#the fact that the villains always ���loses’ in the end. and i’m thinking that letting them live would be such a risky direction to take bc

[gojooooo]

man i love open endings. the fact that thanks to yuuji there might indeed be the next time sukuna talks about in case some idiot decides to eat a finger again. and we need fics where yuuji is that idiot

[year2000electronics]

i think obsessive/selfish/misguided love or “harmful” love in general as an antithetical theme to gravity falls’ theme of love and family makes so much sense. if you think about it, a lot of the conflict in the show is born out of selfishness and obsessiveness and loving people as objects or means to an end. obviously, you have the big examples like gideon for mabel and giffany for soos, but every time both sets of the pines twins have butted heads, it’s usually been because of that too. just in like, a different way.

stan and mabel are both relying on dipper and ford to stay anchored to them forever to secure their happiness, and even though it’s a totally okay thought to have and dipper and ford weren’t in too much of a rush to consider their feelings, it’s a bandaid solution at best! dipper ends up NOT leaving because that’s the right thing for them but it’s not totally because the pines twins are a “set of two” who can’t be separated. it’s a decision they make mutually! mabel even says that she would be okay with dipper taking the apprenticeship, she just needed a minute to be frustrated!

and then of course you have stan and ford where stan leaving ford meant stan would lose his only friend, but even in their adult years, they clearly still love each other (ford and stan both apologizing profusely every time they land a devastating enough hit) but their selfish desire to have the other admit they’re the “villain”, to have a scapegoat to blame a whole series of factors on, overtakes them and buries that love. even as old men they’re still trying to get something out of the other before anything else (ford’s house and name, stan’s “thank you”). stan and ford want to love each other deep down so badly but this giant means to an end is in the way

you even see that sort of motif with characters like dipper and pacifica, where dipper’s crush on wendy almost always has negative results because, not only can it never be due to the age gap, but every time he tries to court her, it’s usually in the way a prize is to be won. he makes an itemized list of a process that is “guaranteed” to impress wendy, he literally brakes the laws of space time just so robbie won’t date her (as if one single snow cone is keeping him from his success), gets a job at the pool just so he can hang out with her, and jumps at the opportunity to prove robbie is evil. etc etc. and with pacifica it’s clear that her parents’ love is very transactional and conditional. if EVEN that.

so the fact that book of bill is setting up bill to be like a clingy ex to ford- more than that, it’s setting up ford to be the only human bill cares about THIS much! it feels like the ultimate way to tie bill to that theme of how love can harm as much as it can heal. like, he’s always been an obstacle to the pines’ happy ending, but this way, we see his reaction to love in his psyche play out, and you understand why he’s the opposite and obstacle to the pines. the stan twins hurt each other and it takes an entire show’s worth of growth for them to fix it. gideon hurt mabel but him letting dipper and the group into her bubble proves he’s willing to change. bill hurt ford and he throws a temper tantrum and denies everything, trying to use force to get things back to the way they were because in his own twisted way he really does love and care for ford. i’m sure even a traumatized millenia old dream demon could change but for now bill doesn’t! and that kinda makes him and ford’s relationship the perfect tie in to the themes in the show

[hi-there-buddies]

Just got back from watching Transformers: One

WOW

HEAVY spoilers under cut!:

Ok, the first thing I need to say is this:

If the cybertronians in this movie were humans, and this was a live action film, this movie would be rated R

The level of violence in this movie is something I seldom see in actual live action movies. It was insane

At one point at the end of the film, Megatron RIPS Sentinel in half with his bare hands, and you can SEE the “guts” and wires as you see the light disappear from a bisected Sentinal’s eyes. It’s crazy

There was also a point where Optimus was accidentally shot by Megatron (who was trying to kill Sentinel), and he started falling off a ledge. Megatron then catches him, but you can SEE in his eyes the hatred growing more and more, and then his eyes shoot up at the camera, blood red. He then says something like “I’m done saving you” and LETS OPTIMUS FALL

There was also a bit of an underlying “we can’t kill them, we’ll be as bad as them” point. But it’s not like you think. What Optimus mainly said was “we can’t start off the rebuilding of Iacon with an execution” and I think that is actually pretty sound advice, and makes more sense than “we can’t kill them cause we’ll be just as bad” when they were just murdering people five minutes ago. It also kinda fixes Optimus’ character (comparing it to what happened in Dark of the Moon; another movie where Optimus had the opportunity of killing Sentinel, and he took it).

Overall I think the way they used the theme was pretty good, and they definitely did a good job at making Megatron a hypocrite. At some point after they find out Sentinel is a villain, Megatron says something akin to “I’ll never trust another so called leader again”, and then he basically becomes a leader that demands obedience. His descent in to madness was pretty chilling to watch.

There’s one point where he looks Optimus dead in the eyes and goes “I…Got…It” and it’s fucking horrifying

He is the one who made Starscream’s voice all fucked up in this continuity too, which is crazy because in all the other continuities his voice was just kinda like that, so I was NOT expecting it.

Anyway, great movie.

Had a brilliant structure, and you always knew what the plot was. A lot of movies are struggling with that lately. No scene drags on too long, and the humor is actually pretty good (I love Bumblebee)

Also, Bumblebee did NOT lose his voice, and he also didn’t get renamed to bumblebee, so this actually might be a prequel to the Knightverse (he was also called B-127, which was in the trailers)

I’d give this movie and 8.5 or 9 out of 10, but that might be because I’m a Transformers fan. My sister doesn’t know anything about Transformers, and she gave it an 8/10, which kinda points to another fact: this is an AMAZING starting point for new fans!

Watch it if you haven’t, because I only described some of the movie here! It’s crazy seeing it in theaters

(If you have any questions about the movie, feel free to ask!)

[mal3vol3nt]

Hi. You’re probably tired of seeing me dump stuff like this. (I’ll try to make this the last time). But I have to vent to someone. Because I see this one guy, claim to not hate Aang, only to villainize him to a ridiculous extent, acting like he’s unempathetic, forcing Katara to tend to his emotional needs and this user completely downplays Aang’s genocidal trauma. Not to be rude, but how much of a heartless prick do you have to be to invalidate genocide and the trauma it can cause. These fake fans should honestly keep their mouths shut about this show, they clearly don’t understand it.

the southern raiders episode needs to be freed from the zutara fandom i swear. i’m fully convinced they never actually watched that episode cause it literally ends with katara saying she still didn’t forgive yon rha and aang accepting that. he literally says “im proud of you”. it was never her anger at the man that aang disagreed with, it was the action she planned on doing—murder—that he wanted to talk her down from. not for yon rha’s sake, but for her’s. so even though she didn’t forgive him, aang respected that and was able to recognize the strength and validity in her decision. i’m so tired of repeating this rebuttal to this stupid as fuck argument

aang doesn’t force her to do anything in the entire series. katara has her own agency and free will to do as she pleases and not a single character has ever taken that away from her, and the one time where her freedom was threatened (by pakku), she fought for it and ensured she got her way. when yall say aang takes her agency away from her, you’re also ignoring the core traits of katara: her fierceness, her determination, her ability to recognize what’s right for herself, and her sense of justice

she never blindly follows or takes direction from anyone. when aang tried telling her and sokka to stay put while he made the trip to see roku in the fire nation, katara (and sokka) put her foot down and refused to listen. she demanded that they go with him, and he accepted them making that choice for themselves. when sokka tried convincing her to leave after she met up with haru and they had the chance to escape from the fire nation ship, she refused and said she wasn’t abandoning the rest of the earthbenders. her decision was respected by both aang and sokka. in fact, there are so many instances of her making her own decisions regardless of what anyone else says that it would be impossible for me to list them all. she never succumbs to what aang or anyone else wants, and she always makes her genuine thoughts on an important decision known. katara does not need anyone to tell her what to do nor does she allow anyone to tell her what to do. this is the same girl who single handedly changed the “no girls allowed” rule in the northern water tribe after having been told “you can’t do that”. yall think she would let aang walk all over her??? please put some respect on her name

now this may be a controversial take but i don’t care it’s the truth: comparing sokka and katara losing their mom to aang losing his entire culture and people is actually insane and insensitive but not for the reason zutaras think. its because absolutely nothing any other character went through can compare to what aang did, and to diminish his tragedy by saying katara’s trauma surrounding her mom’s death is somehow worse is actual insanity and i need yall to go to prison LMAO

katara did not witness her mom get murdered. that only happened in natla and i refuse to acknowledge that. she ran out of the tent to go tell her dad that a fire nation soldier was with their mom and when she came back, the man was gone and kya was dead. still insanely traumatic, but she was not literally standing there watching as kya burned to death

