#god had to nerf him. truly.

[idk-bruh-20]

If Tony Stark was real in our reality

all the villains he " "created" " would be, like:

- oil tycoon pissed that Stark has made renewable energy free for the whole state of NY and has plans to expand the tech to other states, countries, the world

- CEO of a predatory student loan company enraged by Stark making college widely affordable through an endless supply of scholarships

- corrupt politician whose career is over after his dirty laundry gets aired - in a leak that can't be traced to Stark Industries.. but also can't not be traced to it

------

Tony: attempts to make the world a better place with the power he has

Literally all the people who benefit from the world being a bad place:  time to break out the tights and commit crimes???

[reslari]

The lifting the lore does in glazing when none of the demigods are actually all that powerful is so funny. In fact, neither is Queen Marika.

When GRRM said, "I wrote these guys to be normal humans a long time pre-canon," he wasn't kidding.

Marika, all-consumingly powerful, can rewrite reality with the reality rewriting macguffin! Except where she can't rewrite her children AND herself not to be cursed, and can only just barely seal a couple of Outer Gods and not actually kill them. Where she can't just write the Hornsent or the Crucible out of existence, and instead has to sacrifice people for a miserable, honorless war. Turns out, she's just an average, rote god, but she has propaganda on her side, and maybe a slight homefield advantage. But she isn't special and never has been.

Radahn, mightiest demigod of the Shattering! Who got his ass kicked by some sewer-scented old man with a walking stick. Twice. Plus he couldn't properly siege Stormveil Castle. So his official score in "notable battles" is 1/3/1. That's a championship record if I've ever seen one, truly worthy of the "mightiest" title.

Malenia, the undefeated!!!! Because she had to throw her pride away just to *tie* the dude that got his ass kicked by a stinky geriatric, when she was actively trying to kill him. Sure, Caelid is a mess now, but all she did was slap an aeonia down; the scarlet aeonia and the rot itself propagated under its own power, she wasn't controlling it once it was unleashed.

Morgott: should therefore be as powerful or more than both of the above, but is a midgame boss, and not even a particularly difficult kill, with no particular skills other than a little holy magic, so who knows how he even got Radahn in the first place. Except if Radahn isn't actually as powerful as the glazing tells you he is, and therefore neither is Malenia.

And all of the above can get absolutely humbled by some naked dude with a stick.

I could also go on about how Miquella's plan makes a ton more sense if you take away the bullshit anime superpowers, but bullshit anime superpowers is what makes the video game a video game, so they gotta stay.

PS: "Prime Radahn" isn't actually that powerful; if his fight was only phase 1, he would be easier than Malenia, even before the nerfs. He is buffed by Miquella to be as punishing as he is in Phase 2 - You're not fighting "Prime Radahn" acting under his own power, you're fighting "Prime Radahn" with a pocket buff machine enhancing his abilities; it's the combined strength of Miquella and Radahn, actively trying to defeat you... and you STILL win.

But this is a poignant point about the way FromSoft makes their characters: Even in their "prime", they are still defeatable by a naked dude with a stick. Even in their "prime", they're not all-powerful. It's for the same reason FS never writes people in positions of power as unambiguously good: You are supposed to realize how falliable those in power are. You are supposed to question them, their intentions, and see through the illusion and transience of their "power". GRRM wrote the characters even weaker and more falliable than FS would, it seems, but even "buffed" - just like Radahn - they are still people, and just as susceptible to the faults that come with that.

[theerurishipper]

Welcome to me watching the Paris special, this time with commentary! I watched the special and wrote down everything here as I watched it and forgot to post it cause I'm a dumbass. Also, this is long asf, in fact, it's so long that I had to make a Part 2.

Okay here goes!

Ah, the Gabriel version of the theme. This really took me by surprise. It's fire tho.

Straight into the action, I like it.

Max and Markov aren't different people in this?

That's some entrance from Shady and Claw, really ups the stakes. Makes you wonder why Nino tried to fight them with a nerf gun.

Ubiquity is so pretty.

I might be the only one who liked the Gabe scene we got.

Feeling some nostalgia for the candy cane cosplay ngl.

And we get a good scene with Adrien and Plagg. I liked the advice Plagg gave about how not all destruction is bad. Neat.

Some Alya and Marinette. Marinette is going through some tough times and is in need of support, and Tikki takes this opportunity to escape from her and steal macaroons. No hate tho, you do you Tikki.

Though she does react to the people of Paris cheering for Ladybug. That was sweet.

Alya turns into Ubiquity, and then we get... Betterfly.

Betterfly? Seriously? Coulda just gone with Hesperia.

"I'm not sure there's anything to hope for from Ladybug." My poor baby!

Love the look of absolute confusion on Alya's face.

Hesperia's confusion about his evil counterpart is really funny ngl.

SHADYBUG

"There, you can have your boyfriend back~" love the delivery on that line lmao.

But also, CLAW NOIR

Not her just stealing his belt immediately.

Marinette hates Adrien Agreste. This truly is the reverse world.

But also, I love Claw Noir pretending to be his own fan to impress Shadybug.

Claw Noir sure does love using that Cataclysm.

For someone who just woke up to see her friend gone and a hole in the wall, Alya collected herself pretty damn quick. I would be freaking the fuck out in her position. Just another reason she's the best.

RIP Alya's phone. Gabe really did a number on you.

Shadybug makes a butterfly tracker, proving that she ain't no Gabe.

Hesperia is befuddled by our world, Part 2.

It's always gotta be the Eiffel Tower, doesn't it.

Claw Noir's pulling a Chat Blanc?? Hello??

Hesperia (I'm not gonna call him Betterfly) is apparently a gentleman. It's almost disturbing after 5 seasons of Gabe being the worst piece of shit to grace our screens.

I guess no matter the universe and moral alignment, it's Gabriel's fate to get beaten up by teenagers.

Not Tikki loredumping about parallel universes right now lmao

Times like this remind me that Tikki is, for all intents and purposes, a god.

"You'd die before I could ever explain all this to you," is actually a pretty valid (and disturbingly hilarious) justification for not having bothered to bring any of this up before.

The Supreme is someone I'd like to learn more about. I've narrowed the suspects down to either Fu or Su-Han. Watch it be Lila instead if we ever get that info.

I feel like the info about the timers is something we should have gotten way, way earlier. Like, a few seasons ago.

Ladybug's triumphant entrance!

"Whatever, pest." Queen.

I love Claw Noir's staff.

Shadybug took no prisoners at all.

CHAT NOIR

Destruction vibes, and right after that incident too.

Claw Noir is unhinged.

Claw Noir just fucking cataclysmed himself??? Guess Adrien is always gonna be self-destructive in every universe huh?

Welp, looks like Chat Noir is officially re-traumatized.

I want y'all to remember that this boy went through the whole special with a cataclysm wound on his person and did not falter once. Mad respect.

Chat Noir got tossed. Chat Blanc call back number 2.

Obsessed with the way Bryce Papenbrook pronounces "cockroach."

Finally, a villain who actually gets rid of the Lucky Charm. Hawkie, take notes.

"Who the cat are you?"

So Shadybug can create whatever Lucky Charm she wants, huh?

Someone's been listening to the fandom.

Not the time freezing lmfao

I don't like that Gabe is turning Adrien into an angel, even if this is a good version. Anyway, Chat Blanc call back 3.

"Kitty catty" "Later loser!" I love her.

Of course, not all bugs can fly.

He moved out of the way.

I fucking love Claw Noir so much you guys, he's so funny.

Well, he tried. Shadybug's just better than him ig.

Hesperia stores his butterfly in his cane. So it's just our Gabe that tries to keep multiple butterflies, I guess.

I think they should kiss.

So they're doing this in hopes that The Supreme spares them? Interesting, and pretty sad.

They're so scared of the Akuma lmfao

If I was Alya, I'd have given myself away by now. Actually, I wouldn't have had the presence of mind to even hide.

Guess the counterparts are from some dystopian world ruled by The Supreme. It tracks with the look we got at it in the opening.

"In order to get something I wanted." We saw the Peacock Miraculous in the opening too, and also Emilie died. So I guess Adrien is a Sentimonster in the other reality too. Damn it.

I guess this Gabe realized his mistake instead of descending into madness like ours.

She just broke Marinette's box like it was nothing. So much for that.

Claw Noir lounges around playing with dolls and mocks Shadybug for being lazy while she does all the work and he lazes around. Have I mentioned yet that I love him?

Also I am glad they stayed true to Adrien's character and had him play with dolls.

The whole part about Chat Noir... be still my Ladynoir heart.

