#like narrative aside he does So Much Damage.

[wizardnuke]

finding out that some of my friends never use astarion and im like how do you get out of fights. you know that he oneshots people right. he just nukes them.

[maritotoy]

MAUGA X Support/Medic Reader ((Part. 1))

NOTE: Believe it or not, I never realize how long I've written this one.

This narrative tracks Mauga's obsession with Y/N as it grows to the point where he is prepared to kill everyone who stands in his way. With this in mind, Mauga's commitment would gradually grow. He would start out softly and then this need on you would get stronger.

It all began when your talents were initially utilised for recruitment. You were a terrific help, willing to assist your teammates in whatever way they needed.

Your main issue was that you could never truly let them handle things on their own. As a result, it became increasingly difficult to care for yourself.

They promised you riches if you helped them fight back against their threat. There were only so many ways to profit from rival worlds, after all. You were aware that you were going into a whole new universe when you agreed, but you also felt that you had no choice but to accept them.

Ultimately, you didn't wish to pass away, did you?

It was stated to you when you first joined TALON Organization, that you should concentrate only on the battlefield. Up until you met Baptiste, an exceptional combat medic, it was great with you. Your shared enthusiasm for curing illness is what unites the two of you. It turned into a shared passion. As you try to acquire experience in several areas, like medical supplies, you both hope to discover some more useful abilities, like healing or even a unique kind of combat capability.

But you can hardly ever get to Baptiste, he's constantly at the top. Both a combat mercenary and medic. You're always looking for ways to sharpen your skills.

Even after meeting him again at your base and on missions, you are still determined to improve your ability to deal with any possible emergencies. Not until later do you find out what happens when a member of your unit gets injured.

Baptiste surged in, carrying an imposing stature and a solid, muscular frame. His voice sounded desperate, asking, "I'm sorry if I came to you! I know you are busy, but I need help with my friend, please, Y/N!" The urgency was so obvious that there wasn't much resistance. Even if he was a doctor himself, it must have seemed urgent enough.

Besides... You were in the right place to help.

You rushed over to his side and helped him stabilize his huge friend. "What happened, Bap? Are you hurt?" He didn't reply, but his eyes told you all you needed to know.

You fix your sight on his pal. He does not appear to be hurt or seriously damage. However, the man's body is completely soaked, which looks very suspicious to you. "Is he alright, Bap? I don't see anything wrong." He shook his head and gave a sigh.

"We were attacked. Mauga and I found the source of the enemy attack and got separated."

"How long has it been since then?"

"Four hours, maybe five."

"Do you have any idea of what may have caused the damage?"

"I'm not sure. However, I had already discovered him unconscious but unharmed on the ground. It should not take long for him to awaken.." You glance at the unconscious man again before you say, "Let me take a look at him." He nodded and stepped aside.

"Mauga could never be wounded by shots like that. Despite his size, he could easily absorb one hit thanks to his physique." He explains.

You crouch down and check on his comrade. He seems fine to you. There's nothing unusual about him, other than the fact that he's a bit too heavy.

You knew Mauga.

And with such.

You just don't know how to engage with him.

On a conversation? Yes. Your profession is your duty.

You don’t really get along with those who rely solely on themselves as an advantage, even though you respect their abilities.

The feeling is mutual. Every time someone gets hurt because of something beyond their control, you are there to help them.

Because that's your job as a medic.

You both have quite a difference in interests, though. You can't stand the fact that he’s so reckless, you can't understand why he doesn't think more carefully before he acts. As soon as he sees blood, it's always the most important thing.

Mauga stands tall, towering over his opponents with an impressive height of 7'5 ft tall. (My headcanon)

Mauga is a formidable opponent on the front lines thanks to his strong, muscular physique. His broad shoulders and thick neck gives off an air of strength and power, and his body is well-built, demonstrating his strength and capacity to deal severe damage to rivals.

Did I mention he has two hearts?

Unlike you, Mauga is a ruthless and cunning individual, driven by his own motivations. He never lets anyone interfere with his goals, whether or not they involve you. While he might act with reckless disregard sometimes, he is also able to calculate the best course of action.

Not anyone knows this. But you knew nontheless with Baptiste.

You may be underestimating him in some way, or you may have witnessed the genuine thing, up close and personal, but he always brags about his achievements without hesitation or shame. His fighting style turns wild and unpredictable when he fights. If Mauga doesn't want to win, he will take his time, before using ChaCha and Gunny, his chainguns, to grab the victory, and he won't give up until he achieves his objective.

He definitely is careless, isn't he?

"He's breathing just fine, Baptiste. I would say he is in perfect health, aside from the injuries, I can't detect any signs of any damage injuries either." You said as you stood up. Baptiste sighs relief. "I'll leave him to you doctor. Don't worry, I trust that you have everything under control." He says this to you while nodding in satisfaction.

This gesture of his is a way of gratitude towards the medic's work.

"I will be back later," he says as he leaves to make a round to prepare for battle.

While Baptiste was gone, you sat next to the downed mercenary soldier and begin to observe him. In the midst of his unconsciousness, he seems to be in a good state. There was no sign of discomfort or pain. His pulses are fast but steady, knowing that Mauga have two hearts, one that allowed him to replace his damaged, organic heart with a cybernetic one. That way, his heart will beat twice as fast. You can easily tell that Mauga is in his natural state.

Your eyes began to feel heavy after observing him for some time. You weren't sure if it's due to fatigue from watching him, or simply exhaustion from your duties as a medic.

Before you knew it, you fell asleep.

When you awoke, you find yourself staring back into the face of Maugaloa Malosi, whose lips formed into those flashing, same pasted smile as usual. “Ah, Doctor. How nice to see you again.”

You quickly wake up, sitting straight up on the chair. “M-Mauga!" You exclaimed, alarmed. "H-How is you- I mean are you feeling alright?”

He grinned at you. “I am feeling rather fine.” You let out a long, sigh of relief. However, you didn't anticipate that this would happen frequently. “I see..." You replied.

Silence takes over for a while. Mauga stared at you intensely before taking a step forward. “Your Y/N, correct? Baptiste little assistant. I've heard much about you, but never expect that I would get to get treated from you.”

You flinched slightly at his words 'assistant' and the word 'little', but you remained calm. “I'm glad that you feel better now. You should rest and recover. If you still need them..."

“I appreciate the concern,” he says as he reaches towards your shoulder. You instinctively raise your hands in preparation of blocking. This caught him off guard, causing him to pause in his movements, then booms laughing.

“My apologies, Teuila. I thought that you might have forgotten what I do here,” he said in that familiar, friendly tone.

“If I recall correctly, I haven't given you permission to touch me.” This comment caught him off guard as he chuckles deeply.

He stares at your hand for a while longer. You're beginning to become worried. After a brief silence, he reaches forward and lightly holds onto your wrist.

“That’s a very sensitive spot…” He whispers gently. Your heartbeat begins to accelerate. “And your pulse is fast. Is this normal?” he asks. “Yes,” you respond in a soft voice.

“Then why are you afraid? You know I'm not going to hurt you...” He grinned. His sharp teeth glinted menacingly in the dim light. "Surely you've already made a friend? You also gave him a lot of attention than you do with me. Or have you grown to dislike me?"

"...I... I beg your pardon-" your speech is interrupted by Baptiste with a tired expression.

"Hey... Sorry that I took so long. I went to gather supplies. Mission was a success." He sighed in relief as he approached you.

"Mauga, I'm glad your awake bud." Baptiste sighs in relief and smiles at Mauga. Mauga returned the gesture before looking back at you.

He still has that huge grin plastered across his features while his eyes darted towards yours. "You're crazy out there Mauga. Do you really think that you can defeat the enemies single handedly?" Baptiste says with a chuckle. “You know me Baptiste, I never do things without planning them out.” He grinned, revealing that row of dazzlingly white teeth. “I still don't understand how you've been knocked down so easily. It's hard to believe that you can be beaten like that.” Baptiste gives a half smirk, half frown.

You listen to their conversation, and you try to make sense of it. Mauga laughs at the situation, as if it's all so obvious. "C'mon, Baptiste, we have bigger problems than me right now. The mission is a success because we finally found the enemy camp. But it was a close call, and we needed your medical expertise to treat the wounded," Mauga explains to Baptiste while looking directly into his eyes with a sly smile. "I carried your massive ass in this camp with support of your weight alone. You ought to be pleased to have a subordinate with such skill." Baptiste smirks. He was referring to you. Mauga laughs at his friend's criticism, displaying his amusement at the circumstances.

"So yeah. It was pretty rough, but we managed to secure the objective! Isn't that great news?"

It's not really a surprise to you.

Mauga does tend to put himself in danger, especially when he's in an unfamiliar place.

This guy is completely reckless, which is why you can't believe that he managed to survive so many battles without falling apart or breaking down.

"Your a loose-canon, but I hope ended well..." you say calmly, hoping that you sound convincing enough.

"I can assure that I have the highest respect and admiration for your abilities as a medic. I would never doubt your skills, even if I hadn't personally experience how skilled you are in dealing with wounds." Mauga comments, he sounds sincere as ever.

Baptiste grins again. "That's a big ego of yours, my friend. You should consider giving a few compliments to the people who did more than you."

