#the way she looks like the average anime boy protagonist

[ace-robot-has-matcha]

Love this design sooo much

[tetsunabouquet]

Ruby Gillman and what its reception showcases what's wrong with children's media today

Here is the link to the specific reblog that contains both a production fantheory about Chelsea and my initial review for anyone interested in that: https://www.tumblr.com/tetsunabouquet/722833498719879168/alright-considering-the-massive-heat-of-the-past?source=share Alright, as an aspiring children's author and as someone studying writing classes with children's literature as the particular focus, I have made a couple of posts about my issues with children's media already, or rather, the problems with the people making and critqueing it. Ruby Gillman's reception, like the reviews from critics and people who dislike the movie alike, actually showcases multiple examples of what makes so many movies/shows aimed at children or the family, poor nowadays: Ruby has been critiqued for being 'too cute', and that they should just 'embrace the monster'. Only this doesn't work when young children are also part of the target demographic. There's a reason to why bad guys are written to be ugly, and why good guys are written to be good looking: It's that the brain of the average child isn't developped enough to understand nuance. The younger the child, the more you have to REMOVE nuance. That's also why, when Queen Nerissa/Chelsea becomes all-powerful, she becomes ugly. It's because she's the bad guy in that moment. It's why she lacks a sympathetic backstory, as we see with a lot of villains nowadays. It's because, again, the more nuance there is to the character, the less a child will actually understand the character. It's why the Gillmans claim they're from Canada: because I've seen enough of American media to know Canadians are practically treated like another species. To a child, this explanation would actually somewhat work, especially to a 6 year old or younger The adults screaming about that and how anyone can see Ruby isn't human are thinking too much like adults. They don't try to see it from a child's perspective, and that's the main core to all the problems behind children's media nowadays: They don't 'dumb' themselves down enough to the perspective of a young child. When watching the movie, I definitely felt like the Gillman family was also close to its ideal target demographic: families with daughters ranged between 10-13 and younger siblings of about 5+ years old. And it did well for a movie aimed at such a group. It lacked enough nuance for young kids to understand, and the theme of womanhood would speak to pre-adolescent girls. Also, the way the media keeps comparing this to Turning Red because they were both magical metaphors for womanhood and female puberty and speaks of the generations of womanhood is annoying. Are you telling me that with the shitload of movies that America produce per year alone, they never produced 2 animated movies dealing with coming of age and manhood in the span of 16 months? This speaks once again, of how men have difficulty relating to female struggles and will hate on a movie centering girls growing up, opposed to how women have little to no difficulty symphatizing and relating to movies of boys growing up. Boys only want male protagonists, whilst we women can care less. The moment we get even more then one animated movie dealing with the idea of female puberty in the span of two years, the press immediately descends to pit one movie against another. Oh my god, imagine being that pathetic. That wouldn't be me.

[volleypearlfan]

Boys Like Girl Leads Too

Recently, an animated adaptation of the comic strip Phoebe and Her Unicorn was cancelled by Nickelodeon, who claimed that boys won't watch cartoons with female protagonists. This incident shows how out of touch TV executives are with the audiences of their shows.

Contrary to popular belief, gender doesn't matter. A good show is a good show, and if it's good, then anyone, including boys, can watch it, and history has proven that time and time again. Here are just a few examples:

Winsome Witch is a series of Hanna-Barbera shorts that aired during The Secret Squirrel Show. Even in the 1960s, Hanna-Barbera knew that boys can watch shows with female leads. Winsome Witch is about a witch named Winnie, and the magical mishaps she gets into. She's just as clumsy and hilarious as any other male H-B character, and she doesn't have a sidekick. While she is obscure nowadays, that's just because the various backup segments in Hanna-Barbera shows aren't very well-known in general.

Also from Hanna-Barbera is The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, a spinoff of Wacky Races, featuring one of the most popular characters, Penelope Pitstop. She dresses in pink and is often a damsel in distress, but she's still able to save herself, and sometimes even saves the all-male Ant Hill Mob. If there's one thing H-B was good at, it was keeping in touch with their audience. If you look at the Amazon reviews for the complete series DVD, you'll find a lot of male reviewers praising the show, if only because they found Penelope to be hot. Guys WILL watch your cartoon if it has an attractive female character.

Speaking of which, there are a whole bunch of anime starring cute girls (known as 'moe' or 'bishoujo') and guess what? They're targeted at male demographics (such as shonen, young boys, or seinen, adult men). Shows such as Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, and K-On! are popular with boys and men not just because of their cute girl characters, but because they're funny and relatable. In particular, Konata Izumi from Lucky Star behaves a lot like the average otaku.

Going back to Nickelodeon, they don't have very many Nicktoons with female leads. Just one of them is The Mighty B! It's a show about a young girl, Bessie, and is just as absurd and slapstick-filled as SpongeBob. Though short lived, it was a big hit for the network, getting 1.92 million viewers in the 2–11 demographic AND beating out Bakugan, a male-oriented anime, in the ratings.

Another short-lived 2000s female-led cartoon is Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi. At the time it premiered, it was the Cartoon Network's top-rated hit for kids 6–11. It has a cult following today, a good chunk of which are guys who think the characters are cute. Again, guys WILL watch your cartoon if the girls are cute.

A much more notable Cartoon Network show is The Powerpuff Girls. Admittedly, the pilot didn't do well with a test group of 11 year old boys, but the actual show became a huge hit with everyone including boys. Everyone can enjoy watching little girls beat up bad guys.

Lauren Faust, who worked on PPG, would go on to create My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. And we all know how the story goes: it was bashed for being "the end of creator driven animation" and "smarts-shaming" by people who hadn't even watched the show. A certain image board watched the show to see what all the fuss was about, and thus, Bronies were born. It's important to note that Faust deliberately made the show in such a way that everyone, from boys to adults, can enjoy it. And did she succeed. Once again, guys like to watch cute girls kick ass.

Exactly ten years ago, a spinoff of Avatar: the Last Airbender premiered: The Legend of Korra. Nickelodeon was hesitant with the show at first. They thought that boys wouldn't like the show because Korra is a girl. They were dead wrong - the boys in the test audience didn't care that she was a girl -- they thought she was awesome.

Despite all of these girl-led cartoons being popular with guys, TV executives still seem to believe that boys don't want to watch cartoons about girls. In a Discord server I'm in, someone noted that The Casagrandes was forced to shift its' focus from Ronnie Anne to her cousin, Carl, so that boys would watch the show (I don't watch the show, so I wouldn't know). Compare that with its' parent series, The Loud House. We have one boy and ten girls, but boys still like it, even after the sisters got just as much, if not more, focus than Lincoln. Despite all of that, Lincoln still gets over-promoted and put in the title cards, even if he doesn't appear in the episode. Nickelodeon is so out of touch, it's not even funny.

Cartoons transcend gender. Whether its' cute girls doing cute things or girls in action, a good show is a good show.

[nabipenda-blog]

BOOKS I READ IN JANUARY.

1. Perks of being a wallflower - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟.

We follow Charlie in highschool as he writes letters to a friend about his life and experiences.

This book is very short thus a quick read and is written in epistolary format and is very slice of life. We just see Charlie through his days in Highschool.

What I loved about this book is our main protagonist who is socially awkward but still very relatable. I also loved the other characters like his friends and family. I loved the music references and currently working on adding them to my playlist.

Highly recommend

2. Apothecary diaries light novel vol 1 and manga vol 1,2 and 3- 🌟🌟🌟🌟.25 ( average rating).

Set in ancient Asia, we follow Maomao as she is kidnapped and sold to the royal palace as a servant girl. She quickly gains attention of the higher-ups as an apothecary after solving a mystery involving the king's infant children.

I am actually a sucker for period pieces and this scratched an itch I had and was very satisfied. Loved Maomao and Jinshi's relationship as they helped each other solving this mysteries in the rear palace.

The light novel vol 1 is a combination of the manga volumes 1,2,3 and 4.

The anime is currently airing and I have just started watching it and so excited to experience this story more.

3. Komi can't communicate vol 1 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟.

Komi is a beautiful girl who is admired by everyone for her looks but is socially awkward and has social anxiety to the point where she cannot talk to anyone. We follow her as she joins highschool and meets Tadano who is a very regular student and helps her make 100 friends.

This manga was such a breath of fresh air for me. I loved Komi and her budding friendship with Tadano and the journey she is undertaking to make 100 friends. We meet a few of the friends she makes along the way and all are interesting characters.

This is a slice of life comedy with lessons about friendship and life in general.

4. Billy bat vol 1 - 🌟🌟🌟.75.

Kevin Yamagata is a mangaka who writes a manga called Billy bat but soon he realizes that he might be copying an image from Japan that he saw while working in the military. This forces him to go back to Japan to look for the original creator and while there he realizes that this is a conspiracy bigger than what he could imagine.

I started reading this manga because I wanted to get into Urasawa's work and this one intrigued me because it was about art and I enjoy media that explore art. This manga does expand into conspiracies of it's own as we see Billy bat as an entity on its own. It also takes real life major world events in history and incoporates them into the story.

5. The murder of Roger Ackroyd- 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟.

This is a Hercule Poirot murder mystery. We follow Hercule Poirot as he is tasked with investigating the murder of a good friend.

It is so hard to give a proper synopsis of this book because of spoilers but I loved this book. It is a very typical murder mystery but the twist and how it was revealed was so shocking that I saw this book in a whole new light.

This is not my first Agatha Christie book and it will not be my last.

6. Heartstopper vol 2 - 🌟🌟🌟🌟.

We follow schoolmates Nick and Charlie who become friends after they meet in a class. This is a love story between two boys from different backgrounds.

Vol 2 begins immediately after vol 1 and in this one we see Nick coming to terms with his sexual identity and the blossoming love between him and Charlie.

[putaindeplagieur]

Danganronpa: Characterization and Evolution across Perceptions and Interpretation.

Okay, so basically, this was supposed to be a reblog of a discussion of characters, but I felt the need to give my piece of mind. For context, view this one, 

https://www.tumblr.com/vergilsama922/704831097102598144/if-you-want-a-more-analytical-take-on-queen-of

Since I’m in a talking, since everyone is giving their opinions on everything, why not join?

Fair warning though... this is gonna be long. Hope you have some pop-corn.

I’m not going to add anything about the ambiguous characters because everything was said... except for Junko and Mukuro.

