#but he is in the mentor role

[fluffypotatey]

YOU'RE RIGHT WHAT IF THIS IS A TWISTED IRONY OF GETTING WHAT YOU WANT. MACAQUE HAS THE POWER TO KILL WUKONG OR MK FOR REAL THIS TIME??? but he doesn't want to. what if he's forced again. what if this power has the potential to destroy him to be removed/stopped from affecting others?

….so about Wukong’s death flags— *gunshots*

[startistdoodles]

Skipping Rocks

[sciderman]

Yk, I hate that adaptations keep making Peter a high schooler, and not just because it means he never evolves, but because the adaptations now also include wider Marvel, whitch usually (thanks to the MCU) is at the modern day stage with legacy characters and new age teen heroes, meaning that Peter is taking up Miles' spot and you can really tell when they put him next to someone like Kamala Khan or Sam Alexander who are Miles' pals. Tho Peter taking Miles' stuff is just a modern issue overall, just look at MCU whitch just stole and re-skinned Miles' personality, characters, story-beats, even the costume to an extent and then made it worse.

agree 👏

[eremin0109]

listen i love Kiryu with all my heart but this forced parental relationship they keep pushing between him and Daigo piss me the fuck off like this is so fucking disrespectful to Majima who reigned in Daigo's little emo ass since '0 fucking 6 and was actually THERE to support him every step of the way when he was made Chairman. like how does the cutesy moments Kiryu and Daigo shared back when he was a snot-nosed kid lay the foundation for Kiryu being a damn father figure to him when Goro Majima is RIGHT FUCKING THERE!?!?

[sadlittlecountess]

stop comparing rebecca and wanda. both are billy’s mothers. in the comics, wanda loves and appreciates rebecca, and rebecca loves and appreciates wanda in return. both accepts and respect that they share a son. wanda is accepted into the family, and has been to family gatherings. they are literally close friends. stop invalidating rebecca as a mother, because wanda created and gave birth to the boys first, and stop invalidating wanda because rebecca shares blood with billy, and raised him longer. wanda loves rebecca, and doesn’t compete with her —- so why should you?

[willosword]

hooooooooooly shit

[psycherubs]

just saying I imagine that both Veronica and arcade are in my party at the same time.

why? well of course mlm wlw solidarity and the epic roast battles they would have. courier, arcade, AND veronica....imagine 3 sassy gays pull up. say your prayers cuz you're done for

but also I think arcade would have a lot of wisdom to share with Veronica. despite not ever actually being a functioning member of the enclave, having ties with it has allowed him to have a different perspective than most when it comes to organizations hated in the mojave. I think Veronica could reeeeallly use someone with that kind of insight because of her struggles with the brotherhood. arcade would be a no judgement type when it comes to that situation and would offer any advice or help he could. because in my mind the best option for Veronica, as a character, is for her to leave the brotherhood.

then after Veronica leaves and truly understands why the brotherhood is disliked I think arcade could help her with the guilt she would feel for being associated with them (after all he knows a looootttt about that)

most importantly he could help her realize that you don't have to hate the people you love and care for just for being in a certain organization. you can recognize the nuance of the situation and judge the person accordingly. we all know that is Veronica's biggest hesitancy when it comes to wanting to leave.

his biggest lesson to her would be: you can't help what you were born into but you can, and should, do everything in your power to do what is good and right moving forward

I hc that arcade took Veronica to meet the remnants and gave her the same spiel that he did the courier + the courier took her to old mormon fort to become a member of the followers

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

It's weird to expect lb to be able to read cn mind and called her a bad partner for it. But it's even weirder for lb to ignore cn WHEN HES OBVIOUSLY IN DISTRESS and not called her a bad partner for it because I think called her a bad partner for ignoring it is understandable and justified especially since she consider herself as his boss.

Every time I bring up this conflict, I try to make it clear that I don't think Ladybug was blameless, I just think Chat Noir's writing was worse. Let's walk through the problem to show what I mean.

Season four stars with Marinette extremely stressed by her new Guardian status. In Truth and Lies, the first episodes of the season, we get this:

Ladybug: Will you cut it out with the practical jokes? I could have really hurt you! Cat Noir:(answering while hanging by the yo-yo) M'lady, the only thing that really hurts me is when you make me go on patrol by myself. (sighs, relaxing his posture) I even missed your little angry pout. Ladybug: Sorry, Kitty Cat, I'm a bit over my head at the moment. (pulling him up) Cat Noir: I bet! "Guardian of the Miraculous", big name, big responsibility!