"I would love to, my friend, but there's nothing wrong with being modest about our accomplishments."

"Alright," Baptiste said, sounding annoyed.

--------

After several hours, days, months of treating your patients at base. You cannot help but wonder seeing Mauga quite often, whether that is purely because of duty or something else. Although it is difficult to tell what he's thinking, there are moments where you notice the way that he is constantly staring at you. Like he's trying to figure out something about you:

studying your appearance, facial expressions, mannerisms. Sometimes he gets lost in his thoughts, sometimes he appears to be lost in his own world, occasionally, you could catch him smirking knowingly, or even smiling to himself. These small gestures usually only occur during times when it's with you with him. Sometimes, the man is just too cheerful, or too energetic in general.

You could hardly handle the stress of handling all these patients in the infirmary on your own. You're starting to miss having Baptiste around to keep him occupied while you go through patients. You sighed loudly not until Mauga appears behind you

You found him with wounds on his chest and torso. You turn to look at him, "What happened?"

"Nothing serious..." He grins, showing his sharpened teeth.

"Just a minor injury, eh?" You raise an eyebrow at the mercenary, crossing your arms over your chest. Mauga simply shrugs as he sits on a table.

There was another period of silence between you two, and the atmosphere seemed to tense up considerably. This time, it's you who breaks the silence. "I'm sorry that you got injured. I don't know how I should react seeing someone else getting hurt so casually. You could have died out there. And that's not the worst thing that can happen," you said sarcastically and sternly.

He chuckles. "Oh really? Tell me more." He leans closer to your face, gazing deeply into your eyes. "Ah. So that's how it is."

You glare at him angrily, but he ignores you as you continue working. "Are you seriously going to mock me for worrying about you?"

"Not at all," he replied, with a hint of sarcasm. "But there is one thing that concerns me."

"What? You're going to insult me too, aren't you?" Mauga laughs while Y/N tends his injury.

The felt of your touch sends shivers throughout his entire body. He tries hard to suppress the sudden urge to grab her hand and hold on tightly. It's becoming harder to control these urges though. He shakes his head rapidly as he pulls away from you. He looks at you with narrowed eyes. "I'm not mocking you, you know?"

Your gaze flicks briefly to his. "Hm."

There was a short silence between you two, until you began to clean a cut on one of his legs. You noticed his gaze follow every movement of your fingers. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I'd prefer that you didn't ask questions so frequently, Teuila."

"Teuila?" You face him. "You know, I never asked you of this... But why do you call me that?" He lets out a deep chuckle and replies. "Because you look like Teuila. It fits well, doesn't it?" He flashes you a warm smile before turning his head away again.

You shrugged of his answer, continuing your work without saying anything further, although you were extremely curious. "Teuila... What does that word mean?" There's a brief moment of silence in between the two of you once you finished cleaning up the blood staining his leg. A faint smile plays across his lips again. "I thought you were better than that."

"And you think that you're better than me?"

"Yeah," he replies smugly.

"Then... You've obviously underestimated me, don't you?" You give him a challenging smirk. He returns the smile with a smirk of his own, but he then turns serious again. His eyes narrow. "Let me enlighten you. That name means 'flower'. Do you understand what kind of flower it means?"

You gave him a blank stare. He continues to smirk, waiting for you to understand his meaning. Eventually, you sigh, putting your hands on your hips. "Do I look like I care to know?" You scoff, rolling your eyes lightly.

Mauga laughs. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter what you think of it..."

There was silence between you two for a few seconds, and you looked away with furrowed brows.

You finish patching up the mercenary, placing some bandages around him and securing them securely. "Now that I finished helping you, you're dismissed." You professionaly said after you made sure that everything was covered properly. Mauga laughs at this. "Really? Now? Just like that?" He asks mockingly.

"Yes Mauga, I don't have any other duties besides tending to your wounds. I've been doing that for quite some time now," you responded coldly.

Mauga raises an eyebrow at this. "You know, if you start beginning to care about those wounds, you might find yourself losing them. If you want me to leave your clinic quickly, then you'll have to earn my trust first, which requires some work."

You sigh heavily. Of course Mauga will insist on making things difficult for you. "I am no doctor Mauga, I cannot cure your injuries." You sarcasticly said.

"Oh I know that. But you're still willing to take the risk." He chuckled.

"You wouldn't had to waste precious time coming here in order to talk shit."

Mauga laughs at you again, grinning like a cat that ate the canary. "I wouldn't waste too much time coming here either, but I also wouldn't be able to enjoy it quite as much because you'll be gone by then," he says confidently. "Besides, you're not exactly known for your patience." You roll your eyes, turning back to the table in front of you.

"You know I've always wondered what it feels like to be your patient," Mauga mused. "To be the one receiving the attention of the most skilled medic in your battalion."

"You must be joking," you replied, you know what he meant, not wanting to think that you would ever become his patient.

"No. You know me... " He grins. You groaned. "Don't' make such assumptions, we don't know each other all that well yet."

"Yet..."

You glared at him as he laughed. "Whatever. It seems like there's no stopping you, is there? We haven't even officially met yet, and already you're acting as if you have a good relationship with me." You sighed exasperatedly, massaging the area of your forehead in irritation.

"Listen, Mauga. My job is simple, I care for my patients and treat them well. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Oh yeah? Well, maybe I'm different," he said cockily.

"How? Are you not afraid of dying?"

"No... No I'm not... I've done so much more reckless things than death." His expression suddenly shifted to an emotionless one. For a moment, it felt almost as if he wasn't looking at you anymore. Then he chuckled softly, giving you a playful wink. "But I'm no saint."

"It must be hard to admit being human." You shook your head slightly.

"Sometimes." His grin returned to his features.

You couldn't help but stare directly into his eyes for a little longer, taking in how dark they actually are.

Mauga shows a huge plastered face. His still wearing his dumb smile.

You blinked at him.

He blinked back.

You rolled your eyes. "Stop smiling so much." He continued to laugh, as you turned away from him again. Mauga stood up and stretched lazily, "I have something to attend to, I'll be seeing you later," Mauga teasingly said as he made his way towards the door. He opens it, but he glances back.

A small smirk forms on his lips.

You watch him disappear outside the door, closing it behind him with a click. Once the door closes you let out a heavy sigh, resting your back against the wall behind you. Your heart is racing a mile, a minute, both at the prospect of having finally been alone with Mauga again, and the strange feeling within you after you spent several hours alone with him.

This feeling...

It's definitely not normal.

End of part 1

Part 2- ???

[kakarotcake]

Had a giant early morning realization on why I enjoy Gochi as much as I do. (I wrote a lot in this; there's a TLDR at the end but please read through my hopefully-coherent rambling to get full context.)

It's specifically because of how non-conventional they are. They didn't date / go through a courting phase before they got married. They barely knew each other at all in fact. Yet, Goku felt unbothered enough to honor a promise he made as a child, and agreed to go forward with the marriage anyway. Chi Chi stayed committed to Goku's promise, despite how she didn't know him, and literally got his consent as an adult first before they went on.

And they made it work.

I so wish we got to see the 5 years of Goku and Chi Chi living together + the early years of Gohan's youth, but specifically because I would like to see just how they each adapted to their new living situation. But regardless, the fact remains that they STAYED together. Chi Chi for sure would've left Goku if she was that unhappy with how Goku just isn't a conventional guy when it comes to relationships. Going home to her dad and resuming being Fire / Frypan Mountain's Princess was always right there as an option. Hell Chi Chi's been identified as an attractive lady in-universe, so she could probably meet someone new before long! But she didn't take it. IIRC, she never has.

I also feel like Goku would also get up and leave if he was unhappy. He's never had to force himself to sacrifice his own happiness for someone else as he lived on Paozu by himself for years, then spent the rest of his teenhood traveling around & training, so if presented with that kind of scenario he wouldn't think twice before being like "ok whatever, see ya" and just peacing out. He wouldn't see the point in staying, since why would he make himself stay somewhere he isn't welcomed or doesn't feel welcome? Grandpa Gohan's old home was always there for him.

My personal biggest gripes with their relationship have honestly never been because of how they had little chemistry before they got together. For me it's always been about how Chi Chi is just treated like a joke by the writer(s); she follows an angry housewife stereotype. Sure, it's supposed to be a joke and she's supposed to come off as comedic, but it only ends up doing damage because it encourages you as a viewer to not take Chi Chi or her relationship with Goku seriously. (I'm ignoring Goku here, but his writing in DBS *anime wise at least* is atrocious and further fed into this btw.)

Yet, from what I've seen over the years in the western fanbase, people's biggest issues with Gochi (aside from general Chi Chi hatred) is because it isn't a conventional relationship. It had hardly any chemistry going into it. I understand that logic, don't get me wrong, but I only understand it when I factor in society's amatonormative & allonormative lens. And I hate both of those things. Gochi not complying with them is what I find charming about the ship.