I think I need to remind everyone that while all of those points about Junko and Mukuro are valid... every character is supposed to be a parody of certain stereotypes of characters. The average goody-two shoes protagonist, the violent brute with a moral code, the honorable warrior, the arrogant rich boy, the mysterious girl, the fat otaku, the manipulaitve lolita, ect.

And for Junko and Mukuro? Those are supposed to be the Ultimate Bad Guy and Lackey, respectively. People who parodies evil bad lords in fiction and those who mindlessly support them.

Now, that doersn’t mean that excuse what they’ve done, quite the opposite. Just knowing that those you hate parodies of stereotypes doesn’t mean you have to like or dislike them. Those who hate Junko and Mukuro has very good reasons to do so.  You can find a person entertaining (Celes), interesting (Monaca), have soft spot for them (Hiyoko and her backstory), BUT! Ultimately, the choice of liking or disliking them is up to you.

I’m simply saying that, all characters have various level of depthsdepths, depending of the support they appeared in as. For instance, in my opinion, Toko Fukawa is not that great of a character in Trigger Happy Havoc, despite her having the niche of a double personality and being a survivor. But her time in Ultra Despair Girls (her bonding with Komaru and her evolution alongside Syo) really managed to elevate her as one of the best characters. (And God knows she needed it).

The thing is, there’s a lot of factors that needs to be taken account. A visual novel game and a novel has a lot more time to developp some characters than an anime or a manga. Which is why the formers are overall considered as better than the latters. But it also depends of the context same support has. Hope vs Despair, Truth vs Lies, Present vs Future, Killing vs Saving, Talk vs Action, ect.

Aaaand it also depends on the author, who might like or dislike some characters and thus decides to either not give them that much material or backstory compared to others, or get rid of them first. Looking at Sayaka and Leon who were the first one that Kodaka designed, and were among the first victims because he was sick of seeing them.

Ouch. Way to please those who liked them.

An author is not perfect, as you can see. An author is, last time I checked, human. And every decision they make impacts their support no matter what they do. As a result, some characters ends up having the short end of the stick... or no stick at all. Looking at Bandai who barely got any character at all.

And let’s not forget that Koda isn’t the only scenarist in the DR Team. Just look at DR3, Killer Killer, the novel Togami, the visual novel Kirigiri Sou... yeah, sometimes, they make very, VERY questionnable tropes No spoilers, but look at the official wikias... you’re in for a doozy.

But nonetheless, it inspires others to make their own stories with their own goals in mind... and thus, they are bound not just to make the same mistakes, but to make their own.

FINALLY, we’re talking about LINUJ and his storytelling skills.

Now, I will say, LINUJ was able to use canon and make his story fit very well with the lore. Class 79 escaping the school, showing the Tragedy and its effects. The Ultimate Despair’s influence, who aren’t brainwashed this time around (even though in a realistic way, I do think that the brainwashing could have been good if it wasn’t the ONLY reason Junko gained her lackeys). The Divine Luck theme, which I believe is an interesting take considering luck has always been a stample of the story. Not to mention, the murders. Jesus, say whatever you want, but at least LINUJ knows how to surpass DR when it comes to gore.

Now, for the negative traits. To me, some characters are just... level DR3 when it comes to development. not kidding, Kizuna could have been interesting to work with despite her attitude. She could have been a Ruruka better developped. But no, that didn’t happen. Same thing for Nikei, who turns ourt to be just a manipulative bastard with an inferiority complex.

And the whole thing about Kanade. @a-student-out-of-time already explained why her being who she ended up was shitty, so let’s not beat what would be, at this point, a dead horse.

As well as some murders not being necessary. Poor Kanata deserved better, MUCH better than what she got. All because LINUJ wanted to copy the formula.

See what I mean? Everyone has a different approach with a different cast of characters. For me, I would never be able to write a killing game, because it would mean I would never make anyone suffer death by murder, even though I dislike some.

Like Haiji, Mitch, Kyosuke, Juzo, Ruruka, Kanade, Hiyoko, Byakuya, Kaito (the Japanese version), Kokichi (the American version), and so many others.

The one who can choose whatever you think of someone is yourself And if you’re an artist like a writer or on koihatsu... well, you can use your skills to show the portrait you’ve made of this character.

Whenever this portrait is good or bad is another debate entirely,.

Now, I know I’ve been on a long-ass tangent now, but let’s talk about my personal opinion on certain characters.

Makoto Naegi, for instance, is my favorite protagonist, if not my favorite character. Because he’s kind, understanding, and most of all, he didn’t give up in adversity. He’s someone I can relate to because of those traits and more. Not to mention, he can be shipped with many, MANY people because of his traits. That’s why people like myself or my good friend wesst1 on fanfiction, @vergilsama922 and @pyropsychiccollector works on either fanfictions, or in the latters case, an entire AU, with him paired with a MASSIVE amount of girls.

Yeah, I should probably go back to writing by now. Not just my fics, but this is for another time

Right. But with all of this said, I have to admit... he’s not the best protagonist in the franchise.

That title would belong to Hajime Hinata. Because he, in my opinion, is much more developped that Makoto. A talentless guy who craved to have something to be proud of, and being pressured by his inferiority complex to join a project dehumanizing him to make him represent something toxic... only to be used to represent the opposite. This, and many other factors, help him rise to the top.

At the opposite side of the spectrum... Kyosuke Munakata and Juzo Sakakura.

Those two were preszented as people who wanted to get rid of the corruption at HPA... and decided to kill all despairs during the Tragedy. In itself, Kyosuke especially, pose a potential good foil to Makoto, as he seems more realistic, and thinks that sometimes, in order to save people, you need to take another life. Which in itself is pretty messed up, but in a world when the people have no problem killing anyone, is not that morally grey and sometimes necessary in this context. Legitimate defense and such, even with brainwashing in play.

My problem with those is that, for the latter... well, he chose to save his own secret over the lives of billions. Even though he swore to help Kyosuke... and he lashes out at anyone because of it, specifically, the one who stopped Junko in the first place. Not to mention, what he did with Hajime.

And Kyosuke, well... we don’t see him kill Despairs because it was necessary. We see him killing his comrades. Yes, he was manipulated into hating the Despairs, and Chisa’s death set him ablaze... but his disregard of Makoto and co’s trauma due to the killing game and his inability to understand hope and despair (who are at the core human emotions), makes me question: what did he really want for Hope’s Peak Academy? Did he really wanted the good for everyone, or did he just wanted to sit on the headmaster’s chair, like he said in DR3 Despair?

"For the sin of laying a hand on my school, you will pay the price."

That... that is pretty arrogant in my opinion. And with all of that, wesst1 and I took it into account, and decided to make those two bad guys.

Those two can be good allies, like @a-student-out-of-time is most likely gonna do. It’s a matter of approach.

Everyone has their likes and dislikes, and everyone is going to use a character differently from another writer.

The most important thing, for me... is to manage to use those traits, to help build up a good story.

...I think I said everything I needed to say for now. But perhaps you want to hear my opinion on other matters regarding Danganronpa?

I’ll most likely do it anyway, but your opinion is welcome.

[lymbreaksin]

I don't usually post on this blog but anyway, I wanted to sort all of my opinion about the spiderverse movies. I'm not even a marvel or spiderman or anything but holy shit how much I liked the itsv and atsv. I'm not gonna say anything controversial just an average view on the whole thing

things I liked the most about it:

1. the protagonist

MILES IS SUCH A GOOD PROTAGONIST. at first we see him as a typical awkward teen protag but he's that and so much more!!

the creators did such a good job with showing him as a teen(which is a rare thing)! like they've actually seen teenagers irl!! he is soo relatable. the way they showed his life is really natural. all the problems he has seem like those that an average teenager would have: his parent–child relationship issues, changing schools, getting closer to his origins, finding his sense of identity, his poor flirting skills etc. etc.

he really was an average teen in the first movie and it's such a good start. it really connects him to a viewer. but in the second movie we also see him as a skilled spiderman!! he's gone through a lot tho to become one, they really showed how difficult it was to him. my man upgraded so much!! he's not only relatable but also amazing!! but it's not even the best part of him.

I WAS STUNNED BY HIS ACTIONS IN THE ENDING OF ATSV. THE WAY HE REBELS AGAINST THE WHOLE FREAKING SPIDER SOCIETY. he chooses his own path!! he's not going to be stuck in the past like Miguel, he's gonna save everyone!! he became one of the strongest and unique spidermen, the whole spider society couldn't keep up with him!!

he may look liker your average teen protagonist but he's not!! the representation is sooo good!!

2. the message

THE WAY THIS SHOW SAID "WE SHOULD NOT BE A PART OF THE HARMFUL SYSTEM" IS SOOO POWERFUL. THE MESSAGE WAS STRAIGHTFORWARD AND LOUD. the show nailed it!!

3. the animation and the artwork

it's hella amazing. goes with the storytelling really well, reflects the true colors of the characters and affects viewers in a way that no animated show would to, truly perfect.

4. the side characters

Gwen

she's so cool. her design, how graceful and confident she seems(she isn't), her vibe. the conflict with her father hit toooo close to home, honestly. the special connection she has with Miles, they really understand each other on emotional level. also I really appreciate that they didn't make this whole stupid love triangle things with other characters like Hobie and her friend Peter. their pairing with Miles is great, honestly I'm surprised there aren't many fics about them in ao3(I've searched).

Peter B Parker

he may seem like a loser: he's divorced, doesn't have a house, looks imperfect and generally isn't what you would expect from a superhero. but it's not what he is. he's also a really kind–hearted character, he and Miles have really taught each other a lot of things. he's his first mentor and without his help we Miles wouldn't be the same. he is also a really powerful Spiderman even if he doesn't look like it. kinda reminds me about one of my friends who's really alike to him. I love his character development in the 2nd movie, he overcame his fear and now we can see cute Mayday with him. the way he acts kinda obsessed with his parent role and kids is soo funny to me. are they all like that after they become parents?

Miguel

he is a rich man, spiderman wannabe, stuck in the past, he can't deal with his emotions, he's projecting onto a 15 years old boy who doesn't want to lose his father. he's exactly what you would hate about a character, he suits the antagonist role so well. I honestly don't understand the hype about him bc maybe bc I'm not straight so Idc about how he looks. for me he looks pathetic actually. but pathetic enough to be a low key interesting character

Pavitr and Hobie

these two are great too but I was kinda expecting them to have more major role in the plo, but okay we'll see it later. their designs are really cool tho and their friendship is precious

aunt May

she's soo badass, I really liked it. reminded me of mrs Hudson from Sherlock tbh, one of my fav characters. she knew all about her nephew and helped him with being a superhero?? kind of a shame we didn't really know him, I wonder what was he like. maybe we will see in the next movie??

