#seriously these characters deserve much better
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yuseirra · 20 days ago
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a family bigger than 4! side story 2-3.
this part is a bit slow-paced, isn't it~ but it's for the flow~
time IS passing bit by bit during these "eps"
part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4 / side story 1 / part 5 / part 6 / part 7 / part 8 / part 9 / side story 2-1 / 2-2
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specialagentartemis · 4 months ago
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I remember seeing someone gush about how much the podcast This Planet Needs a Name meant to them, and particularly the character of Zahava, a Jewish woman and spaceship captain in the spacefuture. This person said, it's beautiful to see sci-fi with Jewish people living and loving in the future. It tells me we made it.
And it stuck with me. The way the visions of the future, who's included in the future and who isn't, shape your feelings about what people see as worth surviving. And it made me commit to always making sure to address the presence of Jewish characters/communities in my sci-fi going forward, because people deserve to see themselves reflected in sci-fi media that isn't This Planet Needs a Name because that podcast sucks absolute ass.
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miraculouslbcnreactions · 5 months ago
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I wouldn't really agree that boys are just arm candy in magical girl shows and only there to look cute. Yeah, sure the girls' friendships are the focus, but the boys are usually very much involved in the plot and most shows do explore their feelings about the odd things that happen due to magical shenanigans even if they aren't in the know (It's why ML baffles me even more with how they screwed up Adren's arc when he's the deuteragonist, when all these boys are supporting cast and get well rounded arcs)
I'm not much of a winx fan, but the specialists were very much not arm candy. Did the girls talk about them being cute? Yes, it's what teenage girls do. Did the narrative suggest they were good looking? Yes, but that's standard for most love interests in any genre. But we still got scenes with them talking amongst themselves about how they themselves feel and they got a fair share of badass fight scenes even if they wield no magic. A large amount of episodes actually included the boys and girls working as a team solving a mystery or fighting a villain. The girls might deal the finishing blow but the boys were still integral to the plot.
I hope this doesn't come across as hate, it definitely wasn't my intention. I'm just a bit too passionate about the magical girl genre.
I do think you have a good point with ML having a problem choosing a genre or blending two genres successfully.
For the CCS fans, I will add though that Cardcaptor Sakura had both Tomoyo and Syaoran serve as sources of motivation for Sakura. And both Sakura and Syaoran collecting cards even if Sakura is the only one who could seal them and yet never made you question whether Syaoran was even necessary for the job the way ml does with Chat.
I wasn't trying to say that boys have no part to play in magical girl team shows or that they're always treated as having no lives beyond the girls, that's why I mentioned that the Winx Club boys - aka, the Specialists - have their own (mostly off screen) lives and occasionally show up help the girls:
the boys are usually off doing their own thing and only occasionally show up for a date or to give the girls a ride on their cool bikes or magical spaceship
Even then, this is certainly a simplification of the roles that they play in the story, but I kind of had to simplify their roles down to their base components for the original post's discussion as I was talking in broad strokes of how these stories are written.
In terms of those broad strokes, the Specialists are absolutely only there for shipping fodder. That's why each one is assigned to a girl from the start and why their main role in the narrative is supporting their assigned love interest or causing relationship-based drama for their assigned love interest. If it weren't for shipping, then the Specialists would not exist.
While the Specialists do have fleshed out characters and may even effect the plot, the execution of those elements is designed around the girls. A really obvious example of this is the character Timmy, who has character development as the boy's tech guy. Why is he into technology? Because he's the designated love interest for the fairy of Technology and we have to show why they're a good match. Along similar lines, the boys don't really get plots that are removed from the girls because this is the girl's show. Every episode features one or more of the Winx, but the boys are optional and often don't appear.
This is because, narratively speaking, the boys are just love interests and that brings us back to Miraculous' big problem. You can't have a show where Adrien is written like a Specialist while also being part of the Winx Club and where Alya is written like she's part of the Winx Club while technically being more of a Specialist in terms of power set and actual narrative role.