They didn't date or establish a super deep bond or whatever, yet they lived together in peace for 5 years. They continued to bounce off of one another throughout Z. Chi Chi NEVER remarried or even dated someone while Goku was dead for 7 years. She was crying happy tears when he finally returned at the end of the Buu saga. Goku was more than happy to go home with her and their kids (and tbh I'm 99.99% sure he wouldn't have minded if Chi Chi chose to get with someone else - he chose to stay dead after all). OBVIOUSLY they care for one another a lot, despite how they married each other as strangers. They themselves are narrative (if that's the right word) proof that conventional love & romance & whatever don't guarantee successful marriages. I adore that.

And it's funny because Vegebul is a pairing that also had little to no chemistry going into it, but unlike with Gochi, the no chemistry actually does hurt it for a couple of reasons (all of them revolving around how Vegeta was/is a terrible person) that I won't get into here because it'll derail this post and it's long enough already. I just wanted to point that out in text myself first, before other people came at me trying to argue it.

Anyway. TLDR Gochi as a ship defies amatonormative & allonormative concepts regarding intimate relationships. "You have to date / court someone first, fall in love with them, then marry them because marriage will make sense & be healthy then." They didn't do the first two parts, but after getting married, they're happy together. They spat in the face of societal norms & expectations.

[shysublimecoffee]

Look this is just an opinion not a fact don't get into such a tussle over a stanger opinion on a book of all things which are meant for entertainment. How I view this doesn't effect you nor do you take it as fact in fact youre free to disagree don't care.

It fucking says a lot about Shen Jiu as a character and the fandom as a whole in fanfics when the majority of them make him in fanfics having a better turn around in his life is always when a respected man is attached to hip usually( Liu Qingge) or acts as a voucher for people to even see him past his shell or his lies about the true reason he goes to the brothel goes out the window because otherwise he's a liar, a no-good and lecher and scum villain and because he's so emotional and volatile people do not respect him as a peakleader at all. He doesn't have a voice like it's telling me he's so female-coded cause ladies knows how dangerous people giving character assassination at your person could do tons of damage to your future prospects in future life and honestly I really like even though the ficwriters don't outright say it cause it subtle how majority every man and person in his life have taken away his autonomy and I find the most egregious example SY not actually giving a fuck about the person of the body he's inhabited and him not emoting at all when he saw the OG being abused and still validating LBG like if even the modern man from another era doesn't give a shit either someone who has to have sensible morals in society and even he doesn't care . This dynamic reflects a lot how society often undermines individuals who don't fit its norms, stripping them of their autonomy and dignity. SJ's struggle for respect and recognition in the story mirrors real-world issues of power and validation.

Everyone prefers SY. I'm not going to act as if I'm better though in real-life same I'd like him more too but his martial siblings barley tried. If they dislike him whatevs, but you guys are not at all suspicious about the 180 change in behavior how the kid he used to hurt and abuse is now being loved and pampered wtf??? Don't you guys owe him that much to investigate.

They could have tried to dig deeper aside from the one time they test him for possession but they didn't because they prefer the new and improved him". It actually so telling how the author chose someone of such a rich and idle pampered background to be transmigrated to the villain who's origin the very opposite of that and yet seemingly integrated himself better and incorporate better relationship with them then SJ.

The cultivation world, as well as the characters within it, reflect deep-seated classist attitudes. SJ's rough background and survival tactics make him an outsider, whereas SY, coming from a more privileged background, can navigate and be accepted more easily.

What does that actually say exactly that someone of a better background get along with the peaklords but not SJ because with our SJ he's a fighter and biter, he plays dirty to win in their eyes, he a lecher every inconceivable things is literally placed onto him just based on their perception of him. Is it that unconsciously they could tell SJ is not of of them or am I looking to deep haha??? The cultivation world is very classist is not news to anyone and that being the exploration in MXTX next book and how WWX background being how he literally met his end because of it says an actually lot how she took the things from this story and incorporate it into her next book.

The entire story had me retrospectively think hard how SJ voice is silent and yet to me at least he stills haunts the narrative because of it then when you get to the reveal about his backstory it makes you fucking think of him as an actual person and not just an object as a vehicle for the main character to just insert himself in because no matter the nature of a person it stills their body.

Like i've seen some fans even reflect this saying it not his fault that he transmigrated or he deserved it's technically his body and that he's a better person than SJ. At first, I agreed but then I took some time to process this. I don't care about SJ actions and his nature if it at the expense of his fucking body. SY can live for many many years but he's not SQQ unless he reincarnated like Airplane like it makes me want to me want to debates about transmigration. SY is his own person an adult with memories he has his own thoughts and feelings so when he transmigrated he took over the manual controls but that doesn't mean he's actually SQQ because he's not he's a pampered millennial.

In Otome Isekai (OI) stories, the original souls often face bad endings, while the transmigrators, who are modern characters inhabiting and thriving in these disliked bodies, desperately try to avoid such fates. They manage to charm the original male leads and are so focused on changing the story's trajectory that they can't accept its original path. This comparison to OI highlights how these characters' actions mirror Shen Yuan's (SY) predicament. The original person's identity and struggles are dismissed for the sake of the new character's journey, leading to the erasure of the original identity.

I don't vibe much with Shen Yuan because he seems very indifferent. The world revolves around him and his bias, much like many other transmigration novels where the MCs are similar. I find it hard to connect with a MC whose actions, even bold, lack a genuine foundation with other characters because they continue to see them not as people but character roles they're supposed to fulfill. He does everything to save himself, not from the sincere intention. His reaction to the death of GXY was cold af.

I don't like transmigration stories for this reason. They're often treated more as reader-inserts for fix-it fanfiction. We rarely learn about the characters' past lives, so we end up thinking of them as the person they transmigrated into, rather than who they were before. All we know of before was he was cyber-bullying and harassing the author and a troll so an asshole, basically.

If you guys don't know about OtomeIsekai basically we have bunch of modern day Koreans jumping into european white women bodies and inhabiting their bodies and living vicariously through them basically wish-fufillment bullshit trash . 9/10 nobody notices because this is a person who is widely disliked and despised and because no-one cared for the OG soul it easier to just go under the radar hell even the MC don't give a shit to so we have another MC that become so beloved in the eyes of the ML and how she bewitched everyone into loving her.

Transmigration is literal horror. " His Present" a short story I read from novel-updates where it literally based on this very concept where his loved ones preferred the imposter ugh made me bawl.

It makes me think about transmigration. Does it truly matter if the person who took over lived much longer than the original soul does that make them "THEM" ? I actually do appreciate SJ backstory being added but like now with transmigration just popping off on internet novels where the concept is everywhere where the original soul is discarded and the new one is celebrated, kinda adds a layer of tragedy and ethical dilemma to the narrative. It questions the validity of the new identity and the consequences of such an erasure. I'm always biased for the OG souls maybe that why a lot of SJ fics make him the character who is most suppressed by his role as scum villain succeed in making him heard to be listened to and mattered.

Imma nap lol this rant was loooong!!!

[bicheetopuff]

As long as i could remember dudebros have been making porn to mock the characters they don't like. They kept doing that to Bakugo specifically, too. They're just using him now because he's the rival and Izuku """"failed""""" to be a proper vessel to their misogynistic fantasies. Their opinion should be as valuable as dog shit on the sidewalk that someone forgot to pick up.

It’s kind of ironic how they mock Izuku and push him aside to claim someone else as the protagonist that they want, because Izuku is purposely not meant to feel like a shonen protagonist.

He’s called plain by the narrative and he’s the only person who “isn’t special” in his universe when it’s actually the reverse most of time, especially in older shonen (and just action packed media in general).

Your average protagonist usually targets men to relate to him, so they’re made to catch the eye more and they definitely self reflect and brood a lot more. They typically have light hair, light eyes, and some sort of cursed power that makes them stand out and either loved by everyone around them, or casted out by everyone around them. Either way their power or difference makes them stand out like a sore thumb and everyone cares about him in some way whether it be negatively, curiously, or positively. They’re usually positive and charismatic and make friends pretty easily despite the difference about themselves that bothers them so much.

Deku doesn’t reflect that usual trend very well though. If anything, anyone else in his class seems like they’d have a more interesting story to follow. All Might, Mirio, Katsuki, Todoroki, and Aoyama especially. They all have backstories and personality that would make them way more entertaining to use for the ‘Heroes Journey.’

But, we don’t follow them. We follow Deku for a reason. He’s a non-special kid in a world full of unique and special people. That’s why viewing his perspective is interesting even tho he may be the opposite than the regular shonen protag we’re used to.

He’s plain. His life and backstory isn’t that exciting. No one really cared much about him unless attention was actively brought towards him, making the only person who cared what happened to him to be Katsuki (usual rivals tend to not really care about their protag until later, if the rivalry wasn’t already made clear, or if they aren’t already friends. In this case, Katsuki is just a hater from the beginning until they start school at UA lmao). He cries too much and he doesn’t share his feelings about anything regarding himself personally enough. He starts without a power at all, gets one, and no one really seems to be that impressed by it until the end of the story since it does more damage than not. I actually think Deku never being able to fully handle OFA without gear just further proves that he’s not “meant” to be a main character. And it’s kinda telling how All Might - blond hair, blue eyes, ridiculously tall and buff for his age at the time - got OFA and was able to wield it immediately, and then the next successor was supposed to be Mirio - blond hair, blue eyes, cursed power that he had to figure out how to wield, losing said power being a big hurdle for him and then taking care of the kid he saved until he gets his power back. It just kinda feels like “oh yeah this was supposed to be Mirio’s story, but I realized this typical kid with nothing going for him can be a hero too because he has the spirit” and the whole story is just meant to prove that statement. Strength and power mean nothing without spirit.

