#but maybe that's just me and the poll results would tell me otherwise

[butterfirefly]

Slightly tempted to make another poll about sclass after the other has expired

[skinside]

okay so, a lot is being said about all the shitty changes on tumblr lately. i've avoided many of these changes by downgrading to older versions of the tumblr app on android. however, there's one drawback i've faced: if you go back too far, you lose polls, one of the only good new features. so i decided to experiment version-by-version to see when certain desirable or undesirable features were added to the apk. unfortunately there's no version with polls but without tumblr live. i've compiled the detailed results here, in order of most recent version number

NOTE: to get old versions of tumblr, use apkmirror.com, which is a trustworthy, reputable source for .apk files, android's package installers. to downgrade your app you need to uninstall it and install an older apk (not necessary for upgrading to a higher version). a list of available apks for tumblr can be found here

TUMBLR .APK VERSION TESTING RESULTS

29.1.0.109

first version with new media viewer. any version before this should be okay in that department. (thanks @weeeeps for finding this!)

27.8.0.109

first version of tumblr apk with polls

still has old style media viewer

still has prev tags aka ability to navigate up reblog chain

unfortunately has tumblr live

27.4.0.12

first version with tumblr live (yuck), any version on apkmirror before this shouldn't have tumblr live

27.0.0.01

last easily installable version without tumblr live

it has the Halloween skeleton icon though

26.8.0.01

last version without tumblr live with a normal icon

**25.9.0.00** —MY PREFERRED VERSION

no tumblr live, no polls, yes old media viewer

last version of app where the "open tumblr links in app" feature functions properly even if the tracker api2.branch.io is blocked by your content blocker

if you use a version later than this, to successfully open a tumblr link from anywhere else on your phone in the you app, you have to unblock api2.branch.io from the ad/content blocker you use, otherwise opening the link in the app will fail. this took me some trial and error to figure out the issue

note: if you don't have an ad/tracker blocker on your phone, I'd recommend Blokada 5 (not 6)

again, disappointingly there isn't a version with polls but without tumblr live. if you want to see a poll you'll either have to share a post containing a poll to a web browser, or just use 27.8.0.109 (or slightly newer) and deal with snoozing tumblr live and having the live button on the navbar, but at least you get the old media viewer and can go up reblog chains again

sometime after the most recent version i tested, the new media player was also added. if anyone wants to test for the last version with the old media player, i can add that to the list as well added :)

if you want a version of the tumblr app with polls that doesn't have live, someone would probably have to mod the apk. i don't know how to do that, but there's modded versions of many popular apps out there, so maybe someone can try and see if that's possible for tumblr. otherwise just keep complaining about the shittiness and maybe staff will go back on the bad changes, though i wouldn't hold my breath on that

oh and if you're on iOS idk what to tell you, you probably have to jailbreak it to downgrade an app

[serial-unaliver]

how tf do you make a post title on the new tumblr mobile app all I can do is make words bigger

hi hello it's sivi aka tonysopranobignaturals or whatever other cursed urls i've had. check my tiktok (nukehenrykissinger) for proof this is really me. if you don't already know I deleted my account a while ago after being put in a "most annoying tumblr users" poll. however, it's not being called an annoying tumblr user that actually caused me to deactivate, but rather the rumors spread as a result. this poll essentially grouped me with pedophiles and nazis and for people who already hated me it was a good opportunity to send anonymous asks telling people I believe awful things, am friends with awful people, etc., and while SOME people actually went to my blog before making assumptions, others did not. at the time this all happened I had over 80,000 followers. having that much attention online is only really useful on websites where you can monetize it. on tumblr it only gets your posts and your blog in places you wish it didn't.

I hoped being off tumblr would improve my mental health and while it did decrease relationship paranoia on social media, otherwise i've been doing quite horribly and put my family in danger several times. it's so bad that i'm saving up to move out so my family can live a more peaceful and safe life. looking back on my delusions that lead to planning murder-suicide (family annihilation) it's hard for me to comprehend how it was myself who got to that point. this disease turns you into someone else and there's only so much you can do to stop it--a person in a psychotic state is not self aware. my psychosis is trauma induced and I WILL have recurrent episodes that I can't predict or prevent. I have to live life with this knowledge. it's not easy. treatment is also difficult, and now that i've moved to an area with absolutely AWFUL healthcare I can barely even get my meds refilled, let alone find a therapist or psychiatrist who actually wants to work with me after seeing my record of institutionalizations.

now, on a more positive note, some people have asked me about my world on my tiktok. well, it's just as active as it's always been, and catching you up on current events would take forever so i'd rather post naturally as things occur like I did before.

and to conclude all of this...if you do have a problem with me for any reason that's fine; i'm not entitled enough to think I inherently deserve everyone's support, but I DO think you could just like, block me and leave it at that. oh yeah and the post says "return to tumblr *maybe*" because i'm not sure if I can handle the attention long enough for me to not delete again LOL.

[garden-bug]

Your Thrawn takes (concluding the debate)

From a poll I did yesterday. You can check out the post on my profile. I’m tempted to do a longer one to get a more accurate result… but that’s it for now! Thanks for participating.

100% people

No character, unless they’re a pure villain, is fully immoral. It’s an interesting viewpoint to take on a character like Thrawn who has undoubtedly done moral actions. Perhaps you view something he did as so immoral it negotiated all of this for you?

Another thing that people seem to not realise: ‘good morals’ and ‘good character’ are not synonymous. If somebody tells you a character that you like has done bad things, don’t take it personally! Nuance is what makes characters interesting. I love characters like Maul and Mahito (jjk) purely because they are completely selfish and atrociously evil. I’m not gonna get sad if someone says, ‘how can you like them they’re evil?’ A huge reason why I like them because they’re evil. Duh. Characters like that are fascinating. That person does not understand the implications of characters as storytelling tools (another reason I would argue it’s so important to analyse critically - you’ll take everything personally otherwise and not be able to appreciate this). Maybe you can help them realise that the character isn’t fully immoral, but is actually an anti-villain or an anti-hero. By having these discussions properly (instead of just getting annoyed and shutting them down) we will realise that, wow, 80% of people have the same view (that’s most of you).

I’m repeating myself again here, but I’d also like to stress the importance of expectations when people post about a story or character. Somebody who makes a post about one particular aspect of a story or character that leans towards more moral or immoral is probably not going to give a balanced judgement of the entire work or characterisation. You’ll realise by responding that, oops, they actually do understand everything you do, it’s just this post was about one small thing and you took it as their entire bias. My post criticising the Ascendancy’s use of child soldiers received a response generalising the fandom as people who are obsessed with analysing morality and think Thrawn is this horrific pure evil character. No… that’s not what I said! (And the morality part, that’s a bad thing?)

This annoys me people

7 people picked the last option, which does make me sad if it’s because they’re frustrated by the type of arguments that seem to arise from this topic and don’t want to engage anymore. Having these better discussions would probably help this. Hopefully they do understand the value of morality in literature analysis in general. It can be an important tool to assess whether one character is more effective than another, to illustrate the themes of your story, and much much more.

Some people view stories are purely for entertainment and not for any intellectual purpose, but I disagree and don’t understand this. I would find stories unbelievably boring that way. If you disagree that’s your personal preference, and I will not change my mind because this is mine, so DNI please.

Conclusion of the debate

The conclusion of the debate is… well, critical analysis (including of the moralality kind) is required to understand what really makes a character a good character.

Thrawn is such an incredibly fascinating character, I think, because of his moral ambiguity. Why does Death Note fascinate people? Take the moral debate out of Death Note and you render the entire story meaningless. There would be nothing. There wouldn’t even be a story. I feel like this is obvious.

[cutekittenlady]

Tumblr Plays Pokemon White 2 - Part 1

And so it begins.

After several polls, we're going to FINALLY start playing through our first (and maybe only if i cant keep it up) installment of Tumblr Plays Pokemon!

You voted and now I will begin playing as Polly. An eager young trainer whos catching choices have been decided by YOU loyal tumblrites!

Just to refresh your minds as to the rules of this playthrough, here is the rough outline;

You, tumblr user reading this right now, will vote on a series of 24 hour long polls I post up on this blog deciding what pokemon we will attempt to catch in each area. When we've voted on all the available areas between the gyms (been using bulbapedias White 2 walkthrough to help me sort that out) I will play through the section attempting to catch the pokemon in question, and playing through the game with them.

Seems simple right?

Well not quite. To keep things interesting I added some additional rules to keep things interesting for all involved. After all it wouldn't be nearly as interesting if we had it all our own way right?

Here are the rules in full;

(warning; long post ahead)

All attempted Pokemon catches on each route will be decided by tumblr poll. This includes choices regarding trade pokemon, gift pokemon, fossils, etc when they come up.

Can only catch a single pokemon from every route.

Can only catch a single member of each evolutionary family. (No team of all eevees)

Can only attempt to catch each species of pokemon ONCE. If I fail we don't get a second chance. (Can't catch pidgey on route 1? NO pidgeys on the team for the rest of the game)

Can only have a single pokemon of every type.

No repeat natures.

Any HM slave/mule will be a permanent member of the team and count towards all previous rules.

Outside of the pokemon there are two additional options on polls; Randomize will mean choosing a pokemon based on the results of a random number number generator. Choose this if you want a pokemon but don't care which or otherwise just want to cause a little chaos.

Abstain will mean skipping the route without catching any pokemon. Choose this if you want to reserve the catches and typing for the pokemon on another route.

So keep in mind that winning the poll for a route doesnt necessarily mean that that pokemon will be a 100% guranteed catch or member of the team. If I fail to catch them, or if they have a conflicting nature, they will not be added to the team.

(Note; Also please note that this is NOT a nuzlocke. There are no permadeath rules in this playthrough. So a pokemon added to the team is a permanent member of the roster both in and out of the PC.)

With all that rigmaroll explaind lets get started!

Our name is Polly and we're a freshly minted trainer starting out on our pokemon journey for the first time on a lovely Spring evening! See our mom is friends with Professor Juniper, one of the pokemon professors, and shes offered to give us a pokedex of our very own!

Which she tells our mom at the last second, the DAY Biana arrives with our pokemon. What a character that Juniper.

Naturally we're not going to say no to having a Pokemon of our very own. With a Pokemon we'd finally get to leave town on our own, and maybe Hugh would finally stop asking us if we have one every damn day.

Speaking of Hugh;

We meet him outside and he more or less INVITES himself to find Bianca. Ah well, the more the merrier. Maybe.

Found her...

So in the first ever poll to decide our roster you guys voted that our starter should be...

SNIVY!

First off the table is the grass type. As one of the three starters in the game, Snivy is bound to be a longstanding addition to the team.

Sadly in the older games you can't rename your pokemon until you find the Name Rater, and in this game you don't run into him until Castelia City. So we won't be able to gurantee any nicknames based off of natures. As a result we're going to have to name this guy blind!

With that in mind I decided to name him Bentley! Which is a name that refers to a meadow with course grass.

He has a Quiet nature which actually fits well with the stuffy british name we wound up giving him XD And he has Overgrow as an ability which should be expected.

All the same with this decision we can cross all grass types off our options in the future, and any pokemon we catch with a Quiet nature outside of Bentley will need to be released! The nature rule is first come first serve!

After we get our Pokemon Hugh comes up and basically demands poor Bianca give him a pokedex. Which, by some miracles, she actually HAS.

I try to leave but Hugh won't let me. Guess we gotta fight.

Hugh is going to use the little Tepig hes raised from an egg, adn we're gonna use out newly minted Bentley.

I start things off with leer, but tepig hits back with tackle. After that it was tackle after tackle until Bentley laid a critical hit and beat Tepig! Which is odd considering Hughs had his pokemon for longer.

(Lol if this were a written story I'd have us lose. I mean it'd only make sense. But eh. Video game logic.)

After the obligatory Pokemon Center tutorial (which we arguably wouldn't need given out mom works there) Bianca gives us some free pokeballs. Then we meet our mom outside who gives us some running shoes (you kids have no idea what a god send these were back in the day) and Hughs sister gives us a map. As we head to Route 19 for our obligatory catching tutorial the lady at the gate gives us a free potion.

Bianca gives the practice tutorial against a Purrloin which, coincidently, is the pokemon that we were voted to catch for Route 19! So after Bianca finally leaves a get into the grass and make my search for a Purrloin... which I found right away!

It was level 2.

Bentley one hit KO'd it with a critical.

I don't know what to tell you guys. I legit thought Purrloin was going to be a guranteed member of the team but uh... Bentley decided against it and went in for the kill. Maybe thats why Tepig lost despite Hugh having it for longer. Bentley is a quiet little guy who hides the soul of a killer.

So, uh, yeah Dark types are still on the table going forward. Purrloin and Leapard not so much. Oh well at least it gave Bentley enough exp to learn Vine Whip.

We continue on our way and find another potion in some grass.

And then a spiky haired old man jumps out at us.

I'm not kidding.

He jumps off that cliff by the way.

Are your legs okay?

I feel like hes dodging the question.

He encircles around us and then says our "snivy" is fine-looking. He then asks us to follow him.

Remembers folks theres no "stranger danger" in the poke-verse XD

Alder invites us to visit his house, but I opt to explore the town a bit instead. This bit of independent thought netted me another free potion from an old man in one of the houses. Nice guy.

We run into Alder again who tells us Hugh is probably on route 20 training his mons. And it just so happens that route is out next goal!

The attempted capture we aim for on route 2 is Pidove! Hopefully since it has a type advantage against Bentleys grass type it won't go down in one hit!

Before that though I have to fight some trainers. Not that its a huge difficulty. Bentley took them both out no problem. Issue is... hes now level 8. Hope that PIdove hops out soon...

And as I type that we find another trainer. Oh boy.

Of note though is that in the Unova games you'll often have moments like this where you'll see unreachable items.

These are here to encourage you to revisit routes during different seasons. We're in Spring at the start of the game so this pokeball will likely become reachable in the Fall or Winter when the holl around it fills with leaves or snow.

Thing is, the seasons in Unova change monthly. Back in the day you coudl adjust the season by changing the time on your switch buuuuut I'm playing on PC so that options isn't available. Lol here's hoping the polls keep us busy.

Still I liked this mechanic a lot growing up. It kept you invested in the game for a longer amount of time, and enouraged you to backtrack to older routes to see what new things you could find there.

North of this area is Floccessy Ranch but we gotta try and get our Pidove encounter before then. After running away from a few sewaddles we come across a Pidove.

Who is level 2.

Bentley is level 8.

Oh boy.

The thing is. I could just throw a pokeball. That could catch the Pidove. But I dont want to get into the habit of doing that because having to battle the pokemon just... makes things more exciting? But I don't want to just ignore your guys votes either.

So, at least temporarily, I'm going to give myself one chance to throw a ball at a wild pokemon if I think its too low level or that my pokemon might one hit KO it. However I don't want to resort to doing that the whole playthrough. So if I don't do it again in future, well... the lack of excitement is why. Plus once you unlock quick balls, doing this just kills the fun entirely so yeah. With that in mind I'm limiting it to the basic red and white pokeball.

With that being said here we go...

opening the bag

selecting the ball

throwing the ball

aaaaaaaaand

it busts out.

Okay. Still a chance though. I mean its a flying type. It has a type advantge on Bentley. Maybe if I just use the normal type attack tackle it'll leave it with a bit of health.

Okay Bently use tackle but do not under any circumstances=

... aaaand youve killed it....

. . . . .

.... Bentley I'm starting to think there's a reason Juniper and Bianca gave you away.

((Is the game designed this way? Am I supposed to be one shotting the beginner route pokemon? I havent played this game in years so I have no idea.))

Okay Okay. Floccessy Ranch is our last chance. We NEED a pokemon from there or else we're going into the first gym with JUST Bentley and while hes turned out to be a tiny murderous green bean, I don't ultimately think it'd be wise.

Nows a good time to delve into an aspect of this method of playthrough that I am only just now realizing is an issue. See because Pidove won the poll for Route 20, I removed it from the polling from the subsequent routes in this section of the game. Which mean pokemon like Lillipup, patrat, and azurill weren't on the poll even though the normal typing didn't wound up being used up.

This is a bit of an early game mistake on my part, as its an eventuality that simply didn't occur to me. However rather than redo the whole poll, I think I'm just going to keep the result of the Floccesy Ranch poll as is and just refrain from making the same mistake in future.

So from now on, I will only remove pokemon from the poll if their typing/species/evolutionary family are confirmed members of the team. Beyond that they remain on the polls. If a Pokemon wins two routes in a row or something like that, I'll just count it towards the route it was caught on and label the second one "abstained" and do another poll for it later.

Sorry I didn't catch this eventuality sooner, but this is the first time I'm attempting this kinda thing and these growing pains were to be expected. Regardless here's hoping Bentley doesnt decide to make all this musing pointless by killing our next potential team member.

Continuing on we enter Floccesy Ranch and fight Hugh. I'm not sure if there was a chance to catch any pokemon here BEFORE fighting Hugh, but I'm here now so eh. He only has one pokemon still so I think it'll be okay.

Bentley starts off with a couple of leers again, bu Tepig does a couple of tackles and hits with his own tail whip. Since Tepigs a fire type theres no relying on vine whip here. So I'm gonna rely on tackle.

A strategy which works and takes Tepig down. Raising Bentley up to level 9.

Oh joy. This is gonna go straight to Bentleys head I just know it.

After the big fight the ranch owners arrives and are shocking chill about two teenagers having a monster fight on their property. They even give me a potion for Bentley.

They tell us one of their Herdier has wandered off and Hugh just flips out on the poor guy and his wife and runs off to find it. Guess we better help find it. Could be a good chance to catch us another team member.

Assuming Bentleys blood lust is finally under control.

The pokemon who won the poll for Floccesy Ranch was mareep which seems thematically appropriate for the location. I try to run from as many battles as possible while hunting for a mareep sine Bentley does NOT need anymore levels! A lot of the pokemon in this area seem to be at least at level 4, but since Bentley is at level 9 at this point and is eyeballing level 10 I really gotta be careful to avoid battles.

nO

nOoOoOOOOOO

ARCEUS WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!

i guess I should be happy hes not managing to kill this purrloin in one hit but hes basically guranteed to level up from this trainer battle.

You see what I mean?!

Honestly when I started this I did NOT think quick leveling or weak wild pokemon was going to be a problem. At least not this early on. I'm really really really hoping that when we find that mareep its strong enough to survive Bentley.

Bentley did learn wrap which may be useful but I can recall if you can still catch a pokemon caught in wrap or not? I'm not sure I want to risk it. Especially since mareep has, I think, a 10% appearance rate? So it'll take me a hot second just to find one and I'd prefer not to have this murderous little grass weasel make all that for naught!

Finally found a mareep!

Aaaand its level 5

Okay. Bentley. My starter. My partner. My friend. Do not, and I neeed you to listen to this! Do NOT kill this mareep in one hit! Yes, I know it is raining right now and as a grass type in a gen 5 game thats basically a god send, but just.... please.

OH BENTLEY YOU DO LOVE ME!!!

Now if the pokeball gods don't hate me...

YES

OH THANK ARCEUS

I WAS THIS CLOSE TO FACING THE GYM WITH ONE POKEMON.

Okay okay okay. We gotta name our new little friend.

I took a while deliberating on this one and after way too many various google searches I've decided to call her Aries and be done with it.

"But isn't Aries a boys name?"

I have no idea. I did way too much googling by this point, and I was, like, 80% sure Bentley was going to murder her. Now as long as she has a nature that doesnt conflict wtih Bentley (which is likely) then we're good.

