#this is so much about a bunch of characters i needed for filler. god

[starstruckodysseys]

the kids in this fic are the funniest characters to write ever. technically this is a carshall fic but really it’s about the thirteen year olds if we’re being honest

[massiveobservabletidalwave]

Anyone saying the live adaptation of ATLA was bad, does not remember the series well and/or does not understand how adaptation from cartoon to live action has to function. Is it identical to the original? No. Should it be? No. It's called adaptation not remake/remaster, dummies. I loved shifting more of the Zuko/Iroh relationship earlier and to the forefront. Y'all do not remember Iroh well from season 1. His ass got a whole retcon/rewrite to gloss over the very anime trope of "gluttonous pervy old man" to "talented and emotional statesman who is playing a role". THAT is this Iroh, just from the start.

Is the series "darker"? Yes. Is it ANY different from the darkness of the original? Nope, we just freak out watching real people burn to death. Because yeah a FUCKTON of people burned to death and most of the characters are orphaned, lost one parent, or were traumatized by their parents (or all three Zuko you over achiever). If you just now realized that or disagree, go rewatch the series. The message was always "the world is bleak but the youth will always fight for a better one, so we should listen and help them". In what way was that altered?

Oh you didn't get to see the canyon crawlers or elephant seal riding?? Ooooh poor baby, you miss the filler arcs. Yup, they were fun episodes, but they were very much episodes about teaching little kids morality. That's not this show. It is clearly geared towards an older audience. I am rewatching the ATLA cartoon and I skimmed most of season one, watching it but doing other stuff, because it was a bunch of filler. And the live action literally name drops that those things happen!!!! They just do not have the time or inclination to make a shot-for-shot live action remake. Because that's not what this is. Again, ADAPTATION.

It is more blatant about the message now, and somehow y'all still missed it. It added more lore from the books, cooler fights, more spirit world, more relationship movement. All the things from the original, just moved up a season. Which, my sweet ding dongs, will mean MORE OF THE SEASON 2 AND 3 CAN BE DONE SHOT FOR SHOT. Starting emotional arcs sooner rather than later could mean we get more later, when there is less filler! We could get the swamp benders episode in full. We could get the entire wrestling match. Hama. Boiling Rock. EMBER ISLAND PLAYERS. We could get everything! Yeah I could be wrong, but I could be right. And isn't the god damn Jeezy creezy point of the show that it's not all bad? To find the good?

In closing, any adaptation that gives me this June, Azula, Kyoshi, and the hottest tribe ever (how is everyone on the water tribe so attractive?!?!?) is not bad in my eyes. The acting was great, bending was sick, writing was solid as the original (y'all don't remember how corny and dramatic the show was so you? EIP were there for a reason). Give this an honest chance. It's not the original, but it shouldn't be. Because we already have that, we don't need another.

[higuchisora]

As mentioned before, I'll be sharing my top 10 anime characters that could solo my beloved sweet baby boy Binghe. This is both serious and not at all serious. Disclaimer: I love him, he's my good son, but he also needs some competition to keep his head nice and deflated. I'm sticking with 1 character per show to keep things fresh. Also "anime" is a... loosely used term here lmao. Also also, manga/LN spoilers ahead for some shows.

Without further ado (and in no particular order):

10. Uzumaki Naruto (and friends)

Definitely the most obvious so I'm putting it first. Honestly the Naruto cast could've had its own top 10, but rules are rules. That Talk No Jutsu is fucking lethal. If he couldn't TedTalk Binghe into a reluctant friendship, he'd rock his shit first and THEN befriend him. Without so much as a filler episode.

I'm of the mind that any Kage-level character could wipe the floor with my son, Mano y Mano. But even a solid jonin team would have some serious hands for him.

9. Saitama from One Punch Man

I haven't watched the full thing, but ending careers with 1 punch is literally his job, so I'm taking this one on good faith that he'd also be fast enough to catch Binghe at all.

8. Yoriichi from Demon Slayer

The only thing that could defeat this man was his own sadness. He'd clap TLJ and then come for Binghe without so much as a snack break.

7. Hua Cheng from TGCF (yes I know it's a donghua shut up)

Call me biased, I don't care. Hua Cheng would obliterate this man without even thinking about it. He'd laugh, too, because he's an asshole. And then go home to bang Xie Lian.

6. Rimuru from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

I don't like this man or this show. But no one can tell me he wouldn't just. Eat Binghe. Like full vore, as is canon of his abilities. He's done it with physically larger targets and succeeded, he could do it for some pretty boy. Binghe wouldn't even be the first demon king he's fought.

5. Aang from The Last Airbender

I SAID WHAT I SAID. Specifically in his Avatar State, I firmly believe he'd clap Binghe if led to believe it was absolutely necessary. Like the literal world ending. He exorcised a man when he was 12, I think Aang at his peak could handle an emo boy in need of an exorcism.

4. Saiki Kusuo from the Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

He'd dust Binghe out of existence before homie even knew what hit him. Argue with the wall.

3. Yumiella Dolkness from Villainess Level 99

I don't even really like her, but considering she's taken on a demon king of her own before, and is capable of making black holes big enough to swallow cities without breaking a sweat, she'll at least be a worthy opponent.

2. Kumoko/D from So I'm a Spider, So What?

Literally a god. The world-ending kind, and that's when she's being chill about it. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up being in control of the System tormenting poor SQQ and SQH. She's not as advanced in the anime, but in the light novel ending a world is literally light work. She's done it before and she'll do it again.

1. Mash Burnedead from Mashle

I haven't even caught up 100% with this show but I don't care. It doesn't even matter that Mash can't do magic. Actually, it's precisely BECAUSE he can't do magic that I firmly believe he deserves a place on this list because that just means this human dude is just Built Different. Binghe would throw a bunch of spiritual/demonic energy attacks at him and Mash would just bitch slap it out of the way. And then bitch slap Binghe. Worst part is that he wouldn't even realize they're fighting for real, which would permanently ruin Binghe's self esteem, IMO.

Honorable mentions:

Gabimaru from Hell's Paradise

I don't think he COULDN'T take Binghe on, just that it's unlikely he'd survive, honestly. Cultivation is real in their world kinda, and from what I've watched he's not yet capable of taking one on by himself 100%. But he's tenacious and skilled, so he'd at least get a few good ones in before Binghe smokes him. With a good crew and a battle plan, he'd be able to lock an average Binghe under a mountain.

Sailor Moon

The only reason she isn't on top 10 is because I'm not confident in her ability to take hits. She's great at dishing them out, but in the event Binghe manages to get a good whack in, I feel like it'll be over for her. I don't think she's fast enough to reliably dodge the whole time either. Plus, I barely remember the OG show, so it's kind of odd to be comparing her to stuff like Naruto, which I know well.

Hina from Hinamatsuri

Just offer a lifetime supply of red caviar and Binghe's a dead man. That being said, I don't think she'd walk away unscathed. This battle would mostly be dictated by how it starts. If she has the element of surprise, he's dead. If Binghe is suitably enraged (say, Xin Mo possession style), Hina's a goner. Hence she isn't strong enough to be able to beat him soundly in all scenarios.

Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul

He's pretty cool. Also likes to eat flesh. I don't think he's as fast at it as Rimuru is, but then again I also gave up watching after the first season. Gets an honorable mention because he might actually be stronger than I think.

Goku

He's fucking Goku. I just have never watched this show so I didn't feel comfortable ranking him.

Kibutsuji Muzan + Upper moons from Demon Slayer

Any of them would be a solid threat. However, considering they get their asses handed to them by a bunch of human high schoolers and fold at the tiniest ray of sunlight, I figure the moons would be somewhat of a miniboss vs final boss in terms of power scaling.

Muzan probably would've gotten a place on the list if not for Yoriichi. Also, as said, anyone that gets clapped by a bunch of high schoolers in their own home gets a permanent L. Shine a lamp on him and it's over for bro.

Hashiras from Demon Slayer

Not a single one of them can 1v1 any upper moons. That being said, they still managed to body all of them. They go down with them though, so I'd say it would take all of the hashiras (maybe including pre-canon ones) to take down the average Binghe. And they'd all die doing it.

Hero of Time/Hero of the Wilds Link from Legend of Zelda

Is this an anime? No. Do I care? Not really. Fighting opponents wildly out of his league but ultimately winning anyway is literally his canon lore. All Link needs is a slingshot and an ocarina and he'll fight the fucking moon. He's no slouch in recent games either; a beef bowl and a stick is all it takes for him to take on the immortal demon king possessing the castle in nothing but his goddamn boxers.

This was my list!!! Very long, but a lot of fun. Let me know what your own lists are, I'm curious lol.

If I've not mentioned a show, it's probably because I've never watched it lol.

[morphogenetic]

Mediaposting 2024, #6: Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2/The Great Ace Attorney Resolve

Completed: April 21st, 2024 (/i still have to watch the DLC episodes that didn't get released with the official loc, I guess but I'm not playing it any more so ?? lol)

Time spent: 49.5 hours (will be like 50.5 after the DLC stuff)

Rating: 9/10 (more objectively. but a very biased 9.5 in my heart.)

ohhhhh my god alright where do i even start with this. i guess i also have to talk about dgs1 a little bit in this review/mini completion log but I will TRY and keep it to just 2. [editor's note: somehow succeeded with this! lfg]

first, to get the non-spoiler parts of this out of the way:

please for the love of god play this fucking game if you've played the original AA trilogy but not the DGS duology. i can not stress this enough. i would not recommend playing them as your FIRST aa games because a) they will set your bar way too high (and too low simultaneously bc wow dgs1 still has whack as hell pacing) b) there are a few details, especially in this particular game, that will evoke no reaction in you if you haven't played at least the main three games but WILL cause you to start gnawing on drywood if you have Knowledge Of The Future

the whole dgs duology - and specifically as a duology, bc 2 makes no sense without 1 but 1 by itself is not on this level - is absolutely in my top 3/4 AA games now. i admittedly have not replayed the original trilogy in quite a while, buuuuuut T&T/AAI2/DGS1+2 are my new top 3. not necessarily in that order, give me a bit to think about it lol.

im going to be thinking about this game for the rest of my life probably. i can see why my best friend wanted me to play it for uh. seven years. because yeah it really is that good.

i want to cosplay four different designs from it. i have not wanted to cosplay anything new (to me) since neo twewy came out three years ago. take that as you will.

