#i’ll think on that some more. main antagonist ..???

[hershelwidget]

I drew something for TBoCI for the first time in what feels like forever even though it’s only been a month

Something something AU where instead of sending each kid to the Magical Islands FT keeps all them with him and Perry as well so they ALL end up on Cold Island pre-collapse… Alternatively here’s four canon characters and two fanmade characters, guess whos who (all of that was sarcasm)

In other words I decided I will starting this over from the ground-up. It’s been over a year and my motivation is finally, FINALLY back. I will be keeping all of the current stuff on @theballadofcoldisland but that ask blog is officially shut down and is now just an archive.

Instead of being one long and strange story that only focuses on characters that honestly have nothing to do with the title, I will split TBoCI into several smaller stories that give a MUCH better insight on the motivations, groups, and the like. I will inevitably share the original files, drafts, and ideas.

This is the part where I get somewhat emotional and sincere apologies in advance to plushii, who I might mention in there. All good things, my friend. All good things.

I think this is the best course of action. There are a lot of characters in this story that despite being incredibly important, are not addressed properly or not at all until the last chapter that only exists in my notes. I mean… A massive amount of this story has only been discussed in a discord chat with a person I cannot contact anymore. It’s a massive mess of an idea that sounds stupider everytime I think of it.

And then a long while ago now, I was on Pony Town and talking to a friend I has just made. I distinctly remember they were in a Celestial skin. I think at some point they’d asked what “TBoCI” meant in my name, and I explained my story to them. They said they were writing a fanstory for MSM as well. I encouraged them to post it.

Now I daily see wonderful, wonderful content for that story, both from the creator and the fans. I finally understood what I did wrong. TBoCI was incoherent and messy where Fallen Stars was clean and consistent. I had so much in my mind that I had spilled it all out to One Person, and now there exists only two people in the world who know who the hell Kane is (possibly only one person now)!

What I’m trying to say is, in short, thanks @plushii-gutz . There’s a few factors to me being able to write TBoCI again, but you’re definitely the biggest part of that. Our encounter was a blessing.

And to everyone, please look forward to a much smoother ride. This is a fun one.

[twinkkisserrr]

One thing I love about Armored Core is that it kinda consistently has you massacre characters who should be the protagonist. Because no matter how special you are, some rookie be it through sheer luck or through hellish undertakings one after the other, is gonna wind up beating you.

A lot of games have special people… That you inevitably kill, as some random ass mercenary. Sometimes you too are special, Masters of the Arena had their family killed by Nine Ball, damn if that ain’t an origin story, IDK what else is… Oh wait, now who you played as is the final boss in the sequel… And you just killed him…

I’m not going to pretend I know everything of the series. So I’ll go over the last 2 ish gens for the cases I know well by heart:

- Rusty (AC6): An experienced AC pilot with his own theme song, iconic mech and has a rich story with many other characters in the verse and is himself a turncoat agent waiting for the right moment to turn on Arquebus and help free Rubicon. In the Fires of Raven route, he goes against you, a new mech, his wolf emblem unmuzzled with its fangs bared and he’s coming at you with everything he has, even getting a second wind when all his repair kits are exhausted. You still kill him in the end, even when you play the role as an antagonistic extremist.

- Magnolia Curtis (ACVD): Descendent of Fran Curtis (AC5’s main operator) following the legend of the Dark Raven (AC5’s player character) and quite possibly their descendent too. Doubly whammied, first she’s crippled and loses the ability to fight after being defeated by Reaper Squad Leader, J, after many years of being undefeated. Then, turned into a digital consciousness, literally sacrificing her soul so she can fight again, a very familiar second wind occurring even with her AC’s arm blasted off and in critical condition… You still defeat her.

- J (ACVD): A soldier bred for war, very likely from genetic material from either Joshua O’Brien or Anatolia’s Mercenary (AC4’s player character), he’s even given an all powerful NEXT in the final battle where he (very edgily) states he is made solely for the purpose of warfare. And yet he falls to a lone mercenary.

- RD (AC5): Not much explicit to talk about here other than theoryboarding, RD is implied to have some degree of Lynx pilot in him as there’s suggestions his paranoia is related to AMS capability and furthermore his last name a callback to the “Dominant Theory” in Last Raven, even the AI Chief thinks he has genius talent and potential. He’s the classic case of cowardly young man who has a lot more strength than he realizes… But in the end, in the height of his ego and embracing of his special nature, the player’s character fells him one on one.

All these special characters with blessed genes, great potential or borderline main protagonist built stories are gunned down by an up and coming merc for whatever motives your player character has, your un special player character who often starts the game in a mass produced mech composed of scraps that claws there way to victory.

Unfortunately, being special does not equate to being invincible.

[bnhaobservation]

How much to me does AFO’s writing not make sense?

This was created due to an ask I received which is basically the title of the post. Originally I just meant to answer the ask but as this got too long I decided to make a post just for it. I hope it’s okay.

It feels bad to say so but the problem with AFO (and Yoichi) is that their writing mostly doesn’t make sense, it feels as if the author continues ask for suspension of disbelief, retcon himself or tell us things he doesn’t show in the story. All this for the purpose of a plot that wasn’t planned in advance but that he just seems to improvise and to create supposedly saint/martyr Yoichi and an evil monster AFO that he’ll pointlessly destroy at the last minute to claim he’s not a monster but a lonely man.

In case someone missed the hint this is going to be a very critical post, so if you don’t feel like reading further the back button is your best friend.

Now... I’ll list all that doesn’t work for me.

Mind you, if it were fewer things I would have probably been fine with retcons, suspension of disbelief, things told and not shown and so on because in a manga you are often supposed to give the author a bit of all of the above. Maybe, if I tried HARD, I could make sense of some of the following things.

I’m also not checking the Japanese text to see if something is unclear due to mistranslation and, as this post is LONG, I won’t dig into details too much. Plus, AFO isn’t what I usually focus about so I might have missed something that, eventually, the text explained somewhere.

My problem with AFO is it’s just TOO MUCH that feels like not making sense that I lose interest in him. It breaks my suspension of disbelief, it makes me think it’s not worth the effort because… it’s random Quirk magic and retcons and what else and everything goes and I should repeat the MST3K Mantra (some details in the story don’t need to make sense because they ultimately don’t matter) but here we aren’t talking of ‘some details’, we’re talking of world-building and a main antagonist backstory and a main antagonist action and characterization. As I said, it’s just TOO MUCH.

Now, before we start let me explain what I mean about ‘random Quirk magic’.

Quirks don’t exist so, of course, it’s up to Horikoshi to make them up and also make up the rules for how they work and so far so good. Only, through the story, not only he makes up some really unbelievable Quirks that defy the rules of the world and therefore challenge our suspension of disbelief (Iida runs fast because HE HAS ENJINES IN HIS LEGS? Mechanical parts? What the fire Quirk users burn to make fire? Without fuel a fire won’t burn!), but he also makes up the rules at random, retconning them or adding them in a way that suit the plot to solve a problem he created previously or to surprise the audience. It’s the problem of Recovery Girl’s Quirk which first heals Midoriya in a second without a care for how he’s low on stamina or how his bones needs to be set and without leaving scars behind and then it gets all those new rules because the author doesn’t want healing to come so cheap. It’s the case of OFA who gives Midoriya access to the Quirks of the previous owners but didn’t do so for All Might. It’s the case of Shinsou’s Quirk which couldn’t make people talk but then it could (because Shinsou trained). It’s the case of Shigaraki’s Quirk that normally turns people to dust but somehow didn’t manage to affect his family’s hands. It’s the case of Eri whose horn inflates and deflates when the plot says so and works even if there’s no owner telling it to heal. And it’s the case of so many other instances.

The fact that new rules are added, usually AFTER a problem arises, makes impossible predict where the story will go because rules are changed along the way so that Quirks can do things they previously couldn’t do… but this ends up feeling often a plot contrivance more than an exciting surprise, it feels unnatural, it breaks the suspension of disbelief and ends up destroying the sakes of the story. In short it’s not that the author can’t add new rules… it’s just it causes more damage than good to the plot. It’s not a problem that regards just AFO (you might notice how he’s absent in the examples I mentioned above), this is a story problem but, as AFO is a victim of this as well, I thought worth to explain it.

I want to be clear, ‘Random Quirk magic’ doesn’t have to make sense because Quirks are fictional so we already know it’s going to feel absurd and that something we’ve to accept as basis of the story and therefore we should suspend our disbelief… the problem is that when things go too overboard even suspending our disbelief on something we already knew from the start was fictional becomes hard.

This isn’t a surreal manga where everything goes, we need to feel the story has some realistic basis even in its fictional elements, that it respects some laws… and the story doesn’t and that’s a flaw in writing, one that some readers might be willing to give a pass to due to the rule of cool and that others might not. It’s very personal.

AS FAR AS I’M INVOLVED, in many circumstances Horikoshi manages to break my suspension of disbelief because it goes too overboard. For others it might be fine. Just keep this in mind when you’ll hear me talk about ‘random Quirk magic’.

So let’s start by splitting it in parts.

PART 1: THE WORLDBUILDING

So right from the start we were told:

the first person who manifested a Quirk was the Luminescent baby born in China

that a person would normally manifest their Quirk if not at birth like the Luminescent baby, at least by the age of 4.

that in the early days of the paranormal they figured out that if someone is without a joint in the pinky toe, he’s someone with a Quirk

Lastly, the Quirk one would get is either inherited by one of their parents or a combination of both. [Chap. 1]

Why this choice?

The Luminescent baby is a good choice to make immediately obvious someone is born different without, at the same time, going overboard with how different that new baby is (I mean, he’s just luminescent, which is clearly not normal but not scary, yet he doesn’t have a fish head so that his look would scare people).

The age of 4 limit is to explain why Midoriya’s mother worried about him not having developed a Quirk while Midoriya is at preschool.

The toe thing is to make definitive the fact Midoriya is Quirkless.

The inheritance makes logical sense and will become important in the Todoroki plotline but I’m not sure if Horikoshi had planned the Todoroki plotline yet at this point. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe he has only planned Shouto (prototype Shouto was different from what we got).

ALL THIS WILL BE DISMANTLED/IGNORED IN FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS COURTESY OF THE SHIGARAKI TWINS.

The Luminescent Baby isn’t the first person with a Quirk, two years before his birth the Shigaraki twins’ mother, in Japan, manifested a Quirk. One year before the Luminescent Baby the Shigaraki twins were born and AFO immediately manifested his Quirk. [Chap. 407]

Why this change? AFO had to steal his mother’s Quirk so she needed to have one and he needed to be born first so he could complain the glowing baby was nothing special for just having been the first to be recorded.

Logically this should imply that other people started manifesting a Quirk when the Shigaraki Twins’ mother did and that they somehow were all so tame they didn’t make it to the news (which is less believable, really, I mean, among the people shown first showing Quirks there’s one whose body got on fire! but whatever).

Quirks don’t need to manifest by the time one reaches 4 years for things to be normal. After the Luminescent Baby was born they started to manifest in people going through puberty, not after birth, not before 4 years, something Quirk expert Garaki seemed to be unaware of even though he basically lived through those times. [Chap. 407]

Too bad the Shigaraki Twins’ mother didn’t seem that young but much older, but let’s assume it was due to the life she was doing.

As the cause that gave birth to Quirks is unexplained we can’t even say if those people were born with a Quirk and people didn’t notice because they didn’t manifest it, or going through puberty caused them to mutate.

Why the change? Because when people starts hunting people with Quirks the Shigaraki twins are still children (and if) and Horikoshi didn’t want to show the good people of Japan chasing after kids just because they’ve paranormal abilities... and also because the Shigaraki twins’ mom needed to have a Quirk that appear all of sudden.

The lack of joint in the pick toe? Unimportant in the story. AFO won’t check if his sibling doesn’t have it to see if he has a Quirk or not, at least not AFTER he gave him a Quirk thinking he had none. Considering AFO is mega powerful by the time he gives Yoichi a Quirk, he might have just asked a doctor if Yoichi was Quirkless, especially since Quirks could manifest later in life but no. Yoichi never showed signs he had a Quirk so he must not have it, let’s give him another. Who cares if it might fry his brain should he actually have a Quirk? [Chap. 59]

Quirk inherited from the parents? AFO and Yoichi’s Quirks were clearly not inherited by their mother and I’ve hard time thinking they were inherited by their father as their Quirks seems to be unique. [Chap. 407]

Really, giving the mom a Quirk that’s completely different from them is a bad idea. They should have been born with a Quirk by Quirkless parents and this should have been it... or their mom should have had the same Quirk.

We don’t need for the Shigaraki twins’ Quirks to be a mutation right at the start of things.

(Credits when it’s due, Inko too doesn’t grow confused when her son manifest a Quirk completely different from her or her husband but, I guess, we can make the argument that the joy for her son having a Quirk overwhelmed her so that she might have thought it was a mutation but didn’t care and we know that Quirk wasn’t one her son was born with... but well, no one seems to really pay attention to how odd Midoriya’s Quirk is.)

To sum it up, the Shigaraki Twins have destroyed the world building established in chap. 1. Of course Chap. 1 could have misleading, it completely hid that things weren’t all sunshine and rainbows from the start or better said due to Quirks there was chaos but didn’t clearly explain there were manhunts and discrimination for people with Quirks, it seemed only to imply that Villains emerged.

However it’s not that the text can’t be vague to the point of misleading when it makes sense for it to be (hiding the dark past of Quirk society made sense, same as having Garaki claiming Quirk owners are a new step of human evolution only to discover that in the past they speculate those with Quirk were a sub-branch of humans because now the population normally has a Quirk and they want to see themselves as the better product), it’s when it just rewrites itself at random because plot exigencies changes that things start to be harder to swallow.

Going on.

PART 2: THE KIDS WHILE IN THEIR MOTHER’S WOMB

The text rambles about how AFO stole nutrients from Yoichi when they were sharing their mother’s womb so Yoichi is weak.

Actually the fact that one twin ‘steal’ nutrients from the other is true in real life but... IT’S BAD FOR BOTH TWINS.

It’s the twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) which happens by chance (and so it’s not something AFO decided) and occurs when identical twins share a placenta and blood vessels, but the blood flow between them is not equal so one gets less nutriments than he should and the others gets too many.

About 90% of twins diagnosed with an advanced stage of TTTS very early in pregnancy are at risk of passing away before birth.

In about 85% to 90% of TTTS pregnancies that receive treatment, at least one twin survives.

In about 50% to 65% of TTTS pregnancies that receive treatment, both twins survive.

The Shigaraki twins’ mom received no treatment and she didn’t give birth in a hospital, nor the twins were well cared for after birth. The twins should have both died.

I get Horikoshi never cared about medical accuracy and I get sometimes twins with TTTS both survive but the odds are against him and Yoichi and but I think since Horikoshi doesn’t care about medical accuracy, he would make his life simpler by just not including medical conditions.

BTW Identical twins are two babies who share the same DNA because they develop from a single fertilized egg. They are also known as monozygotic twins. Since the Quirk factor is a genetic thing, this means Yoichi and AFO should have the same Quirk.

Now, generally, in the donor twin (the one that gets less blood aka Yoichi), the consequences might affect the respiratory, urinary, circulatory and gastrointestinal systems (he’s at risk for organ failure) as well as give him brain damage and give him a slower growth. He’ll also suffer malnourishment.

There is however no reason due to which the Quirk factor should be affected by it due to lack of nutrition during its formation to the point it didn’t properly form while all the rest will form just fine. I won’t nag on this too much as Quirk factors are fictional things created by Horikoshi himself so if he says Quirks don’t properly form if they get affected for mysterious reasons well, that’s his canon.

(If you’re curious about AFO, the consequences he should get would affect his circulatory system, specifically his heart, to the point it can lead to heart failure, and damage his brain as well.)

PART 3: BABY AFO AND BABY YOICHI

So, the narrative tries hard to paint AFO as kind of a monster baby and the visual plays along with it (he looks definitely scary). We’re told AFO sucked his mother’s life-force and stole the nutrients from his twin in the womb. Once born he stole his mother’s Quirk and used it to cling to his mother’s corpse as they’re taken away from the current, grabbing Yoichi’s arm as well and taking him away with him. The text claims he was imbued with hubris and disrespect for the others from the moment he was born, viewed all within his reach as his own possession and viewed with utter disgust whose who wouldn’t provide him with anything or would turn away when he cried and screamed.

Now...

About pregnancy: it’s worth to mention it can be an exhausting thing so, we don’t need AFO to deliberately steal his mother’s life-force because he’s an evil child. Being pregnant would have been enough to weakened her and combined with her poor lifestyle it would have killed her. But let’s present it as AFO being an evil baby.

About newborns/babies’ psychology: AFO believing he’s at the center of the universe and not caring for others is basically how babies work. They’re egocentric. They cry and demand their caretaker to take care of all their needs as soon as they feel them. They don’t care if their caretaker is tired, busy or sleeping, they view their needs as priorities. They need to be taught, usually at preschool, that the world isn’t their own and that they can’t hit a classmate to have the toy he has. If the story wanted to say AFO never learnt to share at kindergarten because he didn’t to attend to it, it would have been fine, but if the story tries to pass AFO for an evil baby because, from the start, he didn’t know how to share, how to have empathy... well, the story is ignorant about how babies work. The old movie “Look Who's Talking” does a better job portraying an infant and how it’s normal for him to keep his mother awake all the night because he wants to eat than BNHA does handling infant AFO.

About newborns/babies’ bodies: A baby can hold his head up at around 3 months of age. This means if newborn AFO has tried piercing his mother’s body with his mother’s Quirk, he wasn’t yet strong enough to hold himself still, so instead than piercing his mom he would have ended pushing himself away instead than piercing her. A baby’s grip instead is strong enough if he grips something, this could allow the baby to pull themselves up, so in theory he could have held Yoichi. However baby AFO wasn’t fed and we don’t know for how long they rode their mother’s body while the water moved it and, while a baby can stay awake up to 3 hours, generally it’s recommended they won’t stay awake for more than 1, 1 hour and a half. Honestly, unless it was a rather short trip, I doubt AFO would have managed to hold Yoichi for long, but this will become relevant in a following point. It’s also worth to mention newborns can’t walk or crawl. Most babies start crawling between 7 and 10 months old so AFO couldn’t climb atop his mother and the idea he ended up on it by coincidence feels forced.

