English) 

Makoto Moriwaki's article (in English as well) 

The news of the Di Gi Charat Reiwa anime (from ANN) 

[snowkatze]

A Vampire in Kinky Boots

Genre: angst, a bit of fluff Summary: Simon runs his father’s shoe factory, but the business is not going well. Fortunately, Baz Pitch is here to help. Whilst working together, things don’t always go as they hoped for… Based on the musical Kinky Boots, which you don’t need to have seen to understand the story.

Chapter One , Chapter Two , Chapter Three , Chapter Four , Chapter Five

Chapter Two - Step One

I grip the edge of the table behind me as I lean against it. I can feel my breathing go irregularly and my palms go sweaty. I close my eyes, just trying to gain some calm. My heart is beating so fast, I think it might leap out of my chest and betray me.

Baz is here. I don't know what to think or do about that. I just know that I can't even look at him because I'm afraid he'll vanish if I look at him properly instead of just out of the corner of my eye. I'm afraid he'd see right through me if I did.

There's a messy storm inside of me and I want to close it all away, put it back into the box of Pandora that he opened.

I haven't seen him in so long. I thought we'd never meet again. I lift my gaze just for a second, just to avert it again as quickly as possible. He's still standing there, looking like a king. A king in high heels. There are so many questions I want to ask him. But I'm at a loss of words. I'm hoping that Penny will do the talking for me.

“What do you mean?”, she provides helpfully.

He sneers at me, like a tosser, and I know that, even though his appearance has changed, he's not different.

“I mean,” he starts, “I have a plan.” I'm so startled that I do look up and frown at him. What is he plotting? We're already on the brink of bankruptcy. All he can do at this point is give us the final blow.

“I think I know how to save your factory.” Save?! Something is not adding up here. Baz Pitch? Wanting to save something? That can't be. All he ever does is destroy; he doesn't go around saving things. Is he lying?

Suspicious, I raise an eyebrow, trying to put all my disapproval into one simple glance. I don't trust him one bit.

“I appreciate the notion, Baz,” Penny says, “but people just stopped buying our products. There's nothing you can do about that.” “Sure I can,” he smirks and steps closer. He sounds so sure of himself that I almost believe him. But I know Baz. Even after all this time, I know the way he plays the game. I know how he can twist anyone around his finger... and turn their heads.

Baz sits down on one of the chairs around the desks and props his feet up on the surface. Even though he attaches great importance to manners, he'll always go out of his way to infuriate me. Penny shoots him a glare that would terrify anyone else, make them take their feet to the ground and stumble out an apology, but all Baz does is stare back at her until she sighs and looks away.

“See, the problem with your products is that there is no demand – no one wants to buy ugly hiking boots. So, what if you were to produce a different kind of shoes. You'd have next to no concurrence, a niche market that'd be all yours – sounds good, doesn't it?” “And what kind of market would that be?” I chime in.

“Oh,” he says, keeping his eyes on me. “And there I was thinking you'd lost your ability to talk over the years.” “Baz!” “Oh right. You never had one to begin with. My mistake.” “I thought you were here to help us.” “I am,” he explains,”but that doesn't mean I have to be nice.” “Baz,” Penny says, trying to get back to the point. “What are you talking about?” “I'm talking about boots. High heels. For men.” “Like...”

I glance at his red boots.

“Like those?” “Exactly. It would be great to have boots made specifically for men – and made to carry the weight of a man. A mostly unexplored market. What do you think?”

“What's in it for you?” I ask instead of answering. There's got to be a catch.

“I'm gonna be your business partner. Sort of. I can help you in the making of the boots and organize some models for you. Also, I'm part of the target group. Don't worry, Snow. You can be assured that my proposal is entirely selfish.”

I'm not entirely convinced by that, by I choose not to push it. “First we'd have to find a technique to make these kinds of boots,” Penny remarks.

“We'd have to readjust the whole factory,” I add.

“Yes,” Baz says and leans forward. “Its gonna be hard. You're gonna have to do a lot of work and put in a lot of time. But are you in?”

I look at Penny and I know what we're both thinking. Could be risky. Could be a complete flop. But I know what it is for sure – our only shot.

I have a weird feeling about this – especially since it is Baz who suggested the whole thing. I grip the table a bit tighter. I see Penny nodding, only slightly. She's giving me the go.

“Alright,” I say. “We're in.” The next morning, the whole thing still feels like some sort of fever dream, but when I arrive at the factory, Baz is waiting for me. Instantly, my heart starts beating faster (Damn it.). But... I'm kind of glad it was not a dream. Even though his idea sounds absolutely insane, his confidence makes me hope that he's right, that we can still save this factory and all the jobs it provided.

The first thing we do is call a few of our workers back. Some of which can help us develop and design new shoes, and some who can do some marketing research to ensure we're not taking any unnecessary risks. If we want this to be successful, we're going to have to distribute our products the right way and make sure to use our marketing tools properly.

By midday, everyone is at work and in need of a coffee. Baz volunteers to get some.

“I need to get out of here,” he mutters.

“I'll come with you,” I say quickly. What? No. What is wrong with me?

Before I know it, I hurry after him. As expected, he ignores me completely, but I won't give up that easily.

“So you think this will really work?” “Of course it will work. After all, I'm here.” “Yeah, but... why are you doing this, really, Baz? What have you done, all these years, I mean, we haven't heard of you in so long... And... you've changed. I think.”

He pauses and looks at me for a moment, with a sad expression that I'm not able to read.

“Isn't that a good thing?” “I- I don't know.” He picks up a faster pace and I stumble over my feet.

“Look, Baz, I wasn't trying to offend you or anything, it's just... I thought you'd made something, I don't know, more than this.” “I don't have to listen to you judging me, Snow,” he scoffs and pushes the door to the bakery open.

