#the problem with meta posting about something everyone but you has seen is that this has 100% been remarked on by many people before

[dandelionjack]

thinking about water symbolism, the meaning of the titular water in the waters on mars. time is referred to by many as a river (a brook), as a powerful current, flowing forever unstoppable. he says it to adelaide when the infected come: water is patient, water waits and water always wins. you can shock it with electricity and block it out with steel, but in the end the trickle always catches up with you.

imagine you’re the only person left that knows how to swim. everybody around you is drowning, while you — you can flail about in the rapids forever. but you can’t carry all of them out of the stream on your back. in the end, all you can do is watch. all you can do is float

you believe yourself a god of the waves, just for a second, because you alone remember swimming. but that doesn’t make you poseidon. you can’t wrench the tides out from under the moon’s grasp just because the water never fills your lungs

[actual-changeling]

I have written many meta posts and s3-theories, and read even more, but I got hit by an idea I have not seen before. (If there is another post, please link it!)

After vibrating for an hour and losing my mind in my dms, I have no scraped together enough brain cells to present what is probably my first actual 'main-plot meta'.

Welcome to another edition of Alex's unhinged meta corner, today with a title to honour Crowley's James Bond obsession and the possibility of another heaven heist.

I give you:

From Jesus with Love - You Will Live Twice

Now, let's get right into it.

I think Neil might have told us more about the main s3 plotline in the announcement article than we previously thought. We all got stuck on 'they're not talking'—for good reason—but it is the part before that which has been bugging me ever since then.

The plans are going wrong—and this time that is a problem for earth and humanity. Turning that around, it means that whatever that plan consists of would be the way to go and beneficial for everyone, the opposite of the main plot of s1.

"They need to prevent the Second Coming (SC)" is pretty much the only and most popular idea I have seen, hundreds of fics and metas and whatnot have been written about it, but I think there's a good chance we're wrong. If we're not, well, I will honestly just be happy to be watching season 3.

Whatever the Metatron is planning will have negative consequences for everyone, or as Michael puts it: "And so… it ends. Everything ends. Time and the world is over, and we begin Eternity… forever and ever."

It sounds very much like Apocalypse #1 - Same Old Plan, same expected result, yet if we look at different interpretations of scripture we find that the SC is not entirely about complete destruction and death for all of humanity—it is about creating a new world/migrating to the kingdom of God.

This is taken from the Wikipedia article about the SC

Resurrection and life in a world to come are a direct contradiction to the result Michael is explaining—total annihilation of humanity.

Now, I am neither religious in any way nor have I ever received any sort of biblical education. Luckily, Christians seem to love talking about the bible because there are dozens of bible website to wade through. If I get anything wrong, please point it out, I have never touched a bible in my life.

So, after reading many, many quotes by a bunch of different guys, I tried to create a somewhat coherent picture of what the SC might look like based on the assumption that the end result is positive. I will talk about how they can be interpreted more in-depth later, otherwise this would turn into a string-net very fast.

Additionally, we can also see where these points overlap with the statement Jimbriel gave in the bookshop in episode three.

What is Jesus' job description?

only God knows when and how exactly it will begin/happen, no one else does, including Jesus and the Metatron

a lot of different catastrophes are mentioned or quoted as something Jesus said, like earthquakes and storms -> Jimbriel mentioned a tempest and great storms

there is also the line "All these are the beginning of birth pains." Birth pains dictate that there will be a birth—birth of the world to come perhaps?

dead people will be resurrected/leave their graves so that they too can be judged (I'd say participate in it but that sounds like the Second Coming is a summer camp activity)

there are also mentions of stars and the heavens in general falling from the sky and the sun going dark -> Jimbriel also mentions darkness as one of the signs

great lamentations, as Jimbriel says, are also a part of many different passages, with humans mourning the world as it was

the Lord will descent with the voice of an Archangel and the sound of a trumpet/the trumpet of God; the grammatical structure of that sentence seems to be interpreted differently depending on who you ask, but the voices of angels/an Archangel and some sort of trumpet are common terms

once everyone is in heaven/wherever the 'main even' will take place, a judgement call will be made for every single person in relation to the book of life, which decides whether they will be punished forever or not (one passage talks about a lake of fire and mentions it several times in a row)

And this is where it gets tricky. To figure out what the SC looks like, we first need to understand a) what the Metatron's capabilities are, b) what he has to lose, and c) what exactly would be a threat to him.

If you ask me, all of this comes down to the Metatron wanting to stay and be in power for eternity with full control over angels so he can do as he please, aka keeping the system running as it is.

We know the book of life (bol) is a thing in the Good Omens universe, whether it does what Michael said is an entirely different question. So far, we have also only got confirmation that hell collects and tortures souls—in such large amounts that they are understaffed—while heaven looks completely empty.

The Metatron runs heaven as an institution, he seems to be the highest power any of the angels have access to and the one they defer to. He refers to himself as the voice of God and combines judge, jury and executioner, making him one great celestial dictator.

From what we know of hell, they do things a lot more democratically, having different councils, dukes, and ranks that are responsible for different levels of command.

We also know that that the Metatron wants the world to end, his goals can probably be summarized as the statement Michael makes, which would leave him in charge without any opposing forces.

We also also know that he sees Crowley and Aziraphale as a threat—why exactly remains a mystery for now—and that the success of his plan hinges on having a Supreme Archangel (SA) he can control. Gabriel decided to become princess of hell and Beez' sugar baby, so he was out of the equation, and after the Armageddon disaster, I don't think he wants to risk failing because of an unfamiliarity with earth (plus, y'know, getting our two idiots away from the plan).

It's interesting to me that right at the end, he says to Aziraphale "We call it the Second Coming"—call, not it is or it will be, CALL. We know that nothing Neil writes is a coincidence, definitely not with such an important line.

Just because you CALL something a specific name doesn't mean it IS what you call it, e.g. Aziraphale calls Crowley a foul fiend when we know he very much isn't.

The Metatron is selling his plan as part of the "Great/Ineffable Plan", so any questions can be blocked by saying it's God's will, it's ineffable. Whatever his plan is, he hides it behind the concept of the Second Coming, which angels know just enough about to understand the basics without having in-depth knowledge of what exactly it entails.

It is a good fucking strategy, I'll give him that, and it WORKS because angels—even if they have doubts—do not question. They simply don't; fear of punishment and millennia of conditioning have left them in a horrible place. When they encounter something unknown, their response is "I already knew that" as to not ask questions.

Crowley questions, we know that, and Aziraphale, ohhhhh, Aziraphale ALSO questions, but he does it in a less dangerous and obvious way. The Metatron is vastly underprepared for that.

(Side note: That alone would be its own meta post, but the gist is that he questions heaven's plans and then adjusts his assumptions of what God might want to what he WANTS God to want, e.g. Job, the Arch)

To summarize everything I just said, the Metatron wants to do what Armageddon failed to do—destroy earth and the universe—so he can be supreme dictator of all remaining celestial beings and gorge himself on power.

But instead of calling it his Big Evil Plan, he calls it the Second Coming, making everyone play along without resistance.

We cycle aaaaall the way back to the sentence I quoted—the ACTUAL plans are going wrong since the Metatron's would mean total destruction.

But what is the SC supposed to be if not the Apocalypse 2.0?

When I look at all the different aspects of the SC and assume a positive outcome, then the end result to me would be a new world that is pretty much like the old world, or maybe even literally the old world but with any destruction reversed. Heaven and hell get dissolved since now that everyone has been "judged", they as institutions are no longer needed, they have fulfilled their purpose.

No more judgement means there is no reason to keep track anymore, so why do you need to run celestial corporations whose only job is doing exactly that? You don't—and THAT is what I believe is the biggest perceived threat to the Metatron, losing full control over everyone and everything, losing his position, his title, and whatever else he has.

On top of that, Good Omens has told us again and again that God doesn't seem to give a fuck about good and evil anymore, and that without heaven and hell being all wrapped up in it, humanity would have 100% free will without any consequences.

Maybe the BoL is empty, maybe it isn't real, maybe Jesus stole it to straighten a wobbly table, who knows. There is a chance it is what Michael says, but I would admittedly find that a bit. too obvious and boring since it would boil the plot down to "they save their own asses again" and not "they save humanity at all cost".

Regarding Crowley and Aziraphale's role in this—I have Thoughts TM but those definitely need their own post. In short, they have to get the SC back on track, the real one.

-

If you have made it this far, thank you for working through what I hope are more or less coherent rambles. Any spelling or grammar mistakes are my own.

Questions? Thoughts? Corrections? Expansions and additions?

Feel free to add to this post however you like (and I can't believe I have to mentions this but if you clown on my post or behave like an asshole you will be blocked).

[the-kipsabian]

wrestling fic writers!!

i have decided to be the change i wanna see, so lets do a nice little thing for each other, as a community full of incredible and talented writers. yes this is writer specific only, but thats cause thats where the main problem of people not interacting with creative works lies in this fandom as far as i can tell and have seen people talking about it especially in the last couple of months

if you read this, please add links to your written works. it can be just a single fic youre really proud of, your writing blog, your writing tag, your ao3 account, anything where your works can be found

and if you leave your link here, PLEASE check out someone else that has left their works, and interact with them. leave them a comment, even just a kudos, REBLOG their fic, etc. interacting is the keyword i want to emphasize here, along with building a sort of a masterpost of where to find people writing in this fandom

and if you are not a writer, youre still highly encouraged to interact with this post and share it and show love to the writers in this fandom, obviously!! i think that should go without saying, but adding it in anyways

a bit more about my vision and resources and such under the read more, but thats the gist of it. happy linking and please be kind and supportive to each other!! 💜

nobody is too big or too small to add their things on this list. if you write and post anything in this fandom whatsoever, be it fics or drabbles or headcanons, any companies or any kind of ships or reader inserts or any content whatsoever no matter how 'dead dove dont eat' or hell even if its just meta, we welcome all here and nobody can say that one thing is less valid than another. just please tag your content accordingly, especially if theres content warnings, and feel free to mention what you write, who you write, any info you wish to leave that would help people before they click on your links. but even so, that should not and hopefully will not deter people from interacting, no matter what it is. someones trash is another ones treasure, i promise you

and unless the amount gets really overwhelming, im personally going to be checking out everyone that leaves something here. unless it squeaks me out, but even then, i'll spread the word. and i just wish as many people as possible will do the same, and not just use this as a potential board to only get eyes on their stuff. ofc thats also the point, but you should give as much, if not more, than you get. we need to be kind and supportive of one another (besides, from personal experience, if you show love to someone else, they are more likely to do it back than without you taking the first step, so... pay it forward)

as for resources, heres a few links that should be helpful in leaving comments and feedback. of course everyone does their own thing and no comment is too big or too small to leave, but for those who need them. if you have anything you'd like added to this list, dont hesitate to get in touch or drop it in the post yourself!!

101 comment starters

ao3 floating comment box

kudos html

dont know how to comment? easy solutions

a quick hot guide to commenting (by yours truly)

an overall guide to appreciating fanfic writers

and just in general.. leave people comments. leave them asks about their projects. just go over and gush about their work. i know it sounds embarrassing but writers love nothing more than to hear that someone likes what they are doing. if you find a fic that hasnt been updated in forever, comment on it. it might just be the spark the author needs to continue. while kudos and likes are nice, and just as valuable to some, its definitely in the words the people leave for them that matter the most. im not saying this to put pressure on anyone, its just how it is, and i feel like unless people are writers themselves, and even then sometimes, thats just hard to grasp, especially if the writer is a smaller and less popular one who doesnt get a lot of traffic in the first place

i think thats all. just be nice and considered to everyone, reblog peoples works, this post with others add ons and so forth. and if i find anyone talking shit here or at other writers for something they share, you'll be blocked and im probably taking your kneecaps. be fucking nice. we are all struggling here and we need to stick together

happy sharing and commenting 💜💜

[desultory-novice]

Apologies AU - Good Ending Drop

Hey, everyone. It was my goal to finish Apologies in tandem with the Tournament, but for health reasons, I won't be able to as I planned. Because I tied the story to the tournament and don't feel like untangling it again and making everyone wait more, I'm going to give you all the ending spoilers, as I promised I would if I became unable to finish the story.