About newborns/babies’ intentionality: most of what newborn do is instinctive, involuntary, experimental. We’re however shown AFO as a genius baby or one that’s incredibly mature. I’ll let it slide the whole ‘stealing Quirk’ because even if AFO has a Quirk that needs the intention to steal other Quirks, it could have been unintentional and I’ll focus on how, in order to save himself he managed to climb up on his mother’s body, immediately know how to use a Quirk that wasn’t even his own (and that his mother, the legitimate owner didn’t know how to use) to hold tight to his mother’s body, grab Yoichi without using his Quirk so as not to hurt him because he didn’t want to lose him. As said before newborns tend to have involuntary movements but here it’s all voluntary and planned.

About memory of the time in which one were a newborn: normal people can remember as far as to when they were 3/4 at best, Yoichi remembers his brother holding him as they were on top of their mother’s body. How, is unsaid.

About newborns’ need to be feed: A newborn is fed almost every hour to begin with, to move quickly on being fed each 2 hours. It’s true they can even manage surviving for up to 6 days without feeding... but who’s going to feed them and especially Yoichi who’s weak and needs to be feed even more? The next we’ll see AFO and Yoichi they’re still alone and on their own. Even assuming AFO continued to manage to keep his actions intentional he shouldn’t be able to crawl. How in the world he’s going to retrieve the milk he and his brother need to survive? Yes, theoretically we can imagine they were picked up by someone, feed and then discharged for unknown reasons year after, when they could provide for themselves but in the story there’s no mention of this.

About infections: rats can carry diseases that can be passed to humans, including leptospirosis, hantavirus, and rat-bite fever that can be spread through direct or indirect contact with rodents. Low birth weight neonates are more vulnerable to infections so it’s a miracle Yoichi didn’t catch one by the rats who came close to them... or by just being laid on the dirty ground.

About the twins’ mom and the umbilical cord: if the twins’ mom didn’t know she was pregnant, how did she cut the umbilical cord as she doesn’t seem to have with herself scissors and ends up dying of childbirth? The cord is tough and you need something sharp to cut it, never mentioning it needs to be clamped before being cut otherwise it would put the baby in danger of bleeding out.

I get I’m nitpicking things in AFO’s backstory but Horikoshi created for AFO a backstory that challenges my suspension of disbelief too much and that’s mostly not needed.

AFO (and Yoichi) didn’t need to be born by a prostitute that didn’t even know she was pregnant, would give birth near a river and die, with AFO stealing her Quirk just before rats were to attack them but they would miraculously be swept away by the suddenly flooding river and use their mother’s body like a surf board and then they magically survived by themselves.

It was enough for them to be normal orphans in an orphanage that were chased away from it or escaped after people became aware they had Quirks. This overly dramatic story feels too unreal to me, it breaks my suspension of disbelief

PART 4: THE NARRATION

As AFO’s backstory starts the text is very much oriented in not letting me get sad for AFO and this is part of the problem.

It feels weird how the Shigaraki twins are given a dramatic (and unrealistic) backstory but... the text doesn’t seem to be interested in making us feel sympathy despite the horror they faced, the text is focused on painting AFO as a demonic baby, born to become the future demon lord.

In short it didn’t matter if he had a sad backstory or not, he was born evil and he was going to be an evil adult where Yoichi was born good and was going to be good. There was no hope for him.

Now this sort of story has a dangerous side effect.

If we establish that nature is all that matter to decide the fate of a person, that someone born good like Yoichi would only grow up to be good even in the worst conditions while there was no hope for AFO from the start, then nurture loses its importance.

By this logic it doesn’t matter if Enji abused his family or not, Shouto would have grown up to become a Hero regardless and Touya would have grown up to become a Villain regardless.

Now… while very little is done to change society at the end of the story, the whole Quirk counseling program that supposedly changes how kids are nurtured, seems to be in the story to tell us nurture is important too and that it can make the difference in a person.

Midoriya telling AFO he wasn’t a demon lord but just a lonely person might also imply the text might not be an impartial narrator, that the text is lying (who’s the narrator by the way? In the story we often had as narrator Midoriya and the anime gave the role of the other narrator to Present Mic but what about here? Is it AFO himself?) but this is a story read also by young readers so giving it a lying third person narrator makes the story pointlessly complicate and the fact that Midoriya, who knows ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about AFO and couldn’t figure out Tomura out until he saw his past, would instead understand AFO just because the latter obsesses over Yoichi feel unbelievable.

So more than a thing that doesn’t make sense this is a thing that’s very poorly constructed.

PART 5: CHILDHOOD

The two babies continue to grow and somehow feed themselves and keep themselves clean and warm on their own and even dress up and become children... and AFO is a murderous creepy kid, who kills people who are against people with Quirk and out to murder them but they are letting him be despite thinking he had a Quirk. Because if they had to murder or at least seriously main/beat people with Quirks, said people have to be adults, they draw the line at kids.

Again... it doesn’t make a lot of sense they’re out there aiming to hurt/kill people with Quirks but would let a child with a Quirk be, and even feel bad because they’re leaving him behind.

Even if we want to assume some might draw the line at hurting kids, accepting they’ve a hive mind and would all agree not to hurt them feels hard to swallow. Honestly it seems more that Horikoshi didn’t have them attack AFO so they would look ‘innocent’ when he murders them in cold blood, if we can forget they were out for blood of Quirk people so again, AFO is a evil child.

He’s also an evil child as he apparently has nothing to gain by killing those people who are Quirkless so he can’t even steal their Quirks, here the text seems to imply he’s doing it solely because he sees them with disgust because they don’t help him who’s filled with hubris and disrespect for others from when he was born and so he killed those ‘poor’ guys who were out to kill/beat guys with Quirks. I would have understood it more if Horikoshi were to show him then stealing their money but no, we see nothing of the sort, if he gained something from killing them is up to the readers’ speculation, the message seems to be he’s doing it because

Also, he got himself a cape to dress himself up and seems naked below so as to pull out those stabbing things from his whole body comfortably.

I won’t comment on the fighting style as we see only a panel and it might not give me the right impression of how things are going.

The next time we see AFO beating 6 adults, he might be stealing their Quirk and he... is wrapped in a robe and don’t wear shoes even though Yoichi does.

And I don’t get why dressing him so weirdly especially since he’ll become the guy who dress up all fashionable.

By the way Yoichi seems unable to walk as he seems to crawl. As an adult he could walk and even run but let’s let this slide, the problem is another.

I do get AFO wants to keep Yoichi but if Yoichi can’t walk he’s a liability and there’s no reason why AFO should drag him along when he goes in his murdering rampages or whatever he’s doing there (hopefully stealing Quirks because that’s more useful than murder people because they disgust him).

By the way, good, noble Yoichi, seeing his brother hurt people... hurts him by tossing a tin can to him and only later tells him to stop hurting people.

I would have expected Yoichi to get in between AFO and the people AFO hurt because he’s against hurting in general, but no, Yoichi isn’t for nonviolence, he is like the Heroes, he’s fully in favor of hurting who hurts (yeah, he can’t do much damage but still, he tries).

It’s worth to note Yoichi has normal clothes a sign that no, AFO didn’t have to wrap a cloth around himself because he couldn’t find clothes. Somehow he just felt like not dressing like a normal person which doesn’t make a lot of sense.

On an odd note the Shigaraki twins apparently take residence in the abandoned Shūeisha Jimbocho Building in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. I get that’s a fun reference and it makes easier for them to find manga to read but I would have found more logic for them to take up residence in an abandoned hotel, or in an abandoned house/apartment, with beds and bathroom and a place to cook food than in a publishing company building. Since they only needed to read ONE manga for the story to work, they could have found it elsewhere.

Meanwhile genius Yoichi self teach himself to read by watching manga... and it doesn’t work like that. While kids can learn to read on their own, they actually need someone to give them instructions on which sound each graphic sign is. If not they can’t magically guess.

It would also be good to know when AFO named Yoichi, since he did so aware of what such kanji meant because he also self taught himself how to read.

Really, the Shigaraki twins needed a caretaker and all this unreal stuff wasn’t needed.

The Shigaraki twins could be just orphans in an orphanage or kids in a poor house, or kids whose parents were killed like Destro’s mother when they’re old enough to know how to read. The lack of a caretaker in their early years makes their story absurd.

By the way, note how AFO comes back covered in blood and Yoichi doesn’t even flinch as he’s busy reading the manga. Shouldn’t he care about the people AFO killed? Nope, this is siblings bonding time but... it’s not that great. Yoichi isn’t someone who gives care to AFO, if anything Yoichi tries to discipline him for murdering people in front of him and thinks deep down his brother cares for him but doesn’t manage to provide/show care for AFO.

The text tells us Yoichi hadn’t given up on his brother, that he thinks his brother’s grip had been gentle, but if his not giving up on his brother is just playing the role of failed morality pet/talking cricket and letting AFO sit near him... well, it’s not much.

If AFO needed salvation back then, before he worsened even more, Yoichi wasn’t there to provide it for him. Garaki was shown giving AFO more care and love than Yoichi.

The end goal is Midoriya tells him he’s a lonely man, but his obsession with Yoichi isn’t really well developed. He just randomly decided Yoichi AND JUST YOICHI is his. AFO will never collect other people the way he does with his brother. Shigaraki, Garaki, his relation with them is more of an utilitarian nature.

(Honestly from the way Horikoshi depicted him, it seems nothing could have saved AFO, I’m complaining because we get told Yoichi can’t give up on him but doesn’t do anything to SHOW IT).

On the other side BNHA often messes up what now fans call ‘talk no jutsu’. The name comes from the Naruto fandom, I didn’t watch Naruto so I don’t know how it played its talks but I watched enough manga/anime (never mentioning I’ve a knowledge of how things work in real life and in books) to know when a talk can be inspiring to change, in real life and in a story.

BNHA tends to have Heroes talk about justice and morals to Villains who COULDN’T CARE LESS about such things. If you want to move and push to change a person, you’ve to stuck the right cords in them, talk to them about what THEY CARE ABOUT AND HOW CHANGE CAN HELP THEM TO GET IT.

If Yoichi’s hope is that by telling AFO enough times that what he’s doing is bad will push him to change well, Yoichi is dumb. Yoichi should have shown him another way to get what AFO wanted, a world that would take care of him.

But this is a story problem as other characters make this mistake and the story doesn’t address it, so I can’t really blame this one on Yoichi.

PART 6: ADULT YEARS BEFORE YOICHI’S DEATH

Chap. 59 tells us AFO brought people together and grew to control the whole Japan, manipulating people into committing wicked acts. One would expect considering the power AFO has he became the new emperor of Japan so he could fully control it but no, it’ll turn out he became a crime lord when it would have been more logic for him to use his power to go and become emperor of Japan in a time in which the government was in chaos due to the meta, there were no Heroes and all that stood against him was a small vigilante group.

And if he really had to be a crime lord I would have expected him to be a crime lord with such important ties in the government, the state would basically be a puppet under him so as to facilitate his wish to have a world that would exist for his sake. This way Heroes and Hero schools wouldn’t have existed and Vigilantes would have been hunted as criminals. He’s a guy who has ‘friends’ in other countries, one would expect him to get the importance of controlling the government to get off with everything he does but no, the government does as he pleases even though he has plenty of people bowing to him.

All Might claims that those AFO bestowed upon new Quirk would end up becoming puppets, unable to bear the new Quirks. It makes no sense that AFO would do this to his followers, as they would become mostly useless and this is not really manipulation this is making people brain dead.

Besides the story should decide what it wants to do with Quirk when they get passed to others.

Shigaraki is just mentally fine with decay and so is Aoyama, Lady Nagant is just mentally fine with multiple Quirks, Spinner isn’t but Central Hospital ‘saves him’, the possessors of OFA died early because they too weren’t fine with OFA.

What’s the rule?

If you get more than 2 Quirks you lose your mind?

With 2 you only face early death?

If you’ll only get one, even if it’s not your own, you’ll be fine provided your body is compatible with it?

Then why not to give his allies only 2 Quirks? Why frying their brain? Are brainless servants so much better than willing servants with a brain?

AFO should have known giving people a Quirk could have downsides, because he risked frying Yoichi’s brain by giving him a Quirk, so he should have been sure this wouldn’t damage him.

By the way All Might say Yoichi opposed to AFO but all Yoichi does is saying he won’t cooperate with him, not that he would have been of any use and again play the role of failed morality pet.

I get in Japan ‘Gaman’ (我慢) which means “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity” and is a Japanese term of Zen Buddhist origin is considered a heroic virtue but I’m not Japanese and Yoichi really is shown doing way too little for me to be impressed.

AFO giving him a Quirk that’s basically a power stocking Quirk makes no sense unless he didn’t realize that Yoichi could use it to stock enough power it could hold up against him... had Yoichi done something to collect such power instead than starve himself... I guess Yoichi saw this as a form of resistance too... an useless one.

Yoichi decides not to eat as a form of resisting to his brother that... will only kill him. At this point he could have just committed suicide to make his point. Okay, so maybe he was hoping AFO would magically change. Surely he couldn’t think just telling him ‘no, this is bad’ would affect AFO, could he? Anyway starving himself still feels dumb.

PART 7: WHAT LEADS TO YOICHI’S DEATH

Kudo and his men, who have weak Quirks, somehow manage to barge in AFO’s stronghold and into what’s basically a safe holding Yoichi (Horikoshi doesn’t explain how and more often than not he does so when he too doesn’t know how this happened). Apparently they wanted to kill him but then Kudo decides to save him.

How did they do it and why?

Why would they risk their lives to get to Yoichi and murder him only to make angry AFO? How would Yoichi’s death damage AFO? And how they managed to accomplish such feat since supposedly AFO is already overly powerful? By the way aren’t we also in the middle of chaos between people with Quirk and people without? Shouldn’t this make things even harder?

But whatever, they manage to escape with Yoichi and to hide for two months before AFO tracks them.

Instead than planning a careful operation to retrieve Yoichi, mister smart guy aka AFO goes there alone and causes everyone to escape but, conveniently, Yoichi is the one who’s slowest at doing so. Also conveniently, Kudo is near him, dragging him. Bruce is also slow to escape so he can witness the scene.

AFO is upset Yoichi runs away from him with Kudo and instead than murdering Kudo or using some whip Quirk to retrieve Yoichi as he knew from the start Yoichi didn’t want to be with him and he had to keep him closed in a safe due to this so he should be prepared to Yoichi not wanting to go back, he is SO SURPRISED YOICHI ESCAPES HE MURDERS YOICHI. To regret it a moment later.

PART 8: THE MESS WITH QUIRKS

AFO will retrieve Yoichi’s hand and somehow... checks it for Yoichi’s Quirk. Maybe he wanted the Quirk he gave Yoichi back but sure it’s convenient he does because it turns out he discovers Yoichi has no more the Quirk he gave him.

Instead than assuming there’s another person who, like him, can steal Quirks (again, he should have inherited his Quirk by his father, I doubt it but LOGICALLY this is how it should have gone), we get him rambling about how, according to further examinations he discovered Yoichi had a Quirk HE COULDN’T DETECT (HOW DID HE REALIZE? Did he check Yoichi’s disemboweled foot to see if he lacked a joint in the toe? Or did he realize sooner and still granted him a Quirk risking to fry his brain? We’ll never know.)

Note that AFO was completely capable to steal Hawks mangled Quirk factor but he couldn’t even detect Yoichi’s and therefore couldn’t steal his Quirk.

By the way I also would like to know WHY AFO claims he wondered if he stole Yoichi’s Quirk by mistake. With the Quirks in his mindscape taking the shape of their owners and he and Yoichi somehow remembering what happened short after their birth, never mentioning always him being able to use stolen Quirk a short time after his own birth, he should have known if he stole Yoichi’s Quirk or not.

Anyway Yoichi’s Quirk now was passed to Kudo because Yoichi’s blood was splattered on him and he somehow ingested it... or did it got inside him through the blood splattered on his eyes? We’ll never know but AGAIN surely it was convenient.

Now, let’s go back a little to chap 59 which say that in order to inherit OFA one has to ingest the DNA of the previous owner but also the previous owner should want to pass it.

Is the story telling me Yoichi willed to pass to Kudo a Quirk he didn’t know he had? Or that, even though he refused to use the Quirk AFO stole and gave him, he wanted to give it to Kudo because if he uses a stolen Quirk is bad but if Kudo does it is fine?

I’ll give it a pass to Kudo noticing his body felt off (due to him receiving Yoichi’s Quirk) because All Might said after some hours from receiving his Quirk Midoriya would feel something too so okay, this might fit with the lore.

But now we’re told that the second Quirk Kudo has is a small, seemingly useless one.

This is a problem because All Might said that Yoichi’s Quirk fused with the perfectly normal accumulation Quirk his brother gave him so it shouldn’t be small and useless because it is now fused with a perfectly normal Quirk which yes, might not have accumulated much but is of a normal size combined with one of a smaller one. AFO suggested ‘it was absorbed’ so Yoichi tiny, unformed Quirk, absorbed a normal one and remained tiny and unformed and hey, okay, it’s ‘random Quirk magic’ but it’s one that TO ME, feels too overboard.

And anyway… which sort of machine Kudo, Bruce and Co have which could see it? Quirks are just a new thing in their world and yet they can detect a small Quirk factor? One AFO couldn’t detect? And why would they have created such a machine? Or do they have some sort of machine that analyzes DNA so accurately it can detect Quirk factors? No idea.

PART 9: CREEPY EYES

Maybe it’s meant to be symbolic but... AFO’s eyes can’t reflect anything, the test claiming it’s like they were clouded by thin membranes. And the text doesn’t mention it but they are drawn with no pupils... which would basically make him basically blind. But no, he sees. Guess he went to Italy dressed like a little girl, claiming his name was Gemma in order to meet Padre Pio who, for some reasons, granted him a miracle.

Whatever.

All this is creepy and could be symbolic, it could hint at how he can’t see others reflected in himself (aka he can’t connect to them), but... it has no purpose. It’s just there for the creepy factor.

