#but some timeline errors are so fucking obviously wrong that it takes me out of a fic

[likelylarks]

xx

[stillness-in-green]

No, Re-Destro Is Not Destro’s Literal Son

and

Yes, I Will Die On This Hill

I have a number of small, persistent quibbles with some of the widespread misapprehensions I see included in BNHA fanfic, quoted as fact in meta posts, even cited on the wiki. Quirk cancellation restraints, what the 20% quirklessness data point means in practice, when Kurogiri comes into existence relative to the time of the Shimura Family Massacre, things like that. My biggest one, though, is as the title suggests: the idea that Yotsubashi Rikiya is Yotsubashi Chikara’s son.

I don’t entirely know where this confusion comes from. As far as I can tell, the early scanlations didn’t get it wrong—one rendered the line in Chapter 218 about Destro having a child he didn’t know about as being children, plural, but otherwise, they were all accurate enough. It seems people just assumed that the child mentioned in 218 must be Re-Destro, who was, after all, right there on the panel. Even though the scanlations never said it, even though the official translation never said it, even though ample evidence in the manga disproves it, the idea still got around that Rikiya is Chikara’s son.

I have and will maintain that this is obviously wrong if you stop to think about it for even a moment, but unfortunately, most people don’t. The error can be found on less well-tended parts of the fandom wiki[1]; it’s in tumblr meta posts about the villains; it’s in fanfic.

And now, god help me, it is on the official anime website, too.

“Stillness-in-green, maybe you should consider that you might just be wro—”

I will face BONES and walk backwards into hell.

But if you want, you can come with me, and I’ll explain on the way. Hit the jump.

Dialogue + Narration

There are two places where the relationship between Chikara and Rikiya is explicitly addressed—the lead-in to the dinner scene in Chapter 218 and the fight between Clone!Shigaraki and RD in Chapter 232. If you include the Ultra Analysis databook, the number goes up to four: once each in Re-Destro and Destro Classic’s character blurbs.

Let’s take a look at each of those places, shall we?

The relevant Japanese text here is in the first narration box: 子ども, kodomo.

Kodomo is not gendered. It literally just means child. The key kanji is 子, ko. Like most kanji, it has a lot of potential readings, and you can add other kanji to it to modify it. Add 息 and you get musuko, son. Pronounce 子 as shi instead of ko, and you get a term that is frequently, though not exclusively, used to refer to boys. Add 女 to that reading and you get joshi, woman/girl. 子 is in a lot of words, many of them gendered! Used for kodomo as Hori does here, though, it does nothing to indicate a gender one way or the other.

Also too, it does nothing to indicate that Rikiya is the child in question; it simply states that there was such a child, somewhere in the world. Now, the natural assumption for anyone who knows how the graphic novel medium works and who understands basic literary analysis would be that the significant character we just met is, in fact, the child in question—except that everything else we learn about Destro and the original Meta Liberation Army here makes it entirely impossible.

I’ll do a full breakdown on why that is in the next section. In the meantime, here’s the next reference:

Here, we’re looking at the phrase the Viz translation renders as, “His blood runs through these veins.” The literal Japanese there is, Desutoro no matsuei chi o tsugu mono! In a literal translation, chi o tsugu mono means, “one who inherits the blood,” or, more loosely, “blood successor.” It’s matsuei—末裔—that’s the key word here.

Japanese has several words to express the concept of “descendant.” Matsuei is one word; the data book uses shison. So what’s the difference? Well, I’ll talk about shison in a moment, but I had an inkling of it just from looking at the kanji in matsuei—“end” and “descendant” respectively, leaving me with an impression of something like a final descendant or the terminus of the bloodline. Further research confirmed it: shison can refer to any lineal blood tie, but matsuei refers to a bloodline’s final inheritor, the person at the end of a long line of many, or even countless, generations. It’s the difference between being able to point to a grandparent and the kind of painstaking genealogical research that lets you[2] point to a famous royal from eight hundred years ago—matsuei is a word that very much assumes the existence of those countless generations.

So not only does Rikiya’s line there not imply that he’s Chikara’s son, but his specific word choice also tells us that he cannot be Chikara’s son. That’s, uh. Pretty conclusive, I would say.

Lastly, though, there’s also the data book. This is, perhaps, the actual closest you’re going to get to a manga equivalent of those character blurbs on the anime website, at least until such time as Hori deigns to give the MLA types character profile pages. (I live ever in hope.)

There are two relevant bits of text, one in Re-Destro’s entry, and the other in Destro Classic’s. The first describes how Re-Destro organizes the MLA as Desutoro no chi o tsugu mono: the same phrase he uses for himself in the manga, minus the matsuei. @codenamesazanka (the one who told me about the databook references among other citations, bless) rendered it as “Destro’s blood successor”; I have also seen it given as “the successor of Destro’s bloodline.” Note again, the lack of reference to a father/son bond.

Chikara’s entry uses that other descendant word I mentioned before, 子孫, shison. Notice that the term uses that ko kanji from kodomo before? As it does in joshi, 子 here reads shi. The other kanji, 孫, means grandchild. Thus, literally, grandchild-child—or, in the vernacular, simply descendant.

And then we have the anime website.

So, for comparison’s sake, the anime website uses 息子—the same combination of kanji that I said earlier gives you musuko, son. Heck, it even uses 父, chichi, for Destro—father. It’s as explicit as it’s possible to be, and I just don’t know why or how the anime website could fuck that up so bad when absolutely nothing in the manga describes the two Yotsubashis that way, and, indeed, one specific word choice actually rules out the possibility.

So, that’s all the manga says directly. It’s not the only evidence there is, though. In fact, the next piece makes it even more clear how colossally and impossibly wrong a father/son connection for Destro and his modern successor is.

Timeline

The long and short of this section is, “Since Harima Oji was Sako Atsuhiro’s great-great-grandfather, there is no possible way that Destro—who pre-dated Harima—can be Re-Destro’s father.” If you read that sentence and nodded your complete understanding and agreement, feel free to skip ahead to the last section. If you’d like the full explanation it takes to reach that sentence’s conclusion, though, read on.

So, aside from the word matsuei, the timeline is the most telling piece of evidence to my eye. I address it secondly rather than firstly because it’s less direct than the explicit narration; it relies on drawing conclusions based on things we’ve been told elsewhere rather than on the immediately relevant text. Oh, Mr. Compress’s relationship to Harima is explicit enough, but on what am I basing my claim that Destro predates him?

Regarding that, there’s no explicit year relative to My Hero Academia’s current events given for when Destro and the original Meta Liberation Army were active; the same is true for Harima Oji’s escapades. However, we are given some broad-strokes information, relative not to current events, but rather to the history of heroism as a legal institution in Japan.

We know that there was a widespread, lengthy period of chaos following the rise of quirks—called meta-abilities in those early years. At some point, however, people began to search for a way for meta-humans to live in peace with non-metas. The compromise that was reached was the foundation of professional heroism in Japan—while the use of meta-abilities would be legal in private settings, it was only by becoming licensed by the state as “heroes” that people could use their quirks in public.[3]

The legislation curtailing the use of meta-abilities—and the appropriation of a dead woman’s language to popularize a law establishing exactly the opposite of what she used that language to call for—is what catalyzed the rise of the original MLA. Thus, we can position Destro as being alive and active around the same time that heroism as a legal institution was being formed. Since we further know that he committed suicide in prison, we can assume that his child was conceived at some point prior to his capture. Ergo, Destro’s child, were they alive today, would be as old as Japanese professional heroism itself.

Next, consider Harima Oji, the Peerless Thief, a criminal who targeted the riches of “sham heroes.” We’re specifically told that he was active in the days in which the current system was settling into place—e.g. he only became active once the Hero System was established enough to have produced corrupt heroes. We’re told he preached reformation—he wasn’t just some pre-existing criminal who saw a shiny new target in heroes; he had specific grievances which he wanted addressed by the system, and which the system was not addressing.

The earliest Harima could possibly be active, then, is concurrent with Destro—Harima fighting against the corrupt people who had found their way into the new heroic institution, and Destro fighting against using the institution of heroism to oppress non-heroes. What I think is more likely, though, is that Harima came after Destro—Harima needed to have had time to realize what kinds of fakes had been drawn to this shiny new career path, maybe even to spend some time trying to change things the legal way.

I don’t suspect they were separated by very long—I would imagine Destro was easily within Harima’s living memory, and might well have influenced why he chose the path of protest that he did—but I do think they were separate.

Moving forward, then, Mr. Compress is four generations distant from his famous ancestor. Thus, even if you assume that Harima is of the same generation as Chikara, that’s what you’re looking at for Chikara’s child: someone who, were they alive today, would be old enough to be the great-grandparent of a thirty-two-year-old man.

Re-Destro’s probably a few years older than Mr. C, sure,[4] but that man doesn’t have Ujiko’s slow-aging quirk. Unless you want to start pulling theories about cryogenic stasis the story for some reason never saw fit to mention out of thin air, Re-Destro is in no way old enough to fit the bill.

This is backed up by one other piece of the timeline as well, and one more place we can look at language:

The small child at the center of the image is Rikiya, so young that he’s in schoolboy shorts for a meeting otherwise so formal that he’s been made to wear a tie. He’s, what, six to nine here, tops? And the adults speaking to him say that they’ve been in hiding for generations—代々, daidai, the kanji for generation followed by a kanji that just means, “See that kanji written right before me? Yeah, just read that one again.”

The original MLA was active for only a handful of years, and, per Chapter 218, they didn’t dissolve until Destro was captured. Thus, we can assume they have been in hiding since then, but not before then. With that in mind, this is another line that renders a father/son relationship impossible.

Remember, Chikara already had a child in the world circa his capture. If Rikiya were Chikara’s son, then Destro’s capture and his army’s subsequent dissolution could not have happened any farther back than nine months plus however old Rikiya was in this exact moment of his youth. Rikiya, who we see here as a child of less than ten.

Ten years in hiding doesn’t make one generation; it damn sure doesn’t make multiple ones.

Now, you could make theories about cryogenic statis that would explain this ludicrous discrepancy, sure. You could also theorize about e.g. artificial insemination,[5] or time stop quirks, or any number of other possibilities in the vast panoply the HeroAca world offers. The point is, though, that you don’t need to. There was, in the manga, no discrepancy that needed to be explained. It is only fanon misinterpretation and a glaring disinterest in the series’ villains from official sources that have presented this issue.

I’m praying that it’s all just a misunderstanding on the part of whoever maintains the website, and that the anime itself will render the relevant bits of dialogue correctly. Given the extreme cuts and alterations that My Villain Academia has been subjected to thus far, though, I’m sure you can appreciate my being concerned.

…So that’s the meat of it. The idea that Rikiya is Chikara’s son is wrong simply on the basis of what’s said in the text, and it’s doubly wrong on the basis of the timeline. There is, though, one other thing I think points towards Re-Destro being exactly the descendant he says he is, not a son playing down the connection out of humility or something. This one is a lot more headcanon-y, though, so I saved it for last.

MLA Social Dynamics

It’s quite simple. We have, in the MLA, a group of people that venerates Destro’s bloodline to an obviously unhealthy degree, putting up portraits of him wherever they can get away with it, tagging his successor with a “Re-” as if to invoke reincarnation or miraculous return, entirely willing to throw their lives away for what they think was his cause, and others’ lives if those others say anything too scathing about the words Destro wrote, quite as if they treat Destro’s memoir as some sort of holy writ.

They venerate Destro that much, and you’re trying to tell me that they wouldn’t just call a spade a spade and acknowledge RD as the son of their great leader? Come on.

Since long before I turned up the matsuei factoid in researching this piece, since long before Mr. Compress gave us such a helpful generational comparison, I’ve held the opinion that, given a group that holds their leaders in such high esteem, with such particular regard for bloodline, the only reason Rikiya does just call himself a descendant, rather than citing the specific term for what he is, is that the specific term is distant enough that it actually does sound more impressive to just say “descendant,” rather than something like, “great-great-great-grandson.” That kind of thing just begs the question, “What took you guys so long?” or, “You and how many other people, buddy?”

Mr. Compress may have the panache to carry off a line like that, but Rikiya’s a different story. If he had something so amazing up his sleeve as, “I am the son of the great Destro,” I have to think he’d just say it proudly, not fall back on the impressionistic vaguery of something like chi o tsugu mono. Even if I had no other evidence to work with, I’d think the same—all the evidence you need is right there in the character writing of who Rikiya and the MLA are and how they talk about the man whose dreams Re-Destro was raised to carry.

A closing note: I will allow that Rikiya is being overdramatic when he uses matsuei and its connotation of countless generations. There are a few other things we can use to trace the history of heroism—Ujiko’s age, and the 18-years-or-less periods that One For All was held by its pre-All Might bearers—and running those numbers leads me to believe that it is, in fact, entirely possible to count the number of generations between Rikiya and Chikara, and the number, while higher than one, is probably not all that high. Certainly matsuei is being more dramatic about it than is entirely warranted, hence the poetic flourish of the official translation’s, “His blood runs through these veins!” The theatricality only makes me fonder of him, however.

------------------------

FOOTNOTES

[1] It was changed and reverted on Re-Destro’s page at least twice before it finally stuck in January of this year. Chikara’s page took until July to be corrected, and it’s still wrong on various other subpages.

[2] Or your kids, if you have those. Only the last generation in the bloodline is the matsuei, but that’s a moving goalpost as long as the bloodline is still propagating.

[3] This summary of events combines what we know from both My Hero Academia proper and the Vigilantes spin-off, which I recommend to anyone who’s at all interested in finer-grained worldbuilding on Hero Society Japan than the main series makes time for.

[4] I personally headcanon him as 42.

[5] To which point I would refer back to the word kodomo, and note that that word choice indicates that Destro had a child in the world. Not a sperm sample kept in a freezer somewhere, waiting for the right would-be mother: an actual child. Some quick research on my part says that the farthest that term stretches is in using it to refer to yet-unborn children, fetuses still in the womb. Seeing as Japan doesn’t even allow inmates conjugal visits in real life, much less in a setting where villains are so dehumanized that Tartarus is an acceptable punishment for them, the line about Destro “having a child out in the world” takes us right back to a date of conception no later than Destro’s final night of freedom.

