#like theres really no justification for his actions

[iratusmus]

honestly the thing that bugs me the most about the woobification of scourge is like. these people are somehow forgetting like 90% of his entire personality. namely that his greatest ambition is more or less to be the ultimate schoolyard bully who faces 0 repercussions for his actions. like he talks about becoming king of the multiverse or whatever the heck but he never really... theres no actual reason to it. he's got no real longterm goal. he's not interested in remaking the world in his own image, or enacting any sort of real agenda, or even being worshiped like a god. he just wants to be able to kick people while theyre down and face absolutely no consequences for anything he does. scourge is very much the kind of person who would go to a playground to kick children down the slides or push them off the swings or something because he's incredibly petty and immature and frankly a loser

like honestly speaking the "i want to be king of the multiverse!1!!!" crap really just reads like he took his brief knowledge of comic book villains and said "ok . sonic is a good person who wants everybody to be free. and i cant be anything like sonic. so i am going to be a bad person who controls other people" but on the most surface level humanly possible (aka in name only) because the truth is he has absolutely no real interest in becoming a ruler or a conqueror or anything of the sort. he's got nothing he actually wants to do with that outside of other people not being able to tell him he cant do whatever he wants. namely, beating the snot out of people he doesnt like. which is almost everybody to exist. something interesting to be said about him trying so hard to separate himself from being a derivative of prime!sonic that his identity still ends up looping back around to being a derivative of prime!sonic but in a different direction, but thats a discussion for another time. REGARDLESS back to my main point.

like. ok mb25yl!shadow becomes king of mobius to enact his incredibly skewed idea of the peace that maria wanted for earth, eggman wants to conquer mobius to remake it in his own image and also build a themepark, finitevus wants to burn everything to the ground because people were the real virus all along and nature is the only one that has it figured out and everybody on this rock is frankly too stupid to deserve to live, and scourge…. became "king" of moebius (read: beat up a bunch of gang leaders and called himself that) and for… what exactly. absolutely nothing. he has no grand ambitions or goals or anything he just wants to be a schoolyard bully and thats about it. hes just an incredible loser. this is also a key component in why hes so so funny. side note but if your redesign removes the inherent tackiness of his design that is no longer scourge.

tldr every day scourge the hedgehog wakes up and chooses to be an incredibly awful immature little brat/playground bully with an appallingly tacky sense of fashion and this is like 90% of his personality and if you dont like that, might i suggest... making an oc?

[tamaharu]

ive inherited a copy of lolita from my parents (i.e. i stole it from the library in our basement and started treating it like its mine) with the 1989 vintage international cover and i think its actually not that bad. better than the 50th anniversary one with the lips anyway imo (which is the cover for the library ebook vers ive checked out).

like i think any cover that incorporates the "only convincing love story of our generation" quote anywhere kind of sucks on principle, and the fact that it features a photo of a girl at all really goes against nabakovs instructions, but compared to other covers that break those two rules, the haziness of the photo creates a really evocative atmosphere i feel matches the book more or less.

[divorcemotif]

one of the most interesting facets of martins character imo is that for how much his identity is centred around caring for & about other ppl, he's actually remarkably impatient, quick to frustration, and dismissive when he doesn't understand them. theres definitely a thing where martin believes he knows better than the people around him when he really just wants things to be simpler: he's ready to dig his heels in and dismiss other ppl/ideas as irrational when he's unwilling to actually engage with them or challenge his own worldview. he's sometimes right in a broad sense about jons actions being bad for him--in season 4, like, yeah, impulsively jumping on a boat to norway to antagonize an evil cult is pretty dangerous and maybe jon & basira should have thought it through a bit more beforehand. but hes unable to connect the dots himself abt why jon might do that; he's immediately too exasperated with the situation to really engage with it past insistence on the righteousness of his own perspective. which is kind of a dangerous tendency in combination with how broadly unwilling he is to examine his own motivations either: he doesnt think he's important enough for his actions to really matter, but they do, and his motivations are more complicated than wanting everyone to be ok--more than hes willing to admit to himself. season 4 is so interesting for how ready he is to dismiss challenges to his perception of jon: jon would only have fed on jess tyrell if he was possessed, jon would never really want to escape the institute with him. in 158 when he calls jon his reason it's kind of double-edged: how much is it that he would do anything to protect jon, and how much is protecting jon his justification for continuing to indulge his passive suicidality via self-isolation? if he wants jon at a safe distance where he can sacrifice himself for him without having to actually face him, then certainly knowing better than jon means he never has to engage with what jon like. actually wants or is doing