You can have the strength like Katsuki, but be too stuck in your ego to actually perform heroic deeds until it gets literally beaten into you that saving people you don’t care about is a big part of heroism. You can have the back story like Todoroki but being motivated by revenge makes someone lack genuinity. Deku’s spirit spreading like a virus is what made everyone in his class into a true hero with everyone drawing inspiration from him, and him drawing inspiration from everyone else in a different way. Deku’s the main character, but the story is more about how he was able to affect everyone else’s ideas of heroism, not how everyone else affected him. I’m not saying his classmates aren’t important to him, because they most definitely are, but what they give to him vs what they receive isn’t the same.

Just because Izuku went back to the typical life he was “meant” to live, doesn’t make him a failure. He became the greatest hero, maybe not in the way he wanted, but he got to live his dream for a moment. Which is all he wanted. And he recognized from the beginning that it would be temporary.

He didn’t end up being the proper vessel that they’re used to, because he was never meant to be. He’s literally just a guy. He’s a normal person, and normal people don’t feel entitled to women’s affection like your usual shonen protag is cursed to do in order to fulfill the shonen formula.

(Also it’s funny that they use Katsuki to fulfill the role of a protagonist they want, when Katsuki doesn’t fit that mold at all either. But that’s for a different post, this one is already too long.)

[scoobydoodean]

As an aside, both Sam and Dean do revisionism for their dad, and they both don't—in different ways. Dean does much of the revisionism in season 1, but Sam DOES also engage in this practice. They both hold to the narrative that "He did the best he could" (and Sam is the first person to say that, in "Bugs"). Like. Nobody wants to believe that their dad didn't give a shit about them? And I do actually think John... cared about them. But he cared about revenge more, and being right more, and being obeyed more. Sam and Dean have a lot of compassion for their dad, because that's what you do for your parents. But the anger—the resentment—also goes very, very deep, and there's a weird tendency to suggest that Dean was making excuses for John throughout the show while Sam saw the truth, and that is... not accurate. (Sam is also the guy who says "Well at least Dad didn't beat the shit out of us" in "Nightmare" and starts what he thinks is a funny story about John catching Dean drinking and Dean nearly being raped as a teenager.)

Dean's rage at John is there from the beginning, but he doesn't talk about it (voluntarily—so excluding when the Shifter reveals his feelings in "Skin") until Scarecrow when he still really can't get the words out. The bulk of Dean's anger? It comes after John is dead, and he admits how he damaged Dean, then promptly fucking dies and leaves Dean to clean up his messes yet again, turning his own apology into a big fat nothing burger. And when Sam starts talking about hunting in John's memory in 2.02? Oh boy. Cue disgust from Dean there. Then there's "Dream A Little Dream of Me", and Dean's treatises on dead beat dads (Sam makes... interesting faces there) through seasons 4 and 5, and not wanting to be like his dad in season 6 and ultimately giving up a family because he's terrified of becoming him. And in the midst of that, we also have Sam who. Largely... makes peace with John I think, actually, in a way that Dean never really does.

[marina-the-witch]

MAJOR Shadow of the Erdtree Spoilers!!!

Alright I need to get this out, so here goes.

Promised Consort might be the single most conflicting boss in Fromsoft for me, and I need to talk about it. Firstly, I want to say in full honesty that I don't really mind it from a narrative standpoint. As much as I would have loved to see Godwyn get his time to shine, seeing Radahn in his prime, especially after he got beaten out quite hard by 4 other bosses in base game when he used to be my favorite after some consideration, is very cool and I don't personally think it assassinates either of the 2 characters involved, as it doesn't contradict or invalidate Miquella's previous actions nor does anything point strongly towards Radahn willingly being involved in this. However, one complaint I do have is that Mohg's involvement feels quite irrelevant and ignored by both the fanbase (aside from the dedicated Mohg club) and the game. Promised Consort has a couple horns slapped onto his arms and a SINGLE move that is reminiscent of Mohg, that's it. No shared weakness, no cool wings or scales or anything, hell, why not make Mohg's shackle work to make this difficult fight a little bit less over the top. On that note, I would like to address the fight. Aside from a wonky hitbox or two, I think, on paper, Promised Consort has a very solid and fair moveset in Phase 1 that's fun to learn and exploit, even if the openings do feel aggressively tight. Phase 2 on the other hand...Why? Why, instead of giving this conceptually sound and interesting boss an actually new moveset do you just slap frankly annoying AoEs and weird Dragon Ball bullshit ass afterimage attacks and the ability to fucking toast your CPU on what could have easily been the best final boss fight in Souls thus far if you had just TRIED. Many people have expressed they feel as though Promised Consort doesn't "try" narratively, that he's just a cheap, shoehorned attempt at fanservice like Soul of Cinder What who said that instead of providing an actual final boss to cap off the narrative, and I don't fully agree with this even if I did find the ending cutscene a bit underwhelming. But I do feel as though Promised Consort isn't trying to actually be challenging in a fair and fun way. Just kinda, overtuned. Aggressive. Unfair. I had my fun with the boss, no doubt, but I didn't feel good about beating it, especially not after the only way out I saw was summoning a tanky spirit who drew all the aggro while I tried to do literally anything in Phase 2, when no other boss in the DLC or in the game at all has ever made me that desperate (Note that i don't mind summons in general but don't personally enjoy using them as it takes the excitement and rewarding feeling out of a boss fight for me) (Also note that while i am fairly good at this game, I am extremely easily overwhelmed by too many bright visual stimuli as part of my ADHD/Autism, which is part of the reason I struggle with Fortissax and Bayle every now and then, now imagine that but tenfold for Promised Consort). This boss needs some sort of nerf. Not one that completely neuters it, Radahn has had enough of that already, it just needs to be towned down. The speed, the damage, I don't know, hell, toning down the visual clutter of phase 2 would probably be enough, so you could actually SEE what the boss is doing half the time, just do something to not make this fight as unfair as it is now. I don't know if I'll have the same experience I've had with this boss as I did Malenia, where after several attempts that ended in a mere , underwhelming, unrewarding "Glad that's over", to thinking its the worst thing ever to it being my favorite boss, I kinda hope it will, but for the time I can't say I'm excited to fight this boss again.

Stan Metyr and Romina instead everyone, we love weird nasty girlies <3

[lurkingshan]

Did you go into I Feel You Linger In The Air with a lot of expectations? Personally I'm a huge fan of Nonkul so when the cast was announced I was quite livid and my expectations raised a lot when the pilot trailer was dropped but Dee Hup House followed that pilot trailer with Step By Step, Show Me Love and Hidden Agenda so by the time IFYLITA aired, I felt like I had to try minimizing my expectations as much as possible because it's Tee Bundit & co. I can't quite put into words but what about IFYLITA that makes each episode builds up so well and I never really feel like it lost its pace? plot? narrative? (except for maybe a few plot threads I could overlook). What do you think Shan? What do you think are the key elements that keeps IFYLITA's narrative so engaging even though this could have been like any other modern-guy-accidentally-time-traveled-to-the-past-to-fall-in-love-with-guy-from-the-past series?

My friends can attest, I went into I Feel You Linger in the Air with unreasonably high expectations, because I fucking love historicals and time travel romances and before this year we had precious little of either from Thailand. I was so hype for this project from the moment it was announced. And then Step by Step happened and I decided to willfully ignore the Dee Hup House and Tee Bundit parts of this project in order to stay hype. Surely, it would be fine!

And it has, mostly. I can't pretend we haven't seen some Tee Bundit hallmarks in this production. For the first half of the show, he seemed pretty uninterested in the romance, focusing most of the story time on building out the side characters and the politics of the period and leaving Jom and Yai's connection underdeveloped. He has given us almost no information on the time travel mythology, so the finale will either be jam packed with last minute exposition or leave Jom/us with no real understanding of the rules of this universe. He seemed unable to figure out how to make the romance and time travel and queer politics plots co-exist, so instead he kind of chunked them out, taking them one at a time and leading to some kinks in the pacing of each given plot. He spent a lot of time very carefully building serious conflicts only to hand wave them away in one very easy denouement.

But despite all that, this show just works, doesn't it? Usually when I am picking up this many structural issues in a show, I will lose my emotional connection to the story as my brain kicks into analytical mode. But that didn't happen here. The emotions of this story stuck with me throughout; I care about all the characters, I am invested in everyone getting what they deserve, and I was sobbing my little heart out last week as Jom and Yai said their long goodbye. It's been such a beautiful journey, if imperfect, and I credit that to a few things:

Writing aside, the other aspects of this production are all around phenomenal. The cinematography, the set and costume design, the lighting, the music. It's all working together to make this time and place feel so vivid and real. It's so gorgeous to look at and the show really makes you want to just sink into it and get immersed.