Love how they incorporated the webisodes into this. About time those had relevance.

Shadybug really "hates" Claw Noir.

Marinette's having doubts, my poor baby girl.

Shadybug and Claw Noir have power, but not their strength. That's a really good line.

She's reading the diary and crying... baby.

This is such a touching scene. I don't say that lightly, but it really is.

SHE FOUND THE WISH

Marinette really wrote down every single world ending secret in this one poorly protected diary huh.

She literally took him down in 2 seconds. Bruh.

IDENTITY REVEAL! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL

Shadybug managed to achieve in 2 seconds what Marinette and Adrien have not achieved after 5 seasons of Love Square drama which I admittedly enjoy but that's not the point.

Those strange... marks? Cracks? Scars?

Blots off... I'm dying y'all.

Reverse Love Square? Hello??? HELLO???

She literally just beat his ass, tied him up and took his Miraculous and this is his reaction once he realizes who she is.

He's down so bad.

They should have played Careless Whisper here.

CUTIE PIE, MY SON

The Supreme is such a fucking asshole, he gagged the Kwamis.

Emonette wants our Marinette's life? She doesn't know the half of what she's getting into.

The Supreme got to the wish somehow? What the fuck?

"Reality is The Supreme." I don't know who this guy is, but he is DELULU.

This shot... masterfully done. My poor baby girl.

These kids are not okay. My poor sweet babies.

Daggers out. Seriously, stop it, you two.

He's trying to comfort her. They're just... I'm in pain. I'm so sad for them y'all.

Gabe in his prototype Monarch outfit.

Good thing (for him at least) he had the Ox, or else this would be his second cataclysm of the day.

Ladybug and Chat Noir are back in action, baby.

I'm sorry, I would not be able to say Betterfly unironically without bursting into laughter.

AFTER 5 SEASONS, WE FINALLY GET TO SEE CHAT NOIR'S NIGHT VISION AGAIN

Not that they needed it lmao

Alya coming in clutch with the recording. Queen.

LADYNOIR LADYNOIR LADYNOIR

It's so so so nice to see Ladynoir on screen again after Season 5 killed it.

Hit the word limit, so continued here.

[a-substantial-trash-pile]

frenrey chainsaw man au or you can take them as just wearing cool suits on another heist probably. 

BUT if we ARE talking chainsaw man... i’ve got some thoughts: 

* they both work for u.s. devil hunter/research division Black Mesa run by g-man (who is NOT a makima and will not be pulling the same shit as her oh god oh jeez, but he is in charge of black mesa who does messed up science stuff so his hands aren’t clean of everything)

* during the big gun devil attack 13 years ago, gordon got his arm blown off and a fragment of gun devil flesh embedded in there, giving him gun arm. black mesa “recruited” him right after (a.k.a. didn’t really give him a choice). he can’t turn the gun back into a normal arm, so when he doesn’t need it, he has to hide it either in a really long sleeve or some other kind of covering because he can’t go walking around with it out obviously. also joshua is alive!!! i am never killing this child off!!!! post-gun devil attack, gordon lost his original job and had a hard time finding work because of the whole gun arm thing, but he needed funds to support joshie, so that’s why he didn’t really have a choice but to join black mesa. 

* benrey’s classified as the Alien/Extraterrestrial Fiend and their powers include temporarily shapeshifting into various crazy amalgamations and singing out colorful balls and being a general annoyance. BUT he’s actually secretly a devil--specifically the Unknown Devil (fear of the unknown). They don’t remember that they’re a super powerful devil, but the black mesa higher ups are aware of his true nature and keep him nerfed. because they aren’t fully sure what will happen if the Unknown Devil uses their full power. which is ironic because the fear of not knowing what benrey’s truly capable of feeds his power more. the only thing black mesa can do is make sure benrey never remembers. 

some other not as thought out thoughts on this au that i’m throwing around in my head: 

* the rest of the science team are all working for black mesa too obviously

* bubby is the Combustion Fiend because i want him to have the fire powers and also still have a connection to cars (gas-run cars use combustion engines)

* coomer is a human in contract with a devil. still not sure what devil(s) it’ll be. violence devil would’ve been perfect if the violence fiend didn’t already exist. maybe a clone devil and/or a knowledge devil supplemented with his own cybernetic implants. 

* tommy is the son of g-man and his contracts are a secret. :)

* sunkist is the Dog Fiend--an experiment by black mesa to see if it was possible for a devil to possess other bodies other than humans. she can be any dog but defaults to golden retriever because that’s what his body was originally. tommy is her favorite. 

[angelkitty54]

Thoughts I had on Sally Acorn and her role as "Princess".

Look, there's a lot more active and unconscious sexism in mainstream media then we like to admit and let's face it, Princesses are rarely portrayed as possessing any form of power or authority despite their rank. Neither are Queens for that matter; always considered below the King in that regard. The Patriarchy at work.

And Princess Sally Acorn is unfortunately a victim of such misogynistic tropes.

The problem is, the Archie comic writers were determined to make her into another stereotypical powerless princess, but unfortunately for them, she was fundamentally not designed that way! Sally Acorn was created as the sole remaining heir to the throne; one not only fighting, but leading the fight to take back her kingdom! She was meant to rule, her character being designed to do so in fact. Which is a very large part of why she was so inconsistently written: when she was portrayed as a Princess she was meek and subservient, but as a Freedom Fighter she was fierce, decisive and a proactive leader!

When you really look into her character, Sally was not raised a princess, she was raised as the last remaining heir to the throne, meaning she was effectively raised to be King. And it shows! Sally, even as a child was leading the Freedom Fighters, was a regarded as being in a position of authority by those living in Knothole, she lead negotiations and forged alliances! She was already doing all the things a true Ruler is supposed to do!

Yet the moment her father came back she was effectively demoted to being a hapless little girl. To be fair, it does make some sense to an extent. Sally does not know how to be a princess, at least not by her very traditional father's standards. She's been searching for him for all this time and finally has him back, of course she'd want him to be proud of her. So, naturally, she'd try her best to conform to his desires, but she was always meant for greater things.

That whole thing she had with the "Source of All" and Sword of Acorns just further cements Sally's true place in the royal hierarchy. A literal cosmic or god-like force (whatever was going on there) wanted Sally to be Queen, and add an enchanted sword called out to her, wanting her to wield it? Anyone else getting the Sword in the Stone vibes here? Of course the writers forced her to not want it and give it all up, because reasons I guess, despite going out of their way to show us all how in universe Sally was the One True King of the Acorn Kingdom.

At least her brother and her boyfriend recognised pretty much right from the start who she truly was. Sonic had always campaigned for Sally to return to lead the Freedom Fighters. And Elias tried his best to support her, knowing she was a much better leader than him.

Not to say Elias wouldn't make a good King. He had his ups and downs, but the his character really shone in the Secret Freedom Fighter story arcs. You could really see him coming into his own then. With Elias taking on the role of heir, it frees up Sally to go back to leading the Freedom Fighters. Her authority was always recognised there at least; her own little kingdom as it were.

It's very easy to imagine the Freedom Fighters traveling the world as a kind of superhero team, lead by the power couple that is Sally and Sonic. :)

But if she were to take the throne, it definitely would be nothing like how they represented Queen Sally in the 25/30 Years Later arc. Not just because they completely nerfed her character entirely, also because Sonic never would have become King to start with. Marrying a princess does not automatically make you a king!! You have to already be a prince in your own right, or literally everyone else in line for succession, including your spouse, has to die for you to gain that title! Even then you'd have to have had some sort of claim to the throne to start with!

The highest rank Sonic could have feasibly achieved would be "Prince Consort", but logically his title would have been "The Queen's Husband" given he was a commoner. And let's face it, Sonic would happily be Sally's trophy husband.

But anyways, this has gotten long, so in conclusion:

Sally Acorn is the rightful ruler and One True King of Mobius. She would have made a damn great Princess and Queen if not for poor writing coloured by sexist views. But she is also just as much a Queen while leading the Freedom Fighters!

(And she totally should have kept Excalibur the Sword of Acorns! Tho her energy swords are cool too!)