that’s literally what happened with aang. from his perspective, he had just seen gyatso only a few hours ago. gyatso was alive literally moments ago in his mind and then he was greeted with his decayed skeleton among the bodies of unwelcome fire nation soldiers. just like katara experienced insane whiplash from that heartbreaking change, to see someone alive only to come back to them gone, aang went through roughly the same thing

the only difference is aang didn’t just lose gyatso, he lost all his friends and mentors as well. and he didn’t just lose all his friends and mentors, he lost every single person who looked like him. and he didn’t just lose every single person who looked like him, he lost everyone he had grown close to and seen from the other nations. and he didn’t just lose everyone he had grown close to and seen from the other nations, he lost the animals native to the airbending temples. and he didn’t just lose the animals native to the airbending temples, he lost the native plants as well. and he didn’t just lose the native plants, he lost the structural beauty and integrity of the air temples. and he didn’t just lose the structural beauty and integrity of the air temples, he lost the ability to practice his cultural customs with others. and he didn’t just lose the ability to practice his cultural customs with others, he lost the ability to bend his native element with others. and he didn’t just lose the ability to bend his native element with others, he lost the time to mourn for all that he lost

i’m sorry to those of you who wanna believe your favs have suffered more than anyone else in the series, but none of their tragedies compare to aang’s. and i don’t believe in downplaying what the others went through to support a fandom narrative, but this is literally just me acknowledging the severity of aang’s story. to suggest any one else has gone through more is to be ignorant and nothing anyone can say will ever convince me otherwise

only reason yall think zuko or katara or sokka or toph or azula or whoever the fuck else is more tragic than aang is because all of their traumas are more relatable to the everyday person whereas aang’s is something that most people can’t even comprehend

[sylvies-chen]

I love the ballad of songbirds and snakes, don’t get me wrong. but the streets are comparing coriolanus snow to anakin skywalker and I just… somebody get me a gun! I need to buy a gun!

and listen, I totally get the idea behind it. they’re both young formerly promising men who spiralled downwards into violence and authoritarianism and, as a result, betrayed their best friends and the women they care for. on a basic level, they have some similarities. but again, it’s like… the most BASIC and SURFACE LEVEL comparison to make!

snow is not a fallen angel or tragic doomed hero. the entire point of the book + film was that he was always prone to thinking manipulatively, to being selfish, to being violent, to liking the system too much, to letting not just anger but genuine hatred inform his decisions. HE IS THE VILLAIN. and vader is a villain too— the most iconic villain of all time— but anakin is a whole other story, and coriolanus doesn’t hold a candle to anakin when you compare some deeper elements of their motivations.

first off, you only need to look at how they treat their ladies to understand what I’m saying. everyone loves the heartbreak of anakin and padme just as they love the heartbreak of lucy and snow, but that love for their tragic story seems to blind people to the absolute insanity that is snow’s thoughts about lucy. he lies to her, thinks she’s trying to kill him, her song doesn’t satisfy or please him, and in the books he even goes so far as to say she isn’t even that good looking??? anakin, on the other hand, delivers a minute-long monologue about how deeply in love he is with padme, how a single kiss from her haunts him, how he is willing to utterly devote himself to her and fulfil her every demand because there’s nothing else he can do. he expresses his love in a very immature way at times, but it is real and genuine. tbosas makes you question at times whether coriolanus really loves lucy, or whether just this idea of “taming” her seems appealing.

even their downward spirals are vastly different in nature. coriolanus snow becomes more paranoid in an attempt to maintain his image, in order to keep lucy under his spell. his ambitions are nuanced, not black and white by any means, but they are selfish. anakin’s spiral, though there’s no denying the horrific acts he commits, begins from a place of fear and love. he is so genuinely scared of losing his wife and his unborn children that he becomes susceptible to an outside force manipulating him towards the dark side. anakin also fulfils that element of the shakesperian tragic hero in that there’s this idea of potential that we see so present in him. he’s introduced as the one who would bring balance to the force, someone powerful beyond comprehension, a saviour of sorts. snow was never shown to have that level of promise. he was just a man who existed in a system and it is about him grappling with that system until eventually that disgusting fascist mindset takes over.

and lastly, of course, you can’t ever mention these two in tandem without remembering the fact that anakin did the right thing in the end! and coriolanus did not! luke fought to bring anakin back when vader had taken over for so many years, and in the end it paid off. anakin does the truly selfless thing in sacrificing himself to save luke. he lets love inform his decisions, as he once did before, only the fear is gone and so that love orients him towards good instead of darkness. anakin is a fallen angel, but he’s also a man who loved too much and didn’t know what to do with it. snow, comparatively, admits he isn’t above killing children and then laughs in the face of the masses he’s worked to oppress for over half a century right before his death.

anakin skywalker’s story is of the destruction and reconstruction of his good heart, of light, of balance, of love. it is cyclical, and it is tragic. coriolanus snow’s story is not. it is a story not of something sinister growing in an otherwise good heart, but a story of something sinister unravelling and revealing itself.

they are not the same.

[kingkatsuki]

Bakugou is completely obsessed with you, but he’s not ready to let you go. Based on this.

Warnings: 18+, yandere kinda themes, obsessive love, stalking, harassment.

Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki x f!reader.

Word Count: 1.5k.

Bakugou Katsuki was like the dream man— A guy that every girl wishes she could have. Driven, successful and drop dead gorgeous. Of course you’d said yes when he asked you to dinner, why wouldn’t you?

But you got to see a side of Bakugou Katsuki that no one else saw, a side reserved just for you.

You could say that he fell hard and fast, barely two months in he was asking you to move in with him. An excuse that it made no sense for you to keep commuting to visit him after work, your conflicting schedules already made it difficult to juggle your work and home life balance. Plus, you’d save on rent— which had been something plaguing you for the past year when your landlord decided to increase the cost at short notice, forcing you to take on extra hours to try and make ends meet.

It seemed like the perfect solution, and you couldn’t have been happier.

Until you weren’t.

The proposal had come as a surprise, a hopeful look in his eyes as he held a ring box out to you on the couch one evening. A gleaming diamond sat securely in a silver band as he asked you the question— ignoring all the alarm bells ringing in your head at the fact that it had barely been three months as you said yes.

Over the months that you’d been dating you began to notice the silent possession that Bakugou seemed to have on you. The increasing amount of texts asking where you were or what you were doing, who you were with. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d seen your best friends, the last time you’d seen your family.

“I’m lookin’ after you though, ain’t I?” Bakugou would always say whenever you talked about going to see them or spend time with them.

“I just like you being here when I come home,” He nods, pressing buttons on the microwave to warm the food you’d prepared for him, “Let’s me know that you’re safe.”

Safe. That’s what Bakugou would always say whenever he checked up on you, the same thing he’d say whenever you’d tell him you were thinking about going out with your friends.

But it’s too much, it’s suffocating the way that even when you’re out with his friends he keeps you attached to his hip.

His friends would explain the reason why he’s like this. The worry and fear he has of losing you because of who he is. The number of powerful villains and criminals that would be out to take everything from him in a second, the horrible depraved people out there who would do the most deplorable things to you.

But little did you know, Bakugou was the worst of them all.

His insecurities made it difficult to ever reassure him that you’d never leave him, that you’d never break up with him. Feeing him words of love and affirmation while he’d hold you tighter, burying his face into your shoulder as he mumbled out pleas to “never leave me,” and “you’re mine forever”. Words that you’d longed to hear when you first got together, but now they just made you feel numb.

“I thought we were spending time together tonight?” He’d asked when he saw you at the door toeing your heels on, “We haven’t seen each other all week.”

“I saw you this morning, silly.” You smile at him with glossed lips, “I’ll only be a few hours.”

“But I planned the whole evening,” He rasped, “Even made your favourite.”

“I can warm it up when I get home,” You smiled.

“Come on, baby. You can be thirty minutes late, right?” And he gave you that look you always seemed to fall for.

The same one that had you bent over the kitchen counter as he pounded into you from behind, smearing your red lipstick across your cheeks as he pulled your face back for a sloppy kiss. The tip of his cock kissing your cervix with each rough thrust as he spilled his spend into your trembling cunt. Feeling it trickle down your thighs as he pulled out, fingertips pushing it back inside you messily. Glancing at the clock on the wall you knew you’d have no time to make it out now, especially with your outfit and makeup ruined. Letting Bakugou undress you gently as he pulled his oversized hoodie over your head, “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s just go to bed.”

He’d taken it surprisingly well the first time you’d told him you needed space, a break. Sitting at the foot of your shared bed while you packed a bag, deciding that you’d stay with Mina for a few nights before seeing how you felt after. Even offering to drive you to her apartment as he placed the bag in the boot of his car.

