#squad 4

[maounosekai]

Sorry to keep you waiting! This past week's been pretty hectic eurbfkejnrfkjsnfr

The last comic strip's gonna take a while to be posted, so apologies in advance OTL

Part 1

[incorrctbleach]

Hanataro: [ falls down a flight of stairs ] Isane: I hope you're okay. Yasochika: Stop falling down the stairs. Unohana: How'd the ground taste?

[niscuit-gravy]

四

Bellflower: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

[recurring-polynya]

Hey, pals! Weird Bleach mystery time!!

So, I was perusing the Bleach wiki, as is my wont, when I found this interesting tidbit on the Squad 4 page:

Members of the 4th Division are not allowed in the Human World.

which is cited as coming from Bleach manga; Volume 13, Chapter 111, end of chapter sketch. But when I looked it up, it's this:

It's Squad 4-related, obviously, but it doesn't say anything about the World of the Living. (My copy is the Viz version, and I also checked, ummmm, an online copy that I know of that has a slightly different translation and a compilation I found that someone had made of all the chapter sketches and they were all the same.)

This anecdote is mentioned in more detail under Iemura's entry:

In order to increase his handsomeness, Iemura searched Soul Society for contact lenses but was unable to find any. When he heard rumors of a renegade Shinigami selling contacts for Shinigami in the Human World, Iemura used his self-proclaimed fame and handsomeness to get around the ban on 4th Division members going to the Human World in order to find the contact lenses seller. When the rogue Shinigami instead offered him laser surgery using tiny beams of Reishi, Iemura thought it sounded too good to be true. Upon seeing the machine that performed the surgery, and noticing the dark eyeshadow on the Shinigami's face that resembled burn marks, he chickened out. Due to certain unspecified problems, he can no longer go to the Human World, leaving him wondering what would have happened if he had tried the surgery and if he would still be single.

This is sourced to the chapter sketches accompanying 109-112, which are literally all just Iemura complaining about his job and Squad 11 and Captain Kyouraku, it doesn't say anything about this shaggy dog contact lens story.

Does anyone know what gives? Is it possible that the chapter sketches got changed or moved around when the chapters were collected into a tankouban? It seems too big a difference to be blamed on translation error, but then again, the picture is just Iemura writing in his dumb journal, so maybe the text could have been changed. I feel like I have the vaguest memory of all this nonsense--maybe it got adapted into a Shinigami's Cup at some point??? I don't know!! I just wanted to know if Squad 4 was allowed to go to the WotL, like, if some shinigami got a neck injury on a mission and shouldn't be moved, but now I'm invested. I'm in too deep. someone who is good at Squad 4 trivia please help me out. my family is dying.

[alex-kellers-peg-leg]

Gaz, watching his childhood friend shoot a guy: oh my god!

Gaz, seeing how her legs look in her pants: oh my god—

[anime093se]

[xulips]

best part in anni live

[neighborhoodstories]

Took the squad on a mini road trip 🚙 🍂

[draw-the-squad-like-this]

Draw your OTP like this

[wltsquareih]

[chiricat]

seeing double

[love-byers]

....wait . there are people who don't think the show is centered around will? there are people who don't think a core part of s5 will be wills culmination as a character?? there are people who don't think the entire supernatural plot will circle back to will???

besides the fact that the duffers LITERALLY CONFIRMED that will is the center of s5...

the show itself literally tells you. that is the narrative they've been pushing the entire time.

the entire first season is about finding will. every single plotline is connected to finding will.

mike and the boys are using el to find will

jonathan and nancy are working together to hunt the monster they believe has taken will and barb

joyce is trying to communicate with will to find out where he is and how to save him

hopper is a cop investigating the case, and eventually he and joyce team up to investigate further into the lab conspiracy, believing it's tied to wills disappearance

a massive chunk of s2 is about wills connection to the upside down. he's being hunted by the mind flayer and used as a spy, causing a lot of the conflict but also leading to the resolution.

now that we know vecna was behind all of that, that open so many doors for will in s5. if you use your fucking peanut brain for 5 seconds you'll realize there are lots of things we don't know surrounding will and vecna that will come to light in s5. vecna specifically sought will out and hunted him down. remember s2?

