#i'm going to fucking beat the shit out of you

[potatoes83]

I appreciate the modifier "almost". Now, there was definitely a shift between the idealism of the white picket fence, the perfect family, Honey, I'm home world of the 50s and 60s, and say Married with Children, or The Simpsons. Both great sitcoms in their own right, but it was definitely a relatively new trope of the tit for tat between Peg and Al, or walking through the door to find Lisa on a hunger strike, and Bart smashing a hole through the drywall with a hammer, because reasons.

But there was this trope that definitely started more in the mid to latter period of our idealized Americana, and it most quickly comes to mind with The Flintstones. Now, I've opined on this before, but it bugs the hell out of me, because it's one we haven't yet been able to crack. It remains insidious. There's two sides to this. The first, and perhaps most obvious, is the fact that while Fred and Wilma love each other, one wrong move and she can be an absolute balls cutting bitch. Like seriously, if you have to sneak around to go bowling with the water buffalo lodge, crawling through the window of your own home because it's late and Wilma is either waiting to beat your ass with a cast iron skillet, or get pissed off and go to her mother's with the kid, what the hell is that? Like, living in the real non-idealized world, I don't have to worry about these sort of retributions. There is not going to be punishment or resentment because I want to hang out with my friends.

But then the other side, probably more subtle, is the fact that Fred is a freaking clod. And in this trope, the man always is. Wilma is pissed because Fred managed to forget their anniversary, went out bowling with the guys instead, said he'd be home by 8:00 to watch the kid because Wilma has a graniteware party or some shit that she told him about weeks ago, and instead comes sneaking in at a quarter to 12.

Now of course, the writing on this is just cheap humor. Supposedly relatable, one of those "uh oh, Fred's in the dog house again, we've all been there" sort of things. That's the point of a sitcom, it's idealized, dramatized, all sorts of other ized... but this thing started around that time, and it remains damaging to this day. Because if you look at male female couples as portrayed by the media, you see one of two things.

Going back to the age of The Flintstones, Fred is this big stupid blowhard popping off to anyone who will listen that he's the man of the house, he's not going to take no guff from Wilma for hanging out with the guys, and then comes home completely cucked both because she's downright vicious, but also kind of has a point because he's in the wrong, and is too arrogant to realize it because man. She's been cooking and cleaning all day, she asked him to do one thing, and he managed to screw it up because man. And you see that these days. Oh, she's pissed off, well he's just going to double down, he's going to tell her who the man of the house is, and then he gets the look. Granted, you see this one quite a bit less as time has gone on, because in general, you see strong men a lot less.

So then there's the other thing, and this is a more modern take, where the man is just a fucking idiot. I mean just this completely helpless man-child, thank goodness he is with this snarky judgmental always right woman, because if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't be able to tie his shoes. Anything more complicated than football, nachos, and grunting, he is invariably going to fuck up, so we need her to come to the rescue by clicking something on her cell phone and calling in professionals to deal with it. Of course, while giving a snarky comment, and a holier than thou look. Good thing he's busy watching the game, he won't be in the way when she's getting railed by the plumber she had to call because he couldn't figure out how to put soap in the dishwasher.

What It ultimately boils down to is partnership. I won't even say equality, because that word has been really somewhat co-opted, and wouldn't come across is what I'm trying to get at. Marriage is a partnership. And there are traditional roles. But that is certainly not to say that you are locked into them. Historically, the man does the outside yard work, maybe not the flower gardening, works and provides for the family, the woman takes care of the inside stuff, the cooking the cleaning the vacuuming and all that. He provides for the home, she makes the home. And there is nothing wrong with this, that was a big change with the radfem movement of the 60s, was this idea that so-called traditional gender roles were somehow subjugating to women.

So in our case, I'm the primary provider, I maintain the outside of the house, the home repairs and upkeep, let's call that the traditional masculine gender role. But then I also do most of the cooking. I enjoy it, and I happen to be a trained chef. I'm also home first by a couple hours. The laundry is, I would say, probably split evenly if not leaning a little more towards me, but then it's like I'll do the laundry, but she'll fold and put away all the laundry. Partnership. What It ultimately boils down to is what needs doing. If I'm in the kitchen and the dishwasher needs unloading and reloading, then I'll probably do it. Or maybe she will. She might vacuum, I might vacuum, it just depends who decides to take it upon themselves to do it.

So in a partnership, neither of you are stuck doing a certain thing, or more to the point condemned to do it because of some arbitrary rule. Like she has never mowed the lawn, but that's because it's something that I really enjoy doing. It's a great way to blow off the stress of the work week, it's something that I just really like. And I can't think of any chore around here that she's done that I haven't, but that's because I lived with roommates or out on my own for quite a few years.

