#could be a death note ref but I doubt it lol

[easyaesthetics]

“People always give me strangest looks when I buy just a single apple for lunch” AKECHI BUY A SANDWICH OR SOMETHING JEEZ

[fouquesartcorner]

Species ref: Aikaya

Aikaya [p: Aikayan]

[An aquatic species whose known for their more elegant appearance, biofusion technology, and they share a common myth as those of the Immortal Jellyfish.]

Inspiration: Didn't want to go full Mermaid, but still wanted to play with an aquatic species. Naiads and Sirens became my inspirational source. Though later Mermaids’ lore and the Immortal Jellyfish came next. Background: The Aikaya were once a mammalian species and technologically advanced at the time. When their world began to flood due to a phenomenon which accelerated melting of glaciers, and as their land masses began to flood they began to invest in under water habitats. This led to their scientists tinkering with a way to accelerate and control their evolution by enabling them to inherit aquatic features to survive both on land and sea. Eventually it reached a point where they could survive in deep ocean environments and transition to the surface at will. They’ve also managed to evolve so that they experience extremely slow cell death that it would almost appear they don't experience it at all or degeneration that goes on as they get older--meaning that that they wouldn’t really show signs of aging(which is the slow desaturation of their coloration), they’d just reach their adult growth and then look that way for a very long time. Thus leading to the misconception that they are immortal. General Appearances: They're humanoid with digigrade legs and webbed feet. A pair of gills lining their ribs and the base of their necks, used for breathing since they do not have noses on their face. There is little dimorphism since females do not have breasts, where as the females have flowy fins while the males have spinal fins. Markings are typically naturally seen like spots and stripes. So if there were swirls or runes, it's typically tattoos and not natural markings. Typical fashion for Aikayan would be would appear like that of body suits, with cut outs to allow their gills to breath freely. They would add draping fabric as tail coats, cloaks, skirts, or shawls to accent their bodysuits.

Egkhili: [Common Aikayan/Ribbon Tails] Inspiration: Eels, tadpoles Notable traits for their appearances: They are generally the more commonly seen Aikayan. Known for their tails being flatten like those of eels with ribbon like fins, being as long or short, like those of tadpoles. Extra Notes: Egkhili (based on the Greek word egkhelys for Eel).

Flocarus/Flocarii:  [Floral Fins] Inspiration: Flowers, jellyfishes Notable traits for their appearances: Notably known more for their females, whose fins grow and form in such a way that appears floral in shape and that of jellyfishes. Males lack the floral formation, but their fins tend to be flowing just as their female counterparts due to having thinner spines in their fins. Extra Notes: Name derived from Flo (from flower), Car (from caritate, or splendor), and Us (from angelus).

Aequozoa: [Luminous Fins] Inspiration: Angler fish, Squid, Bio-luminescence fishes Notable traits for their appearances: These Aikayan are better known for their natural bioluminescence, appearing in their eyes, markings and barbs that grow along their fins. Extra Notes: Name derived from Aequo from Aequorea Victoria (Crystal Jellyfish) and Zoa from hydrozoa, which is the crystal jellyfish’s category of jellyfish. Also mild inspiration from squids for how the females' tail fans out.

Dermenos: [Spiny Armor] Inspiration: Seahorses, Succulents, Trilobites Notable traits for their appearances: These Aikayan are the biggest of their species, are known for the armor that lines their body, being plating or segmented armored plating. Due to the plating, they rarely have markings that their brethren carry, though it's not impossible for them to have them. Extra Notes: Name derived from Derm from derma, Greek word for skin and Enos from thorakismenos, Greek word for armored. Female fins can sometimes be seen similar to those of succulents versus the more elegant floral appearing fins that the Flocarii tend to sport.

Fomoar: [Ghosts/Spectre] Inspiration: See-thru fishes, ghosts, frosted Nudibranch, This Fish Notable traits for their appearances: They're rarer to see due to how they live in seclusion and in deeper waters. Due to that, their eyes are darker while their skin are very light, so light you don't normally see markings on them. However, what you would note is that their flesh is translucent to the point if you happen to show a light on them, you might be able to see a faint reflection of their skeletal structure under their flesh, which earned them the nickname "Ghosts." Their fins, unlike the others, are transparent. Extra Notes: Name derived from Fo from Foteinos (Greek word for luminous), Ma from Pnevmatikos (Greek word for ghostly), and Or from Omorfia (Greek word for beauty). Their appearance were inspired from the Frosted Nudibranch. Also doubt you can see their organs, due to the how quickly they'd swim off or how far off they are, just saying.