PART 10: WHAT GOES ON UNTIL ALL MIGHT DEFEATS AFO

AFO kills Kudo but, since he’s in denial, he claims even though he was crying his own were crocodile tears… because he’s so evil. I do wonder if he’s meant to be the narrator of his own past and wants to paint himself as evil as possible. Whatever.

Apparently Kudo felt he was about to die so he passed AFO to Bruce before being murdered and Bruce will pass it to Hikage before being murdered because someone here has a foretelling Quirk. I get that Hikage’s danger sense might have helped but still… it’s convenient how the OFA users all manage to pass their Quirk before AFO could put a stop to them.

Meanwhile AFO, instead than taking Japan’s throne, seems to establish a crime syndicate/cult, despite the world being in too much disarray to stop him and him having already an overwhelming power.

Really, this guy went to China to kill the Luminescent Baby and steal his Quirk, what’s stopping him from killing everyone in the govern?

He murders Nana’s husband but somehow doesn’t kill Kotarou.

Why?

If he wanted to hurt Nana to the point he found out she had a family and targeted it, why not finish the job also killing or at least hunting Kotarou?

Nana thinks she can hide Kotarou’s existence (which AFO should already know if he investigated over her and discovered she had a husband) by erasing him from her family register… even though Kotarou continues to have the same surname and name, they don’t even change how’s written.

Okay, it can work, there are other Shimuras in Japan so if she sent him to Hokkaido claiming he’s a orphan maybe JUST MAYBE AFO won’t track him (you wish, he’ll do it).

AFO doesn’t bother to track Kotarou down immediately though and Nana decides to pass her Quirk to All Might because he wants to be a Hero, even though she continues to be a Hero in active duty and fight AFO and without OFA she should go back on solely having a floating Quirk (let’s me not get started on the ember thing that’s clearly again ‘random Quirk magic’ that feels to overboard as the idea that you pass your Quirk and yet you still retain it to me feels too overboard again and too much of a plot contrivance).

Even though he has played this dance 6 times already, AFO, for mysterious reasons, doesn’t figure out she has passed her Quirk to All Might and, instead than stopping All Might from escaping, focuses on killing her. Then, when it turns out she doesn’t have anymore OFA for again mysterious reasons he doesn’t hunt All Might even though he’s in U.A. high which shouldn’t have been that impenetrable fortress back then. He doesn’t even hunt him when All Might goes in the USA even if All Might was hardly keeping himself hidden and AFO will claim he has friends on the other side and AGAIN, he went to China to kill the glowing baby and he’s desperate to have OFA and therefore Yoichi back. And this makes no sense.

PART 11: ALL MIGHT IS BACK

This part is complicate because it covers many years during which AFO does plenty of things that make no sense so I try to go at it chronologically.

All Might comes back around 33 years before giving OFA to Midoriya, after 5 years spent in the States in which AFO ignored him for mysterious reasons.

AFO is still not ruling Japan despite now having no OFA owner trying to stop him (which doesn’t make sense), but All Might somehow single handedly put an end to plenty of Villain activities, likely many of them related to him, showing he’s clearly more competent and powerful than his predecessors who ended killed off way too early and couldn’t really change the world.

That or AFO very logically hunted the previous OFA owners so they didn’t get much free reign while for unclear reasons, he let All Might free to act (which doesn’t make sense).

Around 7 years after All Might has come back, Enji ends U.A. high and AFO should likely start to notice his longing for power and… does nothing but keep an eye on him, which fine, it can be. I’m pointing it out because I want you to get an idea of his activities… or lack of them and of how times pass by.

Around 6 years after this, possibly early, and therefore around 13 years after All Might is back, AFO tracks down Kotarou and persuade him to have another kid. Meanwhile with Garaki he opens orphanages and grooms kids and copies their Quirk and thanks to all this they find Chisaki Kai and his Overhaul Quirk. They’ll copy it once and break away half of it turning it into the decay Quirk. At an unclear time Chisaki will leave the orphanage without them making a second full copy of his Quirk to give to AFO, WHO COULD HAVE USED IT TO HEAL HIMSELF SHOULD HE GET HURT (which yeah, doesn’t make sense). Why they let Chisaki go (and NO, despite what the fandom says, Chisaki didn’t escape because Touya set the orphanage on fire, Horikoshi himself in the volume version said the fire wasn’t worth worrying about and, anyway, the timeline doesn’t match) is never said. He could have made a fine Nomu or at least an underling but no, he’s let go (so it again doesn’t make sense).

Around 7 years after, Touya’s Quirk starts burning him. It’s a tragedy for Enji and AFO, who was keeping an eye on him could have just taken this chance to offer him a cure or something while under disguise and only later reveal he was behind it but… no, he let the Todoroki family be and content himself to watch which yeah, doesn’t make sense since he’ll claim he was keeping an eye on Enji’s longing for power and wanted to reap from it and this would have been the perfect moment. Maybe that’s because he’s busy stealing Tenko’s Quirk and then… he goes back on watching the Shimura family so no, he would have had time to tamper with the Todoroki too.

Around 5 years after, AFO gives Tenko half of Chisaki’s Quirk and then waits until Tenko decays his whole family and roams in the streets aloe for a while before retrieving him (and yes, decay activating at random is another ‘random Quirk magic’ thing, along with the fact that somehow Tenko’s family’s hands don’t get decayed) and starting to groom him. Meanwhile Shouto had the time to be born, Touya had the time to attack him and AFO still isn’t doing anything with Enji’s longing for power even though this also would be a very good moment to act.

One year after, AFO and Garaki really wish to get their hands on Eraser Head’s Quirk so they wait for him to be asleep at home and jump on him… no, they don’t do this, they wait for him to leave home and jump on him… no, they don’t even do this, they wait for him to face a Villain and when his friend dies and he survives they content themselves with getting their hands on Oboro Shirakumo’s corpse. And don’t even try again to get Aizawa. AFO doesn’t even go to shake his hand with an excuse in order to steal his Quirk. No. They don’t want erasure anymore. The sudden disinterest as well as the lack of more potentially successful approaches to steal Erasure don’t make sense. Anyway Garaki and AFO are busy turning Oboro into the Nomu Kurogiri, which has a working brain but is completely subservient. Despite Kurogiri’s amazing powerful Quirk, they use him as a babysitter for Tenko, now named Tomura, who’s being groomed into killing people so as to become AFO’s heir even though they continue the orphanage project should Tomura fail. The whereabouts of all those orphans are unknown except for one who’ll get adopted by Garaki (Tsubasa) and then will be turned into a Nomu when he was a teen. They ignore the Todoroki kids because I guess AFO is having too much fun just watching Enji’s longing for power to try to put it to some use. I take AFO is secretly a peeping Tom that gets turned on not by peeping at people engaging in sexual activities but by peeping on a man’s longing for power. No, okay, it makes no sense.

Two years after, Garaki is the doctor who tells Midoriya (who is 4) he is Quirkless. They immediately offer the mother a way to fix this like they had done with the Aoyama and… ops, nope. And it makes no sense as they couldn’t know Midoriya was going to be the main character and they could have spared us of this by having a doctor that wasn’t Garaki tell Midoriya he’s Quirkless. But no, let’s involve Garaki for… nothing.

Two years after, Touya goes on Sekoto Peak and waits for his father, Enji doesn’t reach him and for unknown reasons Touya’s Quirk turn on and Touya burns himself but manages to toss himself in a stream. AFO WHO HAS ALWAYS KEPT AN EYE ON ENJI’S LONGING FOR POWER, DESPITE NOT BEING INVOLVED IN TOUYA SETTING HIMSELF ON FIRE, happens to pass by (or he was stalking Touya or he has set a fire alarm on Sekoto Peak) and retrieve a still living Touya before Enji comes, bring him to Garaki and they put him in coma as they try to rebuild him. Because somehow they never managed to get a single healing Quirk despite Garaki working in plenty of hospitals that should attract people with healing Quirks. As for Enji… he let him be. Who cares for his longing for power? I’ve also a post already about how it doesn’t make sense that AFO wasn’t involved in Touya burning himself and his intervention ends up to be so random it’s disappointing so I won’t dig on this too much.

The year after, he grant Aoyama (who is 6) a Quirk. I guess the Aoyamas being rich made their son a most interesting recipient than Midoriya at whom he didn’t offer a Quirk even though Garaki knew he was Quirkless. He then tells them he could explode them if they disobey him but no, it’ll turn out he couldn’t and there’s no reason why he couldn’t since he showed the Aoyamas he could do it by using another person and we know he could do it as he did so with Lady Nagant. There’s also to say the Aoyamas though will be left mostly quiet until their son is 15. I don’t want to say this is senseless, AFO could have been ‘helping’ people so as to collect their help later… it’s just that, combined with how he didn’t grant a Quirk to Midoriya it becomes random bordering on senseless. He couldn’t know he would need a kid to infiltrate in U.A. high because All might would be teaching there unless he were to be able to see the future. The Aoyamas might be rich but not to the point they’re of use. So… it’s not senseless but it’s bad.

Two years after, Touya wakes up from coma. AFO isn’t around (but he’ll talk with Touya through the black screen of a computer) but Touya is in one of Garaki’s orphanages because they had kept up the habit of grooming kids who… I don’t know, they couldn’t have been all turned into Nomu as, at the start, they didn’t even have them, they’re apparently not serving AFO either as they don’t show up ever again (except for Number 6 in Vigilantes) nor they could have killed them all off as it would have been suspicious so… I don’t know what happened to those kids. Considering they let Touya escape so he could go back home and report to his Number 2 Hero father they had kidnapped him and have all the police jump on the orphanage, I’ve no idea what they do with the other kids. After Chisaki, Touya is the second kid who leaves the orphanage with no consequences but while Chisaki had no one and it was unlikely he would report them, Touya was the son of the Number 2 and they very much tried to kidnap him. That’s enough to trigger a police raid. It’s only due to luck that Touya won’t report them. By the way despite all his interest for Enji’s longing for power AFO will continue to ignore him even if now he has let Touya go. So yeah, all this doesn’t make sense. Also, around this time period ( it was few years after they took Tenko in but before he fought All Might) AFO tells Machia to go into hiding because he had a feeling he might end up being defeated by All Might. Because now he sees the future. No, really, if he felt All Might could beat him why not to keep Machia, HIS BODYGUARD, with himself as back up?

The year after All Might FINALLY murders him. Maybe All Might too had enough of AFO’s senseless behavior. Too bad Garaki retrieves AFO’s body and resurrect him. I get people might not have been very focused in guarding a corpse so it’s not senseless he managed to do it but still… it seems too convenient. By the way AFO’s brain is resurrected in a perfectly fine state. Somehow though Garaki, the man who can create Nomu, can’t give him plastic surgery and a pair of eyes and while Oboro/Kurogiri can walk on his own just fine AFO needs a mask to survive. Because it makes so much Darth Vader he just couldn’t pass it.

At this point, and only at this point, Tomura needs to become AFO’s next body, as his current one is ruined. AFO didn’t need a heir before and the whole ‘he needs anger to steal OFA so he needs Tomura anger since he can’t come up with anger on his own’ felt again like ‘random Quirk magic’, something the author made up to excuse how AFO decided to groom Tenko before really needing a new body.

Also, even though Machia should be in hiding supposedly he’s instead around searching Quirks for AFO in a very obvious manner which should have pushed the Heroes to hunt for Machia but no, no one notices except Ashido and Kirishima but they’re not Heroes so they don’t count.

I’ll skip what happens during “Vigilantes” as Furuhashi is a different author and, even if Horikoshi supervised the whole thing, I’ll also give him a pass on how mistakes could have taken place (I considered only the whole Oboro thing because it’s also mentioned in BNHA).

Six years after having been killed, AFO sends Tomura to attack U.A. high as All Might is teaching there. Note he let him be for 6 years even though All Might had been wounded too. But now that All Might has involved Midoriya without AFO knowing it feels the perfect time to attack him. I’ll catch this chance to point out that Tomura wasn’t trained at all to lead men and AFO wanted him to learn through a process of trial and error which yes, it’s dumb. What if Tomura had died there or had been arrested? Yes, AFO could brag about All Might killing Nana’s grandson or jailing him and pick up a spare kid from the orphanage as his next body but, if Tomura needs to be his next body, he doesn’t need to learn how to lead an army nor to get himself in danger, he only needs to get very pissed off at All Might. AFO should get himself busy strengthening his body (so that Garaki can operate him) and encouraging him to hate All Might, not to put him up in danger. After all he has wasted an awful lot of time on Tomura, why not putting it to good use? To continue… what about the other kids? Why not to put them too against All Might? Why not to give them to Tomura as underlings? Many of them aren’t even turned into Nomu as we see that the first Nomu’s DNA came from an adult, not from a kid.

No, AFO let Tomura free to do as he pleases without even trying to direct his actions a bit.

I guess that the idea is he’ll create chaos and will also make a name for AFO’s new body so that AFO will reap what Tomura sow. I won’t really comment on how Tomura’s plans aren’t great because the characters in the story handle them as if they are. The police is totally creeped out by him, the league is famous and people want to join it, Chisaki will want to use the League’s name, Re-Destro sees the League as a problem… it’s just Machia and Garaki who sees them as a nothing, a kid palling around with the dregs of society.

I won’t count this as senseless but it sure isn’t great.

Touya joins the League, Garaki and AFO recognize him and… do nothing. They don’t warn Tomura, AFO does nothing to take advantage of Enji’s longing for power now that he has Touya back, I’ll jump forward but AFO won’t even say he has Touya to Enji when he’ll face him in Kamino. No, he’ll reveal Tomura’s identity to All Might but will keep his mouth shut with Enji despite keeping an eye on his longing for power. Was AFO’s involvement with Touya planned already? Did Horikoshi want to save the info for later, so he could have a second big reveal scene like the one he had in which AFO told All Might Tomura’s identity? Possibly since this is what we get, it’s just it’s execute worse because, as I said, while AFO’s involvement with Tomura was consistent, his involvement with Touya felt random.

And so we get to the ‘Forest training camp’ arc and the ‘Hideout raid’ arc.

The League attacks the camp because they want to send a signal to society as well as steal Bakugou, which Tomura somehow wants to persuade to join them even though Bakugou is clearly unwilling.

During the attack they lend Tomura a Nomu which is then entrusted to Dabi. Yaoyorozu places a transmitter on it. When the League is whisked away by Kurogiri the Nomu is brought into the Nomu factory/Garaki’s spare lab/whatever. Although people blame Touya, he had no chance to check the Nomu for devices… and they probably did as we will be told the warehouse in which he was, was a decoy. So AFO deliberately had the Heroes find it, deliberately he didn’t warn Tomura that the Heroes were on him, deliberately showed up to deal with the Heroes and save Tomura and have a fight with All Might.

I’ll say… it’s not a bad plan. His surprise attack works and could have done even more damage if it wasn’t for Best Jeanist, sending the Nomu at the hideout could have also done more damage if it weren’t because Enji is strong (he’s the one disposing of the most of the Nomus), the League is freed without much damage, if he had retreated with the League using Kurogiri’s Quirk or his own Quirk he could have just came out victor.

I won’t hold it against him the fact he wanted to kill All Might as, even though he was outnumbered, he seemed to be stronger. I mean, beating All Might would have been a big victory. Honestly, even if he lost, this part was good.

It’s chronologically late in his life but it’s meaningful it’s EARLY in the story. AFO, at the start of the story, was making sense. Yeah, he could have used more Nomu and Gigantomachia to insure his victory but arrogance is a fitting flaw for him and, as I said, it did seem like he could make it.

Then he gets jailed straight in Tartarus instead than in one of the jails in which, in Japan, they put people who didn’t undergo a trial. It’s clear since he killed people and he’s not even attempting to deny it, he’ll be sentenced to death. Japan is slow at executing people so it theoretically makes sense he’s not immediately killed off (yeah, many in the fandom think there’s no death sentence in BNHA but it actually there is as we were told Moonfish was an escaped convict on death row).

To be honest, since Horikoshi worsened a lot the conditions of prisons and since AFO is what it is, it would make more sense if they had just executed him and be done with him put since the plot will need him to stay alive, I do get why Horikoshi decided to take advantage of how Japan is slow at carrying on its death sentences.

What doesn’t make sense, but this isn’t an AFO problem but a Tartarus problem, is how he’s kept constantly tied on a chair (because, contrary to what many in the fandom think in the story there are no Quirk cancelling means beyond Chisaki’s bullets and Eraser Head’s Quirk). This isn’t just torture, this is unhealthy as hell… but again Horikoshi doesn’t care about medical accuracy so it does nothing to AFO.

All Might goes to talk with him, claiming with such body AFO could have lived forever instead he wasted everything manipulating, exploiting and toying with people. The problem with All Might’s words is that AFO gained such body EXACTLY because he manipulated, exploited and toyed with people, if he hadn’t he would have probably died of starvation as a baby or, even better, drowned because he wouldn’t have stolen his mother’s Quirk.

Yeah, he got the lifeforce Quirk by a willing Garaki, but Garaki wouldn’t have been willing if AFO hadn’t been who he was.

AFO then claims he chose a successor because All Might stole everything from him. Too bad All Might too should have been able to sniff the lie. All Might, as said before, ruined AFO’s body (killed him) 6 years before, AFO got Tomura way before that and if All Might had checked the fate of Shimura Kotarou he should have known… All Might though seems to believe him, which means he didn’t check and it makes no sense he didn’t check as AFO could have lied when he told him Tomura is Nana’s grandson.

AFO though manages to talk in a way that shows he understands how people work and can manipulate them while, at the same time, managing to look scary.

He won’t get to do much until he somehow also awakens in Tomura’s body because… ‘random Quirk magic’… and now he’s obsessed with retrieving OFA. This is more or less the narrative point in the story in which he stops making sense.

The sudden obsession for OFA, the ‘random Quirk magic’ that allows a copy of him to possess Tomura, the way he does it in such a way that gains him Tomura’s hate and pushes Tomura to fight against him when before Tomura cared for him, the fact when questioned by Shuichi about why they’re leaving behind their comrades he gives an answer that immediately betrays he’s not Tomura and that doesn’t win him any favor in Shuichi’s book where before he was good at manipulating people, all this clashes with the previous AFO.

