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sunlitlamplove · 1 year ago

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so who is he? (nanami kento/YN) (NSFT)

short unedited fic - a writing exercise gone wrong, let me know if you enjoy and/or want more of nanami

it wasn’t that you didn’t do relationships, or that you weren’t interested. you just couldn’t find the time away from your constantly life threatening career, nor were you any longer trusting (i.e. naive) enough to embark on an intimate relationship with a stranger. you didn’t have much in the way of friends, hell the few friends you did have were coworkers you had known for years and even then you still had a tendency to hold most of them at arms’ length, excluding gojo, who managed to cheerily worm his way into seemingly everyone’s personal lives. as he was doing now, with you.

the two of you sat in the dimly lit nook of a quietly bustling lounge after work that evening. it was a rare occasion that gojo was able to cajole you into stepping out and embracing the nightlife with him, both of you busy enough with your own schedules but especially since he had known for years your averseness to crowds. but hey, gojo was buying and free drinks were calling your name. after some catching up and a couple vodka cokes, you were pleasantly buzzed, biting back a smile at the intrigued looks both women and men sent the pair of you, nestled away in your corner. smirking like a fox, gojo slid his too lanky body closer to you in the booth, curling his arm over your shoulder.

ordinarily, you would have pushed him away, not keen on physical contact from just anyone, but you were tipsy and he was gojo. gojo satoru knew you better than most; had seen you at your worst, half dead, bloody, near mad. he had pulled you from cliff’s edge, had saved you time and time again, and conversely, he was also the reason you drank. you were certain his idiocy had likely shortened your life just as much as he had saved it. gojo was a dear friend, but he knew how to press your buttons and press them he did.

“so who is he?”

you looked at him through furrowed, half drunken brow. “who’s who?”

“who’s the guy you’re fucking these days?” he asks with no preamble, sipping his vodka cranberry lemonade and glancing down at you from his blacked out frames, his chapped lips curved delightfully around a cheshire smile.

you don’t give anything away, and you laugh, almost too loud above the soft, jazzy r&b playing over the lounge speakers. you pray he doesn’t notice.

(he notices.)

“what? you hear yourself ask. “why do you always assume i’m fucking someone?”

gojo smiles incomprehensibly wider at your laugh, his arm tightening around your shoulder. “i’ve known you for almost a decade at this point, you really don’t think i can tell when you’re getting laid on a regular basis?”

“i mean, god, i would hope not.”

“you’re a lot nicer when you’re getting some,” he says.

“is that so,” you say dryly.

“hate to break it to you, kid.” you can see him wink at you over his glasses and you resist the urge to roll your eyes. “really, you just exude the air of the well fucked, let’s just say that.”

“you’re disgusting, gojo.” you sip your drink and laugh, shaking your head.

“i’m right, and you can’t even deny it. but, on the off chance i am wrong…why don’t you come back to my place tonight?” his voice was silken, quiet, husky in your ear.

you chuckle and shake him off your shoulder, half missing his friendly warmth but determined to prove a point. you knew he wasn’t serious, that this was yet another ploy of his to get you to spill the truth. gojo had casually flirted with you and pretty much everyone you knew since you the day you had met him. there…may have been one or two…close..encounters with gojo when you both were far gone and desperate for comfort, but you had never gone further than a heavy make out session with his hand up your shirt.

you attempt to point your finger in his face, swaying slightly. ever the decent friend, gojo reaches out and helps guide your hand to point at him. he shimmers slightly kaleidoscopic, his white shock of hair softly glowing under the romantic light of the bar.

“thanks -get off me- thanks. listen, asshole.” biting back a smile, still pointing in his face after you shake off his grip and gojo mockingly raises his hands in self defense, and tries not to giggle under the weight of your faux serious stare. “i’m not fucking anyone, and i’m definitely not fucking you.”

“am i interrupting something?” when you register the tall, dominating figure casting a shadow over your table as nanami kento, you feel your heart skip a beat, and you desperately resist the blush cascading over your sun kissed skin. “is this idiot bothering you, y/n?” nanami’s voice is dry, half amused.

“k-nanami! i…i didn’t— you’re back,” and you’re fucking breathless and his eyes are soft and warm and oh

oh god.

here’s the thing.

you didn’t do relationships. but nanami kento was not a man you could bear to ever deny.

the last time you had seen nanami had been a week prior. for hours, nanami had sucked on your clit and worked you open with his thick fingers so intensely that you couldn’t help but gush against his mouth, trembling and gasping as you soaked him in your come. his kiss after he had lifted his face from between your thick, slippery thighs was sloppy and overwhelming, and you felt yourself ready for another round as he moaned softly against your tongue. that same night, nanami had inadvertently made you cry, grunting as he ruthlessly thrust into you, fucking you so deep and good with your legs hiked high on his shoulders that he had unlocked some sort of inner vault of emotion you rarely accessed; the orgasm he had coaxed from you was one of the best in your life and he had chuckled when you told him so later, cuddling in the afterglow, nanami peppering your whole face with kisses as you lightly stroked his still slightly heaving, sweaty chest while he massaged slow circles into your back. and then he had left to embark on a mission you were unsure he would return from; and now he was here, and you were drunk and your lover was in front of you and you could almost cry from how badly you wanted to feel him come inside you.

you could feel yourself starting to heat up under your collar, and you tried to think less indecent thoughts. but the images of the intimate moments you spent together began a loop in your brain and you could feel a slow smile crawl across your face as he gazed down at you. nanami’s lips quirked and a lightning hot thrill shot through you.

“nanami!” gojo exclaims, ignoring the rude remark, as you stare up silently at nanami, his gaze flitting between a slight concern towards you and distaste towards gojo. “sit with us!”

does that feel good, baby?

you nod, remembering your manners. “please, nanami. sit with us and save me from him.”

nanami slides into the booth on your opposite side, nodding at the bartender. as gojo chatters away, your gaze slides to nanami, taking in his dark button up loosened at the throat, his tie gone, his sleeves rolled up his wiry forearms. nanami’s hands, his fingers running up and down the sides of his sweating glass of dark liquor. you listen quietly, sipping your refill as nanami unwinds and debriefs with you and gojo the outcome of his mission. it hadn’t been too dangerous, a dead end with elusive trap doors, but you missed out on the finer details as you hungrily took in the man before you.

“i can’t believe i get to taste you, fuck. your pussy makes me fucking desperate, y/n.”

your eyes are pulled back to nanami’s hands, his hands, god. you thought about those big hands spreading your thighs wide, how he pulled your hands away from your soaking pussy when you got shy and tried to hide from him. you tried to stay present as gojo relayed to nanami the details of his own last trip, but instead the instant replay of nanami worshipping your body and bringing you to climax took precedent in your drunk brain.

“anyway, we were talking about y/n’s dating life,” gojo says, nudging you and you shove him back harder than necessary.

“really,” nanami says and smiles, running a hand through his hair. did he have to do something that turned you on in front of gojo? god, you sounded like a such a man. it wasn’t nanami’s fault everything he did aroused you.

he was a couple liquors deep, and you could see the alcohol beginning to take effect, his usual demure smiles lilting into playfulness, his eyes twinkling. “please, y/n, don’t let me interrupt. how is your dating life?” nanami asks, his elbow grazing against yours. you could move your arm, but so could he. both of you decidedly do not. the contact alone is setting your body aflame.

he was still looking at you, and you turned your head, finding his downcast eyes on your rosy mouth, still wet from your glass. his gaze tracked the unconscious movement of your tongue swiping across your full lips, his own tongue peeking out to wet his. unbeknownst to you, the blue eyes behind sunglasses manage to catch the motion of nanami’s observance and a cheshire cat smile begins to grow.

“i wasn’t talking about my dating life, this jackass was talking about it,” you reply hastily, hiking a thumb at the aforementioned white haired idiot by your side. “there’s nothing to even talk about, really.”

you and nanami weren’t dating. he was just being a really good guy and fucking you on the regular, keeping a spare toothbrush and clothes at yours, sleeping over and breaking a thousand rules you knew not to when it came to a man who wasn’t actually your man. when you were tipsy, you could call him your lover in your head, a title you would never speak aloud to anyone else, but it was true, wasn’t it? nanami was your lover. you would never admit it to gojo, lest you wanted the world to know what you and nanami still kept between only you; you still weren’t entirely sure how it had started, too many late nights spent together on missions and nanami being nanami, and you were single and lonely and traumatized, and he was too, both of you just needing some human comfort but instead you had found a raging fire between you, only quelled when nanami’s head was nestled between your thighs or when you rode him, gasping as he groaned and begged you to fuck yourself harder on his dick in the quiet of the dawn rising in his moonlit bedroom.

“that’s too bad,” nanami says, taking a swig from his glass. his eyes never left yours. “a man would be lucky to be graced just with your presence.”

it hadn’t been much of a doubt before. but you were definitely fucking him tonight.

embarrassingly, your mouth falls open before you can stop it, and you are unable to control the laugh that spills from your throat that a) nanami would say that and b) nanami would say that in front of gojo.

who, when you glance to your right, was no longer there. you suppose he had gone to top up his drink, and you turn quickly back to nanami, who seems somehow even closer, and you can feel his big hot hand slide underneath your skirt and onto your mid thigh, squeezing your burning flesh before running his thumb in slow circles. you breathe in shakily, feeling dizzy. you were aching for more from him.

not just sex. don’t get it wrong, you desperately wanted him, carnally, bordering on indecently. you wanted him to fuck you into his mattress, with your face pressed against his pillow, breathing in the scent of him. you wanted him to drink from you, to take from you, you wanted to lose yourself in his arms. you wouldn’t admit it. but you would gladly take everything nanami would give you and then some. you could feel the raging blush across your cheeks, your whole body throbbing with need.

when you look up at nanami from under your lashes, you notice his flushed skin, the smile curving his soft lips, the way he looks at you like you are something not of this world, dazzling, breathtaking. as though he is in awe. his hand reaches up and pushes your hair away from your face, lingering against your cheek.

“i missed you,” he says, and you feel yourself almost come undone. the tears are threatening to swell, and you catch his hand.

“i missed you too,” you whisper. “i want you to take me home, kento.”

hearing the soft need in your voice, nanami immediately stands, interlocking his fingers with yours and leading you out into the night. hours later, boneless and fucked out in his arms, he shows you the three missed calls from gojo, with a single text reading:

have fun u crazy kids :-) ♡

and then a second:

you’re buying me lunch tmrw btw sorry i don’t make the rules

#just emotionally going thru it rn and needed to write something #lmk if you enjoyed it #i think nanami would be an amazing lover #sick of these irl men ngl #nanami kento/reader #nanami kento #nanami kento/yn #black reader/nanami kento #gojo satoru/reader #a little bit not a lot #jujutsu kaisen #geto suguru #choso kamo #sukuna #now i have that one tiktok sukuna edit in my head #yeaaaaa i fucc her like a bitchhhh

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risingsouls · 11 months ago

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I mean, while the narrative by no means excuses them, they're shown as being desperate survivors, resorting to cruel acts to survive a universe that pm doomed them to extinction. And arguing for genocide is disgusting. And on Bulma, I agree, original material is not the friendliest to female characters, they hardly get to do anything before being married off and forgotten about. like how does someone forget that raditz/nappa/etc were only doing that to survive...? frieza drove them to it

[Part one here:]

[I saw this and thought the goons had come back to argue with me lmao. But I'm glad that isn't the case and it's someone else that saw how...uh...problematic the narrative of the other side of the argument was positing.

Under the cut for length and ~drama~.

As you said, the Saiyans were by no means good, but they didn't deserve to be wiped out (I mean...that's not even why they WERE wiped out...at least so long as we ignore implications of Beerus telling Frieza to do it which was dumb anyway so). No one does. I will say that, at least from what I understand (and accept; they seem to change the Saiyan's history every other saga), the Saiyans were always looking for a fight, and, according to at least the dub I know, they did go to other planets to do that and wreak havoc even before King Cold got his mitts on them. Whether that was to CONQUER said planets or not also depends on what part of the series you're watching it seems but you know. So they've definitely always had some questionable practices, but that doesn't mean they're evil by design and deserve total destruction.

And that's not even talking about basically ANYTHING we see of Saiyan culture/lifestyle IS post colonization by the Colds. We don't ACTUALLY get to see what their culture WAS without it being tainted by being ruled by another empire. We get some hints, most of which end up contradicted or something as I mentioned earlier, but we have no way of knowing what was purely from Saiyan culture and what got changed, adopted, or expunged.

The point I was trying to make with the Bulma and Vegeta stuff was that a lot of Bulma's behavior stifles or at least attempts to stifle even the most innocuous portions of Vegeta's Saiyan-ness he can practice and show like simply training/fighting (which is part of their culture and maybe even biology, despite what the arguers wanted to say). This is more headcanon-y, but that would probably extend to other aspects of his personality, practices, etc. that did come from his Saiyan heritage that didn't jive with how she wanted him to be or expected him to be. The folks in question unfortunately took that to mean I meant the worst parts of his old lifestyle which wasn't what I was talking about at all. Vegeta himself has no interest in conquest anymore, so their arguments were ridiculous from the get go. However, the things Bulma says and does on screen reveal that she wants him to be an Earthling husband. She wants him to act fully like an Earthling, and she has never been shown to care about his history or learning about it and his culture (i.e. Vegeta has had to inform her and the others of different aspects of Saiyan lifestyle and biology, stuff that she could have easily already known if she, imo, bothered to understand that part of him). And I'm not even saying that's REALLY a huge problem on the surface; you can't really blame her when that's all SHE knows and how her character is. Sexism aside, she is meant to be a spoiled, self-serving brat from the beginning. When it DOES become a problem is that, as I mentioned, she doesn't TRY to understand him on that level, and there are no hints that she has tried. She basically seems to pull exactly what the people that had a problem with what I said did in just assuming Saiyans are just genocidal killers with nothing else to them (and a note: I know Vegeta would probably be difficult to talk to about this but you get me I think).

Overall, I think they were just mad that I dared to call Bulma abusive and is a second Frieza for Vegeta based on this singular post where I didn't really get into the meat of why I think that because I've talked about it several times before. Yes, the writing for her is oftentimes sexist and awful like it is with pretty much every other woman in the series, but that...doesn't really play ball here. The point I was trying to make is that, while it's not on purpose or maliciously (another nuance of my post the people with a problem failed to even ask me about because they went immediately on the attack), is that Vegeta basically ended up in another relationship where he was being controlled by another person (again, perhaps not in a malicious way but she held a lot over him in terms of having a place to live and survive, especially when we know the dude was super depressed post Cell Saga; man was not about to have the wherewithal to fucking find a job and get a place of his own on a planet he knows so little about, so yeah...he's gonna take the easiest option available), something that I think is more apparent in Super than Z but it's still there. And yeah, I actually agree that he should just ignore her when he wants to train or leave or do something that isn't what she wants him to do at the time. But if we go by canon and how it's written (which I can say THIS would be where the sexism comes in), that's not what happens. Bulma does whatever she can to get what she wants from Vegeta in apparent and subtle ways that come off as pretty abusive.

And I'll say it now: Vegeta is fucking abusive and toxic, too. I've said it a million and three times, but since I didn't say it in the post in question, apparently I just don't think that. Which isn't true. Vegeta is shitty to Bulma from day fucking one. I really don't understand why they end up together as, again, I've said a million times. The choice is absolutely disrespectful to Bulma's character. Something else I've said ad nauseum. But again...this one post was the one they cherrypicked to get pissed over.

I got accused of not seeing nuance in any of this during this...debate. Thing is, this take is based on what happens in canon. This is my reading of the relationship based on canon events, and even then, it's just a SLIVER of what I think about their canon relationship. If I had my way? This relationship wouldn't exist or, at the very least, would be written VERY differently, from making Bulma be less of a sexist stereotype (in the relationships and in all aspects) to how Vegeta reacts to her always forcing him to do shit he doesn't want to or, perhaps, isn't even comfortable with (see: parties, huge get togethers for her work, vacations). I would actually write it more like we see in the Buu Saga and GT, where the two DO eventually seem to have an understanding of each others boundaries and have maybe actually gotten to know each other (something I really don't see in Super...at all). It would be more realistic for the two of them rather than this over the top ridiculousness we get from canon and fanon that doesn't fit the relationship. The post I made was about their CANON presentation, not what I would care to see or anything that would "fix" the ship.