Doctor Octavia

her design is so cool tho and damn, she looks really good. the way she and Peter B Parker interacted was hilarious tho. also were they friends with aunt May I ship them kinda?? pretty sure they're gonna tell us in the 3rd movie. can't waiit

5. the villain

I thought he was gonna be some kind of a comic relief but he upgraded and now he isn't and looks freaking terrifying?? really excited about what's gonna happen to him in the 3rd movie and how he would develop.

6. the ending

AGAIN, THE ENDING. I HAVEN'T SEEN THAT COMING. THE EARTH–42 PROWLER BEING MILES, HIM THAT SHOULD'VE BECOME A SPIDERMAN AND ALSO DOES MIGUEL NOT KNOW, WHAT THE HELL?? really broke all the expectations but in a good way

[taiblogcomics]

Accidents in the Home

Hey there, hairs on your chinny-chin-chin. We're gonna do part two of our currend Goosebumps story today, and this is the part where it always kicks off, yeah? Let's see where it goes~

Here's the cover:

All right, this is a sufficiently spooky cover. Intimidating gargoyle is intimidating. My main issue with it is: this clearly isn't the Witch's House. This looks more like a town hall than your average suburban home, even a spooky one. Also, it’s still freaking sunset. I guess this is a good one to introduce our protagonists with, though. At the top, looking fashionable in the green puffy jacket is Carlos. The dorky redhead is Rosie. And Becca is the obvious tomboy sports enthusiast on the lowest rung. Once again, the cover's art is faithful to the interior, so kudos~

So, last time, Veruca Curry, presumed the titular Witch moved into the titular House and began her titular Horrors. So far these horrors have included: moving into a house that hasn't sold since the '70s, hypnotising a crowd at her welcome party, and animating a bunch of hand tools to do construction. The Horrors of the Witch's House!!

So we open at school the next day following the floating tools incident. Becca bounces a ball towards Rosie to get her attention discreetly, and ends up splashing her lunch all over her. Carlos also drops by, and the trio start to discuss what they may or may not have seen last night. Before the discussion can get too far, though, Carlos' clique hustle him off, and Becca abandons the group too. Rosie's too much of a dorky loser to have friends! And she doesn't even have a lunch anymore either~

Rosie also passes by the Whaley House on her way home, and our titular Witch greets her, mentioning how nicely the place is coming along, isn't it? It's some very "I know you know" dialogue, and Veruca also suggests Rosie bring her friends by when the house is finished. For the housewarming party, you see. No other, sinister purposes! And once friendless Rosie has the shit scared out of her, Veruca goes back into her house and starts looking up spells on her tablet device. Oh, a modern witch for a modern age!

Carlos returns home, finding himself alone in the house. He hears a thump from upstairs and goes to check on it, like any doomed horror protagonist would do. His sock monkey has fallen on the floor. He puts it back on the shelf, turns to leave, and the monkey falls over again. When he turns to pick it up this time, the monkey attacks! Likewise, Becca is maxing and relaxing all cool, presumably having shot some B-ball outside of the school, when a couple of her sports trophies who were up to no good started making trouble in her neighbourhood.

And if neither of these is scary enough, Rosie is attacked by her anime husbando coming to life through the screen. Also one of her Funko Pops of the same character also comes to life. Boy, that's an easy joke, who would have guessed Funko Pops would be evil~? At least hers has the excuse of being a winged karate man with a sword, Carlos has no such excuse why he's getting absolutely thrashed by a fucking sock monkey. He only wins because he spots a loose thread and pulls it, collapsing the monkey. I propose "collapsing the monkey" become slang for something. Your choice~

Becca, meanwhile, is biing assaulted by the little athletes from atop her trophies. They're not very big, but they are made of metal, so their little sports equipment weapons at least sting a bit. Like being shot by an old action figure's spring-loaded gun. But tiny sports equipment has no chance against its full-sized counterpart. Becca grabs a baseball bat from her room, and beats the little statues into the carpet. Now I'm not a sportsologist or anything, but I believe that's what they call a hole in one. A touchdown. A nothing-but-net grand slam.

Going up the ladder of difficulty, Rosie has to fight an anime man with a huge sword. She nimbly dodges him, but she's not really cut out for a fight. Fortunately, she's got brains instead. Snatching her laptop, she locks herself in the bathroom. Naturally, this won't stop an anime man's sword for very long, but she's had a brainwave. The anime man came out of her laptop, right? Well, if she can stop that, she'll stop him. Her computer mysteriously won't turn off, that'd be too easy. So instead she chucks it in the toilet, shorting it out and disappearing the anime man. Somehow this also disappeared the Funko Pop version, and good riddance~

The three of them soon meet up, comparing notes. They were all attacked by their most prized possessions, which I think says more about Carlos than the others. They also reason that no adults are gonna believe that there's a witch and a possibly haunted house, so standard kid-horror conclusions there. It's all up to them, and they have no idea what to do next. Fortunately, the decision is made for them when the gargoyle on top of the place they're meeting comes to life and re-enacts the cover to close out the issue. Nicely book-ended!

Definitely ramping up the scares in this one. You remember how unfocused the previous story arc was, especially in the middle? This one’s much nicer, having only a singular antagonist really boils the tension down to a fine point. I may have mixed some metaphors there, but you get my meaning. Not much necessarily happens in this, but it’s a good middle issue. Next week: the conclusion!

[thegetdownrebooter]

You know, I was actually literally just thinking that the way a lot of Tom fans talk about Shiv reminds me of the people who were like "if you support Amber Heard you hate male victims of domestic violence 😤", like using that as a bad faith gotcha.

yes! exactly! lol that's honestly a very good comparison because a lot of depp supporters and tom stans move very similarly.

The average depp supporter can't even name 5 male domestic abuse survivors off the top of their head and yet they pretend to care about male victims, because they can't actually admit to only believing in depp because he was their teen crush once or because they want to watch the pirates of the caribbean without guilt.

The average tom stan compares their fave to princess diana but notice how they don't feel any compassion for greg, someone that is actually experiencing work place abuse because of their fave ?, so which one is it? if you're fave is princess di (what a vile comparison) then what does that make greg exactly??

neither of these groups actually care about male victims but they know admitting to only woobifying certain men because they're attracted to them, makes them look like losers so they grasp at straws to make themselves look like advocates for male victims fictional or otherwise, despite the fact that depp is friends with a pedo who most likely has hurt young boys, and despite the fact that tom is an abusive boss that takes his frustrations out on greg and anybody below him.

Honestly i meant that she's getting the "amber heard treatment" in a sense that she isn't a "perfect victim" like, people especially women with internalized misogyny and regular misogynists only feel sorry for women who were domestically abused if she's a protagonist in a lifetime movie or if she's the lead from an early 2000's shoujo anime, as in she needs to be the long suffering loyal wife who's only mistake was falling for the wrong guy, and even then she get's the classic "why didn't you just leave!"? so there's like no winning either way but shiv is already at a disadvantage because people don't pity her or sympathise with her in the first place, so if the worst case scenario actually happens (tom putting his hands on her) she won't have many people feeling sorry her, just like amber because she isn't a "perfect victim" and people will bring up her cheating and past bullshit as if that means she "deserves" to get hit.

[traxanaxanos]

Samantha Wildman is honestly sooo funny as a background character because she’s like...such a normie against the rest of the Voyager crew, who just pops up occasionally to have normal conversations and experience horrors.

Janeway has a martyr complex and is constantly battling the narrative for dominance

Harry Kim has his whole complex where he’s trapped as both the golden boy and the ensign while also dying and being killed and being brought back just a little different every episode

Seven of Nine has her everything going on

Kes and Neelix are weirdos with species-wide trauma and Neelix died

B’Elanna also died and went to hell

Lon Suder

And Samantha is just like, working in the science lab while untold horrors stalk the halls of the Voyager, looking forward to whatever Neelix has whipped up in the kitchen

The few appearances/mentions she has that aren’t Life Threatening Crisis are

really sweet if it wasn’t in the context of a horrifying episode reveal that Samantha devotedly watches Neelix’s little news show every day (neelix superfan). Average woman turning on France 24/BBC every morning and the forecast is never not unspeakable monsters

bumbles into stopping a guy’s suicide attempt by requesting a bedtime story for her child

stereotypical conversation about having to provide new clothes for fast growing child (derailed)

one person on the ship enthusiastic about Neelix’s cooking (#1 Neelix fan)

xenobiologist inexplicably sent on a ship whose mission is to go hunt down terrorists, as if she’s going to get a spare moment to study the effects of long-term space habitation on hagfish or whatever

Like if Voyager had the tone of Lower Decks (animated), the recurring gag would be Samantha just doing her little nematode observations in the background while there’s a five-way borg/hirogen/alien anomaly/kazon/Q incursion going on, and talking to her coworkers about how Naomi’s drawings are like, really really good. Have you seen how good she’s gotten at shading? She’s just an average woman trapped on the most ridiculous and protagonist-laden ship in the known universe. The inherent humor and horror of being a background character in the genre of Epics

[true-blue-megamind]

What Makes Hal a Great Villain?

Okay, I’m saying it upfront: this one is going to get a little dark and very real.  Potential triggers for harassment, stalking, sexual predation.  Nothing graphic or heavy, of course, but if these are especially highly sensitive subjects for you, please proceed with caution.

Also, SPOILER ALERT for anyone who has not yet watched the animated awesomeness that is Megamind.  (If you are that person, the DVD is on sale on Amazon, and the movie is available to stream on NowTV.  Go watch it.  I’ll wait.)

We all know Megamind is an awesome protagonist--multi-layered, relatable, and surprisingly complex-- but, truthfully, his antagonist is just as interesting.  In fact, when compared with other animated villains of the early 2000′s, he’s by far the most memorable... and the most terrifying.

Many may question my assessment.  I mean, let’s be honest: this guy doesn’t exactly look like the face of evil.  But make no mistake: Hal, who later becomes Titan, is an extremely scary person.

I don’t want to leave readers with the impression that this character is one-sided, however, so before we get started on just what makes this fellow complete nightmare fuel, let’s look briefly at a few of the other reasons that Hal makes a fascinating Bad Guy.

