#maybe because I have so many protagonists who are assholes lol

[cryptid-s-wips]

WIP intros but make it AITA Tag

Thank you to @theglitchywriterboi for the tag and also for coming up with this game! These were a lot of fun to write!

AITA if I forgot to tell my traveling companion that I was possessed by a demon? I [27F] lived a pretty normal life until I learned I was going to hell and asked a demon [?̴̧̢͔̩̤̖͎̰̼͚͊̌͠?̴̧̰͖͇͈͈̗̤̥͚͎͉̪̝̼̂̊́͛͆̾̓̐͐̑̋̊̕͝?̷̛̛̺̙̻̠̭̹̘̰͙̔̎̓͋̉̔̈́̓͐̍͌͋̚] for help in exchange for sharing my body. I then ran into an exorcist [26F] and she offered to help me run the demon's errands. I may have lied about also being an exorcist and didn't tell her about the demon. I can't let her exorcise the demon, but I feel bad about lying to her. The demon's suggestion is to just ditch her on the side of the road, but I probably won't stoop to that yet. AITA? [WIP: H2H]

AITA if I don't tell my best friend that I accidentally killed him? I [15M] and my best friend [15M] both go to a boarding school that I semi-recently figured out is in a time loop. I remember what happened in the previous iterations, but he doesn't. One iteration, a little while back, I may or may not have set off a chain of events that left him dead. We've looped back now and he's alive again, but I still feel guilty about it. I can't tell him or he'd never look at me the same again, but it's hard to keep such a huge secret. AITA? [WIP: MBP]

AITA if I abandoned my family to deliver a file to someone that might be dead? I [17F] am traveling with a group of friends [17M, 18M, and 17F] to deliver a file to a scientist on the west coast. We don't know much about them except for the location, but the person who gave them to us told us the scientist would be able to stop the zombie apocalypse with them. We weren't with our families at the time, but between running from zombies and wanting to deliver the file, we never got a chance to see if they were okay. I think that it's for the greater good, so we're in the all-clear, but my friend thinks we should have gone back and saved them. Who's the asshole here? [WIP: WTRL]

Tagging (no pressure): @sapphic-story, @writingforevren, @lividdreamz, @yejiwritesthings, @bookish-galaxy, and anyone else who'd like to join (especially since it's a relatively new tag game!

[genericpuff]

hey gen p! i was reading a post of yours where you mentioned LO's age rating and briefly mentioned that minthe was verbally abusive during sex which surprised me bc i didnt really remember her being accused of doing so outside of the slap/havent come across any other accusation since, so i've been defending her against abuse allegations, maybe mistakenly, bc i stopped reading the comic at some point. is it too much to ask for some instances where she *was* abusive so i can correct my outlook?? thx! :3

oh so it's really just one scene and it's waaay back in Episode 8-

like i'm gonna assume this isn't a consensual kink play thing LOL but also like. I wanna make it clear also that people don't necessarily defend Minthe as not being abusive, many people who defend her are well aware that she's done abusive shit. They defend Minthe because 1.) she has a lot more potential for well-written character development than Hades and Persephone (as she's actually genuinely flawed as per the narrative vs. Hades and Persephone who are flawed but we're still expected to believe they're perfect, so unlike H x P Minthe actually has potential to do better and grow like characters should!) and 2.) a lot of Minthe's abuse towards Hades isn't necessarily justified but is a lot more understandable when you really analyze Hades and realize that he is, in fact, a piece of shit LOL

like don't get me wrong, I don't think Minthe was in the right by treating Hades like shit and escalating it to the slap, there are FAR better things she should have done... but I and many others defend her on the basis that she doesn't have the self-respect or resources necessary to look out for herself in a more productive way, much of which was facilitated by Hades trapping her in a financially abusive relationship. When you're worried not only about losing your partner, but also your house and your job with it, that's gonna turn into some unhealthy coping mechanisms and responses like physical and verbal abuse as we see in Minthe. She's someone who's not in control of her situation but is trying to maintain her control through unhealthy means.

Hades, on the flipside, has no excuse when he assaults people or acts like an asshole - he's just able to get away with it through the narrative, its characters, and the readers, because he's the rich and powerful main protagonist.

Minthe is an incredibly flawed person who was self-aware enough to understand what she was doing wasn't right but not equipped enough to do better. She's lower class (according to Rachel, all the nymphs are considered lower class compared to the gods) and was originally written as someone with untreated BPD, which Rachel later retconned (note: the episode where Minthe slaps Hades is literally called Splitting, which is a symptom of BPD, like it's not some assumption or misinterpretation, Rachel literally wrote BPD into the script and then tried to quietly backpedal on it later through Discord.) Hades is an incredibly flawed person who is self-aware of what he's doing, but doesn't see it as wrong and therefore doesn't see any reason to do better. But we're expected to root against the former as an irredeemable villain who can't do better and root for the latter who is an actual monster whose actions are justified and excused by the narrative and its creator.

So yeah, that's why a lot of us defend Minthe. She's not perfect, she's done abusive shit, but unlike Hades and Persephone, she has the capacity to grow and change for the better.

[kyriefae]

Being a Whovian is sincerely so much fun.

This show is so many different things to so many people but what I think truly makes it special is not just the change it forces on us as an audience but the way it pushes us subconsciously to give up on purism.

"Your Doctor" was <insert amiable character traits> but the current one doesn't represent that same persona? Pity. Almost like we can be different people all throughout our lives...

You ever hear someone say like..."it's fine it's just not for me"?

I wonder how many people who say that about the newest Doccy Who seasons genuinely think in their heart of hearts "actually this is garbage and you should agree with me that it is garbage" because those two are not the same thing at all! 🤭 Ugh, I can't help my incredulity sometimes. Maybe the internet adds to the expectation of toxicity. ...or I just spent a lot of time growing up around cynical assholes that hated fun. *shrug*

More to the point! 😅

Pick an era of this show; pick a doctor and you'll be transported to a world more or less unique to them. That's pretty cool if you ask me. They still have that silly multidimensional blue box; they still have two hearts (even if it didn't become canon until their 3rd incarnation)...and yes they still pick up stray humans (...usually young, petite British women from whatever decade said Doctor conveniently and sequentially visits).

But maybe to really hit home on what I mean about this show tackling purism in its audience's mind...it's always been a silly sci-fi show meant to elicit joy and wonder out of children. Additionally so, to help adults retain that same joy and wonder in their own lives by reflecting on the excitement that comes from infinite possibilities only possible when traveling with a genderfluid space alien that wears extraordinary clothes and hands out candy like it's already gone out of style. Oh and you become the universe's only hope the moment you step into another time or location lol.

Sometimes when we love something, we take it very seriously no matter how absurd it truly is at its core. We may not even notice we're doing it but any criticism of Doctor Who really ought to be taken with a grain of salt (and spread out at the very edge of creation...just for good measure). No need to get all salty over a television show. 🧂

So yeah. Being a Whovian, for me, is having the freedom to dive head first into an ocean of lore whenever I desire and really explore storytelling from several perspectives. Albeit many of the early years were written and directed and produced from the perspectives of white, straight men in the U.K. and stories with misogynist stances that heavily limited the functional roles of women in the context of said stories and were also affirmed by narratives and protagonists that failed to question any of it. *clearing throat* Oof, there was a frog back there!

All the same, our heroes of yesterday battled styrofoam monsters breaking through plywood walls built on cardboard sets represented by painted miniatures dangling on strings over a starlit portrait meant to look like space. Even when they couldn't help but be a bit cringe, they were still a silly lil sci-fi show playing at games of the imagination. Like children at play.

Now, we have this beautiful and talented man standing at center stage:

He is all the play; all the heart(s); all the joy we have known in this character but decorated in his own unique way.

My love for this show has evolved and I intend to allow it to continue doing just that. Hopefully we can continue to see the Whoniverse do just the same...instead of getting too caught up in the past. 🫣

Anywho, that's all for now.

Kisses 😘

[paceypeternathanslawyer]

One Tree Hill was so good at subverting character tropes.

Nathan starts off the show as an asshole bully. A total asshole jock. And then over time Nathan becomes a better and better person. He strives to be a better person and to make up for his mistakes. He starts hanging out with good people like Haley especially. But he stops hanging out so much with Tim and his other Basketball buddies and he stops allowing his dad to metaphorically poison him and we start to see Nathan become the man I knew he could be. He becomes so likeable and is a near perfect person by the end of the show. Nathan is a rock solid and dependable friend. A loving and present father. A faithful and loving husband. A loyal brother. A truly humble and sweet guy 😁💗

Haley starts the show in that smart bookish girl archetype. You know the one that Joey Potter and Rory Gilmore occupied before her. But Haley proved that she was so much more than that. Haley becomes a cheerleader which is such a twist cause typically the girls in that archetype hate cheerleaders and wouldn't be caught dead in a cheerleaders outfit. Haley is an amazing cook and baker and typically the people in that archetype cannot cook to save their lives and are very proud of it. Though I think Joey Potter was a passable cook. Haley is fucking Martha Stewart though lol. Haley is a musician and a singer and then eventually a music producer. One of my favorite twists is how she was valedictorian. Girls in this trope are destined to be valedictorian. But the twist with Haley is that she's pregnant and goes into labor while giving her valedictorian speech. Teen pregnancy is not usually paired with the smart bookish girl trope.

Brooke is kinda in the bitchy head cheerleader trope. And I hate to say that because when we start the show, she's already trying to change herself. But we do hear from that friend of Lucas' that Brooke was a bitch to her to say the least. Plus Brooke herself would say that she didn't used to be a great person. But Brooke eventually becomes such a great friends. There are some bumps along the way but speaking in general terms she was an advocate for her friends. She became her class' president. She started a successful clothing line while still in high school. She was generous and kind. And then grew into a truly stupendous adult... Brave, forgiving, loving, sweet, and kind. She truly broke out of the bitchy cheerleader mold.

Peyton maybe changes the least out of all the characters but she's a paradox from the beginning. She's a loner cheerleader. Some people scoff at her calling herself a loner cause she's a cheerleader and dating one of the star Basketball players but she does have quite a few loner tendencies.

