#most of his character development has happened elsewhere

[triforce-of-mischief]

Hey! Would love to let you know that Red in Overcome partially inspired “Red’s Guide to Transformative Self-Love”!

aaaa that's awesome! he's so happy that he gets to help people! thank you! 💜❤️

[fenharel-is-so-swell]

I’m very sleepy so there are probably mistakes and redundancies galore below buuuuut read on for a rant about how weirdly Trick Weekes treats Qunari characters/culture.

I said this in a comment elsewhere buuuut I just realized that Trick Weekes does something VERY odd with the Qunari they write. As a black woman it does not sit right with me.

The Qunari, racially, are the group most evocative of people of color in western society Irl. They are treated as savages, visually very different (scary by Thedas’ standards), often hypersexualized, and generally perceived as hyper aggressive.

With that in mind I’d like to dig into Taash and Iron Bull a bit.

Iron Bull and Taash have narratively similar character arcs — raised under the teachings of the Qun, enter an identity crisis, do they conform or deconstruct?

Iron Bull is a Ben Hasserath that is surprisingly cooperative and ‘worldly’, compared to all other Qunari we’ve interacted with in games past. He’s got a lovely little band of misfits, is well spoken, and generally open minded/kind. As we get to know him we come to discover that all his charming qualities are exactly what make him ill suited for Qunari society—everything GOOD about him is other. UNLESS you enter a romance with him, in which case the ‘fun’ hold overs from a sex-as-a-biological-imperative society are BDSM. So, compared to the other available romances he’s quite lewd. His character development stalls a bit if you romance him UNTIL you get to the Bulls Chargers portion of his mission where it is either—sacrifice everyone and remain with the culture and world you truly do care about, or do the ‘right thing’ and cast off everything you know to save your found family. The narrative treats the latter as the ‘right choice’ in Trespasser when a non-Tal Vashoth Bull turns on the inquisitor regardless of relationship. Affirming to the player that all those who follow the Qun are mindless dogmatic murderers without real empathy or attachments. (Obviously there is more along the way with guilt and loss of identity, but I’m painting the broad strokes)

In a vacuum, this feels…fine. It could just be a story about a guy in a culture. A tale of deconstruction. It feels uncomfortable considering the cultural allegories that are easy to make with the Qun—it feels non western religiously. An amalgamation of maligned cultures BUT it’s easy to feel like maybe we’re reading too deeply.

Then enters Taash and the Qunari we see in Veilguard.

I have not seen what happens with Taash and their choice to “be more Rivaini or more Qunari” (I’m a biracial black woman and that makes my skin fucking crawl) but the implication is damning when looking at it next to Iron Bull’s story. (I’m also still playing VG so take this with a grain of salt. Taash has also been the most overtly sexual character the earliest in the game, I haven’t gotten more than a hint from any other character (save for Davrin, but it was a subtle flirt) but Taash? They’ve sniffed my neck, growled, and asked if I wanted to fuck them. So, once again, hypersexualizing the Qunari companion.

The Qunari in Veilguard are beyond flattened and instead split into two groups—the civilized, understanding, assimilated Qunari & the near mindless, violent, occupying, murdering defected Antaam.

The Qunari NPCs I’ve over heard in game have all been quick to yell “I’m just Antivan!” Or “I’m not Antaam” or the below grossssssssss dialogue (paraphrased from a convo I head at the LOF base)

“So, you’re Qunari”

“No, I don’t follow the Qun.”

“But you have the horns”

“I was born in X city. Qunari means ‘people under the Qun’ and I wasn’t raised with that”

“Oh then, if you’re not Qunari what do I call you?”

“How about X name”

…IM SORRY WHAT?!?!?! This gives entirely “I don’t see color” and is INSANE to put in a game in 2024. We are familiar with Tal Vashoth, we’ve been able to play as Tal Vashoth Qunari (racially) characters in two games. Hell, we have a similar allegory for it in real life with Jewish folks!! There is a distinct difference between being ethnically Jewish (I.e ashkenazi, etc pls correct my terminology) and religiously Jewish but erasing either is fucking gross????

Just like yeah, I’m [my name] but I’m also visibly fucking black and pretending I’m not does nothing but provide more room for the marginalization I experience to go completely unchecked because “I’m just [name]”

The handling is especially upsetting because I was REALLY hoping we’d get a slice of normal life in this game in a perfectly average Qunari settlement/encampment or something so we could see some of this culture outside of their violent defectors and “one of the good ones” Tal Vashoth.

[the-time-travelers-admirer]

So, I'm not pro FivexLila and I don't ship any of them. But, from what I have seen spoiler wise, I feel it kinda shows what I've been saying about him all along. That Five craves and starves for love and intimacy and touch. To be loved, to love, to be seen, to be understood, to have an intimate bond with someone who gets him. To be with someone who brings out the soft lovely sappy old man he has inside of him.

I could see it in his eyes and expressions through all the gifs, screenshots, and clips. It's as plain as day. I do believe that like Dolores and Five's marriage, this love was caused by years of proximity and familiarity. I know Dolores was a mannequin, but when she was all Five had because he was the last man standing in the entire world, he projected his wants and feelings and desires onto her and developed true romantic feelings for her and she became his wife. And with how he treated and felt about Dolores, Five actually gives loving male wife vibes. He took care of her, was tender and loving with her, spoiled her, and was so gentle with her. I have a whole post about that on it's own somewhere.

I feel the same thing happened with him and Lila. They only had each other, were only stuck with each other, they had many shared traumas given the handler and the commission, they were familiar to each other, she knew him and he knew her, she knew of his actually old but young looking confliction but never really treated him as his looks, they did have a sort of chemistry, and were all alone with each other because the rest of their family were elsewhere.

So, to me, for Five it seems natural he caught feelings for Lila given the situation. Him feeling love and being loved looked good on him and I've always craved seeing him happy and with someone who got him and saw him and treated him well, but this is definitely wrong person wrong time.

And I feel that he has truly longed for a connection like that, but once they returned, his world was entirely flipped upside down and crashed and burned. And I can see he didn't want easily to let go of what he finally had and experienced, so he kind of snapped and didn't care that his brother's feelings were hurt because he most likely had that "Finally" feeling with Lila. He became out of character because he seemed to fall in love and then lost it all in the blink of an eye. So, he became bitter, jealous, vindictive, immature, mean, and essentially acted out. Which is actually common for many people once they catch feelings and it gets yanked away/ends abruptly for whatever ever reason.

I don't think he entirely didn't care that Lila was his brother's wife, I feel he just buried that fact and tried to not think about it because he finally felt the happy he wasn't look for and wanted to hold onto it with white knuckled iron fists.

With Lila, he looked soft, tender, content, in love, genuinely happy, and like his heart was on his sleeve. You can tell just by how he looked at her. It was truly written deep in his eyes. He deserved all that I have seen, as I've wanted it so bad for him for so many years, to be loved by someone who really saw him, but definitely wrong person wrong time by all accounts.

I'm happy to finally see the Five I've written for and about to actually exist and finally rise to the screen from within him, but him and Lila was not the way I wanted that to happen. Doesn't feel right.

[thecardmasterblog]

TCM here!

Spoiler for Animator vs animation 11 warning.

..

Even though I'm not exactly active on the fandom, i still come back to finally give my opinion about the new episode title victim

1. It was animated beautifully, i meant in a fundamental sense. Alan showed victim character too well as he technically should. Victim and mitsi relationship was a wholesome yet tragic that add to victim character development

2. You can revive a stick figure Just by naming it the same. At first it does seem off why victim wanted to get rid off alan so bad with the main reason of killing him. But after the episode it was revealed that, it wasn't a one time thing- no it has been going for months. And each time Alan Just kill and revive him over until he finally got out from his laptop and get to the internet.