Point is, people got in their feelings because I said canon sucks in handling Vegeta and Bulma, and I pointed out that their fave is problematic, all to base their accusations of me being sexist and unable to see nuance or understand the definition of culture on a single post that wasn't near as detailed as I've been in the past (and I've probably still missed thoughts here). They came off as super problematic because of that anger at my take and made comments that painted them as basically okay with the Saiyans being eradicated because of one aspect of their lifestyle which, in some regards, was something they had no choice in at the point of their demise (even if they might be doing similar anyway; problem is we can't know what they might have done if they had agency that wasn't marred by being ruled by the Cold Empire). But it is what it is.

I'll end saying this because, again, they missed every other post I've made about this. I don't hate Bulm, and I actually do hate how she's written. The biggest reason I criticize her and Vegeta in terms of this relationship is that most of the fandom and the ship's stans don't want to actually SEE that. They don't see how her writing is sexist a lot of the time and that her behavior doesn't make sense and IS actually toxic. The RELATIONSHIP is toxic on BOTH SIDES as it's WRITTEN (unfortunately, yeah, the writing makes Bulma MUCH WORSE than Vegeta in Super; I stand by that) and that's what I'm getting at. I point these things out because this fandom likes to paint Vegeta and Bulma as #couplesgoals and pretend they have no issues when that's just not true. It's red flag central up in there, but their rose-colored glasses are too thick for them to see it because they love the "beauty and the beast" "regular girl domesticates feral man" and "love conquers all" tropes and refuse to see the problems with the relationship.]

#.:ask:.#.:ooc:.#discourse cw #for those that have been around and have read my bs #this will be nothing new for you #but #.:long post:.

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essayofthoughts · 2 years ago

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Same for you: 12, 19, 23 owo

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Ripley.

Like. If we're going for the villain pick, Ripley. I don't think you should think she's a good person - she's not - or that she's nice a woobie or something. She's fucking awful! But she's also awful in a really human, engaging way and I find her so fun to poke. I think a lot of people kind of forget the pure banality of evil, the way these people can have really simple, dull motivations - Ripley wants power and knowledge and she doesn't care how she gets it. Everyone is just a tool or a stepping stone in the goal of that.

And she's canonically a foil to Percy, so that makes her REALLY USEFUL in analysing him - and him in analysing her! - so for all of those people who like a bit of dark!Percy like... Ripley! She is right there!

And she's such a bitch. She refuses to swear despite being someone who tortures people, she's clever enough to replicate guns from second and third hand reports, she's always looking to her own advantage - and she's just. Awful! She's exactly the kind of person who looked at the structural inequality of the Dwendalian Empire and decided to do the amoral shit others got away with because of wealth and when she got arrested for it assumed it was purely because of class differences and not because she's just the Worst.

And the thing is these days there's so much moralising! Oh the villain must be woobified, oh they never did anything wrong at all ever (MCU Loki, Kylo Ren, even the Betrayer Gods in CR!) and frankly fuck that.

Ripley did do shit wrong and that's why I find her engaging. She wilfully tortured people despite it being useless for information gathering! She made guns and spread them around purely to fuck with Percy! She's an awful human being and sometimes it's really fun to look at that in the distance. Over there. Way over there. Down the barrel of a sniper rifle.

Yeah.

If we're doing non-villain, minor-character fic... it's Desmond, it's fucking Desmond, I know he's not really "Unpopular" so much as "ignored" but I don't care! I will fight you all on this hill, that Desmond Otham is so revealing as to Percy's own perception of his own guilt and failure to his family ("I want you to spend the rest of your life making up for the things you allowed to happen" says Percy and WHAT THINGS Percival! This lad is a carriageboy! He's about the same age you were when the massacre happened! What the fuck do you expect him to blame himself for!? Now you blaming yourself on the other hand...)

Plus I just think he's neat! I think he's a great example of someone with a lasting consequence from Percy's reckless actions - one of those people Percy mentions who may not see them as heroes for reasons that are completely justified. And if he is the courier or returns to Whitestone and takes up another job - he's got that reminder the rest of his life. Even away from Vox Machina, he has his maimed hand.

I think he's really cool, fuck everyone who disagrees.

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

N/A, I think? There's nothing I like that I'm mad, ashamed or horrified over that I can think of. I like the things I like and I know why I do so I've largely resolved any conflicts I'd have of that kind. I've definitely figured some things out writing fic that kinda annoy me (i.e. I can write smut pretty easily when there's trauma and mental fuckery involved but not like... on it's own) but that's fanfic more than dealing with fandom as a whole or the canon itself.

So uh. N/A!

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to

Again, I think N/A? I don't generally ship things, not to like... shipwar, this is my OTP or else kind of deal. I think that kind of thing is actually really unhealthy and often hoping for that ship can cause people to disconnect from the canon itself in order to back up their warped reading of the text, plus it just sets people up for disappointment! I'm a big believer in creating ships purely for the "I guess this could be neat!" kind of thing, and I don't generally get into it more than that.

Perc'ahlia is the exception, but that wasn't unwilling. They gave me too many fantastic squishy feelings and thinky thoughts, I didn't even hesitate.

🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥

#blorbologist #anna ripley #desmond otham #perc'ahlia #vox machina #ask #ask game

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pianostarinwonderland · 3 years ago

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Riddle character bingo?

[From here!]

Aaaah my 2nd favorite 🥺

Riddle is the reason why I got into TWST. I first saw him back in March 2019, and I loved him because of his Queen of Hearts motif and his VA being Hanae. I sometimes think about the day that the Heartslabyul trailer was first released, and I listened to Riddle's voice the first time while the theme of the game was playing and the Heartslabyul dorm art flashed in the background. I was so giddy, but also, I was absolutely spellbound. It was a world I never knew before, a world of magic and mystery, with music that enchanted me and a voice that pulled me in.

If you ever saw my very first post in this blog, it was about Riddle. My first pfp was also Riddle because I liked him. But now... well, you know who I like now. 🤡

I wouldn’t super say that I am ‘mentally ill’ about Riddle since I don’t really simp for him. But sometimes, there will be one piece of fanart—or even official art 🧍—where Riddle looks so good, a voice line where he sounds amazing, or a story that highlights his personality in a very appealing way, and I just think, “Shit, why did I not stay with him?” even for a brief moment. No matter how much time passes, Riddle will always appeal to me in a lot of ways. 😭

Now as a player, knowing what Riddle went through, I would love to hug him and cherish him and give him the childhood he never had (and on the side, have a little talk with his mom <3). But damn, if I knew the guy, I'd both be afraid of him and pissed off at him. I'd be afraid because when he's angry over someone breaking the rules, while yes he's explosive, he has that authoritative tone that makes you shudder and go silent. But I'd also be pissed at him because there will come a point where I realize, "Oh, he keeps responding angrily every time someone criticizes the things he does, that's kinda immature lol", and I'd be less afraid and more mad at him lmao

But despite his tyrannical nature, I'd say Riddle is one of the kindest people in NRC. He's polite, he won't swindle you or make you do something in return for a kind deed, he also wants the best for his dorm mates (just expressed in the worst or most misunderstood ways possible). Honestly overall, he's a very good person. And it's so nice to see his real kindness in stories like Deuce's SSR Dorm story. He really just wants people to do well, and no, he doesn't have any ulterior motives (aside from the ego stroke from seeing that he is 'right').

I do love seeing Riddle's dynamics with others because here, you can see how Riddle, a sheltered boy, interacts with his peers, and in turn, this gives more depth to his character. Even if he's one of the nicer people in NRC, Riddle is still very prideful, and he still thinks that he's right. This bleeds into the way he communicates with people. He often assumes people immediately understand why he's telling them to do something, but the reality is, they don't because he doesn't properly communicate with them (as seen when Riddle tells Azul to stand back in chapter 6—Riddle does this so that Azul doesn't get injured especially as a transformed merman, but since he never said those reasons, Azul assumed Riddle sees him as weak, which is a blow to his pride). When people don't outright fight him, Riddle will also assume that he's right because well, they're not really disagreeing with him, yeah? He'll only concede if he perceives the other to be stronger than him (i.e. when Trey overwrote his magic, Riddle was distressed because if Trey is stronger than him and saying that what he was doing is wrong, all the stress he was going through with his mom would mean nothing).

ough I love this little red boi nskdngkjnksngjdkngskngs he's such a good boi

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst jp #riddle rosehearts #ask #ask game

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marvelcriminalhoe · 3 years ago

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Stumbling West

Aaron Hotchner x Female Reader

Chapter 29

Warranted Vexation

i.e. Season 11 Episode 9

TW: typical criminal minds case jargon. a tiny bit of angst because reader is mad at Aaron for a second. talks of pregnancy, some nice little fluff in here for reader and Aaron along with some Penelope Garcia love.

AN: Here we go :) You get to find out what reader is having in this episode. I was going to do the reveal the way I did for Charlotte but decided against it. The chapter was already getting a little “wordy” in my opinion. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

word count: 3,076

Series Masterlist

“The NSA and the DEA are both involved, so we’ll be part of a joint Taskforce. Go ahead, Garcia.” Aaron informs the team in the conference room and giving Garcia orders to start the debrief.

“Ok. Uh, 3 weeks ago undercover DEA agent Mark Bowers disappeared.” She brings the pictures onto the screen, “His body was found 5 days ago in Ciudad Juarez.”

“Ciudad Juarez is one of the most dangerous cities in the world.” Tara comments.

“Not only was agent Bowers found strangled, but he also had another human face covering his face.” Garcia continues.

“Another human face?” JJ questions, not believing she heard right.

Garcia grimaces, “Yes. I guess skinned or scalped. I don't know what you call it, but I couldn't put the pictures up here. You can see them on your own tablets.”

“It is typical for drug cartels to send a message through the corpse.” You suggest, choosing to not look at the pictures on the tablet, you'll let the rest of the team handle that.

“Yeah, body parts sent to family members.” Tara agrees.

“A face on top of another face could easily mean he’s undercover or he’s two-faced.” JJ theorizes.

Aaron sighs next to you, “Which is back news for the two missing agents. They were both undercover.”

“Yeah,” Garcia pulls up there pictures, “John Portman vanished a week ago. And then Sarah Miles disappeared yesterday. All of these agents were investigating the Libertad Drug Cartel.”

“If someone knew that they were undercover, then there has to be a mole on the inside.” Derek informs.

“Well,” Aaron says, “We have to consider all possibilities.” The way he says it has you believing he’s holding something back. And based off of how Rossi continues to study the tablet, you conclude that he is aware of whatever it is. “This cartel is, in fact, unique in a few ways.”

Garcia hums, “It appeared on the darkness after the Silk Road was shut down. It has online and an on-the-ground component based in El Paso. It’s run by someone named George Washington.”

“An identity that can be assumed by different individuals.” Aaron states.

“El Paso’s just across the Rio Grande from some of the worst drug violence there is.” Rossi finally looks up, “Not a bad place to set up.”

“it would be easy to fly under the radar when there’s bigger fish to fry right down the road.” You shrug.

“All right. You’ll all head to El Paso and find out what happened to the missing agents.” Aaron orders the team, before turning to you, “You’ll stick with me, I’ll run the cyber part of the investigation from here.”

You are just almost exactly 24 weeks along, but with you having twins, you are showing more like 31 or 32 weeks. The doctor told you at your last appointment that, although your baby boys are very healthy, your body is working a little more than usual and putting a little bit more stress on you. So she recommended that you start taking it easier. Resting more, not standing for long periods, and talked about maybe not flying around as much, only going on the plane during the smaller flights.

You’re little family was very excited about finding out it was twin boys. Jack jumped for joy about getting two brothers, while Charlotte, still a little young to understand exactly what was going on, was excited because her older brother was. You and Aaron didn’t have a huge preference, but a part of you thinks twin boys might be a little easier, considering how Aaron lets Charlotte get away with everything. Then again, he also lets Jack get away with everything.

Aaron took what the doctor said about flying, to mean no flying at all. Him practically benching you and making you consult from quantico on the last case caused a fight, one that would have probably been avoided had your husband consulted you before making the decision. If your honest, you are still a little peeved with his decision, but will admit to yourself it was nice to sleep in your own bed and be with the kids at night. Not mentioning you are extremely more tired this pregnancy. You did not give these points to Aaron, not wanting him to have more leverage over his decision. It wasn't about him being right, it was about not including you.

“Happy hunting.” Rossi comments to Aaron, though you hear it to. You send Aaron a look that translates to ‘What’s that about?’ but he just discreetly shakes his head at you, ‘not here’.

You and Aaron get off the elevator on the DEA cyber floor, a man walking up to you both, “You must be Agent Hotchner and.. Agent Hotchner?”

You smile, giving him your maiden name, “I use that at work, keeps things from being confusing.”

“Ah.” He nods his head, “My apologies.” You wave him off as Aaron shakes his hand, “I’m Assistant DEA Director Bernard Graff. Welcome to the cyber war against drugs.”

He starts walking down the hall, you and Aaron following behind him, “We could always use the extra help, but I’m surprised the NSA puled you into this. Aren't you busy hunting psychopaths who cut up prostitutes or something?”

“Well, we have a case and there may be some cross-over.” Aaron replies.

“You mean, Giuseppe Montolo and the other online hit men.” Graf comments.

“Yes. We’re interested in whoever the successor to The Silk Road may be, and Libertad seems to fit the bill.” Aaron looks around before stopping to look at Graff.

You watch both men size each other up, and you can’t help but feel there both looking for the same thing, the same tell, though you aren't sure what for.

Graff crosses his arms over his chest, “Well, if you ask me the NSA’s got it easy. All they do is monitor and analyze. But when it comes to putting away the bad guys, you and I have to do all the dirty work. Isn’t that right?”

Before Aaron has a chance to answer him, two people come out of an office, arguing.

“It’s not related.” A woman in a white cardigan tells the man that formed out of the office before her.

The man turns around to face her, “Are you kidding me? My best friend did not just have a hiking accident. I’m out of here.”

“Well, he seemed upset.” Graff comments once the mans left the room, storming out of the building. He turns towards the woman, “”This is Adrienne Mitchell, our head Libertad intelligence specialist.”

He introduces her, shaking both you and Aaron’s hand.

“The man that just left was our confidential informant, Simon Kahn.” Graf informs.

Mitchell looks to the door where Simon stormed out, “He just learned his friend died. I’ll give him some space, then we talk to him again.”

“Our specialists have been posing online as buyers and dealers. We made contact with Simon 5 months ago, who alerted us to the hybrid nature of Libertad.” Graff supplies. You listen intently as you notice Aaron watching both Graff’s and Mitchell’s body language, you know he is profiling them, you just don’t know why.

“He’s a tor network relay operator for them. He wants out but claims he’s not being allowed to quit.” Mitchell continues to inform you of Simon.

“Is he being threatened?” You ask.

Graff shrugs, “Apparently, but we haven't seen the evidence.”

“Does he know who the head of the cartel is?” Aaron questions.

Graff and Mitchell share a look, Graff speaking up, “The real I.D. of George Washington? No. But he does know the number two.”

“Took months to get him to come in.” Mitchell sighs, “He was close to giving us a name, but now he’s scared again.”

“I’d like to get my own analyst on this, if you don’t mind.” Aaron asks, though, it doesn't really come out as a question, “She’ll work out of the BAU.”

“By all means.” Graff replies before looking to an agent across the room, “Jack, do you mind showing them where they can set up, please.”

Aaron thanks him as you and him go to follow the agent. As you walk away, you see Graff and Mitchell turn away from you both. Aaron doesn't seem to be the only one hiding something.

You walk back into the conference room you and Aaron were given for the case and catch the end of the phone conversation Aaron was having, “No, but something’s definitely wrong.” He turns and notices your presence, hanging up the phone with a short, “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Who was that?” You question, setting the case files on to the table.

“Rossi.” He answers, looking to the case board and avoiding your eye.

You hum your response, not knowing if you want to start a conversation that could turn into an argument before even finishing the current one.

You sit down and go over the files again, along with the files Garcia fazed over. You don’t find anything new.

“Are you listening?” You hear Aaron question.

You look up to him, brows furrowed, “What?” You shake your head, clearing your mind, “Sorry, I was’t— what were you saying?”

Aaron frowns, “I asked if you found anything new.”

“No.” You shake your head, going back to the file you were looking at before the interruption.

You hear him let out a deep sigh but don’t look back up. Only when he whispers your name softly do you tear your eyes away from the paper you weren't reading.

“Are you still upset with me?”

“I’m not upset.” You tell him, your face void of any defining emotion.

He raises an eyebrow at you, “That’s what you say when you're mad at me.”

You roll your eyes at him, “O’m not angry at you Aaron, I’m frustrated. There’s a difference.”

