#it didn't change the outcome of the actual story as a whole

[jjoelswatch]

I think the people instantly hating on the one particular Ahsoka show leak just don’t know how to have fun.

[insertdisc5]

TIMELOOP GAMES REAL!??!??!!

hi i made a timeloop game called In Stars and Time and this is a whole post about other timeloop games you can also play.

some i liked. some i loved. some i didnt like. all are worth playing and like also listen the second friends and family heard i was making a timeloop game, i got bombarded with timeloop media recs. so here is a sampler in no particular order! NOTE: knowing some of those games are timeloop games is a spoiler. but. you are here. for timeloop games. so timeloop games you shall have

Outer Wilds

If you need to play one timeloop game, it's this one. Please play it blind. I swear to god you won't regret it. it's timeloops in space!!! it makes you think!!! there are so many "HOLY SHIT WAIT I GET IT NOW" moments!!! please just go play it please please please. some of the best environmental storytelling in a game. so many hints in plain sight. JUST PLAY IT

[way more timeloop games under the cut]

Oxenfree

I didn't actually like Oxenfree very much. But also it stayed in my mind for weeks after I finished playing it. that's how you know it's a good game. I really enjoyed the dialogue system in this, and how much the loop affected the characters. and it got so spooky!!!

Hikeback

i'm in the credits for this one because i was one of the inspirations heehee <3 i loved playing it… short little game about trust, self-sabotage, and never-ending cycles. highly recommend it

The Stanley Parable

Listen babes it absolutely counts. I replayed it a bunch while making ISAT, and I got immensely inspired by the dialogue, and how it catches you off guard sometimes? You get SO SO used to the narrator's "All of his coworkers were gone. What could it mean?" at the start of every game, and then for no reason instead it says "A soft wind blew outside and perhaps rain started, and if it did it stopped shortly after. Stanley hoped that he would one day see weather." like WHAT THE FUUUUCK IM GETTING CHILLS JUST THINKING ABOUT IT

12 minutes

ok i know we all made fun of this game when it came out because the story is batshit insane HOWEVER!!!!!!!! i REALLY REALLY LOVED how doing the same actions multiple times would have slightly different outcomes. If you battle someone, the first time you get knocked out in one hit and the loop restarts. the second time you try, you evade the first hit, but get knocked out. the third time, you last a little bit longer, and a little bit longer, until you can pretty much hold your own against your enemy. And it applies to so many things in this. Retrying different things to see how they would change was a delight.

this game is also so bad its almost good, and if you're interested you HAVE to play it with friends so you can yell about how bad it is together.

Zero Escape

it's just a good series ok. escape rooms, and also time loops! the 3rd game in particular goes deep into The Math of how timeloops would work, which i think is interesting. sometimes timeloop games just go "yeah you can timeloop dont worry about it" and others go "OK HERE'S THE HOW AND WHY IT WORKS" and both are interesting!

START AGAIN: a prologue

this game has almost everything i could wish for in a timeloop game. depression. lines repeating. dying brings you back. you get new levels and skills because you're aware of the loops but your party members don't. so you get overpowered next to them and they Notice. just. party members who dont know about the loops still noticing something is wrong. you are acting differently than yesterday. you look sad. you are acting weird. you know too much. how did you know where the keys were? how did you know this would happen? what's wrong? talk to us. and oh my god this game has a sequel? which will probably have Actually Everything i could wish for in a timeloop game? i can't wait. who made this? (its me i made this)

Ghost Trick

ok its not really time loops and more time travel and only for 4 minutes HOWEVER!!!! you should play it. you know you should play it because everyone says so. so go play it

Elsinore

im sure its a great game but ive never seen/read hamlet. so thats a failing on my part. because. you absolutely need to know hamlet to understand this game lol i did like the whole "make sure to find out which events are Important and which ones aren't so you can have The Perfect Loop"! very fun. or it would be. if i. knew. hamlet

The Forgotten City

a friend kept recommending it to me and i didn't like it. its good! just not for me. but if you like to think a lot you should play it. another "make sure to find out which events are Important and which ones aren't so you can have The Perfect Loop" game

Gnosia

Gonna be real. I didn't like the story very much, in part because the game lets you choose your gender but still acts like youre a straight dude. HOWEVER the gameplay was very inspiring to me. Every loop is pretty much just an among us meeting, and you have to find out who the imposters are or everyone dies and you loop again. and sometimes you ARE the imposter, so you need to make sure no one finds out. or you loop again. rules get added as time goes on too. i REALLY loved how quickly the loops stacked up. seeing "loop 100" was such a nice moment. ive been here so long! i tried to recreate that somewhat for my own game…

Loop Hero

Technically not a timeloop game, but a loop game. It still absolutely counts because it's about loops and memories, and what are loops and memories together if not a timeloop. You have your little guy going through a closed loop, battling enemies, getting cards, and making the world whole again by using those cards to make forests, towns, lakes come to life. I am famously a Story First Gameplay Second kinda player, but I did play this 45h for the gameplay alone. I learned a lot about battle balancing and randomness by playing this!

You and Me and Her: A Love Story

you know doki doki litterature club? this came before. and one might say. it's. better. in some parts (and i say that as someone who LOVED ddlc!) i won't say much except it's a dating sim but with timeloops. with a lot of what it implies. why are you dating this girl a second time? a third time? a fourth time? choose another one already! it was such a fascinating game to play, and is incredibly meta in the way it talks about dating sims and visual novels. had a lot of very impactful moments however, i played the hentai version. some of the worst, most cringy sex ive ever read and heard. however, one might say the sex is an integral part of the game and its deconstruction of hentai/dating sims…? no. just play the steam version which doesnt have the horrible sex scenes and you will have a great time i think (or play the hentai version. if you like. to watch. horrible sex scenes???)

Higurashi

knowing this is a timeloop game is a massive spoiler. however, this game is more than a decade old, so,,, honestly if you havent played higurashi what are you doing. i know i just spoiled you on it but i was also spoiled on it and i can GUARANTEE YOU that you will still have an amazing time. one more thing. you gotta play with the original sprites or you're a fake fan

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

starts as a visual novel/management sim/dating sim kinda thing, until you realize that every replay is a new timeline. so the main character can save people, because they remembered about them dying in a previous one. i wish the timeloop would affect the game/story more (let me find a certain character quicker once ive found them in a previous playthrough!!!), but timeloop aside, it's a very fun game to play!!!

that's it! hope you will find a nice timeloop game you like

[nowimjustastranger]

Hello and welcome! I recently got back into the Gravity Falls fandom and so I created a blog to unleash the sheer amount of feelings that I have about this show!

My Inbox Is Closed For Fic Requests! Please read the rules before requesting!

I'll be posting a plethora of things on here, from fanart by other artists to my own AU fics. There won't be a masterlist, but click on the tag you're interested in to scroll through the corresponding posts on my blog.

Here are the AU's that I currently have in the works:

The Nexus

A connection or link between things, persons, or events. Or, a series where I connect my AU's with both canon and each other.

The Abyss Stares Back Series

Stan was hesitant to actually step across that threshold where light met dark, so he couched right on the cusp and reached in instead. He expected his hand to hit ground any moment now, then he could fumble for the stupid money clip and get the hell out of here. But his hand simply… didn't. Stan realized with a cold flash of fear and no small amount of confusion that he’d somehow overbalanced himself, his boots desperately scraping against the asphalt as he careened forward. He yelped as his other hand instinctively moved to catch himself, but there’s nothing to catch himself on. There was no ground for either of his palms to touch, just darkness, and it swallowed him whole. Or, Teenage Stan & Old Man Ford portal adventures.

