#tog s1

[life-is-a-soup-and-im-a-fork]

@local-writer this one is for you!

[bibuckaroo]

why did they cut this from the anime?? i’m so serious!! we have bam explaining one of khun’s plans, this is gigantic to me, not only that, but he already borrowed it once?? i need the context for this.

this is actually insane the more i think about it, like khun was basically going ‘what’s mine is yours’ to bam, he let him borrow it, why?? for shenanigans?? I NEED MORE OF THEM BEING SILLY!!!

and again!!! bam explaining one of khun’s plans??? understanding him fundamentally??? TAKE ME OUT!!

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

THE FAMILY OF ALL TIME

[quattrovageena]

he was literally just one of those 'hmf!' anime girls when he tied his hair it's quite incredible actually

[deiaiko]

#20.9 Heads up

"I have some news." Agni swirled the water in his glass as if it were wine. "Recently, I have officially taken Bam's friends' team under my wing."

Bam perked up but said nothing. His expression indicated that he wasn't surprised, so Khun or Grace must have told him at some point.

"So to make things efficient, I decided that I will arrange a game for us next week, so we can get to know each other better."

"By beating their asses?" Novick huffed a laugh, looking excited.

"If that's how you see it, sure." Though Agni wouldn't bet that his team would win against them. "Just keep in mind that you shouldn't underestimate them."

Novick folded his arms in front of his puffed chest. "We'll see about that."

Bam looked a little concerned, but Agni couldn't be sure who he was concerned for.

Agni decided to move on. "I need you all to promise that you will treat everyone equally and do your best in the upcoming game." He addressed everyone, but he said it especially to Gyetang and Dan. He already felt a headache coming from thinking about their fanatic behavior toward a certain princess. 

Dan raised his eyebrow, "Don't we always?"

"Why is this important, cluck?"

Agni mustered his best glare, pulling his lips into a thin line.

"Alright, alright." Dan and Gyetang raised their hands in surrender. Everyone else followed by voicing their agreements.

"Good. I will take your word for it. No going easy, especially not for Endorsi. Got it?"

Dan and Gyetang screeched at the same time.

"Whaaaat?!" "The princess Endorsi, cluck??" 

"No wayyy!! Are we going to meet her in person?! Oh my God!"

"I could never harm her, cluck!"

Agni rolled his eyes, having seen this coming. Really, what did they see in that barbaric woman? "If that's the case, then I will put you two on cleaning duty that day, so you don't have to participate. I believe Grace and I would be enough as a substitute."

"That's even worse, cluck!"

"He's right! I want to see Princess Endorsi in action. It will be so amazing!"

Agni felt his eyebrow twitch, thinking back on the spar he did yesterday with her. Her moves got clumsier the more he riled her up, and that was how he defeated her in less than five minutes.

"I hope you won't be disappointed." Grace replied, to Agni's surprise. "She's good, but she can be a little cold."

Agni saw a hint of sadness in Grace's eyes, and he knew why. She was powerful and had a lot of potential, but it would be a waste if she went down the same path as last time. The news of her betrayal from his own timeline still left a bitter taste in his mouth, and he knew Grace was still haunted by it now and then. It was hard to keep a neutral view on her when he knew what she could become. But if there was one thing he learned, it was that people could change. For better or worse he couldn't predict, but a chance for change was all that mattered for him. With it, he would be able to decide if her future self was worthy of forgiveness or not.

"You're worried over nothing!" Dan replied cheerfully. Soon they began to gush over Endorsi, then slowly devolved into the game brainstorming and strategy.

Bam was mostly silent for the whole ordeal, only talking if his opinion was asked, but he was smiling and listening intently. However, Agni noticed that Bam often glanced at him, specifically when Agni was not talking. He decided to ask Bam about it, and Bam answered that the way Agni used chopsticks reminded Bam of someone. Agni had a good guess on who that might be.

After they finished dinner and said goodbye to Bam, Agni and Grace decided to cuddle in bed for the rest of the night, leaving the others to entertain themselves in the living room. As Agni made himself comfortable under the blanket, Grace paused, not yet turning off the light as he was about to do.

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you yesterday."

Agni raised an eyebrow.

"Master finally agreed to have a spar with me. It's in two days." Grace looked a little sheepish, but Agni knew he was excited. Grace had told him that he wanted to build up his stamina, thus he was looking forward to going all out with Jinsung. "Are you free that night?"

Agni mentally sighed. He would not wish any harm upon Grace, if he could help it. But he couldn't talk Grace out of this, knowing that Grace had made up his mind. At least this time he will be there when Grace needs him. "I can always make time."