This is also the start to Chat Noir communicating poorly. In this episode, he's straight up told that Ladybug is in over her head and he never once asks how he can help. In fact, we even get him saying this when asked how he feels about the change:

Truth: Cat Noir, tell me what- (interupted by Ladybug throwing a present at Truth) Ladybug: (covering her parasol with foil) ...do you think about my new role as guardian! Cat Noir: If it doesn't change things between us, then I'm good with it!

So not a great start to the season. I know people focused on Adrien's terrible treatment of Kagami in these episodes, but this Ladynoir dynamic was actually what rang alarm bells for me. I kept waiting for Chat Noir to offer his support since it was really, really obvious that Ladybug was in over her head since she was late to patrols, the last season literally ended with her losing her mentor figure, and, you know, she straight up told him that was what was going on?

The next episode is Gang of Secrets in which we see Marinette out her identity to Alya. I get why she did this, she needed support and her partner doesn't seem interested in giving it, but she can't say that for certain because she never asked him directly and she should have. Trusting Chat Noir over Alya would have allowed Ladynette to maintain the security of her secret identity - a thing she claimed was more important than ever - and to honor their partnership. At the very least, she should have told Chat Noir that Rena Rouge was now a full time holder so that he could account for that in battle and to minimize the fallout by owning up to her mistake asap. The longer a lie goes on, the worse the truth will hurt.

To Ladybug's credit, she does eventually acknowledge her mistake after the Scarabella incident:

Ladybug: You... must've been pretty surprised to discover there was another holder! (Silence. She sits beside Cat Noir.) Ladybug: I'm really sorry, Cat Noir. I should've told you. I mean, if I found out that you told someone about your secret identity, I'd... probably be upset, too. I'm really sorry I hurt your feelings.

This is a decent apology. She doesn't try to absolve herself of wrong doing. Instead, she acknowledges that what she did would hurt her, too, if the shoe were on the other foot. The only thing she loses points on is the fact that she doesn't tell him about Rena Furtive.

However, instead of agreeing with her and telling her that she has hurt him, Chat Noir says that she did nothing wrong and never once brings up how their weakened partnership is bothering him:

Cat Noir: You didn't hurt my feelings. You did everything right. Paris will always need a Ladybug superhero to watch over her. It's just... I realized that if one day that hero wasn't you, m'lady, since we don't know each other's identities, that means... I'd never see you again. Ever. And now, I just don't know if I can bear it.

This is the thing that I hate about this arc. The reason why I say Ladybug is blamed for not reading his mind. Especially because, three episodes later, we get Rocketear, which gives us this:

Cat Noir: Everyone has doubts now and then, (looks down) even me... Ladybug: Is everything okay, Cat Noir? Cat Noir: Yeah, yeah. (prepare his fist) Pound it! Ladybug: (fistbumps) Pound it!

Rocketear is the episode where Nino outs that he and Alya know each other's identities while acting like Ladybug said identities weren't a big deal even though that is very much not what happened. You'd think that Chat Noir would want to know the full story, but instead he just lies and says that everything is fine.

So we have two situations where the show allowed Ladybug to give Chat Noir a chance for clear and open communication and both times he turns her down.

What's worse is that he clearly starts making up stories in his head, leading to Kuro Neko, which starts with Adrien avoiding a fight on purpose as some sort of shit test. He then gets upset when Ladybug... doesn't lament his absence on national TV?

Clara: (from TV) By the way, where's Cat Noir? You've saved Paris without him quite a few times recently. Are you two at odds with each other? Carapace, Pegasus, Vesperia and Pigella: (from TV) Pound it! Ladybug: (from TV) Of course not, it's just that... umm, he's a partner like any other! The most important is to pick the best superheroes for each mission, with or without Cat Noir. No matter what, we've got a great team and we'll always be here to save Paris. (Adrien is shocked.) Adrien: (turns off the TV and sighs) "A partner like any other..."

Dude, what did you want her to do here? Complain that you flaked on her? Make Paris feel less safe by saying she doesn't know where you are? Imply that the fight was barely won without you? What are you doing? Plagg, you are completely failing as a mentor right now.

