#this is not from the main storyline but a parallel universe but it's still canon because multiverse shenanigans

[niennandil-me-writes]

Goretober 6: Injection

cn: drugs/nonconsensual drugging, abuse, blackmail, syringes

The pains were flaring up. It had been over a week since Martin got his last dose of Trust, so he was already expecting it when Wiktor opened the door to his cell, a metal suitcase in hand.

“I need you on a mission.”

Martin had spent the last days telling himself he wouldn’t give in this time. He shook his head, staring down at his hands. The vertical cuts running down his forearms were inflamed again, but he couldn’t even feel it beneath the effects of the Trust. It felt like every single one of his cells were being torn apart, rearranged wrong and then welded together with flames. In a way, it felt a lot like guilt.

Wiktor sighed, annoyed. “You have an hour to think better of it. That’s the latest we can start this. After that, well, I don’t know when you’ll next have the opportunity.”

Like on command, a strong surge went through Martin’s body, a particularly nasty flare that made him topple over and twist on the floor. He forced back a scream. Blood filled his mouth from biting his tongue.

Even if he could last an hour, what would happen after that? Martin had denied Wiktor once, hoping that the withdrawal would kill him or at least render him unconscious. But Trust was binding, not freeing, and he’d been awake through all the pain. That had been months ago, though, and as his body had gotten more addicted to the drug, the withdrawal pains had become worse and worse. An hour of this would make him lose his mind. After that? Last time he had thought about begging for the dose, or at least another chance to earn it, and only barely had he been able to keep his dignity until Wiktor had come to him with another offer for a mission.

Sobbing, Martin nodded, pain rendering him mute.

A rare smirk spread on Wiktor’s lips and disappeared just as quickly, as he set down the metal case on the floor and opened it. He laid out a couple of printed pictures, a glass bottle, and a small purple rock on the floor, before he finally took out the syringe, which he proceeded to plunge into Martin’s neck.

Immediately, the pain started to dull, and then dissipated. Soon it would all be gone, at least for a while. Comfortable warmth replaced the burning heat. Martin sighed in relief.

“You’ll get the second dose once we’re in A/78-Zeta.” Wiktor typed something on his minicalc, and the shackles around Martin’s arms detached from the wall.

Martin wiped the tears from his eyes and directed his attention at the pictures in front of him. They showed a world draped in pink-and-blue clouds, with islands floating in the air, and one showed a temple made of crystal. He picked up the rock, felt it in his hand, smelled the contents of the bottle. He focused on the sensations and electricity surged through his arms, bringing a new kind of pain as the machines inside his festering flesh started working.

As he lifted his arms to open the portal, Martin couldn’t help but wonder if in some parallel world things had gone better for him. If there was still a Martin who wasn’t miserable.

[jommycham]

Spirit Hunter NG Radio Drama Bonus CD [Ultra Rough Translation]

[Spirit Doctor Yashiki Kazuo's Consultation Room]

An honest attempt at a translation of the bonus drama CD that came with the purchase of NG: Extreme Kaidanchi. Beware of some minor spoilers if you have not played through all the Spirit Hunter games.

Note: Only did this for fun, and I am not fluent in Japanese, so inaccuracies are expected.

Disclaimers:

This bonus CD is an edited version of Yashiki's Consultation Room that was originally broadcasted on the EXP channel. Some questions sent in by viewers have been altered. What occurs in the Consultation Room should be treated as a parallel universe to the main storyline— therefore all comments made in these sessions are NOT canon.

(btw, Yashiki's title here is "Kai Ika" (怪医家)— or literally "Strange Doctor," which is probably where the "Spirit Doctor" came from.)

✄--------------------------------------------

I did my best with my (admittedly) shoddy translation, and cleaned it up a bit to have it sound more coherent. Again, I do not speak or understand much Japanese, so despite my best attempts, portions can be wrong (though most of it should be reasonably correct). I will highlight those unsure sections accordingly. There are also very small parts I've omitted, either due to it being too difficult to understand (for me) or to smooth the flow of the translation. 🙇‍♀️Thank you very much for your understanding and putting up with my impulsive DM brain rot.

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

This CD features Yashiki and Mashita answering the audience's concerns/worries. Yashiki receives these burning questions through occult magazines. This time, however, Yashiki specifically calls Mashita in due to a request from OOPArts, much to Mashita's chagrin.

☕︎ Late for School Reader: This question is basically taken from EXP 4th Season #3 Voice Drama (where it's Yashiki, Moe, and Mashita) regarding the viewer who couldn't get up early.

Yashiki: Moe has answered this before, and I suggest rather than buying a cat, to take supplements, don't accumulate stress, go to bed early, get plenty of sleep, and have yourself plenty of coffee and sugar as soon as you wake up.

Mashita: Well, I guess that's the sort of advice you'd give. At my previous job, I'd take a shower or wash my face with cold water.

Yashiki: Even if someone else wakes me up, I still have to put in majority of the effort through the rest of the process.

➥The answers to this question are a lot more fleshed out in the actual livestream VD, such as the cat thing, the supplements being part of Mashita's answer, and Saya mention for the "someone else."

☕︎ Bug Hater Reader: Also a question taken from the above mentioned Voice Drama about a reader asking about how to handle cleaning the house while bugs are roaming during the summer.

Mashita: You're the type of person who doesn't hesitate to pick things up and put it in your bag. You (the reader) can also try hiring someone or contacting a cleaning company.

[Yashiki is concerned that Mashita also doesn't really like touching gross things and asks if he's okay.]

[Mashita explains that both of them are basically in the same line of work, so it's not like he hesitates either to touch things.]

Yashiki: That's true.

☕︎ Summer vacation is almost over, but my eldest daughter hasn't finished her homework. What should I do, Mr. Yashiki? What did you do with your homework during summer vacation?

Yashiki: The Kujo Family already finished their homework early into summer vacation. How about you, Mashita?

Mashita: Well, it's kind of a hassle, so I tried to finish it early. But I always remember not being able to finish my literature essay/book review until the last moment. It was the only part I didn't fully understand.

*TERROR SOUND EFFECT*

Yashiki: I loved reading books and I don't remember having difficulties with them. Shou doesn't do his in the first place. Moe and Tsukasa seem to be the types who get it done first thing. Suzu seems like she'd get it done unexpectedly early. Eita probably does it early, too. Ai seems the type to get it done and put the rest of her energy into her hobbies.

Mashita: If your parents are willing to help you, it might not be a bad idea to plan your hobbies and leisure activities for the latter half of your summer vacation and finish the homework by then.

Yashiki: And if you don't finish your homework...

*dramatic sound effect*

Yashiki: ... you'll die at dawn. Well, if you can imagine a curse like that/wouldn't be surprising if there was a curse like that.

Mashita: Tch, I wouldn't want that.

➥ The term Mashita uses here is "Dokusho Kanshoubun," and I am not familiar with the specifics of what summer homework consists of, so the closest thing I went with was a book review of sorts.

➥ I got kind of lost on his descriptions, so I honestly wasn't sure who was being described, so the details may be mixed up.

☕︎ I'm waking up in the middle of the night with the need to go to the bathroom. But there are times where I get scared and don't want to go. What should I do in times like these? If you have any tips or advice, please let me know!

Yashiki: Actually, come to think of it...

Mashita: Wait. Just turn on the lights, that's the answer.

Yashiki: What's the hurry, Mashita? I was just trying to...

Mashita: I'm trying to keep you from making an ill-advised comment.

Yashiki: Was it going to be that terrible?

Mashita: No doubt. With this, we're done with the question.

Mashita: Tch, who was the one who chose this question? Maybe they were half-asleep at the time. Well, off to the next one.

➥ I could not tell if Yashiki was asking if his answer was going to be that awful or he was saying "that's terrible (coming from Mashita)." I went with the former to be safe.

☕︎ One afternoon, I was taking the bus to the hospital, and the bus stopped at a bus stop. It was on a main street with only cars and a few pedestrians passing by, making it look quite deserted. The bus driver opened the doors and stared outside. I watched from the back seat as the driver repeatedly, with an impatient tone, asked someone if they were getting on or not. The driver gave up on asking and started driving off. As the bus drove away, I kept looking outside, but didn't see anyone at the bus stop or on the sidewalk of the main street. I wondered who the driver was talking to, or if he had talked to anyone in the first place.

I suddenly remembered this recently— what exactly happened, and how would you interpret it, Mr. Yashiki?

There's a section where Mashita goes into a short explanation in regards to this particular question. I am not sure if he is talking about the reader's question or their reply— but basically either this question has been submitted before (didn't make it into the actual Consultation segment) or it has been replied to, but the reply was not published. Therefore, the editorial department has requested this question be submitted/replied to again.

Yashiki: I remember this question. My original reply was that since it was the driver's actions, it's technically not a paranormal phenomenon.

Mashita: Well, if we can't be sure, we still need to interpret it from that angle (?). What do you think about the situation?

Yashiki: I think it might be someone from the future who came to your rescue, and thanks to them delaying the bus' departure, a major accident was avoided.

Mashita: You're still naive as ever, but worse. No matter who that person was, in the end, you're the one who created that anxiety. You shouldn't willingly go with their plans.

Yashiki: By interpreting the situation in a way that doesn't make me anxious, it allows me to avoid getting swallowed up by fear.

➥ The specific phrase Mashita uses is "お花畑," or "ohanabatake," which means a field of flowers. It seems to be used to describe someone who is carefree or blind.

➥ The answer sort of starts leaning into the more philosophical side towards the end? At least on the basis where my interpretation of "that person" is the imagined time traveler of Yashiki's explanation. If not, I'm terribly sorry.

☕︎ At my previous workplace, there was a tree (?) that always made a ringing noise at night. It was close to a residential area, with an apartment building and a small community center in its parking lot. For some reason, it doesn't bother me on my way to work, and I only hear it on the way home. It also doesn't bother me during early shifts, so I assume the noise only occurs at night. The sound is different every time, ranging from the metallic sound like that of gold or a sandstorm. On bad days the ringing in my ears causes headaches and anemia. I had heard from a friend that the place was haunted/visited by spirits; so I started wondering if it was a paranormal experience.

Yashiki: I answered this question at the time it was originally submitted, but it remains the same. I can't deny the possibility [of it being a paranormal event]. I'm pretty sure the advice given to you was to sing a song. There's also the option of keeping an omamori and listening to your favorite music through earphones. I don't know how effective it is, but as I have said previously— try to avoid feeling anxious as much as possible.

☕︎ I'm an idol who loves the occult, and I love reading about them. I want to consult Mr. Yashiki, as there have been many instances of paranormal sightings in H City. There are also rumors of new sightings circulating on message boards as of late. I'm a bit nervous about investigating it by myself, so can you please help me out? I wonder if the rumors are true or not...

Yashiki: I don't recommend investigating it, because there's a chance you could die.

Mashita: But I guess they can't just leave it be.

Yashiki: This is a difficult question...

Mashita: In any case, I would like to have some more information so I can do some research on this.

Yashiki: I'm sorry, but I'd appreciate it if you could send what you know to the editorial department. I recommend you never investigate matters like these alone.

Afterword

Yashiki: Alright.

Mashita: I think this is enough, about 10 minutes.

Yashiki: I’ll hand the audio recording to Moe later today.

Mashita: I'll leave it to you.

Yashiki: I hope this helps someone with their troubles.

Mashita: Perhaps.

Yashiki: Will you be willing to help out next time?

[Pause]

Mashita: ... Tch. Hm.

Yashiki: Please look after me./Thank you in advance.

➥ The phrase is "yoroshiku tanomu yo," which I've seen can be translated into "please look after —" or just used generally for requesting a favor. I was debating using "I'm counting on you" since it sort of made better sense in this context, but Yashiki ended it with "よ" which is much more casual/polite than "ぜ." I ended up opting for a more... gentler way of phrasing this? I genuinely didn’t know how to write it in a way that conveys how he spoke other than this ( ´_ゝ`).

Spirit Doctor Yashiki's Consultation Room: In addition to our regular consultations, we are also accepting everyday troubles. Please contact us here.

