#thanks for attending my ted talk

[prncssguya]

on hwang in-ho/front man, seong gi-hun and their dynamic.

first, idk why people are getting so upset at other people calling gi-hun dumb, we were told that in the first season. lol being bright is not his strongest trait but he has a good heart and we love that about him. however, he is still an idealistic gullible idiot with a gambling problem. except this time his gambling addiction is backed by a sense of justice and righteousness and he no longer gambles with money, he’s gambling with people’s lives. front man asked a good question at the end of the season, “did you have fun playing the hero?” can we even call gi-hun the hero of the story anymore? he gambled with people’s lives and front man showed him the consequences of his moral heroics.

front man only agreed to help gi-hun with his revolution when he mentioned about "small sacrifices for the greater good". i think he reveled in the fact that the “good guy” was willing to allow a few innocent people to die for the greater good to stop the games, which is exactly what the entire VIP theory is to rid the world of 'trash' to improve the world. notice how gi-hun's moral code and belief also changed, from being "nobody should die" into "yeah small sacrifice is okay as long it's for the greater good" at this point, he just proved that front man's belief is actually valid. AND he gets more of his own people killed in the pointless battle with the soldiers that they had no chance of winning. now he gets to feel responsible for all those deaths and the death of his friend and for whatever additional torture they cook up in the next games (as punishment for the escape attempt).

now on hwang in-ho, i believe he was once a good man and the story he told gi-hun was the truth. but in the end he lost a kidney, lost a wife, a baby, lost his money, got fucked over by the wrong people and got into serious debt and had to play this game to help his wife and probably it was too late to save her. he might have played the games like gi-hun but saw how ruthless and greedy people are and resolved that they don't deserve help

i don’t think in-ho wants/will kill gi-hun, but he wants him to understand things from his perspective and show him that his compassion for the people in the games is foolish. you can tell the frontmen (the old man and in-ho) are extremely fond of gi hun. not only did he protect their original front man when nobody else did, he then won the games and thus their respect as he is now as rich as them. he's no longer "trash", he’s an elite like them. i think they both actually kept tabs on him after he won (i wonder if they do that for all winners? inserting them with gps chips?) because they knew he had not used his reward money and in-ho wanted gi-hun to get on the plane and be happy with his daughter

there’s one interesting aspect of the games that makes front man such a complex character. the fact that they’re operating a organ transplant trafficking network. in a way, he’s creating some good to come from a really fucked up situation. but is it really for the good of others who desperately need it, people like his wife, like his brother? or is it just a money making scheme?

either way, i don’t think there is going to be a redemption arc for in-ho, he’s too far gone. we may get to see more of his human side if he manages to see jun-ho again. the only time we’ve seen genuine emotions from him was when he shot his brother like he seemed distraught

the real cliffhanger for me, is will gi-hun stay true to his belief that people can be good, or will he be forever changed into a villain and become the next front man…? after the events of this season i don’t see how his will doesn’t shatter. he’s witnessed how humanity consistently chose money over survival, he’s lost two close friends, his mother, abandoned his daughter. he has gained nothing from wanting to stop the games and this clearly feels like an origin story for the next front man. it’s clear the front man has won this round and i think squid game will either die with 001 or continue with gi-hun as game master

another thing i find funny that i don’t see many mention is how gi-hun is like the luckiest guy in the fucking world. but i don’t think him being alive this long is plot armor, it makes sense. the games exist for the entertainment of rich sadists who have so much money they don't know what to do with it (remember what old 001 said in s1 about life being no fun for both people with no money and people with too much money). and i’d imagine killing hundreds of poor debt-ridden fools year after year gets boring. especially when said fools are desperate enough to gamble with their lives because they think they can beat the system by playing better than everyone else and surviving and getting the money.

gihun is different because he got the money, got out, and still came back. not because he's unfeeling or because he wants more money, but because he's still convinced he can beat the system.

if you're a rich bored gazillionaire, would you rather watch some randos die or would you rather watch this exceptional idiot fail again and again until he learns that his ideals are meaningless and people are inherently greedy and equality is a myth and people at the bottom of the barrel don't get to question the system?

