#but in a way that comes off as ends justifies the means. His personality hasn't changed as much as it seems at first glance

[muninnhuginn]

Glancing at the Qian Jin-Xiao Li duo then at the Lu Guang-Cheng Xiaoshi one and realising that from what we know Qian Jin was originally the by-the-book type and even now is incredibly careful and thorough. Meanwhile, Xiao Li went along with the photo shop trio despite knowing how unbelievable it all seemed and was willing to arrange Lu Guang's safety in a less traditional way

Qian Jin especially in the past is much more aligned with Lu Guang personality-wise whilst the more flexible and intuition-based Xiao Li is more aligned with Cheng Xiaoshi

[sunriseabram]

Yes. Riko was an abuser. Nobody can deny that he hurt, sexually abused and tormented people physically and emotionally.

Yes. Riko was abused. He was hit by Tetsuji when he got things wrong, conditioned to believe that he had to be the best or his life wasn't worth living. He was abandoned by his father because he was second born, ignored by his big brother, and not even congratulated after he tried everything to gain their approval.

Yes. He hurt Jean out of anger. He used Jean as an object because that is all he had ever been to his father and family. He was a way to make money, but his father never saw him as anything more than that. It allowed him to feel powerful and in control of someone when everything else in his life was out of his control.

Yes. He flips after his father dies. Of course, he does. When you've worked your entire life to be acknowledged, spending thousands upon thousands of hours training to win, winning trophies, doing sponsorships, raising great chunks of money for the family, only for your father to die before even showing an ounce of pride for you? Of course, he flips. Jean just happens to be there, someone he knows he can hurt and get away with. Someone less than him at the bottom of the food chain. Perhaps the only person who sees the anger for what it truly is: failure. And Riko doesn't like that.

Yes. He hurt Kevin out of jealousy. Riko grew up in a world where failure was unacceptable. Failure meant pain, death and suffering. Exy was all Riko had and all he ever had. He couldn't stand to be second best because second best is all he had ever been. He would not be second in the one thing he was meant to be the king of. He hurt Kevin out of jealousy, and was beaten to an inch of his life for it.

Yes. He grew up sheltered. Riko was groomed to be a star by Tetsuji. He was groomed and exploited for money by the only person who had ever looked at him and seen something. He lost his mother. His father didn't care about him. He had nobody. He lived underground in the nest for most of his life and played exy every single day for most of his childhood. He probably had no friends his own age until Kevin came along. There was nobody who understood what Riko was going through.

Yes. Riko hurt Andrew. He had Andrew hurt as another power trip. It was to show he had great power and could do what he wanted with it. He had no boundaries. Throughout the series, Riko is shown to be insecure. He craves power and acknowledgement and wants to prove he has a place in the mafia family next to his brother.

Yes. Riko is more complex than a simple villain. He is self-destructive and works to the bone to try and be worth something. He uses anger to cover up his blatant abandonment issues. He is never and will never be enough. And if he can't be enough, then nobody else can. Nobody can take his place.

He is scared of Kevin, frightened of Neil, terrified of Andrew. He is constantly trying to stop his precarious tower from tumbling in the only way he knows how.

If all his mistakes were punished with pain, disappointment and anger, how can he know any different? He doesn't know the world really and hasn't experienced it outside his little box of stardom. He doesn't know what is 'normal.' For him, failing means getting beaten. Failure means losing his status. Failing means falling from power. It always has.

No. Just because Riko was abused and groomed does not mean that his abusive behaviours were justified. He chose to become an abuser, despite everything he had suffered.

No. He wasn't born evil. He is horrible - don't get me wrong - but he shouldn't just be cast off as coming out of the womb with horns and a tail. He was shaped by his experiences, negative and positive. We all are.

Riko thought beating people into submission would show his power and prove his worth to his family. In the end, it resulted in his downfall.

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buddie and The Buckley-Diaz Family are being missed by the GA.

I've posted about this before (linked here) and I'll keep saying it because it's true. The longer 9-1-1 keeps the Buckley-Diaz family apart, the ratings will suffer.

Details below the cut.

Regardless as to how people view Buck and Eddie’s relationship, i.e., platonic or romantic, one thing is certain, their family dynamic is recognized, liked and appreciated by the general audience and it has been for years. Season 6 illustrated this perfectly since it was an EPIC FAILURE when they kept Buck, Eddie and Chris away from each other. They're doing it again but at what cost? Viewers?

Since the other main characters' storylines aren't moving forward either, it's worse. And while it’s possible some don't want to hear this, Buddie appears to be the most popular ship on the show and they're not CANON yet. Also, some comments indicate a lot of Buddie fans stopped watching the show and they posted they won’t return until they are CANON.

Eddie’s storyline needs to show movement and like ASAP but it hasn't. No one but BTs like Buck's current relationship because anyone with eyes can see he's NOT happy with Tonka Toy. Chris being all the way in Texas is NOT GOOD and showing Helena take Eddie’s son without showing him support is not doing anyone any good either. Eddie’s a GREAT single dad and that’s one of the many things the audience loves about his character. He fights for Chris, he always has but after season 7, his storyline hasn't moved forward and the audience isn't happy. The most common complaints I've read across all platforms from the GA revolve around questions like "When is Chris coming back?" or "When is Eddie going to visit him?"

Thursday's ratings weren't good. Source: Spoiler TV.

October 24, 2024

9-1-1 

3.977 million viewers

0.31 demo (it's lower than the previous week)

October 17, 2024

9-1-1

4.160 million viewers

0.37 demo

9-1-1's ratings fell a lot after the season opening diaster and it could be due to a combination of things but one thing is certain, the GA wants to see movement with the characters and it isn't happening. The opening disaster is over and the personal stories aren't bringing in the audience. While the live numbers don't include 7+ streaming, they were LOW and couldn't compete with CBS's new shows. That network has consistently had more than 6.5 million viewers per week and that was even true last season before 'Young Sheldon' ended and now with their new shows, i.e., 'Georgie and Mandy' and 'Matlock', they're still outperforming 9-1-1.

It's expensive to produce (more than 10 million per episode) therefore, if the ends don't start justifying the means (if they don't start making more money than it costs to produce it), then it could run into the same problem they had at F*X before ABC agreed to pick it up.

They'll be off the air for a week and hiatuses haven't really done them any favors in the past, so it'll be interesting to see how these ratings effect episode 8x6 after the break.

I like 9-1-1, it's the only TV show I watch consistently, so this post isn't meant to be negative. And while it appears the show wants to drag out Buck’s, Eddie’s and Chris' storylines, if their ratings are any indication of how the show will continue to suffer, the question becomes, can they afford to keep waiting?

[morganski-19]

The Buck and Tommy break up scene

I think this scene was telling in a lot of ways, specifically about Tommy's character. This is just one part of my thoughts, mainly analyzing what Tommy said in the conversation and how that hurt Buck. I'll be doing another post about what Buck said in the conversation, and what that means for him.