AFO doesn’t win the loyalty of the league, they remain with him because they’ve no better option, he goes freeing people who aren’t loyal to him from jail but fails to free Kurogiri (because Horikoshi retcons him as not being anymore in Tartarus as he was shown there moments before AFO’s attack) and doesn’t bother freeing his allies from prisons that are clearly less guarded than Tartarus, and the other prisons he attacks.

He doesn’t even bother freeing Kurogiri, whom he needs and for whom he’ll send Shuichi to free him ON THE DAY OF THE BIG ATTACK WHEN THE HEROES WERE ON GUARD or Machia, whom he also need and for whom he’ll also send people to free him ON THE DAY OF THE BIG ATTACK WHEN THE HEROES WERE ON GUARD and that will cause him to lose’s loyalty (which honestly, feels forced because Machia decides to stop being loyal to him when AFO sends people to free him), and this doesn’t make a lot of sense.

We continue with him setting some convicts to hunt Midoriya among which Lady Nagant, to whom he gives a Quirk that conveniently doesn’t damage her brain, and set on her an explosive that turn on should she betray him because he doesn’t trust her… and she confirms he was right in not trusting her because she betrays him… yet he’ll be surprised later on when she’ll get in his way again WHICH DOESN’T MAKE SENSE.

And then we go on with a list of things that don’t make sense but, at this point, I don’t really care anymore.

The moles he places in U.A. high, who remain unused for a way too long time, it seems as if AFO is saving them for when U.A. evacuation procedure will start?

The fact he first seemed fully AFO as he possesses Tomura but when he fights Star and Stripes his identity is unclear because… ‘random Quirk magic’ at play.

How AFO didn’t reinforce his mask so that it wouldn’t break easily even though it’s his most glaring weakness and Horikoshi said they could use Detnerat’s technology.

How AFO didn’t blast Hawks, Tokoyami and Jiro away as he did with the Heroes in Kamino, knocking down even Jeanist who got seriously hurt, but let them gain time until Enji was up and fighting again.

How the Quirks inside him start rebelling to him for a new dose of ‘random Quirk magic’ that previously not even New order accomplished because now they’re sentient and observing the battle and are encouraged by Jiro and Tokoyami’s attempts at resisting him.

How it turns out he doesn’t have hyper regeneration Quirk or a copy of Overhaul’s Quirk (yes, I know, Garaki isn’t there anymore to give them to him but he should have had them FROM BEFORE) so if he gets hurt he doesn’t have a Quirk that can heal him.

How he knows Jin’s dying wish even though he hardly knew Jin.

How he knew Nagant was murdering Heroes for the Hero commission even though they surely didn’t let anyone know about such thing.

How he didn’t manage to say something to gain back Machia’s trust despite being this super good manipulator.

How he steals fierce wings from Hawks instead than just killing him, even if he calls Hawks’ Quirk garbage and the whole thing seems so damaged he can’t use it.

How he goes back on being able to feel anger again.

How his whole body starts to glow (a sign he got the glowing baby’s Quirk but one that doesn’t make sense now as why should he turn on the glowing Quirk?) [Chap. 400]

How when he couldn’t find Stain at Tartarus, he felt Stain might turn against him (because even though he couldn’t get news from outside and was kept in solitary confinement he had to know Stain wasn’t executed or moved in another place like Kurogiri was… oh, wait, did he know Kurogiri was moved? Because apparently not even Horikoshi knew it as moments before the attack he was shown at Tartarus…) so he collected a Quirk specifically against Stain, ‘bloodlet’… as if he could just shop for a Quirk that could work against Stain. I mean, it’s not like such Quirk was common and the idea that AFO conveniently stumbled upon it is yes possible but feels so unlikely it’s unbelievable.

How he supposedly has a Quirk, ‘antigen swap’ that he kept because in this way he wouldn’t let traces of himself. He calls it one of the secrets of his long rule. As if he’d even been discreet.

How Tomura could somehow rather easily refuse to allow AFO’s Quirk activation to teleport him.

How AFO realizes only then how Bakugou resembles Kudou and not before when Tomura targeted him or when they kidnapped him.

And there’s probably more I missed because I do hate the last battle and this list is long enough.

Overall it’a pity because AFO got completely ruined in the final part of the story when before he was cool and scary… a least those are my two cents over him.

Thank you to everyone who managed to read this now and sorry if I missed something or messed up something.

[defectivevillain]

tongues and teeth

pairing: Hannibal Lecter/Reader (can be read as romantic or platonic)

reader's pronouns & race: unspecified, ambiguous

summary:

“What should I do?” Franklyn whines. His voice continues to grate on your ears. Every remark that comes from his lips is dripping in misguided arrogance and misplaced hero worship. He’s staring down at his tortillas with worried eyes. “He hates me.” “Chef Lecter?” you ask incredulously. Franklyn nods. “I don’t think he cares enough to feel any particular way about you,” you say, the words slipping from your lips before you can stop them. There’s a whisper of a dark laugh from far away, an amused exhale of breath.

Chef Hannibal Lecter is a world renowned chef praised for his innovative dishes. He’s won numerous awards and his restaurant, Hawthorn, reflects his talents. There’s something off about him, though. It isn’t until you’re seated in Hawthorn, a distance away from the door guarded by security workers and looking down at a breadless bread plate, that you begin to connect the dots.

word count: 6k | ao3 version

Warnings: spoilers to The Menu, canon-typical blood & violence, suicide, hanging

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is going to be an alternate universe, in which the characters from the Menu are replaced by those from Hannibal. Hannibal is the main chef and the reader takes the place of Margot. In this universe, we’re pretending that the dinner guests—many of whom are criminals in Hannibal—are not hardened killers, but rich consumers in the highest echelons of society. There’s an exact list of which character corresponds with The Menu dinner guests in the endnotes, if you’re super interested.

I have many different justifications for some of the choices I made while writing this, but I don’t want to bore you all to tears, so I’ll detail them in the endnotes. Just know that Hannibal and Julian (the antagonist of The Menu) have very different reasons and motivations for killing, which will impact the story

You’re not sure how you find yourself sitting at a table in Hawthorn, one of the world’s most exclusive restaurants, next to someone you can barely consider an acquaintance. Actually, you do know—you’d just rather not think about it. The boat ride over to the private island, the entirely unnecessary tour of the facilities, and the weirdly stringent rules governing your every move… You indeed remember how you got here. These occurrences all seemed outlandish and entirely otherworldly to you. This entire day has been nothing but a flight of fancy for those with more money than they know what to do with. Not for the first time today, you regret every decision that led you to step into the boat, walk along the sandy shores, and step into this cage of a restaurant. 

Indeed, the space is nothing more than an enclosure. Everyone in the group seemed too excited about the upcoming meal to notice how the door promptly swiveled shut when you entered, sealing you into this urban nightmare of a building. You had turned over your shoulder upon hearing the door close, only to find several men in suits blocking the exit. A horrible feeling had settled in your chest. Whatever may come tonight, one thing is for certain: you are not supposed to leave. This may very well be your last meal. 

You’re ushered rather forcefully to your table. Franklyn Froideveaux, the man who invited you, looks completely ecstatic. You berate yourself for accepting the invitation; in your defense, however, you weren’t exactly given a choice. You owe this man a favor, as begrudged as you are to admit it. You’d rather wash your hands of the scourge that is Franklyn Froideveaux as soon as possible, which is why you find yourself in Hawthorn tonight. This restaurant doesn’t accept single reservations—something Franklyn made sure to announce several times on your walk over. You should be grateful for this opportunity, Franklyn says every few minutes. Currently, he’s prattling on about the cooking utensils in the kitchen, and about some television series that he claimed to watch about the executive chef. You nod and hum at the appropriate moments, but your attention is elsewhere. Conversations fill the space, combining with clinking glasses to create a pleasant ambiance. At least, you suspect it is intended to be pleasant. However, you can’t help but see past the pleasantries scattered around you—especially when in the presence of such… notorious dinner guests. 

First, there’s Frederick Chilton—self-proclaimed genius and institutional leader of the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Next to him sits Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier, another high-profile psychologist known for her numerous research publications. Dr. Alana Bloom is seated in the third spot at the table. From what you know, the three professionals are colleagues in the medical field and research partners. 

Next is Freddie Lounds. You remember seeing her make the news for her self-published food review magazine, TattleCulinary. She sits with James Gray, another critic who is more well-known in the art world. Gray edits the journalist's pieces, and you can pick up on the underlying tones of superiority in their dynamic as Lounds dominates their conversation.  

Scott Komeda sits at a table off to the side with his wife, Cheryl. Neither of them look too happy to be here. You can’t say you blame them; although, judging from their luxurious attire, they’re all too familiar with a rich dining experience. A sordid state of affairs, you might say, if they weren't absolutely dripping in wealth. It almost appears as if they’ve dined here before. You certainly wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case. 

Mason and Margot Verger sit at the table to your left. Rumor has it Mason is a cruel bastard. Since his rise to stardom, he’s been embroiled in many scandals—scandals that have dragged him into the courthouse, of all places. He is not a good person. Margot, his sister, sits next to him. Her shoulders are drawn tight, as if she’s on guard. You can’t find it in your heart to pity her—not when you remember her and her brother’s exorbitant wealth. 

And, of course, Franklyn is sitting across from you. Truly, you’d rather be sitting here with anyone but him. Mr. Tobias Budge was supposed to dine with Franklyn instead—as the hostess so rudely reminded you several times—but he couldn’t make it. You wonder if Franklyn also has Tobias under his thumb; although, if he was able to escape this dinner, you suppose Tobias is in a much better spot than you are. 

You allow your gaze to wander about the room. Everyone is preoccupied with speaking to one another or sipping the proffered wine. Upon first glance, there isn’t much that this group has in common. However, the more you look at them, the more you’re struck with one fatal realization: this entire group is enamored with greed. You can see it in the most minute of gestures—the roll of their eyes when they’re left waiting, the expectations they carry on shoulders that have never known burden or suffering. Indeed, it costs an excessive amount to take part in this dinner—this dining experience, Franklyn is keen to remind you. 

Amuse bouche is served first. You stare down at the dish. It looks to be no more than two mouthfuls of food. You can’t help but huff a laugh from under your breath, which goes entirely unnoticed by Franklyn. He’s too busy sneaking pictures of the food—something the group was explicitly ordered not to do—and ranting about something pretentious. 

As you stare down at your plate, you feel a prickling sensation rising up your spine. Unnerved, you turn around, only to find that a new addition to the kitchen is staring at you. It’s not just a new addition, you realize with growing horror, but the chef himself. You’re the first to break eye contact, as you tear your gaze away and focus on the appetizer. The man unsettles you. 

Ultimately, you don’t end up eating the dish, so Franklyn takes it and eats it himself. Somehow, his behavior has grown worse since you first set foot on the island. You contemplate the thought for a moment, before you’re interrupted by a loud clapping sound. It makes your heart race out of your chest; startled, you turn around to find the chef standing in the center of the room. 

“My name is Hannibal Lecter,” he says, his voice cutting through the eerie silence. “Today, you will ingest some of the building blocks of nature and, perhaps, even nature herself.” You take the gifted opportunity to study the man before you. Perfectly coiffed hair frames a sharp, angular face and mahogany eyes. An understanding smile is plastered on his face, yet malice curves his lips and sharpens his teeth. Your heart is hammering in your chest. You’re thrown out of your reverie by the light applause scattered about the room. Clenching your fists at your sides, you try to remain calm and turn back to face Franklyn. The cooks descend the stairs and serve you the first course. Once again, the dish you’re presented with resembles a display more than a meal. You pick around at it for a few moments before abandoning the thought. 

If the first course is sparse, the second course is almost entirely empty of nourishment. Lecter’s description—an allusion to the privilege of the very guests sitting around his restaurant—is a warning for what lies ahead. The group will not be receiving bread, you realize as the cooks step down from the kitchen and fan out across the room. You have to suppress your irritation at the scene. Sure, you understand what the chef is trying to say. However, you get the feeling you’re not his intended audience. You’re not from the same world as these people. This is painfully present in the way Freddie Lounds tastes her dish, gushing about its distinct flavor profile. You grit your teeth to stop yourself from saying something stupid. 

You’re anchored to your seat. Ultimately, you don’t belong here amongst these upper-class socialites, born with silver spoons on their tongues and privilege in their every movement; you feel like a sheep in wolf’s clothing. 

The third course doesn’t bring nourishment, but it certainly brings a host of other feelings. The chef’s anecdote about his childhood is disturbing—especially when punctuated by the dish he serves, chicken thigh with scissors stabbed in it. When the dish is served, you can’t bear to touch it. Thankfully, there is an accompaniment to the poultry: tortillas. The tortillas have engraved drawings on them, supposedly. You unfold the tortilla cautiously. To your disbelief, there are indeed intricate depictions on the tortilla. Your heart hammers in your chest as you look at the single tortilla you were served. It’s an exact replica of how you’re seated right now, except Franklyn is missing. His chair is pictured and there’s a dish placed on his side of the table, but the man is excluded from the image. Upon closer examination, you find his fork and knife positioned vertically on the plate. Dread courses through your chest as you recognize the nonverbal sign of a finished meal. This does not bode well for Franklyn. 

Franklyn, seeing that your attention has been captured by the tortilla, moves to grab his own. His tortillas are engraved with sketches of him seated at this exact table, holding up his phone and sneaking pictures of the meal. The color promptly drains from his face. You’re about to ask him why he looks so disturbed when you hear several outcries from the tables around you. Each person’s tortillas are depictions of unsavory, humiliating truths. The three researchers are whispering hurriedly amongst each other. Mason Verger is glaring at Margot, as if the dish is somehow her fault. Mrs. Komeda is staring at her tortillas with wide eyes and her husband seems to be sweating. Suddenly, you feel as if you were spared from any potential humiliation and embarrassment. 

“What should I do?” Franklyn whines. His voice continues to grate on your ears. Every remark that comes from his lips is dripping in unfounded arrogance and misplaced hero worship. He’s staring down at his tortillas with worried eyes. “He hates me.”

“The chef?” you ask incredulously. Franklyn nods. “I don’t think he cares enough to feel any particular way about you,” you say, the words slipping from your lips before you can stop them. There’s a whisper of a dark laugh from far away, an amused exhale of breath. 

Franklyn’s preoccupation with his tortillas prompts you to look down at your own. You look down at the tortilla warily. Suddenly, you realize your picture has another meaning. It’s not just an omen for Franklyn, but for you, too. It’s a warning: this night is going to be a bloodbath. 

The fourth course validates the trepidation settling in your chest. Chef Lecter allows a cook, Jeremy, to take center stage. Immediately, you know something is wrong. From what you’ve seen, Hannibal Lecter treats cooking as a performance. What performer would willingly let another take the stage? Unless… that other performer was the entertainment. Your suspicions are proven correct when you see Jeremy put a gun to his mouth and fire it off. You flinch at the gunshot, even though you’re expecting it. The guests around you scream. 

The subsequent dish is aptly dubbed “The Mess.” There’s a significant resemblance to the human body, and the dish’s sauce looks like blood. You swallow hard, feeling rather nauseous. Franklyn rubs his hands together and begins eating, as if someone hadn’t just committed suicide before his very eyes. He is entirely unbothered and you’re sorely tempted to snap your fingers in front of his face. 

You feel completely sick to your stomach. You grip the table hard, trying to keep yourself anchored to this horrible reality. A man died before your very eyes. You’re going to die tonight, surrounded by wealthy, privileged assholes. Bolts of pain slide through your fingers. Before the sensation can begin to truly burn, there’s a harsh grip on your shoulder.  Hannibal Lecter, the chef, is looming over you. You flinch at the sudden touch and look up at him, while trying to regain feeling in your locked joints. There’s a buzzing sound in your ears. The chef’s eyes gleam crimson in the bright lighting. Franklyn lets out a weird squeal, clearly excited by the prospect of Lecter visiting your table. Unfortunately, the chef doesn’t have eyes for Franklyn. He’s staring at you hard enough for your skin to be lit with a phantom burn. 

“How are you enjoying the meal?” Lecter implores, looking down at you. He’s rather handsome up close, you realize. You try to choke out a response, but Franklyn is quicker. 

“It’s wonderful, sir!” Franklyn gushes shamelessly. “Truly exquisite—”

“I wasn’t speaking to you,” the chef interjects, sending him a withering glare before focusing back on you. He raises an eyebrow ever so slightly at you. You’re scrambling for words, empty promises and compliments that will leave him satisfied enough to leave you the hell alone. Thankfully, you’re spared by the enraged scream of Scott Komeda. The chef’s attention is drawn away from you and you breathe a sigh of relief. Lecter clasps his hands behind his back and levels the man with an expectant gaze. 

Mr. Komeda’s eyes are frantic and he breathes heavily. “Get me the hell out of here!” he screams. 

There are a few beats of silence, before the hostess—Abigail, you think her name is—paces over to him and places a hand on his shoulder. She whispers something quietly to him, something that goes unheard by everyone else. Whatever she says, it must be suitably disturbing, because the man’s face pales significantly. Abigail’s grip tightens on his shoulder. 

“Which hand would you like to lose, sir?” she asks politely. The placating smile on her face almost makes you second guess what you just heard her say. The man blinks at her in evident disbelief. His wife tries to pull him back, but security guards descend on the man and he doesn’t budge. “Left or right?” He does not answer.

“Left hand, ring finger,” Lecter announces, breaking through the tense silence that was descending in the air. You inhale sharply, nearly choking on air at the reminder of the dangerous man lurking near you. You had nearly forgotten his presence. Abigail nods and walks back towards the kitchen, returning with a sharpened butcher’s knife. 

You avert your eyes, but the man’s scream is enough to inform you of what occurs. When you turn back, you find Mr. Komeda holding his bloodied hand. His ring finger rests on the elegant tablecloth. You very nearly vomit right then and there—just barely managing to avoid the urge by placing a hand over your mouth and turning away. Mrs. Komeda’s jaw is frozen wide-open, and everyone else seems just as nauseated as you. At least, everyone except Franklyn. Somehow, amidst all this chaos and madness, Franklyn is still eating. His unaffected ferocity unsettles you. 