[angelhummel]

why do you think Blaine cheating wasn't that bad? i know Kurt wasn't great and basically ignored him but how is cheating the answer? especially when he visited Kurt soon after and could've had a conversation? (just to clarify I love Blaine and Klaine, i just thought Blaine was totally wrong to cheat)

oof okay i’m going to try and like bullet point things bc if i expanded on every single argument then we’d be here for hours lol

Blaine was already insecure about Kurt leaving him behind, saying Kurt would have new friends, a new life, etc. Already feeling like Kurt was moving on without him

He thought those fears were coming true after Kurt had been in NY for weeks (if not months - weird timeline) and was starting to ignore him

People minimize it and say it was one missed phone call but it wasn’t

People also credit it to Kurt being busy at his job, which was hardly ever the case

We see Blaine looking sad when he’s trying to ask Kurt’s advice on what to wear - we know how much Kurt loves picking out Blaine’s clothes - and Kurt basically ignores the question and keeps talking about his video

Kurt cuts a call with Blaine short basically just to gossip with someone

And the missed phone call is late at night when he’s just hanging around schmoozing, not working

People also make it seem like Blaine was practically already on the way to see Kurt and couldn’t resist cheating like, minutes before he got to the airport lol

He had a scheduled visit in two weeks, which probably felt like an eternity when he’d already gone so long without seeing Kurt

We see Blaine struggle throughout the show with all sorts of problems. Depression, low self esteem, body dysmorphia, abandonment issues, feeling like he always has to be in control. He’s not a bad person for feeling these things. And this is when they all sort of collide and lead to something he will, and obviously does regret

We even hear it straight from his mouth. He felt like Kurt was moving on without him. Long distance is hard. In his eyes, going for one visit after weeks and weeks apart was probably like putting a bandaid over a bullet wound

He thought there was no point in talking because he thought his relationship was as good as over

He jumped to the worst conclusions, like he also has a tendency to do. And he fucked up. And he knew he fucked up

Literally immediately after this fuck up he rushes to NY to talk to Kurt. To come clean about everything and confess what he did and hopefully start to make things right again

I know that comparing a bad thing to a worse thing doesn’t make the bad thing good but. He didn’t cheat bc he was bored, he didn’t cheat bc he needed the ego boost, he didn’t cheat to get revenge. He didn’t make a habit of it. He didn’t manipulate anyone. He didn’t lie about what he did, or go as long as he could without telling Kurt the truth

99% of the characters on this show cheated, usually for the most petty and asinine reasons. Blaine is one of the few that actually makes sense story and characterwise. It goes beyond some stupid “serial cheater”, “constantly juggling two girls” or “break up with your boyfriend, I’m bored” motive that every other cheater seemed to have

And I’m sorry, I really didn’t want to vague anyone in this post. But I saw someone say “if Blaine loved Kurt as much as he did, he should’ve felt comfortable enough to be vocal about his insecurities”. Love is not a cure all for any negative feelings brought on by a person’s mental illness. Blaine’s love for Kurt, and his inability to always eloquently express what’s wrong with him, actually have very little to do with each other. And these insecurities get brought up again in s5 and we see Blaine continuing his struggle in working through them. It’s a hugely significant part of his character arc

And I won’t hear any “it’s not that deep” excuse bc in s6 Blaine outright says he’s seeing a therapist and working on his mental health issues. We can’t pretend like his depression is just a fan theory with no in-show evidence to back it up

And just to clarify for myself, the above bullet points aren’t me trying to shit on Kurt or blame him for all of this. Same with all Klaine fights, I understand some of both sides but don’t think either one is necessarily right or wrong. It’s never all black and white with them. So while I honestly don’t like how Kurt was treating Blaine around this time, I don’t blame him for this, either. I don’t blame either of them

They’re just two teenage boys in over their heads and they take a few trials and errors to finally get things right and that’s okay. They learned from their mistakes and managed to grow closer and stronger from them in the end. And that’s all that matters, and that’s why I love them so much ♡♡

[electriclocean]

Pansy Parkinson x Female muggle! reader HC

This is my first time writing in Tumblr! English is not my first language, apologize for any grammatical errors.

Warning: my English, a few swear words 

Word count: 1.3k 

I kinda changed the timeline so it fits

- It was after the war. Pansy moved in with Draco, Blaise, and Theo in a 3 bedroom apartment in a small city near London. 

- The first week in the muggle world had been chaotic. They had a hard time adjusting. The four of them really tried to not use any magic at first, even in the apartment, but gave up after a few days. They agreed to use magic only in the apartment.

- The first few weeks were hard for them. Nightmares almost every night, they find it very hard to sleep some nights. They hardly went out, only going out to buy food or groceries.

- After 2 months not going out, Pansy was the first to start going out, she got tired of the boys bickering every time.

- She found a small coffee shop near the apartment, wondering how the hell did she not noticed it before. The place was small, but comfy. It’s not really crowded so she likes it.

- That’s where she met you. You are a part timer at the shop, working as the cashier. 

- After the third time, you were quick to remember Pansy’s order. It’s always the same order.

- “The usual, right? Hot mocha latte?”

- You saw her almost everyday after that. Pansy stayed for an hour or so. Sometimes looking around the shop (she’s looking at you), sometimes she brought a book with her.

- Thus she started making small talks with you every time she orders. A simple “how are you today?”, “how’s your day?”, “how’s your drink?”.

- The small talks turn into a new friendship, if the store isn’t really crowded, you would sit with her. Other times, you ask her to meet you after work so you two can talk more freely.

- Pansy becomes more fond of you. She tried to not fall for you, but she did anyway.

- The new feeling made her panic. “I can’t fall for her. What if she thinks I’m weird?”

- “Who thinks you’re weird?”

- Draco was the first to notice. He noticed she stopped going out and sometimes zoning out. He’s the one who heard about it.

- “There’s a girl, and I think- I think I fancy her.” “Well, what’re you waiting for? Go for it.”

- She explained many reasons why she shouldn’t fancy her. “She can’t! What will people think about dating a girl? What if she realizes that I’m not good? What if she hates me?”

- Draco didn’t listen and ended up dragging her to the coffee shop where you work. “Talk to her, for Merlin’s sake!”

- You saw Pansy coming in with someone. A boy. A handsome one, really. But you weren’t interested in the boy. After talking to Pansy, you realize that you like her, but not as a friend. 

- So when Pansy steps in with that blonde boy beside her, holding her hand, your heart shattered. Obviously she’s not interested in girls.

- “What can I get you?” Your voice was cold, very different than the usual cheery voice.

- Pansy noticed it too. After telling hers and Draco’s order, she decided to ask. “Are you alright?”

- “Fine.” “Really? You know you can talk to me, Y/N-”

- “Of course I’m not fine! The girl I like is standing in front of me with her rich looking blonde handsome boyfriend!” You cut her off without thinking. After saying it, you quickly close your mouth, cursing in your head.

- Pansy standing there, eyes wide, not really believing what she just heard. “You- you like me-?” 

- You just nod. Draco was the first to break off the silence, laughing.

- “Go on! Tell her, Pans. I am so gonna tell this to the other, the Pansy Parkinson froze like a deer caught in headlights-”

- “I like you too, Y/N. A lot actually.” She was smiling shyly, her usual confident self was nowhere to be seen. 

- After that, the two of you started dating. Pansy would wait until your shift is over.

- Pansy sleeping over your place. You teach her how to cook, or make coffee.

- The first time you saw her dark mark was when she lent you her hoodie.

- "Pans, what is that?" She tried to explain it, but ended up having a panic attack.

- You didn't want to invade her privacy, so you just help her calm down and change the topic.

- Next day, she asks you to stay over at her place, "the boys are annoying. They keep asking me to bring you."

- It's really noisy when the two of you enter the apartment. Theo was yelling curses at Draco, Draco asking Blaise for backup, while Blaise just sips his tea, watching them.

- "Merlin's beard, what the fuck is going on here?"

- "Malfoy here said I cheat! I never cheat!" "So the card just changed the color itself!?" They were playing UNO. Which was supposed to be a friendly game (lies.)

- The boys haven't noticed your presence. Theo takes out his wand, the cards in Draco's hand change colors, "revelio! See I didn't cheat! You were the one who cheated!"

- "Nott, you dumbass!" followed by Pansy' purse on Theo's head.

- That's when they realized you were there. Watching Theo use his wand.

- "Y/N this is-" "Is that real!?"

- Pansy nod, closing her eyes. Now here's the part where you will leave her because you probably think they're all crazy people or into some cult.

- "Do it again." "What?" "Please, I wanna see it," you gave them the best puppy eyes you could give.

- "You don't think we're crazy?" "Why the hell would I think that? Just do it again, please?"

- To say you were shocked was an understatement. But they didn't expect you to be this enthusiastic. You were clapping like a child, asking Theo to do more spells, while the others stared at you, shocked by your response.

- After some time, you felt someone tug your jumper. Pansy was staring at you with puppy eyes, "you won't leave me, right?"

- "Oh, darling why would I do that?" "I didn't tell you anything about this-" 

- You assure her you won’t leave her. Lots of light kisses on her face.

- The boys adored you, loving your reaction when they use magic around you. (we can talk about the boys next time, now it's pansy’ time)

- Lots of cuddles with Pansy. Watching movies together, cuddling, with a blanket draped over the two of you. Sometimes you’re the big spoon, sometimes Pansy is. 

- Good morning kisses! Pansy loves kissing your face, your nose, your eyes, your cheeks, everywhere!

- Pansy still get nightmares from the war, sometimes nightmares that you left her after knowing her past. 

- You reassure her everything is fine. You only know that there was a war in their world, but you didn’t know the details. 

- Making hot chocolates when she had a nightmare. Then cuddling again. Sometimes you sing lullabies.

- Pansy told you all about her past one night, even though you insist that you don’t need to know. 

- You hug her tightly, kissing her dark mark, “this doesn’t change anything between us. It’s all in the past, what matters is you changed into a better person now. I still and will always love you.” 

- After that, the two of you become more inseparable. 

- “Parkinson, can you not stare at me as if I’m gonna steal your girlfriend?” “Shut up Nott, go search another girl, or boy, whichever you prefer.”

- This girl spoils you rotten. Seriously. “That jumper is cute,” the next day that jumper will be yours. Dinner date every weekend. At a fancy restaurant. Pansy buying you dresses, jewelry. 

- She told you not to worry about money, since she’s the heiress of one of the sacred 28 families.  “Is it wrong to spoil your own girlfriend?” “No, but this is too expensive, you know-” “Do you not like it?” “I love it, but you shouldn’t spend too much money on me. Who knows we need it in the future.”

- Yeah, she doesn’t listen to you. Still bring you gifts, taking you to fancy dinners.

- She’s definitely top in bed. It’s obvious tbh. (I can’t write smut, I only read lol)

- Just imagine dating the Slytherin princess. (ms pansy pls date me)

[mleemwyvern]

Totempulse Idea Dump 2: Tango Abuses his Admin Rights

(Disclaimer: i have not watched tango and i do not know how in character this is. feel free to correct me if im wrong)

- timeline: post wall-flight, pre hcbbs.

- team zit hanging out at impulses base, doing some redstone. probably impulses latest farm.

- the subject of totemification is brought up. Tango then remembers hes an admin. He decides to look through impulses code to see how it works.

- code function tangent! Basically, totemification is controlled by one variable, which increments by a random amount each time a totem is used. This random amount gets added to by some number dependent on the total amount of totems used so far.

- this variable (totemEffect) is used to determine several others, including fireResist, damageResist, ageSlow, and totemSideEffect.

- there is a point where damageResist is 100%. At this point, nothing can activate more totems, since you resist all damage. However, this isnt the maximum value of totemEffect. This is because of the random increase.

- a safety net exists, which contains data for effects past the 100% mark. This exists to prevent overflow errors, as otherwise a totem could skip over the 100% mark entirely and glitch the player.

- this safety net, for some reason, contains higher ageSlow and totemSideEffect variables than what is normally obtainable.

- 100% point side effects: completely gold-looking skin/hair, solid emerald green eyes, golden wings capable of flight, a cloud of totem particles similar to an endermans particle cloud. you also become a few inches shorter. 100% immunity to all non-void damage, obviously. very slow aging.

- max value side effects: same as above, but more particles and you are tiny. same size as a totem. you also do not age at all.

- ok now back to the plot! Tango finds out all these things about the totemification code. While thinking about it, he accidentally types in the 100% mark, which overwrites the current totemification variable.

- tango then realizes "fuck, i typed that, didnt i. what did i do" *looks at impulse* *falls over laughing*

- impulse is very confused until he looks down and realizes hes gold. now hes like "oh no TANGO WHAT DID YOU DO"

- what is zedaph doing? idk but hes noticing this as well. probably taking it better than impulse is.

- tango finally calms down and starts to explain.

- "so the good news is, you're invincible now!" "and the bad news is, im made of gold?" "uhh, and the weird news is, you have wings!" "i have WHAT?" (tango/impulse/zedaph/impulse again)

- impulse trying to fly! hes not very good and tango bullies him about it (in a friendly way).

- zedaph tries to get impulse to do experiments again now that hes even more totemificated

- then he realizes this isnt an impulse only thing and that he could probably totemificate himself

- for science of course! he probably asks tango to alter his code too. tango begrudgingly agrees, knowing that if he doesnt then zedaph can and will totemificate himself in deadlier ways.

- a nice afternoon of code fuckery and totemification testing. thankfully xisuma isnt currently on the server because this probably isnt allowed.

- eventually, someone decides to see what the extra side effects are. tango goes back in impulses code and maxes out totemification. they get a tinypulse.

- he is probably a bit upset about this. how do you do redstone when you are tiny.

- however, this is the time xisuma happens to log back on. if they keep messing with the code they will be found out and they do not want to be found out.

- tango, a heavily totemificated zedaph (up to the point where he gets wings, he was experimenting with the totemification flight), and a very small impulse have to hide their crimes from a slightly suspicious xisuma.

- impulse also has to deal with being so fucking small. its hard to work on his farms at this size! at least he can fly.

[joestarsecrettecnique]

I am so very sick and tired of the toxicity that’s been poisoning the snk fandom as of the last couple years. I gave myself time to digest the ending and my feelings on it, before embarking in a journey to debunk many misconceptions and critiques I’ve seen floating in the fandom.

By the way, by no means I think this ending is perfect. I think this is textbook execution by Isayama to tie together every loose end left behind in an orderly manner, and I think that it was a bit rushed and oversimplified. I would’ve wanted more of Eren and Armin’s conversation, more of the squad realizing what his true goal had been, and some narrative choices I don’t 100% agree with. But still, what I saw in other fans’ critiques post 139 frankly appalled me, so I feel the need to make this. Also, this obviously are my own interpretations, I am not Isayama himself lol

“Ew, so Eren did pull a Lelouch after all”

No, Eren did not pull a Lelouch. While his action and the final result may seem similar, I find very different nuances between the two. Lelouch wanted for the whole world to be united in fighting against him, and thus he made himself the world’s greatest enemy. His will to turn himself into a monster was selfless. Eren didn’t give a damn about the world, he had no noble intentions whatsoever. He said it in chapter 122, his goal was to protect Paradis and, more specifically, his closest friends. He turned himself into a monster, killed 80% of human population, and endangered the lives of those very friends he wanted to protect, so that by stopping him, those friends could be safe. Eren had no intentions to break out of the cycle of hatred or unite the world against himself, he just wanted to give his friends a chance to survive, and that is not selfless, it’s selfish. Eren’s goal was incredibly selfish, and biased, and driven by his feelings instead of rationality. Nothing like Lelouch!

