#it's just copium to say otherwise

[competition-sky]

I wish someone would talk about it lol

[magnifythesun]

okay but also i feel like while ian and anthony MAY just have mono from kissing too much i also feel like maybe they're cooking up something more exciting than the usual livestream? maybe that's why they missed today?

[demonsfate]

stop trying to make protagonist kazuya + villain jin happen. it's not going to happen.

[lear-dot-rpy]

me: thank you for everything sir

my prof: you shouldn't be taking me, you should be annoyed at me.

me, incapable of anger and on the verge of tears: no, still, thank you. even though I failed, you still gave me the opportunity to try and achieve my dreams by helping me shift courses. you still gave a shot to study here in this state university. i still get to live on with no regrets that i didnt try

my prof: ... Ms. Lear, no matter where you may go, I hope you [something I didn't hear]

me: what?

my prof: just looking at you stresses me out. everytime i look at you i feel stressed out. just take a break and do what you want to do in life

me, emotional whiplash: wait what, what do you mean-

[pianostarinwonderland]

maybe skully isnt dead 🤯 [half copium half srs]

listen. ik ive been on copium for a while. ik we all are, ive seen twitter, tumblr, and everyone’s tags on my posts when they reblog

BUT PLS HEAR ME OUT. IM SO SERIOUS RN WHEN I SAY: if u wanna be technical about it, if u wanna stretch it out somehow, you can argue that the game never outright states that skully is dead, only that the skully we met was from hundreds of years ago.

“but mamsir pianostarinwonderland, how in the fuck can that be???? we HEARD that invisible kiss” LET ME COOKKKKKK ����🔥🔥 I SWEAR EVERYONE, I AM COOKING U JUST HAVE TO HEAR ME OUUUUUUUUUUUUUT— knocked out

Ok serious time, let me mansplain to you all the possibility of Skully being alive

Establishing first of all, Twst has kept Skully's nature vague

Simply put: we don't know if Skully is human. In his live 2D, Skully's ears are completely covered. Even in his illustration, we can barely see his ears. It's an interesting design choice. However, in his chibi (which wasn't revealed until Episode 5), we can see his ears aren't shaped like a fae, but are round like that of a human.

However, it's pretty hard to think he's human either, when we consider his "moshi, ne moshi" greeting in Episode 1 and its connection to the supernatural. Voiced, to be noted. Exactly what kind of creature he could be is currently unknown, but because this part was voiced, it's something we need to pay attention to at the very least.

In regards to his mortality, the only clue we're really given is Skully himself saying that he may never meet us except through Halloween, which implies a lifespan similar to a human or something similar. But Skully doesn't know how far into the future that the cast is from. Heck, does he even know of his nature?

Now, addressing that invisible kiss...

I feel like this is the main thing that told all of us that Skully is long gone. Heck, if you catch me in my right mind, I might just tell you that yeah, that should be enough proof that Skully is dead! Little signs from the dead such can manifest in similar ways to what Jamil and Leona sensed: hearing a kiss and feeling a kiss on your hand.

(unfortunately i'm not in my right mind so you're getting my dumb reasons why i'm arguing for otherwise)

However, if Skully is gone, I find it interesting that this is the way they decide to show it. We already know from the very first Halloween event that ghosts can manifest all year round in Night Raven College due to the high concentration of magical power in the area. Outside of that, they cannot be seen. If they really wanted to confirm with the audience that Skully is a ghost, they could have had him appear as such at the end, when they all returned to Night Raven College.

But they chose a scenario where people can draw a lot of conclusions from it: Is their senses getting fucked over as they wake up? Are they still reeling from the magic of the book? (though rationally, we know that Leona is not one to be easily stunned, so the first question is at the very least easy to dismiss)

I've also seen some people theorize that he's using invisibility magic during the invisible kiss scene. And well, while I find that funny, it makes me wonder if he could be some other kind of spirit that's not dead. Like an undead of some sort, which the residents of Halloween Town are. Heck, Azul's card line about Skully talks about how he seems to fit right at home with the Halloween Town residents. Again, we don't know Skully's true nature, but the possibility of him being a species that can turn invisible is interesting.

Moving on, we have what Dire Crowley stated about Skully

At the end of the event, Crowley tells us that he found Skully’s portrait while rummaging through the storage and shows it to us and the 11 boys who went inside the book

What he tells us is that Skully J. Graves is a NRC graduate from hundreds of years ago, before Crowley was Headmage. Note that he only was appointed for the position 100 years ago; the Skully we met is at least from around 200 years ago. During his NRC years, Skully got to share Halloween to NRC. It was a hit, and when he graduated, he spread Halloween all over the world in his travels.

I'd like to take a little detour first to discuss something that's been weighing on my mind: Some people have thought that Crowley is lying to us when he speaks about Skully and his achievements, but... I don't see why he would lie. For one, there is a decent chance that Crowley might not have gotten to see Skully. Even if he did, it's even more unsure if he was involved in Skully's affairs.

However, there's one main reason why I do think that Skully got to live a fulfilling life instead of facing an overblot that killed him or some other tragedy. I'd like to dedicate a longer post to this matter, but to make it concise, I think through Skully, Twst is starting to establish something new regarding their history. I think that historical teachings, folktales and stories, and rumors that are well-known tend to be lies or twisted truths. Whereas those that are obscure and not known are actually what occurred. Skully is called the King of Halloween who's done so much to spread the holiday to the world, yet not even NRC students, who should be the first to know considering that Skully is an alumna, know of him. Although there may be other reasons why that's the case, I like to think that at the very least, Skully's obscurity indicates that he did live the life he wanted and succeeded in working for a future that generations after him can enjoy.

Anyway, that actually isn't the main point of this section of the post, but I kind of want to air that out first. The main point is that Crowley only really said that Skully is a former NRC student from hundreds of years ago who traveled around the world to spread Halloween. But he never told us where he was buried or whether he saw his ghost roaming NRC. He never said anything about Skully being dead.

He probably said the hundreds of years ago bit, carrying the assumption that of course, Skully may have passed away. But we have to remember that we have long-living species in Twisted Wonderland. Fae that were students 200 years ago are very likely to be alive now. Crowley himself is a long-living creature, having been Headmage for 100 years. I think with that in mind, it's important for him to emphasize that Skully's gone if he really is. But he never mentioned it. Therefore, there is a good chance that Skully might just be somewhere else. That or Crowley just doesn't give a fuck where his alumni go, and I might be thinking too deeply about the absence of certain words. Honestly, that's a pretty good chance too.