“No, I wasn't... I mean...”

I take a frustrated breath. Why can I never express myself the way I want to?

“I mean that you used to have dreams, Baz. You wanted to graduate, I mean, you did graduate on top of the class. Shouldn't you work as a manager, or... I don't know... scientist, building a rocket, or something. Something smart and clever, making lots of money. Maybe even a footballer, I don't know. You were... are good at so many things. Shouldn't you be, like, in some sort of high position, in the middle of taking over the world? What happened to you?” “Simon Snow,” he smirks, raising an eyebrow, “are you concerned about me?” “Oh, sod off,” I murmur and feel my face turning red. Aleister Crowley, I shouldn't let him get under my skin like that. Not after all this time.

I take half of the coffees, he takes the other. Just when I think he's not going to answer my question, he replies in a really soft silent voice that I've never heard of him before and that makes my heart ache in a strange way.

“Let's just say, things didn't go as planned. And not everyone is as confident in my abilities as you apparently are. But I'm alright, Simon. No need to worry.”

I search his gaze, but he doesn't look at me and suddenly I have the urge to take his hand. (What the fuck?)

“Um... Baz?” “Yeah?” “I just wanted to say... Thank you.” All out of a sudden, he smiles at me. Really. Genuinely. Wow.

“No problem, Snow.”

After hours of working our asses off, I lean back in my chair. Most others have already left (Baz, too) and it's just me and Penny. I look at our notes and smile at her.

“I think we've got this,” I say.

“Me, too. And we have Baz to thank for that. Who would've expected that?”

“Not me,” I whisper.

“No, not you. Maybe you've underestimated him.” “Me?! Underestimated Baz? How can you say that? I never underestimate the enemy. I'm always a step ahead, I know what he's plotting! I know that... he's always plotting something.” “Yeah, but he was plotting something you didn't expect. And he's not really your enemy, is he?” “No, I guess not...”

I smile to myself, when suddenly I notice today's newspaper laying under a few documents. It's the headline that catches my eye. It reads “Dracula on the Loose?”. Alerted, I push the documents aside to take a closer look on the article.

“Inexplicable attack happens in small town. A corpse that died of blood loss is found with strange marks on their neck. Or is there an explanation? Read here an interview with expert on the Supernatural.”

What is this all about? A vampire attack? Here?

I quickly read the article. Oh no.

“Penny,” I say. “Look at this.”

She frowns and picks up the newspaper.

“How could this happen? Do you think it's like, the real deal? Shouldn't the coven be taking care of this?” “Yeah, but it's not like you can rely on them anyways. I should investigate this.”

“No, Simon. Come on. This is not your responsibility.”

“Yes it is! We're mages, Pen. We're the only ones who know that vampires really do exist. And I'm the mage's... I'm... the chosen one... I mean, I was, and I can't just get rid of that sense of responsibility. You know I have to take care of this, Penny. Please.” She sighs.

“Fine. But, Simon. Be careful, alright?” “I always am, aren't I?” She doesn't bother to correct me.

[sometimesrosy]

Hi Rosy, I need some advice. I used to write fanfiction and was on the verge of writing an original story when a group of other writers in the fandom I was in cyberbullied me, claiming that I stole plots from them. I swear to God I didn't, I would never do that but at the time I felt like no one believed me. This was about 4 years back. Since then I have shied away from writing. PT1/2

I want to go back because people who’ve read my writings like them and are encouraging me to go back. I’m just afraid of doing so. A part of me is still traumatized and worried that a similar situation might happen again. I don’t think I could survive another bullying incident and after witnessing the shit storm that is coming from the 100 fandom, I’m definitely not keen to write for Bellarke. What should I do? PT2/2

This is a really tough question, and I’m going to tackle it now instead of putting it aside to ‘think about it’ as I sometimes do with tough questions, mostly because I am writing a book about writer’s block, and even if it doesn’t go with my outline it’s a reality. And not just for you.

So here’s the thing. Writing is not just about getting ideas and putting them on the paper and making the story good and keeping up your writing until it’s done.

Writing is a constant battle between you and your will to write, and you and your demons telling you you can’t write and you’re wrong and you’re not good enough and no one will like you and why bother?

Writer’s block is not a block. Writer’s block is a STRUGGLE. It’s not a thing sitting on your path, it’s a conflict warring inside of you.

Your demons came to life and attacked you in the form of that rotten writer’s group. Whether they attacked you with the insecurities you already had or they created new ones for you to develop, they’re your demons now. Congratulations. Whee! It’s horrible. 

But here’s some good news. Fighting with those demons is actually part of the writer’s process. You had a particularly traumatizing experience as the target of bullying and accusations, but it doesn’t have to mean the end of your writing aspirations if you don’t want it to. It isn’t a sign that you shouldn’t write or can’t write. All writers face their demons. They all have different tactics to do so and some of those are not particularly healthy. There’s a reason why writers have a reputation for being drunks. It’s because a lot of people are trying to drown their demons so they can write. 

It is HARD to write. Even when you write with ease, (like I do, honestly writing is like breathing for me,) you STILL struggle on a daily basis, because those demons are constantly coming up. Different demons. Sometimes quiet. Sometime loud. But everyone who’s ever written has gotten past those demons, so you can, too. There are a million ways to beat them.

Honestly, the first question you should ask is– DO I WANT TO? Because it’s not required of you to face down those demons every day so you can write. If you don’t get enough out of writing to make up for the struggle, you don’t have to do it. If you’re okay with not writing or not being a writer, you don’t have to force yourself to fight through. It is entirely within your choice. It can be freeing to let go of that goal so you can do other things. 

Not for me, however because when I asked myself that question I found out that not only did I WANT to write, I HAD TO write. Writing might require fighting my demons, but writing is also my weapon in fighting those demons. So therefore I sharpen my writing blade and I get to fighting. I mean writing. I have to. So I do. 