[xxplastic-cubexx]

what is your favorite thing about charles and your favorite thing about erik? separately, as in what you like most about their characters :]

a devious question this one is, my friend!!! it's hard enough for me to explain my thoughts cohesively, but having to pick ONE thing i particularly love is difficult. with characters like charles and erik, theres been so much done with their characters over the decades and so they have so many components to them that make them so interesting and fun to observe. BUT I TRY FOR YOU TODAY. under the cut i kinda ramble and the size of this text box makin me anxious

i think if i were to be simple and broad, what i enjoy most about charles is his determination to help others, even if he isn't really thanked and/or if people don't even like him. ofc, this isn't to say he hasn't done wrong- to be honest, the fact he does wrong/questionable things at times is another aspect of him i really enjoy, maybe because- broadly speaking- he's meant to be altruistic (intent vs outcome and all that). i don't know if that's super exciting to most people, but it is for me

as for erik, my reason for liking him is easier to explain tbh. To Be Simple And Broad, his progression from villain to antihero over the decades has been fun to observe (as much as i have so far anyhow) and analyze. i think to be a bit more specific, him using his rage and pain as justifications for his villainous actions is definitely what compels me the most: hurt people hurt and the sort, an idea i've always found interesting (something something vicious cycles and the like). yet now, he recognizes this wasn't really. A Just Thing To Do and is beginning to change that, which i enjoy

[arthur-lesters-balls]

ok im about to start rambling like crazy because since yesterday i cant stop thinking about this fucking scene and how it just makes stsg's future fight worse better. this is a wonderful point to stop, and think about their breakup and how it was clearly motivated by a lot more than just a clash of ideals

to get started its really interesting to think about how gojo was the one who gave the idea of going against any rules and fighting the person at the foundation of the jujutsu society for riko. he was ready to risk everything for a single kid, to grant her the life she wanted. both he and geto knew, that if they chose this path, the consequences would be irreparable. even if they won against tengen, it meant the barriers would be totally fucked up and they would likely become fugitives, but that was alright! as long as they gave riko the opportunity to be a child! to be happy! even tho they were also just teenagers themselves and its clear that this being a kickoff to turn their lives upside down sounds so similar to what happened to geto, and its why his deflection and all the lack of communication around it are even more depressing. the thing is: i cant imagine a world where gojo, knowing about mimiko and nanako, would disagree with getos attitude. even if you dont take into consideration how gojo was ready to kill the whole star cult after riko died, it just doesnt goes with what we saw of him until that point (and from that point onward too) some people disagree with this, because it goes in favor of the whole "gojo didnt had a moral compass of his own when he was a teenager" thing (which is totally wrong). to me, it doesnt. gojo had his own opinions, but he also seemed very aware of how this didnt mean he was ready for the nuances of every situation he could get caught on, and that was where talking to geto helped him. they had similar opinions, gojo felt safe being honest with him, and they were equals! who could be better to question his decisions, right? well, thats exactly why theres a whole plot line about geto looking gojo and feeling that they were no longer neck to neck when gojo goes after geto in shinjuku, its really unambiguous the fact that his goal was not to kill him, but to talk to him. gojo wanted to understand what was the meaning behind geto's actions. geto, who always made sure everything he did had a clear and well-thought motivation, would surely have an explanation for his choice. and in a certain way, he did, yes. i think its quite easy to see that gojo, who even ten years later was out there saying he would side with yuta in a fight, if the higher ups decided to kill him, would see at least a little bit of sense in the core of geto's choice if he just knew about it. but he didnt when geto decided that gojo would never understand him, he wasnt thinking about gojo disagreeing with the effectiveness of it, because geto himself knew it was a dumb idea. the heart of what he was doing, wasnt really to succeed, even tho he gives his best to make himself believe that he will. its all about choosing the murder spree he did in that village, and then doing a backward justification; its about hopelessly doing something, for the sake of doing something. if he were gojo, his plan wouldnt be stupid. if he were gojo, there wasnt any plan that would sound stupid. because gojo had the power to change the world if he set his heart on doing so, but geto didnt. what he could do was choose his path and give his best at staying at it, no matter how painful it was

[danmei-confessions]

people really out here saying "what about nmj's horrible crime of trying to hurt jgy" while explaining every single justification possible for jgy's behavior without.... acknowledging the very reasonable justifications behind nmj's actions? literally "why wont you give me blorbo a fair shake, he had REASONS for his behavior. nmj clearly had none" like ok sure. also its not that we dont know the reasons for jgy's behavior dude, we just dont think those reasons make any of that shit okay

also people using lxc as a defense for jgy like "he was so good to him!" bro thats like saying xy was 'so good' to xxc. loved him? absolutely. didn't WANT to hurt him? 100%. but the actual betrayal enacted on him? absolutely across the board unforgivable shit. theres a reason lxc was willing to do that final blow, even tho it was a trick. after all the shit that jgy had done, he'd already gotten way more mercy than he deserved from lxc (and yeah, prolly bc lxc was 100% in love with jgy but HOT TAKE lxc being in love with jgy makes what jgy did to him WORSE. and hotter take, the fact that jgy loved lxc and manipulated and used him like that MAKES IT WORSE. im not saying dont ship xiyao, i ship xiyao, they're a good fucking ship and they're clearly in love but HOLYSHIT is jgy a toxic and abusive asshole toward lxc and HE DOESNT EVEN KNOW IT)

.