The shit test continues as Chat Noir goes to meet up with Ladybug now that the battle is over, arriving just as Ladybug has finished instructing the team on what to do:

Ladybug: Come on, guys! Hurry up before you all detransform. I'll meet you at rendezvous points. (The heroes jump away in different directions, and Ladybug starts typing something on her Yo-yo.) Cat Noir: Hey! Meow are you, m'lady? Ladybug: Great, thanks, but I gotta go retrieve all these Miraculous. Cat Noir: I could lend you a paw to help save time. Ladybug: Thanks, kitty cat, but it's a guardian's job to do it. Cat Noir: I know who some of them are, remember? I was there when you first gave them their Miraculous! Ladybug: You don't even know where their rendezvous points are, I don't have time to— Cat Noir: Playing cat and mouse is my forte, you know— Ladybug: (yelling) If you wanna save me time, stop wasting it in the first place! (Cat Noir gasps. As Ladybug swings away, Cat Noir clenches his fist.) Cat Noir: And take my Miraculous back when you're done!

So Ladybug doesn't publicly chastise Chat Noir for missing the battle and rejects an offer to help because of very legitimate timing concerns, leading to Chat Noir quitting because she failed his stupid, petty, childish tests. Realistic writing? Yes. Writing that paints Ladybug as the one in the wrong? No.

Going into this episode, Ladybug has no idea that things are messed up between them even though she has actually kept communication lines open. She asks him if things are okay, but he lies. And when he's ready to quit? He plays stupid games and wins a stupid prize. It's really not shocking that the next scene sees Ladybug totally baffled by what just happened:

Plagg: For a while now, you've been neglecting this camembert— I mean Cat Noir, and going on adventures with the all other cheeses! Ladybug: But he should be happy about it, it gives him more time off. Plagg: Cat Noir doesn't wanna have time off, Ladybug! He is in love with you! And your persistent calling on all the other heroes has broken his heart.

And how is she supposed to know that, Plagg? Was she supposed to assume that her partner was lying when he said he was fine? Because she did ask and he said that nothing was wrong. But something was wrong and it lead him to build up a story in his head, reading nonexistent intent into her actions, all of which is toxic and unhealthy communication.

I cannot stress how common this shit is. I've seen it so many times and I will own that I've done it in the past and wound up getting no support when I needed it because I'd directly told people I didn't and they committed the heinous crime of... believing me.

Here's the other thing, there are times when I'm in distress and legitimately don't want or need help. Times when I just need to be alone for a bit. So if someone asks me if I'm okay during those times, I'm probably just going to say, "Yeah, I just need a people break" or something like that. That's why the Scarabella scene is so bad. Ladybug can see that Chat Noir is in distress and he gives her a fully plausible answer: I'm not upset with you, I'm just saddened by the idea of losing you. And she believes him because why wouldn't she?

Same goes for Rocketear. It's reasonable for Ladybug to assume that Chat Noir is just shaken by the fight. She has no idea about the bombshell that Nino dropped right before the fight. She doesn't even know that Nino and Chat Noir are actually close friends, making this fight a lot more devastating than it looks at face value. Her actions here are not objectively wrong. They're only wrong if you know the whole story, including Adrien's needs. Things that she cannot know unless Chat Noir uses his words to tell her things.

I cannot over stress how much season four is a textbook example of denying yourself support because you cannot communicate your own needs. Is it an understandable character flaw for a character with Adrien's background to have? Yes. Absolutely. 100%. But it's still a character flaw. This season desperately needed an arc about Adrien learning to tell people what's wrong. Not because he's the only one in the wrong here, but because things cannot get better when Ladybug has no idea that she's hurting him. (Nino has no idea either, but let's keep our focus on Ladybug.)

One of the most important things you can do for your own mental well being is to dismiss the idea that your needs are the same as everyone else's. Everyone needs different amounts of attention and values different behavior based on things like their upbringing and life events.

I get the feeling that I'm wired pretty similar to Marinette. At least, it influences how I write her because I can go months without talking to my best friends and still call them my best friends, a trait we all share because two of use are artsy introverts and two of us are moms to young kids, which allows for very little free time. Meanwhile, my SO and his best friend spend hours on the phone almost every week. I swear that those two go into withdrawal if they don't talk at least once every seven days. If months went by without them talking? Something would be very wrong, but the exact same time gap isn't even remotely concerning when it comes to my friends. It's something my SO and I had to figure out when we got together because I need a lot less attention than he does. But we communicated and found a balance that we continue to work to communicate about so that he doesn't feel neglected and I don't feel overwhelmed by too little me time.

What I'm trying to say is Marinette wasn't horribly wrong for assuming that Chat Noir was telling her the truth or that he liked having a larger team so he had less responsibility. Those are reasonable assumptions. Especially since he never actually indicated that he wanted more responsibility until he was ready to quit and decided to shit test her by pushing for more to do when she was stressed and on a timer.