I'm was thinking back to my memories of various Winx Club plots to find one that really highlighted what I mean here and I remembered that one of the big dramas in season one was the reveal that Bloom's love interest - Sky - was in an arranged marriage and had just never told her. As it turns out, that's a great example of what I'm talking about re Adrien!
Is that plot line technically based around Sky and letting his life effect the plot? Sure, but the fallout of that reveal revolves around Bloom, not Sky. The story doesn't really care how Sky's feeling as the conflict progresses. Instead, it focuses on how it affects Bloom and her friends because of course it does! She's the main character. It would be really weird if that plot suddenly focused on her side character love interest and his friends during one of her darkest hours/biggest moments.
Think of that and then consider how the ending of season five is written. Notice any similarities? Sure, this is Adrien's family drama, but because he's just a Specialist, the focus isn't on him. It's on Winx Club member Marinette and Adrien only shows up at the end for a kiss. That is the problem. That is what I'm talking about when I say that Miraculous will randomly write him as if we're watching a magical girl team show where Adrien is just the love interest.
In fact, let's really dig into this example because it's a good one.
You can have a look at the transcript for the finale episode of Miraculous season five here and see for yourself that Adrien doesn't even show up on screen until the final scenes when the big drama is over. The Winx Club wiki also has episode transcripts, so I took a look to see what happened in Winx land during the arranged marriage reveal plot (I love that this is a thing. It's so useful for fact checking myself!) This is the script for the episode after Bloom learns the truth. Sky does not appear even though his lies and family drama are the fuel for this episode's events, which are a major part of the season's arc. Note how perfectly that matches Adrien's writing?
Similarly, Sky's dialogue in the reveal episode is all about Bloom. He's worried about her learning the truth and thinking less of him. To match that, here's Adrien's only real dialogue in the penultimate episode of season five (full transcript):
Adrien:(Covers his ears.) I cannot transform... (Looks at his ring and tries taking it off.) Plagg: What are you doing?! Adrien: I'm not in my right mind. I'm too angry — at myself for falling short of Marinette's love, at my father for sending me here in London, at this stupid app and these rings that use my image... it makes me sick! This nightmare is giving me the horrible feeling that, if I transform, I'll get akumatized and destroy everything with my Cataclysm — Marinette, Ladybug... (Takes off the ring and hands it to Plagg.)
Switching back to Winx. After Bloom learns the truth about Sky, bad things happen because she's depressed. This results in her and the Winx going off on a journey to learn the truth of who Bloom is. After the girls share this big plot moment and Bloom gets her mojo back, the boys show up to be their ride home and to give Bloom her romance moment where Sky wins her back by declaring that he broke off the arranged married because he loves her.
Sky notably doesn't get an arc about choosing between his arranged marriage and his true love. We don't even know that the marriage is broken off until he tells Bloom because that was never really a conflict as far as the narrative was concerned. Of course he's going to pick Bloom! He's her designated side character love interest! He only exists to be with her. We don't need to treat this as a serious thing for him. The arranged marriage plot was never about him anyway. It was about giving Bloom a reason to have a darkest hour moment that moves the plot forward. Similarly, Sky calling off the marriage is nowhere near as important as him telling Bloom that he's called off the marriage to be with her in a grand romantic gesture.
This perfectly mirrors Miraculous' season five ending where Adrien doesn't appear until after Marinette is done fighting her big girl power fight against his father. As far as the writing is concerned, that fight isn't about him. His connection to the villain only really matters in terms of how it affects Marinette's actions during the final battle. Then, when the battle is over, Adrien shows up to give Marinette her big romance moment because, while the plot may be driven by Adrien's family, he is not a Winx club member. He's just a Specialist. Or, in the words of the head writer:
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[image text: She's Barbie, he's Ken. You don't like it. I get it. It won't change. Anything else?] (The full, even more damning context of this tweet can be found here.)
What else can I say other than, "I rest my case."
Oh, and also that I didn't take this as an attack. I just thought it was a good opportunity to really dig into the nuances of this and what I was talking about in that original post as I never know how obvious this stuff is if you don't closely study story telling. As this case study hopefully shows, if a show is about a group of girl friends using the power of friendship, then their love interests may have important roles, but the boys are never going to be more important than the girls and most of the boy's screen time will be focused on romance and how their existence effects the girls because it's ultimately the girls' world. Without them, the show wouldn't exist. Without the boys? Well, then we just wouldn't have a romance plot.