if you're an asshole gazillionaire, you don't want someone to challenge you and just get away with it. you want to hand them 45.6 billion won and make them go away quietly, traumatized, after breaking them psychologically by making them do horrible things until they understand they're just powerless "horses". if they insist on challenging you and your system and your beliefs (money = boundless power), you teach them a lesson and show them their place in the most manipulative and cruel way possible. if gihun dies right away, that's boring. so he can't die, he needs to suffer. he needs to concede defeat.

also, i find it funny how people are comparing hwang inho and gihun dynamic to hannibal and will graham. makes sense, their whole cat and mouse game, front man hiding his true nature from gi-hun the same way hannibal does, trying to corrupt the righteous protagonist, sowing chaos, testing him and observing his behavior like a lab rat, the crazy tension and staring contests, the gaslighting and manipulation. and with the fact that they think lee byung-hun looks like mads mikkelsen. i never put the two of them together but now i can’t unsee it lol

[dearmyloveleys]

A directing and producing perspective on this WHC1 scene and why I think it’s 100% romantic in nature

Just to preface, I completely agree why some will argue that Sieun and Suho are platonic. There are so many scenes between them that I arguably will even do the same for my friends. I can even excuse the scene where Suho says Sieun is warm hearted in the hospital room and their mini training session by the Hangang. But this scene in the screen grab. THIS.

There is absolutely no reason for this scene to be shot and directed the way it is without leading the audience’s minds. There are zero heterosexual thoughts going through each of the characters’ minds in this scene and the scene direction, even way before when Suho goes to Sieun’s cram school to pick him up. Zero. Zilch. Nada. This scene was not casual at all.

1. Suho picking Sieun up from cram school

First of all, we need to understand that in film, blocking and scripting work hand in hand. Most of the time, these two work so well together that they form cliches in genres of film, especially for TV series. They form how a scene is shot for each line said/unsaid and guides the viewers in their processing and understanding of the scene. The moment Suho shows up on his motorbike waiting only for Sieun outside school, alarm bells go off in my head — dude why does this feel like a typical date scene in teen romance shows. Unless you’re a parent or sibling, you likely to be their romantic partner coming to pick em up.

There is this trope you must know about if you watched and read enough romance shows and books, especially het romances. I call this the “I don’t know why I came but I came anyway because I just want to see you”

Character A: *shows up at Character B’s house”

Character B: “What’s up?”

Character A: “Nothing. You wanna go out?”

If not dating, these characters are on the cusp of asking each other out — It’s almost scene for scene, line by line from Suho. And the way Suho just perches outside the cram school so casually waiting to pick Sieun up, it’s so unbelievably partner coded when it falls into that typical romance trope.

2. Suho wearing the helmet for Sieun

It doesn’t help that Suho takes up the helmet, wears it for Sieun and says, “Cute”. Cute? *throws up in the toilet* Suho absolutely is flirting again. And as many others have already pointed out, Sieun hates physical touch but he just goes along with it when it comes to Suho. This entire scene is a good example of that. He has absolutely 0 physical reaction to any of Suho’s advances, and if you watch the scene where Suho places the helmet on Sieun slowly, Sieun’s hands drop to his sides immediately when the helmet is taken out of his hands by Suho.

There’s not even a moment where he freezes and doesn’t understand what’s happening. It’s so adorable — it’s him saying: okay you do it for me. Wear this helmet for me. Dear lord. If I want to be delulu even further, not only does Sieun go along with it, you can even analyse it as Sieun being pliant.

And of course, the highlight of this entire scene, Sieun’s endless ocean eyes at Suho when they arrive at the apartment block to deliver food.

3. When you give me those ocean eyes

From the entire series alone, I can tell all the actors are very much purposeful and directed in their acting. Whatever that needs to be shown is shown. There really isn’t a need for nearly 10-15s of screen time just solely focused on Sieun staring at Suho like that. Like what? Like he’s absolutely infatuated, and we know Park Jihoon’s eyes tell one hell of a story if he wants them to.

Also to reiterate: 10s of a show’s screentime easily translates to 10min of irl action with multiple takes. That scene is directed for about 10-15min irl — it is on purpose to tell the audience about something. We as creatives can’t really put a scene in for shits and giggles. It tells us that something is probably going on between Suho and Sieun but they don’t want to handle that, so this is my guess: they do not show Suho’s close-up reaction shots at all to perform a certain damage control.