Lastly, we have the scene where Jack Skellington gets shot down but survives it

Here's where it gets a bit more into speculation, but you're going to have to hear me out.

In the movie, Jack Skellington gets shot down by the military for impersonating Santa Claus. When the Halloween Townspeople watched it, they all despaired, and the mayor started declaring to all that Jack has been blown to smithereens and proclaimed him dead.

But that's not what happened: we find Jack landing on an angel's statue, alive and definitely not blown to smithereens.

And considering that Skully is still very much twisted from Jack Skellington... do you think the writers are pulling a similar move? Making us think that he's dead, just as the townspeople thought he was dead, only for us to learn eventually that he's alive.

This of course depends on what happens eventually in the sequel. From the way things are proceeding, what happened in the Lost in the Book with TNBC is events prior to the movie, and we could very well have the sequel be set during the movie events. (If you ask me, I kind of doubt that actually. I feel like Skellington got inspired by Skully's love for Halloween, enough to stay true to his identity as the Pumpkin King, which would mean the movie wouldn't happen the way we know it. So if anything, I feel like TNBC 2 would focus less on the actual movie and more on the side games where Oogie takes over Halloween Town and even kidnaps Santa and other people, but I admit, that's a stretch, especially considering that we will get Santa giving Halloween Town a taste of Christmas)

Of course, this post is really just to let some of my copium out. Rn, it's still safe to assume that yea, Skully's dead. And though I am coping hard for Skully to be alive, with the way Twst treats the dead, it's not exactly a bad thing. Ghosts continue to stay in NRC like they're living people. They honor the dead, and let the dead live among them. And even if he is in the afterlife and not stuck in the mortal plane, I have faith that Skully did live a fulfilling life that may have been forgotten but clearly changed the world. :'D

[blackpilljesus]

Why I'm no longer a feminist

For context I've been heavily involved in liberal & radical feminist spaces, skirted around marxfems but they're all similar behaviour wise while claiming to be better than others which is what all the below points are based on. All of these apply irrespective of the type of feminism.

Feminism failed - Around 2020/2021 when I was still a feminist, I read an article about how feminism failed and realised it was right. It highlighted how it's been decades of feminism yet it took a pandemic to set women back (women turning to sex work to survive, women quitting their jobs to take care of kids) and it got me thinking. All this pandering to moids, all this work, yet women are always one political disaster away from losing it all. Now tbf it isn't exactly a fair battle with decades of established feminism going up against millenias of oppression but the below points certainly do not help feminism move womens freedom/rights forward.

So much infighting - Nobody is ever a true feminist. Despite everything feminists would say about maIe violence & how it affects womens lives; they'd lash out, smear, or block women that actually hated maIes. I'll never forget being blocked by a big feminist page for saying how women would be better off living without maIes in our lives using their poll data collected on what women would do if maIes didn't exist for 24 hours. They claimed I was being hateful to maIes like come tf on everyone else gets to hate their oppressor but women. Also I've noticed feminists are generally nicer to maIes despite all the abuse but harsher to women they disagree with. Complaining about maIes is just a hobby to them, when a woman more serious comes along they attack that woman more than they attack abusive maIes. Similarly they defend maIes more fiercely than they defend women & girls. Says a lot about their character. I'll expand more on these phenomenons on lower points. Having civil disagreements among feminists is rare (which is what happens when there's no direction) as disagreements will end up in explosive fights full of abuse, smearing, doxxing, etc. It's especially worse as a lot of the time these fights are over moids.

No clear goal or direction - It can't even be agreed among feminists who the movement is for, who is benefitting & being harmed by the system, and the goal. I get that there's usually factions within big ideologies but there's almost no cohesion among feminists which makes it difficult to even discuss let alone advocate so instead of moving forward, feminists go around in circles. Feminism doesn't seem to actually be going anywhere.

Not helpful to marginalised women (in the west) - Despite claims of adopting Intersectionality, marginalised women are often left out of serious mainstream conversations by feminists i.e. black women left out of blm as voices & efforts are focused on marginalised maIes.

Lot of copium - Rather than addressing problems, many feminists want to pretend the problem doesn't exist with a sister circle of women that'll do the same.

Realised how toxic & complicit women are - Even several feminists can be toxic maIe lovers willing to drag any woman & her name through mud for maIes sake. So much enabling behaviour is peddalled in the name of "sisterhood" but let it be a woman that doesn't want anything to do with maIes and feminists have no problem excluding & hating on her. Feminists speak about how women are just too kind & empathetic for their own good which is very misleading. Women are manipulative & also calculative with their actions, they aren't the innocent victims feminists preach them to be (not saying they have to be innocent but it's disingenuous & reckless pretending otherwise). Women (including feminists) will be gentle with maIes but harsher with women; especially women that merely disagree with them. Another issue I have with feminists is that (especially with radfems) they push "men bad women good" agenda when women are also bad. Just because they're oppressed doesn't mean they cant be bad. Whenever women have power (esp over other women) they can be evil. Besides the fact that women still love moids despite everything they do & their "bountless empathy goodwill nature" mostly extends to maIes says a lot about their so-called "goodness".

Realised most of this is just a pass-time until women find & lock in their nigels - Even fierce radical feminists of the 80s that went all out eventually settled down with a moid & kids reflecting on their radfem days as a hobby. I'm not looking to do the same. Many feminists, even the most staunch ones eventually end up bragging about finding a good man that's not like the rest, he's different they're sure of it (said every woman ever). The thing that gets me is that they cant even shut up about their nigel in a space supposedly for women, they want to affirm their ego by flaunting their special nigel to other women then months down the line it's "actually he was a manipulative POS" sure sis.

Saw how common maIe panderering is - each type of feminist accuses the other of pandering to maIes when they all do it, just in different ways and yes this includes radfems which was my last straw. Also many feminists prop up maIe voices even for the most simplest thing, they'll stand behind maIes being treated like crap by other ones for defending women but they wouldn't do that to women. I've realised that for most feminists it isn't about helping women advance irrespective of maIes but reforming maIes for their personal desires which takes me to the next point.