But it wasn’t even two hours later that he was texting you again.

Bakugou[8.56PM]: I hope you settled in okay.

Bakugou[8.58PM]: I miss you.

Bakugou[8.59PM]: I love you, baby.

Bakugou[9.05PM]: When do you think you’ll be coming home?

You blocked his number that night, trying to give yourself the space you needed to breathe. But it wasn’t long before Bakugou was banging on the front door, demanding to see you and make sure that you were safe. Escorted away by an apologetic Kirishima as you were finally left alone for the night.

In the days after that, you finally feel what it’s like to breathe again. Going out with friends you hadn’t spoken to in months, even just going shopping on your own. Strolling through the park and finding a peaceful bench to read your book as you seemingly found yourself again.

But little did you know that you weren’t really alone. Bakugou always seemed to run into you. Even when he was supposed to be in meetings, or on patrol he always managed to find out exactly where you were in the city.

He’d seen red one evening when you’d been out for drinks with your friends and had seen your friends boyfriend helping you carry some drinks from the bar. Sparking palms shoving him away from you as glasses crashed to the floor, pining him against a wall by his neck as you begged and pleaded for Bakugou to let him go.

“I thought he was bothering you, baby.” His eyes soften when he turns to you, reaching out to hold you as you step back, noticing the pained expression on his face, “You know I’d never hurt you, right? Right…”

The next morning you applied for a restraining order. Thinking this would be what it would take to give you the space you needed, but that piece of paper didn’t stop him.

The messages from burner phones continued to come through at all hours of the day, begging and pleading to talk to him. Telling you how much he missed you, needed you.

Bakugou[2.01AM]: Why have you stopped wearing your ring?

The words had your blood running cold, because you’d only decided to stop wearing it the previous day— and there was no way for him to know that you were no longer wearing it unless he’d seen you.

The same unknown numbers would send lewd selfies that you’d shared with Bakugou back to you, giving you a constant fear that he’d shared them online and posted them for everyone to see. But luckily for you, he was so obsessed that he wouldn’t let anyone else see what he deemed as his.

He wasn’t ready to let you go, and he wouldn’t.

Sending you gifts to your workplace, full of sickly sweet messages of love and longing. Telling you how much he missed you and how much he needed to see you.

Trying to rebuild your life was worse, though. Because who would be brave enough to date Dynamight’s ex-girlfriend, ex-fiancé. Especially when the Pro was very clearly still in love with you.

Any man brave enough to try would get messages and threats directly from the Pro-Hero, or visits to their places of work. He’d even had one high-profile businessman fired from his position because he’d seen him commenting on one of your photographs on Instagram.

The final nail in the coffin was articles plastered all over the national tabloids that spoke about your abusive relationship, stories that would definitely have an impact on Dynamight’s hero ranking. “Dynamight’s ex-girlfriend gets restraining order on the volatile hero. Is it time we strip him of his license?”

But Dynamight didn’t have one of the best PR teams in the world for nothing. The rebuttals and official statements that came out after were drafted to put all the blame on you, calling you a creepy obsessive fangirl who was only interested in taking his money. And there were even tweets about you from the official Dynamight account, posts you could tell Bakugou hadn’t made himself. Learning that much in the short time you’d been dating him.

“He just misses you, that’s all.” Kirishima gave you a small smile as you sat across from him in a quaint coffee shop.

“Then why is he letting them post all this shit about me? Why won’t he just tell the truth.”

You could tell that his friend was torn between his love for his best friend, and his worry for you.

“It’s not him, it’s his team. They’re trying to save his ranking, the annual draw is next month.” Kirishima took a sip of his coffee, “He just misses you a lot.”

“I just don’t know if I love him anymore,” You mumble.

[curseanon]

The Issue with Eden Polycule

So I wanted to articulate my thoughts on a relationship that ive seen in fandom spaces and lots of fan art or fanfiction. I don’t have any opinions or problems with Adam/Eve/Lucifer/Lilith, but I feel like there are some implications and tropes that we should be more careful about when it comes to Eve/Lucifer/Lilith or even just Eve/Lucifer. Before getting into it though, just a disclaimer: this post is not about polycules in general. It’s not my cup of tea personally, but ship whatever you please! This post is just me rambling about my own thoughts. Feel free to have your own interpretations. ALSO! None of this justifies Adam’s behavior. He is responsible for his decisions, including his cruelty towards people, language, and his decision to essentially wage mass genocide each year. And this post isn’t to say that this relationship drama is the sole reason why he ended up doing exterminations.

1. I don’t really like portrayals that have Lucifer/Lilith (L/L) sleeping with Eve and having her cheat on Adam, especially when it takes place in Eden. I’m afraid Vivzie might have this narrative take place in HH, but doing so does a real disservice to Eve’s (and Lucifer’s if he acted alone) character by having her be willing to cheat, and also does a disservice to Adam by having him be cheated on for reasons that are probably not entirely his fault. Not to mention a lot of media where this happens often has the tone of just “haha let’s cuck Adam twice,” which comes off to me as petty and unfair. Not only is it not a funny joke, but it essentially reinforces and justifies Adam’s misogynistic tendencies later. Especially the ideas that women are promiscuous, always willing to cheat and be unfaithful. The narrative would do nothing to disprove this if BOTH of Adam’s wives did in fact cheat on him.

2. Another thing about Eden. Lilith was Adam’s first wife, literally created for the purpose of being his partner. This is also pre-Apple, meaning that Adam has no concept of right vs wrong. The way he acts, if he truly was controlling and mean and the story book wasn’t exaggerating (which I doubt), is entirely the programming of the angels and the way they tolerate or enable his behavior. Assuming we went with the theory that Adam never ate the apple, it’s the same situation with Eve if she left him and/or cheated with L/L. The way I see it, Lilith’s cheating on Adam is not justified, even if she disagreed with Adam on certain things.

3. I also want to note that cheating on one’s partner is not a justifiable punishment for Adam’s behavior. Whether pre or post apple (now assuming he did eat it), I see it as fighting fire with fire, and all it usually does is create even more hostility and problems than if the person just clearly broke off the relationship first. L/L/E runs the risk of inadvertently encouraging unfaithfulness in relationships and marriages as solutions to a problem, but this is rarely the case. As stated earlier, it only makes Adam justified in acting the way he does. And with that justification, is he really in the wrong for how he treats women? What reason does he have to change his behavior if he is right about them? I could probably accept both wives leaving him if the purpose is to justify Adam’s behavior and not just mock him, to show how morality is not just black and white and the villains sometimes have justifiable reasons for thinking the way they do. But it still seems very shallow on Lilith and Eve’s parts.

4. This part is just my opinion on L/L/E, but I don’t find the idea of Eve getting with the people who caused her to lose Eden very convincing. L/L are the reasons her and Adam were cast out of the garden and made to live for centuries laboring to survive, farming cursed ground and painfully delivering several children. Not to mention the bringing of sin and death into the world, losing Abel at the hands of his brother and Cain being cast away to wander the Earth. All the suffering she faced in life and the suffering of all of her descendants, all of humanity. Her sleeping with Lucifer makes no sense to me unless he seduced her (when she was more naive, maybe even pre-apple) intentionally, either for the purpose of hurting Adam or if he did just love her also, which makes him complicit in ruining someone’s marriage. None of this fits with Lucifer’s character, a malewife who adores his Tall Queen and comes off to me as being very loyal. The idea of open marriage is better, but Adam does not seem like the type of guy who likes to share anything, and his marriage is very clearly between Adam and Eve. That controlling personality indicated by the story book leads me to see him as likely having some jealousy and possessiveness (though not in extreme ways).

5. The only other option is Lucifer sleeping with Eve after her death and if she goes to hell, since we know Adam and Eve lived a thousand years married together on Earth, starting humanity. But I don’t see any reason for this. We need much much more information about Adam and Eve’s relationship and all four of their relationships’ to each other in general first before we can talk more about this. But until then, I don’t see any reason to break up Adam and Eve unless there’s some importance to it in the narrative. For me, I see Adam’s womanizing in heaven as a sign that Eve is probably not in heaven. And thinking that he’ll never see her again because “Hell is forever,” he eventually becomes bitter and jaded over thousands of years and decides that his relationship with Eve must be over then. Possibly the same case with Eve in hell, somehow leading up to sleeping with Lucifer. But considering she’s no where to be found with L/L and Lucifer only references her once, there seems to be zero indication of anything between them.