I'm getting off on a tangent here, but the point is, we somehow went from an idealism that was based on a reality of partnership, to this almost him versus her scenario. If I had to sneak around and lie to hang out with my friends because she's going to be pissed off no matter what, I wouldn't have married her. And she is strong, intelligent, and beautiful, so if I was one of those "woman, I worked all day, get in that kitchen and cook me a steak" kind of lunkheads, I would hope she wouldn't have married me either. I recognize that. I'm 41 years old. And was raised with two parents, both of whom were in a partnership to run the house and raise a family.

I mean, imagine being a young man today. If you have any kind of strength or self-confidence, you're told that's toxic masculinity, and you just can't be doing that. All your masculine role models in the media are cucks, and why would you want to date the judgmental trash that is portrayed as a woman. This shit needs to change, and I'm not talking a Hallmark movie script either; real, substantive change. Nuclear family, backbone of society, partnerships, in which both parties better each other. 🥔

[howi99]

A Knight second chance 13

Qrow: *cocking one eyebrow after watching the video of Jaune and Glynda's spar* What the hell was that, kid? Didn't you say you wanted to stay low profile?

Jaune: That was the plan at first, but i'm realizing that if i want everyone to survive, they need to step up their game. And i've got something to distract both Ozpin and Ironwood.

Qrow: *pensive* I see... *Point to Roman* Is this why that weasel sitting next to you, too?

Roman: *smirk* Qrow, nice seeing you again. How's your love life going?

Qrow: *smirk back* I dunno, how was it to be beaten by my niece?

Jaune: You know each other?

Roman: *leaning back in his chair* We went to Beacon together. *Sigh* His sister was a complete psychopath-

Qrow: *Grinning* You stole her sword during your first spare against her, of course she would beat the shit out of you.

Roman: *shrug* It was funny at the time.

Qrow: *chuckle* True that!

Jaune: ... *Shake his head, refocusing on why he gathered them here* In any case, Roman, you got the information we need against Lionheart?

Roman: *placing the documents on the table* All there. He wasn't the best at erasing his trace. *Sigh* 25 mission reclassified as low danger, given to inexperienced huntsmen teams.

Qrow: *picking up the document* For fuck sake... More than 200 huntsmen were killed, how did we not see that?

Roman: Mistral is the kingdom of crime. Falsifying documents was as easy as it gets for him.

Jaune: *looking at his scroll* Welp, i gotta go.

Qrow: *frown* Why's that?

Jaune: *sigh* Miss Glynda, psychiatrist extraordinaire, is asking for immediate attendance.

Qrow: *wince* That little bout with your friend is really biting your ass, huh?

Jaune: *groan* You have no idea. *Leave*

_ _ _

At the end of the appointment

Jaune: *perplexed* Something is weird happening with Penny?

Glynda: *picking up some papers* Miss Polendina has recently been suffering from multiple nightmares. *looking at the documents* Weirdly enough, she keeps saying something about there being "Nothing" and- *looking back at Jaune who is glowing faintly* Jaune?

Jaune: *mumbling* Nothing... Nothing happened...

Glynda: *worried* Jaune, what's wrong?

Jaune: *grabbing his head* What did i do wrong!? Why was i left behind?! Because i didn't follow a script?!? *The glow starts to intensify* I just wanted to get back! I- *feel Glynda sit next to him* ... *Hug her, crying*

_ _ _

Ozpin: *looking up with a smile, as Glynda entered his Office* Ah, Glynda, did- *sees her eyes, red from crying* ... *Sigh* Was it-

Glynda: *shaking her head* Worse. *Sitting on a chair* It was so much worse than anything we might have expected...

Ozpin: *worried* What-

Glynda: *trembling* Nothing happened...

Ozpin: *perplexed* What do you mean?

Glynda: ... Their was no knight to save the day, no cat to show you the way and no trees that could help you change for the better... A story that was never written... A destiny that can never be... *Shake her head* No wonder we never found that book, it never existed in the first place...

[creatie123]