4. Production team probably deleted Suho’s reaction shots because it got too gay

🧎‍♀️ If they had included it, it would have just been too high on the gay radar. Because let’s face it, we’d have so many more edits and media noise of that scene if we had Suho’s reaction clips. It’s even worse, because the production team would have definitely filmed reaction shots for Suho and they’re purposefully not adding him into the final product. The post-production team highly likely edited a version of this where both Sieun and Suho were included, but it turned out too romantic so they only kept Sieun in.

A typical, platonically passing scene will be something like their Hangang lesson: you can go check it out, both Sieun and Suho have their respective reaction shots edited in there.

Just for Sieun alone, it’s already filmed with a blocking that’s so romantically shot — a close up, 3/4 profile shot of him staring up at Suho with a soft light illuminating his face, and Suho’s hands would have been on his face if not for the helmet.

In this exact moment in my article header image, it looks like either one is going to kiss the other. The image by the official Waave site doesn’t help: What, am I looking at a romance OST album cover for School 2015? And Suho lifts the visor and pats Sieun’s head again. Patting, alright, whatever.

But the lifting of the visor seems like such an additional step that’s not needed, but it comes so naturally from Suho. Why does he need to do that? 🤨 Plausibly, he’s still physically flirting here. It’s highly likely that he’s flirting with Sieun the entire scene, from picking him up to tricking him into doing the delivery.

5. Conclooooosions

Just like how Sieun grows to be comfortable with physical promixity and touch with Suho, Suho begins to be a tad bit more touchy with Sieun than his usual physical self. Furthermore from what I can grasp, I don’t believe Suho is one to initiate a hangout outside of serious matters (aka beating enemies up), it’s always either Beomseok or Yeongyi.

Hell, even Suho isn’t willing to get out of his comfort zone to help Sieun initially, and now, he’s skipping work, going up to Sieun on his bike for a surprise date. And Sieun? He’s not studying to spend time with Suho. It’s always the going out of one’s usual routines that indicate a change in a relationship and feelings.

These scenes means an awful lot because there is just so much unsaid behind Suho’s actions and Sieun’s eyes. It drives me mad mad. There is absolutely a tension going on between them that is glossed over in these scenes. It’s the only scene that I cannot really find myself excusing to not be romantic in nature. Dare I even say, in whatever untold story there is behind these scenes that night, it intensifies both of Sieun’s and Suho’s motivations behind the actions they take in the next/last few episodes.

[afrofairysblog]

Rant time!!!

So rn I'm flopping with accoun̈ting rn yet im trying to do better. Im going to tutoring classes, trying to practice the work , talking to people in my class, telling my friends i gotta study and calling my dad to update him about the class or asking him questions since he's an accountant (how ironic). However, today, for this exam, I still got a 42%, which was less than the last exam, which was 48% . This can be due to test anxiety, panicking that i forgot a step in the problem while taking the test or my still working progress time management. The night before, my dad called me to review with me since he wanted me to do well( cause he's words not mine " I did not pay this amount of money for you to fail and for you to go out of state) and while doing some problems, it's like I was in freeze mode on a question that I knew yet the way he was framing the question kinda confused me and when it did and I didn't say the right answer, he basically said that I was stupid and called me the r word while repeating the question I was going over that I eventually got right. Than he was saying that this why you should come back to L.A cause I wasn't thus slow at processing things before but because I'm distracted, around "a dumb environment and people " and I'm not focusing, I suck at the class. With this conversation being held after I came back from a hate shift at work ( it was 1 am) and I was already frustrated with the conversation in general , the whole mixture of genuine advice and tough love with a mix of words I didn't appreciate and me feeling like I was being man- explained, the whole stereotype of not having a fun time doing math with your dad especially if he's an African parent continues to be true. As of now I got some good advice from my sister ( she said that it'll be OK and to talk to my professor to have a game plan , actually get some sleep and prove my negative thoughts and dad wrong cause I'm not dumb) and my old economics teacher (who basically said the same thing lol. Regardless, I just wanted to write this down cause even tho there might be doubts and anxious thoughts, I can't let it weigh me down . I'll have to eventually have a talk with my dad about the language he uses and continue to know that I got this and that grades don't define me ( I'm smart af🙂‍↕️)

As of now I'm just feeling like this picture

[thequeenofsarcaasm]

I feel like Gojo would be a Barbie girlie.