[vergeltvng]

SPOILERS for The Boys Season 4

I'm still processing the final episode but here are some of my random thoughts, in no particular order. It was a wild ride and I enjoyed it for the most part. The season had its lows for sure and I'll never forgive the writers for how they treated Hughie. I'm still fucking mad about everything they did to him after episode 5. I also felt like they wasted a lot of potential with Annie's arc. She's been through a lot after season 3 and I loved the idea of her having an identity crisis but it was just so poorly executed. It all felt messy and as if the writers had no conclusion in mind for both her and Hughie's plotlines. Unfortunately I couldn't find myself caring a lot about Frenchie's and Kimiko's subplots which is sad because I love these two. I was hoping they get to kill that bitch Little Nina and Kimiko getting her revenge on the SLLA. Both could have happened this season before they got separated in the end. Instead we've been put on hold to wait if these plots get resolved at all. Firecracker and Sage were great additions, I loved to hate Firecracker and Sage gives off endboss vibes for me. I still feel like she's gonna betray Homelander in the end. Can't wait for "phase two". A-Train's arc was great, he truly redeemed himself and him showing up at the flat iron to save the others was proof enough for me how serious he was about doing the right thing. I liked all of his scenes with MM, too. I loved Ashley this season, I hope she gains some badass powers and kicks everyone's ass. I've seen some complaints about Homelander being nerfed - are we watching the same show? He is fucking unhinged and more terrifying than ever. He is basically god by the end of the season and can (and will) do whatever the fuck he wants with no one in his way. Someone telling me that's not scary?! He is and always will be one of the best villains in tv history. Poor kid Ryan, he deserved better. How is he ever supposed to feel safe around Homelander and Butcher phrasing it that way was downright evil and manipulative towards the boy because he knew it would make Ryan feel insecure and cornered. Him pushing and killing Grace was in self-defense. His reaction afterwards however is concerning and I guess ambiguous for interpretation on purpose. I still don't get how some people in the fandom could hate on a 12 year old child so much, leave the kid alone.

Where do I start when it comes to Butcher? I have many thoughts and this text is already long but I'll give it a shot anyway. Obviously I'm biased because I love this man and will defend him to the very end. I think his arc was one of the better aspects, he is still one of the best written characters on the show. What I always loved about him was him being truly morally grey and the ambiguity in his words and actions. He cannot be trusted. I don't know if it's me but Karl's performance makes him actually a lot more likeable than he deserves. He is a bad person and I don't think this is negotiable. I have thought about this so many times in made-up scenarios and I stick with my opinion that there's no fixing him and there never was. I have tried to stay away from fandom discourse as much as I could for my own well-being but I don't get how people act surprised and as a result hate over his behavior and decisions. I think most were true to his character and also him killing Neuman made perfect sense and was a well-deserved payoff narratively. Not that I'm not mad at him for doing so! I loved Vicky and she was such an interesting character. But his final words in season 3 were "that bitch has to go" and one of his main goals across the whole season was to get that virus to kill her. He was absolutely clear about it and worked towards this goal on his own terms, not even under the influence of Kessler. Certainly Kessler pushed him to commit some of his atrocities but it matched with what he wanted himself. He drew the line when it came to supe genocide and was conflicted about it initially but one of his core themes is doing whatever it takes and losing his humanity on his chosen path. Since he is highly intelligent he knows very well what's wrong with him what emphasises even more that he actively chooses to do bad things rather than being impulsive and regretful afterwards. I personally loved his turn at the end and I am eager to see his villain arc. What's not to love about evil daddy?! I could go on about some of the dynamics between him and Kessler but I'll do that in another post maybe.

[pico-digital-studios]

Oh, my god. Seriously, Jaiz? Locking a reskinned version of the original Sonic.exe fangame behind a paywall? You can't just do that and expect the Sonic community not to notice what you're doing.

I mean, look at what happened to Sonic Omens; one of its worst points of criticism was locking stuff behind Patreon, and the game itself stirred huge amounts of criticism for its high difficulty, narm-y content, rough voice-acting in places AND a piece of content that's borderline nauseating and disgusting (in that game's case, something rude hidden in the model of Maria, who's 12 years old).

The Nightmare Universe Jaiz has made is absolutely plummeting down to that level, and this is THE most recent of Jaiz's atrocities. He's literally repeating history with his nonsense, frankly;

Disrespecting the original source of what inspired his work and making it worse

Making his newer games more difficult (and not caring about nerfing it, to the point of mocking others for "skill issues")

Making lore for his series that's getting more and more convoluted to follow (especially when OG NB had more basic lore)

Actively revelling in including a paedophile character despite this stuff being wrong in society

Refusing to accept any criticism of his work and claiming those who criticise him are "social justice warriors"

Earning the ire of all FOUR of Sonic.exe's past AND present owners (JC and Shannon for Exetior's current state, and Joe and ASTRA for Jaiz's behaviour)

Grooming a minor (at the time) into voicing for a character FULL of sultry lines (and then later deliberately misgendering said minor behind their back)

Making a TRULY awful "parody" game comprising of adult content and the like (including that GOD-AWFUL Bench Tails as Tails's dialogue portait, alongside suggestive and disgusting dialogue)

Making a fucking MOCKERY of NotSoDevy solely to spite him (and disabling comments on the video he showed that on)

Stealing MY5TCrimson's work, reskinning it and then putting it behind a paywall (as stated above)

Causing his best friend (Kostas) AND his ex-girlfriend (Diana Game) to turn away from him and pursue other interests away from the NU

Resorting to VERY cheap tactics (like brainrot-based Easter eggs and dead memes) just to stay relevant

Believing him being the one to "revive" Sonic.exe in 2016 makes him more relevant than everyone else

And that's seriously just the surface of his problems. Jaiz, you're screwing yourself up more and more as the years go on, and you'll pretty much dig your own grave AND what's left of your support, just like Ouroboros Studios had simply by stating that they did Omens out of spite for the franchise.

[jeff-guy]

hihi ive come to ask questions about the characters n shit

Do any of them have siblings?? Is Emperor good or bad? Wtf does a moon elf do? (bobble) Has Rider ever hurt himself using the lightning powers? WHY THE FUCK IS ALOHA A COWBOY? Whos the strongest in the entire au? (Not counting Goggles) Last of all, wizard hivemind. Bottom text.

omg thank youuuuuuu for feeding meeeee

this shit really fucking long so it's below a cut

forge and army are fraternal twins and partners in crime! prince, emp and pearl share a city-god for a father with all different mothers in a very strange and fairly unhealthy relationship. I haven't got any later in the plot than x-blood but fierce and jetflame are probs siblings as well.

Emperor is bad bc he ignores and neglects the wholeass empire he has bc he was born into the position but he does keep the capital running smoothly bc he lives there and can't ignore that. he also tries to kill all the s5 + their teams + team blue but they were trying to kill him :/

once he proves truly how inept of an emperor he is, his divine power abandons him and prince immediately secures the throne, pardons the attempted emperor-killers and removes power from npacer and edging, whom emperor had relegated many parts of the empire to, despite only one of them being trained to rule (edging).

it's a tricky situation so emperors not exactly bad, just fairly irresponsible which becomes very bad when his responsibility is a military based empire.

sry lmao I enjoy medieval court drama

moon elfs are just a culture of elves that worship the moon as their primary god and also heavily emphasize elemental water magic (I'll eventually need to explain the magic systems of the au) among society.

bobble is particularly skilled at water magic (which is basically atla waterbending without the healing, calm vibes) but also wanted to escape her father who was super pressuring her into using her skill to gain money and fame for himself. so she does leave with team blue to travel the world as soon as she meets them basically.

but she still likes her home and just wishes her dad wasn't in her home so she does a whole lot of stuff she did in her town but with team blue (ie making her mom's type of cooking, practice of water magic specifically in her towns style, writing letters to family in the elven script) bobble misses her mom :(

ok yeah rider hurts himself all the time with lightning magic, mainly bc he lacks control over it bc magics kinda tied to emotional stability, so he keeps frying his hands. he's also got a whole bunch of sensory disorders bc of the autism and lightning is very flashy and bright so he sometimes gives himself sensory overload when he's training lmao. he'll never tell a soul tho.

ALOHA IS NOT A COWBOY I JUST COULDN'T THINK OF WHAT HAT TO GIVE HIM HES NOT. THE STORY TAKES PLACE IN AN AREA WHERE THE COWBOY ENVIRONMENT NEVER EVEN OCCURS. NO COWBOYS. NO HISTORICAL INACCURACIES IN MY MAGIC SQUID FANTASY FANFIC AU.

uhhhhh emperor is by far the strongest, by virtue of being a demigod, and thus having unlimited use of magic, allowing flight and death lasers and making floating weapon copies. but he does get nerfed into oblivion after goggles kicks his ass so after that it's probably npacer or edging bc they got god magic after making a blood pact with emperor that made them all siblings in the eyes of gods. ok.

wizard hivemind has won ur heart but how lame he is in the actual story will dissuade u I promise.