CHOI SU-BONG/THANOS X PREGNANT!READER PART 3

Part 1 Part 2 part 3 Part 4

Tw: rape, manipulation, drug use, strong language, emotional whiplash, dead dove do not eat, some angst, some comfort, Thanos being a bipolar mess

~~~

“Thanos , dude are you in here? They said it's meal time. Are you with that chick?” His friend calls out.

Su-bong leans forward and whispers in my ear to not leave his side the rest of the games, before taking my hand and pulling me off the toilet. “Nam su I’ll meet you outside my brotha..” he says helping me get my jacket back on. 

There was a bit of grumbling about his name before the door closed again. Su-bong pulls me in and places a gentle kiss on my lips. Then another and another, each one more harsh than the last. My mind was spinning while I made out with my ex boyfriend in the bathroom of the death games, “su-bong,” I pant.

“Say my name again señorita” I stifle a laugh at the old nickname.

“Su-bong we should go.” I say between his attack of kisses.

He groans before leaving one final bruising kiss on my lips before taking my hand and leading me out of the bathroom and back into the room where we just made it to get our meals.

I look up to say something to su-bong but he is or their. I look around for his purple hair and find him talking to Myung-gi. Shit. I know damn well what they are talking about and I watch as su-bong shoves his food into his face, and Myung-gi tackles him to the ground.

“Piece of shit! Get off him, dickhead. You fսcking asshоlе.” myung-gi

“Fսck off.” su-bong exclaims

“You little bitch!” nam-gyu yells.

Everyone starts murmuring around the room.

“mοthеrfսckеr! You know how much money I lost because of you, fuckface? fսck you! Let me get a hit in too. You fսcking…” 

Myung-gi groans

They continue to fight and wrestle around on the ground until 001 breaks them up and beats su-bong and nam-gyu down. The whole room erupted with applause as the two idiots make their way back over to me

I look at him disappointed. “Don't look at me like that senorita he had it coming. mother fucker mad us loose everything.”

He notices my boxed dinner discarded to the side and his mood immediately shifts. “Senorita, you need to eat to stay strong.” he says looking at my belly.

“It smells awful.” Even before my pregnancy I never liked kimchi.

He picks up my box lunch and takes the egg with his chopsticks bringing it up to my lips. I look at the egg then him before opening my mouth to take a bite of the egg.

“I’ll eat the kimchi ok babe? But you gotta eat the rest ok?” I nod, taking another bite of the egg that he still holds up to my lips. Besides being understated, the meal was good.

Feeling full I lean back against the wall. Su-bong's friend, nam-gyu joined us complaining about not being able to find us. The same voice as the first game rings out over the intercom saying lights out will begin in ten minutes. I settle into my bed turning to face the wall so my belly is protected against everyone in the room. A body settles down beside me and I can tell it is su-bong by the tattooed hand that wraps around my waist to rest gently on my stomach.

The voice on the intercom rings out over the room, “Lights out will begin in 3… 2… 1…” the lights go out and the room is bathed in black. The only source of light is from the large piggy bank in the center ceiling of the room, and a small window where a triangle guard watches over us. I settle in su-bongs arms letting my tired eyes close as I drift off to sleep.

I'm woken in the middle of the night to soft kisses on my neck. “Su-bong?” I whisper to not wake anyone else. He props himself over me and looks down at me.

“Did I wake you senorita? So sorry.” he says, planting an open mouthed kiss just below my jaw line. I know for a fact that it left a mark.

“What are you doing?” I hissed.

“I’ve missed you so much, seeing you knocked up with my kid is so fucking hot. Tell me you miss me too. I know you missed this girl.”

“Su-bong, are you serious? There are hundreds of people here.”

“So what, I'll take you wherever and whenever I want, they would be lucky to have a show of you moaning for me.” he says, rocking his hips against mine.

“Su-bong please we can't do this here. Plus the b-” im cut off with his hand covering my mouth.

“Did I not speak clear enough for your stupid little pregnant mind could understand I’ll take you wherever. And. whenever. I fucking want and you will thank me for it too, you dirty bitch.” he says.

His other hand trails down my body and he shoves himself down my pants  to begin rubbing my sensitive clit. 

“You're already wet, you dirty girl. You always loved this didn’t you, me forcing you to cum on my hand. On my cock. You fucking love it. Say you love it.” he grunts in my ear.

I shake my head no, tears welling in my eyes as my legs shake. I grip his wrist and try pushing his hand away, he lets go of my mouth to slap me across the face before immediately covering my mouth again to stifle the cry of pain. “The fuck do you think youre doing pushing my hand away you stupid slut. You're lucky i'm giving you my attention back, if you just shut up maybe I’ll even let you cum.” he says

His hand moves my soaked underwear aside and my back arches as painful pleasure shoots to my stomach. My cries are stifled by his hand over my mouth, and it does not take me long to reach my orgasm. “Fuckign slut. You didn't even last ten minutes. You were that desperate for me huh? don’t worry you will have all my attention from now on. I'll even be generous and let you rest for tonight, we need you to be strong for the games after all, huh senorita. Don't expect me to go gentle everytime I still need to teach you a lesson for trying to leave me.”

Panic shoots through my chest. And I start to struggle against his hold again. He shushes me kissing my forehead then my temple then finally he moves his hand and kisses my lips. “Now go to sleep, you need your rest senorita.” he says, settling behind me again.

It takes me a while to fall back asleep but when I do it feels like it is over in minutes. The morning music plays out as the lights turn on, I turn onto my back and immediately notice su-bong is not there. I feel a pained sense of relief waking up alone.

We are all told to line up and make our way to the next game. I look around and see 222 talking to myung-gi. I walk up to them to hear the last part of their conversation about him wanting to talk to her when they get out of here.

I tap her on the shoulder and she whips around to face me, a look of relief flashing across her face. 

“Want to walk together?” I ask

She nods and I follow close behind her as we walk towards the next game.

When we are all gathered in the room the voice over the intercom, “Players, welcome to the second game. We will begin shortly. This game will be played in teams. Please take the next ten minutes to divide into groups of five. I will now repeat the instructions. This game will be played in teams. You will be given ten minutes to divide into teams of five.”

Player 222 and I look at each other and start walking around. I can hear su-bong calling out my name but I ignore him. Soon we come across players 001, 546, 388 and 390. We walked up to them asking if they needed any more players. They look at us 388 and start to fiddle with his shirt.

“I’m sorry we only need one more.” 001 says.

I step behind 222 and push her forward gently, “please keep her safe she is pregnant.”

“But so are you,” she says, turning to me.

The men look between us dumbfounded. I smile down at her, “it's ok I’ll find another group. Stay safe ok?” I say before giving the men a pointed stare and walking away.

Anxiety fills my stomach as the clock counts down with five seconds to spare, I look around, as the clock hits one a hand grabs my arm and pulls me into their chest.