Let me explain.

Although Ruth Handler created her to challenge gender expectations and give little girls the freedom to dream further than motherhood, Barbie remains the quintessence of traditional (white and cishet) womanhood. Despite Mattel’s “efforts” to make her more inclusive and interesting, to the general public Barbie will always be the blond, conventionally attractive doll that most kids, especially girls used to play with. Gojo was born as and remained the pillar of the horribly conservative, predatory and oppressive Jujutsu system despite hating the way it works and making it his life mission to change it. Although he put great efforts into making his students become stronger and reliable, he still represented the traditional values that are so dear to the system. He’s both a “relic” of the old system and a harbinger of changing ideas. Just like Barbie.

Geto would be a Bratz because of the legal issues, his style, his power unexpectedly being important enough to allow him to keep up with Gojo, and all the problems that followed. He craved disruption but was put to rest by Gojo (Barbie vs Bratz copyright infringement lawsuit that Mattel won lol). It gets even funnier when you remember he used to wear a Gojo-kesa and acted like he was Buddha (Gojo) reincarnated.

[expectiations]

thinking (as usual) of how in 2013, Doctor/River and Mattex were in the top 100 ships of the year but i was too young to appreciate that fact

[heavens-sin]

Who do you ship doffy with

law because i thrive on that toxic shit. but that doesn't mean I'm steering clear of other pairings. i like this stick figure with croc. Dofuwani my beloveds. I'm open to pair him with oc's and shit but just realize this fucker aint prince charming. he burns orphanages, he would fuck your mother and father.

[rowdyluv]

why do I feel like I always owe someone an explanation🙃

i should be to feel the way i do and not have to explain why i feel that way. but alas i still find myself backing myself up to make sure whoever knows that my thoughts are valid.

anyways continue with your regularly scheduled events

[mechtroid]

Okay but also it's kinda not weird? Like, Don't Get Caught Leaking 101 is "don't let them know who you are", preferably down to modifying your punctuation, word selection, and posting times. Pretending to be a different nationality and gender is a reasonable extension of that.

Crazy Buttocks on a Train, one of the most prolific leakers who lasted 7+ years before stopping (likely not even because they got caught) avoided being identified by posting like this:

I'm just dumbfounded by the number of people who saw a leaker, a person whose entire existence hinges on staying anonymous and their identity never being revealed say they're a Japanese woman and went "hey yeah I'm going to trust this person implicitly!"

odd day to be a persona fan

[oh23]

Bruce's child rearing experiences:

Dick: I want vengeance. revenge. i want my mom and dad. youre not my fucking dad. i miss them.i want them back. i'll swing o the fucking chandeliers out of spite. fuck u. youre awesome. i need to kill the man who murdered my parents asap.

Jason: okayyyyy rich asshole this FUCKS !! do u have books- omgg thats sooo dope wowzers. So i don't need to steal tires anymore?? YOU HAVe A PORSC- YOU HAVE 7 ???????

Tim: i need to not be a burden, need to help, i need to be better i need to be the best i cant let him down i can fix him i can fix him

Damian: i need to prove my worth. Father, i will be the perfect heir. i will attempt to eliminate all my competition, as ive been taught. my age shan't hinder The Mission father.

[pikahlua]

In regards to your post on Izuku’s self sacrificial traits, how do you think the dark hero arc plays into this? I thought the point of it was to sort of pull his self sacrificial nature back a bit with the whole “you can’t do it on your own” and “don’t kill yourself for the cause” thing. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive, i get that “bakugou looks up to Deku’s self sacrificial nature as a positive trait he doesn’t have” and “Deku should rely on others and not hurt himself” can both coexist. But they also give mixed messages narratively. Is one not condemning it while the other puts it on a pedestal?

THANK YOU!!! For taking the bait.