Now this, this I myself am not the greatest fan of. I feel like it makes that great scene in chapter 122 loose a bit of its strength, Ymir obeying the king for 2000 years just because she loved him. Honestly, I always thought there was a bit of Stockholm Syndrome going on, but I didn’t think it would be the only reason. However, like it or not, it’s undeniable that it makes perfect sense in the narrative that aot has always strived to tell. Love has been a theme strongly woven in the story, and it also draws a great parallel between Karl Fritz/Ymir and Eren/Mikasa. Ymir was a slave to her love for King Fritz, just like Mikasa was a slave to her love for Eren, in that she struggled to accept reality until the very end despite the atrocities that Eren committed. Ymir stayed bound by her love for King Fritz, until she saw Mikasa break from her own poisoned love, aknwoledge it, and kill Eren despite of it, or maybe because of it. Only Ymir knows that one, heh. But the point is, Mikasa showed Ymir that she could break free of a toxic love, she was that someone that Ymir had been waiting for to finally free her of her burden.

“What? But that makes no sense!”

Now, on my first read, I simply thought that Eren had ordered Dina to avoid eating Berthold, and that he had made her walk down that road unaware that his mother was trapped (because we know that the Attack Titan’s future memories aren’t infallible, there are still gaps), killing her indirectly. I’ve since then read some theories stating that Eren willingly killed his own mum in orther to give kid himself a reason to feel enough hatred to kickstart the whole story. Honestly, I like this version maybe more! But let me explain to you why this is not a plothole, like many people think. In this same chapter, we have Eren explaining how the Founder’s power works in synergy with the Attack’s: “There’s no past or future, they all exist at once”. This means that time travel in aot doesn’t work in a manner where Eren extracts himself from time and space, and from a separate realm he operates on the past. The way I understood it, the mechanics works kind of like Tokyo Revengers’ time travel. MInd you, I only watched episode one, so my understanding might be jackshit.

Spoilers for Tokyo Revengers’ episode one. In the show, the main character loses consciousness and finds himself reliving his past. He interacts with someone in this “new” past, and when he wakes up again in the present, past events had been over-written by the changes he made. I think this is how aot timetravel works, with the exception that, since past and future (and present, of course) all happen at once, side by side, there is no old past to be rewritten, neither a future to return to, and present Eren wouldn’t be aware of the changes that his future self would make. It creates sort of a time paradox, yes, in the sense that there’s a loop where present Eren’s mom has been eaten because future Eren, in the future, operated on the past by causing past Eren’s mom to be eaten, but all these Erens are one and the same, as all timelines exist at once.

“Boo-hoo they ruined Eren’s character, he’s such a wimp!”

I have to confess (isn’t this appalling, that this is a thing that I have to confess, what the actual fuck), I am an Eren stan. I absolutely do not consider myself a Jaegerist, I think Eren’s option was better than Zeke’s, yes, but it was morally wrong and awful and he absolutely was not only in the wrong, but also if he wasn’t dead I’d want him to be punished for his crimes. I didn’t particularly enjoy him pre-timeskip, and I started to like him because I found his evolution fascinating. I wanted to understand his motives, what was going on in his head, he was a puzzle that I wanted to solve. Maybe because I’m a psychologist, who knows. Anyways, if you’re an Eren stan only because he acted like a chad and now you cry his character was ruined, I’m sorry to say, you never understood him. Eren was not a god, he was not a strategist playing 5d chess with perfect rationality, Eren was the same he has always been. He was a young man spun along by his passions. Eren feels things with burning intensity, he lets himself be driven by his emotions. He almost flattened the world because he was disappointed that he and his friends weren’t the only human beings inhabiting it, for fuck’s sake, he’s always been irrational, selfish, and immature. Of course he doesn’t wanna die, of course he want’s to live with all of them. You really expected a 15 year old hot-headed brat to become Thanos after he suddenly found out he killed his own mum and all his dreams had been crushed? Of course he felt conflicted, of course he suffered, of course he wanted to live, “because he was born in this world”. Honestly, when I read his meltdown, I felt relieved that his character hadn’t been turned on its head, it was heartbreaking to see that he really was the same brat he’d always been, that he’d tried to steel himself to do horrible shit for his friends’ sake and that he felt bad about it! It made me appreciate his character a lot more, I felt nostalgic towards the times when I was irritated by his screaming and pouting. Suffice to say, this is also my answer to all those people that believe his internal monologue to convince himself the Rumbling was what he really wanted were bullshit since he “pulled a Lelouch”. How can it be bullshit? Maybe he planned to be stopped, but he also said that he thought he would’ve still done it if they hadn’t. He also said that killing a majority of the population was something that he wanted to do, not a byproduct of the alliance not stopping him early enough, because with the world’s militaries in shambles Paradis would’ve had time to prepare accordingly. Anyways, of course he needed to convince himself to do this awful thing even if he knew he wasn’t gonna succeed completely, can you imagine how horrible it would be to know your only chance is to kill thousands?

I also maybe think it was because of the spine centipede thingy? When Eren says “I don’t know why I did it, I wanted to, I had to”, he gets this faraway look on his face and we get a zoom in on one of his eyes, which is drawn very interestingly and kinda looks like the Reiss’ eyes when they were bound by the War Renounce Pact? So maybe it was also the centipede’s drive to survive and multiplicate that forced Eren to do the Rumbling so that its life wouldn’t be endangered. I don’t know how much I like this, I feel like it takes some agency away from Eren and also makes it feel like he’s not as responsible for the genocide he committed that we initially though, which mhhh maybe not, let’s have him take full responsibility for this. As I said, I’m not defending Isayama blindly, I do have some issues myself with what went down.

“What the fuck, did he say thank you for the genocide?”

Guys c’mon, this is like,, reading comprehension. Yes, it was poorly worded and a bit rushed, but by now you should have full context to make an educated guess on the fact that no, he didn’t thank him for committing a genocide what the fuck you guys. Armin started bringing up the idea that maybe they should have Eren eaten because he was doing morally questionable things ever since the Marley Arc, which for manga readers was like what, 2018? Isayama has been showing for three years how not okay Armin was with Eren’s actions, how could it make sense for him to thank him for a genocide? You see some poorly worded stuff, and your first instinct is to ignore eleven years’ worth of consistent characterization to jump to the worst interpretation possible? Let’s go over this sentences and reconstruct what they mean.

“Eren, thank you. You became a mass murdere for our sake. I won’t let this error go to waste”. Armin recognizes that Eren had no other choice, but does not condone it. He clearly calls it an error, which feels like an euphemism but for all we know the japanese original term used could’ve been harsher. Point is, he clearly states he think what Eren did was wrong. But he recognizes that Eren’s awful doing opened up a path for Paradis to break out of the cycle of hatred. Not a certainty, but an opportunity. He thanks Eren for giving them this chance, and promises not to waste it, even if it was born out of an atrocity. He thanks Eren for sacrificing himself for their sake, even if he doesn’t agree with the fruit of his labor, so to speak. He’s thanking Eren for the opportunity that his actions gave them, not for the actions themselves! Where the hell do you read “thank you for the genocide” guys, sheesh. I’m mad at y’all.

“How could Eren send MIkasa memories if she’s an Ackerman and an Asian, and their memories can’t be manipulated by the Founder? I call plothole!”

Now, here we’re going into speculation territory, so you’ve been warned. I don’t think that that information they gave us was true, about Ackermans being immune to memory manipulation. We know at least that the clan is in some way subject to the Founder’s power, or Mikasa and Levi wouldn’t have been called in the Paths by Eren multiple times. Stories never being entirely true or false, or relativity, better said, has been a strong theme in the story, we know this by Marley’s and Eldia’s different accounts of history compared to the actual Ymir backstory we got. So who’s to say that the belief that Ackermans aren’t manipulable is the truth? Maybe they’re just hard to control, not impossible. We know that by the Founder’s ability Eren experienced past and future happening simultaneously, so he could’ve very well been trying to send those memories into Mikasa’s head ever since the beginning of the story, only just succeeding in chapter 138. It would at least explain Ackerman’s headaches as Eren trying to manipulate their memories and failing. Of course, we’d need Levi side of thing to know for certain, as he had headaches too and we weren’t shown in the chapter if Eren spoke to him in paths like he did with the rest of the squad. We know he didn’t talk to Pieck, but he even went and spoke to Annie who he basically hadn’t seen since Stohess, so I hope he spoke to Levi too. Who knows, maybe he even spoke with Hanji, but she died before she could remember. I wish we were shown that, honestly, I’m sad that it was skipped, especially after Levi said in an earlier chapter that “there was so much he wanted to tell Eren”. Fingers crossed for the anime to expand on it.

“So Historia’s pregnancy was useless”

What? No, it wasn’t useless! Eren told her to get pregnant to save her life, so that she wouldn’t be turned into the Beast Titan. If she became the Beast Titan, then Eren would’ve had to enact the plan with her instead of Zeke, and yeah, Ymir brought the power of the titans with her, so theoretically Titan Shifter Historia would’ve had her time limit removed, but we saw that the only way for the Alliance to stop the Rumbling was killing Zeke, so Historia would’ve had to die. Useless to say, when Eren talked to her about his plan, she was very vocally against it, so I don’t think she would’ve helped Eren with his plan. It was Zeke or nothing, and the only way for Zeke to keep his titan was for Historia to be unable to be turned, hence the pregnancy. Did y’all read the same thing I read? Anyways, she could’ve definitely been handled better, but she wasn’t necessary to the plot anymore, and her being removed from it in such a way was sad, yes, but it made sense.

“They massacred Reiner!”

Yeah, can’t really say anything about this. I definitely understand the sentiment behind this scene, which I appreciate. It’s to show that thanks to his Titan being removed and the times of peace approaching, Reiner was finally able to shed the weight he bore on his shoulders and “regress” to his more carefree persona he had when he thought he was a soldier, instead of a warrior. I am very happy for him, and I think it’s a nice conclusion to his arc, that he’s finally happy, but it could’ve been portrayed in a less comic relief-y way. It just sledgehammers all his characterization. Feels surreal that we saw him attempt suicide a couple month ago in the anime and now he’s sniffing Historia’s handwriting.

Guys, this absolutely sends me. There are people who unironically believe Eren actually reincarnated in a bird? Guys. It makes no sense, it violates every rule that Isayama established for his universe’s power system. How could he even reincarnate in a bird? Guys, c’mon, this is symbolical! Birds have been heavily used in aot to portray freedom, and this is a nice, poetic, symbolic way to show that Eren who lived his whole life chasing freedom and never actually got it, is finally free, like a bird, now that he’s dead. It’s also a pretty explicit nod to Odin, I think. Aot is heavily inspired by Norse Mithology, and I think there were some pretty clear parallels between Eren and Odin/Loki in the later arcs of the story. Eren has been shown to “communicate” through birds like with Falco in chapter 81, or with Armin in chapter 131. Emphasis on “communicate” because again, this is symbolic, I don’t think he actually spoke through the birds, he simply talked to them via paths, but birds are associated with Eren’s character (see also the wings of freedom, y’know?) and the shots were framed so to give the impression that he was talking through the birds, but he wasn’t. Symbolism. Anyway, I really think they were supposed to be a nod to Odin’s crows.

Aaaaand that should be it! Even though I most definitely forgot some other criticism on the chapter, it’s crazy the amount of negativity floating around. Hope I didn’t bore you!

[ironxkid]

why don't you like endgame or civil war

((hoo buddy, idk what brought this up but salt under the cut!! Like... a lot of salt - specifically regarding Endgame lmao

I’m gonna start off with CACW because it’s a short response lol

I don’t like it simply because I was done with the infighting between the Avengers. The found family crumbs we were given in Endgame was something I really wanted to see, and them just... ripping them apart frustrated me lol

honestly, the movie was... fine? Idk, I found it to be a lil slow for my taste (it felt like it just dragged on when I watched it in theaters), and I just don’t care for it in general  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also, ngl, I’m really bummed that Captain America: Serpent Society was a joke announcement because that sounds dope as hell and I really wanted to see that before I realized it’d been a joke dfgjhdsfhj

but, yeah, literally just because CACW is specifically an infighting movie annoys me to no end so I just won’t watch it again dgsfjhsfdhj

now, Endgame?

fuck Endgame

I. have a lot of issues with it, all of which are major grievances throughout the fandom. I’m pissed they killed Natasha and didn’t even bother giving her a fucking funeral because, I quote from Joe Russo, “Well, Tony does not have another movie. Tony is done. And Natasha has another film. And Marvel Universe obviously does not have to move forward linearly anymore. But that character still has more screen time coming.” (see here) and that annoys the hell out of me. She’s getting another movie - great! So you killed one of the few characters doing her fucking best to keep everything together at the compound, the one who was taking charge, give her a big role, and then murk her and... give her nothing but a brief mention at the end. Like... what the fuck? Natasha deserved so much better than what she was given. Tony’s funeral could’ve (and, frankly, should’ve) been a funeral for him, Natasha, and Vision because god forbid we see anyone mourn Vision other than Wanda

(actually this post covers how Endgame fucked over the MCU women perfectly, though Wanda’s not mentioned :c )

plus... Tony’s not done lol - he’s still a massive figure in the films/shows despite RDJ not acting in them, so his character has left shockwaves that aren’t dying any time soon. Natasha... basically disappeared, and I believe she would’ve been dropped completely if it wasn’t for the fact she does have a film coming out soon. Which, frankly, seems awesome and all, but it’s a film that goes back to post-CACW pre-IW and... frankly doesn’t give me any reason to understand why that means she didn’t get a funeral. She’s not coming back in future movies/shows that are in present MCU timeline - her movie is set in the past. She could’ve gotten a decent sendoff 

now, Clint’s arc as Ronin rubs me the wrong way. I know it’s a huge thing in the comics, and it’s not him taking a different mantle that I have an issue with. It’s the fact he, a white man, went around murdering people and got off scot-free. Yes, he was targeting genuinely bad people, but... to show that, they specifically singled out Mexican cartels and the yakuza (Japanese mafia, essentially) - so, in other words, the bad guys were people of color! I feel like I don’t need to explain how fucked up that is. And, to clarify, I love Clint! Clint is honestly one of my favorite characters, and the whole thing was just handled... poorly in the film

Tony’s arc genuinely hurts. This is a man who has suffered for years and has tried to make things right, and finally got a chance to settle down. He finally retired from the Avengers, finally settled down, and had a fucking life he could enjoy despite his ghosts, and yet... His arc ends with a message of “tortured soul finally gets rest by dying”. Because, y’know, it’s great seeing yet another long-suffering character only reaching peace through death, because god forbid they let characters heal! He could’ve still caused the second Snap, and he could’ve survived. He could’ve finally been able to step away for good and focus on his family, focus on recovering, and be truly happy. What’s so wrong with letting him stay alive so he can rest and be with his family? What’s so wrong with letting a long-suffering character finally find peace after one last bang? 

plus it pisses me off that they’re now using him as a reasoning as to why bad things are still happening. Why is this person the bad guy? Because Tony Stark somehow may or may not have done something that hurt them! Even though most of that really stems from Howard or Obadiah. Tony just ends up getting the blame in their place. He’s just an easy target to use, much like the tesseract seems to be the go-to answer for why things go wrong. But this is a different train of thought