It sounds to me as if your anxiety is coming from SHOWING your work, from the fear of being attacked again, from worry about how people will respond to it. Which I totally understand. I avoided this fear for years by writing and writing but never showing it. Fan fiction is the first place I started showing my work in years. I did it because it was fun and I had no ulterior motives like getting paid or trying to make a career and I was using it to defeat my anxieties over those goals, because I just wanted to write. That was before I realized how antagonistic fandom could get. I like AO3 and I find it a safe space for writers, because that is how it was designed. Tumblr? No. Not at all. But AO3 gives you some control and gives the hyenas less control. Hurrah for free speech and freedom of creativity.

But even so, I recognize your anxiety over how your work might be taken. 

How? How do you get over it? How do you silence it enough so that you get strong enough to write and then share your work? Like all demons, there are a million ways to defeat them. 

You could always be like: “Screw you, you jerks.  You can’t tell me what to do. I’m going to write to spite you!” And then just write in a fury and post it in spite. Hey. If it works for you and gets you writing, why not? It works. It’s a little reactionary and spite might give the haters too much of a place in your head, but the more you write to silence those demons, the quieter they will get.  So, why not? I’ve got a little rebel in me that reacts like that sometimes. I’m not so sure it’s easy to maintain, because when the anger is gone, so is the fight to show them wrong. And the fears come back in.

The one that works better for me but is much harder and takes a lot of work and is a process is to step back from the criticism and take stock of yourself. 

“I am me. And they are them. We are not the same and we do not have to have the same opinion. They do not have to like my story. I am writing it for myself and for people who understand me. Their negativity can exist in this world because I believe in myself and in my writing and in what I have to say. And I’m going to keep writing because I believe I am valid and have a voice, and I have a story to tell that is valuable. I have something to give to the world precisely because I am me.”

Ha ha. Yes. I KNOW HOW HARD THAT IS.

My answer to your problem is TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND YOUR VOICE.

The key to this dilemma is RADICAL SELF ACCEPTANCE, even in the face of criticism and attack SUPER HARD. 

Very hard, but very worthwhile, and will make your life better in all aspects. It is  a process that will never end, but even small steps in learning to value yourself will help you in struggling with your demons, whether writing or not.

If it helps you at all, I believe in your voice. I believe in your story. I believe in what you have to say and I, personally, would like to read your Bellarke story on AO3. 

Also if it helps any, your ask reminded me of Fearless Creating, by Eric Maisel, PhD.  There is a chapter, the last chapter, on the anxiety of showing our work. He is a psychotherapist specializing in creatives and also has other books that are more specifically geared towards writers, as this one is for creators of all types. I recommend. 

Good luck, and don’t give up because other people are horrible. Only give up if it’s something you don’t want anymore and something that won’t make you happy. Then it is called “freeing yourself from burdens,” not giving up. :)

[furederiko]

Kyuranger's 26th episode offers us a neat metaphor, of how emotions plays a crucial key to unlock the darkness in one's heart!