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jasperthetiredghostboi · 7 months ago
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I love SM and USUM, they are like my second most favorite pokemon game, they bring me so much joy
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Something something Natalie's death being ruled an overdose and how even in death she cannot find peace or escape from the judgments or assumptions made about her due to a coping mechanism, however unhealthy, she developed only after society failed her as nothing but a child, something something death being labeled the great equaliser yet proving time and time again not to be, proving that the memory is far to great an stain on it's supposed equality to ever truly balance anything, something something Jackie and Nat parallels and Jackie being remembered as the image she projected of herself that fell apart outside organised society and Nat being reduced to the image others projected onto her that she was only ever given the chance to break free of after the established rules of organised society fall apart, something something how no matter who they are at their core they will forever be reduced to what they were perceived, forever assumed and never understood, something something the reduction of them both to predetermined roles for the dead and the stripping of both their individual personhood being not at all surprising on reflection, just a microcosm of girlhood and womanhood itself, something about how in that way, perhaps death dose equalise after all, if only in the manner in which societies reflection after robs these girls of their human complexity.
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jxsterkind · 22 days ago
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You're mad at M Bison in Street Fighter 6 because he's unbalanced and annoying to fight
I'm mad at M Bison in Street Fighter 6 because him being there completely undoes and removes the most interesting narrative element that game introduced
We are not the same
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geekgirles · 2 years ago
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Okay, so I watched the Zoey 102 trailer and I saw a scene with Quinn running in her wedding dress. I'm gonna say it now, if at some point she runs away with Del Figgalo, I'm taking no hostages, I will fucking burn the place to the ground. Don't test me.
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luxiapoof42 · 1 year ago
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One of the things about Sumire that Atlus should've done was change her phantom thief outfit when she had her true Awakening. Like. Yes, Sumire's whole character arc and confidant ranks 6-10 are about her trying to find/regain her identity as Sumire Yoshizawa when she's been (unintentionally) masquerading as Kasumi for like 1-2 years, and that's fine (except for the fact that it's horribly integrated into the story up until the third semester, and even in the third semester she takes a backseat to Maruki's character development). But her Violet fit only makes sense while she thinks she's Kasumi because she's pretending to be someone else and will continue to pretend to be other people instead of embracing herself for who she is. When she awakened for realsies in Maruki's palace, she should've gotten a completely new and unique fit to show that she's coming into herself and accepting her identity as her own. Akechi got a sick costume change when he decided to show the thieves who he really was. Why can't Sumire get the same treatment??
Anyway, Atlus should hire me
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lord-squiggletits · 9 months ago
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"Rodimus is a better Prime because it didn't hurt for him to bond with the Matrix while for Optimus it did" headcanon/theory my beloathed.