So technically, the dark lord could be revived if Alan decided to just named another stick. Figure "the dark lord" but as for mitsi. I think Alan can't exactly revive her because she was created by someone else's but i would be glad to be probe otherwise

3. My newly theory for purple and his family. If you pay attention there was a scene between the chaos that you can spot purple,pink,and Navi running together. So what if- the reason Navi so desperate trying to teach purple how to fight is because he's afraid of another tragedy happened and he couldn't save purple and pink? This could be flawed because pink did eventually died and navi leave purple to elsewhere (dead probably? From another battle?) i don't know for sure

4.victim might don't know who's the dark lord is, perhaps he do but doesn't really payed attention to actually hate him the way he hated Chosen. From victim perspective it was The Chosen One and Alan who did most damage to him or people he cared

5. And the green particle in particular catches my attention, because it's to similar to The Second Coming power. I don't think it's a coincidence or anything but this could be a vital hint about TSC true power potential

6. Remember the dark green ish guy? The one that messed up the Minecraft machine killing gold? Well that same character was at the end of the episode when victim uses the 'vr glasses' thingy to see Agent memories. Coincidence? I have no idea

7. What happened to yellow, tco and tsc? Probably still caged somewhere. Perhaps victim will try to either steal their powers to get revenge on Alan, simply torment the characters, trying to replicate their powers and other stuff.

Well i think I'm done with the theory and my opinion, feel free to ask or say anything about it. Sorry if there is any spelling mistake, Have a great day and 'The Card Master' is out

[slobber-teeth]

hi!!! your art amazes me. I wanted to ask, is your scarecrow design just a design or a developed OC? I would love to know more about the story if there is one! :)

HI THERE YOU'VE ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD <3 you are very sweet for saying so!!

yes he is an oc!! or like, as much of an 'original character' as he can be, having been based off of the comics (mostly scarecrow: year one!!), but i've given him so much more lore and attention than dc has in years, so. y'know. mine now <3 i've been working on his story for abouutt a decade now?

MASSIVE loredump under the cut that i've copypasted from my still unfinished toyhouse page for him, alongside some gifted/traded/commissioned artwork of him!! cw: slavery, antiblack racism, child abuse, drug abuse, harm to children

artwork by @ emeraldfox11 !! (i love u emmyyyyy)

Jonathan Keeny Crane was born to a seventeen year-old Karen Keeny, daughter of the wealthy Keeny family, and Gerald Crane, a slave working on the Keeny’s plantation, in Arlen, Georgia. She abandoned Jon with her mother (Marion Keeny) and grandmother (Mary Keeny) before skipping town to seek a new life elsewhere. Gerald was drafted in the Vietnam War shortly after Jon was born, and died in the line of service. Jon shouldered a lot of hate from his grandmother and great-grandmother, who took their anger with Karen out on him from the day he was born. Great Granny Keeny was a bitter widow who abused everyone around her, most of all Jon for the circumstance of his conception, and held lofty standards for Jon despite believing he would never accomplish her idealized version of him. When Marion had finally had enough of Mary’s abuse she also fled the state, and Great Granny Keeny’s malice narrowed down to the only member of her family left, Jon.

Due to his upbringing, Jon developed a passion for psychology, specifically the psychology of fear and child psychology. In his mind he considered fear to be the root of all psychological ailments, and figured that if he could conquer fear, he would be able to help himself– and more importantly to him, other children who had gone through experiences similar to his. He had in some form already decided by the age of fourteen that he was a lost cause; that the damage that had been done to him was irreparable. Still, this feeling of hopelessness would be much lesser compared to what was to come.

While his childhood was terrible, adolescence brought a few good things into Jon’s life. At age fourteen he had already learned to drive the old family truck, and the freedom this granted him was a solace. He was too terrified by his Great Granny to ever defy her (which would be all too easy considering the frailty of age) but between running errands for her he would take two hour drives to the nearest city– Atlanta. There Jon developed a greater sense of self at late-night discotheques, finally able to socialize with other Black people, especially gay Black men like himself.

At age seventeen Great Granny Keeny finally bites the dust. Jon is listless, unsure what to do as he still feels the weight of her abuse on his psyche, but eventually he makes up his mind. He applies to Gotham University, writes essays for scholarships, and after days has summoned up the courage to bury his great grandmother. With her in the dirt, it’s hard to be afraid anymore– but Jon is superstitious and has nightmares for the rest of his life about her ghost. He buries the deed to the house (and the land) with her and only takes a few heirloom jewelry pieces before burning the degrading mansion down. With cash from the pawned jewelry, he takes his truck on a fourteen hour road trip to Gotham.

Jon is much more accustomed to city life. Gotham is a shit-hole, of course, but he carries the courage of knowing that he has most likely gone through the worst of his life, and nothing that might happen to him could compare to that. He studies chemistry and psychology while in University, working at the campus library in what little free time he had left after studying, and graduates magna cum laude in both his preferred subjects. After that is medical school, and with his sights now set on becoming a child psychologist, he takes a residency at Arkham Asylum’s children’s ward. It’s there he meets and bonds with a young Tommy Elliot, who was on a seventy-two hour hold after his mother admitted him on the account of the eight year-old boy refusing to eat, sleep, or clean himself because he claimed he was ‘dead.’ With therapy it’s revealed Tommy is experiencing symptoms of Cotard’s Delusion, triggered by the murder of his mob-affiliated family (his mother and him being the only two spared.) Jon also learns Tommy had been abused by his father, and his mother took no action to protect him from said abuse. Seeing himself and his traumatic childhood in Tommy, Jon works hard to not only help Tommy get better, but also put together a document requesting Tommy be placed in a foster home and his mother denied custody.

Despite the best of Jon’s efforts, Tommy is discharged and placed back in his mother’s custody. Jon feels like a failure for not being able to save the child from further abuse, as well as feeling enlightened to how poorly the government works. This failure increases Jon’s fixation on the psychology of fear, and he transfers out of the children’s ward staff to the general population of Arkham, where he begins studying and experimenting on how far fear controls the mind.

By the time Jon’s residency is done he’s concocted the idea for Fear Toxin, a liquid (and later, gaseous) drug that inspires pure terror in those injected with it. Thoughts of pursuing a career as a child psychologist are pushed aside in favor of perfecting his new drug and experimenting on himself, subjecting himself to nightmarish hallucinations just to mentally conquer the experience. He believes that injecting folks with certain mental illnesses will grant them the opportunity to conquer their ailments, too. The absurdity of this idea is lost on him between his severe depression after failing Tommy, and the hard drugs he has been abusing in order to alleviate himself from the psychological pain.

Paying for the equipment and raw chemicals to make Fear Toxin (not to mention his own recreational drug habits) takes a toll on Jon’s funds, so when Gotham U reaches out to offer him a position as professor of their psychology department, he agrees. Jon teaches for around four years while he continues his personal downward spiral. It all comes to a point when he brings a loaded gun into the classroom and fires it into the air to teach his students a thing or two about real terror. He’s promptly fired, and without tenure, Jon resorts to petty robbery in order to fund his work– thus, the Scarecrow is born. Stealing from ATMs becomes large-scale heists against pharmaceutical plants, and along the way Jon begins to use Fear Toxin to incapacitate his opponents in lieu of experimenting only on himself. Jon spends years creating different variations of Fear Toxin and torturing the public with his mad science– some blends are subtle enough that any hallucinations experienced seem completely unprompted, while others are created specifically to kill, causing so much shock to the system that victims literally die of fright.

Every variation has been personally tested by Jon, and that paired with his trauma, depression, and drug abuse results in a severe degradation of emotions. At age forty-five, Jon now suffers from alexithymia and apathy. He injects or huffs Fear Toxin almost all of the time in order to encourage his battered mind and body into function, as well as to try and coax some emotional response out of his body. What emotions he does feel, he feels weakly, and in the years to come he will have become completely immune to fear (which is no longer the great boon he had once imagined.) His morals erode alongside his mind and body to the point where he’s morally accepting of harming children, a line he formerly refused to cross. ....there is still like so much i could say about him relating to his relationships with the other rogues, his gender identity, his experiences growing up, his taste in music... feel free to ask specific questions!!

[gofancyninjaworld]

Garou in the Manga and Webcomic

So… the differences between Garou in the manga and the webcomic, how they're turning out, and what I make of it? Sure, for a story that seemed to be following the webcomic's tracks, Garou's trajectory sure has gone elsewhere (so far).

This is seriously long, and I make no apologies.

Let me start with the easy part, what I make of it. I think ONE is a DAMN LUCKY WRITER. You can't write something without wondering, at least in passing, how else you might have developed a character, a scene, what might have been. Heck, you can't make a decision in life without glancing occasionally at the path not taken and wondering where it might have led. ONE has gotten to not only wonder how else he might have taken the story of One-Punch Man, but to flesh out and publish TWO VERSIONS, and have audiences enthusiastically read both. Lucky, lucky man. A dog with two tails couldn't be happier and I'm glad for him. I'm also the greedy person double-fisting on story goodness. Mama didn't raise no picky eater! I find a lot to enjoy in both realisations of Garou.

