#more unnecessary explanations for things I don't like to make them make sense

[lets-try-some-writing]

Not Really Present

Aka: My angsty and slightly Au-ish explanation as to why Optimus Prime is such a mess in RID. Let's all admit it, Optimus was completely out of it in RID. Almost like he lost everything that made him, well, him! So here is my attempt at warping the lore a little to make it work.

Façade

Optimus may have been crafted with a spark designed to handle being reincarnated regularly while still maintaining his identity, but the process is delicate. His spark is given time to rest and then starts to get scrubbed of surface level memories and is bonded to a new frame in order to get him ready to reincarnate once again. After he gave himself to the well and had about twenty odd years of rest, Primus sent him back into the reincarnation pool, ready to start again and live normally until a Prime was needed to guide all Cybertronians in their darkest hour.

The scrubbing and frame bonding process was nearly complete and Optimus was getting ready to inhabit his new frame when he was yanked back into the realm of the Primes by his siblings. The Primes, being too lazy to go fight Megatronous themselves or call upon a new champion, opted to instead send Optimus, the brother they already knew to be capable. They cared very little for the fact that Optimus was supposed to be granted a peaceful existence, at least for a time, in exchange for his service. And so they gave him a rundown of everything that they needed him to do, thinking that all his memory loss would be fixed by giving him the Matrix which held a copy of all his experiences from his time as a Prime.

Optimus only had the faintest idea of what was going on due to how far the scrubbing had progressed, and all he knew was that his siblings needed him. And so he did not fight back as his siblings shoved his spark into an incredibly wrong frame and crammed the Matrix in his chassis. His memories returned to him but they felt distant, out of place, like they belonged to someone else. Which. considering his circumstances, they might as well have. Not only that, but they were scattered, mashed up, and out of place. Some things were clear as day whereas other things were foggy and unclear.

He was then drop kicked into the training with Micronus in an effort to help him regain his former strength. But Optimus, having been nearly completely reduced to a newspark by the time he was recalled, struggled immensely. Focus, skill, wisdom, and experiences that made him the mighty Prime who led the war against the Decepticons were no longer an integral part of his being. He knew based on the memories within the Matrix that he should be able to achieve great feats in all fields of combat and command. And yet as he was thrown against test after mind numbing test, he still had issues with basic concepts, having to practically relearn everything he gained wisdom in during millennia of war and his time as the Thirteenth.

It was frustrating beyond all belief to Optimus, with his former patience having been greatly reduced with the cleansing of his spark. Especially with Micronus never giving him a moment's rest and constantly belittling him for his mistakes and anything else he could find fault in. More than once Optimus considered attempting to strangle Micronus as he hovered watching him struggle against foes while giving him "advice" in the most mocking way imaginable.

Of course his distant and scattered memories were not the only problem, his very spark also played a part. Optimus was already half bonded to his new frame when he ripped away from it, leaving him not completely present in the frame his siblings made for him. The frame his siblings made him felt too tight and foreign, leading him to be unable to move with precision. Not only that, but he couldn't shake the ever present feeling of unease that followed him with every movement, like he was walking in another bot's body.

When the time came for him to fight Megatronous, he wasn't ready, physically or emotionally. Despite practically being a sparkling again, his kin did not hesitate to put him through to absolute agony that was merging pieces of their sparks with his. And then without so much of an ounce of gratitude for the service he was doing them, they forcefully returned him to the living realm, leading to a brand new host of problems.

The fight with Megatronous began, and Optimus couldn't help but feel absolutely useless throughout the whole thing. His memory told him that Megatron, a mech not even forged a Prime, was more difficult to fight. And yet he struggled bitterly in his fight against his fallen brother. His body didn't respond to his commands as he wanted, his reactions were slowed, and his memories were too muddled to give him the skill he knew he once possessed in battle. Nothing he attempted to do from his memories worked and he was quickly driven back. All Optimus could feel was crippling shame as Bumblebee and his team came in and saved him from death at the hands of an arguably weaker foe.

When the battle was done and Optimus returned with Bumblebee to his base at the scrapyard, he thought that perhaps time with familiar individuals would help him heal. He was wrong. If anything it made it worse. He felt even more out of place than before.

He still had a connection to Bumblebee, but it was also somewhat distant, his role in their relationship having started to shift in light of his altered state of being. Not only that, but Bumblebee had changed, becoming a new mech and still recovering from intensive trauma. This in turn meant that Optimus could not figure out how he was supposed to act around his former scout and the mech he once saw as a son. Not knowing what to do or how to act, he relied on his scattered memories to create a personality that matched the mech he once was. Everything he said and did was reused dialogue and performances from the war, and the few times he acted without the aid of his memories, his altered state became startlingly clear.

Before he knew it Optimus found himself falling back into less mature habits, acting like a rowdy and rebellious youngling more often than not. He argued with Bumblebee over simple matters, his emotions getting the better of him without millennia of experience to temper his mind. He was dismissive of others, completely focused on maintaining his crumbling persona and meeting mission requirements. He wanted desperately to match up to the memories within the Matrix, to really be Optimus Prime, but with his spark returned to youthfulness, it was an impossible task.

With the spark of a youngling, the memories of an ancient Prime, and the deep set desire to match up to his former glory, Optimus suffered trying to desperately find himself yet again.

Thankfully for him, while the team may refuse to see his faults out of respect and excitement, Knockout has no such reservations and has already prepared his office for a long awaited therapy session.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

The explanation for Lila’s several moms that zoe-oneesama came up with in Scarlet Lady’s Episode 52 Part 7 Bonus is one that I’ve officially adopted into my brainstorming for stories that still include those characters instead of wipe the plot point entirely, especially since the writers couldn’t be bothered to at least explain how Lila’s bio dad plays into all the craziness (or confirm if it was just a donor situation) much less make the several moms thing actually make sense, though that’s probably for the better considering their track record with dads. “That sure was a mystery that didn't need solving” WELL I SURE APPRECIATE YOU SOLVING IT, ZOE, ‘CAUSE IT SURE NEEDED TO BE!! One of the most EYEROLL-WORTHY, unnecessary things canon has done to attempt making any character seem smarter than they actually are, good grief. Speaking of which, how would you have canon!Lila’s personality and shtick actually work with the rendition of her family shown in that SL bonus image from the get-go?

For those who don't read the comic, the solution is pretty simple: Lila has divorced parents leading to two step-moms and one biomom. This setup actually works pretty well for a manipulator. Not on the nonsense scale that we get in the final few episodes of the season where Lila is revealed to have multiple identities, but on the small scale we all assumed Lila was working on for most of the show.

Lila's 14, old enough for some independence, which means that she's able to do things like telling the first set of parents that she's at the second set's house and vise versa, allowing Lila to run around doing shit without her parents knowing. This is extra true if one or both sets of parents travel a lot and both sets believe Lila when she says, "Oh, that's fine, set A will be home that well, so I'll just stay with them."

It actually makes things like her skipping school make more sense if she's doing it by jumping between homes. Same goes for her weird secret lair. Easier to set that up if everyone thinks you're home safe and sound. Divorced parents is just generally a really good route to go for a manipulative teen.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hi, one more question!

I read Tomarry fan fiction with time travel, and when they write that Harry is taking Tom from the orphanage, for some reason they write that Harry expects that if he gives the love and care that he was deprived of, then Tom will become a different person. That is, Harry projects himself onto Tom and expects the same reaction from him that Harry himself would have had if he had been taken away from the Dursleys. And also, I do not understand the authors themselves believe that if you give a child (Tom) everything he wants and do not limit him at least somehow, that he will grow up to be a morally better person? Or do they think that Harry is so narrow-minded and does not understand that punishments and rewards are needed for proper upbringing? That it's not enough to just say "don't do this because it's wrong for a moral reason", but to provide a logical explanation that would be based on logic and pragmatism, which would sound clearer to Tom? What do you think about it?

Anyone could write whatever they want, and I'm not going to diss any specific fics or authors. Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of Harry going back in time to raise Tom fics because it's just not to my personal taste. So, this isn't the kind of scenario I really think about for Harry's and Tom's characters.