“Let’s get a breath of fresh air, shall we?” Lecter asks, before motioning for everyone to rise from their seats. No one seems to understand his question, in the wake of what just happened. After he repeats the question, the guests are quick to rise from their chairs. It is dangerous to try opposing the chef. You stand up and follow the group back through the entrance hall, until you step out the door and outside the building. The chef waits in the center of the assembled group, pausing for a few moments to let any stragglers catch up. Franklyn is still chewing. The researchers are whispering amongst themselves, and Mason looks two seconds from decapitating his sister with his own hands. You keep your eyes firmly on the ground. 

“You will be given a forty five second head start,” he begins. Everyone stares at him in confusion. “You may try to run. After forty five seconds have passed, my staff will chase you down.” Lecter doesn’t finish speaking before Frederick Chilton is sprinting away. The chef huffs in amusement, not looking the slightest bit threatened. He turns to regard the rest of the group. “Your head start begins… now.” Alana Bloom and Bedelia Du Maurier exchange glances before running away. Mr. Komeda stumbles away, with Mrs. Komeda tugging him along. Freddie Lounds and James Gray run in opposite directions, foregoing the path straight ahead and diving through the trees and bushes. Margot Verger doesn’t hesitate to run away. Mason watches her go for a few seconds, before pursuing her. This leaves Chef Hannibal Lecter, Franklyn Froideveaux, and you. You turn on your heel, about to run alongside the exterior of the restaurant and behind the building. A loud clap interrupts your momentary escape. 

“Stay.” You swivel back around, only to see Lecter staring you down. His eyes are glittering in the dark night. You bite the inside of your cheek. Of course, you could simply ignore his command. However, you know you’ll be caught by his staff eventually, anyway. Might as well spare him the chase, you think to yourself. You nod and take a step to break the distance between the two of you. Franklyn sends you an incredulous gaze that you pretend not to notice. “We will go inside.” Lecter doesn’t wait for your answer, instead walking past you and back towards the door. You follow after him apprehensively, wondering what he could be planning. Perhaps he will slaughter you and serve you as the fifth course. The thought makes you shudder. You step through the opened doorway and stop once you’ve crossed the threshold. Chef Lecter is staring at Franklyn with a bored expression. 

“Not you,” he says, effectively dismissing the man. Franklyn, evidently embarrassed, steps back from the door. The attendant closes the door, leaving you as Lecter’s only dinner guest who is still in the building. The chef’s shoes click against the polished floors. You momentarily contemplate ducking down into a hallway, but you realize you don’t know the building well enough to ensure you have a fighting chance at escape. Lecter leads you through the kitchen and into another room, waiting for you to enter before closing the door behind you. The room is sparsely furnished.

“This entire evening has been meticulously planned,” the chef says, taking a seat. You move to do the same. “You are not according to the plan.” He doesn’t seem too troubled by the notion—it’s a mild inconvenience. You frown. Before, you had attributed the chef to be a person taking his grievances out on his guests—each of whom serves as a reason for his loss of love for his craft. You were wrong, you’re beginning to realize. Hannibal Lecter is doing this for his own amusement. The social commentary behind it all is certainly motivation for his actions, but he does not intend to offset the system—the fragile ecosystem of the high-end restaurant industry. He is utilizing it to cater to his desires. What exactly are his desires, though? 

“Why are you doing this?” you decide to ask, your heart hammering in your chest. 

“Whenever feasible, one should always try to eat the rude.” It is not an answer to your question, yet it somehow provides you an explanation nonetheless. From there, the chef manipulates the conversation expertly, asking you all sorts of questions about your childhood, your adult life, your career… You’re beginning to feel unnerved, all up until he releases you from your pseudo-captivity. His attention has been recaptured by his staff, which you are extremely grateful for. His gaze felt as if it was searing through you. When you return to the dining area, you’re surprised to find the rest of the guests are already seated. They look tired, their hair messy and their clothing slightly rumpled. Just as you sit down, you’re immediately assaulted with tons of questions from Franklyn. They start off innocuous enough, but soon descend into an envious madness.

“Why would he want to speak with you?” Franklyn spits, stabbing at the remains of his meal. You watch as he shoves another bite into his mouth, seemingly immune to the positively disgusted glare Chef Lecter is pointing at him right now. 

“Franklyn.” The chef is heading towards your table. Franklyn practically lights up upon the chef saying his name. Lecter steps impossibly closer, until he’s almost towering over your table. It feels as if he’s looking down on you—and he sort of is, from his position. You try to just breathe. His attention isn’t on you right now. “There’s something you haven’t told your friend here.” The chef’s tone is slightly mocking.  His mention of you throws you for a loop. 

You look to Franklyn, only to find that he’s steadily paling. Agitation itches beneath your skin as you try to rationalize what could possibly cause such a fearful expression. Lecter is nearly smirking from his position at your side. You grit your teeth and clench your fists under the tablecloth.

“What were you told about tonight?” Lecter prompts the man. Everyone is looking at Franklyn now. Even the kitchen seems to have fallen into an uneasy quiet. What could he have possibly been told about tonight? You’re not sure. 

“Everyone would die,” Franklyn admits. There’s a ringing sound suddenly, and it takes several seconds for you to realize the sound is in your mind. Every thought almost seems to come to a screeching halt, as you try to come to terms with the unshakeable fact that Franklyn willingly attended this dinner, despite knowing he would die. 

“And what happened to your original companion?” Lecter muses. “Who did you bring in Mr. Budge’s stead?” You don’t stay still for long enough to hear his next remark. There is a sharp knife lying next to your fork and spoon, almost as if this very interaction had been planned (if not for you, then certainly for Tobias Budge). Rage governs your every move, as you realize that Franklyn brought you here despite knowing you would die. This night was a death sentence, executed by Franklyn himself. Before you can contemplate the consequences, you lunge across the table in a fluid movement, before reaching out and cutting him. Before you can stab him, you’re roughly yanked backwards by someone. The knife slices at the skin on Franklyn’s cheek, and he screams loudly. You try to fight the person’s grip off, and it takes a few people to hold you back from Franklyn. When you see the shock and fear on his face, you’re filled with a cruel sense of satisfaction and vengeance. 

“That is enough,” the chef remarks, slicing through the tense air with a simple sentence. 

“Sorry, Chef,” Franklyn immediately replies, a bead of sweat trickling down his face. Does the thought of falling out of Lecter’s favor really distress him so? Although, when you think about it, you’re not sure if he was ever in the chef’s favor. 

The chef looks at you now. You don’t bother apologizing. You didn't do anything wrong. If you’re correct, Chef Lecter engineered that very interaction. You don’t regret lashing out at Franklyn, so you meet Lecter’s expectant gaze head-on. Eventually, he seems to come to terms with your resolve, because his attention falls back to Franklyn. 

“Franklyn,” the chef starts. You see Franklyn nearly go limp at the prospect of Lecter using his name. You grimace. Something feels wrong here. Indeed, the chef’s next remark seems to be an omen. “You believe yourself superior to me.” 

“No, Chef,” Franklyn is quick to say. The patrons around you are entirely silent. The room almost seems to buzz around you, ringing with unresolved tension. You think back to Franklyn’s hero worship of the chef, clumsily combined with his own attempts at thoughtful critiques. 

“You have made a mockery of my craft,” Lecter continues.

“No, Chef—” Franklyn sputters. 

“Now,” the chef breaks off, a glint in his eyes. “We will test your assertions. Come here,” the chef orders. Franklyn obeys and, once he’s in the kitchen, Lecter awards him an apron and ties it around him. Franklyn looks absolutely over the moon, but you see the gesture for what it really is: the final nail in his coffin. “Everyone, please step back. Franklyn will cook something for our guests.” A hollowed laughter echoes throughout the space as the cooks chuckle, before stepping back to let Franklyn have control over the kitchen. 

What ensues is quite easily the most embarrassing and humiliating display you have ever been forced to witness. By the end, there are tears slipping down Franklyn’s face. You almost feel bad for him—almost. Your sympathy quickly fades to obscurity when you remember that he invited you here despite being told everyone would die. 

When Franklyn’s dish is complete, there’s a renewed silence around the space as the chef takes a few steps forward and leans down to smell it. Chef Lecter motions for a cook to step next to him and gestures for them to taste the dish. The cook eats the food, their left eyebrow ticking up ever so slightly.

“How is it?” Lecter questions. 

“Horrible, Chef,” the cook answers. “The lamb is undercooked, and the sauce is practically inedible.” They grab a napkin and wipe their mouth, before putting it in the pocket of their apron and stepping back to join the rest of the cooking staff in the background. The background is an apt term for the group—they are mere backdrops, accessories, to Chef Lecter’s performance. 

“Do you see now, Franklyn?” Chef Lecter asks, an understanding smile on his face. All you can see is sharpened teeth and a crooked malice. “Guests must remain in the dining hall, just as cooks must remain in the kitchen. Take off your apron; you’re dismissed.” But Chef Lecter isn’t done yet. The moment Franklyn takes off his apron and holds it in a clenched fist, Lecter places a hand on his shoulder and leans in to whisper something to him. It’s incomprehensible to you, but you can still see the way Franklyn’s expression falls, before an eerie resolve sets his shoulders. Without explanation, Franklyn steps further into the kitchen and disappears from sight. 

Things don’t end there, however. Lecter then calls your name, beckoning you to follow after him as he weaves through the busy kitchen with ease. The rest of the patrons are banished to return to their seats. You glance back at them for a moment, before returning your attention to the chef in front of you. Once you turn the corner and are out of view of the guests, the chef turns on you. 

“Abigail was supposed to bring dessert,” the chef remarks. His gaze flits to the hostess behind you for a moment. You hadn’t noticed her presence. Lecter stares at you. “Fetch the barrel from the smokehouse. It is a key instrument for the next course.” You stare at him in disbelief. You desperately want to object, but you suppress the urge. Once you think about it, you realize you’re being given a golden opportunity: a chance to leave the restaurant and explore the premises. Perhaps you could find something to aid your escape. With that knowledge in the back of your mind, you accept Lecter’s request.  

You nod and turn around, intending to retrace your steps. You’re walking into the kitchen when something enters your field of vision. You squint and take a step closer, eyes widening as you process just what you’re seeing. Franklyn is hanging from a noose, feet hanging limp in the air. There’s a horrible motley of bruises around his neck and his eyes almost seem to pop out of their sockets. Your eyes are inexplicably led to the bloody cut on his cheek. You take a deep breath and pretend you didn��t see anything, before heading through the winding hall and exiting through the door Lecter mentioned. When you reach the open air, you feel a new sense of tranquility and calm hit you. The night air doesn’t know of the pain and suffering inflicted tonight; its briskness seems to ground you to the present.

You manage to make it to the smokehouse and, once you find the barrel, you drag it outside. However, knowing this may be your only opportunity for exploration, you decide to look around a little. Leaving the barrel to rest near the smokehouse, you head towards the nearest building. To your surprise, the side door is unlocked. When you open it, you’re certainly not expecting to be standing in a living room. Upon closer examination, this appears to be a home—the chef’s, most likely. Abigail had mentioned that all the cooking staff sleep in barracks, which leaves Lecter as the only viable owner of this residence. You look around the space, unsurprised to find that it looks meticulously clean. 

You look around a little more, finding a gleaming stainless steel kitchen and an elaborate dining room. There’s only one space that remains: hidden behind the wooden door that you’re currently staring at. You tentatively grasp the door knob and slowly twist it, only to find that it’s locked. You tug at the door again, only for the sound of footsteps to distract you. 

You turn around, your heart nearly jumping out of your chest as you see Abigail standing a short distance from you. “No one is supposed to enter Chef’s personal quarters,” Abigail remarks, her voice hollow. There’s a dullness to her eyes that disturbs you.

You frown. “Why are you here, then?” you ask. She stills for a moment, clearly not expecting the question. A moment later, the hostess regains her composure. 

“You were asked to fetch the barrel, because of my mistake,” Abigail recounts, eyebrows furrowing to let you know what she really thinks of that idea. She crosses her arms over her chest, her eyes gleaming in the dim lighting. “But Chef never asked me to fetch it.” There’s a dangerous look in her eyes and a weapon in her hand. 

It happens in the blink of an eye. One moment, Abigail is running at you; the next, you’re standing over her bleeding body. A knife juts out of her throat and it seems that she’s choking on her own blood. The light slowly leaves her eyes, until her form is terribly still on the kitchen floor. You take a shaky breath in, finding the effort rather laborious. It takes you several moments to come to terms with the fact that you just committed murder. Once you’re finally able to steel your nerves, you take the hostess’s key and walk over to the door. After twisting the key, the door swings open to reveal a hallway. You don’t make it more than a few steps into the hall before noticing a doorway to your left, barricaded by a steel door with a small glass window. Against your best judgment, you steal a glance through the window.

There are chains and sharpened tools lining the walls, metallic gleam burning your vision. A corpse hangs from the ceiling, flayed and mutilated beyond recognition. It isn’t even the thought of a corpse that frightens you. No, this corpse is different from the ones you saw in the smokehouse—this one isn’t an animal. The realization slowly sinks into your skin, sending your heart roaring in your ears. Human corpses hang from dangling meat hooks, in various states of mutilation. 

You’re suddenly immensely glad you never ate anything. That chicken thigh served in the third course… was probably not chicken. You shudder. One thought triumphs over all others in your mind: you need to leave.

Afraid of what else you may find, you decide to turn back. You retrace your steps and walk back through the kitchen with bloody flooring and the empty living room until you’re outside once more. The walk to the smokehouse is quick, but once you grab the barrel, you’re reminded of how heavy it is. Your trip back to the kitchen takes longer than you’d like but, fortunately, Chef Lecter doesn’t seem bothered by how long it takes you to return. He only nods and instructs you to give the barrel to one of the cooks. Lecter’s attention is then taken elsewhere—as he still has a dessert to prepare—so you decide to take advantage. You know a way out now, after all. You have to wait for an opportune moment to access the outside door, since cooks are mulling about the kitchen near the exit. Eventually, you manage to find an ideal time frame for your escape and, with equal apprehension and anticipation, you walk over to the door. Your hand doesn’t even clasp the doorknob before there’s a hand on your shoulder. 

“Leaving so soon?” You turn around, dread prickling across your skin as you’re faced with Chef Lecter’s disappointment. You’re not sure you’ll make it out of this alive, after all. Every time you blink, you see yourself as the next course in this absurdly fanciful feast. The Unwanted Guest, the chef would probably call it. “The final course hasn’t been served yet.”

You manifest a confidence that you don’t necessarily feel. “I’m finished eating,” you assert. Beneath what you hope is a cool exterior, you’re panicking. You can’t think of an excuse that will permit you to leave. Lecter seems to recognize that, because he only arches an eyebrow at you. He is not threatened.

“You’ll miss dessert,” he remarks, a sad smile on his face. You know the gesture is nothing but an act, a performance put on for an audience of one. You bite the inside of your cheek, stopping yourself from doing anything rash. 

“I’m not much of a sweets person,” you eventually say, when the torrent of noise in your mind manages to calm down. The kitchen continues to hustle and bustle behind you, providing a subdued background of sound. It’s not enough to drown out your fear. 

“Stay,” Chef Lecter insists. 

“I couldn’t possibly,” you answer. You need to think of something quickly. What could justify your departure? “My clothes…” you break off, motioning down to your dress clothes, which are now stained with Abigail’s blood and who knows what else. This is as good of an excuse as you have, but it just may work. Stained clothing is extremely improper, and if there’s one thing you’ve learned from this hellish night, it’s that Chef Lecter abhors rudeness. 

It must only be a few seconds of silence before Lecter speaks again, but it feels like an eternity. “Very well,” the chef finally responds. Lecter reaches towards you, his hand frighteningly close to your hip, before he opens the door for you. It feels too good to be true. There’s no way you actually convinced him to let you go, right? 

He’s still holding the door open. This isn’t a trick. As you stand in the doorway, you briefly contemplate staying to rescue the other people. You contemplate fighting back against this chef and his staff. The thought doesn’t last long—not when visages of the guests are conjured up in your mind’s eye—Mr and Mrs. Komeda’s annoyed, impatient expressions, Miss Lounds and Mr. Gray debating the integrity of an ingredient worth more than your very life, Franklyn eating while blood splatters, the researchers amicably discussing the lives of their patients over the very depiction of the chef’s own trauma, Mason Verger gazing at his sister predatorily. None of these people are worth saving. 

“Thank you for the meal,” you murmur to Lecter. Somehow, it feels like the appropriate thing to say. It must be a good choice, because a small smile appears on the chef’s face. It’s a fleeting gesture, but it almost looks genuine. 

“I hope to see you here again soon,” Lecter says. You don’t acknowledge that remark, instead turning on your heel and walking away. The chef’s ensuing laughter follows you and echoes in your ears, even as you board the ship and sail back to the mainland.

©2023, @defectivehero | @defectivevillain, All Rights Reserved.

Character Guide Chef Julian = Hannibal Lecter Margot = Reader Soren, Dave, and Bryce, business partners = Frederick Chilton, Bedelia Du Maurier, and Alana Bloom, research partners Lillian Bloom, food critic = Freddie Lounds Tim, Lillian’s editor = James Gray Tyler Ledford = Franklyn Froideveaux Ms. Westervelt, Tyler’s original guest = Tobias Budge Richard and Anne Leibrandt, restaurant regulars = Scott and Cheryl Komeda George Diaz, movie star = Mason Verger George’s personal assistant, Felicity Lynn = Margot Verger Elsa, Chef’s right hand = Abigail Hobbs

Adjusted Menu (Appetizer) Amuse bouche: compressed and pickled cucumber melon, milk snow, and charred lace. (First Course) The Island: plants from around the island, seaweed, raw scallop served on a rock from the island (Second Course) Breadless Bread Plate: no bread, savory accompaniments (Third Course) Memory: house-smoked chicken thigh, served with scissors stabbed in the meat, along with house-made tortillas (Fourth Course) The Mess: pressure-cooked vegetables, roasted filet, potato confit, beef au jus, and bone marrow Franklyn’s Bullshit: undercooked lamb with inedible shallot-leek butter sauce

Justifications At first, I thought Abigail as Elsa was a stretch. Then, I remembered that Abigail helped source the victims for her father, Garret Jacob Hobbs. That led me to conceptualize an older Abigail—one who wasn’t afraid to embrace the cruelty that she witnessed all around her. She is rather similar to Elsa, especially in the sense that she longs for Hannibal’s approval (just as Elsa longs for Julian’s). Just like Elsa, she is delegated to the sidelines—forced to carry out the chef’s every whim without even a moment’s gratitude.

