#this is not an opinion post but i will just say: if the hypothetical s3 will be the same as s2 it can stay dead for me | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

howlingday · 2 months ago

Text

My idea for a potential DB! #12

2024 aug 29, 30, 31, sep 2, 4 - 10

Chaos VS Kyogre

MASTER LIST

All Might VS Homelander (My Hero Academia VS The Boys) | DEATH BATTLE!

Only one Superman student will survive this super smashing slugfest!

THUMBNAIL

INTERLUDE:

FIGHTER 1: All Might, My Hero Academia’s former greatest hero.

FIGHTER 2: Homelander, Vought Corporation’s greatest product.

Wiz: Aristotle once said “It is our choice of good or evil that determines our character, not our opinion about good or evil”.

*insert a clip of All Might doing good things followed by Homelander doing evil things*

Boomstick: Want proof? Let’s look at these icons inspired by classical Americana heroics! He’s Wiz and I’m Boomstick.

Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.

PREFACE (What to know):

This was supposed to be my release for July for very obvious reasons. Yes, I know Homelander dies. Yes, I know it’s basically giving All Might a win. I don’t care. I like the hope and optimism that All Might, and I wanted to make more MHA VS The Boys because they contrast each other so perfectly: a Shounen love letter to western comics VS a satire of DC’s Justice League, a symbol of peace, hope, and altruism VS a symbol of terror and selfishness, hope VS cynicism, the ideal superhero VS the corrupted superhero. Like Iida VS A-Train before, All Might serves as an example of who Homelander ought to be whilst Homelander is a cautionary tale to All Might, one he probably has seen many times before across his long heroics career

I will attempt to connect this to my previous MHA VS The Boys episode so that there is a stronger feeling of both episodes being a crossover between their series, and this hypothetical crossover would happen some time during S2 or S3, before All Might’s big fight in Kamino with All For One. I will also be considering All Might at his strongest by taking his claim of how much weaker he’s gotten at face value, like in All Might VS Might Guy. However, I will still take some liberties with how All Might’s transformation and injuries works.

This fight works best if released in July, specifically as an Independence Day release. Had this been in the earlier seasons, it would definitely be the mid-season break. If this were S10, then it would have been released on a date similar to Stitch VS Rocket Raccoon (released July 3rd, 2023)

Please, please, PLEASE, check this link out. It links you to a Reddit page that has sprites for both characters, connections between our fighters, and templates used for an image that will be seen below.

Also, and this is very important, prime All Might will be taken into account, but I will give All Might his injuries and skeletal form JUST FOR THE SPECTACLE AND NOT FOR THE ANALYSIS. Again, All Might will have his injuries JUST FOR THE FIGHT, NOT FOR THE ACTUAL COMPARISON. I am putting a lot of emphasis on this for the sake of fair evaluation.

WHY:

Connections (What do they have in common):

1. They have a lot of aesthetic similarities. Both are blonde males with colors that represent America as both were inspired by Superman

2. Both are icons of hero work in their own series, and thus have earned fame and renown, and are the face of heroism in MHA and The Boys respectively. Arguably, they are the most iconic and representative characters from their series. One could even say that they’re representatives of institutions of heroism (U.A. and Vought), but the larger world of heroics in which they operate is corrupt

3. Perfect thematic opposites. All Might is selfless to a self-endangering extreme, altruistic, and smiles as he saves people in order to inspire hope. Homelander is a narcissistic man-child who cares not for the people he saves, but for the attention that they give him and isn't above intimidation.

4. They are in a sense descendants, or the next in line to take up a mantle. All Might is the 8th wielder of One For All, succeeding his mentor Nana Shimura. Homelander is, in a sense, the second coming of his father Soldier Boy. Because of this, they have similar powers or abilities to their predecessors but to a greater degree, namely super strength and durability. This combines well with the fact that both were essentially given their superpowers instead of being born with them. All Might was given All For One as he was born without a Quirk and Homelander had taken Compound V and was made in a lab.

5. They both have sides that they want to hide from the public. All Might doesn’t want people to see his injuries or his true form. Homelander doesn’t want people to see his failure with the plane crash or his vile attitude to people that don’t approve of him.

6. East comics VS west comics, known for their adaptations on the screen.

7. Both are also known for their decline in health. All Might suffered heavy injuries after his fights with All For One to the point where he can’t maintain his muscular form and remains a skeletal husk for the majority of the series, and Homelander was never raised like a proper or even normal kid. He was isolated and never matured emotionally, so as the series progresses, his mental state decays and deteriorates.

Personal reasons (Why I want this battle/like this MU):

I previously mentioned that I love the contrast between MHA and The Boys, and these two characters just stand out to me because of their statuses as icons and pillars of their worlds, their powers, their actions, and words. There is so much crossover potential. Like, give fanfiction writers these ideas and see what they create with them.

Of course, I want Homelander to get his face smashed in, but I have no doubt that if All Might knew of Homelander’s backstory, he’d have some sympathy or pity for his enemy.

Also, this is one of my most wanted MUs. Palpatine VS Xehanort is my #1, followed closely by Chaos VS Kyogre, this MU, and another one I will get to down the line with Azula VS Cinder trailing all of them. However, I’m genuinely surprised we haven’t gotten any MHA VS The Boys content from the show. Yates has given us two commissioned tracks in Compound Engine (Iida VS A-Train) and No More Heroes (Billy Butcher VS Stain), and aside from a Twitter post from Ben asking the public who they want to be the next person to kick Homelander to the curve (he showed four characters, among them All Might), that’s everything that I can think of. Truth be told, I think no one has done this because of the obvious Homelander loss, but a stomp does not disqualify a matchup.

In general, if you want more MHA VS The Boys, please check out this video that dives more into the worldbuilding and the aesthetics of both series’ superhuman societies.

Art:

THE FIGHT:

Art and animation:

This is a fight best done in 3D. The 3D team works best when both characters have large arsenals, deep bags of tricks, or cool fighting choreography. Just look at All Might VS Might Guy and every Star Wars battle from 2020 to 2023.

As far as I can tell, Omni-Man VS Homelander was a pure passion project, and a lot of resources were poured into it. I don’t think that this one would get such a treatment, and there are 3D models for both. The easiest approach is to take All Might’s model from Jump Force and Homelander’s model from MK1, but the ideal approach would be to have it be hand-drawn, but that would severely cut down on what I want to do.

Knowing of the comic book origins for both characters, it would be cool to have some slightly stylized hand drawn bits and pieces like Mob VS Tatsumaki. However, we know from the 7 Battle Royale that Homelander sprites do exist, and there are sprites of All Might’s skeletal form, so while it’s best done in 3D, it’ll most likely be done in sprites like in the image below taken from the link in the preface.

Possible setup:

I want this to continue where my last MHA VS The Boys idea left off.

After the A-Train/Ingenium fiasco, Vought has come under intense scrutiny and UA is losing popularity for endangering one of their students and for associating with a company that employed a Nazi like Stormfront and a questionable character in A-Train (how did that info get leaked?). Homelander has taken it upon himself to “fix” the problem, and while UA may have given a press conference to address the issue, Homelander, the charismatic devil that he is, started a slander campaign against the threat of “Quirkies”.

In UA, the students have left as the school day just ended. All Might is in his normal form, taking down anti-UA propaganda that people have stuck to the school’s protective wall as well as some anti-Vought propaganda after a long day of teaching and trying to calm down protestors outside the school making noise that were shouting that word spouted by that fellow hero, a blonde American whom All Might initially thought well of. His press conference called to action the… More unpleasant elements of society. All Might hasn’t even changed out of his costume. and as he enters his office to grade papers, he hears a voice coming from within.

“Ah, Toshinori. Just the man I’m looking for.”

That voice… All Might was hoping not to have to face the man in front of him. Toshinor turns on the light and behind his desk with his legs on the table sits a blonde middle-aged man wearing a navy blue suit, red boots, and an American flag for a cape. Homelander had snuck past UA’s defenses and gotten in. He must have been waiting for him. He was… Looking at a picture of young Midoriya and Class 1-A.

“Homelander. Why are you here?” Toshinori was hoping that the other teachers, and especially the students, weren’t here.

After a chuckle, John replies: “That f*cking little UA goody two shoes and that moron A-Train ruined everything at Vought and are making Supes look bad, and then that red birdbrain Hawks leaked some confidential info. So, I decided to come here and fix the problem at its core. Step 1? Remove Quirkies, and that starts with UA and you.”

“Young Ingenium is a great hero! He may have faltered, but he lifts those around him and encourages them to be their best selves! I’m sorry to hear about A-Train, but he murdered an innocent civilian, and then you decided to make Heroes with Quirks look like villains.”

“See, here’s the thing, Toshi.” Homelander sighs and he stands up, approaching the skeletal figure. “We’re heroes, right? We gotta look for the public. I. Gotta look good.”

“After that press conference you did, I can’t consider you a hero. Your words are putting my students and colleagues at risk.”

“To the people, I am a hero, the GREATEST hero. I’m saving them from this plague, your genetic diseases of “superpowers” that make the majority of you Japanese not even Supes. A-Train and Ingenium may have brought bad press, but it’s nothing uncontrollable, and Hawks will soon be taken care of. So don’t stand in my way, Toshinori. I’m a real hero, and I will save everyone from you Quirkies, and if you don’t…”

Homelander’s start to glow red and he smiles evilly, crushing the picture of Class 1-A.

“Well, let’s just say that you’ll have a hard time being either a hero or a teacher.”

Toshinori’s cheeks then stretch downward with his lips, steam exiting his lean body that is now starting to grow and fill in his costume. The lanky man who was more bone than skin now stood almost two feet above Homelander, with his costume now stretched by his amazingly dense muscles, and his two long strands of hair, droopy and miserable now stand proud and curved like rabbit ears. Where there was Toshinori Yagi now stands All Might, a sharp blue gleam in his eyes.

Class 1-A may be able to handle Homelander, they certainly could handle almost anything, but in front of All Might stood a villain masquerading as a hero, and it was his duty to stop villains. “As the Symbol of Peace and as their teacher, I’m warning you: Don’t you dare hurt my students.”

They lunge at each other, clashing like the image underneath:

FIGHT!

1.The impact of the collision levels the office. Homelander then delivers a powerful punch with his free hand on All Might’s face, and All Might staggers a little but enough for Homelander to then ram both of them so fast out of the building that there’s a sonic boom, leaving all windows in a 10 meter radius shattered and activating an alarm. Homelander flies through buildings towards the Kamino District and then attempts to grind All Might against the ground, but All Might digs in his feet to stop the human rocket, destroying the pavement and road that they’re on like the image below.