music still slaps. obviously. my favorite new song is absolutely partners (IYKYK) but agh. the new theme(s) that characters get are all so fucking good. clenches fist. the leitmotifs

definitely becomes relevant in retrospect in a few places where capcom obviously cut the hell out of the budget but they saved it for where it matters so i dont care. im also uh. very used to low budget VNs so frankly even 3D models are better than I'm used to LMFAO. i also you know. didn't realize that they did that until after the fact. so. they hid it well

if you havent played this go and play it (after playing the original AA trilogy). please for the love of god im on my hands and knees.

everything below the cut (i.e. below this point) has blatant unfiltered spoilers. you have been warned.

okay so welcome you've presumably played all of dgs2 if you're reading this. i have THOUGHTS. a lot of these will come off as critical/negative but i need to strongly emphasize that these are the only reasons that this game is not a 10/10 for me and otherwise i'm in love with it. it is fucking CLOSE. i am not talking a lot about the things i really love because that is.............................a lot of the game for me and we'd be here all day. the critiques are much more limited in number. but. you know.

dgs2 absolutely has much, Much better pacing than dgs1 does overall. it does not take 3 cases to get past a bunch of tutorial cases. this is a good thing. however..............the first two cases are still very slow. i won't call them pure filler, because a) reminding us about yuujin was a very good idea, b) they contribute to the Themes of the game. and im glad hosonaga was there again and (of all of the side characters we could have had) seeing souseki was good. i like them. but they really didn't need to be there to fulfill the themes of the game. case 2 in particular feels like a filler case, which I do not love given how tight the rest of the plot feels. if anything i feel like they should have done an interim flashback case without susato, as much as I adore susato, because as-is it's canon that ryuu had 3 cases in the span of a week. which feels INSANE

speaking of better pacing: im so glad dgs2 remembered that AA games can take investigation breaks between courtroom shit because running through ALL of the trial after ALL of the investigation in 1-5 was. let's say. taxing. the 'finding their footing' aspect of the first game

i do kind of wish we got One more case with the masked apprentice where susato wasn't there at all for the entire case. if only because then the delay between ryuu Thinking It and susato Knowing it would be even more painful. but i do really appreciate that they don't try to make it a woah big reveal as much as a painful "i know who you are but you don't." really adds a certain je nai se quois or however the fuck you spell that. idr. its 1 am when im typing this

also hey asougi can we fucking unpack how susato (the girl you were raised with to some extent, probably not like your sister but your weird younger cousin) called your name and you didn't remember who you were but you DID remember when you saw a wax reconstruction of your dead dad. can we fucking talk about that for a minute. can w

speaking of asougi. my god. they did such a good job with him. i think i wouldn't have cared nearly as much about him if all we had was the dgs1 stuff but his extreme motivation for the truth almost turning him into a violent attack dog is. aaaaaaaaaah. god. and the parallels between him and his father's followers (read: the von karmas) that one has from playing the mainline AA games. truly brainworm material

speaking of this: i can absolutely tell they did NOT think about writing the professor stuff with this game until they added in the masked apprentice - before he got turned into asougi - even though the reaper was obviously something that was planned. i do not care personally about this, because game dev is weird as hell and it REALLY works with asougi and van zieks' character arcs. in the same way that i don't think [SPOILER CHARACTER] from vlr would have been as good without the knowledge of 999, i think if barok had been foiled against a new character it wouldn't have worked as well. all that said. it sure is obvious they didn't know what they were doing. this makes me even more impressed that that they got it to work at all

the same is true of everything with the hound of the baskervilles but im really glad that they took it in the direction that they did.

also man it is so obvious that they probably wanted to have this be a proper trilogy like the original trilogy but then budget happened. because 2-3 through 2-5 all slap but they feel so fucking weird next to 2-1 and 2-2. like i dont feel that theres anything missing per se but a little more time for character growth would have been nice. hell even adding in an extra case (and/or editing 2-2....)

the only writing thing, aside from. 2-2 being like that. and the other weird pacing issues..that extensively is off to me is the whole assassin trading plot. i do think it is Very stupid and that they clearly wrote themselves into a corner with 1-5 on how to deal with it because they just...proceed to not deal with it until 2-4 and 2-5. however. even with that said. i actually kind of like that it is so stupid. because stronghart definitely feels SO obsessed with his version of justice that he wouldn't think through the potential downsides of having two free-roaming assassins running around and maybe coming to get his ass. obvious flaw that would not occur to him because of his insane ass behavior

its still dumb. but it's ace attorney dumb. so i can excuse it a little bit

stronghart being a damon gant expy was funny but goddamnit was it predictable. making him be so obssessed with justice that he talks to ryuu about it for 4 hours was funny as hell though and absolutely adds to him as a character. still dont like him that much Personally but hes definitely a character

his breakdown was peak. by the way. top 3 breakdowns in the series

jigoku being like that kills me. also. the way he just let genshin

g. genshin impact (sorry)

i dont care that sherlock's bullshit was a deus ex machina bc honestly.....electricity was real at that point. its fine

also. holy shit i love ryuunosuke in this game even more. 'i'm not doing this for you, kazuma. i'm doing it for the truth.' BANGER!!!!!!!!!!!! his growth across these two games is really good but especially in this one he shines so brightly

however..........this game made the glaring lack of ryuu's parents even more obvious. its not like i Need it or anything but considering how he very literally refers to yuujin/susato/sherlock/iris as his family in 2-4.....where are your parents!!!! what was your childhood like!!!!!! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS THAT I WISH COULD BE ANSWERED!!!!!!!!!

and asougi. i could write an essay on asougi alone i think. but i adore how both he and ryuu are like 'you've changed' at each other and neither of them are wrong but then by the end they're like 'wow you're the same as before.' theyre so fucking gay. anyway

and sherlock (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU WHY DO YOU LIE FOR FUN LIKE THIS????????)

and yuujin (partners ~ game is afoot starts playing and i start crying). obsessed with how they only had to write the dynamic for a single case and you can believe all of it because they can just go. lol. ACD canon. anyway

and susato

and, most surprisingly of all for me.....fucking barok van zieks. i would not call myself a Fan of him in the way i am a Fan of asougi and ryuu, but i am obsessed with him. he did so many things wrong but realizes he genuinely fucked up and wants to atone for it. he gets genuinely upset in prison when he can't join the red-headed league. he's a professional alcoholic. he has bats in his office (???). what is wrong with him. (i know the answer is 'literally everything that could be wrong with a person.' but still

i love every single character in this game (or i hate them but because they were written to be hated)??? how did they manage this again. dgs1 helps so much here because the character growth.

argh. the character parallels with everyone realizing their parent / mentor figure was fucked up and/or hiding shit from them in some way. thinking emoji rotating in a circle goes here

wow that magically became way less critical as i was writing it. i thought it was going to be a lot stronger of a critique. its still weird pacing stuff basically that bothers me but i have very minor complaints that im forgetting aside from this

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAH HI GUYS IM BRAIN ROTTING NOW FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this has had almost the same brain impact on me (as evidenced by the 1 million words about it) as raging loop i think and thats never a good sign since i still think about raging loop at least once a week despite the fact that i played it 3 goddamn years ago

[meowstix]

ok so uh. here's my Big List Of Changes I'd Make To Bakuten Shoot Beyblade. off the top of my head.

s1:

be less 🤨 about some of the one-off teams. racism in beyblade is a whole can of worms that i don't feel super confident in talking about overall (seeing as how i am well. very much white) but at the very least there's a couple things that stand out as questionable and this is definitely the easiest fix in regards to that

that's about it

v-force/2002:

WHY THE HELL IS EVERYONE LIKE NOTICEABLY PALER. give them some fucking sun jfc (this also applies to g-rev)

this is one of the larger ones but include atleast an episode or two showing teams from s1. in particular i'm imagining neo-borg early on (see ozma defeating yuriy in the manga), the ppb team during the america eps, and. ok i'm admittedly not sure how you'd work baihuzu and the euro team in there but whatever

psykick should not exist. make zagart be responsible for everything from the start and call him out on all of the fucked up shit he's responsible for

instead of doing a bunch of random goon episodes make them do silly filler things with Maybe a goon thrown in at the end

g-revolution:

rubs hands together. there's a LOT to go over here for starters either treat daichi better or don't include him at all. if you were to opt to remove him then have kyojyu fight alongside takao instead

i don't actually know what to do with the world tournament but it definitely needs a full overhaul. on one hand the character balancing was doomed from the start but also i do kind of wish team cybers was there.

on the topic of the world tournament remove tao entirely. we did not fucking need the "pervy old man" archetype in beyblade. who the fuck thought that was not only okay but necessary

MAKE BARTHEZ SOLDAT MORE RELEVANT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THEY'RE ONE OF LIKE TWO INTERESTING THINGS HAPPENING.

speaking of which lean more into takao's struggles with fame

let kai and yuriy be anything more than Edgy. let them have depth. please. (i know yuriy did get to have depth for a bit but in his case i mean during the world tournament)

ideally i think takao vs kai, and really takao's battles with all of his teammates, would be a showcase of how far they've come since the start of the series. call back to their first encounters, show how they've changed, all of that stuff.

and speaking of kai. oh boy. time for the bega arc. for a long ass time i struggled to think of a reason for kai to join, but i think i've got it. after not only his loss to takao but possibly other fights during the world tournament, kai genuinely feels like he's falling behind. volkov takes advantage of this and while kai ultimately knows not to trust him, he's desperate.

this then ties into his conflict with brooklyn. brooklyn is in a similar position to how kai used to be at the start of the show, albeit less uh. Violent. so, kai not only learns how to deal with his own conflict, but also helps brooklyn deal with that same inevitability of burnout.

also, remove the whole aspect of brooklyn not enjoying beyblading because i can definitely see why the beyblade anime would be hesitant to have a character quit beyblading because they fucking hate it. this also fully allows the moral of brooklyn's story to change from "just work hard lol" to "you will never be perfect, and that's okay."

god dammit this could also tie into takao abandoning what the media and public expect of him i just now realized this one IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER I TELL YA.

you know the clip that's like "you're taking everything i say out of context to make it sound like i think coolsville sucks" and they cut it down to "i think coolsville sucks". i want more of that vibe

here's probably The most major change. the justice 5 matches? to hell with that. instead go for a hades city-style break in, allowing everyone to showcase their own unique strengths even outside of beyblading, and letting all of the main characters win their own respective fights.

and lastly, and this is the most crucial thing: cut it with that attitude of being Cool and Edgy. you are a fucking beyblade anime, embrace that! stop trying to act like you're Above power of friendship and silly spinning tops! have some fucking whimsy in your life.

oh also i guess like. acknowledge sacred beasts existing even if they're not really plot relevant. i kind of forgot about that

[hazyla]

Woah woah, okay. So I just finished spirit of justic except for the special episode. Current thoughts from a foggy memory:

realizing this post is super long so it’s under the break, also soj spoilers

Implied that Phoenix and gumshoe correspond on their own when Phoenix mentions something to Edgeworth. When he’s questioned about it he just says something like “I have my sources…” and Edgeworth tells him to inform his source of a paycheck cut.

