#if there are no plot consequences then why did we introduce that. what was the point

[kisskissgotohell]

it might need a reread once the full official tl comes out but i gotta say. based on one read, guardian (novel-only) did not feel like it actually went anywhere. it's like the novel equivalent of those posts where you learn something and the next reblog immediately refutes it. neutral experience.

[palmettoshenanigans]

also ALSO-

I know the old "AFTG is badly written" jokes but hold the FUCK on for one goddamn second

I have been writing for almost 20 years. I got my college degree in English and the only reason my specialization wasn't creative writing is because I had bad time management skills and missed my chance to do my final creative writing workshop. I'm autistic and Storycrafting and Wordsmithing are my special interests. I understand writing pretty well.

AFTG opened my fucking eyes to a blind spot of the utter craftsmanship of writing sticky characters that infect you with brain worms, and here it is:

The Conflict of Material and Form

AKA the Character Creation version of Nature versus Nurture

"This isn't who I truly am. This is who I've had to become, what I've had to fashion myself into to survive. The original me is buried in there somewhere, if only you knew how to look. If only you knew to look beyond the mask."

Easily exemplified with our fave lil guys-

Neil Abram Josten:

Material: smartass with a smart mouth, attitude problem, cares about people deeply, sharp tongue to cut a bitch with, kinda feral, a lil unhinged, oblivious idiot

Form: quiet and hidden, liar liar pants of fire, run rabbit run, docile and tame, hyper-vigilant and hyper-observant

Andrew Joseph Minyard:

Material: caring, protective, strong sense of justice, gentle even, cares deeply, give me sugar or give me death, yearning

Form: cold, apathetic, ruthless and unforgiving, allow me to introduce you to my knife, regret? don't know her, i want nothing nothing nothing

Why am I using 'material and form' instead of 'nature and nurture'? Because I am a subscriber to "Characters are not meant to be real people; they are mirages of real people meant to encapsulate a function or idea that serves the story". But use whatever terms click with your noggin.

This isn't about 'want vs need'. This isn't about 'lie believed and truth learned'. This is about Presentation and Basic Action - how would this character react here? Which part are they reacting from?

With Material vs. Form, one isn't the 'true' version and the other the 'false' version of the character. They are both true and real in their own right. The Secret Sauce is that the Material and the Form fight 1v1! And regardless of which part wins, there will be consequences and rewards; so which rewards do we want and which consequences are we willing to suffer? And this fight happens beat by beat, scene by scene, plot point by plot point.

At one point in TFC Neil laments his inability to shut his fucking mouth because his Form of 'don't stand out dipshit' and his Material of 'initiate smartass.exe' are disagreeing with how to respond to his circumstances! It's that fucking meme "My healed and unhealed versions of myself deciding who is going to handle this situation" but as Storycraft!

Now, I don't think this is a new idea by any means. But sometimes to make the essence of an idea truly stick, it must be presented in multiple different ways until one triggers a "Eureka! By Jove! Aha!", and this was the way that truly made this concept stick for me. And why did it stick? Because AFTG is a labor of deep love and passion for Characters and all their complexity and inner machinations, and that depth of devotion had to manifest as some good ass writing somehow my homies in christ.

I have a collection of my favorite Storycrafting Wisdoms and one of them is effectively:

"Put Compelling Characters into a Compelling Situation and see what happens."

And Nora does Compelling Characters beautifully

[ofswordsandpens]

just finished episode 6…. truly don’t know how to feel about these changes. would love to know your thoughts bc i’m just kinda baffled by some changes tbh

Mixed feelings as always:

Percy's dream slapped. I loved Kronos's actor. It felt perfectly eery. No notes.

No percabeth late night convo on the truck. This doesn't surprise me given we sort of did that on the train already, but now there's just another iconic book moment that we'll get bits and pieces of, but never actually get to see in its entirety/original setting.

I did vibe with the glass prism tool for the iris message and it was pretty cool. The Percy + Annabeth argument was great but I'm gonna be honest, Luke being like "you're arguing like an old married couple" was laying it on a tad thick to me idk idk. I know I'll probably be in the minority there lol but I think it would have liked the line better if Percy and Annabeth got more embarrassed to his statement but they both reacted to it like :/ so it just felt heavy handed on the show runners part more than anything

Lotus Hotel vibes? Lackluster. Uninspired. It just didn't capture that outrageous paradise for kids feeling from the book because they turned it into Hermes' hangout so there's a whole bunch more adults than kids. Basically felt like if you took the movie's version and turned down the energy of it by a mile lmao. (Which is also ironic given RR's post about it today).

And of course the kids immediately know what's happening so like. No fun mystery. No Percy figuring it out. Just them being like "omg we need to be careful" and then immediately separating from Grover lmao.

Okay. LMM's Hermes.... it wasn't bad. Thankfully there was no singing. He was fine. It's more or less that turning the Lotus story line into a Hermes' storyline was like an "okay, I guess we're doing this" thing. I mean I guess we finally introduced something for the non-book reader's to pick up on that Luke might not have the best relationship with his dad (and consequently the gods). But like, nothing about this storyline is something that isn't introduced later on in the books. Nor was it better or more interesting than the original lotus storyline in the books.

Again, its the constant replacement of everything fun and silly and absurd in the book and turning it into a very serious moment, is just like, killing the energy. Seriousness is good. Silliness is also good. The book balanced it greatly. The show struggles here.

Glad we got a Pan mention tho!! Finally!

But um 4 pearls, so no dilemma about who to save. A part of me is relieved because the show's created like 3 other sacrifice convo scenarios so its gotten bit reductive, but Sally being a part of the equation is an entirely different dynamic and now that dilemma is theoretically gone. (unless he loses one of the pearls?)

And Percy's missed the deadline?? Right?? So like? I really don't know what we're doing anymore. In the book the deadline was pretty strict lol. Here I guess the deadline was like, a loose suggestion? Percy's walking into the middle of the god's battle field with master bolt in his hand? Idk.

Overall things in the show feel messy and way less cohesive. They seem to know that certain things from the book are important but not necessarily why, or they'll introduce events or plot points strangely late or way too early.

[drowning-moonlight]

I don't think the consequences of Ace's death have fully been realized in the story yet.

I can't stop thinking about the Wano flashbacks when Yamato is reading Oden's diary and we see that part where Roger says that he wants his son to be the one to find the One Piece. His son that's not even born yet.

This is so intriguing to me. What did they learn on Laugh Tale that made Roger think that he needed to have a biological child?? Why did he want his son specifically to be the one to find his treasure? Is this just a dad wanting great things for their kid or something more?

And I don't think it's a coincidence that he has this kid with a woman that also has the "D" initial. Rouge was the first female character in the series to have the D in her name (I know Vivi was introduced before Rouge and has the D too but we didn't know that about Vivi until recently). My point is, the fact that both of Ace's biological parents have the D initial has to mean something. I refuse to believe it's just a coincidence.

So what was the reason that Roger decided to have a kid? It's made very clear that he wanted his own kid to be the one to find the One Piece. That obviously can't happen now with Ace being dead so I wonder if there will be any repercussions to this? If Roger specifically had Ace with a woman who also had the D initial and he specifically wanted Ace to find the One Piece and thus be the next Pirate King, how will Ace being dead change whatever plans Roger had for the future??

I truly believe that Ace is absolutely not done haunting the narrative. I think he still has a role to play in the story despite being dead. I think his death itself will come back as some plot device that will impact the narrative going forward once we finally get to Laugh Tale and learn what the One Piece and the D initial really are.

[itsybitsyspecter]

I for one am extremely curious about the character shots in the opening.

Sam stands in front of her set on Britain's Got Magic. Makes sense, her show is a very important thing to her and is season relevant.

K flies their broom with their friends, a rainbow that turns orange at the end trailing after her. We now know this is a scene from episode two. Not entirely sure if there's a specific reason why that's their picture unless it's just about the orange/being with her friends?

Now Jammer's is really interesting. First we see him standing normally, making the gesture for the goat horns. Though his scar does look different than it does in the other drawings, this might just be artistic choice. But what is sort of weird is that he's the one holding Tabby. Was that just to introduce Tabby or is there a plot reason for it? Might make sense considering he's the one most Anti Tabby. But then K's hand (pretty sure it's them) slides across the screen, holding their phone and takes a photo of Jammer. And when the phone moves away, Jammer has disappeared. Except the picture on K's phone begins to move, the Jammer in the photo looks like he's falling. What does this mean? Has he been put inside the phone? Why? To hide him? To protect him?

And finally Evan, the one I am more curious about. He is fighting against Tad. Seeing it for the first time, just glancing at it you might think that it's just from when they fought him in the Christmas special. But Evan is clearly season2 Evan. His hair is short and he's wearing his new outfit. Along with that there are some more drastic changes that we have yet to see. His eyes are larger, darker, more threatening. Angrier? He has fangs which I don't think he did beforehand right? His clothes are covered in strange green splotches and mostly in his shirt but slightly on his jacket too are three designs that look like lightning bolts. Along with this the magic coming from is wand is green too, a more sickly looking green rather than the vibrant green on his clothes. This could mean a whole slew of different things. Tad could've done something to him. His magic could be changing from whatever is happening to the magic world. He could've leveled up his magic die. But what I think is most likely is that it's an after effect of what happened in episode three. When Victor resurrected his familiar, it came back different, invisible. I'm sure many of us are wondering if the same can be said for Evan. And I think that whatever is going on with him in the intro is just that. The consequences of coming back from the dead.