What I'm about to describe is THE Good Ending. The True Ending I had planned out almost from the beginning!

-

In the main-verse...

Susie, who sees too much of herself in Adeleine, decides to take matters into her own hands to bring the girl's older brother back.

She takes the vial of Dark Matter Swordsman DNA that was harvested from King Dedede. Meta Knight catches up with her and argues against it. It's foolish, dangerous, and liable to be nothing but painful to all parties involved. But Susie anticipated interference and asked Zan to bodyguard her. When Zan arrives (late) to the lab, the argument has caused the vial to begin to react to all the negativity in the room. Zan recognizes its contents as Dark Matter and insists on calling Lord Hyness, who in his own quirky way, analyzes their problem and suggests that while the contents are too weak to survive on their own, a resurrection could be possible, using Void's powers to mimic a hive queen, supplying whatever creature emerges the power to survive on Popstar without burning up into ash...

-

In the tourney-verse...

White-Haired Noir is at peace with his life and has come to accept the death of his precious little sister many years ago, but...a part of him still wishes to make Adeleine happy.

Using his fairy-born dimension sight, he discovers an Alternate Noir who is 98% percent compatible with main-verse Noir. This is the Purgatory!Noir from the Re_Birthday post. And he drags this unstable, utterly clueless Noir out of this peaceful void without his permission and secretly "volunteers"  the massively confused, un-alive but un-dead teen boy for the Kirby OC Tournament.

It is White-Haired Noir that is the "good" voice on phone and in Noir's head, encouraging rationality. His goal? Get Noir some friends. Get him to face up to/open up to people about his past. And get him caring about his life enough that he wants to live...! 

White-Haired Noir has seen what the main-verse Star Allies are attempting and knows that the odds of them actually bringing "Noir" back instead of just an emotionless monster are low without a compatible "Noir Soul" (haha) to inhabit the new vessel.

Over the course of many in-tourney events, including Noir learning to have faith in the sibling bonds he built with Gooey despite being Dark Matter at the time, learning to separate himself and Adeleine as individuals instead of clinging to her to his own neglect, privately opening up to King Dedede, who put the pieces together post-possession, about some awful stuff Noir put up with for years in secret from Raquelle's father (who privately loathed Neichel AND her kids and took it out on Noir) to "pay" for Adeleine's good life...

And lastly, using the power of wishes to interrogate if THIS Noir's true wish is to die and be free, to have never been born, to have had a normal "perfect" life, or if he simply wishes for a second chance to be with those he cares about... White-Haired Noir determines that Tourney!Noir is ready and reveals his plan to him. Noir confesses to him that he really does want to live and be with his family again and offers up his stronger soul for Susie and the gang's vessel.

-

Back in the main-verse...

The experiment is a success! They have brought, well, something back. It is not quite like Dark Matter Swordsman in form, nor is it exactly a human boy. It looks a little bit like a spiky haired-Gooey.

After some tense questioning of the emotionless, memoryless, unresponsive goo, it...suddenly seems to awaken. With the voice of a deeply shaken and scared young boy, the violet-eyed blob questions the mad scientist, cultists, and masked man surrounding him... Where the hell is he? And where are his little brother and sister?

Meta Knight welcomes Noir back to the world of the living.

Later, after Noir has time to dress himself in an appropriate scarf, Adeleine and Gooey are brought in and it is a happy and tear-filled reunion all around as Noir confirms that, while this form is strange, it's not dangerous and he's not in pain. He is then re-introduced to King Dedede, whereupon it's revealed that even though Noir likes him, he's still a snarky teen punk at heart, as he sasses the king horribly. (Dedede has gained another kid, but at what cost? XD)

...And that's it.

That's the ending to Apologies I've held onto for nearly a year.

For reading through all that, here is a short comic I drew a while back of the reunited family having a snowball fight in White Wafers.

-

(Not to unnecessarily over-explain the story but because the comic is a little vague, I have to tell you that no, Noir does not ever return to human after his revival. I meant it when I wrote in several places that their parting on Shiver Star was the last time they'd see each other "...in this form." This is merely meant to depict a moment in which Adeleine, seeing her brother alive and smiling and laughing and having real fun for the first time in so long, is able to imagine his old self smiling and is at peace that her brother is finally free from the hurt and misery he bore up with for so long.)

(...And yes, he has a long, silly tongue just like Gooey. Which is why he hides all but his eyes behind the scarf. Gotta keep up that cool older brother look even as a little goo creature! While Noir can't become human - frankly, he doesn't miss having a human body, given the stuff in his adolescence and being over-stressed, underfed, under-slept and just overall sick all the time in his later teens - he does eventually acquire the ability to shift into his old "Swordsman" form for short bursts of time.)

-

(Lastly, you might wonder how I could have had this exact ending in mind from almost the beginning when so much of it is tied up in recent posts like the tourney? ...Well, originally what was going to happen to allow Noir to be properly resurrected into the Dark Matter Goo body is that the Dream Rod from Star Allies was going to appear in response to a grieving Adeleine's wishes to see her brother again, bringing Noir-as-Swordsman back. At least for a LITTLE while, as it would be revealed that with Zero dead, Noir, who was entirely composed of Dark Matter at this point, couldn't survive on Popstar. Every moment he was there, his body was burning.)

(Still, he lasts long enough to have one final talk with Adeleine that helps heal him from the torturous events of DL 3 - in which we learn a highly disappointed Zero drove Noir to the absolute breaking point, shattering his mind and his newly regained soul. Adeleine also tells Noir she has finally realized everything he did for her during their childhood and apologizes to him for not seeing it before. With dawn on the horizon, Noir asks to look over Adeleine's sketchbooks with her before the end... He dies one last time, peacefully, while Adeleine finally gets to properly mourn him.)

(Then, all the "main-verse" sections proceed to happen as stated above!)

-

(...Okay, okay. One last thing. There was also an alternate ending planned where Magolor, taking advantage of the fact that Merry Magoland was built on a nexus point, finds a way to reunite Adeleine and White-Haired Noir - still a teen in this version - using his theme park as a union point, as special birthday gift for Adeleine.)

(I was kinda fond of this one for reuniting the timelines, but it opened up a lot of questions such as, if Magolor made it so that Noir and Adeleine from two different dimensions can see each other as long as they're both in Magoland, could others from the WH Noir-verse see the main-verse this way? It invited too many questions, so that's why I scrapped that one and just let White-Haired Noir grow up instead.)

[justchillandshipit]

Scroll or check the reblogs to see the update:

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A post shared by Glo Dowell (@justchillandshipit)

I wasn't sure about sharing here because I don't think they are in these spaces, but I reconsidered. If this show helps you, like it helps me, you might feel something similar to how I feel. I'm a small blogger here and a smaller one there. They may never see my post, but if 911 has helped you, maybe you can do your own post, and they will see it. I've seen some horrible crap in fandoms, no lie, but I've also seen genuine kindness, extraordinary artistic talent, and fascinating meta as well. There is a lot of good here, and I feel like the creators, actors, and crew are good people too, not just the cast we see weekly. (Naturally, they are fabulous.) There are so many people who put so much into making this show. I don't know what they are thinking and feeling right now, but it can't hurt for them to hear how much the work they do matters.

Maybe, I'm too much in my feelings. If I've somehow offended anyone with the suggestion, it wasn't intentional. Love to you all.

UPDATE

***I'm reblogging. I have a lot of blocked tags. I do this to curate my experience, especially in these dark times. However, everyone has been posting about the verbal attacks and threats against Oliver and Ryan. What they said about Ryan actually made me cry. I'm not going to repost those comments. It would trigger many, and I don't want to give them satisfaction. You have to be a really disgusting human being to say the things that are being said. I don't care who your favorite ship is those words are sickening. I get everyone's anger. I feel it too, but being petty by laughing and mocking their ship makes us look no better, and it accomplishes nothing.

What I believe we should be concerned about is how this affects the actors. It would be heartbreaking to see them walk away from the show because of the Trumplike sickness of these people. Now, more than ever, the best thing we can do is combat their hate by giving the actors 100% more LOVE. Let them know their value. I would tell you to report them, but if these comments are being made on Twitter/X, Musk owns that, and he will soon be working in Tr#mp's administration. In other words, *Twitter/X is not going to have a problem with racist comments. Remind the actors that what they do matters, even in times like these--especially in times like these. I think everyone on that show could stand to hear something positive right now, but as far as I know, Ryan and Oliver are the only ones being attacked like this and what was said to Ryan was simply repulsive.

Like I said before, I am a small blogger here and a smaller one on Instagram. You are welcome to go there and try to boost my post, but if you are a big blog with a larger media reach, I think it would be better for you to create your own appreciation post and encourage your followers to do the same. Naturally, everyone has their own ideas, and fighting with them may make you feel better in the moment, but your love is the only thing that is ever going to be stronger than hate.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Have you seen this very long post on why Stark was completely right in CW? I understand you enjoy picking these types of metas apart

tumblr.com/protect-anthony-edward-stark/654070608511041536/as-some-people-seem-to-not-understand-or?source=share

Wow, I hadn't seen it and it's uh... well, it's really something. ��‍♀️ That's a long-ass post and this is a long-ass answer, so more after the cut.

Posts like this one really prove that the Accords propaganda worked on a lot of fans, the word "safety" is uttered a few times in there as if those documents had any intention of keeping people "safe" from the Avengers or the enhanced. At this point I wonder, do these fans consider the enhanced as "people" at all?

It is quite scary that some are so quick to give up on freedom in order to gain in security, especially when these exact words are something Zola says in TWS. That guy was Hydra, folks.

Then, all that talk about Stark feeling guilty and blaming himself for everything... I do believe there might be some truth to that but that's just the thing, feeling guilty is free. If the result of all his actions is him going back to his luxury home and never having to pay for all his mistakes while those around him have to either go on the run as fugitives or serve time in jail or have to spend months in house arrest... what can I say, I'm gonna have a problem with that.

He felt responsible for that American kid's death, yes. What about Pietro though? What about the other Sokovians? There's a young woman in the team who lost her brother and her home that day... did he ever care about that?

It's interesting that OP mentions Steve having to go outside the law to find Bucky, but of course they don't mention he's forced to do that because the American government, the same that tried to force the team to sign the Accords, had sent the CIA to kill an innocent man on sight despite having no actual evidence of a crime. And regarding Stark offering "medical care" to Bucky in the US... why is Stark even offering that in the first place? What authority does he have to do that? He's not an Avenger anymore, he's a civilian, he had no power to suggest such a thing, he was talking out of his ass.

Also, suggesting to someone that they sign a document and only after that those papers can be modified is a scam. Anyone who has ever signed a contract knows that, it's not difficult to understand.

But there's something that I have read so many times and I still don't understand: "At this moment Steve was close to signing". No, he wasn't? He was listening to Stark trying to understand the situation, but I never saw him thinking about signing. What these stans misread is that Steve was NEVER against accountability, if anything he's the one who was completely game with that. It's Stark the one trying to direct the blame for his actions elsewhere. So of course Steve was going to listen if presented with a chance to get some accountability... the problem is he understood full well the Accords were NOT that.

Regarding Wanda, it's kind of infuriating to read that she was locked up in a luxurious facility so why is she complaining. Well, maybe because that house arrest was illegal? Because it was trumping her civil rights? Because Stark had no authority to do such a thing? Also, it's funny that OP says Stark had Vision with her because he knew she liked him -- he chose Vision because he's the most powerful one.