~~~

I'm honestly getting so tired of writing Thanos as mean, I might have Celina steal his drugs so he isn't mean for a bit but who knows, maybe I'll do a chapter of just angst, the possibilities are just endless, anyhoooo hope you guys enjoyed, please leave any feed back you may have or any suggestions you would like to see going forward. my requests are also open so let me know if there is anything itching your beautiful brains!

til next time

-creatie

[tobiasdrake]

How would you write Majin Boo and Yamcha in the Tournament of Power, instead of Roshi and 17?

Honestly, Buu would be pretty game-breaking. I can't really conceive of any reason why Buu wouldn't absorb Jiren and anticlimactically waste everybody else fighting in the tournament.

As the be-all end-all final villain of Dragon Ball, Buu's ability to just eat whoever's stronger than him and gain their power for himself is completely busted. It makes it very difficult to write him into scenarios where he is a struggling underdog trying to compete with a superior foe.

Which is probably why Super snubs him so much. This is a character who has near limitless regeneration on top of the ability to turn every single fighter in the tournament into candy and he can just absorb everybody who's stronger than him whenever he runs into a brick wall. That's great for an overpowered villain that we need to find some way to beat, but terrible for a protagonist who needs to be challenged.

Like. It cannot be understated how devastating Buu's Candy Beam would be here. He can spread it over a wide area. He could literally step out onto that stage and Gobstopper every fighter from every universe simultaneously.

And sure, some of them would be able to Universe's Strongest Jawbreaker that shit. But it's still kind of purpose-defeating if like 80% of the assembled fighters are KO'd in the first three seconds. Buu just waves his antenna and erases anyone who isn't Power Levels enough to compete with Vegetto? Okay, man. There go all the fun fights for the weaker characters. Buh-bye.

Even then, if they aren't allowed to fly, like... how are they supposed to fight now? Is Gobstopper Jiren just supposed to spend the rest of the arc rolling into other gobstoppers super hard to ping them off the field?

Actually, that sounds amazing. XD

But in an AU capacity, not in a "This is seriously the plot of the show" capacity.

I don't think Toriyama would have kept Buu around if he wasn't planning on closing the book on Dragon Ball shortly after. Buu joining the supporting cast is very much a "Fuck it, we're done anyway" decision that the series is now paying for, and its solution is to just... find ways to conveniently kick him out of the cast over and over again.

Going into the Tournament of Power... Like, right from the get-go, Buu is going to be nerfed by the rules of the tournament. He can't eat people. That would probably be how you get around the "Buu just deletes half the tournament roster" problem.

He's just. He's not allowed to use his powers. Sorry. Buu has to fight with one hand behind his back. Dem's the rules.

I don't know if he would actually abide by that rule. He might just end up disqualified after eating Toppo. Buu is a selfish, impulsive hedonist who reflexively lashes out at authority. He's just gonna do whatever he wants and let the chips fall where they may.

But if Mr. Satan tells him not to eat anyone, he... probably won't eat anyone? Might still Candy Beam them though. Turning them all into marbles and rolling them off the stage would technically be within the terms of a "NO EATING PEOPLE" restriction.

Buu's crowd control options are bad for the narrative integrity of a battle royale. Even right now, I'm trying to figure out how he could be involved and still having to write around his powerset rather than being able to incorporate and challenge it to its fullest.

I don't know. It's honestly difficult to incorporate him in a way that would be respectful and utilize him in interesting ways without letting him dominate and break the plot.

I think he could work as the villain of another universe's story. Have Buu take the field as the threat that's gonna carry us to victory until fighters from another universe find a way to team up and take him down.

But for the life of me, I can't get around, "Why doesn't he just Candy Beam the entire arena?"

...