One day I'm literally gonna snap and make a whole post addressing why what's wrong bc I'm tired of the inaccuracy and tired of ppl not understanding the Point TM of IDW and its version of the Matrix/Primacy and even more tired of people putting down Optimus in favor of Rodimus by essentially arguing that being unworthy means you deserve to be punished/put in pain bc you just weren't good enough to hold the Symbol of Ultimate Authority
#it's wrong on so many levels both in terms of lore and as well as like what the general themes of idw1 are#it's just a validation contest using the matrix as some magical symbol to decide who's the most special#which is ironically something that was a plot point in exrid/OP. specifically how stupid of an idea that is ldskjflksd#ppl revealing that they havent read anything besides mtmte/ll as usual#like half the reason ppl think optimus is a bad prime and rodimus is a good prime is literally bc like#optimus was written by an author who was specifically trying to deconstruct him (sometimes to the point of absurdity)#and rodimus was written by an author who takes a more optimistic/idealistic approach. and is also better at writing#but also like am i seriously the only person who thinks that that argument is fucked up?????#like 'OP felt pain which means he's unworthy/not a real prime/not a true leader'#ok so you think that there's a hierarchy of moral goodness in which anyone who falls short of that Moral Ideal should suffer#as a sign of their unworthiness?? like does that not sound dystopian as hell to any of you?? why would you WANT the matrix to work like tha#even if the theory were true (which it isn't) why would you view the matrix as a good authoritative moral judge of character#if its idea of 'moral judgement' is to inflict pain on anyone who's supposedly not truly good/worthy#wasn't the entire point of the ending of LL (including rodimus being a good leader) that everyone is worth it?#like rodimus literally said 'you ARE damn well good enough' or something like that#so what? everyone else in the universe tries their best and that's enough but somehow when OP suffers it's like#a sign that he's not actually a good prime/leader?? we're really going with the punitive perspective purely for One Guy??#swear to god ppl are projecting their authority issues onto Optimus the way they shit on him for things they would excuse#if any other character did it#Optimus is uniquely deserving of pain/being marked as unworthy bc idk he was a cop once and that offends my delicate sensibilities#what's even funnier is how much harm was inflicted by rodimus as a captain sheerly due to his stupidity or ego but everyone forgives him#i guess bc as long as the matrix likes him that means he's valid no matter what he actually does as a person#WHICH IS SOMETHING IDW ITSELF ARGUED AGAINST BC A LOT OF THE PRIMES THAT WERE CHOSEN BY THE MATRIX#WERE DICKS AND THE FACT THEY COULD WIELD THE MATRIX DIDN'T MAKE THEM GOOD PEOPLE#like oh my god stop using the matrix as an arbiter of moral authority in idw1 it literally goes against the themes of the story#including the themes that are embodied in rodimus himself#idw op love
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theblogof-rassilon · 9 months ago
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Hello Rassilon. Apologies for the deception but I rather wanted to make sure you started reading, so I thought it best not to announce myself. I'm assuming you're alone; you always did prefer to read your Asks in private. I wouldn't try too hard to stop reading, there's every likelihood you'll just hurt yourself. So just listen.
Anon ask of Omega (Your Ex) regarding Rassilon's current partners. Ask begins.
I hope you'll forgive me the self-indulgence, but I have worked so very hard for this moment, a culmination of two centuries of work. It's rare that you get the chance to monologue through another, and you can't tell me you're not curious.
Why does an ex seek to talk about their former partner's lovers?
It's a simple enough answer: for satisfying one's curiosity. Uninspired, perhaps, but my god. The discovery, not simply of the variety of partners you take interest in, but that you would quite willingly date the teacher of one of Gallifrey's most infamous children.
It's a strange thing to know about an ex, but the fascination, Rassilon, the fascination of it all. I have dedicated my afterlife to handing myself knowledge of these partners, and I feel nothing but satisfaction in this choice.
I believe there are far more people in this world that would catch your eye than you would ever guess. And I have preceeded all of them.
Of course, their desires did not manifest overnight. When Tumblr first gathered your romantic intereste – Borusa, Banthony, and the rest – to discuss and hypothesize on the nature of their love for you, I felt what I believe we all felt: jealousy, and anger.
But as attention on Tumblr increased in number and discussion on the greatest partner for you emerged, I began to develop a very specific concern. Banthony was so obsessed with his ideas on you and his marriage, even as our fellows began to flirt and confess our love to you ourselves.
I began to worry that if Banthony successfully attempted to catch your gaze, then I would be as much a victim as any, trapped in the nightmare landscape of a twisted world without your love.
At first, I attempted prevention, but the cause seemed hopeless. The only way to ensure I did not suffer the tribulations of what I believed to be an inevitable confession of love was to stop my own feelings of love. So what began as an experiment soon became a race. I would make you fall in love with Banthony before professing your love to anyone else, therefore eliminating what myself or Borusa's feelings may be.
And there, I think, we are brought just about up to date. I have enjoyed our little trip down memory lane, but past here lies only a happy future for you and Banthony.
Goodbye, Rassilon
- Omega xoxo
I- I don't know what to say.
Omega, if this is really you, if you somehow, by every twist and turn of fate imaginable, survived this long in some form... My love for you has always been the greatest of any I have felt. Never have I loved another in the way I loved you.