But that's just a theory.

[showtoonzfan]

Hey it’s been a bit! The Mammon episode finally came out, so here’s my review!

Pros:

- The sign language scene was cute. Kinda weird that a kid was seeing a show that was clearly for adults but I love me some representation so it gets a pass.

- Despite Blitz not really needing to be in this episode, I thank god he had little screen time and more time was dedicated to Fizz.

- The fish ladies (despite having wonky color palettes that made them EXTREMELY hard to look at) were cute.

Cons:

- Mammon is so flat and uninteresting but I don’t know what I expected from a creator who always hypes her characters up that always end up being one of the three go-to personalities she picks for her male characters. In Mammon’s case he’s just a loud mouth cursing bum so way to ruin another Deadly Sin and make them boring af, moving on.

- I don’t like how Mammon and Fizz’s relationship are similar of Val and Angel’s, Viv keeps recycling stories, characters and plot lines ect, it makes Angel’s story for Hazbin really predictable/underwhelming and not exciting to look forward too especially since we already have the “mafia bad daddy” aspect to him too that they pulled for Moxxie. I guess the idea of Mammon being a controlling ruler is fine on paper but not much is done with it, Fizz just quits in the end like it was easy with zero consequences so what was all that build up for.

- Fizz himself once again feels REALLY out of character, he’s just too soft compared to how he was introduced in season 1. He’s constantly nervous in this episode and insecure, as well as walking on eggshells, and even in Oops he wasn’t THIS sensitive. I’m all for characters struggling and being kicked down but it has to make sense and not feel forced, and once again it feels like Viv is trying way to hard to make the characters she once introduced as snarky assholes to uwu innocent babies. I refuse to believe Fizz was actually INTIMIDATED by this random geeky imp who insulted him, as well as the fish ladies whom he was weirdly nice and welcoming to. It’s also weird seeing how uncomfortable/nervous he was around his fans when I thought the whole point was that he LOVED praise and loved being famous, at least that was season 1 Fizz. Now he feels retconned. Seeing him say “I just need this gig” is weird too, the explanation to why he went through all of this makes no sense, Fizz still has Ozzie and is famous in the Lust ring, and I understand Mammon is his idle but to go through all that abuse for so long for something that could have been so easily avoided feels forced to fit the plot, but it also makes Fizz look dumb.

- There’s confusing lore stuff regarding Mammon and Ozzie, and it makes me realize that Viv should have picked ONE storyline aka ONE Seven Deadly sin to go with Fizz’s story because this is getting mixed up. Fizz acts like if he looses this completion, he looses everything, which confused the heck out of me because no he wouldn’t have? First of all, Ozzie is a fucking powerful sin, how would you loose him? Second, from what we know from season 1, Fizz is a jester who performs at Ozzie’s club. It was Ozzie who built the sex robots across the rings of hell, NOT Mammon, and in season 2 we see that Fizz is under Ozzie’s care and lives in his house. Yet for some weird reason Mammon also represents Fizz and uses him for profit, but it’s not really explained in a way that makes sense, like Love’s art had said in her Fizz redesign video, Fizz’s job is really confusing on what exactly he does. Having both Ozzie and Mammon represent him overcomplicates things and the show did a poor job at explaining how this goes.

- Once again Viv dumps trauma and struggle onto her characters without building it up first. When did Fizz ever give off the impression that he was being controlled or abused, or even that he was so insecure and constantly walked on eggshells to be perfect. In Oops he was happy to be in the spotlight and happy to get the attention, he bragged to Blitz about how successful he was. He seemed happy to perform for Mammon and talked of him highly, and now you’re pulling an Angel Dust situation where he’s expected to be perfect 24/7 and it gets to him emotionally, while also being someone who’s physically and mentally abused. Yet another season 2 episode that wasn’t planned, same as how Millie wanting to feel important wasn’t planned, same as how Stolas seeing Blitz as genuine love wasn’t planned. Different episode, same issues.

- I’m so done with the Hell lore bro, this place officially has no rules and demons can just do anything without consequences. There’s no class system, there’s no rankings, there’s no power dynamics, screw anything that Viv says. There was no fucking reason why Ozzie and Fizz’s relationship needed to be a secret. There was no reason showing Ozzie threatening his workers to not tell anyone about his love life if he was just going to admit it to EVERYONE THE NEXT EPISODE IN FRONT OF ANOTHER SIN ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME— what was the POINT. What is the point of Stolas and Blitz’s conflict. What is the point of Stella being classist. What is the point of these class systems and rules if you can just announce that you technically broke a hell rule and no one gives a fuck and you get off scott free. Mammon telling Ozzie “you’ll regret that” like a cartoon villain doesn’t do anything either. What is he ganna do? Tell Lucifer, the character that canonically won’t appear in HB because the sins won’t appear in HH? If Lucifer rules over the sinners, who the fuck is in charge for the rest of Hell. Where’s the authority? And Mammon is just ganna come back for another episode to give the gang trouble cause lord knows we don’t have enough fucking villains already.

- It feels weird that Ozzie would just sit back while someone whom he knows is a piece of shit is treating his loved one badly. I get he was concerned but you’d think one of the seven deadly sins would have more power and authority.

- I was expecting some big gross bug-like thing to appear when Mammon was transforming into his final form, only for it to the exact same design but with small extra eyes and a spider lower half that isn’t even visible in most shots….GOD VIV.

Watching this episode also made me remind myself that this is supposed to be Hell. Seeing Fizz feel better and stand up for himself was sweet but these soft lessons and morals don’t belong in a show like this, and it’s extra aggravating regarding Viv’s double standard, how she can just pick and choose which characters she wants to be evil and which characters are saints. Overall not anywhere near the worst episode of season 2, but I am officially done with Helluva Boss so-

[bibibbon]

One thing that makes me laugh about Hori's world building is the question are heroes allowed to kill, since Hori is a coward who can't decide, it disrupts the world building to an absurd degree. If Izuku had aimed to kill Tomura from the start, then Hori's narrative would have rewarded him. Izuku would still have OFA, possibly Ochako as his girlfriend and applauded as a great hero. The standard hero ending. But Izuku tries to save Tomura and fails miserably and is forgotten by his friends and the public. What is Hori trying to tell us? Kill then ask questions later? Based on the story Izuku should have taken Gran Torino's advice, he would be sad in the short term but he would have been happier and forgotten about the LOV.

Hi @agentterios 👋

MHA'S whole narrative messaging around the subject of "are heroes allowed to kill?" Is presented in an incredibly confusing and unsatisfactory manner.

Horikoshi doesn't directly address the question however, he does indirectly address it by introducing a variety of elements to his story surrounding the question itself.

You have things like:

The development of nomu intelligence. By the nomu's developing basic human intelligence this makes it so that the line between being human and a nomu so incredibly slim that if well developed this plot point could of been tied to heteamorphis discrimation with a side of people taking the route of one has to look human and another side pointing out that humans don't have a specific look in mha. There could also be more development with endings point of the only difference between nomu's and humans is that one is a puppet. This would make civilians question societies expectations for what a human is and would the heroes kill them next because they are comfortable with killing nomu's who are almost like them

Hawks and twice. I have talked about hawks and twice a numerous amount of times but my point still stands hawks could of saved twice instead of killing him. Yes, hawks did try in the beginning of the fight and his mission to semi try and save twice as his intention was to never kill him until dabi intervened and hawks lost it reverting to what the hpsc taught him and taking out the danger infront of him. Now, hawks should of had more introspection on this decision realising that he could of saved twice yet didn't and couldn't because he viewed himself not to be fast or capable enough to stop twice and chose to revert to instincts and the hpsc teachings of killing to dispose of the threat. Hawks could easily link his experiences and give advice to izuku about shigaraki. Hawks also needed more public consequences about killing twice because why the hell is the public more concerned about hawk's villain father then the fact that he killed a man? Was this to show where societies priorities are at? How messed up they are? And if it was why wasn't this brought back up?

Lady nagant. We needed more of lady nagant in general. The way she was used and created to be a killing machine. The way she only killed those who didn't fit the status quo even izuku's own reaction to her killing needs to be studied. The way izuku didn't have much of a reaction to her killing people but he had a huge reaction to finding out that she specifically killed the previous minister of the hpsc makes me think that hero society has a huge belief thay certain lives are much more important than others and that ranking is never fully explained but it seems like the outcasts of society like twice and the people lady nagant killed aren't important and wouldn't evoke a huge reaction to people because they don't care for them and hero society has infulenced that belief.

Izuku and shigaraki . This is the biggest element in the story and the most underdeveloped in my opinion. Why does izuku want to save shigaraki? Why does shigaraki only want destruction? Everyone encouraged izuku to kill shigaraki and believed that his death would be the only way to stop everything and in a way they were right. Shigaraki had to die for this to be over and it just seemed so badly done. Izuku gets labeled as a murder but also praised (barely) for his actions. Its so weird, how am I supposed to expect that society is going to rebuild itself to a better version when it ended in the most repetitive and toxic way by killing and upholding the status quo.

Endeavour and his aggressiveness. Enji has multiple records of flipping attempted murder whether that be him viewing vigilantes and villains as objects to be easily killed like nomu's or the fact that he cannocially has many reports of property damages.