Despite all the complaining, statistics, news, theory, analysis; most feminists want to be with a moid & reproduce at some point completely overlooking everything they preach - I've realised how performative most feminists are. Separatism & the notion of not dating or reproducing with maIes gets so much hate bc these women only want to complain & get dopamine off playing victim. They want to have their cake and eat it and I want to part in that. Gets draining being in these spaces if you actually want nothing to do with moids & their evil. You get attacked for hating or wanting nothing to do with maIes instead of wanting to reform them. It's at a point where I'm agitated seeing the same headlines, discourse, theory, etc repetitively. It's like a pest, it irritates me because nothing will change. Moids will continue to abuse women with no consequences & women (including feminists) will continue to love them. I just dont care anymore. I've noticed the maIe panderers & reformers obsess over the repetitive theory, headlines, stats, etc because they want to change maIes to make it easier to settle down with them. Those of us who see that moids are past the point of redemption & want them gone aren't spending our days dolling out the same stats & theories. Look at many serious separatist/4b et al pages, many of them don't talk about maIes much (second half of this anons ask was questioning why I don't prominently speak about men & misogyny) and this is because we see the pattern, have drawn our conclusions, and now want to move forward. Saw the below photo in my gallery & it sums up this point tho it applies to all feminist communities. Drives you crazy when you're not invested in maIes or forming relationships with them. SN; bear discourse is also an example of this.

Realised that this goes beyond witty one-liners & comebacks - I feel like many feminists have created a culture of who can have the hottest take & it's become a thing of snapping back at maIes sorta like the below video explains rather than caring about women.

At some point when you actually don't care for maIes, you don't feel much & the discourse means nothing. I dont care if their behaviour is social or biological, I dont care if they can be reformed, I don't care if I or my actions dont make sense to moids, I just view them all as threats & want to be safe from their evil. No amount of throwing stats & headlines at moids will get them to change. Even if you "win" debates it doesn't bring material value for women but of course this pads many feminists egos as they've got an interest in changing maIes.

Saviour complex - many feminists have saviour complexes which causes arrogance fuelling many of the problems above. People are more aware than they let on and this includes about misogyny but a lot of feminists care more about looking like heros to feel good about themselves rather than actually helping women & girls. P.S todays set of feminists aren't the first set (or even first 3) of women to have the 'theory' of patriarchy that they do.

Feminism has generally done good work over the years for women but with what I want I dont see feminism achieving it. The light switch flipped for me when I saw that these issues from feminists weren't because of a minority but a majority. This isn't even personal I've seen feminists treat other women like crap for maIe validation. Look at what happened when the depp v heard trial was going on & how several feminists initially sided with depp to prove they can hold "female abusers" accountable & claim moids are victims with the expectation maIes can do the same. Feminists even went against andrea dworkin herself when she was raped. I've realised most women do not want liberation as this will likely come without their happily-ever-after life with maIes so they settle for reformation; however this cant be done without other women also taking hits which is why they'll pull the "we're all in it together bs".

[xx-psych0-rabbit-xx]

YEAH NO while ive never rly cared for magolor beyond "my friend like this character so ill listen abt him" the canonization of clash (n further complicated mirror "lore"(quotes bc they neglect that part sm i dont think anything clash does outside of throwing flat characters in is slightly close to lore LMAO) n a whole ass other parallel universe) feels so.just for the sake of it? it only happened bc itll make things "shocking n complicated n cool!!!"

so now im scared anything i find interesting is being done just for the sake of it.n yeah the non canonization of the park is a tad weird too bc it feels more interesting to me, building a whole ass park just for forgiveness rather than.idk maybe doing kingdom capitalism for a while.i might have trust issues now.

Goofy ah Forgotten Land essay incoming:

It took me till like a week ago to realize that KATFL writes Elfilis and Forgo as being the same characters and I don't know how to feel about that. I feel Forgo is more interesting as it's own being the way Elfilin is from 'Lis, because I like the idea of them both being these smaller figments of the past self reduced to childish forms representing absolutes of the original. But at the same time, what made me realize that this isn't the game's intention is when I was going to say something about how hollow Elfilis is as a character in comparison to Forgo.

So really, you either make Forgo and Elfilis effectively one character and Elfilin another, negating Forgo of its own identity as a pathetic pitiable beast so that Elfilis continues to have a presence - or you make all three of them seperate characters, and Elfilis loses what they gain as a character from Forgo's motivations.

Elfilis has not a single defined motive for why it attacked the people of the Forgotten Land very much unlike other Kirby villains who can atleast say something like, "power/gain (Magolor), vanity/power (Sectonia), greed (Haltmann), or vengeance (Hyness)". Elfilis and Forgo are often described as invasive species, but what that entails isn't obvious because all we know about 'Lis' evil intentions is from Forgo. But Forgo has its own motivations that exist outside of Elfilis' original wishes - that being its captivity in Lab Discovera, which is very strong on its own.

It adds a very engaging sense of darkness to the legacy of the Forgotten Land, and makes you pity and understand its raw animosity as much as you wish to defend the world from it. The fact that Elfilis was a violent invader rather than just some other alien adds little to its motive, but does add thematic garnish to the idea of how alien life has approached the Forgotten Land. But at the same time, Forgo's captivity is such a strong motivator it really could have stood on its own and still been effective as an alien antithesis to Kirby... Though I admit not as much as what Elfilis is.

Probably to most people that have been reading straight from the games intentions, the former sounds more appealing than the latter. But, probably due to my own stubbornness and bias I really really do love them being 3 seperate entities even at the expense of depth for Elfilis. Because one of my favorite reoccurring themes in this series is vain idealization of the past fucking villains over.

I like this in Taranza's devotion to a Sectonia that no longer exists, Susie to a father that has long since been lost in his own mad schemes to find her, and Hyness obsessing over a very flawed understanding of his cult's past. And I USED TO LIKE the idea that Magolor's obsession with the crown was him, as a *Halcandran* glorifying Halcandra's past relics, but CANT HAVE THAT ANYMORE.

If the Kirby writers don't got me anymore, I guess I'll got myself. I like the idea of Forgo being as seperate from Elfilis as 'Lin is, but while Elfilin is all of their originals innocence, purity, and hope, Forgo is its raw anger and vengefulness. Visually taking Elfilis's soft/mammalian and alien/insectoid motifs respectively, but both distinctly being immature and incomplete states. Elfilis was not just that anger nor just that hope (wherever it came from), and is only the culmination of those two sides, it's a symbol of a self the two can never be on their own - one that Forgo idealizes and one Elfilin avoids.