“The doctor suggested you take a step back from flying.” His voice is still low, but you can hear the defending tone of his actions behind it.

“No, she suggested, that I start taking a small step back on the longer flights, not just flying in general.” Your voice still calm.

Aaron crosses his arms, still standing by the case board, making him look down at you. You feel like a kid getting reprimanded, and that does not help with you patience. “So you are mad.” He states.

“No, Aaron.” Your voice raises slightly, “I’m frustrated. I’m frustrated because you made the decision without consulting me. Do I believe it was the right one to make, yes. But it wasn't only yours to make. You should have discussed it with me in private before announcing it to the team.”

Aaron’s lips go into a straight line as he closes his eyes briefly. When he opens them, he drops his arms, face softening, “I’m sorry I didn’t consult it with you. I was under the impression we were on the same page.”

You nod your head a few times, letting your hormones calm down. Although your vexation towards him was warranted, you didn't like arguing with him, and the past week you both have been walking on egg shells, neither of you wanting to fight. You really don’t like your frustration turning to angry stares and raised voices. “Thank you.” You tell him gently

You study him for a few moments in silence, “What aren't you telling me about this case?”

Aaron shakes his head at you slowly, eyes going to the door. You get the hint, he doesn't want to discuss it here. You gather up the files, “Theres nothing here, I should head back to the BAU and help Garcia out.”

Aaron helps you with the bags, “I’ll drive you. I need to talk to her anyway, see what she has so far.”

Once you both get into the car, Aaron starts driving, turing on the radio before he speaks, “NSA believes there is a mole.”

You study him from your seat, “And you think it’s Graff?”

“Yes.”

You nod your head, taking in what he said and trying to go over your interaction with Graff and Mitchell from earlier. You purse your lips, “Any reason why?”

“You think I’m wrong?” He asks, glancing over at you.

You shrug, “He seemed as skeptical of you, as you did of him.”

Aaron’s brows draw down, and you know he’s stuck in his head. You lightly touch his shoulder, “All I’m saying is you could be wrong. Don’t let whoever told you of the mole make the judgment for you.”

Aaron drops you off at the BAU, wanting to talk to Graff some more. You head to Penelope’s office.

“Sunshine!” She exclaims to you the moment you walk in, getting up and dragging you to one of the big, comfy chairs she has in her office. You laugh as she drags over another one and outs it opposite of you, “For your feet!”

“I’m fine, Penelope, thank you though.” You smile at her.

“Well, it’s there if you need it.” She goes to sit back at her computer. “I’ve been trying to find some sort of evidence linking the first unsub to the DEA agents but I’m not finding anything.” She tells you.

“Hmmm.” You hum. “The first kill is the most important, but the second tells the story.”

“What do you mean by that?” Garcia questions.

You put your feet up on the chair, “Well, the first kill can usually help us identify their type or where their desire comes from kind of like a base line. Their second gives us a routine and a signature to look for.” You look over to her, “Are we sure his ‘first kill’ was his first? The victimology is almost the exact same except he wasn't an undercover agent.”

She starts typing on her computer, “I’ve check national police reports, nothing about a face on a face.”

You sit and think for awhile, knowing you're missing something. “Did you check across the boarder? One of the bodies was found in Mexico, maybe he didn't start in the US.”

You watch her start typing on her computer again. “Ah!” She happily screams, “You, my sunny little mama friend, are a genius! You should get a raise.”

Laughing at her words you listen to her explain the serial killer investigation in Ciudad Juarez. Derek calls her and your phone rings while she’s informing the team of what you both found. You look down, seeing it’s Aaron, and move to the hallway to answer it, “What’s up?”

“Are you with Garcia?” He asks you. You can hear some sort of underlining of anxiety in his voice, but know you can’t question it. Not now.

“Yeah, I just stepped out to answer.”

Aaron sighs, “Good. Stay there.”

“You good?” You question him, biting your lip from wanting to ask if he’s safe or where he is.

“Yes. I need to go do something and then I’ll head to you.”

“Alright.” You nod your head, even though he can’t see you, “Love you.”

“I love you too.” He hangs up the phone. You wait a few seconds, getting your bearings back and putting on a calm face before going back into Garcia’s office. That girl might not be a profiler, but she knows how to read her team.

“So, Director Cochran, was the mole?” You question Aaron in his office the next night.

“Yeah. Didn't see that one coming either.” He sighs. He looks to you, sitting in one of the chairs across from his desk. A small smile graces his features and he reaches his hand out to you, “Come here.”

You push yourself up with a grunt, both of you laughing, your belly seems to actually be growing by the day. Walking around his desk, he pushes his chair out a little and grabs your hand in his, pulling you into his lap. You huff at him, “Aaron, I’m going to squish you.”

“No, you won’t.” He wraps his arms around you as you sit sideways on his lap, your head resting on his shoulder once you stop fighting him, deciding to just relax. He kisses your temple, “I just want to hold you, you brat.”

You giggle at that, raising your head enough to make eye contact with him. He smiles at you, one of his genuine smiles you usually only see him sport at home. You lean up enough for him to get the hint, his lips meeting yours softly in a sweet and loving embrace.

His cell phone rings, making him pull back with a sound of annoyance, answering it with a pout, “Hotchner.”

You close your eyes and relax fully into him, being lulled by his voice as he talks to Rossi. He pats you on the thigh when he hangs up, “Lets go see Garcia.”

Both of you go to the room she is staying in, until the ‘dirty dozen’ is taken care of, watching as she paces around, trying to make her living situation more comfortable. You know she is struggling, and it’s evident in her wavering voice.

Aaron is about to suggest the both of you go home when she turns towards you, “Hey, I’m gonna make myself a vegetarian omelet for dinner. Do you want one?”

You and Aaron share a look, and you know he won’t say no to her. It’s one of the things that made you fall in love with him, how deeply he cares for his team.

“Well,” He says still looking at you, giving you a chance to say no if you wanted, “Jack and Charlotte are already in bed…”

You turn towards her, “You have jalapeños” You ask. They have been one of your biggest cravings with this pregnancy.

Garcia pats her tear stained face, drying the remnants away, “Uh, I’m sorry. Do— Do I have ja—“ She walks over to a drawer pulling it open.

You send a wink to Aaron as he shakes his head back with a smirk, both of you turning your attentions back to Garcia.

“I want you to know, I have had a love affair with all things spicy and hot since I was, like, 12.”

Aaron grabs the bowl and cutting board from her as you go to sit in one of the chairs, watching as he cuts them and she starts the eggs.

As you watch the both of them do their jobs, joking and laughing, you rub your growing belly with both hands, feeling, deep in your bones, that everything’s gonna be alright.

*******

taglist: @bakugouswh0r3 @averyhotchner @rousethemouse @malindacath @buckyswintersoldiermask @floweringashore

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner fanfiction #bau reader #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #aaron hotch x reader #aaron hotchner fanfic #aaron hotchner story #aaron hotchner x reader story #aaron hotchner x reader fanfic

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funkymbtifiction · 3 years ago

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6 vs 9

Thank you for answering my question on Ni and worrying!

I have debated on 6 vs. 9 before, but I’m pretty sure I’m a 9.

Not sure if you want an answer or not, but why not? I’ve got time. ;)

I do see 6 aspects in myself:

Lots of self-doubt and over-thinking. I take commissions as an artist and usually I’m excited to hear about a new commission but then get worried and think I won’t be able to do it / won’t do a good enough job. <- if you are a 9, this could just be your line to 6 and general anxiousness about doing a good job per your (I assume) 1 wing.

Being indecisive when anxious and wanting someone to tell me what to do/solve my problem. <- Hmm, I haven’t talked to my 9 core friends about this a lot, but I do notice some of them consult me in a “this is happening!!!” way and I give them suggestions on what to do, so… I’d say 9s will consult people they trust if they don’t know what to do. Also, did you decide on INFP? If so, indecisiveness is Ne.

I tend to plan for the worst/expect the worst (but hope for the best). <- Pessimism is a human condition. xD

I don’t project, though - I do worry that people may not like me, but I don’t test them to find out if that is the case and I always blame myself for it (i.e if they don’t like me it must be because I’m boring or weird or not emotionally reactive enough). <- I used to do this way more when I was young. I’d send an e-mail, get anxious if I didn’t get a normal prompt response, comb back over what I said searching for anything that might have upset them, and feel anxious for no reason assuming someone is mad at me. I would send out little feelers to see what was going on – quick texts or notes in a friendly tone to see if that generated a response. Now I just assume, when that anxiousness kicks in, that as adults, we’re all busy. But self-blaming is a condition of Fi, and not related to Enneagram type, IMO.

Also, I don’t provoke people to examine reactions. In fact I hate conflict (the classic “raised voices = yelling” 9 issue is true for me; in 95% of arguments I’m the peacemaker trying to find middle ground between other people). <- with me, it depends. I have zero problems with conflict at home or arguing with my parents / family members, but the less I know you and the less I trust you, the more I don’t want to fight with you. It’s true, though, that I have that bratty 6w7 energy that sometimes provokes to get a rise out of my loved ones, which my mother (a 1w9) absolutely hates. It’s hard to shut off, but I try for her sake. Course my father is quarrelsome too, so we’re like a tempest in a teapot sometimes.

I also don’t see many positive 6 aspects in myself:

The ability/desire to build connections and make a security system. <- Interesting. My security is my bank account and having a few people I can count on. It’s not stalking up my pantry, for sure. *cough * weak Si, like what kinds of foods even go together? *cough* Though I work very hard in my family business so we can all thrive, which is a security of its own.

Being loyal to friends and checking in with them to make sure we’re “okay” (I never do this barring an actual argument or something - mostly I ghost people; loyalty is not my strong suit!) <- This is very true of me. If anyone picks on any of my friends, I will get offended and fiercely defend them (even if I have criticisms of them myself). And I do like to stay connected as an extrovert. But following up what I said above, I don’t try to build super close connections as much as I did when I was younger. I’ve realized people have their own lives, and you’re lucky to get their attention at all. But I don’t ghost people. I used to stay in very immediate contact with them.

I feel very little need to connect with other people. My friends are basically my family and in-laws - about 10 people who I truly trust and would do anything for. I don’t really want more people-related responsibilities. <- lucky little sp-dom introvert. ;) Though I can somewhat relate. More people means more energy going out, and I spend so much of it on my books and hobbies, I don’t have a lot left over. I was laughing with a fellow sp-dom INFP just yesterday about how we are both like “OMG, I have SOCIAL events in October, 5 of them!! I’m going to be so busy!!! Will it be too much???” Chill, girl. They’re interspersed over weeks. Stop over-thinking “invasions of my time!”

Meanwhile, I have many positive and negative 9 attributes:

The core problem of 9, apathy, is a BIG problem for me. Many problems in my life have been caused by not acting, by waiting too long in hopes that the problem will go away, by riding along on easy work (even if it is work I love and is worth doing) and not doing the hard work that would lead to the achievements I really want to make (writing a novel, etc.). I’m not a lazy/apathetic person in general - I can (and do) work extremely hard (I run my own art business and working 12+ hours a day is typical for me). But it’s a mental apathy issue, the quailing at mentally facing hard tasks and ending up doing small easy things that soothe me. <- aww, tho I relate to procrastinating. Being around 9s, it kind of amuses me to watch you self-soothe. Like, shouldn’t you be studying for your math final and not reorganizing the bathroom cabinets? And it seems like 9s can drag their feet even when it’s important until they decide to do it, then nothing stands in their way.

Other 9 aspects/problems I can see in myself:

Being vague - not knowing what I really want and getting frustrated by not having a clear vision of what to do. <- yeah, that’s 9ish.

Suppressing anger and other “negative” emotions because of seeking inner peace/blankness. And if I do express anger (usually in a burst under stress) I feel guilty about it. <- 1 wing, yeah.

Setting up walls between other people and myself because I can’t deal with their emotions. I don’t struggle with the intense kind of “merging” described by many 9s, but I think that might be because I’m Fi-dom and probably sp-dom. But it is still exhausting to handle the emotions, opinions, etc. of many people for long periods of time. <- I need to ask my 9w8 INFP more about this specifically, but I don’t know that she fully merges so much as prematurely (sp-dom) throws up a barrier and says Nope to things, in hopes of avoiding other people creeping into her feelings. And yeah, she finds being around especially temperamental or high energy people difficult, since it’s such a bombardment of drama + her own intense reactions.

Tolerating behavior I don’t like for too long because “they might have good intentions.” Thinking positively of people because believing the worst of them feels mean. <- same for me, Ne + compliant type issues.

I have very strong opinions but I don’t like to argue with other people. I tend to believe that if the truth exists, other people will be drawn to it without my twisting their arm and making them see it. <- that’s nice of you and very healthy Fi-dom. I … will absolutely argue up to a point, then decide it’s not worth my time and pointless.

My motto (good and bad) is often “Let’s wait and see if things improve.” <- haha.

Also, although I do struggle with 6ish self-doubt, when it comes down to it I trust my gut and believe that I know what is best for myself. People can give me advice and I’ll nod and thank them but inside I’m thinking “You don’t know me!” In general I am (or at least appear and strive to be) a cheerful, emotionally stable, positive person. So… I still think 9 gets more points. But honestly, this is one of those things that makes me believe in tritypes because I relate a lot to both of them! Thank you for reading all of this!

Go with your gut. Be a happy little 9. :)

ETA: Regarding relating to them both -- of course you do, 6 is your stress line, so it will show up regularly. ;)

#question #enneagram #enneagram 6 #enneagram 9

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rrandomtthings · 4 years ago

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Bakugou Katsuki and his development throughout the series (Part 1 of 2)

His fall

Note: none of this is excusing things Bakugou has done in the past. He was completely in the wrong for that. Explanations ≠ Justifications.

There will be no manga spoilers in this part, but in part 2 there will be!!

Part two link: (will be added)

Bakugou Katsuki is a very hit or miss kind of character. He is brash, loud, and everything in between. If that is not your type of character, then the chances of you liking him are very low. Hence why his character has been deemed as very controversial.

Not to mention, Bakugou was a bully.

The first scene of the series starts with younger Bakugou bullying a kid with younger Midoriya Izuku, his childhood friend, protecting said kid. This is the first impression that we are given of not only Bakugou as a character, but as society as whole.

People are not created equal

As we continue through the beginning of the series, we find out that Bakugou was a huge bully, especially towards Izuku. With the two being childhood friends, they were really close when they were younger, as they were shown to hang out relatively often.

However, as soon as Bakugou got his quirk things changed for the worse.

It’s important to recognize what quirks mean to hero society. The better your quirk is, the more you’re looked up to. The worse your quirk is, the more you’re looked down upon. This is something that has been ingrained in children at the young age of 4, when they receive said quirks.

Bakugou was born with the jackpot quirk of Explosions while Izuku was born with nothing.

From the young age of 4, your place in society has already been drilled in.

Continuing on from when they were just children, Bakugou already having his quirk and Deku still not knowing what his is (at this point Izuku didn’t get himself checked out), the two head to a lake with their friends. Bakugou, having the best quirk out of all of them and being the “leader” as they walk on a log and he falls off and into the river underneath them, his friends watching as he falls in the water, expecting him to get up all on his own because of the power he holds.

All except one.

In this moment, because of societal standards, Bakugou was expected (even by himself) to be able to get up on his own after that fall. Seeing someone like Izuku, who he calls “Deku,” which to him literally means “worthless,” who is seen as weak and not-powerful by societal standpoints wanting to help someone as powerful as Katsuki, it made Bakugou feel like Deku was looking down on him.

He refused Dekus hand, he refused Dekus friendship. He didn’t like that this “attitude” that Izuku had that Katsuki was so unfamiliar with.

As years go on we are not informed about how consistent Katsukis bullying was towards Izuku. We can only assume that it was something that was somewhat common, however that is only an assumption. This is not canon.

One day, Izuku gets outed out by his teacher about wanting to attend UA. This being Katsukis dream school, it’s interesting to note that while everyone in class was laughing at Izuku, Bakugou was not.

Almost as if he considered Deku, “a quirkless nobody,” a threat.

However, he took that threat and turned it around and bullied Izuku for it, leading to the infamous “swan dive” scene where Bakugou tells Izuku to khs.

This is arguably the worst, if not one of the worst things that have been shown that Katsuki has done. As mentioned at the top of this post, there is no justification for this. Bakugou was completely in the wrong. Just because he felt threatened does not in any way shape or form excuse the way he treated Izuku, especially in this scene.

Then, the sludge villain attack happens.