Bentley had a quiet nature, so as long as she has literally ANYTHING different then we're fine.

AND ITS GOOOOOOOOD!!

Now I know this is a rather abrupt play to end this, but after that wild ride of Bentley going on a murder binger and this post already being incredibly long, I think I'll start a new one to detail finding the pokemon and taking on the gym!

Thankfully this DOES mean that I can go ahead and make some new polls for the next section of the game. So look forward to that.

[cookinguptales]

So I have a few NYRs, which I might get into later, but I wanna talk about two right now!

One is actually a recycled NYR. I didn't do a very good job last time lmao. I've talked about this before, but I grew up in an environment were donations of time and money were highly encouraged, but taking any credit for it was highly discouraged. There are a lot of reasons for that, some of them complicated, but I'll leave it at that. As a result, I have made regular donations to various charities, but have always done so anonymously.

That said, I was donating to one a couple years ago (an... abortion fund, maybe?) and when I marked the box to give anonymously, a little pop-up came up that basically said, y'know, maybe reconsider? I know a lot of people think it's more virtuous not to take "credit" for charitable giving, but studies actually show that visible giving encourages others to follow suit. It spreads awareness of specific causes, reminds others to give, and -- well, I guess the psychological effect is to have people be like "wow, that person is a good person for giving. I also wish to be good, so I will also give."

Visible giving is contagious, is what I'm getting at.

And so I was sitting there thinking, like... Okay, so what is actually more important to me? Being "humble" and giving on the DL, or actually getting charities more donations? Being frank with you, it's the latter. So I've been trying to be more open about my giving habits.

That said, I've gotta admit that this has been a remarkably difficult habit for me to break. It's so, so hard for me to be like "HEY GUYS, GUESS WHAT I DID TODAY?" It makes me feel like an asshole who wants to look benevolent on the backs of the needy, and I hate it!

But... that's why I made it a NYR to be much more transparent about my giving habits. I'm not going to tell everyone specific dollar amounts or anything, but I do want to be clear about what I'm doing when I'm doing it. Maybe I'll be lucky and it'll encourage others to give as well.

So I'm going to try harder to do that this coming year, but I'm also going to be working in another NYR.

I know this was a silly jokey tumblr poll, but I actually love a lot of the options. I might end up doing a few. But the one I wanna talk about here is making a donation to a charity that one of your favorite characters would give to. I love that idea. It's so fun and also forces you to consider good causes you might not otherwise think about. So I really want to do that in 2024.

So... here's how I usually donate. I have a few charities that I give a small amount to every month. A lot of charities really like this because then they have regular money coming in that they can rely on. I also usually give to another cause at least once during that month. Sometimes it can be related to something going on that month (like queer causes in June) and sometimes it can be something related to a current crisis (like disaster relief) and sometimes it's just random.

This year I'm going to be adding the character charity! So that means each month I'll have my regular donations, my one-time donation, and a character donation. At the beginning of each month, I'll plug my three regular donations (might add one or two more depending on finances) and whatever I've decided the character donation to be. At some point during the month, I'll also talk about whatever that one-time donation is. I tend to decide at the end of the month, unless some crisis has happened in the meantime. That allows me to leave money in case of... well, crises. lmao

I'll make a separate post on January 1st so it's not at the end of a wall of text, but my three regular donations are to Philabundance (an organization that feeds the hungry here in Philadelphia), Immigration Equality (an organization that helps LGBTQ and/or HIV+ people immigrate and apply for asylum), and my local community fridge. (Not linking to this because it would out my neighborhood, but I'm sure you have one near you that you can donate to.)

For my first character, I chose my very beloved Guillermo de la Cruz, everyone's favorite vampire-loving vampire slayer from What We Do In The Shadows. There were a lot of directions to go with this (I seriously considered a blood drive, lmao) but I think in the end I'm going to go with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for my January donation.

In s4 of WWDITS, we found out that Guillermo had been raised by a single mom who had to work a lot throughout his childhood, making him feel really lonely and forcing him to grow up far too fast. (And arguably making him more than a little weird and codependent.) He was really focused on making sure that Baby Colin never had to raise himself the way he had, and he wanted to make sure that Colin had good support, a safe and loving home, and proper socialization with other kids his own age.

So I think choosing an organization designed to support kids coming from home lives that are less than ideal would be something he'd like. They create safe spaces for kids to learn, grow, and socialize, and they provide mentorship opportunities to kids who need adult support that they're not getting at home.

(I'm actually making a donation to them now as they're having a donation doubling drive through the end of the year, but I think December 27th is close enough to January. lmao. Let's not get bogged down in semantics.)

I'll post about this again on the 1st because I want to get into that habit, but... yeah! If anyone else wants to do this with me, just lmk. I'd love to hear about the character causes you're supporting, too. If you decide to donate to any of the causes I link throughout the year, I also want to hear about that! I'd love to know that my posts are helping people.

[verycleverboy]

A song at twilight...

(A barely coherent rant about the past twelve months)

I took a large part of 2021 off. Not just from unpaid current events blogging, but from political news in general. It wasn’t me being part of the smug, self-satisfied “I’m sure glad that’s over with” vibe that the corporate news outlets were falling into. It was from the dawning dread that if anything, the anti-democracy wing of the Republican party was escalating its dismantling of the American system.  Every time I looked up, new nightmares were picking up speed.

The January 6th riots were only the beginning, not the end of Trump, and definitely not the end of reality-denying Trumpism. If anything, the Big Lie is gaining traction, and yes, the terrorists are winning.

Here’s where I lose some of you, though, because I’ve resigned myself to the idea that the end result of this is going to be civil war. Not a metaphor for the usual Twitter slap fights, but large-scale political violence from a “conservative” movement that believes political violence is not only inevitable, but necessary to “save” the country for the “patriots”. Another poll showed that a pretty good portion of Trump voters have decided that maybe they’d be better off not being Americans at all. 

I seriously hope that there’s nobody reading this who has to be told this, but there’s no legal path to secession from the Union. The only way out, even temporarily, is through war. Unfortunately, these are the same people who buy all the guns when times get weird. So why shouldn’t I think that a lot of people are going to be willing to murder and die in the name of a vanity project from Clowny McClownface from Queens, a man who was told “no” by the system, and it burned his ass so badly that he decided to burn everything down on his way out? 

When I bring these concerns up with anyone left-leaning in my circle, they think it’s absolutely hilarious. “Dude,” they tell me, “you’re severely underestimating the fundamental laziness of the average American.” Because that’s what we do in this country, right? We complain loudly on the Internet about the way things should be done, and then sit on our asses and wait for someone else to do it. It’s the American way.

The problem is that’s the same line of thought that allowed them to think Trump 2015 was an impossibility, that the Tea Party would blow over, and that QAnon would stay an Internet-based jerk-off fantasy. All of these things developed and thrived based on the same premise: If a person believes in the correctness of something, and that the implications of what they believe in require action, then in their minds they are morally required to act. Otherwise, they don’t genuinely believe in anything.

Never mind whether that “something” has any basis in objective reality. After all, we’re talking about a political moment set into motion by birtherism. Truth doesn’t figure into it. Faith is about belief in defiance of any and all evidence to the contrary.

In this respect, QAnon is starting to take on all the trimmings of a full-fledged apocalypse cult. Far from fading out when absolutely none of their psychotic predictions came true, QAnon members are going deeper into their delusions, one man recently going so far as killing his own family in cold blood because Q convinced him it was the only way to save civilization. They’ve got a Jonestown moment coming somewhere down the line, and I’m not looking forward to it, if for no other reason than someone loves those brain-broken people.

As far as something more earthbound like voter suppression, in nearly a dozen states that “someone else” is already doing it, and that impulse is picking up steam among state-level Republicans nationwide. Using long-discredited evidence pointing at a non-existent election “steal”, the ultimate goal is to be able to throw out inconvenient results (and voters, obviously) at will. Again, the terrorists win.

If these things are allowed to stand, get used to the idea of this being the final generation of the American Experiment. Or at the very least, say hello to the Republic of Texas. 

Anyway, so long to 2021, and as for what’s ahead, God have mercy on us all.

[pocketramblr]

Poll Results

Alright, that’s it, i’m tired of trying to sort the answers so yall just get the big list of all the free response answers to that quiz about ofa. be aware some are less safe for work than others.

memorable ones: OfA Snickerdoodle, I’d Give It To A Cat, So You Know Vore Right?, I’m in Love With Nana, Slicey Blood Oath, and Homoerotic Sword Fight

(My answer above is how I think it did happen, not how I want it to happen.) I personally think something along the lines of a Bruce Banner Jennifer Walker blood transfusion where the OFA holder doesn’t realize they’ve passed it on until later.

a tender kiss. perhaps loving. perhaps they're dying, and i already knew that they loved me, either platonically or otherwise, and we always knew that i'd be next. perhaps they tried so hard to make sure it never happened, and perhaps that tender kiss as an apology as much as it is a gift. sure sucks to be gay i guess 

Peacefully? By doing the do and making it a wonderful moment of lovemaking and passing on the future.. If we're in the middle of battle you bet your freaking butt I want them to kiss me dramatically, tell me they love me, and then yeet me away as they turn back to the fight. Ow but relationship goals. 

If we're not romantic because I am obsessed with the Duo Holders ship currently, blood works fine. Ingest it or have them pressing a bloody palm into a wound of mine *shrugs* Gotta pass it along somehow

Personally, I'd rather drink blood instead of hair. It feels less gross. But I'd pass it on as hair just to fuck with my successor

Hair or blood eating, but no touchy-touchy or whatever thx.

Probably a vial of blood so it’s easy and over quick

kiss 👉👈

i would like it to be blood from an already opened wound just cause it would probably less weird, ..........but knowing my luck and because irl my sister has attempted to feed me her baby teeth by shoving it to my lips and saying "eat", thats actually how i would get ofa. ( >:/ i have almost eaten at least two teeth this way because i thought she was being nice and giving me candy )

Consider: doing one of those blood oath things where you swear to be BFFs for eternity except now you also get a quirk out of it. But lbr kissing is way more romantic and you’ve made First/Second my new OTP, so I’ll stick with that for them. <3 But also, maybe to make the kiss option more romantic First thought something more along the lines of wishing he could give ~everything he has/all of himself~ to Second which counted as including his quirk, rather than specifically about giving him the power to defeat his brother?

This is going to sound gross but all ways of transferring DNA is. Just work up a sweat and have the other party drink it. It would probably be the best tasting option which is kinda a weird thing to think about. Nvm sweat doesn't contain DNA looked it up but I don't want to delete all of this so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ maybe a scraping of skin cells

Honestly the hair is probably the way I'd want to go. That or blood. Like just swallowing it.

Look, i know realistically it was probably some desparate on-the-brink-of-death "please defeat my brother" thing and oo, magic he gets the quirk. But consider. First's last fight with afo. Second is holding his bleeding body, crying. First gently cups Second's cheek and pulls him into a bloody kiss before dying. Second pulls himself together just long enough to flip off afo, barely resisting the urge to absolutely slaughter him, knowing he would lose. He finds his successor and trains him to the best of his ability, determined to not lose another person he cared for

I mean like dead skin cells probably dont work right? Except hair works so thats not true. So like you totally could lick someone to get OFA. Like could you imagine the whole holding your hand over someones mouth to shut them up but they lick you and they somehow wind up with your quirk, like crazy. What must have been the trial and error with this stuff cause they must have kept passing it inbetween each other to figure out its dna right. How long did it take for them to realize. Like you’re eating breakfast and theres a hair in your food like ew and why am i stronger now. Overall, comedic timing for getting a quirk would be hilarious.

My apprentice lays broken and bloody beneath me as I cradle them in my arms, crying on to an open wound on their face praying the power will be enough to save them

little bit of skin like a hang nail just like put it in a sandwich and dont thing about it

Put it in my coffee.

If I received it from Nana then I would love to have received it via eating her out~ though for passing it on to others I think I would just either spit into their mouths or shove a bleeding finger down their throat until they swallow and then run and get myself killed by AfO while taunting him with "I DON'T HAVE YOUR BROTHER'S QUIRK ANYMORE! SUCK MY NON-EXISTENT DICK YOU LOSER!"

knock me out and just inject the blood. if i have to actively think abt ingesting someone elses dna im gonna yeet myself into the ocean. to pass it on i'll just spit in a cup (or in their mouth) bc im not gonna make someone eat my hair nor is anyone getting my blood

who in their right mind would trust me with a power like ofa 💀afo just looks at me funny the quirk is his. im not a mc for a reason

Sexy battle where I’m the villain, and randomly the hero thinks “I wish I could save you”. Boom I punch them with bloody knuckles and the quirk passes to me. Now the hero has to teach me how to be good again. Also we fall in love.

You know, I always assumed I would head canon it as something romantic until canon proved me wrong But these options are so varied - I had to choose the most Dramatic (tm) one As for my actual answer: a gentle kiss with full consent from both parties

I will bite a holder as a sign of affection. There's probably some dead skin cells in the arm I can swallow by accident. They are used to this and sometimes we switch the quirk around for funsies.

You know, I spent like 10 minutes trying to think of something original here, but knowing my shit luck some bastard would spit in my drink or something and cast upon me the Curse of Bone Breaking and/or.... y’know..... AFO...........

okay this is gonna sound weird but. consider this i marry a very lovely women. we are in much love. we get attacked by evil people because she is a good hero but plot twist. i am secretly her nemisis. the attackers are my minions. i wanted her to protect me because i am very smol but. my comrades were too mean. she is nearly dead. "take this" she says. she kisses me and i am one for all. fuck, i say internally, but i dont tell her. she dies in my arms. i run and become vigilante and take down my once comrades. all is not well. i die unsatisfied. i eventually pass it onto a cat in an alleyway because they are the only one who is with me when i get hit with a back alley sniper

Blood or just like. skin. You could use nail clippers to take a bit off from a really fleshy area, like just under the nail. It's that easy

Spit in my food like an underpaid fast food worker.

i have long hair so that would not be ideal, but blood seems kinda...unsanitary, but i guess it would be better if i was 100% positive i wouldn't pass on some sort of disease. so if that could be ascertained then like a few drops of blood in a glass of water or something and then down the hatch, bam ofa passed on. i know other folks are probably typing some nsfw stuff but just. no. keep it in your pants y'all.

Blood transfusion First, pick a hospital Second, steal all their blood Third, have the previous user donate their blood to that hospital Fourth, get into a major accident and need a blood transfusion near the hospital you robbed Fifth, hope either OfA will only pass onto you bc your the intended recipient, or that no one else needs a blood transfusion Sixth, get the transfusion Seventh, steal all of the previous users blood back Eigth, return all the other stolen blood Ninth, get new identities, this crime leaves DNA everywhere Tenth, die of a blood clot due to incompatible blood types (optional)

okay realistically bleeding into a cut or a drop of blood into water and drinking it would be easiest but like... what if somehow dna could be baked into like a muffin or cookie or something... like i know when cooking with wines and stuff the alcohol cooks away and evaporates out but is that process the same for like blood? like if you baked your blood into a cookie would traces of your dna still be there? basically i want an ofa cookie (snickerdoodle preferably)

no i like my bones

drink a drop of blood. it'd go down easier than hair

no

Something dramatic and desperate in the heat of battle like blood or something

First of all, I think First passed OfA as he was dying entirely on accident, because Second was badly (though not critically) injured and they'd been sort of dancing around each other's feelings and doubting their own worth, so First, knowing he was dying and that his brother was a petty bitch who would probably kill Second anyway because he knows that First cared about him, kisses Second with blood on his lips and his last thoughts before dying are about how he wants Second to have the strength to survive if his brother comes after him.

If I was given the option of getting OfA, I wouldn't take it. I'm a coward and being given something like that is a death sentence.

If it was forced, probably ingesting the previous users blood, because blood is a lot easier to choke down than hair.

If I already had it and had to pass it on, I would want it to be something suitably dramatic like collapsing on the doorstep of a trusted loved one and explaining with my dying breath who killed me and why and then raising my blood covered hand to their face like I was going to caress their cheek only for them to taste blood. They cry and try to get me take it back and when I finally die they swear vengeance over my slowly cooling corpse.

Pass it on in a non-life threatening scenario where I decide I actually don’t like the weird bone breaking power a random person gave me as they were dying and wish I could pass it to someone else and through a weird set of circumstances end up accidentally cooking some of my own hair into brownies I was making because I shed like a dog and passing it to my new neighbor I came to welcome to the neighborhood.

Either drinking a glass of milk with their saliva (no icky hair taste), or an epic sharing of blood while clasping hands like knights in a noble brotherhood!

not by eating all mights long ass hair thats for sure, why did he give midoriya one of the longest ones he had, he has shorter hair right there on the back of his head. not to mention the fact of like how i would prefer to recieve it or give it away which would be just, fucking sharing a pop or something and swaping it through the backwash??? less nasty than hair and not as weird as the other options for spit which is like straight up spitting in a drink or the other persons mouth outside of kissing. if someone told me i had to eat their hair i would straight up say no thanks, cheers for the fitness glow up tho homie

I want nana 2 kiss me, on.,, the m,,,.."#*(@÷out.h pretty lady.,

Q-tip to the inside of the cheek

Those blood pacts where you slice your hands open and do a little handshake thing. Not very creative, but idk it just appeals to me

Via consumption of blood, babey

I would want it to be with a maybe maybe not homoerotic sword fight in a Wendy's parking lot, preferably while we are both being impaled on each other's swords. The sweet pain of almost dying is a very intense moment to share isn't it?

Sweet love

Hair

If it's someone cute, a kiss. Otherwise I'd probably just swallow a hair with some water.

i'd just like. spit in their water bottle. if thats not enough dna i guess licking a paper cut it is. hair is bad idwa bc it doesn't digest and can get wrapped up in things. and like. im too aroace for kissing and such

Last option, cause first is sexy as hell

okay you know what vore is, right. and you know how blood and organ transfusions work? well...

Not at all, like?? I enjoy being alive and not having my body destroyed thank you. Literally everyone with OfA died young-ish or has suffered debilitating injuries bc of it. Like Midoriya's bones are powder, and we don't even need to go into All Might's medical history. Like thanks but no thanks no freaky dna ingestion 4 me

Had a open cut from a can lid and ofa holder had an open cut. While lamenting about fins a successor.

Blood

Assuming we can bypass the rules of canon, it would be funny as fuck is OFA was passed on by intentional physical contact. So yes, a smooch for First and Second (and Second and Third) but also. Bitchslap of destiny. Nana giving her protege one last hug. All Might ruffles Mido’s hair like a dad to pass it on. I’m sure you get it

Bleeding over an open wound

lil bit of spit in a milkshake.

I hold their hand Platonically but it's summer and we're both sweaty and they're a little loopy and having weird thoughts due to dehydration and heat lmao, literally hanging around anyone for any extended period of time guarantees you accidentally ingest SOME of their dna. Dead skin cells are floating through the air ~constantly~ and if you have a friend I promise you've inhaled their dead skin cells before. Have fun with that knowledge!!

ok so like deffo a kiss, but in canon people get weird biological urges for using their quirks, like bby Toga drinking bird blood. First has had a LOT of "spit in their drink" intrusive thoughts over the years. immediately post first-kiss he is mystified that his intrusive thoughts have disappeared entirely, but then BAM it seems that second has the stockpile now, and with it, a preoccupation with vampire lore

drink from the same water bottle?

“EAT THIS!”