And I don't see how Stark could possibly protect her from the blame she might receive when she was being blamed for Lagos way before Ross showed up with the Accords. That incident is the reason she was locked up despite the fact that she saved everyone on that street. We're okay with locking up the heroes for a crime committed by the villains? I sure as hell I'm not.

Regarding Peter, OP says Stark took time to get to know him before "recruiting" him. Yeah, he took time to realize Peter was ideologically on Steve's side at which point he deliberately chose to withhold the reason why they were fighting, he lied to Peter and took him out of the country without informing his legal guardian. But hey, he was a 15-year-old kid, it's not problematic at all. "He wanted to keep him safe". You know how you keep that kid safe? At his own home and not in a fight in a German airport.

OP: "It's better to stay together as a team than go outside the law". Nope. Not at all. Not like this. Not when signing those Accords take the civil rights of a good portion of the population and half the team. What does "stay together as a team" even mean? At this point you gotta ask yourself why do the Avengers exist at all?

Then OP claims Stark "tried to avoid the fight" in the airport, which is kinda funny considering he refused to listen to Steve and he's the one who started the fight, and then this gem: "Team Cap goes against the law, ignores 117 countries, and tears the team apart."

Yeah... and why? Steve tells them about Zemo but does Stark and his team care? Nope. And at that point we all thought he was going to use those Winter Soldiers to his advantage, so yeah they were forced to go outside the law.

As an aside, all this "go outside the law" is said so many times, it's kinda weird. Are we back to the thought that if something is made law that means it's morally right? Surely we know better than that, yes?

Then, the Raft. So Stark "didn't know" they would be kept in a prison such as that but the same guy who hacked the helicarrier not two minutes after arriving in it in The Avengers doesn't have a damn second to get his ex-teammates out of the Raft? He didn't tell Steve about it either, how long were Clint, Sam, Wanda and Scott there? He cared oh so much according to OP... well, he sure as hell didn't show it.

But of course, we reach the point where OP says Steve knew it had been Bucky who killed the Starks. I think there's enough meta on this site to prove that's a lie and Steve had no way of knowing it had been Bucky, but I want to point out this scene OP includes in their post:

They claim this is proof Steve knows, but what I see here is Steve trying to put the focus on himself and his so-called "lies" in order to take the spotlight off of Bucky and have Stark focus on him. Because they know each other and at that point maybe Steve thinks he wouldn't attack him - and he knows in which state Bucky is. He's trying to protect him, this is not an admission of guilt.

Oh and, OP claims Steve and Bucky attack Stark? Nope, he's the one who attacks first. But OP is right, Stark does return home after he almost had an innocent man killed. No consequences at all, as per freaking usual.

Look, I won't deny Stark had a lot of issues and I think IM3 did a pretty good job with that. But the thing with this guy is... he's not well. He's supposed to be a morally grey character who makes mistakes and is amazingly flawed and the only way his character can develop and evolve and improve is if everyone around him calls him out on his shit, if he pays for his actions and he understands what he has done wrong. But the MCU right post-AoU decided no one would ever do that and he would be framed forever as 100% right, so we ended up with a character who never learned a damn thing, continued making the same mistakes over and over again, had the gall to call others out while having his own actions swept under the rug and he got a heroic death scene in EG and a funeral and tributes in other movies whereas other characters, mostly Natasha, were completely put aside like they were nothing.

That kind of treatment gets him so damn close to villain territory... which is a shame because he shouldn't be there. But alas... Phases 1-3 were the Stark Cinematic Universe, unfortunately.

[ladyrijus]

so glad I'm not alone in how i feel about fanon Link versus canon with botw/totk. i don't think it's wrong for people to write him how they experienced the games, but like. that's not his actual canon personality ya know? and sometimes meta posts kind of ignore that distinction and it's so frustrating. (i think you already know this but i feel the same way about other noncanon stuff like the warriors games and the manga, including the skyward sword oneshot in the hyrule historia)

Right?

I don't have a problem either with making light of the game mechanics and drawing silly comics or writing funny scenarios; everyone has a right to do whatever the fuck they want.

But I can't help but feel a little... irritated when they portray BOTW/TOTK! Link to the other Links as this feral little gremlin who wants to cause mass destruction in nothing but his undergarments in comparison to the OTHER Links.

They act as if the other Links are more noble and honorable than him, the child who took up the sword even though it meant that he would no longer be seen as human but a war god in his people's eyes, the child who died a mortal all the same in his last stand against a beast of metal designed to protect him and his princess, the child who was given a chance at life AGAIN and still ran headfirst into danger for friends he could barely remember, because that is who Link truly is.

He was disabled at the start of BOTW due to the guardian attack and had to learn how to fight again; even then, unless you were an experienced player hell bent on fighting like lore-accurate Link, he never could surmount to the abilities he had pre-Calamity. That was something huge he ultimately came to terms with.

And then he becomes disabled AGAIN from the malice attack, losing an entire part of himself (physically and mentally) and has to learn how to fight with a stranger's arm that has been surgically attached to him without his consent. But he doesn't let that deter him. Doesn't let himself give up. He doesn't cry, "why me?" or get extra agitated in the dialogue with other NPCs (cough cough looking at you Skyward Sword Link). He gets up, and understands that there are people that need his help, and he's going to help them, regardless of what may come.

Also, he can literally see dragons, creatures that are deemed mythical in HIS world. That's not even the crazy part; the games confirm that typically children see dragons due to their pure hearts. If that doesn't speak volumes about Link's true character, I don't know what does.

[doraambrose]

another jason meta post in these trying times (where dc has fucked him over in current comics again)

https://www.tumblr.com/itsblueberry13-blog/711726418044813312/do-you-think-jason-would-ever-talk-to-anyone-about?source=share

it's about the batarang-to-the-neck incident and why jason hasn't said anything about it to anyone. don't tell me you've seen this too >:(

Okay so I have also seen this post, but I was scrolling in a hurry while waiting for someone so I didn't actually sit and read it until now. I completely agree with this post. Especially when they mention that Jason would take this as a reason to be seen as a failure. Examples of people he thought he could trust choosing the lowest of the low over him and multiple people, you'd start to think it's a you problem and not a them. There's probably also an element of embarrassment with that with anxiety. So I completely agree that it's not something he'd want to talk about.

Overall, really good deep thoughts and I encourage everyone to give this a read.

Sorry for my absence, I've been at my internship at my er vet while working at my other job and I got sick :(

[drconstellation]

Monkey Business with Furfur

This is a 2024 Smut War meta

(NSFW? I tried to keep it reasonably clean, just filled with innuendo.)

Time to dig up some dirty dirt from before the Fall.

Memory problems? Oh, Hell no! There was no way Crowley was going admit to remembering this bit of history between him and Furfur, especially not in front of Aziraphale.

On the surface this incident with Furfur in the dressing room at the Windmill Theater adds weight to the appearance that Crowley has holes in his memory, just like Gabriel does during S2. But a closer look at the language being used during the post-magic show scene actually reveals quite the opposite - something that is - well, I shouldn't say totally unexpected because I've written about it tangentially before - but something that I think will shake up the way we view things between the three of them.

Firstly, lets review what I call the sub-story theme running underneath this section of the episode: King Arthur and Camelot. I talked about it length in my meta Once and Future Royalty. Here's the important paragraphs from that work for this particular meta:

Yes, poor old Furfur. Two's company, three's a crowd, as they say. Now we know we're in Camelot, we need to be reminded of the central tragedy of the Arthurian story, that ultimately led to the golden kingdom's fall. Lady Guinevere, Arthur's queen, famously loved Sir Lancelot, and the two were passionate lovers. It was essentially a love-triangle at the top, with Arthur being jilted, but he wouldn't/couldn't discard his queen. Where do we see this playing out in 1941? Furfur, pleased with himself for catching an angel and a demon in the act of consorting together (with the help of the zombies,) barges into the backstage dressing room, and confronts the lovers with their crime. But who is playing who in the Arthurian love triangle? I would say Furfur is clearly caught in the role of Arthur here. Consider the following exchange:

[See GIFs at top - I will quote relevant script shortly in detail]

Furfur claims a past intimate relationship with Crowley, which Crowley spurns offhandedly. Crowley is playing Guinevere here, jilting Furfur/Arthur, which leaves the demon-smiting Aziraphale standing in for the handsome hero Lancelot (with his French connections, no less), and doesn't he make us weak at the knees when he drops his voice an octave in dominating disgust. (Is it suddenly getting hot in here...?Phew!)

Recently someone posted more images of Furfur's costume, and the sash was shown reversed, where a red crown can clearly be seen under the stag's head, which to me just adds weight to the Furfur=Arthur role.

Next we need to take another look at this line from Furfur:

FURFUR: I was right next to you. We did loads together. You used to jump on me back, little monkey in the waistcoat.

Everyone took this too literally.

Really.

I mean really really.

There are two things - ok, three things - this set of lines tells us.

The first is the most obvious and likely the surface impression - maybe Crowley did turn himself into a monkey. But this is a misdirection to the real information here, so forget that. Put it to one side for the moment, at least.

Secondly, Furfur had a "monkey on his back."

We see by this turn of phrase that he was burdened by a problem, or something he couldn't let go of, and in this situation it clearly looks like a long held bitter feeling towards Crowley and his apparent freedom on Earth.

CROWLEY: Oh, we shan't, this is ridiculous. [leans back and puts hat over his face] FURFUR: No, what's ridiculous is demons like you doing what they please. And somehow still getting on, while demons like me graft for hundreds and hundreds of millennia and never get a sniff of a promotion! Well, not this time. Expect a Legion to come for you first thing tomorrow. Enjoy your last night on Earth.

Thirdly, the whole thing indicates there is a past history of "monkey business" between Furfur and Crowley, before the Fall. This is further emphasized by Furfur's greeting on arrival:

FURFUR: Hmm, well, well, well... What have we here? AZIRAPHALE: Sorry, have we met? FURFUR: Oh, no, you never had the pleasure, but... we have, haven't we? CROWLEY: Have we?

Ohhhh, Crowley. o_0 No, no, no, no, nooooooo..........

Can you see it? Can you see why he would deny knowing Furfur? That they did "loads together?"

Do you know what "monkey business" is an alternative phrase for?

Remember the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle?

Do you think Crowley is going to admit this in front of his angel?

Uh huh.

Really. Really really.

An "unreliable narrator" indeed.

[linkspooky]

Hey. Long time follower here. Your metas, your discussions of "bad victims", your nuanced view of heroes and victims, your favoritism towards "losers"...not only did you heavily influence my own writing and my own favorites in different medias (I'm entirely blaming you for me being a Makima stan) but you helped through an extremely dark time in my life. I don't think that you just made me a better writer, you also sort of saved my life. I'll always be grateful for that.

There's something I want to ask. You answered to another ask that you don't regret reading MHA because focusing on what doesn't work about it made your writing stronger. Do you feel the same about Homestuck? Or about the more disappointing parts of Tokyo Ghoul (and, while we're being candid here, Avatar?).

Thank you for your compliments they're very encouraging to read.

At this point this blog is becoming the bad victim lovers support group where we all hug each other and cry over how MHA is treating all of its bad victims.

HOMESTUCK: Honestly, my main problem with Homestuck is that ACT 6 was so long and uneventful full of characters not doing anything that by the end of it the only character I was invested in was Vriska. ACT 6 also did go out of it's way to kill my enthusiasm for everything I liked in ACT 5, especially John Vriska. I've never seen a comic throw out all of its previous development that the audience was invested in and like everything that was foreshadowed - oh wait My Hero Academia. Unfortunately Vriska is an all-time-fave so I still write Homestuck Fanfic about her to this day. I used to like think the finale of Homestuck was one big "meh" but after years to reflect upon it, I do like Vriska's arc ending on a final note of Terezi searching for her in the void, possibly forever, and the ambiguity of whether they'll reunite.