But that is in the past. I have to stop letting you hold me back. I made my decision that fateful day; I did what I had to do to reach the top, to shape this society- our society, our dream- in the way that it must be shaped. Gallifrey could never have had two rulers. You knew this going in. And, best of all, dearest love, you knew that I would not be able to stand a threat to my power and my control. So, as much as I loved you, Omega, my sweet Ohm, my darling Peylix, I had to let you go. For us, for our home, for our people, for our dream. For Gallifrey. We would both be dead and gone by now if I had not, but now, you live on in your beautous creations, and in our shared society. Look at our children. At what we have created. This must be enough.
Oh, but my darling, you never could be so easily satisfied.
That is why I loved you. And that is why I had to let you go.
If this really were you, I would say, dearest Ohm, that I am glad you are able to let me go. I know that must be exceedingly difficult. But, I am happy with Borusa, and I do not love Banthony. If I did not have Borusa to think of, perhaps things would be different, and I would honour your wishes. Perhaps, then, you may finally find peace.
I am truly sorry that I must leave you trapped in your death, but you will never be in a world without my love. My love for you transcends the grave- and yes, I know, it must be your grave, my darling, for you cannot have survived beyond. I know, in my hearts, that you are gone and that this cannot be from you, not really, for you are lost to all but my memory.
Goodbye, my love. For whatever isn't left of you, for whatever could have been- my love for you persists even now, across regenerations and across death and across time.
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l0ganberry · 10 months ago
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Why can't Dogday be our Glamrock Freddy in the game?????😭😭😭😭😭
That would of been such a great idea! He's been on screen for 2 minutes and DIED!! WHY DO THEY NEED TO KILL HIM!?!?
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keii · 20 days ago
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wait i havent interacted with mha in years besides seeing a bunch of togachako(?) a little while ago. what even happened in the ending
It's not anything bad bad, but SPOILERS AHEAD-- also also I'm rambling A LOT UHHHHH TLDR: I wished romantic subplots were portrayed better in the MAIN series and I feel like Bakugo's ending was so lack-luster and bittersweet for someone like him... especially being the most popular character in the series. It felt too realistic on portraying the mundane nature of our lives that not everything is spectacular and special and he learned that as an adult. But I also liked the message that we, as humans, don't need to limit ourselves to one thing and we're allowed to grow beyond what we originally pursued/wanted to be.
Rough ending of 430 (which was the first ending): After the final fight between Deku and Shigaraki, Deku loses OFA and becomes quirkless again (eventually bc it fades away.) 8 years passed, the rest of his class moves on to become pro heroes while Deku is a teacher at UA and during those 8 years Bakugo was the lead on this big ass project to fund a totally new, state of the art, AND SUPER EXPENSIVE hero suit for Deku that emulates his previous abilities so that he could be a hero again because Bakugo wants to continue their dreams of competing against each other as heroes. Other 1-A classmates also helped, but majority of it was from Bakugo. And it ends with Bakugo extending his hand out to Deku after he handed him the suit saying "Come." LAKDSJFLASK
I can't fit my whole ass summarization and thoughts/commentary of ch 431 in my tumblr ask unfortunately, but here's the link to some rough translations of the final chapter LOL https://x.com/mikkyae_/status/1863181175570698626 My thoughts on certain parts: There's a class 1-A reunion bc Shoto was celebrating on becoming #2 in the hero ranking. Bakugo gives Kirishima and Deku a ride in his brand new Porsche LOL and Bakugo pretty much asked Deku to join his agency (after turning away EVERYONE else who applied bc he wanted someone to say that they wanted to surpass him) and Deku said "huh? oh... no thanks, I'm a teacher now, so that's what I want to concentrate on, but I'm happy I get to do hero stuff again." And Bakugo told Deku that he should be a bit more selfish and begin to prioritize his needs and wants since he's spent so many years behaving and thinking in a way just for the sake of others. And during this conversation Bakugo just... HE JUST DOESN'T LOOK HAPPY? He told Deku "Because you treat everyone as "special" that means that no one really is special to you because there's nothing to differentiate what they mean to you. You won't realize what you have in front of you if you see everything as the same." (This isn't the exact words but yea.) There was a part at the restaurant where 1-A were catching up with others, talking about how