6. To briefly touch on the idea that once in heaven, Eve eventually left Adam because of his horrible personality and womanizing. This is still possible, but it seems like WAY too big of a personality shift to go from married and raising a family for a thousand years to suddenly being a massive asshole and a philanderer. Something must have happened that magnified all the worst aspects of his personality. There’s no way he is the same today as he was in Eden or on Earth. If he is, that’s just shitty lazy writing on Vivzie’s part and Adam is nothing but a one dimensional villain with no depth at all. Massive waste of a character with huge potential.

Tl;dr This post is already too long so I’ll just summarize everything. Although I agree that Adam is definitely an arrogant and annoying villain, Lilith and Eve cheating on adam is unjustified imo, there is no reason for Eve to cheat on Adam or leave him at all from what we can tell now, and her having any relationship with Lucifer also makes no sense considering what his choices turned her life into. But let me know your thoughts on all this, if there’s some point you want to make or a disagreement on something else!

[jaladdin]

sorry i’m thinking about morgan le fay and her connection to morgie and what it implies in the descendants universe again. sorry. like we can assume he inherited all of morgan’s powers because that’s what happens in descendants. but there’s so much emphasis on his shapeshifting—his ability to mimic animal cries, the serpentine line in “life is sweeter,” and the way he gets the shitty cgi snake eyes. and i am Looking

it makes me 🤔 about morgan le fay, shapeshifter by jill m. hebert, which dives deep into both the literal and metaphorical aspects of morgan’s shapeshifting over time. herbert writes that "morgan’s power in part comes from the fact that she always retains agency, choosing among multiple forms at will. as a marker of reform, she can also influence others to change their shapes, and so she often appears at points where a change or expansion of the limits of identity is required."

and so what if i said morgie’s shapeshifting isn’t just a silly guy power; it’s tied to the movie’s entire theme of identity and transformation and agency. in descendants 4, there’s a ton of focus on characters pushing the boundaries of who they are—like cinderella transforming into the “mystery princess” at castlecoming or bridget becoming this literal and metaphorical monster. morgie’s shapeshifting could be his version of that—a way to expand his identity from just “villain kid” to something more. maybe something softer, or maybe just something less Turbo Connected to uliana, but. Something

but ok then there’s the other side where morgie’s so desperate to gain uliana’s validation, and the world of auradon: royals and villains really drives that home: "morgie desperately wanted uliana to like and respect him. he was quick to compliment her and would do whatever she said." and that makes me wonder is morgie’s shapeshifting really about his own agency, or is it more about molding himself into whatever uliana wants? he literally performs animal cries for her to warn her when merlin is coming at her command. so in that way i sniff out if maybe his shapeshifting is actually a metaphor for losing himself—becoming whatever uliana wants him to be and not who he really is. if he even really knows. especially agiven it's pretty clear that to morgie, uliana is a surrogate for morgana, and it's her approval he really wants.

hebert talks about how morgan’s shapeshifting lets her defy societal and gender based expectations, saying, "morgan shapeshifts both literally and metaphorically as she confounds traditional social and gender expectations; her power in arthurian literature is generated by that very agency." for morgan, it’s all about control and breaking free from the roles others try to box her in. but for morgie maybe it’s the opposite.

and then there’s the Fucking Scene They Cut at the end of descendants 4 where morgie gets his hands on the sorcerer’s cookbook. bc to me that implies that he would be able to open it, otherwise why would they make a big deal out of him having it at all??? and if he’s able to open it, it means he’s starting to tap into his potential both in terms of magic and figuring out who he really is (in that he has no evil motivation of his own when uliana is not around to please). 

morgana le fay, shapeshifter also says, "morgan’s ability to change shape signifies her potential to evade and to resist the shape(s) that others—authors, critics, and characters—attempt to impose upon her." maybe morgie’s shapeshifting will end up being more than just a way to survive or gain approval—maybe it’ll be his way of resisting the expectations placed on him, just like his mother did, and discovering a softer, more authentic identity in the process.

anywa morgie’s shapeshifting isn’t just some random power they put in for fun and sillies. or maybe it is and i’m insane. it probably is this is disney's descendants. i don’t care. To Me it’s about identity and agency. while he might have inherited his mother’s abilities, how he uses—or is used by—his shapeshifting could define who he becomes. will he be like morgan, using it to carve out his own identity, or will he get lost in the roles others (coughs at uliana) want him to play? the way ror was so transformation focused makes me think that morgie’s story is Also one that’s going to fit that mold of shapeshifting—both in terms of who he is on the outside and who he’s trying to be on the inside.

also literally bc if i dont get to see morgie as a snake ill lose it. one of these fucking things

arent they so silly.

[chycoin]

HUGE SPOILER AHEAD!!!

Watch “TRASH FRIENDS” before reading. If you haven’t watched it and still read this, pls don’t say I didn’t warn you 🫠👍

Just watched “TRASH FRIENDS” and the thumbnail really made me think this was going to be an episode focusing on the way Mario has been treated by Smg4 and his friends (at least that’s how I see it) but I wasn’t expecting an episode about Smg3’s insecurities and fears (mostly insecurities)

I really was caught lacking because I was expecting something and I got the opposite lmao. I should be familiar with this guy’s content already and know that the only thing expected from these episodes is the unexpected xD, but anyways back to talking about the video.

In previous episodes we see that he gets a little bit of customers such as in the episode “You used to be cool” and “CEO OF RIZZ” but in this last mentioned episode he tries to advertise his café after Boopkins’s date works out in the end and so does the same in “SMG4’s NEWS.”

At first you think “Maybe he wants more than what he has” but after watching this episode you realize he’s actually struggling with his business and last weeks episode you change your view from his actions and see him as more desperate rather than greedy after watching this latest ep.

Constantly trying to get more people into his café and taking every single chance he can see to advertise no matter the place or time, like life depends on it.

And talking about chances ._.xD

(This goober losing the video to a basketball, I’m dead😭)

Smg4 comes to this guy’s café for his help to get his “Michael Jordan Endorsement Video” back because boi lost it and he wants Smg3’s help because their “FRIENDS”

Of course Smg3 saw this as a chance to advertise his café because HOLY SHIT MICHAEL JORDAD!!! A famous basketball player that anyone would want to have the chance to meet and that’s a chance that Smg3 is willing to take because it means his business would BLOW UP *someone throws them a chair*

Btw when Mario shows up to offer his help, I expected Smg4 to be more happy that he has his avatar buddy always trying to help him but instead…

Don’t get me wrong, I know they got a little weirded out about the fact that Mario is a regular around the Junkyard due to him eating at that location but still, that dialogue still sort of hurt me man qwp

But anyways back to my review of this episode and giving my acoustic povs that nobody asked for.

They arrive at the junkyard and after being there for 5 seconds, they find the legendary pokemon that goes by the name of “Michael Jordan Endorsement Video” (sorry for my weak ass jokes, I just woke up and my humor is a little broken rn)

After having the video on sight, Mario pulls a Yoshi and beats the crap out of the spaghetti plate where the video so happened to land on, in one go. Obviously, causing the other two to try and force the USB out of him but both failed as Mario did a BLJ through the trash and forcing 3 & 4 to dig through everything to find him.

Now… the part I was dying to talk about and hopefully I can let out my thoughts the proper way.

As the two spend an entire evening just digging through trash, they start a friendly conversation until Smg4 touches the Smg3’s CnB topic which causes Smg3 to get nervous and lie about everything being fine because he has something that every human being has unfortunately, ✨I N S E C U R I T I E S✨.

Which I understand because bruh, 3’s been seen as a bad copy of 4 who’s the total opposite of him for a good piece of his life, if not his ENTIRE existence and now that’s he’s going through a change in his life for the better, he’s going to face a lot of these insecurity episodes because he’s so used to being seen as the bad guy, the bad copy, The Villain. Always people seeing what 4 does and never looking what 3 does which got him into that dark path.

Is like the Sun and the Moon kind of thing. The Sun (Smg4) can shine the brightest while the moon (Smg3) is just a floating rock shining the least. I’ll bring this up again at the end of the review.

But yeah, Smg3 has insecurities and is more shown when they reach the entrance of Mario’s hiding spot.

-Part 2 🫠👍-

[joviepog]

Your Reflection

Who: Siren!bur x reader

Warning: Curing, Blood, Mention of knife and death. Also killing

Pronouns: They / them

Word count: 1,455

Requests: ME

Anything else: SIRENNN YAYYYY

Two things tho. 1 is that your power is reflection and two i have picked out an outfit for you for this story! You can find it at the very end! :D

This story is NOT proofread

You started out a villain a while ago. Your father was killed by a hero that was convinced that your father was working with the villains. They then burned the building he was in. Leaving no remains…

You soon started your career as a supervillain. Your only goal was to kill te person that killed your dad… Dream. And even though you might be a villain. That doesn’t mean you like other villains too. In fact, the Syndicate had asked you to join them. But when you did join, you went solo and messed up the mission. You still won, but they were mad. You just took it as a win for yourself. Plus, the hero’s knew who you were now. That was the whole point. You left without saying a word. But it was clear to see that the syndicate and you didnt see eye to eye, per se. They always got in your way.

