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harukamitsuki · 2 months ago

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(spoilers ahead)

honestly, i think one of my biggest issues with my hero is how horikoshi is really good at setting things up, but fails in the execution of basically anything and everything. especially when everyone wants to see it prosper.

a world where everyone has quirks, except for our main character, who strives to be a hero despite that

the number two hero is anything but when behind closed doors.

the number one hero comes off as endlessly joyful, yet is more tired than anything

a world where your worth is based on your quirk

a world that is so obssessed with heroes that hidden crimes are just forgotten

a boy who was so hurt that he could only hurt in turn

a girl who was so restricted that she can't understand personal space

a boy who was neglected for being weak so he strives to become stronger and in turn only hurts himself more

a boy hated simply for looking different so he rejects the world for the world rejects him

and a boy hurt by everyone around him, but uses that to make the world a kinder place.

all of this is present within mha, but none of it is expanded on, or if it was, it felt like lip-service at best, and downright insulting at worst.

the powerless mc gets an incredibly powerful quirk and forgets he was ever quirkless.

the number two hero is abusive but it's totally okay because he regrets it and his abusive scenes are treated lightly later on

the number one hero goes back to his old ways when he finally gets a chance to be himself

there is no commentary on quirkless discrimination, and we barely see the impacts of having a 'weak' quirk

hidden crimes are explored, but there isn't anything regarding how the future generation will solve this issue

that boy who could only hurt after he was hurt so much? yeah he dies despite the mc wanting to save him so desperately, and there is no satisfaction in it. because he still didn't want to be saved

that girl who was so restricted that she couldn't understand personal space and boundaries? yeah, she never learns what they are, and nobody directly calls her out on this

that boy who was so neglected for being weak and only hurts himself the stronger he strives to become? well, it's actually his fault because he couldn't forgive his abusive father. his misplaced envy towards his abused brother is never delved into

that boy who rejected the world that hated him for being born? yeah, he's never shown any kindness from the people who should be showing it. instead, he's taken down while he's lost his mind and becomes a massive hypocrite

that boy who was hurt by everyone around him yet still wants to save others? yeah, he's still being hurt by everyone around him and is never praised for helping people, only scolded by others. he loses everything and isn't even allowed to work for it again.

the set-up for everything is so good, but the pay-off and the execution is just not.

i feel like horikoshi was winging it half of the time, hence why he forgot about the traitor plot point. something fans were speculating about for years, horikoshi just forgot. it's like - he set it up as early as the usj, forgot to build up aoyama's character, and speedran it. because of this, it didn't feel earned.

'you can still be a hero,' does not feel earned at all. why should we care about aoyama when the creator himself doesn't? the traitor could have been anyone, and it wouldn't have changed a thing, because the set-up was gone. by the time he'd remembered there was a traitor, everyone else forgot about it.

the same goes for the deaths.

i've seen people commend mha for killing people off, but, the things is, do we really care about who was killed off?

nighteye? he was a dick, and it was clear horikoshi was trying to do a whole 'redemption in death' thing, but let's be honest. we only care about the impact it had on mirio, which wasn't even much. it could have been anyone. nighteye surviving wouldn't have changed anything.

midnight? we did not spend nearly enough time with her to give two shits about her death. maybe if she were 1-a's homeroom teacher, as was originally planned, it may have meant more. as it was, who cared? she didn't even die on-screen. it could have been anyone.

native? i don't even need to explain. nobody cared.

star and stripe? did anyone really get attached to female all might? no, because there were no dimensions to her.

stain? what did his death serve? what would have changed if he survived? nothing

like, if you kill someone off, it has to mean something. what was learned by nighteye's death? heroes die? we learned that ages ago with the water hose heroes, and with stain's mini-arc. maybe it was to show, yeah, we're not afraid of killing people off.

but it didn't mean anything! at least have nighteye learn something. make it a proper tragedy - maybe he wants to apologise to all might but all might arrives too late. maybe he finally acknowledges that it was never his right to dictate who gets ofa and really apologises to izuku. maybe he can't even say goodbye to mirio.

maybe, in trying to do something, his sacrifice means nothing... until, when he's already dead, it's revealed that it did.

killing a character off to show how serious you're getting is fine... if it weren't already clear that it was serious.

people say killing off so many was mha being realistic, but they don't understand two things.

one: if you want to be realistic, kill someone off in the usj, because a bunch of kids just starting school should not be able to hold off against actual villain. if you want to be realistic, have the kids be shoved into counselling after the usj. if you want to be realistic, have aizawa die against the noumu. that's realistic

two: NOBODY GOES TO ANIME FOR REALISM!! seriously, if you want realism, go watch an indie movie or something. not anime, where everything is drawn and people have superpowers and tripping over means you accidentally grope someone.

the thing about killing characters off is that it has to mean something to both the characters and the audience. if we do not care if a character dies, it does not need to be there.

example: (spoilers for one piece ig) whitebeard from one piece. even now, people still quote his dying message. 'the one piece is real'. both this line and his death have a massive impact in-universe, and we the audienced cared, despite the relatively short time we go to know him. his death actually mattered. had whitebeard not died in marineford, i guarantee that nothing would be the same.

fishman island wouldn't have been taken over by big mom. marco and izou would not have appeared in wano, or if they did, the entire whitebeard alliance would have shown up too. there would still be a balance in the emperors. sengoku would not have retired.

there are ripple effects from whitebeard's death, and everyone one piece fan still remembers it clearly. and the same goes for every other death in one piece: ace, bellemere, kuina, hiriluk, tom, the rumbar pirates, rojer. every death had its meaning and affects either the world as a whole or specific characters who would go onto impact the world anyway.

mha just doesn't let you care about the characters it kills off, nor do their deaths have meaning, because there isn't a pay-off.

the set-up is there. the pay-off is not.

and that, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals, is my biggest issue with mha. horikoshi's execution.

#anti mha #mha critical #bnha critical #horikoshi critical #anti kohei horikoshi #anti horikoshi #fuck horikoshi #i went on a bit of tangent but you get me #hopefully #the set up is the biggest reason i read mha fanfics #because these beautiful authors take one look at the plot and execute it in such an amazing way that horikoshi could never #the fanfics are the best thing to come from mha

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filipinoizukuu · 11 months ago

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what comes next though? (MHA ch. 413)

// major spoilers for mha ch. 413 since its leaks, so please stop reading if you arent quite caught up. i havent written one of these in a LONGGG while lmao.

ANYWAY, with all that being said.... this week's leaks huh?

We saw it coming a long time ago, we speculated it to hell and back, we made aus and fics, and now it's finally here. The conclusion we've reached and the one that's been hinted at since the release of Heroes Rising in 2019:

bnha is going to end with deku giving up one for all and becoming quirkless.

(LOTS of words under the cut -- youve been warned.)

For those who are a little lost; the basic premise of the ending we are hurtling towards is that Kudou (the 2nd user of ofa) has a plan to take down Shigaraki. With AfO dead and gone + Shigaraki becoming so powerful he is essentially invincible -- theres no other choice for the heroes other than destroying him inside out; the plan being the equivalent of charging a battery so much it explodes.

the way they're going to go about this is by essentially, feeding Shigaraki bits of One for All until he's given all of it -- then allowing the vestiges of the previous wielders to create a massive revolt similar to what SnS did until they can successfully tear him apart from inside the "quirk realm" and shut him out. Kudou volunteers to go next since danger sense has already been taken, and if Shigaraki uses gearshift again after Deku already used it twice, Tomura's body will likely shutdown and receive twice the backlash Deku does when he uses kudou's quirk.

(sidenote: funny as fuck that deku only understood once kudou equated the strategy to bkg throwing papers at him. bro stupid af.)

its a sensible(ish) idea. one that seems plausible given the context of the last hundred or so chapters with heroes like Hawks and SnS having their quirks revolt against both AfO and Shigaraki in a way that makes it clear that its not uniquely OfA that animates the souls of peoples quirks. Its inherent. Quote, Nana Shimura, "romantic" even.

(let it be known though that i think hori absolutely did not plan on delving into this plot point as much as he is now. ill explain in a bit, but heroes rising was 100% a major factor of why he moved in this direction.)

That being said, the conclusion of the plan (and subsequently, the major plot of bnha) is as follows: Deku gives up One for All to Shigaraki. One for All unites with All for One within Shigaraki and destroys it in one final clash between Yoichi and his brother. The break in the barrier of Shigaraki's hatred will part, letting him find the consciousness of Shimura Tenko behind it after years.

Shigaraki dies, taking OfA and AfO down with him,

and then Deku is quirkless once more.

Sad conclusion aside for now, I firmly believe that no matter what way you look at it; Deku was always meant to end the story without a quirk. Given some of the original drafts of bnha where Deku was never supposed to be given a quirk in the first place, this is clearly unsurprising. What's more is my favorite piece of information relative to katsuki and deku's character development:

the fact that heroes rising was (one of the) ideas for the original ending of bnha.

a refresher for some of you: heroes rising is about class 1a going to the isolated village of nabu island and defending it against an upcoming big bad villain named "nine" with a quirk that is essentially a scaled down version of all for one. katsuki and deku eventually resolve the conflict together via brute force by deku giving katsuki ofa, them rushing in while the quirk is transferring and both of them have it, and then ultimately defeating nine at the end. the movie then of course circles back on deku losing one for all, undoing that consequence by saying the transfer never completed bc ofa chose him over katsuki and they all move on to the endeavor agency arc with katsuki remembering absolutely nothing of the final battle.

many fans often misunderstand one of horikoshi's quotes about the movie in that it was, without a doubt, the original ending of bnha. for the sake of accuracy, that is not what horikoshi really said; what he ACTUALLY said was something closer and to the tune of of how it was "one OF the endings" he planned on using for bnha, but his original idea for how the story ends "has not changed one bit."

obviously disregarding the cop out where ofa sticks back to izuku in order for the series to continue as normal; this can only confirm that bnha was going to end with midoriya izuku quirkless whether katsuki was involved or not.

so what's different this time?

its hard to figure out how far horikoshi had planned the ending of bnha with heroes rising's prototype conclusion in mind. if heroes rising never pulled through and horikoshi had planned on bnha ending with the shared ofa transfer and katsuki continuing deku's legacy -- then that means katsuki wouldve died an early death because of all might's confirmation that only quirkless people can hold on to one for all without dying young, meaning he either intended on katsuki dying soon after the story ends or only planned that plot point after heroes rising was released.

the plot as well of heroes rising's conclusion cannot have been thought of all that early on because of ANOTHER tidbit of information that changes perspective of the entire series: in that,

bakugou katsuki was never supposed to be a major character to begin with. (keep an eye on this link; i reference this interview a LOT)

he was not supposed to have an arc. he was not supposed to become a major focal point of the series. he was not meant to be the hero he is in the story today. bakugou katsuki was not written with the intention of being a major narrative this late into the story -- instead originally only existing as a character that deku would surpass within the first few arcs.

but then katsuki cried, and deku apologized, and then opened his big fat mouth, and then told him a secret he didnt even tell his own mother -- and suddenly bakugou katsuki was not just another footnote in deku's story, but a legitimate character that grew and created one of the most loved (and hated) character turnarounds in shonen history. he started of as a literal EXTRA before snowballing into the very same character horikoshi decided would defeat all for one, the original scariest antagonist of the entire series. someone not even ALL MIGHT could defeat.

but circling back, yeah. heroes rising was definitely not the ending horikoshi thought of first, nor was it the ending he thought of last. ultimately, it was simply another route he couldve taken into wrapping up deku's fate into what it was (probably) always meant to be:

deku was gonna lose one for all no matter what.

it's kind of fitting, honestly -- for this to be the ultimate conclusion to the series. it makes the most sense, since what sent deku down this path so many years ago was his mother apologizing to deku for being quirkless; as if being quirkless meant he was born inferior to those who had quirks. people, after all according to deku's famous beginning monologue, are not born equal.