Somebody to Call My Own Series

While exploring the multiverse, Ford 419"3 had come to the distressing realization that Stan suffers in every dimension. So 419"3 Ford made it his mission in life to travel through dimensions and help as many variations of Stan get the happy ending that he deserves by stepping in to correct the course of the timeline to produce the best outcome. The reason why Ford is so determined to alter Stan’s grim fate in so many dimensions is because Ford had lost his own Stan to suicide while he was still in college, which is what drove him to completely bury himself in his studies and invent dimension travel with Fiddleford. Or, Dimension Traveler Old Man Ford nabs Mullet Stan from his dimension and proceeds to aggressively take care of him.

We'll Be Better Tomorrow Mini-Series

Ford 419"3 from the STCMO series pays Stan Pines from Dimension 90V'1 a visit with two very familiar toddlers who need a home.

Or, the Dad Stan AU.

We Never Meant to Become Strangers Series

An AU in which Ford is changed after accidentally going through the portal, not quite as human coming out as he was going in. Or, Ford is a cosmic horror.

Infinity Falls Series

An AU where Stan tells Ford that he accidentally broke his machine and Ford is able to fix it, changing the course of history. Or, a story featuring a darker Pines family and co.

Break the Mold Series

In this universe, Bill Cipher goes by William. He’s still a dream demon who accidentally destroyed his dimension but, instead of embracing chaos and basically turning into a sadistic psycho, he simply wandered the universe in a grief-stricken daze until he came across Stanford. Stanford, who was also an anomaly among his peers just like William had been. William felt a kinship with the human child, appearing in Stanford’s dream that night. And, in true child-like fashion, Stanford quickly befriended the dream demon who complimented his birth defect. Or, the good Bill AU that no one asked for.

[chronologically-challenged]

Everything around the Isabeau confession is so well written.

Firstly, the set up. When you're playing the game, killing the King is just a vague goal. A natural one! But other than the vague desire to hit an end point, there isn't really a strong emotional reason compelling the player forward. But Isabeau!!! Telling you he will tell you something once you beat the King!!! That!!! That is a tangible goal to lean onto especially over time as you get more and more endeared to the whole party. Even if you're not aware of it being a love confession, getting to Isabeau to hear what he has to say is still a compelling reason get to the end.

And if you're Aware of how these things go for stories like these, you may also say, "Well shit, we're not gonna get a confession until the end of the game, are we?"

Second, the interruptions. The order of the interruptions are so quietly brilliant. I can't get over it. Bonnie interrupting first is such an excellent choice. You know Bonnie!!! Bonnie has been jumping into conversations all game so far. So interrupting Isabeau doesn't seem all that out of place. Then Mirabelle interrupts next time. And you go, okay. Thats two of three.... but surely Odile won't interrupt, right? By this point, the player has seen Odile tease Isabeau multiple times about him liking Siffrin, so surely she won't interrupt... right? Right??? But she does. And despite it being obvious that she would, the player is still left in tension if she would.

The way things are set up, there's a plausible deniability each time. You don't expect the first interruption, Bonnie naturally would interrupt so Mirabelle could be surprising, and Odile interrupting feels so outside of what she'd usually do that you don't expect it.

And yet!!!! Saying all this!!! This is very tropey!!! Very time loop tropey!!! Stopping people from messing things up so you can have your moment is quintessential time loop tropes and yet!!! It doesn't feel tropey due to good characterization and story structure.

(And if you do realize that all three are going to interrupt from the beginning, you get a wave of DREAD when you realize that you're going to be here. Again and again. That you have to beat the King again and again and again... and as you watch the confession fizzle, seeing the Head Housemaiden there, despite Siffrin's happy demeanor, you can't help but feel it all about to crash down before it even happens. In that moment you have a taste of what the game is about to put you through).

Third, the family quests. I have two points here. Firstly, "yelling at your screen like it's a telenovela" is the best summary of my feelings on the stargazing scene. Even if you KNOW Isabeau isn't going to confess until the end of the game bc that's how these things go, it won't happen until the end because that's how good writing works, You Still Want It To Happen. So Badly. You want Isabeau to confess to Siffrin!!! You want that tension to release!!! But you have to watch and see that perfect confession slip away every time and it hurts to watch, especially if you do the quests multiple times. Second point is the fact you can't continue the Isabeau confessions on a family run kills me. It's so good. Like you're never going to get everything in one go no matter what you do so you have to pick and choose. And!!! That plays into Siffrin feeling like he's manipulating Isabeau!!!

Of course Siffrin isn't actually manipulating Isabeau but when you're so aware of what you're doing and how events could have played out, it's difficult not to see a situation where you changed the outcome as manipulation. Which... of course leads us to Siffrin's feelings at the end of trying to stop the interruptions...

Fourth, Isabeau stopping himself when confessing. It hurts so good. Idk just. Denying the player that payoff. Denying Siffrin that moment of confession. Because really Siffrin didn't learn the lesson needed to actually get this moment of vulnerability between the two of them. It's such a genius choice that brings that awful dread and hopelessness. And in the end, I suppose all five of them stop the confession from happening because from that point onward, Siffrin interrupts the confession every time. Siffrin doing everything they can to get what they want only to accept that they're never going to get it. Never CAN get this because he doesn't deserve it.

Finally, bad touch. People have talked about bad touch enough, so I dont need to go too far with it. I will say I appreciate how much it doubles down on subverting the "romancing someone in a time loop" narrative. These loops while in some ways made Siffrin more perceptive, they're also PAINFUL. They mess with his head, lean towards making worse and worse decisions, and a large part of that is his role in his family's lives. Especially with Isabeau!!! So yeah. Of course the surprise kiss doesn't go well. Especially with the context that Isabeau doesn't think Siffrin wants to be touched let alone kissed? It ends in disaster just like most of the sidequests do.

In general, the ongoing Isabeau plot is very well implemented. The seeds for it are planted immediately, and it takes a lot of commitment to see all the parts of it. As a result, unless you try to do a ton of runs in act 3 immediately just to get the confession, it's a very slow burn part of the story, doing well to parallel Siffrin's mental state and the growing hopelessness in the loops. It grounds the story in a tangible goal from the beginning and in many ways, once you get to the end of it, get to bad touch, you're left bereft. Something... lost after you spent so much time being aware of Isabeau. That tangible feeling that you're slowly running out of things to do, of ways to spend these two days.

(And of course, then you have act 6 confession, and the pure relief, the joy in finally having the confession after it being set up from act 1. Siffrin doesn't need to reciprocate for it to have its impact. Something has CHANGED they have changed. And finally FINALLY after all this time, the moment can happen. And it's beautiful).

[cosmicjoke]

Man, all these people who claim that Levi made the "wrong" choice when he chose Armin, claiming that the outcome of the story would have changed or been different if he'd just chosen Erwin, essentially blaming Levi for the Rumbling, conveniently never have an answer when you actually ask them what Erwin could have done differently to change the outcome. That's because there isn't anything Erwin could have done to change the outcome, short of somehow, magically, discovering what Eren was really planning when no one else could. How Erwin would have been able to do this, who can say, since Eren didn't tell anyone about his plans other than Floch and Historia. I guess Erwin really was just that much smarter than everyone else, including Armin, even though, you know, Armin discovered that Annie was the Female Titan through simple observation and the same with realizing Reiner was hiding in the walls in Shinganshina. Isayama didn't set up Armin's exceptional observational skills for any reason. Nope. Just an arbitrary detail he put in, since Isayama's so known for including superfluous information in his story (insert heavy sarcasm here).