In general, though, I think Harry understands Tom and how he thinks more than fanon often gives him credit for. I also think Tom isn't as evil incarnate as some fanon paints him as. I don't think he's super moral, but I don't think he is especially cruel either.

Like, Tom doesn't do immoral things because he doesn't know what's good and what's evil, he is an intelligent capable adult — he knows very well what he's doing is evil, he just doesn't mind doing evil if he thinks it's necessary.

And he has morals. He regrets needing to kill Snape, he dislikes unnecessary death and bloodshed and actively avoids it in the first war. He doesn't want to kill students in the battle of Hogwarts and calls a ceasefire to let them regroup and treat their injuries to the detriment of his own side. He hates cowardice and treachery. He derides Wormtail because he betrayed his friends, yes, that betrayal helped Voldemort, but Voldemort despises cowardly traitors as a rule and his morals are important to him. He hates pretentious purebloods and he shows this contempt in how he treats his followers. Tom has a moral core all on its own with his shitty upbringing, it's just, kinda messed up and he's a practicality-over-morality kind of person most of the time. I'm saying most because he doesn't allow himself to cheat when trying to kill Harry. He just has to kill Harry properly, in a fair duel, because of his own morals and ideals. I also think Tom would be insulted by the concept of cheating at school, for example.

I mentioned in the past the fact Voldemort's favorite spell is the killing curse kinda shows that he has some twisted sense of morality. I mean, in a world where you can burn and cut and torture people with magic there are so many cruel and painful ways to kill someone, and yet, Voldemort's go-to spell, when he isn't making a point or torturing someone for a specific reason, is Avada Kedavra. The Killing Curse is a painless death, even Voldemort considers it a merciful death. It's quick and painless and efficient. This is the death he gave James and Lily because he respected them and didn't want them to suffer unnecessarily. This is the death he chooses for anyone he doesn't have a specific reason to torture because he is against what he deems as unnecessary cruelty. Snape's death is the only real death that is unnecessarily cruel but I think it has more to do with JKR needing a way for Snape to get Harry the information he needs rather than be accurate to Voldemort's character as he was shown thus far.

Like, he has some weird sense of morality, and even with the evil things he does, like murder, he knows they are bad and he does so anyway. Sometimes, he does so regretfully, in the most merciful way he can, and other times, when he hates someone, he relishes in it. It's not about not understanding good and evil or not knowing what morals are, it's about caring about morals less than about whatever goal he wants to accomplish, and sometimes that goal is to humiliate the crap out of Lucius Malfoy, or to showcase how great he is and be dramatic about it. But the fact he has his twisted morals and considers himself merciful is part of what makes him so interesting to me.

[unfortunately-a-miraculous-fan]

Every goddamn day, I think about how Chameleon was a very stupid episode, but for the exact opposite reason that I initially thought it was.

I always thought it was because the entire class was acting unreasonably stupid, but they were actually pretty reasonable, all things considered.

It was Marinette's writing that was the issue.

You're not gonna complain about your assigned seat being moved around to accommodate a disabled new student, nor demand proof of her disability, that would just be a dick move. (It doesn't make sense for the ENTIRE CLASS to be moved around, but I'll ignore that point because it's just kind of a nitpick.)

Many members of the class have personally met at least one celebrity, with a few classmates even being celebrities themselves. Lila's stories are certainly out there, even by this class' standards. But it's her first day, and again, most regular people don't hound others for proof on claims like this, even the ridiculous claims. (It doesn't make sense for the class to be so enthralled by her stories, but I would just chalk that up to them being nice to the new kid. The show does get kind of ridiculous with how much the class trusts her later on though.)

Lila could've absolutely caught that napkin on instinct. It would've hurt, but she wouldn't be thinking about her injury because that's how instincts work. Lila actually almost drew unnecessary attention to herself by making up that "explanation" on the spot, as protecting herself with her injured wrist needed no defending in the first place.

The only reason Marinette knew about Lila's lies to Adrien is because she stalked the two of them, which Alya and Nino are rightfully distrustful of. (It's still completely stupid for them to ignore her story entirely though. That's potential evidence of Lila lying to someone. At the very least, they should've verified the story with Adrien. But they just completely blew it off, and that point is never brought up again.)

From the class' perspective, Marinette complained about accommodations made for the new girl's disability because she wasn't allowed to sit close to her crush anymore, demanded hard evidence of the new girl's claims despite having some ridiculous celebrity stories herself, threw a napkin at her, potentially making her wrist injury even worse when she protected herself out of pure instinct, and then stormed off when that didn't work out in her favor.

I don't like this episode, not because of the way the class was acting, but because they took the girl who is supposed to be the smartest character in the show, and had her make probably the worst possible decision in every single situation. There are fatal flaws that cause characters to make understandable mistakes, and then there are characters just ignoring the obvious right answers because that would make far too cohesive of a plot, I guess.

They could've literally had some Spy vs Spy esque shenanigans between Lila and Marinette where neither can openly admit what they both know the other knows and have to skirt around social barriers in order to make the other look bad while saving face themselves. That would not only write itself, but would make more sense given their respective characterizations and would allow for much more interesting drama and character dynamics across multiple seasons.

[cuephrase]

Of the DC comics you've read so far, what would be your top recommendations for people to check out/what have you enjoyed the most?

when i tell you i have been thinking about this all day- i have been thinking about this. all. day.

so disclaimer, as of writing this, i have only read 31 runs from start to finish and 18 arcs/events outside of those runs. on top of, everything i've read so far has been strictly robin-centric, so dick, jason, tim, and damian. (i have read all of steph's robin appearances lol, but i haven't gotten to reading material for her, like say batgirl 2009, yet.) i've also decided not to rec from any run i'm currently reading, so for example, you won't see any batman: gotham knights recs here. because i'm most well-read on the robins, i'm only going to rec for them.

also, i'm going to operate under the following assumption: you've got a basic knowledge of the robins. none of these are where i would necessarily recommend anyone start reading about the boys, but i do think they'd be pretty interesting if you're already somewhat familiar with them and don't want to commit to reading whole character backlogs. does that make sense? i hope that makes sense.

alright, let's do this!

DICK GRAYSON

oh god. this one is actually so hard because he has so much great stuff, but then also i have like a love/frustrate relationship with so much of it. like for instance, i really enjoyed The New Teen Titans, but also lowkey can't stand space adventures so whenever that went down i was like 😀👍. but okay. hmmmm.

i have two preboot recs, with explanations + caveats.

devin grayson's mob!dick arc, so Nightwing 1996 #99-100, 107-117. caveats: it doesn't really get to finish playing out/wraps up weird because of editorial changes/infinite crisis. but!! it's a super interesting look at how dick handles...failure. how he values himself in light of that failure.

tomasi's run, but specifically #147-153. (listen, i love the dick and tim moments in 'freefall' but the whole eternally pregnant lady thing was too weird.) this is classic, hyper-competent dick, okay? he's such a bad-ass. and an idiot- bro literally flops his severely injured ass over the bars of his glider and rides it UNCONSCIOUS back to the batcave. i can't with him. poor alfred. anyways, he deals with two-face, always a good time. and then at the end, as a treat, he cries because bruce is dead. so fun!! what was my caveat here? oh yeah, he has a girlfriend. i don't remember her name, she serves like...very little purpose, the whole relationship is very minor/background okay, but like it was so unnecessary. he can be single, dc, it's okay.

for post re-boot, just read tom taylor's run!! it's the best thing ever!! zero complaints!!

HA. yeah, just kidding. that run is very like/frustrate for me lol. oh man i'm struggling here. it's not all bad okay, i'm just really picky, and i haven't re-read any nightwing n52 and onwards since my first foray into comics (8 months ago) so my memories of these are the foggiest and i'm not sure how i feel about all of it in light of what i've read now. yk what, i'm just going to...not rec anything. sorry!!