Thank you very much for sticking til the end here. ヾ(´ー`)ﾉ゛ I've been going through some pretty severe rot and this helped to alleviate it somewhat (despite how piss poor my efforts are). It's interesting to see different sides to characters even if it's not entirely canon.

As a lil bonus, I want to show those of you who haven't watched Nezuka Ryo's voice over for the entirety of DM1— Kawabata Yoshiaki's (Mashita's VA) introduction! The gap is... actually really cute in a way???

[charrfie]

Soooo this has been in the works for a while. Some fun and self indulgent and silly au that I actually got way too attached to!!! To the point I've actually got a whole outline of a story for it! Going to put it in under the cut :^]

-

For context: I haven't really decided if this is a completely parallel universe where kris and susie and everyone else has any input on the world. Or if its simply just a year or two early to main storyline stuff. Idk, still thinking, I'll figure it out eventually.

Story time now though! Just as they are in their actual canon story, arrfs is from space! An alien trying to integrate into the Lightner world. Despite pups best efforts over the years, she still manages to wind up without a friend. I'm still heavily workingshopping what exactly their Lightner life was like or how exactly they stumbled into the dark world, all I know is pup gets there somehow!

Once arrfs DOES reach the dark world, pup is absolute terrified. Not only is there no one to tell them what's going on or where they are, but there's also no one to face the unknown with her. Unsure what to make of the change of clothes and new surroundings, pup treks on until- just as she does in the actual deltarune canon- queen pops up out of nowhere to capture her!!! Arrfs instinctually turns into a little tiny worm as a way to hide and defend pupself and queen just accepts it, going "Oh shit lol they disappeared woah. Okay bye."

Skipping ahead a bit bc otherwise we'll be here all day (and also bc I mainly have the meat of this story planned out rather than anything prior)! Arrfs stumbles around cyber city lost and confused after a close run-in with some ambyu-lances. That is, until they find themself in an alleyway. And who else do they find there other than spamton g. spamton himself!!! Instantly picking up on the fact that pup is a Lightner, spamton attempts to lure her into buying one of his wares so that pup may learn to trust him. Which quickly goes south when he realizes that arrfs doesn't have a single cent to their name. He frowns, instead offering her a place to relax. A place to stop running from every Darkner that attempts to approach them. This lands arrfs in spamtons shop, of course! While it seems like a friendly offer, in reality it's mainly offered so that spam has more time to think up a deal. One that would really hook arrfs and ultimately benefit spamton himself.

But then it hits him. This Lighter is lost and confused with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. If he were to hire them with promise of a roof over their head and a place to stay (however low quality and surrounded by garbage it may be), they would not only be a much friendlier face to lure his customers in, but would also come to trust him. THAT'S how you hook a customer and make them into a returning one. That's his ticket into getting into the basement. And to his surprise... arrfs jumps on the idea! Pup's very desperate to get a controlled grip on this world, and most of all, really just to find a friend after all these years. Blissfully unaware of the real nature behind the deal, she seals it.

I'm still working on the exact details of how the rest of it plays out, all I know is that the two actually do wind up becoming genuine friends! Spamton initially was in it for himself, sure, but instead he finds himself so comfortable with the first genuine friendship he's had in years. He fufills his goal of enabling arrfs to be completely trusting of him, but he never figured he would be so trusting of them as well. Not to mention that with all of arrfs help, they've pulled together a bit more of a stable income. She's even encouraged him to create his own art that sells for a much higher price than his normal wares. He almost wants to delay getting his hands on want he wants down in the basement out of fear he may lose all the good he's found. Almost.

And that's what I've got so far! I think it's fun!

-

Extra design notes!!!

I know I stylized black and gray as blue on spamton btw but that was just the fit the blue theme on the rest of this. Arrfs' cloak is actually just that color blue!

Arrfs is surrounded by butterfly themes in the dark world! I figured that since their themes are mainly focused on grubs and caterpillars outside of the au just as a normal sona, butterflies would be a cool approach to show some kind of change! That's also the shape of their cloak- butterfly wings!

[childofsardior]

Child of Sardior's General SM AU infos

- General Informations about my personal HC/AU -

So, since my HC/AU is quite big, I felt like a post in which I could summarize all the general info would probably help! So, here we are!

(This is a WIP. I’ll update this post with any relevant info that will came to my mind. I might change, remove, or add details at any time.)

About my Headcanon/AU VS the Canon of the games

The general setting takes place in the “Super Mario world.” Not all events from the games have actually happened in my AU. I tend to include in “my canon” the games and events that I liked the most and that make the most sense for the stories I want to tell. However, all events are reimagined in a more “headcanon” style, sometimes staying very similar to the original games and sometimes being heavily modified for narrative purposes (and based on my personal tastes).

Some of the stories we saw in the various Mario RPGs (Mario & Luigi, Paper Mario, etc.) have happened in my AU (there is no distinction between various “parallel universes” like the paper world or the three-dimensional world; here there is just one "Super Mario" who went on many adventures and has many friends all over the world and dimensions). Currently, I am sure that the following RPG games' storylines are canon in my AU as past events: Paper Mario RPG, Paper Mario: TTYD, Super Paper Mario, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga (including Bowser’s Minions), Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (including Bowser Jr’s Journey), Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. (I’m playing "Super Mario RPG Remake" right now, so I might add it to the list once I finish it!)

Other games' events are also canon (and reimagined), such as most of the Super Mario Bros. events, the main 3D games (from 64 to Odyssey) and Yoshi's Island backstories.

I do not consider games that I am unfamiliar with or that clash with my vision of my AU world as canon here, but some parts of them may be included in other contexts! For example, some dialogues of the Koopalings in Paper Jam or the battles with the Koopalings in Color Splash have probably happened in my AU, but in different contexts compared to the storyline of the games (maybe Bowser didn't make all that chaos for the painting stars, but surely Mario and Larry fought on that train once.)

Additionally, there are many original events that I have introduced, including OCs. Some of these influenced some "canon games events" in a heavy way in my AU.

Timeline(s) covered

The exact timeline of my personal setting/AU is heavily WIP, but I'm quite sure it spans from the time Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Peach and co. were just kids to a distant future in which Bowser Jr. will become the new Koopa King and his siblings will rule over their own castles along with their new families and all.

I will probably focus a bit more on the current times - the one my main HC/AU character posts refers about - but you will likely see flashbacks of the various characters or sneak peak of the next generation from time to time! ;v;

What my AU will focus on

My AU covers the entire Mario world from my personal perspective (a gigantic headcanon that I started working on when I was a small kid! It’s filled with self-indulgent stuff and OCs ^v^).

However, primarily (and currently), my main focus will be on the Royal Family of the Dark Lands: Bowser and his children. A large space will also be dedicated to some of my OCs, often related to the Royal Family.

A lot of things will also happen from Bowser & co. perspective, too!

General Information about the Royal Family (Bowser and co.) in my HC/AU

In my HC/AU, Bowser has adopted the seven Koopalings when they were kids and has one biological son, Bowser Junior.

Bowser Junior and the Koopalings are step-siblings. They share the same mother (one of my main OCs). Bowser Junior is the Official Heir and is considered a notch above the Koopalings, but they are still considered Princes.

Bowser, as in the games, is infatuated with Princess Peach and has been trying to convince her to marry him for years, unsuccessfully. However, he might have (or might have had) other love affairs in the future (or in the past)... (you’ll find out ;3)

Kamek has raised Bowser since he hatched from his egg, under the orders of his parents, the Koopa Emperor and the Queen Consort.

Bowser has yet to meet his biological parents, but they are both alive and live in a volcanic region far from the Mushroom Kingdom and the Dark Lands.

From Bowser's perspective, being the "bad guy" is the right thing to do for a strong ruler. It will also apply to the Koopalings, their PoV being influenced a lot by the way they were rised. But in my setting the Koopa Family is not inherently evil. Some of them are extremely arrogant (Ludwig, Roy, even Junior... I'm talking to you) or just extremely childish (Lemmy, Larry... Junior again?) or... well, let's say they never learned to behave or don't care (right, Iggy?), but they all have hearts and sentiments and their whole complex characters and stuff and will probably be and do "less evil" than in the games here.

General Information about the Heroes (Mario, Luigi, Peach…) in my HC/AU:

Peach and Daisy are cousins in this setting. Their respective fathers were brothers. They are very close, even though Daisy lives in the Sarasaland Empire and cannot visit her cousin very often.

Peach became an orphan at a young age. In compensation, she had an adopted sister, one of my most important OCs: the future mother of the Koopalings and Bowser Jr.

Mario and Luigi were raised by the Yoshis in their early years. Because of this, they speak the Yoshi language fluently. At some point, the Yoshis of the village managed to find the brothers’ parents and “return” them after the Stork from the Adoption Center had lost their address.

All of Mario’s friends (partners) from the RPG games are canon in my AU (especially friends from Paper Mario).

Toads are a much more varied Species than in recent games. They have various names, slightly different shapes and appearances, and are often named after mushrooms. There is a Toad named “Toad” who is a friend of Mario, but only he is called like that (similar to the first name “Guy” IRL). Mario also knows a Koopa named Koopa the Quick. Mario knows a lot of people with generic names for some reason.

General Information about Geography:

For the overall geography of the world, I will use the continent layout from Mario Odyssey. However, for the Mushroom Kingdom and nearby kingdoms, I will mainly use the Kingdoms shown in New Super Mario Bros Wii. Some names will reference worlds from Super Mario Bros Wii U.

(NOTE: One day, if possible, I’ll make a sketch of the Mushroom Kingdom and the 8 Main Kingdoms).

The Dark Lands are relatively close to the Mushroom Kingdom and are among the 8 Main Kingdoms in the area.

In general, the kingdoms present in other “Super Mario” games probably exist in the world but are not among the 8 principal kingdoms near the Mushroom one. For example, the "Pipe World" is considered a maze of pipes and sewers in the Mushroom Kingdom. Giant World exists somewhere, probably as an exotic island.

Places mentioned or seen in the 90’s Super Mario Super Show series might appear. In that case, they will be heavily reimagined in a "Headcanon" style.

Finally, some locations will be invented by me.

***

IMPORTANT: I will update this post when needed. I could edit it all or change it completely if I feel like it, so feel free to check it from time to time!

[lilydvoratrelundar]

one thing about spiderverse is that some people have an issue with the whole "canon events" conceit, because it's self-referential, particularly in its name. however, i think it demonstrates a willingness to play with the multiverse in a distinct way to almost every other interpretation.

there are two fundamental types of multiverse in media. there's the "branching timelines" multiverse, in which every change, varying from a decision you make to the random movement of an electron results in a different branching timeline. most multiverse storylines that are about individual choice focus on this interpretation, examples including the bulk of marvel's "what if" storylines, everything everywhere all at once, the flash tv show, etc. if a show or series introduces the multiverse for a plotline which shows a potential future, asks what could have been based on one episode going differently, or makes some point about the consequences of one's actions, this is the sort of multiverse that will be introduced.

by contrast, the spider-verse films have what i call "echoing universes." in this multiverse, instead of every universe being a variation based on the timeline being different, these universes revolve around a central conceit - in this case, spider-based superheroes - but there isn't really any way in which these universes could have come about from any sort of identical starting point. however, often when this sort of multiverse is used, there will be elements of plotlines which are the same regardless, because they make for much better parallels between, for example, the ultimate marvel and 616 marvel characters. common inter-franchise interpretations of the cinematic and comic and tv versions of superheroes revolve around this concept, with the similarities being hand-waved away, because it's the multiverse, of course things happened differently in different universes, but they still have spider-man!

the "canon events" of atsv are therefore an in-universe acknowledgement of this concept. and, because this is a story that needs dramatic stakes, preventing one of these "canon events" results in the potential destruction of that universe.

as a sidenote, this is why i really appreciate how atsv has fewer peter parkers in its main cast - pavitr prabhakar has a name based on peter's, but apart from that, the main spiders are gwen, miles, hobie, miguel, margo, jess, and then peter b. it really reinforces the idea that these aren't just various possibilities for one main spider-man; this is a theme that is essential to the multiverse, however it plays out, and therefore it always happens in similar ways, and despite the vast differences between the universes, each one echoes the central ideas of the spider-people.