Lucas is the character who has the closest thing to an inverse character development. When we start the show he's in the poetic, bookish, angsty "nice guy" male protagonist trope with a single mother to boot. The twist on that is that he's also a jock Basketball player. Lucas has good aspects about him. He's a good friend and good brother but if there's one thing he bad at it's being a good boyfriend. I don't want act like Lucas is a horrible person but there is definitely a decline in his character where he goes from being a seemingly perfect person to being severely flawed especially when it comes to his romantic relationships.

What is so great about One Tree Hill is their ability to create likeable characters. Even the characters you don't like at the beginning become likeable. And even Lucas, despite his many flaws, has moments of true greatness. Believe me, it is a skill to write likeable characters and it wasn't until I watched Dawson's Creek that I realized that some writers either have no ability of writing them or they love to write unlikable characters. Every single side character on Dawson's Creek is a one note stereotype and worse of all they are usually insufferable. And the likeable ones they completely mistreated in the writing.

[izzythehutt]

Walt is the least sympathetic of all the BrBa criminals/anti-heroes/rogues gallery because he's the one (major) character who doesn't have a clear and unambiguous "reason" for being the way he is. There is an unflinching refusal to give this character a "Freudian excuse" for his behavior and I just...love that.

It is not only an extremely brave choice from a writing perspective for your protagonist (and really only works because Bryan Cranston can somehow wring sympathy out of this dry husk amoral sponge of a person), but also makes him the most realistic portrayal of what evil really is. Walt feels the least like a television version of how a person becomes bad because there's not one reason it happens, and there's an aspect to his moral descent that's both mundane and mysterious—his motives unfold gradually, they change, and the show never really seeks to outright explain why it happened beyond the obvious inciting event—his cancer diagnosis. Was there something in him always not quite "right" or was there just a unique confluence of circumstances that caused Walt's complete moral transformation? In his own words—he liked it, he was good at it, and it made him feel alive. Maybe it is just as simple as that. Evil is actually a lot less interesting than people give it credit for.

There are so many things about his personality that are just never explained but must have some explanation, surely. For example: Walt's hang-ups about money—his obsession with being the one who provides it for his family and his reactive disdain for charity (even Saul points out there's clearly deep-seated issues there lol.) You could very easily see a different writer backstory dumping a lot of explicit childhood trauma with Walt and his single mother being poor and him getting bullied and this being where his weird inferiority complex about hand-outs come from. Instead this is just a huge part of his personality that has no obvious singular explanation. Why is he like this? Who the hell knows!

Which I personally really like, because regardless of whether that happened to him as a kid (I have to assume something like that was going on with child Walt because he has really specific neurosis) it has no ultimate bearing on the morality of his actions. There is no excuse for what he does, ultimately, and I just love that the show gives you very few reasons to feel sorry for him, at least as far as his backstory goes. Even the merits of his Gretchen and Elliot resentment is called into question (though left vague.)

In a weird, counter-intuitive way this lack of explanation for his behavior makes me feel more sympathy for him (again, Cranston acting magic pulling its weight.) But it's such a subjective thing with him. How you feel about Walt hinges on the performance, the character's actions in the story itself and what the viewer chooses to extrapolate from both. I can't blame people for thinking he's just kind of a low-empathy asshole, though I personally find that explanation reductive and less interesting, I cannot argue with it as a valid read. He is very, very hate-able for so many reasons. There's something refreshing about how unapologetic the writing for him is in that way.

[sleepymarmot]

Glass Onion

Yes, I had been waiting for this movie for a while and dropped everything to watch it the day of release. What about it?

Liveblog

Is it bad that I’m already like “I want all of these people to die”? Well, maybe not Lionel I guess.

Lol a bit of sci-fi to justify the actors not wearing masks for the entire movie

Is the bad CGI robot some kind of Star Wars legacy? :D

Aww, poor Benoit Soo, one of the guests plans to murder the host for real, and invites a detective to frame another guest?

It’s been 30 minutes, can people start dying please (Not Andi though, that’d be uncool)

Love the scenery, and Craig’s outfit is nice

Cool shot where Andi has the same expression as the Mona Lisa

“This is reckless. And you’re gonna get somebody killed.”

Okay, so far we’ve established the motive for: Peg, Duke, Lionel, maybe Claire. What about Birdie? And the random guy hanging around? And Andi? Is Andi automatically disqualified because we saw her destroy the box? That could be a real alibi or a red herring.

Nooo, so awkward, I can’t watch this Oh, he did it on purpose, that makes it a bit less painful

Huh, he didn’t mention Andi in the monologue...

Oh good, exactly an hour into a murder mystery, someone finally died! Yes, yes, of course it was an attempt on Miles’ life, I thought we’ve already established he’s who everyone wants dead. Cool trick to keep Norton among the active cast, I thought it was weird for the most famous actor to play the victim. (It’s nice to see Norton again btw, I wondered a while ago why I hadn’t seen him in new movies recently.)

Lmao the lights! Now this is fun

Oh no, Andi! :(

Plot twist!! Well now he's responsible for an innocent woman’s death, that’s going to give him a motive to find the killer

This shit is wild

Hell yeah she’s alive!!!

Is she going to attack the Mona Lisa?..

I feel bad about the painting. The way this was framed as a triumphant moment has the same energy as that Tumblr post about destroying famous paintings because rich people like them.

Review

[Additional spoilers for Knives Out, The Last Jedi, Midsommar, and The Handmaiden]

The film takes too much time to get started. The characters are too flat to carry it until the plot actually launches. Only gets good after the plot twist. The secondhand embarrassment scenes are excruciating.

The plot: “rich people bad, the detective teams up with a pure-hearted woman of color and helps her win”, take two. Are they going to make a whole franchise out of this? Not a great foundation for murder mystery: just look for the most entitled white man and that’s your killer.

Benoit Blanc himself, though, is a good character to build a movie series around. A classic independent detective with a kind heart and a taste for adventure — I want to see more of him. Many people have said it already, but I want Blanc to replace Bond as Daniel Craig’s #1 role.

The biggest strength of the film were, of course, all of the clever and fun twists and reveals. As you can see from the liveblog, I was misdirected very successfully and loved it every time.

And now for the biggest flaw of Glass Onion in my eyes. Just like Knives Out, this film has an extremely fun outer layer wrapped around the heart that I find a genuine downer. Most of the shallow, annoying characters got off scot-free, and what was harmed the most in act 3 was an innocent painting. I’ve already seen The Last Jedi, I don’t really need the same ending scene as the Canto Bight storyline — except worse because the writer doesn’t see the difference between “rich asshole’s property” and “priceless piece of art”. Which is a bad enough take to see on Tumblr, but straight up baffling to encounter in a high budget movie, written by a professional filmmaker. (Amazing timing, though. How did they manage to release this not only in the middle of the Musk major meltdown/Twitter takeover but also soon after the Van Gogh soup discourse?)

In retrospect it also reminds me of a couple of other famous scenes with a female protagonist involved in destruction, and the comparison is not in Glass Onion’s favor. Midsommar also ends with the heroine and a huge symbolic fire, but it’s a horror/drama, and the event takes not only the lives of those caught in the fire but the soul of the heroine. The Handmaiden, on the other hand, features a scene of art destruction that is genuinely positive and cathartic, but the nature of art and the role it plays in human lives is radically different.

[Edited to add] I’ve seen people who liked the ending defend it by saying that people are more important than art. The thing is, if this were framed as the trolley problem — if destroying a priceless work of art were presented as the only way to save an unknown number of lives — I would feel differently. Instead, the film seems to want the viewer not to value the Mona Lisa just because the rich amoral characters do value it.

In a more Watsonian and practical sense, I don’t see how this is a win for Helen. She was the one who burned the painting. The fuel played only a minor part, the painting would have been destroyed just the same without it (in fact, that’s what expected Miles’ lighter to be for). But even if it were otherwise — okay, so this new fuel can easily cause a fire; well, so can electricity and gas if you’re not careful! Not great for PR of this specific product, but not a death sentence either. Most importantly, it’s the person who committed arson that will be charged for it, not the person who unwittingly provided the fuel for the fire.

I did have a good time, to be clear! Very worth watching unspoiled. The release was timed well: the overall lighthearted tone, clever twists, vibrant visuals (bright colors, stylish outfits, idyllic location) make this a good holiday movie.

I’m having trouble with a numerical grade (the worst part of IMDB and Letterboxd is that they make me care about grading, even though it doesn’t work with how I think about media at all). Glass Onion feels like a 7, but I gave Knives Out a 9 and they don’t feel two whole grades apart.

[invinciblerodent]

I think after defeating Ketheric is the first time in the story when I'm letting my boy let his unending kindness.... falter a little bit. Just a little.

Semi-coherent 3 am ramblings under cut.

It seems like almost an "act 2 end" staple for me, but... this "midpoint climax" in many games IS, I feel, the natural point for a lot of good-aligned, well-intentioned protagonists to crack a little, and Arvid is no different.

Like. He just came back from what was essentially his *worst fucking nightmare*, having fought the avatar of a quasi-god (and learned that he's gonna have to do that, oh, two more times, just for funsies), having talked his boyfriend out of exploding himself (which was a very shitty, if short conversation, because apparently Gale is nothing if not easily convinced by the words "choose me, the one who loves you"), and overall having a CONSIDERABLY WORSE THAN AVERAGE TIME FOR THE PAST, OH, SEVERAL DAYS (with the Shadowfell, and the watching allies die left and right, and the GOING BACK TO THE MIND FLAYER FLESH-CABINS WHICH IS FUN), and already everyone wants MORE from him.

You know, as if this whole day wasn't, like, one deeply traumatic experience after the other. As if these past weeks hadn't been pushing him slowly towards a breaking point.