"Thank you." Grace smiled and turned off the lights. He joined him under the same blanket, resting his hands on top of Agni in an embrace. "I'm glad that you're here with me."

Masterlist

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[tower-of-gay]

look i love this comic but why does siu draw blood like a five year old who’s been handed the firetruck red color crayon

[1-800-i-ship-it]

just watched lcla ep 8 losing my mind i need to stop watching this right before bed...

[meliohy]

Need a new small but active and chill (and a bit crazy) fandom

[miwiheroes]

Arguments I think we should stop using for Byler and why:

Let me know if you have any thoughts about these! This post isn't made to give anyone byler doubt btw omg, my intention is to actually cure it, because I feel like some of these arguments are made as an overcompensation as a result of doubt so-

"Why do people say that two boys falling in love in the 80s is unrealistic? This show is about monsters and a different dimension!"

This argument is pretty much always a joke, which i don't mind, but using it as a genuine rebuttal isn't going to get us anywhere. People in general are far more likely to believe the impossible--things like monsters and super powers--than the improbable--things like two boys in the 80s falling in love. I feel like, instead, we should be focusing in on the fact that two boys falling in love in the 80s is an important thing to represent because it was improbable and "unrealistic". The reason why it feels so unrealistic to happen is because there is actually very little representation of it happening successfully, therefore, if we see more representation of it, it won't be seen as unrealistic anymore. Also, I don't believe that the audience really understands that what they're watching is not supposed to be a shot for shot realistic protrayal of real life. This isn't just about monsters and shit, this show is about love. Yes it's cheesy, but it's not unrealistic for a show about love - which portrays unique loving relationships like platonic love between a random guy and a lesbian - to portray a queer love story which honestly isn't even that hard to wrap one's head around.

"Mike didn't care about El until she pointed to Will's photo. He only cared about her because she helped find Will."

Okay this one is wayyy more nuanced than just him only caring about her because of Will. He is a heroic human being, and this is supposed to be portrayed by him taking her into his home, not out of romantic love, but just out of goodness of character. He is a very sweet person at the beginning of S1 because he's curious about El and acts different to Lucas and Dustin. Although, there are definitely things to show that he doesn't love her romantically here, like him trying to get rid of her and get her back to her family or something. I think the argument above in bold actually is an overcompensation for how he acts around her in S1. He treats her like a friend when showing her around, but Bylers might be afraid that looks too romantic. Don't worry guys, I really think it's Mike being himself. Acting friendly and nice around El is just part of his character to me. He also decides to not have her talk to his mom when she says she's in trouble, so it's not all about Will. However!!! He does decide to commit to hiding her and begins to place her on a pedestal when she starts to make an effort to find Will.

"Mike and El are on bad terms at the end of S4 so they won't be together in S5."

This argument was also used at the end of S3 (see the byler slides), saying that technically, Mike and El weren't actually together by the end of S3. Then they were together in S4. Here's the thing. This show isn't all about telling and not showing. It's about the opposite. Just because they didn't tell the audience "we're back together now!!!" doesn't mean that they aren't. At the end of S3, for example, El going "I love you too" implies that they are back together and that their relationship is now going to be more grown-up unlike in S3. Because of the love monologue at the end of S4, I can genuinely see Mike and El being back together at the beginning of S5. I can see them actually saying I love you to each other a la Steve and Nancy S2. Like, come on guys, isn't our whole argument that you can say I love you to someone and not actually be telling the truth? Also, Finn has confirmed that Mike and El will be together "going into" season 5, and the time skip between March 1986 and Nov. 1987 shows to me that they are still going to be together, and that they are saying I love you because El would not be staying in that relationship if he continues not to say it. More problems in their relationship are going to be revealed, beyond him being able to say I love you or not.

"This actor ships Byler so Byler endgame."

Uh oh,,,, if you start saying this, you can easily get a rebuttal from a Milkvan saying that so and so ships Milkvan, so... I honestly think that people saying they like Byler as a ship can be somewhat seen as a little hint they could possibly be endgame but tbh, it's not a full proof. To me, proof from the actors comes from what they don't say about Byler. They don't treat it like Stonathan, Ronance and Steddie. They treat it like a possibility, like a spoiler. The other queer ships of ST are treated like cool things that would have been interesting if they had happened. Byler is never treated as something that would have been cool. It's something that could happen. My confidence comes from when the actors are more ambiguous about Byler than when they're completely, utterly on board with it. Except for Noah, because he's definitely allowed to ship it, because his character is literally in love with Mike.