For the sake of the ending where Elfilin reclaims the last bit of Forgo/Elfilis that is willing to go on, I prefer the mutuality of Forgo and Elfilin moving on together, rather than Elfilin just accepting Elfilis if that makes ANY sense. I just like the way Forgo and Elfilin parallel eachother more than he does with 'Lis? I like the narrative of healing that acknowledges that Forgo and Elfilin are both lost and grieving children, rather than Elfilin abandoned Elfilis who then became Forgo. Like the latter feels oddly possessive and unbalanced.

And as I said in line with past series themes, I kinda like the idea that whatever the fuck Elfilis had going on is irrelevant, just as seeing the faces of the people of the Forgotten Land is irrelevant - all that is relevant is what was left behind. I like the idea that Elfilis cannot really speak for itself anymore as a character the way the people of the Forgotten Land can only speak through their ruins and audio recordings. And as those people left behind a legacy of reclaimed wonder and terrible cruelty, in response, Elfilis left behind one of innocent hope and unbridled anger. I'd prefer to try and piece together what those two opposing visions say of their predecessor than just assume one speaks for them in its entirely I s'pose...

[oneslimybastard]

Ghetsis facts:

>At least two grunts are scared of him (musharna being able to spook them off with visions of being scolded by Ghetsis)

>His speeches does in fact convince some people to release their pokémon or at least second-guess their view on the trainer-pokémon relationship

>Tells the grunts to give Bianca's Munna back

>Persuasive enough to essentially wiggle some of his Guys out of arrest in Driftveil, even if Clay does it reluctantly

>Knows Reshiram and Zekrom would not fuck with him so he picks up a miracle child from the forest to do it for him instead. Raises said child kind of like his own but also kind of not, there's a deliberate distance put between them

>Did make this wonderchild who can speak to pokémon and are clearly very empathetic towards them hang out with pokémon who had been mistreated for the purpose of instilling an ideology in him.

>Randomly has 3 ninjas who are just ride or die until the end of time for some reason

>Lots of team plasma is ride or die for him actually, otherwise Neo Team Plasma wouldn't have been a thing

>He rubs the death of Alder's partner pokémon in the mans face. All cheeky beaky like. Because he can.

>He will tell the teenager his Adopted I Swear Not Related Promise son is fixated on as a rival all about how he basically groomed say son into doing all of this dragon bullshit while having them cornered on a bridge. Then just casually walks off. His ninjas are there too.

>Will also happily tell said teenager they probably aren't that special or chosen or whatever, lol lmao, seems like ur dragon haven't woken up yet, dw maybe it will, lol.

>Cannot take an L to save his fucking life. Will lash out at everything and everyone around him and build a stupid airship with a stupid laser powered by the crinkly old grandpa of the dragon trio and do a terrorism before taking an L

>Refers to himself as being PERFECT while inhaling massive amounts of copium

>Needs a cane in bw2 and is only ever seen using one of his hands, so probably physically disabled to some degree

>Strong enough to jam the butt of that cane into the solid frozen earth of a cave. Probably just kind of a visual metaphor for him being threatening but also Hear Me Out What If He's Fucking Built-

>N is ride or die for him enough to still try and get through to him during the bw2 climax despite having been utilized as a silly little pawn yet again. This does not work, because as previously mentioned, man just cannot take that L

>When faced with literally no other option but to take an L, he passes out. His ninja squad punctuates this with him probably not being a threat anymore.

Ghetsis interpertation:

I think all of these things weave together into just a very fascinating person when you look at them a little deeper. Someone who's clearly charismatic enough to acquire that much loyalty, love, and fear — but also not equipped to handle the shame of failure in the god damn slightest. When threatened he devolves from a calculated cult leader above it all to a snarling animal fighting for its life, because he's probably rotted away behind a mask of perfectionism for years rather than done any significant growth as a person. He's clearly intelligent, probably highly emotionally intelligent because if he wasn't he wouldn't be able to pull this shit, but all of that shatters and breaks and splinters with one (1) crucial failure. He tries to recuperate but can't, the survival instinct is breathing down his neck because to him the shame of being a human like the rest of them rather than the perfect ideal he's been forging is scarier than anything that could actually physically kill him. He blames N, he blames MC, Colress, just about anyone and anything that doesn't end up pointing back to his own shortcomings.

And still! N probably loves him! And it's probably genuine! He wants to connect with him and breach that gap and give him ibuprofen because even if he's shown himself to be cringe, that's still his father, which is something he values enough to try and hold on to. And the ninja guys remain ride or die, so there's clearly something to him other than schemes and trickery, something genuine and beautiful that might not in practice be worth fighting for but it sure feels like it.

A beautiful man who's warped himself into a demon because he couldn't stand his own humanity because he's probably autistic and traumatized from his undefined childhood, and when he's beat down, rather than taking that L at long last, he'll curl up in his little cage, continue to snarl and tell himself over and over that this is what he is. What he will always be. He couldn't become god so he resigns to dying a devil. Because even still, that is preferable to him over taking that L, admitting to himself he is just a little guy like other little guys with problems he couldn't cope with, and that it caused hurt and destruction.

Devils don't feel regret or shame, humans do. And he'd have a loooot of that to chug through if he decided to face it. So he won't.

which is just very sexy and milfy and babygirl of him i think. this is my "why ghetsis is like so sexy actually" manifesto, without even tapping into the juice that is him going "nuh-uh" over his own dang disabilities but that too ties into how he can't cope with his own imperfect humanity so u know. Also that he's just kinda sassy and petty. Amazing. 10/10 best written character not in the games but in my brain.

[codenamesazanka]

What is up with this obsession over the "other half" of Decay. Less so now that Shigaraki is like dead-dead, so I guess it was copium, but still. So Decay was derived from the Overhaul quirk. Okay. It was stripped of the restorative half; then added with the five finger activation and lack of control. By this point, it is its own quirk.

(It's the same with Kurogiri/Shirakumo. Shirakumo's quirk was cloud generation and manipulation; then it got turned into the ability to bend the fabric of space. It's its own quirk at that point.)