One of my favorite things about Hal’s character arch is that it defies expectations.  Superhero comics have a long tradition of Average Nobodies who somehow receive extraordinary powers and go on to save the city.  Or the world.  Or the universe.  You get the idea.  Many comic book fans, upon watching Megamind for the first time, probably expected Hal to do the same, but he doesn’t.  In fact, he goes rogue, choosing to use his newly-obtained gifts for wanton destruction.  Thus the film inverts the established trope.

Like the protagonist he faces, (and is thankfully conquered by,) Hal is complex, and his true nature reveals itself slowly.  I’ve heard some people say that they actually felt a bit sorry for him in the first scene he appears, as he awkwardly tries to express his feelings to reporter Roxanne Ritchi.  At first he seemed like nothing worse than a socially inept and sexually frustrated nerd.  Only as the move progressed, and the aforementioned viewers saw his creepiness more clearly, did they begin to revile him.  One of the many clever things about the movie is that the gradual development provides audiences with the experience of slowly getting to know the characters.  While Megamind is the somewhat anarchical Goth who worries you a little at first, but whose heart of gold has you loving him once you really understand him, Hal is that guy you really, really regret talking to at a party.  You know, the one who quickly starts sending your internal Creep-o-Meter off the scale and persistently follows you around for the rest of the night.  This is, indeed, part of what makes Hal disturbing; just like real villains, he hides in plain sight, wearing the guise of an ordinary fellow.

Which brings us back to the scary part.  Even before he gets superpowers, Hal is bad guy deep down.  He’s a creep and a stalker.  He harasses Roxanne at work and keeps pestering her for a date no matter how many times she says no.  Either consciously or unconsciously, he assumes that she’s shallow, and that once he has a muscular body and a bevy of godlike abilities, she’ll fawn on him.  The idea that he himself might be the problem never seems to occur to him.  In fact, he seems to feel that she will then owe him her affection.  This is because, even before becoming Titan, Hal appears to have an overblown sense of self-importance and an unrealistic concept about what he deserves.  (I go into detail about that in an earlier post, Megamind and Identity, which you can read here.)  The fact that he doesn’t get what he feels is his right seems to have created a deep-seeded bitterness in him that rises to the surface once he obtains power.

But Hal really is the problem.  His combined possessive harassment and complete lack of empathy are exactly why Roxanne neither likes nor trusts him.  And she’s right to feel that way.  Almost immediately after gaining his powers, now feeling that he is above society’s rules, Titan begins revealing just how terrible of a person he really is.  He uses his supervision to spy on Roxanne while he and Megamind (disguised as Space Dad) are in the park, and that must not be the only incident because he later tells Roxanne: “I know everything about you.”  This is just before he grabs her off of her balcony, without her consent, and begins throwing her around like a rag doll, terrifying her and putting her life in real danger because, apparently, he thinks she’ll be impressed.

Yeah.  This guy is pretty much human garbage.

Once he finally understands (more or less) that Roxanne really means it when she says she’s not interested, Hal/Titan reveals himself to be a man-child.  He  begins by using his abilities for selfish and criminal reasons, essentially stating that he doesn’t feel heroism is worth his time.  When he learns that Megamind has been dating Roxanne, (albeit in disguise,) he reacts with violence.  This is because Megamind, like Hal himself, is an outsider: unpopular, unwelcome, and considered unattractive by most of the population of Metro City.  In Hal’s mind, this revelation highlights the fact that none of these factors were the cause of Roxanne’s rejection, leaving only he himself to blame.  (In fact, the movie contrasts Megamind, who, although imperfect, respects Roxanne’s wishes and intelligence, with Hal, who basically views her as an object to be won.  Again, you can read more about that in Megamind and Identity.) Hal can’t handle that.  He can’t accept it.  So instead he turns his rage on the city as a whole.  (This is despite the fact that, deep down, Hal knows he is the problem, hence why he rejects his identity as Hal and fully embraces the new one as Titan.  That’s illustrated by his final line before abandoning Roxanne on Metro Tower: “It’s Titan, not Hal!”)

Hal abuses his power, and society suffers as a result.  Even then, however, Hal/Titan still tries to lay claim to Roxanne.  He accuses Megamind of “stealing his girlfriend,” and later tells Roxanne: “Let me guess, after seeing how awesome I am, you’ve come to your senses.”  All the way to the end, Hal still can’t quite seem to accept that reality is not following his design.

If the idea of a man who lets power go to his head, objectifies women, won’t take “no” for an answer, and reacts violently when denied what he feels he’s owed sounds familiar, that’s because it is.  Humanity has a huge problem with these sorts of behaviors, ranging from sexism and sexual predation to unfeeling abuses of power.  The Sarah Everard case in London, and the fact that several officials essentially blamed the victim, asking why Sarah was walking home alone rather than asking why some guy felt he had the right to attack her, is the most recent well-known testament to this, but it’s sadly far from the only one.  A.J. White said it best in his YouTube video, The Terror of the Incel Superman, when he expressed that news archives are full of stories about women being murdered by the sort of overgrown boys who can’t accept their refusals.  And although men of that sort do not have the ability to fly or shoot lasers out of their eyes, some of them do rise to social and political power.  They are Hals. 

That is exactly what makes this character so especially scary.  Unlike more farcical supervillains, he is based upon something that truly exists.  Preternatural abilities aside, Hal is terrifying because he is very real.  Let’s just hope our world will see more Megaminds willing to stand up to them. #BeMegamindNotHal

[retroyousei]

Female characters in retro shojo [70s edition, part 1]

Ah, the 1970s (and early 80s), where a majority of the shojo manga stories took place in a distant European country or in America, surrounding either orphan girls from the 19th or early 20th century, who remain cheerful and have adventures, trying to find out who they are, making friends and falling in love, or epic historical stories filled with war, scandals and larger than life characters. If the manga was taking place in Japan, the plot was somehow more down to earth -though most of the time it restrained the same amount of unrealism- and it was either about following the journey of a girl who pursues the career of her dreams and evolves into a notable person, or a high school story filled either with melodrama and angst or a more heartwarming romantic comedy. But in this two-part article I won’t talk about plot tropes of the shojo manga of that era -as this topic deserves an exclusive article-, but about the female characters (I will dedicate an article on male characters some other time). Those characters are very important, as they set the standards of today’s manga and anime. But it should be noted that back then the formula of their design and characteristics are different from today’s. Those are the categories that I’ve noticed, regarding the appearance and personality.

The “average” protagonists

They are the most common category. Usually, they come from middle class and they are presented either as cheerful and a little dense schoolgirls, or plain looking and unrefined, as oppose to their antagonists or rivals who are well educated, beautiful and more talented, but this may serve as a determination for them to improve. Other times they are presented as headstrong heroines, ahead of their time, who refuse to compromise and for this they are a pain to their old-fashion society. Either way, they are kind, good, well-intentioned and want to help the others, that’s why they make friends easily. The thing that really works with these characters and makes them much more interesting than they may seem, is that they are independent and built their future on their own and they never give up, no matter what happens and what someone might say about them. Even when they are not sure of themselves, they always keep trying, until they reach to their dream. They use their obstacles as strength and determination to go on, proving that they are not average at all.

Maya, the protagonist of “Glass Mask” is a great example of this. She starts as a good-for-nothing daughter of a poor family, who isn’t particularly accomplished, but has a hidden passion for acting which she hadn’t realise it herself at that point. But when she is discovered by Tsukigake, a former legendary actress, she realises how much she wants to be an actress to a point that she lied saying that her mother allowed her to study to sensei’s acting school and ran away from home. Not even when her mother told her that she doesn’t consider her as her daughter anymore, she didn’t gave up, in spite of being very hurt by this. Her path towards acting wasn’t easy. Many times she has to face many who say that she doesn’t belong to that industry, or who are jealous of her talent and means her harm, but with her faith in herself, she always overcomes those obstacles. An admirable thing about her is that she dislikes fame, being shy, as she just wants to act and that she does not gives up, no matter what and even when she does, she quickly stands up. The most interesting dynamic of the story is her worthy rivalry with Ayumi, that is clearly a case of the trope “technician vs performer”, with Maya as the performer, as her standard method to learn how to play a character is to become that character. As the story progresses, Maya evolves from a girl with a hidden talent, to a young actress who portraits an original take to classic characters, but who still had much to learn, to one of the greatest actresses of her generation.

In “Yokohama Monogatari”, Uno starts as a plain, poor, orphan girl, who is ignorant about the world, as she hasn’t even seen the sea before and she believed that westerners were vampires who could drink people’s blood, that’s why they had blonde hair and blue eyes. She starts to work as a companion in a rich family to their daughter Mariko, who is the same age as her. Besides their differences, they become quickly best friends. While Mariko is a little spoiled, Uno, despite of her ignorance of world, can be more considerate and responsible in some matters. She also has a lust for learning and soon her and Mariko pursuade her family to go to school. There, she meets many people, among them there are a few foreigners too, she makes a lot of friends, and she excels at all of her studies, being hardworking. As the years passed by, Japan changes and allows exchange of ideas from many cultures -it’s Meiji era we are taking about, that means the last quarter of the 19th century- and Uno evolves from a poor, -many would say- hopeless for her situation, clueless of the world girl, to an open minded, educated and refined woman, surrounded by many people she loves.

In “Tokimeki Tonight”, Ranze -well except of being the daughter of Dracula and warewolf and having her own vampire powers as well- is an average girl who is friendly, sweet and little quirky girl who goes to school and falls in love with Shuun. Some may say that she is pretty basic, but in fact, she knows her self worth well, so even when her parents were disappointed with her not having any power yet, at the beginning of the story, she wasn’t particularly bothered by it. Also she is very headstrong that she falls in love with a human boy, while she knows well that a creature from the demon world and a human cannot be together. But in spite of all of that, she decides to stay true to her own feelings and even though she’s not so sure about Shuun’s feelings for her either, she doesn’t give up and waits for him, because she hopes and deep down knows that he likes her too and she is right. And even when her parents want her to marry prince Aaron of the demon world and even the king- learn that she likes a human, in spite of that being against the rules, she isn’t afraid to stand up for her beliefs. Later though, we learn that Shuun is the lost prince of the demon world, so he is not a human after all, but that’s another story.