TOKYO GHOUL: I remember being mad about Kaneki getting a happy ending that he didn't earn. Kaneki was a character that really frustrated me for a long time, but I came to realize that if you like remove Kaneki from his group of codependent enablers he's actually a really interesting character when he's alone. So he's a character I love to explore in fic, even if I disliked what they did with him in canon. Also, Tokyo Ghoul killed off its biggest victims Furuta and Rize in a really cruel way, but it didn't kill off every single victim so it just disappoints me instead of making me sick to my stomach like MHA does.

ATLA: I actually think the Avatar the Last Airbender ending is fine. Which like, isn't saying much because I think the Season 1 finale and Season 2 finales are some of the best things ever put to television. The worst sin that the ending does is number one lack of foreshadowing in earlier in the season and number two rushed plot points. Aang not wanting to kill the Fire Lord makes sense. I think the reason a lot of people criticize this and call it an ass pull is that it's not even BROUGHT UP until the finale. Vash the Stampede is pacifist and one of my favorite characters, but it's established from episode 1 that Vash is constantly up against people who want to kill him and he either has to run away or find a way to fight back nonlethally. Azula's insanity and mental instability could have been a thing, but it's not foreshadowed at all so all it ends up doing is conveniently nerf Azula for Zuko, and also being ableist. The worst problem is while there are epic fights it doesn't feel like an ending, because everyone's character arcs are 3/4ths of the way through. ESPECIALLY ZUKO's. Like people say Zuko is acting out of character in the comics, but I think Zuko is the only person in character in the comics because that's how Zuko without a proper end to his character arc would act. It really feels like they had plans for a fourth season that they didn't get, and their solution was to cram an entire season worth of development in everything post the eclipse on season 3. The fact that Azula is left as such a hanging thread is like proof of that, and the fact that Azula's last shot in the series is just her crying and screaming with like no follow up afterwards is something I've been bitter about for fourteen years.

I could write an entire post about how Zuko's redemption arc is unfinished though. It's like the same problem as Catra. I like both characters and I'm glad they got redeemed but they crammed in the entire redemption arc into 1/2 of the last season and that simply wasn't enough time.

[edennill]

If Tolkien characters had Tumblr blogs part 2:

part 1

Finduilas:

url: waitingtothewind

pfp: drawing of a fictional crush in pastel colours (babygirl fulfills her royal duty to exercise patronage over artists by comissioning reams of fanart lol)

bio: ✧˖･* princess finduilas of nargothrond :) ✧˖･* 47 ✧˖･* poetry appreciator ✧˖･* romantic at heart ✧˖･* girl of many fandoms ✧˖･* favourite animal: doggos ✧˖･* favourite food: strawberry juice ✧˖･* and if I had a voice that could make mountains melt I would walk over stars just to see how it felt ✧˖･*

title: ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

has a very pink custom theme with a fancy font. runs a fandom/aesthetic blog and stays clear of discourse. writes really good meta that is quite popular and poems that get notes in the single digits. doesn't really know how to deal with anon hate. participates in every tag game she comes across.

Maeglin:

url: keeps changing it between @molelol and @twilitdark because he likes small animals, but wants to sound edgy.

pfp: keeps changing it between a baby mole and the kind of very dark photo where you can't really see what it's supposed to be.

bio: M / not a minor

title: the dark under the trees

guards his personal info incredibly closely (a good practice, but how much of it is due to his father having been so controlling that he learned secrecy early on is up for discussion). rarely posts, mostly reblogs photos and shitposts. vaguely vents about his idril/tuor/gondolin/treason problems. when he gets into discussions with people he can be uncomfortably fierce, has sent anon hate on occasion.

Celebrimbor:

url: craftingsilver

pfp: red eight pointed star (default variation, not technically fëanorian) on yellow background

bio: older/younger than you think | look I've seen the Trees that's enough | Noldorin jewelsmith | male

title: time and soul, wrought and tempered

mostly posts and reblogs crafting tiktoks and tips, sometimes adds a dash of science, philosophy or something personal. has made a resolution to filter out any posts pertaining to his family on his dashboard and keeps to it almost till the end. shows a strong sense of humour and has gathered quite a following.

Idril:

url: celebrin-does-things

pfp: blurred photo of her with her back to the camera

bio: 500s - architect, wife and mother - everyone is welcome

title: "ammë, there's winter in my boots"

started off as a miscellaneous blog, but shifted to being mostly about Eärendil's shenanigans. she vaguely vents about maeglin/gondolin/cousin's treason sometimes, but still comes off as way more laid back than irl. hardly used her tumblr before her son was born and still treats it mostly as a place to document things he has said + a way to talk with like three treasured mutuals. the architect part in bio is mostly a ruse because she has only ever completed one or two projects but can hardly reveal she's a princess, can she? (before the fall of nargothrond if she got on tumblr it was to nag Finduilas to remove her personal info from bio hah)

@eri-pl, this is in part because you asked (a while ago, sorry), though I'm afraid I don't have much to say about all your suggestions. I prefer not to get into Sauron's headspace actually, but the idea of him having access to social media is horrifying lol. And Pharazon has all the worst characteristics of Reddit atheists, non-ironic modern white supremacists and racist trolls rolled into one with the added horror of the new unsavoury state cult. Míriel is not allowed a sim card🙁😬

also I'm just now realising I tagged a compatriot in something I wrote at 3 am so if you have time stamps on you now know my messed up sleep schedule and if you don't I've just told you lol but never mind.

[bnhaobservation]

Ramblings about the Todoroki family - Part 1: Todoroki Enji’s origin and teenager years

So it’s finally time for me to try to dig into the Todoroki family, their dynamics and their history.

PREMISE

Someone might have been wondering why I waited so long before making a post for my very own favorite family, the Todoroki family.

Well, truth is I’ve plenty of drafts for a Todoroki family post, taken from various different angles which never ended up being posted because the Todoroki family has some HUGE narrative problems that have nothing to do with the family problems.

The first problem isn’t really a problem but a fact: as BNHA is a Japanese manga, most of the Todorokis’ issues are tied and being seen through the Japanese culture, and Japanese culture is different by the various western ones, so one needs to dig into it to understand what’s going on with them… which is long and time consuming and can end up distracting from the main topic, the Todorokis… never mentioning I’m not really an expert in Japanese culture.

The second, which is, if possibly, even huger, is that the Todoroki family suffered plenty of retcon through the serialization of the manga. This is not a complain, this is generally how manga work. Many manga don’t necessarily follow a detailed and pre planned storyline but, at best, a general outline so the author makes up the story as they go… and might be asked/forced to change it as they go, or decide to do it on their own because they came up with something better or realized something wasn’t working. If you decide to read a long manga, this can very well end up being part of your reading experience, one you’ve to accept and that however brings, as a consequences, that things can end up being tossed in without foreshadowing or that a present development can clash with a past one… which cause troubles when we place the facts that form the past of the Todorokis family in a chronological order and try to study their impact on the characters and their psychological behavior and stumble upon contradictions or behaviors that make no sense or give the ‘wrong impression’ (as ‘not the impression Horikoshi wanted us to have of the characters) because… such past facts were inserted retroactively and so couldn’t influence certain scenes when they should have.

So, how I’m going to go with this meta?

So as to give a more cohesive talk about how the Todoroki’s history was I’ll still analyze the family’s history chronologically (where with chronologically I don’t refer to the printing order but to the order in which facts were supposed to happen according to the BNHA timeline) but I’ll go at it in this way.

I’ll divide their history in parts so yeah this will be a multipart meta. Each part will be analyzed in 4 sections.

The first section will be labeled ‘Canon information’ and will be a mere retelling of the canon info with transcriptions of the dialogues in it and images/panels/pages from the manga so as to refresh everyone what the canon says about a certain part and also because I’LL STICK TO CANON AS MUCH AS IT’S HUMANLY POSSIBLE, WHEN IT’S CONRADICTING I’LL POINT IT OUT AND, IF SOMETHING IS NOT CANON BUT A LOGICAL SPECULATION OF MINE, I’LL LET YOU KNOW.

The second section will be labeled ‘Cultural info’ and will be a quick listing of topics tied to Japanese culture with a minimal explanation. It doesn’t exist to give you a deep and comprehensive explanation, just a quick reference so, if you’re interested, you can document yourself about it on your own and better understand the story. Mind you, I’m not Japanese so I might miss something or not explain something clearly enough, which is why I recommend YOU’ll be the one to document yourself using the info I share merely as a crutch to make your research easier.

The third section will be labeled ‘Doylist commentary’. Doylist commentary takes the name from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Real Life author of the Holmes stories. They consider the Todoroki history as a created object, and prefer exegetic explanations with particular attention to the author’s intentions. Doylist commentaries can include “The author changed his mind” or “The author forgot this” or “There was no time for inserting this” or “Here the author is just using/referencing a certain trope” or “The author is just applying the Anthropic Principle (for any given story, there exist basic elements that, no matter how improbable or impossible their occurrence, are required for the story itself to happen, or there would be no story) or the MST3K Mantra (some details in the story don’t need to make sense because they ultimately don’t matter), asking us to suspend our disbelief on how it wouldn’t work logically in the story” or “With this scene the author is trying to carry on this theme/message”. Please DO NOT view the Doylist commentary as a “let’s complain about the story” corner. As said before, things like the author changing his mind or deciding that something impossible can indeed happen or forgot he previously said a certain thing and now he’s saying the opposite are part of the creative process of a manga, but understanding why the author had something happen can be useful to have a better grasp of the story and not give certain scenes a meaning they weren’t intended to have. Of course I’m not Horikoshi nor I worked with him to make the manga so, in this section, I’ll often talk of what I’ll assume was Horikoshi’s purpose to add a certain scene or why a certain problem happened which means I might be wrong.

The forth section will be labeled ‘Watsonian commentary’. Watsonian commentary takes the name from Dr. John Watson, Holmes’ friend and supposed chronicler of his adventures in-universe. They explain the Todoroki history within the logic of the narrative. Watsonian explanations are things like “Character X was lying”, “This happened in a scene we didn’t see”, and “Character X did this because he was thinking that”. So, basically, when I’ll make a Watsonian comment instead I’ll focus on the characters, their lives, their psychology and the effect everything has on them.

With this said let’s start with the Todoroki family.

TODOROKI ENJI’S ORIGIN AND TEENAGER YEARS (Chap. 356 + Chap. 3-86-192-319, Team Up Mission 33, School Briefs I Epilogue and School Briefs III Dramatic Makeover!)

Canon information:

Chronologically speaking, the earliest bit of Todoroki history is in Chap. 356 and shows a middle school Enji standing under the rain looking at a disaster area while his father’s body is being carried away after the man died fighting a man in an attempt to save a girl, causing her too to die as well.

This scene is labeled by the narrator (a high school Enji) as ‘Enji’s origin’ and the proof he’ll never be a superhero.

We also then see Enji at U.A. choosing his Hero name, ‘Endeavor’ the narrator calling this choice the proof of Enji’s menial nature. Students in U.A. choose their Hero name on their first year of high school short after the sport festival so, while we can see that the Enji who chooses his Hero name is older than the one who watched his father die, although comparatively they should be close in age (from 3 to 1 year of difference).

Todoroki Enji (young) ‘Sara ni yowaku natta.’ 轟炎司「更に弱くなった。」 Todoroki Enji (young) “You became beyond weak.”