As for Yamcha, I probably wouldn't write him into the Tournament of Power. Yamcha quit during the Cell arc and I'm entirely happy to let him. If I was writing Yamcha in Super, probably the only thing I'd do with him is properly introduce his new girlfriend from the end of the Cell Games.

Put an actual name and a face to her, so the fandom can stop ignoring her existence when they complain that Bulma condemned Yamcha to die alone and unloved.

I mean, I'd pick Yamcha over Roshi, to be sure. I feel like the series has forgotten that the Muten-Roshi isn't Goku's "One True Master" or anything like that. Goku has a lot of respect for the man who set him on his path, and he wears the Kame-senryu dogi out of that respect. But he learned everything Roshi had to teach him and left him in the dust long ago, a fact that made Roshi proud.

That story is over. The Muten-Roshi is a 300-year-old man who just wants to enjoy his retirement. Stop trying to make him relevant again! And also just. In general. Stop trying to make "Goku the wide-eyed pupil" happen again. It's done. He's a master now. Let him be a master.

Lotta beefs with DBS.

But yeah, while I agree with the criticism of "Why Roshi and not Yamcha", it's only to the extent that going with Yamcha is still kicking the can down the road. I cannot conceive of a single way that Yamcha's character or the story would be enriched by the Tournament of Power, that wouldn't just feel like hollow fanservice.

"Yamcha got to WIN A FIGHT AGAINST SOMEONE. This one's for you, Yamcha stans! Okay, he's done, someone punt this dipshit off the stage."

Which. To be fair. A lot of the ToP is hollow fanservice. I... did not like that arc very much. Or DBS as a whole, for that matter. So I'm probably not the guy to figure out the best way to utilize characters in it.

But for me, I'd be more interested in a proper Yamcha epilogue that closes out his character on a satisfying note and sends him off, than in desperately trying to drag Yamcha back into the game and shackling him into a status quo he already respectfully bowed out of.

[curlyshepardconfirmed]

Curly Shepard headcannons right now

Oh my fuck where do I start

Putting ts under the cut or whatever it's called so the hoard doesn't rage at me

Well the first one is that Curly is his legal name bc Tim knew that he and Angela were gonna be twins but he was planning for two girls, so he had Angela's name picked out already but when Curly showed up he just stood there like 🧍‍♂️. looked at his hair and then named him Curly the rest is history

Oh yeah and he and Angela are twins and he's older by two minutes but everyone thinks it's Angela who's older because he doesn't act the most mature (he's immature as FUCK) but he likes rubbing it in Angela's face

AUDhd, definitely hyperactive and inattentive but it's the 60s so his dad just said he was too stupid and decided to homeschool him and that ended with him getting beat more often than not

He helped Tim kill his dad the day that things got out of hand, and honestly to this day he's had no qualms about it whatsoever since he'd never seen that man as a father more than he did a beast.

Curly's extremely sensitive about his hair because hes always sort of associated touch with pain, especially because his dad didn't know how to take care of his type of hair, he'd fuck him up in the bathroom after getting frustrated with the tangles and knots and curls. Tim took over the hair routines for Curly and Angela once he found Curly alone in a bubble bath with bruises and a comb stuck in his hair unaware of how long his little brother had been in there

Curly drinks, not as much as Angela does, but certainly enough for it to be concerning. He's only really able to regulate how much he drinks because it reminds him of his father, the things he'd do while drunk.

He's liked Ponyboy since they were young but he's also the kind of little shit to bully him because he likes him. Like he'd dump ice down the back of his shirt and run off and throw sticks at him but then the two became friends and eventually boyfriends though curly went fucking crazy when pony dated Cathy btw.

He won't ever admit it but he despises it when he's alone. He hates being alone more than anything, it's why he starts as many fights as he does. You'll never find Curly alone, he's always trailing someone or hanging out with his friends or with Angela

He is such a fucking tattletale man and I'm pretty sure this is canon bc he told on Dally to Tim about his tires. Tim knows basically anything Curly knows so the few months where he wouldnt tell Tim about ponyboy it was kinda concerning

He is the funniest and whiniest mf when he's injured like someone will dial the shepard house phone like hey can curly hang out and he'll be like no but i can sit the fuck down and wait for you to come over and people will get mad at him for the obvious attitude but he won't give a flying fuck bc he'll point out that he's injured and whine abt it so Tim and Angela are just stuck with the nuisance taking up the couch and milking the injury as long as he can

When its actually serious though, Curly would ignore all his injuries if he wants to go to a rumble, or if Tim needed help, or if the gang needed help

Uhhhh I'm sure i have more somewhere but you can just ask me specifics I really don't care I'll answer any asks as long as they're not weird

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Well, at least Fukuzawa got his wish granted, I guess.... he's finally inside Fukuchi <3

[moongothic]