[kvothbloodless]

skitter and bitch are a t4t lesbian couple but wildbow is too much of a coward to admit it

This Does sound like something id write bur i actually do think something is lost by making Taylor trans. Not like, anything Major, or that couldnt be elevated by other changes, but as is, I think such an important part of her is that her incredible sense of universal alienation is Without any justification.

Like. Shes so wholy internalized the view of herself that emma and sophia hammered into her, so internalized the fact that No One Will Ever Help Her, and this just like...isnt universally true? The Undersiders take to her right away (Bitch aside), and that was With her having the self-fulfilling belief that theres no point in reaching out because no one will ever like her. The Only reason she has the issues she did with the heroes is that Armsmaster poisoned that well, but it also serves to reinforce this belief, which gets pretty quickly dispelled (somewhat) (to the readers) once she joins the Wards.

But if shes trans, then suddenly there Is an actual reason for her to be mistrustful of strangers, for her to assume that if people really Knew Her, theyd dislike her. Because thats like, an actual valid worry in a world with widespread tranaphobia. It wouldnt in Any way reduce the bite of it, but it Would muddle the themes from stuff like Sophias bullying of her explicitly being overlooked because shes a Ward, beacuse now theres a secondary, separate motive for that. Hell it even somewhat muddles the issue of the bullying itself. Sophia targets her because shes weak and just takes it, not out of any larger beliefs. As it stands, the fact that No One steps in is entirely due to structural/cultural issues. Adding transphobia as a potential motive there sort of muddies that.

To be clear, having taylor be trans Could be amazing. All of the above arent really issues, so much as an opportunity for a new direction for themes that would need to be explored in full in order to keep the story from losing something. And having those themes Would add to the story A Lot. Worm definitely is lesser for having a central theme be the various circumstances that drive people to various moral actions and necessities, and then not exploring how specific forms of bigotry contribute to that on a wide scalw.

But like. Wildbow is too much of a coward to even leave it open to Interpretation whether either of them Might be attracted to women, so its not like id trust him to explore the themes of transness alienating you from a transphobic society, or to tie in his themes of society (and heroes) creating their own villains with that. I think he handled Averys coming out arc (and Veronas realizing who she is arc) in Pale Extremely well, but i still wouldnt trust him to write a story where "living in society while being queer" is a central theme.

That said, Rachel and Taylor would absolutrly have fucked sloppy style if Taylor had been with the undersiders longer, and Wildbow is a coward for disagreeing with this fact.

Hmm. This got away from me a bit. Anyways. Woe, long psot be upon ye

[hot-take-tournament]

HOT TAKE TOURNAMENT

POST PRE PRELIMINARY #112

Submission 39

Kusuke Saiki is a good and justifiable character

[JUSTIFICATION UNDER THE CUT]

Pre-preliminaries will be used to determine what qualifies as a hot take. Propaganda is encouraged!

Also, remember to reblog your favourite polls for exposure!

Kusuke is a messed up dude, however, he isnt as bad as people sometimes make him out to be.

He did technically turn a village of old people into robots however, that is understandable. People think he did it only because of kusuo, which is wrong. Before he turned the village into robots, he called his grandpa and said he needed some money. His grandpa thought it was kusuo even though kusuke didnt hide his voice or anything, so he ran off to deliver the money. Once he realized that it wasnt kusuo and was instead kusuke, he scolded him for lying even though kusuke never said he was kusuo and he really did need train fare. once kusuke told them that he had graduated from Cambridge with a PHD, his parents and grandparents didnt seem excited or nothing even though he was only 19 since he was so smart he skipped so many grades. so it makes sense that he'd turn them into robots. he ended up leaving and undo-ing the robot thing too.

at some point he tried to launch his dad at a meteor but his dad sucks and both his parents prefer his brother I think, but ultimately both his brother and himself have it rough. also his parents let him go and study in England all by himself at 14, they didnt worry about him whatsoever.

also hes not obsessed with kusuo, hes obsessed with kusuo's powers. he acts pretty normal when he isnt talking about his powers, he doesnt obsess over kusuo, its just his powers that he obsesses over. anything that makes him seem gross in a similar way that makoto teruhashi is gross, can be refuted. why is he obsessed with kusuo's powers? because he was the smartest person ever and could beat everyone except kusuo. the reason why he couldnt beat him was because of his powers, since he kept trying to win but failed 4260 times (the amount he said + the amount he failed in the times after he said that), he ended up obsessed with winning against him and his powers. why did he put the limiter there? so kusuo would be more likely to have issues taking it given its placement, this gave kusuke an advantage and allowed him to almost get the other limiter. some people say he did gross things to the robot version, theres no evidence to prove he did anything other than make it lick his shoes and even that mightve just been for the recording he sent to the real version.