[eisforeidolon]

... And inevitably destiel did not become canon again, just like we said it wouldn't. And castiel was not even mentioned by anyone on the show once either.

Any logical heller should have realized by now that it was never going to be a thing.

One would hope that they'd accept the reality and just move on instead of believing in false expectations and made up narratives.

The ending was pretty much same to SPN's original ending. The ending that they thought was meddled by the Evil CW. What did TW change? Now this time it is John x Mary love feast, Sam off-screen living his life so we can focus on Dean, Bobby and Impala appearing, Jack coming back as God, and no mention of Cas again.

It's just ridiculous but sad at the same time. And those heller blogs who led other destihellers on was trash, pure and simple. Any logical person would stop following these ppl who constantly have been proven to be liars. Goob definitely should be ashamed of himself for his delusions as well as demeaning his fans.

Well, the problem is that there really isn't such a thing as logical hellers. I think expecting D/C to be canon in the SPNiverse is fundamentally absurd given ... everything ... about that relationship and those characters. However, even most D/C shippers aren't so divorced from logic as to have been sitting with baited breath last night expecting TW to make it canon.

It's not logical to think Jensen, who has been clear so many times I've lost count that he doesn't see the ship as a thing - at all and especially not from Dean's end? Including post 15x18? Would include it in a show he's making. Logic would tell you if Jensen had actually changed his mind about it and was actually oh-so-mad about the SPN finale because it didn't include Castiel? He wouldn't have had Dean stand there doing nothing but looking like he'd been slapped in the face with a week old dead fish when Castiel was blathering on at him. He wouldn't continue insistently referring to their relationship as brotherly in panels.

But even if we take Jensen out of the equation? We're talking about a show focused on different characters entirely - it isn't even really about Dean. Logic would tell you that no even halfway competent storyteller would waste precious screen time to arbitrarily shove two characters from another show (only there as a framing device to tie the universes together) into a romantic relationship. Especially two characters whose relationship had zero aspects of romance outside of the imaginations of shippers fixating on random colors and similar nonsensical shit. That the hellers expectations were even more illogical, that TW's main storyline itself just existed to create more of those nothingburger "parallels" to ... somehow ... lead to D/C? It made no sense to claim SPN was telling a secret hidden story that just couldn't be main text for reasons when Dean and Castiel were actually onscreen every week, but to claim Jensen specifically made a whole other show about John & Mary to tell that story and STILL decided to not actually tell said story directly instead of using secret signals through the colors of their shirts? That's fucking crazy.

It's completely absurd and yeah, there is some element of genuine concern there. The D/C prophets like Goob have insisted the comet is coming tomorrow so many goddamn times now, to no avail. And each time? Even though SPN is over? The whole thing just resets within a few days to start over again because they're that desperate to believe they haven't invested so much time, energy, and vitriol into something that doesn't exist and will never actually happen. They have to win. It'll happen. Next time, next time for real. That turtleneck looked kinda gay, don't you think it's a sign? [sigh.]

[skyfarering]

if you're the main character then who's djeeta or do you both exist in parallel timelines? does gran have any other cool nicknames besides singularity? is there a lot of sailing in the series (why do i feel like they're always flying or going somewhere)? explain to me how collabs work logically in-universe (i remember touken ranbu collab...swordboys in GBF was neat). where the heck is the canon storyline now? ?? i thought they defeated the big bad already or am i wrong... OUO

series questions | accepting

according to gbvs both djeeta and gran are from different universes! same plot and everything, tho tbh can really remember who the "true" protag is tho (as it really matter lmao)...think gbvs implied jeeta was mobile game while gran was solely gbvs. any gbf character can hc that either jeeta or gran is their true captain though, i don't mind!

singularity is the best nickname, lol in all seriousness there arent too many nicknames that characters call gran at all. ig percival calls gran his vassal but in game he always just calls him captain and siete calls gran captain-chan...literally nothing special LMAO

THERE IS A TON OF SAILING NOT EVEN A JOKE, but a looot of it is off camera w the noise in the bgm...reminds me of the transitions from star wars.

OKAY SO....basically characters from other franchises just get yeeted into the sky realm usually by a primal or some mysterious force, it made more sense in the code geass collab, but others its like....bro what are u doing here LMAO. most characters go back to their own world in story but im p sure the code geass collab is the only one where they dont go back (and fixing over 10 years of miscommunication). just gonna pretend rengoku is chilling w me in the sky realm tho

main story gbf makes me go so incredibly insane and im caught up w all of it, the recent update really tore my heart out i was actually upset w it. so no they havent defeated the big bad yet (implied to be captains father), it's still very much ongoing but cygames decided that we will get maybe 2 chapters a year (im suffering)

in other words, IDK WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON LMAO

[ktinastrikesback]

Alright, here it is: The meta post about Eddie Diaz and mother figures and how it all leads to Buddie (I think). Thanks to @yramesoruniverse for your help with this, and @kitkatpancakestack and @evanbucklies for inspiring it! I really have been thinking about this nonstop and had to get it all down. This got quite long, so I'll include a cut in order to spare everyone who doesn't want to continue reading!

We first get an idea of Eddie's complicated thoughts surrounding mother figures throughout his whole storyline with Shannon in season 2 when he romantically reconnects with her for Christopher's benefit. I do want to keep the focus here trained on Eddie in season 4, but I want to point out a season 2 line that is pretty fitting. As much as I don't want to use a Shannon quote as a starting point for a meta, I think this one is actually pretty useful: "...Eddie always knows what's best for everyone...God forbid you stop for a second and actually ask them what they need." While it's harsh and spoken out of spite, Shannon does make a point here which becomes relevant at the end of season 4.

We don't know a whole lot about season 4 Eddie (thanks writers) aside from the fact that he's working on being a single father (he tells Marjan in the crossover that he's "doing the whole single dad thing") and being a support system for Buck and the rest of the 118. Eddie's "arc" this season is moving on from Shannon and beginning to date again (a very small and limited arc, which hopefully season 5 will remedy). Of course, because it's Eddie, the core of this arc is him wanting what is best for Christopher. And it seems pretty clear that what Eddie thinks Chris needs is a complete family with a mother figure (note how he asks Bobby if he's "happy now, with Athena and the kids" and just assumes that Bobby is talking about Ana Flores), but the universe pushes against this idea throughout the whole season. There are a lot of examples in season 4 of unreliable mother figures (for example, the alcoholic mother who causes the wreck in Blindsided), but in order to save some space here, I'll list and discuss those in another post. The main thing I want to point out is that we've seen that mother figures aren't always perfect, and they aren't the end all be all that Eddie thinks. And canonically, the show suggests several times throughout the season that the partner that Eddie needs/wants and who is best for Chris is actually Buck.

In Breaking Point, while Eddie is on his date, it's Buck who is at home taking care of Christopher and getting him through his nighttime routine (which establishes that he knows the routine and has gotten Chris ready for bed before, hence the reference to his "cautionary tale"). On the date, when Ana says that no one has been in his life since Shannon passed away, Eddie noticeably looks uncomfortable (the will reveal makes this scene and that particular comment and Eddie's subsequent reaction so rich. Eddie knows that what Ana is saying is completely untrue, because the person he trusts most with his son is with him at that exact moment). Later, when Eddie tells Christopher about his new 'friend', he says "it's a woman." And...to be honest, what the hell was that? He could have said, "I'm dating someone" or "I have a girlfriend." But he says it like this? And it's weird...right? Christopher is the one who has to say "girlfriend." Also his tone of voice when he says it...it's suspicious to me. Anyways...Eddie talks with Ana about Christopher's reaction and her first instinct is to take a break and wait for Christopher to warm up to the idea so as to not cause him more pain. Meanwhile, Chris is out the door, in an Uber, and on his way to Buck, the person who actually gets Chris to talk about his feelings and who fixes the whole mess. So while Eddie is talking with Ana, Buck is playing a parental role AND promising Chris he isn't going anywhere, completely juxtaposing everything Ana has said and done in this episode (throwback to Fools, anyone?). Just like we see in 4x14, the perfect partner that Eddie is looking for is already putting in the work, no questions asked (and this is all before Buck knows about the will!). Yet Eddie is still trying to force it with Ana.

We see this again very briefly in Parenthood. Eddie and Buck are seen agreeing on parenting ideals on a call, similar to how we saw them work together in Future Tense to talk Chris out of playing video games. At the end of the episode however, when Chris asks to join the movie, Ana just jumps ahead and lets him in, not consulting with Eddie. Of course, this isn't a serious issue and Eddie is happy to have Chris join them, but it still carries on with juxtaposing Ana with Buck. It's also a bit interesting that Chris sits between them, parallel to the video game scene from season 3. But again, it's a very brief scene, so I don't know how much value it has overall.

We see all of this come to a head in 4x13 when Eddie becomes invested in the single mother and her son from the balcony call. Interestingly, this call happens after Eddie's conversation with Carla ("make sure you're following your heart"). On the call, Eddie flirts with the mom. This is interesting because we've seen many times in the past that Eddie...doesn't like flirting, especially on the job. Eddie openly flirting with the mom here may be his way of fighting against what his instincts are telling him Carla's comment was about (him liking Buck/a man). Eddie quickly becomes invested in Charlie (the son) and takes a liking to his mother because he relates to her. You can kind of see the gears working in Eddie's head when he's at their apartment...he's admiring her and perhaps maybe fantasizing about having a partner who gets it. And he sees a mother taking care of her son...reinforcing his love for the mother figure. But of course, we all learn by the end of the episode that this mother figure is extremely warped and not at all what her child needs.

The best part about this plot is the way it plays into the shooting scene at the end of the episode. Just before he gets shot, we see Eddie in an interesting framing choice (I am genuinely serious when I say that I want to sit down with Brenna Malloy and ask her about her directing choices for this whole scene):

The mother and son are placed into separate ambulances, and Eddie stands between the two vehicles. Visually, Eddie is literally placed between the mother figure and the son, and Buck is standing in front of him (at a slight distance). As (thank you to @kitkatpancakestack for pointing this out!) the ambulance with the mother drives away, Eddie says "shoulda gotten here sooner" to Buck (who replies, "That kid is just lucky he met you." He knows how to reassure Eddie and recognizes what is good for the child). Then of course, Eddie gets shot. But let's focus instead on why this framing before the shooting is important: the universe does scream, and it sure as hell was screaming at Eddie this whole episode. Carla calls him out for not following his heart, he idolizes this mother only for her to end up being horrid, then he gets shot with his partner standing right in front of him (you know, the same person who takes care of his son for the entirety of the next episode).

This can be read so plainly: Eddie has been fighting hard for what he thinks is best for his son, and he's stuck in this relationship with Ana because he thinks she is what will make Christopher happy. Meanwhile, Buck is in front of him and has been there the entire time putting in the work with Chris and making him feel heard, loved, and important. This ties right back to that Shannon line: if Eddie had simply asked Christopher what he needs/wants, it's very possible that his answer would be "Buck." Eddie doesn't need to be stuck in the middle of this relationship he doesn't care about because Chris' happiness is not dependent on having a mother figure.

Of course, we didn't see very much of Eddie in 4x14 so we don't really know what is going through his head regarding the shooting or Carla's comment just yet, but I'm hoping we see a lot of him working through all of the events that took place in 4x13/14 throughout next season. Because of the way the mother/son storyline ended up and the way they framed Eddie in the shooting scene, I'm willing to bet that he's going to be reevaluating just what Christopher needs and what he already has (with his Buck).

(Also side note--the welcome home party scene...when Buck is watching Eddie greet Christopher, notice the framing there too. The photo of Chris and Shannon is on the right side of the frame, Eddie and Chris in the middle, and Buck to the left. You already know what I'm going to say, so I'll leave it at that...)

Anyways. Edmundo Diaz is confused about what he and Christopher need, and it's actually a brilliant way to dive into a storyline about his sexuality and his feelings for Buck. Remember that post-finale interview with Tim where he said Eddie is always concerned with what's best for Christopher? That there will be a lot to explore with Eddie? I take everything Tim says with a grain of salt, but looking at all of this, there's quite a bit here pointing in the direction of pining Eddie. It's not wishful thinking, it's in the text.