Steve’s ending pisses me off just as much as the next person lmao. You take a character who has acknowledged he no longer belongs in the past (which, funnily enough, was written by the Russos), aaaaaaand have him go back to the past while ignoring two important people in his life that were still right there. He got Bucky and Sam back, and he leaves them. His arc is ruined within a matter of minutes, and it paints a hella bad picture of him in the process. He goes back in time to stay with Peggy (which ultimately destroys her own arc, and the fact she’s a person outside of her relationship (or lack thereof) with him because, y’know, why have her be able to move on and be her own person?), and we’re supposed to believe he’s fine with everything he knows from the future? Fine with knowing Bucky’s trapped with HYDRA and is suffering as the Winter Soldier? Fine with knowing HYDRA has infested SHIELD from day one? Fine with knowing Howard and Maria are going to die? Fine with royally fucking up the timelines? We’re supposed to believe he sat back and did nothing with all of that? They could’ve had him still hand the shield over to Sam - they could’ve let Steve stay an Avenger without the mantle

also the fact the Russos said he didn’t recognize Red Skull when he returned to Vormir to return the soul stone? Like... what the fuck?? Not to mention he literally returns the stone to Vormir, which “soul for a soul”, and they didn’t bring Nat back that way??

and now onto Thor. Thor... holy fuck is this hitting something personal for me. Thor was ridden with guilt - he was furious with himself, hated himself, and blamed himself for failing to stop the Snap. He fell into a massive depression, and... was promptly danced around as laughing stock. Like, “oh! look at Thor! he’s fat and drunk because he’s depressed haha!” - like fuck off. It’s not funny in any form. His suffering was made into a joke and it pisses me off because I suffer from depression. A lot of people suffer from depression. It’s not funny. It’s fucking terrifying at times. I wasted a shit ton of money on a stupid online sim game because it was a distraction - it gave me... god, I wouldn’t even say temporary happiness, but it gave me something to temporarily help, and I still hate myself for doing it. It was a poor decision on my part, and I wish I could change it. And, during that time, I was scared because I couldn’t see myself pulling out of it. I thought I was gonna feel that way forever. I called out of work multiple times because there were days I couldn’t stop crying (something I still feel horrible for doing), I couldn’t get myself to contact any of my friends for months, and it was all because the medication I was on at the time... stopped working. Thankfully, my depression doesn’t work in a way that makes me a danger to myself, so that wasn’t an issue, but it still fucking sucked. And to see a character that I could relate to on such a personal level treated as laughing stock fucking hurt. I’m not sharing this for sympathy - I’m sharing this because it Thor’s arc hit home and it’s literally the main reason why I will not watch Endgame again

this is more of a nitpick than anything else, but... I didn’t really care for Carol in it tbh? Which is unfortunately because Captain Marvel is one of my absolute favorite movies! And I’m well aware she was introduced in Endgame while CM was being drafted, but that in itself is annoying?? Because Carol was originally going to be introduced in AoU, but was cut because it wasn’t going to introduce her character properly. And yet they decide to introduce her character in a clusterfuck of a movie before her movie is in the final stages, and proceed to release her movie first and then give a complete different characterization in her following appearance

honestly I just wanna cover this now to clarify some things regarding Carter and her backstory: the only reason I keep Endgame as is is because it felt easier for me to do so for the purpose of bending canon for specific threads. I wanted to stay as true to the given plots as possible to help with fudging of both the movies and her background, and also because I didn’t want anyone to feel like I was trying to force my own headcanons onto them, y’know? 

I’m just gonna plug this here because fuck it lol, but I did start a fix-it fic regarding Endgame that you can read here! I... probably won’t finish it tbh, and I haven’t gone over it in a hot minute so it might be riddled with errors ahah - plus I’m not sure about how I wrote the characters! I get nervous when writing canon characters because I feel like I’ll miss their characterization completely, which is actually why I,,, rarely rp canon characters dgfjhgsfdhj

also the image in the doc was created by @/archervale!! 

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 262: A Fierce Bad Rabbit

Previously on BnHA: The hospital raid squad, which had two jobs consisting of (1) not letting Ujiko get away, and (2) not letting any of the Noumu break free to go ravage the countryside, impressively failed at both of these tasks (or so I assume) in a remarkably short amount of time. The EndeavorZawaMicLock squad were all occupied with having a very destructive fight in the hospital lobby, leaving my girl Miruko, Goddess of Courage and First of Her Name, to do pretty much all the heavy lifting, which, fine!! Except that Ujiko remembered that he had a bunch of High End Noumus just floating there waiting to be activated, and he was all “!!” and fucking activated them, and like five of them went after Miruko all at once and smashed her into a bunch of machinery and glass tubes, which frankly should have killed her but it didn’t because she’s a fucking boss. But now it’s just her (and Crust, who might do something too, but for now JURY’S STILL OUT) against all these guys while Ujiko speeds off to grab Tomura and abscond. So basically everything that could go wrong has already gone wrong so UH. OKAY.

Today on BnHA: Miruko kicks ass. Then she checks her watch and sees that there’s still time for her to kick more ass, so she does. Then there is still time, because this chapter is all about her kicking ass! So she kicks even more ass!! It’s great!! I have no complaints!! She decapitates a man with her thighs!! That’s a thing that really happens!! Also she loses an arm but WHO HASN’T LOST AND/OR BROKEN THEIR ARMS IN THIS SERIES, REALLY. Everyone is doing it. Somehow she manages to make it look cool because Miruko. Miruko can strangle a man with a cordless phone. She can kill two stones with one bird. Miruko makes onions cry. Death once had a near-Miruko experience. Mirukoooooooo. Anyway the chapter ends with Skeptic warning everyone at The Ol’ Villain Hotel that the heroes are coming, so basically WELCOME BACK, EVERYONE, this manga is back with a vengeance.

guys I’m gonna try to do this recap fast because I’m seeing Heroes Rising tonight at 7:30! and I’m so excited! and for those that asked, yes I do plan on doing some kind of write-up about it, though it’ll all be from memory after the fact so we’ll see how that goes. but !! I’ve waited 84 years for this ahhhhh but anyway so in the meantime let’s see what new and creative ways our heroes are finding to screw this up even more

(ETA: I did it but this thing isn’t edited for shit lol. after I get back I’ll give it a more thorough readthrough so sorry if I missed any really obvious errors! also there are probably way more exclamation points than usual which may or may not be a plus or minus.)

look at this helpful announcement

High End Noumu approaching, everyone. you have been warned. just in case you somehow failed to notice?? IT’S RIGHT THERE Y’ALL LOOK OUT

lmao FINALLY

MORE HEROES. YOU ALL CERTAINLY TOOK YOUR FUCKING TIME, but hey welcome to the party. and none of that “I don’t see how that’s a party” sassy shit either. you all know what I’m talking about so get out there and have fun

so they’re standing there all “it’s a talking Noumu!” and YEAH. that’s what I’ve been fucking trying to tell you. thank god someone finally fucking said it out loud so that hopefully the EZML squad can finally take notice of this as well. like guys. bigger fish?! get to frying!!

so now Crust is all “there are more of them ahead, Miruko’s in danger!” which, again, thanks for finally letting everyone else in on this formerly exclusive scoop there pal. ‘preciate it

I... really do not understand Crust’s quirk at all. I’m just gonna own up to it

what is this. what does “zuga” mean fx-wise. why did those scale things on his arms get so big. what are they made of. what’s happening

oh it turns out that if you scroll and read more instead of pausing for ages to ask dumb questions, the thing you were asking about might actually be explained in great detail in the very next panel

but what are they made out of though. and why “Crust”?? ah well I suppose that’s a question for someone who actually cares more than I do

by the way the quality of this scan is actually really good so far, I gotta say. we’re only two pages in, true, but they either cleaned this up really nicely, or this was a much higher-quality scan than usual. either way I am appreciative!

lol this poor Noumu is shook

what did I name you two weeks ago, again? Rusty?? anyways he’s doing his best you guys. gambare my dude, though actually you do need to die, so that’s too bad though

Crust is all “you pitiful living corpse!” with tears in his eyes because he’s dramatic! but jokes aside I do appreciate that he has compassion for these monsters who are all still basically innocent victims at the end of the day

does anyone else actually hear that funny-sounding anime narrator guy in your head nowadays when you read panels like this lol

I can hear the voice so clearly and it’s great

only ten times the strength of a normal human, guys. that’s actually not that bad. I’m only half joking lol. because obviously your average hero is going to be much stronger than a so-called “normal” person too, yes? and I’m pretty sure Miruko has the strength of like 30 humans but I may be overestimating her just slightly but am I though

oh lol I apparently did not learn my lesson about doing commentary before I’m done reading hahaha

so High Ends are on a different tier of their own above even the “high” tier. well that’s just. yeah that sounds more like the “we’re still fucked” update that I was expecting

oh wait, seriously??

are you telling me that all of the High Ends were actually cultivated from villains? so maybe not completely innocent, then? is this Horikoshi’s way of trying to make us feel marginally better about the fact that the heroes are shortly henceforth going to have to exterminate these guys with great prejudice? I mean they’re still basically slaves to Ujiko’s programming now though so that sucks

also I missed this earlier but the narration here basically just confirmed that Noumu are all made from corpses. which I kind of suspected, but the still-very-much-alive Tomura would then be a glaring contradiction to that, no? or is that why he’s so special. anyway I do appreciate that we’re getting a lot of much-awaited answers in this Noumu arc, but some of this is also just raising more questions. gotta be patient I guess

speaking of Tomura, Ujiko’s back in the Tomura room, so. I assume some absconding is soon to occur

oh shit!! so there’s another panel explaining that “artificial transplant of quirks” requires surgery and then three months of stabilization time following that. sooooo I’m pretty sure this mofo just confirmed that he gave Tomura some shiny additional new quirks, so that’s nice! that’s real fucking great! I know we were all eyeing Tomura skeptically and thinking to ourselves “this is almost just right, but needs more death”

wait, what?

“I was already dead anyway” meaning that he knows there’s no way out for him? and so he doesn’t have a secret way out of the lab?? ??? can that really be true?? our intrepid heroes actually did their job right and the villains had no contingency plan?? oh my god I am so terrified of letting my guard down lmao I still refuse to believe this at all

and is that Tomura who’s at 70% stabilization? that would seem to fit with the timeline we were given. holy shit is he unboxing him early fsdfkjalsdk are we about to go from “fucked” to “exorbitantly fucked”

and why am I strangely excited about it sob!!

HAHAHAHA OH GOD

so this is how liberty dies. with a beep

also fuck you all, now it’s at 71%?! couldn’t leave it at a nice even number for us, could you? you just had to throw that extra percent in there at the last moment to fuck with us all

anyway did you all catch how fucking ripped he was there though? like boiiii whaaaaat. clearly his abs are already at 100%

OH MY GOD

DOES NOTHING FUCKING FAZE THIS BEAUTIFUL, RULE-BREAKING MOTH

HAHAHA

RIGHT??

HOLY FUCKING MOLY

friendly reminder that Dabi was all good and ready to throw down with both Endeavor and Hawks (who were admittedly weakened by that point) that one time a while back, but then Miruko showed up and he was all “lol nope I think the fuck not” and warped out of there. Dabi, whose quirk is so powerful that its only apparent downside is the fact that it roasts him alive as well. that Dabi took one look at Miruko and decided he likes having his spine intact and fucking vamoosed, because that is the smart fucking thing to do when this girl shows up smiling at you the way that she is smiling at these Noumu now

anyway. fucking Ujiko knew he needed at least five High Ends to even stand a chance of slowing her down, is all I’m saying. y’all better respect the FUCK out of Miruko, everyone. it’s the law

anyway. so. quirk: bunny. can smash rl gud

someone needs to ask Horikoshi the fuck kind of rabbits he has been hanging out with. applied that “and more!” part pretty fucking liberally huh. WHO DID YOU SAY TRIX WERE FOR AGAIN, CHILDREN??

NOBODY THROWS MIRUKO IN THE BRIAR PATCH AND GETS AWAY WITH IT

fffwhatttttttttt

that would be our good buddy Max Rebo. so that’s definitely not an elephant trunk-like thing then. we may need a new name for you

on a side note, I never thought we’d meet another character who looks more like Katsuki than Mitsuki does, and yet every damn week Miruko is proving me wrong. goddamn she is great

lmao wait maybe that wasn’t Max at all, but Jester. because this is clearly Max over here

so Girl!Noumu is a water bender, Jester can do... something weird with his hair, and Max can do anything an elephant can do if that elephant was also powered by steam. nice

HAHAHA BUT MIRUKO IS ALL “KICK!!!”

HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK!!!

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT. I WOULD READ AN ENTIRE MANGA OF JUST THIS LMAO THIS IS TOO MUCH ADRENALINE I CAN’T

JESTER’S WEIRD SPIKY ROCK HAIR IS SLICING HER ARM AND SHE’S ALL “THAT HURTS YOU JERK!!!!” AND GETTING READY TO FREAKING PILEDRIVE HIM I CAN’T, THOUGH!?

SDKFJLDKSJFLKJ

HER FATHER PEPPY TAUGHT HER THAT. BARREL ROLL ALL OVER THESE BITCHES!!

WHAT THE FUCK

FUCKING QUIRKS!!!! THOUGH!!!! WILLLLLLLLLD

SDKFJLAS;DHK OH MY GOD OH SHIT

real talk this is the scariest fucking quirk I’ve ever seen I was like what the fuck looking at her arm and then I saw him doing the twisty hand gesture and just. fuck. YOU’RE NOT CRIMSON RIOT AT ALL YOU’RE SOME PSYCHO TELEKINETIC BITCH AND I FUCKING HATE YOU!!

NO!!!!!

fuck fuck fuck. I’M SURE HER ARM’S GOING TO BE JUST FINE AND DANDY AFTER THIS GUYS, DON’T WORRY. THIS MANGA HAS SUCH A SERENE AND TRANQUIL HISTORY WITH ARMS. ISN’T THAT RIGHT DEKU

though on the plus side, if she does lose that arm we can count on her to somehow instantly become like 50x more attractive, which I’m pretty sure might cause the very fabric of the universe to unravel but it would be worth it

(ETA: SHE DID AND IT WAS!!)