I've been ranting about this theme a bit because, from what I can tell, it might be the biggest point MHA is trying to make to answer the question "What is a hero?" Because of MHA's length, the points of the argument have been rather spread out. I think people's understanding of the argument has been distorted by the length of time between the points. Overthinking is the enemy here.

But really, why are people coming away from MHA with the message "Heroes shouldn't sacrifice themselves"? The message is coming from somewhere. The problem is it's probably coming from a conflation of concepts. What is self-sacrifice? That's the question that gets at the root of the problem here.

In the west, "sacrifice" has negative connotations. "Something is lost." "Someone suffers for the sake of a goal." "Someone gives up something." The focus is entirely on the pain experienced by the one sacrificing.

But the point MHA is trying to make is that there's a difference between "suffering loss" and the sacrifices a true hero makes. Izuku isn't a remarkable hero because he's willing to destroy himself at the drop of a hat. The focus is not on his drastic behavior but on the recipients of his drastic behavior. The point is, sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice is meaningless, but sacrifice for the sake of others, well, now we're getting somewhere.

It's the "for the sake of others" part that matters here. Izuku is a hero because he cares for others, because he wants to save others, and what he's willing to sacrifice to accomplish that is merely the measure of his conviction, of his heart.

The quality of self-sacrifice is a core trait measured just to gain enrollment at UA, the most prestigious hero school in the country. Self-sacrifice is fundamental to being a hero. Do you really think the point of the MHA story is to demonstrate how self-sacrifice is a bad thing, that heroes shouldn't sacrifice themselves? Do you think the rest of Class 1-A wouldn't be willing to sacrifice themselves should the need arise so long as it's in order to save someone?

The difference between Izuku and the rest of the world, at least at the beginning, is that he is sensitive to calls for help. He is able to perceive those in trouble that others cannot perceive. Others get confused by the context or are not in a constant state of listening for cries for help. Others cannot always tell when is the right time to act or if acting is the correct choice. Izuku never wavers in the face of such questions. He always acts, because he cannot help but act. It is who he is. It's his nature to be this way. And this is the spirit that slowly influences his classmates and the rest of society, this is the spirit Katsuki fears and later comes to emulate, this is the ideal Izuku admires in his hero All Might for which he always strives.

Heroes want to save, but some of them just don't know how--and Izuku teaches them how. Izuku teaches them that, for true heroes, to save others is more important than anything else they could ever want. It is more important than their self-perceived weaknesses, than their egos, than their desires for vengeance, than their small-time dreams, no matter how noble or justified or important any of those things might be. To be called a hero, one must be prepared to risk it all.

These are the traits Hero Killer Stain wishes to promote in society. These are the qualities he exonerates from assassination. A person who lives for the sake of "service to others" is the sort of person who has more right than anyone to "cling desperately to life." Society needs such people, and for that very reason such people need to stay alive. This is the collectivist ideal. If everyone is concerned for the well-being of others, then everyone is looking out for everyone else. If you're ready to save others and risk yourself to do so, others will risk themselves to make sure you make it out alive too, and thus everyone is protected. If you do end up perishing due to self-sacrifice, it is a tragedy, not self-determination, but then your actions still protected the whole, and the whole will continue to protect everyone in it to the best of their abilities because your self-sacrifice was appreciated and the spirit of your goodness carries on in others.

But that's a whole lot of waxing poetic about self-sacrifice. I did acknowledge that people are picking up a critical message. Where then is the criticism?

It comes from Shouta Aizawa.

Aizawa is the major proponent of rationality in this case. Self-sacrifice = good is not the end of the philosophy. It is as you say, something must balance it out.

People often think Aizawa's philosophy boils down to "I don't want heroes to be self-sacrificial," but that's not actually what he's saying. Aizawa's philosophy is to make the distinction between self-sacrifice and self-destruction.

"Being self-sacrificing isn't the same...as being suicidal. Many kids confuse the two. So I'll give them what they want. A 'death,' so to speak."