I'm literally just applying basic film analysis to these scenes...and everything is adding up to a larger picture. I'm really excited to see what Eddie's arc in season 5 will be because there's so much set in place for it to be really great.

[beepboop358]

Victor Creel Theories

(also includes ST movie DNA series: Star Wars)

Victor Creel is described as "a disturbed and intimidating man who is imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital for a gruesome murder in the 1950s." We know he will be institutionalized at Penthurst mental hospital, where Peter Ballard works, based on leaked on set pics.

There a few possibilities regarding his character:

He could be a former test subject with some kind of powers and a connection to the upside down (which would also follow the even/odd season pattern of a main character being directly involved with the upside down creatures) I think it's highly likely that Victor Creel will be involved with the mystery/danger in Hawkins in some way, and have a connection to the upside down. He could also be disturbed on top of this, and he could be involved in Eleven's storyline this season.

That he is not a test subject and is ONLY mentally disturbed.

He may be related to one of the already established characters. Most likely Joyce, and maybe Terry but it's a stretch.

Before I go any further into that last possibility, I just want to preface that this idea of an "evil father/grandfather with powers" could be a purposeful Star Wars parallel. The Duffer brothers have already paralleled and used Star Wars references a few times in the show:

In Star Wars, Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father, and Palpatine is Rey's grandfather (aka the literal worst guy in the universe). A common theme in ST is abusive/bad fathers - that post here. Interesting...

Palpatine is also Anakin Skywalker's father, so Luke and Leia are both the grandkids of Palpatine as well as Rey is, but it's unclear if they are just force midichlorian related or actually dna related as well but I won't get into that here!

Luke and Rey are both force sensitive (have powers), so are Darth Vader and Palpatine; their descendants (kid/grandkid) have powers, and so do they (father/grandfather) The descendants use their powers for good, while the ancestors use their power for evil. Who has powers in ST? Eleven and Will - and they both already have this idea of abusive/bad/evil fathers: Will has an abusive father Lonnie, and Eleven has an abusive father figure Dr. Brenner "Papa".

So... Victor Creel being the evil/bad grandfather to either Eleven or Will and the evil/bad father to Joyce or Terry, would make a FULL Star Wars parallel to people who are morally good and have powers (Will and El - Luke and Rey), discovering they are the descendant of an evil male figure who also has powers (Victor Creel - Darth Vader and Palpatine)

If Victor Creel turns out to be the father of anyone in the show my bets are it's either Joyce Byers or maybeee Terry Ives.

If he was a test subject, its likely he went "crazy" with some of his powers and the government couldn't cover it up so they declare him mentally insane to get him committed, and he probably goes insane being locked away as well. Personally, I think he may be 001 or an early test subject, when they were still working out the kinks of the program, and I think he does have a big connection to the upside down.

The Duffer Brother's on s4: "In Hawkins a new horror is beginning to surface, something long buried, something that connects everything"....

Now let's get into the possibilities for Creel's storyline/who he could be related to (split into 3 parts).

Part 1: Creel could be Joyce's father

Based on Victor Creel's description as "disturbed" and that he is "in a psychiatric hospital", it could connect him to Joyce's bloodline.

There are several comments in the show hinting to this idea of mental instability in Joyce's family:

s1 ep.5: When Lonnie comes to visit in s1 after Will goes missing, Joyce says to Lonnie "No, don't look at me like that, like how everyone is looking at me, like I'm out of my damn mind" He responds saying "I think you need to consider the possibility that this is all in your head. Remember your Aunt Darlene?" Joyce quickly replies, "No, this is not that."

That conversation, although quick, is very telling. Lonnie is implying that Joyce had an aunt who was mentally unstable - and Joyce clearly knows about her aunt being unstable because she responds to his comment by saying what's she's experiencing is not that (the mental instability of her aunt)

s2 ep.2: Joyce says to Bob, "this is not a normal family", when he suggest moving out of Hawkins.

I used to think Joyce was always was referring to the whole 'my son got stuck in an alternate dimension with supernatural monsters and is now traumatized, and we were sworn to secrecy by the government' thing but maybe she is also referring to her biological family.

s1 ep.2: When they are searching for Will, one of the other police officers, says "Joyce is one step from the edge" and the other officer responds "She has been several steps for quite a while now".

If Joyce is related to Victor Creel biologically, and he did also happen to be a test subject, has powers, or has some other relation to the upside down, this could possibly have contributed to whatever kind of abilities Will has, because he would be a descendant of Creel. But Joyce does not seem to have any powers and neither does Jonathan. If they were related to Creel, it's odd that they both didn't get powers, but Will did. I've always thought Will was born with his powers, like El.

We know almost nothing about Joyce's past, it's never discussed in the slightest in the show, which I feel like is purposeful. We don't know Joyce's maiden name; she doesn't change it back after she and Lonnie divorce. Maybe the Duffers are saving Joyce's backstory for s4 (and possibly s5), like I think they are doing with Will and El's connection. Will, El, Hopper, and Joyce were pictured in a series of 4 tweets posted by the stranger writers, hinting to the main 4 storylines for season 4. My analyzation of this tweet here.

I think it's possible that Joyce's storyline this season could also have to do with her past- not just her searching for Hopper- but also more personal information about her. Perhaps we will see flashbacks of younger Joyce and maybe learn about her biological relatives.

Noah also said this would be the darkest season for Will, so this idea of being the grandkid of someone evil or disturbed could fit into that.

Part 2: Creel could be Terry's father/Eleven's grandfather

The only other person I could see potentially having a biological; relation to Victor Creel could be Terry Ives and Eleven, (because it would complete the Star Wars parallel mentioned earlier) but it's a stretch for several reasons, the main one being that Terry and Becky's father Bill Ives, died in a car crash (year unknown).

So for Victor Creel to be Terry's father that either has to be:

Her adoptive father OR

Her mother cheated and led Mr. Ives to believe Terry was his kid but her father is really Victor Creel, and Becky is actually Bill Ives son (which would explain why Becky has no powers)

Right of the bat it's interesting Terry's father's name is Bill. Bill is a nickname for William (Will Byers full name is William), and Billy's a nickname also for William... Hmmm....

Immediately after El is born, Terry is adamant that Brenner stole her child to use as a weapon to fight the commies BECAUSE SHE HAD SPECIAL ABILITIES - and she's completely right about everything. How does Terry know El had powers immediately after she was born? Because she knows she has developed some kind of special abilities from the experiments as well. When El goes to visit her mother in s2, THE LIGHTS FLICKER, just like they do when the upside down is near, but it's not Eleven controlling it. Her Aunt Becky says it's just the wiring, and Eleven responds: "IT'S MAMA. She wants to talk." And then we see Terry's NOSE BLEED, just like El's does when she uses her powers.

Quick side note about El's biological father is Andrew Rich: (It's revealed in the canon novel Suspicious Minds that Andrew Rich is El's father) He was a college student who got expelled from school due to protesting the Nixon address, making him eligible to be drafted in the Vietnam war, and he died in battle. Terry was involved in the Project MKUltra experiments at Hawkins National Laboratory in College, under the direction of Dr. Martin Brenner, but didn't know she was pregnant at the time. Andrew never even knew Terry was pregnant, meaning she was extremely early on in her pregancy at the time he was sent away, not even Terry was aware yet. It's also stated in this book that BRENNER HAD A HAND IN GETTING ANDREW EXPELLED SO HE COULD SEND ANDREW AWAY. The novel states that Brenner has Andrew drafted because he wants to SCARE Terry, to show her how much power he has over her life. There's definitely some history between Terry and Brenner that we don't know about yet.

If Victor Creel is in fact Joyce's father it's interesting that the powers seem to have skipped a generation with Joyce, and also one kid with the Byers, but if Victor Creel is Terry's father, no generations were skipped in passing down powers. ANYWAYS, this is all just theories and speculation since we have no actual concrete reasons to believe he will be related to Joyce or Terry.

Part 3: The possibility that Creel could be involved in Eleven's storyline this season does not rely on them being biologically related.

**One of the filming locations for this season is the Claremont House, which is RUMORED to be Creel's house and also "Vecna's lair" the new monster for s4 (unconfirmed) This is the house the Hawkins group goes into in the ST4 sneak peek, where they see the grandfather clock striking midnight. If that's true, there's a connection between Creel and the upside down and having powers, which could connect Creel to Eleven. The Duffers: "In Hawkins a new horror is beginning to surface, something long buried, something that connects everything". This thing "that connects everything", could be Creel's storyline (his possible connection to the lab/upside down/person in the show), because Creel's storyline also spans all the way back to the 1950's and before that, so there's our "long buried" part most likely.

Robert Englund recently revealed in *an interview* that his character Victor Creel gouges his eyes out, making him unable to see. Englund also mentions what it's like working with Millie Bobby Brown and talks about the first time her met her, he doesn't mention any other cast members in detail like he does Millie.

He's clearly working closely with Millie's character Eleven.

But why? I think Creel could be involved with Eleven getting her powers back, and her reliving her past. Once the government baddies realize El has no powers, they're gonna want them back. If Creel was in fact a test subject, maybe there is some kind of connection between them, Such as Eleven revisiting what happened to her in her past and how that could relate to her getting her powers back.

Another thought I had was that perhaps the gruesome murder he committed is somehow related to something that ends up impacting in Eleven's life.

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

Whatever Victor Creel's storyline is, it will be an important one, and it will carry somewhat into s5, since he will be a returning character. He is not signed as a series regular, but as a recurring character, which means we don't really know to what capacity he will be in s5. It could be flashbacks mostly, or he could have just as big or small of a role.

Source: indie wire

That detail about eyes being gouged out reminds me of fear street 1666 when the townsmen who was sacrificed to the devil becomes possessed and gouges the kids eyes out. Leigh Janick, director of fear street, is married to Ross Duffer. They both direct and make horror/sci-fi themed series about kids in a small town set in the 80's, who fight supernatural evil with a heavy undertone of queer themes, that are even filmed in a lot of the same locations (the mall, the town streets, etc.) I'm not saying it's the same thing, it definitely won't be. But there's so many similarities between ST and Fear Street, I thought I would mention this as another.

[bleulone]

Can we talk about about how Colin looked in ep 1 when he first saw Marina compared to how he looked when he saw Pen in ep 8. Almost the exact same look! Of course his look to Penelope is probably more about his guilt because he brushed her off when she tried to warn him but still..progress! Lol and then when he's getting ready to leave for Greece, he glanced towards Penelope's home. I think they're having Colin's feelings for her grow gradually in the show instead of all of a sudden like in the books.

Hey! Thank you for this insightful ask of yours :) Sorry for the late answer, I took a long time to write this— without further ado, here we go!

Indeed, Polin is first and foremost a story of gazes, those gazes being of many natures. Whether they are love ones, friendly ones, admirative ones or lustful ones, looking imposes itself to be a huge parameter in Penelope and Colin’s love story.

In order to understand that on screen, film-making has at its disposal a very rich and smart langage of its own. Sometimes, comparision helps to underlines the differences between one character’s relationship with person A mirorring person B. I feel like Shondaland and Chris Van Dussen wanted to introduce the audience to the evolution of our Bridgerton men’s perception of Love. For instance, while Anthony views attachement— to Siena— as a way to escape his responsibilities before becoming his villain (...until our queen ma’am Kate Sheffield comes to the picture), Benedict doesn’t comprehend this universal concept and prefers to enjoy the many physical pleasures life can offer. In other words, the older brothers already explored their sexuality here and there, making them the infamous rakes that they are. As for Colin, it’s a complete other thing.

Colin is young. Very young. At 21, he’s just left Eton College and barely knows anything of the world nor women. Like Anthony said in 1x06, Colin hasn’t been taken to brothels which is a very important step in the building of young men’s sentimental and sexual education during that time period. Since he missed this essential step, our sweet/immature boy has no clue about how to deal sagaciously with his feelings and his “foolish” impulses, baring his naivety. At this point of the story, we can easily come to the conclusion that Colin is a virgin who can’t drive XD. He’s just a child overcame by his passions, a hopelessly romantic who rushes things without taking the time to properly court or know his significant other. And his off-screen flirtation with those supposed numerous girls in London isn’t of any help to justify his (oh so little) experience. So when he sees Marina, he’s so struck by her... mainly by her alluring appearance. And he doesn’t seem to let his eyes nor mind go beyond her exquisite beauty.