I do think that she should have offered it to him before that or - at the very least - the show should have clearly stated why she didn't do that since it apparently had nothing to do with Chat Blanc trauma like we all thought it did. I'm not saying that she's blameless or perfect or that there weren't things she could have done better. It's just really hard for me to look at Chat Noir's behavior in season four and go, "Oh yeah, he's the injured party here. Ladybug holds all the blame and did everything wrong." She did many things wrong, but generally speaking, she owned her faults and tried to keep communication channels open. Chat Noir chose to ignore those chances to talk or otherwise try to express his needs in a clear and understandable manner.

We'll end with one final point to drive this home: You said that she's his boss. Well, if my boss asked me, "is everything okay with the project?" and I said, "yes" while freaking out about the upcoming deadline that I'm probably going to miss because he's given me too much work, the issue is not all on my boss. It's on both of us. Him for overloading me and me for not telling him I'm overloaded. You could even argue that it's mostly on me because I'm the only one who can properly gauge my own ability to do a given workload. As soon as it was too much, I should have said something. And if I don't feel like my boss is approachable? Then I should quit. But that isn't the situation I'm in and it doesn't appear to be the one that Chat Noir was in, either. He wanted to stay part of the team, he just totally failed to tell Ladybug how being on the team was making him feel.

People magically knowing what you need and how you feel is a myth. I promise you, most people in this world do not want to cause you pain, but if you cannot clearly express when someone is causing you pain, then you will continue to get hurt by people who would be very happy to not hurt you if they actually knew that their actions were causing you pain.

[delawaredetroit]

I want to dig into why All for One chose to reveal Shigaraki's background at this moment.

Canon and Vigilantes imply that All for One did not plan on having that fight with All Might six years ago. His initial plan was most likely to take over Shigaraki first and then drop this reveal in the middle of taking One for All from All Might in order to break down One for All's will.

But once this fight in Kamino began, All for One confirmed that All Might didn't have One for All anymore. Regardless of who the successor was, hiding the ball on the Shigaraki is a Shimura point wasn't going to serve its original purpose because the successor couldn't have any personal connection to Shimura Nana. Even if All Might somehow survived and let that information get out, it wouldn't affect his plans.

Beyond that, All for One was trying to get something as a consolation prize out of this long game scheme by revealing it to All Might here. The thought process was probably something like "I can't use this to steal One for All anymore, but I can still use this information to break All Might's spirit before I kill him."

[sernik-krakowski]

Just finished orion and uuuh

[kacievvbbbb]

I feel like I need to know more about Todo and Yuki’s relationship as mentor and mentee. Like they seem the same flavor of person which is very different from what gojo and megumi have going on.

But also Yuki is very adoptive “dad” coded in the way geto’s relationship to the twins is very adoptive “mom” coded.

In that Geto seems to take on primarily a caretaker role than a mentor while Yuki is more a trainer and life coach than she is a caretaker. Which is something you don’t really see given to female characters in anime.

Like Todo lives by her words and fights by her example. Everything he knows about jujutsu she taught him and Todo’s a very skilled and violent fighter and that reflects back perfectly on Yuki’s own fighting style. It’s so very anime mentor it’s insane she is just introduced to us as Todo (this absolute menace’s) teacher before anything else. I’ve never actually seen a female anime character be introduced this way.

in contrast to Geto who serves as the caring parent who was tragically taken from the girls violently and too soon and the girls wish to honor him and live how he would have wanted them too despite the ungodly situation they find themselves in. Which is such a stereotypical anime mom trope it’s almost funny. He even fits in with the still very much in love with and still speaks highly of the father that abandoned the family in hopes that the kid will one day understand and forgive them. He is essentially the mom from Full Metal Alchemist.

Gege that fucking deranged cat actually flipped the script on us and it’s so interesting which is why it’s so frustrating how little we actually end up getting off yuki when all her little scenes point to such an interestnn in character.

She is introduced as one half of a crazy dynamic that we never actually get to see put to screen and that’s such a shame. Because Yuki is such a welcome addition to the tropes of female characters we need more female “dads”

[mollywog]

I picture the Victors of District 12 as the found family where each assumes they’re the most responsible of the trio

[epickiya722]

Actually, thinking about it...

It's something that some of the fandom refutes the idea of Gojo being a "dad" and one of the reasons being his age and/or just how he behaves.

But then that makes no sense to me because dads can be total goofs like Gojo, you know doing silly things with their kids and...

I have yet to see anyone shut down the idea of Nanami being "like a dad".

"But, Kiya, he is like a dad!"