Dabi's fate. My point stands that death would of been mercy for poor dabi. So are there cases when killing should happen or should all villains be forced to live even if it has to be through horrible circumstances like dabi's? At this point it seemed like toga's death was a better ending then dabi's.

In conclusion, mha's status quo was never really broken or rebuilt into a better version and the discussion surrounding the question should heroes kill? Was never properly answered or changed.

The series begins with the answer that Yes! Heroes can kill but they can only kill villains and rejects of society while keeping all of this away from the public eye. However, if it is in the public eye just dehumanise the victim, its not like hero society didn't continually threaten villains with all the graffiti in toga's House or the publics reaction to dabi.

(Ps I do think that izuku was handed the short stick and would of suffered either way. Even with the horrible execution the series make it clear that izuku chose a thorny, hard path but what's worse is that the path doesn't seem to be worth it or hasn't changed anything)

Also izuku's whole arc doesn't depend on him having a love interest and a quirk because he could be a hero without those things it's the execution that sucks

[lillyspeakz]

Can we get werewolfbur struggling to figure out how to hide himself away so he doesnt hurt someone?

I love myself some werewolfbur…..

Also I’m so sorry, this is basically all plot with very little dialogue-

tw// make-out, angst, hurt comfort, fluff, Wilbur and reader being funny (I think)

-

He knew how people saw his kind. Mean, aggressive, vicious. For centuries they’ve been hunted and killed for things that weren’t their fault, yet who they were made people question it all. They were pinned for blame on every murder that happened in town, being named the “killer dogs”. Wilbur grew up being cautious, things have dialed down a bit since he’s been a kid, yet you never knew who you were going to meet and who knew what.

But, when Wilbur met you, there was a slight moment when he forgot about everyone else, their thoughts about him and his family, and only focused on you. His eyes becoming wide and dilated as he took you in, admiring your smile as you sat next to him, introducing yourself with a bubbly atmosphere. He never understood how quick you befriended him, why you befriended him. He was shy, quiet, the weird kid if you will. Yet you, you took his hand and stood next to him in everything.

As you both continued to grow up, graduating together and getting a shared apartment, you and Wilbur started to get… closer. Closer then what friends should be, and you both knew that. Yet you didn’t complain, rather taking the situation slow and taking strides together.

Random cuddles on the couch, dinner dates, going to each others room when not being able to sleep, dancing in the kitchen. More and more things were happening to your relationship, as more and more things were happening to Wilbur.

He was developing quicker, he became stronger, his urges got easier to resist yet he couldn’t put it off for long. He was becoming something he always feared. With all the stress and confusion and anxiety mixed with love and passion and want….. he eventually snapped.

And not in a mean way or deadly way, but he hid. He didn’t know what to do, so he hid. Away from you, away from his family, away from everyone in the middle of the god forsaken woods where he thought he belong. No, where he knew he belonged. He was going to hurt you one day, or hurt the people around him and he would suffer the consequences and live with that guilt. And he couldn’t- he didn’t want to live with that ache.

You saw the change in Wilbur; his body muscles looked toner, his mood changed dramatically and he became more possessive over everything. Especially you. You knew he was a werewolf, you accidentally found out when you walked in on him naked in the shared bathroom, rubbing dirt off of his face the best he could. The conversation was awkward after, having seen him butt ass naked with dirt covering all of his body, and him not knowing how to explain this to you.

But you weren’t afraid of him like he thought you would be. You almost felt more… protected. Like if you needed help, Wilbur was the person to call. You took the new information and stored it, so for the next time he did transform, you were there to help draw him a warm bath and make him some tea.

But when he had quickly told you he was going out, he never came back. No text, no call, nothing. Just silence filling an empty house. Every time you texted him or called, nothing would go through. Like he damaged his phone.

It was only two days later that you got tired of waiting, rushing over to his parents house, knocking on the door as you played with your hands.

“Hi honey! What’s going on? Where’s Wil?” His mom asked as you rushed inside when she stood to the side. You quickly went to the kitchen and sat down at the dinner table, your leg bouncing in nervousness and stress as you figured out what to say.

Your thoughts were interrupted as a hand was placed on yours. Your eyes darted up and found a warm smile on her face, gentle eyes silently asking you to tell her what was happening.

“It’s Wilbur. I don’t- he’s been acting weird lately and he just left. He hasn’t been back in a couple days and I’m so worried. What if it’s too late and something happened? I know he’s been worried about hurting me when he’s fully grown into everything an-“

“Darling. It’s all ok. Take a deep breath real quick, good job. I’m not supposed to be telling you this because I promised him I would be quiet but, you deserve some answers.” She finished as she nudged her head towards the woods the house stood outside of. Looking at her with furrowed eyebrows, hesitant about going, she nodded at you with a smile. You got up and opened the back door as she watched you walk into the dark greenery, her head snapping behind her as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“She’s a good one.” Wil’s father declares as his mother placed her own over his hand, interlocking them as she did.

“Yeah she is. I just hope he sees that.”

-

As you walked deeper into the woods, the sky becoming darker and the trees getting closer, you saw a flicker of light in the distance. You slowly walked over to the source, stepping over a small creek as you found the man himself.

He looked rough. Bags under his eyes as he threw rocks and sticks into the fire. His back was against a rock as a blanket wrapped around his body. There was a small cabin like house behind him, which you guessed that’s where he’s been cooped up.

As you walked closer, silently to not startle him, hiding behind a tree as you watch him in the moment, grateful for his mother and grateful he’s alive-

“Don’t try to hide love. You should know that I could smell you from a mile away.” He turned his head towards you, your head peaking out as you nervously smiled at him and stepped out. “I see mother dearest ruined my hiding spot-“

“Well I came here first so don’t blame her.” You quickly defended the women as he smiled at you, making you aware that he knew. “Stalking me much?”

“No.. more like you’re loud when you talk and your stomps against the leaves didn’t help.” Wilbur teased you as he smirked at your gapped mouth.

“Fuck you! I was quiet as can be mister ‘I have super hearing’” you jokes back as he laughed at your statement. It felt nice, to laugh with him again. To be in his space and see him ok, all worry draining from you as you sat next to you once he patted the space. “Why’d you leave? Wil- you left and didn’t come back! I thought you were-“

“Baby, you know why I left. I know you do.” Wilbur whispered towards you as he grabbed your hand in his. “I’m not happy your here right now either, you shouldn’t me near me-“

“Wilbur! I have told you this, you won’t hurt me. I know you won’t. And if you tried, it’s ok. We’ll work on it. That’s what I’m here for, don’t leave me out of this, ok? I signed up for this, now I do my part.” You told the man, tears filling his eyes as you exposed everything about him that made him scared of himself.

Hurting you was the last thing he wanted to do, and the stories he read didn’t help his thoughts. The tragic tales of his kind killing and hurting people, and he knew that was before they all learned how to control and be one with everyone, but he also knew there was a possibility that he could do something.

“I’m scared of myself. How can you be so sure that i won’t do anything when I don’t trust myself? I just- fuck.. why did this happen to me?!” Wilbur cried desperately as you brought him into your chest, holding him and cooing at him the best you could in his state.

“Wil listen. I trust you because you’re still the Wilbur I fell in love with. No matter what transformations you have, no matter what happens, you are still Wil. That shy kid in the back of the class that no one knew, until I had the greatest idea ever to sit next to and talk to. If that isn’t enough to trust yourself, i don’t know what is.” You’re words came out as a whisper, keeping the conversation between the two of you, making sure other creatures of the night weren’t eavesdropping.

Wilbur sat up from your hold, hands slipping to cup his face as you took him in. Brown eyes blown out in confusion yet love. His body slowly relaxing as you wiped away his tears. Your touch electric against his skin as he shifted closer to you. He didn’t know exactly what he was doing, but the next thing he knew his lips were on yours in a slow kiss. The kiss was full of love and far too much passion to let it go ignored. Gasps and groans were exchanged into each others mouths as your hands ran through his hair and his own exploring your body.

The kiss quickly heated up, you back now against the rock as Wilbur slotted himself in between your legs. You pulled away slightly, Wilbur’s lips chasing yours as you giggled at his whines, playing with his strands as you did.

“Come home.” It wasn’t an ask, it was a demand. A simple demand that Wilbur would soon follow, but for now-

“Always, but after this…”

taglist; @number1wilburfan @cloverlilly91 @horny-p0et @charlidog @lizziehatters-teacards @rottenr0ckets (lowkey just added random people- if you want to be added, dm or comment!)

[laufire]

Ask meme: Duke Thomas, or Jason Todd (or both, dealers choice)

I have no idea of what Duke is doing rn in the mainline, so I'm gonna sidestep that and cheat, because what I'd want to write for him isn't a comic: it's his introduction in the animated show Batman: The Caped Crusader. He'd be perfect for it, and there's already an incredibly easy way to introduce him, as Joker's arrival and laughing gas is set to be the plot in s2. He's the only Robin I want in that show tbqh. Bring him!

The show would want to grow him up a bit, though I'd want him to be in his teens still, and for this to be An Issue. They'd probably want to remove the meta aspect, which I can understand; I could work either way. The point is that he'd be someone doing things on his own, taking matters into his own hands, and not Batman's second. More like how he started in the comics.

A cool design is mandatory -the show is a mixed bag in this department, and particularly bad with the men. Do NOT give him short hair. Have fun with him, animators.

For Jason I have basically THEE post gotham-war/brainwashing run in my head. It'd start with him getting gravelly, irreversibly injured due to what Bruce did to him, in a way that would force him to change how he approaches superheroing, among, u know. His entire life. My top choice at the moment is blindness, but there are others.