Todoroki Enji (young) ‘Tachiba to tsugunai to ayamachi to sekinin ga. Omae no seirai no yowasa o abaki dashi miru ni taenai guzu e to hikizuri oroshita. Chōjin ni wa narenainda yo Enji (read: omae) wa. 轟炎司「立場と償いと過ちと責任が。おまえの生来の弱さを曝き出し見るに堪えない愚図へと引きずり下ろした。超人にはなれないんだよ炎司（おまえ）は。」 Todoroki Enji (young) “Position, atonement, mistakes and responsibility. Your innate weakness was exposed and I can’t bear to see how you were dragged down into an indecisive person. Enji (read: you) can’t become a superhuman.”

Todoroki Enji (young) ‘Genten o omoi dase. Teki ga nandatta no ka o?’ 轟炎司「原点を思い出せ。敵が何だったのかを。」 Todoroki Enji (young) “Remember your origin. Who was the enemy?”

Todoroki Enji (young) ‘Akkan kara shōjo o sukuou to shi kekka shōjo moro tomo nikukai to ka shita chichi o’ 轟炎司「悪漢から少女を救おうとし結果少女もろとも肉塊と化した父を。」 Todoroki Enji (young) “Your father tried to save a girl from a scoundrel and, as a result, he and the girl were turned into a lump of meat.”

Todoroki Enji (young) ‘Shin no chōjin e no senbō to higami o.’ 轟炎司「真の超人への羨望と僻みを。」 Todoroki Enji (young) “Your envy and inferiority complex toward a true superhuman.”

Todoroki Enji (young) ‘“Doryoku (read: ‘ENDEAVOR’)” to nanoru hikutsu na shōne o.’ 轟炎司「〝努力〟（エンデヴァー）と名乗る卑屈な性根を。」 Todoroki Enji (young) “You called yourself ‘effort’ (read: ‘Endeavor’) due to your menial nature.”

Todoroki Enji (young) ‘Kojishite inakereba tamotenu teido no minikui kokoro o.’ 轟炎司「誇示していなければ保てぬ程度の醜い心を。」 Todoroki Enji (young) “Unless you’re putting on airs you can’t sustain your ugly heart.”

Todoroki Enji (young) ‘Sō. Omae wa ALL MIGHT ni mo DEKU ni mo narenai Enji (read: ore) wa itsumo jibun no yowasa to shika tatakatte nakatta kara, dakara umare kawarou nante kangaeruna.’ 轟炎司「そうおまえはオールマイトにもデクにもなれない炎司（おれ）はいつも自分の弱さとしか戦ってなかったから、だから 生まれ変わろうなんて考えるな。」 Todoroki Enji (young) “Yes. You can’t become All Might or Deku because Enji (read: I) was always fighting only against his (my) own weaknesses, so don’t think about being reborn.”

Todoroki Enji (young) ‘“Onore no yowasa (read: teki)” o noroi tsudzukero, yuiitsu sore dake ga omae o ikashite kita no dakara.’ 轟炎司「〝己の弱さ（てき）〟を呪い続けろ、唯一それだけがおまえを生かしてきたのだから。」 Todoroki Enji (young) “Keep cursing ‘your own weakness (read: the enemy)’, because that is the only thing that has kept you alive.” [Chap. 356]

Prior to this bit, the manga and other source mentioned how Enji had been an U.A. student from pretty early on, as Enji as always been planned to be tied to U.A. and in Horikoshi’s early plan later scrapped he was also meant to be a teacher at U.A. High. We’ve in fact a mention of him having been a U.A. student as early as in Chap. 3. It’s not said who does the narration, in the anime this bit is said by Midoriya so I’ve assumed this applies here too, though another recurring narrator is Present Mic. As he wasn’t introduced yet though, I think choosing Midoriya as a narrator made sense.

Midoriya Izuku ‘U.A. kōkō HERO-ka‼ Soko wa PRO ni hissu no shikaku shutoku o mokuteki to suru yōsei-kō! Zenkoku dōkachū, mottomo ninki de mottomo muzukashiku, sono bairitsu wa reinen 300 o koeru‼ Kokumin eiyoshō ni dashin sa reru mo kore o koji‼ “ALL MIGHT”‼ Jiken kaiketsu-sū shijō saita! Nenshō-kei HERO “ENDEAVOR”‼ BEST JEANIST 8 nen renzoku jushō‼”BEST JEANIST”! Idaina (read: GRATEFUL) HERO ni wa o U.A. sotsugyō ga zettai jōken nano da‼.’ 緑谷出久「雄英高校ヒーロー科‼そこはプロに必須の資格取得を目的とする養成校！全国同科中、最も人気で最も難しく、その倍率は例年３００を超える‼国民栄誉賞に打診されるもこれを固辞‼『オールマイト』‼事件解決数史上最多！燃焼系ヒーロー『エンデヴァー』‼ベストジーニスト8年連続受賞‼『ベストジーニスト』！偉大な（グレイトフル）ヒーローには雄英卒業が絶対条件なのだ‼」 Midoriya Izuku “U.A. High School’s Hero Course! It’s a training school where students acquire the qualifications necessary to become professionals! It’s the most popular and difficult course in the country, with the competition rate exceeding 300 every year! The one who was offered the People’s Honor Award but firmly refused! “All Might”! The person who solved the most cases in history! The burning hero “Endeavor”! Winner of the Best Jeanist award for 8 consecutive years! “Best Jeanist”! Graduating from U.A. is an absolute requirement for being a great (read: grateful) hero!” [Chap. 3]

Best Jeanist also remarks how Enji is an alumnus so he should help U.A.

Todoroki Enji ‘Nande ore ga U.A. no shirinugui o… kochira mo isogashī nodaga.’ 轟炎司「何で俺が雄英の尻拭いを…こちらも忙しいのだが。」 Todoroki Enji “Why should I have to clean up after U.A.? We’re busy here too.”

BEST JEANIST ‘MaA sō iwazu ni… OB deshou.’ ベストジーニスト「まァそう言わずに…OBでしょう。」 Best Jeanist “Well, don’t say that. You’re an alumnus, aren’t you?”

Tsukauchi Naomasa ‘U.A. kara wa ima HERO o yobenai. Taikyoku o mitekure ENDEAVOR. Konkai no jiken wa HERO shakai hōkai no kikkake ni mo nari eru sōryoku o motte kaiketsu ni ataraneba.’ 塚内直正「雄英からは今ヒーローを呼べない。大局を見てくれエンデヴァー。今回の事件はヒーロー社会崩壊の切っ掛けにもなり得る総力をもって解決にあたらねば。」 Tsukauchi Naomasa “We can’t call in any heroes from U.A. right now. Look at the big picture, Endeavor. This incident could be the start of the collapse of hero society, so we must use all our strength to solve it.” [Chap. 86]

Later we’re also told how he knows Recovery Girl by a long time due to this.

RECOVERY GIRL ‘OB no yoshimi de kite ageta yo. Soreni ima wa mō No.1 HERO da mono ne.’ リカバリーガール「OBのよしみで来てあげたよ。それに今はもうNo.1ヒーローだものね。」 Recovery Girl “I came for you since you were an alumnus. Besides, you’re also the No. 1 hero now.’ [Chap. 192]

Chap 319 also remarks how Enji is an U.A. alumnus…

Uraraka Ochako ‘ENDEAVOR-tte U.A. sotsu da yo ne............... Gōin ni ikou.’ 麗日お茶子「エンデヴァーって雄英卒だよね……………強引に行こう。」 Uraraka Ochako “Endeavor is a graduate of U.A., right?... Let’s go for it forcefully.” [Chap. 319]

… and the fact Nezu comments on his growth seems to imply he too, same as Recovery Girl, knew him from that time.

Todoroki Enji ‘………Soto wa kiken da chitsujo ga nai. Omae-tachi made──’ 轟炎司「………外は危険だ秩序が無い。おまえたちまで──」 Todoroki Enji “…It’s dangerous out there. There’s no order. Even you guys...”

Nezu ‘Otona ni natta ne… Todoroki-kun…!!’ 根津「大人になったね…轟くんくん…‼」 Nezu “You’ve grown up/matured... Todoroki-kun...!!” [Chap. 319]

The side material also tried to expand a bit on Enji’s past school life.

There is, for example, this bit in the spin off manga “Team Up Mission”:

Īda Tenya ‘Sorezore ga hirotta GOMI no sōryō o kiroku! Tadashi “kosei” shiyō-fuka! Onore no junsui na tairyoku nomi de shinkiroku o mezasu nōkin EVENT nanda! Chinamini rekidai No. 1 kiroku hoji-sha wa ENDEAVOR da.’ 飯田天哉「それぞれが拾ったゴミの総量を記録！ただし〝個性〟使用不可！己の純粹な体力のみで新記録を目指す脳筋イベントなんだ！ちなみに歴代No.1記録保持者はエンデヴァーだ。」 Īda Tenya “Each person records the total amount of trash they have picked up! However, they cannot use their “quirks”! It’s a muscle-brained event where they aim to set a new record using only their own physical strength! Incidentally, the all-time record holder is Endeavor.”

Todoroki Shōto ‘!’ 轟焦凍「! 」 Todoroki Shōto “!”

Midoriya Izuku ‘ENDEAVOR ga… ALL MIGHT no kiroku wa?’ 緑谷出久「エンデヴァーが…オールマイトの記禄は？」 Midoriya Izuku “It was Endeavor...what about All Might’s record?”

Īda Tenya ‘ALL MIGHT wa igainimo yoi kiroku ga nokotte inai. Ippanjin ni hanashikake rare GOMI hiroi dokorode wa nakatta sōda.’ 飯田天哉「オールマイトは意外にも良い記録が残っていない。一般人に話しかけられゴミ拾いどころではなかったそうだ。」 Īda Tenya “Surprisingly, All Might doesn’t have a good record. Apparently he was approached by members of the public and had no time to pick up trash.”

Midoriya Izuku ‘Tōji kara ninki-sha sugiru…!’ 緑谷出久「当時から人気者すぎる… ！」 Midoriya Izuku “He was so popular even back then!”

Todoroki Shōto ‘Oyaji ga…’ 轟焦凍「親父が…」 Todoroki Shōto “My father was…” [Mission 33]

And then these bits from “School Briefs” show first Enji and Recovery Girl interacting, confirming they know by a long time…

“Well, if it isn’t Endeavor. How long has it been?” It was U.A.’s school nurse, Youthful Heroine: Recovery Girl. Contrary to her title, the elderly healer walked with a syringe-shaped cane and had her hair tied up in a neat bun. “Recovery Girl! Good to see you,” said Endeavor, managing to mind his manners for someone he’d known nearly all his life. [“School Briefs I Epilogue”]

…and then Recovery Girl saying so to Shōto as well, also trying to tell him how his father was at school.

“It still hasn’t hit me that Endeavor’s boy is so grown up already.” “Huh…?” “I’ve been at U.A. a long time, you know? Known your father since he was a student here.” This mention of his father darkened Todoroki’s face, as if by reflex. “I was always treating him for scrapes, cuts and bruises back in those days. That boy put himself through the wringer, hoping to be the number one Hero someday.” Recovery Girl’s reminiscence triggered Todoroki’s memories from childhood and beyond-the sound of his father’s voice shouting at him. The voice always commanded the boy to succeed where his father had failed and grow into a Hero who could surpass All Might. Todoroki hated that voice with a passion. “Why, your father was so driven that, one time, in class…” “I’d rather not hear anything about that bastard… ma’am,” interrupted Todoroki. [“School Briefs III Dramatic Makeover!”]

...and ultimately deciding to let him know in a more veiled manner.

“All the boys and girls at U.A. tend to do their darnest. They always have. So be sure to give yourself credit where credit is due, now and then.” “Yes, ma’am.” Todoroki popped a gummy bear into his mouth. The chewy candy gave his tired body the small burst of sugar it needed. ‘Guess she’s saying that my bastard of a father did his best when he was here, too…?’ [“School Briefs III Dramatic Makeover!”]