JASON TODD

his comics either go so hard or they're absolute ass, why is there no in between. istg, i can't figure out why writers struggle with him so much?? well. i mean, i do have theories. but you didn't ask for those!

pre-boot:

detective comics #569-574. robin!jason in the hands of writers who like him is so much fun. which, don't get me wrong, i don't flat-out hate how starlin writes him, but i think you get a more well-rounded view of jason as robin when you also see him in 'tec. jason and bruce tangle with the joker, scarecrow, + mad hatter, and all of those adventures are...idk if they were intentional foreshadowing okay, but reading those and knowing where the story goes? oof. especialllllly #574. caveat: #572 is pretty light on jason, but he is great when he's on panel!

reboot:

probably a very basic answer but rhato rebirth (2016) #1-13, annual #1. i abhorred n52 rhato so i almost skipped rhato rebirth since it was still written by lobdell, but i'm really glad i didn't. i really enjoy jason's relationship with bizarro + artemis, but especially with bizarro because i think jason struggles a lot with feeling like a doomed creation, so yk, parallels. i want to say more but i know i'll get too wrapped up in discussing jason so i'm just going to stop myself.

i actually really enjoyed task force z, too. i think about tfz #8 so much, jason is such a manipulative little shit and i love it. he's so- i can't. i can't get into this rn, it deserves its own post(s).

overall for jay, i need people to read something other than utrh/lost days/b:ul 1-6. i love those, i do, but they aren't the only good pieces of jason content!!

TIM DRAKE

MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!! in my heart of hearts, i just want to rec his whole robin run lmao. dick was my intro, okay, he is why i decided to start reading comics, but tim, specifically his robin solo is why i'm still reading comics. hooked me fr. and young justice 1998, ugh love. but it has been a minute since i read these as well, so hmm. okay okay okay

pre-boot:

batman: prodigal. short version, tim is robin to dick's batman. super fun. there's a solid amount of dick and bruce angsting too, which, love. tim is honestly just thrilled that jpv is out of the batsuit and even happier to working with dick. very cute.

robin #46. listen. they're all superheroes okay, they all feel pressure to save people. but tim...losses get to him. the amount of times that he gets shoved to a breaking point and then...gets back up. keeps going. *screams*. anyways!! this is not tim getting back up, okay? this is him being shoved way, way down. it's so good.

teen titans 2003 #20. tim's dad has died. he shows up for his weekend at the tower anyways. he is not okay. that's it, that's the pitch. i did not like...mmm at least 80% of this run okay, but a few of the issues HIT and this was one imo.

reboot:

*deep sigh*. look. tim is not tim for like basically all of n52, although there are moments here and there were he feels like himself. i did not like his 2023 solo, the best parts of young justice 2019 imo are the character designs, (except for his drake costume, what was that omg), and i haven't read any rebirth batman/'tec yet. except for zdarsky's run. which. tim is good there! but yeah, not really a whole lot of material to work with + very limited reading experience atm.

DAMIAN WAYNE

god, i love this kid. nature vs. nurture fascinates me, and so much of his story digs into that on top of trying to figure out who he is apart from all of that. i will say, i'm not a huge talia fan and by that i mean, i have no idea who she is "supposed" to be, like i have no frame of reference for that atm, so if you are a huge talia fan these recs might not hit for you because from what i've observed from her fans she is not well portrayed a whole lot since becoming his mother? i think one of the things that is normal is dick absolutely disliking her though, which cracks me up. there's this older batman story (batman #322-335) where bruce works with talia and dick goes running to selina and i was so entertained. what were we talking about? oh! damian!

preboot:

batman and robin 2009 #10-12. damian is struggling, with a lot of things. the fact that bruce might be alive, what that means for him and dick, and his mother's puppeteering. there's this line that kills me: "can't you just love me for who i am? not what you want me to be?" and the thing that gets me, is the use of who vs. what. because he could have said, "not who you want me to be", but he doesn't

reboot:

batman: shadow war. this is post-alfred's death, and honestly, most damian stuff post city of bane is pretty juicy, but there's this specific moment in shadow war: alpha #1 that had me speechless. just like 😧 i love bruce, but that man has some of the most chronic foot-in-mouth disease. oh but fair warning, for whatever reason they don't draw dami's mask connecting?? it's so- it drives me nuts.

JUST FOR FUN

these are just two issues that i enjoy for the brother content!

nightwing 1996 #25. dick and tim's relationship makes me ILL. *ahem*. this issue is mostly just super cute and fun, (there's like 0.2 seconds of angst when tim asks dick if he ever thinks about jason 😭) and i adore it sm. fun fact, it's actually one of the first comics i ever bought!

batman 2016 #16. unfortunately, tim is not here for this, but duke is! jason and damian's interactions in the background of bruce's Very Serious Speech are excellent. bruce is so dramatic and his kids are so unserious.

what i've most enjoyed

i've enjoyed the majority of what i've read, even titles/events i wasn't particularly looking forward to but had on my tbr for whichever character. i'm going to break down most enjoyed into two catergories, arcs that i loved top to bottom and then the guilty pleasures. this is not an exhaustive list, just what immediately came to mind.

top to bottom

bruce wayne: murderer?/fugitive. shocker, ik. but it's just, it's just so frickin good. i've said before, and i'll say it again, gotham war could NEVER. this right here is peak batfamily drama. the tension? the mystery? the angst? i knew nothing going into this okay, and truth be told, when i started it i was like "oh joy. another event." because i was just trying to read the 1996 nightwing run, but i'd committed to reading in full all the events it crossed over with. but i was invested so quickly. and like, i loved how the narrative supported the possibility that bruce was the murderer, because like, you know there's no way, but the more that comes out the more damning it is, and so you're like really dying to know what actually happened and i feel like the reveal was satisfying.

batman: city of bane. i'm going to cautiously put this here, because there might have been something i didn't like but i cannot recall it for the life of me right now. something about me is i love when the heroes lose. infinity war, empire strikes back? love. and ik bruce takes back gotham, but they lose alfred, okay, they lost. i also didn't expect to like this arc, i decided to read it because i wanted to know how alfred died. and first of all, i was shocked, even though i knew it was coming because i expected it to like happen towards the end. but nope. just *snap*. and then later when bruce is back in the manor and is confronted with alfred's body and his good-bye message? oh. my. god. i was bawling. despite my penchant for sad narratives, i don't tend to cry that much, but this got to me so bad. like i had to pause because i couldn't see. amazing.

red robin. his cowl is so ugly, but i really do love the run. i see a lot of discourse about it and also a lot of...interesting fanfic takes, so i don't really talk about it a lot here because it feels like most people are kind of tired of hearing about this run, which fair. i really enjoyed it as a sequel to his solo robin run. tbh, i almost put this in the guilty pleasure catergory, because there are a couple things i don't totally love, but like if the others are 10/10, this is 9/10.

young justice 1998. i love this comic so, so much. i don't even know what to say, i get so overwhelmed with joy when i think about this comic. nothing has hit the same way with this group since either, which is a crime. i need a title with this team so badly.

guilty pleasures

these are all runs/events i know some/most? people cannot stand and i totally get why, and i have problems with them, so i'm probably never going to rec them in good conscience but also like i can't lie and say i don't like them. these are not recs, okay? okay.

robin war. is it a hot mess? yes. but there is not a whole lot of canon content out there with all the boys working together, okay? so much of that event had me banging my head into a wall, but for me, there were a handful of pearls in there. i mean honestly, if i listed out pros and cons the cons list would be way longer but those pros are very precious to me.

batman and robin: eternal. very similar reasoning overall to robin war. plus cass finally came back!! i missed her. i love robin!dick and batman content, and the kids working together. this is probably my least favorite guilty pleasure though, okay, it's on thin ice.

grayson. listen, i love janin's art sm. i'm pretty neutral about spy stuff, so like i don't engage with it a whole lot. meaning, although i've heard it's tropey af in regards to the genre, i'm not familiar enough with the genre to be like trying to dig my eyeballs out with blunt spoons at the cliche of it all. the constant sexualization of dick got old super fast, and her name may have been helena but she wasn't- my list of dislikes is lengthy. but idk, i had fun with it. and imo it does have some genuinely great moments, i love dick in the desert with the baby, the ache i felt when dick wanted to come home and couldn't get ahold of bruce, issue #12 stabs me in the heart- the dick and dami reunion? stoppppp. i feel like this run and the ric grayson era are dick's most out there lmao

so yeah!! thank you so much for this ask, i had sm fun answering it. if you have any recs for me, feel free to drop them :)

[bluemooniegif]

Sorry if you have already talked about this but do you think Dazai’s bandages are to cover sh scars or something like that or something else like a traumatic injury. I have always assumed it was sh but my friend pointed out that he has said repeatedly he doesn’t like pain. Idk but thoughts would be appreciated :)

I have definitely talked about this before, but I forgot where or when, so let's go for round two!