Even though Athena got a case of her own to do I feel like she didn’t have as strong of a presence and idk man balancing three lawyers kind of a crazy move

I found rayfa oddly charming because of her silly insults

Not utter dogshit but I see why people generally dont like dual Destinies and spirit of justice as much

My mom misses gumshoe

I did not call the queen being powerless like at all

if there’s another ace attorney game I want a dedicated scene about Apollo and Trucy getting told the truth

Hard to pick a favorite case but I think I liked case 2 and turnabout storyteller just bc it was pretty fun. Also can not believe Athena’s case was the super short filler one!

would’ve appreciated more Maya

cannot believe they just added on characters that were never previously mentioned. Oh yeah, there’s a secret fourth group gramarye member. Apollo? He actually has a brother and was left behind by his foster father at about fifteen or so.

Did the archaeologist guy just… steal a bunch of shit from Adrian’s exhibit? He had literally everything. Good god I wonder how he felt about that scroll having gravy on it

on the plane ride back why did Trucy sit (and fall asleep on) Edgeworth instead of idk her father. What did Athena really want to sit there or something. It’s very cute but also why

Actually Maya and Edgeworth should’ve sat next to eachother on the plane so they can debate about plumed punisher. “You gave away your one of a kind steal samurai themed watch FOR A RIPOFF KEYCHAIN” and then he throws her off the plane (personally, of the belief he would throttle ms inmee [not actually])

about that, it’s so funny to me that he ranted about the show to Datz, a guy he just met and is a revolutionary

Need to mention that Edgeworth’s cravat gets attacked by a dog, I don’t even have a comment I just need to iterate that fact

The breakdown scenes were fun and dynamic but idk I didn’t care for them that much

kind of thought they were gonna channel Apollo’s dad Jove fucking justice

It was funnier when I, for a split second, assumed that since nobody knew the name of his father that Apollo chose his last name to be Justice.

just now realizing that Apollo who shares a namesake with the god of music has two musician parents now

I am so happy that the 3d sprites look better than in dual destinies I don’t know if I could take it if they looked like that again

My mom’s favorite character design is Rayfa’s (but her favorite character is Susato who has nothing to do with soj)

Maya should get an “I survived TWO kidnapping” shirt because everyone wants leverage over Phoenix.

From what I saw online before playing the game I thought nahyuta would be super insanely awful, and then they introduce him as a level headed guy. Then I think oh he seems okay, and then he tells Apollo to go to the depths of hell and that he’ll be reincarnated as a piece of shit

When investigating phoenix tells Edgeworth that he think’s he’d like a gaudy house, to which Edgeworth is offended. And then Phoenix makes fun of him for his bright red sports car in his mind.

Would’ve loved a reference to some older characters, like Iris who is just like never brought up again. Anyways, what’s with spirit channeling families and being super fucked up

i am so sorry to say that Apollo looked like really good in that one cg with his hair antenna down (the one where he almost drowned) (not my best moment)

How in the world did Apollo survive as a teenager? If dhurke left him 10 or so years before this he’d be about fifteen? Did he just get dropped off at a boarding school, who the hell took care of him and how did he become a lawyer.

Why didn’t Amara just resume the throne herself? Idk if I totally missed something but isn’t she still a rightful heir

Khura’in spent EIGHT HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS ON A LIE. THEY WERE DONATIONS. AND FIVE YEARS OF LABOR (Amara’s tomb)

So funny to me that nahyuta drags Ema around everywhere like a little ragdoll back and forth country to country

The pun names in this one were wild 🤪 (suggested emoji)

oh god what if Edgeworth and rayfa were to talk about plumed punisher

Yeah we’re back to this, edgey’s sitting in a rebel hideout with lizards hanging from the ceiling and he watches the plumed punisher??? I kinda forgot the timeline but either Maya is currently kidnapped or dhurke’s in jail “oh okay I’ll stay behind” “let’s turn on the tv” “what the fucj is this”

One time phoenix’s phone went off and I jumped out of my seat because I also have the steal samurai theme as my damn ringtone

I get that it’s just fun sprite stuff but where does nahyuta get all his necklaces? How does his floating ribbon work?

In aa4 with my vague recollection, there’s a scene that kind of made me assume Ace attorney definitely took place in some weird fantasy land that coexisted with real world. (It was something that had to do with the founding fathers? And apollo “yes I know what America is” justice, like they currently don’t live there. It was some exchange during the case where klavier’s guitar blows up). Guess how surprised I was when oh golly now they’re full blown Americans!

since I mentioned aa4 and I already got off track everytime my mom hears that song (which Apollo made his ringtone) she complains about it and gets bad flashbacks. She told me everytime she hears a piano arrangement she thinks about the case. Maybe it wore off by now but it was her version of blue badger

Uendo was my favorite witness

Yeah I don’t think I have anything else to say, what a nice note to it on.

Nope I remembered something, queen ga’ran made me want to use the royal we.

[miraitrunks]

24?

24. If you could write your own episode, what would it be about? 

I think every DB fan has a bunch of episodes they’d love to have come to fruition. There are so many unanswered questions that didn’t get any screen time and me personally I always say that I’d kill to know what happened between Vegeta and Trunks in the time chamber.

Yeah, we got a filler bit during Vegeta pounding semi-perfect Cell during Trunks’ monologue (which makes it seem like the answer to that was: not much at all), but they spent a whole year together. Trunks recounted a general overview of his father’s demeanor in the HBTC, with footage from one encounter—but that just leaves me wondering what the interactions they did have were like. Something about that time in there made Vegeta grow attached to his son in some way that he didn’t know how to execute properly.

Vegeta came out COCKY. He WANTED to show off. He wanted to show off TRUNKS to Cell. Yeah, Cell saga Vegeta was a completely out of control dickweed, but that’s not gonna stop me from over analyzing this. Vegeta spent his entire life never feeling properly understood or respected in a way that didn’t come from fear and I truly believe that he saw that in Trunks. Despite his father’s continually abhorred behavior, he fought for his pride and always tried to think about him on a deeper level. Everyone else constantly rolls their eyes and thinks of him as an ass (which he is, no lie there, but I digress).

I need to see from Vegeta’s perspective what his internal monologue is of his own son. The show loooooves telling us what the characters are thinking—especially Vegeta—but they don’t show us a single thing when comes to Trunks. LET ME IN, DAMN IT!

…oh god, I sound just like Trunks, don’t I? 😭

[robinreflects]

I got an ask for you!

For both Hazbin and Helluva, what episodes of each respective series do you hate/are your least favorites thus far? And what are the main issues you have with them, if any specifically call out to you?

Personally for Hazbin it's Episode 3. It feels the weakest to me structurally speaking compared to most of the other episodes, like Alastor was going and doing this thing he's up to while the B plot does fuck all to actually show the characters bonding together. Charlie and Vaggie's conflict there felt like the most nothing thing ever, too. Zestial deserved way more than Episode 3, I hope he has something to do in Season 2.

I think Carmilla definitely needed to have more time at that point to have the Vaggie parallel as well -- Whatever It Takes was a great song but the parallel felt kinda out of left field to me beyond the premise of the two having people to defend/protect (though I suppose it could be interpreted as foreshadowing for the characters' interaction later on). Until Episode 7 with Out For Love, not only are the two characters actually interacting with each other, but Vaggie's character is a lot stronger here, and her conflict with Charlie was stronger than the one in Episode 3.

For Helluva, GOD it's a 1v1 against S2E4 and S2E5. Besides the stupid dick joke that killed the energy for S2E3 I liked the rest of it enough compared to these ones. It felt like they kinda character assassinated Striker for the sake of, yet again, ANOTHER dick joke despite...Also making him hate sex/dick jokes???

And the camp one was fun but just felt really unproductive to the narrative besides the stuff with Blitz and Barbie. Then again, I thought that should've been its own episode, instead of some forced B plot in an episode that could've easily been more like S1E1, where we get to see the characters actively doing their job and it being actually funny and entertaining. (Murder Family is one of my favorites btw, I've seen it several times when we only had the first few episodes out. I wish the show had a bit more episodes like it.)

Hello! Thanks so much for the ask anon! I started writing this as a short post, but it ended up being way longer than I intended so... the Keep Reading option it is!

I don't particularly hate any episode of either show, but there are a few where I stopped and thought this... isn't that important in an 8 episode season, especially for Hazbin Hotel. Both of those shows are framed like sitcoms; where you have an ensemble cast of characters in the same setting and put them into semi-realistic situations which creates a comedic effect, the problem is sitcoms are usually at least 13 episodes a season long, but most times one season of a sitcom has the standard of making their season a 20-25 episode one (or... at least they did before).

For Hazbin Hotel, the lack of extra episodes shows very much, episodes 3 and 5 are so far the best examples of this in my opinion, they both very much feel like filler episodes. There are some very important establishments in both of those episodes, as you mentioned for episode 3. The setting up for Vaggie and Carmilla as an interactable duo later on in the show, as well as most likely foreshadowing Vaggie's and Charlie's argument later on in the season. Alastor's plot serves as a "subtle" hint for his ties to Heaven, which is (I'd confidently say) revealed in the last episode.

The song between Carmilla and Vaggie felt really forced and it's my least favorite of the bunch, I have a general problem with the songs in the show, which I will talk about later on. Carmilla's part of the song I understood or rather I understood why she was singing her parts; Vaggie's worry came out of nowhere. It can be argued that the entire B plot of Vaggie trying and failing to take on Charlie's role served as build-up, which then culminated into her part of the song, however, it didn't come across that way. Characters trying something that is typically not in their comfort zone and failing due to the circumstances or characters around them is a popular tactic in sitcoms for a funny scene (I mean the reason why s6 ep15 of Brooklyn 99 is funny is because Rosa needs help but is unwilling to ask for it and it gets to an absurd point) so seeing Vaggie trying and failing didn't come across as serious and as of deeply ingrained insecurity of her's as it was intended, which adds to the song feeling forced on her part. The problem isn't the fact that her plot of the episode had that surprise sad moment, but rather the fact that it went way too deep into her insecurities; the start of this was the "never fail you" part, and most that came after.