Cultural info:

Oyakoko (親孝行 “filial piety”): An important Buddhist virtue of respecting and caring for one’s parents and that therefore requires the children ‘to be good’ to their parents, often through acts of great respect, kindness and support. It might sound nice but, although things are changing currently, in the past this meant doing what the parents wanted, including marrying who they were to pick up for you, provide them with grandchildren who would continue the family line, pursuing the career path they wanted (usually continuing the family business), fulfilling their ambitions, carry on  their grudges or even avenging them, plus taking care of them when they’re old, handling their funeral and taking care of them through Butsudan in which they would be enshrined.

Chōnan (長男 “first male son”): Again, things are changing but in the past the first male son was the one who would inherit everything and therefore the one on whom would fall most of the duties that came from filial piety, like taking over the family home, like continuing the family job, fulfilling his parents’ wishes and aspirations, marrying who his parents wanted, provide his parents with grandchildren, taking care of his aging parents and, later on, of their funeral rites and maintaining the Butsudan in which they would be enshrined. Nowadays there’s less pressure to do all this but expectations remain. The firstborn were to be educated more than his other siblings, often receiving special education that would help carry on his duties. The result was also lot of pressure was put on him, while lot less was placed on his siblings.

Butsuma (仏間 “room/space of the Butsudan”) and Butsudan (仏壇 “Buddhist altar”): The Butsuma is a room/space whose principal or exclusive function is containing a Butsudan, a shrine whose primary use is for paying respects to the Buddha, as well as to family members who have died and ancestors. In fact the Butsudan becomes the house/room of said deceased people. The fact we see what is likely Enji’s father’s photo in the Todoroki Butsuma implies he’s resting there and therefore, since Enji is taking care of that Butsudan, Enji should be the male firstborn. Also the Todorokis should have had a Butsudan and a Butsuma before Tōya’s death so, contrary to the fandom’s expectations, the Butsudan is clearly not in Tōya and Natsuo’s childhood room (what’s more, the room looks different from their own) but it always had its own room.

Doryoku (努力 “effort/endeavor”): In Japan there is a stronger belief in effort as opposed to innate ability. Effort is seen as necessary to fulfill a social obligation to family, peers, and community. From when they’re children Japanese people are forced to focus on their effort, seeing it as the cause of success. According to society, if a child does not succeed, they were not trying hard enough. This is unrelated to the child’s grades; children always need to put forth more effort. This gives you a better idea of what exactly Enji’s Hero name stand for, an acknowledgement he has no inborn talent like he thinks All Might has, that he’ll just compensate by putting more effort, that his effort will never be enough as he’ll continue to push himself.

Doylist commentary:

So… let’s start with which probably was Horikoshi’s aim as he added this bit about ‘Enji’s origin’.

All the main characters in BNHA have an origin story, be they Heroes or Villains. Some of them go so far as to have a chapter titled with their name and the word ‘origin’ (Midoriya, Shouto, Bakugō, Tenko & Tomura, All Might), sometimes going so far as to also name the volume in which that chapter appeared as such, some others have their own origin story but with a lot less fanfare (as in no chapter or volume named as such like, for example Kirishima, Jin, Himiko, Touya…).

It makes sense Horikoshi had wanted to give an ‘origin’ to Enji too, one that gives him more deep and that explains why he is the way he is.

The drama of Enji losing his father and having been helpless to act to stop it, which made him feel like he can never be a true Hero (remember how Midoriya instead is a TRUE Hero because he jumped into action despite being weak, timid and Quirkless?) isn’t a bad idea either.

What’s more, having Enji seems as if he’s about to give up then think at his origin and come back strong enough it seems he can take down All for One is undoubtedly a way to make the fight more interesting. The fight was stalling, then the Villains seem to have the upper hand then the Hero gets a boost in power and turn tables. It’s an old narrative trick but it always works.

Visually, Horikoshi uses the old trick of rain in place of tears which never gets old as far as I’m involved. What can I say, I like it, I like the way it expresses the pain of a character in a discreet way.

It also… kind of try to smooth again Enji’s position.

In his prototype  Enji was meant to be just a guy obsessed with respecting rules. In Shouto’s prototype he valued strength and married Rei to create a strong child but it seemed as if it was Rei the ‘bad guy’ as Shouto hated her and wanted Enji’s love. The final plan, the one we read, had him forcing Shouto to endure abusive training, Rei trying to protect Shouto and ending up being abused in turn, with Rei snapping, losing it and ending up in hospital and Shouto completely rejecting Enji.

He went from a guy who was just obsessed with rules to the BAD GUY of the Todoroki house.

Apparently though, Horikoshi was never fond of this evolution for a character he originally created with the purpose of him being cool, respectful to law, well liked by people and kind of a comical relief (he said Enji would stop at traffic lights even when chasing a Villain…) which is likely why Horikoshi ended up on placing him on an atonement path.

Giving him this ‘origin’ feels like one of the many attempts through the story to make Enji more sympathetic, this time by giving him a sad backstory as a motive for why he’s the way he is, instead than just his jealousy and this is totally fair. There’s nothing wrong into wanting to give a character more deep by giving him a sad backstory. People who do bad things don’t necessarily have to be two dimensional bad guys, especially if you want to put them on an atonement path.

However there are problems with this new bit.

For start… the fact that Enji’s ‘origin’ wasn’t foreshadowed at all (just think at how we could have seen previously Enji’s father’s photo in the Butsudan room, and instead it’s shown only now, or how Enji’s father could have gotten mentioned, even with a random ‘he lost his father when he was young, so he doesn’t know how to be a father’) seems to imply Horikoshi came up with this bit way too late in the story, possibly when the final war started. I mean, All Might gets an ‘origin’ chapter even much later (chap. 398), but it was teased and foreshadowed long ago. There’s nothing of the sort for this extra bit of story. Even in the many bits mentioning how Enji attended to U.A. there’s no hint of such revelation, I don’t know, by having someone say he had to go to a part time job to pay for his living expense/scholarship or comment on how his teachers were the only adult figures he had in his life or that he didn’t have his father’s support or that he was trying so hard for his father also. Although this revelation is supposed to be important it comes out of nowhere, way too late in the manga for the story to build up upon it.

Second… the readers were persuaded they already knew Enji’s ‘origin’, that he became the way he was when he realized he couldn’t surpass All Might despite his attempts in terms of strength. We had plenty of scenes telling us this. Yes, it can be Horikoshi wanted to surprise us… but when the surprise comes out so late and in such a rushed manner that not even the anime felt like investing in this (in the anime the scene is not expanded but exactly as it is in the manga and they even cut the bit hinting Enji’s father photo is in the Butsuma) readers find hard to invest in it as well. This is a story with 430 chapters, chap 356 is way too late to have a revelation on one of the main characters’ ‘origins’, especially when, until chap 356, there was already an origin story for Enji of some sort, which was the one that chap. 31-93-165-188 pushed forward.

Third, as I said, it feels rushed because Enji’s father’s death takes a grand total of three panels for half a page. There is no other ‘origin’ story that takes so little, especially if we compare it to all the time Horikoshi spent talking about/showing his other ‘origin’ story, the one of Enji being forced to accept he couldn’t surpass All Might. Horikoshi wanted the focus to be on Enji, so has no real interest in explaining what exactly happened with Enji’s father, with the result it creates more questions than answers which end up shifting the attention away from Enji himself as people try to figure out what happened that day. So, while the message seems to be that Enji, was indecisive (of if you like more how Touya put it, a coward) and, like Kirishima, came to believe he wasn’t Hero material because he didn’t sprint to action like All Might and Midoriya would have done and, differently from Kirishima, didn’t manage to cope with the revelation in the right way… well, this is just my speculation. It’s unclear if this is really his problem, and the lack of clarity makes the scene even weaker.

Forth, it’s a pity Enji’s father’s death scene isn’t connected to All Might, since All Might should have returned in Japan around the time Enji’s father died and the incident in which Enji’s father died could have also been the one in which All Might for the first time saved so many people. It would have added to the Enji-All Might’s feud, with Enji failing to save his father and Enji’s father failing to save the girl but All Might succeeding into saving everyone else except his father. Mind you, it wasn’t mandatory but since the two incidents happen close in time, if we’ve been done they were one and the same this incident might have felt less tossed in and more foreshadowed. Not much but… a bit more. Instead it wasn’t.

Fifth, yes, Enji has hesitated and had been indecisive other times and they all regarded his family… but each time the circumstances were so different it’s hard to see a pattern, it seems more like a coincidence.

So in the end Enji’s ‘origin’ feels like something Horikoshi didn’t really plan in advance, and that merely used as a device to give Enji a boost of power, to make him stand again after receiving a serious hit and fight even harder. Since it feels like it’s something ‘forced’ into the story at the last minute, it’s emotional impact is lessened than it should have been.

People were delighted when Dabi turned out to be Touya and felt satisfied when the guy who carried Tenko back home turned out to have been All for One because both facts were foreshadowed. Even Geten being a Himura or Touya’s Quirk being more than just a fire Quirk had some foreshadowing but this came out of nowhere and what’s worse, it went nowhere.

There’s no consequence for this reveal beyond the power up Enji receives, the strength he finds inside himself, when he thinks at all this. This story is not touched upon again, and, while I compared it to Kirishima’s backstory, not only Kirishima’s backstory got more deep and more time to be developed, but it even came back late in the story, when he and Ashido faced Machia.

Enji instead won’t think at his father ever again, Horikoshi not using it for any other part of the story to the point that it becomes the equivalent of giving to a beaten Saiyan a Senzu beam (for who’s unfamiliar with “Dragon Ball” senzu bean if eaten fully healed people and when Saiyan healed they became magically stronger). It’s a peep talk his younger self gave him to make him stand up and that’s all.

It’s a pity because the idea was actually instead really good, not only if explored it could become more moving but it could fit very well with Enji’s characterization and the whole theme of fatherhood opposed to focusing on heroism… of trauma that pushed him to do the wrong choices like it did for his son, of accepting he chased after the wrong thing, strength opposed to wish to help (which is what moved All Might and Midoriya) but no, it just will end up being shelved a moment after being used. It won’t come up again so that it feels more like one of those little bits of info Horikoshi put in his profiles than a real scene of the story.

On a special note let’s look at two sentences.

The first is this one:

Todoroki Enji (young) ‘Sara ni yowaku natta.’ 轟炎司「更に弱くなった。」 Todoroki Enji (young) “You became beyond weak.” [Chap. 356]

…which seems to be chosen purposely to mockingly remind Enji (and us) of…

PRESENT MIC ‘Sara ni mukō e! “Plus Ultra”!!’ プレゼント・マイク「更に向こうへ! 〝Plus Ultra〟‼」 Present Mic “Further beyond! ‘Plus Ultra’!!” [Chap. 3]

This sentence is said by Present Mic in Chap. 3 and it’s U.A. high school motto and you might remember hearing it at the end of each preview of the anime episodes.

The other sentence is the one about young Enji asking to his older self who was the enemy.

Todoroki Enji (young) ‘Genten o omoi dase. Teki ga nandatta no ka o?’ 轟炎司「原点を思い出せ。敵が何だったのかを。」 Todoroki Enji (young) “Remember your origin. Who was the enemy?” [Chap. 356]

It’s hard to catch it in the English version but in the Japanese version “Villain” is written with the kanji ‘teki’ (敵) which means “enemy” but is given the reading “VILLAIN” (ヴィラン), while the sentence might be using the word “enemy” merely because it fits to drive home the concept, it can also be it’s implying Enji’s real enemy aren’t Villains but his own weakness.