Point is, Kusuke Saiki is a messed up dude and does do bad things however he isnt as bad as a lot of people think plus there's reasoning behind his actions.

[biribaa]

(Pirate)Robot oc x Hacker!reader

(Pirate)Robot oc/Emmett x Hacker!reader

Robots having their own consciousness was one of the greatest events of the human race, just as it became a plague.

While some accepted peace with humans, many preferred to revolt in a radical way, either verbally or even socially. And one of them was the pirates.

Robots with advanced AI have crept deep into the virtual world and turned against several human millionaires and also spreading piracy, be it games, movies and series. And they've been a problem for years.

You, a hacker on the side of good, have been paid thousands of dollars by the FBI to help them and their police infiltrate the pirates' ship and confront them with business or threats with your skills.

And that explains the reason for your current situation. You, facing the captain of the virtual pirates' ship, Emmett

The room was dark, but not completely because of the warm light from certain candles. You had your hips propped up against the table in his office, which had a variety of utensils, with the palm of your hand resting against the edge of the table. While Emmett, with his smirk displayed on his screen, stood in front of you, blocking the door out of the area. The robot was playing with a dagger on his torn-sleeved arm, watching you talk.

"You are being childish" You growled quietly "You can't just act like a pirate's life is like a silly doll play! You are risking the safety of thousands of people you don't even know!"

"I'm childish?" Emmett teased with his smile open "Lots of humans do piracy but when I do I'm childish? Oh... the irony"

You become silent with his argument, because you knew Emmett was right, and your silence only made his smile widen just like his ego.

You stared at the floor, thinking of some kind of argument you could make against Emmett, only to hear his voice again.

"Y/N, please, don't you think i know i'm evil? That I am doing the wrong? Of course I know, when a robot hangs a human for not offering them rights, everyone is shocked! But you humans make no reaction when theres a report of a murder on the news. Irony, isn't it?"

"That doesn't justify your crimes, Emmett..." You commented, facing the red robot

"I'm not looking for justification, I'm looking for justice. For years humans have used me as a slave, Y/N. I want them to taste their own mistakes..."

You were about to make yet another argument, some kind of name calling, anything to not keep quiet, just to Emmett interrupt you

Emmett tilted his monitor head to his shoulder, grin wide and one eyebrow raised. "I know you agree with me, Y/N..." He cooed with a rich voice "I know you've seen hundreds of humanity's mistakes. Aren't you tired of it all like I am? Don't you want them to taste my hate? Our hate?"

Emmett's tentacles made him approach you, already putting you on alert. Then, Emmett pinned you against the table, tucking both of his arms under his, as you could feel his waist attached to yours and the tentacles under his hips attaching themselves to your legs.

You moved your face away from Emmett's screen as much as you could, but trying the action was next to impossible, you could still feel the heat from his screen on the tip of your nose.

"Just think about it dear, no chains at all holding you anymore, do you really want to help them after everything you've already learned from humans?" The cold fingers of the metal hand brushed against your chin "And after all... I don't believe they deserve you"

You grit your teeth, yes, you were blushing, but Emmett was still your enemy in this scenario. You slowly put your hand inside your pocket, feeling the small device with a button. One of the agents told you that when the button is pressed, you would immediately be taken back to the real world–

Making your heart nearly stop, you felt a hand roughly hold you between your neck and cheek area. "I know what you are thinking."

Hmm... Mf didn't let me finish my narration.

You looked into Emmett's eyes, which displayed anger, and his smile finally came down. Emmett slightly turned his face, analyzing him, why? You do not know.

He sighed "Y/N, don't see this as me manipulating you with my sexy voice to help me, see it as me genuinely offering help to you. I have my own reasons to be in this boat, and I should let you know that I could do a lot worse." For the first time you felt that Emmett wasn't taking this situation as a joke, for the first time he sounded serious.

Emmett backed away from you, tucking his dagger behind his coat and finally giving you space.

"You know where to find me if you change your mind Y/N" Emmett glared at you one last time, before you pressed the button and ended up in a room with several computers.

You looked around, wanting to make sure this was where you'd last appeared before heading to Emmett's boat.

"Y/N!" Gregory, one of the agents in the white jacket approached you. "Are you okay? Why did you take so long to leave, everyone was worried! Did you manage to solve everything?"

You weren't sure if your current situation was okay, but what you did know was that you had to make a choice.

