#is either arc perfect? no of course not as I apparently have to state every time to the point of tediousness. but also there clearly

[vaguely-concerned]

seeing people claim that lucanis is 'bad representation' is hilarious to me because in so many ways he's really the closest anything has ever gotten to capturing my own personal experience. sorry for being bad real life queer and mental health/neurodiversity representation folks 😔 I'll take time to reflect and do some work on myself and try to do better in the future

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA Episode 7 - The North (1/4)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

Opening with Lt. Jee, now loyal to Zuko, warning him about Zhao's fake plan was incredible. Before last episode, Jee would have let it happen and never warned Zuko about the (fake) soldiers coming to arrest him. But it's Zuko's own honor that leads his men to now be dedicated to him and allows Zhao's ploy to work. It's also interesting that at least Lt. Jee also knows that Zuko is the Blue Spirit - I don’t think this breaks the world at all because if Zuko isn't the one to turn in the Avatar, the crew doesn't get to go home either. They're both in the same boat (lolz) if Zhao gets the Avatar instead, so it's in Lee's best interest to aid Zuko even in his subterfuge. After all, it was Zuko doing things against Fire Nation protocol that saved their lives. 

Zhao's claim that Zuko was looking out for himself above all and was a traitor is technically true. To the Fire Nation, it doesn’t matter WHO gets the Avatar, it only matters that he's captured. But the Fire Nation's own beliefs are what leads to the Avatar getting away yet again: just like with the orcs in the Lord of the Rings, what evil people prize is usually what brings them down independent of the actions of the 'heroes'. Evil will always destroy itself. The Fire Nation prizes individual strength and being of a higher ranking above everything else, so of course Zhao and Zuko are going to vie for that, BOTH of them ending up working against the Fire Nation's best interest because they're chasing that status: cooperation isn't rewarded, individual acts of valor are. Individual acts that encourage them to work against each other and ends up hurting them both while letting the Avatar go free.

I can see the argument that Aang's arc has gone back and forth a lot - him wanting to save the world with his friends, everyone else telling him he has to do it alone, then him going back to wanting to save the world with his friends, then others telling him to do it alone. I think though, that every episode has built upon each other to show that connection isn't weakness, but each subsequent challenge has become more and more dangerous. Sokka and Katara were almost lost in the previous two episode arc - they got sucked into the Avatar's world (due to a spirit angry over something it seems the Avatar should have prevented) and if Aang hadn't saved them, they'd be lost forever.

The stakes keep going up and Aang keeps seeing the cost of an Avatar's failure, leading him to have a totally normal reaction of going from welcoming his friends into the fight to being afraid to lose them and wanting them to sit it out. After all, when he channeled Kysohi, his friends were safe - she took care of it all. When he thinks Kuruk can do the same thing, that he has the 'trump' card of the Avatar state being controlled by someone who knows what they're doing, he's ok with his friends fighting - but when it's solely up to him to protect them and he doesn’t think he can, he balks. Until, of course, his friends set him straight.

In love with Agna Qel'a's design and the fact that they actually gave it a name!! Apparently that happened in one of the books, but for the animated series, it was always just 'The North Pole' or 'The Northern Water Tribe'. I like that it gets a name now - and it's beautiful! It's so good to see Katara and Sokka get to connect with their sister culture in the north and how it must feel to them to see a community of the Water Tribe thriving so much compared to their own coves that are barely hanging on.

And again, something that comes up with Aang a lot - people wanting him to immediately jump in and be the perfect weapon for them to use against their enemies. The show does a great job of always reminding us the massive responsibilities everyone places on Aang, seeing him first as a weapon, and only second as a person. Katara and Sokka's dynamic has gotten so good by this point in the season. Their little back and forth with Katara telling him ppl will think something is wrong with him if he keeps staring at Yue is too cute!

What they've done with the Royal Family of the Fire Nation is really great. It is sooooo interesting that Ozai doesn't even speak to his daughter directly about her training, he has someone else do it - very much like the Blood of the Seanchan from the Wheel of Time who always use a Voice to speak for them because those not of 'The Blood' do not deserve to be spoken to by someone so high. But to have Ozai be staring right at Azula as his 'voice' critiques her 'trial', it speaks volumes. I love, too, that Mai calls it out for what it is - that Ozai is playing games with her because he knows she's the best, he just wants something more from her that he refuses to say.

I've seen people say that the last shot of Azula lasts a few seconds too long, but I think they're missing what's being shown - not just what's being told through her last line of 'that I'm the one'. Azula is desperate to be her father's favorite, she's so certain she should be next in line for the throne, and in the animated show, she pretty much is from the jump. I'll need to rewatch season 2 and 3, but I can't remember Ozai every criticizing a thing Azula does - she's just the golden child who's perfect and his shoe-in for heir. Here, he's making her work for it - fight and prove that she's better than Zuko. He thinks that pitting his children against each other will make them both stronger, then the strongest will win out and they'll be that much better for it. We don’t see cracks in Azula's mask until the end of season 3 of the animated show, so I like that here, that lingering shot on her face shows that her expression goes from angry and determined, to almost a frightened desperation. She tries to put on a good face, but she is concerned that her father won't see the truth she does, that she'll be 'treated like Zuko' and punished for not being good enough.

[completeoveranalysis]

~

Warning! This post contains spoilers up to chapter 170 of Tsubasa (and Chapter 71 of xxxHolic). Please skip this if you have not read that far.

Please also make no comments about what happens after that point in either manga.

~

OK SO HERE IS SPOOKY KUROFAI MARRIAGE PORTRAIT

The splash text reads: Shed blood and tears, without forgetting them, turn them into an existence.

Here is a link to my original post if you need the full context.

But here is the thing I said that just made me want to scream here in 2021, specifically in regards to that splash text:

"Incredibly motivating. It’s like the optimistic view of how things are when things are tough. The tough times are unavoidable a lot of the time, but you can and will get through them. You just have to make the choice to pick up the pieces and use them to construct a new future - which is never easy, but it’s the only way forward. For the dads, it’s both their past and their future. Kurogane has already gone through this; his life shattered and he used the pieces to forge a new identity and found new things to live for. For Fai, this is something he still needs to work on. He’s so used to running from his tragedy that he hasn’t yet figured out who he is beyond it. The “without forgetting them” is sort of a call out for him in that respect. You can’t grow by pretending they didn’t happen, or by pretending you’re a different person. Once he’s faced the pain and accepted that he’s alive and can continue living in a way that can make himself and others happy, then he’ll finally be moving forward."

IN WHICH.

LIKE.

I have no idea how anyone even reads this liveblog armed with knowledge of what happens next because APPARENTLY I JUST SAY THINGS that are VASTLY UNJUST and now I wilt away with the memory of what I thought of Fai back then.

I don't mean to give myself any undue credit here - I predicted none of Fai’s backstory. I had something completely different in mind when writing this, entirely based around the knowledge of Fai fleeing from Ashura with no context whatsoever about who Fai really was.

When you know where Fai came from? Oh my god.

Oh my god.

The words just toss my intended meaning out the window and dance around with the actual truth right in your face. Especially the “pretending you’re a different person” bit - I could never have predicted that Fai was using his brother’s namesake both as a way to eliminate himself from the world and to devote his life towards resurrecting his brother in his place. But HOT DAMN do these words ice skate in all the correct patterns without any knowledge of what the heck they could possibly mean in the end.

Also I'm in physical pain from the phrase: “without forgetting them” is sort of a call out for him in that respect." I know that past!me was thinking purely about Fai running away from confrontation with Ashura and pretending that he was fine and that everything was fine and that he could stay away from it all as long as possible. Things I did not know: That Fai's memories had been deliberately changed by two separate people to control the direction of his life. "Without forgetting them" is NOT a callout for Fai - Fai had no choice in that whatsoever (but they could still be a callout for ME for forgetting any of this plotline had ever happened oh my god). Fai was only ever running from Ashura with good intentions (ie, to NOT murder someone), and there was no way he could have known that his past had been rewritten to such a massive degree that it shaped the core of his personality for his entire life. And just as the splash text implies, it's only when he gets the CORRECT memories back that he can use them to forge a healthier and more accurate life moving forward.

A call out for Fai. Imagine. Past!me has so much to answer for.

I also want to revisit the bit where I said “once he’s faced the pain and accepted that he’s alive he can continue living in a way that can make himself and others happy, then he’ll finally be moving forward”, because this comes off entirely flippant now that I’m looking back on it.

My expectation for Fai’s potential trauma was somehow barely a tenth of what it really was in the end. And like, the idea I was getting at? Technically correct! But also only correct on the surface level. Fai didn’t need to just “confront his problems”. He needed to be completely stripped of the version of himself he had constructed from his false memories, worn down to the very core through reliving the worst parts of his life - and then shown how he was wrong about them. He was lied to his entire life, and so the goals he based his life around were aimed toward an abstracted version of reality. He was never going to be able to resurrect his brother, but he never could have known that without knowing that Ashura and Evil Wolverine had manipulated him and his memories every step of the way.

It's only when he can decipher this for himself that he can course correct - and it was only in taking the Original Fai completely out of the equation that Our Fai could finally begin to comprehend the idea of living for himself, and others, instead for fixing a mistake he never actually made in the first place.

So, yeah. “Once he’s faced the pain (of his past) and accepted that HE’S alive (and he’s allowed to be, because he never killed his brother) he can continue living in a way that can make himself and others happy” IS ACTUALLY ACCIDENTALLY CORRECT IN THE END.

I also want to point out that in the initial liveblog I never really discussed how Fai’s expression was relevant to this image, because I didn’t know exactly.

He’s smiling.

It's a small, gentle smile, but CLAMP really draw attention to it with the way he's looking off centre. Kurogane looks directly at the camera, but he's off centre - Fai is in the middle of the frame and he's vaguely looking elsewhere, head tilted in the wrong direction, as if he were looking towards Kurogane but seeing something else entirely.

The image itself was part of a series of splash pages where CLAMP were depicting the current state of the relationships between all of the main cast throughout the Infinity Arc (and it was glorious) and while I absolutely caught the fact that the relationship between Fai and Kurogane was intimate but strained, I didn’t know the context of Fai’s smile. His backstory shows us that Fai smiles as a way to make other people happy, because deep down he thinks this is the only possible value he can bring them - a smile is his only way of improving the world for the people around him, and his smile is the only thing he’s worth.

Here in the image Fai is partially draped over Kurogane but his distant look shows that he isn’t fully committed to the scenario - because before Seresu he could never be. As much as he liked Kurogane and allowed himself to get close to him, it was always always with the intention of him trading his life away for his brother’s at the end of the day. This is what caused the tension between them in the first place - when Kurogane made choices in Fai’s stead to keep him alive (in Acid Tokyo), he threatened Fai’s chance to trade his life for his brother’s, and so Fai distanced himself from Kurogane. Even if they fixed what they had between them, anything he had going with Kurogane could only ever be temporary until Fai could trade places with the real Fai.

And so Fai smiles - because any happiness he can give Kurogane and the others is all he’ll ever be worth. It's a temporary happiness that was never supposed to last or even exist in the first place.

And it’s not until we get OUT of Seresu that Fai finally has the opportunity to build himself from the ground up and start living for himself. For his own happiness and those around him.

And finally commit to the idea of being able to (and being WORTHY OF) making Kurogane happy in the long term.

Which is where we then get the punching scene in Nihon. And it’s perfect.

But OH BOY did past!me say some things that sounded correct but were utterly and completely wrong at every level.

[blueink2k]

Propaganda in Death Note and How It Played Into Light’s God Complex

[This is based on information from the anime, as I have yet to read the manga for myself. Caps from or references to the manga may be included to emphasize points or provide visuals, but the version of the plot I'm referring to is taken from the anime.]

Light Yagami does not pick up the Death Note knowing he’s going to use it to commit mass murder and become the God of his New World.

Actually, he does the opposite. He kills someone to test it as he’s under the impression it isn’t real, convinces himself it was a freak coincidence, and decides to try it out in a way that will provide a more concrete conclusion. When it does end up working he’s stunned, to say the least.

“I killed them both...I killed two men. Those were human lives. I-It won’t be overlooked. Besides, who am I to pass judgment on others?”

Light Yagami, the perfect, straight-A, model student, has just confirmed he killed two people using some strange supernatural notebook that just happened to fall into his hands. He’s always believed strongly in his morals. He’s been on course his whole life to join the police force like his father an deliver justice, and here he is, an indirect murderer. 

So what does he do about it?

...He comes up with a reason to justify himself. 

The people he killed were criminals. Mere scum who do nothing but rot and infect the world. Wouldn’t everyone be better off without them? It isn’t that he’s never considered this before, he has, albeit not to the same degree as taking their deaths into his own hands. But now that he has the power to do so, why shouldn’t he? He’s smart, he’s determined. He’s capable of it.

In fact, in his mind, he’s the only one who is.

He’s kind of right. He’s the top of his class, he comes out on top in national tests, he barely even has to try. Plus, he’s the only one that has a Death Note, and therefore the power to do this. 

At this point in time, he doesn’t consider himself a god. He doesn’t want to rule the world, he just wants to change it. Something else important to note is that he doesn’t refer to himself as Kira or anything other than Light. 

...That is, until...

Websites start popping up all over claiming that whoever this mass murderer is is named “Kira”, a god among men risen to punish criminals and save the world.

Two things to note here;

Apparently, “Kira” is returning, meaning there must have been some kind of previous belief in an entity that either did something similar to Light or had the same beliefs. There isn’t any other canon mention of a previous Kira, and this in and of itself is pretty vague, but given that there’s tons of religions in real life that have never had a big breakthrough, it’s reasonable to believe this could be something similar. That, or a creepypasta. Or a cult.

Light created this understanding that he had to be the one to change the world to cope with his murders. Actually - that might be the worst way to put it, since we know how strongly he feels about justice and being given an outlet to carry out this wish of world peace just enhanced this, but nonetheless... It’s impossible to assume he’s doing all of this without even a speck of guilt. Therefore, this is the first hint of appreciation or even just acknowledgement that what he’s doing is right. 

Disregarding the first point (as interesting as I find it), this is really the first time Light is ever told what he’s doing is good. His own father - who he idolizes -considers Kira evil. His sister flat out says she hates him. Of course, this is all after Kira actually does become popular, but still, all he receives from that point on is disapproval from the people he cares the most about. The online love for Kira is all he has.

So, yeah, he probably internalizes it.

He thinks he’s doing the right thing. He thinks he’s giving others justice. He thinks he’s the only one who can do this. Others agreeing is only enhancing this. They’re the ones who call him God.

As the story progresses, Kira’s power and popularity grows. He gains direct news coverage, people begin sending him names of people to kill, his following grows. So much so, that when someone gets a Death Note and figures out that must be what he’s using, their immediate response is to find a way to contact him.