"It wanted to kill you?"

"Not me. Everyone else."

we're also getting flashbacks of will in the upside down so we can see exactly what happened to him the week he was there. clearly there's something important we don't know about. the upside down is literally frozen on the day will went missing. but will isn't important and won't be a big part of s5?

s3 is the first time will is less significant to the plot. he still has the connection to the mind flayer and his ability to sense it is still relevant to the story and helps push it along. bit still, he had significantly less lines and screen time. much of his story is portrayed as him struggling to 'grow up' and not being interested in romance like the others. there are several jokes that present will as simply being childish and reluctant to grow out of it. which a lot of people found sort of annoying. i remember seeing a lot of people enjoying s3, but wishing will had more depth and importance.

but we now know that that's not the whole truth. all of that, him being annoyed and disinterested by romance, just wanting to play dnd with the party, and fighting with mike was all subtext leading into his sexuality and the fact that he's in love with mike. that's been confirmed by actors and the duffers themselves. though will's sexuality was always hinted at, it wasn't meant to fully come to light until s4. so they tried to pass it off as will just being childish. they tried to pass of mike and wills conflict as only being about dnd and growing up. a prime example of this is will tearing down castle byers after his fight with mike. he rips the photo of the core 4 as the ghostbusters down the middle, aka where he and mike are in the center. that is easily passed off as just being about the friend group. people BELIEVED that it was just about the friend group, and that there was no way will was in love with mike. but it's now literally confirmed that he is. like it's insane how many people never even considered that as a possibility. people literally just tune out parts of the show they don't immediately find interesting. i've seen so many comments on byler scenes, for example "it's not my fault you don't like girls", saying "wait i don't remember this scene when did he say that??" people just don't pay attention or think deeper than surface level, which in this case is okay because wills sexuality was meant to be something you slowly realized. the problem comes when people just start denying its significance and refusing to see it for what it is.

if you take in all of will's story with mike and whittle it down to "stupid gay crush on best friend" i don't know what show YOUVE been watching. did you forget that will only remembered his mom and mike when he was possessed and lost his memory? that mike recounting the day they met was enough for will to break through and communicate while possessed? that will puts mikes happiness before his own? that will has literally said he needs mike and always will?

it's not a crush that will can just get over. you know we actually have an example of a simple crush and it's dustin and max. how did that work out? dustin got over max very quickly and it's no biggie. he didn't go on a monologue about how he needs max and always will. he just thought she was cool and pretty.

also, the show spends so much time getting the audience to feel bad for will and want to see him happy. you are SUPPOSED to like him. you are supposed to have empathy for him. will is written to be extremely gentle, kind, and selfless.

will is too nice to say anything bad about anyone, even after being viscously bullied and called slurs for years. even by his own father, WHO HE STILL CANT TALK BAD ABOUT!!!

no matter how much will suffers, he remains kind and selfless. he gave a girl his tonka truck knowing joyce couldn't by him another one. mike says they shouldn't give up on looking for him because will sacrificed himself in dnd to save the party. remember the whole thing in s2 about joyce getting on will for constantly apologizing even when he did nothing wrong? there is no point to that besides evoking empathy for him!!!!! he is sweet and sensitive and doesn't deserve any of this!!!!!!!!

and about bylers being delusional for thinking will and mikes relationship will be a big part of s5 and the culmination of everything in a show about monsters killing people, here's a quote from shawn levy, who has directed many stranger things episodes

"People talk about mythology and The Upside Down, and all that is huge, but the magic of S5 are the characters who find sense of belonging with other and through that connection, become heroes."

everyone loves the stranger things relationships until they're queer. when they're queer suddenly there's no time for romance in a sci fi show, the writers actually suck, and they're just baiting. lumax and their love for each other was a core plot of the season where the big bad was trying to kill her all season. there is an entire plot point about max's memory of kissing lucas at the snow ball saving her life. in a show like this, there is time for relationships and supernatural stuff because they are interwoven when the time comes. they can do the exact same thing with byler in s5. s5 is going to be the longest season thus far. there will definitely be time for relationship development.