In “Aim For The Ace”, Hiromi is a typical schoolgirl who struggles to get better in tennis, when she gets selected as one of the club’s main players in school by the new coach, as he saw potential in her. Some of her seniors are jealous of her because of that and at first she thinks that she is not worth such a discrimination, but soon she improves and realises how much she loves tennis. There’s also a very similar rivalry dynamic with “glass mask” between Hiromi and Reika who grow to be worthy opponents.

In “Haikara San Ga Toru”, Benio is a headstrong young woman who studies Kendo, drinks sake and prefers reading literature and feminist ideas, rather than being interested in housework. She also likes to dress in western clothes, rather than the traditional kimono and strongly believes that women should have the right to decide for their future on their own and they should marry for love. But her world turns upside down when her father announces that he has arranged a marriage for her. The one that he indends for her is someone she knew before, very briefly and accidentally, a lieutenant named Shinobu. Of course, she refuses, being loyal to her ideals and she goes out of her way to avoid him, just to satisfy her pride, in spite of actually starting developing feelings for him. When she moves to his grandparents’ house to get prepared as his wife, she purposely fails in all of her duties as a housewife and constantly argues with his grandparents, but all of that only makes Shinobu fall for her even more. It’s only when he leaves to go to the war, when she realises her feelings for him and during at that time when everyone thought that he was dead, she matured and became even stronger, remaining loyal to him and determined to work as a journalist to support his family, but also tracking him down, hoping that he’s still alive. Of course, at the very end, they live happily ever after together. Benio’s character development is admirable; starting as a clever, but headstrong girl, to an independent and wise woman, proving that you don’t have to disagree with everyone in order to prove that you are the one who chooses how to live your own life.

The villains

Their extreme pride and vain is their common nature. Most of the times they come from a wealthy family, so they are either oujo-sans who are always dressed elegantly, are seemingly refined and they tend to have curly, blonde hair -as blonde hair seem to be associated with wealth and sophistication in Japan-, or they are just spoiled brats that demand that everyone will do as they say. They are the main antagonist of the story for different reasons. The most common one is that they are jealous of the heroine, either because they are their love rivals and they are jealous of the heroine’s relationship with the love interest of the story, or because they are just pathologically jealous of the heroine because of her looks, her happiness, her luck and her loving nature. Another reason they act the way they do is because they want power and success, or they just want to secure all of that. The worse and least complex reason of all is that they are just mean for no particular reason.

Eliza, from “Candy Candy” is the typical alpha b*tch who is pathologically jealous of Candy. At first, she along with her brother, makes her life miserable, by blaming her for the bad things they do, such as hurting the horses in the stables, provoking her and then telling to their mother that she’s wild and leaving her alone in a town she doesn’t know and locking her in dark rooms. After that, during their time in London, Eliza says to everyone that Candy is an orphan who made her life miserable, even blaming her for Antony’s death. Later, having the habit of falling in love with the one that Candy likes too, school, she falls for Terry and constantly tries to turn him against her, failing miserably. She also writes a fake letter to her that it was supposedly from Terry and to Terry too, to meet each other in the stables at night and with this, she blabs them to the teachers and Candy, having no choice, leaves school. Later, when Candy was pursuing a career as a nurse, she continues her cruel ways and her mother also threats the director of the hospital where she was working, that if they won’t fire her, the Leagan family will withdraw their funds for the hospital and she also made sure that no hospital from Chicago will hire her, leaving Candy in a difficult situation. Those are only of few of the things that Leagan family did to Candy. The worst part is that they don’t pay for what they did at the end.

Fukiko from “Oniisama e” fits well this image; She is a refined lady from a rich family, the president of the sorority and very educated, that’s why she is admired by everyone. However, in reality she is manipulative, proud and very possessive. She wants to control everyone and she’s even willing to go out of her way to achieve what she wants. For instanse, she’s jealous of Nanako because she is close to Henmi Takehito, the one that she (Fukiko) is in love with, so to control her, she chooses her to be a member of the sorority and demands that she will stay away from him, even by pulling her into the lake and attempt to drown her . She also makes Rei’s life miserable, by stepping into her weakness, refuse to accept her as a member of their family and constantly manipulating her with the cruelest of ways. Also, it’s revealed that her friends from the sorority are feeling pressured because of her. Later, with the death of Rei, along with her realisation that Henmi and Kaoru No Kimi are truly in love, surprisingly, she regrets, gives up on her cruel ways and matures, growing even more beautiful for all of that.

Yoko from “Tokimeki Tonight” is a different case. She is the love rival of the story and the have loved Shuun ever since they were little. Being the only daughter of a rich businessman, she is spoiled and when something doesn’t go as she wants, she is is angry and demands that everything will go the way she wants. She envies Ranze for her close relationship with Makabe and ever since she accidentally saw her transforming, she tried desperately to prove others that she (Ranze) is a vampire. Her character is less dramatic and more comedic, as she is often grumpy and clumsy. But she isn’t really a bad person and she doesn’t really cause an awful lot of trouble.

In “The Rose of Versailles”, Madam Du Barry, the king’s mistress, wants to sustain her place in the court and demands that Marie Antoinette, who was at that time the dauphine, will speak to her. She also have tried to poison one of the court ladies. Countess De polignag becomes the queen’s best friend, for her own benefits and manipulates her without her (Marie Antoinette) knowing, like telling her to lie about being pregnant and also persuade her to start gambling in the court, which was illegal. She’s also Rosalie’s biological mother and accidentally kills the woman which raised her daughter and she’s the reason that her other daughter suicides, because she cannot handle the marriage the she arranged for her. Besides of her daughter’s death, she doesn’t seem to regret for any of her actions as she tries to make Rosalie merry the same man. Luckily Rosalie escapes. Also, she tried to sabotage Oscar many times and all this was just for the sake of power and money.

In “Glass Mask”, Norie Otobe, befriends Maya and she is supposedly her assistant, but in reality she just waits for the right moment to strike and steal Maya’s role and career. Unfortunately, she succeeds and it costs a lot for Maya, for a while. Luckily Ayumi discovers this and punishes her with the best way ever.

The tomboys

They are either mysterious, or lively, but one thing is for sure; they are dressed in clothes that are considered to be “manly”, they are handsome and they are constantly mistaken for a boy. They are also very elegant and educated and their image is that of a prince. That’s why they are admired by both women and men. Some may say that even though they are trying to be like a man, they are still weak, but they point out that just because they dress more “tomboyish”, doesn’t mean that it makes them less of a woman. After all, when they want to, they can transform into the most feminine girl of all. They also prove that their sexuality is not associated with their looks, as a “masculine” girl has the same possibilities of being heterosexual or homosexual, with a more “feminine” one. So, they break all the stereotypes regarding women. Many times, they are portrayed as headstrong heroines who stand up for their beliefs and their friends.

The most famous character that supports this image is Oscar from “the Rose of Versailles”. Oscar is one of the daughters of the Jerjeyes household. Not having any son, her father decided to raise her as a boy so that one day she will succeed him. Oscar dresses in boys’ clothes and learns activities like fencing and archery. When she was fourteen, she was tasked to serve as Marie Antoinette’s bodyguard. The manga often pointed out how different those two were regarding appearance and character, even if they were in the same age. Oscar has a strong sense of justice and she always protects the weak and is not afraid to challenge someone that she believes that isn’t right. Of course, she is admired by men and women alike and she is also a great and loyal friend. At one point she falls in love with Fersen, who loves Marie Antoinette. But because of her respect for the queen and her love of Fersen, she helps them, despite being heartbroken. At the end, she realises that she loves her childhood friend, Andre. She loves medieval combat, drinking heavy drinks, talking about politics and playing violin. Many pointed out that being a woman she was weaker but she always proved them wrong, pointing out that women can do anything and that it doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman, only how skilful you are. She was hiding her femininity not because she wanted to be a man, but because that if she acted like a woman, the society might think that she was weak and she wouldn’t be able to have the access and the freedom to do what women normally wouldn’t do back then, because women were alowed to limited things. In the early 1970s, by the time this manga was ongoing, the second wave of feminism had already started and women started fighting for equal legal and social rights, so Oscar’s character was influenced by all this.

Rei from “Oniisama e”, is admired by her fellow classmates and is also called “saint Juste”, named after one of the leaders from French Revolution, due to her physical resemblance to him. She is very charismatic, excelling to sports, piano, guitar and theatre, she is very elegant and dresses often in a black suit. Unfortunately she is drug-addict, she smokes and can be suicidal, carrying always pills and a sharp object with her. She is also obsessed with Fukiko, the sorority’s president, for many reasons, causing her to be controlled and abused by her. She also lives alone in a depressing house filled with mirrors and this also causes to be depressed. Her best friend is Kaoru no Kimi, who’s also a tomboy, but they are entirely different and she befriends Nanako and her friends. In the end she suicides, taking too many sleeping pills, having everyone, especially Nanako, left devastated.

Also from “Oniisama e”, Kaoru, is a tomboy who is strong and energetic. She is athletic and excels at basketball, but she is also very cool and doesn’t seem to care that she is the best at something that she’s doing, that’s why she is admired by her fellow classmates who gave her the nickname “Kaoru no Kimi”, from a Japanese classical novel; “the tale of Genji”. She also has a great sense of justice, as when she sees classmates being bullied, she defends them and put the bullies on their place. She is also very loyal and supportive and cares deeply about her friends, helping them when they are in need, especially her best friend, Rei, for whom she is very concerned. But in spite of her energetic appearance, she suffers from breast cancer and tries to keep it a secret, pretending that she is healthy and that everything is under control. But in fact, she pushes away her beloved, Henmi Takehito, concealing her true feelings, in order for him to be happy without her and not suffer anymore, showing how selfless she is and how much she loves him to a point of sacrificing her own feelings. At the end, it pays off and they end up together, living happily.

Another honourable mention is Rei, from “Glass Mask”. Rei is the older student of Tsukikage sensei’s company and one of Maya’s best friends. She is a tomboy who wears those characteristic 70s jeans and for some reason is mistaken by a boy -much to her dislike-, despite of being obvious that she is a girl. Being an actress, she can transform into a beautiful princess in no time, but she also portraits very well a prince. In the first volumes, she portrayed Jo, from “little women” which was a role very suited for her. As a sister figure for Maya, she is loyal, friendly and the responsible one who helps the theatre company stay organised and is a very strict teacher to Maya, helping her because she knows her potential. Also from “Glass Mask”, Keiko from the “Ikkakuju group” is also mistaken as boy, but she can transform into a pretty princess in no time.