Tommy knew that this relationship with Buck had an end date. He knew that this relationship wasn't going to go anywhere other than heartbreak, so why go into it at all? In that speech he gave Buck, it sounded like he knew, no matter what, there was no way he was going to be what Buck wanted. What Buck was going to choose to be with forever. And I think in that moment, when Buck asked him to move in with him, he knew that he had to take the mask off.

I think this is really complicated, and shows that both Tommy and Buck were kind of deluding themselves that this could work. In that scene at the restaurant, we see how little they know each other. Tommy gets Buck Lakers tickets, a sport that Buck doesn't even like. And Buck doesn't get Tommy anything, because he wasn't expecting anything either. It just shows how they were on different pages, and highlights their incompatibility.

Then there was the Abby reveal, which brings back a lot of feeling for Buck, making him spiral. Making him do something big and impulsive. And making Tommy realize that he can't keep going in a relationship he knows is going to end.

He decides to hurt Buck before Buck could hurt him. But, in doing that, he never gave Buck the chance to prove him wrong.

It's also very telling in the way Tommy addresses Buck. He has exclusively used Evan in reference to Buck, even though the audience knows that Buck does not identify with that name. There are only select people that can use that name, and even they use it sparingly. So, in his final goodbye, Tommy addresses Buck as Buck. He finally recognizes who Buck is, and that he isn't this image he had in his mind.

However, it further shows just how much Tommy doesn't know Buck. He thinks that Buck is in this because it's new and exciting. And while that is true, it's not the whole of it. Buck has admitted to caring about Tommy, about being attracted to him, and about wanting to make this work. He's doing what he thinks he needs to in order to make it work, and instead of recognizing that and talking about it with Buck, Tommy leaves.

It mirrors how Abby left so much. Abby left Buck with the promise that she was coming back. Tommy stayed even knowing that it had an expiration date. They strung him along until they could make him the bad guy. Him the reason it didn't work out.

If Tommy had even a little faith that this relationship with Buck could work out, he would have went about it in a very different way. He would have still declined the invitation to move in, because it was way too soon, and have a mature conversation about his fears. About Buck's fears. They would talk about it, and move on together.

But instead, he got insecure and left without giving Buck the chance to explain himself. To defend himself.

It further shows just how incompatible this relationship was, and why it needed to end.

(Also, that comment he made at Abby was super misogynistic, and in turn further proves that he hasn't changed that much as a person. I think a lot of people are mad that Buck wasn't the one to break up with Tommy, especially after this comment, is justified. However, a point to consider, Buck is the living breathing walking definition of wearing rose-colored glasses. He's ignored many red flags in his dating history.)

[gnomewithalaptop]

I am once again thinking about my Reverse Falls plot bunny where Canon!Dipper switches places with his Rev Falls counterpart

Just hear me out! Like -- the dynamics would be so good. Because in either universe, the twins know each other better than anybody else, right? They've known each other their entire lives! So they'd obviously realize something was up pretty quickly, but the way that goes down would vary wildly depending on the combo you've got going on

That's why I really want Canon!Dipper in the Reverse universe -- out of the two of them, I definitely think he could "fake it til you make it" a bit longer than Mabel, but I also think the potential dynamics between him and Rev!Pacifica and Rev!Gideon would be fascinating to see play out. Cause like, let's be real: that kid can hold some grudges, and he's pretty pessimistic when it comes to people and second chances (at least compared to Mabel). I can see him having a really hard time wrapping his head around the personality shifts and trusting Pacifica and Gideon with anything -- which would only make things harder, since they'd already be predisposed to hating his guts. But also, just the idea of Dipper trying to navigate a strange world where his family is full of manipulative bastards and the entire town seems terrified of him makes my inner ten-year-old extremely happy

And then the dynamics with Rev!Dipper and Canon!Mabel would be playing out in tandem with all of this. And the script is completely flipped from Canon!Dipper's, because Mabel doesn't go into this knowing something's wrong. She has to figure that out for herself from context cues, and like. I doubt "evil mirrorverse version of my brother" is going to be her first guess right off the bat. So you get extra wiggle room for Rev!Dipper to get situated as a quasi-antagonist and start screwing things up, and you get fun hijinks while Mabel and the gang make several very wrong choices about what's going on with Dipper

And like. Okay, so: I've always interpreted Reverse!Dipper as somebody who's very pragmatic -- he's very much an "ends justify the means" sort of guy. Don't get me wrong, he's not as vindictive as Canon!Gideon, but he also isn't particularly sentimental either. He's lived his whole life in "every man for himself" mode (with some small exceptions for his sister).

And then I think about combining that kind of mindset with Mabel's unstoppable wave of optimism and endless harebrained schemes where she tries to make things better for a person she doesn't even know that well. And I think about Reverse!Dipper being faced with this realization that his world is dark and cold and uncaring because that's how he relates to the world.

Let's be real: at the end of the day, both sets of twins love each other so fiercely. It's just that the Rev Falls kids have gotten caught up in all these manipulation games and power plays, and once you get caught up in that kind of cycle, it becomes harder and harder to get out again. So I can see this swap having a positive shift on both the Rev Falls kids -- taking them away from their lives and showing them that they don't have to interact with the world this way

I'm thinking about Canon!Dipper seeing the humanity in Rev!Mabel and talking to her straight the way he did to Pacifica in Northwest Mansion Mystery. I think about how she hasn't gotten to be a kid because of the Tent of Telepathy's whole Dance Mom schtick, and finally getting it impressed upon her that that isn't normal. I'm thinking about Canon!Mabel showing Rev!Dipper it's okay to trust people and let them in. That he doesn't have to treat the entire world like it's out to hurt him, doesn't need to strike first to make sure the other guy never gets a chance to

Anyway. This got so long but -- yeah. I yearn for the Gravity Falls Mirror Mirror episode that exists only in my mind

[sapphire-weapon]

Seeing as how I just got two asks back to back trying to claim that I'm being unfair to Leon and that his behavior towards Ada in RE4make is "justified," I figured I'd just make an independent post about it instead of answering two questions that'll have overlapping answers. (And a third one came in as I was writing, even.)

No, I'm not being unfair to Leon, and no, his behavior isn't justified. Leon's being immature in RE4make, straight up.

The way that people talk about this, and the way that Leon acts towards her -- you would think that Ada had been a childhood friend that Leon had known for years, and that she betrayed him at the zero hour and destroyed a lifetime of trust between them.

Ada is some chick that Leon knew for a total of, like, six hours, years ago. And in Remake canon, she makes it very clear to him at the end of RE2make that her lying to him wasn't personal; it was just business.

He's had six years to think about this and compartmentalize it, but he's still taking it so intensely personally that he's being petty. He spends all of RE4make trying to ensure that Ada knows how personal it is, and he digs at her in such a way that it's like he wants her to feel personally hurt in return.

He's being fucking childish.