And even though you hate the Hero’s and eve though you hate the Syndicate there is one guys that you hate the most. Siren.

“Siren i swear to God if you don’t stop following me.” You yelled as you ran on rooftops. “Oh please! You love me~” he paused as he jumped across a rooftop to another. He continued, “Plus, you know i can’t just let you leave. You’d ruin our plan.”You scoffed and went to the same rooftop of him. “How? By killing the one thing we are both against or by hurting your little friends too?”

He stopped running and you took it as a free way to punch. You went to throw a punch and he saw this. “Stop.” He spoke slowly. But instead. he stopped instead. He had been frozen in his tracks. He sighed in exhaustion as you stepped closer, a sly smirk on your face. You went on your toes and patted his head. “Thanks for the help.”

—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—

Reflection is your villain name. You have the power to use people’s own powers against them. You are able to either steal people’s powers or when they try to use their own powers against you, it just goes back to them. It’s really helpful when you’re on the field.

—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—

“MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!”

The yelling kept going as you watched from above. You took off your mask, you hot face now cooling down. You only laughed at the chaos. You were just about to end it all. You slid your mask back on your face and jumped down from the rooftop. You saw dream fighting with some other useless villain. This was simple just go behind him..

“The fuck do you think you doing?”

Dream turned around and grabbed you by the neck. You tried to fight against him but he wasnt using his power. He was just… strong.

Still, you chuckle as you feel your feel being lifted from the ground. “Geez. You don’t want the press to see this do you?”

He faked a laugh and pulled out a pocket knife and put it to your throat. “If you think I’m going to use my powers i wont. I expected you to come.”

He stabbed you on your lower chest, slid it down so that it made a long cut, and pulled out the knife. He then dropped you and you fell to the floor, The pain now hitting you. You were losing blood, and fast. You needed help. You covered the stab wound as Dream walked away. He dropped the knife and you couldn’t help but look around.

Who would help you right now? If anything they would all want you to die. You felt yourself becoming faint. You quickly ripped a piece of your scarf and placed it on the cut. You started to feel weak and your motions were becoming sloppy.

You can’t go down like this. You wont go down like this. You stood up and wobbled to your feet and picked up the knife.

You then ran to dream and stabbed him in his shoulder. He groaned in pain and you made sure to get it as deep as possible. He then turned around and pushed you to the floor. Officially making you unconscious.

“REFLECTION!”

—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—

You woke up in a small cafe. The smell of coffee and blood hitting your nose. You looked down to see what seemed to be a teenager taking care of you. Hands on your stomach as his eyes and nose were scrunched in concentration. You quickly reached to your face to see if the mask was still on.

It was.

Behind the boy was two people. Siren and Zephyrs.

Siren was walking back and forth, his hand to his nose. Zephyrs on the other hand had a bandage to his wing and he sat on a chair talking to Siren. Your movement had made all of the boys turn to look at you.

“You’re awake! Tommy are they going to be okay?” Siren spoke up.

The boy, now known to be Tommy, spoke. “Yeah. It might be dore but it’ll do.” He didnt turn to Wilbur, but he looked at you with a sincere smile. You nodded and smiled.

“Thank you Tommy.” You turned to look back at Siren and Zephyrs. Siren looked concerned while Zephyrs just stared plainly at you. This made you stand to your feet. You tumbled a bit which made Siren come to your side. He held your arm to help you up but you pushed him to the side. You gave the their two men a smile, “Thank you so much for your help. But I’ll be going now.”

You walked out, holding your stomach as you did. When you opened the door there was a little jingle from the bell above you; signaling that you were leaving. “Wait!” Siren called out to you. You turned around and stared plainly at him, no emotion showing at all. Not even the intense pain that you were still having. “Yes?”

Siren let down his arms, “Not even a thank you?”

“A thank you? Why would i need to say thank you?”

“Maybe because, i dont know, i saved your life!”

“Oh please, i had it under control.”

“You obviously didnt!” He chuckled.

You only scoffed, “Maybe if you had left me alone in the first place i would have been able to get the job done.”

“You ruined our plan!” He was now yelling

“I couldn’t care less about your stupid plan! In fact, i hope all your plans fucking fail! I couldn’t care less! My only goal is to kill dream. Do you have a problem with that?!?”

He replied sharply, “YES! I DO!”

“WHY?!?”

“Because you could get hurt! JUST like you did today and just like you did the day your dad died.” The mention of your dad made something in you click. You took a deep breath and realized how much you regretted telling him that.

“Why would you care!? You’re just a selfish villain like all the others.” You started to walk away.

“ME? SELFISH? Do you see yourself right now?!?”

You kept walking.

“FINE THEN! I COULDNT CARE LESS IF YOU DIED.” He continued.

You could only yell back, “I should have never told you about my dad.” Then, you left.

—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—

“One order of a Carmel macchiato please!”

You gave a soft smile while you order your drink. You held your stomach in pain but kept the smile on your face. Tommy smile and put the order in. “Got it! Under what name?”

“YN please!”

He nodded and pressed the screen one last time before walking away.

“Coming right up!”

You nodded and sat down, wincing. You opened your laptop and opened the page you were last on. Recordings of what happened last night were showing up all over your page. This was great! People are going to-

“Tommy! Sorry for yesterday. I didnt mean to yell like that in front of you.”

You perked up.

“It’s alright Wilbur. You could just say you like her you know. I mean, she’s the only one that could beat you, you know. With that weird reflection thing.”

“Dont say it so loud!”

You. They were talking about you…

Which means…

If they are talking about last night…

“One order for YN!”

You quickly packed your things and walked to the counter. You passes Siren-

Wilbur… and grabbed your drink.

You then walked out the door with a smile on your face.

“See you later, Siren.”

—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/—/

This is how i pictured your outfit but you can always do something else! :D

@haunted-headset @poraphia @ax-y10

Reblog if u can! <333

[camlannpod]

Character Playlist: Morgan

Happy off-week! Episode 3 is coming out next Monday, so whilst we wait, here's a playlist all about my beloved Morgan Jones. Last time we posted about Dai, (you can find that playlist here), because episode 1 is very much his episode. Episode 2 is Morgan's, and as you might notice, she's on a much darker and spookier path than her found sibling.

Hurricane by Reuben and the Dark

I am broken, I am brave The way the body behaves I am free, I'm afraid A mirror of my mistakes

Morgan's been through so much. The Cataclysm was awful for everyone, but Morgan was traumatised long before the world ended, and things have just got worse. She is explicitly terrified of her own name in this new world - of what it means and could mean. She so desperately doesn't want to hurt people, and she's so terrified that she will.

2. Witch's Rune by S. J. Tucker

By earth and water, air and fire By blade and bowl and circle round We come to you with our desire Let all that is hidden now be found

Morgan Le Fay! Witch, sister, villain, survivor. Our Morgan is intimately familiar with the story of her namesake, and thinks of Morgan like a witch inside her, or a ghost haunting her. The whole gang have different perspectives on how the Names work, but our Morgan definitely sees it like a curse.

3. Sing of the Moon by The Collection

So we sing of the moon and the face that it hides Shining just half of its truth to our skies But bring me the sun that gives it all its light I don't want to just wait to die

Morgan is very much the moon to Dai's sun. I often think of them like a binary star system - they are completely inextricable from each other, and if they were ever separated they'd both spin out and be lost in chaos. Morgan is more shy than Dai, more reserved. He brings out her lighter side, but she's always aware of the fact that one day that will end.

4. Old Churchyard by The Wailin' Jennys

I know that it's vain when our friends depart To breathe kind words to a broken heart And I know that the joy of life is marred When we follow lost friends to the old churchyard*

Everyone's lost people, but Morgan most all. Most traumatically, she saw her younger brother Ben die in front of her - a fresh trauma from which she still hasn't recovered. Morgan doesn't fear death. She's not a practicing Christian (I think she's an atheist) but she sees it as a simple, restful end to a long and painful life. What she does fear is losing people - it's the thing she fears most of all.