If Armin wasn't able to discover Eren's true intentions, despite being infinitely closer to him than Erwin and spending far more intimate time with him than Erwin would have been able to, why do people think Erwin would have gleaned Eren's true intentions when Armin or the others couldn't? Even Levi, who'd had Eren pegged from the start and understood what he was better than anyone, who's widely acknowledged at being better at reading who people really are than anyone, wasn't able to see what Eren really had planned. Eren himself didn't even know exactly what he had planned until he saw the future, and even then, he remained in deep denial about it, pretending to himself that he wasn't going to go through with it.

But we're supposed to believe, according to these people, that Erwin would have been able to see what Eren had planned when Armin, Levi and even Eren himself didn't know and was in denail over up until the point they were in Marley. These same people also want to claim that Floch never would have been radicalized if Erwin had lived, but that's bullshit. Floch was already radicalized, from having to charge to his death against the Beast Titan. He came out of that situation wanting to make Erwin suffer for leading them on a death charge, under the belief that Erwin was the "devil" they needed in order to win against their enemy. Floch's radicalization had nothing to do with Levi's choice in who to give the serum to. It had to do with how over a hundred soldiers had to give up their lives in order to keep the hope for humanity's future alive, and how Erwin led them and convinced them to do so.

But let's suppose Levi had chosen Erwin, then. Would it have changed Floch's decision to collaborate with Eren?

The answer to that is no.

Either Erwin would have supported Eren's plans or come up with some other, similarly aggressive plan to deal with the outside world, or he wouldn't. If Erwin had refused to deal with the outside world with a mercenary attitude the way Floch wanted (i.e. in a way lacking humanity, wiping out everyone, essentially), Floch would have turned to Eren, and the same outcome would have resulted. Floch never accepted the limited Rumbling plan. That wasn't enough for him. He wanted the whole world wiped out. We see this in the way he intentionally targets innocent civilians during the raid on Liberio. He wanted Erwin to be chosen because he believed that Erwin was devoid of humanity, because of how he'd led 100 new recruits to their guaranteed deaths. Because of that, he believed Erwin would do whatever it took to win, no matter the cost.

If Erwin had shown him something less than that monstrosity, it wouldn't have satisfied Floch. So Erwin choosing to go with Zeke's proposed plan wouldn't have satisfied Floch, either. It wouldn't have been extreme enough for him. The only thing that would have been, would be Erwin choosing to eliminate all of humanity beyond the walls, i.e. going with Eren's actions. If he'd refused anything less than that, again, Floch would have turned to Eren. Either way, they end up down a path of death and destruction.

If people think Erwin would have succeeded in negotiating with Marley where Hange and the scouts failed, again, wrong, because he never would have even been given the chance, just like Hnage and the others were never given the chance, because, again, Eren went rogue and disappeared. Again, unless Erwin was somehow able to magically discover Eren's true intentions before they left for Marley, when up until that point, Eren himself was still in denial over it, then the outcome would have been the same, whether Erwin was with them or not.

People that claim Levi made the wrong choice and "doomed humanity" as a result, also routinely fail to acknowledge just how done Erwin really was. There's a reason Levi talks about not wanting to see Erwin become a "devil". I've talked about this at length already, so I won't repeat myself here. If you want to read more in depth about my thoughts on how Erwin's dream had begun to corrupt him and threaten his humanity, you can do so here: https://www.tumblr.com/cosmicjoke/737098651561787392/sorry-to-keep-reblogging-this-it-just-keeps?source=share But to go into it briefly, these same people who want to deny the significant role Armin played in Levi's choice, and how that speaks heavily to how Levi was very much considering what was best for humanity at that point, also want to deny that Erwin was in danger of losing his humanity if he'd been forced to go on living and leading the SC. The denial of this blinds them to the fact that, in Levi's view, what humanity needed was hope. It didn't need a leader who was broken by his own guilt and cynicism and self-loathing.

Just before Levi is about to inject Erwin with the serum, Erwin begins mumbling in a delirious state, talking to his father and asking about the outside world. He's still in the grip of his dream. Still, in his dying moments, possessed by it. He has nothing beyond that. That's what that moment shows us. He's just given up his dream by charging the Beast Titan to his own death, knowing death was the only thing that COULD release him from that dream. While he still drew breath, that dream consumed him. The idea that these people posit is that Erwin would have recovered from the loss of his dream by finding a "new dream" to be drunk on moving forward, and that would have allowed him to continue on as an effective leader. But what this take fails to acknowledge is how Erwin's guilt most assuredly would have been exacerbated by the discovery of the truth, not alleviated by it. He would have been met with the crushing disappointment of what that truth was. Yes, his theory that humanity existed beyond the walls would have been proven true, and thus his father's correctness. But beyond that initial vindication for Erwin, he would have been met with the bleak reality of their situation. That all those lives he'd sacrificed for his dream, for the discovery of the truth, would have amounted to nothing more than the hopeless realization that the rest of the world wanted them all dead. Instead of finding freedom or an answer to their hopes, they'd instead found themselves pushed further into a corner without hope of escape.

That wouldn't have lessened Erwin's guilt, it would have worsened it. There's no way Erwin would have felt that disappointing reality was worth all those lives he'd sacrificed. And that's where Levi's fear came in of what Erwin might become. Why he tells Floch Erwin would have to become a devil if he'd continued on as their leader. He was in danger of losing his humanity to his guilt and self-hatred. He might very well have been driven mad by that guilt without the distraction of his dream to shield him from those negative thoughts and emotions. There's a reason the panels show Levi recalling in this moment asking Erwin what he would do once he discovered what was in Eren's basement, and Erwin answering he didn't know. There's a reason Levi recalls Kenny saying to him that we need something to be "drunk on" in order to continue living. People that claim Erwin would have been fine love to ignore all of this. They love to ignore just how ruinous Erwin's pursuit of his dream had been on his psyche. And I'm not talking about whether the self-loathing he felt was earned or deserved. That question is irrelevant. It's irrelevant because whether deserved or not, it's what Erwin felt. He hated himself, and felt overwhelmed by the guilt of what he'd done, and the discovery of the truth and the realization of his dream wouldn't have assuaged those feelings. It would only have made them worse.

And that was never what humanity needed. It didn't need someone who'd been turned bitter and hopeless and filled with despair, the way Erwin was, that bitterness and despair likely only to become worse with the realization of his dream and its ugly, disappointing reality. His guilt would have only increased with the realization that the world all those soldiers under his command died for, that he convinced to die for, was an impossibility. It would have made him feel all the more as if he'd lied to them all, and sent them to their deaths for nothing. Again, to think Erwin would have been able to easily recovery from this, or move on and continue to lead in the wake of this, is absurd and fails to acknowledge the depth of Erwin's inner turmoil and suffering. To continue on in that role, after these revelations, after the confirmation that he'd convinced all those soldiers to give up their lives for a lie, would only have increased his self-hatred. The very fact he would have had to continue to lead is what would have threatened the loss of his humanity, ultimately, because there's no way he could have continued to operate in that role under that much crushing guilt. Retaining his humanity would have meant drowning in despair. Forfeiting his humanity would have meant turning into Floch or Eren or Zeke. In order to keep operating as the leader of the SC, Erwin would either eventually succumb to his guilt and be rendered useless, paralyzed by his self-doubt and fear, unable to bring himself to tell the lies, or what he believed were lies, required to inspire people to action, or he would truly have had to divorce himself from all sentiment and feeling, uncaring that he was lying and sending people to their deaths for nothing. And that, in the end, would have been a disaster, both for Erwin himself, and for humanity.