- Our episode immediately begins with a mecha fight. A concerning fact, because in case you forget, it's a Super Sentai sign that a bad thing is going to happen in the latter half. And since last week, it's very obvious who's going to be involved in one: Naga Ray. - Yes... he's still reeling in to what happened at Planet Tocky, that he ends up disrupting the balance of Kyutamajin. Pointing out a good minor point, that all 12 members need to be in sync to operate this massive combination. Phoenix Soldier eventually 'benches him out', as the giant robot is separated into its smaller components to take down the two Indavers and Consumarz. Naga wrongfully thinks that him being 'different', is helding the others back. - Problem is, this comes to the attention of someone unwelcome: Vice-Shogun Akyanba! Hideous and atrocious-looking design aside (Seriously, what is she based on? A ray? And what about that disturbing dino-head torso? Those crooked teeth... ugh!), we can already tell that Akyanba is a clever and cunning antagonist. Why? A good antagonist observes the situation, and plans ahead before making an attack. And that's exactly what she's doing. She's aware that if one member is out of the equation, the team can no longer form Kyutamajin! That's why Naga instantly becomes her prime target... Fun fact: Lest we forget, Akyanba is voiced by (another) former yellow, Arisa Komiya. Komiya played Yellow Buster in the 2012's "Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters". She showed up in Kyoryuger's TOEI NEXT V-Cinema title, and then last year's "Kamen Rider Ghost". Just like Raptor's VA, she has been branching out to the Voice Acting business in recent years. - Naga tells the others, that despite spending half a season all these time with the team, he hasn't acquired any emotions. Which is a bit ironic, since feeling frustrated, worried, and expressing disappointments (all signs circling around envy)... are in fact sign of emotions! Commander Xiao even kindly points that out. LOL. - Sadly, the team's concentration is being split to work out their 'Time Travel' mission. Particularly Tsurugi's concern on how it will affect the timeline. So they seem to be neglecting Naga's inner struggle. Since Balance needs more time to sync the ORION with the Horologium Kyu Globe, Xiao decides they should have a break. Barbeque break! A seemingly harmless intermezzo, that ends up backfiring instead. Because it opens up a solid opportunity for Akyaban to hatch her plan. - Ironically, Naga initially wants to stay behind and help Balance. But the golden mechanical life-form tells him to "take the load off". And then later, Hammy goes out her usual blatant way, and tells Naga to stop relying on Balance. She says that Naga should start thinking and doing things for his own. Nothing wrong with what both are doing, right? Yep, except for the fact that they are unintentionally pushing Naga to the edge, plunging him directly into Akyanba's manipulative play. - Obviously, seeing Akyanba draws out hidden emotions from humans, intrigues Naga. Just like TOEI, Akyanba isn't even trying to be subtle, as she specifically approaches Ophiucus Silver during the fight, offering him to... 'unlock' his true emotions. Another proof of her cunningness, as she pulls out of the fight right after. She's not trying to destroy the Kyuranger by power, nor by force (she actually can, since Phoenix Soldier points out that she's gotten more stronger), but by tearing them apart from the inside. - The team is concerned about this development, when Tsurugi shares that people from the Ophiucus System originally had 'incredibily intense emotions'. Naga tells Hammy that his people used to be overcomed by hatred and rage. Apparently, they decided to abandon emotions and individuality, in order to achieve peace. - Unfortunately, Naga's desire to have emotions... to be 'the same' like the other Kyurangers, is just too strong to resist. Thus the unexpected but inevitable happens: Naga himself, chooses to accept Akyanba's offer. Yes, a startling twist that might be the first in Super Sentai history, because a hero agrees to be swayed into the darkness... on his own free will!!! Fun fact: The 'Evil Hero' trope itself is actually annually used in the franchise, but most if not all of them involved brainwashing, mind control, or other similar tricks. For example, "Shuriken Sentai Ninnninger" has used this 'swaying a hero into their dark side' trope before, in the whole pointless minor subplot that had Kyuuemon Izayoi lured StarNinger to become evil. It failed miserably, if you ask me. Also, it might be more than just a coincidence, but the 27th episode of "Kira Kira Precure A La Mode" that was aired on August 13th (yep, a week before this episode), also attempted similar twist to Cure Gelato. I'm using the word 'attempted' because well... the antagonist Elysio only succeeded for a brief moment *sigh*. Interestingly, looks like that female-targetted SHT show is going to dwelve into similar angle for its 29th episode that will air this Sunday! - The team has to be split into two. Lucky, Tsurugi, Stinger, and Spada address Hammy's call for help to prevent Naga from 'surrendering' himself to Akyanba. Raptor, Champ, and the combi of Garu and Kotarou, hit the town to deal with the emotionally berserking victims (using Lyra, Aries, and #34 Coma Berenices Kyu Globe respectively... to hillarious effects). While the second team succeeds, it's already too late for the first team... as Naga has already entered the Dark Side. You're correct, it IS another a "Star Wars" reference! Dang it though, that witch-like scene that sees Akyanba infusing and suffocating darkness into Naga... is both juicy and creepy to see *shivers*. - Yes, Naga has acquired his hidden emotions now, and well... it's NOT good. AT ALL. He has been turned into a completely different person who's exuding sassiness, angst, malice, and... just plain evil. An ironically snake-like personality for someone from the Snake-Charmer constellation system. If you ask me, it's an amazing albeit terrifying scene, as Naga's actor seems to be going all out, hamming up his performance. Clearly he's having fun with this 'evil' version, because unlike Naga's usual 'flat' personality (which is much bigger challenge for an actor, IMHO), this enables him to showcase a variety of emotions. Spock to Spook, eh? - And things turn to worse. His Ophiucus Kyu Globe evolves into the Dark Kyu Globe, along with the purple/black-colored Dark Constellation Blaster. He's no longer Ophiucus Silver, as he has now become... Ophiucus Metal. Sure, this 'power up' form does look a bit corny and over-the-top, especially with all those weird add-ons and Egyptian nods. But I have to admit, I'm totally LOVING this scary berserking personality. The blaster uses that ominous minor tone that just sounds right for my taste, and he can even shoot deadly beam from that huge disturbing eye on the torso. Not to mention, that amazing and fitting BGM? It helps amp up this painful fight between comrades to feel more... eerie, dire, and disturbingly emotional. Ophiucus Metal almost kills Chamaeleon Green on the spot! Seriously, this entire scene is giving me all the chills!!! Fun Fact: The name 'Ophiucus Metal', is actually a neat little pun. Because in Japanese, it would be 'Hebi-tsukai Metal'. Get it? Hebi-Metal? 'Heavy-Metal'? Also, we know that Silver itself is a Metal element, so it is generally a smart choice of name. LOL. - The emotional turmoil is not over. The team obviously has to inform Balance about this unfortunate turn, and he's not taking this easy. At the same time, Hammy is openly blaming herself, for talking 'too much' to Naga. Balance decides to stay off the 'Time Travel' mission to bring back Naga to the good side. Lucky, Hammy, Garu, and Kotarou decide to stick around to join his crusade, while the others depart to the past using the Horologium-powered ORION. For the first time in Super Sentai history, we have 2 teams of 6 heroes (we still need to count Naga as well, right?) in one show, separated across time and space. From the beginning, Akyanba's main goal has been to split the team apart. Looks like it doesn't take long for that to come into fruition, huh?