Now for the tough part. I think I'm going to answer this from two perspectives, the in-story (intradiegetic) approach and the out-of-story (extradiegetic) one. I feel both are needed here for a reasonably comprehensive answer.

Rest below the cut.

A: In-Story

Garou's problems There isn't a change in the fundamental character, motivations, or outlook between WC!Garou and Manga!Garou. Same highly-driven, cocky, sarcastic martial arts genius. Same keen observation of the vissitudes of the world, and same soft heart that breaks at how little is done about it. Same issue with heroes as the saviours of the world. Same grandiose plan to make the world safe through terror. Same love of speechifying. The difference lies in what happened.

If I were going to put a finger on the most important difference in how things turned out, I'd put it on the issue of softness. Even if you reject all performances of toxic masculinity, as a young man, it's impossible not to internalise some of its poison. Garou is a soft guy -- and he's ashamed of his softness. When he feels he's being soft, he sees it as weakness and lashes out. Even before Saitama points this out on the battlefield in the WC, we see Garou feel that weakness and choose to lash out by trying to kill Saitama when the latter lets him off for dashing-and-dining. It's a good thing he picked Saitama, no? However, even there, there is a difference: WC!Garou is more focused on the opportunity to hunt a hero, while Manga!Garou is stung by his feeling pathetic at being pitied by even a no-name hero.

Fascinating, the change between hunting and murder attempt

In the WC, ONE doesn't make further use of this afterwards, but he comes to revisit the issue in the manga, in the aftermath of Garou accidentally saving several people and Saitama pointing out that he has a hero's instincts. While Saitama taunted Garou a bit in the webcomic so the latter would give him everything he had, it's nothing compared to the relentlessness with which Saitama keeps pressing Garou's buttons, and that combination made everything much worse.

Garou spells it out for us," I can't let myself forget this anger… not until the entirety of humanity has been made to suffer the same pain and despair I did!" Recalling the people thanking him, he thinks, "It was that simple to make my preparation and resolve waver. That's how pathetic I was…and it fucking pisses me off!" It's that incident that opened the door to how differently things went.

This is it: the point where Manga!Garou resolves to really do evil rather than Evil Lite.

Manga!Garou isn't the only guy to act this way. Even within the same arc, we see two heroes, Flashy Flash and Superalloy Darkshine, also lash out when they feel their egoes threatened. ONE shows how weak, destructive, and self-defeating this is. Fortunately, they tried hitting beings who could hit them back harder. Good!

They both had it coming: let's hope that they eventually improve themselves.

Unfortunately, what usually happens is that a bloke looking to lash out to assuage his internal feelings of weakness meets people he can punch down on, and BOY HOWDY DID GAROU PUNCH DOWN. Besides being literally poison to anyone around, his refusal to leave came from his dark joy at finally being able to provoke the fear and panic he'd hoped to from his mere presence. He targeted and murdered Genos, not just because he wanted to provoke Saitama into showing him all he had, but because he figured (correctly) that this would hurt Saitama as no punch he cared to throw could. And God, did he want to wipe that stupid smile off that bald guy's face.

It is very important to note that WC!Garou also met "God", but all he got out of the deal was a fancier outfit that Saitama quickly punched off him. It's the toxic determination to cause pain that marks the difference with Manga!Garou.

At the end of the day, His Yeastiness is a facilitator, not a controller.

It appalls a lot of readers to think that the lovely Garou, whom we so want to admire and root for as the underdog, can also be the same Garou who is so ugly, but it's the truth: all people are capable of all things.

We can well look some askance at Saitama for taunting Garou to do his worst rather than just beating him down and giving him a good talking-to, but the responsibility for his actions all lies on Garou. Say what you like about Garou, but you can never accuse him of riding on others' coattails: he has slapped away every hand proffered to him, so for him to recognise his limits and humble himself to ask Saitama for help is a huge credit to his strength of character and courage. He taught Saitama how to travel back in time to stop him from making the same mistake, and bravely persisted even though it cost him his life.

The manga explores what Garou could be much more thoroughly than the WC does (this is not a criticism of the WC -- I'll come back to that later), showing us both the heights of how noble he can be and the depths of how toxic he can also be.

Farewell, noble prince.

Who cares? By this, I don't mean this as a slight to the reader, but rather as a way of noting that the comparison is incomplete without also considering who cares about Garou in each version. WC!Garou is really alone. Yes, Bang goes out to stop him, and, notably, the old man finds himself moved to sorrow rather than rage when Garou is finally stopped by Saitama. However, as of yet, there has been no further meeting nor reconciliation between the two.

The contrast with Manga!Bang is fascinating. While Manga!Bang is no angel (indeed, we learn that he is a deeply selfish man… learn? We kinda knew that), he really does give up everything (the regard he enjoyed as a martial artist, his dojo, and his hero career) in an attempt, not to subdue Garou, but to bring him back to the good side, the same way his elder brother did for him so many decades ago. You need a heart of stone not to be moved by his acknowledging how he has failed as a master and all but begging Garou for a chance to start over.

When Garou runs away at the end of the night, Manga!Bang goes to find him and persuades him to turn himself in. When Garou's parents refuse to come and pick up their son -- as an 18-year-old, Garou is a minor -- Manga!Bang steps in as his guardian, goes with him to the police to answer for the one outstanding crime (the dine-and-dashing), accompanies him to apologise to the heroes he hunted, and is very present in Garou's life. Even if I'm giving Bang's tough love regimen the side-eye, the way that Manga!Garou hasn't been abandoned unloved into the world to fend for himself is a welcome development. It's interesting to see some of Bang's former students who left because they didn't trust that Bang would not favour Garou even though the latter beat them up, have started to come back to see if the old man really has changed.

What really matters If you will forgive my diverging a second, one of the fun things ONE comes to frequently is that we don't know what will make us happy. In chapter 85 (86 in print), the panel of Fubuki staring agog at the sight of several heroes stuffed in Saitama's tiny apartment, with Bang, Bomb, and Genos all tending their wounds, really stands out to me. Not 24 hours ago, there is no way Genos would have been comfortable enough to start repairing himself with the other heroes around: this point marked his no longer being 'the weird new guy' and rather being 'one of the guys'. If you had told Genos that he was looking for acceptance, he'd say you were talking nonsense, and yet, acceptance is one of the things he's looking for, even though he doesn't know it.

Garou isn't looking for acceptance, but he is looking to be seen and appreciated. Even as he grumbles about being made to clean the dojo and go to court-mandated jobs, Manga!Garou really is happy to be doing something to build the dojo back up. Just as importantly, working day-by-day to build up rather than tear down has brought WC!Garou a sense of peace and perspective. His work ethic and strength being appreciated can't not have an effect on him, even if he isn't cracking a smile when complimented.

Even if he's being either sarcastic or glum, Garou contributing something valuable and being appreciated for it really is something he was searching for.

What about next time? Finally, I'll point out the differences in what's facing them. Because Saitama solved his internal problems by pointing out that he was a frustrated hero at heart, WC!Garou's ongoing problems are largely external. He's an outlaw who needs a way to be rehabilitated into society. I'm hoping that the Neo Heroes affair offers Garou a way to redeem himself and get outstanding charges dropped. Working under the table, unable to get full working benefits, go to school, own a house and the like on account of unspent criminal convictions gets old fast.

Persisting and building despite all the fools harassing him, WC!Garou is developing some maturity fast.

Manga!Garou has not had to critically examine his beliefs yet, so he's not convinced he's wrong. What he does know is that he absolutely does not want to become a monster and that hunting heroes is a stupid idea. There's an internal struggle that needs to be finished here. He also has external problems: Bang's very helpfulness in getting so many charges against him dropped, means that there are going to be a lot of people out there in the story who feel he hasn't been punished enough. It is going to be exacerbated by the fact that Bang plans to introduce him to the Hero Association as a new hero, and Sicchi fully intends to parachute him into Class S despite knowing that all hell will break loose among the heroes. I don't think Garou's yet been told of this plan -- expect fireworks.

At the moment, Garou's ongoing ambitions are being treated as a joke. But like most things OPM, it won't be a damn bit funny when it comes up again.