Episode 5 is way more of a character-focused episode and a filler episode than episode 3. Again, it is an important episode and serves as a very nice segue to episode 6 (my personal favorite), as well as giving us, the viewers (not the fandom, but new viewers who have found this show and decided to watch it, maybe having not even seen the pilot) some context into Alastor's character and status. Which is a good thing, Alastor's backstory is good character-building. And of course, introduces Lucifer to us for the first time, we finally see the King of Hell.

But that's.... just what it is, establishing. I can establish Character A in my own personal story, however, if I don't use or mention said character at all until later on in the story, so much so that people might have even forgotten about them, then I didn't do a really good job. I believe it's safe to say that Carmilla and Lucifer are both iconic characters within the show, so I don't believe people have forgotten about them, but I don't remember Carmilla or her weapons being mentioned once throughout episodes 4-6 when she and her weapons were an essential part in the finale. These points apply to Zestial as well, as you said I really do hope he gets at least somewhat of a bigger role within the show in the second season.

I genuinely hate being a person who says this, as I am a big musical theatre fan, but the songs come out of nowhere; the characters just start singing for no reason whatsoever other than the crew saying "I'd like a song here", most of them are really good (and I won't even go into the fact they got so many Broadway legends on the show), but that doesn't take away from the fact that most of the time there is no reason for a song to be placed in that scene. As well as most of the visuals of the songs looking like a mesh of those cool shots we've all seen in animatics on YouTube.

For Helluva... Fuck that'll be somewhat of a convoluted answer. The entire show kind of got away from what it was presented as in the pilot, so I have very much a hard time picking out which episodes are my least favorite. What I got from the pilot (which is always there to set the overall tone of the show and characters, as well as just test out how successful the show/premise would be) is that it's a modern sitcom-y spin-off (think Brooklyn 99, New Girl, Modern Family, etc; also those sitcoms that have cut to the funny event mentioned scenes) of Hazbin Hotel. So I went into it with that mindset, and the first episode does keep up with the premise we were originally given, which is why I like it so much. As well as Unhappy Campers, I really enjoyed that episode because it felt like it was keeping true to the original premise of the show. The other episodes... it's not that I dislike them, I dislike the abrupt tonal shifts the episodes give us; for example, Murder Family (as I mentioned) gives us that funny quirky sitcom tone the pilot gave us, but then Loo Loo Land is a much more serious episode. It's not a bad thing for a comedy series or a sitcom to have serious moments or serious episodes, it's great in fact. That being said, those scenes/episodes need to be done either later on in the show when we are already connected with the characters (such as Marvin's death in HIMYM) or have to be shown later on in the episode itself (Angel's abuse in episode 4) because the introduction scene (or first scene) introduces us to the tone of the episode and most of the time in sitcoms or comedy series the tone of the episode is supposed to be comedic. The serious scenes hit so hard because of the emotional plot twist we as the viewers are experiencing. In Helluva Boss though, most of the "serious" episodes' intros already have a serious introduction scene, which gives off the effect of drastic episodic tonal shifts.

[itsclydebitches]

Honestly, I think most of the issues in this season exist because they clearly planned four seasons. Ted was supposed to go through a flop era, where he'd be checked out and his divorce and overall shitty situation with Michelle (the therapist thing) would have bitten him in the ass, and he'd struggle with his own positivity. It's crucial for Ted as a character to be critical of his life in Kansas, otherwise his character doesn't do anything but serve as an enlightened american spiritual guide to a bunch of brits (NOT a classy plot line and not a good move, especially since most of the brits are either queer or poc). I swear to god, if they make Ted go back to Kansas and end the series with him returning to the status-quo, I'll riot. His story was clearly about trying something new and brave for the wrong reasons, and finding himself in the process! He was not happy in Kansas! He has built himself a life in England that he never had in Kansas (otherwise we'd see him missing his friends, not the never-ending loneliness).

But it's a season long arc, and a recovery process that would last them another season. I was sure they would stop after the fourth season, not the third!

I think they might have decided to wrap it up early, either because of the impending strike, or because Sudeikis got bored.

Sudeikis has come out and said (on a couple of occasions I believe) that the show was pitched as a three season arc, not four. However, as a fellow writer who always needs about 75% more time/space than she originally planned for a story, I can easily picture how a perceived three season arc could actually need four seasons once you're in the nitty-gritty of writing it. I also don't know enough about the inner workings of Apple TV and Sudeikis' creative process to guess at how everyone was originally conceiving a "season." Certainly the 7-10 episodes of today are a far different beast from the 24 episodes of decades past. If Ted Lasso was still three seasons but with season 3 clocking in at 19 episodes... that would make a hell of a difference.

Regardless, I do think this season needed more time and that the issues there are seen more clearly in "International Break" than anywhere else. Nate quitting his job from one episode to the next, Rebecca suddenly being able to laugh uproariously with Rupert, even Roy having this 'aha' moment about being with Keeley... it's not that I think the show hasn't been building towards these things (it has), but rather that the final push feels sudden and, though not out of nowhere, not what I was expecting to happen just yet if - as said - the show had more time to develop these complex moments of growth. Also, though I'm a big fan of the show's sprawling cast and I think that's integral to its overall messages (you need that diversity in characters and their relationships), there was a lot of 'filler' I think this season could have cut to better focus on those key dynamics. For me, Keeley is the most egregious example in that regard. Shandi and Jack added little to her story imo - beyond a without-a-doubt queer confirmation and a little growth in terms of being a boss - so I would have rather had more of the focus be around Roy and her company more broadly.

Anyway, yeah, HARD agree about Kansas. I've already written about how disappointed I'd be in that ending. Personally, I don't think I'd want a whole season of Ted's "flop era," especially since that's where he started out: the presumably useless American "wanker" who is driving the team into the dirt. The shorter arc we got this season where Ted struggles, doubts, and then makes a tremendous comeback worked well for me. What would I have given Ted instead to fill that time... I'm not sure, which is one of the reasons why I think the show does benefit from that three season structure. There's only so much you can do with the concept of "Presumed failure is not a failure after all and actually is supper successful" before you're forced to backtrack (which undermines the message) or just sit in the boring "They're great aren't they great everything is great" ending. So Ted's football arc works for me, we just need more time for all those relationships. Keep the basic structure we have in terms of overall plot, but add in episodes to fully take the characters through the conflicts Season 2 introduced: How does Nate possibly redeem himself in Rupert's clutches? How can Ted come to terms with Michele dating their therapist? Why is Beard still 'happily' dating Jane after Higgins' intervention and his violent night out? How does Roy overcome this all-consuming belief that he's holding Keeley back? What in the world is going on with Rebecca and this maybe baby? How is Trent going to confess his love for Ted?

As said, the season IS answering all these questions, it just feels like the short structure has landed us with, "This is a problem, this is a problem, this is still a problem, the characters are acknowledging it's a problem... oh look the problem is now solved off-screen/in one scene! Happy days."

[liamgallaghermpreg]

Omg you’re so close to finishing. Last season! How are you feeling?

I’m so close!! I can’t believe it!! Lol icb it took me 10 months…

But omg, lots of things. If you’ve been reading my liveblogs you know I’ve been fairly critical of the later seasons. They go so up and down, right; for me there’s been some really good fillers but I’ve felt a little ehhhh about the overall plots. I’ve used this phrase a bunch but it really feels past its expiration date at this point, you know?

Not to say I haven’t enjoyed it! Or I wouldn’t have continued. There’s been some high highs to counteract the low lows, but I do feel like it’s at a good place to end so I’m not…sad? In fact I’m really looking forward to being able to read and write transformative work about post-canon. I’ve always felt stories should end when they’re over and those lost moments should be left to transformative work; it’s what keeps a fandoms thriving 😌

I’m so glad I watched it honestly. I didn’t while it was airing and in its heyday because I was so scared of everything back then so first all I’m proud of my personal growth in the types of horror I can handle haha.

But the reason I finally watched it was because of fandom anthropological reasons almost? As an incest shipper and omegaverse enjoyer — almost since its conception — I felt the need to understand where it all began. And man, do I. There’s a reason this show has so much staying power. There’s a reason that there’s spn cons in 2023, that there’s 100k+ fics on ao3, that there’s an active fandom on tumblr that’s more than a handful of people.

What an amazing world and characters that’s been created and what amazing stuff has come out of it, you know? And like god. WHAT A SHIP WINCEST IS, HUH?

So sorry for the long-winded answer, but yeah, it’s been special! Not to sound too corny but it really has been and I’m so glad I came back to tumblr for it because it’s been so great to meet y’all and thanks to everyone who has come along for the #23 spn liveblog ride ❤️🙏🏼

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 044

It’s the Potaufeu Trilogy, comin’ atcha!

So the only real value to the first 75% of Dragon Ball Super is the filler episodes they stick between each arc.  The Battle of Gods and Resurrection F episodes were crappy reruns, and the Destroyers Tournament looks like a crappy WWE B-list Pay-Per-View.  And the Zamasu arc.... well, we’ll get to that. 

But the filler episodes are generally fun and enjoyable, probably because they don’t waste time dragging out every little moment to pad out the series.  Like Dragon Ball GT, Super could probably be edited down to a much shorter anime if they just cut out all the pointless monologues and staredowns and reaction shots from minor characters.  These were always part of the charm with DBZ, but GT and Super just abuse the hell out of those tricks, with little to show for it.  What puts Super ahead of GT is that it can occasionally produce a good story once in a while. 

All right, so let’s dive into this.  Bulma’s doing some sort of experiment when Monaka shows up in his delivery truck to bring her more snacks.  She then borrows him to hold a funnel under a pipe while she generates a small amount of liquid.  There’s filter paper in the funnel, so I guess she needs to filter it.  Monaka just worries about falling behind on his route. 

See, this was what I was saying about Gohan’s career in the last episode.  They’re so vague about what he does and how he does it.  In this scene, Bulma’s working on an experiment which clearly has no basis in reality, but I can still recognize some of the equipment.  Glass funnel, filter paper, and a giant over-sized beaker.   The other stuff doesn’t look like anything in particular, but it still looks kind of authentic, like someone actually used references to draw this room instead of just winging it.  They should show Gohan in a room like this, only with biology stuff.  Like bugs and... more bugs.  That’s where biologists work, right?  They just hop into a big room full of bugs. 

Anyway, Goten and Trunks find Monaka’s unattended truck and start screwing around in the back.  Hey, those toys aren’t for you!

Monaka’s in such a hurry to get on with his route that he doesn’t even check to see if anyone’s in the back.  He just listens to the radio, and they read his letter on the air.  Under a psuedonym, Monaka confesses that he likes to take the packages marked “fragile” and set them on fire. 