2. There are a lot of people shrieking, and people are scared. “Everyone, back away!” All Might then turns to the scared public, his iconic smile on his face. “Don’t worry, because I’m here!”

3.“Why you-!” Homelander’s eyes glow red, but All Might swiftly decks Homelander in the face and follows up with a fast flurry of punches like in All Might’s fight against the Nomu. Homelander tries to get some hits in, but All Might is very quickly overwhelming him, and ends the barrage with one strong punch. “Texas SMASH!”

4.Homelander is sent flying to the other side of the avenue by the sheer force and wind pressure until he crashes into the side of a car, absolutely crushing it and destroying all its windows. Homelander is hyperventilating, very clearly having a panic attack. This isn’t looking good. He looks up and there are people looking at him, and they have their phone cameras pointed at him. He then sees the big bulky man charging at him as All Might attempts a Carolina Smash.

5.“BACK OFF!” The supersonic shout is both strong enough that not only does it break all windows in the vicinity, it also causes the bystanders’ and All Might’s ears to bleed, but it also makes All Might lose his balance and he tumbles into the ground.

6.Suddenly, Homelander’s super hearing picks up something really interesting. He hears the sounds of a kid coming toward him. It’s that green haired All Might wannabe that breaks his bones. No doubt he’s come to save All Might and the peons. Homelander grins evilly again as Deku comes into the scene. “All Might!”

7. All Might’s hearing was recovering a bit, and he looked up with a face of pure fear. “Stay away, young Midoriya!” Homelander turns towards the kid and flies at him so fast that by the time Deku sees him, the only thing he can register is the red glove that is about to turn his face into soup, until… “Missouri Smash!” All Might delivers a karate chop to the back of Homelander’s head like he did to Habit Headgear. However, Homelander quickly picks himself up and rushes at All Might and they lock arms, trying to push into the other. “All Might! I’m here to help!” “Stay away, young Midoriya!” “A hero always helps those in need, even other heroes!” “Then help the citizens! Get them to safety!”

8. Before Deku could reply, All Might shouts, “Please! GO!” Deku looks at All Might in the eyes, and reluctantly nods and runs towards the injured citizens. “Oh, you really do care.” “Unlike you, I take the time to make sure that the people I’m entrusted with are well.” All Might starts to use more force, pushing Homelander back, who’s starting to grunt and struggle.

9. “That’s swell, old man.” Homelander quickly knees All Might to the left of the bigger hero’s stomach. This causes All Might to let out a scream of pain and fall onto one knee. As All Might puts his right arm over his injury, Homelander lets out a sadistic laughter. “Look at you! THIS is Japan’s #1 hero? YOU’RE the Symbol of Peace? Good God, man, you’re weak!” An angry All Might swings at Homelander who quickly beats him to the punch by uppercutting All Might into the air. As All Might is airborne, Homelander grabs All Might’s ankle and slams him back into the ground, landing with his head on the ground and his torso facing Homelander who then uses his heat vision to strike All Might’s chest like the fatal blow from MK1, severely damaging All Might and his costume.

10. All Might starts to get up, but Homelander then grabs All Might by the head and tries to crush his head, so All Might responds by rotating his body with a lot of speed. “Oklahoma SMASH!” All Might spins so fast that he creates a vortex and Homelander can’t hold on and is once more sent flying. Homelander then flies up and up, and starts to catch his breath, trying to calm down. Too bad for him, he doesn’t have the time for that because All Might has jumped up to him, spinning into a frontal somersault and shouts “California SMASH!”, punching Homelander overhead and sending him back into the ground, cratering the asphalt and roads.

11. All Might lands in front of John, cratering the ground as well. Homelander is fully panicking now. His face is bloody, and there are helicopters flying around, no doubt news journalists reporting on the situation. His reputation is fully ruined, but… Maybe this can work… He can expose All Might in front of the whole world. All Might comes in, but John swings fast and hard at All Might’s injuries again, causing All Might to stagger. Homelander then hits All Might’s ears like he did to Blindspot, causing All Might to falter backward and his already damaged ears to bleed more, but All Might, with a lot of pain and effort, reorients himself again. They start to trade punches again, All Might punching John in the chest and Homelander punching Yagi in the face. In between the punches, we get cuts of people looking at the broadcast shouting “Don’t lose, All Might!”, including Deku. The two foes look at each other in the eyes and then attempt their final attack.

12. All Might wins through overwhelming speed and force. All Might needs to end this here and now. His colleagues were slanderized, U.A. is damaged, many citizens have died and many more, including Midoriya, were put in danger. All Might is now scowling like when he entered the U.S.J., angry that Homelander had put so many people he cared about in harm's way, both before and during their tussle.

As Homelander then attempts to punch All Might in the face again, All Might strikes first this time, breaking Homelander’s nose and sending him backward. Homelander’s little hope is crushed, and he’s crying and shouting as he charges his heat vision. “I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL KILL YOU AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW!” Homelander rushes in one more time, but All Might punches him again, dizzying Homelander. “Hey, villain… Have you ever heard these words before?! Go beyond! PLUS! ULTRA!” The final punch sends Homelander flying towards the horizon, his body now dismembered. All Might lifts his fist in victory like in the aftermath of his fight with All For One in Kamino. We cut to see the crowds looking at the broadcast of All Might’s victory, and there is rapturous applause and cheering. All Might stands victorious.

13. Homelander wins by being his diabolical self. Homelander is able to quickly strike All Might’s face again, this time giving All Might a bloody nose and incapacitates him like Blindspot. One more strong fist to All Might’s injuries, and All Might falls back, coughing up blood, and in a puff of smoke and steam, we see the skeletal and physically weak Toshinori Yagi. We cut to see people crying and in shock. Deku in particular is simply staring, wide-eyed at the giant screen. “No… Not now…” Homelander walks up to All Might, and with venom in his voice, speaks to All Might like he did to Starlight in this scene. “I know you can still hear me, so let me tell you this: I told you to stay away. You had no chance of victory because I am the Homelander, and I can do whatever the f*** I want.” Homelander, then performs one of his MK1 fatalities. using his heat vision to slice off Toshinori’s legs from the knees and then uses heat vision on his face. All Might screams in pain until the heat vision fully passes through his head, and Homelander then slices the body in half. Homelander slowly starts to chuckle, and then starts laughing.

KO!

RESULT:

Comparison/Strengths and weaknesses:

All Might:

+ Stronger

+ Faster

+ More durable

+ More experience in fighting and smarter when it comes to battling

+ Greater stamina

+ Slightly greater versatility with Heat Vision and Super Shout

- His fights with One For All leave him with an obvious weak point which could be exploited by the Nomu from the U.S.J. incident, but this is a moot point since All Might at his best does not have this weakness

- Less versatile moveset and abilities

Homelander

+ Slightly greater versatility with Heat Vision and Super Shout

+ Flight allows for superior maneuverability

+ Believe it or not, Homelander has a healing factor, so it could be reasonable to say that he can heal faster than All Might can.

- Less experienced fighting foes equal to or greater than his caliber

- Prone to panic and breakdowns

- Doesn’t have any means to permanently injure or kill All Might. Neither All For One at his best nor a Nomu specifically engineered to fight All Might were able to kill him. They may have either permanently injured him or reduced his time limit, but they are way above Homelander’s power.

Ending puns:

"All Might truly smashed the competition."

"Homelander achieved a truly diabolical win."

MUSIC/ ORIGINAL TRACK:

Sound/Composition:

Being blunt, I don’t like “Diabolical Invincible Me”. It’s my least favorite score done for the show, namely because of the synths and instrumentation. However, “Homeland Smash" will use similar synths to convey a sense of dread and despair typically associated with Homelander. As the fight carries on, the music switches to orchestral and rock, like “Mighty” , “Symbolic”, and “Continuing The Legacy” to reference All Might’s status as a Symbol of Peace.

When Homelander is trying to intimidate All Might, the synths start heavy and oppressive. Slowly, the instrumentation starts to change. During the climax/final confrontation, it is fully orchestrated, sounding like “United States of Smash” should All Might win The song would end with the orchestration and choir closing us off in a similar way. If Homelander is the victor, then the orchestral and choir elements should sound dire and dangerous, like Mozart’s Dies Irae. Come to think of it, Dies Irae would be the perfect soundtrack for Homelander’s victory since the song’s name means “Day of Wrath”. Homelander sees himself as the God of his world, and he’d be unleashing his wrath on All Might. It’s either that, or we do something similar to the ending of “Diabolical Invincible Me”. Both work for Homelander either way. In other words, there are two different endings, depending on who is the winner.

Honestly, I think this track requires both Brandon Yates and Therewolf Media. Both have worked on “Mighty”, Brandon composed “Diabolical Invincible Me”, and Therewolf has composed two more All Might-centered tracks in the aforementioned “Symbolic” and “Continuing The Legacy”. However, because of the vibe I’m going for, synths, rock, and orchestra, both can contribute since both have done works that incorporate a bit of everything I mentioned, but it’s likely going to be a very tall order.

Name/Title: Homeland Smash

The name makes reference to All Might’s techniques and the origin of “Homelander”. Since All Might and MHA in general were inspired by D.C. and Marvel Comics, both of which originated in the U.S., “Homeland Smash” essentially becomes a second name for “United States of Smash”. If you hate Homelander, then the name spells out what All Might will do.

Cover art:

Art by me. (:

The cover art shows the passing of One For All. It is passed down seven times from one star to the next until the eighth and final receiver is instead a raised fist. Behind the fist is a giant splatter of blood to reference the highlight of gore and blood in The Boys and Compound V to contrast how both constraints obtained their powers. My original idea for the art was like Mighty where there is a smile, but we also see two eyes. One is All Might’s blue and the other is Homelander’s heat vision red eye. It would have included elements from Homelander’s cape (golden eagle holding down an American flag) but the flag shows the passing stars of One For All.

FINAL THOUGHTS AND WORDS:

I want to again mention that I considered All Might at his best, meaning All Might was analyzed when he was stronger than at the start of the series and doesn’t have his scars or a time limit on his form. I added the injuries and true form to the fight here because I think it would make for a great story when integrated well.