Other Misc Notes: - Singular name for Aikaya is Aikaya. Plural and species possessive name is Aikayan. Group of Aikayan is a cluster(not school lol) - While a lot aren’t religious, they can still be spiritual. They would believe in The Goddesses, Aikaya deities presiding over the idealization of life, death, nature, etc. Their key Goddess is The Mother, who’s equivalent to mother nature, a giver of life to all things. But due to the rise in technological advancement, they referred to the Goddess and less so by that point not mainly would reference their beliefs as much. - Aikaya young automatically know how to swim once entering the water, as it is a natural feeling to them. They spend most of their youth in the water, developing the muscles and skills to navigate through the water. They also start out bald and their tail fins do look like that of a tadpole, but is very small– nubby tailed– before it grows out to what it’d normally be as an adult. - Due to spending a lot of of time in the water, when it’s time for Aikaya youth decide it’s time to explore land, it takes them since they’re essentially toddlers learning how to balance on their digigrade legs and learning to walk. - They also have the extra sense to understand sound waves, since on their homeworld they coexisted with another species that spoke in soundwaves(like whales and such) that echoed through the water. They can understand and translate, even when all what others would hear is the ethereal moans and thrilling of said species/creature. (Des) And that would imply, if there were whales left on Earth, they would find communicating with them fairly easy.  - They can survive outside the water, but generally would rather keep hydrated as much as possible. When more dehydrated, it shows by how dull their skin is. - When they die, their skin essentially turns grey and their fins kind of dry out(think dried flowers) - While they do heal quickly, they cannot regrow limbs. So if their leg was cut off, the leg will not grow back at all. - I imagine like fishes there’s less fat on them and more muscle(since when holding even a small fish they’re difficult to hold due to their muscles) even if they’re still squishy to an extent.  - Also since less fat, they do not have sagging flesh-- like breasts on mammals. It'll drag in the water.  - (Des) As technologically advanced as they are, signs of Aikayan tech is very rare. If one finds some it’d be within an Aikayan cluster, where they have the means and numbers to collaborate to build something for themselves– IF they have an Aikaya engineer or scientist to even do that. Otherwise it’d be less likely. Their technological advancement is usually in bioengineering and dual purpose techs– almost transformative and adaptive techs with mult-purposes.

Aikayan, their concept, and art © me Names are thanks to RiskellionGamble on DA They are also a species that are not open for random people to make all willy nilly just because. They are also not a species I intend to make as one of those closed species peeps can buy rights to make either. Too much work to over see that and junk. The only peeps who are free to make characters off of these are friends of mine who I’ve drawn Aikayan for or those who talk to me enough to not need permission, or those who have characters of them within Cosmos Descended or Solar Winds– two stories by two friends of mine. Do not repost, edit, trace, or steal. Reblog is fine.

[class-wom]

Legion Chapter 24 “Morning After”-Thoughts – SPOILERS!!!

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 SPOILER TERRITORY

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Okay, as I mentioned in a previous tag from a previous reblog, where Shakespearean tragedy analogies/comparisons are concerned, this is looking less and less like Romeo and Juliet (doomed star-crossed lovers, but hey, at least their folks kissed and made up at their funerals, so to speak!) or Hamlet (huge “pile o’ bods,” including the struggling title character, but hey, at least he finally avenged Daddy’s death and left Horatio behind to tell the tale!) and more like MacBeth.  And frankly, that’s really hard for me to take, because I hate MacBeth!!!  (That being said, yeah, Lenny is now officially a classic Lady MacBeth figure.  Out damned spot indeed!)  And it seems rather ironic to me now that the body count we thought was “a thing” by the end of the Pilot -- dead Lenny, dead Clark -- really is a thing now.  (...or is it?!?  Duh-duh-DUHHHHHHHH!!!)

On the bright side (yes, I’m determined to find one -- LOL!), good and/or bad, there was a lot that happened in this ep that imo needed to happen if we’re going to reach a halfway-decent conclusion for better or worse.  And let’s not make the decision there just yet, though we’re kind of left in a position to anticipate the latter imo.

Clark’s fate? love him or hate him, yeah, he had to go imo, because to me he was a vengeful fly in the ointment who only back-burnered his David-grudge from Chapters 9 to 19 due to lack of sufficient evidence of David being a threat (a terribly useful tool in Farouk’s “bag o’ tricks;” please let us remember how casually Farouk literally flicked him off in the closing scenes of Chapter 18!), and consequently only succeeded in his relentless pursuit and obsession in making a bad situation ten times worse and more complicated in the long run.  I’ve mentioned before that Daniel’s lines in Chapter 20 made the consequences of Clark’s one-track mind perfectly clear, which brings me to Daniel’s fate:  Yeah, this is definitely one to file under “Okay, if you want me to badmouth David, I’ll go with this one; what he did to Daniel was (borrowing from Clueless) way harsh and completely unnecessary and cruel.”  Funny that it happened before he took down Clark, who again did have to be removed if any headway is to be made in any direction imo.  But maybe that’s part of the point being made here:  Okay, fine, go ahead and hate David for savagely taking down Daniel’s mental capacity as collateral damage, if you like.  But in the end, what put him in the line of fire in the first place?  His love for and loyalty to the obsessed (”focused”) Clark.  So could it be possible that, consciously or otherwise, Clark was so focused on taking down David by whatever means necessary that he was willing to put his partner at risk in the process? and doesn’t that make him as bad as David, allowing his obsessions to distract him from and ruin what he holds dear?  Not an excuse, mind, but just a thought.  It’s just that there are so many more of David at this point that it’s easier to spot in his case! LOL!