Anyway, he doesn’t find the boys until he makes his next stop on Planet Potaufeu, where he has to warm them up because there’s no heat in the back of the truck. 

Monaka’s here to deliver a martial arts magazine to the planet’s sole inhabitant, Potage.  Potage kind of looks like a cross between a dog and a beetle, but not quite.  Anyway, he’s got bigger problems on his hands right now.

A bunch of bad guys, led by the evil Gryll, have come to this planet in search of “superhuman water”, but Goten and Trunks clobber them easily.

Gryll withdraws, but not without picking up the mysterious amulet that Potage dropped earlier.  Among other things, it’s the key to unlock the superhuman water. 

And while Goten and Trunks could easily stop him, he takes Monaka hostage, which allows him to take possession of the superhuman water.  Seems kind of anticlimactic, but...

Back on Earth, Bulma has finally discovered Trunks and Goten got into Monaka’s truck before he took off.  She calls Jaco to help them search, and when he tries to back out, she considers contacting the Galactic King and telling him about that picture she saw on Jaco’s ship with silly stuff drawn on it. 

More importantly, look how huge Vegeta is in this shot.  It’s ridiculous.  He’s supposed to be a little shorter than Bulma, and while I’ve gotten used to artists toeing that line, making him a little taller, this time they go way too far.  The character model isn’t meant to be this tall, which is why his shoulders and arms look so messed up. 

Here, they just screw it up in a whole different way.  Vegeta looks about right this time, except they just raised him up about six inches from Bulma’s level.  It looks like he’s standing on a box.

Back on Potaufeu, the bad guys are chasing the good guys, but these aliens look a little... different, don’t they?

Vegeta arrives in the nick of time (and so does Jaco) and he defeats the bad guys easily, but one of them melts into a puddle of purple goo, and it envelops Vegeta like a giant amoeba.

This is probably someone’s fetish, so drink it in, you sick fucks.

Vegeta emerges from the fluid seemingly unharmed, except he can’t use his powers. As for the purple goop...

It’s become an exact copy of Vegeta, with all his powers.  Uh-oh.

[halt-kun]

Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 242 - Idiot Survivor !! ~Rise even higher~

Well I'm pretty sure this is just going to be Kenjaku getting roasted and brought into weirder situations one after another

Let's dig in

What a nice curse spirit, it looks like panda

Truck kun failed to isekai Kenjaku

But it didn't miss that cursed spirit

GOOD

Poor Kenjaku, stuck in a scenario he is forced to follow

Oh my god poor goldfish

Alcohol poisoning is bad

And now in a hospital, are they warping ?????

Well Kenjaku is genderfluid so I wasn't expecting that but I bet they are fine with it anyway

Please Takaba, do NOT fuck Kenjaku

Well this will never end, this has become a new manga and we'll follow Kenjaku and Takaba's adventure for 1000 chapters

If it was Naruto's anime, they would make a whole filler arc just from this chapter

Poor Kenjaku, I'd probably end my own life if I were in his place

Kenjaku knows their shit

I bet they took a bunch of uni courses

Easy, it's writing your own letter

No don't isekai the kitty or Takaba

Wait the kitty is Kenjaku ???? Noooo run over it car kun

I think Gege needs to take a break for his mental health WTF .

Kenjaku is having fun wtf, well maybe he won't be a big meanie then, just let him and Takaba go into the sunset and live their life until Takaba's too old and then we can get Kenjaku back

Psychic damage= TOO MUCH

Kenjaku is going to get into his game and then kill him

nooooooo Poor Takaba, don't gooooowell if you don't you'll die

Well this will definitely end next chapter, I'm a bit concerned but I am more concerned about every other character

I just hope Kenjaku doesn't steal Takaba's corpse because I don't want to know what he could do with his techniques

[burned-lariat]

I do not envy Millow and the Benson bull dogs. I cant stand them. The writing is like beating a dead horse, ain't nothing left. Insufferable bunch of tools. The Cancer story wtf? What is going on with Dex, just get ob with it and Joss is no use at all. This Michael/Sonny feud needs to end, Mikey out here f

Same goes for shoving Spencer into this impossible position of fighting for a kid he got no business raising, he can barely keep up with his own messy life. Oh but this is a soap, nothing ever goes right for too long. Right.

The show is all over the place, whiplash and disappointment come too frequently for me to stay invested, even for filler shows. They have everything at their disposal to make this snoozefest show something to remember 20 to 40 days from now. Lol

p.s. ChayLynn should be coming our of their medically induced coma soon. Get this stupid story going.

Wiley's adults & their compatriots never fail to suck up screentime and drown better ideas & characters.

And that's true too - nothing good ever really lasts, and this custody story is a wash. Free Spencer.

Yeah, like I watched last night and I just did not care about what was going on. Based on the timeline/GH tag today, it seems a little more interesting, but not by much.

And God, I hope so. Axe this story and bring these two back together smh.

[spaceumbredoggos]

So much For Stardust Chapter Six.

No content warnings. Just Filler. I wrote this in a day. The next chapter is gonna be spicy. Not porn spicy, just drama spicy. But this fic is for mature audiences, so expect a sex scene or two in this fic (but like a tv sex scene where it’s screened over. Not those passionate porno sex scenes on AO3. Also, none of those are in this chapter.)

I got in the car and sat down in the front seat, panting from exhaustion.

“You know what Kenz needs?”

“I don’t need any—“

Loona burst out laughing before I could finish that statement. “You totally look like you could use a Starbucks.”

“Believe me. I don’t. Caffeine would just make me pass out.”

“Exactly.” Ford smiled, turning into the Starbucks parking lot. “And when’s the last time you’ve actually eaten?”

“There’s food at home.” But Wendy and Loona were chanting “Starbucks! Starbucks!” at the top of their lungs and punching the roof of Ford’s car, causing him to snicker as he turned into the drive through.

“I guess I’m outvoted.”

“Trust me, Kenz. You don’t want Ford to start cooking.”

“I can cook just fine, Wendy.” Ford retorted, but was cut off by Loona laughing out loud. “You burnt the water once trying to make toast.”

“SHUT UP!!!”

“How does one bloody burn the water after making toast?” I remembered when Gran told the story of when my mother almost burned down the house making toast. “At least you don’t get hair in the pancakes like Stan or glitter in the coffee like Mabel.”

“That’s not glitter she puts in the coffee, Kenz.” Loona chuckled as if she couldn’t believe how naive I am. “It’s not? But it’s so sparkly.”

“It’s smile dip.”

“What’s that?” This made Loona laugh harder, to which Ford had to explain. “Back in the 70’s, laws about candy were looser about what could be put in it. Smile dip contains a mild hallucinogen. It was banned with Regan’s whole ‘War on Drugs’ in the 80’s, but the locals of Gravity Falls are such hippies with drugs that it stayed around in convenience stores. Whatever you do, don’t snort it.” He pulled up to the speaker in the drive through. On the speaker was a bunch of crashing and a few chickens clucking. “What the fuck?”

“It’s just normal Gravity Falls Weirdness.”

“What do you mean?” Wendy burst out laughing. “Kenz, you have no idea what you’re about to be getting into by staying into this town.”

“And by the way. That clucking noise? That’s not a chicken. That’s the local cockatrice.”

“Should we go in there and make sure the employees aren’t turned to stone or set on fire?”

“I think they deal with this shit all the time.” Loona pulled up the Starbucks app on her phone and started putting in an order. “What do you want, Kenz?”

“I uh…” Just as I was about to say “I shouldn’t,” my stomach snarled with the intensity of a pack of wolves and my mouth was parched like the Sahara desert. “I’ll take a Trenta Strawberry assayee (Side note: I know it’s açaí, but I can’t pronounce it like that because I never quite learned to and it’s funnier to pronounce it assayee. Whenever Kenz mispronounces things, whether by accident or on purpose, I spell it how it’s pronounced because you can’t really show how a character pronounces something in fanfiction or written media like you can in scripted media like film and animation. By the way, if one of you idiots manage to animate this, Kenz’s voice is a bad moonkitti (the warrior cats YouTuber) impression done by me. However, their singing voice should they ever sing is my normal singing voice. Okay bye.) and a double smoked bacon cheddar and egg and… ooh… maybe a brownie—“

“You’re getting a brownie. There’s no maybe in this.”

“Says who?” Loona burst out laughing again. “Says me. Now don’t say you’re gaining weight because god knows that you were in a coma for five weeks and you barely ate shit!!! You tend to lose weight really quickly because you were 150 pounds before the coma and are now about 90. Billion fucked with your metabolism—“

“How the fuck do you know this?” To which Ford interjected, “It’s not rocket science. That much weight loss can be fatal. I don’t know how Bill managed to restore your ability to walk. He’s known to manipulate the biology of his victims. I think the way those wound appeared was that he—“

“Booo!!! I didn’t ask to go to school today!!!”

“Nerd!!!” Wendy and Loona flipped off Ford as I glared daggers at them. “I find Ford’s description of how I almost died very vital for my future survival aspect and somehow very interesting, thank you very much.”

“TP!!!!”

“That’s not the first time I’ve been called that, Loona.” I flipped her off back as Ford almost had to stop the car laughing so hard.

“Kenz, you need to learn to live a little. Like have you ever snuck out?” Wendy was very adamant about this.

“Uh… No?”

“Have you ever dated or made out with someone your parents didn’t like just because it made your parent mad?”

“Does kissing a boy in first grade but not with tongue on the lips count?” Loona and Wendy exchanged amused glances. “Lame.”

“Wait, you’re still a virgin?” Loona started to laugh. “How can someone who’s the senior football star’s firstborn child not have even been to a party with drugs in it?”

“Does alcohol and cigarettes count?” Even Ford couldn’t believe how dense I was being, considering how he had to hold himself still trying to get the drinks and food from the drive thru window. “Even I have been to a party with drugs. Quite a few parties with drugs.”

“Multiversal parties don’t count—“

“I was dragged along to those parties by Stanley when we were in high school.”

“And they let you two in?” Loona scoffed, to which Ford replied with a nod. “Stanley knew how to supply the drugs. Most people used him for his ADHD.”

“Okay. That’s sad.”

“Not as sad as having to spend your high school years in an independent study program during and after a global pandemic and not being able to party outside of family barbecues.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but instead took a bite of my sandwich and a sip of my drink. “Touché.” I finished the sandwich swiftly and moved onto the brownie.

“If even Ford has been to a high school rager, then you, my friend, need to get out.” Loona booped my nose. “By the way, your face is covered in chocolate.”