Pass it on by making them lick my arm because that would make them rly uncomfortable, passed to me by spiting in my 20oz Red Bull and then chugging it

[theteej]

on white performative anxiety on election night

Ok, here we go. I had decided that I would not watch the election results unfold last night because quite frankly--it was clear that it would be a close race, and just like with sports games it takes a particular type of narcissistic imagining to think that constant watching will change the impact of an event simply because you watch it.  Also, this isn't a sports game--it's people's lives.  So I ordered a pizza and worked through three unread X-Men collections (decent, by the way--especially the new take on Marauders).

By 8pm I was getting frequent texts, and despite putting my phone in another room, i heard the buzzing enough to get me off the couch. I logged onto social media to see a flood of white Democrats having a complete meltdown as if the election had been called.  And that same existential dread/despair cataclysmically reverberating across social media in New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia.  I was so confused.  What the actual fuck were people upset about?  He hadn't conceded. Most states hadn't been called.  The responses felt so much like being in high school or college where I'd studied for exams and felt reasonably prepared but then got overwhelmed in the psychic energy of performed anxiety/fear/studying that everyone did around finals.  Hell, in pre-covid times I had to limit my time on campus as a professor in the last week because the palpable miasma of fear/anxiety/performative freaking out was too much for me, even though I WAS JUST GRADING THE FINALS. Honestly, I was baffled.  Why were people like this?  They knew that Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania were not going to count their early voting polls first, and the in person would screw Republican.  WHY WERE THEY FREAKING OUT?

And then it slowly dawned on me.  They really had believed their own lies.  They thought there was going to be a magical, massive blue wave of repudiation of President Trump, after the xenophobia, the racism, the wanton cruelty, the vicious fascism.  They needed to believe that this moment would redeem them, this electoral moment would fix them.  And they were mourning, almost disproportionately, this sense of utter collapse.  They were treating the reality of the closeness of the election as somehow equivalent to the idea of a Trump re-election victory.  What the actual hell.

I started to see a lot of "I can't believe it's even this close" statuses.  I put down my pizza in annoyance and kept reading.  There were so many variations on the time-honoured "this is not who we are" canard so many people tell themselves about America. People were mourning, in real time, the lie they'd told themselves.  There was a fundamental believe that Trumpism, the vile populism and toxic mix of racism and other oppressive elements, was an "aberration" that could be corrected.  There was a willing disbelief that this was not part of the very core of this country, that 'America' as a concept is a bad place--one made entirely possible through enslavement and genocide and one that was absolutely fixable through a simple electoral action.  And it's wild, because that's never been the case.  Not now, not ever.  I remember in 2008, being overwhelmed by white people wanting to celebrate Obama with me, but I was also keenly aware of racism and the fact that my own state had just voted to take away same-sex marriage.  Dr. Jim Barrett, a professor in my graduate program at Illinois, stopped me, a new, black graduate student who he didn't know, and said, "isn't the election great?" and i said, "I'm from California, and I'm more worried also about how easily people can dismiss queer rights."  He paused for a second, and then said, "but we did it this time with Obama!"  Here was a full-grown man with a PhD in American history casually telling a black graduate student (WHOSE NAME HE DID NOT EVEN KNOW) how great it was to be able to absolve oneself of responsibility via an electoral process, and to imagine an America without self-criticism, just redemption.

And that's what was at the heart of this baffling pre-capitulation, one that exceeded even the easy stereotype of the always-losing Democrats.  BIDEN HADN'T EVEN LOST. He had (and as of now still) leads in electoral votes! But everyone was moaning, gnashing teeth, and grieving.  But what they were really grieving was their own innocence.  Their naïve assumption that they could be the heroes in a story, in a history of violence that was expressly built for them, even if they wanted to deny it.  Trumpism sells a fantasy of white revanchism, of recovery, and even those whites who imagine otherwise can't exorcise it via a ballot because the entire system of it is at its core, still violent and racist.  Y'all seriously wanted a parade, a movement repudiating this.  What America do you live in?  Did we not go through the same black summer?  Of course we didn't.  You saw this summer as a moment of profound alliance building and a recapturing of a mythical value of inclusion.  We saw it with surprise--oh white people either just realized that black lives are cheap, or they were sufficiently bothered/bored enough to perform about it.

So much of this is a navel-gazing performance of anxiety.  2016 was traumatizing for people who didn't want to think Trumpism was America, but it IS.  And it's done in your name.  

This morning, I saw even more of this.  A friend and colleague wrote a lengthy status about her anxiety about it all and hope that 'good' would prevail, and bemoaned the lack of a real wave of change.  A friend, family member, or colleague of theirs immediately commented with pro-Trump sloganeering.  And she did nothing.  She kept commenting.  This broke me for a second.  How could she not see what a joke all of this was? What she was?  Here she was bemoaning a lack of some sort of prelapsarian goodness, trying to make some sort of "we'll get through this message," and she couldn't even see what she was doing.  There was no acknowledgment, no censuring, no pushback, no RESPONSE to the Trump sloganeering, because she could not fathom the idea that this was connected to HER.  The disappointment she felt, that so many people expressed on social media? It was performative, it was a mourning one's inability to distance oneself from genocidal, suicidal logics of all of this populist turpitude.  She couldn't even denounce the very Trumpism on her own fucking wall, in response to her comment.  Of course there was no blue wave, of course there was no rebuking.  Why should there be?  There are no consequences.  Just white folk hoping civility will save them, with the same baffling surety as King Canute commanding the waves to cease lapping at the feet of his throne.  The whole event felt like a farce--people attempting to distance themselves from a violence done in their name by refusing to even pushback against he very violence that endangers millions of people, incarcerates children, kills with impunity.

I feel, once again, like I'm the one person who felt confident for an exam during finals week.  Everyone's freaking the fuck out, performing, demonstrating a goodness, trying to foolishly imagine the country as good.  I think back to March, when black voters in South Carolina made very clear what was going to happen.  White people were not coming to save them.  Electoral legerdemain was not going to happen, there was no last minute deus ex machina.  There was the brutal calculus that many people don't see the fascism as bad, and remain so insulated that they don't care if the brute returns, so much as the lesser peoples are put in their place.  Those black voters saw that their best chance was the utter uninspiring, safe, and milquetoast flavour of whiteness, Joe Biden.  And they were right.  We can push that one, perhaps.  Make changes.  But this was always going to be a bitter slog, and at most, a close thing.  America is a bad place. We cannot redeem it through performance, through simply voting.  We don't exorcise our structural violence with selfies and dashes of ink on sealed papers.

Now that we know this, we can actually push back against the attempted voter fraud that IS happening right now, and then hope that this mediocre blue man wins.  And then maybe y'all can join us in doing the hard, daily work that also involves critically acknowledging our own complicity, investment, and inclusion in a violent, illegitimate space.  We have to live in these contradictions, to push and transform it, and remember that there are no cheat codes here.  Just grinding work, and no cookies or congratulation.

Be fucking better, y'all.

[ohshcscenerios]

Neighbors

Chapter Thirty Two

Poll Result: Leave

Haruhi peered around the archway to look inside the main room where the party was most alive. She saw a glimpse of Hikaru and Tamaki smiling wide as they danced to the beat. They weren’t looking for her, even as the song changed. She didn’t really want to dance but she also didn’t want to ruin their fun. Perhaps leaving would satisfy everyone’s night, that is if they didn’t catch her sneaking away.

Haruhi looked to Takashi and nodded, “I’d like that senpai.”

Together they skirted along the wall until they managed to sidestep to the front door. Thankfully neither of their friends were paying close attention to the walls behind them, letting Haruhi and Takashi walk out.

“Did you drive here?” Haruhi asked as they stepped onto the sidewalk. The house was a few blocks off campus and twenty minutes from her apartment by foot. The twins insisted they walk together, wanting to burn off their excited energy.

Takashi shook his head, “We walked too. Kyoya said it’d be easier to walk than wait for a chauffeur.”

She guessed that made sense. They walked side by side in silence for a while, letting the city speak on their behalf. Car horns sounded in the distance and birds called from the colored treetops above them. She hadn’t left her apartment at night since she moved onto campus. She didn’t know it could be so… peaceful.

“You know,” Haruhi started, breaking the silence, “I’m glad I brought the ring. It got that jerk away.”

Tamaki smiled and looked at her swaying hand to catch the diamonds wrapped around her finger. It complimented her so well, he wished she’d wear it every day.

“I wouldn’t have let him take you either way.” He said.

Haruhi chuckled, “That’s true. Thanks senpai, I really appreciate it, you looking out for me and all.”

He lightly ruffled her hair as his response and they continued on walking until they reached their complex. Haruhi was thankful the rich could afford elevators for their apartments otherwise they’d have to climb five flights of stairs.

When they reached their hallway Haruhi dug into the little purse Kaoru let her borrow for her keys and-

She couldn’t feel her keys.

She sntached open the purse and looked inside but only found her cellphone and a few yen sitting on the bottom. Then she remembered… Hikaru took her keys with him to make sure she didn’t leave the party early… how could she forget…

“Haruhi?” Takashi asked from his front door. He had just put his key into the lock when he noticed Haruhi still standing in the hallway.

“You’re not going to believe this but… Hikaru has my keys. I wanted to leave the party so badly I completely forgot about it.” she confessed, still looking down at the purse.

“You can stay with me until they come back.” Takahsi offered, clicking his door open.

Haruhi looked up at him and smiled, “Thank you, I would appreciate that.”

Takashi swung the door open and waited for her to enter first before falling inside. Takashi went to prepare them some tea while Haruhi made herself comfortable. She found it funny that she’s seen more of Takashi’s apartment than any of her friends since they’ve moved in. She didn’t know if that was ironic or just coincidence. Perhaps both.

Takashi opened three cabinets in search of his collection of tea. He knew he was running low but it shouldn’t be this difficult to find. He started to panic after finding nothing in the fifth cabinet. He had to accept the fact that he didn’t have any tea to offer Haruhi while she waited and it gnawed at him like an irritating itch. He knew the twins to have attended a few parties before tonight and they usually didn’t come home until early morning. He was able to turn a blind eye to their mischievousness but tonight their foolishness has affected Haruhi. He may need to speak with them once they’ve sobered up.

He went to regrettably tell Haruhi he couldn’t offer her anything when he spotted a few cardboard cases stacked beside his fridge. He didn’t remember placing them there… then he remembered, Hikaru asked if he could store his beer here over the weekend so their mother wouldn’t see it during her visit. Takashi hesitantly agreed and let him bring the cases inside, promising to take them back as soon as their mother left.

He looked at the beer and then to Haruhi.

Surely Hikaru wouldn’t mind if they drank a bottle or two.

He took two out, popped the caps off, and brought them to the table where Haruhi had been patiently waiting. He offered her the open beer wordlessly and she accepted with a smile, taking a small sip of the foaming drink. He wanted to laugh at how her lips scrunched up as she swallowed but surprisingly she took another sip.

"My father would let me drink beer every now and then. He wanted me to develop a healthy relationship with alcohol." She explained when she noticed him watching her.

Takashi nodded and took a sip of his. Although beer was usually bitter he found this one to be refreshing. He'd have to tell Hikaru he has good taste.

"Does your father call you often?" Takashi asked, taking another sip.

Haruhi cackled, "Just about every day. He likes to check on me and see if I'm fairing well living on my own. He should know by now that I'm more than capable of managing my own apartment. I've practically managed ours growing up." She took another sip, "This is surprisingly good. I guess you can afford the best alcohol though. My father always bought the cheapest cans."

Takashi shrugged, "It's Hikaru's, not mine. He left it here."

"Should we be drinking it then?" She asked, looking at her half empty bottle with concern.

Takashi smiled, "It's fine. He won't mind. He probably won't notice a few bottles missing anyway."

Haruhi laughed, having to agree, and took another sip. She really did like this beer. She'd have to ask Hikaru to buy her a small case the next time he goes out. She wouldn't mind sipping on one of these from time to time.

Haruhi collected their empty beer bottles and tossed them in recycling. "Do you want another one Mori-senpai? I might take another one too." she asked over her shoulder, already bending over the cases.

Takashi knew he probably shouldn't but they might have to wait a while before their friends managed to find their way home. One more shouldn't hurt...

Should they continue drink beer? - Vote Here (poll will close by 11:00am ETS)

Next chapter update should be up by 1:00pm(ETS)

Wow, I remotely stayed on schedule today. Maybe if I keep this up the story will feel more successful. Hopefully tomorrow I will continue to stay on schedule with posting. This is our longest CYOA story as of yet so let's get some action going.

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 132 Results

The chapter poll closed with 1,746 responses. This month’s chapter poll results were brought to you by /u/_Puppet_, /u/staraves, @momtaku​, @shifter-lines​ and /u/berthototototo

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,693 responses

When we compare “Wings of Freedom” with other chapter results we’ve recorded, it comes in 25th out of 41, making it middle of the pack as far as ratings go.  Looking at the chapter on it’s own, however, it’s very well received with nearly 86% of the fandom rating it good (30.4%) or great (55.3%).

I think it was definitely just a classic aot chapter, had that plot that always had you on the edge of your toes, had the emotional moments, the momentary funny and bittersweet moments, 10/10 chapter

It couldn’t have gone any better besides Hange’s death :/

wish Floch got a little more screen time upon death but otherwise, awesome chapter.

It felt a little bit rushed but I enjoyed it nonetheless

It was so well executed yet so sad. I'm pride of our Hanji but feel so much distress thinking it's over for her.

It was a great emotional piece, and last moment before the true final battle begins. There’s no going back.

It was a good chapter but I would’ve liked if there was more dialogue between the alliance members

The deaths were rushed and poorly written

It was good, but alliance focused chapters are still a drop in quality.

It was a solid chapter and did what it aimed to do well, though I think it had pacing issues with the two deaths.

It had a little something for everyone. Except Zeke stans.

WE’LL GET TO THE GOODBYES IN A SECOND, BUT FIRST, WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT?

1,695 responses

Hange’s sacrifice was the moment that people liked the most at 30%, and seeing the old Survey Corp crew was a stand-out moment for 21%. Seeing Mikasa and Annie have an almost casual conversation brought joy to 12.1%, and Floch’s determination and brutal death were appreciated most by 11.6%.

I love the final shots of the scouts being shown in the afterlife. Ty Isayama

The little moments between the characters was great because it reminds us that they're still human.

The overall scene was legendary seeing Hange dying for her comrades and even in her last seconds she thought that she sacrificed herself in order for her comrades to live. That's what she thought a great commander would look like. That's why Hange was one of the best commanders of the Scouts.

Mikasa is such a boss, love seeing her fight and hopefully we'll get more big moments from her (as opposed to Levi).

Chad, King, hero. Every moment that Floch was in is a great scene.

I loved the Colossus slipping down the mountain

My favorite part is Kiyomi refilling coal with a shovel alone :)

  WHICH OF THE GOODBYES WAS YOUR FAVORITE 1,699 responses

In a chapter filled with goodbyes it was Levi and Hange’s final moments that we found most endearing with close to 60% selecting it. “Please don’t make me choose” was a very distant second with 14.7%. Interestingly Annie and Reiner (10.4%) beat out Annie and Armin (6.5%) for third place.

i think isayama truly gave hange a great goodbye, and writing them still being cheerful and joking around made me feel so much more for their death.

It made me cry because of all the goodbyes. It reminded me of Erwin saying goodbye to the people inside the walls and people of the military. And his iconic “roar”. All of that before the battle.

Hange’s and Levi’s goodbye was very well done (that look in Levi’s eyes too, ouch), props to Isayama for breaking my heart.

The Reiner/Annie hug was all I could ask for, bless Yams.

I wanted a Levihan moment for this chapter and NOT a last levihan scene 😭

  WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER’S MVP? 1,700 responses

Who else could it be? Hange Zoe is the chapter MVP according to two-thirds of all poll respondents. Floch (13%), Engineer-kun (3.4%) and Mikasa (2.6%) all got tiny slivers of the remaining pie.

Hange was truly the hero of this chapter and i'm so happy to have been witness to their characters journey over the years!

Hange is overall my second favourite character and I looked up to them. For me Hange is the true embodiment for the Survey Corps which is for Humanity and their courage, optimism and selflessness really made me love them so much.

Hange was a flawed commander. We all know this. They made mistakes like any other human being would when faced with the stress of a leadership position. They tried desperately to fill Erwins shoes but in the end accepted that they should be themselve. But overall Hange Zoe is an incredible person and I will miss them so

Best girl Mikasa rocked it this chapter with the way she swiftly killed Floch!

While I don't agree with some of Floch's beliefs, he died trying to save his home by slowing down the Alliance. Goodnight, sweet prince!

Floch did his best he anchored all the way from the beginning to the hangar with a bullet wound and that mustve hurt like hell all that salt water coming in

Someone please send me help I can't do this my family and friends got so worried because I've changed. They be like "Bro you've changed and I be like yeah Hange died bro what do you expect I'm in genuine pain you won't understand."

  HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT HANGE’S HEROIC EXIT? 1,701 responses

Just over half of respondents loved the way Hange went out at 51.4%, and 26.5% liked it despite some quibbles. Not many of us saw it coming but it was at least emotional and a badass way to go. However, 9.6% hated it – there is an undeniable trend of every vaguely older character getting the chop. Who will poor Levi sit with in the retirement home with now?! 6.8% don’t really care about how the scene went. I suppose they’re the ones most prepared if no one in SnK gets to go to the retirement home.

A great ending to an amazing character, it's sad to see her go, but her time was up and she died fighting the creatures she loved.

I'm disturbed by how much it affected me

I loved it, but its not something i'll cry over.

I don't hate it but it did seem kinda unnecessary tbh could've been better

I STILL CAN'T STOP CRYING ABOUT IT. OPTION ONE IS GOOD BUT DOESN'T EXPRESS HOW MUCH THIS CHAPTER HURT ME.

It does break my heart,however the way and the time she do that, That was... Memorable

It happened too quickly for me to consider it perfect, but I'm glad she got to go out on her own terms.

Not heroic at all, she didn't even stop the colossals and was a cheap way for her to never face the consequences of her betraying the island

It was dope but Floch indirectly killed her so he takes that dub

I'M STILL CRYING ABOUT IT, SHE WENT OUT LIKE A FUCKING CHAMP

I'm super frustrated that she died, but she was heroic

She’s a traitor, nothing more to be said

i hated it. it was perfect. she really did go out with a bang and i hate it

Felt a bit pointless, would've loved to see some emphasize why it was crucial to kill these exact two titans. For me it looked like plain suicide

Had to go through the 5 stages of grief after that one, honestly. I was so angry immediately afterward because Hange is my favorite character of all time in any piece of media, losing them was almost like losing someone I've known and cared about for almost 7 years of my life. I've now come to accept that maybe death is the only happy ending any character can achieve in this story.

I don’t want to think about it

I don't like the idea of every Scout commander having a ""curse"" that they have to inevitably pay for with their lives. They're outstanding people and volunteers, just like their comrades, no one forced them to join.

  WHAT WAS THE ASPECT YOU LIKED MOST ABOUT HANGE’S LAST MOMENTS? 1,687 responses

This question was fun to write but looking at the even distribution of selections, I suspect choosing an answer was difficult. Levi saying devote your heart to Hange was top pick with close to 30% selecting it. Retaining their sense of humor to the end (17.1%), being able to reunite with their old comrades (14.7%), having a moment of amazement while confronting the titans (14.4%), being able to die on their own terms and say goodbye (12.3%), stealing death from Reiner yet again (8.2%) and telling Armin he can boss Levi around (3.4%) were the other selections.