This has been one of my favorite MUs to work on. I love the MU itself, and I had a lot of ideas when writing this, not to mention I had some fun connecting it with my previous MHA VS The Boys MU where I tried to set up a story and crossover aspect. If I get more into Billy and Stain, maybe I’ll write something for that MU. Truthfully, I think this may have been my best suggestion thus far. While the creative juices flowed for Iida VS A-Train, they were a stream to this episode’s river of creative flow. I love my suggestions for Azula VS Cinder, Trunks VS The Luminary, Palpatine VS Xehanort, and Chaos VS Kyogre, but I genuinely believe that this suggestion is my best. I find it somewhat impressive because I wrote the ideas of what I wanted and the fight in just a few days, making it my fastest suggestion yet. I just took a lot of time to get it fully fleshed out because of my exams and to iron out some details.

I also genuinely believe that no matter what shape or form this MU takes, it has the potential to become one of the best episodes in DB!’s history.

IDEAS THAT I HAD:

1. Show All Might with a scowl like when villains invaded the USJ

2. Homelander attempts to kill civilians only for All Might to immediately stop him.

3. Homelander spreads panic and All Might spreads hope as they fight across the city.

4. Heat vision cuts off one of All Might’s limbs.

5. Homelander thought that flight could save him only for All Might to New Hampshire Smash into him and then knocking Homelander down with a California Smash or to launch pressurized winds.

6. Homelander’s super shout disorienting or even permanently deafening All Might

7. Homelander starts to have a breakdown as All Might refuses to give up and gains an advantage

8. “A Hero has so much to lose, I know you heard these words before, let me teach you what they mean, PLUS ULTRA!”

9. Homelander laughing evilly as he emerges victorious after using his heat vision vitality for victory. “I’m the Homelander, I do whatever the f*** I want” right before killing All Might.

10. MK1 clash reference

11. All Might lifting his left fist up when victorious

12. End up in Kamino

13. Deku and others try to intervene only for All Might to tell them to back away, and Homelander tries to hurt both of them

14. Homelander strikes All Might’s injuries, attempting to revert him to his true form in front of the public

15. The setup has us passing through a street covered in graffiti and propaganda, hearing a radio newscast or a TV broadcast like Leon S. Kennedy VS Frank West

THANK YOU AND I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS!

NEXT TIME…!

"Link start!”

Kazuto has activated the Nerve Gear and he passed through the white tunnel and the colored neon streaks. He awoke standing in the middle of the Colinia arena in SAO where he fought Heathcliff. That was a long time ago. He looked in front of him and there stood his foe. He was wearing shades, black shirt and pants, black boots, and a sweet black coat like the first one he wore. Kirito thought that he looked like the protagonist of a movie that gave him deja vú… Both immediately make eye contact and walk towards the center of the arena, stopping within three meters from each other. Kirito opens the menu and sends a duel request. “Ready?” The man simply said, “Yeah.” and accepted the request. Kirito draws his swords and gets ready, and Neo enters a martial arts stance as the timer above them starts to count down.

3… 2… 1…

DUEL START/FIGHT!

Neo VS Kirito (The Matrix VS Sword Art Online)

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

Wow... What an amazing fight. Honestly, I thought Homelander was going to win, though I desperately want All Might to win. Personally, I think All Might fighting post-AFO is a tough case to make, since Homelander is a pretty heavy hitter. Granted, All Might at his best came close against Might Guy while Homelander got easily stomped by Omniman. Overall, I like this fight, and I'm curious to see what comes next with THE ONE against KIRITO.

PS - YOU READY FOR NEXT WEEK?!

8 notes · View notes

spicybylerpolls · 6 months ago

Note

In response to that anon about how sex couldn't possibly have always been heavily tied to and the natural narrative arc the Duffers had in mind for Mike and Will -

Well, for one (and correct me if I'm wrong), if the pandemic hadn't happened, they would've filmed S4 throughout 2020 and likely wrapped post-production sometime in spring/summer of 2021 (possibly later). This means we would've got a late summer or fall of 2021 S4 rather than summer of 2022.

This also means filming for S5 would have likely started in Spring of 2022, or even later if we consider the fact that S4 actually finished in July of 2022 and production PRIOR to the WGA strike was supposed to start in Spring of 2023 (IIRC) That's nearly a year gap. Not only that but if you go onto the wikipedia page for S5, you'll see that because of the pandemic the Duffers were able to completely outline and rework S5. So if the pandemic didn't happen, they would also have to do an outline as well as actually write S5 post S4's drop in the late summer/fall of 2021 (in this magical, theoretical timeline).

Honestly, with this in mind, I wouldn't see filming for S5 commencing until mid 2022, possibly even the early fall.

So basically the theoretical timeline without COVID and the WGA strike would be:

2020: Film S4

End of 2020 - Mid/Late 2021: Post production

Late 2021: S4 Drops

Summer/Early Fall 2022: S5 Filming begins

This would put Noah's age at 17, almost 18 and Finn at 19 almost 20. And presumably the hypothetical sex scene wouldn't happen until the later episodes so by then Noah would be 18 and Finn would be a full 20 years old, and likely almost 21.

Like, say the scene happens in Episode 7. This would be the very tail end of production, as we know they pretty much film in blocks. This would be June of 2023 or around there... Noah nearly 19 and Finn 6ish months away from being able to legally drink anywhere in the world. Lol.

Also, Finn literally has a scene in WYFSTW where his character masturbates, and he was just 18 when he portrayed that. Why are people so disgusted by the idea of him portraying something extremely similar to this but as Mike?! In my opinion this proves it's not just about the actors (and seeing them grow up) because I haven't seen anyone say it was weird for including that scene in that movie ...

BUT REGARDLESS, like spicybylerpolls said - there are a ton of examples, WELL RESPECTED examples at that, of underage actors portraying a storyline involving sex. I mean, look no further than Degrassi. Almost all of the actors are cast as teens (sometimes pre-teens) and almost all of the characters have a storyline to do with sex at some point, most of them when they're underage.

This is a perfect example because the point of these storylines are to educate teens on sex (the same thing Mike and Will's storyline would be doing for many queer kids btw) and also to represent their many, many confusing feelings about sex. And yes, all of the actual sex scenes in Degrassi are implied - which, although people have explained how an explicit scene would be important for Mike and Will's storyline, ultimately it's not absolutely necessary for them. (Although I don't think an implied sex scene in the same vein as Degrassi (or even Jancy) is going to work within the darker tone of S5 but I digress...)

Anyway, there's a ton more examples beyond just Degrassi [Skins is the first that pops to mind] but no I don't think it would be weird for a 17 year old to have a make out and then *implied* sex scene when it's already been done and accepted in the past with absolutely no issue (as long as the actors are comfortable of course).

But this isn't what's happening so who cares. And we have already heard the Duffers state that, although they have had a lot of it planned out, they do write for the actors too. I can even recall them saying how when they got back on set for either S3 or S4 they realized the kids ... weren't kids anymore and they were going to have to write to that.

So yeah, I think it's totally possibly the Duffers imagined that in the end, Mike and Will would overcome their shame about their sexuality by ... having sex together, however that looked on screen, since there are a myriad of ways to do this without showing sex at all.

#spicy byler #byler #mike wheeler #will byers #no poll

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powerbottomblake · 2 years ago

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I'm thinking about writing a time travel fic for avatrice where post s2/hypothetical s3 holy war ava goes thru the arc and somehow wakes up the moment she was resurrected by the halo in season 1 episode 1. i just wonder if you had any opinions on how ava would act in that scenario? does she immediately go towards the OCS fighting in the chapel? does she run off again and try to do things on her own? im actually not sure bc this au is mostly compelled by the mental image of ava justifying all of her future influencing decisions to everyone by just saying 'god told me' bc its pretty hard to argue with a girl who a) died and came back via divine relic b) seems to just Know things and c) is startlingly competent, considering the decade of medical abuse. just thought i'd ask, bc post s2 finale im actually not sure what ava would do if she could start it all over again

ok buddy first of all can I just say how absolutely HILARIOUS it is to me that Ava would go full joan of arc on the ocs and be like I can hear...I can hear the sound of a flip flop ass bitch -points to Vincent-

hmmm ok but more seriously this is SUCH a premise. I think you need to weigh in two factors:

the knowledge ava has accumulated in the past two seasons

how her priorities have shifted between s1e1 and the s2 finale

Basically the ava that wakes up miraculously on day 1 of her second life is the ava that literally sacrificed herself for her family (the OCS) and specifically for beatrice. this is also an ava who KNOWS there are no bones to be found in the tomb, knows adriel is evil, knows vincent is a traitor, and yes she wants to live but she has found community and belonging with the OCS AND the love of her life in beatrice.

so her priority will shift to:

making sure adriel never gets out

exposing vincent

spending as much time as she possibly can with beatrice

For me, that means she'll have to win the ocs' trust and find a way to expose Vincent. you'll have to rework the events around that. also her interactions with bea are going to be monumentally impacted bc. so many scenes might never happen (for ex: she probably won't take the bait and won't be pushed by superion till she cracks) but that also means ava is going to be much more proactive on that front bc she knows!! she knows what they have in them to become to each other!!

like the s1 conflict of what does ava really want disappears bc by the s2 finale ava knows what she wants and that's a happy life with beatrice in world where the threat of adriel has disappeared! a world where she's the last warrior nun and the cycle is ended! so ava will do EVERYTHING to ensure that. but yeah this ava will have to plan accordingly to try and fit with the ocs and work to expose Vincent's bullshit. the one thing i'm sure she'll do is NOT run. anything else is for you to tweak according to this.

#hope I answered the question #this is a bonkers premise with a whole lot of Plot for you to establish #btw if you do end up writing it do be sure to share with the class!!

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d-avld · 3 months ago

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I haven’t posted on my blog in a while, but this has been on my mind so much lately that I want to add something.

The thing is, I’m so conflicted about Michael Sheen tweeting in celebration of the Season 2 anniversary, and I would have really liked to have seen some discussion about it on tumblr (I’ve only seen a couple of posts that didn’t really gain traction). Because — *does* it count as “silence” if you’re kind of actively pretending nothing happened/is happening? What kind of a silence is it? Even if the tweet was supposed to be something like “wanting to celebrate art only, and not the artist”, it was too vague for that to clearly be the case, and came out on the same day that new allegations were made public. Which, ok, that specific date was the anniversary, but to me it just felt kind of tone-deaf, and it definitely resulted in a lot of content on here that felt like we were in a world in which nothing at all had happened (at least from what I’ve seen), and it just felt really weird. And at this point… I just don’t know if I care about being gracious towards the way he went about it, and excusing it in my head.