Cue Misa Amane and Sakura TV.

Sakura TV is a news program known for its unreliability. Demegawa, the director, even says he’s willing to make things up for publicity. And that’s when the Second Kira tapes arrive. 

This, however, is only the first encounter with Sakura TV.

After this, the only direct involvement the police has with it is in the Yotsuba arc, when it’s used to lure out Higuchi. Otherwise the program promotes Kira all on its own, even going so far as to create Kira’s Kingdom - half a scam for viewers’ money, half a way to get more people to see Kira as God. And it works. He gains a following of people who believe he will create a new, better world, and will even give themselves up to help him. 

An example of this following is when a mob of followers attacks the SPK under Kira’s orders. They’re so quick to join in, and are even willing to put their names and faces on TV in trust that Kira will not kill them.

All of this publicity sparks fear in the general public. People begin fearing that if they do something wrong Kira will kill them, causing crime rates to drop nearly 70% over Kira’s 6 year reign, as well as completely stopping wars.

Demegawa is eventually killed. Other news programs begin scrambling to claim the voice of Kira, topped by NHN, where we are reintroduced to Kiyomi Takada as Kira’s spokeswoman as well as one of his greatest supporters.

Light, as much as he hates Sakura TV and NHN’s depictions of Kira, uses them to his advantage as much as he can.

But really, imagine what this is all doing to him.

At the beginning, he struggled with grasping what he was doing as right. His sense of justice, righteousness, and perfectness shattered by a single notebook. But this is perfect, he figures that if he really wants to fix the world, this is one surefire way to do it. And yeah, his family hates Kira, but online he’s worshiped as God. We already know he has a pretty decent ego, and all of this is doing nothing but fueling it.

To top it all off, as he continues with his killings, his following grows. More and more people begin to support him, every single day there’s news stations upon news stations covering his story, some negative, some positive. People from all over express admiration towards him, even the President of the United States sides with him. He is literally worshiped as Kira, as God.

This all makes it sounds like his god complex starts later in the series, so to clarify; no, he does not pick up the book with plans to become God, but the second people start fueling his ego, the more twisted his ideals and motivations become. He’s the only one who can fix this rotten world. He holds the power of a god in his hands, he does what only a god can do, and everyone treats him accordingly. He is Kira, he is God.

Between websites, news programs, and his cult-like following, Light had enough attention to feed into his ego for a lifetime. He was perfect pre-Death Note. Smart, charming, set for success. There never was a time where he was particularly not narcissistic, it was just that he only felt this way inside of himself. The way he presented to others? A perfect, cool guy persona with an - in all honesty - annoying prickly jerk hiding inside. But no one ever knew this, he never let them know, and because he was always naturally successful it was more of an expectation he just met rather than surpassed, so he wasn’t consistently praised and this incredible self-esteem wasn’t propped up by anyone but himself.

To cycle back to the title of this rant-essay-analysis-whatever you’d like to call it, I want to share some examples about exactly why I even classify this news coverage and whatnot of Kira as propaganda.

Kira’s supporters cause a riot at SPK HQ under Kira’s orders and Demegawa’s direction.

Mikami providing his insight as to why he supports Kira on television, openly promoting Kira and encouraging others to join him.

Takada announces her new role as Kira’s spokesperson on NHN.

Mikami uses his power as Kira to kill members of Kira’s Kingdom, supposed followers of Kira who have been using his publicity to gain money and attention.

Most of this doesn’t exactly look like your standard propaganda posters or news story, but it does fit the overall criteria;

Information from a biased viewpoint used to promote/publicize a certain view (accepting Kira as God)

Shows exclusively positive views on Kira

Assigns Kira positive adjectives and makes him appear as good (God, savior, messenger from Hell), never considering or showing the bad

Presenting only positive statistics (Light does this in his monologue where he brings up the 70% crime rate drop, and given there’s no way he could have calculated this on his own he likely got it from one of these media sources. Not that it’s incorrect, per se, but he does fail to mention how many innocent people he’s killed in order to do this.)

Appeals to regular, everyday people by talking about how he’s doing this for the betterment of the whole world. People who are directly affected by crime are also likely positively impacted by this.

Initiates and spreads fear by explaining how Kira only attacks those who do wrong.

In the end, Light’s personal descent into his god complex, as well as his effects on the world can be attributed to many things, but it would be a crime to ignore just how big of a role news and other types of media played in this without his direct input. To think, if Light had won and overtaken the police like he was going to, he’d have absolutely no problem stepping into his shoes as God. Everyone else already set the stage, he just had to get there first.

-

This is my first Death Note analysis, so please excuse any errors, I just watched the anime for the first time and am doing my best to piece together all of the plot and especially Light’s deep characterization the best I can. If I ever read the manga or find something new, chances are this will be updated. But as for now, it’s finally finished after a week or so of procrastinating. Thank you for reading if you got this far! <3

[ryqoshay]

TA Side Story: Kasu’s Bow Plight

Primary Pairing: ShizuKasu Implied Pairing Ships: YuuAyuSetsu and AiRina Words: ~1k Rating: G Parent Fic: Tri-Arame Time Frame: Sometime either late in Episode 3 of Season 2, or shortly after it Story Arc: Stand Alone Content Warning: ***Spoilers*** for Episode 3 of Season 2

Author’s Note: I saw a tweet about Kasu from ep3 and immediately knew I needed to write about it.

Summary: Someone told the club about Kasumi’s childhood picture. And someone else may have gotten an idea from it.

---------

“Those sleepovers sound like they were a lot of fun.” Yuu said to the members of the newly formed QU4RTZ. “Hmm… maybe I should invite some of you guys over sometime.”

“Haven’t Yuyu and Setsu already been sleeping over at Ayu-pyon’s every weekend lately?” Ai asked.

“Not quite every weekend.” Yuu replied. “Setsuna-chan has spent the other weekends at Rina-chan’s place with you, right?”

“True.” Ai conceded. “I’m surprised Setsu has kept up with her studies with all the anime marathons she’s been running.”

Yuu laughed as she turned to see pink dusting Setsuna’s cheeks.

Setsuna’s reply was lost to Kasumi as she couldn’t help pouting when her senior’s attention shifted to her fellow second-year. Well, it wasn’t like Yuu had been solely focused on her anyway, rather the whole of QU4RTZ, but still… Yuu really did pay more attention to the other second-years. Or, at least two of them…

Eh?

A hand landed gently atop Kasumi’s head. Oh. Shizuku had apparently moved forward from where she had been standing and was now applying her signature head pats. Which were almost as good as Yuu’s. No… maybe that wasn’t right. Shizuku’s timing was almost impeccable, seeming to predict the exact moments Kasumi wanted them most. So maybe Shizuku’s were as good as Yuu’s.

Or… maybe they were better…?

Kasumi leaned back in her chair and allowed herself to relax into the affection. Shizuku really knew how to spoil her, and there was no denying that Kasumi loved it. Now if only she could get the more formal girl to drop the -san…

“Well, shall we head outside now?” Yuu suddenly suggested.

Several affirmations were returned while those sitting began to stand. However, Kasumi felt a hand land on her shoulder.

“We’ll catch up with you in a minute.” Shizuku said.

Oh? What was this all about? Shizuku’s other hand hadn’t left Kasumi’s head yet… Did Shizuku want a few more minutes to pat her? Well, far be it for Kasumi to pass up more spoiling. She hummed happily to herself as the other club members filtered out of the room.

Click

What was that?

Click

Those sounded like…  Kasumi caught her reflection in the mirror by the storage lockers.

“Sh-Shizuko, wha…?” Kasumi sputtered as she reached up to confirm. There were indeed two yellow bows clipped into her hair.

“Emma-san was right.” Shizuku said with a brilliant smile. “Kasumi-san is very cute like this.”

Kasumi felt her brow drop, her shoulders slump and the edges of her mouth durn down. Of course Emma had spilled the beans about the album.

“That’s perfect, Kasumi-san.” Shizuku’s smile grew. “Stay just like that for a second. Let me get my camera…” She pulled out her phone.

“What? No. Shizuko!” Kasumi stood and turned to her classmate.

“Eh? What’s wrong, Kasumi-san?” Shizuku asked, her finger paused over the button that would snap the shot.

“I’m not cute like this.” Kasumi insisted.

“Quite the opposite.” Shizuku stated. “Kasumi-san is exceptionally cute like this.”

Kasumi growled.

Shizuku’s brow furrowed, and she lowered her phone. “Do you, really not like them?” Was that… disappointment in her tone?

Was that real disappointment, or was the actress doing what she did best, acting? Kasumi searched Shizuku’s expression for a hint one way or the other for a moment until a thought occurred to her. But to confirm, she had to check the mirror again.

“Shizuko…”

“Mm?”

“Is this…” No. “Was this…” Still no. “Did you use your ribbon to make these?”

As amazing an actress as she was, even Shizuku couldn’t hide the flash of surprise that crossed her face. “How did you…?”

“I told you, a little while ago. Kasumin loves everything about Shizuko. And that means Kasumin pays attention to such details.” Kasumi stated as confidently as she could.

If she was being completely honest, it had been more of an educated guess, based on what she knew about the girl who had become her closest friend. But far be it for her to admit as such.

“Oh…” Was it Kasumi’s imagination or did Shizuku’s cheeks flush a little?

“A-Anyway, maybe they’re cute after all.” Kasumi decided to concede, trying to quash the guilt that was starting to grow within her after dismissing the gift and assuming Shizuku had been teasing her.

After all, knowing Emma, she had only mentioned how cute she had considered Kasumi to be, not Kasumi’s denial thereof, so it was doubtful Shizuku was using that against her. Also, in terms of teasing, Shizuku had no issues doing so in front of the rest of the club, and yet she had waited until they had all left before giving Kasumi the twin bows. And it wasn’t the first time Shizuku had given Kasumi a gift, seemingly out of nowhere, each time doing so in private.

“Just maybe?” Shizuku raised an eyebrow. “Kasumi-san, you don’t need to force yourself to… eh?”

Kasumi surged forward to wrap her arms around Shizuku. “I’m sorry, I just…” She paused to try to figure out how best to explain things. “That the picture brought back some awkward memories and I assumed the others were teasing me. But, if Shizuko says they’re cute too, then that makes me happy.”

“Kasumi-san is the cutest after all.” There was nothing but sincerity in Shizuku’s voice as she returned the hug.

Warmth spread through Kasumi’s chest. Why did it feel so much better when Shizuku said that than anyone else? Well, whatever the reason, Kasumi couldn’t help smiling. “Mmm…” She hummed happily and allowed herself few moments more before disengaging and taking a step back. “Yup! Kasumin is the cutest idol ever!” She declared. “Now let’s go show the others.”

“Alright.” Shizuku said with a smile.

Kasumi grabbed Shizuku’s hand and headed for the door.

Maybe Kanata would tease her about the bows and her reaction the other night, but that was fine. Emma would undoubtedly be sincere. Rina… was still sometimes hard to read. And maybe Yuu would compliment her cuteness as well.

But whatever happened at practice, Shizuku had already assured her that the style was cute. Also, there was something decidedly appealing knowing she was wearing the ribbon Shizuku had worn for practice through the spring and summer months. And those thoughts gave Kasumi an extra spring in her step as she and Shizuku hurried to join the rest of the club.

---------

Author’s Note Continued: So while I put AiRina in the Implied Ship entry, I'm honestly not sure if they're dating at this point in the timeline. I'm still gauging my timeline with them, so we'll see what the rest of Season 2 gives me to work with. Honestly, the same applies to ShizuKasu.

Anyway, I really like the idea of Shizu giving Kasu something more to wear in her hair, even if I'm waiting for something to be revealed, or not revealed, about the fate of the clip given back in Season 1. And I really like the idea of it being even more personal than said clip, in that it is made from something Shizu wore prior. Yes, her spring/summer practice outfit included a yellow ribbon. And here she has cut it in half, tied it into twin bows and attached them to clips to give to Kasu.

I doubt we'll see more of the twin ribbon style for Kasu in the remaining episodes of Season 2, but perhaps I can address that in a future chapter. And include something about the Season 1 clip as well.

Or maybe something will be revealed that will require me to retcon all of this...

[shinidamachu]

Do you have thoughts on the Aang/Ozai showdown at the end?

Zuko: please. The real hero is a random rock the Avatar.

The final battle was amazing, from an animation poin of view. The colors, the fighting sequence, the symbolism, Aang finally mastering all elements. Just very exciting and satisfying to watch, because it was something that the audience was hoping for since episode one. And they delivered it.

From a writing point of view, though? It was less of a showdown and more of a cop-out. See, I'm not saying, by any means, that Aang should have killed Ozai. Quite the opposite. Not only because it was a children's show. Not only because Aang was a traumatized, non violent, 12 years old. But also because it made sense for the character and for the core themes of the show.

Don't get me wrong, Ozai one hundred per cent deserved to die. Aang himself stated that the world would be a better place without Ozai in it. I just don't think he should be the one to do it. At the same time, is on his hands that Ozai's fate lays and no one else can make that decision for him.

So if killing Ozai off could turn him into a Fire Nation martyr anyway and Aang refuses to do so because of his pacifist principles, what's the other option to defeat the guy and end the war? The authors went with energy bending and, honestly, I thought it was brilliant for a series of reasons.

First, ending Ozai's life seems like the obvious choice, an easy way out. I love the concept of Aang refusing to do what's expected of him and choosing instead to finish the war on his own terms, without compromising who he is, because in theory, that would mean he would have to go out of his way to find a different solution, in a perfect shout out to Bumi's words in The King Of Omashu: "you must master the four elements and confront the Fire Lord. And when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius."

Second, in a show where bending is intimately related to one's very being, the questions begs to be raised: how much taking someone's bending away is better, more ethical or less cruel than actively killing them? Because it's a fundamental part of who they are, of their soul. Ty Lee had the abiliity to block chis, temporarily making people unable to bend. And it was a terrifying thing for the people she used the technique on.

Lastly, it ends the "killing Ozai would turn him into a Fire Nation martyr" for good, because (ATLA COMICS SPOILER ALERT) Aang let him leave without his bending and a significant amount of people still worshipped the guy to the point of planning coups on the down low and sending Zuko death threats left and right, so we basically got the same result, but Ozai remained an ever present threat to the peace Aang fought to achieve.

The problem, as people smarter and more eloquent than I have pointed out countless times, wasn't the energy bending solution, it was the way it was introduced and then executed.

Aang: hey! Look at these weird Lion Turtle things.