I really love Hange and when i see her died and see erwin and other old friends and morbit helping her i just cannot cry (sorry for my english im french ^^)

I was never a really big fan of Hange, but that exit was badass as hell.

It was a heroic death but it felt forced and unnecessary and she was my favorite character, so I'm extremely salty and in denial.

Hange seemed too eager to just die, like welp, i guess my contract is up, gotta go die.....It felt like when actors are written off a show

I never really considered myself a fan of her, but her death got me good. I think it was because how she marvelled and was genuinely amazed by titans, even in her final moments.

glad to see the old titan obsessed hange back before her final sacrifice

Most people seem to think that Hange's death was a bullshit ending, but I think that it was perfect, going out the way they were introduced.

To have hange say that titans are amazing before she dies was just perfect! It shows how she stayed true to herself until the end. And the part where she reunited with Moblit, Erwin, Mike and the others was so beautiful.

  WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE HANGE QUOTE THIS CHAPTER? 1,686 responses

Hange really got to shine this chapter as we’re reminded of how off-kilter and fun they can be, even when the situation is at its most serious. We got a chapter chock full of memorable lines, but the favorite was of course “Titans really are incredible,” a call back to the reverence and respect for titans that made so many love the character to begin with.

"titans.. are truly incredible." was a fitting last(ish) words for hange.

  SO GOES THE 14TH COMMANDER OF THE SCOUTS, HANGE ZOE, FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THEIR PREDECESSORS. WHAT ARE YOUR FINAL THOUGHTS ON THEIR OVERALL LEGACY? 802 responses

GOAT

I think their legacy is one of grit and determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Not as revolutionary as say, Erwin, but they were perseverant and selfless, and innovative in their own right, as a scientist and researcher, always seeking new possibilities.

I will always remember Hange as our awesome scientist who came up with ideas for weapons! and was passionate about titans! and would stand up for a better comprehension of them instead of... whatever it is that Isayama made of Hange post-time skip that they no longer could shine about anything or would even reflect about what Eren was going through. Love you, Hange, you deserved that we followed your struggles more closely. <3

Hange became the commander in the most difficult moment and had bad times having to deal with politics, a whole new world and their own powerlessness. I think the Alliance is their most precious legacy and it really represents the old SC's spirit.

I adored seeing them go from loony scientist to a powerful and serious commander, even if it did come with a boatload of trauma. I also respect the hell out of them for being willing to watch their own culture destroyed if it meant not committing genocide. On a more personal note, as a nonbinary person it's just been really wonderful to see a character like Hange treated with such respect.

Amazing character and leader. Not on Erwin's level but she was a badass 😭😭 #rip

*you tried star*

A bit hypocritical. She was willing to stop Eren and endanger all Eldiana to save strangers from other nations that want to kill them. She also says killing is wrong, but proceeds to kill multiple Eldians unbothered, but when she sees Marleyans or people from other nations, she softens up.

Being a commander is not an easy job, and Hange's start was even more difficult because of Zeke annihilating like 90%(??) of the Scouts and the reveal in the basement and the crisis that followed. Still, she kept going, never giving up, even if she clearly had some moments of selfdoubt. I feel like Hange can be proud of herself and the life she lived, and I am happy that she was able go in her own terms. Her death bought them precious time, but it was a great loss as well. I feel a bit empty and wistful...

Brilliant character, brilliant way to let them go. I’m most interested to see how this death will effect Armin and his leadership as they alliance approach the founding titan. I’m also glad we got to see them in the afterlife, that was a bittersweet comfort.

Every commander dies young, rip armin

Hange was annoying. Glad they're dead.

Hange was incredible in their own field of interest, but definitely not fit to be the commander. Loved how they could be themself once again at the end.

Followed in Erwin's footsteps and even went beyond. Hange will be remembered as the commander who took Paradis from the titans and who explored beyond the island for the first time in 100+ years. Plus a rational commander, putting facts and science before everything else, as well as grasping how important diplomacy and politics are even beyond Paradis. Also although quirky, an example of tolerance.

Fuck that.. Their death was worthy of them.. it was a very sweet goodbye.. But I really thought they would make it to the end... And I really wanted them to. Hange was such an important character, they did so much for the cause and for everyone. They were someone who could be trusted but who didn't hesitate to do what had to be done. Incredibly smart and humbled, I just wish they believed in themselves a bit more.. cus they are incredible.

Hange was given a shit-circus to try and handle- complete with clowns, children causing mayhem, and a giant fucking monkey.

Her "gEnOcIdE iS wRoNg" quote with no actual solution in 126 really turned me off for her for a while as a character; overall however, Hange was one of the more memorable and likable characters from the series and it's sad to see her go.

Given the difficult job of rebuilding the Survey Corps after its destruction with very little help. Had to deal with the wannabe hegemon in Zackly who was doing lots of underhanded power grabs in the background. Had to deal with a populace who finally realized they were not alone. Had to deal with a moody weapon known as the Attack titan who knew all the answers but shared it with no one. Poor Hange who was never given a chance for victory

Hange was amazing character that got entirely too much flack for not being a "good commander" This is a character that above all stayed true to themselves in what they fought for and believed in.

Hange Zoe spat on the legacy of the scouting league by squandering their sacrifice to protect their families and communities. Hange's actions if successful will likely lead to the deaths of all their families which is something they would never support.

Considering how we never truly knew if Erwin was totally devoted to humanity or totally selfish, and considering Shardiz' inferiority complex, Hanji was the true one who gave her whole being to humanity and who truly embodied Survey Corps' abnegation, without any regard toward such senseless conception like homeland. No wonder why the title of her final battle is "Wings of Freedom"

Legendary commanders, each one going out with with a bang. Erwin going out by distracting Monke and Levi taking him out. Hange going out by taking care of a few Bert ripoffs, having the alliance survive a few more hours. And Armin, wait-

Hange helped the main characters in the story with her quick thinking and managed to put the missing pieces into place for us. Their different outlook on the whole situation gave us a fresh perspective and there’ll be no one else like them.

hange is great!!! too bad she tortured bean and sawney tho and sannes smh but 10/10 regardless love that mad scientist

Hange embodied the spirit of the survey corp. She was the commander that made unlikely alliances and advanced Paradis infrastructure.

Hange has been one of my favorite characters. They are the best Titan Scientist. RIP.

Thank you Hange, you did great 💖

  FLOCH FINALLY GOT THE GLOCK. OR ACTUALLY, THE ANCHOR. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF HIS LAST HURRAH? 1,660 responses

Let’s not forget that Hange wasn’t the only major death in this chapter.  After months of being voted most likely to die, Floch’s time finally came.  About 30% of respondents are just celebrating that he’s finally dead, a quarter are glad he’s dead but got this last fun scene, and 20.4% are glad he was able to screw with the alliance once more before dying.

🦀🦀🦀FLOCH IS DEAD🦀🦀🦀

A fitting ending for an interesting, yet very unpleasant character. Love how his death was contrasted with Hange's, and the fact that Mikasa was the one to off him (the symbolism of the person who represents Eren's humanity killing the person who keeps referring to him as the devil is... well, not subtle but it can't be ignored).

Could have done more, but he never wavered or lost his convictions, more of a hero than any of the alliance will ever be

he should have been dead since 129, makes no sense

He should've stayed on the island and failed

Died a hero, wouldn’t even beg for his life but for his friends and countrymen instead

Even though I didn't really like him, I have my full respect to him for following his beliefs till his last breath

Floch is one of the best characters, and most complex characters, he got a very good ending.

I love eren’s boyfriend ♡

He died a hero's death after carrying chapters 124-130 on his back. He also did nothing wrong.

He's a mega chad and I love him. Managing to survive underwater for 2 days and slowly losing blood, and then shooting the ship to stop the Alliance, and then having a bomb-ass speech? He was a legend that needs to be appreciated more.

His arm should've been blown off to begin with and even if it wasn't, he should've died from hypothermia. I think it was needed drama, but done poorly.

His death was far better executed than I thought. He shot the fuel tank instead of one of the SC or one of the engineers/Onyankopon. That should tells you that he just want them to stop, not killing them all. He stays true to his belief of saving Paradis by following Eren, even in his last words he is pleading for Paradis' instead of his own live. From someone whose country has been colonized once, I say that is a true soldier for his nation.

Oh fuck off floch, he was a dick with volatile ideals anyway. Fuck that guy honestly. Like I agree with his stance but like. Everytime it feels oddly implanted when he has an opinion, like he does think with his own head but gets influenced very easily into changing sides too fast? Like, he does the right things but jot for the right reasons because he doesn't really think them through enough? That's my vibe. Idk. Ignore all my answers I feel stupid

RIP Hero of Paradis. To save your civilisation is an admirable goal, although it being achieved through genocide is still morally wrong

I'm sad he didn't get to know how Eren used him.

  FLOCH FORSTER WAS A COMMANDER IN HIS OWN RIGHT, FIGHTING HIS WAY UP FROM HIS ORIGINS AS A BACKGROUND CHARACTER. ANY OVERALL THOUGHTS ON THE BIRD NEST BOI AND HIS IMPACT ON THE STORY? 912 responses

Best boy. Fly high you little devil :(( <3

a bitch but i respect the fact that he did what he believed in (even if its genocide😕)

Controversially, I have no opinion on him.

Ding dong the witch is dead

A character that was perfectly written for his purpose. AoT World isnt black and white and he showed us. Pain and loss made the Floch that died in 132. but Eldia and Marley made the Floch that survived to see all his comrades dead.

Floch is shit :) but also is a good character because its represents a real human.

A complete and satisfying character. It's not easy to summarize, but the way he went from a naive gloryhound to a single-minded guy trying to make his own survival/the deaths from the charge mean something while still remaining a relatively normal, unremarkable soldier was great. Also, I appreciate how he, Eren, and the Yeagerists basically reenacted Uprising by overthrowing a regime that would've just continued the royal family-eating and messed around until the island got destroyed. The prediction from Sannes all those years ago turned out to be too accurate, unfortunately.

A lot of people did hate Floch, I didn't. I think adding Floch to the story was just as essential as the other supporting characters. He played out a good and effectively annoying enemy. I think in every Action-thriller story, a Floch is a must as a villain. The hate on Floch reminded me of the hate on Joffrey from Game of Thrones. But Joffrey did have a great impact on the story, so did Floch. The way he was written just really did manage to get on our nerves, and I think that's what makes a character great.

A true patriot.

An asshole but at least he went out feeling like a rounded character

An nazi ass bitch

Based and Redpilled

Best character not named Eren or Erwin.

By far exceeded expectations.

Disagree with his agenda, but he's a very real character and a representation of the monster someone can become when driven by survivor's guilt and trauma.

He was the literally epitome of a roller coaster ride.

Floch always felt like a background character, and even though he gets far more to do than other background characters, he never felt like an actual person but rather just a plot device. He has no personality.

Floch was surprisingly good given he was such a minor character. He fully displayed the shades of gray of the narrative.

Heck him >:(

Floch has always been someone who held an opposing view to the main cast, and his entire arc revolved around his need to "bring back the devil" in order to ensure the safety of his land and his people. Some people seem to have forgotten that, but at his core he never changed. Sad to see him go out like this.

Floch has my respect for fighting until the very end (and even after the end since we all thought he'd been killed by Gabi) for what he believes in, but obviously it is not what I and my favourite characters believe in, so I'm glad he's gone. His impact is great as he earned the title of "most tenacious villain ever" when he only really started as a coward rookie soldier many chapters ago. Also props to him for holding onto this boat for such a long time and being up for a fight after probably being hauled in the sea and swallow more water he ever had his entire life.

The panel of him shushing Hanji will always be iconic. His descent into nationalism (new Eldian empire, anyone?) however, was not so cash money"

When Floch had captured Miss Kiyomi (ch. 128) he dismissed what she said and had his speech about ‘it’s important to know your place’, and then not even a minute later he was taken down by this same old lady smh. Previously, he wanted to kill Onyankopon and Yelena, but Jean deceived him and he failed. Later, he wanted to kill someone on the boat, but Gabi shot him and he failed. He wanted to stop the alliance, but Mikasa got him with her anchor and he didn’t just fail, he died. I’ve seen some readers applaud him for fighting for what he believes in and having a strong will, but they don’t see what else there is. Strong will? Not giving up? So many characters have the same traits in AoT. The difference is that Floch repeatedly never achieved what he wanted to accomplish, despite his strong will and belief to not give up. His determination and willpower made him achieve nothing. By contrast, Hange’s will and determination to keep fighting made her kill about 2-4 colossals and save her allies just in time for them to get away. Is the difference obvious enough? Their deaths are even put in the same chapter. Floch was not important, admirable, or whatever you want to praise him like. He kept interfering with the alliance and for what? He simply never knew his place.

He played a larger role than I ever thought he would and became one of the most interesting characters during this time. I’m glad he was here to push the story along, and I’ll miss him.

His fans are insufferable but he is a needed counterbalance to the alliance characters and stuck to his beliefs to the end.

He started up as a fodder and ends up as one of the biggest threats for SC. I might be in the minority when I said I already like him since pre time skip. He showed us how the war is like from the perspective of a normal soldier, not the talented ones who got into the 10 top ranks. Just a normal soldier who was inspired by the words of his leader to devote his heart, and came to a realization that it's an actual hell, just like reality. Maybe he's wrong to vent about choosing Armin instead of Erwin when Armin was feeling down, but I can understand. All his friends died, he's currently having emotional and survivor trauma over the suicide charge, and all of those sufferings came to a waste because of the people in front of him.

Pee pee poo poo

Good riddance. What a worthless pile of garbage.

Goodnight sweet prince

  ARMIN WANTS TO BRING ALONG THE LEFTOVER EXPLOSIVES. HOW WILL THEY BE USED? 1,638 responses

Chekov’s explosives are now in play.  37.7% of you think they’ll be used to try to blow Eren out of his nape, and 33.7% think they’ll definitely be used for another suicide mission.

Another failed suicide attempt by Reiner

Any of the above, depending on the situation. I think Armin isn't really thinking of anything in particular, simply that having the option to explode something is better than not.

Armin could use them as a suicide necklace to threaten Eren. If Eren still cares for Armin he may stop the rumbling if he knows it will stop Armin from killing himself and possibly Mikasa.

dude there's been so many unexpected turns and plot twists right now I really don't want to make any assumption. But the plane idea is interesting.

i still think armin will fight eren with his colossal titan. I can only hope for something truly epic.

I think they'll be used for more than one of the above

Idk, but for sure they want to damage Eren's Titan to buy some time in doing something

If Eren doesn’t comply I’d assume they will be used to destroy his “nape” if they can even find it. Someone probably has to go on a suicide mission to do so.

Kamikaze Onyankopon like its written all over the poor fellas face,

Levi will suicide bomb Zeke to cut off Eren's connection to paths

make my brain explode hopefully since this plot is ridiculously bad

Only Armin (and Isayama) knows how the explosives will be used. I'm sure it will have something to do with stopping Eren.

Plan A: Blast Eren nape, but it will fail so Plan B: Kamikaze

Reiner will try to use the bombs to commit suicide and take Eren with himself

they'll probably kaboom zook with that idk (I missed my monke so so much)

They will be as useful as farting on Eren.

  WHAT DID YOU THINK OF MIKASA AND ANNIE’S CONVERSATION? 1,665 responses

Mikasa and Annie have a heart to heart near the start of the chapter, after being rivals early in the story.  The two most popular options were being in awe of the cuteness when Armin became the topic, at 34%, and just loving seeing these two characters interact, at 31.3%.  17.5% are wondering how they made the switch to friends so quickly, 9.5% view it as rehashing what’s already been talked about, and 7.8% are more interested in that Mikannie action.

Mikasa's reaction was so cute after realizing Annie has a thing for Armin.

The chapter was also surprisingly humorous, with Mikasa's reaction to learning Annie likes Armin having me burst out laughing.

The sudden closeness between Alliance members who used to be enemies, such as Mikasa/Annie, feel forced and unearned, and the extra Armin/Annie shipping is just unnecessary and a waste of panels when we are so close to the ending yet many things still need closure.

Aruani😍

Mikasa and Annie's conversation almost made me gag because I feel so sorry for Annie having to put up with the constant misunderstanding of her feelings. Annie is aromantic and Mikasa needs to sit down and respect that fact quite like Armin himself does.

I legit laughed out loud when reading Mikasa and Annie's chit chat. At 1 AM.

  MIKASA TELLS ANNIE SHE HAS KEPT THE SCARF WITH HER. WHAT DO YOU THINK HER PLAN IS? 1,662 responses

The scarf has become an actual plot point as of late, with Louise stealing it and now this.  Will it be important for the end game?  45.1% of you believe Mikasa will use it to try to see if the Eren she used to know, who gave it to her is still in there somewhere.  29.1% of you don’t think she has any particular plans as of yet.  15.2% think she’ll comfort Eren in it once they stop him, and 10.5% are putting their money down on the “She’ll use it to strangle Eren” option.

Mikasa need to understand the Eren she remembers is no longer coming back from this.

Mikasa is really a frustrating character... but I think it's on purpose that she keeps swinging from realizing who he really is (chapter 123) and still wanting to be with him (or rather the idealized version she has of him aka the ""old Eren""), because her whole character arc is to separate herself from Eren and coping with it."It's up to Mikasa whether or not she'll be a slave. If she decides to fight against her slave instincts, Eren will have no choice but to kill her since, as an Ackerman, Mikasa, is immune to the memory-fuckery.

In fact, Mikasa should just hang herself with Eren's scarf and the story would become infinitely better and women might finally have better representation. I have never liked Mikasa, but now I actively despise her. She is nothing more than an Eren simp as was revealed to us when she said she's still holding onto that threadbare rag of hers despite everything Eren has proven himself capable of doing. You know, that whole genocide thing that Mikasa herself barely survived in this very chapter while her Commander very much did not. "

I feel tired of people who make fun of Mikasa. She is the one who still believes in Eren's good side and doesn't see him as monster. Everyone else see Eren as devil, while Mikasa still keeps memories about kind Eren and believes that this "old Eren" still is somewhere there. He is the most important person in her life and she will not give up on him as fast as everyone think. She is not obsessed. She is aware of Eren's dark side, of his cruelty and everything he has been doing, but on the same time she will still keep trying to help him and show him that he is NOT the devil, he is not as horrible person as he thinks he is. Everyone are saying that HISTORIA saved him in the cave when he was in his dark moments. Maybe this time it will be Mikasa who will save him from his darkest nightmare.

I can't wait for Eren × Mikasa confrontation "

  WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN WITH THOSE ON THE BOAT? 1,653 responses

The party has split in two, with one half going directly to Eren, and the other half…?  Nearly half of you think that they’ll certainly end up doing something to help the alliance still.  21.8% think they’ll run into the survivors of Liberio, 17.9% think they will in fact be absent for most of the story no, and 11% think they’ll dock at Paradis and do something of import there.

Please isayama, please don’t add any more needless sideplots with the boat doing something

Could have done many alliance interactions/good-byes better. Reiner didn't seem to care for the kids, despite them being his motivation to live. Bert never mentioned. Annie/Armin had no discussion. What are the boat crew even going to do?

"Falco & co. WILL join the battle! At least he has to, because the Jaw Titan is the only one who can break through the Warhammer's hardening!

With them leaving Falco behind (and therefore the Jaw titan's power), I think the explosives may at some point be used if Even tries to shield himself using the Warhammer's power.