Which leads me to the next batch of things that happened that needed to imo:  The long-overdue Sydvid talk and Syd’s discovery of David’s alters.  Now regarding the former, this brings me to a tiresome sore point in light of the Chapter 23 gulag scene, namely the “one step forward/two steps back”-type of scenario where David has a much-needed confrontation that reveals his deep-seated pains and struggles beneath his dark persona, but GOTCHA! -- the whole thing turned out to be a trick, and David’s back to his guarded ruthless self as a result.  Still, hopelessly optimistic viewer that I am, I’d like to think some much-needed seeds were planted during the talk:  Even if Syd was deliberately attempting to lull David into letting his guard down (via SK’s Chapter 21 cringe-worthy promise to “teach you to lie so well that he’ll thank you as you stab him in the back”) by saying everything he wanted (and imo needed) to hear.  (Yeah, since David made a point of mentioning how he used to trust her, we’ll see how well he trusts her in future after that stunt!!! 🙄)  I’d like to think that, whatever state she may be in at this point (there’s the possibility that she may not take a literal physical form, but hey, after the whole Lenny S1-S2 Saga, who knows with this show?), she’ll know a lot better than to trust Farouk from now on.  (David was right about that when he said she shouldn’t have trusted him!!!)  I like the fact that she at least admitted that she had been jealous!!!  So at least she came out and stated the obvious; I was pleased about that!

And now that it’s happened, I can go ahead and say it:  Yes, the Sydvid Body Swap, Syd-trick or otherwise, needed to happen, because Syd needed to see what was/is driving David and making him behave the way he has been all this time.  I was shocked as to how quickly it transpired:  I wasn’t expecting it for a few more eps, tbh, and yeah, I was kind of hoping it would end a little more optimistically, with Syd and the Davids eventually talking things over, but depending on wherever Syd is mentally now (in David’s mind? somewhere in the stratosphere? I know that the next ep, which I may miss altogether but follow up on via summaries in the name of continuity, will follow her on the astral plane, so idk, maybe she’s just in a deep coma right now physically), maybe it could still happen with three eps to go? 

Also, on a side note, I liked watching DS’s “Syd-as-David” drag RK’s weakly protesting “David-as-Syd” down the halls muttering, “It’s okay, David! I gotcha!”  Took me awhile to figure out wtf Syd was up to and what she was really trying to pull during the discussion, complete with her tipping her hand about Switch’s whereabouts; I concur with a tweet I read dismissing it as a stupid plan on the part of Syd, quite frankly, thereby minimizing sympathy somewhat imo for her current position.  But I still enjoyed watching that post-swap part for some reason; acting-wise, that had to be a challenge for both DS and RK, so props there!  (And okay, yeah, Syd using David’s powers to blast his knife-wielding followers?  On the one hand, I feel sorry for them, but on the other, I concede with reluctance that it was kind of cool, if for no other reason that I no longer have to listen to them call him “Daddy”!  ROTFL!  Not sure what annoys me more, their calling him “Daddy” or Farouk calling him “My son” or “My baby.”  Let’s put it at a photo finish, shall we?  LOL!)

Okay, on to the Lenny Shocker -- and to me, it was a shocker!  Yet there was a huge dropped ball in this scene that annoyed me:  As Lenny was calling David out on his narcissism, why the heck didn’t he point out that the only reason he was keeping her around and/or she had a body in the first place -- a body destroyed by Syd, accidentally or otherwise, using David’s body and powers, I might add!!! -- was because Farouk destroyed the only tangible family, adopted or otherwise, in order to grant her request for a physical body and freedom?  He would have certainly had grounds to do so, Heaven only knows!  Okay, fine -- not saying that Hawley & Co. had to call up Katie Asleton to get her to film new scenes; a few flashbacks and/or at least the name-drop of Amy would have been good enough for me.  But I’ll give NH credit:  There may have been a case in which he did write such a line in this scene for David, and heck, maybe it was even filmed, only to be cut at the request of the FX execs who argued that it would cause the ep to run too long to ironically run that Twizzlers ad during the commercial breaks.  (Anyone else catch that in the “Lenny Swan Song”-ep with regard to a sponsor choice? that couldn’t have been a coincidence! LOL!)  Perhaps the best part of the scene (at least imo), David shedding visible and genuine tears as Lenny slowly bleeds to death, was supposed to indicate this, that the closest thing he had nearby to remind him of a true family was slipping away from him.  Interesting ref during the Sydvid talk that he later describes this as “abandonment” and equates it with his parents.  I guess that’ll work for now, but I would have liked to at least hear the Amy-ref, since it’s safe to call that moment the turning point in S2, David’s realization of Lenny’s true identity.  JMO.