Here, Bakugou is shown to be in a vulnerable state as he is being consumed by the sludge villain. After Izuku comes in and save him, it is said that Katsuki had’nt bullied him since.

Now Bakugou is in UA. He was used to being the highest of the food chain. Being at the top of everyone so easily. However, when he entered UA, reality hit him like a ton of bricks after realizing that he is not special.

Starting off with one of the most prominent fights, Deku vs Kacchan (1).

The teams are Deku & Ochako (the heroes) vs Iida and Bakugou (the villains) as they fight with each other with their own respective tasks.

Throughout the fight however, even though they were in teams, it was mainly Deku vs Kacchan (as the title suggests.)

In this fight, we see Bakugou at a bit of a breaking point. He practically panics as he comes to a realization that this kid infront of him who he thought always looked down on him could possibly be on the same level as him. To him, the “worthless Deku” was starting to shine through and past the negative connotations of that name.

After he aimed his quirk towards Izuku (NOTE: in this scene he did not try and kill Izuku. He even states that he purposely aimed away so it wouldn’t harm him. However, this is still not an excuse) and saw that Izuku did and could take him after he had one, Bakugou went into full panic mode.

Note: it’s also important to recognize that he showed fear for Deku. He was scared to see how far he was willing to go.

Later on, we are shown Deku spilling the beans to Katsuki about his quirk, to which Bakugou does not believe and continues to claim that he is and will be stronger than him as he walks off, completely vulnerable and with teary eyes.

The next time we are shown Katsuki in a vulnerable state, it’s at the sports festival.

After his fight with Uraraka, who he claimed to be a worthy opponent (wooo some sort of development!!), he immediately put the blame on Deku, thinking that he was the reason why she had such a great plan (aaaaand there that development goes) to which Izuku replies with him not being involved in the plan.

Then, he has his fight with Todoroki to which he starts getting mad about as Shouto was not using his full power on him. Bakugou wants to be shown that he was best with Todoroki using his full power, so he felt like he was being looked down upon and seen as weak in his eyes.

They had to chain him up because he was so furious about the fight, this fight only adding to his very prevelent inferiority and superiority complex.

The sports festival ends and they all go off into internships and Bakugou has chosen to go with Best Jeanist. Here, he grows to respect Best Jeanist, even going as far as to making sure that he is the first one to hear his hero name when he comes up with one.

Now after they come back from their internships, the students are tasked with fighting one of the teachers with a partner not of their choice.

Katsuki and Izuku were paired together.

At first, this was hard. Bakugou was not interacting with Izuku. He wanted to do things his own way, even going as far as to say that he would rather lose than work with Deku. To which led to Izuku punching him to snap him out of it.

Bakugou eventually let up and attempted to start working with Izuku. He even goes as far as using himself as bait so Deku can turn around and win for them (however, Izuku being himself didn’t leave Katsuki behind).

They both beat All Might bc Katsuki had pushed away his pride and finally allowed for them to start working together.

This was arguably Katsukis lowest point in the series. He was so full of distrust, non-compliance, and just,, wanting to stay away from Izuku that he was willing to lose this fight. The same guy who always wants to win was okay with losing.

Then all of class 1A goes to the training camp and it’s being attacked.

Their target? It was Bakugou.

Izuku and others desperately try and protect Bakugou as they try and take him as far away from the attack as possible to avoid any mishap.

However, they failed and Bakugou was taken.

In the moment as Bakugou was taken, we see him show genuine concern for Deku as he runs for him, telling him not to come after him at that moment.

Dekus scream after this scene in the anime will never not make me teary eyed,,

While held in captivity, it was revealed that he was kidnapped because the villains thought that they could turn him over to their side after seeing how upset and unfairly treated he was at the sports festival. However, Bakugou confirms to the viewers that he has no villainous intentions whatsoever.

After he was kidnapped, there was a rescue team created by some of the students so they can get him back.

As they created a last minute plan, they devised a strategy to which they would use their quirks and Kirishima would be the one to reach out and grab onto Bakugou and save him, to which they go through with and succeed in.

This, as revealed by Horikoshi, is a very bittersweet scene. It shows that Bakugou was starting to trust and become friends with others. However, it also showed his stubbornness in knowing that if it were Izukus hand being reached out then he might have not taken it.

After they get out of the spot they were in, they find that All Might was currently fighting AFO and it was being live broadcasted. After AFO, and ultimately, All Mights defeat, All Might sends a message “to the world”(it’s directed at Izuku) saying that “you’re next.”

Bakugou looks over to Izuku, confusion and concern on his face, seeing as he is the only one crying in a sea of cheering people.

Once they get back to UA and time has passed, Bakugou starts doing smaller things to show his appreciation (i.e. trying to pay Kirishima back, etc.)

After All Might and Aizawa come to his house to talk about dorming with his parents, Bakugou asks All Might his relationship with Izuku, to which he didn’t get the response we wanted and brushed it off as he thanked All Might for saving him.

At this point, the students are out to get their provisional license. Bakugou being bakugou failed in the saving part of the exam and failed to get his license.

After they get back, Bakugou confronts Deku and tells him that he wants to meet with him outside. Deku complies as Bakugou takes him to where they first fought, at ground beta.

This fight is full of emotions. With years of anguish and confusion from Bakugou, trying to understand why and how Izuku was slowly rising up to his level. How he feels guilty for being the one to “end All Might.”

Years upon years of emotions are being fought out as Bakugou tries to seek some sort of comfort and understanding about everything that had just recently happened.

Izuku was the only one in Bakugous eyes to be able to accept and understand his feelings.

After they fight out for a little while and get pulled apart by All Might, the secret about OFA is officially revealed to Bakugou.

When asked to keep this a secret, Bakugou claims that he’s not doing it for All Mights sake (hmmm,, Dekus 👀) and goes as far as to encourage Deku to be better so they could be proper rivals.

Bakugou looks over to Deku and tells him that things will be different between the two. That Katsuki will change and accommodate for this new knowledge that he has.

This is the start is his rising.

[end of part 1]

#bnha #bakugou katsuki #mha #katsuki bakugou #bnha meta #bakudeku #??? kind of ish I’ll just add it lol

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thelightofthingshopedfor · 4 years ago

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@10catslover @random-ass-fanboy ugh I guess this is how I’m doing this because apparently there still isn’t a better way to reply to replies in new posts, anyway these are replies to this post

my impression is that it’s because...a lot of Loki fans are also big Tony Stark fans, for a variety of reasons (the same reasons Frostiron is almost certainly the biggest Loki ship that isn’t Thorki, and for that matter I don’t actually know how the two compare to each other in numbers). I mean there are other reasons to be frustrated, like the fact that they’re both magically powerful in comics and only one of them gets to be that way in the MCU, or the way MCU Loki and MCU Wanda both started out as significant enemies of the Avengers for kinda complicated reasons and the writers only gave one of them a chance to earn forgiveness and fight for the good guys when in any just world Loki would’ve had that chance a while ago too...although as far as the latter goes, Nebula represents an even more egregious case because as far as I’m aware she’s still pretty solidly a villain in comics--one you can’t help feeling bad for, but a consistent and mostly intentional villain anyway--and she got a definitive redemption arc in the MCU regardless, and I...don’t typically see Loki fans hating her for that? I mean, they shouldn’t, I love MCU Nebula and her arc, but I am mad MCU Loki didn’t also get to have basically the same arc like he deserved, especially when I consider that his comics counterpart seems to have a much more complicated history than Nebula does, which means you can’t even go “well one is a Hero in comics and the other is a Villain” as a way of explaining it the way you can with Wanda and Loki. obviously Nebula is not the one on everyone’s minds right now, which I’m sure has something to do with it!

but--yeah, my sense is that this pattern of some Loki fans disliking Wanda is largely because a lot of Loki fans are also Tony fans, and generally speaking, Tony fans tend to not like Wanda very much because of how she was introduced in Age of Ultron...and then Civil War compounded the issue...and the reverse is also true to some extent, so it kind of turns into a nasty feedback loop where, for instance, someone who likes one character and is indifferent to the other starts actively disliking the second character because that character’s fans dislike their fave, and the more defensive people get about their faves, the more they tend to go on the offense and the nastier everything gets.

just taking myself as an example, my knee-jerk response--which I usually don’t actually say, I just silently seethe about it--whenever I see Wanda-negative posts (or Steve-negative posts because there’s typically a lot of overlap there too) basically boils down to “yeah well what about YOUR fave’s death count, what about all the shit YOUR fave gets away with, why is YOUR fave’s trauma a meaningful reason for his actions but my fave’s trauma isn’t, how about THAT”...even if the post in question never actually mentioned Tony. I mean, it usually does at some point in the reblogs or in other posts so I think my assumption is justified, but it’s also true that I automatically assume someone’s Steve or Wanda negativity is a direct result of them loving Tony whether the post itself gives me a reason to think that or not, so my defensive reaction of my faves immediately jumps to what is probably a preemptive attack on Tony’s flaws because of the assumptions I’m making...and again, I suspect the reverse is also basically true (i.e., people who were mostly indifferent to Wanda start disliking her more because they see what seems to be random Tony-bashing from Wanda fans).

so it’s all just...one big nasty feedback loop that I really wish we could all try harder to avoid. like...there are probably ways we can criticize narrative treatments of different characters without actively shitting on those characters, right? or, I don’t know, focusing more specifically on “here’s why I think Character A keeps getting shafted and it sucks, especially when Characters B through G do similar things that are portrayed differently, which is a problem of writing and not one of those characters and their fans inherently being The Worst” rather than “Character A keeps getting shafted and that’s why I made 10 posts in a row about how much I hate Character B”? or at least really trying to look at things in good faith instead of jumping straight to “Character B’s stans are delusional”? I mean fuck, we’re all here because we love something about the fandom, right? can we...try to focus on that? can we at least stop calling each other delusional (a specific thing that seems to come up a lot) for having different opinions and interpretations?

#I...don't know what to tag this that will be useful but won't immediately get me yelled at #loki #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff defense squad #tony stark critical #I mean this post really isn't but just to be safe #wandavision #avengers: age of ultron #captain america: civil war #marvel cinematic universe #conversations #10catslover #random-ass-fanboy #anyway I wrote most of this at least a few days ago and then it sat in my drafts #because...scared to get yelled at...#meta #my meta #kind of

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olivieblake · 4 years ago

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As a writer or even just a consumer of media do you find people are less willing to accept “flaws” in characters and stories? I’m not talking like this character is a murderer he’s evil no one should like him type stuff, though as someone who started off writing dramione I’m sure you’ve seen your fair share of that but just like when characters are ever short of perfect. Like when a strong female character is kinda insecure or a couple isn’t communicating well or has a heated fight everyone gets mad that it’s a toxic relationship or bad writing. I once read a review of a book where someone stopped reading it after two chapters cause it had bad therapy practices, ie. the character still had shit to work through and therapy isn’t magic therefore they weren’t always doing the healing right and it’s like? that’s the whole point!! it’s an arc the character is gonna grow! It’s also made clear early on that the therapist didn’t agree with the coping methods (overly controlling their life) so it wasn’t like they were trying to portray it as a good thing. I know you’ve mentioned people have ✨opinions✨ about your DFS Hermione for having flaws and staying flawed and her flaw is just that she kinda thinks she’s right a lot and maybe isn’t the most self aware nothing even serious lol. I’m not saying don’t be critical of media but it’s kinda overwhelming reading think piece after think piece about why this thing you enjoy is actually the literal worst™️. Like am I toxic for having some of the same flaws ? Am I a problematic creep for enjoy stories where everything isn’t always sunshine, I don’t want to have a train wreck of a relationship but sometimes reading about one can be kinda fun? Is that terrible?

there’s a lot here that I’d like to discuss and I’m thinking about how I’d like to do it (I’ll inevitably chat about it in a video because it’s interesting and complex but I think I may have too many topics for this monday)

let’s see I think I will start by saying: in general, critical discourse about media (books, tv, film, fanfic) is a good thing, but it has definitely gone awry from what I consider to be its origins. I think the whole point of viewing media critically and making observations about what we are portraying via fiction is crucial for amplifying/protecting marginalized stories and reducing harm—specifically, the harm that minorities and women face by being inundated with bigoted, prejudiced, hateful, or ignorant tropes, caricatures, or relationship dynamics. I definitely believe that we should consider what we consume and how we consume it, particularly when it comes to the marginalized voices who do not see themselves represented well or fairly in white male dominated media

that being said, I do think it has led to the expectation that fiction cannot have ANY problems, which is absurd and counterproductive. it’s also extremely reductive, particularly when it comes the Strong Female Character™ thing you mention, where a woman STILL only has value if she’s strong in the “correct” way. I mentioned in one of my other posts and also last week’s video that there’s some kind of disconnect between the VERY GOOD intentions of things like #ownvoices or the movement to empower female characters and the actual outcomes, which make it so that any flaws in a marginalized fictional character are magnified to represent the entire group. the very reasonable request to see ourselves in fiction has somehow become an exponentially convoluted demand to see ourselves a certain way in fiction, where any character who does not reflect our personal experience is bad and wrong. previously, the expectation was that white male stories were universal whereas everything else was only for that specific group, and now, ironically, everything that is created still has to fit that universal quality and please everyone, despite that not being the point. the problem is when you only have ONE movie about this topic or ONE book about this ethnicity, then of course it hasn’t done enough to exemplify an entire subject or culture. there has to be an entire body of work the way there is with white-dominated media, where no single film or book accurately represents the experience of being white

plus we have twitter which is a horrifying hellscape where you get rewarded by the algorithm for making loud, obnoxious points so add that to the list (yesterday I saw that one of the top 3 reviews on Beloved by toni morrison is a 1-star review written by a white man and I was just flabbergasted by the lack of self-awareness)

but anyway that’s like, more of a macro look at what I think is going on but you’re right that people are not very forgiving of flawed characters. to some extent, I get it; the one thing we don’t want our characters to do is annoy us, and that’s fair. but I also think people have lost the sense that “oh, this thing isn’t for me” and thus can’t successfully identify the difference between critical failure and personal dislike

now. as for Divination for Skeptics. let me start by saying it’s not like I don’t understand why people find hermione in Divination for Skeptics annoying, because I get it. if you’re taking the story very seriously then sure, maybe you want her to change her behavior and it’s frustrating that she doesn’t. fair enough! to that I say it’s a comedy and if you don’t find it funny you’re perfectly welcome to dislike it, it’s not a big deal to me if I don’t make you laugh. however, I DO take issue with people who claim she’s too flawed or doesn’t grow, because they almost always do it in a very specific way: they say that she doesn’t show enough empathy, aka how dare she not read draco’s mind and simply alter her personality and behavior to suit his. it genuinely infuriates me that in my opinion, people who voice that particular “criticism” have seemingly internalized the belief that women should be emotionally perceptive; that for them, hermione’s “flaw” is that she does not take on the emotional labor that draco refuses to perform. (her actual flaw is that her survival technique/coping mechanism is a hyper-rationality that incorrectly assumes she has perfect information; i.e., that everything she knows is accurate, and therefore all of her decisions must be sound.) whereas draco knows this about her—knows and acknowledges it—and yet cannot bring himself to voice his feelings out of a fear-based desire to hedge his own emotional risk. who, then, is more flawed in the context of the story?

I don’t really have a conclusion yet so I’m going to pause for now and we’ll revisit this; I think mainly it’s that the more media diversifies, the more people will struggle with the preconceptions they have and the presumption that everything they consume is for them, and therefore that they are the metric for whether something is “good.” I think good art, good media, will reflect the world as it exists, but it will still only be the world according to one tiny fraction, a sliver of the actual human experience. does bad representation mean bad art? when it harms people yes. but when it speaks to a deeper truth (the truth of “we are all given to vice and imperfection even if it is not this specific version”), no. but that requires quite a degree of sophistication and self-awareness to identify, hence the discomfort of continuous vitriol or bad takes

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taylortruther · 4 years ago

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sorry to like...use your ask to dump my fandom meta thoughts somewhere but your last two anons/your blog today really have me thinking about a theory i’ve lowkey had for a while now about swiftie behavior and why this fandom is so toxic sometimes, which largely comes down to two observations: 1) “being a cupcake” is seen as such a huge crime and people are labeled cupcakes so easily during arguments that fans, just like first anon described, will go out of their way to criticize taylor in every situation even when they don’t truly feel it’s warranted bc they “don’t want to be an annoying stan” or, if they can’t bring themselves to actually care about the latest drama or get mad at taylor over it, will feel bad and annoying for not doing so bc they think that makes them a cupcake and everyone loudly hates cupcakes. and 2) there’s a segment of fandom, gaylordom in particular for whatever reason, that genuinely act like the polar opposite of cupcakes - bran muffins, maybe? - i.e. always assuming the worst of taylor and her intentions in every situation and criticizing seemingly everything she does no matter what it is. imo this is a rather small section of the fandom BUT they’re also rather loud and active and often the same people who talk with that ‘this is simply how it is and anyone who doesn’t think so or sees it a different way is a blind cupcake idiot’ tone that seems to be what your anons are stressed out over, and for people who spend most of their time within or around that part of fandom it’s easy to feel like that’s the overwhelming opinion and they must be stupid or blind for not seeing it, even if it’s actually a minority opinion in reality.