I licked the chocolate off my face. “Was saving that for later.” Loona burst out laughing as Wendy patted my head. “You know what? I like you. You would have fit right in with the band and theatre kids, yet not in an annoying way. Like, how should I put this, Loona?”

“Like those weirdly hot kids—“

“Excuse me?” I hid into my shirt and blushed. “Take it as a complement.” Loona laughed.

“Oh dear.” Ford sighed, reaching to bat my back, but then retracted his hand as he remembered that I was touch aversive.

“You know what Kenz needs Ford?” Wendy took a sip of her iced caramel macchiato. “Kenz needs to go out. Let loose. Be with other young adults that actually do things instead of rot and play Pokémon.”

Ford paused for a moment. “Kenz needs a bad influence. I doubt they’ve ever done a shitty decision in their life.” Loona was practically screaming in agreement.

“I don’t need a bad influence. Bills been a bad enough influence on me, thank you very much. And I just go into town—“

“You’re coming to this party whether you like it or not, Kenz.”

“And Grandpa Ford isn’t going. He’s a lame drunk and an even lamer stoner.”

“I can’t argue with that, according to kids these days standards. Just don’t drag my grandneice and nephew into your shenanigans. They’ve made enough bad decisions.”

“I’ve made bad decisions. I got into a psych ward on my eighteenth birthday. That’s practically prison.”

“That’s just sad.” Loona started texting on her phone. “Ford?”

“Im gonna agree on the girls with this one. That is really sad. Also, you were kinda voluntarily admitted for a plan—“

“Why do they even want to hang out with me if I’m so lame anyways? I thought I was too nerdy with all my weird bug facts and emotional baggage…”

Loona and Wendy burst out laughing. “Kenz, you don’t know it, but you’re the opposite of lame.”

“You don’t know me. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I can barely handle caffeine without taking a nap. And also, I can’t drive because my ADHD is just… That way. So I can’t be a designated driver.”

“But you’re hilarious.”

“No I’m not. Im grumpy and grouchy and… and… Darkness. Darkness danger and death. We literally just met. You don’t know what I’m like. Any of you.”

“Maybe we don’t. Maybe we just wanna get to know you better. To get to know you besides the shitty hand you were dealt. And by the way, you can listen to Emo music all you want, but you’ll never truly be a hardcore Emo kid. I’ve seen you around animals. You talk to them like they’re your friends. It will never not be adorable.”

“Wendy, I’m not—“

“Kenz, look. That kid has a lab!”

“What? Labbydor? Where? Where pupper?!” The car burst out laughing as I grumbled. “Ha ha. It says gullible on the ceiling and I dropped my pocket and shit.”

“At least you’re honest.” Loona smiled. “You guys don’t think it’s creepy when I talk to snakes like they’re dogs, or when I catch a weevil and let it crawl on my arm for hours shouting ‘WEEVIL TIME’ at the top of my lungs?”

“You make it hilarious. That’s part of your charm.”

“Someone has to be able to handle spiders and creepy crawlies.” Loona started to speak in an Australian accent. “You’re like Steve Irwin, mate.”

“I’ve seen your art on tumblr and your tiktoks. They’re hilarious. And you’re an excellent drawer. Also, props to you for putting AI in its place.” Wendy smiled and put her phone down.

Ford pulled up at the shack as I sat down on the couch. “What are you doing?”

“Getting ready to go to sleep.” Loona shook her head and lifted me up. “Come on!!! I’m exhausted!! The party’s tomorrow!!!”

“Slumber party!!!”

“Loona, be careful using that word around here. Because if Mabel hears you have a slumber party with Kenz, then Candy and Grenda are gonna be milleseconds away. And that will be too much intensity for them to take.”

“Why don’t we drag them to your place? They don’t even have a room here, yet.” Loona carried me fireman style to Wendy’s house. “We’re doing this? We’re seriously doing this?”

[aoitrinity]

Why Do I Have to Feel Like a Fucking Conspiracy Theorist -- OR -- How I Find a Semblance of Peace on Sunday Night

I’m also going to start this out with a GIANT DISCLAIMER.

I am about to theorize about what may have happened to the SPN finale. I have absolutely no insider knowledge. I am merely speculating here based on the panels and a bunch of Twitter and Tumblr posts that I have been reading over the last few days. If you are not in a good place to read such things, TURN BACK PLEASE. Go take care of yourself and your mental health. You and your feelings are valid and deserve to be handled gently right now.

Additionally, if you are here to give me shit for being unhappy with the ending, please walk away as well. I am here to reach out and share my feelings with people who might be struggling to make sense of something that upset some of us in very deep-seated ways. I am not here to bother you or critique you or tell you that you’re lesser because you liked the ending. If you felt it was good, then go enjoy it.

Long-ass post beneath the cut, everyone.

Alrighty folks...I debated whether or not to do this because I have been spiraling down the hell that is the SPN finale since Thursday. The travesty of what happened to our show--to this beloved show that seemed to have been so perfectly and precisely written for at least four years that it had basically already paved its own tarmac on which to land its plane and we all thought we knew exactly what we were going to get. And then we didn’t. We had a nigh Cas-less and entirely Eileen-less ending. We had no goodbye between Cas and Jack. We had Dean dying young after finally finding his freedom, only to ascend to heaven with no one but Bobby. We had the weird, weird, weird incest-y death scene. We had the bridge crane shot thing because...sure. You do you, Robert Singer.

It was so terrible, so truly awful, and I couldn’t seem to square any of it with anything we had known going in. I tossed and turned and cried and didn’t eat or sleep all weekend. I spent hours just reloading tumblr and twitter, going to the Misha panel, reading and reading and listening and trying to figure out what the fucking hell is going on because I needed to know exactly where to direct my anger. And after a fuckton of talking with @winchester-reload, I think we have at least a very plausible theory about what happened here--I’m laying it out below as much for my own peace of mind as anything else, because otherwise all of these thoughts are going to continue to spin around in my head for weeks and I won’t be able to do jack shit.

Now to start off, unfortunately I do think Dean was slated to die from the beginning of this season. I don’t know WHY they thought that was the best way to go, and I wish they had listened to Jensen on this one. Part of me wonders if it was an order from on high based on the discussion between Becky and Chuck earlier this season--the writers knew it wasn’t a great choice, but they were trying to signal to us that we should feel free to write our own endings to the story because they’d be better (I can wax poetic on the signs of why many of the writers probably wanted Dean to live, but that’s another post). I’m not defending that choice by any means, just laying it out there that I think they didn’t necessarily all want to kill Dean like they did.

However, what I THINK I can explain now is what happened with Misha and why we got so jerked around with Cas’s story. Consider what we know (I can’t immediately source all of it, but I did my best):

At the end of episode 15x19, Lucifer has been returned to the Empty after being killed AGAIN. He talks with Cas. Maybe harasses him a bit about Dean, idk. But then...Jack shows up. New God Jack. And he picks up Cas and pulls him out of the Empty, leaving Lucifer behind, because seriously. Fuck that guy (also leaving behind his abusive father is character growth for Jack, so yay for that).

-Misha was contracted to film 15 episodes this season. He was only in 14.

-Misha told Michael Sheen he had to go back to film 1.5 episodes after the shutdown in March. (Starts at 6:13)

-Misha was in Vancouver during filming of the finale.

-Mark P said at Darklight Con that the last scene he filmed was with Alex and Misha (and Mark P was only in episode 19).

-Misha implied that he was present for various filming moments, including Dean’s death (start at 35:15), and said that it felt like a “mini-reunion.”

-Various sources have mentioned that Jimmy Novak was supposed to be in the finale.

-After episode 18, Stands tweeted a fan who was angered and hurt by Cas's death that they could talk about the “bury the gays” issue after the finale aired.

-In episode 19 we know there were takes of the parking lot scene where the only thing fans observing could hear was Dean yelling “CAS” at Chuck (fuck I can’t find this one right now, but it’s definitely out there)

-Also in episode 19, we had a very strange, awkward montage at the end of the episode.

-In episode 20, we know there were a FUCKTON of missing scenes

-We also had no opening montage, but three other separate montages.

-Carry on My Wayward Son was played TWICE, back-to-back at the end of the episode.

-Episode 20 was shorter than normal and had surprisingly little dialogue. The pacing was VERY strange.

-The cast and crew has been almost completely silent about the finale since it came out. When they have spoken, it has been with an awkward excuse of “Uh...COVID?”

-Samantha Ferris has specifically noted that, despite the Harvelle’s being back in play and a big heaven reunion having been planned pre-COVID, neither she nor Chad Lindberg received any such invitation to return.

-Cas and Dean POP Funko figures were pictured together in a replica of Harvelle’s in 15x04.

NOW with all of this in mind (and I’m probably missing some stuff too because there is so much--feel free to add on to that list), please bear with me because here is what I think we were SUPPOSED to get POST-COVID (after it was determined that the reunion couldn’t happen because of the virus):

In episode 20, we start with our NORMAL OPENING MONTAGE, like always. It traces everything that happened during the season. We are reminded of Cas. The confession. Rowena. Eileen. Jack. Billie, God, the Empty, all of it. 

Things then follow along in the episode where they did up until Dean dies and wakes up in heaven. After his conversation with Bobby, he drives off to find Cas (who, in the script, was listed as “Jimmy Novak” in order to protect against script leaks--who wouldn’t want to do their best to avoid spoilers about the finale with the wrapping of a fifteen-year show?). He does indeed find Cas. We get Dean’s end of the confession. Hell, maybe we even get a kiss. And then Dean sets up his new heaven home in the recreated Harvelle’s. Maybe Cas even fucking moves in. 

Years pass. We get Sam having his life on Earth (still can’t explain why they cut Eileen and couldn’t even have Sam signing vaguely to the blurry brunette in the background; if anyone wants to take that on, go for it). Eventually, Cas tells Dean that it’s almost Sam’s time. Dean takes Baby and goes to meet Sam at the bridge. The cover of Carry on My Wayward Son plays during this much shorter sequence. End of episode.

But that’s not what we got. Instead, much of what I just wrote about was excised from the episode. The remnants were stitched together after shooting had been wrapped. Filler was added in the form of montages and long, unnecessary extra shots to get the episode to something approaching a reasonable length. 

But why? Why would they spend all that time and money and quarantining on Misha, only to almost completely cut him out of the finale? I struggled with why the fuck the CW would want this mammoth show to go down as the greatest queerbait in TV history when they had the chance to do something truly beautiful and monumental with it? It couldn’t just be sheer homophobia, right? Well, I think that factored into it, my friends, but here is where my head is at right now.

It was about cold, hard cash.