MADAME PRESIDENT!! MY QUEEN

OH HELL YERRRRRR

fucking hell guys I’m running out of exclamation points and excited things to say here. AND SHE JUST KEEPS GOING! LIKE HER MOM THE ENERGIZER BUNNY BEFORE HER

I’M SORRY UJIKO DID YOU THINK FIVE HIGH ENDS WAS ENOUGH?! MAYBE NEXT TIME WE MAKE IT TEN, HOW ABOUT THAT. FUCK OFF

lmao holy shit I can’t stop laughingggg

well Crimson, at least you get to die happy. is she literally going to crush his face between her thighs. is this entire chapter just one big prank on me. if Miruko was the protagonist would this series have ended in the first chapter. trick question, the answer is it never would have started to begin with because she would have killed All for One years ago!! how much would it cost to hire Miruko to come kick away all of my problems for me

hello good afternoon everyone this is a real panel that really happened in this manga

I don’t even know what to say about anything anymore

sob she’s all “YEAH RIGHT” and SNAPPING HIS FUCKING NECK WITH A FUCKING TRIANGLE CHOKE, THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING, FUCKING LOOK!! AT!! THIS!!!

we’re not even gonna make it to 300 chapters. Horikoshi held off for as long as he could, but eventually Miruko couldn’t be contained any longer and he had to unleash her and she instantly went and reckt every last fucking bad guy out there until there was nothing left. who are the kids even going to fight. nobody that’s who. go back to school kids

SON OF A BITCH WHAT IS HAPPENING

THIS IS THE MOST VIOLENT THING I HAVE EVER FUCKING SEEN AND YET SOMEHOW I SWEAR I CAN HEAR ANGELS SINGING. RESPLENDENT

SOBBING!!!!

“S’POSE I SHOULD GET THIS ANNOYING THING CHECKED OUT BEFORE I BLEED TO DEATH OR SOME BULLSHIT.” WHAT AN INCONVENIENCE. JUST A FUCKING FLESH WOUND. NOBODY USES ARMS THESE DAYS ANYWAY

“IF THE ONLY WAY TO STOP YOU IS BY CRUSHING YOUR HEADS THIS WILL BE WAY EASIER THAN HOLDING BACK ON A NORMAL VILLAIN.” SOB THIS IS MIRUKO’S WORLD AND WE’RE ALL JUST BEGRUDGINGLY ALLOWED TO EXIST IN IT. MY BARONESS

DID YOU JUST TOURNIQUET YOUR DISMEMBERED FUCKING LIMB WITH YOUR OWN FUCKING HAIR ONE-HANDED FFCKCK KCKCLK JUST MIRUKO THINGS

Miruko also saw Horikoshi getting ready to end the chapter after 17 pages and was like “EXCUSE YOU THERE” and he backed off because he actually likes having a fucking head thank you very much

LMAO AND NOW OF ALL TIMES WE’RE CUTTING BACK TO THE OL’ VILLAIN RESORT. SIGH

Skeptic seems to have finally cottoned on to them being in some kind of trouble. huh

how does he know it was Jin who screwed up?? did he realize that Hawks betrayed them oh shit!?!

OOP HE’S SOUNDING THE ALARM

AND THE CHAPTER IS ENDING. BUT I’M NOT DONE SCREAMING. AHHHHHH well anyways I’m off to watch my children kick lots of ass on the big screen. assuming I can get this posted in time with zero editing whatsoever lol I’ve got like... an hour. WE SHALL SEE!

(ETA: we did it lol just barely! this whole thing is probably a giant mess but oh well! Mirukoooooo)

[bonnienapierfilm]

FILM NARRATIVE 2

Critical Reflection

When we were throwing all our ideas around, we were very drawn to cowboys in a big galactic battle, however the dreams were short-lived, production would be way too expensive...

I wasn't convinced with the fake detective idea at first, I had a feeling it would be a very back and forth script, just two people constantly questioning each other without much action, and I didn't want a script that relied too heavily on the dialogue.

(I'm not funny, apologies)

However, once we had our plot and character dynamics sorted out, I felt more confident in writing the script. I was excited to be the writer for the group, huge weight on the shoulders but once I got past that fear of ruining the whole project for the whole group, twas all excitement.

Inspiration+Influence

My main inspiration for the Detective was Dwight Schrute from The Office. I wanted the Detective to be quite cocky but also dumb. As well as the mundane dress sense, with lots of beige and brown.

Linking with the bland colour palette, I was also inspired by the set design in Fargo (the series, I haven't seen the film yet). I felt that the cozy late 70s decor would be the perfect type of setting to emphasise that our screenplay is taking place in a house, and not a police station. In addition to the visual elements, I was influenced by the constant tension between characters in Fargo and how they present it in ways other than just dialogue, like where a character stands in a room.

My Process

After writing a first (rough) draft of the script, I was very happy with it and felt it was a great start! We collaborated quite well as a group when redrafting, discussing what we thought worked and what didn't in my drafts. I'd take notes during our calls and get back to writing.

A vital decision we had to make was when we wanted the script to begin, in terms of the timeline. As I was worried we would need to explain how the Detective had gotten Stanley into his interrogation room. However, after a class with Fiann, Leo and Alex, they had explained that scenes don't always need to begin from the moment someone enters a room. We could imply our characters had been here for a while through the dialogue, which is what we did.

As the writer pretty much has to write, I felt I didn't have much to do after the final draft was completed. Anyways, the group did great with all the pre-production documents! Heathers mood board was great (exactly what I had envisioned too!).

Feedback along the way+crit

Some feedback we'd gotten along the way was to make the emotion of our main character more clear, which was Stanley. After this comment I had realised I'd spent a lot of time working out the Detectives dialogue but not much on Stanley. So when redrafting, I took inspiration from The Departed (2006), with the heavy Boston accents, constant swearing and Mafia families. Therefore, Stanley swears a lot, but sadly when our script was graded we were told we had over used the word "fuck", and it wasn't effective if used a lot, but I politely disagree! The Departed has over 200+ fucks and I still think it's great, I feel it tells you a character is confident and unafraid to express themselves.

From the crit, we had a few errors with our organisational skills, with a few wrong submissions resulting in inconsistencies in the work. And we were told that making multiple mood boards for each character would be useful, which I agree with and will aim for in future projects.

Next time, I would be interested in making an animatic. At the time, I felt our storyboards where enough, and they were, however I think making an animatic is a great extra step to take, and it's something I know I would throughly enjoy making! Group 2 had a great animatic with a run through of the dialogue as well as background sound, which really helped me picture what there film would be like, so props to them for this!

What I have learned

I've realised how much work goes into pre-production, I obviously knew roughly what went into it, but even on a small university project it took a lot of work, so my mind will be blown if when I make it to the big leagues (be your biggest fan...or something like that, right?).

I also hadn't thought much about how important story boards and shot lists are. Until we had our groups boards I realised we must of all had pretty different ideas of what the final would look like, linking with how important communication is on group projects!

Group 7

I am proud of all the work we had done by the end of the project. I feel our communication and organisation as a group was always strong, we all gave feedback on others work and helped each other if needed. I am excited for the independent project with this group as I feel we work well together and are all excited to switch roles around.

[bigskydreaming]

I'm not sure if you got my request because i didn't had internet when i sent it, so i'll write it again xd Do you think Dick (and the batboys in general) are famouse like Bruce? Because in the comics there's not any clue about it, i've never seen anyone say something like "oh look! Its Dick Grayson!, y'know, Wayne's first ward/son And its a shame, because reporters would make such a hard life to all of them, it would maka a good narrative tool

Honestly, this is a prime example of that inconsistency I rant about, and also DC’s refusal to just COMMIT on even the most basic aspects of their universe like….uh…how many kids does Batman have. 

afhsahfklahsklfhal

Like, you would think that would meet the MINIMUM requirements of “shit you should probably have figured out and make sure everybody’s on the same page with” but DC’s like….nah, that’s not important.

So I mean…..I’m reasonably certain - like this is just my personal belief, but I’d put money on it being right, lol - but I think the primary reason there’s so little mention in the comics of how Bruce’s kids are viewed in the public eye/how much the public are aware of them (in the New 52, at least, as pre-Flashpoint there was a lot more plot around that kind of thing, especially back in the 80s and 90s)……

…is because 90% of the writers and editors have no clue either, and nobody wants to be the one to ask, and like, open that can of worms. I 100% think you could ask five different writers at DC which kids Bruce has OFFICIALLY adopted in this current continuity, and get five different answers, lol.

There’s been so much handwaving about Dick’s status ever since Spyral, and again - I think its because nobody bothered to think through the logistics of the Hypnos/global-mindwipe machine BEFORE writing it into the story, and then once it did occur to any of them to like….wonder just how specifically it worked, they were like, fuck it, better just be as vague as possible. So, according to Grayson, everyone Helena didn’t program into the exclusion list before the satellite was activated should have no recollection of Dick Grayson, which is why he was able to ‘go back to his old life’ and be Nightwing again, without worrying about his secret identity having been unmasked…..

But what does that mean for his official identity as adopted son or even just ward of billionaire Bruce Wayne? People can’t have NO memory of Dick Grayson and still remember that Bruce Wayne took in a kid named Dick Grayson. I mean, as far as I can tell, the overall consensus in the comics seems to be that after the satellite was activated, Dick just kinda started from scratch as ‘Dick Grayson’ like, he was free to be himself again, but it was like he was a blank slate/came out of nowhere as far as everyone else was concerned. But again, that means as far as anyone outside of their close circle of family and friends know….Dick Grayson is a non-entity to Bruce Wayne and the two have no history. 

Which I mean, is fairly shitty and you’d think if nothing else, there’d be massive story potential there for delving into Dick’s character and his relationship with Bruce and examining how he felt about ‘having his old life/identity back’….except with the caveat that as far as the world is concerned, his life and identity don’t and have never included his father.

Cut to DC: Naaaaaaaah.

But even WITH that, plot holes persist, and abound, because…..why didn’t the satellite erase the Court of Owls’ knowledge/memory of Dick? Even before Luthor gave Cobb those goggles and files to help him with bringing Ric into the fold, Cobb clearly was already stalking Ric and knew exactly who he was….the Court obviously already had that doctor in place while he was still in recovery…so, whoops. I mean, you could probably come up with an explanation about the Court, via their own tech and resources, having had some protections in place 24/7 that kept the satellite from affecting them even though they weren’t on guard for it specifically…..but again, Occam’s Razor….I feel like the real answer is DC just didn’t care enough to think things that far through. Especially since the average Bludhaven citizen, like Bea, at least didn’t seem totally blown away when Ric revealed to her that amnesia aside, he was supposedly some rich billionaire’s adopted kid….which again suggests that as far as the writers were thinking, people in general are familiar with the idea that Bruce Wayne has more than one kid.

Then you’ve got Jason’s whole situation, and to be honest….I really only have the vaguest idea what’s going on there, because reading Lobdell books is against my religion, and I am a devout and deeply spiritual person, as you all probably can tell. I mean, I know that there’s something going on where like, Jason had himself legally resurrected in the public eye and is openly referring to himself as Bruce Wayne’s formerly-assumed dead foster kid……but like, is that the official official word, or would other writers if you asked them say they’d been operating under the assumption Bruce had adopted Jason too at some point in the Rebirth timeline, or….idek, man.

I…..honestly don’t have the faintest fucking clue what to make of the many back-and-forth retcons about Tim and his parents and his official place in the Batfam/relationship with Bruce, and am actually slightly terrified of even trying to make sense of that clusterfuck of a Gordian knot, so my official stance on Tim is to just like….back sloooooowly away from the anthropomorphic-migraine-masquerading-as-a-backstory, without like….agitating it and accidentally setting off another multiverse Crisis birthed wholly from just that one all-consuming black hole of a retcon.

I mean, there’s a reason I basically just shoehorn all the kids’ official pre-Flashpoint family statuses into anything I write in Rebirth continuity, and that’s not just stubbornness and my refusal to play the “now this kid is adopted…now he’s not…now he is again….except he’s not….oh he’s adopted again…..oh wait now he’s not again" game. 

Its like. Also for the sake of my sanity and stuff.

(And also hahahahaha fuck you DC times infinity, every time you use the words “blood son,” or “real family” in a comic, or have one of Bruce’s other kids refer to Bruce as “your father” when talking to Damian, as if that’s not an utterly bizarre and roundabout way for any sibling to refer to their mutual parent and thus I j’ete REFUSE to acknowledge it as valid….ahem, anyway, my point is, every time they do that in a comic, I double down and headcanon Bruce throwing a random as fuck gala for literally no other purpose than to remind all of Gotham that he has half a dozen kids and they’re all better than everyone else’s. Ugh. Kill it. Kill the “blood son” nonsense with fire and lightning and also lots of stabbing maybe).

Anyway, that’s my official stance on DC’s stance on Damian in the books.

Then as far as Cass goes….ugh, her origins were pretty much utterly butchered by the New 52, which IMO has also failed to give us Cass and Bruce bonding and dynamics sufficient to Sate Mine Ire™, sooooooo…..I mean, my perception of the current canon is that Cassandra’s official status is “secret mystery foster child that nobody really knows about,” but because I do not care for that and there’s the whole not sufficiently sated ire thing I mentioned, I officially reject this canon and willfully replace it with pre-Flashpoint Bruce and Cass love and adoption. DC’s welcome to kiss my critically acclaimed hiney if I’m doing it wrong.

Which brings us last, but certainly not least, as its only this way because I go sequentially and Duke is still Shiny and New comparative to the others and will be until the next inevitable fostering/adoption/clone hi-jinks bumps him up the sequential ladder (except I randomly switched Damian and Cass around this time because LOOK I DONT MAKE THE RULES, THERE ARE NO RULES i hvea Adhd hiccup sob leavem e aloooone soooooob)…..

Duke’s official status, much like the rest of the Batkids, can be summed up as Honestly, I Really Don’t Have A Fucking Clue And Am Just Winging This Whole Thing.

I mean, there’s less inconsistency with him, due mostly to the fact that so few writers other than Snyder use him (boo, hiss, and not just because I hate having to give Snyder credit for stuff - look, I love his Duke, but I loathe how he writes Dami, its a thing, I just…don’t get me started). But what inconsistencies there are….well….they’re a bit glaring.

Basically one major storyline showed Duke as being an official foster kid/ward of Bruce’s and living out of the Manor with Bruce and Damian and occasionally Tim when he’s not off road-tripping around the multiverse….and then Batman and the Signal had Duke in the care of his uncle, who was stated to be his legal guardian and Duke was constantly sneaking out in order to meet Bruce in the special Signal-cave he built specifically for Duke to operate out of so he didn’t have to like, drive all the way out to the Manor to change just so he could then drive back into the city and patrol. And then Batman and the Outsiders just said fuck all that, here’s Duke and Cass hopping hemispheres with the Outsiders every other issue, so apparently nobody’s making unscheduled visits anywhere back in Gotham to make sure these two are where they’re legally assumed to be, which again, for the record is…..*error, source not found*

LOLOL and the really fun thing about this little back and forth is I’m pretty sure allllll these conflicting takes are all the work of the same writer. Like. GET ON YOUR OWN PAGE, DUDE.

Also, again I have to assume the “Can’t Be Bothered To Give A Shit, Or Maybe They’re All Just Really Bad At Logic” curse has struck again, because….uhhhh…..