(*Note at the end of the post)

5. Better in the Morning by Birdtalker

Tired and worn from the patterns I’ve carved I will do better in the morning I’m afraid of who I’d be without you I will do better in the morning

We'll learn more about Morgan's childhood later in the series, but suffice it to say that every day of her life, Morgan has gotten up and tried again. For me she's very much that image of hope with bloodied knuckles, forcing herself to stand up and get back into the fight. It isn't easy for Morgan to keep surviving, let alone to keep trying to be happy. But she tries, because Dai loves her, and she loves him, and he reminds her that life is worth living.

6. Pyrokinesis by 7Chariot

We could set the world on fire using only our minds Pyrokinesis we hurt each other without trying

The gang don't know if magic is exclusive to the Phenomena, or if it's even magic as we would describe it. They don't know if it's mushroom spores or something alien, science they don't understand, strange divinities or straight up magical powers. They also don't know whether or not Morgan has magic. If she does, it's not presented itself in any way that's obvious to her - beyond her nightmares. But she often has dreams about the monsters they've faced, and it's hard for her to untangle nightmares from trauma from dreams that might be more significant. Part of her worries that somehow she's making things real, and drawing the monsters closer to them.

7. Ghost by ZZ Ward

Hear the Devil call out my name Broken promises, burning flames Frozen hearts in a lover's grave God knows, darling, god knows I gave

Morgan's biggest enemy is herself. She's most afraid of herself - and Morgan le Fay. She's terrified of hurting people and losing control. But if she could ever just let herself be angry, even more outspoken - if she could relax enough to try and enjoy all the ferocious freedom of one of history's greatest witches? She could be incredible. And even now - she has the capacity for a ferocious kind of burning joy that she has stolen from everyone and everything that's ever tormented her. When she parties, she parties hard.

8. Mile Magnificent by Molly Ofgeography

An apartment when it's empty echoes lovely, bright and clean Sing odes to green-blue water that we stole so it comes free All things end, it's part of living; forest fires feed the trees Lift your glasses full of sunshine, sing a toast to gasoline And it feels like a good, good omen I've never been much of a good, good woman But good things are coming Good good things are coming

Morgan has always been kind of terrible at being 'a woman' - whatever that means. She's not demure, she's not obedient, gentle, or agreeable, and she's never been especially feminine. She's always been outspoken, blunt, short-tempered and direct - a woman who acts first and talks later. In the world before, that could be a problem sometimes - something she was insecure about, that made it hard to fit in (though figuring out her queerness helped a lot). In the apocalypse, all of these things are exactly why she survived, and there's a part of her that's determined to snatch a life from the ruins and the ashes.

9. We Will All Be Changed by Seryn

We can shape but can't control These possibilities to grow Weeds amongst the push and pull Waiting on the wind to take us

Every main character playlist in the show ends with this song.

*A note on Christianity in Camlann - I'm not a practicing Christian, I consider myself agnostic. But because I grew up in a Christian family in the UK, I am culturally Christian. However we might feel about it, Arthurian legends and British folklore are pretty inextricable from Christian influence. Christianity's been here a long old time, and we don't have a lot of reliable written sources that cover the pre-Christian period. As a result, some of the songs on these playlists contain Christian themes. I hope that isn't too troubling to people. To be very clear, all faiths deserve reverence and respect, and Christianity is far from the only religion practiced in Britain over the last 2,000 years.

[dr-mechano]

Eggman Has Always Had Redeeming Qualities: Masterpost

Eggman’s always had noble traits. He’s still a bad guy, I’m not arguing that he’s a hero by any means. But he’s not some irredeemably evil character without any nuance.

1992 - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)

At the end of Underground Zone, Sonic falls headlong into an unavoidable lava pit. He’d have met certain doom... if he wasn’t saved by Dr. Eggman.

Yes, Eggman immediately drops Sonic into a boss arena where he squares off against his latest Badnik, the Pit Master. I’m not arguing that Eggman was trying to save Sonic’s life in the long-term. But this action does display a sense of sportsmanship and respect for Sonic, as if to say, “No, I won’t let my arch-nemesis die by falling and tripping into lava. He, and by extension I, am too good for that.”

2001 - Sonic Adventure 2

“As a child, I looked up to my grandfather because of all the great things he accomplished in his life. He was my hero! And I wanted to be a great scientist like him. But... Did he really mean to destroy us?”

Eggman opens up in a rare moment of emotional vulnerability to Tails in this scene, revealing an important piece of his past: That he’d always looked up to and admired his grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, who inspired him to get into science in the first place.

But here, for the first time, Eggman has misgivings about his childhood hero. Gerald, it turned out, wasn’t the great man he’d always imagined him to be. He went mad and tried to destroy the world - a fact that Eggman contemplates somberly. He comes off as disillusioned with Gerald, and disappointed that he would ever sink this low.

2003 - Sonic Heroes

“Eggman is a romanticist, a feminist, and a self-professed gentleman. Sadly, his charms are often difficult to spot through the abominable laughter that accompanies his maniacal declarations of world domination.” - Sonic Heroes instruction manual

Sega themselves outright say it here. Eggman, despite his villainous qualities, has these positive qualities as well, which the manual admits can be difficult to spot because of his villainy.

Lest anyone think this was the addition of a cheeky localizer, and not canon to the Japanese portrayal of Eggman, there are Japanese character profiles that say the same thing.

2005 - Shadow the Hedgehog

When Eggman learns that Professor Gerald formed an alliance with Black Doom, he fears the worst: that his grandfather betrayed humanity in the name of mere research. This shows that, while Eggman wants to conquer and rule over humanity, he still sees humanity’s value. He still sees fundamentally selling them out to alien invaders as wrong, and morally objects to what he thinks his grandfather did.

Fortunately, his fears are assuaged when he learns that Gerald created the Eclipse Cannon to stop Black Doom, which he declares is brilliant. But there’s more from Shadow the Hedgehog:

Here, Eggman - thinking this may be his final moments alive - confesses the truth to Shadow about who he is.

Eggman has nothing to gain from doing this. There’s no selfish or villainous ulterior motive that could possibly be applied here. He tells Shadow the truth about his past, giving him closure - for perhaps one final time, during his battle with Devil Doom.

He does a good thing for someone else, and gets nothing in return for it.

2008 - Sonic Unleashed

Chip worries that Eggman might be starving Professor Pickle.

Tails quickly assures him that he wouldn’t do that, because he’s “not that cruel.” And considering Tails himself has been kidnapped by Eggman (back in 8-bit Sonic 2), he’d know from experience.

2013 - Sonic Lost World

During Eggman’s truce with Sonic and Tails, Eggman immediately and without hesitation leaps into harm’s way to save Tails’s life after a rogue Cubot-Crabmeat attacks him.

This isn’t some master gambit to gain the heroes’ trust, since he leaps into danger at the spur of the moment without any time to think it over. Furthermore, Eggman really only needs Sonic to stop the Zeti, not Tails. You could argue that losing Tails might have put a damper on Sonic’s confidence and made him less likely to defeat his and Eggman’s mutual enemy, but that’s not the kind of complicated weighing-of-options that Eggman would have had any time to think over in the few seconds it took to protect Tails here.

Later, he also rescues Sonic from falling into lava (weird that that specifically has happened twice!), and after faking his own demise even takes the time to swoop down and rescue Orbot and Cubot as well (despite his constant annoyance with them, he does care).

But why would he do this? Even discounting needing Sonic to stop the Zeti, he didn’t need Tails. And after all, Eggman gleefully tries to kill Sonic and Tails in other games, right? The answer is simple: They had a truce, and Eggman has enough decency to honor his terms of the truce.

“Ah, but didn’t Eggman betray Sonic in this game?” you might ask. After all, he did show up at the end as the true final boss after Zavok was defeated. But nope! No betrayal whatsoever took place, and I’ll tell you why:

Sonic and Eggman agreed to work together until the Zeti were defeated and the energy-sucking machine was turned off. Eggman didn’t show up in his Great Eggrobo to fight Sonic until both of those conditions had been met. Meaning, strictly speaking, Eggman didn’t betray Sonic or dishonor the truce. The truce was simply over, and he wasted no time attacking immediately afterward.

2022 - Sonic Frontiers

And finally, we’re here.

In Sonic Frontiers, Eggman creates a new AI program, Sage. Initially Sage is merely a tool, designed to protect Eggman and interface with the Ancients’ technology.

However, Eggman and Sage bond over the course of the game, culminating in Eggman coming to view Sage as his own daughter. That’s right: Eggman loves Sage, and sees her as more than just another expendable minion. This is by far the most blatant example of Eggman having a heart, despite his evil ambitions.

What does any of this mean?

Well, I’ll tell you what it doesn’t mean: It doesn’t mean that Eggman’s a hero. It doesn’t mean he’s not a villain. It certainly doesn’t mean he’s a good or even morally neutral figure in the Sonic franchise.