Freddie Lounds as the food critic (Lillian) just makes perfect sense. She would be a perfect food critic—entirely unflinching and brutally honest. The Komedas fit pretty well too, and I wasn’t even aware of their existence until I looked through the Hannibal wiki for characters to substitute. Mrs. Komeda—and her husband, by extension—was a frequent guest at Hannibal’s dinner parties, which bled rather well into her status as a regular at his restaurant.

Since Hannibal’s relatives aren’t exactly alive or easily accessible, I scrapped the whole alcoholic mother bit that Julian had going, and instead just kept the third course as a vague allusion to Hannibal’s childhood. The bit about having the males hunt and the females dine felt misogynistic (and also exclusive of people who aren’t exclusively male/female), especially without the context of Katherine and Julian’s interactions, so I just scrapped it. Now, everyone gets to run from a murderer! Woooo!!

Y’all, I did A LOT of research for this fic… so pls lmk if u enjoyed reading it !!!! <3

TAGLIST (hoped y'all don't mind I'm tagging you in this, but I figured you'd like another Hannibal piece): @its-ares @tobbotobbs @xrisdoesntexist @gr1mmac3 @tiredstarcerberuslamb @yourlocalratwriter @kingkoku @kahuunknown @atlas-king1 @pendragon-writes @slipknotcentury @cryinersaved @the-ultimate-librarian @starre-eyes @pendragon-writes @peterparkeeperer @gayschlatt69

[ars-de-elysium]

I’m still working at finishing all the collectibles in Tape 1, but after replaying a majority of the scenes I figured it’s time for some of my Tape 2 Thoughts and Theories!! This will probably be updated after I play through a few more times to try out some of the different dialogue/choice options, so I’ll call this Part 1 for now!

Spoilers under the cut!

Most of my thoughts come from Present Day Swann and Co talking about the past, when they’re narrating over events from 1995, some of these are quick comments I believe were meant to slip under the radar while your attentions drawn elsewhere…

I’m really hoping to get better insight into Dylans character, its stated multiple times by Swann that if she knew everything that was going on that she may have spoken kinder of her (Depending on your dialogue choices,) and at first I assumed this to mean Kat’s Leukemia and trying to watch out for her sister, but after going through Corey’s things in his bike and reading the letter that she wrote him and the bruises on her face in the final scenes, I’m highly suspicious of Corey, but at the same time I think there’s more going on behind the scenes specifically with her family. Kat and Dylans parents sound extremely strict with multiple lines talking about the amount of trouble they’d be in simply being someplace they shouldn’t or even talking on the phone. Even Corey makes references to the girls parents and the punishment they’d face by not listening to them, yet not wanting to get in the middle of it himself.

And speaking of Corey, there’s another line of Dialogue given by Present Day Swann during the fight between all the girls and Corey at the Movie Palace/Ice Cream Shop. Autumn says that after things with Corey got worse, implying that we’ll see more of a conflict with him in Tape 2 given that the events at the Blue Spruce didn’t seem too different from other interactions with him. Tying that into one of the very first flashbacks we get while Swann is sitting in the car, I think that Corey will be our main antagonist in Tape 2, as the figure in the woods with the Wolf Mask shares some resemblance from the small bit we see of them- I also think that whatever event takes place with this character directly ties into something happening to the Mikaelsen Ranch. Autumn makes another comment about how Corey got blamed for ‘What Happened at the Ranch.’

The Mikaelsen Ranch seems to be the main attraction of Velvet Cove, with the Water Tower featuring Antlers that I assume connect to the towns obsession with the Deer Farm and Hunting. In the Present Day However, the Water Tower isn’t quite so glorious and Velvet Cove seems to not care about repairing it as other towns would for their prized attractions. While this could be an impact from the Abyss and it’s possible consequences, it could also be from Velvet Cove moving on from the ranch, the cork board outside of the Bar features one Pamphlet about the Ranch, but is otherwise covered in other events to experience in Velvet Cove, unfortunately the downfall of the Ranch could also be from the Mikaelsens grieving- (Which I don’t want to think about at all because I’m fully expecting Kat to walk into the Blue Spruce by the end of Tape 2. 😢) But we also know the Mikaelsen Ranch will be a major point of interest in Tape 2 as we see some event unfold possibly resulting in its Destruction, whatever happened it doesn’t seem like they were able to get it back to its former Glory and Velvet Cove appears to have moved on from its Deer Ranch Era.

And a fun little throwaway theory that I’m still playing around with is the connection between the Mining Article in the Blue Spruce and the Mining Letters/Mining Equipment left behind in Fawns Rest. The article mentions something about a bunch of Miners Missing from Copper Co. and people organizing a search for them, but based on what we found at Fawns Rest the Cabin could have belonged to one the Missing Miners, which begs the question did someone else find the Abyss before Swann and Co, or is the Abyss even a result of some Mining Accident gone wrong?

They’re’s probably a whole bunch of clues I’m missing in regard to any of my theories, and I still have some things to finish up in the game along with some dialogue options to try but regardless this game has me HOOKED. I can’t wait all the way until April 15, I need some answers now!! But for now, I’ll just have to settle with pouring everything into Tape 1 to search for some answers for now!!

[theglassesgirl]

Thank you for your insightful tags @a-bottle-of-tyelenol !

And I hope you don’t mind me using this opportunity to mention Calypso because i refrained from doing so in my initial response, after having written a whole thing about her a few months ago, but I do understand it being a polarizing creative choice to make it ambiguous.

A brief (for me at least) analysis of Sexual Assault in terms of Calypso and its parallel to the suitors under the read more:

My thoughts on it on this specific subject compared to what I’ve talked about before are as follows and serves as a parallel to what Penelope went through on her own island while her husband was trapped in another;

To be fair, I don’t think it’s necessarily sexist of Jorge to have removed the assault aspect of Circe and Calypso (as some are saying in the OPs own post which…is a take, I guess)

I DO think it was absolutely a choice he made because he did not feel equipped to broach the subject that way and I’ll explain that a little bit, but he still absolutely understands the necessity of it throughout the musical and works to make HIS choice work for the overall arc - and well! Mind you! I think he succeeded even when he held back.

If we look at the source material, it’s certainly intriguing that the MAIN character of the story is a victim or assault by two different gods across the years, who essentially imprison and abuse him. Because of this, I feel it ADDS to the terror and fear by the time we the readers make it to Penelope and Telemachus’s POV in the poem. Because by that point, we have SEEN the antagonists “win” - Odysseus, like his family, has been a prisoner strip of any agency and options, and if HE has suffered sexual violence, it becomes a very real possibility for his WIFE to face

(in a lot of ways, we could also view Oddy killing the suitors be a sort of catharsis for him in that aspect, to be able to kill these violent men the way he couldn’t the goddesses who did all that do him, before they could hurt his wife and son)

Jorge’s musical is MUCH tamer, because he himself might be uncomfortable with depicting that subject matter as a physical action, but it still has a similar vibe.

We see Odysseus was able to respectfully reject Circe, but she still came onto him (albeit to kill him, but he had to account for all possibilities) so when he’s faced with Calypso, it’s VERY shocking and upsetting that he isn’t able to do the same with her.

The ambiguity of the seven years has caused so much discourse yet I argue, and trust me I’ve argued about it so much, that in some ways it’s exactly the ambiguity that Penelope and Telemachus faced.

We will never know what EXACTLY happened to Odysseus on that island, and we will never know what EXACTLY happened on Ithaca either.

As far as we do know, Antinous and who knows how many others feel very comfortable using sexually violent language to Penelope’s SON. She’s clearly put up a strong and unaffected front that Telemachus admires her for, but I’m sure it’s taken a heavy toll on her - the same her husband has faced, and that Athena has seen. And as far as we know, whatever calypso has done, given her words (like Antinous’), made Odysseus openly suicidal at least once!

While one spouse has to look strong, the other is visibly very weakened. This dynamic is missed when we don’t see both Penelope and Odysseus as complimentary partners, even after two decades of being apart!

But anyway. Having said this, Jorge’s version still provides a sense of urgency and plays on the audiences psychological need for Penelope to get a happy ending.

Because we’ve seen Odysseus successfully turn down one goddess, and we’ve seen him suffer under another without the privilege of knowing the depth of what he went through - for Penelope, its once again utterly inverted.

She CANNOT turn down any of the suitors successfully (hence the impossible task being her last ditch high stakes gambit, because SHE knows none of them can do it, but also doesn’t know how violently they will react to discovering that) and Antinous and the other suitors have completely cast aside pretense and are planning to assault her - no more ambiguity.

Where her husband has survived his own assaulters (though not unscathed) we are made very aware that Penelope’s situation is far more dire and her options much more limited. We are made to feel RUSHED, urged to see her helped (by Athena, her son and FINALLY her husband)

Jorge’s creative choice is still true to the integrity of this arc, Circe and Calypso still represent a parallel and an inversion to Penelope’s own plight.

Is it frustrating that not having a definitive answer to the boundaries Calypso pushed Odysseus - very much, I personally DO see her as someone who got physical based on much of her lyrics but I don’t mind people who don’t. As I have oft said, even without her “successfully” assaulting him, even if all she did was stand in front and look at him for seven years straight - it’s a violation of his autonomy and truamatizinggggg

but we’re not talking about her so much as how her role now fits/changed in the story. Mostly it hasn’t, is my point! If we really take a step back and follow the thread of this particular arc, it serves its purpose as well as when what Calypso did WAS explicit. Which again is why I feel Jorge made the creative choice to make the suitors intention MORE explicit.

For me, at least, it’s a careful balance that makes you LOOK at these two storylines and forces you to consider their similarities. We might not approve of the change, but unlike the heinous suggestion that the suitors should be innocent victims and Penelope be made their pal, Calypso’s role STILL works and fits the narrative.

Nevertheless, it’s perfectly fine if you still feel that way about it, because lord knows I’m constantly debating several aspects of Calypo’s character with other people across social medias lol and I’m sooo sorry this response went beyond the scope of your initial comments (please let me know if you’d rather untag you! 😭)

[gluttony-moonstone64]

HEAR ME OUT! JUST HEAR ME OUT FOR ONCE!

Faux affably evil Doey AU!

(Faux affably evil for those who don’t know: A villain who pretends to be Affably Evil, which only highlights their monstrosity.)

I just wanna mix Doey’s old villainous and new hero antagonist personalities together in this AU since I like them both!

Some lore about the AU, tw for some spoilers bits for chapter 4. Also I’m sorry if the writing isn’t good and/or the faux affably evil trope is executed poorly, I’m an artist not a writer

The Player encounters Doey, reassuring that he wouldn’t eat you. He seems like a trust worthy ally at a first glance despite the suspicious first impression (He killed and ate Pianosaurus before putting on a playful and friendly act). The Player decides to follow him, not knowing about his true intentions, they got to the Save Haven now with Poppy and Kissy reunited with you, it’s full of lost toys that take refuge in it but they don’t seem to trust you for a bit, not yet. Doey gives you the task of getting rid of The Doctor and his subordinates, much to the annoyance of Poppy who insists that they should just blow up the factory, leading to an argument between the two, you broke up the fighting then go on your journey to stop The Doctor. After you return from defeating him and his subordinates, you noticed the Poppy, Kissy, and some of the other toys are missing within the Save Haven, as Odd Ed ran up to The Player with a scared look on his face before saying “I should’ve trusted you instead of HIM!” But before you find out about who Doey really is, you’re knocked out from behind. You woke up to find yourself in a cage room outside of a cage within the “Save Haven” your eyes dialed to Poppy and Kissy in a clay cell before looking towards Doey, who has eaten Ed recently, realizing that you and your allies have been tricked by him into believing that he’s their new ally. “All of you, especially the ex employee, would make such tender meals for me!” He let out a giggle before saying “Poor Ed wasn’t enough to satisfy my hunger.” Poppy then tells Doey that you, Kissy, and her are “nothing but skin and bones” as she described. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that you’ll be filling enough for me to eat.” And then he left the get some food for you and your allies, thinking about them being nothing more than delicious meals to him. While He’s gone to get food, you use your grab pack to break Poppy and Kissy free out of the clay cell and escape the “Save Haven” but as soon as they try to find an exit to try and focus on the main objective, you suddenly hear a loud “YOOOOU!” echoed from where you and your allies are. You, Poppy, and Kissy turned around to see Doey, who’s now in his hostile form and enraged that they have escaped “YOUR GENTLE VOICE LIED! AND NOW I’LL EAT ALL OF YOU WHILE YOU’RE STILL ALIVE!!” Then You and Kissy, who’s carrying Poppy, ran away as Doey chased after them.

[baconcolacan]

ColaLosers vs TomTord: Different Fonts - Same Font Family [short essay]

ColaLosers is rivals-to-lovers and TomTord is enemies-to-lovers. That’s the main talking point of this post. I could end this here, but I really REALLY want to gab about them so indulge me.

It’s probably obvious by now but I’m such an avid fan of the rivals-to-lovers and enemies-to-lovers trope, and yes, I do differentiate the two, but I also think they share an umbrella under the ‘antagonistic’ branch of the relationship types. They’re in the same family, but not exactly the same thing. To me, they are very closely tied to each other but only in a way that they can be viewed as two sides of the same coin, except one side is a bit shinier than the other.

Moving that pretentious preamble aside, this whole yapping session is just me explaining how I personally see ColaLosers and TomTord’s relationships, so buckle down a bit and listen to me over analyze two fictional fanon gay relationships.

Like I said above, there is a lot of overlap in how their relationships are portrayed by the fandom, but I really do think there’s a fundamental difference between the two with regards to the people who are involved in them. Now I’ll be very very subjective about this, because I know that my opinion isn’t shared by the fandom collective, we aren’t a monolith, so take whatever I say next as a personal take and doesn’t reflect everybody’s interpretations, even if I might sound like I’m preaching gospel truth with how I word things.

My opinion is formed by most of what I consumed from eddsworld [of course. i.e. eddisodes and comics] plus whatever crumbs we have of Tord [of course] so it might not even be accurate but like I said; this is the musings of a queer man over analyzing fictional fanon gay relationships.

So, ColaLosers, to me in the fandom they’re very peak rivals-to-lovers. Eduardo does have some unaddressed grievances with Edd, which drives a lot of his actions against him, but all in all, this really just comes out to a competitive drive that he cultivates between the two of them. While yes, he doesn’t like Edd for upstaging him in their past, and quite possibly giving him a minor trauma and inferiority complex, his reaction to him would at most be resentment and at the least irritation.

It doesn’t mean his negative feelings towards Edd is light of course, but his way to go about it is to create competition when he finds opportunity, albeit a little unfair as he doesn’t inform Edd about them, but sometimes he does, like when they both agree to art competitions or when he gives Edd the chance to one up him if he can. See hammer and fail, though he’s very mocking about it and makes a spectacle out of the situation, but we can argue that he’s trying to recreate his minor trauma to make Edd feel what he felt in that moment.

Eduardo, while petty and catty, really just wants to facilitate competition with Edd, partially to prove that he can be at the same level as him or more [mostly more], and he has shown that he’s able to show care about Edd [see PowerEdd] and would rather have them settle their score one-to-one without much outside interference.

In a ColaLosers lens, you can see this as him wanting to have Edd’s full attention focused solely on him, he isn’t looking for approval from people around them, though he may have once wanted that, he’s looking to have Edd’s acknowledgement, someone who everybody seemed to love on principle. Every time he does something, or accomplishes something, who does he tell first? Edd. If he could have his approval, it was more than enough, worth more than enough.

On Edd’s side, the relationship feels like something that drives him to be better. Usually, Edd doesn’t seem to mind the world around him, or what other people think or are doing, while he does have a penchant for competition, it’s mostly on the average level where he strives to prove that he can win it, like most people might when finding themselves in a competitive environment.

When it comes to Eduardo though, he seems to take it a lot more seriously. It might have started out as mild irritation, but Eduardo’s insistence to take his first place, and not a first place, has made him more inclined to defend his position with gusto rather than to prove something, because usually he has nothing to prove, why should he? It usually goes his way, woopie! And if it doesn’t? Who cares? It was dumb anyway.

But with Eduardo, ooh, a point lost to Eduardo would incense him.

Eduardo seems to be the only person who can push his buttons and fuel his drive, usually Edd’s the one who does the gloating, but Eduardo targets him specifically and that just drives him up the wall.

I like characterizing Edd as someone who has a subtle MC syndrome [lmao], and Eduardo is the only person to rip him from his fantasy that the world revolves around him [double lmao. EDDSworld], and that his spotlight could very easily be taken if he isn’t doing his best to defend it.

So yes, ColaLosers, they have an antagonistic relationship, but they aren’t praying for each others’ downfalls, not genuinely at least, and they foster the relationship through competitions and verbal jabbing.

I feel like Edd and Eduardo already know the kind of people they are, while there is room for growth, they’re sure of their positions in life, which makes their relationship already grounded on sure footing, the only thing left for them to do is to learn how to stop stepping on each others’ toes when they dance to their respective songs. They aren’t opposites, in fact, I would say that they’re very similar to each other [lol]. It would be easy for them to compromise, even if their egos don’t outwardly let them or show it. Plus, they might even enjoy their little back and forths.

Now, TomTord, ough good god, this ship is the death of me. I have been obsessed with this dynamic for such a long time, especially since I’m a fan of opposites attracting. Unlike ColaLosers however, they are the enemies-to-lovers ship, and I do mean enemies.

Tom and Tord have never seen eye to eye, they might have started as rivals, but they are unable to fully reign themselves in before they take it too far, unlike how I view what Edd and Eduardo do. Sure the latter can cause some damage to each other, but it doesn’t seem to become as lasting and bitter than when the former do it.

To be honest, I think Tord was the one to try and start a ‘friendly’ rivalry with Tom, but he wasn’t good at reading the kind of person that Tom was as they grew together. Seeing as Edd was his best friend, he might have mistakenly tried to carry over his friendship with Edd, into whatever relationship he was trying to foster with Tom. Edd is much more cavalier about things than Tom is, as despite acting like he doesn’t care, Tom is a very emotional person who’s just good at hiding away his feelings when he’s hurt. Tord could have mistakenly thought that Tom could handle what he dishes out, but Tom instead got hurt and started to harbor a growing resentment for him that was seeded by very negative feelings.