Overall: In case you haven't realized it yet, there's one thing that Kyuranger is REALLY good at as a show: to toy and/or mess around with our emotions. After the heartgutting arc with Stinger, Commander Xiao's past regret, Tsurugi's lone-survivor syndrome, and Kotarou's brief moment with his mother just last week, one would doubt they can deliver another serving, right? Wrong. Seeing Naga succumbed himself into darkness, in order to obtain the one thing he truly desire, was intense and equally (if not more) heartbreaking to watch. I found myself genuinely feeling terrified for his sake, trembling with goosebumps and fear, particularly when the others failed to prevent him. And that says A LOT. While other shows have tried to pull it off with various results, with Naga, it hurts so much. Meaning, audience (clearly I'm not alone in this) truly cared about this character! His fall into the dark side came with such a big twist too: he himself CHOSE to be that way. As far as many recall, it's something new that hasn't been done in the franchise before. So it was more than just heartwrenching, but also shocking. More importantly, this turn of event did NOT come out of left field. It's a natural progression to his character! Hints towards this have been peppered throughout since his debut (Remember Planet Vela? And then on Planet Tocky...). After all, Naga DID become a Kyuranger to obtain emotions. He's just, a bit 'impatient' to have one, which was the core message here. What's happening to Naga is a subtle metaphor about those who are 'different', or as the negative-society often calls as... 'abnormal'. It's about the worst possible outcome of what happens when someone is pushed to the limits, in order to 'fit in' with the others. That's truly a strong and sensitive issue! I also really loved the fact that this plot helped push a wonderful development in other characters as well. In this case, the considerably 'underused' Hammy, and his BFF Balance. Hammy's way of spouting anything on her mind sort of backfired and pushed Naga towards the wrong direction. So it was equally painful to see her blaming herself for it. And then there was Balance and his carefree way of seeing things lightly. This trait failed him to see that his BFF has been struggling, and it might lead towards dire consequences. Furthermore, this arc continues another really neat trend of the show: it's the internal members, and not the the antagonists who tend to complicate matters for the team! Which is great, because it attracts conflicts that direct towards stronger team-bonding moment. Overall, this is truly yet another highlight of the show. Another proof that Kyuranger is just such a fantastic season to follow. TOEI is firing on all cylinders here! Beside... Evil Naga is simply a delight to see, even if we might only see him for a brief amount of time... XD Next week: Trouble aboard the ORION? What happens in the past, stays in the past...

Episode 26 Score: 8,4 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: August 26th, 2017 - Version 2.11. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.

[karlilarki]

Cobra, (Avengers Fanfic) Ch 1

Reader vs Black Widow / Natasha Romanoff, other Avengers members referenced/involved.  Warnings: None? My first fanfic so please feel free to send any constructive criticism / feedback that you may have. TYIA. Word Count: 3,304

Reader POV:

I gasp as I sit bolt-upright in bed. I can feel sweat trickling down my spine, raising goosebumps along my flesh. I instinctively reach to my throat, barely grazing it with the tips of my fingers, ensuring there was no real wound. I close my eyes as I put my face in my hands, take a deep breath, and then slowly run my fingers backward through my sweat-drenched hair. I glance at the clock on the bedside table to check the time, just to see 00:00 flashing in bright red numbers. I throw the covers on the bed back and swing my legs out, stretching as I stand, trying to loosen up and become more conscious. The same dream had been haunting me for as long as I can remember. I shake my head, dismissing thoughts of the nightmare, and cross the small hotel room to where I left a burner cell plugged in and charging. I check the time, using the phone, and find it’s only one o’clock in the morning. I sigh. I’m clearly not going to get any more sleep, not with images from the dream floating along the borders of my consciousness. I stuff them back into the caverns of my sub-conscious, where they belong, and hop into the shower.

 Natasha POV:

               “Why me, specifically?” Natasha questioned Fury. Of all of the capable agents in S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, why is he asking her to go? “Surely there is someone else that is just as capable, if not more capable, and someone who is…” she begins to trail off, at a loss for words.                “Less attached?” Nick Fury finishes the red-head’s sentence for her.                “Yes,” she responds, keeping her tone steady, neutral.                “I am sure there are others much less attached, however, you are not only capable of infiltrating the target’s quarters, you are also capable of handling combat with the target,” she sighs as Fury continues, “and most importantly, you are best able to communicate with the target. You have similar upbringings, you are familiar with their backstory, and you are an excellent actress.” Fury goes on when he sees Natasha has no intention of responding to his statements, “This isn’t a request, Natasha, it’s an assignment. Coulson will have you further briefed and assist with any other preparations you may need.”                She knew by his tone of voice that it was final, discussion over. Her head nods slightly to him in acknowledgement before she stands and paces from the room. Natasha sighs after shutting the door behind her, knowing she should probably avoid Clint until she returned from this mission.

               “Best find Coulson…” she muttered to herself as she headed down the hall leading away from Fury’s office.

Reader POV:

               My hair blew around me as the wind from the slowing train whirled through the outdoor station. It was a small station, on the outskirts of a small town, but small was good. The doors to the train opened and I waited patiently for all departing passengers to step off. I subtly glance about me, taking in as many details as I can, tracing each stranger’s face, searching -as I always did- for any hint of danger.

               After the final passenger departed, I slowly stepped aboard the train. The train itself wasn’t a large train made for handling a large quantity of passengers. It was small, designed to carry a small amount of people, mostly factory workers, from the outskirts of town to the industrial section of town. I had stolen a blue mechanic’s jumpsuit, stained with oil and various other substances I chose not to think about, so that I might blend in. Now that I was safely aboard the train, I took a seat, sat the lunch-pail I had also stolen at my feet, and pulled my (h/c) into a loose bun. The lunch pail contained the burner phone, a set of pins used for lock-picking, a set of micro-needles, a vial of liquid, and a cheap .22 caliber pistol…possibly also stolen. I had chosen not to bring any of my personal weapons. I didn’t want anything linked to me in the event that I had to ditch the lunch pail or toss the weapon.