Anyone that thinks Annie, Falco and Gabi sailed off is an idiot.

The only thing I'm not too sure about is Annie, Gabi, Falco, Yelena and Kiyomi staying behind. I was every character to have their chance to shine in the final battle. Hopefully, Isayama will find a way to bring these characters back into the conflict.

  WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT LEVI EQUIPPING HIMSELF FOR BATTLE? 1,661 responses

After being blown up and almost out of the story a year and a half ago, Levi is finally suiting back up to get a slice of someone or something, despite still being heavily injured and scarred.  Almost half of the fandom, at 44.6% are excited for his upcoming role in the story, but find it hard to believe he’s ready to fight, as it hasn’t quite been a year and a half in their world.  About a quarter, at 23.2% have been waiting for this moment to finally come for all that time.  15.1% want him to stay away from danger the way he has been, and 9.2% wish he would have just died all those chapters ago.

Kinda silly, but I'll roll with it.

Now that we know Levi is ready for battle, I think his role in the story at this point is for one final confrontation with Zeke (assuming Zeke is within Eren's Founding Titan body somewhere). There, Levi will kill Zeke once and for all to finally fulfill his promise to Erwin, but something tells me Levi will die shortly after he lands the killing blow on Zeke.

Beast Titan vs Levi Round 3

Can't wait till he's forced to team up with Zeke

He will go out in a blaze

Definitely going out with a bang. He’s done with life, it’s obvious he is just here now to complete an objective, he wants to go out strong because of the weight of the survey corpse members gave him. Everyone he has cared about has died. He wants make them proud in a sense, at least dying with pride, and finally getting to meet them again in the afterlife.

I think he should have died in the explosion BUT I think that to do that, he should have had a longer philosophical talk with zeke and overcome his erwin issues, AND THEN die

He’s survived this long- he’s definitely earned the rights to go out on his own terms.

His comeback to fight is just another asspull.

How can he even move, let alone fight? If he survives all of this I’ll be shocked.

I can only see a Pyrrhic victory. I'm scared.

Isayama still has the chance to have Levi die by Eren's hands. The entire story has been leading up to this. Levi was always right about Eren and the sweet irony is that Levi always fought and saw all of his comrades die for Eren only to get killed by Eren as well.

I don't know why people are angry at that. Levi is a soldier and is not a suicidal one. He has a definite role to play and I don't want him to sit around. He's been through much worse.

He is a liability, I don't see him surviving.

-Death flag initiated-

He ain't surviving this one, huh?

Good that he’s feeling better. But I don’t want him to die.

He’s going to make a final charge and die

The man can barely stand on his own, so I think fighting is pretty much out of the question. Really interested in seeing what a character who has always relied first and foremost on violence is going to do now that this has been taken away from him.

As a good commander (and letting annie stay) Hange or Armin had to tell him to stay in boat, like he s only going to kill himself against zeke if he crossed him

He'll be fine...right? RIGHT?!

he'll probably die in a suicide attack on the monke

I feel like this may be a death-sentence. Levi dying and finally getting the burden of killing Zeke off his chest is a likely/ and good way for his character arc to end.

I just hope he doesn't have a cliche death alongside Zeke.

He'll rest with his comrades soon

He will get more injured, then give a speech to mikasa about letting the man he loved die instead of becoming a monster, then he will die

Watching him makes my anxiety level raised to 100

He's gonna give monkey chan a thousand years of death two finger style

Please just let him rest, he's tired, I'm tired, we're all tired ffs

  YELENA IS HOLDING FAST TO HER BELIEF IN THE EUTHANASIA PLAN AS THE ONLY WAY TO PEACEFULLY END THE CONFLICT. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT ZEKE’S PLAN IN HINDSIGHT? 1,620 responses

While the plurality of fans acknowledge Zeke’s plan is better than Eren’s (at 48.2%), only 7.7% say they agree in hindsight, and 5.8% always agreed with Zeke, for a combined 13.5%.  This makes a total of 61.7% who would vote for it over Eren’s plan today.  Interestingly, when Zeke’s plan was first revealed in 114, 76% voted for his plan when given the choice between that and rumbling the world.  So after seeing the rumbling, the support for Zeke’s plan as an alternative has actually dropped.

I get it, Yelena’s something of an ideologue but the fact that she still thinks euthanasia is the way to go is sad

I originally thought forced euthanization was disgusting and now I’m hindsight it’s still disgusting and solves nothing.

I still hate it. The lesser evil doesn't mean it's an optimal solution. Would've kept Kiyomi's plan by sacrificing Historia and only attacking the military forces to keep them at bay.

Thinking with logic only, Zeke had a good plan, but if we put emotions and moral in to play, it's just horrible. I don't support it, not even now.

It's a terrible plan. Eren's plan is evil AF, but it's not stupid. Zeke's plan it's stupid. Imagine throwing your entire nation under the bus because your dad didn't hug you? Zeke's a loser.

Maybe so in this messed up world, but then again no. Both plans are awful, the answer to solving this question was to stop hatred in the first place and find a way to have a conversation with everyone. Clearing the air, stopping the rumors and fake news regarding Eldians being devils, etc.

Both plans are shit. 50 year plan + a partial Rumbling (in other words probably Armin's choice) is the most logical plan.

Denying children being born is denying a human being to grow and live their own live, and experience the world. I never accepted Zeke's plan and never will.

Depends whether you were born in Paradis or outside of Paradis.

Eren's plan is better. It ensures Eldians can survive and continue to grow. Zeke's plan just makes them die out. Me no likey.

50 year plan gang 50 year plan gang

Both plan suck.. But everything fair in love and war so...   The winner was the one who right

There has to be some third option we/they just can't think of that doesn't involve genociding the entire planet *or enslaving another young woman (Historia in this case)

Zeke's plan was the lesser evil OF THESE TWO (Rumbling and Euthanasia). They should have found a third, peaceful option that doesn't kill anyone off.

“Evil is evil, Stregobor. Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I'm not a pious hermit, I haven't done only good in my life. But if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”

  JEAN SEEMED RATTLED BY FLOCH’S FINAL WORDS. HOW DO YOU THINK THEY WILL AFFECT JEAN? 1,641 responses

We’ve seen Jean yearn for a peaceful life on Paradis, and Floch has tried to convince him to give in to that desire before.  Did Floch’s dying words do anything to further affect Jean?  About 69% of respondents say that we will see Jean think on them, but he’ll end up staying with his current convictions.  Interestingly, among the 17.8% who think he will change his mind on helping the alliance, 12.9% think he’ll join Eren and actively oppose the alliance, vs. the 4.9% who think he’ll just abandon the mission like Annie.

After 127 no way is Jean leaving the Alliance. However, I think this will affect his resolve and affect whatever discussion they end up having over how to stop Eren.

Dies trying to avenge Mikasa

He was rattled by Floch's dying moments, as he was one of the last survivors from the Survey corps of Erwin's time

He'll single-handedly stop Eren by telling him how cringe his followers are

he's gonna hesitate when he shouldn't have and will die for it

I feel like it's not the words, but the actions--Floch is who Jean could have been if he didn't see past his own self-interest.

Floch died so his homeland could live. His noble death will inspire Jean to fulfill his duty as a soldier of ELDIA, and oppose the alliance. Thus, Floch will have helped Eldia one last time. Even after he died.

He's too coward to do something about it. Jean's arc was all about suppressing his own desires and keep moving forward; he's a slave of his sense of duty.

I smell another sacrifice coming.

I think it's too late for him to change his mind at this point. We're almost at the end. He'll move forward because that's what he promised Marco. He won't be able to look him and his comrades in the eye if he alters his stance.

  WAS ARMIN THE BEST CHOICE AS COMMANDER? 1,639 responses

From Keith to Erwin, to Hange to Armin.  Was that the right step to take in the line of succession?  The majority, at 61.8% believe that Armin is the perfect choice, at least for this particular Eren scenario.  Just over a quarter, at 26.5% are sticking with Marco saying Jean has the potential to lead.  11.7% are wishing Hange stayed in command instead.

I didn't like the way Hange died and how she left the commander role to Armin. He's probably the worst person to take the job, not long ago he was literally trying to kill himself (chapter 126) cause that's how insecure he is.

"I both believe Jean makes a better overall commander than Armin *and* that Hange's choice in this instant was the correct one.

Jean has more of a skill and flair for leadership. He is, as Marco once said, the every man which makes it easier to follow him. With his attitude, he can inspire others to follow his plans even if they do not closely know him. He also has some more confidence in himself. He doesn't have Armin's mind for crazy strategies, but he still can reasonably think of his feet and is willing to take hard decisions and sacrifices as they are needed. If the story was still like it had been earlier in the manga, with a big Survey corps and regular missions, he should be the commander.

People are arguing who ""deserved"" to be the commander between Armin and Jean, when it doesn't fucking matter because there are like 5 people left in ""old"" SC and they are all on a suicide mission. What *does* matter is that everything was pushed on poor Armin yet again, first Erwin was allowed to die and his legacy was put on him and Hange, who never asked for this, now Hange killed themselves too and left Armin to solve this shit by himself. I wish he would call out Levi, because his decision in Serumbowl is what led to this mess, but we'll probably not get that.

Jean shouldve be the commander but it's okay to be armin

Either Hange should've lived or Jean should've been the commander

Armin becoming Commander was probably the highlight of this chapter for me

I thought it was a good death for hange, but also kind of a combo of all of the above choices; their death seemed rushed just to make armin commander. I don’t hate armin, but I don’t think he should be commander, and it feels so much like isayama had NOTHING planned for hange ad commander, which was extremely disappointing. but at least hans is at peace lol

Armin as commander? Really? He has never really led troops in to battle. He is not a logistician or a tactician. He is only a good strategist, but even then he failed to plan for everything that Eren has so far done. Can you imagine him turning into a titan and attempting to direct everyone? He’ll kill them all or put them on fire by waving his arms. I’m so worried for him and for Jean too. Jean is suppose to be the next commander or why else is he even here?

A bit sad we didn’t get much time with her a commander, but she was a GOAT

A "You Tried" commander that was truly ineffective. Erwin should've been kept around.

Each Survey Corps Commander (current or former) all dedicated their hearts to protect humanity. If someone or something threatens their mission and their lives, they do what is necessary to uphold the mission, mainly giving up their lives in order to give time for their comrades to act. Their sacrifices affect their closest allies to the point that they have to carry on their mission by any means necessary.

Felt like a filler commander for Armin wish Hange had gotten to do more and be more successful

1- Armin isn't the new commander of the survey corps because the SC belongs to Paradise island and he & his group betrayed that place .

2- Armin is the new commander of the alliance .

Not sure of making Armin commander the best choice but mmm yeah, Isayama needed them out of the way to make a final Armin/Eren confrontation *sigh*

survey cops commander is the worst position you can find yourself at the moment. I can't even imagine what's on Armin mind right now

Armin does actually make the better leader. The problem in front of them is Eren. Even though he doubts himself right now, Armin has always been able to understand Eren and get through to Eren in a way others (and definitely not Jean) can't. He's also capable of thinking outside of the box in a manner that this situation needs. Though he's only now made commander, throughout the Rumbling arc, we've already seen that his closest friends look to him for leadership/plans. And while he still lacks self-confidence (though, who knows, maybe he'll get a special Levi talk??) a lot of his other leadership flaws (like his limited ability to command and inspire groups) are not relevant now because there isn't huge group of people anymore. There is just a handful of his friends left who already trust in his abilities. He doesn't need to inspire loyalty right now; that has already been built over years.

Narratively speaking the Alliance are the true successors of the SC, not the Jaegerist and the 15th commander is Armin, not Floch.

Hange should've stayed alive.

king jean commander jean ftw

  COULD SOMEONE ELSE HAVE TAKEN CARE OF THE COLOSSALS IN PLACE OF HANGE? 1,621 responses

We’re losing a lot of veterans lately and suddenly.  After Magath and Keith’s sacrifice a few chapters ago, was Hange’s necessary as well?  The vast majority, at just over ¾ say that others could have technically taken the role, but Hange was still the best choice to stay behind, as morale would be drained much more by the commander sending others to their deaths.

A mix between love and hate. With Shadis' death (specially after Nile and Pixis) I thought that Isayama was judt getting rid of a veteran again. But Hange's death at least had her in character, and she was the one who deserved to see her comrades the most.

At first it was nice to see them sacrificing themselves but then I noticed i didn't really care much. It was too sudden and a copypaste of Magath's death

Hange died because the situation called for it. She did what she had to do because of Floch. I feel like the anime will make it much clearer that Hange HAD to die.

Shoulda been Reiner bruh

I think Armin could use his titan, stand on the water and push avery titan that was going to destroy the Angar but anyway

Shadis' death left a bad taste in my mouth since Magath could've handled the deed on his own. Shadis didn't need to die. Hanji too could've sent someone else in her stead; she is (was) the commander, a veteran, she was necessary. Not saying that I would've wanted Jean or Connie to die or anything, but sending one of these two or Mikasa to hold back the titans would've made sense.

  WHAT IS THE TRUTH BEHIND THE SCENE WHERE HANGE MEETS THE DEAD SCOUTS? 1,649 responses

The scene where Hange, after having died, seems to wake up to meet the rest of the deceased Survey Corps members was a scene unlike any we’ve seen before in this manga. Isayama hasn’t shied away from the depressing reality of death before, so what exactly is happening here? 45.9% of respondents think it was strange enough that something real was happening, Paths, afterlife… something. 30.3% don’t buy it being real and think it was a symbolic scene, perhaps to lessen the pain of Hange’s death. 23.8% think it was purely in Hange’s mind, a euphoric experience to lessen the physical shock of death. Whatever it was, it was remarkable.

Purely symbolic, though I don’t mind if it has to do with Paths

The comrades scene its a metaphore of the relief she had sacrificing herself, being useful just like her comrades and friends before her.

Probably Valhalla, would be pretty badass if it was confirmed in the end to actually be Valhalla or something.

THE AOT AFTER LIFE  IS REAL AND MY BBYS LIVE AGAIN 🤧😭

The author was trying to Placate the audience over killing off a popular character

The characters that died may have their happy ending in heaven

The dead comrades have always been watching over the living.

We only see Eldians, it very well could be a connection to Paths. And it seems like the people you go to are people you knew well and had a strong connection with. ALSO I'M HAPPY WE GOT A GLIMPSE OF SASHA and seeing Erwin for most likely the final time is cool too.

Afterlife real. Dead characters keep on living. Shifters go to PATHS, probably. Expect a specific someone to appear :)

Delusions of a naive and idealistic character. Hange saw what Hange wanted to see.

Dunno, but i REALLY hope that was just Isayama softening the blow for Hanji fans and what not, otherwise having a true afterlife would render all deaths and racrifices pointless and would ruin the whole theme of survival the manga has.

Eren may be using PATHS fuckery to comfort Hange in her death.

I believe the final scene did happen as Instructor Keith is seen in the back and Hange should have no knowledge of his death.

I don't think Isayama particularly cares for fan service in any regard (though Annie x Armin might signal a change), so I don't think he'd dedicate that to make Hange's death any less tragic. I think there's something to it.

  NOW THAT WE’VE SEEN THAT IT’S POSSIBLE FOR OUR DEAD FAVORITE CHARACTERS TO STILL HAVE THEIR SOULS, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE REST OF THE STORY? 1,621 responses

If these ghostly figures do make another appearance in the final confrontation, what on earth will they do?! 43.1% say they don’t matter damn it, because they’re not even real. 32.2% think the dead characters might be alive in some kind of afterlife, but it’s just an interesting part of the SnK universe. 18.8% think that PATHS will make its infinite fuckery known once again, and 6% think that those ghosts are going to make a difference standing up to Eren – how is he gonna fight against a million dead guys, huh?

The most interesting part about the data we got was a surge in responses for only this and the previous question. About 300 entries to the poll which only wanted to submit that “It was purely symbolic and Hange did not experience this,” and “I ain’t afraid of no ghosts. It was just in Hange’s mind or symbolic.” Now that is curious indeed. For someone who ain’t afraid of ghosts, I’m sensing some real trepidation here!

They likely will not interact with nor affect the coming events, as their roles have already played out.

" Valhalla’s battle-honed residents are there by the will of Odin, who collects them for the perfectly selfish purpose of having them come to his aid in his fated struggle against the wolf Fenrir {Fenir had been previously associated with Eren by fans} during Ragnarok – a battle in which Odin and the einherjar are doomed to die."

Setup for Reiner to converse with his fallen comrades.

Afterlife. Not convinced it's significant in any way, but would love it to be

An afterlife would be completely unnecessary for the story and make things needlessly more complicated for little reason/narrative payoff.

Feels like a set up for an ending where even if everyone dies they can be together in the afterlife

Mobuhan is fucking real

Hange is in heaven, surrounded by everyone who she's fought alongside. She can't help the alliance in any way, but she can watch them win. And they will win.

They are bystanders.

  CARE TO EXPOUND YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS SCENE AND WHAT IT MEANS? 611 responses

Through PATHS the thought of 'Afterlife' is possible. And if it isn't, then it's nice to hallucinate something good while they're dying.

Is hange really dead?

it means ERWIN KNOWS WHAT'S IN THE BASEMENT AYEEEE

IT MEANS ERWIN GETS MORE LINES WOOO

y'know how from the start there's been the idea that the survey corps have been making sacrifices that no one will ever care about? this is a rebuke to that. Hange, like every other survey corps member, is watched over by their own dead and now Hange gets to be a part of the ghost crew that watches over the corps and occasionally appears to freak out the commander. I also tend to dislike the idea that this manga has a perfectly happy afterlife because it cheapens the goal they're fighting for and comes dangerously close to validating Reiner's attempt.

You should have given a choice of this is symbolic. Ya'll should really read more fiction if ya'll think this is really the afterlife ffs

Afterlife makes all the deaths useless and less impactful, hope it's not a thing.

All the Eldians have the ability to “stay” alive after they die thanks to the paths dimension.

All this suffering to get an afterlife?!?

Although I do think that an afterlife could be possible, I don't think it'll affect the story. It may come back during the epilogue, but I can't figure out how Isayama could use it for the main story plot.

Anything is possible, either it's Hange's own hallucinations or something real. Though i would like for it to be smth tangible, (esp since a clue was that Hange didn't know Shadis died but he appeared anyways). idk I'd just like for everyone to be happy and see each other again 😭

Beetroot alive in PATHS and he's gonna kill Eren

Being dead is happier than living in this world, such an uplifting moral Isayama

Both Hange and Erwin thought about their comrades and "saw" them when their role was weighing on them. I don't think I have nothing against it being real, but I like the symbolism. Some things are cooler when I don't overthink.

Perhaps it will be less edgy to see so much death if there is an afterlife in SnK, but use the opportunity well! For me it was a gift to see the veterans again: Moblit caring for Hange, Erwin being in peace, Mike being there after the impact that he gave us…

every time "ghosts" have been shown in attack on titan they've just been visual depictions of the character's mental state.

Everyone who begged to see Erwin in another chapter can finally be at peace

Expansion of what chapter 85 already implied

I don't care, I'm just happy we get to see our babies again.

I think it is some sort of a special place in paths because they are standing on where Hange died, that's really weird if if it's afterlife, if it's afterlife they should be in a paradise or a peaceful place, but no. It's weird if they are all ghosts like almost the survey corps are in that area

I think it means that every dead soldier have meaning and we shouldn't forget them

I think it shows that their deaths weren’t in vain and they are watching over their comrades. It was a truly moving scene.