The dream visitor is acting... kinda suspicious and cagey, as per usual (she's dodging questions and speaking in confusing metaphors while doling out insurmountable-seeming tasks, which is just 👍👌🤙🖕), Wyll is immediately having himself a little storytime moment that he probably should have thought to have weeks ago ("btw my eye is a sending stone that enables Mizora the Literal Devil to track my every move" IS KIND OF A BIG DEAL, MAN, YOU COULD HAVE, IDK, MENTIONED THAT SOMETIME OVER THE PAST THREE WEEKS OR SO), Gale is understandably feeling wild and wired after that weird, partially self-imposed near-death experience (which, idk about you, but an "I'm glad we survived babe, are you okay" would have been at least appreciated BEFORE the whole "YO DID YOU SEE THAT POWERFUL ARTEFACT, I WANT IT" thing), everyone in that damn room wants something else from him ("hey, sorry I was an asshole earlier after you saved my life, why don't you help me more! Won't tell you how or why or with what tho!", "hey you're back having done what's supposed to have been impossible, so what's up with Thaniel, the issue you solved literally a week ago already, I wasn't paying attention lol", and the likes, even Withers is being fucking weirder than usual)...! Jaheira and Astarion seem to be the only ones to offer any kind of praise, or optimistic feedback, which is already weird...!!! But the others? "Oh, hey, you're back. So, when are you gonna do that again (or this other, different thing for me)?"

Like... thanks? I guess I'll just go fuck myself then???

The poor boy just wants to take the most intense bath of his life (sit in a lake somewhere for a few hours, get the illithid-sludge off his body and scrub his skin until it's no longer blue but flushed, raw, and purple, maybe then he's going to feel clean again and less *hyper-aware* of the wriggling in his skull), get roaring drunk to at least momentarily forget the monumental task ahead, cuddle up to his dog, owlbear, and/or boyfriend, and go to sleep in a fetal position for the next 48 hours. Maybe cry a little or punch something, he hasn't decided yet.

Just... everyone seems to be forgetting that he's just Some Guy. Even if he turned out to be some chosen one, he's unaware of it. As far as he knows, he's just a random priest from the countryside who only ended up in the city like a year ago because the church there needed a new healer, and suddenly, after getting abducted and his BRAIN wormed, he's everyone's go-to guy for god-killing. He barely knows anyone, has no family (or really friends or personal connections deeper than the superficial outside of the party), nobody misses him where he's from (which is no longer his home, but neither is Baldur's Gate), and he doesn't even know if he's doing the right thing at any given time, messing with forces he doesn't understand. But everyone just wants MORE, and MORE, and MORE, and he's giving more and more, as much as he can, only he's not sure how much more he has left.

So yeah, he's gonna snap at- and be a bit short with Art, even if Halsin doesn't like it. Yeah, he's gonna be a little snide to the cagey gnome that all but told him to fuck off previously. He's gonna be a little impatient towards the skeleton-man doling out poetic brain-teasers for him to solve while he's still bleeding profusely, from several wounds. He's gonna give a couple fewer fucks about Isobel's reunion with her gf after having already figured out who she is (it's. Not like that was a hard feat. Those dots were not particularly hard to connect. He has an intelligence of 10 and he still figured it out.) than he would otherwise. He's, like, happy for them and all, but would be MANY TIMES happier if someone just handed him a sandwich and a glass of water, and said "hey, good job".

I have not yet gone back to camp or left the building after the return last night, but I'm hoping there's gonna at least be a chance to unwind before we'd march on. :/

[cross-my-heartt]

Howdy, guess who finally has some time to do a proper reblog!!

we love long posts in this house, let's get into it:

03x01

I love your thoughts on Confined and fully agree, that episode was the highlight of the season for me. We got a good sense of time passing and we got to see how clever and resilient Omega is in all the little ways she adapted, which said a lot about her character. And unffff the clock imagery. The whole base feels like this never ending circular loop, much like (as you pointed out) Kamino. 03x02

"Themewise this episode was good, but plot-wise not so much" Yeah, that's a good summary for it. Call me a masochist but I would have loved to have one of the cadets be an echo of Tech, a mini tech junkie, just to fill that void and inject the dynamics with some life and maybe give us that sweet angst of the characters agonizing over the similarities.

03x03

We're in agreement here, a killer episode. I love me a good setup and payoff moment (Batcher) and when different plotlines interweave in a logical way (Palpy's visit giving Omega a chance to escape). It all comes together so nicely. The best of Crosshair and Omega's interactions too.

03x04

I have my issues with this one as you know but I can agree it's a solid episode. Isn't it a bit too convenient that the 'asshole of the week' just happens to have an exotic pet smuggling business? Right when we got a dog? Hmmm. Jokes aside I would have loved this one with less monsters in it lol.

03x05

Okay not to be dramatic but this one... this one broke me. I don't think it's an overstatement to say that my perception of the season just wasn't the same after it. I love many of the things you pointed out but I have a severe ick when it comes to clunky dialogue and weird characterization and I had very high expectations for Cross' arc at this point. So I'll just say it isn't my favorite and move on.

03x06 and 07

Like you said yourself, these episodes suffered from a lot of forced drama. And plot for plot reasons. Echo getting the boot just to be Gregor's driver, just so we could get a scene with the Rebels trio at the end. For no reason. I also have severe criticism regarding how a supposed military operates here (spoilers, they don't act like one) so this episode was a dud in my book.

Crosshair's OOC-ness was pain inducing and all the focus on CX-2 was completely meaningless knowing where he ends up in hindsight. Talk about adding insult to injury.

And Howzer. You know what I think of this Howzer.

03x08

Also in agreement with you here, I'm still not sure why Crosshair is being left behind besides giving us those moments with Omega but I will say I liked his interaction with AZI. This man should have so much pent up anger and we barely see any of it.

Hunter just forgot to renew his super senses subscription, they're going through a rough patch.

03x09

Wow, so weird that we skipped a whole episode right??

03x10

Emerie is honestly my MVP this season and I never saw that coming. Her arc was the least messy and most well-executed of them all, I love what they did with her.

03x11

"But somehow, I couldn't enjoy this episode completely… still searching for the why." You and me both! I think it might be because I saw where it was going very early on but that might just be because I've watched ATLA one too many times and that's a plot point from one of the first episodes (y'know? Aang giving himself up to protect the villagers?). So the suspense element was ruined for me.

I almost feel like the Marauder was blown up for shock factor, I'm not a fan of that decision (why does everyone else get to park in the secret protected cave but not our protagonists). Again, what was the point of focusing on CX-2 if he would end up as unidentified shish-kebab.

03x12

Yes, yes and yes. We were way overdue for some more Phee and I will forever love the way they reintegrated Ramaprt into the plot. Finally a character appearance that was both meaningful, plot-relevant and well done while also being a nice surprise.

I love your opinions and apologize once again if mine are too negative lol. Maybe in time I'll be less harsh on this season once I get over my main issues with it. But eh, I'd rather be honest than fake about it.

Thank you for the lovely long reply 🧡

hello my dear 💙 what's your absolute favorite part of season three of tbb so far? maybe top three favorite parts?

and of course yours truly is always open to asks

Hi & thanks for the ask 😃😃😃

This question isn't that easy because some episodes so far were absolutely mixed bags… so I'm going to rate each episode and will conclude with a ranking of the best of them.

Therefore, long post inbound!

03x01 - Confined: 5/5

This episode set the mood for the entire season perfectly and showed nicely how cold and uncaring the Empire is - compared to Tantiss, Kamino is almost homely. (Tantiss really mirrors Kamino, doesn't it?) Also the juxtapose between Omega and Crosshair in all their differences was set in scene nicely and brought forth their incredible chemistry which is definitely one of the highlights in this season. Personally, I adore as well the clock-symbolism of the centrifuge machine thanks to its ability to create an undercurrent of tension.

03x02 - Paths Unknown: 2/5

Yes, probably a bit hard rating but the slither vine wasn't that good. The young clones are adorable side-characters and were put to good use by making a connection to the main conflict (being a family vs being soldiers). Themewise this episode was good, but plot-wise not so much - like mentioned before, Wrecker and Hunter haven't got much synergy to carry a scene or even a whole episode together. In this episode I missed Tech dearly - not only because of the data extraction part, but as a character who lets everyone around him shine and who asks questions which creates a certain tension in the team as well a lot of funny moments.

03x03 - Shadows of Tantiss: 5/5

This episode as well was pure joy for me: Omega and Cross working together to escape was superbly done - the one works to get them out, the other one keeps the spirits up during the escape. 😍 Also, Batcher as back-up was nicely done! But equally I like that Omega and Cross only escaped because Nala Se gave them the means and Hemlock didn't wanted to risk killing Omega - the plausibility was well done in this episode. And introducing the Vault was artfully done as well!

03x04 - A Different Approach: 5/5

Like in every episode with the main focus on Cross&Omega I enjoyed this as well - it showed nicely how much Omega has learned but that she isn't ready to face the big bad universe on her own. Also the slimy officer was a fun minor antagonist and got a very deserving end! (Which reminds me: Only the first episode is an episode without any big monster…) The sole flaw was that they cut the reunion too early and didn't bother to explain Hunters and Wreckers frowns… yep, I'm still salty because of that.

03x05 - The Return: 4/5

Oh boy, here I'm torn between 3/5 and 4/5. Ultimately, I went for 4/5 because all the small moments were done good: Echo as the teams moderator, Cross getting his armor back, AZI and the target practice, hinting Omegas conflicted feelings regarding the other clones in Tantiss, the vulture symbolism, paying a tribute to Mayday, Phees cameo. The big flaw - like you repeatedly pointed out - is the handling of the conflict between Crosshair and Hunter: The build-up was nice, but they chickend out of the portrayal with introducing the ice wyrm (pray tell, what's the difference to the Krayt Dragons on Tatooine?)

03x06 - Infiltration: 3/5

This gets a 3 out of 5 - even though it wasn't a bad episode. I just dislike how overpowered CX-2 is albeit his mirroring of the Bad Batch as whole is an awesome concept. Also why did the writers decided to bench Echo out of all the characters?? The conflict between Cross and Rexs squad was done nicely, as well the chilling nature of the CXs - but I wished that they had done more than hinting what happened to Cross. There's only so long you can push the can down the street. Another point of criticism that arises from the latest episode is that withholding information is kind off OOC for Crosshair, especially when Omegas life is on the line and that Rex doesn't know what a M-count is, is pretty ridiclious. (And a boring conflict as well!)