Looking back now, this scene from The Library was obviously foreshadowing the finale, so the Lion Turtle reveal wasn't pulled out of thin air. It had a purpose. Considering that this episode, from Book Two, mentioned the Lion Turtle, who would later teach Aang how to energy bend and that The Guru, also from Book Two, introduced the arc of Aang having to let go of his attachment to Katara in order to master the Avatar State, I can only assume that the original intentions of the writers were very clear:

Aang doesn't want to kill Ozai but he also doesn't want to let go of Katara. That's the catch! To "energy bend" his way out of murder, he has to master the Avatar State. His conflict here, is much greater than before because now Katara is a factor in the equation as well. He either kills Ozai, keeps his attachment and gives up the Avatar State or he masters it, defeats Ozai by removing his bending but has to let go of Katara in the process. It's awesome because it's the hardest possible choice a character like Aang could be forced to make. And we knew he would ultimately do the right thing, but regardless of what he decides, he still loses something important to him, he still has to make a huge sacrifice.

Of course, none of that happens. This was the first and only time the Lion Turtle was brought up. The “letting Katara go” arc was unceremoniously killed alongside Aang the second Azula shot that lightning in Ba Sing Se, but differently from the Avatar, whom Katara ressurrected, it was never brought back. And it’s a shame. Because The Library was the perfect episode to expand on the Lion Turtle and energy bending mystery. 

And the finale? It was the perfect episode for Aang to do what he failed to do in Ba Sing Se: to let Katara go and achieve the Avatar State by his own merits, sacrificing something he wanted for the greater good. The way he hid into a cocoon of rocks? It would have been a great call out to the little crystal tent he made in his fight with Azula when he decided to give the Guru’s advices a try. And it would also symbolize rebirth in the same way Katara breaking him out of the iceberg did. Because now he had finally reached the other side of the river and he is no longer the same person he once was.

But the narrative decided, instead, to rob Aang from any growth, from any substancial change, from any interesting arc. They went with the “love is the most important thing” approach to justify him honlding on to Katara. And I could have bought it if they hadn’t been so dishonest about it.

First: if you love someone, you let them go. Attachment and love are two very different things. No one ever told Aang to stop loving Katara. He was told to let her go. And it makes sense because he was attached to her in a way that wasn’t healthy for either of them, and was keeping him from achieving his full spiritual potential, something he should care a little more about, given his upbring.

Second, in the person of Iroh, arguably the wisest character in the show, Aang is told that he is right for choosing love over power. But this is a false equivalence because it’s not what Aang is doing. The scene makes it look like he is seeking power for the sake of power. That’s not the case. The Avatar State is an inherent power, meaning Aang already has it. It’s part of who he is. He just needs to unblock it and learn how to control it. And he has to do that not for personal gain, but to put an end in the war.

A war that took almost everything from Katara, the person he loves. Aside from Aang himself, she is the person who would benefit the most from him learning to control the Avatar State, since she is the one who has to calm him down every time he accidentaly triggers it and winning the war is a very personal goal of her. Now, this is just conjecture but I firmly believe that even if Katara was secretly in love with Aang (which I don’t buy), she would be the first to tell his it’s okay to let her go. But alas, she wasn’t even aware of this conflict. A conflict she played a key part in.

That being said, I do think that the Ozai dillema was introduced too late. It should have been explored before the Day of Black Sun, giving Aang plenty of time to search for a different solution. It also never made sense to me why killing Ozai wasn’t a problem then. Apparently the explanation that I was supposed to stick with is that Aang was naive. He didn’t know people expected him to kill the Fire Lord until Zuko asked him what he would do when he faced Ozai, since violence wasn’t the answer. But I honestly struggle to accept this because, yes, Aang was naive. 

But not that naive. Not at that point. After episodes like The Siege of the North and The Avatar State, I just don’t buy he didn’t know what people wanted him to do. Plus, Aang has an evasive fighting style, based on always being one step ahead of his opponent. To do that, he has to plan beforehand. What was his plan to confront Ozai in the Day of Black Sun, after everything he went through? Talk to him? Arrest the guy? If that’s the case, shouldn’t it at least be discussed with the gang? It’s never addressed.

Then comes the finale. Aang’s moment of truth. The event we’ve all been hoping for. The one that will turn him into a legend. And Aang is losing. He can’t win without killing Ozai or controling the Avatar State to take his bending away. What will he sacrifice to become a hero? His morals or his attachment? Answer: neither! Because the writers decided he should have everything without give up nothing. So they miraculously make a convenently sharped rock hit the exact right spot in the perfect time unblock his chakra, allowing him to enter the Avatar State.

I’m not even gonna talk about how this is most definitely not how chakras work, because it’s not really my place. But I am gonna talk about the tragic (not to say hilarious) fact that, by trying to make Aang have his cake and eat it too, the writers ultimately made a fucking rock the responsible for Aang’s success. Not his cleverness, not his hard work, not his altruism: a rock. If that rock wasn’t there, in the right place, at the right time, then what? Would Aang finally have done what he had to do, or would he be killed, allowing the war to continue?

That’s my issue with it. That, and the fact that they had no trouble addressing delicate topics, but didn’t have enough courage to let the 12 years old protagonist end up alone. Because, of course, children can’t understand the hero not getting the girl. Right?

RIGHT?

Aang managed to defeat Ozai and get the girl even though there was a whole season dedicated to build up an arc in which he would have to let her go to succed. Even though their last one on one interaction before their last kiss was Aang screaming at her and storming off, while Katara reprimended him for walking away from the issue. Even if he had been acting more and more possessive and entitled when it came to her affection. Even if Katara had shown no real interest in him that way before she suddenly does. But what do I know? Maybe she was hit by a magic rock too.

Aang and Katara happened at the cost of Aang’s character development. Fandom might think the rival ship was harmed the most by it, but that’s not true. Aang was. And it’s really sad. He is an amazing character and he deserved to be the hero of his own story, to have his beliefs tested and to come out of his journey irrevocably changed, not locked inside a plot armor.

[justsomeoneunordinary]

An “Assassin”

Day 2 of @winteriron-week: Assassin & Recovery

T, 2.3k, Crack, Humor, Sam Wilson Is a Little Shit and We Love Him for It, Background Sam/Nat, Team as Family, Bucky Is an Idiot in Love | AO3

(Day 1 / Day 3 / Day 4)

—

Muzzy is not a word Bucky thought he’d describe how he feels like with ever since he got injected with that bastardized version of the Super Soldier Serum. And yet it’s exactly how he’s doing after waking up and being blinded by the brightness all around him. A groan leaves his lips as he closes his eyes again.

Fucking hospitals and their stupid bright lights.

There’s a snort to his left, followed by a “Finally, you’re awake.”

Bucky slowly turns his head and blinks up at Sam who’s seated at the visitor’s chair, a grin plastered on his face, all shiny glinting teeth and tooth gap. The sole sight of the mischief in those black eyes is enough for his memories to come back.

And boy, do those hit harder than a truck on the highway.

“Oh man, that was hilarious.” Sam’s grin widens even more at that and Bucky can feel his cheeks heat up. “Can’t wait to tell the rest of the team what happened. I even got a video of it!”

Oh, hell no. Sam is already taking his phone out but before he can click on the video, Bucky shoots him an angry look and growls, “Don’t you even dare.”

He tries to get up in a sitting position, so he can throw a pillow for emphasis but with each movement the room spins even more and he loses orientation anew. Faintly, he feels a pain in each of his joints, but his head is too dizzy to register it properly. God, the last time he had been like this was in 1937 when he got high in the queer bar down the street of Steve’s and his apartment with that tiny guy from the neighborhood who knew to give one hell of a blowjob. 

“Sure. I already quiver in fear,” comes the deadpan reply.

What an ass. Not for the first time does he wish to kill Sam. Just a little bit. As a treat.

So, he pulls his winner card: “You tell anyone what happened and I tell Nat where you hid that strap-on of hers she’s been missing so much.”

Sam’s grin immediately falls at that, changing to an expression of pure outrage. “You son of a bitch.”

Hah, checkmate. Bucky still can’t feel any of his face muscles, so he doesn’t know if they’re doing the right thing, but he imagines he’s grinning smugly right now.

“Have you even seen that strap-on? That thing is deluxe! You wouldn’t want that up your ass either!”

No, Bucky had not seen it, and he’d like to leave it that way too, thank you very much. But knowing Natasha, he can only imagine what it must look like. She tells him much more about their sex life than he’d ever want to know. And he still doesn’t know why she tells him these things of all people, instead of Clint or Wanda or hell, even Tony (Tony would absolutely participate in any sex talk there is (Bucky wouldn’t say no to sex talk when Tony is involved in it)), but he suspects it’s her own way of hobby torture.

Sam wrinkles his nose while he gets up, flips him the bird and says, “Fine, you win.” Then he walks to the door and Bucky squints at him, because there’s no way it would be that easy, Sam would definitely want to have the last word—

“Good luck explaining to Tony what happened, because he’s waiting outside already,” Sam tells him while opening the door, winking at Bucky and leaving the room, his snickering still lingering in the halls outside.  

… Fuck.

Okay, he’s got like… ten seconds before Tony comes in, he can easily just climb out of the window and up to the roof. He just needs to get out of the bed which shouldn’t be a problem, broken bones or not, because he’s a high-profile assassin and—

“What the fuck are you doing?”

Busted.

“Trying to disappear before you can see me?”

Tony blinks at him and Bucky blinks right back, because seriously, what the fuck Barnes? He didn’t mean to say that, it just… slipped out.

“Well, that doesn’t sound like a good idea. You might have enhanced healing, but you broke nonetheless more bones than you have in your body, I don’t think getting out of that bed any soon could end well for you. And it would be such a shame too. After all, I brought you a get well soon balloon.”

And sure enough, there it is. A red balloon. With a ‘get well soon’ inscription in golden letters. Bucky feels quite touched by this gesture. Tony thought of him. He brought him a balloon. In Iron Man colors even. That has to mean something, right?

As Tony comes closer, Bucky seizes the opportunity to appreciate the way Tony’s suit hugs his figure perfectly in all the right places. If Tony were his, he’d unwrap him out of it as if he was a present. He’d trace the material with his fingers, take slowly each layer off and soak in every inch of newly revealed skin.

“Hey, I know I look irresistible, but there’s no need to drool, Buckaroo.”

Damnit. Bucky would like to order a shot in the head right about now, please and thank you. He tries to wipe the drool off, but neither hand does what he wants, so he settles for living in shame forever.  

“So,” Tony sits down at the same chair Sam had been just a minute ago, “can you tell me what put you, a Super Soldier, in such a state?”

This is exactly the question Bucky had been afraid of. See, Bucky has a tiny little bit of a… problem.

It started only three weeks after he had moved into the Avengers Tower on a completely ordinary and uneventful morning. Bucky had sat himself down at the kitchen bar, as always on the second last chair on the left side, which was the exact right angle for him to get a look at Tony’s perfect round bubble butt when he would come and bend over the counter to get himself coffee, so his pants would stretch over that wonderful butt and Bucky would have an eyeful of perfection without being creepy about it, because he was “just sitting there” and “looking normally straight ahead”.

On that particular morning however, had Tony loudly cursed after opening his coffee can, and whirled around to glare at each Avenger with a look that promised murder and bloodshed. “Which one of you used the last bit of my coffee and then didn’t even tell J.A.R.V.I.S. to order more of it?”

The answer to that was obvious. No one else would’ve done something risky like that but Clinton “I have a death wish” Barton. Which wasn’t something they would tell Tony, because no one on this team was a snitch.

Well, and then Tony’s eyes landed on Bucky and it took only three seconds of having Tony’s full attention, that he blurted without a second thought, “Clint was it,” and even pointed with the finger towards him. That earned him a gasp and spluttering and an utterly disappointed “How could you? I thought we were sniper buddies!”

After that there was a pattern. One Nat didn’t take long to notice and confront him about it.

“You can’t lie.”

“What? Of course I can lie.” Which was true. You can’t be a high-ranking assassin and go on undercover missions without being able to lie—you’d die on the spot.

“Fine, I correct myself: you can’t lie at Tony.”

Which Bucky denied vehemently and then didn’t talk to Nat for a month.  

Fact is though, which it always is when it comes to Natasha Romanoff, that she was right. For some even to him inexplicable reason, Bucky is simply unable to not tell Tony the truth when he just looks at him. And it’s absolutely ridiculous, because Bucky should be able to. He is the Winter Soldier. The Fist of HYDRA. Instructor of the Black Widows in the Red Room. A weapon—a ruthless killer responsible for numerous assassinations. Tony’s big brown eyes, shining golden in the hospital’s light, framed by those surreal long eyelashes, which makes him the most beautiful person in the entire world, should not be a reason for—

“Sam bet that I wouldn’t manage to roller skate and I had to prove him otherwise.”

… Damnit. Bucky doesn’t need a mirror to know that his face is redder than a tomato. The memory of it alone fills his entire being with embarrassment and Tony knowing what happened makes this situation definitely not a single bit better. He still can’t believe it happened in first place. Bucky is a well-trained Super Soldier! A pair of ugly shoes with some tiny wheels on it should not have been his downfall, for fucks sake!

Tony tilts his head at that, his brows furrowed in confusion. “Wait a moment. What exactly happened then? Did you just… fall?”

Bucky gulps and focuses on Tony’s tie pattern instead of answering. There are little Hulks on it. He likes it, it’s very Tony.

“In my defense; there was a staircase,” he murmurs at last, still not looking up. The Hulks on the tie wear purple pants. He’s pretty sure Bruce would like that tie too, he’s got a dorky humor like that, even though he’d never admit it.

A few seconds of complete quiet pass, and when Bucky finally does look up, he can see Tony’s corner of his mouth twitch, until he apparently gives in to his urge and throws his head back, laughing so hard that tears of laughter start forming and running down his cheeks.  

Bucky wishes for an instant divorce. Sure, this might be the most beautiful sound he has ever heard in his life, but he still wants a divorce.

Not that they’re married or something—or at least not in real life. Bucky did dream of it once, though. It was a spring wedding. Nat and Pepper were their “best men”, because neither wanted Steve and Rhodey to hold a speech. The decorations were in Arc Reactor blue. It was very beautiful, people even cried.

“You are something else, Bucky Barnes,” Tony shakes his head, the humor still audible in his voice, and a look in his eyes, that could almost be described as fond.

Bucky takes the divorce-wish back.

“Now see,” Tony begins as he gets up and slowly gets closer to Bucky’s bed, “you’re not as subtle as you think you are.” He sits down at the edge of the bed an sends him one of those brilliant smiles, that make Bucky’s head all dizzy and his heart sing with want. “Those looks you always give me are unmistakable.”

Tony takes that weird looking pudding from the nightstand and starts opening it up. “And all this time,” he continues, “I waited for you to finally make a move.” At that he rams the spoon with the pudding right into Bucky’s mouth without any prior warning.