[sexysilverstrider]

"he's so yellow for someone who's a red flag" sums up his route so well omg i am dying watching you play it 🤣 HIS ROUTE SCARED ME SO BAD AND I ONLY PLAYED THAT GAME BCOS OF YOU

I DIDNT EVEN PLAY HIS ROUTE BEFORE LMAOOO I SPEEDRAN TF OUT OF IT its really interesting. like theres no justification to his actions and yes he is helpful in clearing mc from the bullies but boy might have. gotten the security measures too far. comedy to me

[synthcabbit]

If you don't mind me asking and if you're not comfortable please do not answer this. (please don't force yourself to answer) Do you think he did what he did on purpose or do you think it maybe it might have been something he didn't realize he was doing? Also do you think he regrets letting things get to where they are now? To me and this is entirely my opinion and not saying it's what happened or true, I feel like he might have been thinking things we're ok or didn't fully realize the extent of the damage that was being done. I again want to say that this is what I think but I can be completely wrong so don't think I'm trying to justify anything.

so after we broke up while i was still living with him, he claims that he hadnt realized a lot of what he did wasnt good and he regrets it. its hard for me to believe it considering the amount of times i had told him that what hed do isnt okay but hed continue anyways later. but also, he has absolutely horrible self awareness. its a mixed bag and theres nuance to it. given the other non sexual things hes done that have made my emotional and psychological trauma worse and his refusal to do anything about, its hard for me to 100% believe him with a lot of this. he would lie about things even just small things which doesnt help.

it should not have taken breaking up with him to realize the extent of his actions were really fucked. but again, dogshit self awareness

and dont worry anon i dont see it as justification.

[bisluthq]

This whole story is reminding me of how I found a few months ago that one of my closest friends had a pattern of DV with his gfs, and it made me realize how much of a problem society's conception of abusers is because there is this notion that its visible to be abusive or a bad guy or a creep and "i could always tell there was something wrong" and theres never any grey zones and victims are always perfect and never fight back or handle it in any way that could be suspicious and the abusers dont also have pain or good sides and everything is black and white.

And like, in my case with my friend, the abuser was this super charismatic sweet guy who was really there for me when my mother got sick and painted himself as a feminist and called out guys for like, not going down on their gfs or whatever, and he had this super fucked up childhood which he still suffered a lot from and which i really empathised with, and it took SO long for me to realize how manipulative he could be and how he was refusing to take accountability for his actions and always justified it to himself and kept hurting people, and even if the good sides were probably still there and the pain was definitely there, it did not excuse any of the stuff he did or make him a good person.

And so, that's why I feel like Justins pov is so important, because that point of view is so important to help people but especially victims to understand abuse, and its so underrepresented in media which is super harmful. So it sucks that Blake and Ryan didn't want to show this point of view

Firstly, I'm sorry your friend turned out to be a worse person than you thought. That's a tough thing to have to realise. Secondly... yeah. I don't think, unless the person is like a complete and total sociopath AND a sadist to boot, they don't have their own justifications for their behaviours? Ryle, from what I've read/seen, has a sad backstory that's led to him having a bad temper and he hasn't like... dealt with that. He is very sorry every time he hurts Lily but he keeps hurting Lily anyway. Your friend, as you say, has a sad backstory that's allowed him to justify shitty to downright abusive behaviours. But both of them have (internal) justifications (that don't excuse them)?

I also think it's worth thinking about how specific relationships can lead to specific behaviours/reactions/etc. Just because someone is a good friend, or a good family member, or a good colleague/boss and all that doesn't mean they can't be abusive to their partner. And fwiw other way round too - someone can be abusive as a caregiver or as a boss or be a really shitty and selfish friend to the point of being essentially abusive and be awesome in other settings. Also just because they were/are good to YOU even in that same capacity, doesn't mean they can't be terrible to someone else. Like just because your ex wasn't abusive when you were together, it doesn't mean they're not abusing their current partner or didn’t abuse an ex.

So yeah, I mean these are HEAVY and COMPLEX topics. I think Colleen is a shitty writer but fwiw she did kinda in her own shitty way want to try explain and show how women often stay in situations even where they can and should leave. I think Justin, for reasons that still escape me, felt that he could use her source material as a springboard for discussions on toxic masculinity and how men are also victims of patriarchy and DV more broadly (beats tf out of me why he chose this source material but let's roll with it for now). I think Blake thought looking cute in florals would be fun. And I think Ryan was looking at how to make the most money possible and also dislikes Justin lol.

Mess, mess, mess but like... profound theme actually.