In this perspective, the whole Colin/Marina storyline can be perceived as a parallelism to the Pen/Colin’s one. In 1x01, he is immediatley smitten with a dancing Miss Thompson, which happens to be ironically the same case with a 17 year-old Pen but with him. We got to see her, a few moments ago, dreamily looking at him from the back of the dancefloor (echoeing the episode where she fell madly in love with him after he fell off his horse at Hyde Park). She’s charmed by his dashing look and his kindness, yet she doesn’t seem to know anything else about him considering the rare conversations they share. Her burning gaze fits the original story from Julia Quinn’s books because in Romancing Mister Bridgerton, the 28 year-old spinster Penelope do realize later on that Colin is more than a good looking man : he’s a human who possesses a temper and flaws.

Either way, both of our boos are portrayed as hopelessly young people in love who childishly idealize the objects of their affection.

In 1x08, it’s the other way around. It’s Colin who sees Pen first, her who appears to wear the yellow dress’ lookalike from the pilot—what an interesting call back ^^. With his mouth slightly agape and his eyes wide open, we can catch sight of the timid spark of a change in his gaze : Colin Bridgerton notices Penelope Featherington. He‘s touched by the realization that she cares about him. It would be rather inappropriate of me to say that Colin is already in love with her. However, in the finale, I do believe that he’s more struck by her high level of deep care for him than her beauty.

We are thus able to spot two big differences in Colin’s relationship with women in this season : when his attraction to Marina was purely physical and rushed, his attraction with Penelope is more emotional and slow. And for now, he comes to cherish his special bond with her, especially after she tried to warn him of the dangerous trap he was about to fall into. Even if he just sees her as his younger sister’s best friend right now, Pen matters in his life. And it’s still a little yet important progress for sure.

Speaking of which, I agree with you that this look of awe as well as realization is mostly mixed up with guilt. Since he didn’t take into account her words, he felt the strong need to apologize. But bear in mind that guilt formulates a considerable part in Colin’s feelings for Pen... and it’s only the very beginning. In the future, he’ll blame himself for not seeing her as the beautiful goddess and siren that she is in the first place. He’ll blame himself for not reciprocating the feelings for her.... Though at the moment, due to his lack of experience with women, Colin is oblivious to Pen’s obvious signs of sorrow when he told her he’s leaving for Greece/Cyprus. Next time, he’ll detect her sadness and won’t let her go, I’m sure of it (if he doesn’t I’ll riot).

Furthermore, I’m so glad you brought up the scene where Colin glances at the Featherington house. I had the same thought as well. When you put this still and the one where Pen is crying while looking at her window side by side, it even seems like they’re looking at each other. In a way, it implicitly confirms Pen’s key role in his final decision... After all, she’s the one who inadvertently inspired him right ?

The act of traveling has always been seen as cathartic since leaving home to discover yourself allows you to heal your broken heart and soul. It’s natural for Colin to do this. To make his first real steps into the world. His choice is quite relatable more than it is essential for his arc in the series. I can’t wait for him to come back all changed, hot ^^ and mature. I think, like you said, they are planning on making him progressively falling in love with her. Colin’s feelings will gradually leave the platonic zone to explore and officially stay in the intimate zone throughout the seasons.

Overall, the Colin/Marina and Colin/Penelope parallel in s1 mostly helps viewers to compare the way Colin evolves from being a stubborn naive boy to a heartbroken young man who’s aware of his crutial need for Experience. His coming of age, just like Pen’s, has just begun. And they will surely lead to our boy changing himself into the true charming rake that he’s meant to be and our girl into a more confident woman. Consequently, I think their story won’t take 10 years but rather at the very least 5 years perhaps to fit the TV timeline. Once Polin will finally be able to discuss, we’ll hopefully get to see more interesting nuances and shades added to the portrait they painted of one another over the years. They’re indispensable to the slow build up of their emotions/attraction as well as the shattering of their childish idealization/perception of each other.

All in all, I’m so loving the fact that season 1 beautifully sets up the importance of the gaze in Polin’s love story. This first installment is like an expository scene of a play. It leaves a trail of clues and pieces of information here and there at the reach every viewers who can pick them up and analyze what can be the main themes which will determine one character’s story arc/romance. With Polin we have : admiration, wit, love and friendship, desillusionment. (I know they are more but it’s all I can think of rn lol).

If we’re already emotional messes just with the mere power of them looking at each other, imagine when they’ll actually talk and share real conversations. It’s going to be a long way to canon but luv me some good fluffy angsty steamy slow burn :) ✨ I hope this long of mine answers your ask ahah, even if I talked about many things other than just Polin’s looks. Also, sorry if you spot some grammatical mistakes, English is not my first language.

[black-coffee-and-sugar]

What is even happening on this show?

I think I'd be enjoying S6 more if it wasn't the final season. If Kara actually had a storyline. If 6A focused on her fears instead of an escape room adventure with her dad and his issues. If 6B actually unpacked Kara's trauma while still making that personal growth and reflection related to the overall plot of fighting against Nyxly.

What I've noticed?

Only 3/7 super friends actually have some semblance of a storyline - Nia, Lena and Kelly. J'onn has ceased to exist as his own character since S3's touching arc with his dad. I feel like Brainy never had a concrete arc, just sporadic moments. Alex has also had nothing going on since her mindwipe in S4.

And what's kind of interesting? That Alex's longstanding plotline of wanting a kid is only being achieved now, through Kelly's arc as a social worker and becoming Guardian. Brainy's emotional struggle and learning how to deal with them in a healthy way, nearly all of those scenes were tied to Nia who actually has an arc.

Then there's Lena. 6A spent a fair amount of time developing her character. She took responsibility for her part in helping Lex not just with the super friends but the entire world. She walked away from a toxic situation and is now thriving, glowing even. She's learnt not only how to forgive others but to forgive herself as well. 6B with the witch stuff, Kara is the one who constantly brings up her magic potential. Only Kara.

So, is this intentional? It's hard to say. Of course Dansen and Brainia are canon couples so it makes sense to have their stories run parallel (I use the word stories generously). But it then begs the question of why they appear to be doing the same with Supercorp when that's "just a friendship".

If you're not making that canon, why not focus on the Danvers sisters relationship instead? Remember when that was the core of the show?

Dansen is pretty much our main couple outside of the Supercorp subtext. And as much as I love Dansen and I'm living desperately for content (it's upsetting that we barely get kiss scenes), Alex is not the titular character (co-lead yes but her role is still supporting). Kara is and therefore her relationship should be the main focus and she just doesn't have one, despite the fact that every other star hero in this universe does. Why?

There are 4 more episode left but I just cannot fathom how they intend to fix this mess in that time frame. Yes it's longer than most movies but there's a lot going on and they have proven that they're not very good at time management. At least 7/16 episodes that have aired have been 99% filler and that's unacceptable. Then, to make matters worse, Lex is back hogging screentime and then Mon-El, James and Winn are gonna be back, also hogging screentime. So it is concerning when you fact that in.

But then, we should be used to women being sidelined and reduced as characters for men on a show that's supposed to be about powerful women.

[ignitification]

Two Sides of the Same Coin.

So, I actually hinted at this in my Yoichi Shigaraki's post - but as I found myself thinking about it, it becomes even more clear that the parallels between Deku/Bakugou and Yoichi/2nd User are way too many to be ignored (and that at the same time, they can be applied to Deku and Shigaraki).

Now, I'd have to consider in this post that the 1st and 2nd movie are, if not canon, an alternative universe which directly links back to the main story (as we saw with the Compression Gauntlet made by Melissa in the 1st movie, and which Izuku sports in Ch. 309).

But at the same time, I am not going to mention of some implication which might be related to this post entailed the possibility of Heroes Rising and Bakugou or one of his ancestors being an OfA user because of two reasons: I. because I am not a fan of the theory and II. because as things stand now, it has little to no relevance for the post.

Now, onto the main part: if we think about it, it makes absolutely sense that a foreshadowing of the relationship between Izuku and one or both of his counterparts is shown through the Vestiges of OfA. As I already wrote in the past (and I am particularly referring to this post), the Vestiges are somehow an enclosed space where Izuku is free to explore the Consciousness of his own Quirk. At the same time, it allows him to have insight in himself and occasionally others from within the same environment. Point in case, this happens with Shigaraki - when after touching him through AfO's Quirks's wires, Shigaraki (possessed by AfO, that is) enters the Vestiges.

This narrates of the fact that, mostly - appearances are not everything. I guess, this is also why the Vestiges look like a piece of crumbled building; not only because they managed to fully shape after the power evolved - which means through Toshinori towards Izuku - but also that the Vestiges are a kind metaphor for the people inhabiting the Vestiges. If the Vestiges are a shared consciousness formed due to the embers of an identity left in it and embed with a personality before being passed, it means that there is a sort of personalisation of OfA. Well, that should have been clear when Horikoshi made Izuku develop Shoot Style, and manifest OfA in different ways from All Might - freeing Izuku form the shackles that is his admiration for the hero. But most importantly it also means that this personalisation comes from within, while the power and that is, the core and the shared value of these people, stays fundamentally the same. Which is then represented by the Vestiges. But, the fact that this Quirk Personalization makes its way through the cracks on a shared identity, is evident in the fact that every user if free to decide whether to acknowledge the other (and foremost Izuku) and what to think of the situation. As the 2nd User speaks, he is still not entirely convinced that Izuku's is the way to go (I wonder, whether the fact that Izuku cannot properly speak also depends on the fact that User 2 and 3 haven't fully accepted Izuku yet).

This brings us forward to the notion of Hero, of Saving and the 'Room'. As it is clear by the panels above, 2nd User and Izuku play the role of Saviours, offering a help which is thought maybe not needed, but it is offered all the same. It is also at the beginning of a life-long journey, even if Izuku and Bakugou's comes way much after. Yoichi considers 2nd his hero, and the initiator of the story. Bakugou considers Izuku not his hero, but at the same time - Izuku, time after time, 'saves' Bakugou and offers him a hand to get out of the room full of himself in which society closed him in. But, these consideration, in my opinion, fit more the Shigaraki and Izuku storyline.

First of all, notwithstanding everything, Shigaraki is the main 'antagonist' of the story. He's the leader of the LOV, and while not the brain of the operation, he is still the one who puts in practice. He is the one actually influenced by AfO. He is the one, again, to be closed off from the world by AfO. Same as for Yoichi - as a form of absolute control. AfO encloses in a definite space, both mentally and physically Yoichi and Tomura both. He wants from them to be dependent of him. Wants them to be grateful to him for what he has done. Because he is the one who saved them, who gave them the necessary power and helped them survive in this world. It is not a case, that looking-wise Yoichi and Tomura are so similar, especially after the 'Hibernation' Tomura went through. And this scenario also brings to mind the way Shigaraki's body gets hijacked by AfO's consciousness, and Shigaraki tries to fight it - but instead, he is put to 'sleep' and rest, as to recover - because of the amount of energy used during the battle against the heroes.

As for the Hero part played by the 2nd User in the original scenario, Izuku is the one most likely to represent it in the upcoming occasions. Lately, there has been a lot of speculations about Izuku saving or not Shigaraki (the whole Vestige talk is after all, about Shigaraki and Izuku), but in the end, as said countless times: the set up talks clearly. Izuku is dead set on offering the tentative hand to Tomura, because in the Vestiges he saw that Shigaraki Tomura is nothing else than an identity created by AfO out of spite, hatred and manipulation. It's a mask, which Tomura executes as its best capabilities.