CW for Dazai-typical suicide & self harm mentions

The fact that Dazai's bandages are such an obvious part of his character design, yet are rarely discussed, is absolutely intentional. As far as I remember, they're never even mentioned in the anime (except for moments such as when Chuuya calls him a walking waste of bandages), so it makes a lot of sense for everyone to be curious about what lies underneath.

Most people's minds go directly to self-harm scars, because duh, Osamu Dazai is the poster boy for mental illness. But then we think, wait... he doesn't like pain? He bitches and moans about it so much, in fact, that it casts a lot of doubt over the idea, and we end up back at square one.

Could it be because of No Longer Human? So he doesn't accidentally touch someone and activate his ability? This is honestly one of my favourite headcanons ever, and very plausible, considering that we don't actually know all that much about how NLH works... like why is it that Dazai can't control when it activates, for example? Everyone else can activate and subdue theirs, so it's got to have something to do with the fact that NLH is an anti-ability.

ANYWAY. Despite all this, there is actually an explanation of what he's hiding under there! It exists within the first few pages of Dark Era, but wasn't included in the anime adaptation. It's such an offhanded, throwaway thing, I don't blame people for missing it (side note: I wanna take the opportunity to remind you that Dark Era is mostly written from Oda's perspective!)

So yes, this is solid proof that there are scars he's hiding under there, but the question then becomes how he got them. We get a few examples on the following page:

Now, this is so ridiculous it's funny, and teetering on the edge of impracticality. If you've read No Longer Human, you'll immediately recognise this as clowning- Dazai is purposefully acting this way to detract from the seriousness of the situation. While yes, he's talking about serious injuries, and even admits to trying to kill himself, he does it in such a way that you just want to laugh.

So can we take these claims seriously? Is Dazai telling the full truth? There's no way for us to know, at this stage. But here are our options:

He is telling the truth, nothing more or less

He's partially telling the truth: owning up to the injuries, but not exactly how he got them

He's lying about the injuries and how he got them

Honestly, I think we can write off the third option, because the way Oda talks about his scars in the beginning makes me think he's perhaps seen some of them before. This makes sense when we consider The Day I Picked Up Dazai, in particular.

There's also something to be said about the nature of Dazai's job; I think it'd be remis of me not to mention it when Oda does. How much is he actually expected to put himself in harm's way? How much unnecessary danger does he put himself in- how much of this is actually self-harm? We may never know, but it's interesting to think about!

[dididi11]

I dont plan to get back into HH, but here are some things that have triggered me and that ik sure alot of people can agree on:

1. I feel like Charlie's idea of redemption can be seen through alot of perspectives. HOWEVER- what she specifically wants is to redeem EVERY soul. Now there's a reason to why hell exists, it's made for people who have done terrible things in their life, which is why they get banished to Hell in the first place. We may not know when a soul is actually pure enough to get redeemed- BUT we do know what you would have to be to end up in Hell. Murderers, RÆpists, Cannibals, Paedophiles- just all of those in the horrible category most definitely DON'T deserve a second chance. And even if they somehow did get redeemed, how would the victims in Heaven feel? Heaven is the place where they're supposed to feel safe- So how the hell do you expect to put them in the same place together without any conflicts? If you truly want to get the right people into Heaven, then you should background check every single Sinner throughly.

2. Adam- We all love love him and hate him, but there is one person to blame for when it comes to his Character: Vivziepop. I feel like she used the "Annoying Villain who doesn't care about anything that the protagonist has to say and is just downright badly written" trope way to often. He could've had so much potential to be a good written Character that would actually explain to Charlie why sinners just can't be redeemed. It just felt unnecessary to only let him be a douchebag, sing his song (which was banger don't get me wrong-) and shorten their time by 6 months for the next extermination to cause Charlie another COMPLETELY unnecessary problem. And all that for NO reason, "Yeah, but that's because he's a douch-" And that's exactly my point, why waste your time and effort on a basic ahh character if he's going to be a just an ordinary douche anyway? The first Season would've been so much more interesting if we actually had a logical explanation to why others are against of Charlie's idea. But no, instead all we get is "ahahaha, Sinners are stupid. They deserve Hell." Also why the Hell did Adam shorten the time for the extermination by 6 months?? It felt so unnecessary, They probably felt like the first Season would've been boring without any Action- and I'm pretty sure they could've made a different Scene that was also Epic without it not making sense.

2. ADAM AGAIN- I don't want this to be just about Adam, but since he is dead (BY FUCKING NIFFTY I HATE HER) and maybe wont come back- since we don't know if he'll get respawned..what kind of punishment will Lucifer specifically receive? To clarify things, Lucifer had disobeyed the rules of Heaven and Hell, he helped his daughter and her friends kill off half of the exorcists and even threatened them to retreat. And the worst part of all of this is that he would've killed Adam if Charlie hadn't stopped him. Even though Adam was killed by NIFFTY, I'm pretty sure the blame would be put on Lucifer instead of some Sinner. So what will happen if they try to communicate with Heaven again? They literally killed the first human of mankind created by God himself. Honestly at that point it would be a pretty huge deal and Charlie's redemption idea wouldn't even be looked into.

2. Emily and Charlie- I hate how none of the Characters genuinely understand the ACTUAL purpose of the extermination. It's to prevent Hell from gaining to much power, that's why they need to make sure to kill off half of the population. It was never about the redemption of Sinners, so Charlie shouldn't even think about canceling off the extermination. I also get why Emily is mad at Sera for lying to her, but the fact that she immediately joined Charlie's side without even thinking trough the entire thing is just downright dumb.

3. I feel like there's more to talk about, I just don't know what.

[miss-midnightt]

I just watched an absolutely incredible video about Rufus Shinra and why he can see the whispers (Link) and wanted to add on to it. It's quite long, so I'll provide a summary(ish):

Essentially, the creator of the video had three theories as to why Rufus could see them: I want to dive into the last two, which hypothesize he is Cetra or had Jenova cells injected into him (more so about the Cetra).

About the Cetra theory:

Essentially, it states that he is part Cetra because he a) can see the whispers and b) seems to possess some level of precognition, much like Aerith.

Firstly, I'd like to discuss how his mother is only mentioned to have died when he was young; this doesn't necessarily mean that Ifalna is his mother, as she can't be the only pureblooded Cetra alive after two thousand years (unless she's the product of a lot of inbreeding).

He seems to show up at pivotal moments by almost pure coincidence (or so it seems) without having any explanations offered. This sense for important moments and appearance of precognition becomes more interesting when you take a look at the Diamond Weapon's attack on Shinra Tower.

Rufus ended up having his life saved during the Diamond Weapon's attack from the very escape route he had suggested as a child, which just so happened to have the entrance exactly where he was taking shelter. keep in mind that Rufus was only five years old when he made the suggestion; President Shinra had no reason (unless you consider the humiliation aspect) to include this in the plans. However, if the President somehow knew that Rufus was special/Cetra, then the inclusion (his office is 70 floors up, mind you; installing that seems a little silly if only based off of the ramblings of a kindergartener) makes a hell of a lot more sense.

The President has also maintained that he doesn't believe in sentiment or attachment; if he had known Rufus was Cetra, it would have been a legitimate reason to include the escape route. Shinra scientists thought the scribblings of young Aerith were important, so why not the seemingly logical ramblings of a five year old who was also Cetra be just as crucial? Also, Rufus did not only say an escape route should be built, he said why; if an enemy attacked from the top their would be no way to escape...which is exactly where the Diamond Weapon attacked from.