The run would drag him to his lowest point before he raises up. Like, the injury would happen while trying to save someone, who dies horribly because he can't overcome the toxin this time! Maybe a kid, because I'm not above doing what Gotham War writers refused to.

I'd also pair it up with an old idea I had when I still entertained the possibility of writing prime earth fic: Jason facing the consequences of adhering to the no kill rule, with someone he let live killing again, Jason becoming fixated on the victim... eventually decing to give up the "acceptance" he got to follow his own morals, for his own peace of mind.

Combined, he wouldn't be able to go at perpetrators the way he used to; between the toxin that reacts to adrenaline and the injury, I think he could take a more distant, macro approach to crime fighting. His goal is to permanently stop his targets; sometimes that can be done non-lethally. Sometimes, it really can't.

But we're definitely bringing the saw-traps back. He also loves dramatic irony and would enjoy pushing people to hang themselves with their own rope. Metaphorically. Or...

Anyway. LOL. Bonus Duke & Jason idea! I have quite a few, but those are strictly new earth (with my own headcanons about how to introduce Duke in it!), and I'm still determined to avoid that for this ask game.

DC wouldn't let me go as far as the above, but hey, maybe I can injure Jason and put Duke through his own identity evolution (I don't like the signal name and also in this pocket universe of mine the batclan is in shambles añlsdkfjf. Changes are ahead) and have them team up. Jason can be the guy in the chair. IDK about the plot but I'd include a lot of cameos from other characters, Just Because. I'm thinking Tatsu, because why not. Jeffeson Pierce, because he and Duke have a established dynamic I find interesting (and also, we could re-canonize "Pay As You Go"!). Mia, because I'm launching that ship. Talia, because again, why not. Gotham Girl, who also has an established dynamic with both of them. I'm re-canonizing Sasha and Colin too, because this would be a 100% Gotham-focused run. Just watch me.

[kustas]

I'd love to hear your hashtag wha critical thoughts about recent developments if you feel like sharing them :)

I'll preface this with saying that for this answer I will not be making a distinction between my personal tastes and what is "objectively worst". The TLDR is I have felt like WHA's been dipping in quality since book 8 approximately.

One of WHA's strong points is its ongoing theme of accessibility, via its premise of how magic is purposefully restricted from people, and via its characters, mostly the kids, who showcase various life issues and allow the story to talk about how to solve them. Disability is an important one and was at the center of book 8, which is one of my favorites. You get to see Tartah and Coco work together for a goal (=making their friend a better mobility aid), and by doing so they brainstorm the why and then how which allows for complex notions to be carried out and explained to the reader. Cute story with touching implications that flows well. This quote in particular sums up so well what WHA is "about"

After this we transition rather brutally to the latest ongoing arc of the Silver Eve. This arc has been ongoing for years now, and three volumes, making it the longest so far, I'll come back to that, putting a star on it [*]. It delves further into aspects of accessibility the series had talked about before - access to magic, access to healthcare, and poverty. This is where this blog's namesake gets relevant. Custas is a kid who was already poor, who got badly wounded ending up disabled, and who because of that was stuck in a situation with no good endings: he can't make money in his state and needs money to get out of his state. On top of this gets added magic, and comes back the question at the center of WHA: Is it wrong to restrict the use of magic, and how?

After the arc is kickstarted by Custas getting his share of spilled beans of magical secrets revealed, enter immediatly strong players via ch.48's introduction of the Wise Ones and the king himself. The political aspect of how the world works was not mentioned before. Great chapter, interesting stuff all around, personally answered much of my questions. Immediatly after this chapter the focus in 49 fully switches to the Knights and their job, and the rest of the chapter is dedicated to a story of a sexual assault survivor and how she made it. It's a surprising topic to see pop up and it's handled with the respect it deserves. Chapter 50 goes back to Coco and her troubles. This concludes book 9 and...it makes for a Lot of stuff to deal with. Put a Second star on that. [**]

Addressing those stars before we move on:

[*] This arc is taking forever. WHA's arcs in earlier volumes only took a few chapters. This arc has taken three books thus far and I doubt we have reach its climax yet. I personally don't like it and it raises an issue the series did not have before: Will the payoff be worth it? Where it is worrying for the future of the series is that manga serialized regularly tend to up the stakes progressively until the end and it might...not work out.

[**] Too many things at once unresolved. This has already had consequences with the progressive vanishing of something WHA was once excellent at: sneakily introducing elements that get used a few arcs later in important ways. The manga has been, for a while now, accumulating unfinished plot threads via not answering the questions it opens and instead adding more and more characters. Jumping from a group of characters to another was not an issue beforehand because unlike this arc's, chapters took place at different times and/or in totally different places. The Silver Eve is both set in time AND place, making it hard to follow because all sideplot happen at once.

Book 10 continues to accumulate ongoing unresolved plots with: the royal family being shady, Agott's struggles irt. her mother, Dagda running around confused and tracked by the Knights, Custas and Ininia jumping Tartah and Coco, and Galga's accident + relationship.

Book 11 does the same adding Agott's crush on Coco, the actual festival, Jujy's inner troubles...Funnily enough, this page is a good summary of the ongoing mess.

Instead of solving all of this stuff we instead get stakes ramped up to 100 with the introduction of what I can only describe as a kaiju attack. As much as I love the horror and drama element, given what was already going on, this does NOT strike me as a good decision.

Now, we go back to the three latest chapters. These follow the same subplot: Custas' faction change and Coco's attempts to save him. This subplot has, to me, a whole lot of issues. Way earlier on in the story, even before Dagda's ambush, I had issues with how Custas was portrayed in relation to his anger, being drawn weirdly spooky for...a frustrated poor kid? Others have also pointed out it wasn't great to have one of your only dark skinned characters be a slum kid. Obviously given my handle on here, I am still a huge fan of the character. After chapter 45 (included), I already found it a bit tasteless to have so much horrors piled on him. WHA is a rather unsubtle series at time which I really, really dislike. Sure, makes it hard to miss the point, but when you're dealing with sensitive topics it can fall into touchy territory fast...

In the latest chapters, Coco appears to save Custas, the "how" part of her plan still being a mystery. Meanwhile, a timelooped and very confused Dagda looks for him, accompanied by Lulucy, who knows them both and is unaware of their ties with forbidden magic. She ends up telling him to abandon the faction he sided with by literally ripping off the brim of his hat with her magic. Meanwhile, Lulucy starts attacking him on sight. I have so, so so many issues with all of this.

Coco's story is about knowing the system in place sucks. Custas' story is about being screwed over by the same system. The story explicitly points those two out as mirrors: Custas is what would have happened to Coco without the right support. Coco's unique POV on the pointed hat witches shows us many prior times they are not the good guys. Hell, Custas himself talks about how the pointed hat's magical gatekeeping prevented him from living a better life.

To me, the point was supposed to be: the system in place doesn't work, which results in people in need not getting help. We loop back to the accessibility I started off mentioning. Yes, before the current system, bad things happened - but the current system is still allowing other bad things to happen now. So...why is Coco pushing Custas to join the pointed hats and abandon the faction he sided with? If a character who was upholding the status quo was doing so it would make sense (like Beldaruit) but Coco as a main character exists partially to point out why the pointed hats are not good. She demonstrates it to the reader via what happens to her AND knows it as a character. It comes off as inconsistent and frankly makes little sense.

Speaking of inconsistencies...why does Lulucy not recognize Custas, a child she's known for a while? Why does the young prince, introduced as a suspicious character on behalf of his family's unknown goals, become a helpful selfless little guy? Why are the Knights, originally introduced as an antagonistic faction because they are a milita enforcing the status quo, suddenly portrayed as fighting for good as a bunch of remarkable individuals?

Ah yes, the cops. I'm going to address something really fast about them. It makes me frankly uncomfortable the author chose their faction to evoke the two very sensitive topics of sexual assault and homophobia. I think the way those topics themselves were handled without greater context was surprisingly good, and it's touching in the first place to see an author who not only cares, but uses her series, destined partially for younger readers, to explain why she cares. However, Witch Hat is a very black and white series: the bad guys are bad and ugly and you should dislike them, the good guys are good and you should like them. There are some exceptions but who have been losing steam as of late. While originally introduced as a group of individuals who act in problematic ways for their day job, the Knights have slowly lost that bad guy flavor to become a fun band of colleagues/friends. They are law enforcers who enforce unjust laws, but it seems that the author's not on board with people hating them because this is the second time she gave a Knight a tragic backstory that makes them more sympathetic to the reader. First of: I do not see what's to redeem about them if the story's about changing an unjust system, so I don't get the necessity to make them nicer. Secondly: at least in my country (which has legal gay marriage and notably less sexist than Japan) law enforcement is renowned to not help sexual assault victims or gay people. The Knights Moralis are fantasy cops and cops, in real life, tend to abandon people who need their help regarding those two issues - if not worsen them, and count a majority of sexists/homophobes among their ranks. Making your unsubtly cop stand-in faction have both characters with those issues comes off as at least a poor decision if not bad taste.