there's so little villains that they think that the world will eventually have no need for heroes like that. And Shoto talks about how he feels about his duty as a hero and because of that he doesn't want him being a "hero" to be the only thing defining him, which is why he wants to begin taking classes on how to make chopsticks and bowls since he loves eating LOL. Which I do like that aspect in this chapter where Horikoshi portrays their adulthood as them becoming their own person instead of revolving everything around being JUST a hero, right? Like yeah they're heroes, but that isn't who they are ENTIRELY. And the LAST thing we see of Bakugo is him sending Deku off and a narration bubble that reiterates Bakugo's words to Deku about how Deku doesn't give special treatment to anyone, so that means no one is special to him, and so Deku uses those words to approach Ochako. I DON'T MIND ROMANCE AND SHIPPING. I consider myself a HUGE fan of romance, but my biggest gripes is that, when a story sidelines the romantic subplot of the SUPPOSED main couple and puts greater emphasis on the MC and heroine's other relationships, this just seems... a disservice to end it where we don't get to see the building of the relationship. Does that make sense? Like I always dislike it when authors end their series on two characters opening up to each other when... I'd rather see that shit happening WITHIN THE SERIES ITSELF. Like why are you making me try and fill in the blanks with the bread crumbs when you yourself could've shown me how great they could've been? And again, Deku's strongest relationship within the series was with Bakugo, and for it to be so... lack-luster... like I don't even care about it in a romantic sense bc I don't ship them like that (but the art I've seen of them is nice HAHA) but IDK IT WAS SO BLAND... LIKE ANOTHER TUESDAY. I mean maybe that's what Horikoshi wanted to portray, the mundane nature of that part of their lives, but that ending for Bakugo just seemed so... sad to me... especially considering how popular of a character he was to his series (I mean let's be real, he's number one in the global popularity poll.) Didn't see him smiling once in there or even a grin IDK LOL HE GOT NO SIDEKICK, DEKU REJECTED HIS OFFER TO JOIN THE AGENCY, DOESN'T BANTER W HIM WHEN THEY'RE DOING HERO STUFF, IDK-- AND THEN TOGA BEING USE AS A PLOT DEVICE TO PUSH OCHAKO TO OPEN UP HER HEART TO DEKU AT THE V END.
Just can't help but think why they never got the chance during those 8 years to talk. I do genuinely love MHA, and I enjoy the message that as we grow older our dreams don't necessarily stay the same and we as humans are ever changing-- It just felt a bit bittersweet in a way? Maybe it's because the portrayal of it kinda takes away the fantasy of how things will be an amazing happy ending. Again, it's like how I felt about Naruto's ending where there were absolute BREAD CRUMBS for Naruto and Hinata's relationship, and then all of a sudden they try to cram and backtrack everything and try to make the feelings make sense in a movie after over a decade of showing me how LITTLE Naruto really interacted with her. Same thing with Sasuke and Sakura, had such little interactions and now you want me to read about their relationship in a light novel??? How are you going to have one of the biggest developments within two important characters in your story IN A SIDE STORY... I just wanna see it IN the actual main stories.
Anyway, my last thoughts, YEAH Deku didn't ask for the suit, but then I feel like Bakugo was expecting a bit... more?? IDK DEKU USED TO LOOK AT BAKUGO AS IF HE WAS A SHINNING LIGHT IN THE HEAVENS, ONLY FOR BAKUGO TO COME TO THE REALIZATION THAT NO ONE WAS EVER REALLY SPECIAL TO DEKU (until Deku decided to take Bakugo's words to pursue Ochako). All those years of Deku chasing after Bakugo and wanting to catch up and as an adult, we get the ending where Deku diverges from that path. LIKE DAMN OK LIKE I GET IT BUT IT'S SO??? IDK WHY BUT IT MADE MY HEART HURT A BIT LMFAO. Idk maybe the ending will grow on me bc I do sometimes like bittersweet stuff... that only makes the fanfics all the much better... BUT I ALSO LIKE THE ESCAPISM AND FANTASY OF PEOPLE ACHIEVING THEIR DREAMS AND BEING HAPPY AND HAVING THE LIFE THEY WORKED SO HARD FOR LMFAOOO
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bullseyelover · 2 years ago
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LADY BULLSEYE by CLAY MANN
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mybookhaven · 2 years ago
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A Day of Fallen Night - Samantha Shannon
High Fantasy - Queer Rep - WOMEN
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
I had extremely high expectations for this book, so much that i thought i am going to ruin the experience purely because of all the pent up excitement. Boyyyy was i taken by surprise. This is going to me my favorite read of 2023, yes i know it's still early to decide, no this will not be changed regardless of what i end up reading.