B: Out-Of-Story

The art of constraint The differences in the space and time available to the manga and the webcomic really do matter. Just as you can say the same thing in a short poem, a short story, and a novel, the form of the art creates both restrictions and opportunities in how ideas are explored and expressed.

I think ONE is using both the super-compact storytelling of the webcomic and the more expansive saga of the manga well, but they create different possibilities. The webcomic is compact, and interestingly, ONE has usually preferred to focus on the characters sequentially: when it's a character's turn to get their fish fried, we see their fish thoroughly scaled, gutted, filleted, dredged in flour, fried to a crisp and served with a garnish. Their problems are pulled out, they face their crisis, it gets resolved with Saitama's help, and they're kicked out into the cold to make room for the next character. We don't mind seeing them again, but they've had their anagnorisis, they've had their peripeteia, they've had their denouement, and all they have to do is go and implement what they've learned. It's very satisfying, very compact.

However, the manga has a lot more space -- it's after all, the paid jobs of ONE, the workaholic artist Murata, Murata's assistants, and the staff at Shueisha -- and so, it's got more bandwidth. The manga tends to do character development in parallel: we see a lot of characters facing challenges and developing in tandem. Very little needs to be finished at a given time, and so ONE is happy to leave characters with further work still to do.

WC!Garou got his answer all neatly tied up. He was in a position to swallow that bitter pill, and so when we see him, he's working out how to live and has renounced his old beliefs. Manga!Garou has not had any neat answers. On the one hand, it's less satisfying to us as readers, but on the other hand, it gives Manga!Garou much more scope to develop over time to become someone WC!Garou can't imagine being.

Swings and roundabouts: ONE does not believe in giving characters what they haven't worked for, and so where there's less space for characters to work things out, there's also limits to what can be explored. However, he doesn't shortchange the webcomic characters: they get the right amount of development for the space in the webcomic.

No nuclear-powered truths for Garou in the manga; instead, a deliberately more open observation that leaves him more to work out.

A colder world Without a doubt, I'd rather live in the webcomic version of the OPM universe than the manga one. For a given timepoint, the manga universe is so much more dangerous it's not even funny. However, if you ask most readers, without thinking, they'd say the webcomic is the darker place. It isn't, but what it is, is bleaker feeling. A major part of that is that there is less interaction between characters. Not a lot less, just sufficiently less to start to matter, and that compounds. I'm not going to belabour this point: I've already written about it elsewhere.

Since one of ONE's wheelhouses is that we need others in order to be fully ourselves, with even the negative interactions having value, the webcomic becomes an increasingly bleak reflection of the manga for the characters, as we see how many opportunities they've lost. And I'm sure that part of the reason WC!Garou appears so subdued is that he's having to face the reality that he really is all alone in the world -- and he's got no one to blame but himself. It's funny, even when we say that we don't give a fuck about others, we sure hope that at least a few others will give a fuck about us.

If you want me to sum up where they are in their respective stories, WC!Garou has hit rock bottom and is rebuilding his life one brick at a time, while Manga!Garou has been spared hitting rock bottom (for now: the rock bottom he was heading for was 100% fatal). The latter's day of reckoning is yet to come but come it surely will.

Summary

In short, chaos theory rules here: small changes to initial conditions lead to large changes in outcome, all while being quasi-deterministic. I think both are good explorations of the character in context.

[age-of-moonknight]

Hi!! Hello

I feel like we are not getting a lot of steven as much as both marc and jake, like what motivates them and such. Having said that, what would your aproach be at developing steven both personally and in his relationship with jake and marc?

Btw, your blog is still my favorite one in all of tumblr, I look forward both to new releases and your commentary after every single one <3

Hello! And thank you so much for the ask and for hanging around! :D I am immeasurably glad that this blog is something that sparks a little joy in your life. 🤍🖤 As for Steven, I see your point! You actually brought up something I've been mulling over deep in my brainpan for a hot minute, so (as always seems to happen when I answer asks whoops), this got a little long. There's a bit of preamble on how I came to my conclusion, but I'm pretty sure I more directly address your question in the second part, so you can just skip to there if you'd like hahaha

Part I: Preamble Not to hijack the whole lunar theme, but Moon Knight comics do go through phases and one type of phase involves some authors giving a bit more panel time to one of the guys (e.g. Jake in the first volume of Vengeance of the Moon Knight, Steven through a lot of the first Moon Knight volume as I recall). Currently, we're in a phase of focusing a bit more on Marc and, while MacKay's work on Moon Knight has been some of the most consistently enjoyable comics I've encountered in a while, I do miss Jake and Steven. Steven in particular, has been a little out of focus. On the one hand, I can kind of see how that happened. After how previous authors chose to portray him, my interpretation is that Jake's character needed a bit of time dedicated to returning him back to his essence (but that's a whole other kettle of worms). Additionally, I will always be the first person to rail against comic characters getting pigeonholed by editorial as having a certain "role" within a comic and once that role's been fulfilled elsewhere, editorial struggles to know what to do with that character and potentially discards them entirely (or worse, warps them beyond recognition, but again, I don't need to be bring up here how salty I am about how Marvel editorial has treated other characters hahaha) and I believe that might be a bit of the case with Steven. For a long time, the guys' dynamic was understood as Steven makes money and high society connections, Jake makes friends and underground connections, and Marc makes uuuuuh let's say "extreme bodily harm to his enemies" and is not really fit to be seen in society due to, you know, the crimes against humanity. Now that Marc's lost all of their money and, in a turn of events frankly more miraculous then his multiple resurrections (perhaps to no one's greater surprise than Marc's), established himself and the Midnight Mission as upstanding parts of the community, Steven's two main "jobs" in the reductive sense aren't as easily inserted into the narrative anymore. Part II: Actually Answering Your Question (Sorry) HOWEVER, even beyond my never ending love for Steven just as he is, I believe there's more to explore.

Particularly, when I first read your ask, the first thing that popped up in my head was this page from the most recent Moon Knight annual:

Moon Knight Annual (Vol. 5/2024), #1.

Historically and including in Moon Knight (Vol. 9/2021), #24, writers have portrayed Steven as the respectable one who wants to settle down, but this idea that Steven's just as much a thrill seeker as Jake and Marc -- it just manifests differently -- greatly intrigues me. As such, personally, I would LOVE to see more of Steven's work on the logistical side of things. They don't need huge sums of cash to throw around; Steven's probably just a bit more adept at understanding how financing both legitimate and illegitimate ventures work, so he can either direct them or manipulate them as necessary. He can be messing with criminal finances for Moon Knight work in ways that carries just as much risk as pounding the pavement. Authors have alluded to such things previously, with Mr. MacKay highlighting how critical finances are to continuing the Midnight Mission's work in the community and how Moon Knight can even use them for fighting crime.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu (Vol. 1/2024), #0.

This little gem of an infinity comic actually addressed the topic even more explicitly.

Avengers Unlimited (Vol. 1/2022), Infinity Comic, #64.

I get it, white collar crime and financial maneuvering is a lot more difficult to make appear exciting in the comic medium as opposed to, say, fisticuffs or edged weapons. In my opinion at least though, this is cool!!! Marines make jokes about their organization's history of struggling with logistics, but that underlines how critical that aspect is to making sure anything can operate effectively! Using the full range of skills and resources available to most efficiently execute justice is just something that feels very Moon Knight to me. That interpretation also helpfully supports my argument that Steven should be just as involved in Moon Knight work as Marc and Jake, just in an "occupational specialty," if you will that looks as different from what Jake and Marc do as how different Jake's networking looks from Marc's....very kinetic approach to problems. Accordingly, I guess I would just like to see Steven utilized in the narrative more as the "scalpel" of the trio. There is a time for everything, including Marc cracking skulls, Jake shaking hands and slapping backs to collect HUMINT, but also for Steven's precise and surgical approach that can dismantle a whole organization perhaps without even any bloodshed. After all,

Moon Knight (Vol. 9/2021), #25.

Steven's got his own way of doing things.

I guess, ultimately, is it too much for me to ask that Steven, Jake, and Marc be all equally valued for the unique skill sets they bring to Moon Knight? That they support each other, particularly with how wonderfully complimentary those skill sets are? hahaha

[conundrumoftime]

'Celeborn in Rhûn' round-up post (Rings of Power)

Collecting up my lost-Sindar-in-Rhûn speculation posts on where Rings of Power's Celeborn is, because there's a few now and we have maybe another 18 months to go at best before getting any answers on it.