Levi says he doesn't regret not choosing Erwin, even as the Rumbling unfolds beneath him, and it's because he knows and fully believes that what humanity needed was someone that still believed in it, someone that still believed in it being worth saving, someone that still believed and had hope in something better, something beyond war and death. That was Armin. That's what Eren's own speech he gives to Levi, trying to convince him to choose Armin, is about. How Armin is this person who can see beyond fighting or thirst for revenge. How he's the person who will save humanity because he believes in that ideal future.

Levi says "I entrusted the future to that kid who had the same look in his eyes as all of you,". He literally says it. "I entrusted the future". He's very literally saying he trusted in Armin to carry humanity forward into the future it needed. That he specifically chose Armin for this purpose. That Armin's idealism was as much a consideration to him as Erwin's own suffering. These people love to talk about Levi saying "I chose this place for Erwin to die" while ignoring him saying later to Erwin "I didn't choose you", meaning he did choose Armin. It was as much a choice for him as it was for Erwin. Both of them weighed equally in Levi's decision. I don't understand how these people that claim Levi's choice was all about Erwin just completely ignore this line. It's so utterly disingenuous to do so and I think they know it. I think they know it's disingenuous to frame Levi's choice as if Armin wasn't just as important and significant in it as Erwin.

And I don't want to hear the argument that Levi was saying Armin's purity and the innocence of his dream was "the same" as Erwin's. Again, this is a disingenuous argument from these people, twisting Levi's words and their context to fit their agenda. Because they know deep down Levi wasn't comparing Armin's purity and the purity of his dream to Erwin, he was comparing it to the collective hopes and dreams of the soldiers of the Survey Corps, to all of his fallen comrades who offered up their lives in the belief it would help create a better, freer world. A "stupidly idealistic world", as Levi puts it. Armin's dream was akin to that. He wanted to see the ocean, he wanted to explore a world he believed was filled with wonders and beauty. He believed, even after the discovery of humanity beyond the walls and the reality of their hostility toward them, that there was beauty and wonder to be found and experienced. He never lost faith in that conviction. Armin's dream was one rooted in hope and belief and joy. That's what made it pure, and that's also why he was able to give it up so readily, because in its innocence, it didn't consume or define him.

Erwin's dream wasn't pure and anyone who claims otherwise is either full of it, or they seriously don't understand Erwin at all. Erwin's dream was never pure, because it was a dream rooted, not in hope and belief or joy, but one rooted in guilt and shame and a longing for atonement. He wanted to discover the truth not because he thought it would lead to a better world or to experiencing something beautiful, but because he was desperate to escape from the crushing guilt he felt over his father's death, and the belief that he was responsible for it. That's the literal opposite of purity. That's wretchedness and shame and self-loathing driving Erwin's dream, from the start. That's not an innocent dream able to be let go, that's a weighted shackle round his neck, threatening at all times to pull him under and drown him. And in the end, that's what had begun to happen to Erwin. That's what his dream had begun to do to him.

Armin encapsulated the dream of the Survey Corps, through his innocence, though the purity of his dream, through his belief that there was still a world out there worth discovering, worth exploring, worth experiencing, despite the bleak reality of their situation. Nobody believed in humanity's worth or its future more than Armin, and that's why he was the right choice. Because humanity needed someone who believed in it and its future. Ignoring Armin's role in Levi's choice is to fundamentally misunderstand why Levi made the choice he did in the first place. It wasn't only for Erwin's sake. It was for humanity's sake, too. And that really is supported, also, by the fact that Levi chose the humane option of not dragging Erwin back into the role that had left him with only more pain and guilt. He chose compassion, both in allowing Erwin to rest, and in choosing a boy who still held hope for humanity.

[bingqiuhateabortion]

Trying so hard not to be that "hualian invented love" guy but oh my god actually the way they're written changes your perception of love - the way it's presented in media - forever. Like so much of those ""you can't base your whole existence on another person because it will have a bad outcome and here's why" - a story" could be countered with "skill issue" because Hua Cheng exists. I mean, Xie Lian too but hc is the most prominent one for being an insane lover with such intensity that usually isn't narratively encouraged. He's that guy that would laugh off other's failures because they didn't love enough if they felt unfulfilled at some point because of disappointment/lack of reciprocity etc. If you're pretending to be madly in love but something sets you off your course you're a fake lover...

[fumblebee]

You wanna know something that grinds my gears? About good omens? Of course you do, come hither.

Everything that happens to them, is ultimately, their own fault.

That's right, I said it.

It's mentioned at the end of the book where they listen to Adam speak about how celestials really shouldn't meddle in human people's business cause it usually just makes things more complicated, and they admit Adam had become balanced anyways, despite all their meddling, all their attempts were futile, and the were pretty much just idiots. Thankfully, they were idiots, because imagine if they actually HAD any effect and changed this welcome outcome, but idiots none the less. They may have just been doing their jobs, but their choices are their own in the end (literally).

But

I propose to you the thought that this sentiment extends to season 2.

If they hadn't drawn so much attention to themselves with all they're "averting the apocalypse", Gabriel and Beelzebub wouldn't have caught onto the arrangement,(or the idea of it at least) started meeting up to chat shit and figure out what to do about things. They wouldn't have fallen in love. Gabriel would have still been in favor of ameageddon and never challenged his fellow archangels, leading to the whole mess(/pos) of the plot of season 2.

But most of all, there wouldn't have been an empty archangel seat. The metatron wouldn't have come down to fetch Aziriphale(home wreck) to fill that space.

They would still be together.

Also another thing that grinds my gears is when people say the story is about them "averting the apocalypse" and therefore not also a love story.

1. Neil himself has stated it is in fact a love story.

2. As I literally just stated, they didn't save shit. Literally what else could it be about.

If you really read the book and think about it with your big strong human brain, it's right there.

All they do is interact with each other over thousands of years and in the end try, in vain, to save the world they grew to love each other in. That's it. They kinda like humans. I guess. they're kinda worth saving. It's certainly a good excuse to save the world together without having to talk about your feelings. it's still beautiful though because it's clear from an outside perspective it's only for each other(as shown by comments from multiple characters WITHIN THE BOOK ITSELF ). they're so stupidly in love with each other they can't even see that.

Two idiots down horrendously.

And that's it.

Simple. Yet, so heartbreakingly complicated.

[haine-kleine]

and now for something different: another thought piece on the ending.

if you really think about it, the setups for the villains by itself weren't bad, what made the ending bad was so random abandonment of those setups.

I'd go as far as saying the villains got the better end of the deal, writing wise. unlike the heroes, who had to be reduced to ooc or had their screen time almost completely cut to make the contradicting ending flow fast without stumbling against the actual characters, the League were in character until the very end, and then they just disappeared from the story. just compare Shouto barely appearing and for the most part just Standing There to Touya being allowed to stay bitter and express that to his family, telling Enji off and then growing enough to apologize to Shouto. compare Ochako's stepford smiler complex blowing up in her face, and her breakdown about Toga being glossed over, shifting the focus to the class shenanigans, showing her perfectly happy and smiling in every single appearance from then on to Spinner's rightful rage and grief over Shigaraki's death, calling Deku a murderer and never coming to forgive him or move on from what was done to him, to all of them.

the villains are allowed consistency that the heroes aren't. because to make the ending happen so quickly and for the ending's events to make sense, the characters need to be reshaped and mutate into completely different ones, or to disappear from the radar completely.

and yeah, it sucks that we are left to decode and finish the threads of the story Horikoshi had left for us on our own, but at least the wiggle room and a wide door of possibilities was left open for the villains. the heroes' conclusions were strictly established and pretending that this ending doesn't belong to a completely different story seems like a worse option.

say, Deku has been pushed along the way by the narrative to save Shigaraki for almost the entirety of the manga. it's not even his failure that breaks the story in half, it's him and every other character save for Spinner acting like they are fine with it. Izuku's acceptance of this outcome for Shigaraki before he is even gone reshapes him into a completely different character, one who was fine with passing Eri by and not organizing a whole operation to save the little girl who was set up as Shigaraki's foil.