True, but let's not act as if other family members don't act like Nanami, too, especially if they have to take up the "parent role".

He's more serious than Gojo, but that doesn't mean serious = parent. I can be serious with my siblings as I am the oldest. So if Gojo is the "silly big brother", Nanami can't be the "serious big brother"?

Nanami is also younger than Gojo. So to even bring up Gojo's age as a way to disagree with the Dad-jo agenda seems pretty... useless if you're a person who sees Nanami like a dad.

Mind you, Gojo is the eldest out of the Past Arc students. (Gojo, Geto, Nanami, Haibara, Ieiri and yes, I am also including Ijichi.) He would have just turned 13 and Nanami would have been 12 when Megumi was born.

Personally, I don't care if you see Gojo as a dad, uncle, brother, cousin - figure to any of the kids or just their teacher. Same goes for Nanami.

It just seems unfair to both characters, I guess, to be like "hey, he can't be like this and the other has to be like this".

Like, who said that person has to exhibit those specific traits to be in a role?

To me, at the end of the day, both Gojo and Nanami are mentors who also allow the students to feel what it is like to have some adult figure in their life who does care and protect them.

[starryskiesahead]

so once i saw a tdlosk x jjk x mp100 crossover fanfic on ao3 and it was like “yuji and gojo, reigen and mob, and saiki all hang out”! and i was like neat but tbh it’s kinda stands out to me that saiki’s the only one who. doesn’t have a mentor figure similar to the other so.

[sieglinde-freud]

fav niche little headcanon is that basilio becomes the self proclaimed grandparent to any kid olivia or lonqu has. like he RAISED those two (he didnt but he’ll take credit for it) hes GONNA get grandkids one way or another. fav thing ever is olivia!lucina recontexualizing the scene where lucina begs basilio not to go fight walhart because he literally helped raised her he was the best patty cake player on the entire continent… that is HER GRANDFATHER and he is GOING TO DIE like omfg. i know im pretty deep into the tharjabelle train on this blog but there was a time where i was super into lonqu/tharja (i still REALLY like them i just ended up liking tharja yuri better sue me) and basilio and noire was like. the cutest combo ever. yes this IS my coward little granddaughter but make her mad and she could rival all of ferox’s greatest warriors. he loves her so much

[spork-supremacy]

The least hear me out you've ever heard me out

but just Jay and Nya becoming some form of primary mentors or if you want to, have them as adoptive parent (that is after the inevitable memory gain) to Sora specifically

Nya already was paired off with her a lot during season 1 of DR

All three know the struggle of intense identity issues for years.

Both adults felt abandoned by their parents, either while as a child or after finding out later in life despite either hoping or knowing it was for their own good. And Sora was disowned by her own parents, their beliefs chosen over her.

They could both comfort her after losing Arin (assuming he isn't found already) because they know what it's like to lose a best friend after making the wrong descisions that felt right in the moment e.g Jay beating up Cole out of jealousy or Nya considering other options even when in a relationship because she was second guessing her choices. (Just the entire love triangle thing. I so believe that Jay was Nya's best friend outside of her brother when she moved in, even when they were dating and I'm dying on that hill because of the little screen time she gets with anyone that isn't those two, or a ten year old that more becomes her little brother and an old dude.)

Lessons could be given over building tech or fixing cars. They even have little competitions to see who could do the best original work or make the most improvements to an old one.

Jay has the most extensive weapon catalogue and could help her choose which primary one she would like to work with. As well as maybe try to expose her to several of his many side hobbies.

Nya can teach her how to deal with perfectionism and not feeling strong with your own element in those times that Sora's still having doubts about her capabilities despite being tournement champion.

Maybe they can try teaching her spinjitzu outside of Lloyd's scheduled training and show what worked for them (It's definetly helpful that one of them was the first to learn it.)

I'm not saying once she achieves it they both would be like "whoo, I taught her that!" but they totally would.

like imagine how proud they would be once she goes from learning spinjitzu to reaching her full potential after working through whatever her primary issue is (I still don't know exactly maybe it would be something to do with a need to fix things or take over because you don't have the fullest faith in the capabilities of others and learning to trust others to do it or fix the issue themselves. It's been a long time since I've seen season 1 so just spitballing with what season 2 gave me)

I have a vision and I hope I'm making it very clear.

I like this vision very much.

If you want try throwing in a wlid Jordana.

However it's quite hard when someone made her possessed the entire time Jay was with the wolf clan and we didn't have him interacting with anyone that isn't Ras.

Yes I'm still salty even if I've known for months. The lost dynamics can never be salvaged into canon.