Even still, i thought to note: deku never stopped wanting to be a hero. we all know this, obviously. this was his driving force -- but then when you REALLY think about the implications, you have to ask. what the heck was deku even planning to do?!

he had ideas. he had hope. he wrote notebooks for the future and thought of his costume for being a hero -- but not once do i remember him writing about his hero experience as if he was suddenly going to develop a quirk. he was planning on saving people quirkless -- an extremely interesting motivation especially when he couldve so easily chosen to walk the path of being a doctor or engineer instead if he wanted to save people so badly. its a story about conviction, about doing the things you wanna do in the way you wanna do it no matter what ANYONE else says and hey wait a minute that sounds familiar

it doesnt quite read that way at first, especially because of how izuku almost listened to all might about "being realistic" when the first met and nearly gave up on becoming a hero entirely, but izuku is a lot similar to katsuki in the sense that no matter what gets in his way -- he is determined to achieve his dreams in the way HE CHOOSES, and not the way that is more "convenient".

even when you look at just his name, "deku" in the way that uraraka had interpreted it (dekiru -- "you can do it!") and the way deku reexplains it to katsuki in deku vs kacchan 1 ("the deku that doesn't give up!") you can so easily tell that deku from the very beginning has only ever needed the slightest push to pursue being a hero, quirk-or-not-be-damned. hell, we even see a glimpse of this possibility in the sports festival race when deku absolutely DECIMATES not just bakugou but also TODOROKI (as well as every single other damn student participating in the festival) with nothing but robot scraps and his balls of steel. it just so happens that until the promise of one for all, no such encouragement or push was ever given to deku in his pursuit of heroicism, most especially in comparison to katsuki who had been receiving praise and validation for his goals his whole life.

i'd argue that deku's conviction is even stronger than katsuki in a way no other person seems to recognize (except maybe katsuki himself). katsuki had received only positive feedback and zero competition for his goals growing up while deku received nothing but discouragement. both of them kept the conviction of being a hero for TEN YEARS; neither wavering til the day of the sludge incident.

that aside; what comes next?

we know the story after that. deku gets his quirk, he goes to school, he fights, he drops out, he fights some more, and now he's standing before shigaraki tomura with every quirk of one for all unlocked and over twice the power that all might had in his prime -- fully knowing he's about to lose EVERYTHING in order to defeat shigaraki.

this is deku we're talking about. he doesn't care. he knows the implications and what that will mean for his dream -- but his goal right now is in front of him. his goal is shigaraki, consumed by hatred, threatening to take down the world izuku loves most into a pit of misery and decay because society failed people like them. does he care? probably. will he refuse to give up his power if it means not saving the world and fulfilling one for all's purpose? absolutely not.

deku has made all might's quirk his own, but one for all does not belong to him. it belongs to yoichi. and kudou. and bruce and nana and all of the other users who built that quirk for generations in hopes that one day, someday, someone would be able to yield it all and bring down the monstrosity that created it in the first place. deku will not hesitate, but also deku knows what he will lose.

i have... a few things i dislike about this.

Admittedly, i do think that this is a better resolution than the simple brute strength approach of Heroes Rising. For one, while i do love heroes rising with my entire heart and soul, i firmly believe it would not have been a satisfying conclusion to the core lessons and teachings bnha tries to impart throughout the story. simply outnumbering and outpowering afo/shigaraki would not be enough to close yoichi's story and one for all -- much less the story of shigaraki himself as tenko, the boy consumed by hatred.

Still, this new ending that horikoshi has laid out leaves me with more questions; as well as large expectations for how izuku's character will close out. its complicated, because deku's evolution and development is subtle and intricate in a way i havent seen from other shonen protagonists and i worry about doing it justice.

but most of my problems have to do with bakugou katsuki.

(aint that the truth)

i know i mentioned that bakugou was never intended to be a major character, but i want it to be known that that was only in the beginning. season 1, maybe even season 2 -- but horikoshi had said it best himself in that bakugou katsuki, against his permission, had gained a life of his own and inserted himself into the very grain of mha's story. you cannot deny this.

he is the series deuteroganist inarguably. one of the most beloved characters and one of the most attentively-written development arcs in the whole series. katsuki in and of himself embodies major themes in bnha that make it so that ditching his development and impact last minute after defeating all for one would reflect poorly upon the conclusion of the story itself. he and deku are intertwined in arcs -- even if they do have separate paths at the end of the day. katsuki is the one izuku told about the quirk. the one who followed izuku during the paranormal liberation arc. the one who understands one for all and is determined to learn about it more than anyone else barring all might and deku himself. the one who is closer to izuku than anyone else.

it can't be over for their arc, no matter what way you see it. friends? rivals? hero partners? what comes next, when the smoke clears? what comes next when izuku gives shigaraki hell, like katsuki told him to?

katsuki's atoned. we accept that, have known it since chapter 285 and have continued to know it until the iconic apology in the rain. that's not where katsuki stops however, because we know that its not all about begging for izuku's forgiveness nor atoning for himself. its about catching up to izuku -- the last words he uttered before shigaraki crushed his heard say it all.

"can i still catch up to you, izuku?"

since the moment katsuki died, we've been given a metric ton of material to read through what he and izuku have become in the story. firstly, the point of katsuki being the person closest to izuku. what does this mean? what does that say about katsuki? is he supposedly the person izuku loves the most? the person izuku believes in the most? i'd argue these two criterion would easily fit his mother or all might a lot better -- not his childhood friend turned bully turned rival turned barely-friend. katsuki sure as hell didn't believe he was the person closest to izuku before shigaraki brought it up as evidenced by the fact that he let IIDA bring deku back to UA -- and neither does izuku as far as i bet. what was shigaraki's intention?

katsuki heard that statement. he hasnt said anything, but he definitely heard it. its an open end that is left entirely unanswered PRECISELY because katsuki fought afo on his own and izuku is about to tackle shigaraki without katsuki by his side. if it was heroes rising's ending wherein they would both fight shigaraki and take him down together -- then that statement would easily be answered by how their strength and bond is the one thing that gave them an upper hand in the final battle. other than that... i'm not entirely sure how they're going to have katsuki and izuku acknowledge katsuki's brief "death" and Tomura's reasons thereof.

But fine, lets ignore that for the time being and move on to what happened when Katsuki came back.

katsuki answered izuku's cry for help. he came back to life in the last moment to save all might when izuku was too busy fighting tooth and nail to win. they are the penultimate example of two sides of a hero; the win and save. not one without the other. every single parallel thus far between izuku and katsuki have always been to draw attention over and over to each of their stubborn convictions to win and save under all might's tutelage.

katsuki has chosen to prioritize winning and fighting over saving and rescuing over. and over. and over. and over again. at every single opportunity from the very beginning of the series. in usj, in sports festival, in the final exam, every choice he's made up until --

chapter 285 - bakugou katsuki: rising.

he chooses to save izuku in this instant. as he says, his body moved on its own -- or in other words, he felt like how izuku has always did since the sludge villain incident. this is bakugou katsuki catching up to midoriya izuku. its katsuki realizing that he needs to save so deku can win, and actually being okay with that for once. it's a major turning point in his character that clearly tells even horikoshi that there's absolutely no way katsuki can go back to being a side character within the plot of bnha after a development like this.

and then, after this instance, we notice it happen again and again. katsuki choosing to save to win instead of winning to save. katsuki protecting best jeanist against the nomu. katsuki coming to chase after izuku when he runs away from UA. katsuki (in a way) saving aoyama when its revealed he's the traitor. hell, katsuki saving ALL MIGHT as soon as izuku -- the savior -- begs someone to save his idol when he can't because he's too focused on trying to win.

so what changed?

what changed since the moment of chapter 285 was katsuki accepting his fears and anxieties. katsuki letting go of his aversity to working with deku. the reason katsuki started accepting the path of saving to win was because he TRUSTED deku to win where he couldnt.

this is katsuki accepting that him and izuku already surpassed all might together.

but katsuki said it himself. it's not over. he accepts that him and izuku are finally on equal footing -- hell, he admits he's the one who needs to play catch up. it's not about katsuki conceding to weakness, but katsuki being able to trust in izuku to finish the job. the point is that they both will break and break until they win the way they choose to, and the other will be there to win while they save and save while they win. moreso, katsuki still wants to be number 1. he still wants to catch up and surpass deku. he wants to fight by deku's side. but ... as we've established:

deku will be quirkless soon.

my problem (or, i guess, curiosity?) with the path horikoshi seems to be going down for the end of this story is what happens to this end? what happens to the wonder duo? i believe in a quirkless deku plot as much as the next person -- but any reader would find it easy to see that once deku loses one for all, he will not be nearly as efficient nor quick nor capable of a hero as he once was. especially not against a developed katsuki with mastery over cluster explosions.

he will lose one for all and he won't ever be the pro-hero he was going to be before the final war arc. katsuki will get number 1 surely, but will he be happy about this resolution? i don't think so. All Might himself had said it when Katsuki spoke to him about his relationship to Izuku; that the twin stars reminded All Might very much of his own rivalry with Endeavor and the bitter feelings it created.

endeavor expressed regret and a bitter end to their rivalry; the acknowledgement of the bitter truth that the only reason he was the number one hero is because all might lost his own quirk. he knew he didn't deserve the mantle all might had held for a long time before him. he knew that he was still only just playing catch up with the wisdom and understanding of heroicism that all might had in his heart from the beginning. endeavor will likely retire from being a pro-hero unsatisfied with this truth and his own victory at becoming the no.1 at the very end -- never feeling like he truly surpassed all might of his own accord. both enji and toshinori -- victims of their destiny.

is this the fate that will befall katsuki once izuku is quirkless for good?

There are many questions I have in wake of the recent chapter. The end of the series is here, and that's a whole can of worms i haven't touched in and of itself. We all saw this coming; some of us know that this was always going to be Izuku's fate since the beginning of the series. But now that it's more than just izuku's character involved in his dreams of being a hero -- i dont know how this series is going to conclude and if it will be satisfying to any means. there's a lot of questions i still have; bakugous arc feeling incomplete ever since he came back to life, the conclusion of all might and one for all's dreams now that they will disappear altogether. where does deku go after this? where does bakugou go? where do any of them?

i guess i gotta wait and see lol

#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha #bakugou katsuki #toshinori yagi #all might #midoriya izuku #deku #kacchan #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha meta #bnha meta #this was a long one ouf #anyway this is ship free technically; its just mostly me going BUT KACCHAN?