Bucky almost chokes and it’s only thanks to his control over his reflexes that he ends up swallowing the pudding, instead of spitting it out. He coughs a few times and looks up at Tony in shock and disbelief. If this is how Tony takes care of injured people, Bucky doesn’t have any interest to ever do a nurse role play with him.

Tony gasps in indignation. “Are you telling me you would not want to see me in a nurse costume?”

This time Bucky does choke. On nothing but his own spit.

He imagines Tony in one of those tight short dresses, his legs all exposed, wearing heels as well as rich red lipstick and—and stops before his blood can rush anywhere south.

“Yeah, thought so,” Tony smirks and proceeds to slam another spoonful of pudding into Bucky’s mouth. At this point Bucky doesn’t know if his face is red from embarrassment, horniness or almost chocking, but red it sure is.

“Where was I again? Ah right, so I waited for you to make a move, but had to face reality, that you’re just too chicken to do anything about your crush on me. Which is kind of ironic, because aren’t you supposed to be a feared assassin or something?”

Bucky’s brain officially short-circuits at that, because Tony did… what?

“Yes, yes, I figured out your little secret, keep up with the class, I don’t like repeating myself. So anyway, this is me—” another spoon makes its way down his throat— “asking you for a date, because you apparently weren’t going to.” And Tony smiles at him so brightly, Bucky is sure he could lighten an entire country.

Bucky holds his breath and waits to wake up, because this can’t be real, this must be a dream. But when after a while nothing happens, but Tony’s smile slowly falling apart and making room for an unsure expression, he asks, “A date?”

“Yup.”

“With me?”

“Preferably, yes.”

“Okay,” he croaks, so he doesn’t do something dumb like start crying from happiness for example or jump at Tony who’d crush under his weight.

“Okay?”

Bucky clears his throat. “Yes, okay. I’d love to go on a date with you.”

“Okay.” And back is that smile finally Bucky would like to kiss one day.

“Now that that is settled,” Tony digs into the pudding again (fucking hell, is that still not empty?), “how about a deal while I take care of you, since we have to wait until you have healed anyway before we can go anywhere: you tell me where Wilson has hidden Nat’s deluxe strap-on and I tell the rest of the team that you got your injuries from a heroic fight protecting civilians against a criminal. Hm, what do you think?” The glinting mischief in Tony’s eyes when he winks at Bucky is unmistakable.

Bucky thinks that this is the best day of his life.

[enn-tea]

When I was younger, I used to play otome games, which were and continue to be hilarious for their absurdity e.g. getting transported back to the Warring States period and romancing Oda Nobunaga et al. I’d play these with my friends because of the bad storylines, and frankly questionable love interests and we’d spend all our time literally breaking down how bad these stories were, like jfc please actually do something, protagonist. Also in no way feel obligated to read this because this is just...word vomit for my own personal reference haha. Honestly don’t read this. Maybe one day I’ll turn this into some kind of actual essay about the impact on these games on wider culture or something (after I write about why romance in AOT is fine and everyone’s just reading it wrong and actually Isayama is peak romance writer and should write a massive Mills & Boon franchise around uh...some characters). But anyway. 

However, amongst all of these was probably the game with the most generic concept was Wizardess Heart, which was this magic school which the protagonist attended. Over the course of two weeks, she would have to be partnered up with a “buddy” and they would help each other with their magic (they also fell in love over these two weeks LOL and quite honestly her best romantic choice was her roommate, which was never an option :( She was, for a while also the only other female character in the school who actually had a personality).

Anyway, the point is - the setting was clearly a riff on certain franchises, the whole system was super basic...but. These stories had no right to be as good as they were. Or perhaps they had every right. Because from the ones I played, they were...genuinely really interesting. Each storyline was a season, and there were three romanceable characters, who all had their own individual plotlines but...tied into one coherent plot, as either a protagonist or an antagonist, which I still find - kind of revolutionary for an otome game haha (I’m not counting Mystic Messenger bc I actually enjoyed getting to set up a bakery and cult investigation).

But honestly? These were within the universe, believable but also super crazy stories. I only ever played two “seasons” fully, because of the ticket mechanic, but the second one has literally stayed with me in terms of really interesting perspective, and the characters themselves because if the first season was mildly crazy, season two was insane and focused on these three characters: Klaus Goldstein (...no comment lmao, I do hate how he’s the figurehead of the game), Serge Durandal (the best character tbh) and Azusa Kuze (a piece of shit and not in a good way, what are the messages this game is telling us). Each season had a mystery as a premise, and the second one was about mysterious animal deaths occurring around the school.

I don’t think I’ll ever really be able to explain Wizardess Heart comprehensively, but the personal lives of these characters? Was crazy. I loved they all had cameos in each other’s storylines and were so tightly linked. Like you have Klaus who does actually have the least interesting plotline, but a shared tragic backstory with Serge (more on that later, because this is literally peak melodrama lmao). You have Azusa who comes from fantasy Japan in that universe, which has been overrun by nature spirits who are taking over because they think humans are overstepping their boundaries, and Azusa has signed a deal with one of them to bring back his dead brother, and in fact is being manipulated by visions of said brother (and even with that in context, he’s still actual trash for other reasons, and I can’t believe the happy end for his route is to get married and have kids with him EW). 

My favourite character in this however was Serge Durandal who is also a premium shit-stirrer but never super maliciously haha (apparently I have a favourite character archetype I’m a fan of). Even now he’s literally the best character because he’s such a passive aggressive individual to Klaus (who deserves it).  But their shared backstory cracks me up, is kind of sad and ridiculously absurd because they’re both so fixated on the past. I also personally find his storyline interesting from a character progression viewpoint, because he’s the main character’s idol when she starts at the school, but has mysteriously disappeared.

So basically in Klaus’ storyline, he always references this dead friend he’s hung up over (although the “friend” part is debatable maybe haha) and you help him investigate the dead pigeons. Ofc you then find out that polite, charming Azusa is the antagonist of the season and you have to play through the next routes in order to get a better picture of this. But throughout Klaus’ route, this character called Randy March (unfortunate name lmao)  keeps on popping up. He’s funny, doesn’t treat the main character as inconvenience (best friend goals right there) but what’s more interesting is how he’s never in the same room as Klaus; as soon as he hears that he’s approaching, he just...disappears. And this continues for the whole of the story until the end, when they finally meet each other face to face, and Klaus reacts badly. Not quite in an upset way, more shocked - but it’s clear that they have a History. 

So - cue “Randy’s” route. He is the same as he is in Klaus’ route, and still dodges bumping into Klaus, but then - then, they bump into each other far earlier in his route (one thing I do like about these stories is how the main character does actually have some impact on the plot. It all follows the same storyline, with the same conclusion, but they do diverge because the character happens to interact with different characters and some things can’t happen if she isn’t there for it). Leading up to this, Randy has been very cagey about being the main character’s “buddy” and insists he already has one, and he really, really gets awkward when the main character states that she really idolises Serge Durandal (who in this is like, IDK good at animal magic like the main character). 

And then, my god, the reveal. The fact that Randy March is not, in fact, Randy March, but Serge Durandal (which honestly is such a cool name comparatively lol, I named all my other otome protagonists Serge Durandal). And that Randy March, is in fact, the dead friend of Klaus who Serge has been impersonating for literal years. On top of this? Serge was also a best friend of Randy, who was his “buddy” and leading up to Randy’s death, he and Klaus were involved in a rivalry over his friendship (and I’m not joking I do actually think this was some kind of unvoiced love triangle, because both Serge and Klaus genuinely say that they’re attracted to the main character because she reminds them of Randy, they need to get over this before they can actually engage in a romantic relationship with anyone else kthx. Also at some point, Serge actually says he loved Randy in a way that really can’t be construed as entirely platonic, and the main character says it as well, and considering her personality and the way she interprets things, when she says love - she definitely means romantically). 

Klaus holds Serge responsible for Randy’s death, as the two were working on a project together which led directly to it. His first reaction on ever hearing Serge’s name is “the murderer” which continues all the way up until the end of the story when they resolve their character arcs (also incredibly satisfying). 

Apparently the reason behind Serge impersonating his dead friend is because he felt so guilty and so ashamed and willingly accepted the blame that Klaus placed on him, he felt that if he became Randy, it would basically be like letting his friend experience the life he didn’t get to have, and he’s spent years searching for a cure to revive him. This has taken him to Hinomoto, where he’s become friends with Azusa (drawing him into the storyline) and back to the main setting of Gedonelune. Side note, Azusa, I’m not going to even go into your character because you’re such a piece of shit and I only played through your storyline because I felt compelled to get the full picture. 

Ofc, this all links to the main plot - because at this time of year, there’s a whole thing related to a unicorn appearing in the nearby forest. This is a unicorn who has struck a deal with Serge years prior to the main storyline who is Serge’s last hope of reviving Randy, and Azusa finds out about this and wants to bring his brother back etc. and this all culminates in a massive showdown. 

Intense.

Anyway, at the end of this, peace returns etc. and there’s a sequel I haven’t actually played but you know what’s perfect about the ending? Serge ends up staying on as a prefect - the same role as Klaus and they have to share a room. I cannot describe how funny their interactions are for the rest of the story and the other storylines they have to live together.

I’m not entirely sure what the point of this was, apart from an exercise in pinning down precisely what I liked about this story but - it’s certainly one that’s stuck with me through a LOT of otome haha. 

[hamliet]

I don’t know if it’s my own bias but hearing endeavor say that he wanted to stop training touya because he was injuring himself with his quirk and didn’t want to see him hurt sounded hypocritical or fake considering this is the same man who beat up a 5 year old shouto and his wife. He didn’t seem to have a problem with his son getting injured. This may be the ‘retcon’ some fans think horikoshi is doing trying to backtrack some of endeavor’s abusive actions.

It’s confusing to me that this man was apparently worried about his son’s health and that’s why he stopped training him and supposedly had more kids, but he also still wanted to surpass all might with his children, so it wasn’t JUST to convince touya to give up. And the dialogue in this flashback makes me question another flashback scene before where endeavor says it was rei’s idea to have more kids, but this flashback seems to suggest she was against having more kids because she knew touya would understand why.

I don’t know if its my own bias that I can’t get over what he did to shoto as a child and maybe I can’t accept he was never that bad before, as endeavor fans seem to suggest.

Do you feel it’s odd that endeavor refused to train touya because of his burns, but he eventually would beat up shouto and his wife? Or maybe despite shouto being the golden child with the perfect quirk, touya was endeavor’s favorite and that’s why he seemed more cautious with his burns and wanted to protect him? Sorry this is long or if you’ve answered it before

No worries! Well...

I guess my opinion on The Great Retcon Debate is that in a weekly manga, to present things one way and then switch and switch and switch again is messy execution at best, especially when the manga as a whole isn’t great with nuance. When you're dealing with such sensitive subject matter, it can be hurtful to readers. I wish people defensive about the retcon debate would acknowledge this, even if they don’t agree with it. 

However, remember how Horikoshi stated he once didn’t intend to write sympathetic villains and I’ve expressed my doubts because Shigaraki was framed as sympathetic from chapter 20ish? One example of a character where I do wonder is Endeavor. He was framed as a monster in the beginning with very little nuance (seriously, there is no redemptive framing around him in the sports festival arc). 

It may not be an intentional retcon (meaning for all we know Hori’s plans were always the same, but the only way we know that is through the work), but either way I think I’d call it a writing flaw exacerbated by the weekly schedule--a flaw that comes across as, well, a retcon. 

Then we have the Pro-Hero Arc and beyond, where Endeavor basically stepped into the role of protagonist of the Todoroki subplot, widely a fan-favorite subplot. People are always eager to excuse protagonist flaws (see Eren Jaeger in SnK) and reluctant to consider that the narrative might be criticizing them.

I think the fandom divide fixates too much on the initial framing or too much on the framing Pro-Hero Arc and beyond. This is exacerbated by the fact that sometimes we still get the initial framing, like in the Joint Training Arc and when Enji was mad that Deku and Bakugou were also interns; hence what I said in the first paragraph about switching framing. 

(I mean, the latter’s maybe intended to be humor, but is it really the right place for that humor given the past framing and his storyline? Imo it’s something that’s fair to critique.)

Most likely we’re supposed to meld the framings together when predicting where the story might go (people can have their own individual reactions to his arc of course), but it’d be better if the story melded them together on its own (I think it’s starting to with these recent chapters). However, it would have been much better written if framed that way initially, but I think assuming Enji won’t actually complete a redemption arc is misreading. Whether or not it’s satisfying or tasteful, though, is entirely up to the reader. 

This chapter itself did not strike me as a retcon. I liked it. It is abundantly clear Enji is at fault for this situation, and people refusing to acknowledge that are ignorant and misreading themselves (and, in the case of many given their behavior, fandom bullies themselves; I wonder what they see in Enji). But this isn’t unique to BNHA; in every fandom I’ve ever been in, abusers or neglectful parents get defended before their victims. 

As for Enji and the disconnect, I think it’s an example of the sunk-cost fallacy as written by @thekingofwinter​ here. People change, and don’t, and abuse usually escalates, so this chapter’s expanding on the situation doesn’t strike me as terribly odd. 

I do not personally think it is a retcon that Enji stated Rei wanted Fuyumi. The implication is that Fuyumi and Touya are close in age--but the age gap between Fuyumi and Natsuo and then Natsuo and Shouto is 3-4 years (when quirks manifest). 

Enji’s narration is not reliable, so he only told us that glimpse, and now we’re seeing that there was a lot more to it than he let on. I think this is a decent way to show the lack of reliability in his narration. However, what I said earlier still stands: given the subject matter, this may not be the best place or the best way to convey things and is subject to individual opinion.  

[pinkysfaultorbrainsfault]

pinky and the brain - s1e3a: tokyo grows

episode summary: inexplicably existing in post-war japan, brain hijacks a shrink ray he just found laying around in order to make it a growth ray. he intends to dress pinky up as terrifying local monster gollyzilla, and pretend to defeat him, so the japanese people... elect him... president. of. japan.

all i’m gonna say is shinzo abe’s replacement has a hell of a lot coming to him if that’s a job requirement.

the rundown:

IT IS TOKYO IN 1956.

you can tell because it says “tokyo 1956″ in big letters at the bottom of the screen.

as we take a detour into acmeshito labs, senior-ly produced by tom ruegger,

we see a fellow sacrificing his shoes to the shoe gods. (sorry about that weird line at the bottom. vlc player has just decided it’s doing that now, i guess. nothing i can do about it.)

inside, some other lads, who have all been produced by peter hastings (my, the man gets around) are shrinking tvs for fun and giggles.

“at last! professor mifune! you have perfected the process of shrinking electronic devices, so we can sell them to americans for a lot of money!”

hm.

“yes, shimura, and now i say to you! miniturisation will be very,

BIG.”

and then they both shuffle over to stand in front of each other and laugh in a weird stilted way.