(big words from the guys introduced in the story by arresting a bunch of children who were on a rescue mission for a misunderstanding they would not have cared about. Die idgaf)

Some more surface level things:

The art. The first books of WHA are noticeably more complex in their style featuring more reaslistic proportions for the characters. Latest arc has seen art lose some of the decorative "classic" flair in the linework and characters looking simpler and stylized to look way...Younger? In a way I do not like. Yes, it's expected for manga series to see their style evolve. I also want to make this clear: I consider the pace imposed on manga artists to be inhumane and if Shirahama had decided to draw her manga as stick figures to work less I'd be down for it.

The dialog. While WHA is very in your face (you may call it preachy) the dialog in the latest chapters especially Coco's feels off. A 12yo wouldn't give off speeches about the world in the heat of battle. When it's a calm scene between two characters discussing a deep thing, sure. When it's an epic public adult figure (see: Dean), sure. I'd prefer having the kids talk like kids.

Goddamn the story has become less nuanced and subtle over the time. Scenes like Qifrey getting confronted by Tartah post mindwiping his grandpa owned. The story's current "morally grey" moments just don't do it for me anymore. No, I don't want the witch politicians of the faction you established as a mistake beforehand to continue. I don't care if the fantasy cops are offended by a grieving husband pointing out they suck. I kinda wish he'd thrown hands actually

So...yeah, that's about it. While WHA's plot beats has always been impossible for me to predict, I don't know if I can trust where the story is going anymore. The fans eating it up confuse me and I might even get hate for posting this. Truth is, while some aspects have always been more or less present in the series since the start, I've felt like the really good bits that balanced it out have been going extinct. I don't know why and it's none of my business to. Some friends have pointed out we might be reaching a point where the author ran out of pre-written story and is now improvising. What's a bit concerning to me is I've also noticed she's way less active on social media, where she used to post regular bonus material for the series, this has stopped and I hope it's not because she lost her interest for the series or way worst, is overworked. Given the conditions for mangaka it wouldn't be impossible and like previously stated, I am of the opinion that no comic book series is worth putting their author's life, health and free time down. It's more important than me disliking the comic.

And regarding Custas - him joining the atelier to study with Qifrey would not be a good ending, no matter what the fandom says. It won't be cute found family. Custas has a family who's unique member wouldn't be able to follow him as a witch. That ending would separate a very traumatized child from the only adult he has in his life that gives him unconditional love and support. Custas needs to not be seen as a criminal so the rest of his life won't be over, and also a whole bunch of cash.

I'm not excited for the anime.

[azrielsbxtch]

I’ve had more time to sit with HOFAS so here are things I loved and things that bugged me.

THINGS I LOVED

AZRIEL AND NESTA - Where to even begin. Their relationship and friendship is EVERYTHING. I'm so glad SJM chose to highlight both of them for the ACOTAR part because their chemistry is everything. I can't wait for more in ACOTAR 5

AZRIEL - Every new thing we learned about Azriel had me screeching. It's so clear SJM is setting him up for the next book. Every scene he appeared in I was obsessed! Finding out about truthteller, him being protective of his mom, him interacting with music, him being all hot and threatening....this bat has me in a chokehold I swear.

THE LORE - All the new information we got about Prythian and Midgard is so interesting. I wish I was a theories person because there's so much to theorize about!

RUHNLIDIA - They served in this book omg. When Ruhn was like "this is my first mission with my girlfriend I want to impress her" I almost threw my phone I'm not even kidding. They are so cute🥹✨✨

HUNT - I still feel like I need more Hunt. He's such a sweetheart and was truly a highlight for me in this book. I love him so much and I was totally rooting for him to fry Celestina.

THINGS THAT BUGGED ME

Ruhn and Lidia’s mate announcement. I knew Ruhn and Lidia would be mates from HOSAB so I was only waiting for confirmation but the way it was written threw me off. Ruhn just said it out of nowhere and to…of all people…Pollux….like what? Why? Idk it could have been more emotional.

Ariadne- I don’t understand the point of introducing this new character only to do NOTHING with her. I shipped her and Flynn sooo much. The way she was introduced in the beginning of the book had me so hyped only for her to disappear. Like imagine a dragon marching with the armies of Hel when they fought the Asteri…

Sigrid - That entire plotline felt useless to me. She was set up to be this hope for the wolves and it all amounted to nothing. So why did we waste so much time on her. I enjoyed Ithan’s chapters because I really like him. But from an objective point of view…most of what SJM made him do didn’t make sense. If she wanted him to become Prime (which I loved btw) she didn’t need to waste all that time on Sigrid and her resurrection only for her to join Sabine the person she’s supposed to hate and then disappear.

Tharion and Sathia - No…just no…..

Bryce ignoring Hunt’s trauma - She did it in HOSAB but again and on a larger scale in HOFAS. Everytime Hunt brought up his fears (understandable because he has now faced the Asteri twice and suffered insane consequences) Bryce just got angry and put him in such a bad position. She made it look like he didn’t want to support her when he has very valid reasons to be afraid. After what he went through the first time in the Asteri dungeons for years and then again! I’m surprised he didn’t break down even more tbh. His feelings were so valid.

Bryce - SJM tried to do the “Aelin is always two steps ahead” thing with Bryce but honestly it didn’t work. A lot of the times I was side eyeing and was like “that’s convenient” Bryce was guessing a lot of times so that whole thing just didn’t work.

The plot was all over the place. The book really didn’t flow well.

[fullmetal-scar-simping]

Thank you sooo much for your lovely response to my long ask a couple of days ago!!! I really do agree with you wholeheartedly (especially about Scar's post-Briggs characterisation), and something that irritates me about my fellow mangahood fans is that they love the complications in the plot introduced by the reveal that Scar killed Winry's parents (immediately after his own family died in an alchemical explosion + experiencing the world's most traumatic arm replacement).

I get that the point of having Winry confront Scar and point the gun at him is to make Scar reflect on their shared wrath...but I don't it's remotely comparable fhsjfjdj

Like yes it's tragic that the Rockbells died, but unless I am hallucinating they were fairly confident that the military wouldn't have actually killed them because they were Amestrians and thus why they continued to treat Ishvalans in their field hospital even after they had been warned. Now I think it would have actually been interesting if they were then later killed by the military that they trusted to spare them because of their Amestrian blood!

And then the Elrics + Winry having to deal with the fact that the institution they respect/work for/interact with is the same institution that killed the Rockbells - something mangahood treats like an unforgivable sin when Roy "War Criminal Extraordinaire" Mustang and Kimblee™️ are right there😭😭😭 They even show us the military scheming to kill the Rockbells, and then Arakawa has Scar do it at his most unstable to make a point about The Cycle of Hatred from a man whose pain is the most justified😭

And not to be petty but Ed's line about how Winry's hands were made for saving lives and the fact that her parents are doctors - Scar was a warrior monk whose hands also saved lives because he defended his people; and in fact that scene in the manga when he said he had nothing left to protect so he will instead live for vengeance went hard and is soooo indicative of his character😩

Unlike the war criminals and their accomplices, Scar's primary motivation throughout the genocide was to protect his people! And when they were slaughtered and their homes destroyed, that motivation developed into vengeance for his people! And I actually think it's quite powerful that Scar is willing to sacrifice his own peace of mind and the integrity of his soul by using alchemy - it's the fact that he is willing to kill the living to prove that the dead did not deserve it!

He is in fact the consequences of the rotten core that is the foundation of Amestris! So why do brohood fans insist on acting like it's his responsibility to end the cycle of hatred when the Amestrians were the first to pull the trigger? What's he supposed to do? How is he meant to continue living when everything was taken from him?

If we had even just a couple of scenes showing more of the Ishvalan perspective; like tell me more about the Ishvalan who refused treatment from Uriy Rockbell because Amestrians killed his father or the Ishvalan man in the desert mutilated by Roy's flames - there should be more angry Ishvalans in the series, and I think the Elric brothers (and fuck it Miles also - we saw an Ishvalan slum in North City) interact with them and deal with the horror that their nation inflicted upon the Ishvalans for no reason other than to serve the rotten core of the nation - Father & co.

But nooooo let's act like Scar killing the Rockbells is comparable and actually worse than the Ishvalan genocide🙄

(I am SO SORRY I just had to rant because I saw an annoying mangahood fan praise Scar's "redemption" arc when he doesn't need one😭 I even like that he got to return to his homeland and even reclaim his pre-genocide identity, but it should have been achieved through actual mutual understanding instead of my babygirl giving in to Arakawa's politics🗿 I know he's depressed and unhappy but to make his sudden cooperation realistic Arakawa should have has characters like Elric brothers and Miles should have done more reflecting on their complicity with the institution instead of bailing out of a difficult plotline)

Haha, no need to apologize for the rant! I'm right there with ya. The way Winry and the Rockbells get inserted into Scar's story feels so precisely calculated in order to both equivocate the violence of genociders with the violence of the oppressed, as well as (more directly) knocking Scar down himself.

[Long analysis after the readmore]

It's a perfect example of this method of narrative framing:

All anyone can focus on is Scar and the Rockbells, and that's by design, particularly with the 2009 anime adaptation.

For anyone paying attention to Scar's backstory with an anti-imperialist lens, it's clear he has correctly assessed who his enemies are and what to do about them. He's right to despise and destroy state alchemists and soldiers. And in order to "muddy" his position, Arakawa threw the Rockbells into the mix.

Again, with an anti-colonial, anti-imperialist framework this wrinkle to his backstory doesn't change shit. He is in the right to kill members of the militia. An accident doesn't erase the system of power that enacts imperial aggression. An accident doesn't negate a need for direct violence against a genocidal entity. Unfortunately Arakawa, the team at Studio Bones behind the Brotherhood anime, and the majority of people who watch Broho or read the manga don't see things this way.