Eggman is a bad guy, and I’m not trying to downplay that or whitewash his misdeeds. What I am saying is that Eggman’s better qualities have always existed. Frontiers didn’t invent them out of whole cloth, nor did non-game adaptations like X or Boom (though they did certainly expand and focus on these qualities more than the games usually do).

Game Eggman has everything from in-game cutscenes to official profiles spelling out that he is - to use his own words - a complicated guy.

And to me, that makes Eggman more interesting as a villain, not less. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Eggman - his good and bad traits alike - in future games!

[violetlunette]

If you’ve seen the mha 373 leaks, im genuinely curious, what do you think about people disliking mics intention of having oboro “stay as a nice memory”? Personally i like mic more because of that line but thats my opinion. Oh and what are your predictions of whats gonna happen with kuroboro?

Spoilers for MHA 373

First, let’s look at it from his POV;

Within a short period, Mic has gone through hell. First, he’s had his old wounds torn open by discovering that the corpse of his best friend was turned into one of the enemies that nearly killed Aizawa. A friend he has been looking out for since he was 16.

Then when he tries to fix the issue, a war that destroys an entire city is started, and thousands of innocent people, whom he swore to protect were injured or killed.

And in that same battle, he loses yet another friend, who he has known since high school. And his remaining friend not only nearly dies but loses an eye and a leg. To top it off, Mic probably blames himself for Aizawa’s pain, as from his POV, Aizawa was only there because of him. Aizawa said straight up; “if you’re going, I’ll go too.” Mic was in tears seeing his friend in pain but couldn’t do a thing.

Then after that, Mic spends endless hours trying to fix the damage and calm a bunch of people who are rightfully scared and emotional while keeping his students safe.

Now, here’s a question for the fandom; what if it’s not Oboro who wakes up but Kurogiri? Now really think about it. What happens?

Answer; Kurogiri rejoins AFO’s side and uses his teleportation powers to help the villains kill more innocent people. Now a major faction of the MHA fandom has made it clear they could care less if innocent civilians die, but the heroes do care! They are risking everything so that more innocent people don’t die or are hurt. That has been their job since the beginning, and it’s one they take seriously.

It’s heartbreaking and unfortunate, but if Kurogiri is the one who wakes up and Oboro, then for the greater good, it would be best if Mic kills him. If Kurogiri wakes up, it’ll make it the heroes' ability to end this war and fix things, maybe even stop them. And if the heroes don’t end it here, then Japan falls into even more chaos, and more people get hurt.

Mic couldn’t stop the war. Mic couldn’t protect his friend. What he can do is stop Kurogiri from using Oboro’s corpse to hurt anyone else and protect Aizawa, who has been through hell.

Aizawa saw his student nearly die in front of him. Then he loses an eye and a leg. Then he wakes up in a hospital to learn that not only has one of his students run away but one of his best friends is dead. To add the cherry on top, Aizawa later discovers that a student he trusted set him, and the rest of his class, to die twice. Is it any wonder Mic would want to spare him that pain?

Plus, Mic knows Oboro wouldn’t want to be used like this. He wanted to help people, but he had his body stolen and turned into a nomu. Oboro is the type of person who’d rather die than continue harming others.

So, to no one’s surprise, I agree with Hizashi. 

If Kurogiri, not Oboro wakes up, it would be best for the world, Aizawa, and Oboro for Hizashi to kill him. It would be a tragic choice that would severely damage Hizashi emotionally, but for the greater good, it would be the best. (Even if the action will make Aizawa hate him.)

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Oboro to die. Hizashi and Aizawa have been through enough. In fact, I’m hoping Oboro recognizes Mic and joins him to be the hero he always wanted to be. I think they’ll team up against Spinner, who I hope they can knock out and help before the transformation is permanent.

But this is all based on what I’ve heard and from the leaks. I’ll have to read the actual chapter before I give my thoughts.

[shesadollette]

❝ Remember Me Within My Most Memorable Shade ❞

꒰ ⨾ ꒱ Total word count: 1,579

᪥⚘ Taglist: @linsyfelisyya, @raiha-storm65557

includes a pairing involving a touch-starved and vocally expressive hurting hero x a not-so vocally expressive villain whose love language is physical touch and acts of service. let’s see how this plays out.

“…So yes, in short, that is why I believe everyone is alone by the end of the day. No matter what. Nothing changes the fact that where they go or when, they’ll always wake up, sleep, breathe, and go about their daily lives in the body they live in.

“Others are merely passersby who have a choice to stay for as long as they’d like to. But in the end, someone may be buried together with their lover, but who knows whether or not they’ll walk together in the path of the afterlife.”

The villain merely eyed their colleague, falling speechless after the statement.

Both were in the so-called hero’s childhood bedroom. The old night light illuminated the room in its warm amber glow with shadows of stars scattered along the walls. Villain stood near the foot of the short bed while their dearest colleague sank on the small chair in front of the vanity, admiring themself in the mirror.

“I never knew that you view your people that way…” the figure standing murmured quietly that hero barely heard it. The hero was merely a civilian aiding their city folks and earning brownie points for their people to label them as one.

They glanced up to search for the villain’s eyes, who in the eyes of hero's followers possessed a thoroughly different ideology, earning them the title of one.

“Not just my followers, anyone who I work with closely too. You learn a thing or two after being the ‘hero’ of this shithole. I never wish to be too attached to anyone—it’s far too fatal. I’d lose sight of who I am and… what if I become dependable? What if the person I’m attached to dies? What if I experience a deep connection with them which doesn’t have to necessarily be called ‘love’? What do I do then?”

Oh.

Painful seconds of silence grew to a minute.

“What’s the point of being able to save everybody when you can’t even save yourself by the end of the day? Is that really the true meaning of being a ‘hero’? Is this what all ‘heroes’ are supposed to feel? Why do they even see me as a ‘hero’ when all I’ll ever be is just an ordinary civilian doing heroic things? I’m not special at all! Why do they even see me as ‘special’?”

“I…” the figure began stepping forward, shadowy imprints of stars moved across their body and face, the warm afterglow casting attractive shadows on the dimensions of their face.

When their colleague’s back was within their reach, they gingerly laid their palm on the small of their back. Villain stilled for a few seconds to check for any signs of resistance before splaying out their hand and caressing their back gently, making short and gradual rubbing motions.

“You and I, we’ve known each other for quite the longest time. We’d meet undercover downtown at the bar. We’d even share our secrets that we’d only whisper to the stars above. Trust me when I say that I do not know you that deeply yet, because if I did, I’d have known way sooner that you feel this way about yourself and others around you.”

“I don’t think it’s because you do not know me well. We may have different ideologies but we’re still depending on one another as you’ve mentioned, I just… have the tendency to bury my pain and my suffering better than how others know it. Besides, if I have to sacrifice everything for the sake of this godforsaken town from any other prevailing evil, my wellbeing would come second.”

Their hand brushed up along the spine and laid their palm on their partner’s exposed shoulder, stroking and massaging the tense flesh with a thumb as the hero’s breathing gradually slowed down even more in an attempt to provide comfort since their darling villain is by no means good with words.

“You seem to like being caressed like this, should I do this more? That is, if you’re fine with it.”

“I have nothing against it. Go ahead, you may handle me however you’d like. I trust you anyway.”

“Are you…?”

“Yes, I trust you. I am touch-starved. Unbelievably touch-starved. I don’t see the point in hiding it anyway when it’s too obvious and eating me from the inside. It hurts, I’m hurting. I am in pain, I am lonely. And somehow, embracing the fact that I’m in pain and confessing it to you makes it hurt less.”

Villain gripped their palms on the back of the chair and rotated it, an audible squeak on the varnish. They knelt down in front of their beloved, palms on the warmth of their knees, fingers stroking ever so gently on the skin underneath blinking gradually at them. “I am by no means good with words. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve never been vocally expressive, much less now that I’m grown. But, my body language is vocal enough to let others know that I can empathize with them. I hope that through my actions you’d still be able to feel comforted.”

“Tell me frankly, am I a burden? Have I always been a burden to you? Am I too cumbersome to handle? Sometimes I wish I was never born because I feel like I’m asking for too much affection. Sometimes I feel like I’m so pathetic because I’m needy and clingy. Why do I feel like I want affection more compared to an average amount a baby needs? Do you hate me for being like this? I’m sorry, I understand completely if you do.”

“Who… who told you that?”

“Told me what?”

“Everything that you’ve said previously, who is ever so cruel to bash someone for needing affection?”