I don't see the need for any more connection than that? Decay came from Overhaul - it's an artificial quirk AFO created to be a super dick. That's where Decay came from. It's somewhat fortunate(?) that it wasn't naturally occurring, which means there wasn't some other poor bastard out there who probably also had a tough time with it, but just the fact that it's 'half' the Overhaul quirk makes me wonder if Overhaul didn't at least 'half' a tough time with it as well.

Which btw - the reveal also confirms that AFO and the Doc were also responsible for Overhaul's own early childhood... which no one seems to care about.

Hello??? Shigaraki has to be referred to as groomed and abused and brainwashed every other sentence in order to induce the greatest level of sympathy for him (because apparently otherwise if he ever had any hint of agency or genuine malice at all, fuck him and he's not as much a victim, I guess???), and the orphanage Touya wakes up in has cult vibes where he can't even leave, but Overhaul growing up in such an orphanage is not worthy of attention. Like you gotta wonder how Doc got his hand on Overhaul's quirk - best case scenario it was from a simple blood draw at a routine doctor's check up; worse case scenario is that he was experimenting on these kids, even if subtly.

It's in this orphanage that Overhaul reads about quirks and gets the idea that it's a sickness. Was that somehow from the instruction of the orphanage staff that's under Ujiko's employment? Was it because something happened to Overhaul that caused him to end up in an orphanage? Kid didn't just sprout from the ground - he must have had parents, a family. But here he is, in an orphanage, gloomily reading about quirks while all the other kids are playing outside. Kouta resentfully says quirks are freaky and Deku and the story bends over backwards to prove to him that he's wrong, and violent quirks will save his life, so he should love Heroes; it's obvious that Overhaul hating quirks is a flaw.

Later, it looks like Overhaul would run away from this orphanage too, and then gets picked up by the Yakuza. Luckily it was a very honorable yakuza who treated him with kindness, but listen to that sentence - """"luckily"""" he gets picked up by a nice mobster who raised him. And Overhaul is so affected by this kindness it gives him a devotion that turns twisted. I mean, I think the guy definitely has his own selfish issues, but he really does care about Pops a lot and still thinks of what he's doing as being for Pop's and the Yakuza's sake.

I know no one cares about Overhaul and probably thinks it's even funny he loses his arms and goes half insane in Tartarus, that that's just karma for abusing and medically torturing a little girl, but it's very clear that he didn't start out that way, and if things had been different, he might not have grown up to become a Villain. That's true for nearly all the Villains we see on the story. And that's why there's such a big push to save the League, because of that "if only, if only". They're sympathetic and maybe redeemable.

But unsympathetic and irredeemable villains like Muscular and Overhaul were the best training wheels for Deku to work up to saving Shigaraki. If he can reach out a hand to those freaks, he can do it for not-as-much-a-freak Shigaraki. Even if Deku fails in trying to save Muscular and Overhaul, if he had tried, he could've learned something from those encounters that he could later apply to Shigaraki. But Deku said nope and then crashes when he has to save Shigaraki. Sorry—not even Shigaraki, but the ghost of a Crying Child.

Muscular insists that there's nothing but blood and violence inside of him, so Deku gives up on him because he can't psychically dive into Muscular's head to prove him wrong; later, Shigaraki insists that he overcame the Crying Child and he wants destruction, and fortunately Deku doesn't give up on him, but only because he can psychically dive into Shigaraki's head to prove him wrong - except it's this exact act that brings back AFO and drives the train wreck into the conclusion that is Shigaraki's body crumbling to nothing.

Overhaul begs to see Pops and wants to apologize, demonstrating some tiny broken strand of caring and goodness inside of him, but that's not someone Deku knows or cares about so it means nothing to him except that he can test whether Overhaul is worthy of any measure of forgiveness (and so rewarded by a Pops visit) by apologizing to Eri; later, Shigaraki gets his hatred smashed but stays the leader to the League, and Deku seems flummoxed by this, while using his last words to the guy he wanted to save to yammer on about not forgiving him and ending the cycle of sadness by stopping Shiagarki.

(Plus like. Overhaul has hurt sooooo many people other than Eri. He used and manipulated many of the Shie Hassaikai too. But once again, none of them are people Deku knows or cares about so they don't matter and they don't need an apology.)

This got really off topic because it started out about people focused on the Overhaul-Decay then turned into a Deku rant (only semi-sorry), but. Actually maybe not. People only care about the Overhaul-Decay thing because the Overhaul quirk might bring Shigaraki back, because Shigaraki deserves it; meanwhile the actual holder of the Overhaul quirk is ignored, because Overhaul doesn't deserve any comeback, or anything at all. It's really just people only caring about certain Villains because they personally like them and feel sorry for them. Which is fine! Go have your blorbo.

But like, ironically, caring only about your villain blorbo's situation in the context of the wider story, when discussing the story using the context of abuse and marginalization and who is deserving of saving, is the same as what Deku and Hawks did - singling out one victim out of many as worthy of being saved, and condemning every other Villain. And how did that turn out for Deku and Hawks?

[starryskiesahead]

HELP WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN SION IS (POSSIBLY) CANON BI????

(the anime wasn't out yet so by episodes they mean manga chapters i believe. sion canonically has a crush on colette also but this isn't brought up in that episode. this is the part where he fights with will, the mc, who is also a guy.)

(THIS IS FROM 3 YEARS AGO HOLY SHIT.)

(granted the translation could be wrong bc google translate shitty or it could be a joke but still. copium. and either way AAAAAAAAAAAA.)

(also this.)

either way until the author says otherwise i'm choosing to believe sion is bi

even if im wrong and hes not canon bi and its just a joke. i think the author is chill with it so i will remain on copium /hj

[tellmeallaboutit]

you raphael simps who write dom daddy raph because you cannot handle him as the 100% canon two pump chump bottom cringe clown are fucking hilarious and need a reality check

just saying

Thank you for your ask! (not really, no).

Oh fuck, here we go again. I'll reply to this I know I shouldn't but I will. But in all honestly, for the last time. I will speak on this subject no more.

First, canon does not say that. Canon leaves room for interpretation.

That being said, do I think canon intended for the player to interpret this way? Sadly, yes. I believe that was the intention, the way it was written and conveyed, to reduce him to a laughing stock (once again, nothing bad with being a bottom and bad in bed per se, it's about the delivery), and it worked, as per 90% of comments under any Raphael Reddit thread, YouTube video.