[dballzposting]

ok. ok. i have only seen DB/DBZ/DBS and have not reached GT yet (working on it ......) so mmy understanding of adult goten is from the perspective of somebody who has watched broly second coming on loop and replays the first episode of super like a healthy individual & has seen like 3 screencaps of gt goten. also that one goten side mission from Kakarot for the Play Station Five(5). anywayz. about the threeway you propose in your post. now assuming we live in a beautiful world where akira toriyama is introduced to the concept of polyamory and 1) thinks its banging and 2) accepts homosexuality into his heart of hearts (aka we are no longer operating by feasible canon standards) i do think it is PLAUSIBLE. ebcause. here is da thing. in PREMISE 7 you state Trunks is competition BUT (and again.......maybe GT would contradict this....all i know is my beautiful world where trunks pisses on broly) i think he only views trunks in competition for like...normie things. in Kakarot there's this exchange between the two of them, where Trunks (speaking for the both of them) says smth like, "we're not RIVALS that's LAME. We like competing but we're FRIENDS." (<- he then goes on to dunk on his father because "you're friends with goten's dad, right?? you're not RIVALS are you? that's TOTALLY uncool... you lamer.") and while i acknowledge this is New Canon (DBS-era where trunks's "13yr old on xbox live saying slurs" personality got nerfed a tiny bit) i think it says a lot about how they view competition/rivalry between them. It's like, all fun and games and a drive to be better but it's nothing they're losing sleep over unlike whatever da faq vegeta has going on with goku. this is all to say i don't think goten sees trunks as romantic competition. if anything he probably trusts trunks wouldnt like cheat on his girlfriend or whatever. now idk if goten would have hangups abt a 3-way being bizarre to him or smth but knowing how cra-zay and adventurous that little man is i assume it's something he would TRY at least, like, posing it as a joke like "haha could u imagine..." but its obvious he's like, trying to present it as a valid concept to trunks. the unspoken conclusion of "it could be kinda epic doe" is loud and clear 2 trunks. i think the better question is would palace be cool with this. would she do this. it's trunks briefs of capsule corp so like, if you were a worser person you could be like, hell yeah im fuckin that man if my bf gives me the green light i want tobe able to say that i know mr. trunks briefs biblically. but at the same time thats like, mean. i dont know much abt her but she seems like a sweet gal i think she wouldnt do something just for #bragging rights u kno....but u would know more on that methinks.

by the way you should watch the solar entertainment dub of broly 2 & 3 if you haven't they are life changing.

FASCINATING AND POWERFUL ARGUMENT.

I Didnt Fucking Know That TRunks Said That Shit & I Went and Found it on DA YOUTUBE!!! Timestamped video below but below that I will also attach screenshots of the whole scene but TBH I WATCHED THE WHOLE VIDEO AND IT'S PROFOUNDLY ADORABLE & PERFECT

Trunks said that he wanted to be friendas eith Goten for FOREVER .. He didnt stop at merely commenting on the present, but he had the confidence to project his feelings into the future: He's friends with Goten, he wants to continue being friends with Goten, and he wants it to be for forever.

I mean piece and signerture done right there. Signed sealed & delivered. Closed case. I'm willing to accept this as a total refutation for Premise 7 and what i was getting at in that post in general. Trunks looks at Goten with genuine appreciation when he said that they were friends

Ohhhgm my god and this video is so adorable .. I've said this before but as much as i love madness I also LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE So Much how on dragon ball everyone is depicted as truly happy healthy open free and LOVING EACH OTHER. Trunks and Goten just wanted to spend time with their fathers whom they love so much. They both assumed that their fathers loved each other as much as goten and trunks themselves love each other. They thought that the world was just that beautiful and lively. Also Gotenks in this video is 101% perfect and he is exactly swag and epic as i hoped he would be and it's really remarkable stuff. Great video. Great footage. Great writing

It is true that this is, as you put it: "New Canon (DBS-era where trunks's '13yr old on xbox live saying slurs' personality got nerfed a tiny bit)." But I dont honestly trhink that that's THAT relevant becasue what we mostly saw of Goten & Trunks in DBZ was friendly fun anyway, just with a bit of teeth, and then in DBGT Trunks is totallllyyyy chilled tf OUT and we don't see any acidity from him ever I think. So the fact that he's not saying slurs in DBS is I think okay. (I am actually greatly intrigued by his personality in DBS becasue I believe that it offers a great transition into the eventual DBGT and becasue it offers A LOT of insight on his Nature and his Nurture. Now is not the time.)

OK back to the aspect of the post that is about the throuple with Palace. This here ask offers the perspective that if Trunks sort of entered the relationship, then Goten wouldn't take it as striaght up competeition, but instead it would be sort of like "Ok well you know what You're a good man. I trust you'll treat her well." And in fact perhaps Goten & Trunks AREN'T Sick to Bastard Death ofn each other by now and ARE in fcat FRIENDS FOREVER like Trunks wishes for in this Kakarot for the ps5 footage.

This ask also offers the third propositon that Goten & Trunks may consider the prospect of a threeway involving them and one nice woman to be "kinda epic." No comments on that one

Palace definitely is not a bragging-rights kind of person so her motivations would literally be becasue she loves love and she loves Goten and she loves that he has a best friend and that they love each other and maybe she thinks that trunks is cute becasue hes so polite around her. Or maybe she thinks he looks sad and she wants to do something about it. But she has also been shown to enjoy badboys against her better judgement. Just remembered that. Wonder if we could work that in somehow

I don't member what movies I've seen or haven't seen but I'll keep that in mind chief. It's a beauotufl world ...

END POST

[inaris-mage-of-storms]

i had a truly insanely long ramble in the tags of your post about scott and jimmys deal that tumblr NERFED but the tldr is, scott if historically incredibly loyal to his true deals/alliances unless they’re very clearly broken (nosey neighbours) and as long as jimmy doesn’t directly kill him i think we’re gonna get that scene :)

And no matter what we will all collectively go mad from it, and i might just walk into a forest and never return if scott is the sacrifice that breaks jimmys curse!

Oh my god yes!!! Scott has some incredible survival instincts, but he's so loyal. Once he picks a person, that's his person and he will do just about anything for them and it makes me insane I have so many feelings about loyalty 😭

If Scott is the one to break Jimmy's curse I will be right there in the forest with you OTL And I will only return once I've stopped screaming and come back to write all the fanfiction.

[shukuchi-stew]

Phil Dunster is hot in a pretty way and a handsome way and in an adorable way?!? I'm not even that into guys but I can't stop looking at him

IK it's fucked up man, ugghghghghgh still lamenting that his jamie accent is fake, well i guess god had nerf him a lil cuz if he really was like jamie tartt irl that would truly be hell on earth

[deus-ex-mona]

good evening~~ here’s my very cursed(!!!) top 10 list on the most redundant [redacted] anime features off the top of my head~~

debates and disagreements welcome~

10- lxl and basketball

pointless inclusion that was pretty much just an excuse to get chiz to openly thirst over aizo. and to emphasise on just how much better aizo is at sports as compared to his poor sidekick yujiro. just male leads being male leads, ig

i mean, sure, it gave us that beautiful ball e mv, but lxl’s sporty [redacted] anime-induced hobby wasn’t worth much in general.

9- the inclusion of ⅘ of gen 2 tbh

they were pretty much just background extras for the most part, except for ken, who gets bonus moments thanks to being the male lead’s brother. heck, poor kodai doesn’t get much time to shine, despite being the adoring bf of one of the three heroines of the show. mans got more screentime either behind his camera, or as juri love flashbacks during her conversations with the jk trio.

as for the others, arisa got like 5 seconds of screentime (and 4 of them occurred in the sports fest ep, romeo ed included), and kotahina were nerfed to heck and back. they were written to be competitive and stubborn characters, so why were they portrayed to be nothing more than your average caring senpai towards hiyoko? a nd cultural festival w h e r e ? helloooooooooo~~~?

sure, the sports fest ep did give gen 2 in general a chance to show their stuff, but it was clearly more of viewer fanservice for pre-[redacted] anime fans who know and love these characters for who they truly are.