Especially when you consider that, even if Ada had wanted to reach out to him and let him know she's not dead -- how, exactly, do you propose she do that? Just saunter right on through CIA security and surveillance? Call Leon on a phone that's definitely being tapped and traced? Come the fuck on, man.

It's also not an either/or situation. It's not like the only two options for his attitude towards her are "overtly romantic" or "total cunt." OG RE4 had him be wary of her intentions and suspicious of her motives without being a complete and total asshole about it.

Think about this honestly. If the "she's like a part of me I can't let go" line didn't exist in OG, would you think that his feelings towards her were romantic at all in that game? Because I wouldn't. Half of their interactions are him questioning her or blowing her off.

And this was done with OG Leon knowing that Ada was explicitly working for Wesker. He knows that she's working for Albert Fucking Wesker, and he's still able to pull off being suspicious without being a cunt.

Remake Leon has no idea who she's working for and never, ever has. For all he knows, she could be working for someone who's in the fight against bioterrorism. The last thing he knew about her was that she was a fellow adversary of Umbrella who was getting shot at by Annette Birkin. He has no reason to treat her like a villain outside of his own personal butthurt.

He's just being petty because she hurt his feelings six years ago, and he's refused to grow up and move on since then and, at the very least, treat her with the bare minimum of cold professionalism that she actually deserves. They both establish in their first conversation that they're both here for work. They're doing a job. And he can't get over his personal butthurt enough to be a professional about it.

She makes him look terrible by comparison, because she very clearly does still have feelings for him in RE4make, but she's able to still be an adult and recognize the reality of the situation they're in.

I'm so tired of these takes where people treat Leon like he's a perfect innocent angel baby who did nothing wrong and is right to be mean to the bad lady who hurt him. Leon was a dumbass who got played and hasn't been able to gracefully take the L and move forward in life. That's what actually happened.

Like, damn, man. I know we all love Leon, but he's not always right. He has flaws. And this is one of them. Let him be flawed. And maybe examine things a bit further the next time you want to fully lay the blame for a male character being butthurt at a female character's feet.

[cleradinel]

I'm really live and let live with hcs and theories, but i think i just really don't get the bi Mike thing. Because i keep seeing people say Mike is bi but when i actually see the posts explaining why (which is Really rare too, it's usually just treated as 'clearly obvious' which is also interesting) there's always scenes getting ignored. Things like Mike kissing El and obviously caring about her immensely get mentioned, but then the sibling and cousin coding (even right before their first kiss) just gets ignored. "Boys only" isn't worth analyzing, it's just wording (but Will saying "a day free of girls" is still obviously gay coding). Mike not kissing El back in s3 gets acknowledged but him pulling her hands off his face at the beginning of the season doesn't get mentioned. Everyone having posters of people they're attracted to (Nancy, Steve, etc) on their walls is just accepted as fact but Mike only having posters of buff guys still means he's into girls. And so on

What's even wilder is that I've seen multiple people claim they Don't think Mike was ever into El but still think he's bi which is just. ?. I don't get it. Because outside of El he hasn't shown anything you could even Pretend is attraction to girls. Canonically he's had little contact with girls because they "think he's gross", didn't care for Max when she showed up, didn't care for the dragonslayer princess or Phoebe Cates, doesn't have any female fictional characters he admires, AND didn't get Argyle falling for pretty girl Eden. El is really the only thing you could sort of try to justify any attraction to girls in any capacity (and even that's rocks in canon)

Bi Mike just confuses me because all posts arguing in favour of it always ignore certain scenes. And yeah obviously, they have to it's because you just can't explain them from the bi angle. It's just odd to me that so many people argue it's equally as canon supported as gay Mike when there's multiple instances that have to be overlooked for the theory to hold up. Not trying to sound rude, hcs are obviously cool, i just don't get why bi Mike is argued to be canon so much when the show contradicts it multiple times (coming from a bi person btw)

i'm a live and let live too ! i'm no headcanon police and i am nobody to tell you what to do or how to think. i like pointing stuff out i find interesting and if those things i'm pointing out (and many others have pointed out) leads me to believe wholeheartedly mike is gay, i'll allow myself to be passionate about that. (get heated ? sometimes i admit) (because i think it's an important thing to take into account when discussing him/elmike/byler/the narrative/where we've been and where we're going yadda yadda yadda)

i've seen bi mike posts that are more on the analysis side, but then those posts go on to say something like mike wasn't regretting telling will to dance with the girl (i don't think mike was like "no come back i am so consciously in love with you" at all, but more so "well this has me feeling In Ways i don't want to describe or think about) at the snowball, or that the ending of s3 is just solely about him being sad to see el and will go (i agree he is obviously sad about that, but literally what were those two back to back byler and elmike scenes about, considering their nature and content, if not mike getting confirmation he wants to date his dude bestie ? which i really, really think is the conclusion to his "i have an idea, boys only" moment) so again, even if we're both analyzing, we're truly not analyzing in the same way. i can't take those things as proof coming from a show that keeps hammering it over our heads that we have to think deeper and pull back the curtain. they don't want you to think of these scenes as nothing more than they appear on surface level. these are ga kinds of interpretations of these scenes. most of them saw a mike sad to be bidding his friends goodbye, you on the other hand, if you're trying to decipher what mike is thinking and what he's about, should probably be seeing something else.

everything you listed applying to both mike and will and definitely not to lucas and dustin (these two especially as way closer in age than like. steve and have way more scenes together) is something you should notice but alas- pretty girl eden was there to mock love at first though. even jonathan doesn't care for that haha i'll have to disagree on that being gay mike proof. if anything it's mike is a dirty little liar monologuing a lie proof.

i'll leave you with this : headcanons are cool, i don't care what you do with them. i hope you're having fun (i truly am) but *i* disagree it's as supported by canon as the gay hc. i, as in me myself and i, and if you disagree with me that is completely fine. you should be and feel free to do whatever you want with mike when you spin him around in your head for fun trying to understand who he is. but i will never not be confused by bi mike, as i think it is quite obvious he is gay.

[khyann]

i think you’re missing the fundamental fact that scott KNEW about the content ecto posted about.

if you read the doc from ecto, he was given a list of warnings before he followed and supported ectos blog, to which he AGREED

he absolutely was saving face by taking back his support and pretending like he didn’t know

also ecto literally got doxxed directly following the clip of scott retracting support and then when he was told what happened to ecto, told them to get over it as if it was just a bit of normal internet hate

being for/against proship doesn’t matter at this point, it’s basic human decency NOT to dox people. if anyone really cared about it they would have called the bloody police instead rather than putting on such a performance to ruin someone’s career

sorry, i know the original point of your post was about the scott hate and i kind of got off topic, but i have a lot of strong feelings about the situation lol

I perfectly understand having strong feelings on this situation because, yeah, it was a very fucked up mess and thank you for talking about this in a civilized manner. The point on Scott telling Ecto this was just normal internet hate being a bad move on his end and that is basic human decency to not dox someone are actually points that I agree with, and like I've said yeah he should have at least told his audience to not harass Ecto.