(especially when people like......very literally say things like ‘everyone disagreeing with me needs to admit deep down they know i’m right and they’re just mad i criticized taylor’ or ‘literally the only people who think this is okay are stans, if you’re not angry you’re a blind stan who can’t take taylor being criticized’ every time someone doesn’t share their outrage at whatever taylor may have done this time. like it’s...very easy to personally internalize language like that especially for younger fans, or to feel, like your anons were saying, manipulated or potentially gaslighted by it or even by more general absolute statements - people talking as if their opinion or subjective view of a situation is simply fact - even if that was not the intention. people speaking in very concrete absolutes about something you strongly see as nuanced or simply don’t see the same way they do can make your brain feel like you’re going crazy or somehow not understanding the topic properly, and in the context of personal disagreements that often feels intentional regardless of the other person’s actual intentions.)

so my thesis is that despite having a reputation online as the most defensive fandom who will blindly defend anything their fav does with no criticism, a huge chunk of swifties are actually weirdly hyper-critical, not only of taylor but also of each other and themselves as fans. (adding to my theory is the term ‘critical swifties’ which seems to be brandished as a badge of honor by some fans and, afaik, is not a classification that exists in any other fandom where being Critical and Objective is not such a high collective priority.) which is how we’ve ended up with a bizarre, seemingly unique fandom culture where everyone is constantly trying to police both themselves and each other into reacting to whatever the latest drama is in the Acceptable way, including modifying their own opinion on a situation based on what the popular opinion in their corner of the fandom is and, if they feel unable to do that or don’t understand how other people came to their opinions about something, becoming genuinely stressed out or upset about their perceived failure to be the Right type of fan because, in the critical circles of the fandom, a lot of people have internalized the idea that not criticizing taylor when everyone else is - even when you truly don’t feel she deserves criticism or don’t even understand the criticism - means you’re being an annoying cupcake, and being an annoying cupcake means you’re stupid and everyone hates you.

(i would imagine that in much less critical circles of the fandom, like wherever the actual genuine cupcakes hang out, this probably happens in the opposite direction i.e. fans who disagree with anything taylor does feeling stressed out for being negative haters or whatever, but i don’t spend time there so idk. this is all just based on my own observations of fandom interactions/fan self-policing, and everywhere i hang out in fandom tends to get very critical, overly so at times imo, of both taylor and fellow fans.)

anyway i just truly think this fandom has an extremely unique internal culture where having the Correct (often at least somewhat critical and thus Objective) opinion on everything is given great importance and being viewed as a cupcake or defensive stan is The Worst Thing Ever and something many fans will overcompensate (or, more accurately, over-criticize) just to avoid. and while i have theories about why the fandom might be this way to begin with - like fans collectively internalizing, re-weaponizing and still desperately trying to escape the very strong ‘swifties are the worst fandom ever, you just can’t stand your precious queen being criticized bc you live up her ass and are too blind to see she’s objectively evil’ branding other fandoms gave them for defending taylor, often against genuinely false claims, when she was stan twitter public enemy number one - i mostly just find it a fascinating (albeit also toxic and often annoying) phenomenon to observe and theorize about, and i think it’s an interesting lens to look at fandom drama through so maybe other people will find it an interesting theory on fandom behavior too.

(also i’m sorry for this fucking essay, can you tell i’m studying to be an anthropologist and genuinely love shit like this lol)

yes, i did indeed save this very thoughtful ask for a time when things weren’t so heated... but i am posting it now because i love it, and this is the nuanced anthropological critique i personally love to see about taylor or the fandom at large.

i personally agree with basically everything you said - i think you hit a lot of points that i try to make when drama explodes here. like, individual blogs are stating things “as fact” because as bloggers we assume that the readers know we are not actual experts and we don’t have an obligation to post every thought with a disclaimer. and as readers, it’s our responsibility to remember that, and also remember that bloggers can’t word everything perfectly. for exxample, if you criticize taylor very harshly for this grammy thing, people draw this conclusion that you only said it because of x, y, or z... but in reality, people draw the conclusion simply because they disagree. and on the flipside, you could choose not to criticize taylor for this and get called a cupcake because, well, your readers disagree, basically.

it’s a very very goofy self-perpetuating culture here, yep.

my only disagreement is that this is specific or worse in the gaylor fandom. because i used to have a non-gaylor taylor blog, i saw this same mentality with all ships or subsets of the fandom. the same shit happened with tayvins whenever drama popped off during the 1989 era (which is to say: constantly), and that meant there were tons of little warring subsets-within-subsets of the fandom because fans felt they had to take a ‘side’ during every one of taylor’s scandals or problematic choices at the time. which is silly.

that’s why i try to assure everyone that it’s okay to be neutral or reserve judgment on any taylor scandal. and just because a certain opinion is popular doesn’t mean it’s factual or the ‘right’ opinion, and having a certain opinion doesn’t make you a cupcake.

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jamestaylorswift · 4 years ago

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You're so mind-blowingly brilliant -- your posts never cease to make my day! I don't even have a tumblr account, but I check your page at least ten times/day, hoping for a new analysis. Reading your essay on "folklore"'s dreamscape felt like an acid trip in the best possible way. Please share your thoughts on the original "Cardigan" lyrics ASAP!

Thanks, anon! You’ve got me blushing like a damn fool over here 😊 You’re always welcome on this blog, lurking or otherwise!

Okay so this is more a line of reasoning that starts at the OG “cardigan,” not just lyric analysis. I’m not exactly sure how to organize all these thoughts so I’m just going to put them in the order that they came. Apologies if this is a mess. (And under a cut because I can’t shut up lmao)

To me, the OG “cardigan” is the antithesis of the song as we now know it. That got me thinking about how the core of the album might have been much different too.

The album-making process started with “my tears ricochet.” (I believe this song is from Karlie’s point of view, per the notes in the dreamscape essay.) I’m assuming Taylor didn’t edit this song much. She has implied in the past that a song is “written” when it takes musical form (i.e. lyrics literally get put to a track). The idea of a dead lover is also extremely compelling. She made “cardigan,” “seven,” and “peace” next.

It’s likely that these four songs represent folklore’s original ideological pillars. The common thread of Aaron’s three songs (both versions of “cardigan”) is the idea of age or maturity. “peace” and “seven” are age-related endpoints and “cardigan” is a midway point. “my tears ricochet” happens to be an endpoint (i.e. dying, as opposed to reaching an adult maturity).

From these songs, I extrapolate that Taylor wanted to explore emotional growth specifically by addressing Peter Pan and Wendy’s philosophical disagreement. (Also…veer off into gay childhood trauma.) “peace” is about the strongest argument anyone could make in favor of Wendy—growing up is necessary, especially in order to love and treat someone properly. (This song even argues for mutual maturity/understanding.) “my tears ricochet” is the fallout if two people end up fighting with each other, not for each other. OG “cardigan” comes down on Peter’s side—if given the choice to preserve youth or yield to age, one should prefer the former. The album was to transform an endorsement of Peter into an endorsement of Wendy.

The three songs done with Aaron were likely written to appear in the order they do today: “cardigan” as exposition, then “seven,” then “peace.” Observe that to chart a course hitting all four songs, Taylor has to align OG “cardigan” with “my tears ricochet.” “seven” can stand on its own, provided she pads it with enough storytelling. “peace” and “my tears ricochet” cannot both be endpoints of the story, especially because they are at odds with each other. The mutual understanding in “peace” is not at all consistent with the hatred and sadness in “my tears ricochet.” Thus, the track list requires the partial ordering of OG “cardigan,” then “my tears ricochet,” then (much later) “peace.”

Let’s talk about OG “cardigan.” The first verse paints the potrait of Karlie. “Vintage tee, brand new phone // high heels on cobblestones // when you are young they assume you know nothing” alludes to the glamor of modeling, plus its stereotype as the profession of being young, dumb, and beautiful. “Livin’ in a gold age // sneakin’ to my bird cage” reintroduces the tension of reputation, youth and freedom at odds with oppressive forces. “Laughin’ like a damn fool // breakin’ every damn rule” contrasts the characterization of Karlie in the verse. She instead has a marvelous time being hot, smart, and moderately evil. Through this contrast, Taylor suggests that the power of youth is the freedom to choose to ignore very serious problems (pseudo-escapism?). The OG outro full of zingers is Taylor’s perspective as someone who gets burned by the freedom of choice. Young Karlie leaves young Taylor because the high of reputation-era antics wears off. Then, old Taylor, still affected by this loss, also loses her mind in a reverse-“Don’t Blame Me” kinda way.

Word choice, to me, suggests that “cardigan” was originally conceived not as the Breakup Song of the Cenozoic Era but a narrative partner of “illicit affairs.” Karlie and Taylor are on the same team in OG “cardigan.” They have a marvelous time being hot, smart, and moderately evil and breaking all the damn rules together. “You know damn well // for you I would ruin myself” gets spit back in Taylor’s face and is that much more impactful.

Karlie is justified in leaving because the moment dies. This phrase describes a relationship that mutually and/or slowly dwindles. Karlie makes a decision to leave and save herself, and indeed makes the better choice because she retains her wild and her sanity. Hence, Peter wins the argument.

It’s unclear when “exile” was written, but I think it was early on in the process because Taylor added bird noises to it. “exile” plus OG “cardigan”/“illicit affairs” illustrates two joint affairs, such as double bearding. Pronoun issues with the second verse of “cardigan” aside, Karlie’s eventual downfall (i.e. the emotional end of “illicit affairs”) is implied to be a result of Taylor…also cheating? Maybe it’s the whole Friends “we were on a break” thing. (IDK, I’ve never actually seen Friends.)

OG “cardigan,” “illicit affairs,” and “exile” were once closely affiliated. More pertinently, by the partial ordering, “illicit affairs” and “exile” were meant to explain how OG “cardigan” connects to “my tears ricochet.” Karlie leaves Taylor during their illicit affair; the affair ruins Karlie; Karlie dies and Taylor shows up at the funeral because she’s pissed; Karlie becomes a vengeful ghost and Taylor is also emotionally ruined forever. Scene.

But these are not the connections that Taylor put out into the world. Obviously we can never know precisely why. One thing that does stick out to me, though, is how hard it is to turn around and align with Wendy given the illicit affair narrative.

In “peace,” Taylor shows her own maturity by acknowledging that she was cowardly and dishonorable. For what? Karlie left her in OG “cardigan,” not the other way around. Taylor runs away with someone else in “exile” (“him”), ostensibly to enjoy a more stable relationship. Her playing the role of the angry funeralgoer in “my tears ricochet” is perfectly reasonable. Taylor was promised love and Karlie didn’t give her what she needed, so she moved on. Therefore, we should conclude that maturity is really…hanging onto someone who doesn’t stay? Having the courage to stay in an incredibly tenuous affair? Apparently, one also must be cheated on in order to mature. These are all strange conclusions.

Taylor illustrates Karlie’s maturity with a monologue of numerous promises—of pretty much everything except peace itself. The illicit affair narrative does strongly support the argument that maturity is learning how to stay true to one’s word. Yet its logical beginning is that one must cheat on another—plus be unfaithful to the person they are cheating with—in order to mature. (Karlie gets burned by the freedom of choice only when she later faces the consequences of the affair.) Also strange.

The illicit affair narrative as a primary emotional catalyst of the album generates even bigger inconsistencies.

“august” both humanizes the person cheated with and leaves them worse off than the cheater. “my tears ricochet” emphasizes the opposite: the one cheated with stays alive and becomes a very ugly person, but the cheater dies.

Arguably, both people should have anticipated the fallout of the (implied to be years-long) affair. “my tears ricochet” is internally inconsistent. “I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace” suggests Karlie died an unfortunate or unforeseen death, not an inevitable one. “You turned into your worst fears” suggests Taylor turned around and became a cheater too.

“invisible string” can support the argument that Taylor and Karlie were always bound to get back together after a breakup. Morally dubious underwriting of the initial affair notwithstanding, this song contradicts “mad woman.” Taylor wrote “mad woman” song shortly after “peace;” in it, she is staunchly against cheating. (She avoids morally dubious underwriting of illicit activity on the album by axing the OG “cardigan”/“illicit affairs”/“exile” narrative, then condemning cheating and seducing in “mad woman” and “illicit affairs,” respectively.)

Again, it is impossible to know when, why, or even exactly how the narrative of the album changed as Taylor was writing it. The dramatization I’ve provided of inconsistencies piling up is only one plausible explanation—and a convoluted one at that—for a change of artistic heart. Whatever the reason, I think it is significant that Taylor performed a volte face to never argue in favor of Peter in the first place.

The album version of “cardigan,” and indeed the entire love triangle, supports Wendy’s side of the argument. “cardigan” shows that James and Betty’s relationship was vibrant, joyous, thrilling, and tender, but above all, perfect. The tone of the song helps Taylor denounce James’ choice to leave Betty as cruel and unnecessary. It is James’ fault for leaving once the “thrill expired,” not Betty’s fault for believing James would stay after the honeymoon phase. “betty” reinforces James’ characterization as the ignorant fool too. Because the album necessarily pigeonholes the leaver in the role of the coward, Wendy wins the argument on the grounds of moral fiber.

(James technically ‘wins’ in “august” because the titular character is left devastated and alone. August embodies youth through hope and yearning. James’ lack of conviction kills that hope. Thus, youthful traits are always collateral damage of the entire maturing process. And, the narrative that pits the characters against each other ends with James, regarded as the paradigm youth, losing the most.)

Perhaps this is the best justification for the existence of the teenage love triangle. Introducing characters who are maturing in various ways still allows Taylor to explore emotional growth. Three separate but fixed perspectives act as a proxy for one person’s changing perspective. By aligning herself with each character at a different time in their life, she shows that maturity (e.g. realism, reliability, patience, etc.) always gives one the upper hand.

The love triangle’s main purpose is to illustrate the philosophy that permeates the rest of the album. folklore as we know it is Taylor’s memorial to all the things lost to youth. Maturity would have prevented so many losses. At the same time, it is impossible to mature without first being youthful, making mistakes, and feeling lost while doing so. This is Taylor’s singular but melancholic endorsement of Wendy. How sad, valuable, and necessary, she says of growing up.

Lest my point be misinterpreted as ‘we can confidently reverse-engineer Taylor’s artistic process,’ here are my main takeaways from the “cardigan” changes:

OG “cardigan” is sad and we should appreciate it as such. “I knew to love would be to lose my mind?” Please.

“cardigan,” as a midway point with respect to age, is the only ideologically ‘variable’ song of the original quartet. Furthermore, by placement and construction, “cardigan” is/was intended to be expository. Changing “cardigan” changes the course she charts through the album. Taking sadness out of one song and spreading it over a storytelling album really changes the meaning of that sadness.

Of the eponymous characters, it’s worth noting that Taylor is James, the leaver, whereas she is left in the OG “cardigan.” It’s utterly fascinating that Taylor chooses to embody ‘hanging on to youth’ angle. What we assume is a very deep, primal feeling is one she overemphasizes for narrative purposes. Consequently, dismissing the love triangle as (fix-it) fiction requires dismissing Taylor’s attachment to youth—being Peter. To that end, we might also need to dismiss the infamous “I never grew up, it’s getting so old” line from “The Archer.” Many others, too…

Red herring though it may be, the love triangle alters folklore’s underlying philosophy, hence the very essence of its melancholy. It seems rather unwise to ignore the love triangle or to reduce it to a cheesy storytelling device. Recognizing that Taylor endorses Wendy and only Wendy is, in my opinion, crucial for clarifying other nebulous ideas in folklore. (I know I sound like a broken record, but I really do think abstraction in the music requires abstraction in analysis. It’s really easy to fall into the habit of tying specific lyrics to people or events. Personally, I find richer and deeper connections by actively working against that habit. I’m not saying this is the only way to do analysis—on the contrary, I think all analysis is correct because it’s all subjective. Rather, I think people overlook the value of occasional abstraction, much to my distress. folklore analysis even seems to demand abstraction. Sue me for believing that things like the underlying philosophy of an album are important, I guess?)