so yeah. call me delusional but i don't think the show will end with wills feelings for mike unresolved or with them just evaporating. given everything we know about s5 (relationships and finding belonging being an important factor, noah and finn constantly filming together, leakers saying will has a love interest) and everything we already know about the relationship formulas in ST, literally all the signs are pointing to byler. the only rebuttal people have is calling us delusional because the writers just wouldn't do that. if you actually push past the heteronormativity and consider the fact that the duffers do want to represent queer people in a way that doesn't reinforce the idea that we can never find love or be happy, things will start making a lot more sense.

i'm sorry to have to say this about mike but mike is a character presumed straight who hasn't been super relevant in the supernatural plot for 2 seasons now, just as long as will. his significant plot points are related to el or will. relationship development. and unlike will, he has been an ACTUAL asshole!!!! lots of people stopped liking mike as much after s2 because of his personality change. (ofc i still love mike, but there's been multiple plot lines about mike being a dick for no reason and apologizing for it) but no one has VISCERAL hatred for him like they do will byers. not saying mike deserves hate, cause he certainly doesn't, but the problems people have with will, they only have with will. any other character doing it is fine. 2 seaons of wills feelings for mike is boring and distracting but 2 seasons of mike having the same 'i love you' problems with el isn't?

i'm not saying the sudden hate for will is because it's now clear that he's gay but im kind of saying it

some people can't sympathize with queer issues because they don't care about queer people. they don't empathize with queer people. queer issues bore them.

will byers i will ALWAYS defend you. you are safe with me pookie

[incorrctbleach]

Hanataro: I'm strange but friendly so people tell me things.

[heyhollow]

Are we gonna have a problem?

You gotta bone to pick?

Final decided to do some stuff with them for the au!!

Relationship chart:

Click to read them

Extra fact: Micheal uses a fake American accent around his friends/in public. Cuz I think it's funny and they live in Utah

Close ups

They make me ill your honor

[drawyourblankas]

Draw your characters like this

[alex-kellers-peg-leg]

Gaz is hands down a leg/thigh man. at least in my squad 4 fics. he loves Aggie's legs, he always has and he's never been shy to tell her. whenever she's insecure about her legs, usually wearing a skirt or dress—her tell, particularly on cooler days—Gaz would outright tell her how gorgeous she looked, even if it seemed a bit of a strange thing to tell your best friend. Well, if Taylor could, why couldn't he?

Soap is an ass man, to the day he dies. You could probably catch him smacking Taylor's ass if you were quick enough to look. It doesn't help him that Taylor's always working out—for her job, not him—and every pair of pants she owns shows off his favourite butt. Aggie excuses his ass slapping; she does it too, it's only right Taylor lets her man slap it too!

Ghost never cared too much about whether he liked Aileen's ass, boobs or thighs more. Not that he could ever admit to preferring any of them in front of Soap. Every time Gaz has asked, Soap has screamed that he doesn't want to hear it before leaving the room. It's only fair the poor man doesn't want to hear about his baby sister's body! She's gentle with him, and knows to back off and Ghost's having troubles with the day. That's what he likes most about her, it's just a benefit she's hot.

None of this is to say Price is a boob man. Sure, he loves Sophia's chest more than anything—maybe—and would he keep his face there all his life if he could? Perhaps. But that doesn't mean anything. Even if Sophia tells the girls, who tell their men, that Price is all about her boobs, doesn't mean he's a boob man. No, sir.

This isn't to say Gaz and Soap only like their women for their bodies, as much as their loud compliments make them out to be so superficial.

Gaz loves Aggie's no-tolerance-for-bullshit attitude, he finds it hot when she's yelling at rookies for screwing around whenever he's popping in with her lunch. Then it's adorable when she goes all soft the moment she sees him and graciously accepts the warm, home cooked meal.

And don't get Soap STARTED on Taylor lifting typically heavy-to-a-five-foot-six-woman things! The way he knows she doesn't need him to lift the couch so the cat can get out but she asks him anyway has this man all mush. Not that any of the guys know that.

And Ghost is 100% a leg man with the jeans Aileen's always wearing.