               “Do you mind if I sit?” an older man asks, startling me from your reverie, gesturing to the two-seat compartment I had opted for earlier, near the back doors of the train. The train begins to pull away from the station as the man speaks.                “Not at all,” I plaster a fake smile to my face as I collect my lunch pail and scoot to the seat closer to the window, allowing the older man to take my seat.                “Thank you,” he replied, gruffly. He heaved and grunted as he sat down. I could hear his arthritic knees crackle as they bent, and I pitied him. I almost wanted to put him out of his misery, but the mission couldn’t be compromised for such a petty reason. Instead, I opted for small-talk.                “Where are you headed?” I questioned, my sing-song voice foreign to my own ears. I knew the man wouldn’t see through my façade, but it still felt like wearing a mask to me. Sure, the mask was made to fit my face and I was very accustomed to it, but it was a mask nonetheless.                “Me? Oh, I’m just headed to the tire factory,” he replied, waving his hand out in front of him as he did, absent-mindedly talking with his hands.                “Ah, yes. I’m headed to Stark’s factory, it’s my first day,” I bluff, putting on an air of nervousness.                “First day, eh?” The man replies, “Oh, you’ll be fine, I’m sure. You look like you’re young and healthy, and too smart for a line job,” he pointed to his own head, continuing his habit of talking with his hands.                I giggle and thank him for the compliment as the train slows. Once the train stops, its doors open to let the next group of passengers aboard. The older man next to me continued to talk as people began to take their seats. I nod at the man, encouraging him to continue his story, as my eyes scan the new passengers for the Stark Industries’ employee. As the final passengers take their seats, the train doors close and it begins to pick up speed. It only takes a moment for me to locate the target, and though I watch him from my peripheral, I continue to make small-talk with the man sitting next to me. The train makes several more stops before finally reaching the industrial section of town. The factories tower around the train station, plumes of smoke billowing from several smoke stacks all in what seemed to be an endless sea of workshops.

The train comes to a stop and the passengers begin to stand. The older man next to me is feeble and takes his time getting to his feet. I watch the target as the old man finally bids me adieu and shuffles to the nearest doors. I quickly pick up the lunch pail and make my way to the doors of the train, all the while making an effort to blend in with the other departing passengers. The target has departed and has already began sauntering toward Stark Industries’ factory before I’m able to even reach the doors of the train.  

I swiftly maneuver through the crowds occupying the platform, careful not to draw attention to myself. I’m moving at a much faster rate than the others who so obviously did not want to reach their destinations. Because of the target’s slow pace, I’m able to make good time in catching up to him. Like clockwork, the man takes a right down a back alley toward an obscured door to Stark Industries. I pause, giving him time to make it down the alleyway as I silently pull the vial of liquid and a micro-needle from the stolen lunch pail. Smaller than a thumbtack, I handle the weapon carefully, hooking it to the ring I wore on my right hand. I glance down the alley as I carefully apply a miniscule amount of the liquid to the tip of the micro-needle. Glancing about to confirm I wasn’t watched, I swiftly and quietly duck down the alley. It is early in the morning and there were puddles in the uneven ground, water that had collected after a small rainfall in the middle of the night. I carefully avoid them, making each step deliberate and silent.

Before the man knew what was happening I had pricked the back of his neck with the micro-needle, and he slumped to the ground. I had opted for a less-than-deadly serum for today’s mission, since all I really needed was the man’s key-card. I caught the man under his arms as he fell, reached around his neck for the lanyard he wore daily, knowing his company ID card and his key-card to the building hung upon that. I slid it off of him and let him fall to his side, not caring that his face hit the damp gravel road with a slight thud. I slipped both cards off of the lanyard and tossed it aside, pocketed the company ID and slid the key-card up the sleep of the blue mechanic’s jumper I was wearing. With the first section of my mission complete, I strategically removed the micro needle from my ring and tossed it to the ground. With the tip of my boot I covered it with the wet gravel and then moved on toward the door to the Stark Industries’ factory.

Natasha POV:

               Coulson had completed the mission briefing, provided Natasha with the gear she would need, and sent her on her way. She successfully avoided Clint, and intentionally left her personal cell at S.H.I.E.L.D. She even went as far as to ask Coulson to let Clint know she was on a classified mission for Fury, if he asked. Coulson was good people, he would pass the message for her. It had only taken a few hours to fly from headquarters to the location of the target. Supposedly, they were going to be attacking Stark Industries directly. Natasha had chuckled at that tidbit of information. Tony could use a reminder every now and then that he isn’t actually a god… she was almost tempted to let the target slip in and out undetected, and then catch the them later, after they had compromised Stark Industries. She sighed to herself, dismissing the momentary temptation. Not worth it, she thought. If the target was who Fury thought they were, then Natasha needed to bring them in immediately. So, with that, she made her way to Stark Industries. Tony had been briefed and was to inform his staff that Natasha was to arrive. She passed through their main doors and into the extravagant lobby easily and mentally rolled her eyes at the grandeur of the building. It was smack-dab in the middle of an industrial waste, surrounded by crumbling factories, and yet it felt as though she had walked into the Louvre. She fought the urge to text Tony and tell him how ridiculous he was. Instead, she made her way to the main desk, her stilettos clicking on the excessive marble flooring.

               “How may I help you?” A graying woman asked, a slight quiver to her voice.                “Yes, I am Amanda, Mr. Stark was to call ahead,” she supplied, giving an alias in place of her identity. Recognition crossed the woman’s aged features.                “Oh, yes, m’dear, right his way,” she trailed off as she gestured to a near-by door.

               Natasha made her way to the storage room the target was supposed to be infiltrating. Checking her watch, she confirmed it was still a bit early. She ducked down a poorly-lit side hallway and swiftly removed her the blouse, slacks, and gaudy necklace she had worn as part of her cover, tossing them into the over-sized purse she had brought. Natasha had worn her S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued tactical suit under the slacks with the arms tied at her waist, easily hidden under the billowing flow of the blouse. She pulled the top up and slipped her arms into the sleeves of the skin-tight black one-piece suit. She quickly zipped it up and strapped her gun and knife to the accessory belt. Her combat boots on were easy work after all the previous times she had done them up, though at this point she begin to wonder why she didn’t just infiltrate the facility herself, instead of entering as “Amanda” …wouldn’t it have been easier than this? Too late, now, she supposed, as she hid the over-sized purse, now full of slacks, blouse, and high-heels, at the bottom of a near-by trash can, under the garbage liner itself.