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bibibbon · 9 months ago

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MHA chapter 420 rant

New chapter new rant it's become somewhat of a thing at this point 😭

So hori's out here deflating any stakes or tension as always. I personally hated what happend last chapter with Izuku losing both his arms but I did wish for hori to continue on the path he chose instead of completely reversing it with some bs in this chapter. Heck I don't understand how Eri even had enough energy to heal his arms considering it was stated chapters before that she couldn't and shouldn't help Izuku it wasn't her fight and neither should she be forced to watch what's going on but here we are.

Heroes are hypocrites when it comes to Eri and she deserves better. Oh Eri the ever so lasting plot device. As someone that likes Eri's character and wished for her trauma and what she went through to be explored this is just bs and shows that the heroes are incompetent hypocrites at their jobs for allowing Eri to mutilate herself (the same thing overhaul did to himself) so she can be useful to these people who she views as her saviours?!?!?! Let's not even tall about the fact that ECTOPLASM stated that he helped her with that and allowed her to do that like?!?!? You're an adult who is supposed to be supervising the child and you almost failed to stop her from running away into the battlefield but allowed her to do that to herself. Let's also talk about how aizawa horribly failed as a guardian like its clearly stated in the chapter that she did want she did because she was inspired by aizawa and how he cut his leg off so she mimicked him so she can be helpful?!?! Aizawa isn't angry, worried or disappointed but shocked and that's it nothing else he doesn't even reprimand her like seriously 😑.

Present mic and kurogiri deserves better. We still don't know where present mic is but he deserves better than this I still hate how his feelings aren't acknowledged in this bs and he is just there pushed to the side as support. Kurogiri is a mix at this point they seem to realise that oh oboro is dead he ain't coming back but kurogiri is acting on memories that haven't died and to be honest Iam sick of hori drawing the same memory panel over and over we should just get new content show us them play fighting or doing something that friends do idk 🤷‍♀️

Wasted potential aizawa at this point. I lasted made a post about aizawas wasted potential but dam does it really show and basically at this point hori reduced all the characters involved in the kurogiri situation to just that and it's sad like we could of had more and we should of. Aizawa was doomed from the start as he was hori's mouthpiece which sucks

Iam not a fan of everyone coming in to fight AFO. I already hate the fact that AFO is back but having everyone who hasn't had a big moment or can still fight yet come into the fight is horrible. Iam ok with having a few characters come in but having some endgame avengers type of thing is horrible especially because class 1A and izuku aren't shown to have a strong bond a lot of the time it's one of the reasons why the vigilante arc fails and why a lot of other moments concerning class 1A and izuku fail.

Iam a fan of the civilians trying to help however they can but no inko?!?!!?!!. I loved that we got the page of civilians genuinely wanting to help Izuku and offering their shirts to stop the bleeding also even though we don't get much from the all might guy I genuinely loved the development he has gone through. Sadly, I was expecting to see inko in this chapter and considering we had a whole page dedicated to the civilians it's sad that we didn't get any update on inko as she was probably there watching what happend to her son

Eri's dream. I loved that Eri's dream is something way outside of heroics and it's something that doesn't involve her quirk at all. It makes me remember of izuku holding her hand and telling her that he supports her dream. I wonder if Eri and jirou hang out often or anything considering that jirou is Eri's inspiration or if present mic also inspired Eri. it's sad that Eri's character is never truly explored considering what happend to her this chapter and the double standards that are with both heroes and villains.

ALSO MONOMA YOU DESERVE BETTER YALL TELLING ME THAT DENKI ALREADY QUIRK EXHAUSTED IS OUT HERE FIGHTING BUT MONOMA CANT FOR SOME REASON IS VILE

#mha critical #bnha critical #mha #hori is a bad writer #horikoshi critical #izuku deserves better #eri deserves better #mha 420 #bhna critical #bnha #i dont know #monoma deserve better #present mic deserves better #kurogiri deserves better

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porcupine-girl · 1 month ago

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Please watch Super Star Academy.

I'm going through my Twitter and saving threadfics and individual tweets I don't want to lose before I delete it all, and I discovered a thread I did when my sister and I were about 1/3 of the way through our watch of Super Star Academy - which is, unironically, my favorite show ever.

So I am reposting this thread here for posterity, and in the hopes that maybe it will get one or two more people to watch this magical, incredible show:

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My sister @ bitter_tea and I are watching Super Star Academy, a 2016 vehicle for the guys in X-NINE, Xiao Zhan’s boy band. This will be a thread of why you should drop everything and watch this show, which is on YouTube.

First, the basics: SSA is a… College? But could be high school? For teens with superpowers. The superpowers are determined by your zodiac sign (Virgo Leo etc, not Chinese zodiac). Our protagonist is a girl who’s a Virgo but doesn’t think she has powers.

Ok first off, in the second episode we suddenly leave the school and go into some telenovela shit where some guy is dying and his son has to be born a Leo to take over the company. Rumor is the kid was stillborn two months early.

Then his wife goes and… causes a car accident that doesn’t kill some other super baby and somehow she steals a baby but we’re not sure where she got the stolen baby? But it’s not the car accident baby bc we saw that one saved by its dad???

Then her dying husband names the stolen baby and THAT is the point where you realize this whole thing has been a flashback bc he gives the stolen baby XZ’s character’s name so he is Stolen Baby but somehow his mom was using an iPad back in like 1996.

So XZ is Stolen Baby and the leader of one of two rival gangs in the school. They are both gangs of rich kids, but his gang is the preps and the other one is the punks, which you can tell bc a) they have a rock band and play at the extracurriculars fair

b) The leader has blue hair and c) they go around proclaiming themselves to be punks

At one point the two gangs go head-to-head in a croquet match. Which is… the school’s main sport? Now we’re getting into what kind of show you’re actually watching here.

Also the croquet trophy is MADE OF CHOCOLATE and Protagonist Girl accidentally eats it during the match. No one notices of course, even though she’s sitting there in front of the entire full bleachers.

So Protag Girl doesn’t think she has powers, right? But the school principal happens to eat at the noodle shop she & her uncle run & the noodles she serves him move in funny shapes so he decides she does have powers and gives her an admission letter.

Which he sets right down on a lit stove.

When she points out that it’s burning, he whips another admission letter out of his jacket because he goes everywhere prepared to admit ten new students to his school.

Speaking of her uncle, at one point he’s like “remember what I told you happened to your parents?” And she recounts a story about them meeting on a boat and then her father dying when it sank and he’s like “yeah I lied that’s the plot of Titanic.”

When Protag Girl gets to the school, she’s taken to the Clothing Department, an upscale clothing store where all the students can pick out five outfits and two dresses. Ah, don’t we all remember our first trip to the college clothing department.

Then you never see anyone wear anything but the school uniform or a croquet uniform ever again. No idea where the evening gowns on display at the clothing department went.

But you see, it was a vital scene because this is where PG meets XZ! Because she accidentally goes into his personal dressing room and of course neither of them notices they’re right next to each other separated by only a thin screen until they put on each other’s pants.

So from then on she yells about him being a pervert every time she sees him but he’s the rich popular croquet gang leader so no one believes her, which is fair because she’s wrong.

Side note: I just realized that calling Protagonist Girl PG has the potential to be confusing because that is, in fact, my name. That’s ok, though, because I think it will just make this thread feel more authentic to the incomprehensibility of the show.

PG, you eventually learn, was saved by a little boy her age when she was about 10. She was hanging from a cliff for Reasons and he moved a big rock and pulled her up. He gave her his school badge (of the SSA elementary school) and she gave him her embroidered hankie.

At one point she becomes convinced that it was Blue-Haired Punk. He makes it very clear that it wasn’t him because He Is Punk and Punks Don’t Save People Apparently. But she continues to accost him several more times as if she thinks he’s just forgotten.

Each time she confronts him makes less sense than the last, which is great.

At one point she is walking home in the rain and some Asshole In A Sports Car splashes her with water. Then backs up and does it again. Then is revealed to be XZ and (in all apparent sincerity) is like “oh sorry I didn’t see you” even though he backed up to splash her again.

This matters bc he loans her some clothes. Later, she tries to return them and he’s like “ew no now that someone else touched them I don’t want them.” So she pokes him in the shoulder to make him take off his current shirt. Whatever you think he’s wearing under it you’re wrong.

(Unless you’ve seen this scene)

He is revealed to be wearing a Powerpuff Girls t-shirt. So she pokes that and he has to take THAT off. Luckily though this show is family-friendly so instead of XZ’s chest this reveals…

Another Powerpuff Girls t-shirt!

He and the principal were in the same Boy Scout troop and are prepared for all eventualities.

Meanwhile PG is making friends with a nice boy who is from her same poor neighborhood.We’ll call him Boy Next Door. I worry about BND because clearly she’s gonna end up with XZ but they’re leaning on PG/BND pretty hard so either he’s gonna get his ❤️ broken or he’s secretly evil.

He is in Regular classes instead of Elite classes and I have no idea what that means because I don’t think it ever actually tells us. He has super powers though? And I think PG is in Elite even though her powers still haven’t manifested?? And she’s not richer than him either.

So he’s not in class with her so she has to sit between her only two other friends, who are bf/gf and spend all class literally making kissy faces at each other. They literally say something like “oh yeah we do nothing but this deal with it.”

There a Big Competition coming up! PG has no idea what really is so neither do we. But one of the Mean Girls (who I haven’t even talked about) tricks her into signing up.

Which is terrible! Because once you’re signed up you CANNOT UN-SIGN-UP!! It’s not clear what the consequences are if you drop out, you just can’t.

At this point my husband said something like “oh, it’s the Triwizard Tournament” and we were like oh yeah haha but THEN the principal goes to announce who will actually be competing…

And this is determined by a glowing orb that spits out the names of some of the people who signed up. She is not chosen… but THEN… after it has spit out the number of people it’s supposed to spit out… it spits out another one! And it’s PG!!!!! Dun dun DUNNNNNNN

So now we’re sitting there yelling at the TV “Cheng Zhi’er didja putya name intha goblet o’fiyah!!!”

(That is her actual name, not Protagonist Girl.)

Side note about those Mean Girls: One of them believes herself to be XZ’s girlfriend but as time goes on it is looking increasingly unlikely that he is aware of this.

Also the product placement puts Wolong Nuts to shame. Everyone drinks these blue and pink drinks and at one point the Punk Gang is drinking them and Blue Hair is like “let’s pretend we’re doing an ad” or something &they all start smiling at the camera & extolling its virtues.