You know when I originally suggested that maybe Dragon is the one who gave Crocodile his scar and/or took his left hand --if only because [Dragon not recognizing the big scary man with a baby when he was supposed to go see his wife, assuming the worst and acting accordingly] would make for an A-Class tragedy and great fucking drama (something which I would expect to see in One Piece)-- I wasn't fully convinced with the idea, I just considdered it just another option on What Could Have Happened between those two to get us where we are ...But the more I think about it, the more I've started to kind of believe it. And for two key reasons, first being kind of everything we know about Whitebeard, and the second being the basic logistics around the suggested scenario to begin with

By which I mean; if Dragon had indeed gone to see his wife so he could deliver their newborn baby to Garp, but instead came face-to-face with a man he had never seen before but who just happened to have the exact same and very specific facial scar as his wife and/or the same god damn hook... Like I can't say he SHOULD be able to recognize Crocodile instantly, but also, surely either of those features would make him stop for a moment think and/or talk before he'd jump into action, let alone if the man had both the scar and the hook. Of course, there is an argument to be made that maybe Crocodile had a smaller hook originally that no longer fit on his wrist after getting jacked so maybe Crocodile just wasn't wearing any hook at all, and a missing limb isn't an unusual disability on its own, at least not enough to faze Dragon. And who knows, maybe the two were supposed to meet on a dark and stormy night, in which case between the low light and the rain it could've been hard for Dragon to see any scars on Crocodile's face from a distance. These are both reasonable arguments, absolutely. But, as I have mentioned a few times before, sometimes the path of least resistance might be the most likely option as far as story speculation goes. If Crocodile had both his hands and no scar on his face, then Dragon wouldn't have had any way to immidiately and instantly recognize Croc (aside from his fashion sense) as he would've been missing (what we would now considder) his most distinquishing features. Which would it much easier for Dragon to jump into action and attack the strange man without a second thought.

And then there's Whitebeard. Whitebeard, who was kind of famous for stomping rookie pirates only to invite them to join his crew as his "sons", but who also had a weird thing about not having women in his crew (his nurses aside), because he believed "women do not belong on a battlefield". For one, that actually kind of supports the "Crocodile is openly trans" theory because, again, how the fuck would Croc have been pre-t AND stealth as a Wardlord getting his shit kicked in by Whitebeard? Like it's not impossible, as we have discussed many times before (and that is not the point of this post!!), but once again it would be easier to just assume Crocodile was still living as a woman at this point in time. And indeed, that could answer the question of "why would Whitebeard not invite Crocodile into his crew to be one of his children like Ace and everyone else?". If Croc was still living and presenting as a woman at this point, Whitebeard would not have even wanted him in his crew. (Sidenote but since Whitebeard seemed to have no issues with Jinbei hanging around the Moby Dick despite being a Warlord I don't think Crocodile's Shichibukai status should've had any impact on WB's ability to invite him to his crew. To be fair though, Jinbei did join the Shichibukai much later so it is possible WB could've just changed his position on the subject over the years) And that leads to this question; if Whitebeard has that kind of views on women, then would he ever go as far as to severely injure and scar (someone he viewed as) a woman right on their face? With an attack that could have very easily chopped Crocodile's entire head in half like a god damn burger bun if he weren't careful? Do you think Whitebeard would have chopped Crocodile's left hand off and left him permanently disabled if he viewed him as a woman who shouldn't be a fighter to begin with? Yes, to be fair, we do not know the circumstances under which Crocodile challenged Whitebeard into a fight and what kind of a pirate Crocodile had been up until that point, what his reputation had been and if he had done anything in particular to invite Whitebeard's wrath (much like Kid and Barto with Shanks). Like for all we know he could've done something truly heinous and fucked up enough that Whitebeard thought teaching him a lesson was justified.

Just, looking at all of these notes together, I can't help but to feel that it's actually very plausible Dragon could be the one responsible for one of Crocodile's injuries if not both (if Crocodad Real).

[queenoftsage]

Is it just me, or do I find it...

EXTREMELY beautiful and satisfatory, to watch Park Shin Hye, beating the shit out of a scum bag?!? [a douche bag of the male presenting type.]

It's... I am set for this! I am looking forward to next week's episodes!

This new character of hers is giving Jang Man Wol, Nanno, and Go[Ko] Moon Young if they became one entity ... in HELL.. lol.

AKA- Justitia go get em GIRL!

I'm not even joking how much I'm sitting there laughing my ass off and bouncing on my chair like a giddy little child watching this shit.

Have we found something that's up there with 'Hotel Del Luna', 'Girl From Nowhere', and 'It's Okay To Not Be Okay'!?

... I hope so.