Bright and Nonkul were perfectly cast in this, and they have been absolutely killing it in these roles. Jom and Yai feel so real to me, both as individuals and as a pair. I really believe in their connection, which is no small thing given the aforementioned underwriting of its development. In a story like this the romance needs to be strong enough that you believe these two would seek each other out across time and space, and I do believe it for them. A lot of that can be credited to the remarkable chemistry these two performers have built together.

The non-romance aspects of the plot are actually compelling. It's always risky to add in a bunch of side stories to a simple romance; you risk distracting from the main story in a way that actually does some damage or leaves the audience bored or confused. But here, the choices about what to add made for a compelling cast of characters, a stronger tie to real history, and an all around more queer show. I love that we got a proper lesbian romance, that we got to see an oppressed woman come into her power, that we got a het dude learning how to be an ally, and that we got to see a queer community form around and bolster Yai and Jom. It's really special and the best of what Tee's interests can lead to when he marshals them well.

So yes, I do think this show stands apart from others in this genre for what it brought to the formula that feels new and fresh. I wish it was more widely accessible because it's truly one of the most beautiful dramas I have ever seen and easily one of the best Thai shows of the year.

[dangermousie]

Some musings on Minglan families

I don’t know why this came to mind but I guess I am always ready to talk about the Story of Minglan. I was just thinking about how the (differing but believable) awfulness of the families of the three main characters - Minglan, Gu Tingye, Qi Heng - has shaped them and the whole damage can be overcome but it permanently affects who you and there is never a clear moment of catharsis that would be narratively satisfying but unlikely in real life.

Out of the three, Gu Tingye’s family is definitely the most textbook abusive. I still remember the scene where the Dowager Empress is angry at something and orders Tingye beaten and he removes his shirt and the old lady, tough as nails and not a fan of Tingye, freaks at the sight of his horrifically scarred back and withdraws her punishment. The thing that really strikes me about that whole set up is how realistic it is that the old Marquis has spent his whole life angry that he was cowardly/greedy and put aside the wife he liked to marry Tingye’s rich but socially inferior mother and unable to cope with what this makes him has instead chosen to displace all his rage on the visible product of that union. The thing that is so maddening watching the scenes early on is not the beatings; it’s the constant gaslighting of Tingye - a supremely competent and functional and decent person that he deserves to be constantly abused that he is constantly in the wrong; anything he does however normal and even praiseworthy is somehow twisted as deserving punishment. The sheer frustration of no rational argument being possible is suffocating. The golden child (with Tingye’s half brother) versus scapegoat (with Tingye himself) dynamic is a little too on the nose - the scene where the old man solicitously fusses over his oldest son as Tingye is getting beaten in the background is something else. 

And there is never any “I am sorry I was wrong” moment from the old man. Tingye wants understanding and some hint, however small, that the old man actually cares and he never gets it. The old man dies, everything unresolved and his family drives him out. But in a way, that is his liberation - with his father dead and the rest of the family making clear how they loathe him and always will - he is free to make his own way and he does. Even when he comes back years later and has to put up with the clan for appearances’ sake, emotionally he is utterly free from them. His emotional investment died with the old man, and he is too powerful for them to torment him now. Oh, they try to sneakily cause trouble, but he is in clearsighted position of power so they can’t do much. And significantly, Tingye’s happy ending is almost utterly bereft of his birth family - a large chunk of them are dead or exiled. The amazing symbolism when his horrific stepmother (herself in so many ways a victim of that shark pit) sets that House of Horrors on fire and Tingye’s ancestral hall burns down to the ground is stark. They rebuild but now it’s free of all the shadows of past abuse; it’s rebuilt by Tingye who now has the family he chose himself - Minglan, their baby, Tingye’s daughter, his one normal half-brother and his niece. I love so much there is no grand familial reconciliation as there is nothing to salvage. 

It’s actually a mirror to Minglan’s happy ending, isn’t it? Because for Minglan, the happy ending is similar. Her happiness is found in the family she’s made with Tingye and in a relationship with her grandma and decent siblings - Changbai and Rulan. You see her chummy with her father (about who more below) and you realize that the reason she can be like this with him because she has not only ceased to expect anything from him (she ceased long ago) but also because she has filled the lack of love from him by love she has made in her new family. The Shens are not textbook abusive the way Gus were but in a way they damaged Minglan even more than his house of horrors damaged Tingye. (side note - they are based on novels by the same author; but in terms of adaptations I much prefer how Minglan handled abusive families than LLTG did where with the mom they wanted to have their cake and eat it too.) Papa Shen never used Minglan as a scapegoat and her “official” mother while not fond of her, didn’t particularly hunt her. But Minglan is so scarred because she grew up realizing that the whole world as far as she is concerned (because as a woman, the household is her whole world) is controlled by a man who can never be relied on, who puts his own comfort above anything, who can never truly love or protect. In the first episode, we see her mother dying in childbirth and the only person who tries to help is Tingye, who is not only himself a child at the time, but a stranger. Papa Shen is so realistic - all he wants is his comfort, he is incapable of love (monster Marquis Gu loved his oldest son at least, I do not think Papa Shen can love anyone at all.) Look how he has his supposed beloved concubine beaten and taken out and not for anything but making him be humiliated and because he realized she never cared for him. (The reason he has an excellent relationship with Minglan at the end is because this is exactly the kind of relationship he craves - his daughter is successfully married to the emperor’s favorite and does not ask anything from him to boot. He does not even realize there can be anything more.) What it does to a child, especially a girl child in that society, to grow up with this as a parent is so apparent in Minglan.

She is incredibly self-sufficient, incredibly good at masking and acting the way her companions want to, and her emotions are so completely locked up. In a way, their different reactions to trauma have to do with gender - Tingye reacts to the appalling lack of love from those who should love him by going out in the wide world and looking desperately for someone, anyone to love him. That is why he gets involved with Manniang after all - he wants a family to replace the one he does not in any meaningful way have. But Minglan is a woman, she cannot do that. She cannot go looking for love or to leave home and make her own to her liking or anything. She is like a plant - stuck where she is, incapable of moving by herself. Since she cannot go looking for love (the one time she sort of tried, with Qi Heng, we saw how it ended), all she can do is make herself believe and feel she does not need love. 

Gu Tingye tries so hard and so long to win her love and her trust and she fights him so hard but the reason he feels free to do so, to throw his heart at her feet is not just his own reaction to his trauma versus her reaction to hers - it’s because he’s a man, he’s also socially higher. He can do so. He can do so and choose wrongly and survive (see Manniang.) She cannot, this is her very life. One of the things I love so much is that the more she is with Tingye, the more she feels free to show her sharp edges because it means she feels not just loved/love (that is cheap in her world), but safe and accepted. She does not have to be a perfect patterncard, a living doll, making others’ comfort her number one priority. When at the end, she reunites with Tingye and she is cursing him, spitting at him, hugging him, and kissing him all at once, that is the freest she’s ever been and it’s the biggest testament to how much he’s earned not just her love but her true self. 

But OK, where does Qi Heng come in all of this? He’s a man, he’s the only son of a Duke, he’s pampered. What is wrong with his family, you may ask. Some. His mother (his father does whatever his mother wants) is the one who murders his servant (his close confidant), who has set out a path for Qi Heng to follow. It’s not abuse, not really, but it’s not really seeing him as a person either, is it? But the thing that really strikes him about him is not his birth family. It’s his first marriage family. Because with Qi Heng, The Story of Minglan touches on something that is rarely seen in dramas or other period narratives, how class trumps gender. Qi Heng is placed in a position we almost never see male characters placed in, the role beautiful women are usually placed. A powerful prince’s daughter sees him and wants him. Qi Heng is a man and an aristocrat and a scholar. But he has no power in this situation - he’s a pretty toy a spoiled woman wants and a spoiled woman gets because in that society, what matters is power. He is placed exactly in a situation we see beautiful women placed in these stories - he does not want to marry her, he refuses, but he has no choice. He threatens suicide (once again, a female-coded action) but cannot even be allowed that as his family is threatened. So he’s taken in marriage against his volition and under threat solely for his looks and treated as a thing to play with and to be humiliated by his position and by his wife who looks down on him and controls him. I find it so interesting and telling that in a lengthy 73 episode drama we get not a single shot of his reaction to the fact that his wife and his in-laws get massacred in a coup. None. In fact, we never ever get a single reference by him to that marriage EVER for the whole subsequent runtime, he just stuffs it in a corner in his mind and that’s that. Which is actually in itself a trauma response. But the thing that is noteworthy that he is a character who started with essays that lack strength of character, a person who loses Minglan because he cannot steel himself to do outrageous things the way Tingye can, but he ends the story a man who will face down the emperor for Tingye, a man he doesn’t even like by then (see Minglan situation.) Trauma made him grow up because as with Minglan and Tingye, if it will not break you, it will make you willing to fight because you’ve already faced down horrors and survived. (And that is why I am happy he gets his own happy ending with his own wife - this drama is ultimately very kind.)

[johnmarstonisawolf]

I love both John and Arthur

“RDR1 Represents John’s Character Growth” Argument… 

I’ve seen people get blocked for disagreeing with the types of posts that complain about “Rdr fans disliking John’s characterization in rdr2”.  I’d rather just agree to disagree but if anyone doesn’t like where this post is going, please feel free to use the block button.