But Ecto was already getting doxxed before Scott addressed the situation. Scott addressed the situation on October 9 (even if he doesn't adress who "the artist" is by name, he should had asked his audience to not harass them, even the original account to out Ecto said to not harass them) while Ecto on their document mentions the account ectothrowaway2 on twitter was attempting to find their personal info on the night of the 7th and already getting doxxed on the 8th. (if you meant that the doxxing intensified after Scott's statement then that's a fair point of criticism towards him).

Posting dead dove/don't eat and being a proshipper can overlap on the aspect of dealing with problematic content but they aren't strictly the same. I know people who produce dead dove too might get hate for "condoning problematic content" even when is done from their own trauma or depicting said problematic content in the negative light it deserves. And I agree with the sentiment of not harassing someone of the ships they indulge, but there does come a point where things are not as acceptable (I don't mean by this that past some point is okay to harass someone, just that at some point it becomes something not as justifiable under the lenses of fiction being fiction). Proshipping saddly is a term often used by those who are actually fine with shipping stuff such as underage characters and adults, incest and other problematic dynamics (I myself was not aware of the non-harassing part of the proshipping stance until this situation). What I mean is that they are not 100% mutually inclusive, you can make dead dove content and still think shipping problematic stuff the same way you ship non-problematic stuff is wrong.

Had Ecto mentioned right away they are a proshipper and Scott shown to have no problem with that until this whole situation then he would have absolutely been trying to save face. Ecto themselves mention the user who called them out found their NSFW account through Scott's following list so is not like he kept it a secret that he was following a NSFW artist, especially given the fact Ecto themself would put screenshots of his and Sausage's interactions with their art.

My point on Scott getting so much criticism when he did originally mean to help while Sausage, who was way closer to Ecto than Scott, did nothing yet he hasn't received as much criticism still stands. Sausage has been shouting out Ecto ever since Empires S2 if i recall correctly, they are as known in his community as E. Yet we had no word from him in this whole situation.

Scott deserves criticism for how he acted in this situation, yes, especially when talking to Ecto he should have been more tactful when talking with them in private too. But I don't think the situation is as black and white as him retracting his support for Ecto because it was inconvenient to him. I was disappointed in him too when this first started, him and Sausage, and only retracted my support after actually leaving Ecto messages and comments of support about 2 weeks later when I found out they are a proshipper, and tho I agree (hell even the user who originally called them out agreed this got out of hand) this was too much, I didn't feel comfortable supporting someone who stood for something I don't agree with.

EDIT cuz i realize i got off topic too

Yes, Ecto didnt deserve all this hate and frankly dangerous treatment towards them. Harassing someone to the point to have to be put on a suicide watch and their carreer ruined this way just because on an opinion on how to deal with media is like deciding the best way to deal with a mosquito is launching a nuke at it. If you find out someone indulges in something you don't approve of the best action to take is to block them and, if necessary, report them. Not harassing, not sending death threats, not trying to find where they live, not NOTHING that happened here

Even the person who called Ecto out apologized despite not liking them because this situation was got out of hand. Harassment wasn't justified IN THE SLIGHTLESS AND SHAME ON ANYONE WHO ACTIVELY PARTICIPATED ON THAT BULLSHIT INSTEAD OF BEING MATURE AND SIMPLY BLOCKING THEM

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Thoughts on Joel's Decision

Okay... so the last episode of TLOU was... a lot. And obviously, one of the biggest questions to come out of it is did Joel do the right thing?

Now there's always gonna be people that don't agree and that's understandable but I'm just gonna drop where my brain is at with this show atm because oh boy is everything complicated.

Did Joel do the right thing?

To be blunt? No. But it all gets a lot more messy than this.

I think the best place to start is whether or not Joel prevented the end of the apocalypse and honestly speaking, I don't think so. Now I don't study medicine so I'm not going to claim that I'm an expert on making vaccinations, but the limited microbiology, bacteriology and virology that I've studied gives me I small idea on whether or not the Fireflies' plan was ever actually viable. And I don't think it was.

As of 2023, while there are a few in development, we do not have a single vaccination that can be used to treat fungal infections. Now seeing as we haven't been able to make one up until now, the chance of producing one during an apocalypse where technology hasn't been updated since 2003? Yeah... probably not going to happen. And even if they did have the facilities, I'm still not sure if it would even work. I don't have enough of an understanding of medicine to know if giving people specific signalling chemicals would work, but I'm a little iffy on the idea. The way that vaccinations work is by introducing the body to a pathogen (something that causes disease) in a form or dose that will not do a lot of damage, but will allow the body to learn how to fight it. But that's not the plan here. They aren't planning on creating a cure that will allow the body to fight off Cordyceps, they plan to make something that will trick the fungus into thinking that that person is already infected.

And I'm not entirely sure that that's possible.

But like I said, I'm not an expert on medicine so for the benefit of the doubt, let's say that they actually do make a cure. Hooray! This means that they can save the world right? ...right?

Errr... no. Even if the Fireflies did manage to make a cure, A) how are they planning to make enough of this cure to treat this many people? and B) how do they expect to transport this cure?

We have to remember that this is a global apocalypse. They would have to get this cure to everywhere on the planet where there are people who are at risk of being infected. Bearing I mind, medicines (especially vaccinations) have to be stored in specific conditions. Seeing as they are currently struggling to find food, I don't know how they plan to get enough equipment together to ship this cure off the right places and for it to still be in a good enough condition to be usable by the time it gets there. And then the cure has to be administered to enough people for it to prevent the outbreak from happening again. For this to happen, you need to reach herd immunity, which, depending on the thing being treated, requires between around 70-90% of the population being vaccinated.

I get that they wanted to find an end to the apocalypse, but I don't think that the Fireflies would have been able to produce a cure, make enough of it to vaccinate 70-90% of the population and then distribute it worldwide.

But even then, I still don't think that all of that justifies Joel's actions. Joel didn't go to find Ellie, guns blazing, because he had thought through the logistics of the Fireflies' plan. Someone was threatening to take his daughter away from him again and he snapped. Even if he didn't prevent the end of the apocalypse, he still killed a lot of people to protect one girl.

And the argument can't even be made that he did it for her. Sure, there would be a part of him that is rescuing her so that she doesn't have to go through those experiments and tests, but ultimately, he did it for himself. He tells Ellie earlier on in the episode that they don't need to to go through with it but she chooses to carry on. She doesn't want everything she did to be for nothing.

She made the choice to go through with the plan and Joel disobeyed her.

At the end of the day, what Joel did was selfish. Even if the plan to make a cure hadn't worked, he still went against the wishes of the person he was protecting and he did it for himself. And what's even worse, he lied to Ellie about what he had done because he knew that she wouldn't have agreed with him.

So no, I don't think Joel made the right choice.