The thinking:

Celeborn has got to be somewhere at this point: the overall outline of this show has already been planned out with said plan okayed by the Tolkien estate who had a "no killing off any characters who don't canonically die yet" clause, and the show is slavishly determined to line up with the Peter Jackson films as a prequel. (This also probably means we'll get boring-coloured hair for him, alas.)

By TV convention, missing-presumed-dead spouses and loved ones who are mentioned in a tragic way in season 1 have a 65-80% chance of turning up alive, well and working for the bad guys by season 3. Say what you will about McPayne's former boss JJ Abrams but he had one of the best takes on this with Alias.

The show has too many plotlines as it is and has little space for a whole new 'Galadriel Looks For Her Missing Husband' one, plus taking Galadriel out of the War of the Elves and Sauron while that's actually happening would make no sense for her character & role. It makes more sense to introduce Celeborn as part of an existing plot, and Rhûn is the one that's most geographically and narratively separated from all the others.

Rhûn is currently the only place with a powerful magical villain who could potentially be keeping prisoners and certainly seems to be keeping some people under some sort of magical control - Brank, the Gaudrim character who got most of the lines, talked about the "curse upon our flesh".

Putting a prince of a forest kingdom (Amazon confirmed they're using the Doriath version of Celeborn) in a land of dead trees and giving him a storyline connected to whatever's happening there works a lot better for establishing a character than just "hey look Galadriel's missing husband who you don't know is back now!"

The show is doing a lot of things that if you want to see it that way already feel like they're setting up an elves-in-Rhûn story, including eg Sindarin names turning up for 'Caras Gaer' and 'Gaudrim'

I'm less confident on him being one of the Gaudrim we've met specifically than on him being in Rhûn generally, but if he is, he's 'Kilta' - the one who killed the snake that was about to strike Poppy and Nori, looked straight at their hiding place, and told the others to mount up and search elsewhere. (With thanks to @oroniel for noticing that 'kil' in Primitive Elvish had a meaning of 'silver glint', and 'ta' also could be 'high, lofty' - one of the translations JRRT gave for 'Celeborn' is 'Silver-tall')

And thanks to Peter Jackson's films the one thing the general audience know about Galadriel's husband is that he's the guy who very much wanted to speak with Gandalf, and this is the kind of show that will therefore want to give him a whole Surfing Dracula backstory on why he wanted to speak with Gandalf.

All of which, if this is true, suggests that this is the kind of show that a) can't resist doing some kind of melodrama shocking "It's... you?" reveal, again; b) will include some ridiculous geeky detail of Elvish language development that only five people on the internet will appreciate anyway; c) wants to do more! with trees and forests and Tolkien's interest in industrialisation and trees in general; and d) will do some awkward comedy fan-service to a line in a Peter Jackson film which isn't even his line in the book, all at the same time. And I think we all know it's exactly that kind of show.

My posts about this:

Written during s2 speculating he was one of the Gaudrim: one, two

Rhûn's desertified land and dead trees as deliberately paralleling Anfauglith as the opposite of Doriath

And a post on TROP's 'Rhûnic', possibly the language of a 'lost tribe' of elves

And Gandalf's mysterious past.

Fics I've written with this premise:

Lands far away (2000 words, G) - catching up with Gandalf many years later in Third Age Lothlórien

Five places Celeborn hasn't spent the past eight hundred years (7k words, T) - as the title says, five different alternative stories of which chapter 4 is the Gaudrim-in-Rhûn one

The names of our wounds (ongoing WIP, M, Galadriel/Sauron/Celeborn)

[lovelypink2005]

OKAY SO TODAY'S UPDATE WAS SOMETHING—–

So lemme break this whole page down because I could never sleep without saying anything about it so spoiler alert for The Glass Scientists Chapter 15 Page 17‼️‼️‼️

So first of all, we need to apreciate how far these two, especially Lanyon, has become. From Robert's point of view, it was as if Jekyll is once again shutting himself down from "the shame. The fear", quoted by Lanyon, because it was just YESTERDAY that the whole exhibition day happened, the day it felt like everything changed, the day he was able to finally TALK to Jekyll and got him BACK. " But not this time. This time, i'm staying right here-" is such a STRONG WORDS. He's trying his best to get Henry back, to made up for all of those years, making up for the day he left him, assuring Henry that he won't leave him again, not this time, not after 15 years of yearning, thinking that it has been one sided, not when he just got him back.

AND THEN WE FINALLY GOT THE "I LOVE YOU" BOMB!!!!

THis one is surely a HUDGE character development, knowing that throughout these years, and throughout the whole comic, he had always been the type of huy to show his affections through action instead of words, hoe it "pains" him to say nice things to people, how it's hard for him to be open about his feelings, especially in PUBLIC. This is Lanyon at his moment of desperation, finally showing his love towards Henry with his words to win him once again, hoping that it'll get through him, hoping Jekyll would let him in once again, Knowing that's what Henry wanted. Honestly. And the fact that he seems like he would BREAK at any second if Jekyll did not respond at all, the face of a man holding back his tears perhaps....

And second of all, I'm sure we all collectively agreed that this was NOT Jekyll. The Jekyll we knew would lock himself out, he can't just see a meltdown as "haha it was silly so nevermind that! Just come in!" In the middle of a crisis he's him, when his body condition is absolutely UNSTABLE with the little things that could trigger any types of transformations. This is most definitely Hyde, especially Hekyll (Green-Eyed Jekyll/Hyde in Jekyll's body), and judging by how quickly Lanyon buys it, I'm pretty sure it was probably still Jekyll's voice, which makes me believe in "Hekyll is behind that door" possibility way more. What concerns Me the most is, what would Hyde want from this? What's his goal out of it?

Well, to me there could be 2 possibilities on what is going to be Hyde's intention.

From Chapter 14 Page 12 and 13, we got these panels where Hyde told Jekyll that Lanyon wanted him instead, wanted the "Doe-eyed sweetheart". In moments of desperation, he could be planning to win Lanyon, to " steal" him from Jekyll. This could ruin absolutely everything that Jekyll and Lanyon had done the other day. As much as I don't want this to happen, I am excited to see where this is going.

On the other hand, a few pages back, we know that Hyde was having his panic attack, wanting to go out, to get out, desperately wanting to run and hide. Jekyll had requested Frankenstein that whatever she heard do NOT open the door, knowing Hyde could take them elsewhere and got into yet another trouble, or getting themselves caught by the police or the angry mobs surrounding their society at the moment. If this was Hyde's intention, he could probably ran out immediately the moment Lanyon opens the door.

On the very last panel of today's update, we can see that Frankenstein was trying to somehow warn Lanyon. Her body language seemingly stiff, probably ready to do something to prevent Lanyon from opening the door, remembering what Jekyll told him, probably knowing that it doesn't sound like Jekyll at all. Or she could just be worried that Lanyon is going to found Jekyll in a middle of a transformation, which would be a disaster.

Hopefully Frankenstein could at least do something, although knowing Lanyon, he would probably insist into going in knowing that "Jekyll" allowed him to go in, saying that he's the one who's close to dear Henry, that they both had worked things out that if Jekyll allowed him to go, he won't let anyone stop him from doing so.

Overall I am just SO EXCITED AND NERVOUS FOR NEXT WEAKKDKDBXKDBXKDJ-💥💥💥

[theamityelf]

In your Kamakura Wrangler Au could you rank who would be the most likely to hurt/endanger Makoto to the least likely to hurt/protective of him out of the students please?

That is a great question.

Honestly, I think his greatest protector (in terms of effectiveness) would actually be Hiro. While he's not actively protecting him or staying with him most of the time, he often does little things to set the right future in motion to protect him. In general, Hiro happens to lack the kind of hollow boredom that most Kamukuras feel; like I mentioned, his vibe toward everything is just that he is watching reruns of real life. Makoto is a recurring character he likes well enough on a show he's seen plenty of times. (The only show. The only channel. But it's not a bad one. It might even be really good, if this were his first time watching.)

Plus, Makoto's luck can occasionally surprise him. One time, Makoto trips and spills food on himself, and Hiro surprises everyone by actually laughing, because wow! A new scene for once!