And while the World Wide Web is crying “There’s no doubt about it, David truly is a villain now!” can we just take a look at Farouk in this ep once and for all and say “Yeah, okay, whatever, but that doesn’t mean that Farouk is good by default!”?  (I know, I know -- two wrongs don’t make a right, as I keep saying, but again, Farouk’s old enough to have a better idea of what he’s doing, and apparently for all his coolness, even he in the end underestimates his competition!) Puppet master, master Chess player (oooh, a Xavier/Magneto ref! LOL!), etc., etc. -- we definitely see Farouk as nothing more than a master manipulator.  Yet he’s not completely successful in his control over D3, and since the D3/Summerland gang has changed so dramatically and frustratingly over the course of this show to the point where I’m not even sure I can root for the Loudermilks anymore (Kerry’s excitement about going to space was kind of fun, though!), I’m not sure whether to be pleased or disappointed in this turn of events and the inevitable parting of the ways.  (Or at least I would hope so; perhaps he’ll use Syd’s apparent condition to his advantage, idk.)  Frankly, I’m coming more and more to the conclusion that there is going to be no true winner at curtain’s end no matter how you slice it; at best, perhaps some parties will come away with a bittersweet sense of closure, and that’ll be about it.

Regarding Farouk’s underestimation of his control over the situation, I liked Switch’s suddenly popping up to help David, but if she’s incarcerated in a hibernation chamber, how the heck did she manage to snap out of it so quickly?  That had a rather deus ex machina-feel to it imo.  I may have missed something, idk; quite possible with this type of a show.  LOL!

And as often happens, I guess I had a little more to say the morning after than I thought I did! 😂

[striddums]

ok, keeping this under a cut cause i just really don’t want to start a whole discourse on my blog, i hope you all understand. so, to the anons:

first: i realise i need to be more mindful & discreet about this topic than i initially was in my tags, especially as a white person, like you stated. and i apologise. i hadn’t watched any of the videos (including pdp’s) yet, and writing “i don’t think he’s a nazi” was just literally me carelessly sharing my gut feeling. cause i still think that he’s not... maybe i’m horribly naive for it. but i don’t think he is. the post i linked there is a piss poor “apology” and whatever, but he does state very clearly that he doesn’t share the same hateful thoughts as those people. he even calls the idea laughable - which to me perfectly summarises the entire problem with this guy. which brings us to...

...point two: in that post he says, i quote, “As laughable as it is to believe that I might actually endorse these people...”. he’s a dumbass. he thinks it’s fine to call it laughable, that he has a place to do so, and that it proves his point. “of course i don’t think that way! that’s so ridiculous i’d never in a million years even consider it! it’s laughable!” to me, that has seemed to be his thought process every time something like this happened... and, again, it’s fucking stupid. he SHOULD realise (especially with his massive audience, god) that he needs to be more careful talking about that stuff, more respectful, more empathetic. people get hurt by what he says and what he does. so many people (RIGHTFULLY) responded the way they did to his offensive jokes cause he caused HARM. and he simply hadn’t fathomed it would have the colossal impact it did. so i understand that people see that and think “well, he’s going around trampling on different groups, seemingly without remorse. this clearly shows his ideologies.” it’s a logical response! my feelings on it however... i’ve been watching his channel since 2012, and i just don’t think he’s that guy? not in a i-watched-him-so-long-and-i-wuv-him-too-much-to-see-mistakes kinda way. i’ve unsubscribed from many people i watched since 2009-2012 in the past cause they did something horrible (alex day for example). but i never got the feeling felix is the horrible person people worry he is. in the recent post (that i now deleted) i saw someone in the comments say “most of his videos have antisemitic tones”, but that’s simply untrue. i still watch a lot of his videos (think of that what you will...) and it’s literally 99% silly, inoffensive memes. the vast majority of his content is completely harmless. i can vouch he does not mention jewish people, or hitler, or anything like that, ever. cause...

...point three: why would he? he’s been under fire by the media and the internet and a big chunk of the whole world for what he did. disney fired him, his youtube red series got cancelled and thus scare pewdiepie 2 will never see the light of day. and, again, RIGHTFULLY SO. his “”””jokes”””” were distasteful and awful, and he had to face consequences for it. (which he agreed with btw! in the end with all the companies dropping him, he was most upset that other people who appeared in scare pdp 2 did all that hard work for it to never get recognised, all due to his idiocy.) so, as we all know, people were very upset with him for what he thought was just a funny-kinda-risky joke, and they still are. i lose followers every time i mention his name lol. he has expressed many times that he feels remorse and wishes for himself to do better and never fuck up like this again. that’s why i think he was not aware of the antisemitic references made by the creator he named in the recent video. if he did know it, regardless of him actually being antisemitic or not, he never would’ve mentioned them. he would’ve known what kind of shitstorm he could expect, ESPECIALLY since it’s regarding a topic he’s already screwed up in! i legit think he had no idea. also cause watching the video by the twitch streamer (from the post i now deleted), i had to rewatch the clips apparently showing antisemitic content many times. i didn’t get the references... at all... maybe i’m super uneducated, but i didn’t recognise them as anything nazi-related. <:/ they’re not blatant, in your face antisemitic references, they’re apparently very hidden and specific. all of them went right over my head, until the twitch guy paused and went “oh my god” and i then tried really hard to look into it... so i think it’s the same with felix. i believe most people wouldn’t notice the messages in them, unless they were familiar with nazi references. i think pdp likely just found a death note review that he enjoyed (it’s his favourite anime and he has Big Opinions on the netflix remake) so he decided to shout out the channel that made it based on that. i think this cause in his video, it’s literally the only thing he had to say about them... “i liked their anime review”. that’s it. so i believe the references went over his head too. (EDIT: after i wrote all this & posted it i saw pewdiepie had just uploaded a video addressing the matter, and he confirmed what i thought. he had no idea there were antisemitic references and never would’ve shared the channel if he had known.)