8- aizo’s “trauma reveal”

idk about you, but hiyoko does not need to know about aizo’s trauma. i mean, yeah, i totally get where ken’s coming from. as a scumbag older sibling myself, i, too, get the urge to dump lots of info about my brother to complete strangers. but. it’s just that. hiyori… really didn’t need to go “oh thank god it wasn’t real trauma. now. how can i fix him?”.

she really didn’t need to say that mans. all forms of trauma are valid forms of trauma… if that makes sense. she can’t just decide that someone’s trauma “isn’t real trauma” and then go ahead and liken it to her dislike for squid. and that includes aizo’s trauma with ladies. not cool.

on the bright side, at least aizo’s local idol boo yujiro took his trauma seriously and stood by him even as their manager had a trauma minimising session with his brother. and speaking of yujiro…

7- that someya ‘scandal’

what the heck was that ep 4 someya scandal lmao. it’s never brought up again????? not even by koichiro and tamagoro in the later episodes??? do they even know that there was a scandal about them??? bruh. what was it even there for lol. the gayze???

i mean, yeah, he’s totally the shame of the someya family for going ahead to be the less popular member of a popular idol duo, with said idol-ling being something he had received the head of said someya family’s permission for. but he had debuted without his family’s name anyway so??? does it even matter???

it would’ve actually made sense if it had a call back in a later episode, with, like, the reveal that maybe chizuru or one of the 100000 aizo stans there apparently are had leaked yujiro’s last name online in an attempt to take him down so that aizo can have a solo idol career or something. but no. it’s just never brought up again.

but before we drop the topic of yujiro like how his in-universe popularity dropped to 0 in the adaptations…

6- yujiro arrest reason

this. made. no. sense. either.

did the [redacted] anime throw darts at a dartboard of possible plot ideas to decide how the someya family side plot was going to go?? or was it decided with an online prompt generator?? or was it the result of a game of mad libs with the office crew????

like? lol? who smuggled koichiro into the bar??? and wh o let baby face yujiro into the bar??? and how did none of the staff at the bar question it?

though. wait. how the heck did hiyoko even see enough distinctive features of yujiro’s during the night that she witnessed his police encounter to identify him when they next crossed paths in the classroom? she was looking at him from above from her spot on a flight of stairs in dim lighting. just how good is her eyesight? hello?

5- repurposed yumefan

yeah yeah i k n o w the [redacted] anime staff justified their choice to use yumefan as a song to encourage hiyoko bc “it’s a song about encouraging others” and stuff. but still. yappa saikyou would probably have worked too, since it’s about not wanting to lose to your rivals and aiming to surpass the rest and stuff like that. or they could’ve just. y’know. kept nonfan in their setlist anyway if they wanted to dedicate a song to their friend(?) slash manager, since that song’s mv was the first mv that hiyoko had worked on, and thus, ✨memories✨ are there, y’know?

either way, the [redacted] anime staff saw yumefan, decided “ok it’s for women now” and had it dedicated to hiyoko and got the narumi sisters to cover it as a special ed. much wow. aizo would be proud. and speaking of aizo…

4- yuko in the countdown live

she moved to france in the lxl movie, so what is she doing here in the first place? to watch her estranged son hxld hxnds with some rando onstage? go back to france, yuko.

3- nagisa arc

the main problem i have with nagisa’s arc is how forced it felt tbh. it kinda felt like it was just. shoehorned into the plot? it just. didn’t flow well. like… especially how nagisa was completely written out of the plot after he hopped on that train. lxl had been teasing hiyoko relentlessly about nagisa till he left. then it was just like. he never existed?? excuse???

i mean. i love nagihiyo. don’t get me wrong. it’s just… the way the [redacted] anime staff plotted it into the story felt… off.

look, you see, i think the nagisa plot would’ve worked better as a season closer. like, after all that friendship drama and scandals and stuff, we get a breather in the form of the nagisa visit. he could be visiting for the countdown live, or for a christmas or new year’s visit for all i care, but it’d give the lxl + hiyoko trio, with newly strengthened bonds of friendship after all they’ve been through (thanks chiz), a chance to show off their cooperative skills with the hiyoko makeover sequence and subsequent nagisa encounter. heck, it’d even give nagisa another reason to be wary of lxl, since “aren’t these the dudes from that relationship scandal you were in? you should be more careful around them fr” could be a legit point of concern. plus! it could lead into a post-series uni timeskip or something for that sweet, sweet nagihiyo uni arc crumbs!!

hmmm. well. in the end, i still hate how nagisa’s existence was all but retconned after his episodes. poor lad. he deserves better!!! and speaking of deserving better…

2- the narumi sisters’ appearance

for sena, as she has co-starred with lxl in the past, and since she is still in the industry, it’s no surprise that she’d make an appearance or two. however, the r e a l problem is how she was handled. she was only abruptly thrown into ep 6 to fit in yet another “uwu woe is me im not cute uwu” hiyoko moment in the 24 minutes of terror. plus, those sena-mona moments make no sense whatsoever if you’re a [redacted] anime-only who doesn’t know how lxl and the narumis know each other. viewer fanservice at its finest, ig.

now. mona.

#notmymona

w h o is that girl and why does she have our angel’s name and face? i swear, the only redeeming trait she has is that her character design was done by moge, which is. yeah, much cuter than her lxl movie cameo appearance.

but aside from that. who is she? she has no goals, no ambition, all she does is go “uwu i look up to my sister who i envy… but nvm i’m here to be your relationship therapist so that’s enough about me—”

she doesn’t even get to perform in the [redacted] anime even though there was an entire joint-artiste concert in the last episode. she doesn’t even salt about her nasty encounter with yujiro (which would’ve made for a more interesting topic during her second encounter with hiyoko when they talked about conflicts with friends, instead of being demoted to a bonus manga tbh). she’s so bland, she makes plain spaghetti taste like carbonara.

and speaking of carbonara, we return to lxl for number one, which is…

1- the lxl shower scene (no image bc g o o d l a w d w h y w o u ld i include it)

they are 15. we don’t need that extended shower scene. we don’t need to know that hiyoko has no qualms about barging into the showers for the opposite gender, with said members of the opposite gender being completely nude and uncomfortable when she did so. we just. didn’t need to see any of that.

who was that scene even made for? help???? just how bad did they think their own show was that they felt the need to put in an out of place scene of teen boys showering to pad the runtime?? excuse???

[sadfruittheatre-rp]

Ogma wasn't really in great need of a full-on apprentice at the moment. She and her fellow gods had been running things quite smoothly. However, after the... unfortunate mishap with her previous attendant (probably something vaguely silly that I'll never fully elaborate on lmao), she was certainly in need of one of those. However, there was word on Kaishin of a young prodigy making waves with his incredible talent for ki and magic manipulation, and so she was curious.

Upon meeting Bragi, she could see a lot of herself in him, as someone who also worked her way into her own apprenticeship and eventual promotion to Supreme Kai at a fairly young age. And so, seeing that he seemed very polite and very eager to further his education, she gladly took him under her wing.

Things were going well, he learned his duties rather quickly, and so she started to expand the scope of what she would teach him, heavily considering making him her successor should something happen, but that was when the problems started. He started showing a very concerning level of disgust and mistrust toward mortals, and try as she might to show him a great number of positive examples of humanity's desire to do good, he was far more hung up on all the negatives. She mulled it over, consulted with her fellow gods, and decided that the only way he'd truly understand mortals was to actually get to know them.

She chose Conton as the place to send him because A) Chronoa would be there to keep at least somewhat of an eye on him, B) to knock his ego down a few pegs by showing him a less privileged universe and giving him a less "prestigous" job, and C) to really just expose him to a lot of diverse races and people at once. And so, she sealed his powers (i like to think she did the same sort of potential unleashed dance Old Kai did for Gohan but literally just backwards lol) and shipped him off to Conton.

They keep in touch via letter, and she's no longer quite as concerned about him, to the point where she actually un-nerfed his powers some time ago, able to trust that he won't Kai Kai back home the first chance he gets. Of course now he doesn't really want to go home, but he's way too scared to say anything and truly commit to that. She kind of has a feeling where his headspace is at though (she wasn't born yesterday and he's not exactly as subtle as he thinks). However, there are quite a few other things he hasn't told her about either... She can tell he's matured a quite bit since he first left, though, so she's just kind of watching to see how things play out.

Ultimately, Ogma is very aware that Bragi is just a child and needs a lot of room to express himself and kind of figure himself out, and as such, even if she finds a lot of his methods of self-expression somewhat confusing or embarrassing, she's a bit softer with him than she might be if he were older. Bragi is very aware that she's been incredibly patient with him, and the idea of letting her down in some form or another makes him feel really scummy. However, no matter what he decides to do, she sees a lot of potential in him and honestly just wants him to grow up to be a nice, well-rounded young man. She's kind of a secret bonus mom, even if neither of them would identify their relationship like that lmao

[vespertin-y]

more liveblogging YIPPEE!! this time it’s the first half of ch1′s daily life.