I think it's symbolic. Honestly with all the discourse around this scene I am not sure if it was even worth it to include.

I don't believe she's dead. We have an unexplained memory shard of her without glasses (ch130) and one of the panels this chp looks like she lost her glasses.

if levi could hurry up and join them that´d be great

If Yams tries to pull a kny I'm gonna rip him a new one. This is bullshit and he should stop before people believe there is an afterlife in aot. This doesn't fit into the story he created for years. But he is willing to kill his own world in hopes to get some readers back from stealing smth from a way more successful manga. It's pathetic.

Im still in doubt if the afterlife scene really happened since erwin is still missing his arm while the others are just fine. I hope its all just in hange's head and that someone from the boat could rescue her.

It might be the Path. Because just like Eren Kruger said, "All Eldians is connected to what we say the coordinate." This maybe a paradise or a heaven that Eren or someone with the founding titan and royal blood can control.

It only serves to dramatize hange's death. No shit, I was crying like hell when I read this scene😭😭 other than that it's just like other deaths we've seen before, only to set a dramatic and brutal tone for a thriller series

The remaining of Hange blood in the floor indicates she/he was already dead,  so no hallucinations in her last moments. Symbolic? Doesn’t sound like isayama. The only symbolic stuff in manga concerns the cult to Ymir. Has to be a connection through paths.

They really gave their hearts to humanity, they were all incredible, and it's really nostalgic to see them in this way

This scene wasn't here for no reason. It just felt different from any other vision we've seen, and I believe it'll come into play later on.

This was Hange's imagination because she saw the dead ones in the same shape she saw them alive last time like Mike and Nanaba. Erwin too(without one hand)

those who died are finally set free

You just died and entered spectator mode

  FAVORITE PIECK MOMENT THIS CHAPTER? 1,601 responses

For a chapter not focused on Pieck plotwise, there sure were a lot of short moments with her.  The two most popular options being her shooting down Hange’s ask for a ride with no hesitation, and vowing to give her comrade’s sacrifices meaning.  A moment of meme and a moment of serious nature, perfectly balanced.

Idk but Pieck is a bad bitch

Pieck sounds like she may turn on everyone in the end but I hope not.

pieck finger = some kind of marleyan erwin smith

Pieck is gonna DIE 😭

Pieck isn't really interesting....and she doesnt do any Import to the others....Just for Reiner maybe

Pieck will sacrifice herself for the sake of her fallen comrades. (that's what I think)

  WHICH “FRINGE” THEORY DO YOU BELIEVE IN? 1,597 responses

Despite the manga racing towards its conclusion crack theorists have had no shortage of new material, most recently with the bizarre amount of focus given to birds and Hange’s warm welcome to the afterlife. We wanted to find out which of these fringe theories have a broader appeal.

Nearly half the fandom is no fun at all, selecting “These theories are all just cope” (49%). For the rest of us “Birds are spies” apparently requires the least amount of tin foil since just over a third of the fandom thinks it has potential (35.4%). “The ghosts are real” (16.7%), Historia’s pregnancy is fake (13.7%) and the “The birds ARE the ghosts” (8.7%) didn’t fare quite as well.

Overall a great chapter. But this whole Theory of there being an afterlife in Attack on Titan is utterly ridiculous and extreme coping.

The afterlife thing was completely garbage and was easily the worst part of the chapter.

I believe that afterlife exists. It has nothing to do with paths, titan powers or religions. It is just afterlife, where souls of dead soldiers may find a peace. The world of SnK was always "cruel but also beautiful". Cruel - because innocent people die, but beautiful - because there is still a hope for happiness for their souls.

the birds...work for the bourgeoisie

I hope it's all symbolism but these "dead people" motive have been weirdly often mentioned in the story. People asking Erwin if he thinks that "dead have no regrets" in season 1. Levi Ova called " No regrets". Erwin asking Levi if he thinks that dead are watching them in S.3. There is also role Valhalla plays in Ragnarok in Mythology...

  WHICH MOMENT OF LEVITY BEFORE THE DOOM OF THIS CHAPTER WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 1,633 responses

THAT face from Mikasa was the highlight for 28.2% of you. I don’t think she’s ever been that stunned. 22.8% loved that one of Hange’s priorities was getting to ride the Cart Titan in the future, and Pieck not having it. 17.6% enjoyed Levi being the butt of a joke even as Hange was about to meet their doom, and 14.5% appreciated Levi throwing his fans a finger bone. Annie talking with Reiner about the good old days earned a laugh for 13.3% of you, and 3.5% liked seeing Levi throw shade at Yelena’s kinks.

the "what the heck" face on mikasa's face  after realising annieés feelings made my day.LOL

Levi x Yelena is cute and soon to be canon

Poor Levi. He cearly is still not recovered but his comment on being forgotten was a nice knock on the fourth wall.

Uh... you feeling okay, Yelena?

"I AM GONNA KILL THE BEAST TITAN"   "Okay grandpa, now let's get you to bed"

  DESCRIBE THE CHAPTER IN ONE WORD 1,065 responses

I get the feeling this chapter was a little upsetting for many. But then again, three over the top five words were the same as last month! Such is the life of an SnK fan. The top five words this time were:

Pain [143] Sad [56] Heartbreaking [29] Emotional [24] Sacrifice [20]

For those of you still thinking this is a cookbook, it's obvious you're making soup for your souls. Tangy, Cheesy, Hot, Chile, and YAMS must be the dish that represents this chapter.

  WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,634 responses

Are we actually about to see the final confrontation?! I can hardly believe it, but 48.6% of you are goddamn ready for it. 17.9% still want to see Historia’s own POV (what, weren’t you satisfied with that one convoluted flashback?), and 15.5% would like to see some kind of discussion before the alliance launches into an undoubtedly insanely reckless maneuver. Also, Zeke had better come back soon or I’ll forget to put him in the options again!

girl i wanna see eren with the alliance

Next chapter I hope to see Zeke, you didn't put the option

We really really need to see Historia. She's been missing from the narrative for so long, and the flashback crumbs from Eren's memories explained nothing.

Surprises ..!!! More of them...flashback about carl fritz ...zeke ...more about eren ...we wanna more important moments and facts

I'd like to know what happened with Zeke. Is he dead? Is he merged with Eren? Is he still back on paradis? What's going on?

Alright, where is Zeke? I've lost my patience.

  WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,492 responses

Reddit maintains the lead this month, with just a few percentage points over Twitter, which takes second. A bit behind Twitter is “In real life”, which goes to show that Attack on Titan fans are total chads with social lives. Stay safe and don’t die though! After real life comes Discord, with 22.3% of the vote. Trailing Discord, in order, is Instagram, Youtube, “I don’t”, Facebook, 4Chan, the wiki, Snapchat, and Steam. Much to my dismay, this question was made multiple choice this month, which MEANS that, in theory, some of you could have ~erroneously~ voted Snapchat. Either that’s the case, or you lot are multiplying far faster than I’d anticipated… I’m going to elect to believe the former on account of not wanting to believe the latter.

  ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? 497 responses

What the fuck is doing the survey corps

where is that goddamn monke

WHERE IS THE MONKE

snkpolls admins please hold me

Floch with wet hair looks cool.

Glad to see yams isnt afraid to kill characters, I was getting worried.

I have a love/hate relationship with Floch, and while I disagree with the rumbling, his last words got to me and it was sad.

I honestly found Floch's death to be tragic, even though he was a bastard, he still believed he was fighting for Paradis's wellbeing

I laughed when random Floch appeared, but I hate that his actions lead to Hange deciding to sacrifice herself.

Even though the manga it's coming to an end Isayama really gives us details which is interesting in order to understand the storyline but I'd like more action

Even though we didn't see him this chapter, Hanji's sacrifice took me from "Eren must be stopped" to "I WILL strangle Eren to death with my own two hands". Dude's ground-breaking idea of rumbling got Hanji killed and he will pay for that.

Everything about this chapter was just so breathtaking. I Loved this chapter so much it was just amazing. Words can’t even describe how I feel. Only thing I didn’t like was floch shooting the plane. God answering these just makes me wanna cry.

Also Bert mentions! We're finally going to see him soon and have a long-awaited RB-union!

REALLY GLAD I FOUND AOT BEFORE IT ENDS , I wish Annie and armin ends up, and jean and mikasa 👀👀👀 dont judge me please. It really gave more insight on the feelings of the alliance now.

WHY ISAYAMA, WHY?!

Why no Bertholdt :(

Why no one is happy?

I feel like the fandom would've broken if only an Alliance member died, so to make things equal, we lost a Yeagerist and an Alliance member.

EREN IS A VILLAIN

FLOCH DID NOTHING WRONG

Listen. I couldn't stop crying, like UGLY sobs, from the moment Hange says they're gonna "do it" and then they become all "Armin Arlert" and "I hereby name you" and then I was DONE. Buckets of tears, squealing noises, repeating "no no no" while rereading the same panels over and over again. I Loved Hange. I loved them so much. They were THAT kind of weird, they were passionate, smart, funny... I loved them, but I love how they got to choose how to die, and when, and especially knowing their death will be useful for the others. They died fighting brilliantly, and I will love them, and they will inspire me forever. Farewell Hange, have a nice time in the afterlife with all your fallen comrades, knowing you can stand tall and proud among them.

No one can force Annie to stay. But I can't believe everyone's just fine with this. The world is fckin' ending and only by a miracle they can win, there's NO WAY those people are compromised to the gravity of the situation if they're all just "yeah, Annie is a titan and she's out, let's get the other titan too because he's a kid, Pieck I thought you were coming to the ship too?", because it really sounds like they're not even trying at this point. Is this a walk in the park or the destiny of all people in the world?? :/

Levi’s “see you later, Hange” reminds me of Mikasa’s “see you later, Eren” in the first chapter. A foreshadow of Eren’s eventual demise?

There still isn't a third realistic alternative.

Hange sacrifice was the greater good and I hope the alliance makes the most of this chance, For those they have lost. For those they can yet save

Hange knows their time is near and they are correct.

There was no need to kill off Hange, felt forced and rushed

this armin/annie stuff had better go somewhere plotwise after wasting cringy panels on it that could have been dedicated to less rushed interactions between other alliance members. might as well just kill the alliance off at this point and let reiner finally die, since their chapters are such a drop in quality.

This chapter and the previous two are perfect reminders that we're at the point of no return in the final arc. While I want to see some good moments, twists, and any loose ends tied by now (Zeke, WHERE ARE YOU?!!), it's all going to be all doom and gloom from here on out. Whether Eren or the Alliance succeeds depends on how these next chapters turn out; Whoever wins, bloodshed will continue until the Rumbling ends.

I realised Hange probably has huge survivors guilt and that she wanted to die, and wanted to make her old friends proud(who are dead)

They all really cared for Hange a lot and that's sweet.

They should have a concrete plan on how to stop eren if they could

Things are gonna get wild.

Great chapter, and I'm really excited to see how the Alliance and Eren confrontation plays out. This ending has the potential to be absolutely legendary.

Half of the characters have no hope in what they are doing (the "leaders") but do that because "ThEY hAD tO" and another half will makes me sad because they dont care about eren plan really (not speaking about gaby and falco)

Hange could have exited the story in another way, I guess.

Hange's death should have been more dramatic.

Hange's death was handles perfectly and the chapter had it's fair share of humour.

Hange's death was rushed, could've been better handled. Floch's selfless death was the only high point,  and maybe LH being semi-confirmed.

Honestly, I don't hate Hange but I wish she had lived to see the consequences of her betrayal of Paradis, by putting her own feelings and morals over her own people's wellfare; for better or worse, her actions will have huge repercussions on the entire island and she should be there to take responsibility over the inevitable fallout. Even though she never tried to avoid responsibility over her choices, and I genuinely respect her for sacrificing herself over her ideas, it honestly feels to me like death was an easy way out from having to deal with Paradis' fate (SPECIALLY if the Valhalla stuff is real) while leaving Armin to clean up her mess.

Levihan is real

i expected sex on the ship or aruani huge/kiss/touch

Honestly, I'm just following it because I got used to reading a chapter every month, but the story is terrible now. Hange's death only served to confirm that Isayama intends to have a 'final battle' between childhood friends, nothing unexpected.

hope we get more from Jean

Hope we now start going into the final confrontation cause this chapter seemed setup to that.

As I've said before, I'll miss Hange. RIP you absolute legend.

Hopefully we get to see historia

Hoping for more Hanji backstory.

I don’t need a heart to live

I don’t see how this story can have any sort of a happy ending

I dont see a possible ending where all these characters can live the rest of their lives in peace but oh well

This chapter dropped massive death flags on Armin and Pieck. These two aren't going to last. Yelena is probably dead from compartment syndrome next chapter.

This chapter honestly makes me more scared for Levi because I was hoping he would get the kind of ending that Hange got. Now we just have to wait and wonder about how much more pain Isayama is going to put him through.

ZEKE WHEN ?????? I MISS YOU

I’m frustrated with the direction the story is going in. Armin being made commander, Hange dying, Annie being brought back just to confess to Armin and then be sidelined, Mikasa being the one to kill Floch, it all just seems to make little narrative sense. I don’t feel like we’re building to a clever twist, it all feels capricious and random

After comparing Hange’s death in the manga to Erwin’s death in the manga, I can safely say that Hange’s death was better. Hange’s had comedy like her complaining about how hot the CTs were and of course that line she said to Pieck, it was sad with the Levi and Hange moments and the chapter’s conclusion, and it was epic with her killing 3-4 Colossal Titans, getting scorched to death and her dead body falling until she got trampled in the Rumbling. Erwin’s was just epic with bringing the entire Survey Corps going down with him. If Mappa does well with the anime, this will break the internet for sure and this death will be remembered.

bruh my favorite character just fucking died

It was a quick way for removing another veteran. I feel that the vets sacrifice their lives too easily. They see their own existance like it was some rpg game and they were going to go back to life after while. First Magath and Shadis decided to commit heroic suicide, now Hange decided to leave this world "just like that"/ C'mon, people don't give up with their lives so fast..

Oh, and this chapter made me start shipping levihan!

characters stop dying challenge

This and next chapter are the calm before the storm. And once that storm comes, this is going to end up as either a great story or a perfect story. Also, what the heck happened to Zeke? I need answers on that matter.

At this point the only way for this story to end in a satisfying manner is for Eren to kill everyone, successfully finish the Rumbling and save his people.

Aún estoy llorando.

I feel Hange should have been given more space to make a bigger impact as a commander. It’s like, Erwin always made gambles that magically worked out for him in the grand scheme of things (for the most part and in a group with a horrible survival rate like the SC no less) but for whatever reason Hange just stuck their thumb up their butt and twirled the whole time. Sometimes making one character smart results in everyone else only being allowed to have one shared brain cell. Overall I liked Hange a lot but they were done dirty. And blaming Eren for everything? Lol Hange. You can put your clown nose on now.

Overall best leader? Jean. Best leader for this particular set of circumstances? Armin.

I can't wait until the Alliance realize their futile efforts and come face to face with the reality that, Eren has power over the memories of all subjects of Ymir and can control their titan shifting.

Isayama just want to kill everyone,isn't he? In every chapter we've got deaths this is just depressing. Isayama I respect you but I hate you but I respect you but I hate you.

I cried buckets while reading it, so props to Isayama for that! :)

I cried when Floch died and I laughed when Hange died .

I don't have words for that. I am just lucky enough to be able to witness this  work while

Pain. So much pain. Levihan pain. Aruani pain... *cries for a week while preparing self for more tears in the near future*

i just want everyone to be friends again😭

Jean has not been about stopping Eren from the get-go. I think we are up for a MAJOR revelation about his own involvement in Eren’s plans.

Hange should be survived

Hange should've not died in this chapter since we still do not know the clear plan of the alliance. Their death was written in a hurry, not as epic as Erwin.

Hange was my favorite character. But, as much as I am sad to see her go, her last moments were pretty epic, I am looking forward to see how it will affect the rest of the story.

Hange wasn't a good commander no matter how much her fans cry about it. her being a good character is another thing altogether.

My babies Yelena, Pieck, Reiner, Gabi, and Falco deserve the world.

Hange's manner of death, in her own terms fighting to save others, is my favorite so far.

Hanji death was unnecessary and Floch death only made Allience look worse then they already are

0/10 no Zeke

Jean is the only one who undestands eren and Floch

Jean never really supported the Alliance, he will try to reason Eren's plan isn't all that bad.

Jean will see Flochs words as a possible option but i dont see him going through with opposing The Alliance. He made his choice when he joined them.

(THE DEAD SPEAK LMAOOO) I really liked this chapter but it’s still horrible and traumatizing like the 131 (wait actually the 131 is way more horrible 😭)

Amazing art as always.

Amazing yet sad chapter since I respected both hange and falco and to see them die was pretty sad.

ANNIE AND ARMIN FOREVER. I want her to be free to be soft and caring and to have someone who loves and adores her. I love this dynamic and I think it’s a good foil to Eren and Historia

ANNIE IS THE BEST GIRL!

I want Reiner to live on as the clinically depressed sole survivor.

i’m still broken. hange and sasha were my comfort characters✌🏻😭

Idc but your quiz suck

Idk its just i'm pretty sad about hange's death cuz she was one oof my top waifus

One of my favorites ✊😔 rip Hange

One ship. I just want ONE CANON SHIP by the end of this, Isayama. JUST ONE. Is it really too much to ask, man. I've already given you plenty of my tears to sip on so idk what more you want from me...

Only Armin, Mikasa, Levi and Reiner will survive.

OUCH

Please stop making Levi suffer be it a final rest or a peaceful life anything PLEASE

Please, don't let anyone else die :(

Plot wise it was shit, but I love it for the drama

POGGERS

Poor Levi. Everyone important to him was taken away. Also, HANGE GOAT.

Poor Reiner.

rest in peace Hange "nonbinary icon" Zoe

rest in peace king, now is in Eren hand to keep giving meaning to your life

Really was good. Hange went out in a great way.

Surprised Floch didn't end up killing anyone, especially no named engineers, Yelena or Connie.

The way Mikasa shot the grappling hook at Floch’s throat was like how Levi killed an MP by shooting their throat during Uprising. Ackermans can access the battle experience of other Ackermans through Paths – Mikasa learnt that move from Levi.

I would think that this chapter should have gotten into more interactions between Armin and Annie, because i feel as though their relationship should be explored a bit further. Given that we know that both do like each other, it should be seen on how these two handled their possibly last goodbyes.

I'm just gonna let it flow

I'M NEVER GETTING OVER HANJI'S DEATH

Hange is one of the most well-written characters of a manga abounding with them. I love the way they always stayed true to their ideals without wavering, despite all their doubts about their suitability as Commander. Their open-mindedness, humour and love for knowledge make them truly special, and their most quintessential line must be this one from chapter 127: "'Just bringing freedom to this island is enough for me'. Do you think a single one of [the dead Survey Corps] would be so narrow-minded as to say that?" Chills. Very glad they chose Armin as their successor as well before taking down the colossals. They will be missed.

I'm quite curious about Armin's next moves. He is the commander now after all. Also, wondering what Levi is going to do now.

I'm really curious about the weapon that Yelena brought up to the alliance

i get the feeling that annie has had all the closure she needs and she’s gonna die but at least she might pass on her power to gabi ? either way i’ll be devastated to see her go

I HATE it that Hanji had to die, but loved the way she got her heroic moment. It's a love/hate chapter for me.

I have fears of Annie to die

I hope Levi lives just so he can be the most tragic character in AOT.