Second most protective, of course, is Taka. He is vigilant about making sure none of the other Kamukuras kill this innocent and normal person. I think Kyoko and Byakuya would come around to protecting Makoto, too, but initially their vibe might be more, "You won't survive here for very long, so tell me this, before you die..." Taka is protective right away.

The only catch there is, Taka values Makoto's humanity so much that there is a non-zero chance that, if he thinks the scientists will change Makoto into one of them, he might mercy-kill him. It wouldn't be his default response. He's significantly more likely to attack the scientists or whoever else is posing a danger to Makoto than Makoto himself. But if he's identified it as impossible to protect Makoto from being Kamukurified, he would view death as the kinder, more ethical alternative. It would be very quick and painless, and he would cry for the first time, after. Makoto's ability to sway Taka's view on the humanity of the Kamukuras is so, so important to how well everything goes. Though the increasing investment of Byakuya and Kyoko would be helpful.

And Chihiro would also be a big help. They're usually hiding (and as a Kamukura, they're really good at it), so Makoto's conversations with Chihiro read like conversations with a ghost, but the arc there is that gradually Chihiro starts to become a physical presence. Eventually leading to Chihiro protecting him if and when it becomes necessary. Maybe someone thinks they've gotten Makoto alone, his allies are elsewhere, and they can attack him, but lo and behold Chihiro appears and saves him.

Mukuro initially protects Makoto only from being taken away by the scientists. Her strong sense of personal loyalty from before is now expressed as a rigid bond with the new collective, meaning she is very strict about the treatment of the Kamukuras. They have been given this resource, they have negotiated his use, so the scientists are not allowed to take him. Makoto always has Taka on one side of him, but when the scientists enter the room, Mukuro immediately stands at his other side. I think the two of them don't talk all that much, but she still grows fond of him from what few conversations they do have and how positive a force he's been for the other Kamukuras.

On the other side, of course Junko might harm or kill him just on an impulse. More likely harm than kill; despair is one thing, but she does actually need the enrichment. The thing is, the more he interacts with her, and especially the more he reminds her of the past and maybe helps some of her memories return, she might start to actively enjoy despair again, instead of just feeling the impulse toward it. And this time, she's got all the talents of a Kamukura. She would be extremely thankful to him, and killing him might be an expression of that thanks. Or she might keep him on hand as she develops into her new self, with the understanding that she'll kill him when it will hurt her most. If she actually starts to care about what's happening, she can manipulate her friends' eccentricities to get Makoto to herself. (Give or take a wild Chihiro.)

Sayaka would actually be something of a problem, not because she actively bears him ill will, but because she can't handle his attempts to be present as a friend and support for her. Her way of making sense of the trauma she underwent in the Kamukura Project, and even more so the very particular brand of demeaning that is being one of many Kamukuras, is to perceive herself as the one person who doesn't need any help, support, enrichment, or anything. She's supposed to be the one who can help everyone, and then Makoto shows up and talks to her in ways no one ever has, tells her about a past self she's not supposed to yearn for, etc. If she wants or needs it, then suddenly what she went through was just a pointless thing that harmed her and not the thing that made her what the world needs. She feels she needs to take him down several pegs. But I believe she can overcome it.

Hina is a danger, but she doesn't particularly mean to be; she's just very curious and she assigns no positive or negative moral value to any means of exploring that curiosity that pops into her mind. She'll mitigate her own more destructive thoughts because the group will have made agreements as to how to engage with Makoto, but for anything they haven't made explicit agreements about, there is no guarantee she won't hurt him. Even once she considers him a friend, it would be a separate thing for her to fully understand why suffering is a thing that people actively avoid, because she just doesn't factor suffering into her own thought process at all. (She understands suffering, functionally, and she has a full grasp on the ways in which it motivates and influences people's actions, but her own relationship with suffering colors her understanding of what it means that most people avoid it. Not to mention she's an analyst who spends a lot of time around Junko; her data is skewed.)

Celeste will become a danger if it will help her escape, but in most circumstances it won't.

Mondo will become a danger out of agitation over changes in the status quo, since they cause him to feel a lack of control. Like Sayaka and Hina, I believe he can overcome that.

Hifumi and Leon will be more into watching from the sidelines than anything. When Makoto befriends them, they still won't be too active. Sakura I think would be pretty neutral to him. And I'm going to say Toko likes him but does nothing for him.

[caw4brandon]

The City of Durarara!!

Imagine, you are a newbie who just got an opportunity to attend a new school in a new city. A fresh start in a new chapter of your life but, you are still the same old you.

There are no familiar faces here. You just showed up via the bus or the train, carrying your heavy suitcase. Stumbling about and trying your best to follow the flow of the crowd to your new home. You live in an age where yes, you have a phone to check everything but the place is much more complex than you thought.

Hence, you are very, very, lost.

That is Mikado Ryūgamine's first day in the bustling city of Ikebukuro and the subject for today. The show famously known to have 15 (give or take) main characters co-existing in a space. Developing their own stories while another story unfolds in the back.

- I Love Humans! -

< Durarara!!/ DRRR!! > by Ryōgo Narita; Follows a cast of ordinary characters who reside in Ikebukuro. A lively city known for its nightlife and as a hub for all things Otaku-related. The city is currently a home for our main character; Mikado who just moved in and is about to attend a new school with his childhood best friend; Masaomi Kida.

Elsewhere, we follow a mysterious and non-verbal biker lady who just rescued Rio Kamichika from a kidnapping. Taking her to a secluded building rooftop to "end things".

Somewhere else, Shizuo Heiwajima is throwing a fit at a random man who owes him money. Causing a scene by throwing a venting machine into the sky. Scaring the pedestrians. This, is < DRRR > in just a few minutes. A large mix of events happening all at once at separate parts of the city.

As Kida guides Mikado, he provides some exposition of what's been going on in Ikebukuro. Mentioning that there has been a new gang in town right after the city survived another previously. Kida runs into some of his friends; Kyouhei Kadota, Walker Yumasaki, Erika Karisawa, and Saburo Togusa.

Meanwhile, Rio got to the roof and encountered her online friend; Nakura whom she contacted to make a suicide pact. But it was revealed that her kidnaping was a ploy by Izaya Orihara who wanted nothing more but to mess with her. Rounding up, Kida and Mikado witnessed a famous city urban legend. The mysterious biker lady called; The Headless Rider.

-We are...Dollars! -

Several key pieces are driving the plot for < Durarara > forward. Firstly, we have the everyday life of Kida and Mikado. School students in Raira Academy with their new best friend; Anri Sonohara who has secrets of her own.

Next, we have the questionable love story of the Headless Rider; Celty Sturluson. An odd-job transporter with her partner; Shinra Kishitani an underground doctor. Both are on a quest to find Celty's missing head.

Then, we have the ongoing gang wars that Kida mentioned. Since a new gang; The Dollars started showing up. The further we follow our characters, the deeper the relations go to the point where you need a chart for who is who. Yet, the show is rather comprehensive.

< DRRR > is actually a story about no one and everyone. It takes place in a location where everyone has a story. No matter if you are interested in the gang war, a twisted love story between certain characters or the simpleton life of the Van gang.

Perhaps you like a good ole beatdown action, or maybe. You like something a little bit supernatural regarding several slasher cases. There is something for everyone and while some of the parts may not interest you as much. The threads eventually cross paths. Leading to a big Crescendo~

- The World isn't as Cruel -

One of the most consistent themes seen in all of < Durarara > is the theme of making connections. As the audience, we get to see the characters being much closer than they make it out to be.

In a chatgroup. The characters take on differing identities and exchange information to help one another. Not realizing that they chatted about it a while ago. Perhaps the most encouraging thing about the show is how it uses the word "gang".

To join a gang often comes from a desire to find a sense of belonging. As mentioned, The Dollars are a new gang but the peculiar fact is, they are a colourless and leaderless gang. Sure, factions among them can exist. But no one has the power to control each other. Anyways, the gang is often seen to have done both good and bad to their respective communities.

Ikebukuro is crowded with countless activities going on in the light and in the dark. How our characters react to it determines the outcome. Despite the show has already declared itself as ended.

I personally think it's not a definitive end. Because the ending is not the point. < Durarara > is a show about people and how people deal with complex situations in their daily lives both personally and externally as a community. Perhaps its also a good display of how we are more interested the lives of someone else rather than our own.