Then later there’s a whole comedy of errors I won’t get into with a pizza but the end result is that BND winds up sitting in PG’s noodle shop with some middle-aged lady he doesn’t know. They start talking about how awkward it is and then suddenly she’s like

“Well if it’s going to be awkward, let’s sell these backpacks instead” and turns to the camera to sell us whatever brand of backpack he’s wearing.

One night she goes into this room with a sign on it that clearly says it’s like a study lounge or something that belongs to XZ’s gang. Who have their own study lounge I guess. There are chess boards all over the place?

He comes in and she’s like “what are you doing here?” and I said to the tv “well it does belong to his gang” and he’s like “uh it belongs to my gang.” Through some contrived contrivances they wind up leaning over a desk almost-kissing.

Then somehow (this might not happen til they leave the lounge? I forget) she realizes he has her old handkerchief so HE was the kid who saved her. But she doesn’t like him now so she demands he give it back and then she chases him like… all night long or something

Like she’s still chasing him when it’s light out AND he’s changed clothes.

Then somehow she gets the handkerchief but somehow he’s replaced it with a FAKE HANDKERCHIEF that has some other phrase on it. Kids these days and their handkerchiefs!

In an earlier scene, her uncle is shown knitting in the noodle shop and the pattern in his knitting changes from ? to !! so we’re theorizing that XZ has the same needlecraft-changing superpower as her uncle.

Anyhow we’ve only watched like 8 episodes out of I think 30 (they’re very short though) and I’ve only covered like half the completely unhinged things that have happened so far. Much of what I haven’t explained is because I don’t actually understand wtf is happening.

It’s basically the best show ever produced, you should all watch it.

Now PG’s uncle is drunk-knitting over his shoulder

Also at one point in the middle of an episode, when we haven’t seen the uncle in several episodes, it randomly cuts to him knocking his glass of orange juice down and yelling “oh! My orange juice!” with absolutely no context or explanation and then they never speak of it again.

Also-also the bad guys put PG in a burlap sack, then XZ saves her and proceeds to use her (in the burlap sack) to hit the bad guys.

Basically this show just keeps getting better.

Oh! I forgot! The bad guys attacked XZ with Sissy Boxing and gave him orchid fingers! Don’t ask me to explain, you now know as much as I do.

#super star academy #xiao zhan #peng chuyue #cdrama #pg writes #twitterpocalypse

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ilions-end · 4 months ago

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uh oh i've finished THE THEBAID! time to talk about it!

disclaimer: i'm not a roman empire girlie. like with the aeneid, i'm AWARE the author is using the medium of greek myths to say things about the state of the republic and roman culture, and i'm just kinda... not interested in that. i'm here for the plot and the characters. envision i'm a child watching saturday morning cartoons with my bowl of fruit loops going "yayy did you see the character do the thing?! that was so cool!!". basically i'm enjoying these stories on the "easily entertained dumbass" level

and i LOVED it. i got FUCKED UP by this epic in the best way. HOW TO DESCRIBE THE THEBAID?

it's so deliciously engaging and funny and dark. to me it feels more closely related to the iliad than either the odyssey or the aeneid, but it's in conversation with all of them and also so unique. there are bitter ironies everywhere, troubled people making worse choices. ALL the characters are flawed, but in extremely interesting and engaging (and even endearing) ways.

there's something about how it starts out as a GREAT EPIC telling the story of BRAVE HEROES except they can't retain their integrity as the story progresses, they can't fathom their own limitations or flaws. it's like the iliad if achilles HADN'T accepted priam's plea, it's the odyssey if odysseus hadn't retained enough of himself to string that bow or remember the bed. it's a story that tells you "they failed, none of this mattered, but also all of it mattered".

i love how statius as an author is SO present, leading you by the hand through the narrative, offering his views (he has so many opinions and snide asides! and sometimes he complains about how much WORK it is to tell you this story, omg why are you forcing him to do all this work!) and it all feels so -- aw that's my buddy statius!! my funny friend statius is telling me this story and it's great!

this might be the first epic i've read where we know the author wanted it to more or less BE like that, so there are some LONG LINES being drawn from the beginning of the story to the end

i'll be honest, i didn't know much about the theban cycle when i started reading. i knew about oedipus, and antigone, and that diomedes' dad was in it, and that everybody fails spectacularly at what they're trying to achieve. and turns out that was more than enough knowledge to hit the ground running, it's surprisingly straightforward

i'd assumed diomedes' dad was just "one of the seven leaders against thebes", but no he's a MAIN main guy! tydeus is so central, at one point he is ENTIRELY to blame for everything bad that happens later, and i fell in love with that awful little murderman

like the way tydeus introduces himself in the first chapter saying he's from "calydon, the breeding ground of monsters". and you're sitting there like HOHOHO i think we're gonna discover who's the latest monster to come out of calydon!

like the iliad, it shows both sides of the conflict, and arguably our main point of view guys are WAY MORE fucked up than they guys they're fighting. like i love polynices, he's sympathetic because he's been treated so unfairly but that doesn't mean he's not kinda fucked up; i love eteocles, who's a tyrant and cheated, but he's fun to watch and equally fucked up

the wonderful thing is that it doesn't matter who you cheer for, everyone's gonna lose :D

it has everything you want from an epic: gods taking sides, glorious aristeias, tragic battlefield deaths, a trip to the underworld, funeral games, evocative descriptions of weaponry and equipment (statius is SO to the point when it comes to ekphrasis, love him for that), a sexy night raid... the contexts for some of these might surprise you!

AND. AND. IT HAS WHAT THE ILIAD LACKS. that's right: DIONYSUS, baby!! he's here, he's involved, he's getting his hands dirty! also he gets to play a very thetis-like part at one point, which i think is sexy.

statius does amazing work making all these characters distinct. i never thought i'd get a detailed sense of all SEVEN against thebes (and other characters besides ofc) but each of them has their uniquely memorable moments and oddities and they're all so different from each other. it's about PERSONALITIES and it's about those personalities gradually being INFECTED by polynices' transgressive thebe-ness. and still i'm hugging them all to my chest. my little fucked up dudes

it's fascinating that the thebaid is ultimately a tragedy, but it's not like athenian tragedy -- this isn't about how there was no other way, or that everything's already locked down heading for catastrophe; it's the opposite! the heartbreak is in how we see that the conflict could have ended HERE, or HERE, or HERE, or HERE, but they're all so set on doing this they're willing to ignore EVERY bad omen, write off EVERY loss, and convince each other OF COURSE they're gonna win (which they won't!) because they're THE HEROES, DAMMIT. it's HUBRIS, THE EPIC

my favourite moment of "this could easily have ended here" is before the war, when polynices falls out of his chariot during the funeral games, and he's in the middle of the track when all the other racing teams come thundering towards him. statius STOPS TIME at that moment to tell us how close polynices is to dying, that ALL THE PAIN AND DEATH that is sure to come would have been avoided RIGHT HERE if only he'd been trampled and killed, and what a blessing that would have been. but the story has to continue, polynices escapes without a scratch and everything bad happens as it must. THE FLAVOUR of moments like that?? GAWD

so those are some general thoughts. specific moments under the cut because i can never stop talking once i get going

a main thing is how IMMENSELY DISGUSTED zeus is with oedipus, and it never stops being funny. because, like, 1) oedipus' incest kids are adults at this point, and you're still THIS worked up about it?? 2) zeus has got it all wrong, he's like "OMG EWWW can you believe he SOUGHT OUT his own mother to fuck her?? that this PERVERT wanted to fuck his own MOTHER all along?! DISGOSTANG!!" like mate that's REALLY NOT how that happened! and 3) zeus buddy, you're having a tantrum about the concept of incest to your sister-wife........

you know what never gets old? statius describing the activities of the furies' snake hair. the snakes get thirsty! they get sleepy! they get excited! amazing.

MAN how the beginning of book 2 drew me in. we're dropped straight into the action with hermes on an important mission heading out of the underworld, we have no idea what's going on but it's SO atmospheric, it's SO intriguing, and we have to follow his tracks to see where the narrative is going with it. THIS STORYTELLING FEELS SO MODERN

there's a CURSED NECKLACE that i really thought would play more into the plot. i mean it's there to emanate bad vibes, i guess, and indirectly influence things. i'm just not used to full-on CURSED ARTIFACTS in my epics

tydeus' stint as an emissary is hilarious, i'm still not over it. when he loses his cool and basically yells at eteocles "WELL YOU'RE THE SPAWN OF INCEST!!" when he's there ON BEHALF of the other spawn of incest......... tydeus you're SO bad at this

OOOOUGH TYDEUS FIGHTING BACK THE AMBUSH AT THE SPHINX' ROCK IS SO SEXY AND HORRIFYING OMGGG. hang on i gotta go reread that now...

...fucking hell, it's so good. IT'S SO GOOD!!!! it's my new favourite aristeia in any of these epics, from the first cheap shot that almost gets him in the jugular, to the clambering up the rock, and his shield BRISTLING with enemy spears which he pulls out and uses against them, and not to mention how it shows just how fucking EXHAUSTED he gets once the initial adrenaline rush is through

man, statius is so excellent at realistic physiology. like the detailed descriptions of how the runners at the funeral games warm up, how their muscles feel doing this or that... statius obviously knows so many things firsthand

also love how from there on out tydeus lies about the ambush. honey you killed forty-nine guys, not fifty, and you know it!! it's impressive enough, you don't need to round up

i wish athena would play a bigger part as she's taking tydeus as her champion and everything. she's probably the MOST unknowable of all the gods in the thebaid, she rarely speaks directly to anyone, and is kinda only present for her core scenes in the myth. tell me what you're thinking about babe...

we get way more of that "UH OH YOU'RE A GOD'S FAVOURITE, THIS ISN'T GONNA END WELL" with apollo's love for amphiaraus, though. i appreciate that

while we're on the gods, i'm also VERY weak for how openly ares simps for aphrodite. when she jumps in front of his horses to stop him and there's this lovely passage where he rushes from the chariot to take her in his arms and comfort her... awww. and then it's kinda wild when he's like "darling you're my only respite from war"... ares babe, you LOVE war!

there are several suicides in this story, and each one is surprisingly disturbing in its own way, but maeon though??? guy went out with IMMENSE STYLE and INTEGRITY. respect

statius is really good about chronology (since the theban war happens before the iliad-aeneid-odyssey) EXCEPT at one point someone throws a big rock (hippomedon maybe? i can't remember) like polyphemus threw boulders at odysseus and i'm like NO THAT HASN'T HAPPENED YET. ODYSSEUS IS A BOY IN ITHACA AT THIS POINT

i didn't expect to love parthenopaeus so much!! he's a BOY who's snuck off to war, he's glorious but he doesn't understand the consequences! that's a still-developing brain in there!!! when he's killed, EVEN THE ENEMIES GRIEVE FOR HIM, aaaaah! and statius keeps using him as a symbol of how meaningless the war is, and he's a proto-achilles (proto-neoptolemus?) in so many ways and it just KILLS ME

the whole nemea section is sooooo weird. and i GET that it's meant to be weird, that it's part of this whole campaign's WRONGNESS but it's... it's weird. like WHY does their entire army get involved in this place's family and history and politics? why do they get DELAYED FROM WAR eagerly listening to a nurse talking about the massacre of lemnos? why would she put the baby on the ground and leave it? what's UP with that snake? why do they have these MAJOR FUNERAL GAMES OF MILITARY PROWESS for a random dead royal infant? it's so weirddddd

the funeral games in themselves are great fun actually. and that only makes it worse because the next day the battles start and EVERYONE STARTS GETTING KILLED. the vibes turn on a DIME here

there are so many references to heracles that i can't appreciate because i'm clueless about heracles. i should fix that.