Now I could be wrong, but this is what I’m thinking at the moment: Supernatural is going off of the air. Supernatural, the CW’s cash cow for fifteen years. Sure there is still money to be made on blu-rays and merchandise and cons...but they need people watching their shows. They need that sweet advertising revenue. And you know what show they have about to premiere? A show that could, potentially, bring with it a chunk of that SPN revenue?

Walker.

And if any of you know anything about the original Walker Texas Ranger, you know that the show was predominantly a show about a very heterosexual white man being very excessively heterosexual. And for SOME REASON over the years, many of the execs at the CW still seem to think that this show, Supernatural, is really attractive to a lot of middle-American white men...whom they desperately want to watch this new show with this guy from Supernatural that they already know.

Now here’s where COVID fucked us. I think Destiel was greenlit by TPTB, at least in SOME form, before COVID. But then the pandemic happened, and they panicked. They got the cut of the last two episodes and watched them in their original, probably queer form. And then, the execs at CW looked at the economy. They looked at their cash cow, about to make its journey to the great beyond. And they looked at this new little calf Walker that they were so desperately worried about. And they made a choice.

They decided that it would be too risky to take the step with Destiel. They were worried about frightening off their ever-so-valuable hetero male demographic with the possibility that a traditionally masculine man in his 40s could be in love with another man in an overt way. It was homophobia mixed with greed, spun up by fear for their revenues because of COVID.

So they called in Singer, possibly Dabb, although I wouldn’t be surprised if they went straight to Singer. They told them that Destiel had to go: executive orders. And the only way to make it go in a way that removed any trace of what had been there was to rewrite what happened to Cas and cut him out from the last two episodes entirely. It was too late to reshoot anything. They had to just cut and stitch and fill with bullshit montages. 

They removed the scene at the end of 19, probably because Cas and Lucifer discussed Dean. All that was left of Misha there was his voice on that fake phone call. They may have cut other things too, but I would bet my life that they cut a scene from the end of the episode and replaced it with that very strange montage. Then they moved onto 20. They cut out every scene with Cas. And left in only two platonic mentions of him, neither made by Dean. They tried to imply that Cas might show up in Dean’s heaven at some point, but that was as far as the editors could go in the time they had. They filled in with montages, awkwardly long shots, anything they could do to fill all of those missing scenes.

And they even had to take the opening montage, because literally everything in it pointed to Cas being there at the end of it all. They wouldn’t be able to leave out his scenes, they were too critical to the season. They couldn’t cut his confession without raising eyebrows. So they cut the whole thing and moved “Carry On My Wayward Son” to one of the newly-added driving montages at the end. Which is why we awkwardly had both songs play back-to-back--again, such a strange choice unless they were out of options and couldn’t exactly buy rights to a new track or compose anything else.

And so we were left with the shadow of the finale that we deserved, that Cas and Dean deserved. We were left without resolution or happiness or words. Bobo told us the most important thing about happiness is just “saying it” and our characters were silenced without anyone ever knowing the truth.

I think the writers might have known and been given the new party line that “Misha never filmed, he couldn’t, sorry, it was COVID, no one’s fault!” But I don’t think most of the cast even knew it had happened until they watched the finale on Thursday with us (though they might have been confused why the bit from 15x19 was sliced, they could reasonably have assumed it was a time thing and also BL episodes don’t make sense anyway). Why do I say that?

Well, first of all, Misha started sending out a bunch of excited texts to fans with some old BTS pictures about an hour before the show started airing on EST. He also wanted his children to see the episode, his YOUNG children. Why would he show them such a traumatic episode if their Dad wasn’t in it? What if it was because he wanted them to witness what was going to be a monumental moment in queer television history that their DAD got to be a part of? And then that was all dashed.

Which is why I think the cast and crew went almost completely radio silent the next day. I don’t think they knew. And based on how they have been acting on social media since then, I think many of them are absolutely furious, but they have been silenced because of NDAs, because they want to find work again in a cutthroat industry, because they don’t want to bring down the hellfire of Warner Brothers Entertainment upon themselves. So the most we have gotten is a little acknowledgement from the MERCHANDISING COMPANY trying to validate our pain (god bless Shirts, she is a LIFESAVER) and a response to my salty tweet about keeping good stuff in the closet from Adam Williams (the VFX coordinator) that seemed to acknowledge the validity of my complaint.

Then there was a scramble behind the scenes, I would bet my life. Talking points were fed to the boys who had panels today, to CE, to all the cast and crew:

Toe the party line. Misha never filmed. This was always about COVID. Do not mention Destiel. Do not mention Dean’s feelings for Cas. Do not promote the Castiel Project or anything that validates the idea that this was anything less than a superb ending.

And that is why we have heard so little from the cast on this front, and what we have heard has been muddled and contradictory. That is why the writers are saying nothing. That is why we have been left adrift.

Now before I close this out, I do want to say that I really, genuinely do not think this was on the writers at all. I feel like they tried to give us the best ending that they could, in a writers room that we know is notorious for splitting along party lines about the overall story (BL and Singer, who have always been about the brothers and their man-pain vs. Dabb and the rest who always seemed to want more for them and for Cas). I think they did everything in their power to at least end with Dean and Cas happy together. If they could give us nothing else, they wanted to give us that. And then the network took it from them. From us. From everyone.

For the sake of fucking money. 

And the WORST PART OF IT ALL, for me, is that in the wake of this disaster, the fans have been left to try and figure out what happened. We have had to wade through a mire of conflicting information in the midst of all of our collective anger and grief over this garbage ending of a show many of us have loved and even relied on for YEARS, all the while wondering if we’re just fucking crazy, if we have all fallen collectively into the hole of conspiracy theories. That hurts ESPECIALLY badly because we have taken so many hits over the years from other groups on social media saying we were crazy for seeing things that weren’t there (especially Destiel), for writing meta and analyzing tropes and believing the evidence of our eyes and ears. The network has made us relive that entire nightmare WHILE processing our grief for a show we wanted so badly to celebrate and which instead we now have to mourn.

So again guys, I cannot prove that this is exactly what happened at all; this is simply my idea of what may have happened. But right now, it’s the most sense I can make from this mess, and to be honest, the act of typing it out has helped me enormously in my processing of it all. I feel like I can see more clearly, like I know where to target my outrage and where to direct empathy. I feel like just fucking maybe, I might be able to do my job tomorrow without bursting into tears at random moments. 

I really hope that this post has helped some of you to, in some small way, process this too. We get through this the way that Misha told us at his panel this morning, the way the writers have told us to do all season long...we throw out the story God gave us and we make it better. We write our characters the happy endings they deserve. 

We save them.

One last thing--if you have not already, please consider channeling your rage into a donation to one of the five causes our fandom has put together to pay tribute to our beloved show and to mourn the ending it should have had:

-The Castiel Project

-Dean Winchester is Love

-Sam Winchester Project

-The National Association of the Deaf

-The Jack Kline Project

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 325: Deku VS the Outside of U.A. ~Conclusion~

Previously on BnHA: Ochako was all “dear bloodthirsty mob, this kid you see standing before you has fought harder than anyone and put his life on the line to protect you all, so please chill the fuck out, jesus christ. like, putting aside that he’s humanity’s best hope and so it’s very much in your best interests to let him rest and recover someplace safe so that he can keep fighting for us, are y’all seriously going to turn away an injured and exhausted child in front of his sobbing mother?? seriously?? come on now.” I’m paraphrasing here but that’s basically how it went down. Anyway so then the mob was all, “...” and Deku collapsed to his knees in tears, and Gigantic Fox Lady and Kouta ran over to give him a hug but then the chapter ended.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “FINE, YOU CAN HUG HIM”, which, was that so hard?? The U.A. Clown Mob is all “come to think of it, we’ve kind of been taking the heroes for granted this entire time, maybe we should be less passive in the future. anyway so Deku if it’s not too much to ask, can you please save everyone and fix everything.” Deku is all “I sure can, and by the way I forgive you for swarming around all menacingly two minutes ago and trying to deny me basic shelter and stuff.” Ectoplasm is all, “hey Todogang get a load of this. [walks in a circle].” Hawks is all, “that’s literally the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.” Rat Principal is all, “anyway so that’s what your students did today, hope you’re enjoying your new *~*ROBOT LEG*~*, Aizawa.” Aizawa is all “[lots of exposition about Kurogiri and for some reason, Toga, while being all brooding and sexy].” All Might is all “[standing here right outside of U.A. doing absolutely nothing and being foreboding AF]” and that immediately sucked away all of the warm fuzzy feelings from the hugs, goddammit.

each new week has become a waiting game of “when will Deku finally get to take a bath so people will actually be willing to go near him and give him the hugs he deserves.” the stakes have never been so compelling. I’ve almost forgotten about AFO entirely

lmaoooooo

me: for the love of god will someone please give Deku a hug before I die of old age

Mineta: YOU GOT IT!! --

Iida: [SWIFTLY CUTS HIM OFF] NOT YOU

fucking losing it at Mineta’s crying face. he really wanted to hug him. I legit feel bad but this is also the funniest thing I have seen all week, omg

somehow Kouta, who last week was only a hand’s breadth away from touching Deku’s head, is now twenty miles away from him in this new chapter

can I make a Loki reference here. is this recap a good place to insert a joke about someone using a TVA time-rewinding device to fuck with my poor boy Kouta over here. well anyway there it is

AND NOW HE’S BACK ALL OF A SUDDEN OMG

(ETA: since when is he “niichan” omg?? can’t handle this cuteness.)