And if Izuku, who is the one who actually puts the seed of ‘But after all, maybe, there IS something to save, if you can understand what made villains the way the are’ is, despite the double expressed by Ni-sama, the hero of this scenario - on a very evident side that Shigaraki, or rather, Shimura Tenko, is the one who embodies the concept of Salvation and Destruction (Restoration), that is at the core of the entire manga series (and of course, of the ideology brought forward by the OfA users). Izuku Midoriya is, after all, walking the same steps of the 2nd user: going to save someone tossed aside and in AfO’s control, giving birth to a new stage of society and consequently reality. It’s a change in tide. The beginning of something new, and the end of something long overdue. It’s the beginning of a new, reformed society which does not see murder as a way of salvation, but rather understands that Heroes can show and bring forward another way, while working on themselves and working to save the villains. And it’s, at the same time, the End of an era holding Heroes in the highest regard, and glorifying power and strength (All Might’s Quirk. Endeavour, even the criteria of the UA entrance tests). An Era which held All Might accountable for everyone else, too - and made him bear the burden. An Era which made society lazy and uninvolved with the villains and the ugly side of themselves (which I already explored in this take). As Yoichi puts it, it’s thanks to him that the OfA’s story begins - and it may be because of Izuku that it ends, as it will fulfil its greatest mission: to free the world from AfO and to save Shigaraki Tomura.

This is why, the parallels between becoming a hero, and offering a hand to someone who probably never even consider the possibility of needing it, is a foreshadowing for what is likely to go down between Izuku and Tomura.

But as always, parallels, even when everything, still might be just a perception of the real situation. A perception of a situation which is where different, also similar because, as we all know - history is a fickle thing and it has a terrible habit of always repeating itself.

[quidfree]

,,would you mind elaborating on your tags on the fem bakugou post,,

oh god yeah ok. like there are many ways in which i authentically believe bnha would be extremely improved if bakugou was simply a girl but i’ll try to stick to the minimum here.

anyways bnha/anime in gen lbr has a woman problem and i really don’t want to harp on about it but if you disagree send an ask and i’ll fight about it. i think for bnha this would be greatly countered by having bakugou be the exact same character but a girl. still gets the secondary protagonist slot, still gets the masses of character development, narrative importance, parallel to the protagonist, etc, but just happens to be a girl. that’s levels of focus and care afforded to absolutely no female character in bnha and generally in anime of its genre. separately, there is no female character like bakugou- yes, there are aggro girl characters, but they fall under Aggro Girl Character tropes, whereas bakugou is a fully realized fairly unique and heavily nuanced character. like it’s rare to have such a major character be such an unrepentant bastard from the outset w zero tragic backstory but then consistently remain one of the main characters in the series and be given the significance he gets. to have all of that afforded to a female character would make my year. i want more complex female characters who don’t fall under Complex Female Character archetypes- who are complicated in ways male characters get to be. for me it would be extremely refreshing to have midoriya be the fundamentally nice (if extremely dangerous) protag and bakugou as the girl character being the fundamentally not-nice (and similarly dangerous) foil. instead the closest female foil charas we have to the protags are uraraka and momo, both of which are nicer and softer and more self-conscious and weaker than their male counterparts. i like uraraka and momo. i would love female bakugou.

anyways though i would again like bakugou to remain the exact same i do accept that the change would alter some of the ways the story plays out, w some unavoidable sympathy added to the character’s storyline. like wouldn’t it make more sense for bakugou to be SO VERY ANGRY about ever being offered help if bakugou was a girl. wouldn’t bakugou resent midoriya so much more for looking out for him if bakugou was a girl. wouldn’t bakugou be SO RAVENOUSLY FURIOUS at todoroki for holding back in their sports fest fight after giving his all to midoriya if bakugou was a girl. there’d just be an added nuance to bakugou’s ego and temper w society filtered in- bakugou would still be the same asshole as always, but there’d also be some external context. i think it would be good content.

final note bc i appreciate this is getting long- i also think there would be so much potential for comedy in-universe about this. like, midoriya remains as awkward as he is around girls (meeting uraraka, his interactions w hatsume, etc etc) despite having been best/worst friends w bakugou since diapers and this does not compute as weird to him at all bc bakugou does not register as a girl to him. ‘that’s just kacchan! that’s different!’ kirishima still finds bakugou to be the manliest person in school. the bakusquad routinely forgets bakugou is only figuratively one of the boys. bakugou has like a horrendous mullet situation going on to look distinct from mitsuki bc otherwise it’s a lost cause. mineta is dead. bakugou resents todoroki far longer and more stubbornly than in canon bc of the indignity of sports fest since it was grounded in apparent misogyny; todoroki remains wholly oblivious since he sees bakugou less as a Weak Girl and more as a Raging Asshole. all might and/or bakudeku’s mothers ship bakudeku (to their mutual horror). just a lot of slight tweaks that entertain me.

also naturally i love bakugou from a character perspective and i think as a species humanity should have reached the stage where girls get to have characters like that too. terrible role models for all <3 that’s feminism baby

[cruciatusforeplay]

This is part two of a hella big post. Check out part one here. These are all a lot more recent, so I'm gonna try to be less spoilery, but there are gonna be some.

A not-so-brief history of Hawkeye in Comics Part Two (spoilers below the cut)

A note on events, dying and doubling down on Hawkeyes

Comics love doing big events, and I'm not covering them in here. Partly because they are huge and complex and to just focus on Hawkeye would be an injustice to the stories, but also because the amount of stuff I would need to spoil would be way beyond just a little Hawkeye. Clint was involved in Secret Wars (1984), which was one of the first crossover events of its kind. Another notable era is 2004-2009, where there is an incredible amount of superhero politics driving big narratives. If you're new to comics, you might not know that characters dying is common and rarely permanent. This is relevant because while I said that I wouldn't talk about events, I think it would be pretty uncool to not mention that Hawkeye dies and is brought back to life (Avengers Disassembled, House of M, New Avengers #26). It's around here that Clint picks up the Ronin mantle.

This is also when Dark Reign/Dark Avengers is going on. For anyone who'd like some Clint whump from this era, there's a top notch naked torture scene in New Avengers Annual (2009). Clint is involved in several other big events and crossovers over later years, but that's definitely a seperate list.

In the time where Clint is dead, Captain America is hanging out with a group of newly formed Young Avengers, including archery badass Kate Bishop. Cap suggests to her that she take up the Hawkeye mantle and gives her Clint's old bow. After Clint returns, he becomes initially her mentor, before they form a very close friendship. Clint is initially doing Ronin things, but even when he lays down ninja robes, they decide to be very Hawkeye about the whole thing and both keep calling themselves Hawkeye, despite the obvious confusion this causes.

Hawkeye's ears: Hawkeye vs. Deadpool #0-4 (2014)

This is a fun little miniseries that you could treat as a Halloween special if you so desired. It's set in the time after Fraction's run and there are a few callbacks, but nothing major if you've not read that. Clint is a little short-tempered and hypermasculine in this run for my personal taste, but it's got lots of grumpy Clint Vs sassy Wade while they vaguely attempt to team up. The thing this run does really well is Clint's deafness, despite the lack of visible hearing aids. There are comments around lip-reading, wearing aids when wearing other headgear, there's some sign language, and this is the run where Deadpool pulls his mask up so Clint can lipread and see his face while he signs (facial expressions are really key in sign language). It's lovely. Otherwise the run gives you a Kate cameo, some Deadpool and Hawkeye disaster/shenanigans, and perhaps most importantly, the return of the skycycle.

Key background: All New Hawkeye #1-6 (2015)

This run is often overlooked, but the art in the flashbacks is beautiful. We get some key information around Clint and Barney's abusive home situation - with their dad who drank and beat them, and how they ended up in care after their parents died, and subsequently their early days in the circus. There is a definite shift in how Barney is characterized as a bad influence compared to the 2003 run. It parallels with the rest of the arc which focuses on Clint and Kate Bishop working together to get some kids out of a very bad situation. The rest of Lemires run is a little weird and has no major repurcussions for anyone except Barney (which I won't elaborate on because it's relevant to the Fraction run).

Back to your roots: Tales of Suspense #100-104 (2017)

Seeing Clint cycle back and return to Tales of Suspense is really lovely. This comic is one of my all time favourites. It's incredibly tight story-telling with a great plot and really fun dynamic. The premise is Clint and Bucky teaming up to figure out the body trail being left after Black Widow's death. Clint is obnoxious and a delightful mess, Bucky is sporting a permanent scowl and is hilariously level-headed. It's a lot of fun and it's a lovely build on the tension and teamwork between these two idiots (who I, as an avid Winterhawk shipper, am completely gone for, but even without that, this is a great comic.) It also has some killer covers, and the facial expressions are absolutely hilarious.

Hawkeyes together: Hawkeye #13-16 (2017) and West Coast Avengers #1-10 (2018)

The Hawkeye run is Kate Bishops run and it has a larger continuing storyline that runs from the beginning of her Hawkeye and way into WCA, but I've listed the issues that you'll want for Kate and Clint shenanigans, and you should be able to catch up without the rest if you don't want it. These comics are ridiculously fun, especially West Coast Avengers, which has Kate leading the team this time. There's loads of jokes, and it strikes a nice balance between Hawkeyes being disasters and being hyper competent. Truthfully, this is Kate's show, and Clint takes a backseat, but their dynamic is killer here so I think is deserves a mention. There are also plenty of Clint related wardrobe malfunctions and Lucky the Pizza Dog is around.

Our most recent boy: Hawkeye freefall #1-6 (2020)

I haven't read this one yet, but it's been extremely well received by the fandom. As a result, good news: no spoilers! It's a short run, which may have had something to do with it being published during 2020, and specifically around a time when Marvel were experiencing some major distribution issues (which would have led to digital release only and as a result lower sales), but that's all guesswork because I haven't actually researched it. This run has someone dressing as Ronin and letting Clint take the blame for their nefarious deeds (oh no!). Clint makes some classic Clint (read: dumpster fire) decisions, and the art looks fun and vibrant. Can't really give you more without reading it myself 😅 If you need more Clint still, he's also rumoured to be knocking around in the 2020 Black Widow run, but I've not had the money to get my mitts on that yet either.

Notable AUs:

Marvel is a big fan of throwing a well known cast into an alternative universes, so there are a few other places to look for him.

The Ultimates universe was largely speaking a bit of a shitshow, but they did give us a very dark and gritty Clint, so if that's your jam, ultimate hawkeye is the place to be. Old Man Hawkeye appears alongside Old Man Logan, and they are both, you guessed it, old. It's not the only time we get Clint as a wrinkly dude (the second half Lemire's run also has some timey-wimey stuff happening), but this is a version of Clint who is going blind (granted we've seen that before too, but this is a darker vibe than Blindspot). Wanna know who the greatest marksman is without his sight - old man Hawkeye for you! Finally there's the Zombie 'verse: zombie Clint is a little confused, but he's got the spirit. Clint got zombiefied and then left in some rubble as only a head for 40 years before getting picked up, so he's a little worse for wear. If you need that in your life then Marvel Zombies is your universe. For a full rundown of all the universes including animated and MCU, click here.

Notable aliases:

Clint's been a few other people than Hawkeye in the 616 universe (the main Marvel Comics universe). He used one of Hank Pyms growth serums and became a giant strongman in Avengers #63 (1969) and stuck around in his Goliath form for more than a few issues. After Cap had died, Clint returned from the dead and tried on Captain America for all of one issue in Fallen Son #3 (2007). He decided (with a little help from Kate) that it wasn't right to wear the uniform, which in turn led to some interesting tension between him and Bucky Barnes when Buck did become the new Captain America. Finally, there's his most well-known alternate persona: Ronin. Clint becomes Ronin after returning from the dead, wanting a break from his Hawkeye persona and an opportunity to become Ronin arises in New Avengers #27 (2007). Clint is not the only person to have used these aliases. Additionally, Hawkeye has been used not only by Clint and Kate Bishop, but also by Bullseye during the Dark Reign.

The things we haven't talked about

Like I said at the very beginning, there is a lot of Clint Barton knocking around in comics and even with all this there's a lot of content I haven't focused on. For instance, I've not talked a lot about his relationships, beyond his marriage to mockingbird (and really I only scratched the surface with that), and honestly once you start getting into interpersonal relationships we're starting to move on from what can be done in a Tumblr thread.