i cackled SO HARD at how statius reveals tydeus' cannibalism. that perspective change?? how athena is watching his comrades trying to WREST the decapitated head from him like he's a dog chewing on plastic? oh gosh it's amazing

AND i love how eteocles USES TYDEUS' CANNIBALISM AS A POINT OF PROPAGANDA. he's SO good at painting the entire enemy force as savages because would you believe even one of their fucking LEADERS chomped on theban brains!! THEY'RE HERE TO EAT US UNLESS WE FIGHT

also. also way later when we're told tydeus' wife's love for him is SO GREAT that she even managed to forgive him for that final taboo... do you know who else forgave him for that? INSTANTLY, without a moment's doubt? who was even impressed with him for it because he's fucked up like that? POLYNICES. his love for tydeus goes unremarked but statius sure implies...

i'm not deeply invested in gore but statius is VERY good at describing gore. he's definitely more... structured about battles than homer is though (two leaders dying per chapter, chosen for maximum contrast and effect, etc), to the point where towards the end of the fighting i was getting hungry for something else

the weirdest quirk of statius is how he will reuse names all the time? if there's a random argive background character you can almost bet that there's a random theban background character with that exact name -- i guess to make a point how similar they truly are -- but in a book that shit gets CONFUSING.

the night raid is clearly based on the iliad's night raid except everyone's more twisted and making worse choices, and i appreciate that. then while the heroes are doing awful dishonorable stuff, you get the lowly squires of tydeus and parthenopaeus sneaking off to steal their corpses back and being ACTUALLY HEROIC! oh the contrast is delicious

when statius interrupts his own storytelling to beg the muses to MAKE HIM MORE MENTALLY UNHINGED for the next part he's going to tell?? this man is GIVING IT ALL to tell you this story properly. i love you statius

polynices and eteocles' final duel is the CLIMAX we've been waiting for the entire epic and it's perfect. oh they're equally horrible and they're equally interesting and ohh yummy yummy this storytelling

i would have been fine if the story ended on the battlefield. i understand the "mini epic" in the final chapter as a way to contrast the whole thing ("look at theseus being an ACTUAL epic hero!") but it is a bit of a major vibe shift in the final round

and then it ends with statius pondering if people will enjoy this story after he's dead? :'-) i'm heeeere i'm reading it love it! it's still so great don't worry!!

#yes i keep avoiding using the roman names that's how bad i am at reading these in a roman frame of mind #oh my god this got long. but tbf i wrote a TON about the achilleid and that was only two chapters. this one's a full-length epic #the thebaid #first impressions tag

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imagine-silk · 3 months ago

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Hi! I’ve got a request if you’re still doing fallout 4 ones. Can we have our companions reaction to a SoSu who affectionately treats synths, especially their synth companions, as their grandchildren given most of them were made with Shaun’s DNA?

Like checking in on them a lot, making sure they’re taking care of themselves, being a bit overprotective given the lose of their spouse and Shaun, etc.

》Very cute. I've actually seen a comic that covered this topic kind of by nimblerscout here.

》I'm gonna retcon the plot a bit so the player knows they need to get to the Institute but needs to find a way in. So they know what a synth is and where they technically land on their family tree.

【Cait】 "Should I care? All I'm hearing is there a lot more people on the planet."

At first she doesn't really care, the act is genuine at that point. But when she sees how well you treat them and almost baby them she gets a bit jealous. No one ever did that to her, even when she was young. She will never admit to it, not even if you tried to torture it out of her. If you fawn over one of your grandkids in front of her she'll roll her eyes and look away pouting. Sometimes she'll think about if she's a synth so she can get the same treatment.

【Codsworth】 "Just so you know, I don't expect to make five-hundred lunches everyday."

He supports the idea to a reasonable degree. He loves the idea of you having grandchildren. Maybe you have a little more than the average nuclear family but that's they charm of it, wouldn't you say. That being said he will not allow you to house them all, there's hundreds of them. They can visit but only a few at a time and no more than four can live with you, not including Shaun, he will always make room for the young master.

【Curie】 "Oh my! A gift? Thank you. What a lovely thought."

When she gets her new body you immediately treat her as family. Not that you didn't treat her good before it's just different. And she loves the way you make her feel, absolutely loved and pampered. She doesn't really see anything you do as weird or questions it because you are technically right, she does come from your DNA one generation removed. With her new emotions you help her express what exactly she's feeling and try to give her positive emotions to understand first by giving her gifts or asking what she's working one and allowing her to talk your ear off. She's also the one that is most comfortable calling you grandpa/grandma.

【Danse】 "Good boy."

He was very confused when Dogmeat kept smelling him and basically fell in love with him immediately. Not that he ever really complained about it, he actually got very attached to him. If you were traveling with him Dogmeat would stick to him like glue. After he found out why and that you never told him it fundamentally broke something inside him. You knew and that's why you always tried to steer him to a different path. Your love was not only conditional but irreplaceable and would never stop. Unable to turn to anyone else he leaned into your love, knowing what it meant now. He can't remember the last time someone treated him like a child, not even in his earliest memories.

【Deacon】 "That's better than anything I could come up with."

He thinks it's funny... up until you give him the details about your son and spouse. He'll try to joke on the subject and shows you around the Railroad HQ, introducing who's your grandkids and who are just regular people. Because you have such a personal stake in synths well-being he has no doubt about where your loyalties lie. If you want to keep it a secret he won't tell a soul. You wanna tell the whole Railroad he'll get the equivalent of popcorn ready to watch the whole thing go down. He will also help you deal with Desdemona by stalling her so you can spend as much time with your son as you can.

【Dogmeat】 Sniffs before letting out a happy bark.

He's noticed how you are more protective of some people verses other, and he can tell the difference with how they smell. He can smell if someone is a synth or not which outs a lot of people as a side effect. To make up for it he is extremely protective of them and will go to bat for them as much as he does for you.

【Hancock】 "These are our new brothers and sisters. Give them a warm welcome.

As much as he didn't like the Institute after they were gone and the synths were displaced he had no issue with them, quite the opposite. He is more than willing to integrate them into Goodneighbor safely when news spread that the Institute was gone. Everyone is welcome in all shapes and sizes. When he sees you doting on them every time you visit he laughs. When you tell him they are your grandkids he laughs even more and encourages your behavior. The idea of you having nothing but love for freaks and weirdos makes him happy. You love the residents both old and new so he's all for it.

【MacCready】 "Grandkids? I mean, I guess you could call them that. I'd go for 'clones one generation removed' but whatever you say."

At first he doesn't understand why you even care for them in the first place. Sure they have your DNA but can you even call them your family. Once you explain exactly what happened he imagined if his son grew up and had kids he'd probably kill for them. Still, his son would never have hundreds of kids but he can kind of understand it. If he spots one of them he'll also help them knowing you'll probably pay him for it, or if you already have a close relationship with him because he knows it will make you happy.

【Nick】 "I'm not even sure we come from the same branch. Got a bit too many holes in me, if you know what I mean."

As far as proving you have the same DNA he doesn't really care about that in the slightest. If it makes you happy to believe that he's fine with it. But do not treat him like a child. He'll humor you most days and will allow you to go out of your way to help and protect him but he draws the line at patronizing him. He's mentally older than you and has to deal with weirdos and bigots all the time, don't add to that list of people that annoy him. But if you wanna crack a joke or two about it that's fine by him. Sometimes he even finds it funny.

【Piper】 "You knew?!"

You don't tell her about what Dogmeat does and what it means, you tell her it's just something he does that you can't explain. After you find the Institute expecting your son to welcome you with open arms you find out he's dying. So you spend what time you can spare with him as he slips away inch by inch. Piper doesn't know anything about what you're going through with him though and thinks the only reason you haven't destroyed the Institute is because your little boy is still in there, that you still need to find him or gain a way to access him. When she does find out she's pissed. When you've finally dealt with the Institute, after your son died, you decided to tell her. She doesn't stay mad for very long because you did follow through and ended their reign of terror.

【Preston】 "Can you... maybe help me figure out where to place them?"

He does and doesn't understand. He cares about the hundreds of synths that were displaced and you had a direct cause in that happening. Of course you felt a responsibility to them. But to treat them all as your children was strange to him, even more so when you had a hard time choosing where they should go. They couldn't stay in one settlement, there were too many. He regrets ever going to you to help decide this, you were taking a long time because 'you didn't want to choose favorites between your grandkids'. He ended up taking care of it and watched you say bye to every single one.

【X6】 "Could you refrain from touching me? No, I am not embarrassed, you are dirty."

He tries to avoid your fawning and doting as much as he can, especially while the Institute is running. If you don't listen to him he will eventually get annoyed enough to smack your hand away and tell you to stop again. But after a long period of time he just doesn't comment on it hoping you'll stop one day. You don't. When the Institute is gone and he gets stranded on the surface he better understands where you're coming from and will allow you to dote on him. But he will never allow you to protect him. He will always put himself between you and danger, forcefully if he needs to. You could talk him into most anything, a family picture, give him gifts, in private you can even get him to call you grandpa/grandma. Only in private.

#ask and you shall receive #fallout 4 #fallout imagines #fallout x reader #gender neutral reader #companions react #I actually really liked this one

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letstalkwhump · 2 years ago

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Let's Talk Whump No. 10

Welcome to Let’s Talk Whump, a series of interviews that spotlight the amazing people in our whump community. I’m Malice and I’ll be your host.

Today we have @suspicious-pools-of-blood joining us to share his whump story!

Tell us a fact or two about yourself!

I'm a butch (he/him) and I enjoy rock climbing, leatherworking, and losing my entire goddamn mind over Xena: Warrior Princess.

What does whump mean to you?

To me it can range anywhere from a trope to a vibe involving some kind of hurt. I definitely consider angst to be whump.

How did you find the whump community?

It was actually very straightforward; I was up one night and the word "whump" kept rattling around my brain, I'd probably seen it tagging a fanfic at some point, but I didn't know what it meant, so I looked it up and found a definition followed by the Tumblr community. Specifically, it was albino-whumpee's writing that came up, so I was introduced to whump and box boys and WRU all at once. I stayed up all night reading their stuff and then made a sideblog and dove in, dragging my OCs down with me.

Do you think your views on whump has changed? Maybe the way you consume whump media?

This community was basically my first foray into reading original fiction online instead of just fanfic, and now that's definitely what I read most.

Favourite whump trope?