Rufus also seems to have these...gut feelings, let's say. Sounds similar to Aerith, right? How she feels pulls to places, to things, suchlike Rufus. This also ties into the Jenova Cells theory, so let's dive into that...

Jenova Cells:

I'd like to start right off of the bat by saying this is purely speculation. I find this interesting nonetheless. This also will probably jump around and seems a bit more headcanon-y and random than the stuff about the Cetra, considering I am wayyy more interested in the Cetra theory. Anyway, let's dive in!

The theory that Rufus was the first (before even Genesis) to receive Jenova cells is plausible for several reasons. First, I'd like to discuss the year in which he was born. In the OG, his age was stated to be 25, which was changed to 30 in the remake--pretty random and unnecessary, at a glance. But it gets a lot more interesting once you realize that that would mean that Rufus was born in 1977...the year Jenova was discovered at the North Crater.

President Sinra has done some awful stuff, and I honestly don't think he'd be totally above injecting unknown substances into his unborn child (especially if Rufus was actually a bastard child that he decided to use in experiments then keep.) Anyway...

While some may argue that his eyes are blue, not glowy green, the glow and green come from mako, not Jenova. Even if there is a correlation between eye/hair color and Jenova cells, he does have light, bright blue eyes (like Genesis) and silvery blond hair. It could be a design choice, it could mean something more.

Then there are the physical strength aspects. He was able to go toe to toe with Cloud, not even showing visible signs of fatigue. Heck, he even parried a blow from the Buster Sword! While Cloud is not a true SOLDIER, he is strong enough that people think so anyway when he tells him that, and also beat Reno, Rude, and other powerful enemies. Meanwhile, Rufus soloed Cloud (with the help of Darkstar/Dark Nation) and didn't seem to be seriously injured.

Furthermore, when Rufus is infected with Geostigma in On the way to a Smile, he says something along the lines of "it felt like it [the Geostigma] was calling to me..." Now, this sounds suspiciously like the pull receivers of J cells feel to Jenova (which could help explain Rufus' presence at the Northern Crater).

I'd really recommend watching at least some of the video, as it explains things way better than I did (it's very long though, so be warned).

Lastly, I'd like to discuss something not touched upon in the video: his coins, more specifically the side of the coin with Darkstar/Dark Nation on it. This coin depicts Darkstar/Dark Nation and flowers, specifically mandragora/mandrake flowers. Why is this important? There are several reasons.

These flowers have been involved in stories and superstitions about magical powers and other tales of the like. It was said in some tales that they could only be harvested in moonlight by a black dog attached to a cord (Darkstar/Dark Nation, anyone? She does appear on that side of the coin, hmm....) after proper rituals had been conducted. Some tales said that they were tied to dark powers, that, get this, drove men mad if they heard their roots shriek. The roots are also highly poisonous.

Now, I'd like to look at color theory and the symbolism of colors in FFVII. In this game, the color yellow seems to symbolize life, hope, and rebirth, whereas purple seems to symbolize desolation, corruption, and death. Yellow is associated with Aerith through her flowers, and purple with Sephiroth for his shadowy magic. They are also contrasting colors; two sides of the same coin (pun absolutely intended). How does this connect to the coins and flowers, you ask? Well, the mandragora/mandrake flowers have a color range of...purple to yellow. Interesting, because Rufus is easily one of the most morally grey characters in the game.

Again, all of this is wild ramblings and pure speculation, so take it with a grain of salt.

[cdroloisms]

yeah hi me again with another question SO if cpunz knew the contents of the revive book the whole time cdream was in the prison, why was cdream so terrified of being killed while imprisoned? couldnt cpunz just revive him?

good question :D

i mean, dying is still kind of catastrophic, tbh -- being revived makes it really obvious that c!Dream isn't the only one with the book, which could destroy all the effort they put into staged finale (which is exactly what happened in the genuine finale, as the reveal of c!Punz and the book is what jeopardizes both his and c!Dream's lives with the nuke plan), for one. the terror of dying is something that's necessary to emphasize that He Is The Book You Need To Keep Him Alive, which is what's expected from a scenario where he's the only one with the book which is what everyone else thinks is the truth ... so there's no good reason for him not to act terrified, ykwim? Additionally, revivals are obviously causing problems (though it's unclear if he and punz knew about this by the time the prison began -- I'm inclined to say yes, but it's not hard confirmed in canon afaik) and keeping unnecessary ones to a minimum is a good play, regardless. plus, there's a lot of fucked up things you can do to someone when you can kill and revive them, and the necessity of not killing dream was very much what was protecting him in canon from shit like quackity, bc of sam's commitment to keeping him alive, etc. keeping people from ever knowing that that's a possibility protects him from Those Horrors (which have been explored already by quite a few people in quite a few AUs, at this point, LOL) -- not dying is for sure the safest choice for him, and the consequences of being killed range from "pretty bad" to "outright horrific" for c!dream no matter how you cut it -- plenty of reason to be afraid besides just death, imo.

for a much more hypothetical side of this answer, c!dream's dying to tommy and tubbo in the genuine finale really kicks off a lot -- which ends up leading to the Incident, not that it's super clear what specifically happened to trigger it (considering the planned fight against XD, the egg hatching, and the nuke literally all happened at the same time.) it's still unclear what c!Dream's specific connection to the supernatural, especially XD, is in particular, so it's hard to make any definitive judgements -- and it doesn't seem likely for c!Dream's death to be Specifically meaningful considering how many times he possibly died in death/revival experiments with c!Punz (which we. obviously still don't have a specific number, but c!Dream does say that he's been to Limbo more than once very intentionally and c!Schlatt makes a point of saying that he saw c!Dream, not Mexican Dream, in Limbo with his book of moon runes a few times as far back as march 16th) -- but that being said, could c!Dream's death be part of the Event Hullabaloo that might've played some kind of role in the everything that has to do with the server reset? I mean, possibly? He's always been someone related to the supernatural stuff on this server, so it's hard to say for sure. This latter point isn't definitive in the slightest and I think "because being terrified of death still makes sense/was the smart act to play into" is more than enough explanation for why he was acting so terrified, but it's an interesting thought experiment, I guess.

[astrojulia]

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Born to lead: Aries assume leadership roles not out of ego, but due to their natural gift. They guide people on a common path and easily take the leadership role when they see that no one is playing that role.

Calm in danger: To witness a calm Aries, put them in a situation of stress and danger. In those times, they put their attention and intelligence to work and don't just stay in action. Ruled by Mars, war is their true field and not the same thing as everyday life.

Refined sense of humor: Aries raise the energy of the place and do so through jokes as well. Their sense of humor can also be different, accepting jokes about their appearance and manner when made by people closest to them.

They have a unique style: Aries like to show themselves through their appearance, so they also look for something in which they can stand out. Whether it's using a more hardcore haircut or wearing a piece of clothing in a dark green tone, it doesn't matter - it needs to be recognized as their own brand.

Rebels by nature: Don't try to tell Aries what to do, as they will find an argument to do it their own way. If you're not Aries and you're reading this, learn to "eat around the edges" - speak indirectly and softly so they'll change their minds. Because if you're going to face them head-on, you're lost.

Honest to the extreme: Aries hate lies, and that's why they always seek to confront the issue head-on. They speak the truth promptly instead of prolonging unnecessary deception - it's one of their mottos.

Loyal: You've probably heard that fire and air signs aren't loyal at all, but that's a lie. Aries want to have strong bonds with their loved ones and try to be always present in their lives. When something goes wrong, they try to fix it, but when it's over, it's over.

Opinionated: Aries strive to be heard in situations they witness, refusing to be passive when action is necessary.

Sweet dreams or a beautiful nightmare: Aries tend to be very sweet and polite, yes, they know how to socialize and are not rage animals, but their moods can change quickly when they feel hurt.

Competitive: It's not surprising that Aries are competitive, but it's important to remember. Aries can change their environment, even if it's something comfortable, if it doesn't ignite their competitive spirit.

Sensitive heart: Aries are very emotional when it comes to matters of the heart. They become sensitive in their relationships, giving their all to form intimate bonds with people. That's why, after a breakup, they take time before getting involved again.