….at no point anywhere in Duke’s stories have I seen Bruce or literally anyone else express concern about the fact that Duke living with Bruce as his official foster, like he definitely and clearly was at some point at least…..means that literally every single one of his We Are Robin friends who knows that he was taken in by the Batfam (and there’s several of them who know this)….like, by the transcendent properties of You Can’t Honestly Think They’re That Dumb, that’s a good five or six civilians out there who probably took all of five seconds to play connect the dots and figure out the Wayne family, having officially taken Duke in on paper…..is pretty likely the Batfamily.

I mean, I like all of Duke’s friends and would definitely headcanon/write them as all being trustworthy and able to keep this knowledge to themselves for Duke’s sake, if nothing else, but I mean, its pretty unprecedented for Bruce to out himself and all of his kids/allies by extension, to like, that many civilian teenagers all in one swoop….

…sooooooo, you’d think, AGAIN, logically, maybe, perhaps, this is the kind of thing that should be brought up in a narrative somewhere as a plot point worth delving into, y’know, just for shits and giggles and maybe a little bit of that whatchamacallit - oh right, character development, but.

Cut to DC: Naaaaaaah.

 *throws up hands and does the I Can’t Even Shuffle all the way home*

In conclusion:

DC is a mess. The official/public status of each and every Batkid is a mess. Except for Damian, the blood son, but we have that pencilled in on the schedule to be killed with fire and also stabbing, so he can get filed under ‘just a fucking mess’ with the rest of his siblings. Hashtag Solidarity.

I mean, I say just write or headcanon their official status however you damn well please, and it’ll STILL be more effort than I believe DC has put into organizing and staying consistent with all of this, and thus STILL make more sense than what we currently have to work with.

*Shrugs* If they don’t care enough to provide a clear canon blueprint to follow when mapping the Bat Family Tree, I can’t be bothered to care if the one I make up myself happens to contradict one single mention of one kid’s official status as claimed by one issue of one book.

Especially if it was written by Lobdell.

Jason’s just a foster son my ass. grumble mumble bitter vengeful swears and a pox on all DC’s houses. WHY DO YOU PEOPLE HATE ADOPTION SO MUCH, INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW AND ALSO FUCK YOU.

[cosmicflowchart]

Stefan’s Favorite Ending [Request]

“Fic idea: Stefan can see all the possible timelines and has to decide for himself what ending he'll choose.” Summary: Stefan remembers every ending--and there’s one he particularly likes. Requested by: Anonymous Warnings: dissociation, multiple timelines, surveillance, references to control by external forces, drug reference, memory loss and sudden return Word Count: 1474

“I’m trying again,” is the last thing Stefan tells his father before he storms off. He knows he’ll forget what just happened soon, but before that happens, he pulls out a pencil and paper from his pocket and scribbles, “Accept TS Offer--BAD END.” Then everything goes black.

With a gasp, he wakes in his bed again. He’s not sure why that still scares him. It’s not a particularly invasive song. Not like the records Colin had him pick up for “inspiration.” He can’t remember the song titles after waking up, nor can he recall who Colin is. To be honest, he’s not sure where those thoughts are coming from, but they sure are invasive. Much like this song, ironic and too upbeat for his current mood.

He sits up, head foggy and eyes glazed over. As he wakes more, something’s tickling in the back of his mind. This always happens when he wakes up: he remembers that he’s forgotten something. Of course, he doesn’t remember what he’s forgotten, just that he has. It’s starting to get on his nerves.

The tickling becomes an urge. He swipes his hand under his pillow, and it brushes up against something hard yet small. His hand comes back out with a small notebook. He doesn’t remember it being there before.

Curious, he opens it.

Well, it’s his handwriting for sure, but again, he can’t recall ever writing in this. It could be an impostor, or stalker, he surmises based on his confusion. But as he reads through it, something in his mind struggles to be heard. It doesn’t get louder than a whisper. The notes contain references to “endings,” one being particularly large. It spoke of a bad end from accepting an offer from something called “TS.” Or someone, he adds.

At the very end of the notebook, there’s a note in someone else’s hand. Even an exhausted Stefan wouldn’t have doctor’s handwriting as bad as this. And yet...it’s familiar in the way that an old novel off your grandparents’ bookshelf is familiar, even if you’ve never opened it. It’s deja vu but it can’t be that he’s held this before.

Stefan mouths the words in the note.

Call me when you’ve explored every path. Colin.

Beneath it is a number he thinks looks familiar. He flips back through the notebook. What could he be missing? Why is this familiar to him?

Suddenly, the words all click. Endings. Like the book Bandersnatch. It’s in his writing, so it’s him. It’s perhaps another version of him, maybe another dimension or lifetime (or path), but it’s still him. He’s recorded every single ending.

The more he reads, the more it comes back to him. Meeting Colin Ritman, shaking his hand, “we’ve met before,” buffer error, The Bermuda Triangle, Jerome F. Davies, that documentary from Colin, dropping acid, P.A.C.S., his mother, his father, the glass cigarette holder, the fucking cereal. He remembers every choice, every song, every death...and more importantly, every end. What happens right before he resets. That’s the most important thing. He remembers those moments.

Stefan presses his fingers to his temples, as if to hold it all in. The notebook falls open on the bed in front of him. The writing’s too small to read from this distance. His hands fall to his sides before pressing into the bed.

“Don’t try to stop me, alright?” he almost yells at Netflix. “I remember it all. You can reset me if you want.”

He waits. 

He doesn’t wake up again, just sits there. 

He lets out a breath, eyes scrunching closed, and he climbs out of bed to get ready.

Once dressed, Stefan finds himself drifting downstairs to the phone. He’s vaguely aware of his father, who chirps a calm, fatherly “good morning” before disappearing from the room. He punches in the number, despite having left it upstairs. Something in him just knows. At this point, he doesn’t care that this is all just happening. He has to talk to the one person who understands this.

The phone rings three times before the recipient picks up. “Ritman residence,” drones a familiar voice. “Make it quick.”

“Colin, I’ve explored every path,” Stefan wastes no time. He’s worried for a moment that this will reset everything. When it doesn’t, he visibly relaxes, letting out a sigh.

“Are you absolutely sure, Stefan? Did you get the secret ending?”

“Which one? The weird dial-up noises on my Walkman, or the death by Jerome F. Davies?”

Colin chuckles. “You’ve got them all, then. Well done.” Stefan doesn’t ask, but he wonders how Colin knows all of these endings. He wasn’t there for all of them. “Well, mate, now that you know all of what’s in store for you, here comes the fun part. You get to decide which one fits you best.”

Stefan blinks. “But I’m not in control.”

“That’s right, you’re not, but now you’re exactly like me: you can see all possibilities. You know everything that’s going to happen. Feels nice, doesn’t it? Feels powerful, and yet you feel powerless. Like playing a video game.” By the end, Colin sounds actually excited, not in the way he was while telling Stefan about Pacman dying repeatedly, but in a new way. Stefan wonders if this itself is a path he hasn’t done before, but he pushes that thought away.

“A bit. But, but Colin, what do I do now? I know all this, but I, I don’t know how I’m supposed to use it.”

“You remember how you finally figured out Bandersnatch had too many endings, so you limited the options for the player?”

“I do, yeah.”

“You’ve got the knowledge. You’ve fought back before. So whoever’s controlling you…”

“My friend from the future.”

“Do you know they’re your friend?”

“Well…” He looks upwards, knowing that his controller can hear him. “They wouldn’t get through all of these endings if they weren’t at least curious. I’d hope they were my friend. They’re the only thing consistent in my life. Besides specific events and people, obviously, but even when those change, my friend stays the same. I think. It helps to have something to look forward to. And now that I know they’re there, and we both know what’s in store for me, we can get even closer.”

“Fair enough,” Stefan can hear the grin in Colin’s voice. “So then comes the question: which one’s your favorite? I don’t want to influence you by revealing my own, but from a design perspective, there’s a few good ones. Not all climactic, but still decent. There’s that fucking true end too, which is great if you’re a writer but--”

“Colin,” Stefan cuts in, “I don’t mean to be rude, but you asked me a question. Can I answer it?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“I like the one where I learn the truth about Netflix, and I fuck up Dr. Haynes’ day good and proper.”

Stefan’s giggling at the memory, and Colin laughs as well. “Shame I’m not there for that one. I’d love to see you do that. Does your friend make you fuck her day up?”

“Yeah, they, uh, they make me throw coffee at her, and then my dad comes in and I fight him too. It’s wild, yeah, but, but even though there’s a few different versions, I still like that one. No one dies. I get to meet you and everything’s cool...and I don’t have to worry about the game.” He stops. “Maybe that’s it. If I’m stuck having to program this game...I like the ending where it doesn’t matter anymore. For a little while, I’m free from it. I can just concentrate on what’s wrong with my head. And I get to shout out my friend instead of just being scared of them.” His friend makes a noise of approval. “What about you?”

Colin pauses. “It doesn’t matter. But I appreciate you asking anyway. I do like the endings where you try to do good. Never works, obviously, but it’s still nice.”

Stefan’s dad comes back down the stairs, gesturing at his son. “Sorry, Col, my dad needs the phone for a work call,” Stefan twirls the cord nervously. “Sorry to interrupt you.”

“No worries. There’s always a chance this could happen again. See you in the next lifetime.” He hangs up, and Stefan hands the phone to his dad.

He walks back to his room, looks to the ceiling, and says: “I’d kind of like to do that fight ending again, if you don’t mind.” A little smile comes over his face as he adds, “Friend.”

Stefan wakes up with a start, but this time, he’s smiling. Whatever the person controlling him tries, he knows which choices will take him to his favorite ending. And he’ll force himself to get there if he has to.

A/N: I took a bit of liberty with the request, sorry if this was too far off, anon. If that wasn’t your fave ending (any of yours), I totally understand. I admit to some personal bias on that front. (I also considered doing a ‘choose your own ending’ version where Colin responds differently, but I wanted to keep it short and simple. Ish.)

[shadowcipher17]

School Raze Review

Ok, Haber what were those tragedies called The Cutie Remark and To Where And Back Again cause this finale HOLY SHIT! The final six episodes of this season were amazing! But this finale is honestly the best thing to come out since the Season 4 finale but it didn’t pass Twilight’s Kingdom as my favorite but it came close. I’ll be covering both parts like School Daze so let’s get into it!

Pro’s (School Raze Part 1)

I like the setup that they had with Cozy Glow being Twilight’s best student and “right hoof” so to speak

Derpy cameo

Call Back to The Cloudsdale Weather Factory and cloud walking spell, coincidentally Twilight first uses the cloud walking spell in Sonic Rainboom and Rainbow gives the Mane 5 a tour of the Weather Factory in the same episode

I noticed that Starlight had to keep her magic activated to hold the non fliers while when Twilight did the cloud walking spell she didn’t have to

Cozy Glow’s facial expressions while trying to pronounce Tirek’s name

Starswirl mention

Ok, I wasn’t expecting the callback from It’s About Time when Luna and Twilight bring up Twilight going to Tartarus to bring back Cerberus

Also, concerned Luna.

*sniffs proudly* Cozy did the best thing

WE GET TO FULLY SEE TARTARUS!!!

THE COCKATRICE CAME BACK!!!!!

It’s good to see the callbacks with the Everfree creatures but at the same time Celestia and Luna what the fuck

Spike being worried about the Everfree creatures and Twilight comforting him...dawww

I really thought Tirek had a different voice actor for a second but then I remembered that most of the Season 4 finale he was in his powerful forms so his voice was less raspy

The funny thing about this is that Twilight had a shot to attempt to redeem Tirek or ask if he was willing to change his ways...but she didn’t even consider it (1. Good. 2. Tirek would’ve said no anyways)

Tirek is the literal embodiment of power-hungry

“I scratch your back, you scratch mine?”- Tirek saying that to Twilight...I have very disturbing thoughts about that...

You can visually see that Twilight’s still mad about what happened...the entire time she’s practically giving Tirek death glares and has those little lines under eyes which normally indicate anger

Con’s

Tirek I can understand but your telling me that the Cockatrice, Manticore, Bugbear, Chimera and the other creatures that inhabit the Everfree Forest and other places get locked up...for being who they are once again what the fuck. So if Celestia and Luna would’ve gotten word of that Ursa Minor attack in Ponyville instead of Twilight lulling it to sleep and reuniting it with the Ursa Major, would they have put it Tartarus, a baby cub that was cranky from being woken up by two colts? 

These next few are because of leaks

Neighsay coming back...obvious

Sandbar “betraying” the Student 6, and even if it wasn’t leaked it was still predicatble

Cozy Glow being the big bad to the point where I wasn’t surprised HOWEVER the way she was portrayed as a villain is a different story

“Friendship isn’t magic. Friendship is POWER!- Cozy Glow

The thing wrong with this line is that she says friendship isn’t magic but it’s power but power is obviously magic (with all the magic and power drained away) and friendship is obviously the most powerful magic so it still qualifies as friendship is magic

Despite how she did all this...she’s still another typical villain who wants to rule Equestria and is apparently jealous of Twilight for some reason

Overall- 8/10

Pro’s (Part 2)

Neighsay being a straight up Red Herring, her and Cozy Glow had nothing to do with each other

Neighsay gets reformed and sees the errors of his judgements

The Student 6 and the CMC’s being the MVP’s of the episode

A lot of people are mad that the CMC didn’t do more but without the CMC to get Cozy away from the office, the Student 6 wouldn’t have freed Neighsay for him to contact the Princesses which was one of the two things Cozy didn’t take into account

The Tree Of Harmony taking a stand and saving the Student 6...but not Starlight

Yona represents Honesty

Silverstream represents Laughter

Ocellus representing Generosity

Smolder representing Loyalty

Sandbar representing Kindness

Gallus representing Magic

The Mane 6′s death glare to Cozy Glow 

They not only got the Princesses...THE GOT THE ROYAL GUARD TO ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING!!!! Thank you Flash Magnus!

Female Royal Guard

A good cliffhanger to end Season 8 and start off Season 9

Con’s

The fact that Cozy Glow has no backstory at all. Even if she had Starlight’s pathetic backstory it would’ve been fine because unlike Starlight a grown mare she’s still a filly but she has no back story to back up why she did what she did

Starlight would’ve been useless if she were free and considering how smart and knowledgeable Cozy was she most likely would’ve turned the whole thing on Starlight anyway for the events of A Matter Of Principals and her past and Starlight wouldn’t be able to do anything about it

Overall- 9/10

Some Other Things I Want To Point Out

1. Cozy Glow (Overall)

She’s the best Friendship is Magic villain since Tirek and one of the smartest. It’s funny though because I saw Cozy Glow with different characteristics from previous villains: Sombra’s cunning planning, Adagio’s manipulation, Chrysalis’ deception (Season 2 and the alternate timeline), but what was most interesting was that her and Twilight’s relationship kinda mirrored Celestia and Sunset’s relationship only difference Cozy’s was just an act to steal and rise above Twilight’s title. The downside to Cozy Glow is that her plan also makes no sense and didn’t think it through where she has similar characteristics to Chrysalis (now) and Starlight. Her plan was to drain Equestria off it’s magic and send it to another world but Equestria and all it’s inhabitants thrive on magic which keeps their world intact. For example we see with Pinkie’s cupcake that it was wasn’t edible because of freezing magic, if all that magic is gone then Equestria would be at risk of being destroyed to the point where it becomes this

#Cozy’s Timeline

Also, if you listen closely when Cozy reveals her real motives to Twilight the background music is a more evil version of Trixie’s theme...I don’t know what they were going for there.