[idyllic-affections]

🌻 WE TALKED ABOUT THE SAME TAKE RAHHAUAIAJAKAN i feel like if u want to post a take about a character u dont like, then u should at least make sure that it isn't biased... i do that. an another character i very dislike as a person (but love for his writing) is really close to my favorite character, so everytime i happen to talk about him i try to look at him with open mind and some understanding for his actions and not boil him down to "ue ue he evil fawk him!" because. look i hate him but even i can tell that hes a very complicated character so. yeah!

AJAHSJSJS look. look! the "canon" tag... was created by his antis. mhm. because his fans told them to get an own tag for all the hate and mischaracterization and well. they. um. tried? i have nothing against people that dislike this character alright. he is complicated, his relationship with his brother is i think above saving, hes can be an absolute ass and so go on so people can have genuine reasons to dislike him. or he just annoys them and that's ok!! but theres a difference between disliking a character and talking complete bullshit about them and calling it "canon that stans refuse to accept"

STOP LMFAO WE SHARE A BRAINCELL FR

ME 🤝 🌻 ANON UNKNOWINGLY COMPLAINING ABOUT THE SAME SHITTY FURI & NEUVI TAKE

LITERALLY just... don't post it if you KNOW it's biased (or do, but put a disclaimer at the top). i couldn't post about wrio or dottore, for example, in an unbiased way, so i don't. i know my takes would be shitty because i Do Not Like Them. and i don't care for good takes about them because, again, I Do Not Like Them. good and empathetic takes do not matter to me because i just don't think any of them have justifable reasons for the way they behave (objectively though dottore cannot be justified at all; he's literally a serial kidnapper, murderer, AND terrorist. that is the truth that i feel like a lot of dottore stans don't acknowledge). so i don't post about them. because the takes would be bad.

THAT'S SO REAL there's a vast difference between actual canon that people don't really like, and just posting bad hater takes and calling those takes "canon that people don't really like." people often seem to struggle understanding the difference between their personal feelings and biases vs. what is actually canon, so it often manifests in Bad Takes. sigh. such is the nature of fandom spaces, i suppose!

[notable-phlyarologist]

ok so me and a gf have been watching through my hero academia and like, wow, i thought it was forgettable when i watched it while doped up on pain meds in the hospital but now i hate it

heeeere's rambles

but theres one thing thats honestly really minor that keeps bothering me. every character follows anime level logic where if youre a character designated 'strong' you're arbitrarily quick, strong, and durable to suit whatever flashy bs youre doing in a fight. very typical anime stuff

but see, in most shonen settings, they either explicitly or implicitly say that their midichlorians also give a boost to them even outside of flashy techniques. Naruto has chakra, hxh has nen and is the best, bleach has reiki, dbz has ki, one piece has haki, and so on.

but in mha there is this continual emphasis that your Quirk is everything, that it is the thing from which all your anime powers derive, and in the typical vein of superpowers you only have that one Thing that you can do and you just need to stretch it around.

but we get shit like eraserhead clowning on those goons and remaining conscious through fifteen concussions, bakugou keeping up with midoriya in close combat when midoriya's whole thing is a big all-around boost, we get people with powers that have no justification for making them able to dodge gunfire or whatever. it rankles

its not even as though this is, like, necessarily a sin-- i mean, hollywood action flicks dont go out of their way to say that john wick has a whole lot of Cinema Juice in his blood or whatever.

the problem is the tone, because mha constantly tries to look like everything that's going on is through creative applications of powers, clever interactions with real-world physics like air pressure or whatever, and it does all this in a world very similar to our own. biological quirk drawbacks similarly signal that this show is trying to be neat and clever like if you woke up with superpowers tomorrow you could do this stuff too and it would work the same as it does here. yet it still has these egregious moments where Eraserhead is doing TAS combat gymnastics or bakugou is able to keep up with midoriya even though explosive propulsion really only gets you so far or random villains with shooty Quirks can take absurd beatings or keep up with bakugou and co themselves.

and this show loooves exposition, voiceovers, and flashbacks. we get them constantly and they ruin any emotional moment by not allowing you to sit with it and actually feel what's happening. instead youre just told everything thats going on. but that also means that this problem of anime action heroing would be the absolute easiest thing to fix in the whole entire world.

just fucking say that when you train your Quirk a lot you also start getting an all-around boost. then extend that into the reason why Quirkless people never show up to super fights-- they literally can't keep up when even Eyestalk Man can move twice as fast and hit twice as hard.

and in turn play this into the whole Quirkless discrimination thing we hear about but never see-- the narrative is that Quirkless people are vestigial! they're primitive, weak, stupid, barely even people, not like *us*. Look at how much crime they do, even when none of them take the leap into calling themselves villains! se have scientific studies that say definitively quirkless people are worse at everything!

those studies are of course grossly misrepresented-- any 'Quirk Boost' only really starts to kick in around the Pro Hero level of training and dedication. a Quirkless mma fighter could still absolutely whoop the ass of a quirked rando on the street. the difference in the lives of the vast majority of the population between Quirked and Quirkless is negligible. Like, this one little thing can improve three whole huge glaring bald spots in the canon! it's so simple! it makes everything better! how did you not do this!