               She quietly made her way to the storage room the target was supposed to be heading for and entered the key-code Tony sent her earlier. A faint click sounds as the door opens. Natasha stealthily steps through the door, shuts the door behind her, and takes in the scene. She swiftly pinpoints a viable hideout in a nearby closet, and seeing as how the target may enter the room through the other feasible locations (air ducts, ceiling panel, window), it seems the best option. She takes a moment to move anything she can out of the way in order to make room for her within the closet, and then slips in. Just as she begins to pull the closet door shut, the key-panel to the main door to the room begins to beep, signifying someone attempting to gain entry. The target must be early. Natasha leaves the closet door cracked a hair, enabling her the perfect view of whoever enters. If it is the target, then her mission will really begin.

 Reader POV:

               I quickly made my way through the factory, ducking behind corners and doors at every turn. After what seemed an eternity, I located the correct door. Letting the key card, I had stuffed into my sleeve fall into my hand, I quickly slid it through the panel. The light flashed red and I heard a brief buzz from the keypad. The card had gained me entry into the building and gotten me this far, but apparently my friend in the alleyway didn’t have clearance to this room. I slid the key into my pocket as I sighed. I inspected the keypad for any clue as to the code, since I would much rather not climb through the ceiling panels and attempt entry that way. I glance to my left and right quickly, verifying there is no one else within the hallway, and then bend to inspect it further. There seem to be slight smudges on four of the numbers, the rest of the digits had a shine to them. Now to determine the order of the numbers and ‘crack the code’… I snort to myself at that thought. Crack the code, like some mission impossible agent.

               After several attempts, I catch a lucky break and get the right code entered. There’s a faint click as the door opens, and I cautiously push it open with the palm of my hand. I step forward, into the room, and silently shut the door behind me. There are windows on the wall opposite of me, tall filing cabinets to my left, what appeared to be a closet on the right, and several shorter filing cabinets in the center of the room. I quietly step forward toward the filing cabinet nearest me, and begin to search for labels of some kind. Nothing. No labels on any of the shorter cabinets, and they all seem to be locked with a thumbprint recognition keypad.

               Still holding the lunch pail tightly, I make my way to the taller cabinets on my left, hoping they may prove more useful. They don’t seem to have the same thumbprint technology, so they’ll be easier to break into, still no labels though. I mentally sigh, not wanting to open each drawer of each cabinet in this room in order to locate the documents I came for. I raise my hand and try to open one of the bottom drawers. To my surprise, it isn’t locked. The drawer slides out, revealing several metal boxes, each approximately the size of a three-ring-binder. I crouch and pull one out, hoping to open it and thumb through its contents. Once I have it in my hands I realize it’s locked, and there’s no label of any kind on it. Who the hell is in charge of the organization of this room? How on Earth was it easier to knock a man out and steal his key card than to locate anything in this damn room? I stand, aggravated, and move to the next cabinet. I open the drawer at waist level, just to find the same metal containers. I move to the next, and the next, and the next. Nothing but locked metal containers in each of them. Based on the feel of the metal, I assume it’s fire-proof, which is all fine and dandy but…

               I suddenly feel a chill run down my spine, as if I’m being watched. I whip around, but not swiftly enough. A boot makes contact with the right side of my face and I stumble backward. Despite having been trained in hand-to-hand combat, I’m not exactly accustomed to it. The same boot comes flying at me again, but this time I block with my right arm and swing the lunch pail toward the attacker with my left. The attacker dodges my attempt and slides their leg behind mine. It happened fast, but I was suddenly on the floor. I grasp at the lunch pail, still fiercely gripping it with my left hand, trying to unfasten it before the next attack. The lid pops open, revealing the .22 and the various other tools I had brought. I reach for the gun but not before my attacker’s boot makes contact with my face for a second time. My head snaps back, hitting one of the open filing cabinet drawers, and suddenly I’m enveloped in darkness.

Natasha’s POV:

               Natasha cringed when (y/n)’s head hit the filing cabinet. With her fists still raised in defense, she edged toward the target, now lying motionless on the floor. Using her foot, she nudged the woman’s side. No response. She swiftly dropped her fists as she knelt next to the woman, reaching for her throat, searching for a pulse. The target’s pulse was still strong. Natasha sighed a breath of relief before inspecting the back of the woman’s head, where she had clearly hit the filing cabinet. There was an abrasion with minor bleeding, but it seems she got off lucky. Of course, Natasha didn’t envy her the headache she would have when she woke, but she would live through it at least.

               After a few quick calls, Natasha and target were air-bound, headed for S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Natasha wasn’t sure how Fury intended to keep this from Clint, or if he intended to at all, but that wasn’t her problem…she guessed. She glanced over at the poor woman, still unconscious but now also strapped to an in-flight hospital gurney. A stern-looking nurse sat near the woman, seemingly glaring at Natasha every time she glanced the “patient’s” way. Natasha sighed, made her way to the airplane’s restroom, and changed from her tactical gear into a spare set of clothes Fury had sent with the plane. The t-shirt was oversized, but it’s better than walking into S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in tactical gear- that always just creates gossip. Men, Natasha thought, rolling her eyes. Men and their gossip.

Ch 2 | Masterlist

[thalsianiii]

Demons and you in RP.

So, it’s come to my attention over my time Roleplaying on Wyrmrest Accord that there are quite a few misconceptions and misunderstandings (or ignorance) when it comes to Demons in lore. So I’d thought I’d throw up a synopsis of what I have amassed in my time mastering Demonology as a point of roleplay with citations and explanations... So lets go!

Not-Demons

So to start, I’m going to note that not every summonable companion under the warlock classes “Summon Demon” list is actually a demon. Voidwalkers (and by extension Voidlords) are in fact non-demons and are Void Creatures, which are different. [1] Observers are, arguably, non-demons. They are native to the Great Dark Beyond.[2] Given that demons are native to the Twisting nether, one might argue that this makes them non-demons.