Now I haven't read the manga myself, but as you've mentioned the Rockbells did seem to acknowledge the very real risk of death that can befall them while working in a war zone. Correct me if I'm wrong (and I may very well be) but don't they leave a letter behind in the manga, imploring that no one blame any Ishvalans who may instead harm them? Take this with a grain of salt, as I'm working off of a recollection of a post from someone who did read the source material. If I'm in the right ball park here, then Brotherhood cutting this from the story is an even more blatant attempt to tar Scar with a level of villainy (a trite description for the topic of genocide, even a fictional one) as the Amestrian war criminals.

Except the Amestrian war criminals are not seen as villains. The only ones characterized as villains for committing this (and other) genocide(s) are the homunculi, Bradley's council, and Kimblee. Following orders apparently is wholly excusable, even for a voluntary military. Both the "pain" and "anguish" of these 'do-gooder' genocidaires and Winry herself are elevated to near-martyrdom status in Brotherhood. Winry's parents especially so, and thus Winry's loss is seen as so poignant, so heartbreaking, that the audience (and Ed) are moved to an almost smug derision of Scar. See? It's the ~cycle of violence~. That's why his actions are ~wrong~. He doesn't parade around an idealism as a form of penance that makes him inspiring like Mustang (I have to laugh), he doesn't bat big doe eyes while looking so mournful like Riza (I have to yawn), he didn't have a lovely cis heterosexual family unit to create or protect like Hughes (please don't acknowledge Scar's family or community, in fact don't inquire about them at all) (also mangahood Hughes. Oh god, mangahood Hughes 😬). No, Scar is a violent man, an 'awful hypocrite", he harbours none of these 'heroic' qualities that everyone defends in the military characters, so therefore stopping him and bringing him to an Amestrian standard of justice is paramount.

The way this scene is constructed, in both the manga and the show is so blatant in its weepy-moralizing. Scar is contrasted as brutish, towering against a white teenage girl's trembling, collapsed position before him. His race cannot be ignored from the composition of this moment. The racism that under-girds the real life bogeymen of the "wanton violence of SWANA men" and the "foreign savage threatening our pure, fair, delicate women and children" is manifested in fma mangahood.

We're supposed to see these young (white) Amestrians as the hope for a reformed nation. (Abolition and decolonization are not vocabulary in the fma ethos. This isn't a unique lack for fma, most media can't be bothered to contend with truly ending a system or a nation that serves as its own sort of protagonist.) The end of ~the cycle~ will be because these golden-hearted white kids will choose pacifism (a useless paradigm when dealing with an aggressive entity). Ed assesses that his military superiors should not be held responsible for the mass destruction and slaughter they rendered with marvellous aplomb, Winry is too good to sully her hands, and Scar is a monster who's hand(s) are, it seems, meant to kill.

This is how we're guided to view things: The soldiers and generals are proud idealists to be respected and aided. Ed is a spunky genius who gets to use the coffers of the state's ill-gotten wealth for himself and his brother, and Winry is a saint who truly lost the most from the Ishval War. The Ishvalans shouldn't have fought the Amestrians, the Ishvalans shouldn't have resisted occupation, the Ishvalans shouldn't have retaliated for the murder of an Ishvalan child, the Ishvalans shouldn't have been where the military took aim. Scar shouldn't have been so human as to be loved, to be saved, to be physically and mentally harmed, to be so thoroughly concussed and delirious (neurologically and psychologically), and he shouldn't have ever hated Amestrians. Then the Rockbells could have returned home to Winry.

(If we throw in the ridiculous speech from Miles, Scar should have also, somehow, joined the military simultaneous to being in their crosshairs as Ishval was torn asunder.)

And that's what the framing, the script, the animation, everything in Brotherhood bellows: Winry is the truest, most blameless victim of the Ishvalan genocide. The death of two white, blond, blue-eyed humanitarian doctors is worth hundreds of thousands of Ishvalans. Where Father and Wrath both see each life worth only that life as a means of efficient resource extraction, and where the philosophy of One is All, All is One is meant to unify the value of each life, we get a much different, more bleak weighing scale from Ed, Scar's arc, and from the in-built bias of the audience: Scar's brother, his neighbours, the web of individuals, communities, and every generation of Ishvalan is worth markedly little in the holy light of the Rockbells and Winry's suffering. Scar's past and present are mere excuses; Winry's past and present are his sins.

This moment is also a tacit ploy to make people think of the families and loved ones of the fascist pigs Scar has already murdered by this point. The implication of those people as a trail of Winrys left in his wake also equivocates the pain of the imperial citizenry and the lives they enjoy thanks to ceaseless land, resource, and human acquisition, with that of the endlessly angry, 'dangerous' Ethnic Other. Surprisingly, given how little tact Brotherhood has as a visual narrative, the anime (thankfully) never outright shows these bereft loved ones from the murdered war criminals. However, it hangs invisibly in this scene with Winry as well as the one in the abandoned mining town in Briggs.

And to make a quick aside: I find it to be in very poor taste that the tragedy of Scar's life is being used to further the romance between Ed and Winry. Just. Please. Who the fuck asked for a brown man's oppression to be the backdrop for the growing passion between white teens??? What in the goddamn, man.

Getting back on track: Brotherhood wants us to see Ishval and Amestris as two equal parties foolishly destroying one another. It's the fallacy of both-sideism and we see the very real deployment of this propaganda every time an imperial power wages its (nowadays proxy) wars. But like real world targets of imperialism, Ishval has every right to fight back. Scar, even with the deaths of these doctors thrown at his feet in an attempt to manufacture a toothless, sanctimonious tale of "two wrongs don't make a right," is still fully in the right to have sought and destroyed the fascist boots that trampled him and his people.

The Rockbells assumed they would be safe from their own nation, and as you said we do get confirmation that the military was going to send someone in to assassinate them for their treachery. Kimblee (because we could never make any of the ""Good guy"" soldiers do this, only the strawman fascist) was given the task. In a twist of fate, Kimblee's assault on Scar indirectly gets that particular job done. I, for one, hate this writing decision. I've talked about it before, but fma 03's choice of making Mustang and Marco the Rockbells' killers is a far better choice for the broader anti-imperialist theme 03 focused so heavily upon. Hell, any serving soldier would have been a better, less nakedly military apologia than Scar. It would better reflect the real world strategies deployed by imperial armies: decimate medical facilities, staff, and humanitarians (including those who are citizens of their own nation state). Arakawa choosing a roundabout path to this outcome, one that vilifies Scar while sparing the ""Good"" reformable soldiers, because it's actually all Kimblee's actions anyway, is a cheap trick.

It drives me nuts that the Elrics and Winry are never truly confronted with the horrors of their nation and its governing institutions. Anytime they get a taste of what makes the military so vile it's coated in a million red herrings about who is "actually" responsible for this wretched state of affairs. It's not that militaries are the violent arm of the state meant to slaughter people and capture/maintain land as property of the state, no! That's the fucked up thinking of Bradley, his council, Father, and Kimblee! Look, our ""Good"" war criminals and soldiers actually ~understands~ that the military exists to protect people! (Which people? And from whom? Shut up, don't ask questions, you're ruining the wholesome idealism here!) With them in charge post-coup, everything will be better! Any harm Amestrians have faced from their own military's invasions is actually the fault of the military's targets: Resembool received collateral damage because Ishvalans fought back! So obviously this is akin to Ishvalan imperialism, right? Both sides? We shouldn't see race? Reverse racism is real? But look, Winry is suffering because Scar is a reverse racist! So it is real!

Everything you said about Scar is 100% on point. It's so good that I'm gonna highlight it here again:

Scar was a warrior monk whose hands also saved lives because he defended his people; and in fact that scene in the manga when he said he had nothing left to protect so he will instead live for vengeance went hard and is soooo indicative of his character Unlike the war criminals and their accomplices, Scar's primary motivation throughout the genocide was to protect his people! And when they were slaughtered and their homes destroyed, that motivation developed into vengeance for his people! And I actually think it's quite powerful that Scar is willing to sacrifice his own peace of mind and the integrity of his soul by using alchemy - it's the fact that he is willing to kill the living to prove that the dead did not deserve it!

What more can I say? This illustrates perfectly what a lot of fans seem to entirely miss or dismiss. And listen, I'll give Arakawa some credit, because she wrote this into his character! She wrote Scar to be more than just Big Bad Hypocrite, and Ed's view of him is in fact wrong. I appreciate that Scar doesn't fall over himself to explain to these Amestrians what happened on his end. But all the same, with other Ishvalans being used to essentially rat Scar out (the ones taking refuge in the ruins of Xerxes), and that there was no sympathy or solidarity given to him by his own people who were there in that makeshift hospital still shows what the primary perspective on Scar should be.

To Arakawa, he is wrong.

The Amestrians rebuke him, his own people (the refugees in Xerxes, his own Master and the refugees within Amestris) rebuke him. Miles rebukes him. Ed, Al, and Winry rebuke him. The Ishvalans rebuke his one-man insurrection on his and their behalf to instead stoke the flames of Ed's righteous animosity towards Scar. Why? Because not all Amestrians. But certainly all Ishvalan rebels. It doesn't matter to Arakawa and Studio Bones' Broho team that Scar's hands were already fighting to save lives; he has to be beaten down and cowed to agree to save Amestrian lives, reformed for Amestris' betterment. This is how he will pay for his "cruelty". Meanwhile the war criminals, sans the leader of the nation and Kimblee, get off scott-free.