The hallmark of heroic self-sacrifice is that it's done for the sake of others. Self-destruction is different; it is for the sake of the self. Some people would take the chance to mask their self-destruction as self-sacrifice by looking for a way to die while saving others. That's not the point of heroic self-sacrifice. Self-sacrifice is a last resort. You save a person in trouble because you care about preserving their well-being no matter the cost, but some sacrifices are not in balance. Say someone is trapped in a room and you want to get them out, and you have a battering ram and a bomb. Should you strap a bomb to your body and explode open that door to let the person out? Wouldn't that be a heroic sacrifice to save someone? No! It's certainly a sacrifice, but it's not a heroic one. You should act to preserve ALL well-being, including your own. Use the damn battering ram.

Consider the circumstances at play in the quirk assessment test. Izuku was ready to sacrifice his entire arm, his physical constitution, for the sake of demonstrating his power. What does Izuku incapacitating himself achieve were Aizawa to let him do so? It would merely be to prove his strength to someone. No one is at risk here. No one needs saving. Izuku has no person to receive the good will of his self-sacrifice.

"Whatever you were planning...it would have inconvenienced those around you."

"You're totally useless after saving just a single person."

Self-sacrifice is still a sacrifice, which means it has costs and consequences. Who loses because of self-sacrifice? Many people. The person who sacrifices themself loses their life or well-being, which, if others asking for help are worth saving because you believe all people are equal, then you are also worth saving and in just as much need of help. Additionally, your loved ones are harmed because they care about you. And the rest of society suffers because it was better for having you in it; you can no longer save anyone else. To save the most people possible, a hero should strive to survive. A hero should strive to win.

Taken all together, you get the philosophy that allows Katsuki's team to triumph during the Joint Training Arc, which was the entire point of this match. Note how all the above logic is summed up quite succinctly by the gremlin himself.

Katsuki is dedicated to winning the match and leads the charge, but that puts him at risk of being targeted. However, he's willing to be in that vulnerable state because he trusts others to save him. That's what empowers him to put himself on the line. His goal is a complete victory, which means that self-sacrifice is considered a loss. There are costs and consequences, and heroes should do their best to mitigate them. Katsuki is doing everything in his power to reduce the necessity of self-sacrifice, but not because he thinks self-sacrifice is bad. He thinks needless self-sacrifice is bad, and so he strives to eliminate the need for it.

But that means he does acknowledge that there are times self-sacrifice is necessary. He's grown up afraid of Izuku's heart because Izuku demonstrates how easily self-sacrifice comes to him, and that puts Katsuki on the spot. Katsuki doesn't know if he is capable of self-sacrifice. Because he's so competent and strong, he's never noticed a need for sacrifice in his life. He's never had to demonstrate self-sacrifice, and if that's such a fundamental part of being a hero, Katsuki doesn't know if he really is a hero at heart.

But as I mentioned above, the reason he never had a chance to display self-sacrifice as a trait is because he lacked the ability to tell when people need saving. He looks around and sees a bunch of people who are wasting their potential. He thinks some people who seem to ask for help are much more capable than they behave.

Note how Katsuki failed his hero license exam. If Katsuki had stuck around the triage center and fought Gang Orca when he showed up, Katsuki likely would have passed. But Katsuki decided to forego battle to run around and save people. And hilariously enough, the bystanders who dock Katsuki points point out that Katsuki correctly identified them as low-priority targets to save. He's pretty good at figuring out who DOESN'T need saving. They end up docking him points because of his inappropriate tone, which is possibly the funniest way they could have said "Well you're technically right but also holy crap you're bad at this."

And that's the point. Katsuki knows saving people is important, and he perceives Izuku is the absolute best at it. Katsuki is constantly looking for a way to compete with Izuku in this realm because he has to. Katsuki wants to be the best, and to do so he has to improve in this area. Izuku pisses him off because he is extremely adept at perceiving calls for help from those who truly need it, and Katsuki notices every time Izuku is faster on the uptake. It happens at the sports festival with Shouto, which is why Katsuki considers the sports festival a loss.