[khuns2ndlighthouse]

I hate and love the covers of the English TOG print books

On the one hand I find them hilariously unhinged. Like wdym ur gonna use pictures of s2 Yuri, s1 Headon, s2 Roachel, s3 Khun, s1 Rak and Bam from the cover of the first Korean book all on the cover of the first book??????💀

On the other hand, IVE SEEN THE OTHER EDITIONS. Why do the French and Spanish books get the cool Korean covers😭 If for some reason Webtoon Unscrolled couldn't use the exact same design why still take the illustrations from the Korean novels for the collages that are the English covers????? Idk who thought they were cooking with the cover designs but I cannot take them seriously knowing what we could've had

[otori0]

Ho, Bam and consequences | ToG rant

SPOILERS AHEAD !!!

Disclaimer - I'm reading the manhwa at the same pace I watch the anime so I won't miss anything, and I'm enjoying both equally, I think there's value in both of them. Both will be referenced on this post. Also I haven't finished S1 yet so of course I'm open to changing my mind later on. I might also write a full analysis later on (probably on Ho because as you can see I'm very invested in his writing...such a shame he had little screentime). Additionally, this was written on discord so it's not as fleshed out and coherent as my usual posts.

I loved episode 9 of the anime to death. I loved it, but it feels to me like Ho's death had more weight narratively than for the characters. Especially, I expected his exchange with Bam and Rachel to affect them a lot more than it did, at least so far. Ho's death is important to the narrative because it showcases the gap between the powerful and the powerless, the chosen and the failures, in a more extreme way than the previous dropouts had. Ho's immediate response to his (very naive) plan failing is to kill himself, which hints that he might have thought about it beforehand- Ho saw his plan as his last chance to regain some self-esteem, pride and to show himself that he isn't wrong (and of course, to pass the test). This episode also strengthens Endorsis' despair to survive and aim higher, Khun's arrogance, and in general gives us a more empathetic view of how it feels to climb the tower for a Regular. I think Ho should have lived a bit longer and actually faced his plan failing (might actually write a fic about this), but it's something that would have happened sooner or later to someone, and a pivotal moment that involve two of the most important characters Bam and Rachel and also forces them to interact. At least, that's how it feels, that it should have been pivotal.

It undeniably is, but I can't help but feel that it should have affected specifically Bam more, especially the things Ho says to him. Him saying that the friend list is just lip-service and never meant anything to him should make Bam question the rest of his friends. It's one of the first times, if not the first, that Bam is directly confronted with someone lying to him like that, spitting on his good intentions, and showing him the darker side of people and the tower. Ho directly blaming him (''It's your fault for showing off your power'') should make Bam doubt himself and his power. Ho telling Bam that he's a monster, that he's going to become the same as the one who attacked his family? village? (i don't think we know the details), and that Bam is sure to grow up that way should make Bam reflect on himself, or feel shocked. But here is the thing- through his death and afterwards, Bam doesn't seem all that affected by Ho himself. Instead, the small bits we get of how it reflects on him are much more self-centered.

In the manhwa (and I'll never forgive them for skipping this line), when Ho kills himself Bam says ''Why must everyone always try to run away?!''. This line, this one says a lot. Bam seeing suicide (something he surely has or should have little knowledge of, all he knows is that Ho is dead by his own volition) as running away, something he has never considered of doing but he knows that other people do... He might see Rachel's avoidance as running away too. He might like Khun and Rak because they're two pretty straightforward and ambitious people. ((Or at least, that's how they look from his perspective- We however know that Khun is all but straightforward in his ways and he actually struggles with changing)) Endorsi is the same way. It gives us insight on how Bam sees other people, although so far he always tries to see the good in them. But it also just seems rooted in pure frustration, and I don't believe Bam is blaming Ho here. Once Ho's dead and they do his funeral, it seems like Bam immediately forgets and focuses on the most important thing: Rachel. In a sense, Rachel being injured is the perfect excuse for Bam to again shift all his attention to her. But the thing is- this isn't an inconsistency. I don't know how much SIU has planned this beforehand, but this makes perfect sense, which makes it frustrating. Bam really has mainly only thought about Rachel. Sure, he likes his friends, he cares about them, but he's lacking a basic empathy that people seem to miss, and once Bam actually loses Rachel, he's going to find that he's an empty person because he couldn't see the bigger picture. He's only seeing her and his own goal. His altruism is selfish from the very first episode, and that actually makes it interesting, but it's also sad because it kind of confirms Ho's fears. Ho is forgotten and meaningless and a failure. Up to now, the other dropouts also received this treatment from the cast, so it's not surprising, but it's still upsetting (not to mention, the only person who actually seemed affected by it left...which i completely understand).