Dislike of waiting: Okay, was that a secret for anyone? Now, jokes aside. Aries don't like to wait, especially when there's no explanation for the delay. More than 15 minutes, and they're gone.

Engaged in various activities: If the whole world had complementary activities in schools, then I could say that all Aries do them. But since that's not the case, Aries seek out different activities in their routine. Similar to Geminis, Aries enjoy having more than one thing to do and find it dreadful to just go home and go to work.

Dislike of routine: Aries don't like routine at all, neither in life nor in love. They need something new and something to do. Every now and then, let your Aries friend create a spontaneous itinerary.

Authenticity in expressing feelings: Just as they dislike lies, Aries never lie about anything, including their feelings. If they don't like something or someone, they make it clear. They may try to disguise their emotions, but if you get close, they'll drop the façade.

Quick learners: Being passionate doesn't mean being unintelligent. Aries rule their heads and have active minds, just like other air signs. However, Aries use their mental capacity to assimilate information quickly. They often excel in specific types of intelligence that align with their interests, such as mathematical or kinesthetic intelligence.

Distorted self-perception: Aries tend to have a skewed view of themselves, particularly regarding their bodies and appearance. Sometimes they exaggerate their flaws, while other times they underestimate their true qualities.

Guardians of secrets: When someone confides in an Aries, they keep that person's secrets confidential. Their commitment to truth and trust prevents them from gossiping or sharing private information. They believe that "some things are best left unknown."

Difficulty opening up: Especially in matters of love and intimacy, Aries find it challenging to open up unless they feel a deep sense of trust. This goes against the popular belief that Aries are more relaxed in these areas.

(CC) AstroJulia Some Rights Reserved

[emelinstriker]

Anyone who calls this AU a 'slave' AU...

Then theres me who looks at this AU and just sees an excuse to hug and spoil favorite characters. (Not teying to start hate I just want to express to new viewers all I see are people taking this AU and creating fluff. The LMK already has angst filled (potential) characters and this AU, while also dark and angst filled, has characters that has the Reader who has potential to be comedy "what is going on!?!???" And "these are my pwecious babehs. Must hug and cherish" .... Brain is entering not making sense at near 11 pm....

EXACTLY-

The AU is supposed to have some dark content, I even mentioned that in my masterlist, but that's literally not even the point of the AU. It just adds more of a mystery to the environment for those enjoying the AU, who like to look for hidden lore crumbs, piece them together and figure out the story.

It's like a murder mystery. Just because people enjoy listening to/watching those does not mean they're into becoming killers. Especially if it's fictional, made up stories to let viewers engange with the situation themselves and solve it.

Meanwhile the way I've seen people interact with the champions in my inbox always ends up being more wholesome or funny. Because at its core, the AU is just there so people can have fun interacting with the characters.

And I'll keep saying it over and over if I have to.

Humans are different.

Opinions and preferences are different.

Literally no one is getting harmed in real life if I sprinkle in some hints to darker lore. Some people just like angst and dark things more than others, and that's fine. It's just generally more interesting for them.

But even then, those that prefer more of a fluffy, comedic, or even horny interaction with the cast have the option to do so. The AU is built like a one-shot. You can have one story or the other and don't need to look at the other parts. They can all be read on their own.

If someone doesn't like the AU or isn't interested, that's absolutely fine and I respect that.

However, what I can't respect is people talking shit behind my back like a group of children, publicly spreading hate and misinterpret messages. Again, I've already said my viewpoint on things. Whether people agree or disagree on my standpoint, I don't care anymore at this point.

Just as much as the brickwall I'm talking about isn't accepting the fact that not everyone shares the same opinion on how old a character is supposed to be. Especially in a fictional AU setting. When I say ESAU!Nezha is an adult, then in this very AU, as the creator of said AU, I can legally say he is an adult in this AU. End of story. If one says he's a kid in the source story, that's fine. If one says he's an adult in a made-up fictional Lego story, that's fine.

I'm literally just calmly explaining my own points and they start accusing me of more shit by taking my explanations and taking things out of context in a mob mentality, again. They even still for some reason believe Bean MK is canon and was "born and branded into slavery" when that was clearly just a wholesome way to do a crossover between me and @theweepingegg. Like, MK is an adult in this just like the others. I literally did an entire summary just some days ago, with art of him being normal-sized and not chibi-fied, about how MK joined the group. But of course they still say people are supposed to do their research, when they've clearly not done their own research on Bean MK if that's the only version to them that exists.

The fact that they already openly "exposed" my blog and all that to their followers too, without even trying to be vague at all anymore, is also starting to enter borderline harassment. Like that's literally just encouraging people to spread more unnecessary hate over literal opinions and assumptions.

Ironic, considering that blog's own controversial history.

From the unnecessary harassment of a Wattpad user over a few quotes/pick-up lines they allegedly "plagiarized" till their account deletion, to the unnecessary harassment of others for saying Nezha isn't a kid. There is literally a blog mentioning this allegation. Plus the Wattpad user could've been handled maturely like an actual adult, like y'know, talking to the author instead of being petty about it to your followers. Which is still very much something that apparently never changed about them. And after having witnessed them talk smack and lie openly about my own content on a blog of a game they're supposed to represent, I now fully believe all those harassment stories.

And despite all this, I'm still not even openly talking shit about them. Because I'm not a kid talking shit about another creator.

At this point I'm literally just about to ignore all that "drama" since I've already realized the topic hit a brickwall. Like, they're not gonna leave this very much unnecessary shit alone based on how they're still talking about it. But my care has already dwindled, knowing they're still acting like children trying to find something, literally anything, against me to rant about. I already stated my case multiple times and how the AU works. If one still takes the logical things I'm explaining out of context, then they can just keep that opinion to themselves. The "drama" literally hit the moment where all's just opinions and biases.

Now watch as either she or one of her followers will take screenshots of this post and take it all out of context as well. Because they will try to find any single piece of dirt on me to rant about.

And after some discussing about why the fuck this entire thing is even happening with some friends, and why the blog never actually notified me about shit personally, I will simply no longer respond to any allegations. I've already stated my side on the the mentioned allegations and no longer see the need in having to speak anymore. I'll just go back to doing my own thing, and you can go back to doing your own thing.

[bcbdrums]

Soul Eater NOT - part 7 (MAJOR SPOILERS)

Akane and Clay. Much opinion here amid canon explanation.

These are characters with massive potential that don't make sense ultimately in execution, and undermine other characters in Soul Eater.

I'll start with saying, I adore Clay and everything about him. A goofball. A loyal and competent weapon. Clever, creative, ridiculous, and fun. He feels extremely Soul Eater and is very likeable. I've truly no complaints about him as he's written. Akane, however...

Akane randomly reveals to Tsugumi (someone he has no reason to trust or tell) that he's a member of the Star Clan (the side of them that aren't assassins and run a legitimate dojo apparently) and then...literally nothing at all is done later with this information.

It directly contradicts that Black Star states he is the last of his clan, full stop. The last of the infamous, ruthless assassins. And everything that Black Star is, overcomes, becomes in the end... Becoming his own person apart from his heritage... AUGH.

This fact about Akane was tossed in to grab reader attention and try to make us care about him, and in my opinion it deeply undermines the power of Black Star's journey. I won't go into Black Star anymore here because that deserves its own post (if anyone would like that, let me know) but yeah...

Akane also flirts creepily with Tsugumi and says he's just joking, but it comes up more than once. This comes across as out of character and yeah, creepy. So if the author's goal after trying to make him likeable and relatable and interesting (just by making him Star Clan) was to create a creep, well, he succeeded. This flirting honestly feels self-inserty or...trying to establish something hetero in a story that is otherwise girls girls girls.

Also, Akane has powerful soul perception as a meister (okay makes sense I suppose) but he can also use a soul force/menace attack... Which again, I think is undermining something about Black Star and Stein that make them special and unique in their stories. Maybe Star Clan can all have soul force/menace? But again...that is undermining the special-ness of it for Black Star and Stein.

Akane is overpowered, plain and simple. I feel like there's a specific fandom term for this type of character, but I forget what it is.