now, about that creator he gave a shout-out to, point four: from what i understand of the clips the twitcher showed, the offensive person isn't spreading blatant supremacist propaganda, or clearly stating to be in favour of those things. they’re putting in hidden references, and these might reflect his feelings (i wouldn’t be surprised.) but one thing became clear: he is in fact, a horrible edgelord lmao. the 4chan kind. the person who thinks putting a hitler speech bit in a steven universe video is funny. which is disgusting. i honestly doubt pdp has seen that su video, cause it’s on the man’s second channel that he never mentioned in this shout-out video, and cause it’s steven universe related lol. i don’t think he’d click on a su video, but that’s based on assumptions entirely so not very credible, i know. the su video’s title also has a rape joke in it... it’s just all round bad. that’s the only vid that had a more obvious nazi ref too (literal hitler) and the terrible title... so yeah fuck that guy. it’s unsure if pewdiepie actually knew about that video at all (and that one was referenced the most by the twitch streamer). all we can say for sure is that E;R guy is a massive twat. (EDIT: so yeah again, we now know for certain pdp had never seen the su video and junk)

to round it all up... to me pewdiepie is a guy with edgy humor, who thinks he can joke about everything (which, no ya don’t, especially as a cishet white dude), and who by far doesn’t take things as seriously as he should. and by a LANDSLIDE not as seriously as he should as a youtuber with 75 million subscribers. he’s made a lot of mistakes and it was never my intention to come off as if i’m defending or excusing them: i’m not, and i think they’re terrible. they’re extremely upsetting, and i’m deeply sorry for not being clear about that and putting those irritated tags under the post so carelessly. (my irritation was also mainly directed at felix for screwing up... again.)

but yeah, i do feel like he’s not actually someone with offensive thoughts... just someone who needs to grow up more & get better at handling such a big audience (which he has had like 4 years for... too slow). he has a far larger impact than he realises at times and there’s just certain jokes he CANNOT make. not only cause they’re simply unfunny and distasteful, but also cause they harm people. so all the people who say he handles things unprofessionally and has WAY too many screw-ups for someone with the large following he does - i wholeheartedly agree. but i don’t think he’s a nazi.

[bitchbrows]

Karin, Sasuke and Sakura + Love

*TO ANY HARDCORE SASUSAKU FANS, READ AT OWN RISK. I AM AWARE SOME ARE CHILL ABOUT THESE POST SO ITS IN THE TAG.*

So I got into a rather heated debate with a tumblr person whom I shall not name, but could be figured out considering how they made a post based on the worst points I mentioned. Head is more in gear now and so wanted to make my points more clear based on these 3 individuals.

Starting with Karin. Now, I have noticed alot of sasusaku fans tend to make Karin look bad, alot in order to make sasusaku seem like the ‘better’ choice, not just because it’s canon. My problem is that the one reason they berate Karin for is how she let Sasuke sink deeper into the darkness.

Okay, actually, let’s put Sakura and Karin together and compare their lifestyle and actions. For starters, at the end of part 1, Sakura insisted to join Sasuke in his quest for revenge (Not bothering to get manga caps because that is 1. too much hassle 2. describing scene and time shall suffice so feel free to prove me wrong otherwise but I recall the scenes well enough). Now if Sasuke didn’t say no to her and let assist him. is that much different from what Karin was doing? They both wanted to just be by his side. Yes, one can argue that was past Sakura but I am judging it from if Sasuke didn’t say no. After a while of assisting him, she would most likely think it was wrong, though left short on options: go on a suicidal short mission and try to stop him only to be killed or attempt to escape back to the leaf to seek help. The latter seems more plausible, but nonetheless she at least had people to turn to for help on saving Sasuke. And since then and part 2, it’s has mostly been either her heavily relying on others to do the job because she can’t or her foolishly charging in without much of a decent plan. She couldn’t bring herself to do it.