03x07 - Extraction: 3/5

Same as Episode 6: The fight Crosshair vs the CX-2 was well set up and nicely done but they should have spilled the beans further about what happened (just my opinion). But hats off for the continued portrayal of Crosshairs handshaking and the consequences it produced. (And I love the scene "I'm much worse" sooo much 😍) I think the conflict Wolffe vs Rex was underutilized and they got too easily away… therefore 3 stars.

03x08 - Bad Territory : 2/5

Two stars solely for the Omega and Crosshair-moments; the rest of the episode was far too long and too plot-less for my taste. One would think that after all this time the boys would have learned how to broker a better deal than that. Also, the writers could have illustrated Hunters senses better because now I don't know what's supposed to be so special about them…

03x09 - The Harbinger: 1/5

Def my least favorite episode - y'know why.

03x10 - Identity Crisis: 5/5

This episode was unexpected, but very welcome - the deep dive into Emeries POV is very well done. Especially the showing of her emotions and the growing doubts were depicted perfectly and the kidnapping of Bayrn (the baby Tarlafar) was heartbreaking as well as the other kids. It's just like Kamino all over again except these kids know exactly what they have lost.

03x11 - Point of No Return: 4/5

Omega giving herself up was so very in character as well fitting into her emotional conflict in this episode; the invasion of Pabu was peak imperial villainness. Also Hunter hijacking the ship and Cross fighting with the troopers felt very in character and apropriate regarding the high stakes. But somehow, I couldn't enjoy this episode completely… still searching for the why. Maybe it just hit too close to my heart with the destruction of the Marauder or maybe the stealth of CX-2 was overdone…

03x12 - Juggernaut: 4/5

Once again a case between 3/5 and 4/5 - in the end, 4/5 won because: - amazing Phee-piloting - Rampart as absolutely petty b*tch - the remaining batch working flawlessly together - Hemlock playing mind games with Omega Flaws imo are Cross giving up information far too late and the copy-paste from The Believer…

Final ranking is therefore: ✨✨✨

🥇Shadows of Tantiss

🥈A Different Approach

🥉Confined & Identity Crisis

🏅 Honorable mention: Point of No Return for the perfect heartfelt drama

Sorry that it got so long but once again thanks for your questions & I can't wait to discuss this list in more detail with you 😃

[stedebonnit]

The fact that you would rather have Stede and Ed suffer than be happy together, so much so that you construct an elaborate head canon where STEDE IN PARTICULAR SUFFERS makes you a fucking asshole.

Aksjdhdhs this is so funny to me.

First of all, i dont owe you a response, i want to clarify that you reaching out anonymously to tell me this in this way rather than opening a conversation with me says more about you than me.

But as my first ever anon hate, I want to use this as a teachable moment because this is a big moment that i got anon hate for the first time LOL.

So once, and only once, I will address this.

Personally, I am a therapist in training. My life and career is built on helping people because I love people and see the best in the world as a whole.

Personally, I cannot watch dramas because watching people in (unresolved) pain has a significant impact on my mood.

To add to that, I cannot read or watch things with an unhappy ending, with very few exceptions.

For that reason, i LOVE hurt/comfort. Through my career & my personal life i have witnessed a lot of pain and suffering, and it makes me sad, but its a fact of life. So what I do is i write the pain and suffering that I see, that Ive felt, that i sometimes still feel, and i make it into content that ends happily, with love, support, self advocacy and understanding. I like to have characters comfort one another, but I like to emphasize personal growth. That is, i LOVE when characters can begin to rely on themselves through the process of pain and suffering, rather than only relying on a love interest.

I wonder which of my many posts made you reach out for this comment, because l, of all of the headcanons and writing ive posted within the past two weeks, i believe one (maybe two?) Posts have not ended happily and with relief, acknowledgement, & comfort. So no, enjoying the relief from pain is not something that makes me an asshole. Even if i didnt enjoy happy endings, many people find comfort in those stories because it helps them remember that, even when things end unhappily, there is ALWAYS something to enjoy along the way. You cannot know a person by the content they create, not unless that content frames the abuser or the person causing pain as a protagonist, that MAY suggest something else, but we can never know for certain.

Now, to address why its always Stede.

Ill be honest with you, i have never related to a character more than i have related to Stede.

He is flawed, blunt, oblivious, but hes also kind, empathetic, and someone who sees the best in everyone. When i describe Stede, i describe him as me before I spent years working on myself in therapy, and before i became a therapist myself.

So why do i hurt him so often?

Well, if Im honest, its because I think of the ways ive been hurt, and on top of that i think of the ways i caused MYSELF hurt because i was so blinded by trauma and self hatred that I didnt see it - i didnt see that i was increasing my own hurt, i didnt see that i was hurting others.

I was lucky to have a therapist point this out. The way my self hatred hurt others, the ways it was self-sabotoging.

Stede will see it one day, and I like to create scenarios where he does. I like to explore how this impacts him, often using the lense of how it hurt me.

When i wrote my april fools post about stede, it was after a revelation in my friends DMs about how my own traumatic experience with bullying did, and still does impact my perception of vulnerability.

Importantly, i like to end it with comfort, because i like to remind myself, and others who relate so deeply to stede, that there is hope. We can feel this desperately lonely, this deeply traumatized, and we can come out the other end. We can be deserving of comfort and warmth, we can be self-compassionate. Moreover, that self compassion will make us kinder.

Being kind to myself has made me kinder. I hope some day it can do that for you, anon.

Oh, and my ideal season 2 is an episode 1 reunion. Me coming up with ideas that happen to be angsty doesnt mean i want that. Hence the "eating my own face" at the top of the post LMAO

I hope this helped you understand me a little better, and if Im incredibly lucky, youll think twice before sending something like this to someone else. But i wont hold my breath.

Enjoy the knowledge that you were my first anon hate, and anyone reading this, please remember that this will be the last time i address one of these 🥰

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 318: On Your Left

Previously on BnHA: The Hawksquad+Lurkers were all “well this sucks” and sat around a bit talking about how maybe they should actually come up with a new plan that is actually good, but then in the end they were like “nah.” Deku was all, “THERE’S SOMETHING INSIDE ME THAT PULLS BENEATH THE SURFACE!! CONSUMING, CONFUSING!! THIS LACK OF SELF CONTROL I FEAR IS NEVERENDING. IT’S HAUNTING HOW I CANT SEEM TO FIND MYSELF AGAIN. MY WALLS ARE CLOSING IN.” Just, literally that whole entire song. All Might was all “Deku you should take care of yourself, try eating a thing,” and Deku was all “BYE, ALL MIGHT,” and just LEFT. He left!!! What the fuck!!!

Today on BnHA: Endeavor is all, “maybe if Deku didn’t listen to All Might he’ll listen to me instead.” Deku is all, “[doesn’t listen to Endeavor]” because, well, yeah. The Vestiges are all, “surprisingly, even we are a little concerned -- maybe you should get some rest, kid.” Deku is all, “((Ò ‸ Ó)).” The Vestiges are all, “holy shit.” Deku is all, “[wanders the ruined city streets terrifying the populace on account of him looking like Shelob had a baby with one of the Nazgul].” Some shriveled-up puppeteer villain asshole is all, “HORIKOSHI SAID IT’S MY TURN TO ATTACK DEKU TODAY SO I AM GOING TO SUMMON MY FRIGHTENED HELPLESS ATTACK MOB!!” Kacchan is all “WHADDYA MEAN THEY FOUND THE NERD!!! -- oh wait, that’s me, I found him. I found the nerd, you guys.” And just in time, too. I was about to owe a whole lot of people a whole lot of dollars.

so I have been super good about spoilers this week as always, but let me tell you guys, for the past 36 hours my dash filters have basically been nonstop “manga spoilers” this and “bnha 318” that, and so I’m coming in with a fair amount of hype here. your move, Horikoshi

oh, good! they got Endeavor to call Deku to try to talk him out of it. what a great and wonderful plan

“listen up kid, you haven’t slept since March and you are basically a walking biohazard right now, I’m just telling it like it is. didn’t you get shot like three times?? and there was a whole thing about how you urgently needed medical attention?? and supposedly we gave it to you, but I mean you haven’t even changed your clothes and don’t seem to have any fresh bandages or anything, so did we?? did we, really?? and also we all got blown up yesterday, so yeah.” hmm he’s making some reasonable points here you guys, but you sure do go on and on, Endeavor

oh he says foreign aid is finally on its way! I’m sure they’ll be very helpful. I mean in fairness they can hardly be worse than the home-grown heroes at this point

hey Enji, could you maybe try appealing to Deku the sixteen-year-old human boy, as opposed to Deku The World’s Last Hope? he does have value beyond his quirk. I know that’s always been an incredibly difficult concept for you to grasp, but could you maybe TRY, jesus

and also we’re worried about you as a person?? you’re just a kid and you’re pushing yourself way too hard?? you were going to say that part next, right. why the hell didn’t Hawks make this call instead

“don’t worry about me... I’m completely fine” Deku you do understand that saying it over and over again doesn’t actually make it true

and again with the rush!! all the rush rush rush!! we’re running out of time, we can’t let AFO and Tomura keep getting stronger, I have to end this now, there’s no time to rest, etc. etc. etc. just the constant pressure of this whole big countdown on top of everything else

holy shit, you KNOW it’s bad when even the Vestiges are telling him to chill

these guys are basically the walking talking embodiments of self-sacrifice; if even they’re telling him he needs to take five, then he must seriously be like half a step away from death’s door

OH SHIT LMAO

DIDN’T EVEN LET HIM FINISH HIS SENTENCE BEFORE HE SENT HIM INTO THE FUCKING SHADOW REALM WITH THAT FUCKING LOOK. HOLY FUCK. DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IT WAS POSSIBLE TO DIE TWICE. SHIT