HA. HAHAHA. HAHAHA. i’m not sure if this is making fun of japanese people, or a common trend in japanese media (or voice acting?) at the time, but, um, i’m uncomfortable.

thankfully, the newly miniturised radio advertises that Legendary Prehistoric Monster Gollyzilla has been spotted, and apparently

the emperor wants mifune’s scientific opinion on gollyzilla

GOLLYZILLA

so maybe it’s best for mifune and shimura to get the fuck out of dodge.

so the two of them make a hasty retreat - after toeing their shoes back on, of course.

but who are these two!

brain looks pensive. i don’t know what’s in that waterbottle, but he’s having a tiny mousie crisis. pinky is narfing at him with little to no concern for his mental state.

still, crisis or not, brain has a world to take over. he mentions to pinky that the scentific equipment before them will be “invaluable for his plan to”

“TAKE OVER THE WORLD.” we really do get one per episode, huh.

“you mean you’re going to shrink down all the electronic so only mice can operate them?”

which is a reasonable idea, i think. brain counters it with “don’t be absurd, pinky, there’s no future in minaturisation,” and clarifies that is is big things that strike fear into the hearts of humans.

like that ridiculous legend of gollyzilla. <gay little hands on hip pose>

as pinky ponders whether Kay Ballard is In The Union (sorry, pinky, she’s dead) brain explains that his intent is to alter the shrink ray into a growth ray, to “become a four hundred foot tall mouse and save the world from gollyzilla.”

“but you just. said there was no such thing as gollyzilla, brain.”

“there is now, pinky.”

did we really need another closeup for that line, guys? really? is it not enough to have the mouse say his lines without shoving the camera into his face? must the man deepthroat the camera every time he has things to say?

anyway brain’s plan is to dress pinky up as gollyzilla and “save tokyo” from him. you can tell because the camera angle makes it look like his head is on gollyzilla’s body.

this random man takes a toke from his old timey pipe. “yes, i see.” he says. this is not explained.

as brain reverses the shrink ray into a growth ray, pinky makes his debut.

TADAAAAAAA POIT.

“what do you think, brain? pretty scaaaaaaary, eh?”

“yes, pinky. terrifying. stand by.”

boop.

there probably won’t be a lot left of the lab when brain is done, unfortunately.

but hey! check this out!

“narf.”

“where are you, brain? i can’t see you.”

“i’m down--”

bonk.

well, he’s clearly dead, so i guess that’s this review over.

jokes, of course. lucky for us, brain is still alive, and he has brought a little megaphone with him! awwww.

“now, go on your rampage, gollyzilla!” he’s very hype for that, it appears. pinky tries his best not to disappoint.

NARF POIT I AM PINKZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS

AARGHGGHGHH RAAARGHGHG ARGH.

it’s this random man again. “yesss, i see.” i don’t know who he is, or why he’s here, and i am scared.

but never mind him. we cut to this adorable straight couple chilling on this bridge.

“i love you, fumiko.”

“and i love you, hershel.”

awwww.

unfortunately, famously heterophobic legendary monster gollyzilla is here. “hello!” he says, cheerily. “i’m on a rampage. narf.”

fumiko and hershel get the fuck out of dodge.

still, pinky’s having fun, and that’s what matters.

though bits of his costume are coming off.

“oooh, i can’t see through this thing!”

“oh.”

“oh no! the giant monster is moulting!”

rip that guy, i guess. upon attempting to recover his lost glove, pinky accidentally spikes his tail on a nearby building in the process.

“egad. i’m all a tangle!”

he gives it a yank, for good measure,

and ends up catapulting himself into the abyss.

the random man is back. “yesss, i see,” he says. what does he want? what is he doing here? please don’t smoke in front of me, sir. i have real bad asthma.

meanwhile, brain is making himself “the largest mouse on earth, and hero of the planet.”

donk.

this frame is terrifying so obviously i’m making everyone look at it.

“people of tokyo! do not fear! i, brainodo, have come to save you!”

i’m not sure they’re convinced. the army have shown up, by this point.

“it’s another giant monster! even more ugly than gollyzilla!”

rude.

brain suggests that, perhaps, he is actually an artificially enlarged labmouse here to save them from gollyzilla, and maybe they could thank him by making them emperor.

the military do not agree.

so, yknow, maybe it’s best that he goes to look for pinky.

“how can i save the city from gollyzilla with no gollyzilla!” yells brain, as he steps on a school bus and either, 1, kills like 40 children, or 2, ruins the setpiece for melanie martinez’s 2019 music video “wheels on the bus.”

(no one’s watching us don’t give a fuck wheels on the bus ou ou)

anyway it’s a good thing that pinky has decided to spontaniously burst out of this lake. man’s really commiting to the role, huh.

again, he’s having fun.

brain is less impressed.

after admonishing pinky for running off,

brain reminds him to “make the battle look realistic”. their plan, of course, depends on it.

TAKE THAT, YOU HORRIBLE BEAST

ouch.

pinky sure is putting a weird amount of effort into this battle. and pyrotechnics??? yeah.

bonk.

bonk.

yeet.

as brain unflomphs himself, and prepares to strike back, pinky comes over to see what’s going on.

“scuse me, brain.”

“go away, pinky. can’t you see i’m fighting with pinky?”

“oh, but. wait.”

“how can you be fighting with me over there, if i’m over here?”

“it’s a very simple principle, pinky! it’s because!”

“that’s the real gollyzilla.”

and by the looks of things, he’s not very happy.

conclusion:

pinky’s first instinct, upon seeing The Real Gollyzilla (please stand up, please stand up) brandishing a building at them, is to pick brain up and flee in terror.

it’s very cute. he just scoops him up and nopes him away. not today, gollyzilla. not today.

gollyzilla, unfortunately, seems pretty bloody determined to make it today.

unfortunately, in his quest to deliver brain to safety, pinky walks right into a pylon.

bonk. they fall over. ):

and unfortunately, they fell directly onto what was once acmeshito labs, which activates the growth ray in the process.

it’s this guy again.

who are you??? what the fuck do you want?? why are you just smoking your pipe and looking at me like that and saying yesss, i seeeee. what do you see??? did the newslady send you??? what do you want from me??????

he gets shot by the growth ray. good. die.

the mice, as you can imagine, are not having a great time of things right now.

gollyzilla is fully prepared to bonk them on the head.

but oh! what is this?

random man? is that you? are you our hero, random man? is this your redemption arc?

do you see now, random man? what do you see?

well, he just yeeted a building, so jot that down.

he seems to be preparing himself to yeet gollyzilla, too.

same.

the mice duck out of the way as the fearsome creature is launched like an olympic sport. good thing tokyo 2020 got cancelled, i guess.

air lizard. nyoom. unfortunately they land on the remains of acmeshitu labs,

and nudges the growth ray in the process.

it goes a bit haywire.

the mice look on, perturbed, as it starts firing at random objects.

like this building.

and that fire hydrant.

and that building.

and this, uh.

city?

um????

oh dear.

at least acmeshito labs is going back in for repairs.

“it’s a shame we’re not giant any more, brain.”

“we are, pinky. unfortunately, so is everything else. our relative smallness remains.”

alright. that’s the end of that one, i guess. that’s going down as a solid outside influence.

brain: 5 ½ pinky: 6 ½ outside influence: 11

brilliant, brain!

but oh, wait, no. is earth like, 400 times its’ previous size, now? surely that can’t be good for the universe????

what are your thoughts, bbc science focus?

well. that’s not good.

[ralexsol]

On the Subject of Underverse S2

You read that correctly: this is a post about one of the greatest shows ever created, the Undertale animated series Underverse, written/animated by @jakei95​. I have a lot of theories that I’ve been pulling together ever since I watched both Underverse and Xtale (the Underverse prequel series). Maybe one or two have no basis in anything, but for some reason they popped into my head and I’ll stick by them until they’re proven incorrect. I will discuss the possibility of a Geno/Ink fight, Fresh!Ink, XI (you’ll definitely want to read their section!), and the fates of many different characters. This is quite the long post, so buckle up for a long ride.

Let’s begin!

GENO/INK FIGHT:

I’m putting this theory first because it is the least important. At some point in time, I somehow got it into my head that there is supposedly going to be a fight between Geno and Ink. I have no idea where I heard about this, and when I searched for any specific videos or posts about the subject, I found nothing. But I personally think a fight scene between Geno and Ink would be pretty cool, so I’m adding this in here.

FRESK!INK’S EXISTANCE:

This is a more relevant theory. Ever since Jakei announced that Fresh!Ink would be a part of Underverse, I have wondered how he would be incorporated. I don’t know if she means for him to be in the future “Beach Episode” or something more serious. (Of course, I know almost nothing about this supposed “Beach Episode”, which is apparently when Epic!Sans will be showing up, so I really wouldn’t know.) But there is an important thing to remember: Ink and Fresh made a deal in the first season.

Ever since I saw this Underverse - Xtra Scene 2, I have wondered what this “prize” could possibly be. What was Ink’s side of the deal? What did he promise Fresh? Hmm... maybe a new body to take over?

Ink’s body doesn’t have a SOUL- that’s basic “Undertale AU Knowledge 101″. What does this have to do in regards to Fresh? To my best knowledge, the actual parasitic creature True!Fresh feeds off the souls of other creatures to survive. In fact, his soul-feeding would kill his victims if he stayed long enough in one body, but he likes to play it safe and leave his victims alive in case he needs to use their body again. But he wouldn’t need to do this with Ink. Because of Ink’s SOULless nature, Fresh could theoretically feed off his body forever. Some might object that since Ink doesn’t have a SOUL, Fresh wouldn’t be able to feed off him. But then how does Fresh!Ink exist?

So, what was their deal? Fresh watches over the Xtale AU while Ink is gone, and after Cross and X!Chara are taken care of, Ink comes back and lets Fresh take over his body for a little while. There may be something else I’m missing, but the pieces seem to make sense.

XI’S PURPOSE:

For those of you who don’t know who XI is, I suggest you watch this video about Jakei’s Overwrite merch. This is when the character of XI was introduced to us, back on good ol’ April 1st, 2019. Haha, yes, the joke character of XI- funny April Fool’s Day video, a good laugh for everyone. Jakei has made a few comics about XI since then, but overall, XI hasn’t been involved in Xtale or Underverse so far. That has never sat right with me, and I’ve always thought there would be something more to him. I was proven absolutely correct when Xtale - The Movie came out. But before we discuss the little extra scene tagged onto the end of that video, I would like to point out some very interesting facts about XI.

On October 6th, 2019, Jakei posted a traditional speedart. Obviously, the art is gorgeous like always and every time I watch it I wonder if I will ever get to the level of skill she is at. But besides that, there is a very important aspect about this video. In the speedart, Jakei drew two pictures: one of X!Chara and X!Frisk fighting, and one of XI. In XI’s picture, they are depicted in full armor with a magical purple sword & shield.

Hmmm... I wonder who this could possible resemble?

Every time XI is shown, whether it be in comics or artwork, their bangs hang over their eyes. Their armor looks exactly like Kris’s from Deltarune. Heck, they both use a sword and a shield! What does this mean? XI is X!Kris. There is no way to deny this. This is why they are X!Chara’s and X!Frisk’s little sibling. I would also like to point out XI’s silver oval locket. I find it interesting how he has a different piece of jewelry from everyone else- all other important characters in Xtale have a matching golden heart locket. Does XI also have people he has given copies of this necklace to? Perhaps X!Susie and X!Ralsei, if they exist? But XI being X!Kris is only the beginning of this theory. Remember how I mentioned Xtale - The Movie earlier? Take a look at this picture.

This is a five-second frame pegged at the very end of the video, after an entry written in wingdings by Mister XGaster himself. The message is as follows:

Entry Number Eleven: As clear as a reflection in a mirror, I have found the most perfect projection of forbidden visions. Get ready. Your time is coming.

Okay, just whoa. Not only is the entry #11, but the person standing there is XI. Oh, and let’s take a closer look at what they’re holding in their hand.

I knew that silver locket was going to be important. There is no way that XI is not going to play a major part in either Underverse S2 or hmm... maybe a spin-off about the Xtale versions of Deltarune characters? To my knowledge, Jakei has not said anything about her plans after she finishes Underverse. She has her Metadora project, and I am aware that her husband @nyxtheshield​ is planning out his own Undertale series- someone will need to animate that, and I’m sure she would be able and willing to do the job. She has stated that there will be no seasons of Underverse after S2, and the finale will be 1.0. But that doesn’t mean she won’t make a new series. If she does, will it be about all the Deltarune characters? Will the other Xtale characters show up at certain points in it? Will XGaster play a large part in it? There is no way to know, as the idea of a new show is simply drawn from that there may not be enough time in S2 to fully expand what XI is.

In any case, XGaster states in the entry that “your time is coming”. This could either reference a new show or XI’s appearance in Underverse. I find it extremely interesting how XGaster words his message. “The most perfect projection of forbidden visions.” What does that mean exactly? XGaster has seen something in one of his many visions, obviously. The most perfect image of prohibited sights. XI is a person that stands for something that should not be allowed to exist. That makes sense- XGaster, a man, somehow got pregnant and birthed them, as shown in the Overwrite merch video. The “forbidden visions” might imply that he has seen something quite “cursed”, as us modern Internet-users would say. But then he tells this projection to get ready, because their time is coming. XGaster is telling XI to prepare themself. This just proves that XI and XGaster are tied together very closely, and that if XI does get their own series with X!Ralsei and X!Susie, XGaster will be involved.

Whew! That’s a lot of information to take in all at once. This was the big “theory” I wanted to discuss, so now we will move on to the different fates I believe may befall some of our beloved characters.

INK, FOR GOOD OR FOR WORSE?:

Ah, Ink. One of the true protagonists of Underverse. Remember: a protagonist is not necessarily a hero, just one of the leading characters. It has been seen that his story arc is the most important throughout the entire story. He is the one that inspired XGaster. He is the one that made XGaster’s plan succeed. And he very well might be the one to make it fail.

Wait, you’re asking me. I thought he was on XGaster’s side? What do you mean he will make it fail?

I didn’t want to address whether Ink was going to stick with XGaster or flip until a certain song was posted by Nyx two days ago on December 5th, “Soulless Heart”. If you haven’t listened to it yet, go ahead and click that link because the song is beautiful and absolutely necessary to continue on with this theory! The song is the Underverse 0.5 Ending Theme, and guess who it’s about? You guessed it, our good old buddy chum pal Ink. I’ve been listening to it on repeat since it came out, and it really is incredible. (Nyx, if you’re somehow reading this, I would like to personally congratulate you, because not only is the music amazing but mwah! Your voice is a joy, and I would not have any other singer do the vocals.) But the most important thing about the song is the lyrics. Here’s the first verse.