There are also some topic specific threads floating around, which you might like to look at too.

@vaguelyrotten has done a run down of some great dumpster fire Clint Barton comics (some of which I haven't listed) and you can see that here.

@bobbimorses did a great summary of Clint's historical deafness for instance which you can find here.

There's also this little bit all about Clint and Bucky in canon (thanks to @nightwideopen ) and how Winterhawk became a thing (thanks to @1000-directions )

This is slight sidenote, but @clintscoffeepot did a really great comprehensive of Fraction Clint's apartment which is just a really useful writing resource and you can get that here.

There is also this website which I stumbled across fairly far into writing this post which does actually look like it might be comprehensive.

If I've missed anything major, or listed something incorrectly or you just have some Clint related opinions that I need to know about, do hit me up.

[norahastuff]

ok but feeling that destiel is fully textually canon and reciprocated. know we never got dean’s response and i don’t know if you were ever into doctor who. but it draws parallels to other canon ships in that universe. twelve and clara were never made textual romantically but everything about their relationship showed that. ntm writers like moffat dubbing it as a traditional love story and other cast members saying something similar. i’m always gonna be pissed about 20 but we’ve been given so much more than some other het canon ships which blows my mind just thinking about it

I’ve only seen the Eccleston and Tennant seasons of Dr Who (and a few eps of Jodie Whittaker) but I’ll take your word for it, and yes I completely agree. I’ve always seen them as following the Ugly Betty model when it comes to how they addressed Dean and Cas’ relationship (see here and here) but it turns out the show went further than I was ever expecting them to. 

Look despite everything, this is unprecedented. Can you name me another series that 

a) Was ostensibly an action show about two bros road tripping around America hunting monsters.

b) Had a hypermasculine, seen by much of the general viewing audience as a so called “ladies’ man” (even though when talking about Scoobynatural Jensen described Dean as “ever trying to be the ladies’ man that he’s not”) protagonist.

c)  Introduced another badass tough character who was an Angel of the Lord no less and who eventually became a main character.

d) Had the two of these guys grow closer and closer and added romantic trope after trope to their relationship and not in a jokey “Cas get out of my ass!” kind of way but in a “these two characters feel so deeply for each other that we have to craft their narratives around that” way. I’ll use the mixtape as an example. While that was an objectively bonkers choice to make - you don’t make someone give someone a mixtape on the screen if you’re trying to convey a platonic relationship - it also didn’t exist in a vacuum.  It was in an episode (and season) where the way Dean and Cas felt about each other, how differently Dean felt for him than Sam did, and how Dean understood and saw Cas in a way no one else did, was consistently highlighted. The mixtape wasn’t just a random addition, it was a part of the larger narrative. Also, there was no other point to it, there’s no haha “ I was never in your -” punchline. It was just about their feelings.

e) Had the only long term romantically coded relationship on this show be between these two male main characters. Sure you can say it wasn’t explicit, but that element has always been there and the show has addressed it multiple times.

e) Crafted their storyline in the final season around their relationship issues. That wasn’t just a subplot. It wasn’t just a “5 mins at the end of an episode oh yeah sure let’s mention it” kind of thing. Sam had his “I don’t know what’s real” “we are” moment with Eileen. Dean? He had his with Cas. 

f) Had one of those two main characters explicitly and unambiguously confess to being in love with the other. 

Look I’m sorry but that is unprecedented. This is a genre show that started in 2005 when the very idea of a male protagonist who wasn’t 100% straight would be unthinkable. Let alone one whose identity didn’t revolve around that and who wasn’t a stereotype. I think there have been occasions where female characters were allowed to be “flexible” and float around on the Kinsey scale, but male characters have never been afforded that same luxury. And even then that’s been tricky. If I recall correctly, Whedon wanted to make Willow bi but the network wasn’t on board with that. 

Even today. People talk about representation and how other shows are doing it better and how much Spn sucks at it, and look I don’t disagree. But of those other shows, how many have queer male characters that weren’t explicitly stated to be queer from the beginning? I’m having a tough time thinking of any. Lucifer? His penchant for “devil’s threesomes” was there from the first couple of episodes. John Constantine? He’s a canonically bi character in the comics and his sexuality was erased from his own show for...reasons. We all know what they were. Also as soon as he made his first appearance on Legends of Tomorrow, he hit on a guy and hooked up with a girl so his being bi was made very clear from the start of his story on that show. 

If you look at Dean and Cas, we’ve been watching these characters for 15 and 12 seasons respectively. After all that time, for their final love interests to be each other...well that’s not nothing.

Look we can still be unhappy about the ending but also acknowledge the significance of what people like Misha, Bobo, Meredith, and many others (Yockey, Edlund, and Thompson get honorary mentions) managed to create here. Like you said the only thing that blocks people from seeing Dean and Cas as being in love with each other is the fact that they’re guys. The show and the narrative told us that they were and it’s perfectly valid if you’re frustrated that it wasn’t explicit enough (though honestly, I don’t know how Cas could have possibly been more explicit) but the story was there. 

Dean and Cas were in love.

[prancing-uboot]

Satsuma Dads Timeline

You know how Golden Kamuy is an awesome manga full of amazing (and super-hot) characters and a great main storyline? So what do I do with it? Naturally I obsess over those two old gremlins: Koito Heiji and Hanazawa Koujirou the fathers of Second Lieutenant Koito and Ogata.

It's probably the most niche pairing ever, and I thought it was just me fixating on that one panel where Tsurumi mentioned they were close friends from Satsuma. But the more I read about the history of Satsuma and the times they lived in, the more I’m becoming convinced that there’s so much of their story written between the lines and that their relationship and tumultuous past is what actually caused and keeps together most of the GK plot. But nobody else seems to see it!

So what do I do with that? I spent my nights in front of my crazywall of historical research, trying to recreate an entire universe of events 50-years before the gold plot starts, just to be able to present to you:

The Satsuma Dads Timeline 

or

Why you Should Care for Heiji and Koujirou

~1850

Koujirou and Heiji* were born around 1850** in Kagoshima.

Heiji might have been older then Koujirou, but not more then 5 years. They were both sons of high ranking samurai (noble bloodline), serving the Shimazu clan.

* Most likely they went by other names in their youth and then changed them a bazillion times to make stuff confusing, but let's skip that.

** That would make them around the same age as Tougou Heihachiro and Nogi Maresuke ** - the chief players in the Russo-Japanese war for the navy and army. Both share a lot of biographical motives with Koujirou and Heiji and Noda might have modeled them a bit after them so I'll include the parallels where possible. I'm not sure Nogi even exists in the GK universe or was he replaced by Koujirou completely. Tougou was recently confirmed to exist. He was also a Kagoshima-boy, and grew up in the same circles so it's impossible that he and Heiji didn't know each other from childhood. 

1856-65

Koujirou and Heiji train in the same gochu in Kajiya-cho*. Gochu was a Satsuma-specific education system, relying on small neighborhood study groups in which the older samurai spent a part of their time teaching the younger everything they knew. Starting from penmanship and Confucian doctrines and ending with swordsmanship, and the unstoppable Jigen-ryu.

Teenage Heiji develops a Koito-crush*. on Saigo Takamori (20 years his senior) and follows him around like a lost puppy. Koujirou makes fun of him, but in reality he feels a bit jealous.

* Kajya-cho was a Kagoshima district known now as "Home town of Revitalization" as most of the influential Satsuma leaders of the Meiji Revolution came from there. That also meant that they directly taught the younger generations as part of the gochu. For example Tougou also came from that area. I'm not that sure Heiji and Koujirou were actually from Kajiya-cho, but it being 3km downhill from the Nanshu Cemetary would fit in nicely to the place where Tsurumi and Otonoshin first met so it's likely.

** Gochu was a completely male oriented environment, so homoerotic relations bloomed and were even encouraged (think ancient Greece), hence the term "Satsuma habit" was later used as the synonym of homosexuality in Japan. But for them then it was just a natural thing they sometimes did, and not really an orientation. Koito Otonoshin crushing on Tsurumi might be a bit old fashioned but it's just a Satsuma thing, so of course his dad is cool with that.

1866-67

Both go to Kyoto to serve Hisamitsu Shimazu and there they experience the tension of the Bakumatsu period first hand. They soak up the patriotic moods of the Sonno-Joi fraction, they hear of the the assassinations by the Shinsengumi, they feel a revolution brewing. Being a hot-headed youth in those times made keeping out of trouble very difficult.

1868-69

The Boshin War breaks out. Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa fight to abolish the Tokugawa shogunate. Heiji and Koujirou join up and dispite their young age are given officer commissions*. Coming from a long line of Satsuma’s military commanders it is what they were raised up to do. This war however is nothing like the stories they grew up on. Instead of swords it relies more on modern weapons guns and artillery. What was supposed to be a short battle with the Shogun's forces, turns into a lengthy nationwide campaign of crashing shogunate loyalists long after the Shogun himself resigned. Koujiro and Heiji fight side by side and survive all the way to see the end of it in Hakodate. 

* Only the oficers wore the super cool Satsuma black koguma wigs and I definitely do need fanart of that.

1870

Heiji and Koujiro come out of the war victorious. Most of the positions in the new government are taken by Satsuma and Choshu men, so practically any career path is open to them. Koujiro stays with the Imperial Guard while Heiji joins the Imperial Naval Academy in Tsukiji, Tokyo. They compete for the most ridiculous facial hair* and spend their off nights “drinking green liqueurs under red lanterns”

Ogata's grandfather fought** on the other side for the Mito clan (the last shogun was from the Mito-Tokugawa branch). After the defeat his family falls into poverty. They sell their daughter to an okiya because they cannot support her ***.

* The Haitourei edict from 1871 allowed samurai to cut of their chonmage and encouraged them to experiment with western haircuts.

** I’m guessing he was active in the Boshin by the fact that he had an old gun lying around.

*** This "Ogata's mom comes from a fallen samurai family" theory has been going around but I'm not super sure about the time frame here. Usually maiko get promoted to geisha when they're 20-21. That means to already be a geisha when she gave birth to Hyakunosuke she must have been at least 12 when she was sold. That's quite late for a geisha to start her education. Or I might be wrong about Hyakunosuke's birth date, but I'd really like it to be 1879, so I'm in a pickle here.

1873

Heiji finally finds the guts to propose to Yuki, his Kagoshima sweetheart. They marry and a son is born to them - Heinojou *.

Koujirou's family chooses a wife for him **. She's from a good family, likely Choshu to have some useful connections. Heiji comes to their wedding in his fancy navy uniform to congratulate them and say goodbye. He'll be going to study abroad in the France ***. Koujirou feels like it's his funeral wake.

* Heinojou's birthdate is the first solid date we have for them from the canon, so I'm basing the whole “born in the 1850s” on the fact that the expected age of a man to marry was their early 20s.

** Arranged marriage was the most commonplace in Japan then. The families picked the brides because they were most likely to spend more time with her then the husband, taking care of the house and such. 

*** In 1871 Tougou went to study abroad with 14 other cadets to Greenwich Naval Collage and that would fit so nicely. The problem is that they went 1871-1878 and Heinojou was born in 1873 *shakes fist*. There were also individual exchange programs though and since in canon Heiji is mentioned to have some french friends I figured he was sent to France.

~1876

Koujirou is stationed in Tokyo, while his wife stays in Kagoshima, taking care of the family home. He begins an affair* with Tome**, a geisha from Asaskusa. With Heiji gone she's the only person he can open his heart to.

After abolisment of the clan system and privileges of the samurai, the dissatisfied Satsuma samurai quit the Imperial Guard en-masse and go back to Kagoshima to gather around Saigo Takamori and brew a rebelion. Koujiro - by then a major - is faced with a choice: to go back with his childhood friends, or to stay loyal to the government. He chooses his career.  

* I'm guessing he must have been married already when the thing started, because marrying a geisha wasn't that unheard of and wouldn't really cause a scandal or hinder his career. All three of the Meiji prime ministers Hirobumi Ito, Taro Katsura and Yamagata Aritomo ended up marrying geisha. So Tome being a geisha was not a problem - Koujiro already having a wife was.