Shigaraki however, remains a whole character true to himself. his goals of making his voice heard and saving his friends are unchanged. he didn't change his mind and remained committed to these goals, and even if he wasn't allowed to do that on-screen, that's what our literacy analysis and imagination are for. one thing he and Deku did successfully achieve was breaking him free of AFO's vice grip on his life, and for the rest, he has Kurogiri and the League. who are conveniently missing throughout the final chapter.

Spinner was suffering in the end because of Shigaraki and his other friends' loss. Toga had committed a heroic act and then was left by the heroes to die. Dabi was reunited with his family and despite getting everything he ever dreamed of from them, he is miserable and crying in the end. Mr Compress was imprisoned after sacrificing himself to save the League, similarly to how Kurogiri was. Kurogiri was freed by the League. his consciousness was damaged but he pulled himself together for the singular goal of saving Tomura, because his friends are waiting for him, because he was supposed to save these people and become their hero.

he was even given a tool to do that, a combination of OFA and Overhaul quirks. the boy who had killed his family by accident, with a five fingers touch, brainwashed to think he did that to punish them for rejecting him. that boy being freed from the man who has been grooming and manipulating him since he was 5, having the freedom to make his own decisions and saving the people he had welcomed into his life with that same five fingers touch. becoming the League of Villains' saviour.

[your-turn-to-role]

so, was rewatching s1 of lovm, got to episode three again. and i'm thinking about percy's backstory. and also because of sylas briarwood, thinking about dalen's closet

and percy's got a real interesting relationship with the concept of drowning, huh

i mean first of all he's almost drowned (or actually drowned) three major times in the story. and all of those had similar themes, though different outcomes

so to explain what i mean, let's look at these in chronological order

1) the river. one of the worst days of his life, if not the actual worst. watching your entire family murdered, being locked up and tortured, your siblings bodies dumped in the cells next to you, just to rub it in. after weeks of this, you learn your youngest sister is alive, and she helps you escape, it's the first tiny bit of hope you've had. and then they kill her. you realise you're on your own all over again. you're hurt and you're lost and you don't know what to do, you run because you can't do anything else. and then you trip and before you know it you're in water and it's freezing and you can't breathe or move and you're so scared and so tired- and you don't remember much after that

when that fishing boat finds percy, he's basically in a fugue state, he has no idea what's going on and is barely responding to anything, his mind just couldn't take it anymore and left. and it doesn't get any better when he comes back to himself, because he survived, but for what. they're all gone. he couldn't do anything about it. he couldn't even save his sister like she saved him

and yes, they eventually save whitestone, and get cass back, but that experience stays with him

because then we get 2) duskmeadow.

percy's just learned that ripley bought up near industrial amounts of gunpowder, and he's terrified. he doesn't know what she's planning, but he knows what she will do with his weapons will change the world for the worse. it'll get countless people killed. and he made the decision to let her go, because at the time his personal revenge mattered more to him. he's feeling that "i survived for what" more than ever, because now not only did he survive when his family didn't, he didn't deserve to be the one that survived. none of the others would have caused destruction on this scale. he's not just alive for no reason, him being alive made things worse. (this is kinda explicitly his most suicidal point in the campaign, to the point of he literally wrote a goodbye letter that evening, and then just kept it on his person knowing vox machina would find it when his mistakes inevitably got him killed)

and so he goes to ask the raven queen for help. he's not yet reached the point where he's stopped trusting in gods (this meeting is about to be what sparks that), and he knows she's helped vax, so maybe she can help him, tell him how to fix this, he'll do anything

but there's only one way to talk to the raven queen. and that's to willingly let yourself drown in the communion pool.

and he tries, he tries so hard. he's putting every bit of trust he has in the raven queen right now, that this will be okay. but it's freezing and he can't breathe and he's so scared and so tired and all he can think about is how he survived and he shouldn't have, and then he has a panic attack. the only reason it eventually works is because he hits his head on the stone of the pool and then he's too confused and hurt to fight it

and when he finally talks to her, she tells him he can't fix it. that he was a broken person right from the start.

so far his two experiences with drowning have not only caused him lasting trauma around the whole experience, but continually affirmed that he's not only incapable of saving anyone he cares about, he actually makes the situation worse just by getting involved. and drowning honestly in itself makes a pretty good metaphor for how overwhelming and out of his control all of this is

but 3) dalen's closet. god, this was so good for percy and vex in so many ways, you can keep meta-ing about this episode for years. and in this case, sylas' attempt to murder vex and percy? chain them up and drop them from a cliff into the ocean

they're both drowning. there's no easy way out, and no one around who could rescue them

their attempts to free themselves, while clever, don't work

vex loses consciousness

it's just percy, alone, about to lose the person he loves most in the world, again. to a man who only knew vex even existed because percy got her involved

and percy doesn't panic

by all rights he should have, he's certainly got more than enough reason to. but he manages to stay calm enough to figure out a way to get his head above water, and to yell for help, because his fault or no he is not losing anyone else

and because of that, their friends can find them in time. he didn't get vex killed, he saved her

he's not helpless underwater anymore. and he's certainly not broken beyond repair. and it's only now that he's come far enough to realise that

[chrysanthemumgames]

Hi again!

This time I come back after re-reading the entire thing! Of course, aside from fixes to small continuity error and other stuff like that, it didn't change much from the last time I've read it, so I won't be saying anything new in terms of how much I love it and so on! It's just awesome as usual!

But I have a few questions I'd love to delve into, that I just didn't ask when the book wasn't finished, either because I didn't think of them or because I sort of preferred to wait for it to be actually done.

Sorry in advance for the long post though! It seems I'm unable to keep things short!

On a Hades romance playthrough, especially with a reserved MC who doesn't overtly flirt… Who among the other ROs and other people close to the main cast notices or suspects that there's a spark of "something" between Hades and the MC at the end of book 1? Considering just how much of a slow burn this route is, there isn't much to see yet, romance wise, but I feel like some people may realize something is starting to "shift" there.

When dining with Hera during her visit in chapter 6, if the MC tells her they like the Undeworld and what not, she ends up commenting "A shame". This line always had me reeling, but I didn't re-ask about it after first reading the entirety of the book so I'll do it now. Did she know what Demeter had planned to do? I always wondered why she'd think it's a shame, and it's pretty clear from the climax of the story that Zeus prefers the MC to stay in the Underworld, so I don't imagine it would be something like Hera knowing her husband wants to bring the MC back against their will. And there is no reason for her to have wanted MC to be unhappy for whatever reason. So it only leaves the option of her knowing about Demeter's plan in my mind, but maybe I'm missing something?