How long have I been longing

to be free and not broken

in this ocean of hollowness?

I don’t want to be forgotten.

Instantly, the lyrics hit you hard. This is about Ink, though, so you can’t expect anything less. Essentially, the song is about the emptiness that Ink feels without a SOUL. This goes along with one of his main aspects in Underverse. The only reason why he worked with XGaster to make sure XGaster’s game worked was so he could feel more emotions. As a chaotic neutral character, Ink literally only cares about himself and his personal goals. But what is interesting about this song is that he addresses the pain he has caused.

Sacrificial lambs

laid upon my path

now are broken worlds

killed by senseless wrath.

Ink knows that he has hurt people. I mean, in the present timeline when 0.5 is to be set, Ink’s actions just caused Error to literally “pull the plug” and destroy all the AUs. (Although, how many AUs were actually destroyed is impossible to determine, because there are still multiple Sanses that will be incorporated into S2 that were residing in their AUs at the time of their supposed destruction.) Ink knows that this is his fault. And now that XGaster has won, Ink will be receiving all those emotions he wanted! In the S2 teaser, which was released on the original Underverse 0.5 release date (the episode was unfortunately delayed due to issues with Nyx’s distributor, RouteNote), shows something very important.

Look at those vials in his hand. Those aren’t just colored vials. Well, they are, but their colors are especially important. Look at their specific colors: orange, yellow, and amber. Previously, Ink’s vials have been seen as very straightforward: roy g biv, that sort of thing.

You have one or maybe two variations, although in this picture there seems to be about four different aqua vials. But there certainly isn’t an amber vial. This goes to show that XGaster followed through on his promise, and Ink has a lot more variations in his color-coded emotion vials. The obvious conclusion from this is that he can feel a lot more things than he thought was possible- including guilt. With his newfound feelings, he could realize that what he did wasn’t just wrong, it was horrible. He might start to blame himself for getting all the AUs destroyed, which in turn might result in a betrayal of XGaster. With his emotions, he would become a real good person. But ultimately, without XGaster’s Overwrite abilities, Ink’s new emotions will fade and he will return to be the same old Ink as before. He will no longer understand why he sacrificed his emotions, and the cycle will start anew. Ink will never be truly happy, because being happy will always mean the suffering of others.

Or, Ink will stick with XGaster. It would be the same fate, after all; if the heroes defeat XGaster, Ink will still lose those emotions. This, though, might leave him feeling bitter and even more willing to do anything to get what he wants, which could potentially lead to him becoming a real villain. Perhaps XGaster isn’t the final boss of Underverse. Maybe the one to start everything will be the one to finish everything.

XGASTER AND UT!GASTER:

This wouldn’t be a real theory post without discussing our favorite fanfiction writer, would it? And yes, XGaster is literally a fanfiction writer. He has symptoms of OCD concerning the world-building of his universe and he just loves to add as much angst as humanly (or monsterly) possible. It just so happens that he lives in his own created universe, so his creations have the pleasurable chance at getting revenge.

Now, there are obviously two ways that Underverse can go: XGaster succeeds, or XGaster fails. This doesn’t necessarily mean that this will be the ending of S2. As I mentioned above, perhaps XGaster will be defeated at the end of 0.9 and 1.0 will be about everyone trying to stop Ink from taking the Overwrite SOUL for his own, I don’t know. In any case, I don’t really have anything to discuss about XGaster specifically, but I am pretty sure I know what his last scene will be if he happens to lose.

It is shown in the Underverse S2 Prologue - Owners that XGaster and UT!Gaster spent a lot of time together in the Void between the events of Xtale and Underverse. Not only do they hold an entire conversation together in Owners, but in Underverse 0.1 when Sans is hit in the head with a ball, he has a vision of the two of them standing together.

In XGaster’s and UT!Gaster’s conversation in Owners, UT!Gaster tells XGaster that he will fail in his quest for perfection. XGaster brushes him off because he’s an egotistical prick, yadda yadda. But this conversation is important because I believe it will parallel the ending of XGaster’s quest. In the end, UT!Gaster will approach his old Void-buddy and tell him to just give up on his pointless venture. XGaster will turn to dust after saying something like, “I will never give up”, and then we have Ink going on a rampage. That’s pretty much all I have to say on them, but I thought it would be worth adding.

DREAM AND NIGHTMARE:

Lastly, we have the brothers. As with XGaster and UT!Gaster, I don’t have much to add with them. But I do believe they will both play a major role in S2. They will be the overseers of the battle to come. Out of all the characters in the Undertale fandom, they are the most omnipotent. They are the protectors of the Tree of Feelings, which is one of three trees to give the Multiverse life. In Underverse 0.4, when X!Chara accused Nightmare of “watching us all this time as if we were part of a show”, Nightmare responded by saying:

Of course, Nightmare mostly means himself, Error, and Ink. Dream is much more active in helping people be happy, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t on the same god-tier level as his brother. Dream could sit back and watch the world tick, but he chooses not to because that goes against his morals.

In other words, Dream and Nightmare will probably affect the outcome of Underverse more than any other characters. They’re both pissed about what Error did: all those people that Dream cared about were murdered, and Nightmare can no longer generate negative feelings from innocents. They both have invested interest in this Multiverse war now, and their powers will certainly come to the forefront.

I believe that at the end of the story, the Multiverse will essentially go back to the exact way it was before Xtale was invented. XGaster will be dead, the Xtale characters will be put back in their AU, the other AUs will be restored, and at the end of it all, Dream and Nightmare will be once again pitted against one another. We may even see an alliance between them during Underverse S2 to stop XGaster, but afterwards, they will reestablish their rivalry. Unless the Omega Timeline comes into play, which it very well might, I don’t see the two brothers reconciling.

CONCLUSION:

Thank you everyone who took the agonizingly long time to read this! I hope this shed some light on certain characters (especially XI) and encourages to make some of your own theories. Stay safe and good night!

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really THAT Bad?

I’m going to warn you all now. This one is going to get a bit angry at the end. Normally I would try and remain as professional as possible, but in this case, I don’t feel like I would be able to.

Batman & Robin is a film that has lived in infamy since its release in 1997. Upon release, it was critically reviled, and this hatred of the film continued long into the modern day, where it frequently tops “worst films of all time lists” to the point where it actually is listed on the Wikipedia page for “List of films considered the worst.” It was nominated for at least 11 Razzies but only won a single one, and it went on to be a frequent punching bag on the {REDACTED] Critic’s web show, where he would get irrationally angry at the mere mention of the Bat Credit Card. In contemporary reviews, Mick LaSalle of The San Francisco Chronicle stated “"George Clooney is the big zero of the film, and should go down in history as the George Lazenby of the series,” which is less of a criticism and more of a compliment, if I’m being totally honest.

Most of the stars would take a negative stance towards it as well, with legend stating that if you tell George Clooney that you saw the film in theaters, he will refund you for your ticket out of his own pocket. Chris O’Donnell likewise is not particularly fond of the film, stating "It just felt like everything got a little soft the second time. On Batman Forever, I felt like I was making a movie. The second time, I felt like I was making a kid's toy commercial." And, perhaps most depressingly, Joel Schumacher himself was apparently very apologetic for the film, though this may or may not have come about because of years and years of vitriol being directed at him for making this film.

In the wake of Mr. Schumacher’s passing, I decided to re-watch the film, as I am famously rather fond of it, and I am going to tell you all why the answer to the question “Is it really THAT bad?” is a loud, resounding, NO.

THE GOOD

There’s honestly quite a lot to like here, more than you might think. I think first and foremost what you need to understand going in is that this is a silly, cartoonish take on the Burton style, blending the silliness and camp of the West series with the drama and aesthetics of the Burton films, all while adding some over-the-top, colorful flair. John Glover, who appears in the film as a cartoonish mad scientist, even has gone on record as saying "Joel would sit on a crane with a megaphone and yell before each take, 'Remember, everyone, this is a cartoon'. It was hard to act because that kind of set the tone for the film”… the last sentence makes the statement very baffling, but at least even the actors were aware of what they were doing. If this doesn’t sound appealing, well, the opening is sure to warn you off, as it is a suiting up montage with various shots of the firm butts, large codpieces, and stiff batnipples of the Dynamic Duo. The movie is very upfront about what you’re in for.

On the subject of the infamous batnipples, Schumacher stated "I had no idea that putting nipples on the Batsuit and Robin suit were going to spark international headlines. The bodies of the suits come from Ancient Greek statues, which display perfect bodies. They are anatomically correct." It seems a very odd choice, but it’s pretty clear that he meant it as an amusing little design choice and nothing more. Of course, this hasn’t stopped everyone and their mother from spewing homophobic comments about how he was purposefully making the film gayer, even from star George Clooney, who has said that he played Batman as a gay man and was told by Schumacher Batman is gay. It’s so disgusting that people did and continue to do this, because honestly, the costumes are fine, and even if they are meant to be fanservice… so what? O’Donell and Clooney’s asses look nice, as does Alicia Silverstone’s when she dons a suit. The fact hers is just as form-fitting as the other two really shows that the whole idea Schumacher did it because he was gay is ridiculous; the man was very egalitarian about the fanservice in the movie.

Whatever else Clooney says, he does a pretty great job as Batman and Bruce Wayne. His speech at the end of the film where he talks to Mr. Freeze and reminds him that he is a good man and offers to help him is honestly one of the few moments in any Batman film where Batman actually feels like the one from the animated series, a man who fights crime but also wants to help the people he’s trying to stop. Clooney just has a very natural charisma that lends himself to playing a hero, and while there are a few awkward moments in the performance, he captures the fun and charm a more lighthearted Batman should. Michael Gough’s last turn as Alfred is also surprisingly poignant, and a lot of mileage is gotten out of his genuinely tearjerking subplot.

Of course, the very best part of the film is the villains. Uma Thurman is clearly having a ball as Poison Ivy, and she gets to have a ludicrous amount of costumes as well as numerous moments of fanservice. She also has the power to turn every man around her into a simp, which is absolutely amazing and leads to quite a few scenes of Batman and Robin slapping each other over her. But f course, there’s really no doubt that the best part of the film is Mr. Freeze. He’s a combination of the sillier Mr. Freeze from the West days and the more modern take of the character most are familiar with, the tragic anti-villain who wants to save his wife; such a character would take a talented man capable of comedy and drama in equal measure. And who better than Arnold Schwarzenegger? Joel Schumacher wanted a man who looked like he was chiseled from a glacier, and Arnold certainly fits that description. He spends the movie juggling some of the most corny puns you can imagine and a lot of truly powerful, understated drama, and it really does work. You honestly get the sense that Arnold really gets Mr. Freeze and what makes him a great character. Also, that suit he has is amazing.

As a final note: the Bat Credit Card is absolutely not stupid. Linkara has defended it in the past, giving reasons why and how it could actually work, but really, all that needs to be said is… is this any more ridiculous than Shark Repellent Bat Spray?

THE BAD

So don’t get the wrong idea here; this film is far from perfect. As is the case with any comedy, the humor can be hit or miss; not all of the puns land, not all of the jokes are great. You’re never going to get a perfect comedy no matter how hard you try, and this is no exception.

As for performances, I think O’Donnell’s Robin and Silverstone’s Batgirl are a bit wonky. O'Donnell has long been a source of derision for his whining, and while I think the hate is a bit overblown, he does spend a ludicrous amount of time in this film being snippy, miserable, and arrogant. I think he actually fights with Batman more than any of the villains! Still, his performance isn’t horrible, he just gets a bit too whiny at a few points.

Silverstone is a bit of a bigger problem, but she’s not quite as bad as even I remembered. She’s pretty much Batgirl in name only, since she’s related to Alfred in this, but she’s mostly okay. The issue really is that her arc in the film is relatively bland and feels a bit shoehorned, which comes to a head where she fights Poison Ivy in a designated catfight, obviously because they didn’t want Batman to punch a woman in the face I guess. There’s just one issue with that:

On the subject of Ivy, while she definitely does have plant powers here, they’re strangely underplayed. She rarely uses them even when it would probably be beneficial, instead relying on Bane to do most of the fighting for her. Ah, Bane… Bane is one of the few things about this film I can’t really muster up any sort of defense for. While his creation scene is rather cool, it doesn’t lead to much of interest, as this version of Bane is pretty much a mindless supersoldier lackey who serves Poison Ivy. Now, this was still relatively early in Bane’s existence, as he had only debuted in 1993 and was really most famous for his signature “breaking the Bat” move, but it still is baffling why, with that famous thing fresh in everyone’s minds, that they would just choose to go and basically make Bane into Evil Diet Captain America. Surely they could have either saved him for a sequel or utilized him in a way more befitting of the character? I think this Bane is kind of responsible for the negative perception of Bane as this big, dumb bruiser, something that works like The Dark Knight Rises and Arkham Origins have thankfully gone a long way to rectifying. Bane is at his best when he’s a cunning genius bruiser; here, he’s nothing but a glorified prop.

Is It Really THAT Bad?

The answer is no. No it isn’t. AT ALL.

I’ve always felt this film came out at the wrong time. It was towards the end of the 90s, during the Dark Age of Comics when everything was dark, gritty, and edgy. The world didn’t want a movie like this back then; they wanted stuff like Blade, who would come in shortly after this film and show us how to make that aesthetic work. I guess in terms of Batman they wanted something more like Dawn of Justice, which really speaks volumes to how awful the 90s were for superheroes. 

Look, I’m not trying to convince anyone this is the greatest Batman film ever. Even I don’t think that; Batman Returns, The Dark Knight, and Under the Red Hood are all much better films. But is this really the worst Batman film now that we have the deeply misogynistic and disgusting The Killing Joke and the relentlessly bleak and unpleasant Batman v Superman? Hell, it’s not even worse than Batman Forever! At least the Batman in this film has some kind of emotional range beyond “plank of wood!” And even calling it the worst sequel ever is just… so baffling. Again, this is definitely better than Batman Forever, lack of Jim Carrey notwithstanding. And can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that this is worse than any of the Terminator sequels after the second film? Worse than Iron Man 2 or Thor: The Dark World? The almost half dozen Alvin and the Chipmunk sequels? This is only the worst sequel or even a bad sequel if it is the only sequel you’ve ever seen in your life.

A lot of the hate for it from back in the day carries a strong undercurrent of homophobia. Much like the infamous backlash against disco, it’s seriously uncomfortable, and it definitely is cruel how accusatory people were towards Schumacher’s intentions for the suits of the heroes in the film. The fact that even the two main stars have gotten in on it is a bit disgusting, though O’Donnell questioning why there needed to be a codpiece is certainly less offensive than George Clooney saying he played Batman as a gay man for… whatever reason. Was he implying that Batman being gay made the movie worse? I’m not sure what he’s on about there. Even The New Batman Adventures made a cruel dig at the film; notice the sign and the effeminate-looking boy. You could only get homophobia this good in the 90s!