** Tome is a random name that Ogata used in his Sugimoto self insert fic. I love the headcanon that it's his mom's name. Because of course he makes everything personal.

1877

In January the Seinan War breaks out. Koujirou fights against his clansmen and his former war comrades *. By September most of them are dead. He is there at Shiroyama where Saigo makes his last stand. Heiji is never going to forgive him that.

When he comes back to Tokyo, Tome doesn't ask, she understands and prepares him angler nabe while he sulks.

* Koujirou's situation is by no means an unusual one. Many of the Satsuma samurai landed lucrative jobs under the new administration and didn't share the dissatisfaction of their disenfranchised clansmen. Even Saigo's own younger brother Judo stayed as a lieutenant-general in the Imperial Guard.

1878

In May, Okubou Toshimichi, the lord of home affairs, who took personal command of surpressing  Saigo's rebelion is assasinated, branded in Satsuma as traitor.

Koujiro is not welcome in Kagoshima anymore*. His wife moves to Tokyo to avoid harassment. Keeping his affair with Tome is becoming more difficult. Especially when he learns that Tome is pregnant **

In December Heiji comes back to pick up the pieces.

* Both Okubo and Saigo Judo moved their families to Tokyo because of this situation, so I'm guessing that was a thing. They received some backlash from their compatriots but eventually things normalized (for Judo at least, because Okubo was, you know, slashed up dead in an alley). By 1898 Saigo was acknowledged by the government as a tragic hero and bygones were bygones. Yet Heiji still talks with the Satsuma dialect, while Koujiro doesn’t even have a trace of it left.I wonder if he still used it when talking to Heiji.

** Geisha were not supposed to have sex with their patrons. The fact that she chose to give birth to Koujirou's son tells that she dared to hope that he'll at least acknowledge him.

1879

In January Hyakunosuke is born*

* Ogata's birthdate is a shot in the dark. He could be anywhere between 1878 and 1883. I just really like the idea that he was born right into the middle of such a chaos.

EDIT: GoldenKamuyHunting pointed out that Ogata had to be born after 1881, since Noda placed him as Older than Usami. This ruins the timeline a bit, and I’ll have to think of the way to reorder it to fit. For now, treat the 1879 as canon-defying :(

~1881

After pressure from his parents and from Heiji, Koujirou comes clean and learns to make his official family work. Koujirou's legitimate son, Yuusaku is born*. 

From now on he effectively ghosts Tome. Her mental health** begins to waver. Tome quits being a geisha and moves back to her parents in Ibaraki ***. 

* Also a shot in the dark. This would make him 23 when he died and 2 years younger than Ogata.

** Before the 20th century the white makeup geisha wore was made out of lead, making them more likely to develop lead poisoning, the first symptom of which is the decline of intelectual ability. Fun fact: lead gets passed down in breastmilk in quantities super-harmful for the baby, so if we go with the theory "Tome went crazy because of lead poisoning" than that would explain so much about Ogata...

*** This is likely due to her health, not due to giving birth. She could have just sent Hyakunosuke to her parents and kept working. God knows how they made ends meet after that. Before they were be so poor that they had to sell their daughter. Now they were much older, she was sick and unable to work, and her child was another mouth to feed. Not to mention the cost geisha education was worse then US collage loans so she most likely had a large debt she barely started to repay. Was Koujiro at least decent enough to pay child-support? Oh god *realises* it was Heiji who was paying them, wasn’t it? *heart breaks*

1886

Heiji and Yuki's second son, Otonoshin is born, 13 years after the first. What's up with that, Heiji?

1887

Koujirou goes to Germany* to study military tactics.

Hyakunosuke (8) feeds his mother rat poison. Koujirou doesn't come to the funeral.

As a result Hyakunosuke is brought up by his grandparents alone. He likes his grandma. They might instill in him the same kind of dislike for the new government as in the case of Kadokura. They definitely install a dislike for his deadbeat dad.

* Japan sent most of the promising officers abroad to soak up the knowledge how to run a modern nation. The army was mostly modeled after Germany (the Japanese were impressed by their recent victory against France) so it's the safest bet that Koujirou went to study there sometime in his life. In 1887-88 Nogi and Soroku Kawakami were sent to Germany. So it still depends if Nogi exists in GK universe and Koujirou just tagged along with them, or are they completely interchangeable.

1888

A new division is formed in Hokkaido. Tasked with guarding the north and developing the land.

1889

Heinojou (16) passes the Naval Academy entry exams with highest marks, determined to follow the footsteps of his father.

1894-95

The first Sino-Japanese war breaks out.

Heiji and Heinojou take part in the Battle of Yalu River. Heinojou is stationed on the flagship Matsushima under admiral Ito Sukeyuki. Matsushima gets badly damaged. 57 men die (including three officers) and 54 more are wounded.

Heiji silently watches his son burning from his ship. Comes back a wreck of a man. Gets awarded a title of Baron under the kazoku system *.

No clue what Koujirou could have been doing then. It’s likely that he was part of the army that conquered Port Arthur (back than still called Lushunkou) the first time around in only 3 days **.

* I need to double-check that with the raws since I'm not sure Tsurumi calling him "lord" is meant to imply he had a noble title, or if it's just a honorific. Many of admirals had titles so it would be highly likely someone with a lineage and a service record like Heiji also got one.

** this experiance would make him a pefect choice for later leading the operation in 1904 so this would make a lot of sense, but it would also be a pretty heavy take, since that would mean he was present during the Port Arthur masacre. And as a senior officer too, so it’s hard to find any excuses for him if that was the case. Did witnessing the atrocities there influence his later opposition to the Japanese expansion into Manchuria? Was his instruction for Yuusaku not to kill anyone motivated by trying to protect his son from sharing his guilt?

1895

Tsurumi comes back from the war and joins the 7th (actually more like he’s demoted out of the 2nd). By then Koujirou is the head of the division *

* I’m guessing Tsurumi had to have enough time to work on him, to be able to learn all about the Koito family troubles and come up with the plan how to use them. Did he get into Koujirou’s confidence? Or was he just reading his private letters?

1900

Heiji stays in Kagoshima and spoils/neglects his second son. Tsurumi "accidentally" meets Otonoshin and they visit Saigo's and Heinojou's graves.

Later that year the whole Koito family moves to Hakodate and Heiji takes control of the Ominato torpedo division *.

* The Ikazuki was a new class of light destroyers specifically made not to repeat the tragedy of too large and too slow Matsushima. No wonder Heiji was willing to move across the country for that.There were 6 of them made in total. Cool factoid: One of those destroyers sunk after a crash with a civilian steamship off the coast of Hokkaido in 1909.

1902

Ogata (24) joins the army and specifically volunteers for the 7th division planning god-knows-what. By conscription he would have landed in the 2nd (Kantou region). 

Koujirou doesn't acknowledge him. Tsurumi does.

The Great Hakodate kidnapping takes place. Koujiro sends his best intelligence officer from Tsukisappu to help his friend and keep things discreet. Afterwards Heiji learns to appreciate the son he has left.

Later that year Otonoshin passes the exam to join the Army acedemy.

Fresh out of the academy Yuusaku (21) joins the 7th division. His father, plagued with guilt and bad life choices instructs him not to kill people and not to sleep around.

Yuusaku meets Hyakunosuke. Hyakunosuke tries to get him to kill people and sleep around.

1904-05

The Russo-Japanese war.

In February the war starts with Japan launching night torpedo attacks on the Russian fleet stationed inside Port Arthur. Heiji leads the third destroyer squadron aboard the Sazanami*. They continue the attacks over the next months trying to impose a blockade. After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the victorious Japanese Combined Fleet effectively traps the remaining Russian warships inside Port Arthur. The Russians can't get out, the Japanese can't get in. Heiji can only wait and watch as the Japanese Army struggles to capture Port Arthur by land.

Koujirou leaves the 7th division behind when he is promoted to a member of staff of General Nogi’s 3rd Army. They land in Incheon in April and reach Port Arthur in August to start the siege. It is a drawn out blood bath. After wasting tons of lives in pointless assaults, the Japanese realize quite late that the key to victory lies in capturing the 203 Hill overlooking the harbor. Koujirou is made chief of staff for this operation.

In October they get the news that the Russian Baltic Fleet has left Tallinn and is on its way to reinforce the besieged Pacific Fleet. The race starts. If Koujirou fails to capture the hill before the Baltic Fleet arrives, the Japanese Fleet will be annihilated, and Heiji along with it.

In November the 7th division arrives in Port Arthur. They don’t get special treatment from their former commander and they’re sent head first to the 203 Hill. They capture it on 5th December, only after the artillery stopped caring weather they hit their own or not**. From their new position they destroy the whole Pacific fleet.

The death toll is 80 000 soldiers. More than half of the 7th is gone. Among the fallen are second lieutenants Hanazawa Yuusaku and Nogi Yasusuke - general Nogi's only remaining son (the first one died earlier in the same war).***

Hyakunosuke thinks that the losses wouldn't have to be this high if they just had more snipers like him. But nobody listened.

*  All of the Ikazuki-class destroyers were quite active during the war. I placed Heiji on the Sazanami just because there’s the most info about what she did and when.

** The winning strategy was implemented by Kodama Gentarou. He was sent to Port Arthur with the authority to replace Nogi. He had enough guts to sacrifice soldiers falling to friendly fire in one coordinated assault instead of bleeding them out by continuous suicidal frontal assaults. He didn't officially replace Nogi though, and he let him take the credit for the victory, because they were friends. It's a really cool story.

*** Interesingly enough Yasusuke, was also shot in the back of his head. His father when he saw his body asked only “Was it after he had completed his task, or was it before?”

1905

The 7th move on to Mukden. Koujirou and Nogi along with them. 

In May the Baltic Fleet arrives. Without Port Arthur, they try to get to Vladivostok to resupply. Tougou's fleet intercepts them in the Tsushima strait and despite their smaller number, crushes them decisively. Heiji's destroyer Sazanami, captures the destroyer Buyini with the wounded admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky **. 

In September the Treaty of Portsmouth is signed. The Trans-Manchurian Railway gets handed off to the Japanese. Later Koujirou strongly opposes the plan to develop it ***.

** Heiji's torpedo division was also responsible to delivering the finishing blow to the flagship Knyaz Suarov. Later this was written on Knyaz Suarov's last moments "While she had a gun above water she fired, and not a man survived her of all that crew, to whose stubborn gallantry no words can do justice. If there is immortality in naval memory it is hers and theirs". Gives me the chills.

*** Did he see that it would lead to more war? Mantetsu was the reason behind the Manchurian Incident in 1931 and later for the breakout of the second Sino-Japanese war, where a really ugly face of Japanese imperialism saw the light of day. So, was Koujirou a good guy all along? This I hope will be explained in the manga.

1906

In January Nogi returns to give a victory report to the Emperor *.

Koujirou "commits seppuku" by his son's hand. "Writes" a sappy goodbye letter to Heiji (probably also by Ogata's hand).

Heiji gets seduced by his son's dashing young commander and does some stupid-treasonous things for him, convinced that Central Command was to blame for pushing Koujirou to suicide.

In November Mantetsu is established.

* Nogi breaks down while making the report and asks to be allowed to commit seppuku for allowing such high casualties. The Emperor forbids him. Nogi waits 7 years until the Emperor dies and commits seppuku on the day of his funeral.

Disclaimers

I would say half of this consists of what already is in GK canon (even if it’s written between the lines) or history. The other half are my free guesses for what I personally think would make a better story ;)

I tried and tried to do thorough research, but in the end I’m just a humble fangirl, and not a historian, so if there’s something I got wrong, missed or misinterpreted please correct me - learning history is a never-ending story.

Sorry for linking directly to the scanlations. Support the manga by buying the volumes if you can.

This list will most likely be growing since I will eventually figure out what Koujirou did during the Sino-Japanese war, and I’m only starting digging in to the details of the Boshin War, so I’m sure I’ll expand upon that.

If anyone ever wants to use this information for a fic, please do. Copy it all if you want to. I don’t mind the slightest. I’ll love you to pieces for writing anything for them at all!