To wrap this up, I just want to say that this show displayed the true power of an online community. It's a stroke of genius on the power we have as a collective to make change to our communities. That is what < Durarara > is about!

[iffylogic]

Aaaaa I'm sorry @quiettekiyet I totally forgot this! There's been a surge in scammers, so asks have been closed for a while.

But yeah, my headcanons have updated a bit since they last came up.

Let's see...

⭐

The old "Ultimecia is Rinoa" theory was thrown a bone in recent years. Previously, Kitase had seemingly outright stated that it was false. But more recently, Kitase explained that there was simply no mention of it verbally or in any of the game development material. In other words, no one said "no" to that idea when making the game... but only because it never came up in the first place. I thought that was a neat development (and even shared the video) because, while still I don't subscribe to the theory, I think it's really fun and love the fan stuff it spawns. So seeing it become "not impossible" was cool. (But then some people decided to ignore the entire interview and mindlessly reblog it saying "canon now!" so I took the post down.)

⭐

Some people connect Ultimecia to Halicarnassus, a recurring character/boss elsewhere in the series. She has magic powers, a helmet with horned protrusions (then again who doesn't), and resides in a castle that sits between dimensions. I even saw a video suggesting that she could be an unmentioned sorceress in the VIII universe, and is even the original owner of the castle Ultimecia resides in! Obviously there's no documentation to back up such a claim, but it's still a really cool idea so I headcanon it sometimes.

⭐

One friend likes to write the main cast with varying accents, most of which I lost track of, except for Selphie. Basically she has a Slavic accent, and those happen to be my favorites, so that's been a soft headcanon for like two years.

⭐

Not really a headcanon, but I've been musing about the idea that Adel had a crush on Odine, which is why he was allowed to build so much insane nonsense unimpeded. Just a tiny little guy screaming his head off at the engineers and technicians while Adel looks on with a sigh.

"So much rage in such a small package. I want the world for him."

[raayllum]

It's hard to tell because it's only been some posts but you sound somewhat frustrated with pre-season discussions happening elsewhere for The Dragon Prince? In any case, I thought you might appreciate the note that some people certifiably do like Rayla and Callum as characters perfectly well (I know I do at least and have since the start)?

I'm sure you're aware of it already but it felt somewhat like it'd help you not feel like you're typing into a void of dissent for enjoying them and the show concurrently? Even if I'd disliked the time skip in some capacities (I didn't particularly, I thought Rayla had good instincts wanting proof of death etc she just perhaps should have taken more backup for higher success chances if at all possible) Stella's introduction would have won me over entirely anyway.

There's no shame in being easily charmed by adorable animal characters, after all! She really is cute and also useful in limited capacities, like Bait.

If you wanted an actual ask with the above I suppose that I'm intrigued how similarly you thought Bait and Stella functioned as extended powers/company of their respective people and in the group?

Mostly on twitter (which is a reason to stay off twitter) but, in all honesty, it's mostly because it's annoying to see people use ship names or main tags for their complaining (I have "tdp critical" blacklisted or whatever for a reason y'know). Like as someone who truly deeply loves every character and every part of the show, when Claudia or Terry or Aaravos or anyone else gets promo I'm thrilled and intrigued and theorizing. And there's a minimal but loud portion(s) of the fandom who are either currently expressing (or have a track record) of annoyance when Callum and Rayla, as main characters and as the show's consistently most developed dynamic (which, I want to stress, has been the case even in s1 and s2) dare to be main characters and have marketing, there's an uproar of complaining. (Again, not the majority, but still baffles me that it exists at all.)

It'd be like if I complained about ATLA being primarily about Aang, its main character, for the majority of the show's run because I thought Toph needed more of a character arc (she's the least developed of the gaang bc she comes in s2 and has a general self-acceptance arc that doesn't need a ton of steps, for ex).

Sometimes favourite characters are there to have minimal screentime, execute their story purpose, and highlight other characters' arcs. The divide between characters where that's generally understood (Gren, Lain, Tiadrin, Opeli) vs characters where it's not (Aaravos in S4/S5, Runaan) again irks me because of the inconsistency, and therefore bias accordingly affecting judgement. Which maybe isn't fair - most people, myself included, are in fandom as a hobby, and for some people that means not evaluating their biases and not wanting to adjust their expectations; I just can't imagine doing anything else

I think Bait mostly serves as emotional support to Ezran and a lil guy to Talk to for Callum (2x05, 4x02) when a human character wouldn't quite make sense or is gone (Rayla is his usual confidant, for example). Stella is more interesting to me from a structure standpoint as 1) a character connected to the Star arcanum who thus far doesn't really need to be, so I'm curious there and 2) a juxtaposition to post-timeskip Rayla's "we can't save everyone" that her big heart and soft insides is still there, and still something worth listening to.

[tokiro07]

I think one of my favorite things about Undead Unluck is how thoroughly it integrates its cast and its power system

There is literally no way that one can exist without the other, as the powers that everyone has are simultaneously the driving force of their character development and the benchmark of said development

Every Negator's life is defined by how their ability brought them tragedy, either in a single horrible event, an ongoing insecurity in their day-to-day life, or a mixture of the two. Their abilities are their origin and the source of their pain, but struggling against or embracing that pain allows each of them to grow and evolve their abilities into something new by a change in perspective and experience

Fuuko's Unluck killed her parents (and hundreds of strangers), which led to a life of isolation and longing, both of which shaped her eventual interactions with Andy and the rest of the cast, and it was her ability to analyze and accept what Unluck really means to her that she was able to make it a part of her identity and use it to her advantage. Fuuko as we know her would not exist without Unluck, and Unluck as it exists would not exist without Fuuko, as it would look entirely different in the hands of another character

I feel like I must have seen it elsewhere, but I can't think of any other manga that so perfectly joins those two concepts

Even One Piece doesn't really marry its power system to its characters very much. Yeah, Luffy's Gum-Gum Fruit is iconic and gives him a lot of his charm, but Luffy as a character would not be fundamentally changed if he didn't have it. It fits him thematically because, like his personality, the Gum-Gum Fruit allows him to act freely and bounce back from any bad situation, but his Fruit does not inform his characterization, it merely reflects it. Someone else using it would likely have different results because of their personality, but probably not too drastically. Haki is similar; Luffy has Conqueror's Haki because he has the personality to use it, not the other way around, and this sort of thing is consistent across the series. Characters' abilities are reflections of who they are, but no one became who they are because of their abilities. If you took out Devil Fruits and Haki, I think you'd still end up with mostly the same story just with less interesting fights

Hunter x Hunter, which has likely the most robust and well-defined power system in any shonen manga (if not all of manga), does something very similar, as Nen abilities are created almost exclusively by the user. Whereas Devil Fruit often happen to carry symbolic weight for the characters, Nen abilities reflect their users because they illustrate the user's intentions, priorities, convictions, and imagination. Kurapika's chains give him a lot of versatility, giving him a useful weapon in essentially all situations while carrying a ton of risks to reflect how little his own life actually means to him; his quest for revenge is extremely self-destructive, but damn if he hasn't put a lot of thought into it. However, if you took Nen out of the equation, you'd still be able to illustrate Kurapika's ingenuity and drive solely through his actions, which Togashi managed to do just fine in the several arcs that took place prior to the official introduction of Nen

On the flip side, something like Jojo has surprisingly light characterization unless you're really looking for it. Thanks to Araki's very strange way of conveying dialogue and exposition, with everyone having the capacity to say a completely deranged non-sequitur and explain esoteric scientific or pseudo-scientific trivia, it's not always easy to get a firm handle on everyone's personalities. However, Stands are a manifestation of the inner spirit of their user, so you can use a Stand's ability to analyze and come to understand the characters themselves. At a glance this seems to do the same thing as DFs and Nen, but to me the Stands themselves are used to better understand the characters, whereas HxH uses the characters to develop and understand the power system

Again, it's not like you could take out Stands or Nen or Devil Fruit, but nothing that occurs within technically requires those systems be in place as they are. Any power system could have technically worked, like Luffy could have used Nen or a Stand to rubberize his body or Jotaro could have gotten a DF that lets him stop time. They would require a lot of changes to fit with the overall design of their respective stories, but the cast wouldn't really be that different

Luffy fights DF- and Haki-users to change the systems they represent, but defeating them will not affect his ability to use his DF. In UU, defeating God will (presumably) remove the Rules altogether; defeating the source both clears the Negators of the "curses" that have plagued them for so long while also forcefully changing the systems of the world as a whole. It's two birds with one stone, and serves as a great example of narrative utility

[itsclydebitches]

Fans use flat arcs as a shield against criticism from the title team. Iroh from ATLA has a flat character arc he serves as a catalyst for the main characters' arcs. Likewise, the girls do influence the world and characters around them but these aspects never stick around long enough for us to see that change. Penny is still dead. Nora is still with Ren. Atlas is still incapacitated. The CCT is still down. The academies are still inactive. The status of the WF and SDC is still unknown, etc.