Would you believe that there’s more to this change than what I’ve argued? I’m weary that this is answer is already not what you wanted, so I won’t bang on and quadruple its length. In conclusion: the Implications.

#kaylor #folklore analysis #anonymous #qs

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kob131 · 5 years ago

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XgKp9jj4Is

*sigh* Great, yet ANOTHER ‘Let’s rewrite Adam’ argument made by miss ‘It’s hard to keep track of RWBY characters like Zwei.’

“Degredation of Adam’s character from Blake’s mentor to an abusive ex to a whiny incel who makes insults like it’s his Pokémon name.”

A. “Blake’s mentor” is not a character. It is a description and not even a bare bones one.

B. What is the difference between an abusive ex and an incel exactly? They’re both used to describe despicable people in relation to romance.

C. That is not what incel. You’re using it as a generic insult and thus that last description may as well say ‘Adam bad’ for all the substance it has.

D. Adam always made stupid insults. People laughed at his voice in the Black Trailer and in Volume 3 for fuck’s sake.

And E. What WOULD you make Adam that wouldn’t just make him every generic freedom fighter?

“We’re gonna drop the abusive angel completely and go with Monty’s original plan-”

Done.

You just killed your own video by assuming a dead man’s intention with no fucking reason other than ‘mouthpiece.’

I have no reason to accept anything you say in good faith after this. Before you say that you wanted to change as little as possible then change a massive aspect while using a corpse as a meat shield from criticism.

You are owed nothing from this point on.

‘You don’t doodle your abuser in your notebook-”

Unless, you know, think about them. But hey, why use your brain when you can rely on the inevitable RWBY haters to drown out all criticism?

‘The abuse angle is the worst explored in the show-”

Proof?

No?

Considering your history, I HIGHLY doubt that.

“*Insert Adam into the Volume 2 train fight instead of the WF Lieutennat because he was an out of nowhere threta*”

...

So the Black Trailer and the Volume 2 finale never happened...or you’re an incompetent idiot.

“It gives the scene more weight because we know who Adam is-”

We also know who the WF lieutenant is AND we don’t waste an important character for a worthless fight that amounts to nothing as the train fights ultimately mean NOTHING.

Congrats, you made Adam worse because his first in series fight had him giving a good performance. Here, he can’t even kill Weiss (and in fact, as I am about to explain, he’d get CURB STOMPED by Weiss.)

Just as well, you’ll need to completely change his weakness. Adam is a glass cannon, he can dish out a lot of damage and move quickly but one good hit knocks him down. Makes sense since he’s not exactly big and buff and he can’t fight back when someone isn’t intimidated by him. It also makes him dangerous to Yang as she relies on taking hits at first which she can’t do with Adam because she often flings herself in ways that make dodging impossible. It also makes sense why Blake can fuck him over and why she can get fucked over: she’s also fragile but evasive which connects her with Adam too.

But say he fights, I dunno, someone who can zip around quickly in a manner that he can’t block the attacks and would logically get fucked over quickly by. Like say, a Semblance that zips you from spot to spot like WEISS’.

Yeah, he’d lose in an instant against Weiss because he’s never seen to be able to block attacks moving that fast and he’d get fucked over quick. So you’d need to up his durability and suddenly he loses a logical weakness that is represented by his personality, connecting him to Blake, basically making him a Yang clone and now you need a NEW weakness. Suddenly a lot of Adam’s interesting elements SHATTER.

This is why Adam rewrites suck. None of you think through your writing. You make the same mistakes that Miles and Kerry made but with less experience, less insight and less care and then pile on EVEN MORE flaws.

Worst of all, the bullshit you give about ‘knowing his threat level’ ignores other factors like appearance, attitude and fighting style. Oh wait, I know why. If we include those, the WF Lieutennat suddenly becomes a clear threat. His appearance is distinctly different from the WF goons, with his tall and thick frame indicating he’s strong and durable while his choice of weapon shows he would have a strong but slow fighting style and his attitude shows that if Weiss loses she could very well die a PAINFUL death by a sadist chainsaw wielding terrorist. (’More tension’ my ass.)

You throw out so much just for ONE point that was accomplished in the original anyway. What the fuck else are you gonna muck up?

“Have adam be there to show Adam working with Torchwick-”

Which Blake would already assume since the WF is working with Torchwick and Adam LEADS the WF. But I guess Blake is too stupid to do basic math.

“Then have Adam let Blake run away-”

WHAT THE FUCK?!

Run to where?! They are in an enclosed space! Adam should be chasing after her! He has every reason to chase after her, both personal and professional!

“Then we can have dialogue that goes something like this in Volume 3: Adam: “I don’t want to have to fight you but I will if I have to. Blake: No no, Humans aren’t bad people! Adam: I have seen what they can do. Your family kept you safe. I wasn’t so lucky-”

Cool, so he’s every generic ‘sympathetic’ freedom fighter now.

Instead of being a deconstruction of the noble wounded freedom fighter, showing how such a person would be impossible for such a situation from the extremity of the harm done to him, the manipulation by his superiors for their own ends and his own faults, he’s just a generic pity bag now.

No wait, a SHITTY generic pity bag now because in the Black Trailer, he explictedly tried to blow up innocent people on a train. Blake even questioned him on it and he said ‘So?’. That isn’t the reaction of some noble but misguided person, that’s the reaction of someone so far off the deep end they’ve lost basic sympathy.

Trying to make him out to be noble here would be like trying to make me believe Raven is this secret loving mother or this protector: their actions in the past CONTRADICT this.

‘But Twiinks never said that-’

Her choice of words did. The words you choose your characters to say speaks about how we are suppose to view them. Adam’s word choice in the original communicates a dangerous sadism and madness built from pain and a lack of emotional maturity. This version communicates a sadness stemming from a supposed kindness that Adam SHOULDN’T have.

‘But it tells us what they’re stances on humans are-’

So did the original while also why we should route for Blake over Adam (i.e. she’s still sane and tries to be kind while Adam has lost it and is being cruel and vindictive.)

We literally lost something here.

“He truly feels like this is the only way to help Fanaus-”

So we're now working off the assumption he cares about the Fanaus and not just himself and his own pain, deconstructing how real life movements become corrupted from their original purpose by focusing on their own personal pain than a universal kindness.

Cool, so Adam isn’t Adam anymore.

“Adam still stabs Sienna but it’s about the orgnazation instead of a lame power grab-”

*rolls eyes*

I really hate these rewrites. Why do you even bother with Adam if you tear out the character and insert someone completely different?

“Adam is remorseful, Sienna says something like ‘I would rather die than give you the organization’, and Adam apologizes. Perfect scene.”

A cheesy line that rings hollow and more OOC. Wonder-fucking-ful. I also looked ahead and saw that you are changing Adam’s character short to be about getting his scar. (More on that mess when we get to it.) So Adam being used by Sienna to push for her more violent agenda over Ghira’s peaceful one, something used by the show to show we shouldn’t be shitty to each other (AKA A core theme) still exists. Meaning that what should be Sienna paying for her sins by having the very person she used to push her agenda take it to its logical extreme, kill her in turn and destroy her work is just nonsensical pity begging.

I also assume Adam declaring his idea of Fanaus Supremacy and basically quoting Mein Kampf is still in the show since you never address that. Cool, so either I pity a woman who screwed this man’s life or I pity Furry Hitler. *slow claps*

“During the Volume 5 fight, his breaks and we see his scar-”

...

I’m not even surprised by how dumb this shit is.

Adam’s scarf reveal in Volume 6 was wonderful and one of the best moments in the show. For so long, we saw Adam as someone who was destructive and hateful for no reason and right there, the audience is forced to see that while his actions are inexcusable, his reasons are very human and very real. He’s not a monster, he’s a person whose consumed by pain. At the very end of his life, Adam wasn’t a monster: he was a sorrowful reminder of what pain does to a person.

What does the scar reveal do here? ... Nothing. Seeing his face in full means nothing. Twiinks doesn’t even say anything about it. It’s just there because she wants a look of remorse and thinks that can’t be accomplished with the mask. Even though we could see him cry or have a look of sorrowful anguish. Adam can emote fine without his mask.

I just-I can’t believe this.

”The Adam short is now instead of a bunch of emotionless fight scenes now about how Adam got his scar-”

...

Just more pissing on what makes Adam good. Yeah yeah...

The Adam short is not just a bunch of emotionless fight scenes. The fight scene you show (of Adam protecting Ghira) shows so much. It shows the struggles of the peaceful White Fang, it shows Adam being shocked at killing a human as he hadn’t fallen yet, it shows Sienna using Adam to push her violence without concern for his well being and it shows how he got it into his head killing was fine.

That was ONE scene. ONE. Your scar replacement as a whole would have less impact (as we can tell how got it from context clues) than ONE scene.

Are you guys getting WHY I hate rewrites of RWBY so much?

“Adam finds Oscar-”

If this doesn’t end with “and then he kills Oscar” I don’t care. Even this version of Adam would jump at killing a human and would have no idea Oscar knows Blake.

And it doesn’t. Great. BTW, Oscar wouldn’t know about the plan at this point so him showing up at the CCT tower isn’t explained and this scene is pointless.

“Adam would show up at the CCT tower, killing the CCT guards while ranting about equality and justice. Blake jumps in, leading him away to the waterfall. She says ‘Adam, you’ve gone too far! You’re just as bad as the people who hurt you!’“

Gee, that wasn’t clear when he tried BLOWING UP A TRAIN FULL OF INNOCENT PEOPLE?!

Also, Twiinks tries to push this idea that Blake wants to reconnect with Adam (which makes no sense as she LEFT Adam).

“Now we have the decapitation scene-”

We know she’s not gonna die, the fear came from the destruction of beacon and Yang being injuried. Of course Blake isn’t gonna die here.

“-moved to a thematically appreciate moment in the story-”

Considering you didn’t give two shits about thematic before, why the fuck would I care now?

“-Yang isn’t involved as to not muddy how if it was self defense.-”

So Yang’s arc is just scrapped and instead of having someone around who went through similar shit as Adam with a similar mindset and personality to dislay how wrong he is, we have a far shittier version that doesn’t even serve it’s purpose as protecting friends and family is covered by self defense and the people who bitched now would still bitch because Adam dying is the issue, not self defense.

“We see regret in Adam’s eyes-”

Means nothing because he was just a loon at this point out of nowhere and he’s still a terrible person. See, the thing is you can give a pitiable side to characters like Adam but you have to accept there is still good reason to hate him. Trying to hammer sympathy at us is just gonna make him less sympathetic.

“We shouldn’t be developing the budding relationship-”

It wasn’t.

That wasn’t a fucking romantic scene, it was an emotional breakdown after a stressful

“By making Adam an understandable character-”

This is perhaps the most insulting part.

Adam IS understandable. Just because you don’t sympathize with him doesn’t mean you can’t see how he became this way. He was enslaved at a young age, branded in a way that robbed him of so much, he tried to make things better but because of forces outside of his control and his own issues, he lost his way and became what made him: someone cruel and uncaring of others. And yet, even as he does terrible things, we can still see that even he is a victim of the world, lamenting his fall and who he could have been.

That is something that fits the tone of RWBY so much better than a generic freedom fighter turned crazy person. Not to mention all the brilliant details you scrapped for shallow and boring details that any run of the mill show could do.

You improved NOTHING here. You just turned Adam from an interesting deconstruction and a cautionary tale of what we can become to every revolutionary in western media which, considering America’s origins, are a dime a dozen.

I’ll say it again: This is why I hate rewrites. You didn’t put nearly as much thought and effort into the show as the creators did and yet you stand on their work, rot it from the inside and try pedaling a worse version because it fits some people’s delusions.

Every time I look into you Twiinks, you become worse. How far will YOU fall?

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teaveetamer · 5 years ago

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My Issues With TFioS (and Other Elements of John Green)

Alright I’m just going to preface this with two things.

It’s been about six years since I’ve read the entire thing through, so my points are probably not going to be as detailed or precise as they were when I first read it.

If you enjoyed the book, identify with the fanbase, or like John Green in any capacity... Great! You might want to skip this one. This is definitely not the post for you. I’m going to put all of my more controversial thoughts under the cut so if you don’t want to see them you can just move on.

I brought up the book in that other post because I felt it had relevance to the discussion of “authors using characters as a mouthpiece”, but that’s only a small part of my issue with the book itself. I suppose I could have used a fanfiction example, since there’s more than enough fodder there, but I brought up The Fault in our Stars specifically because I feel comfortable criticizing a book in a way that I don’t feel comfortable criticizing fan works. John Green is a public figure that produced a paid product, made money, and does this professionally, while most fanfic authors are amateurs that provide free entertainment and just do it for fun.

Now with that said, we move on to the meat of the post.

Some Background

Perhaps this is not a little known fact, but I absolutely adore love stories. I don’t have incredibly high standards for them by any means, and in fact I actively enjoy them even when they aren’t the deepest, most thought provoking pieces. Someone got me a copy of Red, White, and Royal Blue for my birthday this year and I read the entire thing cover to cover in a day (and I seriously recommend if you’re looking for a pretty easy read with a lot of gay).

The only thing I love more than love stories? Tragic love stories, of course. If anyone has followed my fanfiction or main blog for any amount of time then you know that I love a little bit of tragedy. Usually with a happy ending, but not always. So when one of my friends shoved (and I mean literally shoved) The Fault in Our Stars into my hands and billed it as a “tragic but heartwarming love story” I thought it would be perfect for me.

I was sixteen at the time, the target age demographic, and I was always looking for books with smart, well written teen characters. At this point in my life I’d never heard of John Green or his fanbase before. I tell you this because I disliked the book as I read it, but I think John Green and his fanbase are a major factor in why I disliked it so much I’m willing to sit down and write a blog post about it six years later. Granted, that’s not all on the book, but it is a factor.

Needless to say, I was not all that impressed by it. At some points I was downright infuriated, really.

My Issues With the Book

In summary, it feels very meh and overly pretentious. After about two chapters I just wanted to put it down, and the only reason I pushed through is because my friend insisted that it got better. She said it was funny, relatable, and intelligent, but I found it to be none of these things.

The impression I got was that the author, whoever he was, fancied himself terribly clever and he wanted everyone to know it. You know the type, the kinds of people that go around and assure everyone of how smart they are? It feels like it was made for haughty teens to brag about how intelligent they were because they read a “deep” book. The book itself, despite being a surface level of “witty”, didn’t really have anything to say. In the end it reads like a thirty-something year old man bragging about how smart he is and waxing philosophical about the nature of life (and... Breakfast food..?) and using a fictional teenage girl to do it.

That’s why I brought up the “mouthpiece” thing. I didn’t want to read a book about a thirty-something dressing up his thoughts as a teenage girl. I wanted to read a book about a teenage girl.

Speaking of Hazel Grace… I don’t know if this is a common experience, but can anyone else tell when a man writes a female character? I find that I usually can. Men have a particular voice when they write, and especially when they write women. Every single page hammered me over the head with the fact that this was a man who was trying (and, in my opinion, failing miserably) to write a relatable teenage girl. And, in my opinion, he parroted a lot of very upsetting, dangerous mentalities for young women.

There were quite a few “I’m not like other girls, and not just because of the cancer!” moments (a mentality that I find wholly problematic coming from other women, let alone a man writing for a woman) that just had me rolling my eyes straight out of their sockets. She doesn’t care about shoes, see! She reads books! Isn’t that awesome and unique? Because, apparently, women are not allowed to do both.

These problematic mentalities extend into the book’s romance plot, too. Augustus is, frankly, one of the creepiest motherfuckers I’ve ever had the displeasure to read about. Not only is his aggressive creepiness portrayed as romantic, but Hazel reacts exactly how men wish women would react to their advances. Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of the book in front of me so you won’t get much in the way of direct quotes, but some examples include:

He stares at her, completely unblinking, for the duration of their cancer kids support group meeting… before they’ve even so much as spoken a word to each other. Which also features this gem of a quote: "A nonhot boy stares at you relentlessly and it is, at best, awkward and, at worst, a form of assault. But a hot boy . . . well." which just perpetuates the disgusting misconception that women are okay with being creeped on as long as a guy is attractive. Spoiler alert: We fucking aren’t.