But I don't hate him. There's a part of me that gets it. It's really hard to apply moral justification when we don't live in the world that these people do and every character in this show, including Joel is living with extreme trauma. We know how much the death of Sarah can trigger him, so it isn't surprising that this situation caused him to snap. It's understandable.

But I don't think that that makes him right.

[normal-looking-male]

So I may be coming in with either a cold take or overthinking things, or even worse, blatantly misinterpreting them, but I gotta ramble about my favourite song somewhere, so...

Okay, so, chorus one opens with the "cold breaking point" line, right when Katya gets out of the facility with Dima, they got a taste of freedom, fun times.

Chorus two opens with completely unrelated words, contemplating Dima's and/or Yura's viewpoint, but still, it's Katya deflecting from the situation, because she just can't give into the same negative mindset as Dima, she's clinging onto the hope that this will work out for her.

I can't remember where it was stated, but apparently Katya was starving in that little instrumental bit between the second and third choruses, where she was counting. I mostly just saw her sitting there, trying to calm down the bubbling constant anxiety of being found out, of her friends abandoning her if they find out about her whole mutation situation, of Dima being right.

Chorus thee goes right back to the "cold breaking point" lyrics, because just like that, with one decision Sergei made, her freedom, her chance at a normal life, was ripped away from her. How easy it would be now for her to go right back to where she started - in that exact facility that treated her like cattle. And then the second part of it just beats her down further, as if she hasn't suffered enough.

It is such a good and cruelly ironic knife twist - Dima was so insistent on avoiding humanity, justifiably distrustful, and he got a place to live, a girlfriend, an adult that protects him. And Katya, who risked her well-being, who tried so hard to establish friendly connections, had to hide out at an abandoned pool, with not really many people to rely on, besides herself, mostly taking the role of a reliable person for Yura. And she ended up in exactly the situation Dima thought they'd be in, while Dima himself is safe.

I'm very biased against Dima, honestly, but if I may add my few cents on the matter - I feel that even though he feels awful guilt for the whole situation, he wants to be as far away from it as possible. We've seen him scared, but in Convergence, at the "connection cable" line, he looks petrified. For the rest of the song he's justifiably angry at Yura for baiting him and Anya with Olya's well-being, but they don't really have any other option besides working together, and the contempt he feels for Yura is so clear in his expressions, it's great.

I reads to me as if he's not only genuinely worried about Olya's safety, but himself as well, and really wants to wipe his hands clean of this mess, even if it means Katya's pretty much screwed. And I love it! He's by no means a terrible person, neither him nor Katya should have to deal with this in the first place, but it is what it is, and I'm on the "narrator's" side here every time he's called a coward.

I got off-track, back to the song- I think it stands out in how... Heavy? It sounds? To me it reads a lot like a violently beating heart, combined with violent electricty just waiting to break out. It feels like Katya's in a constant battle to keep her emotions under control, and just barely contain her own destructive abilities, that could cost her, if not her own discovery and capture, then someone else's life. And the way the instrumental is pretty smooth and relaxed during the verses, but the snares and louder noises pick up as dread, excitement, or desperation kicks in. GOOD SONG!!

[playingpretender]

story time under the cut

today i tried to improv mormor with someone, and i started out by sending them a copy/paste prompt. the other person's responses were pretty aggressive, ('get fucked', 'I won't listen to you', 'don't be a nag') which threw me off a little - but i figured it was a narratively cogent response to jim's fear of emotional vulnerability - and that if we escalated the conflict between him and sebastian, we would come to an interesting scene (my intention is usually to move from texts to paragraphs).

i say that but i also got this feeling multiple times throughout the text-based roleplaying that they weren't engaging with me in the same way i was with them. for example, right at the beginning, they accused my character of acting this way due to wanting a relationship - which struck me as kind of meta and 4th wall breaking, since we were both on the tag for this pairing and both knew, as the writers, that the big picture story is our characters' relationship, their romance. me personally, i don't like to draw back the curtain that way. maybe they just wanted to have sebastian be perceptive and accustomed to jim's behavior, but even then, dropping that in the first couple messages puts me in an awkward position. now, the subtlety of my character's romantic attraction is no longer mine to decide. it has to be obvious enough that sebastian picked up on it, and picked up on it before they started talking.

so i decided to take kind of an overbearing/possessive/authoritative approach in response, to justify an employer having a very vocal attraction to one of his employees (for those not in the know of my millions of readers, mormor is the relationship between the villain Moriarty and his henchman Moran, Jim and Sebastian respectively) this was also in the hopes of forcing resolution through conflict.

we arrived at the zenith of the argument, and i asked them ooc if they wanted to continue and they just disconnected. which isn't bad inherently whatsoever. it is good to leave when you want to. but, it left me with this really bad feeling - i guess because we'd been writing for almost half an hour and during that time, i never knew how they felt about it, but i was sensing rejection (adhd king here) . so when they disconnected it was like that rejection was made real....

i think that my response here was impacted by my mental illness, but i want to also consider that it was still a tangible rejection. we had sketched out the dynamic between our characters, and neither of us enjoyed it, so it ended. this is something i've been on both sides of many, many times. i mean, who hasn't gotten weirdly bitchy with a stranger on omegle or rolechat once in their lifetime. or tried a roleplay that didn't work out. or had to suddenly tap out of a scene unexpectedly. it's life

[navree]

Have you seen the theories that jace will support b&c theirs not point putting actual stock in fandom theories but it'd be a intresting way to give him a actual personality also out of all of rhaenyra's kids he's the most intresting choice to make into a asshole

I haven't seen it but to be entirely honest I'd be surprised if they do that. There has been a lot of effort put into trying to make Jace seem like this good, honorable, just king to be, a proto-Robb, a "oh isn't it so tragic that he never got to sit the Iron Throne" figure. It doesn't work because the writing is bad and doesn't work, but there's clearly an attempt. He's a protective older brother (allegedly), he's a defender of innocents to the point where even cousins he's never met before go to him for help (you know, so he can start a fight against someone who did nothing wrong and escalate it into violence and then be surprised when he and his dumbass little brother nearly killed someone due to their stupidity, at least Baela and Rhaena are allowed to be irrational due to grief, what's this moron's excuse for his actions on Driftmark?), he's studious and dutiful as seen in the way he's trying to learn High Valyrian (and still hasn't gotten it despite being a full adult by the standards of his time, those Strong genes gave him his hair but certainly not a brain), he's an honorable and kind person because he danced with Helaena that one time (as part of a pissing match with another dude and shows no care or concern for her and NO dumbass fans I'm sorry but Jace marrying Helaena wouldn't have solved anything she still would have ended up in danger and probably still suffered just as badly, just a bit later in life), he's a good leader because he came up with the idea to have the dragonriders fly to deliver Rhaenyra's terms to the realm (so am I allowed to say that he killed Lucerys? cuz I can say it if I'm feeling mean enough), he doesn't cheat on Baela with Sara Snow or even Cregan, he's all upsetti-spaghetti that his boring ass cardboard cut out of a brother got made a meal out of (can't imagine why considering that we saw one (1) single solitary scene together that wasn't even about them but about re-introducing Aemond and also Luke was such a nothing character that I remain impressed anyone feels anything about his absence). So him being on board with Blood and Cheese doesn't really fit into the characterization they've tried to give him and the version of him they're trying to impart on the audience.