One of my favorite tropes is carewhumpers--not of the bad caretaker variety, but more whumpers who don't let whumpee have any caretaker but whumper themself. Relatedly, I like captor bonding (not sure if that's an actual term, but that's what I call it because the term Stockholm syndrome has a super gross history), as well as intimate whumpers, nsfwhump/noncon/dubcon, slavery, power imbalances, etc. Also a big fan of a whumpee who internalizes their hurt hard enough to become a whumper against a new whumpee, continuing the cycle of violence and abuse rather than the typical whumped-turned-whumper trope where the two characters just switch roles. I really like the mental/emotional side of whump, seeing how both whumper and whumpee feel about what's happening, why whumper does what they do, and how the whump changes both of them as people.

And your favourite piece you've written?

Really hard to pick, but currently I'll have to go with Not You Too and its companion piece Wish . It's more angst than any physical whump, but it's an important piece for developing and understanding the psyche of my main character.

What's your writing style like?

Oh man, calling myself out here on this one. Don't be like me, kids. Often times I find that not being sober helps me get over mental blocks that prevent me from getting the words onto the page. It depends on what I'm writing, but usually a couple bourbon old fashioneds or an edible get me into the mood to write, night time, lights off, candle lit on my desk, relevant OC or WIP playlist playing. I'm trying to get better about that though because needing to be intoxicated to write is not good. I try to write regularly but usually I just end up sitting in front of my Notion board for hours on end while procrastinating on work I should be doing.

Is there anything you struggle with writing?

Cisheterosexuality is fuckin impossible for me to write. I have no experience with it so I'm profoundly confused when I have to write about it for plot reasons

Is there anything you're working on at the moment?

The current piece I'm working on is my main character's first time sleeping with another woman. I am, if nothing else, committed to realism in writing, so I did spend more time than I wanted to today remembering my own first time and cringing but hey, at least I got the vibe!

Do you have any writing advice?

Make some lil guys and rotate them in your mind; literally no one can stop you

Shout out time!

@winedark-whumpk-whump has some truly fantastic stories and was really encouraging when I was struggling with engagement and feeling self-conscious about my original content.

Anything you'd like to add?

Thank you so much for this interview, this was lots of fun!

Thank you for joining us, @suspicious-pools-of-bloodod ! It was great to have you here!

And to all you folks at home, have a whump-derful day!

#whump community #whump interviews

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terrainofheartfelt · 2 years ago

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ooh, so i have a question: in a hypothetical au of your out of breath au where the car crash hadn’t have happened and blair made it to the consulate to break up with louis, what do you think would have happened next? i’ve always wondered what blair’s plan was vis-a-vis parenting in actual 5x10 if she had left louis given that her kid would have still been monegasque royalty (i think? i actually don’t know how their succession works if the parents are unmarried, but i would assume louis would have the option to recognize the child if he wanted regardless?), but especially so in light of her deciding to go it on her own and single parent! (even if dan is 100% stepping in to help her raise that kid whether they start dating or not lol)

OH well, funny you should ask, because I have an abandoned wip from late last summer, which was basically this premise. sort of.

but first, to actually answer your question: I don't know! I think, catholically speaking, a prince having a baby out of wedlock would be considered a "bastard," but in the 21st century idk if those exist anymore. theoretically, louis could/would acknowledge his child and do his best to give them rights and recognition within the royal family, but his catholic family might resist that. I kinda think -- given what we were shown -- that louis and his mother would try to exert a large amount of control over the kid whether blair was married into the family or not. remember the child rearing contract they tried to get blair to sign? i think the grimaldis would come down on her even harder if they perceived that louis was at risk of losing agency over his child's life.

and given how blair's sick & twisted mind works, she would probably anticipate the grimaldis moving to take her kid away, and she would scheme drastically to keep louis from exerting a claim over the baby. and by extension her. which brings me to the abandoned wip!

okay so, there was this abandoned fic on livejournal that was like, "what if blair and dan told everyone the baby was his so her abusive exes would leave blair the fuck alone?" and that premise is sooooo delicious I went "what if?????" and then I did not follow through.

so I tinkered with the idea that, at the crossroads of 5x10, Blair realizes that she wants out of her engagement to Louis, and her weird cosmic tie to Chuck, and her devious mind comes up with the idea the the surefire best way to make both of them so angry that they'll let her go, and make sure that louis doesn't try to take custody of the child, is to tell them that she and dan's friendship included them sleeping together at least once - enough to get her pregnant. the whole gang fell for a faked paternity test before (also including dan) why not again?

dan at first is like, blair what the fuck. but we all know he's too far gone in love with her to not help out. so they lie. they lie to everyone and it's a big mess but it does get blair free of both louis and chuck. and she tells dan he's not obligated to do or be anything but he's in on this now too, and he points out that if he were to back away (uncharacteristically) then everyone who knows them would be suspicious and boom, cover blown.

she moves into the loft and she's hormonal and the tension Builds and then they For Real sleep together and it's awesome but before they can talk about it the birth happens

anyways they are roommates and they raise this baby together and some Plot that I haven't come up with happens and then Blair realizes that she's been in love with Dan the entire goddamned time!

and Dan keeps these letters to their daughter on his computer -- he tells blair for months that he's working on his second book but nope he is just writing letters to Katharine (named for hepburn, dan calls her katie) Beach Read style. blair reads them and they make out.

For funsies, under the cut I'll paste the one scene I actually half-wrote, an exchange between Alison and Blair. The precursor is that Blair passes out in bed while Dan takes a shift with the baby, and then she wakes up and realizes that she and Dan are spooning (she's the big one) and then she stumbles into the living room looking for her kid, and boom: Alison:

“Best thing I never planned.”

Blair doesn’t say it, but she thinks Alison must hear it anyway, or feel it, the memory of that lost boy sitting in the hall.

“But thankfully,” Alison continues, “Dan has the benefit of much more good sense.”

“Must have skipped a generation.”

Alison looks up in shock, her bouncing halting, and Katharine starts to grizzle in protest.

“Sorry,” Blair says immediately, grimacing, “I’m really tired.”

Alison’s eyes flick up and down, looking her over, and she softens, resuming her swaying. Blair can kind of see Dan in the amusement clouding her expression. “No, you’re right,” she agrees. “Some things Dan definitely gets from me, like his taste in movies and thinking with his heart over his head.” She smiles slightly, and Katharine makes a restless noise, her tiny fist flailing in the air by Alison’s arm. “But he’s like Rufus in a lot of ways. They’re stayers. Always bloom where they’re planted.”

Blair bobs her head listlessly in agreement. Dan stays. He always has, ever since he sat down in that hallway.

Katharine’s noises grow in frequency and volume, and Alison steps towards Blair, making to hand her over.

“Oh,” Blair unwittingly takes a step back, hands going up, “I don’t know – but you’re doing so…”

“It’s you she wants,” Alison says gently. “You’ve got her.”

Blair takes a deep breath, and extends her arms.

“Yeah,” Alison whispers brightly, her voice turning up in that way everyone’s does when they’re talking to a baby. “There’s mama!” she says as she helps settle Katharine onto Blair’s chest.

Blair’s breath catches in fear for a moment, but then Katharine’s grizzle of discontent softens into a coo, her fists waving lazily as she gapes up at Blair in open, honest trust.

And then, Blair finally realizes she’s been rocking from foot to foot, shifting her weight just like Alison had been.

“You’re a natural, honey,” Alison says quietly, patting Blair lightly on the shoulder before letting go. “I can work through these,” she waves a hand at the various messes currently taking over the kitchen, “but if you need a break soon, just let me know. Whatever you need.”

Blair pulls her eyes up from the baby in her arms, looking Alison square in the eye. “Thank you.”

Alison smiles, her dark eyes turning a familiar shade of warm and wistful, almost sad. “No thanks necessary.”

#i guess my most direct answer to your question is that I do not see blair and louis coparenting equitably #there would always have to be some major fallout for me somewhere #asks #anon #gg au

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oretsev · 2 years ago

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hi helloo, i'd just written a novel in ur askbox about s&b and then tumblr crashed and it was all lost :') maybe for the better because it was a total mess of thoughts lmao so let me try to summarise my feelings a bit (im sorry this turned out REALLY long)

i HATE that they speedran s&s and r&r in the most bullshit way possible. the entire amplifier hunt was basically removed, at least journey-wise - they just. find the sea whip in that one cave and then they go to morozova's workshop and thats it?? wheres the shu han quest. where the fuck is the ACTUAL spinning wheel. and why is alina not hounding everyone to find the firebird??? she's supposed to be obsessively seeking it now, why does she barely seem to care? also where's the actual ending to siege and storm. WHERE is my darkling & alina fight. wheres her being saved by mal... where's her white hair !!!! idk that scene was my favourite and once i knew we were getting a tv show i really wanted to see this on screen :((

all the characters and relationships they cut... harshaw, misha, ONCAT, tamar&nadia (because lbr they basically weren't there), honestly i even missed sergei and stigg (who i'd barely even remembered before), nadia and adrik as siblings even. they just cut all these people and their journeys with alina for what, a fetch quest for a magic sword?

also, where's the apparat and the soldat sol? we hear people call alina 'sankta', sure, but the entire religious part of ruin and rising is just. completely sidelined. which is really weird because it's so important!! tolya and tamar's faith is basically nonexistent and i don't like it at all

the whole firebird reveal was soooo boring. like i'm sorry but that scene in the book? absolutely perfect. but in the show... it's just a story! baghra just tells mal and thats it! honestly this entire season was so much telling and not showing too, soooo much exposition and it just really didnt work

now then. ive put this off long enough but. the fucking ending. dude... i don't even know where to begin. how do you fuck up the rewrite of your book so badly that the entire moral of your book is just. completely lost?? literally the entire trilogy is built on the "what is infinite? the universe and the greed of men" quote. you CANNOT disregard that in this way. the point of the entire story is that alina's greed is punished! she loses her powers and she loses mal (sort of). the fold is destroyed by her power but not by her, because she never should have had that much power! now... she loses nothing. she has her power, she has three amplifiers, she brought mal back with merzost (which is still. insane to me like i legit laughed out loud when that happened) and now she's general of the second army and also soon probably queen of ravka??? she doesnt lose ANYTHING to her greed.

and with the ending too... where the hell are they going to take this next? because theyre sure as hell not following the kos duology storyline, what with alina now being nikolai's general instead of zoya (which im also. really pissed off about because zoya's story is SO important and theyve just. shoved her to the side)

i also have some thoughts about the crows and how theyve been handled of course i just don't feel as passionately about them (also because they shouldnt have been in this show in the first place but thats just my opinion <3) but i do wonder how theyre gonna start the soc spinoff when theyve basically done so much of the crooked kingdom plot already? and inej is literally already sailing and finding slavers like... i have no idea how theyre going to dothis spinoff and make everyone happy

very small last points but im so mad that they did the "an ordinary life full of ordinary things" line and then decided to. include nikolai? what the actual fuck? and then they didnt even GIVE malina their ordinary life... sorry im so so angry about this ending

i'm sure ive got more to say but this is already wayy too long and i don't wanna bother u anymore but ive just been mad for 3 days straight and really needed to get this off my chest <3 im really disappointed that theyve managed to screw up my favourite book series of all time so i'm just going to reread r&r and forget this season exists :D hope u have a nice day and thank u for reading this dump slfksdj

RIP but ty for venting!!! i totally get everything you’re saying. all of this comes down to the writers smashing basically all of the books into one season for NO reason. all of the things that make the trilogy & duology interesting & compelling & complex are gone bc there’s no time to show them. it’s constantly going GO GO GO with the plot, & for what?? nothing got added to these characters this season, i didn’t feel any impact during any of the big reveals, i didn’t get any emotional payoff from these characters’ journeys.