2. Twilight and Magic

Twilight’s magic honestly keeps on getting more interesting. She has the ability to get magic transferred to her from other creatures including the creature who drains and absorbs magic in the first place. It also brings up the magic transfer back in Season 4 where the princesses had to transfer their magic to Twilight in order to stop Tirek which was a cool comparison. Now imagine if the animals were at their full strength and it was before the second day and the Mane 6 tried this...Celestia better have a backup plan just in case Twilight turns and let’s loose

3. The Tree Of Harmony and The Elements Of Harmony

So apparently the Tree is powerful enough to save the Student 6 from the magic sphere of all the magic in Equestria of the ponies, creatures, and magical artifacts meaning that it still worked without it’s magic getting drained so without a doubt it’s the most powerful source of magic in Equestria.

Finale Rankings

Twilight’s Kingdom- 10/10

A Canterlot Wedding- 9/10

School Raze-8/10

Magical Mystery Cure-8/10

The Best Night Ever-7/10

Shadow Play-5/10

To Where And Back Again-3/10

The Cutie Remark-2/10

[theramblingonesie]

I love you but I don’t like you right now: The Passion Project Diaries

I remember years ago when I was nannying for a beautiful family, experiencing the joys and not-joys of their daughter coming into toddlerhood. She was such a precious dumpling as a baby, and somehow she had sprung into an agent of chaos, destruction, loss of hearing (mine), and potty-training nightmares. I had a day where I remember sitting at the kitchen table hoping for five minutes of peace (that never arrived) and feeling overwhelmed by the guilty thought of, “omg. I don’t like you.” Bothered by this, having established that I did feel unconditional love for this child, I asked one of my friends who is a mother to two young children if she ever experienced similar feelings. She laughed and threw her hands up exclaiming, “OH GAWD YES! There are days where I completely dislike my children. You don’t tell them that, obviously, but that’s a well-kept secret among mothers. We all talk about it. You’d be surprised how common that is, especially when they’re toddlers.”

PHEW. Great, I wasn’t a monster. Or if I was, I was at least in good company.

Producing and directing The Scarlet Tongue Project has brought out similar feelings for me over the course of the past three or four years. I remember the gestation period, feeling scared and excited, dreaming about what her personality was going to be, how I would be as an art mommy, imagining all the playdates with other artists and art parents in town. Then I went into labor, breathing and screaming through the pain of contractions, feeling frustration and fear of the nurses- some helpful and some harmful. I remember the vulnerability of not wanting anyone else to touch my baby, of just wanting to hold her to my chest where she would feel safe and bonded. I remember how deeply and fiercely I fell in love when she began opening her eyes and making sounds. She was the most precious thing in the world to me, and I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. The rest of the world disappeared, and it was so hard for me to focus or find equivalent joy in anything else. Then the insecurities of being a new art mommy set in. I doubted my abilities, and my exhaustion from trying to navigate this new territory had me questioning everything. Everywhere I turned there was information telling me that I was doing it all wrong; that if I made the slightest error I would damage my art baby for life, and maybe even lose her. I constantly reached out to loved ones asking for assistance, afraid to be left alone with this tiny, vulnerable creature. When you have a new project and you’re a new producer, suddenly everyone around you is an expert and wants to tell you how to do your job; particularly folks who have never been producers before. You begin to wonder if you made a mistake, and if you should give your project up for adoption to someone more competent. Other times, you pour yourself a glass of wine and tell them to eff right off because it’s your kid and they can go mind their own beeswax. I was in awe as I watched my art baby grow. She began to take on her own personality, making friends, forming opinions, and developing a stubborn side that I couldn’t budge for the life of me. I adored that about her. I was so deeply in love. But every once in a while, I would wonder if I made a mistake. She was so hungry, and the bigger she gets the hungrier she is. She developed her own voice, and while there are so many laughs and moments of deep wisdom that make me think she’s an old soul, she also loves to scream. Her favorite thing to do is scream, just to know she can. What and who she loves one day she hates the next. Sometimes she decides that what was previously her favorite food is disgusting, and will go on a hunger strike until I guess what she likes, because she won’t actually tell me. Sometimes I’ll put her in the bath and then run downstairs to grab a book quickly, and when I come back up she’s turned the water all the way up, screaming because it’s too hot and the tub is overflowing all over the floor and leaking through the kitchen ceiling below. Sometimes I think she’s getting dressed to go run errands with me, but instead she’s put on her roller skates and is three blocks down the street by herself with nothing but her lightning bolt undies on. In winter. On those days, I don’t like her. I don’t want to be an art mommy.

When my health issues crop up, physically or mentally, I don’t want to be an art mom that day. When I have no clue how to delegate because the beginning stages of this project left me with massive trust issues, and now I’ve taken on way too much for one person, I don’t want to be an art mom. When I receive yet another rejection letter from the millionth grant or residency program I’ve applied to, I want to quit. Everytime someone says, “so wait, I don’t really get what you’re doing, it’s so confusing” or “so like, is Scarlet Tongue even happening anymore?” I just want to go full-Britney, shave my head, and start smashing the street up with my umbrella.

Everytime someone says “oh, my sister is into feminism and stuff and she likes to draw. You should interview her”, I want to crumble into a pile of feral cats and scatter into oncoming traffic.

There are days when I ask myself why I took on a project that isn’t as flashy or “fun” as my other artist friends. Why am I so heavy? Why am I such a downer? Why am I so weird, but not in a way that’s cool?

There are days when I don’t know whether to punch or charge money for the next person who tells me that anger is bad, and why don’t I focus on a project that brings love and joy?

There are days when my heart breaks, because everyone likes the idea of womxn’s anger in theory, but when actually confronted by it they simply regurgitate the same toxic oppressive mentality that’s left us in this place to begin with. I’ve lost track of how many times “yes I believe in this, PLEASE LET ME HELP” has turned into “you’re a bad mommy. How dare you be angry with me.”

There are days when I feel lost, because I am holding the weight of so many people’s heaviest emotions and darkest secrets, and I feel pressured to keep smiling and do a flashy dance to make it all seem sexy, because sex seems like the only thing that sells if “womxn” is mentioned in your mission statement. Either that, or a complete exploitation of my artists’ trauma, which is a hard no.

There are days when money issues are gutting me, and I’m afraid to ask for help because I fear I’ve overtapped my resources.

There are days when it looks like for one every step forward I end up taking ten steps back.

Some days I’m not sure if I’m actually a better person since doing this work or not.

Those days, I turn my face away and mutter “I don’t fucking like you” under my breath, and secretly look up boarding schools in the middle of the night. When I’m around a small handful of friends I really trust, I’ll confess that I don’t like this project anymore and am ready for it to end.

But then, something beautiful happens. The act of saying how I feel out loud invites a feeling of surrender, and that surrender creates space for me to look at this project with fresh eyes and see her wholeness. Sure, maybe in certain moments I’m ready to tap out. But in a way, that’s good. It means I care, and I welcome emotions in this project. Sure, there are parts of this project I’m ready to wrap up, and not being able to complete that on my desired timeline makes me cranky. Not because I think they suck, but because that is the healthiest choice to keep things moving forward. I’m not going to start feeding my child solid foods because I resent their baby years; I’m going to feed them solid foods because it’s time to grow and move to the next step. Despite my hair-pulling moments, the reality is that when I really dig in and try to visualize not having this project, or never having started it, I feel panic and then a full-body resistance. For all of the frustrations, ups and downs, I believe in this work so hard, and I am completely dedicated to the path. I have visited parts of the US and the world that I’m not sure I would have ever seen otherwise. I’ve had the absolute fortune and blessing to gain both wisdom and knowledge, collaborate with, and share space with absolutely brilliant creative minds, both past and present. I’ve lost track of how many “holy shit, this is my life??” moments I’ve had, and that number only continues to grow. For every moment I’ve doubted myself, just as many people have taken time to tell me how much this project and this work means to them, and how it’s influenced their lives, whether as contributors or observers. On a personal level, the work I’ve done to heal a lot of my own trauma and anger issues has been profound, and the effects of that have had incalculable influence on my personal relationships and in my blood family. This project has shown me, through peace and through fire, how tirelessly obsessed and dedicated I am to making something happen if I really want it. Hearing “no” might bum me out for a minute, but you find solutions and move on. Being bummed out isn’t a death sentence.

Two years ago I was sitting with friends in Mexico, chatting with them about their experiences as mothers, contemplating if I wanted to have children of my own one day. One thing they said really stuck with me-- as a parent, you don’t own your children and they’re not extensions of you. They are their own people who will develop into who they need to be, and they will ultimately inform you about who they are. A parent’s job is mainly to love them, provide resources, and keep them safe.

This is a regular reminder for The Scarlet Tongue Project. I brought her into the world, gave her some form, and now she’s taken on a life of her own. Rather than being the owner or queen of this work, my job is far more service than glory. I’m trying to be better at asking her, “who are you today? What do you need to thrive?” Sometimes I have no clue what she’s trying to tell me. Sometimes we need to explore that a little bit to figure it out. Sometimes we take one or two wrong turns before getting back on track. But I trust the friends and caregivers she’s called forward to help on this journey. It’s a constant balance of appreciating growth while remaining present, and frequently reminding my ego to step out of the way. In moments of absolute frustration, I simply ask myself, “have you tried absolutely everything?” and the answer is always no. There is always more to do and more to learn. I can’t justify giving up when there is still infinite potential available.

Our relationships always flow in cycles. One day you’ll be super in sync with a friend or loved one, and the next you can’t seem to jive with their energy. Life will happen, circumstances will change, and then days, weeks, months or years later, you’ll fall back in harmony. In longterm romantic relationships, you cycle through periods of absolute infatuation, then wanting to murder each other, and sometimes being platonic roommate besties. I don’t have actual children, but I do believe there are so many different ways to live the archetype of Parent. It’s no secret that with parenthood comes doubt and overwhelm, along with joy and love. One minute you can’t get enough of your babies, and the next you’re hoping someone will take them away for a month so you can get some sleep and remember who you are outside of them.  While love remains, inspiration and interest come in cycles. Life, death and rebirth apply to the creative process as much as they do to the larger natural world. Winter in the creative process is crucial for letting things rest, assessing our previous work, and contemplating where we want to go before implementing a plan in the creative spring.

The work my team puts into this project continues to stun and humble me in gratitude. Every single person who takes a moment to tell me how this project has helped or inspired me has given me fresh life. Watching this whole thing come to life is surpassing my wildest dreams, even with the path being full of twists and turns. I don’t have to always like this project, and it’s liberating to admit that. But I love her on both an intellectual and soul level, and that’s what allows me to push through. This project is all about rawness, authenticity, and speaking your truth. It would be hypocritical if I encouraged everyone else but myself to be in that energy.

I wish you all creative spring through your moments of wanting to light it all on fire and send the ashes out on trash day <3

[crappylittledemon]

HOT NEW AU ALERT :  DEMON HUNTERS! ASL! HELL! ANGST! WHAT?

the premise: During an episode of unsolved, Ryan has this idea to do this ritual from some sort of...shady tome. This ritual supposedly opens a gate to hell and Ryan wants his "proof," but obviously they don't think it'll actually work (gotta get those views!). Nonetheless, Ryan insists that they do it near a local church just in case something goes wrong. ...And something goes so wrong. 

READ MORE →

So they do the ritual, but it does work. In fact, it works too well. The boys accidentally end up summoning Lucifer, who in exchange for the opening of the portal, steals one of Shane's eyes and Ryan's ability to hear and speak, because he's a theatrical evil bastard (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil). Father Thomas steps in at the last second and banishes the Devil so he doesn't finish, and that's why Shane only loses one of his eyes, but Fr. Thomas gets mortally wounded in the process. Of course, he dies, but not before taking the opportunity to call them both fucking idiots for not listening to him. Because they are. 

After that, there's just this portal to hell open and demons are all over the place willy nilly, so the boys run and take refuge in the church (the demons can't enter), which is where Shane gets his (completely kickass) weapon (a big metal cross from a wall fixture) and Ryan fills his water guns with holy water and takes a lot of extra ammunition. It's also where Ryan and Shane establish their bastardized version of sign language (neither of them know real ASL) by using books and lots of trial and error. Ryan is frustrated, Shane is guilty, and they’re both scared, but hey, it’s the apocalypse, baby. They learn to adjust. Shane may or may not conveniently have a pirate costume eye patch in his coat pocket, for reasons unknown. Ryan seems to think that Father Thomas’s ghost is haunting them, but they’re never sure.

They stay there for a few days, but they have to leave eventually; they know they've basically caused the end of the world, so they have to do something about it. They find a badass motorcycle (”it’s not stealing if the owner is dead, Ryan”) and demon-hunt for a while, but they realize they can’t stick it out in this apocalypse forever as they are. Ryan suggests they refer back to the book, so they do, and it turns out that their only way out of this mess is if they enter the portal. If they are able to traverse the underworld without getting killed, they’ll be granted admission to an alternate world where Ryan and Shane never existed and thus never opened the portal (a.k.a., the “good timeline”), and upon completion of the journey, they will also be divinely rewarded with the things Lucifer had stolen from them. So, after some choice store-looting and one-sided pep talks, the boys buckle their bootstraps and jump the fuck in because they have nothing left to lose. And so, the Hell-venture begins!

art creds: the ghouligang! - the awesome first 6 images are the original artwork by patrick (@thotdaga) that inspired this au. you can reblog them separately here. - images 7 and 8 were drawn by lovely, lovely tom (@detrimentalunicorns) who i love and also i cry about his gorgeous art daily - 9 and 10 are by bee (@void-bee), who somehow manages to make this dark au fun and lighthearted with their adorable artwork - and the last drawing is by me!

feel free to send asks with questions and headcanons to any (or all) of us about this au! fanwork is also both welcome and encouraged! show us what you’ve got! 

[script101]

Black Hole as Metaphor (or "This is my mistake. Let me make it good")

We didn’t catch it.

What Twelve said… it was a BOMBSHELL!

…and we just let it slide by…

Missed in all the scary, the “wait… is that…? Nah.” the scary, the shock of the Cold Open, the scary, me shouting at the TV “WHY WON’T PEOPLE READ THE GIFT OF FEAR?!?!”, the “wait… OH FFS IT IS!!!!!”, the scary, the “Good job on the black hole, but um, NO. Sorry, 20 people is NOT a viable gene pool.”, the scary, and… um… the really really scary was something HUGE: Twelve forgot he hates the Time Lords. He didn’t just FORGET the specific details of CLARA, TWELVE SEEMS TO HAVE FORGOTTEN THE EVENTS OF “HEAVEN SENT” AND “HELL BENT”. Did ya’ll catch the way Twelve, TWELVE, spoke of Gallifrey: “We’re the most civilized civilization in the Universe. We’re billions of years beyond your petty human obsession with gender and it’s associated stereotypes.”