What I'd honestly expect would potentially be the opposite. Rhaenyra, after some initial horror, likely trying to justify Blood and Cheese to herself, saying it's the cost of war, the Greens brought it on themselves, Daemon and Mysaria went rogue, the assassins clearly went off the rails so it's not really on her anyway, and Jace being the one firmly against it. Jace, who actually does know Alicent's kids better because they're of an age, Jace who remembers growing up with Helaena, Jace who used to hang out with and like Aegon, who looked to him for reassurance and guidance almost the way one might an older brother. And Jace is absolutely disgusted with what happened, and given that we saw some Looks he gave Daemon season 1, pushing very hard for Daemon to be brought to task for what he's wrought, only for Rhaenyra to say no (either due to legitimately not considering it a big enough deal or not wanting to turn her strongest military asset against her). And therein comes any rift, Jace doing his "honorable heir" thing and being appalled that nobody is seeing this for the crime that it is, and also completely unjustifiable considering how it has nothing to do with what happened to Luke anyway and coming into conflict over Rhaenyra essentially endorsing this and becoming complicit in her silence. I had an anon theorize about this a while back (like, November 2022 while back), but that could also create the opportunity for a wider rift with Rhaenyra in general, with Jace feeling like Rhaenyra's created a lot of problems that have had material consequences for him, like the loss of his boring ass brother, and trying to take her to task for it and this creating conflict (with an extra helping of Pain if they never resolve it before he gets punctured like a porcupine).

Now, do I think any of this is gonna happen the way I've lined out? Honestly no, after last week I do not trust these writers for shit and I do not believe that anything that comes out of this show is going to be good. There's a reason why it's Superman Summer for me and I'm gearing up to watch MAWS today rather than 2x02 (tho I will be on the lookout for grieving Aegon clips, I'm down for that). But I think my interpretation is a bit more likely than Jace being on board with Blood and Cheese.

[kariachi]

Okay, first up, yes to this shit. So much yes, full agreement. Because Ben- There's doing shit yourself, having shit done to you, and the sheer betrayal that comes from having someone you love and trust kill someone you love and trust, someone they supposedly love and trust, and in such a mindless, offhanded manner. Like he's used to death and the like but this would just be a whole other level of it.

And Gwen, like you said she seems very, above shit? I did a post on this once- it didn't get tagged but one sec I'll link it here- Gwen seems very much like she's on a bit of a pedestal? In-universe? Like she's got Expectations from her mom, and shit to live up to from Ben and Max, and her own high expectations and like- Gwen can't be Wrong because she is Good and Wonderful and from the top of her ivory tower well damn near everything she does is justified, and if it's not then it was a small lapse we can move on from, and I think if nothing else this shit would make her wobble. Because whatever she does with this scar on her soul, it takes a lot to justify the thoughtless killing of your own partner. But then also agree that, probably she wouldn't see consequences? The Plumbers don't exactly have a good track record managing their own, and with Max and Ben being the Golden Boys, and at least three other Tennysons are themselves prior or current Plumbers (and apparently Lucy was originally meant to be a Tennyson so more like at least four).

I can see her getting arrested, because Rook at this point hasn't had the chance to grow close with Kevin (they've met once and all those things you reference happen after Frogs of War) but he's also the most likely person I think to go 'no, that was illegal, the law says-'. Ben I can't see gunning for it because the Tennysons seem to me to be a very 'but they're family', 'we don't mention things' sorta lot and I don't know that this would break him completely out of what honestly seems like generations of 'they're the only relatives you've got so you have to put up with them and be gentle with their wrongs'. Which alongside the fact that, it's the Plumbers likely she's not seeing shit for consequences, I don't know that there'd be much of any from family either. I mean Sunny tried to nuke Bellwood and the response was 'oh but don't be too harsh on her'.

On Max's end, I don't think he actually liked Kevin? Like, the way shit is phrased in the Ultimate Kevin arc is very... 'Well we all knew this was what he really was'? And then you add in that when the Rooters were taking Kevin away he didn't do shit until he realized Servantis had fucked with his brain to make him accept the kids in the first place... It feels, not just like you said that he doesn't actually care about Kevin, but that he doesn't care for Kevin. Like Kevin's worth comes from 'Ben and Gwen like him' and otherwise he's just waiting for the leopard to show it's spots. Especially when you consider how quickly he turned on Elena's dad in Alien Swarm, and how ready he was to write off the entire family on the basis that Victor stole from the Plumbers once. Seems like he's not exactly a 'people can grow and change' type. Which then seems contradicted by the whole mess with Phil until you remember that they were partners for decades and like hell Phil became an asshole all sudden-like after retirement, so probably Max was cool with the his bullshit until he tried to drag the kids into a kidnapping scheme/protection racket.

And gods, Ben having to tell Kev's mom because nobody else will. Goddamn that would be, that's fucking painful right there. I can see him showing up at the door of the house Kevin supposedly bought her, trying to figure out how to say the words as she just visibly becomes more and more certain of what this visit is about, it's not her first one afterall... Damn.

And yeah, I agree with you on Harvey. I personally put their divorce as more recent due to Headcanons (namely 'Kevin is his mother's child and that man poofed as soon as he realized Kevin was gone gone until the kid showed back up and he could go 'see I very clearly did not kill him and bury his body somewhere'') but otherwise 100% on the Harvey stuff. Personally read and write him as a guy who was abusive towards his stepson out of fear of how powerful he was and the issues he had being a hybrid whose alien parent had just died and then proceeded to use the resulting mental health issues and lashing out as vindication that clearly he was right to do what he did otherwise he'd be worse. Sort've a 'the man who beats his dog will never admit that's why it bites/will make every excuse why the bite isn't his fault' sorta deal.

And on the last paragraph- Hi! Welcome to the 'They Ruined The Potential Gwevin Had By Refusing To Let The Characters Grow Out of Their Flaws And Also Making Gwen Abusive' blog! This isn't all we do here but it's a recurring theme. And it's mostly a problem on Gwen's end. Kevin is par from perfect, but he comes with sides of 'severe trauma and mental health shit', 'with a girl like that-', and 'my girl is a Good Person while I'm a Bad Person so...' Like, even as far back as All That Glitters, the start of their relationship drama is her getting pushy about why he's respecting a boundary she set two episodes ago and when he tries to set his own boundary laughing at and then proceeding to not only immediately ignore but repeatedly steamroller over it. A lot of shit with Kevin makes sense when you take into account that while he liked her he was conflicted about a relationship, which given he's got a history of addiction issues with the shit she's made out of makes sense even without the rest of his issues coming into play, (plus WoG that his initial interest was the same as Mike's, 'big mass of energy right he fuck there'), and then got pushed and pressed and shamed until he finally started going out with her. And then you get cases like In Charm's Way, where the entire conflict could have been resolved by Gwen going 'here is why I have suddenly cut back the amount of time I spend with you after The Incident' but instead she tells Ben but not him and in the end he gets to be the bad guy responsible for the shit that happens to him because he 'should have known' that this girl can't have been dating more than four months before he got chimeraed again and with whom he has a nasty history involving such mutations cut back her time with him because she was trying to help. This shit on top of the issues he already had, add in some communication problems, Kevin's a mess that needs to grow and heal but Gwen's shit can't have helped.