The hatred of this film is absolutely overblown. It’s so ridiculous. #70 on the bottom rated movies of IMDB? #1 on the 50 worst films of all time list from Empire? Doug Walker’s personal punching bag whenever he needs to talk about a bad sequel, to the point where he literally said no one wanted a comedic take on Batman in his worst sequels video? Come the fuck on.

Joel Schumacher may or may not have ended up hating this film, but he certainly was made to feel like shit for making it… and it is honest to god not that bad! But he was just absolutely eviscerated, to the point where this was a fucking headline when he died:

Literally fuck all of these people. Fuck io9 for their insensitive headline. Fuck Empire for rating this as the worst film ever. Fuck Doug Walker for his constant bashing and his shitty old ��chimp out over the Bat Credit Card” gag. Double fuck Mick LaSalle for shitting on George Clooney’s performance while also trying to say George Lazenby’s Bond was bad. In fact, fuck George Clooney for his weird idea that playing Batman as gay is a bad thing (sorry George, but I can’t defend this). Fuck the Razzies. Yes, it was nominated, but I just feel it’s always a good time to say “Fuck the Razzies.”

I will never say you have to love or even like this film, but the sheer amount of vitriol and hatred for it is absolutely beyond me. At worst, this film is just a bit too goofy, and at best, it is a fun tribute to the campy days when Batman just couldn’t get rid of a bomb. I didn’t take off my score this time. I’m proud to say I gave this an 8/10, personally. If I’m being honest, a 6.6 – 6.9 is more appropriate, because it does have quite a few issues, but god, this film is not bad at all. It’s silly, goofy, campy, and fun… but bad? Not by any stretch of my imagination. And fuck the critics for convincing an entire generation that this is Batman at his worst, when we have Batman fucking slaughtering his ways through criminals and fucking Barbara Gordon on rooftops these days. I will always take stupid ice puns over misery, murder and creepy intergenerational sex, thank you very much.

I hope you can rest easy, Mr. Schumacher. Maybe you didn’t love your film in the end but, wherever you are, I hope you know I loved it.

[kyogre-blue]

Naruto Shippuden, ep 489-493

The Shikamaru shinden filler. The problem is... I don’t like Shikamaru. So I found this filler quite tedious on the whole. 

489: 

Kakashi hates being called the Hokage and doesn’t wear the robes at all if he can help it, seems like. 

The way Naruto is... framed (since he only appears in one scene and one short vision of sorts) in this filler is really weird. Like, Shikamaru really, really, really thinks he should be Hokage. But at the same time, he’s also very clearly pedestaling Naruto, to the point of excluding him from what is actually going on in the village and the world at large, even when Sai, one of Naruto’s friends, is involved. Naruto also doesn’t seem to be doing any sort of training for his future role, unlike Shikamaru. It creates a frankly uncomfortable picture. 

Shikamaru and Onoki play chess. Travel times are apparently just not a thing anymore. 

Konoha is rebuilding a lot at this point (2 years after the war, I think?)

Shikamaru’s genin team have all gone their separate ways now and have separate jobs/teams. They even have little kouhais, apparently. 

There has been a drop in shinobi requests for “3 periods.” The five villages send two representatives each for regular meetings, it seems. 

There are many missing persons after the war. Many have been going to Land of Silence as missing nin. 

Their leader is Gengo. They might threaten the Shinobi Alliance. 

Sai led a team of 10 Anbu to investigate. 

This is apparently in breach of faith to the alliance? I’m not really clear on the politics here, tbh. 

Shikamaru is given two underlings. Ro, who can manipulate his own and others’ chakra, creating anachronism in perception to hide their chakra. (This part is quite weird later because so many characters are suddenly able to sense chakra now so this ability can be brought up, including random NPCs and Chouji.) And Soku, who is an Anbu. Her real name is Hinoko, and she’s only 14 but was recruited straight out of Academy. She uses homing chakra needles that can hit acupoints. 

Shikamaru visits graves once a month. 

Kurenai has a babysitter who just moved to Konoha. Mirai calls Shikamaru nii-chan. 

Shikamaru tells Naruto to take as many missions as possible so that people come to subconsciously rely on him for everything (???) The Hokage really is just a figurehead, god. 

490: 

Tobari Village. 

They go undercover as coal merchants, complete with a permit. 

Tobari folks check customer background and give passes. They are cheaper than other villages. 

The filler raises the issue that peace is not really good for shinobi business and also the issue of the daimyo profiting off the struggles and death of shinobi. None of this is meaningfully addressed, of course. 

You Can Never Leave (your village). 

Komori, one of Gengo’s people. 

491: 

They gave Shikamaru a blank book to carry around, to show how they have basically no info on Gengo. Every shinobi is such a dramatic bitch. 

Fushu Castle. 

Gengo has been around the Land of Silence for 10 years. They kicked out the daimyou. This is interesting since we later find out that Gengo was part of Zabuza’s group but betrayed him (I’m not clear whether he’s the traitor that caused the Mizukage assassination to fail, or if he betrayed Zabuza at some later point). Ten years before this point would be three or so years before part 1. 

Minoichi, former Anbu who killed his entire squad during the war and ran off. 

Gengo’s stated goal is to get rid of all the daimyo to create a perfect world for shinobi. Is this like... Outer Heaven? 

Shikamaru’s team actually talks to a normal person, super rare in Naruto, who says that life hasn’t changed much with Gengo in charge instead of the daimyou. 

492: 

Sai is insecure that he doesn’t matter to Naruto as much as Sasuke and Sakura. Man, Team 7 was not kind to the later additions. 

Gengo kind of reads Shikamaru wrong? Shikamaru didn’t really choose to be a ninja, it’s the family business. His dad was the clan head. I don’t think he had that much choice. He also doesn’t seem to be all that into training either, since his deal is lazy genius. 

The brainwashing flowers make the dull plot even more boring since it really saps the emotional weight out of everything. 

Temari’s The Last deisgn doesn’t look like her. I can’t explain it too well, but she doesn’t feel like herself at all. 

493: 

Ino tries to punch Sai in a very Sakura-like way. 

Sai got handsome. I wish I was a bit more into Inosai. 

Naruto in Shikamaru’s head: RAMEN

Shikamaru’s cute kouhai from the start is named Yurito. 

You can tell I totally clocked out as this arc went on, haha.

[babyspacebatclone]

Regarding the entire “SPoP is just a kids’ show! Stop trying to apply logic (analysis of the “war” aspect) or find deeper meaning (accusations of ableism and unfortunate fantasy racial implications).”

There are two problems SPoP is facing against “it’s just a kids’ show. One is not necessarily its fault, although it seems they leaned into it pretty heavily and so are not completely free of it. The second is entirely on the show.

The first is the context of which She Ra was released - basically, in a post Avatar the Last Airbender world, and to a lesser extent following shows such as MLP:FiM and Gravity Falls. Of course, Western cartoons with in-depth mythologies and teased elements existed before AtLA (Gargoyles comes immediately to mind), but AtLA definitely changed the game about what could not only be shown/stated in a Y-7 cartoon (death if an entire people explicitly stated in the first few episodes to bring home the point) but also what could be talked about (effects of child abuse with Zuko and Azula being prominent). It spanned three seasons, with novels worth of backstory.

Suddenly, a Western cartoon didn’t have to be “just a kids’ show.” It’s not fair to expect every show to live up to that, but now it has been proven to be possible.

Did She Ra ever promise in marketing to be the next AtLA? I have no idea, being completely ignorant of anything during the run, but I also doubt it. Did at least marketing hope to ride on the coattails of “myth arc” style cartoons, drawing in more viewers? Undoubtedly. It’s a nostalgic property, emphasizing modern concerns (women’s power, LGBT+) and streamed through a mainstream service. Of course they’d want to fill their numbers with older viewers hoping for the next big story.

So, it’s not fair to put the expectation of being the next AtLA on SPoP going in, but it’s also to be expected that the fans would want it.

But what about the series itself? What did the show promise?

Unfortunately, I believe the show set up more than it could deliver here, and that is on the show runners and any execs that axed anything that might potentially have improved the situation (although from the sounds of show runners meta, I don’t know how much this contributed).

What did the show do to tease fans with complex myth arcs? Obviously, it doled out information on a “need to know” basis, leaving room for speculation and theorization. Scorpia being a princess and what that would mean about the Black Garnet, for example, is a perfect set up for this. The use of First One’s writing might have been initially been intended as an insider joke, the translations said to be released for “marketing,” but they still went forwards and then incorportated key phrases that would require fan translation - feeding more interest in searching for more clues. And finally, it paid off with some big foreshadowed twists, specifically Lighht Hope’s ulterior programming and the truth about the Heart of Etheria.

You can’t leave cryptic messages the fans can translate, twist our perspective of the “Benevolent Forerunner Race,” and then claim the fans are reading too far into things. You can claim the fans are going further than you intended, but you started them on this path.

And how do we know there’s disappointing, unresolved ends to these paths, and not more backstory like explored in the AtLA comics? The Crew Ra admitted it.

At first, when I heard that some of the Crew Ra had “headcanon” about Imp’s origins - that he was an attempt by Hordak to clone himself a stable body hybridized with Etherian animal DNA - it seemed cool. It made the Crew human, fans like us.

But how much harder would it have been to make it canon? Animals on Beast Island were apparently designed specifically to imply this missing link to Imp, and appear in the show; why can’t this then just be written into the show bible, a canon background that just isn’t said aloud in the show.

The most obvious answer, and the only reasonable one without further evidence, is that the people in control of the show bible just didn’t care. Didn’t care about what Imp was, other than a character from the previous She Ra. Didn’t care who Frosta’s parents were, or why she’s been ruling since 8. Didn’t care what actually happened with the Scorpian Kindgom when Hordak “overthrew” it, because that detail mattered less to them than the fact that Angella describes her husband’s (falsely assumed) death was one of Hordak’s “first victims.”

So the fans shouldn’t care, either, right?

No. The show runners can’t have it both ways. They can’t present the show as deep (question the facts you were raised with, because they may be biased by cruel predecessors!) and relevant (people should be allowed to be openly homosexual and nonbinary) and then only accept discussion on points they themselves raised.

Especially since many of the questions I hear asked without answer have been raised, towards others, within the show itself:

What measure is a victim? (Catra is a victim of Shadow Weaver’s abuse, Frosta twice questions the ethics of attacking Etherians, both Horde and chipped, but Prime’s clones are faceless mooks?)

What measure is acceptance? (Why are all but one of the princesses all-but-human looking, including the half-angel Glimmer, on a world of beast people? Why not explicitly condone literal physical abuse of a person [Entrapta, hair pulling and leashing] by her supposed friends for being “different” if we’re supposed to openly accept divergent sexualities? Neurodivergence doesn’t measure up to gender divergence?)

What measure is redemption?

SPoP started these discussions. It might not be fair to hold it to the same standard as AtLA for depth, but the show runners are the ones that copied elements of its formula to tell their story.

It’s not a serious war drama the way AtLA is. But how much effort could it have taken the show runners to at least look into more of their own questions, especially when others on the crew imply on social media they were asking for the same?

Note: Links will be added in a follow-up post; I’m on mobile, so it will take a bit to compile them. I’m aiming for tomorrow. If anyone who can have multiple windows open can send me direct links to relevant Tweets or at least screenshots I know I’ve seen here on Tumblr, that would be appreciated!

[armsdealing]

* LOCATION SERIES: THOR’S RESIDENCES.

as the god of clouds, thor is scarcely at home and instead, he's always out and about either seeking adventure or on call for his skillset by gods and worshippers alike. this being said, he has a number of established homes both in asgard and in midgard that he frequents and could be found at whenever necessary.

ASGARD.

in the lore, thor is ascribed three dwellings -- þrúðheimr / thrudheim, or the world of might and strength, which is mentioned as his realm or kingdom (grímnismál, 4), bilskirnir, or lightning-crack, which is specified to be the name of his hall or mansion (also mentioned in grímnismál), and Þrúðvangr / thrudvang, or power-field, which could be interpreted as a different name for thrudheim, yet i chose to view as just a different location within the realm (pictured above).  

as always with norse myth, not much is mentioned about any of these places. thus i choose to take some creative freedoms with their descriptions and specifications. however, according to the norse myths by heilan yvette grimes, thor was born actually in midgard/verland (the land of men) with his mother jord (noteworthy for being the personification of the earth, and a jotunn). he was quick to grow and soon jord realized she could not manage him. at just a few months old he was able to lift and kick off the ten loads of bearskin piled on his cradle to keep him warm, a worthy feat for a grown man and inimaginable for an infant. all around, he apparently got on her nerves a lot (according to etter robert james, he was all around a handful, throwing massive and destructive fits, pulling at his parents hair and ears and being a little shit all the time, basically), so she sent him to the giants vingnir and hlora to be raised as their foster son in jotunheim, the reason why sometimes thor is referred to as vingthor and hlorridi.

one small detour: in the endnotes to his translation of the völsungasaga, jesse l. byock explains: “fosterage was a norse custom of having a child raised in another household in order to extend kinship bonds or to form political alliances”. since we have to assume that the giant-asgardian conflict was still alive and well while thor was growing up, it's good to keep this in mind for later reference -- maybe not for this post, but in general. 

thrudheim.

upon his return to asgard, and after killing a rock giant that threatened the aesir, thor was rewarded with some lands upon which he built a estate, and that estate was called thrudheim. in stanza 4 of grímnismál it is described as "a land [that] is holy, which i see situated near the aesir and elves". not much else is stated about the kingdom. some believe that in the afterlife worshippers of thor may end up in it, but unlike what you may think, not many of these worshippers are warriors. those tend to go to valhalla (the hall of odin) or folkvang (the hall of freya). instead, thor's hall tends to receive the common folk, peasants, farmers and workers of the land, and only a certain type of those who die in battle (primarily the "thralls", as in the servants and slaves, as opposed to the noble warriors, who will go to odin's hall). this much is mentioned in hárbarðsljóð, where odin (disguised as a ferryman) openly mocks thor with this fact during a verbal spat. 

so, knowing the population it will have, we can guess that the kingdom counts with many of the amenities of a large, tightly packed farming city. i'd also envision it surrounded by farms and crop fields, specially wheat fields considering that sif, thor's wife and an earth goddess, would be living with him. it's these fields what i would call thrudvang and what would give thrudheim the appearance of being washed in gold -- on top of, of course, the gleaming strikes of lightning that would be frequently seen in the cloudy skies. it's likely the kingdom plays a big role in asgard as a hub for agriculture and livestock farming -- i.e much of the food (and some of the mead) the gods eat and drink comes from thrudheim. the harvests would be always bountiful and perfect, thanks to the kind weather and generous soil endowed to the realm by thor and sif respectively.  there would be crops and flora of all kinds, as it's a very lush place, but it must be mentioned particularly the presence of oak forests due to their significance in thor's worship, as well as other plants and produce: the ash, the hazel, the birch, the rowan (also due to sif), the thistle, garlic, onion, houseleek, leek, vervain, burdock, hawthorn, the blackthorn, bramble, holly, nettle, and the rose, all of which have special properties and meaning in the cult of thor. (may be topic for a different post)

bilskirnir.

the massive hall was built for thor also around the same time as thrudheim was established as his estate. grimnismál, stanza 24, has odin reveal the following vision as he catalogs the dwellings of the gods: "five hundred rooms and forty / there are, i think, under the arches of bilskírnir / of those halls which i know to be roofed / my son's is the biggest." in gylfaginning, when he introduces thor, snorri has hár say that thor has a kingdom and a hall called bilskírnir with 540 rooms, which is the greatest of buildings, equal only to the one in valhalla. in skáldskaparmál snorri says that "owner of Bilskírnir" is a valid thor kenning, and in fact "prince of bilskirnir" is attested in the skaldic corpus. the meaning of the name is unclear, but it seems to be either "suddenly illuminated (by lightning)" or "everlasting." according to heilan yvette grimes, in bilskirnir, thor's fallen worshippers "guaffed mead and banqueted on enormous meals, and practiced their warrior skills in preparation for the last fateful battle."  in regards to appearance grimes also noted that the outside of bilskirnir was studded with shields and glowed red in contrast with the inside which was a gleaming purple.

it's a gigantic "mansion", but more than that, it's tall enough to reach the skies, as apparently thor frequently shoots lightnings from the top floor. it's also here specifically where he's said to live with his wife and children.