Tom is also known to lash out angrily, so it would be no surprise if Tord and he got into a very bad altercation, it might not even be physical, just really bad, where you know that hurtful, personal, and threatening things may have been said.

I genuinely think that, despite growing up together, Tom and Tord didn’t give each other time to understand the kind of persons they were, not caring enough to get to know each other on a deeper level and instead making assumptions about each other, and with Tom being very quick to anger and retaliate, and Tord perhaps taking things too personally and refusing to back down, their irritation with each other could very well become openly hostile as the years go by.

They do not know how to compromise.

Tom doesn’t care [at least when it comes to Tord], and Tord doesn’t want to learn.

They’re both convinced that the other is a straight-a douchebag. Tom thinks Tord is self-centered and grossly, maliciously, petty, and any positive thing about him, be it his devil-may-care attitude or extroverted tendencies, is extremely overshadowed by his flaws.  Meanwhile Tord thinks Tom is an angry asshole who gets ticked off at every minor thing, although Tord acknowledges that Tom is smart and can truly get in his way if he really put an effort into it, which to be honest, is somewhat of a backhanded compliment considering he thinks he puts his emotions first before logic.

They both have very strong personalities, but their selfishness and self-centered mentalities gets in the way of good personal growth, they both have a lot of issues as far as I can tell. Relationship-wise, they have already shown each other the worst of themselves, and would keep to their hostile relationship if they aren’t willing to disregard their preconceived notions.

I think, really, that any relationship they could start at this stage would purely stem from rage, and would most likely only be physical at the start [emotions are high, and loathing feels very similar to love on a physiological level], it won’t be a very good relationship as neither party is willing to compromise. It’s a doomed relationship, even from the very beginning.

To be honest, they need time apart, so Tord leaving could be a blessing in disguise, their [lets face it] obsession with each other is distracting them from their own personal growth, and becoming a healthier person requires a lot of vulnerability and ‘softness’ that they would refuse to show each other or would find shame in. Without a distracting outlet in their lives [i.e. them antagonizing each other], they would be forced to face the negativities about themselves without fully taking it out on someone else like they are wont to do with each other.

I think they both have the potential to compliment each other [be it good or bad depending on who you ask] but they need time and space to figure out who they are first before trying any sort of relationship with each other, they need to address their own issues before a good and healthy relationship can form. And with their old perspectives on each other, they would be very pleasantly surprised to discover the person behind all that negative light, and find that, well, he could be someone who could understand them, as they had already seen them at their worst.

I find it endearing for love to bloom when the other person had already seen your ugly parts, and slowly get to know the good in you, it’s very easy to fall in love with someone you already feel so strongly about, only to find that they aren’t as bad as you think, especially when it all stems from a misunderstanding, like I believe TomTord to be.

Also, its funny when they get together and be the cattiest fucking gay couple you know, they’ll be gossiping about everybody and be totally vile about it, but what does that matter to them? They’re both assholes, and they love each other, the outside world doesn’t exist to them, they live in their bubble and can be horrible together if they so wished. What’s a more devoted action than pressing the nuke button on everyone together? Date night would be a blast.

Anyway, that’s it I think, thanks for listening, this was awful, goodnight.

[arandomnerd810]

personal TADC character analysis

uh warning this is long lol

autism time let’s go (/not in a negative way i have autism) stretches hands * I’ll go in order of the character episodes cause why not we have it (see below) i’ll put periods but it will just be to make it more readable not to be intimidating lolll

btw im completely open to interpretations of characters changing throughout the series this is just for fun

Gooseworx has said this series is mostly focused on characters rather than lore, and from what we know, i truly believe it. I don’t think any of the current characters will abstract because of this.

(I put a version of this in the glitch inn discord theory thing so if you recognize it that’s why)

Pomni: we already know her deal pretty well, as we’ve already had her episode. uuuh if anyone’s going to do something important lore wise it will probably be her as she’s the main character but can’t rlly tell what that may be. to review ep 2 though she’s an outcast who has felt like she was nothing and is a logical thinker.

(Kinger and Zooble will there their focus episode but i put it in order of who was revealed to be the ep 3 focus first)

Zooble: From their design (the entire motif is it can be changed at any time) and the fact she doesn’t know his gender, we’re dealing with some pretty clear identity issues. Friends with Gangle seems cool excited for next episode to learn more about them!

Kinger: One of the most interesting characters so far. I feel like we will get to learn more about abstraction though Queenie, the X-ed out door that looks like a female version of him. If i had to guess, since Gooseworx said they were not siblings, they were a couple. (Also judging by his age and the fact he could have been married, he may have been a father yeowch imagine that) I can see the common theory of the insect collection implying he was a coder before getting trapped, but i could also see him being some random guy who just likes bugs lol. He seems like really sweet guy behind his constant anxiety and disassociating.

 Gangle: (My faveorite human rn) Her mask design can be interpreted in a lot of ways but it’s clear that the happy mask isn’t her real personality. My take on it rn is she doesn’t wana bother people with her stuff so she pretends she’s happy? She seems easily embarrassed and def has self esteem lower than the last circle of hell. What’s interesting though is she’s willing to stand up for herself from time to time, even though she’s easily shot down after.

Ragatha: Waaaay too nice for her own good. Also probably has self esteem lower than the last circle of hell and bases her self worth of others approval.  Though she’s been here the second longest, she seems a lot more normal than Kinger. Makes me question how long apart their introductions have been. Probably copes via escapism.

Jax: I can see why everyone is very interested in him cause me too. He seems like the only fourth wall breaky guy (unless you count Caine cause of his intro at the pilot)which is rlly interesting how did he figure out more than everyone else? what’s with the keys? i have no clue lmao. He’s an asshole who makes the best of his situation by torturing everyone else. At the end of the day though, he’s a human and was sad at kaufmo’s abstraction but he probably isolates himself so it would probably be the same for anyone

but waAitTt a moment

that’s 6 humans but Gooseworx said we would look into 7 (cause of the “other” part) in her twitter post talking about the character focus timeline so we know our fav character won’t be left behind ⁉️⁉️⁉️ I hear you not asking well my dear hypothetical person, who better to fill the 7th character than Caine?

Why you did not ask? Too bad i’m info dumping. First, he’s the main antagonist and alongside Pomni, the commercial face (or lack their of haha teeth and eye joke) of the series. he’s an important character and loved by many. (and hated equally if not more aside the point lmaooo)

Yes, gooseworx can lie about stuff but I think she’s smarter than to lead this heavy into Caine depth/ angst territory if there wasn’t going to be anything On top of that, the entire purpose of the timeline post was so we know our faveorite characters weren’t getting treated poorly. It’s unlike for a character based show to suddenly drop such a major character for some random other guy were introduced to later or smth. i mean cmon there’s three episodes after all the humans at least one of them has to be focused on my boy.

Caine: I believe he really does have good intentions and wants to help but just does not understand people at all. This means he’s like an anxiety disorder; it wants to help, solves some issues but creates 500 more. Judging by the Tumblr post, loneliness may play a big part in what’s to come? I’ve always had a feeling his front was extremely fake and his VA saying “breaks keyfable�� (an act that pretends it’s true) supports that theory. Episode two gives some insecurity vibes when Zooble didn’t want to go on the adventure. I find that pretty interesting cause he didn’t care at all if people went on the gloink adventure or not. Maybe he puts some adventures over others and he could have been proud of the candy adventure cause more time and care was put into it and he made a new AI. Why did he blue screen? i feel like he could have some blockages on what he can say built in though im not sure why he was blocked then if he even was. one of the biggest questions i have ab him currently tbh. what’s with him grabbing his cane like that in ep 2? if i had to guess simply be nervous = that? His VA also knows some depth to him even though his focus episode is likely going to be at least one of the last 3 episodes, which they have not gotten to recording yet. You know what this means Caine angst solidarity club? Sad Caine so more fan angst appetizers before the main cannon feast let’s friccin go‼️‼️⁉️⁉️

(try to guess my fav impossible /j)

[theladyheroine]

Predictions for the Sonic Cinematic Universe! 💙

❥ Hey everyone! So this post will be similar to my TMNT version, where I’ll just be guessing characters that could come in later movies or TV shows. Thank you & I hope you enjoy!

Silver the Hedgehog 🤍

Silver’s time to shine! Hopefully (lol) but I really hope he’s in the series soon! Since he’s one of the main members of the Hedgehog trio, as well as one of the protagonist in a major Sonic game, I feel he’ll fit in just fine! While I understand his debut didn’t go so well back in 2006, I think he has a big enough fan base to back him up too. Plus, Silver’s just so sweet & cool!

A time-traveling event would be such a great concept for a big film! Similar to the Rise of the TMNT movie, Silver could be an Older! Sonic’s apprentice from the future. Maybe something goes wrong and Silver has to travel back in time to fix it or warn Sonic.

As for portrayals, I like Silver the way he is but since he doesn’t show up too often, there could be ways to develop his personality a bit. While he’s very friendly, maybe making him shy or a little more hesitant than the other characters would fit. Since he might not have alot of heroic experience, Sonic might take on another mentor-ish/big brother role.

Rouge the Bat 💎

I know everyone wants Rouge in the Sonic movies and I do too! While she didn’t show up in the Knuckles series, she would make a great deuteragonist in the show later on! Or as a potential side character in the films! Although she would be a funny contrast to Knuckles with his stubborn, intimidating nature vs her laidback attitude.

Much similar to Shadow, posing as a former antagonist would do well for her, but Rogue feels more of a “mean girl” character than a big bad villain. Especially given her recent history in Sonic media. At the very least, she could be a jewel thief or treasure hunter who’s looking for the Master Emerald, but then decides to help everyone instead.

Continuing the “mean girl” perspective, a Movie version of Rouge would likely be interested in—well—her own interests. 😅 She knows what she wants & goes after it, but if it’s unavailable she might throw a fit… This could balance out Knuckles though if they interact, since he’s a lot more grounded but very loyal to everyone. Especially his allies!

Team Chaotix 🔎

These are characters I’m also very excited for! Ecstatic even! But since they come as a trio, there’s more to work with in adapting them for a film or TV show. Although they did have a cameo in the prequel comics! So hopefully that’s a sign!

Story-wise I think it would be a good opportunity to reunite the Chaotix with Knuckles! Plus they have some big in-game history with him in their first game, so it would be cool to have some sort of big mystery for them all to solve! Wade could tag along too & maybe the Chaotix become official detectives in Green Hills.

For personalities I think they would all be relatively the same, but I would LOVE to see Vector get into old noir films! Maybe try a few funny quips from the 1940s, only to say them wrong. 😅

Espio would be the type of character to just pop up out of no where all the time, like a true ninja! I also want to hear him with a Japanese voice actor, that I feel is just very fitting.

Since Charmy is already a hyperactive character, his energy could be a good contrast to Tails since they’re around the same age. Plus you got Colleen O'Shaughnessey doing two characters!

Tikal 🧡

Now I was a little unsure about Tikal appearing in the SCU considering she doesn’t appear very often & doesn’t reoccur either. But this could give her a chance to shine! Since she has big ties with Knuckles in the games, I think she could have at the very least a cameo or some kind of mention.

Her portrayal would be more fitting in the Knuckles TV show if they ever did a season 2 maybe. Since it mostly focuses on him, Tikal could be another ancestral spirit. Or if they really wanted to go big she could be another tribe member looking for Echidnas! That would be awesome!

Now all I really know about Tikal personality-wise is that she’s gentle & sweet! Her presence would be a nice addition to the cast; someone calming since the others can be very “upfront” with their abilities. Especially Sonic & Knuckles!

Thank you everyone for listening! Have a good day/night! ☀️🌖

[arotheosis]

Thoughts on Jan de la Vega and disability rep

I saw a post over on Twitter a while ago criticizing starstruck odyssey for having their only physically disabled character (Jan de la Vega) be a villain. As a physically disabled person myself, it’s kind of stuck with me, and I want to talk about why Jan actually was the kind of physical disability representation I really love seeing and would love to continue to see.

To be clear though, I also saw criticism of Jan’s character design not being considered a functional wheelchair. I think that’s a really valid criticism and I can’t speak on it cause I don’t use a wheelchair. I want to make it clear I’m referring specifically to the notion that Jan de la Vega is a villain, and therefore bad disability rep by being so.

First and foremost, Jan de la Vega isn’t a villain. By definition, at the start of the show Jan is an antagonist, as she is a force acting against our protagonists. But morally she’s not doing anything particularly different or more evil than what they’re doing. The world of starstruck is a world of lawlessness where morality is played fast and loose, and proldiers steal from each other all of the time. She’s a pirate. And a really good one at that. No one in the pc group is in any way hostile towards Jan after she takes their crates, they instead simply want to run away from her because they know she’s a formidable opponent. They respect her, to the point where Margaret expresses concern that she could end up recruiting people from the crew, because they’re impressed by her and understand that this is just what being a proldier is.

This doesn’t come off as villainous in the slightest. Jan is confident, capable, and smart. The players love her and want her to be on their side. And none of this is diminished by her disability. Jan being disabled is a part of her but it isn’t all that defines her. She makes her way through the galaxy doing what she needs to do and she’s allowed to be morally grey just like everyone else.

This moral greyness and the way that it’s not criticized by the crew is one of the things I value most about her. I find that often disabled characters are treated as these angelic miraculous characters that always do the right thing and are meant to inspire the audience. It almost feels infantilizing to assume that disabled characters always have to be morally pure and perfect. Jan isn’t evil, she isn’t a villain, she’s simply allowed to be as messy and as human as everyone else.

Very often I’ll watch a piece of media and think to myself “oh, someone like me really could never have adventures like this,” when I watch characters have to do even the mildest physically strenuous activity. But I could see myself being a starstruck proldier the way Jan is. Her using a wheelchair is never shown to impede her, and she’s good enough at fighting with it that she can take down Sidney, one of the most formidable fighters in the cast.

I love that. I love being able to see myself as a bitchy, grouchy space pirate that gets shit done no matter what methods she has to use. That feels so much more real than the millions of “look at this incredible and always perfect disabled person surpass their disability” pieces of media out there.

Now I will say I’d love to see more active disability representation on dimension 20. But I also will concede that this is a type of media where that type of thing is a little more difficult than just adding a disabled main character into any season. I wouldn’t necessarily want to see a physically disabled pc played by a non physically disabled player, for example. Even if they were willing to do a crazy level of deep dive and research, there’s something about the lived experience that would be lost.

Dimension 20 should absolutely increase the diversity of its cast though and I’d love to see a physically disabled player at the dome. In the meantime though it couldn’t hurt to have more physically disabled npcs, though hopefully some more research can be done to ensure fully accurate visual and story representation.

[seraphinitegames]

The Wayhaven Chronicles - Update 25/August/2023

(So sorry I forgot to post this last week) So this week I did a bit more fleshing out to the scenes I wanted to go back to before the next step.

One particular scene was good fun! I got to build out an…interesting conversation between a certain character and the villain (I’m calling them full villain now rather than antagonist because, well, they are pretty darn bad, hehe!). The moment gives the player a deeper insight into how the villain thinks—or likes to portray that they think!—and about why it is they’re doing what they’re doing.

It’s really fun getting to explore how these things happening are viewed by different characters!

Some of the other scenes I looked at again are some quite big moments in the romances too. Some things really can push forwards with those, and the scenes are ones I’ve been thinking of for a very, very long time! So I want to make sure they still work with all the new ideas I’ve been adding into the plan—so far they have so that’s a major happy relief!

Next week, I’ll be moving onto the next step and printing out the plan to begin breaking it down into more detail.

My hopes are having the plan so super detailed means that writing will go smoother, and I can get it done a lot quicker. I can already see that the way I’m setting out the chapters and the individual scenes is going to be WAY better to organize in my head as well as on paper!

But the next stage is also where I’ll be thinking of how to add in the storyline I’d been umming and ahhing about that I now really want to do…

A villain romance! :D

This isn’t 100% for sure yet, and it won’t take away from the main romances (which are always my priority) at all as it will only be available in the ‘Friend’ route where the MC isn’t romancing anyone.

It also will be a villain romance. And this baddy is bad. Like, pretty much non-redeemable kind of bad. So obviously…that’ll be personal preference as to whether it’s right for you, hehe!

The only reason I’ve been contemplating it is because this villain only pops up for Book Four, so I don’t have to worry about extra branches and variations for future books, which means it won’t be adding too much workload.

Plus they are just…yeah, I really like them even though they’re awful, lol! And the way they go about interacting with the MC already opens up the easy possibility of a romance.

So some exciting things this week, and I’m really eager to get onto the next stage to put me another step closer to starting writing! :D Hope you all have the most fantastic weekend! It's a bank holiday here on Monday in the UK, so I'll talk to you all again next week!

[forestfiresandfics]

Foils and Mirrors

Another oft misconstrued literary technique is that of the foil. It may just be me misconstruing it though, considering I have to periodically look up the definition because I’ve gotten it confused again. Character foils are two characters who interact and by their interaction, their differences are highlighted. TV tropes describes it as ‘the foil behind a jewel to make it shine brighter’ but another way to look at it would be the way yellow shows up better on a black background compared to white. Foils are defined by their differences. Mirror characters are defined by their similarities. 

While I don’t think it’s wrong to call 3rd life Grian and Martyn foils per say, I think a more interesting reading is them as mirrors. And really, the two aren’t mutually exclusive. I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Third life features a lot of parallels, both in plot and character arc, and the Desert Duo and Renchanting are often pointed to when it comes to discussions of this. I think it’s worth also including Flower Husbands in that list as well. And every day I consider adding Cleo and Bdubs to that list as well, but I haven’t quite decided how well they work, so for now I’ll focus on just the three groups. I will often in my writing and musing and comments and stuff refer to these three pairs as the ‘red-green’ pairs, because they spend a protracted amount of time where one of them is on their green life and the other is on their red. Scar and Grian are the most extreme example of this, spending 5 and a half episodes like that. But the timing of it aside, what’s maybe more important is that each of these teams entered into the battle of the red desert as one red and one green each. A pivotal moment in the story where we also see everyone mirroring each other. 