I hope soon, eren can stop all of this thing

I it wasn’t for the spoilers, Hange’s death would have break my heart.

I just hope Levi found his peace and die, please. He's already lost Hange, please don't make him suffering more.

I just thought it was impressive that this was one of the three moments in the whole story that actually made me ugly cry (Other two were Hannes' death and Serumbowl)

The more i think on Hanges death the more i like/understand it.

The sad looks on Levi and Hanji's faces are enough to say thousands of unspoken words. Nuff said.

Reiner is immortal

reiner looked hot af

This beast of a man, how many hours did he spend nearly drowning with a wounded arm? I got to really care about him even if his ""political"" choice was the worst. I just wanted him to have a dignified end and he had (even if Jean wasn't the one to do it). And the vignette... Perfect. In the end, he really fought as the devil he needed so much, no matter their identity. Relax, honey. Now you're safe from Eren's bullshit.

i miss hanji

I need HISTORIAAAA

I need more PATHS and I smell it coming

...i´m tired.

The Survey Corps never actually fought for humanity prior to the Rumbling, only against it. Hange even states this irony in chapter 89. The "well, the Corps was always fighting for humanity" rationalization is just disingenuous cope that ignores everything that got revealed with the basement and, by extension, the plot itself.

Super based

I really just want to see how this ends already.

I still can't believe Hange died. And to think that Levi's got no one else in his life anymore breaks my heart. I've always think that Levi and Hange should be together until the end. Not shipping them tho. I don't if it's platonic or romantic,but they love and care for each other. And Levi realising that his only friend is going to die and his eyes turn dark like an abyss really makes me feel like broken in half. And that dedicate your heart scene..oh my god I can't. And Hange still got some nerves to joke around at time really made me goes "HANGEEE-SANN!!"༼;´༎ຶ ۝ ༎ຶ༽

Floch's final moments were sorely needed to remind us just how human he really is. He didn't care about ruling the country or destroying the alliance. All he wanted was for his people and the island to survive, and he felt the alliance was putting that in jeopardy so he did what he thought he had to do.

Isayama keeps killing my favorite characters

I liked the chapter but it felt unnecessary Floch probably should have died before the boat left and Hange was killed off to lighten the cast and make Armin commander.  Hange and Levi probably could have died/stayed in the forest.

R.I.P. in horny titan jail

I like this manga. Very much so ❤

[thedoctornumber11]

Survey results

A few weeks ago, I did a Tumblr RP survey.  I posted a link on here, reblogged it a few times and asked people to answer a few quick questions.  I was curious about how people found new RP partners, particularly since I have a few different friends on here who I know sometimes struggle to find new RP partners.  I also had a theory on the tags that I wanted to confirm, which was indeed confirmed, specifically that we spend a ton of time making sure we tag things and that those tags work correctly, but rarely anyone actually looks through those tags.  Well, here’s the results of said survey.

I put this under a read more since it’s a bit screenshot heavy.  First wanted to know what type of people we were looking at here.  The big reason I included this question was that I know sometimes people who classify themselves as “private” aren’t even really looking that heavily anyway and was curious how true that is.  As it turns out, I didn’t get much evidence on this because barely anyone who took this survey classified themselves as “private.”

If you are wondering about those others, it’s mostly people telling me they are “semi selective,” which what’s the difference between that and selective?  Not sure.  Someone also mentioned that they are generally open to everyone except for specific characters/fandoms, which is fair, although I’d personally qualify that as selective.

This question surprised me a bit.  While the option for “yes please message me first,” was selected the most, it didn’t entirely dominate the poll like I would have expected it too.  Also, most of the others are people who say they prefer first interactions off of a meme, which how the heck did I forgot to include that as an option?  Regardless, it seems the best thing you can do to interact with new people is to just message them.  Some people may prefer to be tagged without messaging first or just have a meme sent to them, but it doesn’t hurt to message first unless someone’s rules say otherwise.

So, the main point of this question is that your open starters are almost useless.  They are great if you are just wanting to get new threads with existing partners, but not a whole lot of people are actually looking through the open starter tag in search of new partners, so if that’s your goal, it might be better to go looking through that tag yourself to reply to other people’s stuff.  This was VERY surprising to me, as it was quite the opposite when I first started RPing on here.  Most of my earliest RP partners I found through posting open starters, which means they were looking through that tag quite a bit.  Now, I’m not saying open starters are completely useless.  As you can see, people do respond to them when it’s posted by people they are already following, which is quite nice by itself.

I think this question speaks for itself.  If you have a few partners that you really enjoyed RPing with but maybe your thread just sort of dropped itself after a while, you should just tag them in a thing!  People apparently love that sort of thing.  There is a small percentage of people who don’t like this, but the overwhelming amount actually like it perfectly fine.

Here’s the big one that really peaked my interests for this entire survey really.  This entire survey was made mostly so I can ask this one question.  Who reads the tags?  And the answer is not many people.  Out of 26 people, only 6 mentioned that they check it more than once a week.  This is almost a bit alarming to me, because like I said before, a lot of us do spend a lot of time working on tags for our posts for they’ll be discovered and that’s almost meaningless since so few people are actually checking those tags.

Since I saw this, I’ve actually been making a point to check the open starter tags and starter call tags semi regularly to respond to a few of those semi regularly.  It’s gotten a lot of new threads started with me and is quite a bit of fun and I do hope it makes the day of a few people.  That being said, the big thing I grab from this is that if you are wanting to find new RP partners, check tags.  You can’t just post an open starter or a starter call and expect it to bring in new partners since so few people are actually checking tags.  However, if you go through tags yourself and respond to other people’s stuff, it’s likely to get you some people interacting.

The next question was an open ended one.  I can’t really include screenshots of these because of the way the website is formatted.  I would have to do it in four or five screenshots and it’s more trouble than it’s worth, so I’ll just paraphrase.  I asked “ If you do look through roleplay tags, which ones do you look through?  If not, feel free to say so. “ and most of the answers were just the fandom related RP tags.  Very few people mentioned open RP or starter call or any generic RP tags.  So if you do insist on posting your own open roleplays or starter calls, make sure you include the fandom related tags, as these are much more important than the generic tags.  If your OC is fandomless, I’d suggest trying to figure out what fandom it would work best with and use those tags.

The main thing I get from this is that it’s unfortunate that so many people struggle to find new partners.  If I had more questions (you can only ask 10 questions per survey without paying money) I might have asked another question about what type of character people were playing to see if that affected this specific result or not.  However, the fact that so many people struggle to find partners is part of the reason I’m making this survey.  It is nice that so many people are also willing to approach new people however!

The next two questions were open ended.  Question 9 was “ How do you usually find new RP partners?  And how often do you go to old RP partners to start new threads?” and this one is a lot harder to paraphrase because I got so many different answers.  A lot of people are nervous to go to older RP partners because they feel stuff may have been dropped for a reason.  Some people also avoid older RP partners not because they are nervous but because why interact with someone who just dropped something already anyway?  This seems a bit odd to me, because I know sometimes muse is lost for specific threads and it just makes sense to start new ones to continue the relationships.  It can be a bit annoying to have things dropped without notice, but generally speaking I enjoy having lots of threads with people so it all works out for me personally and a lot of people also agree with me on that.  The question was pretty half and half as far as this goes to be honest.  As for finding new RP partners, a few people mentioned tags, but a LOT of people mentioned that they find new partners by just seeing who their current partners are interacting with.  This doesn’t really help anyone who’s struggling to find new partners I suppose, but it is something to think about.

The last question is “ Lastly, what is your Tumblr URL?  This is completely optional and more so out of curiosity than anything.  This particular question and information won't be shared with anyone. “ so I’m not sharing that, although I do want to tag @withgutsandglory​ for reblogging the survey and passing it along to a few other people.  They are a great avatar Korra that I enjoy interacting with and I’d love to have more threads with Korra <3.  I also want to thank everyone else who took it.  I’m going to keep the link on my profile for other people to take and maybe come revisit the results in a few years or so to see how it changes.  I think it’s a fascinating subject and I’m glad to have accumulated some of this information and do hope it helps at least one person out there at some point.  I am also going to try and message everyone who did leave their name for this survey so they know the results were posted.

Thanks again for taking this everyone and I hope everyone is having a great day! :D

[prettygirlcore]

killed and freed - multiple groups (danganronpa au)

for those of you who don’t know, danganronpa is an anime game that centers around a school called hope's peak academy! a bunch of students who are known to greatly excellent in one area (called an ultimate ‘whatever they’re good at’) are gathered at the school to hone in their talents and lead the next generation!

…and kill each other.

the killing game is pretty simple, there are fifteen or so students, and each student is held hostage in the school unless they kill another student and get away with it. a class trial is held every time there’s a killing. the remaining innocent students have to try to find and vote out the killer while the killer needs to fool everyone into thinking their innocent.

—

reminder!

this au will be slightly different, as the ultimate system won’t be used. it will just be fifteen random idols from different group i stan.

also! i will be referencing the murders that happen in the games, so if you’ve played them, you might be able to tell who’s the killer before anything even happens lol. if you do, please don’t spoil it for others.

also also! this game is interactive, but not like the zombie apocalypse one. you’ll be in charge of voting and making decisions for our main character, y/n. you may be in charge of sending someone to their untimely death or be in charge of telling y/n who to hang out with in her free time.

you might also get the chance to create a romantic relationship with another character! so choose wisely!

there will be a poll at the end of every post for this au and that poll will dictate how the next post plays out! make sure to vote each time!

—

hello y/n! my name is emma!

i sound familiar? hmm, maybe you remember me from a different lifetime… interesting...

anyway, let me introduce you to your classmates! here is everyone’s current status! you can ask for it at any time by sending in an ask in the ask box! you’ll also see the status of everyone after every trial!

l/n y/n: alive

lee minhyuk: alive

lee hoseok: alive

im changkyun: alive

kim hongjoong: alive

park seonghwa: alive

choi soobin: alive

kai kamal huening: alive

park jinyoung: alive

kim yugyeom: alive

jeon jungkook: alive

han seungwoo: alive

johnny suh: alive

jung jaehyun: alive

xiao dejun: alive

alright! let’s get going! i hope my explaination of the scenario you’re in is sufficient, but if it isn’t, i’ll try to explain again.

you’re trapped in a boarding school with fourteen other supposed classmates of yours! you can do whatever you want so long as you don’t enter or contact the outside world! you’ve all been provided phones, but they can only call and text everyone else in your ‘class’ and can’t contact 911 or any else.

there are many rules you should know, but here’s a few that haven’t been given to you get:

you must stay inside school property at all times! failing to do so will result in immediate termination!

you can only enter the bathrooms and designated areas your phone allows you to access! there’s a scanner on every door to every area and your phone will either allow or deny you access!

no giving your phone to other people so they can enter areas that are otherwise restricted to them!

nighttime is 10 pm to 7 am. all areas but the dorms, the dining hall, and the lounge are restricted during nighttime! your phone scanners will not allow you into any other areas!

you’ve been assigned a dorm! it’s full of things you’ll love depending on your hobbies and passions! this is to make sure each room looks different so you don’t get confused! you must sleep in the dorms at night! failing to do so will result in immediate termination!

you must kill someone to escape, but try to keep it to one. two killings won’t benefit you at all, so only attempt it if it’s absolutely necessary!

on that note, after one person has been killed, there will be an investigation period! you can talk to anyone you please and search throughout the whole school unrestricted!

once there is one victim, there is one culprit! accomplices will not be permitted enterence into the real world again if the killer doesn’t get caught! and if another killing happens during an investigation period, then only the person who killed the first victim is considered the blackened of the following trial!

that should be all for now! more rules may be added at anytime, but you will be notified when a new rule is added!

now, you have some free time!

who would you like to spend time with today? you can pick any classmate of yours!

[POLL]

[a-marlene-s]

La Red: Part 4

If anyone is interested or want to support my writing feel to drop by.  https://ko-fi.com/a_marlene_s

Second Chance…

Second Chance…

Second Chance.

There are so many chances Marinette could give before she loses how many eff’s she could give about her class now. Except for Sabrina and to some extension, Chole as the bespectacled teen had more or less told the Mayor’s daughter of her past. Just enough so that Chole will not kick up a massive fuss once she returns from her trip with her mother.

Even so, Marinette is alone and needs to start putting the plan into action. The first step is to take a step back and evaluate the situation. That situation is, of course, being one Lila Rossi and her never-ending lies. Attacking the lies directly resulted in her being alienated from the class and Marinette needed to go about it differently. There was no way she is going to take Adrien’s advice. Sabrina made it clear and managed to get into her own mind, that Adrien is someone that she could no longer consider a friend.

Adrien made it loud and clear that her own feelings did not matter, that he made her feel like no one. The no one that Lila is not hurting with her constant lies. Marinette does not need that. What she needs are people that could stand by her, not push her around and force them to comply with the demands of others.

So, when Marinette took her seat in the back of the classroom and ignored Adrien as he too took a seat next to her. Adrien attempted to gain Marinette’s attention, but nothing was working, he needed to talk to her to make sure she sticks with no longer bothering Lila anymore. But no matter how much he tired, to the point of trying to tap on her shoulder, Marinette should move away from her in favor of texting with someone on her phone.

“Marinette?” Adrien said, once again trying to get Marinette’s attention.

“Did you know Jagged put on a poll on his twitter? ‘What’s your favorite animal to have as a pet?’” Marinette couldn’t help but chuckle to herself when she saw Adrien pale at the corner of her eye. “I can’t decide between dog, hamster or Fang.”

“Marinette… did you talk to Jagged about Lila?” Adrien did not bother to hide his accusatory tone from her. It appeared she was not taking the high road.

“Me? Not talking to Jagged? He commissioned me to do some work for him.” Marinette did not look away from her phone. “Are you insinuating I shouldn’t talk to him? About future work?”

For his own part, Adrien recoiled. Oh, how he had temporarily forgotten that Marinette knew Jagged personally and did some work for him. But to personally have his number… and in constant contact with him. “Have you-”

Luckily for Adrien, the teacher walked into the class, announcing they are going to do group projects.

---

❀❀ Mari ❀❀: It’s just that… there’s this new girl at my school, saying that you supposedly have a cat?

🐊 Uncle Jagged 🐊: Really? What kind of stuff is that? Please tell me you don’t believe her, I don’t even like cats. Too mainstream and dangerous to have around Fang. Plus, with Penny’s allergies towards animal fur makes it right down impossible to have one.

Marinette knew two sides to Jagged Stone. The one that he shows to the world, the rock star, and the human behind the mask. If there was one thing, she could easily count on with Jagged is his ability to temporarily drop his façade when the times come for it. He’s being really serious about Lila’s lies that concern him and Penny to an extension.

🐊 Uncle Jagged 🐊: Whenever we have people come backstage, our guards check out of they have been in contact with any sort of animals. Otherwise, we’d make sure Penny doesn’t go near them and I have to steer clear of her after the meet and greet. So not cool with what she is saying. Just say the word and I’ll come by for a visit to clear things up!

❀❀ Mari ❀❀: Don’t come until I say so, I want to keep the fact I know you on the down low right up the time to reveal it…. That and I need to finish your commission.

🐊 Uncle Jagged 🐊: That’s my girl!

---

Bugaboo2: He tried to make me not contact Jagged! I know the guy. He perfectly knew I know the man and I do commissions for him. Did he really expect me not to talk to him about what has been happening???

Little-Miss-Understood: I told you he’s not worth a second chance.

Bugaboo2: I know… It’s just that… I thought, never mind. He made it rather clear that he expects me to take the high road on this and to just roll over to comply with his wishes.

Little-Miss-Understood: Which you are not doing, I hope?

Bugaboo2: No! God no, I am sticking to the plan. He lost his second chance the moment he did not bother to take my feelings into consideration about Lila. What did you manage to pick up on the others?

Little-Miss-Understood: …not good. Lila has a very, firm grip on many of them. The only ones that show promise are Nino, Alix, Ivan and Max. The others a too far gone into Lila’s lies.

Bugaboo2: Really?

Little-Miss-Understood: Nino is following Alya and doing whatever to appease her. He has tried to talk to Alya about her behavior but gets shut down rather quickly about it and Adrien isn’t exactly encouraging his friend to seek the truth either. Alix was never promised anything through Lila’s lies. She simply is skirting around the crowd and never really putting up too much input. Ivan, similar to Nino, he’s following Mylene. Max is an expert in computers not when it comes to humans. Everyone else in the class… we have better luck convincing Alya Ladybug hates her blog than convincing them about Lila’s lies.

Bugaboo2: Understood…. Thank you.”

Little-Miss-Understood: You are welcome. At this point, you need to make a line in the sand and figure out what you are going to do with Alya. Out of everyone in the class, she is the one you need to completely be on board on cutting all ties with her. Lila has her claws gripped tightly to her that Alya will believe everything she says and will defend it to her very last breath.

Bugaboo2: That is what I am afraid of.

---

It was one thing to be around Alya when they are at school, but it is a completely different thing once they are Akuma-fighting superheroes protecting Paris from Hawkmoth. Ladybug needed to reevaluate Rena Rouge and see if her personal life is interfering with her hero work. At first, things were going okay. Nothing out of the norm.

Rena Rouge still being Rena Rouge, if she keeps this up then maybe she still has a chance. Ladybug hopes Rena will be able to separate her civilian life from her hero one. At this point, this could be the only way she could trust her.

Waving good-bye to Chat Noir after taking down another Akuma and it was time to separate ways before the last beep of their miraculous.

“Ladybug!”

‘Right now, she is not Alya. She is Rena Rouge.’ Ran though Ladybug’s mind as she turned around to see Rena running up to her. Rena’s miraculous began to beep, possibly be the beginning of the end. “Yes, Rena?”

“I was wondering if you could tell me how exactly you decide on who becomes a hero?” Rena asked she didn’t bother to hide her excitement let alone that knowing glint in her eyes. “Who receives a miraculous?”

Ladybug took in a deep breath and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. Suspicion began to fill her mind as she knew that familiar glint meant. She had seen it many times before and the outcomes of that glint always got Alya in trouble. “I am not the one who fully decides on who receives a miraculous.”

“But you could put in a good word for someone, right?” Rena asked she bounces on the ball of her feet waiting for Ladybug to confirm her thoughts. “Like with myself?”

Beep.

“More or less but… yes.” Ladybug nearly grounded out, she so did not want to have his conversation with her. She suspects that Rena knows who is Carapace, so that takes Nino of the list of who could be a possible future miraculous holder. “I pick people who I believe we, Chat Noir and I, could fight alongside with. People who have the heart of a hero.”

“Have you thought of having someone else helping us? You know, just in case if we need backup?” Rena did not miss a beat. “Giving Chole a miraculous was a very bad idea. You could have given it to someone else like…. Lila! Your best friend.”

Beep.

Ladybug sucked in a deep breath, who she needed to steer this conversation elsewhere. “Chole… Queen Bee has shown progress in being a hero for Paris. Yes, she still needs some work, but she is getting there. As for Lila… it’s a no.”

Beep.

“No? Why not?” Rena questioned; her entire posture turned defensive. “She’s your best friend, right? Why don’t you consider her as a possible backup…?”

Beep. Where Rena Rouge once was, now stood Alya Cesaire who is still ranting.

Ladybug did not bother to listen to whatever else Alya attempted to argue that Lila would become a stupendous Hero. She managed to get a word in when she saw Alya took in a deep breath to continue with her argument. “What about Marinette? She would make a stupendous hero.”