& why change the ending the way they do? eric’s already said that a season 3 would go back & touch on s&s things they didn’t address. so this ending is meant to draw out alina & mal’s stories, but why do it this way? why backtrack like that? you could certainly draw out the trilogy without speed-running the original ending like this, but that doesn’t fit whatever weird narrative he has for the crows ig.

#i’m tired!!!! let these characters breathe!!#he’s so determined to just tell his silly crows story that he flattened literally every character including them #answers #shadow and bone #genjasafin

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kurisus · 1 year ago

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Noragami reread: Volume 19 & 20 thoughts

On to the next batch of pain.

But really, ouchies. First we have the resolution of the covenant (or trial by pledge)--and if you weren't around for that month-long wait, it was AWFUL. A month of speculating about Daikoku's odds because how good could his luck be if he belongs to someone with notoriously bad luck? Also a month of speculating about Yukine's fate, and his past, and generally being miserable. It was a TIME.

Anyway, the trial resolves with no one dying on either side, and since the rules weren't super clearly outlined, I'm relying heavily on what the official translation states to draw my conclusion. Basically, Amaterasu says the trial judges the actions of Bishamon, Yato, and Yukine. Assuming respectiveness, I think the order is key. The first trial, for Bishamon, found her in the wrong. This is in line with what everyone else says about her decision to name Nana--it's objectively risky to brand herself a traitor to hunt the crafter, and treasonous to attack a bunch of gods simply for being in the way. Even though her motivations make perfect sense.

Contrast this outcome to Yato and Yukine, both of whom were dragged into this mess and did what they could. So my personal theory is that's why the trial panned out the way it did. I could be totally misinterpreting it! But since we'll likely never get an explanation, that's what I'll go with.

I know there were some complaints that no one did die, but on a reread I kinda disagree. Tsuyu isn't a super plot relevant character, but that's my point. Noragami rarely kills off its characters, and each death has huge ramifications. Tsuyu's permanent death would accomplish...what, exactly? Plus she's a plum spirit, not a proper shinki. She shouldn't die in the same way as them.

Furthermore, Yato says "your shinki are not a set of dice," aka something to be gambled with. In gambling, you don't lose your dice, you lose your money or chips.

Anyway Yukine's reaction to being freed makes me want to blow up. He's suffering from mad PTSD, but still takes the time to let Yato know how grateful he is that he was there. Crying and sobbing.

The Kunimi chapter is a fun time. Except for the part where he talks about death being the end of memories. That was not fun.

The birthday chapter is everything to me but it also makes me want to wither away. I'm forever upset about Bishamon and Kazuma not being there, although Take and Kiun is the funniest possible replacement.

And then we get to chapter 75, which always makes me want to blow up. Adachitoka returned from hiatus and dropped this absolute banger of a chapter on us-- it's all about the ways in which love ruins the dynamics of near and far shore, tied up with Yato finally deciding to go after his dad. Sobbing etc.

In the following volume, we see a flashback of Yato explaining Father's origins to Amaterasu, followed by his vow to defeat him. He's thinking, as he says this, that it's the end for them both, and he will fade away too. In general Yato does a lot of musing on his own mortality in this volume, since just after this he sadly realizes he won't make it till spring. Blowing up once more.

Hiyori also does some musing on her own mortality this volume, after Tenjin talks to her about what Kazuma said. Kazuma wants to be loved in a human way, and it has ruined him. Tenjin again chides Hiyori for being too involved with the gods, and she wonders what would be better--if she forgets Yato whether she lives or dies, it'll be like they never met at all. SO SHE HAS TO REMEMBER HIM, RIGHT?! RIGHT?!?!?!?! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING

Still don't entirely remember what trash dad was doing at her house, but fuck him.

Yato naming Kazuma is just really sad on all levels. Neither of them wanted to do it but they're left with no choice, so they nip at each other the whole time. Despite this, Yato empathizes with Kazuma's tragic life, and notes that it's similar to Yukine's. Because they've been two different types of hafuri this whole story, but they have a lot in common too. Is anyone else clawing at the walls?

Discord reactions:

#live update #Noragami reread #GoodbyeNoragami

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iris-nonsense · 1 year ago

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Okay i finished All for the game and i have many many thoughts since these books have taken over my brain unfortunately.

I want to preface everything by saying that the series is bad BUT i don't think that it's that relevant. Like from what i know these were self-published on a blog and i doubt that they ever saw a professional editor, no publishing house ever touched them, so judging them as one would judge a professionally edited book is not fair and to be completely honest there are books, even popular ones, that are worse than these on every level.

Now that this out of the way here's my thoughts on aftg in no particular order

I love the main trio sososo much. Probably the main reason why i enjoyed this as much as i did is them. All of their interactions are immaculate. I hoped for a three-way relationship till the end

Neil is such a good protagonist. He's insane but he's convinced that he's normal. The fact that he can't shut up sends me every time and even funnier is that even if everyone knows that he can't keep his mouth shut no one does anything to stop him ever, they just let him. And he is so ace you can't change my mind

I love Andrew he's so edgy. And even if he's so incredibly edgy his backstory still hits hard. Kinda disappointed that all of his obsession with Kevin basically disappeared in the last book (with a couple of exceptions) for no good reason, i wanted it to be more prominent in the resolution but it just fizzled out

Kevin. Kevin is my fave. I love him to bits. He is the dark haired deuteragonist of a sport anime. He is the Kageyama of this series. He has two mood 1 being obsessed with exy and 2 having a panic attack 10/10. And i don't care if he has a girlfriend, to me he is ace. The author can say what they want but i don't give a shit. Ace icon that only think about sport and have mental breakdowns

Speaking of Kevin's girlfriend Thea... she's the most weird character in the books. She's name dropped out of nowhere halfway through book 2, then she's never mentioned again till the second to last chapter where she appears for three pages, she does nothing relevant for the plot and she disappear again. She's one of the few characters who has a proper physical description so we know she's hot but her impact is zero. You can remove her and nothing will change. Kevin would have ended up there even without her so why even include her? Like girl you're hot but who are you and what are you doing here?

Talking about hot girls, Allison is my queen. She's iconic, she never said anything wrong ever in three books. She is the only one asking the real questions and she deserved more pages. She and Renee should have kissed at the end

The only thing that keeps the series from being set in generic contemporary times is the way Matt styles his hair. That is so mid y2k every time it's mentioned i got whiplash

Sad that the slurs disappeared after the first book i found them funny and a good way to convey the year the story is set in

The "your intricate and endless daddy issues" is one of the best line ever written it will never leave my vocabulary

Riko has the worst daddy issues imaginable which is 1 funny 2 makes him a good character and i almost feel for him... but then i remember he hurt Kevin sooooo

Jean is pathetic in a endearing way. But he's french and that makes hin lose a lot of points

I'm sad that the Trojans are there for only one chapter i wanted to see more of them

The way Neil talks about Kevin is hilarious. He can't stand him but he talks about him like the second coming of christ. Everything would have been solved if they just had a make out session in the locker room

Still not over the fact that while this books are very much about sport the yakuza is a prominent part of the story. Like that is an important part, half of the books are about it

The ravens are the least serious element in all of this. There's tension about Neil's lies being unveild and Kevin general well being and you are worried for them... and out of nowhere appears the villain team of a children's cartoon with all of them with the same clothes and walking in v formation how am i supposed not to laugh! And how is no one asking questions about them?? After 5 years of living in a cult they are released into the world and you are telling me that they are well adjusted enough to not rise any suspicion about what is going on in there?? No one is asking why there are living quarters in a bunker under a stadium?? If only one person says something after they graduate they will be fucked, there's no one with a family in that team? Why does the yakuza let this happen?!?!?!

The 16 hours long days during the holidays will plague me till the day i die it makes no sense and i find it hysterical. Why are they doing it? Don't know but they do

Riko has a spit kink i said what i said

#i have more thoughts but this is it for today #i still have all of the extra material to go through this mean i'm still not done with these characters yey #if it wasn't clear i loved the books they were a ride and an experience even with all of the bad #i also bought the physical copies and i expect some bad quality for them can't wait to have them in my book shelf #aftg #i'm not tagging all the characters #aftg spoilers

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mermaidsirennikita · 5 months ago

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ARC REVIEW: Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

3.5/5. Releases 9/3/2024.

The Vibes: Caraval but make it adult, ghosts who fuck, necromancy, haunted houses but maybe the true haunting is mental health issues

Heat Index: 7/10

The Basics:

After their mother dies, Ophelia and Genevieve are left with the shocking discovery that they're on the brink of losing their ancestral home. Also, Ophelia has taken on the mantle of their family legacy: necromancy. An argument with her sister, however, leads Genevieve to disappear into Phantasma, a multi-level game for a mystical prize... during which many people die. Setting out to find Genevieve, Ophelia makes a deal with the mysterious phantom Blackwell... And finds that the web of Phantasma is much more complex than she originally thought.

The Review:

I was actually immediately hooked with this one. The writing is evocative, and you have this super quick story trigger. Love plunging into a book like that. And then we have the sisterly bond, the spooky game, the ghosts, a SEXY ghost, a DEAL with a SEXY GHOST... It's all a great setup. For the first 25% of this book or so, I was fully committed to the ride.

So—why isn't the rating higher?

First off, while I think Caraval is probably a good comp for this novel (for marketing purposes, at least) I wasn't comparing it positively or negatively to that story. In truth, I don't remember many of the details of that book, aside from the fact that I thought it would've worked better as an adult novel. (And to be clear: This is definitely meant for adults.) I did find myself comparing it to Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco... another story of witches, devils, and fundamentally, sisters. Well, fundamentally romance, but also SISTERS.

And what I got from that series I missed here. A valiant effort is made to balance Plot Plot with romance plot, but while both were entertaining, I feel like that balancing act resulted in neither one getting the full serving it deserved. There are a lot of characters playing the Phantasma game, and you're basically attached to none of them aside from Ophelia and Blackwell. It felt like I was supposed to care about a few, in positive and negative ways. I didn't, and I found their page time a bit annoying as a result.