[azudarlings]

hi guys have a random rant i went on about jamil's character as the way i see him

I ALWAYS SAW JAMIL AS REDEEMABLE CAUSE I UNDERSTOOD HIS WHOLE STORY IN A WAY WHERE IT WAS LIKE HE'S ALWAYS BEEN TREATED AS LESS THAN KALIM DESPITE BEING LIKE SMARTER THAN HIM MORE ORGANIZED PUT TOGETHER SO IT WAS A SLOWLY BUILDING RESENTMENT--HE COULD NEVER OUTSHINE KALIM, AND IT MADE HIM LIKE BITTER TOWARDS HIM, CAUSE IT WAS ALWAYS JAMIL BEING FORCED TO BE MORE MATURE THAN HE ACTUALLY IS, ALWAYS JAMIL MAKING SACRIFICES, WHILE KALIM WAS ABLE TO DO ANYTHING AND BE LOVED BY HIS FAMILY WHEN JAMIL WAS JUST SOME TOOL TO THEM. THERES A THEORY ABOUT HIS SISTER, WHO IS LIKE 3ISH YEARS YOUNGER THAN HIM, THAT SHES A REPLACEMENT FOR HIM CAUSE KIDS DEVELOP A BEGINNIGN PEROSNALITY AROUND 3 AND IF JAMILS PARENTS DIDNT WANNA RISK IT THEY COULDVE HAD HIS SISTER AROUND THAT TIME IN CASE JAMIL FAILED AT BEING A PROPER BODYGUARD RETAINER WHATEVER HE IS AND ALSO JAMIL WAS LIKE SOMEONE WHO JUST WANTED ONE MOMENMT TO SHINE AND THEN HE'LL BE FINE REPRESSING HIMSELF AND PRETENDING AGAIN BC HE WOULD ALWAYS BE PRETENDING UNLESS HE WAS ALONE, THAT'S WHERE HE COULD FINALLY REST AND LET HIS GUARD DOWN BUT MAYBE NOT EVEN THEN BC HE HAD TO ALWAYS BE ON ALERT AND SINCE THIS STRESS WAS ON HIM SINCE HE WAS A LITTLE KID HE JUST SLOWLY GOT MORE AND MORE NUMB BUT ALSO MORE AND MORE ANGRY AND BITTER BECAUSE IT WAS ALWAYS KALIM THIS KALIM THAT AND HE HAD TO DUMB HIMSELF DOWN TO SOME MEDICORE NOTHING, NEVER GETTING ANY COMPLIMENTS OR PRAISE OR NOTICE, NOTHING JUST CONSTANTLY DROWNING IN KALIM'S SHADOW THAT KALIM WASN'T EVEN AWARE HE CAST. LIKE IDK IF I SAID THIS BEFORE BC I LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT BUT JAMIL SHOVED ALL HIS EMOTIONS BENEATH HIS LITTLE MASK, PROBABLY HAVING TO LOOK/ACT PLEASANT AND MAYBE TO KALIM HE COULD BE A LITTLE BIT MORE LIKE HIMSELF, BUT NEVER COULD REVEAL HIMSELF AND AS A KID ESP SINCE HES DONE THIS SINCE A KID HE DEF MATURED WAY FASTER THAN A KID SHOULDVE AND LIKE HES TO THE POINT WHERE HE CAN JUST SEPERATE HIS EMOTIONS ENTIRELY FROM A SITUATION, E.G. STUDYING, WHICH IM GUESSING IS BECAUSE HES ALWAYS BEEN HAVING TO PUT HIMSELF LIKE ASIDE FOR OTHER PEOPLE SINCE SERVING KALIM WAS HIS JOB AND THOUGH HIS ACTIONS TO KALIM ARE OBVIOUSLY VERY LIKE THERE'S NO EXCUSE BUT IMO THERE'S JUSTIFICATION LIKE THERE'S A REASON WHY HE ACTED THIS WAY, HE WAS SO SO SO SICK OF KALIM GETTING AWAY WITH EVERYTHING FACING NO CONSEQUENCES HAVING EVERYTHING HE WAS LIKE JEALOUS LIKE WHY CANT I HAVE THAT AND HE WAS SICK AND TIRED OF NEVER GETTING ANY PRAISE OR UNDERSTANDING OR EMPATHY BECASUE JAMIL KNOWS HE'S SMART--WAY SMARTER THAN KALIM BECAUSE HE'S CONSTANTLY HAD TO DRILL EVERYHTING HE DID KNOW INTO KALIM'S HEAD AND SINCE HE'S WITH KALIM 24/7 HE NEVER REALLY GETS A BREAK FROM HIM WHICH DEFINITELY JUST MADE HIM MORE ANGRY LIKE HE SAW ALL OF KALIMS FLAWS AND IT PISSED HIM OFF BC KALIM DIDNT EVEN SEE THOSE AND NORMALLY HE WOULDNT CARE OR MIND ASIDE FROM BEING ANNOYED BUT THIS WAS COUPLED WITH THE FACT HES CONSTANTLY STRESSED AND BUSY MOSTLY BC OF KALIM AS WELL AS ALL THE STRESS AND EMOTIONS HE'S BOTTLED UP AND HE JUST LOSES IT DURING THAT WHOLE THING W KALIM CHAPTER 4 CAUSE WASNT HIS PLAN JUST SOME SHIT ABOUT MAKING EVERYONE THINK KALIMS HAD SOME KIND OF BREAKDOWN BUT IF HE DID THEN HED JUST GET REPLACED BY SOMEONE YOUNGER AND JAMIL WOULDNT BE ABLE TO OUTSHINE THAT PERSON YOUNGER THAN HIM CAUSE HES THE SERVANT OR WHATEVER SO THE SITUATION WOULD BE WORSE … SO IM CHALKING IT UP TO JAMILS SNAPPING POINT HE FINALLY HAD ENOUGH (WHICH SINCE THE LETTER HC SOMEONES TELLING HIM NOT TO TAKE SHIT AND JAMILS JUST BEEN WANTING TO FINALLY BE FREE AND SOMEONE ELSE BELIEVES HIM SO THATS THE FINAL PUSH HE NEEDS) AND SINCE JAMIL JUST WANTED LIKE ENOUGH TO BE OPEN ABOUT HIS GRADES AND ACTUALLY TRY IN THINGS HE STICKS W KALIM AFTER THE WHOLE OVERBLOT INCIDENT AND LIKE DOESNT TRY ANY OTHER SHIT I THINK CAUSE THEY GO TO VDC OR WHATEVER TOGETHER IN THE NEXT CHAPTER AND ARE ALL BUDDY-BUDDY SO JAMIL LIKE FINALLY GOT HIS SHIT BACK TOGETHER AFTER THAT WHOLE INCIDENT AND