In Karin’s case, she is stuck in the dark side (No stars wars ref intended); no-one to turn to if she thought what he was doing was wrong, no full sense of morality, surrounded by bad guys whom are now neutral/good. Would Karin, in Shippuden timeline which means Sasuke was far more powerful and sinking further even before he recruited Karin..Would she really be that stupid to just throw her life away in vain, knowing full well saving him by herself (The others wouldn’t help since they don’t oppose his path.) would end in inevitable failure and cost her her life? No. What she was doing was unhealthy on both sides yes, but if Sakura was in her position, her upbringing, things wouldn’t be much different. At the end of the day, they wanted to be by his side. Also, Karin based it off one’s chakra and Sasuke’s was warm and okay up until mainly summit/Danzou fight where she finally realised that it was wrong. She had no village to return to. No-one to rely on. That is a major difference and they shouldn't be compared over that as to who was better. Upbringing/past makes up a majority of what you end up becoming in the present. Sakura had light/joy, Karin had darkness/despair, someone who was deprived of anythung good in their life (Hinted when she saw Naruto’s chakra and thought how lucky Sasuke was to have comrades/friends like them). End of.

Moving onto love. Sakura’ literally birthed from superficial reasons that were equal to that of Ino’s..He was cool and strong. That was it. No depth, nothing more..That was all we got as to how and why she fell for him. I am not saying there needs to be reason, but for a love that grew so unhealthily strong from something so weak and a mere childhood crush, that is what I call bad romance. Yes, she spent most of time with him, however they were rarely alone. Naruto was there, they barely had one-to-one interaction that didn’t add any depth to the ship when there was plenty of opportunity, unlike in Karin’s case (Sad side character life). After he left in part 1 on a bad note (the beginning of dark age puberty), that was 3 years of his absence. 3 years of no interaction nor bonding, let alone any communication at all for that matter and on their first reunion in part 2, what was she greeted with? Near-death by katana if Naruto wasn’t there to save the day for the 100th time.

Lets be realistic, if you loved someone back in childhood days only to see them leave at the start of teens, only to come back years later and not even on good terms, then there’s a problem. That problem in Sakura’s case was how self-absorbent she was with her feelings. yeah, she developed abit in Shippuden, but for someone who is set as female protag, that doesn’t suffice for decent character development/characterisation. Her love for Sasuke was ultimately what backfired her character as whole that even the plot changed for the majority of part 2. Naruto: Sasuke Hunt. Yes, the others made the choice on their own, like Naruto anyone would feel responsible on trying to make someone they love happy. Sakura was pleading throughout for Naruto yet fails to consider to his feelings until late in part 2 which was handled terribly with the fake confession, after that whole thing with Hinata protecting Naruto in pain arc too and her acknowledging Hinata’s feelings for Naruto. Good job.

Regarding Gaiden, that didnt really help much either since Sasuke was absent for long period again, and moment he comes back, can barely make eye contact or even kiss his own wife. For someone who could bang a chick and agree to a long term mission with her present only to come back all shameful/undeserving of her affection, that is rather odd. They literally became canon after Naruto done the saving, and had less depth than naruhina, despite Hinata being one who could be considered side character when looking at her screentime in comparison to Sakura. It’s a shame honestly, but am going from what was given to use and quite frankly, sasusaku ship was handled poorly and out of blue since the last Naruto vs Sasuke fight. His poke to her forehead doesn’t even justify the ship especially when just before the that fight, Sasuke acknowledged that he saw no reason why she loves him and visa versa, Christ, he could be considered a narusaku shipper as he let Sakura know of naruto’s feelings and seemed like he wanted to push away that moment for that ship to be canon.

Back to Karin. Her love for Sasuke birthed from during the chunin exams when he saved her and greeted with a ‘warm smile’ that she dearly missed in Shippuden. They spent majority of time together in Taka, not alone just like team 7. A few moments that were mainly for comic relief. Her character never really went up or down, it was pretty straight throughout. Unlike Sakura whom had plenty of screentime to see her grow, Karin was rather neglected as an individual character. Not much can be said on her end. Her behavior was vulgarly unhealthy, yes but with lack of guidance or discipline when it comes to morality, what was right and wrong? From our perspective yes, it was bad and so would be from Sakura’s perspective but from Karin’s, it didn’t seem all that bad. It was normal behaglvior to her maybe. Besides, she is not mwntally well…Clearly shown when she was, for example, locked up and had 180s over Sasuke despite planning for escape. No-one questioned it on her side, maybe background ‘ew’ reactons from Suigetsu but no-one stopped her. She wasnt emotionally manipulative like Sakura was...She comically forced herself into his personal space yes..But didn’t take it any  further.

To me nothing is more pathetic and desperate than to force ya emotions onto someone the way Sakura did. She may have toned down abit in part 2, but she ended up repeating the same she did back at end of part 1. Joining his personal journey, this time for redemption. Nonetheless, it was bad and she know Sasuke rather wants to do it alone if she really knew him. After all, claiming her strong love for Sasuke, it is rather pitiful how she lacks the understanding or even knows Sasuke from what we have seen.

That whole thing in gaiden made it more stupid when Sarada questioned if he ever wore glases and Sakura wasnt sure. Way to make her top wife. barely knows her bloke, even physically in that time.