I did care about Genevieve—she's an immediately fun, intriguing character. But she's off the page after the first bit, and remains so for much of the book. I also found the entire idea of the Grimm family lore interesting. A lot of compelling things were here, but the main plot setting and focal point is Phantasma, right? So Phantasma should be as interesting as those things. We definitely got peeks of characters that I think would have made Phantasma more interesting, but we don't stay with them long enough. And their interesting qualities only reminded me that...

Well. Blackwell kind of isn't that interesting.

Ophelia isn't this bangin' heroine who got my heart. But she does have things going on that make me invested. Blackwell is... sexy. It's true. He's charming. I definitely wanted to know more about him. However, he kind of read like a side character who's going to have his own story later. Not like a romance hero. And I kept thinking—this would be more interesting if he was outright villainous. I won't spoil exactly where his morality lies, but he really doesn't like... act villainous. He acts charming, and snarky, and after not spending much time with Ophelia, he's all "THE LADY SAYS NO" about it.

Which I normally like. But I also feel as if this book suffers from something that has been plaguing a lot of romance novels lately, which is: "This should have had multiple POVs". There's really no reason why we couldn't have had Blackwell's POV in this. This is a third person novel. We needed that extra insight. I needed to know him better. I needed him to be a bit grittier, a bit darker. He's just very gentlemanly for the setting, right?

(This is another point where the Kingdom of the Wicked books came up in comparison. The heroes in that series are just a lot more dangerous, and it really fits the setting.)

I also feel that he could have been introduced earlier. While I loved the setting of the scene, it takes a bit longer for this book to get to Phantasma than it should have. Not long, but you know—when it comes to pacing, especially when you're writing a romantic relationship... Time is of the essence. Especially when a book is plot-heavy.

However, I was interested throughout, and I did like this relationship. A lot of the skeleton was there. It just needed more fleshing out. So with that in mind, I plan on reading more Kaylie Smith. But in order to really separate this from the pack and create something edgier—which is what her writing style gave me—and more truly adult, versus "adult that still reads a little YA" I feel like she needs to focus more on character development and reeeeeally lean in.

That said, if you just want a spookedy time that also features lots of kissing and a hot ghost man, this could be right up your alley. I can be a bit picky, and I know this will be a crowd pleaser for many. Keep that in mind.

I also really appreciated that this novel managed to compellingly portray OCD. The way that Smith plays with the supernatural elements against Ophelia's very real mental illness was one of my favorite parts of the book. Super clever—I don't want to give too much away.

(Also: This is paranormal romance. There is a ghost hero. There is a necromancer heroine. No dragons, alternate worlds, castles, gruel, or overly long descriptions of herbs to be found. For the love of God, it's set in New Orleans, paranormal romance central. Grimm Manor is probably right across the street from wherever the Valkyries were hiding out at one point in IAD. Big Romantasy, you will not gaslight me into saying this is a fantasy romance. Save paranormal romance!!!)

The Sex:

I really did like the sex in this book. There's P in V! There's sex with blood (not exactly bloodplay though, it's more on the supernatural side). And I would also like to add that they kind of begin hooking up casually? To take the edge off during the death games?

I mean, it made sense to me, and I liked that even though Blackwell and Ophelia were clearly into each other, casual sex was endorsed. More, please.

Not a slam dunk for me, but an introduction to a author who shows promise, and a book that will definitely please people who are less prone to nitpicking (which is valid, I support you, you're happier than me probably). And I do hope we see more sexy ghosts in general.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever/Second Sky for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#romance novel blogging #romance novels #arc reviews #netgalley #books

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nenilein · 10 months ago

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Hello, I am awake now, so it is time for

THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF KLUG PUYO PUYO (Part 2)

-An Essay

NOTE: This is the second part, aimed at people familiar with the basics of the character. For part 1, which mostly deals with introducing the character to newcomers, please go HERE.

Now, without any further ado, let's get straight into:

Chapter 3 - Why is Klug?

-From the official Novel "Amitie and the Girl of Love", Chapter 3

I think if one thing has become fully apparent by now, it is this:

Klug has issues.

And a lot of comedy properties would leave it at just that. Show a character has issues, but never forcing them to confront them. Play the joke of how pathetic they are exactly the same every time, with little alteration. And for a while, that was just what the Puyo games did: Klug would show up, start bragging about his superior InTeLlIgEnCe, receive swift karmic punishment and the plot would move on, not giving him a second glance.

But then something happened. We started seeing the cracks in his mask.

Okay, some context: In this scene, Klug is blackout drunk.

He's, in fact, drunk for the entirety of his own story route in "Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary". Don't worry about where he got the booze from. A witch did it.

Anyway, upon first read of this scene, you might be quick to agree with Amitie: Klug starting his alcohol-induced rant by hounding himself with the same insults Raffina usually throws at him, only to quickly pivot to bragging about his intelligence again seems nonsensical.

Then you remember what happened at the pivot point: Amitie was pitying him.

And this is actually not the only, let alone first time he quickly pivots back into bragging right after Amitie said something like that.

This scene is from the ending of Amitie's story route in Puyo Puyo Fever 2. It's right after Amitie breaks the spells and returns Klug to normal.

The Solar Bookmark is a magical artefact, that in gameplay increases attack power. Though his quick pivot says otherwise, the voice acting in this scene makes it very clear Klug, in fact, meant it to be a genuine thank-you gift to Amitie for saving him. But he can't admit that, neither to himself, nor to Amitie, so he quickly pivots to calling it "trash".

This becomes even more obvious in the novel "Sig's Secret":

The first line of dialogue in this excerpt is Raffina. The second is Klug. Yes, these two are actually having a conversation without ripping each other's hair out here. Because they're both genuinely worried about Sig's health.

Then, in the book's last chapter...

I think something should have become very clear by now. Klug (and Raffina, but this essay isn't about her) is a textbook Tsundere.

But his Tsundere-ness isn't just there as a quick trope. It plays directly into his insecurities: He cares about his peers, but he doesn't allow himself to show it outright, because he thinks it makes him look soft, and if he looks soft, he doesn't look like a "strong and superior dark sorcerer".

The lyrics to his character image song, "Nebula Step" (Yes, Puyo characters have character image songs. Why are you surprised?) make that even more obvious:

I marked the parts that make me worry about this boy's mental health. You're welcome.

From this song alone, it seems Klug does REALIZE that he has issues on some level, but he can't help himself but act like that. He's too scared of not making it anywhere in life if he doesn't keep up the "genius sorcerer" act. That's strangely relatable, isn't it?

The closest he ever comes to admitting how much he really cares is in Drama CD 7, when thanks to Klug's and Raffina's bullying Amitie almost loses her soul to a living doll monster (long story). Amitie's peers appeal to their appreciation for her to snap her out of it, and this is when Klug says this:

Klug: "T-That's right, Amitie! Um... Eh... I-I! I... I think I... maybe... always relied too much on the fact that you'd just forgive me with a smile, no matter what horrible things I say to you..." Amitie: "Klug...?" Klug: "B...but... M-Maybe that's just what makes you amazing! You never let anything get you down for long, you keep your spirits high! Y-You're the one who keeps us all centered!!"

But, of course, opening up like that isn't something he can bear for long, so just seconds later he curls up on the floor screaming this:

Klug: THIS WAS SO EMBARRASSING, I FEEL LIKE MY FACE IS ABOUT TO BURN OFF!!

Right after Amitie is released from the doll's control, Klug is the first to rush to help dig her out from under the pile of Puyo she ended up buried under, loudly screaming her name. It's not just a bit. This is how he really feels about his friends. Even though he usually can't even bring himself to call them "friends".

But even so... slowly but surely incidents of Klug being less antagonistic and even outright feeling bad for others are becoming more and more frequent and apparent as time goes on.

Chapter 4 - Where does Klug go?

Compare this scene from Puyo Puyo Quest, set shortly after the events of Puyo Puyo Fever 2:

to THIS exchange in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 (the currently latest point in the timeline):

No complaints. No snide remarks, no "Oh, NOW you trust Lemres, clearly you have finally learned about his brilliance!" And this just a couple minutes after Raffina was actively bullying Klug.

Klug knows sorting out the apocalypse-of-the-week is more important than beefing with Raffina, so he puts all the usual nonsense away and just cooperates without fuss. This is NOT something he would or even COULD have done back in Fever 2, but he's changed since then.

In fact, even complete strangers, such as Atari (a new character in Puyo Puyo Quest) notice how well Klug and Raffina work together these days, despite their protests to the contrary:

He's grown. He trusts his peers - his friends - a lot more than he used to, and the feeling is mutual. Even though he still feels the need to show off at any given occasion, he's far less aggressive about it now, too. His progress is subtle. It's natural. It's oddly realistic for a comedy series about magic puzzles.

A big part of this might be that Lemres has been visiting Primp Town very frequently ever since the events of Fever 2, meaning that to Klug Lemres no longer exists just as a distant idol he's proud to have known in his childhood, but a very active influence on his life. And Lemres is a GOOD influence, because, unlike Klug's ideal of the "evil, powerful, cruel dark sorcerer", Lemres is the kindest, literally sweetest person you'll ever meet.

There's another scene here I'd like to share, but that's purely in the audio, so alas. Basically in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 there's a scene where Lemres shares cream puffs with Klug and Sig. Klug is so overjoyed, his Japanese voice acting has him squeeing like a normal, little kid and for the rest of the scene, there are chewing noises in his dialogue. It's adorable. <3

Klug wants to be just like Lemres, and more and more he realizes that Lemres is just NOT like his picture-book fantasy of a powerful mage at all. So perhaps that has caused Klug to reevaluate his own demeanor just a little.

Also, Lemres might've grown up in a household of dark sorcerers (which was probably what drew Klug to dark magic in the first place), but these days Lemres considers himself a light sorcerer and wants as little as possible to have do with his family's dark magic legacy. This actually might also slowly be influencing Klug's ambitions as well, as as of late, he's more and more been dropping the term "dark" from his bragging about how he will be a powerful, famous sorcerer in the future, and Puyo Puyo Quest actually features alts that have him dressed as BOTH a light and a dark sorcerer!

Notably, the Light Sorcerer alt is SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful than the Dark Sorcerer alt (though that might just be owed to gacha power creep, admittedly.)

Oh, and speaking of Klug's "future":

In Puyo Puyo 7 (which was fairly early in the timeline at this point) most playable characters have "Mega" and "Mini" forms for the Transformation Puyo mode. The Mega forms of each character seem to reflect their wishes and ambitions for the future 100%...

Except Klug gets... this...

Maybe this plays into his image song. Despite how much Klug brags about his future, he can't actually imagine it clearly. Maybe meeting Lemres again threw him off enough to not HAVE a clear idea of where he's going. So when everyone else gets to be their ideal future self in Mega Mode, Klug just... gets possessed again.

But he's growing. He's learning more and more, about Lemres, about himself, about what other people can add to his life and what his academic talents are ACTUALLY good for. He's far from there yet, but he's finding his way, little by little, with every single new story featuring released into the franchise.

And I, for one, will be supporting him the whole way through.

Favorite Sega Character: Losers Bracket Round 2

#puyo puyo #neni writes #Klug Puyo Puyo

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