Iroh is a fantastic example of how to do a flat character arc well (and I love that this arrived in my inbox today because I'm currently crocheting an Appa key-chain lol). Despite the majority of his own journey taking place off screen, the viewer still gets to experience two things. 1. Iroh's off-screen development has a strong impact on the world and our main characters' development, particularly Zuko, and 2. We don't know at the start of the series that his will be a flat arc, so everything we learn about him is new and surprising, despite it not being new to Iroh. It takes the viewer a long time to realize that he's not just a lazy, oblivious, well-meaning but ultimately kinda useless uncle. The slow reveal of Iroh's skills and true loyalty can feel like an arc even though, technically speaking, he's been that way since Episode 1 - we just didn't have the context to see it.

Now, compare someone like Iroh to Oscar. He's not someone who went on a journey to find unity with Ozpin and become a powerful wizard in his own right prior to the series, so the fact that what little development he gets in that regard happens off screen is a problem. There's no surprising reveal for the viewer, no on-screen arc (there are nods to the conflict, but we consistently don't see the resolutions), and Oscar does not successfully help our main cast - from a narrative perspective, I mean. He literally helps them by blowing up Salem, but as a story beat that feels unsatisfying because there was no buildup to that moment, it's riddled with inconsistencies, denies our title team the chance to defeat Salem for the first time themselves, and takes out the Big Bad with a Deus Ex Machina rather than giving the characters an earned victory. Though I'll always reiterate that I love my farm boy, the fact is that his presence in RWBY has only harmed the mains' journey. His presence introduces huge character flaws that are never properly resolved: attacking kids, Jaune's paranoia, the hypocrisy about lying, being totally fine with an ally serving them until he's doomed to disappear. As said, giving Oscar magic undermines a moment that should have been a huge stepping-stone in Ruby's journey (with the threat hanging over us now that it may undermine more, or else raise the question of why his magic isn't coming to the rescue every time it's needed) and, as discussed elsewhere, his very presence interferes with Ruby's emotional arc. This is seen pretty clearly in Volume 9 where Ruby is struggling with being the young hero destined to save the world from Salem, forced to solve an impossible task... even though she is none of these things. OSCAR is the young hero forced into this war via reincarnation, destined to solve the Salem problem if he wants to break his own curse. He is not the helpful uncle serving the hero, he's the protagonist disguised as a side character. Which, for obvious reasons, causes problems when your story is titled RWBY and Ruby Rose is supposed to be the one on his journey.

As for the girls, they're certainly having an impact on the world, but nothing that's reflecting back on them for development. Nothing sums that up quite so well as Weiss' "I'm so sick of leaving places in ashes" as she willingly leaves another place to burn instead of doing something to help. The shield I see against criticism the most is, "But they couldn't have done the thing that would have forwarded their development because [insert headcanon here and/or a stupid in-world claim that never had to be there]!" Why did the girls leave the market? Because a stranger - a total stranger they didn't recognize then as the Knight or Jaune - told them to run. That's it. Complete stranger gave them an order and they did it, despite being perfectly capable of taking on more of Neo's clones/helping the civilians. Even if that wasn't a flimsy excuse to keep them from developing, the issue is always, "Why would RT write it this way?" rather than "Why would you ignore our in-world explanation for this? Clearly you're not paying attention/approaching RWBY in bad faith." The explanation is the problem, either because it doesn't hold up under scrutiny or because it's existence shouldn't be upheld over the chance for good, strong, forward-moving writing. RWBY is Volumes worth of the Supergirl problem: "Uh, she has to dress like that because she gets her power from the sun. Duh 🙄" You're missing the larger point that the writers chose to create a scenario in which they could dress their supehero in scantily-clad clothing, excuse it through lore they also made up, and then have fans like you defend it like these choices stem from the Sacred Texts of Absolute Truth and Historical Accuracy rather than a fictional story that someone made up at every turn. Team RWBY isn't developing because the writers aren't writing that, but many fans act as if they're real girls in a real world who are bound by those realities. "You can't expect a bunch of teenagers to go fight when they're exhausted and their friend is injured!" Of course I can because they're fictional characters whose entire purpose is to tell a good story. Sitting in a mansion while the city is swarmed with monsters, after a Volume of taking the moral high ground over protecting civilians, and while the B Team confronts the villain instead of our protagonist does not a good story make.

[riacte]

RIA I AM GNAWING at the bars of my enclosure, I just finished the last few chapters and JSHDHDHHDJWJWHE <- insane insane insane. I’m going insane. I think this fic has one of the most satisfying conclusions I’ve ever read before like the final battle was SO COOL ?!? Epistolary fics have their limitations yeah but it’s SUCH an immersive storytelling like man I really did feel like I was in a live stream watching the combined forces of hero’s and villains and rebels take down the mayor. And MAN,,, that baletach scene after the dusts clears and he removes his helmet and the shadows surround them was so soft (that turn of phrase is detonating the 2018 cringe meter in my mind but I cannot think of a better way to describe it). I love how although there’s a happy ending, there’s still doubt for what could come in the future, idk it just feels like I’m peering into the social media of some distant city overbroad and feeling wildly confuse. I also LOVE the implication that Freth is like the New York of London of this world with the whole freth-centricism that’s such cool world building. I’m really curious to know whether there’s other cities being plagued with mutants too? Are their heroes elsewhere or is this like a Gotham city where one particular area is just prone to these magical things happening? Anyways so excited to see what more of this universe you’re going to explore :D

HAI HAI thanks for reading! 🥺🥺 I'm glad you like the ending, I was afraid it was gonna a bit too much whiplash from overthrowing the gov -> school setting (while I was writing the fic I felt like it was bouncing between tone every chapter). And I looove calling things/people soft like it's very 🥺🥺

"I love how although there’s a happy ending, there’s still doubt for what could come in the future" SO glad it came out this way for you, this was the tone I wanted. I worked backwards from the Blue Bats arc and wanted a mix of hope/chaos/recovery/uncertainty/but still hope for Lyra and Ben :)

The Frethcentricism was mostly me making a jab at how USA-centric the Anglosphere Internet feels at times 😭 but I would imagine the constant superhero/Mutant news gets aggravating for people who don't care. And it's like Spopera where I get to play pretend and choose which topics are culturally dominant. Freth is an important trade/finance/logistics hub. I can imagine it was historically important due to its location (being on the coast of a continent), then the Mutants appeared, the industries panicked and moved away, but then the heroes showed up, hence Freth had good security and low crime rates in its golden years. Its special status would probably grant it more autonomy from whatever country it belongs to— or perhaps it's a city-state/ in the process of becoming one. I imagine the lack of government transparency + crackdown on civilian protests + startling massacre of heroes pushed away those industries, hence the new gov has to incentivize them to come back.

There is definitely something "magical" about the area itself. Natural Mutants still spawn and will probably come back even if the heroes kill them all (rip LFSA, you were too optimistic about Mutant eradication). Kids from civilian families (eg. Ben) can develop powers out of blue thanks to the "magic". The "magic" doesn't abide by political borders so it's possible for kids in neighbouring areas to develop powers, which leads to conflict because Freth is obliged to take in everyone with powers, but the kid doesn't belong to Freth.

This universe has been bouncing around in my head for quite some time and I feel there's a lot to explore. Lyra's parents being a power couple, Reina's parents, the 826 graduates defecting, Mirage and co backstory, etc etc. I don't know everything lmao and I'm kind of waiting for things to slot into place. I think this universe is addicting because I Don't Know a lot of things but then I start writing and the characters/plot/world reveals itself? If it makes sense? So it makes me really excited to write because yippeeee I'm discovering more about this world :D (and if I don't like something I can just retcon it later lmao)

Thanks for the ask <3