Also teenager Enji talks of a ‘Shin no chōjin’ (真の超人 “true superhuman”). ‘Chōjin’ is how the name of the DC Comics Hero Superman is translated and it’s likely used it to show a parallel between All Might and Superman… however, ironically, not much after Enji himself will use a Superman’s move. In fact Superman can project beams of heat from his eyes which are hot enough to melt steel and Enji will do just the same in his fight with All for One.

What’s more, in Japanese this word sounds tied to ‘Chōjō’ (超常 “supernatural”). Where supernatural comes into play in the story? This word appears right from Chap. 1, although the English manga translated it as “exceptional” and later decided to translate it as just Quirk (even though in Japanese when they want to say “Quirk” they use ‘kosei’ (個性) or ‘Inō’ (異能 “Meta Ability” lit. “Extraordinary Ability”).

It’s a series of interesting nice bits that get lost in translation but are worth mentioning.

There’s not much to say on the tiny bit that referenced how Enji had been a U.A. student as they’re not much more than that, tiny bit that reference how Enji had been a U.A. student. They’re many but through the manga, they’re not really attempt at flashing Enji out beyond the fact he knew Recovery Girl and Nezu from back then.

It kind of clashes with how, in Enji’s ‘origin’, Horikoshi decided to depict him as an U.A. student as if that had been important but… we hardly learn something about his time there, his origin happening PRIOR to it. It’s not a sin it’s just… a pity… especially because it also clashes with how Class A is represented as close even after 8 years while neither All Might nor Enji seem to have friends, or at least ex-classmates, from their time at U.A. among the other Pro. Sure, as said before it wasn’t super important for the narrative but it still feels weird (especially in All Might’s case as he was a social person) how no one of their classmates is, at least, in the business. Sure, Horikoshi might have thought he had ENOUGH characters tied with U.A. so it makes sense he didn’t want to give them classmates, especially since he likely didn’t know he would late add that bit o

The only two which made an attempt to flesh him out more are the bit from “Team-up” which remarks how he put hard effort in doing things to the point he surpassed All Might and the bit in “School Briefs” in which Recovery Girl wants to tell Shouto how hard Enji used to work as a student. That second bit again can be seen as again an attempt at presenting him in a more sympathetic light but, especially for western readers, it doesn’t work so well as, in the narration, it comes in contraposition with how he mistreated Shouto when training him. It would have worked much better if Recovery Girl had just thought at all that by herself. I don’t really want to dig any further in this because I’ll talk about Shouto’s training later, when it’ll be time for it, so for now let’s leave it at this.

Watsonian commentary:

The scene of Enji’s father’s death is more like a flash so we don’t really know the details, but we can still extrapolate something out of it.

For start Enji’s age. He’s likely at middle school when his father dies as what he’s wearing seems a summer school uniform, but it’s different from U.A. school uniform. Enji seems as tall as an adult, considering how tall he’ll become it’s possible he was already that tall in middle school, but it would be too much of a stretch to assume he was that tall in Elementary school.

We aren’t told if the guy threatening the girl is a Villain, which is interesting as well as the text content itself with calling it a ‘akkan’ (悪漢) literally a “bad/evil man” (alternatively you can translate it as “thug, rascal, scoundrel”).

In BNHA a Villain (敵 （ヴィラン） ‘teki (read: VILLAIN)’) is “someone who uses his Quirk to commit crimes”.

I’ve hard time thinking we���re prior to the time in which people started using the term “Villain”, so all I can assume is that the guy wasn’t using his Quirk to commit that crime, hence he couldn’t be labeled as such.

We aren’t told if Enji’s father was a Hero or someone who just decided to act to protect a little girl, just that instead that saving her he ended up causing his own dead along with hers. Since the place is a disaster area and kids inherit their parents’ Quirk, it is possible Enji’s father too had a fire Quirk and, attempting to use it, either in attack or self defense caused an explosion that killed everyone, included the girl he wanted to save.

We see Enji witnessing as his father’s corpse is taken away. We don’t know if he’s standing there because he froze when he should have instead acted and helped/saved his father and/or the girl or if he just came there too late, but the message we can extrapolate is he feels his ‘origin’ is one of a person who can’t be a Hero because he had failed to jump in action to save people (and especially his father) because he’s been indecisive and this had lead him to stalling instead than saving.

Possibly it wasn’t just fear, possibly he let himself be caught up by other thoughts, for example that if he were to use his Quirk he would commit a crime (it’s unknown if the whole thing was inspired by Horikoshi but in “Vigilantes” Enji expresses views which strongly disapprove of Vigilantism… this might be a consequence of what happened to his father if he acted even if he weren’t a Hero… or it could have been inside him already and might have caused him to hesitate) or maybe it was just his father who told him to wait there and he didn’t want to disobey.

Of maybe it was cowardice, Touya will blame him of being a coward and he won’t deny it, back then he was afraid to act , to go against a scoundrel and just stalled.

Or, as I said before, weakness was the problem. His father was weak so he failed to save himself and the little girl. Enji knew he was too weak to defeat the Villain so he didn’t act because he was weak, and therefore he failed to save his father and the little girl.

We don’t know.

Now this little scene can have plenty of consequences for Enji (which, unluckily, the story never explored).

Middle school is a time in which children are in a delicate age.

Teenagers start to search for a sense of self and personal identity, through an intense exploration of personal values, beliefs, and goals. Having his father die in such way under his eyes or reaching the place too late, could have been a very formative moment for him, one that might have radically changed his perception of himself, sadly not in a positive way.

If Enji’s father was a Hero, his dying while doing his duty like Kōta’s parents, might have further pushed on Enji the burden to become a Hero (inheriting his father’s mantle the way Īda Tensei first and Īda Tenya after did as Japanese society kind of expects the firstborn to inherit his father’s job), the need to be strong (otherwise he’ll die), the sense of inadequacy, as his father died as a Hero while Enji either watched or got there too late.

If Enji’s father wasn’t a Hero the fact he got involved, couldn’t save the girl (the text implied he caused her death) and stop the devastation of the area (or caused it directly) would reflect negatively on Enji.

Even though he’s absolutely not responsible for his father’s actions using Quirk if one isn’t a Hero is forbidden (we saw how they should have punished Shōto, Midoriya and Īda because they saved Native from the Hero killer, wounding him) and, what’s worse it didn’t end well (think at how Tobita and his family ended up bullied and ostracized for Tobita’s failed attempt to help someone who didn’t even die!) so Enji might have had to live with the pressure of all this and might have felt the need to become a Hero to wash away the shame of his father having tried and failed to be a Vigilante.

Regardless of Enji’s father having been a Hero or not, Enji doesn’t feel like a natural born Hero but still wants to be a Hero and tries to compensate with hard work.

As said in the cultural corner, society taught him to focus on effort, basically telling him if he were to put enough effort, he would succeed even though he lacks natural talent. Therefore Enji does his best to become the strongest while at the same time being plagued by feelings of not being good enough, which he tries to hide by acting cold and putting up on air.

Enji becomes a façade, he talks moves and act to give a certain impression of himself that Enji doesn’t feel match with the reality, he puts on airs, he holds himself together by keeping distance and presenting this fake image of him being confident, powerful, he feeds a lie, which is a very stressing thing to do.

All Might’s existence, or better the existence of someone who’s a natural born Hero and doesn’t even have to put effort in it, rubs salt on his wounds.

I want to dig into the presentation of the scene a bit as we discover what happened with Enji’s father in a discussion between adult Enji and teenager Enji, an Enji who wear U.A. high school uniform. Many other characters are shown also as their younger selves, but in that case is teenagers shown as children. In this case it’s a teen, as if Enji still have inside his teenager self, which is full of hate for him and can’t grow out of it.

The scene ends with adult Enji metaphorically murdering teenager Enji in a way that’s meant to represent how he won’t let himself be crushed by his own weakness… overcoming it through murderous rage. Teenager Enji encourage him to curse his own weakness, basically fuels his rage… which feels more like the representation of unhealthy coping mechanisms. Enji silences his own teenager self by murdering him and doesn’t overcome his weakness and leave it behind but just… fight it back with rage. But I’m probably running ahead this was meant to be about teenager Enji.

There’s also to wonder how his father’s death affected him practically.

Enji is the one who takes care of the Butsudan in which his father is enshrined. It makes him his firstborn. Was his mother still alive? Did she provide to Enji? Did Enji had to start a part time job to provide his living expenses? Did U.A. allow  it since many high school in Japan don’t allow it, and U.A. has its own internship program but previously it was the norm to start it on the second year? Or did his father have a life insurance (I’ve heard they’re pretty common in Japan) which allowed Enji (and his mother) to survive until Enji became a Pro? Or did someone else from the family helped him? We don’t know but it’s interesting to wonder.

All this could have contributed in how Enji as a father is lacking… but we’ll discuss about his fatherhood later.

Even in this Watsonian corner there’s not much to say about the bits referring to Enji at U.A. if not that they confirm even back then he put endless effort in training. He focused, he did all he could. Maybe he even deluded he could surpass All Might because he is the one who holds the record for collecting the most trash. Still, there’s something that’s worth wondering.

Neither All Might nor Enji are shown as having developed longstanding friendships in their school years which starkly contrast with how Class A was instead a close group even after 8 years.

There’s to wonder if back then they just weren’t educated in a way that encouraged friendship and teamwork.

That’s all for this part. Please stay tuned for the next!

[soullessjack]

so one of my other problems with babyjack is that the fandom just seems to have this sort of collective cognitive dissonance about it, in almost any context or discussion. like this post as probably my only standing example (bc it’s the only one to have gotten traction), there are all these tags about how babyjack leads to bad dean criticism, or how it’s nice in aus but they want canon complex jack, and like I’m not entirely disagreeing with that, but it is so fucking frustrating that people are still ignoring the actual problem with it and either only focusing on the most surface level issues that personally affect them or their corner of the fandom, or making up some point of acceptability for it that frankly isn’t theirs to make.

it’s the autistic experience of our struggles never being seen or cared about until they become other people’s inconveniences, and our voices being used to say something else entirely. when the main takeaway of that post is how the fandom’s treatment of jack being in a way he’s explicitly shown to hate being treated directly mirrors autistic people’s struggle for autonomy in the real world, I really do not need you to make it about how it makes your golden website boy dean look like a big meanie pants, okay? that’s definitely a part of it, but it’s not at all what we are talking about, and it 100% should not be the only reason you care.

and especially when the other takeaway is how this is just a smaller scale issue that comes from autistic infantilization, the absolute last take I want to hear is that you find that infantilization acceptable as long it’s an AU or something else separated from canon. believe me, I’m beyond glad more people actually prefer canon complex jack—like, I don’t think you guys understand that that is legitimately a rarity to find here— but the thing about babyjack is that the concept itself is inherently ableist, and directly relies on his complexities (and the representation he means for us) being removed and erased so that he can even exist in the context of those AU’s. It feels very… ‘have your cake and eat it too’ to me.

I’m trying not to sound angry or accusatory, but I am also tired of having to force civility on a problem that’s pretty much just an open secret thar everyone collectively ignores and beats bushes around solely because they prioritize #domesticdestiel over all. I mean, do you guys even hear yourselves sometimes? Like half of it just boils down to “Autistic infantilization is always bad, except for this one context where it makes my ship look domestic and redeems my blorbo,” and it’s getting really fucking annoying to have to constantly explain something that is not only painfully easy to understand, but is understood and actively ignored, and still play nice so that somebody out there might listen.

So many people will say they like canon Jack and want more of him from the fandom, and I more than agree, but motherfucker you have a blog! You have the tools! Be the change you want to see! He doesn’t have to be your fav or your blog thesis blorbo, but if you want it, you are literally fully equipped to make it! Write some meta, draw some fanart, whatever. Better yet, you could even stop engaging with and perpetuating content that actively pushes down on what you want and, I must reiterate, is actively harmful and ableist. If you want domestic silliness go right ahead, but you don’t need to resort to ableism to do it.