Katsuki does get better at this, and that's what allows him to eventually get his hero license. Think of his behavior during the school cultural festival, where he sees his classmates trying to appease their peers out of guilt. That's people pleasing. That's ego. Katsuki won't have any of it. From his perspective, if Class 1-A wants to make sure everyone has a good time, then everyone means everyone. Class 1-A has to enjoy the festival too, and the best way to do that is to throw a badass concert. By enjoying themselves and being proud of their well-earned accomplishments, by thriving, Class 1-A demonstrates to their peers how to best win against all those tragedies that tried to bring them down. Self-deprecation for the sake of appeasing others' ill will when that ill will is unjustified is just self-gratification. It's just a way to stop feeling guilty, but the only purpose that serves is to debase yourself. Class 1-A didn't do anything wrong to the other classes, so Class 1-A does not need to atone to them. Self-sacrifice in this case brings no benefit to anyone. Instead, the classes should all be thriving together.

All of these lessons converge in the Dark Deku arc. Others express worry for Izuku's behavior because they see him as engaging in self-destruction. They want him to rest, but Izuku perceives there are people in need of help, so he can't help but save them. And not everyone condemns Izuku's behavior.

Kudou encourages it.

The problem at play in this arc is the question of power. Izuku has power, which means he is capable of saving people. And many people are in need of saving. How many people can one finite Izuku save? That is the question he is set to answer. He is facing the same question as All Might, but All Might's example was to save people while he was losing One For All. All Might had a finite amount of power that he was going to lose in time, so he decided to spend that dwindling power on saving as many people as he could. That would be the more virtuous use of his finite power.

But All Might's flaw was in rejecting the help of others when others were capable of helping him. Izuku falls into the same trap. He thinks he has to save people alone because he's the only one capable of it.

This is Kudou's spoken caveat. "Inaction is not an option," so yes Izuku needs to be acting in this moment. "That said...if there's anything that could bolster Izuku Midoriya now, it would be..."

The answer is not merely "friends." We are given the answer that Izuku needs friends at first, but this is a special type of friend. Izuku needs friends who "share his resolve," who "can match his pace...and keep running alongside him." Izuku needs comrades (nakama)! He needs friends who want to save just as much as he does. He needs friends who are just as capable as he is. That's why Class 1-A has to first demonstrate their capabilities to Izuku so that he can be convinced.

Katsuki doesn't criticize Izuku's ideals either. In fact, he openly praises them.

All Katsuki is saying here is "You're doing the right thing. Saving people, even at cost to yourself, is the right thing. We want to help. We can help. Don't reject us.

"Don't pay a price when you don't have to."

tl;dr

In a collectivist society, the ideal is that everyone looks out for each other, thus is everyone protected.

Self-sacrifice has costs to the self, to one's loved ones, and to society. The price paid must be worth the good achieved.

The virtue in self-sacrifice is that it is done when necessary for the sake of others. Anything less is self-destruction, which is harmful to society.

Heroes have a duty both to be prepared to self-sacrifice and to mitigate the need for self-sacrifice.

Rejecting the help of others who are capable of helping is to reject the collectivist ideal.

Izuku's self-sacrifice is virtuous BECAUSE IT IS FOR OTHERS' SAKES. Izuku's self-destruction and rejection of help from others are what the story criticizes.

Izuku Midoriya's nature represents the ideal of self-sacrifice because of his innate desire to save others, and Katsuki Bakugou recognizes that trait as core to being a hero and thus admires Izuku for it--but he's also afraid he doesn't have that trait for a large chunk of the story. Izuku's journey to accepting the help of others, Katsuki's journey to discovering his self-sacrificing spirit, and their mutual admiration of each other all provide the perspective for the audience to understand this ideal: heroes are those who live in service of others.

[expectiations]

i respectfully disagree. The Doctor has been shown that he gets jealous and possessive over River.

In s5 Time of Angels/Flesh of Stone, 11 gets all jealous when he thought River and Father Octavian were engaged "in a manner of speaking". (There needs to be more GIFs of this scene)

In the Christmas special "The Husbands of River Song", 12 huffs and puffs every other moment at seeing River around King Hydroflax and Ramone.