Also, same could be said for Sakura’s relentless chase which I find bizarre when it comes to not be opposed. If I was Ino (Whom gave up on Sasuke knowing it wasn’t good for her), I would have gave some talk no jutsu or at least try. Doubt Sakura would come launching with a katana anytime soon for trying to stop her (LOL)…or choked or kunai’d (ninja shank).

They both were let to have this unhealthy obsession with Sasuke, but I am mostly disappointed with Sakura, since she is the main female. One that young females would want to look up to. Did I? No. Kishi has handled this heroine so poorly to the point where even he thought other fem characters in Naruto like Hinata would be better as the Heroine (Higher popularity) and of all shounens I have seen, she is on the low rank list for top female protag and is replaceable as a character in the series, the story would end the same anyway. Not just because of her love for Sasuke, but how she handled situations, almost cost the rest of team 7 their lives for her pointlessly reckless actions (Going to Sasuke with only a kunai for sneak attack, after literally gassing Kiba, Lee and Sai who only wanted to help. Good job. Like she could do better alone and put them out of harms way? Her likeability certainly dropped after that.) and doesn’t hold any vital part to the plot which is sad for she is the lead female. Just there to shoutout to Nardo or Sasuke and be saved or throw punches. It was Naruto and Kakashi’s choice, yes, but she should very well know them by now that they wouldn’t let her just die in vain (The repercussions of her actions are costly) and for that is one of reasons why I think Karin was wiser with her actions. She was aware of her capabilities and the outcome besides the Danzou fight - false hope. She knew her place and supring thought straight. Hell, if she was in Sakura’s place as main female, she would have grown so well as a character considering her upbringing. She’s a mix of Hinata and Sakura but more eccentric.

My point is, be it Karin or Sakura, not much would be different. The story would end the same, Naruto saves Sasuke. Both girls failed, none better than the other when it comes to love for Sasuke even if one was more in the light (Sakura), same outcome though. What would have looked better as gay couple considering the lengths they’ve gone for each other, ended up in heterosexual relationships with near to zero interaction/good bonding.

The only canon ship that made sense was ShikaTema because they had build up and were mutual. No one-sided, only the girls get their crush happy ending bullshit.

Sasuke was no good for Sakura nor Karin, but if I had to choose (Tho don't ship him with anyone tbh), SasuKari. Mainly because since the ending wouldn’t be different and ships became canon after Sasuke was saved by Naruto (‘Woken up’ by the hokages somewhat), it would be no different than sasusaku relationship except Karin would be more understanding of his actions that may look sketchy during and after sasuke shinden and would scold/berate him for doing anything stupid (As she was with him in his darkest times and shares similarities such as being the last pure bloods of their clans and losing entire family, so the empathy would be great. Saying Sakura was also with him at his darkest moments only counts for part 1. He was far worse and changed as anyone would during teens, in part 2. Plus, we barely see Sakura actually give him any rightful scoldings for his shit, even after he returned. Lets him off easy.) and it would just be the same as sasusaku was, except Karin didn’t emotionally damage herself as much Sakura had over the course several years when it comes to Sasuke. Sakura was empathetic, yes and cared but again, her actions were what ruined that. On the other hand, Karin didn’t get as much chances shown to us on to actually understanding/convey her feelings for Sasuke and see how she would be given the fact she was only in it for Sasuke’s goal. We know how she came to like him and the fact that his happiness comes before her own feelings whereas in sakura’s case, it was 50:50. She said better more selfless words back in part 1, can’t say the same as much in part 2; the scene where she was pretty much begging if there was thought of her in corner of his heart, come back pretty much. ‘Not too late’ (Sure as hell late to me, that was a horrible ending. Nopity4Sasuke.) That scene left a small distaste in my mouth though. Could have been written better. And the fact she always to be by his side when at times clearly he wants to do what is right for once, alone, like get over it and give the guy time & space..I was hoping that it would be different in part 2 near the end and she wishes him well on his journey but nope..part 1 repeat (Character development backfire, nostalgia fail)..Though she was more chill this time. However, it is really hard to compare two girls from completely different sides and whom is more right for Sasuke or meaningful feelings, especially when you barely see much of Karin and her development/growing up. Sakura would have blossomed better as a character if she got over Sasuke. I am not saying the ship is better, just prefer it judging by what it does for character and the handling. Karin’s obsessive odd behaviour wouldn’t last long as she seems to have matured and became less of comic relief in that moment she was shown in Boruto mini series with that horrible pointless plot. And although Sakura’s feelings were selfless in part 1 mostly, it was 50:50 between selfish and that depending on what Kishi decides to do with her this time when it comes to Sasuke.

I don’t care who y’all ship, just don’t go berating a character that threaten ya ship or is shipped with one of the characters from your ship just to make them look good. It's okay to ship multiple pairings that may involve the same vharacter that than ship one ir the other since both are ship threats to one another.