I guess time will tell where he or David Tennant stand, but I’m kind of dejected and feel that it just might be a taste of things to come…because I have a hard time seeing a scenario other than:

a) the show gets cancelled and they move on, saying or not saying anything based on how the situation unfolds and how accepted it becomes to say something or not

or,

b) the third season gets made, they need to do interviews for it, and they go along with it as usual and talk about how amazing Neil Gaiman is as a writer and as a creative and so on — which was a huge aspect of PR for both Season 1 and 2.

I just feel like a hypothetical scenario in which Neil Gaiman’s work gets produced into a TV show that the studio wants to have an audience for, but is simultaneously trying to distance from him in interviews, even though he still would have written and helmed it during the making of S3 and post the allegations…it’s too complicated to succeed in a PR context? Especially when, as I said, so much of the interviews for previous seasons were in a large part focused on the significance of Neil Gaiman as the show’s writer and showrunner. Or is it possible they just won’t do promo for it…? Or could they publicly say something against him and then just continue working on his project…? But how would that make sense?

But that’s just my question…IF I choose to think it’s just professional courtesy on their part to go along with these standard talking points, to continue working on the project and collaborate with him after all this… Is it still silence? Or what does silence from them as public figures mean on top of these things they have to do as actors hired to work on his project?

And don’t get me wrong, nothing would make me happier than to see them publicly support the victims, especially now that more and more of them are voicing their experiences of abuse. A part of me is so upset about all of this that I literally want them to announce they are leaving Good Omens all together, and to just go scorched earth on Neil Gaiman. But, yes, contracts and obligations…it’s not a thing that I know a lot about, but if that’s a factor, then I don’t see how the situation could play out in a way that won’t be either disappointing or frustrating, unless the entire show is just cancelled.

But who knows what will happen… Still, I would really love to hear people’s opinions, and I’m kind of sad that there hasn’t been more discussion around this (even though I understand it’s a turbulent time, and in many ways too early to tell how the media response/coverage will turn out).

I didn't think that we would still have to remind people that David Tennant and Michael Sheen don't owe us an explanation for Neil's actions. They are under no obligation to speak up, comment on it or discuss the situation publicly. Chances are they knew as much about it as we did a little over a month ago. Being quiet about it is not weird or suspicious. It's none of their business.

#good omens #michael sheen #david tennant

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chalkrevelations · 3 years ago

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Huh.

Well, this is not the next episode reaction you were expecting, but a while back, in the middle of the night, while I was ready to cry from working on a pharmacology paper, out of nowhere, Youtube threw up Street Dance of China S3 Ep1 at me. And yeah. I am, admittedly, f’kn weak for a dance show. (There are enough SYTYCD episode reax on my old Livejournal that I feel there’s no point denying this.)

So – no, actually, wait. FIRST of all, I do NOT believe the “towel vote” we ended up being given for the opening routines from the four captains. That was the most blatant bit of bullshit chicanery I’ve seen in my LIFE, and I say this as a person with a ton of SYTYCD episode reax on my old Livejournal, and I also say this not because Wang Yibo ended up last (well, not entirely), but because I saw Wallace Chung’s routine. As someone closer in age to him than to the other three captains, I have to give him props for trying, but come on, man. The critique that Yibo got from random contestants – if the subtitles are to be believed, so I realize this needs a grain of salt - basically boiled down to “it was too good for the stage lighting.” :hands: Also, I saw your face at the reveal, Wallace, and you were as shocked as I was. No way you got more towels/votes than Wang Yibo. Not unless there’s some super wild undercurrent of nostalgia propping you up, which, I guess could happen, because literally all I know about pop culture in China, current or otherwise, is filtered through Tumblr and Youtube, both notoriously suspect, but … anyway. There’s got to be a TON of behind-the-scenes manipulation going on for Yibo to be rock-bottom with last pick of teams but then also to end up with THAT pool of possibles. Are you kidding me with this?

ANYWAY, what I wanted to say is that I actually really like Wang Yibo here, and it’s not just because he’s the only captain I have even a sliver of familiarity with, and it’s not just because Lan Wangji was banging Wei Wuxian. I do realize all of this is influenced by whatever edit they’ve decided to give a particular captain or contestant, but I’m impressed with the way Yibo immediately starts team building by getting his group into a warmup, getting them dancing together, getting them dancing with him before they have to worry about dancing for him. (I mean, come on, Jackson Wang. The way to get people to stop being nervous is not to say “Stop being nervous! It will make you fuck up!”) The way Yibo immediately recognized and responded to his group’s concerns about that one dude copying someone else’s routine probably also bought him a lot of return investment. He’s dressed to work it, in his sweats and his flannel (what IS that fake-leather TAC vest and random leg holster-looking thing, Jackson Wang?). He’s convincing me he really loves to dance, he can’t hold still while he watches the contestants, he’s wandering over into other captains’ turf when it sounds like there’s a dancer performing who he might like to see, he’s being the best Yibo he can be, and I’m grooving along, wind in my hair, totally down for this ride. He’s also adorable at the beginning when all the other captains are like, my goal for this season is to slaughter the competition and dance on their graves! And he’s like, well, I’d like to … make some friends? And learn some new stuff? I don’t know if the perpetual Humble Student schtick is natural or persona, or whether it’s general or specific to dancing, but it’s working for you, my dude. This is also made better (read: ironic), by the fact that it’s immediately before the towel reveal, when he flips over to utter disbelief and gets all sulky for a while over the “fact” that his dance routine got the least votes.

Also, OH WAIT. This is where that clip of Yibo dancing with his crew ALL OVER HIM came from that I saw floating around a few months ago, isn’t it? You’re telling me those guys had never danced together before and had like, three minutes to throw together that routine? I’m even more impressed than before. Meanwhile, the towels symbolize courage and challenge, Mr. Emcee? OK, fine, cheesy reality show blah blah whatever. Can we get to the dancing now?

I’m going to put the rest of this behind a cut, because it got super long, because it turns out, when you watch in 5-minute increments, it takes two and a half weeks to get through a single episode, but you actually can see and have opinions on all 5,328 contestants, plus every single one of the captains’ battles. Meanwhile, I’m trying to convince myself this is not going to be another series of episode reactions, but 1) I do have the benefit of not having a ton of hometown media giving me a next-day play-by-play, so even though this is six months old, everything’s a surprise; 2) I am, admittedly, f’kn weak for a dance show; and 3) it’s easy to watch in 5-minute increments between researching drug interactions in hypothetical hypertensive patients with stable ischemic heart disease, erectile dysfunction, and seasonal allergies. So, I guess we’ll see. It’ll be slow going, though, because I don’t ever have two and half hours to sit down and watch an ep cover-to-cover – if it happens, it will likely keep happening in 5-minute increments. Meanwhile, there is a metric shit-ton of nattering below the cut, so caveat lector. No, seriously, I kept adding to this little by little until it became a monster. Hashtag long post (remorseful).

OK, I am generally out of my depth here, as this is not at all my area of dance not-really-expertise, but some reactions:

Team Wang Yibo: I can see why he didn’t want to choose between Colin and Dian Men – Colin might have been a touch better technically and a better showman, but Dian Men didn’t seem to have a single wasted move – but, also, my dude. Yibo. You maybe should look a little bit less stunned and overwhelmed by the mere presence of Colin, it’s giving me ideas about your taste in men. Continuing with the powerhouses, I probably shouldn’t even attempt to critique Klash, but I did feel like he was a bit stiff in some of his footwork; that final V kick, though, shit, that’s what having that kind of upper-body strength is for. Bouboo … I mean, excellent flexibility and control, of course, but mainly I’m just terribly amused that Yibo got last pick of teams but somehow ended up with the guy who’s literal world champion, and who’s just as useful for getting into the other captains’ heads – without even trying – as he is for his talent. And then there’s a montage of Yibo giving out towel after towel after towel, and my dude, you cannot keep up this pace. There are still too many dancers to see, and you don’t have that many towels. AAANNNND Towel Battle #1 (See Footnote 1).

Team Jackson Wang: I do like Gai Gai, although that may be influenced by the fact she’s working in the twilight area between hip-hop and contemporary that I have more familiarity with - but also, I suspect she’s pretty good in her genre. I thought Xiao Jie was inconsistent and didn’t stick the landing on his initial attempt, so I have to give you that hesitation, Jackson, even though you’ve somehow ended up the villain in my inner narrative for this show, for no particular reason I can yet discern. Maybe it’s that you’re the direct competition for Yibo’s team in the towel battles. Good enough. Anyway, Xiao Jie definitely stepped up his game for the battle with Bingo, so I can kind of see why both of them got a towel, but we’re not even halfway through this, and most of y’all are giving away towels like you have an endless supply. Yang Kai is a fucking menace with fantastic musicality, and I’m just gonna say it and take the fallout - I think he gave a better performance first time out of the gate than any of Yibo’s powerhouses did. Whatever power Klash has got, whatever skill Bouboo has got, Yang Kai feels more explosive and engaging, at least in these initial showings. He’s going to be one to beat, I’d hug him too, if he was on my team and was going to help me WIN. Yibo’s probably lucky that happened during his little stroll over to check out the competition, so that he can see they’re definitely competitive and be prepared for it. Also, Jackson, I have to admit - that face you made when Chao really kicked in? That was the same face I made, because wt actual f, you have a literal secret weapon – secret because he CAME FROM NOWHERE and NO ONE EVEN KNOWS him, how is that even possible, how did he get that good – fluid, creative, controlled, incredible musicality - without anyone having any idea who he even is? And then there’s a montage of Jackson just giving out towel after towel after towel, and my dude, you need to slow down. You can’t just be like, “THEY LOVE DANCE WITH ALL OF THEIR WHOLE HEARTS!!!!1111!!!!11!” I get it, but everyone there loves dance with all of their whole hearts, and there are not enough towels to send all of them on to the next round. ANNNND, Towel Battle #1 (See Footnote 1).