A core problem with the ~cycle of violence~ rhetoric is that the buck is almost always passed to the latest victim of violence, particularly if that victim entertains the path of self-defense or retaliation. If you initiate, or are a major player, in that violence then you are practically absolved of your actions and intentions once you create a chain effect of harm. This, in my opinuon, is partly why fans see the responsibility of ending violence to be on Scar's shoulders. Combined with what I discussed regarding the "positive" qualities of our protag war criminals winning the hearts of audiences; that they are written to be as charming, inspiring, and pitiable as possible, with a sufficient lack of melanin to align with the colourism and racism imbedded in most societies and cultures irl, we end up here. With Scar seen by many as a villain/former villain.

Remember, don't argue against pacifism. And don't bother questioning what other routes he could have reasonably taken, because the manga and Brotherhood answers that question!

He should have been living "peacefully" with other Ishvalan refugees in their nice little "peaceful" (slums) settlements. After all, they had no real qualms with their "peaceful" new lives. We're hit over the head time and again by how "content" these refugees are, in spite of the ethnic cleansing and marginalized, hidden existences they suffer. And I scare-quote peaceful because this isn't peace. This is the hegemony of Amestrian "peace" forcing a people it wants fully eradicated to hide and remain quiet for their own safety. So peaceful. But that's what Scar should have done instead! (Or become a fascist to solve fascism, ala Miles' stunning advice.) Brotherhood keeping the majority of Ishvalans as an amorphous monolith, without identities or perspectives, who make do with the hand that's been dealt (it seems like all "violent Ishvalans" were slaughtered in Ishval during the war, since only Scar continues to fight afterwards) means we can digest the Amestrian perspective and internalize it without issue. It's an intentional choice.

Even the manga at least shows Ishvalan dissent a bit better, but it seems to lose any interest in pursuing the perspective of refugees as the plot progresses. A lot of entertainment media can only garner sympathy for victims of genocide so long as they have an innate "pacifism" to their people (this too is racist framing). You can only feel bad if the Indigenous and the racialized are simply too kind hearted and pure to ever raise their hand against the gunmen who fire at them. The narrative can only imagine Scar having the potential to reform into the acquiescent, useful native if we see that most of his people are horrified by any violence against their colonizers. If they're horrified of him, then they and Scar can be forgiven (for being what they are, for being victims whose victimization harmed the soldiers, the Rockbells, and Winry). So what more could the Ishvalan perspective hold in Brotherhood, when that's all that's needed of them to begin with?

I sorely wish we weren't fed such an awful concoction of racist, military-absolving story telling. All major fma media isn't necessarily perfect about consistently handing the mic to different Ishbalans/Ishvalans, but Brotherhood is the absolute worst of the three in this regard. The manga at least has Ishvalans who openly reject Amestris and Amestrians for the atrocities they suffered at their hands, as included in your ask. Brotherhood doesn't even bother with any of that. It's just a spotlight on Scar, and he made Winry an orphan. Not Amestris, not its military, not Father, not Kimblee, but Scar. And to Broho fans, that is the ultimate sin anyone in this series could ever commit.

I'm glad mangahood Scar gets to return to Ishval and rebuild. I'm glad this version of him gets to live, because this continuity has nothing of value to say had it killed him off or prevented him from reconnecting with Ishval. Of course Scar didn't need the "reformed" military to grant him that permission. And he abso-fucking-lutely did not need to earn it via "redemption". Such a crock of shit. To have to earn your homeland by joining the very forces that ruined thousands/millions of lives is one of the most disgusting outcomes of this story. People love his "redemption" because it makes them comfortable about real, heavy matters. It tells them "Their nation, their nationalism, their militarism can be good and healing after all." Fuck off.

Scar deserved infinitely better. Every Ishvalan deserved better than to be a morality lesson about what the oppressed ought to do instead of having a spine. And Winry shouldn't have been a pawn for distracting us from the evils of the military.

--

See, this is why no one should apologize to me about sending me a ranting ask. 😅 I'll take any opportunity to rant x10. And hey, you're always welcome to send long asks! I hope the long reply isn't too frustrating to read through, and I hope I didn't miss any of the great points you made.

Once again, I fully agree with you. Our babygirl being tied up with the Rockbells is straight-up poor storytelling. Mangahood had the potential to not be racist and pro-military about these storybeats, but instead chose to make an example out of the primary brown character.

Any Broho fan who can't handle this critique is weak. Period. But I'm always grateful that there are those like yourself who can handle it AND make that critique themselves!

[Sorry it took some time to reply. I briefly lost this ask after saving my first draft, since apparently tumblr hides ask drafts not at the top of the draft pile, but somewhere in the middle (???)]

[strawberryicemoon]

Does anyone else feel like the Della that was set up and the Della we actually got were two different characters.

Primarily I think Della's just dumber than we were initially lead to believe. And I think there's something in one of the first things we knew about her was that she had pretty handwriting, where I struggle to believe the Della is patient enough to have neat handwriting. The last Crash of the Sunchaser implied she designed the Spear of Selene. Scrooge said someone who "sees the angles". Like I get that don't speak ill of the dead was in play. And I also get wanting Della's legacy to not match perfectly with her true self, but some of the literally flashbacks we saw implied she was clever (she figured out Dewey was from the future, again, she was sketching the Spear). Having the characters stretch the truth is one thing, but flashbacks is another. I mean we literally saw her Scuba-Diving in a flashback, but in show she hates fish.

Not helped by the fact I assumed she named her children, and was using that as a gauge of her personality. And like. Turbo is very funny. I get why you'd make it a surprise reveal. Recontextualize her personality. But we already were introduced to her in the episode before. Also I just didn't like it tbh. (And kinda like my beef with the whole April May and June thing, I'm not a duck fan, I have no horse in this race, and things can be different, but considering to my understanding the few glimpses of previous iterations of Della, she definitely named her sons, and changing one of the few things that previously existed about the character felt weird to me, cheap even. On one hand I get wanting to show just how disconnected from her son she is and how much the incident cost her. But on the other hand it was just salt in the wound at that point, for a few jokes about the boys names… which have generally been changed to be even more embarrassing than they were previously for more jokes).

I really did like Whatever Happened to Della Duck. The only "Weird' things to me was how technically and artistically unsavvy she seemed to be, when we had scene her sketching the spear of Selene. Like that was a whole ass plot point. And also how oblivious she seemed to what was happening with the Moonlanders when she was presumably "sharp". But y'know. I can excuse one misunderstanding, and she was probably just a bit crazy from being alone on the moon for so long (and any prior mental health issues) and when she gets back other characters will probably be unnerved by her a bit because she's changed. But this was apparently normal Della (aside from not liking her reflection). If someone had spelled out in show the ways she had changed while on the moon I think it would have made all the difference. (Though Ducktales in general has an issue for completely neglecting to state important information until its necessary but long after it was relevant, so the fact no one says that doesn't mean it can't be true tbh).

I think the core of the character, and thus why she caught my attention remained. She's a traumatized woman who did something impulsive (that should have been fine), that had disproportionately huge consequences. And now has to get to know her children. She has to learn to parent on the fly. She has to establish herself as an adult when she's otherwise been stuck in place. She has to reestablish herself with her family, and a new sense of identity in a world that's changed without her.

And looking some of the Della description from the pitch bible we got recently, and the Della described there is closer to the one I thought we were getting prior to her debut. It makes me wonder when that changed. I know early on, in the Moorshire episode, they realized they made Launchpad too dumb after they finished it. To me it feels like they did that with Della (and to a certain extent Donald as well), but then never made the realization about what they did. We already had launchpad as the stupid adult. We didn't need more. Also, to be honest, I struggle to name any strengths over other characters besides the pragmatic "better at flying than Launchpad". Now, don't get me wrong, I still like canon Della. She had a lot of great moments. But to be honest I think all of her best moments, would have also worked with the Della I thought we were getting. Her fears about losing the kids, so lying to them about participating in the fight. Her song. Her punishing Louie for being stupid. The bit where she talked about being unable to look at her reflection and breaking her glass. Teaching Dewey to fly. Realizing how much her kids looked up to her and to what extents they might be idiots to prove themselves to her. I don't want her not to be reckless, just more thoughtful. That said, the way the other characters treated her didn't really help. It felt like at least for a while she was being ignored. Like she wasn't being treated seriously, but also no one was trying to help or understand her. (Which we got Donald blasted off into space after being ecstatic to see her, made me feel like Donald might actually see her... but then 5 episodes in to S3 Donald gets a girlfriend and the twins rarely appear together).

Liking those elements of the pitch bible might be a bit of the classic "the grass is greener" nonsense. And the fact it's just a barebones description not a full fletched character, and to be fair I don't care for every detail in it. But even before the pitch bible, I was bothered by the fact Daisy, not Della was the person who understood Donald best. (My aromantic self does not appreciate the prioritzation of romantic relationships). And here in the pitch bible. It says Della knows Donald best. We didn't get a single glimpse of "was scared to be a mom", even though I'd solidly developed the head canon that the Spear of Selene ride was a form of post-partum fear even before reading this, and I understand that might have been difficult to work into the show, the lack of support for Della in general, or any hints of empathy for why she did what she did doesn't help. Even of dealing with trauma from the instance. I can't say the "stuff just happens" angle is objectively bad. But this is still a story. A narrative. Not reality. It feels cheap as a character, for her biggest mistake to basically boil down to "oops", rather than a huge character flaw. Like yes, being reckless is a flaw. But considering what the family is USUALLY doing, it… isn't? It really isn't any worse than what they family does normally so for her to be punished so harshly for it is a bit unfair.