MIDGARD.

palafito in ologá, venezuela.

ologá, in contrast to the realm of thrudheim, is a tiny settlement where less than 50 families reside in stilt houses, or palafitos, which are houses raised on piles over the surface of the soil or bodies of water. it's located south of maracaibo, 1m over the water level, and it's a community of fishermen. it's sustained mainly by said fishing but also by tourism, as it's from its palafitos that the world-famous catatumbo lightning can be comfortably seen and photographed. (you can click in their names for some nice galleries featuring catatumbo and ologá) 

thor feels a natural connection to the place, given its peculiar atmospheric conditions which make it so predisposed to thunderstorm activity and lightning (which occurs during 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours per day and up to 280 times per hour). he has a natural pull to it, drawing special strength from the perpetual storm, which sent him to the small town sometime around the mid 50s and made him build his own stilt house there, keeping in mind his size and height, something that quickly made him the object of curiosity from the locals. he made his most used human persona, dario belmonte, be born here, and he became a very active figure in the town as a fisherman, builder, and healer and all around friend to everybody. it got to the point that eventually he pretty much confessed (more or less) his status as a god to the entire town, as there was no other way to explain his lack of aging and magical abilities. to this day, they continue to keep his secret, and he visits them sporadically every few years to make sure they're doing well.

his palafito is not more lavish than any of the other houses in the settlement and it's made from the same materials. it's a two room house and anyone else is free to use it whenever he isn't here -- he usually leaves it to his neighbors so they can rent it to tourists.  

in his post-ragnarok verse thor, who was meant to die after his battle with the midgard serpent, ends up coming back to "life" in the depths of the maracaibo lake during one of the loudest thunderstorms the townsfolk had ever witnessed. he's found floating unconscious by a couple fishermen in the morning and taken to the house of one of the older citizens, who recognizes him. he's nursed back to health and it's from this point onwards that thor begins his arc exploring what is left of midgard.

farm in sweet grass county, montana.

located in the outskirts of big timber, montana, thor counts with a 4 bedroom farmhouse with a barn and 4 horse stalls + heated tack shed. next to the house sits a metal shop with concrete floor and overhead door with electricity throughout. the barn and the arena are surrounded by corrals. 40 acres surrounding the house comprise the perimeter, cross fenced as needed. there are 4 wells, one in each of the 120 acre parcels.  

thor established this farm in 1995, and lived in it almost permanently between march of that same year and november of 2007. he didn't live alone, however; he invited his brother tyr -- who was then living in kentucky -- to live with him so they could be close to one another. almost simultaneously thor made tyr the part owner of the estate. in the farm they keep up to four horses, a dozen of chickens and six goats (which he keeps for milk), and a variety of crops cycled in and out depending on the season (carrots, beets, potatoes, green peas, sweet peas, broccoli, corn, and more). they also have two dogs, two huskies by the names brynjar and einar that freely roam the property, as well as tyr's three cats.

after 2007, thor still technically continues to live there, but he travels more frequently.

PHOTO CREDITS. 1 / 2 / 3 / 4. 

[alabasterswriting]

Hey, were so you stand on the whole fandom discourse thing? Like do you ship mileven or byeler or lumax or elmax? Was mike being an asshole or was Will being a bad friend? Was Mike right or was Max right? Do you like Lucas and Mike bromance or Mike and Will bromance/romance? Is Will gay or ace or just not in puberty yet? Srry for the questions but you’re like the most level headed person ive seen and i wanna know what u think?

Oh, oh this is going to be long. Warning! Long Post!

Okay, well, first let me just say that I hate discourse. I think it’s silly and stupid for fandoms to rip characters apart and fight over something like this when we should be bolstering each other up with our mutual love over a piece of media. However, the discourse after this season of Stranger Things is particularly upsetting because I think it all comes down to the fact that the character writing this season wasn’t very strong. They were paper-thin and the characters themselves didn’t get as much meaningful interaction as I think the story needed. It was so much action that a lot of the necessary quiet moments got lost.

But onto your questions.

So, the ships. I’ll be honest, I’m not a hardcore shipper of any of them. Except maybe Jopper, but that’s only because I really wanted El to have that mother figure in Joyce that she can’t get from Terry, and for Will and Jonathan to have that father figure in Hopper that they can’t get in Lonnie. Also, I really want Will and El to be siblings. But back to your question. I am an aromantic asexual. I also vacillate between liking romance to being completely put off by it, the latter of which tending to happen when it is thrown in my face. If you’re asking me if I like the ships this season, I would have to say no simply because I felt like they came at the expense of the friendships and bonds between the core characters. If you’re asking me if I like them in general, then yes. I think mileven is cute, and I think byler can be cute, and I think lumax is hilarious, and elmax would be wonderful.

Do I honestly think that Mike and Will will get together? No. It’s not going to happen. I can see Will maybe having a crush on Mike, and that being something he will struggle with, but Mike is 100% in love with El and that’s fine. That’s life. Will is a kid living in 1980s rural Indiana. The show has already shown that homophobia is a thing. He and Mike are friends, and I don’t think with all the work on Mike and El that it would make sense to suddenly flip it now. And Mike and El are cute, and I liked how this season they showed that puppy love stage is not all it’s cracked up to be. I liked how they showed growing pains in their relationship. I liked how Mike and El had to learn to balance their romantic relationship with their friends. I wish it had been handled better, but I liked how they were able to show that even though Mike and El aren’t a perfect relationship, they do have a special bond and I enjoyed that.

Does this mean I don’t enjoy byler fics and headcanons and edits and parallels? Hell no! I love that shit. I love it the same way I do mileven. And honestly, I could get behind milevill. I think El and Will would be more platonic, with Mike in the middle, but poly shipping is generally how I get around shipping wars. And I hate how characters get demonized when shipping goggles get put on, and these three are demonized to high heaven for it, to the point that shippers degrade their actual characters down to one aspect.

In regards to the characterization of Mike and Will this season, I see both sides. It’s been implied that Mike has been ditching his friends all summer to spend time with El in the cabin. He’s apparently been there everyday since she got back. And on the one hand, this makes sense. El isn’t allowed out and if Mike isn’t there then she’s alone. That sucks, especially because El has already been through far too much isolation in her life. It’s also sort of implied that they like spending time with just the two of them and that the rest of the party either doesn’t visit often or the only time the whole party is together is the rare occasion when El is allowed out. We can sort of see this by the fact that Max and El aren’t really friends, but El still feels comfortable enough to go to her for advice on Mike, and the way that Will calls her Eleven instead of El until about the middle of the season. Ergo, Mike has been ditching them to spend time with her every day, away from the party. And that’s got to be frustrating. Will doesn’t seem nearly as frustrated with Max and Lucas, which could be because they’re not as puppylove-ish, and because he has the opportunity to get to know Max. He knows her more as Lucas’ girlfriend, but he seems more comfortable in her presence. So we can guess that Lucas and Max spend more time with the group than Mike and El. And frankly, if I was Will and my best friend had been doing this every day for a month while I third-wheeled, I would have snapped too. And probably a lot earlier. Especially if the only thing I had asked of him was one day of his time to do something not related to romance. It wasn’t right what Mike was doing, even if it was understandable. But that was part of Mike’s arc - learning to balance his romantic relationship with his friendships.

As for Will, like I said above, it’s implied that Will has been third-wheeling for an entire summer. Mike has been ditching them for all this time and that’s a big change he has to deal with. All Will wants is to go back to how things were before he was completely traumatized. D&D is the only thing he has from before the Upside Down, so of course he would want to have a guys day and play it. Will is allowed to want something other than just being a support for his friends. Unfortunately, he does fail to read the room. Now, I can imagine that maybe he thought playing D&D would cheer Mike and Lucas up, but he could have been more understanding of the situation. Mike and El were going through a rough spot and Will could have done a better job of being there for him. Now, it’s possible that because of Lucas and Max’s constant breakups that he doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal, but considering Mike has been spending all his time with El, Will probably should have been able to realize now was not the time to insist on playing a game. I also don’t think that Will calling El a “stupid girl” was Will being mean or angry at El however. He was mad at Mike. He was placing the blame on Mike. His target was Mike and that Mike was breaking up the party. Not El. Max and El are his friends, though they’re not close, and Will was calling out the fact that that Mike was ditching them, rather than thinking El was actually a stupid girl. And he has a point. He even asks where Dustin is and questions the fact that Mike isn’t wondering. Dustin got back the day before after being gone a month. So, while Will definitely could have been more sensitive to Mike’s problems, he also had legitimate reasons to be angry. Just like Mike had legitimate reasons to be upset.

And I will say here that both Mike and Max are correct when it comes to El. Mike is monopolizing a lot of El’s time. It’s not a bad thing in itself, but El needs friends outside of him. It’s unhealthy not to. And Mike was also right to worry about her burning herself out with her powers. His concern was completely valid. But Max was also right. It wasn’t right of Mike to lie to El like that and then not apologize, especially after she caught him and called him out on it. The fact that Max was there to teach El how to be herself and make decisions for herself outside of Mike and Hopper was something she needed to grow as a person. And Max was also right when she told Mike that El knew how to work her powers better than he does. That it’s her decision on how far to go. Now, this does have its drawbacks because El might not actually know when to draw the line. She goes too far, and that’s where Mike’s concern is completely valid. Both of them have good points and are coming from a place of caring, but they’re also teenagers and don’t know how to handle all of these issues correctly.

As for Mike and Lucas vs Mike and Will, I think this is such a stupid thing to fight over. They’re all best friends. Mike and Lucas were stated to be best friends in season 1 because they live next door to each other, but Mike “calls bull” on that logic because he’s also best friends with Dustin and with Will. He and Will have been friends since kindergarten and we saw a lot of that in season 2, which was wonderful. This season both Mike and Lucas are in relationships and can relate to each other better than Mike and Will who are having a discourse in their relationship because they’re maturing at different rates. Mike and Lucas want to move forward because they have relationships blossoming that makes the future happier, where Will is stuck in the past because the past is where all his happiness is. Do I wish we had gotten a moment between Will and Mike where they actually talk about their fight and how everything has changed, or that we got a better goodbye from them at the end? Absolutely. Their friendship deserved that. But I also loved how Lucas was Mike’s wingman, and all around relationship guru. I also really liked how Lucas and Will worked together this season. Lucas reached out to Will, and even though it didn’t go far, I really liked all the little moments they had together. They are all best friends but even in friend groups there are people you go to for different things.

And is Will gay? Oh boy. Okay, so, personally, I think Will is gay. There’s been a lot of subtext and the show bible does seem to imply he’s on the spectrum somewhere. BUT. This is not canon. Things change all the time when writing and until it is explicitly stated by either the show runners or the show itself, then this is still just speculation. I can also totally see Will as ace. I knew I was ace before I even had a word for it and I was like 11 years old. Will could be ace. I don’t think he is simply because we never get representation, but it’s totally possible. It’s also possible that he’s both. You can be homoromantic asexual. You can also be aromantic homosexual. The two aren’t mutually exclusive and I kind of like the idea of him being homoromantic asexual. Or he might be completely gay and yet be so traumatized that sexual attraction is horrific. He’s been violated so violently in ways so similar to rape that I can easily imagine anything sexual as triggering. And yes, at 14 you are old enough to start thinking about sex. It’s normal. Even I thought about it at that age, even though I thought it weird that anyone would ever find it enjoyable. It is also completely possible that, due to that trauma, Will just isn’t there yet. Trauma does cause brain damage. He could very easily have regressed mentally to the point that he just hasn’t begun to mature yet.

Sorry for the long post, but there you go. Frankly, I think the characters this season were just very poorly written, and I think fandoms tend to not know what to do when characters behave differently than expected. But the thing is, these characters are growing up and changing. Smart people can be dumb. Kind people can get angry and lash out. Protective people can be selfish. A good person making the wrong choice doesn’t automatically make them bad. People are not so one-dimensional that “shy, quiet, artistic” doesn’t mean they can’t ever be “annoyed, moody, and angry”. “Loyal, charismatic, and smart” characters can also be “oblivious, tunnel-visioned, and dumb.” The problem with this season is that they didn’t allow the characters to really interact outside of their pairings. Dustin wasn’t with the party at all. Will and Mike never get meaningful resolution. Max and El never really talk about the problems in their relationships. Like Max and Lucas have broken up 5 times? Why? What is the story there? Will and El barely talk at all even though they have the most in common and end up living together by the end. And Lucas and Max don’t have much interaction at all. The romance sort of overshadowed the fact that these kids are all friends. And it should have been clearer that even though they’re all growing up and apart, they’re also all traumatized and understand each other on levels no one else can. It’s varying levels of trauma, but we don’t see them really band together to build each other up. And I think we needed that level of platonic love to really show that, yeah, we may not be focusing on these relationships as much this season, but they’re still there, rather than “Mike only cares about Eleven” and “Will and Mike apparently aren’t friends anymore.” The action overshadowed the heart this season, and I think that’s where some of the subtler character arcs got lost. 

I hope that answered your question and thank you!