Note: At the first half of the 20th century “Little Women” were very popular in Japan, particularly Jo, who was tomboyish and outspoken and her character had inspired the first female mangakas of the 60s for their stories and characters.

[shoichee]

ALSO CAN I ASK FOR SOME RANDOM GOM HCS U HAVE? like just random ones u have or if u want like some toxic hcs abt them :D

I’m assuming that I can include their negative traits of their personalities as well 👀 Also including Momoi in this… lots of analyzing for this hc, so I used my brain here pls appreciate AGAIN these are all headcanons/interpretations of possible toxic hcs about them and only a few are canon

[Headcanons]

Kuroko Tetsuya

Kuroko is the hardest person to find a “negative/toxic” trait in, and it doesn’t seem like he has any

kind, understanding, hardworking, and compassionate; he’s everything a good-natured protagonist is

but he’s only like this to people/hobbies he cares about/close with; anything else he’s quite apathetic and also very passive/neutral about

the biggest hint to this is when Akashi criticizes Kuroko for cherry-picking who the GoMs should “go all out against” and who to casually toy with

and Akashi is absolutely correct

most of the series is portrayed through Kuroko’s perspective, and Akashi is the first direct outside perspective who comments on his actions/attitude

it’s obviously not that Kuroko didn’t “notice”... he clearly sees and knows what these GoMs are doing; after all, he had a conversation with Aomine about how observant he is to everything around him

of course, if you were close to him, all your opinions and issues matter to him

it’s the fact that what’s not really important to him is suddenly now important just because someone he knows is involved

just an example: if someone was advocating climate change, he has no opinion on it until someone he knows cares about the issue

in other words, he has a subtle hypocritical view on things, especially when he interacts with others

another clear negative trait could be that he’s too idealistic or perhaps naive, seeing things in a clear black-or-white picture and not necessarily a gray area

WE know, as an audience, that the GoMs honestly needed therapy and a proper adult to guide their out-of-control talents

but Kuroko, in his eyes, had viewed them as “bad” and “evil” in their ways of basketball until they changed after their respective matches

he’s probably someone who doesn’t yield to other opinions once he forms his own, and this may make him unable to consider things in other people’s perspectives

which is again, ironic: someone who doesn’t have generally a strong stance but once they do, it’s very unyielding, which further proves Akashi’s comment about Kuroko’s tendency to nitpick which to care about

a final hc about a potential flaw he might have here in a different ask!

Kise Ryota

y’all… it’s as canon as day that he has a mean side

straight from the author himself, it’s confirmed that Kise is only kind to those who he respects, and to the rest, he’s cold-hearted

in the manga, it’s very clear that he’s super judgmental on every first impression on people he meets, boxing them into categories based on the way they look, act, and speak

only when they surpass his preset expectations (low or high depends on his preliminary judgments of them) is when he opens his mind to the rest of their personality

this is a very close-minded way of thinking, and I hope I don’t need to explain why LOL

this can be interpreted as him being two-faced by the majority of the people in his school

his way of speaking can definitely be very cruel and crass, and to sensitive people, his words can easily shatter hearts

Kise’s negative/toxic traits are pretty straightforward here, so let’s move on

Midorima Shintarou

his harsh words can be considered a “negative” part of his personality, but I think it’s a lot more than just that

it’s confirmed in the series that he’s a bystander and almost always minds his own business

on one hand, one can say he’s self-driven and that he constantly strives for self-improvement

on the other, it can be interpreted as him being very dangerously ambitious and selfish, in which most actions he takes are for the sole reason of self-improvement and not for altruistic reasons

for example, when he helped Kuroko and Kagami in the training camp, it was under the reasoning that them becoming stronger would be a good challenge for himself to test and learn

that’s not to say that he can’t have friends, but most friendships he’s built are with capable people who can potentially provide him with some new beneficial skill/goal to strive towards

after all, he’s only learned to trust Takao as a friend only after seeing him as someone capable

because he’s so focused on himself, he’s extremely likely to turn a blind eye to injustice, most also likely to use Oha Asa to justify their “misfortunes” as he continues on his day

he’s not cold-hearted, but altruism comes by Midorima a lot rarer than the average person

now, we know that his Oha Asa aspect is used to balance his serious side as the “comedic side” of him, but if we really think about it, his obsessions with the horoscopes could be a huge obstacle in the future, where he may refuse to listen/depend on others in favor of his own intuition and the stars; after all, no one knows everything, and depending on the stars as one’s next source of advice and guidance isn’t a sound decision to commit themselves to

he seems like the person who overthinks and jumps to conclusions when it comes to social situations, but instead of confronting the person, he turns to fate and fortune if Takao isn’t near to help

Aomine Daiki

I wouldn’t be surprised if Aomine had a skewed sense of beauty standards from all those magazines he consumed and from being around Momoi for the majority of his life

of course anyone can distinguish pieces of media from reality, but during the most impressionable years of life, without experiencing other types of people and physiques, he would have limited knowledge on what “beauty” is and whatnot

this probably would be more of a problem in his adolescence than adult

a very given negative trait is his short temper plus his tendency to turn to physical violence when someone nags him to a certain point, seen with how he’s treated Wakamatsu in the beginning (though this seems to almost disappear by the end of the series)

what I’ve noticed in every scene he’s in, is that everything seems to revolve around him and his hobbies of basketball and Japanese idols

what I mean is that everytime we see Aomine, it’s always Momoi approaching to Aomine or just him always being the center of attention; never once has he approached Momoi for anything and it’s always been the other way around

in other words, people have to cater to him in order to get along with him/be in good graces (additional example: Imayoshi letting him do as he pleases to get him to be cooperative and participate in the games)

we’ve actually never seen Momoi’s hobbies outside of being a manager for her basketball teams and just anything basketball-related

he can be quite apathetic, choosing to only pay attention and try in things he’s interested in… which is basketball and those magazines

he seems to mature in the Last Game though, so I’m not quite sure to what extent these headcanons would apply to older Aomine (these also don’t really apply to Puremine)

Momoi Satsuki

the author probably also included this type of anime trope as comedy, but belittling another female for her body is definitely a no-go in reality; I feel like this is something most people gloss over really lightly

her body comments on Riko are actually what made me skeptical of her character at first before the show really shows her entire personality

that being said, it seems that she always takes the opportunity to look down on other girls (especially to those she is a stranger to) as a sort of “competition” when there’s boys around

definitely at certain moments, she screams a “pick-me girl” type of person (real phenomenon, you can search this up!)

while Kuroko doesn’t seem to actively mind this, I think she also has no good sense of boundaries and what’s considered appropriate touch and consent; people can chalk this up to “oh it’s just infatuation,” but this definitely isn’t okay if we really think about this

her life also seems to revolve around either Aomine or Kuroko, and based from that, I’d feel like she’d have a difficult time forming her own identity/life separate from her “manager life,” especially once she graduates from Touou

can definitely be interpreted as too clingy at certain moments, while others may think it’s her way of showing that she cares

Murasakibara Atsushi

most people would chalk up Murasakibara as “lazy,” and on the surface level, it does appear to look that way…

I think his true negative trait is that he has a lack of intrinsic motivations to drive him to do things

it’s different from being lazy; someone can be lazy while still having a goal, and certainly someone can be lazy while they’re motivated by thoughts of “I want to learn more,” “I want to get stronger,” etc. (you guys, it’s me right now in college)

and he doesn’t have that

part of this was contributed to the fact that he’s already so gifted with genetics and thus, there’s never been a goal for him to have to work towards to when he’s already at the top

he doesn’t actively seek out, and while that may be a characteristic of sloth, it’s not exactly right either

he willingly does things if people around him give him the motivations/reasons to do so; a person of sloth wouldn’t do anything even with all the motivations and goals handed right to their face

snacks/food are examples of extrinsic motivations that fuel him to carry on daily life

Himuro is always the main motivator for Murasakibara to come out and watch matches, and he also does whatever Akashi orders in both Teiko and present days // a person who can give the giant the motivation to do tasks would get along with him the most

searching out for a challenge against his basketball skills is something that’s never crossed his mind

why? he grew to be like the way he is because of the lack of results from his “search” of a challenge throughout his games

again, it’s only when Murasakibara gets handed a silver-platter of a challenge, Jason Silver, that actively gets him pumped up and raring to go

as such, Murasakibara is equivalent to a rusty machine, extremely difficult to start up and find compatibility with, but very powerful and efficient once he finds that spark

Murasakibara finding any partner or friend in the future would be extremely difficult because he ticks a different tune from the rest

Akashi Seijuro

his entire Bokushi side was a giant-ass red flag for very obvious reasons LOL anyways, moving on…

it’s difficult to pinpoint a negative characteristic for Oreshi because he’s the pinnacle of a gentleman character… but that technically is also his negative trait

for him to maintain that perfect image for himself and others, he has always carried himself in such a way that doesn’t allow for errors or expressions of “weakness”

thus, bottling up his frustrations and emotions to the point of no return is something very familiar to Akashi, and I’d feel like Bokushi is the result of his overflowing emotions left unchecked in the first place

I also predict that if Akashi continues to carry himself without letting himself wind down and feel emotions on the spot rather than locking it up inside him, a day will come when he splits into two halves again with a “new” Bokushi to deal with his current life (and let the current Oreshi take a backseat in his psyche to take a break from the turmoil)

also will tend to overwork himself to manage people’s expectations as well as his own, and he’s not one to depend on people not because he sees them as inferior or incapable, but because he’s doing this out of habit from being in positions of authority and responsibility for much of his life

and so, he may tend to hide important things or just not speak about his problems in general to those close to him because he feels like he can do it all himself and spare everyone the work and stress associated with them (a leader mentality)

throughout the majority of his life being calm and calculated, his emotions would definitely escape from him in forms of uncontrollable lashes of anger… before he would realize what he’s done… that is, assuming that another Bokushi hasn’t form within his subconscious yet

[dragynkeep]

Okay this is something that bothers me in fandom spaces a lot: say you’re reading a fantasy novel or watching a fantasy show/anime. Main protagonist is probably a teen and gets whisked away to a magical world meets new people and swept up in an adventure to save the world right? Standard stuff. And then the love interest is usually a part of the world and physically they also look like a teenager or same age as the MC but in actuality they’re hundreds (and rare cases thousands) of years old. But they fall in love anyway. Now I’m seeing people decry it as pedo behavior that it’s gross weird and unnatural.