(ETA: so I’m pretty sure this was just Danger Sense activating and so he cut them off to go do more hero stuff, but I’m gonna go ahead and stick to my original interpretation anyway lol.)

anyway so how’s everybody doing. we all good? En, you good? Banjou? Shino? I’m imagining you guys all curled up in a little ball on the floor right now lol. can’t say I blame you though, no shame

lmaoooooooooooo

“SHEESH.” sheesh indeed, lmao. “what in the FUCK was that”

see, this is why y’all need Kacchan. you need someone who’s not going to back down from him no matter what. if it’s a matter of out-stubborning Midoriya fucking Izuku, then there’s only one other person on the planet capable of that, and we all know it. don’t pretend like you don’t. I am not going to shut up about this! we’ve had our hurt so now what about SOME COMFORT, DAMMIT

“I’m afraid that he’s becoming influenced by my conscience” nah are you kidding Nana this is all 100% made-in-Japan pure original Deku right here

see, Banjou gets it. “that kid, he’s totally going on his own.” exactly. this was so inevitable it was basically scientific law

“well I for one don’t see the problem with Deku being so obsessed with saving everyone else that he pushes himself until his body and soul literally fall apart” okay, whose speech bubbles are these?? we’re about to have words

lol of course

well you always did prefer the direct route didn’t you. but even you can’t possibly think this is okay lol

dark AU!Kacchan please tell us more about your badass doomed timeline in which everything went to shit and you apparently had the same character arc that Deku is having right now except it somehow made you sexier instead of turning you into a rabid t-rex. I have so many questions

oh so now you want to help??? well -- good, actually. sorry if that sounded offended just now lol

(ETA: so at first when I got to the end of this chapter I was wondering if Katsuki B. had somehow summoned his alternate-universe counterpart through trippy OFA space telepathy lol. but in the original Japanese there’s no reference to “we”, so this appears to be a mistranslation. this line should probably read more like “if there’s something/someone out there that would be able to complement/complete the current Midoriya Izuku [it would be]…” which, oh hello, is that Horikoshi once again reaffirming that Deku and Bakugou complete each other lol. “guess what guys, the Vestiges ship it too" heck yeah. they know what’s up!)

look how admiring his boyfriends are. HORIKOSHI GIVE US THE REST OF THIS BACKSTORY ALREADY GODDAMMIT

“meanwhile somewhere in the depths of the ruined city, Deku was having a dance-off with the villains”

I like how the villains all have this “AHH WHAT THE FUCK” kind of body language to them lol. I mean if it were me, and an eldritch horror suddenly clawed its way from the shadows with its writhing glowy tentacles and pants-shitting nuclear death stare, I would probably just die on the spot. no need to stick around. only pain awaits

lol for a minute I thought this was Can’t Ya See-kun and I was like “WHAT A FASCINATING CROSSING OF PATHS” but it’s just some random girl

he seems genuinely confused lol

Deku it’s because you look like something that crawled out of a sewer drain, sweetheart

lol they just took his word for it?

so trusting. even though they’re immediately hauling ass anyway just to be safe lmao

“my appearance is frightening to others” no shit Deku it’s because you look like a fucking alien exorcism. you look like a Lich that got caught up in an oil spill my dude

NO NOT THE CHOSEN ONE ANGST AGAIN

I RAN OUT OF ESSAY JUICE FOR THIS ALREADY HORIKOSHI!! I’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT IT FOR MONTHS NOW WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG!! BUT ANYWAYS, GOOD!! I MEAN, BAD, THOUGH, OBVIOUSLY. BUT YES

“ENJOY THIS MONTAGE OF DEKU BATTLING A RANDOM KAIJU AND WANDERING THE WOODS LIKE A DERANGED GREEN BABA YAGA” okay yes but sir, exactly how much longer is this going to go on. if it’s a matter of you wanting to make sure we get it, let me assure you that aside from a few stray chuunis who think that Deku embracing the Darkness is the coolest thing he’s ever done, all of us here in fandom fully comprehend that this is Not Good

-- OH SO IT’S LIKE THAT

really. with the flashbacks to his loved ones’ smiling faces and everything. not even gonna try to aim above the belt, huh

AND NO KACCHAN??! NO CLASSMATES?!?! IS HE PURPOSELY NOT THINKING OF THEM??? OR ARE THEY BEING SAVED FOR THE NEXT PAGE??? SO HELP ME, IF THE NEXT PART OF THIS SENTENCE IS “CAN PROTECT THEM”, OR EVEN WORSE, “CAN SEE THEIR SMILING FACES AGAIN”, I...

WHAT DID I JUST SAY

(ETA: my man did Sero and Kaminari fucking dirty lmao. I miss their smiling faces too omg.)

the sheer, unparalleled irony of him saying this while he stands there looking like the gargoyle demon from Fantasia got crossed with an umbrella that got struck by lightning. Deku :(

oi who the fuck is this clown

is he controlling this mob with his evil hair. “what if I made an exhausted, running-on-fumes Deku battle a brainwashed mob at Ground Zero.” Horikoshi do you just have like a checklist of horrible things you want to do to your protagonist

easy there Sasori

well joke’s on you buddy because he’s apparently “completely fine”, so

“here’s to hoping that you know more about AFO’s location than the others” jesus christ Deku you really have hung your mercy out to dry huh

now he’s forcing his mob of terrified prisoners to attack Deku ahhhh. sucks to be them. at least they’re not being controlled by bees

so Deku is saying that Sasori’s control can be broken with “physical trauma.” similar to Shinsou’s quirk I guess. but so does that mean he’s gonna have to hurt them? ( •﹏•)

NO NOT MORE SAD EYES

“DEATH BY EMPATHY!!!” HORIKOSHI NO

fuck. he looks like he’s on the verge of passing out

this is what happens when you nerf a character’s self-preservation stats in favor of spamming their bone-breaking stats instead. NOW ACCEPTING BRAIN CELL DONATIONS FOR A BOY IN NEED!! with your loving generosity we can hopefully help him live to the ripe old age of seventeen

OMGFGGG

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[grabs your hands] ლ(*꒪ヮ꒪*)ლ [swings you in a circle] へ(ﾟ◇ﾟへ)

THASSSSSSSS WHATSSSSSSS UPPPPPPPPPP

HORIKOSHI REALLY SAID FUCK THAT MASK (ノ°ο°)ノ YOU FINALLY LEARNED!! IT’S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!!!

JUST FOR YOU KACCHAN, HORIKOSHI LEFT THIS ONE BAD GUY WHO’S STILL WEAK TO FIRE. GOD BLESS

IT’S YOUR COUNTERPART, KATSUKI B!!!! HOW WE DOIN OVER THERE IN THE TRIPPY COSMIC OFA SPACE REALM LOL. DO WE BELIEVE YET, FANDOM???

LIGHTS!!!!

INSTANT RESULTS!!! IT’S SUPER EFFECTIVE!!!

(ETA: imagine what this must look like to Deku though. he’s been caught up in this dark cloud of despair and exhaustion that’s been building up over... I’m gonna go ahead and say “weeks”, because yeah. and now he finds himself here, in the place where All Might’s legacy ended and the torch was passed to him. and the world is in ruins, and he’s surrounded by frightened people who are all trying to hurt him -- because who isn’t trying to hurt him, these days -- and he’s scrambling to figure this all out, but meanwhile the weariness is finally starting to catch up to him, and so he’s basically just standing there in a fog of complete and utter misery.

and then all of a sudden through that haze, he hears the one voice that’s more familiar than any other that he knows. like, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he thought he was just imagining it at first. Kacchan showing up to save him right when he’s at his most desperate and feeling the most alone. Kacchan, showing up to save him.

this is the person he always looked up to as a child (to be fair he was quite a strange child lmao). the person who was even closer to him than All Might. the person he always thought was amazing. and bam, here he is now. appearing in the sky out of nowhere to one-shot the bad guy with a single blast (which, btw, that was his armor-piercing attack too lmao dslkjlk take it easy there kiddo). like, that must have felt absolutely surreal to him, especially coming at a time when he’s already half-delirious and barely hanging on to reality. he must have really thought that he was losing it there for a second.

but he’s really there. it really is him. and for this brief moment -- before the rest of the situation catches up to him, and he remembers about all of the fucked-up AFO stuff, and remembers why he was so afraid and why he was pushing everyone away -- for just this one brief moment, he’s too exhausted and stunned to do anything except to just react. just stands there, looking up at him in awe.

and you know, it almost reminds me of...

just. you guys. the character development. the freaking character development. someone who brings reassurance. someone who shows up and makes you think, “oh, it’s all going to be okay now, because [person] is here.” the role reversals. the growth. the payoff!! because who is the one person who always had faith that Kacchan would one day grow up to become an amazing hero like that. WHO IS IT. YOU ALREADY KNOW.

omg. anyways, bless you Horikoshi, my feels which have been on backorder since fucking September have finally arrived lmao. yes, good, thank you. worth the wait. it is always, always worth the wait. fuck yeah.)

“LOWFRIES” SO YOU’RE TELLING ME THE WHOLE GANG IS HERE, AHHHHHHHH (º̩̩́⌣º̩̩̀ )

BEAUTIFUL. WONDERFUL. SENSATIONAL. I DON’T EVEN CARE THAT JUMP IS ON BREAK NEXT WEEK. THIS RIGHT HERE WILL SUSTAIN ME

[donotpercieveme123]

Hello, I saw your post about wanting to have friends who are fans of the Naruto founders era, mood.

Rank the characters of the founders era from your least favorite to your most favorite and why

Hey thx for the ask, you and mira were actually the first two people I followed on here. I love ur blog!

I'll just do the uchiha and senju brothers, because the others don't get any screen time and I haven't seen much of them in fanon either.

4. Hashirama

I love him, he has the potential to be such an interesting character, thematically. But I haven't really seen it done well. He's either characterised as a completely goofy idiot, as a prop or foil for other characters (often madara), or if they try to make him darker it's just the bad brother trope for madatobi fics. And it drives me up the wall. My personal take on him is that he's a kind person through and through, he puts his dream before everything else but I don't think that makes him as callous as he's made out to be sometimes. I think his reasons for what he does are very valid. And he would be very interesting to explore the weight of power and responsibility through, and how despite best intentions dreams can go sideways. Man didn't even expect the village to survive lmao, says a lot. He's more of a typical shonen protagonist, which I'm usually not a fan of, but I loved every second of screen time he got.