“Two pump chump bottom cringe clown" (c) would now remain to be Raphael's mainstream legacy. Do I still think it's juvenile to reiterate this point ad infinitum? Yes!

Do I hate it? Honestly? Yes. I personally hated this whole part, it would be dishonest of me to claim otherwise. 

Take Irenicus from BG2. Now picture that: you are the Bhaalspawn from BG2, in Irenicus's dungeon, scared shitless of him and you encounter his nymph concubines. They say: oh and by the way Irenicus is a TWO PUMP CHUMP and his dick is like SUPER small. Unreliable source? Sure.

Now the end game, final confrontation in hells, and you tell Irenicus HAHA BURN IN HELL TWO PUMP CHUMP BABY DICK AHAHA.

...

....

WTF?

After this encounter if it was written LIKE THAT I don't think we would have seen Irenicus in top-10 game villains of all time. Why would I take Irenicus seriously if his creators didn’t? And this is exactly what bloody happened to Raphael. That’s 90% of what is discussed of him nowadays outside of the Raphael girlies corner.

What I meant to say, yes, I write dom (switch, actually, but it's not obvious in the first chapter) Raphael because it's my copium. 

[givemeanaccountalready]

A sprinkle of predictions based on the teaser trailer for Milgram’s Third Trial to add to my last post.

So far, it looks like I was wrong about Muu dying. I have more under the cut, since I made that first batch of predictions before Undercover (Your) Curtain Call came out, so everything was fair game.

I’m still firmly in the camp of Shidou tried to kill Kotoko during the break. Amane’s actions during her second voice drama showed that a prisoner could still move to attack even with one round of restraints. We still don’t know the level of restraints Haruka, Muu, and Kotoko received after their Trial 2 Guilty verdicts, but it was probably the same level of physical restraints that the Trial 1 Guilty crew received. I don’t think Milgram would double up their restraints for getting Innocent the first trial and then Guilty during the second trial. Neither Fuuta nor Mahiru are physically strong, and Kotoko is trained in martial arts and has the advantage of getting the first and next moves on her victims. Shidou probably assumed that the level of restraints were more restrictive and would make killing her easier. So, he takes on Kotoko to, “extract the fang,” and by that, I mean kill her. I still think he would have been driven by the motive to not only prevent other prisoners from getting hurt but also to get Es to vote him Guilty and give him the death penalty that he kept wishing for back in the first trial. Kotoko killed him in self-defense, despite her physical and mental restraints.

But then, I had a second hellish thought for this hellish third trial. What if Amane accidentally killed Mahiru while trying to punish Shidou? I’m not sure how mobile she is, but what if she took the hit meant for Shidou, and it shook Amane to her core. She talks about warning someone (“he” or “them” depending on the two translations I’ve seen), and that has to be Shidou. He is the only person she has a problem with. Her third trial teaser lines strike me as odd, because she normally asserts her autonomy and beliefs when challenged, and in those lines, she appears to be blaming Es and asking him why he didn’t do anything to stop Shidou. The only things she has ever asked of Es is to treat her like an adult and to understand her religion’s values. Now, she seems to be blaming Es for not having stopped Shidou, which only means two things. One, she killed Shidou or otherwise had a role in his death that she regrets, or two, she tried to punish Shidou, but Mahiru was hurt instead. Mahiru wasn’t supposed to get hurt or die, and the guilt is crushing Amane. Her faith is wavering, and that’s why Fuuta talks as if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders in the teaser video.

Hokey, but eh, I’m on that copium. A-grade, baby.

As for the others, I think Yuno is talking about Mahiru when she says, “We spent too much time together.” Fuuta could have tried to kill Shidou, but I don’t think he has the guts, strength, or luck to have done it. Kazui is talking about his role in Hinako’s death and possibly if Hinako’s death could have been avoided. I call bullshit on John being gone for good. He is still there, just not as much. And Kotoko is going to try to manipulate Es by opening up about herself, possibly answering who was the girl in pink and the grandma we saw back in Harrow.

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

Notes on “do you think we’re together in every universe?” (skulmerayer multiverse post):

Putting pain aside for a moment, this was a really neat mini project to make! I put some thought into what kinds of universes I wanted to have a peek into. There are just so many to choose from! This ain’t even the tip of the iceberg, I’m sure. But I hope the ones I did choose were interesting enough to think about and/or familiar to some of y’all :)

On an artistic note: I love using grayscale every now and then! I have some experience with charcoal and ink wash drawings so the style here is lightly inspired by that (even though I used pencil and gouache brushes 😅)

Composition-wise: Allow me to introduce you to the multiverse rubix cube lol!! The placements of each universe are meant to parallel each other. Universe A and C are branches off of union cross canon, so they’re across from each other. D and F are branches off of missing link. G and I are branches off of the era between. And B and H are about childhood innocence.

Here are each of their descriptions, in order:

Main Universe [in the context of the art]

The ataraxia universe, where Skuld, Ephemer and Player get together and stay together (my khux/skulmerayer copium universe)

Universe A

In which Darkness says “We could take over one of you here and now.” and actually commits to it, choosing Ephemer as its vessel.

Universe B

A universe in which Skuld is not Subject χ. After she and Ephemer awaken in Daybreak Town’s rubble, they found Scala and raise a family together.

Universe C

AU where the lifeboat roles were switched. Ven, Ephemer, Skuld, and Player escape the data world first, while Brain, Lauriam and Elrena stay behind. But it was never supposed to be this way.

Universe D

@corishadowfang’s Fallen Stars universe, in which Skuld arrives in Scala during Missing Link’s era.

Universe E

The current presumed canon universe, unless Skuld being Subject χ is proven otherwise.

Universe F

A universe where Brain and Player2 become close friends (perhaps more?) in Scala. Also known as the plain universe, because what’s a multiverse post without mentioning a bagel or two? 😄🥯

Universe G

I had my fic A Light That Never Goes Out in mind, but this is pretty much any universe in which the whole gang gets to stay together, and Ephemer and Player have the chance to properly build on their relationship. lots of copium in this one

Universe H

High school/modern/real life AU. (Special shoutout to @rosie-kairi’s idea of giving Ephemer braces!)