bro i went over the TEXT LIMIT ill continue this on a reblog

[girlbosstom]

can you elaborate on that post you made where you said there's a tumblr version of Tom and Shiv and the version of Tom and Shiv on the show and they're very different? I think I agree but I'm curious

Translation: can you please smack this bear with a firepoker? SDKGLJDSHGLKJSDGH

But yes sure.

I see a lot of interpretations that these two are like... star crossed lovers whose relationship is only failing because of the world they live in.

But I don't think that's like.... Remotely true. I actually think it's the opposite I see them as two incredibly incompatible individuals who are only together BECAUSE of the world they live in.

I also just like.... don't love the trivialization of either of their actions in the marriage. They aren't a cringe UWU fail marriage to me I know people use it as a joke which is fine and often funny but that's definetly like, not all they are, you feel?

But in reality It's an abusive and toxic situation that makes me uncomfortable to watch (which i feel like is the point). And I absolutely despise the justification of ones actions by saying the other has done bad things too.

3.8 was like bone chilling and very icky and like, the fact that Shiv told Tom he was being manipulative after he expressed he felt uncomfortable with her behavior during sex eliminates any uwu star-crossed factor for me forever it wipes it off the map.

And I really do think gender and misogyny plays a role in the way people view the marriage. It's a fascinating rorsach blot to me. And I'm not saying everyone with these views must feel this way but I feel like when people think Shiv is this like, evil "bitch" demon woman with no reasoning behind her actions (though still unjustified) and Tom has done no wrong (he has. did you see retired janitors?!) there's probably misogyny there.

But I also see a lot of people viewing Shiv's emotional abuse towards Tom as like... excusable or justifiable or like, not a big deal, that feels like a can of worms about the way patriarchal society trivializes these situations when they happen to men.

Also the idea that Tom is in it strictly for social climbing purposes is weird to me. It's a part of it, but I think both his response to signing a prenup and his proposal to get out of the Waystar world with Shiv are both signs that it's not just about that.

And ANOTHER THING! just in general. I've seen a lot of people get defensive at the interpretation that Shiv isn't in love with Tom. Which i kind of think is bullshit because I feel like that's a very common interpretation and theres like, a lot to back it up in text. I think there's love there. I think she loves Tom, but it's like what Sarah Snook has said, she loves what Tom does for her.

My interpretation is that they are incompatible in almost every way and I think they both idealized each other without communicating with eachother at all. And I think the only way either of them have a remote shot at happiness is a divorce.