He repeatedly refers to Hazel as “Hazel Grace”, despite her introducing herself as “Hazel” and asking him to just call her “Hazel”. And not only does he ask for her full name, he demands she give it to him. This rings all kinds of alarm bells for me, because you know who else does that kind of shit? Christian Grey. And it’s manipulative, disrespectful, and downright rude. It is essentially saying “I hear your desires, but I would prefer to address you how I want to address you, not how you would like to be addressed, because my ego is more important than your comfort”.

Hazel is perfectly fine with getting into a complete stranger’s car and spending time at his house mere minutes after meeting with him and after all of the questionable shit he just pulled.

Continuing this book’s litany of problems with women, let’s talk about Isaac’s (ex)girlfriend. The book treats their breakup as this massive betrayal, then even goes on to justify vandalizing her property because of it.

I’m sorry, but no.

You, as an autonomous human being, have the right to end a relationship with someone else whenever, wherever, and for whatever reasons you designate, regardless of previously expressed emotions or promises. How and when she did it was not the most ideal, but she’s an emotionally immature teenager, and there’s never going to be a good time to do something like this. What was she supposed to do, keep pity dating him because she felt sorry for him? Wait until someone invented technology to cure blindness? Assuming she did actually break up with him because of his disability… Are her reasons shitty? Sure. But she’s allowed to have them.

And you know what? He’s allowed to be mad about it. His anger might be completely understandable, if not totally justified. But you know what else? That does not give him the right to take revenge on her by vandalizing her property.

I would have no problem with this scene if it were honest about what it was: a bunch of teenagers with under-developed frontal lobes that are angry and feeling vindictive. But it’s not that. It’s depicted as not only completely justified, but heroic. I’m sorry, no. You are never heroic for harassing another human being.

And Augustus’s dumb little speech to her mom is such garbage. You really expect me to believe that a grown woman was so pwned by some jerk teenager’s super witty justification for destroying her property that she just went inside and, idk, watched TV? Didn’t call the police to report the crime that he and his friends were actively committing against her? Bullshit.

Speaking of bullshit, that scene is pretty egregious, but that doesn’t even begin to cover my issues with this book’s pretentious dialogue. If you told me that they ran every word in this book through Thesaurus.com then I would believe you without hesitation. The one hook, the draw, the thing that kept me reading was supposed to be the relatable characters, but they just aren’t relatable. They’re not realistic in the slightest. Seriously, go read any line of this book out loud and tell me how ridiculous you feel. I kept expecting Augustus to pull off his skinsuit and reveal that he was secretly a robot trying to imitate human speech the entire time.

I’m not sure how far I can go into this point without giving you direct quotes, but half the stuff that comes out of these characters mouths is pseudo-intellectual nonsense. “Put the killing thing between your teeth so it can’t kill you”?

It’s not a metaphor.

Putting an unlit cigarette in your mouth is still stupid. I guess it won’t give you lung cancer, but really? It’s still not a great idea.

Augustus has to go buy these cigarettes, which means he’s actively going out and giving money to an industry that has been funding pseudoscience and suppressing health initiatives that would prevent people from suffering what he did (i.e. fucking cancer).

Here’s a clue: Tobacco companies don’t actually care about what you do with the cigarettes. Their transaction stops as soon as you put the money in their hands. I could purchase a hundred packs and throw them in the garbage, and the only thing they know is that they got about $600 from me. Way to “stick it to the man”, asshole. You’re not clever.

With the exception of the Isaac’s-girlfriend thing, all of that is in chapters 1-4, by the way. This book turned me off so thoroughly that early.

So by the time the Amsterdam trip rolled around I was already not enjoying this book, but then this thing happened and it was just the final nail in the coffin for me. You probably know what I’m talking about already, but if you don’t… The Anne Frank Museum kiss.

I honestly cannot even articulate how incredibly tasteless and disrespectful I find the entire thing, and not only does that happen, but it’s followed by an r/ThatHappened “and then everybody stood up and clapped!” Seriously?

There are smarter, more well-versed people than me that have covered this topic, so I’ll leave the analysis for why that’s all kinds of wrong to them.

Those are really my big gripes, though there’s a few smaller ones (like Augustus throwing a pre-funeral like are you a psychopath? Why would you put the people you love through that???) that I’m not going to touch on because they weren’t all that instrumental in putting me off. Instead I’ll move on to the external factors.

The Fanbase

So I finished the book, a little miffed at having just wasted my time, and immediately told my friend that I didn’t like it much, and that I would be returning her copy the next day. Feeling pretty meh-to-slightly-negative about it, but whatever, it happens.

I was essentially met with “wow I can’t believe you didn’t get it.” and “Oh well maybe you’ll finally understand how deep it is when you’re older” from my friend. Which is really just one step away from the wow can’t you read?! BS that I’ve been seeing more and more frequently these days. So immediately I was pissed. All that aside, I was sixteen, the target age demographic? If I didn’t ‘get it’ then John Green was doing a pretty piss poor job of conveying what it is.

So I went online seeking something. Either validation that I wasn’t wrong and that I didn’t miss the point, the book just wasn’t great, or an explanation of what this it was that I’d missed. And let me tell you... Spotting a negative opinion of this book was like looking for a unicorn. There were a few, and many of them were met with the same kind of thing I had experienced. Vitriol, insistence that they were stupid or that they didn’t get it (again, with no explanation of what it was), and, apparently, a lot of harassment and threats.

I discovered that John Green’s target audience had a tendency to be… A bit obsessive. Lots of young, impressionable teenagers that were willing to jump on an opposing opinion with zealous outrage. If I had any interest in pursuing any of John Green’s other works or John Green as an internet personality any further, then it died in that moment. Absolutely nothing turns me off like a rabid, spiteful fanbase.

Now by this point I was already in the rabbit hole, and I began encountering a lot of criticisms of John Green and the things he’s said and done in the past. I did not like what I found.

John Green Himself

To be extremely blunt, the guy put such a bad taste in my mouth that it retroactively soured my opinion of The Fault in Our Stars even more. Since this is a post about my opinions on the book, I’m only going to be discussing things that affected my view at the time I read it. These are all things that happened six years ago, and I have no idea what this man has been up to or what he’s said about any of these topics since.

Let’s just get this out of the way… John Green writes the same book over and over. There’s always a quirky, nerdy white boy that is invariably cisgendered, and almost always straight. He is always an outcast with only a few friends, though apparently never directly bullied. He always meets an edgy girl that he falls in love with the idea of. Usually there is a road trip somewhere in there too.

The Fault in our Stars admittedly doesn’t follow the exact same framework, but it’s close enough in a lot of ways. Instead of the Quirky, Too-Smart-For-His-Own-Good cisboi being the PoV character, it’s the love interest (Hazel also fits this description, albeit a female version). Hazel and Augustus are both still outcasts. Hazel is attracted to Augustus because he’s Deep and Edgy and A Little Larger Than Life. The road trip is a flight to Amsterdam.

Looking at the man... Yeah the entire premise starts to come off as some weird self-insert fanfiction. I can feel the “I was a quirky, bullied teen and I wish this is how my high school life had been!” energy coming through absolutely every pore and every molecule of ink. Every character reads like John Green. John Green has written book after book and the main character always appears to be John Green in a slightly different teenage skinsuit.

And that’s fine, I guess. A little lazy, but I guess it’s working for him since he’s making hella bank? It’s certainly not enough to put me off the guy, just not something I’m interested in reading, and not something I find compelling.

What put me off for good were some of his comments. Dude skeeves me the fuck out. I’ll just go over some of the highlights I found at the time, and why they upset me so much when I heard them.

“Nerd girls are the world's most underutilized romantic resource.”

As a nerdy girl that has been stalked and harassed by men because I’m “good girlfriend material” (aka I like video games and traditionally masculine stuff and I’m pretty! I must be a unicorn!), this statement is disgusting.

I don’t care if it was a joke. I don’t care if he wasn’t being serious. This is the kind of shit that men think is a compliment because they think it makes “quirky” girls feel “unique” and “special”, but that “complement” is also an insult. You know why? Because it makes female interests all about how men perceive their sexual or romantic viability.

John Green’s penchant for writing “special” and “unique” girls (while simultaneously shaming “typical” girls, but I’ll get to that in the next point) and depicting them as the ideal woman just reaffirms my feelings about this quote. I think, on some level, John Green has no idea why this is such a bad take. And that’s not even getting into the fact that he called human beings resources. Women are not objects that exist to be a plot device or for your gratification. Fuck right off with that shit.

“She was incredibly hot, in that popular-girl-with-bleached-teeth-and-anorexia kind of way, which was Colin’s least favourite way of being hot”

This is just one quote of many that shames people with eating disorders and weight problems (on both ends of the spectrum, “too fat” and “too skinny”. Another fun one being: “there’s the weird culturally-constructed definition of hot, which means ‘that individual is malnourished, and has probably had plastic bags inserted into her breasts.’")

Know what this line is? It’s called “negging”, and it’s a popular tactic of incels because it works. You make someone seek your approval by intentionally giving them backhanded compliments to undermine their self esteem. The idea is that the more you insult them, the harder they’ll work to try and impress you. It doesn’t work on everyone, but you know who it does tend to work on? Insecure younger people (usually girls). You know who John Green’s target audience is? Insecure teenage girls.

As for the actual substance of the quote… I hate it. He’s shaming a woman for the choices she makes over her appearance. Which are, fun fact, none of his damn business. Also the idea that “skinny” and “anorexic” somehow need to go hand in hand is just wrong, insulting women for a mental health disorder they have no control over is offensive, and using a serious mental health disorder (did you know that anorexia is the most deadly mental health condition?) as an insult is disgusting.

Coming back to my earlier point about shaming “normal” girls, this quote is just the tip of the iceberg. He repeatedly shames women in his books for looking or behaving “typically”, while quirky girls are lauded as the ideal. Quirky girls are “weird and interesting” and normal girls are “boring”. If this was intended as a compliment, it’s a shitty one. If you have to shame one group to make another feel better, it is not a compliment. You are lowering all women when you pull that shit. You teach them that in order to feel good about themselves another group has to be made to feel worse.

And hey, maybe the pretty girl likes her teeth bleached because it makes her feel confident? Why can’t bleached teeth girl and anime t-shirt girl both be beautiful and unique and confident in their own right? Why is it “powerful” for anime t-shirt girl to wear her nerdy clothes, but scorn-worthy for bleached teeth girl to like bleaching her teeth?

What John Green is doing is simply replacing one ideal (skinny pretty girl) with another (quirky cute girl), and then he pretends like his version is somehow “woke” because it’s not based on physical appearance (though all of the women in his books are also physically attractive. Hmmm. Guess “nerd girls” are only “viable resources” when they aren’t hard to look at?).

And trust me, I’ve been down this path. I’ve been taken in by guys who try to make me feel ~special~ by putting down other women, and it leads to absolutely nothing good. It doesn’t make you feel better. It just makes you feel angry and resentful, and that’s not a place you want to be in. In fact, this was a mentality I had recently escaped from around the time I picked up this book. Seeing someone with as much influence as John Green parroting this specific brand of toxic shit to exactly the audience that would be most likely to feed into it? I was never going to be able to like the guy, sorry.

I know some people are able to “separate the art from the artist”, and I might have been willing to do that had the book actually been good… but it wasn’t. So in the end the book just looked worse for all of the author’s shortcomings.

So yeah, in summary: The book was mediocre at best, the author pushed all of my angry feminist buttons, and elements of the fanbase were annoying, condescending, and spiteful. I didn’t like the book in the first place due to the myriad of problems plaguing it, but everything else just made it look so much worse in hindsight.

Anyways, this probably got kind of ranty, but it was cathartic and I did make this blog to vent about dumb stuff. I think this qualifies.

#Personal stuff #TFioS Opinion Piece #Sorry it took so long #I had a lot to say #A little ranty

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galaxiesinadot · 5 years ago

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Big Hero 6 Season 2

Okay, I just watched the City of Monsters: part 1 and 2, and I am still disappointed in the way the series is going. It feels wrong, like the creators don’t have a good grasp on any of the characters, their personalities, and their goals. It feels like they took one personality from each of the main 4 (everyone excluding Hiro and Baymax) and blew it up to an almost laughable proportion. I’m planning on explaining each of the main casts’ personalities and how they could further be developed in a later post.

Now, here are a few questions I have about the end of the City of Monsters’ arc:

What will happen to Diana?

She can’t just stay in jail and be forgotten about.

Will Liv pay for her crimes?

And before you ask, yes, she did commit a crime. She did not practice basic safety in experimentation, she made a clone (which is illegal, at least, in our universe), and she tried to blame all of what happened on something she made. I actually feel bad for Dia. She was made for a reason and was put into the world with no instructions but to save Liv, and yet she was arrested and degraded (by her own maker, no less) for doing that. I have a lot to say about how morals and justice are handled in this universe, but I won’t do it here. For now, I will say that Mel (the guy who made that invisible suit), High Voltage, and Dia should have been handled in a more just, fair, and empathetic way.

What will happen to Sycorax, and the news of what happened?

Duff Blunder simply saying, “I don’t know what happened,” does not cut it.

And lastly, where was the Karmi and Hiro relationship development?

This is going to be a bit longer. I want to first point out that I think it’s perfectly fine that a lot of people like her, and I fully support you all. However, even after seeing the finale, I couldn’t bring myself to like her. But this isn’t about exploring Karmi’s character, it’s about her relationship with Hiro. I see a lot of people saying they loved the way their development went, but I don’t see where that happened. To begin, the first time Hiro was introduced to Karmi was in:

“Issue 188”

As you all already know, she was two-faced; she only acted nice to Hiro when professor Granville was around. She frequently insulted Hiro which was mostly her saying that he wasn’t special, and that she wished he wasn’t there. I would understand this behavior if she was shown to be lacking of self-confidence or insecure, but we are shown multiple times that this wasn’t the case as she is shown to be knowledgeable and prideful (almost to an unpraiseworthy extent) of her skills and field. I would also understand this behavior if she was lacking in social skills but, again, this is not the case. We see her able to talk easily communicate with people and get along with them (i.e. Honey Lemon and Dia). Most of the things that explain her behavior (because she has no friends, she’s lonely, she was bullied before) are headcannons made by and that wouldn’t excuse her behavior. Her being young doesn’t excuse her either. Studies have shown infants able to tell right from wrong. So, all I can conclude from this is that she’s a bully.

This is fine; we’ve multiple redemption arcs of bullies who became friends with the protagonist. What really bothered me was that it was portrayed as okay, and that it was actually Hiro who needed to get over himself and make amends with Karmi. This was shown throughout this same episode with professor Granville forcing him to befriend her, and Gogo telling Hiro that he “took [Karmi’s] thing.”

I hate that they played this off as a rivalry. A rivalry has to be recognized by both parties, and it involves both people continuously rise above the other which, in turn, would cause each of those people to become a better version of themselves. This definition can not be used to explain Hiro and Karmi’s relationship. Karmi demeans Hiro until he finds a way to one-up her, and then she demeans him some more. No matter how nice he is to her, it isn’t returned (even in the latest episode, as I’ll explain).

“Failure mode”

They barely had any interaction in this episode, but it does support the fact that Karmi wants Hiro to fail as she is seen recording his project with a smile that disappears when he doesn’t fail. I know what you’re thinking, “Hiro took a picture of Karmi when she became upset about his project working.”

To this I say, “yes, he did, in retaliation, as were many of his actions throughout the series.”

“Small Hiro One”

Karmi is blatant in her criticism of Hiro. She insulted him when he couldn’t get in, and did so again when she found him with the little kids. Did Hiro insult her back? Nope. He apologized that she got kicked out.

It just angers me that she get away with this bullying with no consequences. It kind of feeds into that mentality that if a boy bullies a girl it’s wrong, but if a girl bullies a boy he just needs to suck it up and deal with it (which is what we see Hiro doing).

I’mnot going to document any more of these little interactions as they all went the same. Instead, I’ll just focus on those that are more major.

“Fanfriction”

This episode upset me the most. If someone was writing a fanfiction about how they love you, and want to kiss you, and be your partner, you would be as grossed out as Hiro. Hiro had every right to hate that fanfiction and show how uncomfortable it made him, but again, it was played off as something Hiro just needed to accept and Man-Up about. As Honey lemon put it, “she’s just having fun, Hiro. Why do you care so much?”

They all chalked it up to him being embarrassed about the crush, not that it was upsetting him and literally driving him mad. This happened all the way until the end of the episode where, when Hiro looked to them (grownups and friends) for help when Karmi hugged him, they urged him to reciprocate her feelings and give it a try.