We don't see much of Rachel's point of view, so I'm unsure on how she approached this whole matter mentally speaking, but we can tell that she either: 1. Didn't care if Ho actually killed her (most likely option), or 2. Was confident enough to think that she wouldn't die in that situation (can also be likely because there's many reasons why Ho's plan could have failed anyways without Bam being there). She might also be used to experiencing that sort of thing/her negative outlook might influence this.

((Adding to Bam's lack of empathy, there's the fact that he didn't hesitate to fight a Ranker after Ho threatened that he'd kill Rachel if Bam didn't. I won't go as far as saying that Bam would have tried to kill Quant, but I don't think he would have minded it if that meant Rachel survived. I wonder how much does Bam know and internalize about life and death.))

Some other small details that stood out to me that I might include if I write a Ho analysis: It's interesting that Ho brings up God a few times. I wonder how does God work in a universe like ToG's. Him assuming that God must have taken something from Bam in exchange of his powers is also interesting (''What did God take from him in exchange for that talent? I lost everything and all I got was enough power to do some parlor tricks.'') and it makes me wonder if he'll be proven right on this too...

It's upsetting because, in real life, you could argue with someone with this mindset that people's talents aren't given by god, that instead they're a lot of times the result of a lot of hard work. But in the ToG universe specifically, it does work that way, people are chosen and more than once one's hard work doesn't mean anything. So it's really interesting that we could see a character with this mindset.

All in all I really enjoyed that episode, I'm really curious to see if and how will this situation affect them in the future (the lack of effect is also an effect on itself, which was the main point of my rant), and to see how the cast develops. I'm very intrigued so far by the writing, it's very interesting, and I feel like every scene or line tells a lot about each character giving them a lot of personality.

Forever sad that Ho doesn't have more lore or scenes, but I can change that......

[goldenworldsabound]

Ugh tog s1 is so good. Just finished my rewatch. The art. The entire arc as a whole. It's just so so so good. I like s2 and s3 (webtoon only atm) but like you can't beat s1

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

WHO HURT THEM! ILL TEAR THEM LIMB FROM LIMB

[crstn-art]

What on earth browsed thru ur hxh art and dude ur compositions are spooo good im so in awe i need to know whats ur biggest inspiration for dramatic compositions like the ones u make? I heart heart heart ur pariging comics sm

what on earth back at you 😭 i was happy to read this. honestly i just started taking composition semi-seriously 2.5 years ago. my goal has always been to make cool backgrounds, dynamic but odd perspectives. i love odd & non-conventional angles SO MUCH.

my #1 inspiration for that & art in general is what environmental concept artists and designers do, they have such amazing range. World of Warcraft was my first exposure to it, especially BC & WotLK. Concept art, but playing through the areas was just as cool

Probably the only other foundational inspiration was Tower of God (manhwa) when i read it in 2011-2014... People shit on SIU's art skills in S1 but he very obviously didn't care and NEITHER DID I. He drew awkward angles and yes it looked OFF... but had beautiful color placement and set the right tone. IDK if he knew what he was doing but he always pulled it off. I loved that so bad. Ok and his background work & creativity never failed to impress me. I could go on long tangents abt ToG being a narrative / comic inspo as well, and about how similar SIU & Togashi are as authors, and how ToG's visuals got everything HxH has & is missing, but instead im gonna share some panels i skimmed for that i really love. but all his early panels are equally thoughtful

im glad you liked my pariging comics also. im mortified that i made so many i keep making more but i think about em everyday. IM SORRY. its just too much fucking fun to keep putting them in situations & seeing what happens. i also love drawing squares. love comics so bad.

[tower-of-gay]

hot take maybe but s1 tog art is so good to me in how it portrays the horror of the tower. like the setting being drawn in trembling lines and wonky proportions just add to every new regular’s dawning horror and realization that they have willingly entered a soulless bloodbath of a place. good art

[smallboyonherbike]

you know what's WILD. is that the last time i had a new fandom obsession as intense as tog, it was shadowhunters, and that was 3 seasons of a TV from 2016-2019. in 4 years (prob more like 3 bc i came to s1 after it aired) i had 55 one hour episodes to pore over. and with tog i've been obsessed with the singular two hour movie for five whole years!!!!! before the sequel.

bananas bc most things i either get into after they're fully over (buffy) or watch/read and care about for a bit and then still think of fondly but not nearly as often.