I don’t think I’m asking too much or asking rudely, and frankly I don’t even think I owe niceties to anyone when it’s a problem that has been openly ignored for 6 years and holds plenty of bearing in the real world concerning my identity and community and shit we face constantly. Outside of our screens, we are constantly fighting for autonomy and recognition and representation, and even to be seen as people. Online spaces, especially fandom spaces, are a huge source of escapism and support that we wouldn’t get otherwise. So for the love of god, please stop bringing that fight here.

[autistichalsin]

Hello!! :D

Just popping in to say ILYSM (in that strange, mutuals on the internet sorta way) and that you have lots of fans who love your Halsin-posting. Your post notifications always brighten my day. ❤️

Idk why in the world you’ve got people investing their finite existence on this good Earth giving you grief. Some of your stuff might not be everyone’s cup of tea (pleasing everyone is an impossibility, after all), but it doesn’t even come close to the kinds of things my favourite hardcore/“problematic” (<= self-described, including the quotations, lmao!) Halsin/bg3 writers and artists post. And I don’t see anyone clutching their pearls in their comment sections.

Like, when I click on the profile of one of my favourite writers (which includes you! 🥰 But not this example, I love all your stuff!) and see that they’ve posted a story with a description like: “hardcore kinky stuff that you’re not into, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat”, I simply keep scrolling and maybe pick one of the hundreds to thousands of other bg3 stories I could choose from. But maybe that’s just me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Ao3 has tag filtering, you guys, it’s amazing. Remember the fucking Dark Ages when Ao3 didn’t have that at all? How tf did we ever live like that? That’s the kind of shit you say Thanks for at family Thanksgiving. And don’t tell you guys haven’t figured out at least one of the dozens of ways to filter stuff out on godsdamn Tumblr of all places; we’ve been tweaking the etiquette of that for years!)

How utterly irrational it is for these people to look at such an openly Queer and Kinky video game — the likes of which I’ve never seen in the mainstream before (He-llo strategically advantageous BDSM scene! 🤤) — and decide that they’re going to go around policing how people iterate upon those pre-established themes. How did this fandom attract puritans of all people? [Insert “The Myth of ‘Consensual’ Sex” meme here.]

Any-hoosies, all this to say that your haters are a weird, vocal minority that are letting you live rent free in their heads, instead of doing something meaningful or joyful with their pathetic, puritanical existences. There are way more people who love the kind of meta and fics that you post.

Have a good day!! XOXO 🥰😘💋💖💛🫶🤙

Hello! Thank you so much- that means a lot to me. It's weird to think of myself having "fans" lol! Like you're not the first person to use that word but it's just. Such a weird (in a good way) concept for me???? Like!?!?!? But I'm so glad to hear you love my posts <3

Yeah, pleasing everyone is impossible, and it's weird that of all things, my extremely mild CNC kink fic has become the antis' boogeyman. Fam there is literal necrophilia kink in this fandom! (Not saying they deserve to be harassed either, of course, no one should be!) But the fic that has become the pinnacle of what's problematic in this fandom is a survivor writing about a fictional survivor using kink to reclaim their sexuality? Like. OK Jan

See, but that's the difference, you're a grown adult who takes responsibility for curating your experience, whereas others.... either don't, or they don't read it but act like the fic EXISTING is a problem. I guess some people are in for a rude awakening when they discover who the Marquis de Sade is......

God, remember BEFORE AO3? Remember FFN when half the time, the PAIRING wasn't even properly tagged bc you could only tag two characters at all, so people would by default just tag the most popular characters to appear in the story? And instead of tags, you had genres, so you had to decide if you wanted romance/hurt/comfort or friendship/tragedy or what? (I'm a certified Fandom Old- on my old account I was in the first 10,000 users on AO3).

Yeah, people really are missing the point of this game- and it's no coincidence most of these folks are younger. (And a lot are exclus too; I've seen them get angry at the BG3 characters being canonically pan, saying that "pansexuality is a made-up Tumblr sexuality). So... totally blind to the interwoven history of queerness and kink. Not surprising.

Thank you so much for this kind message, anon, you cheered me up a lot. <3 I hope you have a great day!

[aashi-heartfilia]

Hello everyone!!

Welcome to Aashi's Anime and Manga Club. I am a blogger and I love to write about all sorts of anime content. I write about the things I love, and I also write about the things I hate. Writing stuff makes me feel better and helps me to express my honest opinions about certain topics and engage with a community that I generally don't see in my day-to-day life.

I write meta posts, answer asks, recommend fics, and reblog all kinds of interesting stuff. This blog is heavily dedicated to four of my favorite characters: MaoMao, Ochako Uraraka, Toga Himiko, and Lucy Heartfilia. But I write about other seasonal animes as well like Oshi no ko, Tengoku Daimakyo (Heavenly Delusion), My Happy Marriage, Zom100: Bucket List of the Dead, A Sign of Affection, Solo leveling, Spyxfamily etc.

Here is a Navigation Guide to some of my best posts so far:

Starting off with our native apothecary MaoMao...

The Hypocrisy of Jinshi and MaoMao

My most popular 'Kusuriya no Hitorigoto' post so far

Next of is the Golden Girl 'URAVITY' aka Ochako Uraraka

Not just any Hero, we need 'THE HERO'

Not just any hero, we need THE HERO

I like how almost every important character in MHA had an arc about being their own person. The most obvious one being Shouto and Tenya who

TUMBLR

Divided by sides, united by souls...A Tragedy

https://aashi-heartfilia.tumblr.com/post/676548075549032448/saving-her-heart-but-still-dying-at-the-end

We fail to understand.

https://aashi-heartfilia.tumblr.com/post/676519040684081152/we-fail-to-understand

How MHA would have looked like without Uravity?

https://aashi-heartfilia.tumblr.com/post/663386604380012544/how-would-my-hero-academia-would-have-looked-like

Top 10 favorite Ochako Moments

https://aashi-heartfilia.tumblr.com/post/662587942428180480/my-top-10-favourite-ochako-uraraka-moments

Uravity is the next Nana Shimura

Ochako is next Nana Shimura: All Character Plots going on for Ochako Uraraka and Future Potential

I think it was always a big game, Horikoshi had in mind for her. She was introduced as a very lovely and warm person who has a somewhat bada

AASHI-HEARTFILIA.TUMBLR.COM

Why is Uravity the most Overheated character in MHA?

BnHA 323: Why is Uravity the most overhated character in MHA?

Okay then, let's go! If I have to say that Uravity is the most overhated character in MHA it won't even be an opinion, cause it is a fact. E

AASHI-HEARTFILIA.TUMBLR.COM

Anyone can be a Hero: My version of Ochako's speech

ANYONE CAN BE A HERO!!

Do you know about Midnight? To you, she will be a hero but for us, she was our sensei who taught us History every day. But she is no longer

AASHI-HEARTFILIA.TUMBLR.COM

The problem with IzuOcha

The main problem with IzuOcha

Firstly, let me start off by saying that I am in fact an IzuOcha shipper and yet I still feel like something is missing. Today I finally fig

AASHI-HEARTFILIA.TUMBLR.COM

Why Ochako Uraraka isn't a bad female lead?

Why Ochako isn't a bad female lead?

My Hero Academia in general gets a lot of hate for creating sissy female characters who look like a bit of a pushover but honestly Ochako is

AASHI-HEARTFILIA.TUMBLR.COM

Uravity Quirk Evolution Ideas

To think my first prediction was right all along...

Now Ochako can float objects without touching them!! A big bubble of her aura where everything floats in Zero Gravity!! Hopefully we'll get

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Is it time for Ochako's Quirk Evolution too? A TogaChako Theory!!

So I have a theory in mind.

Now that we have seen firsthand how dangerous Ochako's quirk is, in wrong hands just imagine how dangerous an awakening like Toga would be?

AASHI-HEARTFILIA.TUMBLR.COM

Why BakuDeku will become canon and not IzuOcha?

Why BakuDeku will be canon and not IzuOcha? Connection between TogaChako and the entire Love Square...

So this is pure hypothesis and I should clarify that I'm not a shipper when it comes to MHA. I just love the story, its premise and the vari

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It was hinting at Ochako's power all along

It was hinting at Ochako's power all along...The Butterfly effect in MHA

There was a reason why Quirk Doomsday Theory was spelled out for us! There was a reason why Ochako was in front and centre in that panel! Be

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.

Toga Himiko:

My Convoluted Feelings about Toga's Survival

My convoluted feelings about Toga... what now?

So after reading a bunch of metas all over the internet, my feelings about Toga's survival are more convoluted than ever. The fandom is basi

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The 'ULTIMATE' Hero 'URAVITY'

A great time to repost this!

A single girl's feelings can change the world.

TUMBLR

Hawks, Tsuyu, Jirou, and Ochako Team-up!

Hawks, Tsuyu, Jirou and Ochako team up!!

Hi I really enjoyed reading your ochako awaking post and I was wondering if you got anymore ? If not who do you think be a great team up wit

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NO!! SHE'S NOT DYING!!

I love seeing people happy...

That's why I cannot ignore your tears.

Ochako and the dilemma with Volume Covers

Then we have our lovely celestial princess - Lucy Heartfilia

Top 5 Lucy Battles from the 100 Years Quest

RANKING ALL OF LUCY's STAR DRESSES (Must Read)

RANKING LUCY's CELESTIAL SPIRITS

1. Why are her battles interesting?

2. Lucy vs Strauss siblings 2.0?

3. Is she not using her full power?

4. How did Lucy defeat Mimi?

5. Star Dress Evolutions Mini-Series

THANK YOU FOR READING!!

[cardinalcheerio]

The Bats new years resolutions (in my opinion which is 75% based on memes about them I've seen on Tumblr. So forgive me if any of these are redundant or off):

Dick: Be closer with family (especially his siblings), come out publicly, do the floss (he's a millennial) to distract rogues before taking them out and posting a video of it.

Babs: be more open about her problems, improve her abilities as oracle and Batgirl. Connect with the rest of the family out of mask. Work through her traumas instead of ignoring them. Get a ton of blackmail on the family (including dick learning to floss or do whatever dance)

Jason: rekindle his relationship with his family, bit not give up his own morals. Get Tim and the rest of his siblings to trust him and be able to trust them. Learn how to cook all of Alfred's recipes and cook for thanks giving. Have some personal growth trauma wise. Not die

Tim: trust people more, help others and come out of his shell. Drink less coffee and kive a healthier lifestyle (they all need to do this) Live his own life not ruled by his family.

Steph: Prank everyone in the family, Get closer to everyone and connect with them. Help crime alley with Jason, and also the rest of gotham. Take down some big rogue while singing "never gonna give you up" just for the fun of it.

Cass:(I honestly don't know much about her but ima do my best) Talk to more people and be able to open up and trust some people genuinely. Keep to her own morals, and cut anyone unhealthh out of her life. Create a list of things she didn't get to do when she was a kid and do them with the rest of the family.

Duke: Be a better person, save 40 kids and overall help the community and the reputation of metas like him.

Bruce: be a good father. I think he tries, and has gotten better over time. But maybe finding some amount of relationship (especially with Dick and Jason, since I mean Dick did leave and reasonably so. And all the stuff between Bruce, Jason, and he who shall not be named) also to cook something cool without burning down the kitchen and without help. Convince Alfred to take a vacation.

Alfred: keep all the Bats alive and be more protective of them. Also live his own life thag isn't dependent pf Bruce amd the bat kids.

(don't know much about Cass or duke sorry. I'm making my way through the family and neither story is directly connected like Steph's is to Tim or in a lot of media that I've seen. (Ie. Animated movies and tv shows/games) so I haven't gone past reading the wiki page about either of them)