[gxlden-angels]

Bro I hate fundamentalists and culturally-fundie parents they'll say shit like "spare the rod spoil the child am I right haha yea my parents used to have to beat my ass with a switch almost everyday but I sure did learn my lesson" but like??? no you didn't??? you were hit multiple times for something you very obviously did not, in fact, learn

Like studies about how harmful even lightly spanking children is aside, you're literally contradicting yourself?? Some even admitted they got worse as they got older cause they wanted to see how far they could push their parents before they got punished

And studies not aside, you're gonna get child raising advice from the same book that tells you to stone your wife if her hymen doesn't break on your wedding night instead of the decades of research we have now?? Just say you're a bad parent and move on my guy. Skill issue

[hiding-under-the-willow]

Evil campy old men with extreme facial hair, government connections, a desire for world domination, a penchant for red eyewear and extravagant coats, a silly queer-coded sidekick character, and a vendetta against animal children Town, population: These Two Assholes

I love being 100 years late to trends and have wanted an excuse to draw these two together for so long. The funniest part of working on this drawing was looking up reference pictures of Abbot and being met with a picture of Robotnik because apparently every other bitch who has consumed both of these pieces of media has looked at them and decided they are the same guy in different fonts

[skrunksthatwunk]

idk if i've discussed it before (i have certainly THOUGHT about it) but someone on my kuwa suffering ep 89 comp mentioned it and i just had to go off about it like. ok. sensui tells yusuke something along the lines of "you heard itsuki" when itsuki's inside the uraotoko, implying that not only can sensui hear those inside the uraotoko, but that he expects yusuke to be able to as well. which means that yusuke Almost Certainly Heard And Kind Of Ignored kuwabara's prolonged mental breakdown and wailing about how much he needs yusuke to live etc. which. guHHH i hate him yusuke you ass but also listen.

the only acknowledgement yusuke gives to this (if any) is when he says something like "sensui you're sooo fucking cooked this plan's going perfectly (my friends are going to get strong and kill you when i die)." he's trash talking to sensui, ignoring the others because, i think, he doesn't want to acknowledge what he's doing to them.

yusuke is explicitly recreating the experience he had with kuwabara's "death" at the hands of toguro, complete with the announcement of intent (and power) to kill, the inability to impede the threat in any way (barring a power-breakthrough), and the target in some way racing towards/volunteering for their death. yusuke learns through doing, and through tough love-style approaches. it's only effective if it hurts. watching kuwabara die like that was devastating to yusuke, but it sure as hell fucking worked. he beat toguro because of that maneuver. so even if he has to (re-)traumatize his friends in the process, this method will make his friends stronger, and he feels confident in that. but he never had to live with the consequences of kuwabara's death, not really. that's something hiei makes clear before they enter the cave as well, that there are no fake-outs ready to make him or anyone else stronger. the only deaths here will be real. the only power gained will come at a high, permanent cost. hiei's warning is an attempt to keep everyone alive, to keep yusuke from being stupid. and then yusuke decides to take that fatality into his own hands, but it's kind of his friends who would pay the price. he's going to make them live through the days, months, years without him, the actual permanency of loss (assuming they survive for that long), something he never experienced with kuwabara (a new facet of that traumatic scenario), AND he's escaping the emotional fallout of this choice through death. he doesn't have to see them mourn, won't get yelled at, won't watch them fail to move on. he's tapping out and choosing to believe they'll be fine.

but i think he feels guilty. just a little. i mean, yusuke couldn't even believe that people cared about him enough to want him alive in episode one. he's staked everything on his friends, which means he still kind of... doesn't value his own life, at least not compared to theirs. but he believes his friends love him and want him around, and we know that because he has to, or else he wouldn't make a plan that depends entirely on that love. he is actively leveraging the care he doesn't think he deserves, trying to hurt them in a way he is intimately familiar with (only worse), for.... what, exactly?

this is kind of my sticking point tbh. i don't think the answer is... super clear, but let's start with what it's not.

yusuke is not doing this because it is the most practical way to save all of humanity; that would be the mafukan, which he stopped. it could be a gamble to save all of his friends? the mafukan strategy would guarantee koenma's death/eternal imprisonment, whereas this strategy gambles all of humanity on the chance that his friends come out of the Easy Break Oven strong enough to avert the end of the world. if the sacrifice of even one friend is completely intolerable, perhaps he'd accept those slim odds and their steep consequences. yusuke tends to take risks like that, especially when he's got fight-induced tunnel vision. he doesn't think things through too much; his schemes are usually dependent on surprising his enemy enough to oneshot them. truthfully, i think this is the closest we'll get to an answer, and it's a more conventional one for this kind of story. but there is another layer i haven't been able to get from my mind.

i think yusuke is gifting each of his friends an honorable warrior's death.