After the whole Eurydice and Orpheus thing, Hades says "There are some fates which very much deserve the fight. I know not what yours is, but if it turns out to be one you don't want, I am glad you have the power to change it. Not that this means I wouldn't do everything I could to help as well, of course." - it makes me wonder… Since for the duo of lovers their fate should have been for Orpheus to fail and that changed in my playthrough's case with my Dionysus' influence, I was wondering if in the scope of this story, the MC's "fate" should be the original outcome of the Persephone myth, with the "spending half a year in one realm the other half in another", and any other outcome is a result of having changed fate? Or is this not a part of their story that's truly decided by Fate in this interpretation of the myth? Also side note if it's the case, I think it's funny and kind of poetic that my MC basically traded his fate with Eurydice? Because his fate should have been spending half a year here and half there, and her fate should have been being separated from the one who came for her again after he failed and returning to the Underworld alone. But here, she managed to make Orpheus sort of succeed thanks to MC and now THESE TWO will spend half a year in one realm and half in another, while my MC managed to make Demeter fail and make it so he could go back and stay in the Underworld full time.

And final one! How much did Pirithous and Theseus get to know about what happened after Demeter dismissed them? At the very least in a scenario where they actually kidnapped the MC, not one where MC followed willingly. Not only I'm curious of Pirithous reflected upon his actions, but I'm also intrigued as if Theseus was "satisfied" of sorts that MC managed to go back (if that was indeed the case), considering he seemed against the kidnapping at least to a degree. If they even COULD keep informed, since they are demi-gods living as mortals as far as I understand their situation. I was just always interested in these two since they only appear in that short part of the story but what they do is HUGE.

And that's it. Sorry again for such a long post, and thanks for indulging me if you decide to answer even only some of the questions!

So!

I think a few of the others have picked up on things. I would say Charon and Hekate definitely know something is going on there, and friend!Hermes might have picked up some vibes as well. Even Alekto might have had a passing suspicion, though she doesn't quite consider it her business, and so doesn't devote much thought to it. People will tell her things when they want her to know them, you know?

Hera didn't have specific information about Demeter's plans, but she did know that it was likely she would take some form of drastic action. From her point of view, the arranged marriage was something Zeus did to screw with her (Demeter), and he was likely to reverse his decision once he'd had his fun with it/gotten some kind of concession from Demeter. So to Hera it seemed likely the PC had just found someplace they enjoyed, but their being taken away from it was basically a given.

There isn't really an assumed or default end for the story (or rather, not one that is more mechanically likely than another), but sort of yes! The PC ending up with a different outcome from the source story could be seen as their fate-subverting power at work. :)

Pirithous and Theseus are basically aware of the trajectory of events after they left, and this is because they're eventually brought to the Underworld for trial by the Erinyes. This is dealt with in the first chapter of the sequel.

Thanks as always for your kind words, and no worries about the questions!

[nyaagolor]

Umineko Chapter 2 Theory Posting

Well uh. To be honest with you I have very few ideas about this chapter, so actually laying out the "answers to the mystery" would be fruitless because I don't have any. Currently my only thought is that everything after the parlor scene is a hallucination or straight up didn't happen-- I think Rosa blew her nephew's brains out the second she thought him suspicious. Instead, I figured it'd be more fun to talk about the more macro stuff: to lay out what I think I know about the "rules" of the story so far. I'm not sure if these are right, but I imagine it'll at least help me start solving the mystery

The omniscient narrator is a lying little bastard. Every instance of raw "magic" and unexplainable things has occurred when we're in the omniscient narrator POV. While I do think there are more specific tells, for now I'm treating the omniscient narrator as a "what-if" rather than an unbiased reporter. To add onto this, I believe that each character's narration is giving us their version of the truth-- they're not lying, per say, as I think every character sincerely believes what they're saying is accurate, but I also don't think they're all correct. Thus, most of my theories are based on character POVs and not the limited narrator

We're outside the catbox, but the cat is still dead. Magic cannot and does not change the end result of something, only how it happened. We as the audience are exploring possibilities, but they're just that-- the only thing we know for sure is what happened when the box was opened. Thus, any event of magic can be explained retroactively by the end result, and anything that doesn't appear in the end result can be discarded. (For example, in the boiler room scene, we can ignore anything and everything that isn't "Kanon got stabbed" because that's the only thing that remains once the catbox is "opened")

Magic can only do what is accomplished by human hands. I'll admit that because I finished Chapter 2 earlier in my streaming session than I expected, my friend and I decided to go through to the first few scenes of chapter 3 and that's where I got this idea. We see here exactly how Beatrice "revives" the rose-- the explanation being that she just wrapped some gold lace around a different rose (since the one Maria was looking after was taken by Gohda to be their little dessert) and lied to Maria that it was her rose. This kind of smoke and mirrors is what I imagine magic is: it is impossible in a literal sense, but the outcome is only something that can be done by humans, and thus can actually be explained by human tricks

To sum it all up: I think that the entire story is in essence a catbox: We opened it up to find the cat dead inside, and Beatrice and Battler are basically just arguing about HOW the cat died, since everything happened before we opened the box. Since magic is just human tricks with a little more flourish, neither can be technically "wrong" at this point, but I can at least use these rules to make myself a framework for how to solve these mysteries

Unfortunately I'm even slower on the uptake than Battler so the likelihood I'll actually solve anything is. Questionable

PS: My answer to the ultimate mystery of "what the fuck is up with Beatrice" is that she's Kinzo's bastard child groomed to be like her mother for Kinzo's own fucked up romantic machinations, and the whole reason she's "like that" is because she's the child of divorce. Send tweet.

[theetwinkleboy]

i've been ruminating for about 18 hours now so here are my ch 429 thoughts:

i think, looking at some of my mutuals, i'm having a....weird reaction maybe lol. like i guess a benefit of this not being like a formative fandom that i've been in for years means that my emotional attachment to these characters is a little different to people who have literally grown up alongside them. but like. i still haven't watched the spn finale so i totally get the emotions people are feeling even if that's not my specific experience with this specific fandom. frustration is valid!

i just feel like, before the end of izuku vs shigaraki i would have expected a much different epilogue, but after the way that horikoshi ended that battle i feel like everything has been...pretty much what i expected? like reading through my reaction to that fight i was like 'i hope deku stays quirkless and he spends the rest of his life fighting for the promise he made shigaraki' and so in some ways my hopes have been met. like, did i want a different outcome? yeah. did i have to drastically readjust my hopes for this series over the course of the epilogue? also, yeah.

but like, a lot of this is the best i could have hoped for from izuku based on the ending we got to the fight in 423.

as for the rest of the league of villains--i keep thinking about what pikahlua said about the league of villains specifically being modeled on different japanese ghosts. so in a way, they 'achieved' what they wanted and then they were 'exorcised' via death. like. intellectually, i get the trope. i know i've said this but it just. it sucks and it's really bleak that that's the direction horikoshi decided to go but like. i get what he's trying to accomplish there.

so after that really long ramble, actual reactions to 429. i've read it a few times now, so i feel a bit more equipped to give thoughts rather than first impressions. and i may pull some of this out from behind a read more later, we'll see

i mentioned last week that i wished horikoshi had given us some other indication that the general public's attitude was changing toward people with mutation or villainous quirks--that they were willing to jump in to help people who couldn't help them in return, and not just to lend a hand to the heroes--and the wrap-up of the unknown child storyline this chapter did a lot of that, so i guess he was probably saving the reveal for now. it is important to show that it's not just izuku reaching out, it's all of society chipping in because that was the whole point, that society was complacent and judgemental and rotten and needed to change. so like! that makes a lot of sense and i did feel a little silly for being surprised by it because of COURSE this would be the avenue for showing that anyone can be a hero.