On another note. Sasuke…

‘Curse of hatred’ does not excuse Sasuke of his severe actions that done more damage than most of the villains we’ve seen in the Naruto verse, emotionally and physically. Letting him off with ‘oh but he was influenced greatly by curse of hatred like Hashirama said’ is like excusing a drunk man of their violent crimes because they were ‘drunk’. It may change ones behavior, but NOT their morality. He succumbed to it willfully as it was a ‘need’ in his quest to avenge his clan that was long planned before this ‘curse of hatred’ came to be known. It just fed off his anger, but it didn’t have control over his actions, that much was proven when he overcame the COH. A poke to the forehead as sign of affection after all that mess does not redeem nor justify the sasusaku ship that may have looked goodnback when they were kids and was only chick on team he was stuck with. But hey, guess Kishi started the shounen trend of throwing all these senseless couples to shipsville by the end, albeit Kubo’s ships weren’t bad to an abusive degree and was more agreeable.

Sasuke was right to say Sakura has no reason to love him. He has done nothing good since end of part 1 and I don’t even recall him doing more good than bad to her throughout. Failed to reciprocate and was absent for most of her teen years, only to come back after shinden for quick shag maybe…Go again on his travels only to have Sakura inviting herself rather than be invited on his travels then voila..Sarada, a megane child (For no reason other than to rile up the two rival ships on who is the real mother. Ugh) to piss off again for a long mission.

Overall, Sakura, a main female, isn’t far off from a side character like Karin (Both use a close friend as punching bags to vent emotion.), a major side character at that and that is bad to say because if anything, Sakura had so much potential and opportunity to be better (A promising start at beginning of part 2 then flopped after that reunion with Sasuke.) but ends up being an unoriginal Tsunade throw strong punches copycat who can’t even oppose Sasuke or berate him like she does with others (Mostly to one who done her the more good than one she loves. Constant punch-ins; comic relief or not, that was only funny in part 1..Totally appreciative) when he should be getting the most smackin’ and continues to follow him to the point where had Sarada whilst doing so. PLUS, the fact she just sweeps everything Sasuke did under thr rug and still insist to join another quest of his just baffles me..Willing to leave the leaf behind for someone that has yet to redeem himself and goes with a mere apology that was accepted just like that. For one who is said by Kishi to be the most normal and realistic girl, set a pretty bad example. At least Karin’s character was shown to be more mature with her feelings (Despite the ‘comical’ flirt attempts) and handled rejection pretty well for someone who was completely obsessive. She respected Sasuke and Sakura ending up together and I would just love to see how it would be if it was the other way around. Karin is not a bad person nor is Sakura..Just hated how she was written and all. Try considering other ‘love rival’ character’s upbringing and quality of life/circumstances, before bashing them out over narrow reasoning.

And regarding this whole Sakura didn’t force Sasuke to reciprocate or that wasn’t her goal. I am sorry, but if she really didn’t care about that, she would have put her feelings to the side and focus on the actual saving instead of constantly tearfully screaming out her feelings to him as if expecting that would ‘save the day’. That scene where she looks back on a photo of team 7 and is shown to miss Sasuke isn’t an SS moment. If it was, both sides would have been involved, but you don’t see Sasuke thinking or missing Sakura. People need to stop making a panel that involves their ship but not exactly in romantic sense, rather one sided, need to get their delusional minds straight on thatpart (Honestly hate that word since alot of shippers tend to use it on notps for something they are hypocritical for judging their notp shippers for). SavethepainofconstantrejectionSakuralove. That is no different than forcing ones feelings onto another or wanting them to reciprocate. Thus another reason which bothers me on how she goes about situations/predicaments. Emotionally manipulative, be it pure good intent or not. Ending it with just because it’s canon, doesn’t make it right or a reason to ship. Sasuke was better off alone continuing long solo travels like that. No point of putting the two together..Just because they are mains and since naruhina got canon gotta have these two sent to shipsville too? Was it really worth all that wait Sakura did to finally get Sasuke but not in the way one would expect of a couple with constant distance on Sasuke’s end and withdrawn to even show affection - from what we’ve been given in canon (‘He thinks he doesn’t deserve her love’ doesn’t excuse forbmany reasons..One being they banged and had Sarada so clearly made love yet now he is like no..I don’t deserve it. C'mon.). He would have been better off dead. His character hadn't improved much besides being allies once again with Lead, but still acts aloof and withdrawn. He got over his goal with partial achievement and is just there, unable to love his supposed wife properly. Like urh, pointless. Should veen the end to uchihas during war. Some noble sacrifice or whatever...Not some poxy rival fight to then be 'saved'.

I forgot what else I wanted to vent out about this but for now that is all. Don’t think my thoughts came out clear as I would have liked but fawk it.

P.S.I am not going just put this in anti tag, for I want everyone to know. I want discussions..Debates, no ‘yes I agree, lets bash bash bash’. Not about that life. Anti tag is pointless because the purpose of these post if for discussion/debate. By now we should be decent mature beings and accept different opinions & criticism, if ya won’t let it slide..Come reply then. A reasonable one would be nice too instead of pointless anonymous death threats.