Team Lay Zhang: lol at how diplomatic you’re being, Lay Zhang – your team’s fierce roar startled you, OK. At this point, I suspect you’re the street most likely to have a knife fight break out before this is all over. I do like Alex, I think he’s got a lot of interesting, super-clean details in his moves, and he’s engaging - I cannot BELIEVE you made him battle that dude whose moves were so mushy, Lay Zhang, it leaves me doubting your ability to judge this thing. At first I thought maybe you were just looking for an excuse because you wanted to see Alex freestyle, but then you actually said something about both dancers being equal, and my estimation of you plummeted, and also sadly, my sound dropped out for the actual battle, including the part where the clearly inferior dancer fell over and then accidentally POPPED ALEX ONE IN THE EYE, and I TOLD YOU SO. I do agree it’s a good idea to make dancers in the same genre do some battling, so you can kind of plan out your towels and put together a team with broad strengths, instead of giving out towels like you’re making it rain for the first 20 contestants, and then you have 1,375 more people to get through, with 3 towels left, as EVERYONE ELSE seems to be doing, so it’s nice that at least one of you guys is thinking – if not actually acting - strategically. That was clearly not even a contest, though, GIVE ALEX HIS TOWEL and send him to the next round. Xiao Bao is hilarious, with his concern that his team captain, who’s into krump, which is “beating,” isn’t going to appreciate his waacking, which is “slapping.” I also don’t know a whole lot about waacking, so thanks for the primer, Xiao Bao, and don’t worry, your performance is just as engaging for those of us who don’t know what we’re watching as you are generally. You deserve that towel for your ability to interact with and engage your audience, alone. Lingo is a good solid performance, although he’s got his team captain strategizing edited over some of it, and here’s the thing: we are 1:56:00 into this, at this point, with another half hour to go, and all of you are starting to disappear into the sea of dancers who are very good at what you do, but at generally the same level? Anyway, Lingo, I approve of your ability to interact with your audience (read: your captain) to ensure engagement, too, so keep that up. Annnd, we actually haven’t seen that much of you guys, but it’s time for Towel Battle #2 (See Footnote 2).

Team Wallace Chung: I’m glad Su Lian Ya insisted on performing, I thought she started off slow but warmed up, and that ending was creepily fantastic and had me spontaneously grinning at the screen in delight. Then we lose sight of this group for a really long time, actually. We go back to find Wallace putting through a couple of urban dancers who we barely see, but who apparently claim to have some choreography experience, and he really likes that. TI shows up, and they’re solid, but honestly, not as good in this performance as they were in some of the stock footage the show threw up to introduce them, but Wallace remains super-excited about the idea of choreography and sends at least choreographer Zhang Jiang Peng through to the next round. And then, we really haven’t seen that much of you guys, either, which maybe doesn’t bode well, but it’s time for Towel Battle #2 (See Footnote 2).

FOOTNOTE 1, aka TOWEL BATTLE ONE, Team Yibo vs. Team Jackson, 3V3 freestyle: First of all, I have to say, I love Yibo - Mr. I Just Wanna Make Some Friends And Have Some Fun - being all, “I have three crappy white towels I’m stuck with for coming in last place that I can’t use to send dancers to the next round and that I DO NOT DESERVE, and I am getting BACK the colorful towels that ARE RIGHTFULLY MINE. I am coming for whoever is in my way.” Team Yibo is Bouboo, Klash, Dian Men, and OK, given what we’ve seen so far, that’s the safe choice, but honestly, I think we’re just taking some things for granted right now, and I’m not sure they actually have given the best performances so far. Yeah, I said it. Team Jackson is Yang Kai, Chao, and Xiao Jie, and … ok, on that last one, I think you probably could have substituted Bingo, but all right. Yang Kai is a definite yes. Chao will be great if he can stay out of his own head and not psych himself out, but given what we’ve seen so far, he’s an obvious pick. First round, Yang Kai vs. Klash, and Yang Kai is still a fucking menace, with super lines. Klash definitely stepped up his game for the battle, and I can’t get over the upper body strength he’s got, to get that kind of airy bounce in his moves, but to be honest, I can’t even be mad the first round went to Yang Kai and Team Jackson. Second round, Yang Kai is still … y’all, the beautiful lines from this guy in his poses, I can’t get over them, but I think he doesn’t have the stamina, his footwork is getting sloppy. Bouboo also steps up his game for an actual battle, his fluidity and control is amazing, and yeah, round to Team Yibo. Round three, Xiao Jie gives it a decent effort, but the polish isn’t there; meanwhile Bouboo is still in champion mode, and I was kind of surprised this was a split vote and went to another round. Xiao Jie absolutely surprised me, coming back stronger on his second try, although I suppose a more familiar genre helped, but Bouboo continues in champion mode. Round four, Chao looks like he’s going to throw up right before he steps out there, and then as soon as the music starts, it’s like, he doesn’t even think. The music just moves him. I feel like his dance vocabulary is more limited than Bouboo’s, though, and Bouboo’s flow is amazing at this point, so I feel like the judges just want to drag this out and see more dancing when we go to one more round. Strong effort all around, but yeah, round four and two towels to Team Yibo. I can’t really complain about that. I do feel like Yibo’s powerhouses have been holding back until now, though, and I’m not sure how I feel about THAT.

FOOTNOTE 2, aka TOWEL BATTLE TWO, Team Zhang vs. Team Wallace, 3V3 w/ captain: lol, Team Zhang really wants someone to pick the Sailor Moon song because they know Xiao Bao and his waacking will tear it up. Anyway, Team Zhang includes Lingo and Xiao Bao, who does not get his Sailor Moon song and continues to be hilarious in his disbelief about being chosen to participate in this battle, when he’s not looking almost as sick as Chao from Team Jackson before HIS performance. Team Wallace includes Su Lian Ya – and honestly, despite how I’m getting ready to bag on him for the entire rest of this battle recap, I like that Wallace put one of his female dancers up there for the battle - and some dude named Ba that they haven’t given us any footage of, up ‘til now, at least that I can remember and who I … don’t even know has been formally given a towel and sent on to the next round, yet? Oh wait, he must have, because there’s talk in the pause for choreography about somehow using the towels during the battle. Wallace relies on Su Lian Ya and Zhang Jiang Peng to choose Ba, and then Ba ends up choreographing a lot of the performance, at least from the edit we see. I continue to feel you may be in over your head, Wallace. This feeling … is not assuaged by your performance in the first round, which is fine, but not really up to the level of almost anyone whose name I’ve bolded so far in this entire recap. Also, using the towels was a cute idea, but it doesn’t translate well, and Team Wallace has a lot of wasted time throwing the towels around instead of actually. You know. Dancing. Lingo gets a credible solo during Team Zhang’s performance, and even though Xiao Bao is clearly lost during a good bit of his backup dancer duties, he manages not to throw up, which – given this team’s general skill level – should be enough to give them the first round, EXCEPT SOMEHOW Team Wallace gets the point from the judges, who then try to justify this inexplicable decision by saying Team Wallace had better interaction, I guess because of the hot mess with throwing the towels around, but adding that Team Zhang was more scattered, which what? More scattered than the hot mess with the towels? I’m not buying this. I can’t tell if they’re propping up Wallace or fucking with Lay Zhang’s head, but I’m having bad acid flashbacks to the many and varied ways dance show judges will try to gaslight you, telling you that things you just saw with your very own eyes did not actually happen when it’s right there! On camera! Visible, despite whatever edit bs you’re pulling! ANYWAY, they’re definitely managing to fuck with not only Lay Zhang’s head, but Xiao Bao’s, and Xiao Bao still doesn’t seem to have his choreography down, but they manage to pull it together enough to take the second round, which to be honest is kind of a muddled mess on everyone’s part. The only one who really stands out to me on this go’round is Su Lian Ya, but OK, Team Zhang might have had it slightly more together as a unit. And then, yeah, OK, I think they were fucking with Lay Zhang’s head, because we then find out that, holy shit, the song the show powers-that-be chose for the tie-breaking third round is that gd Sailor Moon song, and we can all see the writing on the wall. Poor Team Wallace is no match for Xiao Bao, who frankly, carries this entire round on his shoulders without breaking a sweat and barely needs any backup dancers to do it. There’s some ridiculously dramatic reveal of scoring, with the judges dragging out their decisions like this was any actual contest - I’m beginning to suspect that some of them grew up with Wallace Chung posters on their bedroom walls - but finally, round and towel to Team Zhang.

Cut to a little bit of Next Time On, and wow, the first two-and-a-half-hour episode is over, and we aren’t finished with the initial round yet. It’s gonna be Christmas before I make it halfway through this season.

#street dance of china #sdoc episode reax #should i put yibo in the tags for this?#sure #i guess #wang yibo #anyone else?

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halorocks1214 · 4 years ago

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Please can you do for the character ask do Kayo of the Mechanic? 😊

*meme voice* Both. Both is good

Thanks for the ask dear anonymous!

Kayo

Favorite thing about them: She is incredibly determined and strong-willed in her beliefs, all while being badass about it! Honestly, if I had at least a fourth of the confidence she had I would not be a nervous wreck 75% of the times I am in a public space lol Least favorite thing about them: Kayo, pls, you are worse than Scott in the chill-pill category. It is physically impossible to be allergic to fun, just take a deep breath for me, okay? It’s gonna work out eventually, I promise Favorite line: “Kaneer.” “You know my name?” “I know lots of things. Bye-bye!” brOTP: Alan and Kayo’s relationship had nice development imo, if I’m not just randomly coming up with it in my head lol. Alan learning over the series how to be more serious while still keeping his joyful edge, meanwhile Kayo learned that it was okay to let go and be less serious and that it wouldn’t hurt to be loose every once in a while, etc etc OTP: Again, it’s more of a “ship I like” since I just do not ship in this show, point blank period. There’s a lot of family stuff to explore with these characters so I mainly focus on that, but I mentioned her and Scott in Scott’s post when they’re not written as siblings so I guess this still applies here! nOTP: I got into this series because of the Tracy boys and their stories, so when it comes to her adoptive-sibling status it really goes 50/50 for me. If a story has it, great! I love adoptive-family stuff! If it doesn’t, that’s also cool! She can still be a really neat and interesting character if written correctly! But in the stories that heavily focus on her adoptive status then yeah, that’s kinda a no bueno for me Random headcanon: Closet stuffed animal lover. 100%. Alan figured it out because, of course, he did, and every time there’s a new rabbit outside her door she doesn’t know whether to fingerprint it to find out who’s behind it or just gleefully take the gift and shove it in her secret stash (hint: it’s usually the latter) Unpopular opinion: I’m not sure how “unpopular” this really is, buuuuut after the 2004 movie introduced me into Thunderbirds and getting into TOS after fully immersing myself into TAG I miss Tin-Tin. She was such a cool lady and there’s a really cool Tin-Tin in TAG concept that I love to bits (that I’ll reblog in a sec) that made me think about her again and I just! I like Kayo, I really do, but Tin-Tin is in my heart forever and always Song I associate with them: “Miss Jackson” by Panic! at the Disco Favorite picture of them:

I’m saying this one because this is such a good scene and really summarizes the best parts of Kayo’s character for me

The Mechanic

Favorite thing about them: Always gotta love a good ‘ol redemption arc! Cold, sinister people learning that they deserve love and forgiveness after being mistreated for so long is a weak point of mine so I gotta give credit there <3 Least favorite thing about them: Reaaaaally would have enjoyed at least a little more backstory, or exposition. Or even screentime. I feel like a lot of characters got the “lack of screentime” curse in S3 and if any dude needed some it was him. Kinda sucks considering what an interesting character he is! Favorite line: “You’re busting me out?!” “Ironic, isn’t it?” brOTP: Grandma and The Mechanic had such nice, if short, scenes together, but for a hypothetical brOTP, Virgil and The Mechanic would be fuuuun. Virgil teaching him mundane hobbies like painting and music and The Mechanic talking about engineering stuff with Virgil that the Tracy might not know about OTP: I mean... I don’t really have any? Brains/The Mechanic is cute, I’ll admit, but because of my general lack of interest in him I can’t really point fingers at any character in particular and be like “Now kiss!” nOTP: For rhe same reasons listed under OTP (i.e. not a lot of interest), I can’t point fingers at another character and say “How’s about no” either lol Random headcanon: Grandma teaches him knitting. That’s it. That’s the headcanon. All the Tracys have some kind of sweater before the year ends, and their reactions/emotions towards them range wide and long Unpopular opinion: This isn’t so much an unpopular opinion as it is an unpopular musing, but if he was written out of S3′s plot, would much have changed? Could they have gone with a “the Tracys figure it out by themselves” approach and would that have been better/worse? Idk, just some rambling Song I associate with them: “Nothing Worth Saving” by DANGERKIDS Favorite picture of them:

There goes my bby. Kick their asses for us please and thank you

Ask me about other fictional characters!

#answered ask #anoynmous #thunderbirds #thunderbirds are go #kayo kyrano #the mechanic

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steve0discusses · 5 years ago

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Yugioh S3 Ep 43: Tea Can Just Knock Over Joey Wheeler With Her Index Finger

Guys guys guys, my favorite Character is back. That’s right--the storyboarder!

So this episode looked helllla nice for a Yugioh episode (again, this is Yugioh, it will win no awards.) It wasn’t as nice and fluid as the episode where they temporarily killed off Joey Wheeler, but I give it a good 2nd place.

You can tell we’re getting to the climax of the season because they’re throwing down their most entertaining art people onto the screen, giving us about 5 zillion dutch angle fashion close-ups of Marik’s cabbage face, and a whole lot of zany and hard to very hard to draw fish-eye lens angles of Pharaoh.

Also, everyone wears flared bell-bottom pants now. New stylistic decision, as decided just now. Everyone in pants now has flares. Even if their pants are cargo pants. How very 00′s. (my pants were flares from like birth until 2006, it was a good trend, super comfy, bring it back.)

(read more under the cut)

First off, Evil Marik decided to rewrite Marik history a little bit with some hilarious retconning that only the most evil Marik would think is legit.

I mean I was there when Marik was introduced and was a complete asshole all of S2. I remember when Odion considered murdering the hell out of his little brother because this Marik guy was such freakin tool and his Dad was an evil cultist bastard. I...I’m gonna go on a limb and assume that calling Marik a “loyal servant” is a freakin stretch. Marik made his choices. Yes, his bad side killed his Dad, but they have made sure to indicate that yes, this is the evil inside of Marik, something that he himself caused--but most of the things that Marik has done (with the exception of killing his own Dad) is still Marik. He did that.

The fact that his evil side can’t quite connect that his good side and evil side are at all the same however, is fitting for an evil Marik to think. More and more, Marik and Marik are becoming 2 different people, and this game is the deciding factor to finally give this guy full autonomy of his other half.

We’ve seen this type of contrast before with Bakura and Ryou--where Ryou and Bakura don’t really get along but have always been clearly different people, so the culpability of what they do tends to fall on Bakura. (which is a pretty GRAND assumption, I still think Ryou is a precious but absolutely still shady little bastard) So, it’s a little different that Marik considers himself two completely different people when it’s just...not the same. Marik’s alter ego is just an ego. More like how Yami was in Season Zero but a little bit more evil. Both Marik’s have the same upbringing and the same source.

It’s been kind of an interesting progression now I can look back on it, where slowly the two have been clashing to the point that they are in fact different, disparate people now. The fact that Marik points out how his situation similar to Yugi and Pharaoh being a host is almost like “well yeah, it would have been nice to see how the whole Season Zero Yami evolved into more of a separate person over time, I’m glad you inferred that, and I’ll never get to see it, thanks” But again, all that is inferred. Whether Yami Yugi eventually became Pharaoh over time or whether Pharaoh is a big retcon of Yami Yugi for the new series in order to keep the culpability for what he does off of Yugi Muto was never directly spoken in the show so it’ll be left to your fanfictions.

Meanwhile, Yugi has decided that they’re going to try and purify the Marik situation and save the good side. This is sort of the Yugioh thing, to dispel the bad forces from people and leave behind hollow husks, so yeah...it tracks. I mean...there’s very little Marik left to save, but it’s better than a husk, amiright? Better than what happened to freakin PaniK, RIP. I’m sure erasing over half of your identity will go over real well for Marik and be absolutely painless.

And then we had a lovely scene that, for those people doing scene redraws from anime, as has been a popular trend on art blogs lately--this is your episode for Yugioh. This episode’s got moody lighting, we’ve subdued all our weird ass colors into one concrete palate (remember how green the carpet used to be?) we got interesting elements of Marik being here despite being chopped into pieces. We got so many ellipses drawn in perspective (y’all I could write an entire posts just about ellipses but I’ll spare you). It’s like Yugioh gave itself a redraw.

I can’t believe this shot came out of freakin Yugioh.

Also, this guy was an ASSHOLE for the past 2 seasons but the show was like “time to make him likeable” and so they dropped some good ass cinematography and sung that sad backstory tune on the trumpet and you know what? It works.

+++++++++++++++RANT ABOUT REDEMPTION ARCS FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS MASSIVE WALL OF TEXT++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now I think the arc of Marik is pretty simple and people are pretty chill with it. But, I’m gonna talk about villain redemption arcs just in general--gonna sidetrack a little from Yugioh for a moment. Partly because I watched 6 seasons of Once Upon a Time, which is basically Villain Redemption Arc Controversy: The Show.

It bothers a hell ton of people when TV shows have to make a villain redeemable, but there’s only one episode left so they put their hands up and say “but I swear the good side of him was always good” But, does that mean Marik’s going to make up for all the murder and sending people to the shadow realm? No. He never will. Even if Marik was completely his bad half the whole time, it still wouldn’t make up for the damage done. Dead people are...DEAD.

Marik can’t actually make any choices right now to redeem his character. All he’s doing is accepting he will never be a full person ever again. Hence why he is in slices and pieces, and in several shots is trapped either in an empty glass or a window. The choice to redeem him is entirely on other people.

And that’s the thing about redemption arcs that I want to bring up--how much of a character’s redemption relies on what the villains do to “Make up for what they did”, and how much relies on everyone else to redeem them. I think the tendency is for people to assume that the villains should be doing 90-100% of the redeeming, but unless they have a time machine--they can’t do any. Even if they freakin die to sacrifice themselves it’s still like “that character was basically little Stalin, right?

I’ve seen like a million ways to write a redemption arc, but none of them, not a single one that I can think of, can ever truly make up for the things the villian has done. There’s no way that Darth Vadar was suddenly going to become a good Dad, no matter how many Palpatines he can toss into a...whatever that was at the end of that movie. That’s the riddle behind what makes redemption arcs so engaging--By all cultural standards these villains should always be tagged a “bad guy” but, we, the audience, are being challenged to ignore those standards.

And I know a lot of people see redemption arcs as a quasi-religious sort of adventure into atonement, where we’re supposed to see ourselves as the villain searching for some type of forgiveness from a higher, most-likely-a-reference-to-Jesus-power, but I don’t really see them that way. Maybe it’s because, I dunno, I haven’t killed anyone recently or possessed other people’s minds or strung them up to anchors and dropped them into the ocean. But if you see yourself as a Marik, then go for it, I won’t stop you.

But, to me, a redemption arc is more of a question posed for us as viewers. Since it is impossible for the writers to ever fully redeem a character, the only ones doing the redeeming are the people watching it, who’s reaction will differ wildly from person to person, and that’s what makes it fascinating.

And like, that’s my thesis here at the very last paragraph of this long meandering rant. Redemption arcs aren’t about “hey is this person good enough to be redeemed (because that will never happen)” it’s “are you too good to redeem that person?” It’s a large scale experiment on the viewers watching and that’s why it makes people so freakin pissed and uncomfortable. Every redemption arc calls them out directly, and for some people it’s just like--the world ends or something. I have seen actual internet mobs develop over...a villain redemption arc. Which is weird.

And so I’ll leave it with my other spicy take that...you don’t have to redeem every villain when the question is asked. I mean these aren’t real people. The questions of “would you redeem this person” is asked entirely hypothetically. And that’s what makes up stories, not just the interaction of the people inside the stories, but when it affects the moral structure of the readers directly, and seeing how for some people, that can be a very intense and deep reflection. (which usually leads to a hell ton of either retconning fanfiction or a hell ton of really, really angry posts)

bro’s just told me that Yugioh is just a redemption arc for season 0 Yami Yugi. Bro and his spicy headcanons. This one holds some water though, lol.

++++++++++++END OF A SUPER LONG RANT ABOUT VILLAINS THAT I HELD IN FOR THE ENTIRE 6 SEASONS OF ONCE UPON A TIME, WOW A LOT OF PEOPLE HAD OPINIONS ABOUT CERTAIN CHARACTERS THAT THEY JUST EXPECTED EVERYONE ELSE TO HAVE, AMIRIGHT????+++++++++++

Anyway, back to jokes.

Again, Storyboarder just...nailing these weird ass shoes that are somewhere between a dress shoe and a boot. Shoes are hard to draw, y’all. This storyboarder. And they even made sure that the shoes looked very small and precious the way Yugi shoes would be. Little Cinderella size 5 Yugi shoes.

Oh finally.

So it was only a matter of time before the people who actually care about being possessed noticed this situation, it just took like...a season longer than I thought it would. I’ll be honest it was quite cathartic for them to actually address for the first time in what feels like a long time “SHOOT, GHOSTS!?!?”