Also, in this post, I am repeating some things I’ve written in past responses/posts. Plus I have read other fans’ posts and opinions about this topic, which will be sprinkled throughout this post. 

Here it goes… Mainly for me, it’s the ret-con. It’s not that John can’t be this man with flaws, but in the first game (rdr1) they hint a lot at John (when he’d been in the gang in the past tense, before the events in rdr2) being this quixotic, well-spoken, “right-hand man of Dutch”, which were traits that were all given to Arthur in rdr2. Even Bill and Abigail hint at this. If you want to hear another rdr fan go more in-depth about this, read here. Plus Rockstar in so many words had explained why they made John a humiliation conga because they didn’t want John to “overshadow” Arthur. 

Yes, Arthur is older and yes, John could’ve been influenced by Arthur (but only by so much, I mean, c’mon John and Arthur are their own person). Yet the fact that Arthur is not even mentioned in rdr1 (yes, rdr2 hadn’t even been created yet. I know.) and they decided to “downgrade” John in rdr2 and give all of these admirable traits (they allude to in rdr1 about John) to Arthur is what baffles me. 

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Arthur’s character. However, it’s the high pedestal that this fandom puts him on, emphasizing his positive traits while continually bashing John in the process, that does me in.

We get it, John wasn’t a good father or a good husband, he treats his wife and kid like crap (he gets better tho), he deserves whatever criticism he gets for those horrible actions of his, but we got to remember this is the Wild West; Abigail nor John had the resources or skills to deal with their own trauma much less even raise a boy in a gang, especially Abigail. But that’s not downplaying the fact that John is a very emotionally-mentally damaged person (as a result of many forms of abuse and being raised by Dutch, Hosea, and Arthur, who aren’t the best examples) while at the same time, Abigail is a very emotionally-mentally damaged person (as a result of many forms of abuse and being raised and working in a brothel) who’s had to carry a kid for 9 months and march on through with barely having much help, aside from some individuals in the gang who helped her—I’m not gonna go with the narrative that not a single person in the gang helped. 

Listen, it’s not that we can’t handle seeing John being this pathetic version of himself that the devs chose to portray him as in rdr2 (so he wouldn’t overshadow Arthur and lazy writing) or that we can’t watch him grow from this immature and flawed human being to a man who loves his wife and child and would do anything for them… but it’s how it was done and how rockstar did it. 

They also did Johnny boy’s physical character design very poorly in the epilogue; in the epilogue (1907) he barely showcases any of the traits we see in (1911) rdr1 (a four-year difference, timeline-wise, which really isn’t that long). Although NPC John and Epilogue John might look different from each other, their personalities aren’t much different. So there’s not much of a change in my opinion.

Also, I just want to clarify that this post isn’t about the fandom preferring Arthur over John but more so about how John’s characterization was done in rdr2 compared to rdr1, which can’t merely be attributed to “character growth” rather than lazy writing.  Understandably, many people prefer Arthur over John. Hence compared to the first game, rdr2 has better accessibility, players get to go more into the protagonist’s mind, and many game mechanics have improved/developed since rdr1 was released. But rdr1 was an acclaimed game when it came out with many fans that still remain in this fandom, in spite of rdr2’s wider exposure. 

And if I was going to mention anything that the games were kind of consistent with when it came to John’s characterization, is that he has a dry and cynical personality that reflects the protagonists of old spaghetti westerns, and the unforgiving world that makes up the Wild West.

Personally, while I do like his character in both games (he’s my fave) I still feel like there’s a bit more they could’ve done with his character in rdr2, in regards to missions and stuff, I would even say the devs had put more effort into some supporting characters compared to John, but that’s just my opinion. And I was really hoping for a rdr1 remaster but more so in a Yakuza Kiwami way (amped-up gameplay, fixed plot holes, better character detail, quality improvements, etc…)

[twinsarekeepers]

Let me preface this by saying, I’m a pre-med student who works in a psychology lab as a research assistant and has also worked in a doctor’s office with actual patients. A lot of my opinions about this ending are informed by that aspect of myself, but that does not mean I don’t understand the incredible weight and horror of Joel’s decision either. I am also a writer and the narrative of a parent’s love being that destructive is so compelling.

However, it’s not more important to me than making sure people know how egregiously terrible the Fireflies are. Because the logic that something can morally outweigh informed consent is what has led to some truly horrific, catastrophic events in our REAL human history. Henrietta Lacks, the Tuskegee study, and the CIA’s fake vaccination drive in Pakistan come to mind immediately for me. These are all events that I encourage everyone to learn about.

Putting all that aside for now, objectively, Jerry Anderson was stupid and wrong in every way possible. You never ever want to completely destroy the subject you are working on, ESPECIALLY if that is the only one you have. Because wtf are you going to do if your experiment doesn’t work? You killed the one source! Literally anything would’ve been better than KILLING ELLIE?? Killing her should be the very last resort after exhausting every other possible avenue, which they didn’t. (Before someone tells me that I need to suspend my disbelief … no. The whole show is rooted in realism and that this is a possibility SCIENTIFICALLY … so I’m going to think about it with my science brain, I’m sorry!)

Now onto the part that I know y’all are going to get your panties in a twist about, Ellie herself and her capacity to give consent. Which in my opinion, coming from someone whose literal job it is to get informed consent, she did not have.

Bodily autonomy and agency is obviously very important but you would never let your child run into oncoming traffic because “oh, it’s their body and I’d be violating their autonomy and agency if I physically held them back!!” Like no. That’s a child that doesn’t fully grasp what they are doing or what is going on around them so you as the adult must make the decision to not let them harm themselves.

Ellie is a slew of red flags to someone who would be searching for participants for an experiment. For one, Ellie is a child. Getting informed consent from a child is already hard because their brains are not developed enough to fully grasp and understand what they’d be agreeing to. Two, Ellie has gone through immense trauma and is suffering from the worst case of survivor’s guilt to possibly ever exist. She literally feels like the only way to compensate for her loss is to die. She is the definition of passively suicidal. The way I would rule her out of a study so fast and send her links to every helpline I know. And yes, I know that she can never actually get the help she needs. But in my opinion, she is not in any way able to give consent and Jerry and nurses should’ve been very aware of that.

So, the fact that the Fireflies are just medically inept, and on top of that, didn’t care to get consent, and even if they had, it wouldn’t matter because Ellie is not in a position to be making that kind of decision, makes them very, very wrong.

Does that make Joel right? No. Because Joel wasn’t thinking about any of that. He believed that the Fireflies knew what they were doing, that they had a shot at making a cure and he also knew what Ellie would want (again, she’s still not a position to give consent but JOEL DOESN’T KNOW THAT BECAUSE HE’S NOT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL) and he still chose to save Ellie over … the entire world. And then he lied to her about it.

(And the lie was to protect her emotionally because he knows she takes on so much blame and he doesn’t want to cause even MORE damage and pile on top of that insane survivor’s guilt … but lying to a teenager is never the way to go, they always know).

TLDR: it is very, very complicated!

[clmntne]

i'm sure this has been said before, but sincerely i'm so so tired of seeing fellow ppl on left just straight up saying not to vote at all because supporting biden = more genocide in palestine. many who say this are well-intentioned, but throwing your hands up and opting out completely is going to do more harm. by not voting, you are choosing to step aside and let votes for trump/the GOP pile up.

please please please do not underestimate how many people in this country are so sick of biden they will just vote trump, how many people have become so brainwashed by misinformation and the shit trump himself spews, how many people are so desperate for the economy to improve they are willing to believe the illusion of trump's entrepreneurial skills. there are a plethora of americans who do not remember how bad it was under trump, 1) because we collectively have short-term memory, and 2) are so focused on how shittily biden is handling things. but we must remember.

listen. nearly no one wants another 4 years of biden. i certainly don't. i'm honestly not even sure he does either. but as much as people like to say trump and biden are just as bad as one another, we need to think long-term, not short. having the GOP in the executive branch — in addition to already having a conservative supreme court and majority GOP power in the House — will not only worsen what's happening in palestine but worsen our entire democratic structure here in the US (and jeopardize that of other countries that rely heavily on US democracy and external support, like ukraine).

trump has made it clear he is more than willing to bow down to russia and putin, to the israeli government and to saudia arabia. trump says there will be a "bloodbath" if he does not win. he continues to surprise no one with his attempts at changing narrative of january 6th, recently calling rioters rightly convicted for their crimes "patriots" and "hostages." time and time again, trump and all his GOP goons show the many ways in which they hope to destroy our already crumbling democracy.

i say this not to belittle or undermine the atrocities that are being committed every minute in gaza — the horror of it is beyond human comprehension. but it is not the only issue on the ballot. i am begging people to look at voting more holistically.

yes, this election is about palestine. but is it ALSO about reproductive rights, immigrant rights and lives, climate change, gun control, the safety and security of marginalized groups, the rise of fascism globally and its connection to our rapidly declining democracy — so, so much is at stake.

the way our government is structured right now forces you to make a choice — and by refusing to make one, it will choose for you. the GOP is actively trying to suppress voting for a reason.

it's either vote biden as a means to protect our democracy and a chance at cease-fire, or allow trump to return to office, which would mean continued genocide, and enormous damage to both our and many other countries' democracies.

stop discouraging voting.