so, in case it needs saying, yusuke, kuwabara, kurama, and hiei all (at least once, if not several times) exhibit a desire to die in combat in a way they deem noble to give their lives purpose (usually by self-sacrifice, but sometimes by another metric of honor, like hiei's duel with shigure and his desire to die in mutual defeat against an evenly matched opponent; or even kurama's decision to fight shigure in his human form, displaying a sort of passive suicidality via placing being true to himself in this (somewhat symbolic/inconsequential) way over survival). they need to make their lives count for something, because they feel guilty for being alive (kurama and hiei feel guilty for their past actions (hiei's is most evident in his distance from yukina, though that's not its primary reason), hiei, kuwabara, and yusuke have all been ostracized and made to feel like burdens on/unwanted by their caregivers and general society; all four of them have felt profound isolation even from their loved ones (yusuke and hiei are rather obvious; kurama can never tell his mother about the majority of his life nor what she truly means to him in the context of it; and kuwabara is separated from his peers for his spiritual awareness and his "stupidity" (plus his parents aren't around? and he is Desperate to define manhood/manliness through a broader pop cultural one which includes the warrior sacrifice thing bc he has no male role models BUT that's for another post) (i will admit kuwa's the most tenuous one here irt isolation)). they want to die for a cause so badly it's actually physically painful to me. it is passive suicidality, and they define their lives and identities by their relation to, engagement with, and skill at doing violence, etc. they live to die by the sword. anyway. nobody talks about it but i think it's very important to understanding what yusuke's doing here.

because i think he knows that about himself and his friends. they're kindred spirits. at the very least he knows this about kuwabara, who literally made a speech about this before diving into toguro's fingers In The Event That He Is Recreating Explicitly. he is dying nobly like they all want to on the chance that they'll get to break out and fight sensui rather than dying without even getting to take a swing. it's about his pride and theirs. but i don't think yusuke necessarily believes they'll win. he knows better than anyone how strong sensui is, and how wide the gap is between sensui and team urameshi. his stated position that humanity is doomed and that he doesn't care about its fate is, i think, not completely genuine, but if we take it at face value, he's not killing himself so that his friends can survive the end of the world. something's going to come around and kill them eventually. he's doing it so they can survive long enough to fight sensui. he needs them (specifically kuwabara) to be strong enough to free themselves to begin round two. but he's given up on their side winning, on humanity surviving, on his own victory---why should he think his friends are capable of winning? this could be another case of yusuke's fight-blinders. it could be another gamble, more blind faith put in his friends. but honestly it reads more to me that yusuke's giving them a chance to die together on the battlefield. them winning would be great, but it's not his goal. it's a pipe dream.

he knows he's going to be killed. they're probably going to be killed, too. but to make it so they last a little longer against sensui, to make the odds a little more even, so they are killed not like livestock, but like worthy fighters, he'd die a little faster. it's the best kind of death someone like them can have; and he'll deprive himself of it just to make their ends a little sweeter. even if the road to that is far more bitter.

but it's not like yusuke's friends know what he's thinking or agree to it, and he can't exactly make his case for it in the moment. he's making that choice for them. whatever his intentions, whatever odds he thinks they have of beating sensui, he's kind of sealing all of their fates. so how the hell is he supposed to acknowledge kuwabara screaming at him not to die, trying desperately to express what yusuke means to him in what could be their final moments together? this plan is going to hurt his friends terribly. it is already doing so, and he can hear it. his choices to stop koenma from using the mafukan and to die for his friends' strength are both selfish in some way, no matter how you read the scene. if yusuke comforts kuwabara, he might not get strong enough. if he twists the knife, well... how could he forgive himself? and either way by responding he would have to face them all and say yes, i'm doing this regardless of your feelings (with the intention of hurting you). so i think he does what he often does. he avoids it. he lets that emotion glance off him and his bravado and his one-liners so he doesn't have to deal with the fact that he's hurting people, that he's scared and guilty and unsure of himself. that he's about to die again, about to put kuwabara through the grief he saw at his wake again, only worse; about to put his quieter friends through something similar.

yusuke is confronted with the responsibility one has to the people who care for them, and he runs from it in an attempt to give them some small peace. just like when he died before and thought hey, at least my mom and keiko won't be burdened by me anymore. because the only thing he can really do for them is die.

[yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit]

Of my 2% capacity to be attracted to anyone, my type is like 90% women, 5% pretty men and 5% men you would swear are super fucking manly, and never questioned being straight and cis, but are now suddenly *stressed* that they can't figure out why their attraction to me [fully socially interpreted as a woman and labelled that way up until relatively recently] feels incredibly fucking gay

[anto-pops]

I'm not gonna lie, Ao3 being down all day feels a lot like the burning of the Library of Alexandria

[crystalkitty1220]

Man I wonder where the leader of the fear realm could've gone, it's alMOST LIKE NEVIN HAS AN

[mistystarshine]

Salvation on the Radio is once again being flamed because I didn't excuse or dismiss Adam's actions on my Adam redemption fic. Incredible.

[rotisseries]

"proship" "antiship" how about you try being "pro" this Beautiful Green Earth and "anti" this Accursed Webbed Site