But like, that’s part of the fantasy. There’s never going to be a case where a magical immortal prince comes to you and says, “hey totally average person you’re actually part of a great mystical prophecy to save my world and yours. Also we’re destined forbidden lovers and I’ve been waiting for you my whole life let’s go.” It’s physically and literally impossible for a person to look like a teen/young adult and in actuality lived several centuries. Now it is possible for actual adults to prey on young people which is obviously not okay and gross. But this? I always found this outrage so stupid teen me was alllllllll over that trash ya paranormal/supernatural/urban fantasy immortal bad boy and anime husband. I just truly don’t get why people can’t be like okay it’s literally impossible for this to happen might as well enjoy it. No it’s a moral failing and you condone child grooming or whatever like what??? Am I alone in this?

dude omg this mentality towards ships like that is so weird because what exactly is it romanticizing, dear anons with the same amount of braincells as a mollusk? huh? is it the eternal devotion of a powerful being who often times is utterly beholden with the very human mortal, who paradoxically tends to hold all the power in the relationship? is it the alluring mysteriousness of a seductive love interest?

there is no real life danger from these types of relationships that have shown up in fiction in memoriam because as op said, there’s no way for this dynamic to be replicated irl & even if it could, fiction is not responsible for the actions of mentally there adults. especially when there has been centuries upon centuries of this type of almost erotic looks into the supernatural & that type of forbidden love, hell all the way to dracula & further back, that hasn’t managed to convince rational people yet that these are ideal relationships.

my favourite example of this is a film that was close to my heart; labyrinth. antis decry it as a pedophilic story when in actuality; it’s a coming of age story for sarah. she’s taken the iconography of her starlet mother & the famous man she left the family for & seen that as something to emulate as “growing up”; & jareth’s power over her is the truth of how powerless we can be of the actions of adults in our live. it’s only when sarah stops devolving to childish phrases like “it’s not fair” & more importantly, lingering in them & sulking to her own detriment, does she regain her power, make her own choices & bests jareth. jareth, who i might add, fed into this fantasy by being utterly devoted to sarah beyond belief, someone who would love her despite the “flaws” she was berated for at home & without responsibility, with abandon. he would love her & he would be her slave; but part of sarah’s growth is that she didn’t want that. she just wanted reciprocal, mutual, love. & when she returns home, she’s not quite fully an adult but she has matured; she is fair with her parents  —  which is why i don’t like that they made the stepmother abusive in the manga  —  & fair with toby, but she’s also allowed her childish delights in her toys & her friends from the labyrinth.

none of that is endorsing a pedophilic story or telling young girls to go run away with the nearest old man; it’s a story that tells young girls in all the confusing mess of puberty & having to grow up that sometimes, things won’t be fair. but that they can also still be childish & most importantly of all, they can & should demand a fair, mutual, empowering love.

[cowgirlfxcker]

Hey admin!

I have a question for you, as you are Yui admin. What do you think of her?

Would you make any changes to her character? Do you like her clothes and tastes in clothes? She likes fashion soooo you know 😋😋💕💕✨✨

Trigger warning, Essay with bad structuring, mentions of sexual assault and victim blaming.

And please note this is entirely 100% my opinion and by no means am I correct about anything I mention.

i ) First and foremost, I adore her as a character and as a protagonist, however, I have some criticisms. This sounds extremely and unintentionally harsh, but even she's not unworthy of criticism. There are factors that I am to consider i) that she's significantly weaker than the antagonists ii) she uses her faith as a coping mechanism iii) she's essentially a victim of 'fate' iv) she's an otome heroine, therefore she's written in a very particular way.

Yui stands out from a lot of heroines because she's less of an insert of the player and more of an actual character. She has a name, has an appearance that stands out, and has a vague and somewhat established backstory. Which also stands out from the antagonists.

However, she cannot be given as much personality or character building as the average female anime character because the player couldn't necessarily resonate or relate with her otherwise.

In my opinion, Yui is intended to be the dramatic foil in Diabolik Lovers, because she's everything the other characters aren't : persistent, open minded, gentle and optimistic, despite her seemingly hopeless situation. She as well shows significant amounts of innocent defiance towards her abusers.

If you look at Yui critically, then she is in fact a more likeable character, who is well written in the sense how much she contrasts the much crueler antagonists. I think that people dislike her because in comparison to the vampires, she's very weak because she's not as apathetic and cruel as they are. To me, she's such a godsent girl to highlight how awful the boys truly are.

The 'she doesn't fight back' mentality just feels like blatant victim blaming. Even when people say 'she puts herself in those situations' or 'she was looking for trouble', do they even know what that sounds like? I understand she's a complete fictional character, however, if the girls of this accursed fandom feel completely comfortable with what they're looking at and continuing to blame Yui, I think they should confront their internalized misogyny or misogyny before they project that mentality onto SA victims in the real world.

----------------------------------------------

ii ) I wouldn't change much about her personality or appearance, since her kindness is a key factor in Diabolik Lovers.

Personality wise, I would make her more outgoing, much like the popular girl trope, and it would be pleasant to see a shoujo protagonist be the popular girl, who doesn't have any 'pick me girl' aspects. As well as being more popular and outgoing, I'd write her to be more playful with everyone.

Appearance wise, I could see some very subtle hints of 'gal fashion' on her if she was more fashion forward. In my mind, I think that if the other characters have an odd sense of fashion, there's no reason why she shouldn't. It would add more to a more fantasy or otherworldly atmosphere.

In all honesty, I would have her wear her hair in a messy bun or messy high-ponytail, with small hooped earrings. I could see some soft pink makeup with quite the shimmer, it would be noticeable, but not too much that it would make her not look like herself.

As for her fashion in the game, it's only okay, it could certainly be improved because it looks rather ugly to an extent.

Thank you for reading if you have 💗💗

[chinchillinbb]

𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐮

rating: m warnings: violence, gore, blood, graphic fight scenes, graphic description of a werewolf transformation, yandere themes word count: 1556 requested: no summary: you'd been afraid of canines since you were a child. dogs, wolves, puppies, all of them were terrifying to you. unfortunately for you, your local vendor had run out of fresh fruit for your bakery, and the woods surrounding you were just as full of wolves as they were fruits.

“I won’t settle and you know as much, Una. I don’t know why you tried to fool me with less than average goods.” Our (h/c) haired protagonist sighed, looking at a badly bruised peach. Una grimaced, balancing a mousy haired boy on her hip and shooing away a puppy at the same time. (Y/n) wrinkled their nose and ground out, “I’m a baker. If I use bad ingredients, my items will be bad. I figured you’d assume that.”

“(Y/n), the harvest just isn’t what we expected this year. There’s a sickness among the plants and we had to cut down a few trees to prevent spread. This is all I have to offer, and if you’d like fresher, you could always feel free to go into the forest,” she spat out, clearly frustrated with the dog. “But I refuse to be held responsible for whatever happens,” Una finished in a heave of air. “You know as well as I do that people don’t come back from there, but if you’re as desperate as you sound, go.”

(Y/n) crossed their arms, tapping a sandal against the ground. They thought, ‘Fine, maybe I will. I’m not scared of any animal… except mutts, and they’re easily scared off by fire.’ Squaring their shoulders, they marched back through town to their bakery. They rummaged around, grabbing the flint from the oven and a big chunk of wood as a precaution, a dagger, and a contraption used to hook around fruits or branches and pull them down to collect. Satisfied, they grabbed a sunhat before heading out.

Approaching the forest, (Y/n)’s nerves started to show themselves. The forest was incredibly dense, and easy to get lost in, but if they didn’t go, then they would starve anyway. No money meant no food for themselves, not even their goods. (Y/n) desperately wished they had enough money for a farm, or small garden at least, but they barely made enough for food and upkeep in the shop. Steeling themselves, they tiptoed in, biting a nail.

(Y/n) jumped at every sound, especially dog barks. They had been bitten and dragged off by a mistreated dog, starving and willing to eat anything smaller than it. (Y/n)’s parents had of course tried to help, but they didn’t have the sharp teeth or claws, much less the muscle, the hound did. No, (Y/n)’s memories of dogs were not fond ones, especially dirty, scruffy ones that looked badly taken care of. ‘If I see a dog, I’m climbing a tree. Stupid dogs can’t climb.’

Just as they thought that, they heard a howl. Close by. Most likely a female looking for a mate, but (Y/n) wasn’t taking any chances of her being hungry. Quickly scrambling into a tree, crying the whole way, they hoped they were high up enough to not get jumped at. Unfortunately, the wolf decided to walk by just then, alerted to the sniffling and the scream they had let out at the howl. At this point, (Y/n) was shaking so badly that a few leaves fell from the branch they were on top of, almost comically letting the light furred wolf know where they were.

The beast looked up, putting her (giant) paws on the tree and pushing a little, as though to test its strength. (Y/n) shook and sobbed even harder at this, knowing they were about to die because a dumb dog had them treed and they’d starve. The dog, however, seemed to laugh at this, letting out a short, harsh breath, nearly wheezing and shaking off her blondish fur. As she left, presumably to find easier prey, (Y/n) got down slowly, on quivering limbs.

(E/c) eyes narrowed in the direction the hound went, and decided to go the exact opposite. Meanwhile, Raksha, the wolf, watched from the shadows as the cutie that didn’t like wolves scurried away. She wondered why the person held a fear of dogs. Raksha had never seen anyone that wasn’t enamored with large, fluffy “puppies,” as they often squealed. Shedding a large, heavy wolfskin that formed a coat, Raksha went the same direction as (Y/n), intending to ask her questions.

“Wait! Stranger! There’s a wolf nearby!” She ran up to the (h/l), (h/c) haired wanderer.

“I was made well aware of that a few moments ago when the damned thing chased me up a tree,” (Y/n) huffed.

“Well, um… let me accompany you to wherever you’re going, please? I’d feel like garbage if I let someone as pretty as you end up eaten,” Raksha reasoned with a shrug.

“Fine, but if you slow me down, I’m leaving you in the dust. I’m looking for fruits to bake into pastries. What’s your name? So I’m not just saying, ‘Hey, you!’ every five minutes.”

“I’m Raksha! My mother named me after the moon, for my hair.” The girl grinned rather… “wolfishly” herself. Indeed, her hair was thick, and curly, and looked very hard to untangle. There were vines peeking out in some places amidst the silvery blonde, matching her wild child stereotype, and her eyes. She was darker than anyone in the village, meaning she had to be a traveler of sorts, and it looked like her eyes were lined with some white substance, but (Y/n) couldn’t be sure of what. “I’m…“ Did they really want to give out their name to a strange girl in the woods? No. “I’m (Y/n).” Damn.