Later as they're trying to keep the ship from crashing, they have a discussion on his jealousy and River reminds him of his other marriages and he's like "but I never told them my damn name Rivah! I never dressed up and took them on dates! I never offered them to come travel with me several times twice only to be turned down! I never preen every time before I go see them! I don't seek them out! I don't wear a wedding ring to commemorate those marriages! I don't let them assume I'm some random nobody but immediately introduce who I am! And I definitely don't let them drag me around on a 'whatever it was you had going on' spree!" Oh we didn't see that happen but they definitely had that conversation offscreen.

anyways, some people argue that they have an open marriage. it depends on who you're asking really. considering that the Doctor's line of thought is "River + marriage = love" and got all despondent watching River manipulate one guy after the other and thought oh perhaps i'm not really that special but he is the idiot he is. but River, on the other hand, is "not a marriage person" and Moffat once said she married every single species out there. at the end of the day, no matter how many others River may have dated, flirted, banged, even married with, the only person who holds her hearts is the Doctor as she once told Jack when he made her choose between him and the Doctor (i refuse to speak on how he didn't respect her 'no' and chased her all over the universe instead and even tricked 12 into leaving Darillium just so he could have River. like Jack, no. fucksake no. BigFinish whatthefuck? that's the farthest thing from being romantic. but i did say i refuse to speak on that.)

what was my point again? oh yeah, River does have other spouses but the Doctor definitely gets jealous (even gets jealous over their other selves lol) and they haven't cheated, considering that they barely know how to interact with people at times. (notice how 11 ups his flirting game during s6 onwards for and because of River? yeah)

anyway, i'd just like to do away with the notion that the Doctor does not get jealous over River Song's other spouses, including his other selves.

The Doctor x River Song:

And I love ‘em for it <3

[afrofairysblog]

Yall, I gotta miss the weekend festivities cause of work in about punch the wall like a white boy 😔

And YaYYayY to Capitalism 🙃

[lsunstreakerl]

me: I'm gonna take a break from ff and actually read a book for once

*5 minutes later*

me: *aggressively refreshing my ao3 bookmarks to see if anyone's updated*

this is what the subscribe function was created for 😭

[salomania]

Gwydion is a evil little man

[darkmatilda]

i dont really believe in reincarnation i mean sometimes do but mostly i don’t think about it. i rarely have those “hmm who could i have been in a past life” moments.

but i think i know. i was a middle-class family’s teacup. they had a whole set at home, but one afternoon, when their two sons were left alone because the parents were at work one of them kicked a ball or maybe they wanted to play in the kitchen and then BAM—one of the teacups fell.

one of them started yelling "mom’s gonna kill us...” but then the other one jumped up picked up the teacup, and shouted "hey, nothing happened!”

but something had happened, because the teacup was cracked. there was a tiny black line on it, blending in with the floral pattern, so it wasn’t that noticeable.

one of the brothers was still panicking and felt guilty, but the other calmed him down and told him to keep his mouth shut. then he put the teacup back with the others.

time passed, and every time the family had guests over the parents would ask one of the sons to set the table. both boys knew what had happened, so they deliberately avoided that specific teacup—it had a crack, it was marked, so it stayed in the cupboard.

years went by, the boys grew up, and they forgot all about the teacup incident. so when one of them invited his fiancée over for dinner and had to set the table, well, he wasnt thinking about playing with his brother or the fallen dishware. he was more worried about what his family would think of his chosen one. absentmindedly, he used that cursed teacup.

they ate talked, and drank tea. the fiancée lifted the teacup to her lips leaving a trace of pink lipstick on its rim. inside, the steaming black tea swirled. she raised it once more...and it cracked. it shattered into pieces, tiny shards of glass scattering across the room like shrapnel.

the shards got into her eyes, bloody tears streaming down her cheeks. and into her mouth, her throat—internal injuries killed her because they were just so unlucky (poor girl didn’t stand a chance)

the family was sued by her relatives! the son fell into despair and took his own life!

4 years later, some niche youtuber made a video essay about it calling it "deaths you won’t believe actually happened" and the surviving brother sued him too.

actually he didn’t sue him out of offense but because of this nagging feeling deep inside—that if he hadn’t broken that teacup all those years ago, everything would’ve been fine. his brother wouldn’t have killed himself.

and so. the teacup was reincarnated as a human in its next life. i don’t know about the fiancée or this brother (but if they got reincarnated as something other than a human thats kinda funny)

(oopsie just did an official coming out as a thought daughter)

[artfartt]