“Big Problem”

I don’t even want to talk about this one. I hate that everyone just assumed he was jealous of Karmi when:

1. She took his spotlight. This wouldn’t have upset me as much if it hadn’t been for the reason Hiro was so bent on impressing Dia. The only way to get Tadashi’s invention out there is to set up relations with big companies who are able to expand his connections. Hiro was trying to follow Tadashi’s wish of helping people. In later episodes, Karmi states that she knew and admired Tadashi. Why didn’t she show that here. This was a missed opportunity for relationship development.

2. Dia completely dismissed Hiro’s invention and didn’t try to hear him out (anyone would be upset over this). It was even said that Dia came there for Hiro (yes, Baymax is indeed a work of combining biology and technology, hence “biotech.”)

3. Karmi, yet again, degraded Hiro who was desperately trying to regain Dia’s interest.

None of Hiro’s friends have been sticking up for him and this bothers me severely.

“Internabout”

More of the same thing. Hiro is pushed by Karmi’s high and mighty attitude over getting something he didn’t, so he does something Tadashi wouldn’t be happy about. He goes to join Krei, a man who, as Callghan put it, “cut’s corners and ignored sound science.” This is still true of Krei even in the series. Obviously, it didn’t go well for Hiro. He was talked into a contract, degraded by Krei and, when she found out, Karmi.

His friends did not try to stop him.

“Prey Date”

Karmi is shown to be angry that Hiro was hanging around the labs, and she seemed embarrassed that she be seen with him. I know a lot of people voiced happiness when she asked about Hiro, and if he was safe, but like… I would have thought she was heartless along with being a bully if she hadn’t. It was a basic thing to do. After the events she saw Hiro again, but she didn’t ask him about anything that happened (which would have been a much neded development). Instead, you guessed it, Hiro asked her how everything turned out and even complemented her skills. Karmi, despite Hiro having helped her gain access the data she needed to cure the mutants, did not reciprocate.

The episodes after this were mostly Karmi hitting (yes, hitting) and yelling at Hiro when he tried to tell her Dia was up to something. Karmi could have and should have started to trust Hiro more and believed him, especially after all their interactions thus far. This, again, was a missed opportunity.

“Nega-Globby”

Karmi insults Hiro right in front of Honey Lemon. All Honey Lemon says is that Hiro, “is actually a great person.”

No other interactions.

(Also, in a previous episode it was shown that Honey Lemon already knew the cure to Globby. Why did she need Karmi to help this time. It felt that she was forced into that situation.)

“Write Turn Here”

More of the same. Hiro is still irritated by Karmi’s obsession and everyone pretends that that’s fine and that Hiro should just brush it off (because it’s just a joke, a harmless nothing). Granville noticed Hiro’s discomfort and said nothing to Karmi. I understand that Hiro wanted to correct the falsities he was being presented by in Karmi’s fanfiction by writing his own story. It was spiteful of him, but reasonable, given the circumstances. I have seen a post in which someone said that you shouldn’t write something out of spite. In reality, that’s how a lot of great stories came to be.

City of Monsters: part 1 and 2

After everything I wrote here you can see why I would say this “friendship” seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere. Hiro initiated this friendship, having to, like many time before, swallow his pride and ask if Karmi wanted any help and if she was willing to try being friends. This time, it worked. But right after that, Karmi still complains to Liv that Hiro is “usually the worst,” but countering this by basically only saying that he was useful.

After Karmi got mutated, it was Hiro who stated that he cared about her and stroked her ego by saying that she was smartest person he knew. It felt wrong and out of the blue. I think this scene would have played out much differently, and would have benefited their development, had Hiro been mutated and Karmi was the one to have saved him (so long as the other changes I mentioned were made as well.)

Then, after everything, Karmi just leaves. I understand that it was her parents’ doing, but she didn’t leave a message for him, try to text him, or get through to him by way of social media; this is especially wrong when you see how advanced their tech is.

Karmi never said sorry to Hiro for how she treated him, nor did she even think that what she was doing was wrong. Those small smiles she gave to Hiro, and those few times she acknowledged his kindness to her do not count. The way she treated Hiro was unfair and, since she had no DIRECT consequences to her actions, it makes it seem like that treatment was okay and can be overlooked. I say direct as in she was not called out or reprimanded for what she had been doing to Hiro (being turned to a mutant does not count). Not a good message to be sending to the younger audiences of the show.

Sorry for this long post. Seeing their relationship being talked about in a positive light bothers me as someone who knows people like Karmi. Their bullies, and their actions aren’t justified because [input reason], nor should they be encouraged.

@baymax-hiro-hearted I hope you like this read! Their relationship bothered and I couldn’t understand why. So, here are my thoughts in a more organized and logical manner.

#Karmi #Big Hero 6 #Big Hero 6: the Series #Analyses

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makeste · 6 years ago

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BnHA Chapter 027: The Ol’ Run and Float

Previously on BnHA: Deku won the obstacle course and made All Might proud while pissing everyone else off. Midnight announced that the second event would be a cavalry battle. The kids were told to team up in groups of 2 to 4, and that each team’s captain would wear a headband with a point value based on how that team’s members placed in the obstacle course. Deku found out he was worth ten million fucking points.

Today on BnHA: Midnight explains the rules of the cavalry battle. U.A.’s first years set out to assemble their teams. Bakugou doesn’t fucking know who any of these people are. Iida wants in on this rivalry thing too. Deku gets off to a shaky start, but actually manages to assemble probably the best team out here, thanks in large part to its abundance of girl power, but also because my bird bro Tokoyami decides to get in on this as well.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 51 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

new volume cover!! lots of kids this time! twelve of ‘em!

we’ve even got that steampunk girl. SHE DOESN’T EVEN GO HERE

this is the calmest that Bakugou’s face has been on a cover yet, I think. he’s even letting Kaminari lean all over him. he still doesn’t know how to smile, but at least he’s looking at the camera, unlike Todoroki up there in the corner

and we’ve got Ochako up there in the top left! KICK SOME ASS OCHAKO

Deku looks pretty happy and doesn’t appear to be fearing for his life, so we can confidently assume that this picture wasn’t taken during the sports fest! ahahaha

“the boy born with everything” hmm that sounds like Todoroki to me. could be Bakugou too I suppose, but right now I’m leaning more toward the kid who hasn’t had much development yet and whose mystery dad seems like he might be introduced shortly

I freaking love that... [checks the handy dandy character guide] Hagakure is on the inner cover cheerleading with these two

(ETA: I can’t believe such a cute fucking page was so ruined for me with context.)

okay I skipped past the characters cuz I already know who they are, and definitely skipped past that chapter index. here we go

seems pretty fucked up to me. do they have twists like this every year? if yes, then why do the kids who’ve watched it religiously since childhood (i.e. Deku) not anticipate that and maybe just shoot for top 5 rather than #1?

well Deku, you’re just going to have to continue to be just that damn good, I guess. you’re screwed otherwise

even Ochako omg

he’s still thinking to himself that it was just dumb luck that he came in first. by my reckoning it was actually ridiculously quick and adaptive thinking, more than a little cleverness, no small amount of physical strength and endurance, and a reckless disregard for his own safety bordering on the insane! but sure, call it luck

wonder where all of that GARRRRR energy has gone now. it’s like he was running at 300% for that entire event, and now all of a sudden he’s run out of batteries

okay here we go, some detailed rules

that’s going to be a lot of zeroes for Deku’s team

glad they designed the headbands to fasten with velcro so that these kids don’t go snapping each other’s necks

and apparently once someone grabs your headband, they’ve got to put it on and wear it themselves, so as long as time’s not up, you still have a chance to get it back

so then Deku won’t necessarily be the main target the entire time. ooh, this changes things. I like this game now

that little shithead Mineta might be a problem if his team utilizes his stupid grapes

and Tsuyu could potentially just use her tongue and be snatching up headbands left and right

apparently they’re allowed to use quirks, but not allowed to maliciously attack teams “with the intent of making them fall.” well what are the rules then. is that basically just a “don’t kill each other” rule and aside from that everything still goes? this opens the gates for some inconsistent refereeing. but I suppose these games are just an exhibition match to show off anyway, so as long as everyone gets to do that, it doesn’t matter as much who actually wins or loses

unless your name is Bakugou Katsuki and you went up on stage in front of a hundred thousand people and were all “it’s me I’m the winner”

or if you’re Todoroki “dad is watching and I just made Deku my rival fifteen minutes ago, so I don’t want to lose to him” Shouto

or Midoriya “dad is watching and I promised him I’d tell the world I AM HERE” Izuku

then you’re probably more invested in winning

so should be interesting

(ETA: actually, getting into the round of 16 really did make a difference in terms of who got drafted afterwards.)

time to start forming teams!

Deku already seems to know who he wants!

Tsuyu or Ochako, Deku. either is good. both are even better

Iida’s also fast! and loyal! (ETA: HAHAHAHA) but the second that fucker gets distracted, his weird hand gestures will get you dropped on the floor right quick

Bakugou and Todoroki would NEVER!! so let’s not even bother with that

Sero is another one like Tsuyu that would probably be really good at snatching bands

anyways, enough with the hypotheticals, let’s scroll down and see who this thoughtful young man actually decides on

heyyy. booooooo we’re cutting to the security staff

they don’t seem to be doing a very good job

wow. these guys are kind of the worst

“drag others down.” what a cynical fucking take

now they’re talking about how the cavalry battle teaches cooperation. well no shit, just like literally any team exercise ever

these are the most demotivational superheroes I’ve ever seen. the complete fucking opposite of All Might. no wonder he was so desperate to find someone with the right attitude to be his successor

WOW CHECK OUT MISTER POPULAR OVER HERE

OH NOW Y’ALL LIKE HIM, HUH. I WAS HERE FIRST

he seems to have someone else in mind maybe?

wow

“WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE”

wow Bakugou. wow. I may not know all of their names yet, but at least I know... two of their quirks

-- and actually I do know their names! Sato, Hagakure, and Mina! wow! guys! I did it!!!

meanwhile All Might’s up in the stands with his own hot fresh takes on Bakugou, which mainly consist of “he may be a jerk but he sure is talented and that sure does make him popular.” yep. are you proud. he’s still our son, All Might

Todoroki already picked a team while Bakugou was standing there trying to figure out what everyone else’s quirks even are and what exactly is this mysterious “teamwork” thing anyway

luckily he has a good friend who mysteriously loves him for some reason!

even though Bakugou doesn’t even remember his name sobbbbb

to be fair, I sure took a long hecking time remembering it myself

Kirishima is pointing out that he’s the best fit since his quirk allows him to take whatever explosions Bakugou dishes out

wow they really are compatible. this seriously could take over as my main ship, were it not for the fact that Deku has so plainly been in love with Katsuki since he was three years old

but even so! like, I’ll just nab this little KiriBaku tugboat, maybe, and let it puff along next to my main ride

incidentally, Bakugou doesn’t even know what Kiri’s quirk is

and Kiri DOESN’T EVEN SEEM TO MIND ANY OF IT

“Bakugou who should you ride?” “idk someone with a death wish cuz I sure fucking will blow them up you can be sure of that” “no!! me!!!”

that’s the pure kind of unconditional Yamamoto-esque love that can withstand whatever pain and hardship life decides to dole out. good shit

so who’s he gonna pick as his final teammate then

guess who doesn’t care who Mineta picks. me

Shouji if you agree to team up with Mineta you will be cancelled by association until the end of this challenge. it’s not your fault, it’s just the way things are

DEKU WHY ARE YOU STILL STANDING THERE. YOU SEEMED LIKE YOU HAD A PLAN. THAT’LL FUCKING SHOW ME TO ASSUME YOU WOULD EVER TAKE THE INITIATIVE IN LITERALLY ANY KIND OF SOCIAL SITUATION

so then. you’re either stuck with the most desperate peeps, or your loyalest most dedicated besties

eh, I fail to see how punching something really hard one time and then having your body fall apart would inspire faith, though. please note that your fellow classmates, who have seen your quirk, are still avoiding you

oh! I see a “Deku” speech bubble though! only one non-Kacchan person here who calls him that! :D

LOOK AT YOU LUCKING OUT OVER HERE DEKU

this was seriously one of his best prospects to begin with. her quirk would help a lot when it comes to avoiding people, and with him having the highest point value to start with, they don’t really need to go after other people’s points

so if he’s teaming up with her, then Iida is definitely the best choice for a third teammate. they work well together, and I guarantee no one else has offered to team up with him yet lol. just gotta watch out for those hand gestures like I said

but before we get to that let’s just appreciate Deku’s meme face

is this face a meme. if not, my question is how could it not be

yesss. it’s all coming together now. THE OL’ RUN AND FLOAT

now they’re in the huddle and Deku’s explaining the ol’ run and float plan

but interestingly, he doesn’t intend to be the rider? he wants someone physically strong? well there are a few options then, but honestly there isn’t anyone else here who’s actually stronger than you bud

WOW now Iida’s suddenly deciding to be a spoilsport?!

YOU CAN REFUSE MY FOOT IN YOUR ASS YOU TREASONOUS CAD. A POX ON YOU IIDA!!!

apparently he’s decided to make Deku his rival too. EVERYONE, RIVALS. HE HAS ENOUGH RIVALS!!!

“ever since the entrance exam... I’ve been losing to you” well then sure as hell don’t expect it to stop now

he’s teaming up with Todoroki. wow. wow, Iida. you wanna be cancelled too because this is how you get cancelled

I’m not actually mad in all seriousness though, I just gotta protect my sweet Green Tsuna here who apparently has no Gokuderas to fall back on except for Ochako, that beautiful, rule-breaking moth

does the math actually work out so that there’s gotta be at least one person left for him to team up with?

dammit who’s it gonna be

OOOOHH

IT’S THE SMART STEAMPUNK GIRL FROM THE SUPPORT COURSE. I LIKE THIS! SHE’S A WILD CARD. GET IN HERE SUPPORT COURSE GIRL

HATSUME MEI YOU BEAUTIFUL TALENTED BRILLIANT POWERFUL MUSK OX

she says she wants to team up with him so she can be in the spotlight. see, this is what all these kids are forgetting. it’s not really about the points, it’s how well you show off what you’ve got

and she apparently wants to show off “her babies.” her inventions, I’m guessing

PLEASE JOIN US AND BE OUR WINRY ROCKBELL. BE OUR USOPP, MEI

SHE HAS JETPACKS. DEKU!!! DO IT

aww. Ochako don’t be jealous. he needs you, you’re the MVP even if no one else here knows it yet

okay so they’ve got three again. but Deku still seems to think they need one more person

“our formation’s just lacking some power...”

off he goes

who else are you gonna sweet talk into this group Deku

I should probably make a guess so that I can either brag afterwards, or laugh about how wrong I was

he keeps saying power. but most of the obvious 1-A powerhouses are already taken. Sato seems pretty tough, though, and there’s also that rock guy who is like the only guy left in the class who hasn’t done shit. and I think Tsuyu might still be available and she’s a dark horse IMO. my money’s either on her or Rocky Road

okay, this Viktor-looking guy has been making faces and mugging the camera this entire time, and now it looks like he’s actually gonna get a bit of focus here

and he’s acting like class B hung back on purpose. sure, okay. do your thing then; just don’t expect me to learn twenty more names when I only just got done with this first group after 27 fucking chapters

we’d better see who Deku picked before this ends or it’s a waste of a cliffhanger

oh good there’s one last two-page spread

Deku ended up as the rider after all huh

I FORGOT ALL ABOUT HIM! NOW I FEEL DUMB. HE’S FUCKING PERFECT, AND HE ACTUALLY AGREED TO JOIN THEM! TOKOYAMI, FROM THIS POINT ON YOU SHALL BE KNOWN AS “NEW IIDA”

THE SHADOW THING IS GONNA BE SO OP OMG. LET’S FUCKING GOOOOOO

BONUS:

“steampunk-related things” they didn’t even pretend

I’m glad Horikoshi made so many interesting female characters and went against his initial instinct to make several of them guys. class A only has six girls out of 20 people total, so it’s not quite balanced, but it’s better than there being like. four girls. and they’ve all got heaps of skill and talent, and varied and interesting personalities

so the support course peeps are basically the Tony Starks of BnHA

I am so down with this. go on and befriend Deku and make him all sorts of cool shit later on and further enrich the series with your general presence, Mei

#bnha #boku no hero academia #makeste reads bnha #lots of people in this one #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #kirishima eijirou #uraraka ochako #iida tenya #hatsume mei #tokoyami fumikage #I already forgot that class B kid's name again #I remember his copycat quirk but no idea what he's called #and tbh I can't be bothered to look it up again lol

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