Meanwhile on Gwen's end, for one thing she doesn't seem to respect Kevin. Like, she loves him, but as a person it doesn't feel like she respects him. Even before you get into the abuse. And using physical pain and violence against your partner for shit that isn't defending yourself against their own use of the same (outside consenting contexts) is abuse, no matter what too damn many Gwevn fans I've seen want to claim. Like, the fact the very first episode after they get together has Gwen use physical pain, very purposefully and happily, to punish Kevin for teasing her? That in a later episode they have a moral disagreement and she responds by dropping him from a height? That in Showdown her response to him and Ben laughing at what's barely a joke at her expense is to shove them into freefall with not a care in the world?

My followers have seen it before and will see it again but, someone who does that last one? In front of a witness, readily and happily? They're not only hurting their partner in these situations. That's not the behavior of somebody who 99.99% of the time treats their partner fine. Especially when you take into account that Gwen seems to get more bold with this shit over time. The first time she at least claims that she's not being overly rough (boy gets shot and he's fine, the blows Gwen's sending at him and he's suffering, she was not holding back at all), though badly. The second time she claims he dropped him on accident, but puts no effort into the lie. The third time she doesn't even pretend, she does it openly and in front of a third party. Gwen, as presented in canon, is 100% physically abusive towards Kevin offscreen, and seemingly is getting worse and bolder with her abuse given what we see onscreen.

It's just- I used to ship it. It had potential. It still has potential, as long as you cast aside 99.8% of canon and shit in fic and start essentially from scratch. And then I realized they didn't intend to have the two grow, didn't see Gwen's shit as a problem, and that any attempts to discuss the matter were getting be labelled as a misogynist Bevin fan who just didn't like that Gwen was in the way of their ship.

I may have a thought or two on the matter. I may have had thoughts or two on the matter for the last 15 years and counting.

So yeah, full agree there, the two of them need to be seeing somebody the fuck else. Or at least Kevin needs to be seeing somebody the fuck else Gwen may want to get some fucking therapy before she finds someone new.

I don't have the emotional fortitude to write it, but the brain does sometimes mosey over to the potential aftermath of simple shit like 'the Omnitrix is programmed to prevent its wielder from dying', 'Ben is known to occasionally get the wrong alien', and 'falling from great heights is very bad for your health' coming together after Gwen shoves the boys out of the ship during Showdown to result in one dead Kevin.

Like damn but that could be one dramatic and painful storyline.

[bossferatu]

the characterization in this episode was off the charts.

we saw a lot of how each of the party views violence, what lines they have in regards to that.

to Rey it is a release. His beast is like a visceral itch under his skin, and so far we've only seen it scratched by violence. As much as he doesn't seem the typical Gangrel, his impulsive tendency to violence is about as aligned with his clan as he ever gets.

What's interesting about this is how he CANNOT handle the consequences of his violence. He can't deal with the aftermath of satisfying his basest urges. We saw this with Shaun (Sean?) and how he now mistrusts Fuego, despite how eagerly and without hesitation he satisfied his hunger.

Rey hasn't yet comes to terms with the violence he so craves, and he puts no forethought into what the consequences to his actions might be.

to Fuego it is power over a situation. We've seen before how she envies Rey's physical strength. She sees that as power. As ability to impose her will over others, much like her ability to Mesmerize.

She still sees herself as a superhero, as someone good, someone defending her home. She thinks she is right, that her choices and wants are more noble or better than others. But that's not why she does it, that's just her own excuse to herself. From what I've seen, she uses her 'morality' as an excuse to exert power without feeling bad. She hates being called a 'landlord' but doesn't hesitate to use Lingering Kiss on Shye, essentially getting them addicted to her kiss, just so she can keep feeding.

She doesn't think of consequences, only reacting according to her righteous impulse. She is classic Ventrue, seeking to push her power on others. She, unlike most Ventrue, seeks to protect what's important to her, but that doesn't make what she does good.

Fuego is one of the most complex vampires I've ever seen, and endlessly compelling, but she isn't a hero. She's ignorant to what danger she's constantly putting herself and all those closest to her in. And that makes her incredibly interesting and possibly my favorite character of this chronicle.

Serif is a little more difficult to gauge, from this episode, but it's clear to see that she has clear boundaries. She hasn't directly engaged in much violence this chronicle, standing by while the others take the more physical approach.

however, what we do get to see from her is her boundaries when it comes to ghouls. We already knew she was sensitive about the admittedly incredibly morally (dark) grey area in which ghouls operate. She doesn't seem to care much whether or not the coterie kills one of the security guards, but the second Rey wants to use his Vitae to save the other, she has a big reaction.

something that this implies, to me, is that she's not particularly concerned with the morality of it, or she wouldn't be, if not for her personal experience with ghouls. When Angela expresses contentment with her life, her choice, and with Isaac as her 'employer', Serif is upset. In fact, she's the same level of upset as she is when Rey gives the security guard NO CHOICE. This, to me shows that it's just the principle, the existence of ghouls which upsets her, not the actual morality of the situation surrounding creating one.

like Fuego, she uses morality to justify her own impulse and reactions, not the other way around. As much as she likes to believe it is a moral code that rules her actions, she is using it as an excuse.

this is not to say that these two are not some of the most (seemingly) moral kindred we will likely see. They both contain great capacity for kindness and humanity, but they are not as morally pure as they'd like to think.

to Isaac, I think it's clear that violence is a means to an end. He's pragmatic to a fault, and wouldn't needlessly endanger him and his in order to enact violence. He's the most reasonable of the group in that aspect thus far, and that's unsurprising, considering the situation he finds himself in.

he knows what dangers lurk for Kindred, and as a Tzimisce in Anarch territory very close to the Camarilla, he's in an even more precarious position than any of the other members of the Coterie. It occurs to me that while he's mentioned Shrecknet and how humans took it down, the others have no idea what danger the Second Inquisition poses. They haven't even really been informed about the Masquerade and WHY it exists.

he is now affiliated with this Coterie, partially in charge of the area they're in, and will be held EXTREMELY responsible for any breaks in the Masquerade. Already distrusted by the Anarchs, Isaac has no room for messy violence, even if it happened to be in his nature.

unlike the others, it doesn't seem like he's ruled by impulse, nor by morality. He is logical and pragmatic, or so he seems so far. It makes perfect sense that he should be furious or annoyed at the rest of the Coterie. He's the only one who understands the gravity of the situation in its fullness (or so it seems). And now, he has to clean up a big mess.

we'll see in future episodes, but here are my two cents about what the violence in this episode tells us about our new lil baby coterie. I for one was surprised that the shoe dropped so early, though I shouldn't have been, the tension has been piling up so quickly.