“I… nobody. Nobody ever did. It’s just… me, I guess. It’s my intrusive thoughts taking over again. Nobody has ever assured me that it’s okay. That's why I thought that it was the wrong thing for me to want. Matter of fact, they never really encouraged me to seek affection, they always say ‘grow up, crying doesn’t solve anything, you’ve got to be strong and… and…’” Hero inhaled quickly through their open mouth, fists hardening on their thighs, “What if I’m tired of putting up a front? I thought we all exist to connect and provide instead of fighting on our own and against ourselves.”

Villain gathered the hero's trembling hands, stroking the back affectionately. “Everytime I look at you, I always see the kindest and the most beautiful soul to have ever shone a light upon my life. I’ve never doubted the fact that you are always honest about your feelings, you’ve always been kind, and I’m relieved that you still are. Please do not resent me for this but… I’m… thankful. Grateful that you are still alive, breathing.

“Be kind to yourself, that’s the bare minimum you could do, treat yourself like how you’d treat your own child when he or she is sick, there is absolutely no need to feel guilty. Guilt should only be for those who have done the wrong thing, but you are currently hurting, and that is not wrong at all. Please, what can I do for you?” Hero was entirely soundless as the only sound in the room was from the ticking of the clock.

“Wait, I know, both of us know that I’m not always gonna be there.” Villain glanced around, “Do you have a marker here somewhere?”

A limp hand pointed to the old study desk beside the vanity where some big books, binders, and a pencil case filled the space.

Villain walked toward the pile and gave a questioning glance toward their colleague, to which a nod was given in permission.

After a while, they returned with a colored marker and as they bent on one knee, they unclasped the tubular cap with a hollow pop and took Hero’s hand. “Do you see this color?” they spoke softly, drawing on the back of Hero’s hand. “This is my favorite color actually. What I want you to do is I want you to always find things associated with this color. It could be any shade so long as it falls under the category of this color, do you understand?”

“Why… how does it help?”

“I believe strongly that when you try remembering someone, you need other factors to help stimulate the brain to be able to paint a better picture of that person. For example if you walk in a bakery and you spot your significant other’s favorite cake, you’d automatically start thinking about them, no?”

“Now that I think about it… I think you may be right.”

Villain smiled affectionately, “Can I get a hug?”

Hero knew that they were gambling in a game of danger. Before their eyes the very tiger that would strip them to the barest skeleton of a prey and yet… they spread their arms wide and Villain threw themself in that welcoming embrace, embracing Hero tightly for the very first time, rubbing their palms desperately on their back, never wanting to let go. “Find me, remember me within that color. May it be flowers, paint, food, houses, anything, just know that as long as this color still exists, I’m always out there. I promise you, I won’t die happy until you feel the barest traces of being loved and appreciated.”

And yet, Hero found themself a home, a cradle in the arms of somebody.

[gayofthefae]

There are only two times that Mike’s outbursts have been allowed to fully play out. Once to Hopper, once just to the room in general. The first time he ended crying in Hopper’s arms. The second he confessed that he loved El.

I think that’s what people forget: what’s underneath the anger. People love his love and his sweetness and accept his sadness but forget that you only always get to it if you let him feel all of it. I’m not saying he should be allowed to hurt people with his words, I’m just saying that he should be allowed to feel his anger without being villainized because anger isn’t to be villainized. Anger itself isn’t bad. Sometimes the things we say or do in it are. Mike just needs a safe space to be angry. 

The two times we have seen him ride that wave were when he cried in Hopper’s arms and said he loved El. The saying he loved El is the direct confession of feeling. In fact, I would argue that wasn’t even the point of the phrase, at least emotionally. He does love her and that is what was focused on by everyone around him. But the key component was actually “I can’t lose her”, just like it was in his speech at the end of season 4. His outburst was because he was scared. And taking his instance with Hopper where he was completely allowed to just let out his anger, pummeling him until he collapsed into his arms, I think that we would have seen:

If Mike had kept going with Lucas in season 1, he would have broken down because he couldn’t bear the thought of not being able to get to Will in time.

If Mike had kept going with Will in 3x03, he would have broken down because he was scared of losing either of the people he just got back again.

If Mike had kept going with Will in 4x02, he would have broken down because he was scared of losing either of them again.

If Mike had kept going with El in 4x03, he would have broken down because he was scared of not being good enough for her.

These situations aren’t always safe for escalation, which is why it doesn’t happen - and Mike knows this too, so he stops himself. I’m not encouraging escalation. I’m just saying that we have gotten to the heart of his anger before and it wasn’t just more anger. It was fear. It was grief. It isn’t that Mike is just mean. He’s in pain. Just because we don’t see the source every time doesn’t mean it isn’t still there.

[leatherbookmark]

ALSO a bit on that topic and partially inspired by lise’s essay from yesterday -- jl.

the quote:

The smile had been so kind, so genuine that Jin Ling couldn’t believe Jin Guangyao had faked it. All of a sudden, fresh tears fell from his eyes.

Jin Ling had always thought that crying was a sign of weakness, and had treated it with contempt. Yet, other than this flood of tears, there was no way to release all the pain and anger in his heart.

He didn’t know why, but he felt like he couldn’t hate or blame anyone. Wei Wuxian, Jin Guangyao, Wen Ning — Each of them was responsible in some way for the deaths of his parents, and each of them had given him a reason to loathe them. But it also seemed like each of them had left him unable to do so. But if he didn’t hate them, who could he hate? Had he deserved to lose his parents? Was he not only unable to seek revenge, but also unable to simply hate anyone?

He somehow didn’t want to let go. He felt wronged. He felt like he’d rather die together with them and end everything.

Watching him cry soundlessly as he stared at the coffin, Sect Leader Yao asked,

“Jin-gongzi, why are you crying? For Jin Guangyao?”

When Jin Ling said nothing, Sect Leader Yao spoke as a senior scolding a junior.

“What are you crying for? Hold back your tears. Someone like your uncle doesn’t deserve anyone’s tears. Jin-gongzi, I mean no offense, but you can’t be so weak! This sentimentality is more suitable to the fairer sex. You should know what’s right and what’s wrong, and straighten up your…”

(...)

Jin Ling had thousands of thoughts and feelings whirling inside him already. Hearing Sect Leader Yao’s remarks, a fire surged in his heart.

He shouted, “So what if I want to cry?! Who are you? What are you? You won’t leave me alone even when I’m crying?!”

(chapter 110, EXR)

what does this scene mean, and why is it here?

i, personally, love it. jl says (well, thinks) it himself -- he has all the reasons to hate wwx, wn and jgy and blame them for the deaths of his parents. note that this is after he finds out about jgy’s involvement! he could easily go “i used to hate wn and wwx as the villains who killed my parents and love jgy as the uncle who gave me fairy, but now i see i had it all wrong and i should love them and hate him instead”. he doesn’t do that though. he still groups them all together, still grapples with anger, pain and hatred, and still finds that he can’t hate any of them.

and he struggles with it! he really does, to the point of bursting into tears. this is not just jc’s fault, before anyone tries anything -- the entire world jianghu seems to be into the idea that every bad thing that happens has a Bad Person who caused it and needs to be punished and reviled. first it was wrh, then wwx, now jgy. and later probably someone else. but here, jl learns a (very painful) lesson -- sometimes things aren’t so easy as “X is 100% bad”, or even “X is 75% bad, but even that is enough to condemn them”, OR even “X is 67% bad, but being 1/3rd Good they should have known better and GROW BETTER”.

sometimes people are people.

so what does this scene tell us about jgy? well, sect leader yao hurries with an explanation: jl shouldn’t cry, jgy isn’t worth it, and in fact, crying is for pussies; real men know what’s right and what’s wrong, and-- wait, no? is that not what we’re supposed to think? why is jin ling shouting at this kind senior who kindly offers advice?

well, perhaps because sect leader yao isn’t the best source there is.

but really -- that’s the question: is jl wrong, and sly right? is jl wrong to see Nuance in people, to realize that life is not as easy as finding a villain to blame, avenging your family and basking in the glow of satisfaction? or is he a manipulated victim who can’t see how horrible their abuser was, even when faced with proof of it all?

this is perhaps the last scene “featuring” jgy, not counting the one with people talking in the inn in the last chapter. in the previous chapter, wwx lays it all out in front of lwj, lxc and nhs: the explanation of what jgy wanted to do in the temple, the possible reason why he organized the burial mounds party. that’s it, that’s the end, we don’t really need anything more. if anything, it could be jc to lead the narration pov, looking at jl with fairy and thinking about this man who gave his nephew a puppy and turned out to have been a monster all this time. this, again, doesn’t happen.