Aside from these two, Anything else summonable by a warlock is in fact a current demon.

With that having been said, lets talk about the demons!

Imp/Fel Imp

Literally the weakest and easiest Demon to summon & contract. The ritual to summon an imp is gifted to any warlock who passes their initial proof of magical & physical ability. They’re generally sassy, clever, and mischievous. Utilizing fire and illusion (invisibility) magic primarily. [3][4]. Fel Imps are slightly larger versions of Imps. Despite being more powerful than standard imps, they are considered equally easy to contract into service [2]

Succubus

Succubi are the female of the Sayaad species, to date there has been no recorded appearance of an Incubus (Male). Some theorize they are kept as slaves on the Sayaad home world, or will killed off by the Succubi. Masters of seduction, illusion and other forms of mind controlling magic. They are capable of taking on the form of a beautiful woman and are known to fall in love with their warlock masters, making them very loyal. They are capable of extreme cruelty and make for effective interrogators. [5]

Felhunter (Felhound)

Hound like demons that are capable of devouring many forms of magic and life essence. [6] They should therefore be considered “dangerous demons”. It is common for people to Roleplay Felhunters as if they were like a companion canine (honestly, I prefer this.) However, the portrayal of the Felhunter consumed by the Demon Hunter Vandel in the novel “Illidan” suggests they may be just as intelligent as a sentient person. This having been said, this portrayal is only made post consumption, and later in the novel it is alluded that the “voice” of the demon could have been his own thoughts as well. [7]

Felguard

Felguards are a warrior class of the Mo’Arg species of Demons. They are deceptively agile and powerful fighters. Despite their brutish and seemingly berserk style of fighting they are in fact intelligent in their design. Using their reckless combat tactic to discover weakpoints in the enemy line and then converging on that target. Felguards love to do battle and have occasionally been known to ignore the order to retreat.[8] Because of this, only dedicated Demonologists have the ability to summon them.[9] Given this knowledge, they should be considered extremely dangerous demons for RP purposes.

Infernal

Technically, an Infernal is more of a construct than a demon. But they’re also considered “Living” siege weapons and have a soul. However, since they are a staple of The Burning Legion and are used exclusively by Warlocks and other Demons, for the sake of this writing we will consider them demons. They are constructed from matter and Fel energy. The core or “Infernal Soul” is made by the ritual summoning of a Fire elemental into a pool of corrupted water or lava. turning it into what is essentially a Felfire elemental, otherwise known as the Infernal Soul. These are then fused with Fel rocks/matter thus forming an Infernal. Infernals can be stored in a dormant state. This state is what is used to summon them forth as a crashing meteor, where in they awaken upon impact. [10]

Doomguard

Originally, the Doomguards were a form of magical police/slaves used by Sargeras before his corruption. They are specifically attuned to Sacrificial magic and would punish any who delved in such practices. After Sargeras fell to madness, he “freed” the Doomguards from that duty [11]. Historically, Doomguards demanded a sacrifice in order to be summoned. This was done either via the Curse of Doom or Ritual of Doom spells. The former of the two would summon a Doomguard upon dealing killing damage to the target. The latter would kill one of the party members participating in the ritual. This mechanics were later revised to simply deal massive damage to the player.[12] Because of this, it is my personal opinion and preference that Doomguards should still require a substantial sacrifice in order to be summoned. Given that they are easily the most powerful demon a warlock player can summon, they should have the highest cost. Mechanically, yes there is a talent that allows us to summon them like any other pet. But given the history of the demon both in lore and in game play, it stands to reason that a sacrifice would still be required.

Shivarra

Considered the most fanatical of the legions demons, they serve as mystics and almost priest like in the way they revere and serve Sargeras [13]. Shivarra are... well they’re bitches in my opinion. They seem to hate mortals from their attitude when spoken too.[14] However, they can also share some personality traits with succubi, Mother Shahraz in Black temple is one such example.[15] As well as their recorded responses when doing /kiss or /flirt towards them as warlock minions, but this could simply be a left over mechanic from the succubus pet in which they replace.[16] They are considered a higher order demon[2] and therefore should be considered as dangerous demons.

Conclusion

So there you have it. All the Demon lore or RP you could ask for in one neat post for all you Demon junkies out there. Hopefully this helps you with your use with them in role play, either as enemies or as companions. Personally, I love all my demonic companions and I love roleplaying as/with them. it offers a great dynamic to my roleplay and it’s always fun to see how they interact with those around them! I’d like to end with, this is in no way meant to “tell you how to roleplay” and is simply a collection of canon facts and points that  have been or are present in warcraft lore. If you want to throw down your Doomguard willy nilly, or have a pacifist Felguard, that’s your choice (I’ll judge you for it... but it’s your choice). And of course, if you find more lore on Demons too add, or that may refute some of these points. Show me!

References

Most of my sources are indeed from the Wowpedia page. I use this because wowpedia grabs its sources from various confirmed lore sources and developer quotes. Feel free to peruse these links and see where this information originates from in game, novel, or other sources.

1) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Ask_CDev#Ask_CDev_Answers_-_Round_4

2) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Jubeka%27s_Journal

3) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Imp

4) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Imp_(warlock_minion)

5) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Succubus

6) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Felhound

7) Illidan by Willaim King. Various chapters following Vandel specifically.

8) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Felguard

9) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Felguard_(warlock_minion)

10) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Infernal

11) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Doomguard

12) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Doomguard_(warlock_minion)

13) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Shivarra

14) Quest: An Unusual Tome, Comments made when talking to the Shivarra.

15) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Mother_Shahraz

16) http://wow.gamepedia.com/Mother_Shahraz (specifically the ‘Trivia’ section)