-”monokuma will never directly commit a murder” bro don’t you threaten to kill all of them like two days from now??

-himiko’s vibrating sprite 😭 she is my spirit animal truly

-oh, shuichi and rantaro’s dynamic is GREAT. shuichi pulls kaede aside to ask if she thinks an ultimate talent is “really something you can forget” and iirc rantaro says he thinks shuichi is the most suspicious person in his FTEs - they both clearly suspect the other of being the ringleader and it’s fantastic. especially since their shared fondness for kaede makes them interact more than they’d probably like.

-we meet again, manhole gonta cg, we meet again. you have not gotten any prettier.

-kokichi’s first instinct when faced with a big hollow place is to yodel, and honestly same. echos r fun okay!!

-rantaro gets so much snarkier upon rewatch - you realize how much of his dialogue is just taking the piss. him saying “oh, how considerate” when they find the exit sign still makes me giggle.

-kaito thinking kaede is the COOLEST WOMAN ON EARTH and kaede thinking he’s sooo lame is such an underrated dynamic. “gimme a hug!” “no 💖” lives in my head rent free.

-kokichi’s speech after the death road of despair is what made me sit up and take interest in him and in kaede as characters and it still holds up so good hpsuhag,,,,i don’t have a ton of bigbrain thoughts about it but please know i am thinking about high empathy/low compassion kokichi and low empathy/high compassion kaede every single day. autistic queens.

-kokichi literally just says they need to find another way out and rantaro’s immediately like “murder?? you want to do a murder, you little gremlin????” then tenko freaks out, kokichi tells her to chill, and she threatens to smash his head into the ground!? it seems to me that the writers had a set dynamic between kokichi and the rest of the group, but forgot that by this point in the story they haven’t written anything to justify it - even with rantaro’s paranoia and tenko’s anger issues, this is excessive. HILARIOUSLY, this makes the scene read as his fucking jonker origin story. tenko, you fool, you should’ve taken the bubblegum...! look what you’ve gotten us all into...!

-the dorm rooms are INSANELY swanky. i’d want to live there, if not for the...everything else......

-them having tons of copies of the same outfit is so funny. tsumugi put her heart and soul into those costumes and you WILL wear them.

-that’s the end of day one! i’ll be keeping track of them, just so you all can understand how RIDICULOUS v3′s timeline is.

-i once saw someone point out that there was zero reason for maki not to take the first blood perk, and now that HAUNTS me. she would only be responsible for one death since there’s no class trial, and we know that ever after five chapters of ✨bonding✨ she’s still willing to murder all her “friends” in a petty revenge plot, and she’s supposed to be willing to do ANYTHING to keep her orphanage from going under. completely irrelevantly, did you know maki being an assassin was actually added later in development than kaede being the first killer?

-despite him definitely knowing that monokuma isn’t really dead, kokichi insists wholeheartedly that the killing game is “cancelled” - it’s one of his more obvious ploys imo. even if it can only delay deaths for a day or so, he’s willing to throw all his acting chops behind it.

-you know that meme that goes “god made me mentally ill to nerf me”? that’s shuichi. he’s a side character that becomes the protagonist. he has a plan to catch the mastermind in CHAPTER ONE. he is breaking the danganronpa formula so bad. tsumugi had to pump him full of depression or else he would have crushed her show like a nut on day one. the detective. he destroyed his narrative. yes. YES. the detective is out.

-KAEDE TOLD MIU TO SHUT THE HELL UP...u know it’s serious when u get *kaede* to curse omg

-”hey,do you think this door is connected to monokuma somehow?” “i think it might.” and here we get our first reminder that v3 was translated by character, not by scene. the translators mostly stuck to their individual character’s dialogue without much communication, and it leaves lots of little blips like this.

-and so day two ends!

-the way they just...take the wind right out of monokuma’s sails is so funny. he’s so excited for this yokai gimmick!! and then miu tells him to get hit by a second car, tsumugi complains that his outfit is bad, and korekiyo starts explaining the difference between ghosts and yokai in excruciating detail. monokuma’s one weakness: pretentious teenage nerds...!

-the additional time-limit motive doesn’t make sense to me when it’s been ONE DAY since he introduced the first one!? it feels like a last resort, something to be used after they refused to take the bait. fits much better with a more stretched-out timeline, where they were in the school for a month or so with no murder before monokuma snapped and told them to kill or else.

-rantaro questions if he can even trust himself because of his missing memories. of course WE know he’s not gonna get hajime’d, but it’s a reasonable fear!

-”that’s why i didn’t want to talk about this in front of everyone...if we told them now, they might all try to find the mastermind, and be led to murder. that’s why...i could only tell you, kaede.” oh, shuichi......(┬┬﹏┬┬) kaede just goes dead silent after this too, before changing the subject. she doesn’t have a murder plan yet - she can’t have one, not before they’ve gone to the warehouse - but she’s certainly Considering Options.

-there’s part one of daily life! like and subscribe, i’ll be posting the second half momentarily :]

[icharchivist]

aah that's fair that's fair! I'm glad you're feeling comfortable enough sharing it here though <3

I'm posting it like this so i can post the actual fic under a read more (else it'll be impossible to scroll by ahah) but thank you!!!

so i'm going through it and, indeed there's a few things that have been disproven since then, but there's no point in pointing them out as you're more than aware of those ahah. Yet it's really pretty nice! i do really get in the end this feeling of Lucilius trying to explain calmly and seriously his situation but somehow not realizing when he gets emotional on the side. I really like it.

and the line "Of course, they are both bastards, so that didn't work out." cracked me up really bad. And so did the line about Belial's sense of humor.

and that ending is actually perfect imo. The build up to Lucilius' anguish for this gutpunch by the end is just muah it's great. thank you for sharing it with us!!!! truly appreciating it, and i'm sure others will too ;D thank you!

[Onward is the fanfic Anon wrote]

So, we know that Lucilius and Beelzebub are clones of the Speakers, Sahar/Lucio and Shalem, made for the Astral World. For whatever reason, really. Probably has something to do with God splitting in two and one half going to the Astral World and one half staying in the Sky Realm. The why isn't that important, tbh, they're basically gods, they can do whatever the fuck they please.

But I imagine Lucio went "I don't want to burden my clone with all this power and responsibility that I hold. I want them to be able to live freely and find their own path in life. Not that predestined stuff". Shalem agreed and thusly nerfed her clone as well. That was the beginning of the end.

Because the Astral God was the creator half of Bahamut, their world is unchanging. Almost frozen in time. Astrals themselves pride themselves on not being subject to change, like those whimsical Skydwellers. So they lead long, long lives and remain static throughout. I still choose to believe that they start out as babies, because they look anatomically human and can canonically interbreed with humans. But mainly so we can picture baby Lucilius. Arguably the only one of the three to have ever been a baby. Lucifer popped into existence fully-grown and Lucio uh. Probably did, too. Admittedly, the idea of Bahamut raising two babies is adorable, but I'm getting sidetracked again.

So Lucilius and Beelzebub appeared as babies in the Astral world, cute and innocent. They were given to foster families and raised there. For bonus points, Beelzebub's family was slightly higher class, allowing him an easier start at life and to rise through the ranks in the Astral military more easily. Well, that, and because man's a walking wall of meat.

But growing up, Lucilius was haunted. Haunted by dreams of himself, with long, flowing hair, six feathered wings, cosmic powers at the tips of his fingers. But every time he saw himself in the mirror, all that looked back with bloodshot eyes was a scrawny little nobody. Short and weak. No wings, no powers to speak of and when he tried growing out his hair, it just looked weird. He was suffering almost some kind of dysphoria. Not to mention, Lucilius was defective. He required sustenance, needed to eat, which is unusual for Astrals. He was definitely picked on for this. Some mused that he was a Skydweller pedigree or that something was wrong with him. He definitely shoved a pencil up his head bully's nose for that.

That his parents weren't his birth parents wasn't a secret, anyone with working eyes could see as much, so they didn't bother hiding it from him. If nothing else, he appreciated the honesty. As Lucilius grew, he was less interested in figuring out his parentage and more how to bridge the gap between the him that he was and the radiant being he kept seeing in his dreams, but that he simply failed to grow into, no matter how much time had passed. He threw himself into his studies.

Beelzebub suffered similar dysphoria growing up, but it kind of mixed in with his actual dysphoria, so it was a bit less jarring. Let's assume that the Astrals aren't terribly transphobic and Bubs managed to transition in relative peace. With his refitted body, he was less haunted by the image of Shalem. He was himself now, Beelzebub. No comparisons necessary. The only thing he craved was ever more power.