BUT THEY’RE STILL NOT HUGGING HIM FFFFKFFFFF. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO. WHO DO I HAVE TO BRIBE AND/OR BLACKMAIL

OH NO KOUTA IS CRYING THAT’S IT I’M DONE FOR

“when I heard that lady I knew that I had to go, but then stop again within inches of actually touching you because you smell like week-old rotten onions.” listen Kouta, I’m not saying I don’t get it, but you all can’t keep doing this to me. it’s the way you guys keep teasing it. like, if you’re gonna hug him, hug him. don’t just stand there with your arms held rigidly out in front of you like a molded action figure

OH MY GOSH BUT HE SAID THE THING

KOUTA SWOOPING IN AT THE LAST MINUTE TO TAKE ALL THE CREDIT FOR FIXING DEKU LIKE THAT ONE KID IN THE GROUP PROJECT WHO DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT STILL TAGS HIS NAME ONTO THE REPORT ANYWAY, WHAT A KNAVE

GASP

(  ´͈ ᗨ `͈ )

SHE PICKED HIM UP LIKE A LITTLE BABY OMG?? she just leaned right over and lifted this child like he was a small animal. like a lil baby futon that she was about to hang up to dry. oh my god

-- HEY WHAT

(: well that’s extremely fucked up. though sadly not too surprising given what we just saw these past couple chapters

incidentally, I hope that anyone who was legitimately defending the civilians’ perspective earlier takes note here of how quickly that line of thinking -- “we’re just trying to keep our families safe” and all that-- can lead to straight up bigotry. if you’re willing to deny a child shelter and protection simply because he’s not YOUR child, and because you’ve decided based on Internet rumors (no real-world parallels there, I’m sure) that he might present a threat, it’s really not that much further of a leap to discriminating against entire groups of people simply because you perceive those groups as being dangerous. I’m sure the people who turned Gigantic Fox Lady away also told themselves afterwards that they did it to protect their families. “better safe than sorry.” “she’ll be fine, someone will take her in, but as for us, we can’t afford to take that risk.” people can come up with all kinds of justifications for treating other people as less than human, and the really scary thing about it is how fucking easy it is

one last quick side note, which is that Horikoshi does a great job here of showing how scapegoating works, given that AFO is the one who’s really to blame and who presents the actual threat, and yet Deku is the one who ultimately winds up being the target of the mob’s fear and outrage despite him being as much of a victim as they are. gotta love that irony, which unfortunately plays out far too often in the real world as well.

anyway I’ll get off my soapbox now, sorry about that. let us continue

YES, FINALLY OH MY GOD!!!!

AND THAT’S THE STORY OF HOW GIGANTIC FOX LADY BECAME THE GREATEST HERO. PACK IT ALL UP, WE’RE DONE HERE KIDS

holy shit. the real MVP right there. thanks for getting it done champ

jesus christ I have had it up to here with these people

literally the bar is set so low at this point that I’ll go ahead and take it. helping him because it offers them a tactical advantage is at least one step up from not helping him at all

“WHY NOT SHIKETSU” MOTHERFUCKER I SWEAR TO GOD

-- thank you!!

okay this one guy with the antennae hair is having himself a character development speedrun here

-- okay, but this part?? fucking this part, right here??

can we repeat that again?? the part where this guy acknowledges that the problems of hero society were caused not just by said heroes, but also by said society?? the part where he acknowledges that they treated the heroes like celebrities who were putting on a show for them?? the part where he acknowledges that when push came to shove, the vast majority of those heroes, when faced with a situation that offered no reward, were nonetheless willing to put their lives on the line to protect the very same people who then turned around and blamed them rather than thanking them?? are the civilians of BnHA even allowed to have actual deep thoughts about this stuff. holy shit

bro!!

ANTENNAE HAIR GUY SHOVING KOUTA AND GIGANTIC FOX LADY OUT OF THE WAY TO SLAP HIS NAME ONTO THE END CREDITS AS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER. CONGRATULATIONS SON YOU FIGURED OUT THE CORE PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION AT THE VERY HEART OF THE MANGA. WAY TO GO BUD

meanwhile, on today’s episode of “one more chapter to go till the big volume cliffhanger, how else can I drag things out let’s see”

it’s a panel. of people’s feet. just a bunch of normal feet. with sneakers and shit

this All Might shirt guy is getting more screentime in this arc than 90% of the class 1-A kids

I guess I’m supposed to feel sorry for this dude now that he’s all “if we let you stay here do you promise to somehow magically fix every single problem that we are now currently facing?” those are some ridiculously exacting standards my dude. come on now

KACCHAN SIGHTING

thank fuck I’m not the only one who’s thoroughly unimpressed by absolutely all of this lol. I feel better now. meanwhile Iida and Kouda and Kiri are ready to run over there and hug them all. you guys are way too forgiving. damn you and your pure hearts

anyway so Deku’s like “yeah, definitely”

(ETA: almost forgot to comment on the “I’m no longer alone” part – he basically corrects the guy and says “sorry, but you’ll need to direct that question towards all of us, not just me, because moving forward we’re a team.” good stuff.)

you know what though, all joking aside... fuck yeah. because perfect victory, right. the strongest guys don’t settle for anything less. so I guess Deku has pretty exacting standards himself

also can you all just take a look at this fucking kid who’s got so much light in his eyes now that I’m gonna need eclipse goggles. hot damn. “you’re welcome” says All Might Shirt Guy as he is frantically interviewed by several local news networks asking him how he daringly managed to save Deku all by himself. “well I guess I’ve just never been the kind of guy who can sit back and let a bunch of rabble-rousers blame a little kid for all of humanity’s problems. someone had to step in and take action, you know?”

oH MY GOD THE SCENE IS FINALLY ENDING

don’t let the door hit you on your way out All Might Shirt Guy

but meanwhile, sudden Tododrama action??

oh shit

there are honestly so many ways in which Ochako’s very moving speech could have wildly backfired that I genuinely have no clue where this is headed lol. how exciting!!

so now Horikoshi is once again stalling for time with random filler panels, but this one is 10x better than the shoes lol omg

(1) was Ectoplasm’s jacket always this oversized. (2) did you guys know that if you go back to chapter 319 you can see that Horikoshi gave us a sneak peak at Enji’s Sad Detective disguise and I in fact made a joke about it in the 319 recap not realizing it was actually the stone cold truth. (3) did Shouto deliberately speed up out of impatience because Hawks was walking so fucking slow and he couldn’t take it any longer. (4) and what, I ask you, is up with these dramatic speedlines. so many mysteries here. what a masterpiece

everyone is acting all shocked about something ahh what’s going on

wait what

what the heck. did they just loop around behind everyone. what was the point of that lol. “anyway, so this is what they look like from the back” well okay, thanks for that Ectoplasm

(ETA: so it seems like they were actually hanging out someplace else away from the crowd this whole time, I guess? here I thought they had more faith in Enji’s disguise. I guess Shouto and Hawks don’t particularly want to attract this crowd’s attention themselves right now either, though.)

I am so fucking confused lmao

speaking of All Might WHERE THE FUCK IS HE lol. but yes, good, OFA brings everyone together, and Hawks is very deeply moved about this out of the blue all of a sudden. you know how it is

aw heck yeah now this is another filler panel I can get behind

Mineta really wants that hug, good lord. I genuinely love this actually. Mineta if you could just stay little and cute and keep crying about how much you love your classmates in a non-gross way for the rest of the series I would be so appreciative. you’re doing great

IIDA IS HOLDING DEKU’S HAND THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ONE TIME WASN’T ENOUGH FOR MY MAN HE’S ADDICTED NOW

what did I tell you. Kiri wants to get all of the mob’s autographs now. Kiri you’re a peach

Shouji having a conversation with another mutant type is a very nice touch! we really need to get to his backstory soon. I feel like that casual remark from GFL earlier was kind of hinting at more to come

is this the first time we’ve ever seen the Yaoyorictionary in action?? never forget that Viz tried to call it the “Yaoyorozu Reference Book” because they hate fun

last but not least, KAMIBAKU IS BACK ON THE MENU, FUCK YEAH. Kaminari trying to spice things up and introduce a little bit of controversy by smacking Kacchan on the back of the head for god knows what. I will be deeply disappointed after this if I can’t find at least one person unironically declaring that KamiBaku is now toxic and abusive

lfkdlWLWK TODODRAMA??

oh my god. Shouto’s face. Enji’s face. the back to “oyaji” again. the blunt, not-taking-no-for-an-answer, “I don’t know how much louder the universe can scream at you that doing things alone is not it, so hopefully you got the point” directness of it. fffdlkslj I’m so ready for this Horikoshi please don’t fuck it up my expectations are so high

HOLY FUCK

I SCROLLED DOWN AND HE WAS ALL “( ❛‿❛)” AND I JUST WASN’T FUCKING EXPECTING THAT OKAY. JESUS CHRIST. GIVE ME A SEC

lol okay moment over and now Enji’s pulling his hat down all dramatically like a world-weary Cowboy

OH MY GOD WERE YOU FACETIMING??

AHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: not to put Iida down or anything, but it’s kind of strange that Aizawa is all “the class rep sure did great” when Ochako is the one that was giving that whole big speech for like twenty minutes just now lol.)

(ETA 2: “thank god Iida stepped in just in the nick of time to keep Mineta from hugging Deku.” sorry Mineta I really do like you lately but it’s still low-hanging fruit lol.)

HE LOOKS SO SAD??! HE LOOKS LIKE HEARTBREAK ITSELF??! I AM BESOUGHT WITH THE URGE TO REACH INTO MY SCREEN AND PULL HIM INTO THE SAFETY OF MY ARMS??? MY GOD, AND I THOUGHT DEKU NEEDED HUGS

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH okay I was gonna just hold down the letter H for a full minute and count it out loud but within about ten seconds I realized I needed to chill lol

-- but then again NO, I DON’T NEED TO CHILL, I HAVE ZERO CHILL, ACTUALLY, BECAUSE IT’S AIZAWA WITH A ROBOT LEG AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

COMPLETE WITH ROBOT TOES FOR THAT EXTRA TOUCH OF AUTHENTICITY!! I LIKE HOW HORIKOSHI PUT ALL THIS EXTRA “!!!” EMPHASIS AROUND IT IN CASE WE COULD SOMEHOW POSSIBLY FAIL TO TAKE NOTICE. “REMEMBER, EVERYONE?” SAYS HORIKOSHI HELPFULLY. “REMEMBER THAT TIME AIZAWA CHOPPED OFF HIS OWN LEG?” oh wow now that you mention it we somehow forgot all about that. like who do you take us for

OH NO NOT THE SAD BOYFRIEND ANGST THAT I WAS SECRETLY LOOKING FORWARD TO WITH GLEE

well at least he’s not M.I.A. or back with the villains again like I thought he might be. still, that’s gotta be brutal to know your friend is in there somewhere, but to not be able to reach him again no matter how hard you try. that’s the kind of angst that pays off in final battles just when you most expect it. such is my hope, at any rate

what’s this now??

trying to decide if this is Horikoshi’s way of saying don’t worry about that, or his way of saying definitely worry about that lol

anyway so Aizawa is out here being all irresponsibly handsome once again. when is someone going to do something about him

here for Sexy Robot Leg Eyepatch Aizawa clenching his fists and making speeches about revenge. pretty sure we’re all here for that

WELL, WELL, WELL

IT’S ABOUT FUCKING TIME

I’M VERY GLAD YOU’RE ALIVE AND SEEMINGLY WELL, THOUGH!

BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK THOUGH, ALL MIGHT

ffff. bracing myself for that cliffhanger next week. you’d better not touch one hair on this man’s head Horikoshi. I’m watching you