Although it was kind of funny that the biggest reaction to all of this came straight from Joey. Yugi still doesn’t care, Tristan’s decided to just accept this, and Duke is just slowly backing away. But Joey’s going to try and do the work that Yugi should have done last episode.

HOT DAMN.

So, lets go over the Yugioh power chart here. Tristan can punch out Bakura. Tristan can also defeat Seto Kaiba with a broomstick. Joey can kick Tristan, even when Tristan is armed with a broomstick, so hard that Tristan flew through a metal door and bent it completely over backwards. Tea, however, can knock Joey completely over with one single index finger.

How has this girl ever been abducted? Was she just bored?

Bro wants to bring up that she once incapacitated a man with her butt. Just falling on top of a guy and hitting him with her butt of steel. Was she even in danger from the shipping container when she could just bat it away? She once choked out Season 0 Yugi Muto. She was always fine.

Credit to Joey, he keeps trying, and it gives us, for the first time, a sneak peek into what it must be like for Yugi and Joey to hang out on the offtimes that Yugi switches over and Pharaoh hasn’t quite gotten the memo.

This is in fact, the second time that she’s done this.

(meanwhile, sitting next to Odion, is one single cargo pocket floating in the air, gently smoking a purple haze like incense)

Welcome back Odion! I only now just realized how freakin jacked your neck is.

Like y’all his neck is wider than his head, hot damn.

Anyway, this show is secretly all about the power of big brothers, so I assume he’s going to start the mile long crawl to the top of the tower and then just...walk in...just walk right into a shadow game...?

...no one thought to stay with Odion? Like not even Serenity? Or at least leave him a weelchair? what the hell?

Odion always gets the worst wrap, this poor guy.

Anyway if you just got here, this is a link to read these recaps in chrono order from the beginning and watch my progression of knowing nothing about Yugioh to knowing a lot about random facts about Yugioh but still knowing absolutely nothing at all just like Socrates.

And here’s that shot of Marik for y’alls anime scene redraws, knock yourself out.

#Yugioh #ygo #episode recap #photo recap #S3 ep 43 #Yugi Muto #Marik Ishtar #Tea is possessed again #Tea Gardner #Odion ishtar #Ishizu Ishtar #Joey Wheeler #Duke Devlin #Tristan Taylor #Seto Kaiba #man alive why do I list all the characters all the time there are so many characters #guest appearance by this wonderful storyboarder

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prairiechzhead · 7 years ago

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Hi read your post, D is diff in s3 but that is because she is struggling with all whats happened. 3.01 she was so sad ,then after Roscoff she was annoyed with him,he says one thing and does another,Dwight was his friend ,yes he had to go but one min he wants to be a country squire and next he in France. She gets snarky with him because he is stubborn

(2/5) She knows what he wants before he does,he is blind to things, she deserves to be snarky after what he put her through ,it took him months to say sorry,now he is saying twice, you have married the wrong man, look else where,not all men are besottted, he cant see what L is really like,says she wouldnt allow G to behave bad, he knows L, (yes thats the prob). Know D knows he kissed L, would that sound good to a 25 yr old girl, she ought to hang the moon for R now and he still didnt change

(3/5) He cant see that she is more vunerable now things that never bothered her before do now, she has lost her faith in him and herself,chink in her armour, she has been second best for most of her marriage . She has never had his unconditional love, he loves her but he just needed to show it more,one dance at the ball,tell her she looks nice, she doubts her self worth ,he is not honest with her,she feels unappreciated.he is s good man but takes her for granted, so yes glad she is modern

(4/5)He would walk all over her otherwise, think she deserved to be snarky with him at times ,didnt like the beach snark after Agatha died,he retaliated bad back as well, she knows that R should do this job not G,he knows it,it annoys her, agree that some dialogue from book D does not suit show D that gets mixed up, book D would not of suited todays audience,she was too forgiving after his vbt, then when with H while she was still happy with R, that was horrible,glad Deb changed that. D was sweet in

(5/5)She was sweet in s1 but she was young and blinded with love,she no longer sees him with rose rimmed spectacles, she had him on a pedestal . Circumstances have changed her. Going with H was wrong because of her beliefs but he is the first man thats loved her because he wants to,R married her out of obligation,Sparks helped me with understanding all this. Thats my take anyway,

Okay, Nonny. Since your ask was long, I’m going to try and tackle this the best I can. This answer will probably be long, too. Here goes:

This is my take. Modern Demelza does not work in the show because they gave her 21st Century attitudes, but left everyone else in the 18th century. This is a period drama. It is not unreasonable to expect that the characters and the story are accurate to the time period. If modern people can’t accept that this is a period drama and that characters are going to act according to the mores and dictates of that period, then perhaps they shouldn’t watch the show. The other thing is that if DH wants a modern take on this, then, as @mmmuses said in another post, she should do a modern adaptation of Poldark and set it on the 21st century.

One thing that people miss who love modern Demelza is that she can be as feisty as she wants, but it doesn’t change things like the laws at the time. A modern woman, in the same situation has the freedom to leave. In the 18th century, she did not. A married woman had zero rights under the law. In fact, the law did not recognize her as a person at all. She was part of her husband. In 18th century England, a woman could not obtain a divorce at all. A man could, but only if his wife had committed adultery. So hypothetically, Ross could divorce her after her thing with Hugh and she would be left with nothing. Not even her children. Being modern and feisty isn’t going to help you there.

The thing about book Demelza is this: she is a more mature character. She is allowed to mature. Time and experience made her grow up. But in spite of everything she has gone through, she was still a sweet and kind person. That is not weakness. To maintain that in the face of some really tough things shows strength of character. She is wiser, but she is not bitter. What you’re describing with Modern Demelza is anger and bitterness. Those are not positive traits in a person.

There is a time gap between Warleggen and Black Moon where R & D’s reconciliation happened. Their reconciliation actually started in Warleggen, but it was very slow. Still, most of it happened between the two books. So no, she did not forgive Ross “too quickly”. Warleggen ended around Christmas time. Black Moon picked up a few months later. It may be your opinion that their reconciliation happened “too quickly”, but you are forgetting that R & D love each other deeply and they are meant to be together, which is their motivation to resolve things. The amount of time someone needs to resolve a problem is also subjective. It depends on the parties involved and how much effort they put into it.

You’re also forgetting that Ross was sorry for what he did with E, even though he didn’t express it the best way. He showed regret and remorse right away because he damaged the trust between him and his wife. On the show, you see it in Aidan Turner’s acting and facial expressions. Ross is horrible at communicating things verbally, so on the show, you have to pay close attention to all those non-verbal cues, which Aidan does so beautifully. Demelza is also not very good at communicating, for that matter. Modern Demelza is even worse at it than Book Demelza. Modern Demelza has this nasty habit of never giving Ross a chance to explain or clarify things he says that don’t come out sounding as he may have intended. She reacts to the words. It also seems that Ross on the show is the one making the effort to change, where Demelza is not.

This brings me back to the point about historical accuracy. Because Demelza is stuck in this marriage, the only option she has is to make it work. Being snarky and bitter and angry is not how you work things out like a mature adult. And as young as she is, people in those days grew up very quickly. They had no choice. Modern Demelza also does not work here because if she remains snarky and bitter and angry, then she’s basically stuck in a miserable marriage and contributing to its miserable state. What motivation does Ross have to stay faithful to her if all she does is bitch at him all the time? Plus now you’ve taken away the happy ending. As part of the audience, if she’s going to be bitchy and out of character all the time, then what motivation do I have to root for this couple to fix things and be happy? None. I can’t find anything worth cheering for if all she’s going to do is complain and be snarky at him and criticize him all the time.

A successful marriage is about balance. Both partners are responsible for maintaining equilibrium. Things will happen that will upset this equilibrium. It is up to both partners to adapt and change to restore equilibrium. You cannot have equilibrium in a relationship when one person decides she’s going to do whatever she wants while the other person has to sit back and let her do it. This is also my problem with Modern Demelza. In the books, Ross and Demelza are perfect foils for each other. They also adapt and change to maintain that equilibrium in their relationship. I’m not seeing anything like that on the show. In fact, it seems like they’re trying to make Demelza more modern at the expense of Ross’s character. I also believe that making D modern also comes at Caroline’s expense as well.

The other issue with modernizing a period character is that our modern culture defines strength of character backwards. Book Demelza is a stronger character than Modern Demelza. Book Demelza is a stronger character because she takes the time to think through and ponder what she does and how she feels about things before she acts. She doesn’t always do the right thing, but she is human. Modern Demelza is impulsive and doesn’t think things through. She acts on emotion and sometimes that emotion is spite or anger. Our culture mistakenly teaches us that to stop and think about things first is indecisiveness and therefore indecisiveness is weakness. Acting without thinking is weakness. Hugh Armitage doesn’t love her in an adult way. Hugh has basically a crush on her and because of who he is and his station in life, he can act on it and he does.

The lines that Ross says about “you’ve married the wrong man” are an example of how Modern Demelza misinterprets things and doesn’t ask him to explain what he meant. At times during this past season, it felt like Modern Demelza was looking for reasons to take up with Hugh. This is an example of that. He was not pushing her away nor was he telling her he didn’t want her, as so many people are interpreting that to mean. Book Demelza struggled with her attraction to Hugh right up until the act itself.

Modern Demelza is trying to make Ross into something he is not, and then she gets snippy when he won’t do what she wants him to do, while Book Demelza understands who her husband is and doesn’t push him or berate him for not taking the MP offer at first.

If you have not read the books, I recommend that you do because there is so much context in them that is missing from the show. I felt that S3 was rushed and they tried to cram too much into 9 episodes. There was a lot of context missing from what we saw on screen.

In the end, these two crazy kids, Ross and Demelza, do love each other. Deeply. They do not want to be without the other. And they do stay together because they love each other and they want to be together. That is the end goal, but with the changes that Debbie made, she’s going to have to do a lot of logical gymnastics in order to have the TV versions reach that goal. I can suspend my disbelief, but up to a point. Because if I were in TV Ross’s shoes, I wouldn’t want to stay married to someone who was snarky to me and did things out of spite towards me or never gave me the benefit of the doubt. That’s tantamount to emotional abuse.