Alya did not bother to hide a snort of disgruntlement. “Like she’ll even have the time to be a hero. Don’t tell me she is filling your head with lies about Lila. Marinette is jealous of Lila, who by the way, is your best friend!”

“Are you insinuating that Marinette Dapain-Cheng is brainwashing me about Lila Rossi?”

“Yes!”

“You’re fired. Give me back your miraculous.” Ladybug finally said, extending her arm out for Alya to give her back the Fox Miraculous.

“Wh-what?”

“I gave you a second chance and you blew it.”

---

Nino did not know what Alya was telling him through the phone. He had just finished helping his mom at the family’s food mart. Nothing out of the norm for him. It brought in a sense of relief for him from constantly having to run around Alya who is constantly running after Ladybug or helping Ladybug… it’s a never-ending cycle. Then there are the fact things are becoming to become tense ever since Lila transferred into their school.

Alya became obsess with Lila to the point it is becoming a constant strain in their relationship. Either Alya is following or helping Ladybug, following Lila and when they do manage to find some sort of time to date, they both must babysit their younger siblings. There were times that he actually preferred to stay home to take care of Chris than to go out after a long day, more so to not get in trouble with his mom. He had to bribe Chris to not spill the beans that Marinette has been babysitting him to oppose himself.

Marinette… Nino felt uneasy with how things were going for her in and out of school. Every time he attempted to say something, Alya, Lila and even Adrien will quarrel down his doubts about her supposed attitude towards Lila’s words. Of course, he’s not exactly innocent on the entire matter, he knows he plays a part to it and those doubts are once again rising as Alya cried through the phone.

“What do you mean, you got fired?” Nino had to lower down his voice as he walked past a random couple. What was said next caused Nino to physically and mentally take a step back. Is Alya blaming Marinette for what happened? How did that happen? Of course, he knew that Marinette had encountered Ladybug and Chat Noir from time to time, but to be in talking terms with Ladybug? To supposedly brainwash her about Lila. Nothing was making sense to him. No, the only way to make sense of things is to talk to Ladybug about what happened. Yeah, that’s what he’ll do.

Nino looked up into the sky wondering how he would start the search to look for Ladybug when he saw her swinging by. She is probably looking for a place to power down before her own timer goes off. Lucky for him, the street is clear, and no one was around to hear him shout out for her. “Ladybug!”  

For her own part, Ladybug did take a pause to land in front of a randomly closed storefront before she turned around to the person that called out her name. From what he could see from his spot, Nino could see that Ladybug is trying really hard to not cry and putting up a strong front. “Is something wrong? Another Akuma attack?”

“No, no, nothing like that.” Nino measured his steps when he walked up to her. “Could we talk?”

“We are talking right now.” Ladybug pointed out.

“As Nino… not as…” Nino trailed off, he had reached up to pull on his cap to make a certain point with her. “To not raise suspicion. I just want to talk about is all.”

Ladybug looked away from Nino, chewing on her bottom lip wondering if she should talk to him. Then she remembered her plan and promise. She has yet to give Nino his own second chance. His own second chance is not connected to Alya’s own decisions, he is own person and thus, she needed to know where he stood in all this massive mess. With that in mind…

“We’ll talk during patrol tonight.”

---

“Does anyone bother to ask me about Lila? No one does! Alya… oh, Alya…” Ladybug does not know what got into her when she started to tell Carapace everything, well almost everything, on what has been happening to her. Mainly going over how Lila’s lies have been affecting her. She could later chalk it up to the fact that she and Nino were once close friends before life got the better of them. That and she really wanted to get it off her chest that is not Tikki. There are so many cookies she could bribe the little kwami so that she would not do something her own self. “She claims to be a good reporter who always verifies her sources, she never bothered to ask me if her supposed reports are true? No. She does not. Everything Lila has ever said about me is…”

Carapace rubbed his forehead as he took in Ladybug’s words. Oh, he should have seen this coming. He should have seen this coming from who knows how long ago. From the way Ladybug is describing Alya, it makes his girlfriend sound like Lady Wifi. Someone that will stop at nothing to update the Ladyblog with the next best thing, without even caring on how she gets the information.

“To top it all off… Lila had nearly caused me-Marinette to get Akumatized.” Ladybug huddled into herself, whispering out the word more to herself than to Carapace.

“What?” Carapace could not hide his shock at the news that he didn’t even take note of Ladybug’s slight slip up. “Marinette nearly got Akumatized? When? How? Is she okay?”

Ladybug looked away from Carapace in favor to look out into the city. They ended up on some random rooftop that overlooked the city. “At this point, it is hard to say. She confided to me what Lila has been saying and doing against her.”

“What has she been doing against Marinette?” Carapace asked from his spot on the roof. He knew he should not allow his emotions to get the best of him. That would only invite Hawkmoth to bring in more trouble whenever it is not necessary. “Ladybug, what has Lila been doing against Marinette?”

“…It’s not my story to say, I’m sorry. If you want to know more, you have to ask Marinette yourself.”

---

Marinette groaned into her hands as she paced around her room. She really messed up tonight. Really messed up. She said faaar too much to Carap-no, to Nino. She said far too much to Nino about what has been happening to her.

What if he did not believe her?

What if he will once again get entrap by Lila’s lies?

What if-

Tikki, for her own part, could only shake her head as she had her fill with cookies. She felt bad for Marinette but knew that what was said could not be undone. At least she did not stop Nino from continuing his work as a Miraculous Wieldier at this point. Maybe there is still some hope for him? Time will tell at this point.

Marinette’s phone rang, causing the teen to trip over her own two feet. She quickly went over to her desk where she was charging her phone to see an incoming call… from Alya.

Taking in a deep breath, she answered the call and waited for whatever Alya wanted to complain about this time.

“NINO BROKE UP WITH ME BECAUSE OF YOU!!!!”

Marinette pulled her phone away from her ear to see who exactly she is talking to. Once seeing it is Alya that is calling her, she put the phone up to her ear once more. Alya continued with her yelling on with blaming her now former best friend onto why she was blaming her for the breakup. All of which is a load of bull. Lots of it.

“Alya… Alya… Alya…” Marinette began to lose her patience with the girl on the other line. It got to the point she simply allowed Alya to scream while Marinette pulled up her messenger app to text Sabrina.

Bugaboo2: Alya and Nino just broke up. She’s blaming me because of it.

Little-Miss-Understood: I know, she created a group chat to ‘discuss’ about it with all the girls minus you. Luckily for you, Rose once witnessed them arguing about one thing or another ever since Lila came into the picture. She believes that it was something that was bound to happen is Alya is looking for any excuse to blame anyone but herself.

Bugaboo2: Really? Rose…?

Little-Miss-Understood: I may or may not have something to do with that…. Did you have anything to do with the breakup? Just wondering.

Bugaboo2: I…. I’ll text you later. Alya is losing her voice.

Little-Miss-Understood: She’s calling you?

Bugaboo2: More like screaming.

Little-Miss-Understood: Please tell me you are recording this.

Bugaboo2: What do you take me for? I’ll send you a copy late tonight. Plus, depending on how tonight goes, I may have gained a friend back.

Little-Miss-Understood: Keep me informed.

Marinette closed the app before she put the phone by her ear once more. “Are you done?”

“What the hell does that supposed to mean!!!!”

“I haven’t talked to Nino in weeks. Weeks.” Marinette didn’t bother to hold back a hiss. “Every time I’ve ever seen him is when he’s spending time together with you or Adrien. I never could even say hi to him before you drag him to who knows what. Stop blaming me for something that is completely out of my control. Maybe you’d spend less time gossiping with Lila, you would have seen the massive train wreck that’s coming your way.”

Without even waiting for a response, Marinette hung up on Alya. She was so tempted in throwing her phone against the wall in frustration but the last time she did that, she almost hit Tikki. That was the last time she ever threw anything in her room. Along with having to make several trips down into the bakery to grab cookies Tikki and many, many apologies afterward. Yeah… not her greatest moments to date.

Marinette was about to put her phone back to charge when another call was coming in. Muttered under her breath, wondering who is calling her this time. Her eyebrows shot up when she saw it was Nino who is calling her. Looking over at Tikki, who had by now taken refuge somewhere under the bed, peaked under the covers to motion her to pick up on the call when she saw Marinette’s look of complete distress.

Answering the call made Marinette wince as silence was the only thing she heard. “Hello…? Nino?”

“I take it Alya called you?” Nino asked from the other side of the line.

Oh, she is going to need to sit down for this. “I did. She is blaming me because you two broke up. What happened?”

“I… I need… How do I say this…?”

Marinette could tell that Nino is struggling with whatever he wanted to say with her by a massive long shot. There was a long pause between them. It wasn’t awkward or felt completely out of place. It was just giving someone enough time to gather their thoughts before they say what was needed to be said.

“How was your day today? How are you feeling?” Nino asked.

Marinette could hear Nino cursing at himself for not saying what he actually wanted to say. “I no longer have a best friend; she thinks I brainwashed her now ex-boyfriend and is not talking crap about me to someone that threatened me… yeah. Not so good.”

Pause…

“Could we meet tomorrow? I don’t want to say I’m sorry through the phone, I rather say it in person.”

“You just said, ‘I’m sorry’ just right now and I accept your apology.”

“Marinette… I swear you’re too good of a person for any of us. I’m serious. I want to hear your side of what’s been going on without anyone interfering.”

“Promise not to judge or jump to conclusions?”

“I’ll listen. I’ve been told I’m a great listener.”

“Alright. Tomorrow.” Marinette agreed before she hung up. She looked up at her ceiling, wondering who she is going to face Nino tomorrow. Lucky for them, tomorrow is a Sunday and classes. Or maybe that’s a bad thing… no, it’s good. The last thing she wants is to face Alya tomorrow for something that might as well be her own doing.

Marinette could not help shaking her head at the thought. She’s going to have to talk to Nino about the breakup tomorrow. To see what happened and what broke the camel’s back on their relationship. She wanted to feel bad but at the same time, she does not feel bad about what happened. At now she could honestly say, she possibly gained back a friend that is more than willing to stand by her side during this tiring time.

[shapeshiftersandfire]

the betting pool. From, Upon the Heads of Sunflowers

CW: box boy universe, betting, dehumanization, discussions of noncon

tag list: @eatyourdamnpears​

notes: Director Renford (mentioned) belongs to @ashintheairlikesnow​

There was a reason Eva rarely talked about her trainees with her fellow handlers, save for an incredibly small handful—those she had to speak to and those she chose to speak to—and the betting pool is most of them.

She’s always watched it from a distance, always chosen to stay out of it when asked, and she’s never been a part of it, never wanted to be a part of it, not until she became 657128’s handler. Then, all eyes were on her and everyone was betting on what designation her currently non-productive trainee would be assigned to.

Eva’s seen the poll. Romantic is the near unanimous favorite, with only a scattered few going toward Domestic and Platonic. And she hates it. She hates it every fiber of her being. She hates that she’s at the center of it, she hates that her sweet little trainee is caught up in something that has so many layers of vile to it, and there’s next to nothing she can do about it.

The damn poll stares her in the face when she goes to lunch. The dozens upon dozens of tally marks from handlers who have seen 657128, all betting that the poor thing is going to be designated Romantic on the day she finally gets her order. Eva has half a mind to buy the girl herself and train her how she wants. It’s just too bad company policy says otherwise.

Every moment more she stares at it is another moment she wants to hurl her Snapple at it. To see it drenched in peach tea and ruined well beyond repair, or at the very least stained with pale orange liquid if it means she can leave her mark of disdain on it.

“Staring at the board again, eh, Bronsky?” Brigham claps her on the back. She hadn’t even heard him come in. “Beautiful thing, ain’t it?”

She grunts. She can’t wait for someone to order 657128 as a Domestic, just to wipe that smug grin off all those handlers’ faces.

“What?” he asks. He drops his lunchbox at her table, slides into a seat diagonal from her, and she really wishes he would fuck off and let her seeth in peace. “Not fond of the thought of your little trainee on her knees, telling us how much she wants it?”

“No,” Eva says tightly. “I’m not.” Suddenly it’s the board she wants to hurl her Snapple at. Her grip tightens around the top. She could break Brigham’s jaw with this if she really wants to, and she really wants to.

“That’s fine,” Brigham says, either not understanding she doesn’t want to hear anymore from him or not caring. “You won’t have to be there. We can fill you in after, how pretty your girl looks. And I’ll bet she/ll look great, with them big blue eyes a hers—”

That’s the last straw. Eva slams the Snapple bottle against the table, her chair dragging across the floor as she stands and goes to the board she hates so, so much, the betting pool she’s never put her name in, never wanted to put her name in, and adds a tally to the Domestic column.

“You will never get your hands on that girl.”

I’m going to make sure of it.

                                                          [***]

The morning after 657128 gets her order, the break room is buzzing. Eva has her trainee’s order form rolled up in her hands, and instead of the rush of disgust she’s gotten used to when all the handlers who bet in favor of 657128 being shuffled off to the Romantic division, it’s triumph. She’s about to wipe the smug grins off all their faces and she’s got no one to thank but herself.

She holds up the rolled form. Word had gotten out sometime last evening, after a few handlers had spotted Director Renford meeting with 657128 and Eva. The group chat had been shockingly devoid of comments and questions, and either they had enough respect for Eva not to flood her with questions immediately, or they’d made another group chat without her to throw around their conspiracy theories and bets. She’s never liked the betting pool, after all.

“My trainee got her order in,” she says. And all of you owe me money. She has no idea what amounts had been bet on her girl’s future. If the amount of tallies in the Romantic column are anything to go by, it’s a hefty amount.

A cheer goes up from the handlers, a mix of fucking finally—because albino trainees were both incredibly rare and incredibly difficult to sell—and we have ourselves another Romantic.

Eva leans against the wall, slowly unrolling the paper as her colleagues settle down, still buzzing with anticipation, whilst she brims with vindication. All of that goes out of the room when she reads off the name on the order form.

“Her?”

“For fucking real?”

“What was all that about never working with WRU?”

“Waste of a perfectly good trainee, if you ask me. That girl won’t last a day—”

“Well shit, I didn’t take the Alpha for the romantic type—”

Eva stares at the handler evenly, fighting back the grin she so wants to flash. “Then I guess it’s a good thing the Alpha didn’t order a Romantic.”

“No—”

“Are you fucking kidding me—”

“I bet good money on this—”

And she lets them argue for a while, going back and forth, voicing their very clear disdain for the Alpha’s decision—or maybe it’s the disdain in having to pay Eva and the others who voted Domestic so damn much. It’s only going to get better—or worse, depending which you were on—when Eva informs them of the Alpha’s very specific requirements. They aren’t meant for 657128.

Eva snaps the paper, clears her throat. She’s never liked the betting pool, she still doesn’t, even while she’s always had a knack for proving people wrong. Even while part of her wonders what this is going to mean for her going forward. How many of these handlers are going to take out their frustrations on her poor trainee in other ways?

“The Alpha wants her trained as a Domestic.”

Another caterwaul goes up, filled with disappointment and anger, both in having been wrong and having to pay up, and it’s as the money starts going around that Eva realizes just how much was put into the betting pool. It’s a truly alarming amount, at least by her standards, speaking as someone who’s never seen the final results of a completed bet. The exhilaration at having put the Romantic handlers in their place is squashed and replaced with something more uncomfortable as someone hands her a wad of dollars. She has no idea how much is in it.

[prettygraceful]

the worst SH character: 3a talk

ok that underhill/ alec dynamics set was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so here we go. no bad feelings at all from me towards that blog tho! they ran a poll so they must honor the results. but when it comes to the fans who claim to love magnus- yet still like underhill- and especially the showrunners and writers of this duplicitous character... yikes. ok, i’m going to break my thoughts into 3 posts- 1 for addressing 3x05/ 3x06, and 2 for 3x15- cuz otherwise it might be too long for everyone to easily read. i’ve really tried to thoroughly explain it all.

unlike blonde shadowhunter OC #1 (lydia) who was the means to a good end- alec finally accepting himself- blonde shadowhunter OC #2 (underhill) was only created for unnecessary malec drama. and unlike OC #1 who left soon after fulfilling the purpose of her creation- OC #2 didn’t leave, even in the finale. and for what, since he didn’t have any narrative importance or redeeming qualities. 

so let’s start from the beginning of underhill’s story: 3x05. now on the surface, his 1st scene was important- telling alec that it was inspiring when he openly accepted himself and developed a relationship. but all of underhill’s words and actions after that, proved the latter part of that moment- about magnus- to be very disingenuous. how? well, let’s get into it- my points build on each other.

so onto 3x06. all of the alec/ underhill scenes were just a will they- won’t they, pseudo cheating arc. the fandom turned the discussion of that ep into “see i knew alec would never cheat.” well yeah, obviously not- alec’s sentiments over his father were made clear in 2x08 and 2x16. and the fact that the writers did saia- closure- then sizzy instead of cheater!simon like in the books, showed that they understood that cheating is the disrespectful action of a bad person. so obviously alec cheating was never a possibility, but that’s not the point? at all? showrunners/ writers can set up a bullsh*t arc, even if their audience knows they’ll never see it thru. for example, the bogus “oh clary’s dead” in 3x10. that was never going to happen, yet they still did that arc tho! do you see my point?

in 3x06, the typical will they- won’t they beats were all there: alec looking back at underhill after he helped maryse. alec’s open bitterness/ sadness at magnus while getting drunk in a bar (a common visual storytelling technique to imply the possibility of bad choices). underhill- the new theoretical “option”- a gay man- *coincidentally* appears when alec is in a vulnerable state. and he’s oh so nice with "i’ll help you”, and alec’s “you’d do that?” in that voice. and finally, even after alec bluntly rejects him while getting into the cab, they still made sure to keep underhill’s reflection on the cab window for pseudo dramatics- implying maybe it wasn’t the end of this possibility. (unlike the clear closure with dot at the end of 2x13- which also was different cuz that arc was dealt with overtly).

i know it is uncomfortable to admit the writers would stoop to the low brow pointless drama of an “almost cheated” storyline- and that they only introduced a new gay character for drama- but they did. and given how much the gays on here like to brag over their ability to read subtext, i was shocked when everyone was adamantly saying that underhill’s motives were totally pure. he was being nice “just for the sake of friendship” about as much as lorenzo rey was in 3x02. and given who alec is- despite being sad/ drunk- he was written OOC here imo.

and lastly, it’s necessary to mention that the problem here lies not only with the writers and the character, but also underhill’s actor: steve byers. shortly after he was cast, he quipped about a malec/ underhill threesome. he shouldn’t have gotten a pass for that, just cuz he was new. one doesn’t get invited into a new place, only to piss on the carpet first thing. and then just earlier this year byers posted a fan’s manip of underhill in place of magnus in 2x18, so it was him with alec- also proving his initial quip was not mere ignorance. then when byers was called out on this, he insulted the fans instead of apologizing for his disrespect.

so when fans still included him in this year’s pride sets, that was... baffling. and disappointing cuz neither the character nor the actor deserves to be celebrated. there’s good rep on this show, so bad rep really doesn’t need to be recognized. and it’s... understandable when dom’s quips of romantic-jalec are overlooked, since he’s a favored main, and especially since matt’s been regularly pressuring the fandom into silence for the last few years. but why are some parts of the malec fandom willing to disregard rudeness for the likes of mr. nobody byers?

ok, 3a talk done. so both of the 3b commentaries will be posted next week. i know this is long, but i wanted to make sure all the points were fully explained. and plz note that this post is only a preface to the real problems- all 3 of the posts need to be read to get the entire point i’m making. thank you for reading :)