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Designed by David Mann and illustrated by Ivan Belikov
Frankly i do not even know where to start. Everything about this book was magnificent, from the complicated world building, the fascinating character arches, to the intricate dissection of the plot that kept me entranced throughout. I got to fall back into the world of "The Roots of Chaos" so easily that i ache for having to leave it behind again.
The story was narrated by 4 characters: Tunuva Melim of the south, Noziken pa Dumai of the east, Glorian Berethnet of the West, and Wulfert Glenn alternating between west and north. To say that it was easy to relate to and fall in love with each of the characters would be an understatement. Each had their own tone, Tunuva being in her 50s with half her life already spent fine tuning her image of herself, Dumai in her late 20s her life about to be turned upside down, and Wulf and Glorian being close to their mid/late teens battling the world to carve a place to fit themselves into (we do not know the actual age of Wulf for reasons i will keep unknown here because OH BOYYYYY was that one of my favorite plot lines in the book).
The sorrow of ages arrives, and no one is prepared to deal with the wrath of earth unleashed. As i've read "The Priory of the Orange Tree" before, i knew the general direction of the events to take place, and i want to stress the genius of Ms. Shannon in giving us a story that kept me on the edge of my seat regardless of that fact.
The strength and warmth of Tunuva, the love between her and Esbar, an old love nurtured for years and set in admiration, comfort, and lasting desire. The fear, resolve, and retaliation of Queen Glorian who sees the Berethnet legacy for what it actually is. The perseverance of Wulf, a man lost to the world and to himself. The trusting nature of Dumai, a woman raised for the peace of temples swept into the war of politics. I could go on and on about almost every character mentioned in this book, major or minor. The amount of attention given to the creation of this world is beyond my greatest imagination and i cannot thank Samantha Shannon enough for sharing it with us.
I don't want to talk about specific details of this books because i'm trying to stay spoiler free, but it needs to be said that there are moments in this book where i've lost my breath with the unfolding of events leaving me full and empty within a couple of sentences.
I cannot recommend this book, or this series enough. Samantha Shannon is officially my favorite writer and i doubt anything will change that in the foreseeable future.
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tama1313 · 1 year ago
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(HNK spoilers!) I may be biased because Ghost is my favourite but I have a theory why they decided to do that to Cairngorm.
If they only cared for Lapis and projected them over Phos, they didn't have to turn Cairn into Antarct. But they eventually did.
Why?
Well, Phos and Ghost has a lot in common: they both are "outcast" with difficulty at actually socialize (even if in different ways) and they both lose someone they deeply cared (the only gem they could connect with).
Therefore Ghost does not only project Lapis on Phos. They know what's feel ling being through something like this.
Therefore the whole plan to turn Cairn into Antarct in my opinion, was actually more a clumpsy tentative to preserve Phos from any further sorrow and avoid them to suffer like Ghost did (also sweet reminder that is not Ghost's fault if they were born like this and more than once in the manga is hinted that they trust Cairn and evel let them take control over their shared body)
Sure, what Ghost did was wrong but hey! We are in HNK, not in a Disney movie
This manga is full of morally gray characters with ambiguos morality (our beloved protagonist too) which's action are way worse than theirs, and yet I see Ghost getting a lot of hate
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romanticatheartt · 9 months ago
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Well f*cking done people. Keep this up and you'll chase away every single artist. Good job.
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