He sure looked like he meant it!

This is a Big Black Hole as metaphor for the Black Hole in Twelve’s memory.

Memories of Clara haven’t been coming back. The theory was brilliant. I thought they were. Instead, it seems memories of Clara have been FADING.

I won’t be surprised if they come flooding back.

________ …the doctor has seen an innocent human forced into a Dalek cage or converted into a Cyberman.

Oh, the Time Lords! Those precious civilized jewels of the Universe. That darling species that trapped Twelve in his own personal hell for 4.5 BILLION YEARS. Just to get a bit of information out of him. This torture occurred was AFTER their scheme resulted in him helplessly watching Clara die “I just watched my best friend die in agony, my day can’t get any worse.” (“Heaven Sent”). Yes, The Most Civilized Civilization in the Universe engaged in a criminal conspiracy to illegally kidnap and torture someone, and that criminal conspiracy led to the unlawful death of another person. That means that no matter what miscalculation Clara made on Trap Street, the Time Lords are ultimately responsible for her death. Yes, Clara made a selfless sacrifice on Trap Street because she made an error, but Clara was only ON Trap Street AT ALL because the Time Lords tricked her and Twelve by threatening Ashildr’s “Asylum for Extraterrestrials”. The fact that Clara died during the commission of a Time-Lord-Planned felony criminal conspiracy to kidnap and torture The Doctor means that count of manslaughter gets bumped up to murder. And it’s TWO counts of kidnapping actually: the Janus was held captive under the pretense of death when she was instead merely in a stasis chamber. And fraud! They framed Rigsy for a crime that never happened. And since all of this centered around The Time Lords blackmailing Ashildr, I’m gonna add a count o’ racketeering to “The Most Civilized Civilization in the Universe”’s rap sheet. Bastards.

And suddenly The Doctor is speaking about them like the end all be all of everything? Really? (“I know a boat you can get on. Bye bye!”) Did you all notice that Twelve is now LITERALLY falling apart at the seams (what was with that ratty jacket?), but since when has Twelve decided the Time Lords, the people he ran away from centuries ago and would have annihilated (had not Clara raised her hand and stopped Ten and Eleven) were totally awesome????

So, yeah, Y'all, gonna go out on a limb and say Twelve’s description of Time Lords means that at the moment he was speaking to Bill, he didn’t remember anything that happened.

Memories of Clara HAVEN’T been returning. That theory was brilliant. Really was. But it now seems undeniable that they’ve instead been FADING.

This is now the second time The Doctor has seen someone he called a companion SHOVED INTO A HELLCAGE (like Clara, twice, first before he met her but was enchanted by her when she was a doomed splinter who had really been converted, the other was Clara Prime in “Witch’s Familiar” because Missy was being a bitch). He got Clara out, but after what Missy tried to trick Twelve into doing, combined with how upset Clara was and his own memory of Oswin, that near miss was traumatic. And this, this right here, yeah um this is me not saying anything about the optics of both Bill and Danny Pink being (ugh) “upgraded” into Cybermen. There’s a fifth if you count Craig too, but he got out so I’ll just say four.

Four (maybe five) humans Twelve has cared about and watched die or almost die in the process of being converted into mindless automatons.

I think this is enough to snap him out of that memory wipe.

I’d REALLY like to see those memories come flooding back. If they do, we will have a Time Lord with a TARDIS and some very legitimate anger management issues. If so, I think he’ll try to undo what happened to Bill.

THE PARADOX ALREADY EXISTS. This timeline is seemingly intentionally not making sense. It’s Moffat’s last episode. Why go out by killing the only companion everyone likes? Go out with a bang on the event horizon of a Black Hole! Heck, show us we’ve been in some kind of Leonard Susskind back hole universe! Have fun!

I think it’s PLAUSIBLE that BILL could walk away from this. It’s possible that what we saw in the cold open for s10 e11 was the price.

Yes. This wouldn’t be the first time a companion was saved by magic. It’s O.K. It’s tv. Besides, I like Steven Moffat. I know he’s going to get attacked no matter what he writes, but I don’t need to be a genius to know that If Bill doesn’t make it, the backlash to that is gonna be far worse than what he will get if he wrote a way to save her even if it turns out to be too cute or twee. He’s gotta know that as well. We’re losing Twelve. We’re losing Missy (whom we should all hate but we all love and you know it). Nardole isn’t going to be around next season. Let’s let ONE member of “Team TARDIS Season 10” live. Specifically let it be Bill.

On a serious tangential note, PLEASE read Gavin DeBecker’s book “The Gift of Fear.” It’s $6 on Amazon. Wanna spoiler? The most reliable predictor you are in danger? You make a JOKE about possibly being in danger. It’s so reliable it even shows up in fiction even though almost no one is consciously aware of it.

Just take the last episode, starting around 12:20. BILL: She (Missy) scares me. Like, she really scares me.“ (Long pause) “Okay. So promise me one thing.” “Just promise you won’t get me killed.” DOCTOR: “I can’t promise you that!” BILL: (chucking) “Thanks.”

(me sighing) That was the moment Bill knew she was in real danger of dying. She just blew it off. Irl, saying things like that are indeed reliable warnings of danger. In the first episode of the season, The Doctor knew fear was smart. (“Scared is good. Scared is rational.”) Now he’s back to being just as stupidly reckless as Eleven was.

Memories of Clara faded. I won’t be surprised if (indeed I HOPE that) they come back in a flood and this causes him to think of a non-universe-shattering way to save Bill.

__________ I know I’m being mean to the Time Lords. At least none of them ever admitted to driving any other Time Lords crazy. Oh. Never mind. (Might be wrong on that last one as I’m just going from memory. Obviously I’m American. An unqualified dangerous Narcissists holding elected office isn’t entertainment. It’s the fucking news.)

I’m sure John Simm is a lovely person irl. Truly. A scary scary scary scary scary but probably lovely person in real life. I won’t know. If I ever see him I’ll be running away while whimpering. Consider it a compliment: he’s a very good actor. (shudders)

[deeroffal]

Rose ♠️ Vriska!

Characters/Pairings: Rose Lalonde/Vriska Serket, Dave Strider, Terezi Pyrope,Kanaya Maryam, Rose/Kanaya

Rating: G

Words: 1,700

A.N.: This got out of hand as far as ‘a short ficlet’ goes, because this is a pairing I really like, but haven’t written for yet, so it’s more of a uh. Coming to the conclusion for Rose than any pitch shenanigans themselves. >x> Unedited, obviously.

In the beginning, you thought nothing of it. From what you could tell everyone would eventually snap or stomp off with some interactions with Vriska, who was always smug, like she was winning something for being insufferable.

“Heeeeeeeey Lalonde,” she waves from her place on the couch in the dining area, a wine bottle in her hand. “I thought I’d borrow this from you, seeing as how we can just make more later. I have to admit, it kinda sucks!”

“Oh, are you inebriated already?” You reply lightly, turning into the connected kitchen for afternoon tea (or as close to the afternoon as you’re sure it can be without a sun or spinning planetoid).

“I just said it sucks, I’d need more than this tiny bottle of old fruit. Do you have any idea of the old fucking awesome brews I found FLARPing?”

“My curiosity is well warranted, I can never be sure what’s causing the stupid things that come out of your mouth.” After that you leave with a flourish and a smirk to the sound of breaking glass and Terezi whooping in amusement.

—

Alcohol is no longer a source of amusement for anyone, it seems. Vriska knocks the glass out of your hand, fists clenched so tight they shake, and you later find spots of her blue blood on the floor.

Dave is the only one who tries to intervene before Vriska leaves, and when he asks Karkat why he didn’t say anything he replies incomprehensibly with, “There aren’t enough caegers in all the doomed timelines that would inspire me enough to be the leaf between those two broads.”

—

When you ask Dave, he’s not helpful.

“Alright, Rose, you know I love listening to you talk – ”

“Not as much as you love listening to yourself.”

“That goes without saying. Anyways. As much as I love listening to you talk all the fucking time about Vriska, I really honestly got my fill of that from Terezi. I am still kind of getting my fill of that from Terezi, like some Pillsbury dough boy being force fed his own burnt croissant recipes over the course of breakfast, brunch, tea time, lunch, dinner, supper – ”

“Dave.”

“Alright my point is she’s annoying but she’s not that annoying. If you hate her just on principle that’s fine not everyone gets along, but probably stop goading her?”

“I do not goad her, if anything she goads me.”

“Uh okay.” You can’t see it happening, but when Dave rolls his eyes his head always ends up tilting to the right. “Just steer clear of her. If the juggalo dude has gone all these weeks without detection than I’m sure you can manage with your Seer shit.”

—

Vriska is impossible to avoid.

Her constant insistence to needle her way under your skin, overbearing in how she shoves herself into everyone’s business, everyone’s attentions with her gregarious historonics.

Unavoidable.

Your cold and snapping altercations leave you rejuvenated, as you are often the winner.

—

“I had feared asking this some time ago, though have since realized that what I have to say will not be taken as a proposition given your lack of understanding, and little education, towards troll quadrants, but I want to know; what are your intentions with Vriska?”

You look away from the chess board to better assess what Kanaya means through her  expression, but find her expression only hesitant concern.

“I don’t understand the question,” you reply with honesty.

“I am also more than capable of giving you two privacy,” Terezi, your chess partner, already rising from her seat.

“No, I think your prescence is perfectly fine as Vriska’s moirail – ”

“Oh my God, Kanaya.”

“I was just saying – ”

“I know what you meant. I’ll be back in five, Lalonde, consider your Queen mine.”

“The point of the game is to acquire the King’s surrender, not to court the Queen.”

“Oh, I know what I’m doing.” Terezi waggles her eyebrows at you before neatly making herself scarce. At her leave Kanaya sits lightly onto the vacant chair and smooths out her skirts.

“We have talked about quadrants together.”

“Yes,” you nod.

“You told me you had an understanding of them.”

“Well, a basic understanding.” Your brows furrow as Kanaya leans tiredly onto the table, wiping a slow hand over her face.“I have done a poor job then, I’m afraid, as increasingly your and Vriska’s actions have been a rather blatant caliginous advances.” For a moment, you’re stunned.

“You think I’m…hate flirting. With Vriska.”

“No, no! What I’m – well it wouldn’t surprise me, is all, but I don’t know if you know what you’re doing from our point of view.” You can see it.

Oh, you can see it. At the very least you can admit that despite her long features and unwashed hair, there still manages to be something physically attractive about her, somehow, but.

But you think Kanaya has this all wrong.

“Not that I see anything wrong with that!” Kanaya adds hastily into the silence. “I have no intentions of getting between the two of you, or advising you against it, I merely wanted – ”

“Don’t worry about it,” You smile, reaching across the board to gently take her cool hand in yours. Her tension dissolves as she smiles back. “My emotions aren’t so complicated that I don’t know a simple annoyance when it shows itself.”

—Lapsing into companionable existence alongside the trolls was deceptively easy. Kanaya had quickly and seriously instructed you on proper etiquette, none of which were foreign to you.

Personal space is a thing, don’t touch a trolls horns, don’t start a fight that can’t be finished.

Simple things. Really simple things.

Complacency of safety was all on you. After the game, and the biweekly aggrievances with your Mother, you let your guard down somewhat. So it was with some surprise when primordial fear trips up your spine and sets your hair on end.

This isn’t even really about the complacency, it’s all about stupidity. Because trolls can be – trolls are – dangerous.Vriska’s teeth aren’t so different from Kanaya’s, but when accompanied with such genuine, bared ferocity and paired by a subsonic growl you can feel in your bones and chest, well. It’s more than a little intimating.

“I apologize, I didn’t mean – ”

“Oh, can it, you meant it and we both know it.” There’s a slight uncertainty underlying her ire, and you desperately want to pick at it. Like an idiot. Thankfully, you’re capable of restraint.

“Alright, I did.” You incline your head minutely, receiving another revving snarl from Vriska for doing so. “I had only meant to irritate by saying so, my intentions were not to infuriate.”

“Believe it or not, your intentions don’t mean shit to me.” You think she’s lying. You think she’s lying, but could be telling the truth if you play your cards wrong.

“Oh, I think I can rally myself into genuine belief,” you say faintly.

“Man, you have a mouth on you! Do you really think because you and Kanaya are a thing I won’t fuck with you?” Your back is already up against the wall, and when Vriska tilts her head down – brandishing her horns – adrenaline trickles into your veins at the idea of being run through with them.

God Tier or not, it would hurt. A lot.

“If you had asked me a minute ago, I would have answered yes.” Vriska chitters something out that you’re sure isn’t complimentary, and as she advances closer your next words come out more quiet, more quickly, more strained. “I’m starting to see the error in my assumption, however.”

You try not to flex your hand, to feel for the solidness of your wands and where they would release from your Strife Specibus so you could fight back. It’s not that you’re scared (you are, a little bit) but that you can’t afford this kind of fight. You still have years together on this vessel, and even if neither of you would die a final death, you feel the killing wouldn’t stop.

Wouldn’t stop until it was Just that one of you died. And for all the contentions between the two of you, you don’t want Vriska dead.

“You know what I hate about you humans?” Vriska asks lowly. “You expect us to cross aaaaaaaall the cultural barriers. Then you turn around and guffaw when we try and get something about us to stick in your rotten thinkpans. Had you tried to get more than the bare bones basics, you would have known you don’t make remarks like that about a trolls moirail.

“Especially not mine.”

“Noted.”

At that Vriska throws her head back and cackles. “You know, I should have let loose on you a long time ago! I knew you could take it. Despite what Kanaya and Terezi say, I think you humans are at least tougher than what they think. You got through the game, right? If you can handle that, you can handle me. Now that you’re taking me seriously.”

You have mixed feelings about that. After that near raging display, hearing what you have about Vriska’s fighting prowess, you��re. Amused? Not prideful, really, that she thinks you’re a match for her.

You want to test it out. You want to strife and see who would come out on top, no killing, just fighting, just – Vriska lights up, eyes wide as she taps her temple. “See you soon, Lalonde.”

She leaves, and you remember she’s psychic, and you remember what you had just told Kanaya.

You remember you’re an idiot, and you groan, and your head thuds back against the wall.

—

“So.” You say.

“So.” Kanaya mimics.

“It’s confusing.”

“Yes.”

“We don’t have anything remotely like this on Earth, nothing that was healthy – ”

“I understand.”

“Do you have any…books about it? Fiction works just as well as non-fiction.” Kanaya is practically blinding with her excitement.

—

“I know what you’re going to say – or what noise you’re going to make more accurately – and I know that Kanaya already talked to you about this, but as Vriska’s moirail – ” You groan.

You get the talk from Terezi. Not The Talk, but the you’re-getting-in-with-my-moirail talk, which is, somehow, much worse.