Universe I

Ephemer lives his life. Open to interpretation!

and finally, a Bonus (Everything Everywhere All At Once reference):

[xincountry]

Why and How Kunigami Rensuke Can Still Score in BM vs PXG

mega copium by certified kunigami glazer aka me... spoilers until ch 283. if 284 leaks come out right now and disprove this entire essay please pretend i never posted it

Like. This is Copium Supreme. I do not genuinely believe this is realistic, it's just what I want to happen, so I'm trying to find evidence to back it up.

The evidence, since BM vs PXG started.

1. Chapter 248.

In the entire NEL arc, this is the first encounter we have directly with Kunigami in what is assumed to be Wild Card. Right before the PXG vs BM match. Based on descriptions he himself, Noel Noa, Reo etc have given us—quotes like "The Wild Card... was an experiment to create a "vessel". Someone with the same physique as Noel Noa.", and Noel Noa himself explicitly referring to Kunigami as "wild card copyman". To me, this is some kind of foreshadowing that Kunigami may actually do something in this match, because I just cannot understand why else this snippet of Wild Card will be given here otherwise.

I wonder what on earth could've broken his resolve for him to become like this after it. But interestingly here also, Ego explicitly says "Abandon your ego." And then:

2. "Kunigami's ego is still burning" — Isagi Yoichi, Chapter 255.

They're dangling the Kunigami character development right in front of me I swear. Since Wild Card, this match has been the most clear-headed (for lack of better word) we've seen Kunigami, when he's always come across as conflicted or unnecessarily (almost pretentiously at times) obnoxious and rude, especially when he didn't have the skill to back it up sometimes. (Like in chapter 213 with the Egoist 4 and going "I'm not interested in that reunion shit" etc—but when you see how they treat him, despite how much he's changed, it should've been more obvious that he's never changed at all. Maybe) In a way, I perceive this as his ego "reawakening", or at least morphing to fit the limbo between the old hero him, and the him now, changed by Wild Card.

As I'm writing this, for all we know, this is just another "build up" to the Wild Card reveal in the post-NEL/Japan U20s arc, and I wouldn"t even be surprised. But to that, I ask, again and again: why now? Why bring up the idea of Kunigami's ego "still burning", the memory of them sharing steak together after Isagi's assist during their Team Z days, now?

I think there's definitely an impending chemical reaction with them happening at some point—again, remember that this happened Before Kaiser/Rin's awakenings in chapters 260 and 271 respectively, but I think there is potential for them to team up again if the three minutes for Star Change System runs out/a Kunigami subsitution—and for their chemical reaction to actually be successful.

3. Noel Noa subsituting Kunigami out for Igaguri

Really, this match feels like the perfect time for Kunigami to awaken, properly. He's playing against Shidou, and his time on the field to keep him at bay is being replaced by the person he's supposed to copy and Igaguri. Arguably a character which is not liked because he really just feels like the lowest of the lows—and yet during 2nd selection he took up a spot that could've very much been Kunigami's. Which, well. Just Kunigami's bad luck.

Chapter 276

Narratively, I get it. Igaguri here is being used to contain Rin—in a way, the way Kunigami was marking Shidou. But at the same time I just really think its neat how they're really making Kunigami face up against his second selection rivals—the people who ruined his life.

4. What happens after the Star Change timer runs out?

In the Barcha match, Kunigami is subbed out for Isagi after he fails to contribute to the team's attack, and after that Noa subs himself in when Lavinho does—as he always does, but crucially, this is the event we're facing now in BM vs PXG. After the Star Change timer runs out, Noa subs in Kunigami and says this:

Chapter 167

Somehow, I think after the events of Chapter 255, and Kunigami having to play against Shidou, he'll have a different feeling when he's told to mimic Noa. That could be a segue into Kunigami's awakening as his "new ego", or it could be me just being copium.

Another thing that is similar from the Barcha match and PXG is Isagi's chemical reaction/assist to Kaiser. In chapter 283, we see Isagi try to defeat Rin by intentionally putting himself in a "supporting role" for Kaiser to block Rin's shot. This is explicitly stated as a "talented learner x talented learner" chemical reaction.

Chapter 283

Now, parallel to the very first match in the NEL with BM vs Barcha, where Isagi passes to Kunigami instead. The scores are perfectly identical right now: 2 - 2 on both sides, and Kunigami scores.

Chapter 167

Specifically, Isagi tells Kunigami "Awaken your flow. Let's destroy Kaiser and this team." In a way, this is very much what is happening in the match against PXG, where Kunigami entered flow while defending against Shidou—instead of "this team" the destruction could be redirected towards PXG instead?

Kunigami's ego

We know Isagi has been trying to categorise the people on the field into different "ego types." I'll like to talk about this first: world-type and self-type, and how this plays into the "genius" vs "prodigy (talented learner)" ideas that Isagi/Ego brought up.

Chapter 267, Chapter 282

By this definition, Kunigami is a genius: someone who has strong beliefs in their own talents, born with extreme physical abilities, etc. "Self-style/genius" people also feel what they believe in/like is of the most importance, emotions which help them further develop their ego, which is evident in people like Shidou ("my soccer"/"it's a biological need"/"explosions"), Itoshi "I Need To Surpass My Brother" Rin, etc. This is also evident when in chapter 255 where Kunigami manages to completely shut down Shidou, motivated by the desire to get some sort of redemption for what he did to him:

Chapter 255

As a prodigy (world-style ego, someone who can adapt and "use" the talent of geniuses to do good. Where the geniuses are concerned about the one goal they score, the world-style ego prodigies are more concerned about the environment and the circumstances that lead up to that goal, and their attempts to contribute to it.) I think Isagi will need to learn that he has an arsenal of geniuses (Kunigami) on his team, and more than just trying to beat a genius like Rin through the nature of being a genius (aka: fixation on certain emotions and obsessions to improve), or the prodigy x prodigy chemical reactions he wanted to form, he needs to make use of a genius. Kunigami being one is really important, because I think he's gonna get subbed in after the Star Change timer runs out, given that there's really only 10 seconds left on the clock.