And here again... Akane and Clay are drawn as adults but just said to be EAT students...who are working with the academy's internal CIA??? I'm sorry.... They would not have students doing that. This again undermines things in Soul Eater canon, where they bring in the special agent BJ from Oceania for example and make a huge deal out of that... Yes Akane and Clay were undercover, but they should have had them be entirely undercover and not just higher-grade students. It's illogical. And they come across as adults, so it's just more weirdness.

Again, I adore Clay. And if Akane hadn't had unnecessary Star Clan association and the advanced soul abilities that diminish Black Star and Stein... He could have had potential too. In the end he comes across as flat and kinda just nothing.

Oh yeah by the way these guys are the secret bodyguards for the princess all along assigned by her family. Which...how?? They got contacted at the academy as students and contracted by her family?? None of this is explained. It just makes them more confusing as characters and doesn't help the story at all except to explain why they're always hanging around these glrls. This is where it should have been that they were posing as students...but they're just EAT students.... AUGH.

Oh yeah and Akane's full name? Akane Hoshi. "Red Star." I really can't with this...

[sir-phineas-lost]

MAWS S2 finale

The good:

The final fight

Showing Clark's dedication to non-violence. That sequence of him very calmly assessing the situation and doing really cool super-feats just to pull Kara into a hug is fantastic.

Staying true to keeping Lois and Jimmy involved

Finally bringing in the Sun-powered thing

Leaning into Clark and Kara bonding as kryptonians. This show is very good at developing releationships and showing why different character work together. Even if they never do the reconnecting with his heritage-bit having someone in his life that he can be fully himself with, including not worrying about breaking them because he didn't keep himself in perfect check, is interesting.

Speaking of different characters working together, I really do like how Clark and Lois resolve all their relationship issues. I love how pragmatic Clark is about the fact that he can fly to Gotham in a microsecond to be with Lois if need be and Lois still turns down Vicki Vale not only to stay with her friends and boyfriend but for her own reasons.

The Bad:

Brainiac just, doesn't work for me. At all. His design is really boring (when he isn't possessing Clark) and his personality is all over the place in a way that just doesn't make any sense. He is a complete drama-queen which doesn't mesh at all with his "I am following my prime directive of restoring the Kryptonian empire" schtick and his few bits of nuance (like his supposed fatherly feelings for Kara) go nowhere.

I really hate the revelation that he blew up Krypton. For a myriad of reasons, including several plot-holes.

It's unnecessary. There is already plenty of reason to fight Brainiac and it robs whatever this other civilization is of the responsibility for destroying Krypton. I know the general position on Krypton being destroyed has been "meh" so far but facing off against the people who annihilated their birthplace would at least be a somewhat interesting development for Clark and Kara in the future. Facing off against the people who fought a war but were about to announce a ceasefire, not so much.

If Krypton blew up because of Brainiac, why did Jor-El say it was because the empire finally picked a fight it couldn't win? Brainiac explicitly states that Jor-El knew what he was about to do so why would he program his holo-self to share false information?

If Krypton was on the verge of a ceasefire then why the fuck were those warrior-guys on Zero Day all geared up to fight and conquer Earth? It couldn't be Brainiac because he wouldn't have interupted his own invasion by blowing up the planet.

They somehow made Livewire's armor even more bulky and ugly. That is such an impressive feat I almost want to put it in the "good" list.

Speaking of which, all the villains from last season showing up to help should feel like a really cool and rewarding moment, except it isn't. Since there is absolutely no work done to develop them as characters it means nothing. Especially when they try to have playful banter about being friends now.

I know I keep harping on this, but all of the supervillains have really boring and ugly costumes and it is really noticeable when they are all in a shot together. Why are they all beige? Don't any of them have enough individual personality to at least accessorize?

Oh, and it turns out another downside to giving everyone the same "Kryptonian tech" explanation for their powers is that they all get the same weakness. Because why would we want our characters to be different from one another?

Sam Lane coming back to help goes nowhere. Him leaving again was a big deal for Lois but she doesn't interact with him at all. This wouldn't bother me so much (it could make for a good subplot in S3) if he wasn't right there at the celebratory BBQ chatting it up like he isn't a compulsive hardass and loner.

I sound more negative than I really am though. The good parts of MAWS are really good and they carry the show just fine. I just wish it was better than "just fine".

[passthroughtime]

sorry @kamuro-junrenka i just giggled from the realisation

then his next words

are SO hypocritical it's unreal

sorry i just love the idea of yagami trying to talk sense to kuwana when it is KUWANA who sees things more clearly. (no kuwana apologism here, he was stupid with revenge killing and he knows that this is who he had to become though he doesn't like it. but HOW and WHO are you teaching this lesson to if your victims just disappear without any reason/explanation/message to the world... lmao.) gonna munch on this thought a little more, i think that is a good point of view and i can elaborate a little later (i have one post that i've been cooking in march, but at that time i decided to finish the game first and write it... and after finishing LJ i've been grieving my loss of judgment... haha see what i did there.)

actually the boat scene is insane in the way that we see live how yagami's convictions tear at the seams, and i WILL be insane about it, yet again, later. ok, whatever, not the point though right now. for me, LJ is about telling yagami (and, consequently, us) that good/bad is not the only possible options and they are even not mutually exclusive.

yagami needed that lesson (hehe) after JE because that was as clear cut case as it might've been. there were bad people and there were good, he's mistaken okubo putting him under the "bad" category but he did nothing wrong and is good in the end, but there is nothing deeper than that. (and that is why i believe that LJ is more thematically rich... while not being that much of a murder mystery that is JE. i love them both for what they have and what they lack though, it's interesting to compare them with each other.)

tbh i think that yagami's past and upbringing is a little downplayed, meaning the only thing that is questionable is the mention that yagami does help the matsugane family with uhhh the crime chores let's say (i don't remember if as a lawyer or as a detective, but i do remember that this was the case). but it mentioned only in passing, and helping to defend hamura in court is not that big of a deal if we see that yagami isn't happy with the outcome though the ruling was justified, yeah?

and though his ties to yakuza are left rather unexplored (considering half of his friends are criminals of some kind LMAO yeah sugiura this includes you too) and doubtly this will be the theme that will ever be brought up again, it is important to remember that yagami as a person is a product of two different worlds. the "bad" and the "good".

the beef i have with the "good yagami" take is not whether he is a good person, but more like, with the notion of him not seeing the nuances of the situation like ever? which makes him so good and right about everything, that he does everything according to law and etc... while i picture him as "let's do it baby i know the law" kind of person.

there IS a moment where he's a little bit stubborn about his convictions, but that's because *gestures* kuwana (AND I WILL WRITE ABOUT IT MORE... SOMEDAY... SURELY...), but not to the extent some people believe him to be (i remember a meme where "kuwana explains his pov (an explanation so long it's unreadable)" vs "yagami explains his pov (which only says "murder bad"). yeah it pissed me off pretty bad.)

so... yeah. i firmly believe that LJ is not about a good/bad dichotomy, though this type of story is expected with the starting factors we get. in the end, even the protagonist left kind of saddled with unnecessary feelings troubled about his convictions that in theory are simple, yet in practice contradict each other.

[inkblackorchid]

Sigh.

Screw it, I have to talk about it. Watching episodes 56 and 57, but especially the latter, hurts my heart every time I do it. Yusei has had some emotional moments up until this point, but I would, without the shadow of a doubt, claim that this is definitely his most emotional moment in the entire show. And the thing is, it's so unnecessary, and not in the "this is a poor writing decision"-kind of way. Quite the opposite. Allow me to elaborate under the readmore because I have a feeling this post is going to get long.

A question I had for a long while before I really started bothering to analyse the show, especially for fic writing, was when and how Yusei found out that his parents were leading developers in the Moment reactor that ended up causing Satellite's separation, killed presumably hundreds of people, and caused a lot of the misery in his own life, too. The thing is, the show never gives a definitive answer to that. Only context clues. We can infer from Yusei's reaction the first time Goodwin mentions his father and the Moment research before the signers depart for Satellite that this circumstance isn't news to him. Furthermore, we can infer from Crow's reaction to the impassioned speech Yusei gives in episode 57 that he must have known about his parents' identities for a while.