Lucilius looked into evolution, in hopes of finding the fingerprints of God all over His creation. He wasn't terribly impressed by what he found.

When the Astrals invaded the Sky Realm, Lucilius wasn't initially terribly interested (Bubs on the other hand was all over that shit, waging wars on those poor Skydwellers in search of a challenge), but finally followed the siren song of his visions of Sahar. Perhaps this Realm held the answers to what he was looking for, after all.

He was a mere little research assistant, nobody paid him much heed, but that also meant that he was able to work in peace. After looking over the creatures inhabiting this fragile world, beings without the Power of Creation his people had been bestowed, creatures who would die, he became less impressed with the Omnipotent. Primal cores were something he fell into ass backwards, they were either an unintended side effect of an experiment of his, or something other Astrals had created, but didn't pay much attention to, since they didn't see the use.

Lucilius however decided to start researching those curious cores instead. He discovered that by inserting them into living beings, he could increase their strength and longevity. Assuming they survived the process, anyway. The rats usually did not, but larger creatures, such as dogs and cattle, had less issue incorporating the cores into their bodies. But still, perfect integration of tissue and core was difficult to achieve. Experiments with infant animals bore little fruit, as again, their bodies were too small. Thus, the idea of creating being with bodies specifically suited was born. In fact, if they were able to integrate cores perfectly, if they could utilize that power, perhaps he could recreate this figure that was always haunting him.

Lucilius got to work on creating the first primal beasts.

It took years and a lot of effort. Many crushed cores, many broken bodies, created with technology similar to the one that had helped Beelzebub transition to a form he found more suitable.

Lucilius' place was covered in bodies that all bore a more than uncanny resemblance to him, trying different combinations of different factors, but unwilling to budge on the amount of power that he wanted the core of his creation to hold. It had to be perfect. Most bodies, even if technically flawless, could not handle that amount of power. Lucilius had seen people bearing his face die more often than anyone reasonably should. It didn't even bother him anymore.

So consumed by his work was he, the council was beginning to think he'd gone mad. They sent Beelzebub to check on him, which was how those two idiots first met. To Lucilius' surprise, Beelzebub wasn't the big oaf he'd expected. In fact, he seemed very into the research he was doing with those cores, the goals he planned to achieve. Not to mention, a strange, almost familiar feeling of being near him. Like they were somehow meant to be friends and companions.

Of course, they are both bastards, so that didn't work out.

The finally, the day came where Lucilius' experiments were a success. Not just once, but twice, even.

The perfect clone, handsome, tall, white-winged and powerful, opened his sky blue eyes and Lucilius thought he was going to die. It was everything he ever wanted and more. He had created life, made right what had gone wrong with him. Truly, he was a god now and considering the power and beauty and immortality of what he had created, he was better than the old god had ever been. Perhaps he was a little bit mad after all.

And so absorbed was he in his triumph that it took him a few moments to recognize that the other one was starting to stir as well. The control group, so to speak, based on a different principle, created from a different mold. Really, more of an experiment of how far he could deviate from the formula and still succeed. He hadn't expected it to make it this far, much less for it to open its blood red eyes and look at him.

But, two was better than one, he figured, so instead of tossing the unwanted second one out, he named them Lucifer and Belial and presented them to the council, his head held high.

It felt good to see those self-righteous idiots overcome by awe for his genius. They appointed him their new head researcher and for a while, all was right with the world.

He ran that lab in Canaan and was free to do as he pleased. More research on primal cores had to be conducted, but also tests on the two creations that he had.

They were happy to play along. In between testing everything from their reflexes to their thought processes though, Lucilius found himself growing fond of them. Lucifer, of course, was his crowning achievement, but even Belial was still his work. The three of them spent a lot of time together, actually. It was a bit of a "we vs the rest of the world"-feeling that drove Lucilius, since he'd known them longer than all those phoney research assistants, who were either out to waste his time or steal his work. To Lucifer and Belial, he was, well, their creator. Almost like a father figure. They only really had him and each other, since they were the only ones of their kind and the only ones they could relate to. Belial and Lucifer were close then, like brothers. Despite his poor patience, Lucilius did his best to train them in combat, teach them about the world. It helped that they were both intelligent and quick learners. Every time they did something right, his expression brightened, because they surpassed his expectations and filled him with pride. Especially Belial seemed to really like it when Lucilius smiled, because he tried harder and harder to surpass his expectations. To surpass Lucifer. Despite being designed to be weaker than the other, because Lucifer had to be the strongest and most powerful, obviously, Belial pushed himself to keep up with him. All for Lucilius. Back then, even if he noticed, he didn't much care for the why. Only that the results made him look better.

But even the good times couldn't last forever and once the council determined that they knew enough about those existing primals, they wanted more. Hand the unwanted tasks of overseeing the Sky Realm off to them, leave the Astrals more time to do Astral things. So Lucifer was given a fancy new role and title, and Belial, as his adjutant. The two's relationship was never the same. The happy family time was over. But Lucifer would spend his entire life thinking back to those days, yearning for them.

Unfortunately, it turned out that mass producing more primals, angels to bolster the ranks and fulfill all sorts of purposes, didn't make Lucilius happy. With time, he grew bitter and paranoid. So he was a god now, a creator of powerful beings, but he still had to kowtow to the whims of the council and their dumb ideas. They were idiots.

And while he took pride in Lucifer, that still didn't solve the problem of himself being defective and weak. He still needed to eat and while at least no one would dare mock him for it anymore, it irritated him beyond reason. What was the point to being a creator of perfect beings if you yourself are still so woefully flawed?

That's when it occurred to him that perhaps it would be best if all should come to an end.

He embezzled funds for his research and used cores that hadn't survived previous experiments, mushed them all together and finally created Avatar, the beast that could shake the world to its core. Surely if there were a God, He would have to stop him now, right? And the second He showed His face, Lucilius would be able to take a good look at it and tell Him how much He sucked. How awful He was for creating all these flawed beings and leaving them to fend for themselves in this imperfect world.

Truly, deep down Lucilius was just a petulant child, acting out because he wanted attention from his parents. But his parents were God and God had left this world. So his tantrums were left unanswered. Lucilius grew more and more frustrated with time.

His adjustant caught wind of his plans and threatened to inform the council. He tried to blackmail Lucilius - him, who had given life to gods. It was in his darkest hour that he remembered his other darkest creation and sicced Belial on the poor fool. The primal was beyond happy to be of use to his master. He also had no issues with murder. Quite the opposite. Lucilius remembered that if nobody else, he could trust his creations. They wouldn't betray him. Well, Lucifer, as appointed steward of evolution, might grow beyond his purpose and turn on him yet, but he had Belial. Belial, who wasn't meant to change. A perfect, immutable being with perfect, immutable loyalty.

So Belial was transferred from working under Lucifer to working under Lucilius. Lucifer was sad to see him go, but Belial had never been more ecstatic in his life.

Together they furthered the research into Avatar, spending many a sleepless night slaving over their work. If a primal caught wind of what they were doing, Lucilius had ways of making them disappear and incorporating their cores into his newest creation. He turned a blind eye to Beelzebub helping himself to primal cores that were as of yet unused, if only to see how that would turn out. Who was he to turn away a willing test subject?

As a contigency plan, Belial's tolerance to the Avatar core was increased. This included fitting him with new wings. Gone were the fluffy purple feathers, replaced by the same bat-like wings Avatar bore. Besides, they allowed him to glide soundlessly through the night. The process must have been excruciatingly painful, seeing how an angel's powers are stored within their wings, but Belial never complained.

The council decided that the Supreme Primarch should have a replacement, a precaution, if nothing else. And while Lucilius was offended at the notion that his perfect creation could ever be killed, by this point, creating primals was easy. Lucifer found out about this and begged and pleaded to be a part of the creation process, so Lucilius left the design process to him. When Sandalphon came into this world, Lucilius wasn't impressed. The dark hair and red eyes on the primal he could understand. It was quite obvious that Lucifer was nostalgic for the days when it had just been the three of them, or even just working so closely with the being who had shared his cradle. But seeing Sandalphon's short stature reminded Lucilius of his own shortcomings. Perhaps it was out of spite then that he refused to tell Sandalphon his purpose, to make him a target for the mockery of his peers, have his own insecurities gnaw at him. Like the God he despised, Lucilius had bestowed his own fate upon his creation. But while Lucilius had been allowed to rise above his station, Sandalphon was to stay in a garden, safely tucked away, always waiting for Lucifer to have time to spare to spend with him.