3. Madara

If I were talking solely about canon he's definitely my favourite. Completely iconic! I'm still salty about how they dealt with him towards the end of the war arc. But yah he is such an interesting character, I could write essays about him and his philosophies and his actions and how much more potential he could have had if Kishimoto wasn't sus. I loved every second he was on screen, especially his interactions with Hashirama! He's completely obsessively unhinged and I love that for him. This man tried to become God and force world peace lmao, what else needs to be said. And I can appreciate his nihilistic take on dependent origination, enlightened King lmao. Absolutely insane. Also I love torturing him.

2. Tobirama

I just think he's neat. I instantly get obsessed with any character who is remotely autistic coded, what can I say. He's low key an asshole and completely insane, even if he tries to rationalise everything he does. But he's also loyal and self sacrificial when it comes to the people and things he cares about. In the sense that everything he's cultivated himself into has been in service of something bigger than himself. Second heirs am I right. This is also very true, more so, for Izuna too. I think he's also very misunderstood, and very polarising lmao. It's kind of funny to watch when it's not frustrating. Yes he's morally grey, yes he's capable of doing fucked up shit, no I don't think he hated the uchiha, and no he'snot some unredeemable monster. Let the man have nuance. I haven't seen many fics of him I like, but that's probably mostly because 90% are madatobi (if I could completely block and never see this ship again I would in a heart beat lmao). But yh I haven't seen a lot of him so he's been living rent free in my head because of it, more so than hashi or madara, so now I'm completely attached to him lol. Also aroace King, love that.

1. Izuna

Yh I'm obsessed with everything about him. He's my little guy. I saw a character who was insanely important to the plot but got no screen time, and who is only ever mentioned in relation to Madara (he didn't even get a personality lol), and said this is free real estate. I like maybe two or three fics with him in (and a few that are just pwp cuz they don't get the chance to mess up his characterisation lol; I blame WASS for being so picky). So he lives completely in my brain, he's mine. I characterise him as completely insane lmao, he's just a cocktail of mental disorders, and I love torturing him.

He's also very capable though, he was Madara's right hand man, and based off how Madara handles the 4th war... he definitely needed all the help he could get. In this way I think Izuna and Tobirama are parallels of each other.

He's also such a fun character. He's pretty, and he knows it, he's confident and he knows what he wants. He's also a bit of an asshole, a pretentious art hoe, definitely judgemental and a complete drama queen at times lol. Also morally grey, in a similar way to Tobirama actually (god I'm obsessed with the dynamic they could have). He's also a bit of a control freak, and definitely insanely nihilistic and paranoid (I actually think Madara only got that paranoid after Izuna died, despite the peace, or maybe because of it). He HAUNTS the narrative and I love that. Madara actually develops Izuna's worst traits after his death.

He's also my favourite to write. Especially his internal monologues. I also think he's obsessive and insanely possessive. Deranged. I love it! But he also puts his duty and everyone he cares about before his own needs and wants. So yh jts just so interesting to explore. I get obsessed over characters with shit loads of wasted potential lol. Also he has big aro energy, completely repulsed by romance and I definitely support that lmao.

Jesus this was long. Definitely got a bit ranty towards the end.

[bthump]

thank you so much for you posts on guts assaulting casca bc quite frankly... the way the fandom frames it rather lead me to overlook it and have an uncomplicated relationship with him, all the while hating what griffith did during the eclipse. (in your opinion, what makes the fandom like this?)

Thank you for sending this, I'm really happy my posts inspired you to rethink your initial takeaway from Berserk and the fandom! lol I hope that didn't ruin the experience for you or make you dislike a character you used to love or anything though, imo the way both the Eclipse and Guts assaulting Casca are written reflects more on the writing than on Guts or Griffith as characters.

Man though there are so many reasons for this imo.

I mean for starters, there's the fact that certain takes kind of have a chokehold on fandom, like the classic "Griffith was an evil unfeeling sociopath all along and here's a nonsensical explanation for every single one of his actions that seems to demonstrate otherwise" lol. I avoid the rest of fandom as much as I can and I still see a lot of instances where someone will, say, go to the Berserk reddit or Skull Knight like, "hey I don't understand xyz moment, if Griffith doesn't care why did this happen?" and get the rote "because he's a control freak who couldn't stand seeing his friends living their own lives" answer, or whatever lol. These fans shut down discussion as often as they can and most fans just accept those answers because they don't care enough to think about it themselves, or they don't have the tools to analyse the story and come to their own conclusions because critical thinking is a learned skill that many people were never really taught.

So along with Griffith being evil all along, you have fans who might be like, "hey, it's kinda fucked up that Guts tried to rape Casca right, maybe I don't want them to get together," and get responses like "no you see he was possessed at the time, it's not his fault it was the beast of darkness who is a random evil malicious entity and not a symbolic representation of Guts' dark side at all."

As for why fans are so eager to come up with these explanations and believe them, I mean to be fair for a lot of people it's just easier to enjoy a story if the protagonist is likeable and sympathetic and not an attempted rapist lol. I can understand the urge to downplay Guts' actions there or find an alternative explanation for them, because to do otherwise would reduce their enjoyment of the story. I think this urge can be very bad when it leads to people using actual rape apologist rhetoric, like "Guts stopped before he got his dick in so it's not that bad and he should be forgiven" or whatever, but when it leads to arguing that he was actually possessed then it's like... whatever lol. You're wrong, you're misunderstanding the story entirely, but at least you're happy I guess, good for you. (yk assuming they're not being an asshole to other fans who disagree, which lbr is a pretty unlikely assumption in this fandom, but you know what I mean.)

That said there are a lot of terrible Berserk fans out there who make it pretty obvious that their bad takes are rooted in offensive misogynist and homophobic beliefs. I mean a common nickname for Griffith in this fandom involves a homophobic slur, so that should tell you the kind of people I'm talking about here. Those are the ones who I very much think hate Griffith from the start because he's got serious gay vibes, and go out of their way to find reasons to justify their hate and ignore every nuance in his character arc, while excusing Guts at every possible turn because he's the manly "hetero" protagonist they wanna be.

And yk, there are just a lot of people in general who don't like moral greys, who don't like nuance in fiction, and who want to flatten as much as they can to "good" or "bad." So Guts is "good" and therefore every bad thing he does has to be explained away and ignored. Griffith is "bad" so every good thing he does also has to be explained away and ignored.

BUT to be fair and well-rounded here, it's not all the fault of fandom. The story itself makes it easy to do this. I mean the eclipse rape was 2 chapters long, it took away Casca as a character for 20 years, it made the protagonist very angry, it was commiteed by a demon who has pointedly shown no remorse, and it was basically used as motivation for a whole revenge plot.

Conversely Guts assaulting Casca was a few pages, most of which was shown in symbolic imagery in Guts' head, Guts feels bad about it, and - and this is something I absolutely hate about Berserk lol - it's had zero negative consequences, at least so far, and several positive results. It's the inciting incident for Guts realizing he needs a babysitter and has to work on being less shitty, and Casca was already afraid of him so that didn't even change for the worse. Guts sexually assaulting Casca literally had a positive impact on the narrative. This makes it a lot easier to downplay how utterly shitty it was, and this is a major problem with the story.

And like the story itself doesn't condemn Guts for the assault very harshly despite being very clear about Guts being the one responsible. This is another thing that can create cognitive dissonance for fans and require explaining away - the attempted rape was a Bad Thing but since the story itself kind of downplays it that must mean that Guts isn't actually at fault, because if he was surely it would be a whole big thing, and not one scene that has never been brought up again.

So yeah, idk, basically I think there are a bunch of reasons for the fanbase's reactions to Guts and Griffith sexually assaulting Casca, and some of them are understandable and some of them are shitty. Thanks for the ask!

[arywizm]

books read in january

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera - Death-Cast called Howie Maldonado at 2:37 a.m. to tell him he’s going to die today.His 2.3 million Twitter followers are taking it the hardest. || 3/5

it's hard for me to rate this one because it's objectively not bad, but the concept is so interesting and at the same time so underutilized that despite the fact that it's really a solid little ya novel it fell short for me.

a world without what-ifs, where death feels much more present and inevitable because its commercialised, there's so much world building you could do here. the end day itself is also a really interesting, suffocating space for the characters to interact in. the discussion about fate and determinism it could have provoked. There are hints of all this in there, but it's flat and infantile compared to what it could have been (just imagine what sort of insanity Ballard would have come up with if he had this idea, would it be good? questionable, certainly would be interesting though) . It feels like all potential is smothered by the fact this was seemingly written to be YA, which is a shame because as I said, it's not a bad book.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz - “When I was a boy, I used to wake up thinking that the world was ending. I’d get up and look in the mirror and my eyes were sad.” “You mean like mine.” “Yeah.” “My eyes are always sad.” “The world isn’t ending, Ari.” “Don’t be an asshole. Of course it’s not ending.” “Then don’t be sad.” “Sad, sad, sad,” I said. “Sad, sad, sad,” he said. || 3.5/5

loved the writing style (especially in dialogue) but as is often the case with ya for me, I wish the author had leaned more into it. other than that, it was cute I suppose, heartwarming.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - I half closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I'd ever lost since my childhood had washed up, and I was now standing here in front of it, and if I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field and gradually get larger until I'd see it was Tommy, and he'd wave, and maybe even call. || 5/5

I have so many questions I'm in love

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes - He left you the fortune, Avery, and all he left us is you. || 3.5/5

*money, money, money by ABBA playing in the background*

it's incredible how entertaining I found this despite not caring for the protagonist at all.