[capn-rikshu]

<Thoughts on previous reblog

No disrespect to OP but the tonal shift/inconsistency might've shaken them to lead to that critique. I see some of what they were getting at but I never had a feeling that the show was saying that 'now that Robbie and Mo have powers, they must be responsible for every adult around them'. That's a bit extreme to me. And ESPECIALLY their thoughts on the violence of the show.

(It's a long read)

Jawbreaker has been remarked on before on not really understanding social cues at times which leads to him roughhousing with Grimlock and causing him to have an outburst. It's neither of their fault in that situation, if anyone I would blame Elita for not pulling Jawbreaker aside and explaining him Grimlock's situation. She did practically benched Jawbreaker aside for he 'could cause more trouble' before running off to stop Grimlock with Hashtag. When JB said 'it's all my fault', she said 'we'll discuss this later'. I don't blame her, it was a time tight situation, but JB may take those words too much to heart; he really does blame himself for Grimlock's rampage. Maybe there could've been a scene where Elita ACTUALLY discussed what happened with Jawbreaker, maybe apologize and tell him that it wasn't his fault but the episode ends abruptly. Maybe there WAS a scene like that somewhere in the drafts but we all know that TFE has a lot of cut content. I would criticize that aspect.

BUT nowhere else did I ever feel that the kids have a responsibility for the adults around them or how they effect them. Earthspark is sort of a 'chosen one' narrative, Quintus Prime CHOSE Mo and Robby to be the legacy of hope of the Terrans. He gave them powers to fight alongside their Terran siblings.

It's more of a kid's power fantasy than anything saying 'kids should have responsibility for the adults around them', which leads me into critiquing OP's critique of the darkness and mature themes of the show.

Again, no disrespect but I don't think OP understands how kids that age (8-15 as OP has stated to be the likely demographic) actually act like and what their likes and dislikes gravitate to. They don't understand that kids those age are going to be curious and contemplating morbid and mature topics. As they get older they'd want to been seen less as kids and more like mature adults (even though they aren't). So they will naturally be more interested in more darker/mature topics; specifically violence, mental health issues, tame gore, but nothing extremely disturbing or traumatising. The problem is that with the internet they may actually come across actually exploitive, psyche damaging stuff. With TV networks there are at least guidelines and mandates that are harder to slip through than, say, something like Youtube. (All those creepy elsagate stuff). They need a safe environment to explore those thoughts.

I was a Warrior Cats kid and anyone in that fandom knew that those books could be violent AF, same can be said about Wings of Fire (unlike Warriors I don't think it ever had a scene where a cat/dragon had their stomach cut open, WoF did have a dragon have her face burnt off with acid). Majority of those fandoms are comprised of kids less than 16 years of age, Warriors had so many fanart by CHILDREN illustrating the cats sometimes brutal deaths.

My point being, if you think most kids in between those ages are going to be traumatised by what they see on a RESTRICTIVE cable network, where they can censor many things (a lot harmless things e.g same sex couples) there is a good chance you may not fully understand children. [I'm not saying that it is impossible that they won't get traumatised by something but I'm saying that it would be extremely unlikely especially nowadays]

Unlike books, where you can only imagine how bad things are, a more visual medium like cartoons have less to the imagination. Let's take a look at the violence in Earthspark shall we?

On level of violence I'd say... it is on level of TF Prime AT TIMES. TFP was pretty consistent with its violence, it shown its characters BLEEDING, from the mouth, from wounds on the Cybertronian character. Meanwhile, I'd say the most bleeding we got from Earthspark characters was from Megatron's arm, from some covered shoulder panel. You could count Brawl dripping blood on the floor but it happens offscreen, I recall. I don't think Earthspark ever shows a Transformer bleed from any wound, or even really show any battle damage except from Bumblebee's arms and Twitch and Thrash in the finale.

The finale is the only thing I'd say could be seen as 'EXTREMELY violent', the stakes were fucking off the charts in those episodes. I see the tone clash critique from a lot people coming from there, some people also say it was rushed. By extremely violent I mean: human death (rip edgy elsa gets evaporated), Twitch getting her head repeatedly bashed against the floor by Mandroid, Nightshade getting stabbed (it is covered by a convenient camera angle and it is revealed to be an illusion), those are the extremes I remember from that episode. But those are MOSTLY ONLY EXCLUSIVE TO THE TRANSFORMERS CHARACTERS. Most violence happens to them. Human characters are harmed but it is not as horrific as how OP describes it '-children cry, they scream, they get bruised, their parents wail when they see them in danger', that makes this show sound so much more mature than it actually is, it's manipulative. There have never been any cuts or bruises ever shown on any of the human models, there are also no scenes in which I recall being extremely distressing.

I really think that the high stakes, barely seen before violence, shift in tone caused OP to go on that tirade. The clash of the finale compared to the season before gave them and many people a whiplash of what they used to perceive the show to be. People were not used to this kind of high stakes and violence in the show before the finale. I'll critique it for that - inconsistency.

One more nit-pick, this line: "1. Steven Universe really ruined a generation of children’s media by making showrunners think they had to tackle issues like PTSD and trauma."

It's completely false. I don't think OP has the knowledge of the trends in cartoons today and from before. So little network cartoons are like Steven Universe, flip on Cartoon Network, look what's playing on the telly: 'The Amazing World of Gumball', 'Total DramaRama', 'We Baby Bears'. Even on Nickelodeon: 'The Loud House', 'Spongebob', 'Monster High'. (Nickelodeon don't air cartoons often except Spongebob or The Loud House, really💀). Remember Powerpuff Girls actually having blood in its intro? Remember how the reboot sanitised everything? How they removed even the breasts on some of the female characters designs (God forbid cartoony exaggeration of female anatomy/s).

It is entirely unfair to blame Steven Universe for a supposed trend of cartoons tackling mature and dark subjects. People must remember the trend of the action cartoon back in 2000s to early 2010s: 'Teen Titans', 'Max Steel', 'Scooby Doo Mystery Inc.(not necessarily action but it was mature at times)', 'Slugterra', even 'Transformers: Prime'. Those cartoons could sometimes get "dark". But people love to use Steven Universe as the 'blame for all' because its comedic, dark tone, and tackled mature themes. Neither Earthspark nor Steven Universe, as I recall, go in depth about trauma and mental health issues. Earthspark is pretty surface level in that regard, there is no backbone. I hope for proper exploration of themes in season 2.

I think I'll end it here for now.

[No hate, if OP reads this, once more, no disrespect. I just disagree with your take.]

[unkat]

i am playing around with the idea of naturally ending chilchuck/his wife as a narrative, with a lot of headcanon interpolation of events. this is led by my fanfic brain which is looking at a different end game. i am marcilling it.

canonically he did not contact his daughters or wife for those years after she left. i struggle to imagine how it must feel for your life partner to let you disappear from his life and stopped contacting your shared kids at the same time, diving even more headfirst into his work that made you feel abandoned in the first place.

i think chilchuck thinks he is doing what is best for them by working hard on improving the respect for half-foots and not telling them about his work life. i can see him thinking that this is too much for them to worry about, so he can protect them by not disclosing anything but a censored version of events, minimizing the danger and death he faces whenever he leaves. i think before he started working in the dungeon, he was a lot more open about it with her, back when the complaints were just shitty customers.

but its not like she wouldnt notice, once he started advocating for higher safety regulations. like. what if each time he came home, he had some new frightening clause to add to his contract, and brushed off her attempts to get details as to why he put it there? and that feeling is not something their kids would be able to overlook once they get old enough to go from parent-child caretaker to parent-child friendship/advisor.

so yeah! when she actually meets his coworkers and realizes how much he has been leaving out about his life, its like he is a totally different person than the man she has been living with for the past 13 years. she has been lied to through omission, and he cant read the room that she needed him to trust her. so, she does something drastic to get his attention (and, very importantly, give herself fulfillment). and then he never calls, never writes, never reaches out for years of her life.

personally i think it would make sense for her to find something of her own, like a hobby or job, after her children have grown, and through that there could someone who can give her enough emotional support to fall in love again.

by the time he returns, he was a good man and great father, but a lousy husband, and she does not want to throw away the happiness she found without him. i think they loved each other for so long that it would be easy to fall back into that fondness after they both had a serious couple of conversations. but the ship to go back to how things were has sailed, and neither of them should try to go back to how things were. there is still love there, just in a different form than it was before.

i guess i kinda like the idea of growth that is staggered from each other due to their communication problems, if i had to make them lines moving in parallel. they fell out of sync understanding each other, and by the time they caught back up, they have missed the window to be as close as they were before. kinda a "right place, wrong time" by the time chilchuck has finished canon. i think there is beauty in the imperfections of damaged relationships, the fallibility of human nature, healing by falling apart.

could they have both been that loyal to the commitment and still work hard to fall back into love? i think its possible, but it should be as difficult as it needs to be for both of them to feel like this is a real change. chilchuck retiring might make that easier or harder for her- less stressful job, but he needs to actually put aside time for them and not fixate on his career, which would be hard if he is still a driving force behind civil movements on top of starting his business.