that being said, i'm a little...on the fence about the decentering of izuku from this narrative. because the reveal that none of his classmates know he's losing his quirk kind of threw me for a loop. on the one hand it makes sense bc izuku is, well. he's izuku. but on the other hand, nagant mentioned 'will society learn from what deku showed us' but really, when i think about it, what did deku show them if no one knew he was losing his quirk? they didn't see inside the mindscape with shigaraki and izuku--they didn't see him take his hand, or the fist bump later. what they saw was a bloody fight with a kid with a powerful quirk. a kid who kept getting up, yes. a kid who needed the help of everyone to get to the villain, yes. but also a kid who by all appearances used his powerful quirk to vaporize a powerful villain. what are they learning from this if they don't know izuku gave his quirk away? and how did they learn shigaraki's story later? did izuku share it? i don't know! i can't think too hard about it or it falls apart.

i did appreciate the shift from 425-now, where when izuku first woke up, he specifically said he couldn't save tenko. and then he was unsatisfied and visited spinner and said he'd never forget tomura shigaraki. and then here in this chapter he started to say tenko and then switched to tomura. it really feels like this--tomura's personhood and life and experiences--has been something izuku's been ruminating on ever since the battle, that this is something that his understanding of is evolving. even if we only get the barest notion of it when he expresses to uraraka that he feels similarly to her.

speaking of, uraraka. man. i appreciated izuku's tribute to her, and him calling her his hero and taking her hand was really really sweet. i literally don't care about ships so seeing some people being nasty about these guys comforting each other in a scene that has been narratively set up since their first talk was like...come on. come onnnn guys take your ship goggles off long enough to at least recognize that these two are important to each other and needed to have this talk.

also, the evolution from uraraka going off alone, feeling alone, feeling like she has to be okay because her friends aren't, telling izuku not to look at her, and then ending that scene with the whole class supporting her and telling her she could lean on them and she didn't have to smile in front of them was really heartwarming. like. she is a character that hides behind a smile a lot so this was deserved.

i think hawks just. expanding the billboard to add heroic figures completely misses the point, because the billboard was a symptom of the rot, and the hounding for higher spots on the billboard was literally a symbol for the superficiality of the hero industry. like. BARE MINIMUM i would have hoped for the billboard to be thrown out altogether, so this solution seems really dumb. the whole 'i don't want to not celebrate them and only punish them' also makes no sense. you don't have to rank people to celebrate them doing their job well. there's more to say but like. y'all get it.

aoyama's goodbye party, specifically eri headbanging on stage, made me smile. our kids deserve to not have to worry about the world for a moment, and i was glad to see the twinkle boy one last time.

there's still the epilogue next week so who knows what will happen then. in the meantime, i think i need to think some more about what the role of a hero has been in this story, and what horikoshi is telling us it should be/will evolve into, and also what i think it should be. because i think those may be different things. idk we'll see!!

[anonymouscheeses]

Nah not really! 😝🫶

Just kidding guys I love Aurora she's such a cutie patootie In need of mental, psychological and physical help!! Anyways oc lore drop below I guesssss 🥰

Uhh I'll tell history of her first!

So she started out as a side character actually... back when I was like... 9 or 10?? I was edgy asf. And I made a self insert oc who doesn't look anything like me anymore and now Aurora whos the mc now... kinda looks like me... but that's by coincidence she always looked like this i swear! She don't even act like me pls 😭 anyway. So it was basically an edgy story abt furries in the forrest. It's still about that but more than that. I think it was my second group of oc's I've ever made, apart from... more furries.

The story got more and more alternation and it turned into this queer allegory(i used to say racial allegory but its more queer one than that). Aurora hides a part of her (the ears) to pretend to be normal and fit in. She can't tell anyone what she truly is so she never feels like she actually does belong where she is. One day she let's her secret out and her house is burned down by some towns people. She runs away from the town, hiding in the forrest. Then her friend, Allison follows her, usually wearing a hat or beanie, now takes it off to show a similar pair of ears. They are the same, same situation and same outcome. Things get complicated when a few years later two teenagers(Jake and Jenny. Dating 🤭) their age come to try and track down the two to kill for honor among the town(they of course refuse to after meeting the two.) They become best friends and even have romantic interactions with Aurora. Ally, being a freak for her best friend, is jealous.

She makes a deal with a demon to find comfort.

Yeah I didn't explain everything surprisingly 😭 there's alot that goes on so if you want to see more work or think the story is at least a BIT interesting. My YouTube channel is under the same name! Milk pfp. I'll probably change it to same pfp idk

O ya an the reason she has angel wings and halo is cuz she's used as a host by an angel non consensually!! 🥰 its a WHOLE chapter of her story-

[cupidsbower]

Dunki review

Spoilers for themes and tone below. Don't read if you want to go in cold. In short: recommended.

I can see now why none of the trailers for Dunki really did it for me. The second drop song Lutt Putt did though, and that was enough for me to think the trailers might be misrepresenting the film.

I was right. Or rather, it's not that they misrepresent the film, but they misdirect about what the actual journey is so that you're not spoiled.

The thing the trailers are working so hard to hide is that this is a tragedy. Yes, it has a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, especially in the first half. It also has some pointed satire as you'd expect from this director, and adventure, and a bit of action, and some rousing speeches. And romance of course, with SRK at his soulful best. It has all of that, and it's deftly done and very entertaining.

But we all should have known from the title that there was only one way a story like this could really end.

Dunki is about the bitterness of poverty, and how it strips people to their core character and forces them into making choices that change their lives forever. Even when that change leads to the best possible outcome - which it usually doesn't - it's at the price of bone deep regret that cannot be undone. It's life ruining.

Of Shah Ruhk Khan's three movies this year, I was bored by Pathaan, but could see why people were keen on it. In contrast, I was sold on Jawan from the first preview and adored it - a highlight of the year for me. But I didn't really get what all the fuss was about Dunki, and why people were so hyped about it.

I get it now. This director knows their stuff.

I'm not sure how big a hit Dunki will be, because I don't think it will be what people expect. It's not a feel-good Christmas movie. I got the vibe from people leaving the cinema that they enjoyed it, but weren't wowed.

I enjoyed it a lot - in a completely different way to Jawan, even though it has some thematic similarities. I need to mull Dunki over some more before I come to a final conclusion about it. Do I want to re-watch it? I think so, but maybe not for a while. It made me sad.

Dunki is a really entertaining movie and I recommend it, just be ready for a tragedy, not a romcom.

You'll laugh. You'll fall in love. You'll have your heart stomped on. It's a whole ride.

[lyco-riis]

I've been thinking about it and I think the reason why such a vocal part of the fandom has been twisting the ending of MHA into such a negative thing is because the concept of being content with one's situation is something they don't take into consideration. Or not properly, at least.

The story has always put an emphasis on how much Izuku wanted to be a hero and I guess that's why it's so difficult for people to grasp that... his goals/wishes might have changed. Quite a few years passed between the final war and the end of the manga. It's more than feasible that his wish has changed or adapted in that time. And overall, his desire to help people still remains the core aspect of his goals. Being a teacher is a great way to achieve that—he had the experience, the skills and the personality for it, too. Plus, as someone who had a not so great school experience (middle school), he understands well how to help the students.

That said, the one thing that seems to bother a part of the fandom the most is that they think the manga paints him in a position where he just accepted the teacher position and his life, because of the loss of his quirk and thus is forcing himself to be content with the outcome.

That's honestly a really depressing way to view the ending. It's also wrong.

I'm not going pretend losing OFA didn't make him reconsider things—that's a big, sudden change, after all. But like, Midoriya Izuku is literally written as one of the most stubborn characters ever. He wouldn't have quit and packed it up just because of that. Maybe middle school!Izuku would have, but the final war!Izuku is different, he has a lot more confidence, knowledge and experience. He has grown as person and I doubt losing OFA would have truly stopped him.