[lol-jackles]

https://twitter.com/DotThinging/status/1561182166075277313

I may start collecting complaints against the TW trailer over things that are deliberately crafted choices to look like 70's horror films. This is fun! People are missing the entire point already and it hasn't even started airing yet.

The cinematography of some shots in that trailer mimick the look of, say, the og Halloween film and others of that era, but please keep going off about how "bad" it looks. This isn't coming from young 'uns, either. It's just embarrassing.

Also lack of comprehension on the difference between a series set in the time it is filmed in, vs a series that mimics an earlier time period. They are using vintage anamorphic lenses even. This isn't rocket science.

I guess we know why Jensen kept talking about the stupid lens, so idiots like Dot can claim that he's purposely trying to make it look bad to make it look like 70's horror movies. I mean, personally I would focus on making the costuming and setting look like the 70's (which they clearly aren't doing) instead of using a lens to make the whole thing look like garbage to make it look like the 70's. Like, does Dot realize she's basically admitting that it looks like shit? And claiming Jensen is purposely trying to make it look like shit? That's not the flex she thinks it is...

(and I know he only talked about it because he literally doesn't know what else to say, its just funny to watch AA's use that to justify how terrible it looks because you know that's not what Jensen was trying to get across lol)

But don't you know that the audience only wants to know about the color choice and different type of lens instead of the story or the characters! /S

Which is why Oscar awarding best cinematography at the end... no wait, that's at the start between "sound" and "documentary short".

Jensen doesn't know what else to say because by his own admission he sits in the car and only comes out to "put out small fires". He could at least do the obligatory hype of cast. Here Jensen, I’ll do it for you:

Me: *inhale exhale* *channeling Jensen’s voice* “Meg came in and she not only auditioned, but she also performed.  Even when she’s not on camera, she’s feeding the other actors, especially Drake.  Meg is in it in a way that is purely Mary Winchester. You always hope that the character just walks into the room, the perfect person to play it.  And it happened this time. I can't wait for you to meet them!"

End Scene.

See, that’s not so hard.  Seriously Jensen, let me manage your career.

[vector-field-outpost]

Okay so. First off, I love this. Second off, I've now got a reason to post my favorite Hibari screenshot:

This is his response to "Hibari-san, haven't you graduated? Why are you still at Nami Middle?" (not direct quote). And it just... sounds so fucking wild. Like. What.

But when you think about it it's just "because I wanted to and no one here is strong enough to stop me". Okay. So why would he want to stay around? From what I remember, Amano-san's justification is that he's just that into enforcing discipline in Nami Middle. Which brings me to my second point and second-favorite Hibari screenshot:

He's talking about Genkishi, which... doesn't actually explain anything, but, in Hibari's defence, he was just transported into the future and ended up in a weird sorta jungle place with a weird man with swords and weird eyebrows. And I actually wanted to talk about how his first (well, almost) reaction is to talk about school regulations before commencing the ass-kicking.

There's probably better scenes to demonstrate my point, since this one doesn't entirely contradict the "he's into enforcing the school regulations" reading, but it sure does seem like he's pulled the school regulations on eyebrows out of his ass. Even if the Nami Middle regulations are so extensive as to contain eyebrow regulations, and even if Hibari knows it all by heart (sounds like him), what are the chances of him remembering these specific regulations off the top of his head when seeing a stranger? How often would someone in a middle school run afoul of fucking eyebrow regulations, for Hibari to remember about them that quickly? (Genkishi has two swords in that scene by the way, doesn't he? Surely the school regulations would have something to say about that?)

So. Either Hibari's first reaction is to pull a school rule out of his ass. Or it's somehow the first thing he thought of upon seeing a stranger with swords. To be fair, Hibari might be referring to some kind of a catch-all rule about no extravagance in your appearance or some shit, and he's probably in shock from just having woken up in the future, and probably desensitized to seeing people with weird weapons where they certainly shouldn't be, since he's been around what's happening in KHR for over a year now, so it's kinda understandable. But it still looks like he's looking for a justification in the school rules, rather than seriously applying them to the situation at hand. It's not the school rules that come first, it's him wanting to kick some ass and turning to the school rules for justification. (Personally, I imagine that he sees beating up delinquents and bad students etc. as kind of a payoff. He gets to have rules justifying his ass-kicking, the school gets the people who go against the rules punished, even the especially boring ones. There also might be some autism-adjacent thing going on there, with him latching onto the school regulations to provide some kind of rigid structure to his world?? idk, I'm out of my depth here)

Going back to my previous point. It seems that Hibari's attachment to enforcing the Nami Middle school regulations is first and foremost one of convenience, rather than genuine respect and loyalty. Which means: either the convenience is so great that Hibari has decided to stay and continue beating up the same mostly-boring set of people; or his reason is something else entirely. Maybe both. But I don't really believe it's only the convenience, you know?

What this other reason might be, you ask? I raise you: Hibari wants to stay around Tsuna and his group because they make it interesting. And not only that. I don't believe he hasn't gotten the memo of Reborn and Gokudera and the other weirdos from out of town being from Italy, in the time that it took him to graduate. If Hibari only wanted to find more non-boring opponents, he could just go there. I raise you: Hibari has finally found other people (besides Kusakabe) he can maybe stand to be around long-term. I don't see him admitting it even as an adult, but that's way more valuable than routine or just interesting opponents (especially if being around these people will bring you interesting opponents, both in them and others they encounter).

He does just want to be loved, is what I'm getting at, but it's also not just about being loved I think. It's about the genuine connection. It's about having people who you see as (almost-)equals care about you. To Hibari, pretty much anyone he's met before, like, Reborn personally is an uninteresting herbivore, with maybe Kusakabe as the sole exception. Connecting with someone who's not that... I'd imagine it turned out to be very important to him when he found out it's possible.

also, @ignitingthesky love your tags

Small detail and maybe it’s not as important as I think it is but I like how with adult Hibari, the Cloud Hedgehog’s spikes are usually even, symmetrical, with equal length

Whereas baby Hibari’s are random, erratic, and with different sizes. 

I think they showcase their different temperaments. Like adult Hibari is more calm and more in control of his feral, his Roll is concentrated, there aren’t many of them and whatever are there usually controlled. Whereas baby Hibari is kinda all over the place as there are always a lot of Roll’s copies. His emotion at any moment of time is just a turbulence of anger, annoyance and irritation. His feral isn’t that well-managed yet and he’s one breath away from growing the biggest spike to pierce through the closest herbivore.

I think it’s neat.