[passionandprecision]

Deshaun Watson’s Injury Aftermath: Frustration, Sportsmanship, Tone-Deaf Responses

By Jori Denese aka JDub

The reaction to Deshaun Watson’s injury during the Browns game has sparked a lot of conversation. Let’s set the record straight—most Browns fans were NOT cheering. The stadium was full of Bengals fans, which explains much of the noise when Watson went down. But even if the cheering was misunderstood, the conversation surrounding Watson is more complex and worth unpacking.

As a sexual abuse survivor myself, I have no empathy for Deshaun Watson. His off-field actions, paired with the 27 allegations against him, make that impossible for me. And I fully understand why so many are upset with his presence on the team, and to be honest, I couldn’t care less that he got hurt. However, while I don’t share sympathy for Watson himself, I do understand why his teammates might. Football is a team sport, and when one player falls, it impacts the entire unit. It’s not surprising that they would come to his defense, considering the bonds formed in such an environment.

That said, what I find tone-deaf and disingenuous are the comments made by some of Watson’s teammates, like Myles Garrett and Jameis Winston. Winston, for instance, said we should feel empathy for Watson because “he has the world against him and is fighting life.” But let’s be real—he’s only fighting for his professional life because of his own actions. Then Garrett went so far as to call Watson a “model citizen” for most of his career, aside from those 27 sexual abuse allegations, and suggested we show him grace and compassion.

This is where I take issue. Where was the grace and compassion for his victims? These comments distort reality, painting Watson as the victim when, in truth, there are real victims who were silenced and disrespected by the Browns organization. It’s frustrating to see these men, who should know better, turn Watson into a martyr when the real empathy belongs with the women who were harmed.

What’s even more frustrating is the glaring double standard. If Watson had been accused of abusing two dozen children or two dozen male massage therapists, he would not be in the league right now. The NFL and the public wouldn’t have tolerated it for a second. But because the victims were women, there’s a level of tolerance that simply shouldn’t exist. He should not have a job in the NFL, but Cleveland and a handful of others wanted him. Clearly, the NFL does not care about women, they allow players who have had domestic violence, sexual assault allegations and who knows what else continue to play in the league. However, that is a different argument for a different article.

While I understand that Watson’s teammates are defending him, they’re missing the point. Their statements not only alienate women, but they also dismiss the pain of those who were harmed. They are also being cold and dismissive towards women who have had those experiences as well. Celebrating an injury is wrong, but turning Watson into the victim of this story is equally damaging, and frankly, irresponsible. Celebrating the injury is wrong, but turning a sexual deviant into a “martyr” is also wrong.

At the end of the day, this is about more than just football. It’s about respecting the real victims and not allowing the narrative to twist Watson into something he is not. As fans and human beings, we need to remember that sportsmanship extends beyond the field—it’s about how we treat people off of it. When these worlds clash, the results can be disastrous, as we’re witnessing now.

To add to the complexity, this situation isn’t just about the allegations anymore. It’s also about Watson’s performance—or lack thereof. He hasn’t been playing well, often looks disinterested, and in press conferences, he comes across as detached. But because of the controversy surrounding him, everything gets lumped together. This is exactly why his teammates need to be more thoughtful in their defense of him. Instead of telling people how to judge his character, considering his past, they need to be more mindful of their words—or they risk alienating even more people. We’re already seeing more fans canceling their tickets and distancing themselves from the team because of this dysfunction.

The bottom line is this: Cleveland fans are exhausted by the stain Watson has left on the franchise. Some gave him a pass when it was just about his shoulder injury, but now, even when he’s healthy, things haven’t worked out. Yes, it was classless for the few who did cheer his injury to do so, but his teammates make it worse by being tone-deaf and failing to grasp the bigger picture.

[zarathelonewolf]

GACHIAKUTA 117 aka Horikoshi take notes because Follo is being a better side character than most of class A combined*

*excluding Bakugo and Todoroki but that's because the former is a rival/deuteragonist and the latter is an honorary deuteragonist/deuteragonist/I am Hella confused about narrative roles don't talk to me-

Ok, so.

I know this is veeeery early. But STILL.

You cannot do this shit to me Urana! Wtf!

I had the intention of not getting attached to everyone in fear that you would kill most of them off JJK style, but now I am incredibly attached to Follo as well!

Fuck!

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the chapter 117 and the Pain™ it brought me... Because both Follo and Rudo misunderstood each other and now my heart hurts.

Needless of me to say, the biggest surprise I got in this chapter is... not that Enjin is a ladies-man. I mean, with him saying that he "likes a good woman" especially if they're sexy and smarter than him, yeah, I imagined that he would be.

It's nice seeing more of Semiu being serious about the Cleaners' job. She's a tough one, and she's right, Rudo needs to get back to work.

Before I get on my Follo angst situation, I will say that though the misunderstanding between Rudo and Follo and Follo's grief for the loss of his hammer is easily my number 1 surprise, seeing Noerde and the Sileia tribe mentioned again intrigues me as well.

Noerde seems to have been known by Mildretta, who was also a Sileia, it seems... Or at the very least, Mildretta had heard of Noerde from somewhere. Also Mildretta's another tough woman. I was wondering when we'd see more of her and today I got my answer.

Now, unto Follo!

I am tempted to just dump this stuff in your face, but NO.

No. I will not. I must resist my urge to curl into a ball.

We know that Follo has been wanting to become a Giver this whole time. We can see clearly from his memories here that his goal and dream has been cast aside at best and insulted at worst.

His hammer was his chance. He had taken good care of it... Until he offered it to Rudo to break the chest.

Follo himself had made the proposal, but in the moment his hammer broke, he realized that he hadn't really been ready for the possibility of the hammer breaking.

This has probably been eating him up from the inside. His chance of becoming a Giver broke in front of him, and he has been feeling guilty because it's happened due to his own will of helping Rudo.

He wants to take pride in being a supporter. He really does. He thinks that being a supporter is just as important as being a Cleaner, but hasn't being a supporter who supports the Cleaners no matter what deprived him of his treasured hammer?

And also... Rudo has just rejected his offer of an undamaged uniform. This just rubs further salt into the wound.

A "supporter"? Can he even support the Cleaners right? Should he? He wants to be a Giver after all, and what happened due to his diligence to the cause just deprived him of his treasured item that was the key to his aspirations...

What is his place? He is feeling like he cannot be the hero of the story no matter what he does.

Rudo, on the other hand?

Guys, we're talking about "if it's broken, I will still use it until it's truly disintegrated and until then it's not trash" Rudo.

Of course he wouldn't want a new uniform. It got damaged? Not a big deal for him, he can patch it up, he doesn't mind, it's not like it's trash after all.

Nothing is trash to him.

He can't throw it away just because it's damaged.

Of course he said no to Follo's insistence.

And yet Follo probably doesn't understand. Maybe it's also due to the way they seem to have been raised, which is also the reason why I think it has been much harder so far for Follo to awaken a Jinki.

Rudo has had an empty hole inside of him for as long as he can remember, which was filled by his gloves. Follo doesn't really have the same characteristics of Rudo: his body and soul don't crave an object or someone to rely onto as much as Rudo's do. Follo does WANT a Jinki, but not with the same exasperation that makes up Rudo's heart's NEED for a Jinki.

Alternatively, Rudo's been shown as being more versatile, so to speak, compared to Follo. Rudo's soul craves the awakening of pretty much ALL he touches, at least potentially. He can awaken every object that has emotional energy stored inside of it as a Jinki.

Follo cannot do that, it's pretty clear to see. And when he is given a Jinki? Remember what happens? Zodyl may look creepy at times and very intense, but he's spot on when he says that people who try to use a Jinki when they are not the user of the Jinki themselves, or when they are not "empty" enough, they go mad. They are meeting despair derived from the object being away from what they consider a suitable friend, and they are overwhelmed with the feelings of the object. At least from what we can deduce.

"Emptiness" and "trauma", in short, make it much, much easier for someone to bring a Jinki into life. They make it easier for the person's and the Jinki's energies to join in order to reach a balance.

And while Follo's life has been riddled with struggle, I can clearly see that, it WILL take some more time before he gest his own Jinki. It's not that he has no chance of getting one, it's just that he does not have the same constitution as, say, Rudo or Amo or Zodyl, so it will be more difficult.

But maybe this will be the episode, this one misunderstanding, that transforms Follo into someone that an object may feel tempted to, so to speak, complete?

EDIT: ALSO Givers are Givers for their objects. That is to say, one shouldn't become a Giver BECAUSE that way they will gain approval for doing something because they're finally "special" enough to do that thing. Givers simply BECOME. They just BECOME their role, not for a purpose but because of the way they feel and interact with objects in their surroundings.

Again, Follo was probably close to becoming one. So close! He treasured the hammer and took care of it with perseverance. But he did it because otherwise people would be skeptical about him being in the Cleaners. He did it to prove a point... And not necessarily because HE loved the hammer, but because SOMEONE ELSE WHOM HE LOVED had the hammer (see the boy with the lighter hair that says he will become a Giver while holding the hammer? on the fourth page?) and a similar goal.

Follo is not fully living for himself.