A few moments passed of them walking together, with Raksha behind (Y/n). Suddenly, Raksha pipes up, albeit quietly. “Hey, (Y/n), why do you hate dogs so much?” Everything seemed to stop at this point, with a stray howl in the background. (Y/n) tensed up, and instead of answering, started to run. Raksha perked up and panicked; if the stranger got eaten, Raksha would never get answers.

She ran after them, always a little further behind. She could be faster if she were a wolf right about now, but it’d look a little weird, and would only scare (Y/n) into running more. Instead, she pushed through until she found a clearing, and consequently, (Y/n), cornered by a pack. “Farkas, let her go! I found her first and I was busy asking her questions!” Raksha crossed her arms and pouted, whining under her breath about ‘not fair,’ and ‘stupid mutt.’

(Y/n) started hyperventilating as one of the wolves’ bones started cracking, breaking through their skin and popping out, before being sealed over again with flesh. After the transformation, there was a short, red-headed man, pale and clothed with just a wolfskin tied around his waist. Farkas, (Y/n) had gathered by now, was a werewolf. And if Raksha knew him by name… Oh God, no. They were surrounded by werewolves. Not only did they have the sickening minds of humans, they had the lethal, nature-given weapons of claws and teeth. They could outrun her in seconds if they chose, being so big.

Raksha growled and snarled at this ‘Farkas’ man, as if telling him to step away slowly and they could forget it. Farkas barked out a laugh, circling (Y/n) and sinking sharp nails into their chin and watching tiny wounds be created. If he pressed any harder, he might start to claw at their jawbone. (Y/n) whimpered, sobbing from the pain and the stress. All they wanted was to get some fresher, not diseased fruit. They had begged at the beginning that if they were to die here, it might be quick, but these beasts, these monsters seemed bent on psychologically torturing their prey, mentally playing with their food.

Farkas finally actually spoke, but only a short few phrases. “I'll not let her go easily. You’ll have to pay, Raksha.” Raksha started nervously fidgeting, scratching her left shoulder with her right hand and breathing heavily. She gritted out, “You know the rules, Farkas, I found the pretty human first, and so they're mine to take. If I have to, I’ll fight you, but I don’t want to. Please don’t make me do this in front of such polite company.”

“It seems you’ll have to fight, runt. You don’t deserve such a nice little thing without some extra work.”

All (Y/n) remembered after that was that there was suddenly red water raining from the sky. At least, they tried to convince themselves it was water. Their subconscious couldn’t even begin to process the way Raksha ripped 5 hounds and one man limb from limb, using broken, jagged femurs to stab into the dead bodies over and over again, screaming about how ‘everything is always taken because she’s weak,’ and that she’ll ‘never let it happen again because she’s strong now, and she’s proven it to her human.’ (Y/n) didn’t want to be anything to this bloodied mess of a woman, her hair looking more reddish brown than blonde now.

“Come on, (Y/n), get up. I’ll take you back to my place, and you can finish telling me about why you’re afraid of dogs. And then after that, I’ll play with your hair and give you kisses, to show you that all dogs aren’t nasty!” If only Raksha knew how ironic that very statement was right now. (a/n: discord is here)

[argentdandelion]

Who’s Qualified for the Infinity Train? (June 27 Twitter Party Edition)

Who’s Qualified for the Infinity Train? (June 27 Twitter Party Edition)

An excerpt released in time for the Twitter party on #InfinityTrainHBOMax. Limited to a few theatrical films made by Disney Animated Studios and Pixar, from 2000 and later, starring human protagonists.

(Yes, a six-year-old could have a higher number than a surly teenage boy.)

Lilo (Lilo & Stitch)

Jim Hawkins (Treasure Planet)

Lewis (Meet the Robinsons)

Tiana (The Princess and the Frog)

Rapunzel (Tangled)

1. Lilo Pelekai (Lilo & Stitch)

Severe Emotional Turmoil:

Lilo’s is a six-year-old girl whose parents died in a car crash. She gives peanut butter sandwiches every week to Pudge, a fish she supposes controls the weather, probably because rainy weather contributed to her parents dying in a car accident and she doesn’t want anyone else to suffer the same way. A classmate outright calls her crazy for her beliefs about Pudge, and Lilo hits and bites her. Lilo does not have friends: they’re evidently unnerved by her eccentricities and how she attacked a classmate. Nani, her 19-year-old sister, became her legal guardian after their parents’ death. As much as she tries, Nani is initially an inadequate caretaker, yells at Lilo, and is often busy with her job(s).

Crossroads:

When the tough social worker Cobra Bubbles shows up and concludes things have gone wrong.

On paper, Lilo's turmoil after this point isn't much different from that of the average strong-willed six-year-old arguing with an older sister put in charge or an unprepared or irritable mother. Still, the Train doesn't seem to discriminate between mundane, common, seemingly small problems and extreme loss. Amelia boarded after the death of her fiance, but Jesse boarded just because of his people-pleasing doormat tendencies. Lilo's turmoil is also compounded by multiple problems: not just Nani's unsuitability as a caretaker, but the loss of her parents and lack of meaningful relationships with her peers.

Can’t Fix Problems: While Lilo is not constantly sad about it, Lilo nonetheless is badly affected by her parents’ death. She outright claims her family is “broken”. Lilo cannot undo her parents’ death, nor stitch the wounded family together. Though going to grief counseling would be plausible in this setting,  it doesn’t seem as if either went to grief counseling, possibly due to financial problems or Nani’s tight schedule.

Early on the in the film, Lilo has Nani, David (Nani’s boyfriend), and possibly the hula studio employees. (They don’t dismiss her beliefs about Pudge, apparently making the connection between her Pudge appeasement and her trauma)

Best pickup time: After Cobra Bubbles shows up: shortly after, Lilo goes up to her room and screams in her pillow.

Parallels: Grace has no friends. Tulip’s parents are divorced, which is also a parent-based and living situation problem. If Min-Gi and Tulip can get on the Train, despite having their loving parents inadvertently making things worse, then it is possible Lilo can get on the Train. Six is evidently not too young to get on the Train; three Apex members seem around that age, and Grace and Simon aren’t surprised at Hazel, who seems to be a Passenger who’s six-and-a-half years old (as of later in Season 3, when they’ve been traveling for some time).

Number: Above 202 (Min-gi and Ryan), below 337 (Amelia’s number).

-----------

2. Jim Hawkins (Treasure Planet)

Severe Emotional Turmoil: A delinquent who has violated his probation by operating his solar vehicle in restricted areas. His father left them and he’s raised by a single mom having trouble operating an inn; he’s failing at school, constantly in trouble, sullen. Believes he has no future. After being caught again solar-sailing in a restricted area, the police-bots take away his solar sail.

Crossroads: If he trespasses one more time, he’ll go to “juvenile hall” (juvenile imprisonment). He probably knew the risks of going into the restricted area, since he’s done so before. His solar sailing is somewhat dangerous; he’s not even wearing a helmet. (Though it’s possible there’s some technology that keeps his feet attached to the sail, making it safer than it looks.)

Can’t Fix Problems: He seems sullen after being apprehended/arrested, and later on. It may be solar sailing is the only enjoyable activity for him, even if he tends to get in trouble from it, and without it, he may have no joy in his life left.

Since his mother seems to work a time-consuming, demanding job, she might not have much time to properly raise him. He doesn’t seem to have relationships with anyone but his mother and Dr. Doppler, a friend of the family.

Best pickup time: Right before the old turtle-pirate shows up.

Parallels: His problem seems to be somewhat small-scale but long-simmering. The closest parallel is Grace Monroe, who engaged in delinquency (specifically shoplifting) apparently just to get her parents to notice her.

Number: ~202, near Min-Gi’s and Ryan’s number.

3. Lewis (Meet the Robinsons) – NOT QUALIFIED.

Lewis had gone through substantial emotional turmoil. He mother left him at an orphanage, he had gone through 124 failed adoption interviews by age 12, he figured his adoption prospects when he turns 13 the following year are low, he could have killed a potential parent who was allergic to peanut butter after spraying him with peanut butter from an invention malfunction, and his public attempt to recover memories of his birth mother was a disastrous failure.

However, Lewis was never a crossroads, at least prior to the movie’s plot properly starting with its sci-fi elements, and he can fix his own problem. Lewis can just try again with the machine, or he can get adopted by different parents. (which he does: he finds the younger versions of the people he knows adopt him when he time-travels to the future year of 2037). He also has the support of his roommate Goob, the orphanage director Mildred, a supportive science teacher, and possibly other teachers and classmates.

4. Tiana (The Princess and the Frog) – NOT QUALIFIED.

As of the best time for pickup, at least, Tiana is doubly, perhaps triply, not qualified for the Infinity Train.

Firstly, Tiana's persistence, can-do attitude and great competence in accomplishing her goals (had prejudice not interfered) just makes her too well-adjusted for boarding. Though her father died in World War I, at the time of the film, it doesn’t seem to greatly affect her. Though she gets sad sometimes, but she's not some kind of dysfunctional wreck like the other Passengers.

Secondly, she's not qualified for the Train for similar reasons as Lake. Even if One-One agreed to give Lake a number, Lake's problems ultimately lie upon how others perceive her, the system separating denizens from Passengers, and the enforcers of parts of that system (the Flecs), not in issues that simply require emotional growth. Similarly, while not outright stated in the film (it’s implicit in how her “background” is mentioned), Tiana faces prejudice that hinders her long-term goal of starting a successful restaurant.

Arguably, Tiana’s support system is also too strong for her turmoil to be too severe, or to have a strong enough “crossroads point”. Tiana has her mother, her friend Charlotte, and at least five (unnamed) friends which meet with her at the beignet cafe.

If one were to write a work in which Tiana gets on the Infinity Train, one would need to amplify the problems she faces up to that point, or alter the events so Naveen doesn’t show up and then add more problems after that point.

5. Rapunzel (Tangled) – NOT QUALIFIED.

She must have a supernaturally sunny disposition due to the power of the Flower of the Sun or her hair healing her mentally, because she should not be this well-adjusted due to all the child neglect, abuse, and no healthy relationships (but for her pet chameleon) she’s had for practically her whole life. She’s melancholy and hates herself for disobeying her abusive mother figure’s orders to never leave her tower, but quickly just gets sunny and cheerful again.