#poldark

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benperorsolo · 8 years ago

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Don't do the first one I messed up lmao okay so heisaki and zutara for 001, ben solo for 002 and for 003 zuko, aang, sokka, katara, toph

001. (heisaki)

when I started shipping it if I did:

I honestly don’t even remember. I usually don’t start shipping couples as I watch a show, but after when I’m looking for fanfic to distract me from my schoolwork. So sometime after finishing S1.

my thoughts:

Heisaki pretty much caters to every grossly trash thing I like in ships: enemies to lovers, preferably with some kickass woman and some super-evil looking masked dude with Secret Depths and Softness™ (I know I’m garbage okay I’ve made my peace), where Sad Angry Scary Dude is shown affection from someone who believes in their goodness more than they’re disgusted by their evil, and Strong But Soft Woman discovers tenderness and support in the unlikeliest of places.

What makes me happy about them:

All of the above, and also the way they cycle through various identities with each other in canon, the way canon teases them as people who would make an amazing team if they weren’t pawns for organizations bigger than themselves. The way both of them are uncompromising in their work but have secret private vulnerabilities. The way both of them love the stars.

What makes me sad about them:

The way canon bastardized Misaki in the second season into being obsessed with catching Hei because of her weird unresolved feelings for him. But not in a cool or respectful way; just in a way that made Misaki into a lovesick waif whose personality completely went out the window.

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Mostly when Hei becomes to emotional or emotionally honest with Misaki without a lot of buildup, considering he’s been emotionally constipated for going on a decade now and for reasons that involved not dying. Likewise when Misaki turns into a damsel to be saved.

things I look for in fanfic:

Some sort of clear ideological friction between the two of them; Misaki’s discovery of the Black Reaper’s identity and/or interacting with the Black Reaper in person.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

No one? Hei’s other options are Amber, a ship which I find interesting as something in Hei’s past but not one I would endgame bc abusive, and Yin, who is mentally basically a child and it feels like pedophilia.

My happily ever after for them:

Haaaa the grossly indulgent Office AU. Hei becomes a contractor working with Section 4, develops a little friend/family unit with Section 4 and astronomics; he and Misaki get married; Hei reconnects with his family in China; Hei and Misaki have a little girl named Seiko and it’s gr9. Everything is beautiful and occasionally hurts but never, y’know, forever.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Hei, probably. But it could vary. They’re just about equal in height so there’s no reason one should be the big spoon over the other.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Stargazing.

001. zutara

when I started shipping it if I did:

Don’t even remember. Sometime after finishing Book 3, I think.

my thoughts:

Gold standard ship. The ship I keep shipping in other fandoms, just in different iterations. The ying-yang, ‘you rise with the moon, I rise with the sun’ way they complement each other, and yet at their cores are so similar: highly driven, compassionate, passionate people who are proven in battle to make a great team.

What makes me happy about them:

The way their relationship beautifully unfolded over three seasons of mortal enemies, to maybe-allies (and then would-be-ally and traitor), to allies and friends. The way each season of ATLA ends with a fight between them; the first two against each other, and the last one with each other. The way they are safe places for the other— Katara confiding to him in the crystal caves, and again about her mother in Southern Raiders; Zuko confiding to Katara about his fear of facing his uncle, and Katara’s reassurance, and then the way Zuko took Katara with her to fight Azula because he knew he needed a steadfast ally he could trust.

What makes me sad about them:

The way Bryke have insulted the ship over the years, calling it too ‘dark and mysterious’ for Nick, but then fucked up all of the canon relationships in ATLA by having their kids have extremely dysfunctional relationships with their parents, or just making the relationships straight-up dysfunctional coughMaikocough

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

When Katara gets the Mary Sue Strong Independent Woman treatment, or when she becomes some helpless crying waif (usually Book 1 kidnapping fics, which can be good, okay, they can), and likewise when Zuko post-redemption is still a jerkass. I mean he can still be a jerk, but he’s not a jerkass.

things I look for in fanfic:

I’ll read almost anything. I like S1 fic (typically Zuko captures Katara, and Katara takes none of his shit, and then TEAMWORK HAPPENS), s2 fic where crotchety I-once-did-something-good-and-gave-myself-a-coma Zuko and Katara are forced to work together in lovehate, and post-s3 Western Air Temple fics where Zuko has to earn Katara’s forgiveness.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

No one lmao. I’m not a multishipper.

My happily ever after for them:

Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara rule the Fire Nation in peace and harmony and are happy, the end.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Zuko’s the big spoon.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Sparring.

002. Ben Solo

How I feel about this character:

ALL THE THINGS. I LOVE MY BOYFRIENDSON BEN SKYWALKER-ORGANA-SOLO.

More seriously— I love how he’s desperate for villainy, and yet cannot achieve it no matter how hard he tries. I love that this is a character who has to pray away the Light within him. I love how even after killing his father, the Light still won’t go away. I love that he is the beloved son of one of the most loved couples in cinematic history, related in a significant way to almost everyone in the prequels, OT, and sequels. I love that he effectively flips the conflict of the original films, wherein the fallen father is saved by the goodness of his son, and now it is the fallen son who will be saved (mark my words) by his father. I love the angst inherent in watching this character, who was practically born to be a hero, do everything he can to shirk his destiny and ensure his Darkness, and yet fall short. And most of all, I love the possibility (inevitability) of his redemption. I love the idea of getting to explore what redemption looks like when you don’t die before its completion, like Anakin. I love the idea of Ben realizing that his father did save him after all; of getting to smile at his uncle again; of getting to hug his mother again; of it hurting so much— the hurt of a healing wound, at last, and not the hurt of the Dark Side. Of Ben getting to reclaim the person he might have been, had Snoke and misfortune and his own hamartia not found him, so that he no longer has to hide behind a false name and a mask, but can finally as himself face the sun, unafraid. Ben Solo means a lot to me. Maybe the hypotheticals of his character more than what we have now. But I honestly think that my strange compassion for this fake person has made me a better person. Because, if I can sit here and rail for his redemption no matter his sins— then what excuse do I have not to try to become a better person myself?

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Rey the bae all the way.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

BenPoe/Knightpilot, especially involving them as childhood friends, and Poe having to come to terms with Ben, who he was, and who he is, after Ben defects back to the Resistance. Some of my favorite character pieces to this end are This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine and Orbital Period. Also the BenPoe fandom are pretty much the nicest people ever?

My unpopular opinion about this character:

The fact that I like him is probably an unpopular opinion.

Okay okay my real unpopular opinion (ESSAY AHOY) is my insistence of Kylo Ren’s true name still being Ben Solo (ofc you know this is a thing with me bc you very diplomatically asked me to talk about ‘Ben Solo’ and not ‘Kylo Ren’ in your ask lmao, and you know I call him ‘Ben’ just like I call Vader ‘Anakin’— practically always, in both cases, because it’s for the same reason). Kylo Ren is a shadow archetype, an alter ego, a mask and a costume— the thing Ben is trying desperately to become and yet never will, not only because he failed so horribly at being a proper villain in TFA (going for Rey instead of the droid; not torturing the bejeezus out of Rey immediately; feeling immediate regret after killing his father, not pushing Rey off a cliff during their fight when he had the chance, and then losing to her), but because it’s just how Star Wars works. It’s the same with Anakin and Vader— as Luke says to Vader in ROTJ, ‘[Anakin] is the name of your true self; you’ve only just forgotten,’ and ultimately Luke is proven right. Throughout canon, the Dark Side is depicted as a corruption of your true self; a warping of who you really are. Your Dark Side is not your authentic self, it’s a gross imitation, and whatever you call yourself under the thrall of the Dark Side is not your true name either. This is how it functioned for Anakin/Vader in the OT; and how it was for Galen Marek/Starkiller in the EU. Your Dark Side name is your slave name. It’s just another mask; a type of verbal disassociation— another way to remove yourself from the reality of what you’re really doing and what you have become. There is also the gross, skeevy observation that Anakin was given the name Vader by Palpatine, the creep who groomed him, and it’s not a difficult leap to assume that Snoke, the creep who groomed Ben in utero, gave Ben the name Kylo Ren. It is canon that Snoke has forbidden the name ‘Ben Solo’ to be spoken by anyone in the First Order, including Ben. But who the hell knows that Kylo Ren is Ben? It’s treated as an extreme secret, and currently I’d say the number is limited to Snoke, Hux, and Ben himself. So who is Snoke really forbidding from saying the name Ben Solo? Ben. He’s forbidding Ben. He’s giving Ben a gag order on his own name— which should immediately ring your bells as being sketchy AF for OBVIOUS REASONS, including but not limited to the fact that you only forbid people from doing things you know they are in danger of doing. If Ben were really completely dead, if he were really Kylo Ren all the way down, then what is Snoke afraid of? All of this to say, it annoys the everlasting and eternal fuck out of me when I see fics or headcanons where a redeemed Ben does not go back to that name, because then to me it represents a person who is still hiding behind the verbal equivalent of a mask. It would be like a redeemed Anakin still going by the name Darth Vader. It’s watching a man stand by the name of his abuse. It stands in literal opposition of everything a true redemption symbolizes, especially in Star Wars, and it’s gross gross gross I hate it.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

A REDEMPTION ARC BITCHESSS

my OTP:

Reylo. Okay technically Reyben. But yeah. More recently I’ve become obsessed with the idea of them as parents, because it would be such a beautiful capstone for them both. Rey, lonely, orphan Rey, finally having a family of her own. Rey being terrified of motherhood, because she can’t even remember her mother. Rey feeling that fierce, wolfish upwelling of maternal protectiveness for the first time and knowing she wouldn’t trade it for the world. Ben, terrified of making the mistakes his parents made with him; Ben, terrified of his past poisoning his children’s future. Ben, now a father, realizing the sort of unbreakable love that let his own father walk out on that bridge knowing he might die, and still taking the chance on his child. Ben, looking at the bundle in his arms and knowing he’d do the same. asdfghjkl;

my cross over ship:

Ben Solo x happiness, probably. I know it’s a wild concept.

a headcanon fact:

Ben is naturally good at pazaak and other gambling/card games. It’s one of the few roguish/smugglerish things he has in common with Han. Poe, Finn, and Rey always accuse him of using the Force to cheat, but he never does. During sessions of strip Pazaak (Poe’s idea), Poe, Finn, and Rey will be almost completely naked while Ben sits across the table fully clothed.

003. zuko, aang, katara, sokka, toph

1. zuko

2. aang

3. katara (tied w/ aang but just for overall character arc aang’s affects me more powerfully)

4. sokka

5. toph

#asks #kida to my milo #anna rambles #anna's unpopular opinions on ben solo

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