I feel like it's wrong to even consider him becoming a teacher as him stoping being a hero. Overall, the Izuku during the finale has one big difference compared to the one from the beginning—he's content/confident about being quirkless. It's not really something that's holding him back anymore, that's making him falter. I don't think people realize it even though Hori kind of spelt it out. But 14-year-old Izuku let his quirklessness hold him back. It's obvious in the way he searched for validation in others (the rooftop scene with All Might). Meanwhile, during the finale chapter, it's very obvious that it's not really something holding him back. He's the one to reassure a kid that he can be a hero—because Izuku has been, still is, a hero. Because now as adult he simply knows it's possible. He doesn't need the validation of others and the lack of a quirk is not something that will hinder him.

I think this is a very important point to understand about his character, because I believe it... puts his job as teacher into a whole new light.

A large part of the fandom read the scenes where he talks about his former classmates and his loneliness with Aizawa and somehow created a misconception about the situation in their head.

They see this scene and so on as proof that Izuku isn't content with his job. As mentioned, I think, people don't really understand what being content with one's situation actually means. Feelings of what-ifs and loneliness and other stuff like that are normal, even if you are truly content with something—as long as they don't appear in an excessive amount. Even if you truly love your current job, there might still be times you're going to think, 'What if I chose that other job...' But as long as you don't think like that constantly, it's not regret. The loneliness comment isn't meant to be proof that he's unhappy with the situation. It's natural to feel lonely once in a while, especially if everyone's busy with packed schedules and you can't meet up until, like, two months pass. Missing people is normal, y'all. That doesn't mean Izuku has been abandoned by anyone.

(That whole debate about 1-A abandoning him is so ridiculous, because anyone who's ever had a job, knows it's damn tough to find time to meet up with people because you can't always have off at the same time and weekends aren't a guarantee either. Plus, that doesn't count how expensive meeting up can get when you don't live near each other. Also, I've seen someone say, Hori should just have not done that part based on reality then because it's a manga about heroes with superpowers—are you serious? If Hori has always done one thing in his writing, it's that he still made the world of MHA somewhat realistic despite the superpowers. The kids school life, the discrimination, the job aspect of the hero industry as well the entertainment aspect—of course, he was going to keep it realistic. Anything else wouldn't even make sense. Being a hero is supposed to be a demanding job. If they all had constantly time to hang, that would be questionable too.)

It's also baffling me that the concept of Izuku shifting his goal from being a hero on-field to training future heroes as teachers is so unbelievable to a part of the fandom. If you ask me it makes perfectly sense. Izuku wants to save people, to help people. Training future heroes is an indirect way to do so... But also a direct way. You can't tell me his whole story with Shigaraki didn't make him think about his situation. You can't tell me, he completely forgot about his time during middle school.

Y'know, considering he had such questionable teachers in middle school and then such great ones in high school (seriously, Aizawa and All Might did a lot), it wouldn't be surprising if he realized that he might be capable of helping the students, even if it's just to reassure them that everything's going to be fine and stuff like that.

I'm not saying he completely gave up on being an on-field hero (the ending with the suit is a clear indicator on where he stands there), but acting like he's miserable as teacher and hates it and is unable to shift his goals and dreams, is a disservice of his character, in my opinion.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, this was building up over the days.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

So I finished the trilogy and woahhh it was... well it was not what I'd expected lol. My thoughts are a little messy and jumbled so I can't put them into words rn and I can't decide how to feel about alina's ending.

But yeah the whole "Like sure, he put a fucking collar on her but she’s His and it’s Not Supposed To Be Like This." pretty much explains his thought process. What was it supposed to be like in his head? Wonder what would've happened if Alina had been an obedient little pet sun summoner and done everything just the way he wanted it. Would he have grown tired of her after sometime? Or if at any point in the books alina would've reciprocated his advances how would he have reacted? Also, just what exactly does he even want? Like if he'd gotten his perfect sun queen and ruled ravka would that be enough for him? Idk he's a weird little guy and I think nothing would satisfy him. Also sorry for yapping around in your askbox lol I read these books because of your takes so I didn't know who else to share my thoughts with 😅

Re: this ask Oh yeah. Yeah... the ending is bad lol. In some ways I can understand what LB was going for? But the end result feels wildly regressive for Alina as written. It's a real shame!

FWIW she said this about it in a Q&A: "In Ruin and Rising, Alina embraces her role as a Saint when she must, faces a dictator who she knows possesses greater power than she does, learns to rely on people to help buttress her own strength, murders her best friend because she knows the sacrifice is required.

What does Alina do after she loses her power? Brings down the most powerful Grisha in the world using her intelligence, courage, and the teachings of a woman who was her mentor and friend. Secures a pardon for Genya. Determines the future of the Second Army by selecting the Triumvirate (Zoya, David, and Genya) and getting Nikolai to put them in power.

And as for ending up where she began, Alina chooses to rebuild Keramzin and make it a place of love and learning where every child can be raised to be a valued citizen of the new Ravka, and where every child has a say in his or her destiny—Grisha or not. In other words, she gives orphans and refugees, the unwanted and disadvantaged, the opportunities she never had.

For me, these are not the actions of a girl who does not know her own worth. That's how I see the story, and that's why I wrote it that way."

And like... I get it... but... that isn't the narrative framing that actually exists in the series. It's not really a story that's about her being told that her only value is in her power and therefore her having to lose her power to see her own worth being the logical conclusion? And even in a scenario like that, I think you'd need to spend longer with her having lost her power and having to adapt without it, rather than it just being the conclusion of her story. The series sets up Alina's power as something intrinsic to her that she's been suppressing to be with fucking Mal, who textually doesn't appreciate her. Her growing into herself is explicitly tied to her embracing her power-- something the Darkling tries to wrest from her. Meanwhile the story continues to build up a conflict where it becomes increasingly clear that she cannot be with Mal if she continues to have her power (because she'll be more important than him lmao) so... the conclusion is that she loses her power and settles into obscurity... and again explicitly this is the only way she can be with him? Infuriating! I think Bardugo tries to frame Alina changing her name and going to live in the countryside as like a positive exiting of the narrative, being released from the burden of it. But the way the story is built just doesn't support that! Anyway, re: the Darkling, I agree that he would never have been satisfied with any outcome. He's had centuries since the creation of the Shadow Fold to build up the idea of the Sun Summoner as the cosmic answer to every one of his problems. As someone who exists specifically to fill the gaping hole in his withered husk of a heart lmao. And those just aren't expectations that any real, living person could ever live up to. Anyway, eye personally do not think he would have grown tired of her, for the same above reasons. The accumulated obsession is just way too intense and has basically nothing to do with her. So in a way, nothing she could do would kill it. As far as reciprocation. I mean I think he would've always gone gloves off with her at some point. The plan was always to use the amplifiers to control her. Even if she hadn't run away, at some point she would have refused to help him do mass murder, and he would've treated her the same way. Frankly, her running away was such a small mutiny, that itself tells you how little he's willing to compromise or give her any space. She hadn't acted against him, she was afraid and with good reason! It would've been so easy to just... tell her that Baghra was lying lmao. Just be nice and smooth things over! But he's fucking incapable. And I think reciprocation would've gone the same way. Like, in the first book she literally offers to work with him if he doesn't kill Mal. Which... would literally just give him a hostage to hold over her head forever. Like it was a good bargain for him. But he couldn't, because he cannot bear a situation where she gets to dictate the terms at all! He'd always want to make sure he has complete and utter control. I've speculated a couple times about "And then what?" scenarios about him winning though