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske - Oh, look at yourself, murmured an irrepressible part of Robin. Portrait of a sulky aristocrat in repose. Someone should paint him, indeed: lounging here among his grand belongings, drink in hand, weighed down by the dreadful woes of having both a well-paying job and a baronetcy. || 3. 5/5

this will be made into an awful TV series that I will secretly watch every day

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak - A family of ramshackle tragedy. A comic book kapow of boys and blood and beasts. We were born for relics like these. || 5/5

sir who gave you the right to do this to unsuspecting citizens

see, the brilliance of this is that it's almost graphomania, almost, it shouldn't work, but it does (!) and the result is the most tender, heartbreaking portrait of a family I have ever read (not that I'm an authority on this at 19 lol), it's almost a parable, but not quite, it doesn't have the self assurance of The Book Thief, it's gentler, it's less about the message and more about the symbol itslef.

the faux naivete! for the garish colors! the line breaks! the obsession with sunlight! it's like a primitivist painting in a form of a book but without the inherent dishonesty

[black-rose-writings]

Reading Siege and Storm because I hate myself

To begin, I’d like to state that this is my first read-through and I only have vague idea of the plot I’ve gathered from fanfics and tumblr posts.

Long post ahead

Chapter 1

So... at first I was like - huh, this isn’t as bad as I thought, but the moment Alina gets introspective, it all goes to hell.

Like, she’s being physically made sick by not using her powers, which is making her feel useless - like, she says, pretty much verbatim: “The only thing I was ever good at was being a Sun Summoner and I’m not that anymore.”

I’m gonna beat those paragraphs over the head of anyone, who says Alina got a good ending.

I’ve also noticed just how often the like “I pushed that thought away” is used and more often than not, it’s used on thoughts that should probably not be pushed away.

Ah, yes, here he comes, my boy Darkles, being the dramatic bitch he always is. We get it, you’re the hot villain, tempting the good and pure heroine away from being good and pure.

And I’m just now realizing how many times in this chapter has Alina lamented their lack of privacy. We have to ensure the reader doesn’t hink she’s *gasp* sleeping with Mal.

Chapter 2

What?

Alina is tripping balls while being put under by a Heartrender, got it.

Darkling is being the voice of reason, but I’m getting the distinct feeling it won’t last.

Ivan gets one point, because Alina is in fact a traitor, but he’s also being a cunt, so it doesn’t really count.

Alina at Sturmhond: Do you even care about Ravka?

Me at Alina: Do you?

Chapter 3

“Mermaids are not real”. I’m pretty sure they are in the Grishaverse.

My boy Darkles is still making sense, but Alina is dedicated to being against him just for the hell of it, it seems.

Did this bitch just throw a tantrum, because he told her, what we can assume is the truth? Okay. Like, I get that she’s at best 18, but still. Not exactly the type of protagonist whose head I like being in.

And in that moment, dozens of smut fics were born.

Chapter 4

Wow, that was quick.

Aaand. What had just happened?

Chapter 5

Sturmhond is a funny bitch, I’ll give him that.

And this entire conversation, it seems like Mal’s entire purpose is to stand behind Alina threateningly and repeat what she said, lol.

I’d like to remind Alina (and LB) that a king in an absolutist monarchy (which is what Ravka appears to be) is very much a tyrant. Don’t make it sound like Ravka didn’t have a tyrant before. And at the very least, my boy Darkles seems pretty competent.

A man calling himself a Storm Dog likes dogs. No shit.

Chapter 6

I hate Mal. Dude, this is your girlfriend, maybe like... listen to her? Don’t bludgeon her with the one other guy she was kinda-sorta with, when you are a well known manwhore?

I don’t know man, I don’t like him.

Everyone: You can’t have more than one amplifier, it’s dangerous.

Alina: Haha, sparkles go brrrr

Chapter 7

In other news, pirates are funny.

Holy shit, they have a plane.

That was... a lot. And we’re crossing the Fold again, yay.

Chapter 8

You feel bad for the Volcra but not for the people you’ve left for dead in the Fold last time? Okay.

Baby Volcra. Am I supposed to say “ew” or “aww”? If I tried doing both at the same time, it would probably sound like one.

Jesus fucking Christ this book is a ride.

Did Alina really just have an “oh no, he’s hot?” moment? *sighs*

Puppy boy has a title longer than Daenerys, jesus.

Alina, my dear, you could have waited for a bit before doing that. There’s like thirty soldier with guns around you and you’ve just punched a prince.

Then again, you’ve never been smart, have you?

Chapter 9

For once, I completely agree with him. I know you two have lost your one shared braincell on that first crossing of the Fold but still, that was very dumb of you, Alina.

I’m starting to get why people were calling Nikolai “Darkling light”. Definitelly seems appropriate.

Mal, calm the fuck down, that was the least romantic proposal I’ve ever heard and you know it.

You two didn’t even let Alina get a word in for the last page. What right do you have to her, Mal, huh? Nikolai is making sense and you’re being an idiot.

What’s your deal Mal? What the fuck do you want?

And why in the hell are you the endgame love interest?

That’s an awful lot of guilt-tripping you’re doing there, Mal. No need to be pissy about it.

Chapter 10

The bones thing is definitelly yikes.

Saints, Mal, are you on your period or something? Alina doesn’t belong to you. Alina can make her own choices. Get a grip.

“You think I’m like the Darkling?” Yes. The Darkling isn’t all bad. You’re at war. No need to get your panties in a twist over a few fingers.

Oh, look, Alina has a cult now, nice.

Chapter 11

Your “dad” is a rapist, Nikolai. Quite possibly a pedo. He got exactly what he deserved.

I’d go for the second option. Especially after that stunt. Jesus, you could have asked her beforehand.

At least Darkles had the decency to make out with her in private.

Also like... why is every single person in this series so far an asshole?

Chapter 12

We meet the King again, unfortunately.

Alina gets Darkles’s old job.

This should be a total disaster, but let’s see where it goes anyway.

Chapter 13

Alina’s nuts, yay.

(I know they have a Force-bond-thingy. I also know they did it before Reylo did.)

Chapter 14

Oh boy, Alina’s not doing as bad as I thought.

For the 100th time in this book, I wish I had Nikolai’s confidence. Though it is getting a bit too much.

Puppy boy is dropping some truth bombs. Nice.

But he doesn’t realize that my boy Darkles has very good reasons to not align with Fjerdans - a) they think he’s a demon and b) they want Grisha dead.

I’m not gonna say she was, but like... the monarchy is very much corrupt.

Oh, boy, Baghra. This one’s gonna go well.

Yep, Baghra’s as pleasant as ever.

So... Baghra’s plan in book 1 really had been to just have Alina run away and hope for the best? Jesus Christ, lady. I’m not saying she deserved to have her eyes taken away, but she is definitelly a trash person and I’m not surprised her son turned out the way he did.

Also, I’m fairly certain that Baghra is literally slowly killing herself - that the reason she looks so old and frail is because she’s started to supress her power and it’s literally killing her, because, you know, she’s bonkers old.

Chapter 15

Nerd Alina > Self-pitying Alina

Also, I’m just saying, Alina comments on Zoya being attractive a whole lot - I get that she’s meant to be insecure, but I’m interpreting it as her being gay, because I need some happiness in my life, okay?

Just kill the sleazy old Rasputin-wanna-be. There’s plenty of them to go around in this series.

Chapter 16

Vasily takes after his father in creep factor.

Why not the Darkling being courted by a horny prince? Be a bit creative.

Chapter 17

Nikolai has big ADHD energy and I love him for it. Fits right in with the heavily autism-coded Fabricators.

*sighs at heteronormativity again*

*sighs at improper gendering of titles*

Date night with Mal. This is gonna be a disaster, isn’t it?

Chapter 18

Fun night of cultural appropriation, yay.

I hate cultists.

LET. ALINA. GO. FERAL. Please.

You two are going to give me a headache, I swear.

Darkles cockblocking Alina. And Malice threw a tantrum. Nice.

Chapter 19

You’re way too harsh on Genya, Alina.

Horny Alina rights.

They have a laser, now. Cool. Or, well, enormously hot.

Mal is being a drunk a-hole. Great. When does he become likable? Does he ever?

Banter between Mal and Alina? Kinda weird, always somehow comes back to either of them being insecure.

Banter between Alina and Nikolai? I’m all for it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a Darklina trash, but like... Nikolai is fun. I could see him and Alina having an arranged political marriage and ending up falling in love years into it, that’s all I’m saying.

Chapter 20

Just let this one go, Alina, please. You two are not working out. Please, end it with him. You’ll both probably be happier. (I’m saying this with the full knowledge that Malina is endgame).

Jesus Alina, get your shit together. You have every right to be mad, because you two didn’t actually break up, you didn’t kiss Nikolai and also, I don’t like Mal.

Sooo... when is Alina going to realize her manchild of a boyfriend is an amplifier?

Chapter 21

Alina has the horny sickness, lol.

Jesus Christ, girl, I don’t want to read your vaguely suicidal thoughts.

Mal, you fucking idiot.

Alina, stop defending Mal.

Chapter 22

Alina has a logical thought? Impossible.

Finally, some action.

Chapter 23

Oh, boi, this is going great.

Oh, boi, Alina’s having another martyr moment.

And, we’re done.

Finally.

That was a ride. Nothing really happens for like ten chapters and then everything happens in one and a half.

[beevean]

Ace Attorney fandom? (Or Great Ace Attorney)? :o

This is the opposite of Metroid, too many characters to think about lmao

The first character I first fell in love with: our good ol' Miles, of course. I was so hyped to play the Investigation games purely for the novelty of moving him around lol

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Ryuu, maybe? On the surface he's very much "Phoenix with a less ridiculous haircut", but he has enough details that separate him from his descendant and make him a compelling protagonist :)

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: many, but especially Franziska. I think she's a compelling deconstruction of the "child prodigy" trope, as she is realistically immature and petty as it would fit for someone who stopped growing up at age 13... but she's still immature and petty and her quirk of whipping people to get her way is not fun, even less after it devolved into "lololol imma whip only the males and leave the females alone, #girlboss"

The character I love that everyone else hates: it's hard being a Barok fan :(

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: I guess Apollo? I was hooked by the ending of SOJ in 2016, but after 5 years and after notifcing the flaws in SOJ's narrative I don't feel much about him anymore

The character I would totally smooch: Ryuu, because he deserves it <3

The character I’d want to be like: Adrian Andrews in T&T. I felt so proud when the gang met her and she was smiling in a job she liked, after the hell she went through in 2-4 <3

The character I’d slap: AA is full of obnoxious assholes :( Even without counting awful villains like Manfred or Ga'ran, I can't choose between Dr. Hotti, Joan or Nahyuta... Maybe Joan, because what the hell you really want me to laugh at a woman deliberately pouring scalding tea over her disabled husband out of misplaced jealousy?