In the finale the fact it's revealed that Bradford told Della about the spear, also feels kinda cheap to me. I think its an interesting reveal… but considering this is information one of our main protagonists knows it feels bizarre that it is a reveal to the audience. (Or that no one asked Della before). Also it feels a bit like it's trying to absolve Della of blame, but it doesn't address the core problem of (sure the show never states there's a problem but Scrooge makes reference to Della's "one last big adventure" and it's hard not to see this as an attempt to break out of some sort of mental funk. And it again, needlessly victimizes Della. She got stuck in space for 10 years, couldn't even name her own children, loses her leg, gets betrayed, loses her plane kinda-sorta, and is kind of treated like an idiot by many of the other adults around her. Because some guy was trying to mess with Scrooge. Della's moon trip sucks, I don't think they needed to make it worse by making it not even her fault.

I wish we had gotten a scene of Donald telling the boys what Della was like from his perspective. He's her twin. And I really don't want to welcome the comparisons between DT17 and GF. But the lack of any character drawing the parallels between Donald & Della and Huey, Dewey and Louie is absurd. But they don't utilize it. Like at all. No one ever looks at Donald and goes, oh. He lost his twin. That really sucks. The triplets never go. What would it be like if I lost one of you. Like twins are sometimes just siblings. They don't need to have "super special relationship", but in a show about family it's sure awkward that they don't. I am so mad that Huey, Dewey and Louie didn't get to see another side of their Uncle Donald brought out by Della. Or alternatively a Della struggling to connect with her brother. Even better both.

I know the "is the character acting ooc or do you not actually know the character" is well, a thing. I am aware that the post-partum depression, actually clever and observant Della is mostly made up by me. But I also know where in canon it came from to me. Della never acts out of character from once she's introduced. But that character is still a bit off from the character we had come to expect in the first season and a half. She's not completely divorced from what we were told about her. But still. Do I love Della, or the idea of Della. Honestly, I don't know.

This is definitely very OPINION, and not really anything objective.

[riptidesblog]

If I rewrote/fixed plot holes in Ninjago Pilots:

They're actually not that bad for a beginning,but I would change a few things:

-I'll not question blacksmith being a career that could provide for two teens,but the fact that Kai seems to be a bad one does not sit right with me.Especially since the issue with the curled sword was not his impatience but the size of the water bucket used(I think)

-Wu being "I told you so,useless" to Kai after Nya is captured.Replace that with sympathy maybe? It would make sense as Wu knows what it's like to lose a family member and is wise enough to understand that Kai is distraught

-Give better reasoning for trusting the map to Ray than Wu fearing his death bc knowing the lore we have now,Wu is likely to outlive him.It could be that monastery was obviously a bad choice and Wu didn't want the weapons lost forever bc they're needed for the prophecy and with most of the past generation of ems either gone or not entirely trustworthy(earth em before Lilly was a traitor during the serpentine wars,then rejoined the alliance,damaging Wu's trust in him and Lilly herself was young and going out on adventures making her unavailable; Libber is missing,Ice em is either dead or missing to Wu's knowledge and etc)

-Personal hc for where Cole,Jay and Zane were during Kai's training is that on the journey to monastery Wu messaged them without Kai noticing,sending them away with a task.Once Kai mastered the course he called the 3 back without warning them about Kai

-Jay's "We're saving a girl?Is she hot?" line.The first part along with their reaction to Kai implies the 3 didn't know anything about Smith-Jiang siblings.Including age.On the one hand,that's creepy.Jay is just lucky that Nya's not too much younger.On the other,it might be in character for Jay to say something without thinking.If we're keeping it then have Jay say it later when there is a possibility that Kai or Wu informed them of the situation and the details.

-Show Kai warming up to the team more and more

-Establish the disastrous consequences of Tornado of Creation bc the only bad thing to happen from that in all the show was Lloyd being taken out by a door and that was just a coincidence.Not only will it give more detail,but also explain why ninja don't use it all the time

-Nya quoting Ray despite not remembering much about her parents.Let's assume Kai told her about it

-Wu's plan.What was the point of taking the sword to the Underworld if the other three weapons would be brought to the same place? That moment needs to be thought through

-Wu's 'death'.He was not a fallen warrior bitter with defeat,so there's no reason for him to go to the Underworld with the sword of fire and he did not turn into a skulkin.To fix this and previous point,let's say he got trapped on the other side of the volcano with the entrance to the Underworld and sword of fire has been with him bc he obtained it during the battle.He did not die yet

-Flame.Other 3 dragons didn't need to be woken up to protect their weapons(Rocky took some time tho).My personal hc is that the other 3 woke up immediately bc they sensed the humans and the skulkin.Flame however living so close to Underworld has his senses for the skulkin and similar dark forces(like Garmadon's Oni heritage) muted and the only others present in the Fire Temple were Kai,Nya and Wu,who all have dragon heritage

-Dragon saddles should not exist at this point in the show(I know it's to sell toys,but still)

-Jaya hug and Ignacians enthusiasm/cheering. Just don't include it at all,Jay and Nya are strangers at this point and Ignacians have no idea what's going on.Instead show them being confused and afraid of dragons and Jay maybe introducing himself to Nya

-Garmadon and Wu need to refer to each-other by smth other than just brother.It's repetitive and kinda unrealistic(no matter how old,siblings are siblings).This goes for the whole show

[silentwalrus1]

oh did you not like sys tem coll apse? why not if you don’t mind me asking

Spoilers for system collapse below!

- felt very much like publishers/editors or whoever else were like hey Mwells this series is a smash hit you got anything else in the tank? And mwells scraped together a bunch of discarded scenes and concepts from the prev books and mushed that together into a minimum viable product

- no growth - all character arcs are either rehashes of what already happens in prev books or have no impact whatsoever. MB already learns that it cares about its friends and its friends care about it, that it can rely on them (hello Network Effect aka the most SLAMMIN AWESOME scifi action story i’ve read all DECADE); Tarik being a former corporate death squad trooper or whatever has absolutely no effect or consequence on anything; MB has even already crafted its own narrative & shared it, hello the documentary with bharadwaj??? the files it cut together for 3? THE WHOLE CONCEIT OF THE SERIES WHICH ARE THE MURDERBOT DIARIES WHICH ARE FRAMED EXPLICITLY AS NARRATIVES MB DELIBERATELY CRAFTS & SHARES WITH OTHERS???

- the climax of the book is. A montage.

Of our heroes making a powerpoint presentation.

I WISH this had been cool. It would’ve been hysterical to have a Final Battle be a pptx fight. Except.

It was. A montage. And then all the actual defining decisions happen offscreen. We don’t even get to see our heroes DO the actual thing - MB’s hacking gets a lot more detail than the construction of the pptx. Furthermore, how is this any different from what the corporate side is doing? Literally they’re both presenting competing propaganda pitch decks to a skeptical investor board that has what they want. It doesn’t actually matter that One Of These Powerpoints Is Always True And The Other Always Lies - how is it meaningfully different from a narrative & character standpoint? Right from the start of the series, PresAux are markedly different to all prior humans MB has had experience with - they are non-corporates! In this story about corporations/capitalism ruining everything! And then our other main heroes we meet, ART’s crew, are aggressively ANTI-corporate! So to have the climax of this latest book be “well both sides did the same action but one of them was objectively cooler bc it was Righteous - no dw it’s all happening offscreen anyway. Who cares.”

Well. Idk man, i was fucking bummed! It was boring!

Not to mention that the entire stakes of this whole… thing… are so lacking, as a reader? The rehash of prior arcs is especially poignant here, because none of the central concerns of the book feel like they matter. MB has already spent 5 books dealing with emotional disregulation, chronic issues caused by interactions of its organic + nonorganic parts, its attempts to navigate freedom, personhood and relationships in societies of bots and humans as a construct that is neither bot nor human but its own third thing, and learning to rely and trust itself and others. The first five books do this masterfully. System Collapse introduced nothing new, didn’t develop any relationships or plot arcs, regressed MB’s own main arc for no reason and ignored the entire symphony of a thesis of the entire damn series previous. Wish it wasn’t so :/

[adamnablelittledevil]

I'm enjoying Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, I find Anne's writing way more organized and sophisticated now, she's getting to the point faster, she's introducing mysteries and building up to the reveal in a better way, I'm loving Lestat's development etc, so this book is definitely great in that aspect...

But I find the whole plot with the aliens on Earth so stupid? Even for a cartoon? Like, why would they accept the mission they were given considering the consequences? And why was that a problem they had to solve in the first place? Why did individuals in a whole different planet care about what humans did here?

If it were something like "people on Earth are exploring the space now and we know their colonizer mentality, so we need to end them before they come here to steal our land" I could get it as plot, but the explanation so far is so not it. No wonder they all dropped their task lol.

Anyway, has anybody read that book? Does it get logical at some point? Even Akasha's argument on TQOTD didn't make a lot of sense to me, but at least it made a *little* bit of sense since men often really are the worst, but this isn't working for me in any shape or form. At least not now, but I hope that changes.