Chapter 284 and beyond

The title of chapter 284 is titled "Soul". I am literally hoping for the love of all things bright and beautiful and amazing that this is referring to Kunigami's soul: trying to resolve his conflicting two halves of being an emotional hero and being a cyborg. Like please. This is all I ask for—given that the timer on the Star Change at the start of 283 was literally 10 seconds I hope in the time it took for Rin to scream Isagi Isagi Isagi Isagi and shoot and when Gagamaru blocked it I hope the ball went out of play and now they have to subsititute people or something. Please.

Also, with the U20 Japan arc coming up and Sae probably being on the team with the other bluelockians hence revealing Sae's (S)Pain Backstory I can't really find a space where Kunigami would have his true time to shine as a Wild Card survivor—given that Noel Noa, the guy he's supposed to be a copy of, will only be here for this arc presumably like he'll go back to Germany after the NEL. I think. There's also the impending Chekov's gun of Chigiri's ACL reinjury which I'm not looking forward to and I'm really hoping it doesn't happen (my shipper brain has turned it into "Kunigami sees Chigiri injure his ACL on the field, is reminded of all the times they spent together, and has an awakening" and now I'm trying to avoid that scenario) so. Really. Please.

@ Kaneshiro, when you say Kunigami has a focus/awakening, I hope you mean in these next couple of chapters.

[milksuu]

ur aphelios fic w solari priestess reader was soooo good, i can't stop going back to reread it bc i'm eager for pt 2 if you do end up writing one 😭😭 but there's so much potential for this man bc hello ?? enemies to lovers(?uh) ?? i really like the idea that they're on opposite sides bc as a lover of solari n lunari lore, it feels much more taboo. especially considering how scornful the solari people are of the lunari people which is clear in how the reader treats him 😕 a bit unjustified but it's nice that we aren't exactly a blank sheet of paper in this bc ofc we'd still have to abide by our morals and views 🩵🩵 i also wonder what alune thinks of this if she ever found out, would she even in the first place LMAO "i fear your brother nonconned me 😓😨🧟‍♂️" HDHDHDHS whenever there's an aphelios fic alune always pops into my mind afterwards since she's so dear to me, would the reader ever interact w her through aphelios? bisexuals really winning w this champ 😔

LKJSDVGBFLJHSDFVLSH!! omfg thank you for thinking so much about it. im cryiinnngggg!!! and yeah, im totally writing a part two. I'm at 1.8k words right now. sorry I bounce around a lot so i take a while to write lol.

BUT UGH YES. i definitely wanted to do an enemies/lovers kind of feel. (although i think in phels perspective reader's more 'lover' by his terms because well he's pretty unhinged in his perspective. what can we expect from a guy born and raised as a religious assassin who only ever interacts to his sister?? yeah his 'social' skills aren't going to be the best lmfao)

and like you stated anon, them being lunari/solari just adds the extra layers of drama, depth, and juicy plot potential. all in all, quite a banger.

as far as alune goess, I'd say she 100% knew. only because, alune is a Seer that shows aphelios' path, and directs him on missions. basically the moon told alune "yeah this is going to happen" then alune was like "heyyy soo....you're going to have to do this bro" and then ofc phel was somewhat conflicted the whole time but hey FAITH is never questioning and doing what you're told cause it's supposedly 'right'. and he definitely wants the believe it was all for a 'good' reason. Like him and reader are destined lovers since otherwise, why would the moon have him do that instead of just kill her? kinda like getting a gift for always being obedient to his faith (the copium is strong with this one). but yeah, phel made sure the toxin wore off so that his poor sister didn't have to endure that. (but assassinating people is totally fine obvs!)

alune and reader would have some sort of relationship a bit later. reader is technically a priestess, even though a solari one, she'd still be able to have some way to connect to the spirit realm. or reader can feel the ethereal vibrations emanating from him, but not fully understand/hone in alune's presence. but i think slowly over time, readers growing connection with aphelios will have her gradually connected with alune at some point.

and I want to say the moon goddess has a plan as to why that had to be done to reader. not sure how far i'll actually get to reveal it or develop it, since honestly, i had no intention of continuing let alone build any lore (THIS WAS JUST SUPPOSED TO BE SMUT DAMNIT HAHA) but we'll see.

whew, kinda went on a tangent, but i hope i've given you some good context anon! again, thank you for rereading my fixations and wanting more. as you can see, you've set off my dopamine receptors with this post lmfao. <3

stay tuned for part 2. ;3

[nono-uwu]

Chapter 140 inital thought

Spoilers, as always

- first off, Ky Luc looks... good?? Like it's still the current artstyle but he looks a lot more like himself?? If that makes any sense?? He's got bigger eyes and stuff

- ok, from the top now

- the world is going up in flames and rigr somehow has the recourses to feed like a ten course meal to Yuu?? Maids included??

- i don't even know what to think atp, it's kind of a given that everyone will go along with Yuu's plan evetually

- Urd pelaspleaseplease don't do anything that kid asks of you just because your bro does that

- also Urd should have slapped Rigr or something. As a treat.

- And now we're on a planetary scale?? Yuu slow tf down (next thing you know, one of the planets has the astral express from hsr on it to help them and they're doing a better job than anyone in this series ever will)

- Ky representing all of us. We don't give a shit about all of the above. Nhilistic King amirite

- Let Ky Luc say shit!!

- Yooooo Guren squad + Kureto and Aoi are back! For like 3 panels and we can't even see Mito, Sayuri and Shigure fully but they're doing something!!

- feral manchild Ky my beloved

- surpriiiiiseee Ferid is here. Man I really hope Ky gets at least a fighting chance since Ferid is supoosed to be stronger than a 3rd progenitor now. Oh well, Ky will probably fold in like three pages but a man can dream (best case scenario Ky beats Ferid and gets the still conscious vamps out, yes i'm repeating myself every moth A MANS COPIUM NEVER DIES)

- oh that last panel of Ky is gorgeous. He's clearly angry at seeing Ferid and getting interrupted in his little 'hunt' but he also looks so excited because he knows Ferid is a formidable foe. He also definetly wants a proper match after Osaka. Look, I can say something nice about the artstyle!

Tbh I can't even care anymore. Just rolling with the punches. Imma just exist in my little fanatsy world with my oc's otherwise

Edit: upon looking a little closer, it seems the entire artstyle reverted back to pre-shikama backstory arc? Idk, everyone looks slightly better. Glad that Yamamoto and/or Kagami listened :D (tho i'm sure a lot of those complaints weren't nice in the slightest)