A pairing that I love: I've been gushing about Baroryuu ever since I finished GAA2 (and I've been silently shipping it since 2019) and I have no intention of stopping :P

A pairing that I despise: Blackmadhi. My man Simon is too good for a religious condescending zealot that torments his lil sis for shit and giggles <_< I personally don't believe that "good banter = good relationship", but the two don't even have good banter, Nahyuta is just a dick

[yumgrapejuice]

An analysis on Ranboo’s lore playlist

okay y’all first of all, ranboo has a killer taste, i love him, and second, i couldn’t resist. i’m an analyst by nature. am i looking too deep into some things? did ranboo maybe choose some songs purely for the vibe? perhaps. do i care? no. let me have my fun.

I’m gonna drop my own analysis/interpretation based on these songs but feel free do use this yourself if you want!! And also feel free to disagree/correct me on anything!! I’m not a professional musical analyst lol and I did take some inspiration from already existing interpretations for the more lyrical songs.

here’s the playlist btw

“Introduction to the Snow”—introduction to the album. Fitting for the playlist’s beginning, seeing the tone. It’s mostly referencing (self-imposed) isolation.

“Dream Sweet in Sea Major”—this Miracle Music’s whole album is about dreams and reality, how they clash, loneliness and the wish to be close to someone, yet still remaining isolated. Very whimsical, metaphorical, melodic, and it has this vibe as if on the edge of consciousness. I’d say it fits quite well with c!Ranboo’s general vibe. This song in particular deals with sleepwalking(ha)/being in a dreamlike state, the line between what’s real and what’s not blurred.

“The Mind Electric”—oh this one fits Ranboo extremely well. First part is in reverse, the second in normal (mirroring), and it can get quite unsettling. Like you’re not sure what’s happening with the instrumentals, many different voices. Again, very metaphorical, but to put it shortly, the protagonist is being judged for a crime they’ve committed and, in their defence, they say: “Father, your honor, may I explain, my brain has claimed its glory over me; I’ve a good heart albeit insane”. They get “condemned to the infirmary” for that, where electric shock is used on them as a form of “therapy”. As a result, the protagonist loses grip on reality and themselves and truly does go insane. They beg for mercy and sympathy, but there’s no one to help them. “Someone help me; Understand what's going on inside my mind; Doctor I can't tell if I'm not me”—need I say more, really?

“Live and Let Die”—the phrase “live and let die” means to live your life how you wish and let others live how they wish without interfering. At first, you live by the phrase “live and let live”, meaning you have your ideals and you try to change the lives of others according to them, but as life progresses, you stop caring as much/try to distance yourself from others’ business.

“Turn the Lights Off”—dreams and nightmares. Mildly foreboding yet energetic. The actual meaning is about growing up (transition from childhood to adulthood), but we can take some other interpretations that’d fit with Ranboo’s character better. This Tally Hall’s album deals with differences, black and white, and how there shouldn’t be a divide between them. In this song, there are some noteworthy lines that I’d like to mention:

- “Bend the nightmare, you control it; Artful dodger, easy does it”—lucid dreaming, you have to be careful with it so as to not lose control.

- “Shut the closet, get under the covers”—you’re afraid of something and instead of facing it and seeing whether there even is something to be afraid of, you hide.

- “Turn the lights off”—confront your fears. It can also mean that in the dark, there’s no differences between people, going back to the album’s meaning.

- “And everybody wants to get evil tonight; But all good devils masquerade under the light”—this could mean that everyone has a darker part of themselves but those who actually indulge in their dark tendencies do so in plain sight by pretending to be someone else.

“Ruler of Everything”—the main theme here is time and how it’s the “ruler of everything”; time doesn’t matter about where it goes, and it will never stop. The second verse is most interesting to me—there are two singers, man and time, but for the sake of interpretation let’s just see it as two voices. One is obsessed about being liked, fitting in, constantly asking for reaffirmation (“Do you like how I walk? Do you like how I talk?”), while the second criticizes the first (“You practice your mannerisms into the wall”). They argue—”I’ve been you, I know you, your facade is scam; You know you’re making me cry, this is the way that I am”. The second is calling out the first for not being honest to himself. Tone is lighthearted but with an edge of unease.

“Merry-Go-Round of Life”—from Howl’s Moving Castle soundtrack. The title’s self-explanatory, I’d say.

“Killer Queen”—this one’s a harder one to interpret in regards to Ranboo lol. The song is about, based on an interview with Mercury, a high class woman that likes to indulge in her various desires (mostly sexual). I would doubt that’s what Ranboo was going for, so! Perhaps about a person that has no regards for their reputation and instead does whatever they feel like it? They have a certain image but still act however they like. Yeah, not too sure about this one :’) But that’s what I’ll go with for my later analysis.

“Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”—quite straightforward. A person that performs bad deeds has reasons for them. Not excuses, but explanations, and you can sympathize with it. We all do “bad” things for one reason or the other, and, in the end, we’re all just trying to get by. Once again, plays into the theme of there not being a clear distinction between good and bad.

“The Bidding”—another harder one to interpret. On the surface, it’s about an auction where men are trying to sell themselves to women. They all present themselves in different images, and it’s remarked that the women care less about the date and more about the prospect of it, the pretty words. The date, actually, ends up being disappointing. Could be about expectations. Some men outright admit they’re assholes so whoever chooses them should know that. People can tell you what their intentions are from the start so if you end up hurt, you have no one else to blame but yourself.

“A Mask of My Own Face”—another interesting one! Unusual instruments, strong beat. They’re singing about how they have a desire to pretend to be someone else while secretly still being themselves. “I’d rob my own apartment and I wouldn’t give a damn; I’d blame it on the person that nobody knows I am”—implying they have no regard for their own livelihood and are just out to have some fun. Plus, that no one would be aware it’s all an act. “I'd wear it on Thanksgiving and I'd laugh in the parade; At all the people hissing, knowing I'm the one they hate”—they take delight in the idea of upsetting others and them not knowing it’s actually the singer that they should be hissing. “And at the big finale I would tear my face away; And smile as they grip their own and try to do the same”—everyone wears masks, and this person implies that their mask and their true self is not different from each other while others’ are.

“Stardust Crusaders”—soundtrack from Jojo. Action-packed? idk never seen it sorry lol

“I Can’t Decide”—oh, this one’s a doozy! One of the ones that do not fit c!Ranboo at all, but that’s what makes it interesting. A classic, the singer is out to have fun, very lighthearted and yet they’re singing about murder. The protagonist here is clearly mentally unwell and they’re indecisive whether they should let their enemy/toy/(up to interpretation) live or not. Some curious lines:

- “It’s not easy having yourself a good time”—in the context of the song, that “good time” implies something wicked.

- “I’m not a gangster tonight, don’t wanna be the bad guy, I’m just a loner, baby, and now you’ve got in my way”—they don’t view themselves as “bad”, however, the next two lines are paradoxal—the singer says they’re alone and yet decide to “mess around” with whoever comes up in their life.

- “No wonder why my heart feels dead inside, it’s hard and cold and petrified”—signifying lack of empathy.

- “It’s a bitch convincing people to like you”—they don’t actually want to do that and see it as a bother.

“Stranded Lullaby”—back to Miracle Musical, back to the theme of isolation. Super lyrical, super musical. They talk about how their memories float around aimlessly in their head, a sea, and may sometimes get lost. The protagonist, a sailor, is losing touch with reality and can’t tell apart what’s a dream anymore and what’s not. They question what they’re going through and why.

“Hidden In The Sand”—a song about longing, in my eyes. The protagonist sings about how “you” love things and how he wishes to love the same things, in the end admitting that “all I’ve wanted was you”. They don’t wish to be separated, they wish to have someone in their life that they could love.

“Now I’m Here”—euphoric. They sing about how they’re alive again, thanks to one specific person. I’m not gonna go too much into this one (partly because it’s a more difficult one for me again, partly because it’s Queen and I don’t wanna uhh talk nonsense on accident lol), but what I got from it is that when one one else saw them, someone did, and they made them “live again”, and now as a result the protagonist is devoted to them.

“&”—really highlights Tally Hall’s album’s theme of black and white and that there shouldn’t be a divide. The repetition of comparing opposites is present throughout the entire song (Weak & Strong & Wet & Dry…) and it’s heavily implied we should “say goodnight” to this mindset. But people love to choose sides, put things into good or bad categories. By the line “They took a lesson from their fathers” it’s implied that people don’t develop this mindset by themselves and are rather influenced by others around them. The whole album is titled “Good & Evil” and Tally Hall examines and criticizes this idea. If we keep dividing people into good and bad, eventually, we’ll all destroy ourselves.

“I’m Gonna Win”—a song about someone who’s struggling to get by. “Sometimes it can seem like a merciless dream”—life can get really hard and the protagonist wonders “what’s really worthwhile”. In the chorus, whoever, they declare that they’re “gonna win” no matter what. They might get “bloody and bruised” but they won’t give up until they “won’t be abused” and until they’re “laughing alone”. No matter how hard life/others kick them down, they’ll keep going. By the lines “It’s hard to be charming and smart and disarming; It’s hard to pretend you’re the best; It’s hard to fulfill everyone’s expectations; It’s hard to keep up with the rest” it’s implied that they find it tiresome to keep up appearances and be liked. It’s challenging to always fit everyone’s expectations, but they’ll continue doing whatever they have to to “win”.

if ranboo ever adds more songs to his playlist, i may add them here too :)