Personally, I take this to mean that Yusei has known about his parents' involvement in the Moment research for several years at this point—in fact, I'd go as far as saying that he's known about it since his childhood, and there's a reason why I think that: To a child, the line of thinking "my dad developed this giant machine that ended up blowing up and killing a lot of people, even many of my friends' parents" makes complete sense. (Even taking into account the cover-up the city did, pretending the whole explosion was a tectonic shift—because you can't convince me even for one second that the people in Satellite who lived close enough to the reactor didn't see that the Moment explosion happened first.) And I really feel the need to stress that this explanation is something I think especially a child could have come up with. Because with all the context the show gives us about the Zero Reverse incident, it's easy to see that there were a lot more factors involved there than just "man built bad machine, bad machine exploded". In fact, this drives me up a wall so badly I need to dig into it for a second.

With all the exposition Roman/Rudger gives us in this duel, we learn several things about the late Professor Fudo. Chiefly among them, three things: He was extremely smart, he had a project with the potential to change the future on his hands, and most of all, he was extremely passionate about that project, to the point of Roman/Rudger making this comparison:

The reason I'm mentioning that is because despite all the above-mentioned factors, Professor Fudo was 100%, completely ready to shut down his entire project when he realised it could become dangerous for the city and its people. And as someone who's worked with people engrossed in their own research projects, albeit in a completely different field, let me just say this: Giving up a project of this scale is not a decision you make lightly. Scientific research, as intriguing as it sounds and looks from the outside, can be an absolutely draining affair of trying to get funding for an idea, and fighting to keep that funding later down the line, sometimes even forcing you to pay for things with your own money for a while just to keep the project alive. At a point like the one Yusei's dad was at here, this project would have already had exorbitant amounts of money put towards it, not to speak of countless hours of labour from qualified professionals. This would have been a humongous undertaking, not to speak of the fact that it was likely to be the thing that could have defined the Professor's entire career (even though I don't think that's why he was so invested in it). So I'm going to say it again, because this drives me nuts: Deciding to not simply change the direction of a project like this, to not simply try a different approach, but to instead step away, install containment seals and shut the thing down entirely, taking the whole damned idea back to the drawing board, is. not. a decision any self-respecting researcher would have made lightly. And that's without talking about the sponsors' reactions to the Professor deciding to shut the project down.

The Professor may not have been willing to risk the city populace's lives for this project, but the sponsors certainly were. And so was Roman/Rudger, because by that point, he'd already been tempted by the darkness to give in to his worst impulses. It's honestly tragic because with all the facts laid out like that—everything from the project going out of control due to factors Yusei's father couldn't control, to him deciding to shut down what would have been the project of a lifetime, to Iliaster using their shadowy machinations to tempt Roman/Rudger, to him replacing the Professor as head of the project at the sponsors' behest because they wanted a return on what money they invested into it, all the way up to Roman/Rudger purposefully blowing up the reactor in order to be reborn as a dark signer—I, for my part, couldn't find it in me to blame Yusei's dad for everything that happened. Sure, he's somewhere at the start of the causal chain that lead to the Zero Reverse, but saying it was his fault is vastly oversimplifying the whole dilemma, in my opinion. Unfortunately, we all know that there's one person who can't find it in himself to forgive Professor Fudo for being part of the chain of events that led to the Zero Reverse.

And you know what makes this extra painful? Not only is Yusei blaming his dad, who was trying his damndest to prevent this catastrophe, for what happened, he goes as far as blaming himself for it, too, on behalf of being the late Professor's son. What drives me absolutely insane about this is that there's no need for him to. Even if the Professor had, somehow, been directly responsible for the Zero Reverse, that would still not make Yusei, his son, in any way culpable. None of what happened was even remotely Yusei's fault, and he couldn't have done anything to prevent it, either. He was an infant. This is what I meant by it being unnecessary above—Yusei is carrying this insane amount of guilt around, even though there's no reason for him to. Though I don't think he could be convinced of it, come hell or high water, Yusei is blameless when it comes to the Zero Reverse. What kills me is that Crow even tells him as much:

But. BUT. There's one more thing I absolutely need to stress: While seeing Yusei shoulder all this blame for a thing he's not responsible for and that I don't consider his father responsible for, either, is painful to watch, my frustration with it does not come from the fact that I consider it sloppy writing, or a character inconsistency, or any other such thing. In fact, I think it's the opposite. Granted, this is obviously built on my headcanon that Yusei has known who his parents were since he was a child, and thus came up with his rather simplistic, causal explanation of "my father invented a thing that caused a horrible catastrophe" without looking at (or even being able to look at, considering how hush-hush the public maintenance department and M.I.D.S. apparently kept the Zero Reverse thing) all the additional factors surrounding the Zero Reverse. And that this simplistic, condemning view of his father and his past had several years to fester, at that. But assuming for a second that this guess of mine is correct, I think the writing around Yusei's guilt complex is actually spot-on. Being confronted with this as a child, he would jump to the conclusion that his father was the reason the catastrophe that changed the lives of everyone he cares about for the worse happened. He would think that as that man's son, he has a responsibility to make up for his father's devastating mistake. And he would willingly put on blinkers, never stopping to consider whether there could have been other factors that contributed to causing the catastrophe, and never stopping to consider whether the friends he's so dedicated to compensating for the losses his father caused them even actually think that he's to blame.

It's like. My frustration with this aspect of Yusei's character is endless. I want to shake him and tell him to stop being so stupid and taking the blame for this insane thing. But at the same time? That's good character writing. That makes perfect sense. And my frustration is earned because I can't help but feel that this is exactly what Yusei's complex is supposed to evoke. So yeah. I love this writing choice, and I want to throw something against the wall every time Yusei gives this speech.

[cbsghostsmetasandtrevor]

Just watched the episode before tonight's baseball game.

Pete's power makes sense.

What's the point of Carol being a ghost if now she's mentioned but off screen every week?

Black Friday ghosts. I love it. 🤣🤣 And how many of them were killed by STORE ASSOCIATES? 🤨

Carol died recently but the family is going on vacation?

I'm sure Issac and Nigel can have a honeymoon in a vacant room why in Sam and Jay's room? Especially without asking.

So Flower finally got her threesome.

An ok episode. Maybe I'll like it more on second viewing.

I really like Pete's power. He's travel agent that never traveled, so I like his ability and I do like the explanation that he never knew because he heard the older ghosts say that he couldn't so he never tried. -> it makes sense with his character and I like it.

I like Carol becoming a secondary character around for things but not needed to be seen every episode. She can show up it Pete-centric episodes and contribute to his character arc without being in your face all the time - Like Nancy, Steph, Nigel, Jenkins. I want the focus to stay on the main ghosts, so this works as a method to keep her around but not detract from the mains.

I KNOW RIGHT? I was like "that's alot of ghosts" -OMG. That puts that 5% theory in question though because there's a TON of them.

Actually, timeline-wise based on certain indicators and time stamps, we can conclude that it's been over six months. She died on Halloween, we've had winter, and Flower supposedly fell down the well when Ralph got sucked off (Guess we have to ignore the episodes of a week or two after WHC). That night happened to be on Steph's ONE DAY awake per year, therefore, it's been about a year since Steph LAST woke up (which seems to be late April/early May). Therefore, about six months from October to April.

But damn, that means Flower was gone for A YEAR in a well because Thor didn't check the well.

Right? Like seriously? Why would they need Sam/Jay's room and do it while they're going away for the weekend just so they can hide it??? It's like... really? Plus no privacy from the other ghosts.

LOL Flower wins this episode for sure!

I think alot of the reason I like the episodes this season is going in completely unspoiled, so I have no expectations. I like the ghosts' back and forth this episode.

Still annoyed that Trevor - loyal to his bros - would ever suggest lying when it's unnecessary, rather than Alberta 'I was sleeping with him, but she didn't know that, so in a way, I wasn't' had the opposite position of 'don't lie'. It doesn't make sense and it bothers me.

Otherwise, He was cute :) AND he gave him the idea to go see his family :)