I think it’s fair to view Desert Duo and Renchanting as mirrors, with the flower husbands acting as foils to the others. Each share enough in common that it’s worth discussing all three groups, but while the desert faction and the kingdom share basically the exact same plot lines and traits, the hobbits serve as something of an alternative option—what they ‘could have been.’ Also fun, is that the Flower Husbands spend nearly, but not quite, equal time with both other groups: doing their job well as foils in the context of contrast-via-interaction. They discuss their statuses and their plans, and as far as the reading of ‘desert duo: protagonists’ and ‘renchanting: antagonists’ go, the flower husbands are ideologically neutral for most of the series. They make friends where they can, call out bullshit where they see it, and it wasn’t until they were thrown into the war that they actually participated in taking sides. 

So what are the similarities between each, and what are the differences? The similarities come first. All three groups are red-green pairs. All three pairs have some kind of strong partnership, all three pairs have a scene where the red of the relationship offers fealty with a trinket (flowers for the husbands, flowers for the desert, and depending how you see it either the rabbit’s foot or the axe for the kingdom). As I suggested before, Desert Duo and Renchanting have even more in common. Both partnerships began because of a debt, both leaders are businessmen, both leaders are red and indentures green, both of the indentures are the “brains of the operation,” both indentures grumble their way through the partnership at first before becoming devoted, and both sit on either side of the server wide war—not just as participants but as the ringleaders. There is also literally even a scene where Martyn tells Ren to put his clothes back on (“me lord? Fancy putting your armour on?”). Frankly this is just scratching the surface, it’s insane how perfect mirrors they are. 

This similarity between the two main groups on the server really highlight the tragedy (lowercase t) of the death game, how these two groups ended up mortal enemies simply because of the world they live in, despite having more in common than differences. And the flower husbands as foils in my opinion ALSO make it sadder. While renchanting and desert duo are messing around with complicated hierarchical relationships and testing loyalty and ordering their partners around, the husbands are working together out of trust and respect. Scott starts out with his fellow greens in rejecting the partnership at first, but he demonstrates what mutualistic relationship should look like, not to mention a relationship that doesn’t make itself the whole server’s problem.

This is already getting long so I won’t get into this next bit too far, but while the red-green pairs foil and mirror each other, each pair also serves as a foil for themselves. Scar is confident while Grian is timid, Ren is trying to do a lot all at once while Martyn is organized and keeps him in line. Jimmy is friendly while Scott is matter of fact. All the reds end up acting as cloudcuckoolanders with the greens to bring them back down to earth and on track. They are all somewhat odd couples, they are very different from one another, and the juxtaposition of these differences highlights each other’s traits as well as their strengths and weaknesses. These partnerships are all advantageous, and they can each fill in for the other’s weaknesses. All three partnerships wouldn’t have made it as far as they did without each other. Not that this makes them idillic partners, they each have their flaws as well, but that’s not really the point. They each help the other shine, like the backing of a jewel. 

Masterlist

[pumpkinsplots]

Writeblr Intro

Hello, writeblr! I finally caved and got tumblr, mostly because I love rambling about my wips and hearing other people ramble about theirs and all of that lovely stuff, so this seemed like a great platform to do that. With that being said, I plan on posting about my wips and ocs, as well as art related to those things, so if that interests you at all, I’d love to see you stick around. Also feel free to call me either Pumpkin or Maria, it’s entirely up to you!

About my writing

I’ve found that I really enjoy writing in a variety of genres, so hopefully at least one of my wips will tickle your fancy. Though I’d say a common thing for me is that I really like to world build, so my wips tend to be sci-fi, fantasy, or magical realism of some variety. Anything where I can put my own spin on the setting is something I’m bound to enjoy writing about.

I write in third person, usually with multiple povs, and I really enjoy character driven stories.

I often like to have a wide variety of ages in the cast, and if I had to pick a favorite trope it would be found family, so that’s usually present to some degree in my stuff.

Tonally, I always include light-hearted moments here and there, even if the wip is very bleak. It provides some levity, and I think it makes the painful stuff hit a lot harder. This is probably partially why I put some thought into each character’s sense of humor.

Most of my wips are geared towards older teens and adults, but I’ll get more into content warnings when I talk about each individually, because it really varies.

I’m one of those writers that kills off a lot of characters, so this is your warning not to get attached /j

I’m demisexual, so at least one character being on the ace spectrum is like a requirement for me at this point.

I’m a plantser, and pretty bad at staying motivated to actually finish first drafts.

About my wips

Falling Up

Falling Up is a sci-if story set in the future where Earth is a utopia where inhabitants experience little to no hardships throughout their lives. The deceased are replaced with AI created to replicate them, and everything is automated to the point where people no longer need to work to make a living. This lack of struggle results in dull, perfect lives and skewed morals. The people crave entertainment, even if it means making others suffer for it. Quasdom, a miniature man made planet initially intended to be used to separate deviants from the rest of the perfect society, is used as a catalyst for entertainment. The people of Quasdom believe that those on Earth are superior to them, and that Earth is a place where any wish can come true. This leads to the tourney, a death game between groups of ten on Quasdom, being viewed similarly to winning the lottery. The winning team gets to go to Earth, after all. Being chosen for the tourney is the luckiest thing that can happen to you. There’s no hard feelings between participants, death is completely painless, and the afterlife will welcome any participants to a better life than they previously had. There’s nothing to fear, so smile and put on a show.

A large cast and lots of character deaths

An exploration of why we get so attached to fictional characters, and how fiction can have an impact on reality

Probably going to be a trilogy

Content warnings include language, some unsettling themes, depictions of mental health issues, and generally things that are more psychological. Despite it being a death game, there’s no gore, like at all. The people on Earth may be desensitized, but they aren’t accustomed to seeing blood, so the tourney is designed with that in mind

Facade

Facade is set in a world where the living world and the spirit world coexist. Due to some actions by the main antagonist, about 20 years prior to the current story, spirits started getting aggressive and sort of going haywire. They possess any person they can, turning the individual into an uncontrollable killing machine. The best defense to this was the invention of a certain kind of mask that prevents possession, and masks quickly became widespread. Since there’s no known way to reverse spiritual possession, the only solution is to kill those that are unfortunate enough to meet that fate. A group led by an anonymous vigilante known as K9 seek to find a way to reverse possession. Many enemies are made along the way, and there are countless obstacles to face.

Its setting is based on Singapore and set in the 90s, though there are many creative liberties taken

The wip is currently pretty no plot just vibes

Themes about individuality vs equality

Content warnings include language and some sexual content

Facade: After Dark

While Facade is currently no plot just vibes, developing the characters led to me thinking of the plot for a prequel. Is it a self-indulgent novella about two of the characters I love? Yes, absolutely. In summary, it’s a romance novella about the the relationship of Leijing and Iris, and their struggles in navigating the wild world of Facade. They have vastly different upbringings and experiences, but their differences bring them together in more ways than one.

I have so much backstory for this pre-established couple and I couldn’t think of a good way to incorporate it into the main story without cutting a bunch of it, so boom it’s a prequel now

I’ve found that working on a wip that’s more low stakes and simple is really fun—I tend to get stressed about my more ambitious plots, so this wip is a great change of pace

Leijing is demisexual with little interest in anything sex related and Iris is an omnisexual sex worker, and the story explores how a world obsessed with all things sex can effect both more sex-negative and sex-positive people

Content warnings include language, explicit sexual content, and potentially triggering subject matters. This is my only wip where it’s strictly 18+!

Lights Out

Sunlight is the essence of life. Without it, the world would wither away. However, a dangerous new life form of unknown origin festers in the light. With long, elegant glimmering limbs, high intelligence, picturesque precision, and a craving for flesh, these organisms pose a major threat to humanity. But for some odd reason, these creatures refuse to step into any area where the sun doesn’t touch. Much of humanity takes to the shadows, building elaborate underground tunnels for civilizations and doing what humans do best—using their resources and ingenuity to adapt.

Has two protagonists that butt heads but start to develop a father daughter dynamic. A young adult girl who’s from the underground and unknowingly part of a cult, and an older man with one leg who’s so stubborn he’d rather fight and die than flee to the darkness

Lots of creepy cult imagery and themes about religious trauma

So much banter of course

Content warnings include language, disturbing imagery, and gore

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! Asks, comments, tag games, and messages are always appreciated, and I’d love to hear about your wips as well!

[dragonbma]

What are some scrapped concepts from any of your AUs?

Oh boy I wish I had seen this ask sooner because I have SO MUCH to say. Can of worms has officially opened! The peak 2023 brainrot I had last year spawned countless (around 20) MC:SM AUs. Most of which were one-off ideas where I just wanted to design something without thinking too much about a story. Since then, I’ve whittled it down to a handful I still doodle and write for behind the scenes. (Listed below)

Scrapped design/plot concepts:

Starting off with my favorite AU, Possession!Vos had a plethora of designs before I decided I didn’t want his looks to change much and that just surviving the plot was deviation enough. He almost looked like this whenever Romeo was in control: (essentially Romeo’s side profile would manifest and obscure half of Vos’ face, mirroring whatever expression the other half had)

If I had to think of which AU had the most scrapped scenes, that award goes to the Drowned!Vos AU. The poor aftermath of that story was reworked so many times (mostly because I was indecisive just how antagonistic Romeo would be to the man he cursed to be a soggy zombie forever.) In the first draft, Romeo was so mad that Drowned failed to kill Jack that he completely abandoned him, but that since changed to the Admin being an ongoing antagonist who teleports over when Drowned is alone to belittle him. (Slight gore warning for this next bit.) In one of the more devious scrapped scenes, Romeo enchants his boots with Frost Walker and partially freezes Drowned solid before stomping his leg and breaking it off.

Oarfishposting, while also going through three name changes throughout its time (cod help me), also did a complete 180 in plot. It was almost a basic mad scientist plot where Romeo captured and experimented on any “losers” that couldn’t win his challenges. The adventure trio of course lost the temple, but since Sammy was too far gone and Jack got the hell out of there, Vos was all that was left. Oarfish!Vos was very close to resembling a Frankenstein amalgamation. Of course I am much happier with the final story because a world where everyone is half animal and there is a god trying to trap the rarer hybrids in temples is much more unique and fun to play with.

For the last scrapped plot point I’ll mention, there was a fun idea I was playing around with in the Fantasy Trio AU where instead of Mage!Vos getting turned to solid obsidian, he is instead trapped in a mirror dimension. The mechanics of the challenge were as follows: adventurers enter a large, circular room in the castle and are presented with a myriad of doors along the walls. The floor is a giant mirror which reflects everything above it… albeit slightly different. Anyone one who enters the room has a moving statue reflecting their actions; So long as the statues are not shattered, they can swap places with their statues to enter the mirror dimension. (Their statues would then exist in the real world until they swap back.) Doors in the main room have no knobs so Mage opts to swap places with his statue to start opening the doors in the mirror dimension which do have knobs. Most doors lead to nothing, but some spawn enemies. TLDR: They eventually find the boss of the room, a large drake with a key around its neck, but it headbutts Mage and shatters his statue, rendering him unable to swap places back to the real world after the drake is defeated.

Scrapped AUs:

One AU I scrapped entirely (because Jack doesn’t die from the mess cliff fall) was a Death Trio AU where once Jack re-enters the Sea Temple, he’s haunted by ghastly apparitions of his old friends and how they died until he too eventually meets his demise in the Underneath. Vos’ skin is entirely obsidian and he can cry lava. Sammy bears resemblance to the elder guardians, now sprouting fins, scales, and their one giant eye. Though he doesn’t actually die in game, Jack’s downfall would have been the mesa cliff he falls off if Jesse refuses to give Porkchop their swords. His dead form gets a desert face covering and he leaves a trail of sand he coughs up.

Mercraft: Fish Mode started out as an AU where all characters were merfolk, but I decided it would work better as just a drawing challenge instead of Mermay.

Some crossovers I really didn’t do much with were MC:SM x Flight Rising, Night at the Museum, Wings of Fire, Pokémon, and The Odyssey. Most of these were me wanting to design stuff so I’ll try to sum them up quick. The FR and WoF AUs were excuses for me to draw the cast as dragons. The NatM crossover spawned from a dream where I found a modded version of MC:SM where you play as Jesse, Petra, or Lukas (all night guards) and tended to the museum. Other characters were museum exhibits such as Gabriel being Teddy, Reuben being Rexy, and the Admins as the Egyptians; In all honesty I remember very little from the dream save for Romeo (Kahmunrah) shaking Vos (Jedediah) around in a brita filter. Pokémon AU spawned from me rewatching “Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea” and realizing there’s a character named Jack whose partner is a chatot. The main premise is the basic “everyone has a partner Pokémon” AU where the adventure trio visit the Sea Temple (guardians are huntails, elder guardians are gyarados, colossus are regice… and there’s also a type: null there for uhh plot reasons.) Lastly, I just love The Odyssey so making Jack, Vos, and Sammy > Eurylochus, Odysseus, and Polities was too good to pass up. Plus Polyphemus works perfectly as an elder guardian + Romeo as a very pissed Poseidon.

Main AUs: Vos Possession AU, Drowned!Vos AU, Oarfishposting, ‘Neath!Vos AU, Champion Vos AU, and most recently Admin Accomplice

Secondary/Hiatus AUs: TempleSwap, Fantasy Trio, Abyssal Symptoms, Chipped!Vos, Angel, and Sentry

Honorable mention to the one-off crack AUs that I scrapped immediately because they were just for giggles. Holepunched AU: the obsidian cage does not open when it falls and uh just lands on Vos. 💥 Rip. It was nicknamed Holepunched because Sammy’s ghost has a gaping hole in her chest from the guardian beam and Vos’ is just sliced in half. Feather Falling AU: Vos survives all those years on one heart, but ultimately takes fall damage when Jesse releases him. Funnily enough, that one was made on a whim where I was just trying to cause a friend psychic damage, but she did me one better by saying it would be worse if he didn’t poof upon hitting the floor, but only dissipated when Jack tried to hug him. :[

[chaoxgardens]

An In-Depth Analysis of Sonilver in Sonic 06 (with some other media sprinkled in)

Sonilver is a pairing very near and dear to my heart, but exclusively when it comes to their “rival era” of sorts. (Aka earlier iterations of Silver, primarily Sonic 06)

I believe that they shine best when they have their own goals and either 1: clash heads or 2: team up, depending on if their goals align or not. But we’ll get to that in more detail later. Let’s get to it, shall we?

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There’s a real irony to their dynamic in this game that I’ve never seen discussed online before. As we all know, Sonic is pretty much the main force or “bringer” of justice in the Sonic universe. I’ll go into more detail about Sonic himself at a later date, but regardless the universe would probably be utterly fucked without the blue blur.

Silver has no prior knowledge of Sonic’s achievements or ideals because he’s from 200 years in the future, and Sonic would be long-gone at that point. (In any canonical sense at least) All he knows about the guy is what Mephiles has told him, that he’s the Iblis Trigger who must be killed to restore peace to his future. Silver then convinces himself it’s okay to kill Sonic because it will bring the justice that his future deserves, even if he has to kill a man (hedgehog) to do it. Ironic, huh? Silver must kill the blinding blue light of justice himself to get the justice he wants for his future.

Even as he meets Sonic in person and gets glimpses of his true nature, (through his own confrontations with Sonic and his allies that defend him) he doubles down and gets more aggressive, believing he MUST be right.

I believe Silver’s sense of pride and stubbornness tends to get overlooked and people instead cling onto the term Naive like a lifeboat, but that’s for another time.

When Silver learns the true story of Mephile’s deceit and Sonic’s nature, that pride and stubbornness prevents him from a proper apology, and he instead pulls the “Circumstances have changed” card. (I love that aspect of his character by the way)

Sonic isn’t the kind of guy to hold grudges, so he quickly forgives him and they become allies. Despite my love for their rivalry, I think this shift to allies works well in 06. Their mutual respect and Silver taking the initiative to carry on when Sonic “dies” is really heartwarming and contrasts well with their earlier interactions. Now, since this is Sonic 06, none of this actually happened technically, and they forget about they had ever met. The angst is real and I love it!

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Maybe I’ll go more in depth with the Sonic Rivals series at a later date but I’ll give the basics to further my point. Sonic rivals continues their rivalry (hence the name) and has them meet again having no prior knowledge of eachother. The two butt heads as they both try to find Eggman Nega individually, but they eventually set aside their differences and work together when it suits the situation best.

The same thing happens in Sonic Rivals 2 despite their prior team up and their rivalry becomes more competitive than antagonistic. I think this shift between rival or allies depending on the situation is the pinnacle of Sonilver (as is any other pairing in Sonadilver). It highlights their individual ideals and goals while also showing their similarities and sheer ability to thrive as a team.

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Unfortunately as the years have gone by their rivalry has been watered down to a more palatable allyship with some occasionally teasing. This is mostly due to IDW, but I’ll be here for hours if I discuss all my gripes with that comic series.

Instead, I’ll just say that while I find the teasing endearing, I missed their initial resolve to solve things on their own before working together when they must. I just feel like there’s a lot more flavor and intrigue to that angle that compliments both of their characters better. Regardless, there’s nothing I can do about that. I’ll just continue to wish for my Sonilver beef on a silver platter without an expectation of change.

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Now you may be asking, okay we get it. They have a cool dynamic, but how do you think a romance between the two would play out? You see, the funny thing is that I don’t want them to become romantic. Sure they might have some hidden not so platonic feelings that they will continue to suppress for eternity (I’m more a queerplatonic shipper myself) , but to try to force them into the standard romantic relationship would absolutely destroy what makes their dynamic so interesting in the first place.

Of course, if you do enjoy romantic Sonilver all the power to ya’, (Sonic and Silver characterizations are so consistent from game to game anyways that it’s nearly impossible to be wrong.) but I personally just don’t see the appeal of putting them in that sort of relationship considering the dynamic I enjoy best.

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Feel free to comment or DM if you have anything to add, I’d love to hear your opinion regardless if you agree with me or not. Let’s just all be civil, alright?

Also as a little addition, I’ve added a song that I think fits my ideal Sonilver dynamic to a T.

- Jay🦔‼️