Another not-so ideal creation was Sariel, the Archangel of Execution, prepared for the purpose of cleaning up messes. He turned out far too sensitive for the task and attempts at lowering his emotional responses through limiters only hampered his intelligence instead. Like all his failures, looking at Sariel made Lucilius sick to his stomach. It was Belial who saved his fellow primal from either the incinerator or joining the ever-growing horror that was Avatar, suggesting that Sariel's naivety made him a useful pawn.

Things were going well for a while then. The council was far too occupied with their decadence to pay attention to what was going on right under their noses. Beelzebub was too blinded by his hatred for the primals in general and Lucifer especially to pay attention to anything. What a shame. Lucilius had had such high hopes for him.

Belial recruited more and more primals for him, those who were struck with ennui at the prospect of spending their immortal lives in servitude, or those who were still loyal to their creator. Though, he also flat-out lied to a bunch to get them to join him. And even Belial didn't fully know that he was leading this congregation to their slaughter like a flock of lambs. It didn't matter to Lucilius. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing but ending this hellish, imperfect life.

They called themselves the fallen angels, because Belial had developed a weird sense of humor Lucilius didn't remember programming him with.

Finally, the day arrived. The promised day, one that would put an end to all of creation. His fallen angels attacked the Astral and Primal forces. It was a massacre. People dropped dead left and right. Their blood covered what felt like all of Canaan, painted the buildings, the sky itself. It didn't matter. Everything was going to end here.

Lucilius had hoped for death for the longest time, at least somewhere deep down, but he hadn't expected to meet it at the hands of his perfect creation. And even in the face of total annihilation, Lucifer looked conflicted to have to slay his creator, his father, the man who had given him life and purpose. When his head was severed from his neck, Lucilius couldn't help but smile. Perhaps Lucifer wasn't as perfect as he had always thought. But at least he was still powerful and radiant. Just as Lucilius never could be.

He died that day and it was fine. It may have even been a relief. Lucilius was saved. Finally at peace.

Until he opened his eyes again, 2000 years later.

[deadsince1973]

Nobody asked me, but 3 points:

1. I've made a post about this before, but: I agree that Xingzhi's behavior is baffling the first time you watch the show. One of my biggest complaints with the show is that his obligations as an Ancient God aren't made clear to the audience until almost halfway through the drama, so we spend a lot of time watching him seeming to play with Shen Li's emotions. I think it's easy to forget that after you finish the drama, because by then it all makes sense and feels satisfying, but those early episodes did feel at times confusing and frustrating.

2. Not once did I ever think that the above was due to poor acting though. The acting truly was stellar throughout, and not just from the main cast, but from EVERYONE. I would go so far as to say that this show had some of the best performances I've ever seen in a C-drama.

3. Some people were confused why Xingzhi was so weak, but I was confused at times about why he seemed to be so strong when he'd been nerfed so bad by his injury. I don't think it's going too far to say that his power level was at least unclear, if not modified to be whatever the narrative needed it to be.

All that being said, I would add that I am notoriously bad at following stories in visual media, and yet I found The Legend of Shen Li extraordinarily easy to follow. It's surprising that so many people found it such a challenge! :O

The Unflappable and Enigmatic Divine Lord Xingzhi

I tried rewatching key episodes of TLOS on Viki with the running commentaries enabled and I was shocked to find a lot of foolish comments from a good number of viewers.

Many revolved around Xingzhi, who some perceived was a weak, useless character who only came in when the battle was over. They couldn’t understand why he refused to intervene in so many key events involving the three realms. In particular, they’re peeved that he doesn’t always come to Shen Li’s aid, especially when Shen Li and Fu Sheng engaged in that epic battle that almost cost Shen Li her life. They felt that if he had intervened, Fu Sheng would have been soundly defeated immediately and Shen Li wouldn’t have had to suffer nearly fatal injuries.

They can’t understand why he’s so emotionless and bland in his expressions and moves so leisurely, even in moments when the three realms seem to be falling all over his ears. They can’t grasp why he doesn’t swoop down to save the day every time there is a problem in any of the realms under his care, which is how they believe gods should act.

And they are puzzled over his behavior towards Shen Li. He sends mixed signals, one moment caring and concerned, another moment cold and indifferent.

It sometimes comes to a point when these viewers think it’s all because of Lin Gengxin’s lack of skills in acting, which, to me, couldn’t be further from the truth.

What these viewers fail to realize or perhaps miss out altogether is the context of what an ancient god is supposed to be and how he’s supposed to relate to the lesser beings who depend on his providence and benevolence.

As an ancient god tasked with making sure that all the three realms are kept in perfect balance, Xingzhi cannot use his divine power to unduly give advantage to one realm over the other, much less give marked preference to one individual over all of the other beings, be they mortal, demon or immortal.

As for his emotions, he doesn’t lack them at all. As with all other ancient gods, he feels all of the emotions that lesser beings have. The difference lies in his willpower. Ancient Gods like Xingzhi are at the highest level of the hierarchy because their level of cultivation and enlightenment is such that they have supreme self-control. They don’t allow their emotions to drive their actions. They always let their minds prevail. It’s a conscious effort for lesser beings but one that ancient gods have mastered to the extent that it has become instinctive to them to do so.

Shen Li understood this perfectly in that scene when Xingzhi came between her and the fiery balls that were falling all over the immortal realm ad almost destroyed the Western Garden where Xingzhi stays, near the portal to his Heavenly Domain. It took all of her powers to counter the attack, to the point that her fiery phoenix form had manifested itself. Yet when she was already weakened and failed to react in time to a gigantic fireball going directly at her, she saw a shield made of white energy protect her from the fireball. And then Xingzhi materialized in front of her, literally in the blink of an eye, and with an almost casual wave of his hand, hurled back all of the fireballs and dissipating them all.

It was then that she realized why her adopted mother and master, Demon Lord Shen Muyue, and the Immortal Lord, Tian Jun, as well as most of the beings in the three realms, warned her that it wasn’t a good idea to provoke Xingzhi’s emotions and desires. Gods are so immensely powerful and their divine essence so connected to the realms, that any slight disturbance in them can cause an imbalance in the three realms.

What’s worse is that if these divinge emotions drive the god’s actions, like what Xingzhi was starting to do because of her, it can be fatal to all other beings. This was proven when Xingzhi practically went berserk when she fell into the East Sea. He channeled all the powers of the heavens and even defied the immense powers of natural law, resulting the demise of many sea creatures. It wouldn’t be too farfetched to say that many mortals probably lost their livelihood because all the fish in the sea had died.

Another thing these viewers failed to grasp is why Xingzhi was thrashed by Fenglai when he’s supposed to be the most powerful being in the universe. Also, why was he dying slowly in Shen Li’s arms after he connected the Xutian Abyss to the Sky Above Heaven.

To answer the first part, he was already severely weakened. The injury that he suffered was dealt by the powers of natural law, the only power capable of fatally injuring an ancient god. Between trying to contain the abyss and blocking Fenglai’s fiery attack, even as he had already spent much of his power rebuilding the Sky Above Heaven, Xingzhi was near the lowest point of his power, though still very powerful compared to other beings.

For the second, his divine life is tied to the Sky Above Heaven. He knew that the only way to totally destroy the Xutian Abyss without harming the other realms is to link the seals to his own source of power: his heavenly domain. But he also knew that it would mean his own demise. Essentially, what I think Xingzhi did was to make himself the ultimate seal upon the five elemental seals. Very effective but very fatal for him.

It destroyed the abyss, but also destroyed the Sky Above Heaven, and finally brought the age of the ancient gods to an end.

It was a long drawn out and painful death for him because of the sheer power that was involved in the destruction that he had to cause to save the realms.

Another key element these viewers miss out on is the recurring theme of fate coupled with the free will of all the beings. Xingzhi as a god is actually fully aware of the fate of Shen Li, but he cannot divulge all his knowledge to her because it can adversely influence her actions and the way she will live her life. He has known from the start who and what she is, and I think he also knew how critical she would be to his own life. He also knows her power and abilities as the Phoenix and Lord of the Azure Sky and he respects that. Hence, he doesn’t fight her battles for her, nor does he insist in always interfering in the way she lived her life. Shen Li has free will and he respects that. God though he may be, but he can’t force any of the beings in any of the realms to live their lives the way he thinks they should be lived, even if this leads to their own destruction.

Many times, I don’t know if some of the viewers even pay attention to the story or, even more, to the story that not’s being said. I guess many of them - though not all - just watch for the eye candy. I feel so sad for them because they’re missing out on so much.

TLOs is such a beautiful tale and acted out perfectly by the actors. Too bad they only choose to look at the surface